Tests have been conducted on a special compression ignition research engine to investigate the effects of gaseous fuels on the ignitiondelay in dual fuel engines. Diesel oil, n-heptane, or cetane were used as pilot fuels, and hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or methane were inducted in the intake manifold. Induction of nitrogen was used as a reference to eliminate the influence of changes in oxygen concentration and specific heats. Helium was inducted in additional tests. From the results of a number of parameter variations, the cylinder charge temperature (determined by intake temperature and compression ratio), the pilot fuel amount, and the flow of combustible gas were found to have the most significant influence on the ignitiondelay.
Changes in the physical and chemical processes during the ignitiondelay period of a gas-fueled diesel engine (dual-fuel engine) due to the increased admission of the gaseous fuels and diluents are examined. The extension to the chemical aspects of the ignitiondelay with the added gaseous fuels and the diluents into the cylinder charge is evaluated using detailed reaction kinetics for the oxidation of dual-fuel mixtures at an adiabatic constant volume process while employing n-heptane as a representative of the main components of the diesel fuel. In the examination of the physical aspects of the delay period, the relative contributions of changes in charge temperature, pressure, physical properties, pre-ignition energy release, heat transfer, and the residual gas effects due to the admission of the gaseous fuels are discussed and evaluated. It is shown that the ...
A variable-compression ratio, direct-injection diesel engine (VCR) has been designed and assembled at Southwest Research Institute with the intention of examining the current procedures for rating the ignition quality of diesel fuels and the meaning of ignitiondelay as an indicator of ignition and combustion quality. Using a slightly modified ASTM D 613 procedure, the engine has been used to rate the ignition quality of 43 different test fuels. The ratings obtained in the VCR engine are compared to the corresponding rating obtained using the standard cetane rating procedure. Some of the problems associated with the standard procedure became apparent during these experiments. The experimental results are discussed in terms of the problems and the advantages of a proposed VCR-based rating procedure.
The combustion characteristics of a turbocharged natural gas and diesel dual-fuelled compression ignition (CI) engine are investigated. With the measured cylinder pressures of the engine operated on pure diesel and dual fuel, the ignitiondelay, effects of pilot diesel and engine load on combustion characteristics are analysed. Emissions of HC, CO, NO{sub x} and smoke are measured and studied too. The results show that the quantity of pilot diesel has important effects on the performance and emissions of a dual-fuel engine at low-load operating conditions. Ignitiondelay varies with the concentration of natural gas. Smoke is much lower for the developed dual-fuel engine under all the operating conditions. (Author)
The effects of changes in the cetane number of liquid pilot fuels on the ignitiondelay period in dual fuel engines were investigated experimentally. Various pilot fuel quantities were employed with methane, propane and low heating value gaseous fuel mixtures over a wide range of engine load.the ignitiondelay variation with increased gaseous fuel admission showed a strong dependence on both the quantity and the quality of the pilot fuel used. It was found that the use of high cetane number pilot liquid fuels permitted smaller pilot quantities to be used satisfactorily. Engine operation on propane and low heating value gaseous fuels improved in comparison with dual fuel engine operation employing common diesel fuels.
The paper considers the cyclic variations in performance parameters of a dual fuel engine fuelled with methane. It is shown that such an engine does display cyclic variations that are greater than the corresponding diesel operation, yet smaller than comparable spark ignition operation. The extent of cyclic variation in peak cylinder pressure and ignitiondelay increases, for any power output, as the pilot diesel quantity is reduced and the extent of gas substitution is increased. The use of extremely small pilots in the unmodified engine can lead to erratic engine performance. Greater cyclic variations are associated with low lead rather than high load operation.
In radio signal-based observing systems, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), the water vapor in the atmosphere will cause delays during the signal transmission. Such delays vary significantly with terrain elevation. In the case when atmospheric delays are to be eliminated from the measured raw signals, spatial interpolators may be needed. By taking advantage of available terrain elevation information during spatial interpolation process, the accuracy of the atmospheric delay mapping can be considerably improved. This paper first reviews three elevation-dependent water vapor interpolation models, i.e., the Best Linear Unbiased Estimator in combination with the water vapor Height Scaling Model (BLUE?+?HSM), the Best Linear Unbiased Es...
A new combustion system for a small direct injection diesel engine has been developed, with a spheroidal cavity and swirl nozzle characterized by weak spray penetration and wide spray angle. This system is intended to realize air-borne mixture formation and good combustion processes over wide operating ranges. In-cylinder observations of the system reveal that droplets are easily bent in the direction of air movement, ignition occurs near the spray tip, and the flame is hard to envelop the spray. In a single cylinder engine of 460 cm/sup 3/ swept volume, the system realizes active diffusion burning and mild premixed burning despite of long ignitiondelay, and provides low fuel consumption and low smoke emission, especially at low speeds.
A detailed chemical kinetic model to describe the autoignition of gasoline surrogate fuels is presented consisting of the fuels iso-octane, n-heptane, toluene, diisobutylene and ethanol. Model predictions have been compared with shock tube ignitiondelay time data for surrogates of gasoline over practical ranges of temperature and pressure, and the model has been found to be sensitive to both changes in temperature and pressure. Moreover, the model can qualitatively predict the observed synergistic and antagonistic non-linear blending behaviour in motor octane number (MON) for different combinations of primary reference fuels (PRFs) and non-PRFs by correlating calculated autoignition delay times from peak pressures and temperatures in the MON test to experimental MON values. The reasons for the blending behaviour are interpreted in terms autoignition chemistry. 37 refs., 11 figs., 4 tabs.
A natural gas and diesel dual-fuel turbocharged compression ignition (CI) engine is developed to reduce emissions of a heavy-duty diesel engine. The compressed natural gas (CNG) pressure regulator is specially designed to feed back the boost pressure to simplify the fuel metering system. The natural gas bypass improves the engine response to acceleration. The modes of diesel injection are set according to the engine operating conditions. The application of honeycomb mixers changes the flowrate shape of natural gas and reduces hydrocarbon (HC) emission under low-load and lowspeed conditions. The cylinder pressures of a CI engine fuelled with diesel and dual fuel are analysed. The introduction of natural gas makes the ignitiondelay change with engine load. Under the same operating conditions, the emissions of smoke and NO{sub x} from the dual-fuel engine are both reduced. The HC and CO emissions for the dual-fuel engine ...
The improvement of startability achieved by chemical ignition promotion at low temperature was studied theoretically and experimentally in terms of compression ratio and cetane number using a small direct injection diesel engine. The findings are as follows: The compression ratio and cetane number vary almost linearly. When the compression ratio increases by 1, the cetane number decreases by about 9. Since almost the same ignition condition at starting can be achieved by adjusting the number of cranking cycles, there is almost no influence of compression ratio and cetane number on ignitiondelay. When the soak temperature is -10{sup 0}C and the compression ratio is 18, the influence of the cetane number is almost negligible. Given the same starting time, the influence produced by an increase in compression ratio by 1 is equivalent to the influence produced by a reduction in soak temperature by about ...
During the first 18 months of this project, four experimental subtasks were to have begun but only one of these was to have been completed. Additionally, five modeling subtasks were scheduled to begin, four of which were to have been completed. We are on schedule for all but one of these subtasks. All four experimental tasks are progressing on schedule. Initial durability tests were completed. The conclusions drawn from this first round of durability tests are being used to design the next set of tests. Initial baseline engine data were acquired and showed that the engine selected for this task behaves as hoped. However, the dyno controller is inadequate. The engine will be moved to another dyno during the near future. The modeling tasks are also progressing well. A model for the dynamic response of the ignition circuit was developed and validated. Two technical papers resulting from this model were submitted for publication. Development of a model for the railplug ...
Spark ignition internal combustion engines perform satisfactorily when the fueled with biomass producer gas from a fluidized bed gasifier. Although power output is reduced compared to natural gas levels, full power recovery can be achieved with a relatively low level of supercharging. Important considerations are an adequate fuel delivery system and adquate gas cleaning. ref.
The effects on engine emissions resulting from the intake manifold fumigation of oxygenated fuel and the addition of oxygenates to the fuel have been investigated using a direct-injection diesel engine. The results show that carefully selected oxygenated fuels effectively work to increase the ignitiondelay because of their low ignition quality and to decrease the combustion temperature due to the low compression gas temperature produced from their large heat of vaporization, thereby reducing levels of Bosch smoke and nitrogen oxides simultaneously. However, supplementary injection of the oxygenates into the intake air causes a drastic increase in the levels of exhaust total hydrocarbons and CO; thus, it can be said that the addition of oxygenates to the fuel is more practical and effective than fumigation if phase separation of the blended fuel may not be occurred. In the case of addition of the oxygenates to the fuel, it ...
The effects of compression ratio on the history of the fuel-burning process was investigated in a single-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine. Two compression ratios of 21.4 and 18.5 were studied by using two wide and shallow bowls. The engine was operated at different speeds and overall air-fuel ratios, but with constant start-of-combustion timing at top dead center. The measured cylinder pressure was used to derive fuel-burning rate. At all conditions, the low-compression-ratio bowl had a larger mass of premixed-burned fuel and a higher peak specific fuel-burning rate. The fuel-burning rate in the diffusion-controlled phase of combustion decreased with decreasing compression ratio. The resulting combustion duration became longer at reduced compression ratio, and the difference could be as large as 14 crank-angle degrees. For the engine conditions examined in this study, the mass of fuel present in the combustion chamber at ignition appears to be the dominant ...
The necessary conditions to design the methanol-fueled direct injection diesel engine with a reservoir type glow plug were cleared up from the points of view to prevent the air contamination and to use as an alternative oil for automotives, and as a result the good engine performance and emission characteristics could be obtained under the wide operating condition. The following facts were clarified: It is necessary to arrange the glow plug on the line of atomizing axis near the nozzle hole to ensure the ignitability under a wide operating condition. The reservoir type glow plug which reserves the premixed gas around the glow plug can shorten the ignitiondelay time and improve the combustion stability and the net thermal efficiency in the light load region. The combustion in the light load region was accelerated, NO{sub x} emission rate was suppressed and moreover, the net thermal efficiency and catalyst conversion rate ...
The factors influencing premixed burning and the importance of premixed burning on the exhaust emissions from a small high-speed direct-injection diesel engine were investigated. The characteristics of premixed and diffusion burning were examined using a single-zone heat-release analysis. The mass of fuel burned in premixed combustion was found to be linearly related to the product of engine speed and ignition-delay time and to be essentially independent of the total amount of fuel injected. Accordingly, the premixed-burned fraction increased with increasing engine speed, with decreasing fuel-air ratio and with retarding injection timing. The hydrocarbon emissions did not correlate well with the premixed-burned fraction. In contrast, the oxides of nitrogen emissions were found to increase with decreasing premixed-burned fraction, indicating that diffusion burning, and not premixed burning, is the primary source of oxides of nitrogen emissions.
Experiments have been conducted to study the effect of injection pressure on the combustion process and exhaust emissions of a direct injection diesel engine fueled with Orange Skin Powder Diesel Solution (OSPDS). Earlier investigation by the authors revealed that 30% OSPDS was optimum for better performance and emissions. In the present investigation the injection pressure was varied with 30% OSPDS and the combustion, performance and emissions characteristics were compared with those of diesel fuel. The different injection pressures studied were 215bar, 235bar and 255bar. The results showed that the cylinder pressure with 30% OSPDS at 235bar fuel injection pressure, was higher than that of diesel fuel as well as at other injection pressures. Similarly, the ignitiondelay was longer and wi...
Experiments in a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine have been conducted with four gasoline surrogate fuel blends. The pure components in the surrogate fuels consisted of n-heptane, isooctane, toluene, ethanol and diisobutylene and fuel sensitivities (RON-MON) in the fuel blends ranged from two to nine. The operating conditions for the engine were p{sub in}=0.1 and 0.2 MPa, T{sub in}=80 and 250 C, {phi}=0.25 in air and engine speed 1200 rpm. A semidetailed chemical kinetic model (142 species and 672 reactions) for gasoline surrogate fuels, validated against ignition data from experiments conducted in shock tubes for gasoline surrogate fuel blends at 1.0{<=} p{<=}5.0MPa, 700{<=} T{<=}1200 K and {phi}=1.0, was successfully used to qualitatively predict the HCCI experiments using a single zone modeling approach. The fuel blends that had higher fuel sensitivity were more resistant to autoignition for ...
Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) diesel fuel is characterized by a high cetane number, a near-zero sulphur content and a very low aromatic level. On the basis of the recorded incylinder pressures and injector needle lifts, the combustion characteristics of an unmodified single-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine operating on F-T diesel fuel are analyzed and compared with those of conventional diesel fuel operation. The results show that F-T diesel fuel exhibits a slightly longer injection delay and injection duration, an average of 18.7% shorter ignitiondelay, and a comparable total combustion duration when compared to those of conventional diesel fuel. Meanwhile, F-T diesel fuel displays an average of 26.8% lower peak value of premixed burning rate and a higher peak value of diffusive burning rate. In addition, the F-T diesel engine has a slightly lower peak combustion pressure, a far lower rate of pressure rise, and a lower ...
The report presents the results of a Gas Research Institute (GRI) program to evaluate the technical and economic aspects of design options proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for reducing the energy consumption of residential ranges and ovens as mandated by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) of 1987. The study shows that none of the proposed DOE design options are justified except electric ignition for stand-alone cooktops, based on life-cycle costs, loss of consumer utility, safety, technical considerations, or food quality considerations. An individual range uses so little gas during the year (approximately $14/year for a self-cleaning range) that it is difficult to justify any design modification, since the cost of even a simple modification could not be recovered on the basis of gas saved.
Detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms are developed for combustion of all nine isomers of heptane (C{sub 7}H{sub 16}), and these mechanisms are tested by simulating autoignition of each isomer under rapid compression machine conditions. The reaction mechanisms focus on the manner in which the molecular structure of each isomer determines the rates and product distributions of possible classes of reactions. The reaction pathways emphasize the importance of alkylperoxy radical isomerizations and addition reactions of molecular oxygen to alkyl and hydroperoxyalkyl radicals. A new reaction group has been added to past models, in which hydroperoxyalkyl radicals that originated with abstraction of an H atom from a tertiary site in the parent heptane molecule are assigned new reaction sequences involving additional internal H atom abstractions not previously allowed. This process accelerates autoignition in fuels with tertiary C-H bonds in the parent fuel. In addition, the rates of ...
Wireless mesh networks can provide low-cost solutions for extending the reach of wireless access points by using multi-hop routing over a set of stationary wireless routers. The routing protocol for these networks may need to address quality considerations to meet the requirements of the user. In this paper, we present a quality based routing protocol for wireless mesh networks that tries to maximize the probability of successful transmissions while minimizing the end-to-end delay. The proposed routing protocol uses reactive route discoveries to collect key parameters from candidate routes to estimate the probability of success and delay of data packets transmitted over them. To achieve accurate route quality assessments, a new route quality metric is proposed that uses performance models ...
This patent describes an ignition system of an internal combustion engine which consists of: a permanent magnet supported by a rotary member of the engine adapted to rotate in synchronism with a rotary shaft of the engine; a generating coil for generating an electromotive force to produce an electric current as the permanent magnet acts on the generating coil during the rotation of the rotary member; an ignition capacitor charged by the electric current generated by the generating coil; a thyristor caused to turn on by a counter electromotive force generated by the generating coil to thereby cause the ignition capacitor to begin to discharge; and an ignition coil generating a high voltage as the ignition capacitor begins to discharge, to cause a spark discharge to take place in an ignition plug of the internal combustion engine.
It is shown that a gun similar to that in the SSPX could demonstrate the high fields required for Pulsed Spheromak reactors merely by prolonging the pulse. Important considerations are choosing the voltage to exceed ohmic losses; designing the gun to avoid wasteful short-circuiting of current within the gun; and the injection efficiency factor, f, determined by the ''sag'' in the profile of {lambda} = {mu}{sub o}j/B. Typically f = 0.75 in experiments, giving an overall efficiency > 50 % if short-circuiting is avoided. Theoretical transport models agree qualitatively with the need for a finite gradient in h to pump in helicity by current-driven tearing modes and suggest that pressure-driven resistive modes would not compete with current-driven modes during a buildup to ohmic ignition.
A micronized de-ashed coal-water slurry (CWS) fuel of approximately 50% coal loading has been successfully ignited and burned in one GE 7FDL engine cylinder at 1050 rpm. For this study, only about one-third of the full load fuel energy was supplied due to limitations of the fuel injection equipment used. Three types of ignition methods have been investigated. They were: Compression ignition with no ignition aid; Separate deisel pilot fuel injection to ignite the CWS fuel; Combined CWS and pilot diesel fuel injection (stratified pilot ignition). Conditions of ignition and the burning characteristics that immediately followed using the above three ignition methods are described.
The study examined the possibility for fuel ignition by spark discharge caused by induction effects under high voltage transmission lines. Theoretical background information on capacitive spark discharges and fuel ignition processes is given. Laboratory experiments were conducted to test the dependence of fuel ignition on three parameters: impedance in discharge path, multiple discharges, and larger electrode shapes. The results of these tests are discussed in terms of fuel ignition possibilities under high voltage transmission lines.
