Extending genome wide association analysis by the inclusion of gene expression data may assist in the dissection of complex traits. We examined piebald, a pigmentation phenotype in both human and Merino...Full Text Available
The Arabidopsis ref2 mutant was identified in a screen for plants having altered fluorescence under UV light. Characterization of the ref2 mutants showed that they...Full Text Available
Stem cells of the human prostate gland have not yet been identified utilizing a structural biomarker. We have discovered a new prostatic epithelial cell phenotype-expressing cytokeratin 6a (Ck6a+...Full Text Available
A strain from human diarrhea originally identified as Campylobacter mucosalis (NCTC 12408) was examined by using 64 phenotypic characters. The similarity of this strain to 297 isolates of Campylobacter,...Full Text Available
PurposeTo detail the highly variable ocular phenotypes of a French family affected with an autosomal dominantly inherited vitreoretinopathy and to identify the disease gene.MethodsSixteen...Full Text Available
Molecular Misreading (MM) is the inaccurate conversion of genomic information into aberrant proteins. For example, when RNA polymerase II transcribes a GAGAG motif it synthesizes at low frequency RNA...Full Text Available
Skin and hair phenotypes are powerful cues in human communication. They impart much information, not least about our racial, ethnic, health, gender and age status. In the case of the latter parameter,...Full Text Available
digital libraries, which was identified as a national challenge in the Information ... The linkages between the many digital libraries and information services are ...
Abstract Gelatinization temperature (GT) is an important parameter in evaluating the cooking and eating quality of rice. Indeed, the phenotype, biochemistry and inheritance of GT have been widely studied in recent times. Previous map-based cloning revealed that GT was controlled by ALK gene, which encodes a putative soluble starch synthase II-3. Complementation vector and RNAi vector were constructed and transformed into Nipponbare mediated by Agrobacterium. Phenotypic and molecular analyses of transgenic lines provided direct evidence for ALK as a key gene for GT. Meanwhile, amylose content, gel consistency and pasting properties were also affected in transgenic lines. Two of four nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms in coding sequence of ALK were identified as essential for GT. ...
Rice is a very important food staple that feeds more than half the world's population. Two major Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) subspecies, japonica and indica, show significant phenotypic variation in their stress responses. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotypic variation are still largely unknown. A common link among different stresses is that they produce an oxidative burst and result in an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, methyl viologen (MV) as a ROS agent was applied to investigate the rice oxidative stress response. We observed that 93-11 (indica) seedlings exhibited leaf senescence with severe lesions under MV treatment compared to Nipponbare (japonica). Whole-genome microarray experiments were conducted, and 1,062 probe sets were identified with gene expression level polymorphisms between the two rice cultivars in addition to differential expression under MV ...
One of the most important aspects of security organization is to establish a framework to identify security significant points where policies and procedures are declared. The (information) security infrastructure comprises entities, processes, and technology. All are participants in handling information, which is the item that needs to be protected. Privacy and security information technology is a critical and unmet need in the management of personal information. This paper proposes concepts and technologies for management of personal information. Two different types of information can be distinguished: personal information and nonpersonal information. Personal information can be either personal identifiableinformation (PII), or ...
Parasites display considerable phenotypic plasticity in life-history traits such as, body size. Varroa destructor is an ectoparasitic mite of the western honey bee Apis mellifera. Several studies have reported that in V. destructor, there is a wide phenotypic plasticity within a population of mites. However, it is unknown if there are morphologic variations in V. destructor populations affecting different A. mellifera populations. A morphometric study of V. destructor populations was conducted to provide information concerned to the relationships among parasite populations found in different geographic locations from A. mellifera colonies of Argentina. The hypothesis tested was different morphotypes of V. destructor populations parasitizing different A. mellifera populations from Argentina...
Twenty-two landrace-derived inbred lines from the Spanish Barley Core Collection (SBCC) were found to display high levels of resistance to a panel of 27 isolates of the fungus Blumeria graminis that exhibit a wide variety of virulences. Among these lines, SBCC145 showed high overall resistance and a distinctive spectrum of resistance compared with the other lines. Against this background, the main goal of the present work was to investigate the genetic basis underlying such resistance using a doubled haploid population derived from a cross between SBCC145 and the elite spring cultivar Beatrix. The population was genotyped with the 1,536-SNP Illumina GoldenGate Oligonucleotide Pool Assay (Barley OPA-1 or BOPA1 for short), whereas phenotypic analysis was performed using two B. graminis isolates. A major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for resistance to both isolates was identified on the long arm of chromosome 6H (6HL) and accounted for ca. 60% of ...
Twenty-six unclassified Campylobacter-like strains previously isolated from 15 chicken carcasses and caecal contents, together with two more strains isolated from chicken faeces on a different occasion, were identified as Helicobacter pullorum using various phenotypic identification methods. API Campy identification kits and a 16-test identification scheme developed for campylobacters failed to identify these bacteria, or identified them as Campylobacter spp. Eighteen strains (including the two isolated on a different occasion) were chosen for examination using a more comprehensive probabilistic identification scheme. Using this method, 14 of the 18 strains were identified as H. pullorum with ID scores > 95%; two strains were also identified as H. pullorum with lower ID scores. Of the remaining two strains, one was not identified with ...
Most common bacterial species causing peritonitis in the course of peritoneal dialysis (PDP) are coagulase-negative staphylococci, Staphylococcus aureus and streptococci. Haemophilus influenzae is rarely associated with PDP. Hereby we present the first known case of APD-associated peritonitis caused by non-type able H. influenzae (NTHi) presenting the beta-lactamase negative, ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) phenotype. An 18 year old boy who had been treated with the APD for 12 months due to SLE was admitted in good general condition with diagnosis of PDP. Standard diagnostic and therapeutical procedures were initiated. Dialysis fluid was turbid with cytosis of 435 WBC/ml. From dialysis fluid pure culture of Gram-negative coccobacillus was isolated. The isolate was identified as a BLNAR phenotype. The same bacterium was isolated from nasal swab. Blood cultures were negative. After evaluation of antimicrobial susceptibility the ...
Mutations in the FGD1 gene have been shown to cause Aarskog-Scott syndrome (AAS), or facio-digito-genital dysplasia (OMIM#305400), an X-linked disorder characterized by distinctive genital and skeletal developmental abnormalities with a broad spectrum of clinical phenotypes. To date, 20 distinct mutations have been reported, but little phenotypic data are available on patients with molecularly confirmed AAS. In the present study, we report on our experience of screening for mutations in the FGD1 gene in a cohort of 60 European patients with a clinically suspected diagnosis of AAS. We identified nine novel mutations in 11 patients (detection rate of 18.33%), including three missense mutations (p.R402Q; p.S558W; p.K748E), four truncating mutations (p.Y530X; p.R656X; c.806delC; c.1620delC), one in-frame deletion (c.2020_2022delGAG) and the first reported splice site mutation (c.1935+3A>C). A recurrent mutation (p.R656X) was ...
Fingerprinting of Penicillium crustosum strains was performed using different phenotypic characteristics. Seven strains of this extremely homogenous species were selected; of these, five originated from geographical locations characterized by low temperatures, and one from a location with a low water activity. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using micromorphological data, temperature- and water-dependent growth rates, and extrolite profiles obtained by HPLC analysis. The micromorphological data were less informative, while the growth-rate data were informative only if the strains investigated already showed slight adaptations to the selected external parameter. In contrast, PCA analyses of the extrolite data showed groupings of the strains according to their origins and known physiological differences. These groupings are in full agreement with the clustering obtained by previous amplified fragment length ...
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a measure of sensorimotor gating, a pre-attentional inhibitory brain mechanism that filters extraneous stimuli. Prepulse inhibition is correlated with measures of cognition and executive functioning, and is considered an endophenotype of schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses in which patients show PPI impairments. As a first step toward identifying genes that regulate PPI, we performed a quantitative trait locus (QTL) screen of PPI phenotypes in a panel of mouse chromosome substitution strains (CSSs). We identified five CSSs with altered PPI compared with the host C57BL/6J strain: CSS-4 exhibited decreased PPI, whereas CSS-10, -11, -16 and -Y exhibited higher PPI compared with C57BL/6J. These data indicate that A/J chromosomes 4, 10, 11, 16 and Y harbor...
The development of a computational intelligent tools based on neural network to identify commercial losses or fraud (theft energy), considering information from a database electric utility, is presented.
A 36-year-old woman underwent amniocentesis for advanced maternal age. The fetal karyotype had an extra dark staining G band on the long arm of chromosome 11 with no other identifiable abnormalities. FISH studies using a chromosome 11 paint probe confirmed the origin of the extra band. The abnormality was identified as a partial duplication of 11q: 46,XX dir dup (11)(q13.5q21) or (q21q23.1). The specific duplicated band could not be identified with certainty. Detailed fetal sonograms were normal. Family studies revealed the identical duplication in the mother but normal karyotypes in both maternal grandparents. The mother had strabismus and a short tongue frenulum which required surgical correction. Menses occurred late in adolescence and complete development of secondary sexual characteristics was delayed until adulthood. An infertility evaluation revealed duplication of the uterus, cervix, and vagina. An evaluation for ...
Abstract Over the last 7 years, the AIMTech Research Group in the University of Leeds has used cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to inform a range of research activities in the fields of information behavior and information systems. In this article, we identify certain openings and theoretical challenges in the field of information behavior, which sparked our initial interest in CHAT: context, technology, and the link between practice and policy. We demonstrate the relevance of CHAT in studying information behavior and addressing the identified openings and argue that by providing a framework and hierarchy of activity-action-operation and semantic tools, CHAT is able to overcome many of the uncertainties concerning information behavior research. In particular, CHAT provides resear...
Recent health care policies and regulations have impacted the manner in which patient data – especially protected health information (PHI) – are handled in both the clinical...Full Text Available
Individual strains of the plant pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae vary in their ability to produce toxins, nucleate ice, and resist antimicrobial compounds. These phenotypes...Full Text Available
BackgroundPeritoneal metastasis occurs in up to 30% of patients with gastric cancer. The aim of this experimental study is to develop and validate a novel ex vivo model of the human peritoneum to better identify factors involved in the development of peritoneal metastasis in order to improve its management and prognosis. MethodsPeritoneal discs harvested from hernia sacs obtained at inguinal hernia surgery were suspended in media using Teflon rings. Viability of the tissue was investigated using MTS assay, light and scanning electron microscopy (LM and SEM) over 72 h. To assess validity of the model, phenotypic changes in tumor cells were investigated. Changes in matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2 and -9 activities in HGC and AGS gastric adenocarcinoma cells after co-culture were investigat...
Objective: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, modulated by plaque stabilizing and de-stabilizing cell populations such as infiltrating monocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs). Transcription factors regulating proliferation and differentiation of atherosclerosis relevant cell types are of interest in this context. The forkhead box transcription factor FoxP1 modulates monocyte differentiation. We studied FoxP1 expression in atherosclerotic tissue, correlated FoxP1 expression with plaque characteristics and identified associations between FoxP1 and plaque proteins. Methods: 116 Atherosclerotic plaques from carotid endarterectomy samples were histologically classified (fibrous, fibroatheromatous, atheromatous) and subjected to semi-quantitative protein analysis. Macrophage,...
Exponentially growing biological and bioinformatics data sets present a challenge and an opportunity for researchers to contribute to the understanding of the genetic basis of phenotypes. Due to breakthroughs in microarray technology, it is possible to simultaneously monitor the expressions of thousands of genes, and it is imperative that researchers have access to the clinical data to understand the genetics and proteomics of the diseased tissue. This technology could be a landmark in personalized medicine, which will provide storage for clinical and genetic data in electronic health records (EHRs). In this paper, we explore the computational and ethical challenges that emanate from the intersection of bioinformatics and healthcare informatics research. We describe the current situation of the EHR and its capabilities to store clinical and genetic data and then discuss the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Finally, we posit that the ...
The HIPAA privacy rule (HIPAA) has had both positive and negative effects on the release of patient information by healthcare facilities. Although the intention of HIPAA was to protect patient privacy and to promote security and confidentiality of patient information, it has had unintended consequences for facilities. To identify some of these unintended effects, two expert panels of health information management directors from healthcare facilities participated in the nominal group technique meetings. They identified 70 barriers related to release of patient information associated with the implementation of HIPAA. The perceived biggest barriers were increases in the public's misunderstanding about release of patient information, lack of an umbrella policy or regulation defining infractions and enforcement that allows individual institutions ...
... Possibilities for summer activities become better, but socioeconomic factors such as age-structure may weaken the positive impact. Several research needs related to recreation and tourism were identified. The Finnish tourism industry seems to need more detailed and spatially informed scenarios concerning climate change and more information on its impacts on the different activities in the tourism sector. Also communication channels seem to need more attention. More information is ...
The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Information Systems Definition architecture evaluated information Management (IM) processes in several key organizations. The intent of the study is to identify improvements in TWRS IM processes that will enable better support to the TWRS mission, and accommodate changes in TWRS business environment. The ultimate goals of the study are to reduce IM costs, Manage the configuration of TWRS IM elements, and improve IM-related process performance.
Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for growth traits, water use efficiency and tolerance/resistance against metals and herbivores have been identified. A hybrid F2 population originating from a cross between a Salix dasyclados-clone (SW901290) and a S. viminalis-clone ('Jorunn') was used for the different studies in this project. The growth response was analyzed in a greenhouse experiment with two water treatments, normal and drought. In addition, three field experiments with contrasting soils and climates were established. QTL specific for each treatment or field environment but also QTL stable over the treatments or field environments were detected. Each QTL explained from 8 to 29 % of the phenotypic variation depending on trait, treatment or field environment. Clusters of QTL for different traits were mapped indicating a common genetic base or tightly-linked QTL. Stable QTL identified for dryweight can be ...
Background The objective of this study was to confirm provisional quantitative trait loci (QTL) for cocaine-induced locomotor activation, on chromosomes 1, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18, previously identified in the AXB/BXA recombinant inbred (RI) and AcB/BcA recombinant congenic (RC) strains of mice derived from A/J (A) and C57BL/6J (B6) progenitors. This was accomplished through a genetic analysis of cocaine-induced activity in an AxB6 F2 cross and a phenotypic survey across a panel of B6.A chromosome substitution strains (CSS) mice. Mice were tested for cocaine-induced activity, following administration of saline and cocaine (20?mg/kg), utilizing an open-field procedure. Results Among AxB6 F2 mice, differences in cocaine-induced activity were associated with loci on chromosome 1 (D1Mi...
Nuclear forensics aims at identifying origin and intended use of nuclear material using information inherent to the nuclear material.The information gathered in nuclear forensics include isotopic composition, elemental composition, impurities and age of the material, macroscopic appearance and microstructure. The information so collected helps to solve criminal cases and put the individuals involved in nuclear trafficking in jails. The information also helps to improve safeguards and physical protection measures at place of theft or diversion to prevent future thefts or diversions.
Objectives: The purpose of this work was to study the genetic determinants responsible for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) resistance of Salmonella isolated from Dutch poultry, poultry meat and hospitalized humans. Methods: Thirty-four ESBL-resistant Salmonella isolates from The Netherlands were tested towards 21 antimicrobial agents. PCR and sequencing were used to determine the underlying genetic determinants responsible for the ESBL phenotypes. The transferability of the ESBL phenotypes was tested by conjugation to a susceptible Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin and plasmid purification, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were employed to further characterize a subset of the isolates. Results: A great genetic diversity was seen among the isolates. The bla(TEM-52) gene was most predominant and was found among Salmonella enterica serovars Blockley, Thomson, London, Enteritidis ...
The effect of insulin on protein biosynthesis was examined in differentiated 3T3-L1 and 3T3-F442A adipocytes. Insulin altered the relative rate of synthesis of specific proteins independent of its ability to hasten conversion of the fibroblast (preadipocyte) phenotype to the adipocyte phenotype. Although more than one pattern of response to insulin was observed, the authors focused on the induction of a Mr 33,000 protein which was identified as the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Exposure of 3T3 adipocytes to insulin throughout differentiation specifically increased GAPDH activity and protein content by 2- to 3-fold as compared to 3T3 adipocytes differentiated in the absence of insulin. These changes in enzyme activity and content could be accounted for by a 4-fold increase in the relative rate of synthesis of GAPDH and a 9-fold increase in hybridizable mRNA levels. Within 2 h of insulin ...
IL-4-induced Stat6 signaling is active in a variety of cell types and plays a role in cell proliferation/growth and resistance to apoptosis. Using EMSA, we identified differential IL-4/Stat6 activities in colorectal cancer cell lines, HT-29 being active Stat6"h"i"g"h phenotype and Caco-2 being defective Stat6"n"u"l"l phenotype, respectively. Active Stat6"h"i"g"h HT-29 cells exhibited resistance to apoptosis by flowcytometry and aggressive metastasis by Transwell assay compared with defective Stat6"n"u"l"l Caco-2 cells. Comparing one another using RT-PCR, Stat6"h"i"g"h HT-29 cells expressed more mRNA of anti-apoptotic and pro-metastatic genes Survivin, MDM2, and TMPRSS4, while Stat6"n"u"l"l Caco-2 cells expressed more mRNA of pro-apoptotic and anti-metastatic genes BAX, CAV1, and P53, respectively. This is the first study describing correlations of IL-4/Stat6 activities with apoptosis and metastasis in colon cancer. These ...
Information from the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) is used to identify which variables measured in 1981 successfully predict the severity of disease in 1989 and the eight year change in severity...Full Text Available
The effect of spatial auditory information on a listener's ability to detect, identify, and monitor multiple simultaneous speech signals was evaluated using virtual audio technology. Factorial combinations of three variables - the number of localized spee...
Laboratory studies were performed to support field-testing of base injection into the F-Area Seepage Basins groundwater. The general purpose of these experiments is to provide information to guide the test of base injection and to identify potential adverse effects.
Evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of courses is necessary so that strengths and weaknesses can be identified and improvements made. This article uses Kirkpatrick's evaluation framework to present...Full Text Available
Humans are remarkably adept at identifying individuals by the sound of their voice, a behavior supported by the nervous system’s ability to integrate information from voice and speech...Full Text Available
This article presents a study identifying benefits and challenges of a novel hospital-to-hospital information technology (IT) outsourcing partnership (HHP). The partnership is an innovative response...Full Text Available
Whereas genetic factors are known to influence both susceptibility to carcinogens and the capacity to respond to specific antigenic stimuli, little is known regarding the influence of phenotype per...Full Text Available
The flacca tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) mutant displays a wilty phenotype as a result of abscisic acid (ABA) deficiency. The Mo cofactor (MoCo)-containing aldehyde...Full Text Available
Developing in vitro engineered hepatic tissues that exhibit stable phenotype is a major challenge in the field of hepatic tissue engineering. However, the rapid dedifferentiation of...Full Text Available
Due to the large number of chemicals in commerce without adequate toxicity characterization data, coupled with an ineffective federal policy for chemical management in the United States, many states are grappling with the challenge to identify toxic chemicals that may pose a risk to human health and the environment. Specific populations (e.g., children, elderly) are particularly sensitive to these toxic chemicals. In 2008, the Children's Safe Product Act (CSPA) was passed in Washington State. The CSPA included specific requirements to identify High Priority Chemicals (HPCs) and Chemicals of High Concern to Children (CHCCs). To implement this legislation, a methodology was developed to identify HPCs from authoritative scientific and regulatory sources on the basis of toxicity criteria. Another set of chemicals of concern was then identified from authoritative sources, based on their potential exposure to ...
Spontaneous and ultraviolet-induced changeabilities of wine yeasts from the killer state to sensitive one have been studied. Observed often spontaneous changes of killer and neutral phenotypes under laboratory store conditions as well as high mutation frequency of genetic elements responsible for the killer indication on ultraviolet irradiation testify that often encounterability in nature and in the production of sensitive yeasts is attributed to high frequency of mutation changes of the killer and neutral phenotypes to the sensitive state.
The levels of General Transcription Factor (TF) IIA were examined during mammalian brain development and in rat embryo fibroblasts and transformed cell lines. The large TFIIA subunit paralogues ab and t are largely produced in unsynchronized cell lines, yet only TFIIA ab is observed in a number of differentiated tissue extracts. Steady-state protein levels of the TFIIA t, ab, and g subunits were significantly reduced when human embryonal (ec) and hepatic carcinoma cell lines were stimulated to differentiate with either all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) or sodium butyrate. ATRA-treated NT2-ec cells required replating to induce a neuronal phenotype and loss of detectable TFIIA t and g proteins. High levels of TFIIA t, ab, and g and Sp factors were identified in extracts from human fetal and rat...
We have exploited {open_quotes}progeny testing{close_quotes} to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying the genetic variation of milk production in a selected dairy cattle population. A total of 1,518 sires, with progeny tests based on the milking performances of >150,000 daughters jointly, was genotyped for 159 autosomal microsatellites bracketing 1645 centimorgan or approximately two thirds of the bovine genome. Using a maximum likelihood multilocus linkage analysis accounting for variance heterogeneity of the phenotypes, we identified five chromosomes giving very strong evidence (LOD score {ge} 3) for the presence of a QTL controlling milk production: chromosomes 1, 6, 9, 10 and 20. These findings demonstrate that loci with considerable effects on milk production are still segregating in highly selected populations and pave the way toward marker-assisted selection in dairy cattle breeding. 44 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.
The germplasm with exotic genomic components especially from Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense L. Gb) is the dominant genetic resources to enhance fiber quality of upland cotton (G. hirsutum L., Gh). Due to low efficiency of phenotypic evaluation and selection on fiber quality, genetic dissection of favorable alleles using molecular markers is essential. Genetic dissection on putative Gb introgressions related to fiber traits were conducted by SSR markers with mapping populations derived from a cross between Luyuan343 (LY343), a superior fiber quality introgression line (IL) with genomic components from Gb, and an elite Upland cotton cv. Lumianyan#22 (LMY22). Among 82 polymorphic loci screened out from 4050 SSRs, 42 were identified as putative introgression alleles. A total of 29 fib...
Increasingly, utility organizations recognize the value of sharing data and applications among their computing environments. A typical utility`s computing environment may consist of disparate computer platforms. The focus of this paper is to highlight importance of a documented information technology architecture for identifying business perspectives for interoperability, and to brief utility management about the Electric Power Research Institute`s (EPRI) accomplishment along these same lines.
This report contains the document control information and abstracts for Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) Photovoltaic (PV) Program publications resulting from SERI's subcontracted PV research. The information is presented for reports published or distributed from August 1 through December 31, 1990. In the past, copies of the subcontractor reports were distributed to a broad spectrum of researchers in the field of photovoltaics at a considerable cost to the program. In an attempt to reduce costs and ensure that all researchers receive those current publications that are of specific interest to them, this report will outline these publications, organized by technology, on a regular basis. A list of additional publications and sources is included herein to provide the photovoltaic community with other sources of information. All of the documents represented here are available from the National Technical ...
pT181 is a naturally-occurring 4437 basepair (bp) plasmid isolated from Staphylococcus aureus which encodes inducible resistance to tetracycline (Tc). The DNA sequence data has identified three open reading frames (ORFs). The largest ORF B, has been found to be responsible for the Tc resistance phenotype of pT181. Since most Tc resistance systems appear to be regulated by an effector protein and a repressor protein, several Bal 31 deletion mutants of pT181 were constructed and analyzed in an effort to identify the elements involved in Tc resistance. Two transcomplementing groups of mutants were identified within the tet gene. The mechanism of Tc resistance was studied by assaying the accumulation of (7-/sup 3/H) Tc by Tc sensitive cells, and uninduced and induced pT181-containing cells. A sharp decrease in accumulation of the drug after an initial increase was observed in Tc induced pT181-containing ...
Because every cell within the body has the same genetic information, a significant problem in biology is to understand how cells within a tissue express genes selectively. A sophisticated network of physical and biochemical signals converge in a highly orchestrated manner to bring about the exquisite regulation that governs gene expression in diverse tissues. Thus, the ultimate decision of a cell to proliferate, express tissue-specific genes, or apoptose must be a coordinated response to its adhesive, growth factor, and hormonal milieu. The unifying hypothesis examined in this overview is that the unit of function in higher organisms is neither the genome nor the cell alone but the complex, three-dimensional tissue. This is because there are bidirectional connections between the components of the cellular microenvironment (growth factors, hormones, and extracellular matrix) and the nucl2048 These connections are made via membrane-bound receptors and transmitted to ...
This Maintenance Implementation Plan has been developed for maintenance functions associated with the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility (WSCF). This plan is developed from the guidelines presented by Department of Energy (DOE) Order 4330.4A, Maintenance Management Program (DOE 1990), Chapter II. The objective of this plan is to provide baseline information for establishing and identifying WHC conformance programs and policies applicable to implementation of DOE order 4330.4A guidelines. In addition, this maintenance plan identifies the actions necessary to develop a cost-effective and efficient maintenance program at WSCF.
A scant body of literature addresses competencies needed for successful job development. This study aimed to identify competencies needed for this role. In this analysis, we observed employment specialists identified as successful in helping consumers obtain employment perform job development duties. We supplemented observations with interviews. Employment specialists possessed competencies in six domains: time management, advocacy, building partnerships with consumers, working as part of a team, face-to-face communication, and networking. The conceptual framework derived from this study can inform supported employment supervisors and researchers about the competencies that can strengthen supported employment teams.
The Network for a Healthy California (Network) employs a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify the target audience and plan program activities because GIS is a powerful tool for assisting in data integration and planning. This paper describes common uses of GIS by Network contractors as well as demonstrating the possibilities of GIS as a useful tool for public health programs and audience targeting in general. Narrative examples supported with graphics describe how 1) Network contractors use the GIS to identify eligible census tracts to carry out their work, 2) the GIS can map neighborhood assets in eligible census tracts throughout California, 3) the GIS can map health behavior data to the county level throughout California, and 4) the GIS can map selected indicators of healthy ...
Many environmental impact statements (EIS) fail to predict environmental impacts, organize information about those impacts in a concise, logical way, and communicate that information intelligibly. This paper presents a systematic, auxiliary ''language'' for environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), in an attempt to correct this problem. The approach improves communication among disciplinary specialists, between an interdisciplinary team and a decision-maker, and between a federal agency and the general public by helping to identify important issues and impacts, and by reducing time, effort, cost, and paperwork. The basis for the approach is found in the principal aims of the NEPA regulations and other criteria. The interdisciplinary language for environmental analysis consists of a small vocabulary, used in conjuction with a simple ...
Objectives1. To identify with older people the problems which they encounter in finding their way about public building/spaces.~%~2. To produce ideas, in consultation with older people, for an information/navigation aid that might facilitate their use and enjoyment of public buildings/spaces, notably hospitals, large shops, railway stations, airports.~%~3. To develop an emulation model of the information/navigation aid~%~4. To monitor use of the model by older people~%~5. To identify further research~%~6. [continued...]DescriptionThe growth in the number of older people offers scope for the development of customised information/navigation aids to help them to find their way around complex public spaces. New technology however is unlikely to be taken up by older people unless it is acceptable to them. The research will involve engineers in designing, testing and modifying a model of ...
Lentiviral vectors (LVs) have emerged as potent and versatile vectors for ex vivo or in vivo gene transfer into dividing and nondividing cells. Robust phenotypic correction...Full Text Available
Synthetic polymers and nanomaterials display selective phenotypic effects in cells and in the body that affect signal transduction mechanisms involved in inflammation, differentiation, proliferation,...Full Text Available
... growth hormone-like factor from plerocercoids of the tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides is a multifunctional protein. In Parasites and pathogens: ... ...
