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Sample records for back-end processing system

  1. System Level Power Optimization of Digital Audio Back End for Hearing Aids

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pracny, Peter; Jørgensen, Ivan Harald Holger; Bruun, Erik

    2017-01-01

    This work deals with power optimization of the audio processing back end for hearing aids - the interpolation filter (IF), the sigma-delta (SD modulator and the Class D power amplifier (PA) as a whole. Specifications are derived and insight into the tradeoffs involved is used to optimize...... the interpolation filter and the SD modulator on the system level so that the switching frequency of the Class D PA - the main power consumer in the back end - is minimized. A figure-of-merit (FOM) which allows judging the power consumption of the digital part of the back end early in the design process is used...

  2. Front-end and back-end electrochemistry of molten salt in accelerator-driven transmutation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williamson, M.A.; Venneri, F.

    1995-01-01

    The objective of this work is to develop preparation and clean-up processes for the fuel and carrier salt in the Los Alamos Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology molten salt nuclear system. The front-end or fuel preparation process focuses on the removal of fission products, uranium, and zirconium from spent nuclear fuel by utilizing electrochemical methods (i.e., electrowinning). The same method provides the separation of the so-called noble metal fission products at the back-end of the fuel cycle. Both implementations would have important diversion safeguards. The proposed separation processes and a thermodynamic analysis of the electrochemical separation method are presented

  3. Performance and scalability of the back-end sub-system in the ATLAS DAQ/EF prototype

    CERN Document Server

    Alexandrov, I N; Badescu, E; Burckhart, Doris; Caprini, M; Cohen, L; Duval, P Y; Hart, R; Jones, R; Kazarov, A; Kolos, S; Kotov, V; Laugier, D; Mapelli, Livio P; Moneta, L; Qian, Z; Radu, A A; Ribeiro, C A; Roumiantsev, V; Ryabov, Yu; Schweiger, D; Soloviev, I V

    2000-01-01

    The DAQ group of the future ATLAS experiment has developed a prototype system based on the trigger/DAQ architecture described in the ATLAS Technical Proposal to support studies of the full system functionality, architecture as well as available hardware and software technologies. One sub-system of this prototype is the back- end which encompasses the software needed to configure, control and monitor the DAQ, but excludes the processing and transportation of physics data. The back-end consists of a number of components including run control, configuration databases and message reporting system. The software has been developed using standard, external software technologies such as OO databases and CORBA. It has been ported to several C++ compilers and operating systems including Solaris, Linux, WNT and LynxOS. This paper gives an overview of the back-end software, its performance, scalability and current status. (17 refs).

  4. 40 CFR 63.495 - Back-end process provisions-procedures to determine compliance using stripping technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Back-end process provisions-procedures to determine compliance using stripping technology. 63.495 Section 63.495 Protection of Environment...: Group I Polymers and Resins § 63.495 Back-end process provisions—procedures to determine compliance...

  5. Integrated graphical user interface for the back-end software sub-system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badescu, E.; Caprini, M.

    2001-01-01

    The ATLAS data acquisition and Event Filter prototype '-1' project was intended to produce a prototype system for evaluating candidate technologies and architectures for the final ATLAS DAQ system on the LHC accelerator at CERN. Within the prototype project, the back-end sub-system encompasses the software for configuring, controlling and monitoring the data acquisition (DAQ). The back-end sub-system includes core components and detector integration components. One of the detector integration components is the Integrated Graphical User Interface (IGUI), which is intended to give a view of the status of the DAQ system and its sub-systems (Dataflow, Event Filter and Back-end) and to allow the user (general users, such as a shift operator at a test beam or experts, in order to control and debug the DAQ system) to control its operation. The IGUI is intended to be a Status Display and a Control Interface too, so there are three groups of functional requirements: display requirements (the information to be displayed); control requirements (the actions the IGUI shall perform on the DAQ components); general requirements, applying to the general functionality of the IGUI. The constraint requirements include requirements related to the access control (shift operator or expert user). The quality requirements are related to the portability on different platforms. The IGUI has to interact with many components in a distributed environment. The following design guidelines have been considered in order to fulfil the requirements: use a modular design with easy possibility to integrate different sub-systems; use Java language for portability and powerful graphical features; use CORBA interfaces for communication with other components. The actual implementation of Back-end software components use Inter-Language Unification (ILU) for inter-process communication. Different methods of access of Java applications to ILU C++ servers have been evaluated (native methods, ILU Java support

  6. Core component integration tests for the back-end software sub-system in the ATLAS data acquisition and event filter prototype -1 project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badescu, E.; Caprini, M.; Niculescu, M.; Radu, A.

    2000-01-01

    The ATLAS data acquisition (DAQ) and Event Filter (EF) prototype -1 project was intended to produce a prototype system for evaluating candidate technologies and architectures for the final ATLAS DAQ system on the LHC accelerator at CERN. Within the prototype project, the back-end sub-system encompasses the software for configuring, controlling and monitoring the DAQ. The back-end sub-system includes core components and detector integration components. The core components provide the basic functionality and had priority in terms of time-scale for development in order to have a baseline sub-system that can be used for integration with the data-flow sub-system and event filter. The following components are considered to be the core of the back-end sub-system: - Configuration databases, describe a large number of parameters of the DAQ system architecture, hardware and software components, running modes and status; - Message reporting system (MRS), allows all software components to report messages to other components in the distributed environment; - Information service (IS) allows the information exchange for software components; - Process manager (PMG), performs basic job control of software components (start, stop, monitoring the status); - Run control (RC), controls the data taking activities by coordinating the operations of the DAQ sub-systems, back-end software and external systems. Performance and scalability tests have been made for individual components. The back-end subsystem integration tests bring together all the core components and several trigger/DAQ/detector integration components to simulate the control and configuration of data taking sessions. For back-end integration tests a test plan was provided. The tests have been done using a shell script that goes through different phases as follows: - starting the back-end server processes to initialize communication services and PMG; - launching configuration specific processes via DAQ supervisor as

  7. 40 CFR 63.494 - Back-end process provisions-residual organic HAP limitations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... organic HAP limitations. 63.494 Section 63.494 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... § 63.494 Back-end process provisions—residual organic HAP limitations. (a) The monthly weighted average residual organic HAP content of all grades of elastomer processed, measured after the stripping operation...

  8. Back End Programming in .NET Framework

    OpenAIRE

    Sapkota, Dinesh

    2013-01-01

    The main goal of the project was to develop a web application which provides the services for both web and mobile client. The complete application development process was carried out by the team of four members and a supervisor. According to the interest of group members the whole project was divided into four parts; that is user interface design, mobile application development, back end development for mobile services and server side back end development of application. I got the task of ser...

  9. MSGD: Scalable back-end for indoor magnetic field-based GraphSLAM

    OpenAIRE

    Gao, C; Harle, Robert Keith

    2017-01-01

    Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) systems that recover the trajectory of a robot or mobile device are characterised by a front-end and back-end. The front-end uses sensor observations to identify loop closures; the back-end optimises the estimated trajectory to be consistent with these closures. The GraphSLAM framework formulates the back-end problem as a graph-based optimisation on a pose graph. This paper describes a back-end system optimised for very dense sequence-based lo...

  10. Contributions to the back-end software sub-system of the ATLAS data acquisition of event filter prototype -1 project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badescu, E.; Caprini, M.; Niculescu, M.; Radu, A.

    1998-01-01

    A project has been approved by the ATLAS Collaboration for the design and implementation of a Data Acquisition (DAQ) and Event Filter (EF) prototype, based on the functional architecture described in the ATLAS Technical Proposal. The prototype consists of a full 'vertical' slice of the ATLAS Data Acquisition and Event Filter architecture and can be seen as made of 4 sub-systems: the Detector Interface, the Dataflow, the Back-end DAQ and the Event Filter. The Bucharest group is member of DAQ/EF collaboration and during 1997 was involved in the Back-end activities. The back-end software encompasses the software for configuring, controlling and monitoring the DAQ but specifically excludes the management, processing or transportation of physics data. The user requirements gathered for the back-end sub-system have been divided into groups related to activities providing similar functionality. The groups have been further developed into components of the Back-end with a well defined purpose and boundaries. Each component offers some unique functionality and has its own architecture. The actual Back-end component model includes 5 core components (run control, configuration databases, message reporting system, process manager and information service) and 6 detector integration components (partition and resource manager, status display, run bookkeeper, event dump, test manager and diagnostic package). The Bucharest group participated to the high level design, implementation and testing of three components (information service, message reporting system and status display). The Information Service (IS) provides an information exchange facility for software components of the DAQ. Information (defined by the supplier) from many sources can be categorized and made available to requesting applications asynchronously or on demand. The design of the information service followed an object oriented approach. It is a multiple server configuration in which servers are dedicated to

  11. Modified ADS molten salt processes for back-end fuel cycle of PWR spent fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, In-Kyu; Yeon, Jei-Won; Kim, Won-Ho

    2002-01-01

    The back-end fuel cycle concept for PWR spent fuel is explained. This concept is adequate for Korea, which has operated both PWR and CANDU reactors. Molten salt processes for accelerator driven system (ADS) were modified both for the transmutation of long-lived radioisotopes and for the utilisation of the remained fissile uranium in PWR spent fuels. Prior to applying molten salt processes to PWR fuel, hydrofluorination and fluorination processes are applied to obtain uranium hexafluoride from the spent fuel pellet. It is converted to uranium dioxide and fabricated into CANDU fuel. From the remained fluoride compounds, transuranium elements can be separated by the molten salt technology such as electrowinning and reductive extraction processes for transmutation purpose without weakening the proliferation resistance of molten salt technology. The proposed fuel cycle concept using fluorination processes is thought to be adequate for our nuclear program and can replace DUPIC (Direct Use of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactor) fuel cycle. Each process for the proposed fuel cycle concept was evaluated in detail

  12. 40 CFR 63.500 - Back-end process provisions-carbon disulfide limitations for styrene butadiene rubber by emulsion...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Back-end process provisions-carbon disulfide limitations for styrene butadiene rubber by emulsion processes. 63.500 Section 63.500 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FOR...

  13. The MicroTCA acquisition and processing back-end for FERMI-Elettra diagnostics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borga, A.O.; Monte, R. de; Pavlovic, L.; Predonzani, M.; Rossi, F.; Gaio, G.; Ferianis, M.

    2012-01-01

    During the construction and commissioning of the FERMI-Elettra Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility, tight requirements for diagnostics readout, processing, and control electronics had been specified; together with a complete integration in the main machine control system. Among the diagnostics devices to be controlled, the Bunch Arrival Monitors (BAM) and the Cavity Beam Position Monitors (C-BPM). The back-end platform, based on the MicroTCA (or uTCA) standard, provides a robust environment for accommodating such electronics, including reliable infrastructure features for slow control and monitoring of the electronics inside the crates. Two types of Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMC) had been conceived, developed and manufactured in order to meet the demanding requisites. The first is a fast (160 MSps) and high-resolution (16 bits) Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog (A-D-A) Convert Board, hosting two A-D and two D-A converters controlled by an FPGA. The onboard logic is also responsible for service and host interface handling. The latter board is an Analog to Digital Only (A-DO) Converter, derived from the A-D-A, with an analog front side stage made of four A-D converters. Timing synthesis and distribution from a MicroTCA Central Hub (MCH) slot can be provided by means of a custom MicroTCA Timing Central Hub (MiTiCH), specifically designed for accurate (sub ps range) timing distribution over uTCA back-planes. The overall systems' architectures, together with the AMCs and MCH concept and functionalities, are described hereafter. A summary of the achievements, for each specific use case, together with our experience in the field with the new architecture, are then summarized. (authors)

  14. New Persistent Back-End for the ATLAS Online Information Service

    CERN Document Server

    Soloviev, I; The ATLAS collaboration

    2014-01-01

    The Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ) and detector systems of the ATLAS experiment deploy more than 3000 computers, running more than 15000 concurrent processes, to perform the selection, recording and monitoring of the proton collisions data in ATLAS. Most of these processes produce and share operational monitoring data used for inter-process communication and analysis of the systems. Few of these data are archived by dedicated applications into conditions and histogram databases. The rest of the data remained transient and lost at the end of a data taking session. To save these data for later, offline analysis of the quality of data taking and to help investigating the behavior of the system by experts, the first prototype of a new Persistent Back-End for the Atlas Information System of TDAQ (P-BEAST) was developed and deployed in the second half of 2012. The modern, distributed, and Java-based Cassandra database has been used as the storage technology and the CERN EOS for long-term storage. This paper pr...

  15. Back-end interconnection. A generic concept for high volume manufacturing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bosman, J.; Budel, T.; De Kok, C.J.G.M.

    2013-10-15

    The general method to realize series connection in thin film PV modules is monolithical interconnection through a sequence of laser scribes (P1, P2 and P3) and layer depositions. This method however implies that the deposition processes are interrupted several times, an undesirable situation in high volume processing. In order to eliminate this drawback we focus our developments on the so called 'back-end interconnection concept' in which series interconnection takes place AFTER the deposition of the functional layers of the thin film PV device. The process of making a back-end interconnection combines laser scribing, curing, sintering and inkjet processes. These different processes interacts with each other and are investigated in order to create processing strategies that are robust to ensure high volume production. The generic approach created a technology base that can be applied to any thin film PV technology.

  16. The Areva Group back-end division - challenges and prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-06-01

    This document presents the Areva Group back-end division challenges and prospects. Areva, a world nuclear industry leader, analyzes in this document, the high-profile mix of complementary activities of the nuclear energy industry, concerning the back-end division the full range of services for the end of the fuel cycle, the fuel cycle back-end markets, the economic and financial associated considerations. (A.L.B.)

  17. Factors determining the long term back end nuclear fuel cycle strategy and future nuclear systems. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-05-01

    The Technical Committee Meeting (TCM) was held in Vienna on 8-10 November 1999; it was organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and attended by 26 participants from 16 Member States. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange information among experts on the back end fuel cycle strategies adopted by Member States; to identify key factors determining the long-term back end fuel cycle strategies; and to assess the applicability of these factors to future nuclear systems. Issues associated with the back end fuel cycle supporting a country's nuclear power programme are technical, economic, institutional and political. This TCM provided an opportunity to address these issues and their impacts to the back end fuel cycles, as well as to identify and assess factors affecting the back end fuel cycle strategies. The discussion was organized ib the following topical sessions: the nuclear fuel cycle; spent fuel management; waste management and repository; plutonium management. This document contains a summary of the meeting and 22 individual papers presented by participants. Each of the papers was indexed separately

  18. Factors determining the long term back end nuclear fuel cycle strategy and future nuclear systems. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-05-01

    The Technical Committee Meeting (TCM) was held in Vienna on 8-10 November 1999; it was organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and attended by 26 participants from 16 Member States. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange information among experts on the back end fuel cycle strategies adopted by Member States; to identify key factors determining the long-term back end fuel cycle strategies; and to assess the applicability of these factors to future nuclear systems. Issues associated with the back end fuel cycle supporting a country's nuclear power programme are technical, economic, institutional and political. This TCM provided an opportunity to address these issues and their impacts to the back end fuel cycles, as well as to identify and assess factors affecting the back end fuel cycle strategies. The discussion was organized ib the following topical sessions: the nuclear fuel cycle; spent fuel management; waste management and repository; plutonium management. This document contains a summary of the meeting and 22 individual papers presented by participants. Each of the papers was indexed separately.

  19. Back end of the fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfe, B.; Lambert, R.W.

    1975-01-01

    At present, that portion of the nuclear fuel cycle involving reprocessing, waste management, and mixed-oxide fuel fabrication is in an unsettled state. Government regulatory requirements with respect to all aspects of the back end of the fuel cycle are still being formulated, and there is little positive experience on the operation of commercial reprocessing or mixed-oxide fabrication plants. In view of this unsettled situation, it will be difficult to meet the reprocessing and mixed-oxide fabrication needs of the next decade in the pattern previously anticipated. The costs in the back end of the fuel cycle are much higher than had been anticipated several years ago, a situation similar to that of almost all large endeavors in this country. On the other hand, the added costs are small relative to total power costs and do not affect the economic advantage of nuclear power as compared to other power sources. A rough economic analysis indicates that the question for the back end of the fuel cycle has changed from one of optimizing profitability to one of determining the most economic disposition of spent fuel. Long-term spent fuel storage is a practical and economically acceptable way to provide time for determining a sound course of action for the back end of the fuel cycle. Indeed, if one could count on a breeder economy before the end of the century, one possible course of action is to store light-water fuel until the plutonium can be used in breeders. However, for philosophical as well as practical reasons, it is important that the uncertainties in the course of action should be resolved as quickly as possible. Long-term storage should not be an excuse to delay resolution of the basic questions. (U.S.)

  20. Scientific research on the back-end of the fuel cycle for the 21. century

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    The aim of the Atalante-2000 conference is to present the major research axis concerning the nuclear fuel cycle back-end. The different topics are: - Present options concerning fuel cycle back-end; - Reprocessing of spent fuel; - Advanced separation for transmutation; - Processing and packaging of radioactive wastes; - Design and fabrication of targets for transmutation; and - Conversion of military plutonium into MOX fuels

  1. Remote handling and automation in back end of fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nair, K.N.S.

    2010-01-01

    Full text: Indian nuclear programme is readying for a quantum leap and it is essential that technology is available for building advanced fuel recycle plants in the back end and for sustained operation of such plants. Remote technology and automation plays a big role to achieve this goal. With the introduction of advanced fuel cycles in indigenous programme and scenario of international cooperation it is essential to be ready with indigenous technology for meeting all challenges. Work has been progressing to develop locally support technology for remote handling and automation with good success. Essential RH tools such as master slave manipulators, power manipulators and hot cell viewing systems have been developed and commercial production has been established. Customised RH requirements for back end plants have been met and the designs have proven to be worthy for hot operations over the years. In the last few years stress has been on development of equipment and technology to meet the increasing demands of higher throughput plants. Substantial progress has been achieved in the head end and reconversion laboratory systems of reprocessing plants. Similarly successful efforts have also been made for establishing Thoria processing cells and also the RH in the reconversion operations. Custom designed equipment has been developed for decommissioning of ceramic melter, used glove boxes etc. Efforts are on hand to develop automated RH equipment for material handling in underground repositories. This paper aims at bringing out the theme based on some of our own experiences and some reports from plants in operation abroad. (author)

  2. Back-end and interface implementation of the STS-XYTER2 prototype ASIC for the CBM experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasinski, K.; Szczygiel, R.; Zabolotny, W.

    2016-01-01

    Each front-end readout ASIC for the High-Energy Physics experiments requires robust and effective hit data streaming and control mechanism. A new STS-XYTER2 full-size prototype chip for the Silicon Tracking System and Muon Chamber detectors in the Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR, Germany) is a 128-channel time and amplitude measuring solution for silicon microstrip and gas detectors. It operates at 250 kHit/s/channel hit rate, each hit producing 27 bits of information (5-bit amplitude, 14-bit timestamp, position and diagnostics data). The chip back-end implements fast front-end channel read-out, timestamp-wise hit sorting, and data streaming via a scalable interface implementing the dedicated protocol (STS-HCTSP) for chip control and hit transfer with data bandwidth from 9.7 MHit/s up to 47 MHit/s. It also includes multiple options for link diagnostics, failure detection, and throttling features. The back-end is designed to operate with the data acquisition architecture based on the CERN GBTx transceivers. This paper presents the details of the back-end and interface design and its implementation in the UMC 180 nm CMOS process.

  3. Back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shapar, H.K.

    1986-01-01

    Most of the nuclear spent fuel that is discharged from the reactors in OECD countries is destined currently for long term interim storage before final processing or direct disposal. There are at least three basic considerations affecting the dicision on spent fuel, that is, the capacity of prompt reprocessing is insufficient at present, reprocessing is not urgent for the reason of economy or plutonium availability, and the cooling of spent fuel in controlled storage is economically advantageous. The basic technology of reprocessing has been commercially available for several decades, but political problems and the lack of immediate incentive for reprocessing slowed the buildup of new capacity. To avoid the problems related to plutonium storage, it is reasonable to postpone reprocessing. Some OECD countries plan the direct disposal of spent fuel elements instead of reprocessing. The technology, supply and demand and cost of the storage and transport of spent fuel, reprocessing and waste disposal are discussed. The share of the back end in the total levelized fuel cycle cost is expected to be between 10 and 20 %. The impact of the choice of back end options on the cost of power generation will be only 2 %. (Kako, I.)

  4. ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL — UNDERSTANDING THE FRONT-END AND BACK-END OF BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

    OpenAIRE

    FRANZISKA GÜNZEL; ANNA B. HOLM

    2013-01-01

    Business model innovation is becoming a central research topic in management. However, a lack of a common understanding of the nature of the business model leads to disregarding its multifaceted structure when analyzing the business model innovation process. This article proposes a more detailed understanding of the business model innovation process by drawing on existing knowledge from new product development literature and examining the front-end and the back-end of business model innovatio...

  5. French industrial capabilities for the back-end operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caspar, Gilles A.

    1988-01-01

    Based upon processes initiated by the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique and its industrial partners, France has been elaborating for about thirty years a steady and consistent programme for the back-end fuel cycle. French industrial actors for each segment of this cycle are shown in annex. The CEA is the research and development national entity sustaining the industrial efforts of the French companies involved in all stages of the fuel cycle : enrichment, fabrication, reprocessing, radwaste management. Such a cooperation assistance is devoted to processes developments, equipment qualification, engineering back up, as this will be reviewed along present communication. As well known, mastering a new technology from fundamental research to full scale industrial deployment, requires time and considerable financial commitments. Both CEA and COGEMA have devoted the requested time and funds to reach an effective industrialization of the closed fuel cycle. This industrial achievement is now completed. UP2 La Hague reprocessing unit produces effectively over 40 T per month and its capacity will be doubled to reach a nominal production of 800 T per year available in 1993 for our EDF domestic utility. It has recently reprocessed the two thousandth ton of LWR fuel and treated in 1987 over 400 T of the same, thus exceeding the nominal capacity. On the same site our UP3 unit under construction will be operating next year with a capacity of also 800 tons per year devoted to foreign utilities. Last year, in view of our excellent operational experience, Cogema reassessed the whole financial scheme for both plants including maintenance and refurbishing expenses. We may confirm that the reprocessing cost, after base load period ending in year 1999, will be reduced by 30 to 40%. The once through option does not effectively solve the spent fuel problem since to-day nobody has qualified an ultimate repository site associated with a licensed reliable process for irradiated fuel embedding

  6. Engineered safeguards system activities at Sandia Laboratories for back-end fuel cycle facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sellers, T.A.; Fienning, W.C.; Winblad, A.E.

    1978-01-01

    Sandia Laboratories have been developing concepts for safeguards systems to protect facilities in the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle against potential threats of sabotage and theft of special nuclear material (SNM). Conceptual designs for Engineered Safeguards Systems (ESSs) have been developed for a Fuel Reprocessing Facility (including chemical separations, plutonium conversion, and waste solidification), a Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, and a Plutonium Transport Vehicle. Performance criteria for the various elements of these systems and a candidate systematic design approach have been defined. In addition, a conceptual layout for a large-scale Fuel-Cycle Plutonium Storage Facility has been completed. Work is continuing to develop safeguards systems for spent fuel facilities, light-water reactors, alternative fuel cycles, and improved transportation systems. Additional emphasis will be placed on the problems associated with national diversion of special nuclear material. The impact on safeguards element performance criteria for surveillance and containment to protect against national diversion in various alternative fuel cycle complexes is also being investigated

  7. Improvement in Product Development: Use of back-end data to support upstream efforts of Robust Design Methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanajah Siva

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available In the area of Robust Design Methodology (RDM less is done on how to use and work with data from the back-end of the product development process to support upstream improvement. The purpose of this paper is to suggest RDM practices for the use of customer claims data in early design phases as a basis for improvements. The back-end data, when systematically analyzed and fed back into the product development process, aids in closing the product development loop from claims to improvement in the design phase. This is proposed through a flow of claims data analysis tied to an existing tool, namely Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA. The systematic and integrated analysis of back-end data is suggested as an upstream effort of RDM to increase understanding of noise factors during product usage based on the feedback of claims data to FMEA and to address continuous improvement in product development.

  8. LFI 30 and 44 GHz receivers Back-End Modules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Artal, E; Aja, B; Fuente, M L de la; Pascual, J P; Mediavilla, A; Martinez-Gonzalez, E; Pradell, L; Paco, P de; Bara, M; Blanco, E; GarcIa, E; Davis, R; Kettle, D; Roddis, N; Wilkinson, A; Bersanelli, M; Mennella, A; Tomasi, M; Butler, R C; Cuttaia, F

    2009-01-01

    The 30 and 44 GHz Back End Modules (BEM) for the Planck Low Frequency Instrument are broadband receivers (20% relative bandwidth) working at room temperature. The signals coming from the Front End Module are amplified, band pass filtered and finally converted to DC by a detector diode. Each receiver has two identical branches following the differential scheme of the Planck radiometers. The BEM design is based on MMIC Low Noise Amplifiers using GaAs P-HEMT devices, microstrip filters and Schottky diode detectors. Their manufacturing development has included elegant breadboard prototypes and finally qualification and flight model units. Electrical, mechanical and environmental tests were carried out for the characterization and verification of the manufactured BEMs. A description of the 30 and 44 GHz Back End Modules of Planck-LFI radiometers is given, with details of the tests done to determine their electrical and environmental performances. The electrical performances of the 30 and 44 GHz Back End Modules: frequency response, effective bandwidth, equivalent noise temperature, 1/f noise and linearity are presented.

  9. One size does not fit all - understanding the front-end and back-ens of business model innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Günzel, Franziska; Holm, Anna B.

    2013-01-01

    Business model innovation is becoming a central research topic in management. However, a lack of a common understanding of the nature of the business model leads to disregarding its multifaceted structure when analyzing the business model innovation process. This article proposes a more detailed...... understanding of the business model innovation process by drawing on existing knowledge from new product development literature and examining the front-end and the back-end of business model innovation of three leading Danish newspapers. We studied how changes introduced during the development of digital news...... production and delivery have affected key components of these business models, namely value creation, proposition, delivery and capture in the period 2002–2011. Our findings suggest the need to distinguish between front-end and back-end business model innovation processes, and to recognize the importance...

  10. MTR spent fuel back-end - Cogema's long-term commitment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomasson, J.

    1998-01-01

    MTR spent fuel back end has been subject to many reversal and uncertainties in the past 10 years. Until the end of 1988, US obligated materials were subject to the Off site Fuels Policy (OFP). Under this policy, spent fuels were returned to USA, and were reprocessed there. This OFP took end the 31th of December 1988, and Research Reactor's operators had to implement others solutions: On site storage or Reprocessing in Europe. Meanwhile the RERTR Program was leading to a new LEU fuel to replace HEU aluminide. This new silicide fuel has one main drawback: it cannot be reprocessed in working plants without some process main line modifications. Fortunately, a new Research Reactors spent fuels return policy has been set up by the US in the early 1996. This new policy applies to all reactors converted or that have agreed to convert to LEU, and reactors operating with HEU for which no suitable LEU is available. It covers all the spent fuels discharged until 2006/05/12. But after that period of time, each reactor will be fully responsible for its spent fuels. Since the end of 1996, COGEMA is proposing reprocessing services for Aluminides spent fuels, based on the La Hague capability. This COGEMA answer is for the long term, as the La Hague plant has a good load for the coming years, including the first decade of the next century. Further, this activity benefits from a strong R and D support, that allowed fulfilling the evolutive needs of our customers, and gives us the ability to adapt the plant to the future market. Taking advantage of this flexibility, COGEMA offers Research Reactors' operators a long-term commitment. Already two reactors' operators have chosen to contract with COGEMA for the whole life of their reactors. The contracts execution is under progress and the first transportation will take place soon. Beside today's services, COGEMA is involved in R and D activities to support new fuels development enhancing present LEU performances and having the ability to

  11. An End-to-End System to Enable Quick, Easy and Inexpensive Deployment of Hydrometeorological Stations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celicourt, P.; Piasecki, M.

    2014-12-01

    The high cost of hydro-meteorological data acquisition, communication and publication systems along with limited qualified human resources is considered as the main reason why hydro-meteorological data collection remains a challenge especially in developing countries. Despite significant advances in sensor network technologies which gave birth to open hardware and software, low-cost (less than $50) and low-power (in the order of a few miliWatts) sensor platforms in the last two decades, sensors and sensor network deployment remains a labor-intensive, time consuming, cumbersome, and thus expensive task. These factors give rise for the need to develop a affordable, simple to deploy, scalable and self-organizing end-to-end (from sensor to publication) system suitable for deployment in such countries. The design of the envisioned system will consist of a few Sensed-And-Programmed Arduino-based sensor nodes with low-cost sensors measuring parameters relevant to hydrological processes and a Raspberry Pi micro-computer hosting the in-the-field back-end data management. This latter comprises the Python/Django model of the CUAHSI Observations Data Model (ODM) namely DjangODM backed by a PostgreSQL Database Server. We are also developing a Python-based data processing script which will be paired with the data autoloading capability of Django to populate the DjangODM database with the incoming data. To publish the data, the WOFpy (WaterOneFlow Web Services in Python) developed by the Texas Water Development Board for 'Water Data for Texas' which can produce WaterML web services from a variety of back-end database installations such as SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL will be used. A step further would be the development of an appealing online visualization tool using Python statistics and analytics tools (Scipy, Numpy, Pandas) showing the spatial distribution of variables across an entire watershed as a time variant layer on top of a basemap.

  12. Front-end data processing the SLD data acquisition system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nielsen, B.S.

    1986-07-01

    The data acquisition system for the SLD detector will make extensive use of parallel at the front-end level. Fastbus acquisition modules are being built with powerful processing capabilities for calibration, data reduction and further pre-processing of the large amount of analog data handled by each module. This paper describes the read-out electronics chain and data pre-processing system adapted for most of the detector channels, exemplified by the central drift chamber waveform digitization and processing system

  13. Back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, J.S.

    2002-01-01

    Current strategies of the back-end nuclear fuel cycles are: (1) direct-disposal of spent fuel (Open Cycle), and (2) reprocessing of the spent fuel and recycling of the recovered nuclear materials (Closed Cycle). The selection of these strategies is country-specific, and factors affecting selection of strategy are identified and discussed in this paper. (author)

  14. Environment, renewable sources and NPPs: Strategy of Slovak Republic for the back end of nuclear power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Timulak, J.

    2009-01-01

    The term 'back end of nuclear power' means set of activities corresponding to the final stage of utilizing the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, or at the border of nuclear facilities with the environment. Strategy of back end of nuclear power is a basic document that specifies strategy of the Slovak Republic and all relevant subjects for the next five years in detail and for the period up to 2025 in general terms, with the prospect till the end of 21 st century. It provides proposals for implementation of the back end strategy in accordance with requirements for the health and environmental protection so that its consequences are not unacceptably transferred to next generations. The goal of the back end strategy is: - to set acceptable bases back end of nuclear power in Slovakia; - to create framework for decision-making in financial covering of the strategy activities; - to provide information on conceptual solutions of back end of nuclear power to all relevant subjects and to the public. (author)

  15. Comparison of different back end fuel cycle concepts and evaluation of their feasibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baetke, K.; Baumgaertel, G.; Bechthold, W.; Becker, R.; Closs, K.D.; Dippel, T.; Engelmann, H.J.; Fischer, P.M.; Fischer, U.; Haug, H.O.

    1980-09-01

    The study represents a comparison between the two alternative back end fuel cycle concepts, i.e., the 'integrated back end fuel cycle concept', (reprocessing, recycling of uranium and plutonium) and the 'spent fuel disposal concept', under aspects of technical feasibility, radiation accidents, radiological impact, and energy policy as well as with respect of the proliferation hazards issuing from each of these concepts. An overall comparison of the two back end fuel cycle concepts and the two fuel cycles, respectively, is not yet feasible at the present time, pending clarification of a number of problems of detail. For this reason, the Study also indicates the research activities that must still be carried out on spent fuel disposal in the next few years, in order to allow the comparison of the two back end fuel cycle alternatives to be carried out with respect to safety, as demanded by the heads of government of the Federal Republic and the Federal States for the mid-eighties. (orig./HP) [de

  16. Strategy and Economic Prospect of Back-end Cycle through ATW

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hendri Firman Windarto; Siti Alimah

    2003-01-01

    Strategy and economic prospect of back-end cycle through ATW has been studied. Nuclear fuel cycle through ATW is a single stratum of back-end cycle. By ATW, volume of spent fuel which should be disposed in long term can be reduced from 70,000 MHTM to 3,000 MHTM and half-life of spent fuel can be reduced from 15,700,000 years to 300 years. Strategic values of the ATW cycle are to prevent proliferation risk and to reduce the uncertainty of long term dispose. Economic prospect of the ATW cycle will give some advantages on reducing of spent fuel volume and its disposal period, and producing electricity. (author)

  17. One size does not fit all - understanding the front-end and back-ens of business model innovation

    OpenAIRE

    Günzel, Franziska; Holm, Anna B.

    2013-01-01

    Business model innovation is becoming a central research topic in management. However, a lack of a common understanding of the nature of the business model leads to disregarding its multifaceted structure when analyzing the business model innovation process. This article proposes a more detailed understanding of the business model innovation process by drawing on existing knowledge from new product development literature and examining the front-end and the back-end of business model innovatio...

  18. Risk assessment for truck-transport assuming different concepts of the back-end of the fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tully, A.; Sonnenschein, R.; Haeusler, S.

    1983-01-01

    The different concepts of the back-end of the fuel cycle existing in the Federal Republic of Germany require that various types of radioactive materials will be transported along different pathways, for various distances and at different frequencies, thus resulting in different risks to the public. In one part of the second phase of the R + D program Projekt Sicherheitsstudien Entsorgung (PSE), the risk during normal and accident conditions will be assessed for each of the concepts of the back-end of the fuel cycle. Within this part of the safety analysis, DORNIER SYSTEM will determine the risks resulting from the transport of radioactive materials by truck, using the probabilistic method of fault tree analysis. This part of the investigation will extend until the end of 1983. 4 references, 5 tables

  19. Separations in back-end of nuclear fuel cycle: overview of R and D activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bansal, N.K.; Chitnis, R.R.

    2004-01-01

    This article discusses various areas in back-end of nuclear fuel cycle where R and D activities in separation science are actively pursued. Solvent extraction and ion-exchange are the main techniques where maximum developmental activities are underway. In addition to actual techniques, article also discusses the status of the studies especially where the process has been applied on larger scale. (author)

  20. Back end of an enduring fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pillay, K.K.S.

    1998-03-01

    An enduring nuclear fuel cycle is an essential part of sustainable consumption, the process whereby world's riches are consumed in a responsible manner so that future generations can continue to enjoy at least some of them. In many countries, the goal of sustainable development has focused attention on the benefits of nuclear technologies. However, sustenance of the nuclear fuel cycle is dependent on sensible management of all the resources of the fuel cycle, including energy, spent fuels, and all of its side streams. The nuclear fuel cycle for energy production has suffered many traumas since the mid seventies. The common basis of technologies producing nuclear explosives and consumable nuclear energy has been a preoccupation for some, predicament for others, and a perception problem for many. It is essential to reestablish a reliable back end of the nuclear fuel cycle that can sustain the resource requirements of an enduring full cycle. This paper identifies some pragmatic steps necessary to reverse the trend and to maintain a necessary fuel cycle option for the future

  1. Visualization for Hyper-Heuristics: Back-End Processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simon, Luke [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-03-01

    Modern society is faced with increasingly complex problems, many of which can be formulated as generate-and-test optimization problems. Yet, general-purpose optimization algorithms may sometimes require too much computational time. In these instances, hyperheuristics may be used. Hyper-heuristics automate the design of algorithms to create a custom algorithm for a particular scenario, finding the solution significantly faster than its predecessor. However, it may be difficult to understand exactly how a design was derived and why it should be trusted. This project aims to address these issues by creating an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) for hyper-heuristics and an easy-to-understand scientific visualization for the produced solutions. To support the development of this GUI, my portion of the research involved developing algorithms that would allow for parsing of the data produced by the hyper-heuristics. This data would then be sent to the front-end, where it would be displayed to the end user.

  2. Flexible distribution systems through the application of multi back-to-back converters. Concept, implementation and experimental verification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Graaff, R A.A.

    2010-05-26

    The objective of the research project is to investigate the use of a multi back-to-back converter to support the transition to active distribution networks. The investigation must explicitly not focus on finding the optimal power electronics topology, but rather on defining the role that such a device can play in a power distribution system and on the proof of principle. The possible tasks of this device are to actively control power flow and to maintain power quality and stability, both during normal operation and during fault conditions in medium voltage networks with distributed generation. The combination of this versatile converter system and the control and protection systems that define its functionality are in this thesis denoted as the Intelligent Node (IN). Research questions are: (1) Which are the main benefits of multi back-to-back converter devices in distribution systems?; (2) How and under which conditions can these benefits be achieved? What controls should be adopted?; (3) Which are the specific aspects that distinguish the application of the multi back-to-back devices in distribution systems from similar applications in transmission systems?; (4) Can this be demonstrated on a laboratory-scale set-up?Chapter 2 Distribution systems The relevant aspects of distribution systems are discussed. This includes power quality considerations, redundancy aspects, and voltage control methods. Chapter 3 (FACTS in distribution systems) describes power flow control principles. Also an overview is given of the state-of-the-art of power electronic applications for power flow control in electrical power systems. Chapter 4 (Functional concept of the Intelligent Node) gives the proposed functional concept for the application of a multi back-to-back converter device as IN (Intelligent Node). The applications are developed on a functional level, with the device at a black-box level. To satisfy the resulting requirements several technology options are analyzed, ending

  3. System aspects on safeguards for the back-end of the Swedish nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fritzell, Anni

    2008-03-01

    This thesis has investigated system aspects of safeguarding the back-end of the Swedish nuclear fuel cycle. These aspects include the important notion of continuity of knowledge, the philosophy of verifying measurements and the need to consider the safeguards system as a whole when expanding it to include the encapsulation facility and the geological repository. The research has been analytical in method both in the identification of concrete challenges for the safeguards community in Paper 1, and in the diversion path analysis performed in Paper 2. This method of work is beneficial for example when abstract notions are treated. However, as a suggestion for further work along these lines, a formal systems analysis would be advantageous, and may even reveal properties of the safeguards system that the human mind so far has been to narrow to consider. A systems analysis could be used to model a proposed safeguards approach with the purpose of finding vulnerabilities in its detection probabilities. From the results, capabilities needed to overcome these vulnerabilities could be deduced, thereby formulating formal boundary conditions. These could include: The necessary partial defect level for the NDA measurement; The level of redundancy required in the C/S system to minimize the risk of inconclusive results due to equipment failure; and, Requirements on the capabilities of seismic methods, etc. The field of vulnerability assessment as a tool for systems analysis should be of interest for the safeguards community, as a formal approach could give a new dimension to the credibility of safeguards systems

  4. System aspects on safeguards for the back-end of the Swedish nuclear fuel cycle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fritzell, Anni (Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden))

    2008-03-15

    This thesis has investigated system aspects of safeguarding the back-end of the Swedish nuclear fuel cycle. These aspects include the important notion of continuity of knowledge, the philosophy of verifying measurements and the need to consider the safeguards system as a whole when expanding it to include the encapsulation facility and the geological repository. The research has been analytical in method both in the identification of concrete challenges for the safeguards community in Paper 1, and in the diversion path analysis performed in Paper 2. This method of work is beneficial for example when abstract notions are treated. However, as a suggestion for further work along these lines, a formal systems analysis would be advantageous, and may even reveal properties of the safeguards system that the human mind so far has been to narrow to consider. A systems analysis could be used to model a proposed safeguards approach with the purpose of finding vulnerabilities in its detection probabilities. From the results, capabilities needed to overcome these vulnerabilities could be deduced, thereby formulating formal boundary conditions. These could include: The necessary partial defect level for the NDA measurement; The level of redundancy required in the C/S system to minimize the risk of inconclusive results due to equipment failure; and, Requirements on the capabilities of seismic methods, etc. The field of vulnerability assessment as a tool for systems analysis should be of interest for the safeguards community, as a formal approach could give a new dimension to the credibility of safeguards systems

  5. Analysis of factors affecting the implementation of back-end nuclear fuel cycle policy in Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Yung Myung; Yang, Maeng Ho; Kim, Hyun Joon; Chung, Hwan Sam; Oh, Keun Bae; Lee, Byung OoK; Ko, Han Suk; Song, Ki Dong; Lee, Man Ki; Moon, Ki Hwan; Lee, Han Myung

    1994-01-01

    In this study, the back-end nuclear fuel cycle acceptability is surveyed and analyzed in the following three aspects. To begin with, the future political situation and energy-environmental issues are analyzed as part of the socio-economic aspect. Secondly, the domestic situation of nuclear industries and the fuel cycle policy of foreign countries are surveyed as the technical aspect. Finally, NPT, IAEA safeguards and nuclear export control regimes are analyzed as the institutional aspect. The unification period of South and North Korea also will greatly affect the implementation of back-end fuel cycle policy, and public attitudes will affect the acquisition of site, construction, and operation of nuclear facilities. An effort to release international restrictions on the back-end fuel cycle is also required to accelerate the implementation of the policy. In this regard, the back-end fuel cycle policy should be clear-cut to avoid misunderstanding with respect to nuclear proliferation. Importantly, agreements with foreign countries should be amended at a mutual equivalent level. (Author) 30 refs., 5 figs., 25 tabs

  6. Analysis of factors affecting the implementation of back-end nuclear fuel cycle policy in Korea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Yung Myung; Yang, Maeng Ho; Kim, Hyun Joon; Chung, Hwan Sam; Oh, Keun Bae; Lee, Byung OoK; Ko, Han Suk; Song, Ki Dong; Lee, Man Ki; Moon, Ki Hwan; Lee, Han Myung [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    1994-01-01

    In this study, the back-end nuclear fuel cycle acceptability is surveyed and analyzed in the following three aspects. To begin with, the future political situation and energy-environmental issues are analyzed as part of the socio-economic aspect. Secondly, the domestic situation of nuclear industries and the fuel cycle policy of foreign countries are surveyed as the technical aspect. Finally, NPT, IAEA safeguards and nuclear export control regimes are analyzed as the institutional aspect. The unification period of South and North Korea also will greatly affect the implementation of back-end fuel cycle policy, and public attitudes will affect the acquisition of site, construction, and operation of nuclear facilities. An effort to release international restrictions on the back-end fuel cycle is also required to accelerate the implementation of the policy. In this regard, the back-end fuel cycle policy should be clear-cut to avoid misunderstanding with respect to nuclear proliferation. Importantly, agreements with foreign countries should be amended at a mutual equivalent level. (Author) 30 refs., 5 figs., 25 tabs.

  7. Lanthanide - actinide separation: a challenge in the back end of nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohapatra, P.K.

    2015-01-01

    Due to their similar size and chemical state, separation of trivalent lanthanide and actinide ions has always been a challenging topic of research. Of late, the growing concern for the radioactive waste management in the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle has led to the possibility of transmuting the long-lived transuranides in high flux reactors. This necessitates the development of processes for the separation of lanthanides and actinides in acidic/low pH media. In view of the high absorption cross section of few lanthanides, their presence in relatively large proportion (10-100 times) impedes the transmutation process. Processes such as the TRAMEX and TALSPEAK have been used for the separation of lanthanides from trivalent actinides. Of late soft donor ligands containing S and N donor atoms have been used for the selective extraction of trivalent actinide ions. The commercially available S-donor compound, CYANEX 301 (bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) dithiophosphinic acid) has been used to yield separation factor (S.F.) values in the excess of 6000. Synergistic extraction with N-donor ligands such as 2,2'-bipyridyl and 1,10-phenanthroline have yielded S.F. values close to 40,000. N-donor ligands such as BTP (bis-triazinylpyridine), BTBP (bis-triazinylbipyridyl) and BTPhen (bis-triazinyl-phenanthroline) have been particularly effective from relatively acidic feed conditions. The present lecture will give a brief outline of the separation processes and experimental results of studies carried out using various S and N donor ligands. Use of room temperature ionic liquids for more favorable separations will be highlighted. Liquid membrane separation results for application to back end nuclear fuel cycle will also be discussed. (author)

  8. The Areva Group back-end division - challenges and prospects; Le pole aval dans le groupe Areva - enjeux et perspectives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2004-06-01

    This document presents the Areva Group back-end division challenges and prospects. Areva, a world nuclear industry leader, analyzes in this document, the high-profile mix of complementary activities of the nuclear energy industry, concerning the back-end division the full range of services for the end of the fuel cycle, the fuel cycle back-end markets, the economic and financial associated considerations. (A.L.B.)

  9. A High-Frequency Isolation (HFI Charging DC Port Combining a Front-End Three-Level Converter with a Back-End LLC Resonant Converter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guowei Cai

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The high-frequency isolation (HFI charging DC port can serve as the interface between unipolar/bipolar DC buses and electric vehicles (EVs through the two-power-stage system structure that combines the front-end three-level converter with the back-end logical link control (LLC resonant converter. The DC output voltage can be maintained within the desired voltage range by the front-end converter. The electrical isolation can be realized by the back-end LLC converter, which has the bus converter function. According to the three-level topology, the low-voltage rating power devices can be adapted for half-voltage stress of the total DC grid, and the PWM phase-shift control can double the equivalent switching frequency to greatly reduce the filter volume. LLC resonant converters have advance characteristics of inverter-side zero-voltage-switching (ZVS and rectifier-side zero-current switching (ZCS. In particular, it can achieve better performance under quasi-resonant frequency mode. Additionally, the magnetizing current can be modified following different DC output voltages, which have the self-adaptation ZVS condition for decreasing the circulating current. Here, the principles of the proposed topology are analyzed in detail, and the design conditions of the three-level output filter and high-frequency isolation transformer are explored. Finally, a 20 kW prototype with the 760 V input and 200–500 V output are designed and tested. The experimental results are demonstrated to verify the validity and performance of this charging DC port system structure.

  10. Scientific research on the back-end of the fuel cycle for the 21. century; Les recherches scientifiques sur l'aval du cycle pour le 21. siecle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-07-01

    The aim of the Atalante-2000 conference is to present the major research axis concerning the nuclear fuel cycle back-end. The different topics are: - Present options concerning fuel cycle back-end; - Reprocessing of spent fuel; - Advanced separation for transmutation; - Processing and packaging of radioactive wastes; - Design and fabrication of targets for transmutation; and - Conversion of military plutonium into MOX fuels.

  11. Scientific research on the back-end of the fuel cycle for the 21. century; Les recherches scientifiques sur l'aval du cycle pour le 21. siecle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-07-01

    The aim of the Atalante-2000 conference is to present the major research axis concerning the nuclear fuel cycle back-end. The different topics are: - Present options concerning fuel cycle back-end; - Reprocessing of spent fuel; - Advanced separation for transmutation; - Processing and packaging of radioactive wastes; - Design and fabrication of targets for transmutation; and - Conversion of military plutonium into MOX fuels.

  12. An Open-Source Data Storage and Visualization Back End for Experimental Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Kenneth; Andersen, Thomas; Jensen, Robert

    2014-01-01

    and to interfere with the experiment if needed. The data stored consist both of specific measurements and of continuously logged system parameters. The latter is crucial to a variety of automation and surveillance features, and three cases of such features are described: monitoring system health, getting status......In this article, a flexible free and open-source software system for data logging and presentation will be described. The system is highly modular and adaptable and can be used in any laboratory in which continuous and/or ad hoc measurements require centralized storage. A presentation component...... for the data back end has furthermore been written that enables live visualization of data on any device capable of displaying Web pages. The system consists of three parts: data-logging clients, a data server, and a data presentation Web site. The logging of data from independent clients leads to high...

  13. Materials reliability in the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1987-05-01

    Operating experience of nuclear fuel cycle facilities has proved that the performance and availability of key equipment largely depend on the reliability of its construction materials. In general, the materials of construction have performed well in accordance with the design criteria of equipment. In some cases, however, materials failure problems have been encountered, the causes of which are related to their corrosion and mechanical degradation. In response to the growing interest in these topics, the IAEA convened the Technical Committee Meeting on ''Materials Reliability in the Back-End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle'' at its Headquarters from September 2 to 5, 1986. This Technical Document contains the 15 papers presented during the Meeting. Material aspects of the following fields of the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle are covered: interim and long-term storage of spent fuel; final disposal of spent fuel; storage and vitrification of High Level Liquid Wastes (HLLW); long-term storage of High Level Wastes (HLW); and spent fuel treatment

  14. Innovative strategy for effective critical laboratory result management: end-to-end process using automation and manual call centre.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ti, Lian Kah; Ang, Sophia Bee Leng; Saw, Sharon; Sethi, Sunil Kumar; Yip, James W L

    2012-08-01

    Timely reporting and acknowledgement are crucial steps in critical laboratory results (CLR) management. The authors previously showed that an automated pathway incorporating short messaging system (SMS) texts, auto-escalation, and manual telephone back-up improved the rate and speed of physician acknowledgement compared with manual telephone calling alone. This study investigated if it also improved the rate and speed of physician intervention to CLR and whether utilising the manual back-up affected intervention rates. Data from seven audits between November 2007 and January 2011 were analysed. These audits were carried out to assess the robustness of CLR reporting process in the authors' institution. Comparisons were made in the rate and speed of acknowledgement and intervention between the audits performed before and after automation. Using the automation audits, the authors compared intervention data between communication with SMS only and when manual intervention was required. 1680 CLR were reported during the audit periods. Automation improved the rate (100% vs 84.2%; pautomation audits, the use of SMS only did not improve physician intervention rates. The automated communication pathway improved physician intervention rate and time in tandem with improved acknowledgement rate and time when compared with manual telephone calling. The use of manual intervention to augment automation did not adversely affect physician intervention rate, implying that an end-to-end pathway was more important than automation alone.

  15. OECD/NEA study on economics of the Back-end of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lokhov, Alexey; Urso, Maria Elena; Cameron, Ron

    2013-01-01

    Recommendations: 1. While there may be reasons to extend the interim storage of SNF, these should not prevent governments from maintaining vigorous efforts towards the establishment of deep geological repositories, thereby addressing legitimate public expectations and fulfilling the “intergenerational equity” principle. 2. Public involvement in the establishment and implementation of the SNF management strategy is considered vital: mechanisms to improve stakeholder participation and transparency should be a high priority. 3. Governments should continue to be vigilant in ensuring that the funding systems adopted are stable and robust and that financial resources accrued by waste producers for the management of their waste will be adequate and available at the time they are needed. The following features are considered essential: – Regular and frequent reviews to allow for newly accrued knowledge on technical aspects and actual fund developments, as well as other qualitative factors (e.g. sociopolitical), to be taken into account, and, importantly, for emerging shortfalls to be swiftly addressed through the necessary corrective actions. – Ring-fencing of funds to ensure that resources are only used for the intended purposes. 4. For countries that are committed to ongoing use or development of nuclear energy, comparisons of the costs of different strategies for managing the back end should be drawn on the basis of the full fuel cycle cost. For countries which are phasing out or have already exited nuclear power, a direct back-end cost comparison may be more appropriate. In any case, assessments made for total or partial FC cost comparisons should be transparent about the assumptions made and the scope of the analysis. 5. In any decision-making process regarding the choice of SNF management strategy, a multicriteria approach should be adopted at the national level that expands the quantitative economic considerations to include qualitative factors. These can

  16. The strategy of the long-term back-end nuclear fuel cycle in the Czech Republic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palagyi, S.; Fajman, V.

    2002-01-01

    The present status of the strategy of the long-term back-end nuclear fuel cycle in the Czech Republic is briefly outlined in this paper. This strategy is based on the once-through option in the use of the nuclear fuel with subsequent interim storage of the spent fuel and its final disposal as a declared high level waste. However, other technologies for the management of the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle are not excluded at all. Besides the first already existing and the second interim spent fuel storage facility being sited at Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant, an interim spent fuel storage facility at Temelin Nuclear Power Plant is also under the siting process. To cover the total storing needs a central spent nuclear fuel interim storage facility at Skalka in the Czech-Moravian Highlands is also under consideration. These facilities are or will be equipped with dry-storage containers of cask-type placed in the concrete building and cooled by natural air ventilation. Since 1993 there is a joint effort of several governmental organisations and institutions and private companies to study the scientific, technical and economical possibilities of the construction of the deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel disposal. A horizontal repository facility with vertical access was selected and a reference project has been accepted. A time horizon for construction in about the year of 2035 was scheduled. The necessary legal and administrative basis of the spent fuel and radioactive waste management was laid down by the law No. 18/1997 (Atomic Act) passed in 1997. This basic law with its implementing regulations fully reflects the internationally accepted principles of the provision of nuclear safety and radiation protection in this respect and it also strongly supports the policy and strategy of the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. (author)

  17. Web-based DAQ systems: connecting the user and electronics front-ends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lenzi, Thomas

    2016-01-01

    Web technologies are quickly evolving and are gaining in computational power and flexibility, allowing for a paradigm shift in the field of Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems design. Modern web browsers offer the possibility to create intricate user interfaces and are able to process and render complex data. Furthermore, new web standards such as WebSockets allow for fast real-time communication between the server and the user with minimal overhead. Those improvements make it possible to move the control and monitoring operations from the back-end servers directly to the user and to the front-end electronics, thus reducing the complexity of the data acquisition chain. Moreover, web-based DAQ systems offer greater flexibility, accessibility, and maintainability on the user side than traditional applications which often lack portability and ease of use. As proof of concept, we implemented a simplified DAQ system on a mid-range Spartan6 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development board coupled to a digital front-end readout chip. The system is connected to the Internet and can be accessed from any web browser. It is composed of custom code to control the front-end readout and of a dual soft-core Microblaze processor to communicate with the client.

  18. Web-based DAQ systems: connecting the user and electronics front-ends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenzi, Thomas

    2016-12-01

    Web technologies are quickly evolving and are gaining in computational power and flexibility, allowing for a paradigm shift in the field of Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems design. Modern web browsers offer the possibility to create intricate user interfaces and are able to process and render complex data. Furthermore, new web standards such as WebSockets allow for fast real-time communication between the server and the user with minimal overhead. Those improvements make it possible to move the control and monitoring operations from the back-end servers directly to the user and to the front-end electronics, thus reducing the complexity of the data acquisition chain. Moreover, web-based DAQ systems offer greater flexibility, accessibility, and maintainability on the user side than traditional applications which often lack portability and ease of use. As proof of concept, we implemented a simplified DAQ system on a mid-range Spartan6 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development board coupled to a digital front-end readout chip. The system is connected to the Internet and can be accessed from any web browser. It is composed of custom code to control the front-end readout and of a dual soft-core Microblaze processor to communicate with the client.

  19. The SSC field bus: A high-performance control system front end concentrator for 'slow' accelerator controls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haenni, D.R.; Saltmarsh, C.G.; Lue, H.C.; Hunt, S.M.

    1991-01-01

    The SSC control system must support a large number of 'slow' or industrial type control points. A front-end system is described which could serve as both a data concentrator and a distributed process controller for these points. Unlike many distributed control systems, this front end is designed to provide strong support for centralized controls. The live parameter data base in the central system can be updated at a rate which is fast compared to that usually needed for process control loops. Portions of this data base can be optionally replicated in regional computers to provide both local control stations and distributed control loops. In addition to the global and regional levels the system also allows the distribution of loops to the local I/O crate level. A possible implementation of this system is under development which is based on industrial standard STD-Bus for accelerator hardware interfacing, time domain multiplexing (TDM) for communications transport, and a form of reflective memory for the back-end interface to the rest of the control system

  20. The back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle: The Argentine view

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevens, C.E.

    2002-01-01

    The strategy of the back-end nuclear fuel cycle for Argentina is presented in this paper. Although one may consider Argentina's current policy on spent fuel management as 'wait and see', Argentina is continuously directing her efforts towards the development of technology and human resources for the future demand of the closure of the nuclear fuel cycle. (author)

  1. Multilateral approach to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle in Asia-Pacific?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Eunjung

    2016-01-01

    In spite of the nearly unprecedented scale of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident which caused countries around the world to review their nuclear power systems and to rethink their nuclear power expansion plans, nuclear power capacity continues to grow, spearheaded by the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific has become a major emerging market for nuclear energy industry, which indicates that the management of spent nuclear fuel is likely to be a nuisance for the countries in this region in the coming decades. By reviewing the history of discussions on multilateral approaches to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and examining relevant empirical cases, this article aims to explore the feasibility of a multilateral approach to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle in this region and provide some policy suggestions to enhance nuclear governance in the Asia-Pacific. - Highlights: • The Asia-Pacific has become a huge emerging market for nuclear power industry. • Asian-Pacific countries operating reactors lack solution for spent nuclear fuel. • Multilateral approach is attractive, but hard to be realized. • The main obstacle is variations in policies for SNF management among the Asia-Pacific countries. • The country that should take its initiative in this field is the United States.

  2. A multitasking, multisinked, multiprocessor data acquisition front end

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, R.; Au, R.; Molen, A.V.

    1989-01-01

    The authors have developed a generalized data acquisition front end system which is based on MC68020 processors running a commercial real time kernel (rhoSOS), and implemented primarily in a high level language (C). This system has been attached to the back end on-line computing system at NSCL via our high performance ETHERNET protocol. Data may be simultaneously sent to any number of back end systems. Fixed fraction sampling along links to back end computing is also supported. A nonprocedural program generator simplifies the development of experiment specific code

  3. Design concepts and advanced telerobotics development for facilities in the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feldman, M.J.

    1987-01-01

    In the Fuel Recycle Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a comprehensive remote systems development program has existed for the past seven years. The new remote technology under development is expected to significantly improve remote operations by extending the range of tasks accomplished by remote means and increasing the efficiency of remote work undertaken. Five areas of the development effort are primary contributors to the goal of higher operating efficiency for major facilities for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. These areas are the single-cell concept, the low-flow ventilation concept, television viewing, equipment-mounting racks, and force-reflecting manipulation. These somewhat innovative directions are products of a design process where the technical scenario to be accomplished, the remote equipment to accomplish the scenario, and the facility design to house the equipment, are considered in an iterative design process to optimize performance, maximize long-term costs effectiveness, and minimize initial capital outlay. 14 refs., 3 figs

  4. Design concepts and advanced telerobotics development for facilities in the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feldman, M.J.

    1987-01-01

    In the Fuel Recycle Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a comprehensive remote systems development program has existed for the past seven years. The new remote technology under development is expected to significantly improve remote operations by extending the range of tasks accomplished by remote means and increasing the efficiency of remote work undertaken. Five areas of the development effort are primary contributors to the goal of higher operating efficiency for major facilities for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. These areas are (1) the single-cell concept, (2) the low-flow ventilation concept, (3) television viewing, (4) equipment-mounting racks, and (5) force-reflecting manipulation. These somewhat innovative directions are products of a design process where the technical scenario to be accomplished, the remote equipment to accomplish the scenario, and the facility design to house the equipment, are considered in an iterative design process to optimize performance, maximize long-term costs effectiveness, and minimize initial capital outlay. (author)

  5. Performance of Front-End Readout System for PHENIX RICH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oyama, K.; Hamagaki, H.; Nishimura, S.; Shigaki, K.; Hayano, R.S.; Hibino, M.; Kametani, S.; Kikuchi, J.; Matsumoto, T.; Sakaguchi, T.; Ebisu, K.; Hara, H.; Tanaka, Y.; Ushiroda, T.; Moscone, C.G.; Wintenberg, A.L.; Young, G.R.

    1999-01-01

    A front-end electronics system has been developed for the Ring Imaging Cerenkov (RICH) detector of the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). A high speed custom back-plane with source synchronous bus architecture, a full custom analog ASIC, and board modules with FPGA's and CPLD's were developed for high performance real time data acquisition. The transfer rate of the back-lane has reached 640 MB/s with 128 bits data bus. Total transaction time is estimated to be less than 30 micros per event. The design specifications and test results of the system are presented in this paper

  6. The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle: technical and economic analysis-Part 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roglans-Ribas, J.; Spinrad, B.I.