Software has been developed for the calculation of the thermodynamic cycle and the entropy changes in a turbocharged, direct injection, diesel engine based upon the measured cylinder pressure and a shaft encoder output. Assumptions of homogeneous mixture and equilibrium thermodynamic properties are made for the products of combustion and temporal variation in the fluid thermodynamic state is followed in a quasi-steady manner through a series of adjacent equilibrium states, each separated by finite intervals of one degree crank angle (1degCA). The thermodynamic properties are calculated by either of two equivalent formulations -- equilibrium constant or minimisation of Gibbs free energy, and are expressed in algebraic equations of the partial derivative of internal energy and gas constant with respect to temperature, pressure and equivalence ratio. The effect of the engine operating conditions on the thermodynamic cycle is studied, Results show that the dynamic fuel injection timing and ...
Dual-fuel engines are modified diesel engines burning simultaneously two fuels inside the cylinder: a gaseous one, called the primary fuel and a liquid one, called the pilot fuel. The thermal efficiency of the dual-fuel engine and of the diesel engine are comparable; the level of emissions is lower compared to the diesel one. This article presents a new procedure for the combustion modeling in a LPG-diesel dual-fuel engine. The procedures deals with the ignitiondelay period and with the rate of heat release inside the cylinder. This procedure is validated using experimental data issued front a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology from Madras, India. The used engine is a single-cylinder one, air-cooled. The pilot fuel is direct injected inside the cylinder The engine was run at constant load and with different diesel substitutions, i.e. for different air to fuel ratios of the primary fuel-air mixture. The general error of the ...
The nuclear power industry has experienced four carbon based adsorbent fires in its history, one was of the Monticello Standby Gas Treatment System and other three were in various off-gas delay beds. Although, some of the latter may not be classified as a full fledged fires. There were a number of experiments performed relating to igniting carbon beds and experiments relating to attempts at extinguishing set fires reported in the literature. Review of these experiments indicates that fire resulting from decay heat of adsorbed radioactive iodine is not justified even under the somewhat unrealistic source terms still in effect. At the same time the non-nuclear chemical industry application of carbon base adsorbents for solvent recovery has resulted in numerous fires and significant property losses. Fire control systems installed in nuclear air cleaning systems in the US consists of water deluge. Accidental initiation of these systems has occurred ...
A mathematical model was developed to predict the penetration of a transient fuel spray, the temporal and spatial distribution of air-fuel mixture before the end of ignitiondelay and the subsequent pressure rise during combustion in a Direct-Injection Diesel Engine with and without swirl. The model accounts for the non-isothermal and non-isobaric character of processes during fuel injection resulting from continuous motion of the piston. The effects of various engine operating variables on spray were studied and graphically presented. The calculated spray penetration with and without crossflow of air is compared with the available experimental data of other researchers with good agreement. The model can predict the rate of combustible-mixture formation, the rate of heat release and cylinder pressure as a function of time in direct injection (DI) diesel engine. A single-cylinder D.I. research diesel engine was operated with N-hexadecane as the ...
A computationally efficient dynamic adaptive chemistry (DAC) scheme is described that permits on-the-fly mechanism reduction during reactive flow calculations. The scheme reduces a globally valid full mechanism to a locally, instantaneously applicable smaller mechanism. Previously we demonstrated its applicability to homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) problems with n-heptane [L. Liang, J.G. Stevens, J.T. Farrell, Proc. Combust. Inst. 32 (2009) 527-534]. In this work we demonstrate the broader utility of the DAC scheme through the simulation of HCCI and shock tube ignitiondelay times (IDT) for three gasoline surrogates, including two- and three-component blends of primary reference fuels (PRF) and toluene reference fuels (TRF). Both a detailed 1099-species mechanism and a skeletal 150-species mechanism are investigated as the full mechanism to explore the impact of fuel complexity on the DAC scheme. For all ...
Since the first round of conceptual fusion reactor designs in 1973 - 1974, there has been considerable progress in design improvement. Two recent tokamak designs of the Wisconsin and Culham groups, with increased plasma beta and wall loading (power density), lead to more compact reactors with easier maintenance. The Reference Theta-Pinch Reactor has undergone considerable upgrading in the design of the first wall insulator and blanket. In addition, a conceptual homopolar energy storage and transfer system has been designed. In the case of the mirror reactor, there are design changes toward improved modular construction and ease of handling, as well as improved direct converters. Conceptual designs of toroidal-multiple-mirror, liner-compression, and reverse-field pinch reactors are also discussed. A design is presented of a toroidal multiple-mirror reactor that combines the advantages of steady-state operation and high-aspect ratio. The ...
In an ignition timing control apparatus for controlling the ignition timing of each cylinder in order to reduce knock generation in a multi-cylinder engine, a lag-angle correction is made for the ignition timing of a cylinder in which a knock is generated and at the same time, a slight lag-angle correction is made for the ignition timing of the other cylinders in which no knock is generated. When the operating condition of engine is rapidly changed for example, under the condition in which knock is liable to occur in all cylinders as at rapid acceleration time, a lag-angle correction is made by the same amount as in the knock generating cylinder, for the ignition timing of cylinders in which no knock is generated. When no knock is generated for a predetermined time, a lead-angle correction is made for the ignition timing subjected to the lag-angle correction of ...
Recently there has been considerable interest in the design of efficient carrier sense multiple access(CSMA) protocol for wireless network. The basic assumption underlying recent results is availability of perfect carrier sense information. This allows for design of continuous time algorithm under which collisions are avoided. The primary purpose of this note is to show how these results can be extended in the case when carrier sense information may not be perfect, or equivalently delayed. Specifically, an adaptation of algorithm in Rajagopalan, Shah, Shin (2009) is presented here for time slotted setup with carrier sense information available only at the end of the time slot. To establish its throughput optimality, in additon to method developed in Rajagopalan, Shah, Shin (2009), understanding properties of stationary distribution of a certain non-reversible Markov chain as well as bound on its mixing time is essential. This note presents ...
The stages of processes leading to radiation damage are studied, as well as, the direct and indirect mechanics of its production. The radiation effects on nucleic acid and protein macro moleculas are treated. The physical and chemical factors that modify radiosensibility are analysed, in particular the oxygen effects, the sensibilization by analogues of nitrogen bases, post-effects, chemical protection and inherent cell factors. Consideration is given to restoration processes by excision of injured fragments, the bloching of the excision restoration processes, the restoration of lesions caused by ionizing radiations and to the restoration by genetic recombination. Referring to somatic effects of radiation, the early ones and the acute syndrome of radiation are discussed. The difference of radiosensibility observed in mammalian cells and main observable alterations in tissues and organs are commented. Referring to delayed radiation effects, ...
Ultra-short-pulse reflectometry is studied by means of the numerical integration of a one-dimensional full-wave equation for ordinary modes propagating in a plasma. The numerical calculations illustrate the potential of using the reflection of ultra-short-pulse, microwaves as an effective probe of the density profile even in the presence of significant density fluctuations. The difference in time delays of differing frequency components of the microwaves can be used to deduce the density profile. The modification of the reflected pulses in the presence of density fluctuations is examined and can be understood based on considerations of Bragg resonance. A simple and effective profile-reconstruction algorithm using the zero-crossings of the reflected pulse and subsequent Abel inversion is demonstrated. The robustness of the profile reconstruction algorithm in the presence of a sufficiently small amplitude density perturbation is assessed.
We present a modification of the closed-loop state space model for AO control which allows delays that are a non-integer multiple of the system frame rate. We derive the new forms of the Predictive Fourier Control Kalman filters for arbitrary delays and show that they are linear combinations of the whole-frame delay terms. This structure of the controller is independent of the delay. System stability margins and residual error variance both transition gracefully between integer-frame delays.
Radiation damage of the final optical components in an Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) reactor is a crucial issue for development of a laser-fusion reactor. To some extent, this problem will be encountered in the National Ignition Facility (NIF), but there, the integrated radiation dose will be considerably less than that encountered in a future reactor. This extremely harsh radiation environment necessitates shielding the ICF optics from direct neutron and x-ray bombardment. Several approaches have been suggested, such as the use of grazing incidence metal mirrors or fused silica wedge deflectors. While metal mirrors can withstand a larger radiation dose, their focusing qualities pose problems. Therefore wedge deflectors, originally suggested by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) staff, represent a promising alternative. Radiation hardening of the fused silica deflectors using a new combined thermal/optical annealing approach is ...
One of the energy-saving devices used on gas cooking appliances to eliminate the standing pilot is a spark ignition system. For safety, an ignition system must start promptly and be active whenever flowing gas is not ignited. To minimize noise and nuisance shock hazard, ignition must occur quickly and the sparking must be stopped as soon as ignition occurs and remain off as long as the flame is present. To accomplish both of these requirements, ignition systems have been devised which use the electrical current rectification property of a flame to sense it. These systems spark whenever the gas valve is on and a flame is not present. The factors affecting the performance of a spark ignition system are numerous, complex, and transient. All of these properties make quantification of performance difficult. A system is described which can ...
We briefly reviewed and summarized the experimental study on {beta}-delayed proton decays published by our group over the last 8 years, namely the experimental observation of {beta}-delayed proton decays of nine new nuclides in the rare-earth region near the proton drip line and five nuclides in the mass 90 region with N{approx}Z by utilizing the p-{gamma} coincidence technique in combination with a He-jet tape transport system. In addition, important technical details of the experiments were provided. The experimental results were compared to the theoretical predictions of some nuclear models, resulting in the following conclusions. (1) The experimental half-lives for {sup 85}Mo, {sup 92}Rh, as well as the predicted 'waiting point' nuclei {sup 89}Ru and {sup 93}Pd were 5-10 times longer than the macroscopic-microscopic model predictions of Moeller et al. [At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 66,131(1997)]. These data ...
Motivated by the strong discrepancy between the main-sequence turnoff age and the white dwarf cooling age in the metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791, we compute a grid of white dwarf evolutionary sequences that incorporates for the first time the energy released by the processes of "2"2Ne sedimentation and of carbon/oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. The grid covers the mass range from 0.52 to 1.0 M _s_u_n, and is appropriate for the study of white dwarfs in metal-rich clusters. The evolutionary calculations are based on a detailed and self-consistent treatment of the energy released from these two processes, as well as on the employment of realistic carbon/oxygen profiles, of relevance for an accurate evaluation of the energy released by carbon/oxygen phase separation. We find that "2"2Ne sedimentation strongly delays the cooling rate of white dwarfs stemming from progenitors with high metallicities at moderate luminosities, while carbon/oxygen phase ...
We briefly reviewed and summarized the experimental study on #beta#-delayed proton decays published by our group over the last 8 years, namely the experimental observation of #beta#-delayed proton decays of nine new nuclides in the rare-earth region near the proton drip line and five nuclides in the mass 90 region with N#approx#Z by utilizing the p-#gamma# coincidence technique in combination with a He-jet tape transport system. In addition, important technical details of the experiments were provided. The experimental results were compared to the theoretical predictions of some nuclear models, resulting in the following conclusions. (1) The experimental half-lives for "8"5Mo, "9"2Rh, as well as the predicted 'waiting point' nuclei "8"9Ru and "9"3Pd were 5-10 times longer than the macroscopic-microscopic model predictions of Moeller et al. [At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 66,131(1997)]. These data considerably influenced the ...
We consider the effect of distributed delays in neural feedback systems. The avian optic tectum is reciprocally connected with the nucleus isthmi. Extracellular stimulation combined with intracellular recordings reveal a range of signal delays from 4 to 9 ms between isthmotectal elements. This observation together with prior mathematical analysis concerning the influence of a delay distribution on system dynamics raises the question whether a broad delay distribution can impact the dynamics of neural feedback loops. For a system of reciprocally connected model neurons, we found that distributed delays enhance system stability in the following sense. With increased distribution of delays, the system converges faster to a fixed point and converges slower toward a limit cycle. Further, the introduction of distributed delays leads to an ...
Performance and emissions data were gathered on a normally aspirated single cylinder DI engine with various combinations of ceramic coatings installed. Thin ceramic thermal barrier coatings were applied to the piston crown and bowl, the head and valves, and the cylinder liner. The coated piston and head were run singly and in combination with the cylinder liner to investigate the effects of these different coated surfaces on emissions and performance. Coating the piston crown alone results in generally lower cylinder pressure, lower brake specific fuel consumption and lower NO(x) emission compared to the baseline engine. Soot emission is typically increased below 2000 RPM and decreased above 2000 RPM. Coating the head alone reduces cylinder pressure, but generally increases specific fuel consumption and NO(x) and soot emission. The KIVA-II code was used to model the Hydra engine with the thermal coatings. The computer modeling has led to an understanding of the effect of coating the ...
This project is aimed at development of optimum combustion technology with diversified fuels, e.g., naphtha and LCO, for gas turbines and others as power sources for topographical energy supply. The combustion under the microgravity is also investigated using the underground facilities at Japan Microgravity Center. Described herein are the FY 2000 results. For construction of combustion model and simulation, the combustion reactions for various liquid fuels are simplified to calculate ignitiondelay, adiabatic flame temperature and laminar burning velocity with an error less than about 3%. The microgravity combustion experiments are conducted for spray dispersed into a cylinder, to find flame propagation velocities changing with the vaporization characteristics of liquid fuels, and also to construct the combustion models. The premixed turbulent combustion simulation program is developed using a probability density function and analyzed. ...
Experiments have been conducted to study the effect of injection pressure on the combustion process and exhaust emissions of a direct injection diesel engine fueled with Orange Skin Powder Diesel Solution (OSPDS). Earlier investigation by the authors revealed that 30% OSPDS was optimum for better performance and emissions. In the present investigation the injection pressure was varied with 30% OSPDS and the combustion, performance and emissions characteristics were compared with those of diesel fuel. The different injection pressures studied were 215 bar, 235 bar and 255 bar. The results showed that the cylinder pressure with 30% OSPDS at 235 bar fuel injection pressure, was higher than that of diesel fuel as well as at other injection pressures. Similarly, the ignitiondelay was longer and with shorter combustion duration with 30% OSPDS at 235 bar injection pressure. The brake thermal efficiency was better at 235 bar than that of other fuel ...
The methodology of achieving a high power density (HPD, or brake mean effective pressure) direct-injection Diesel engine has been studied, which is directed to using high fuel/air ratio, high-speed and ceramic engine components. Among the main thrust to achieve these engine changes for an advanced Diesel engine is the design of a high injection pressure (HIP) fuel system. During the course of the present study, two Cummins 903 engines mated with a Rutger-built HIP were employed to investigate the engine response to HIP and in-cylinder processes by using the Rutgers high-speed infrared (IR) spectral digital imaging system. Five separate technical publications were prepared to report results obtained from the study. The main findings include: The HIP system permits engine operation at an air/fuel ratio of as rich as 18 to 1 with smoke emission not worse than with the conventional mechanical (low pressure) injection system; A high injection pressure improves HPD of a Diesel engine; A HIP ...
An ignition timing control apparatus is described for an internal combustion engine having a reference ignition timing comprising: sensing means for sensing vibrations including knocks of the engine; knock signal deriving means for deriving knock signals from the output of the sensing means; correction magnitude determining means for determining from the knock signals derived by the knock signal deriving means of ignition timing correction magnitude for suppressing the occurrence of knock; displacement magnitude determining means for determining from at least one of an output of the knock signal deriving means and an output of the correction magnitude determining means as a displacement magnitude for the reference ignition timing corresponding to the octane rating of a fuel used in the engine; and ignition timing determining means for setting the reference ...
The purpose of this document is to describe the NIF Project Organization and the roles and responsibilities of the managers charged with executing the Project.
The idle speed of an internal combustion engine is controlled in response to a variable ignition timing control signal from a microcomputer. The microcomputer derives this control signal as a function of the magnitude of engine speed variation which occurs during engine idle periods to cause the ignition timing to vary quickly in response to a transitory engine load variation. An auxiliary air delivery system may be advantageously incorporated in the idle speed control system to cooperate with the ignition timing control in response to the engine speed variation.
An LPP ignition timing control is described for an internal combustion engine including a combustion chamber, means effective to ignite a combustible charge within the combustion chamber and power output apparatus including a rotating crankshaft driven in response to the expansion of the combustible charge following the ignition thereof and having a predefined TDC rotational reference position, the engine being of the type having a normal combustion mode characterized by combustion pressure peaks compatible with closed loop LPP ignition timing control and an abnormal combustion mode which may not be so compatible.
This paper is based on research on the combustion ignition dual-fuel engine conducted at the Zhejiang Agricultural University. The properties of compressed biogas, its performance characteristics in the compression ignited dual-fuel engine as well as the possibilities and needs for its use are discussed. Using information derived from experimental data compiled by the laboratory, analyses and comparisons have been made between high- and low-pressure biogas used in the compression ignition dual-fuel engine with respect to variation of power and the corresponding characteristic curve of the engine. The economic effects of utilizing compressed biogas are also discussed. (author).