BackgroundRecent studies have shown associations between size and body proportions at birth and health outcomes throughout the life cycle, but there are few data...Full Text Available
Purpose.There is a paucity of neuron replacement studies for retinal ganglion cells. Given the complex phenotype of these neurons, replacement of ganglion cells may be impossible....Full Text Available
In natural ecosystems, hundreds of species typically share the same environment and are connected by a dense network of interactions such as predation or competition for resources. Much is known about...Full Text Available
Mutations in the Drosophila gene drop-dead (drd) result in early adult lethality and neurodegeneration, but the molecular identity of the drd...Full Text Available
We report the isolation of adherent, clonogenic, fibroblast-like cells with osteogenic and adipogenic potential from the blood of four mammalian species. These cells phenotypically resemble but are...Full Text Available
Transparency is essential for normal corneal function. Recent studies suggest that corneal cells express high levels of so-called corneal crystallins, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and transketolase (TKT) that contribute to maintaining cellular transparency. Stromal injury leads to the appearance of repair phenotype keratocytes, the corneal fibroblast and myofibroblast. Previous studies on keratocytes from species such as bovine and rabbit indicate that the transformation from the normal to repair phenotype is accompanied by a loss of corneal crystallin expression, which may be associated with loss of cellular transparency. Here we investigated if a similar loss occurs with human keratocyte repair phenotypes. Human corneal epithelial cells were collected by scraping and keratocytes...
Several scientists have proposed that DNA repair deficiencies and the induction of a mutator phenotype are responsible for the generation of multiple mutagenic alterations in cancer cells. I propose...Full Text Available
The purpose of the course is to present an overview of the power conditioning aspects of energy transfer systems. The objective, then, is to develop an understanding and appreciation of the physical processes that govern the performance of these systems, including the role of such elements as switches, capacitors, inductors, and resistors. Secondly, to discuss where are the sources of information once a problem area has been identified. All the information will be current and state-of-the-art, and directed toward these pulse components, with particular emphasis on the area of high-repetition-rate systems, as these are taking on ever increasing significance.
Sufficient discussion of the elements of the leasing and permitting programs is included to place the information developed in proper context. A table and process flow diagram developed previously which outline the steps in the non-competitive leasing process, is reprinted. Computer printout profiles are presented on 195 identifiable areas in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Sufficient information on the boundaries of these areas is contained in the report to permit identification of their general location on any map of the appropriate state which shows township and range locations.
The Western Research Institute plan for addressing oil shale plant siting methodology calls for identifying the available resources such as oil shale, water, topography and transportation, and human resources. Restrictions on development are addressed: land ownership, land use, water rights, environment, socioeconomics, culture, health and safety, and other institutional restrictions. Descriptions of the technologies for development of oil shale resources are included. The impacts of oil shale development on the environment, socioeconomic structure, water availability, and other conditions are discussed. Finally, the Western Research Institute plan proposes to integrate these topics to develop a flow chart for oil shale plant siting. Western Research Institute has (1) identified relative topics for shale oil plant siting, (2) surveyed both published and unpublished information, and (3) identified data ...
'The overall objective of the basic research grant is to characterize the potential of common hydrocarbon contaminants in ecosystems to act as endocrine disruptors. The three major lines of research include (1) a biotechnology based screening system to identify potential hormone mimics and antagonists; (2) an animal screening system to identify biomarkers of endocrine effects. and (3) a literature review to identify compounds at a variety of DOE sites that need to be examined for endocrine disrupting effects. By relating results obtained from this research project to contamination problems at various DOE sites. CBR will provide data and information on endocrine disrupting contaminants to DOE for consideration in risk analyses for determining clean-up levels and priorities needed at the sites.'
Objectives1. To establish the present capacity and capability across all the sectors within the UK for - a) Undertaking research in the areas of toxicology and ecotoxicology and environmental hazard and risk assessment work on chemical subtances including emerging containments (e.g. enginerred nanomaterials); and b) Applying these skills in the policy and regulatory context. 2) The range of chemicals involved should include pharmaceutical and medical products, crop protection agents, biocides, vet [continued...]DescriptionThe aim of this project is to identify the current status of the scientific community, areas of expertise, and identify the gaps in skills, knowledge or recruitment. The project will use a questionnaire approach to obtain this information for all sectors of the business community. The analysis will identify the gaps in provision, and areas where investment is needed in future training ...
Personal health information management (PHIM) refers to activities that support consumers' access, integration, organization, and use of their personal health information. We investigated PHIM in the health consumer population using a focus group and participatory design. In collaboration with health consumers, we identified PHIM activities and explored the design of new supportive technology. Our findings describe prominent PHIM activities such as monitoring and assessing health, as well as health-related decision making, planning, and action. We describe design principles our participants used during the participatory design of a PHIM tool. These include individual control, sharing, integration, security and flexibility. These findings provide new insights into emerging ideas in consumer health informatics research and technology design. Understanding health consumers' PHIM needs is an important step in creating ...
The ROI Proposal Preparation Guide is a tool to assist Hanford waste generators in preparing ROI proposal forms for submittal to Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE/RL) for funding. The guide describes the requirements for submitting an ROI proposal and provides examples of completed ROI forms. The intent is to assist waste generators in identifying projects that meet the criteria, provide information necessary to complete the ROI forms, and submit a proposal that is eligible to receive funding.
Mission-directed public-sector research facilities are experiencing increasingly severe budget environments while seeing expanding missions and responsibilities. In an effort to identify research leveraging methodologies an information search was conducted in conjunction with some efforts to find the proper links to systems engineering fundamentals. The result is an initial model for use in a pre-concept/phase-1 engineering design organization, with a goal of improving the organizations performance.
DescriptionFollowing publication of the Curry report, DEFRA have made a commitment to establish a number of pilot projects supporting a network of demonstration and development farms. These 'farms' are intended to support the process of technology transfer by giving free access to information on the practical application of new, emerging and best practice technologies. Protected Horticulture has been identified as a sub-sector requiring the establishment of one of these projects. One of the major pressures [continued...
A method is described to smear extremely thin layers of nuclear emulsion on labeled electron microscope preparations and to measure the thicknesses of these layers, Without further separation, preparation and emulsion can be observed after exposure and development in an electron microscope. The source of the tracks formed in the emulsion can be exactly identified and the size and structure determined. This method finds applications in dust research and also in the analysis of medical and biological sections. Further information can be obtained about properties of different emulsions. (auth)
The Canadian Soldier Information Requirements Technology Demonstration (SIREQ TD) soldier modernization research and development program has conducted experiments to help determine the types and amount of information needed to support wayfinding across a range of terrain environments, the most effective display modality for providing the information (visual, auditory or tactile) that will minimize conflict with other infantry tasks, and to optimize interface design. In this study, seven different visual helmet-mounted display (HMD) designs were developed based on soldier feedback from previous studies. The displays and an in-service compass condition were contrasted to investigate how the visual HMD interfaces influenced navigation performance. Displays varied with respect to their information content, frame of reference, point of view, and display features. Twelve male infantry soldiers used all eight ...
This document was requested by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Based on the State Underground Injection Control Program, as described in the Washington Administrative Code, French drains and reverse wells are being registered as Class V wells. Information on out-of-service French drains, out-of-service reverse wells, and out-of-service cribs that are deeper than their largest surface dimension is also provided. The data for this submittal were taken from the Waste Information Database System (WIDS) and the Hanford Environmental Compliance Record (HECR) database. The current definition used in WIDS for an ''inactive facility'' is one that either no longer receives waste or plans to in the future. The facilities listed in WIDS as inactive have all been listed as ''out-of-service.'' Information concerning the deactivation method for a facility ...
The complete nucleotide sequence of the cap3A gene of Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is directly responsible for the transformation of some unencapsulated, serotype 3 mutants to the encapsulated phenotype,...Full Text Available
Long-term heat acclimation (AC, 30d/34°C) is a phenotypic adaptation leading to increased thermotolerance during heat stress (HS, 2 h 41°C). AC also renders protection against...Full Text Available
IntroductionThe phenotypic and functional differences between cells that initiate human breast tumors (cancer stem cells) and those that comprise the tumor bulk are difficult to...Full Text Available
G6PD activity was assayed in 20 Sardinian heterozygotes for G6PD deficiency and related to that of LDH and MDH. One of these heterozygotes showed a deficient phenotype in all her follicles, while the...Full Text Available
Four new mutants are described whose phenotypic expression affects the length of the head of bacteriophage T4D. All mutants produce some phenotypically normal phage particles. Mutant pt21-34...Full Text Available
This report provides an overview of the scope and status of the US Department of Energy (DOE`s) Salt Repository Project (SRP) at the time when the project was terminated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987. The report reviews the 10-year program of siting a geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste in rock salt formations. Its purpose is to aid persons interested in the information developed during the course of this effort. Each area is briefly described and the major items of information are noted. This report, the three salt Environmental Assessments, and the Site Characterization Plan are the suggested starting points for any search of the literature and information developed by the program participants. Prior to termination, DOE was preparing to characterize three candidate sites for the first mined geologic repository for the permanent disposal of high-level nuclear waste. The sites were in ...
The GntR-like protein NorG has been shown to affect Staphylococcus aureus genes involved in the resistance to quinolones and ?-lactams, such as those encoding the NorB and AbcA transporters. To identify the target genes regulated by NorG, we carried out transcriptional profiling assays using S. aureus RN6390 and its isogenic norG::cat mutant. Our data showed that NorG positively affected the transcription of global regulators mgrA, arlS, and sarZ. The three putative drug efflux pump genes most positively affected by NorG were the NorB efflux pump (5.1-fold), the MmpL-like protein SACOL2566 (5.2-fold), and the BcrA-like drug transporter SACOL2525 (5.7-fold). The S. aureus predicted MmpL protein showed 53% homology with the MmpL lipid transporter of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the putative SACOL2525 protein showed 87% homology with the bacitracin drug transporter BcrA of Staphylococcus hominis. Two pump genes most negatively affected by NorG were NorC (4-fold) ...
It is becoming clear that simple sequence repeats (SSRs) play a significant role in fungal genome organization, and they are a large source of genetic markers for population genetics and meiotic maps. We identified SSRs in the Laccaria bicolor genome by in silico survey and analyzed their distribution in the different genomic regions. We also compared the abundance and distribution of SSRs in L. bicolor with those of the following fungal genomes: Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Coprinopsis cinerea, Ustilago maydis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus nidulans, Magnaporthe grisea, Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using the MISA computer program, we detected 277,062 SSRs in the L. bicolor genome representing 8% of the assembled genomic sequence. Among the analyzed basidiomycetes, L. bicolor exhibited the highest SSR density although no correlation between relative abundance and the genome sizes was observed. In most genomes the short motifs (mono- to ...
Laron syndrome (LS) is an autosomal recessively inherited condition characterized by insensitivity to endogenous and exogenous GH. Affected individuals have severe episodes and other characteristic features. GH receptor gene mutations are present in all affected individuals in whom molecular studies have been reported. The GH receptor is a plasma membrane-spanning protein in which the extracellular domain binds circulating GH and the intracellular domain interacts with the JAK-2 kinase and possibly other intracellular signaling molecules. GH receptor dimerization occurs on GH binding and is thought to be required for normal signal transduction. We have studied the GH receptor genes of four unrelated individuals affected with LS from the United States, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and India. We have identified four different missense mutations that alter consecutive amino acids 152 to 155 in or near the dimerization domain of the GH receptor. One of these mutations, D152H, ...
The origin of the epithelial and myoepithelial cells in the human breast has not been delineated. In this study we have addressed whether luminal epithelial cells and myoepithelial cells are vertically connected, i.e., whether one is the precursor for the other. We used a primary culture assay allowing preservation of basic phenotypic traits of luminal epithelial and myoepithelial cells in culture. The two cell types were then separated immunomagnetically using antibodies directed against lineage-specific cell surface antigens into at best 100% purity. The cellular identity was ascertained by cytochemistry, immunoblotting, and 2-D gel electrophoresis. Luminal epithelial cells were identified by strong expression of cytokeratins 18 and 19 while myoepithelial cells were recognized by expression of vimentin and {alpha}-smooth muscle actin. We used a previously devised culture medium (CDM4) that allows vigorous expansion of proliferative ...
Carbon isotope discrimination (?(13) C) is considered a useful indicator for indirect selection of grain yield (GY) in cereals. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the genetic variation in ?(13) C and its relationship with GY. A doubled haploid (DH) population derived from a cross of two common wheat varieties, Hanxuan 10 (H10) and Lumai 14 (L14), was phenotyped for ?(13) C in the flag leaf, GY and yield associated traits in two trials contrasted by water availability, specifically, rain-fed and irrigated. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified by single locus and two locus QTL analyses. QTLs for ?(13) C were located on chromosomes 1A, 2B, 3B, 5A, 7A and 7B, and QTLs for other traits on all chromosomes except 1A, 4D, 5A, 5B and 6D. The population selected for high ?(13) C had an increased frequency of QTL for high ?(13) C, GY and number of spikes per plant (NSP) when grown under rain-fed conditions and only for high ?(13) C and NSP ...
This guide is one of the actions following from the recommendations of the Thermie B project that aimed to support the development of a new European Integrated Clean Coal (CCT) Program concept (STR - 1121 - 96), November 1998. The concept aimed to enhance the market deployment of EU CCTs. This guide is prepared for EU industry to help them finding support for their CCT exports to the target markets. The guide will include easy accessible information on the most relevant EC-programs and is intended as a practical tool for EU CCT industry, to assist them in identifying and selecting the export support and programs best able to support their specific export assistance. The guide is a manual (signpost) through the 'jungle of assistance' and therefore does not include extensive information on application procedures, since this kind of information can be easily obtained, once the relevant ...
Nucleotide sequence analysis of a genomic clone from an Ashkenazic Jewish patient with type 1 Gaucher disease revealed a single-base mutation (adenosine to guanosine transition) in exon 9 of the glucocerebrosidase gene. This change results in the amino acid substitution of serine for asparagine. Transient expression studies following oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of the normal cDNA confirmed that the mutation results in loss of glucocerebrosidase activity. Allele-specific hybridization with oligonucleotide probes demonstrated that this mutation was found exclusively in type 1 phenotype. None of the 6 type 2 patients, 11 type 3 patients, or 12 normal controls had this allele. In contrast, 15 of 24 type 1 patients had one allele with this mutation, and 3 others were homozygous for the mutation. Furthermore, some of the Ashkenazic Jewish type 1 patients had only one allele with this mutation, suggesting that even in this population there is allelic ...
This is the 1st revision of the INIS/ETDE Joint Thesaurus. It contains 20 953 valid descriptors and 8 600 forbidden terms. It was last updated in December 2003. The Joint Thesaurus contains the controlled terminology for indexing all information within the subject scope of both INIS (International Nuclear Information System) and ETDE (Energy Technology Data Exchange) information systems. The terminology is intended for use in subject description for input or retrieval of information in those systems. The thesaurus is a terminological control device used in translating from the natural language of documents, indexers or users into a more constrained system language It is also a controlled and dynamic vocabulary of semantically and generically related terms which covers a specific domain of knowledge. The domain of knowledge covered by this Thesaurus includes physics (in particular, plasma physics, atomic ...
This project aims at developing risk-informed application technologies to enhance the safety and economy of nuclear power plant altogether. For this, the Integrated Level 1 and 2 PSA model is developed. In addition, the fire and internal flooding PSA models are improved according to the PSA standard of U.S.A. To solve the issues of domestic PSA model, the best-estimate thermal hydraulic analyses are preformed for the ATWS and LSSB. In order to reduce the uncertainty of PSA, several new PSA technologies are developed: (1) more exact quantification of large fault tree, (2) importance measure including the effects of external PSA. As feasibility studies of Option 2 and 3, the class of 6 systems' SSC are re-classified based on the risk information and the sensitivity analyses is performed for the EDG starting time, respectively. It is also improved that the methodology to identify the vital area of NPP. The research ...
This study effort was required as a preliminary step prior to initiation of field measurements of atmospheric dispersion in coastal regions. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is in the process of planning an extensive field measurement program to generate data which will serve as improved data bases for licensing decisions, confirmation of regulations, standards, and guides, and for site characterizations. The study being reported here is an effort directed to obtaining as much information as is possible from existing studies that is relevant toward NRC's objectives. For this study, reports covering research and meteorological measurements conducted for industrial purposes, utility needs, military objectives, and academic studies were obtained and critically reviewed in light of NRC's current data needs. This report provides an interpretation of the extent of existing usable information, an indication of the potential ...
While no mine in Queensland has yet extracted shale oil economically, large resources of oil shale are known to occur throughout the State. These resources have been reported to the Queensland Department of Resource Industries (formerly the Department of Mines) according to a number of different parameters, using numerous methods of calculation and in some instances, detailed and comprehensive supporting information has not been provided. This paper outlines present methods of calculation and reporting of oil shale resources. A more uniform system of reporting resources of Queensland oil shale is desirable to enable an accountable and reliable estimate of resources to be made. It is intended that a code for the reporting of identified oil shale resources based on the present Australian codes for the reporting of identified mineral and coal resources be prepared, and that the importance of determining the level of confidence ...
The overall objective of the study in this report was to gather data on waste management technologies to allow comparison of various alternatives for managing municipal solid waste (MSW). The specific objectives of the study were to: 1. Compile detailed data for existing waste management technologies on costs, environmental releases, energy requirements and production, and coproducts such as recycled materials and compost. Identify missing information necessary to make energy, economic, and environmental comparisons of various MSW management technologies, and define needed research that could enhance the usefulness of the technology. 3. Develop a data base that can be used to identify the technology that best meets specific criteria defined by a user of the data base. Volume I contains the report text. Volume II contains supporting exhibits. Volumes III through X are appendices, each addressing a specific MSW management ...
Identifying gear damage categories, especially for early faults and combined faults, is a challenging task in gear fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a new multidimensional hybrid intelligent diagnosis method to identify different categories and levels of gear damage automatically. In this method, Hilbert transform, wavelet packet transform (WPT) and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) are performed on gear vibration signals to extract additional fault characteristic information. Then, multidimensional feature sets including time-domain, frequency-domain and time-frequency-domain features are generated to reveal gear health conditions. Multiple classifiers based on several classification algorithms and input features are combined with genetic algorithm (GA). Because of the use of multidim...
Web Services and mobile data services are the newest trends in information systems engineering in wired and wireless domains, respectively. Web Services have a broad range of service distributions while mobile phones have large and expanding user base. To address the confluence of Web Services and pervasive mobile devices and communication environments, a basic mobile Web Service provider was developed for smart phones. The performance of this Mobile Host was also analyzed in detail. Further analysis of the Mobile Host to provide proper QoS and to check Mobile Host's feasibility in the P2P networks, identified the necessity of a mediation framework. The paper describes the research conducted with the Mobile Host, identifies the tasks of the mediation framework and then discusses the feasible realization details of such a mobile Web Services mediation framework.
The objective of this project is to eliminate three closely inter-related barriers to oil production in Alaska through the use of a geographic information system (GIS) and other information technology strategies. These barriers involve identification of oil development potential from existing wells, planning projects to efficiently avoid conflicts with other interests, and gaining state approvals for exploration and development projects. Each barrier is the result of either current labor-intensive methods or poorly accessible information. This project brings together three parts of the oil exploration, development, and permitting process to form the foundation for a more fully integrated information technology infrastructure for the State of Alaska. This web-based system will enable the public and other review participants to track permit status, submit and view comments, and obtain important project ...
Good performance in extended lactations of dairy cattle may have a beneficial effect on food costs, health, and fertility. Because data for extended lactation performance is scarce, lactation persistency has been suggested as a suitable selection criterion. Persistency phenotypes were calculated in several ways: P1 was yield relative to an approximate peak, P2 was the slope after peak production, and P3 was a measure derived to be phenotypically uncorrelated to yield and calculated as a function of linear regressions on test-day deviations of days in milk. Phenotypes P1, P2, and P3 were calculated for sires as solutions estimated from a random regression model fitted to milk yield. Because total milk yield, calculated as the sum of daily sire solutions, was correlated to P1 and P2 (r=0.30 ...
The detectors used in the TS93 balloon flight produced a large volume of information for each cosmic ray trigger. Some of the data was visual in nature, other portions contained energy deposition and timing information. The data sets are amenable to conventional analysis techniques but there is no assurance that conventional techniques make full use of subtle correlations and relations amongst the detector responses. With the advent of neural network technologies, particularly adept at classification of complex phenomena, it would seem appropriate to explore the utility of neural network techniques to classify particles observed with the instruments. In this paper neural network based methodology for signal/background discrimination in a cosmic ray space experiment is discussed. Results are presented for electron and positron classification in the TS93 flight data set and will be compared to conventional analyses.
An expert system was developed which helps maintenance personnel diagnose the condition of rotor and stator windings and their cores, in motors and generators rated 2300 V and above. The expert system, called MICAA[TM], used an approach which has been found to be effective for diagnosing medical problems. The program required the user to input machine nameplate information, operating status, and any past test data available. In addition, the program would suggest tests that may be useful, as well as provide guidance to maintenance personnel on what to look for in visual inspections of the machine. The expert system stored and correlated all this information, calculated the overall condition of the component in question, and identified the most likely specific causes of any deterioration. The basic methodology of motor and generator condition assessment, and the architecture and processing performed by MICAA to obtain these ...
Objective: To describe the meaning of the theme of empowerment from research on health promotion in nursing from the perspective of nurses participating in the study. Methods: Manual data analysis and QSR NUD*IST Vivo were used to analyse the data generated by individual and focus group interviews and the critical incident technique with 32 qualified nurses working in an acute hospital setting in the UK. Results: The participants identified a number of issues related to the theme of empowerment. These included the nurse as patient informer, psychological supporter and rapport builder and the concepts of informed choice/decision making, gatekeeping, coping, patient assertiveness, self-esteem and confidence. Conclusion: Empowerment is a complex, multi-dimensional, contested concept which can...
The objective of this study was to provide a framework for land use and resource allocation decisions in the Northeast Coal Block of British Columbia. The area was divided into a number of sites, and information gathered in two main areas, 1) status of the resource base, and 2) resource management/planning/development. A map and physical description of each site is provided as well as such information as - air quality, soils, vegetation, water resources, petroleum and natural gas resources, coal resources, and gravel resources, agricultural resources, timber resources, fisheries and wildlife resources, recreatational and aesthetic (visual) resources. The appendix volume provides a summary of the institutional management framework and approval procedures for all significant resource sectors. Provincial legislation and government acts are identified.
This document contains a summarization of the results and insights from the Level 1 accident sequence analyses of internally initiated events, internally initiated fire and flood events, seismically initiated events, and the Level 2/3 risk analysis of internally initiated events (excluding fire and flood) for Surry, Unit 1. The analysis was confined to mid-loop operation, which can occur during three plant operational states (identified as POSs R6 and R10 during a refueling outage, and POS D6 during drained maintenance). The report summarizes the Level 1 information contained in Volumes 2--5 and the Level 2/3 information contained in Volume 6 of NUREG/CR-6144.
Purpose - In light of the growth of internet usage and its important role in the field of e-commerce, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has been changing people's behavior and decisions. People count on other users' opinions and information; they sometimes even make offline decisions based on information acquired online. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise eWOM activity from an input-process-output (IPO) perspective; propose a classification framework based on the identified academic literature; analyze eWOM literature in terms of quantitative development and qualitative issues that are useful to both academics and researchers; and provide directions and guidelines for future research studies in eWOM. Design/methodology/approach - The authors performed a systematic literature revie...
Background. Every year, millions of people travel to countries where rabies is enzootic. However, the quality of rabies-specific information provided by travel health advisors and the extent of their knowledge about pre- and postexposure prophylaxis have not been examined on a large-scale basis up to now. Methods. 5,780 German physicians and pharmacists, who identified themselves as active travel health advisors, were chosen from a database. The selected providers were asked to complete an Internet-based questionnaire. The form requested both demographic information and the assessment of different concrete scenarios, each of which featured individuals seeking pretravel advice on rabies or appropriate postexposure treatment after returning from abroad. Results. Overall, 496 physicians and p...
To predict air quality properly at a given location, it is necessary to identify all emission sources that will have significant impact at that location. Furthermore, the atmospheric pollutants that are emitted by these sources must be identified and quantitatively characterized. Once the air-quality predictions have been made, it is desirable to have some historical air-quality data for comparison. An efficient means of obtaining this information is through the use of detailed emission inventories and an inventory of air-quality-monitoring stations. Therefore, as part of the Alberta Government/Industry Acid Deposition Research Program (ADRP), three comprehensive inventories have been developed, namely: a sulfur dioxide (SO/sub 2/) emission inventory, a nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission inventory, and an inventory of air-quality-monitoring stations. Volume 2, Design of the Emission Inventory, presents detailed ...
There is a model on the Oak Ridge Reservation which provides requirements for determining capacities and capabilities related to low-level, hazardous, and mixed wastes. In FY 1987, the model will be sufficiently advanced to provide various waste management scenarios. These scenarios will be compared technically, operationally, and financially by use of waste characterization data and process simulators that are currently under development. The results of the process simulations will be used to help identify waste treatment, storage, and disposal technologies that need to be demonstrated prior to full-scale development for DOE use. The information derived from this effort will be made available to all DOE facilities.
Event-based biosurveillance is a scientific discipline in which diverse streams of data, available from the Internet, are characterized prospectively to provide information on infectious disease events. Biosurveillance complements traditional public health surveillance to provide both early warning of infectious disease events as well as situational awareness. The Global Health Security Action Group (GHSAG) of the Global Health Security Initiative is developing a biosurveillance capability that integrates and leverages component systems from member nations. This work discusses these biosurveillance systems and identifies needed future studies.
The potential public safety impacts from accidents in conceptual fusion power plants were investigated. Fusion was found to have some potential for accidents, as does any energy generating system. Functions of fusion power plants were identified that possess sufficient potential for an accidental release of toxic materials to the environment. An assessment was made of the impact of the potential accidents and recommendations are included for R and D that will allow incorporation of safety concerns in fusion power plant design. This work was based on a review of information available in conceptual design documents of fusion reactor systems.
The potential public safety impacts from accidents in conceptual fusion power plants were investigated. Fusion was found to have some potential for accidents, as does any energy generating system. Functions of fusion power plants were identified that possess sufficient potential for an accidental release of toxic materials to the environment. An assessment was made of the impact of the potential accidents and recommendations are included for R and D that will allow incorporation of safety concerns in fusion power plant design. This work was based on a review of information available in conceptual design documents of fusion reactor systems.
This document summarizes development trends in sodium/sulfur battery technology based on data from US patents. Purpose of the study was to use the activity, timing and ownership of 285 US patents to identify and describe broad patterns of change in sodium/sulfur battery technology. The analysis was conducted using newly developed statistical and computer graphic techniques for describing technology development trends from patent data. This analysis suggests that for some technologies trends in patent data provide useful information for public and private R and D planning.
The exchange of information and experience among Member Sates is an essential component of the IAEA action plan for addressing the Year 2000 problem. The objective is to enable Member States to identify any gaps in their own conversion programmes, benefit form the experience of others in developing remedial actions and establish the basis for future action to solve remaining problems. Experts in Year 2000 issues particularly those related to digital equipment prepared this report dealing with nuclear fuel cycle facilities
The purpose of-this planning guide is to present the process used to identify, document, and control PFP Stabilization and Deactivation Project interfaces. Revisions to this document will include, as attachments, the most recent version of the Project Interface Management List. A preliminary Interface Management List is included in Appendix A. This document is intended be a Project owned management tool. As such, this document will periodically require revisions resulting from improvements of the information, processes, and techniques as now described. For most revisions that suggest improved processes, PFP management approval is all that will be required.
