Feasibility Study-II examined a high-performance Neutrino Factory providing 1 x 10{sup 20} neutrinos per year aimed at a long-baseline detector. The Study was sponsored jointly by BNL and the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider Collaboration ration (MC) and is based on a 1 MW proton driver operating at 24 GeV, i.e., an upgraded version of the AGS accelerator. Compared with the earlier FNAL-sponsored study (Feasibility Study-I), there is a sixfold improvement in performance. Here we describe details of the implementation of Study-II concepts and discuss their efficacy. Alternative approaches that will be pursued in follow-on R and D activities are also described briefly.
BackgroundIn an effort to promote healthy ageing and preserve health and function, the government of Chile has formulated a package of actions into the Programme for Complementary...Full Text Available
Statistically based experimental designs were applied to screen and optimize the bioleaching of spent hydrocracking catalyst by Penicillium simplicissimum. Eleven factors were examined for their significance on bioleaching using a Plackett-Burman factorialdesign. Four significant variables (pulp density, sucrose, NaNO"3, and yeast extract concentrations) were selected for the optimization studies. The combined effect of these variables on metal bioleaching was studied using a central composite design (CCD). Second-order polynomials were established to identify the relationship between the recovery percent of the metals and the four significant variables. The optimal values of the variables for maximum metals bioleaching were as follows: pulp density (4.0%, w/v), sucrose (90g/L), NaNO"3 (2...
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) via Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to optimize the alkaline hydrolysis of paddy straw to improve ferulic acid extraction. The parameters involved, namely temperature (^oC), concentration of NaOH (M) and duration of extraction (h) are screened by Full FactorialStudies (FFD). The result obtained from FFD was 0.518% (5.18mg/g). The interactions between each parameters involved were studied using Central Composite Design (CCD). Upon optimization, the percentage of ferulic acid improved from 0.518% to 0.817% (8.17mg/g). The optimum conditions obtained from this study are 125^oC, 3.90M, 2.30h for temperature, concentration of NaOH and extraction time, respectively. This result shows a significant improvement than the previous published work. Details o...
Statistical design of experiments is widely used among scientists and engineers to understand influential factors in a laboratory or manufacturing process. One of the underlying principles of...Full Text Available
Abstract Acid-treated cobia (Rachycentron canadum) skin was extracted in a retort (121C) to obtain retorted skin gelatin hydrolysates (RSGHs) containing antioxidant peptides with noticeable antioxidant properties. To improve the antioxidant activity of cobia RSGHs, five processing factors including alkali concentration, alkali pretreatment time, phosphoric acid concentration (PC), water/skin ratio (WS) and retorting time (RT) in RSGH production were screened using a fractional factorialdesign to identify critical factors. It indicated that PC, WS and RT had significant effects on ,-diphenyl--picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging by RSGHs. Subsequently, the optimization of PC, WS and RT on the DPPH scavenging of RSGHs was studied using a central composite design to collect data that resulted in...
Energy use patterns and utilisation efficiencies in 40 factories producing palm kernel oil (PKO) in southwestern part of Nigeria were studied. The factories were stratified into small, medium and large scale categories based on the mode of operations and production capacities. Questionnaires were administered on the factories to obtain historical data on petrol, diesel and electricity consumption and PKO production outputs for seven years (1998-2004). Energy use efficiency indicators employed include: energy intensity (EI), energy cost per unit product (EC/P), energy ratio (ER), food energy ratio (FER) and percentage oil yield by weight. Results of the study indicated that averagely, 0.58, 0.53 and 0.74GJ/103l of PKO were needed in the small, medium and large PKO factories, respectively. T...
Radionuclide X-ray fluorescence method with a Si/Li semiconductor detector and "2"3"8Pu exciting source was used in the study of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb content of solid emissions, raw and final materials of a brick factory. From the point of view of metal content, the working environment if the brick factory is safe for workers. (author) 2 refs.; 2 figs.; 1 tab.
Experiments based on a 23 central composite full factorialdesign were carried out in 200-ml stainless-steel containers to study the pretreatment, with dilute sulfuric acid, of a sugarcane bagasse sample obtained from a local sugar?alcohol mill. The independent variables selected for study were temperature, varied from 112.5?C to 157.5?C, residence time, varied from 5.0 to 35.0 min, and sulfuric acid concentration, varied from 0.0% to 3.0% (w/v). Bagasse loading of 15% (w/w) was used in all experiments. Statistical analysis of the experimental results showed that all three independent variables significantly influenced the response variables, namely the bagasse solubilization, efficiency of xylose recovery in the hemicellulosic hydrolysate, efficiency of cellulose enzymatic saccharificatio...
The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) are inversely associated with inflammatory processes in an elderly background population.
The authors study technological safety of installing a water spray pressure vessel between electrostatic deduster and coal sludge ducts. These sprays are in use elsewhere for steam generator ash removal. Dust ignition and explosion tests were carried out to examine flame and pressure wave propagation through the vessel into ducts. Water jet diameter, amount of water sprayed and coal dust removed were varied. Pressure waves exceeded 250 Pa. Test results show the vessel to be suitable for installation in briquetting plants due to its flame and explosion barrier effect and extermination of smoldering dust fires. The only disadvantage of the vessel is seen as its water and electric power consumption: about 8 m/sup 3//h of water and 1.5 kW/h of power per vessel serving dedusters of a 2,200 m/sup 2/ rotary brown coal dryer. (MOS).
Seed priming technique has been known to improve germination and seedling emergence under different environment stresses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of seed priming in improving the seed germination and seedling vigor of Agropyron elongatum and Bromus inermis in response to five concentrations of the allelopathic extract of Thymus kotschyanus (0, 5%, 25%, 50% and 75%) under laboratory conditions. Pretreatments included gibberellic acid (250, 500 and 1000 ppm), potassium nitrate (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%) and salicylic acid (100, 200 and 300 mg/L). This experiment was carried out as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with four replications. The results showed that seed germination, germination speed and seedling vigor were significan...
Results of an investigation aiming to study the effects of the burner cap design factors on flame stability are presented in this paper. Flame stability is an essential part of the operation of all domestic burners, including natural gas-fired cooktops. At high thermal inputs flame lifts are encountered above certain levels of primary aeration, whereas flashback only takes place at low thermal inputs, due to natural gas low flame speed, above certain levels of primary aeration. In this work, flame lift limits were measured at 3.3 kW thermal input and the highest primary aeration above which flame lifts started to become visible was the stability limit at this thermal input. Around 60% primary aeration was desired to minimize pollutant emissions. Turndown tests were done at 40% primary aeration. The `Factorial Experimental Design` method with statistical analysis was used. This enabled detection of ...
Through the innovative design of a novel end plug scheme employing octopole MHD stabilization, the authors present the conceptual design of ''MINIMARS'', a small commercial fusion reactor based on the tandem mirror principle. The current baseline for MINIMARS has a net electric output of 600 MWe and they have configured the design for short construction times, factory-built modules, inherently safe blanket systems, and multiplexing in station sizes of #approx =# 600-2400 MWe. They demonstrate that the compact octopole end cell provides a number of advantages over the more conventional quadrupole (yin-yang) end cell encountered in the MARS tandem mirror reactor study, and enables ignition to be achieved with much shorter central cell lengths. Accordingly, being economic in small sizes, MINIMARS provides an attractive alternative to the more conventional larger conceptual fusion ...
ORNL has conducted a Nuclear Power Options Viability Study for the Department of Energy. That study is primarily concerned with new technology which could be developed for initial operation in the 2000 to 2010 time frame. Such technology would have to compete not only with coal options but with incrementally improved commercial light-water-reactors. This survey reported here was undertaken to gain an understanding of the nuclear commercial technology likely to be offered in the late 1980s and perhaps beyond. The three US vendors actively marketing NSSSs are each developing a product for the future which they expect to be more reliable, more maintainable, more economical, and safer than the present plants. These are all essentially 3800-MW(t) designs, although all are studying smaller plants. They apparently will be off offered as standard prelicensed designs with much larger scope ...
BackgroundCaesarean section is one of the most commonly performed operations on women throughout the world. Rates have increased in recent years – about 20–25% in...Full Text Available
The effect of blood lead on erythrocyte membrane proteins was studied in 28 workers from a scrap lead refining factory and in 18 controls working in railway construction. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide...Full Text Available
In order to reduce the total number of experiments for achieving the highest removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions using yellow passion fruit peel (Passiflora edullis, F. flavicarpa) and mandarin peel (Citrus reticulata) as biosorbents two independent sets of full 23 factorialdesigns with two central points (10 experiments) were experimented. In order to continue the optimization of the system a new full 22 factorialdesign with two central points (six experiments) and a central composite surface analysis (13 experiments, divided into four cube points, five centre points, and four axial points) were employed for yellow passion fruit peel (PFP) and mandarin peel (MP), respectively. Using these statistical tools, the best conditions for MB removal from aqueous solution were ...
This book describes one approach to building and operating biogas systems. The biogas systems include raw material preparation, digesters, separate gas storage tanks, use of the gas to run engines, and the use of the sludge as fertilizer. Chapters included are: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Biogas Systems are Small Factories"; (3) "The Raw Materials of Biogas Digestion"; (4) "The Daily Operation of a Biogas Factory"; (5) "The Once a Year Cleaning of the Digester"; (6) "Tanks and Pipes: Storing and Moving Biogas"; (7) "The Factory's Products: Biogas"; (8) "The Factory's Products: Biofertilizer"; (9) "The ABCs of Safety"; and (10) "Conclusion: Profiting from an Appropriate Technology." Many diagrams are provided throughout this handbook. New ideas, composting, bioinsecticides, ferrocement, facts and figures, sources and resources, feasibility studies, problem solving, and vocabulary are ...
Digital control technology using micro-processor is widely used in Factory Automation area since 1980`s. However, the D{sub 2}O Vapour Recovery System in Wolsung 1 N.P.P is controlled by mechanical timer without considering the moisture condition in the Reactor Building and bed temperature, because it was designed using analog technology of 1960`s. This leads to the inefficient system operation and low D{sub 2}O recovery rate in addition to the high internal dose rate of operator. The goal of this phase II study is to develope a optimal automatic controller of D{sub 2}O vapour recovery system using PLC. We developed a control algorithm for Dual Tower Drier, a PLC control program, a operation change program and the monitoring system with a real-time simulator for system verification. (author). 15 refs., 11 figs., 2 tabs.
Pyrolysis of Greek fir wood samples in a fluidized bed reactor was studied. The experimental conditions selected control the yield of gaseous, liquid and solid products. The factors examined were: pyrolysis temperature, mean particle size, pressure, residence time of volatiles, lignin content of biomass and moisture content. The experiments were performed on the basis of a 12-run Plackett-Burman fractional factorialdesign. Statistical analysis of the data showed that the pyrolysis temperature is the main factor affecting the distribution of the yields of liquids, their phenolic fraction and gases in the range of experimental conditions tested. Empirical expressions were obtained from linear regression giving the yields of liquids, phenols and gases in terms of temperature. The maximum predicted yields were 56 and 12 wt.% on a moisture-free basis at 520 C and 545 C for liquids and phenols, respectively. The yield of gases ...
The measurements performed at CERN on prototypes and first pre-series main dipole magnets confirm the need of an active control of the Large Hadron Collider to compensate the dynamic field changes during the proton beam injection and acceleration. This control requires in turn an accurate forecast of the magnetic field in the accelerator. We plan to predict the field on the basis of two elements: theoretical field models tailored through the accumulated knowledge of the main magnets during series tests, and an on-line measurement system running on few reference magnets tracking the LHC current cycle. Data coming from this "Multipoles Factory" will result from the fusion of the two sources. Based on this system we foresee to deliver calibration information for pre-defined accelerator cycles as well as real time information for the active control. In this paper we report the conceptual design of the system, and we discuss the features and ...
Three electronic personal dosimeters (EPD-N) manufactured by Siemens, serial numbers 0635, 0658, and 0683, were tested at the Radiation Calibration Laboratory for an evaluation of their response to neutron, gamma and x-ray radiation. Designed to provide real-time neutron and photon dosimetry, the EPD-N is capable of estimating and displaying neutron and gamma dose components separately for a range of energies from 50 keV to 7 MeV for photon and 0.025 eV to > 10 MeV for neutron. All tests were conducted using the factory calibrations. A technical representative of the manufacturer indicated that site-specific calibrations are required as factory settings are calibrated for the lowest neutron energy limit of 0.025 eV. This raises concerns about the reliability of these devices in measuring neutrons when calibrations are made for a specific site radiological characterization then used at another site.
In co-operation with the Scientific Planning Department of the Central Research Institute for Vessel- and Turbine Building the construction office of the turbine factory Charkow finished the draft of a slowly running (n = 1500 min"-"1) 2 GW-turboset for the operation of nuclear power plants. The chief purpose of the project was to determine the technical problems that are used to occur during the development of such steam turbines, as well as to settle the most favourable design. (orig./GL).
Energy use patterns and utilisation efficiencies in 40 factories producing palm kernel oil (PKO) in southwestern part of Nigeria were studied. The factories were stratified into small, medium and large scale categories based on the mode of operations and production capacities. Questionnaires were administered on the factories to obtain historical data on petrol, diesel and electricity consumption and PKO production outputs for seven years (1998-2004). Energy use efficiency indicators employed include: energy intensity (EI), energy cost per unit product (EC/P), energy ratio (ER), food energy ratio (FER) and percentage oil yield by weight. Results of the study indicated that averagely, 0.58, 0.53 and 0.74 GJ/10{sup 3} l of PKO were needed in the small, medium and large PKO factories, respectively. The average food energy ratios in the small, medium and large mills ...
Website hosted by the American Ceramics Society with history of ceramics education, along with notable ceramic engineering educators. "In May 1894, two rooms in the basement of The Ohio State University?s College of Engineering were set aside to create a new department: Clay-Working and Ceramics. Founded with a $10,000 grant from the State of Ohio, the department was the first of its kind anywhere in the nation. The course of study was the idea and personal project of Edward Orton Jr., a young mining engineer. Orton had gathered his ceramic knowledge, piece by piece, from various jobs in coalmines, glass factories and steel plants. In 1893 he was the superintendent for a factory that made paving bricks. Orton?s factory, hit by an ?acute crisis,? closed, leaving him with some unexpected extra time. He used the opportunity to lobby for the passage of what some people dubbed the ?Mud Pie Bill? ? legislated ...
Digital control technology using micro-processor is widely used in Factory Automation area since 1980's. However, the D(sub 2)O Vapour Recovery System in Wolsung 1 N.P.P is controlled by mechanical timer without considering the moisture condition in the R...
In this study, we investigate an inter-industrial and inter-regional recycling system for industrial waste by the cement industry in Japan. We develop a linear programming model that represents cement production processes and waste transportation of all cement factories in Japan. We simulate cost and CO{sub 2}-minimizing systems. The result implies that making waste transportation more efficient in cost is an effective means for CO{sub 2} reduction. (author)
High performance sorbents for flue gas desulfurization can be synthesized by hydration of coal fly ash, calcium sulfate, and calcium oxide. In general, higher desulfurization activity correlates with higher sorbent surface area. Consequently, a major aim in sorbent synthesis is to maximize the sorbent surface area by optimizing the hydration conditions. This work presents an integrated modeling and optimization approach to sorbent synthesis based on statistical experimental design and two artificial intelligence techniques: neural network and genetic algorithm. In the first step of the approach, the main and interactive effects of three hydration variables on sorbent surface area were evaluated using a full factorialdesign. The hydration variables of interest to this study were hydration time, amount of coal fly ash, and amount of calcium sulfate and the levels investigated were 4-32 h, 5-15 g, and ...
This study aimed to correlate the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulose contained in a sugarcane bagasse sample pretreated with dilute H(2)SO(4) with the levels of independent variables such as initial content of solids and loadings of enzymes and surfactant (Tween 20), for two cellulolytic commercial preparations. The preparations, designated cellulase I and cellulase II, were characterized regarding the activities of total cellulases, endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase, cellobiase, ?-glucosidase, xylanase, and phenoloxidases (laccase, manganese and lignin peroxidases), as well as protein contents. Both extracts showed complete cellulolytic complexes and considerable activities of xylanases, without activities of phenoloxidases. For the enzymatic hydrolyses, two 2(3) central composite full factorialdesigns were employed to evaluate the effects caused by the initial content of solids ...
An analysis of the current state of track-laying operations in open-cut mines is given and their labor intensive nature is noted. The lag in the technological development of mechanization equipment for track laying and repair operations is noted. Results are given from developments by the Scientific Research Institute of Open-Pit Mining Operations in the field of mobile transportation technology and promising modular route design. Also examined are the problems of improving the routing bases in the industry. The absence of factories for manufacturing transportation technology and equipment is reflected most evidently in the technical and cost characteristics of coal production by an open-cut method and requires immediate solution.
This paper focuses on a factorial-based design strategy. The approach provides an efficient and statistically reliable means for assessing the influence of multivariable effects. It is applied to the detection and evaluation of damage in impacted composite sandwich panels. The experimental results obtained from this test strategy are utilized to form an empirical response function. The resulting polynomial relates damage area to residual compression strength at values of independent variables for which testing did not occur. The response function also identifies nonlinear interaction effects of key variabes that cannot be easily ascertained by traditional single-variable test strategies. Independent variables evaluated include core thickness, number of face sheet plys and impact energy. The methodology presented allows the designer to predict with more confidence the damage tolerance of a composite material component, and ...
The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. In this quarterly report, we present a preliminary comparison of the carbon sequestration potential of forests growing on 14 mined sites in a seven-state region in the Midwestern and Eastern Coalfields. Carbon contents of these forests were compared to adjacent forests on non-mined land. The study was installed as a 3 x 3 factorial in a random complete block design with three replications at each location. The treatments include three forest types (white pine, hybrid poplar, mixed hardwood) and three silvicultural regimes (competition control, competition control plus tillage, competition control plus tillage plus fertilization). Each individual treatment plot is ...
The relative potencies of 20 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were studied in a chicken embryo hepatocyte system. The 20 congeners were selected according to a full 2{sup 4}-factorialdesign based on the principal properties of all 154 tetra- through heptachlorinated PCBs. The principal properties were obtained using principal component analysis (PCA) on a multitude of different physico-chemical properties of the PCBs. Toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) were determined for seven out of the twenty PCB congeners, viz. PCB{number_sign}41, PCB{number_sign}60, PCB{number_sign}78, PCB{number_sign}126, PCB{number_sign}169, PCB{number_sign}190, and PCB{number_sign}193, which elicit measurable catalytic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in the chicken hepatocytes. A multivariate quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) was developed by using partial least-squares to latent variables (PLS) in order to model the ...
Silica-reinforced natural rubber (NR) composite was prepared by using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a precursor to generate silica particles inside the rubber. The silica was generated in situ by the sol-gel process of TEOS that was mixed directly into commercial-graded NR latex having 60% dry rubber content and 0.7% ammonia. The conversions of TEOS to silica inside the rubber were ranging from 90 to 97%. The silica particles dispersed evenly without extensive aggregation with sizes between 100 and 500 nm, as determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An experimental design methodology, namely "two-level factorialdesign," was used to evaluate the influence of the amounts of TEOS, ammonia, and gelation time on the tensile modulus, tensile strength, and tear strength of the vulcanizate...
Summary Pectin was extracted from passion fruit peel using three different acids (citric, hydrochloric or nitric) at different temperatures (40-90 degreeC), pH (1.2-2.6) and extraction times (10-90 min), with and without skins using a 24 factorialdesign. Temperature, pH and extraction time had highly significant effects on the pectin yield. A central composite design with face centring was used to optimise the extraction process conditions for citric acid without skins. Pectin yields varied from 10% to 70%. The optimal conditions for maximisation of pectin yield were the use of citric acid at 80 degreeC and pH 1 with an extraction time of 10 min considering model extrapolation.
In the CERN approach to the design of a neutrino factory, the repetition frequency of the proton beam is high enough to consider stationary solid targets as a viable solution for multi-MW beams. The target consists of high density tantalum spheres of 2 mm diameter which can efficiently be cooled by passing a high mass flow He-gas stream through the voids between the Ta-granules. Very small thermal shocks and stresses will arise in this fine grained structure due to the relatively long burst of 3.3 ms from the SPL-proton linac. In a quadruple target system where each target receives only one quarter of the total beam power of 4 MW, conservative temperature levels and adequate lifetimes of the target are estimated in its very high radiation environment. A conceptual design of the integration of the target into the magnetic horn-pion-collector is presented.
This paper has the objective of presenting the philosophy of Static Var Compensator (SVC) Control as well the necessary adjustments in the project of control system to guarantee suitable performance under different operating conditions. The verification on the performance of the SVC control has been done by Transient Network Analyzer (TNA/CEPEL) studies, commissioning tests and a factory tests. The SVC is the type of Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR) and Thyristor Switched Capacitor (TSC). (author) 3 refs., 12 figs.
During spring and autumn, the total number of amoebae and the number of acanthamoeba species able to grow at 37 degrees C were determined in six thermally polluted factory discharges and the surrounding surface waters. The isolated Acanthamoeba strains were studied for growth in axenic medium, cytopathic effect in Vito cell cultures, and virulence in mice. Although more amoebae were isolated in autumn, the number of Acanthamoeba species was lower than in spring, when the percent of pathogenic strains among the isolates was highest. Higher concentrations of amoebae were found in warm discharges, and more virulent strains occurred in thermal discharges than in surface waters.
A study was carried out to identify optimal laminate/oil combinations for low pressure oil filled and high pressure pipe-type cables, and to establish taping criteria under factory conditions. Laminates from two sources were evaluated in conjunction with Sun XX high viscosity mineral oil and Cosden 015SH polybutene oil for high pressure type cables, and Dussek TC-2288N mineral oil, Shell P2 dedecylbenzene and Chevron DF-100 alkylbenzene for low pressure oil-filled cables. Swelling tests, infrared analysis, dissipation and dielectric measurements, impulse tests and a taping trial were performed. It was found that there is no appreciable difference in performance of both laminates when tested on model cables in a variety of oils. Both types exhibited superior aging characteristics vis-a-vis cellulose paper when tested with a variety of oils and at temperatures up to 105{degree}C. For pipe type cable, high viscosity polybutene is the most suitable ...
In the third millennium, when the main words are globalization, world net of computers, genetic code and efficiency, deep transformations have been incorporated to human behavior. Among such transformations it may be pointed out, matching with the objectives of this study, the modem consumer's profile. The consumers have quickly become more and more conscious and demanding regarding to the quality of the available products in the market. In that sense, the consumer's concern about the natural and healthy appearance, as well as the preservation of the nutritious content of the foods, have been a constant sign of alert for producers and suppliers. Besides, the timeless for domestic preparation of foods have imposed the use of minimally processed as an incontestable reality. A barrier for the production of minimally processed foods is imposed by the degree of perishability of certain products, such as the cassava-parsley. This vegetable is a source of energy, calcium, ...
Abstract In the 1990s, significant efforts were invested in the research and development of food-grade expression systems in lactic acid bacteria (LAB). At this time, Lactococcus lactis in particular was demonstrated to be an ideal cell factory for the food-grade production of recombinant proteins. Steady progress has since been made in research on LAB, including Lactococcus, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus, in the areas of recombinant enzyme production, industrial food fermentation, and gene and metabolic pathway regulation. Over the past decade, this work has also led to new approaches on chromosomal integration vectors and host/vector systems. These newly constructed food-grade gene expression systems were designed with specific attention to self-cloning strategies, food-grade selection...
This paper evaluates the performance of asphalt membranes by examining the chemical and permeability changes experienced by the asphalt during aging tests. The aging process was accelerated by exposing the asphalt to elevated temperatures, high oxygen concentrations, and increased strengths of aqueous oxidizing agents. The synergistic effects of the variables are evaluated by using a fractional factorial experimental design. The installation costs for a catalytically airblown asphalt liner are roughly half that of the typical polymeric materials, and also less than the rubberized asphalt membrane. The results of the initial accelerated aging tests of the asphalt membranes indicate that this material will provide stable, long-term leachate isolation in a mill tailings environment.
The main drawback of Ni/YSZ anode supports for solid oxide fuel cell application is their low tolerance to reducing and oxidizing (RedOx) atmosphere changes, owing to the Ni/NiO volume variation. This work describes a structured approach based on design of experiments for optimizing the microstructure for RedOx stability enhancement. A full factorial hypercube design and the response surface methodology are applied with the variables and their variation range defined as: (1) NiO proportion (40-60wt% of the ceramic powders), (2) pore-former proportion (0-30wt% corresponding to 0-64vol.%), (3) NiO particle size (0.5-8mm) and (4) 8YSZ particle size (0.6-9mm). To obtain quadratic response models, 25 different compositions were prepared forming a central composite design. The measured responses...
Isolates of the most commonly observed salmonella serovars in Norwegian fish feed factories from 1998 to 2000 (Salmonella enterica serovar Agona, S. enterica...Full Text Available
The CKM angle $\\gamma/\\phi_{3}$ had been measured by two B-factories, the PEPII collider for the BaBar experiment and the KEKB collider for the Belle experiments. The present paper reports recent progress in $\\gamma/\\phi_{3}$.
White, W. G., and Vickers, H. R. (1970).Brit. J. industr. Med.,27, 167-169. Diethyl thiourea as a cause of dermatitis in a car factory. Fifteen...Full Text Available
In Kanazawa, Japan, air pollution from a Mn treatment factory was found to affect local junior high school students, who showed reduced respiratory function relative to their exposure to Mn. The use of Mn as an antiknock ingredient in automobile fuels has recently been introduced, placing the general population at risk of chronic low-level exposure. There are few animal studies on the effects of compounds other than manganese chloride (MnCl{sub 2}). In the case of environmental pollution by Mn, the differing physiological effects of the various chemical forms of Mn must be considered. The present study therefore examined the differences in the effects of several Mn compounds on the physiology and behavior of mice by short-term oral administration.
Background The purpose of this study was (a) to evaluate the association between cigarette smoking and the prevalence of distal colorectal polyps and adenocarcinoma and (b) to analyse genetic alterations representing different molecular pathways of the colorectal carcinogenesis. Methods A total of 623 asymptomatic male (mean age: 53 years; 50?65) car factory workers were included. Information on smoking habits and other lifestyle factors were collected followed by a 60 cm colonoscopy. APC and KRAS mutations and microsatellite status were determined in colorectal lesions (colorectal carcinoma (CRC), hyperplastic (HP) and adenomatous polyps (AP)). Data were analysed using unconditional multiple logistic regression models. Results Smokers had a higher prevalence of AP (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2?3.6;...
A reduced grid model of a transmission system with a number of central power plants, consumption centers, local wind turbines and a large offshore wind farm is developed and implemented in the simulation tool PowerFactory (DIgSILENT). The reduced grid model is given by Energinet.dk, Transmission System Operator of Denmark (TSO) for Natural Gas and Electricity, to the Danish Universities and the Risoe National Laboratory. Its intended usage is education and studying of interaction between electricity-producing wind turbines and a realistic transmission system. Focus in these studies is on voltage stability issues and on the ride-through capability of different wind turbine concepts, equipped with advanced controllers, developed by the Risoe National Laboratory.
Energy-filtered X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (EXPEEM) is a microscopy technique which has the potential to provide surface chemical mapping during surface chemical processes on the nanometer scale. We studied the possibilities of EXPEEM using a Wien filter type energy analyzer in the high energy X-ray region above 1000 eV. We have successfully observed the EXPEEM images of Au islands on a Ta sheet using Au 3d_5_/_2 and Ta 3d_5_/_2 photoelectron peaks which were excited by 2380 eV X-rays emitted from an undulator (BL2A) at Photon Factory. Our recent efforts to improve the sensitivity of the Wien filter energy analyzer will also be discussed.
Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of tef, a major staple crop in Ethiopia, is very low, either caused by untimely use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers or lack of other essential nutrients like sulphur (S). The average grain yield of this crop is low, averaging ?1 in farmer?s fields of the semi-arid conditions. Therefore, the present study was conducted to see the effect of the timing of combined N and S fertilization on the yield, yield components, and N and S concentration in the plant parts of the crop. A factorial combination of three rates of N (0, 70, and 105?kg?ha?1) with four rates of S (0, 16, 32, and 48?kg?ha?1) was applied in randomized complete blocks in three replications. The experiment was carried out in the 2004 and 2005 cropping seasons in the Cambisols of the semi-arid area of Ethi...
An important aspect of ecosystem sustainability is the ability to withstand and recover from disturbance or stress. In this study, we investigated the effect of a heat-disturbance on soil microbial biomass, microbial activity in response to the addition of organic acid (malate), and microbial community structure in a laboratory experiment. The soils investigated were from a jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest that had undergone rehabilitation following bauxite mining 12 years previously. Soils from a full factorial of two field treatments; contour ripping induced micro-topography (mound or furrow) and prior exposure to prescription fire (burnt or non-burnt), were sampled and found to exhibit treatment-dependent differences in soil biological and chemical properties. Exposure of soil micro...
The potential of the yeast Candida tropicalis and Candida guillermondii was evaluated and an isolated partnership of microorganisms of waters of the Medellin River, conformed by two bacteria and one leavening, to degrade the content of organic matter present in wine produced by the factory of Licores and Alcoholes de Antioquia (FLA) in aerobic process with biomass production. For each one of the microorganisms in study this capacity of removal in units of chemical demand of oxygen was quantified (CDO); in addition, parameters were analyzed such as yield of the biomass in relation to the removed CDO and to total reducing sugars (TRS) consumed, time of fermentation and speed of growth different dilutions from wine. Also the possible inhibition was analyzed that the present phenolic compounds in this wine can cause in the biological process of degradation.