This paper introduces in detail the compression performance of biogas, the application of compressed biogas to the compression-ignition engine and the possibility as well as the necessity of using compressed biogas. Moreover, the paper also goes further into some problems about the power increasing, efficiency raising and their social, economic and ecological beneficial results, when the compressed biogas is used in the compression ignition-dual fuel engine.
A prediction of delayed neutron yields for actinides which are important in the nuclear energy field is given. The prediction is based on a correlation related to a suggested cluster structure of the nucleus. (author).
Group deal delay solution has fit 42 psec with 2.4% outliers. Group delay ambiguities with spacing 3.9 ns (another world record!) were successfully resolved. ...
The experimental study on #beta#-delayed proton decays near the proton drip line published by our group over the last 8 years were reviewed and summarized briefly, including first observation of 9 precursors in the rare-earth region and new measurements of 5 nuclei in the mass-90 region near N-Z line with the aid of the 'p-#gamma#' coincidence in combination with a He-jet tape transport system. Systematically comparing the experimental data with the current nuclear-model predictions, following points were represented. (1) the experimental half-lives for "8"5Mo and "9"2Rh as well as the predicted 'waiting point' nuclei "8"9Ru and "9"3Pd are 5-10 times longer than the macroscopic-microscopic model predictions given by Moeller et al. It considerably influences the prediction of mass abundances of the nuclides produced in rp-process. (2) The current-model predictions are not consistent with the experimental spin-parity assignments of the proton ...
More details about the construction of the Terra Nova floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel are provided. The vessel was built in the Daewoo shipyard in South Korea, and is now undergoing final fitting at Bull Arm, near St. John's, Newfoundland. When complete, the vessel will operate 350 km offshore, southeast of St. John's. It is 291 metres long and 45.5 metres wide and has a capacity of 960,000 barrels of oil. Although the FPSO will hold less than half of the last giant supertanker which sailed for Irving Oil, it has a crew of 81, four times the size of the supertanker, reflecting the technical uniqueness of the vessel and the intense pre-occupation with safety associated with the combination of winds, ice, waves, and shallow water around the Grand Banks. Also described is the alliance system of partnership between the oil companies and the main contractors. The deal stipulates that if the project ran over its budget, the oil companies will bear ...
Effects of cell concentrations on the survival and repopulation of haemopoietic stem cells after irradiation were studied in the long-term culture of mouse bone marrow cells in vitro. No difference was observed in the survival of the stem cells among cultures in which 0 - 10/sup 7/ cells were re-inoculated on the adherent cell colonies in the culture flask. Stem cells showed a significant proliferation within 1 week and the number of the stem cells exceeded the control in 3 weeks after irradiation in the cultures with less than 10/sup 6/ re-inoculated cells per flask. In contrast, there was a considerabledelay in the onset of stem cell proliferation after irradiation in the culture with 10/sup 7/ cells per flask. Based on these results, a possibility that a stimulator of stem cell proliferation, released from irradiated stromal cells, is cancelled by an inhibitory factor produced by irradiated or unirradiated haemopoietic cells is postulated.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in concern over the health and safety aspects of high voltage transmission lines (HVTL). The majority of research has focused on effects directly or indirectly involved with the central nervous system, including physiological, ultrastructural, and biochemical alterations, changes in blood composition, behaviour, reproduction, and development. Several recent epidemiological reports have presented preliminary data suggesting an increase in the incidence of cancer among children and adults exposed to magnetic fields through living close to various types of electrical power lines or devices. With the increase in environmental concerns there has been a concomitant consideration of biological effects and health implications related to presently existing HVTL and those planned in the future. It was concluded that the electric and magnetic field strengths and the electrical discharges are the most important ...
The delayed neutrons from neutron-induced fission in /sup 232/U, /sup 237/Np, /sup 238/Pu, /sup 241/Am, /sup 242/Am/sup m/, /sup 245/Cm, and /sup 249/Cf were studied for the first time; those from /sup 232/Th, /sup 233/U, /sup 235/U, /sup 238/U, /sup 239/Pu, /sup 241/Pu, and /sup 242/Pu were measured again. The data were used to develop an expression for the prediction of the absolute delayed neutron yield, and the prediction of delayed neutron emission with time. This approach accurately predicts observed delayed neutron yields and decay characteristics. A fission product yield model was used in conjunction with delayed neutron emission probability to analytically predict delayed neutron characteristics. The results of this analysis are in excellent agreement with experimental values.
A dual fuel engine control system for controlling the power output of a dual fuel compression ignition engine. The engine includes mixing means for combining an oxidizer and a primary fuel at a substantially constant ratio of oxidizer to primary fuel. The power output of the engine is controlled through the use of a throttle valve controlling the quantity of combustible mixture delivered to the combustion chamber. The fuel control system minimizes the quantity of ignition fuel required by controlling the quantity of combustible mixture rather than the fuel of air ratio. (author) figs.
A start safety apparatus of an engine adapted for a multipurpose power tool is described which consists of: an engine, an exciter coil generating alternate electromotive force in synchronism with rotation of the engine; an ignition coil having primary and secondary windings; a spark plug connected to the secondary winding of the ignition coil; a capacitor connected to the primary winding of the ignition coil the capacitor being charged with a positive half-cycle of the electromotive force; ignition timing control means for controlling discharge of the capacitor; a throttle control latch for setting a throttle valve of the engine in a predetermined throttle angle; a tool driven by the engine; and a centrifugal clutch transferring engine power to the tool when an engine speed exceeds a clutch-in speed.
of the familiar fire triangle, namely, fuel, ignition, and oxygen. Fuel is minimized ... The third element of the fire triangle, oxygen, is obviously ...
familiarity fire triangle (i.e., fuel, oxidant, and ignition source) are excluded. It Is obvious that for the baseline safety goal for spacecraft this ...
Apricot fruits usually harvested relatively mature but hard enough to withstand-post harvest handling through the marketing chain. These fruits have considerably lower edible quality than tree-ripened fruit. Fruit quality can be improved by delaying harvest least until physiological maturation is completed on the tree (Bonghi et al. 1999) Apricots containing 11% soluble solids concentration, or higher are in high demand by consumers, as fruit have developed considerable taste, aroma and handling for long distance markets. (Kader, 1999). These fruit will be highly perishable, so rapid cold storage to the lowest safe temperature and supplementary treatments (Mc Donald et al, 1999) such as irradiation with the recommend doses (Sillano et al, 1994) or pre-storage heat treatments will be necessary to retard ripening (mainly softening) during 1-2 weeks post harvest life necessary for distribution to distant markets (Mc Donald et ...
Safety-technical factors related to spontaneous ignition and dust explosions of biomasses were investigated. Parametres of dust explosions and effect of inertisation on the maximum pressure (pmax) and the maximum rate of pressure rise (Kstmax) were studied at elevated initial pressure (1-9 bar). The level of inertisation required to prevent dust explosions totally was determined at different initial pressures. The sensitivity of fuels to spontaneous ignition and the effect of pressure on the sensitivity to and temperature of spontaneous ignition were studied on a pressurised dynamic self-ignition equipment. The effect of inertisation on the self-ignition temperature and alternatives of preventing spontaneous ignition by effective inertisation in the pressure ranges of 1 and 25 bar were investigated. As an example of application, results obtained with the ...
This paper presents the results of experimental investigations of the ignition and combustion of plant biofuels (wood particles, date stones) and products of their mechanical and thermal treatment (pellets, charcoal) at temperatures typical of the burning process in nonforced furnaces and fixed-bed and fluidized-bed gas producers. The influence of the furnace heat treatment of a fuel on its inflammation and combustion has been revealed. The results have been compared with the known data on the burning of pellets, brown coals, and anthracites and with the calculation by the classical diffusion-kinetic model.
Combustion noise, knock and ignition limits data are measured and presented for a dual fuel engine running on dual fuels of Diesel and three gaseous fuels separately. The gaseous fuels used are liquefied petroleum gas, pure methane and compressed natural gas mixture. The maximum pressure rise rate during combustion is presented as a measure of combustion noise, and the knocking and ignition limits are presented as torque output at the onset of knocking and ignition failure. Experimental investigation on the dual fuel engine revealed the noise generated from combustion, knocking and ignition limits for all gases at different design and operating conditions. A Ricardo E6 Diesel version engine is converted to run on dual fuel of Diesel and the tested gaseous fuel and is used throughout the work. The engine is fully computerized, and the cylinder pressure data, crank angle data and engine operating ...
Full text of publication follows: The hydrogen mitigation system of 20 igniters and 6 PARs is installed to control the hydrogen in the containment during severe accidents and design basis accidents, respectively, in Shin-Wolsung 1 and 2 nuclear power plants. The igniters are primarily installed at the hydrogen source locations, and the PARs are installed in the open spaces. The PARs will maintain the hydrogen concentration within the containment atmosphere below the limit of 4 v/o in accordance with Regulatory Guide 1.7 during design basis accidents. The igniters will maintain the hydrogen concentration within the containment atmosphere below the limit of 10 v/o in accordance with 10CFR50.34(f) during severe accidents. In addition, the PARs can be used as a supplementary means to control the hydrogen concentration during severe accidents because of their inherent passive characteristics. This paper shows the three ...
ObjectiveTo compare objective polysomnographic parameters between three cohorts: children with autism, with typical development, and with developmental delay without...Full Text Available
Myelination is an important process in brain development, and delays or abnormalities in this process have been associated with a number of conditions including autism, developmental delay,...Full Text Available
The influence of an immobilization stressor on lung cellular immune responses was studied. Delayed-type hypersensitivity to sheep erythrocytes was used to evaluate in vivo lung cellular immunity. Mice...Full Text Available
BackgroundDiagnostic delay in patients with tuberculosis (TB) leads to ongoing TB transmission, higher mortality rates and increased patient and government health expenditure. Qualitative...Full Text Available
... as time delay shifters for large-area phased arrays in military (MILSTAR) as well as commercial (Sky phone and other satellite communication) systems, ...
This paper presents a systematic study on the stability of a two-dimensional vibration isolation floating raft system with a time-delayed feedback control. Based on the generalized Sturm criterion, the critical control gain for the delay-independent stability region and critical time delays for the stability switches are derived. The critical conditions can provide a theoretical guidance of chaotification design for line spectra reduction. Numerical simulations verify the correctness of the approach. Bifurcation analyses reveal that chaotification is more likely to occur in unstable region defined by these critical conditions, and the stiffness of the floating raft and mass ratio are the sensitive parameters to reduce critical control gain.
Large scale experiments were performed to determine the effectiveness of thermal glow plug igniters to burn hydrogen in a condensing steam environment due to the presence of water sprays. The experiments were designed to determine if a detonation or accelerated flame could occur in a hydrogen-air-steam mixture which was initially nonflammable due to steam dilution but was rendered flammable by rapid steam condensation due to water sprays. Eleven Hydrogen Igniter Tests were conducted in the test vessel. The vessel was instrumented with pressure transducers, thermocouple rakes, gas grab sample bottles, hydrogen microsensors, and cameras. The vessel contained two prototypic engineered systems: (1) a deliberate hydrogen ignition system and (2) a water spray system. Experiments were conducted under conditions scaled to be nearly prototypic of those expected in Advanced Light Water Reactors (such as the Combustion Engineering ...
The measurements of the total delayed neutron yield from fast neutron induced fission of sup 2 sup 3 sup 8 U were made. The experimental method based on the periodic irradiation of the fissionable sample by neutrons from a suitable nuclear reaction had been employed. The preliminary results on the energy dependence of the total delayed neutron yield from fission of sup 2 sup 3 sup 8 U are obtained. According to the comparison of experimental data with our prediction based on correlation properties of delayed neutron characteristics, it is concluded that the value of the total delayed neutron yield near the threshold of (n,f) reaction is not a constant.
Atmospheric pressure tests were performed in which a palladium catalyst ignites and stabilizes the homogeneous combustion of methane. Palladium exhibited a reversible deactivation at temperatures above 750 C, which acted to ``self-regulate`` its operating temperature. A properly treated palladium catalyst could be employed to preheat a methane/air mixture to temperatures required for ignition of gaseous combustion (ca. 800 C) without itself being exposed to the mixture adiabatic flame temperature. The operating temperature of the palladium was found to be relatively insensitive to the methane fuel concentration or catalyst inlet temperature over a wide range of conditions. Thus, palladium is well suited for application in the ignition and stabilization of methane combustion.
This invention is comprised of an improved combustion system for an internal combustion engine is disclosed wherein a rich air/fuel mixture is furnished at high pressure to one or more jet plume generator cavities adjacent to a cylinder and then injected through one or more orifices from the cavities into the head space of the cylinder to form one or more turbulent jet plumes in the head space of the cylinder prior to ignition of the rich air/fuel mixture in the cavity of the jet plume generator. The portion of the rich air/fuel mixture remaining in the cavity of the generator is then ignited to provide a secondary jet, comprising incomplete combustion products which are injected into the cylinder to initiate combustion in the already formed turbulent jet plume. Formation of the turbulent jet plume in the head space of the cylinder prior to ignition has been found to yield a higher maximum combustion pressure in the ...
In order to find the solution to the problem of depletion of conventional fuels and environmental pollution caused by them, new design concepts such as low heat rejection engines and alternate fuel vehicles have started to appear. The present study deals with the concept of alternate fuel vehicle using hydrogen as a fuel. Results of analytical study to minimize heat loss during the power stroke of a hydrogen fueled spark ignition engine have been presented. Effect of various design and operating parameters on heat losses using a simulation model developed by the authors have also been presented. The results shall be helpful in designing efficient hydrogen fuelled spark ignition engines. (orig.)
The design and operating principle of a small (50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height) ???-73C vacuum spark gap are described. It is shown that it can be efficiently switched using a control circuit with a low (?900 V) supply voltage, which is based on an inductive energy storage and a diode opening switch that forms a high-voltage igniting pulse with a rise time of nanosecond duration. The ???-73C switching process is investigated at different rise times of igniting voltage pulses and different igniting current amplitudes. The results of tests of the spark gap operating in regimes of switching current pulses with an amplitude of 12 kA and a rise time of 800 ns are presented.
S>Hydrogen-induced delayed failure in an alpha-beta titanium alloy (4Al-- 4Mn) was sensitive to microstructure. A quenched structure was less susceptible to delayed failure than aged or annealed structures. The tendency for delayed failure was magnified in all structures by an increase in hydrogen content or an increase in strength level. Hydrogen-induced delayed failure occurred by a process of crack initiation and controlled crack growth. Delayed failures resulting from creep were also encountered. Plastic strain resulting from creep tended to retard crack initiation. Changes occurring in material under static load prior to formation of cracks were reversible, as long as no appreciable plastic strain occurred, indicating stress-induced diffusion of hydrogen. Hydrogen-induced delayed failure disappeared at both high and low ...
An experiment was performed with a mock-up of the core of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) reactor to evaluate three reactivity measurement methods for application to liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBR): modified source multiplication measurements with the low-level flux monitor for refueling (35 dollars subcritical) of FFTF, noise analysis to 35 dollars subcritical, and inverse kinetics rod drop to 12 dollars subcritical. To investigate the spatial dependence of these measurement methods and to resolve discrepancies previously reported, detectors were placed in the core, reflector, and radial shield, and experimental data were collected with the reactivity at near delayed criticality to 35 dollars subcritical. Conclusions from this experiment are the following. Low-level flux monitors in the shield of the FFTF will be adequate for reactivity surveillance during refueling, using the modified source multiplication method calibrated near critical by an ...
The paper discusses recent results on the development of localized arc filament plasma actuators and their use in controlling high-speed and high Reynolds number jet flows. Multiple plasma actuators (up to 8) are controlled using a custom-built 8-channel high-voltage pulsed plasma generator. The plasma generator independently controls pulse repetition rate (0-200 kHz), duty cycle and phase for each individual actuator. Current and voltage measurements demonstrated the power consumption of each actuator to be quite low (20 W at 20% duty cycle). Emission spectroscopy temperature measurements in the pulsed arc filament showed rapid temperature increase over the first 10-20 ?s of arc operation, from below 1000 deg. C to up to about 2000 deg. C. At longer discharge pulse durations, 20-100 ?s, the plasma temperature levels off at approximately 2000 deg. C. Modelling calculations using an unsteady, quasi-one-dimensional arc filament model showed that rapid localized heating in the arc ...
Small metallic fragments can be trapped in combustible cartridge cases during manufacture and released into the interior-ballistic flow upon combustion of the case. Such particles may survive the interior-ballistic cycle and pose an ignition threat to the...
ABB Industrietechnik AG recently has introduced an augmented version of its Cyldeyt cylinder pressure monitoring system aimed at spark-ignited and diesel/gas, dual-fuel engines. In addition to recording and evaluating cylinder pressure as a means of assessing engine condition, the new Cyldet version now evaluates the cylinder pressure signals to provide protection against pre-ignition related damage. When pre-ignition reaches critical levels, the Cyldet computer relays alarm signals in two stages to the overriding engine control system of the power plant. On receiving the first-stage alarm signal, the engine control system is programmed to adjust one or more engine settings to eliminate preignition - a typical adjustment is to lower charge-air temperature, for example. If such measures fail to eliminate pre-ignition, in the case of a dual-fuel engine, a second alarm signal triggers a reduction in engine ...
