Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The large number of forms and types of pump equipment in common use have different purposes and varying application requirements. This text has been prepared to bring together necessary information for those who are required to select and apply pumps in systems for all kinds of fluids and purposes. It is not a design manual. It limits the discussion of design to those factors which are necessary for an understanding of pump operation. The book contains not only descriptive information of many types of designs, but also the effect of design variation on use, economy, and reliability. Systems, an integral part of application, are discussed, so that the user of such equipment may properly select and install machines to reliably and economically satisfy his requirements. Reading of appropriate sections of the text will indicate possible problems to be avoided, and economics to be gained. The engineering design of pumps is a ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A linear diffusion model serves as the basis for determination of an effective radon diffusion coefficient in concrete. The coefficient was needed to later allow quantitative prediction of radon accumulation within and behind concrete walls after application of an impervious radon barrier. A resolution of certain discrepancies noted in the literature in the use of an effective diffusion coefficient to model diffusion of a radioactive gas through a porous medium is suggested. An outline of factors expected to affect the concrete physical structure and the effective diffusion coefficient of radon through it is also presented. Finally, a field method for evaluating effective radon diffusion coefficients in concrete is proposed and results of measurements performed on a concrete foundation wall are compared with similar published values of gas diffusion coefficients in concrete. (author).

CERN Document Server

In this note, we have shown special case on Routh stability criterion, which is not discussed, in previous literature. This idea can be useful in computer science applications.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

IntroductionColonoscopic perforation is a rare but serious complication of colonoscopy. Factors known to increase the risk of perforation include colonic strictures, extensive diverticulosis,...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of this report is to determine if it is feasible to utilize the hot exhaust gas discharged from gas turbines in direct applications. This report illustrates the technical feasibility and economic viability of using gas turbines in drying applications. The size of turbines in this investigation ranges from 2 MW to 10 MW. In addition, an implementation strategy has been developed to employ this new system. The method used to structure the scope of this undertaking is as follows: Step 1. Collecting information by contacting dryer manufacturer and companies drying different products. Information was also gathered by literature studies and the internet. Thomas register is a great tool when it comes to company and market searches. Step 2. Looking into if it is technically possible to use the exhaust gas directly into dryers. The parameters needed for these calculations were gathered in step 1, and some of the more ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurobehavioral disorder affecting 5% to 10% of children. Although considered to be a highly familial disorder, ADHD heritability estimates of 60% to 80% highlight the considerable role that environmental factors may still play in disorder susceptibility. Proposed ADHD environmental risk factors include prenatal substance exposures, heavy metal and chemical exposures, nutritional factors, and lifestyle/psychosocial factors. This paper reviews the literature published in 2010 investigating the association between environmental risk factors and ADHD or related symptomatology. Sources of risk factor exposure and the proposed mechanism by which each exposure is linked to ADHD-related neurobehavioral changes are also reported. Metho...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radio-biologists have pointed out a novel radiobiological phenomenon observed in many tumor and normal cell lines: hyper-radiosensitivity to very low-dose (H.R.S.) followed by induced radioresistance (I.R.R.) after a threshold dose of 0.1-0.3 Gy that depends on the cell line. Radioresistance at high dose (i.e. higher than 0.5 Gy) and metastatic potential of tumor cells are likely major factors of failure in radiotherapy. A careful review of literature suggests that: 1) radiotherapy does not increase the metastatic potential of tumor cells; 2) radioresistance at high dose and metastatic potential are not related. However, inside a given tumor cell line, highly metastatic clones may elicit more cells showing H.R.S; or are more radiosensitive at high dose than poorly metastatic ones. Recent data obtained from molecular techniques (comet and immunofluorescence assays) applied to single cells irradiated at very low radiation doses (1-100 mGy) ...

CERN Multimedia

Literature in Focus: Perspectives on LHC Physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Compact heat exchangers are being increasingly considered for condensation applications in the process, cryogenic, aerospace, power and refrigeration industries. In this paper, different configurations available for condensation applications are analyzed and the current state-of-the-knowledge for the design of compact condensers is evaluated. The key technical issues for the design and development of compact heat exchangers for condensation applications are analyzed and major advantages are identified. The experimental data and performance prediction methods reported in the literature are analyzed to evaluate the present design capabilities for different compact heat-exchanger configurations. The design flexibility is evaluated for the development of new condensation applications, including integration with other process equipment.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

There is a need to reduce air pollutant emissions in some U.S. urban regions to meet federal and state air quality guidelines. Opportunities exist for reducing pollutant emissions from natural gas appliances in the residential sector. A cost-benefit analysis on various pollutant-reducing strategies is needed to evaluate these opportunities. The effectiveness of these pollutant-reducing strategies (e.g., low-emission burners, energy conservation) can then be ranked among themselves and compared with other pollutant-reducing strategies available for the region. A key step towards conducting a cost-benefit analysis is to collect information on pollutant emissions from existing residential natural gas appliances. An extensive literature search was conducted to collect data on residential natural-gas-appliance pollutant emission factors. The literature primarily describes laboratory tests and may not reflect actual emission ...

Science.gov (United States)

Contacts with researchers, manufacturers, and users of enhanced heat transfer equipment are summarized. The Technical Literature file and the Patent File continue to be updated; the Patent File is the source for a patent technology report now in draft form. Application studies on a rationally-based friction correlation for internally-finned tubes and on the evaluation of candidate tube-side enhancements for OTEC applications are reported. The technology study on enhancement of spray evaporation is also discussed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heat transfer augmentation has developed into a major specialty area in heat transfer research and development. A bibliography of world literature on augmentation is presented. The literature is classified into passive augmentation techniques, which require no external power, and active techniques, which do require external power. The fourteen techniques are grouped in terms of their application to the various modes of heat transfer. Mass transfer is included for completeness. Key words are included with each citation for technique/mode identification. The total number of publications cited is 1,967, including 75 surveys of various techniques and 42 papers on performance evaluation of passive techniques. Patents are not included as they will be the subject of a future topical report.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This review begins with an historical account of biomaterials applications followed by a concise description of the phenomena taking place between the living tissues and non-living materials containing them. After describing the requirements for biodegradability and the mechanisms involved, a thorough literature survey of such polymers is presented. In the end a very short review of the work done in this area by the authors in recent years is given, including: the synthesis of a wide variety of biodegradable di-and tri-block copolymers, preparation of microparticles; stealth-and immuno-liposomes; dendrosomes and polymersomes; and some of their applications in drug and gene delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Two patients receiving maintenance dialysis therapy developed osteonecrosis, the first in the humeral head and the second in the talus. Both patients lacked known risk factors for developing osteonecrosis. A possible pathogenic role of secondary hyperparathyroidism in this disorder is suggested. Rheumatologists evaluating patients receiving maintenance dialysis with rheumatic manifestations should be aware of this potential complication. PMID:2185360

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

This paper proposes a novel method for computing linear basis images from tensor-valued image data. As a generalization of the nonnegative matrix factorization, the proposed method aims to approximate...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

By the turn of the century, American farmers and ranchers will be producing food and fiber through the application of highly sophisticated systems that involve a broad spectrum of relevant factors--from...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Reasons for variation in transfusion practice in orthopedic surgery are not well understood. This systematic review identified and appraised the quality of the literature in this area to assess the impact of factors associated with the use of allogeneic red blood cell (RBC) transfusion in orthopedic procedures. MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched for relevant English language publications. Articles containing a range of MeSH and text terms regarding ''blood transfusion,'' ''predictors,'' and ''multiple logistic regression'' were retrieved. Articles that focused on patients undergoing orthopedic procedures and that met prespecified inclusion criteria were appraised in terms of potential bias and the appropriateness of statistical approach. A total of 3641 citations were retrieved, an...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

These three volumes cover liposome technology in pharmacology and medicine. Contributors emphasize methodology used in their own laboratories, and include a brief introduction, coverage of relevant literature, applications and critical evaluations for the methods they describe. Volume II presents procedures for the entrapment of a number of drugs, including genetic material, into selected types of liposomes.

Science.gov (United States)

The implementation of information technology will continue to have important effects on the practice of emergency medicine. Patient registration and tracking systems, telemedicine electronic order entry systems, and the advent of electronic health records are some examples of applications that influence patient care in emergency departments. We review the literature regarding information technology advances in emergency medicine and outline the important role that emergency physicians play in developing and implementing a national health information technology strategy. PMID:16712540

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) is decommissioning many of its excess facilities through removal of the facility structures leaving only the concrete-slab foundations in place. Site-specific, risk-based derived concentration guideline levels (DCGLs) for radionuclides have been determined for a future industrial worker potentially exposed to residual contamination on these concrete slabs as described in Jannik. These risk-based DCGLs were estimated for an exposure area of 100 m2. During deactivation and decommissioning (D and D) operations at SRS, the need for area factors for larger and smaller contaminated areas arose. This paper compares the area factors determined for an industrial worker exposed to a concrete slab end-state for several radionuclides of concern at SRS with 1) the illustrative area factors provided in MARSSIM, 2) the area correction factors provided in ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conformal radiation therapy represents a considerable and attractive challenge in oncology. Its aim is mainly to improve local control by increasing the dose with an acceptable rate of complications. This work overviews the world literature on this subject. The technical and theoretical requirements are highlighted. These requirements include a precise definition of the target volume by digital imaging (essentially CT scan), but also clear view of the target volume and the organs at risk, a specific collimation of the beam, 3-D dose calculations, optimization procedures, and a rigid immobilization of the patient with verification of his position. Moreover, the clinical applications of conformal radiation therapy are reviewed and discussed. (authors). 80 refs., 1 tab.

CERN Document Server

Processing of symbolic sequences represented by mapping of symbolic data into numerical signals is commonly used in various applications. It is a particularly popular approach in genomic and proteomic sequence analysis. Numerous mappings of symbolic sequences have been proposed for various applications. It is unclear however whether the processing of symbolic data provides an artifact of the numerical mapping or is an inherent property of the symbolic data. This issue has been long ignored in the engineering and scientific literature. It is possible that many of the results obtained in symbolic signal processing could be a byproduct of the mapping and might not shed any light on the underlying properties embedded in the data. Moreover, in many applications, conflicting conclusions may arise due to the choice of the mapping used for numerical representation of symbolic data. In this paper, we present a ...

Science.gov (United States)

In 2000, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) laid out a definition of competence that included six specific areas of focus: patient care (including clinical reasoning), medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. The ACGME's intention was to mandate increasingly reliable and valid assessment measures to be used by all training programs over the next decade, with the goal of providing "more credible, accurate, reliable and useful educational outcome data." In this article, the authors will review definitions of competency according to the new ACGME standards and examine the assessment tools currently available, including global evaluations, 360-degree evaluations, checklists, standardized examinations and direct observations. The authors will provide an overview of critical considerations in different assessment methods, including timing, psychometric ...

CERN Document Server

Mining Time Series data has a tremendous growth of interest in today's world. To provide an indication various implementations are studied and summarized to identify the different problems in existing applications. Clustering time series is a trouble that has applications in an extensive assortment of fields and has recently attracted a large amount of research. Time series data are frequently large and may contain outliers. In addition, time series are a special type of data set where elements have a temporal ordering. Therefore clustering of such data stream is an important issue in the data mining process. Numerous techniques and clustering algorithms have been proposed earlier to assist clustering of time series data streams. The clustering algorithms and its effectiveness on various applications are compared to develop a new method to solve the existing problem. This paper presents a survey on various clustering ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This article identifies the imperatives behind the need to move away from teaching based on the transmission of a lot of facts to teaching that enables students to become lifelong learners. It reminds us that the over-riding goal is an education process that maximizes the ability of teachers to teach well and of students to learn effectively. It argues that the necessary reform process can only be successful if the three components of an education programme--the curriculum, teaching strategies and assessment--are reformed simultaneously to ensure that each is designed to produce more effective teaching and learning. It points to the literature that tells us what we know about factors affecting student behaviour and, in particular, notes the crucial factor of student perception of the requirement of the assessment regime. It recommends that Biggs' model of constructive alignment is used as the organizing principle ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The two main aspects of the concept proposed by the ICRP in recommendation 26 for the radiation risk, the differentiation of stochastic and non stochastic damages and the qualification of the stochastic risk, are discussed in its consequences for radiation protection in X-ray diagnostics. Quantitative results from the literature serve to demonstrate the risk factors for the various organs and their sum concerning the position of the layer. As special points of somatic risk appeared the mamma and the pelvic region. The particular risk of CT examination is determined by number and position of the layers and the scan parameters of the system. For typical CT examination the resulting risk factors are estimated in comparison with conventional X-ray diagnostics. The somatic risk of CT examination is relatively high and comparable to conventional examination with the highest risk, while the genetic risk - as in conventional ...

Science.gov (United States)

Enhanced heat transfer in curved rectangular channels depends on at least two geometric factors, the radius of curvature of the duct and the aspect ratio, which is the width/depth ratio of the duct. In this work, an expression for optimum aspect ratio is derived mathematically from a correlation that includes both aspect ratio and bend curvature parameters. Enhancement factors are developed that show optimal, near-optimal, and nonoptimal aspect ratios for curved rectangular ducts. Predicted enhancements are within 25% of published literature results for individual designs, two of which show heat transfer enhancement of 200% over that of a straight duct with turbulent flow. The theoretical maximum enhancement is shown to be about 480% over a straight-duct, turbulent-flow situation. This is not achievable in practice, but near-optimal solutions are achievable, yielding enhancements on the order of 200--300%.