Event-based biosurveillance is a scientific discipline in which diverse sources of data, many of which are available from the Internet, are characterized prospectively to provide information on infectious disease events. Biosurveillance complements traditional public health surveillance to provide both early warning of infectious disease events and situational awareness. The Global Health Security Action Group of the Global Health Security Initiative is developing a biosurveillance capability that integrates and leverages component systems from member nations. This work discusses these biosurveillance systems and identifies needed future studies.
Cesium-137 has contaminated a large area of the wetlands on the Savannah River Site. Remediation of the contaminated wetlands is problematic because current techniques destroy the sensitive ecosystem and generate a higher dose to workers. To address this problem, we proposed a non-trusive, in situ technology to sequester 137Cs in sediments. One intention of this study was to provide information regarding a go/no go decision for future work. Since the proof-of-concept was successful and several minerals were identified as potential candidates for this technology, a go decision was made.
The reasons for including variance-covariance information in evaluated nuclear data files are reviewed. Accomplihments and obstacles in meeting these needs are identified. The capability to develop and utilize evaluated cross-section covariance files has been largely demonstrated, but comprehensive files of soundly based covariance data remain to be evaluated and not all types of cross-section data have yet been included. The status of the ENDF-VI covariance formats is discussed. Priorities are suggested for further development. Most effort should be concentrated to fully develop the capability to estimate the nuclear data uncertainties in quantities calculated for a broad energy spectrum. 12 refs.
DescriptionFarm-level estimates of the financial impact of regulation are important indicators of the effect that a regulation have. Such estimates should be included in RIA, particularly within the Small Firms Impact Test. This farm-level analysis can be used in the RIA to inform judgements of the affordability of the regulation proposal. It will help to identify which farm types are likely to be financially had-hit from the regulation. Farm-level cost estimates for each regulation are also required t [continued...
'As part of the Computer Protection Plan, this Network Security Plan identifies the specific security measures used to protect Bechtel Hanford, Inc.'s (BHI's) enterprise network. The network consists of the communication infrastructure and information systems used by BHI to perform work related to the Environmental Restoration Contract (ERC) at the Hanford Site. It provides electronic communication between the ERC-leased facilities in Richland, Washington, and facilities located on the Hanford Site. Network gateways to other site and offsite networks provide electronic communication with the remainder of the Hanford community.'
Purpose of this assessment for this town in the Slovak Republic is to develop information on the building sector energy efficiency and improvement potential for use by town management to support decisions on providing energy services to Handlova citizens. Objectives were to characterize baseline space and water heat energy use and efficiency improvement potential in the residential and nonresidential building sectors. Intention was to identify major areas of efficiency improvement potential and cost-effectiveness. Four levels of energy and fuel prices were used. A significant efficiency resource exists in the space and water heating end uses in these building sectors; it amounts to 42% of the total building sector space and water heat energy consumption.
Purpose.To evaluate morphologic and functional contributions of Arrestin 1 (Arr1) and Arrestin 4 (Arr4) in cone photoreceptors, the authors examined the phenotypes of visual arrestin...Full Text Available
Synthetic gene networks can be used to control gene expression and cellular phenotypes in a variety of applications. In many instances, however, such networks can behave unreliably due to gene expression...Full Text Available
In addition to the well documented role of cytokines in mediating tissue-level interactions, it is now clear that matrix macromolecules fulfil a complementary regulatory function. Data highlighted in...Full Text Available
Materials and MethodsThe genomic effects of tumor-endothelial interactions in cancer are not yet well characterized. To study this interaction in breast...Full Text Available
BackgroundPerichondrium is recognized as a tissue with chondrogenic potential yielding cells which can be used for osteochondral repair. Factors which influence the proliferative...Full Text Available
Depleted uranium (DU) is a dense heavy metal used primarily in military applications. Although the health effects of occupational uranium exposure are well known, limited data exist regarding the long-term...Full Text Available
Eukaryotic genome size varies over five orders of magnitude; however, the distribution is strongly skewed toward small values. Genome size is highly correlated to a number of phenotypic traits, suggesting...Full Text Available
PurposeTo date there remains no effective therapy for metastatic melanoma and at the molecular level disease progression remains poorly understood. Recent work by...Full Text Available
BackgroundActivation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) within antigen presenting cells (APCs) is linked to abnormal APCs differentiation and function....Full Text Available
Mouse lines with behavioral phenotypes relevant to symptoms in neurodevelopmental disorders may provide models to test hypotheses about disease etiology and to evaluate potential treatments....Full Text Available
The purpose of this study was to determine the occurrence and genotypic relatedness of Salmonella enterica isolates recovered from feed and fecal samples in commercial swine production...Full Text Available
We previously reported that global deletion of insulin receptor substrate protein 1 (Irs1) extends lifespan and increases resistance to several age-related pathologies in female mice....Full Text Available
Genomic disorders are conditions that result from DNA rearrangements, such as deletions or duplications. The identification of the dosage-sensitive gene(s) within the rearranged genomic interval is...Full Text Available
Successful implementation of bone marrow transplantation for hematopoietic reconstitution is limited by the lack of suitably HLA-matched donors and by the occurrence of graft-versus-host disease that...Full Text Available
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has emerged in recent years as an important process in the development of organ fibrosis in many human diseases. Our previous experience in a nonhuman primate...Full Text Available
... Fluctuating Incubation Temperatures in the Multi-banded Krait, Bungarus multicintus (Elapidae)Xiang Ji1,2,*, Jian-Fang Gao1, ... rather than applying constant-temperature regimes. We incubated Bungarus mu...
Toxicogenomics provides the ability to examine in greater detail the underlying molecular events that precede and accompany toxicity, thus allowing prediction of adverse events at much earlier...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVENicotinamide adenine dinucleotides (NAD+ and NADH) play a crucial role in cellular energy metabolism, and a dysregulated NAD+-to-NADH ratio is implicated...Full Text Available
The epigenome consists of non–sequence-based modifications, such as DNA methylation, that are heritable during cell division and that may affect normal phenotypes and predisposition...Full Text Available
About 20% of adults are persistently colonized with S. aureus in the anterior nares. Host genetic factors could contribute susceptibility to this phenotype. The objective of...Full Text Available
Ever since the pre-molecular era, the birth of new genes with novel functions has been considered to be a major contributor to adaptive evolutionary innovation. Here, I review the origin and evolution...Full Text Available
Objectives:Copy number variants (CNVs) have been recognized as a source of genetic variation that contributes to disease phenotypes. Alzheimer disease (AD) has high heritability...Full Text Available
The imaging analytical capabilities of laser scanning cytometer (LSC) have been used to assess morphological features considered to be typical of the senescent phenotype. The characteristic “flattening”...Full Text Available
BackgroundMutations that impair mitochondrial functioning are associated with a variety of metabolic and age-related disorders. A barrier to rigorous tests of the role of mitochondrial...Full Text Available
Wild-type viruses from the ViroLogic phenotype-genotype database were evaluated to determine the upper confidence limit of the drug susceptibility distributions, or “biological cutoffs,”...Full Text Available
E-cadherin is the primary cell adhesion molecule within the epithelium, and loss of this protein is associated with a more aggressive tumour phenotype and poorer patient prognosis in many cancers. Loss...Full Text Available
Purpose: Small animal micro-CT imaging is being used increasingly in preclinical biomedical research to provide phenotypic descriptions of genomic models. Most of this imaging is coincident...Full Text Available
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a switch of polarized epithelial cells to a migratory, fibroblastoid phenotype, is considered a key process driving tumor cell invasiveness and metastasis....Full Text Available
The development of azole resistance in Candida albicans is most problematic in patients with AIDS who receive long courses of drug for therapy or prevention of oral candidiasis. Recently,...Full Text Available
Insulin resistance in skeletal muscle is a key phenotype associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) for which the molecular mediators remain unclear. We therefore conducted an expression analysis of human...Full Text Available
Life history theory proposes that early-life cues induce highly integrated responses in traits associated with energy partitioning, maturation, reproduction, and aging such that the individual phenotype...Full Text Available
Hereditary hypouricemia may result from mutations in the renal tubular uric acid transporter URAT1. Whether mutation of other uric acid transporters produces a similar phenotype is unknown. We studied...Full Text Available
The supramammillary nucleus (SuM) provides substantial projections to the hippocampal formation. This hypothalamic structure is involved in the regulation of hippocampal theta rhythm and therefore...Full Text Available
BackgroundSize and body proportions at birth are partly determined by maternal body composition, but most studies of mother-baby relationships have only considered...Full Text Available
Mood and anxiety disorders and rodent phenotypic measures modeling these disorders have a strong genetic component. Various assays are used to study the neurobiological basis of fear- and anxiety-related...Full Text Available
The genetic architecture of complex traits underlying physiology and disease in most organisms remains elusive. We still know little about the number of genes that underlie these traits, the magnitude...Full Text Available
Human blinding disorders are often initiated by hereditary mutations that insult rod and/or cone photoreceptors and cause subsequent cellular death. Generally, the disease phenotype can be predicted...Full Text Available
The murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) M33 gene is conserved among all betaherpesviruses and encodes a homologue of seven-transmembrane receptors (7TMR) with the capacity for constitutive signaling. Previous...Full Text Available
Gene expression data has been used in lieu of phenotype in both classical and quantitative genetic settings. These two disciplines have separate approaches to measuring and interpreting epistasis, which...Full Text Available
Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been widely used as a stress-related phenotypic marker of developmental instability. However, previous studies relating FA to various stressful conditions have produced...Full Text Available
BackgroundNF-κB is a survival signaling transcription factor complex involved in the malignant phenotype of many cancers, including squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). The citrus...Full Text Available
Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos exposed to ethanol have developed craniofacial, cardiovascular and skeletal defects which can be compared with the phenotypic features...Full Text Available
Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) maps to a region on distal mouse chromosome 7 that has been linked to the phenotypes of obesity and type II diabetes. We recently reported that UCP2 expression is increased...Full Text Available
Metazoan life cycles can be complex in different ways. A number of diverse phenotypes and reproductive events can sequentially occur along the cycle, and at certain stages a variety of developmental...Full Text Available
A number of aberrant morphological phenotypes were noted during propagation of the Arabidopsis thaliana DNA hypomethylation mutant, ddm1, by repeated self-pollination. Onset of a spectrum of morphological...Full Text Available
Mechanisms for differential regulation of gene expression may underlie much of the phenotypic variation and adaptability of malaria parasites. Here we describe transcriptional variation among culture-adapted...Full Text Available
PurposeTo analyze the contributions of cytochrome P4501B1 (CYP1B1) mutations to primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) in Spanish patients.MethodsWe...Full Text Available
SummaryDNA-based tests are increasingly being used to predict a blood group phenotype. This is possible because genes encoding 29 of the 30 blood group systems have been cloned and sequenced,...Full Text Available
BackgroundBlood group O has been significantly associated with increased placental malaria infection in primiparae and reduced risk of infection in multiparae in the Gambia, an area...Full Text Available
Human arylamine N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity is determined by two distinct genes, NAT1 and NAT2, and the classical acetylation polymorphism in NAT2 has been associated with a variety of disorders,...Full Text Available
Threat characterization is a key component in evaluating the threat faced by control systems. Without a thorough understanding of the threat faced by critical infrastructure networks, adequate resources cannot be allocated or directed effectively to the defense of these systems. Traditional methods of threat analysis focus on identifying the capabilities and motivations of a specific attacker, assessing the value the adversary would place on targeted systems, and deploying defenses according to the threat posed by the potential adversary. Too many effective exploits and tools exist and are easily accessible to anyone with access to an Internet connection, minimal technical skills, and a significantly reduced motivational threshold to be able to narrow the field of potential adversaries effectively. Understanding how hackers evaluate new IT security research and incorporate significant new ideas into their own tools provides a means of anticipating how IT systems ...
A plethora of experimental studies use mtDNA as a marker of demographic processes without questioning the possibility that selection may bias their interpretations. We studied four lines of Drosophila melanogaster that have a standardized nuclear DNA but variable mtDNA. We completed the sequencing of the mitochondrial genomes (excluding the A+T rich region) and compiled the differences. We then assayed male influence on oviposition, starvation resistance, lipid proportion and physical activity. We discuss these results in terms of the known differences between the lines and conclude that naturally occurring mtDNA variants in D. melanogaster are expressed at the level of the organismal phenotype. PMID:21757031
This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) plan addresses closure for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 118, Area 27 Super Kukla Facility, identified in the ''Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order''. Corrective Action Unit 118 consists of one Corrective Action Site (CAS), 27-41-01, located in Area 27 of the Nevada Test Site. Corrective Action Site 27-41-01 consists of the following four structures: (1) Building 5400A, Reactor High Bay; (2) Building 5400, Reactor Building and access tunnel; (3) Building 5410, Mechanical Building; and (4) Wooden Shed, a.k.a. ''Brock House''. This plan provides the methodology for field activities needed to gather the necessary information for closing the CAS. There is sufficient information and process knowledge from historical documentation and site confirmation data collected in 2005 and 2006 to ...
The Phase I feasibility study has focused on determining the availability of information for estimating exposures of the public to chemicals and radionuclides released as a result of historical operation of the facilities at the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). The estimation of such past exposures is frequently called dose reconstruction. The initial project tasks, Tasks 1 and 2 were designed to identify and collect information that documents the history of activities at the ORR that resulted in the release of contamination and to characterize the availability of data that could be used to estimate the magnitude of the contaminant releases or public exposures. A history of operations that are likely to have generated off-site releases has been documented as a result of Task 1 activities. The activities required to perform this task involved the extensive review of historical operation records and interviews with present and ...
AbstractOBJECTIVETo provide an overview of the 2009 edition of the Rourke Baby Record (RBR), which incorporates recent research in the literature relating to preventive health care for children aged 0 to 5 years.QUALITY OF EVIDENCERecommendations are identified as supported by good, fair, or consensus evidence, according to the classification of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.MAIN MESSAGENew information and recommendations are given for growth monitoring, nutrition, developmental surveillance, physical examination maneuvers, immunization schedules, and advice for parents. Anticipatory guidance updates relate to injury prevention, infant swaddling, literacy facilitation, nonparental child care, parenting skills programs, serum lead levels, over-the-counter cough and cold medications, pacifiers, antipyretics, insect repellents, and dental care and oral health. The 2009 RBR is available in English and French in both National and ...
Although hearing loss has been the focus of national surveys in the civilian population, these surveys typically do not include occupational exposure information. Furthermore, very few studies have addressed this problem in the military, particularly in industrial settings. Audiometric data, including hearing loss information, recorded and stored in the prototype application of the Navy's Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS) has not been systematically evaluated to identify military and civilian populations that are at high risk for hearing loss. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of hearing loss in a cohort of Navy civilian workers employed at an industrialized facility. It is both appropriate and timely to look at hearing loss among civilian workers, as well as among the military, especially in relation to the recent Presidential initiative that ...
This is the second revision of the ETDE/INIS Joint Thesaurus, including all updates up to September 2006. It contains 21 147 valid descriptors and 9 114 forbidden terms. The Joint Thesaurus contains the controlled terminology for indexing all information within the subject scopes of the International Nuclear Information System (INIS) and the Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE). The terminology is intended for use in subject descriptions for input or retrieval of information in these systems. The thesaurus is a terminological control device used in translating from the natural language of documents, indexers or users into a more constrained system language It is also a controlled and dynamic vocabulary of semantically and generically related terms which covers a specific domain of knowledge. The basic terminology in this thesaurus goes back to the 1969 edition of the EURATOM Thesaurus. The structure subsequently given to ...
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) must, among other things, be equipped to readily produce, file, store, access, retrieve, and transfer a wide variety of technical and institutional data and information. The data and information regularly produced by members of the OCRWM Program supports, and will continue to support, a wide range of program activities. Some of the more important of these information communication-related activities include: supporting the preparation, submittal, and review of a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to authorize the construction of a geologic repository; responding to requests for information from parties affected by and/or interested in the program; and providing evidence of compliance with all relevant Federal, State, local, and Indian Tribe regulations, statutes, and/or treaties. The OCRWM Telecommunications Network ...
This is the second technical report, covering the period from April 1, 2003 through September 30, 2003. This project brings together three parts of the oil exploration, development, and permitting process to form the foundation for a more fully integrated information technology infrastructure for the State of Alaska. The geo-technical component is a shared effort between the State Department of Administration and the US Department of Energy. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is rapidly converting high volumes of paper documents and geo-technical information to formats suitable for search and retrieval over the Internet. The permitting component is under the lead of the DNR Office of Project Management and Permitting. A web-based system will enable the public and other review participants to track permit status, submit and view comments, and obtain important project information on-line. By automating several ...
Network security is a discipline that focuses on securing networks from unauthorized access. Given the Escalating threats of malicious cyber attacks, modern enterprises employ multiple lines of defense. A comprehensive defense strategy against such attacks should include (I) an attack detection component that deter- mines the fact that a program is compromised, (2) an attack identification and prevention component that identifies attack packets so that one can block such packets in the future and prevents the attack from further propagation. Over the last decade, a significant amount of research has been vested in the systems that can detect cyber attacks either statically at compile time or dynamically at run time, However, not much effort is spent on automated attack packet identification or attack prevention. In this paper we present a unified solution to the problems mentioned above. We implemented this solution after the forward engineering of Open Source ...
This Maintenance Implementation Plan (MIP) has been developed for maintenance functions associated with the B Plant/WESF (Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility) complex. The objective of this plan is to provide baseline information for establishing and identifying WHC conformance programs and policies applicable to implementation of DOE order 4330.4B guidelines. In addition, this maintenance plan identifies the actions necessary to develop a cost-effective and efficient maintenance program at B Plant/WESF. The B Plant WESF facility complex consists of three main facilities and several support structures located in the 200 East Area of the Hanford site. B Plant is a transition facility that is required to ensure safe storage and management of WESF (operating facility) cesium and strontium capsules. B Plant/WESF also contains substantial radiological inventory from previous campaigns. There are no production activities at B ...
Salinisation of freshwater has been identified as a serious environmental issue in Australia and around the world. Protective concentrations (trigger values) for salinity can be used to manage salinity impacts, though require locally relevant salinity tolerance information. 72-h acute salinity tolerance values were determined for 102 macroinvertebrates collected from 11 locations in four biologically distinct freshwater bio-regions in Northeast Australia and compared with sensitivities observed in Southeast Australia. The salinity tolerance of individual taxa was consistent across Northeast Australia and between Northeast and Southeast Australia. However, two distinct communities were identified in Northeast Australia using distributions of the acute tolerance values and a calculated index of salinity sensitivity. Salinity trigger values should therefore be representative of local or regionally relevant communities and may ...
The overall objective of the study in this report was to gather data on waste management technologies to allow comparison of various alternatives for managing municipal solid waste (MSW). The specific objectives of the study were to: 1. Compile detailed data for existing waste management technologies on costs, environmental releases, energy requirements and production, and coproducts such as recycled materials and compost. Identify missing information necessary to make energy, economic, and environmental comparisons of various MSW management technologies, and define needed research that could enhance the usefulness of the technology. 3. Develop a data base that can be used to identify the technology that best meets specific criteria defined by a user of the data base. Volume I contains the report text. Volume II contains supporting exhibits. Volumes III through X are appendices, each addressing a specific MSW management ...
This report identifies individual contaminants and contaminant mixtures that have been measured in the ground at 91 waste sites at 18 US Department of Energy (DOE) facilities within the weapons complex. The inventory of chemicals and mixtures was used to identify generic chemical mixtures to be used by DOE's Subsurface Science Program in basic research on the subsurface geochemical and microbiological behavior of mixed contaminants (DOE 1990a and b). The generic mixtures contain specific radionuclides, metals, organic ligands, organic solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in various binary and ternary combinations. The mixtures are representative of in-ground contaminant associations at DOE facilities that are likely to exhibit complex geochemical behavior as a result of intercontaminant reactions and/or microbiologic activity stimulated by organic substances. Use of the generic mixtures will focus research ...
This report describes the work performed during FY 1995 by Pacific Northwest Laboratory in developing and optimizing analysis techniques for identifying organics present in Hanford waste tanks. The main focus was to provide a means for rapidly obtaining the most useful information concerning the organics present in tank waste, with minimal sample handling and with minimal waste generation. One major focus has been to optimize analytical methods for organic speciation. Select methods, such as atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry, were developed to increase the speciation capabilities, while minimizing sample handling. A capillary electrophoresis method was developed to improve separation capabilities while minimizing additional waste generation. In addition, considerable emphasis has been placed on developing a rapid screening tool, based on Raman and ...
This Maintenance Improvement Plan has been developed for maintenance functions associated with the 222-S Laboratory. This plan is developed from the guidelines presented by Department of Energy (DOE) Order 4330.4B, Maintenance Management Program (DOE 1994), Chapter 11. The objective of this plan is to provide information for establishing and identifying WMH conformance programs and policies applicable to implementation of DOE Order 4330.4B guidelines. In addition, this maintenance plan identifies the actions necessary to develop a cost effective and efficient maintenance program at 222-S Laboratory. Maintenance activities are mainly going to be performed by existing maintenance organizations within Waste Management Federal Services of Hanford (WMH). Most maintenance performed at 222-S Laboratory is performed by the 222-S Laboratory maintenance organization. This 222-S Laboratory Maintenance Implementation Plan provides the ...
WIPS (Whip and Impact of Piping Systems) is a special purpose computer code for the structural analysis of pipe whip dynamic effects following a postulated pipe rupture. WIPS has been developed primarily to provide support for the pipe whip analysis procedures described in Section 3.6.2 of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Standard Review Plan. This report summarizes the purpose and scope of the WIPS development effort, identifying those clauses in the Standard Review Plan which refer to pipe whip analysis, and indicating how the WIPS code can be used to provide supporting data. Detailed information on use of the code is contained in accompanying reports which cover: (1) user instructions; (2) theory; (3) programming procedures; and (4) verification examples.
We verified and corrected inaccuracies in descriptive profile information on military working dogs (MWDs) that died from 1965 to 1980 and were reported in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Registry of Veterinary Pathology. Using other available military records, we determined which dogs served in Vietnam. Identified were 3,895 MWDs with a unique identity tattoo that served in Vietnam, of which 2,389 served exclusively with U.S. military forces and died in Vietnam. Another 479 Vietnam veteran MWDs completed their service elsewhere. This overall effort resulted in signalment corrections, generally age at death, in 21% of the Registry MWD accessions during the study period. The improved definition and characterization of the Vietnam cohort will lead to greater precision in epidemiologic investigations of the health effects from the Vietnam experience in U.S. military working dogs. PMID:7885593
The prevention of subscriber churn through customer retention is a core issue of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). By minimizing customer churn a company maximizes its profit. This paper proposes a hybridized architecture to deal with customer retention problems. It does so not only through predicting churn probability but also by proposing retention policies. The architecture works in two modes: learning and usage.In the learning mode, the churn model learner seeks potential associations from the subscriber database. This historical information is used to form a churn model. This mode also calls for a policy model constructor to use the attributes identified in the churn model to divide all `churners' into distinct groups. The policy model constructor is also responsible for develop...
This study identifies new information on the recent distribution of an invasive bird species, the Cattle Egret Ardea ibis, in Algeria. Breeding and wintering distributions as well as breeding numbers were obtained from large-scale surveys in 1999 and 2007, and from historical data. Between 1999 and 2007, the total number of colonies found increased from 51 to 87, and most were located in the northern part of the country. The breeding distribution area, confined to the coastal areas in the 1970s, has shifted further south, and reached the northern part of the Sahara since the 2000s. Most colonies were established during the period 1980-1995. The oldest colonies were generally larger than the recent ones. The number of colonies increased by 83% between 1999 and 2007 in the 12 administrative ...
The pollution of the aquatic zones grows with the time, principally due to industrial and urban settlements, among others, in the surroundings of these sites. The sources of this pollution can be identified by the study of the characteristics of the sediment, this gives relevant information to evaluate any aquatic system. Once the sediment is obtained, a series of preliminary tests are carry out (loss of ignition, 210{sup P}b dating) to be sure that we have a sedimentary core that hans .t be mixed, once this has be done we determine radionuclides, heavy metals and organic compounds. (Author) 2 refs.
This sampling and analysis plan (SAP) identifies characterization objectives pertaining to sample collection, laboratory analytical evaluation, and reporting requirements for vapor samples obtained during the operation of mixer pumps in tank 241-AZ-101. The primary purpose of the mixer pump test (MPT) is to demonstrate that the two 300 horsepower mixer pumps installed in tank 241-AZ-101 can mobilize the settled sludge so that it can be retrieved for treatment and vitrification. Sampling will be performed in accordance with Tank 241-AZ-101 Mixer Pump Test Data Quality Objective (Banning 1999) and Data Quality Objectives for Regulatory Requirements for Hazardous and Radioactive Air Emissions Sampling and Analysis (Mulkey 1999). The sampling will verify if current air emission estimates used in the permit application are correct and provide information for future air permit applications.
Twitter introduced lists in late 2009 as a means of curating tweets into meaningful themes. Lists were quickly adopted by media companies as a means of organising content around news stories. Thus the curation of these lists is important, they should contain the key information gatekeepers and present a balanced perspective on the story. Identifying members to add to a list on an emerging topic is a delicate process. From a network analysis perspective there are a number of views on the Twitter network that can be explored, e.g. followers, retweets mentions etc. We present a process for integrating these views in order to recommend authoritative commentators to include on a list. This process is evaluated on manually curated lists about unrest in Bahrain and the Iowa caucuses for the 2012 US election.
Seasonal and habitat calliphorid abundance and distribution were examined weekly for two years (2001-2003) in Santa Clara County, California, using sentinel traps baited with bovine liver. Of the 34,389 flies examined in three defined habitats (rural, urban, and riparian), 38% of the total catch represented Compsomyiops callipes (Bigot) and 23% represented Phormia regina (Meigen). Other flies collected in this survey included Calliphora vomitoria (Linnaeus), Calliphora latifrons (Hough), Lucilia sericata (Meigen), Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann), and Lucilia mexicana (Macquart), which is a new record for the area. Multivariate MANOVA and ANOVA (P 0.05) analysis indicate significant seasonal habitat preference for all fly species examined. This information may be used to identify potentially fo...
Ways of reducing energy consumption in plastics processing are examined. Examples are given which illustrate how the awareness of everyone in the company to energy saving is essential with particular reference to switching arrangements to ensure such things as lights, machinery, compressed air systems are switched off when not needed or run at a lower level where appropriate. An understanding of the various elements of the electricity bill can inform a company`s planning of its operations to take advantage of lower tariffs. Machinery selection both with regard to efficiency of processing, quality of engineering and appropriate size can achieve significant savings and attention to maintenance is important. Fundamental to all aspects of energy saving is the monitoring of energy usage to identify where savings can be made and to evaluate the effectiveness of any measures taken. (UK)
The practice of medical tourism depends on successfully informing potential patients about procedure options, treatment facilities, tourism opportunities, travel arrangements, and destination countries. The promotion of medical tourism includes a wide range of marketing materials such as flyers, booklets, and websites. Yet, there is a paucity of knowledge about the dissemination, content, and reception of these promotional materials. Drawing on a thematic content analysis of the promotional print material distributed at the first medical tourism trade show in Canada in 2009, the main purpose of this article is to identify and understand the messages and images that companies use to market India as a global destination. While researchers and news media frequently cite low cost procedures as...
Coumarin (1,2-benzopyrone) is occurring in food, and is also used in cosmetics. In order to perform a risk assessment for both oral and dermal exposure, we applied a physiologically based approach to model kinetics in humans by simulating both routes of exposure. The concentration-time profile in liver revealed a higher peak concentration (Cmax-hep) for the oral when compared to the dermal route. The area under the concentration-time curve in the liver (AUChep) was found the same for both routes if the same extent of absorption is assumed. Dose response information from published rat studies were used to identify the metric relevant for liver toxicity. Liver exposure levels resulting from doses and durations as outlined in the studies were simulated in a rat model. We obtained 31 data pair...