This book contains papers relating to the 1990 Future Transportation Technology Conference and Exposition. Included are the following papers; Examination of rich mixtures operation of a dual fuel engine, A hybrid natural gas vehicles, Performance analysis of a spark ignited engine with ETBE as a blending agent.
For sufficiently cool remote gases, the cylindrical stretched flame shows classical ignition-extinction behavior. For remote gas temperatures close to the adiabatic flame temperature, the flame response is qualitatively different, with negative flame speed solutions which may be physically accessible.
This patent describes in an dual gas-liquid fuel four cycle engine having cylinders and wherein each cylinder is operatively connected thereto and each cylinder has a piston, two inlet valves, two exhaust valves and a first liquid fuel injector. It comprises: at least one fuel torch cell operatively connected to at least one cylinder, the torch cell having a torch cell nozzle at one end thereof and the other end having appropriate means to connect the torch cell to a fuel supply, a second fuel injector mounted in the torch cell at a predetermined angle to an axis of the torch cell, the torch cell defining an auto-ignition chamber, the second fuel injector being in operative communication with the auto-ignition chamber by an injector nozzle passageway, the injector nozzle passageway entering the auto-ignition chamber at a predetermined angle relative to the axis, and a torch nozzle passage connecting the ...
The global effect of activation cross-section uncertainties on calculated radiological quantities is investigated for the first time using a methodology based on Monte Carlo random sampling. The method is applied to the calculation of the uncertainty in the contact dose rate from the gunite shielding of the National Ignition Facility chamber after 30 yr of pulsed irradiation. Some critical cross section contributing significantly to the overall uncertainty are identified. By a reasonable reduction of the uncertainty in those cross sections, the accuracy in the calculated total contact dose rate is greatly improved.
A method and apparatus for operating a compression ignition engine having a cylinder wall, a piston, and a head defining a combustion chamber. The method and apparatus includes delivering fuel substantially uniformly into the combustion chamber, the fuel being dispersed throughout the combustion chamber and spaced from the cylinder wall, delivering an oxidant into the combustion chamber sufficient to support combustion at a first predetermined combustion duration, and delivering a diluent into the combustion chamber sufficient to change the first predetermined combustion duration to a second predetermined combustion duration different from the first predetermined combustion duration.
For the determination of top dead center (TDC) of a running engine a measuring system using microwaves was developed by AEG and Volkswagen AG. The measuring method utilizes the Doppler shift of the microwaves, which were reflected at the up and down moving piston, and the varying resonance properties of the combustion chamber. The system works with a frequency of 61.4 GHz and can be used as well for spark ignition as form compression ignition engines, particularly for direct injection engines. The output signal is symmetrical to TDC. For data acquisition and data processing, i.e. the calculation of the point of symmetry, the computer system FARES is used in a special assembly.
By contrast to the large mass, complexity and recirculating power of conventional drivers for inertial confinement fusion (ICF), antiproton annihilation offers a specific energy of 90MJ/{micro}g and thus a unique form of energy packaging and delivery. In principle, antiproton drivers could provide a profound reduction in system mass for advanced space propulsion by ICF. We examine the physics underlying the use of antiprotons ({bar p}) to drive various classes of high-yield ICF targets by the methods of volumetric ignition, hotspot ignition and fast ignition. The useable fraction of annihilation deposition energy is determined for both {bar p}-driven ablative compression and {bar p}-driven fast ignition, in association with 0-D and 1-D target burn models. Thereby, we deduce scaling laws for the number of injected antiprotons required per capsule, together with timing and focal spot requirements. The ...
The unsteady aerodynamic forces of a model fruit fly wing in flapping motion were investigated by numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations. The flapping motion consisted of translation and rotation [the translation velocity (u(t)) varied according to the simple harmonic function (SHF), and the rotation was confined to a short period around stroke reversal]. First, it was shown that for a wing of given geometry with u(t) varying as the SHF, the aerodynamic force coefficients depended only on five non-dimensional parameters, i.e. Reynolds number (Re), stroke amplitude (Phi), mid-stroke angle of attack (alpha(m)), non-dimensional duration of wing rotation (Delta tau(r)) and rotation timing [the mean translation velocity at radius of the second moment of wing area (U), the mean chord length (c) and c/U were used as reference velocity, length and time, respectively]. Next, the force coefficients were investigated for a case in which typical values of these parameters were used ...
The primary aim was to evaluate delayed contrast-enhanced MRI in depicting perineural spread of hilar cholangiocarcinoma (CCC) and consequently to determine the capability of MRI/MRCP for staging CCC. Fifteen patients that underwent MRI/MRCP and surgical treatment were retrospectively included. Two radiologists evaluated MR images to assess delayed periductal enhancement, extent of bile duct stenosis, liver parenchymal and vascular involvement and presence of liver atrophy. An agreement between delayed enhancement of the bile duct walls and perineural neoplastic spread showed a very good correlation factor (0.93). The overall accuracy in detecting biliary neoplastic invasion was higher for delayed T1-weighted images (93.3%) than for the MRCP images (80%), and T1-delayed image increased the MR accuracy in assessing the neoplastic resectability (p < 0.05). MRI correctly predicted ...
There is an urgent need to improve the reliability of screening cargo containers for illicit nuclear material that may be hidden there for terrorist purposes. A screening system is described for detection of fissionable material hidden in maritime cargo containers. The system makes use of a low intensity neutron beam for producing fission; and the detection of the abundant high-energy #gamma# rays emitted in the #beta#-decay of short-lived fission products and #beta#-delayed neutrons. The abundance of the delayed #gamma# rays is almost an order of magnitude larger than that of the delayed neutrons normally used to detect fission and they are emitted on about the same time scale as the delayed neutrons, i.e., #approx#1 min. The energy and temporal distributions of the delayed #gamma# rays provide a unique signature of fission. Because of their high energy, these ...
BackgroundStatistical autoregressive analyses of direct and delayed density dependence are widespread in ecological research. The models suggest that changes in ecological factors...Full Text Available
Deforestation farther inland causes delayed reactions. When roots no longer hold soil in place, it ends up muddying streams, rivers, and coastal waters. ...
Power supply to Bergen has created headaches. Many will not have the land-based high-voltage wire. But the alternatives are costly and will delay the line by many years. (AG)
Lifespan can be extended by reduction of dietary intake. This practice is referred to as dietary restriction (DR), and extension of lifespan by DR is evolutionarily conserved in taxonomically diverse...Full Text Available
flow over the suction surface of a modern low- ..... the flow because of its proximity to the separation point ..... Pressure Turbines, AGARD Lecture Series 167, ...
ObjectiveTo determine whether specific aspects of impulsivity (response disinhibition, inability to delay gratification, inattention) differ between healthy and...Full Text Available
7.5.6 Conclusions of the Generic Metroplex Queueing Simulation . ...... the systemwide arrival delays incurred at the metroplex terminal-area ...... assignment rules, estimated nominal transit speeds or times by domain, and stochastic ...
Engine model: An engine and governor model adapted from a heavy lift helicopter simulation provides a restistic time delay between aerodynamic rotor ...
Malformations of the cerebral cortex are recognized as a common cause of developmental delay, neurological deficits, mental retardation and epilepsy. Currently, the diagnosis of cerebral cortical...Full Text Available
Vacuum arc with cathode spots on the cold electrode is widely used as a plasma generator in a such kind of devices like metal ion sources, plasma cathode electron guns, thing films deposition facilities and others. Most vacuum arc devices utilize a high voltage discharge across an insulator surface to provide a trigger plasma which in turn initiates the main arc discharge. Operation of vacuum arc in a repetitively pulsed mode required a stable triggering system for the long time. But with a discharge across the insulators the number of stable pulses is limited by 100,000 or little bit more. The better method for vacuum arc ignition is low pressure discharge. As shown in this paper it is possible to increase the lifetime of the ignition system in 10 times at least, but negative characteristic of this system is a relatively high pressure (about 0.1 mtorr). In some kinds of vacuum arc applications it is impermissible because it leads to the ...
A possibility is considered or reducing the surface heterogeneity effect of an item being tested on the result of radiation flaw detection by means of signal delay of one of detectors in a two-channel radiometric flaw detector. The exposure of a translationally moving item has been studied as well as an external exposure of a rotating hollow item.
A review of fission product yields and delayed neutron data for Np-237, Pu-242, Am-242m, Am-243, Cm-243 and Cm-245 has been undertaken. Gaps in understanding and inconsistencies in existing data were identified and priority areas for further experimental, theoretical and evaluation investigation detailed. (author)
A review of fission product yields and delayed neutron data for Np-237, Pu-242, Am-242m, Am-243, Cm-243 and Cm-245 has been undertaken. Gaps in understanding and inconsistencies in existing data were identified and priority areas for further experimental, theoretical and evaluation investigation detailed. (author)
We report an observation of a delayed all-optical routing/switching phenomenon based on ultraslow group velocity of light via nondegenerate four-wave mixing processes in a defected solid medium. Unlike previous demonstrations of enhanced four-wave mixing processes using the slow light effects, the present observation demonstrates a direct retrieval of the resonant Raman-pulse excited spin coherence into photon coherence through coherence conversion processes.
The dynamic behavior of electrooptic bistable devices with delayed feedback is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The operation principle of the system is analyzed by the method of iterated maps. Stable, bistable, periodic, higher periodic, and chaotic solutions are discussed and realized experimentally by using an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer on LiNbO3 as a basic nonlinear element. Taking into account the periodic modulator characteristic, the application of this device as a simple and fast bistable and monostable multivibrator is demonstrated. In addition, the synchronization properties of the astable multivibrator are investigated.
This paper mainly considers the asymptotic stability of interval neutral delay-differential systems, which corrects a technical error in the proof given in [Applied Math. Letters, 16(2003) 1063-1068] by a linear fractional transformation of an interconnection matrix with structured real parametric uncertainties. In addition, a new condition, in terms of the structured singular value, is provided to ensure the stability of the interval system. Finally, an example is given to demonstrate the validity of our criteria.
Mitotic delay is described as a classical response to radiation; however, circadian rhythmicity in cell division in vivo has not been considered by many authors. The present study investigated the relation between fluctuations reported as mitotic delay and recovery in vivo and circadian oscillations in mitotic index in mouse corneal epithelium. One aspect involved single doses (approximately 600 rad) given to mice at different circadian stages. The normal circadian rhythm in cell division was never obliterated. Inhibition of mitosis was evident but unpredictable, ranging from 6 to 15 hr after irradiation. Recovery was evident only during the daily increase in mitotic index of controls. The classical interpretation of recovery from mitotic delay may be in an in vitro phenomenon not reflecting in vivo responses, which are apparently strongly circadian stage dependent. The second portion of the study demonstrated a ...
Acute pneumothorax is a frequent complication after percutaneous pulmonary radiofrequency (RF) ablation. In this study we present three cases showing delayed development of pneumothorax after pulmonary RF ablation in 34 patients. Our purpose is to draw attention to this delayed complication and to propose a possible approach to avoid this major complication. These three cases occurred subsequent to 44 CT-guided pulmonary RF ablation procedures (6.8%) using either internally cooled or multitined expandable RF electrodes. In two patients, the pneumothorax, being initially absent at the end of the intervention, developed without symptoms. One of these patients required chest drain placement 32 h after RF ablation, and in the second patient therapy remained conservative. In the third patient, a slight pneumothorax at the end of the intervention gradually increased and led into tension pneumothorax 5 days after ablation procedure. Underlying ...
In order to improve the measuring efficiency, a 'proton-gamma' coincidence technique in combination with a He-jet tape transport system was proposed and employed to identify the #beta#-delayed proton precursors. The study of #beta#-delayed proton decays near the proton drip line by using the 'proton-gamma' coincidence technique over the last 5 years at the Institute of Modern Physics, Lanzhou, China, was summarized. New #beta#-delayed proton precursors "1"2"1Ce, "1"2"5Nd, "1"2"8Pm, "1"2"9Sm, "1"3"5Gd, "1"3"7Gd, "1"3"9Dy, "1"4"2Ho, and "1"4"9Yb in the rare-earth region along a speculated proton drip line were synthesized and identified for the first time. The #beta#-delayed proton decays of "8"1Zr, "8"5Mo, "8"9Ru, and "9"3Pd in T_z=1/2 series as well as "9"2Rh in T_z=1 series were observed.
A mathematical model was developed to simulate the combustion process of a direct injection diesel engine. The model considers the key features of such a combustion process; namely fuel droplet evaporation, spray formation, mixing, ignition of heterogeneous burning of the fuel. To model mixing, great emphasis was placed on treating both large and small scale aspects of mixing, the model divides the combustion chamber into three distinct regions of air, fuel spray, and a turbulent plume that is formed once ignition occurs. The fuel spray itself is considered to be composed of multiple zones, which in turn are made of cells of equal mass and of different thermodynamic states. Micromixing of the fuel and air cells, within each zone of the jet and the turbulent plume, is then achieved by utilizing the concept of Monte Carlo stochastic coalescence dispersion technique. The frequency of such cell interactions within each zone is obtained by employing ...
An ignition device of the plasma jet type is disclosed. The device has a cylindrical cavity formed in insulating material with an electrode at one end. The other end of the cylindrical cavity is closed by a metal plate with a small orifice in the center which plate serves as a second electrode. An arc jumping between the first electrode and the orifice plate causes the formation of a highly-ionized plasma in the cavity which is ejected through the orifice into the engine cylinder area to ignite the main fuel mixture. Two improvements are disclosed to enhance the operation of the device and the length of the plasma plume. One improvement is a metal hydride ring which is inserted in the cavity next to the first electrode. During operation, the high temperature in the cavity and the highly excited nature of the plasma breaks down the metal hydride, liberating hydrogen which acts as an additional fuel to help plasma formation. A second improvement ...
The report details the results of a series of large-scale experiments where small coal fires were used to ignite conveyor belting at air velocities ranging from 0.76 m/s to 6.1 m/s. In the tests, electrical strip heaters imbedded within a pile of coal were used to heat the coal to a point of flaming ignition. The flaming coal subsequently ignited conveyor belting located approximately 5 to 10 cm above the coal pile. During the tests, temperature, CO, and smoke levels were continuously measured in order to determine both alarm time and level as the fire intensity progressed through the stages of smoldering coal, flame coal, and flaming coal plus flaming belt. Analysis of the data leads to certain conditions of air velocity and sensor alarm levels that are required for early detection of conveyor belt entry fires. Two nomographs are presented which define sensor alarm levels and sensor spacings as a function of belt entry ...
After a lot of efforts to develop a spark-ignition type dual-fuel engine which can separately use both gas and liquid fuels, a dual-fuel engine which uses ethanol as a liquid fuel has been developed. In this paper, a 13A/LPG dual-fuel engine which uses LPG as an emergency fuel is also introduced. During the development of a dual-fuel engine using city gas (13A)/liquid fuel such 4 kinds of liquid fuel as kerosene, gasoline, ethanol and isobutanol have been examined. As a result of testing, it was proved that ethanol is preferable and a 13A/ethanol DF engine can be used as a generator of different outputs, 100KW for normal service and 70KW for emergency service, without any problems in practical use. On the other hand, a city gas (13A)/LPG dual-fuel engine requires the modification of the fuel feed system and the installation of a ignition device which can change the ignition timing by means of the fuel changeover. (6 figs, 5 ...
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will be a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national center for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and other research into the physics of high temperatures and high densities, and a vital element of the DOE`s nuclear weapons Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program. It will be used by scientists from a numerous different institutions and disciplines to support research advancements in national security, energy, basic science, and economic development. Multiple powerful laser beams will `ignite` small fusion targets, helping liberate more energy than is required to initiate the fusion reactions. This paper discusses the Design for Environment process for NIF, some of the subsequent activities resulting from the initial study, and a few of the lessons learned from this process. Subsequent activities include the development of a Pollution Prevention and Waste Minimization Plan (P2/WMin) for the facility, which ...
The feasibility of using hydrogen as the sole fuel in a direct injection diesel engine was investigated. An air cooled single cylinder Lister ST1 diesel engine was modified to operate as a low-heat-rejection engine for this study. Partially stabilized zirconia ceramic parts were used to shield the combustion space of the engine. Using a compression ratio of 17.9:1 and motoring the test engine at 21000 rpm, a maximum compression temperature of approximately 900 K was achieved. Under these operating conditions, all lubricants tested were found to burn. Lowering the speed to 1450 rpm and the compression ratio to 17.1, lubricant combustion and hot spots were successfully eliminated. The maximum compression temperature, when compression ignition of hydrogen was tried, was in the 800 K range. The corresponding ceramic surface temperature was estimated to reach 600-700 K. Only sporadic compression ignition of hydrogen was achievable. (author).