Science.gov (United States)

Experience in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility has led to an increased understanding of the prominent role male factors play in many couples' inability to conceive. While many forms of male factor infertility are amenable to treatment, for some patients there is no corrective therapy available. For this reason, a great deal of attention has been focused on developing technologies for semen processing and sperm utilization in cases of decreased semen quality. One area of research is the development of more sophisticated methods of assessing sperm function, as well as methods of sperm preparation. Progress is also being made in the application of technologies such as intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization in the treatment of male factor infertility. Such developments have improved prospects for fertility among patients suffering from decreased semen quality, as well as those ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Limited demand and high cost has prevented the construction of hard rock caverns in this country for a number of years. The storage of natural gas in mined caverns may prove technically feasible if the geology of the targeted market area is suitable; and economically feasible if the cost and convenience of service is competitive with alternative available storage methods for peak supply requirements. It is believed that mined cavern storage can provide the advantages of high delivery rates and multiple fill-withdrawal cycles in areas where salt cavern storage is not possible. In this research project, PB-KBB merged advanced mining technologies and gas refrigeration techniques to develop conceptual designs and cost estimates to demonstrate the commercialization potential of the storage of refrigerated natural gas in hard rock caverns. Five regions of the U.S.A. were studied for underground storage development and PB-KBB reviewed the literature to determine if the ...

CERN Document Server

In source coding, either with or without side information at the decoder, the ultimate performance can be achieved by means of random binning. Structured binning into cosets of performing channel codes has been successfully employed in practical applications. In this letter it is formally shown that various convolutional- and turbo-syndrome decoding algorithms proposed in literature lead in fact to the same estimate. An equivalent implementation is also delineated by directly tackling syndrome decoding as a maximum a posteriori probability problem and solving it by means of iterative message-passing. This solution takes advantage of the exact same structures and algorithms used by the conventional channel decoder for the code according to which the syndrome is formed.

CERN Document Server

Inspire is the project name of a new High Energy Physics information system which will integrate present databases and repositories to host the entire corpus of the HEP literature and become the reference HEP scientific information platform worldwide. It is a common project between CERN, DESY, FERMILAB and SLAC. It will empower scientists with new tools to discover and access the results most relevant to their research; enable novel text- and data-mining applications; deploy new metrics to assess the impact of articles and authors. In addition, it will introduce the Web2.0 paradigm of user-enriched content in the domain of sciences with community-based approaches to the peer-review process.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

No abstract prepared.

Science.gov (United States)

Aluminium (Al3+) toxicity is the primary factor limiting crop production on acidic soils worldwide. In addition to an application of lime for soil amelioration, Al3+ resistant plant varieties have been deployed to raise productivity on such hostile soils. This has been possible due to the exploita...

CERN Document Server

We consider dimensional reduction techniques for the Liouville-von Neumann equation for the evaluation of the expectation values in a mixed quantum system. In applications such as nuclear spin dynamics the main goal for simulations is being able to simulate a system with as many spins as possible, for this reason it is very important to have an efficient method that scales well with respect to particle numbers. We describe several existing methods that have appeared in the literature, pointing out their limitations particularly in the setting of large systems. We introduce a method for direct computation of expectations via Chebyshev polynomials (DEC) based on evaluation of a trace formula combined with expansion in modified Chebyshev polynomials. This reduction is highly efficient and does not destroy any information. We demonstrate the practical application of the scheme for a nuclear spin system and compare with several ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Biomass is one of the main natural resources in Sweden. The present low-CO{sub 2} emission characteristics of the Swedish electricity production system (hydro and nuclear) can be retained only by expansion of biofuel applications for energy purposes. Domestic Swedish biomass resources are vast and renewable, but not infinite. They must be utilized as efficiently as possible, in order to make sure that they meet the conditions for sustainability in the future. Application of efficient power generation cycles at low costs is essential for meeting this challenge. This applies also to municipal solid waste incineration with energy extraction, which should be preferred to its dumping in landfills. Hybrid dual-fuel combined cycle units are a simple and affordable way to increase the electric efficiency of biofuel energy utilization, without big investments, uncertainties or loss of reliability arising from complicated technologies. Configurations of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Many factors influence radon-222 influx and radon-daughter concentrations in underground uranium mines. A brief review of some of these factors is presented. Current radon-222 and radon-daughter control principles and practices for US underground uranium mine atmospheres are discussed and a brief review of the applicability of other possible control methods such as rock sealants, radon-222 removal, and radon-daughter removal is given.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The need for a hydrogen economy is driven by increasing fuel prices, depleting oil reserves and uncertainty over supplies, and concerns about global warming and environmental pollution. Alternative methods to portable energy sources such as fossil fuels are being developed that are more efficient and carbon-emission-neutral. A prospective method is to produce hydrogen as an energy carrier. This paper presented a study on the degradation of materials under conditions of the sulphur-iodine (SI) thermochemical cycle. The paper provided background information on the study and presented a schematic of the SI cycle. A literature review was presented along with materials selected, such as refractory metals, reactive metals, superalloys, glassy metals, ceramics, cermets, polymers, composites, and coatings. The experimental method was then described. A capsule method was developed to rapidly quantify the decomposition rate of the candidate materials under the target ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The aim of this paper is offering a critical review of Calibration-Free Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (CF-LIBS), the approach of multi-elemental quantitative analysis of LIBS spectra, based on the measurement of line intensities and plasma properties (plasma electron density and temperature) and on the assumption of a Boltzmann population of excited levels, which does not require the use of calibration curves or matrix-matched standards. The first part of this review focuses on the applications of the CF-LIBS method. Quantitative results reported in the literature, obtained in the analysis of various materials and in a wide range of experimental conditions, are summarized, with a special emphasis on the departure from nominal composition values. The second part is a discussion of the simplifying assumptions which lie at the basis of the CF-LIBS algorithm (stoichiometric ablation and complete atomization, thermal equilibrium, homogeneous ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Adalimumab is a fully human monoclonal anti-tumor necrosis factor-a agent that is approved for the treatment of Crohn's disease. It has a good safety profile, injection site reactions being the most common adverse effect. We report a case of a 54-year-old woman with a 30-year history of Crohn's disease who developed achromic patches on the trunk and upper extremities after initiating treatment with adalimumab. Cutaneous biopsy confirmed diagnosis of vitiligo and laboratory testing ruled out thyroid disease. Concomitant occurrence of vitiligo and inflammatory bowel disease, although rare, has been described. A common autoimmune basis could explain this fact. Moreover, multiple cutaneous adverse effects have been described in the literature secondary to biologic treatments, includin...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Contradictory reports in the literature on the reliability of lymphography stimulated the authors to test the diagnostic accuracy, employing methods which are approximately analogous to practice, using carcinoma of the cervix as the model on which the study was carried out. Using 21 observers it was found that there was no correlation between their experience and on-target accuracy of the diagnosis. Good observers obtained an accuracy of 85% with good proportions between sensitivity in the recognition of detail, specificity and readiness to arrive at a decision on the basis of discriminatory ability. With the help of the concept of the ROC curves, the position taken up by the observers in respect of diagnostic decisions, and a complex manner of assessing the various characteristic factors determining diagnostic accuracy, are demonstrated. This form of test, which permits manipulation of different variants of diagnosis, is recommended, among ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ecosystems worldwide are experiencing unprecedented nitrogen enrichment through fertilization and pollution. While longterm ecological consequences are difficult to predict, it seems that plants and animals adapted to nitrogen-limited environments are at particular risk from these changes. This report summarizes the limited body of literature which addresses this important topic. From a herbivoreAes perspective, fertilization increases the nutritional quality of host plant tissues. In some cases fertilization has lead to decreased production of defensive compounds. How this affects populations of insects is unclear because fertilization affects not only herbivores but their natural enemies. This report outlines how fertilization affects tree processes such as growth, photosynthesis, and production of defensive compounds. The many factors that affect insect repsonse to fertilization and the difficulties in assessing how fertilization affects ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), and Hashimotos thyroiditis (HT) are autoimmune disorders caused by impaired self-tolerance mechanisms triggered by interaction between genetic and environmental factors. ITP is an immune-mediated destruction of platelets resulting in mucocutaneous bleeding, GBS is an ascending motor paralysis caused by an inflammatory demyelination of peripheral nerves, and HT is characterized by autoimmune-mediated destruction of the thyroid gland. The concurrent development of ITP and GBS has only rarely been reported in the literature, and GBS itself rarely occurs with other autoimmune disorders. We present a 21 year-old patient with known Hashimotos hypothyroidism that simultaneously developed GBS and ITP after an upper respiratory t...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Superconducting magnetic and inertial energy pulsed power systems are being developed for future theta-pinch, Tokamak, and laser fusion applications. The short term requirements for these applications are discussed along with present day accomplishments. Areas requiring a research and development effort are examined in detail. Subjects discussed include stresses, energy loss factors, conductor metallurgy, cryogenic requirements, and electrical limitations of superconducting magnetic storage systems; costs, applications, and present technology of homopolar systems; and switching problems associated with both systems.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The properties of negative-ion beams are very important for designing negative-ion apparatus and applications of negative-ion beams, especially, electron detachment cross-sections at the interaction between negative-ion beams and gas particles in the transport system, and secondary-electron emission factors when negative ions are incident on solid surfaces. These properties of negative-ion beams were investigated experimentally as a function of the ion energy under 50 keV. The single electron detachment cross-sections are almost constant in the other of 10"-"1"5 cm"2 in this energy range, but double electron detachment cross-sections increase in proportion to the ion velocity and much smaller than the single one. As for the secondary-electron emission factor, the emission factors for negative-ion beam are found to be larger by 1 than those for positive-ion beams. (author).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The report addresses the application of reverse osmosis to the treatment of radioactive liquid waste, focusing on the effects of non-radioactive cations and anions, existing in radioactive waste, on the removal of radioactive nuclides. The bivalent cations are generally about ten times as high in decontamination factor as monovalent ones. In the case of anions, the factor of SO{sub 4}{sup 2-} is about ten times that of Cl{sup -} while that of NO{sub 3}{sup -} is somewhat smaller than that of Cl{sup -}. During permeation through membrane, anions tend to accompany cations, and the decontamination factor of accompanying ions is found to increase with that of the paring ions. These results indicate that if one can select components that will remain in the liquid waste, one should consider their effects on the efficiency of its treatment. Furthermore, the interaction between two anions or between two cations ...

Science.gov (United States)

Therapeutic hypothermia is a promising method for controlling intracranial pressure (ICP) in severely brain-injured patients. However, clinical data regarding the effect of brain hypothermia on overall outcome of these patients is limited. This may be because there are specific pitfalls associated with the clinical management of induced hypothermia in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These pitfalls may be avoided by preventing specific risk factors when cooling is induced and with rewarming. However, these risk factors have not been well systematically discussed in the literature. In this paper, three categories of clinical issues regarding the management of brain hypothermia are discussed: (1) stress-induced secondary brain injury mechanisms; (2) technical aspects of intensive care unit (ICU) cooling management; and (3) rewarming rates and methods. For patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radiation necrosis of normal CNS tissue represents one of the main risk factors of brain irradiation, occurring more frequently and earlier at higher total doses and higher doses per fraction. At present, it is believed that the necrosis results due to increasing capillary permeability caused by cytokine release leading to extracellular edema. This process is sustained by endothelial dysfunction, tissue hypoxia, and subsequent necrosis. Consequently, blocking the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at an early stage could be an option to reduce the development of radiation necrosis by decreasing the vascular permeability. This might help to reverse the pathological mechanisms, improve the symptoms and prevent further progression. A patient with radiation-induced necrosis was treated with an anti-VEGF antibody (bevacizumab), in whom neurologic signs and symptoms improved in accordance with a decrease in T1-weighted fluid-attenuated ...

CERN Document Server

Quivers (directed graphs) and species (a generalization of quivers) and their representations play a key role in many areas of mathematics including combinatorics, geometry, and algebra. Their importance is especially apparent in their applications to the representation theory of associative algebras, Lie algebras, and quantum groups. In this paper, we discuss the most important results in the representation theory of species, such as Dlab and Ringel's extension of Gabriel's theorem, which classifies all species of finite and tame representation type. We also explain the link between species and K-species (where K is a field). Namely, we show that the category of K-species can be viewed as a subcategory of the category of species. Furthermore, we prove two results about the structure of the tensor ring of a species containing no oriented cycles that do not appear in the literature. Specifically, we prove that two such species have isomorphic ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The radiative heat loss from a surface is determined by its total hemispherical emittance, which consequently plays an important role in aerospace and solar applications. This study compares emittances measured calorimetrically with values derived from near normal incidence spectral reflectance measurements. This optical derivation is based on a number of assumptions which limit the accuracy if not sufficiency fulfilled. These assumptions include sample specularity, a straybody character beyond the range of measurement, only small variations of emittance with temperature, and a perfectly smooth sample surface. The comparison of calorimetrically and optically derived emittance performed in this study not only quantifies the errors introduced by insufficient fulfillment of the assumptions but also identifies which assumption causes the dominant error. The calorimetric emissometer, constructed for this study and based on a heat flow sensor, was calibrated with ...