The handling of physical-nuclear techniques for the analysis of archaeological pieces it was carried out by first time in 1956 by the doctors Oppenheimer and Dodsom (in the United States); who wrote about the wide utilities of the neutron activation analysis (NAA), this technique requires of a nuclear reactor that could be considered like one a factory of thermal neutrons necessary to carry out this analysis. The first experiments in that were applied the NAA were on ceramic coming from the Mediterranean, in those that the relationships of the elements of sodium and manganese were determined to know their elementary composition and to identify the origin of their manufacture. Later on other study techniques were applied in archaeological materials, as the X-ray fluorescence, Moessbauer spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, PIXE analysis (particle induced x-ray emission), among other, this last is the matter that we will present in this ...
A helical cooling channel (HCC) has been proposed to quickly reduce the six-dimensional phase space of muon beams for muon colliders, neutrino factories, and intense muon sources. The HCC is composed of a series of RF cavities filled with dense hydrogen gas that acts as the energy absorber for ionization cooling and suppresses RF breakdown in the cavities. Magnetic solenoidal, helical dipole, and helical quadrupole coils outside of the RF cavities provide the focusing and dispersion needed for the emittance exchange for the beam as it follows a helical equilibrium orbit down the HCC. In the work presented here, two Monte Carlo programs have been developed to simulate a HCC to compare with the analytic predictions and to begin the process of optimizing practical designs that could be built in the near future. We discuss the programs, the comparisons with the analytical theory, and the prospects for a HCC design with the ...
In this paper, the analysis of carbonate depositional systems, using high resolution sequence stratigraphy, studies the ratio between change in accommodation space and skeletal carbonate production. This approach establishes the concurrent change in nature of facies belts (expansion, retraction and type) and fossil communities, within the detailed time frame in accommodation. Carbonate production is generally considered to be a fairly simple function of environmental conditions such as climate and water depth. However, data from several case studies also show a covariance between change in stratigraphic architecture of carbonate systems (the seaward or landward stepping stacking patterns of stratigraphic units) and charge in facies. Case studies include Carboniferous algal mound development in the Paradox Basin (USA), Devonian stromatoporoid reef development in Alberta (Canada), and Cenomanian rudistid shoal development in ...
Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOFMS) was applied for equilibrium headspace analysis of Malaysian soursop (Annona muricata) volatile flavor compounds. A two-level fractional factorialdesign (25-1) was used to determine the effect of SPME variables, namely, SPME fibers, adsorption temperature, extraction time, amount of salt, sample amount and sample concentration on the extraction efficiency of volatile flavor compounds. A total of 37 volatile compounds were identified, comprising 21 esters, 6 alcohols, 3 terpenes, 2 acids, 2 ketones, 2 aldehydes and an aromatic with different hydrophobicities (log P) ranging between -0.14 and 4.83. Extraction using 10g of diluted (5% w/w) ...
The paper is Part 2 of the study on the thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analyses of trigeneration system with a gas-diesel engine. In Part 1, thermodynamic and thermoeconomic methodologies for such a comprehensive analysis were provided, while this paper applies the developed methodology to an actual TRIGEN system with a rated output of 6.5 MW gas-diesel engine installed in the Eskisehir Industry Estate Zone, Turkey. Energy and exergy efficiencies, equivalent electrical efficiency, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) efficiency, fuel energy saving ratio, fuel exergy saving ratio and other thermodynamic performance parameters are determined for the TRIGEN system. The efficiencies of energy, exergy, PURPA and equivalent electrical efficiency of the entire system are found to be 58.97%, 36.13%, 45.7% and 48.53%, respectively. For the whole system and its components, exergetic cost allocations and various exergoeconomic performance parameters are ...
The paper is Part 2 of the study on the thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analyses of trigeneration system with a gas-diesel engine. In Part 1, thermodynamic and thermoeconomic methodologies for such a comprehensive analysis were provided, while this paper applies the developed methodology to an actual TRIGEN system with a rated output of 6.5 MW gas-diesel engine installed in the Eskisehir Industry Estate Zone, Turkey. Energy and exergy efficiencies, equivalent electrical efficiency, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) efficiency, fuel energy saving ratio, fuel exergy saving ratio and other thermodynamic performance parameters are determined for the TRIGEN system. The efficiencies of energy, exergy, PURPA and equivalent electrical efficiency of the entire system are found to be 58.97%, 36.13%, 45.7% and 48.53%, respectively. For the whole system and its components, exergetic cost allocations and various exergoeconomic performance parameters are ...
We calculate the normalized factorial moments of multiplicity distributions through three models for elastic hadron scattering (Chou-Yang, Henzi-Valin and Menon-Pimentel). Connections between the moments and the inelastic overlap function and/or eikonal function are obtained by means of an impact parameter representation for the multiplicity distribution. The predictions are compared with experimental data on factorial moments from both inelastic and non-single-diffractive events. The model results present best agreement with the inelastic events and data favour the model by Henzi and Valin. (author)
The Austrian sugar industry has developed a project for the manufacture of alcohol that is geared to the conditions in that country and is based on sugar beet as raw material. An alcohol production plant could be integrated in a sugar factory and operate all the year round at a capacity of 120,000 l/d. In this factory, the fermentation raw material would be in the form of green syrup (also thick juice if the need arose) and would be supplied from other sugar factories operating without molasses. The vinasse is to be concentrated and used or burnt. The project provides new possibilities for agriculture, and the sugar industry expects an improvement in plant utilization and a diversification.
Trinitrotoluene (TNT) absorption was assessed in groups of workers at two explosives factories by measuring the urinary concentrations of dinitroaminotoluene (DNAT) metabolites. DNAT was detected in...Full Text Available
NGC 2770 has been the host of three supernovae of Type Ib during the last 10 years, SN 1999eh, SN 2007uy and SN 2008D. SN 2008D attracted special attention due to the serendipitous discovery of an associated X-ray transient. In this paper, we study the properties of NGC 2770 and specifically the three SN sites to investigate whether this galaxy is in any way peculiar to cause a high frequency of SNe Ib. We model the global SED of the galaxy from broadband data and derive a star-formation and SN rate comparable to the values of the Milky Way. We further study the galaxy using longslit spectroscopy covering the major axis and the three SN sites. From the spectroscopic study we find subsolar metallicities for the SN sites, a high extinction and a moderate star-formation rate. In a high resolution spectrum, we also detect diffuse interstellar bands in the line-of-sight towards SN 2008. A comparison of NGC 2770 to the global ...
Gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV) is a life-threatening condition in dogs and other species in which the stomach dilates and rotates on itself. The etiology of the disease is multi-factorial, but explicit precipitating causes are unknown. This study sought to determine if there was a significant association between changes in hourly-measured temperature and/or atmospheric pressure and the occurrence of GDV in the population of high-risk working dogs in Texas. The odds of a day being a GDV day, given certain temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions for that day or the day before, was estimated using logistic regression models. There were 57 days in which GDV(s) occurred, representing 2.60% of the days in the 6-year study period. The months of November, December, and January collectively accounted for almost half (47%) of all cases. Disease risk was negatively associated with daily maximum temperature. An increased ...
In the utilization of the thermal energy by ocean temperature difference and factory waste heat, the high performance heating surfaces in pipes from which scale can be removed are required. As the method of removing scale, the method using sponge balls seems most suitable, but for applying this method, as the form of the protrusions attached to the inner surfaces of pipes, smooth circular are form is desirable. The promotion of heat transfer with the rows of circular arc protrusions like this is strongly related to the mode of flow and such structure as separation, recirculation flow, readhesion and turbulent energy generation. In this study, as the basic research to optimize the heating surface with the rows of smooth protrusions, the flow characteristics and the heat transfer characteristics including the turbulent structure of the wake of protrusions were experimentally determined, and the essence of the heat transfer characteristics was to ...
The paper brings forth the information related to the youth organizations acting at the factory, their policies, provisions of youth incentives, intake of employees to the company, labor motivation. There is also the information on the events, which take place on site, on the arrangements of the young employees' leisure, as well as on the creative and productive potential of the factory. (author)
The paper introduces the disposal procedures of the old reactor pressure vessel head. Reactor pressure vessel (RPV) heads were replaced successfully in Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant. The on-site treatment and disposal of replaced heads was thereafter implemented. This is the first time in China for large size radioactive article disposal. To guarantee the safety of old head treatment, issues of radiation protection have to be taken into account. Dose rate distribution of the old head surface and radioactivity were initially calculated according to the operation history and the neutron flux rate of the reactor. Shielding calculation and package design was thereafter worked out based on the data obtained from the old head, e.g. neutron flux, sorts of nuclides, radioactivity and dose rates. Shielding package was afterwards manufactured in special factories and transported to Daya Bay NPP site by truck and ship. The shielding package was ...
We have performed X-ray magnetic diffraction (XMD) experiment of ferromagnets at the Photon Factory (PF) of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Tsukuba. In this study, we have upgraded the XMD experimental system in order to apply this method to as many samples as possible. Upgrade was made for (1) the X-ray counting system and related measurement program, (2) the electromagnet, and (3) the refrigerator. The performance of the system was enhanced so that (1) the counting rate capability was improved from 104cps to 105cps, (2) the maximum magnetic field was increased from 0.85T to 2.15T, and (3) the lowest sample temperature was reduced from 15K to 5K. The new system was applied to an orbital ordering compound of YTiO3, and we obtained spin magnetic form factor for the reflection plane (010) perpendicular to the b axis. The magnetic field of 2T was needed to saturate the magnetization of YTiO3 along the b axis. These are ...
The B-Factory which is constructed by National Laboratory for High Energy Physics is the device for elucidating the breakdown of symmetry of matter and antimatter by studying the behavior of B mesons which are generated in large quantity when the electrons and the positrons which are accelerated to light velocity level are collided. In order to maintain electron beam-positron beam bunch circling the ring at light velocity stably, the instability of the coupled bunch must be overcome. For this purpose, the ultrahigh speed beam position digital feedback control system was developed. This system is composed of the high speed input-output substrate using GaAs LSI, the feedback computation substrate using complementary metal oxide semiconductor and the memory mounted on it, and the real time operation device. The development of both substrates and their functions are explained. The real time data collection and the change of computation parameters ...
In the next decade Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) will be used to test theories predicting changes in the Dark Energy equation of state with time. Ultimately this requires a dedicated space mission like JDEM. SNe Ia are mature cosmological probes --- their limitations are well characterized, and a path to improvement is clear. Dominant systematic errors include photometric calibration, selection effects, reddening, and population-dependent differences. Building on past lessons, well-controlled new surveys are poised to make strides in these areas: the Palomar Transient Factory, Skymapper, La Silla QUEST, Pan-STARRS, the Dark Energy Survey, LSST, and JDEM. They will obviate historical calibrations and selection biases, and allow comparisons via large subsamples. Some systematics follow from our ignorance of SN Ia progenitors, which there is hope of determining with SN Ia rate studies from 0
Locomotive engineers (train drivers) on irregular work schedules reported a general coffee consumption rate higher than that reported by a comparison sample of permanent shift factory workers. The present study examines the impact of this consumption on workday and non-workday sleep behaviour and mood ratings. Twenty-seven engineers and their spouses each completed daily logs for 30 consecutive days. Daily logs were then sorted into workday and non-workday categories. Workday sleep length was significantly shorter than non-workday sleep length for both engineers and spouses. For the engineers only, coffee consumption on workdays was higher than on non-workdays. This increased coffee consumption was correlated with longer sleep latency, increased negative mood, and decreased positive mood on both work and non-workdays. This was not true for spouses. These results may be related to a days-off carry-over effect of caffeine or a general consumption ...
WASAG DECON developed a concept for the biological in situ remediation of an TNT-contaminated former seepage pond. This pond is located on the site of an ammunition factory in Lower Saxony. Unit 1982 all the waste water from the production buildings was directed into this pond, including TNT-contaminated water from the flushing of shells. Due to this practice, the sediment of the pond, the underlying soil and the groundwater became contaminated with TNT. The area of the soil contamination adds to abut 2.000 m{sup 2}. The remediation concept includes three steps: 1. Excavation of the most highly contaminated soil with TNT-concentrations above 1000 mg/kg. 2. Reduction of the remaining contamination by a biological in situ treatment using organic and inorganic amendments and mechanical tillage. After about to years of treatment, remediation goals of 50 mg/kg are expected to be reached on most of the area. 3. Contaminations eventually remaining in deeper soil layers ...
The first essential before embarking on the radiation-hardening of electrical insulation - mostly magnet coils - in any beam line application is to obtain a reliable estimate of the dose to the components. These are examples ( switchyards at SLAC and LAMPF) where the degree of hardness specified was much higher than was required. Although experience shows that the cost premium for substantial radiation - hardening is of the order of 10%, it has also become clear that well - designed beam line have negligible losses: hardening is required only in the vicinity of targets, collimators or other beam - intercepting devices. Where the beam is deliberately scraped, local shielding will minimize the associated radiation in the surroundings. Electron machines have their own special problems due to synchrotron radiation, so certainly coils and other electrical equipment should be kept away from the beam bend - plane. Because proton beams interact with thick targets in the ...
The report gives background design data for a specific copper smelter. The data is sufficiently detailed to allow air pollution control system engineering studies to be conducted. These studies will be concerned primarily with lean SO2 streams that curren...
The reproducibility of pulmonary mechanics measurements in dairy cattle was examined using two studydesigns. In design A measurements were made with six cows on two days, and in design B measurements...Full Text Available
Contents: Introduction; Design Criteria for a Green Building; Comparison of Energy Efficiency Measures; Whole House Energy Efficiency; Built Examples of Energy Efficient Houses; and Product Energy of Building Elements.
The studydesign included an in vivo laboratory study. The objective of the study is to quantify the kinematics of the lumbar spinous processes in asymptomatic patients during un-restricted functional...Full Text Available
Considerable potential exists for increasing the annual efficiency of line-focus collectors by reducing receiver heat losses. Five alternate receiver designs are compared with a standard design. The comparison is based on annual collector-field efficiency using optimized receiver designs. Of the receivers studied, the all-glass design and the cavity design provide the greatest increases in efficiency. Average fluid temperatures range from 200/sup 0/ to 450/sup 0/C. As a guide for further study, areas of uncertainty and potential problems are identified.
This report describes a study of the mass of the electron neutrino using electron capture in {sup 163}Ho in Japan for the period from 1981 to 1994. This monograph has two purposes, one is to supplement the papers on the mass of the electron neutrino already published by us and another is to make a record on some details of our experiments for future. Electron capture in a nucleus takes place in a rather small space inside an atom, where atomic physics, nuclear physics and particle physics work closely together. Therefore, this study needed an intimate collaboration of atomic physicists, nuclear physicists and particle physicists. In addition, it was necessary for this study to use various fine techniques, including metallurgy, production of {sup 163}Ho activity, micro-analysis by wet chemistry, isotope-dilution mass spectrometry, undulator radiation source technology, the soft X-ray monochromator technology, a counting ...
The motivation for this designstudy has been to identify magnet designs for useful magnetic fusion experiments which minimize capital cost. Some possibly useful novel design features have been identified. 5 refs., 6 figs., 3 tabs.
The role of IGF-I in the negative regulation of GH expression and release is demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo models; however, the targets and mechanisms of IGF-I...Full Text Available
The effect of spatial auditory information on a listener's ability to detect, identify, and monitor multiple simultaneous speech signals was evaluated using virtual audio technology. Factorial combinations of three variables - the number of localized spee...
Secretariat of the Basel Convention United Nations Office at Geneva ...such as public utilities, waste disposal sites, large energy dependent facilities including factories, institutions (hospitals, ...it provides immediate identification of PCB wastes, informs company officials of any special handling or disposal techniques
Due to the great development occurred in the world after the Second World War and the establishment of patterns of increasingly intense, the energy demand amounted to the point, putting at risk the non-renewable energy sources such as oil, coal minerals, among others, with growing interest in renewable energies, among which the biodiesel has been detached. In this sense, the present work had for objective to evaluate the fuel consumption of a tractor Valtra BM100 4x2 TDA, running with ethyl biodiesel from soybean filtered in seven mixture proportions mixed with the diesel, subject to two forces in the traction bar. The work was conducted in the Department of Rural Engineering of the Paulista State University (UNESP), Jaboticabal Campus, in an entirely randomized designed, in a factorial diagram 2 x 7, with three repetitions. The treatments were a combination for two forces in the traction bar (10 and 22 kN) and seven mixture proportions (B{sub ...
A new opportunity to improve the safety and efficiency of environmental restoration operations, using robotics has emerged from advances in industry, academia, and government labs. Self-Guided Vehicles (SGV`s) have recently been developed in industry and early systems have already demonstrated much, though not all, of the functionality necessary to support driverless transportation of waste within and between processing facilities. Improved materials databases are being developed by at least two DOE remediation sites, the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEME) in the State of Ohio and the Hanford Complex in the State of Washington. SGV`s can be developed that take advantage of the information in these databases and yield improved dispatch, waste tracking, report and shipment documentation. In addition, they will reduce the radiation hazard to workers and the risk of damaging containers through accidental collision. In this document, features of remediation sites that dictate ...
Except nuclear industry, diverse structures (hospitals, of research or manufacturers) can have appeal to the use of radioisotopes conditioned under unsealed shape. Such practices lead to tolerate releases in environment in the respect of a statutory device. So the collective network can contain radioisotopes the future of which is going to depend partially on the cleaning applied to waste water. This study through the analysis of a concrete case, has for objective to inform about the future of gamma radioelements present in waste water treated by a wastewater treatment plant. The contamination of the network is essentially due to Tc{sup 99} and I{sup 131}, radioelements present whatever the working day and the hour considered. The total estimated in-load for a day is important, of the order of 4000 MBq for Tc{sup 99} and 15 to 300 MBq for I{sup 131}. The assessment of cleaning of the station shows that this one plays a role towards this pollution through these ...
ObjectiveCOMBINE is the largest study of pharmacotherapy for alcoholism in the United States to date, designed to answer questions about the benefits of combining...Full Text Available
Thermoacoustics deals with the conversion of heat energy into sound energy and vice versa. It is a new and emerging technology which has a strong potential towards the development of sustainable and renewable energy systems by utilizing waste heat or solar energy. Although simple to fabricate, the designing of thermoacoustic devices is very challenging. In the present study, a comprehensive design and optimization algorithm is developed for designing thermoacoustic devices. The unique feature of the present algorithm is its ability to design thermoacoustically-driven thermoacoustic refrigerators that can serve as sustainable refrigeration systems. In addition, new features based on the energy balance are also included to design individual thermoacoustic engines and acoustically-driven thermoacoustic refrigerators. As a case study, a ...
This paper describes a dissipativity-based framework for the study of low-frequency oscillations in power systems and for power system stabilizer design. This framework leads to a robust controller design formulation, amenable to both H{sub {infinity}} and QFT tools. An illustrating numerical example presents QFT based design for a widely used benchmark two area, four machine power system.
The Soldier Information Requirements Technology Demonstration (SIREQ TD) project is an experimentation program to identify technologies that significantly enhance the performance of our future soldiers. One of the study series involved a 2 x 2 factorial comparison of the benefits of digital maps over paper maps, and the use of radios vs. no radios. Thirty-two Canadian regular force infantry soldiers performed force-on-force tactical assault missions in wooded terrain, with each soldier participating in all four test conditions. The radios were configured to operate in 4 subnets: 1 channel for each of the 2 Assault Groups (4 soldiers on a channel); a Section Commander/2IC channel; and an all-users channel. Note that in the no-radio conditions soldiers still operated the press-to-talk switch to allow recording of communications, but the speaker volume was set to zero. All communications were date/time stamped, identified as to the user and ...
Literature summarizing a study on the Saudi Arabian solar controlled environment agriculture system is presented. Specifications and performance requirements for the system components are revealed. Detailed performance and cost analyses are used to determine the optimum design. A preliminary design of an engineering field test is included. Some weather data are provided for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (BCS)
Major similarities between robustness assessment and seismic design exist, and significant information can be brought from seismic design to robustness design. As will be discussed, although some methods and limitations considered in seismic design can improve robustness, the capacity of the structure to sustain limited damage without disproportionate effects is significantly more complex. In fact, seismic design can either improve or reduce the resistance of structures to unforeseeable events, depending on the structural type, triggering event, structural material, among others. Based on a case study, the influence of redundancy and ductility on the seismic behavior and robustness of a long-span timber structure is assessed.
This paper describes and evaluates the various methods used in the analysis and design of buried pipelines under vehicular crossings extracted from a vast number of literature. It was found that a unified treatment of the subject is currently not available and additional work is required. The study shows that there are sufficient data and technical information that can be integrated to produce sound design. Theoretical as well as empirical formulas are scrutinized and incorporated in their appropriate places. Design examples are presented, complete with the detail calculations. Where applicable nomographs and graphs are adapted as design aids. A brief review of the current safety codes pertaining to natural gas pipeline design is also presented.
The aim of our project is to develop high-performance processor architectures for both general purpose and application-specific purpose. We also plan to develop basic softwares, such as compliers, and various design aid tools for those architectures. We are particularly interested in performance evaluation at architecture design phase, design optimization, automatic generation of compliers from processor designs, and architecture design methodologies combined with circuit layout. We have investigated both microprocessor architectures and design methodologies / environments for the processors. Our goal is to establish design technologies for high-performance, low-power, low-cost and highly-reliable systems in system-on-silicon era. We have proposed PPRAM architecture for high-performance system using DRAM and logic mixture technology, ...
Autonomous robots or remotely operated vehicles have raised high hopes in the military and industrial communities because of the potential safety improvement and gain of productivity they may provide. Waste management on nuclear sites, pallet manipulation in factories, interventions on battle-fields, etc., are actively studied. A lot of these applications require powerful four-wheel vehicles, the kinematics of which is similar to that of a car. Such vehicles have three degrees of freedom: the (x,y) positions in a plane and the orientation of the vehicle. Path planning is often understood as only changing the position of the vehicle, whereas the tasks performed by this kind of robot requires a perfect orientation of the vehicle: forklifting a pallet or docking at a loading or unloading station requires accuracy in the orientation of the vehicle. It is this requirement and the kinematic constraints of the motion mode which have led to the ...
''Intelligent Extruder'' described in this report is a software system and associated support services for monitoring and control of compounding extruders to improve material quality, reduce waste and energy use, with minimal addition of new sensors or changes to the factory floor system components. Emphasis is on process improvements to the mixing, melting and de-volatilization of base resins, fillers, pigments, fire retardants and other additives in the :finishing'' stage of high value added engineering polymer materials. While GE Plastics materials were used for experimental studies throughout the program, the concepts and principles are broadly applicable to other manufacturers materials. The project involved a joint collaboration among GE Global Research, GE Industrial Systems and Coperion Werner & Pleiderer, USA, a major manufacturer of compounding equipment. Scope of the program ...
The advancement of bioprocess monitoring will play a crucial role to meet the future requirements of bioprocess technology. Major issues are the acceleration of process development to reduce the time to the market and to ensure optimal exploitation of the cell factory and further to cope with the requirements of the Process Analytical Technology initiative. Due to the enormous complexity of cellular systems and lack of appropriate sensor systems microbial production processes are still poorly understood. This holds generally true for the most microbial production processes, in particular for the recombinant protein production due to strong interaction between recombinant gene expression and host cell metabolism. Therefore, it is necessary to scrutinise the role of the different cellular compartments in the biosynthesis process in order to develop comprehensive process monitoring concepts by involving the most significant process variables and their ...
In this paper, a concept of technology that can be helpful for lowering the negative influence of the synthetic (based on the Solvay process) soda ash plant on the natural environment is presented. We describe the desulphurisation of combustion gases from the factory's power plant, which is based on their absorption in the overflow of distiller waste. The excess of lime milk, which is added in the process of ammonia regeneration from filter liquor, results in a strong alkalinity of distiller waste. The high pH of distiller waste favours absorption of acidic combustion gases. The laboratory-scale tests showed about 80% efficiency of the desulphurisation process. The suspension samples we obtained consist mainly of CaCO{sub 3}. We suggest using the obtained solid phase as an adsorbent-insert in Fluidised Bed Combustion technology (FBC). Based on raw material prices, production costs, and average sell prices of the product, economic analysis of innovation was ...
Performance and operating characteristics are presented for a solar powered aircraft intended to remain aloft for long periods. The critical technologies which limit the performance are identified. By using the techniques presented, the effects of variation in the system parameters are studied. Practical design consideration are discussed.
Objectives: The authors designed and implemented a clinical data mart composed of an integrated information retrieval (IR) and relational database management system (RDBMS).Design:...Full Text Available
There is a clear incentive, therefore, for early consideration of the measures required to meet noise and vibration standards. The platform or rig owner and the operator are jointly responsible for agreeing a noise and vibration control policy and approach at the conceptual design stage, and for then passing on their requirements to the engineering design teams. The engineering design teams and acoustic and vibration specialists for their part need to use all their skill and judgement to apply that policy to the intensely complex job of designing and fabricating topsides facilities. With these concerns as background, UEG started, and has nearly completed, a two-phase study to provide detailed guidance to project managers and designers to assist them to develop appropriate policy and procedures and to help them put those procedures into practice. This paper ...
Design methods and parameters are described which are addressed when considering consequences of a postulated pipe rupture event in a nuclear plant design. Parameters discussed are break opening time and size, resultant blowdown characteristics of the effluent from the broken pipe, jet reaction and impingement loading, pipe motion, and pipe impact loading on steel and concrete structures. The impact the various parameters have on overall plant designs and conservatisms inherent in each consideration are evaluated in a qualitative nature. Finally, recommendations are provided for each parameter discussed for further evaluation and study.
Ways of reducing the excessive energy consumption in the Polish sugar industry are examined. The three main areas where energy reduction measures might be taken are: reducing the process heat demand which arises from the need to evaporate excess water from the juice supplied to the crystallisers; improving the effectiveness of the thermal system by moving from the present four-effect evaporation to five-effect evaporation and using crystallisation vapours for juice heating; replacing old steam boilers with more efficient units. Most Polish sugar factories are relatively small, however, and the energy saving measures, all of which require the installation of more modern equipment, are not economically feasible in the short term. Moreover, the stringent limits on atmospheric emissions which come into effect in 1998 will require factories to use low-sulphur coal and install costly glue-gas cleaning equipment. With limited funds available this may ...
Translating experimental findings into clinically effective therapies is one of the major bottlenecks of modern medicine. As this has been particularly true for cerebrovascular research, attention has turned to the quality and validity of experimental cerebrovascular studies. We set out to assess the studydesign, statistical analyses, and reporting of cerebrovascular research. We assessed all original articles published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism during the year 2008 against a checklist designed to capture the key attributes relating to studydesign, statistical analyses, and reporting. A total of 156 original publications were included (animal, in vitro, human). Few studies reported a primary research hypothesis, statement of purpose, or measures to safeguard in...
Purpose - This paper discusses the impact of aesthetic design of smartphones on users' emotional reactions and preferences towards the product. To this end, the paper presents a study that explores emotional reaction of males to varying aesthetic design of the BlackBerry and empirically evaluates their preferences for the BlackBerry in different colours and overlay patterns. The paper then presents the statistical results of the study in an innovative graphical representation. Design/methodology/approach - A quantitative and qualitative research design was used, including three types of data-collection instruments (direct observations, rating scales, and interviews) to investigate if males have a stronger positive emotional reaction for visually treated BlackBerry Pearl devices over the or...
Background and objectives: The Comprehensive Dialysis Study (CDS) aimed to understand factors contributing to physical, functional, and nutritional health status among patients starting dialysis.Design,...Full Text Available
Study objectives:To verify the existence of a symptomatic form of restless legs syndrome (RLS) secondary to multiple sclerosis (MS) and to identify possible associated risk factors.Design:Prospective,...Full Text Available
Interesting developments in linear accelerators have been attained over the past 45 years. The status of linear accelerators and future possibilities are described in context of demanding applications and technology maturity. Features of industrial or `factory`-type applications are high availability, economic operations, low investment cost and ease of running a facility. All features have been demonstrated in one manner or another at large operating facilities for the research community; within a different context that has been argued in the past to be not as demanding as for `factory` installation. In addition, comments are made relative to intense beam power levels and choices that can be made for power levels below 10 MW, on the assumption that a cw beam is required. 1 fig., 1 tab.
The objective of the ''Waste Handling Building Conceptual Study'' is to develop proposed design requirements for the repository Waste Handling System in sufficient detail to allow the surface facility design to proceed to the License Application effort if the proposed requirements are approved by DOE. Proposed requirements were developed to further refine waste handling facility performance characteristics and design constraints with an emphasis on supporting modular construction, minimizing fuel inventory, and optimizing facility maintainability and dry handling operations. To meet this objective, this study attempts to provide an alternative design to the Site Recommendation design that is flexible, simple, reliable, and can be constructed in phases. The design concept will be input ...
Digital libraries continue to flourish. At the same time, the principles of user-centered design and the practice of usability testing have been growing in popularity, spreading their influence into the library sphere. This article explores the confluence of these two trends by surveying the current literature on usability studies of digital libraries. This article focuses on the methodology of studies of multimedia digital libraries. (Contains 1 table and 45 notes.)
ObjectivesTo determine the content and extent, design, and relative importance of patient assessment courses in the professional pharmacy curriculum.MethodsA...Full Text Available
PurposeTo describe the prevalence of cataract in older people in 2 areas of north and south India.DesignPopulation-based, cross-sectional study.ParticipantsRandomly...Full Text Available
A summary of the effects presented here is given in the table. The designation "factor present" implies that there is knowledge (from human or animal studies, or both) of a specific factor(s) present...Full Text Available
Because of its direct energy conversion techniques, AMTEC is the front runner today. However, because these systems are now only in the preliminary design ...