The ever increasing fossil fuel usage and cost, environmental concern has forced the world to look for alternatives. Straight vegetable oils in compression ignition engine are a ready solution available, however, with certain limitations and with some advantages as reported by many researchers. A comprehensive and critical review is presented specifically pertaining to straight vegetable oils usage in diesel engine. A detailed record of historical events described. Research carried out specifically under Indian conditions and international research work on the usage of straight vegetable oils in the diesel engine is separately reviewed. Many researchers have reported that straight vegetable oils in small percentage blends with diesel when used lower capacity diesel engines have shown great...
This journal contains the following articles (1) The Grand Challenge of Thermonuclear Ignition--Commentary by Edward I. Moses; (2) Orchestrating the World's Most Powerful Laser--The computer control system for the National Ignition Facility will soon have about 1.4-million lines of code running on more than 750 computers; (3) A Randon Walk through Time and Space--Albert einstein's 1905 papers on Brownian motion, random fluctuations, and statistical mechanics are fundamental to many Livermore research projects; (4) The Search for Methane in Earth's Mantle--Scientists are discovering that Earth's mantle may have untapped reserves of methane; and (5) Testing the Physics of Nuclear Isomers--Results from a tri-laboratory project contradict claims of accelerated release of energy from the nuclear isomer hafnium-178.
From 1965 to 1980 ash content in anthracite from the Donbass supplied to power plants increased from 21.9 to 35.5%, moisture content increased from 7.6 to 10.1%, calorific value declined from 23.7 to 18.5 MJ/kg. Combustion of anthracite culm is stabilized by mazout combustion. Heat treatment of anthracite culm by means of plasma generators improves fuel quality. High temperature causes emission of volatile matter from anthracite and partial gasification of coke particles. Combustion of volatile matter from anthracite and coke is a reliable ignition method for anthracite culm. It also stabilizes combustion of pulverized anthracite. Heat treatment of about 20% anthracite by plasma generators reduces nitrogen oxide emission from a furnace by 30-40%. 5 refs.
The influence of engine operating variables on the performance, emissions and heat release in a compression ignition engine operating in normal diesel and dual-fuel modes (with natural gas fuelling) was investigated. Substantial reductions in NO{sub x} emissions were obtained with dual-fuel engine operation. There was a corresponding increase in unburned hydrocarbon emissions as the substitution of natural gas was increased. Brake specific energy consumption decreased with natural gas substitution at high loads but increased at low loads. Experimental results at fixed pilot injection timing have also established the importance of intake manifold pressure and temperature in improving dual-fuel performance and emissions at part load. (Author)
LLNL is developing the nuclear fusion based Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) power plant concept. The baseline design uses a depleted uranium (DU) fission fuel blanket with a flowing molten salt coolant (flibe) that also breeds the tritium needed to sustain the fusion energy source. Indirect drive targets, similar to those that will be demonstrated on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), are ignited at 13Hz providing a 500MW fusion source. The DU is in the form of a uranium oxycarbide kernel in modified TRISO-like fuel particles distributed in a carbon matrix forming 2-cm-diameter pebbles. The thermal power is held at 2000MW by continuously varying the 6Li enrichment in the coolants. There are many options to be considered in the engine design including target yield, U-to-C ratio in th...
A compression ignition engine was operated on dual fuel principle inducting two commercial fuels and four pure hydrocarbon fuels in turn through intake manifold along with air and injecting diesel fuel to initiate the combustion in the conventional manner. The engine was operated at different loads and at each load the quantity of inducted fuel was increased gradually till knocking set in. The engine performance and exhaust pollutant emissions were recorded at different operating conditions. It was observed that the extent of induction and the effect on the performance depend on the properties of the inducted fuel such as volatility, self ignition temperature and oxidation characteristics. The energy release during the cycle was also observed to shift depending on the properties of inducted fuel. With the dual fuel operation, the thermal efficiency at part loads was observed to be less compared to neat diesel operation. The thermal efficiency ...
Multi-kilo-electron-volt x-ray microscopy will be an important laser-produced plasma diagnostic at future megajoule facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF). However, laser energies and plasma characteristics imply that x-ray microscopy will be more challenging at NIF than at existing facilities. We use analytical estimates and numerical ray tracing to investigate several instrumentation options in detail, and we conclude that near-normal-incidence single spherical or toroidal crystals may offer the best general solution for high-energy x-ray microscopy at NIF and similar large facilities. Apertured Kirkpatrick{endash}Baez microscopes using multilayer mirrors may also be good options, particularly for applications requiring one-dimensional imaging over narrow fields of view. {copyright} 1998 Optical Society of America
In this paper compression and power stroke cycles for a 4 stroke cycle spark ignition engine modified by extending the connecting rod to simulate purely sinusoidal piston motion are analyzed over a range of operating speeds and are compared with those of a similar conventional engine. Heat release rate is estimated for both engines using a simple Wiebe function with the functional parameters found via a simplex curve fitting method is used in conjunction with experimental pressure curves. It is shown that the functional parameters which represent the combustion and duration of fuel burn are slightly larger over the range of operation in the sinusoidal engine while the shape factor remains largely the same.
A detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanism is developed for primary reference fuel mixtures of n-hexadecane and 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethyl nonane for diesel cetane ratings. The mechanisms are constructed using existing rules for reaction pathways and rate expressions developed previously for the primary reference fuels for gasoline octane ratings, n-heptane and iso-octane. These reaction mechanisms are validated by comparisons between computed and experimental results for shock tube ignition and for oxidation under jet-stirred reactor conditions. The combined kinetic reaction mechanism contains the submechanisms for the primary reference fuels for diesel cetane ratings and submechanisms for the primary reference fuels for gasoline octane ratings, all in one integrated large kinetic reac...
Fires in the operating room continue to present a hazard to patients, at times with catastrophic and debilitating results. Recent data from closed claim files reveal oxygen, electrosurgical unit (ESU), and surgical drapes are common components of the fire triangle in the operating room. In this era of biotechnological sophistication, why are surgical drapes flammable? The purpose of this study was to test the flammability of different surgical drape materials and to determine the time to ignition using a bipolar ESU device in 21%, 35%, and 100% oxygen concentrations. Results show that regardless of oxygen concentration surgical drapes, when exposed to close contact with the ESU, are flammable. Time to ignition decreases with increasing concentrations of oxygen as expected. One of the surgical drapes tested was advertised to the hospital as nonflammable. Future research should focus on surgical drape materials and aim to reduce the flammability ...
Single-particle combustion of coal char is analyzed using a generalized shrinking core model. Finite volume method, which was earlier employed by the authors in solving moving boundary problems involving fluid-solid noncatalytic reactions in general, is used to solve fully transient mass and energy equations. The model takes into account convection and diffusion inside the particle as well as in the boundary layer. The computed results are compared with the experimental data of the authors for combustion of coal char in a fluidized bed combustor. The effects of parameters such as bulk temperature and initial particle radius on the combustion dynamics are examined. The phenomena of ignition and extinction are also investigated. Finally, the importance of Stefan flow, originating due to nonequimolar counterdiffusion, on combustion of coal char is analyzed.
Lipiodol CT is a important modality for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and compared is usually performed at 2-3 week after Lipiodol injection. Therefore, we assessed and the diagnostic value and merits of immediate CT after chemoembolization from there of 2-3 week delayed Lipiodol CT. Thirty three cases of chemoembolization which were performed both immediate CT after chemoembolization and 2-3 week delayed Lipiodol CT were reviewed retrospectively. They were divided into four grades according to pattern of lipiodol uptake by three radiologists. The diagnostic value of immediate Lipiodol CT was compared to delayed Lipiodol CT. Grade 0 was two cases(3.0%) and Grade 1 was seven cases(21.2%). In the cases of Grade 2(23/33, 69.7%), tumor uptake could be dishing wished from parenchymal uptake of Lipiodol by its density and pattern, Tumor uptake showed dense and homogeneous pattern, but parenchymal uptake revealed less ...
Delayed endolymphatic hydrops (DEH) is a unique disorder characterized by fluctuating otologic symptoms in the setting of preexisting unilateral deafness. The symptoms include aural fullness, fluctuating hearing, and/or episodes of vertigo similar to those observed in Meniere disease and may occur ipsilateral or contralateral to the previously deafened ear. In most reported cases, the unilateral deafness has been a profound sensorineural hearing loss with a sudden onset that has been variously attributed to bacterial or viral labyrinthitis, acoustic or cranial trauma, otosclerosis, and congenital CMV infection. Familial occurrence of the syndrome has not previously been reported in the literature. In this report, we describe two possible familial instances of delayed DEH. These patients ra...
Summary Humans discount the value of future rewards over time. Here we show using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neural coupling analyses that episodic future thinking reduces the rate of delay discounting through a modulation of neural decision-making and episodic future thinking networks. In addition to a standard control condition, real subject-specific episodic event cues were presented during a delay discounting task. Spontaneous episodic imagery during cue processing predicted how much subjects changed their preferences toward more future-minded choice behavior. Neural valuation signals in the anterior cingulate cortex and functional coupling of this region with hippocampus and amygdala predicted the degree to which future thinking modulated individual preference fu...
Delayed Afterdepolarization in Sinoatrial Node. Introduction: Recent evidence indicates that spontaneous sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca release and Na-Ca exchanger current activation contribute to the sinoatrial node (SAN) automaticity. These findings suggest that SAN activity may share mechanisms that underlie both automaticity and triggered activity. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that spontaneous, nonvoltage gated, intracellular Ca (Cai) elevation may induce delayed afterdepolarization (DAD) in intact SAN during isoproterenol infusion. Methods and Results: We simultaneously mapped Cai and membrane potential in 31 isolated Langendorff-perfused canine right atriums (RA). Isoproterenol increased heart rate and late diastolic Cai elevation (LDCAE) of the superior SAN, leading to...
We investigate optimal resource allocation for delay-limited cooperative communication in time varying wireless networks. Motivated by real-time applications that have stringent delay constraints, we develop a dynamic cooperation strategy that makes optimal use of network resources to achieve a target outage probability (reliability) for each user subject to average power constraints. Using the technique of Lyapunov optimization, we first present a general framework to solve this problem and then derive quasi-closed form solutions for several cooperative protocols proposed in the literature. Unlike earlier works, our scheme does not require prior knowledge of the statistical description of the packet arrival, channel state and node mobility processes and can be implemented in an online fashion.
Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is superior to thrombolysis (TL) as reperfusion therapy in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). TL is a rapidly available, but semi-effective therapy (effective reperfusion in 50% of patients only), whereas PPCI is a potentially delayed, but highly effective therapy (effective reperfusion in >90%). Since TL loses its efficacy beyond 2?3?h after symptom onset, it is a significant reperfusion alternative to PPCI in early presenters only. The individual decision to treat an early presenter with PPCI or TL requires the evaluation of the time delay between potential start of TL or PPCI, the PCI-related delay (PRD). PRD is greatest, if TL is given in the prehospital setting. Until now, prehospital TL as the most rapidly available reperfusi...
The title composition comprises methanol containing stearic acid, C/sub 6/H/sub 6/, dextrin, phenol, a combustion accelerator (ethylene dichloride, xylene, Al stearate, a compound of acetic acid); a foaming agent; and ether and an antiknocking agent. The respective ignition point and boiling point of example compounds were 15.1-15.6/sup 0/ and 63.8-64.1/sup 0/.
RISI SQ-80 ignitor is a thermite filled exploding bridgewire ignitor. Eleven shots were fired. Film development time was the major time problem. Other problems also existed. These EBW ignitors should enhance safety in igniting rocket propellant. 11 figs.
This review examines the characteristics of the compression-ignition type of dual-fuel engine and the combustion phenomena that affect these characteristics. The specific areas covered involve normal combustion processes, the nature and origin of engine knock, operation with LNG, and the effect of intake temperature on combustion efficiency and exhaust composition.
The importance of neutron measurements both as a succinct measure of the progress to fusion ignition using the magnetic confinement route and also as a diagnostic of plasma conditions is discussed. The various neutron diagnostic systems that have been or are being constructed by AERE Harwell for JET are described. The properties to be measured by such diagnostics are clearly identified and some results obtained with the installed diagnostics during d-d plasmas are presented.
An experimental study was performed to provide the combustion and emission characteristics resulting from fuel-reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion mode utilizing dual-fuel approach in a light-duty, multi-cylinder diesel engine. In-cylinder fuel blending using port fuel injection of gasoline before intake valve opening (IVO) and early-cycle, direct injection of diesel fuel was used as the charge preparation and fuel blending strategy. In order to achieve the desired auto-ignition quality through the stratification of the fuel-air equivalence ratio ( ), blends of commercially available gasoline and diesel fuel were used. Engine experiments were performed at an engine speed of 2300rpm and an engine load of 4.3bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). It was found that significant reduction in both nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) was realized successfully through the RCCI combustion mode even without ...
The purpose of the present work was to establish the flammability limits of hydrogen in air for upward vertical flame propagation at elevated temperatures up to 350 deg and atmospheric pressure in a conventional stainless steel test tube apparatus, and to investigate the extent to which a prolonged exposure (i.e., residence time) of the mixture to elevated temperatures before spark ignition may influence the value of the flammability limits. 9 refs.
BackgroundAnterior knee pain (AKP) is a common musculoskeletal complaint. It has been suggested that one factor that may contribute to the presence of AKP is a delay in the recruitment...Full Text Available
The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any beneficial or detrimental effects regarding delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), serum creatine kinase (CK), and maximum concentric strength...Full Text Available
Inhibiting insulin/IGF-1 signalling extends lifespan and delays age-related disease in species throughout the animal kingdom. This life-extension pathway, the first to be defined, was discovered through...Full Text Available
Aim:Report of 125 pediatric patients of empyema thoracis treated by open decortication, highlighting the presentation, delay in referral, operative findings, the response...Full Text Available
Hip fractures are associated with a high rate of mortality and profound temporary and sometimes permanent impairment of quality of life. Current guidelines indicate that surgeons should perform surgery...Full Text Available
Objective:This article examines relationships between reproductive onset and lifetime history of smoking, regular smoking, and nicotine dependence, and cannabis and other illicit...Full Text Available
The levels of glucose, sugar phosphates, and adenosine phosphates were determined in primary leaves of intact bean plants during normal senescence and compared to leaves in which senescence was delayed...Full Text Available
RasGRF1 is a Ras-guanine nucleotide exchange factor implicated in a variety of physiological processes including learning and memory and glucose homeostasis. To determine the role of RASGRF1 in aging,...Full Text Available
estate in terms of runways, taxiways, and terminal ramp areas. .... queueing time into gate delays. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that minimization of ...... tities chosen are to illustrate the stochastic effect of noncom- ...
Background and AimsSeed quality may be compromised if seeds are harvested before natural dispersal (shedding). It has been shown previously that slow or delayed drying can increase...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe precise mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are not known. Early stages of RA often have non-specific symptoms, delaying...Full Text Available
Investigation of memory effects in air at 0.7 mbar pressure in the presence of vacuum electrical breakdown mechanism has been performed in this paper. The memory effect has been followed using the time delay method.
In Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), the expression of reproductive behavior requires the perception of social odors. The behavioral response to these odors is mediated...Full Text Available
Premature menopause, ovarian failure younger than 40 years of age, is relatively rare but may preclude childbearing for some women who delay attempts at fertility. We present five kindreds in which...Full Text Available
...comply with funding body archiving policies, including the policies put in place by the National Institutes of Health, The Wellcome Trust and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute . Delayed Access Select journals provide content to some or all of a journalrsquo;s backfile. For example, articles in ...
BackgroundAllergic Contact Dermatitis (ACD) is regarded as a T-cell-mediated delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction. We studied the kinetics of the expression of CS-1 fibronectin,...Full Text Available
Delayed-neutron (DN) energy spectra following thermal neutron induced fission of /sup 239/Pu as a function of time after fission have been measured, using the beta-neutron time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometer at the University of Lowell. Thermal/epithermal neutrons were produced on the 5.5-MV Van de Graaff accelerator using the /sup 7/Li(p,n)/sup 7/Be reaction. Time spectra over the neutron energy range of 0.01-4.0 MeV were measured for seven different time intervals after fission, each interval containing varying contributions from the six delayed neutrons groups. The DN energy spectra following induced thermal fission of /sup 239/Pu are compared to those resulting from induced thermal fission of /sup 235/U for each of the seven delay time intervals. Decomposition of the measured spectra into six-group DN spectra was accomplished employing an iterative least-squares method, incorporating a constraint requiring all six-group ...