CERN Document Server

This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the relativistic quantum field theory of the strong interactions. Journal articles, books, and other documents are cited for the following topics: quarks and color, the parton model, Yang-Mills theory, experimental evidence for color, QCD as a color gauge theory, asymptotic freedom, QCD for heavy hadrons, QCD on the lattice, the QCD vacuum, pictures of quark confinement, early and modern applications of perturbative QCD, the determination of the strong coupling and quark masses, QCD and the hadron spectrum, hadron decays, the quark-gluon plasma, the strong nuclear interaction, and QCD's role in nuclear physics. The letter {E} after an item indicates elementary level or material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field. The letter {I}, for intermediate level, indicates material of a somewhat more specialized nature, and the letter {A} ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Objectives- Cyclodextrins are useful solubilizing excipients that have gained currency in the formulator's armamentarium based on their ability to temporarily camouflage undesirable physicochemical properties. In this context cyclodextrins can increase oral bioavailability, stabilize compounds to chemical and enzymatic degradation and can affect permeability through biological membranes under certain circumstances. This latter property is examined herein as a function of the published literature as well as work completed in our laboratories. Key findings- Cyclodextrins can increase the uptake of drugs through biological barriers if the limiting barrier component is the unstirred water layer (UWL) that exists between the membrane and bulk water. This means that cyclodextrins are mo...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boiling jet impingement cooling is currently being explored to cool power electronics components. In hybrid vehicles, inverters are used for DC-AC conversion. These inverters involve a number of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), which are used as on/off switches. The heat dissipated in these transistors can result in heat fluxes of up to 200 W/cm{sup 2}, which makes the thermal management problem quite important. In this paper, turbulent jet impingement involving nucleate boiling is explored numerically. The framework for these computations is the CFD code FLUENT. For nucleate boiling, the Eulerian multiphase model is used. The numerical results for boiling water and R113 jets (submerged) are validated against existing experimental data in the literature. Some representative IGBT package simulations that use R134a as the cooling fluid are also presented. (author)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A study, based on a literature review was made to examine currently recommended meteorological measurement programs and diffusion prediction methods for nuclear power plants to determine their adequacy for plants located in coastal zones. Although procedures for handling the near-worst case (stable, light-wind situation) were judged adequately conservative, deficiencies in guidelines and procedures were found with respect to the following: failure to consider the role of coastal internal boundary layers; specifications for tower locations and instrument heights; methods of classifying atmospheric stability; methods of allowing credit for plume meander, and models specified for diffusion calculations. Recommendations were made for changes in the guidelines applicable to these topics. Areas in which additional research is needed were identified.

CERN Document Server

At present, the mostly used and developed mechanism is hardware virtualization which provides a common platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions. More precisely, it is all about resource virtualization as the term hardware virtualization is emphasized. In this paper, the aim is to find out the advantages and limitations of current virtualization techniques, analyze their cost and performance and also depict which forthcoming hardware virtualization techniques will able to provide efficient solutions for multiprocessor operating systems. This is done by making a methodical literature survey and statistical analysis of the benchmark reports provided by SPEC (Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation) and TPC (Transaction processing Performance Council). Finally, this paper presents the current aspects of hardware virtualization which will help the IT managers of the large organizations to take ...

Science.gov (United States)

Background Food additives are an integral part of the modern food system, but opinion polls showing most Europeans have worries about them imply an urgent need for ethical analysis of their use. Sources of data The existing literature on food ethics, safety assessment and animal testing. Areas of agreement Food additives provide certain advantages in terms of many people's lifestyles. Areas of controversy There are disagreements about the appropriate application of the precautionary principle and of the value and ethical validity of animal tests in assessing human safety. Growing points Most consumers have a poor understanding of the relative benefits and risks of additives, but concerns over food safety and animal testing remain high. Areas timely for developing research Examining the impacts of food additives on consumer sovereignty, consumer health and on animals used in safety testing should allow a more informed debate about their ...

CERN Document Server

The MAP model was introduced in information system engineering in order to model processes on a flexible way. The intentional level of this model helps an engineer to execute a process with a strong relationship to the situation of the project at hand. In the literature, attempts for having a practical use of maps are not numerous. Our aim is to enhance the guidance mechanisms of the process execution by reusing graph algorithms. After clarifying the existing relationship between graphs and maps, we improve the MAP model by adding qualitative criteria. We then offer a way to express maps with graphs and propose to use Graph theory algorithms to offer an automatic guidance of the map. We illustrate our proposal by an example and discuss its limitations.

CERN Document Server

We investigate optimal resource allocation for delay-limited cooperative communication in time varying wireless networks. Motivated by real-time applications that have stringent delay constraints, we develop a dynamic cooperation strategy that makes optimal use of network resources to achieve a target outage probability (reliability) for each user subject to average power constraints. Using the technique of Lyapunov optimization, we first present a general framework to solve this problem and then derive quasi-closed form solutions for several cooperative protocols proposed in the literature. Unlike earlier works, our scheme does not require prior knowledge of the statistical description of the packet arrival, channel state and node mobility processes and can be implemented in an online fashion.

CERN Document Server

In this paper, we present a very important primitive called Information Checking Protocol (ICP) which plays an important role in constructing statistical Verifiable Secret Sharing (VSS) and Weak Secret Sharing (WSS) protocols. Informally, ICP is a tool for authenticating messages in the presence of computationally unbounded corrupted parties. Here we extend the basic bare-bone definition of ICP, introduced by Rabin et al. and then present an ICP that attains the best communication complexity and round complexity among all the existing ICPs in the literature. We also show that our ICP satisfies several interesting properties such as linearity property which is an important requirement in many applications of ICP. Though not presented in this paper, we can design communication and round efficient statistical (i.e involves negligible error probability in computation) VSS and Multiparty Computation (MPC) protocol using our new ICP.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Digital topographic models are the foundation of more advanced modeling applications and ultimately inform planning and decision making in many fields. Despite this, the error associated with these models and derived attributes is commonly overlooked. Little attention has been given in the scientific literature to the benefits gained from having less error in a model or to the corresponding cost associated with reducing model error by choosing one product over another. To address these gaps in knowledge we evaluated the error associated with five digital elevation models (DEMs) and derived attributes of slope and aspect relative to the same attributes derived from LiDAR data. We also estimated the acquisition and processing costs per square kilometer of the five test models and the LiDAR m...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A review is presented of the literature through 1977 on the uses of radioactive lead isotopes in metabolic studies in man, animals, and plants. These studies have been done mainly with the naturally-occurring, long-lived (22-yr half life) "2"1"0Pb, but a few were with 53-hr "2"0"3Pb or 10.6-hr "2"1"2Pb. Such studies have made possible estimates of the metabolic parameters of lead in man and animals, such as intestinal absorption, the ratio of fecal-to-urinary excretion of endogenous lead, residence time of lead in the body and in various organs, and the distribution in the body (skeleton, liver, kidney, and blood). Subsequently, these parameters and data have been used to trace the sources of lead for man, such as those from the atmosphere, food, cigarette smoke, and automobile exhaust.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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 distance of 1/2 the sample diameter. This provides an ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This report has been prepared in support of the industry effort to standardize nuclear plant designs. This document describes the Combustion Engineering, Inc. System 80+trademark Standard Design. This volume contain Chapter 18 -- Human Factors Engineering. Topics covered include: design team organization and responsibilities; design goals and design bases; design process and application to human factors engineering; functional task analysis; control room configuration; information presentation and panel layout evaluation; control and monitoring outside the main control room; and verification and validation.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The profitability of combustion turbines intended for export is of extreme importance for Electricite de France. It is principally during the development phase of a project that one can ensure resect of two indissociable factors, essential to the per-kWh production cost: global operating costs and performance in terms of reliability and availability. The approach proposed here advocates the global acquisition of the installation and its logistic support. Generally applicable recommendations are given. They enable integrating in the future plant specifications all requirements relative to plant reliability, availability, maintainability and logistic support. They are structured according to type: expression of needs and management factors. (orig.) 4 refs.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The scope of radioanalysis can be enlarged substantially by preconcentration. The minimal concentration factor required depends on the concentration to be determined, the limit of determination of the analytical technique and the maximal acceptable sample-weight. Simultaneously, the preconcentration step may cause a decontamination. In post-irradiation chemistry this is usually the crucial parameter. The present paper proposes the classification of (pre-) concentration techniques by the relation between the concentration-factor X and the decontamination-factor Y. In addition, three other criteria here are used to judge the applicability in combination with the analytical technique chosen. They stem from the minimal representative and the maximal acceptable sample-weights and the maximal acceptable dose-rate. The features of a particular combination of (pre-) concentration and analytical technique can be ...

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Single stage separation factors ..cap alpha.. have been determined for /sup 6/Li and /sup 7/Li between lithium ions in methanol and complexed ions with a cryptand (2 sub(B), 2, 1) polymer. The /sup 6/Li was concentrated in the cryptand. The separation factors were compared with the values of other chemical exchange systems. The maximum enrichment factor obtained was epsilon = 0.047 +- 0.002. The figure is one of the greatest in the chemical exchange reactions without valence change and almost 10 times larger than the values of ion exchangers. The variation in ..cap alpha.. depending on the chemical species was small in the non-aqueous system. High enrichment of lithium isotopes was expected to be achievable by means of the chromatographic application of the cryptand (2 sub(B), 2, 1).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The report addresses the application of reverse osmosis to the treatment of radioactive liquid waste, focusing on the effects of non-radioactive cations and anions, existing in radioactive waste, on the removal of radioactive nuclides. The bivalent cations are generally about ten times as high in decontamination factor as monovalent ones. In the case of anions, the factor of SO_4"2"- is about ten times that of Cl"- while that of NO_3"- is somewhat smaller than that of Cl"-. During permeation through membrane, anions tend to accompany cations, and the decontamination factor of accompanying ions is found to increase with that of the paring ions. These results indicate that if one can select components that will remain in the liquid waste, one should consider their effects on the efficiency of its treatment. Furthermore, the interaction between two anions or between two cations can be approximated by a ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The process of miniemulsification allows the generation of small, homogeneous, and stable droplets containing monomer or polymer precursors and magnetite which are then transferred by polymer reactions to the final polymer latexes, keeping their particular identity without serious exchange kinetics involved. It is shown that the miniemulsion process can excellently be used for the formulation of polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles which can further be used for biomedical applications. The use of high shear, appropriate surfactants, and the addition of a hydrophobe in order to suppress the influence of Ostwald ripening are key factors for the formation of the small and stable droplets in miniemulsion and will be discussed. Two different approaches based on miniemulsion processes for the encapsulation of magnetite into polymer particles will be presented in detail.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The reaction of uranium oxides and chlorine to prepare anhydrous uranium tetrachloride (UCl{sub 4}) are important to more economical preparation of uranium metal. The most practical reactions require carbon or carbon monoxide (CO) to give CO or carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) as waste gases. The chemistry of U-O-Cl compounds is very complex with valances of 3, 4, 5, and 6 and with stable oxychlorides. Literature was reviewed to collect thermochemical data, phase equilibrium information, and results of experimental studies. Calculations using thermodynamic data can identify the probable reactions, but the results are uncertain. All the U-O-Cl compounds have large free energies of formation and the calculations give uncertain small differences of large numbers. The phase diagram for UCl{sub 4}-UO{sub 2} shows a reaction to form uranium oxychloride (UOCl{sub 2}) that has a good solubility in molten UCl{sub 4}. This appears more favorable to good rates of reaction than ...

CERN Document Server

For a long time, signal processing applications, and most particularly detection and parameter estimation methods, have relied on the limiting behaviour of test statistics and estimators, as the number n of observations of a population grows large comparatively to the population size N, i.e. n>>N. Modern technological and societal advances now demand the study of sometimes extremely large populations, while simultaneously requiring fast signal processing due to accelerated system dynamics; this results in not-so-large practical ratios n/N, sometimes even smaller than one. A disruptive change in classical signal processing methods has therefore been initiated in the past ten years, mostly spurred by the field of large dimensional random matrix theory. The early literature in random matrix theory for signal processing applications is however scarce and highly technical. This tutorial proposes an accessible ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The convection heat loss from cavity receiver in parabolic dish solar thermal power system can significantly reduce the efficiency and consequently the cost effectiveness of the system. It is important to assess this heat loss and subsequently improve the thermal performance of the receiver. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review and systematic summarization of the state of the art in the research and progress in this area. The efforts include the convection heat loss mechanism, experimental and numerical investigations on the cavity receivers with varied shapes that have been considered up to date, and the Nusselt number correlations developed for convection heat loss prediction as well as the wind effect. One of the most important features of this paper is that it has covered numerous cavity literatures encountered in various other engineering systems, such as those in electronic cooling devices and buildings. The studies related to those ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conflicting claims in the literature on the compatability of tachyons with general relativity are discussed. (author).