The need for agents designed to modify immune response in the treatment of patients with viral infection, immunodeficiency, or cancer prompted the present study on the mechanisms of action of isoprinosine,...Full Text Available
ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of an interconceptional antibiotic regimen on the endometrial microbial flora and histology.StudyDesignFull Text Available
This letter reports a studydesigned to measure the benefits of voicing in the recognition of concurrent syllables. The target and distracter syllables were either voiced or whispered, producing...Full Text Available
Specialized tests can be designed to study impingement-corrosion, erosion- corrosion, cathodic protection systems, cavitation and other velocity effects. ...
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a program to improve hypertension control practices in primary care. DESIGN: Retrospective quasi-experimental study. SETTING: Three hospital-based family...Full Text Available
We investigate theoretically subwavelength imaging by acoustic metamaterial slabs immersed in the liquid matrix. A near-field subwavelength image formed by evanescent waves is achieved by a designed metamaterial slab with negative mass density and positive modulus. A subwavelength real image is achieved by a designed metamaterial slab with simultaneously negative mass density and modulus. These results are expected to shed some lights on designing novel devices of acoustic metamaterials.
A cylindrical multiwire drift chamber is the central detector of the AMPIR spectrometer. It has 4{pi} acceptance angle and was designed to study pion-nucleon reactions. The chamber can determine the three coordinates through the electron drift time and charge division ration. The paper describes the layout and design of the chamber, the test bench, the data output circuit, the design parameters, and the results of computer simulations and tests.
A cylindrical multiwire drift chamber is the central detector of the AMPIR spectrometer. It has 4#pi# acceptance angle and was designed to study pion-nucleon reactions. The chamber can determine the three coordinates through the electron drift time and charge division ration. The paper describes the layout and design of the chamber, the test bench, the data output circuit, the design parameters, and the results of computer simulations and tests.
Preliminary results are presented from a field study to evaluate the relative hydrologic performance of various landfill capping technologies installed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Four cover designs (two Los Alamos capillary barrier designs, one modified EPA RCRA design, and one conventional design) were installed in large lysimeters instrumented to monitor the fate of natural precipitation between 01 January 1990 and 20 September 1993. After 45 months of study, results showed that the cover designs containing barrier layers were effective in reducing deep percolation as compared to a simple soil cap design. The RCRA cover, incorporating a clay hydraulic barrier, was the most effective of all cover designs in controlling percolation but was not 100% effective. ...
Purpose - This study aims to design and test some fixed-wing micro aerial vehicles (MAV). Design/methodology/approach - The MAV wing planform in this study was designed based on previous results and the need to reduce the weight of the MAV. The MAV had a wing planform with a 6 percent Gottingen-329 camber airfoil, a 20 swept-back leading edge and a straight trailing edge. The fuselage was designed to contain a motor, an electronic control system and a video camera with a built-in transmitter. The battery was located outside the fuselage to trim the center of gravity and enable the battery to be changed easily when it has run out. Two exaggerated vertical stabilizers were installed to prevent the MAV from rolling. The materials, the power plant and the electronics used to fabricate the MAV ...
Within the framework of the EU power plant conceptual study (PPCS), a modular He-cooled divertor concept with integrated pin array (HEMP) is being developed at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The design goal is to achieve a high heat flux of at least about 10-15 MW/m"2, which is proposed for a near-term reactor model like DEMO. The development and optimization of the divertor concept require a close link between the main issues: design, analyses, materials and fabrication technology, and experiments with feedbacks between them to be accounted for. Design-specific requirements on materials and fabrication issues will be discussed.
such as public utilities, waste disposal sites, large energy dependent facilities including factories, institutions ( ...provides immediate identification of PCB wastes, informs company officials of any special handling or disposal techniques ...provides immediate identification of PCB wastes, informs company officials of any special handling or disposal techniques
A detailed definitive cost estimate is given for an ethanol/gasohol storage and blending terminal serving a planned distillery at a Louisiana sugar factory. Included are an analysis of the accuracy of the estimate, labor rates efficiency, materials and labor escalation, as well as detailed calculations for each account of the project. (LEW)
Japan`s coke industry was developed as the basic part for iron and steel industry. The paper addresses two factors as a characteristic of Japan-unique management. One topic is operation management and equipment management of coke factory; the second topic is human resource training in a company that lies under each management. The concepts and actual methods of these topics are introduced by showing examples. The paper discusses the improvement of the working environment and measures for future employment caused by the aging problem in Japan. 5 figs.
The advent of sophisticated automation equipment and computer hardware and software is changing the way manufacturing is carried out. To compete in the global marketplace, manufacturing companies must integrate these new technologies into their factories. In addition, they must integrate the planning, control, and data management methodologies needed to make effective use of these technologies. This paper provides an overview of recent approaches to achieving this enterprise integration. It then describes, using simulation as a particular example, a new tool`s perspective of enterprise integration.
This report provide appropriate guidance for addressing the major technical issues associated with the design and installation of a photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) system. Nomographs are presented for developing preliminary sizing and costing, and issues associated with specific components and the overall design of the electrical and mechanical system are discussed. SAND82-7157/2 presents a review of current PV-T technology and operating systems and a study of potential PV-T applications. Detailed PV-T system designs for three selected applications and the results of a trade-off study for these applications are presented in SAND82-7157/4. A summary of the major results of this entire study and conclusions concerning PV-T systems and applications is presented in SAND82-7157/1.
Optimal neutron energy for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) has been studied. Epithermal neutron is superior to thermal neutrons in treating deep-seated tumors. Design of the epithermal neutron column for BNCT has been performed by using a two-dimensional transport calculation code. Aluminum and heavy water are used as moderation materials. A thermal neutron column is also designed using heavy water as thermalization material. The configuration of the facility for treatment and research of BNCT and also for basic radio-biological studies of neutrons has been presented.
Optimal neutron energy for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) has been studied. Epithermal neutron is superior to thermal neutrons in treating deep-seated tumors. Design of the epithermal neutron column for BNCT has been performed by using a two-dimensional transport calculation code. Aluminum and heavy water are used as moderation materials. A thermal neutron column is also designed using heavy water as thermalization material. The configuration of the facility for treatment and research of BNCT and also for basic radio-biological studies of neutrons has been presented. (author).
In the geological disposal facility of the high-level radioactive waste, a group of galleries is designed in parallel at the depth of more than 300 m below surface. This is an unprecedented structure in the field of conventional engineering, and it is necessary to take this characteristic into consideration in the design of the galleries. In the geological disposal facility, as well as ensuring the dynamic stability of the gallery during construction and operational periods, it is necessary to evaluate the EDZ adequately for long-term stability after the closure. In this study, analysis of the 'multi tunnels model' which represents the whole gallery group was performed and the results about the outbreak behavior of EDZ were summarized. (author)
Brookhaven National Laboratory is involved in a conceptual designstudy of a commercial nuclear power system which utilizes high-temperature electrolysis to produce synthetic fuels. The system is called HYFIRE. It includes a tokamak fusion power reactor supplying electrical and thermal energy to an array of electrolytes. The electrolytes produce hydrogen which can be used either directly as a fuel or in the production of hydrocarbons. The purpose of the study is to provide a mechanism for DOE to further assess the commercial potential of fusion using a tokamak reactor to produce synthetic fuel. The HYFIRE design is based on the tokamak commercial power reactor, STARFIRE. STARFIRE uses the deuterium/tritium/lithium fuel cycle. The HYFIRE study assumes the plasma shape and characteristics of STARFIRE study but uses a different blanket design. ...
This study was designed to evaluate the suitability of a novel bioabsorbable material in treating bone defects. A poly(desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine-ethyl ester carbonate) (PDTE carbonate) membrane (thickness...Full Text Available
The studydesign includes a systematic literature review. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transforaminal endoscopic surgery and to compare this with open microdiscectomy...Full Text Available
ObjectiveTo investigate the associations between intimate partner violence, rape and HIV among South African men.DesignCross-sectional study involving...Full Text Available
ObjectivesThe objective of this paper is to describe the complex mixed-methods design of a study conducted to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes...Full Text Available
StudyDesignThis is a retrospective study that was done according to clinical and radiological evaluation.PurposeWe analyzed the clinical and radiological...Full Text Available
Accurate engineering cost estimates are critical in developing bids for new work, and for effective resource allocation and project control. This study reports on design estimating methods found in the literature, and on the results of two empirical studies of how estimating techniques are used in professional practice and their accuracy. The study found great reliance on a classic {open_quotes}activity analysis{close_quotes} approach to estimating design resources, and significant hazards in commonly used parametric techniques. The study found that project managers expect their estimates to be accurate (with 80% confidence interval) of between -10% to +25%. The study also found that actual bids between engineering firms had a much greater range (-40% to +45%) than can be explained by accuracy. Perhaps most importantly the ...
StudyDesignA retrospective study.PurposeTo determine the feasibility and effectiveness of revisional percutaneous full endoscopic discectomy for...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE--To investigate the cause of post-operative retention of urine in elderly men. DESIGN--Prospective study. SETTING--Northern General Hospital, Sheffield. PATIENTS--32 consecutive men (median...Full Text Available
PURPOSE: Visual loss following panretinal photocoagulation was found in the Diabetic Retinopathy and the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Studies. This study was designed to test the hypothesis...Full Text Available
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority mortality study was designed to investigate the relation between exposure to ionising radiation and mortality among the authority's employees. The present...Full Text Available
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence rate of newly diagnosed cases of coeliac disease in Italy. DESIGN: This was a descriptive study of coeliac disease incidence in the period 1990-91. SETTING:...Full Text Available
Genome-wide association studies are designed to discover SNPs that are associated with a complex trait. Employing strict significance thresholds when testing individual SNPs avoids false positives at...Full Text Available
Presented are some preliminary studies made in preparation for the design of a solar powered loop for desalination by humidification - dehumidification process. The studies concentrated on the evaluation of different parameters affecting the performance of the combination of different components in such a loop in the hope of outlining the most decisive factors for the choice or design of solar collectors or heat source. The results presented relate to the performance of two of the most important components in a loop of such purpose, that is: the humidifying and the dehumidifying columns or stacks. 4 refs.
FSD-1, a designed small ultrafast folder with a ββα fold, has been actively studied in the last few years as a model system for studying protein folding mechanisms and for testing...Full Text Available
This study by CTES, L.C. meets two main objectives. First, evaluate the feasibility of using coiled tubing (CT) to drill 1.0 inches-2.5 inches diameter directional holes in hard rocks. Second, develop a conceptual design for a micro borehole drilling platform (MBDP) meeting specific size, weight, and performance requirements. The Statement of Work (SOW) in Appendix A contains detailed specifications for the feasibility study and conceptual design.
The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) tests the quantitative fit of masks which are worn by military personnel during nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare. Subjects are placed in a Dynatech-Frontier Fit Testing Chamber, salt air is fed into the chamber, and samples of air are drawn from the mask and the chamber. The ratio of salt air outside the mask to salt air inside the mask is called the quantitative fit factor. A motion-time study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of the layout and work method presently used in the laboratory. A link analysis was done to determine equipment priorities, and the link data and design guidelines were used to develop three proposed laboratory designs. The proposals were evaluated by projecting the time and motion efficiency, and the energy expended working in each design. Also evaluated were the lengths of the equipment links for ...
Progress is reported in several areas of research. The following cellulosic raw materials were selected for study: wheat, barley, and rice straws, rice hulls, sorghum, corn stover, cotton gin trash, newsprint, ground wood, and masonite steam-treated Douglas fir and redwood. Samples were collected, prepared, and analyzed for hexosans, pentosans, lignin, ash, and protein. Results of acid extraction and enzymatic hydrolysis are discussed. Yields of glucose, polyglucose, xylose, and arabinose are reported. Progress in process design and economic studies, as well as pilot plant process development and designstudies, is summarized. (JGB)
AbstractObjective To review studies investigating the brain correlates of unawareness of cognitive and behavioural symptoms in people with dementia. Design A detailed search of the literature was conducted to include all the peer-reviewed studies published in English aimed at identifying the structural or functional brain correspondents of unawareness in dementia patients. Their results were interpreted in relation to the methodological differences in terms of type of dementia studied, the protocol adopted to measure lack of awareness, the imaging techniques employed, the experimental designs and statistical analyses performed. Results Eighteen studies undertaken to explore the functional and structural correlates of unawareness of cognitive symptoms in dementia were identified. Although t...
Full text.Changes in land use and urbanization yield more pressure put on limited soil and water resources, including the risk of pollution with toxic heavy metals. The study area lies in the Bekaa valley totaling about 12753 ha. The valley receives from the west torrential fan deposits and a mixture of colluvial and alluvial material. The principal soil classes are Fluvisols, Cambisols, Regosols, Vertisols and Luvisols. The area is populated and also the most important agricultural part of the plain. Agriculture in the plain is being practiced mainly with cash, field crops and vegetables. The western surrounding area is being used mainly for terraced fruit trees. This Arab-German Technical Cooperation Project (ACSAD-BGR) aimed, following the ISO standards and Eikman-Klocke recommendations, at investigating the nature of the extends of soil pollution by heavy metals in two pilot areas: The central Bekaa-Lebanon and Ghouta-Damascus. Different institutions cooperate ...
A complete power plant design of a 1200-MWe ELMO Bumpy Torus Reactor (EBTR) is presented. An emphasis is placed on those features that are unique to the EBT confinement concept, with subsystems and balance-of-plant items that are more generic to magnetic fusion being adapted from past, more extensive tokamak reactor designs. Similar to the latter tokamak studies, this conceptual EBTR design also emphasizes the use of conventional or near state-of-the-art engineering technology and materials. An emphasis is also placed on system accessibility, reliability, and maintainability, as these crucial and desirable characteristics relate to the unique high-aspect-ratio configuration of EBTs. Equal and strong emphasis is given to physics, engineering/technology, and costing/economics components of this design effort. Parametric optimizations and sensitivity studies, using ...
This book presents the proceedings of a conference dedicated to the design and operation of pipework in all its aspects, involving both metallic and non-metallic materials. Topics considered include a study of single mitre pipe bends using the finite element method; tests to failure of GRP pipe bends under in-plane flexural loading; finite element stress analysis of an equal diameter branch pipe intersection subjected to internal pressure and in-plane moment loadings; finite element stress analysis of extruded outlet tee junctions; design of pipework on the British PWR; a review of advanced remanent life methods for pipes operating in the creep range; pipe whip analysis and design; damping values for piping systems; pipework snubbers based on electro-rheological fluids; and the seismic design of piping systems in the flexible range.
The original objective of our EMSP research was to design, develop, and test new in situ field permeameters for use in spatial variability studies of unsaturated hydraulic properties. We initially focused on activities related to development and testing of techniques for inverting permeameter data, development of numerical tools for data inversion, error evaluation for permeameter design, and permeameter component design. However, the results of error evaluations for permeameter design caused us to redirect our research, and reformulate our research objectives. We discovered that small, simple measurement errors lead to significant bias in the estimated hydraulic properties and their spatial statistics. Our reformulated research objective became the evaluation of the origin, impact and relevance of spatial bias in field-and laboratory-estimated unsaturate hydraulic properties, with ...
This article explores how action research, design based research and interaction design can be combined and used in the development of educational robotic tools. Our case study is the development of Number Blocks and it combines physical interaction, learning, and immediate feedback. Number Blocks supports the children's understanding of place value in the sense that it allows them to experiment with creating large numbers. The development was done in collaboration with a class of 7-8 year old children and their mathematics teacher. The article argues that elements from different research methods allowed a structured approach to projects that combines educational research and innovation of new learning technologies. Key elements of this approach is acknowledging the users input, developing a theoretical pre-analysis and using an iterative approach.
In many online systems, individuals provide services for each other. Typically, the recipient of the service obtains a benefit while the provider of the service incurs a cost. Assuming that benefit exceeds cost, provision of the service increases social welfare and should therefore be encouraged -- but the individuals providing the service gain no (immediate) benefit from providing the service and hence have an incentive to withhold service. This paper studies the design of a system to encourage provision of service; the emphasis is on how the system designer should choose a protocol -- a supply of tokens and suggested strategies -- to maximize social welfare. In choosing this protocol, the system designer must take into account that agents are self-interested, and hence will comply with the protocol if and only if it is in their interests to do so. Moreover, we insist that the chosen protocol must be ...
Nowadays, different research teams are engaged on experimental and theoretical studies having as main aim the evaluation of seismic performance of sheathed cold-formed steel frame structures. Although a relatively large number of experimental and theoretical studies are available, the development of useful tools for the seismic design should be improved. As an attempt to overcome this lack, this paper aims to present a structural design procedure that allows, through the definition of three design nomographs, the screw spacing and all the shear walls components to be obtained on the basis of linear dynamic or nonlinear static seismic analysis. In addition, a procedure for the prediction of the whole pushover response curve of sheathed cold-formed steel shear walls, which can be advantageou...
This paper presents an assessment of recent improvements in the technology for direct coal liquefaction on the estimated commercial economics. The basis for the design and cost estimates is a series of studies sponsored by Amoco Corporation and Electric Power Research Institute, which were derived from the highly detailed Breckinridge Project, completed in the early 1980s under DOE sponsorship. The technology, design, and cost estimates reflect the current two-stage liquefaction technology practiced at the Advanced Coal Liquefaction Research facility in Wilsonville, Alabama. Details of the design bases and cost estimates and how they compare with the original Breckinridge study are described. Also examined are effects of feed coal rank, product slate, and the source of hydrogen (natural gas or coal) on the costs. Finally, the ways that projected future improvements in the technology ...
In designing automatic water quality monitoring networks for a river basin, determination of measurement locations and items is critical to the effectiveness of the total system. In this paper we studied how to decide these two design factors when a monitoring network is designed for the purpose of water quality surveillance and emergency alarm. For measurement locations, candidate sites are chosen based on the intake amount for water supply and the point sources of contamination. Then, detailed locations are decided according to the contaminant flow distance. As for measurement items, characteristics and the accident history of water pollution in the basin must be taken into account. Considering economic aspects, we proposed a two-stage measurement plan: basic components for all locations and selective ones variable for different locations. Proposed methodology is demonstrated through a case ...
A project is underway at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to design, test, and install a cold neutron source facility in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). This new cold source employs supercritical hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures both as the medium for neutron moderation and as the working fluid for removal of internally-generated nuclear heating. The competing design goals of minimizing moderator vessel mass and providing adequate structural integrity for the vessel motivated the requirement of detailed multidimensional thermal-hydraulic analyses of the moderator vessel as a critical design subtask. This paper provides a summary review of the HFIR cold source moderator vessel design and a description of the thermal-hydraulic studies that were carried out to support the vessel development.
For early-stage firms, successful commercialization of each new product is critically important, given the shortage of financial resources, the limited product portfolio, and small staffs typical of such firms. This paper investigates two key contributing factors for new product success in entrepreneurial firms: designing products that are appealing to target users in both form and function and designing products that can be manufactured at an attractive margin so that the new enterprise can generate much needed positive cash flow. These two practices-industrial design and cost engineering-are well studied in the context of larger, established corporations but have not been explored in the context of new ventures. This study focuses on the intensity of individual and combined adoption of d...
Objective: The aim of this study was to obtain an overview of the methodological quality of studies on the measurement properties of neck pain and disability questionnaires and to describe how well various aspects of the design and statistical analyses of studies on measurement properties are performed. Methods: A systematic review was performed of published studies on the measurement properties of neck pain and disability questionnaires. Two reviewers independently rated the quality of the studies using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. This checklist was developed in an international Delphi consensus study. Results: A total of 47 articles were included on the measurement properties of 8 different questionnaires. The meth...
A review of current daylighting design tools indicates that over 30 tools are now available, including nomographs, protractors, overlays, and programs for micro-, mini-, and mainframe computers. Computer-based tools allow testing and analyzing of more design alternatives under a wider variety of conditions than was previously practical with slower techniques, but they have not fundamentally changed the information available to the design professional. These tools are applicable to certain limited functions of the design process and do not address the varying information needs of the designer at various points in the design process. We describe a concept for a computer-based building envelope design tool that is structured to overcome many of the limitations of the existing tools. The tool would address daylighting design ...
This report presents the results of a systems failure analysis study of the CANDU 3 reactor design; the study was performed for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As part of the study a review of the CANDU 3 design documentation was performed, a plant assessment methodology was developed, representative plant initiating events were identified for detailed analysis, and a plant assessment was performed. The results of the plant assessment included classification of the CANDU 3 event sequences that were analyzed, determination of CANDU 3 systems that are ''significant to safety,'' and identification of key operator actions for the analyzed events.
The Systems DesignStudy (SDS) identified technologies available for the remediation of low-level and transuranic waste stored at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex's Subsurface Disposal Area at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The SDS study intentionally omitted the costs of transportation and disposal of the processed waste and the cost of decommissioning the processing facility. This report provides a follow-on analysis of the SDS to explore the basis for life-cycle cost segments of transportation, disposal, and facility decommissioning; to determine the sensitivity of the cost segments; and to quantify the life-cycle costs of the 10 ex situ concepts of the Systems DesignStudy.
The Systems DesignStudy (SDS) identified technologies available for the remediation of low-level and transuranic waste stored at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex`s Subsurface Disposal Area at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The SDS study intentionally omitted the costs of transportation and disposal of the processed waste and the cost of decommissioning the processing facility. This report provides a follow-on analysis of the SDS to explore the basis for life-cycle cost segments of transportation, disposal, and facility decommissioning; to determine the sensitivity of the cost segments; and to quantify the life-cycle costs of the 10 ex situ concepts of the Systems DesignStudy.
The paper develops a new design procedure for simultaneous coordinated designing of the thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC) damping controller and power system stabilizer (PSS) in multi-machine power system. The coordinated design problem of PSS and TCSC damping controllers over a wide range of loading conditions is converted to an optimization problem with the time domain-based objective function that is solved by a particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique which has a strong ability to find the most optimistic results. By minimizing the proposed fitness function in which oscillatory characteristics between areas are included and thus the interactions among the TCSC controller and PSS under transient conditions in the multi-machine power system are improved. To ensure the robustness of the proposed stabilizers, the design process takes a wide range of operating conditions into account. The ...
During the last 15 years cycles with CO{sub 2} capture have been in focus, due to the growing concern over our climate. Often, a natural gas fired combined cycle with a chemical absorption plant for CO{sub 2} capture from the flue gases have been used as a reference in comparisons between cycles. Neither the integration of the steam production for regeneration of amines in the combined cycle nor the off-design behaviour of such a plant has been extensively studied before. In this paper, the integration of steam production for regeneration of the amines is modelled at design load and studied in off-design conditions for a combined cycle. Different ambient conditions and part-load strategies and their influence on the cycle performance are also examined. Of particular interest is a novel strategy with the possibility of longer life of gas turbine blading, with marginal loss in ...
Most designers are not schooled in the area of human-interaction psychology and therefore tend to rely on the traditional ergonomic aspects of human factors when designing complex human-interactive workstations. Unfortunately, by ignoring the importance of the integration of the user interface at the psychophysiological level, the result can be ineffective use of a system leading to an inherently error- and failure-prone system. Therefore, to minimize failures in a human-interactive system, it is essential that designers understand how each user`s processing characteristics affect how the user gathers and processes information. By understanding the significant processing characteristics of the user, designers can implement practical and effective visual displays (or any other type of system) that are more desirable to all users. The material presented in this paper is based on a general ...
The President`s budget request for FY 1994 included a construction project for the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS). However, the budget that emerged from the Congress did not, and so activities during this reporting period were limited to continued research and development and to advanced conceptual design. A significant effort was devoted to a study, requested by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and led by Brookhaven National Laboratory, of the performance and cost impacts of reducing the uranium fuel enrichment below the baseline design value of 93%. The study also considered alternative core designs that might mitigate those impacts. The ANS Project proposed a modified core design, with three fuel elements instead of two, that would allow operation with only 50% enriched uranium and use existing fuel technology. The performance penalty would be 15--20% loss of ...
To propose a new design concept of a nuclear reactor used in the space, research has been conducted on the conceptual design of a new nuclear reactor on the basis of the following three main concepts: (1) Thermionic generation by thermionic fuel elements (TFE), (2) reactivity control by rotary reflector, and (3) reactor cooling by liquid metal. The outcomes of the research are: (1) A calculation algorithm was derived for obtaining convergent conditions by repeating nuclear characteristic calculation and thermal flow characteristic calculation for the space nuclear reactor. (2) Use of this algorithm and the parametric study established that a space nuclear reactor using 97% enriched uranium nitride as the fuel and lithium as the coolant and having a core with a radius of about 25 cm, a height of about 50 cm and a generation efficiency of about 7% can probably be operated continuously for at least more than ten years at 100 ...
Computer based control systems for safety related applications in nuclear power plants have to meet not only the functional, performance and interface requirements, they in addition, have to meet regulatory requirements like enhanced reliability, safety and security and should provide fault tolerance, diagnostics and self-supervision. The control system architecture, hardware design and software design should meet requirements as specified in design code and guides of AERB. The Dual Processor Hot Standby Process Control System (DPHS-PCS) for TAPP-3 and 4 is a safety related (Class- IB) system. DPHS-PCS regulates PHT pressure, Pressuriser pressure, Pressuriser level, Bleed condenser pressure, Bleed condenser level and Steam generator pressure. The performance, reliability and safety requirements of this control system are met by employing a fault tolerant computer configuration developed for this purpose using hardware ...
The heavy dependence on nuclear power eventually raise the issues of an efficient utilization of uranium resources, which Korea presently imports from abroad, end of a spent fuel storage. From the viewpoint that sodium-cooled fast Reactors (SFRs) have the potential of an enhanced safety by utilizing inherent safety characteristics, trans-uranics (TRU) reduction and resolving the spent fuel storage problems through a proliferation-resistant actinide recycling. SFRs are sure to be most promising nuclear power operation. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing SFR design technologies since 1997. And nowadays, the preliminary heat balance of the demonstration SFR is calculated. However, in order to verify design condition of the NSSS, it is necessary to set the heat balance and the conceptual design for BOP of the SFR as a part of the SFR design technique development business. ...
Authors already reported the integrated system so called SODAS (System Of Design and Assembling for Shipbuilding) which was based on product model concept. And products in shipbuilding industry today are not limited to ship structures alone. Therefore, it is desirable that a more global product model which can describe another products such as offshore structures should be considered. In this paper, a product model of offshore structures is discussed. Compared with the case of ship structures, the distinctive feature in the design stage of offshore structures lies in the initial design stage. Thus in this paper, some of the new model in initial design stage are introduced. Some of them are `Function Element Model` which expresses functional concept by designers. In the other design stage, product information such as `Room` and `Part` which were already ...
ARIES-AT is a 1000 MWe conceptual fusion power plant design with a very low projected cost of electricity. The design contains many innovative features to improve both the physics and engineering performance of the system. From the safety and environmental perspective, there is greater depth to the overall analysis than in past ARIES studies. For ARIES-AT, the overall spectrum of off-normal events to be examined has been broadened. They include conventional loss of coolant and loss of flow events, an ex-vessel loss of coolant, and in-vessel off-normal events that mobilize in-vessel inventories (e.g., tritium and tokamak dust) and bypass primary confinement such as a loss of vacuum and an in-vessel loss of coolant with bypass. This broader examination of accidents improves the robustness of the design from the safety perspective and gives additional confidence that the facility can meet the no-evacuation ...
ARIES-AT is a 1000 MWe conceptual fusion power plant design with a very low projected cost of electricity. The design contains many innovative features to improve both the physics and engineering performance of the system. From the safety and environmental perspective, there is greater depth to the overall analysis than in past ARIES studies. For ARIES-AT, the overall spectrum of off-normal events to be examined has been broadened. They include conventional loss of coolant and loss of flow events, an ex-vessel loss of coolant, and in-vessel off-normal events that mobilize in-vessel inventories (e.g., tritium and tokamak dust) and bypass primary confinement such as a loss of vacuum and an in-vessel loss of coolant with bypass. This broader examination of accidents improves the robustness of the design from the safety perspective and gives additional confidence that the facility can meet the no-evacuation ...
The conceptual design for a cyclotron that could possibly deliver a 10 MW proton beam, presented at the previous ADTT conference, is discussed in comparison with the operational experience gained with 0.9 MW beam power in the upgraded cyclotron facility at PSI that has reached the design goal of 1.5 mA at 590 MeV in 1995. Some critical aspects of the design are e.g. RF power and beam loading, beam loss and activation, space charge effects and bunching. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
We present the results obtained from tests and studies carried out on the model of tube bundles for a PGV-1000 horizontal steam generator that were conducted for experimentally substantiating the design service life of a steam generator tube bundle intended for use at new nuclear power stations equipped with a PGV-1000MKP steam generator. Measures taken to minimize the incipience and development of local corrosion damage to the heat-transfer tubes and ensure their design service life are substantiated and confirmed.
A systematic optimization method of choosing the weighting matrix in linear optimal control system design, under the conditions of prespecified closed-loop dominant eigenvalue locations and feedback gain limit constraints, is presented in this paper. Studies show that with the proposed method one can obtain the desired weighting matrix very quickly and conveniently without the heavy burden of choosing a suitable weighting matrix by trail and error. This method can also easily achieve a reduced-order feedback control system. The linear optimal power system stabilizer designed by using the proposed method produces very good performance.