In Europe, the use of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies is restricted to Kirsten RAS (KRAS) wild-type colorectal tumors. Information on the KRAS status of the patients tumor is thus key for clinical practice; however, there is little guidance or definition on which KRAS mutations to assess and how to assess them. To ensure the consistency and the quality of KRAS test results in Europe, an interlaboratory control network needs to be set up. This pilot study aimed to identify the variables that need to be assessed in a quality control scheme and to provide a first assessment in a selected set of laboratories. Fourteen different tumor cases were circulated between 13 laboratories by a central laboratory acting as the referent for the mutation status determination. This study illustrated that of...
A section of the northern margin of the Guineo-Congolian rain forest of the Central African Republic is studied to determine to what extent deforestation is evolving. Three sites are presented to highlight the diversity in local environmental settings at the northern margin of the closed equatorial rain forest: the contiguous equatorial rain forest, the boundary between the closed rain forest and the grasslands, and a predominantly secondary grassland environment. Proven image processing procedures for determining land cover and vegetation vigor were applied to Landsat MSS data to determine land cover characteristics and identify alterations in land cover that indicate potentially degraded forest environments. Land cover was independently assessed using spectral signatures determined from a statistical clustering routine. The images presented and image analyses contribute insights and information to an ongoing effort to determine more reliable ...
Materials for the construction of cold neutron sources must satisfy a range of demands. The cryogenic temperature and irradiation create a severe environment. Candidate materials are identified and existing cold sources are briefly surveyed to determine which materials may be used. Aluminum- and magnesium-based alloys are the preferred materials. Existing data for the effects of cryogenic temperature and near-ambient irradiation on the mechanical properties of these alloys are briefly reviewed, and the very limited information on the effects of cryogenic irradiation are outlined. Generating mechanical property data under cold source operating conditions is a daunting prospect. It is clear that the cold source material will be degraded by neutron irradiation, and so the cold source must be designed as a brittle vessel. The continued effective operation of many different cold sources at a number of reactors makes it clear that this can be ...
We present two cases of fetal neck masses that were initially diagnosed by ultrasound and further evaluated with prenatal MRI. MRI findings aided in further delineating the neck masses, increasing confidence in the final diagnosis (cervical teratoma and cystic hygroma). With the fetal airway typically filled with fluid that is of high signal on T2-weighted sequences, MRI images in three planes could identify whether the fetal larynx and trachea were partially or completely compressed by the neck tumor. This information was particularly useful in determining if a controlled delivery such as ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) was necessary and aided the surgeons in planning their approach to establishing airway control in the delivery room. (orig.)
This article investigates the missing link in the literature - whether informal institutions, or what is known as culture, can affect the level of financial development for a country? Our hypothesis stresses that the cultural dimensions of a country can have an impact on its financial set-up. We consider multiple dimensions of culture, identified in the literature by Tabellini (2008), to test our hypothesis. As culture evolves in the form of greater trust, control and other traits, individuals' attitudes towards financial market change, and they engage in greater financial transactions. This, in turn, leads to better financial development. Using quantile estimation technique for a cross section of 90 countries, we find that culture significantly influences the level of financial developmen...
The potential association between xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related gammaretrovirus (XMRV) and prostate cancer (PCa) has been documented since 2006. It is important for furthering our understanding of the biological mechanisms of PCa to ascertain whether this association is causal. To summarize the available information on the epidemiological and laboratory findings of the association, we conducted a literature search of the PubMed electronic database (from March 2006 to February 2011) to identify relevant published studies that examined the association between XMRV and PCa. Although several studies showed the positive association between XMRV and PCa, more recent studies did not support this conclusion. The positive findings might be due to contamination of human samples. Further ...
This report discusses the development and demonstration of innovative combustion technologies that improve energy conservation and environmental practices in the US industrial sector. The report includes recommendations by industry on R&D needed to resolve current combustion-related problems. Both fundamental and applied R&D needs are presented. The report assesses combustion needs and suggests research ideas for seven major industries, which consume about 78% of all energy used by industry. Included are the glass, pulp and paper, refinery, steel, metal casting, chemicals, and aluminum industries. Information has been collected from manufacturers, industrial operators, trade organizations, and various funding organizations and has been supplemented with expertise at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory to develop a list of suggested research and development needed for each of the seven industries.
Health risks associated with inhalation of mineral dusts have been identified to a great extent through epidemiology studies, but also have been assessed by conducting subchronic and chronic inhalation studies typically on rodents. However, in vivo studies are softly, time-consuming, requiring complex technologies, and may not yield information on cellular and molecular mechanisms of response. As a result, the use of in vitro cell culture systems has played an important role in studying the toxicology of mineral dusts and providing insight into action mechanisms. This article reviews selected in vitro approaches that are used to investigate the cytotoxic and inflammatory properties of mineral particles and fibers. In addition key findings as they relate to understanding the toxicology of mineral dusts are presented. 165 refs., 1 fig., 5 tab.
Abstract: The cane toad (Bufo marinus), a large, toxic, American anuran, was introduced to Australia in 1935. Populations of many of Australia's reptiles (snakes, varanid lizards, crocodiles) and carnivorous mammals (dasyurid marsupials) have declined because these predators are killed by the toad's powerful toxins. In contrast to these well-studied species, little is known about the cane toads impacts on Australian birds. We reviewed published and unpublished data on behavioral interactions between Australian avian predators and cane toads and collated distributional and dietary information to identify avian taxa potentially at risk from cane toad invasion. Cane toads are sympatric with 172 frog-eating bird species in Australia, and an additional 8 bird species overlap with the predicted ...
This Safety Analysis Report (SAR) is prepared in compliance with the requirements of DOE Order 5480.23, Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports, and has been written to the format and content guide of DOE-STD-3009-94 Preparation Guide for U. S. Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports. The Hot Cell Facility is a Hazard Category 2 nonreactor nuclear facility, and is operated by Sandia National Laboratories for the Department of Energy. This SAR provides a description of the HCF and its operations, an assessment of the hazards and potential accidents which may occur in the facility. The potential consequences and likelihood of these accidents are analyzed and described. Using the process and criteria described in DOE-STD-3009-94, safety-related structures, systems and components are identified, and the important safety functions of each SSC are described. Additionally, information which describes the safety management programs at ...
One of the salient features of human perception is its invariance under dilatation in addition to the Euclidean group, but its non-invariance under special conformal transformation. We investigate a holographic approach to the information processing in image discrimination with this feature. We claim that a strongly coupled analogue of the statistical model proposed by Bialek and Zee can be holographically realized in scale invariant but non-conformal Euclidean geometries. We identify the Bayesian probability distribution of our generalized Bialek-Zee model with the GKPW partition function of the dual gravitational system. We provide a concrete example of the geometric configuration based on a vector condensation model coupled with the Euclidean Einstein-Hilbert action. From the proposed geometry, we study sample correlation functions to compute the Bayesian probability distribution.
Google's Android is a comprehensive software framework for mobile communication devices (i.e., smartphones, PDAs). The Android framework includes an operating system, middleware and a set of key applications. The incorporation of integrated access services to the Internet on such mobile devices, however, increases their exposure to damages inflicted by various types of malware. This paper provides a comprehensive security assessment of the Android framework and the security mechanisms incorporated into it. A methodological qualitative risk analysis that we conducted identifies the high-risk threats to the framework and any potential danger to information or to the system resulting from vulnerabilities that have been uncovered and exploited. Our review of current academic and commercial solutions in the area of smartphone security yields a list of applied and recommended defense mechanisms for hardening mobile devices in general and the Android ...
It is known that the plant cuticle represents the first barrier that must be overcome by any chemical reaching the plant surface from the atmosphere before entering the plant. Because of the importance of the cuticle as a barrier to penetration of a wide variety of compounds, its morphology, chemistry, and permeability have been extensively studied. However, only limited information is available on the nature of functional chemical groups present and their interaction and role during the penetration process. The usefulness of in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies in identifying functional groups present in isolated cuticles is described and their relationships to the structure of the cuticular membrane are discussed. Applications of infrared spectroscopy on the presence and role of phenolics in the cuticle structure and during the cuticle development, nitrogen oxide binding to isolated cuticles, and the interactions between ...
This self-evaluation report offers a summary of results from FY2000 actions to achieve Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's strategy and provides an analysis of the state of their self-assessment process. The result of their integrated planning and assessment process identifies Laboratory strengths and opportunities for improvement. Critical elements of that process are included in this report; namely, a high-level summary of external oversight activities, progress against Operations Improvement Initiatives, and a summary of Laboratory strengths and areas for improvement developed by management from across the laboratory. Some key areas targeted for improvement in FY2001 are: systems approach to resource management; information protection; integrated safety management flow-down to the benchtop; cost management; integrated assessment; Price Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA) Program; and travel risk mitigation.
The publication presents an outline of the subject of energy management and attempts to test the hypotheses that targeted knowledge management may result in new developments and potentials, and if these are at all desirable. On this basis, a knowledge management system will be developed that may effectively promote developments and potentials in the field of energy management. The tools and fundamentals of energy management are looked into, and the given situation and desired goals are identified by means of an enquiry. This is a scientific study that aims at providing empirical information on the situation and views on the subject of energy management. The analysis, which is supported by an enquiry sheet, is to provide a basis for testing the assumed hypothesis. Further, the potential acceptance and utilization potential of decisive knowledge management in the facility and real estate management sector are to be tested. The energy knowledge ...
The IEA has identified energy efficiency as essential to achieving a sustainable energy future. In order to improve energy efficiency in industry one of the priority areas for further action is the promotion of more and higher quality energy management (EM) activity. However, there are significant gaps in the current implementation of EM. One method of bridging these gaps would be the creation of an EM Action NetworK (EMAK) to bring practical support to energy managers, connect energy managers to energy policy makers, and interconnect these networks globally. The paper describes possible aims, activities, scope, structure, timelines and approaches related to EMAK and looks at specific tasks that would be important in the set-up and implementation.
An interesting line of research is the investigation of the laws of random variables known as Dirichlet means. However, there is not much information on interrelationships between different Dirichlet means. Here, we introduce two distributional operations, one of which consists of multiplying a mean functional by an independent beta random variable, the other being an operation involving an exponential change of measure. These operations identify relationships between different means and their densities. This allows one to use the often considerable analytic work on obtaining results for one Dirichlet mean to obtain results for an entire family of otherwise seemingly unrelated Dirichlet means. Additionally, it allows one to obtain explicit densities for the related class of random variables that have generalized gamma convolution distributions and the finite-dimensional distribution of their associated L\\'{e}vy processes. The importance of ...
Problems can sometimes occur during the construction of cast in-situ concrete piles. These foundations are formed by drilling a substantial hole into the ground and subsequently filling it with steel reinforcement and wet concrete. Several well-documented cases exist where concrete has not filled the hole and substantial voids have been left in the apparently completed pile. A theory has been developed by which it is possible to identify the nature, size and position of a finite defect within a suspect pile. The technique is based on the concept of receptances, and requires information obtained from vibration tests performed on piles after the concrete has hardened, and the nominal dimensions and material properties of the pile. The application of the theory is demonstrated using data relating to a pile with a known defect. The theory described in this paper ignores the effect of the surrounding soil; this can be included by further development ...
The objective of this project is to develop multi-dimensional computational models in order to improve the operation of uranium electrorefiners currently used in pyroprocessing technology. These 2-D (US) and 3-D (ROK) mathematical models are based on the fundamental physical and chemical properties of the electrorefiner processes. The validated models by compiled and evaluated experimental data could provide better information for developing advanced electrorefiners for uranium recovery. The research results in this period are as follows: - Successfully assessed a common computational platform for the modeling work and identify spatial characterization requirements. - Successfully developed a 3-D electro-fluid dynamic electrorefiner model. - Successfully validated and benchmarked the two multi-dimensional models with compiled experimental data sets
The analysis is submitted in support of the effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the Coastal Oil and Gas Industry. The report analyzes the cost-effectiveness of 10 regulatory options organized by three wastestreams. The document compares the total annualized cost incurred for each of the regulatory options within each wastestream to the corresponding effectiveness of that option in reducing the discharge of pollutants. Section Two discusses the cost-effectiveness methodology used and identifies the pollutants included in the analysis, presenting their toxic weighting factors and removal efficiencies. Section Three presents the results of the analysis. In Section Four, the cost-effectiveness values are compared to cost-effectiveness values for other promulgated rules. Appendix A presents data on pollutants, pollutant removals, annualized costs, and other, more detailed information.
The YGN Units 3 and 4 plant conditions during shutdown operation were reviewed to identify the possible event scenarios following the loss of shutdown cooling. The thermal hydraulic analyses were performed for the five cases of RCS configurations under the worst event scenario, unavailable secondary cooling and no RCS inventory makeup, using the RELAP5/MOD3.2 code to investigate the plant behavior. From the analyses results, times to boil, times to core uncovery and times to core heat up were estimated to determine the containment closure time to prevent the uncontrolled release of fission products to atmosphere. These data provide useful information to the abnormal procedure to cope with the event. 6 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs. (Author)
{The determination of cluster masses is a complex problem that would be aided by information about the cluster shape and orientation (along the line-of-sight).} {It is in this context, that we have developed a scheme for identifying the intrinsic morphology and inclination of a cluster, by looking for the signature of the true cluster characteristics in the inter-comparison of the different deprojected emissivity profiles (that all project to the same X-ray brightness distribution) and by using SZe data when available.} {We deproject the cluster X-ray surface brightness profile under the assumptions of four different geometry and inclination configurations for the observed system; these 4 configurations correspond to four extreme geometry+inclination scenarios. The deprojection in question is performed by the non-parametric algorithm DOPING. The formalism is tested with model systems and then is applied to a sample of 24 clusters. While the ...
The primary goal of this study was to assess the association between the full birth weight distribution and prevalence of specific developmental disabilities and related measures of health and special education services utilization in US children. Using data from the 1997?2005 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Sample Child Core, we identified 87,578 children 3?17?years of age with parent-reported information on birth weight. We estimated the prevalences of DDs (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], autism, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, learning disability without mental retardation, mental retardation, seizures, stuttering/stammering, and other developmental delay) and several indicators of health services utilization within a range of birth weight categories. We cal...
Frame Analysis has come to play an increasingly stronger role in the study of social movements in Sociology and Political Science. While significant steps have been made in providing a theory of frames and framing, a systematic characterization of the frame concept is still largely lacking and there are no rec-ognized criteria and methods that can be used to identify and marshal frame evi-dence reliably and in a time and cost effective manner. Consequently, current Frame Analysis work is still too reliant on manual annotation and subjective inter-pretation. The goal of this paper is to present an approach to the representation, acquisition and analysis of frame evidence which leverages Content Analysis, In-formation Extraction and Semantic Search methods to provide a systematic treat-ment of a Frame Analysis and automate frame annotation.
The major goal of this continuation project is to advance the utilization of heat transfer enhancement techniques in commercial heat exchange equipment. Thirteen heat transfer enhancement techniques have been identified as having potential for improving heat transfer coefficients in full-scale industrial equipment. The following tasks are part of this project, which was originally planned for three years: (1) expansion of technology information base; (2) evaluation of performance of enhanced surfaces and inserts; (3) correlation of data for spirally fluted surfaces; (4) study of structured surfaces in pool boiling; and (5) study of structured surface in spray film evaporation.
In this work was made an assessment of the supramolecular structures presents into human breast tissue normal and pathological samples, as well as into two types of animals samples (tendon chicken and pork fat) using the small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) technique. The scattering profiles of the samples were determined at the momentum transfer range O.150nm{sup -1}<=5:q(=4pi.sin({theta}/2)/{lambda})<=8.500nm{sup -1}. In this range, it was possible identify structures corresponding to collagen fibrils (glandular tissue) and to triacylglycerides (adipose tissue) from the correlation between the information extracted from the human breast tissues scattering profiles and those extracted from animals samples. (author)
This project is concerned with the kinetics and mechanisms of aromatic oxidation and soot and fullerenes formation in flames. The objective of the aromatics oxidation work is to identify and measure the concentration of important intermediates and products in benzene oxidation, and to determine reaction mechanisms and kinetics properties consistent with the behavior seen in flames. The research on soot formation is concerned primarily with the particle inception stages, but the work includes study of soot structure at all stages of growth in order to obtain mechanistic information from evidence of growth steps recorded in the structure of the particles. The ultimate objective is to understand how nascent soot particles are formed from high molecular weight compounds, including the roles of planar and curved PAH and the relationship between soot and fullerenes. The objective of the proposed research on fullerenes is to develop a more ...
With regard to the creation of river basin plans and programmes of measures according to the EU Water Framework Directive, the importance of model-supported analyses of nutrient inputs into aquatic systems and the localization of source areas is increasing. Especially in lowland regions artificial drainage installations play a major role, but little information exists concerning their location within larger river basins. Therefore, artificially drained lands were identified by interpreting aerial photographs and typical site conditions of the drained plots were derived. A GIS-based approach was then developed, which allows the delineation of artificially drained lands by combining various site conditions like soil properties and land use type. After checking the validity of a derived map f...
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 ...
Under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), manufacturers must notify the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 90 days before manufacturing, processing, or importing a new chemical substance. This is referred to as a premanufacture notice (PMN). The PMN must contain certain information including chemical identity, production volume, proposed uses, estimates of exposure and release, and any health or environmental test data that are available to the submitter. Because there is no explicit statutory authority that requires testing of new chemicals prior to their entry into the market, most PMNs are submitted with little or no data. As a result, EPA has developed special techniques for hazard assessment of PMN chemicals. These include (1) evaluation of available data on the chemical itself, (2) evaluation of data on analogues of the PMN, or evaluation of data on metabolites or analogues of metabolites of the PMN, (3) use of quantitative structure ...
US Department of Energy (DOE) facilities are required to be in full compliance with all federal and state regulations. In response to this requirement, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has established a Remedial Action Program (RAP) to provide comprehensive management of areas where past and current research, development, and waste management activities have resulted in residual contamination of facilities or the environment. This report presents the RCRA Facility Assessment (RFA) required to meet the requirements of RCRA Section 3004(u). Included in the RFA are (1) a listing of all sites identified at ORNL that could be considered sources of releases or potential releases; (2) background information on each of these sites, including location, type, size, period of operation, current operational status, and information on observed or potential releases (as required in Section II.A.1 of the RCRA permit); (3) ...
Indicators are important tools for communicating and making accessible scientific and technical information to policymakers and the general public. They therefore play an important role in transforming information into action. Worldwide, many initiatives are underway to construct indicators for a variety of purposes, including those for reporting on sustainable development. This paper briefly describes the attempts made so far, but stresses that the users of the indicators should play a greater role in indicator construction. In developing countries, a substantial lack of data has meant that specific policy formulation may develop without adequate technical input. In developed countries also, data gaps may hinder policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. However, the development of indicators as tools to assist in the management of hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals is still in the early stages of formulation. A more imaginative ...
The fault signature can be revealed by vibration analysis in machine fault detection and diagnosis. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is a self-adaptive method that can decompose a vibration signal into informative intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). This paper addresses the improvement of the weakness of the traditional EMD algorithm and presents a new midpoint-based EMD method for effective fault signature analysis of a rotating machine. In the proposed method, geometrical midpoints of successive extrema are employed to estimate the local mean of an analyzed signal. Signal decomposition is then self-adaptively performed to achieve IMFs through removal of the midpoint-based local means. The representative IMF containing fault information is selected for identifying the fault signature. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by means of simulation and an application to gear fault diagnosis. Results indicated ...
Managing sites contaminated with munitions constituents is an international challenge. Although the choice of approach and the use of Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) tools may vary from country to country, the assurance of quality and the direction of ecotoxicological research are universally recognized as shared concerns. Drawing on a multidisciplinary team of contributors, 'Ecotoxicology of Explosives' provides comprehensive and critical reviews available to date on fate, transport, and effects of explosives. The book delineates the state of the science of the ecotoxicology of explosives, past, present, and recently developed. It reviews the accessible fate and ecotoxicological data for energetic materials (EMs) and the methods for their development. The chapters characterize the fate of explosives in the environment, then provide information on their ecological effects in key environmental media, including aquatic, sedimentary, and terrestrial ...
This report describes the 5 tasks to be covered under this project and compiles budget information. Task 1 is to establish a Plutonium Information Resource, which has been established in Amarillo, Texas. Task 2, Advisory Functions, coordinates studies and activities relating to the disposition of excess weapons-grade plutonium. Task 3, Environmental, Public Health, and Safety, supports soil remediation activities. Task 4, Education and Outreach, is supporting four programs: K--12 education improvement in science and math courses; Academic intervention to identify and encourage high ability high school and middle school students with potential to become scientists and engineers; Graduate education evaluation; and Public outreach programs. Task 5, Plutonium and other Materials Studies, is currently funding two projects for the disposition of high explosives: a feasibility study of burning a mixture of high explosives and ...
This work investigates the potential use of simultaneously near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopies for the quantitative analysis of fatty acids and triacylglycerols and for identifying the Registered Designation of Origin (RDO) of extra virgin olive oils. The two spectral ranges were used separately using PLS and PLS-DA regressions. To combine both information, concatenated matrix was used at the first time, multiblock method using H-PLS models were constructed at the second time. The models were compared in terms of prediction errors. The results obtained with MIR spectroscopy are better than the ones obtained with NIR spectroscopy. The H-PLS methodology seems to be very interesting for quantitative analysis with the use of additional information in the NIR range, which is not present in the MIR one. For RDO identification by discriminant analysis, the use of multiblock method was less efficient. ...
We analyzed the phenotypic variation of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) fruits from Mali to define the domestication potential of this species. 269 trees, selected from 10 provenances distributed along a rainfall gradient, were characterized. Five fruits were sampled from each tree. Total individual fruit weight was partitioned into shell, pulp, and seed weight. Ratios were calculated between pulp?+?seed and total weight, and between pulp and seed weight. For all the measured fruit traits, we detected significant differences between provenances, as well as between trees from the same provenance. Assuming that the measured traits are under genetic control, the latter facts indicate that there are considerable opportunities for tree selection on a local scale. However, candidate plus trees wi...
Phenotypic plasticity can facilitate reproductive strategies that maximize mating success in variable environments and lead to differences in sex allocation among populations. For simultaneous hermaphrodites with sperm competition, including Serranus tortugarum a small coral reef fish, proportional male allocation (testis in total gonad) is often greater where local density or mating group size is higher. We tested whether S. tortugarum reduced male allocation when transplanted from a higher density site to a lower density site. After 4?months, transplants mirrored the sex-allocation patterns of the resident population on their new reef. Transplants had significantly lower male allocation than representatives from their source population, largely as a result of reduced testis mass relative...
This document consist of brief reports prepared by postdoctoral students supported by the project, each describing his accomplishments under the grant. Topics include (1) Malignant Transformation of MSU-1. 1 Cells by Gamma Radiation, (2) Correlation between Levels of ras Expression and Presence of Transformed Phenotypes Including Tumorigenicity, Using a Modulatable Promoter, (3) Relation between Specific rad Oncogene Expression, (4) Correlation of Genetic Changes in Fibroblastic Tumors with Malignancies, (5)Transformation of MSU-1.1 Cells by sis Oncogene, (6) Malignant Transformation of MSU-1.0 Cells, (7) Correlation of Urokinase Plasminogen Activation (mu-PA) with Malignant Phenotype, (8)Two Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis Studies of the Proteins of the Major Cell Strains of the MSU-1 Family of Cells, and (9) Correlation between Proteinase Activity Levels and Malignancy.
Through an unusual differentiation process, human trophoblast progenitors (cytotrophoblasts) give rise to tumor-like cells that invade the uterus. By an unknown mechanism, invasive cytotrophoblasts exhibit permanent cell cycle withdrawal. Here we report molecular cytogenetic data showing that {approx} 20 to 60 percent of these interphase cells had acquired aneusomies involving chromosomes X, Y, o r16. The incidence positively correlated with gestational age and differentiation to an invasive phenotype. Scoring 12 chromosomes in flow-sorted cytotrophoblasts showed that more than 95 percent of the cells were hyperdiploid. Thus, aneuploidy appears to be an important component of normal placentation, perhaps limiting the proliferative and invasive potential of cytotrophoblasts within the uterus.
Summary 1. Plants express multiple defensive traits, but little is known about the genetic stability and phenotypic plasticity of these traits in nature. To investigate sources of variation and their potential ecological consequences for herbivores, we combined field observations of cyanogenic lima bean with laboratory experiments. 2. Field studies in South Mexico revealed a distinct variability of cyanogenic traits within and among wild lima bean populations. To differentiate among genetic variation and the impact of ambient conditions on plant phenotypes, we used seed grown plants as well as clones propagated from high (HC) and low cyanogenic (LC) wild type plants. 3. In growth chamber experiments, we cultivated plants under three intensities each of drought and salt stress, nutrient sup...
Recent efforts to identify methods of modeling pitting corrosion damage of high-level radioactive-waste containers are described. The need to develop models that can provide information useful to higher level system performance assessment models is emphasized, and examples of how this could be accomplished are described. Work to date has focused upon physically-based phenomenological stochastic models of pit initiation and growth. These models may provide a way to distill information from mechanistic theories in a way that provides the necessary information to the less detailed performance assessment models. Monte Carlo implementations of the stochastic theory have resulted in simulations that are, at least qualitatively, consistent with a wide variety of experimental data. The effects of environment on pitting corrosion have been included in the model using a set of simple phenomenological equations ...
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 ...
Purpose/Objective: At present, treatment verification between portal and reference images is performed based on manually-identified features by radiation oncologist, which is both time-consuming and potentially error-prone. There is a demand for the computerized verification procedure in clinical application. The purpose of this study is to develop a computerized portal verification scheme for pelvic treatment fields. Materials/Methods: The automated verification system involves image acquisition, image feature extraction, feature matching between reference and portal images and quantitative evaluation of patient setup. Electronic portal images with a matrix size of 256 x 256 and 12 bit gray levels were acquired using a liquid matrix electronic portal imaging device. Simulation images were acquired by digitizing simulation films using a TV camera into images with 256 x 256 matrix and 8 bit gray levels. Initially a Canny edge detector is applied to ...
...2010-10-01 false Standards for health information technology to protect electronic health information...DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS, IMPLEMENTATION...
Information Technology Research for National Priorities (ITR) Fiscal Year 2004 Announcement ... the Information Technology Research (ITR) Program is focusing on Information Technology Research in ...
The Hawaii Demand-Side Management Resource Assessment was the fourth of seven projects in the Hawaii Energy Strategy (HES) program. HES was designed by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT) to produce an integrated energy strategy for the State of Hawaii. The purpose of Project 4 was to develop a comprehensive assessment of Hawaii`s demand-side management (DSM) resources. To meet this objective, the project was divided into two phases. The first phase included development of a DSM technology database and the identification of Hawaii commercial building characteristics through on-site audits. These Phase 1 products were then used in Phase 2 to identify expected energy impacts from DSM measures in typical residential and commercial buildings in Hawaii. The building energy simulation model DOE-2.1E was utilized to identify the DSM energy impacts. More detailed information on the typical ...