KoreaScience (Korea)

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The applicability of the electro-slag melting method for treating plutonium contaminated metallic waste was studied. A 100kg test furnace was built and simulated metallic waste was melted and solidified in this furnace. Waste volume was reduced to 1/25 with a decontamination factor of 25 and the slag and the copper mold are repeatedly usable. The process is expected to be employed in the project of PWTF (Plutonium contaminated Waste Treatment Facilities).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We discuss the origin of Bloom-Gilman duality and the relationship between resonances and scaling in deep-inelastic scattering. We present a simple quantum mechanical model which reproduces the essential features of Bloom-Gilman duality at low Q{sup 2}, and describe applications of local duality relating structure functions at x{approximately}1 and elastic electromagnetic form factors.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The properties of capacitors are reviewed in general, including dielectrics, induced polarization, and permanent polarization. Then capacitance characteristics are discussed and modelled. These include temperature range, voltage, equivalent series resistance, capacitive reactance, impedance, dissipation factor, humidity and frequency effects, storage temperature and time, and lifetime. Applications of energy storage capacitors are then discussed. (LEW)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The medical applications of radiation comprise three main fields namely: Diagnostic Radiology, Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine. With the new weighting factors of ICRP (IC91a) the effective dose due to medical applications can be established. I is common to separate the effective dose into the genetic part and the somatic part, SED. In dealing with gonad doses it is important to account for the age of the person at the time of exposure as this will influence the number of children still to be expected from that person. The resulting dose will then be called the genetically significant dose, GSD. In a similar fashion this age factor will be important in considering the chance of tumor induction. The age of patients differs considerably from the average age of the general population. This age difference has to be accounted for if a comparison is to be made with other sources of radiation. This justifies ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Power plant components exposed to environments such as water and soil are susceptible to severe corrosion. Many times the effect of corrosion in power plant components can be catastrophic. The problem is aggravated for underground pipelines due to additional factors such as large network of pipelines, proximity to earth mat, high voltage transmission lines, corrosive chemicals, inadequate approach etc. Other components such as condenser water boxes, internals of pipelines, clarifier bridge structures, cooling water inlet gates and pipes etc. which are in continuous contact with water, are subjected to severe corrosion. The nature and locations of all such components are at places which are not accessible for routine maintenance and hence they require long term reliable protection against corrosion. Experience has shown that anti-corrosive coatings are inadequate in preventing corrosion and due to their location regular maintenance coatings are also not feasible. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this report is to review the different technologies for trapping the gaseous wastes containing Cs, Ru, Tc, {sup 14}C, Kr, Xe, I and {sup 3}H from a voloxidation process. Based on literature reviews and KAERI's experimental results on the gaseous fission products trapping, appropriate trapping method for each fission product has been selected considering process reliability, simplicity, decontamination factor, availability, and disposal. Specifically, the most promising trapping method for each fission product has been proposed for the development of the INL off-gas trapping system. A fly ash filter is proposed as a trapping media for a cesium trapping unit. In addition, a calcium filter is proposed as a trapping media for ruthenium, technetium, and {sup 14}C trapping unit. In case of I trapping unit, AgX is proposed. For Kr and Xe, adsorption on solid is proposed. SDBC (Styrene Divinyl Benzene Copolymer) is also ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An assessment of the cooling requirements for fusion reactor components, such as the first wall and limiter/divertor, was carried out using pressurized water as the coolant. In order to establish the coolant operating conditions, a survey of the literature on departure from nucleate boiling, critical heat flux, asymmetrical heating and heat transfer augmentation techniques was carried out. The experimental data and the empirical correlations indicate that thermal protection for the fusion reactor components based on current design concepts can be provided with an adequate margin of safety without resorting to either high coolant velocities, excessive coolant pressures, or heat transfer augmentation techniques. If, however, the future designs require heat transfer enhancement techniques, experimental verification would be necessary since no data on heat transfer augmentation techniques exist for complex geometries, especially under asymmetrically heated conditions. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An assessment of the cooling requirements for fusion reactor components, such as the first wall and limiter/divertor, was carried out using pressurized water as the coolant. In order to establish the coolant operating conditions, a survey of the literature on departure from nucleate boiling, critical heat flux, asymmetrical heating and heat transfer augmentation techniques was carried out. The experimental data and the empirical correlations indicate that thermal protection for the fusion reactor components based on conventional design concepts can be provided with an adequate margin of safety without resorting to either high coolant velocities, excessive coolant pressures, or heat transfer augmentation techniques. If, however, the future designs require unconventional shapes or heat transfer enhancement techniques, experimental verification would be necessary since no data on heat transfer augmentation techniques exist for complex geometries, especially under ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper reviews the technical literature published on the welding of alloy 800. Much of this work has been carried out using the Varestraint and Gleeble tests to investigate the susceptibility of the alloy and of high nickel consumables to hot-cracking. Inspite of much reported work, it is pointed out that many years of experience in the use of alloy 800 shows it to be readily weldable without any major problems occurring due to hot-cracking. The elements investigated include titanium, aluminium, sulphur, phosphorus and carbon, and the effects of these elements are discuused in terms of their effects on the hot-ductility curves obtained by Gleeble testing. Conclusions reached by various researchers state that the individual effects of the above five elements may be masked by other unknown factors. It is concluded that with correct welding procedures alloy 800 can be welded without cracking problems even with high heat input welding processes ...

Science.gov (United States)

Erectile dysfunction following radical prostatectomy remains a frequent problem despite the development of nerve-sparing techniques. This erectile dysfunction is believed to be neurogenic, enhanced by hypoxia-induced structural changes which result in additional veno-occlusive dysfunction. Recently, daily use of intracavernous vasoactive substances and oral use of PDE5-inhibitors have been clinically studied for treatment of postprostatectomy erectile dysfunction. Since these studies showed benefits of "penile rehabilitation therapy," these effects have been studied in a preclinical setting. We reviewed experimental literature on erectile tissue preserving and neuroregenerative treatment strategies, and found that preservation of the erectile tissue by the use of intracavernous nitric oxide donors or vasoactive substances, oral PDE5-inhibitors, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy improved erectile function by antifibrotic effects and preservation of smooth muscle. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In a previous survey we revealed uncertainty among responders about (a) whether or not to perform hemodialysis in patients with severely reduced renal function who had received contrast medium; and (b) when to perform hemodialysis in patients on regular treatment with hemodialysis or continuous ambulatory dialysis who received contrast medium. Therefore, the Contrast Media Safety Committee of The European Society of Urogenital Radiology decided to review the literature and to issue guidelines. The committee performed a Medline search. Based on this, a report and guidelines were prepared. The report was discussed at the Ninth European Symposium on Urogenital Radiology in Genoa, Italy. Hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis safely remove both iodinated and gadolinium-based contrast media. The effectiveness of hemodialysis depends on many factors including blood and dialysate flow rate, permeability of dialysis membrane, duration of hemodialysis and ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This report is in accordance with Phase I of the United States Department of Energy and Bureau of Mines Contract No. USDOE DE-AC01-77QQ90147. A thorough literature search was conducted and the current mining practice at nine coal stripping operations reviewed in detail. A review of the state of the art of blast design using current theory and practice is presented. Based upon this information, a series of recommendations are presented and a detailed test program is outlined for three operations. The recommendations to increase dragline productivity by improved blast design are directed at filling the bucket more quickly, with greater consistency and with a better fill factor: (a) overburden fragmentation, (b) muckpile displacements, and (c) blasting reliability. Recommended blast design concepts and operating procedures to provide the desired blast performance include: (1) Increase energy input per BCY by 40 to 100 percent and improve the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The genetically significant dose (GSD) is an index variable which exclusively allows to describe the genetic risk in the progeny of a population due to the application of ionizing radiation and radioactive substances in one part of this population. It may result in wrong interpretation of population exposure at increasing incidence of examinations in a population involving ionizing radiation and radioactive drugs at simultaneously increasing application of alternative methods in children and adolescents owing to the fact that it indicates a downward trend although somatic exposure of this population has increased. Therefore, it is recommended to state both the GSD and the level of somatic radiation exposure of the population taken from the individual sources for the comparison and assessment of radiation exposure from various sources in future. Although the somatically significant dose constitutes the suitable variable complementary to GSD in ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thermoplastic encapsulation has been extensively studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory`s (BNL) Environmental and Waste Technology Center (EWTC) as a waste encapsulation technology applicable to a wide range of waste types including radioactive, hazardous and mixed wastes. Encapsulation involves processing thermoplastic and waste materials into a waste form product by heating and mixing both materials into a homogeneous molten mixture. Cooling of the melt results in a solid monolithic waste form in which contaminants have been completely surrounded by a polymer matrix. Heating and mixing requirements for successful waste encapsulation can be met using proven technologies available in various types of commercial equipment. Processing techniques for thermoplastic materials, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), are well established within the plastics industry. The majority of commercial polymer processing is accomplished using extruders, mixers or a ...

Science.gov (United States)

Up to the present, the generic values of the Common cause failure (CCF) event parameters have been used in most PSA projects for the Korean NPPs. However, the CCF analysis should be performed with plant specific information to meet Category II of the ASME PRA Standard. Therefore, we estimated the Alpha factor parameters of the emergency diesel generator (EDG) for Ulchin Unit 3 by using the International Common-Cause Failure data Exchange (ICDE) database. The ICDE database provides the member countries with only the information needed for an estimation of the CCF parameters. The Ulchin Unit A3, pressurized water reactor, has two onsite EDGs and one alternate AC (AAC) diesel generator. The onsite EDGs of Unit 3 and 4 and the AAC are manufactured by the same company, but they are designed differently. The estimation procedure of the Alpha factor used in this study follows the approach of the NUREG/CR-5485. Since we did not find any qualitative ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knowledge is a success factor for globally acting company networks as a. o. the aim-oriented knowledge transfer between partners is an essential condition for a successful cooperation. Several network specific problems impede however an efficient and effective knowledge management; e.g. the transfer of competition relevant data is a high sensitive theme. The authors describe how a relevant method can be selected, adapted and implemented to the application-specific boundary conditions. They integrate existing attempts processes and methods to establish an effective knowledge development and an efficient knowledge transfer in the network and take into account ''hard'' (IT-technical-oriented solution approaches) as also ''soft'' factors (e.g. cultural and personal aspects). So the authors present unified instruments for an integrated knowledge management ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Purpose - Mobile phones have provided an opportunity for banking institutions to introduce new services to the public. The latest service, which is now available in Malaysian banking institutions, is the mobile phone credit card. The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary investigation of the factors that determine whether Malaysia's bank customers will use the new mobile phone credit card technology. Design/methodology/approach - This paper extends the applicability of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to mobile phone credit cards and includes "perceived credibility (PC)", the "amount of information about mobile phone credit cards (AIMCs)" and "perceived expressiveness (PE)", in addition to "perceived usefulness (PU)" and "perceived ease of use (PEOU)". Findings - The resul...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adsorption by activated red mud (ARM) is investigated as a possible alternative to the conventional methods of Cr(VI) removal from aqueous synthetic solutions and industrial effluents. Adsorption characteristics suggest the heterogenous nature of the adsorbent surface sites with respect to the energy of adsorption. Various factors such as pH, contact time, Cr(VI) concentration, amount of adsorbent, and temperature are taken into account, and promising results are obtained. The applicability of the Langmuir as well as Freundlich adsorption isotherms for the present system is tested. The loading factor (i.e., milligrams Cr(VI) adsorbed per gram of ARM) increased with initial Cr(VI) concentration, whereas a negative trend was observed with increasing temperature. The influence of the addition of anions on the adsorption of Cr(VI) depends on the relative affinity of the anions for the surface and the relative concentrations of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In the last decade, interest has increased in coastal and freshwater wetland restoration and creation at all levels of government, in the scientific community, and in the private sector. US Environmental Protection Agency personnel agreed that there was a pressing need to determine how well created and restored wetlands compensate for losses permitted under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. An effort was made to capture information not published elsewhere and incorporate it with published literature to produce a unique resource. The status report is the first major publication resulting from research initiated on wetland creation and restoration. Conceived as a mechanism for identifying the adequacy of the available information, this status report will help set priorities for the research program and provide Agency personnel with an analytical framework for making Section 404 permit decisions based on the status of the science of wetland creation and restoration. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Microhardness decarburization profiles are often used in the industry to estimate the carbon distribution in steels. For quantitative evaluation, an analysis based on diffusion theory must be performed, the fundamentals and mathematical basics of which are presented. If the relationship between hardness and carbon content is known, microhardness-distance curves of steels can be analyzed in this way. For martensitic grades, for instance, a linearized expression holds in the concentration range from 0.15 to 0.6 m.% C. Microhardness depth profiles of higher carbon steels and other microstructures, however, are also evaluated in the literature. The applicability of quantitative diffusion modeling is discussed in detail. Through hardenable rolling bearing steel 100Cr6 (1.3505, SAE 52100) serves as model material: carbon concentration-distance curves are measured with high accuracy by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and compared with ...