    1990-01-01

    The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle has been analyzed under current conditions in the United States, taking into consideration the framework defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and its amendments. The different steps of the back end of the fuel cycle are studied and different alternatives are compared under technical and economic criteria. Several technical issues have been analyzed for their impact on the economics of the fuel cycle. The bases for the analysis are explained, and the results for a once-through cycle are presented. The results show that a repository in tuff represents the minimum cost situation. The economic model appears very sensitive to several parameters, in particular the period of retrievability and the storage costs

  7. Back pain's association with vertebral end-plate signal changes in sciatica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    el Barzouhi, Abdelilah; Vleggeert-Lankamp, Carmen L A M; van der Kallen, Bas F; Lycklama à Nijeholt, Geert J; van den Hout, Wilbert B; Koes, Bart W; Peul, Wilco C

    2014-02-01

    Patients with sciatica frequently experience disabling back pain. One of the proposed causes for back pain is vertebral end-plate signal changes (VESC) as visualized by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). To report on VESC findings, changes of VESC findings over time, and the correlation between VESC and disabling back pain in patients with sciatica. A randomized clinical trial with 1 year of follow-up. Patients with 6 to 12 weeks of sciatica who participated in a multicenter, randomized clinical trial comparing an early surgery strategy with prolonged conservative care with surgery if needed. Patients were assessed by means of the 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) for back pain (with 0 representing no pain and 100 the worst pain ever experienced) at baseline and 1 year. Disabling back pain was defined as a VAS score of at least 40 mm. Patients underwent MRI both at baseline and after 1 year follow-up. Presence and change of VESC was correlated with disabling back pain using chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis. At baseline, 39% of patients had disabling back pain. Of the patients with VESC at baseline, 40% had disabling back pain compared with 38% of the patients with no VESC (p=.67). The prevalence of type 1 VESC increased from 1% at baseline to 35% 1 year later in the surgical group compared with an increase from 3% to 11% in the conservative group. The prevalence of type 2 VESC decreased from 40% to 29% in the surgical group while remaining almost stable in the conservative group at 41%. The prevalence of disabling back pain at 1 year was 12% in patients with no VESC at 1 year, 16% in patients with type 1 VESC, 11% in patients with type 2 VESC, and 3% in patients with both types 1 and 2 VESC (p=.36). Undergoing surgery was associated with increase in the extent of VESC (odds ratio [OR], 8.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.7-15.7; psciatica was highly associated with the development of VESC after 1 year. However, in contrast with the intuitive feeling

  8. Reactor shutdown back-up system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirao, Seizo; Sakashita, Motoaki.

    1982-01-01

    Purpose: To prevent back flow of poison upon injection to a moderator recycling pipeway. Constitution: In a nuclear reactor comprising a moderator recycling system for recycling and cooling moderator through a control rod guide pipe and a rapid poison injection system for rapidly injecting a poison solution at high density into the moderator by way of the same control rod guide pipe as a reactor shutdown back-up system, a mechanism is provided for preventing the back flow of a poison solution at high density into the moderator recycling system upon rapid injection of poison. An orifice provided in the joining pipeway to the control rod guide pipe on the side of the moderator recycling system is utilized as the back flow preventing device for the poison solution and the diameter for the orifice is determined so as to provide a constant ratio between the pressure loss in the control rod guide pipe and the pressure loss in the moderator recycling system pipe line upon usual reactor operation. (Kawakami, Y.)

  9. Long term assurance of supply of back end of fuel cycle facilities and services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1978-01-01

    The paper deals with the long-term assurance of supply of the back end of fuel cycle facilities and services. 11 fundamental questions are posed and commented on by representatives of 7 countries. Non-proliferation aspects are not considered as they will be discussed elsewhere

  10. IAEA activities in the back-end area of nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukuda, Kosaku

    1999-01-01

    This paper concerns recent outcomes from the IAEA's activities in the area of the nuclear fuel cycle, particularly focusing on the back-end of the fuel cycle. It includes spent fuel management, plutonium utilization and burnup credit. In the area of spent fuel management, worldwide prospects and status of the spent fuel arising, storage and reprocessing are presented. In the area of plutonium utilization worldwide, only MOX fuel fabrication is described. Finally, the worldwide status of the burnup credit implementation is described. (author)

  11. Investigation of economics of back-end nuclear fuel cycle options in the Republic of Korea based on Once-through

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cho, Seok-Ki; Yim, Man-Sung [Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-05-15

    The purpose of this study is to examine these questions and perform economic evaluations of various cases of Once-through back-end fuel cycles in the ROK. Therefore, the study is to support decision making in terms of how the long term spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management strategy should be developed. A spreadsheet model was developed to plan reactor construction, the interim storage and the HLW repository construction within engineered constraints, based on the estimation of the spent fuel flow and the energy supply of the nuclear power program. The model computes the back-end levelized costs for various fuel cycle choices. The scenarios assumed in the model include (1) 0 year/10year/20year of licensed operation period extension; (2) the phase-out of NPP program and the continuous use including the reunification of Korean peninsula; (3) reactor decommissioning and construction lead times - 10 years and 5 years respectively in this study; (4) geological constraints of siting for a new reactor - 38 for without the reunification and 70 for with the reunification; (5) the first initiation of reactor decommissioning and operation of HLW repository - assumed to be 2020 and 2050; and (6) capacity factor of reactor operation and the on-site wet storage pool capacity - 0.85 and 0.498 MTHM per MWe which is equivalent with APR1400. The capacity factor for PHWR reactors was assumed at 0.85 and the plan for PHWR was fixed as phase-out. The spreadsheet model conducts computation for annual expenditures of the back-end fuel cycle and calculates the levelized costs. Licensed operation period extension enhances not only economic efficiency, stable energy supply, but also reduces burden of siting for a new reactor and waste disposal. And regardless the reunification, continuous use of nuclear energy lowers the back-end fuel cycle cost. With projection that a large portion of social cost is included in the current back-end fuel cycle cost, nuclear energy likely has more competency in

  12. Economics of the back-end of fuel cycle: Controversy, uncertainties and the industrial evidence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guais, J.C.

    1987-01-01

    This paper underlines the usefulness of the document issued by OECD/NEA on the ''economics of the nuclear fuel cycle,'' as a reference methodology. As regards the technical and costs assumptions, we feel that COGEMA as the most important reprocessor to date has accumulated a large industrial experience allowing a better knowledge of the various costs included in the back-end operations, from spent fuel transportation handling and storage, to reprocessing and wastes conditioning. A comparative analysis of the two main options for the fuel cycle: reprocessing/recycling versus once-through, is performed on these grounds. In the economic conditions prevailing in Western Europe and in Japan, the resulting cost comparison is in favor of the reprocessing/recycling cycle. The authors conclude that economics is important as it is, is not the only criteria to be considered then assessing the back-end options: overall strategy, energy policy, environmental consideration and public acceptance are the other view-points to use to reach a sound decision in this field

  13. The method for simultaneous extraction and back extraction in liquid three-phase system and equipment for simultaneous extraction and back extraction in liquid three-phase system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palyska, W.; Chmielewski, A.G.

    1992-01-01

    The method for simultaneous extraction and back extraction in liquid three-phase system has been worked out. The equipment designed for that process has been also subject of the patent. The interesting component is extracted first to intermediate phase consists of magnetic solvent keeping two extracting phases separately. The intermediate magnetic liquid has been kept in its position using a stable magnet maintained on the surface of the extraction vessel. Then the component pass from intermediate phase to the third phase as a result of back extraction. Mixing in the extraction and back extraction zones is organized by means of rotating shaft going along the whole apparatus. The extraction and back extraction processes occur simultaneously as a result of continuous flow of solvent in their zones. The single extraction back extraction facilities can be joined in larger batteries. 3 figs

  14. End-to-end System Performance Simulation: A Data-Centric Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guillaume, Arnaud; Laffitte de Petit, Jean-Luc; Auberger, Xavier

    2013-08-01

    In the early times of space industry, the feasibility of Earth observation missions was directly driven by what could be achieved by the satellite. It was clear to everyone that the ground segment would be able to deal with the small amount of data sent by the payload. Over the years, the amounts of data processed by the spacecrafts have been increasing drastically, leading to put more and more constraints on the ground segment performances - and in particular on timeliness. Nowadays, many space systems require high data throughputs and short response times, with information coming from multiple sources and involving complex algorithms. It has become necessary to perform thorough end-to-end analyses of the full system in order to optimise its cost and efficiency, but even sometimes to assess the feasibility of the mission. This paper presents a novel framework developed by Astrium Satellites in order to meet these needs of timeliness evaluation and optimisation. This framework, named ETOS (for “End-to-end Timeliness Optimisation of Space systems”), provides a modelling process with associated tools, models and GUIs. These are integrated thanks to a common data model and suitable adapters, with the aim of building suitable space systems simulators of the full end-to-end chain. A big challenge of such environment is to integrate heterogeneous tools (each one being well-adapted to part of the chain) into a relevant timeliness simulation.

  15. Control and simulation of fault and change effect in a back to back system of high voltage direct current network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohsen, Kalantar; Mehdi, Rashidi; Mehdi, Rashidi; Tabatabaei, Naser M.

    2005-01-01

    Full text : The primary knowledge of human being from electrical energy was in the form of statistic electricity and the first transmission line was DC. But because of primary problems in transmitting electrical power in DC form with average and low voltage levels and because of the higher efficiency of AC machines in comparison with DC machines and presence of AC transistors in different capacitance, have caused the electrical power to be transmitted in AC form. But with the avancement of electrical engineering technology in the 20th century, the transition systems were used in HVDC form, and from that time the HDVC technology passed its improvement process so fast. In this paper in addition to discussing the advantage of HDVC systems and back to back instruction, the fault and change effect in a back to back system is discussed

  16. Indium-oxide nanoparticles for RRAM devices compatible with CMOS back-end-off-line

    Science.gov (United States)

    León Pérez, Edgar A. A.; Guenery, Pierre-Vincent; Abouzaid, Oumaïma; Ayadi, Khaled; Brottet, Solène; Moeyaert, Jérémy; Labau, Sébastien; Baron, Thierry; Blanchard, Nicholas; Baboux, Nicolas; Militaru, Liviu; Souifi, Abdelkader

    2018-05-01

    We report on the fabrication and characterization of Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) devices based on nanoparticles in MIM structures. Our approach is based on the use of indium oxide (In2O3) nanoparticles embedded in a dielectric matrix using CMOS-full-compatible fabrication processes in view of back-end-off-line integration for non-volatile memory (NVM) applications. A bipolar switching behavior has been observed using current-voltage measurements (I-V) for all devices. Very high ION/IOFF ratios have been obtained up to 108. Our results provide insights for further integration of In2O3 nanoparticles-based devices for NVM applications. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Institute of Nanotechnologies of Lyon (INL), INSA de Lyon, France, in the Electronics Department. His current research include indium oxide nanoparticles for non-volatile memory applications, and the integrations of these devices in CMOS BEOL.

  17. Principles of provision concerning the back-end of the fuel cycle of nuclear power plants find application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-01-01

    The Ministry of the Interior has asked the Laender on the 14th June 1977, to apply forthwith the 'principles of provision concerning the back-end of the fuel cycle of nuclear power plants' as a minimum pre-condition for waste management in licensing procedures for nuclear power stations. The 'principles' were part of a report, elaborated by a Bund/Laender working group at a undersecretary-of-state level on questions concerning the back-end of the fuel cycle of nuclear power plants. The report was favourably acknowledged during a meeting of the Federal Chancellor and the Minister-Presidents of the Laender on May 6th, 1977. The principles are presented. (orig./HP) [de

  18. Factors determining the UK's back-end nuclear fuel cycle strategy and future nuclear systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunn, M.J.; Ainsworth, Z.E.

    2002-01-01

    Nuclear generating capacity in the UK is static with no units currently under construction. The AGRs and the UK's only PWR, Sizewell B, are operated by British Energy Generation Ltd (BEGL) and British Energy Generation (UK) Ltd (BEG(UK)L), who are subsidiaries of British Energy plc (BE) which was privatised in July 1996. Ownership of the Magnox stations, which were excluded from this privatisation, has now been transferred to BNFL.Government policy on spent fuel management in the UK is that it is for the owners of the spent fuel to decide on the appropriate spent fuel management options, based on their own commercial judgement, subject to meeting the necessary regulatory requirements. The main factors which have predominantly determined UK utility decisions on spent fuel management, to date, have been based on the technical considerations of the spent fuel characteristics, economic attractiveness of the options and at reactor site spent fuel storage capacities. To date, reprocessing has been the dominant form of spent fuel treatment in the UK. Spent fuel storage facilities consist of a mixture of at-reactor stores and large, centralised ponds associated with the reprocessing activities which take place at the Sellafield site. BEGL and BEG(UK)L have contracts for the lifetime arisings of AGR fuel which allow for all AGR spent fuel to be sent to Sellafield for reprocessing or long-term storage. The prompt reprocessing of all Magnox fuel will continue, and spent PWR fuel will continue to be stored at the reactor site in the short to medium term. It is likely that a combination of factors, which are discussed later in this paper, will continue to affect back-end nuclear fuel cycle strategy and future nuclear systems. (author)

  19. Euthanasia and other end-of-life decisions: a mortality follow-back study in Belgium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bossuyt Nathalie

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background This study compares prevalence and types of medical end-of-life decisions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities of Belgium. This is the first nationwide study that can make these comparisons and the first measurement after implementation of the euthanasia law (2002. Methods We performed a mortality follow-back study in 2005–2006. Data were collected via the nationwide Sentinel Network of General Practitioners, an epidemiological surveillance system representative of all Belgian GPs. Weekly, all GPs reported the medical end-of-life decisions among all non-sudden deaths of patients in their practice. We compared the northern Dutch-speaking (60% and southern French-speaking communities (40% controlling for population differences. Results We analysed 1690 non-sudden deaths. An end-of-life decision with possible life-shortening effect was made in 50% of patients in the Dutch-speaking community and 41% of patients in the French-speaking community (OR 1.4; 95%CI, 1.2 to 1.8. Continuous deep sedation until death occurred in 8% and 15% respectively (OR 0.5; 95%CI, 0.4 to 0.7. Community differences regarding the prevalence of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide were not significant. Community differences were more present among home/care home than among hospital deaths: non-treatment decisions with explicit life-shortening intention were made more often in the Dutch-speaking than in the French-speaking community settings (OR 2.2; 95%CI, 1.2 to 3.9; while continuous deep sedation occurred less often in the Dutch-speaking community settings (OR 0.5; 95%CI, 0.3 to 0.9. Conclusion Even though legal and general healthcare systems are the same for the whole country, there are considerable variations between the communities in type and prevalence of certain end-of-life decisions, even after controlling for population differences.

  20. Status of the back-end optional advanced research reactor fuel development in Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Chang-Kyu; Lee, Yoon-Sang; Lee, Don-Bae; Oh, Seuk-Jin; Kim, Ki-Hwan; Chae, Hee-Taek; Park, Jong-Man; Sohn Dong-Seong

    2003-01-01

    U-Mo fuel development has been carried out for a reactor upgrade of HANARO and the back-end option in Korea. The 2nd irradiation test of the U-Mo dispersion rod fuels is underway in HANARO in order to find the optimum uranium loading density and to investigate the applicability of the monolithic U-Mo ring fuel as well as other parameters such as particle size and cladding surface-treatment. The optical observation using an immersion camera showed that the cladding surfaces of the two U 3 Si and U-Mo fuels with a high power rate changed in to the darker color, which is not as severe as those of the driving fuels in HANARO. Presumably it would be acceptable. The other fuels were observed as maintaining their initial good conditions. In connection with monolithic U-Mo fuel development, some achievements such as preliminary U-Mo tube production by a continuous casting process and a successful U-Mo foil production using a roll casting process have been obtained. In addition, some investigation on the surface-treatment of multilayer coating and Zr sputtering coating has showed the possibility of eliminating the problem of a temperature rise due to the corrosion layer formation having quite a low conductivity. The next irradiation test will aim mainly at the qualification of the U-Mo dispersion fuel for HANARO around the end of next year. In the 3rd irradiation fuel bundle, some fuels related to the basic investigation tests for the monolithic U-Mo fuel and surface-treatment for anticorrosion will be loaded. (author)

  1. VME as a front-end electronics system in high energy physics experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohska, T.K.

    1990-01-01

    It is only a few years since the VME became a standard system, yet the VME system is already so much more popular than other systems. The VME system was developed for industrial applications and not for the scientific research, and high energy physics field is a tiny market when compared with the industrial market. Considerations made here indicate that the VME system would be a good one for a rear-end system, but would not be a good candidate for front-end electronics in physics experiments. Furthermore, there is a fear that the VXI bus could become popular in this field of instrumentation since the VXI system is backed up by major suppliers of instrumentation in the high energy physics field. VXI would not be an adequate system for front-end electronics, yet advertised to be one. It would be worse to see the VXI system to become a standard system for high energy physics instrumentation than the VME system to be one. The VXI system would do a mediocre job so that people might be misled to think that the VXI system can be used as front-end system. (N.K.)

  2. Glycation inhibitors extend yeast chronological lifespan by reducing advanced glycation end products and by back regulation of proteins involved in mitochondrial respiration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazi, Rubina S; Banarjee, Reema M; Deshmukh, Arati B; Patil, Gouri V; Jagadeeshaprasad, Mashanipalya G; Kulkarni, Mahesh J

    2017-03-06

    Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) are implicated in aging process. Thus, reducing AGEs by using glycation inhibitors may help in attenuating the aging process. In this study using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast system, we show that Aminoguanidine (AMG), a well-known glycation inhibitor, decreases the AGE modification of proteins in non-calorie restriction (NR) (2% glucose) and extends chronological lifespan (CLS) similar to that of calorie restriction (CR) condition (0.5% glucose). Proteomic analysis revealed that AMG back regulates the expression of differentially expressed proteins especially those involved in mitochondrial respiration in NR condition, suggesting that it switches metabolism from fermentation to respiration, mimicking CR. AMG induced back regulation of differentially expressed proteins could be possibly due to its chemical effect or indirectly by glycation inhibition. To delineate this, Metformin (MET), a structural analog of AMG and a mild glycation inhibitor and Hydralazine (HYD), another potent glycation inhibitor but not structural analog of AMG were used. HYD was more effective than MET in mimicking AMG suggesting that glycation inhibition was responsible for restoration of differentially expressed proteins. Thus glycation inhibitors particularly AMG, HYD and MET extend yeast CLS by reducing AGEs, modulating the expression of proteins involved in mitochondrial respiration and possibly by scavenging glucose. This study reports the role of glycation in aging process. In the non-caloric restriction condition, carbohydrates such as glucose promote protein glycation and reduce CLS. While, the inhibitors of glycation such as AMG, HYD, MET mimic the caloric restriction condition by back regulating deregulated proteins involved in mitochondrial respiration which could facilitate shift of metabolism from fermentation to respiration and extend yeast CLS. These findings suggest that glycation inhibitors can be potential molecules that can be used

  3. Take back program for ICN products - a B2B solution for WEEE implementation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Renner, H. [Siemens ICN, Munich (Germany); Chryssos, G. [eds-r GmbH, Thierhaupten (Germany)

    2004-07-01

    In 2005 the WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) directive has to be implemented in each country of the European Union. The implementation of this directive affects a significant part of end of life equipment which has to be taken back directly from B2B (business to business) users. In contrast to end of life equipment from private households, there is a high residual value and therefore high reuse potential of B2B equipment. Within this scope a take back program for telecommunications equipment has been implemented by Siemens ICN together with the recycling company and re-use expert eds-r GmbH in order to optimise recovery and take back logistics processes. Essential elements of this take back program are area-wide take back logistics with web based track and trace system, professional dismantling and selection of reusable components with subsequent redelivery to service and sales network of Siemens ICN as well as professional recovery. (orig.)

  4. Drain Back, Low Flow Solar Combi Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perers, Bengt; Furbo, Simon; Fan, Jianhua

    2014-01-01

    Drain Back systems with ETC collectors are tested and analyzed in a Danish - Chinese cooperation project. Experiences from early work at DTU, with drain back, low flow systems, was used to design two systems: 1) One laboratory system at DTU and 2) One demonstration system in a single family house...... in Sorö Denmark. Detailed monitoring and modelling of the system in the DTU lab is done to be able to generalize the results, to other climates and loads and to make design optimizations. The advantage with drain back, low flow systems, is that the system can be made more simple with less components...... and that the performance can be enhanced. A combination of the drain back- and system expansion vessel was tested successfully. Small initial problems with installation and proposals for design improvements to avoid these in practice are described in the paper. Installer education and training is an important step to have...

  5. Policy in France regarding the back-end of the fuel cycle reprocessing/recycling route

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gloaguen, A.; Lenail, B.

    1991-01-01

    The decision taken in early 1970s to base the French power policy on the use of pressurized water reactors also included the strategy for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle based on reprocessing, waste conditioning for the final disposal in the most suitable form in terms of safety and plutonium recycling to fast breeder reactors. Twenty years have elapsed, and substantial development and investment have been made. New evidences have emerged especially regarding breeder development, and the initial choice has been proved to be sound. EDF and COGEMA, the French utility and fuel cycle companies, respectively, are working together in order to take the best advantage of past efforts. The good behavior of MOX fuel in EDF reactors and the excellent start of the UP3 reprocessing plant of La Hague, which was completed and commissioned in August, 1990, made EDF and COGEMA extremely confident for future decision. The French choice made in favor of fuel reprocessing the history of fuel reprocessing in France, the policy concerning the back end of nuclear fuel cycle of EDF, and the present consideration and circumstances on this matter are reported. (K.I.)

  6. Silicon nitride back-end optics for biosensor applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romero-García, Sebastian; Merget, Florian; Zhong, Frank C.; Finkelstein, Hod; Witzens, Jeremy

    2013-05-01

    Silicon nitride (SiN) is a promising candidate material for becoming a standard high-performance solution for integrated biophotonics applications in the visible spectrum. As a key feature, its compatibility with the complementary-oxidemetal- semiconductor (CMOS) technology permits cost reduction at large manufacturing volumes that is particularly advantageous for manufacturing consumables. In this work, we show that the back-end deposition of a thin SiN film enables the large light-cladding interaction desirable for biosensing applications while the refractive index contrast of the technology (Δn ≍ 0.5) also enables a considerable level of integration with reduced waveguide bend radii. Design and experimental validation also show that several advantages are derived from the moderate SiN/SiO2 refractive index contrast, such as lower scattering losses in interconnection waveguides and relaxed tolerances to fabrication imperfections as compared to higher refractive index contrast material systems. As a drawback, a moderate refractive index contrast also makes the implementation of compact grating couplers more challenging, due to the fact that only a relatively weak scattering strength can be achieved. Thereby, the beam diffracted by the grating tends to be rather large and consequently exhibit stringent angular alignment tolerances. Here, we experimentally demonstrate how a proper design of the bottom and top cladding oxide thicknesses allows reduction of the full-width at half maximum (FWHM) and alleviates this problem. Additionally, the inclusion of a CMOS-compatible AlCu/TiN bottom reflector further decreases the FWHM and increases the coupling efficiency. Finally, we show that focusing grating designs greatly reduce the device footprint without penalizing the device metrics.

  7. HTS flywheel energy storage system with rotor shaft stabilized by feed-back control of armature currents of motor-generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsukamoto, O.; Utsunomiya, A.

    2007-01-01

    We propose an HTS bulk bearing flywheel energy system (FWES) with rotor shaft stabilization system using feed-back control of the armature currents of the motor-generator. In the proposed system the rotor shift has a pivot bearing at one end of the shaft and an HTS bulk bearing (SMB) at the other end. The fluctuation of the rotor shaft with SMB is damped by feed-back control of the armature currents of the motor-generator sensing the position of the rotor shaft. The method has merits that the fluctuations are damped without active control magnet bearings and extra devices which may deteriorate the energy storage efficiency and need additional costs. The principle of the method was demonstrated by an experiment using a model permanent magnet motor

  8. HTS flywheel energy storage system with rotor shaft stabilized by feed-back control of armature currents of motor-generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsukamoto, O.; Utsunomiya, A.

    2007-10-01

    We propose an HTS bulk bearing flywheel energy system (FWES) with rotor shaft stabilization system using feed-back control of the armature currents of the motor-generator. In the proposed system the rotor shift has a pivot bearing at one end of the shaft and an HTS bulk bearing (SMB) at the other end. The fluctuation of the rotor shaft with SMB is damped by feed-back control of the armature currents of the motor-generator sensing the position of the rotor shaft. The method has merits that the fluctuations are damped without active control magnet bearings and extra devices which may deteriorate the energy storage efficiency and need additional costs. The principle of the method was demonstrated by an experiment using a model permanent magnet motor.

  9. German research reactor back-end provisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koester, Siegfried; Gruber, Gerhard

    2002-01-01

    Germany has several types of Research Reactors in operation. These reactors use fuel containing uranium of U.S. origin. Basically all the fuel which will be spent until May 2006 will be returned to the U.S. under existing contracts with the U.S. Department of Energy. The contracts are based on the U.S. FRR SNF (Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel) Program which started in May 1996 and which will last for 10 years. In 1990, the German Federal Government started a program to long-term store (approx. 40 years) and finally dispose of spent fuel in Germany after the so-called U.S. fuel return window will be closed. In order to long-term store the fuel, a special container was designed which covers all different types of spent fuel from the Research Reactors. The container called 'CASTOR MTR 2' is basically licensed and is already in use for the spent fuel of Russian origin from the 'Research Reactor Rossendorf' in the eastern part of Germany. All that fuel is expected to be stored in the existing intermediate storage facility, the so-called BZA (Brennelemente Zwischenlager Ahaus). BZA already accomodates spent fuel from the former THTR-300 high temperature reactor. A final repository does not yet exist in Germany. Alternative provisions to close the back-end of the Research Reactor fuel cycle are reprocessing at COGEMA (France) or in Russian facilities, perspectively. Waste return in a form to be agreed will be mandatory, at least in France. (author)

  10. Differences in pain processing between patients with chronic low back pain, recurrent low back pain and fibromyalgia

    OpenAIRE

    Goubert, Dorien; Danneels, Lieven; Graven-Nielsen, Thomas; Descheemaeker, Filip; Coppieters, Iris; Meeus, Mira

    2017-01-01

    Background: The impairment in musculoskeletal structures in patients with low back pain (LBP) is often disproportionate to their complaint. Therefore, the need arises for exploration of alternative mechanisms contributing to the origin and maintenance of non-specific LBP. The recent focus has been on central nervous system phenomena in LBP and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the various symptoms and characteristics of chronic pain. Knowledge concerning changes in pain processing ...

  11. φφ Back-to-Back Correlations in Finite Expanding Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Padula, S. S.; Krein, G.; Hama, Y.; Panda, P. K.; Csoergo, T.

    2006-01-01

    Back-to-Back Correlations (BBC) of particle-antiparticle pairs are predicted to appear if hot and dense hadronic matter is formed in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The BBC are related to in-medium mass-modification and squeezing of the quanta involved. Although the suppression of finite emission times were already known, the effects of finite system sizes and of collective phenomena had not been studied yet. Thus, for testing the survival and magnitude of the effect in more realistic situations, we study the BBC when mass-modification occurs in a finite sized, thermalized medium, considering a non-relativistically expanding fireball with finite emission time, and evaluating the width of the back-to-back correlation function. We show that the BBC signal indeed survives the expansion and flow effects, with sufficient magnitude to be observed at RHIC

  12. MOX fuel use as a back-end option: Trends, main issues and impacts on fuel cycle management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukuda, K.; Choi, J.-S.; Shani, R.; Durpel, L. van den; Bertel, E.; Sartori, E.

    2000-01-01

    In the past decades while the FBIULWR fuel cycle concept was zealously being developed, MOX-fuel use in thermal reactors was taken as an alternative back-end policy option. However, the plutonium recycling with LWRs has evolved to industrial level, gaining high maturity through the incubative period while FBR deployment was envisaged. Today, MOX-fuel use in LWRs makes integral part of the fuel cycle for those countries relying on the recycling policy. Developments to improve the fuel cycle performance, including the minimisation of remaining wastes, and the reactor engineering aspects owing to MOX-fuel use, are continued. This paper jointly presented by IAEA and OECD/NEA brings an integrated overview on MOX use as a back-end policy, covering MOX fuel utilisation, fuel performance and technology, economics, licensing, MOX fuel trends in the coming decades. (author)

  13. Back end of the fuel cycle: an update

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfe, B.; Judson, B.F.

    1987-01-01

    Present US nonproliferation policy may be counterproductive. Among other measures, the authors propose that the US government can help reduce the possibility of near-term international trade in plutonium by offering to take back permanently spent fuel of US origin on the same basis on which it will accept fuel from domestic utilities. Such an offer would be so economically attractive that it would force other competing nations, such as France, to offer to take back spent fuel on the same basis. This measure would greatly reduce, if not eliminate, future international agreements for reprocessing that involve international trade in plutonium. The authors feel that nuclear power will be of great benefit to the world's populace and, properly deployed, will decrease world tensions and increase world security. Reprocessing endeavors and international plutonium trade are uneconomic today; they involve unnecessary risks and should not be pursued. On the other hand, energy security is so vital to world peace that it is important to continue development of reprocessing and breeder technology, with the aim of developing systems that meet economic, energy security, and nonproliferation goals for the future

  14. Summary of cost projection for regulatory uncertainties in the back end of the fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raudenbush, M.H.; Geller, L.

    1977-01-01

    Fuel recycle cost deviations resulting from regulatory changes in the back end of the fuel cycle are examined from a number of different data sources, and three potentially large cost uncertainties are identified; HLW disposal, alpha-waste criteria, and in-plant material control/accountability for safeguards. Present and past methods of regulatory cost effectiveness determinations are critiqued and in some cases found wanting

  15. Internationalization of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle: Problems and prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haeckel, E.

    1997-01-01

    International cooperation and transnational division of labour is a distinctive feature of the nuclear industry, but it is conspicuously lacking at the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Meanwhile, national efforts to close the fuel cycle have remained largely unsuccessful. Governments and the nuclear industry are paralyzed in a gridlock of indecision and obstruction. This pattern has been reinforced at the international level. More recently, however, a number of dynamic challenges to governments and the industry has opened up new prospects for internationalization. (author)

  16. Internationalization of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle: Problems and prospects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haeckel, E [Forschunginstitut der Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Auswaertige Politik, Bonn (Germany)

    1997-12-01

    International cooperation and transnational division of labour is a distinctive feature of the nuclear industry, but it is conspicuously lacking at the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Meanwhile, national efforts to close the fuel cycle have remained largely unsuccessful. Governments and the nuclear industry are paralyzed in a gridlock of indecision and obstruction. This pattern has been reinforced at the international level. More recently, however, a number of dynamic challenges to governments and the industry has opened up new prospects for internationalization. (author). 3 refs.

  17. Nursery function of tropical back-reef systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Adams, A.J.; Dahlgren, C.P.; Kellison, G.T.; Kendall, M.S.; Layman, C.A.; Ley, J.A.; Nagelkerken, I.; Serafy, J.E.

    2006-01-01

    Similar to nearshore systems in temperate latitudes, the nursery paradigm for tropical back-reef systems is that they provide a habitat for juveniles of species that subsequently make ontogenetic shifts to adult populations on coral reefs (we refer to this as the nursery function of back-reef

  18. Front-End Intelligence for Large-Scale Application-Oriented Internet-of-Things

    KAUST Repository

    Bader, Ahmed; Ghazzai, Hakim; Kadri, Abdullah; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2016-01-01

    The Internet-of-things (IoT) refers to the massive integration of electronic devices, vehicles, buildings, and other objects to collect and exchange data. It is the enabling technology for a plethora of applications touching various aspects of our lives such as healthcare, wearables, surveillance, home automation, smart manufacturing, and intelligent automotive systems. Existing IoT architectures are highly centralized and heavily rely on a back-end core network for all decision-making processes. This may lead to inefficiencies in terms of latency, network traffic management, computational processing, and power consumption. In this paper, we advocate the empowerment of front-end IoT devices to support the back-end network in fulfilling end-user applications requirements mainly by means of improved connectivity and efficient network management. A novel conceptual framework is presented for a new generation of IoT devices that will enable multiple new features for both the IoT administrators as well as end users. Exploiting the recent emergence of software-defined architecture, these smart IoT devices will allow fast, reliable, and intelligent management of diverse IoT-based applications. After highlighting relevant shortcomings of the existing IoT architectures, we outline some key design perspectives to enable front-end intelligence while shedding light on promising future research directions.

  19. Front-End Intelligence for Large-Scale Application-Oriented Internet-of-Things

    KAUST Repository

    Bader, Ahmed

    2016-06-14

    The Internet-of-things (IoT) refers to the massive integration of electronic devices, vehicles, buildings, and other objects to collect and exchange data. It is the enabling technology for a plethora of applications touching various aspects of our lives such as healthcare, wearables, surveillance, home automation, smart manufacturing, and intelligent automotive systems. Existing IoT architectures are highly centralized and heavily rely on a back-end core network for all decision-making processes. This may lead to inefficiencies in terms of latency, network traffic management, computational processing, and power consumption. In this paper, we advocate the empowerment of front-end IoT devices to support the back-end network in fulfilling end-user applications requirements mainly by means of improved connectivity and efficient network management. A novel conceptual framework is presented for a new generation of IoT devices that will enable multiple new features for both the IoT administrators as well as end users. Exploiting the recent emergence of software-defined architecture, these smart IoT devices will allow fast, reliable, and intelligent management of diverse IoT-based applications. After highlighting relevant shortcomings of the existing IoT architectures, we outline some key design perspectives to enable front-end intelligence while shedding light on promising future research directions.

  20. Open-Switch Fault Detection Method of a Back-to-Back Converter Using NPC Topology for Wind Turbine Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lee, June-Seok; Lee, Kyo_Beum; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2015-01-01

    system can break down in the worst case scenario. To improve the reliability of WTG systems, an open-switch fault detection method for back-to-back converters using the NPC topology is required. This study analyzes effects of inner and outer open-switch faults of the NPC rectifier and inverter......In wind turbine generation (WTG) systems, a back-to-back converter with a neutral-point-clamped (NPC) topology is widely used because this topology has more advantages than a conventional two-level topology, particularly when operating at high power. There are 12 switches in the NPC topology....... An open-switch fault in the NPC rectifier of the back-to-back converter leads to the distortion of the input current and torque vibration in the system. Additionally, an open-switch fault in the NPC inverter of the back-to-back converter causes the distortion of the output current. Furthermore, the WTG...

  1. Semantic Complex Event Processing over End-to-End Data Flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhou, Qunzhi [University of Southern California; Simmhan, Yogesh; Prasanna, Viktor K.

    2012-04-01

    Emerging Complex Event Processing (CEP) applications in cyber physical systems like SmartPower Grids present novel challenges for end-to-end analysis over events, flowing from heterogeneous information sources to persistent knowledge repositories. CEP for these applications must support two distinctive features - easy specification patterns over diverse information streams, and integrated pattern detection over realtime and historical events. Existing work on CEP has been limited to relational query patterns, and engines that match events arriving after the query has been registered. We propose SCEPter, a semantic complex event processing framework which uniformly processes queries over continuous and archived events. SCEPteris built around an existing CEP engine with innovative support for semantic event pattern specification and allows their seamless detection over past, present and future events. Specifically, we describe a unified semantic query model that can operate over data flowing through event streams to event repositories. Compile-time and runtime semantic patterns are distinguished and addressed separately for efficiency. Query rewriting is examined and analyzed in the context of temporal boundaries that exist between event streams and their repository to avoid duplicate or missing results. The design and prototype implementation of SCEPterare analyzed using latency and throughput metrics for scenarios from the Smart Grid domain.

  2. A research project to encourage system-compatible design of end-use appliances

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorr, D.; Key, T.; Sitzlar, G.

    1995-01-01

    Cooperative system compatibility research sponsored by the Canadian Electrical Association (CEA) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for improving appliance performance deficiencies was described. Power producer and end-user compatibility concerns was addressed through the development of a System Compatibility Research Project. A list of project tasks was provided. The CEA and EPRI initiated a project to establish flicker response of various lighting systems, which included physical tests. Results of this project were presented and discussed. The incentives for developing switch mode power supplies with enhanced immunity to voltage fluctuations and short interruptions was discussed. It was concluded that power quality studies currently underway will provide designers with a profile of the expected utility environment for their products. System compatibility research will identify areas that should be addressed by standards bodies so that designers can apply applicable criteria objectives early in the appliance design process. These efforts were expected to encourage appropriate manufacturer criteria for compatibility by convincing buyers and sellers that there is a real pay back for this investment. 13 refs., 6 figs., 4 tabs

  3. System influences on work disability due to low back pain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bartys, Serena; Frederiksen, Pernille; Bendix, Tom

    2017-01-01

    Work disability due to low back pain is a significant global health concern. Current policy and practice aimed at tackling this problem is largely informed by the biopsychosocial model. Resultant interventions have demonstrated some small-scale success, but they have not created a widespread...... and disability benefits), healthcare and family systems (spouse/partner/close others) can act as obstacles to work participation for those with low back pain. Systematic searches of several scientific and grey literature sources were conducted, resulting in 1762 records. Following a systematic exclusion process...

  4. Flank wears Simulation by using back propagation neural network when cutting hardened H-13 steel in CNC End Milling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazza, Muataz Hazza F. Al; Adesta, Erry Y. T.; Riza, Muhammad

    2013-12-01

    High speed milling has many advantages such as higher removal rate and high productivity. However, higher cutting speed increase the flank wear rate and thus reducing the cutting tool life. Therefore estimating and predicting the flank wear length in early stages reduces the risk of unaccepted tooling cost. This research presents a neural network model for predicting and simulating the flank wear in the CNC end milling process. A set of sparse experimental data for finish end milling on AISI H13 at hardness of 48 HRC have been conducted to measure the flank wear length. Then the measured data have been used to train the developed neural network model. Artificial neural network (ANN) was applied to predict the flank wear length. The neural network contains twenty hidden layer with feed forward back propagation hierarchical. The neural network has been designed with MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox. The results show a high correlation between the predicted and the observed flank wear which indicates the validity of the models.

  5. Flank wears Simulation by using back propagation neural network when cutting hardened H-13 steel in CNC End Milling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al Hazza, Muataz Hazza F; Adesta, Erry Y T; Riza, Muhammad

    2013-01-01

    High speed milling has many advantages such as higher removal rate and high productivity. However, higher cutting speed increase the flank wear rate and thus reducing the cutting tool life. Therefore estimating and predicting the flank wear length in early stages reduces the risk of unaccepted tooling cost. This research presents a neural network model for predicting and simulating the flank wear in the CNC end milling process. A set of sparse experimental data for finish end milling on AISI H13 at hardness of 48 HRC have been conducted to measure the flank wear length. Then the measured data have been used to train the developed neural network model. Artificial neural network (ANN) was applied to predict the flank wear length. The neural network contains twenty hidden layer with feed forward back propagation hierarchical. The neural network has been designed with MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox. The results show a high correlation between the predicted and the observed flank wear which indicates the validity of the models

  6. Applications of liquid phase chromatographies for the analysis of streams arising at the back end of nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deshingkar, D.S.; Yalmali, Vrunda S.; Wattal, P.K.

    2000-06-01

    India has opted for a closed fuel cycle comprising of reprocessing and recycling technology. The back end of such nuclear fuel cycle involves the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels for recovery of plutonium and depleted uranium by Purex technology. Wastes arising from the reprocessing plant are classified as high, intermediate and low level wastes (HLW, ILW, LLW). HLW is mixture of over 50 elements present in different chemical forms. The accurate analyses of dissolver solution and HLW are the most challenging but essential tasks for reprocessing plant operations and also for further development of treatment methods. Inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectroscopy techniques are suitable for analysis of metallic anions. Ion chromatography has proven capability to analyse number of cations or anions at ppm or even ppb level in single run. The report reviews the literature regarding the title subject. To assess the technical feasibility of ion chromatography for waste analysis, a simulated PHWR-HLW analogue was prepared. The PHWR-HLW analogue and ground water samples were analysed on DIONEX-DX 500 and Metrohm IC. Results obtained clearly demonstrated the usefulness of ion chromatography as vital analytical tool. HLW and other process or waste streams arising at the back end of nuclear fuel cycle can be analysed for alkali, alkaline earth, rare earth and transition metal cations and important anions. Use of fraction collector along with ion chromatography can enhance it's sensitivity to few Bq/ml for radioactive samples. (author)

  7. Camera calibration based on the back projection process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Feifei; Zhao, Hong; Ma, Yueyang; Bu, Penghui

    2015-12-01

    Camera calibration plays a crucial role in 3D measurement tasks of machine vision. In typical calibration processes, camera parameters are iteratively optimized in the forward imaging process (FIP). However, the results can only guarantee the minimum of 2D projection errors on the image plane, but not the minimum of 3D reconstruction errors. In this paper, we propose a universal method for camera calibration, which uses the back projection process (BPP). In our method, a forward projection model is used to obtain initial intrinsic and extrinsic parameters with a popular planar checkerboard pattern. Then, the extracted image points are projected back into 3D space and compared with the ideal point coordinates. Finally, the estimation of the camera parameters is refined by a non-linear function minimization process. The proposed method can obtain a more accurate calibration result, which is more physically useful. Simulation and practical data are given to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method.

  8. Updating the Slovak strategy of back-end of peaceful use of nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salzer, P.; Timulak, J.

    2010-01-01

    In this work authors present the Slovak strategy of back-end of peaceful use of nuclear energy. Slovak Government approved the Strategy by Governmental decision No. 328/2008 in May 21, 2008. Decree of the Government solves the problem of historical debt by payments of operators of the electricity transmission network and of the distribution network, according the provisions of the Act on the National Nuclear Fund. Financing of the management of institutional radioactive waste after its centralized collection performed by JAVYS, a.s. Economic aspects of reactors decommissioning as well as the sources of financing are presented.

  9. A new challenges in international cooperation. Via interdisciplinary approach towards safe nuclear industry back-end

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dreimanis, Andrejs

    2011-01-01

    Development of multinational radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel repositories requires safe nuclear industry back-end. We propose an interdisciplinary synergetic approach to multilevel consensus building for siting shared multinational repositories, based on self-organization, chaos and fuzziness concepts. An entire partnering country is considered as a higher-level stakeholder - the national stakeholder, being faced to simultaneous seeking an upward (international) and a downward (intra-national) consensus in the environment, being characterized by diverse political, economic and social interests. There is deduced: a) building of international stakeholder consensus could be promoted by activating the international scale multilateral interactions between intra- and international stakeholders, b) gradual progress in intergovernmental consensus and reaching multilateral agreements - the result of dialogue, via observing the whole set of various interests and common resolving of emerged controversies, and c) knowledge, mental flexibility and systems thinking - basic prerogatives for elevating the level of mutual understanding and consensus. (author)

  10. Utilizing Domain Knowledge in End-to-End Audio Processing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tax, Tycho; Antich, Jose Luis Diez; Purwins, Hendrik

    2017-01-01

    to learn the commonly-used log-scaled mel-spectrogram transformation. Secondly, we demonstrate that upon initializing the first layers of an end-to-end CNN classifier with the learned transformation, convergence and performance on the ESC-50 environmental sound classification dataset are similar to a CNN......-based model trained on the highly pre-processed log-scaled mel-spectrogram features....

  11. Segregation and redistribution of end-of-process energetic materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCabe, R.A.; Cummins, B.; Gonzalez, M.A.

    1993-03-01

    A system recovering then recycling or reusing end-of-process energetic materials has been developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The system promotes separating energetic materials with high potential for reuse or recycling from those that have no further value. A feature of the system is a computerized electronic bulletin board for advertising the availability of surplus and recovered energetic materials and process chemicals to LLNL researchers, and for posting energetic materials, ''want ads.'' The system was developed and implemented to promote waste minimization and pollution prevention at LLNL

  12. The economics of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cameron, Ron; Urso, Maria Elena; Lokhov, Alexey

    2014-01-01

    Spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste from the fuel cycle of commercial nuclear power plants represent a small proportion of the radioactive waste produced globally by various industries (including medicine, agriculture and research), but they account for the greatest radioactivity content and longevity. While technologies are well developed and widely employed for the treatment and disposal of the much larger volumes of less radioactive low-level and short-lived intermediate-level waste, no final disposal facilities have yet been fully implemented for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW). A lack of experience in the construction and operation of deep geological repositories, combined with the extensive periods required for the implementation of back-end solutions, have thus contributed to growing uncertainties about the costs associated with managing SNF and HLW. The issue has become a central challenge for the nuclear industry and a matter of public concern and debate. Using official data supplied by national authorities, a descriptive overview [1] was developed of general principles and frameworks for the long-term management of SNF, current national policies and practices, as well as available and prospective technology options, including: - Direct disposal, where the fuel is used once and then regarded as waste for disposal. - Partial recycling, where the spent fuel is reprocessed to recover unused uranium and plutonium for recycling in light water reactors (LWRs). Once irradiated, the recycled fuel bundles can be either stored (with the perspective of their reprocessing and recycling in future fast reactors - FRs) or disposed of after encapsulation. - Advanced systems and fuel cycle concepts for the longer-term future, studied theoretically or on a pilot scale, with the dual objective of reducing the mass and radioactivity of waste destined to final disposal and optimising the use of natural resources. In addition, a cost analysis of these

  13. What makes end-user training successful? : a mixed method study of a business process management system implementation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Benny de Waal; Ronald Batenburg

    2012-01-01

    Under what conditions is end-user training (EUT) as part of the implementation of a business process management (BPM) system successful? This question is addressed in this paper. Based on the literature on EUT and implementation success, we first argue that user involvement with, and attitude

  14. What makes end-user training successful? A mixed method study of a business process management system implementation.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waal, B.M.E. de; Batenburg, R.

    2012-01-01

    Under what conditions is end-user training (EUT) as part of the implementation of a business process management (BPM) system successful? This question is addressed in this paper. Based on the literature on EUT and implementation success, we first argue that user involvement with, and attitude

  15. The Union view of back end fuel cycle provisions for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1981-01-01

    After a long political and technical discussion, the German trade unions united in the German Federation of Labor (DGB) arrived at the finding that back end fuel cycle provisions for nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic of Germany, in addition to the present concept of the Government providing for a reprocessing plant, should also include studies of the alternative possibility to store spent fuel elements over long periods of time, perhaps with a possibility to recover them later. That decision is also based on a report by the Nuclear Technology Working Group of the Metal Workers Union (IG Metall) and the Public Workers Union (OeTV). (orig.) [de

  16. Intractable Chronic Low-Back Pain Caused by Ligamentopathia Treated Using a Spinous Process Plate (S-plate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-ichiro Ohnishi

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available We report a case of intractable chronic low-back pain in a gymnast that was caused by ligamentopathia in the interspinous region of the lumbar vertebrae. Sprained interspinous ligaments are a common mechanical cause of acute low-back pain in athletes. Although conservative therapy is generally effective in such cases, in this case it was not. The patient experienced severe low-back pain during lumbar flexion with tension between the L5/S interspinous ligaments. We performed interspinous fixation by using a spinous process plate system, which has been developed for short in situ fusions, and following which the low-back pain resolved. Conservative therapy for low-back pain caused by ligamentopathia is first-line choice, but interspinous fixation with instrumentation might be recommended in intractable cases with conservative therapy.

  17. The Ergonomic Analysis and Back Injuries in Flexible Production System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Castillo

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Back injuries identification and diagnoses in the transition of the Taylor model to the flexiblemodelof production organization, demands a parallel intervention of prevention actorsat work. This study uses simultaneously three intervention models (structured action analysis, muscle skeletal symptoms questionnaires and muscle skeletal assessment for work activitiesin a packaging plant. In this study seventy and two (72 operative workers participated (28 workers with muscle skeletal evaluation. In an intervention period of 10 months, the physical, cognitive, organizational components and productiveprocess dynamics were evaluated from the muscle skeletal demands issues. The differencesestablished between objective exposure at risk, back injury risk perception, appreciation and a vertebral spine evaluation, in prior and post intervention, determines the structure for a muscle skeletal risk management system. This study explains that back injury symptoms can be more efficiently reduced among operative workers combining measures registered and the adjustment between dynamics, the changes at work and efficient gestures development.Relevance: the results of this study can be used to prevent back injuries in workers of flexibleproduction processes.

  18. Nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear fuel makes the rounds: choosing a closed fuel cycle, nuclear fuel cycle processes, front-end of the fuel cycle: from crude ore to enriched uranium, back-end of the fuel cycle: the second life of nuclear fuel, and tomorrow: multiple recycling while generating increasingly less waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Philippon, Patrick

    2016-01-01

    France has opted for a policy of processing and recycling spent fuel. This option has already been deployed commercially since the 1990's, but will reach its full potential with the fourth generation. The CEA developed the processes in use today, and is pursuing research to improve, extend, and adapt these technologies to tomorrow's challenges. France has opted for a 'closed cycle' to recycle the reusable materials in spent fuel (uranium and plutonium) and optimise ultimate waste management. France has opted for a 'closed' nuclear fuel cycle. Spent fuel is processed to recover the reusable materials: uranium and plutonium. The remaining components (fission products and minor actinides) are the ultimate waste. This info-graphic shows the main steps in the fuel cycle currently implemented commercially in France. From the mine to the reactor, a vast industrial system ensures the conversion of uranium contained in the ore to obtain uranium oxide (UOX) fuel pellets. Selective extraction, purification, enrichment - key scientific and technical challenges for the teams in the Nuclear Energy Division (DEN). The back-end stages of the fuel cycle for recycling the reusable materials in spent fuel and conditioning the final waste-forms have reached maturity. CEA teams are pursuing their research in support of industry to optimise these processes. Multi-recycle plutonium, make even better use of uranium resources and, over the longer term, explore the possibility of transmuting the most highly radioactive waste: these are the challenges facing future nuclear systems. (authors)

  19. End-User Driven Business Process Composition

    OpenAIRE

    Stoitsev, Todor

    2009-01-01

    Business Process Management (BPM) solutions enable enterprises to consolidate and optimize their business operations and to gain competitive advantage in the fast evolving global market. Often, the only ones to understand the matter and complexity of business processes are the end users of enterprise software, who execute them on a daily basis. The need to involve end users in business process composition during the implementation of BPM solutions in enterprises is clearly perceived. However,...

  20. Using Servers to Enhance Control System Capability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bickley, M.; Bowling, B. A.; Bryan, D. A.; Zeijts, J. van; White, K. S.; Witherspoon, S.

    1999-01-01

    Many traditional control systems include a distributed collection of front end machines to control hardware. Backend tools are used to view, modify, and record the signals generated by these front end machines. Software servers, which are a middleware layer between the front and back ends, can improve a control system in several ways. Servers can enable on-line processing of raw data, and consolidation of functionality. It many cases data retrieved from the front end must be processed in order to convert the raw data into useful information. These calculations are often redundantly performance by different programs, frequently offline. Servers can monitor the raw data and rapidly perform calculations, producing new signals which can be treated like any other control system signal, and can be used by any back end application. Algorithms can be incorporated to actively modify signal values in the control system based upon changes of other signals, essentially producing feedback in a control system. Servers thus increase the flexibility of a control system. Lastly, servers running on inexpensive UNIXworkstations can relay or cache frequently needed information, reducing the load on front end hardware by functioning as concentrators. Rather than many back end tools connecting directly to the front end machines, increasing the work load of these machines, they instead connect to the server. Servers like those discussed above have been used successfully at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to provide functionality such as beam steering, fault monitoring, storage of machine parameters, and on-line data processing. The authors discuss the potential uses of such servers, and share the results of work performed to date

  1. Feed-back between geriatric syndromes: general system theory in geriatrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musso, Carlos G; Núñez, Juan F Macías

    2006-01-01

    Geriatrics has described three entities: confusional syndrome, incontinente and gait disorders, calling them geriatric giants. Aging process also induces changes in renal physiology such as glomerular filtration rate reduction, and alteration in water and electrolytes handling. These ageing renal changes have been named as nephrogeriatric giants. These two groups of giants, geriatric and nephrogeriatric, can predispose and potentiate each other leading old people to fatal outcomes. These phenomenon of feed-back between these geriatric syndromes has its roots in the loss of complexity that the ageing process has. Complexity means that all the body systems work harmoniously. The process of senescence weakens this coordination among systems undermining complexity and making the old person frail.

  2. Prediction of Surface Roughness in End Milling Process Using Intelligent Systems: A Comparative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdel Badie Sharkawy

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available A study is presented to model surface roughness in end milling process. Three types of intelligent networks have been considered. They are (i radial basis function neural networks (RBFNs, (ii adaptive neurofuzzy inference systems (ANFISs, and (iii genetically evolved fuzzy inference systems (G-FISs. The machining parameters, namely, the spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut have been used as inputs to model the workpiece surface roughness. The goal is to get the best prediction accuracy. The procedure is illustrated using experimental data of end milling 6061 aluminum alloy. The three networks have been trained using experimental training data. After training, they have been examined using another set of data, that is, validation data. Results are compared with previously published results. It is concluded that ANFIS networks may suffer the local minima problem, and genetic tuning of fuzzy networks cannot insure perfect optimality unless suitable parameter setting (population size, number of generations etc. and tuning range for the FIS, parameters are used which can be hardly satisfied. It is shown that the RBFN model has the best performance (prediction accuracy in this particular case.

  3. Radiation exposure control in back end of nuclear fuel cycle facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pendharkar, K.A.

    2003-01-01

    Fuel Reprocessing Plant and Waste Immobilization Plant for management of high level liquid waste, generated during reprocessing, form part of the back end of Nuclear Fuel Cycle. Both the plants handle annually several million curie of fission products in easily dispersible form. There is potential for significant external exposure and internal contamination to plant workers during plant operations, associated maintenance works and also during outages for carrying out repairs/modifications inside cells where process equipment handling/storing radioactive materials are installed. In view of handling of fissile material (Pu) in a reprocessing plant, special attention has to be paid to ensure that a condition for self sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction (criticality) does not arise even under foreseeable maloperation conditions. The reprocessing plant and Waste Immobilization plant have several engineered safety features such as shielding, ventilation, containment, remote operation etc. These features aim at reducing exposure to plant personnel and keeping the release of radioactive materials to environment below the limits specified in Technical Specifications of the plant. Execution of a comprehensive radiological surveillance programme which includes area monitoring, personal monitoring, effluent monitoring and investigative surveys in connection with safety related unusual occurrences, plays very important role in ensuring radiation safety of plant personnel and the environment. This together with training in radiation safety to plant workers helps reduce 'radiation phobia' in some workers. The paper describes radiological safety considerations and radiological surveillance programme (giving specific examples where required) that is being implemented in reprocessing plants and Waste Immobilization Plants in India. (author)

  4. An integrated approach to the back-end of the fusion materials cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zucchetti, M.; Di Pace, L.; El-Guebaly, L.; Wilson, P.; Kolbasov, B.; Massaut, V.; Pampin, R.

    2007-01-01

    Within the frame of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Co-operative Program on the Environmental, Safety and Economic Aspects of Fusion Power, an international collaborative study on fusion radioactive waste has been initiated to examine the back-end of the fusion materials cycle as an important stage in maximising the environmental benefits of fusion. The study addresses the management procedures for active materials following the change out of replaceable components and decommissioning of fusion facilities. Numerous differences exist between fission and fusion in terms of activated material type, quantity, activity levels, half-life, radiotoxicity, etc. For fusion, it is important to clearly define the parameters that govern the back-end of the materials cycle. A fusion-specific, unique approach is necessary and needs to be developed. Recycling of materials and clearance (i.e. declassification to non-radioactive material) are the two recommended options for reducing the amount of fusion waste, while disposal as low-level waste (LLW) could be an alternative route for specific materials and components. Both recycling and clearance criteria have been recently revised by national and international institutions. These revisions and their consequences are examined here with applications to selected studies: - Recycling: the important radioactive quantities to be limited are contact dose rate, decay heat, and radioactivity concentration. Handling (hands-on, simple shielded, and remote handling approaches), routing related questions (recycling outside the nuclear industry, recycling in nuclear-specific foundries, other possible recycling scenarios without melting), and other issues (C-14, material impurities) are examined. - Clearance: a definition of a list of nuclides relevant to fusion is made with a proposal of a scenario and a simplified procedure for calculation of a set of fusion-specific clearance limits. - Disposal: a proposal of a generalized definition of

  5. A method of Modelling and Simulating the Back-to-Back Modular Multilevel Converter HVDC Transmission System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lei; Fan, Youping; Zhang, Dai; Ge, Mengxin; Zou, Xianbin; Li, Jingjiao

    2017-09-01

    This paper proposes a method to simulate a back-to-back modular multilevel converter (MMC) HVDC transmission system. In this paper we utilize an equivalent networks to simulate the dynamic power system. Moreover, to account for the performance of converter station, core components of model of the converter station gives a basic model of simulation. The proposed method is applied to an equivalent real power system.

  6. Back-end fuel cycle efficiencies with respect to improved uranium utilization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuczera, B.; Hennies, H.H.

    1983-01-01

    The world-wide nuclear power plant (NPP) capacity is at present 160 GW(e). If one adds the power stations under construction and ordered, a plant capacity of approximately 480 GW(e) is obtained for 1990, with the share of LWRs making up more than 80%. A modern LWR consumes in the open fuel cycle about 4400 metric tonnes of natural uranium per GW(e), assuming a lifetime of 30 years and a load factor of 70%. Considering the natural uranium reserves known at present and exploitable under economic conditions, it can be conveniently estimated that, with the present NPP capacity extension perspective, the natural uranium resources may be exhausted in a few decades. This trend can be counteracted in a flexible manner by various approaches in fuel cycle technology and strategy: (i) by steady further development of the established LWR technology the uranium consumption can be reduced by about 15%; (ii) closing the nuclear fuel cycle on the basis of LWRs (i.e. thermal uranium and plutonium recycling) implies up to 40% savings in natural uranium consumption; (iii) more recent considerations include the advanced pressurized water reactor (APWR). The APWR combines the proven PWR technology with a newly developed tight lattice core with greatly improved conversion characteristics (conversion ratio = 0.90 to 0.95). In terms of uranium utilization, the APWR has an efficiency three to five times higher than a PWR; (iv) Commercial introduction of FBR systems results in an optimal utilization of uranium which, at the same time, guarantees the supply of nuclear fuel well beyond the present century. For a corresponding transition period an energy supply system can be conceived which relies essentially on extended back-end fuel cycle capacities. These would facilitate a symbiosis of PWR, APWR and FBR, characterized by high flexibility with respect to long-term developments on the energy market. (author)

  7. Drain Back Systems in Laboratory and in Practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perers, Bengt; Furbo, Simon; Fan, Jianhua

    2015-01-01

    in the collector loop to have a safe reliable operation. The components should also be designed and marked so that only one correct mounting option is possible, like forward and return pipes to/from the collector of slightly different sizes or color. Adapted installer education and training is a very important...... step to have success with drain back systems. Practices used in glycol systems may give serious failures. Key-words: Drain Back, Low Flow, Solar Combi System, ETC collectors....

  8. Probalistisk short-term risk modeling for back-end fuel cycle and waste management facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kjellbert, N.A.