Food-deprived pigeons were presented with a row of four response keys situated above a grain hopper aperture. At the start of a trial, three of four keys were randomly selected and illuminated white...Full Text Available
Instantaneous cross sectional flow velocity profiles from early mitral flow in 10 healthy men were constructed by time interpolation of the velocity data from each point in sequentially delayed two...Full Text Available
Ripening of `Tydeman's Early' apples (Malus sylvestris L.) assessed by the occurrence of the respiratory climacteric was delayed by succinic acid 2,2-dimethyl hydrazide (B-9) but not...Full Text Available
After emergence, adult flies and other insects select a suitable perch and expand their wings. Wing expansion is governed by the hormone bursicon and can be delayed under adverse environmental...Full Text Available
Purpose: To evaluate contrast-enhanced CT scan in the diagnosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma by correlating the CT appearance with pathologic specimens. Materials and methods: Twenty-eight patients with pathologically proven intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma were examined. Unenhanced abdominal CT study were performed in 28 patients; conventional contrast-enhanced CT in 27 patients. Enhanced CT scan including fast injection, fast scan and delayed scan at the largest section of the lesion was done in 7 patients. Contiguous 10 mm CT scans of the surgical specimens were also obtained in 8 patients. The preoperative and specimen CT scans in these 8 patients were compared with the corresponding pathological sections. A total of 103 areas of the pathological sections was compared with the CT appearances. Results: All lesions contained areas of delayed contrast enhancement and/or no enhancement on CT examinations. The areas of ...
This patent describes a delayed acrylamide containing polymer crosslinker having stability in an aqueous solution at high temperatures. It comprises: a combination of an aldehyde and a salicylic acid derivative selected from salicylamide and acetysalicylic acid.
Mesenchymal tumors represent a small number of bladder cancer cases. Leiomyosarcoma is the most common histology with over 100 cases reported in the whole literature. This tumor is been historically...Full Text Available
Leaf senescence is a developmentally programmed degeneration process, which is fine tuned by a complex regulatory network for plant fitness. However, molecular regulation of leaf senescence is poorly...Full Text Available
Requirements are provided for NSLS beam line front ends and vacuum interlocks. Guidelines are provided for UHV beam line vacuum systems, including materials, vacuum hardware (pumps, valves, and flanges), acoustic delay lines and beam line fast valves, instrumentation, fabrication and testing, and the NSLS cleaning facility. Also discussed are the design review for experimenters' equipment that would be connected to the NSLS and acceptance tests for any beam line to be connected with the ring vacuum. Also appended are a description of the acoustic delay line as well as the NSLS vacuum standards and NSLS procedures. (LEW)
Economic depreciation of similar cost recovery schemes delay cash return of investment. Such delay may require new types of securities. Due to uncertainty of regulatory action and technology over the prolonged recovery life of the projects, investors may require a higher return, thereby raising the cost of capital. Utility managements might eschew long lived investment, too, even if cost effective to the consumer. Alternatives exist that would approximate the price signals of economic depreciation without discouraging investment. The importance of upfront returns to the investment process should not be minimized. 2 figs., 3 refs. (AV)
Delayed cerebral necroses after irradiation are to be divided into hemispheric and midline lesions, as they differ from each other in several aspects. Apart from the symptoms, they are differing in the duration of latency, in the course and prognosis, and also with regard to morphology. Though there is no doubt that radiation tolerance of cerebral midline structures is relatively limited, on biological grounds, evidence of a difference between the tolerated doses could not be given from the existent inhomogeneous radiation data, with the help of the NSD-concept. Radiation planning for the region of the head, nevertheless, carefully should avoid in every case to involve the structures of the cerebral midline.
Delayed neutron energy spectra have been measured for six delay-time intervals following the fast fission of "2"3"8U nuclei. The delay-time intervals span the range 0.17 to 10.2 seconds following initial fission while the measured spectra span neutron energies from 10 keV to 4 MeV. The experiment was performed utilizing the UMass/Lowell 5.5 MV Van de Graff accelerator to produce fast neutrons for inducing fission in a "2"3"8U lined fission chamber. The fission fragments were flushed via a helium jet stream to a well-shielded counting room where they were deposited onto a moving tape (magnetic audio tape) and transferred to a beta-neutron time-of-flight spectrometer. By adjusting the tape speed, composite delayed neutron time-of-flight spectra were measured for several different delay-time intervals. These measurements involved beta-neutron coincidences with "6Li-loaded glass ...
The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate a method of locating breached fuel within the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) reactor based on the relative response of the delayed neutron monitors (DNM) located on each of the three primary sodium cooling loops. The primary method of location is the use of tag gas containing unique ratios of the noble gases xenon and krypton. Although the tag gas system works quite well, it is relatively expensive because of the costs of preparing and loading the gas into each fuel pin. Triangulation of DNM signals could potentially decrease tag gas costs while maintaining overall location reliability.
Renal arteriovenous fistula or pseudoaneurysms developing after invasive procedures are either asymptomatic or show only transient symptoms. We describe here a case of symptomatic renal artery pseudoaneurysm that presented with gross hematuria and azotemia. The pseudoaneurysm of renal artery was diagnosed by ultrasonography and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and it was successfully treated by percutaneous transcatheter coil embolization. A high index of suspicion is essential for the early diagnosis and treatment of delayed gross hematuria in patients with history of percutaneous nephrostomy. PMID:17180737
Full text: Immunoassays for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) are used to detect early-stage prostate cancer, monitor disease progress, and evaluate therapeutic response. At least two forms of PSA, free PSA (F-PSA) and PSA complexed to alpha-1 anti-chymotrypsin (PSA-ACT) are detected by commercial PSA assays. The fraction of F-PSA is shown to be smaller in patients with untreated prostate cancer than in patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Thus, combined measurements of both total and free PSA are used for a better discrimination between BPH and prostate cancer. Detection of PSA for screening of prostate cancer has been a subject of debate for many years. The reason of this debate is mainly because screening for prostate cancer is not cost-effective, as was shown by studies undertaken in Europe and United States. In Lebanon, no previous programs of screening for prostate cancer were done and so the incidence of this cancer is not known. Recently, the cancer registry in ...
To assess whether ring enhancements of liver metastases on Mn-DPDP enhanced, early MR images were well visualized on delayed images, as compared with those of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), and to investigate the detection accuracy and conspicuity of each tumor. Twenty patients with liver metastases and 15 with HCC were studied by Mn-DPDP enhanced, T1-weighted MR images. Peripheral ring enhancement and conspicuity were investigated. Differences in detection accuracy and frequency of ring enhancement in liver metastases and HCC were assessed. In liver metastases (n= 69), 44 cases (63.8%) without ring enhancement and 25 (36.2%) with were noted on early images. Sixteen cases (23.2%) without ring enhancement, 38 (55.1%) with ring enhancement similar to the early images, and 15 (21.7%) with prominent ring enhancement were noted on delayed images. In HCC (n=37), 36 cases (97.3%) without ring enhancement and 1 case (2.7%) with were noted on early ...
The aim of this study is to prepare some polymeric moulds using Natural rubber latex (NRL)- portland cement composites based on a delayed-action mechanism. Factors affecting the preparation process such as concentration, mixing percentage, additives and their effects on what is regarded as a delayed-action coacervant combination was studied. The effect of Gamma-radiation on the mechanical properties of these moulds was investigated. The effect of natural aging on the prepared moulds was investigated to determine the possibility of using the prepared product in the construction field as expansion joints and cracks filling materials ...etc. The results may be summarized as follows: 1) Composites of natural rubber latex (NRL)-portland cement mould were prepared as two separate parts. The stabilized natural rubber latex (NRL) with hydroxy ethyl cellulose (HEC) as stabilizer and a delayed-action coacervant (sodium meta silicate) ...
Performance and operating characteristics are presented for a solar powered aircraft intended to remain aloft for long periods. The critical technologies which limit the performance are identified. By using the techniques presented, the effects of variation in the system parameters are studied. Practical design consideration are discussed.
Since a Diesel engine can only be operated always in the condition thinner than the theoretical mixing ratio, a catalytic converter rhodium cannot be used, hence it is impossible to oxidate the portion of incomplete combustion and resolve nitrogen oxides using the catalytic converter rhodium as a spark ignition engine. Also since its combustion is mainly diffusion combustion, the amount of generated soot and fine particles is as much as several times to ten times more than that of a spark ignition engine. Also since no after treatment of exhaust has been established for a Diesel engine, it is necessary to cope with the combustion process which is the source of generating pollutant in order to promote reduction of such pollutant. In this article, awaring of the above, the difficulty of achieving both reduction of fine partiicles and reduction of NO {sub x} at the same time is explained in detail, and having done so, the measures to be taken for ...
The use of deuterium-tritium fuel in the Compact Ignition Tokamak will require applying remote handling technology for ex-vessel maintenance and replacement of machine components. Highly activated and contaminated components of the fusion devices auxiliary systems, such as diagnostics and RF heating, must be replaced using remotely operated maintenance equipment in the test cell. In-vessel remote maintenance included replacement of divertor and first wall hardware, faraday shields, and for an in-vessel inspection system. Provision for remote replacement of a vacuum vessel sector, toroidal field coil or poloidal field ring coil was not included in the project baseline. As a result of recent coil failures experienced at a number of facilities, the CIT project decided to reconsider the question of remote recovery from a coil failure and, in January of 1990, initiated a coil replacement study. This study focused on the technical requirements and impact on fusion ...
LLNL is developing the nuclear fusion based Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) power plant concept. The baseline design uses a depleted uranium (DU) fission fuel blanket with a flowing molten salt coolant (flibe) that also breeds the tritium needed to sustain the fusion energy source. Indirect drive targets, similar to those that will be demonstrated on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), are ignited at #approx#13 Hz providing a 500 MW fusion source. The DU is in the form of a uranium oxycarbide kernel in modified TRISO-like fuel particles distributed in a carbon matrix forming 2-cm-diameter pebbles. The thermal power is held at 2000 MW by continuously varying the "6Li enrichment in the coolants. There are many options to be considered in the engine design including target yield, U-to-C ratio in the fuel, fission blanket thickness, etc. Here we report results of design variations and compare them in terms of various figures of merit such as ...
Results on the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane on rare-earth oxide (REO) based catalysts (Na-P-Sm-O, Sm-Sr(Ca)-O, La-Sr-O and Nd-Sr-O) are described. Oxygen adsorption was found to be a key factor which determines the activity of this type of catalysts. Continuous flow experiments in the presence of catalysts which reveal strong oxygen adsorption showed that the reaction mixture is ignited resulting in an enhanced heat generation at the reactor inlet. The heat produced by the oxidative reactions was sufficient under the conditions chosen for the endothermic thermal pyrolysis which takes place preferentially in the gas phase. Ignition of the reaction mixture is an important catalyst function. Contrary to non-catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation, reaction temperatures above 700 C could be achieved without significant external heat input. Ethylene yields of up to 34-45% (S=66-73%) were obtained on REO-based catalysts under non-isothermal ...
This guide explained the requirements for Off-Road Compression Ignition Engine Emission Regulations established under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The regulations are enforced by Environment Canada, which authorizes and monitors the use of the national emissions mark. The regulations prescribe standards for off-road engines that operate as reciprocating, internal combustion engines, other than those that operate under characteristics similar to the Otto combustion cycle and that use a spark plug or other sparking device. The regulations apply to engines that are typically diesel-fuelled and found in construction, mining, farming and forestry machines such as tractors, excavators and log skidders. Four different types of persons are potentially affected by the regulations: Canadian engine manufacturers; distributors of Canadian engines or machines containing Canadian engines; importers of engines or machines for the purpose of sale; and persons not in ...
This guide explained the requirements for Off-Road Compression Ignition Engine Emission Regulations established under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The regulations are enforced by Environment Canada, which authorizes and monitors the use of the national emissions mark. The regulations prescribe standards for off-road engines that operate as reciprocating, internal combustion engines, other than those that operate under characteristics similar to the Otto combustion cycle and that use a spark plug or other sparking device. The regulations apply to engines that are typically diesel-fuelled and found in construction, mining, farming and forestry machines such as tractors, excavators and log skidders. Four different types of persons are potentially affected by the regulations: Canadian engine manufacturers; distributors of Canadian engines or machines containing Canadian engines; importers of engines or machines for the purpose of sale; and persons not in ...
The fuel-injection system of the Niigata 6L 16X-AG dual-fuel engine is structured to steadily supply injected fuel during diesel-engine operation, and to distribute oil at a low rate to all the cylinders during gas-engine operation. The dual-fuel engine is started by the diesel engine operation and is changed over to gas-engine operation when the load increases. This change over is done automatically with a link mechanism. Regarding the gas-supply system, the changing pressure of supply gas is controlled by a pressure control valve which is stable and most adequate for the engine. The dual-fuel engine has the following features: (1) a high compression ratio is adopted, which reduces fuel consumption and thermal efficiently; (2) if the supply of gas decreases or stops, while continuing loaded operations, it can immediately shift to diesel engine operation automatically and continue the operation; (3) ignition is done by the injection of pilot oil, thus eliminating ...
A hydrogen combustion and exhaust emissions in a supercharged gas engine ignited with micro pilot diesel fuel was discussed in this presentation. A schematic diagram of the experimental study was first presented. The single cylinder, water-cooled, supercharged test engine was illustrated. Results were presented for the following: fuel energy and energy share (hydrogen and diesel fuel); pressure history and rate of heat release; engine performance and exhaust emissions; effect of nitrogen dilution on heat value per cycle; effect of N_2 dilution on pressure history and rate of heat release; and engine performance and exhaust emissions. This presentation demonstrated that smooth and knock-free engine operation results from the use of hydrogen in a supercharged dual-fuel engine for leaner fuel-air equivalence ratios maintaining high thermal efficiency. It was possible to attain mor3 than 90 per cent hydrogen-energy substitution to the diesel fuel with zero smoke ...
This report describes results from emissions testing of a prototype diesel engine, developed by Volvo Truck Corporation of Sweden, which uses pilot injection of diesel fuel for compression ignition of alcohol fuel injection for main combustion. In addition to this dual-fuel engine, emission testing was also conducted on a heavy-duty diesel engine of similar design. Both engines were tested over the 1979 13-mode FTP, or shorter versions of this modal test, and over the 1984 Transient FTP as well as an experimental bus cycle. The dual-fuel engine was characterized with methanol, ethanol and ethanol with 30 percent water (wt %). An oxidation catalyst was also used with methanol and ethanol. Emission characterization included regulated emissions (HC, CO, and NOX) along with total particulate, unburned alcohols, individual hydrocarbons, aldehydes, phenols, and odor. The particulate matter was characterized in terms of particle size distribution, sulfate content, C, H, ...
Numerous studies have demonstrated the advantages of hydrogen as a fuel for Otto Cycle engines due to high thermal efficiency and low exhaust pollutant levels. Characteristic of hydrogen engine operation using premixed intake charge formation is a problem of pre-ignition resulting in an intake manifold backfire. Additional problems include high NO production when using certain equivalence ratios and power output degradation due to low fuel energy/volume density. Techniques for direct and port fuel injection are discussed as means for overcoming these problems. Emphasis is placed on the need for total engine control, integrating control of fuel injection, ignition timing, intake air throttling, and vehicle subsystems within a central electronic unit. An electronically actuated fuel injection valve and a prototype electronic control system are developed. These are applied in port and direct injection system geometries, and evaluated in engine ...
The effect of atmospheric pressure on tracking resistance of organic insulating materials were investigated in the range of 500 to 1007 hPa. The tracking resistance for Polycarbonate (PC), Modified Polyphenylene Oxide (M-PPO) and Paper Base Phenolic Resin Laminate (PL) increase with the decrease in atmospheric pressure. The scintillating discharges on these samples surface lead to the ignition. The tracking failure on these results from the ignition on the surface. For Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), the tracking resistance decrease with the decrease in atmospheric pressure. The discharges observed on the these surface are the glow-like. The discharge area spreads on the surface between the electrodes at the lower pressure. The failure on this group results from the carbonization by the discharges on the surface. However, the tracking resistance for Unsaturated Polyester Resins (UP) has no significant ...
NO[sub x] emission legislation requirements for large-bore internal combustion engines have required engine manufacturers to continue to develop and improve techniques for exhaust emission reduction. This paper describes the development of the Cooper-Bessemer Clean Burn gas-diesel (dual-fuel) engine that results in NO[sub x] reductions of up to 92 percent as compared with an uncontrolled gas-diesel engine. Historically, the gas-diesel and diesel engine combustion systems have not responded to similar techniques of NO[sub x] reduction that have been successful on straight spark-ignited natural gas burning engines. NO[sub x] levels of a nominal 1.0 g/BHP-h, equal to the spark-ignited natural gas fueled engine, have been achieved for the gas-diesel and are described. In addition, the higher opacity exhaust plume characteristic of gas-diesel combustion is significantly reduced or eliminated. This achievement is considered to be a major ...
This study determined how well crude and fuel oils burn on water. Objectives were: (1) to measure the burning rates for several oils; (2) to determine whether adding heat improves the oils' combustibility; (3) to identify the conditions necessary to ignite fuels known to be difficult to ignite on ocean waters (e.g., diesel and Bunker C fuel oils); and (4) to evaluate the accuracy of an oil-burning model proposed by Thompson, Dawson, and Goodier (1979). Observations were made about how weathering and the thickness of the oil layer affect the combustion of crude and fuel oils. Nine oils commonly transported on the world's major waterways were tested. Burns were first conducted in Oklahoma under warm-weather conditions (approx. 30/sup 0/C) and later in Ohio under cold-weather conditions (approx. 0/sup 0/C to 10/sup 0/C).