The deregulated kinase activity of p210-BCR/ABL oncoproteins, hallmark of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), induces and sustains the leukaemic phenotype, and contributes to disease progression....Full Text Available
BackgroundPlasmid encoded blaCTX-M enzymes represent an important sub-group of class A β-lactamases causing the ESBL phenotype which is increasingly...Full Text Available
BackgroundEstrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ) are transcription factors (TFs) that mediate estrogen signaling and define the hormone-responsive phenotype...Full Text Available
APP is a transmembrane precursor of beta-amyloid. In dominantly inherited familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), point mutations V6421, V642F and V642G have been discovered in APP695. Here we show that...Full Text Available
PurposeTo describe clinical data and to characterize mutations in the transforming growth factor beta-induced (TGFBI) gene in patients from three unrelated Chilean...Full Text Available
Neutrophils from people with poorly controlled diabetes present a primed phenotype and secrete excessive superoxide. Phospholipase A2 (PLA2)-derived arachidonic acid (AA)...Full Text Available
Loss-of-function mutations in the regulatory gene areA of Aspergillus nidulans prevent the utilization of a wide variety of nitrogen sources. The phenotypes of nit-2 mutants of Neurospora crassa suggest...Full Text Available
A crucial step in human breast cancer progression is the acquisition of invasiveness. There is a distinct lack of human cell culture models to study the transition from pre-invasive to invasive phenotype as it may occur 'spontaneously' in vivo. To delineate molecular alterations important for this transition, we isolated human breast epithelial cell lines that showed partial loss of tissue polarity in three-dimensional reconstituted-basement membrane cultures. These cells remained non-invasive; however, unlike their non-malignant counterparts, they exhibited a high propensity to acquire invasiveness through basement membrane in culture. The genomic aberrations and gene expression profiles of the cells in this model showed a high degree of similarity to primary breast tumor profiles. The xenograft tumors formed by the cell lines in three different microenvironments in nude mice displayed metaplastic phenotypes, including ...
Prompted by a $10 million Congressional allocation to identify supplemental actions to protect the Columbia River from groundwater contamination beneath the Hanford Reservation, the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Office of Clean-up Technology identified twenty-three potential technical projects and then down-selected ten of these for further evaluation. An independent expert peer review was conducted for the ten down-selected proposals. The review panel consisted of twenty-three recognized subject matter experts that broadly represented academia, industry, and federal laboratories. Of the initial ten proposals reviewed, one was given unconditional support, six were given conditional support, and three were not supported as proposed. Three additional proposals were then submitted by DOE for review--these proposals were structured, in part, to respond to the initial round of technical peer review comments. Peer ...
The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), recently announced by DOE Secretary Bodman, poses significant new challenges with regard to securing, safeguarding, monitoring and tracking nuclear materials. In order to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation, new technologies must be developed to reduce the risk that nuclear material can be diverted from its intended use. Regardless of the specific nature of the fuel cycle, nuclear forensics and attribution will play key roles to ensure the effectiveness of nonproliferation controls and to deter the likelihood of illicit activities. As the leader of the DHS nuclear and radiological pre-detonation attribution program, LLNL is uniquely positioned to play a national leadership role in this effort. Ensuring that individuals or organizations engaged in illicit trafficking are rapidly identified and apprehended following theft or diversion of nuclear material provides a strong deterrent against unlawful activities. Key to ...
Background: Accountability demands are increasingly pushing school leaders to explore more data and do more sophisticated analyses. Data-driven decision making (DDDM) has become an emerging field of practice for school leadership and a central focus of education policy and practice. Purpose: This study examined principals' DDDM practices and identified the factors influencing DDDM using the theoretical frame of information use environments. Participants: Participants were 183 public high school principals in a Midwestern state. Research Design: The research design was cross-sectional survey research. Data Collection and Analysis: Survey instruments were developed and administered to principals. Structural equation modeling was conducted to determine what factors significantly affect principals' DDDM practices in different leadership dimensions. Findings: Principals used data more frequently in instructional and organization operational ...
This plan establishes both the scope of the review and the acceptance criteria to be utilized for the review of Quality Assurance Program Plans (QAPPs) developed in accordance with the requirements of DOE/RL-90-28. DOE/RL-90-28, the Environmental Restoration Remedial Action Quality Assurance Requirements Document (QARD) defines all quality assurance (QA) requirements governing activities that affect the quality of the Environmental Restoration Remedial Action (ERRA) program at the Hanford Site. These requirements are defined in three parts, Part 1 of Quality Management and Administration tasks, Part 2 for Environmental Data Operations, and Part 3 of the Design and Construction of items, systems, and facilities. The purpose of this document is to identify the scope of the review by the DOE Field Office, Richland staff, and establish the acceptance criteria (Parts 1, 2, and 3) that the DOE Field Office, Richland staff will utilize to evaluate the participant QAPPs. ...
Recent investigations have identified elevated concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (dioxins) in marine sediments and wildlife of Queensland, Australia. While it has been demonstrated that the contamination is widespread and predominantly land-based, limited information exists on the pathways and fate of these compounds within the near-shore marine system. This environment supports unique and threatened species including green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). Adult green turtles are predominantly herbivorous, feeding on seagrass and algae. Apart from initial migration to feeding grounds (at {proportional_to}10 years of age) and intermittent migrations to breeding grounds (at {proportional_to}30-50 years and thereafter), green turtles remain and feed within relatively small home ranges. Long life-span (50 years or more), near-shore feeding grounds and highly specialized food requirements render green turtles potentially vulnerable to ...
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 ...
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 ...
Part 2 of this manual provides the electric utility engineer with detailed technical information on some of the major mechanical equipment used in the FGD system. The objectives of Part 2 are the following: to provide the electric utility engineer with information on equipment that may be unfamiliar to him, including ball mills, vacuum filters, and mist eliminators; and to identify the unique technique considerations imposed by an FGD system on more familiar electric utility equipment such as fans, gas dampers, piping, valves, and pumps. Part 3 provides an overview of the recommended procedures for evaluating proposals received from FGD system vendors. The objectives are to provide procedures for evaluating the technical aspects of proposals, and to provide procedures for determining the total costs of proposals considering both initial capital costs and annual operating and maintenance costs. The primary objective of Part ...
As the IC Information Sharing Executive (IC ISE), my main focus today concerns classified information--and, in particular, information that is derived from intelligence sources and methods, or information that is reflected in the analytic judgments and as...
The primary goal of this project is to increase the availability and ease of access to critical data on the Mesaverde and Dakota tight gas reservoirs of the San Juan Basin. Secondary goals include tuning well log interpretations through integration of core, water chemistry and production analysis data to help identify bypassed pay zones; increased knowledge of permeability ratios and how they affect well drainage and thus infill drilling plans; improved time-depth correlations through regional mapping of sonic logs; and improved understanding of the variability of formation waters within the basin through spatial analysis of water chemistry data. The project will collect, integrate, and analyze a variety of petrophysical and well data concerning the Mesaverde and Dakota reservoirs of the San Juan Basin, with particular emphasis on data available in the areas defined as tight gas areas for purpose of FERC. A relational, geo-referenced database (a geographic ...
In 1998, EU legislation initiated a liberalisation process among European energy markets. The process of market opening has significantly changed the functioning of the markets and the competition conditions of the energy sector. At the same time, the industry witnessed a surge of mergers and far-reaching changes in the structure of German electricity and natural gas markets occurred. Against this background, the doctoral thesis at hand surveys the merger activities in the energy sector as well as the merger control policy of the German Federal Cartel Office during the first years of liberalisation. The study starts with a portrayal of the institutional framework of the German merger control regime and a survey of the relevant economic literature on horizontal and vertical mergers. Subsequent to the legal and theoretical considerations, the merger activities and the merger control policy of the German Federal Cartel Office are investigated empirically. The data set is based on ...
Measurements of gamma-ray spectra, following the thermal neutron fission of "2"3"5U have been made using a high purity germanium detector at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) Van de Graaff facility. The gamma spectra were measured at delay times ranging from 0.2 s to nearly 10000 s following the rapid transfer of the fission fragments with a helium-jet system. On the basis of the known gamma transitions, forty isotopes have been identified and studied. By measuring the relative intensities of these transitions, the relative yields of the various precursor nuclides have been calculated. The results are compared with the recommended values listed in the ENDF/B-VI fission product data base (for the lifetimes and the relative yields) and those published in the Nuclear Data Sheets (for the beta branching ratios). This information is particularly useful for the cases of short-lived fission products with lifetimes of the order of fractions ...
The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses organized and hosted a workshop on ``Rock Mechanics Issues in Repository Design and Performance Assessment`` on behalf its sponsor the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This workshop was held on September 19- 20, 1994 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Rockville, Maryland. The objectives of the workshop were to stimulate exchange of technical information among parties actively investigating rock mechanics issues relevant to the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain and identify/confirm rock mechanics issues important to repository design and performance assessment The workshop contained three technical sessions and two panel discussions. The participants included technical and research staffs representing the NRC and the Department of Energy and their contractors, as well as researchers from the academic, commercial, and international technical communities. These ...
An updated listing of the vascular plants of the Hanford Site is provided, along with discussions of how humans may interact with local plants and have influenced the regional flora. Based on examinations of herbarium collections at the Westinghouse Hanford Company, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Washington State University, and Brigham Young University, 590 vascular plant species have been identified on or near the Hanford Site. This is more than twice the number of species on previously published lists of Hanford Site vascular plants. A review of the plant species that are currently listed as endangered, threatened, sensitive, or otherwise of concern to the Washington State Natural Heritage Program and the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service is included. Color photographs of selected species are included to aid identification. Lists are provided of the Hanford Site plant species that could be used as food and medicinal sources and of those introduced to the region ...
The Coastal Zone Sector of the Canadian Climate Impact and Adaptation Research Network (C-CIARN) was established to address concerns regarding climate change in coastal areas. Coastal zones are sensitive to increases in air, sea and ground temperatures as well as to variations in sea level, precipitation, ice thickness, and storm intensity. This report presents the results of a workshop which focused on how coastal communities will be affected by climate induced water level changes, particularly sea-level rise on ocean coasts and decreasing lake levels in the Great Lakes. The workshop addressed issues such as the effects of changing water levels on coastal infrastructure, utilities, community development, and the implications of changing water levels to human safety, cultural resources, tourism, and insurance. The workshop reviewed the current state of understanding on water level fluctuations resulting from climate change. It also identified ...
Design and procurement of equipment for nuclear power plant took place in late 1970's. A large number of originally installed equipment is obsolete. The manufacturer's do not support their products or have discontinued their production due to technological evolutions or lack of product demand. Lack of spares affects the performance of obsolete equipment and has a negative impact on plant safety and plant production. A proactive approach to address obsolescence is necessary to ensure critical spares are always available when needed. This is an ongoing effort and requires a program to be in place to resolve immediate and longterm issues. A cross-functional team with adequate external exposure is needed to administer the obsolescence program. CANDU utilities and CANDU Owners Group(COG) has taken initiatives to identify lack of equipment spares in the members' plant. The equipment replacement information collected from each CANDU nuclear power ...
Delusional beliefs are characteristic of psychosis and, of the delusions, the paranoid delusion is the single most common type associated with psychosis. The many years of research focused on neurocognition in schizophrenia, using standardized neurocognitive tests, have failed to find conclusive cognitive deficits in relation to positive symptoms. However, UK-based psychological research has identified sociocognitive anomalies in relation to paranoid thinking in the form of theory of mind (ToM), causal reasoning and threat-related processing anomalies. Drawing from recent neuroscientific research on the default mode network, this paper asserts that the common theme running through the psychological tests that are sensitive to the cognitive impairment of paranoia is the need to cognitively project the self through time, referred to as mental time travel. Such an understanding of the cognitive roots of paranoid ideation provides a synthesis between psychological and ...
This document is intended to provide an overview of the workshop entitled 'The Coming Nuclear Renaissance for the Next Generation Safeguards Experts-Maximizing Benefits While Minimizing Proliferation Risks', conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in partnership with the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) and the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). This document presents workshop objectives; lists the numerous participant universities and individuals, the nuclear nonproliferation lecture topics covered, and the facilities tours taken as part of the workshop; and discusses the university partnership sessions and proposed areas for collaboration between the universities and ORNL for 2009. Appendix A contains the agenda for the workshop; Appendix B lists the workshop attendees and presenters with contact information; Appendix C contains graphics of the evaluation form results and survey areas; and Appendix D summarizes the ...
Soils and groundwater beneath an abandoned Process sewer line in the A/M Area of the Savannah River Site (SRS) contain elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, specifically trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), two common chlorinated solvents. These compounds have low aqueous solubilities, thus when released to the subsurface in sufficient quantity, tend to exist as immiscible fluids or nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs). Because chlorinated solvents are also denser than water, they are referred to by the acronym DNAPLS, or dense non aqueous Phase liquids. Technologies targeted at the efficient characterization or removal of DNAPL are not currently proven. For example, most DNAPL studies rely on traditional soil and water sampling and the fortuitous observation of immiscible solvent. Once DNAPL is identified, soil excavation (which is only applicable to small contained spill sites) is the only ``proven`` cleanup method. New cleanup approaches ...
Performance of SRF cavities are limited by non-linear localized effects. The variation of local material characters between "hot" and "cold" spots is thus of intense interest. Such locations were identified in a BCP-etched large-grain single-cell cavity and removed for examination by high resolution electron microscopy (SEM), electron-back scattering diffraction microscopy (EBSD), optical microscopy, and 3D profilometry. Pits with clearly discernable crystal facets were observed in both "hotspot" and "coldspot" specimens. The pits were found in-grain, at bi-crystal boundaries, and on tri-crystal junctions. They are interpreted as etch pits induced by surface crystal defects (e.g. dislocations). All "coldspots" examined had qualitatively low density of etching pits or very shallow tri-crystal boundary junction. EBSD revealed the crystal structure surrounding the pits via crystal phase orientation mapping, while 3D profilometry gave information ...
Interaction of the internal states of an atom with spatially dependent standing-wave cavity field can impart position information of the atom passing through it leading to subwavelength atom localization. We recently demonstrated a different regime of atom localization [Phys. Rev. A 72, 013820 (2005)], namely sub-half-wavelength localization through phase control of electromagnetically induced transparency. This regime corresponds to extreme localization of atoms within a chosen half-wavelength region of the standing-wave cavity field. Here we present further investigation of the simplified model considered earlier and show interesting features of the proposal. We show how the model can be used to simulate a variety of energy-level schemes. Furthermore, the dressed-state analysis is employed to explain the emergence and suppression of the localization peaks, and the peak positions and widths. The range of parameters for obtaining clean sub-half-wavelength ...
Studies on the multivariate autoregressive (MAR) analysis are carried out for the choice of the parameters for modelling the data obtained from various sensors optimally. Accordingly, the roles of the parameters on the analysis results are identified and the related ambiguities are reduced. Experimental investigations are carried out by means of synthesized reactor noise-like data obtained from a digital simulator providing simulated stochastic signals of an operating nuclear reactor so that the simulator constitutes a favourable tool for the present studies aimed. As the system is well defined with its known structure, precise comparison of the MAR analysis results with the true values is performed. With the help of the information gained through the studies carried out, conditions to be taken care of for optimal signal processing in MAR modelling are determined. Although the parameters involved are related among themselves and they have to be ...
Throughout their history, Americans have believed that citizens' fulfillment of their individual duties in a participatory democracy is at least partly met through the forming of groups around important societal issues. Given the complex nature of political socialization, this study investigated identifiable determinants of social action that might be used to advantage in educating young people for citizenship in a democracy. This study attempted to differentiate among junior high, high school and college students (N=517) who were inclined and not inclined to act on their concerns about nuclear threat with selected demographic, psychological, political, and educational variables. The results of a discriminant functional analysis indicated that in comparison with the non-action group, students in the action group were characterized by reporting less trust in government, more exposure to sources of nuclear war information, more political ...
We describe a stochastic inversion method for mapping subsurface regions where the electrical resistivity is changing. The technique combines prior information, electrical resistance data and forward models to produce subsurface resistivity models that are most consistent with all available data. Bayesian inference and a Metropolis simulation algorithm form the basis for this approach. Attractive features include its ability to: (1) provide quantitative measures of the uncertainty of a generated estimate and, (2) allow alternative model estimates to be identified, compared and ranked. Methods that monitor convergence and summarize important trends of the posterior distribution are introduced. Results from a physical model test and a field experiment were used to assess performance. The stochastic inversions presented provide useful estimates of the most probable location, shape, and volume of the changing region, and the most likely resistivity ...
A ground-breaking study was recently completed as part of the Seabrook Level 2 PRA update. This study updates the post-core damage phenomena to be consistent with the most recent information and includes accident management activities that should be modeled in the Level 2 PRA. Overall, the result is a Level 2 PRA that fully meets the requirements of the ASME PRA Standard with respect to modeling accident management in the LERF assessment and NRC requirements in Regulatory Guide 1.174 for considering late containment failures. This technical paper deals only with the incorporation of operator actions into the Level 2 PRA based on a comprehensive study of the Seabrook Station accident response procedures and guidance. The paper describes the process used to identify the key operator actions that can influence the Level 2 PRA results and the development of success criteria for these key operator actions. This addresses a key requirement of the ...
A ground-breaking study was recently completed as part of the Seabrook Level 2 PRA update. This study updates the post-core damage phenomena to be consistent with the most recent information and includes accident management activities that should be modeled in the Level 2 PRA. Overall, the result is a Level 2 PRA that fully meets the requirements of the ASME PRA Standard with respect to modeling accident management in the LERF assessment and NRC requirements in Regulatory Guide 1.174 for considering late containment failures. This technical paper deals only with the incorporation of operator actions into the Level 2 PRA based on a comprehensive study of the Seabrook Station accident response procedures and guidance. The paper describes the process used to identify the key operator actions that can influence the Level 2 PRA results and the development of success criteria for these key operator actions. This addresses a key requirement of the ...
A stochastic linear fractional programming (SLFP) approach is developed for supporting sustainable municipal solid waste management under uncertainty. The SLFP method can solve ratio optimization problems associated with random information, where chance-constrained programming is integrated into a linear fractional programming framework. It has advantages in: (1) comparing objectives of two aspects, (2) reflecting system efficiency, (3) dealing with uncertainty expressed as probability distributions, and (4) providing optimal-ratio solutions under different system-reliability conditions. The method is applied to a case study of waste flow allocation within a municipal solid waste (MSW) management system. The obtained solutions are useful for identifying sustainable MSW management schemes with maximized system efficiency under various constraint-violation risks. The results indicate that SLFP can support in-depth analysis of the ...
SummaryNanoparticles are increasingly being used in industry. Their potential to cause adverse health effects is due to their very small particles size (less than 100nm). A review is to be carried out to explore a) the use/release of nanoparticles in industry, b) current practices to control exposure and c) the potential levels of workplace exposure. The report will contain a discussion of what is current best practice to control exposure to nanoparticles. It will also indicate where the gaps in kn [continued...]ObjectivesA written report that draws upon disparate sources of available information and uses competent occupational hygiene expertise to form expert opinion on the implications. Key measures will the demonstration reasoned arguments supported by data from both current deliberate manufacturing of nanoparticles and incident nanoparticle production. The report will include all viable occupational exposure routes.Description1. Identify ...
The overall goal of this work is to design and optimize a biodiesel production process from soybean oil. To achieve this goal, several inter-connected activities were undertaken. First, an initial flowsheet for the process was synthesized. The performance of this flowsheet along with the key design and operating criteria were identified by conducting computer-aided simulation using ASPEN Plus. Various scenarios were simulated to provide sufficient understanding and insights and to select a base-case flowsheet. Next, mass and energy integration studies were performed to reduce the consumption of material and energy utilities, improve environmental impact, and enhance profitability. Capital cost estimation was carried out using the ICARUS Process Evaluator computer-aided tool linked to the results of the ASPEN Plus simulation. The operating cost of the process was estimated using the key information on process operation such as raw materials, ...
This Conference is a key technology transfer activity supported by the ongoing Combustion Equipment Technology (Oil-Heat R and D) program at BNL, and is aimed at providing a forum for the exchange of information among international researchers, engineers, manufacturers, and marketers of oil-fired space-conditioning equipment. The objectives of the Conference were to: identify and evaluate the state-of-the-art and recommend new initiatives for higher efficiency, a cleaner environment, and to satisfy consumer needs cost-effectively, reliably, and safely; and foster cooperation among federal and industrial representatives with the common goal of sustained national economic growth and energy security via energy conservation. The 1996 Oil Technology Conference comprised: (a) fourteen technical papers, and (b) four workshops which focused on mainstream issues in oil-heating technology, namely: oilheat research agenda forum; fan atomized burner ...
This report documents the Proceedings of the 1995 Oil Heat Technology Conference and Workshop, held on March 22-23 at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy - Office of Building Technologies (DOE-OBT), in cooperation with the Petroleum Marketers Association of America. This Conference, which was the ninth held since 1984, is a key technology transfer activity supported by the ongoing Combustion Equipment Technology (Oil-Heat R&D) program at BNL, and is aimed at providing a forum for the exchange of information among international researchers, engineers, manufacturers, and marketers of oil-fired space-conditioning equipment. The objectives of the Conference were to: (1) Identify and evaluate the state-of-the-art and recommend new initiatives for higher efficiency, a cleaner environment, and to satisfy consumer needs cost-effectively, reliably, and safely; (2) Foster cooperation among federal and ...
The Predictive Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) is a new model that can be used to assess the level of maturity of computational modeling and simulation (M&S) efforts. The development of the model is based on both the authors experience and their analysis of similar investigations in the past. The perspective taken in this report is one of judging the usefulness of a predictive capability that relies on the numerical solution to partial differential equations to better inform and improve decision making. The review of past investigations, such as the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Department of Defense Technology Readiness Levels, indicates that a more restricted, more interpretable method is needed to assess the maturity of an M&S effort. The PCMM addresses six contributing elements to M&S: (1) representation and geometric fidelity, (2) physics ...
Nine infants (six boys, three girls) with anorectal anomalies were examined in the immediate newborn period, prior to corrective surgery, with MRI. Three high, one intermediate and five low anomalies were found at MRI - one patient with a `low` lesion was subsequently found at surgery 2 months later to have a high anorectal anomaly. This infant had passed meconium per urethram soon after the MRI study, prompting the need for a protective colostomy and stressing the importance of a thorough clinical examination of babies with anorectal malformations. The MRI results and findings at surgery were in agreement in all other patients (n=8). Hydronephrosis was evident in two and renal agenesis in one patient. Sacrococcygeal hypoplasia was found in two and two hemivertebrae in one infant. No spinal cord lesion was identified. One fistula was evident on MRI but four were later found at surgery. Uniformly hyperintense T1 signal meconium was seen in all nine newborns, ...
A complete heavy ion identification system in heavy ion reaction studies consists, in general, of: 1) a position sensitive avalanche counter, and 2) ionization chamber to obtain total energy as well as a heavy ion identifier signal (such as the E#DELTA#E signal from a E-#DELTA#E type detector or the height of the Bragg peak that scales as Z of the heavy ion in a Bragg curve ionization chamber). In addition, a time-of-flight information may be needed to resolve the masses of the ions. With this motivation in mind, a composite detector system consisting of a Bragg curve spectroscopy ionization chamber (BCS-IC) and a one dimensional position sensitive parallel grid avalanche counter (XPS-PGAC) has been developed and used successfully at the BARC-TIFR pelletron accelerator facility. The design and performance of this gas detector system are reported. (author). 4 refs., 2 figs.
Purpose: The present research aims to identify the difficulties and obstacles for developing digital libraries in the seven regional branches of Islamic Azad University (IAU), Iran, and to study the status of librarians' skills and education programmes at these institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The 40 individuals working in the regional branch libraries of IAU were surveyed by a questionnaire consisting of 34 questions, and the collected data were analysed using SPSS software (version 16). Findings: It was found that the most important difficulties are the lack of suitable equipment and untrained personnel (i.e. a lack of sufficient training programmes). Research limitations/implications: Because of the small number of participants, it is suggested that a larger scale study is carried out. It is also proposed that the suggestions made by the participants will be considered and implemented, based on the digital library (DL) developments in academic ...
The progress made during the first two years of a program to study the migration of grain boundaries in ceramic oxides is reported. The principal results of the program are concerned with the structure of grain boundaries in ..cap alpha..-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/, although important new information has also been obtained on grain boundaries in spinels and both germanlum and silicon. Attention is focused on the basal twin boundary in ..cap alpha..-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ which had been identified as a model interface in early work. A series of new grain boundaries exemplified by the (11anti23) twin are also discussed briefly as is the rhombohedral twin interface. Earlier results on the first-order (..sigma..=3) twin in spinel have been extended with the development of models for the computer-simulation of high-resolution TEM images of these interfaces. A study of low-angle grain boundaries in spinel is giving new insight into the effect which the large size ...
A discussion of how stress and strain affect the quantities which can be measured in an NQR experiment shows that, for stresses of the magnitude to be expected at depths up to about 10,000 feet, quadrupole coupling constants will fall in the range of 1 to 10 kHz for both the sodium and chloride ions in NaCl. The most promising system involves pulsed nuclear double resonance detection; and alterative is to observe the quadrupolar splitting of the NMR signal. Choices to be made in the measurement and mapping techniques are discussed. The well-known perturbation of the homogenous stress field in the neighborhood of a borehole is shown to be advantageous from the point of view of obtaining directional information on the stress. Construction and operation of a borehole stress sensor are considered. The NQR technique seems feasible for measuring the magnitude and direction of underground stress with a resolution of about 25 psi, or 2.5% at 1000 psi. Downhole ...
Sudden changes in the temperature of flowing liquids can result in transient buoyancy forces which strongly impact the flow hydrodynamics via flow stratification. These effects have been studied for the case of potential flow of stratified liquids to line sinks, but not for moderator flow in SRS reactors. Standard codes, such as TRAC and COMMIX, do not have the capability to capture the stratification effect, due to strong numerical diffusion which smears away the hot/cold fluid interface. A related problem with standard codes is the inability to track plumes injected into the liquid flow, again due to numerical diffusion. The combined effects of buoyant stratification and plume dispersion have been identified as being important in operation the Supplementary Safety System which injects neutron-poison ink into SRS reactors to provide safe shutdown in the event of safety rod failure. The MODFLOW code discussed here provides transient moderator flow pattern ...
Sudden changes in the temperature of flowing liquids can result in transient buoyancy forces which strongly impact the flow hydrodynamics via flow stratification. These effects have been studied for the case of potential flow of stratified liquids to line sinks, but not for moderator flow in SRS reactors. Standard codes, such as TRAC and COMMIX, do not have the capability to capture the stratification effect, due to strong numerical diffusion which smears away the hot/cold fluid interface. A related problem with standard codes is the inability to track plumes injected into the liquid flow, again due to numerical diffusion. The combined effects of buoyant stratification and plume dispersion have been identified as being important in operation the Supplementary Safety System which injects neutron-poison ink into SRS reactors to provide safe shutdown in the event of safety rod failure. The MODFLOW code discussed here provides transient moderator flow pattern ...
The live outdoor webcam seems inseparable from the mid-1990s' popular proliferation of the Internet. Combining a well-known medium, i.e. the photograph, with a new one, i.e. the Internet, the live outdoor webcam seems in the rear-view mirror to have contributed significantly to the popular perception of the Internet as a globally distended and thus "geographical" medium. Moreover, due to its role in the NASA Triana mission, the never-realised flagship of the Clinton-Gore administration's Digital Earth project, the live webcam seemed to play an important part in the construction of what leading geographers coined a "virtual geography"-the geography of the Internet, and the networked geography-that sought to establish itself as a new field of study during the late 1990s. In order to substantiate for this interpretation, I would like in the first part of this article to identify a number of basic characteristics of the outdoor webcam and, in the second, to analyse and ...
National efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care present challenges for medical education and training. Today's doctors need to be skilled communicators who know how to identify, prevent and manage adverse events and near misses, how to use evidence and information, how to work safely in a team, how to practise ethically, and how to be workplace teachers and learners. These competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) are set out in the National Patient Safety Education Framework (NPSF) of the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care. The NPSF is designed to help medical schools, vocational colleges, health organisations and private practitioners develop curricula to enable health professionals to work safely. The NPSF describes what doctors (depending on their level of knowledge and experience) can do to demonstrate competencies in a range of quality and safety activities. Medical schools, vocational ...
Thermoluminescence (TL) dosimetry was used to measure dose effects on the raw stock material of borosilicate container glass from different geographical locations. Effects were studied at times up to 60 days post-irradiation at doses from 0.15 to 20 Gy. The minimum detectable dose using this technique was estimated to be 0.15 Gy which is roughly equivalent to a 24 hr irradiation 1 cm from a 50 ng source of 60Co. Two peaks were identified in the TL glow curve, a relatively unstable peak around 125 C and a more stable peak around 225 C. Differences in TL glow curve shape and intensity were also observed for the glasses from different geographical origins. We investigate radiation induced defects in glass to further develop the technique of intrinsic dosimetry - the measurement of the total absorbed dose received by the walls of a container holding radioactive material. Intrinsic dosimetry is intended to be used as an interrogation tool to provide enhanced pathway ...
Fault symptoms of running gearboxes must be detected as early as possible to avoid serious accidents. Diverse advanced methods are developed for this challenging task. However, for multiwavelet transforms, the fixed basis functions independent of the input dynamic response signals will possibly reduce the accuracy of fault diagnosis. Meanwhile, for multiwavelet denoising technique, the universal threshold denoising tends to overkill important but weak features in gear fault diagnosis. To overcome the shortcoming, a novel method incorporating customized (i.e., signal-based) multiwavelet lifting schemes with sliding window denoising is proposed in this paper. On the basis of Hermite spline interpolation, various vector prediction and update operators with the desirable properties of biorthogonality, symmetry, short support and vanishing moments are constructed. The customized lifting-based multiwavelets for feature matching are chosen by the minimum entropy principle. Due to the periodic ...
The 12 GeV upgrade at Jefferson Lab has identified two new large spectrometers as Physics detectors for the project. The first is a 7.5 Gev/c 35 m-sr. spectrometer that requires a pair of identical Combined Function Superconducting Magnets (CFSM) that can simultaneously produce 1.5 T dipole fields and 4.5 T/m quadrupole fields inside a warm bore of 120cm. The second is an 11 GeV/c 2 m-sr. spectrometer that requires a CFSM that simultaneously produces a dipole field of 4.0 T and a quadruple field of 3.0 T/m in a 60 cm warm bore. Magnetic designs using TOSCA 3D have been performed to realize the magnetic requirements, provide 3d fields for optics analysis and produce field and force information for the engineering feasibility of the magnets. A two-sector cos( theta )/cos(2 theta ) design with a low nominal current density, warm bore and warm iron design has been selected and analyzed. These low current densities are consistent with the limits for ...
This summary denotes the progress made by the Exploratory Technology Research (ETR) Program for Electrochemical Energy Storage during calendar year 1992. The primary objective of the ETR Program, which is sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and managed by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), is to identify electrochemical technologies that can satisfy stringent performance, durability and economic requirements for electric vehicles (EVs). The ultimate goal is to transfer the most-promising electrochemical technologies to the private sector or to another DOE program (e.g., SNL`s Electric Vehicle Advanced Battery Systems Development Program, EVABS) for further development and scale-up. Besides LBL, which has overall responsibility for the ETR Program, LANL and BNL have participated in the ETR Program by providing key research support in several of the program elements. Program consists of three major elements: Exploratory Research; Applied Science Research; ...
The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Program mission is to store, treat, and immobilize highly radioactive Hanford Site waste (current and future tank waste and the strontium/cesium capsules) in an environmentally sound, safe, and cost-effective manner. The scope of the TWRS Waste Pretreatment Program is to treat tank waste and separate that waste into HLW and LLW fractions and provide additional treatment as required to feed LLW and HLW immobilization facilities. Enhanced sludge washing was chosen as the baseline process for separating Hanford tank waste sludge. Section 1.0 briefly discusses the purpose of the evaluation plan and provides the background that led to the choice of enhanced sludge washing as the baseline process. Section 2.0 provides a brief summary of the evaluation plan details. Section 3.0 discusses, in some detail, the technical work planned to support the evaluation of enhanced sludge washing. Section 4.0 briefly discusses the potential important of policy ...
Managing public lands for maximum social benefit is becoming an increasingly complex task. The growing need for domestically produced mineral raw materials and energy, and the conflicting interests over the use of public lands, have added new dimensions to the management issues. This report covers the first phase of a long-term program initiated by the Division of State Lands to improve their capability to evaluate the tar-sand and oil-shale resources in Utah. The scope of this phase of the study was limited to examination and analysis of existing information and to development models for data processing and resource evaluation. The study was effective in identifying problem areas and demonstrating the potential value of the proposed systems for management of state lands. It is anticipated that effective evaluation of the oil-shale and tar-sand resources in Utah, supported by readily accessible physical data, will lead to improved management ...
Dipole and quadrupole excitations in the semimagic N{sup .} = 50 nucleus {sup 88}Sr were investigated at the superconducting electron linear accelerator ELBE with bremsstrahlung produced at electron energies of 9.0, 13.2, and 16.0 MeV. About 160 {gamma} transitions were identified up to 12 MeV. By using polarized photons linear polarizations of about 50 {gamma} transitions were measured. In the energy range of 6 - 12 MeV there is only one M1 transition while all other transitions have E1 character. Statistical methods were applied in order to filter out inelastic transitions and to correct the intensities of the ground-state transitions for their branching ratios. The photoabsorption cross section obtained in this way provides information about the extension of the Giant Dipole Resonance towards energies below the neutron-separation energy. The experimental results are compared with existing data beyond the neutron-separation energy and with ...
Both the increased complexity of integrated circuits, resulting in six or more levels of integration, and the increasing use of flip-chip packaging have driven the development of integrated circuit (IC) failure analysis tools that can be applied to the backside of the chip. Among these new approaches are focused ion beam (FIB) tools and processes for performing chip edits/repairs from the die backside. This paper describes the use of backside FIB for a failure analysis application rather than for chip repair. Specifically, they used FIB technology to prepare an IC for inspection of voided metal interconnects (lines) and vias. Conventional FIB milling was combined with a super-enhanced gas assisted milling process that uses XeF{sub 2} for rapid removal of large volumes of bulk silicon. This combined approach allowed removal of the TiW underlayer from a large number of Ml lines simultaneously, enabling rapid localization and plan view imaging of voids in lines and vias with backscattered ...
SummaryIntended Outputs: Farmers' priorities in dairy health and production in the smallholder crop dairy production system defined.Methodology for applying FFS approach in the AH/LP setting developed, tested and promoted.Impact assessment of the livestock FFS approach.Establishment of a plan of action for the large-scale implementation including proposals for the Government of Kenya to seek funding.Livestock FFS manual: guidelines and reference material suitable for [continued...]ObjectivesTo adapt and test Farmer Field School (FFS) methodology for animal health and production, focussing upon smallholder dairy farmers.DescriptionProject Background: Dissemination has traditionally been seen by research and extension as finding effective ways of transferring technology, and passing on relevant, usable information to farmers. In complex situations, where farmers need to adjust to a changing situation -such as crop protection, soil nutrient management, animal health ...
A fundamental problem facing those trying to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) centers around the word ''significantly''. Although the NEPA regulations discuss the term, they provide no clear definition of ''significance'' that can be applied objectively and uniformly to environmental issues and the consequences of man's activities. A major problem in trying to analyze environmental issues is caused by poor communication. The authors suggest common ''language'' for environmental analysis to organize and communicate information about environmental issues and impacts. An environmental issue is defined as an unresolved question or concern about an environmental consequence. Issues are analyzed using a simple worksheet that identifies who is concerned, what specific elements of the environment they are ...
One of the principal problems confronting the remediation of Bear Creek Valley is the cleanup of contaminated groundwater. The S-3 Site is one of the locations in the valley where groundwater is most contaminated, and contamination from the S-3 Site has also caused extensive contamination of downgradient groundwater. This groundwater plume, therefore, has a high priority in the Bear Creek Valley remedial process. Pumping and treating groundwater was identified early in the feasibility study as a likely remedial alternative for the S-3 Site groundwater plume. The hydrology and geochemistry of the plume are extremely complex. There is a high degree of uncertainty in the current understanding of how the aquifer will react physically and chemically to pumping, making evaluation of a pump-and-treat alternative impractical at the present time. Before a pump-and-treat alternative can be evaluated, its technical practicability, effectiveness, and projected cost must be ...
Very large databases are required to store massive amounts of data that are continuously inserted and queried. Analyzing huge data sets and extracting valuable pattern in many applications are interesting for researchers. We can identify two main groups of techniques for huge data bases mining. One group refers to streaming data and applies mining techniques whereas second group attempts to solve this problem directly with efficient algorithms. Recently many researchers have focused on data stream as an efficient strategy against huge data base mining instead of mining on entire data base. The main problem in data stream mining means evolving data is more difficult to detect in this techniques therefore unsupervised methods should be applied. However, clustering techniques can lead us to discover hidden information. In this survey, we try to clarify: first, the different problem definitions related to data stream clustering in general; second, ...
As yet, the role of Computed Tomography (CT) as a routine imaging technique in the staging and follow-up of thoracic Hodgkin's disease has not been assessed. The authors reported the results obtained in 120 patients affected with thoracic Hodgkin's disease, staged and followed by means af chest X-rays and CT. CT better identified intrathoracic involvement of mediastinal nodes, of lung parenchyma, of pleura, and of pericarcial and chest walls in 54/120 patients (45%), with staging modifications in 18 (15%) of them only. Treatment was changed only in 12 patients (19%) where radiation therapy had been planned. The clinical value of the additional information yielded by CT was especially evident in the follow-up: CT allowed the correct evaluation of persistent/ recurrent disease in 51/117 patients (43.5%), a figure high enough to suggest the use of CT in the routive follow-up of patients affected with thoracic Hodgkin's disease.
The primary purpose of the pilot Coal Compilation Project is to provide coal resource maps to stimulate and support industry exploration programs and to assist government in matters of resource management. An essential feature of the program is the use of cost effective Geoscience Information System (GSIS) technology that allows the database and various thematic maps to be analysed, updated and displayed with complete flexibility at any scale. This report describes the main features (geology, resource management, exploration history, coal occurrences etc.) of the study area, mapsheet NTS 83E/9 (Moberly Creek), and includes a copy of the 1:50,000 scale map produced. The study area is located in West-central Alberta and contains coal measures deposited amid thick successions of sandstones, siltstones, shales and conglomerates. These coal-bearing sequences are part of the Luscar Group, Upper Cretaceous Brazeau Formation and Paleocene Coalspur Formations. Coal seams ...
This guide teaches the basic fundamentals of cavitation to provide the reader with an understanding of what causes cavitation, when it occurs, and the potential problems cavitation can cause to a valve and piping system. The document provides guidelines for understanding how to reduce the cavitation and/or select control valves for a cavitating system. The guide provides a method for predicting the cavitation intensity of control valves, and how the effect of cavitation on a system will vary with valve type, valve function, valve size, operating pressure, duration of operation and details of the piping installation. The guide defines six cavitation limits identifying cavitation intensities ranging from inception to the maximum intensity possible. The intensity of the cavitation at each limit Is described, including a brief discussion of how each level of cavitation influences the valve and system. Examples are included to demonstrate how to apply the method, ...
For many decades, the oil shale resources of the western United States have been considered possible contributors to the Nation's liquid fuel supply. This volume reviews several paths to development of these resources and the likely consequences of following these paths. A chapter providing background information about the nature of oil shale is followed by an evaluation of technologies for recovery of shale oil. The economics and finances of establishing an industry of various sizes are analyzed. The fact that much of the best shale is located on Federal land is examined in light of the desire to increase use of the resources. The consequences of shale development in terms of impact on the physical and social environments, and a discussion of the availability of water complete the report. Policy options addressing barriers that could hinder the establishment of the industry are presented. These options, designed primarily for Congressional consideration, ...
It is currently unclear if the potential for West Nile virus transmission by mosquito vectors in the eastern United States is related to landscape or climate factors or both. We compared abundance of vector species between urban and suburban neighborhoods of Henrico County, VA, in relation to the following factors: temperature, precipitation, canopy cover, building footprint, and proximity to drainage infrastructure. Mosquitoes were collected throughout the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons and tested for West Nile virus (WNV) in pools of 10-50. Test results of mosquito pools were compared to average site abundance from 37 sites in Henrico County, VA; abundance was then examined in relation to ecological variables. Urban infrastructure was positively correlated with the abundance of Culex pipiens L./Cx. restuans, and our findings implicate combined sewer overflow systems as large contributors to Culex vector populations. No measure of urbanization examined in our study was correlated with ...
An uncertainty decrease is an very important issue for enhancing risk-informed (RI) activities worldwide. Especially, a relatively large uncertainty in a level-2 (L2) PSA risk compared with level-1 internal PSA risk has been a bottleneck problem in the RI application to the extent of a severe accident management. According to the ASME PRA standard in which sources of an uncertainty to capture a category-II RI (= Option 2) capability are listed, an uncertainty analysis which identifies the key sources of an uncertainty and includes sensitivity studies for dominant contributors to LERF (Large Early Release Frequency) needs to be provided. To solve these problems, USNRC have developed the 'SPAR-LERF' model related to the L2 RI application and 'L2 uncertainty assessment and improvement' work is being taken as a main PSA2 topic of the SARNET (Severe Accident Research Network of Excellence) program in Europe by OECD/NEA. Domestically, a mid/long-term ...
Three normal human diploid cell strains were transfected with an activated Ha-ras oncogene (EJ ras) or SV40 T-antigen. Multiple clones were examined for morphological alterations, growth requirements, ability to grow under anchorage independent conditions, immortality and tumorigenicity in nude mice. Clones expressing SV40 T-antigen alone or in combination with ras protein p21 were significantly radioresistant as compared with their parent cells or clones transfected with the neo gene only. This radioresistant phenotype persisted in post-crisis, immortalized cell lines. These data suggest that expression of the SV40 T-antigen but not activated Ha-ras plays an important role in the radiosensitivity of human diploid cells. The radioresistant phenotype in SV40 T transfected cells was not related to the enhanced level of genetic instability seen in pre-crisis and newly immortalized cells, nor to the process of immortalization itself. (author).
We investigated the in vitro phenotypic transformation of human embryo (HE) cells that were repeatedly irradiated (7.5 cGy once a week) throughout their life-span. Irradiation was repeated until the cells had accumulated 195 cGy (equivalent to the 26th passage). Samples of cells were assayed for survival by colony formation, as well as for mutation at the hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) locus and for transformation by focus formation. The life-span (mean number of population doublings) of multiply irradiated cells with a total dose of 97.5 cGy was slightly but significantly prolonged over that of controls. After HE cells had accumulated 195 cGy, the maximum number of divisions increased to 130-160% of the number in non-irradiated control cells. Transformed foci were not observed until cells had accumulated 97.5 cGy, and then increased with the increasing accumulation of radiation. However, no cells showed immortality or expressed a malignant ...
In this study, adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) were cocultured with nucleus pulposus (NP) cells using a porous membrane to investigate the effect of NP cell phenotype on ASC chondrogenic differentiation. Human NP cells were collected from 14 patients and classified into two groups (normal vs. degenerative) depending on the level of type II collagen, aggrecan (AGG), type I collagen, and bax gene expression. Human ASCs were then cocultured with each group of NP cells on porous membranes in the absence of chondrogenic supplements. After 2 weeks, real-time-polymerase chain reaction results showed that ASCs cocultured with normal NP cells had much higher type II collagen and AGG gene expression than ASCs cocultured with degenerative NP cells. The production of AGG was also observed only in th...
The classical phenomenon of position-effect variegation (PEV) is the mosaic expression that occurs when a chromosomal rearrangements moves a euchromatic gene near heterochromatin. A striking feature of this phenomenon is that genes far away from the junction with heterochromatin can be affected, as if the heterochromatic state {open_quotes}spreads.{close_quotes} We have investigated classical PEV of a Drosophila brown transgene affected by a heterochromatic junction {approximately} 60 kb away. PEV was enhanced when the transgene was locally duplicated using P transposase. Successive rounds of P transpose mutagenesis and phenotypic selection produced a series of PEV alleles with differences in phenotype that depended on transgene copy number and orientation. As for other examples of classical PEV, nearby heterochromatin was required for gene silencing. Modifications of classical PEV by alterations at a single site are unexpected, and these ...
The heterokaryotic and vegetative diploid phases of Magnaporthe grisea, a fungal pathogen of grasses, have been characterized. Hyphal tip cells and conidia (vegetative spores) taken from these heterokaryons are auxotrophs with phenotypes identical to one or the other of the parents. M. grisea heterokaryons have completely septate hyphae with a single nucleus per cell. Heterokaryons have been utilized for complementation and dominance testing of mutations that affect nutritional characteristics of the fungus. Heterokaryons growing on minimal medium spontaneously give rise to fast-growing sectors that have the genetic properties expected of unstable heterozygous diploids. In fast-growing sectors, most hyphal tip cells are unstable prototrophs. The conidia collected from fast-growing sectors include stable and unstable prototrophs, as well as auxotrophs that exhibit a wide range of phenotypes, including many recombinant classes. Genetic linkage in ...
Attention deficit disorder (ADHD) is a complex biobehavioral phenotype which affects up to 8% of the general population and often impairs social, academic, and job performance. Its origins are heterogeneous, but a significant genetic component is suggested by family and twin studies. The murine strain, coloboma, displays a spontaneously hyperactive phenotype that is responsive to dextroamphetamine and has been proposed as a genetic model for ADHD. Coloboma is a semi-dominant mutation that is caused by a hemizygous deletion of the SNAP-25 and other genes on mouse chromosome 2q. To test the possibility that the human homolog of the mouse coloboma gene(s) could be responsible for ADHD, we have carried out linkage studies with polymorphic markers in the region syntenic to coloboma (20p11-p12). Five families in which the pattern of inheritance of ADHD appears to be autosomal dominant were studied. Segregation analysis of the traits studied suggested ...
Although clinic environments are a primary location for exchanging information with clinicians, patients experience these spaces as harsh environments to access, use, exchange, and manage information....Full Text Available
The National Information Infrastructure (NII) or "information superhighway" is a high-priority federal initiative to combine communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics to...Full Text Available
Information search in a distributed environment is an interactive process between the user and the artifact. How the information is distributed across the user and the artifact determines the efficacy...Full Text Available
This work plan has been prepared to document the scoping and planning process performed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to support remedial action activities at the Colonie site. The site is located in eastern New York State in the town of Colonie near the city of Albany. Remedial action of the Colonie site is being planned as part of DOE's Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. The DOE is responsible for controlling the release of all radioactive and chemical contaminants from the site. Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) must be prepared to support the decision-making process for evaluating remedial action alternatives. This work plan contains a summary of information known about the site as of January 1988, presents a conceptual site model that identifies potential routes of human exposure to site containments, ...
Finding innovative ways to reduce waste streams generated at US Department of Energy (DOE) sites by 50% by the year 2000 is a challenge for DOE`s waste minimization efforts. A team composed of members from several DOE facilities used the quality tool known as benchmarking to improve waste minimization efforts. First the team examined office waste generation and handling processes at their sites. Then team members developed telephone and written questionnaires to help identify potential ``best-in-class`` industry partners willing to share information about their best waste minimization techniques and technologies. The team identified two benchmarking partners, NIKE, Inc., in Beaverton, Oregon, and Microsoft, Inc., in Redmond, Washington. Both companies have proactive, employee-driven environmental issues programs. Both companies report strong employee involvement, management commitment, and readily available markets for ...
The passive continental margin in the northern South China Sea is a weakly active area. It has been found to be favorable for large gas field development and also to be profitable for gas hydrate. The active faults, diapir structure, slump deposits, faults break of slopes, gas chimneys and sandstone of submarine fan, control the concentration of gas hydrate. Gas chimneys are widely distributed in the northern South China Sea. They supply the pathway for migration of deeper gas to gas hydrate stability zones especially in the basin of tectonic inactive zone. This paper discussed the geological structures of gas hydrate occurrence in gas fields and presented a detailed analysis of gas chimneys within the northern slope of the South China Sea. The paper described the geological setting of the Qiongdongnan Basin and provided information on the data description and processing. Two multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection profiles were used for the study. In order to ...
In this thesis, the potential to discover supersymmetric signatures in both e"+e"- and #gamma##gamma# colliders evaluated with a Monte Carlo analysis, is discussed. The analysis was focused on the detection of muons, essentially. First, we study the detection of #mu#"+_R#mu#"-_R in e"-e"+ collisions, whose purpose is the measurement of the #mu#_R mass. It was found that an uncertainty of 0.11 GeV (stat) can be achieved. Under the assumption of the real conditions of the ILC photon collider, a study covering the detection of #mu#"+_R#mu#"-_R and #mu#"+_L#mu#"-_L pairs for #sq root#(s_e_"-_e_"+)=0.5 and 0.6 TeV was performed. According to the simulation, a statistical error for the branching ratios of #mu#"#+-#_L#->##chi#"0_1#mu#"#+-# of 0.98% and #mu#"#+-#_L#->##chi#"0_2#mu#"#+-# of 3.97% can be reached. In order to judge the Monte Carlo results, we have used a technique based on a multidimensional fit to evaluate the impact of the branching ratio measurements on the precision of ...
Populations living close to high-voltage transmission lines often have residential magnetic field exposures in excess of 1 [mu]T, and sometimes over 2 [mu]T. Yet, populations studied in most epidemiologic investigations of the association between residential magnetic field exposure and cancer typically have exposures below 1 [mu]T and frequently below 0.5 [mu]T. To improve statistical power and precision, it would be useful to compare high exposure populations with low exposure population. Toward this end, we have developed an automated method for identifying populations living near high-voltage transmissions lines. These populations likely have more highly exposed individuals that the population at large. The method uses a geographic information system (GIS) to superimpose digitized transmission line locations on U.S. Census block location data and then extract relevant demographic data. Analysis of data from a pilot study of the population ...
The Soldier Information Requirements Technology Demonstration (SIREQ TD) project is an experimentation program to identify technologies that significantly enhance the performance of our future soldiers. One of the study series involved a 2 x 2 factorial comparison of the benefits of digital maps over paper maps, and the use of radios vs. no radios. Thirty-two Canadian regular force infantry soldiers performed force-on-force tactical assault missions in wooded terrain, with each soldier participating in all four test conditions. The radios were configured to operate in 4 subnets: 1 channel for each of the 2 Assault Groups (4 soldiers on a channel); a Section Commander/2IC channel; and an all-users channel. Note that in the no-radio conditions soldiers still operated the press-to-talk switch to allow recording of communications, but the speaker volume was set to zero. All communications were date/time stamped, identified as ...
This report is the first of four volumes that identify and assess the environmental, health, and safety issues involved in using sodium-sulfur (Na/S) battery technology as the energy source in electric and hybrid vehicles that may affect the commercialization of Na/S batteries. This and the other reports on recycling, shipping, and vehicle safety are intended to help the Electric and Hybrid Propulsion Division of the Office of Transportation Technologies in the US Department of Energy (DOE/EHP) determine the direction of its research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) program for Na/S battery technology. The reports review the status of Na/S battery RD&D and identify potential hazards and risks that may require additional research or that may affect the design and use of Na/S batteries. This volume covers cell design and engineering as the basis of safety for Na/S batteries and describes and assesses the potential chemical, ...
This report is the first of four volumes that identify and assess the environmental, health, and safety issues involved in using sodium-sulfur (Na/S) battery technology as the energy source in electric and hybrid vehicles that may affect the commercialization of Na/S batteries. This and the other reports on recycling, shipping, and vehicle safety are intended to help the Electric and Hybrid Propulsion Division of the Office of Transportation Technologies in the US Department of Energy (DOE/EHP) determine the direction of its research, development, and demonstration (RD D) program for Na/S battery technology. The reports review the status of Na/S battery RD D and identify potential hazards and risks that may require additional research or that may affect the design and use of Na/S batteries. This volume covers cell design and engineering as the basis of safety for Na/S batteries and describes and assesses the potential chemical, electrical, and ...
Because of the chaotic nature of the corrosion process and the complexity of the electrochemical noise signals that are generated, there is no generally accepted method of measuring and interpreting these signals that allows the consistent detection and identification of sustained localized pitting (SLP) as compared to general corrosion. We have reexamined electrochemical noise analysis (ENA) of localized corrosion using different hardware, signal collection, and signal processing designs than those used in conventional ENA techniques. The new data acquisition system was designed to identify and monitor the progress of SLP by analyzing the power spectral density (PSD) of the trend of the corrosion current noise level (CNL) and potential noise level (PNL). Each CNL and PNL data point was calculated from the root-mean- square value of the ac components of current and potential fluctuation signals, which were measured simultaneously during a short time period. The PSD ...
A considerable fraction of radioactivity entering the environment from different nuclear events is associated with particles. The impact of these events can only be fully assessed where there is some knowledge about the mobility of particle bound radionuclides entering the environment. The behavior of particulate radionuclides is dependent on several factors, including the physical, chemical and redox state of the environment, the characteristics of the particles (e.g., the chemical composition, crystallinity and particle size) and on the oxidative state of radionuclides contained in the particles. Six plutonium-containing particles stemming from Runit Island soil (Marshall Islands) were characterized using non-destructive analytical and microanalytical methods. By determining the activity of {sup 239,240}Pu and {sup 241}Am isotopes from their gamma peaks structural information related to Pu matrix was obtained, and the source term was revealed. Composition and ...
The subjective experience of one's environment is constructed by interactions among sensory, cognitive, and affective processes. For centuries, meditation has been thought to influence such processes by enabling a nonevaluative representation of sensory events. To better understand how meditation influences the sensory experience, we used arterial spin labeling functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the neural mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation influences pain in healthy human participants. After 4 d of mindfulness meditation training, meditating in the presence of noxious stimulation significantly reduced pain unpleasantness by 57% and pain intensity ratings by 40% when compared to rest. A two-factor repeated-measures ANOVA was used to identify interactions between meditation and pain-related brain activation. Meditation reduced pain-related activation of the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex. Multiple regression analysis was used to ...
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, using the ANS low power and shutdown (LPSD) probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) Standard, evaluated the LPSD PSA model of the KSNP, Yonggwang Units 5 and 6, and identified the items to be improved. The evaluation results of human reliability analysis (HRA) of the post-accident human errors in the LPSD PSA model for the KSNP showed that 10 items among 19 items of supporting requirements for those in the ANS PRA Standard were identified as them to be improved. Thus, we newly carried out a HRA for post-accident human errors in the LPSD PSA model for the KSNP. Following tasks are the improvements in the HRA of post-accident human errors of the LPSD PSA model for the KSNP compared with the previous one: Interviews with operators in the interpretation of the procedure, modeling of operator actions, and the quantification results of human errors, site visit. Applications of limiting value to the combined ...
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for cleanup activities at the Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County, Missouri. The site consists of a chemical plant area and a noncontiguous limestone quarry; both areas are radioactively and chemically contaminated as a result of past processing and disposal activities. Explosives were produced by the US Army at the chemical plant in the 1940s, and uranium and thorium materials were processed by DOE`s predecessor agency in the 1950s and 1960s. During that time, various wastes were disposed of at both areas of the site. The DOE is conducting cleanup activities at the site under its Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. The integrated remedial investigation/feasibility study-environmental impact statement (RI/FS-EIS) documents for the chemical plant area were issued to the public in November 1992 as the draft RI/FS-EIS. (The CERCLA RI/FS is considered final when issued to the public, whereas per the NEPA process, an ...