    1980-03-01

    This study of probabilistic short-term risk modeling of back-end fuel cycle and waste management facilities represents the continuation of work started in 1977. The purpose of the report is to present a more detailed survey of models and analysis techniques that mey be applicable. The definition of the risk concept and the nature of the facilities and events which are to be analyzed are described. The most important criteria are that the model or method shall be quantitative, logically/scientifically based, and be able to handle systems of some complexity. Several formalized analysis methods are described, most of them emanating from reliability theory. No single model will fulfill all criteria simultaneously, to the degree desired. Nevertheless, fault tree analysis seems to be an efficient tool in many applications, although it must probably be used together with other models in most cases. Other methodologies described can also be useful, such as failure modes and effects analysis, renewal theory and Markov chains, reliability block diagrams, event trees and cause/consequence diagrams, the GO methodology, Monte Carlo simulation, and, often necessary, various consequence modeling techniques. (author)

  9. CO2-laser micromachining and back-end processing for rapid production of PMMA-based microfluidic systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klank, Henning; Kutter, Jörg Peter; Geschke, Oliver

    2002-01-01

    , a three-layer polymer microstructure with included optical fibers was fabricated within two days. The use of CO2-laser systems to produce microfluidic systems has not been published before. These systems provide a cost effective alternative to UV-laser systems and they are especially useful......In this article, we focus on the enormous potential of a CO2-laser system for rapidly producing polymer microfluidic structures. The dependence was assessed of the depth and width of laser-cut channels on the laser beam power and on the number of passes of the beam along the same channel...... for microstructured PMMA [poly( methyl methacrylate)] parts were investigated, such as solvent-assisted glueing, melting, laminating and surface activation using a plasma asher. A solvent-assisted thermal bonding method proved to be the most time-efficient one. Using laser micromachining together with bonding...

  10. Programmer's guide to FFE: a fast front-end data-acquisition program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Million, D.L.

    1983-05-01

    The Large Coil Test Facility project of the Fusion Energy Division has a data acquisition system which includes a large host computer and several small, peripheral front-end computers. The front-end processors handle details of data acquisition under the control of the host and pass data back to the host for storage. Some of the front ends are known as fast front ends and are required to collect a maximum of 64,000 samples each second. This speed and other hardware constraints resulted in a need for a stand-alone, assembly language task which could be downline loaded from the host system into the fast front ends. FFE (Fast Front End) was written to satisfy this need. It was written in the PDP-11 MACRO-11 assembly language for an LSI-11/23 processor. After the host loads the task into the front end, it controls the data acquisition process with a series of commands and parameters. This Programmer's Guide describes the structure and operation of FFE in detail from a programming point of view. A companion User's guide provides more information on the use of the program from the host system

  11. Storage of thermal reactor fuels - Implications for the back end of the fuel cycle in the UK

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hambley, D.

    2016-01-01

    Fuel from UK's Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs) is being reprocessed, however reprocessing will cease in 2018 and the strategy for fuel that has not been reprocessed is for it to be placed into wet storage until it can be consigned to a geological disposal facility in around 2080. Although reprocessing of LWR fuel has been undertaken in the UK, and this option is not precluded for current and future LWRs, all utilities planning to operate LWRs are intending to use At-Reactor storage pending geological disposal. This strategy will result in a substantial change in the management of spent fuel that could affect the back end of the fuel cycle for over a century. This paper presents potential fuel storage scenarios for two options: the current nuclear power replacement strategy, which will see 16 GWe of new capacity installed by 2030 and a median strategy, intended to ensure implementation of the UK's carbon reduction target, involving 48 GWe of nuclear capacity installed by 2040. The potential scale, distribution and timing of fuel storage and disposal operations have been assessed and changes to the current industrial activity are highlighted to indicate potential effects on public acceptance of back end activities. (authors)

  12. 30 CFR 75.1101-9 - Back-up water system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Back-up water system. 75.1101-9 Section 75.1101-9 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR COAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Fire Protection § 75.1101-9 Back-up water system...

  13. End point detection in ion milling processes by sputter-induced optical emission spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, C.; Dorian, M.; Tabei, M.; Elsea, A.

    1984-01-01

    The characteristic optical emission from the sputtered material during ion milling processes can provide an unambiguous indication of the presence of the specific etched species. By monitoring the intensity of a representative emission line, the etching process can be precisely terminated at an interface. Enhancement of the etching end point is possible by using a dual-channel photodetection system operating in a ratio or difference mode. The installation of the optical detection system to an existing etching chamber has been greatly facilitated by the use of optical fibers. Using a commercial ion milling system, experimental data for a number of etching processes have been obtained. The result demonstrates that sputter-induced optical emission spectroscopy offers many advantages over other techniques in detecting the etching end point of ion milling processes

  14. AREVA Technical Days (ATD) session 2: operations of the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    These technical days organized by the Areva Group aims to explain the group activities in a technological and economic point of view, to provide an outlook of worldwide energy trends and challenges and to present each of their businesses in a synthetic manner. This second session deals with the reprocessing business, back-end financing mechanisms, technology transfer, environmental management, risk management programs, research and development contribution to waste volume reductions, issues and outlook of nuclear wastes, comparison of the open and closed cycles. (A.L.B.)

  15. Differences in Pain Processing Between Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain, Recurrent Low Back Pain, and Fibromyalgia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goubert, Dorien; Danneels, Lieven; Graven-Nielsen, Thomas; Descheemaeker, Filip; Meeus, Mira

    2017-05-01

    The impairment in musculoskeletal structures in patients with low back pain (LBP) is often disproportionate to their complaint. Therefore, the need arises for exploration of alternative mechanisms contributing to the origin and maintenance of non-specific LBP. The recent focus has been on central nervous system phenomena in LBP and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the various symptoms and characteristics of chronic pain. Knowledge concerning changes in pain processing in LBP remains ambiguous, partly due to the diversity in the LBP population. The purpose of this study is to compare quantitative sensory assessment in different groups of LBP patients with regard to chronicity. Recurrent low back pain (RLBP), mild chronic low back pain (CLBP), and severe CLBP are compared on the one hand with healthy controls (HC), and on the other hand with fibromyalgia (FM) patients, in which abnormal pain processing has previously been reported. Cross-sectional study. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. Twenty-three RLBP, 15 mild CLBP, 16 severe CLBP, 26 FM, and 21 HC participated in this study. Quantitative sensory testing was conducted by manual pressure algometry and computer-controlled cuff algometry. A manual algometer was used to evaluate hyperalgesia as well as temporal summation of pain and a cuff algometer was used to evaluate deep tissue hyperalgesia, the efficacy of the conditioned pain modulation and spatial summation of pain. Pressure pain thresholds by manual algometry were significantly lower in FM compared to HC, RLBP, and severe CLBP. Temporal summation of pain was significantly higher in FM compared to HC and RLBP. Pain tolerance thresholds assessed by cuff algometry were significantly lower in FM compared to HC and RLBP and also in severe CLBP compared to RLBP. No significant differences between groups were found for spatial summation or conditioned pain modulation. No psychosocial issues were taken into account for this

  16. Definition and construction of a first database for assessing the impacts on health and the environment of different strategies for the back end of the fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muller, O.; Ouzounian, G.

    1998-01-01

    The life cycle assessment framework has been applied to the management of used fuel cycle to determine a general methodology to study the impacts on health and the environment of the back end of the fuel cycle. System definition starts with a definite waste fuel composition and covers all the industrial steps until all elements of the waste are stored. It is recommended to use electricity generation as a functional unit especially for comparing different strategies. In this case, as some parts of the nuclear waste may be recycled to produce electricity, systems have to be expanded to cover both front and back ends of the fuel cycle. A first bibliographical database covering different stages of the nuclear cycle has been constructed and stored with the standard Ecobilan format developed for environmental analysis and management. Data collection includes all steps from mining extraction to ultimate disposal. Together with the constitution of this database several typical strategies for PWR fuels have been assessed. A first list of criteria has been chosen to best represent the impacts of each strategy on both human health of population and workers and the environment. Data gathered for each step are ready to be reused for designing and assessing simulations on alternative nuclear cycles. (author)

  17. Prospect of spent fuel reprocessing and back-end cycling in China in 1990's

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ke Youzhi; Wang Rengtao

    1987-01-01

    According to the CHinese Program of nuclear energy in 1990's, the amount of spent fuel by the year 2000 is estimated in this paper. Reprocessing is considered as an important link in the back-end fuel cycle. A pilot plant is scheduled for hot start up in 1996. The main goal of the study is LWR spent fuel reprocessing. We will use the experience gained from reprocessing of production reactor fuel and last research results. The advanced foreign technigue and experience will be introduced. The study emphasizes on the test of technology, equipments, instrumentation and automation, development of remote maintenance and decontamination. China will start to demonstrate the way for fuel cycle. (author)

  18. Real time monitoring of powder blend bulk density for coupled feed-forward/feed-back control of a continuous direct compaction tablet manufacturing process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Ravendra; Román-Ospino, Andrés D; Romañach, Rodolfo J; Ierapetritou, Marianthi; Ramachandran, Rohit

    2015-11-10

    The pharmaceutical industry is strictly regulated, where precise and accurate control of the end product quality is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the drug products. For such control, the process and raw materials variability ideally need to be fed-forward in real time into an automatic control system so that a proactive action can be taken before it can affect the end product quality. Variations in raw material properties (e.g., particle size), feeder hopper level, amount of lubrication, milling and blending action, applied shear in different processing stages can affect the blend density significantly and thereby tablet weight, hardness and dissolution. Therefore, real time monitoring of powder bulk density variability and its incorporation into the automatic control system so that its effect can be mitigated proactively and efficiently is highly desired. However, real time monitoring of powder bulk density is still a challenging task because of different level of complexities. In this work, powder bulk density which has a significant effect on the critical quality attributes (CQA's) has been monitored in real time in a pilot-plant facility, using a NIR sensor. The sensitivity of the powder bulk density on critical process parameters (CPP's) and CQA's has been analyzed and thereby feed-forward controller has been designed. The measured signal can be used for feed-forward control so that the corrective actions on the density variations can be taken before they can influence the product quality. The coupled feed-forward/feed-back control system demonstrates improved control performance and improvements in the final product quality in the presence of process and raw material variations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. An improved safeguards system and its application to large back-end facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1978-12-01

    The paper suggests that the safeguards problems of large plants could be solved by a combination of containment and surveillance, and material accountancy. The paper places considerable importance on the installation of 'anomaly detectors' at various points. These would detect movements through the containment and unusual changes in the process itself. The importance of the quantification, the contribution of accountancy and containment and surveillance system is emphasised and a mathematical approach is outlined

  20. SMART instruments for radiological surveillance at the back end of nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pendharkar, K.A.; Jauhri, G.S.; Ganesh, G.; Kulkarni, V.V.

    2001-01-01

    The back end of Nuclear Fuel Cycle mainly consists of Fuel Reprocessing Plant and Waste Management Plant for treatment of different types of wastes generated during processing of spent fuel. A fuel reprocessing plant handles annually several million curies of fission product activity and few hundred kg of plutonium. A Waste Management Facility associated with a reprocessing plant also handles several million curies of fission product activity. In both the plants several types of radiological measurements have to be carried out to ensure that the individual doses are well below regulatory limits and release of radioactivity to environment (through stack and through liquid effluent) is below the limit stipulated in technical specifications of the plant. The measurements comprise individual external dose, measurement of radiation level in different areas of the plant, assessment of air-borne activity due to plutonium and fission products in different areas of the plant, radioactivity release to environment through liquid effluents and through stack. In order to carry out the above mentioned measurements large number of different types of instruments are required. The existing instruments are analog instruments. These instruments have served well. However they have certain limitations with respect to flexibility and extra functionality. In this respect the 'SMART' instruments have distinct advantages. The advantages, that are offered by the 'SMART' instrument in making the radiological surveillance programme more effective, are brought out in the paper. (author)

  1. A protocol for hit and control synchronous transfer for the front-end electronics at the CBM experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kasinski, K., E-mail: kasinski@agh.edu.pl [AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Measurement and Electronics, Av. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Cracow (Poland); Szczygiel, R. [AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Measurement and Electronics, Av. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Cracow (Poland); Zabolotny, W. [Institute of Electronic Systems, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Nowowiejska 15/19, 00-665 Warsaw (Poland); Lehnert, J.; Schmidt, C.J. [GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstrasse 1, 64-291 Darmstadt (Germany); Müller, W.F.J. [FAIR Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe GmbH, Planckstrasse 1, 64-291 Darmstadt (Germany)

    2016-11-01

    The Silicon Tracking System, Muon Chamber, Transition Radiation Detector and Time-Of-Flight among others are the detector systems of the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at the FAIR facility. These detector systems will be built with tens of thousands of front-end ASICs exposed to high radiation doses and difficult environmental and interference conditions. A CERN's GBTx-based solution was chosen for combining data from multiple front-end ASICs into an optical link before further concentration and preprocessing in the common Data Processing Board data hub. This paper presents the protocol design addressing the DAQ system requirements, simplifying the ASIC's back-end design and presents its adaptation for the STS and MUCH detector's conditions. A specific link synchronization technique, hit data bandwidth optimization and time synchronization method for the self-triggered front-end chip are presented.

  2. A protocol for hit and control synchronous transfer for the front-end electronics at the CBM experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasinski, K.; Szczygiel, R.; Zabolotny, W.; Lehnert, J.; Schmidt, C.J.; Müller, W.F.J.

    2016-01-01

    The Silicon Tracking System, Muon Chamber, Transition Radiation Detector and Time-Of-Flight among others are the detector systems of the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at the FAIR facility. These detector systems will be built with tens of thousands of front-end ASICs exposed to high radiation doses and difficult environmental and interference conditions. A CERN's GBTx-based solution was chosen for combining data from multiple front-end ASICs into an optical link before further concentration and preprocessing in the common Data Processing Board data hub. This paper presents the protocol design addressing the DAQ system requirements, simplifying the ASIC's back-end design and presents its adaptation for the STS and MUCH detector's conditions. A specific link synchronization technique, hit data bandwidth optimization and time synchronization method for the self-triggered front-end chip are presented.

  3. Talking back: Development of the olivocochlear efferent system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank, Michelle M; Goodrich, Lisa V

    2018-06-26

    Developing sensory systems must coordinate the growth of neural circuitry spanning from receptors in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) to multilayered networks within the central nervous system (CNS). This breadth presents particular challenges, as nascent processes must navigate across the CNS-PNS boundary and coalesce into a tightly intermingled wiring pattern, thereby enabling reliable integration from the PNS to the CNS and back. In the auditory system, feedforward spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) from the periphery collect sound information via tonotopically organized connections in the cochlea and transmit this information to the brainstem for processing via the VIII cranial nerve. In turn, feedback olivocochlear neurons (OCNs) housed in the auditory brainstem send projections into the periphery, also through the VIII nerve. OCNs are motor neuron-like efferent cells that influence auditory processing within the cochlea and protect against noise damage in adult animals. These aligned feedforward and feedback systems develop in parallel, with SGN central axons reaching the developing auditory brainstem around the same time that the OCN axons extend out toward the developing inner ear. Recent findings have begun to unravel the genetic and molecular mechanisms that guide OCN development, from their origins in a generic pool of motor neuron precursors to their specialized roles as modulators of cochlear activity. One recurrent theme is the importance of efferent-afferent interactions, as afferent SGNs guide OCNs to their final locations within the sensory epithelium, and efferent OCNs shape the activity of the developing auditory system. This article is categorized under: Nervous System Development > Vertebrates: Regional Development. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. Pengembangan Content Management System pada Admisi Online Binus University

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karto Iskandar

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Technically registration form for new Binus institution must be regenerated and not dynamic. Therefore, this research is objected to simplify the creation of registration process for new Binus institution and provide solutions to the problem when Binus establish other new institutions. Methodology used is analysis and design of the database (database oriented. Analysis is done by asking the problems of existing systems in the IT Directorate, whereas the design uses UML diagram notation 2.0. The results obtained is front end and back end applications for the Content Management System of the registration form. The results of this design can be used to simplify the new student registration or in the many Binus institutions by grouping similar fields. With some changes in the front end and back end applications for content Management System, the addition of new online admission application form can be managed faster, where the creation of admision registration form is managed in the back end application. As suggestions for future development, online admission registration can be run in mobile version.

  5. HINS Linac front end focusing system R&D

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Apollinari, G.; Carcagno, R.H.; Dimarco, J.; Huang, Y.; Kashikhin, V.V.; Orris, D.F.; Page, T.M.; Rabehl, R.; Sylvester, C.; Tartaglia, M.A.; Terechkine, I.; /Fermilab /Argonne

    2008-08-01

    This report summarizes current status of an R&D program to develop a focusing system for the front end of a superconducting RF linac. Superconducting solenoids will be used as focusing lenses in the low energy accelerating sections of the front end. The development of focusing lenses for the first accelerating section is in the production stage, and lens certification activities are in preparation at FNAL. The report contains information about the focusing lens design and performance, including solenoid, dipole corrector, and power leads, and about cryogenic system design and performance. It also describes the lens magnetic axis position measurement technique and discusses scope of an acceptance/certification process.

  6. Fibre optic sensor on robot end effector for flexible assembly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yung, K.L.; Lau, W.S.; Choi, C.K.; Shan, Y.Y.

    1995-01-01

    A fibre optic sensor system was constructed for use on robot end effectors for flexible assembly. The sensor detected the deviations between robot end effector and the workpiece. The signal was fed back to robot controller to shift the end effector until the centre of end effector and the centre of workpiece were aligned at the correct orientation. Then workpiece can be grasped symmetrically. Sensor fusion concept was used to guard against sensor system failure. Fuzzy linguistic variable and control rule concept were introduced in the sensor integration. The experimental setup for the sensor integrated system was shown. The accuracy was also discussed

  7. Scalability of RAID Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Yan

    2010-01-01

    RAID systems (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) have dominated backend storage systems for more than two decades and have grown continuously in size and complexity. Currently they face unprecedented challenges from data intensive applications such as image processing, transaction processing and data warehousing. As the size of RAID systems increases, designers are faced with both performance and reliability challenges. These challenges include limited back-end network band...

  8. Streamlining cross departmental interactions of back office processes in financial services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rutte, C.R.

    2011-01-01

    Due to the increased competitive environment in the retail banking industry, customer satisfaction and efficient back office processes have become more important. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a management style that is focused on improving processes and increasing customer satisfaction. Discrete-Event

  9. Consensus on the back end of the fuel cycle urgently needed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strassburg, W.

    1996-01-01

    The lack of harmonization among the fields of environmental policy, energy policy, and economic policy in Germany is obvious. Returning to a basic consensus in energy policy, with an unbiased evaluation of all energy resources, is an indispensable step for all those to whom ecology is a truly serious concept. The positions of all energy resources must be assessed with a view to national and international developments. No source of primary energy must be excluded from that review. Nuclear power remains one of the important options in the energy mix especially from the points of view of CO 2 avoidance and preventive protection of the climate. A leading industrialized nation, such as the Federal Republic of Germany, ought to be able, in the more and more important discussion about globally sustainable development, to return to a consensus across all political parties at least about the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Or should the philosopher, Sir Karl Popper, finally be proven right in his statement that those wanting to establish a paradise on earth must be careful not to create hell? (orig.) [de

  10. Strategies for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting held in Vienna, 1-4 June 1993

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-11-01

    The selection of an option for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle is an important decision for all countries with nuclear power programmes. Likewise, the process for making that option selection is also important. Some countries have begun utilizing nuclear energy for electricity generation without formally determining what would be done with the spent nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes. In a number of those countries the inventories of spent fuel are approaching their storage capacity - and an option selection must soon be made. This report provides an analysis of both the policies chosen by a number of Member States and the process that led to those selections. The intent of this analysis and this publication is to assist other countries in their deliberations on this subject. This publication presents conclusions concerning the factors that were considered important by different countries and the processes which they followed in making their determination of the policy for disposal of nuclear waste. Refs, figs, tabs.

  11. Strategies for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting held in Vienna, 1-4 June 1993

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-11-01

    The selection of an option for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle is an important decision for all countries with nuclear power programmes. Likewise, the process for making that option selection is also important. Some countries have begun utilizing nuclear energy for electricity generation without formally determining what would be done with the spent nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes. In a number of those countries the inventories of spent fuel are approaching their storage capacity - and an option selection must soon be made. This report provides an analysis of both the policies chosen by a number of Member States and the process that led to those selections. The intent of this analysis and this publication is to assist other countries in their deliberations on this subject. This publication presents conclusions concerning the factors that were considered important by different countries and the processes which they followed in making their determination of the policy for disposal of nuclear waste. Refs, figs, tabs

  12. Advanced Control Strategy of Back-to-Back PWM Converters in PMSG Wind Power System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tan Luong Van

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a control scheme of back-to-back PWM converters for the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG wind turbine system. The DC-link voltage can be controlled at the machine-side converter (MSC, while the grid-side converter (GSC controls the grid active power for a maximum power point tracking (MPPT. At the grid fault condition, the DC-link voltage controller is designed using a feedback linearization (FL theory. For the MPPT, a proportional control loop is added to the torque control to reduce the influence of the inertia moment in the wind turbines, which can improve its dynamic performance. The validity of this control algorithm has been verified by the simulation of the 2-MW PMSG wind turbine system.

  13. The back-end management of fissile material at SCK-CEN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noynaert, L.; Massaut, V.; Braeckeveldt, M.

    1999-01-01

    The back-end management of fissile materials at SCK-CEN mainly concerns the HEU spent fuel of the BR2 (MTR) and the LEU and MOX spent fuel of the BR3, the first PWR installed in Western Europe and in decommissioning since 1987. It also concerns the experimental fuels tested in the SCK-CEN facilities. Furthermore as a result of its R and D programs in reprocessing and characterisation of spent fuel, considerable amounts of fissile materials in all kinds of forms and characteristics are stored in the different laboratories. For these, six main types of fissile materials are identified: highly enriched uranium, experimental spent fuel from the fast breeder programmes, MOX fuel, low enriched fuel, natural uranium and lab fissile materials. For the BR2 and BR3 spent fuel, various options, i.e. reprocessing, dry storage in casks and dry storage in canisters were evaluated against criteria, e.g. available techniques, safety, waste production, overall costs and policies. As a result of these studies, it was decided to opt in the case of the HEU from the BR2 reactor for the reprocessing without recovery of uranium while for the LEU and MOX fuel from the BR3 reactor, the dry storage in containers was chosen. For the others, the studies are still in progress. (author)

  14. IMPaCT Back study protocol. Implementation of subgrouping for targeted treatment systems for low back pain patients in primary care: a prospective population-based sequential comparison

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Foster Nadine E

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Prognostic assessment tools to identify subgroups of patients at risk of persistent low back pain who may benefit from targeted treatments have been developed and validated in primary care. The IMPaCT Back study is investigating the effects of introducing and supporting a subgrouping for targeted treatment system in primary care. Methods/Design A prospective, population-based, quality improvement study in one Primary Care Trust in England with a before and after design. Phases 1 and 3 collect data on current practice, attitudes and behaviour of health care practitioners, patients' outcomes and health care costs. Phase 2 introduces and supports the subgrouping for targeted treatment system, via a multi-component, quality improvement intervention that includes educational courses and outreach visits led by opinion leaders, audit/feedback, mentoring and organisational support to embed the subgrouping tools within IT and clinical management systems. We aim to recruit 1000 low back pain patients aged 18 years and over consulting 7 GP practices within one Primary Care Trust in England, UK. The study includes GPs in participating practices and physiotherapists in associated services. The primary objective is to determine the effect of the subgrouping for targeted treatment system on back pain related disability and catastrophising at 2 and 6 months, comparing data from phase 1 with phase 3. Key secondary objectives are to determine the impact on: a GPs' and physiotherapists' attitudes and behaviour regarding low back pain; b The process of care that patients receive; c The cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the new clinical system. Discussion This paper details the rationale, design, methods, planned analysis and operational aspects of the IMPaCT Back study. We aim to determine whether the new subgrouping for targeted treatment system is implemented and sustained in primary care, and evaluate its impact on clinical decision

  15. RFI mitigating receiver back end for radiometers, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This SBIR Phase I proposal requests support for Alphacore, Inc. to design and a low power application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) RFI mitigating receiver back...

  16. Back End of Line Nanorelays for Ultra-low Power Monolithic Integrated NEMS-CMOS Circuits

    KAUST Repository

    Lechuga Aranda, Jesus Javier

    2016-05-01

    Since the introduction of Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the chip industry has enjoyed many benefits of transistor feature size scaling, including higher speed and device density and improved energy efficiency. However, in the recent years, the IC designers have encountered a few roadblocks, namely reaching the physical limits of scaling and also increased device leakage which has resulted in a slow-down of supply voltage and power density scaling. Therefore, there has been an extensive hunt for alternative circuit architectures and switching devices that can alleviate or eliminate the current crisis in the semiconductor industry. The Nano-Electro-Mechanical (NEM) relay is a promising alternative switch that offers zero leakage and abrupt turn-on behaviour. Even though these devices are intrinsically slower than CMOS transistors, new circuit design techniques tailored for the electromechanical properties of such devices can be leveraged to design medium performance, ultra-low power integrated circuits. In this thesis, we deal with a new generation of such devices that is built in the back end of line (BEOL) CMOS process and is an ideal option for full integration with current CMOS transistor technology. Simulation and verification at the circuit and system level is a critical step in the design flow of microelectronic circuits, and this is especially important for new technologies that lack the standard design infrastructure and well-known verification platforms. Although most of the physical and electrical properties of NEM structures can be simulated using standard electronic automation software, there is no report of a reliable behavioural model for NEMS switches that enable large circuit simulations. In this work, we present an optimised model of a BEOL nano relay that encompasses all the electromechanical characteristics of the device and is robust and lightweight enough for VLSI applications that require simulation of thousands of

  17. FEREAD: Front End Readout software for the Fermilab PAN-DA data acquisition system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorries, T.; Haire, M.; Moore, C.; Pordes, R.; Votava, M.

    1989-05-01

    The FEREAD system provides a multi-tasking framework for controlling the execution of experiment specific front end readout processes. It supports initializing the front end data acquisition hardware, queueing and processing readout activation signals, cleaning up at the end of data acquisition, and transferring configuration parameters and statistical data between a ''Host'' computer and the readout processes. FEREAD is implemented as part of the PAN-DA software system and is designed to run on any Motorola 68k based processor board. It has been ported to the FASTBUS General Purpose Master (GPM) interface board and the VME MVME133A processor board using the pSOS/Microtec environment. 12 refs., 2 figs

  18. Front-end electronics for multichannel semiconductor detector systems

    CERN Document Server

    Grybos, P

    2010-01-01

    Front-end electronics for multichannel semiconductor detektor systems Volume 08, EuCARD Editorial Series on Accelerator Science and Technology The monograph is devoted to many different aspects related to front-end electronics for semiconductor detector systems, namely: − designing and testing silicon position sensitive detectors for HEP experiments and X-ray imaging applications, − designing and testing of multichannel readout electronics for semiconductor detectors used in X-ray imaging applications, especially for noise minimization, fast signal processing, crosstalk reduction and good matching performance, − optimization of semiconductor detection systems in respect to the effects of radiation damage. The monograph is the result mainly of the author's experience in the above-mentioned areas and it is an attempt of a comprehensive presentation of issues related to the position sensitive detection system working in a single photon counting mode and intended to X-ray imaging applications. The structure...

  19. System of end-to-end symmetric database encryption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galushka, V. V.; Aydinyan, A. R.; Tsvetkova, O. L.; Fathi, V. A.; Fathi, D. V.

    2018-05-01

    The article is devoted to the actual problem of protecting databases from information leakage, which is performed while bypassing access control mechanisms. To solve this problem, it is proposed to use end-to-end data encryption, implemented at the end nodes of an interaction of the information system components using one of the symmetric cryptographic algorithms. For this purpose, a key management method designed for use in a multi-user system based on the distributed key representation model, part of which is stored in the database, and the other part is obtained by converting the user's password, has been developed and described. In this case, the key is calculated immediately before the cryptographic transformations and is not stored in the memory after the completion of these transformations. Algorithms for registering and authorizing a user, as well as changing his password, have been described, and the methods for calculating parts of a key when performing these operations have been provided.

  20. R and D for back-end options for irradiated research reactor fuel in Germany

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruecher, H.; Curtius, H.; Fachinger, J.

    2001-01-01

    Out of 11.5 t of irradiated fuel arising from German research reactors until the end of this decade, 3.9 t are intended to be returned to the USA, and 2.3 t are expected to be recycled for reuse of uranium. The remaining 5.3 t, as well as the fuel irradiated after the year 2010, will have to follow the domestic back-end option of extended dry interim storage in Castor-type casks, followed by disposal in a deep geological repository. R and D is going on in the Research Centre Juelich to investigate the long-term behaviour of U-Al based fuel in a salt repository. First results from leaching experiments show I) a fast dissolution of the fuel with mobilization of its radionuclide inventory, and 2) the following formation of amorphous Al-Mg-hydroxide phases. Long-lived actinides from the fuel were shown to be fixed in these phases and hence immobilized. Future R and D will be to investigate the nature and stability of these phases for long-term safety assessments. Investigations will have to be extended to cover alternative disposal sites (granite clay) as well as different (e.g. silicon based) fuels. (author)

  1. Mesotherapy versus Systemic Therapy in the Treatment of Acute Low Back Pain: A Randomized Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costantino, Cosimo; Marangio, Emilio; Coruzzi, Gabriella

    2011-01-01

    Pharmacological therapy of back pain with analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs is frequently associated with adverse effects, particularly in the elderly. Aim of this study was to compare mesotherapic versus conventional systemic administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and corticosteroids in patients with acute low back pain. Eighty-four patients were randomized to receive anti-inflammatory therapy according to the following protocols: (a) mesotherapy group received the 1st and 4th day 2% lidocaine (1 mL) + ketoprofen 160 mg (1 mL) + methylprednisolone 40 mg (1 mL), then on 7th, 10th, and 13th day, 2% lidocaine (1 mL) + ketoprofen 160 mg (1 mL) + methylprednisolone 20 mg (1 mL) (b) conventional therapy group received ketoprofen 80 mg × 2/die and esomeprazole 20 mg/die orally for 12 days, methylprednisolone 40 mg/die intramuscularly for 4 days, followed by methylprednisolone 20 mg/die for 3 days, and thereafter, methylprednisolone 20 mg/die at alternate days. Pain intensity and functional disability were assessed at baseline (T0), at the end of treatment (T1), and 6 months thereafter (T2) by using visual analogic scale (VAS) and Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ). In both groups, VAS and RMDQ values were significantly reduced at the end of drug treatment and after 6 months, in comparison with baseline. No significant differences were found between the two groups. This suggests that mesotherapy may be a valid alternative to conventional therapy in the treatment of acute low back pain with corticosteroids and NSAIDs.

  2. Mesotherapy versus Systemic Therapy in the Treatment of Acute Low Back Pain: A Randomized Trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cosimo Costantino

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Pharmacological therapy of back pain with analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs is frequently associated with adverse effects, particularly in the elderly. Aim of this study was to compare mesotherapic versus conventional systemic administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs and corticosteroids in patients with acute low back pain. Eighty-four patients were randomized to receive anti-inflammatory therapy according to the following protocols: (a mesotherapy group received the 1st and 4th day 2% lidocaine (1 mL + ketoprofen 160 mg (1 mL + methylprednisolone 40 mg (1 mL, then on 7th, 10th, and 13th day, 2% lidocaine (1 mL + ketoprofen 160 mg (1 mL + methylprednisolone 20 mg (1 mL (b conventional therapy group received ketoprofen 80 mg × 2/die and esomeprazole 20 mg/die orally for 12 days, methylprednisolone 40 mg/die intramuscularly for 4 days, followed by methylprednisolone 20 mg/die for 3 days, and thereafter, methylprednisolone 20 mg/die at alternate days. Pain intensity and functional disability were assessed at baseline (T0, at the end of treatment (T1, and 6 months thereafter (T2 by using visual analogic scale (VAS and Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ. In both groups, VAS and RMDQ values were significantly reduced at the end of drug treatment and after 6 months, in comparison with baseline. No significant differences were found between the two groups. This suggests that mesotherapy may be a valid alternative to conventional therapy in the treatment of acute low back pain with corticosteroids and NSAIDs.

  3. Versatile Stimulation Back-End With Programmable Exponential Current Pulse Shapes for a Retinal Visual Prosthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maghami, Mohammad Hossein; Sodagar, Amir M; Sawan, Mohamad

    2016-11-01

    This paper reports on the design, implementation, and test of a stimulation back-end, for an implantable retinal prosthesis. In addition to traditional rectangular pulse shapes, the circuit features biphasic stimulation pulses with both rising and falling exponential shapes, whose time constants are digitally programmable. A class-B second generation current conveyor is used as a wide-swing, high-output-resistance stimulation current driver, delivering stimulation current pulses of up to ±96 μA to the target tissue. Duration of the generated current pulses is programmable within the range of 100 μs to 3 ms. Current-mode digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are used to program the amplitudes of the stimulation pulses. Fabricated using the IBM 130 nm process, the circuit consumes 1.5×1.5 mm 2 of silicon area. According to the measurements, the DACs exhibit DNL and INL of 0.23 LSB and 0.364 LSB, respectively. Experimental results indicate that the stimuli generator meets expected requirements when connected to electrode-tissue impedance of as high as 25 k Ω. Maximum power consumption of the proposed design is 3.4 mW when delivering biphasic rectangular pulses to the target load. A charge pump block is in charge of the upconversion of the standard 1.2-V supply voltage to ±3.3V.

  4. Space-based multifunctional end effector systems functional requirements and proposed designs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mishkin, A. H.; Jau, B. M.

    1988-01-01

    The end effector is an essential element of teleoperator and telerobot systems to be employed in space in the next decade. The report defines functional requirements for end effector systems to perform operations that are currently only feasible through Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). Specific tasks and functions that the end effectors must be capable of performing are delineated. Required capabilities for forces and torques, clearances, compliance, and sensing are described, using current EVA requirements as guidelines where feasible. The implications of these functional requirements on the elements of potential end effector systems are discussed. The systems issues that must be considered in the design of space-based manipulator systems are identified; including impacts on subsystems tightly coupled to the end effector, i.e., control station, information processing, manipulator arm, tool and equipment stowage. Possible end effector designs are divided into three categories: single degree-of-freedom end effectors, multiple degree of freedom end effectors, and anthropomorphic hands. Specific design alternatives are suggested and analyzed within the individual categories. Two evaluations are performed: the first considers how well the individual end effectors could substitute for EVA; the second compares how manipulator systems composed of the top performers from the first evaluation would improve the space shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS) capabilities. The analysis concludes that the anthropomorphic hand is best-suited for EVA tasks. A left- and right-handed anthropomorphic manipulator arm configuration is suggested as appropriate to be affixed to the RMS, but could also be used as part of the Smart Front End for the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV). The technical feasibility of the anthropomorphic hand and its control are demonstrated. An evolutionary development approach is proposed and approximate scheduling provided for implementing the suggested

  5. The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle: Technical and economic analysis-Part 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roglans-Ribas, J.; Spinrad, B.I.

    1990-01-01

    The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle has been analyzed under current conditions in the United States, including the constraints imposed by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and its amendments. The scenarios for two closed cycles, a regular reprocessing cycle and a reprocessing scheme with cesium and strontium fractionation, are described. The storage of spent fuel discharged from the reactors and the disposal of reprocessed waste are studied for both reprocessing cycles. The economics of waste storage and disposal for the two closed cycles are compared with each other and with the reference once-through cycle. The results show that a standard reprocessing cycle results in the minimum cost for storage and disposal. When reporcessing costs are considered, the closed cycles can compete economically with the once-through cycle only if net reprocessing costs are very low

  6. Spring-back of flexible roll forming bending process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Y; Kim, D H; Jung, D W

    2015-01-01

    Simulations are now widely used in the field of roll forming because of their convenience. Simulations provide a low cost, secure and fast analysis tool. Flexible roll forming provides the desired shapes with a one time forming process. For roll forming, the velocity of the sheet and friction are important factors to attain an ideal shape. Because it is a complicated process, simulations provide a better understanding of the roll forming process. Simulations were peformed using ABAQUS software linked to elastic-plastic modules which we developed taking into account of interactions between these fields [1]. The application of this method makes it possible to highlight the strain-stress and mechanical behaviour laws and the spring-back. Thus, the flexible roll forming and bending process can be well described by the simulation software and guide the actual machine. (paper)

  7. Minimally Invasive Microendoscopic Resection of the Transverse Process for Treatment of Low Back Pain with Bertolotti's Syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takata, Yoichiro; Sakai, Toshinori; Higashino, Kosaku; Goda, Yuichiro; Mineta, Kazuaki; Sugiura, Kosuke; Sairyo, Koichi

    2014-01-01

    Bertolotti's syndrome is characterized by anomalous enlargement of the transverse process of the most caudal lumbar segment, causing chronic and persistent low back pain or sciatica. We describe the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented with left sciatic pain and low back pain due to a recurrent lumbar disc herniation at L4-5 with Bertolotti's syndrome. Selective L5 nerve root block and local injection of lidocaine into the articulation between the transverse process and sacral ala temporarily relieved the left sciatic pain and low back pain, respectively. To confirm the effect of local injection on low back pain, we gave a second local injection, which once again relieved the low back pain. Microendoscopic resection of the pseudoarticulation region and discectomy successfully relieved all symptoms. This report illustrates the effectiveness of minimally invasive resection of the transverse process for the treatment of low back pain with Bertolotti's syndrome.

  8. Amorphous silicon passivation for 23.3% laser processed back contact solar cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carstens, Kai; Dahlinger, Morris; Hoffmann, Erik; Zapf-Gottwick, Renate; Werner, Jürgen H.

    2017-08-01

    This paper presents amorphous silicon deposited at temperatures below 200 °C, leading to an excellent passivation layer for boron doped emitter and phosphorus doped back surface field areas in interdigitated back contact solar cells. A higher deposition temperature degrades the passivation of the boron emitter by an increased hydrogen effusion due to lower silicon hydrogen bond energy, proved by hydrogen effusion measurements. The high boron surface doping in crystalline silicon causes a band bending in the amorphous silicon. Under these conditions, at the interface, the intentionally undoped amorphous silicon becomes p-type conducting, with the consequence of an increased dangling bond defect density. For bulk amorphous silicon this effect is described by the defect pool model. We demonstrate, that the defect pool model is also applicable to the interface between amorphous and crystalline silicon. Our simulation shows the shift of the Fermi energy towards the valence band edge to be more pronounced for high temperature deposited amorphous silicon having a small bandgap. Application of optimized amorphous silicon as passivation layer for the boron doped emitter and phosphorus doped back surface field on the rear side of laser processed back contact solar cells, fabricated using four laser processing steps, yields an efficiency of 23.3%.

  9. HINS Linac front end focusing system R and D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Apollinari, G.; Carcagno, R.H.; Dimarco, J.; Huang, Y.; Kashikhin, V.V.; Orris, D.F.; Page, T.M.; Rabehl, R.; Sylvester, C.; Tartaglia, M.A.; Terechkine, I.; Fermilab; Argonne

    2008-01-01

    This report summarizes current status of an R and D program to develop a focusing system for the front end of a superconducting RF linac. Superconducting solenoids will be used as focusing lenses in the low energy accelerating sections of the front end. The development of focusing lenses for the first accelerating section is in the production stage, and lens certification activities are in preparation at FNAL. The report contains information about the focusing lens design and performance, including solenoid, dipole corrector, and power leads, and about cryogenic system design and performance. It also describes the lens magnetic axis position measurement technique and discusses scope of an acceptance/certification process

  10. System-Level Power Optimization for a ΣΔ D/A Converter for Hearing-Aid Application

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pracný, Peter; Jørgensen, Ivan Harald Holger; Bruun, Erik

    2013-01-01

    This paper deals with a system-level optimization of a back-end of audio signal processing chain for hearing-aids, including a sigma-delta modulator digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a Class D power amplifier. Compared to other stateof-the-art designs dealing with sigma-delta modulator design...... hearing-aid audio back-end system resulting in less hardware and power consumption in the interpolation filter, in the sigma-delta modulator and reduced switching rate of the Class D output stage....

  11. Legal, institutional, and political issues in transportation of nuclear materials at the back end of the LWR nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lippek, H.E.; Schuller, C.R.

    1979-03-01

    A study was conducted to identify major legal and institutional problems and issues in the transportation of spent fuel and associated processing wastes at the back end of the LWR nuclear fuel cycle. (Most of the discussion centers on the transportation of spent fuel, since this activity will involve virtually all of the legal and institutional problems likely to be encountered in moving waste materials, as well.) Actions or approaches that might be pursued to resolve the problems identified in the analysis are suggested. Two scenarios for the industrial-scale transportation of spent fuel and radioactive wastes, taken together, high-light most of the major problems and issues of a legal and institutional nature that are likely to arise: (1) utilizing the Allied General Nuclear Services (AGNS) facility at Barnwell, SC, as a temporary storage facility for spent fuel; and (2) utilizing AGNS for full-scale commercial reprocessing of spent LWR fuel

  12. Legal, institutional, and political issues in transportation of nuclear materials at the back end of the LWR nuclear fuel cycle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lippek, H.E.; Schuller, C.R.

    1979-03-01

    A study was conducted to identify major legal and institutional problems and issues in the transportation of spent fuel and associated processing wastes at the back end of the LWR nuclear fuel cycle. (Most of the discussion centers on the transportation of spent fuel, since this activity will involve virtually all of the legal and institutional problems likely to be encountered in moving waste materials, as well.) Actions or approaches that might be pursued to resolve the problems identified in the analysis are suggested. Two scenarios for the industrial-scale transportation of spent fuel and radioactive wastes, taken together, high-light most of the major problems and issues of a legal and institutional nature that are likely to arise: (1) utilizing the Allied General Nuclear Services (AGNS) facility at Barnwell, SC, as a temporary storage facility for spent fuel; and (2) utilizing AGNS for full-scale commercial reprocessing of spent LWR fuel.

  13. Computation of Ground-State Properties in Molecular Systems: Back-Propagation with Auxiliary-Field Quantum Monte Carlo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motta, Mario; Zhang, Shiwei

    2017-11-14

    We address the computation of ground-state properties of chemical systems and realistic materials within the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo method. The phase constraint to control the Fermion phase problem requires the random walks in Slater determinant space to be open-ended with branching. This in turn makes it necessary to use back-propagation (BP) to compute averages and correlation functions of operators that do not commute with the Hamiltonian. Several BP schemes are investigated, and their optimization with respect to the phaseless constraint is considered. We propose a modified BP method for the computation of observables in electronic systems, discuss its numerical stability and computational complexity, and assess its performance by computing ground-state properties in several molecular systems, including small organic molecules.

  14. Effect of Remote Back-Up Protection System Failure on the Optimum Routine Test Time Interval of Power System Protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y Damchi

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Appropriate operation of protection system is one of the effective factors to have a desirable reliability in power systems, which vitally needs routine test of protection system. Precise determination of optimum routine test time interval (ORTTI plays a vital role in predicting the maintenance costs of protection system. In the most previous studies, ORTTI has been determined while remote back-up protection system was considered fully reliable. This assumption is not exactly correct since remote back-up protection system may operate incorrectly or fail to operate, the same as the primary protection system. Therefore, in order to determine the ORTTI, an extended Markov model is proposed in this paper considering failure probability for remote back-up protection system. In the proposed Markov model of the protection systems, monitoring facility is taken into account. Moreover, it is assumed that the primary and back-up protection systems are maintained simultaneously. Results show that the effect of remote back-up protection system failures on the reliability indices and optimum routine test intervals of protection system is considerable.

  15. Synchronization of Harb-Zohdy Chaotic System via Back-Stepping Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. R. Shamsyeh Zahedi∗

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the problem of synchronization of the Harb-Zohdy chaotic system using the back-stepping. Based on the stability theory, the control for the synchronization of chaotic systems Harb-Zohdy is considered without unknown parameters. Next, an adaptive back-stepping control law is derived to generate an error signal between the drive and response systems Harb-Zohdy with an uncertain parameter asymptotically synchronized. Finally, this method is extended to synchronize the system with two unknown parameters. Note that the method presented here needs only one controller to realize the synchronization. Numerical simulations indicate the effectiveness of the proposed chaos synchronization scheme

  16. An R-peak detection method that uses an SVD filter and a search back system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Woo-Hyuk; Lee, Sang-Goog

    2012-12-01

    In this paper, we present a method for detecting the R-peak of an ECG signal by using an singular value decomposition (SVD) filter and a search back system. The ECG signal was detected in two phases: the pre-processing phase and the decision phase. The pre-processing phase consisted of the stages for the SVD filter, Butterworth High Pass Filter (HPF), moving average (MA), and squaring, whereas the decision phase consisted of a single stage that detected the R-peak. In the pre-processing phase, the SVD filter removed noise while the Butterworth HPF eliminated baseline wander. The MA removed the remaining noise of the signal that had gone through the SVD filter to make the signal smooth, and squaring played a role in strengthening the signal. In the decision phase, the threshold was used to set the interval before detecting the R-peak. When the latest R-R interval (RRI), suggested by Hamilton et al., was greater than 150% of the previous RRI, the method of detecting the R-peak in such an interval was modified to be 150% or greater than the smallest interval of the two most latest RRIs. When the modified search back system was used, the error rate of the peak detection decreased to 0.29%, compared to 1.34% when the modified search back system was not used. Consequently, the sensitivity was 99.47%, the positive predictivity was 99.47%, and the detection error was 1.05%. Furthermore, the quality of the signal in data with a substantial amount of noise was improved, and thus, the R-peak was detected effectively. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. End-use matching for solar industrial process heat. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, K.C.; Hooker, D.W.; Rabl, A.; Stadjuhar, S.A.; West, R.E.

    1980-01-01

    Because of the large energy demand of industry (37% of US demand) and the wide spectrum of temperatures at which heat is required, the industrial sector appears to be very suitable for the matching of solar thermal technology with industrial process heat (IPH) requirements. A methodology for end-use matching has been devised, complete with required data bases and an evaluation program PROSYS/ECONMAT. Six cities in the United States were selected for an analysis of solar applications to IPH. Typical process heat requirements for 70% of the industrial plants in each city were identified and evaluated in conjunction with meteorological and economic data for each site to determine lowest-cost solar systems for each application. The flexibility and scope of PROSYS/ECONMAT is shown in a variety of sensitivity studies that expand the results of the six-city analysis. Case studies of two industrial plants were performed to evaluate the end-use matching procedure; these results are reported.

  18. Supporting Facility Management Processes through End-Users’ Integration and Coordinated BIM-GIS Technologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudio Mirarchi

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The integration of facility management and building information modelling (BIM is an innovative and critical undertaking process to support facility maintenance and management. Even though recent research has proposed various methods and performed an increasing number of case studies, there are still issues of communication processes to be addressed. This paper presents a theoretical framework for digital systems integration of virtual models and smart technologies. Based on the comprehensive analysis of existing technologies for indoor localization, a new workflow is defined and designed, and it is utilized in a practical case study to test the model performance. In the new workflow, a facility management supporting platform is proposed and characterized, featuring indoor positioning systems to allow end users to send geo-referenced reports to central virtual models. In addition, system requirements, information technology (IT architecture and application procedures are presented. Results show that the integration of end users in the maintenance processes through smart and easy tools can overcome the existing limits of barcode systems and building management systems for failure localization. The proposed framework offers several advantages. First, it allows the identification of every element of an asset including wide physical building elements (walls, floors, etc. without requiring a prior mapping. Second, the entire cycle of maintenance activities is managed through a unique integrated system including the territorial dimension. Third, data are collected in a standard structure for future uses. Furthermore, the integration of the process in a centralized BIM-GIS (geographical information system information management system admit a scalable representation of the information supporting facility management processes in terms of assets and supply chain management and monitoring from a spatial perspective.

  19. National supply-chain survey of drug manufacturer back orders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wellman, G S

    2001-07-01

    The impact of manufacturer back orders on the supply chain for pharmaceuticals in the institutional setting was studied. A questionnaire was distributed during May and June 2000 to 600 institutional pharmacies affiliated with a major national drug and supply group purchasing organization. The instrument included questions on basic institutional demographics, perceptions about the frequency of manufacturer back orders for pharmaceuticals, the quality of communication with manufacturers and wholesalers about back orders, the two most significant back orders that had occurred in the 12 months preceding the survey, and the reasons for and impact of back orders. A total of 170 usable surveys were returned (net response rate, 28.3%). Reported manufacturer back orders included an array of drug classes, including blood products, antimicrobials, antiarrhythmics, benzodiazepine antagonists, thrombolytics, corticosteroids, and antihypertensives. Respondents perceived significant back orders as increasing in frequency. Communication by manufacturers and wholesalers about back orders was reported to be relatively poor. A raw-material shortage was the most common reason given by manufacturers for back orders (36.5%), followed by a regulatory issue (23.2%). In most cases (92%), medical staff members had to be contacted, indicating an interruption in the normal drug distribution process. In over a third of instances, respondents stated that the back order resulted in less optimal therapy. A survey found that manufacturer back orders for pharmaceuticals were increasing in frequency and that information flow within the supply chain was insufficient to meet the needs of end users.

  20. Minimally Invasive Microendoscopic Resection of the Transverse Process for Treatment of Low Back Pain with Bertolotti’s Syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoichiro Takata

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Bertolotti’s syndrome is characterized by anomalous enlargement of the transverse process of the most caudal lumbar segment, causing chronic and persistent low back pain or sciatica. We describe the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented with left sciatic pain and low back pain due to a recurrent lumbar disc herniation at L4-5 with Bertolotti’s syndrome. Selective L5 nerve root block and local injection of lidocaine into the articulation between the transverse process and sacral ala temporarily relieved the left sciatic pain and low back pain, respectively. To confirm the effect of local injection on low back pain, we gave a second local injection, which once again relieved the low back pain. Microendoscopic resection of the pseudoarticulation region and discectomy successfully relieved all symptoms. This report illustrates the effectiveness of minimally invasive resection of the transverse process for the treatment of low back pain with Bertolotti’s syndrome.

  1. Integration of Fiber-Optic Sensor Arrays into a Multi-Modal Tactile Sensor Processing System for Robotic End-Effectors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Kampmann

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available With the increasing complexity of robotic missions and the development towards long-term autonomous systems, the need for multi-modal sensing of the environment increases. Until now, the use of tactile sensor systems has been mostly based on sensing one modality of forces in the robotic end-effector. The use of a multi-modal tactile sensory system is motivated, which combines static and dynamic force sensor arrays together with an absolute force measurement system. This publication is focused on the development of a compact sensor interface for a fiber-optic sensor array, as optic measurement principles tend to have a bulky interface. Mechanical, electrical and software approaches are combined to realize an integrated structure that provides decentralized data pre-processing of the tactile measurements. Local behaviors are implemented using this setup to show the effectiveness of this approach.

  2. AIRSAR Automated Web-based Data Processing and Distribution System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Anhua; vanZyl, Jakob; Kim, Yunjin; Lou, Yunling; Imel, David; Tung, Wayne; Chapman, Bruce; Durden, Stephen

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, we present an integrated, end-to-end synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing system that accepts data processing requests, submits processing jobs, performs quality analysis, delivers and archives processed data. This fully automated SAR processing system utilizes database and internet/intranet web technologies to allow external users to browse and submit data processing requests and receive processed data. It is a cost-effective way to manage a robust SAR processing and archival system. The integration of these functions has reduced operator errors and increased processor throughput dramatically.

  3. The end-to-end testbed of the optical metrology system on-board LISA Pathfinder

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steier, F; Cervantes, F Guzman; Marin, A F GarcIa; Heinzel, G; Danzmann, K [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut) and Universitaet Hannover (Germany); Gerardi, D, E-mail: frank.steier@aei.mpg.d [EADS Astrium Satellites GmbH, Friedrichshafen (Germany)

    2009-05-07

    LISA Pathfinder is a technology demonstration mission for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The main experiment on-board LISA Pathfinder is the so-called LISA Technology Package (LTP) which has the aim to measure the differential acceleration between two free-falling test masses with an accuracy of 3 x 10{sup -14} ms{sup -2} Hz{sup -1/2} between 1 mHz and 30 mHz. This measurement is performed interferometrically by the optical metrology system (OMS) on-board LISA Pathfinder. In this paper, we present the development of an experimental end-to-end testbed of the entire OMS. It includes the interferometer and its sub-units, the interferometer backend which is a phasemeter and the processing of the phasemeter output data. Furthermore, three-axes piezo-actuated mirrors are used instead of the free-falling test masses for the characterization of the dynamic behaviour of the system and some parts of the drag-free and attitude control system (DFACS) which controls the test masses and the satellite. The end-to-end testbed includes all parts of the LTP that can reasonably be tested on earth without free-falling test masses. At its present status it consists mainly of breadboard components. Some of those have already been replaced by engineering models of the LTP experiment. In the next steps, further engineering and flight models will also be inserted in this testbed and tested against well-characterized breadboard components. The presented testbed is an important reference for the unit tests and can also be used for validation of the on-board experiment during the mission.

  4. Increasing operations profitability using an end-to-end, wireless internet, gas monitoring system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McDougall, M. [Northrock Resources Ltd., AB (Canada); Benterud, K. [zed.i solutions, inc., Calgary, AB (Canada)

    2004-10-01

    Implementation by Northrock Resources Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unocal Corporation, of a fully integrated end-to-end gas measurement and production analysis system, is discussed. The system, dubbed Smart-Alek(TM), utilizes public wireless communications and a web browser only delivery system to provide seamless well visibility to a desk-top computer. Smart-Alek(TM) is an example of a new type of end-to-end electronic gas flow measurement system, known as FINE(TM), which is an acronym for Field Intelligence Network and End-User Interface. The system delivers easy-to-use, complete, reliable and cost effective production information, far more effective than is possible to obtain with conventional SCADA technology. By installing the system, Northrock was able to increase gas volumes with more accurate electronic flow measurement in place of mechanical charts, with very low technical maintenance, and at a reduced operating cost. It is emphasized that deploying the technology alone will produce only partial benefits; to realize full benefits it is also essential to change grass roots operating practices, aiming at timely decision-making at the field level. 5 refs., 5 figs.

  5. Analog front end circuit design of CSNS beam loss monitor system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiao Shuai; Guo Xian; Tian Jianmin; Zeng Lei; Xu Taoguang; Fu Shinian

    2013-01-01

    The China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) beam loss monitor system uses gas ionization chamber to detect beam losses. The output signals from ionization chamber need to be processed in the analog front end circuit, which has been designed and developed independently. The way of transimpedance amplifier was used to achieve current-voltage (I-V) conversion measurement of signal with low repetition rate, low duty cycle and low amplitude. The analog front end circuit also realized rapid response to the larger beam loss in order to protect the safe operation of the accelerator equipment. The testing results show that the analog front end circuit meets the requirements of beam loss monitor system. (authors)

  6. Chronic low back pain in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: prevalence and predictors of back muscle strength and its correlation with disability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raíssa Sudré Cezarino

    Full Text Available Abstract Objective: To determine the prevalence of Chronic Low Back Pain and predictors of Back Muscle Strength in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Ninety-six ambulatory patients with lupus were selected by non-probability sampling and interviewed and tested during medical consultation. The outcomes measurements were: Point prevalence of chronic low back pain, Oswestry Disability Index, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia, Fatigue Severity Scale and maximal voluntary isometric contractions of handgrip and of the back muscles. Correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression were used in statistical analysis. Results: Of the 96 individuals interviewed, 25 had chronic low back pain, indicating a point prevalence of 26% (92% women. The correlation between the Oswestry Index and maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the back muscles was r = −0.4, 95% CI [−0.68; −0.01] and between the maximal voluntary isometric contraction of handgrip and of the back muscles was r = 0.72, 95% CI [0.51; 0.88]. The regression model presented the highest value of R 2 being observed when maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the back muscles was tested with five independent variables (63%. In this model handgrip strength was the only predictive variable (β = 0.61, p = 0.001. Conclusions: The prevalence of chronic low back pain in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus was 26%. The maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the back muscles was 63% predicted by five variables of interest, however, only the handgrip strength was a statistically significant predictive variable. The maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the back muscles presented a linear relation directly proportional to handgrip and inversely proportional to Oswestry Index i.e. stronger back muscles are associated with lower disability scores.

  7. Modeling auditory processing and speech perception in hearing-impaired listeners

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jepsen, Morten Løve

    in a diagnostic rhyme test. The framework was constructed such that discrimination errors originating from the front-end and the back-end were separated. The front-end was fitted to individual listeners with cochlear hearing loss according to non-speech data, and speech data were obtained in the same listeners......A better understanding of how the human auditory system represents and analyzes sounds and how hearing impairment affects such processing is of great interest for researchers in the fields of auditory neuroscience, audiology, and speech communication as well as for applications in hearing......-instrument and speech technology. In this thesis, the primary focus was on the development and evaluation of a computational model of human auditory signal-processing and perception. The model was initially designed to simulate the normal-hearing auditory system with particular focus on the nonlinear processing...

  8. VXI based multibunch detector and QPSK modulator for the PEP-II/ALS/DAΦNE longitudinal feedback system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Young, A.; Fox, J.; Teytelman, D.

    1997-04-01

    The PEP-II/ALS/DAΦNE feedback systems are complex systems implemented using analog, digital and microwave circuits. The VXI hardware implementation for the Front-end and Back-end analog processing modules is presented. The Front-end module produces a baseband beam phase signal from pickups using a microwave tone burst generator. The Back-end VXI module generates an AM/QPSK modulated signal from a baseband correction signal computed in a digital signal processor. These components are implemented in VXI packages that allow a wide spectrum of system functions including a 120 MHz bandwidth rms detector, reference phase servo, woofer link to the RF control system, standard VXI status/control, and user defined registers. The details of the design and implementation of the VXI modules including performance characteristics are presented

  9. Comparing 2-nt 3' overhangs against blunt-ended siRNAs: a systems biology based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Preetam; Dullea, Robert; Fischer, James E; Turi, Tom G; Sarver, Ronald W; Zhang, Chaoyang; Basu, Kalyan; Das, Sajal K; Poland, Bradley W

    2009-07-07

    In this study, we formulate a computational reaction model following a chemical kinetic theory approach to predict the binding rate constant for the siRNA-RISC complex formation reaction. The model allowed us to study the potency difference between 2-nt 3' overhangs against blunt-ended siRNA molecules in an RNA interference (RNAi) system. The rate constant predicted by this model was fed into a stochastic simulation of the RNAi system (using the Gillespie stochastic simulator) to study the overall potency effect. We observed that the stochasticity in the transcription/translation machinery has no observable effects in the RNAi pathway. Sustained gene silencing using siRNAs can be achieved only if there is a way to replenish the dsRNA molecules in the cell. Initial findings show about 1.5 times more blunt-ended molecules will be required to keep the mRNA at the same reduced level compared to the 2-nt overhang siRNAs. However, the mRNA levels jump back to saturation after a longer time when blunt-ended siRNAs are used. We found that the siRNA-RISC complex formation reaction rate was 2 times slower when blunt-ended molecules were used pointing to the fact that the presence of the 2-nt overhangs has a greater effect on the reaction in which the bound RISC complex cleaves the mRNA.

  10. Status report of the end-to-end ASKAP software system: towards early science operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzman, Juan Carlos; Chapman, Jessica; Marquarding, Malte; Whiting, Matthew

    2016-08-01

    300 MHz bandwidth for Array Release 1; followed by the deployment of the real-time data processing components. In addition to the Central Processor, the first production release of the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA) has also been deployed in one of the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre facilities and it is integrated to the end-to-end ASKAP data flow system. This paper describes the current status of the "end-to-end" data flow software system from preparing observations to data acquisition, processing and archiving; and the challenges of integrating an HPC facility as a key part of the instrument. It also shares some lessons learned since the start of integration activities and the challenges ahead in preparation for the start of the Early Science program.