Science.gov (United States)

The paper deals with the modeling and the development of a numerical procedure for the analysis of shape-memory alloy (SMA) elements in order to predict the main features of SMA devices. A 3D SMA model in the framework of small strain theory is developed starting from the thermo-mechanical model proposed by Souza et al. (Eur J Mech A/Solids 17:789-806, 1998) and modified by Auricchio and Petrini (Int J Numer Methods Eng 55:1255-1284, 2002). The aim of this paper is to propose some more modifications to the original model, to derive its consistent 1D formulation, to clarify the mechanical meaning of the material parameters governing the constitutive model. A robust time integration algorithm is developed in the framework of the finite element method and a new beam finite element is proposed. Some numerical applications and a comparison with experimental data available in literature are carried out in order to assess the ability of the proposed ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this article we derive longitudinal impedance and wake function for an undulator setup with arbitrary undulator parameter, taking into account a finite transverse size of the electron bunch. Earlier studies considered a line density-distribution of electrons instead. We focus our attention on the long-wavelength asymptote (compared with resonance wavelength), at large distance of the electron bunch from the undulator entrance compared to the overtaking length, and for large vacuumchamber size compared to the typical transverse size of the field. These restrictions define a parameter region of interest for practical applications. We calculate a closed expression for impedance and wake function that may be evaluated numerically in the most general case. Such expression allows us to derive an analytical solution for a Gaussian transverse and longitudinal bunch shape. Finally, we study the feasibility of current-enhanced SASE schemes (ESASE) recently proposed for ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal technique for delivering postoperative radiotherapy for vulvar cancer and other tumors requiring treatment of the inguinal nodes. This project compared tumor coverage and normal tissue sparing for the 5 main radiotherapy techniques that are used to treat vulvar cancer. The intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plan was undesirable because it resulted in an excessive dose to portions of the central pelvic structures. The photon thunderbird with skin match was unacceptable because it underdosed a portion of the groin region. The electron thunderbird was ideal for thin patients but was not applicable for most patients because of excessive dose to the skin and subcutaneous tissues. The photon through-and-through and the photon thunderbird with deep match were acceptable in most situations. In thin patients, where the depth of the inguinal vessels is less than 3 cm, the electron thunderbird is the technique ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper describes the development of a computational multiphase fluid dynamics (CMFD) model of the Fischer Tropsch (FT) process in a Slurry Bubble Column Reactor (SBCR). The CMFD model is fundamentally based which allows it to be applied to different industrial processes and reactor geometries. The NPHASE CMFD solver [1] is used as the robust computational platform. Results from the CMFD model include gas distribution, species concentration profiles, and local temperatures within the SBCR. This type of model can provide valuable information for process design, operations and troubleshooting of FT plants. An ensemble-averaged, turbulent, multi-fluid solution algorithm for the multiphase, reacting flow with heat transfer was employed. Mechanistic models applicable to churn turbulent flow have been developed to provide a fundamentally based closure set for the equations. In this four-field model formulation, two of the fields are used to track the gas phase (i.e., ...

Science.gov (United States)

Ballistics involves the study of the scientific properties of projectiles, their behavior and their terminal effects on biological tissues and other materials. Wound ballistics deals with the analysis of injuries caused by projectiles and the behavior of projectiles within human or other biological tissues. The nineteenth century witnessed the development of both of these areas with Kocher's hydrodynamic theory and the understanding of the significance of bullet deformation in causing tissue injury. The degree of traumatic disruption of tissues and organs was also related to direct energy transfer from projectiles. While subsequent research has concentrated on elucidating further mechanisms of injury, the exact cause of remote tissue damage from high energy projectiles is still the subject of ongoing research. Much of the contemporary literature regarding wound ballistics concentrates on the forensic aspects and their application for legal ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

For the purpose of proposing it to ISO, the R and D were conducted of a new evaluation method of thermal properties of polymer materials. The FY 1999 results were summarized. In this fiscal year, the development of the ac Joule heating equipment was proceeded with based on the study at the technical committee, and the measuring device was installed. In the comparative measurement with conventional methods, study was proceeded with of the laser flash method, AC calorimetry method and specific heat measurement. In the technical survey, the developmental state of the ac method, especially, was examined as a testing method of thermal properties of polymer materials. It is in the stage of the basic research by keyword selection, and the search for literature is to be made in full scale. As to the needs in the industrial circle, as a result of the questionnaire survey made, it was found out that there were a wide variety of the needs for general-purpose/functional film ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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 radiation, the wind velocity, the ambient ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naturally occurring radionuclides in building materials are a source of external and interal radiation exposure to essentially the entire US population. Although detailed data are not available, estimates are that the average contribution from such sources to the external dose equilvaent rate in brick and masonry houses is about 5 to 10 mrem/year. For critical population groups, values reported in the literature for the contribution from such sources range up to a hundred mrem/year or more. Dose equivalent rates to the lungs are even higher and, for abnormal situations, it would appear that control measures, either on a voluntary or mandatory (legislative) basis should be considered. Such measures include: (1) material substitution; (2) improved manufacturing standards; (3) changes in basic building designs; (4) application of surface sealants; and (5) increased ventilation accompanied by processes for the adsorption and/or filtration of ...

Science.gov (United States)

A comparative study on the critical current performance of Bi-2223/Ag and YBCO coated conductor wires in low magnetic fields at liquid nitrogen temperature was carried out in this work. Five commercial high temperature superconductor wires from different manufacturers were collected. Their critical currents were measured in magnetic fields, ranging from 0 to 0.4 T. On contrary to the common conception, the Bi-2223/Ag samples had better performance than YBCO coated conductor samples in the magnetic fields parallel to the wide surface of superconducting wires within the experimental scope. We also found similar results by collecting the concerned datum from the published literatures to confirm our measurement results. At the present stage, this fact made that the Bi-2223/Ag wires might be the preferred choice for the applications with mainly low parallel fields involved, unless other considerations were prioritized.

CERN Document Server

The spectral properties of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) offer a means to isolate pure samples displaying either dominant Ly-alpha in absorption or Ly-alpha in emission using broadband information alone. We present criteria developed using a large z ~ 3 LBG spectroscopic sample from the literature that enables large numbers of each spectral type to be gathered in photometric data, providing good statistics for multiple applications. In addition, we find that the truncated faint, blue-end tail of z ~ 3 LBG population overlaps and leads directly into an expected Ly-alpha emitter (LAE) population. As a result, we present simple criteria to cleanly select large numbers of z ~ 3 LAEs in deep broadband surveys. We present the spectroscopic results of 32 r' <~ 25.5 LBGs and r' <~ 27.0 LAEs at z ~ 3 pre-selected in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey that confirm these criteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Orientational constraints obtained from solid state NMR experiments on anisotropic samples are used here in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for determining the structure and dynamics of several different membrane-bound molecules. The new MD technique is based on the inclusion of orientation dependent pseudo-forces in the COSMOS-NMR force field. These forces drive molecular rotations and re-orientations in the simulation, such that the motional time-averages of the tensorial NMR properties approach the experimentally measured parameters. The orientational-constraint-driven MD simulations are universally applicable to all NMR interaction tensors, such as chemical shifts, dipolar couplings and quadrupolar interactions. The strategy does not depend on the initial choice of coordinates, and is in principle suitable for any flexible molecule. To test the method on three systems of increasing complexity, we used as constraints some deuterium quadrupolar couplings from ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orientational constraints obtained from solid state NMR experiments on anisotropic samples are used here in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for determining the structure and dynamics of several different membrane-bound molecules. The new MD technique is based on the inclusion of orientation dependent pseudo-forces in the COSMOS-NMR force field. These forces drive molecular rotations and re-orientations in the simulation, such that the motional time-averages of the tensorial NMR properties approach the experimentally measured parameters. The orientational-constraint-driven MD simulations are universally applicable to all NMR interaction tensors, such as chemical shifts, dipolar couplings and quadrupolar interactions. The strategy does not depend on the initial choice of coordinates, and is in principle suitable for any flexible molecule. To test the method on three systems of increasing complexity, we used as constraints some deuterium quadrupolar couplings from ...

Science.gov (United States)

The objectives of this project are to support the DOE direct coal liquefaction process development program and to improve the useful application of analytical chemistry to direct coal liquefaction process development. Independent analyses by well-established methods will be obtained of samples produced in direct coal liquefaction processes under evaluation by DOE. Additionally, analytical instruments and techniques which are currently underutilized for the purpose of examining coal-derived samples will be evaluated. The data obtained from this study will be used to help guide current process development and to develop an improved data base on coal and coal liquids properties. A sample bank will be established and maintained for use in this project and will be available for use by other researchers. The reactivity of the non-distillable resids toward hydrocracking at liquefaction conditions (i.e., resid reactivity) will be examined. From the ...

CERN Document Server

Fixed-complexity Sphere Decoder (FSD) is a recently proposed technique for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) detection. It has several outstanding features such as constant throughput and large potential parallelism, which makes it suitable for efficient VLSI implementation. However, to our best knowledge, no VLSI implementation of FSD has been reported in the literature, although some FPGA prototypes of FSD with pipeline architecture have been developed. These solutions achieve very high throughput but at very high cost of hardware resources, making them impractical in real applications. In this paper, we present a novel four-nodes-per-cycle parallel architecture of FSD, with a breadth-first processing that allows for short critical path. The implementation achieves a throughput of 213.3 Mbps at 400 MHz clock frequency, at a cost of 0.18 mm2 Silicon area on 0.13{\\mu}m CMOS technology. The proposed solution is much more economical compared ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The study design 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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The document represents a specific type of discussion of existing methodologies for the creation and application of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) in light of the EUR document summarizing requirements placed by Western European NPP operators on the future design of nuclear power plants. A partial goal of this discussion consists in mapping, from the PSA point of view, those selected design, operational and/or safety factors of future NPPs that may be entirely new or, at least, newly addressed. Therefore, the terms of reference for this stage were formulated as follows: Assess current level of knowledge and procedures in the analysis of factors and phenomena with a dominant influence upon operational safety of new generation reactors, especially in the following areas: (1) Phenomenology of failure types and mechanisms and reliability of conventional passive safety system components; (2) Phenomenology of failure types ...

Science.gov (United States)

In this paper we review and classify the various patterns of isosteric heat versus loading for adsorption of gases on graphitised thermal carbon black at temperatures ranging from below the 3D triple point to temperatures above it, but less than the 3D critical point. We have identified the features of heat curve and highlighted the microscopic origin of these features. The patterns vary with temperature and with the relative strength of the fluid-fluid interaction and solid-fluid interaction. For simple adsorptives (by simple we meant there is no strong association between fluid particles), the heat curve is typified by fluid-fluid attraction and layering phenomena. For adsorptives showing strong association such as water, ammonia and methanol, the heat curve essentially begins below the condensation heat and then approaches it as loading is increased. This is mainly due to the strong hydrogen bonding in these fluids. A third group includes adsorptives such as benzene, where the heat ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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}-factorial design 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 relationship between the set of ...

CERN Document Server

Changes in technology have resulted in new ways for bankers to deliver their services to costumers. Electronic banking systems in various forms are the evidence of such advancement. However, information security threats also evolving along this trend. This paper proposes the application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology to guide decision makers in banking industries to deal with information security policy. The model is structured according aspects of information security policy in conjunction with information security elements. We found that cultural aspect is valued on the top priority among other security aspects, while confidentiality is considered as the most important factor in terms of information security elements.

Science.gov (United States)

Selenium 79 is a beta emitter produced from (235)U fission and is one of the long half-life radionuclides of interest in nuclear waste disposal problematic because of its potential migration capacity to the surface environment. Measurement of (79)Se is particularly difficult due to its low activity in waste matrices (about 10(-3)Bqg(-1)). A radiochemical procedure based on ion exchange separations was already described in a previous paper. This work presents different applications of the radiochemical separation to waste samples and an improvement of this procedure, including a selective extraction of selenium as diethylselenium in an organic solvent followed by a re-extraction in aqueous medium. This additional step allows the decontamination factor to be increased with the aim of counting (79)Se by liquid scintillation counting. PMID:19071740

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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 ...

CERN Document Server

This paper presents an application of the state of the art and new trends for risk management of safety-related control and monitoring systems, currently applied in the industry. These techniques not only enable to manage safety and reliability issues but they also help in the control of quality and economic factors affected by the availability and maintenance of the system. The method includes an unambiguous definition of the system in terms of functions and a systematic analysis of hazardous situations, undesired events and possible malfunctions. It also includes the identification and quantification of the risk associated to the system. The required risk reduction is specified in terms of safety integrity levels. The safety integrity level results in requirements, preventive measures, possible improvements and recommendations to assure the satisfactory management of the risk.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In order to study nuclear criticality safety related to the development of fast breeder technology, /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis measurements were performed with a Pu-U nitrate solution in a slab tank of various heights and thickness varying 11.43 cm to 19.05 cm. The results and conclusions of these experiments are (1) a capability to measure the subcriticality of a multiplying system of slab geometry to a k/sub eff/ as low as 0.7 was demonstrated, (2) calculated neutron multiplication factors agreed with those from the experiments within approx.0.02, and (3) the applicability of the method for plutonium solution systems was demonstrated. This paper describes measurements in which the height of the slab was varied for a fixed thickness and the thickness varied for a fixed height, which are the first applications of this measurement method to slab geometry.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A new organic-inorganic hybrid membrane has been prepared with exceptional performance in dewatering applications. The only precursor used in the sol-gel synthesis of the selective layer was organically linked 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE). The microporous structure of this layer enables selective molecular sieving of small molecules from larger ones. In the dehydration of n-butanol with 5% of water, the membrane shows a high separation factor of over 4000 and ultra-fast water transport at a rate of more than 20 kg m{sup -2} h{sup -1} at 150C. This can be related to the high adsorption capacity of the material and the sub-micron thickness of the selective layer. The selectivity has now remained constant over almost one and a half years under continuous process testing conditions. Apart from the hydrothermal stability, the membrane exhibits a high tolerance for acid contamination. A slow performance decline in flux and separation ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Structural engineering implies four factors particularly relevant to sonics: airborne noise abatement, insulation of plumbing, by-pass insulation and noise absorption (noise abatement). These are exemplified with special regard to methodical and/or product-specific noise pollution abatement measures. Besides, reference is made to DIN standards 4109 providing both engineers with practical advice and pipe fitters or plumbers with concrete examples for application. VDI recommendations 3733 convey essential knowledge of how to properly apply sonic principles in the planning, design and installation of pipes. (BR).