This Site Maintenance Plan has been developed for Pacific Northwest Laboratory's (PNL) Nonnuclear Facilities. It is based on requirements specified by US Department of Energy (DOE) Order 4330.4A, Chapter I, Change No. 4. The objective of this maintenance plan is to provide baseline information for compliance to the DOE Order 4330.4A, to identify needed improvements, and to document the planned maintenance budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 1993 and to estimate maintenance budgets for FY 1994 and FY 1995 for all PNL facilities. Using the results of the self-assessment, PNL has selected 12 of the 36 elements of the Maintenance Program defined by DOE Order 4330.4A, Chapter I, for improvement. The elements selected for improvement are: Facility Condition Inspections; Work Request (Order) System; Formal Job Planning and Estimating; Work Performance (Time) Standards; Priority System; Maintenance Procedures and Other Work-Related Documents; ...
This Site Maintenance Plan has been developed for Pacific Northwest Laboratory`s (PNL) Nonnuclear Facilities. It is based on requirements specified by US Department of Energy (DOE) Order 4330.4A, Chapter I, Change No. 4. The objective of this maintenance plan is to provide baseline information for compliance to the DOE Order 4330.4A, to identify needed improvements, and to document the planned maintenance budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 1993 and to estimate maintenance budgets for FY 1994 and FY 1995 for all PNL facilities. Using the results of the self-assessment, PNL has selected 12 of the 36 elements of the Maintenance Program defined by DOE Order 4330.4A, Chapter I, for improvement. The elements selected for improvement are: Facility Condition Inspections; Work Request (Order) System; Formal Job Planning and Estimating; Work Performance (Time) Standards; Priority System; Maintenance Procedures and Other Work-Related Documents; Scheduling ...
This annual report describes the progress during the fourth year of the project on {open_quotes}Integrated Approach Towards the Application of Horizontal Wells to Improve Waterflooding Performance{close_quotes}. The project involves using an integrated approach to characterize the reservoir followed by proposing an appropriate reservoir management strategy to improve the field performance. In the first stage of the project, the type of data we integrated include cross borehole seismic surveys, geological interpretation based on the logs and the cores, and the engineering information. In contrast, during the second stage of the project, we intend to use only conventional data to construct the reservoir description. This report covers the results of the implementation from the first stage of the project. It also discusses the work accomplished so far for the second stage of the project. The production from the Self Unit (location of Stage 1) has sustained an increase ...
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has sponsored several studies to identify and quantify, through the use of models, the potential health effects of accidental releases of radionuclides from nuclear power plants. The Reactor Safety Study provided the basis for most of the earlier estimates related to these health effects. Subsequent efforts by NRC-supported groups resulted in improved health effects models that were published in the report entitled {open_quotes}Health Effects Models for Nuclear Power Plant Consequence Analysis{close_quotes}, NUREG/CR-4214, 1985 and revised further in the 1989 report NUREG/CR-4214, Rev. 1, Part 2. The health effects models presented in the 1989 NUREG/CR-4214 report were developed for exposure to low-linear energy transfer (LET) (beta and gamma) radiation based on the best scientific information available at that time. Since the 1989 report was published, two addenda to that report have been prepared to (1) ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation s need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program is due, ...
Nuclear Forensics is a key element in the response process which is initiated after detection of illicit nuclear or other radioactive material. Credible nuclear forensics relies on appropriate sampling procedures, on validated analytical methods and on thorough data analysis and interpretation. Nuclear forensics aims at providing clues on the history and the potential origin of the material. Elemental and isotopic composition of the material, as well as its macroscopic and microscopic appearance reflect the technological processes used for the fabrication of the material. The nuclear forensic analysis first of all results in measurement data. Through appropriate processing of these data information on the nature and the history of the material can be obtained. A number of data evaluation techniques serving this purpose are conceivable and have been applied. On the one side, statistical methods like principal component analysis (PCA) or classification and regression ...
In these years Information Technology has been used in activities that require an intelligent intervention. In this context take placing Decision Support Systems, since they use Information Technology to support users in decision processes, that is problems of logical level greater then problems normally treated by traditional information systems. The purpose of this work is to describe Decision Support Systems specifying what they are, their functionally and structure, identifying, furthermore, user types referred to and interaction modality between them; and to present a prototype of these systems. From a preliminary analyses phase of ENEA being and its Information Systems to understand which topics can be supported by systems of this type, it deals with one of these topics: weighing of new project, finding parameters, or key quantity, that affect and determine decisions. It ...
...requirements for Federal information technology resources. 352.239-72...requirements for Federal information technology resources. As prescribed...Requirements for Federal Information Technology Resources (January...
... 2010-10-01 true Information Technology Virus Security. 2452...Clauses 2452.239-71 Information Technology Virus Security. As prescribed...the following clause: Information Technology Virus Security (FEB...
...2010-10-01 false Information technology security plan and accreditation...Clauses 1252.239-71 Information technology security plan and accreditation...following provision: Information Technology Security Plan and...
... Screening Adjudication Monitoring Applicants of Information Behavior II I Conducting Investigations ... Applicants of Information Behavior Conducting ...
Featured Collections Featured collections are information sources that use federated search or are known for presenting exceptional, authoritative information for...
Information Technology Glossary of Terms. Applets: Programs that run inside net browsers, usually in Java and typically involving modestly interactive ...
... such as discovery, capabilities registration, lookup, and a ... Java- based toolkit for creating ... Multisensor, Multisource Information Fusion: Architectures ...
Computer And Network Security: Information For Everyone: This presentation was originally prepared as the 14th talk in a series known as "The Programmer's ...
...Identification - ETI Food & Biobased Research (WUR) Freudenthal Institute - FIsme (UU) Holst Centre IKM Engineering Ltd Information Retrieval and Information Systems (KUN) Information Systems - INS Information Technology Group (WUR) Institute for Computing and Information Sciences - ICIS (KUN) Institute of Health Policy and Management (EUR) ...
The objective of this research project is to demonstrate sensing, communication, information and control technologies to achieve a seamless integration of multivendor distributed energy resource (DER) units at aggregation levels that meet individual user requirements for facility operations (residential, commercial, industrial, manufacturing, etc.) and further serve as resource options for electric and natural gas utilities. The fully demonstrated DER aggregation system with embodiment of communication and control technologies will lead to real-time, interactive, customer-managed service networks to achieve greater customer value. Work on this Advanced Communication and Control Project (ACCP) consists of a two-phase approach for an integrated demonstration of communication and control technologies to achieve a seamless integration of DER units to reach progressive levels of aggregated power output. Phase I involved design and proof-of-design, and Phase II involves ...
We present a technique for identifying the amino acids responsible for a loss of immunoreactivity in response to treating an antigen with a chemical modifier. This is of particular interest...Full Text Available
The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) engaged in numerous projects outlined under the scope of work discussed in the United States Department of Energy (DOE) grant number DE-FG26-01BC15336 awarded to the IOGCC. Numerous projects were completed that were extremely valuable to state oil and gas agencies as a result of work performed utilizing resources provided by the grant. There are numerous areas in which state agencies still need assistance. This additional assistance will need to be addressed under another grant because funding resources have been exhausted under The scope of work objectives for the eight projects covered under this grant is as follows: (1) Improve uniformity within state oil and gas data management efforts. (2) Conduct environmental compliance workshops and related educational projects on natural gas and oil exploration and production. (3) Improve regulatory efficiency through partnering opportunities provided by the Appalachian Illinois Basin ...
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, using the ASME PRA Standard, evaluated the PSA model of the Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP) and identified the items to be improved to enhance its quality. The new risk monitor PSA model for the KSNP of which quality was enhanced is called as PRiME-U3i. The evaluation results of human reliability analysis (HRA) of the post-accident human errors in the PSA model of the KSNP showed that 10 items among 19 items of supporting requirements for those in the ASME PRA Standard were identified as them to be improved. Thus, we newly carried out a HRA for post-accident human errors for the KSNP PSA model as the target of grading its quality above ASME PRA Standard Category I+. Following tasks were additionally major tasks performed in the HRA of post-accident human errors of PRiME-U3i compared with the previous PSA model of the KSNP: interviews with operators in the collection and review of input data need ...
This report is intended to satisfy two concurrent needs: (1) provide a contract deliverable from Oncorh Consulting to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), with emphasis on identification of salient results of value to ongoing Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) planning and (2) summarize results of research that have broader scientific relevance. This is the fourth in a series of reports that address reproductive ecological research and monitoring of spring chinook populations in the Yakima River basin. This annual report summarizes data collected between April 1, 2004 and March 31, 2005 and includes analyses of historical baseline data, as well. Supplementation success in the Yakima Klickitat Fishery Project's (YKFP) spring chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) program is defined as increasing natural production and harvest opportunities, while keeping adverse ecological interactions and genetic impacts within acceptable bounds (Busack et al. 1997). ...
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
The Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP - BPA project No.2003-0017) has been created as a cost effective means of developing protocols and new technologies, novel indicators, sample designs, analytical, data management and communication tools and skills, and restoration experiments that support the development of a region-wide Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) program to assess the status of anadromous salmonid populations, their tributary habitat and restoration and management actions. The most straightforward approach to developing a regional-scale monitoring and evaluation program would be to increase standardization among status and trend monitoring programs. However, the diversity of species and their habitat, as well as the overwhelming uncertainty surrounding indicators, metrics, and data interpretation methods, requires the testing of multiple approaches. Thus, the approach ISEMP has adopted is to develop a broad template that may differ in the ...
Malformations in farmed fish are a prime research topic as it has a major impact on fish welfare and on the economical value of the product. In this study, the genetic component of spine deformities was estimated in European sea bass, a major species of Mediterranean aquaculture, with the use of a posteriori reconstruction of pedigree with microsatellites. Our population exhibited a very high malformation rate (81%), probably due to intense swimming of fish during pre-growing. The heritability of global spine deformities was evaluated to be 0.21?0.04 on the underlying scale (0.33?0.06 for lordosis, 0.13?0.04 for scoliosis). Deformities scored by an internal or external examination turned out to be genetically the same trait (genetic correlations>0.9), although phenotypic correlations were ...
Biological control agents can be more effective if their populations are genetically diverse, particularly when the target invasive plant comprises a range of genotypes with different susceptibilities and occurs across various microclimates. We report on the use of an efficient approach to find, in the native range, diverse isolates of a rust fungus for biological control. An outdoor trap garden containing various clones of invasive European blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.) collected in Australia, each with a different DNA phenotype, was established in France. Within 4?weeks of establishment, the leaf-rust fungus Phragmidium violaceum was recovered from all clones in the garden. Molecular analyses of eight recovered and purified isolates of the fungus from the garden revealed that they w...
Most heat shock proteins (Hsps) function as molecular chaperones that help organisms to cope with stress. Although the best empirical evidence is related to heat shock, there is evidence that Hsps and their encoding genes are involved in resistance to other ecologically relevant types of stresses such as those imposed by high population density. We quantified density-dependent gene expression of large (i.e. Hsp40, Hsc70 and Hsp90) and small (Hsp20.5, Hsp20.6 and Hsp20.7) heat shock genes in neural tissue of fifth-instar nymphs of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera, using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Locusts are of particular interest when studying the influence of stress induced by high population density since they show an extreme form of phenotypic plastici...
Severe affective and behavioral dysregulation, labeled as severe mood dysregulation (SMD), is a widely spread phenomenon among adolescent psychiatric patients. This phenotype constitutes severe impairment across multiple settings, including various symptoms, such as non-episodic anger, mood instability, and hyperarousal. Moreover, SMD patients often show depression and reduced need for sleep. Despite a lifetime prevalence of 3.3%, systematic research is still scarce, and treatments that have been established do not account for the range of symptoms present in SMD. Considering the circadian dysfunctions, two hormones, melatonin and cortisol, are essential. When these hormones are dysregulated, the circadian rhythm gets out of synchrony. Since evidence is emerging showing that the worse the ...
Abstract Septins are highly conserved cytoskeletal GTP-binding proteins implicated in numerous cellular processes from apoptosis to vesicle trafficking. Septins have been associated with leukemia and solid tumor malignancies, including breast, ovarian, and prostate. We previously reported that high SEPT9_i1 expression in human mammary epithelial cell lines (HMECs) led to malignant cellular phenotypes such as increased cell proliferation, invasiveness, motility, and genomic instability. Our goal here was to better understand how SEPT9_i1 expression might contribute to genomic instability and malignant progression. First, we confirmed that even transient expression of SEPT9_i1 was sufficient to increase aneuploidy in HMECs. We then analyzed SEPT9_i1 by immunoprecipitation and immunofluoresce...
Abstract Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- is a pro-inflammatory cytokine associated with psoriasis pathogenesis. Anti-TNF- therapies are effective in psoriasis. A significant weight gain has been reported in patients treated with anti-TNF- agents. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the body composition changes in psoriatic patients receiving anti-TNF- therapies according with disease phenotype. Forty patients affected with psoriasis were followed up for 24 weeks and divided into two groups: psoriasis vulgaris (PsO) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Anthropometric, blood biochemical, body composition parameters, resting metabolic rate, and disease activity indexes were measured at baseline and at week 24. After 24 weeks of anti-TNF- administration, the disease activity indexes and concen...
Survival and growth of terrestrial plants is negatively affected by complete submergence. This is mainly the result of hampered gas exchange between plants and their environment, since gas diffusion is severely reduced in water compared with air, resulting in O2 deficits which limit aerobic respiration. The continuation of photosynthesis could probably alleviate submergence-stress in terrestrial plants, but its potential under water will be limited as the availability of CO2 is hampered. Several submerged terrestrial plant species, however, express plastic responses of the shoot which may reduce gas diffusion resistance and enhance benefits from underwater photosynthesis. In particular, the plasticity of the flooding-tolerant terrestrial species Rumex palustris turned out to be remarkable,...
Abstract A method to grow the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii in microtiter plates has been optimized and now allows the parallel generation of very reproducible growth curves. The doubling time in a synthetic medium with glucose is around 6-h. The method was used to optimize glucose and casamino acid concentrations, to clarify carbon source usage and to analyze vitamin dependence. The characterization of osmotolerance revealed that after a lag phase of 24-h, H. volcanii is able to grow at salt concentrations as low as 0.7-M NaCl, much lower than the 1.4-M NaCl described as the lowest concentration until now. The application of oxidative stresses showed that H. volcanii exhibits a reaction to paraquat that is delayed by about 10-h. Surprisingly, only one of two amino acid auxotrophi...
Recycling of carbon by the photorespiratory pathway involves enzymatic steps in the chloroplast, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. Most of these reactions are essential for plants growing under ambient CO2 concentrations. However, some disruptions of photorespiratory metabolism cause subtle phenotypes in plants grown in air. For example, Arabidopsis thaliana lacking both of the peroxisomal malate dehydrogenase genes (pmdh1pmdh2) or hydroxypyruvate reductase (hpr1) are viable in air and have rates of photosynthesis only slightly lower than wild-type plants. To investigate how disruption of the peroxisomal reduction of hydroxypyruvate to glycerate influences photorespiratory carbon metabolism we analyzed leaf gas exchange in A. thaliana plants lacking peroxisomal HPR1 expression. In addition, b...
The authors have shown that toxicity of paraquat for Escherichia coli is increased over 1-fold in strains defective in the biosynthesis of spermidine compared to isogenic strains containing spermidine. The increased sensitivity of these spermidine-deficient mutants to paraquat is eliminated by growth in medium containing spermidine or by endogenous supplementation of spermidine by the use of a speE"+D"+ plasmid. No paraquat toxicity is seen in the absence of oxygen, even in amine-deficient strains, indicating that superoxide is the agent responsible for the increased toxicity. However, the specific mechanisms responsible for the increased paraquat toxicity in the spermidine-deficient mutants remain to be determined. The marked sensitivity to paraquat of E. coli deficient in spermidine is of particular interest, since such mutants have no other phenotypic properties that can be easily assayed. This increased sensitivity has been used as the basis of a convenient ...
To determine whether PKH26 labeling affects the morphologies, phenotypes, proliferation, and secretion abilities of human umbilical mesenchymal stromal cells (HUMSCs) were investigated. Isolated HUMSCs were labeled with PKH26, and cell morphology was observed under microscope. Cell cycle, apoptotic cell death, expression of PKH26, and the proliferation rate were evaluated. Additionally, fluorescence intensity of PKH26 labeling at different passage times was quantified. There were no detectable differences in cell morphology, cell growth, and proliferation rate after PKH26 labeling. In addition, fluorescence intensity of PKH26 labeling was gradually reduced with increase of the passage times. The PKH26 labeling disappeared after passage six times. In summary, PKH26 labeling is a safe and ef...
Objective: Evidence from adults suggests that changes in thyroid function are associated with the development of bipolar disorder (BD) and severe mood dysregulation. A dysregulation profile based on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-DP) describes a phenotype with severe mood problems in youth. The present study investigated whether altered thyroid functioning in youths is associated with the severe mood dysregulation symptoms characterized by the CBCL-DP. Methods: We analyzed the thyroid function data from 262 children and adolescents (n=262 for serum TSH, n=148 for free triiodothyronine [fT3] and n=153 for free thyroxine [fT4]) with their CBCL-DP composite score. We created and compared high CBCL-DP and low CBCL-DP subgroups with regard to their serum TSH, fT3 and fT4 concentrations as w...
Toadlets of the genus Brachycephalus are endemic to the Atlantic rainforests of southeastern and southern Brazil. The 14 species currently described have snout-vent lengths less than 18mm and are thought to have evolved through miniaturization: an evolutionary process leading to an extremely small adult body size. Here, we present the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis for Brachycephalus, using a multilocus approach based on two nuclear (Rag-1 and Tyr) and three mitochondrial (Cyt b, 12S, and 16S rRNA) gene regions. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using a partitioned Bayesian analysis of concatenated sequences and the hierarchical Bayesian method (BEST) that estimates species trees based on the multispecies coalescent model. Individual gene trees showed conflict and also va...
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling has been shown to regulate lung epithelial development but its influence on mesenchymal differentiation has been poorly investigated. To study the role of mesenchymal FGF signaling in the differentiation of the mesenchyme and its impact on epithelial morphogenesis, we took advantage of Fgfr2c+/? mice, which due to a splicing switch express Fgfr2b in mesenchymal tissues and manifest Apert syndrome-like phenotypes. Using a set of in vivo and in vitro studies, we show that an autocrine FGF10?FGFR2b signaling loop is established in the mutant lung mesenchyme, which has several consequences. It prevents the entry of the smooth muscle progenitors into the smooth muscle cell (SMC) lineage and results in reduced fibronectin and elastin deposition. Levels of...
Increased levels of epidermal growth factor receptor have been reported in a variety of tumors, including pulmonary squamous cell carcinomas in man. The purpose of this study was to determine if increased levels of epidermal growth factor (EGFR) were present in lung tumors from Beagle dogs that had been exposed to "2"3"9PuO_2- Using immunohistochemical techniques, sections from 17 lung tumors were examined for the presence of EGFR. Seven of the tumors were strongly positive for EGFR; the remainder of the tumors and the normal lung sections were negative. The positive immunostaining could not be correlated with the histologic phenotype of the tumors. Work is in progress to determine the level of EGFR in preneoplastic, proliferative epithelial foci in the Iung. (author)
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is characterized by both a premature appearance of age-related phenotypes and multiple organ involvement, which affects skeletal and smooth muscle as well as the eye, heart, central nervous system, and endocrine system. Although erectile dysfunction (ED) is a frequent complaint in patients with DM1, it has not been investigated in great depth. Hypogonadism, which is reported to be one of the physical causes of ED in the general population, frequently occurs in DM1. We planned this case?control study to evaluate the relationship between hypogonadism, as defined by the sexual hormone profile (FSH, LH, testosterone (T) and prolactin) and ED, as assessed by means of an internationally validated self-administered questionnaire (IIEF). DM1 patients had significant...
Optimization of nonviral gene delivery typically focuses on the design of particulate carriers that are endowed with desirable membrane targeting, internalization, and endosomal escape properties. Topographical control of cell transfectability, however, remains a largely unexplored parameter. Emerging literature has highlighted the influence of cell-topography interactions on modulation of many cell phenotypes, including protein expression and cytoskeletal behaviors implicated in endocytosis. Using high-throughput screening of primary human dermal fibroblasts cultured on a combinatorial library of microscale topographies, we have demonstrated an improvement in nonviral transfection efficiency for cells cultured on dense micropit patterns compared to smooth substrates, as verified with flow...
Occurrence of genetic variants during micropropagation is occasionally encountered when the cultures are maintained in vitro for long period. Therefore, the micropropagated multiple shoots of Vanilla planifolia Andrews developed from axillary bud explants established 10 years ago were used to determine somaclonal variation using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and intersimple sequence repeats markers (ISSR). One thousand micro-plants were established in soil of which 95 plantlets (consisting of four phenotypes) along with the mother plant were subjected to genetic analyses using RAPD and ISSR markers. Out of the 45 RAPD and 20 ISSR primers screened, 30 RAPD and 7 ISSR primers showed 317 clear, distinct and reproducible band classes resulting in a total of 30 115 bands. However, no ...
Research on hematological disorders relies on suitable animal models. We retrospectively evaluated the use of the hematological parameters hematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin (HGB), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC), and platelet count (PLT) in the phenotype-driven Munich N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mouse mutagenesis project as parameters for the generation of novel animal models for human diseases. The analysis was carried out on more than 16,000 G1 and G3 offspring of chemically mutagenized inbred C3H mice to detect dominant and recessive mutations leading to deviations in the levels of the chosen parameters. Identification of animals exhibiting altered valu...
The expression of motor activity levels in response to novel situations is under complex genetic and environmental control. Several genetic loci have been implicated in the regulation of this behavioral phenotype, but their relationship to epigenetic and epistatic interactions is relatively unknown. Here, we report on a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on mouse chromosome 1 for novelty-induced motor activity in the open field, using chromosome substitution strains derived from a high active host strain (C57BL/6J) and a low active donor strain (A/J). The QTL for open field (horizontal distance moved) peaked at the location of Kcnj9, however, QTL detection was initially masked by an interplay of both grandparent genetic origin and genetic co-factors influencing behavior on chromosome 1. Our fi...
Studies were carried out on the decolorization of textile azo dyes by newly isolated halophilic and halotolerant bacteria. Among the 27 strains of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria isolated from effluents of textile industries, three showed remarkable ability in decolorizing the widely utilized azo dyes. Phenotypic characterization and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequence comparisons indicate that these strains belonged to the genus Halomonas. The three strains were able to decolorize azo dyes in a wide range of NaCl concentration (up to 20%w/v), temperature (25-40degreeC), and pH (5-11) after 4 days of incubation in static culture. They could decolorize the mixture of dyes as well as pure dyes. These strains also readily grew in and decolorized the high concentrations of dy...
Abstract Previous research has established the comorbidity of adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with different personality disorders including Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The association between adult ADHD and BPD has primarily been investigated at the phenotypic level and not yet at the genetic level. The present study investigates the genetic and environmental contributions to the association between borderline personality traits (BPT) and ADHD symptoms in a sample of 7,233 twins and siblings (aged 18-90 years) registered with the Netherlands Twin Register and the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (EFPTS) . Participants completed the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS-S:SV) and the Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Features Scale (PAI-BO...
Assembly of icosahedral capsids of proper size and symmetry is not understood. Residue F170 in bacteriophage P22 coat protein is critical for conformational switching during assembly. Substitutions at this site cause assembly of tubes of hexamerically arranged coat protein. Intragenic suppressors of the ts phenotype of F170A and F170K coat protein mutants were isolated. Suppressors were repeatedly found in the coat protein telokin-like domain at position 285, which caused coat protein to assemble into petite procapsids and capsids. Petite capsid assembly strongly correlated to the side chain volume of the substituted amino acid. We hypothesize that larger side chains at position 285 torque the telokin-like domain, changing flexibility of the subunit and intercapsomer contacts. Thus, a sing...
SNAP25 occurs on chromosome 20p12.2, which has been linked to schizophrenia in some samples, and recently linked to latent classes of psychotic illness in our sample. SNAP25 is crucial to synaptic functioning, may be involved in axonal growth and dendritic sprouting, and its expression may be decreased in schizophrenia. We genotyped 18 haplotype-tagging SNPs in SNAP25 in a sample of 270 Irish high-density families. Single marker and haplotype analyses were performed in FBAT and PDT. We adjusted for multiple testing by computing q values. Association was followed up in an independent sample of 657 cases and 411 controls. We tested for allelic effects on the clinical phenotype by using the method of sequential addition and 5 factor-derived scores of the OPCRIT. Nine of 18 SNPs had P values <...
This document contains 142 papers on PT3 (Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology) from the SITE (Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education) 2002 conference. Topics covered include: a technology in urban education summit; student professional development; meeting NCATE (National Council of Teachers of English) standards; faculty use of WebCT; preparing teachers for the digital age; technology in K-8 multicultural classrooms; using immersive 360 degree images; consortium building; student evaluation; technology fellows; incentives that facilitate institutional change; impact of a temporary grant; a consortium for outstanding achievement in teaching with technology; changes implemented after technology professional development sessions; Web-based modules for teaching mathematics to minority students; student teaching technology sites; preservice teachers design technology-enhanced learning experiences; planning, implementing, evaluating, and ...
Analysis of the use of information sources by family physicians is important for both practical and theoretical reasons. First, analysis of the ways in which family physicians handle information may...Full Text Available
Tutorial on digital libraries. Site also contains links to other reference materials on digital libraries as well as links to courses on the subject. Keywords: Information Systems - Information Systems Applications, Information Storage and Retrieval, Database Management, multimedia
Information Extraction (IE) is an emerging NLP technology, whose function is to process unstructured, natural language text, to locate specific pieces of information, or facts, in the text, and to use these facts to fill a database. IE systems today are c...
The developing Integrated Academic Information System (IAIMS) at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center provides data sharing links between two separate corporate entities, namely Columbia University...Full Text Available
Information circulars are published from time to time under the symbol INFCIRC/... for the purpose of bringing matters of general interest to the attention of all Members of the Agency. The present revision contains INFCIRCs published up to mid-August 1994. A complete numerical list of information circulars is reproduced with their titles in the Annex.
BackgroundDespite concerns that facilitating informed choice would decrease diabetes screening uptake, 'informed choice' invitations that increased knowledge did not affect attendance...Full Text Available
In 2008, a clinical information tool was developed and embedded in the electronic health record system of an academic medical center. In 2009, the initial information tool, Clinical-e, was superseded...Full Text Available
On 12 July the Audit Commission published For Your Information, a well researched report about information and its management in acute hospitals in Britain, how and why it is failing, and steps that...Full Text Available
Emergency Departments (ED) are fast-paced, information-intensive environments where patient care team members must address their information needs quickly and accurately. We conducted a qualitative...Full Text Available
ObjectiveWhile essential for patient care, information related to medication is often written as free text in clinical records and, therefore, difficult to use in computerized systems....Full Text Available
Patients do considerable information work. Technologies that help patients manage health information so they can play active roles in their health-care, such as personal health records, provide...Full Text Available
...standards and implementation specifications for exchanging electronic health information. 170.205 Section 170.205 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY...
...Section 508 and Electronic Information Technology Accessibility at EPA | US EPA Jump to main content. Section 508 and Electronic Information Technology ...Us Search: All EPA Advanced search You are here: EPA Home Section 508 and Electronic Information Technology Accessibility at EPA Welcome to the United ... Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act mandates that Federal departments and agencies make electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to individuals ... Achieving compliance with Section 508 is an ongoing process. If you have any problems or questions about accessing information on a particular ...