  11. Back from the brink: The 2008 mediation process and reforms in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Book review. Back from the brink: The 2008 mediation process and reforms in. Kenya. Graça Machel and Benjamin Mkapa 2014. Geneva, African Union Commission, 310 pages. ISBN 978-9966-065-73-5. Reviewed by Charles Nyuykonge. Senior Researcher: Knowledge Production Department, ACCORD. Although much ...

  12. Brain Computer Interfaces on Track to Home: Results of the Evaluation at Disabled End-Users's Homes and Lessons Learnt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felip eMiralles

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The BackHome system is a multi-functional BCI system, the final outcome of a User Centred Design approach, whose ambition is to move BCI systems from laboratories into the home of people in need for their independent home use. The paper presents the results of testing and evaluation of the BackHome system with end-users at their own homes. Results show moderate to good acceptance from end-users, caregivers and therapists; which reported promising usability levels, good user satisfaction and levels of control in the use of services and home support based on remote monitoring tools.

  13. 40 CFR 63.487 - Batch front-end process vents-reference control technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... § 63.487 Batch front-end process vents—reference control technology. (a) Batch front-end process vents... 40 Protection of Environment 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Batch front-end process vents-reference control technology. 63.487 Section 63.487 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY...

  14. Processing of a magnesium alloy by equal-channel angular pressing using a back-pressure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Cheng; Xia Kenong; Langdon, Terence G.

    2009-01-01

    Experiments were conducted on the magnesium AZ31 alloy to evaluate the significance of conducting equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) with a back-pressure. Following processing by ECAP, the values of the Vickers microhardness were recorded on the cross-sectional planes and microstructural observations were undertaken using transmission electron microscopy. The results show an increase in the hardness in the first pass with significant microstructural inhomogeneity and a transition towards a more homogeneous structure with subsequent passes. The grain size was measured as ∼0.9 μm after 8 passes. A comparison with published data on the same alloy processed by ECAP without a back-pressure suggests several advantages in incorporating a back-pressure into ECAP. These advantages include the ability to achieve greater grain refinement, a potential for pressing at lower temperatures and the development of a more rapid evolution towards a homogeneous microstructure.

  15. Strategy of a Slovak back-end part of nuclear energy and financing of decommissioning of NPP A1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slugen, V.

    2014-01-01

    The base for all consideration about financing of decommissioning of NPPs after accident should be the national Strategy of a Back-end of Nuclear Energy. In case of the Slovak Republic, there exist roles stated in actual Strategy which was issued by Slovak Government at 21.5.2008 and prepared by National nuclear found of SR. This Strategy was currently up-grated and given to the discussions before acceptance at national level by Government. Financing of decommissioning costs of NPP A1 was recalculated and adapted according to the actual state of art in available technology as well as human potential in Slovakia. (authors)

  16. A methodology for assessing the environmental and health impact of options for the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ouzounian, G.H.; Devezeaux de Lavergne, J.G.; Devin, P.; Lioure, A.; Mouney, H.; Le Boulch, D.

    2001-01-01

    Research programs conducted in France in the framework of the 1991 act offer various options for management of the back- end of the fuel cycle. Proposals to be debated in 2006 will rely not only on broad scientific and technical knowledge, but also on the compilation and integration of results, with syntheses and analyses intended to highlight the advantages and the limitations of each of the waste management paths. This presentation introduces a methodology derived from the life cycle analysis as well as some preliminary results. (author)

  17. Feedback from operational experience in front-end transportation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mondonel, J.L.; Parison, C.

    1998-01-01

    Transport forms an integral part of the nuclear fuel cycle, representing the strategic link between each stage of the cycle. In a way there is a transport cycle that parallels the nuclear fuel cycle. This concerns particularly the front-end of the cycle whose steps - mining conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication - require numerous transports. Back-end shipments involve a handful of countries, but front-end transports involve all five continents, and many exotic countries. All over Europe such transports are routinely performed with an excellent safety track record. Transnucleaire dominates the French nuclear transportation market and carries out both front and back-end transports. For instance in 1996 more than 28,400 front-end packages were transported as well as more than 3,600 back-end packages. However front-end transport is now a business undergoing much change. A nuclear transportation company must now cope with an evolving picture including new technical requirements, new transportation schemes and new business conditions. This paper describes the latest evolutions in terms of front-end transportation and the way this activity is carried out by Transnucleaire, and goes on to discuss future prospects. (authors)

  18. A front-end system for industrial type controls at the SSC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haenni, D.R.

    1992-01-01

    The SSC control system is tasked with coordinating the operation of many different accelerator subsystems, a number of which use industrial type process controls. The design of a high-performance control system front end is presented which serves both as a data concentrator and a distributed process controller. In addition it provides strong support for a centralized control system architecture, allows for regional control systems, and simplifies the construction of inter-subsystem controls. An implementation of this design will be discussed which uses STD-Bus for accelerator hardware interfacing, a time domain multiplexing (TDM) communications transport system, and a modified reflective memory interface to the rest of the control system. (author)

  19. Nonlinear Control of Back-to-Back VSC-HVDC System via Command-Filter Backstepping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie Huang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposed a command-filtered backstepping controller to improve the dynamic performance of back-to-back voltage-source-converter high voltage direct current (BTB VSC-HVDC. First, the principle and model of BTB VSC-HVDC in abc and d-q frame are described. Then, backstepping method is applied to design a controller to maintain the voltage balance and realize coordinated control of active and reactive power. Meanwhile, command filter is introduced to deal with the problem of input saturation and explosion of complexity in conventional backstepping, and a filter compensation signal is designed to diminish the adverse effects caused by the command filter. Next, the stability and convergence of the whole system are proved via the Lyapunov theorem of asymptotic stability. Finally, simulation results are given to demonstrate that proposed controller has a better dynamic performance and stronger robustness compared to the traditional PID algorithm, which also proves the effectiveness and possibility of the designed controller.

  20. The complex spine: the multidimensional system of causal pathways for low-back disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marras, William S

    2012-12-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the logic behind the knowledge of low-back problem causal pathways. Low-back pain and low-back disorders (LBDs) continue to represent the major musculoskeletal risk problem in the workplace,with the prevalence and costs of such disorders increasing over time. In recent years, there has been much criticism of the ability of ergonomics methods to control the risk of LBDs. Logical assessment of the systems logic associated with our understanding and prevention of LBDs. Current spine loading as well as spine tolerance research efforts are bringing the field to the point where there is a better systems understanding of the inextricable link between the musculoskeletal system and the cognitive system. Loading is influenced by both the physical environment factors as well as mental demands, whereas tolerances are defined by both physical tissue tolerance and biochemically based tissue sensitivities to pain. However, the logic used in many low-back risk assessment tools may be overly simplistic, given what is understood about causal pathways. Current tools typically assess only load or position in a very cursory manner. Efforts must work toward satisfying both the physical environment and the cognitive environment for the worker if one is to reliably lower the risk of low-back problems. This systems representation of LBD development may serve as a guide to identify gaps in our understanding of LBDs.

  1. LHC Report: Back in operation

    CERN Multimedia

    2016-01-01

    With the machine back in their hands since Friday, 4 March, the LHC operators are now performing the powering tests on the magnets. This is a crucial step before receiving the first beams and restarting Run 2 for physics.   A Distribution Feed-Box (DFB) brings power to the LHC magnets and maintains the stability of the current in the superconducting circuits. The LHC was the last machine to be handed back to operators after the completion of maintenance work carried out during the Year-End Technical Stop (YETS) that had started on 14 December 2015. During the eleven weeks of scheduled maintenance activities, several operations took place in all the accelerators and beam lines. They included the maintenance in several points of the cryogenic system, the replacement of 18 magnets in the Super Proton Synchrotron; an extensive campaign to identify and remove thousands of obsolete cables; the replacement of the LHC beam absorbers for injection (TDIs) that are used to absorb the SPS b...

  2. Predictive Current Control of a 7-level AC-DC back-to-back Converter for Universal and Flexible Power Management System

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bifaretti, Steffano; Zanchetta, Pericle; Iov, Florin

    2008-01-01

    The paper proposes a novel power conversion system for Universal and Flexible Power Management (UNIFLEX-PM) in Future Electricity Network. Its structure is based on a back-to-back three-phase AC-DC 7-level converter; each AC side is connected to a different PCC, representing the main grid and....../or various distributed generation systems. Effective and accurate power flow control is demonstrated through simulation in Matlab- Simulink environment on a model based on a two-port structure and using a Predictive Control technique. Control of different Power flow profiles has been successfully tested...

  3. Design of an end station for a high current ion implantation system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kranik, J.R.

    1979-01-01

    During the last 4 to 5 years IBM has been involved in an effort to develop a high current Ion Implantation system with pre-deposition capabilities. The system is dedicated to Arsenic implants, involving doses > 1 x 10 15 ions/cm 2 in the energy range of 30 to 60 keV. A major portion of this effort involved the design of an associated end station capable of producing high uniformity implants with beam currents in the 0.5 to 6.0 mA range. The end station contains all components from the exit of the analyzing magnet, including the exit beamline, process chamber, scan system, wafer handling system, high vacuum pumping package, beam optics, dosimetry system, and associated electronic controls. The unit was restricted to a six wafer (82 mm) batch size to maintain process line compatibility. In addition, implant dose non-uniformity objectives were established at +- 3% (2σ) within a wafer and +- 2% (2σ) wafer-to-wafer. Also, the system was to be capable of implanting 24 wafers/hour at a dose of 7.5 x 10 15 ions/cm 2 . Major consideration in the design was afforded to high reliability, ease of maintenance and production level throughput capabilities. The rationale and evolution of the final end station design is described. (author)

  4. The possible role of indoor radon reduction systems in back-drafting residential combustion appliances

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henschel, D.B.

    1997-01-01

    A computational sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the conditions under which residential active soil depressurization (ASD) systems for indoor radon reduction might most likely exacerbate or create back-drafting of natural-draft combustion appliances. Parameters varied included: house size; normalized leakage area; exhaust rate of exhaust appliances other than the ASD system; and the amount of house air exhausted by the ASD system. Even with a reasonably conservative set of assumptions, it is predicted that ASD systems should not exacerbate or create back- drafting in most of the U.S. housing stock. Only at normalized leakage areas lower than 3 to 4 cm 2 commercial at 4 Pa) per m 2 of floor area should ASD contribute to back-drafting, even in small houses at high ASD exhaust rates (compared to a mean of over 10 cm 2 /m 2 determined from data on over 12,000 U.S. houses). But on the other hand, even with a more forgiving set of assumptions, it is predicted that ASD systems could contribute to back-drafting in some fraction of the housing stock -houses tighter than about 1 to 2 cm 2 /m 2 - even in large houses at minimal ASD exhaust rates. It is not possible to use parameters such as house size or ASD system flow rate to estimate reliably the risk that an ASD system might contribute to back-drafting in a given house. Spillage/back-draft testing would be needed for essentially all installations. (au) 18 refs

  5. Effect of continuum damage mechanics on spring back prediction in metal forming processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nayebi, Ali; Shahabi, Mehdi

    2017-01-01

    The influence of considering the variations in material properties was investigated through continuum damage mechanics according to the Lemaitre isotropic unified damage law to predict the bending force and spring back in V-bending sheet metal forming processes, with emphasis on Finite element (FE) simulation considerations. The material constants of the damage model were calibrated through a uniaxial tensile test with an appropriate and convenient repeating strategy. Holloman’s isotropic and Ziegler’s linear kinematic hardening laws were employed to describe the behavior of a hardening material. To specify the ideal FE conditions for simulating spring back, the effect of the various numerical considerations during FE simulation was investigated and compared with the experimental outcome. Results indicate that considering continuum damage mechanics decreased the predicted bending force and improved the accuracy of spring back prediction.

  6. 30 CFR 75.1101-21 - Back-up water system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Back-up water system. 75.1101-21 Section 75.1101-21 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR COAL MINE SAFETY... water system. One fire hose outlet together with a length of hose capable of extending to the belt drive...

  7. Flexible End2End Workflow Automation of Hit-Discovery Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzmüller-Laue, Silke; Göde, Bernd; Thurow, Kerstin

    2014-08-01

    The article considers a new approach of more complex laboratory automation at the workflow layer. The authors purpose the automation of end2end workflows. The combination of all relevant subprocesses-whether automated or manually performed, independently, and in which organizational unit-results in end2end processes that include all result dependencies. The end2end approach focuses on not only the classical experiments in synthesis or screening, but also on auxiliary processes such as the production and storage of chemicals, cell culturing, and maintenance as well as preparatory activities and analyses of experiments. Furthermore, the connection of control flow and data flow in the same process model leads to reducing of effort of the data transfer between the involved systems, including the necessary data transformations. This end2end laboratory automation can be realized effectively with the modern methods of business process management (BPM). This approach is based on a new standardization of the process-modeling notation Business Process Model and Notation 2.0. In drug discovery, several scientific disciplines act together with manifold modern methods, technologies, and a wide range of automated instruments for the discovery and design of target-based drugs. The article discusses the novel BPM-based automation concept with an implemented example of a high-throughput screening of previously synthesized compound libraries. © 2014 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

  8. Modeling, simulation, and optimization of a front-end system for acetylene hydrogenation reactors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Gobbo

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available The modeling, simulation, and dynamic optimization of an industrial reaction system for acetylene hydrogenation are discussed in the present work. The process consists of three adiabatic fixed-bed reactors, in series, with interstage cooling. These reactors are located after the compression and the caustic scrubbing sections of an ethylene plant, characterizing a front-end system; in contrast to the tail-end system where the reactors are placed after the de-ethanizer unit. The acetylene conversion and selectivity profiles for the reactors are optimized, taking into account catalyst deactivation and process constraints. A dynamic optimal temperature profile that maximizes ethylene production and meets product specifications is obtained by controlling the feed and intercoolers temperatures. An industrial acetylene hydrogenation system is used to provide the necessary data to adjust kinetics and transport parameters and to validate the approach.

  9. A new fabrication technique for back-to-back varactor diodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, R. Peter; Choudhury, Debabani; Martin, Suzanne; Frerking, Margaret A.; Liu, John K.; Grunthaner, Frank A.

    1992-01-01

    A new varactor diode process has been developed in which much of the processing is done from the back of an extremely thin semiconductor wafer laminated to a low-dielectric substrate. Back-to-back BNN diodes were fabricated with this technique; excellent DC and low-frequency capacitance measurements were obtained. Advantages of the new technique relative to other techniques include greatly reduced frontside wafer damage from exposure to process chemicals, improved capability to integrate devices (e.g. for antenna patterns, transmission lines, or wafer-scale grids), and higher line yield. BNN diodes fabricated with this technique exhibit approximately the expected capacitance-voltage characteristics while showing leakage currents under 10 mA at voltages three times that needed to deplete the varactor. This leakage is many orders of magnitude better than comparable Schottky diodes.

  10. System evaluation of offshore platforms with gas liquefaction processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nguyen, Tuong-Van; de Oliveira Júnior, Silvio

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Floating, production, storage and offloading plants are facilities used for offshore processing of hydrocarbons in remote locations. At present, the produced gas is injected back into the reservoir instead of being exported. The implementation of refrigeration processes offshore for liqu......Abstract Floating, production, storage and offloading plants are facilities used for offshore processing of hydrocarbons in remote locations. At present, the produced gas is injected back into the reservoir instead of being exported. The implementation of refrigeration processes offshore...... improvements are discussed based on an energy and exergy analysis. Compared to a standard platform where gas is directly injected into the reservoir, the total power consumption increases by up to 50%, and the exergy destruction within the processing plant doubles when a liquefaction system is installed....... It is therefore essential to conduct a careful analysis of the trade-off between the capital costs and operating revenues for such options....

  11. [Roof folding and rotary pushing for the treatment of back to back fractures of distal radius and ulna in children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ping; Dong, Xiao-jun; Lu, Zhou-tong; Wang, Gongjun; Zhang, Han-qing; Chen, Xuan-ning; Li, Dong

    2015-09-01

    To evaluate the technique and the clinical effect of folding roof and rotary pushing in treatment of children with distal radius and ulna fracture of "back to back". From January 2012 to February 2014,38 children with distal radius and ulna fracture of "back to back" were treated by using the technique of folding roof and rotary pushing to reset and splint fixation including 23 males and 15 females with an average age of 9.5 years old ranging from 6 to 14 years old. Injury time was from 45 min to 3 days (averaged 1.3 days). All cases was unilateral closed fracture without symptoms of nerve injury occurred. The wrist joint anteroposterior and lateral radiographs showed double fracture of radius and ulna, and the broken end of radius was typical "back to back" displacement. The quality of reduction was assessed according to Dienst recommendation on the combination of Aro measurement, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated using standard of Anderson function. All patients were followed up from 3 to 13 months with an average of 6 months. There were no iatrogenic nerve injury. Thirty cases were treated successfully for the first time, 8 cases were again reset successfully; 28 cases were anatomical reduction, 7 cases were near anatomic reduction, 3 cases were functional reduction. At the second day 7 cases with hand and finger swelling appeared in multiple reset patients. Quality results of reduction were excellent in 33 cases, good in 5 cases. According to the standard of Anderson function evaluation, 35 cases were excellent, 3 cases were good. All fractures were healed with of deformity of wrist. Using the technique of folding roof and rotary pushing in treatment of children with distal radius and ulna fracture of "back to back" is very successful, the patient's limb function recovered well, the whole operation process is simple.

  12. Optimization of Tape Winding Process Parameters to Enhance the Performance of Solid Rocket Nozzle Throat Back Up Liners using Taguchi's Robust Design Methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nath, Nayani Kishore

    2017-08-01

    The throat back up liners is used to protect the nozzle structural members from the severe thermal environment in solid rocket nozzles. The throat back up liners is made with E-glass phenolic prepregs by tape winding process. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the optimization of process parameters of tape winding process to achieve better insulative resistance using Taguchi's robust design methodology. In this method four control factors machine speed, roller pressure, tape tension, tape temperature that were investigated for the tape winding process. The presented work was to study the cogency and acceptability of Taguchi's methodology in manufacturing of throat back up liners. The quality characteristic identified was Back wall temperature. Experiments carried out using L 9 ' (34) orthogonal array with three levels of four different control factors. The test results were analyzed using smaller the better criteria for Signal to Noise ratio in order to optimize the process. The experimental results were analyzed conformed and successfully used to achieve the minimum back wall temperature of the throat back up liners. The enhancement in performance of the throat back up liners was observed by carrying out the oxy-acetylene tests. The influence of back wall temperature on the performance of throat back up liners was verified by ground firing test.

  13. BGO front-end electronics and signal processing in the MXGS instrument for the ASIM mission

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skogseide, Yngve; Cenkeramaddi, Linga Reddy; Genov, Georgi

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents the Bismuth Germanate Oxide (BGO) front-end electronics design and signal processing in Modular X- and Gamma ray sensor (MXGS) instrument onboard the Atmosphere Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) mission, funded by the European Space Agency. University of Bergen is responsible...... for the design and development of the detector layers and readout electronics for the MXGS instrument. The principal objective of the instrument is to detect Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (TGFs), which are related to thunderstorm activity. The digital pulse processing scheme used in the MXGS BGO detector gives...... it a significantly higher rate capability than what has been achieved in other instruments used in the study of terrestrial gamma flashes. The front-end electronics for the BGO detector layer in MXGS system also uses fewer components compared to conventional analog front-ends for BGO detectors, thereby increasing...

  14. Fuel cell/back-up battery hybrid energy conversion systems: Dynamic modeling and harmonic considerations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fathabadi, Hassan

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Novel technique to completely eliminate the harmful harmonics of fuel cell system. • Presenting a novel high accurate detailed electrochemical dynamic model of fuel cells. • Back-up battery system to compensate the slow dynamic response of fuel cell system. • Exact analysis of real electrochemical reactions occurring inside fuel cells. - Abstract: In this study, a novel dynamic model of fuel cells is presented. High accurate static and dynamic responses of the proposed model are experimentally validated by comparing simulated results with real experimental data. The obtained model together with theoretical results shows that a fuel cell or a fuel cell stack has very slow dynamic response, so that, it cannot adapt itself to the fast variations in load demand. It is shown that for adapting well a fuel cell stack to the load demand, the stack should be equipped with a proposed back-up battery system which compensates the slow dynamic response of the stack by providing a bidirectional path to transmit/absorb the extra instant power. It is proved that the conventional switching waveforms used in the converters of the stacks and back-up systems produce an enormous amount of harmful harmonics. Then, a novel technique is proposed to completely eliminate main harmful harmonics. It is worthwhile to note that all the other techniques only reduce the harmful harmonics. Simulated results verify that the back-up battery system together with applying the proposed technique provide a fast dynamic response for the fuel cell/back-up battery system, and also completely eliminate the main harmful harmonics

  15. LS1 Report: PS beams are back!

    CERN Multimedia

    Katarina Anthony & Anaïs Schaeffer

    2014-01-01

    For the first time in over 15 months, there are beams back in the PS. Making their first tour of the accelerator today, 20 June, their injection marks the end of weeks of cold checkouts and hardware commissioning in the PS.   The CERN Control Centre (CCC) is back in business: people gather to restart the LHC injectors, today the PS. Since hardware commissioning was wrapped up on 23 May, the Operations Group (BE-OP) has been conducting cold checkouts on the PS. This involves switching on all of the machine's systems, verifying that they respond to commands by OP and ensuring they are calibrated to beam timings. "These verifications were done, in part, during the hardware commissioning dry runs," says Rende Steerenberg, PS section leader. "But the cold checkouts are on a much larger scale, as we act as if there is beam in the whole machine. We placed a full load on the controls system, cooling, networks, etc. in order to setup the accelerator in the most realis...

  16. Seeing the System through the End Users' Eyes: Shadow Expert Technique for Evaluating the Consistency of a Learning Management System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzinger, Andreas; Stickel, Christian; Fassold, Markus; Ebner, Martin

    Interface consistency is an important basic concept in web design and has an effect on performance and satisfaction of end users. Consistency also has significant effects on the learning performance of both expert and novice end users. Consequently, the evaluation of consistency within a e-learning system and the ensuing eradication of irritating discrepancies in the user interface redesign is a big issue. In this paper, we report of our experiences with the Shadow Expert Technique (SET) during the evaluation of the consistency of the user interface of a large university learning management system. The main objective of this new usability evaluation method is to understand the interaction processes of end users with a specific system interface. Two teams of usability experts worked independently from each other in order to maximize the objectivity of the results. The outcome of this SET method is a list of recommended changes to improve the user interaction processes, hence to facilitate high consistency.

  17. The Phase-2 Electronics Upgrade of the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter System

    CERN Document Server

    Vachon, Brigitte; The ATLAS collaboration

    2018-01-01

    The LHC high-luminosity upgrade in 2024-2026 requires the associated detectors to operate at luminosities about 5-7 times larger than assumed in their original design. The pile- up is expected to increase to up to 200 events per proton bunch-crossing. The current readout of the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeters does not provide sufficient buffering and bandwidth capabilities to accommodate the hardware triggers requirements imposed by these harsh conditions. Furthermore, the expected total radiation doses are beyond the qualification range of the current front-end electronics. For these reasons an almost complete replacement of the front-end and back- end readout system is foreseen for the 182,468 readout channels. The new readout system will be based on a free-running architecture, where calorimeter signals are amplified, shaped and digitized by on-detector electronics, then sent at 40 MHz to the back-end for further processing. Results from the design studies on the performance of the components of the readou...

  18. Massage Therapy of the Back Using a Real-Time Haptic-Enhanced Telerehabilitation System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Ramírez-Fernández

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We present the usability evaluation of a haptic-enhanced telerehabilitation system for massage therapy of the back using the Vybe haptic gaming pad and the gesture sensor LEAP motion controller. The evaluated system includes features that allow for (i administering online therapy programs, (ii providing self-adjustable and safety treatment of back massages using a virtual environment, and (iii saving and replaying massage sessions according to a patient’s therapy program. The usability evaluation with 25 older adults and 10 specialists suggests that the haptic telerehabilitation system is perceived with high usability and pleasurable user experience, while providing personalized intensity of haptic therapy in a supervised, real-time, and secure way to treat the patient. Moreover, the specialists totally agree that the system design features, such as save and play, and delimiting therapy zones are the most important for back massage therapy, while the features of regulating feedback intensity and providing/receiving a massage remotely are also important. Finally, based on their comments, five design insights aiming at improving the current version of the system were generated.

  19. The Different Role of Working Memory in Open-Ended versus Closed-Ended Creative Problem Solving: A Dual-Process Theory Account

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Wei-Lun; Lien, Yunn-Wen

    2013-01-01

    This study examined how working memory plays different roles in open-ended versus closed-ended creative problem-solving processes, as represented by divergent thinking tests and insight problem-solving tasks. With respect to the analysis of different task demands and the framework of dual-process theories, the hypothesis was that the idea…

  20. Measurement of Design Process Front-End – Radical Innovation Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berg, Pekka; Pihlajamaa, Jussi; Hansen, Poul H. Kyvsgård

    2014-01-01

    The overall structure and the main characteristics of the future product are all decided in the front-end phase, which then strongly affects subsequent new product development activities. Recent studies indicate that these early front-end activities represent the most troublesome phase...... of the innovation process, and at the same time one of the greatest opportunities to improve the overall innovation capability of a company. In this paper dealing with the criteria we concentrate only for the objectives viewpoint and leave the attributes discussion to the future research. Two most crucial questions...... the innovation activities front end contains five assessment viewpoints as follows; input, process, output (including impacts), social environment and structural environment. Based on the results from our first managerial implications in three Finnish manufacturing companies we argue, that the developed model...

  1. Open-ended magnetic confinement systems for fusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Post, R.F.; Ryutov, D.D.

    1995-05-01

    Magnetic confinement systems that use externally generated magnetic fields can be divided topologically into two classes: ''closed'' and 'open''. The tokamak, the stellarator, and the reversed-field-pinch approaches are representatives of the first category, while mirror-based systems and their variants are of the second category. While the recent thrust of magnetic fusion research, with its emphasis on the tokamak, has been concentrated on closed geometry, there are significant reasons for the continued pursuit of research into open-ended systems. The paper discusses these reasons, reviews the history and the present status of open-ended systems, and suggests some future directions for the research

  2. The yeast THO/Sub2 complex is functionally linked to 3’-end processing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Torben Heick

    In S. cerevisiae the RNA polymerase II-associated THO complex facilitates loading of the RNA-dependent ATPase Sub2p/UAP56 onto nascent transcripts. Mutation of individual THO components or Sub2p elicits dual transcription and mRNA nuclear export phenotypes. In addition Sub2p also has been...... close proximity to cleavage/polyadenylation site sequences. Moreover, yeast extracts prepared from THO deletion- or sub2 mutant-strains are deficient for pre-mRNA 3’-end cleavage in an in vitro system uncoupled from transcription. The molecular basis for the link between THO/Sub2 and 3’ end processing...

  3. Integrated Solution of a Back Office System for Serious Games Targeted at Physiotherapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tiago Martins

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Serious games targeted at physiotherapy can be a solution to help the physical therapy professionals. However, the entire game management, in its various aspects, is under the professional’s responsibility. One way to reduce the professional management work will be to integrate a Back Office system in the game. Following this trend, the purpose of this paper is to present a modular Back Office system for centralized management of one or more games targeted at physical therapy.

  4. Dual N-Back Working Memory Training in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Comparison to Processing Speed Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M.

    2016-01-01

    Enhancing cognitive ability is an attractive concept, particularly for middle-aged adults interested in maintaining cognitive functioning and preventing age-related declines. Computerized working memory training has been investigated as a safe method of cognitive enhancement in younger and older adults, although few studies have considered the potential impact of working memory training on middle-aged adults. This study investigated dual n-back working memory training in healthy adults aged 30–60. Fifty-seven adults completed measures of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence before and after a 5-week web-based dual n-back or active control (processing speed) training program. Results: Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance failed to identify improvements across the three cognitive composites, working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, after training. Follow-up Bayesian analyses supported null findings for training effects for each individual composite. Findings suggest that dual n-back working memory training may not benefit working memory or fluid intelligence in healthy adults. Further investigation is necessary to clarify if other forms of working memory training may be beneficial, and what factors impact training-related benefits, should they occur, in this population. PMID:27043141

  5. Dual N-Back Working Memory Training in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Comparison to Processing Speed Training.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linette Lawlor-Savage

    Full Text Available Enhancing cognitive ability is an attractive concept, particularly for middle-aged adults interested in maintaining cognitive functioning and preventing age-related declines. Computerized working memory training has been investigated as a safe method of cognitive enhancement in younger and older adults, although few studies have considered the potential impact of working memory training on middle-aged adults. This study investigated dual n-back working memory training in healthy adults aged 30-60. Fifty-seven adults completed measures of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence before and after a 5-week web-based dual n-back or active control (processing speed training program.Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance failed to identify improvements across the three cognitive composites, working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, after training. Follow-up Bayesian analyses supported null findings for training effects for each individual composite. Findings suggest that dual n-back working memory training may not benefit working memory or fluid intelligence in healthy adults. Further investigation is necessary to clarify if other forms of working memory training may be beneficial, and what factors impact training-related benefits, should they occur, in this population.

  6. Front end embedded microprocessors in the JET computer-based control system, past, present and future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steed, C.A.; VanderBeken, H.; Browne, M.L.; Fullard, K.; Reed, K.; Tilley, M.; Schmidt, V.

    1987-01-01

    A brief history of the use of Front End Microprocessors in the JET Control and Data Acquisition System (CODAS) is presented. The present expansion in their use from 2 or 3 in 1983 to 27 now, is covered along with the reasoning behind their present usage. Finally, their future planned use in the area of remote handling is discussed and the authors present views on the use of front end processing in future large distributed control systems are presented

  7. Back to Back: A Focus on Reducing the Logistics Costs and Tax

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rogério João Lunkes

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective is to identify the main aspects related to the operation of Back to Back set out in international trade, which enables reduction of logistics costs and taxes. The operation of Back to Back is an excellent opportunity to increase foreign exchange gain and offer greater flexibility to commercial operations that the business requires. The methodology used in preparing this study was qualitative research according to the characteristics and nature of the problem. From the use of descriptive research study aims to demonstrate the main theoretical aspects underlying the subject in reference. This study aimed to identify the main aspects related to the operation of Back to Back set out in international trade and tax effects in an organization and logistics of industrial electronics segment of the State of Santa Catarina. The study demonstrated that the benefits of the operation of Back to Back is of paramount importance for companies having a positive impact in financial terms by reducing the need for tax payments and logistics costs which affect the processes of import and export. The results presented showed that the company studied the operation of Back to Back is essential for international negotiations.

  8. Test of Seal System for Flexible Pipe End Fitting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Banke, Lars; Jensen, Thomas Gregers

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of the end fitting seal system is to ensure leak proof termination of flexible pipes. The seal system of an NKT end fitting normally consists of a number of ring joint gaskets mounted in a steel sleeve on the outside of the polymeric inner liner of the pipe. The seal system is activated...... by compression of the gaskets, thus using the geometry to establish a seal towards the inner liner of the pipe and the steel sleeve of the end fitting. This paper describes how the seal system of an end fitting can be tested using an autoclave. By regulating temperature and pressure, the seal system can...... be tested up to 130oC and 51.7 MPa. Pressure, temperature and the mechanical behaviours of the pipe are measured for use in further research. The set-up is used to test the efficiency of the seal system as function of parameters such as cross sectional shapes of the gaskets, tolerances between gaskets...

  9. Tomography system having an ultrahigh-speed processing unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brunnett, C.J.; Gerth, V.W. Jr.

    1977-01-01

    A transverse section tomography system has an ultrahigh-speed data processing unit for performing back projection and updating. An x-ray scanner directs x-ray beams through a planar section of a subject from a sequence of orientations and positions. The data processing unit includes a scan storage section for retrievably storing a set of filtered scan signals in scan storage locations corresponding to predetermined beam orientations. An array storage section is provided for storing image signals as they are generated

  10. Hybrid disassembly system for cellular telephone end-of-life treatment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kniebel, M.; Basdere, B.; Seliger, G. [Technical Univ. Berlin, Inst. for Machine Tools and Factory Management, Dept. of Assembly Technology and Factory Management, Berlin (Germany)

    2004-07-01

    Concern over the negative environmental impacts associated with the production, use, and end-of-life (EOL) of cellular telephones is particularly high due to large production volumes and characteristically short time scales of technological and stylistic obsolescence. Landfilled or incinerated cellular telephones create the potential for release of toxic substances. The European legislation has passed the directive on Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) to regulate their collection and appropriate end-of-life treatment. Manufacturers must conduct material recycling or remanufacturing processes to recover resources. While recovery rates can hardly be met economically by material recycling, remanufacturing and reusing cellular phones is developing into a reasonable alternative. Both end-of-life options require disassembly processes for WEEE compliant treatment. Due to the high number of different cell phone variants and their typical design that fits components into tight enclosing spaces, cellular phone disassembly becomes a challenging task. These challenges and the expected high numbers of phones to be returned in the course of the WEEE urges for automated disassembly. A hybrid disassembly system has been developed to ensure the mass-treatment of obsolete cellular phones. It has been integrated into a prototypical remanufacturing factory for cellular phones that has been planned based on market data. (orig.)

  11. Tomography system having an ultrahigh speed processing unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cox, J.P. Jr.; Gerth, V.W. Jr.

    1977-01-01

    A transverse section tomography system has an ultrahigh-speed data processing unit for performing back projection and updating. An x-ray scanner directs x-ray beams through a planar section of a subject from a sequence of orientations and positions. The scanner includes a movably supported radiation detector for detecting the intensity of the beams of radiation after they pass through the subject

  12. Back Pain in Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sadi Kayiran ; Sinan Mahir Kayiran;

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Contrary to popular knowledge, back pain is quite frequently seen in children. While very rare in the pre-school age group, frequency reaches 30% in the adolescent period. In many cases, the causes of back pain in childhood cannot be exactly determined and the pain disappears by itself in a short time. It should be remembered that back pain that persists for more than two weeks may be associated with organic causes. Whether or not there have been disruptions in neurological functions should be definitely probed in the medical history. Keeping in mind that back pain could be a part of a systemic disease, a systemic examination should be carried out in cases where there has been long-term back pain. The complaint of childhood back pain should be assessed with a thorough history, a careful physical examination and advanced testing tools. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2011; 10(1.000: 115-118

  13. Automated back titration method to measure phosphate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Comer, J.; Tehrani, M.; Avdeef, A.; Ross, J. Jr.

    1987-01-01

    Phosphate was measured in soda drinks and as an additive in flour, by a back titration method in which phosphate was precipitated with lanthanum, and the excess lanthanum was titrated with fluoride. All measurements were performed using the Orion fluoride electrode and the Orion 960 Autochemistry System. In most commercial automatic titrators, the inflection point of the titration curve, calculated from the first derivative of the curve, is used to find the equivalence polar of the titration. The inflection technique is compared with a technique based on Gran functions, which uses data collected after the end point and predicts the equivalence point accordingly

  14. An overview of recent end-to-end wireless medical video telemedicine systems using 3G.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panayides, A; Pattichis, M S; Pattichis, C S; Schizas, C N; Spanias, A; Kyriacou, E

    2010-01-01

    Advances in video compression, network technologies, and computer technologies have contributed to the rapid growth of mobile health (m-health) systems and services. Wide deployment of such systems and services is expected in the near future, and it's foreseen that they will soon be incorporated in daily clinical practice. This study focuses in describing the basic components of an end-to-end wireless medical video telemedicine system, providing a brief overview of the recent advances in the field, while it also highlights future trends in the design of telemedicine systems that are diagnostically driven.

  15. Production process for advanced space satellite system cables/interconnects.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendoza, Luis A.

    2007-12-01

    This production process was generated for the satellite system program cables/interconnects group, which in essences had no well defined production process. The driver for the development of a formalized process was based on the set backs, problem areas, challenges, and need improvements faced from within the program at Sandia National Laboratories. In addition, the formal production process was developed from the Master's program of Engineering Management for New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro New Mexico and submitted as a thesis to meet the institute's graduating requirements.

  16. A food environments feedback system (FoodBack) for empowering citizens and change agents to create healthier community food places.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Williams, Rachel; Tawfiq, Essa; Swinburn, Boyd

    2017-11-14

    This study developed a systems-based approach (called FoodBack) to empower citizens and change agents to create healthier community food places. Formative evaluations were held with citizens and change agents in six diverse New Zealand communities, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with 85 change agents in Auckland and Hamilton in 2015-2016. The emerging system was additionally reviewed by public health experts from diverse organizations. A food environments feedback system was constructed to crowdsource key indicators of the healthiness of diverse community food places (i.e. schools, hospitals, supermarkets, fast food outlets, sport centers) and outdoor spaces (i.e. around schools), comments/pictures about barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exemplar stories on improving the healthiness of food environments. All the information collected is centrally processed and translated into 'short' (immediate) and 'long' (after analyses) feedback loops to stimulate actions to create healthier food places. FoodBack, as a comprehensive food environment feedback system (with evidence databases and feedback and recognition processes), has the potential to increase food sovereignty, and generate a sustainable, fine-grained database of food environments for real-time food policy research. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Boiling water reactor liquid radioactive waste processing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1977-01-01

    The standard sets forth minimum design, construction and performance requirements with due consideration for operation of the liquid radioactive waste processing system for boiling water reactor plants for routine operation including design basis fuel leakage and design basis occurrences. For the purpose of this standard, the liquid radioactive waste processing system begins at the interfaces with the reactor coolant pressure boundary, at the interface valve(s) in lines from other systems and at those sumps and floor drains provided for liquid waste with the potential of containing radioactive material. The system terminates at the point of controlled discharge to the environment, at the point of interface with the waste solidification system and at the point of recycle back to storage for reuse. The standard does not include the reactor coolant clean-up system, fuel pool clean-up system, sanitary waste system, any nonaqueous liquid system or controlled area storm drains

  18. Simple processing of back-contacted silicon heterojunction solar cells using selective-area crystalline growth

    KAUST Repository

    Tomasi, Andrea; Paviet-Salomon, Bertrand; Jeangros, Quentin; Haschke, Jan; Christmann, Gabriel; Barraud, Loris; Descoeudres, Antoine; Seif, Johannes Peter; Nicolay, Sylvain; Despeisse, Matthieu; De Wolf, Stefaan; Ballif, Christophe

    2017-01-01

    For crystalline-silicon solar cells, voltages close to the theoretical limit are nowadays readily achievable when using passivating contacts. Conversely, maximal current generation requires the integration of the electron and hole contacts at the back of the solar cell to liberate its front from any shadowing loss. Recently, the world-record efficiency for crystalline-silicon single-junction solar cells was achieved by merging these two approaches in a single device; however, the complexity of fabricating this class of devices raises concerns about their commercial potential. Here we show a contacting method that substantially simplifies the architecture and fabrication of back-contacted silicon solar cells. We exploit the surface-dependent growth of silicon thin films, deposited by plasma processes, to eliminate the patterning of one of the doped carrier-collecting layers. Then, using only one alignment step for electrode definition, we fabricate a proof-of-concept 9-cm2 tunnel-interdigitated back-contact solar cell with a certified conversion efficiency >22.5%.

  19. Simple processing of back-contacted silicon heterojunction solar cells using selective-area crystalline growth

    KAUST Repository

    Tomasi, Andrea

    2017-04-24

    For crystalline-silicon solar cells, voltages close to the theoretical limit are nowadays readily achievable when using passivating contacts. Conversely, maximal current generation requires the integration of the electron and hole contacts at the back of the solar cell to liberate its front from any shadowing loss. Recently, the world-record efficiency for crystalline-silicon single-junction solar cells was achieved by merging these two approaches in a single device; however, the complexity of fabricating this class of devices raises concerns about their commercial potential. Here we show a contacting method that substantially simplifies the architecture and fabrication of back-contacted silicon solar cells. We exploit the surface-dependent growth of silicon thin films, deposited by plasma processes, to eliminate the patterning of one of the doped carrier-collecting layers. Then, using only one alignment step for electrode definition, we fabricate a proof-of-concept 9-cm2 tunnel-interdigitated back-contact solar cell with a certified conversion efficiency >22.5%.

  20. End-to-end integrated security and performance analysis on the DEGAS Choreographer platform

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buchholtz, Mikael; Gilmore, Stephen; Haenel, Valentin

    2005-01-01

    We present a software tool platform which facilitates security and performance analysis of systems which starts and ends with UML model descriptions. A UML project is presented to the platform for analysis, formal content is extracted in the form of process calculi descriptions, analysed with the......We present a software tool platform which facilitates security and performance analysis of systems which starts and ends with UML model descriptions. A UML project is presented to the platform for analysis, formal content is extracted in the form of process calculi descriptions, analysed...

  1. Alternative Packaging for Back-Illuminated Imagers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pain, Bedabrata

    2009-01-01

    An alternative scheme has been conceived for packaging of silicon-based back-illuminated, back-side-thinned complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) and charge-coupled-device image-detector integrated circuits, including an associated fabrication process. This scheme and process are complementary to those described in "Making a Back-Illuminated Imager With Back-Side Connections" (NPO-42839), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 7 (July 2008), page 38. To avoid misunderstanding, it should be noted that in the terminology of imaging integrated circuits, "front side" or "back side" does not necessarily refer to the side that, during operation, faces toward or away from a source of light or other object to be imaged. Instead, "front side" signifies that side of a semiconductor substrate upon which the pixel pattern and the associated semiconductor devices and metal conductor lines are initially formed during fabrication, and "back side" signifies the opposite side. If the imager is of the type called "back-illuminated," then the back side is the one that faces an object to be imaged. Initially, a back-illuminated, back-side-thinned image-detector is fabricated with its back side bonded to a silicon handle wafer. At a subsequent stage of fabrication, the front side is bonded to a glass wafer (for mechanical support) and the silicon handle wafer is etched away to expose the back side. The frontside integrated circuitry includes metal input/output contact pads, which are rendered inaccessible by the bonding of the front side to the glass wafer. Hence, one of the main problems is to make the input/output contact pads accessible from the back side, which is ultimately to be the side accessible to the external world. The present combination of an alternative packaging scheme and associated fabrication process constitute a solution of the problem.

  2. Multiple multichannel spectra acquisition and processing system with intelligent interface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Ying; Wei Yixiang; Qu Jianshi; Zheng Futang; Xu Shengkui; Xie Yuanming; Qu Xing; Ji Weitong; Qiu Xuehua

    1986-01-01

    A Multiple multichannel spectra acquisition and processing system with intelligent interface is described. Sixteen spectra measured with various lengths, channel widths, back biases and acquisition times can be identified and collected by the intelligent interface simultaneously while the connected computer is doing data processing. The execution time for the Ge(Li) gamma-ray spectrum analysis software on IBM PC-XT is about 55 seconds

  3. Designing scheme of a γ-ray ICT system using compton back-scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiao Jianmin

    1998-01-01

    The designing scheme of a γ ray ICT system by using Compton back-scattering is put forward. The technical norms, detector system, γ radioactive source, mechanical scanning equipment, and data acquisition and image reconstruction principle of this ICT are described

  4. Storage system software solutions for high-end user needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogan, Carole B.

    1992-01-01

    Today's high-end storage user is one that requires rapid access to a reliable terabyte-capacity storage system running in a distributed environment. This paper discusses conventional storage system software and concludes that this software, designed for other purposes, cannot meet high-end storage requirements. The paper also reviews the philosophy and design of evolving storage system software. It concludes that this new software, designed with high-end requirements in mind, provides the potential for solving not only the storage needs of today but those of the foreseeable future as well.

  5. Process for the fixing of a metallic end piece on a tubular component

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charpin, Jean.

    1975-01-01

    Under this invention the process makes it possible to joint a tubular component and in particular a tubular filter and an end piece, with a connection of great mechanical strength, perfectly leak proof and with excellent corrosion resistance, particularly with respect to fluorinated by-products. This process is therefore of great worth in fixing to a bearer a thin ceramic compound tubular filter element, since such a filter can be used in particular for the separation of uranium isotopes by gaseous diffusion and for the separation of hydrocarbons in petrochemicals. To this end, the process under consideration is characterised in that it consists in depositing a layer of ceramic material, by hot projection, at the end of the tubular element and in sealing the end piece to the end of the tubular element by the hot projection of a ceramic or metallic substance [fr

  6. Potential Occupant Injury Reduction in Pre-Crash System Equipped Vehicles in the Striking Vehicle of Rear-end Crashes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusano, Kristofer D; Gabler, Hampton C

    2010-01-01

    To mitigate the severity of rear-end and other collisions, Pre-Crash Systems (PCS) are being developed. These active safety systems utilize radar and/or video cameras to determine when a frontal crash, such as a front-to-back rear-end collisions, is imminent and can brake autonomously, even with no driver input. Of these PCS features, the effects of autonomous pre-crash braking are estimated. To estimate the maximum potential for injury reduction due to autonomous pre-crash braking in the striking vehicle of rear-end crashes, a methodology is presented for determining 1) the reduction in vehicle crash change in velocity (ΔV) due to PCS braking and 2) the number of injuries that could be prevented due to the reduction in collision severity. Injury reduction was only performed for belted drivers, as unbelted drivers have an unknown risk of being thrown out of position. The study was based on 1,406 rear-end striking vehicles from NASS / CDS years 1993 to 2008. PCS parameters were selected from realistic values and varied to examine the effect on system performance. PCS braking authority was varied from 0.5 G's to 0.8 G's while time to collision (TTC) was held at 0.45 seconds. TTC was then varied from 0.3 second to 0.6 seconds while braking authority was held constant at 0.6 G's. A constant braking pulse (step function) and ramp-up braking pulse were used. The study found that automated PCS braking could reduce the crash ΔV in rear-end striking vehicles by an average of 12% - 50% and avoid 0% - 14% of collisions, depending on PCS parameters. Autonomous PCS braking could potentially reduce the number of injured drivers who are belted by 19% to 57%.

  7. A management system for end-of-life tyres: a Portuguese case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrão, Paulo; Ribeiro, Paulo; Silva, Paulo

    2008-01-01

    The European Union introduced several policy instruments based in the extended producer responsibility (EPR) in order to improve the environmental performance of products and services through their life cycles. In this context, the Portuguese government decided to apply the EPR concept to tyres, and producers were obliged to constitute an end-of-life management system to promote the collection, recycling and reuse of end-of-life (EOL) tyres. This required producers, distributors, recyclers and retreaders to be identified and characterized, and local processing infrastructures to be analyzed. The information was used to design an economically optimised EOL tyre management system while promoting the activity of all EOL operators in order for the imposed collecting and recovery targets to be fulfilled. This paper discusses the interaction between the different governmental, private and academic institutions for the creation of the integrated management system for EOL tyres, the approach taken, the technical, political and legal aspects underneath them, as well as the environmental consequences induced by the creation of the management system. The results obtained during the first years of operation are reported and show an increase in the collection and recycling of EOL tyres and the consolidation of the collection and processing infrastructures.

  8. Minimally Invasive Microendoscopic Resection of the Transverse Process for Treatment of Low Back Pain with Bertolotti’s Syndrome

    OpenAIRE

    Takata, Yoichiro; Sakai, Toshinori; Higashino, Kosaku; Goda, Yuichiro; Mineta, Kazuaki; Sugiura, Kosuke; Sairyo, Koichi

    2014-01-01

    Bertolotti’s syndrome is characterized by anomalous enlargement of the transverse process of the most caudal lumbar segment, causing chronic and persistent low back pain or sciatica. We describe the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented with left sciatic pain and low back pain due to a recurrent lumbar disc herniation at L4-5 with Bertolotti’s syndrome. Selective L5 nerve root block and local injection of lidocaine into the articulation between the transverse process and sacral ala tempor...

  9. On-line experimental data processing system for JIPP T-2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsuda, Kenzo.

    1978-08-01

    A large computer system has been installed at the Plasma Physics Institute of Nagoya University for data processing in plasma physics experiments. The system is composed of three computers: FACOM M-190 as the host computer; PANAFACOM U-400 as the front computer; and HITAC 10-2 as the front-end computers. This document provides information about the hardware and software structures of this system and the details of subsystem of each software. Also system design, function of each computer, input output processing system, interfaces between the front-end computers (minicomputer), interface with the 32-channel AD converter, and the examples of output are described. (Aoki, K.)

  10. Physician perspectives on legal processes for resolving end-of-life disputes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chidwick, Paula; Sibbald, Robert

    2011-01-01

    In order to understand how to effectively approach end-of-life disputes, this study surveyed physicians' attitudes towards one process for resolving end-of-life disputes, namely, the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario. In this case, the process involved examining interpretation of best interests between substitute decision-makers and medical teams. Physicians who made "Form G" applications to the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario that resulted in a decision posted on the open-access database, Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLii), were identified and surveyed. This purposive sample led to 13 invitations to participate and 12 interviews (92% response rate). Interviews were conducted using a prescribed interview guide. No barriers to the Consent and Capacity Board process were reported. Applications were made when physicians reached an impasse with the family and further treatment was perceived to be "unethical." The most significant challenge reported was the delay when appeals were launched. Appeals extended the process for an indefinite period of time making it so lengthy it negated any perceived benefits of the process. Benefits included that a neutral third party, namely the Consent and Capacity Board, was able to assess best interests. Also, when decisions were timely, further harm to the patient was minimized. Physicians reported this particular approach, namely the Consent and Capacity Board has a mechanism that is worthwhile, patient centred, process oriented, orderly and efficient for resolving end-of-life disputes and, in particular, determining best interests. However, unless the appeal process can be adjusted to respond to the ICU context there is a risk of not serving the best interest of patients. Physicians would recommend framing end-of-life treatment plans in the positive instead of negative, for example, propose palliative care and no escalation of treatment as opposed to withdrawal.

  11. Combination of taping with Back School in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled clinical trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andres Tana

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: 70-85% of the general population suffers from back pain. Back School programs have being effective in the treatment of chronic low back pain. Taping may be useful in reducing pain and normalizing muscle function. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the combination of taping with Back School at short- and long-term. Methods: Randomized controlled clinical trial. The experimental group used tape and made Back Scholl and the control group only made Back School. At the beginning and the end of treatment, pain was evaluated with a visual analogue scale, the flexibility determined with the Modified Finger Tip-to-Floor Test and functionality was calculated with the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire. Depression was recorded with the Depression Beck Inventory just at the beginning. Results: 220 patients were enrolled, only 42 in the experimental group and 33 in the control group completed the treatment. The variation of pain between the first and the fifth session showed no differences between groups regardless of time (p = 0.329. There were no differences between groups in functionality (p = 0.75, flexibility (p = 0.20 and depression. Conclusion: The combination of taping and Back School compared with only Back School was not more effective in reducing pain, increasing functionality and flexibility in patients with chronic low back pain. Key words: Taping; chronic low back pain; spine school; therapy exercises; flexibility; depression.

  12. The ''Castaing exercise'': an original contribution to the technological evaluation of the back end of the fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schapira, J.P.; Zerbib, J.C.

    1987-01-01

    In December 1981, a panel was appointed by the French Government in order to review the various technical and environmental aspects of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The so-called ''Commission Castaing'', from the name of his chairman Pr. Castaing, a well known physicist, included persons from various professional backgrounds together with people in charge of these questions at the French Atomic Authority (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, CEA). It was the first time in France that a Group including independent people was officially entrusted with such a sensitive task, normally dealt with inside the nuclear establishment. The 3 years experience of the Castaing Commission and the comparison between the present situations concerning surface and underground disposal, show the importance of external expertise in gaining public acceptance. These days, it is not enough for the public to be positively informed by the operators themselves; public opinion insists more and more on the importance of a minimal agreement among scientists from various background on a project which is marred by many uncertainties on long-term effects. Finally a certain separation of powers between the various institutional actors is necessary: this would not decrease the competence of the entire system. On the opposite, the lack of input from the outside and the lack of internal democracy can condemn an institution to sterility, a possible source of mistakes and wrong decisions. This is one of the major lesson of the original Castaing exercise

  13. A Knowledge-based System for the Analysis of the Ability of Paying back Loans

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    朱明; 杨保安

    2001-01-01

    This paper describes the development of a knowledgebased system (KBS) for determining whether or not, and under what conditions, a bank Ioan officer should grant a business loan to a company. The prototype system developed focuses on what is bank loans risks management, how to prevent risk by the analysis of the ability of paying back loans. The paper makes the structural analysis involved in the system's decision situation, the structured situation diagram or model, dependency diagram and the document needed by the KBS prototype system thus are developed. Through testing the samples from loan business, the quality for the analysis of the ability of paying back loans can be effectively evaluated by the KBS prototype system.

  14. AUTOMATION DESIGN FOR MONORAIL - BASED SYSTEM PROCESSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bunda BESA

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Currently, conventional methods of decline development put enormous cost pressure on the profitability of mining operations. This is the case with narrow vein ore bodies where current methods and mine design of decline development may be too expensive to support economic extraction of the ore. According to studies, the time it takes to drill, clean and blast an end in conventional decline development can be up to 224 minutes. This is because once an end is blasted, cleaning should first be completed before drilling can commence, resulting in low advance rates per shift. Improvements in advance rates during decline development can be achieved by application of the Electric Monorail Transport System (EMTS based drilling system. The system consists of the drilling and loading components that use monorail technology to drill and clean the face during decline development. The two systems work simultaneously at the face in such a way that as the top part of the face is being drilled the pneumatic loading system cleans the face. However, to improve the efficiency of the two systems, critical processes performed by the two systems during mining operations must be automated. Automation increases safety and productivity, reduces operator fatigue and also reduces the labour costs of the system. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to describe automation designs of the two processes performed by the monorail drilling and loading systems during operations. During automation design, critical processes performed by the two systems and control requirements necessary to allow the two systems execute such processes automatically have also been identified.

  15. End-to-end network models encompassing terrestrial, wireless, and satellite components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyarko, Chandler L.; Britton, John S.; Flores, Phil E.; Lambert, Charles B.; Pendzick, John M.; Ryan, Christopher M.; Shankman, Gordon L.; Williams, Ramon P.

    2004-08-01

    Development of network models that reflect true end-to-end architectures such as the Transformational Communications Architecture need to encompass terrestrial, wireless and satellite component to truly represent all of the complexities in a world wide communications network. Use of best-in-class tools including OPNET, Satellite Tool Kit (STK), Popkin System Architect and their well known XML-friendly definitions, such as OPNET Modeler's Data Type Description (DTD), or socket-based data transfer modules, such as STK/Connect, enable the sharing of data between applications for more rapid development of end-to-end system architectures and a more complete system design. By sharing the results of and integrating best-in-class tools we are able to (1) promote sharing of data, (2) enhance the fidelity of our results and (3) allow network and application performance to be viewed in the context of the entire enterprise and its processes.

  16. Interaction analysis of back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sadok Benmebarek

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls (BBMSEWs are encountered in bridge approaches, ramp ways, rockfall protection systems, earth dams, levees and noise barriers. However, available design guidelines for BBMSEWs are limited and not applicable to numerical modeling when back-to-back walls interact with each other. The objective of this paper is to investigate, using PLAXIS code, the effects of the reduction in the distance between BBMSEW, the reinforcement length, the quality of backfill material and the connection of reinforcements in the middle, when the back-to-back walls are close. The results indicate that each of the BBMSEWs behaves independently if the width of the embankment between mechanically stabilized earth walls is greater than that of the active zone. This is in good agreement with the result of FHWA design guideline. However, the results show that the FHWA design guideline underestimates the lateral earth pressure when back-to-back walls interact with each other. Moreover, for closer BBMSEWs, FHWA design guideline strongly overestimates the maximum tensile force in the reinforcement. The investigation of the quality of backfill material shows that the minor increase in embankment cohesion can lead to significant reductions in both the lateral earth pressure and the maximum tensile force in geosynthetic. When the distance between the two earth walls is close to zero, the connection of reinforcement between back-to-back walls significantly improves the factor of safety.

  17. Front-end data processing using the bit-sliced microprocessor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Machen, D.R.

    1979-01-01

    A state-of-the-art computing device, based upon the high-speed bit-sliced microprocessor, was developed into hardware for front-end data processing in both control and experiment applications at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The CAMAC Instrumentation Standard provides the framework for the high-speed hardware, allowing data acquisition and processing to take place at the data source in a CAMAC crate. 5 figures

  18. Making a Back-Illuminated Imager with Back-Side Contact and Alignment Markers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pain, Bedabrata

    2008-01-01

    A design modification and a fabrication process that implements the modification have been conceived to solve two problems encountered in the development of back-illuminated, back-sidethinned complementary metal oxide/ semiconductor (CMOS) image-detector integrated circuits. The two problems are (1) how to form metal electrical-contact pads on the back side that are electrically connected through the thickness in proper alignment with electrical contact points on the front side and (2) how to provide alignment keys on the back side to ensure proper registration of backside optical components (e.g., microlenses and/or color filters) with the front-side pixel pattern. The essence of the design modification is to add metal plugs that extend from the desired front-side locations through the thickness and protrude from the back side of the substrate. The plugs afford the required front-to-back electrical conduction, and the protrusions of the plugs serve as both the alignment keys and the bases upon which the back-side electrical-contact pads can be formed.

  19. CHEETAH: circuit-switched high-speed end-to-end transport architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veeraraghavan, Malathi; Zheng, Xuan; Lee, Hyuk; Gardner, M.; Feng, Wuchun

    2003-10-01

    Leveraging the dominance of Ethernet in LANs and SONET/SDH in MANs and WANs, we propose a service called CHEETAH (Circuit-switched High-speed End-to-End Transport ArcHitecture). The service concept is to provide end hosts with high-speed, end-to-end circuit connectivity on a call-by-call shared basis, where a "circuit" consists of Ethernet segments at the ends that are mapped into Ethernet-over-SONET long-distance circuits. This paper focuses on the file-transfer application for such circuits. For this application, the CHEETAH service is proposed as an add-on to the primary Internet access service already in place for enterprise hosts. This allows an end host that is sending a file to first attempt setting up an end-to-end Ethernet/EoS circuit, and if rejected, fall back to the TCP/IP path. If the circuit setup is successful, the end host will enjoy a much shorter file-transfer delay than on the TCP/IP path. To determine the conditions under which an end host with access to the CHEETAH service should attempt circuit setup, we analyze mean file-transfer delays as a function of call blocking probability in the circuit-switched network, probability of packet loss in the IP network, round-trip times, link rates, and so on.

  20. Computerized back postural assessment in physiotherapy practice: Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the MIDAS system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAlpine, R T; Bettany-Saltikov, J A; Warren, J G

    2009-01-01

    Assessment of spinal posture during physiotherapy practice is routine, yet few objective measures exist to this end. The Middlesbrough Integrated Digital Assessment System (MIDAS) is a low cost portable system able to record 3D information on posture. The purpose of this study was to assess both the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the MIDAS system. Twenty-five healthy subjects were recruited. A repeated measures design was used to record fifteen pre-palpated landmarks on the back of each subject. To limit the sources of variability, the principal researcher palpated the landmarks for each subject. Each of three raters took two measurements on each subject in a standardized upright posture. X (medio-lateral), Y (antero-posterior) and Z (height) landmark positions were recorded via a computer interface. Both intra-rater agreement (mean ICCs - rater 1 r=0.970, rater 2 r=0.965 and rater 3 r=0.965, pMIDAS demonstrated both high inter-rater and intra-rater reliability and provides an objective method for the assessment of posture in physiotherapy practice.