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The achievement of governmental transformation through the use of electronically delivered services is a worthy goal that requires significant planning and research to achieve. In order to reach transformational paradigm shifts in governmental operation, it will first be necessary to understand and optimize present governmental e-Service provisions. Of these, the revenue function of taxation is paramount. This paper describes factors related to the use and acceptance by accounting professionals of information technology intended to facilitate electronic tax filing systems. Though tested in the context of governmental tax management systems in Turkey, our findings on the use and acceptance of e-Tax systems are relevant and applicable to a great number of nations and contexts as the ongoing ...

CERN Document Server

Kaluza-Klein higher derivative induced gravity is studied for its application in the inflationary universe. The stability of an inflationary solution in a $D+4$-dimensional anisotropic space is analyzed carefully. We show that there is two nontrivial constraints derived from the static assumptions on the $D$-dimensional scale factor $d$ and scalar field $\\psi$. We find that a physical inflationary solution is consistent with the above constraints. In addition, a compact formula for the non-redundant $4+D$ dimensional Friedmann equation is also derived for convenience. Possible implications are also discussed in this paper.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The decontamination of the urban building surfaces, based on the covering of clay suspensions, has been studied. Contaminated samples for test purpose were prepared by application of radioactive solution which was extracted from the soil of 2 km zone of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant(ChNPP). The cation converting conditions of clay suspensions were determined by the experiments of swelling and stability of the suspensions. According to the experimental results, the most effective clay suspension was the NH{sub 4}-type which had a 7.1 of decontamination factor(DF) on Cs and 4.5 of DF on total nuclides after 3 times covering on slate.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This paper studies the pricing of variance swap derivatives with stochastic volatility by the control variate method. A closed form solution is derived for the approximate model with deterministic volatility, which plays the key role in the paper, and an efficient control variate technique is therefore proposed when the volatility obeys the log-normal process. By the analysis of moments for the underlying processes, the optimal volatility function in the approximate model is constructed. The numerical results show the high efficiency of our method; the results coincide with the theoretical results. The idea in the paper is also applicable for the valuation of other types of variance swap, options with stochastic volatility and other financial derivatives with multi-factor models.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper is a result of a research with the primary purpose of extending Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) modeling frameworks to include the effects of organizational factors as the deeper, more fundamental causes of accidents and incidents. There have been significant improvements in the sophistication of quantitative methods of safety and risk assessment, but the progress on techniques most suitable for organizational safety risk frameworks has been limited. The focus of this paper is on the choice of 'representational schemes' and 'techniques.' A methodology for selecting appropriate candidate techniques and their integration in the form of a 'hybrid' approach is proposed. Then an example is given through an integration of System Dynamics (SD), Bayesian Belief Network (BBN), Event Sequence Diagram (ESD), and Fault Tree (FT) in order to demonstrate the feasibility and value of hybrid techniques. The ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

With regard to polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), there is few scientific knowledge on the emission patterns into the environment and exposure pathways to humans, and basic information is insufficient to consider what measures effective are. For the purpose of promoting risk reduction of target substances more effectively and efficiently, it is desirable to comprehend accurately the causal chain from the target substances utilization to the risk intake, and to evaluate the measures covering the whole applications of target substances. As the existing researches on the PBDE emission inventory, there are EU risk assessment report (European Chemical Bureau 2000, 2002, 2003), Danish EPA (1999), Palm et al.(2002) and Alcock et al. (2003). In addition, emissions of DecaBDE are published in TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) of US EPA. However, the primary information of the previous inventories is often the same and estimations based on the measured values are few. In ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The ELEX process for isotopic enrichment and separation of tritium from aqueous reprocessing effluents is described. After the development of an appropriate hydrophobic catalyst and the study of the separate constituent steps of the ELEX process, an integrated bench-scale installation with a detritiation capacity of 10 mol water per hour was constructed. It comprises essentially a 1.5 kW electrolyser and two 2 cm diameter by 3 m high exchange columns. In this mini-pilot the ELEX process was successfully demonstrated by detritiating more than 1000 dm"3 water containing up to 100 mCi tritium per dm"3, which is the feed concentration expected for application of the process in a reprocessing plant. The process decontamination factor was always larger than 100 and the overall tritium balance could be kept within the experimental errors of the various measurements. Depending on the duration of the runs, the volume reduction ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The aim of this work is to the application of a methodology to evaluate the energy associated to the industrial solid wastes in the metropolitan region of Campinas. The methodological route proposed is: the characterization of the research area and the production/management of the industrial solid wastes; the energetic classification and the qualitative/quantitative research of the energy associated to the industrial solid wastes; and, the valuation of the applicability of the energetic utilization mechanisms proposed to the region. This methodology when applied at the Campinas metropolitan region proved to be valid and it resulted in a synthetically presentation of the social and environmental reality of the industrial sector and the destination of the wastes, as well as it indicated the potentialities related to the energetic utilization of the industrial solid waste in the region. With the obtained results it was shown the importance of the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

As a three-year joint university-industry effort, development of a generalized boiling transition analysis method has been started in 2002 aiming at enhanced capabilities of subchannel analysis for a wide variety of BWR-type fuel bundle geometry from ordinary BWR to tight lattice fuel bundles. For this purpose, five dominant factors affecting boiling transition phenomena have been identified on which our efforts of experimentation and numerical analyses are focused. In this report, as the first-year achievement, we will describe a master plan of the development and contents for experimental approaches to construct thermal-hydraulic databases. The databases will be utilized for the developments of constitutive equations to describe the basic characteristics of the elementary processes. The planned experiments are divided into two groups. One is air-water experiments at atmospheric pressure, and the other is steam-water experiments up to 1 MPa. The former group of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The impingement of a fluid jet onto a surface has broad applications across many industries. Within the UK nuclear industry, during the final stages of fuel reprocessing, impinging fluid jets are utilised to mobilise settled sludge material within storage tanks and ponds in preparation for transfer and ultimate immobilisation through vitrification. Despite the extensive applications of impinging jets within the nuclear and other industries, the study of two-phase, solid loaded, impinging jets is limited, and generally restricted to computational modelling. Surprisingly, very little fundamental understanding of the turbulence structure within such fluid flows through experimental investigation is found within the literature. The physical modelling of impinging jet systems could successfully serve to aid computer model validation, determine operating requirements, evaluate plant throughput requirements, optimise process ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrofluids have promising potential for heat transfer applications, since advective transport in a ferrofluid can be readily controlled by using an external magnetic field. However, unlike conventional free or forced convection, ferrohydrodynamic convection is not yet well characterized. A full understanding of the relationship between an imposed magnetic field, the resulting ferrofluid flow, and the temperature distribution is a prerequisite for the proper design and implementation of applications involving thermomagnetic convection. The literature variously assumes constant magnetic fields, does not completely represent the variation in the imposed field, or its descriptions are inaccurate, since the fields do not comply with the Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. We address this by simulating two-dimensional forced convection heat transfer in a channel with a ferrofluid that is under the influence of a ...

Science.gov (United States)

Hypercholesterolemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) result in releases of small amounts of radioactive materials to the atmosphere and to the Savannah River. For regulatory compliance purposes, potential offsite radiological doses are estimated annually using computer models that follow U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regulatory Guides. Within the regulatory guides, default values are provided for many of the dose model parameters but the use of site-specific values by the applicant is encouraged. A detailed survey of land and water use parameters was conducted in 1991 and is being updated here. These parameters include local characteristics of meat, milk and vegetable production; river recreational activities; and meat, milk and vegetable consumption rates as well as other human usage parameters required in the SRS dosimetry models. In addition, the preferred elemental bioaccumulation factors and transfer factors to be ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of this work was to establish a new binary data base by compiling the activity coefficients of plutonium and uranium at oxidation state +IV to better account for media effects in the liquid-liquid extraction operations implemented to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. Chapter 1: first reviews the basic thermodynamic concepts before describing the issues involved in acquiring binary data for the tetravalent actinides. The difficulties arise from two characteristics of this type of electrolyte: its radioactive properties (high specific activity requiring nuclearization of the experimental instrumentation) and its physicochemical properties (strong hydrolysis). After defining the notion of fictive binary data, an approach based on the thermodynamic concept of simple solutions is described in which the activity coefficient of an aqueous phase constituent is dependent on two parameters: the water activity of the system and the total concentration of dissolved constituents. The method ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

There is extensive evidence that exposure to asbestos causes pulmonary parenchyma fibrosis, pleural disease, and malignant neoplasm in asbestos-exposed workers. However, few data concerning brake-lining workers are available in the literature. In this study, we aimed to assess the long-term effects of chrysotile asbestos exposure on lung function and the risk of asbestos-related diseases in brake-lining workers. Seventy-four asbestos-exposed workers who processed brake-lining products and 12 unexposed office workers were offered pulmonary function tests (spirometry and transfer actor) in 1992 and 1999. In 1999, the mean duration of asbestos exposure was 0.00#+-#4.07 and 11.02#+-#4.81 years (7-31 years) in non smoking and smoking asbestos workers, respectively. Transfer factor (T_L, CO) and transfer coefficient (K_C_O) decline were significant in the 7-year follow-up in both smoking and non smoking asbestos workers. However, lung function ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Purpose: Reconstruction of radiation doses for the thoracoabdominal babygram and the abdomen X-ray from radiographic settings and exposure data acquired at Dr. von Hauner's Kinderspital (children's hospital of the University of Munich, DvHK) between 1976 and 2007; comparison of these dose values with values reported in the literature; recommendation of a reference dose value for the thoracoabdominal babygram. Materials and Methods: The data from all X-ray examinations performed since 1976 at DvHK were stored electronically in a database. After 30 years of data collection, the database now includes 305 107 radiological examinations (radiographs and fluoroscopies), especially 1493 thoracoabdominal babygrams and 3632 abdomen X-rays of newborns and young infants. With the computer program PAeDOS, a specific dose reconstruction algorithm was developed. Results: the entrance dose values of thoracoabdominal babygrams and abdomen X-rays in DvHK could be ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A large matrix of simple alloys and complex commercial type steels was irradiated over a range of fluxes at 60 FC up to a fast fluence of about 3 x 10"2"2 n/m"2. Combined with data in the literature, these results show a negligible effect of flux on irradiation hardening in the range of 2 x 10"1"3 to 5 x 10"1"8 n/m"2-s. This observation lends indirect support to the proposal that the accelerated embrittlement in the High Flux Isotope Reactor surveillance steels was due to an anomalously high level of damage from gamma rays. A weak dependence of hardening on a number of elements, including copper, nickel, phosphorus, molybdenum and manganese, can be described by a simple empirical chemistry factor. Particular combinations of elements resulted in hardening differences of up to about 60% in the complex commercial type steels and up to about 100% in simple model alloys. Direct effects of microstructure appear to be minimal. Hardening varies with ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Values of the chemical yield, G, and of the molar extinction coefficient, epsilon, for Fricke dosimetry, have been recommended by ICRU. For epsilon, the value in ICRU Reports 17 and 21, 2205 1.mol"-"1.cm"-"1, based on an analysis of 83 reported values. It was suggested that, where neither a careful wavelength calibration nor absorbance linearity checks had been performed, a standard error of 1.5% should be assumed; otherwise 0.15% could be accepted. Alternatively, the accuracy in applying this chemical dose meter was considered improved if there was an independent determination of epsilon with the same spectrophotometer as was used for the determination of the optical density of irradiated Fricke solution. The accuracy claimed for both methods remains questionable, since no complete argumentation could be given for the differences of up to 13% in the published values. Taking into account the discussion of the sources of error by Bryant, Broszkiewicz and Ellis, we tried systematically ...

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review the recent literature on the prognostic value of biomarkers of liver fibrosis and impaired liver function in patients with chronic hepatitis C with or without HIV coinfection. RECENT FINDINGS: A combination of standard blood tests seems to be useful in identifying patients at risk of liver-related complications. Findings from studies investigating the validity of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score in HIV-infected liver transplant candidates are conflicting. Two large studies of HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected patients have shown that plasma levels of the fibrosis marker hyaluronic acid are a strong predictor of clinical complications. A smaller study found hyaluronic acid and two other fibrosis tests, aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and Fib-4, to be independent predictors of mortality when included in models with the MELD or the Child-Pugh-Turcotte scores. SUMMARY: Although the data are ...