Within the APROS simulation environment we have built a thermo-hydraulic model of a conceptual fusion power plant which is water cooled and uses lithium-lead for tritium breeding. For the safety assessment of this design we have studied an accident sequence which starts from a loss or coolant flow then leads to first wall breach and pressurisation of the vacuum vessel. Simulations have revealed strong pressure transients which can be alleviated by design changes. One goal is to verify the adequacy of the containment design: it remains intact at least 14 h without any mitigating efforts. Estimates for radioactive releases are obtained. (author)
A new metaheuristic optimisation algorithm, called Cuckoo Search (CS), was developed recently by Yang and Deb (2009). This paper presents a more extensive comparison study using some standard test functions and newly designed stochastic test functions. We then apply the CS algorithm to solve engineering design optimisation problems, including the design of springs and welded beam structures. The optimal solutions obtained by CS are far better than the best solutions obtained by an efficient particle swarm optimiser. We will discuss the unique search features used in CS and the implications for further research.
There is very little quantitative documentation of actual improvements resulting from the installation of new general ventilation systems in industrial settings. Therefore the performance of the common mixing design principle was compared to the displacement design principle by means of an intervention study in a workshop (V = 12,000 m[sup 3]), where thermoplastics were moulded. An experimental signal-response tracer gas technique was used. In terms of supplying fresh air to the zone of occupancy the displacement system was better than the mixing system by a factor of 2. In terms of the exposure level to a simulated contaminant (tracer gas) the displacement system was better by a factor 1.5-18. (author)
This report describes studies performed in the framework of the Collimation Task Force organized to support the work of the second International Linear Collider Technical Review Committee. The post-linac beam-collimation systems in the TESLA, JLC/NLC and CLIC linear-collider designs are compared using the same computer code under the same assumptions. Their performance is quantified in terms of beam-halo and synchrotron-radiation collimation efficiency. The performance of the current designs varies across projects, and does not always meet the original design goals. But these comparisons suggest that achieving the required performance in a future linear collider is feasible.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has contracted with Asea Brown Boveri-Combustion Engineering (ABB-CE) to provide information on the capability of ABB-CE`s System 80 + Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) to transform, through reactor burnup, 100 metric tonnes (MT) of weapons grade plutonium (Pu) into a form which is not readily useable in weapons. This information is being developed as part of DOE`s Plutonium Disposition Study, initiated by DOE in response to Congressional action. This document, Volume 1, presents a technical description of the various elements of the System 80 + Standard Plant Design upon which the Plutonium Disposition Study was based. The System 80 + Standard Design is fully developed and directly suited to meeting the mission objectives for plutonium disposal. The bass U0{sub 2} plant design is discussed here.
A comparative core designstudy is performed on Pb-Bi cooled reactors with forced and natural convection (FC and NC) cooling. Major interests of the study are core performance and core safety features. The designed core concepts with nitride fuel achieve reasonable breeding capability. The results of unprotected event analyses such as UTOP and ULOF show that both of concepts have possible features to withstand unprotected events due to negative reactivity feedback by Doppler effect, control rod drive line expansion, etc. These results lead to a conclusion that both of concepts have possible capability as one of future promising core concepts. A FC cooling core concept has more advantage if fuel recycle viewpoint is emphasized. (author)
The five thermal-hydraulic concepts chosen for advanced PWR have been studied as follows: (1) Critical Heat Flux: Review of previous works, analysis of parametric trends, analysis of transient CHF characteristics, extension of the CHF date bank, survey and assessment of correlations, design of a intermediate-pressure CHF test loop have been performed. (2) Passive Cooling Concepts for Concrete Containment system: Review of condensation phenomena with noncondensable gases, selection of a promising concept (i.e., use of external condensers), design of test loop according to scaling laws have been accomplished. and computer programs based on the control-volume approach, and the conceptual design of test loop have been accomplished. (4) Fluidic Diode Concepts: Review of previous applications of the concept, analysis major parameters affecting the performance, development of a computational code, and ...
The Reduced-Moderation Water Reactor (RMWR) is a next generation water-cooled reactor, based on the experienced light water reactor (LWR) technology, aiming at effective utilization of uranium resources, high burn-up and long operation cycle and plutonium multiple recycling. These characteristics can be achieved by the high conversion ratio from {sup 238}U to {sup 239}Pu resulted from the higher neutron energy spectrum in comparison to conventional LWRs. Considering the extension of LWR utilization, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) started the research on it in 1997 and then started a collaboration in the conceptual designstudy with the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) in 1998, under technical cooperation with three Japanese reactor vendors. In the core designstudy of the RMWR, several basic core designs with the high conversion ratio more than 1 and the negative ...
The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency is a major site for geoscientific research to advance the scientific and technological basis for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in crystalline rock. Studies on relevant engineering technologies in the MIU consist of a) research on design and construction technology for very deep underground applications, and b) research on engineering technology as a basis of geological disposal. In the Second Phase of the MIU project (the construction phase), engineering studies have focused on research into design and construction technologies for deep underground. The main subjects in the study of very deep underground structures consist of the following: 'Demonstration of the design methodology', 'Demonstration of existing and supplementary excavation methods', ...
Dimensional variability studies and published dimensional variability standards have been used by the foundry industry for years as an indicator of the casting process` ability to produce uniform parts. These studies are an extremely useful tool in the continuous ``dimensional dialogue`` between foundries and customers. The nature of these studies, and of the current tolerancing systems used by casting designers, leaves room for some misinterpretation and misuse of these study results. This paper contains two important discussions. The first part explains exactly what these studies represent. Following this is a brief explanation on dimensional and geometric tolerances and how they communicate dimensional requirements.
This paper is concerned with the application of a new fuzzy inference method to the design of fuzzy power system stabilizer. Based on Truth-Value-Flow-Inference (TVFI), a fuzzy logic controlled power system stabilizer is proposed to enhance the stability of power system with weak or negative damping. The design of the proposed fuzzy power system stabilizer is presented. Numerical simulation results are presented and compared with two other kinds of fuzzy power system stabilizers. (author)
Traditionally, market researchers have sought some formula to predict the acceptance of a new product or innovation in advance of its introduction. Perhaps a universal marketing formula will never be found. However, a summary of 3000 research studies, conducted in the United States and in other countries of the world, on how people accept new ideas promises more insight into the subject of the marketing of passive design and products than ever before.
This case study illustrates how an existing building can be transformed into a sustainable, green facility through teamwork. This multi-purpose building comprises office space, combustion testing facilities, and microwave communications center. The paper discusses internal systems design, indoor air quality, commissioning, economics, operations and maintenance, and monitoring.
The results of Sandia National Laboratories' participation in the NASA Planetary Definition and Design Program are summarized. Areas reported include the characterization of large area cadmium zinc telluride spectrometers and the application of simulation techniques to the prediction of device performance. Also investigated was the response of mercuric iodide devices in the region from 1 to 100 KeV. A literature study to determine the status or radiation damage measurements in room temperature semiconductor devices is also reported.
This is the third of a series of research reports which builds on the previous contents which dealt with energy efficiency techniques and minimizing the environmental effects of building materials. It presents some specifications for house types and gives built examples of energy efficient homes in Europe. (UK)
Since 1984 the thermal-hydraulic code ATHLET has been also applied for the analyses of LOCA and transients in VVER plants. The specific design of these plants especially of the steam generator design requires a specific modelling of the phenomena which may occur under LOCA and transient conditions in these plants. Differences in design compared to the design of western reactors have been briefly listed. Specific phenomena occurring under small leak accidents are shortly described. The consideration of the simulation of the boiler-condenser mode illustrates the modelling requirements for a code which may be applied to the prediction of such a thermal-hydraulic behaviour. Facing the lack of experimental data, the reliability of the simulation has been discussed by means of plausibility studies based on the momentum balance for steam and water. In summary: The VVER reactors differ in ...
This paper presents a case study in the design and implementation of a numerical weather prediction model on a supercomputer (CRAY-1). Following a historical introduction to the evolution of the model, the governing equations of the model are presented and the numerical solution of these forecast equations is described. A brief tutorial on the architecture of the CRAY-1 is presented with a discussion of how it affects the choice of algorithms and code design of the model. A summary of the advantages gained by use of the vector aspects of the CRAY-1 is included.
It is the Office of protection against the ionizing radiations (O.P.R.I.) who alerted the A.C.R.O. that a new ruthenium incident had arisen to the factory Cogema - La Hague on October 31., 2001. The A.C.R.O. immediately made a campaign of analyses the results of which are presented in this note. The previous similar incident dates May 18., 2001. A loss of depression in the workshop R7 of the factory UP2-800 specialized in the vitrification had brought an unchecked release, by one of the smokestacks, composed essentially of radioactive ruthenium and rhodium; the evacuated activity was estimated by the operator at approximately 11 MBq. The measures in environment made by the A.C.R.O. had led the association to question the Authority of Nuclear Safety about the total quantity of release announced by the operator. Having presented the results of the measures of radioactivity in the environment made following the incident of 31. october 2001, an ...
Wonderful opportunities await particle physics over the next decade, with the coming of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to explore the 1-TeV scale (extending efforts at LEP and the Tevatron to unravel the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking) and many initiatives to develop our understanding of the problem of identity: what makes a neutrino a neutrino and a top quark a top quark. Here I have in mind the work of the B factories and the Tevatron collider on CP violation and the weak interactions of the b quark; the wonderfully sensitive experiments at Brookhaven, CERN, Fermilab, and Frascati on CP violation and rare decays of kaons; the prospect of definitive accelerator experiments on neutrino oscillations and the nature of the neutrinos; and a host of new experiments on the sensitivity frontier. We might even learn to read experiment for clues about the dimensionality of spacetime. If we are inventive enough, we may be able to follow this rich menu with the ...
A large amount of industrial water is used for cooling the various process fluids in the petroleum purification factories as well as petroleum chemistry factories. Consequently, a lot of heat exchangers as the necessary constitutional instruments are made of carbon steel. Due to the most of the corrosions of the carbon steel occurring in such cooling water systems are pitting corrosions, the inhibition thereof is extremely important for the elongation of the life of the plants and the stable operation. In this paper, the influences of water quality fractions on pitting corrosion of carbon steel in cooling water circumstance are examined aiming at the fouling in the cooling water. The fouling in the cooling water does not only increase the amount of occurrence of pitting corrosion but also accelerates the progress of pitting corrosion enlarging the rust due to its deposition near the anode. Since only the inhibitor is not sufficient to inhibit ...
Particle physics is driven by five great topics. Neutrino oscillations and masses are now at the fore. The standard model with extensions to supersymmetry and a Higgs to generate mass explains much of the field. The origins of CP violation are not understood. The possibility of extra dimensions has raised tantalizing new questions. A fifth topic lurking in the background is the possibility of something totally different. Many of the questions raised by these topics require powerful new accelerators. It is not an overstatement to say that for some of the issues, the accelerator is almost the experiment. Indeed some of the questions require machines beyond our present capability. As this volume attests, there are parts of the particle physics program that have been significantly advanced without the use of accelerators such as the subject of neutrino oscillations and many aspects of the particle-cosmology interface. At this stage in the development of physics, both approaches are needed ...
This article describes innovations in new-boiler startups, based on experiences at United Development Group`s 50-MW Niagra cogeneration facility, Niagra Falls, NY. The plant comprises: a circulating coal fluidized bed boiler supplying steam to a nearby factory and electricity to the grid. Before operation the system was flushed with demineralized water, and the boiler degreased, the steam blow relied on a new procedure involving a continuous flow of steam. Startup was then initiated, following manufacturers heatup rate and soak times closely. After startup boiler tube sections were checked, and cleaned if necessary. 1 fig.
Modifications to the reference concept were studied and the best approaches defined. The impact of the high efficiency multibandgap solar array on the reference concept design is considered. System trade studies for several solid state concepts, including the sandwich concept and a separate antenna/solar concept, are described. Two solid state concepts were selected and a design definition is presented for each. Magnetrons as an alternative to the reference klystrons for dc/rf conversion are evaluated. System definitions are presented for the preferred klystron and solid state concepts. Supporting systems are analyzed, with major analysis in the microwave, structures, and power distribution areas. Results of studies for thermal control, attitude control, stationkeeping, and details of a multibandgap solar cell study are included. Advanced laser concepts and the ...
This report describes progress during the first year of a three-year project. The objective of the research is to examine new design approaches for achieving very high conversion efficiencies. The program is divided into two areas. The first centers on exploring new thin-film approaches specifically designed for III-V semiconductors. The second area centers on exploring design approaches for achieving high conversion efficiencies without requiring extremely high quality material. Research activities consisted of an experimental study of minority carrier recombination in n-type, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-deposited GaAs, an assessment of the minority carrier lifetimes in n-GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and developing a high-efficiency cell fabrication process.
This report describes progress during the first year of a three-year project. The objective of the research is to examine new design approaches for achieving very high conversion efficiencies. The program is divided into two areas. The first centers on exploring new thin-film approaches specifically designed for III-V semiconductors. The second area centers on exploring design approaches for achieving high conversion efficiencies without requiring extremely high quality material. Research activities consisted of an experimental study of minority carrier recombination in n-type, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-deposited GaAs, an assessment of the minority carrier lifetimes in n-GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and developing a high-efficiency cell fabrication process.
This report gives a brief introduction to the project `Probabilistic Design Tool for Wind Turbines` - PRODETO - which was carried out during the years 1996-98 with partial funding from the European Commission under the Non-Nuclear Energy Programme JOULE III. The report gives an overview of the objectives and motivation for the project, and the methodology used. In this context, an example of reliability-based wind turbine design against fatigue failure is outlined with emphasis on the various important steps herein, which include probabilistic load and resistance modelling, calculation of failure probability, and calibration of partial safety factors for use with a deterministic design code format. The results of the project are presented with emphasis on a developed computer program and its capabilities, and the various elements of an executed case study are outlined. A list of project reports ...
This report is part of a four-volume study of Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) economics. This volume describes a computer model of VAWT cost and performance factors useful for system design and optimization. The content and limitations of the model are outlined. Output data are presented to demonstrate selection of optima and to indicate sensitivity of energy cost to design parameter variations. Optimized specifications generated by this model for six point designs are summarized. These designs subsequently receive a detailed economic analysis discussed in Volume IV. An appendix is included with a FORTRAN IV listing of the model and a description of the input/output characteristics.
Containment is considered as ultimate safety system and is designed to enclose whole reactor system and prevent the spread of active air-borne fission products. For Pressure and Temperature calculation, Design Basis Accident (Dba) is double ended break of reactor inlet header or main steam line break but activity release studies are done to access its performance following limiting design basis accident i.e. Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS). In such accident scenario, the core is severely damaged and results in production of steam and hydrogen along with release of activity to containment environment. Containment functions are maintained in such accident, and radiological consequences are within the prescribed limits. (author)
The field of micro unmanned aerial vehicles ({mu}UAVs) has advanced rapidly in recent years. This paper studies the design and construction of a small solar-powered aircraft near the size range of current {theta}UAVs. A number of aspects of their design were analysed, including structural, aerodynamic and propulsion system considerations. The effect of small-scale, low Reynolds number aerodynamics was investigated, and the performance of a range of candidate aerofoils was compared. The integration of a solar power source into the aircraft system was considered a key design issue. Consequently, a number of aircraft configurations were examined, with the intention of optimising the application of solar power in a miniature aircraft. Investigation of improved system components suggests that a practical solar-powered aircraft in the size range below 500 mm maximum linear dimension should be viable given ...
Most standard accounts of human anatomy and physiology are designed to meet the requirements of medical education and therefore consider their subject matter from the standpoint of typical rather than...Full Text Available
Recently, a novel DNA virus designated SEN virus (SEN-V), which is thought to be related to posttransfusion hepatitis, was discovered. The aim of the present study was to clarify the relationship between...Full Text Available
Objective To establish current practice in the use of Read codes for diabetes.Design Cross sectional study.Setting 17 practices in the Battersea...Full Text Available
The structure of the skin in the epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi) wing and body trunk was studied with a view to understanding possible adaptations for gas metabolism and...Full Text Available
Objectives To evaluate the extent to which intensive care units participating in the initial Keystone ICU project sustained reductions in rates of catheter related bloodstream infections.Design...Full Text Available
BACKGROUND: Patients with shoulder disorders are believed to benefit considerably from steroid injections. However, the controversy about their efficacy persists. AIM: The study was designed to assess...Full Text Available
Comparative studies of flocculent and grand-design spirals suggest that density waves are not the predominant trigger of star formation in most galaxies. Implications for chemical evolution are profound. It may be possible to ignore the details of the spiral-wave phenomenon in research aimed at unifying the chemical properties of spiral disks. 16 references.
Background and objectives: The relationship between serum potassium (SK) and mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD) has not been systematically investigated.Design, setting, participants,...Full Text Available
We designed a multicenter study to compare tobramycin/clindamycin to imipenem/cilastatin for intra-abdominal infections. We included the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) index...Full Text Available
In 1982 the semi-submersible drilling unit Ocean Ranger capsized and sank off the Grand Banks, resulting in the loss of the entire 84-man crew. A Royal Commission was set up to conduct an enquiry into the incident, and to carry out a process of research and opinion-gathering towards providing recommendations to both federal and Newfoundland governments. The primary purpose of the Commission was to determine why the Ocean Ranger sank, why none of the crew were saved, and how to avoid similar disasters. A number of studies and seminars were held to focus expert knowledge and opinion in several key fields and to update studies and fill gaps in the data base. Summaries of selected study reports and the seminar proceedings are presented in the following areas: the environment, including ice, marine climatology, weather forecasting services, wave climatology, oceanographic information, and seabed information; ...
This study was designed to determine the effects of red and far red irradiation on ATP metabolism in etiolated bean buds (Phaseolus vulgaris L. var. Red Kidney). Compared to dark controls,...Full Text Available
ObjectivesTo describe the plans of English NHS hospitals to implement ePrescribing systems.Design and settingQuestionnaire-based survey of attendees...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE: To determine the common types of injuries among children (0-14 years) in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE). DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive hospital based study. SETTING: Al-Ain Medical...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe lack of adequate randomized clinical trials (RCT) has hindered identification of new therapies that are safe and effective for patients with primary focal segmental...Full Text Available
Early detection of precancerous tissue has significantly improved survival of most cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC). Animal models designed to study the early stages of cancer are valuable...Full Text Available
ObjectiveThis study aimed to test the preliminary psychometric properties of the Scale of Body Connection (SBC), a 20-item self-report measure, designed to assess...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE--To assess whether occupational exposure among commercial airline cabin attendants are associated with risk of cancer. DESIGN--Record linkage study. SETTING--Finland. SUBJECTS-1577 female...Full Text Available
PURPOSE This study was designed to evaluate the impact of electronic medical record (EMR) implementation on quality of diabetes care.METHODS We conducted a 5-year longitudinal...Full Text Available
Cellular hypertrophy is regulated by coordinated pro- and antigrowth machineries. Foxo transcription factors initiate an atrophy-related gene program to counter hypertrophic growth. This study was designed...Full Text Available
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of a community pharmacist–based home blood pressure (BP) monitoring program.DesignTrial of a high-intensity...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVE--To review findings from studies of the influence of desktop computers on primary care consultations. DESIGN--Systematic review of world reports from 1984 to 1994. SETTING--The computerised...Full Text Available
Scraped-surface heat transfer augmentation is proposed as a possible technique for use in improved air-cooling designs. Although it has been in common use with liquids, the technique has apparently never been used with gases. An experimental investigation...
Prophylactic knee braces are designed to prevent and reduce the severity of ligamentous injuries to the knee. Conflicting evidence is reported concerning their efficacy. The purpose of this study was...Full Text Available
The longitudinal and transverse dynamics of a heavy ion fusion beam during the drift compression and final focus phase is studied. A lattice design with four time-dependent magnets is described that focuses the entire beam pulse onto a single focal point with the same spot size.
Background"Doing the month", or "sitting month", is a traditional practice for postpartum women in China and other Asian countries, which includes some taboos against well-accepted...Full Text Available
Background and objectives: Higher urinary calcium is a risk factor for nephrolithiasis. This study delineated associations between demographic, dietary, and urinary factors and 24-h urinary calcium.Design,...Full Text Available
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a program of repeated assessments, feedback, and training on the quality of coded clinical data in general practice.Design:...Full Text Available
A century ago, Cajal noted striking similarities between the neural circuits that underlie vision in vertebrates and flies. Over the past few decades, structural and functional studies have...Full Text Available
This study was designed to identify the causes of the development of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) associated with end stage kidney disease (ESKD). A total of 112 patients with ESKD, 64 on hemodialysis...Full Text Available
BackgroundThere is no consensus as to the prognostic model for brachytherapy of tongue carcinoma. This study was designed to evaluate the prognostic factors for local control based...Full Text Available
BackgroundIn 1988, the SPILI project was established in order to evaluate the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profile of the inhabitants of Spili, in rural Crete, Greece. The first...Full Text Available
ObjectivesTo assess whether bacterial vaginosis or chlamydial infection before 10 weeks' gestation is associated with miscarriage before 16 weeks.DesignProspective...Full Text Available
ObjectivesThis study was designed to evaluate the normal development of the nasal septum in Koreans using sagittal MRI for the valuable clinical information on septal procedures.MethodsTwo...Full Text Available
Since the establishment of the National Toxicology Program (NTP), there have been gradual changes in strategies to evaluate the overall toxicity of chemicals as well as their carcinogenic potential....Full Text Available
Objective: To determine the experience of junior doctors cited as witnesses at fatal accident inquiries (FAIs). Design: Retrospective questionnaire study. Setting...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe ACTION study (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Controlled Trial Investigation Of a Non-stimulant) is a multi-center, double-blind, randomized...Full Text Available
This article describes the design and implementation of an online diabetes self-management intervention for a sample of inner-city African Americans with diabetes. Study participants were randomly assigned...Full Text Available
A comparative study has been carried out of the growth of two lines of Datura innoxia (Mill.) cells, designated DI-6 and NR1, their resistance to chlorate, and their ability to assimilate...Full Text Available
The feasibility of producing a pocket-sized air contaminant monitor based upon a miniature gas chromatograph and an integrated microcomputer has been demonstrated and a practical design for the instrument is presented. This pocket-sized instrument is intended to be used as a pers...
The national remediation program in Croatia consists of three stages: (1) identification and characterization of radioactively contaminated sites; (2) preparing activities for restoration; and (3) physical restoration at selected (high-prioritized) sites. The program is coordinated by the APO and, in the first stage, performed by both national research institutes of Ruder Boskovi and Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health. The program supervisors are Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economy (Department of Energy) and State Administration for Environmental Protection. There were more than thirty sites suspected to be radioactively contaminated in Croatia. They were classified into four contamination type groups: (1) dumps containing contaminated coal slag and ash; (2) dumps containing contaminated phosphates and phospho-gypsum resulting from fertilizers industry; (3) geothermal springs and gas/oil wells; and (4) sites containing natural radioactive materials (e.g. ...
In this paper, molecular quantum computation is numerically studied with the quantum search algorithm (Grover's algorithm) by means of optimal control simulation. Qubits are implemented in the vibronic states of I_2, while gate operations are realized by optimally designed laser pulses. The methodological aspects of the simulation are discussed in detail. We show that the algorithm for solving a gate pulse-design problem has the same mathematical form as a state-to-state control problem in the density matrix formalism, which provides monotonically convergent algorithms as an alternative to the Krotov method. The sequential irradiation of separately designed gate pulses leads to the population distribution predicted by Grover's algorithm. The computational accuracy is reduced by the imperfect quality of the pulse design and by the electronic decoherence processes that are modeled by ...
A critical issues study of a symmetric illumination, direct drive laser fusion reactor called SIRIUS has been conducted. In particular, the uniformity requirements for direct drive targets have been assessed and it is shown that respectable gains (more than 60) could be obtained at modest (2MJ) KrF laser energies. Previous ICF cavity designs have been examined for use in a symmetric illumination geometry and features from several designs have been combined into a dry wall cavity design with a radius of 8 meters. Neutronic and photonic analysis shows that the present SIRIUS cavity design can breed sufficient tritium (breeding ratio = 1.17) even with 32 laser ports penetrating the cavity. However, it was found that there are a few critical issues that remain to be solved before a self-consistent reactor design could be initiated. Radiation damage to final optics, ...
The flux distributions and enhancement factors for various gas doser designs typically used in surface science applications and chemisorption studies have been calculated and compared. The following conclusions, which will aid the experimentalist in the choice of doser design, can be made. (1) The enhancement factor expected for a given doser can easily be derived from Fig. 2. (2) The optimum doser design is a multichannel array with a radius slightly larger than that of the sample, and a distance from the sample < 10% of the sample diameter. (Complications of this design are discussed.) (3) Because of space requirements, the sample--doser distance must sometime be > or =40% of the sample diameter, in which cases it is better to use a cosine emitter. A good, very simple doser design is described that consists of a small cosine emitter with a sample--doser ...
Graphs with high symmetry or regularity are the main source for experimentally hard instances of the notoriously difficult graph isomorphism problem. In this paper, we study the computational complexity of isomorphism testing for line graphs of $t$-$(v,k,\\lambda)$ designs. For this class of highly regular graphs, we obtain a worst-case running time of $O(v^{\\log v + O(1)})$ for bounded parameters $t,k,\\lambda$. In a first step, our approach makes use of the Babai--Luks algorithm to compute canonical forms of $t$-designs. In a second step, we show that $t$-designs can be reconstructed from their line graphs in polynomial-time. The first is algebraic in nature, the second purely combinatorial. For both, profound structural knowledge in design theory is required. Our results extend earlier complexity results about isomorphism testing of graphs generated from Steiner triple systems ...
The study of the dynamics of lubricants and mechanical components encased in metal enclosures is important to many industries. Of particular importance is the flow characteristics of oils or similar lubricants within the metal enclosure during operation of the device. The purpose of this summary is to report on the design and successful application of a real-time neutron radiography system to study the lubrication and design of the piston and seal of a gas spring. In addition, the application of this technique to a wider range of similar problems using the pulse capability of the TRIGA reactor is described.
The study of the dynamics of lubricants and mechanical components encased in metal enclosures is important to many industries. Of particular importance is the flow characteristics of oils or similar lubricants within the metal enclosure during operation of the device. The purpose of this summary is to report on the design and successful application of a real-time neutron radiography system to study the lubrication and design of the piston and seal of a gas spring. In addition, the application of this technique to a wider range of similar problems using the pulse capability of the TRIGA reactor is described.
Objective was to follow the cognitive and creative processes demonstrated by student research participants as they integrated a developing knowledge of ``big`` science, as practiced at LLNL, into a personal and idiosyncratic visual, graphical, or multimedia product. The participants, all non-scientists, involved in this process, attended a series of design classes, sponsored by LLNL at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA. As a result of this study, we have become interested in the possibility of similar characteristics between scientists and artists. We have also become interested in the different processes that can be used to teach science to non-scientists, so that they are able to understand and portray scientific information.
This paper describes the results obtained from two large experimental facilities built at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. FLAME (Flame Acceleration Measurements and Experiments) is a large horizontal rectangular channel designed to study flame acceleration, transition to detonation, simulation of combustion in containment geometries, component heating, and other problems in hydrogen combustion relevant to reactor safety. The Heated Detonation Tube has been designed to study detonations in hydrogen-air-steam mixtures. Both facilities have been in operation for just over a year. 12 figures.
This paper describes the results obtained from two large experimental facilities built at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. FLAME (Flame Acceleration Measurements and Experiments) is a large horizontal rectangular channel designed to study flame acceleration, transition to detonation, simulation of combustion in containment geometries, component heating, and other problems in hydrogen combustion relevant to reactor safety. The Heated Detonation Tube has been designed to study detonations in hydrogen-air-steam mixtures. Both facilities have been in operation for just over a year. 12 figures.
This paper focuses on the design and modeling of the humidification dehumidification desalination (HDH) process. The process is only found on experimental or very small pilot scale. Literature studies are rather limited and it includes a number of experimental investigations, performance evaluation, and measurements of the heat and mass transfer coefficients. This study includes useful and new data on the evaluation of the heat transfer coefficient of the humid air stream in the condenser unit. The analysis develops a correlation for the heat transfer coefficient for the humid air stream as a function of the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. Also, detailed evaluation of the system performance is presented as a function of the system temperatures and the inlet relative humidity of the air strea...
The 3-D neutronics code COREDAX has been developed based on AFEN (Analytic Function Expansion Nodal) method for x-y-z geometry and for hex-z geometry. In this study, the COREDAX code, as a regulatory review tool independent of the designer's, was applied to the SMART reactor core that was designed by KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). For nuclear cross section generation, the HELIOS lattice code was used in this study. The preliminary results for steady state in various conditions are presented in this paper
Epidemiological studies of psychopathology in the first years of life are few, and the association between mental health problems in infancy and psychiatric disturbances later in life has not been systematically investigated. The aim of the present project was to study mental health problems and possibilities of intervention from infancy and onward.
Background. New-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) may solve several problems encountered with first-generation DES, but there is a lack of prospective head-to-head comparisons between...Full Text Available
It is well known that the lightning protection of transmission lines is exclusively relying on their correct initial design. Although detailed engineering studies are usually performed by electric power utilities for the design of new transmission lines, there are reported cases where the design is based simply on tradition or on utilities' standardization policy. In this paper, the lightning protection of high-voltage transmission lines is faced as an optimization problem where optimum design parameters are calculated for the lines, relating their cost with the lightning failures' cost, aiming to reduce or even eliminate lightning failures. The optimization method considers all the available protection means, i.e. ground wires and surge arresters. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, it is applied on several operating Hellenic ...