  1. Use of servo controlled weld head for end closure welding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pathak, S.K.; Setty, D.S.; Rameswara Rao, A.; Hemantha Rao, G.V.S.; Jayaraj, R.N. [Nuclear Fuel Complex, Dept. of Atomic Energy, Hyderabad (India)

    2010-07-01

    In the PHWR fuel fabrication line resistance welding processes are used for joining various zirconium based alloy components to fuel tube of similar material. The quality requirement of these welding processes is very stringent and has to meet all the product requirements. At present these welding processes are being carried out by using standard resistance welding machines. In the resistance welding process in addition to current and time, force is one of the critical and important parameter, which influences the weld quality. At present advanced feed back type fast response medium frequency weld controllers are being used. This has upslope/down slope, constant and repetitive weld pattern selection features makes this critical welding process more reliable. Compared to weld controllers, squeeze force application devices are limited and normally standard high response pneumatic cylinders are used in the welding process. With this type of devices the force is constant during welding process and cannot be varied during welding process as per the material deformation characteristics. Similarly due to non-availability of feed back systems in the squeeze force application systems restricts the accuracy and quality of the welding process. In the present paper the influence of squeeze force pattern on the weld quality using advanced feed back type servo based force control system was studied. Different squeeze forces were used during pre and post weld heat periods along with constant force and compared with the weld quality. (author)

  2. An Alternative Front End Analysis Strategy for Complex Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    missile ( ABM ) system . Patriot is employed in the field through a battalion echelon organizational structure. The line battery is the basic building...Research Report 1981 An Alternative Front End Analysis Strategy for Complex Systems M. Glenn Cobb U.S. Army Research Institute...NUMBER W5J9CQ11D0003 An Alternative Front End Analysis Strategy for Complex Systems 5b. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 633007 6

  3. Image processing system for videotape review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bettendroffer, E.

    1988-01-01

    In a nuclear plant, the areas in which fissile materials are stored or handled, have to be monitored continuously. One method of surveillance is to record pictures of TV cameras with determined time intervals on special video recorders. The 'time lapse' recorded tape is played back at normal speed and an inspector checks visually the pictures. This method requires much manpower and an automated method would be useful. The present report describes an automatic reviewing method based on an image processing system; the system detects scene changes in the picture sequence and stores the reduced data set on a separate video tape. The resulting reduction of reviewing time by inspector is important for surveillance data with few movements

  4. CLIMLAB: a Python-based software toolkit for interactive, process-oriented climate modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, B. E. J.

    2015-12-01

    Global climate is a complex emergent property of the rich interactions between simpler components of the climate system. We build scientific understanding of this system by breaking it down into component process models (e.g. radiation, large-scale dynamics, boundary layer turbulence), understanding each components, and putting them back together. Hands-on experience and freedom to tinker with climate models (whether simple or complex) is invaluable for building physical understanding. CLIMLAB is an open-ended software engine for interactive, process-oriented climate modeling. With CLIMLAB you can interactively mix and match model components, or combine simpler process models together into a more comprehensive model. It was created primarily to support classroom activities, using hands-on modeling to teach fundamentals of climate science at both undergraduate and graduate levels. CLIMLAB is written in Python and ties in with the rich ecosystem of open-source scientific Python tools for numerics and graphics. The IPython notebook format provides an elegant medium for distributing interactive example code. I will give an overview of the current capabilities of CLIMLAB, the curriculum we have developed thus far, and plans for the future. Using CLIMLAB requires some basic Python coding skills. We consider this an educational asset, as we are targeting upper-level undergraduates and Python is an increasingly important language in STEM fields. However CLIMLAB is well suited to be deployed as a computational back-end for a graphical gaming environment based on earth-system modeling.

  5. Energy pay-back time of photovoltaic energy systems: present status and prospects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alsema, E.A.; Frankl, P.; Kato, K.

    1998-01-01

    In this paper we investigate the energy requirements of PV modules and systems and calculate the Energy Pay-Back Time for three major PV applications. Based on a review of past energy analysis studies we explain the main sources of differences and establish a "best estimate" for key system

  6. Computer simulation of processes in the dead–end furnace

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zavorin, A S; Khaustov, S A; Zaharushkin, Russia N A

    2014-01-01

    We study turbulent combustion of natural gas in the reverse flame of fire–tube boiler simulated with the ANSYS Fluent 12.1.4 engineering simulation software. Aerodynamic structure and volumetric pressure fields of the flame were calculated. The results are presented in graphical form. The effect of the twist parameter for a drag coefficient of dead–end furnace was estimated. Finite element method was used for simulating the following processes: the combustion of methane in air oxygen, radiant and convective heat transfer, turbulence. Complete geometric model of the dead–end furnace based on boiler drawings was considered

  7. Engineering of Data Acquiring Mobile Software and Sustainable End-User Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Benton T.

    2013-01-01

    The criteria for which data acquiring software and its supporting infrastructure should be designed should take the following two points into account: the reusability and organization of stored online and remote data and content, and an assessment on whether abandoning a platform optimized design in favor for a multi-platform solution significantly reduces the performance of an end-user application. Furthermore, in-house applications that control or process instrument acquired data for end-users should be designed with a communication and control interface such that the application's modules can be reused as plug-in modular components in greater software systems. The application of the above mentioned is applied using two loosely related projects: a mobile application, and a website containing live and simulated data. For the intelligent devices mobile application AIDM, the end-user interface have a platform and data type optimized design, while the database and back-end applications store this information in an organized manner and manage access to that data to only to authorized user end application(s). Finally, the content for the website was derived from a database such that the content can be included and uniform to all applications accessing the content. With these projects being ongoing, I have concluded from my research that the applicable methods presented are feasible for both projects, and that a multi-platform design for the mobile application only marginally drop the performance of the mobile application.

  8. Paging memory from random access memory to backing storage in a parallel computer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archer, Charles J; Blocksome, Michael A; Inglett, Todd A; Ratterman, Joseph D; Smith, Brian E

    2013-05-21

    Paging memory from random access memory (`RAM`) to backing storage in a parallel computer that includes a plurality of compute nodes, including: executing a data processing application on a virtual machine operating system in a virtual machine on a first compute node; providing, by a second compute node, backing storage for the contents of RAM on the first compute node; and swapping, by the virtual machine operating system in the virtual machine on the first compute node, a page of memory from RAM on the first compute node to the backing storage on the second compute node.

  9. Thorium utilization program. Quarterly progress report for the period ending November 30, 1975

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1975-01-01

    The development program for HTGR fuel reprocessing continues to emphasize the design and construction of a prototype head-end line. Design work on the multistage crushing system, the primary and secondary fluidized bed burners, the pneumatic transfer systems, and the ancillary fixtures for semiremote assembly and disassembly is essentially complete. Fabrication and receipt of all major components is under way, and auxiliary instrumentation and support systems are being installed. Studies of flow characteristics of granular solids in pneumatic transfer systems are continuing and data are being collected for use in design of systems for solids handling. Experimental work on the 20-cm primary fluidized bed burner verified the fines recycle operating mode in runs of greater than 24 hr. Twelve leaching runs were performed during the quarter using crushed, burned-back TRISO coated ThC 2 particles and burned-back BISO coated sol gel ThO 2 particles to examine the effect of varying the Thorex-to-thoria ratio to give product solutions ranging from 0.25M to 1M in thorium. Only minor effects were observed and reference values for facility operations were specified. Two-stage leaching runs with burned-back ThC 2 indicate there are no measurable differences in total dissolution time as compared to single-stage leaching. Bench-scale tests on oxidation of HTGR fuel boron carbide at 900 0 C indicates that most if not all of the carbide will be converted to boron oxide in the fluidized bed burner. Eight solvent extraction runs were completed during the quarter. These runs represented the first cycle and second uranium cycle of the acid-Thorex flowsheet. A detailed calculation of spent fuel compositions by fuel block and particle type is being performed for better definition of process streams in a fuel reprocessing facility

  10. Optimization of CNC end milling process parameters using PCA ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Optimization of CNC end milling process parameters using PCA-based Taguchi method. ... International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology ... To meet the basic assumption of Taguchi method; in the present work, individual response correlations have been eliminated first by means of Principal Component ...

  11. New development of JFT-2M Tokamak (3) data processing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukuchi, Y.; Oyabu, I.; Hirose, T.; Ichimura, H.; Inoue, K.; Komoto, Y.

    1986-01-01

    A data acquisition system for JFT-2M Tokamak is a computer complex system consisting of a CAMAC serial highway, a front-end computer, and a main computer, which are ranked in a definite hierarchical structure. This paper reports the data processing system by the main computer (using a super-mini-computer MELCOM 70/250) which is situated on the highest level in the data acquisition system and performs unified management and control over the system. The features of the data processing system by the main computer are as follows: (1) Expandability of the system based on the definite hierarchical structure; (2) Five-dimensional multi-processing (setup, acquisition, analysis, display, and storage); (3) Realization of RAS (Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability) function; and (4) Easy-to-use man-machine interface that provides: flexibility in CAMAC system configuration, open-ended interface and file history managing

  12. Liquid radioactive waste processing system for pressurized water reactor plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1976-01-01

    This Standard sets forth design, construction, and performance requirements, with due consideration for operation, of the Liquid Radioactive Waste Processing System for pressurized water reactor plants for design basis inputs. For the purpose of this Standard, the Liquid Radioactive Waste Processing System begins at the interfaces with the reactor coolant pressure boundary and the interface valve(s) in lines from other systems, or at those sumps and floor drains provided for liquid waste with the potential of containing radioactive material; and it terminates at the point of controlled discharge to the environment, at the point of interface with the waste solidification system, and at the point of recycle back to storage for reuse

  13. The Ends of Revolution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haugbølle, Sune; Bandak, Andreas

    2017-01-01

    from the days of Tahrir Square in early 2011, when people with elated spirits poured into the streets to demand a better political future. If the large-scale social mobilization back then provided the best refutation of Francis Fukuyama’s the end of history thesis then the failure to translate...

  14. Queueing System with Heterogeneous Customers as a Model of a Call Center with a Call-Back for Lost Customers

    OpenAIRE

    Dudin, Sergey; Kim, Chesoong; Dudina, Olga; Baek, Janghyun

    2013-01-01

    A multiserver queueing system with infinite and finite buffers, two types of customers, and two types of servers as a model of a call center with a call-back for lost customers is investigated. Type 1 customers arrive to the system according to a Markovian arrival process. All rejected type 1 customers become type 2 customers. Type r, r=1,2, servers serve type r customers if there are any in the system and serve type r′, r′=1,2,  r′≠r, customers if there are no type r customers in the system....

  15. An end-to-end secure patient information access card system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alkhateeb, A; Singer, H; Yakami, M; Takahashi, T

    2000-03-01

    The rapid development of the Internet and the increasing interest in Internet-based solutions has promoted the idea of creating Internet-based health information applications. This will force a change in the role of IC cards in healthcare card systems from a data carrier to an access key medium. At the Medical Informatics Department of Kyoto University Hospital we are developing a smart card patient information project where patient databases are accessed via the Internet. Strong end-to-end data encryption is performed via Secure Socket Layers, transparent to transmit patient information. The smart card is playing the crucial role of access key to the database: user authentication is performed internally without ever revealing the actual key. For easy acceptance by healthcare professionals, the user interface is integrated as a plug-in for two familiar Web browsers, Netscape Navigator and MS Internet Explorer.

  16. Head-end process technology for the new reprocessing plants in France and Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saudray, D.; Hugelmann, D.; Cho, A.

    1991-01-01

    Major technological innovations brought to the new UP3 and UP2-800 reprocessing plants of COGEMA LA HAGUE and also to the JNFS ROKKASHO plant concern the head-end process. The continuous process designed allows for high throughputs whilst meeting stringent safety requirements. The head-end of each plant includes two lines for each operation in order to guarantee availability. This paper presents the T1 head-end facility of the UP3 plant as well as the few adaptations implemented in the ROKKASHO Reprocessing Plant to fulfill the particular design requirements in Japan

  17. Trends in the design of front-end systems for room temperature solid state detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manfredi, Pier F.; Re, Valerio

    2003-01-01

    The paper discusses the present trends in the design of low-noise front-end systems for room temperature semiconductor detectors. The technological advancement provided by submicron CMOS and BiCMOS processes is examined from several points of view. The noise performances are a fundamental issue in most detector applications and suitable attention is devoted to them for the purpose of judging whether or not the present processes supersede the solutions featuring a field-effect transistor as a front-end element. However, other considerations are also important in judging how well a monolithic technology suits the front-end design. Among them, the way a technology lends itself to the realization of additional functions, for instance, the charge reset in a charge-sensitive loop or the time-variant filters featuring the special weighting functions that may be requested in some applications of CdTe or CZT detectors

  18. Pharmacists' views on implementing a disease state management program for low back pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdel Shaheed, Christina; Maher, Christopher G; Williams, Kylie A; McLachlan, Andrew J

    2016-01-01

    Pharmacists have the potential to take a lead role in the primary care management of people with acute low back pain. The aim of this study was to investigate pharmacists' views on implementing a care program for people with acute low back pain in the community pharmacy. Recruitment of pharmacists for this study took place between July 2012 and March 2013. A convenience sample of 30 pharmacists who collaborated in recruiting participants for a low back pain clinical trial in Sydney (n=15 pharmacist recruiters and n=15 non-recruiters) completed an open-ended questionnaire. There was no marked variation in responses between the two groups. Participating pharmacists were receptive to the idea of implementing a care program for people with low back pain, highlighting the need for adequate reimbursement and adequate training of staff to ensure it is successful. Pharmacists identified that the follow up of people receiving such a service is dependent on several factors such as effective reminder systems and the proximity of patients to the pharmacy.

  19. End-to-End Delay Model for Train Messaging over Public Land Mobile Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franco Mazzenga

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Modern train control systems rely on a dedicated radio network for train to ground communications. A number of possible alternatives have been analysed to adopt the European Rail Traffic Management System/European Train Control System (ERTMS/ETCS control system on local/regional lines to improve transport capacity. Among them, a communication system based on public networks (cellular&satellite provides an interesting, effective and alternative solution to proprietary and expensive radio networks. To analyse performance of this solution, it is necessary to model the end-to-end delay and message loss to fully characterize the message transfer process from train to ground and vice versa. Starting from the results of a railway test campaign over a 300 km railway line for a cumulative 12,000 traveled km in 21 days, in this paper, we derive a statistical model for the end-to-end delay required for delivering messages. In particular, we propose a two states model allowing for reproducing the main behavioral characteristics of the end-to-end delay as observed experimentally. Model formulation has been derived after deep analysis of the recorded experimental data. When it is applied to model a realistic scenario, it allows for explicitly accounting for radio coverage characteristics, the received power level, the handover points along the line and for the serving radio technology. As an example, the proposed model is used to generate the end-to-end delay profile in a realistic scenario.

  20. Optimizing nursing care delivery systems in the Army: back to basics with care teams and peer feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prue-Owens, Kathy; Watkins, Miko; Wolgast, Kelly A

    2011-01-01

    The Patient CaringTouch System emerged from a comprehensive assessment and gap analysis of clinical nursing capabilities in the Army. The Patient CaringTouch System now provides the framework and set of standards by which we drive excellence in quality nursing care for our patients and excellence in quality of life for our nurses in Army Medicine. As part of this enterprise transformation, we placed particular emphasis on the delivery of nursing care at the bedside as well as the integration of a formal professional peer feedback process in support of individual nurse practice enhancement. The Warrior Care Imperative Action Team was chartered to define and establish the standards for care teams in the clinical settings and the process by which we established formal peer feedback for our professional nurses. This back-to-basics approach is a cornerstone of the Patient CaringTouch System implementation and sustainment.

  1. System design description for the LDUA common video end effector system (CVEE)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, A.F.

    1998-01-01

    The Common Video End Effector System (CVEE), system 62-60, was designed by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) to provide the control interface of the various video end effectors used on the LDUA. The CVEE system consists of a Support Chassis which contains the input and output Opto-22 modules, relays, and power supplies and the Power Chassis which contains the bipolar supply and other power supplies. The combination of the Support Chassis and the Power Chassis make up the CVEE system. The CVEE system is rack mounted in the At Tank Instrument Enclosure (ATIE). Once connected it is controlled using the LDUA supervisory data acquisition system (SDAS). Video and control status will be displayed on monitors within the LDUA control center

  2. Augmented Feedback System to Support Physical Therapy of Non-specific Low Back Pain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brodbeck, Dominique; Degen, Markus; Stanimirov, Michael; Kool, Jan; Scheermesser, Mandy; Oesch, Peter; Neuhaus, Cornelia

    Low back pain is an important problem in industrialized countries. Two key factors limit the effectiveness of physiotherapy: low compliance of patients with repetitive movement exercises, and inadequate awareness of patients of their own posture. The Backtrainer system addresses these problems by real-time monitoring of the spine position, by providing a framework for most common physiotherapy exercises for the low back, and by providing feedback to patients in a motivating way. A minimal sensor configuration was identified as two inertial sensors that measure the orientation of the lower back at two points with three degrees of freedom. The software was designed as a flexible platform to experiment with different hardware, and with various feedback modalities. Basic exercises for two types of movements are provided: mobilizing and stabilizing. We developed visual feedback - abstract as well as in the form of a virtual reality game - and complemented the on-screen graphics with an ambient feedback device. The system was evaluated during five weeks in a rehabilitation clinic with 26 patients and 15 physiotherapists. Subjective satisfaction of subjects was good, and we interpret the results as encouraging indication for the adoption of such a therapy support system by both patients and therapists.

  3. Building dialogue POMDPs from expert dialogues an end-to-end approach

    CERN Document Server

    Chinaei, Hamidreza

    2016-01-01

    This book discusses the Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) framework applied in dialogue systems. It presents POMDP as a formal framework to represent uncertainty explicitly while supporting automated policy solving. The authors propose and implement an end-to-end learning approach for dialogue POMDP model components. Starting from scratch, they present the state, the transition model, the observation model and then finally the reward model from unannotated and noisy dialogues. These altogether form a significant set of contributions that can potentially inspire substantial further work. This concise manuscript is written in a simple language, full of illustrative examples, figures, and tables. Provides insights on building dialogue systems to be applied in real domain Illustrates learning dialogue POMDP model components from unannotated dialogues in a concise format Introduces an end-to-end approach that makes use of unannotated and noisy dialogue for learning each component of dialogue POM...

  4. Hardness and microstructure homogeneity of pure copper processed by accumulative back extrusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bazaz, B.; Zarei-Hanzaki, A.; Fatemi-Varzaneh, S.M.

    2013-01-01

    The present work deals with the microstructure evolution of a pure copper processed by a new severe plastic deformation method. A set of pure copper (99.99%) work-pieces with coarse-grained microstructures was processed by accumulative back extrusion (ABE) method at room temperature. The optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and hardness measurements were utilized to study the microstructural evolution and hardness homogeneity. The results indicated that ABE is a capable process to provide a homogenous grain refined microstructure in pure copper. The observed grain refinement was discussed relying on the occurrence of dynamic restoration processes. The analysis of microstructure and hardness showed outstanding homogeneity improvement throughout the work-pieces as the consecutive ABE passes were applied. The homogeneity improvement was attributed to the propagation of the shear bands and also the heavily deformed regions. A reversing route was also applied in the ABE processing to investigate its effect on the development of microstructural homogeneity. Comparing to the conventional route, the application of the reversing route was found to yield better homogeneity after less passes of the process.

  5. Active Hearing Mechanisms Inspire Adaptive Amplification in an Acoustic Sensor System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerreiro, Jose; Reid, Andrew; Jackson, Joseph C; Windmill, James F C

    2018-06-01

    Over many millions of years of evolution, nature has developed some of the most adaptable sensors and sensory systems possible, capable of sensing, conditioning and processing signals in a very power- and size-effective manner. By looking into biological sensors and systems as a source of inspiration, this paper presents the study of a bioinspired concept of signal processing at the sensor level. By exploiting a feedback control mechanism between a front-end acoustic receiver and back-end neuronal based computation, a nonlinear amplification with hysteretic behavior is created. Moreover, the transient response of the front-end acoustic receiver can also be controlled and enhanced. A theoretical model is proposed and the concept is prototyped experimentally through an embedded system setup that can provide dynamic adaptations of a sensory system comprising a MEMS microphone placed in a closed-loop feedback system. It faithfully mimics the mosquito's active hearing response as a function of the input sound intensity. This is an adaptive acoustic sensor system concept that can be exploited by sensor and system designers within acoustics and ultrasonic engineering fields.

  6. [Development of a standardized back school for in-patient orthopaedic rehabilitation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, K; Seekatz, B; Rossband, H; Worringen, U; Faller, H; Vogel, H

    2009-12-01

    Medical rehabilitation in Germany is still lacking in patient education programmes that meet certain quality requirements such as the use of manuals, patient-oriented didactics, and evaluations of effectiveness. For patients with chronic low back pain, no standardized and evaluated back school programme has so far been available for routine use. In this paper, we demonstrate the development of a quality-assured back school based on a health-education programme of the German statutory pension insurance scheme. Both topics and didactics incorporate treatment evidence, practice guidelines, quality criteria for patient education and theories of health and illness behaviour. First, formative evaluation was conducted to assess patient acceptance and practicability of the manual. Second, effects of the back school programme were assessed on a short-term (at the end of rehabilitation), medium-term (6-month follow-up) and long-term (12-month follow-up) basis in a randomized controlled study of patients with low back pain (n=360). Results show a significant medium treatment effect in patients' knowledge about chronic back pain and its treatment at the end of rehabilitation (pmotivation to physical activity, pain beliefs and pain intensity. After the programme's medium- and long-term effects have been demonstrated, it will be recommended for implementation in medical rehabilitation. The manual meets the requirements that allow for a successful transfer into clinical practice. Copyright Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart . New York.

  7. On the enhancement of the back-to-back two-electron-one photon ionization in molecules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amusia, Miron; Drukarev, Eugene

    2014-05-01

    Recently, the long ago predicted quasi-free mechanism of two-electron photoionization was detected already at relatively low energy photoionization in He. It was observed that some pairs of electrons are leaving the target atom back-to-back, i.e. in opposite direction with almost the same energy. They have opposite spin directions. The cross-section of this process depends upon the probability for a pair of electrons to be close to each other before meeting the incoming photon. Such probability is greatly enhanced in molecules with covalent bonding, like H2. In this and similar molecules the electrons spend an essential part of time being between nuclei and thus screening them from each other. We demonstrate that indeed the back-to-back contribution is much bigger in H2 than in He. We analyze qualitatively some other situations that lead to relative growth of back-to-back contribution. Atoms with electrons with bigger principal quantum numbers have bigger back-to-back contributions. An external pressure applied to molecules forces electrons to be closer to each other. As a result for them the back-to-back contribution can be controllable enhanced.

  8. Web Monitoring of EOS Front-End Ground Operations, Science Downlinks and Level 0 Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordier, Guy R.; Wilkinson, Chris; McLemore, Bruce

    2008-01-01

    This paper addresses the efforts undertaken and the technology deployed to aggregate and distribute the metadata characterizing the real-time operations associated with NASA Earth Observing Systems (EOS) high-rate front-end systems and the science data collected at multiple ground stations and forwarded to the Goddard Space Flight Center for level 0 processing. Station operators, mission project management personnel, spacecraft flight operations personnel and data end-users for various EOS missions can retrieve the information at any time from any location having access to the internet. The users are distributed and the EOS systems are distributed but the centralized metadata accessed via an external web server provide an effective global and detailed view of the enterprise-wide events as they are happening. The data-driven architecture and the implementation of applied middleware technology, open source database, open source monitoring tools, and external web server converge nicely to fulfill the various needs of the enterprise. The timeliness and content of the information provided are key to making timely and correct decisions which reduce project risk and enhance overall customer satisfaction. The authors discuss security measures employed to limit access of data to authorized users only.

  9. The development of technical database of advanced spent fuel management process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ro, Seung Gy; Byeon, Kee Hoh; Song, Dae Yong; Park, Seong Won; Shin, Young Jun

    1999-03-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop the technical database system to provide useful information to researchers who study on the back end nuclear fuel cycle. Technical database of advanced spent fuel management process was developed for a prototype system in 1997. In 1998, this database system is improved into multi-user systems and appended special database which is composed of thermochemical formation data and reaction data. In this report, the detailed specification of our system design is described and the operating methods are illustrated as a user's manual. Also, expanding current system, or interfacing between this system and other system, this report is very useful as a reference. (Author). 10 refs., 18 tabs., 46 fig.

  10. The development of technical database of advanced spent fuel management process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ro, Seung Gy; Byeon, Kee Hoh; Song, Dae Yong; Park, Seong Won; Shin, Young Jun

    1999-03-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop the technical database system to provide useful information to researchers who study on the back end nuclear fuel cycle. Technical database of advanced spent fuel management process was developed for a prototype system in 1997. In 1998, this database system is improved into multi-user systems and appended special database which is composed of thermochemical formation data and reaction data. In this report, the detailed specification of our system design is described and the operating methods are illustrated as a user's manual. Also, expanding current system, or interfacing between this system and other system, this report is very useful as a reference. (Author). 10 refs., 18 tabs., 46 fig

  11. Effect of Stacking Layup on Spring-back Deformation of Symmetrical Flat Laminate Composites Manufactured through Autoclave Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nasir, M. N. M.; Seman, M. A.; Mezeix, L.; Aminanda, Y.; Rivai, A.; Ali, K. M.

    2017-03-01

    The residual stresses that develop within fibre-reinforced laminate composites during autoclave processing lead to dimensional warpage known as spring-back deformation. A number of experiments have been conducted on flat laminate composites with unidirectional fibre orientation to examine the effects of both the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters on the warpage. This paper extends the study on to the symmetrical layup effect on spring-back for flat laminate composites. Plies stacked at various symmetrical sequences were fabricated to observe the severity of the resulting warpage. Essentially, the experimental results demonstrated that the symmetrical layups reduce the laminate stiffness in its principal direction compared to the unidirectional laminate thus, raising the spring-back warpage with the exception of the [45/-45]S layup due to its quasi-isotropic property.

  12. Course Evaluation Systems for Open-ended Quality Enhancement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Piihl, Jesper; Rasmussen, Jens Smed

    2013-01-01

    Quality in higher education is widely controlled through surveys asking students to evaluate teaching. However, control of quality does not necessarily lead to enhancement of quality. Drawing on accounting research and a case study, a measurement-based and open-ended quality control system...... emphasising quality enhancement is suggested. The case shows how interactive use of performance measurement can lead to more engaged and enabling dialogue amongst involved actors concerning quality enhancement, however institutionalised beliefs regarding course evaluation systems makes a change challenging....... The chapter suggests that open-ended measurement systems enabling stakeholders to take responsibility for quality enhancement is not so much a matter of technical design as a matter of an enabling style of use....

  13. Architecture of eukaryotic mRNA 3′-end processing machinery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Chris H.; Easter, Ashley D.; Emsley, Paul; Degliesposti, Gianluca; Gordiyenko, Yuliya; Santhanam, Balaji; Wolf, Jana; Wiederhold, Katrin; Dornan, Gillian L.; Skehel, Mark; Robinson, Carol V.; Passmore, Lori A.

    2018-01-01

    Newly transcribed eukaryotic precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) are processed at their 3′ ends by the ~1-megadalton multiprotein cleavage and polyadenylation factor (CPF). CPF cleaves pre-mRNAs, adds a polyadenylate tail, and triggers transcription termination, but it is unclear how its various enzymes are coordinated and assembled. Here, we show that the nuclease, polymerase, and phosphatase activities of yeast CPF are organized into three modules. Using electron cryomicroscopy, we determined a 3.5-angstrom-resolution structure of the ~200-kilodalton polymerase module. This revealed four β propellers, in an assembly markedly similar to those of other protein complexes that bind nucleic acid. Combined with in vitro reconstitution experiments, our data show that the polymerase module brings together factors required for specific and efficient polyadenylation, to help coordinate mRNA 3′-end processing. PMID:29074584

  14. End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — This final rule implements a case-mix adjusted bundled prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare outpatient end-stage renal disease (ESRD) dialysis facilities...

  15. Effect of Short-Circuit Faults in the Back-to-Back Power Electronic Converter and Rotor Terminals on the Operational Behavior of the Doubly-Fed Induction Generator Wind Energy Conversion System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitrios G. Giaourakis

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with the operational behavior of the Doubly-Fed Induction Generator Wind Energy Conversion System under power electronic converter and rotor terminals faulty conditions. More specifically, the effect of the short-circuit fault both in one IGBT of the back-to-back power electronic converter and in rotor phases on the overall system behavior has been investigated via simulation using a system of 2 MW. Finally, the consequences of these faults have been evaluated.

  16. Comparison of Different Approach of Back Projection Method in Retrieving the Rupture Process of Large Earthquakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, F.; Wang, G.; Chen, C.; Ge, Z.

    2016-12-01

    Back-projection of teleseismic P waves [Ishii et al., 2005] has been widely used to image the rupture of earthquakes. Besides the conventional narrowband beamforming in time domain, approaches in frequency domain such as MUSIC back projection (Meng 2011) and compressive sensing (Yao et al, 2011), are proposed to improve the resolution. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages and should be properly used in different cases. Therefore, a thorough research to compare and test these methods is needed. We write a GUI program, which puts the three methods together so that people can conveniently use different methods to process the same data and compare the results. Then we use all the methods to process several earthquake data, including 2008 Wenchuan Mw7.9 earthquake and 2011 Tohoku-Oki Mw9.0 earthquake, and theoretical seismograms of both simple sources and complex ruptures. Our results show differences in efficiency, accuracy and stability among the methods. Quantitative and qualitative analysis are applied to measure their dependence on data and parameters, such as station number, station distribution, grid size, calculate window length and so on. In general, back projection makes it possible to get a good result in a very short time using less than 20 lines of high-quality data with proper station distribution, but the swimming artifact can be significant. Some ways, for instance, combining global seismic data, could help ameliorate this method. Music back projection needs relatively more data to obtain a better and more stable result, which means it needs a lot more time since its runtime accumulates obviously faster than back projection with the increase of station number. Compressive sensing deals more effectively with multiple sources in a same time window, however, costs the longest time due to repeatedly solving matrix. Resolution of all the methods is complicated and depends on many factors. An important one is the grid size, which in turn influences

  17. Applicability of ASST-A helium refrigeration system for JLab End Station Refrigerator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasan, N.; Knudsen, P.; Ganni, V.

    2017-12-01

    The MØLLER experiment at Jefferson Lab (JLab) is a high power (5 kW) liquid hydrogen target scheduled to be operational in the 12 GeV-era. At present, cryogenic loads and targets at three of JLab’s four experimental halls are supported by the End Station Refrigerator (ESR) - a CTI/Helix 1.5 kW 4.5 K refrigerator. It is not capable of supporting the high power target load and a capacity upgrade of the ESR cryogenic system is essential. The ASST-A helium refrigeration system is a 4 kW 4.5 K refrigerator. It was designed and used for the Superconducting Super Collider Lab (SSCL) magnet string test and later obtained by JLab after the cancellation of that project. The modified ASST-A refrigeration system, which will be called ESR-II along with a support flow from JLab’s Central Helium Liquefier (CHL) is considered as an option for the End Station Refrigerator capacity upgrade. The applicability of this system for ESR-II under varying load conditions is investigated. The present paper outlines the findings of this process study.

  18. An Economic Case for End System Multicast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Analoui, Morteza; Rezvani, Mohammad Hossein

    This paper presents a non-strategic model for the end-system multicast networks based on the concept of replica exchange economy. We believe that microeconomics is a good candidate to investigate the problem of selfishness of the end-users (peers) in order to maximize the aggregate throughput. In this solution concept, the decisions that a peer might make, does not affect the actions of the other peers at all. The proposed mechanism tunes the price of the service in such a way that general equilibrium holds.

  19. Time effects of water drainage from deposited back-fill

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baranski, L.A.

    1976-01-01

    Time effects of water drainage from deposited back-fill in mine excavations are considered. The time dependence of drainage from the deposited material was determined from ''in situ'' measurements with the aid of radioisotope gauges. The measurements were performed for given drainage conditions and practically constant grain size composition. It was found that in a few hours after the end of the back-filling operation the mechanical properties of the deposited material are practically constant. (author)

  20. Designing Robust Process Analytical Technology (PAT) Systems for Crystallization Processes: A Potassium Dichromate Crystallization Case Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abdul Samad, Noor Asma Fazli Bin; Sin, Gürkan

    2013-01-01

    The objective of this study is to test and validate a Process Analytical Technology (PAT) system design on a potassium dichromate crystallization process in the presence of input uncertainties using uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. To this end a systematic framework for managing uncertaintie...

  1. System Enhancements for Mechanical Inspection Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawkins, Myers IV

    2011-01-01

    Quality inspection of parts is a major component to any project that requires hardware implementation. Keeping track of all of the inspection jobs is essential to having a smooth running process. By using HTML, the programming language ColdFusion, and the MySQL database, I created a web-based job management system for the 170 Mechanical Inspection Group that will replace the Microsoft Access based management system. This will improve the ways inspectors and the people awaiting inspection view and keep track of hardware as it is in the inspection process. In the end, the management system should be able to insert jobs into a queue, place jobs in and out of a bonded state, pre-release bonded jobs, and close out inspection jobs.

  2. Advanced information processing system for advanced launch system: Avionics architecture synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lala, Jaynarayan H.; Harper, Richard E.; Jaskowiak, Kenneth R.; Rosch, Gene; Alger, Linda S.; Schor, Andrei L.

    1991-01-01

    The Advanced Information Processing System (AIPS) is a fault-tolerant distributed computer system architecture that was developed to meet the real time computational needs of advanced aerospace vehicles. One such vehicle is the Advanced Launch System (ALS) being developed jointly by NASA and the Department of Defense to launch heavy payloads into low earth orbit at one tenth the cost (per pound of payload) of the current launch vehicles. An avionics architecture that utilizes the AIPS hardware and software building blocks was synthesized for ALS. The AIPS for ALS architecture synthesis process starting with the ALS mission requirements and ending with an analysis of the candidate ALS avionics architecture is described.

  3. Robotic end-effector for rewaterproofing shuttle tiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manouchehri, Davoud; Hansen, Joseph M.; Wu, Cheng M.; Yamamoto, Brian S.; Graham, Todd

    1992-11-01

    This paper summarizes work by Rockwell International's Space Systems Division's Robotics Group at Downey, California. The work is part of a NASA-led team effort to automate Space Shuttle rewaterproofing in the Orbiter Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center and the ferry facility at the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility. Rockwell's effort focuses on the rewaterproofing end-effector, whose function is to inject hazardous dimethylethyloxysilane into thousands of ceramic tiles on the underside of the orbiter after each flight. The paper has five sections. First, it presents background on the present manual process. Second, end-effector requirements are presented, including safety and interface control. Third, a design is presented for the five end-effector systems: positioning, delivery, containment, data management, and command and control. Fourth, end-effector testing and integrating to the total system are described. Lastly, future applications for this technology are discussed.

  4. System for Informatics in the Molecular Pathology Laboratory: An Open-Source End-to-End Solution for Next-Generation Sequencing Clinical Data Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Wenjun; Kadri, Sabah; Puranik, Rutika; Wurst, Michelle N; Patil, Sushant A; Mujacic, Ibro; Benhamed, Sonia; Niu, Nifang; Zhen, Chao Jie; Ameti, Bekim; Long, Bradley C; Galbo, Filipo; Montes, David; Iracheta, Crystal; Gamboa, Venessa L; Lopez, Daisy; Yourshaw, Michael; Lawrence, Carolyn A; Aisner, Dara L; Fitzpatrick, Carrie; McNerney, Megan E; Wang, Y Lynn; Andrade, Jorge; Volchenboum, Samuel L; Furtado, Larissa V; Ritterhouse, Lauren L; Segal, Jeremy P

    2018-04-24

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostic assays increasingly are becoming the standard of care in oncology practice. As the scale of an NGS laboratory grows, management of these assays requires organizing large amounts of information, including patient data, laboratory processes, genomic data, as well as variant interpretation and reporting. Although several Laboratory Information Systems and/or Laboratory Information Management Systems are commercially available, they may not meet all of the needs of a given laboratory, in addition to being frequently cost-prohibitive. Herein, we present the System for Informatics in the Molecular Pathology Laboratory, a free and open-source Laboratory Information System/Laboratory Information Management System for academic and nonprofit molecular pathology NGS laboratories, developed at the Genomic and Molecular Pathology Division at the University of Chicago Medicine. The System for Informatics in the Molecular Pathology Laboratory was designed as a modular end-to-end information system to handle all stages of the NGS laboratory workload from test order to reporting. We describe the features of the system, its clinical validation at the Genomic and Molecular Pathology Division at the University of Chicago Medicine, and its installation and testing within a different academic center laboratory (University of Colorado), and we propose a platform for future community co-development and interlaboratory data sharing. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. In-process weld sampling during hot end welds of type W overpacks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnes, G.A.

    1998-01-01

    Establish the criteria and process controls to be used in obtaining, testing, and evaluating in-process weld sample during the hot end welding of Type W Overpack capsules used to overpack CsCl capsules for storage at WESF

  6. Comparison of Natural Language Processing Rules-based and Machine-learning Systems to Identify Lumbar Spine Imaging Findings Related to Low Back Pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, W Katherine; Hassanpour, Saeed; Heagerty, Patrick J; Rundell, Sean D; Suri, Pradeep; Huhdanpaa, Hannu T; James, Kathryn; Carrell, David S; Langlotz, Curtis P; Organ, Nancy L; Meier, Eric N; Sherman, Karen J; Kallmes, David F; Luetmer, Patrick H; Griffith, Brent; Nerenz, David R; Jarvik, Jeffrey G

    2018-03-28

    To evaluate a natural language processing (NLP) system built with open-source tools for identification of lumbar spine imaging findings related to low back pain on magnetic resonance and x-ray radiology reports from four health systems. We used a limited data set (de-identified except for dates) sampled from lumbar spine imaging reports of a prospectively assembled cohort of adults. From N = 178,333 reports, we randomly selected N = 871 to form a reference-standard dataset, consisting of N = 413 x-ray reports and N = 458 MR reports. Using standardized criteria, four spine experts annotated the presence of 26 findings, where 71 reports were annotated by all four experts and 800 were each annotated by two experts. We calculated inter-rater agreement and finding prevalence from annotated data. We randomly split the annotated data into development (80%) and testing (20%) sets. We developed an NLP system from both rule-based and machine-learned models. We validated the system using accuracy metrics such as sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The multirater annotated dataset achieved inter-rater agreement of Cohen's kappa > 0.60 (substantial agreement) for 25 of 26 findings, with finding prevalence ranging from 3% to 89%. In the testing sample, rule-based and machine-learned predictions both had comparable average specificity (0.97 and 0.95, respectively). The machine-learned approach had a higher average sensitivity (0.94, compared to 0.83 for rules-based), and a higher overall AUC (0.98, compared to 0.90 for rules-based). Our NLP system performed well in identifying the 26 lumbar spine findings, as benchmarked by reference-standard annotation by medical experts. Machine-learned models provided substantial gains in model sensitivity with slight loss of specificity, and overall higher AUC. Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. All rights reserved.

  7. Increasing gas producer profitability with virtual well visibility via an end-to-end wireless Internet gas monitoring system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McDougall, M. [Northrock Resources Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada); Benterud, K. [Zed.i solutions, Calgary, AB (Canada)

    2003-07-01

    This PowerPoint presentation describes how Northrock Resources Ltd. increased profitability using Smart-Alek{sup TM} while avoiding high implementation costs. Smart-Alek is a new type of fully integrated end-to-end electronic gas flow measurement (GFM) system based on Field Intelligence Network and End User Interference (FINE). Smart-Alek can analyze gas production through public wireless communications and a web-browser delivery system. The system has enabled Northrock to increase gas volumes with more accurate measurement and reduced downtime. In addition, operating costs have decreased because the frequency of well visits has been reduced and the administrative procedures of data collection is more efficient. The real-time well visibility of the tool has proven to be very effective in optimizing business profitability. 7 figs.

  8. 40 CFR 63.497 - Back-end process provisions-monitoring provisions for control and recovery devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... flame is required. (3) Where a boiler or process heater of less than 44 megawatts design heat input... continuous recorder. (5) For a condenser, a condenser exit (product side) temperature monitoring device...

  9. End-to-end Cyberinfrastructure and Data Services for Earth System Science Education and Research: Unidata's Plans and Directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramamurthy, M.

    2005-12-01

    A revolution is underway in the role played by cyberinfrastructure and data services in the conduct of research and education. We live in an era of an unprecedented data volume from diverse sources, multidisciplinary analysis and synthesis, and active, learner-centered education emphasis. For example, modern remote-sensing systems like hyperspectral satellite instruments generate terabytes of data each day. Environmental problems such as global change and water cycle transcend disciplinary as well as geographic boundaries, and their solution requires integrated earth system science approaches. Contemporary education strategies recommend adopting an Earth system science approach for teaching the geosciences, employing new pedagogical techniques such as enquiry-based learning and hands-on activities. Needless to add, today's education and research enterprise depends heavily on robust, flexible and scalable cyberinfrastructure, especially on the ready availability of quality data and appropriate tools to manipulate and integrate those data. Fortuitously, rapid advances in computing and communication technologies have also revolutionized how data, tools and services are being incorporated into the teaching and scientific enterprise. The exponential growth in the use of the Internet in education and research, largely due to the advent of the World Wide Web, is by now well documented. On the other hand, how some of the other technological and community trends that have shaped the use of cyberinfrastructure, especially data services, is less well understood. For example, the computing industry is converging on an approach called Web services that enables a standard and yet revolutionary way of building applications and methods to connect and exchange information over the Web. This new approach, based on XML - a widely accepted format for exchanging data and corresponding semantics over the Internet - enables applications, computer systems, and information processes to

  10. Squeezed fermions and back-to-back correlations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panda, P.K.; Krein, G.; Padula, S.S.; Csoergoe, T.; Hama, Y.

    2001-01-01

    Back-to-back correlations of asymptotic fermion pairs appear if in-medium interactions lead to mass modifications of fermion states in a thermalized medium. The back-to-back correlations of protons and anti-protons will be experimentally observable in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The strength of back-to-back correlations of fermions can be unlimitedly large, diverging as the momentum of the pair increases and the net baryon density decreases. (author)

  11. Squeezed fermions and back-to-back correlations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Panda, P.K.; Krein, G.; Padula, S.S. [Instituto de Fisica Teorica (IFT), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Csoergoe, T. [Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary). Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics (RMKI, KFKI); Hama, Y. [Sao Paulo Univ., SP (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica

    2001-07-01

    Back-to-back correlations of asymptotic fermion pairs appear if in-medium interactions lead to mass modifications of fermion states in a thermalized medium. The back-to-back correlations of protons and anti-protons will be experimentally observable in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The strength of back-to-back correlations of fermions can be unlimitedly large, diverging as the momentum of the pair increases and the net baryon density decreases. (author)

  12. 40 CFR 63.496 - Back-end process provisions-procedures to determine compliance using control or recovery devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... boiler or process heater. (iii) The control efficiency of the boiler or process heater shall be calculated using Equation 29. ER05SE96.027 where: R=Control efficiency of boiler or process heater, percent..., the control efficiency of the boiler or process heater shall be determined using the procedures in...

  13. Influence of an Optimized Thermoelectric Generator on the Back Pressure of the Subsequent Exhaust Gas System of a Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kühn, Roland; Koeppen, Olaf; Kitte, Jens

    2014-06-01

    Numerous research projects in automotive engineering focus on the industrialization of the thermoelectric generator (TEG). The development and the implementation of thermoelectric systems into the vehicle environment are commonly supported by virtual design activities. In this paper a customized simulation architecture is presented that includes almost all vehicle parts which are influenced by the TEG (overall system simulation) but is nevertheless capable of real-time use. Moreover, an optimized planar TEG with minimum nominal power output of about 580 W and pressure loss at nominal conditions of 10 mbar, synthesized using the overall system simulation, and the overall system simulation itself are used to answer a generally neglected question: What influence does the position of a TEG have on the back pressure of the subsequent exhaust gas system of the vehicle? It is found that the influence of the TEG on the muffler is low, but the catalytic converter is strongly influenced. It is shown that the TEG can reduce the back pressure of an exhaust gas system so much that its overall back pressure is less than the back pressure of a standard exhaust gas system.

  14. Dual-process Accounts of Reasoning in User's Information System Risky Behavior

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Ying; Zhang, Nan

    2016-01-01

    End user of information system (IS) is the weakest point in terms of IS security. A variety of approaches are developed to convince end users to avoid IS risky behaviors. However, they do not always work. We would like to argue that one of the reasons is that previous studies focused on System 2 thinking (analytic, deliberate, rule-governed and effortful process) and overlooked the factors that can influence people who are using System 1 thinking (automatic, effortless, associa...

  15. Power flow controller with a fractionally rated back-to-back converter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Divan, Deepakraj M.; Kandula, Rajendra Prasad; Prasai, Anish

    2016-03-08

    A power flow controller with a fractionally rated back-to-back (BTB) converter is provided. The power flow controller provide dynamic control of both active and reactive power of a power system. The power flow controller inserts a voltage with controllable magnitude and phase between two AC sources at the same frequency; thereby effecting control of active and reactive power flows between the two AC sources. A transformer may be augmented with a fractionally rated bi-directional Back to Back (BTB) converter. The fractionally rated BTB converter comprises a transformer side converter (TSC), a direct-current (DC) link, and a line side converter (LSC). By controlling the switches of the BTB converter, the effective phase angle between the two AC source voltages may be regulated, and the amplitude of the voltage inserted by the power flow controller may be adjusted with respect to the AC source voltages.

  16. System for exchanging tools and end effectors on a robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burry, D.B.; Williams, P.M.

    1991-01-01

    A system and method for exchanging tools and end effectors on a robot permits exchange during a programmed task. The exchange mechanism is located off the robot, thus reducing the mass of the robot arm and permitting smaller robots to perform designated tasks. A simple spring/collet mechanism mounted on the robot is used which permits the engagement and disengagement of the tool or end effector without the need for a rotational orientation of the tool to the end effector/collet interface. As the tool changing system is not located on the robot arm no umbilical cords are located on robot. 12 figures

  17. The role of information search in seeking alternative treatment for back pain: a qualitative analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClymont, Hoda; Gow, Jeff; Perry, Chad

    2014-01-01

    Health consumers have moved away from a reliance on medical practitioner advice to more independent decision processes and so their information search processes have subsequently widened. This study examined how persons with back pain searched for alternative treatment types and service providers. That is, what information do they seek and how; what sources do they use and why; and by what means do they search for it? 12 persons with back pain were interviewed. The method used was convergent interviewing. This involved a series of semi-structured questions to obtain open-ended answers. The interviewer analysed the responses and refined the questions after each interview, to converge on the dominant factors influencing decisions about treatment patterns. Persons with back pain mainly search their memories and use word of mouth (their doctor and friends) for information about potential treatments and service providers. Their search is generally limited due to personal, provider-related and information-supply reasons. However, they did want in-depth information about the alternative treatments and providers in an attempt to establish apriori their efficacy in treating their specific back problems. They searched different sources depending on the type of information they required. The findings differ from previous studies about the types of information health consumers require when searching for information about alternative or mainstream healthcare services. The results have identified for the first time that limited information availability was only one of three categories of reasons identified about why persons with back pain do not search for more information particularly from external non-personal sources.

  18. Back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dognon, J.P.; Rabbe, C.; Beudaert, Ph.; Lamare, V.; Wipff, G.; Moisy, Ph.; Charrin, N.; Blanc, P.; Den Auwer, Ch.; Revel, R.; Charbonnel, M.C.; Presson, M.T.; Cau Dit Coumes, C.; Chopin-Dumas, J.; Devisme, F.; Rat, B.; Hill, C.; Guillaneux, D.; Madic, C.; Carrera, A.; Dozol, J.F.; Rouquette, H.; Allain, F.; Virelizier, H.; Moulin, Ch.; Lamare, V.; Dozol, J.F.; Lemort, F.; Orlhac, X.; Fillet, C.; Carpena, J.; Fillet, C.; Advocat, T.; Leturcq, G.; Lacombe, J.; Bonnetier, A.; Ribet, I.; Poitou, S.; Richaud, D.; Fiquet, O.; Gramondi, P.; Massit, H.; Meyer, D.; Conocar, O.; Pettier, J.L.; Raphael, T.; Bouniol, P.; Sercombe, J.; Badouix, P.; Adenot, F.; Le Bescop, P.; Mazoin, C.; Motellier, S.; Charles, Y.; Richet, C.; Ayache, R.; Pitsch, H.; Ly, J.; Beaucaire, C.; Devol-Brown, I.; Libert, M.F.; Besnainou, B.

    1999-01-01

    In this chapter of the DCC 1999 scientific report, the following theoretical studies are detailed: electronic structure of lanthanides or actinides complexes, forecasting of the stoichiometry of europium nitrate complexes, actinides aqueous solutions analytical and thermodynamical chemistry, actinides complexes structural determination. It also provides experimental studies: actinides and lanthanides separation, radioactive wastes processing and conditioning, plasma torch vitrification process, simulation of the wastes packages characterization, wastes storage with concrete behaviour and biodegradation. (A.L.B.)

  19. Italian WEEE management system and treatment of end-of-life cooling and freezing equipments for CFCs removal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sansotera, M; Navarrini, W; Talaeemashhadi, S; Venturini, F

    2013-06-01

    This study presents and analyzes the data of the Italian system for take-back and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEEs) in the start-up period 2008-2010. The analysis was focused particularly on the data about the treatment of end-of-life cooling and freezing equipments. In fact, the wastes of cooling and freezing equipments have a high environmental impact. Indeed, in their compressor oil and insulation polyurethane (PU) foams chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) ozone-depleting gases are still present. In the period 2001-2004 Northern Italy resulted the main source in Europe of CFCs. The European Directive on WEEE management was enacted in 2002, but in Italy it was implemented by the legislative Decree in 2005 and it became operational in 2008. Actually, in 2008 the national WEEE Coordination Centre was founded in order to organize the WEEE pick-up process and to control collection, recovery and recycling targets. As a result, in 2010 the average WEEE collection per capita exceeded the threshold of more than 4 kg per inhabitant, as well as cooling and freezing appliances represented more than one fourth of the Italian WEEE collection stream. During the treatment of end-of-life cooling and freezing equipments, CFCs were recovered and disposed principally by burner methods. The analyses of defined specimens collected in the treatment facilities were standardized to reliably determine the amount of recovered CFCs. Samples of alkaline solid salt, alkaline saline solution, polyurethane matrix and compressor oil collected during the audit assessment procedure were analyzed and the results were discussed. In particular, the analysis of PU samples after the shredding and the warm pressing procedures measured a residual CFCs content around 500-1300 mg/kg of CFCs within the foam matrix. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. An overview of process instrumentation, protective safety interlocks and alarm system at the JET facilities active gas handling system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skinner, N.; Brennan, P.; Brown, K.; Gibbons, C.; Jones, G.; Knipe, S.; Manning, C.; Perevezentsev, A.; Stagg, R.; Thomas, R.; Yorkshades, J.

    2003-01-01

    The Joint European Torus (JET) Facilities Active Gas Handling System (AGHS) comprises ten interconnected processing sub-systems that supply, process and recover tritium from gases used in the JET Machine. Operations require a diverse range of process instrumentation to carry out a multiplicity of monitoring and control tasks and approximately 500 process variables are measured. The different types and application of process instruments are presented with specially adapted or custom-built versions highlighted. Forming part of the Safety Case for tritium operations, a dedicated hardwired interlock and alarm system provides an essential safety function. In the event of failure modes, each hardwired interlock will back-up software interlocks and shutdown areas of plant to a failsafe condition. Design of the interlock and alarm system is outlined and general methodology described. Practical experience gained during plant operations is summarised and the methods employed for routine functional testing of essential instrument systems explained

  1. A study on the front-end VME system of BEPC II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Chunhong

    2004-01-01

    The front-end VME system is not only the heart of the control system, but also a real-time system. This paper describes the component of the front-end VME (Versa Module Eurocard) system including control computer and some related I/O modules. Particularly, the authors present a best solution for the problems about Vx-Works kernel and BSP running on MVME5100. This is a fundamental setup of the BEPC II control system. (author)

  2. POSSIBLE ROLE OF INDOOR RADON REDUCTION SYSTEMS IN BACK-DRAFTING RESIDENTIAL COMBUSTION APPLIANCES

    Science.gov (United States)

    The article gives results of a computational sensitivity analysis conducted to identify conditions under which residential active soil depressurization (ASD) systems for indoor radon reduction might contribute to or create back-drafting of natural draft combustion appliances. Par...

  3. Normative data on the n-back task for children and young adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelegrina, Santiago; Lechuga, M Teresa; García-Madruga, Juan A; Elosúa, M Rosa; Macizo, Pedro; Carreiras, Manuel; Fuentes, Luis J; Bajo, M Teresa

    2015-01-01

    The n-back task is a frequently used measure of working memory (WM) in cognitive neuroscience research contexts, and it has become widely adopted in other areas over the last decade. This study aimed to obtain normative data for the n-back task from a large sample of children and adolescents. To this end, a computerized verbal n-back task with three levels of WM load (1-back, 2-back, and 3-back) was administered to 3722 Spanish school children aged 7-13 years. Results showed an overall age-related increase in performance for the different levels of difficulty. This trend was less pronounced at 1-back than at 2-back when hits were considered. Gender differences were also observed, with girls outperforming boys although taking more time to respond. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed. Normative data stratified by age and gender for the three WM load levels are provided.

  4. Normative data on the n-back task for children and young adolescents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santiago ePelegrina

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The n-back task is a frequently used measure of working memory (WM in cognitive neuroscience research contexts, and it has become widely adopted in other areas over the last decade. This study aimed to obtain normative data for the n-back task from a large sample of children and adolescents. To this end, a computerized verbal n-back task with three levels of WM load (1-back, 2-back and 3-back was administered to 3722 Spanish school children aged 7–13 years. Results showed an overall age-related increase in performance for the different levels of difficulty. This trend was less pronounced at 1-back than at 2-back when hits were considered. Gender differences were also observed, with girls outperforming boys although taking more time to respond. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed. Normative data stratified by age and gender for the three WM load levels are provided.

  5. Digital Signal Processing for Optical Coherent Communication Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Xu

    spectrum narrowing tolerance 112-Gb/s DP-QPSK optical coherent systems using digital adaptive equalizer. The demonstrated results show that off-line DSP algorithms are able to reduce the bit error rate (BER) penalty induced by signal spectrum narrowing. Third, we also investigate bi...... wavelength division multiplex (U-DWDM) optical coherent systems based on 10-Gbaud QPSK. We report U-DWDM 1.2-Tb/s QPSK coherent system achieving spectral efficiency of 4.0-bit/s/Hz. In the experimental demonstration, digital decision feed back equalizer (DFE) algorithms and a finite impulse response (FIR......In this thesis, digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms are studied to compensate for physical layer impairments in optical fiber coherent communication systems. The physical layer impairments investigated in this thesis include optical fiber chromatic dispersion, polarization demultiplexing...

  6. Efcient Computation of Buffer Capacities for Cyclo-Static Real-Time Systems with Back-Pressure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wiggers, M.H.; Bekooij, Marco; Bekooij, Marco Jan Gerrit; Jansen, P.G.; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria

    2006-01-01

    A key step in the design of cyclo-static real-time systems is the determination of buffer capacities. In our multiprocessor system, we apply back-pressure, which means that tasks wait for space in output buffers. Consequently buffer capacities affect the throughput. This requires the derivation of

  7. Increasing gas producer profitability with virtual well visibility via an end-to-end, wireless Internet gas monitoring system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McDougall, M.; Coleman, K.; Beck, R.; Lyon, R.; Potts, R. [Northrock Resources Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada); Benterud, K. [Zed.i solutions, Calgary, AB (Canada)

    2003-07-01

    Most gas producing companies still use 100-year old technology to measure gas volumes because of the prohibitive costs of implementing corporate wide electronic information systems to replace circular mechanical chart technology. This paper describes how Northrock Resources Ltd. increased profitability using Smart-Alek{sup TM} while avoiding high implementation costs. Smart-Alek is a new type of fully integrated end-to-end electronic gas flow measurement (GFM) system based on Field Intelligence Network and End User Interference (FINE). Smart-Alek can analyze gas production through public wireless communications and a web-browser delivery system. The system has enabled Northrock to increase gas volumes with more accurate measurement and reduced downtime. In addition, operating costs were also decreased because the frequency of well visits was reduced and the administrative procedures of data collection was more efficient. The real-time well visibility of the tool has proven to be very effective in optimizing business profitability. 9 refs., 1 tab., 9 figs.

  8. Design of an Automatic Forward and Back Collision Avoidance System for Automobiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tasneem Sanjana

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is the extended reflection of work originally presented in conference of Electrical, Computer and Communication Engineering (ECCE-CUET 2017, entitled “Automated Anti Collision System for Automobiles”. Automated collision avoidance system is a trending technology of science in automobile engineering. The aim of this paper is to design a system which will prevent collision from the front as well as the back for automobiles. This paper gives an overview of secure and smooth journey of car (vehicles as well as the certainty of human life. This system is controlled by microcontroller ATMEGA32. Two Sharp distance sensors are used to detect object within the danger range where one is for front detection and other is for back detection. A crystal oscillator is used to produce the oscillation and generates the clock pulse of the microcontroller. An LCD and a GLCD are used to give information about the safe distance for front and rear respectively, and a buzzer is used as alarm. An actuator is used as automatic brake and inside the actuator there is a motor driver that runs the actuator. For coding “microC PRO for PIC” is used and “Proteus Design Suite Version 8 Software” is used for simulation.

  9. Next generation of optical front-ends for numerical services - 15387

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fullenbaum, M.; Durieux, A.; Dubroca, G.; Fuss, P.

    2015-01-01

    scenarios from an optical front-end supplier standpoint. It seems 'doable' to reach prices below 8-10 10 3 euros for HD zooms likely based upon lenses into barrels for volume over 100 units per year. We believe it should enable a good enough optical front-end performance to seize the benefits of the new HD solid state sensor by relying on software at the back end of the process

  10. Asset backed securities : risks, ratings and quantitative modelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jönsson, B.H.B.; Schoutens, W.

    2009-01-01

    Asset backed securities (ABSs) are structured finance products backed by pools of assets and are created through a securitisation process. The risks in asset backed securities, such as, credit risk, prepayment risk, market risks, operational risk, and legal risks, are directly connected with the

  11. Developing a Mobile Application "Educational Process Remote Management System" on the Android Operating System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abildinova, Gulmira M.; Alzhanov, Aitugan K.; Ospanova, Nazira N.; Taybaldieva, Zhymatay; Baigojanova, Dametken S.; Pashovkin, Nikita O.

    2016-01-01

    Nowadays, when there is a need to introduce various innovations into the educational process, most efforts are aimed at simplifying the learning process. To that end, electronic textbooks, testing systems and other software is being developed. Most of them are intended to run on personal computers with limited mobility. Smart education is…

  12. Attention modulates sensory suppression during back movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Hulle, Lore; Juravle, Georgiana; Spence, Charles; Crombez, Geert; Van Damme, Stefaan

    2013-06-01

    Tactile perception is often impaired during movement. The present study investigated whether such sensory suppression also occurs during back movements, and whether this would be modulated by attention. In two tactile detection experiments, participants simultaneously engaged in a movement task, in which they executed a back-bending movement, and a perceptual task, consisting of the detection of subtle tactile stimuli administered to their upper or lower back. The focus of participants' attention was manipulated by raising the probability that one of the back locations would be stimulated. The results revealed that tactile detection was suppressed during the execution of the back movements. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 revealed that when the stimulus was always presented to the attended location, tactile suppression was substantially reduced, suggesting that sensory suppression can be modulated by top-down attentional processes. The potential of this paradigm for studying tactile information processing in clinical populations is discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Evaluation of alignment marks using ASML ATHENA alignment system in 90nm BEOL process

    CERN Document Server

    Tan Chin Boon; Koh Hui Peng; Koo Chee, Kiong; Siew Yong Kong; Yeo Swee Hock

    2003-01-01

    As the critical dimension (CD) in integrated circuit (IC) device reduces, the total overlay budget needs to be more stringent. Typically, the allowable overlay error is 1/3 of the CD in the IC device. In this case, robustness of alignment mark is critical, as accurate signal is required by the scanner's alignment system to precisely align a layer of pattern to the previous layer. Alignment issue is more severe in back-end process partly due to the influenced of Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP), which contribute to the asymmetric or total destruction of the alignment marks. Alignment marks on the wafer can be placed along the scribe-line of the IC pattern. ASML scanner allows such type of wafer alignment using phase grating mark, known as Scribe-line Primary Mark (SPM) which can be fit into a standard 80um scribe-line. In this paper, we have studied the feasibility of introducing Narrow SPM (NSPM) to enable a smaller scribe-line. The width of NSPM has been shrunk down to 70% of the SPM and the length remain...