KoreaScience (Korea)

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This Health and Safety (HSE) document offers technical information on the design of foundations for supports in offshore installations, and relates particularly to the North Sea. It is based largely on guidance offered earlier in Section 20 of the Fourth Edition of the Health and Safety Executive's 'Offshore Installations; Guidance on Design, Construction and Certification', which was withdrawn in 1998. The document contains a general section on foundations and the rest of the document comprises sections on: (a) piled foundations (planning, problems, pile make-up, steel stresses, design of pile foundations, axial pile capacity, factors of safety for piled foundations, load-deflection of piles, and piles for tethered buoyant structures); (b) foundations for gravity structures (foundation types, loads and reactions during installation, operating loads and reactions, foundation problems, cyclic load failure, factors of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Decommissioning of radiological and nuclear installations is for this century the new challenge. One of the performance criteria is the reduction of total quantities of radioactive materials (liquid or solid) arising from dismantling and decontamination of radiological and nuclear installations. In this work we present a new application of the water soluble polymers used as: - flocculation agents in treatment and conditioning process within the management of radioactive liquid materials; - strippable coatings on solid materials based on the water soluble polymers. The parameters of water soluble polymers made in our Institute by radiation processing have been analysed, namely the molecular average weight, composition, and efficiency of utilization of these polymeric materials as well as the content of ash, additives, decontamination factor, consumption per surfaces/liter, corrosion aspects, compatibility with various surfaces (of metal, ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The epithermal cross section shielding methods used in the lattice physics code EPRI-CELL (E-C) have been extensively studied to determine its major approximations and to examine the sensitivity of computed results to these approximations. The study has resulted in several improvements in the original methodology. These include: treatment of the external moderator source with intermediate resonance (IR) theory, development of a new Dancoff factor expression to account for clad interactions, development of a new method for treating resonance interference, and application of a generalized least squares method to compute best-estimate values for the Bell factor and group-dependent IR parameters. The modified E-C code with its new ENDF/B-V cross section library is tested for several numerical benchmark problems. Integral parameters computed by EC are compared with those obtained with point-cross section Monte Carlo ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

IMRT with inverse planning allows simultaneous integrated boost strategies that exploit the heterogeneous dose distribution within the planning target volumes (PTVs). In this scenario, the location of cold spots within the target becomes a crucial issue and has to be related to the distribution of the clonogenic cell density (CCD). The main aim of this work is to provide the means to calculate the optimal prescription dose in a relative inhomogeneous dose distribution. To achieve this, the prescription dose has to be assigned to obtain the same tumor control probability (TCP) as the ideal homogeneous distribution, taking into account different CCDs in different PTVs (i.e. visible and subclinical regions). An adapted formulation of the linear-quadratic model, within the F-factor formalism, has been derived to preserve a chosen TCP value for the whole target volume. The F-factor has been investigated to show its potential ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Background:Spina bifida presents a significant cause of childhood morbidity in lower- and middle-income nations. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of literature examining...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Sinonasal malignancy is a cause of otorhinolaryngologic morbidity and mortality in West Africa. However, there is a dearth of information in the literature on its clinicopathologic presentation in West...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Purpose:Formal presentations are a common requirement for students in health professional programs, and evaluations are often viewed as subjective. To date, literature describing...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

is that Martians, Alliens has a Supernatural Power, Mental Mediumship, Mental Clairvoyant, Mental Telepathy just like me that could Heard the Illegal ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The purpose of this article is to review the literature for clinical presentation, treatment, outcome and complications of using radiotherapy for the treatment of orbital lymphoma. For this, MEDLINE,...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Background: Contamination of autologous grafts unfortunately occurs in plastic surgery, but the literature provides no guidance for management of such incidents. Methods: American...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

... and (3) the exchange of information; materials or perspectives. In 1977, a conference of ... their peers), to products (e.g., curriculum materials, guidebooks, or videos). We will also take ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Objective and sourcesWe reviewed the epidemiologic literature for PFOA.Data synthesisPerfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) does not occur naturally but is...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

This chapter will review the literature on cobalamin- and corrinoid-containing enzymes. These enzymes fall into two broad classes, those using methylcobalamin or related methylcorrinoids as...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

OBJECTIVE: To review the body of international literature regarding lung surfactant supplements in order to determine: 1) the current knowledge of the antenatal routes of administration of surfactant...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The authors reviewed the literature on psychological and psychosocial outcomes for individuals undergoing cosmetic surgery, to address whether elective cosmetic procedures improve psychological...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A general method for stable-isotope labeling of large proteins is introduced and applied for studies of the E. coli GroE chaperone proteins by solution NMR. In addition to enabling the residue-specific {sup 15}N-labeling of proteins on a highly deuterated background, it is also an efficient approach for uniform labeling. The method meets the requirements of high-level deuteration, minimal cross-labeling and high protein yield, which are crucial for NMR studies of structures with sizes above 150 kDa. The results obtained with the new protocol are compared to other strategies for protein labeling, and evaluated with regard to the influence of external factors on the resulting isotope labeling patterns. Applications with the GroE system show that these strategies are efficient tools for studies of structure, dynamics and intermolecular interactions in large supramolecular complexes, when combined with TROSY- and CRINEPT-based experimental NMR ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The uncertainty of the elemental analysis is one of the major factors governing the utility of on-line Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) in the blending and sorting of bulk materials. In this paper, a general method applicable to Gamma spectra processing is presented and applied to PGNAA in mineral industry. Based on the Fourier transform of spectra and their de-correlation in the Fourier space (the improvement of the conditioning of the correlation matrix), processing of overlapping of characteristic peaks minimizes the propagation of random errors, which optimizes the accuracy and decreases the detection limits of elemental analyses. In comparison with classical methods based on the linear combinations of relevant regions of spectra the improvement may be considerable, especially when several elements are interfering. The method is applied to four case stories covering both borehole logging and on-line analysis on conveyor belt ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Ventricular septal defects can occur as part of other congenital cardiac malformations or as an isolated finding. Aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva are rare, most commonly involving the right or noncoronary sinuses. They can be congenital or acquired through infection, trauma, or degenerative diseases. They frequently co-exist with ventricular septal defects, aortic valve dysfunction, or other cardiac abnormalities. More commonly, sinus of Valsalva aneurysms are diagnosed after the clinical sequelae of rupture. Several etiologic factors may lead to the development of pathologic pericardial effusion and the detection of pericardial effusion was one of the first applications of echocardiography to gain widespread acceptance. We present a case of a chance finding of an aneurysm of the right ...

Science.gov (United States)

Current medical visualization technology intended for positional guidance in surgical applications may only ever have limited utility in the operating room due to the preexisting visual requirements of surgical practice. Additionally, visual systems impose limits as a result of their high latency, poor image resolution, problems with stereopsis and physical strain upon the user. Audio technology is relatively unexamined in the broad range of available methodologies for medical devices. The potential to translate surgical instrument position into audio feedback presents a novel solution to the human factors and engineering problems faced by visual display technology because audio technology employs a rich and as yet unburdened sensory modality. We describe an experimental system we have developed for investigating this new interface design approach using commercially available hardware. PMID:10173065

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We report here results of an application of single-nucleon stripping reactions at high energies (65 MeV/u) in inverse kinematics to obtain spectroscopic factors. From measurements of the partial cross-sections for ground and excited states in residual nuclei formed in one-proton stripping reactions, single particle orbits and occupancies of light nuclei have been studied in the s-d shell. Single proton stripping cross-sections of "2"5Al and "2"6","2"7","2"8P on a Be target have been measured using the S800 spectrograph and the NaI(Tl) array at the NSCL. These results indicate that this technique may provide a general tool for the intermediate energy range analogous to transfer (pick-up) reactions at low-energy.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Microprocessor based ''smart'' pressure, level, and flow transmitters were tested to determine the radiation hardness of this class of electronic instrumentation for use in reactor building applications. Commercial grade Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits used in these transmitters were found to fail at total gamma dose levels between 2500 and 10,000 rad. This results in an unacceptably short lifetime in many reactor building radiation environments. Radiation hardened integrated circuits can, in general, provide satisfactory service life for normal reactor operations when not restricted to the extremely low power budget imposed by standard 4--20 mA two-wire instrument loops. The design of these circuits will require attention to vendor radiation hardness specifications, dose rates, process control with respect to radiation hardness factors, and non-volatile programmable memory technology. 3 refs., 2 figs.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The invention refers a procedure of radiation dose control in irradiated tissues during electron-beam therapy. It aims at meeting the planned radiation dose for diseased tissues and taking care of the healthy ones. Therefore, the dose distribution required is determined before irradiation in consideration of such factors as energy-dependence of detector sensitivity, self-absorption within the tissue, and relative biological effectiveness. Furthermore, the expected intensity distribution of secondary quantum radiation excited in the irradiated tissue is calculated. A radiation detector for local resolution is used for registration. During irradiation the calculated intensity distribution is compared with the measured one. The invention is applicable in radiation therapy with monoenergetic electron beams.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A photoacoustic (PA) imaging system based on an ultrasonic Fresnel zone plate (FZP) transducer is developed for the purpose of imaging biological tissue. This FZP transducer has a two-zone negative zone plate piezoelectric material pattern, and an optical fibre is integrated with the transducer on the symmetric axis of the zone plates to deliver laser pulses to the sample. The focal characteristic of the FZP transducer is analysed by theoretical prediction and experimental measurement, and the measured results are in good agreement with the predicted results. The limited-field back-projection deconvolution algorithm combined with the coherence-factor weighting technique is used to reconstruct the optical absorption distribution. The experiments were performed with phantoms and the blood vessels of chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane. The results demonstrate that PA imaging using the FZP transducer has the ability to image biological tissue and has potential ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In 1977 and 1978, Sandia National Laboratories, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and operated for the US Department of Energy (DOE), filmed a series of crash and fire tests performed on three casks designed to transport irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies. While the tests were performed to assess the applicability of scale and computer modeling techniques to actual accidents, films of them were quickly pressed into service by the DOE and nuclear utilities as ``proof`` to the public of the safety of the casks. In the public debate over the safety of irradiated nuclear fuel transportation, the films have served as the mainstay for the nuclear industry. Although the scripts of all the films were reviewed by USDOE officials before production, they contain numerous misleading concepts and images, and omit significant facts. The shorter versions eliminated qualifying statements contained in the longer version, and created false impressions. This paper discusses ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The present volume on modeling of batteries and fuel cells discusses the significance of the effectiveness factor for flooded porous electrodes, active pore distribution spectroscopy for characterizing porous battery electrodes, the agglomerate model for porous electrodes, and dynamic-performance measurements of battery cells for electric vehicles and other applications. Attention is given to mathematical modeling of a primary zinc/air battery, mathematical modeling of Grace Li-TiS2 cells, modeling of electrocrystallization processes in battery systems, and rotating disk electrode studies in molten Li/K carbonate eutectic. Topics addressed include the variability of nickel oxide cathode dissolution in molten carbonate fuel cells, water transport properties of fuel cell ionomers, modeling water content effects in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, and computer algebra applied in electrochemistry and fuel cell modeling.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Nanocapsules coated by medicinal plants have many applications in drug manufacturing. Medicinal plants can be loaded on nanocapsules with polyesteric triblock copolymer poly ethylene glycol-poly butylene adipate-poly ethylene glycol (PEG-PBA-PEG) as shell and olive oil can be introduced as a core of nanocapsules by a method known as polymer deposition solvent evaporation method. In this research, first, certain amount of polymer, Matricaria recutita extract and olive oil were mixed with acetone and then, water was added to the solution using magnetic stirrer. After which the acetone was removed by vacuuming and finally nanocapsules were found by freezing-drier. The study showed the size of nanocapsules depends on variety of factors such as the ratio of polymer to oil and concentration of p...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Methods for improving the sensitivity of scintillation cells for radon concentration measurements were studied with emphasis on improving light collection efficiency. This allows the length and hence the volume of the cell to be increased. Variables studied were choice of scintillator material, its method of application and thickness, length of cell, cell material, type and configuration of reflectors, choice of photomultipliers, and factors affecting background. Response from various areas of the cell surface was studied with an alphy source and with radon filling. Coating the window with phosphor was found to be counter-productive. The optimum results obtained were with the inside of the cell (other than the window) covered with a thick layer of ZnS(Ag), or with a thick layer of reflective material coated with a thin layer of phosphor. With it, a 10 cm diameter plexiglass cell can be extended to at least 50 cm length without difficulty from ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The national energy research programme LVIS-2000: Future Building Services is concerned with the control of energy use and indoor climate in buildings of the future. The projects were presented at a one day seminar arranged by the Laboratory of Heating and Ventilation of the Technical Research Centre in Finland which is coordinating the programme. The presentations at the seminar were: Impurity emission from materials, Building materials and indoor air quality, analysis of organic compounds in indoor air, effect of the return air, effect of the return air on health and comfort, electric heating as an indoor climate factor, calculations of air flows in ventilated rooms, effect of energy saving measures on hospital hygiene, application of modern aerosol measurement technique on indoor climate research.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract During the past few years, laparoscopy has become the gold standard for some surgical procedures and its applications continue to expand. Because of multiple factors such as loss of tactile perception, two-dimensional visualization of the three-dimensional surgical field, and demanding bimanual hand-eye coordination, special training is required to achieve proficiency with laparoscopy. In this study, as the first step toward evidence-based development of strategies to improve the quality of laparoscopy training from brain activity and behavior relationships, a laparoscopy training simulator was developed for use in functional MRI. Experiments confirmed the functional MRI compatibility of the device. Representative behavioral and functional MRI results for two subjects showed the f...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

With the ubiquitous availability of commercial VME modules and interface chips many experiments in all branches of Experimental Physics are turning to VME as the module packaging and backplane protocol of choice for application specific modules. The current VME backplane, electrical, and mechanical standards are clearly lacking when it comes to implementing the analogue and digital front end modules that Physics experiments rely on to provide the needed high speed and intelligent solutions to their data collection requirements. To address these needs the European ESONE and American VME-P committees are collaborating with the ANSII and ISO standards committees, and the VME VITA/VSO manufacturers associations, to define standard extensions to the VME protocols for such HEP needs as ``sparse data scans``, standard uses and implementations of previously user defined pins and connectors, standardization of the 9U form factor VME cards etc. This ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