Objective: Results of reliability and agreement studies are intended to provide information about the amount of error inherent in any diagnosis, score, or measurement. The level of reliability and agreement among users of scales, instruments, or classifications is widely unknown. Therefore, there is a need for rigorously conducted interrater and intrarater reliability and agreement studies. Information about sample selection, studydesign, and statistical analysis is often incomplete. Because of inadequate reporting, interpretation and synthesis of study results are often difficult. Widely accepted criteria, standards, or guidelines for reporting reliability and agreement in the health care and medical field are lacking. The objective was to develop guidelines for reporting reliability and...
The objective of this study is development of technology on chicken yard design and its environment control. For this objective, the micro processor interface techniques and related programming techniques have been surveyed, and the chicken yard environment monitoring system has been developed that equipped with micro computer and signal measurement module. Software has also been developed that operated the system and analyzes measured data. By using micro computer and signal input/output module, the system can have various functions, such as monitoring, alarm, and data analysis function. Three dimensional graphic modeling of a chicken yard is performed using graphic package in this study. Application of three dimensional modeling technique make it easy to design chicken yard. 9 figs. (Author)
The LWR fuel performance analysis computer code, FRAPCON-1, are evaluated to investigate the performance of CANDU fuel elements loaded in Wolsung-1 reactor. The FRAPCON-1 models of neutron flux depression in fuel and of fuel-to-cladding heat transfer are modified, and the validity of fission gas release model for CANDU fuel is evaluated. And the heavy water properties are provided in calculating the heat transfer coefficient between cladding and coolant. By using the modified code, FRAPCON-1-CSK, the sensitivity studies are carried out for Wolsung-1 fuel element design parameters. The performance analysis is also performed for Wolsung-1 fuel elements. The calculated results are discussed in terms of LWR fuel design criteria because of unavailability of CANDU fuel design criteria. (Author).
This research project is to develop a technical basis for flexible piping designs which will improve piping reliability and minimize the use of pipe supports, snubbers, and pipe whip restraints. This study indicated that piping design can be made more reliable by some reduction of rigid supports and/or snubbers. This study also confirmed that the malfunction of pipe whip restraints introduced higher thermal stresses and tended to reduce the overall piping reliability. Finally, our results indicated that supports in a flexible piping design may need to be reevaluated and that the elimination of pipe supports which are close to components should be done with care in order to minimize the impact on the component reliability.
The Advanced MAPLE is a research reactor design under development as a high-flux neutron source. The main performance goals for the reactor are a high peak thermal neutron flux in a heavy-water reflector tank, and a high average fast neutron flux in a central irradiation facility, with a maximum linear fuel rod rating of less than 120 kW/m. This study investigated the neutronic and reactor design consequences of the use of H_2O coolant as opposed to D_2O. The neutronics results, and several other considerations, indicate that H_2O coolant has a number of advantages. It is suggested that the H_2O coolant option be considered in the design of the Advanced MAPLE reactor. (L.L.) 9 refs., 4 figs., tab.
In order to find the solution to the problem of depletion of conventional fuels and environmental pollution caused by them, new design concepts such as low heat rejection engines and alternate fuel vehicles have started to appear. The present study deals with the concept of alternate fuel vehicle using hydrogen as a fuel. Results of analytical study to minimize heat loss during the power stroke of a hydrogen fueled spark ignition engine have been presented. Effect of various design and operating parameters on heat losses using a simulation model developed by the authors have also been presented. The results shall be helpful in designing efficient hydrogen fuelled spark ignition engines. (orig.)
In recent years, offshore reservoirs have been developed in deeper and deeper water environments. Steel catenary risers (SCRs) are being considered in deepwater development such as Northern North Sea. SCRs used in conjunction with a semi-submersible or floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) in deepwater harsh environments present significant design challenges. The large vertical motions at the semi or FPSO induce severe riser response, which results in difficulty meeting strength and fatigue criteria at the hang off and touch down point locations. To improve the understanding of SCR behaviour and increase the confidence in the design of such systems in deepwater harsh environments, a parametric study on a SCR connected to a semi-submersible was carried out in this paper to deal...
The five thermal-hydraulic concepts chosen for conceptual study of advanced PWR systems have been studied as follows: (1) Critical Heat Flux in passive PWR Conditions: review of previous works (various of correlations, analysis of parametric trends) on CHF, assessment and improvement of CHF prediction models for round tubes, development of the prediction model on bundle CHF with considering the correction factor calculated from the tube data base, design and construction of the intermediate-pressure CHF experimental loop, extension of CHF data base by performing the experiments at low-flow, and low-quality conditions (2) Passive Cooling Concepts for Concrete Containment Systems: Selection of the external condenser by comparing and reviewing between passive cooling concepts for concrete containment system concepts, survey and review of previous studies (theoretical mechanism of condensation heat transfer ...
Minimum weight design is an important criterion in aircraft and spacecraft because it allows either an increased pay-load or higher performance. As a result, the use of composite sandwich panels has grown due to their light weight and high rigidity. In order to further increase the efficiency of these structures, designers have used different materials in different shapes in the facesheets and in the core. One of the most recent innovations has been the use of a uniform net of carbon fibre/epoxy as the facesheets. In the present study, the optimal design of sandwich plates with heterogeneous, facesheets is treated. The plate mass is minimized, considering the first natural frequency and certain failure loads as constraints. Weight reduction is obtained by defining a nonuniform distribution of composite material in the facesheets. Initially, the facesheets are assumed to be constructed of composite ...
The Wind Energy Research Division of Sandia National Laboratories has been funded by the Wind/Ocean Technology Division of the Department of Energy (DOE) to design and build a 34-meter diameter Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). The turbine design incorporates the results of recent VAWT research in aerodynamics and structural dynamics. Initial system concept studies identified several blade options that met the required power rating of 500 kW. The final blade and rotor configurations were chosen based on finite element calculations that determined the turbine modes of response, their frequency of vibration, and stress levels. For parked survival turbine components were designed to with stand the loading of a 150 mph (67.0 m/s) wind coupled with maximum cable tensions. Specific areas of design discussed include the rotor, cables, bearings, brakes, and foundations. Construction of the ...
The seismic analysis of nuclear island of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was just in accordance with the approaches in RCC-G standard for the model M310 in France, in which the simplified impedance matrix method was employed for the consideration of soil's function. In this paper the more sophisticated 3D half-space continuum impedance method based on the Green functions is used to analyze the function of soil. In addition, multi-group of input time histories was used in the seismic response analysis in the existing design and their average of responses for each group was taken as the design basis. The same multi-group of input time histories was used in the seismic response analysis in this study, but the average and enveloped value of responses for each case are calculated respectively to account for the uncertainty of input motions. Focused on the above two issues, the seismic responses of the reactor building are ...
The high insulating strength of certain gases, such as sulfur hexafluoride, when used at high pressure, suggests that there may be advantages to compressed gases as the insulating fluid in power transformers. However, simply exchanging the oil for compressed gas in an otherwise conventional transformer design will not yield a significant overall advantage. Compressed gases present the engineer with properties which are quite different from mineral oil. If gases are to be used as the major insulating fluid in power transformers, then virtually all aspects of the insulation and cooling of the apparatus must be reconsidered, affording an opportunity to introduce new design concepts, new materials, and new construction techniques. In this program, the feasibility of using the following principal design concepts has been explored: sheet conductors for the windings; a system of sealed, self-contained, annular cooling ducts ...
The feasibility study on conceptual design methodology for accelerator-driven sodium-cooled sub-critical transmutation reactors has been conducted to optimize the design parameters from the scale laws and validates the reactor performance with the integrated code system. A 1000 MWth sodium-cooled sub-critical transmutation reactor has been scaled and verified through the methodology in this paper, which is referred to Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor (ALMR). A Pb-Bi target material and a partitioned fuel are the liquid phases, and they are cooled by the circulation of secondary Pb-Bi coolant and by primary sodium coolant, respectively. Overall key design parameters are generated from the scale laws and they are improved and validated by the integrated code system. Integrated Code System (ICS) consists of LAHET, HMCNP, ORIGEN2, and COMMIX codes and some files. Through ICS the target region, the core region, ...
This paper presents a method for the optimal design of high voltage transmission lines taking into consideration shielding and backflashover failure rates. The minimization of suitably defined performance indices, which relate the failures caused by lightning in a transmission line to both line insulation level and tower footing resistance, is aimed. Optimum values for both line insulation level and tower footing resistance are calculated. The method is applied on several operating Hellenic transmission lines of 150 and 400kV, respectively, carefully selected among others, due to their high failure rates during lightning thunderstorms. Special attention has been paid on open loop lines, where a possible failure could bring the system out of service causing significant problems. The obtained design parameters, which reduce the failure rates caused by lightning, are compared with the existing design parameters of the ...
The Fuel Handling(F/H) System in existing CANDU 6 nuclear power plants was designed in the early 1960`s, utilizing the technology available at that time. The design for the F/H control system has been proven to be excellent in meeting the functional requirements through more than 20 CANDU units in service or under construction. The significant advance in electrical and electronic engineering area in a few decades motivates the design changes to reduce costs for engineering, construction and operation as well as to improve performance, reliability and safety based on the latest technology. This report outlines the current design of the F/H system, especially for the F/H control system, introduces some topics in research and development projects being carried out by AECL or other institutes, and presents several potential design improvement items for the better CANDU system with brief ...
The broad use of Six Sigma in the improvement of all types of processes has provided new insight for how to design, analyze, and interpret formulation studies and mixture experiments. Experience has shown that, consistent with the Pareto principle, there are typically three to six key variables that have major effects on the performance of the process. Identifying these key variables increases your ability to control and optimize the process. Applying this concept to formulation studies suggests that we should be searching for those critical few components that are driving the performance of the product formulation. This thinking changes how we approach both the design and analysis phases of product formulation studies, including the reassessment of formulations in use today. A review of t...
The present investigation focuses on the study of design parameters for a generic fan-in-wing configuration. The objective is to evaluate the performance of a fan-in-wing concept in a Short-Take-Off and Landing situation. The results presented are also of interest for transition between hover and a wing-sustained flight for a Vertical Take Off and Landing concept. Steady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes computations using an actuator disk technique are performed. The results show a good agreement with experimental data and simulation results obtained in previous investigations for a generic wind tunnel model. A parametric study is conducted for a more realistic wing planform. For a single fan installed in the wing, the streamwise and spanwise influence on the wing aerodynamics is studied. I...
Purpose - This paper uses data about the challenges and difficulties confronting organisations and leaders to advance a dualized meaning of corporate leadership in the context of a developing country. The purpose is to describe a leadership frame that is locally contextualised, thereby bringing conceptualisation and thought closer to action, reified reality and applicability. Design/methodology/approach - This research was designed as a series of three studies starting from an applied/interventionist standpoint. The first study used data from applied diagnostic interventions, the second used qualitative interviews and the third used open-ended questionnaires. Data were collected from 25 Ghanaian organisations and 29 corporate executives. Findings - Drawing on a range of everyday issues suc...
The report gives background design data for a specific copper smelter. The data is sufficiently detailed to allow air pollution control system engineering studies to be conducted. These studies will be concerned primarily with lean SO/sub 2/ streams that currently are not being captured. Physical layout of the smelter and the surrounding area is presented, along with existing control equipment. Ductwork that would be considered for future system tie-in is defined. Emissions from operating equipment, gas flow rates, temperatures, sulfur balance, and a process flow sheet are included. Utilities, stack dimensions, footing requirements, and solid waste handling are defined. Available area for new control equipment, gas characteristic variation, and potential new control equipment installation problems are discussed. Portions of this document are not fully legible. (GRA)
The report gives background design data for a specific copper smelter. The data is sufficiently detailed to allow air pollution control system engineering studies to be conducted. These studies will be concerned primarily with lean SO/sub 2/ streams that currently are not being captured. Physical layout of the smelter and the surrounding area is presented, along with existing control equipment. Ductwork that would be considered for future system tie-in is defined. Emissions from operating equipment, gas flow rates, temperatures, sulfur balance, and a process flow sheet are included. Utilities, stack dimensions, footing requirements, and solid waste handling are defined. Available area for new control equipment, gas characteristic variation, and potential new control equipment installation problems are discussed. (GRA)
Aims.- To examine the relationships between depression, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and quality of life in Taiwanese adults from a cardiovascular department of a major hospital in Taiwan. Background.- Research suggests associations between depression, metabolic syndrome and quality of life. Despite this fact, few studies have investigated these relationships among Taiwanese. Design.- A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to conduct this study. Methods.- A convenience sample of 140 adults participated in the study. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, Pearson-s correlations, hierarchical regression and t-tests. Results.- Almost a half of the subjects (465%) had metabolic syndrome. The most common combination of metabolic synd...
Special education researchers have made noteworthy progress toward conceptualizing literacy research questions, designing quality studies, and disseminating the results of their research. These advancements have been made through the establishment and refinement of quality research indicators. Unfortunately, this progress has mostly eluded the arena of juvenile justice special education research. The purpose of this article is to review juvenile justice literacy studies and provide juvenile justice personnel and researchers with methodological and practical considerations for improving the quality of juvenile justice literacy research. The focus is on advancing group designs. Practical concerns are based on the first-year experiences of researchers who implemented an Institute of Education Sciences Goal 3 study with the aim of determining the efficacy of literacy instructional ...
Ice jamming, known to cause high water levels at even moderate river flows, is described as both the main and least understood source of ice-related bridge damages. This paper describes a joint study by the New Brunswick Department of Transportation, the Department of the Environment, local governments, and the National Water Research Institute, designed to address problems associated with the interaction of ice jams and bridges. The study consists of collecting information at each of four sites in New Brunswick including: historical data on ice jam locations, causes, and water levels; channel bathymetry, width and slope within each study centred at the respective bridge; and documentation of ice conditions throughout the ice season, including measurement of ice cover thickness, observation of breakup mechanisms, times, causes, characteristics and possible impacts of ice jam release. Data analysis will ...
Steam generators of four VVER-440 units at nuclear power plants V-1 and V-2 in Jaslovske Bohunice (Slovakia) were gradually changed by new original 'Bohunice' design in period 1994-1998. Corrosion processes before and after these design and material changes in Bohunice secondary circuit were studied using Moessbauer spectroscopy during last 25 years. Innovations in the feed water pipeline design as well as material composition improvements were evaluated positively. Moessbauer spectroscopy studies of phase composition of corrosion products were performed on real specimens scrapped from water pipelines or in form of filter deposits. The corrosion of new feed water pipelines system (from austenitic steel) in combination to innovated operation regimes goes dominantly to magnetite. The hematite presence is mostly on the internal surface of steam generator body and its concentration ...
Refractive indices of some mixed compound semiconductors below the bandgap are presented on the basis of some fundamental parameters and the effect of lattice mismatch on the refractive index step is also studied. The results help to design a variety of opto-electronic devices for the use in optical fiber communication and heterostructure lasers. The calculated values agree well with available experimental values thus justifying the approach. (author).
Technical studies on constructing the J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) are presented by five authors: (1) on the wiring for electromagnets of the 50 GeV synchrotron, (2) on the fast beam-extraction from the 50 GeV synchrotron into two opposite directions, (3) on the target chamber system for the generation of muons, (4) on the design of large aperture electromagnets, and (5) on the maintenance and control of the electromagnet power supplies. (K.Y.)
The Fusion Technology task performs analyses and systems studies of conceptual fusion reactors based upon inertial and high-#beta# magnetic confinement schemes. Progress in the areas of theoretical analysis (plasma and neutral-gas blanket models), specific reactor studies (toroidal and linear theta pinches, Z pinches, laser fusion) neutronic and nuclear data assessments, materials (metals and insulators) evaluation, and general engineering design is reported.
Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is extensively used for real parameter optimization in diverse fields of study. This paper describes an application of PSO to the problem of designing a fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative (FOPID) controller whose parameters comprise proportionality constant, integral constant, derivative constant, integral order (lambda) and derivative order (delta). The presence of five optimizable parameters makes the task of designing a FOPID controller more challenging than conventional PID controller design. Our design method focuses on minimizing the Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE) criterion. The digital realization of the deigned system utilizes the Tustin operator-based continued fraction expansion scheme. We carry out a simulation that illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach especially for realizing fractional-order plants. ...
This technical report was written as a result of Integrated Plant Information System (IPIS) feasibility study on CANDU 9 project which had been carried out from January, 1994 to March, 1994 at AECL (Atomic Energy Canada Limited) in Canada. From 1987, AECL had done endeavour to change engineering work process from paper based work process to computer based work process through CANDU 3 project. Even though AECL had a lot of good results form computerizing the Process Engineering, Instrumentation Control and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Aided Design and Drafting, and Document Management System, but there remains the problem of information isolation and integration. On this feasibility study, IPIS design support functionality guideline was suggested by evaluating current AECL CAE tools, analyzing computer aided engineering task and work flow, investigating request for ...
The performance of binary geothermal power plants can be improved through the proper choice of a working fluid, and optimization of component designs and operating conditions. This paper reviews the investigations at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) which are examining binary cycle performance improvements: for moderate temperature (350 to 400 F) resources with emphasis on how the improvements may be integrated into design of binary cycles. These investigations are examining performance improvements resulting from the supercritical vaporization of mixed hydrocarbon working fluids and achieving countercurrent integral condensation with these fluids, as well as the modification of the turbine inlet state points to achieve supersaturated turbine vapor expansions. For resources where the brine outlet temperature is restricted, the use of turbine exhaust recuperators is examined. The baseline plant used to determine improvements in ...
Primary objective: Acquired brain injury (ABI) is associated with significant cognitive, behavioural, psychological and physical impairment. Hence, it has been important to leverage assessment approaches in rehabilitation by using current and emerging technologies, including virtual reality (VR). A number of VR rehabilitation programmes have been designed in recent years, mainly to improve upper limb function. However, before this technology gains widespread use, evaluation of the scientific evidence supporting VR-assisted rehabilitation is needed. The present review aimed to assess the rationale, design and methodology of research investigating the clinical impact of VR on ABI upper-limb rehabilitation. Research design: A total of 22 studies were surveyed using a Cochrane-style review. Re...
Statement of problem The opacity of the metal framework in metal ceramic restorations results in reduced light transmission through the tooth that diminishes the esthetics of the tooth. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the color change that occurs apically to a metal ceramic restoration as a result of altering the metal framework design. Material and methods Color change relative to the unprepared tooth (DE) between various metal ceramic restorations was determined using computer imaging and CIELAB coordinates and compared to previously determined levels of clinical acceptability. Color change was evaluated by examining 2 conditions (the metal copings and the completed metal ceramic restorations), 4 framework designs (metal collar and porcelain margins with 0-mm, 1-mm, ...
The Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller is widely used in industries for process control applications. Fractional-order PID controllers are known to outperform their integer-order counterparts. In this paper, we propose a new technique of fractional-order PID controller synthesis based on peak overshoot and rise-time specifications. Our approach is to construct an objective function, the optimization of which yields a possible solution to the design problem. This objective function is optimized using two popular bio-inspired stochastic search algorithms, namely Particle Swarm Optimization and Differential Evolution. With the help of a suitable example, the superiority of the designed fractional-order PID controller to an integer-order PID controller is affirmed and a comparative study of the efficacy of the two above algorithms in solving the optimization problem is also presented.
The report presents the results of a Gas Research Institute (GRI) program to evaluate the technical and economic aspects of design options proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for reducing the energy consumption of residential ranges and ovens as mandated by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) of 1987. The study shows that none of the proposed DOE design options are justified except electric ignition for stand-alone cooktops, based on life-cycle costs, loss of consumer utility, safety, technical considerations, or food quality considerations. An individual range uses so little gas during the year (approximately $14/year for a self-cleaning range) that it is difficult to justify any design modification, since the cost of even a simple modification could not be recovered on the basis of gas saved.
The overall objective of this research project is to develop a technical basis for flexible piping designs which will improve piping reliability and minimize the use of pipe supports, snubbers, and pipe whip restraints. The current study was conducted to establish the necessary groundwork based on the piping reliability analysis. A confirmatory piping reliability assessment indicated that removing rigid supports and snubbers tends to either improve or affect very little the piping reliability. A couple of changes to be implemented in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.61 and RG 1.122 aimed at more flexible piping design were investigated. It was concluded that these changes substantially reduce calculated piping responses and allows piping redesigns with significant reduction in number of supports and snubbers without violating ASME code requirements.
In this paper Particle Bed Reactor (PBR) designs are discussed which use /sup 233/U and /sup 242m/Am as fissile materials. A constant total power of 100MW is assumed for all reactors in this study. Three broad aspects of these reactors is discussed. First, possible reactor designs are developed, second physics calculations are outlined and discussed and third mass estimates of the various candidates reactors are made. It is concluded that reactors with a specific mass of 1 kg/MW can be envisioned of /sup 233/U is used and approximately a quarter of this value can be achieved if /sup 242m/Am is used. If this power level is increased by increasing the power density lower specific mass values are achievable. The limit will be determined by uncertainties in the thermal-hydraulic analysis. 5 refs., 5 figs., 6 tabs.
The objective of the study is to improve the volume of nuclear power plant which adopts passive safety system concept. The passive safety system reactor is characterized by excellent safety and reliability. But the volume of NSSS (Nuclear Steam Supply System) of the passive safety system reactor is so small that it should be upgraded for commercial operation. For volume upgrade, detailed analyses are performed as follows; core design, hydraulics, design and mechnical structures, and safety analysis. In addition to above analysis, some investigations must be supplied as follows: power density vs. DNB margin decrease, outlet temperature vs. EPRI-URD, additional tests for upgraded reactor, dynamic analysis of mechanical vibration according to expanded reactor vessel and expanded in-core structures, and Merit loss of passive safety system reactor according to design margin decrease. (Author).
Conservative design procedures adopted for nuclear piping systems usually result in stiff piping designs that use excessive support devices such as rigid supports and snubbers. Use of these piping support devices has created safety concerns. This report describes the interim result for a piping research project conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The overall objective of this research project is to develop modified design requirements and criteria which will improve piping reliability and minimize the use of pipe supports, snubbers, and pipe whip restraints. The current study was conducted to establish the necessary groundwork for this work based on the piping reliability analysis.
LLNL is developing the nuclear fusion based Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) power plant concept. The baseline design uses a depleted uranium (DU) fission fuel blanket with a flowing molten salt coolant (flibe) that also breeds the tritium needed to sustain the fusion energy source. Indirect drive targets, similar to those that will be demonstrated on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), are ignited at 13Hz providing a 500MW fusion source. The DU is in the form of a uranium oxycarbide kernel in modified TRISO-like fuel particles distributed in a carbon matrix forming 2-cm-diameter pebbles. The thermal power is held at 2000MW by continuously varying the 6Li enrichment in the coolants. There are many options to be considered in the engine design including target yield, U-to-C ratio in th...
In this study, Nylon 66/Polyester (Ny 66/PET) hybrid cord design and production was investigated to obtain new cord with better performance than conventional cord. The factors affecting cord properties and cord production process were examined. Taguchi design of experiment method was implemented in order to minimize the required number of experiments. Different sets of 4 reference cords conventionally used in tyre industry were prepared and resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) treated in order to make a comparison of performance. Mechanical and thermal properties of hybrid cords were measured and compared with the values of reference cords. It was found that the twist level of high modulus PET component in the hybrid cords should be the same or above of the nylon in order to obtain maximum ...
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro behaviour of all-ceramic zirconia molar crowns in regard to different core designs and marginal fit. Methods: Identically shaped methacrylate molars were prepared according to the ceramic restoration directives resulting in a 1-mm deep circular shoulder preparation. They were embedded in polymethylmethacrylate resin after covering their roots with a polyether layer to simulate periodontal mobility. The crown cores were made of yttria-stabilized zirconia veneered with a corresponding veneering ceramic. The crowns were divided into 5 groups (n=8) which differed in core design and cement gap thickness: #1: simple core, 40mm cement; #2: core with minimal occlusal support, 40mm cement; #3: core with optimized cusp support, 40mm ceme...
The modeling and optimizing processes of a Ground Coupled Heat Pump (GCHP) with closed Horizontal Ground Heat eXchanger (HGHX) are presented in this paper. After thermal modeling of GCHP including HGHX, the optimum design parameters of the system were estimated by minimizing a defined objective function (total of investment and operation costs) subject to a list of constraints. This procedure was performed applying Genetic Algorithm technique. For given heating/cooling loads and various climatic conditions, the optimum values of saturated temperature/pressure of condenser and evaporator as well as inlet and outlet temperatures of the water source in cooling and heating modes were predicted. Then, for our case study, the design parameters as well as the configuration of HGHX were obtained. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of change in the total annual cost of the system and optimum design parameters ...
The report reviews the activity during the fourth year of Gas Research Institute's Gas Appliance Technology Center program. Work on gas appliances involved a conceptual table-top multi-function oven, development of an indirect-fired conveyor oven, and performance comparisons of smooth cooktops. Performance-evaluation methods for commercial ovens were evaluated. Design improvements were made to a direct-fired conveyor oven and a pulse-combustion deep-fat fryer. Performance of common vents were studied, and a device was designed to allow incorporation of appliances with positive vent pressures into such systems. Standards-related work included draft-hood capacities, flexible corrugated-connector corrosion, and sediment trap efficiencies. Heating-related work comprised conceptual design of a vented baseboard heater and a centralized heat-transfer fluid system.
This paper addresses fuel cycle cost comparisons for a generic 10 MW reactor with HEU aluminide fuel and with LEU oxide and silicide fuels in several fuel element geometries. The intention of this study is to provide a consistent assessment of various design options from a cost point of view. Fuel cycle cost benefits could result if a number of reactors were to utilize fuel elements with the same number or different numbers of the same standard fuel plate. Data are presented to quantify these potential cost benefits. This analysis shows that there are a number of fuel element designs using LEU oxide or silicide fuels that have either the same or lower total fuel cycle costs than the HEU design. Use of these fuels with the uranium densities considered requires that they are successfully demonstrated and licensed.
The optimization of the safety characteristics of electrical installations in industrial plants with explosion or fire hazards can be obtained only through a careful interdisciplinary study and analysis carried out at the onset of the plant project design phase. The least complex and costly and safest solutions are those which are born from plant designs which take into account the typology of the industrial process or technology, or which incorporate pollution abatement measures and adequate safety measures for the electrical installations. This paper provides examples to illustrate how the global plant economy is fundamentally dependant upon a multi-disciplinary initial effort in design analyses. Comments are made relevant to the adequacy of the safety requirements established by existing and planned Italian norms in dealing with safety and fire protection for high-tech industrial plant electrical ...
Steel building frames are often analyzed for stability in an elastic way, while most of their columns behave inelastically at the buckling stage. Most column design provisions allow for inelastic behavior, but overall inelastic stability analysis is rarely performed. In this study the analysis philosophy is centered on the overall frame stability and its true safety factor. As many columns show inelastic behavior at the buckling stage, the proposed procedure takes due consideration of this fact. Once the overall buckling factor for the frame is obtained, individual column effective length factors, and their true slenderness ratios are computed, and used in the design relationships. This procedure circumvents the use of design nomographs and numerous formulas proposed in the past to allevia...
ARIES-AT is a 1000MWe conceptual fusion power plant design with a very low projected cost of electricity. The design contains many innovative features to improve both the physics and engineering performance of the system. From the safety and environmental perspective, there is greater depth to the overall analysis than in past ARIES studies. For ARIES-AT, the overall spectrum of off-normal events to be examined has been broadened. They include conventional loss of coolant and loss of flow events, an ex-vessel loss of coolant, and in-vessel off-normal events that mobilize in-vessel inventories (e.g., tritium and tokamak dust) and bypass primary confinement such as a loss of vacuum and an in-vessel loss of coolant with bypass. This broader examination of accidents improves the robustness of ...
Large scale production of monoclonal antibodies has been accomplished using bioreactors with different length to diameter ratios, and diverse impeller and sparger designs. The differences in these physical attributes often result in dissimilar mass transfer, mechanical stresses due to turbulence and mixing inside the bioreactor that may lead to disparities in cell growth and antibody production. A rational analysis of impeller design parameters on cell growth, protein expression levels and subsequent antibody production is needed to understand such differences. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Rushton turbine and marine impeller designs on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell growth and metabolism, and antibody production and quality. Experiments to evaluate mass transfer...
In this paper, we have designed power system stabilizer (PSS) using object-oriented method. There are several types of power system stabilizer, A proportional-integral (PI) controller is very simple for practical implementation. Therefore it has been widely employed by the industry. The methods of obtaining the gains (Ki,Kp) of PI controller are root-locus method and sub-optimal regulator approach. But these methods are cannot be applicable to nonlinear system and faulted power system. So we proposed a new method which can be applied to nonlinear system by numerical analysis method. The method of dynamic system simulation by numerical method is very difficult and complex. We proposed flexible simulation method for complex power system analysis using object-oriented programming (OOP) and applied to PI controller design. (author). 7 refs., 14 figs., 2 tabs.
Precisely measuring $\\theta_{13}$ is one of the highest priority in neutrino oscillation study. Reactor experiments can cleanly determine $\\theta_{13}$. Past reactor neutrino experiments are reviewed and status of next precision $\\theta_{13}$ experiments are presented. Daya Bay is designed to measure $\\sin^22\\theta_{13}$ to better than 0.01 and Double Chooz and RENO are designed to measure it to 0.02-0.03. All are heading to full operation in 2010. Recent improvements in neutrino moment measurement are also briefed.
This paper presents the results of a series of experiments performed to study the effect of initial pressure vessel conditions on the extent of melt dispersal from scaled reactor cavities and describes progress in development of a mathematical model which is designed to predict the melt mass dispersed from reactor cavities as a function of reactor vessel initial conditions and on the vessel breach area. The model, which is being developed to also characterize the heat transfer and chemical reaction phenomena which would take place within the reactor cavity, is designed to be incorporated into a lumped-parameter containment analysis computer code.