  14. End-to-end performance of cooperative relaying in spectrum-sharing systems with quality of service requirements

    KAUST Repository

    Asghari, Vahid Reza

    2011-07-01

    We propose adopting a cooperative relaying technique in spectrum-sharing cognitive radio (CR) systems to more effectively and efficiently utilize available transmission resources, such as power, rate, and bandwidth, while adhering to the quality of service (QoS) requirements of the licensed (primary) users of the shared spectrum band. In particular, we first consider that the cognitive (secondary) user\\'s communication is assisted by an intermediate relay that implements the decode-and-forward (DF) technique onto the secondary user\\'s relayed signal to help with communication between the corresponding source and the destination nodes. In this context, we obtain first-order statistics pertaining to the first- and second-hop transmission channels, and then, we investigate the end-to-end performance of the proposed spectrum-sharing cooperative relaying system under resource constraints defined to assure that the primary QoS is unaffected. Specifically, we investigate the overall average bit error rate (BER), ergodic capacity, and outage probability of the secondary\\'s communication subject to appropriate constraints on the interference power at the primary receivers. We then consider a general scenario where a cluster of relays is available between the secondary source and destination nodes. In this case, making use of the partial relay selection method, we generalize our results for the single-relay scheme and obtain the end-to-end performance of the cooperative spectrum-sharing system with a cluster of L available relays. Finally, we examine our theoretical results through simulations and comparisons, illustrating the overall performance of the proposed spectrum-sharing cooperative system and quantify its advantages for different operating scenarios and conditions. © 2011 IEEE.

  15. The End-To-End Safety Verification Process Implemented to Ensure Safe Operations of the Columbus Research Module

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, J.; Kreimer, J.

    2010-09-01

    The European Space Laboratory COLUMBUS was launched in February 2008 with NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis. Since successful docking and activation this manned laboratory forms part of the International Space Station(ISS). Depending on the objectives of the Mission Increments the on-orbit configuration of the COLUMBUS Module varies with each increment. This paper describes the end-to-end verification which has been implemented to ensure safe operations under the condition of a changing on-orbit configuration. That verification process has to cover not only the configuration changes as foreseen by the Mission Increment planning but also those configuration changes on short notice which become necessary due to near real-time requests initiated by crew or Flight Control, and changes - most challenging since unpredictable - due to on-orbit anomalies. Subject of the safety verification is on one hand the on orbit configuration itself including the hardware and software products, on the other hand the related Ground facilities needed for commanding of and communication to the on-orbit System. But also the operational products, e.g. the procedures prepared for crew and ground control in accordance to increment planning, are subject of the overall safety verification. In order to analyse the on-orbit configuration for potential hazards and to verify the implementation of the related Safety required hazard controls, a hierarchical approach is applied. The key element of the analytical safety integration of the whole COLUMBUS Payload Complement including hardware owned by International Partners is the Integrated Experiment Hazard Assessment(IEHA). The IEHA especially identifies those hazardous scenarios which could potentially arise through physical and operational interaction of experiments. A major challenge is the implementation of a Safety process which owns quite some rigidity in order to provide reliable verification of on-board Safety and which likewise provides enough

  16. EBR-II Cover Gas Cleanup System upgrade distributed control and front end computer systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, R.B.

    1992-01-01

    The Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) Cover Gas Cleanup System (CGCS) control system was upgraded in 1991 to improve control and provide a graphical operator interface. The upgrade consisted of a main control computer, a distributed control computer, a front end input/output computer, a main graphics interface terminal, and a remote graphics interface terminal. This paper briefly describes the Cover Gas Cleanup System and the overall control system; gives reasons behind the computer system structure; and then gives a detailed description of the distributed control computer, the front end computer, and how these computers interact with the main control computer. The descriptions cover both hardware and software

  17. Analysis of Back-to-Back MMC for Medium Voltage Applications under Faulted Condition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bose, Anurag; Martins, Joäo Pedro Rodrigues; Chaudhary, Sanjay K.

    2017-01-01

    This paper analyzes a 10MW medium voltage Back-to-Back (BTB) Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) without a DC-Link capacitor with halfbridge submodules. It focusses on the system behavior under single-line-to-ground (SLG) fault when there is no capacitor on the DC-Link.The fault current is compute...... to prevent DC overvoltages in the sub-modules during faults....

  18. Can a new behaviorally oriented training process to improve lifting technique prevent occupationally related back injuries due to lifting?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavender, Steven A; Lorenz, Eric P; Andersson, Gunnar B J

    2007-02-15

    A prospective randomized control trial. To determine the degree to which a new behavior-based lift training program (LiftTrainer; Ascension Technology, Burlington, VT) could reduce the incidence of low back disorder in distribution center jobs that require repetitive lifting. Most studies show programs aimed at training lifting techniques to be ineffective in preventing low back disorders, which may be due to their conceptual rather than behavioral learning approach. A total of 2144 employees in 19 distribution centers were randomized into either the LiftTrainer program or a video control group. In the LiftTrainer program, participants were individually trained in up to 5, 30-minute sessions while instrumented with motion capture sensors to quantify the L5/S1 moments. Twelve months following the initial training, injury data were obtained from company records. Survival analyses (Kaplan-Meier) indicated that there was no difference in injury rates between the 2 training groups. Likewise, there was no difference in the turnover rates. However, those with a low (<30 Nm) average twisting moment at the end of the first session experienced a significantly (P < 0.005) lower rate of low back disorder than controls. While overall the LiftTrainer program was not effective, those with twisting moments below 30 Nm reported fewer injuries, suggesting a shift in focus for "safe" lifting programs.

  19. Inter-tester reliability of a new diagnostic classification system for patients with non-specific low back pain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Tom Erik; Olsen, Steen; Laslett, Mark

    2004-01-01

    Most patients referred to physiotherapy with low back pain are without a precise medical diagnosis. Identification of subgroups of non-specific low back pain patients may improve clinical outcomes and research efficiency. A pathoanatomic classification system has been developed, classifying...... modest level of total agreement (39%) for the system as a whole might indicate that the utility of the system for general screening purposes is limited, compared with the utility in identification of particular syndromes. Due to low prevalence of positive findings in some of the syndromes, future work...... should focus on testing reliability on a larger sample of patients, and testing of validity and feasibility of the system....

  20. Back to work for the PS

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    On 22 June, the PS's rotating machine started turning again for the first time since its enforced shutdown one month ago (see Bulletin No. 23-24/2006) - and the PS was back in operation the very next day! A team from Siemens worked their socks off, 6 days a week for one month (including public holidays), to repair the electrical power supply in collaboration with the AB/PO Group's Main Power Converters (MPC) Section. The generator's faulty rotor was dismantled and replaced by the renovated spare rotor. The multitude of electrical and mechanical connections together with the sheer weight of the rotor (80 tonnes) made this an extremely complex job. The AB/PO Group used the shutdown to test a back-up solution for the PS power supply. The accelerator was directly wired up to the 18 kV electrical network via a 13 MVA transformer, installed at the end of the 1970s but never used. This solution succeeded in bringing the PS back into operation but at limited energy and frequency. Just 14 GeV could be achieved, whic...

  1. A framework for back-up and restore under the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karonis, N.T.

    1992-12-01

    EPICS is a system that allows one to design and implement a controls system. At its foundation, i.e., the level closest to the devices being controlled, are autonomous computers, each called an Input/Output Controller or IOC. In EPICS, devices controlled by an IOC are represented by software entities called process variables. All devices are monitored/controlled by reading/writing values from/to their associated process variables. Under this schema, distributing processing over a number of IOCs and representing devices with process variables, there are a variety of ways one can view or group the information in the control system. Two of the more common groupings are by IOC (location) and by devices (function). Simply stated, the authors require a system capable of restoring the state of the machine, in their case the Advanced Photon Source, to a known desired state from somewhere in the past. To that end, they propose a framework which describes a system that periodically records and preserves the values of key process variables so that later on, those values can be written to the machine in an attempt to restore it to that same state. One of the more powerful notions that must be preserved in any system that solves this problem is the independence between the specification of what is monitored and the specification of what is written. In other words, grouping process variables for monitoring must be kept independent of the number of different ways to group process variables (e.g., by IOC, by device, etc.) when they are written

  2. Efficient Journaling for the Spider Storage System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oral, H Sarp [ORNL; Wang, Feiyi [ORNL; Shipman, Galen M [ORNL; Dillow, David A [ORNL; Miller, Ross G [ORNL; Drokin, Oleg [ORNL

    2003-01-01

    Journaling is a widely used technique to increase file system robustness against meta data and/or data corruptions. While the overhead of journaling can be negligible for small-scale file systems, we found that two aspects of local back-end file system journaling significantly lower the overall performance of a large-scale parallel file system such as Lustre: extra head seeks and serialization of incoming client requests. Journal transactions reside on a separate area of the disk that the file data, and each commit of the journal requires a head seek. Incoming client requests become serialized and take a latency hit by waiting for a commit to occur before the reply is sent. In this paper we present two different approaches to increase the local back-end file system journaling efficiency, thus increasing the overall aggregate parallel file system efficiency. First, we present a hardware-based solution where a solid-state device is used as an external journaling device to minimize the disk head seek. Second, we introduce a software-based optimization to allow asynchronously commit multiple journal transactions on the local back-end file system to minimize the penalty of serialization. Both our solutions are experimentally tested on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's large-scale Spider storage system and our tests show that both methods nearly double the overall parallel write performance.

  3. Evaluation Of Liner Back-pressure Due To Concrete Pore Pressure At Elevated Temperatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, R.J.; Rashid, Y.R.; Liu, A.S.; Gou, B.

    2006-01-01

    GE's latest evolution of the boiling water reactor, the ESBWR, has innovative passive design features that reduce the number and complexity of active systems, which in turn provide economic advantages while also increasing safety. These passive systems used for emergency cooling also mean that the primary containment system will experience elevated temperatures with longer durations than conventional plants in the event of design basis accidents. During a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA), the drywell in the primary containment structure for the ESBWR will be exposed to saturated steam conditions for up to 72 hours following the accident. A containment spray system may be activated that sprays the drywell area with water to condense the steam as part of the recovery operations. The liner back-pressure will build up gradually over the 72 hours as the concrete temperatures increase, and a sudden cool down could cause excessive differential pressure on the liner to develop. For this analysis, it is assumed that the containment spray is activated at the end of the 72-hour period. A back-pressure, acting between the liner and the concrete wall of the containment, can occur as a result of elevated temperatures in the concrete causing steam and saturated vapor pressures to develop from the free water remaining in the pores of the concrete. Additional pore pressure also develops under the elevated temperatures from the non-condensable gases trapped in the concrete pores during the concrete curing process. Any buildup of this pore pressure next to the liner, in excess of the drywell internal pressure, will act to push the liner away from the concrete with a potential for tearing at the liner anchorages. This paper describes the methods and analyses used to quantify this liner back-pressure so that appropriate measures are included in the design of the liner and anchorage system. A pore pressure model is developed that calculates the pressure distribution across the concrete

  4. Radiation Monitoring System in Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process Facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    You, Gil Sung; Kook, D. H.; Choung, W. M.; Ku, J. H.; Cho, I. J.; You, G. S.; Kwon, K. C.; Lee, W. K.; Lee, E. P

    2006-09-15

    The Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process is under development for effective management of spent fuel by converting UO{sub 2} into U-metal. For demonstration of this process, {alpha}-{gamma} type new hot cell was built in the IMEF basement . To secure against radiation hazard, this facility needs radiation monitoring system which will observe the entire operating area before the hot cell and service area at back of it. This system consists of 7 parts; Area Monitor for {gamma}-ray, Room Air Monitor for particulate and iodine in both area, Hot cell Monitor for hot cell inside high radiation and rear door interlock, Duct Monitor for particulate of outlet ventilation, Iodine Monitor for iodine of outlet duct, CCTV for watching workers and material movement, Server for management of whole monitoring system. After installation and test of this, radiation monitoring system will be expected to assist the successful ACP demonstration.

  5. Radiation Monitoring System in Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    You, Gil Sung; Kook, D. H.; Choung, W. M.; Ku, J. H.; Cho, I. J.; You, G. S.; Kwon, K. C.; Lee, W. K.; Lee, E. P.

    2006-09-01

    The Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process is under development for effective management of spent fuel by converting UO 2 into U-metal. For demonstration of this process, α-γ type new hot cell was built in the IMEF basement . To secure against radiation hazard, this facility needs radiation monitoring system which will observe the entire operating area before the hot cell and service area at back of it. This system consists of 7 parts; Area Monitor for γ-ray, Room Air Monitor for particulate and iodine in both area, Hot cell Monitor for hot cell inside high radiation and rear door interlock, Duct Monitor for particulate of outlet ventilation, Iodine Monitor for iodine of outlet duct, CCTV for watching workers and material movement, Server for management of whole monitoring system. After installation and test of this, radiation monitoring system will be expected to assist the successful ACP demonstration

  6. Potential of Laboratory Execution Systems (LESs) to Simplify the Application of Business Process Management Systems (BPMSs) in Laboratory Automation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neubert, Sebastian; Göde, Bernd; Gu, Xiangyu; Stoll, Norbert; Thurow, Kerstin

    2017-04-01

    Modern business process management (BPM) is increasingly interesting for laboratory automation. End-to-end workflow automation and improved top-level systems integration for information technology (IT) and automation systems are especially prominent objectives. With the ISO Standard Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.X, a system-independent and interdisciplinary accepted graphical process control notation is provided, allowing process analysis, while also being executable. The transfer of BPM solutions to structured laboratory automation places novel demands, for example, concerning the real-time-critical process and systems integration. The article discusses the potential of laboratory execution systems (LESs) for an easier implementation of the business process management system (BPMS) in hierarchical laboratory automation. In particular, complex application scenarios, including long process chains based on, for example, several distributed automation islands and mobile laboratory robots for a material transport, are difficult to handle in BPMSs. The presented approach deals with the displacement of workflow control tasks into life science specialized LESs, the reduction of numerous different interfaces between BPMSs and subsystems, and the simplification of complex process modelings. Thus, the integration effort for complex laboratory workflows can be significantly reduced for strictly structured automation solutions. An example application, consisting of a mixture of manual and automated subprocesses, is demonstrated by the presented BPMS-LES approach.

  7. Progress with the SNS front-end systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keller, R.; Abraham, W.; Ayers, J.J.; Cheng, D.W.; Cull, P.; DiGennaro, R.; Doolittle, L.; Gough, R.A.; Greer, J.B.; Hoff, M.D.; Leung, K.N.; Lewis, S.; Lionberger, C.; MacGill, R.; Minamihara, Y.; Monroy, M.; Oshatz, D.; Pruyn, J.; Ratti, A.; Reijonen, J.; Schenkel, T.; Staples, J.W.; Syversrud, D.; Thomae, R.; Virostek, S.; Yourd, R.

    2001-01-01

    The Front-End Systems (FES) of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) project have been described in detail elsewhere [1]. They comprise an rf-driven H - ion source, electrostatic LEBT, four-vane RFQ, and an elaborate MEBT. These systems are planned to be delivered to the SNS facility in Oak Ridge in June 2002. This paper discusses the latest design features, the status of development work, component fabrication and procurements, and experimental results with the first commissioned beamline elements

  8. A common type system for clinical natural language processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Stephen T; Kaggal, Vinod C; Dligach, Dmitriy; Masanz, James J; Chen, Pei; Becker, Lee; Chapman, Wendy W; Savova, Guergana K; Liu, Hongfang; Chute, Christopher G

    2013-01-03

    One challenge in reusing clinical data stored in electronic medical records is that these data are heterogenous. Clinical Natural Language Processing (NLP) plays an important role in transforming information in clinical text to a standard representation that is comparable and interoperable. Information may be processed and shared when a type system specifies the allowable data structures. Therefore, we aim to define a common type system for clinical NLP that enables interoperability between structured and unstructured data generated in different clinical settings. We describe a common type system for clinical NLP that has an end target of deep semantics based on Clinical Element Models (CEMs), thus interoperating with structured data and accommodating diverse NLP approaches. The type system has been implemented in UIMA (Unstructured Information Management Architecture) and is fully functional in a popular open-source clinical NLP system, cTAKES (clinical Text Analysis and Knowledge Extraction System) versions 2.0 and later. We have created a type system that targets deep semantics, thereby allowing for NLP systems to encapsulate knowledge from text and share it alongside heterogenous clinical data sources. Rather than surface semantics that are typically the end product of NLP algorithms, CEM-based semantics explicitly build in deep clinical semantics as the point of interoperability with more structured data types.

  9. Tracer techniques for urine volume determination and urine collection and sampling back-up system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramirez, R. V.

    1971-01-01

    The feasibility, functionality, and overall accuracy of the use of lithium were investigated as a chemical tracer in urine for providing a means of indirect determination of total urine volume by the atomic absorption spectrophotometry method. Experiments were conducted to investigate the parameters of instrumentation, tracer concentration, mixing times, and methods for incorporating the tracer material in the urine collection bag, and to refine and optimize the urine tracer technique to comply with the Skylab scheme and operational parameters of + or - 2% of volume error and + or - 1% accuracy of amount of tracer added to each container. In addition, a back-up method for urine collection and sampling system was developed and evaluated. This back-up method incorporates the tracer technique for volume determination in event of failure of the primary urine collection and preservation system. One chemical preservative was selected and evaluated as a contingency chemical preservative for the storage of urine in event of failure of the urine cooling system.

  10. Bringing Knowledge Back In: Perspectives from Liberal Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Zongyi

    2018-01-01

    From the vantage point of liberal education, this article attempts to contribute to the conversation initiated by Michael Young and his colleagues on 'bringing knowledge back' into the current global discourse on curriculum policy and practice. The contribution is made through revisiting the knowledge-its-own-end thesis associated with Newman and…

  11. Chiropractic Integrated Care Pathway for Low Back Pain in Veterans: Results of a Delphi Consensus Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lisi, Anthony J; Salsbury, Stacie A; Hawk, Cheryl; Vining, Robert D; Wallace, Robert B; Branson, Richard; Long, Cynthia R; Burgo-Black, A Lucille; Goertz, Christine M

    2018-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated care pathway for doctors of chiropractic, primary care providers, and mental health professionals who manage veterans with low back pain, with or without mental health comorbidity, within Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities. The research method used was a consensus process. A multidisciplinary investigative team reviewed clinical guidelines and Veterans Affairs pain and mental health initiatives to develop seed statements and care algorithms to guide chiropractic management and collaborative care of veterans with low back pain. A 5-member advisory committee approved initial recommendations. Veterans Affairs-based panelists (n = 58) evaluated the pathway via e-mail using a modified RAND/UCLA methodology. Consensus was defined as agreement by 80% of panelists. The modified Delphi process was conducted in July to December 2016. Most (93%) seed statements achieved consensus during the first round, with all statements reaching consensus after 2 rounds. The final care pathway addressed the topics of informed consent, clinical evaluation including history and examination, screening for red flags, documentation, diagnostic imaging, patient-reported outcomes, adverse event reporting, chiropractic treatment frequency and duration standards, tailored approaches to chiropractic care in veteran populations, and clinical presentation of common mental health conditions. Care algorithms outlined chiropractic case management and interprofessional collaboration and referrals between doctors of chiropractic and primary care and mental health providers. This study offers an integrative care pathway that includes chiropractic care for veterans with low back pain. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  12. An end to end secure CBIR over encrypted medical database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellafqira, Reda; Coatrieux, Gouenou; Bouslimi, Dalel; Quellec, Gwenole

    2016-08-01

    In this paper, we propose a new secure content based image retrieval (SCBIR) system adapted to the cloud framework. This solution allows a physician to retrieve images of similar content within an outsourced and encrypted image database, without decrypting them. Contrarily to actual CBIR approaches in the encrypted domain, the originality of the proposed scheme stands on the fact that the features extracted from the encrypted images are themselves encrypted. This is achieved by means of homomorphic encryption and two non-colluding servers, we however both consider as honest but curious. In that way an end to end secure CBIR process is ensured. Experimental results carried out on a diabetic retinopathy database encrypted with the Paillier cryptosystem indicate that our SCBIR achieves retrieval performance as good as if images were processed in their non-encrypted form.

  13. Control and Interlocking System for Bending Magnet Front-end at Indus-2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Sanjeev R.; Garg, Chander Kant; Nandedkar, R. V.

    2007-01-01

    We present control and interlock system developed for Indus-2 bending magnet front-end. The paper describes in detail the control of various signals associated with the front-end and the interlocking scheme implemented for the installed front-end. The number of signals associated with each front-end is ˜ 75. A control system is designed for monitoring temperature, pressure, airflow, water flow and control of vacuum gauges, fast shutter, water cooled shutter, safety shutter, pneumatic gate valves, sputter ion pump power supplies, beam position monitor etc. Two independent signals are generated for critical components that are used for software interlock and hard-wired interlock. The front-end control system is VME based and window 2000/XP workstation as an operator console. The CPU used is Motorola 68000-processor board of the VME bus having OS-9 real time operating system. One VME crate serves a cluster of 2-3 front ends. The communication between the VME and the workstation is linked over RS232 serial communication. The sputter ion power supplies are connected over isolated RS485 network. Critical protection features are implemented so that no single failure can render the system unsafe. This is implemented by providing two independent chains of protection (1) Hard wired in which relay logic is used and (2) Software. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed using Lab view Version 7.0.

  14. Control and Interlocking System for Bending Magnet Front-end at Indus-2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kane, Sanjeev R.; Garg, Chander Kant; Nandedkar, R. V.

    2007-01-01

    We present control and interlock system developed for Indus-2 bending magnet front-end. The paper describes in detail the control of various signals associated with the front-end and the interlocking scheme implemented for the installed front-end. The number of signals associated with each front-end is ∼ 75. A control system is designed for monitoring temperature, pressure, airflow, water flow and control of vacuum gauges, fast shutter, water cooled shutter, safety shutter, pneumatic gate valves, sputter ion pump power supplies, beam position monitor etc. Two independent signals are generated for critical components that are used for software interlock and hard-wired interlock. The front-end control system is VME based and window 2000/XP workstation as an operator console. The CPU used is Motorola 68000-processor board of the VME bus having OS-9 real time operating system. One VME crate serves a cluster of 2-3 front ends. The communication between the VME and the workstation is linked over RS232 serial communication. The sputter ion power supplies are connected over isolated RS485 network. Critical protection features are implemented so that no single failure can render the system unsafe. This is implemented by providing two independent chains of protection (1) Hard wired in which relay logic is used and (2) Software. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed using Lab view Version 7.0

  15. Non-Contact Conductivity Measurement for Automated Sample Processing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beegle, Luther W.; Kirby, James P.

    2012-01-01

    A new method has been developed for monitoring and control of automated sample processing and preparation especially focusing on desalting of samples before analytical analysis (described in more detail in Automated Desalting Apparatus, (NPO-45428), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 34, No. 8 (August 2010), page 44). The use of non-contact conductivity probes, one at the inlet and one at the outlet of the solid phase sample preparation media, allows monitoring of the process, and acts as a trigger for the start of the next step in the sequence (see figure). At each step of the muti-step process, the system is flushed with low-conductivity water, which sets the system back to an overall low-conductivity state. This measurement then triggers the next stage of sample processing protocols, and greatly minimizes use of consumables. In the case of amino acid sample preparation for desalting, the conductivity measurement will define three key conditions for the sample preparation process. First, when the system is neutralized (low conductivity, by washing with excess de-ionized water); second, when the system is acidified, by washing with a strong acid (high conductivity); and third, when the system is at a basic condition of high pH (high conductivity). Taken together, this non-contact conductivity measurement for monitoring sample preparation will not only facilitate automation of the sample preparation and processing, but will also act as a way to optimize the operational time and use of consumables

  16. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Detect and Avoid System: End-to-End Verification and Validation Simulation Study of Minimum Operations Performance Standards for Integrating Unmanned Aircraft into the National Airspace System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghatas, Rania W.; Jack, Devin P.; Tsakpinis, Dimitrios; Sturdy, James L.; Vincent, Michael J.; Hoffler, Keith D.; Myer, Robert R.; DeHaven, Anna M.

    2017-01-01

    As Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) make their way to mainstream aviation operations within the National Airspace System (NAS), research efforts are underway to develop a safe and effective environment for their integration into the NAS. Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems are required to account for the lack of "eyes in the sky" due to having no human on-board the aircraft. The technique, results, and lessons learned from a detailed End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) simulation study of a DAA system representative of RTCA SC-228's proposed Phase I DAA Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS), based on specific test vectors and encounter cases, will be presented in this paper.

  17. Internet Banking integration within the banking system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantin Marian MATEI

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Internet Banking developed due to increasing demand of online banking transactions. The biggest advantages of Internet Banking consist of complex banking solutions, 24 hours availability, quick and secure access to the back-end application through Internet. These advantages are due to the use of SOA (service-oriented architecture. SOA appeared as a necessity of companies to integrate big and independent portions of applications, in order to obtain an homogeneous functionality of the system. For the Internet Banking applications, SOA proved to be the optimal architectural solution, for a smoth integration between banking services from the front-end to the back-end.This paper intend to offer an insite analyse of the Internet Banking applications architecture integrated with other banking systems. A SOA oriented analyse will establish the scope of the integration architecture.

  18. Solidification with back-diffusion of irregular eutectics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Trepczyńska-Łent

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available The definition of the α - parameter back-diffusion has been introduced in the work. The alternative models of solidification were describedtaking into consideration back-diffusion process. The possibility of using those models for eutectic alloys solidification is worthyof interest.

  19. The alignment system of the ATLAS muon end-cap spectrometer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schricker, A.

    2002-08-01

    to the analytic shape model that allows to interpolate between the discrete number of measured points to describe any other bar shape. Expressing these changes with virtual loads that account for all forces acting on the bar, finally leads to the required precision. The basic principles are explained and detailed design and test results are presented. As part of the process one octant, the smallest independent unit of the end-cap alignment system, has been erected in the H8 test beam area to evaluate the systems performance of the proposed alignment strategy. Measurements are presently carried out with this prototype setup and initial results will be presented. Finally, work done during the development of the alignment bars led to a proposal for the final ATLAS alignment bars and to a manual describing the process from assembling until installation. (author)

  20. End user interface and knowledge base editing system of CSPAR: a knowledge-based consultation system for preventive maintenance in nuclear plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sinohara, Yasusi; Terano, Takao; Nishiyama, Takuya

    1988-01-01

    Consultation System for Prevention of Abnormal-event Recurrence (CSPAR) is a knowledge-based system to analyze the same kind of events to a given fault reported on a nuclear power plant and to give users some informations for effective measures preventing them. This report discusses the interfaces of CSPAR for both end-users and knowledge-base editors. The interfaces are highly interactive and multi-window oriented. The features are as follows: (1) The end-user interfaces has Japanese language processing facility, which enables the users to consult CSPAR with various synonims and related terms for knowledge-base handling; (2) The knowledge-base editing system is used by knowledge-base editors for maintaining the knowledge on both plants' equipments and abnormal events sequences. It has facilities for easy maintenance of knowledge-bases, which includes a graphic oriented browser, a knowledge-base retriever, and a knowledge-base checker. (author)

  1. Effect of Variant End of Injection Period on Combustion Process of Biodiesel Combustion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khalid Amir

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Biodiesel is an alternative fuel as a replacement to the standard diesel fuel in combustion diesel engine. The biodiesel fuel has a significantly influences throughout the combustion process and exhaust emission. The purpose of this research is to investigate the combustion process behavior during the End of Injection (EOI period and operates under variant conditions using Rapid Compression Machine (RCM. Experimental of RCM is used to simulate a combustion process and combustion characteristics of diesel engine combustion. Three types of biodiesel blend which are B5, B10 and B15 were tested at several injection pressures of 80 MPa, 90 MPa and 130 MPa under different ambient temperatures, 750 K to 1100 K. The results of this study showed that the ignition delay slightly reduced with increasing the content of biodiesel blends from B5, B10 and B15 and became more shorten as the injection pressure been enhanced. As the injection pressure increased, the behavior of combustion pressure at end of injection is reduced, radically increased the NOX emission. It is noted that the process of combustion at the end of injection increased as the ambient temperature is rising. In fact, higher initial ambient temperature improved the fuel atomization and mixing process. Under the biodiesel combustion with higher ambient temperature condition, the exhaust emission of CO, O2, and HC became less but increased in NOX emission. Besides, increased in blends of biodiesel ratio are found to enhance the combustion process, resulted a decreased in HC emissions.

  2. PHYSICAL REHABILITATION OF LOW BACK PAIN BASED ON A CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM APPROACHES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olena LAZARIEVA

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In Europe, back pain is a common disease, this is according to European statistics. In accordance with the new case, the pain each year occurs in 5% of the population. The aim of this work is to develop a conceptual approaches to the physical rehabilitation process at the surgical treatment of patients with back pain. Materials and methods . There was researched an experience of the domestic and foreign researches in physical rehabilitation area. Methods of the research were the analysis of the references and theoretical research methods (as an analysis, interpretation and synthesis of scientific and educational literature on the study problem. Abstraction (or idealization and schematization is the allocation of the essential foundations. Also we used experimenting with schemes (as a development of their content, sophistication and usability testing at development of concepts, practical models and physical rehabilitation programs. Results. The physical rehabilitation concept at the surgical treatment of patients with back pain was developed, given by the modern science in the diagnostics field, performing difficult complex spinal surgery with the using of new tools and the knowledge from the physical rehabilitation improvement. Conclusion. The using of a systematic methodology for physical rehabilitation in the surgical treatment of patients with vertebral pathology, helps to optimize research, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative and preventive measures, providing them with the required comprehensiveness, consistency, orderliness.

  3. Cortical sensorimotor processing of painful pressure in patients with chronic lower back pain – An optical neuroimaging study using fNIRS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Vrana

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In this study we investigated sensorimotor processing of painful pressure stimulation on the lower back of patients with chronic lower back pain (CLBP by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS to measure changes in cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation. The main objectives were whether patients with CLBP show different relative changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin (O2Hb and HHb in the supplementary motor area (SMA and primary somatosensory cortex (S1 compared to healthy controls (HC. Twelve patients with CLBP (32 ± 6.1 years; range: 24 – 44 years; 9 women and twenty HCs (33.5 ± 10.7 years; range 22-61 years; 8 women participated in the study. Painful and non-painful pressure stimulation was exerted with a thumb grip perpendicularly to the spinous process of the lumbar spine. A force sensor was attached at the spinous process in order control for pressure forces. Tactile stimulation was realized by a one-finger brushing. Hemodynamic changes in the SMA and S1 were measured bilaterally using a multi-channel continuous wave fNIRS imaging system and a multi-distant probe array. Patients with CLBP showed significant stimulus-evoked hemodynamic responses in O2Hb only in the right S1, while the healthy controls exhibited significant O2Hb changes bilaterally in both, SMA and S1. However, the group comparisons revealed no significant different hemodynamic responses in O2Hb and HHb in the SMA and S1 after both pressure stimulations. This non-significant result might be driven by the high inter-subject variability of hemodynamic responses that has been observed within the patients group. In conclusion, we could not find different stimulus-evoked hemodynamic responses in patients with CLBP compared to HCs. This indicates that neither S1 nor the SMA show a specificity for CLBP during pressure stimulation on the lower back. However, the results point to a potential subgrouping regarding task-related cortical activity within the CLBP group; a

  4. Design criteria for the light duty utility arm system end effectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, A.F.

    1995-01-01

    This document provides the criteria for the design of end effectors that will be used as part of the Light Duty Utility Arm (LDUA) System. The LDUA System consists of a deployment vehicle, a vertical positioning mast, a light duty multi-axis robotic arm, a tank riser interface and confinement, a tool interface plate, a control system, and an operations control trailer. The criteria specified in this document will apply to all end effector systems being developed for use on or with the LDUA system at the Hanford site. The requirement stipulated in this document are mandatory

  5. Efficient heart beat detection using embedded system electronics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramasamy, Mouli; Oh, Sechang; Varadan, Vijay K.

    2014-04-01

    The present day bio-technical field concentrates on developing various types of innovative ambulatory and wearable devices to monitor several bio-physical, physio-pathological, bio-electrical and bio-potential factors to assess a human body's health condition without intruding quotidian activities. One of the most important aspects of this evolving technology is monitoring heart beat rate and electrocardiogram (ECG) from which many other subsidiary results can be derived. Conventionally, the devices and systems consumes a lot of power since the acquired signals are always processed on the receiver end. Because of this back end processing, the unprocessed raw data is transmitted resulting in usage of more power, memory and processing time. This paper proposes an innovative technique where the acquired signals are processed by a microcontroller in the front end of the module and just the processed signal is then transmitted wirelessly to the display unit. Therefore, power consumption is considerably reduced and clearer data analysis is performed within the module. This also avoids the need for the user to be educated about usage of the device and signal/system analysis, since only the number of heart beats will displayed at the user end. Additionally, the proposed concept also eradicates the other disadvantages like obtrusiveness, high power consumption and size. To demonstrate the above said factors, a commercial controller board was used to extend the monitoring method by using the saved ECG data from a computer.

  6. A computer-based time study system for timber harvesting operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jingxin Wang; Joe McNeel; John Baumgras

    2003-01-01

    A computer-based time study system was developed for timber harvesting operations. Object-oriented techniques were used to model and design the system. The front-end of the time study system resides on the MS Windows CE and the back-end is supported by MS Access. The system consists of three major components: a handheld system, data transfer interface, and data storage...

  7. Feedback control using only quantum back-action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacobs, Kurt

    2010-01-01

    The traditional approach to feedback control is to apply deterministic forces to a system by modifying the Hamiltonian. Here we show that finite-dimensional quantum systems can be controlled purely by exploiting the random quantum back-action of a continuous weak measurement. We demonstrate that, quite remarkably, the quantum back-action of such an adaptive measurement is just as effective at controlling quantum systems as traditional feedback.

  8. Prevention of disabling back injuries in nurses by the use of mechanical patient lift systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edlich, Richard F; Winters, Kathryne L; Hudson, Mary Anne; Britt, L D; Long, William B

    2004-01-01

    immediately has resulted in numerous denials of claims for rehabilitation and compensation that nurses deserve. Experts believe that training in proper body mechanics does not prevent back injury. Consequently, focus has been placed on other innovative injury prevention programs, including the use of engineering controls as well as the "lift team" method. Ergonomics involves the use of mechanical devices (e.g., walking belt and mechanical hoist) to aid in patient lifting and transferring tasks. Guldmann Inc. has devised ceiling lift systems and slings during the past 20 years. They have successfully completed thousands of installations worldwide, covering a wide range of challenging conditions and complex environments. The Guldmann ceiling-mounted hoist system consists of a wide range of lifting units, rail components, and a complete assortment of lifting slings and accessories. Its sling is made of polyester, which is characterized by its strength and elasticity. It retains its shape and is dirt repellent and easy to maintain. The Guldmann network has one of the largest and indisputably most experienced group of certified installers in the United States. The "lift team" method was devised to remove nursing personnel from the everyday task of moving patients. This type of intervention assumes that lifting is a specialized skill to be performed only by expert professional patient movers who have been thoroughly trained in the latest lifting device techniques.

  9. Chronic Widespread Back Pain is Distinct From Chronic Local Back Pain: Evidence From Quantitative Sensory Testing, Pain Drawings, and Psychometrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerhardt, Andreas; Eich, Wolfgang; Janke, Susanne; Leisner, Sabine; Treede, Rolf-Detlef; Tesarz, Jonas

    2016-07-01

    Whether chronic localized pain (CLP) and chronic widespread pain (CWP) have different mechanisms or to what extent they overlap in their pathophysiology is controversial. The study compared quantitative sensory testing profiles of nonspecific chronic back pain patients with CLP (n=48) and CWP (n=29) with and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients (n=90) and pain-free controls (n = 40). The quantitative sensory testing protocol of the "German-Research-Network-on-Neuropathic-Pain" was used to measure evoked pain on the painful area in the lower back and the pain-free hand (thermal and mechanical detection and pain thresholds, vibration threshold, pain sensitivity to sharp and blunt mechanical stimuli). Ongoing pain and psychometrics were captured with pain drawings and questionnaires. CLP patients did not differ from pain-free controls, except for lower pressure pain threshold (PPT) on the back. CWP and FMS patients showed lower heat pain threshold and higher wind-up ratio on the back and lower heat pain threshold and cold pain threshold on the hand. FMS showed lower PPT on back and hand, and higher comorbidity of anxiety and depression and more functional impairment than all other groups. Even after long duration CLP presents with a local hypersensitivity for PPT, suggesting a somatotopically specific sensitization of nociceptive processing. However, CWP patients show widespread ongoing pain and hyperalgesia for different stimuli that is generalized in space, suggesting the involvement of descending control systems, as also suggested for FMS patients. Because mechanisms in nonspecific chronic back pain with CLP and CWP differ, these patients should be distinguished in future research and allocated to different treatments.

  10. End-User Evaluations of Semantic Web Technologies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCool, Rob; Cowell, Andrew J.; Thurman, David A.

    2005-11-07

    Stanford University's Knowledge Systems Laboratory (KSL) is working in partnership with Battelle Memorial Institute and IBM Watson Research Center to develop a suite of technologies for information extraction, knowledge representation & reasoning, and human-information interaction, in unison entitled 'Knowledge Associates for Novel Intelligence' (KANI). We have developed an integrated analytic environment composed of a collection of analyst associates, software components that aid the user at different stages of the information analysis process. An important part of our participatory design process has been to ensure our technologies and designs are tightly integrate with the needs and requirements of our end users, To this end, we perform a sequence of evaluations towards the end of the development process that ensure the technologies are both functional and usable. This paper reports on that process.

  11. Implementation of a Quality Improvement Process Aimed to Deliver Higher-Value Physical Therapy for Patients With Low Back Pain: Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlen, Emily; McCathie, Becky

    2015-12-01

    The current state of health care demands higher-value care. Due to many barriers, clinicians routinely do not implement evidence-based care even though it is known to improve quality and reduce cost of care. The purpose of this case report is to describe a theory-based, multitactic implementation of a quality improvement process aimed to deliver higher-value physical therapy for patients with low back pain. Patients were treated from January 2010 through December 2014 in 1 of 32 outpatient physical therapy clinics within an academic health care system. Data were examined from 47,755 patients (mean age=50.3 years) entering outpatient physical therapy for management of nonspecific low back pain, with or without radicular pain. Development and implementation tactics were constructed from adult learning and change management theory to enhance adherence to best practice care among 130 physical therapists. A quality improvement team implemented 4 tactics: establish care delivery expectations, facilitate peer-led clinical and operational teams, foster a learning environment focused on meeting a population's needs, and continuously collect and analyze outcomes data. Physical therapy utilization and change in functional disability were measured to assess relative cost and quality of care. Secondarily, charge data assessed change in physical therapists' application of evidence-based care. Implementation of a quality improvement process was measured by year-over-year improved clinical outcomes, decreased utilization, and increased adherence to evidence-based physical therapy, which was associated with higher-value care. When adult learning and change management theory are combined in quality improvement efforts, common barriers to implementing evidence-based care can be overcome, creating an environment supportive of delivering higher-value physical therapy for patients with low back pain. © 2015 American Physical Therapy Association.

  12. Improved interoceptive awareness in chronic low back pain: a comparison of Back school versus Feldenkrais method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paolucci, Teresa; Zangrando, Federico; Iosa, Marco; De Angelis, Simona; Marzoli, Caterina; Piccinini, Giulia; Saraceni, Vincenzo Maria

    2017-05-01

    To determine the efficacy of the Feldenkrais method for relieving pain in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and the improvement of interoceptive awareness. This study was designed as a single-blind randomized controlled trial. Fifty-three patients with a diagnosis of CLBP for at least 3 months were randomly allocated to the Feldenkrais (mean age 61.21 ± 11.53 years) or Back School group (mean age 60.70 ± 11.72 years). Pain was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), disability was evaluated with the Waddel Disability Index, quality of life was measured with the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), and mind-body interactions were studied using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Questionnaire (MAIA). Data were collected at baseline, at the end of treatment, and at the 3-month follow-up. The two groups were matched at baseline for all the computed parameters. At the end of treatment (Tend), there were no significant differences between groups regarding chronic pain reduction (p = 0.290); VAS and MAIA-N sub scores correlated at Tend (R = 0.296, p = 0.037). By the Friedman analysis, both groups experienced significant changes in pain (p Back School in CLBP. Implications for rehabilitation The Feldenkrais method is a mind-body therapy that is based on awareness through movement lessons, which are verbally guided explorations of movement that are conducted by a physiotherapist who is experienced and trained in this method. It aims to increase self-awareness, expand a person's repertoire of movements, and to promote increased functioning in contexts in which the entire body cooperates in the execution of movements. Interoceptive awareness, which improves with rehabilitation, has a complex function in the perception of chronic pain and should be investigated further in future research. The efficacy of the Feldenkrais method is comparable with that of BS for nonspecific chronic

  13. Evaluation of End-Products in Architecture Design Process: A Fuzzy Decision-Making Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serkan PALABIYIK

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a study on the development of a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making model for the evaluation of end products of the architectural design process. Potentials of the developed model were investigated within the scope of architectural design education, specifically an international design studio titled “Design for Disassembly and Reuse: Design & Building Multipurpose Transformable Pavilions.” The studio work followed a design process that integrated systematic and heuristic thinking. The design objectives and assessment criteria were clearly set out at the beginning of the process by the studio coordinator with the aim of narrowing the design space and increasing awareness of the consequences of design decisions. At the end of the design process, designs produced in the studio were evaluated using the developed model to support decision making. The model facilitated the identification of positive and negative aspects of the designs and selection of the design alternative that best met the studio objectives set at the beginning.

  14. Concepts and Strategies for Transparency Monitoring of Nuclear Materials at the Back End of the Fuel/Weapons Cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    COSTIN, LAURENCE; DAVIES, PETER; PREGENZER, ARIAN L.

    1999-01-01

    Representatives of the Department of Energy, the national laboratories, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), and others gathered to initiate the development of broad-based concepts and strategies for transparency monitoring of nuclear materials at the back end of the fuel/weapons cycle, including both geologic disposal and monitored retrievable storage. The workshop focused on two key questions: ''Why should we monitor?'' and ''What should we monitor?'' These questions were addressed by identifying the range of potential stakeholders, concerns that stakeholders may have, and the information needed to address those concerns. The group constructed a strategic framework for repository transparency implementation, organized around the issues of safety (both operational and environmental), diversion (assuring legitimate use and security), and viability (both political and economic). Potential concerns of the international community were recognized as the possibility of material diversion, the multinational impacts of potential radionuclide releases, and public and political perceptions of unsafe repositories. The workshop participants also identified potential roles that the WIPP may play as a monitoring technology development and demonstration test-bed facility. Concepts for WIPP'S potential test-bed role include serving as (1) an international monitoring technology and development testing facility, (2) an international demonstration facility, and (3) an education and technology exchange center on repository transparency technologies

  15. A new portable test bench for the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter front-end electronics certification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves, J.; Carrio, F.; Moreno, P.; Usai, G.; Valero, A.; Kim, H.Y.; Minashvili, I.; Shalyugin, A.; Reed, R.; Schettino, V.; Souza, J.; Solans, C.

    2013-06-01

    This paper describes the upgraded portable test bench for the Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The previous version of the portable test bench was extensively used for certification and qualification of the front-end electronics during the commissioning phase as well as during the short maintenance periods of 2010 and 2011. The new version described here is designed to be an easily upgradable version of the 10-year-old system, able to evaluate the new technologies planned for the ATLAS upgrade as well as provide new functionalities to the present system. It will be used in the consolidation of electronics campaign during the long shutdown of the LHC in 2013-14 and during future maintenance periods. The system, based on a global re-design with state-of-the-art devices, is based on a back-end electronics crate instrumented with commercial and custom modules and a front-end GUI that is executed on an external portable computer and communicates with the controller in the crate through an Ethernet connection. (authors)

  16. Navigating Earthquake Physics with High-Resolution Array Back-Projection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Lingsen

    Understanding earthquake source dynamics is a fundamental goal of geophysics. Progress toward this goal has been slow due to the gap between state-of-art earthquake simulations and the limited source imaging techniques based on conventional low-frequency finite fault inversions. Seismic array processing is an alternative source imaging technique that employs the higher frequency content of the earthquakes and provides finer detail of the source process with few prior assumptions. While the back-projection provides key observations of previous large earthquakes, the standard beamforming back-projection suffers from low resolution and severe artifacts. This thesis introduces the MUSIC technique, a high-resolution array processing method that aims to narrow the gap between the seismic observations and earthquake simulations. The MUSIC is a high-resolution method taking advantage of the higher order signal statistics. The method has not been widely used in seismology yet because of the nonstationary and incoherent nature of the seismic signal. We adapt MUSIC to transient seismic signal by incorporating the Multitaper cross-spectrum estimates. We also adopt a "reference window" strategy that mitigates the "swimming artifact," a systematic drift effect in back projection. The improved MUSIC back projections allow the imaging of recent large earthquakes in finer details which give rise to new perspectives on dynamic simulations. In the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, we observe frequency-dependent rupture behaviors which relate to the material variation along the dip of the subduction interface. In the 2012 off-Sumatra earthquake, we image the complicated ruptures involving orthogonal fault system and an usual branching direction. This result along with our complementary dynamic simulations probes the pressure-insensitive strength of the deep oceanic lithosphere. In another example, back projection is applied to the 2010 M7 Haiti earthquake recorded at regional distance. The

  17. Experimental and numerical study of back-cooling car-seat system using embedded heat pipes to improve passenger’s comfort

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hatoum, Omar; Ghaddar, Nesreen; Ghali, Kamel; Ismail, Nagham

    2017-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Heat pipe assembly (a) with the insulation layer (b) without the insulation layer; and (c) thermal manikin test on the heat pipe chair. - Highlights: • A new back cooling system for a car seat using embedded heat pipes was modeled numerically. • The heat-pipe seat model was experimentally validated using heated thermal manikin. • An integrated heat pipe model and bio-heat model was used to predict local thermal comfort. • The heat pipe system reduced the back skin temperature by 1 °C compared to seat without heat pipes. • The heat pipe system increased the overall thermal comfort of the passenger by 30%. - Abstract: This work develops a back-cooling system for a car seat using seat embedded heat pipes to improve passenger comfort. The heat pipe system utilizes the temperature difference between the passenger back and the car cabin air to remove heat from the human body and enhance the comfort state. The developed seat heat-pipe model was validated experimentally using a thermal manikin with controlled constant skin temperature mode in a climatic chamber. Good agreement was found between the measured and the numerically predicted values of base panel temperature. By integrating the validated heat pipe with a bio-heat model, the back segmental skin temperature as well as the overall thermal comfort was predicted and compared with the conventional seat case without the heat pipe system. The heat pipes were able to reduce the skin temperature by 1 °C and to increase the overall thermal comfort of the body by 30%. In addition, a parametric study was performed to determine the optimal number of heat pipes that ensure the thermal comfort of the passenger.

  18. Pathways to Carbon Neutral Industrial Sectors: Integrated Modelling Approach with High Level of Detail for End-use Processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Industry constitutes a substantial share of the energy and fuel consumption in energy systems. Types and patterns of usage within different industrial sectors are diverse. In this paper, we illustrate the energy and fuel use in Danish industry by 24 end-uses and 20 fuels and provide hourly profiles...... for electricity, space and process heating. The heat profiles are based on measured natural gas consumption. While seasonal patterns are predominant for space heating, process heating and electricity consumption are found to follow sector-related activities on a temporal scale. Building on this data analysis...

  19. IAEA Activities on Assessment of Partitioning Processes for Transmutation of Actinides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basak, Uddharan; Dyck, Gary R.

    2010-01-01

    In these days of nuclear renaissance, appropriate management of radioactive materials arising from the nuclear fuel cycle back end is one of the most important issues related to the long term sustainability of nuclear energy. The present practice in the back end of the closed fuel cycle involves the recovery of uranium and plutonium from spent fuel by the aqueous based PUREX process for reuse in reactors and the conditioning of reprocessing waste into a form suitable for long term storage. The waste contains mainly fission products and transuranium elements immobilized in glass matrix. However, advanced fuel cycles incorporating partitioning of actinides along with minor actinides and their subsequent transmutation (P and T) in a fast neutron energy spectrum could be proliferation resistant and at the same time reduce the waste radiotoxicity by many orders of magnitude. Considering the importance of P and T on long term sustainability, the International Atomic Energy Agency has initiated many collaborative research programs in this area as part of our advanced fuel cycle activities. This paper presents the current and future activities on advanced partitioning methods, highlighting the challenges associated with these processes, fuel manufacturing techniques suitable for integration with reprocessing facility and the IAEA's minor actinide data base (MADB), as a part of integrated nuclear fuel cycle information system (iNFCIS). (authors)

  20. Harmonisation of regulations on back-end activities - WENRA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hedberg, B.; Theis, S.

    2014-01-01

    The Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) was established in 1999. The main objectives at that time were to develop a common approach to nuclear safety in Europe and to provide an independent capability to examine nuclear safety in applicant countries. Two working groups were launched to harmonise safety approaches between countries in Europe, the Reactor Harmonisation Working Group (RHWG) and the Working Group on Waste and Decommissioning (WGWD). In response to the events in Japanese reactors following the tsunami in 2011 WENRA established the contents of the 'NPP stress test'. Recent WENRA activities are concerned with inspection practices and research reactors. The WGWD has to date developed Safety Reference Levels (SRL) reports for decommissioning and storage according to its original mandate (WENRA, 2011, 2012a). WENRA members have experienced a benchmarking process and established national action plans for the modification of their national legal systems and practices according to benchmarking results. WGWD is currently working on developing a SRL report for disposal facilities for radioactive waste. A first draft version with SRLs for disposal was published in November 2012 on WENRA's web page, for comments from stakeholders. This paper presents the current status of development and elaborates on the role of WENRA WGWD work in harmonising approaches in Europe regarding development of the safety case for disposal of spent fuel and radioactive waste. (authors)

  1. A common type system for clinical natural language processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Stephen T

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background One challenge in reusing clinical data stored in electronic medical records is that these data are heterogenous. Clinical Natural Language Processing (NLP plays an important role in transforming information in clinical text to a standard representation that is comparable and interoperable. Information may be processed and shared when a type system specifies the allowable data structures. Therefore, we aim to define a common type system for clinical NLP that enables interoperability between structured and unstructured data generated in different clinical settings. Results We describe a common type system for clinical NLP that has an end target of deep semantics based on Clinical Element Models (CEMs, thus interoperating with structured data and accommodating diverse NLP approaches. The type system has been implemented in UIMA (Unstructured Information Management Architecture and is fully functional in a popular open-source clinical NLP system, cTAKES (clinical Text Analysis and Knowledge Extraction System versions 2.0 and later. Conclusions We have created a type system that targets deep semantics, thereby allowing for NLP systems to encapsulate knowledge from text and share it alongside heterogenous clinical data sources. Rather than surface semantics that are typically the end product of NLP algorithms, CEM-based semantics explicitly build in deep clinical semantics as the point of interoperability with more structured data types.

  2. Back-to-back three-level converter controlled by a novel space-vector hysteresis current control for wind conversion systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ghennam, Tarak [Laboratoire d' Electronique de Puissance (LEP), UER: Electrotechnique, Ecole Militaire Polytechnique d' Alger, BP 17, Bordj EL Bahri, Alger (Algeria); Berkouk, El-Madjid [Laboratoire de Commande des Processus (LCP), Ecole Nationale Polytechnique d' Alger, BP 182, 10 avenue Hassen Badi, 16200 el Harrach (Algeria)

    2010-04-15

    In this paper, a novel space-vector hysteresis current control (SVHCC) is proposed for a back-to-back three-level converter which is used as an electronic interface in a wind conversion system. The proposed SVHCC controls the active and reactive powers delivered to the grid by the doubly fed induction machine (DFIM) through the control of its rotor currents. In addition, it controls the neutral point voltage by using the redundant inverter switching states. The three rotor current errors are gathered into a single space-vector quantity. The magnitude of the error vector is limited within boundary areas of a square shape. The control scheme is based firstly on the detection of the area and sector in which the vector tip of the current error can be located. Then, an appropriate voltage vector among the 27 voltage vectors of the three-level voltage source inverter (VSI) is applied to push the error vector towards the hysteresis boundaries. Simple look-up tables are required for the area and sector detection, and also for vector selection. The performance of the proposed control technique has been verified by simulations. (author)

  3. Novel back-channel-etch process flow based a-IGZO TFTs for circuit and display applications on PEN foil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nag, M.; Rockele, M.; Steudel, S.; Chasin, A.; Myny, K.; Bhoolokam, A.; Willegems, M.; Smout, S.; Vicca, P.; Ameys, M.; Ke, T.H.; Schols, S.; Genoe, J.; Steen, J.L. P.J. van der; Groeseneken, G.; Heremans, P.

    2014-01-01

    In this study, we report high-quality amorphous indiunrv-galiium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thinfilm transistors (TFTs) fabricated on a polyethylene naphthalate foil using a new back-channel-etch (BCE) process flow. The BCE flow allows a better scalability of TFTs for high-resolution backplanes and related

  4. Returning to work - a long-term process reaching beyond the time frames of multimodal non-specific back pain rehabilitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellman, Therese; Jensen, Irene; Bergström, Gunnar; Busch, Hillevi

    2015-01-01

    To explore and describe health professionals' experience of working with return to work (RTW) in multimodal rehabilitation for people with non-specific back pain. An interview study using qualitative content analysis. Fifteen participants were interviewed, all were working with multimodal rehabilitation for people with non-specific back pain in eight different rehabilitation units. The participants experienced RTW as a long-term process reaching beyond the time frames of the multimodal rehabilitation (MMR). Their attitudes and, their patients' condition, impacted on their work which focused on psychological and physical well-being as well as participation in everyday life. They often created an action plan for the RTW process, however the responsibility for its realisation was transferred to other actors. The participants described limited interventions in connection with patients' workplaces. Recommended support in the RTW process in MMR comprises the provision of continuous supervision of vocational issues for the health care professionals, the development of guidelines and a checklist for how to work in close collaboration with patients' workplaces and employers, the provision of long-term follow-up in relation to the patients' work, and the development of proper interventions in order to promote transitions between all the different actors involved. Rehabilitation programs targeting return to work (RTW) for people with non-specific back pain needs to include features concretely focusing on vocational issues. Health and RTW is often seen as a linear process in which health comes before RTW. Rehabilitation programs could be tailored to better address the reciprocal relationship between health and work, in which they are interconnected and affect each other. The RTW process is reaching beyond the time frames of the multimodal rehabilitation but further support from the patients are asked for. The rehabilitation programs needs to be designed to provide long

  5. Design and Optimization of Multi-bit Front-end Stage and Scaled Back-end Stages of Pipelined ADCs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Quinn, P.J.; Roermund, van A.H.M.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, an error analysis is presented to aid the design of a pipeline multi-bit front-end stage. It is demonstrated and quantified how the capacitor matching requirement can be reduced in high-resolution pipeline ADCs. The paper continues by analyzing the optimal design for low power of the

  6. Benzodiazepine Use Among Low Back Pain Patients Concurrently Prescribed Opioids in the Military Health System Between 2012 and 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-16

    CUil:RENITL Y IN UBE CAN BE VS-ED BENZODIAZEPINE USE AMONG LOW BACK PAIN PATIENTS CONCURRENn Y PRESCRJBED OPIOIDS IN THE MILITARY HEAL TH SYSTEM BETWEEN...increases in the amount of opiotds p.rescrtl>ed for chronic non-cancer pain , particularly low back pain , exist amoog those served by the milit:a ry health...be11ZOdiazepine prescribing practices among active duty service members with low back pain . It is important to understand factors associated with

  7. Netherlands : An ‘Echternach’ Procession in Different Directions: Oscillating Steps Towards Reform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Westerheijden, Donald F.; de Boer, Harry F.; Enders, Jürgen; Paradeise, C.; Reale, E.; Bleiklie, I.; Ferlie, E.

    2009-01-01

    The annual procession in the Luxemburg town of Echternach is famous for its laborious manner of reaching its end: two steps forward, one step back. In this paper, we will maintain that the policy of the Dutch government over the period of c.1982–2007 resembles an Echternach procession in reverse:

  8. Ligation-mediated PCR with a back-to-back adapter reduces amplification bias resulting from variations in GC content.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishihara, Satoru; Kotomura, Naoe; Yamamoto, Naoki; Ochiai, Hiroshi

    2017-08-15

    Ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction (LM-PCR) is a common technique for amplification of a pool of DNA fragments. Here, a double-stranded oligonucleotide consisting of two primer sequences in back-to-back orientation was designed as an adapter for LM-PCR. When DNA fragments were ligated with this adapter, the fragments were sandwiched between two adapters in random orientations. In the ensuing PCR, ligation products linked at each end to an opposite side of the adapter, i.e. to a distinct primer sequence, were preferentially amplified compared with products linked at each end to an identical primer sequence. The use of this adapter in LM-PCR reduced the impairment of PCR by substrate DNA with a high GC content, compared with the use of traditional LM-PCR adapters. This result suggested that our method has the potential to contribute to reduction of the amplification bias that is caused by an intrinsic property of the sequence context in substrate DNA. A DNA preparation obtained from a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay using pulldown of a specific form of histone H3 was successfully amplified using the modified LM-PCR, and the amplified products could be used as probes in a fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. First Demonstration of Real-Time End-to-End 40 Gb/s PAM-4 System using 10-G Transmitter for Next Generation Access Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wei, Jinlong; Eiselt, Nicklas; Griesser, Helmut

    We demonstrate the first known experiment of a real-time end-to-end 40-Gb/s PAM-4 system for next generation access applications using 10G class transmitters only. Up to 25-dB upstream link budget for 20 km SMF is achieved.......We demonstrate the first known experiment of a real-time end-to-end 40-Gb/s PAM-4 system for next generation access applications using 10G class transmitters only. Up to 25-dB upstream link budget for 20 km SMF is achieved....