Some diagnostics at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), including the Gamma Reaction History (GRH) diagnostic, require multiple channels of data to achieve the required dynamic range. These channels need to be stitched together into a single time series, and they may have non-uniform and redundant time samples. We chose to apply the popular cubic smoothing spline technique to our stitching problem because we needed a general non-parametric method. We adapted one of the algorithms in the literature, by Hutchinson and deHoog, to our needs. The modified algorithm and the resulting code perform a cubic smoothing spline fit to multiple data channels with redundant time samples and missing data points. The data channels can have different, time-varying, zero-mean white noise characteristics. The method we employ automatically determines an optimal smoothing level by minimizing the Generalized Cross Validation (GCV) score. In order to automatically validate the ...
Solid polymer fuel cell (SPFC) systems are compared to spark ignition (SI) engine power systems for utility vehicle applications. Utility vehicles provide crew and payload transport and electrical power at work sites lacking grid supply. The methodology emphasizes comparison on an equal service basis. Using power system component models and numerical analysis, power systems are designed using SI engine and SPFC technologies. The power systems are compared on the basis of fuel energy consumed and life cycle cost (LCC). Gasoline is the fuel for the SI engines, while liquid hydrogen is used for the SPFC. Three types of SPFC power system configurations are studied. The superior SPFC in terms of LCC is a fuel cell/battery hybrid where the fuel cell is sized to provide average driving power. Using today's technology, SPFC power systems have a lower fuel consumption but have higher capital costs and consequently lose to SI engine power systems with regard to LCC. ...
The present invention is a fully connected feed forward network that includes at least one hidden layer 16. The hidden layer 16 includes nodes 20 in which the output of the node is fed back to that node as an input with a unit delay produced by a delay device 24 occurring in the feedback path 22 (local feedback). Each node within each layer also receives a delayed output (crosstalk) produced by a delay unit 36 from all the other nodes within the same layer 16. The node performs a transfer function operation based on the inputs from the previous layer and the delayed outputs. The network can be implemented as analog or digital or within a general purpose processor. Two teaching methods can be used: (1) back propagation of weight calculation that includes the local feedback and the crosstalk or (2) more preferably a feed forward gradient decent which immediately follows the output ...
We have investigated tailoring damage effects of explosive devices by addition of unconventional materials, specifically combustible metals. Initial small-scale as well as full-scale testing has been performed. The explosives functioned to disperse and ignite these materials. Incendiary, enhanced-blast, and fragment-damage effect have been identified. These types of effects can be used to extend the damage done to hardened facilities. In other cases it is desirable to disable the target with minimal collateral damage. Use of unconventional materials allows the capability to tailor the damage and effects of explosive devices for these and other applications. Current work includes testing of an incendiary warhead for a penetrator.
A nitrogen oxides decreasing combustion method comprising: mixing a fuel and air with each other; bringing the mixture obtained into contact with a packed catalyst; and adding a fresh supply of the fuel to the stream obtained to form a mixed gas and causing the mixed gas to undergo non-catalytic thermal combustion, characterized in that only a catalytic reaction or combustion occurs at the packed catalyst; the temperature of the packed catalyst is kept lower than the ignition temperature of the mixture; the adiabatic flame temperature which is reached by the non-catalytic thermal combustion of the mixed gas is lower than the temperature at which the nitrogen oxides occur. 39 figs.
This patent describes a nitrogen oxides decreasing combustion method which comprises: a first step of mixing a fuel and air with each other; a second step of bringing the mixture obtained in the first step into contact with a packed catalyst such that only catalytic combustion occurs; and a third step of adding a fresh supply of the fuel to a stream obtained from the second step to form a mixed gas and causing the mixed gas to undergo non-catalytic thermal combustion. The temperature of the packed catalyst is lower than the ignition temperature of the mixture and the adiabatic flame temperature of the mixed gas is lower than a temperature at which the nitrogen oxides occur.
This study illustrates the way to perform protocols, collect samples, and conduct laboratory analyses in order to characterize the physical properties of wood used in the industrial sector of the Valle de Aburra metropalitan area and the gains obtained by characterizing the properties of the most frequently used woods. In this investigation some of the most important sampling parameters are presented, such as taking samples in piles or accumulations of waste, handling of these samples in the laboratory and others of great importance such as the ignition point. the proposed methodology is based upon some of the international astm coal norms, for the similarity it has with wood and for the lack of information on sampling this type in wood
Knock limitations are investigated using natural gas, with diesel pilot ignition, as a fuel for the 3406 DI-TA Caterpillar diesel engine. Thermodynamic properties at TDC are generated by computer and compared with experimental results. Exhaust emissions are analyzed. A comparison is made of dual-fuel operation relative to diesel. Observations are made to determine the onset of knock. The onset of knock is characterized as a function of engine speed, load, inlet manifold temperature, and air-fuel ratio (A/F). The conditions at the inset of knock are determined using cylinder pressure data. The most efficient operating range is determined with knock avoidance as a prime parameter.
Alpha particle confinement is necessary for ignition of a D-T tokamak fusion plasma and for first wall protection. Due to high radiation backgrounds and temperatures, scintillators and semiconductor detectors may not be used to study alpha particles which are lost to the first wall during the D-T programs on JET and ITER. An alternative method of charged particle spectrometry capable of operation in these harsh environments, is proposed: it consists of thin foils of electrically isolated conductors with the flux of alpha particles determined by the positive current flowing from the foils. 2 refs., 3 figs.
The development of detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms for analysis of autoignition and knocking of hydrocarbon fuels is described. In particular, kinetic processes of concern for the oxidation of complex hydrocarbon fuel molecules are emphasized. The wide ranges of temperature and pressure which are encountered by end gases in automobile engine combustion chambers result in extreme demands on reaction mechanisms which are intended to describe knocking conditions and predict rates of combustion and ignition. The reactions and chemical species which are most important in each temperature and pressure regime are discussed, and the validation of these reaction mechanisms through comparison with idealized experimental results is described. 53 refs., 8 figs., 5 tabs.
This book of proceedings reports on 7 papers on combustion chemistry and formation of pollutants presented during the workshop organized by the `Combustion and Flames` section of the French society of thermal engineers. The chemistry of combustion is analyzed in various situations such as: turbojet engines, spark ignition engines, industrial burners, gas turbines etc... Numerical simulation is used to understand the physico-chemical processes involved in combustion, to describe the kinetics of oxidation, combustion and flame propagation, and to predict the formation of pollutants. (J.S.)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified 17 accidents that may have resulted from fuel tank explosions on commercial aircraft from 1959 to 2001. Seven events involved JP 4 or JP 4/Jet A mixtures that are no longer used for commercial aircraft fuel. The remaining 10 events involved Jet A or Jet A1 fuels that are in current use by the commercial aircraft industry. Four fuel tank explosions occurred in center wing tanks (CWTs) where on-board appliances can potentially transfer heat to the tank. These tanks are designated as ''Heated Center Wing Tanks'' (HCWT). Since 1996, the FAA has significantly increased the rate at which it has mandated airworthiness directives (ADs) directed at elimination of ignition sources. This effort includes the adoption, in 2001, of Special Federal Aviation Regulation 88 of 14 CFR part 21 (SFAR 88 ''Fuel Tank System Fault Tolerance Evaluation ...
This paper describes a practical knowledge on gas engine performance and combustion characteristics which are required by experimental studies for two types of developed gas burning engines, i. e. a spark ignited gas engine and a dual fuel engine, and also introduces their practical use and application. As for dual fuel engine performance, a manifold air pressure of about 27% was decreased, a scavenging ratio of 23% reduced and an exhaust temperature at the turbine inlet on 14% was increased at the gas engine operation under the mean effective cylinder pressure of 1.22 MPa in comparison with the diesel operation. Furthemore, empirical data on the effect of excess air ration on the engine performance and combustion characteristics, a risk of knocking during changing over on the dual fuel engine operation, and the rated output in case of using alternate fuel gas were reported. Two spark ignited gas engines with a rated output of 250 PS each using ...
A phenomenological model of turbulent combustion has been developed and validated against data from wide ranging tests on a Ricardo E6 engine. Most tests used iso-octane, with a range of air fuel ratios and ignition timings, for tests at full throttle (with and without knock) and at part throttle. Some full throttle tests were also conducted with methanol and toluene. The engine performance was characterized by mean and coefficient of variation (CoV) of: the peak pressure, the maximum rate of pressure rise, the IMEP, the burn rate and flame speed measurements. The results have been used to argue that the cycle-by-cycle variations in combustion should be characterized by the CoV of IMEP in preference to the CoV of the maximum cylinder pressure. Evidence is also presented to support the observation that the cycle-by-cycle variations in combustion are lower when the early combustion is more rapid. It has also been shown that the CoV of IMEP is a minimum in the region ...
A scintimetric study using Tc-99m MDP was made of 54 patients with delayed union, nonunion, or late segmental collapse of the femoral head, 4-92 months after femoral neck fracture. In radiographically verified collapse, the radionuclide uptake ratio between the femoral head on the fractured and on the intact side (HHR) was significantly higher than in fractures resulting in delayed union or nonunion. On the basis of scintimetric and radiographic findings, the patients with healing disturbances could be divided into three groups, characterized by the following features: (1) Satisfactory post-reduction position of the fracture without subsequent redisplacement and a high HHR, which as a rule turned out to be delayed union; (2) The same radiographic pattern but with a lower HHR, which in most cases resulted in nonunion; (3) Inadequate reduction or early redisplacement of the fracture with a high HHR, which resulted in ...
Because of the stochastic nature of traffic requirement matrix, it is very difficult to get the optimal traffic distribution to minimize the delay even with adaptive routing protocol in a fixed connection network where capacity already defined for each link. Hence there is a requirement to define such a method, which could generate the optimal solution very quickly and efficiently. This paper presenting a new concept to provide the adaptive optimal traffic distribution for dynamic condition of traffic matrix using nature based intelligence methods. With the defined load and fixed capacity of links, average delay for packet has minimized with various variations of evolutionary programming and particle swarm optimization. Comparative study has given over their performance in terms of converging speed. Universal approximation capability, the key feature of feed forward neural network has applied to predict the flow distribution on each link to ...
We report coupling and guiding of pulses of peak power up to 0.3 TW in 1.5 cm long preformed plasma waveguides generated in a high repetition rate argon gas jet. Coupling of up to 52% was measured for 50 mJ, -110 fs pulses injected at times longer than 20 ns, giving guided intensities up to -5x1016 W/cm2. It was found that for short delays between waveguide generation and pulse injection, pulse shortening occurred, with this effect reduced as delay was increased. Injection into the waveguide of two consecutive pulses separated by a few nanoseconds resulted in the reduction of shortening of the second pulse at all delays. Femtosecond time-resolved shadowgrams of the coupling of injected pulses into the waveguide show that there is ?0.5 mm of neutral gas remaining at the waveguide entrance after waveguide generation.
Gravitational lenses are rare in the known samples of quasars, indicating that the conditions involved in their formation are unusual. In particular, the distribution of matter along the light rays from the observer through the deflector to the quasar may be very different from mean conditions. We show that reasonable deviations in the density of matter along the beams can significantly alter the relationship between time delays and the Hubble constant (H/sub 0/) and conclude that gravitational lenses are not promising estimators of H/sub 0/. However, should an independent, precise determination of H/sub 0/ become available, gravitational lenses could be used to probe long-range density fluctuations.
The adjoint of an ocean general circulation model is used as a tool for investigating the causes of changes in ENSO SST indices. We identify adjoint Kelvin and Rossby waves in the sensitivities to sea level and wind stress at earlier times, which can be traced back for more than a year through western and weak eastern boundary reflections. Depending on the thermocline depth the first and second baroclinic modes are excited. The sensitivities to the heat flux and SST are local and decay in about a month. The sensitivities to the fluxes are converted into the influence of SST using the adjoint of a statistical atmosphere model. Focusing on SST perturbations in the index region itself, we recover, up to a scale factor, the delayed oscillator concept.
A four-stage scoring system for brain maturation was established with MR imaging. First, gyration and myelination were analyzed in 50 anamnestically normal children (32-240 weeks postconceptional age). Subsequently 60 patients (same age range) with birth asphyxia, seizures, or developmental delays were evaluated analogously. T1- and T2-weighted images (500/30 and 3,000/120 [repetition time msec/echo time msec]) were obtained with a 2.35-T magnet in all children. Whereas gyration abnormalities were seen in some patients, all handicapped children presented with delayed myelination. In conclusion, prospective staging of brain development (gyration and myelination) is possible and is best obtained with T2-weighted images.
In nuclear reactor safety research, the question of the possible consequences of delayed core reflood during severe accidents or anticipated transient without scram transients in boiling water reactors (BWRs) has been raised. One can envisage a very low probability accident scenario leading to core uncovery and core heat-up, followed by control blade melting and subsequential delayed reflooding of the core with unborated water before its degradation. Reflooding of the hot core causes significant increases in the peak heating, melting, and hydrogen production rates, thus increasing the probability of core degradation. However, as has been established, debris beds formed from shattered fuel rods and quenched fuel melt will be undermoderated. The reflood process of a voided, intact core was examined using the TRAC/BFI CODE.
Remotely sensed ocean color data and numerical modeling have been used to study the phenology of both spring and fall phytoplankton blooms (FPBs) in the Nova Scotian Shelf (NSS)-Gulf of Maine (GoM) region. The ocean color data reveal a general pattern of westward progression of the spring phytoplankton bloom (SPB), and an eastward progression of the FPB in the NSS-GoM region. The spatial pattern of mean chlorophyll concentration in spring is similar to that in fall, with a lower concentration in the NSS and higher in the GoM. Interannually, there is a weak but significant tendency for years with earlier (delayed) SPBs to be followed by delayed (earlier) FPBs, but the mean chlorophyll concentrations during SPBs are not correlated with those during FPBs. The interannual variability of SPB ti...
IP Multicast is one of the most absolute method for large bandwidth Internet applications such as video conference, IPTV, E-Learning and Telemedicine etc., But due to security and management reason IP Multicast is not enabled in Internet backbone routers. To achieve these challenges, lot of Application Layer Multicast (ALM) has been proposed. All the existing protocols such as NICE, ZIGZAG and OMNI are trying to reduce average delay by forming a Multicast tree. But still that problem has not been addressed fully. We are proposing a new protocol called NetRawALM, which will address the average delay, Reliability between nodes, Scalability of conference, Heterogeneity and resilient data distribution for real time multimedia applications by constructing the Network based Resource aware Multicast tree algorithm. This is very dynamic and decentralised. The proposed architecture is a LAN aware; it is used to reduce Internet Traffic.
Monte Carlo neutron transport methods can be used to verify the applicability of point kinetics for safety analysis of nuclear reactors. KENO-NR was used to obtain the transfer function of the Advanced Neutron Source reactor and the time delay between the core power production and the external detectors, a parameter of interest to the safety systems design. The good agreement between the Monte Carlo generated transfer function and the point kinetics transfer function validates that the uncommon ANS geometry does not preclude the use of point kinetics in the frequency range that was investigated. Various features of the power spectral densities also demonstrated the applicability of point kinetics. The time delay was obtained from the cross-power spectral density (CPSD) and is {approximately}15 ms. These analyses show that frequency analysis can be used experimentally to investigate the validity of the use of point kinetics models in critical ...
By using the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory and constructing suitable Lyapunov functions, we study the existence and stability of periodic solution for shunting inhibitory cellular neural networks (SICNNs) with delays x-bar {sub ij}(t)=-a{sub ij}(t)x{sub ij}(t)--bar B{sup kl}-bar Nr(i,j)B{sub ij}{sup kl}(t)f{sub ij}(x{sub kl}(t))x{sub ij}(t)--bar C{sup kl}-bar Nr(i,j)C{sub ij}{sup kl}(t)g{sub ij}(x{sub kl}(t-{tau}{sub kl}))x{sub ij}(t)+L{sub ij}(t)
By using the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory and constructing suitable Lyapunov functions, we study the existence and stability of periodic solution for shunting inhibitory cellular neural networks (SICNNs) with delays x-bar _i_j(t)=-a_i_j(t)x_i_j(t)--bar B"k"l-bar Nr(i,j)B_i_j"k"l(t)f_i_j(x_k_l(t))x_i_j(t)--bar C"k"l-bar Nr(i,j)C_i_j"k"l(t)g_i_j(x_k_l(t-#tau#_k_l))x_i_j(t)+L_i_j(t).
The authors explain the bankers' point of view of the financial and economic aspects of developments in the energy sector, discussing the financing of natural gas pipelines (Muro, Megal, etc.), of nuclear power plant construction, of projects in the oil supply sector, and of pollution abatement measures and equipment for the power industry and other industries. The different financial situations of small firms or large firms supplying pollution control equipment are discussed referring to the financing schemes to be set up, explaining among other things the profitability assessment taking into account long-term development or delays in return on capital investment from borrowed funds as induced, e.g., by delays in the licensing procedure. Future demand for borrowed capital for pollution control or nuclear power plant development is difficult to assess by the banking circles. (orig./RST).