Initial design parameters and early operational results of a 50 MeV high brightness electron linear accelerator are described. The system utilizes a radio frequency electron gun operating at a frequency of 2.856 GHz and a nominal output energy of 4.5 MeV followed by two, 2#pi#/3 mode, disc loaded, traveling wave accelerating sections. The gun cathode is photo excited with short (6 psec) laser pulses giving design peak currents of a few hundred amperes. The system will be utilized to carry out infra-red FEL studies and investigation of new high gradient accelerating structures.
Asymmetrical solar concentrators may offer significant advantages over symmetrical ones by the higher yearly average energy input per unit aperture area and the wider range of flexibilities in the design and operation. This paper describes the design, construction and performance evaluation of a non-parabolic asymmetrical solar concentrator with an evacuated receiver. The concentrator has a concentration ratio of 3.25 and a theoretical optical efficiency of 0.67. Collector efficiency test results are presented and compared with another similar concentrator without an evacuated receiver.
We have designed a new nucleobase, benzodeazaadenine (BDA) that has a stronger charge transport ability than guanine and is not destroyed during charge transport process. By incorporating this new nucleobase into DNA, we demonstrated a protocol for real DNA nano-wire that is far superior to natural DNA. We also demonstrated that the selectivity for the interaction of Mn(II) ion with guanine N7 in G runs is a HOMO-controlled process, and as a consequence, the selectivity for G-metal ion interactions obtained by 15N-NMR studies would directly reflect the HOMO distribution of G-containing sequences in B-DNA. PMID:12903077
Original pictures installed in the 1st and 2nd generation type central control panels (CCP) and new 'Awarable and Complex' pictures were made on personal computers and evaluated. A total 18 of actual plant operators (M=32.3, SD=10.5 years old) participated in the evaluation. The operators rated the new CRT pictures highly. The response times using the new CRT pictures were shorter than those by the original pictures. Both results suggested that the CRT picture design guidelines based on the operators' plant images were effective for improving their performance. (author)
A thermophotovoltaic (TPV) generator for electric vehicles has been designed and developed. In this paper we focus on the combustion system and the heat regenerator. The system has been designed to work as a range extender for electric vehicles. This solution would provide energy always available on the vehicle, which would run even if the battery level were low. Several configurations for the burner and for the heat exchanger have been investigated and a comparison of these is presented. The different solutions have been studied both theoretically and experimentally. In this paper, we report on the work carried out to build a TPV device capable of yielding 6 kW of electric power to recharge the battery pack of an electric city-car. The project has been divided into four steps: (1) pre-design of different configurations of the burner and heat exchanger using non-commercial software 'TPV ...
This thesis study covers both global performance and local phenomena analyses focusing on natural circulation reactor design safety. Four important topics are included: the global SBWR design safety assessment, important local phenomena investigation, steady and transient natural circulation process study, and two-phase instability analysis. The conceptual design of the SBWR-200 is introduced in this thesis and the global performance of a natural circulation reactor is then assessed using PUMA integral test data and RELAP5 simulations. A safety assessment methodology is developed to evaluate the PUMA integral test data extrapolation and code scalability. The RELAP5 code simulation capability in low-pressure low-flow conditions is also validated. The study shows that the code is capable of predicting the global accident scenario in natural circulation reactors ...
This report presents the data and results of a site specific case study comparing costs of an overhead line with an underground circuit traversing the same route. The costs used for the overhead line are actual numbers for a line scheduled to be built by a utility. The underground circuit costs were developed using the same criteria of line rating, contingencies, and location. Often cost comparisons between overhead and underground lines are made using figures taken from studies with widely varying assumptions. This project attempts to provide a comparison by studying the costs of overhead and underground lines following the same route and using the same design assumptions. Caution must be used, however, in extending the results of this study beyond its original intent. It is site-specific and may be representative of only one area of the country. 9 refs., 23 figs., 18 tabs.
The primary scope of this study is to establish the analysis technology for the advanced reactor designed on the basis of the passive and inherent safety concepts. This study is extended to the application of these technology to the safety analysis of the passive reactor. The study was performed for the small and medium sized reactor and the large sized reactor by focusing on the development of the analysis technology for the passive components. Among the identified concepts the once-through steam generator, the natural circulation of the integral reactor, heat pipe for containment cooling, and hydraulic valve were selected as the high priority items to be developed and the related studies are being performed for these items. For the large sized passive reactor, the study plans to extend the applicability of the best estimate computer code RELAP5/MOD3 which is ...
Instrumentation research to study the feasibility of using optical data processing techniques to solve real-time pattern recognition problems for high energy physics experiments is now in its second year. During the past year, a prototype optical processor for use in BNL Experiment 702 was conceived and designed, using test data from the experiment and simulating the optical processor in the computer. A number of technical studies have been made, mostly relating to the selection of the optical filter for the processor. Comparisons between natural and synthetic holograms, both bleached and unbleached, have been made. We conclude from these tests that the kinoform, a computer-generated phase hologram, is the optimal choice for this processor. A new method for producing the kinoform has been tried by this group with encouraging results. The optical design for the prototype processor is complete, and the ...
Analyses have been performed of the potential consequences to the public of hypothetical loss-of-coolant accidents in conceptual fusion power plant designs. In order to establish upper bounds to the consequences of such events, a case has been studied in which total loss of all active cooling has been assumed, with no remedial intervention for the duration of the accident sequence. The analyses are based on three conceptual power plant designs, two of them similar to those assumed in the earlier safety and environmental assessment of fusion power (SEAFP) study (Raeder et al., 1995), with updating of assumed structural materials. The three models studied provide a broad range of design options. In all cases the decay-heat driven temperature transients are well below the level at which structural melting would begin. Based on conservative assumptions, ...
number of technical requirements and performance criteria can drive stellarator costs, e.g., tight tolerances, accurate coil positioning, low aspect ratio (compactness), choice of assembly strategy, metrology, and complexity of the stellarator coil geometry. With the completion of a seven-year design and construction effort of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) it is useful to interject the NCSX experience along with the collective experiences of the NCSX stellarator community to improving the stellarator configuration. Can improvements in maintenance be achieved by altering the stellarator magnet configuration with changes in the coil shape or with the combination of trim coils? Can a mechanical configuration be identified that incorporates a partial set of shaped fixed stellarator coils along with some removable coil set to enhance the overall machine maintenance? Are there other approaches that will simplify the concepts, improve access for ...
A number of technical requirements and performance criteria can drive stellarator costs, e.g., tight tolerances, accurate coil positioning, low aspect ratio (compactness), choice of assembly strategy, metrology, and complexity of the stellarator coil geometry. With the completion of a seven-year design and construction effort of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) it is useful to interject the NCSX experience along with the collective experiences of the NCSX stellarator community to improving the stellarator configuration. Can improvements in maintenance be achieved by altering the stellarator magnet configuration with changes in the coil shape or with the combination of trim coils? Can a mechanical configuration be identified that incorporates a partial set of shaped fixed stellarator coils along with some removable coil set to enhance the overall machine maintenance? Are there other approaches that will simplify the concepts, improve access for ...
Detailed investigations of geologic, geomorphic, and seismic conditions at the Bodo Canyon disposal site were conducted. The purpose of these investigations was basic site characterization and identification of potential geologic hazards that could affect long-term site stability. Subsequent engineering studies, such as analyses of hydrologic and liquefaction hazards, used the data developed in these studies. The geomorphic analysis was employed in the design of effective erosion protection. Studies of the regional and local seismotectonic setting, which included a detailed search for possible capable faults within a 65 kilometer radius of the site, provided the basis for seismic design parameters. The scope of work performed included the following: Compilation and analysis of previous published and unpublished geologic literature and maps; Review of historical and instrumental ...
In this paper the authors present a designstudy on the longitudinal dynamics of a relativistic klystron two-beam accelerator (RK-TBA) scheme which has been proposed as a power source candidate for a 1 TeV next linear collider (NLC). They address the issue of maintaining stable power output at desired level for a 300-m long TBA with 150 extraction cavities and present their simulation results to demonstrate that it can be achieved by inductively detuning the extraction cavities to counter the space charge debunching effect on the drive beam. They then carry out simulation study to show that the beam bunches desired by the RK-TBA can be efficiently obtained by first chopping an initially uniform beam of low energy into a train of beam bunches with modest longitudinal dimension and then using the open-quotes adiabatic captureclose quotes scheme to bunch and accelerate these beam bunches into tight bunches at the operating ...
The Neutron Science Project at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute has been proposed for the research of nuclear transmutation technology and the basic science with a spallation neutron source. The project calls for an 8MW proton linac which accelerates 5.3mA average current cw and pulsed beams up to 1.5GeV. The superconducting (SC) rf-cavity is the main option for the energy part from 100MeV to 1.5GeV because by using the SC structure, less power is consumed in cw operation than by using a normal conducting (NC) structure. A conceptual designstudy of the superconducting proton linac is reported. The SC linac is composed of 8 {beta} sections. Each section has the identical 5-cell cavities with the surface peak field of 16MV/m. The total number of cavities is 284, and the length of the SC linac is 690m. The lattice design is determined with the equipartitioned condition and the matched envelope equations for the minimum ...
Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of psychological contracts on the adjustment and organisational commitment of expatriates during international business assignments. The study also aims to investigate the influence of psychological barriers to expatriate adjustment. Design/methodology/approach - A unique survey questionnaire was developed to collect data from 219 Taiwanese business expatriates during the first quarter of 2007. A LISREL analysis is used to test the hypotheses of the research framework. Findings - The study finds that: perceived fulfilment of the psychological contracts of expatriates significantly influences both their adjustment to foreign situations and their organisational commitment; psychological barriers to adjustment have a negat...
COMPLIS is an experimental facility designed to carry out spectroscopic studies on radioisotopes produced by disintegration of elements available at CERN's Booster-ISOLDE on-line isotope separator. During recent series of experimental runs, hyperfine structure measurements have yielded information on nuclear moments and deformations of platinum and iridium isotopes. For the first time, population by #alpha#-decay from Hg was exploited to investigate "1"7"8"-"1"8"1Pt--the most neutron-deficient Pt isotopes yet studied. Successful measurements have recently been carried out on "1"8"2"-"1"8"9Ir.
A study is made of plant sensitivity to mutagens during the processing of seeds. An examination is made of problems concerned with modification mutability, the nature of plant restoration following irradiation. Particular attention is given to mutation changes. A presentation is made of several features of mutant changes initially selected by separate indicators. An examination is made of the possible study of mutant indicator genetics. General data on the forms and varieties produced by the mutagenesis method are given. The book is designed for breeding specialists and geneticists engaged in the study of mutagenesis. 439 references, 27 figures, 66 table.
During 1983, Oak Ridge National Laboratory continued a study of materials performance at the Wilsonville, Alabama, Advanced Coal Liquefaction Research and Development Facility. Materials performance was evaluated by exposure and analysis of corrosion coupons and U-bend specimens, chemical analysis of related process streams, and ultrasonic determination of the thickness of walls of various components. The results of these studies are useful to current plant operators and to designers of future large-scale plants. 18 references, 4 figures, 12 tables.
We have performed extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis for artificial Cr-goethite to elucidate the local structure around Cr in Cr-goethite. The spectra were obtained using synchrotron radiation X-rays at the Photon Factory in Tsukuba. The first shell contributions were isolated by Fourier filtering EXAFS data, and the inverse Fourier transformed single-shell data were analyzed using a curve fitting method. The results show that Cr is coordinated with (7#+-#1)O"2"- ions. The protective characteristics of the Cr-goethite protective rust layer on weathering steel can be interpreted in terms of the O"2"- coordination around Cr"3"+ resulting in the creation of negative fixed charge in the Cr-goethite particles. (author)
We discuss the minimum requirements for a neutrino beta beam if theta_13 is discovered by an upcoming reactor experiment, such as Double Chooz or Daya Bay. We require that both neutrino mass hierarchy and leptonic CP violation can be measured to competitive precisions with a single-baseline experiment in the entire remaining theta_13 range. We find that for very high isotope production rates, such as they might be possible using a production ring, a (B,Li) beta beam with a gamma as low as 60 could already be sufficient to perform all of these measurements. If only the often used nominal source luminosities can be achieved, for example, a (Ne,He) beta beam from Fermilab to a possibly existing water Cherenkov detector at Homestake with gamma \\sim 190-350 (depending on the Double Chooz best-fit) could outperform practically any other beam technology including wide-band beam and neutrino factory.
We have measured K-edge X-ray absorption spectra of argon in sputtered aluminum films at a synchrotron radiation facility (the Photon Factory). We found that the energy and shape of white line change when the film is annealed at 500 C and the spectrum becomes resembling that of argon implanted in silicon. From the analyses of the X-ray absorption spectra and TEM observation we concluded that argon exists as very small atom clusters with a diameter less than 1 nm or exist as isolated atoms in the as-sputtered aluminum film, and that the size of the clusters become as big as 10 nm diameter when the film is heated. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)
Measurements of branching fractions and CP-asymmetries of B^{-} \\rightarrow D^{0}K^{-} modes allow a theoretically-clean extraction of the CKM angle \\gamma. The method proposed by Atwood, Dunietz and Soni (ADS) makes use of a decay chain where color and Cabibbo suppression interfere, which produces large CP-violating asymmetries. The CDF experiment reports the first measurement at a hadron collider of branching fractions and CP-asymmetries of suppressed B^{-} \\rightarrow D^{0}h^{-} signals, where h is \\pi or K. Using 5.0 fb^{-1} of data we found a combined significance exceeding 5\\sigma and we determined the ADS parameters with accuracy comparable with B-factories.
This article explores the growth of organised crime within the Vietnamese community with particular reference to the cultivation of cannabis, money laundering and the smuggling or trafficking of children. The article begins by exploring the history and diversity of the 'Vietnamese community' in the United Kingdom and the role of Vietnamese culture in shaping their criminal enterprises. It then draws on research involving two sets of qualitative data: one set is based on 45 interviews with law enforcement personnel based in Vietnam and the United Kingdom as well as with key stakeholders in the Vietnamese community; the other set is based on structured questionnaires issued to 34 Vietnamese residents in Britain, 24 of whom are here illegally. It examines the relationship between illegal immi...
This evaluation has for object to inform about the levels in carbon 14 in the environment of the factories of La Hague. Two sectors were differentiated on one hand the terrestrial environment, and on the other hand the marine environment. The investigations concerned first and foremost food products stemming as the vegetable culture (vegetables) or individual breeding (milk, eggs) but also foodstuffs stemming from the local agriculture (cereal). In touch with the second sector, the marine environment, the sampling concerned the accessible products of the sea by all and those locally marketed (fishes, molluscs, shellfishes). The different results are presented in tables. (N.C.)
The use of thermal energy in the West German sugar industry has fallen by nearly half in the last twenty years. At the same time, automation and new technologies have led to an increase in the consumption of electric energy. In many cases, the equilibrium of combined heat and power has been upset. That equilibrium is, however, a fundamental precondition of the economical energy management of a sugar factory. Electrical engineers and sugar technologists have looked at the situation in the sugar industry form different points of view and have presented interesting ideas - in some instances already put into practice - to solve the problem. Examination of the electricity consumption of alternative processes, systems and pieces of equipment used in sugar manufacturing, from the beet yard to the sugar house, has revealed marked differences and considerable potential savings. (orig.).
The analysis of bagasse use indicates that the production of exportable electricity from sugar cane factories in Mauritius can be increased from the current level of between 10 and 20 kWh to around 60 kWh per tonne cane crushed. If the bagasse is dried and pelletized, and cane tops and leaves (CT and L) also used, electricity production can be further increased to around 100-110 kWh per tonne of cane crushed. An economic analysis of the process shows that the cost of electricity generated within the sugar industry in Mauritius is competitive with that of electricity produced from fossil fuels. In addition, it is shown that almost twice the current annual electricity consumption, or the postulated annual electricity consumption for the year 2000, of the island can be provided by the Mauritian Sugar Industry. 10 references.
We suggest that \\psi (4040) and \\psi (4160) are strong mixtures of ground state hybrid charmonium at \\sim 4.1 GeV and the \\psi (3S) of conventional charmonium. The \\Gamma^{e^+e^-}, masses and total widths of the \\psi(4040) and \\psi(4160) are in accord with this hypothesis. Their hadronic decays are predicted to be dominated by the \\psi (3S) component and hence are correlated. In particular we find a spin counting relation \\Gamma (4160 \\rightarrow D_sD_s^*) \\sim 4 \\Gamma (4040 \\rightarrow D_sD_s) due to their common \\psi(3S) component. For D and D^* production, using \\psi(4040) branching ratios as input, we predict that the decay pattern of the \\psi(4160) will be very different from that of the \\psi(4040). These predictions may be tested in historical data from SPEAR, BES or at future Tau-Charm Factories.
Annual wormwood interference on soybean crop growth and yield may result from competition and allelopathy, which are modulated by crop management. Allelochemicals released by annual wormwood (e.g. artemisinin) may affect the crop directly or indirectly through the effect on the nitrogen fixing symbiont, Bradyrhizobium japonicum. The objectives were (i) to quantify the crop response (i.e. biomass production, nodulation and yield) to weed interference and (ii) to determinate the relative change of competition and allelopathy interferences, when a sublethal dose of herbicide is applied. Two split plot field experiments with three replications were used. The experiment involved a factorial combination of five weed-crop density (soybean/annual wormwood, plantsm^-^2) levels: D1, pure soybean, 40...
Abstract Introduction.- Infection is the worst complication seen with inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP). Both the American Medical Systems (AMS) and Coloplast IPP have infection retardant coatings. AMS is coated at the factory with rifampicin and minocycline (InhibiZone). The Coloplast IPP has a hydrophilic coating covalently bonded to its components that will absorb any aqueous solution before implantation and provides increased surface lubricity to decrease bacterial adherence. Aim.- We tested several antibiotic dips comparing zones of inhibition (ZOI) against five commonly infecting bacteria with coated Coloplast implants. Results were compared with those ZOI created with strips of an AMS IPP precoated with InhibiZone. Methods.- Pieces of sterile Coloplast Titan IPP were dipped in (i) ...
The raw materials used in manufacturing of phosphate fertilizer products were derived from rocks. Rocks contain a remarkable of natural radioactivity. Uranium and phosphorous were originally initiated at the same time of the initiated rocks. The purpose of this research is to investigate solubility of uranium phosphate species at the phosphate fertilizer samples, samples including; raw phosphate material, single super phosphates (SSP) granules and powdered, triple super phosphates (TSP) and phosphogypsum samples were obtained from Abu-Zabal factory in Egypt. Solubility of uranium phosphate species was estimated. It was found that, less than half of the uranium phosphate species are soluble in water. The soluble uranium may be enter into the food chains by plant. Therefore, restriction should be done in order to limit contamination of land and the public.
We perform a recursive reduction of one-loop n-point rank R tensor Feynman integrals [in short: (n,R)-integrals] for n{<=}6 with R{<=}n by representing (n,R)-integrals in terms of (n,R-1)- and (n-1,R-1)-integrals. We use the known representation of tensor integrals in terms of scalar integrals in higher dimension, which are then reduced by recurrence relations to integrals in generic dimension. With a systematic application of metric tensor representations in terms of chords, and by decomposing and recombining these representations, we find the recursive reduction for the tensors. The procedure represents a compact, sequential algorithm for numerical evaluations of tensor Feynman integrals appearing in next-to-leading order contributions to massless and massive three- and four-particle production at LHC and ILC, as well as at meson factories. (orig.)
This study assesses the feasibility of the so-called heat pipe technique for cooling the piston of a mediumspeed diesel engine and is part of a research project 'EVE HPD, Extreme Value Engine Tests with High Power Density' carried out by HUT Internal Combustion Engine Laboratory. Diesel engines are being developed to give greater power from a given cylinder swept volume, which means higher temperatures in combustion chamber. The traditional oil cooling cannot be used beyond certain temperature level. Heat pipe technology could provide one solution to the cooling problem. The general properties, principles of operation, and structures of different types of heat pipes are described. Working fluids and container materials of heat pipes are discussed. The operation limitations of heat pipes are studied, especially, the limitations of a reciprocating heat pipe, in which the return of the condensate to the evaporator section is ...
A review of the ALPHA project is presented, including a summary of progress and current status. The project comprises the experimental and analytical investigation of the long-term decay heat removal phenomena from the containment of the next generation of ''passive'' Advanced Light Water Reactors. The effects of aerosols that may result from hypothetical severe accidents are also considered. The construction of the major ALPHA experimental facilities, PANDA, LINX-2 and AIDA, has been completed. First steady-state tests have been performed on PANDA. The other facilities are now in their commissioning phases. Scaling studies have guided the design of the experimental facilities. Several small-scale experimental and studies have already produced valuable results which can be used to direct the experimental work, as well as the design of the passive ALWRs. (author). 23 refs, 6 figs.
Background: Although research on epistemological beliefs has expanded over the past two decades, there are still some issues that need to be explored, such as whether epistemological beliefs are domain general or domain specific. Purpose: One of the purposes of this research was to determine if high school students' general epistemological beliefs were different from their epistemological beliefs in the domain of physics. Sample: The research was conducted with 15 grade nine students studying in an urban all-boys school. Their average age was 16. Their previous school experiences were traditional oriented. Design and methods: A case studydesign with qualitative methods was used for the research. Two questionnaires were developed and used in semi-structured interview protocols two times, w...
CIGRE has set up a new working group - Insulated High Voltage Cables - under the auspices of Study Group 21. The working group will examine the various techniques used for the installation of HV and EHV cables and the design parameters to be applied. Twelve installation techniques are known, but only three of these ar used at present. Following an international study carried out by the working group, a clear picture of the state of the art in 1998 has emerged. It has also been possible to identify future trends in the design of buried circuits. (authors)
Unlike the conventional automotive, modem railway trains are designed with non-openable windows; and a mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) system is installed in each train compartment for better indoor air quality as well as to provide a thermally comfortable environment. The ventilation rate is no doubt a critical element in the design of a MVAC system, especially in Hong Kong where the daily passenger load is extremely heavy. Earlier studies illustrated that carbon dioxide can be controlled at 1000 ppm by increasing the ventilation rate to 25.2 m{sup 3} h{sup -1}; however, it will also lead to an increase in energy consumption. In this paper, the electrical energy consumption at various ventilation rates was studied, and the cost of maintaining a low carbon dioxide level was estimated These provide solid information for the local railway companies to improve the air quality inside the ...
An effective rehabilitation strategy is proposed to enhance the strength and stiffness of the beam-column joint in this study. An analytical model is proposed to predict the column shear of the joints strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). Three full scale interior beam-column joints, including two specimens strengthened with CFRP and one prototype specimen, are tested in this study. The specimens are designed to represent the pre-seismic code design construction in which there is no transverse reinforcement. A new optical non-contact technique, digital image correlation (DIC), which can measure the full strain field of specimen, is used to measure and observe the full strain field of the joint. The experimental results show that the beam-column joints strengthened with ...
Background Trauma centers are designated to provide systematized multidisciplinary care to injured patients. Effective trauma systems reduce patient mortality by facilitating the treatment of injured patients at appropriately resourced hospitals. Several U.S. studies report reduced mortality among patients admitted directly to a level I trauma center compared with those admitted to hospitals with less resources. It has yet to be shown whether there is an outcome benefit associated with the ?level of hospital? initially treating severely injured trauma patients in Australia. This study was designed to determine whether the level of trauma center providing treatment impacts mortality and/or hospital length of stay. Methods Outcomes were evaluated for severely injured trauma patients with an ...
The goal of this study is to determine whether physicists at the Russian Nuclear Weapons Institute can profitably service the need for computer aided drug design (CADD) programs. The Russian physicists` primary competitive advantage is their ability to write particularly efficient code able to work with limited computing power; a history of working with very large, complex modeling systems; an extensive knowledge of physics and mathematics, and price competitiveness. Their primary competitive disadvantage is their lack of biology, and cultural and geographic issues. The first phase of the study focused on defining the competitive landscape, primarily through interviews with and literature searches on the key providers of CADD software. The second phase focused on users of CADD technology to determine deficiencies in the current product offerings, to understand what product they most desired, and to define the potential ...
Since the elucidation of the structure of double helical DNA, the construction of small molecules that recognize and react at specific DNA sites has been an area of considerable interest. In particular, the study of transition metal complexes that bind DNA with specificity has been a burgeoning field. This growth has been due in large part to the useful properties of metal complexes, which possess a wide array of photophysical properties and allow for the modular assembly of an ensemble of recognition elements. Here we review recent experiments in our laboratory aimed at the design and study of octahedral metal complexes that bind DNA non-covalently and target reactions to specific sites. Emphasis is placed both on the variety of methods employed to confer site-specificity and upon the many applications for these complexes. Particular attention is given to the family of complexes recently designed that ...
Since the elucidation of the structure of double helical DNA, the construction of small molecules that recognize and react at specific DNA sites has been an area of considerable interest. In particular, the study of transition metal complexes that bind DNA with specificity has been a burgeoning field. This growth has been due in large part to the useful properties of metal complexes, which possess a wide array of photophysical attributes and allow for the modular assembly of an ensemble of recognition elements. Here we review recent experiments in our laboratory aimed at the design and study of octahedral metal complexes that bind DNA non-covalently and target reactions to specific sites. Emphasis is placed both on the variety of methods employed to confer site-specificity and upon the many applications for these complexes. Particular attention is given to the family of complexes recently designed that ...
In order to get the separation of natural isotopes of lithium by electrolytic amalgamation, an electrolytic cell with a confined mercury cathode was used to obtain data for the design of a separation stage. The initial work was followed by the design of a moving mercury cathode electrolytic cell and three experiments with six batches stages were performed for the determination of the elementary separation factor. The value obtained, 1.053, was ill agreement: with the specialized literature. It was verified in all experiments that the lithium - 6 isotope concentrated in the amalgam phase and that the lithium - 7 isotope concentrated in the aqueous phase. A stainless-steel cathode for the decomposition of the lithium amalgam and the selective desamalgamation were also studied. In view of the results obtained, a five stages continuous scheme was proposed. (author)
In this study, ethanol organosolv pretreatment was investigated and optimized for the pretreatment of empty palm fruit bunch using (1) response surface methodology based on three-variable central composite design and (2) the combined severity parameters. The reaction parameters studied were sulfuric acid concentration (0.5-2.0%), reaction temperature (160-200^oC) and residence time (45-90min). Both models provide valuable and complementary informations: using combined severity parameters, very good predictions were obtained concerning xylan and lignin extraction whereas central composite design is the best model for glucose production. The optimal values of the variables were as the followings: sulfuric acid 2.0% w/w, 160^oC, 78min and the experimental values (96.0%) concerning glucose and...
Energy consumption is a perennial issue in the design of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which typically rely on portable sources like batteries for power. Recent advances in ambient energy harvesting technology have made it a potential and promising alternative source of energy for powering WSNs. By using energy harvesters with supercapacitors, WSNs are able to operate perpetually until hardware failure and in places where batteries are hard or impossible to replace. In this paper, we study the performance of different medium access control (MAC) schemes based on CSMA and polling techniques for WSNs which are solely powered by ambient energy harvesting using energy harvesters. We base the study on (i) network throughput (S), which is the rate of sensor data received by the sink, (ii) fair...
Both the KRW fluidized-bed gasifier and the transport gasifier case studies were used for this assessment. The transport technology is a high-velocity circulating fluidized-bed reactor currently under development by The M.W. Kellogg Company. In the earlier assessment, seven design concepts or cases were identified; a process design was developed; major equipment items were identified; estimates of capital cost, operation and maintenance cost, and cost of electricity were developed; reliability was predicted; and development issues were identified for six studies. Three of the most probable cases were further evaluated for a Greenfield assessment in this report to adequately determine all costs independent of facilities at Plant Wansley.
Both the KRW fluidized-bed gasifier and the transport gasifier case studies were used for this assessment. The transport technology is a high-velocity circulating fluidized-bed reactor currently under development by The M.W. Kellogg Company. In the earlier assessment, seven design concepts or cases were identified; a process design was developed; major equipment items were identified; estimates of capital cost, operation and maintenance cost, and cost of electricity were developed; reliability was predicted; and development issues were identified for six studies. Three of the most probable cases were further evaluated for a Greenfield assessment in this report to adequately determine all costs independent of facilities at Plant Wansley.
This paper extends the analytical procedure described in another paper in these proceedings to analyze a variety of compact and light-weight OSC-designed radioisotope-heated generators. Those generators employed General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules and a converter containing sixteen AMTEC cells of OSC`s revised five-tube design with enhanced cell wall reflectivity described in a companion paper in these proceedings. OSC found that the performance of the generator is primarily a function of the thermal insulation between the outside of the generator`s 16 cells and the inside of its wall. After examining a variety of insulation options, it was found that the generator`s performance is optimized by employing a hybrid insulation system, in which the space between the cells is filled with fibrous Min-K insulation, and the generator walls are lined with tapered (i.e., graded-length) multifoil insulation. The OSC design ...
The objective of this study is to develop a method to aid in the selection of an overburden handling system in surface coal mining. The selection procedure consists of three major parts. The first part is aimed at rating the equipment's potential to perform the environmental protection related activities and then integrating this rating into the system selection process. The second part is an engineering analysis of the design of pit layouts and the operation of alternative overburden handling systems. The third part consists of a cost and sensitivity analysis of alternative systems on different mining situations. Specifically, the work includes: (1) a Delphi study to determine the magnitude of the environmental impacts and to quantify the relationship between mining practices and environmental remedies, (2) a scoring model to set up an index of the relative capability of equipment to do the environmental ...