  10. Analysis on PV system sales price and subsidy through buy-back which make photovoltaics cost-competitive by 2030 in Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endo, E.; Ichinohe, M.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to analyze PV system sales price and subsidy through buy-back which make photovoltaics cost-competitive against other energy technologies and make the target for PV capacity achievable by 2030 in Japan under expected carbon tax. For the analysis energy system of Japan is modeled by using MARKAL. According to the results of analysis, under 6000 JPY/t-C carbon tax, photovoltaics needs subsidy for a while even if we taking both fuel savings and Green Credit into account. For attaining the national target for PV capacity in 2010, photovoltaics needs more expensive buy-back than that in present, but after 2010 necessary buy-back decreases gradually. If 120 JPY/W PV system sales price is attained by 2030, photovoltaics becomes cost-competitive without any supports. Subsidy through buy-back becomes almost need not in 2030, if we can reduce it less than 170 JPY/W. The total subsidy meets peak in 2025. It is much more than ongoing subsidy to capital cost of PV systems, but annual revenue of the assumed carbon tax can afford enough the annual total subsidy. This means if photovoltaics can attain the PV system sales price, we should support it for a while by spending carbon tax revenue effectively and efficiently. (authors)

  11. Site-specific multipoint fluorescence measurement system with end-capped optical fibers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Woosub; Moon, Sucbei; Lee, Byoung-Cheol; Park, Chul-Seung; Kim, Dug Young; Kwon, Hyuk Sang

    2011-07-10

    We present the development and implementation of a spatially and spectrally resolved multipoint fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) system utilizing multiple end-capped optical fibers and an inexpensive laser source. Specially prepared end-capped optical fibers placed in an image plane were used to both collect fluorescence signals from the sample and to deliver signals to the detectors. The placement of independently selected optical fibers on the image plane was done by monitoring the end-capped fiber tips at the focus using a CCD, and fluorescence from specific positions of a sample were collected by an end-capped fiber, which could accurately represent light intensities or spectral data without incurring any disturbance. A fast multipoint spectroscopy system with a time resolution of ∼1.5 ms was then implemented using a prism and an electron multiplying charge coupled device with a pixel binning for the region of interest. The accuracy of our proposed system was subsequently confirmed by experimental results, based on an FCS analysis of microspheres in distilled water. We expect that the proposed multipoint site-specific fluorescence measurement system can be used as an inexpensive fluorescence measurement tool to study many intracellular and molecular dynamics in cell biology. © 2011 Optical Society of America

  12. Experimental modified orthotopic piggy-back liver autotransplantation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roveda, L.; Zonta, A.; Staffieri, F.; Timurian, D.; DiVenere, B.; Bakeine, G.J.; Crovace, A.; Prati, U.

    2009-01-01

    The classical orthotopic liver autotransplantation is a very challenging and time wasting technique; it includes the division of major hepatic vessels and choledocus, and subsequent reconnection by end to end anastomoses. The caval end to end anastomoses are the most difficult to be performed and the interposition of a prosthesis can be required. We adopted the classical orthotopic liver autotransplantation technique in 2 patients affected with diffused liver metastases from colorectal cancer, for extracorporeal neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The procedure required very long operating times and the extracorporeal circulation (ECC) set up; furthermore the vena cava reconstruction was performed by the interposition of a goretex-prosthesis. We propose a 'modified orthotopic piggy-back technique' to simplify liver reconnection and shorten the operating time. Materials and methods: The technique was developed in the swine (25 kg body weight), under general anaesthesia. We performed the resection of the retro-hepatic vena cava with preservation of the caval flow during the anhepatic phase, by interposing a goretex-prosthesis. The reconstruction of the vena cava was then performed by a side-to-side cava-prosthesis anastomosis with lateral clamping of the prosthesis. The procedure was then completed according to the classical technique of liver transplantation. Results: The mean time for VC reconstruction was 56 (±10) min. and the mean time for side-to-side VC-prosthesis anastomosis was 13 (±4) min. Conclusions: The 'modified orthotopic piggy-back technique' can simplify the reimplant of the liver during autotransplantation and shorten the operating time. Furthermore also the time of total extracorporeal circulation is reduced, as during the anhepatic phase and during the side-to-side cava-prosthesis anastomosis the flow in the inferior vena cava is uninterrupted.

  13. Experimental modified orthotopic piggy-back liver autotransplantation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roveda, L. [Oncologic Surgery, Cancer Center of Excellence Fond. ' T.Campanella' , Europa Avenue, Catanzaro CZ-88100 (Italy)], E-mail: roveda.l@libero.it; Zonta, A. [Department of Surgery, University of Pavia, PV 27100 (Italy); Staffieri, F. [Veterinary Surgery Unit, Department of Emergencies and Organs Transplantation, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, SP per Casamassima km 3, Valenzano, BA 70010 (Italy); Timurian, D.; DiVenere, B. [Surgery ' Madonna delle Grazie' Hospital, Contrada Cattedra Ambulante, Matera, MT 75100 (Italy); Bakeine, G.J. [Laboratorio Nazionale di Tecnologie Avanzate e Nanoscienza (TASC), Basovizza, TR (Italy); Crovace, A. [Veterinary Surgery Unit, Department of Emergencies and Organs Transplantation, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, SP per Casamassima km 3, Valenzano, BA 70010 (Italy); Prati, U. [Oncologic Surgery, Cancer Center of Excellence Fond. ' T.Campanella' , Europa Avenue, Catanzaro CZ-88100 (Italy)

    2009-07-15

    The classical orthotopic liver autotransplantation is a very challenging and time wasting technique; it includes the division of major hepatic vessels and choledocus, and subsequent reconnection by end to end anastomoses. The caval end to end anastomoses are the most difficult to be performed and the interposition of a prosthesis can be required. We adopted the classical orthotopic liver autotransplantation technique in 2 patients affected with diffused liver metastases from colorectal cancer, for extracorporeal neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The procedure required very long operating times and the extracorporeal circulation (ECC) set up; furthermore the vena cava reconstruction was performed by the interposition of a goretex-prosthesis. We propose a 'modified orthotopic piggy-back technique' to simplify liver reconnection and shorten the operating time. Materials and methods: The technique was developed in the swine (25 kg body weight), under general anaesthesia. We performed the resection of the retro-hepatic vena cava with preservation of the caval flow during the anhepatic phase, by interposing a goretex-prosthesis. The reconstruction of the vena cava was then performed by a side-to-side cava-prosthesis anastomosis with lateral clamping of the prosthesis. The procedure was then completed according to the classical technique of liver transplantation. Results: The mean time for VC reconstruction was 56 ({+-}10) min. and the mean time for side-to-side VC-prosthesis anastomosis was 13 ({+-}4) min. Conclusions: The 'modified orthotopic piggy-back technique' can simplify the reimplant of the liver during autotransplantation and shorten the operating time. Furthermore also the time of total extracorporeal circulation is reduced, as during the anhepatic phase and during the side-to-side cava-prosthesis anastomosis the flow in the inferior vena cava is uninterrupted.

  14. Lumbar CT findings of patients with low back pain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Yong Chul; Kim, Yang Soo; Kim, Kyun Sang

    1986-01-01

    Low back pain is probably the second most common disease entity to upper respiratory infection in developed country. We were missing at least 50% of the pathologic conditions by using conventional diagnostic modalities in low back pain. They did tell us nothing or little about facet abnormalities, lateral recesses, vertebral canal and soft tissue surrounding lumbar spines. High resolutional CT has been the biggest turning point in the diagnosis and management of low back pain. CT make a contribution to reducing the morbidity and probably the cost of evaluating patients with low back pain, and to increasing diagnostic accuracy. We observed 100 cases of lumbar CT using TCT 80A scanner for the evaluation of low back pain during the period from Apr. 1985 to Sept. 1985 at Chung-Ang University Hospital. Lumbar CT scan reveals high-positive findings (98%) in low back pain patients. Common low back disorders in CT are disc bulging (53%), herniated nucleus pulposus (32%), degenerative arthritis in posterior facet joints (27%), spinal stenosis (20%) and postoperative spines (15%). Uncommon low back disorders in CT are compression fracture of vertebral bodies, spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis, tropism, transitional vertebra, Scheueman's disease, limbic fracture, transverse process or articular process fracture, sacroiliac joint subluxation, conjoined nerve root and meningocele.

  15. Lumbar CT findings of patients with low back pain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Yong Chul; Kim, Yang Soo; Kim, Kyun Sang [Chung-Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1986-04-15

    Low back pain is probably the second most common disease entity to upper respiratory infection in developed country. We were missing at least 50% of the pathologic conditions by using conventional diagnostic modalities in low back pain. They did tell us nothing or little about facet abnormalities, lateral recesses, vertebral canal and soft tissue surrounding lumbar spines. High resolutional CT has been the biggest turning point in the diagnosis and management of low back pain. CT make a contribution to reducing the morbidity and probably the cost of evaluating patients with low back pain, and to increasing diagnostic accuracy. We observed 100 cases of lumbar CT using TCT 80A scanner for the evaluation of low back pain during the period from Apr. 1985 to Sept. 1985 at Chung-Ang University Hospital. Lumbar CT scan reveals high-positive findings (98%) in low back pain patients. Common low back disorders in CT are disc bulging (53%), herniated nucleus pulposus (32%), degenerative arthritis in posterior facet joints (27%), spinal stenosis (20%) and postoperative spines (15%). Uncommon low back disorders in CT are compression fracture of vertebral bodies, spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis, tropism, transitional vertebra, Scheueman's disease, limbic fracture, transverse process or articular process fracture, sacroiliac joint subluxation, conjoined nerve root and meningocele.

  16. Comparison of a three-dimensional and two-dimensional camera system for automated measurement of back posture in dairy cows

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Viazzi, S.; Bahr, C.; Hertem, van T.; Schlageter-Tello, A.; Romanini, C.E.B.; Halachmi, I.; Lokhorst, C.; Berckmans, D.

    2014-01-01

    In this study, two different computer vision techniques to automatically measure the back posture in dairy cows were tested and evaluated. A two-dimensional and a three-dimensional camera system were used to extract the back posture from walking cows, which is one measurement used by experts to

  17. Commissioning and operation of the CEBAF end station refrigeration system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arenius, D.; Bevins, B.; Chronis, W.C.; Ganni, V.

    1996-01-01

    The CEBAF End Station Helium Refrigerator (ESR) System provides refrigeration at 80 K, 20 K and 4.5 K to three End Station experimental halls. The facility consists of a two stage helium screw compressor system, 4.5 K refrigerator, cryogen distribution valve box, and transfer lines to the individual experimental halls. The 4.5 K cold box and compressors were originally part of the ESCAR 1500 W, 4 K refrigeration system at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory which was first commissioned in 1977. The compressors, 4.5 K cold box, and control system design were modified to adapt the plant for the requirements of the CEBAF experimental halls. Additional subsystems of cryogen distribution, transfer lines, warm gas management, and computer control interface were added. This paper describes the major plant subsystems, modifications, operational experiences and performance

  18. A software tool for design of process monitoring and analysis systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Singh, Ravendra; Gernaey, Krist; Gani, Rafiqul

    2009-01-01

    A well designed process monitoring and analysis system is necessary to consistently achieve any predefined end product quality. Systematic computer aided methods and tools provide the means to design the necessary process monitoring and analysis systems and/or to validate any existing monitoring...... and analysis system. A software to achieve this has been developed. Two developed supporting tools for the design, a knowledge base (consisting of the process knowledge as well as the knowledge on measurement methods & tools) and a model library (consisting of the process operational models) have been extended...... rigorously and integrated with the user interface, which made the software more generic and applicable to a wide range of problems. The software for the design of a process monitoring and analysis system is presented and illustrated with a tablet manufacturing process example....

  19. Development of System Engineering Technology for Nuclear Fuel Cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hodong; Choi, Iljae

    2013-04-01

    The development of efficient process for spent fuel and establishment of system engineering technology to demonstrate the process are required to develop nuclear energy continuously. The demonstration of pyroprocess technology which is proliferation resistance nuclear fuel cycle technology can reduce spent fuel and recycle effectively. Through this, people's trust and support on nuclear power would be obtained. Deriving the optimum nuclear fuel cycle alternative would contribute to establish a policy on back-end nuclear fuel cycle in the future, and developing the nuclear transparency-related technology would contribute to establish amendments of the ROK-U. S. Atomic Energy Agreement scheduled in 2014

  20. A Preliminary Shielding Study on the Integrated Operation Verification System in the Head-End Hot-Cell of the Pyro-processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jinhwam; Kim, Yewon; Park, Se-Hwan; Ahn, Seong-Kyu; Cho, Gyuseong [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    Nuclear power accounts for more than 30 percent of power production in Korea. Its significance has annually been increased. Disposal spent fuel containing uranium, transuranic elements, and fission products is unavoidable byproduct of nuclear power production. it is recognized that finding appropriate sites for interim storage of disposal spent fuel is not easy because isolated sites should be required. Pyro-processing technology, Pyro-processing should be operated under high radiation environment in hot-cell structures. Because of this reason, all workers should be unauthorized to access inside the hot-cell areas under any circumstances except for acceptable dose verification and a normal operation should be remotely manipulated. For the reliable normal operation of pyroprocessing, it is noted that an evaluation of the space dose distribution in the hot-cell environments is necessary in advance in order to determine which technologies or instruments can be utilized on or near the process as the Integrated Operation Verification System (IOVS) is measured. Not like the electroreduction and electro-refining hot-cells, the head-end hot-cell equips Camera Radiation Detector (CRD) in which plutonium is securely measured and monitored for the safeguard of the pyro-processing. Results have been obtained using F2 surface tally in order to observe the magnitude of the gamma-ray and neutron flux which pass through the surface of the process cell. Furthermore, T-mesh tally has also been used to obtain the space dose distribution in the headend hot-cell. The hot-cell was divided into 7,668 cells in which each dimension was 1 x 1 x 1m for the T-mesh tally. To determine the position of the CRD and the surveillance camera, divergent approaches were required. Because the purpose of the CRD which contains a gamma-ray detector and a neutron detector is to identify the material composition as the process proceeds, the position in which detectable flux is exposed is required, whereas

  1. Microstructure and mechanical properties of commercially pure aluminum processed by accumulative back extrusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haghdadi, N.; Zarei-Hanzaki, A.; Abou-Ras, D.

    2013-01-01

    Accumulative back extrusion (ABE), as a new severe plastic deformation (SPD) method, was applied on a commercially pure aluminum, resulting in an ultrafine microstructure. The grain refinement was attributed to the shearing and/or to the mechanical partitioning of the initial coarse grains as well as different dynamic recrystallization mechanisms (i.e., discontinues and continues ones). The effects of imposing several passes along with the strain reversal path method during consecutive ABE passes were discussed. Mechanical characterization revealed that the yield and ultimate strength of pure Al were significantly increased through applying ABE. This was related to grain boundary and dislocation strengthening, as well as to Orowan dislocation bowing mechanisms. The elongation, however, was deteriorated after ABE processing. This was interpreted through the lack of ability of the material to accommodate the ABE-induced strain, inhomogeneous distribution of strain across the ABE-processed workpieces, and the reduced work hardening capacity of the fine-grained aluminum. The formability index and static toughness were also considered to verify the overall mechanical performance of the ABE-processed pure Al

  2. Experience of using MOSFET detectors for dose verification measurements in an end-to-end 192Ir brachytherapy quality assurance system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persson, Maria; Nilsson, Josef; Carlsson Tedgren, Åsa

    Establishment of an end-to-end system for the brachytherapy (BT) dosimetric chain could be valuable in clinical quality assurance. Here, the development of such a system using MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) detectors and experience gained during 2 years of use are reported with focus on the performance of the MOSFET detectors. A bolus phantom was constructed with two implants, mimicking prostate and head & neck treatments, using steel needles and plastic catheters to guide the 192 Ir source and house the MOSFET detectors. The phantom was taken through the BT treatment chain from image acquisition to dose evaluation. During the 2-year evaluation-period, delivered doses were verified a total of 56 times using MOSFET detectors which had been calibrated in an external 60 Co beam. An initial experimental investigation on beam quality differences between 192 Ir and 60 Co is reported. The standard deviation in repeated MOSFET measurements was below 3% in the six measurement points with dose levels above 2 Gy. MOSFET measurements overestimated treatment planning system doses by 2-7%. Distance-dependent experimental beam quality correction factors derived in a phantom of similar size as that used for end-to-end tests applied on a time-resolved measurement improved the agreement. MOSFET detectors provide values stable over time and function well for use as detectors for end-to-end quality assurance purposes in 192 Ir BT. Beam quality correction factors should address not only distance from source but also phantom dimensions. Copyright © 2017 American Brachytherapy Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Inkjet Printing of Back Electrodes for Inverted Polymer Solar cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Angmo, Dechan; Sweelssen, Jorgen; Andriessen, Ronn

    2013-01-01

    in an otherwise fast roll-to-roll production line. In this paper, the applicability of inkjet printing in the ambient processing of back electrodes in inverted polymer solar cells with the structure ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/PEDOT:PSS/ Ag is investigated. Furthermore, the limitation of screen printing, the commonly......Evaporation is the most commonly used deposition method in the processing of back electrodes in polymer solar cells used in scientifi c studies. However, vacuum-based methods such as evaporation are uneconomical in the upscaling of polymer solar cells as they are throughput limiting steps...... employed method in the ambient processing of back electrode, is demonstrated and discussed. Both inkjet printing and screen printing of back electrodes are studied for their impact on the photovoltaic properties of the polymer solar cells measured under 1000 Wm−2 AM1.5. Each ambient processing technique...

  4. Back pain and low back pain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cotta, H.; Niethard, F.U.

    1983-01-01

    In patients with back pain there is only a poor correlation between clinical and radiological symptoms. Therefore the interpretation of radiological findings is only possible with respect to the natural history of the disease. Indication for radiological examination is given for early diagnosis and treatment of malinformation of the spine; diagnosis and treatment of functional disturbances of the spine with back- and low back pain and diagnosis and treatment of diseases which affect the stability of the vertebrae. (orig.)

  5. The software-defined fast post-processing for GEM soft x-ray diagnostics in the Tungsten Environment in Steady-state Tokamak thermal fusion reactor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krawczyk, Rafał Dominik; Czarski, Tomasz; Linczuk, Paweł; Wojeński, Andrzej; Kolasiński, Piotr; GÄ ska, Michał; Chernyshova, Maryna; Mazon, Didier; Jardin, Axel; Malard, Philippe; Poźniak, Krzysztof; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Zabołotny, Wojciech; Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, Ewa; Malinowski, Karol

    2018-06-01

    This article presents a novel software-defined server-based solutions that were introduced in the fast, real-time computation systems for soft X-ray diagnostics for the WEST (Tungsten Environment in Steady-state Tokamak) reactor in Cadarache, France. The objective of the research was to provide a fast processing of data at high throughput and with low latencies for investigating the interplay between the particle transport and magnetohydrodynamic activity. The long-term objective is to implement in the future a fast feedback signal in the reactor control mechanisms to sustain the fusion reaction. The implemented electronic measurement device is anticipated to be deployed in the WEST. A standalone software-defined computation engine was designed to handle data collected at high rates in the server back-end of the system. Signals are obtained from the front-end field-programmable gate array mezzanine cards that acquire and perform a selection from the gas electron multiplier detector. A fast, authorial library for plasma diagnostics was written in C++. It originated from reference offline MATLAB implementations. They were redesigned for runtime analysis during the experiment in the novel online modes of operation. The implementation allowed the benchmarking, evaluation, and optimization of plasma processing algorithms with the possibility to check the consistency with reference computations written in MATLAB. The back-end software and hardware architecture are presented with data evaluation mechanisms. The online modes of operation for the WEST are discussed. The results concerning the performance of the processing and the introduced functionality are presented.

  6. Consensus on the back end of the fuel cycle urgently needed; Entsorgungskonsens dringend geboten

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strassburg, W. [RWE Energie AG, Essen (Germany). Zentralbereich Ausland - Politikanalysen

    1996-05-01

    The lack of harmonization among the fields of environmental policy, energy policy, and economic policy in Germany is obvious. Returning to a basic consensus in energy policy, with an unbiased evaluation of all energy resources, is an indispensable step for all those to whom ecology is a truly serious concept. The positions of all energy resources must be assessed with a view to national and international developments. No source of primary energy must be excluded from that review. Nuclear power remains one of the important options in the energy mix especially from the points of view of CO{sub 2} avoidance and preventive protection of the climate. A leading industrialized nation, such as the Federal Republic of Germany, ought to be able, in the more and more important discussion about globally sustainable development, to return to a consensus across all political parties at least about the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Or should the philosopher, Sir Karl Popper, finally be proven right in his statement that those wanting to establish a paradise on earth must be careful not to create hell? (orig.) [Deutsch] Der Abstimmungsmangel zwischen Umwelt-, Energie- und Wirtschaftspolitik in Deutschland ist unuebersehbar. Die Rueckkehr zum energiepolitischen Grundkonsens mit einer vorurteilsfreien Bewertung aller Energietraeger ist fuer solche, die es mit der Oekologie wirklich ernst meinen, unverzichtbar. Der Stellenwert aller Energietraeger muss im Hinblick auf nationale und internationale Entwicklungen ueberdacht werden; eine Tabuisierung einzelner Primaerenergietraeger darf es nicht geben. Insbesondere unter dem Aspekt der CO{sub 2}-Vermeidung und des vorsorgenden Klimaschutzes ist und bleibt die Kernenergie eine bedeutende Option im Energie-Mix. Im Rahmen der allgemein an Bedeutung gewinnenden Diskussion ueber eine global nachhaltige Entwicklung sollte es einer fuehrenden Industrienation wie der Bundesrepublik Deutschland eigentlich gelingen, zumindest hinsichtlich

  7. Study of the back recombination processes of PbS quantum dots sensitized solar cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badawi, Ali; Al-Hosiny, N.; Merazga, Amar; Albaradi, Ateyyah M.; Abdallah, S.; Talaat, H.

    2016-12-01

    In this study, the back recombination processes of PbS quantum dots sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) has been investigated. PbS QDs were adsorbed onto titania electrodes to act the role of sensitizers using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique. The energy band gaps of the synthesized PbS QDs/titania are ranged from 1.64 eV (corresponding to 756 nm) to 3.12 eV (397 nm) matching the whole visible solar spectrum. The hyperbolic band model (HBM) was used to calculate PbS QDs size and it ranges from 1.76 to 3.44 nm. The photovoltaic parameters (open circuit voltage Voc, short circuit current density Jsc, fill factor FF and efficiency η) of the assembled PbS QDs sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) were determined under a solar illumination of 100 mW/cm2 (AM 1.5 conditions). The open circuit voltage-decay (OCVD) rates of the assembled PbS QDSSCs were measured. The time constant (τ) for PbS QDSSCs (4 SILAR cycles) shows one order of magnitude larger than that of PbS QDSSCs (8 SILAR cycles) as a result of a decreased electron-hole back recombination.

  8. End-of-treatment abstinence self-efficacy, behavioral processes of change, and posttreatment drinking outcomes in Project MATCH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crouch, Taylor Berens; DiClemente, Carlo C; Pitts, Steven C

    2015-09-01

    This study evaluated whether alcohol abstinence self-efficacy at the end of alcohol treatment was moderated by utilization of behavioral processes of change (coping activities used during a behavior change attempt). It was hypothesized that self-efficacy would be differentially important in predicting posttreatment drinking outcomes depending on the level of behavioral processes, such that the relation between self-efficacy and outcomes would be stronger for individuals who reported low process use. Analyses were also estimated with end-of-treatment abstinence included as a covariate. Data were analyzed from alcohol-dependent individuals in both treatment arms of Project MATCH (Matching Alcoholism Treatments to Client Heterogeneity; N = 1,328), a large alcohol treatment study. Self-efficacy was moderated by behavioral process use in predicting drinking frequency 6 and 12 months posttreatment and drinking quantity 6 months posttreatment such that self-efficacy was more strongly related to posttreatment drinking when low levels of processes were reported than high levels, but interactions were attenuated when end-of-treatment abstinence was controlled for. Significant quadratic relations between end-of-treatment self-efficacy and 6- and 12-month posttreatment drinking quantity and frequency were found (p behavioral processes was attenuated when end-of-treatment abstinence was controlled for, the quadratic effect of self-efficacy on outcomes remained significant. The pattern of these effects did not support the idea of "overconfidence" as a negative indicator. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Data-acquisition systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cyborski, D.R.; Teh, K.M.

    1995-01-01

    Up to now, DAPHNE, the data-acquisition system developed for ATLAS, was used routinely for experiments at ATLAS and the Dynamitron. More recently, the Division implemented 2 MSU/DAPHNE systems. The MSU/DAPHNE system is a hybrid data-acquisition system which combines the front-end of the Michigan State University (MSU) DA system with the traditional DAPHNE back-end. The MSU front-end is based on commercially available modules. This alleviates the problems encountered with the DAPHNE front-end which is based on custom designed electronics. The first MSU system was obtained for the APEX experiment and was used there successfully. A second MSU front-end, purchased as a backup for the APEX experiment, was installed as a fully-independent second MSU/DAPHNE system with the procurement of a DEC 3000 Alpha host computer, and was used successfully for data-taking in an experiment at ATLAS. Additional hardware for a third system was bought and will be installed. With the availability of 2 MSU/DAPHNE systems in addition to the existing APEX setup, it is planned that the existing DAPHNE front-end will be decommissioned

  10. Tolerance analysis of null lenses using an end-use system performance criterion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodgers, J. Michael

    2000-07-01

    An effective method of assigning tolerances to a null lens is to determine the effects of null-lens fabrication and alignment errors on the end-use system itself, not simply the null lens. This paper describes a method to assign null- lens tolerances based on their effect on any performance parameter of the end-use system.

  11. The nuclear fuel rod character recognition system based on neural network technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Woong-Ki; Park, Soon-Yong; Lee, Yong-Bum; Kim, Seung-Ho; Lee, Jong-Min; Chien, Sung-Il.

    1994-01-01

    The nuclear fuel rods should be discriminated and managed systematically by numeric characters which are printed at the end part of each rod in the process of producing fuel assembly. The characters are used to examine manufacturing process of the fuel rods in the inspection process of irradiated fuel rod. Therefore automatic character recognition is one of the most important technologies to establish automatic manufacturing process of fuel assembly. In the developed character recognition system, mesh feature set extracted from each character written in the fuel rod is employed to train a neural network based on back-propagation algorithm as a classifier for character recognition system. Performance evaluation has been achieved on a test set which is not included in a training character set. (author)

  12. 以前端瀏覽器為中心之雲端運算服務 模型研究

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    余宛儒 WAN-JU YU

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This research follows the trend of latest technology and puts forward a browser-centriccloud computing service model, termed "cloud service exchange system" .This systemsolves the problem that the requests of the immense volume of data and the request oflarge data processing from back-end to the front-end. In the meantime, this system improvesthe speed of transmission via buffer. We integrate five elements, including MongoDB,AngularJS, Socket.IO, Kafka, Node.js. This study solves many problems as below:1. The interaction between JavaScript and web front-end.2. The compatibility issues in programing language of front-end and back-end.3. Server overloading caused by the huge amount of information on demand.4. Instant messaging performance front-end and back-end.And finally achieve the goal of creating a website.

  13. Minimizing Back Exchange in the Hydrogen Exchange-Mass Spectrometry Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walters, Benjamin T.; Ricciuti, Alec; Mayne, Leland; Englander, S. Walter

    2012-12-01

    The addition of mass spectrometry (MS) analysis to the hydrogen exchange (HX) proteolytic fragmentation experiment extends powerful HX methodology to the study of large biologically important proteins. A persistent problem is the degradation of HX information due to back exchange of deuterium label during the fragmentation-separation process needed to prepare samples for MS measurement. This paper reports a systematic analysis of the factors that influence back exchange (solution pH, ionic strength, desolvation temperature, LC column interaction, flow rates, system volume). The many peptides exhibit a range of back exchange due to intrinsic amino acid HX rate differences. Accordingly, large back exchange leads to large variability in D-recovery from one residue to another as well as one peptide to another that cannot be corrected for by reference to any single peptide-level measurement. The usual effort to limit back exchange by limiting LC time provides little gain. Shortening the LC elution gradient by 3-fold only reduced back exchange by ~2 %, while sacrificing S/N and peptide count. An unexpected dependence of back exchange on ionic strength as well as pH suggests a strategy in which solution conditions are changed during sample preparation. Higher salt should be used in the first stage of sample preparation (proteolysis and trapping) and lower salt (<20 mM) and pH in the second stage before electrospray injection. Adjustment of these and other factors together with recent advances in peptide fragment detection yields hundreds of peptide fragments with D-label recovery of 90 % ± 5 %.

  14. Minimizing back exchange in the hydrogen exchange-mass spectrometry experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walters, Benjamin T; Ricciuti, Alec; Mayne, Leland; Englander, S Walter

    2012-12-01

    The addition of mass spectrometry (MS) analysis to the hydrogen exchange (HX) proteolytic fragmentation experiment extends powerful HX methodology to the study of large biologically important proteins. A persistent problem is the degradation of HX information due to back exchange of deuterium label during the fragmentation-separation process needed to prepare samples for MS measurement. This paper reports a systematic analysis of the factors that influence back exchange (solution pH, ionic strength, desolvation temperature, LC column interaction, flow rates, system volume). The many peptides exhibit a range of back exchange due to intrinsic amino acid HX rate differences. Accordingly, large back exchange leads to large variability in D-recovery from one residue to another as well as one peptide to another that cannot be corrected for by reference to any single peptide-level measurement. The usual effort to limit back exchange by limiting LC time provides little gain. Shortening the LC elution gradient by 3-fold only reduced back exchange by ~2%, while sacrificing S/N and peptide count. An unexpected dependence of back exchange on ionic strength as well as pH suggests a strategy in which solution conditions are changed during sample preparation. Higher salt should be used in the first stage of sample preparation (proteolysis and trapping) and lower salt (<20 mM) and pH in the second stage before electrospray injection. Adjustment of these and other factors together with recent advances in peptide fragment detection yields hundreds of peptide fragments with D-label recovery of 90% ± 5%.

  15. Space Vector Modulation for DC-Link Current Ripple Reduction in Back-To-Back Current Source Converters for Microgrid Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guo, Xiaoqiang; Xu, David; Guerrero, Josep M.

    2015-01-01

    Back-to-back converters have been typically used to interconnect the microgrids. For a back-to-back current source converter, the dc-link current ripple is one of the important parameters. A large ripple will cause the electromagnetic interference, undesirable high-frequency losses, and system...... instability. Conventionally, with a given switching frequency and rated voltage, the current ripple can be reduced by increasing the dc-link inductor, but it leads to bulky size, high cost and slow dynamic response. In order to solve this problem, this paper reveals that the current ripple can...

  16. Align the Front End First.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Jim

    1995-01-01

    Discussion of management styles and front-end analysis focuses on a review of Douglas McGregor's theories. Topics include Theories X, Y, and Z; leadership skills; motivational needs of employees; intrinsic and extrinsic rewards; and faulty implementation of instructional systems design processes. (LRW)

  17. Balneotherapy for chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kesiktas, Nur; Karakas, Sinem; Gun, Kerem; Gun, Nuran; Murat, Sadiye; Uludag, Murat

    2012-10-01

    A large number of treatments were used for patients with chronic low back pain. Frequent episodes have been reported very high. Although balneotherapy was found effective in this disease, there are not well-designed studies. We aimed to determine the effectiveness of balneotherapy versus physical therapy in patients with chronic low back pain. Exercise was added to both treatment programs. Sixty patients with chronic low back pain were randomly divided into two groups. Physical modalities plus exercise were applied to group 1, and group 2 was received balneotherapy plus exercise for ten sessions. The following parameters were measured: visual analogue scale at rest and movement for pain, paracetamol dose, manual muscle test for lumber muscles, modified Schoeber' test, Oswestry disability index, and Short-Form 36 at the beginning and end of the therapies and at the 3 months follow-up. The statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS 10.0 program. Both groups achieved significant improvements within themselves. But balneotherapy groups were improved at back extensor muscle test (P Balneotherapy combined with exercise therapy had advantages than therapy with physical modalities plus exercise in improving quality of life and flexibility of patients with chronic low back pain.

  18. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Minimum Operations Performance Standards End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghatas, Rania W.; Jack, Devin P.; Tsakpinis, Dimitrios; Vincent, Michael J.; Sturdy, James L.; Munoz, Cesar A.; Hoffler, Keith D.; Dutle, Aaron M.; Myer, Robert R.; Dehaven, Anna M.; hide

    2017-01-01

    As Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) make their way to mainstream aviation operations within the National Airspace System (NAS), research efforts are underway to develop a safe and effective environment for their integration into the NAS. Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems are required to account for the lack of "eyes in the sky" due to having no human on-board the aircraft. The current NAS relies on pilot's vigilance and judgement to remain Well Clear (CFR 14 91.113) of other aircraft. RTCA SC-228 has defined DAA Well Clear (DAAWC) to provide a quantified Well Clear volume to allow systems to be designed and measured against. Extended research efforts have been conducted to understand and quantify system requirements needed to support a UAS pilot's ability to remain well clear of other aircraft. The efforts have included developing and testing sensor, algorithm, alerting, and display requirements. More recently, sensor uncertainty and uncertainty mitigation strategies have been evaluated. This paper discusses results and lessons learned from an End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) simulation study of a DAA system representative of RTCA SC-228's proposed Phase I DAA Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS). NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) was called upon to develop a system that evaluates a specific set of encounters, in a variety of geometries, with end-to-end DAA functionality including the use of sensor and tracker models, a sensor uncertainty mitigation model, DAA algorithmic guidance in both vertical and horizontal maneuvering, and a pilot model which maneuvers the ownship aircraft to remain well clear from intruder aircraft, having received collective input from the previous modules of the system. LaRC developed a functioning batch simulation and added a sensor/tracker model from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center, an in-house developed sensor uncertainty mitigation strategy, and implemented a pilot

  19. Apparatus and process for separating end of nuclear fuel assembly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beneck, J.A.; Quayre, C.; Moreau, J.R.M.; Vermeille, D.E.A.

    1989-01-01

    The apparatus for cutting the guide tubes of a nuclear fuel assembly below the bottom nozzle has a framework with removable fixation and centering means on the bottom nozzle. Cutting devices in the form of hollow pins are inserted simultaneously into all the guide tubes. Each pin contains a shaft that is moved axially inside it by the expansion system to deploy or retract a cutting edge near the lower end of the pin. A single motor using a gear wheel system, rotates all the cutting pins simultaneously [fr

  20. Design of Instant Messaging System of Multi-language E-commerce Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Heng; Chen, Xinyi; Li, Jiajia; Cao, Yaru

    2017-09-01

    This paper aims at researching the message system in the instant messaging system based on the multi-language e-commerce platform in order to design the instant messaging system in multi-language environment and exhibit the national characteristics based information as well as applying national languages to e-commerce. In order to develop beautiful and friendly system interface for the front end of the message system and reduce the development cost, the mature jQuery framework is adopted in this paper. The high-performance server Tomcat is adopted at the back end to process user requests, and MySQL database is adopted for data storage to persistently store user data, and meanwhile Oracle database is adopted as the message buffer for system optimization. Moreover, AJAX technology is adopted for the client to actively pull the newest data from the server at the specified time. In practical application, the system has strong reliability, good expansibility, short response time, high system throughput capacity and high user concurrency.

  1. End-to-end Cyberinfrastructure and Data Services for Earth System Science Education and Research: A vision for the future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramamurthy, M. K.

    2006-05-01

    yet revolutionary way of building applications and methods to connect and exchange information over the Web. This new approach, based on XML - a widely accepted format for exchanging data and corresponding semantics over the Internet - enables applications, computer systems, and information processes to work together in fundamentally different ways. Likewise, the advent of digital libraries, grid computing platforms, interoperable frameworks, standards and protocols, open-source software, and community atmospheric models have been important drivers in shaping the use of a new generation of end-to-end cyberinfrastructure for solving some of the most challenging scientific and educational problems. In this talk, I will present an overview of the scientific, technological, and educational landscape, discuss recent developments in cyberinfrastructure, and Unidata's role in and vision for providing easy-to use, robust, end-to-end data services for solving geoscientific problems and advancing student learning.

  2. Support for Quality Assurance in End-User Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klepper, Robert; McKenna, Edward G.

    1989-01-01

    Suggests an approach that organizations can take to provide centralized support services for quality assurance in end-user information systems, based on the experiences of a support group at Citicorp Mortgage, Inc. The functions of the support group include user education, software selection, and assistance in testing, implementation, and support…

  3. DISCO - A concept of a system for integrated data base management in distributed data processing systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holler, E.

    1980-01-01

    The development in data processing technology favors the trend towards distributed data processing systems: The large-scale integration of semiconductor devices has lead to very efficient (approx. 10 6 operations per second) and relatively cheap low end computers being offered today, that allow to install distributed data processing systems with a total capacity coming near to that of large-scale data processing plants at a tolerable investment expenditure. The technologies of communication and data banks, each by itself, have reached a state of development justifying their routine application. This is made evident by the present efforts for standardization in both areas. The integration of both technologies in the development of systems for integrated distributed data bank management, however, is new territory for engineering. (orig.) [de

  4. Expert system and process optimization techniques for real-time monitoring and control of plasma processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Jie; Qian, Zhaogang; Irani, Keki B.; Etemad, Hossein; Elta, Michael E.

    1991-03-01

    To meet the ever-increasing demand of the rapidly-growing semiconductor manufacturing industry it is critical to have a comprehensive methodology integrating techniques for process optimization real-time monitoring and adaptive process control. To this end we have accomplished an integrated knowledge-based approach combining latest expert system technology machine learning method and traditional statistical process control (SPC) techniques. This knowledge-based approach is advantageous in that it makes it possible for the task of process optimization and adaptive control to be performed consistently and predictably. Furthermore this approach can be used to construct high-level and qualitative description of processes and thus make the process behavior easy to monitor predict and control. Two software packages RIST (Rule Induction and Statistical Testing) and KARSM (Knowledge Acquisition from Response Surface Methodology) have been developed and incorporated with two commercially available packages G2 (real-time expert system) and ULTRAMAX (a tool for sequential process optimization).

  5. Virtual Systems Pharmacology (ViSP software for mechanistic system-level model simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey eErmakov

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Multiple software programs are available for designing and running large scale system-level pharmacology models used in the drug development process. Depending on the problem, scientists may be forced to use several modeling tools that could increase model development time, IT costs and so on. Therefore it is desirable to have a single platform that allows setting up and running large-scale simulations for the models that have been developed with different modeling tools. We developed a workflow and a software platform in which a model file is compiled into a self-contained executable that is no longer dependent on the software that was used to create the model. At the same time the full model specifics is preserved by presenting all model parameters as input parameters for the executable. This platform was implemented as a model agnostic, therapeutic area agnostic and web-based application with a database back-end that can be used to configure, manage and execute large-scale simulations for multiple models by multiple users. The user interface is designed to be easily configurable to reflect the specifics of the model and the user’s particular needs and the back-end database has been implemented to store and manage all aspects of the systems, such as Models, Virtual Patients, User Interface Settings, and Results. The platform can be adapted and deployed on an existing cluster or cloud computing environment. Its use was demonstrated with a metabolic disease systems pharmacology model that simulates the effects of two antidiabetic drugs, metformin and fasiglifam, in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

  6. The development and prospects of the end-of-life vehicle recycling system in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Kuan-chung; Huang, Shih-han; Lian, I-wei

    2010-01-01

    Automobiles usually contain toxic substances, such as lubricants, acid solutions and coolants. Therefore, inappropriate handling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) will result in environmental pollution. ELV parts, which include metallic and non-metallic substances, are increasingly gaining recycling value due to the recent global shortage of raw materials. Hence, the establishment of a proper recycling system for ELVs will not only reduce the impact on the environment during the recycling process, but it will also facilitate the effective reuse of recycled resources. Prior to 1994, the recycling of ELVs in Taiwan was performed by related operators in the industry. Since the publishing of the "End-of-life vehicle recycling guidelines" under the authority of the Waste Disposal Act by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in 1994, the recycling of ELVs in Taiwan has gradually become systematic. Subsequently, the Recycling Fund Management Board (RFMB) of the EPA was established in 1998 to collect a Collection-Disposal-Treatment Fee (recycling fee) from responsible enterprises for recycling and related tasks. Since then, the recycling channels, processing equipment, and techniques for ELVs in Taiwan have gradually become established. This paper reviews the establishment of the ELV recycling system, analyzes the current system and its performance, and provides some recommendations for future development. The reduction of auto shredder residue (ASR) is a key factor in maximizing the resource recovery rate and recycling efficiency. The RFMB needs to provide strong economic incentives to further increase the recycling rate and to encourage the automobile industry to design and market greener cars. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. A Time-Based Front End Readout System for PET & CT

    CERN Document Server

    Meyer, T C; Anghinolfi, F; Auffray, E; Dosanjh, M; Hillemanns, H; Hoffmann, H -F; Jarron, P; Kaplon, J; Kronberger, M; Lecoq, P; Moraes, D; Trummer, J

    2007-01-01

    In the framework of the European FP6's BioCare project, we develop a novel, time-based, photo-detector readout technique to increase sensitivity and timing precision for molecular imaging in PET and CT. The project aims to employ Avalanche Photo Diode (APD) arrays with state of the art, high speed, front end amplifiers and discrimination circuits developed for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) physics program at CERN, suitable to detect and process photons in a combined one-unit PET/CT detection head. In the so-called time-based approach our efforts focus on the system's timing performance with sub-nanosecond time-jitter and -walk, and yet also provide information on photon energy without resorting to analog to digital conversion. The bandwidth of the electronic circuitry is compatible with the scintillator's intrinsic light response (e.g. les40ns in LSO) and hence allows high rate CT operation in single-photon counting mode. Based on commercial LSO crystals and Hamamatsu S8550 APD arrays, we show the system pe...

  8. Prevalence and risk factors of low back pain among Thai and Myanmar migrant seafood processing factory workers in Samut Sakorn Province, Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomita, Shigeru; Arphorn, Sara; Muto, Takashi; Koetkhlai, Kanatid; Naing, Saw Sandy; Chaikittiporn, Chalermchai

    2010-01-01

    This study assessed the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and investigated risk factors for LBP among seafood processing factory workers in Thailand including migrant workers. The subjects were Thai and Myanmar workers in the typical seafood processing factory. A cross-sectional study was carried out with a self-administered questionnaire. Prevalence of LBP, general characteristics, life style, and working condition were investigated. The associations between LBP and risk factors were estimated by multiple logistic regression models. Of 254 workers, 165 completed the questionnaire. Half of these workers were Thai, the others were from Myanmar. The point prevalence of LBP was 28.5%. Risk factors for LBP were age over 40 yr, poor health status, history of back injury, twisting posture at work, and slipping on wet floors. The results suggest that health promotion should focus on working conditions rather than individual life style in order to prevent LBP. Furthermore, greater attention to other risk factors such as history of back injury and perception of health status after regular health check up, especially in older age groups may be needed.

  9. The control system for the CMS tracker front-end

    CERN Document Server

    Drouhin, F; Ljuslin, C; Maazouzi, C; Marchiero, A; Marinelli, N; Paillard, C; Siegrist, P; Tsirou, A L; Verdini, P G; Walsham, P; Zghiche, A

    2002-01-01

    The CMS Tracker uses complex, programmable embedded electronics for the readout of the Silicon sensors, for the control of the working point of the optical transmitters, for the phase adjustment of the 40 MHz LHC clock and for the monitoring of the voltages, currents and temperatures. In order to establish reliable, noise-free communication with the outside world the control chain has been designed to operate over a ribbon of optical fibers. The optical links, the Front End Controller board that carries their support electronics, the Clocking and Control Unit module receiving the signals over the high-speed link and fanning them out to the front- ends have recently become available. A multi-layered software architecture to handle these devices, and the front-ends, in a way transparent to the end-user, interfaced to an Oracle database for the retrieval of the parameters to be downloaded with the intent of building and operating a small-scale prototype of the control system for the CMS Tracker. The paper descri...

  10. BACK and DRAW activities for improving writing skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Lukman Syafii

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This present paper addresses the issue of writing as an important aspect of EFL instruction. Writing as one of the four basic language skills plays a pivotal role in the context of English teaching as a foreign language in Indonesia. Considering these problems, it is important to modify the writing process in such a way to cope the writing. The process of writing the writer means is BACK and DRAW activities. What the writer termed as BACK and DRAW is a set of writing activities involving students’ active participation in the process, their intense learning experience in producing a required text, as well as their interactive work with peers and the teacher. BACK and DRAW stands for Brainstorming, Attaching, Correcting, Keeping, Developing, Revising, Arranging, and Wow! Or Wonderful! Or Well done!. These activities are good ways to improve the writing Ability.

  11. End-use quality of soft kernel durum wheat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kernel texture is a major determinant of end-use quality of wheat. Durum wheat has very hard kernels. We developed soft kernel durum wheat via Ph1b-mediated homoeologous recombination. The Hardness locus was transferred from Chinese Spring to Svevo durum wheat via back-crossing. ‘Soft Svevo’ had SKC...

  12. Efficacy of transverse tripolar spinal cord stimulator for the relief of chronic low back pain from failed back surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buvanendran, Asokumar; Lubenow, Timothy J

    2008-01-01

    Failed back surgery syndrome is a common clinical entity for which spinal cord stimulation has been found to be an effective mode of analgesia, but with variable success rates. To determine if focal stimulation of the dorsal columns with a transverse tripolar lead might achieve deeper penetration of the electrical stimulus into the spinal cord and therefore provide greater analgesia to the back. Case report. We describe a 42-year-old female with failed back surgery syndrome that had greater back pain than leg pain. The tripolar lead configuration was achieved by placing percutaneously an octapolar lead in the spinal midline followed by 2 adjacent quadripolar leads, advanced to the T7-T10 vertebral bodies. Tripolar stimulation pattern resulted in more than 70% pain relief in this patient during the screening trial, while stimulation of one or 2 electrodes only provided 20% pain relief. After implantation of a permanent tripolar electrode system with a single rechargeable battery, the pain relief was maintained for one year. This is case report describing a case of a patient with chronic low back pain with a diagnosis of failed back surgery syndrome in which transverse tripolar stimulation using an octapolar and 2 quadripolar leads appeared to be beneficial. The transverse tripolar system consists of a central cathode surrounded by anodes, using 3 leads. This arrangement may contribute to maximum dorsal column stimulation with minimal dorsal root stimulation and provide analgesia to the lower back.

  13. Mediators of Yoga and Stretching for Chronic Low Back Pain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen J. Sherman

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Although yoga is an effective treatment for chronic low back pain, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for its benefits. In a trial comparing yoga to intensive stretching and self-care, we explored whether physical (hours of back exercise/week, cognitive (fear avoidance, body awareness, and self-efficacy, affective (psychological distress, perceived stress, positive states of mind, and sleep, and physiological factors (cortisol, DHEA mediated the effects of yoga or stretching on back-related dysfunction (Roland-Morris Disability Scale (RDQ. For yoga, 36% of the effect on 12-week RDQ was mediated by increased self-efficacy, 18% by sleep disturbance, 9% by hours of back exercise, and 61% by the best combination of all possible mediators (6 mediators. For stretching, 23% of the effect was mediated by increased self-efficacy, 14% by days of back exercise, and 50% by the best combination of all possible mediators (7 mediators. In open-ended questions, ≥20% of participants noted the following treatment benefits: learning new exercises (both groups, relaxation, increased awareness, and the benefits of breathing (yoga, benefits of regular practice (stretching. Although both self-efficacy and hours of back exercise were the strongest mediators for each intervention, compared to self-care, qualitative data suggest that they may exert their benefits through partially distinct mechanisms.

  14. A real-time 3D end-to-end augmented reality system (and its representation transformations)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tytgat, Donny; Aerts, Maarten; De Busser, Jeroen; Lievens, Sammy; Rondao Alface, Patrice; Macq, Jean-Francois

    2016-09-01

    The new generation of HMDs coming to the market is expected to enable many new applications that allow free viewpoint experiences with captured video objects. Current applications usually rely on 3D content that is manually created or captured in an offline manner. In contrast, this paper focuses on augmented reality applications that use live captured 3D objects while maintaining free viewpoint interaction. We present a system that allows live dynamic 3D objects (e.g. a person who is talking) to be captured in real-time. Real-time performance is achieved by traversing a number of representation formats and exploiting their specific benefits. For instance, depth images are maintained for fast neighborhood retrieval and occlusion determination, while implicit surfaces are used to facilitate multi-source aggregation for both geometry and texture. The result is a 3D reconstruction system that outputs multi-textured triangle meshes at real-time rates. An end-to-end system is presented that captures and reconstructs live 3D data and allows for this data to be used on a networked (AR) device. For allocating the different functional blocks onto the available physical devices, a number of alternatives are proposed considering the available computational power and bandwidth for each of the components. As we will show, the representation format can play an important role in this functional allocation and allows for a flexible system that can support a highly heterogeneous infrastructure.

  15. Habitat relationships of eastern red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in Appalachian agroforestry and grazing systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breanna L. Riedel; Kevin R. Russell; W. Mark Ford; Katherine P. O' Neill; Harry W. Godwin

    2008-01-01

    Woodland salamander responses to either traditional grazing or silvopasture systems are virtually unknown. An information-theoretic modelling approach was used to evaluate responses of red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) to silvopasture and meadow conversions in southern West Virginia. Searches of area-constrained plots and artificial...

  16. Means-End based Functional Modeling for Intelligent Control: Modeling and Experiments with an Industrial Heat Pump System

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saleem, Arshad

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to present a Multilevel Flow Model (MFM) of an industrial heat pump system and its use for diagnostic reasoning. MFM is functional modeling language supporting an explicit means-ends intelligent control strategy for large industrial process plants. The model is used...... in several diagnostic experiments analyzing different fault scenarios. The model and results of the experiments are explained and it is shown how MFM based intelligent modeling and automated reasoning can improve the fault diagnosis process significantly....

  17. Quantification of Back-End Nuclear Fuel Cycle Metrics Uncertainties Due to Cross Sections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tracy E. Stover Jr.

    2007-01-01

    This work examines uncertainties in the back end fuel cycle metrics of isotopic composition, decay heat, radioactivity, and radiotoxicity. Most advanced fuel cycle scenarios, including the ones represented in this work, are limited by one or more of these metrics, so that quantification of them becomes of great importance in order to optimize or select one of these scenarios. Uncertainty quantification, in this work, is performed by propagating cross-section covariance data, and later number density covariance data, through a reactor physics and depletion code sequence. Propagation of uncertainty is performed primarily via the Efficient Subspace Method (ESM). ESM decomposes the covariance data into singular pairs and perturbs input data along independent directions of the uncertainty and only for the most significant values of that uncertainty. Results of these perturbations being collected, ESM directly calculates the covariance of the observed output posteriori. By exploiting the rank deficient nature of the uncertainty data, ESM works more efficiently than traditional stochastic sampling, but is shown to produce equivalent results. ESM is beneficial for very detailed models with large amounts of input data that make stochastic sampling impractical. In this study various fuel cycle scenarios are examined. Simplified, representative models of pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR) fuels composed of both uranium oxide and mixed oxides are examined. These simple models are intended to give a representation of the uncertainty that can be associated with open uranium oxide fuel cycles and closed mixed oxide fuel cycles. The simplified models also serve as a demonstration to show that ESM and stochastic sampling produce equivalent results, because these models require minimum computer resources and have amounts of input data small enough such that either method can be quickly implemented and a numerical experiment performed. The simplified

  18. Low back pain - acute

    Science.gov (United States)

    Backache; Low back pain; Lumbar pain; Pain - back; Acute back pain; Back pain - new; Back pain - short-term; Back strain - new ... lower back supports most of your body's weight. Low back pain is the number two reason that Americans see ...

  19. Design participation as an insurance: risk-management and end-user participation in the development of information systems in healthcare organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vimarlund, V; Timpka, T

    2002-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to build a theoretical framework for analysis of when decision-makers should use end-user participation as a form of insurance for unforeseen consequences of implementing information systems in healthcare organizations. Data were collected in a case study of an information system development project in a small clinical setting. During the initial phase, the future end-users of the system were allowed to actively influence the system design and test every new tool that was considered for implementation. The results of the case study suggest that when time and effort are invested in allowing healthcare staff to participate in information system development processes, the benefits can well exceed the costs throughout the life cycle of the project. Risk-averse decision-makers fearing negative secondary consequences of a HIS, with regard to clinical work flow, will always adopt measures to prevent future failures, if they can find a possibility of shifting these risks. Therefore, they calculate the present discounted value of the effects accrued over time to the unit and predict the amount of resources they are willing to pay to acquire on insurance (such as design participation) that will protect the organization from future losses. End-user participation in the design process can be the key positive influence on the quality of the service and, thereby, organizational effectiveness. Investments in broad design participation can, consequently, be a productive activity that transforms potential current income into future benefits.

  20. DO PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN EXPERIENCE PAIN REDUCTION AND FUNCTIONAL IMPROVEMENT AFTER TREATMENT AT A MULTIDISCIPLINARY OUTPATIENT CLINIC?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norbye Anja

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Low back pain is the most common affliction of the musculoskeletal system. Patients with chronic low back pain cost the society great expenses in treatments and other social benefits; however, the effects of interventions are discussed. The purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with chronic low back pain experience pain reduction and functional improvement after treatment at a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic. Methods: A prospective study design was used, including 446 patients who participated in follow-up questionnaires with data collection at 6 and 12 months after treatment. The primary outcome was alterations in pain and function. Result: By 12 months after treatment, 71.3 % of the included patients had completed the follow-up questionnaires. Based on these questionnaires, we identified statistically significant changes from baseline at all end points, with clinically significant changes in approximately half of the participants (p = 0.000. Conclusion: Treatment of chronic low back pain at a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic resulted in clinically significant pain reduction and functional improvement within 12 months for approximately half of affected patients.

  1. Analysis of Accuracy and Epoch on Back-propagation BFGS Quasi-Newton

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silaban, Herlan; Zarlis, Muhammad; Sawaluddin

    2017-12-01

    Back-propagation is one of the learning algorithms on artificial neural networks that have been widely used to solve various problems, such as pattern recognition, prediction and classification. The Back-propagation architecture will affect the outcome of learning processed. BFGS Quasi-Newton is one of the functions that can be used to change the weight of back-propagation. This research tested some back-propagation architectures using classical back-propagation and back-propagation with BFGS. There are 7 architectures that have been tested on glass dataset with various numbers of neurons, 6 architectures with 1 hidden layer and 1 architecture with 2 hidden layers. BP with BFGS improves the convergence of the learning process. The average improvement convergence is 98.34%. BP with BFGS is more optimal on architectures with smaller number of neurons with decreased epoch number is 94.37% with the increase of accuracy about 0.5%.

  2. Disappearance of squeezed back-to-back correlations: a new signal of hadron freeze-out from a supercooled quark gluon plasma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Csoergo, T. [MTA KFKI RMKI, Budapest (Hungary)]. E-mail: csorgo@sunserv.kfki.hu; Padula, Sandra S. [UNESP, Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica Teorica]. E-mail: padula@oft.unesp.br

    2007-09-15

    We briefly discuss four different possible types of transitions from quark to hadronic matter and their characteristic signatures in terms of correlations. We also highlight the effects arising from mass modification of hadrons in hot and dense hadronic matter, as well as their quantum statistical consequences: the appearance of squeezed quantum states and the associated experimental signatures, i.e., the back-to-back correlations of particle-antiparticle pairs. We briefly review the theoretical results of these squeezed quanta, generated by in-medium modified masses, starting from the first indication of the existence of surprising particle-antiparticle correlations, and ending by considering the effects of chiral dynamics on these correlation patterns. Nevertheless, a prerequisite for such a signature is the experimental verification of its observability. Therefore, the experimental observation of back-to-back correlations in high energy heavy ion reactions would be a unique signature, proving the existence of in-medium mass modification of hadronic states. On the other hand, their disappearance at some threshold centrality or collision energy would indicate that the hadron formation mechanism would have qualitatively changed: asymptotic hadrons above such a threshold are not formed from medium modified hadrons anymore, but rather by new degrees of freedom characterizing the medium. Furthermore, the disappearance of the squeezed BBC could also serve as a signature of a sudden, non-equilibrium hadronization scenario from a supercooled quark-gluon plasma phase. (author)

  3. Disappearance of squeezed back-to-back correlations: a new signal of hadron freeze-out from a supercooled quark gluon plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Csoergo, T.; Padula, Sandra S.

    2007-01-01

    We briefly discuss four different possible types of transitions from quark to hadronic matter and their characteristic signatures in terms of correlations. We also highlight the effects arising from mass modification of hadrons in hot and dense hadronic matter, as well as their quantum statistical consequences: the appearance of squeezed quantum states and the associated experimental signatures, i.e., the back-to-back correlations of particle-antiparticle pairs. We briefly review the theoretical results of these squeezed quanta, generated by in-medium modified masses, starting from the first indication of the existence of surprising particle-antiparticle correlations, and ending by considering the effects of chiral dynamics on these correlation patterns. Nevertheless, a prerequisite for such a signature is the experimental verification of its observability. Therefore, the experimental observation of back-to-back correlations in high energy heavy ion reactions would be a unique signature, proving the existence of in-medium mass modification of hadronic states. On the other hand, their disappearance at some threshold centrality or collision energy would indicate that the hadron formation mechanism would have qualitatively changed: asymptotic hadrons above such a threshold are not formed from medium modified hadrons anymore, but rather by new degrees of freedom characterizing the medium. Furthermore, the disappearance of the squeezed BBC could also serve as a signature of a sudden, non-equilibrium hadronization scenario from a supercooled quark-gluon plasma phase. (author)

  4. SU-F-P-37: Implementation of An End-To-End QA Test of the Radiation Therapy Imaging, Planning and Delivery Process to Identify and Correct Possible Sources of Deviation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salinas Aranda, F; Suarez, V; Arbiser, S; Sansogne, R

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: To implement an end-to-end QA test of the radiation therapy imaging, planning and delivery process, aimed to assess the dosimetric agreement accuracy between planned and delivered treatment, in order to identify and correct possible sources of deviation. To establish an internal standard for machine commissioning acceptance. Methods: A test involving all steps of the radiation therapy: imaging, planning and delivery process was designed. The test includes analysis of point dose and planar dose distributions agreement between TPS calculated and measured dose. An ad hoc 16 cm diameter PMMA phantom was constructed with one central and four peripheral bores that can accommodate calibrated electron density inserts. Using Varian Eclipse 10.0 and Elekta XiO 4.50 planning systems, IMRT, RapidArc and 3DCRT with hard and dynamic wedges plans were planned on the phantom and tested. An Exradin A1SL chamber is used with a Keithley 35617EBS electrometer for point dose measurements in the phantom. 2D dose distributions were acquired using MapCheck and Varian aS1000 EPID.Gamma analysis was performed for evaluation of 2D dose distribution agreement using MapCheck software and Varian Portal Dosimetry Application.Varian high energy Clinacs Trilogy, 2100C/CD, 2000CR and low energy 6X/EX where tested.TPS-CT# vs. electron density table were checked for CT-scanners used. Results: Calculated point doses were accurate to 0.127% SD: 0.93%, 0.507% SD: 0.82%, 0.246% SD: 1.39% and 0.012% SD: 0.01% for LoX-3DCRT, HiX-3DCRT, IMRT and RapidArc plans respectively. Planar doses pass gamma 3% 3mm in all cases and 2% 2mm for VMAT plans. Conclusion: Implementation of a simple and reliable quality assurance tool was accomplished. The end-to-end proved efficient, showing excellent agreement between planned and delivered dose evidencing strong consistency of the whole process from imaging through planning to delivery. This test can be used as a first step in beam model acceptance for clinical

  5. Report of the international forum on nuclear energy, nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security. Measures to ensure nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security for the back end of nuclear fuel cycle and regional cooperation in Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tazaki, Makiko; Yamamura, Tsukasa; Suzuki, Mitsutoshi; Kuno, Yusuke; Mochiji, Toshiro

    2013-03-01

    The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) held 'International Forum on Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Non-proliferation and Nuclear Security - Measures to ensure nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security for the back end of nuclear fuel cycle and regional cooperation in Asia-' on 12 and 13 December 2012, co-hosted by the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) and School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. In the forum, keynote speakers from Japan, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.S., France and Republic of Korea (ROK), respectively explained their efforts regarding peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear non-proliferation. In two panel discussions, entitled 'Measures to ensure nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security of nuclear fuel cycle back end' and 'Measures to ensure nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security for nuclear energy use in the Asian region and a multilateral cooperative framework', active discussions were made among panelists from Japan, IAEA, the U.S., France, ROK, Russia and Kazakhstan. This report includes abstracts of keynote speeches, summaries of two panel discussions and materials of the presentations in the forum. The editors take full responsibility for the wording and content of this report except presentation materials. (author)

  6. Investigation on Effect of Material Hardness in High Speed CNC End Milling Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. V. Dhandapani

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This research paper analyzes the effects of material properties on surface roughness, material removal rate, and tool wear on high speed CNC end milling process with various ferrous and nonferrous materials. The challenge of material specific decision on the process parameters of spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut, coolant flow rate, cutting tool material, and type of coating for the cutting tool for required quality and quantity of production is addressed. Generally, decision made by the operator on floor is based on suggested values of the tool manufacturer or by trial and error method. This paper describes effect of various parameters on the surface roughness characteristics of the precision machining part. The prediction method suggested is based on various experimental analysis of parameters in different compositions of input conditions which would benefit the industry on standardization of high speed CNC end milling processes. The results show a basis for selection of parameters to get better results of surface roughness values as predicted by the case study results.