One proposed solution to the problem of ballast-mediated aquatic invasions involves chemically treating ballast water to kill key target organisms. Here, we examine the efficacy of three commercially available ballast water biocides using vegetative microalgae, dinoflagellate resting cysts and bacteria as test organisms. Chemicals tested were the ballast water biocides SeaKleen and Peraclean Ocean, and the chlorine dioxide biocide Vibrex. Results demonstrate that the applicability of each of the three chemical biocides as a routine ballast water treatment is limited by factors such as cost, biological effectiveness and possible residual toxicity of the discharged ballast water (assessed on the basis of impact on motility of vegetative marine microalgae). Of the three biocides tested, Perac...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This document includes the following topics: Background; Data Collection; Scope/Applicability of the Proposed Regulation; Description of the Industry; Industry Subcategorization; Pollutants of Concern for the Centralized Waste Treatment Industry; Pollutants Selected for Regulation; Wastewater Treatment Technologies; Regulatory Options Considered and Selected for Basis of Regulation; Long-Term Averages, Variability Factors, and Limitations and Standards; Cost of Treatment Technologies; Pollutant Loading and Removal Estimates; Non-Water Quality Impacts; Implementation; Analytical Methods and Baseline Values; List of Definitions; List of Acronyms; Appendix A--Pollutant Groups; Appendix B--Listing of Characerization Data From Non-Hazardous Oils Facilities; Appendix C--Listing of Daily Influent and Effluent Measuements; Appendix D--Facility-Specific Compliance Costs; Appendix E--Attachements to Chapter 10; and Appendix F--Listing of Pollutants of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper briefly describes an industrial application of the foam decontamination process applied to large volume components. The process is based on the filling of the component with liquid foam containing suitable chemical reagents, and a circulation loop enables its continuous recycling. The process was successfully validated during the decontamination of a graphite gas-cooler representing a developed area of 1000 m{sup 2}. A decontamination factor up to 190 was obtained leading to a residual activity below 1 Bq/cm{sup 2}. The process only produced 6 m{sup 3} of effluent i.e. about ten times less than for a chemical solution technique. (authors) 2 refs.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Municipal waste charges in Spain are very widespread, although their application varies significantly among different municipalities. Most commonly, waste charges are implemented as a flat rate, but some of them depend on indicators such as household water consumption, the land area of the property or the value of the real estate. Only one residential pay-as-you-throw scheme has been applied so far. It was a pay-per-bag scheme implemented in Torrelles de Llobregat, Barcelona. A number of other systems focussing only on commercial waste have been implemented in Spain. Several factors suggest that new pay-as-you-throw schemes will be adopted in the near future. In 2000 no municipalities had door-to-door collection schemes; since then over 70 municipalities have implemented them. In addition ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Meta-analysis to investigate the joint effect of multiple factors in the aetiology of a disease is of increasing importance in epidemiology. This task is often challenging in practice, because studies typically concentrate on studying the effect of only one exposure, sometimes may report the interaction between two exposures, but rarely address more complex interactions that involve more than two exposures. In this paper, we develop a meta-analysis framework that combines estimates from studies of multiple exposures. A key development is an approach to combining results from studies that report information on any subset or combination of the full set of exposures.The model requires assumptions to be made about the prevalence of the specific exposures. We discuss several possible model spec...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Recently, it has become clear that the chemical circumstances under which long-term geological evolution occurs must be properly evaluated in order to develop effective remediation programs for contaminated soil, landfills, radioactive waste repositories, and carbon dioxide capture and storage. The issue of acidic leakage from excavated rock stuck was assessed using a hydro-geochemical simulator, TOUGHREACT. We concluded that in order to properly investigate the phenomenon of acidic leakage from excavated pyrite-containing rock stuck, it is important to obtain accurate information about the following factors: intensity of rainfall, unsaturated flow properties of the excavated rock stuck, specific surfaces for oxidation reaction of pyrite, the species and the quantity of other minerals contained in the rock, and secondary minerals produced. (author)

Science.gov (United States)

A new algorithm for the design of decentralized output feedback stabilizers for large-scale electric power systems is presented in this paper. In the proposed approach, the generators which are most effective for stabilizer applications are first identified by using participation factors. Then an efficient algorithm based on decentralized pole assignment is proposed for the determination of the parameters of the power system stabilizers which, due to the difficulty associated with the communication among the geographically dispersed generating stations in a large power system, are essentially decentralized compensators using local generator outputs as their feedback signals. The proposed method is computationally efficient and can be applied to any large-scale system. The simplicity and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated by an example of stabilizer design for a practical power system.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An adaptive power system stabilizer (APSS) employing a new self-optimizing pole shifting control strategy and its application to a power system are described in this paper. Based on an identified model of the system, the control is computed by an algorithm which shifts the closed-loop poles of the system to some optimal locations inside the unit circle in the z-domain to minimize a given performance criterion. With the self-optimization property, outside intervention in the controller design procedure is minimized, thus simplifying the tuning procedure during commissioning. Also, a new method of calculating the variable forgetting factor in real-time parameter identification is discussed. Studies show that the proposed APSS can provide good damping of the power system over a wide operating range and significantly improve the dynamic performance of the system.

Science.gov (United States)

As coal becomes more and more important as a power plant fuel in this time of energy shortage and the combustion of high-sulfur coals that would impair air quality, efforts have been made to devise efficient processes to control sulfur dioxide emission. Besides desulfurization before combustion, flue gas desulfurization is considered the most promising method that could also be applicable to all other fossil fuels. In this article, the flue gas desulfurization processes are briefly reviewed, and processes with highest use and with high potential for future use are compared from technical and economical points of view. In the selection of a desulfurization process, it is very important to consider the capacity of the plant, fuel type and fuel-to-sulfur ratio, availability and price of the reagent to be used, type, price, and market of side products, disposal problems of wastes, and environmental factors.

CERN Document Server

This paper proposes a framework based completely on Java technology. The advantages brought about by the use of Java in network management answer some critical problems existing in current systems. With this work we address several factors concerning interoperability and security in heterogeneous network environments. Specifically, we present a manager application and a multithreaded agent engine that make use of a lightweight communication mechanism for message exchange. A MIB parser is introduced to accelerate handling of incoming management requests, and the RSA public-key cryptosystem is implemented to provide both encryption and authentication features. Results, measured in terms of response time, compare favourably with other published work and standard management frameworks.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The {sup 252}Cf-source-driven noise analysis method has been used in measurements for subcritical configurations of fissile systems for a variety of applications including a dynamic measurement that was the first step in applying this method to monitor fuel in a future reprocessing plant These measurements showed that this method has potential to monitor many dynamic situations in processing plants such as in a continuous dissolver or batch dissolvers either to obtain the neutron multiplication factor k or to be used as a signature to verify that various processes are occurring in a repeatable or bounded way. This verification of normal operation would be by comparing noise analysis signatures for the process with reference signatures. Abnormal operation could be ascertained if the signature deviates by some specified amount from the reference signatures from normal operation. The deviations from normal could be specified by measurement or by ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The nuclear power industry has many applications where electrical equipment is required to operate in environments which contain high relative humidity, steam and water or chemical sprays. Equipment is susceptible to these environments by moisture entering through inherent design provisions such as O-rings and through the electrical interface. The objective of this research is to review electrical interface sealing techniques and to recommend methods for providing effective electrical interface sealing. The most common methods of sealing are the use of electrical fittings containing sealants, add-on assemblies and hardware changeout. The experience gained in several years of testing electrical interface seals on such devices as limit switches, solenoid valves and transmitters is presented to provide information on seal effectiveness and preferred application. The effectiveness of various sealing methods is discussed, each of which is dependent ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of compost addition to soil on fractionation and bioavailability of Cu, Mn, and Zn to four crops. Soils growing Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla L.) and basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) were amended (by volume) with 0, 20, 40, and 60% Source-Separated Municipal Solid Waste (SS-MSW) compost, and dill (Anethum graveolens L.) and peppermint (Mentha X piperita L.) were amended with 0, 20, 40, and 60% of high-Cu manure compost (by volume). The SS-MSW compost applications increased the concentration of Cu and Zn in all fractions, increased Mn in acid extractable (ACID), iron and manganese oxides (FeMnOX), and organic matter (OM) fractions, but decreased slightly exchangeable-Mn. Addition of 60% high-Cu manure compost to the soil increased Cu EXCH, ACID, FeMnOX, and OM fractions, but decreased EXCH-Mn, and did not change EXCH-Zn. Addition of both composts to soil reduced bioavailability and transfer ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Total thermal resistance of ground heat exchanger (GHE) is comprised of that of the soil and inside the borehole. The thermal resistance of soil can be calculated using the linear source theory and cylindrical source theory, while that inside the borehole is more complicated due to the integrated resistance of fluid convection, and the conduction through pipe and grout. Present study evaluates heat exchange rate per depth of GHE by calculating the total thermal resistance, and compares different methods to analyze their similarities and differences for engineering applications. The effects of seven separate factors, running time, shank spacing, depth of borehole, velocity in the pipe, thermal conductivity of grout, inlet temperature and soil type, on the thermal resistance and heat exchange rate are analyzed. Experimental data from several real geothermal heat pump (GHP) applications in Shanghai are used to validate the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Background: the authors report on the conception and first clinical application of a donut-shaped high-dose configuration for proton therapy (PT). This approach allows one to intensify target volume dose coverage for targets encompassing a critical, dose-limiting structure - like here, the cauda equina -, whilst delivering minimal dose to other healthy structures surrounding the target, thereby reducing the integral dose. Methods and results: intensity-modulated PT methods (IMPT) for spot scanning were applied to create and deliver a donut-shaped high-dose configuration with protons, allowing treating > 75% of the target with at least 95% of the prescribed dose of 72.8 CGE, whilst restricting dose to the cauda equina to 60-65 CGE. Integral dose was lower by a factor of 3.3 as compared to intensity-modulated radiotherapy with photons (IMXT). Conclusion: IMPT and spot scanning technology allow a potentially clinically useful approach which ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The fundamental mechanisms underlying the chemical degradation of polymers can change as a function of environmental stress level. When this occurs, it greatly complicates any attempt to use accelerated tests for predicting long-term material degradation behaviors. Understanding how degradation mechanisms can change at different stress levels facilitates both the design and the interpretation of aging tests. Oxidative degradation is a predominant mechanism for many polymers exposed to a variety of different environments in the presence of air, and there are two mechanistic considerations which are widely applicable to material oxidation. One involves a physical process, oxygen diffusion, as a rate-limiting step. This mechanism can predominate at high stress levels. The second is a chemical process, the time-dependent decomposition of peroxide species. This leads to chain branching and can become a rate-controlling factor at lower stress levels ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A key factor that demands special attention in the pipeline construction is the cold bending process, since 30 to 40% of the pipes use this process in the field. This study aimed to evaluate the X80 cold bending operational parameters, in order make viable the use of this process in the installation of future onshore pipelines. Three 34''OD x 0,750'' pipes were bended. The bending was conducted using a hydraulic equipment with application of equally spaced punches, recording the correspondent angles related to the elastic and plastic deformations in order to assess the spring-back effect and performing dimensional inspection. Samples from pipe and the weld were subjected to mechanical and metallographic tests. It was possible to obtain a 19 deg curve and 27D radius without presenting any evidence of wrinkles, out of roundness or any type of mechanical damage. After analysis, all criteria established from ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A carbon-bonded carbon fiber (CBCF) insulation developed for a radioisotope heat source is made from chopped rayon fiber about 10 ..mu..m in diameter and 250 ..mu..m long, which is carbonized and bonded with phenolic resin particles. The CBCF is an excellent lightweight insulating material with a nominal density of 0.2 Mg/m/sup 3/ and a thermal conductivity of 0.24 W/(m-K) in vacuum at 2000/sup 0/C. Several attributes that make CBCF particularly suitable for the heat source application have been identified. These include light weight, low thermal conductivity, chemical compatibility, and high-temperature capabilities. The mechanical strength of CBCF insulation is satisfactory for the application. The basic fabrication technique was refined to eliminate undesirable large pores and cracks often present in materials fabricated by earlier techniques. Also, processing was scaled up to increase the fabrication rate by a factor of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The role of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of preoperative and postoperative complications caused by acquired cholesteatomas will be described in this paper. The pre- and postoperative imaging of the temporal bone was performed with HRCT and MRI. HRCT and MRI were performed in the axial and coronal plane. MRI was done with T2 weighted and T1 weighted sequences both before and after the intravenous application of contrast material. All imaging findings were confirmed clinically or surgically. The preoperative cholesteatoma-caused complications depicted by HRCT included bony erosions of the ossicles, scutum, facial canal in the middle ear, tympanic walls including the tegmen tympani, and of the labyrinth. The preoperative cholesteatoma-caused complications depicted by MRI included signs indicative for labyrinthitis, and brain abscess. Postoperative HRCT depicted bony erosions caused by recurrent ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Three studies of electrochemical current distribution have been performed using potential-theory models and the boundary-element method (BEM). (1) The steady-state behavior of cells with nonuniform current density over a passivating anode is investigated. Current distributions calculated for a test cell, using the measured kinetic behavior of nickel in acid-nickel-sulfate solution, are compared to estimates from earlier models. Although current-density profiles determined by weight loss on a segmented rotating cylinder agreed satisfactorily with model calculations, the measured length of the passive zone exceeds the theoretical value. The model's applicability to anodic protection is demonstrated for a stainless-steel sulfuric-acid holding tank. (2) A model is established to describe the effects of attached bubbles on the potential drop at gas-evolving electrodes including: (1) ohmic obstruction within the electrolyte; (2) area masking on the electrode ...