Geothermal energy pile foundations are an alternative energy source for heating and cooling needs. Utilising this source of energy has great potential due to the environmental, economic and social benefits. This paper looks at an extensive amount of literature on the technology behind the system including the overall process, primary considerations for each of the main components including latest developments as well as design implications such as the integration of ground energy systems into structural piles of buildings. Environmental considerations including performance-dependent parameters of the subsurface are described. Main parameters include thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, specific heat capacity and moisture content. Temperature and groundwater effects are also discussed and design considerations are provided. Mathematical models are available to aid in the design of these systems but there are various ...
Within the framework of the EU power plant conceptual study (PPCS), helium-cooled modular divertor concepts have been investigated in detail at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe during the past few years. The first conceptual design proposed was based on convective cooling with the use of flow promoters in the form of pin and/or slot arrays (HEMP/HEMS) to increase the cooling surface and, hence, enhance the heat transfer capacity. While continuing the design optimisation, an advanced multiple-jet design (HEMJ) was introduced, which is based on direct jet-to-wall impinging cooling and offers advantages in terms of simple construction and manufacturing. Main emphasis of the 2004 work program (TW4-TRP-001) lay on experiments for the concepts HEMJ and HEMS, which were mainly performed at the Efremov Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia. For experiment preparation, detailed test programs were worked out and ...
The overall objective of this research project is to develop a technical basis for flexible piping designs which will improve piping reliability and minimize the use of pipe supports, snubbers, and pipe whip restraints. The current study was conducted to establish the necessary groundwork based on the piping reliability analysis. A confirmatory piping reliability assessment indicated that removing rigid supports and snubbers tends to either improve or affect very little the piping reliability. We then investigated a couple of changes to be implemented in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.61 and RG 1.122 aimed at more flexible piping design. We concluded that these changes substantially reduce calculated piping responses and allows piping redesigns with significant reduction in number of supports and snubbers without violating ASME code requirements. Furthermore, the more flexible piping redesigns are capable of exhibiting reliability ...
LLNL is developing the nuclear fusion based Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) power plant concept. The baseline design uses a depleted uranium (DU) fission fuel blanket with a flowing molten salt coolant (flibe) that also breeds the tritium needed to sustain the fusion energy source. Indirect drive targets, similar to those that will be demonstrated on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), are ignited at #approx#13 Hz providing a 500 MW fusion source. The DU is in the form of a uranium oxycarbide kernel in modified TRISO-like fuel particles distributed in a carbon matrix forming 2-cm-diameter pebbles. The thermal power is held at 2000 MW by continuously varying the "6Li enrichment in the coolants. There are many options to be considered in the engine design including target yield, U-to-C ratio in the fuel, fission blanket thickness, etc. Here we report results of design variations and compare them in terms of various ...
Extra-terrestrial exploration and development missions of the next century will require reliable, low-mass power generation modules of 100 kW_e and more. These modules will be required to support both fixed-base and manned rover/explorer power needs. Low insolation levels at and beyond Mars and long periods of darkness on the moon make solar conversion less desirable for surface missions. For these missions, a closed Brayton cycle energy conversion system coupled with a reactor heat source is a very attractive approach. The authors conducted parametric studies to assess optimized system design trends for nuclear-Brayton systems as a function of operating environment and user requirements. The inherent design flexibility of the closed Brayton cycle energy conversion system permits ready adaptation of the system to future design constraints. This paper describes a dramatic contrast between system ...
Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is a widely accepted in-place treatment technology that uses forced air to remove contaminant vapors from zones of permeable vapor flow, thereby enhancing the volatilization of contaminants from the subsurface. The resulting off-gases are contaminated with volatiles and semi-volatiles and have to treated by catalytic or thermal destruction systems, activated carbon adsorbers, or bioreactors. Of these, activated carbon adsorption is the most commonly used technology. From the theoretical foundation of SVE and carbon adsorption, two nomographs were developed for remedial investigation, feasibility studies, planning, operation, and preliminary design purposes. An advantage of such nomographs is that they graphically indicate the sensitivity of the remediation process to different design parameters and critical ranges within a given parameter. In effect, nomographs can help to foster an intuitive ...
The basic principle of the green building philosophy is to design buildings that consider environmental performance. Residential and commercial buildings in Canada consume about 30 per cent of the total secondary energy use and are responsible for approximately 29 per cent of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions and many other wastes. An optimization model was developed which minimizes life cycle cost and life cycle environmental impact. The model distinguishes different energy sources and incorporates their impacts, such as resource depletion, global warming and acidification. The model also considers design variables such as window type, orientation, building orientation, window-to-wall ratio, wall type and roof type. The model can be used to identify optimum green building designs for given conditions. The model uses expanded cumulative exergy consumption as the indicator for life cycle environmental ...
The purpose of this project was to investigate the feasibility of an antiproton catalyzed fission fragment rocket (FFR). The FFR is characterized by the extraction of fission fragments from the fissile fuel, and the utilization of their kinetic energy for thrust generation. A significant drawback to previous FFR designs was the requirement to maintain a critical nuclear pile as the fission fragment source. The author examined the possibility of replacing the critical pile with a sub-critical pile driven by antiprotons. Recent experiments have revealed that antiprotons stimulate highly energetic fissions in {sup 238}U, with a neutron multiplicity of 13.7 neutrons per fission. This interaction was used as a throttled neutron source. The pile consisted of layers of fissile coated fibers which are designed to allow fission fragments to escape them, where the fragments collide with a fluid. The heated fluid is then ejected from the rocket to provide ...
The PERMCAT process chosen for the final clean-up stage of the Tokamak Exhaust Processing system of the ITER tritium plant combines in a single component a catalytic reactor and a permeator using Pd/Ag membranes. This study covers the mechanical behaviour of a Pd/Ag membrane under different operating conditions. The consequences of hydrogen uptake by the membrane during nominal operation but also during off-normal events are presented. Depending on the operating conditions, expansions around 2% and significant deformations are observed. Different mechanical designs of PERMCAT reactors are then discussed. The first generation comprises finger-type membranes and two new mechanical designs use either additional edge welded bellows or a special corrugated Pd/Ag membrane. These upgraded designs improve the robustness and simplify the geometry of the component. The experimental validation of these new units ...
The PERMCAT process chosen for the final clean-up stage of the Tokamak Exhaust Processing system of the ITER tritium plant combines in a single component a catalytic reactor and a permeator using Pd/Ag membranes. This study covers the mechanical behaviour of a Pd/Ag membrane under different operating conditions. The consequences of hydrogen uptake by the membrane during nominal operation but also during off-normal events are presented. Depending on the operating conditions, expansions around 2% and significant deformations are observed. Different mechanical designs of PERMCAT reactors are then discussed. The first generation comprises finger-type membranes and two new mechanical designs use either additional edge welded bellows or a special corrugated Pd/Ag membrane. These upgraded designs improve the robustness and simplify the geometry of the component. The experimental validation of these new units ...
The aim of this research is to experimentally study the efficiency of a new-design plate collector used to heat air in a new desalination humidification-dehumidification process. In fact, in such processes, the air solar collectors work at unusual experimental parameters (forced convection, elevated air humidity, high solar irradiation). At these stressed experimental conditions, few published works are available in literature. Furthermore, the comparison of the efficiency of collectors running with normal air humidity content (about 10-20 g kg{sup -1}) and air of elevated humidity (20-50 g kg{sup -1}) have not been published to our knowledge. In the present investigation, a new air solar plate collector was designed and developed for its use in a desalination process. Moreover, a characterization of such collector was performed under different experimental conditions. The effect of different parameters, namely: the solar ...
Results indicate that the probability of double-ended guillotine break (DEGB) in the reactor coolant loop piping of Westinghouse and Combustion Engineering plants is extremely low. It is recommended that the NRC seriously consider eliminating DEGB as a design basis event for reactor coolant loop piping in Westinghouse plants. Pipe whip restraints on reactor coolant loop piping could then be excluded or removed, and the requirement to design supports to withstand asymmetric blowdown loads could be eliminated. It is also recommended that the current requirement to couple safe shutdown earthquake (SSE) and DEGB be eliminated. Recognizing however that seismically induced support failure is the weak link in the DEGB evaluation, it is recommended that the strength of component supports, currently designed for the combination of SSE plus DEGB, not be reduced. The study indicates that the probability of DEGB in ...
This R and D project is planed to supply domestic demands of Mo-99 through fission route, and consequently this project will be expected to rise up utilization of HANARO and KAERI's capability for marketing extension into domestic and oversea radiopharmaceutical market. HEU and LEU target types are decided and designed for fission Mo-99 production in domestic. Experimental study of target fabrication technology was performed and developed processing equipments. And conceptual design of target loading/unloading in/from HANARO device are performed. Tracer test of Mo-99 separation and purification process was performed, test results reach to Mo-99 recovery yield above 80% and decontamination factor above 1600. Combined Mo-99 separation and purification process was decided for hot test scheduled from next year, and performance test was performed. Conceptual design for modification of existing hot ...
The Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) study was conducted to assess the new design concept introduced to solve the issues on the flow deviation between SG cassettes and the supporting structure design of the flow distributing plate subjected to the flow induced vibration. Flow field from MCP to the bottom of SG was modeled for 2-dimensional(2D) CFD analysis and then sensitivity analysis on major design parameters was conducted using commercial CFD code, Fluent. The cases for detailed 3D analysis were selected based on the result of 2D analysis and the detailed 3-dimensional(3D) analysis was conducted for these selected cases using Fluent code. Flow field was modeled by RNG model and wall function, 2nd upwind scheme, porous model, structured or hybrid grid. The analysis result shows that the maximum deviation of flow distribution between SG cassettes was reduced upto about 0.1% and the pressure loss from ...
Within the framework of the French inter lab SPACT project (Fuel Cell Systems for Transportation Applications), the behavior of a 5 kW PEM fuel cell stack, fed by humidified hydrogen and compressed air, is investigated in a test platform at Belfort, France. A set of polarization curves are recorded, under various conditions of stack temperature, gas pressure, and stoichiometry rates, in order to obtain a kind of cartography, representing the static stack performance. Initially, the tests are defined considering experimental design techniques. In order to study the relative impacts of the physical factors on the fuel cell voltage, some polarization curve results are selected from the static tests available applying experimental design methodology. First, several analyses are used to estimate the impact of the stack temperature, gas pressure, and stoichiometry rate on the fuel cell voltage. Statistical sensitivity analyses ...
Previous studies have found that classrooms are often inadequately ventilated, with the resultant increased risk of negative impacts on the pupils. This paper describes a series of field measurements that investigated the indoor air quality, thermal comfort and acoustic performance of nine recently built secondary schools in England. The most significant conclusion is that the complex interaction between ventilation, thermal comfort and acoustics presents considerable challenges for designers. The study showed that while the acoustic standards are demanding it was possible to achieve natural ventilation designs that met the criteria for indoor ambient noise levels when external noise levels were not excessive. Most classrooms in the sample met the requirement of limiting the daily average CO{sub 2} concentration to below 1500 ppm but just a few met the need to readily provide 8 l/s per person of fresh ...
Green building (GB) is part of the concept of promoting sustainability. Although GB and the concept of sustainability are well studied for environmental concerns, their business rationale and related social concerns have not been fully explored or widely accepted by the parties involved in the building sector. In this study, the situation of GB market in relation to the general building market is reviewed and the business rationales of stakeholders to invest in the GB market have been investigated from the perspective of building designers. In addition, the factors that enhance the popularity of GB have been explored and the obstacles that hinder its market have been examined. The data are collected by a questionnaire survey covering building designers in Hong Kong and Singapore, the cities that are categorized as economically developed cities in Asia. After data analysis of the survey, this paper ...
Our objective is to increase both the life and power of the molten carbonate fuel (MCFC) by developing improved components and designs. Current activities are as follows: (1)Development of LiFeO{sub 2} and LiCoO{sub 2} cathodes for extended MCFC life, particularly in pressurized operation, where the present cathode, NiO, provides insufficient life (2) Development of distributed-manifold MCFC designs for increased volumetric power density and decreased temperature gradients (and, therefore, increased life) (3) Development of components and designs appropriate for high-power density operation (>2 kW/m{sup 2}and >100 kW/m{sup 3}in an integrated MCFC system) (4)Studies of pitting corrosion of the stainless-steel interconnects and aluminized seals now being employed in the MCFC (alternative components will also be studied). Each of these activities has the potential to reduce the ...
Small-scale stoves, producing heat and hot water, are suited for domestic purposes. In order to optimise their efficiency when using lignocellulosic pellets, an important task is to do research on their real performance. The general behaviour depends on many operational factors (air flow and humidity, pressure, etc), dimension and pellet characteristics (moisture, size, raw material, density, friability, etc). In this paper, the first results and general performance of a 24 kW pellet fixed bed stove pilot plant are presented. The plant has been designed to study pellet combustion in the laboratory. The main targets are to reduce emissions of pollutants and to improve energy efficiency. Different situations can be simulated and tested due to its flexible design. Temperatures, pressures, flows and emissions are measured and analysed. An extensive study of different load conditions is presented through the ...
A study on development of magnetic drive packless valves for commercial purpose showed the results as follows; 1. Study on the radial rays effecting to the permanent magnets -Measurement of the strength of Nd-magnets according to irradiation of radial rays. 2. Effects of temperature on the magnetic driving device -Temperature dependency of the Nd-casting magnets. -Effects of temperature on the heat releasing fins of high-temperature valve. 3. Optimization of torque -Arranging method of permanent magnets -Measuring method and results of torque. 4. Design, manufacture and test for the pressure-resisting structure of magnetic power transmitting device -Calculation and design for the flat circular plates under pressure of the magnetic power transmitting device -Design, manufacture and test for the pressure-resisting structure of magnetic power transmitting device -Comparison of the ...
To seek for a promising concept of a heavy liquid metal coolant (HLMC) fast reactor plant, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute and the electric utilities conducted conceptual designstudy on various types of plant concepts and compared these concepts based on technical feasibility and economical perspective. A comparative designstudy is performed on Lead-Bismuth cooled reactors with forced and natural convection cooling. Eliminating an intermediate cooling system makes the heat transport system simple and can decrease the amount of the weight of NSSS. Based on the estimation of the amount materials, the plant internal load etc., a construction cost of these plants are evaluated approximately 2/3 times of that of LWRs at present. And, the nitride fuel makes breeding ratio of 1.2 with 150 GWd/t of burnup. The results of unprotected event analyses such as UTOP and ULOF show that both of concepts ...
This report addresses a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) proposal to build a pulsed neutron source for simulating nuclear-weapons effects. A point design for the pulsed neutron facility was initiated early in FY94 after hosting a Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) panel review and after subsequently visiting several potential clients and users. The technical and facility designs contained herein fulfill the Statement of Work (SOW) agreed upon by LANL and DNA. However, our point designs and parametric studies identify a unique, cost-effective, above-ground capability for neutron nuclear-weapons-effects studies at threat levels. This capability builds on existing capital installations and infrastructure at LANL. We believe that it is appropriate for us, together with the DNA, to return to the user community and ask for their comments and critiques. We also realize that the requirements ...
In many applications, the experimenter has limited options about what factor combinations can be chosen for a designedstudy. Consider a screening study for a production process involving five input factors whose levels have been previously established. The goal of the study is to understand the effect of each factor on the response, a variable that is expensive to measure and results in destruction of the part. From an inventory of available parts with known factor values, we wish to identify a best collection of factor combinations with which to estimate the factor effects. Though the observational nature of the study cannot establish a causal relationship involving the response and the factors, the study can increase understanding of the underlying process. The study can also help determine where investment should be made to control input ...
Wildland fire suppression personnel employed by the CDF do not currently have the equipment to protect themselves from the short-term acute affects of smoke from wildland fires. In addition, no regulations exist that specify appropriate respiratory protection and the current air-purifying respirator technology and carbon monoxide monitoring has not been adapted to fit wildland fire suppression requirements. This three-year limited study evaluated the ability of wildland fire fighters to perform their normal job function while wearing full-face air-purifying respirators. In the first two years of this study we designed, developed and field tested a prototype ``smart`` air-purifying respirator which incorporated a real-time carbon monoxide monitor into a commercial full-face respirator.` Data on carbon monoxide exposure while fighting wildland fires was collected. During the third year of this study we ...
A featfinding committee of the German Federal Parliament in July 1980 recommended to perform a ''risk-oriented study'' of the SNR-300, the German 300 MW fast breeder prototype reactor being under construction in Kalkar. The main aim of this study was to allow a comparative safety evaluation between the SNR-300 and a modern PWR, thus to prepare a basis for a political decision on the SNR-300. Methods and main results of the study are presented in this paper. In the first step of the risk analysis six groups of accidents have been identified which may initiate core destruction. These groups comprise all conceivable courses, potentially leading to core destruction. By reliability analyses, expected frequency of each group has been calculated. In the accident analysis potential failure modes of the reactor tank have been investigated. Core destruction may be accompanied by the release of significant amounts of mechanical ...
Proper assessment of the hypothesis which correlates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with the unidentified infrared emission bands requires additional experimental laboratory data. In order to address this need, thermal infrared emission studies were performed on a subset of PAHs suggested to be of astrophysical importance. It was proposed that infrared emission from interstellar PAHs occurs following absorption of an ultraviolet photon. Since energy transfer to the ground electronic state can be rapid for a species in which intersystem crossing is negligible, the emission spectrum may be viewed as resulting from an equilibrium vibrational temperature (Leger and d'Hendecourt, 1987). This has been the basis for using infrared absorption spectra to calculate the corresponding emission spectra at various temperatures. These calculations were made using room temperature infrared absorption coefficients instead of those at the temperature of interest because of ...
The purpose of this research is to develop a technically and economically feasible process for biologically producing H(sub 2) from synthesis gas while, at the same time, removing harmful sulfur gas compounds. Six major tasks are being studied: 1. Culture development, where the best cultures are selected and conditions optimized for simultaneous hydrogen production and sulfur gas removal; 2. Mass transfer and kinetic studies in which equations necessary for process design are developed; 3. Bioreactor designstudies, where the cultures chosen in Task 1 are utilized in continuous reaction vessels to demonstrate process feasibility and define operating conditions; 4. Evaluation of biological synthetic gas conversion under limiting conditions in preparation for industrial demonstration studies; 5. Process scale-up where laboratory data are scaled to larger-size ...
BackgroundDue to improvements in cancer survival the number of people of working age living with cancer across Europe is likely to increase. UK governments have made commitments...Full Text Available
In the present study an estimate is made of the malignancy significant dose from external beam radiotherapy in New Zealand utilizing data obtained in a survey conducted in 1975. This survey had been designed to assess genetically significant dose. A weighted effective dose equivalent is derived from the malignancy significant dose for direct comparison with mean per capita effective dose equivalents arising from other sources of radiation. 14 refs., 1 fig., 8 tabs.
The PAMELA (a Payload for Antimatter-Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) space mission has been launched on-board the Resurs-DK1 satellite on June 15{sup th} 2006 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. PAMELA is a particle spectrometer designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation with special focus on the investigation of the nature of dark matter, by mean of the measure of the cosmic-ray antiproton and positron spectra over the largest energy range ever achieved.
The Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment is designed to study the disappearance of antineutrinos from the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in China. The goal of this experiment is to measure the remaining unknown neutrino mixing parameter ?13 with high precision: sin2(2?13)<0.01. The experiment is presently under construction and it is anticipated that data acquisition will begin in 2011.
A summary of the topics covered in papers presented at the 1995 Brookhaven joint conference on production, neutralization, and application of negative ion beams is given. The conference topics covered included plasma ion sources, plasma seeding of these sources for increased ion production, beam extraction and transport, computer simulation and designstudies, and operation of existing and experimental ion source facilities. Application of the sources to accelerator, tokamak, and thin film deposition are discussed. (AIP) {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}
The philosophy of containing tritium and activated products very close to the source and of operating by remote techniques is justified by a comparison with other concepts on protection and availability points of view. Several design options are studied according to the optimization protection methodology of ICRP. Provided that an important technological development is accomplished, the utilization of robotics and the limitation of containment volumes should be generalized.
... Targeted fields of research Continuation of ongoing research - Finalising detailed design work on the ITER project; getting JET operational at full power; Improvement of the basic concepts of fusion devices - Fusion plasmas; theoretical studies; technology watch on research into inertial confinement; new experimental concepts and systems; etc.; Long-term technology - Preparations for building a demonstration reactor (development of tritium breeding blankets; prospective ...
This quality assurance plan (QAP) is designed ensure that the methodologies and the data used for environmental cleanup and treatment studies at the Nevada Test Site are both usable and defensible. The QAP serves two purposes in this regard: (1) to guide the preparation of procedures for carrying out the tasks of the Basic Environmental compliance and Monitoring program (BECAMP); and (2) to help management track the progress of those tasks.
The performance of a commercial heat pipe was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The effect of the temperature difference, the surface area ratio, and the operational conditions on the performance were studied. The heat flow rate and the vapor temperature were estimated on a ready-made commercial heat pipe. Its performance varied considerably with operational conditions. Theoretical consideration of a mathematical model and several nomographs are also presented. This work is applicable to the design and use of heat pipes in the field.
Since 1985 the operating sections of the 1200 kV AC Ekibastuz-Urals transmission system were used for a variety of field studies on a wide range of technological problems associated to high voltage transmission lines. The tests performed confirmed correctness of the main engineering and design decision made at development stage and demonstrated that such transmission lines are reliable and efficient. 3 figs.
In this study, a novel compliant mechanism, ''partially compliant spatial slider-crank (RSSP)'' is proposed. All possible configurations of compliant RSSP mechanisms are classified and discussed. A method is derived to determine deflection of the multiple-axis flexural hinge for all positions of the crank. A design procedure for partially compliant RSSP mechanisms is introduced. In order to prove the feasibility of the proposed mathematical model, a real model is built and it is shown that results are consistent.
The systems analyses and optimization studies performed in connection with a program to design and evaluate a commercial 663 MWe coal-fired combined cycle power plant using pressurized fluidized bed combustion and advanced technology in the hot gas cleanup system and gas turbines are presented. Details on the plant control system are included. (LCL)
For the CREYS MALVILLE plant, sodium natural convection has been considered in connection with certain upset, faulted or beyond design basis situations. For each of these cases, this paper will discuss why natural convection was considered, the main conclusions reached and the natural convection tests which will be performed at plant start-up.
Smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation and migration are key processes that occur in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and post-angioplasty restenosis. In the present study, we designed locked nucleic...Full Text Available
This paper reports a recent feasibility study of a scheme to transport thermal coal as a coal-water slurry by pipeline from Coalspur, Alberta to the west coast of Canada. The base case is for the transport of 10.2 million tons of coal annually, and an expanded case of 18.2 million tons is also considered. Coal would be drawn from 5 mines within a 16 km radius of Coalspur. Several different terminal layouts were considered.
The reports in this series are designed primarily to familiarize professional land use and resource planners with the range of possibilities and effective procedures for achieving integrated mining, reclamation, and land use planning. These reports are ba...
This study evaluated the heat strain induced by six configurations of a new modular body armor (MBA) design. Tests were conducted in two environments differing only by wind speed. The environments were 40 deg C (104 deg F), 20% rh, wind speeds 1.0 msec-1 ...
To seek for a promising concept of a heavy liquid metal coolant (HLMC) fast reactor plant, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) and the electric utilities conducted conceptual designstudy on various types of plant concepts and compared these concepts based on technical feasibility and economical perspective. The Pb-Bi cooled complete natural circulation reactor concept may attain high safety level and construction cost goal (Yen 200,000/kWe) (authors)
This study intends to develop an efficient market design for the German electricity market, with particular regard to renewable energy sources. The German electricity market is disintegrated, i.e. market sectors are not coordinated by a central agency but by their own interactions. The first part of the investigation analyzes the interdependences of market sectors, while the second part will analyze funding instruments for renewable energy sources on this basis. (orig.)
We report on the fouling of Focused Ion Beam (FIB)-fabricated silicon oxide nanopores after exposure to tap water for two weeks. Pore clogging was monitored by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) on both bare silicon oxide and chemically functionalized nanopores. While fouling occurred on hydrophilic silicon oxide pore walls, the hydrophobic nature of alkane chains prevented clogging on the chemically functionalized pore walls. These results have implications for nanopore sensing platform design.
Impact of apparatus dead time on the accuracy of measurement of radial distribution of the radiation attenuation factor in the roentgen computer tomography for rotation bodies is studied. Analytical expressions are obtained. Calculations of the threshold loads for radiometric detectors, providing for the accuracy of measurement at the stage of designing the tomographic complex detecting unit, are obtained
...food waste recycling schemes; (3) Six in-depth site visits to authorities operating collection schemes in order to capture information on scheme design, operational issues and factors affecting public engagement. The case study areas were: Bexley, Cambridge, Fenland, Hackney, Taunton Deane and Weymouth & Portland;...
The experiment was designed to study the effects of sodium pentobarbital on behavioral thermoregulation in rats and mice. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of sodium pentobarbital in doses of 0, 1, 5, 10 or 15 mg/kg and male CBA/J mice were giv...
Dimensional metrology and positioning operations are used in many fields of particle accelerator projects. This lecture gives the basic tools to designers in the field of measure by analysing the spatial layout of measurement systems since it is central to dimensional metrology as well as positioning operations. In a second part, a case study dedicated to a synchrotron storage ring is proposed from the detection of the magnetic centre of quadrupoles to the orbit definition of the ring.
The internal-tracking-system (ITS) of the ALICE detector at LHC, consists of six concentrical barrels of silicon detectors. The outmost two layers are made of double-sided strip detectors (SSD). In the framework of a R and D, the characteristics and performances of these devices, manufactured by two different companies, associated with their designed read-out electronics, have been studied off- and in-beam at the SPS (CERN). The results are presented and discussed.
During this report period our research efforts have concentrated on studies of the dissociation reactions of model peptides and other biologically important molecules. In addition, a considerable amount of research effort has been directed toward improving the apparatus used for laser-ion beam photodissociation. The instrumental improvements include some changes on the original apparatus, but most of this effort involved designing a second generation laser-ion beam photodissociation instrument.
The report describes the studies carried out to design a non-destructive system for the radiological characterization of packages containing LLW and MLW. This technique is applied for quantitative and qualitative gamma emitters determination in packages with homogeneous and heterogeneous matrices as well as the development of a maximum activity points location system. Development involves also the automatization for its industrial use.
A preliminary study of two different kinds of solar receivers (a rotating cavity receiver and a volumetric receiver) suitable to operate in the 1 kW solar facility at the University of Rome is presented. Possible applications of solar energy in the aluminum extraction from leucite and chemical storage by the CuO/Cu[sub 2]O cycle are presented and discussed. (author).
A multiwire cylindrical drift chamber is the main detector of the AMPIR 4#pi#-spectrometer for studying pion-nucleon reactions. The chamber has possibility to measure three coordinates by the electron drift time and by the charge division method. Chamber design and geometry, test bench, readout electronics and also results of calculations, simulation and tests are described.
Corrosion resistance of Cu-W system condensates in tap water was studies. It is shown that with an increase in W concentration in the condensates of the Cu-W system their corrosion in tap water enhances. In the material designated for power supply facilities the optimal tungsten content is up to 6%. Owing to formation of oxide film on the surface of the samples corrosion is stabilitized 40 h after the test start.
Collisional-Radiative numerical models are commonly used to design or interpret experiments in atomic physics of laser-created plasmas, including X-ray laser studies. We describe our new code containing several options: average ion, more or less detailed configurations. It consists of an atomic data base coupled to subroutines evaluating ionic populations and emission and absorption coefficients. Numerical results are given to illustrate the capabilities of the code and to compare different models and types of approximation.
Coke production from bitumens, coal, petroleum and lignite is covered in this compilation from worldwide research. Studies on coke oven design, performance, corrosion, and deterioration are cited. Blast furnace coke, additives, quality control, and chemical analysis are discussed. Byproduct recovery from coking processes is included. (This updated bibliography contains 369 citations, 110 of which are new entries to the previous edition.)
Coke production from bitumens, coal, petroleum and lignite is covered in this compilation from worldwide research. Studies on coke oven design, performance, corrosion, and deterioration are cited. Blast furnace coke, additives, quality control, and chemical analysis are discussed. Byproduct recovery from coking processes is included. (This updated bibliography contains 259 abstracts, 49 of which are new entries to the previous edition.)
Coke production from bitumens, coal, petroleum and lignite is covered in this compilation from worldwide research. Studies on coke oven design, performance, corrosion, and deterioration are cited. Blast furnace coke, additives, quality control, and chemical analysis are discussed. Byproduct recovery from coking processes is included. (This updated bibliography contains 210 abstracts, 61 of which are new entries to the previous edition.)
Coke production from bitumens, coal, petroleum, and lignite is covered in this compilation from worldwide research. Studies on coke oven design, performance, corrosion, and deterioration are cited. Coal effective utilization, blast furnace coke, additives, quality control, and chemical analysis are included. Byproduct recovery from coking processes is included. (Contains 150 abstracts)
The design of the time-resolved x-ray diffraction experiments reported in this and an accompanying paper was based on direct measurements of enzyme phosphorylation using [gamma-32P]ATP that were employed...Full Text Available
A review and a number of extracts are given of the statement made by the acting chairman of the CEGB at a press conference on the publication of documents in support of the case for the building of the proposed Sizewell B PWR. The documents comprise the CEGB Statement of Case proper, the Reference Design, the Pre-Construction Safety Report and some 300 supporting reports. Objectors have eight months to study the reports before the public inquiry into the CEGB's proposals due to open in January 1983.