  7. Investigation on Effect of Material Hardness in High Speed CNC End Milling Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhandapani, N V; Thangarasu, V S; Sureshkannan, G

    2015-01-01

    This research paper analyzes the effects of material properties on surface roughness, material removal rate, and tool wear on high speed CNC end milling process with various ferrous and nonferrous materials. The challenge of material specific decision on the process parameters of spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut, coolant flow rate, cutting tool material, and type of coating for the cutting tool for required quality and quantity of production is addressed. Generally, decision made by the operator on floor is based on suggested values of the tool manufacturer or by trial and error method. This paper describes effect of various parameters on the surface roughness characteristics of the precision machining part. The prediction method suggested is based on various experimental analysis of parameters in different compositions of input conditions which would benefit the industry on standardization of high speed CNC end milling processes. The results show a basis for selection of parameters to get better results of surface roughness values as predicted by the case study results.

  8. Development of new decladding system in the reprocessing process for FBR fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Seiya; Washiya, Tadahiro; Takeuchi, Masayuki; Koizumi, Tsutomu; Aose, Shinichi

    2005-01-01

    As a part of the feasibility study on commercialized fast reactor cycle systems, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) has been developing the fuel decladding technology for the dry reprocessing process (oxide electrowinning process) and aqueous reprocessing process. Particularly, in the oxide electrowinning process, the spent fuel should be reduced to powder for quick dissolution in the molten salt at electrolyzer. Therefore, JNC proposes new decladding system with innovative mechanical decladding devices. The decladding system consists of fuel crushing stage, hull separation stage and hull rinsing stage. In the fuel crushing stage, disassembled spent fuel pins are crushed and powdered by mechanical decladding device, then the following stage, the hull and the fuel powder are separated by magnetic separator. Only the fuel powder is fed to the electrolyzer. On the other side, the separated hull is melted by induction heating method, and the small amount of oxide included in the hull fragments is recovered at the hull rinsing stage. The recovered oxide fuel is fed back to the electrolyzer. In this paper, the basic performance of the element equipment that composes this new decladding system will be described. (author)

  9. RPA coordinates DNA end resection and prevents formation of DNA hairpins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Huan; Lisby, Michael; Symington, Lorraine S

    2013-05-23

    Replication protein A (RPA) is an essential eukaryotic single-stranded DNA binding protein with a central role in DNA metabolism. RPA directly participates in DNA double-strand break repair by stimulating 5'-3' end resection by the Sgs1/BLM helicase and Dna2 endonuclease in vitro. Here we investigated the role of RPA in end resection in vivo, using a heat-inducible degron system that allows rapid conditional depletion of RPA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found that RPA depletion eliminated both the Sgs1-Dna2- and Exo1-dependent extensive resection pathways and synergized with mre11Δ to prevent end resection. The short single-stranded DNA tails formed in the absence of RPA were unstable due to 3' strand loss and the formation of fold-back hairpin structures that required resection initiation and Pol32-dependent DNA synthesis. Thus, RPA is required to generate ssDNA, and also to protect ssDNA from degradation and inappropriate annealing that could lead to genome rearrangements. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Neural networks in front-end processing and control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lister, J.B.; Schnurrenberger, H.; Staeheli, N.; Stockhammer, N.; Duperrex, P.A.; Moret, J.M.

    1992-01-01

    Research into neural networks has gained a large following in recent years. In spite of the long term timescale of this Artificial Intelligence research, the tools which the community is developing can already find useful applications to real practical problems in experimental research. One of the main advantages of the parallel algorithms being developed in AI is the structural simplicity of the required hardware implementation, and the simple nature of the calculations involved. This makes these techniques ideal for problems in which both speed and data volume reduction are important, the case for most front-end processing tasks. In this paper the authors illustrate the use of a particular neural network known as the Multi-Layer Perceptron as a method for solving several different tasks, all drawn from the field of Tokamak research. The authors also briefly discuss the use of the Multi-Layer Perceptron as a non-linear controller in a feedback loop. The authors outline the type of problem which can be usefully addressed by these techniques, even before the large-scale parallel processing hardware currently under development becomes cheaply available. The authors also present some of the difficulties encountered in applying these networks

  11. Neural networks in front-end processing and control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lister, J.B.; Schnurrenberger, H.; Staeheli, N.; Stockhammer, N.; Duperrex, P.A.; Moret, J.M.

    1991-07-01

    Research into neural networks has gained a large following in recent years. In spite of the long term timescale of this Artificial Intelligence research, the tools which the community is developing can already find useful applications to real practical problems in experimental research. One of the main advantages of the parallel algorithms being developed in AI is the structural simplicity of the required hardware implementation, and the simple nature of the calculations involved. This makes these techniques ideal for problems in which both speed and data volume reduction are important, the case for most front-end processing tasks. In this paper we illustrate the use of a particular neural network known as the Multi-Layer Perceptron as a method for solving several different tasks, all drawn from the field of Tokamak research. We also briefly discuss the use of the Multi-Layer Perceptron as a non-linear controller in a feedback loop. We outline the type of problem which can be usefully addressed by these techniques, even before the large-scale parallel processing hardware currently under development becomes cheaply available. We also present some of the difficulties encountered in applying these networks. (author) 13 figs., 9 refs

  12. Ultralow field emission from thinned, open-ended, and defected carbon nanotubes by using microwave hydrogen plasma processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Jian-Hua, E-mail: jhdeng1983@163.com [College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China); Cheng, Lin; Wang, Fan-Jie; Yu, Bin; Li, Guo-Zheng; Li, De-Jun [College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China); Cheng, Guo-An [Key Laboratory of Beam Technology and Material Modification of Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China)

    2015-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Thinned, open-ended, and defected carbon nanotubes were prepared by using hydrogen plasma processing. The processed carbon nanotubes have far better field emission performance than that of the pristine ones. - Highlights: • CVD prepared CNT arrays were processed by microwave hydrogen plasma. • Thinned, open-ended, and defected CNTs were obtained. • Processed CNTs have far better field emission performance than the pristine ones. • Processed CNTs have applicable emission stability after being perfectly aged. - Abstract: Ultralow field emission is achieved from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by using microwave hydrogen plasma processing. After the processing, typical capped CNT tips are removed, with thinned, open-ended, and defected CNTs left. Structural analyses indicate that the processed CNTs have more SP{sup 3}-hybridized defects as compared to the pristine ones. The morphology of CNTs can be readily controlled by adjusting microwave powers, which change the shape of CNTs by means of hydrogen plasma etching. Processed CNTs with optimal morphology are found to have an ultralow turn-on field of 0.566 V/μm and threshold field of 0.896 V/μm, much better than 0.948 and 1.559 V/μm of the as-grown CNTs, respectively. This improved FE performance is ascribed to the structural changes of CNTs after the processing. The thinned and open-ended shape of CNTs can facilitate electron tunneling through barriers and additionally, the increased defects at tube walls can serve as new active emission sites. Furthermore, our plasma processed CNTs exhibit excellent field emission stability at a large emission current density of 10.36 mA/cm{sup 2} after being perfectly aged, showing promising prospects in applications as high-performance vacuum electron sources.

  13. DAQ system for testing RPC front-end electronics of the INO experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hari Prasad, K.; Sukhwani, Menka; Kesarkar, Tushar A.; Kumar, Sandeep; Chandratre, V.B.; Das, D.; Shinde, R.R.; Satyanarayana, B.

    2015-01-01

    The Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) is the active detector element in the INO experiment. The in-house developed ANUSPARSH-III ASICs are being used as front-end electronics of the detector. The 2 m X 2 m RPC being used has 64-readout channels on X-side and 64-readout channels on Y-side. In order to test and validate the FE along with the RPC, a 64-channel DAQ system has been designed and developed. The detector parameters to be measured are noise rate, efficiency, hit pattern register and time resolution. The salient features of the DAQ system are: 64-channel LVDS receiver in FPGA, FPGA based parameter calculations and a micro controller for acquiring the processed data from FPGAs and sent through Ethernet and USB interfaces. The DAQ system consists of following parts: Two FPGAs each receiving 32 LVDS channels, FPGA firm-ware, micro controller firm-ware, Ethernet interface, embedded web server hosting data analysis software, USB interface, and Lab-windows based data analysis software. The DAQ system has been tested at TIFR with 1 m X 1 m RPC

  14. Application of the pulsed magnetic welding process to nuclear breeder reactor fuel pin end closures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, W.F.

    1984-01-01

    The pulsed magnetic welding process is a solid state welding process in which metallurgical bonding is effected by impacting metal or alloy parts against each other at high velocity by use of controlled high frequency, high intensity pulsed magnetic fields. This process is similar to the explosive welding process except that magnetic energy is used for impacting the parts together instead of using explosive energy. The pulsed magnetic welding (PMW) process is readily applied to the welding of cylindrical plugs to small diameter tubes. Although breeder reactor fuel pin design may vary in size, the application described here consisted of cladding tubes approximately 6.4 mm in diameter by 244 cm long with a wall thickness of 0.38 mm. After the cladding tubes are filled with fuel pellets and associated metal hardware, tapered end plugs are inserted into the end of the tubes and welded. A typical setup for PMW is described

  15. Kinematics Analysis of End Effector for Carrier Robot of Feeding Broiler Chicken System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syam, Rafiuddin; Arsyad, Hairul; Bauna, Ruslan; Renreng, Ilyas; Bakhri, Syaiful

    2018-02-01

    The demand for commodities, especially Broiler chicken farms are increasing, the volume of feed requirements Broiler chickens increased with age up to the age of 30-57 days required feed 3,829 grams/day/head, so if the chicken population is 3,000 needed transporting feed 11 487 kg/day, This research aims to produce a robot capable of transporting feed in the top of the cage by using a control system so as to make efficient use of manpower. Design robot performed using software design three-dimensional Solidworks2010, process of making the robot is started with the design manufacture three (3) units of mechanical systems (mechanical system for holder feed, mechanical systems for lifter feed and mechanical systems for transporting feed), then do the design process framework as a component buffer so that the mechanical system will work properly and safely when the robot operates. Furthermore, the manufacture of electronic circuits and control are using Arduino Mega microcontroller. After assembling all components mechanical systems and installation of electronic systems and control, then experiments to evaluate the performance of the robot have been made. The results of experiments showed that all components work well according to plan, in particular the speed and acceleration of end effector motion so it can hold and release the feed well. This strongly supports the robots perform tasks in accordance with the intent, i.e., holding, lifting and moving feed.

  16. Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): What Nurses Need to Know.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essenmacher, Carol; Naegle, Madeline; Baird, Carolyn; Vest, Bridgette; Spielmann, Rene; Smith-East, Marie; Powers, Leigh

    Efforts to decrease adverse effects of tobacco use are affected by emergence of new nicotine delivery products. Advertising, product promotion, and social media promote use of these products, yet a lack of evidence regarding safety leaves nurses unprepared to counsel patients. To critically evaluate current research, reviews of literature, expert opinion, and stakeholder policy proposals on use and safety of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). A targeted examination of literature generated by key stakeholders and subject matter experts was conducted using key words, modified by risk factors, and limited to the past 8 years. Current knowledge gaps in research literature and practice implications of the literature are discussed. The safety of ENDS is questionable and unclear. There are clear health risks of nicotine exposure to developing brains. Potential health risks of ENDS secondhand emissions exposure exist. Using ENDS to facilitate total tobacco cessation is not proven.

  17. Implementation of a Multimodal Mobile System for Point-of-Sale Surveillance: Lessons Learned From Case Studies in Washington, DC, and New York City.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantrell, Jennifer; Ganz, Ollie; Ilakkuvan, Vinu; Tacelosky, Michael; Kreslake, Jennifer; Moon-Howard, Joyce; Aidala, Angela; Vallone, Donna; Anesetti-Rothermel, Andrew; Kirchner, Thomas R

    2015-01-01

    In tobacco control and other fields, point-of-sale surveillance of the retail environment is critical for understanding industry marketing of products and informing public health practice. Innovations in mobile technology can improve existing, paper-based surveillance methods, yet few studies describe in detail how to operationalize the use of technology in public health surveillance. The aims of this paper are to share implementation strategies and lessons learned from 2 tobacco, point-of-sale surveillance projects to inform and prepare public health researchers and practitioners to implement new mobile technologies in retail point-of-sale surveillance systems. From 2011 to 2013, 2 point-of-sale surveillance pilot projects were conducted in Washington, DC, and New York, New York, to capture information about the tobacco retail environment and test the feasibility of a multimodal mobile data collection system, which included capabilities for audio or video recording data, electronic photographs, electronic location data, and a centralized back-end server and dashboard. We established a preimplementation field testing process for both projects, which involved a series of rapid and iterative tests to inform decisions and establish protocols around key components of the project. Important components of field testing included choosing a mobile phone that met project criteria, establishing an efficient workflow and accessible user interfaces for each component of the system, training and providing technical support to fieldworkers, and developing processes to integrate data from multiple sources into back-end systems that can be utilized in real-time. A well-planned implementation process is critical for successful use and performance of multimodal mobile surveillance systems. Guidelines for implementation include (1) the need to establish and allow time for an iterative testing framework for resolving technical and logistical challenges; (2) developing a streamlined

  18. Implementation of a Multimodal Mobile System for Point-of-Sale Surveillance: Lessons Learned From Case Studies in Washington, DC, and New York City

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganz, Ollie; Ilakkuvan, Vinu; Tacelosky, Michael; Kreslake, Jennifer; Moon-Howard, Joyce; Aidala, Angela; Vallone, Donna; Anesetti-Rothermel, Andrew; Kirchner, Thomas R

    2015-01-01

    Background In tobacco control and other fields, point-of-sale surveillance of the retail environment is critical for understanding industry marketing of products and informing public health practice. Innovations in mobile technology can improve existing, paper-based surveillance methods, yet few studies describe in detail how to operationalize the use of technology in public health surveillance. Objective The aims of this paper are to share implementation strategies and lessons learned from 2 tobacco, point-of-sale surveillance projects to inform and prepare public health researchers and practitioners to implement new mobile technologies in retail point-of-sale surveillance systems. Methods From 2011 to 2013, 2 point-of-sale surveillance pilot projects were conducted in Washington, DC, and New York, New York, to capture information about the tobacco retail environment and test the feasibility of a multimodal mobile data collection system, which included capabilities for audio or video recording data, electronic photographs, electronic location data, and a centralized back-end server and dashboard. We established a preimplementation field testing process for both projects, which involved a series of rapid and iterative tests to inform decisions and establish protocols around key components of the project. Results Important components of field testing included choosing a mobile phone that met project criteria, establishing an efficient workflow and accessible user interfaces for each component of the system, training and providing technical support to fieldworkers, and developing processes to integrate data from multiple sources into back-end systems that can be utilized in real-time. Conclusions A well-planned implementation process is critical for successful use and performance of multimodal mobile surveillance systems. Guidelines for implementation include (1) the need to establish and allow time for an iterative testing framework for resolving technical and

  19. Leader completes installation of process water evaporation system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon.

    2005-11-01

    The installation of a patent-pending evaporation system at a facility in northeast British Columbia was discussed. The system captures excess waste exhaust heat from natural gas-fired compressor engines and is used to evaporate process water. The disposal of process water is a major cost in the production of natural gas and is usually hauled and disposed at water disposal wells located off-site. The cost to truck and dispose of the water at the facility was estimated at between $30 to $40 per cubic metre. The evaporation system can evaporate 4 to 8 cubic metres of process water every 24 hours and has an estimated useful life of 20 years. The evaporator relies on heat that would otherwise be expelled directly into the atmosphere, and the systems are expected to provide substantial savings. A wide-ranging manufacturing and marketing strategy was expected to commence by the end of 2005. With rising energy prices, operators of facilities are seeking more efficient ways of managing energy needs. The system was created by Leader Energy Services Ltd., a company that provides essential field services for oil and gas well stimulation in Alberta.

  20. Electrical performance of ATLAS-SCT KB end-cap modules

    CERN Document Server

    D'Onofrio, M; Donegà, M; Ferrère, D; Mangin-Brinet, M; Mikulec, B; Weber, M; Ikegami, Y; Kohriki, T; Kondo, T; Terada, S; Unno, Y; Pernegger, H; Roe, S; Wallny, R; Moorhead, G F; Taylor, G; García, J E; Gonzáles, S; Vos, M A; Toczek, B

    2003-01-01

    The Semiconductor Tracker (SCT) is one of the ATLAS Inner Detector elements which aims to track charged particles in the ATLAS experiment. It consists of four cylindrical layers (barrels) of silicon strip detectors, with nine disks in each of the forward and backward directions. Carbon fibre structures will support a total of 4088 modules, which are the basic functional sub-unit of the SCT. Each module consists of single sided silicon micro-strip detectors glued back to back with a 40 mrad stereo-angle, and attached to a hybrid. The scope of this document is to present the electrical performances of prototype end-cap modules proposed for the ATLAS-SCT, as an alternative to the baseline. The layout of these modules is based on the implementation of the barrel module hybrid in the end-cap geometry. A complete set of electrical measurements is summarized in this paper, including irradiated module tests and beam tests.

  1. Operation management system evaluation in the central Finland health care district - end users' view of system implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemmetty, Kaisa; Häyrinen, Eija

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we evaluate the implementation of the operation management system in the Central Finland Health Care District. The implementation of the operation management system changed the practice of operation management for the surgical clinic and concerned 500 personnel in total. A survey was carried out to investigate the end users' views on the system's usefulness, usability and the training and user support provided. The users' possibilities to accomplish their tasks and the kind of obstacles they face in operation management were explored. The assessment revealed that more end support is needed after the system implementation, even though a generally positive attitude towards the system was manifested among the staff.

  2. Text mining a self-report back-translation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanch, Angel; Aluja, Anton

    2016-06-01

    There are several recommendations about the routine to undertake when back translating self-report instruments in cross-cultural research. However, text mining methods have been generally ignored within this field. This work describes a text mining innovative application useful to adapt a personality questionnaire to 12 different languages. The method is divided in 3 different stages, a descriptive analysis of the available back-translated instrument versions, a dissimilarity assessment between the source language instrument and the 12 back-translations, and an item assessment of item meaning equivalence. The suggested method contributes to improve the back-translation process of self-report instruments for cross-cultural research in 2 significant intertwined ways. First, it defines a systematic approach to the back translation issue, allowing for a more orderly and informed evaluation concerning the equivalence of different versions of the same instrument in different languages. Second, it provides more accurate instrument back-translations, which has direct implications for the reliability and validity of the instrument's test scores when used in different cultures/languages. In addition, this procedure can be extended to the back-translation of self-reports measuring psychological constructs in clinical assessment. Future research works could refine the suggested methodology and use additional available text mining tools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Book Review: The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

    OpenAIRE

    Rector, Shiela G

    2010-01-01

    The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs details the work of Sachs, a global economist in helping impoverished countries to improve their economy. His passion and sense of possibility for ending poverty is backed by real-life experience in a number of third world countries. He makes a call for the American government and citizens to take the challenge to end extreme world poverty by the year 2025. He also points out the vital role education plays in helping ...

  4. Perceptions of general practitioners towards the use of a new system for treating back pain: a qualitative interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Tom; Foster, Nadine E; Ong, Bie Nio

    2011-05-09

    Changing clinicians' behaviour is recognised as a major challenge. It is clear that behaviour change not only depends on demonstrating the proven effectiveness of clinical interventions; contextual and occupational factors, such as 'change readiness', may be central to their implementation. This paper highlights the context of behaviour change in relation to a healthcare innovation introduced within primary care, highlighting the importance of organisational and interpersonal factors that may help explain the dynamics of implementation. Qualitative interviews were conducted with general practitioners (GPs) before (n = 32) and after (n = 9) the introduction of a subgrouping for targeted treatment system. GPs were offered an electronic six-item subgrouping tool, to identify patients according to their risk of poor outcome ('high', 'low') in order to help inform their decision making about treatment approaches. Recruitment was based on a 'maximum diversification sample', to obtain a wide representation of views across all five practices. A coding scheme was developed based on the emergent findings, and the data were analysed using 'constant comparison', drawing upon insights and developing connections between themes. We adopted the normalisation process theory (NPT) to explain the uptake of the new system and to examine the relevance of coherence for the implementation of innovations in organisations. GPs perceived back pain as a low clinical priority, and highlighted the importance of 'practical' and 'relational' coherence in decisions to adopt and engage with the new subgrouping for targeted treatment system. Health professionals often engage in 'sense making' about new innovations to 'road test' their applicability or relevance to daily clinical routines. Low back pain was generally perceived as an 'uninteresting' and clinically unchallenging health problem by GPs, which may partly explain their lack of engagement with the new subgrouping for targeted treatment

  5. Perceptions of general practitioners towards the use of a new system for treating back pain: a qualitative interview study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Foster Nadine E

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Changing clinicians' behaviour is recognised as a major challenge. It is clear that behaviour change not only depends on demonstrating the proven effectiveness of clinical interventions; contextual and occupational factors, such as 'change readiness', may be central to their implementation. This paper highlights the context of behaviour change in relation to a healthcare innovation introduced within primary care, highlighting the importance of organisational and interpersonal factors that may help explain the dynamics of implementation. Methods Qualitative interviews were conducted with general practitioners (GPs before (n = 32 and after (n = 9 the introduction of a subgrouping for targeted treatment system. GPs were offered an electronic six-item subgrouping tool, to identify patients according to their risk of poor outcome ('high', 'low' in order to help inform their decision making about treatment approaches. Recruitment was based on a 'maximum diversification sample', to obtain a wide representation of views across all five practices. A coding scheme was developed based on the emergent findings, and the data were analysed using 'constant comparison', drawing upon insights and developing connections between themes. We adopted the normalisation process theory (NPT to explain the uptake of the new system and to examine the relevance of coherence for the implementation of innovations in organisations. Results GPs perceived back pain as a low clinical priority, and highlighted the importance of 'practical' and 'relational' coherence in decisions to adopt and engage with the new subgrouping for targeted treatment system. Health professionals often engage in 'sense making' about new innovations to 'road test' their applicability or relevance to daily clinical routines. Low back pain was generally perceived as an 'uninteresting' and clinically unchallenging health problem by GPs, which may partly explain their lack of engagement

  6. A multimedia campaign to improve back beliefs in patients with non-specific low back pain : a process evaluation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Suman, Arnela; Schaafsma, Frederieke G.; Bamarni, Jiman; Van Tulder, Maurits W.; Anema, Johannes R.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most prevalent and costly disorders worldwide. To reduce its burden in the Netherlands, implementation of a multidisciplinary guideline for LBP was supported by a multifaceted eHealth campaign for patients with LBP. The current study aims 1) to evaluate

  7. A multimedia campaign to improve back beliefs in patients with non-specific low back pain: a process evaluation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Suman, A.; Schaafsma, F.G.; Bamarni, J.; Tulder, M.W. van; Anema, J.R.

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most prevalent and costly disorders worldwide. To reduce its burden in the Netherlands, implementation of a multidisciplinary guideline for LBP was supported by a multifaceted eHealth campaign for patients with LBP. The current study aims 1) to evaluate

  8. Structure of the hexameric HerA ATPase reveals a mechanism of translocation-coupled DNA-end processing in archaea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rzechorzek, Neil J; Blackwood, John K; Bray, Sian M; Maman, Joseph D; Pellegrini, Luca; Robinson, Nicholas P

    2014-11-25

    The HerA ATPase cooperates with the NurA nuclease and the Mre11-Rad50 complex for the repair of double-strand DNA breaks in thermophilic archaea. Here we extend our structural knowledge of this minimal end-resection apparatus by presenting the first crystal structure of hexameric HerA. The full-length structure visualizes at atomic resolution the N-terminal HerA-ATP synthase domain and a conserved C-terminal extension, which acts as a physical brace between adjacent protomers. The brace also interacts in trans with nucleotide-binding residues of the neighbouring subunit. Our observations support a model in which the coaxial interaction of the HerA ring with the toroidal NurA dimer generates a continuous channel traversing the complex. HerA-driven translocation would propel the DNA towards the narrow annulus of NurA, leading to duplex melting and nucleolytic digestion. This system differs substantially from the bacterial end-resection paradigms. Our findings suggest a novel mode of DNA-end processing by this integrated archaeal helicase-nuclease machine.

  9. Heteropagus twinning on back -- a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Debnath, Bidyut; Biswas, Sumitra Kumar

    2011-07-01

    Heteropagus twins, also called parasitic twins, are malformation of the foetus where the development of one twin is incomplete. They are attached most commonly to the lower chest and upper abdomen. We report a case of heteropagus twin, where the parasite possessed well-formed limb as well as blind ending intestine. It was attached to the back of the host by a broad pedicle. We take this opportunity to classify areas of confusion prevailing regarding twinning, foetus in foetu, teratoma and caudal duplication.

  10. Further development and data basis for safety and accident analyses of nuclear front end and back end facilities and actualization and revision of calculation methods for nuclear safety analyses. Final report; Weiterentwicklung von Methoden und Datengrundlagen zu Sicherheits- und Stoerfallanalysen fuer Anlagen der nuklearen Ver- und Entsorgung sowie Aktualisierung und Ueberpruefung von Rechenmethoden zu nuklearen Sicherheitsanalysen. Abschlussbericht

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kilger, Robert; Peters, Elisabeth; Sommer, Fabian; Moser, Eberhard-Franz; Kessen, Sven; Stuke, Maik

    2016-07-15

    This report briefly describes the activities carried out under the project 3613R03350 on the GRS ''Handbook on Accident Analysis for Nuclear Front and Back End Facilities'', and in detail the continuing work on the revision and updating of the GRS ''Handbook on Criticality'', which here focused on fissile systems with plutonium and {sup 233}U. The in previous projects started and ongoing literature study on innovative fuel concepts is continued. Also described are the review and qualification of computational methods by research and active benchmark participation, and the results of tracking the state of science and technology in the field of computational methods for criticality safety analysis. Special in-depth analyzes of selected criticality-relevant occurrences in the past are also documented.

  11. CESAR cost-efficient methods and processes for safety-relevant embedded systems

    CERN Document Server

    Wahl, Thomas

    2013-01-01

    The book summarizes the findings and contributions of the European ARTEMIS project, CESAR, for improving and enabling interoperability of methods, tools, and processes to meet the demands in embedded systems development across four domains - avionics, automotive, automation, and rail. The contributions give insight to an improved engineering and safety process life-cycle for the development of safety critical systems. They present new concept of engineering tools integration platform to improve the development of safety critical embedded systems and illustrate capacity of this framework for end-user instantiation to specific domain needs and processes. They also advance state-of-the-art in component-based development as well as component and system validation and verification, with tool support. And finally they describe industry relevant evaluated processes and methods especially designed for the embedded systems sector as well as easy adoptable common interoperability principles for software tool integratio...

  12. New thinking imperative in a multinational partnership: towards the strengthening of the nuclear industry back-end

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dreimanis, A.

    2009-01-01

    An efficient way to increase safety and security in the use of nuclear energy nowadays is to develop multinational radioactive waste (RW) and spent fuel repositories - the nuclear industry back-end. The problem of multilevel consensus building for siting and construction of shared multinational/regional repositories for RW deep disposal is considered. We propose an interdisciplinary synergetic approach to multilevel consensus building for siting and construction of shared multinational repositories for RW deep disposal, based on self-organization (SO) of various stakeholders, chaos and fuzziness concepts as well as the principle of requisite variety. An entire partnering country is considered as a higher-level stakeholder - the national stakeholder, represented by the national government, being faced to simultaneous seeking an upward (international) and a downward (intra-national) consensus in a psychologically stressed environment, possibly being characterized by diverse political, economic and social interests. There is deduced: a) building of international stakeholder consensus would be promoted by activating on the international scale multilateral interactions between intra- and international stakeholders, including web-based networks of disposal site investigations and decision-making, as well as networks for international cooperation among government authorities in nuclear safety, b) gradual progress in intergovernmental consensus and reaching multilateral agreements on shared deep repositories will be the result of dialogue, via observing the whole set of various interests and common resolving of emerged controversies by using advanced synergetic approaches of conflict resolution, and c) knowledge, mental flexibility and creativity are considered as basic prerogatives for gaining a higher level of mutual understanding and consensus, for advancing the preparedness to act together and achieving desired shared goals. It is proposed: self-organized social

  13. Persistent Back End for the ATLAS Information Service of Trigger and Data Acquisition

    CERN Document Server

    Sicoe, Alexandru

    ATLAS is the largest of several experiments built along the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva. Its aim is to measure particle production when protons collide at a very high center of mass energy, thus reproducing the behavior of matter a few instants after the big bang. The detecting techniques used for this purpose are very sophisticated and the amount of digitized data created by the sensing elements requires a very large data acquisition system, based on thousands of interconnected computers. The experiment is successfully taking data since the end of 2008 and the trigger and data acquisition are now in a production stage.The main development eorts are guided towards adding easy to use and intuitive tools to aid experts monitor dierent components or subsystems. P BEAST is an example of such a tool. It facilitates the storage of vast amounts of operational information which is otherwise lost. With this data at hand, long term analysis can be made and issues discovered. The project has reached deployment...

  14. AREVA Technical Days (ATD) session 2: operations of the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle; AREVA Technical Days (ATD) session 2: les activites du pole Aval du cycle du combustible nucleaire

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-07-01

    These technical days organized by the Areva Group aims to explain the group activities in a technological and economic point of view, to provide an outlook of worldwide energy trends and challenges and to present each of their businesses in a synthetic manner. This second session deals with the reprocessing business, back-end financing mechanisms, technology transfer, environmental management, risk management programs, research and development contribution to waste volume reductions, issues and outlook of nuclear wastes, comparison of the open and closed cycles. (A.L.B.)

  15. Understanding cultural influences on back pain and back pain research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henschke, Nicholas; Lorenz, Eva; Pokora, Roman; Michaleff, Zoe A; Quartey, Jonathan N A; Oliveira, Vinicius Cunha

    2016-12-01

    Low back pain is highly prevalent and places a considerable burden on individuals, their families and communities. This back pain burden is unequally distributed around the world and within populations. Clinicians and researchers addressing back pain should be aware of the cultural, social and political context of back pain patients and how this context can influence pain perception, disability and health care use. Culture, which influences the beliefs and behaviour of individuals within a social group, could be considered an important contributor to the unequal distribution of back pain. However, there is paucity of high-quality research exploring the influence of culture on the experience and management of back pain. Further development and testing of specific tools, assessment methods and communication strategies are needed to improve our understanding of how cultural practices, values and identifications affect those dealing with back pain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Adaptive digital back-propagation for optical communication systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lin, C.-Y.; Napoli, A.; Spinnler, B.; Sleiffer, V.A.J.M.; Rafique, D.; Kuschnerov, M.; Bohn, M.; Schmauss, B.

    2014-01-01

    We propose an adaptive digital back-propagation method (A-DBP) to selfdetermine unknown fiber nonlinear coefficient gamma. Performance is experimentally verified with 10224-Gb/s POLMUX-16QAM over 656km. Optimal DBP performance, without knowledge of gamma, is obtained by A-DBP.

  17. Electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) use during smoking cessation: a qualitative study of 40 Oklahoma quitline callers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vickerman, Katrina A; Beebe, Laura A; Schauer, Gillian L; Magnusson, Brooke; King, Brian A

    2017-04-01

    Approximately 10% (40 000) of US quitline enrollees who smoke cigarettes report current use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS); however, little is known about callers' ENDS use. Our aim was to describe why and how quitline callers use ENDS, their beliefs about ENDS and the impact of ENDS use on callers' quit processes and use of FDA-approved cessation medications. Qualitative interviews conducted 1-month postregistration. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, double-coded and analysed to identify themes. Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. 40 callers aged ≥18 who were seeking help to quit smoking were using ENDS at registration and completed ≥1 programme calls. At 1-month postregistration interview, 80% of callers had smoked cigarettes in the last 7 days, almost two-thirds were using ENDS, and half were using cessation medications. Nearly all believed ENDS helped them quit or cut down on smoking; however, participants were split on whether they would recommend cessation medications, ENDS or both together for quitting. Confusion and misinformation about potential harms of ENDS and cessation medications were reported. Participants reported using ENDS in potentially adaptive ways (eg, using ENDS to cut down and nicotine replacement therapy to quit, and stepping down nicotine in ENDS to wean off ENDS after quitting) and maladaptive ways (eg, frequent automatic ENDS use, using ENDS in situations they did not previously smoke, cutting down on smoking using ENDS without a schedule or plan to quit), which could impact the likelihood of quitting smoking or continuing ENDS use. These qualitative findings suggest quitline callers who use ENDS experience confusion and misinformation about ENDS and FDA-approved cessation medications. Callers also use ENDS in ways that may not facilitate quitting smoking. Opportunities exist for quitlines to educate ENDS users and help them create a coordinated plan most likely to result in completely quitting combustible tobacco

  18. A Web-Based Information System for Field Data Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Y. H.; Sun, F. S.

    2014-12-01

    A web-based field data management system has been designed and developed to allow field geologists to store, organize, manage, and share field data online. System requirements were analyzed and clearly defined first regarding what data are to be stored, who the potential users are, and what system functions are needed in order to deliver the right data in the right way to the right user. A 3-tiered architecture was adopted to create this secure, scalable system that consists of a web browser at the front end while a database at the back end and a functional logic server in the middle. Specifically, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript were used to implement the user interface in the front-end tier, the Apache web server runs PHP scripts, and MySQL to server is used for the back-end database. The system accepts various types of field information, including image, audio, video, numeric, and text. It allows users to select data and populate them on either Google Earth or Google Maps for the examination of the spatial relations. It also makes the sharing of field data easy by converting them into XML format that is both human-readable and machine-readable, and thus ready for reuse.

  19. MarsSI: Martian surface data processing information system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quantin-Nataf, C.; Lozac'h, L.; Thollot, P.; Loizeau, D.; Bultel, B.; Fernando, J.; Allemand, P.; Dubuffet, F.; Poulet, F.; Ody, A.; Clenet, H.; Leyrat, C.; Harrisson, S.

    2018-01-01

    MarsSI (Acronym for Mars System of Information, https://emars.univ-lyon1.fr/MarsSI/, is a web Geographic Information System application which helps managing and processing martian orbital data. The MarsSI facility is part of the web portal called PSUP (Planetary SUrface Portal) developed by the Observatories of Paris Sud (OSUPS) and Lyon (OSUL) to provide users with efficient and easy access to data products dedicated to the martian surface. The portal proposes 1) the management and processing of data thanks to MarsSI and 2) the visualization and merging of high level (imagery, spectral, and topographic) products and catalogs via a web-based user interface (MarsVisu). The portal PSUP as well as the facility MarsVisu is detailed in a companion paper (Poulet et al., 2018). The purpose of this paper is to describe the facility MarsSI. From this application, users are able to easily and rapidly select observations, process raw data via automatic pipelines, and get back final products which can be visualized under Geographic Information Systems. Moreover, MarsSI also contains an automatic stereo-restitution pipeline in order to produce Digital Terrain Models (DTM) on demand from HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) or CTX (Context Camera) pair-images. This application is funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) (ERC project eMars, No. 280168) and has been developed in the scope of Mars, but the design is applicable to any other planetary body of the solar system.

  20. Synchronization of chaotic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pecora, Louis M.; Carroll, Thomas L.

    2015-01-01

    We review some of the history and early work in the area of synchronization in chaotic systems. We start with our own discovery of the phenomenon, but go on to establish the historical timeline of this topic back to the earliest known paper. The topic of synchronization of chaotic systems has always been intriguing, since chaotic systems are known to resist synchronization because of their positive Lyapunov exponents. The convergence of the two systems to identical trajectories is a surprise. We show how people originally thought about this process and how the concept of synchronization changed over the years to a more geometric view using synchronization manifolds. We also show that building synchronizing systems leads naturally to engineering more complex systems whose constituents are chaotic, but which can be tuned to output various chaotic signals. We finally end up at a topic that is still in very active exploration today and that is synchronization of dynamical systems in networks of oscillators

  1. Disappearance of back-to-back high-pT hadron correlations in central Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s NN ] =200 GeV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adler, C; Ahammed, Z; Allgower, C; Amonett, J; Anderson, B D; Anderson, M; Averichev, G S; Balewski, J; Barannikova, O; Barnby, L S; Baudot, J; Bekele, S; Belaga, V V; Bellwied, R; Berger, J; Bichsel, H; Billmeier, A; Bland, L C; Blyth, C O; Bonner, B E; Boucham, A; Brandin, A; Bravar, A; Cadman, R V; Caines, H; Calderón de la Barca Sánchez, M; Cardenas, A; Carroll, J; Castillo, J; Castro, M; Cebra, D; Chaloupka, P; Chattopadhyay, S; Chen, Y; Chernenko, S P; Cherney, M; Chikanian, A; Choi, B; Christie, W; Coffin, J P; Cormier, T M; Corral, M M; Cramer, J G; Crawford, H J; Derevschikov, A A; Didenko, L; Dietel, T; Draper, J E; Dunin, V B; Dunlop, J C; Eckardt, V; Efimov, L G; Emelianov, V; Engelage, J; Eppley, G; Erazmus, B; Fachini, P; Faine, V; Faivre, J; Fatemi, R; Filimonov, K; Finch, E; Fisyak, Y; Flierl, D; Foley, K J; Fu, J; Gagliardi, C A; Gagunashvili, N; Gans, J; Gaudichet, L; Germain, M; Geurts, F; Ghazikhanian, V; Grachov, O; Grigoriev, V; Guedon, M; Gushin, E; Hallman, T J; Hardtke, D; Harris, J W; Henry, T W; Heppelmann, S; Herston, T; Hippolyte, B; Hirsch, A; Hjort, E; Hoffmann, G W; Horsley, M; Huang, H Z; Humanic, T J; Igo, G; Ishihara, A; Ivanshin, Yu I; Jacobs, P; Jacobs, W W; Janik, M; Johnson, I; Jones, P G; Judd, E G; Kaneta, M; Kaplan, M; Keane, D; Kiryluk, J; Kisiel, A; Klay, J; Klein, S R; Klyachko, A; Kollegger, T; Konstantinov, A S; Kopytine, M; Kotchenda, L; Kovalenko, A D; Kramer, M; Kravtsov, P; Krueger, K; Kuhn, C; Kulikov, A I; Kunde, G J; Kunz, C L; Kutuev, R Kh; Kuznetsov, A A; Lakehal-Ayat, L; Lamont, M A C; Landgraf, J M; Lange, S; Lansdell, C P; Lasiuk, B; Laue, F; Lauret, J; Lebedev, A; Lednický, R; Leontiev, V M; LeVine, M J; Li, Q; Lindenbaum, S J; Lisa, M A; Liu, F; Liu, L; Liu, Z; Liu, Q J; Ljubicic, T; Llope, W J; LoCurto, G; Long, H; Longacre, R S; Lopez-Noriega, M; Love, W A; Ludlam, T; Lynn, D; Ma, J; Magestro, D; Majka, R; Margetis, S; Markert, C; Martin, L; Marx, J; Matis, H S; Matulenko, Yu A; McShane, T S; Meissner, F; Melnick, Yu; Meschanin, A; Messer, M; Miller, M L; Milosevich, Z; Minaev, N G; Mitchell, J; Moore, C F; Morozov, V; de Moura, M M; Munhoz, M G; Nelson, J M; Nevski, P; Nikitin, V A; Nogach, L V; Norman, B; Nurushev, S B; Odyniec, G; Ogawa, A; Okorokov, V; Oldenburg, M; Olson, D; Paic, G; Pandey, S U; Panebratsev, Y; Panitkin, S Y; Pavlinov, A I; Pawlak, T; Perevoztchikov, V; Peryt, W; Petrov, V A; Planinic, M; Pluta, J; Porile, N; Porter, J; Poskanzer, A M; Potrebenikova, E; Prindle, D; Pruneau, C; Putschke, J; Rai, G; Rakness, G; Ravel, O; Ray, R L; Razin, S V; Reichhold, D; Reid, J G; Renault, G; Retiere, F; Ridiger, A; Ritter, H G; Roberts, J B; Rogachevski, O V; Romero, J L; Rose, A; Roy, C; Rykov, V; Sakrejda, I; Salur, S; Sandweiss, J; Savin, I; Schambach, J; Scharenberg, R P; Schmitz, N; Schroeder, L S; Schüttauf, A; Schweda, K; Seger, J; Seliverstov, D; Seyboth, P; Shahaliev, E; Shestermanov, K E; Shimanskii, S S; Simon, F; Skoro, G; Smirnov, N; Snellings, R; Sorensen, P; Sowinski, J; Spinka, H M; Srivastava, B; Stephenson, E J; Stock, R; Stolpovsky, A; Strikhanov, M; Stringfellow, B; Struck, C; Suaide, A A P; Sugarbaker, E; Suire, C; Sumbera, M; Surrow, B; Symons, T J M; Szanto de Toledo, A; Szarwas, P; Tai, A; Takahashi, J; Tang, A H; Thein, D; Thomas, J H; Thompson, M; Tikhomirov, V; Tokarev, M; Tonjes, M B; Trainor, T A; Trentalange, S; Tribble, R E; Trofimov, V; Tsai, O; Ullrich, T; Underwood, D G; Van Buren, G; VanderMolen, A M; Vasilevski, I M; Vasiliev, A N; Vigdor, S E; Voloshin, S A; Wang, F; Ward, H; Watson, J W; Wells, R; Westfall, G D; Whitten, C; Wieman, H; Willson, R; Wissink, S W; Witt, R; Wood, J; Xu, N; Xu, Z; Yakutin, A E; Yamamoto, E; Yang, J; Yepes, P; Yurevich, V I; Zanevski, Y V; Zborovský, I; Zhang, H; Zhang, W M; Zoulkarneev, R; Zubarev, A N

    2003-02-28

    Azimuthal correlations for large transverse momentum charged hadrons have been measured over a wide pseudorapidity range and full azimuth in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=200 GeV. The small-angle correlations observed in p+p collisions and at all centralities of Au+Au collisions are characteristic of hard-scattering processes previously observed in high-energy collisions. A strong back-to-back correlation exists for p+p and peripheral Au+Au. In contrast, the back-to-back correlations are reduced considerably in the most central Au+Au collisions, indicating substantial interaction as the hard-scattered partons or their fragmentation products traverse the medium.

  2. Technical characteristics of the TRISPAL system high-energy end

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meot, F.

    1996-04-01

    This document presents an overview of the principle design of the high-energy end of the TRISPAL high-intensity LINAC system, with detailed schemes of the different constituent parts and of the beam envelopes. This schemes are presented with the geometric and magnetic parameters of the optical elements. The aim of this document is to allow the cost evaluation of the complete system. (J.S.). 5 refs., 5 figs., 5 tabs., 1 append

  3. Back pain in seniors: the Back pain Outcomes using Longitudinal Data (BOLD) cohort baseline data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarvik, Jeffrey G; Comstock, Bryan A; Heagerty, Patrick J; Turner, Judith A; Sullivan, Sean D; Shi, Xu; Nerenz, David R; Nedeljkovic, Srdjan S; Kessler, Larry; James, Kathryn; Friedly, Janna L; Bresnahan, Brian W; Bauer, Zoya; Avins, Andrew L; Deyo, Richard A

    2014-04-23

    Back pain represents a substantial burden globally, ranking first in a recent assessment among causes of years lived with disability. Though back pain is widely studied among working age adults, there are gaps with respect to basic descriptive epidemiology among seniors, especially in the United States. Our goal was to describe how pain, function and health-related quality of life vary by demographic and geographic factors among seniors presenting to primary care providers with new episodes of care for back pain. We examined baseline data from the Back pain Outcomes using Longitudinal Data (BOLD) registry, the largest inception cohort to date of seniors presenting to a primary care provider for back pain. The sample included 5,239 patients ≥ 65 years old with a new primary care visit for back pain at three integrated health systems (Northern California Kaiser-Permanente, Henry Ford Health System [Detroit], and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates [Boston]). We examined differences in patient characteristics across healthcare sites and associations of patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics with baseline patient-reported measures of pain, function, and health-related quality of life. Patients differed across sites in demographic and other characteristics. The Detroit site had more African-American patients (50%) compared with the other sites (7-8%). The Boston site had more college graduates (68%) compared with Detroit (20%). Female sex, lower educational status, African-American race, and older age were associated with worse functional disability as measured by the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. Except for age, these factors were also associated with worse pain. Baseline pain and functional impairment varied substantially with a number of factors in the BOLD cohort. Healthcare site was an important factor. After controlling for healthcare site, lower education, female sex, African-American race, and older age were associated with worse

  4. High-Frequency Wireless Communications System: 2.45-GHz Front-End Circuit and System Integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, M.-H.; Huang, M.-C.; Ting, Y.-C.; Chen, H.-H.; Li, T.-L.

    2010-01-01

    In this article, a course on high-frequency wireless communications systems is presented. With the 145-MHz baseband subsystem available from a prerequisite course, the present course emphasizes the design and implementation of the 2.45-GHz front-end subsystem as well as system integration issues. In this curriculum, the 2.45-GHz front-end…

  5. OISI dynamic end-to-end modeling tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersten, Michael; Weidler, Alexander; Wilhelm, Rainer; Johann, Ulrich A.; Szerdahelyi, Laszlo

    2000-07-01

    The OISI Dynamic end-to-end modeling tool is tailored to end-to-end modeling and dynamic simulation of Earth- and space-based actively controlled optical instruments such as e.g. optical stellar interferometers. `End-to-end modeling' is meant to denote the feature that the overall model comprises besides optical sub-models also structural, sensor, actuator, controller and disturbance sub-models influencing the optical transmission, so that the system- level instrument performance due to disturbances and active optics can be simulated. This tool has been developed to support performance analysis and prediction as well as control loop design and fine-tuning for OISI, Germany's preparatory program for optical/infrared spaceborne interferometry initiated in 1994 by Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH in Friedrichshafen.

  6. Sedimentary architecture of a Plio-Pleistocene proto-back-arc basin: Wanganui Basin, New Zealand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proust, Jean-Noël; Lamarche, Geoffroy; Nodder, Scott; Kamp, Peter J. J.

    2005-11-01

    the Axial Ranges at ca 1.75 Ma, resulting in 5100-5700 m of differential subsidence across the fault system. Sedimentation has propagated south- to southeast-ward over the last 4 Myrs at the tip of successive back-arc graben, volcanic arcs and the associated thermally uplifted parts of the North Island, following the southward migration of the Hikurangi subduction margin. Subsidence occurred by mantle flow-driven flexure, the result of active down-drag of the lithosphere by locking of the Hikurangi subduction interface and sediment loading. The WB is considered to be a proto-back-arc basin that represents the intermediate stage of evolution of an epicratonic shelf platform, impacted by active margin processes.

  7. The back pain beliefs of health care providers : Are we fear-avoidant?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Linton, Steven J.; Vlaeyen, Johan; Ostelo, Raymond

    2002-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to survey the level of fear-avoidance beliefs for practicing general practitioners and physical therapists and to relate this to self-reported practice behaviors for patients with back pain. To this end, 60 general practitioners and 71 physical therapists were

  8. End-to-End Security for Personal Telehealth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koster, R.P.; Asim, M.; Petkovic, M.

    2011-01-01

    Personal telehealth is in rapid development with innovative emerging applications like disease management. With personal telehealth people participate in their own care supported by an open distributed system with health services. This poses new end-to-end security and privacy challenges. In this

  9. Minimizing Barriers in Learning for On-Call Radiology Residents-End-to-End Web-Based Resident Feedback System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Hailey H; Clark, Jennifer; Jay, Ann K; Filice, Ross W

    2018-02-01

    Feedback is an essential part of medical training, where trainees are provided with information regarding their performance and further directions for improvement. In diagnostic radiology, feedback entails a detailed review of the differences between the residents' preliminary interpretation and the attendings' final interpretation of imaging studies. While the on-call experience of independently interpreting complex cases is important to resident education, the more traditional synchronous "read-out" or joint review is impossible due to multiple constraints. Without an efficient method to compare reports, grade discrepancies, convey salient teaching points, and view images, valuable lessons in image interpretation and report construction are lost. We developed a streamlined web-based system, including report comparison and image viewing, to minimize barriers in asynchronous communication between attending radiologists and on-call residents. Our system provides real-time, end-to-end delivery of case-specific and user-specific feedback in a streamlined, easy-to-view format. We assessed quality improvement subjectively through surveys and objectively through participation metrics. Our web-based feedback system improved user satisfaction for both attending and resident radiologists, and increased attending participation, particularly with regards to cases where substantive discrepancies were identified.

  10. Reducing environmental burdens of solid-state lighting through end-of-life design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hendrickson, C T; Matthews, D H; Ashe, M; Jaramillo, P; McMichael, F C

    2010-01-01

    With 20% of US electricity used for lighting, energy efficient solid-state lighting technology could have significant benefits. While energy efficiency in use is important, the life cycle cost, energy and environmental impacts of light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting could be reduced by reusing, remanufacturing or recycling components of the end products. Design decisions at this time for the nascent technology can reduce material and manufacturing burdens by considering the ease of disassembly, potential for remanufacturing, and recovery of parts and materials for reuse and recycling. We use teardowns of three commercial solid-state lighting products designed to fit in conventional Edison light bulb sockets to analyze potential end-of-life reuse strategies for solid-state lighting and recommend strategies for the industry. Current lamp designs would benefit from standardization of part connections to facilitate disassembly and remanufacturing of components, and fewer material types in structural pieces to maximize homogeneous materials recovery. The lighting industry should also start now to develop an effective product take-back system for collecting future end-of-life products.

  11. Reducing environmental burdens of solid-state lighting through end-of-life design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hendrickson, C T; Matthews, D H; Ashe, M; Jaramillo, P; McMichael, F C, E-mail: cth@cmu.ed [Green Design Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (United States)

    2010-01-15

    With 20% of US electricity used for lighting, energy efficient solid-state lighting technology could have significant benefits. While energy efficiency in use is important, the life cycle cost, energy and environmental impacts of light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting could be reduced by reusing, remanufacturing or recycling components of the end products. Design decisions at this time for the nascent technology can reduce material and manufacturing burdens by considering the ease of disassembly, potential for remanufacturing, and recovery of parts and materials for reuse and recycling. We use teardowns of three commercial solid-state lighting products designed to fit in conventional Edison light bulb sockets to analyze potential end-of-life reuse strategies for solid-state lighting and recommend strategies for the industry. Current lamp designs would benefit from standardization of part connections to facilitate disassembly and remanufacturing of components, and fewer material types in structural pieces to maximize homogeneous materials recovery. The lighting industry should also start now to develop an effective product take-back system for collecting future end-of-life products.

  12. Investigation on Effect of Material Hardness in High Speed CNC End Milling Process

    OpenAIRE

    Dhandapani, N. V.; Thangarasu, V. S.; Sureshkannan, G.

    2015-01-01

    This research paper analyzes the effects of material properties on surface roughness, material removal rate, and tool wear on high speed CNC end milling process with various ferrous and nonferrous materials. The challenge of material specific decision on the process parameters of spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut, coolant flow rate, cutting tool material, and type of coating for the cutting tool for required quality and quantity of production is addressed. Generally, decision made by the...

  13. Infrared thermography quantitative image processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skouroliakou, A.; Kalatzis, I.; Kalyvas, N.; Grivas, TB

    2017-11-01

    Infrared thermography is an imaging technique that has the ability to provide a map of temperature distribution of an object’s surface. It is considered for a wide range of applications in medicine as well as in non-destructive testing procedures. One of its promising medical applications is in orthopaedics and diseases of the musculoskeletal system where temperature distribution of the body’s surface can contribute to the diagnosis and follow up of certain disorders. Although the thermographic image can give a fairly good visual estimation of distribution homogeneity and temperature pattern differences between two symmetric body parts, it is important to extract a quantitative measurement characterising temperature. Certain approaches use temperature of enantiomorphic anatomical points, or parameters extracted from a Region of Interest (ROI). A number of indices have been developed by researchers to that end. In this study a quantitative approach in thermographic image processing is attempted based on extracting different indices for symmetric ROIs on thermograms of the lower back area of scoliotic patients. The indices are based on first order statistical parameters describing temperature distribution. Analysis and comparison of these indices result in evaluating the temperature distribution pattern of the back trunk expected in healthy, regarding spinal problems, subjects.

  14. Staduim Management Information System. A Casestudy Of Dan Anyiam Stadium Owerri Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanze B.C

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT This paper was centered on computerized stadium information management system. It is worthy to note that the current process of information management is being operated manually and due to this procedure numerous problems are encountered especially in the management of the crowd and ticket processing. The motivation of the software is to eliminate the manual procedures in the stadium and proper auditing is carried out in ensuring that those selling the tickets are authorized personal. The objective of the system is to successfully implement the computerized procedure and to overcome the obstacle that would hinder the successful implementation of the system. Research methodology practical and objective research techniques was used to outlines the way in which research was undertaken and among other things. The new system which is the expected data provides management software and advisory services to the sports and entertainment sector the new system was designed using Microsoft visual studio 2010 Ultimate as the front end and Microsoft SQL server as the back end. This language was chosen because it is easy to read and understand. It is real time and user friendly.

  15. Italian WEEE management system and treatment of end-of-life cooling and freezing equipments for CFCs removal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sansotera, M., E-mail: maurizio.sansotera@polimi.it [Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica, Politecnico di Milano, via Mancinelli 7, I-20131 Milano (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali (INSTM), via Giusti 9, I-50121 Firenze (Italy); Navarrini, W. [Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica, Politecnico di Milano, via Mancinelli 7, I-20131 Milano (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali (INSTM), via Giusti 9, I-50121 Firenze (Italy); Talaeemashhadi, S.; Venturini, F. [Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica, Politecnico di Milano, via Mancinelli 7, I-20131 Milano (Italy)

    2013-06-15

    Highlights: • Italian data about WEEE management in the period 2005–2010 have been reported. • In 2001–2004 CFC release was monitored and Po Valley resulted as main source region. • The Italian directive on WEEE management was enacted in 2005 but took effect in 2008. • The CFC analytic procedures of the audit assessments have been discussed. - Abstract: This study presents and analyzes the data of the Italian system for take-back and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEEs) in the start-up period 2008–2010. The analysis was focused particularly on the data about the treatment of end-of-life cooling and freezing equipments. In fact, the wastes of cooling and freezing equipments have a high environmental impact. Indeed, in their compressor oil and insulation polyurethane (PU) foams chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) ozone-depleting gases are still present. In the period 2001–2004 Northern Italy resulted the main source in Europe of CFCs. The European Directive on WEEE management was enacted in 2002, but in Italy it was implemented by the legislative Decree in 2005 and it became operational in 2008. Actually, in 2008 the national WEEE Coordination Centre was founded in order to organize the WEEE pick-up process and to control collection, recovery and recycling targets. As a result, in 2010 the average WEEE collection per capita exceeded the threshold of more than 4 kg per inhabitant, as well as cooling and freezing appliances represented more than one fourth of the Italian WEEE collection stream. During the treatment of end-of-life cooling and freezing equipments, CFCs were recovered and disposed principally by burner methods. The analyses of defined specimens collected in the treatment facilities were standardized to reliably determine the amount of recovered CFCs. Samples of alkaline solid salt, alkaline saline solution, polyurethane matrix and compressor oil collected during the audit assessment procedure were analyzed and the results

  16. Recent studies related to head-end fuel processing at the Hanford PUREX plant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Swanson, J.L.

    1988-08-01

    This report presents the results of studies addressing several problems in the head-end processing (decladding, metathesis, and core dissolution) of N Reactor fuel elements in the Hanford PUREX plant. These studies were conducted over 2 years: FY 1986 and FY 1987. The studies were divided into three major areas: 1) differences in head-end behavior of fuels having different histories, 2) suppression of /sup 106/Ru volatilization when the ammonia scrubber solution resulting from decladding is decontaminated by distillation prior to being discharged, and 3) suitability of flocculating agents for lowering the amount of transuranic (TRU) element-containing solids that accompany the decladding solution to waste. 16 refs., 43 figs.

  17. End-User Development of Visualizations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lauesen, Søren; Pantazos, Kostas

    2016-01-01

    view. With uVis, developers construct a visualization from simple visual components such as boxes, curvePoints, and textboxes. All component properties such as Top and BackColor can be complex formulas similar to spreadsheet formulas. The operands in the formula can address relational data......In this article the authors investigated a visualization tool (uVis) for end-user developers, in order to see how end users actually use it. The tool was an early version and the investigation helped the authors to improve it. The investigation showed that users appreciated the simple formula...... language, the coordinated panels, and the drag-and-drop mechanism. However, the most important thing for them was the immediate response when they changed something, for instance part of a formula. The entire visualization was updated immediately without having to switch from development view to production...

  18. Data-driven design of fault diagnosis systems nonlinear multimode processes

    CERN Document Server

    Haghani Abandan Sari, Adel

    2014-01-01

    In many industrial applications early detection and diagnosis of abnormal behavior of the plant is of great importance. During the last decades, the complexity of process plants has been drastically increased, which imposes great challenges in development of model-based monitoring approaches and it sometimes becomes unrealistic for modern large-scale processes. The main objective of Adel Haghani Abandan Sari is to study efficient fault diagnosis techniques for complex industrial systems using process historical data and considering the nonlinear behavior of the process. To this end, different methods are presented to solve the fault diagnosis problem based on the overall behavior of the process and its dynamics. Moreover, a novel technique is proposed for fault isolation and determination of the root-cause of the faults in the system, based on the fault impacts on the process measurements. Contents Process monitoring Fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control Data-driven approaches and decision making Target...

  19. Method for assembling dynamoelectric machine end shield parts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomson, J.M.

    1984-01-01

    Methods, apparatus, and systems are provided for automatically assembling end shield assemblies of subassemblies for electric motors. In a preferred form, a system and methods are provided that utilize a non-palletized, non-synchronous concept to convey end shields through a number of assembly stations. At process stations situated along a conveyor, operations are performed on components. One method includes controlling traffic of sub-assemblies by toggle type escapements. A stop or latch of unique design stops end shield components in midstream, and ''lifts'' of unique design disengage parts from the conveyor and also support such parts during various operations. Photo-optic devices and proximity and reed switch mechanisms are utilized for control purposes. The work stations involved in one system include a unique assembly and pressing station involving oil well covers; a unique feed wick seating system; a unique lubricant adding operation; and unique ''building block'' mechanisms and methods

  20. Mechanistic Models for Process Development and Optimization of Fed-batch Fermentation Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mears, Lisa; Stocks, Stuart M.; Albæk, Mads O.

    2016-01-01

    This work discusses the application of mechanistic models to pilot scale filamentous fungal fermentation systems operated at Novozymes A/S. For on-line applications, a state estimator model is developed based on a stoichiometric balance in order to predict the biomass and product concentration....... This is based on on-line gas measurements and ammonia addition flow rate measurements. Additionally, a mechanistic model is applied offline as a tool for batch planning, based on definition of the process back pressure, aeration rate and stirrer speed. This allows the batch starting fill to be planned, taking...... into account the oxygen transfer conditions, as well as the evaporation rates of the system. Mechanistic models are valuable tools which are applicable for both process development and optimization. The state estimator described will be a valuable tool for future work as part of control strategy development...