Computation and information processing are among the most fundamental notions in cognitive science. They are also among the most imprecisely discussed. Many cognitive scientists take it for granted that cognition involves computation, information processing, or both ? although others disagree vehemently. Yet different cognitive scientists use ?computation? and ?information processing? to mean different things, sometimes without realizing that they do. In addition, computation and information processing are surrounded by several myths; first and foremost, that they are the same thing. In this paper, we address this unsatisfactory state of affairs by presenting a general and theory-neutral account of computation and information processing. We also apply our framework by analyzing the relatio...
Information glut is one of the primary characteristics of the electronic age. Managing such large volumes of information (e.g., keeping track of the types, where they are, their relationships, who controls them, etc.) can be done efficiently with an intelligent, user-oriented information management system. The purpose of this paper is to describe a concept for managing information resources based on an intelligent information technology system developed by the Argonne National Laboratory for managing digital libraries. The Argonne system, Intelligent Query (IQ), enables users to query digital libraries and view the holdings that match the query from different perspectives.
Background: We consider cells as biological systems that process information by means of molecular codes. Many studies analyze cellular information processing exclusively in syntactic terms (e.g., by measuring Shannon entropy of sets of macromolecules), and abstract completely from semantic aspects that are related to the meaning of molecular information. Methods: This mini-review focusses on semantic aspects of molecular information, particularly on codes that organize the semantic dimension of molecular information. First, a general conceptual framework for describing molecular information is proposed. Second, some examples of molecular codes are presented. Third, a mathematical approach that makes the identification of molecular codes in reaction networks possible, is developed. Results...
Ubiquitous computing based on small mobile devices using wireless communication links is becoming very attractive. The computational power and storage capacities provided allow the execution of sophisticated applications. Due to the fact that sharing of information is a central problem for distributed applications, the development of self organizing middleware services providing high level interfaces for information managing is essential. ADS is a directory service for mobile ad-hoc networks dealing with local and nearby information as well as providing access to distant information. The approach discussed throughout this paper is based upon the concept of information markets.
The United States Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) has recently implemented a series of strategic initiatives to address long-term radiological surveillance needs at former U.S. nuclear test sites in the Marshall Islands. The plan is to engage local atoll communities in developing shared responsibilities for implementing radiation protection monitoring programs for resettled and resettling populations in the northern Marshall Islands. Using the pooled resources of the U.S. DOE and local atoll governments, individual radiological surveillance programs have been developed in whole body counting and plutonium urinalysis in order to accurately assess radiation doses resulting from the ingestion and uptake of fallout radionuclides contained in locally grown foods. Permanent whole body counting facilities have been established at three separate locations in the Marshall Islands including Rongelap Atoll (Figure 1). These facilities are operated and maintained by Marshallese technicians with ...
ExternE is a pan{sub E}uropean project aimed at identifying and quantifying external effects from different energy production technologies around Europe. The Swedish implementation carried out case studies on a biomass plant, a coal plant and a hydro power plant. The conventional approach within the ExternE project is to estimate impacts for each priority pathway associated with the fuel cycle, and then economic methods to obtain estimates for the economic damage of each particular impact pathway. However, in the case of hydro power, it is generally not possible to estimate the most important impacts quantitatively. Therefore, a contingent valuation (CV) study was initiated. In a typical CV-study, a selection of individuals are asked to state their willingness to pay for a certain environmental improvement or to avoid an environmental damage. Welfare economic theory suggests that the well-being effects on people from a change from one situation to another can be ...
Information superiority provides the Joint force a competitive ... Information Grid (GIG) as it matures and fills the needs of the Joint Task Force ... representatives from The Army Secretariat, Headquarters Department of Army ...
integrates multiple fisheries information systems to obtain a view of U.S. freshwater fish distribution. Information about NFDI National Framework for Early Detection, Rapid...
BackgroundProvision of consumer information and patient education are considered an essential part of chronic disease management programmes developed for patients with heart failure....Full Text Available
... In this manner, a JBI-enabled COI would have the full suite of JBI information management capabilities, but would still be based on and have full ...
Mar 15, 2011 ... Information Technology. NCCS Discover Supercomputer. Science mission data collection, analysis and simulations pose unprecedented computer ...
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PurposeHealth information technology (HIT) and physician career satisfaction are associated with higher-quality medical care. However, the link between HIT and physician...Full Text Available
Advances in geographic information system (GIS) technology, developed by geographers, provide new opportunities for environmental epidemiologists to study associations between environmental exposures...Full Text Available
evaluation, novelty detection, resource discovery, interfaces and visualization, digital libraries, computational social science, and cross-lingual information retrieval. The CIIR...
The organizational structure of medical record departments in Iran is not appropriate for the efficient management of healthcare information. In addition, there is no strong information management division...Full Text Available
Sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a powerful in situ probe of sulfur biochemistry in intact cells and tissues. Under favorable circumstances the technique can provide quantitative information on the chemical identify of the sulfur species that are present in a sample. Prange et al. have recently reported an X-ray absorption spectroscopic study of bacterial sulfur storage globules. Unfortunately there are substantial problems with the experimental technique employed that, they contend, lead to completely erroneous conclusions. In the more recent of their two papers Prange et al. employed a curve-fitting method similar to that used by us (for more than 10 years). In essence, the method employs simply fitting a linear combination of the spectra of standard compounds to that of the unknown, in this case cultures of bacterial cells. This type of analysis can provide quantitative estimates of the individual sulfur types in the sample, ...
This document is intended as an addendum to the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) Work Plan for the Salmon Site (SS) (formerly the Tatum Dome Test Site) Lamar County, Mississippi. The original work plan - Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study of the Tatum Dome Test Site, Lamar County, Mississippi (herein after called the Work Plan) was approved by the state of Mississippi in 1992 and was intended as the operative document for investigative activities at the Tatum Dome Test Site. Subsequent to the approval of the document a series of activities were undertaken under the auspices of the work plan. This document is organized in the same manner as the original work plan: (1) Introduction; (2) Site Background and History; (3) Initial Evaluation; (4) Data Quality Objectives; (5) RI/FS Tasks; (6) Project Schedule; (7) Project Management; and (8) Reference. This addendum will identify changes to the original work plan that are necessary because of ...
Ontario's electricity industry restructuring program is reviewed, with a view to identify the reasons behind the failure of deregulation which was expected to create competition, to stabilize, or even reduce, prices to consumers, and attract serious private sector investment for the construction of new generating capacity. The report painstakingly reviews the series of events which resulted in a steep rise in electricity rates during the summer of 2002, immediately after deregulation came into effect, which led to freezing retail electricity rates and related charges by the then Conservative provincial government, and the reversal of that decision by the newly-elected Liberal government in the fall of 2003, and plans to bring back retail hydro rates that reflect the cost of production. The authors provide a discussion of policy options and a series of recommendations that are expected to create incentives to reduce and shift demand, encourage the use of ...
The action of the Virasoro algebra on integrable hierarchies of non-linear equations and on related objects ('Schroedinger' differential operators) is investigated. The method consists in pushing forward the Virasoro action to the wave function of a hierarchy, and then reconstructing its action on the dressing and Lax operators. This formulation allows one to observe a number of suggestive similarities between the structures involved in the description of the Virasoro algebra on the hierarchies and the structure of conformal field theory on the world-sheet. This includes, in particular, an 'off-shell' hierarchy version of operator products and of the Cauchy kernel. In relation to matrix models, which have been observed to be effectively described by integrable hierarchies subjected to Virasoro constraints, I propose to define general Virasoro-constrained hierarchies also in terms of dressing operators, by certain equations which carry the information of the ...
Previous investigations have shown promising results in using the directional cross-correlation method to estimate velocity vectors. The velocity vector estimate provides information on both velocity direction and magnitude. The direction is estimated by beamforming signals along directions in the range $[0^{\\circ}; 180^{\\circ}[$ and identifying the direction that produces the largest correlation across emissions. An estimate of the velocity magnitude is obtained from the spatial shift between signals beamformed along the estimated direction. This paper expands these investigations to include estimations of the vector velocities of a larger region by combining the estimations along several scan lines. In combination with a B-mode image, the vector velocities are displayed as an image of the investigated region with a color indicating the magnitude, and arrows showing the direction of the flow. Using the RASMUS experimental ultrasound scanner, ...
On 21 October 1994, three brothers entered a waste repository at Tammiku, Estonia, without authorization and removed a metal container enclosing a caesium-137 source. During the removal the source was dislodged and fell to the ground. One of the men picked up the source, placed it in his pocket and took it to his home in the nearby village of Kiisa. Very soon after entry into the repository he began to feel ill, and few hours later he began to vomit. The man was subsequently admitted to hospital with severe injuries to his leg and hip and died on 2 November 1994. The injury and subsequent death were not attributed to radiation exposure, and the source remained in the man's house with his wife and stepson and the boy's great-grandmother. The boy was hospitalized on 17 November with severe burns on his hands, and these were identified by a doctor as radiation induced. The authorities were alerted, and the Estonian Rescue Board recovered the source from the house. The ...
The IPIRG-2 program was an international group program managed by the US NRC and funded by organizations from 15 nations. The emphasis of the IPIRG-2 program was the development of data to verify fracture analyses for cracked pipes and fittings subjected to dynamic/cyclic load histories typical of seismic events. The scope included: (1) the study of more complex dynamic/cyclic load histories, i.e., multi-frequency, variable amplitude, simulated seismic excitations, than those considered in the IPIRG-1 program, (2) crack sizes more typical of those considered in Leak-Before-Break (LBB) and in-service flaw evaluations, (3) through-wall-cracked pipe experiments which can be used to validate LBB-type fracture analyses, (4) cracks in and around pipe fittings, such as elbows, and (5) laboratory specimen and separate effect pipe experiments to provide better insight into the effects of dynamic and cyclic load histories. Also undertaken were an uncertainty analysis to ...
This paper presents the results of the Spatial Signature Analysis (SSA) Electrical-test (e-test) validation study that was conducted between February and June, 1998. SSA is an automated procedure developed by researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to address the issue of intelligent data reduction while providing feedback on current manufacturing processes. SSA was initially developed to automate the analysis of optical defect data. Optical defects can form groups, or clusters, which may have a distinct shape. These patterns can reveal information about the manufacturing process. Optical defect SSA uses image processing algorithms and a classifier system to interpret and identify these patterns, or signatures. SSA has been extended to analyze and interpret electrical test data. The algorithms used for optical defect SSA have been adapted and applied to e-test binmaps. An image of the binmap is created, and features such as geometric ...
The authors have interpreted 1,400 km of industry and government multichannel seismic reflection data from eastern Lake Superior. Seismic sequences have been identified by using reflection character and reflector terminations and truncations. This framework, coupled with outcrop information, has allowed them to assign lithologic units to some of these reflectors and reconstruct the timing and geometry of structures within the basin. The authors have mapped the Base Jacobsville-Bayfield Group/Top oronto Group, Base oronto Group/Top Keweenawan volcanics, and Basement as well as several reflectors internal to these groups. Integration of gravity and magnetic data with the seismic grid permits regional mapping of faults and folds between seismic lines. In the eastern part of the basin, high-angle basement-involved reverse faults, such as the southeastern combination of the Keweenaw fault, trend NNW-SSE, while broad folds trend E-W. The Keweenaw ...
The follow-up system for wastes (JAeSTI), developed at the end of the 1990s, forms a basis for today's followup activities in Finland. JAeSTI relies on an environmental protection database, the compliance monitoring system VAHTI operated by the environmental authorities. Waste followup and waste statistics depend very much on the annual waste quantities recorded in the VAHTI system. In the KYJ-project the coverage and reliability of the data in the VAHTI system was evaluated as for the streams of solid municipal waste. The project also included the compiling of national statistics on municipal waste for the year 2000. The project used other information sources, too, such as statistics compiled when the National Waste Plan and regional waste plans were revised in 2002. In addition, the extent and quantity of in-situ (household) composting and incineration were assessed on the basis of a separate study (Annex 2, In Finnish). In connection with the data ...
A reliability approach for probabilistic modeling of one-dimensional non-reactive and reactive transport in porous media provides two important quantitative results: (1) an estimate of the probability that dimensionless concentration equals or exceeds some specified level and, (2) the sensitivity of the probabilistic outcome to likely changes in each uncertain variable. The reliability approach is particularly attractive because it can incorporate various marginal probability density functions (PDF) for any of the uncertain variables. In this work uncertain variables include: groundwater flow velocity, diffusion coefficient, dispersivity, distribution coefficient, porosity and bulk density. The primary objective is to examine how the probabilistic outcome is influenced by choice of marginal PDF, correlation and magnitude of uncertainty for the variables. Because little information exists concerning the statistical characteristics of these uncertain variables, the ...
As part of studies into the siting of a deep repository for nuclear waste, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) has commissioned the Alternative Models Project (AMP). The AMP is a comparison of three alternative modeling approaches for geosphere performance assessment for a single hypothetical site. The hypothetical site, arbitrarily named Aberg is based on parameters from the Aespoe Hard Rock Laboratory in southern Sweden. The Aberg model domain, boundary conditions and canister locations are defined as a common reference case to facilitate comparisons between approaches. This report presents the results of a discrete fracture pathways analysis of the Aberg site, within the context of the SR 97 performance assessment exercise. The Aberg discrete fracture network (DFN) site model is based on consensus Aberg parameters related to the Aespoe HRL site. Discrete fracture pathways are identified from canister locations in a prototype repository design ...
The major focus of this oil-shale investigation has been on specific localities of oil-shale resource potential. Three main areas of oil-shale occurrence have been studied in detail: the Elko area, Pinon Range area, and Coal Mine Canyon. Geologic mapping, stratigraphic studies, and sampling to delimit the lateral extent of the oil shale deposits were in progress prior to the cooperative agreement with Nevada DOE. These surface geologic studies have been summarized in this report. The results of surface geologic studies conducted near Elko suggested that the Elko area represented the best and most accessible oil-shale deposits; therefore, the Elko area was selected as the site of a shallow exploratory drilling program. Essential to this study was the obtaining of fresh, unweathered oil-shale samples from the Elko area. The samples were obtained from the core-drilling program and tested for oil yield by Fischer assays. The oil yields determined from these samples, together with the ...
As semiconductor device density and wafer area continue to increase, the volume of in-line and off-line data required to diagnose yield-limiting conditions is growing exponentially. To manage this data in the future, analysis tools will be required that can automatically reduce this data to useful information, e.g., by assisting the engineer in rapid root-cause diagnosis of defect generating mechanisms. In this paper, the authors describe a technology known as Spatial Signature Analysis (SSA) and its application to both optically-detected defect data as well as electrical test (e-test) bin data. The results of a validation study are summarized that demonstrate the effectiveness of the SSA approach on optical defect wafermaps through field-testing at three semiconductor manufacturing sites on ASIC, DRAM and SRAM products. This method has been extended to analyze and interpret electrical test data and to provide a pathway for correlation of this data with in-line ...
Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) is an extract of the pepper plant used for centuries as a culinary spice (hot peppers). This material has been identified as a safe and effective Less-Than- Lethal weapon for use by Law enforcement and security professionals against assault. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is currently also evaluating its use in conjunction with other Less-Than-Lethal agents such as aqueous foam for use in corrections applications. Therefore, a comprehensive toxicological review of the literature was performed for the National Institute of Justice Less-Than-Lethal Force program to review and update the information available on the toxicity and adverse health effects associated with OC exposure. The results of this evaluation indicate that exposure to OC can result in dermatitis, as well as adverse nasal, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal effects in humans. The primary effects of OC exposure include pain and irritation of the mucous ...
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene alterations have been found in human lung cancers. However, there is no information on the factors inducing EGFR mutations. In rodents, K-ras mutations are frequently found in many lung carcinogenesis models, but hitherto, Egfr mutations have not been reported. Their presence was therefore investigated in representative lung carcinogenesis models with 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), N-nitrosobis(2-hydroxypropyl)amine (BHP), 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MelQx) and ethyl carbamate (urethane), as well as X-ray irradiation. With the chemical carcinogenesis models, no mutations were detected in Egfr, which is in clear contrast to the high rates observed in either codon 12 or 61 of K-ras (21/23 of the lung tumors induced with NNK, 4/5 with MelQx, 1/4 with urethane and 7/18 with BHP). However, in the X-ray-induced lung tumors, Egfr mutations with amino acid substitution were observed in ...
This study examines various aspects of natural radioactive materials in the atmosphere over Perth in order to characterise the behaviour of these radionuclides. Data for this study was provided by the surface air sampling program (SASP) of the U.S. Department of Energy, which focuses on the lowest 2 metre layer of air; sampling being at 1.6 metres above the surface. The study particularly aimed to interpret correlation between existing radionuclide concentration data and meteorological data; which has been achieved in a qualitative sense. A general conclusion drawn form the observed results is that long-term averages of radionuclide concentrations have the highest correlation with climatic data; correlations between sample readings and contemporaneous weather data have the lowest correlation coefficients. Limitations in both the radionuclide and meteorological data were realised early in the project. The focus of the project accordingly changed from one of data processing to a ...
Purpose: The purpose of this research was to identify the extent and scope of changes to radiography practice. Method: Questionnaires were sent to radiology managers at acute National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in 2000 as a follow-up to an initial survey conducted in 1998. Information was sought on region, teaching/non-teaching status, the nature of extended role tasks undertaken and the year in which these tasks were first undertaken. Results: Some 172 questionnaires were returned from a total of 253 dispatched (68%). In 161 hospitals radiographers administered intravenous injections and performed barium enemas in 119 hospitals, while a red-dot system was in operation in 141 hospitals. Reporting by radiographers had increased since 1998. Replies indicated that, at 124 hospitals, radiographers were reporting in ultrasound. Skeletal reporting was the second most-frequently-reported activity, with 63 hospitals indicating that radiographers ...
The object of this paper is to identify the key elements that impact a radiation dose at EAB (Exclusion Area Boundary). This study is based on the AST (Alternative Source Terms) as defined in Regulatory Guide 1.183. The LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident) and the LRA (Locked Rotor Accident) are selected as limiting cases. A sensitivity analysis of accidental behavior with respect to various parameters during LOCA and LRA at Kori Unit 1 is also undertaken for the following objectives: to determine the limiting parameters, to find the impact trend of the radiation dose, and to find the safety margin between AST and TID (Technical Information Document) methodologies. This work confirms that key parameters are particulate removal rate, decontamination factor, iodine chemical form, gap fraction, partitioning factor, and the impact of isotopes group. Comparing TID with AST, the radiation dose of TID is about 80% greater than that of AST under a LOCA, and ...
Thermoluminescence (TL) and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) dosimetry were used to measure dose effects in borosilicate glass with time, from 10 minutes to #approx#60 days following exposure to a dose of up to 10,000 Rad. TL and EPR results were consistent and performed similarly, with both techniques capable of achieving an estimated limit of detection of between 50-100 Rad. Three peaks were identified in the TL glow curve at roughly 110 C, 205 C, and 225 C. The intensity of the 205 C peak was the dominant peak over the time period of this study. The stability of all of the peaks with time since irradiation increased with their corresponding temperature and little or no variation was observed in the glow curve response to a specified total dose attained at different dose rates. The intensity of the 205 C peak decreased logarithmically with time regardless of total dose. Based upon a conservative limit of detection of 330 Rad, a 10,000 Rad dose would still be ...
This annual report describes the progress during the fifth year of the project which is targeted towards improving the reservoir performance of mature oil fields located in fluvially dominated deltaic geological environments. The project involves using an integrated approach to characterize the reservoir followed by proposing an appropriate reservoir management strategy to improve the field performance. In the first stage of the project, the type data the authors integrated include cross borehole seismic surveys, geological interpretation based on the logs and the cores, and the engineering information. In contrast, during the second stage of the project, they intend to use only conventional data to construct the reservoir description. This report covers the results of the implementation from the first stage of the project. It also discusses the work accomplished so far for the second stage of the project. The production from the Self Unit (location of Stage I) has ...
An internal flooding (IF) risk assessment refers to the quantitative probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) treatment of flooding as a result of pipe and tank breaks inside the plants, as well as from other recognized flood sources. The industry consensus standard for Internal Events Probabilistic Risk Assessment (ASME-RA-Sb-2005) includes high-level and supporting technical requirements for developing internal flooding probabilistic risk assessment (IFPRA). This industry standard is endorsed in Regulatory Guide 1.200, Revision 1 as an acceptable approach for addressing the risk contribution from IF events for risk informed applications that require U.S. Nuclear Regulatory commission (NRC) approval. In 2006, EPRI published a draft report for IFPRA that addresses the requirements of the ASME PRA consensus standard and have made efforts to refine and update the final EPRI IFPRA guideline. Westinghouse has performed an IFPRA analysis for several nuclear power plants ...
Probabilistic assessment methods can be used to identify specific plant vulnerabilities. Application of such methods can also facilitate selection among system design alternatives available for safety enhancements. The quality of assessment results is however strongly dependent on realistic and accurate input data for modelling of system component behaviour and failure modes during conditions to be assessed. Use of conservative input data may not lead to results providing guidance on safety upgrades. Adequate input data for probabilistic assessments seems to be lacking for at least failure modes of some electrical components when exposed to a fire. This report presents an attempt to improve the situation with respect to such input data. In order to take advantage of information in existing documentation of fire incident occurrences some of the lessons learned from the fire at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant on March 22, 1975 are discussed in ...
In abnormal conditions, the operator's ability to deal with a large volume of data, and initiate the most appropriate remedial action is a fundamental concern in the design of energy control centers. Once a severe disruption has occurred in the power network, a series of tasks are required before the operator can make any decisions. Many of these functions involve computational efforts, and require a long period of processing time. The application of a wrong set of information by the operator may result in a catastrophic recovery situation. Also, as the system becomes larger, the required time for these tasks grows significantly and the operator may have very little time to analyze the contingency and issue a proper decision. These facts have led to the conclusion that a computer driven decision making mechanism will help the operator perform duties with minimum flaws and maximum efficiency. The challenge in applying an expert system to a power network is ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program ...
The number of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementations within the oil industry has increased substantially in the past years. PETROBRAS has recently developed a business case, a 10 steps methodology developed by Symnetics-Benchmarking Partners (management consultancy), aimed at enhancing strategic and tangible ROI - Return on Investment of IT projects. The Business Case has not only provided alignment of PETROBRAS strategies with ERP capabilities, but also identified process gaps and opportunities for improvement as well as developing a high level implementation plan including timing, costs and potential benefits. Anticipated economic gains were mainly focused on the following business processes: materials management (30%), planning and controlling (25%), project management (24%) and order fulfillment (14%). PETROBRAS has chosen a phased approach for implementing the ERP. Two scenarios were considered: time, cost, risk and scope were the key issues ...
The Alloy 800 tubes used in CANDU 6 steam generators have not experienced significant corrosion damage to date, which may be attributed to successful water chemistry control strategies. However, it is known that Alloy 800, like other steam generator (SG) tubing materials, is not immune to corrosion, especially pitting, under some plausible but off-specification operating scenarios. Electrochemical measurements provide information on corrosion susceptibility and rate, which are known to be a function of water chemistry. Using laboratory data in combination with chemistry monitoring and diagnostic software it is possible to assess the impact of plant operating conditions on SG tube corrosion for plant life management (PLIM). In this context, this paper discusses the results of electrochemical measurements made to elucidate the corrosion behaviour of Alloy 800 SG tubes under conditions simulating those plausible in SG crevices. In addition to crevice pH, the influence ...
Sudden changes in the temperature of flowing liquids can result in transient buoyancy forces which strongly impact the flow hydrodynamics via flow stratification. These effects have been studied for the case of potential flow of stratified liquids to line sinks, but not for moderator flow in SRS reactors. Standard codes, such as TRAC and COMMIX, do not have the capability to capture the stratification effect, due to strong numerical diffusion which smears away the hot/cold fluid interface. A related problem with standard codes is the inability to track plumes injected into the liquid flow, again due to numerical diffusion. The combined effects of buoyant stratification and plume dispersion have been identified as being important in operation of the Supplementary Safety System which injects neutron-poison ink into SRS reactors to provide safe shutdown in the event of safety rod failure. The MODFLOW code discussed here provides transient moderator flow pattern ...
Sudden changes in the temperature of flowing liquids can result in transient buoyancy forces which strongly impact the flow hydrodynamics via flow stratification. These effects have been studied for the case of potential flow of stratified liquids to line sinks, but not for moderator flow in SRS reactors. Standard codes, such as TRAC and COMMIX, do not have the capability to capture the stratification effect, due to strong numerical diffusion which smears away the hot/cold fluid interface. A related problem with standard codes is the inability to track plumes injected into the liquid flow, again due to numerical diffusion. The combined effects of buoyant stratification and plume dispersion have been identified as being important in operation of the Supplementary Safety System which injects neutron-poison ink into SRS reactors to provide safe shutdown in the event of safety rod failure. The MODFLOW code discussed here provides transient moderator flow pattern ...
Novice problem solvers are rather sensitive to surface problem features, and they often resort to trial and error formula matching rather than identifying an appropriate solution approach. These observations have been interpreted to imply that novices structure their knowledge according to surface features rather than according to problem type categories. However, it may also be the case that novices do know problem types, but cannot map the problem at hand to a known type, because they fail to create a sufficiently well-elaborated problem representation. This study aims to distinguish between these explanations. In this study novice physics students at high and low levels of proficiency completed two problem-sorting tasks from the domain of electricity and magnetism, one with and one without elaboration support. Results confirm that these students do distinguish problem types in accordance with their required solution approaches, and that their problem-sorting ...
Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is a very important part of Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA), and constant work is dedicated to improving methods, guidance and data in order to approach realism in the results as well as looking for ways to use these to reduce accident frequency at plants. Further, in order to advance in these areas, several HRA studies are being performed globally. Mexico has participated in the International HRA Empirical study with the objective of -benchmarking- HRA methods by comparing HRA predictions to actual crew performance in a simulator, as well as in the empirical study on a US nuclear power plant currently in progress. The focus of the first study was the development of an understanding of how methods are applied by various analysts, and characterize the methods for their capability to guide the analysts to identify potential human failures, and associated causes and performance shaping factors. The HRA benchmarking study has been ...
In this report is described the work effort performed to provide NETL with VE-Suite based Virtual Engineering software and enhanced equipment models to support NETL's Advanced Process Engineering Co-simulation (APECS) framework for advanced power generation systems. Enhancements to the software framework facilitated an important link between APECS and the virtual engineering capabilities provided by VE-Suite (e.g., equipment and process visualization, information assimilation). Model enhancements focused on improving predictions for the performance of entrained flow coal gasifiers and important auxiliary equipment (e.g., Air Separation Units) used in coal gasification systems. In addition, a Reduced Order Model generation tool and software to provide a coupling between APECS/AspenPlus and the GE GateCycle simulation system were developed. CAPE-Open model interfaces were employed where needed. The improved simulation capability is demonstrated on selected ...
An uncertainty decrease is an very important issue for enhancing risk-informed (RI) activities worldwide. Especially, a relatively large uncertainty in a level-2 (L2) PSA risk compared with level-1 internal PSA risk has been a bottleneck problem in the RI application to the extent of a severe accident management. According to the ASME PRA standard in which sources of an uncertainty to capture a category-II RI (= Option 2) capability are listed, an uncertainty analysis which identifies the key sources of an uncertainty and includes sensitivity studies for dominant contributors to LERF (Large Early Release Frequency) needs to be provided. To solve these problems, USNRC have developed the 'SPAR-LERF' model related to the L2 RI application and 'L2 uncertainty assessment and improvement' work is being taken as a main PSA2 topic of the SARNET (Severe Accident Research Network of Excellence) program in Europe by ...