Conventional methods for calculating electricity losses in pipe-type cable systems rely heavily on data measured in lower-voltage systems in the 1950s. With the new technique developed in this study, engineers can compute power losses more precisely for cables of various configurations and voltage ratings.
A computer program 'CPA simulator' has been designed to simulate the response parameters of a typical charge preamplifier (CPA) used in nuclear front-end electronics. The response parameters are studied considering three common connection methods between the detector and the CPA. The simulator predicts and illustrates the role and influence of the different components of the CPA and detector circuits.
Current investigations into the biological solubilization of coal with microorganisms focus on the production of solubilizing activity in fungi. Test organisms for this work include a species of the yeast Candida previously isolated from a lignite outcrop, and P. chrysosporium, a filamentous higher fungus which has played a major role in lignin biodegradation research. The studies described are primarily exploratory in nature, and are fundamental to the design of more sophisticated inquiries into the physiology of fungal coal solubilization.
A dual-boiling isobutane cycle was selected for the present 5-megawatt (5MW) Raft River Pilot Plant to utilize the lower-temperature geothermal resources (near 300F). This study represents a second effort directed toward the design of an improved binary geothermal electric plant suitable for utilization of the lower temperature resources. 7 refs.
A large-acceptance Bragg curve spectrometer with a longitudinal electron collection field and a segmented anode has been constructed and tested. The effects on the charge resolution of the entrance angle and entrance position of the incident particle have been studied. Simulations have been done in order to isolate the contribution to the overall detector performance of the signal-shaping electronics from that of the intrinsic design of the detector. ((orig.))
This study investigates spent fuel cask handling experience at existing nuclear facilities to determine appropriate cask decontamination and maintenance operations at the potential Yucca Mountain repository. These operations are categorized as either routine or nonroutine. Routine cask decontamination and maintenance tasks are performed in the cask preparation area at the repository. Casks are taken offline to a separate cask maintenance area for major nonroutine tasks. The study develops conceptual designs of the cask preparation area and cask maintenance area. The functions, layouts, and major features of these areas are also described.
This paper describes two research programs which are currently underway in the author's laboratory to investigate the effect of fluid flow on the degradation of power plant materials in high temperature/high pressure aqueous environments. These programs include the design and operation of a controlled hydrodynamic corrosion testing apparatus that can be used to study the general and localized corrosion characteristics of alloys in simulated nuclear reactor environments, and a study of the effect of flow velocity on the stress corrosion cracking of ASTM A508 C1.2 steel and Type 304SS in simulated BWR heat transport fluids.
A high pressure waterjet has been used to study the surface roughening of superalloys as preparation for thermal spraying. Designed experiments for Mar-M 509 and Rene 80 were carried out for the effects of jet pressure and mass of water delivered per unit area. Comparisons were made of several superalloys in terms of erosion, surface roughness and topology. The mechanism of jet erosion of Rene 80 was studied in relation to its metallurgical microstructure. An MCrAlY coating by shrouded plasma spray was made over a waterjet prepared surface with excellent bonding and having an ideally clean interface.
The purpose of SEADEX was to acquire a comprehensive, high-quality data base for evaluating models of dispersion within coastal zones, it secondary objective was to provide data to help determine which meteorological measurements are most appropriate for emergency preparedness at nuclear power plant sites. The study was conducted in the vicinity of Kewannee, Wisconsin, on the western shore of Lake Michigan. This report describes the design of the study and the data base resulting from it. Both a gas tracer (SF/sub 6/) and a particulate tracer (oil fog) were used. (ACR)
Guidelines and ground rules followed in the development of requirements for the SPS are presented. Development planning objectives are specified in each of these areas, and evolutionary SPS program scenarios are described for the various concepts studied during the past one year contract. Program descriptions are presented as planning packages of technical tasks, and schedule phasing. Each package identifies the ground based technology effort that will facilitate SPS definitions, designs, development, and operations.
The Outreach Program was designed to solicit creative ideas from academia, research institutions, private enterprises, and the general public and is intended to be helpful in defining promising technical areas and program paths for more detailed study. To the Outreach Program, a number of power system concepts were proposed. In conclusion, there are a number of advanced concepts for space power and propulsion sources that deserve study if we want to expand our ability to not only explore space, but to utilize it. Advanced nuclear concepts and power beaming concepts are two areas worthy of detailed assessments.
Transplantation has emerged as the therapy of choice for many patients with end organ failure. One of the major goals is to tailor immunosuppressive therapy to the individual needs of every patient to balance the risk for rejection and over-immunosuppression. This will require diagnostic tools that can detect harmful processes in the allograft early, and that can be measured repeatedly. This review will consider recent advances in our understanding of the molecular nature of these processes and how this information is being utilized to design novel diagnostic assays to non-invasively monitor allografts. Highlighted is the need for large-scale prospective multi-centre studies to validate assays that show early promise in single centre studies.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of moral conflicts in information systems development by studying student perceptions in an information systems (IS) project course implemented in close collaboration with information technology firms. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on an empirical case study. Students' perceptions of moral conflicts were gathered through diaries, drawings, and questionnaires; and the analysis was inspired by phenomenography. Findings - The analysis reveals six types of moral conflicts. Students face conflicts related to their work tasks and to human and outside parties, and inherent in them is an inclination to moral failure in terms of doing something they perceive to be morally wrong, and also the desire for moral success...
Purpose - The aim of the present study is to present in a systematic way the subject of industrial hazardous waste from the point-of-view of definitions in engineering, science and legislation. This analysis is necessary, as many different approaches and overlapping definitions are used for the classification of waste, leading to different results, a situation that often complicates the collection and interpretation of data on waste. Design/methodology/approach - The study is conducted by bringing together the extended experience of the authors and other experts in the field of environmental legislation and a wide variety of scientific and legislative sources as well as articles and research reports. The focus is the European Union, while several approaches from the international area are ...
The primary objective is to perform a fundamental study of filtration of nanoparticles, and to obtain filtration knowledge necessary to design particle collection devices/systems for nanoparticle processing and for preventing nanoparticle emissions into the environment. The research covered a wide area relevant to nanoparticle filtration, under these main topics: (1) nanoparticle filtration and molecular dynamics simulation, (2) nanoparticle virtual impactor, (3) particle transport under low pressure, and (4) development of a high-throughput nanoparticle generator. A number of novel tools and numerical models have been developed under the DOE support.
The author describes feasibility study on the scheme of disposing spent guide tubes at Daya Bay nuclear power plant, including scheme selection, packing cask design, disposal operation and technological process, budget estimation and safety evaluation. The research results show that the new scheme is feasible on technology, and reasonable on budget. If the scheme is adopted to dispose the spent guide tubes at Daya Bay nuclear power station, it can not only save large funds, but also accumulate experience on disposing non-compressible low and intermediate level solid radioactive wastes produced at nuclear power station for the country
We apply and modify the computer codes CAIN(P.Chen, G.Horton-Smith, T.Ohgaki, A.W.Weidemann, K.Yokoya, contributed to Workshop on Gamma-Gamma Colliders, Berkeley, CA, March 28-31, 1994; SLAC-PUB-6583.) and GUINEAPIG(D.Schulte (DESY), unpublished.) to make detailed studies of the beam-beam interaction in the SLAC design for a future linear collider (NLC), as well as to the proposed SLC2000 project. Using realistic beam distributions, we present simulations related to the tuning and optimization of luminosity in SLC2000 and NLC.
We apply and modify the computer codes CAIN(P.Chen, G.Horton-Smith, T.Ohgaki, A.W.Weidemann, K.Yokoya, contributed to Workshop on Gamma-Gamma Colliders, Berkeley, CA, March 28-31, 1994; SLAC-PUB-6583.) and GUINEAPIG(D.Schulte (DESY), unpublished.) to make detailed studies of the beam-beam interaction in the SLAC design for a future linear collider (NLC), as well as to the proposed SLC2000 project. Using realistic beam distributions, we present simulations related to the tuning and optimization of luminosity in SLC2000 and NLC.
This paper reports the development of a relay coordination package specially designed as a teaching aid. Fault studies required for relay coordination has been performed by using a newly developed loop impedance matrix. This new method of forming loop impedance matrix is particularly suitable for multiple fault studies environment as required in relay coordination. A simple topology searching technique has been used to find all loops of the network. This package simultaneously serves the purpose of teaching relay coordination, loop analysis technique and the method of topology searching.
Purpose - The methodological debate relating to accounting research using actor-network theory (ANT) has primarily focused on how ANT generates performative studies that significantly differ from ostensive studies. These discussions have in many ways (and for good reasons) distanced performative from ostensive research. Recently, however, several scholars have emphasized the interdependencies between ostensive and performative aspects when it comes to knowledge development, thereby underlining the need to coordinate ostensive and performative studies and bring them closer together. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological opportunities and limitations for ANT researchers who seek to move closer to ostensive research. Design/methodology/approach - The basis for exploring t...
Rapid and reliable transmission of nuclear medicine studies using conventional telephone lines and commercially available modems and computer systems has been accomplished through use of software developed within the authors' hospital. Original digital images of all-night and weekend studies, acquired on any of the acquisition computers from different manufacturers, are now routinely sent for remote reading at the physician's home. Data, software, and letters are routinely exchanged using modems and standard telephone lines with a sister institution in Haifa, Israel. The software has been designed to achieve no loss data compression and minimal turnaround time loss. Thus, an average lung perfusion image or gallbladder study requires about 1-3 minutes of transmission time. Full analysis and display software is available on the remote computer.
In order to determine the viability of any Liquids from Coal (LFC) commercial venture, TEK-KOL and its partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), have put together a technical and economic feasibility study for a commercial-size LFC Plant located at Zeigler Coal Holding Company`s North Rochelle Mine site. This resulting document, the ENCOAL Mild Coal Gasification Plant: Commercial Plant Feasibility Study, includes basic plant design, capital estimates, market assessment for coproducts, operating cost assessments, and overall financial evaluation for a generic Powder River Basin based plant. This document and format closely resembles a typical Phase II study as assembled by the TEK-KOL Partnership to evaluate potential sites for LFC commercial facilities around the world.
SummaryObjectiveTo assess the level of noise generated by music shops in an urban city in Nigeria. StudydesignCross-sectional, descriptive study. MethodologyThe study involved music shops in three out of eight identified clusters of market areas in Benin City. A semi-structured, researcher-administered questionnaire was also used to collect data from music shop owners. Noise levels generated by speakers in the music shops were measured using a sound level meter, and blood pressure measurements were taken with a mercury sphygmomanometer. ResultsOf the 250 music shops studied, more than 90.0% generated noise levels >85 dB, and 54.8% had a continuous pattern of noise. Longer duration of working years was significantly associated with decreased hearing (P = 0.01), shouting when talking (P = 0...
Improvements in electric submersible pumping systems have resulted in a demonstrated downhole running life of one year for low horsepower units operating in 180 C brine. The implementation of a prototype pressurized lubrication system to prevent brine intrusion and loss of lubricating oil from the motor and protector sections has been successfully tested. Second generation pressurized lubrication systems have been designed and fabricated and will be utilized in downhole production pumping tests during FY84. Pumping system lifetime is currently limited by available power cable designs that are degraded by high-temperature brine. A prototype metal-sheathed power cable has been designed and fabricated and is currently undergoing destructive and nondestructive laboratory testing. This cable design has the potential for eliminating brine intrusion into the power delivery system through the use of a ...
This fourteenth quarterly technical progress report of the MHD Integrated Topping Cycle Project presents the accomplishments during the period November 1, 1990 to January 31, 1991. Testing of the High Pressure Cooling Subsystem electrical isolator was completed. The PEEK material successfully passed the high temperature, high pressure duration tests (50 hours). The Combustion Subsystem drawings were CADAM released. The procurement process is in progress. An equipment specification and RFP were prepared for the new Low Pressure Cooling System (LPCS) and released for quotation. Work has been conducted on confirmation tests leading to final gas-side designs and studies to assist in channel fabrication.The final cathode gas-side design and the proposed gas-side designs of the anode and sidewall are presented. Anode confirmation tests and related analyses of anode wear mechanisms used in the selection of the ...
This fourteenth quarterly technical progress report of the MHD Integrated Topping Cycle Project presents the accomplishments during the period November 1, 1990 to January 31, 1991. Testing of the High Pressure Cooling Subsystem electrical isolator was completed. The PEEK material successfully passed the high temperature, high pressure duration tests (50 hours). The Combustion Subsystem drawings were CADAM released. The procurement process is in progress. An equipment specification and RFP were prepared for the new Low Pressure Cooling System (LPCS) and released for quotation. Work has been conducted on confirmation tests leading to final gas-side designs and studies to assist in channel fabrication.The final cathode gas-side design and the proposed gas-side designs of the anode and sidewall are presented. Anode confirmation tests and related analyses of anode wear mechanisms used in the selection of the ...
Work over the last few years at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has included a major focus on applying human performance and human reliability knowledge and methods as an integral element of system design and development. This work has been pursued in programs in a wide variety of technical domains, beginning with nuclear power plant operations. Since the mid-1980`s the laboratory has transferred the methods and tools developed in the nuclear domain to military weapons systems and aircraft, offshore oil and shipping operations, and commercial aviation operations and aircraft design. Through these diverse applications the laboratory has developed an integrated approach and framework for application of human performance analysis, human reliability analysis (HRA), operational data analysis, and simulation studies of human performance to the design and development of ...
Natural laminar-flow (NLF) airfoils are those which can achieve significant extents of laminar flow (greater than or equal to 30% chord) solely through favorable pressure gradients. Studies have shown that vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) using NLF sections as blade elements have the potential of producing energy at a significantly lower cost (approx. =20%) than turbines of current design. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is now in the process of procuring a blade set for its 17-m-diameter research turbine which will use NLF sections as blade elements. This paper describes the design of this blade set. The blade set design began with the definition of a family of three approximately 50% chord NLF sections (15, 18, and 21% t/c). These definitions involved numerically establishing airfoil contours giving section characteristics anticipated to be favorable in the VAWT context and then screening these ...
This study identifies potential applications and design requirements for ceramic materials (CMs) and ceramic composite materials (CCMs) in the NGNP hightemperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) primary circuit. Components anticipated for fabrication from non-graphite CMs and CCMs are identified along with recommended normal and off-normal operating conditions. The evaluation defines required dimensions and material properties of the candidate materials for normal operating conditions (NOC), anticipated transients, abnormal events, and design basis events. The report also identifies additional activities required for codifying the selected materials. The activities include ASTM Standard and ASME Code development and other work to support NRC licensing of the plant. Evaluation of the NGNP baseline design indicates components requiring either CMs or CCMs depend upon the reactor operating temperatures. For a ...
A Lurgi baseline study was requested by the DOE/GRI Operating Committee of the Joint Coal Gasification Program for the purpose of updating the economics of earlier Lurgi coal gasification plant studies for the production of substitute natural gas (SNG) based on commercially advanced technologies. The current study incorporates the recent experience with large size Lurgi plants in an effort to improve capital and operating costs of earlier plant designs. The present coal gasification study is based on a mine mouth plant producing 250 billion Btu (HHV) per day of SNG using the Lurgi dry bottom coal gasification technology. A Western subbituminous coal was designated as the plant food, obtained from the Rosebud seam at Colstrip, Montana. This study presents the detailed description of an integrated facility which utilizes coal, air, and water ...
The groundwater flow and transport model of the Faultless underground nuclear test conducted at the Central Nevada Test Area (CNTA) was accepted by the state regulator and the environmental remediation efforts at the site have progressed to the stages of model validation and long-term monitoring design. This report discusses the long-term monitoring strategy developed for CNTA. Subsurface monitoring is an expensive and time-consuming process, and the design approach should be based on a solid foundation. As such, a thorough literature review of monitoring network design is first presented. Monitoring well networks can be designed for a number of objectives including aquifer characterization, parameter estimation, compliance monitoring, detection monitoring, ambient monitoring, and research monitoring, to name a few. Design methodologies also range from simple hydrogeologic ...
Understanding the similar properties of people involved in group search sessions has the potential to significantly improve collaborative search systems; such systems could be enhanced by information retrieval algorithms and user interface modifications that take advantage of important properties, for example by re-ordering search results using information from group members' combined user profiles. Understanding what makes group members similar can also assist with the identification of groups, which can be valuable for connecting users with others with whom they might undertake a collaborative search. In this workshop paper, we describe our current research efforts towards studying the properties of a variety of group types. We discuss properties of groups that may be relevant to designers of collaborative search systems, and propose ways in which understanding such properties could influence the design of interfaces and ...
As care shifts from institutional to home- and community-based settings, consumer health information technology (IT) must be designed to support patients' new health information management responsibilities. We developed and piloted a new methodology grounded in social network analysis and human factors engineering to explore two often overlooked aspects of this phenomenon: the task of health information communication with members of the social network and the context of culture. Such knowledge is necessary to inform the appropriate design of consumer health IT. We asked a culturally diverse sample of participants to describe what, to whom, why, and how they communicate health information and to provide direct feedback about the methodology. The methodology was acceptable to all participants and able to capture similarities and differences in their health information communication practices. Prior to the main study we will ...
This paper studies the effects of axial heat conduction in boreholes used in geothermal heat pump systems. The axial effects are examined by comparing the results obtained using the finite and infinite line source methods. Using various practical design problems, it is shown that axial effects are relatively important. Unsurprisingly, short boreholes and unbalanced yearly ground loads lead to stronger axial effects. In one example considered, it is shown that the borehole length is 15% shorter when axial conduction effects are considered. In another example dealing with underground water freezing, the amount of energy that has to be removed to freeze the ground is three times higher when axial effects are considered. (author)
The last unknown neutrino mixing angle $\\theta_{13}$ is one of the fundamental parameters of nature; it is also a crucial parameter for determining the sensitivity of future long-baseline experiments aimed to study CP violation in the neutrino sector. Daya Bay is a reactor neutrino oscillation experiment designed to achieve a sensitivity on the value of $sin^2(2\\theta_{13})$ to better than 0.01 at 90% CL. The experiment consists of multiple identical detectors placed underground at different baselines to minimize systematic errors and suppress cosmogenic backgrounds. With the baseline design, the expected anti-neutrino signal at the far site is about 360 events per day and at each of the near sites is about 1500 events per day. An overview and current status of the experiment will be presented.
This volume covers planning, design, and data analysis. It offers statistical methods for designing environmental sampling and monitoring programs as well as analyzing the resulting data. Statistical sample survey methods to problems of estimating average and total amounts of environmental pollution are presented in detail. The book also provides a broad array of statistical analysis methods for many purposes...numerous examples...three case studies...end-of-chapter questions...computer codes (showing what output looks like along with its interpretation)...a discussion of Kriging methods for estimating pollution concentration contours over space and/or time...nomographs for determining the number of samples required to detect hot spots with specified confidence...and a description and tables for conducting Rosner's test to identify outlaying (usually large) pollution measurements in a data set.
Summary 1. The EU -Nitrates Directive- (Directive 91/676/EEC) and the WFD (Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EEC) introduced a series of measures designed to reduce and prevent water pollution caused or induced by nitrates from agricultural sources. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to control the nitrate concentration in freshwater. The objective of this paper was to verify the potential capacity of a specifically designed afforested riparian zone in removing the excess of nitrogen from river water. 2. A buffer zone was set with irrigation ditches, to produce a subsurface water flow carrying water from the study river through the buffer strip to drainage ditches. This experimental system enables the co-occurrence of two main processes: vegetation/microbial nitrogen uptake and deni...
Deltombe T, Gustin T. Selective tibial neurotomy in the treatment of spastic equinovarus foot in hemiplegic patients: a 2-year longitudinal follow-up of 30 cases. Objective To assess the long-term efficacy of selective tibial neurotomy in the treatment of spastic equinovarus foot in hemiplegic patients. Design Intervention study (before-after trial) with an observational design and 2-year follow-up. Setting Spasticity group in a university hospital. Participants Hemiplegic patients (N=30) with spastic equinovarus foot. Intervention A selective neurotomy was performed at the level of the motor nerve branches of the tibial nerve. Main Outcome Measures Spasticity (Ashworth scale), muscle strength (Medical Research Council scale), passive ankle dorsiflexion, gait parameters (6 min walking test...
In order to improve the reliability of PWR steam generators, we have performed research to improve the tubing material and tube-support-plate configuration, based on our wide operating experience, and have developed and verified Alloy TT690 as the optimum tubing material and the BEC (Broached Egg Crate) type tube-support design. In the research, we have studied the metallurgical mechanism of the alloy to improve its corrosion resistance, evaluated corrosion susceptible region quantitatively, estimated the actual environment in a steam generator and confirmed the reliability by a model boiler test over a long period. It has been verified that the steam generator with the latest design has higher reliability with respect to the corrosion resistance of tubes. (author).
The overall goal of this work is to design and optimize a biodiesel production process from soybean oil. To achieve this goal, several inter-connected activities were undertaken. First, an initial flowsheet for the process was synthesized. The performance of this flowsheet along with the key design and operating criteria were identified by conducting computer-aided simulation using ASPEN Plus. Various scenarios were simulated to provide sufficient understanding and insights and to select a base-case flowsheet. Next, mass and energy integration studies were performed to reduce the consumption of material and energy utilities, improve environmental impact, and enhance profitability. Capital cost estimation was carried out using the ICARUS Process Evaluator computer-aided tool linked to the r...
In vibration control field, magneto-rheological (MR) fluid dampers are semi-active control devices that have recently begun to receive more attention. This paper presents a nonlinear black-box model (BBM) and an inverse black-box model (IBBM) for the identification of a MR fluid damper and their application to design a novel force-sensorless control method for any damping system using that damper. The nonlinear model named 'black-box' is a simple direct modeling method which was designed based on fuzzy-neural technique. Characteristics of the damper in study are directly estimated through a fuzzy mapping system. In order to improve the model accuracy, neural network technique including back-propagation and gradient descent method were used to train the fuzzy parameters to minimize the mode...
The Seabed Disposal Project (SDP) was evaluating the technical feasibility of high-level nuclear waste disposal in deep ocean sediments. Working standards were needed for risk assessments, evaluation of alternative designs, sensitivity studies, and conceptual design guidelines. This report completes a three part program to develop radiological standards for the feasibility phase of the SDP. The characteristics of subseabed disposal and how they affect the selection of standards are discussed. General radiological protection standards are reviewed, along with some new methods, and a systematic approach to developing standards is presented. The selected interim radiological standards for the SDP and the reasons for their selection are given. These standards have no legal or regulatory status and will be replaced or modified by regulatory agencies if subseabed disposal is implemented. 56 refs., 29 figs., 15 tabs.
This paper presents a reformer prototype for the production of the necessary H{sub 2} to supply a 5 kW PEMFC and its first results. The fuel processor consists of an OSR and a WGS and a PROX reactors. The design of the system was carried out with a one-dimensional model. The mixture chamber was specially studied with a CFD code (Fluent), taking into account the effect of fuel evaporation and the cool flame process. The aim of the designed facility is to be able of characterising each component and controlling each working parameter. Eventually, using diesel as fuel, results from the mixture chamber, OSR, WGS and PROX reactors are presented. It also includes conclusions and future works. (authors)
The Department of Energy decided to terminate the Flywheel Rotor and Containment Technology Development project during FY 1983. Activities this year included fabrication, inspection, and test evaluation of rotor and containment structures. A peak energy of 700 Wh was stored at an energy density of 70 Wh/kg. In cyclic tests, 10,000 cycles from design speed to half speed were logged without failure. The first test of a lightweight containment structure indicates the need for additional development. In complementary studies, production cost estimates were made for three flywheel designs. In a cooperative program with the University of Wisconsin, work began on construction of a flywheel/continuously variable transmission/heat engine car which promises fuel economy improvements of up to 100%. Suggestions are made for the direction of future work when interest in flywheel system reappears.
It is very important to develop the design guidelines which can be applicable for Korean operators for the purpose of designing the KSNP more safely. The objective of this project is to provide the standards, guidelines and bases applicable for HF-010 through the within-subject experiment for obtaining Korean operators' population stereotype for direction-of-movement of controls associated with displays on the control panels. Through the survey of researches on display compatibility and the classification of types of displays and controls in the main control room of Uljin units 3 and 4, methods for an experiment on the stereotype were established. Experimental interface prototypes for a total of 108 combinations of display and control types were implemented. Experimental data collection and analysis system was built in association with the interface prototypes. The experiment was performed with participation of 250 students as ...
Processes in the feeders of basaltic volcanoes during Strombolian-type eruptions were examined with the use of a complex apparatus for modeling basaltic eruptions (CAMBE), which was designed and manufactured by the authors for this purpose. The experimental setup consists of modeling and registering units and has a height of 18 m. It was designed with regard for the geometric dimensions of a natural feeding volcanic system: the ratio of the inner diameter of the feeder to its height is approximately 1: 1000. CAMBE was the first modeling equipment making possible passing a flow of gas-saturated liquid through the conduit, which allowed us to study the nucleation of gas bubbles, their growth, coalescence, transformations of the gas structures, and the kinetics of the gas phase. The experimen...
This study reported on the performance of a passive solar radiant floor heating system designed for standard energy-saving farmhouses in northeast China. Weather data in the region was analyzed in terms of solar radiation, temperature, humidity and light levels. The heating characteristics of the building materials such as windows, doors, walls and roofs were also analyzed along with the indoor thermal environment of the farmhouse. The heating load was then calculated along with the size of the thermal storage element and the area of the collector element. The passive solar radiant floor heating system was designed for heating during the winter and cooling in summer. According to the results, the heating characteristics of the system have the potential to improve farming villages environment and the use of renewable energy.
A previous analysis aimed at underlining the importance of the relativistic electron beam quality for the performances of a Free Electron Laser (FEL) is continued in the paper by the study of the influence of the undulator field (wiggler) parameters and of the optical beam (and/or optical cavity) quality on the operation of a FEL. The importance of parameters such as K, #lambda#_u, g of the undulator, F, P_L, #nu#_c of the optical beam, and L, L_o_p_t and L_c_r of the optical cavity for the characteristics of the input radiation as P_o_u_t, G_o_p_t, and #eta# are analyzed and some relations between these parameters that will give the possibility to estimate the corresponding values are given. Some proposal for the design of a compact FEL in IR-spectral region, with #lambda# #approx# 230 #mu#m are given. (Author).
Silicon sensors have about ten times improved radiation hardness around 130 K temperature, compared with the state-of-art sensors close to room temperature. This is based on the Lazarus effect studied by the RD39 Collaboration of CERN. Other benefits of low temperatures will also be discussed. We shall describe the conceptual design of low-mass detector modules cooled using two-phase flow of argon in miniature cooling pipes integrated in the module structure between the sensors and the readout hybrid circuit. The main engineering features of the cooling system and mechanical support structures are discussed, as well as the benefits arising from the operation of the tracker under cryogenic vacuum. 4 Refs.
The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) core loading during its ninth operating cycle was significantly different from that of previous cycles because of the presence of the Core Demonstration Experiment (CDE). The CDE consists of a number of axially blanketed fuel assemblies and internal blankets prototypic of advanced oxide cores in Liquid Metal Reactors (LMR). In preparation for the Cycle 9 reload design effort, a careful assessment of control rod worth and reactivity calculations for Cycles 1 through 8 was made. The goal of this study was to establish calculational biases and reduce uncertainties factored into the reload design calculations. These analyses helped assure that the operational objectives for Cycle 9 were met.
The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) core loading during its ninth operating cycle was significantly different from that of previous cycles because of the presence of the Core Demonstration Experiment (CDE). The CDE consists of a number of axially blanketed fuel assemblies and internal blankets prototypic of advanced oxide cores in Liquid Metal Reactors (LMR). In preparation for the Cycle 9 reload design effort, a careful assessment of control rod worth and reactivity calculations for Cycles 1 through 8 was made. The goal of this study was to establish calculational biases and reduce uncertainties factored into the reload design calculations. These analyses helped assure that the operational objectives for Cycle 9 were met.
ObjectivesThe practical exploitation of tidal stream energy is limited by man's activities in coastal waters: navigation, fishing and~%~leisure pursuits. It is important therefore to make the best use of the sites, which are available. The main objective of the~%~Proposed study is to assess the limits imposed by waves on the performance of tidal stream rotors, and to investigate way:~%~in which these limits might be related by refinements in rotor design and the control of operating conditions. Secondary~ [continued...]DescriptionHorizontal aids wind turbines have been recognised as one of the most successful renewable energy saving devices. The use of the similar concept as a 'tidy stream rotor' in offshore environment appears to be even more compelling. However, the application of this concept will require the confirmation of various operational and environmental limitations due to complexities of offshore environment compared to those of on ...
Polysilicon thin-film technology has become of great interest due to the demand for large area electronic devices. Active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) and active matrix organic light emitting displays (AMOLEDs) are among the fields where polysilicon thin-film transistors (poly-Si TFTs) are most commonly used. Such devices, generally, require analog signal processing. This fact makes the performance of basic analog blocks, such as current mirrors implemented with poly-Si TFTs, crucial. This paper examines the performance of various current mirror designs through simulation. Finally, a novel design of a current mirror is proposed aimed to be used in low voltage applications.
According to the development of power electronic element (GTO, IGBT) nd material for electrical machines (permanent magnet, super conductor), the technology for electrical machines is now a day rapidly developing. here with, a novel electrical machine, based on the new conception of transverse flux configuration leads to a considerable increase in power density and enables simultaneously high efficiency.The transverse flux machine with PM excitation will be applied to gearless direct drives for railway traction system. The designed and measured performance of transverse machine for railway traction system revealed a great potential of system improvements to reduce linear motor mass. (author). 10 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.