Background: Superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) flap has a great advantage over other flaps of the area, that is, readily non-existent donor-site problems. The main reason why the SIEA flap has never been extensively used in breast reconstruction is the small diameter and variable anatomy of its donor artery. This study presents a possibility of enlarging the SIEA diameter using the delay-phenomenon mechanism. Methods: A prospective clinical study of 26 patients was undertaken. Prior to surgery, ultrasound examinations were performed, measuring the diameter of SIEA and the velocity of blood flow in SIEA. The ipsilateral deep inferior epigastric artery (DIEA) was then ligated in all patients who had a measurable SIEA preoperatively. Two weeks later, measurements were repeated. The...
The coupled neutron-gamma cross section libraries BUGLE-80 and SAILOR are compared, with focus on gamma production and transport and its sensitivity to the thermal component of the neutron flux. In addition, the importance of the prompt versus delayed components of the gamma source is addressed. Although BUGLE-80 shows some discrepancies in the core region, the two libraries demonstrate similar capability in the vicinity of the pressure vessel and beyond. The delayed fission product gammas from the core have little impact on the local gamma fluxes beyond the pressure vessel. Although thermal neutron capture is the dominant component of the gamma source, there is little sensitivity of the gamma source to uncertainties in the thermal neutron cross sections, due to compensating effects which tend to keep the thermal neutron capture rate relatively constant.
In this work, a powerful analytical method, called He's parameter-expanding methods (HPEM) is used to obtain the exact solutions of non-linear modified Van der Pol's oscillator. The classical Van der Pol equation with delayed feedback and a modified equation where a delayed term provides the damping are considered. It is shown that one term in series expansions is sufficient to obtain a highly accurate solution, which is valid for the whole solution domain. Comparison of the obtained solution with those obtained using perturbation method shows that this method is effective and convenient to solve this problem. This method introduces a capable tool to solve this kind of non-linear problems.
Pyogenic sacroiliitis is a rare entity in children. Diagnosis is often delayed because of its variable clinical presentation, low suspicion by the examining physician, and rare findings on radiographs. Delayed diagnosis, however, results in complications such as iliopsoas abscess. We report the case of a 12-year-old girl hospitalized with a 21-day history of fever, pain in the left iliac fossa, and flexion contracture of the hip. On examination, she had fever (38.9 ^oC), psoitis, localized tenderness at the left sacroiliac joint, and pain elicited by lateral compression of the pelvis. The abdominal examination was normal. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 130mm in the first hour, C-reactive protein was 186mg/l, and the white blood cell count was 18,400/mm^3, with 79% neutrophils. Urin...
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of diabetic myocardial damage (suspected myocardial damage; SMD) diagnosed by [sup 201]Tl-SPECT and diabetic cardiac autonomic neuropathy (AN) on myocardial MIBG uptake in patients with NIDDM. Eighty-seven diabetic patients divided into four subgroups: 23 with SMD (+) AN (+); 19 with SMD (+) AN (-); 27 with SMD (-) AN (+); 18 with SMD (-) AN (-), and 10 controls were studied. Both planar and SPECT images were taken at 30 minutes (early) and 3 hours (delayed) after [sup 123]I-MIBG injection. The heart to mediastinum uptake ratio (H/M) and washout ratio of [sup 123]I-MIBG (WR) were obtained from both planar images. Similarly, the difference between the [sup 201]Tl image and the [sup 123]I-MIBG image in the total uptake score (TUS) was taken as the difference in the total uptake score ([Delta]TUS) representing cardiac sympathetic denervation without SMD. On both early and delayed planar ...
Steady-state and transient behavior of the longitudinally pumped semiconductor laser is theoretically investigated by using a rate-equation model with distributed gain and photon density. Conditions necessary for bistable operation are derived. Dependencies of such major switching characteristics as turn-on and turn-off powers, delay, and rise times on laser parameters are examined. Influences of spontaneous radiation, impurities, and Auger recombination are studied. The results offer an explanation for the observed nonlinear behavior of face-pumped lasers.
Based on BACODINE network notification the Whipple Observatory gamma-ray telescope has been used to search for the delayed TeV counterpart to BATSE-detected gamma-ray bursts. In the fast slew mode, any point in the sky can be reached within two minutes of the burst notification. The search strategy, necessary because of the uncertainty in burst position and limited FOV of the camera, is described.
For a system of noninteracting electrons scattered by resonant levels of neutral impurities, we show that virial and quasiparticle corrections have nearly equal magnitudes. We propose a modification of the Boltzmann equation that includes quasiparticle and virial corrections and discuss their interplay on a dielectric function. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society.
... Reduce partner costs, save time, and overcome delays in data transmission. Data Exchanges States are currently submitting data to each other and to the EPA in the exchanges listed below. Data Exchanges are typically referred to by their acronyms, which are listed below. To find out more about EPA data exchanges, please follow the links to EPA Web sites. AQS - Air Quality Sub-system (...
Middleware deployed to help TCP performance over links with large ... Boeing Connex (Ku-Band); INMARSAT Swift 64; TrackNet" 2.0 (Ku-Band); G2.5/G3/G4. General ... Incremental deployment may be difficult; High Link budgets; Link Delay ...
To optimize the emergency care of patients with multiple injuries, a special emergency room with integrated radiological equipment has been developed. It consists of a linear array of a computed tomography system, a mobile C-arm with an integrated scattered radiation grid for conventional films and a C-arm fluorographic system. The intent is to avoid delay caused by transport and repositioning of the patient. It enables all necessary diagnostic procedures to be performed within a minimal amount of time. (orig./MG).
Muon captures by nucleon pairs via meson-exchange currents produce a high energy excitation tail in heavy nuclei. The muon induced fission by these excitations is calculated in several subactinide nuclei with high threshold fission barriers. The probability for delayed fission ranges from 4 x 10"-"5 to 4 x 10"-"3 for the isotopes considered. (orig.).
The mz8310 device support module provides support for the following record types: event, pulseCounter, pulseDelay, and pulseTrain. No driver support is needed. Up to 4 mz8310 modules are supported. Each 8310 module contains 10 channels, which are identified as signals O,...9. Each channel is individually configurable. Each mz83 10 has two Am9513 Timing Controller chips. Each Am9513 has 5 counters.
Despite successful reduction of the general lead exposure, this heavy metal is still a matter of public concern due to the fact that associations with intellectual impairment or delayed puberty are found to correlate with very low lead blood concentrations. Lead in tap water is still an important contribution to lead exposure which may cause health risk for infants. Therefore, lead pipes should be completely sanitated by exchange against pipes made from more healthy materials. (orig.)
With the frequent load changes to which a hard coal power station is subjected in the middle and peak load range, great demands are linked with the transient behaviour of the steam generator. Due to the serial connection of the crusher and boiler, the strongly delaying transient behaviour of the crusher compounds entirely with the transient behaviour of the steam generator. Therefore, a suggestion is to be made here as to the improvement of the dynamics of the crusher.
A brief article examines the controversy over food irradiation regarding the wholesomeness of irradiated food, its microbiological safety, loss of vitamins and changes in flavour. The benefits of food irradiation are also outlined including the destruction of certain food-borne pathogens and the prolongation of the shelf-life of food by killing pests and delaying the deterioration process. (UK).
Lysozyme chloride was administered to 84 patients of laryngeal cancer and the clinical effect was discussed. Lysozyme chloride delayed the appearance of swelling and white plaque while it accelerated that of inflammatory erythema in radiotherapy. No difference of the local inflammation was found between lysozyme administered groups and not administered groups when irradiation and chemotherapy were combined. Any side effect was not seen in blood picture of all cases by using lysozyme chloride.
The enhancement of longitudinal heat transfer by means of fluid pulsation in a pipe has been investigated analytically and numerically, including the transient state. The effects of pulsation amplitude, frequency, and pipe length on thermal properties such as effective thermal diffusivity and delay time are clarified. Their effects on numerical calculations are also presented and suggestions for efficient numerical calculations of this problem are made concerning the combination of parameters.
In this work dissipativity of linear neutral distributed parameter systems has been addressed. Delay-dependent sufficient conditions for the dissipativity with respect to the infinite-dimensional version of energy supply rate (Q"1,S"1,R"1) characterized exclusively by unbounded operator Q"1 are established in terms of linear operator inequalities (LOIs). Finally, the 3-dimensional heat equation illustrates our result.
In this communication we propose a method to implement an all-optical astable multivibrator using the non-linear material based switches and logic gates. The scheme can operate in real time. The delay time can achieve ps(pico-second). The pulse duration can be made very low and may cross the THz easily by selecting proper material and laser source.
In the positive column of a neon glow discharge, two different types of ionization waves occur simultaneously. The low-dimensional chaos arising from the nonlinear interaction between the two waves is controlled by a continuous feedback technique. The control strategy is derived from the time-delayed autosynchronization method. Two spatially displaced points of observation are used to obtain the control information, using the propagation characteristics of the chaotic wave.
The non-invasiveness of autofluorescence technology may reduce sampling error and time delay for histopathology diagnosis. We establish biophotonic methods and guidelines to visualize and interpret early epithelial tissue changes that signify disease. Flexible and rigid fiber endomicroscopy instrumentation design parameters feasible for translation towards clinical use are in development.
The results obtained by studying double-front extensive air showers in which more than 107 particles are contained and in which the fronts are separated by a time interval of #DELTA#t #approx# 100 ns are presented. Serious difficulties in explaining 'delayed' showers are revealed. In this connection, a hypothesis that the 'leading' showers are initiated by tachyons produced in the first interaction of primary particles is proposed.
Investigations of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) function were performed in a 5-yr-old white female with delayed umbilical cord separation, impaired pus formation, and a severe defect of PMN chemotaxis....Full Text Available
...j-3/j-3311/DLAD/rev5.htm ), and MIL-STD-2073-1, Standard Practice for Military Packaging (and...Guidelines will comply with DLAD 47.305-1, and MIL-STD-2073-1. (f) Delays in delivery caused by...
Due to changed operational conditions and because of the increasing age of several hydro power plant components, there is an increasing risk of damages and the control of degradation mechanisms is of increasing significance. Therefore lifetime considerations for safety relevant components in pumped-storage plants become more and more important. The development of a lifetime management system, in conjunction with monitoring systems and specific surveillance for a group of pumped-storage power plants of different ages and in a wide range of power output is presented. The special focus is on the impact of fatigue strength considerations within this framework. The applied procedure will be described for typical mechanical components in pumped-storage plants exemplarily. (orig.)
The purpose of the chapter is to explain briefly the various considerations that enter into determining the general layout or arrangement of typical hydroelectric powerplants, pumping plants, and pumped-storage plants. Some of the important factors that affect or determine the location, type, and layout of the plant and the selection of the major items of equipment included in the installation are outlined in this chapter. The first consideration in the design of a powerplant, pumping plant, or pumped-storage plant is that it adequately perform its function and be structurally safe. The structure is also designed to give a pleasing architectural appearance.
The reduced polluting emissions make natural gas a quite interesting alternative fuel for automotive applications. Therefore a car diesel engine has been transformed into a dual fuel engine with pilot injection via the common rail injection system used to ignite the methane-air charge. Standard injection pumps show a certain instability at low flow rates and high engine speed. On the opposite the new common rail system allows to ignite the fuel in all conditions with an amount of gas oil less than 8% of the entire energy required by the engine was enough to ignite the fuel. Furthermore, a power increase has been obtained, with an overall efficiency equal to or even higher than a conventional engine. The article deals with a series of test carried out on 1929 cm{sup 3} direct injection turbo-charged engine and presents the preliminary results. [Italian] La riduzione delle emissioni inquinanti rende il metano un combustibile ...
This article describes the disenchantment with electric cars after considerable hype by industry. Also discussed is why electric cars have failed to catch on.
The interaction between two metals, which can be either synergistic or antagonistic, implies that the behavior of one is changed by the presence of the other. Possible mechanisms of these interactions,...Full Text Available
In the last two decades rectal cancer has changed from a surgically managed disease into a multidisciplinary treatment model resulting in considerable improvements in the survival and outcome. This...Full Text Available
There is considerable evidence that purines are vasoactive molecules involved in the regulation of blood flow. Adenosine is a well known vasodilator that also acts as a modulator of the response to...Full Text Available
The early and precise diagnosis, the prognosis, and the clinical management of multiple sclerosis, remain a considerable challenge. In recent years, the development of novel and powerful proteomic...Full Text Available
Rationale and ObjectivesSample-size estimation is an important consideration when planning a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) study. The aim of this work was...Full Text Available
The concept of plant intelligence, as proposed by Anthony Trewavas, has raised considerable discussion. However, plant intelligence remains loosely defined; often it is either perceived as practically...Full Text Available
your eye to the SCN in your brain, so that light ... Owls are individuals who go to bed late, like to get up late in the moming. And the moming types, ...
Mice are an ideal mammalian model for studying the genetics of aging: considerable resources are available, the generation time is short, and the environment can be easily controlled, an important...Full Text Available
Since the elucidation of the structure of double helical DNA, the construction of small molecules that recognize and react at specific DNA sites has been an area of considerable interest. In...Full Text Available
There is considerable evidence to suggest that the identification and treatment of dyslipidaemia will reduce the risk of premature CHD, i.e. before the age of 65. Diagnosis of the cause of raised plasma...Full Text Available
There is considerable interest in the use of silicon devices as qubits for quantum computing. The existence of nuclear spin in a silicon isotope and the complex band structure of silicon are unfavourable for this application of silicon devices. (viewpoint)
Numerous reports of chronic renal disease in patients who habitually use phenacetin-containing compounds to excess have aroused considerable controversy over the possible relationship between phenacetin,...Full Text Available
... to de-scope the weapon system. ... AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronomy ... Nations BASIC Broad Area Space-Based Imagery Collector ...
In animal models, single-gene mutations in genes involved in insulin/IGF and target of rapamycin signalling pathways extend lifespan to a considerable extent. The genetic, genomic and epigenetic influences...Full Text Available
... Thus. thi, characteristic further buggeots, other things unchanging, that the more *multifunction" the ccna ;Ituent devices ari., t~he more efficienit the ...
The fatigue and fracture behavior of hard tissues are topics of considerable interest today. This special group of organic materials comprises the highly mineralized and load-bearing tissues...Full Text Available
Immunomodulation by environmental chemical contaminants and the role immune parameters play in toxicity and risk assessment studies is of increasing concern. Although considerable evidence has indicated...Full Text Available
A modest reduction in body temperature prolongs longevity and possibly retards aging in both poikilotherm and homeotherm animals. Some of the possible mechanisms mediating these effects are...Full Text Available
Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards are presented to the Commissioners for their consideration for FY 82 budget for the NRC safety research program.
Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards are presented to the Commissioners for their consideration for FY 83 budget for the NRC safety research program.
Breast cancer in the elderly has attracted considerable interest in recent years for three main reasons. Firstly, information concerning the profile (clinical and biological) of the disease in the geriatric...Full Text Available
Central airway obstruction (CAO) is a serious presentation of lung cancer and associated chest diseases. It presents a real challenge to the anesthesiologist because usually the patient admitted to...Full Text Available
In several respects the dorsal thalamus of Trichosurus presents a level of organizational complexity considerably in advance of that seen in Didelphis. In particular, such features as the lamination...Full Text Available
In this paper as a result of the theoretical studies and a numerical simulation we presented the following main conclusions: (i) for humid air at increasing pressure of 1.0133 10"5 Pa until 5.0665 10"5 Pa ozone concentrations during 2 centre dot 10"-"3 s become higher in 22 times. This fact we clear with structure of ozone-production reactions. In this case the harmful NO_x concentrations are 2-3 order lower than ozone one; (ii) it is shown that nitrogen is useful to ozone production in the discharge; (iii) based on ion collection we cleared increasing ignition discharge voltage at growing ozone concentrations even with low ozone concentrations.
In this work, a new sol-gel auto-combustion method has been performed to synthesize single phase nickel ferrite nanocrystalline powders by using n-cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, as a cationic surfactant. The gels were prepared from ferric and nickel nitrates and citric acid. Ammonia was used as pH adjusting agent as well. The effects of the surfactant on the after combustion calcination process and the reduction of the resulting powder crystallite size which affects the magnetic properties of the material were investigated by XRD and DTA/TGA techniques. The results showed that the ignition of the gels in air have a self-propagating behavior. Addition of surfactant to the starting solution affected the crystallite size of the synthesized powders and their phase constitution. The crystallit...
The oxidation of n-butylbenzene was studied in a jet-stirred reactor (JSR) at 10atm in dilute conditions providing new experimental results over the low- and high-temperature range 550-1180K, and variable equivalence ratio (0.25ϕ1.5). They consisted of concentration profiles of the reactants, stable intermediates and final products, measured as a function of temperature, at a constant residence time of 1s, by sonic probe sampling followed by on-line GC-MS and off-line GC-TCD-FID and GC-MS analyses. The oxidation of n-butylbenzene in these conditions was modeled using a detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanism (404 species and 2210 reactions, most of them reversible) deriving from a previous scheme proposed for the ignition, oxidation, and combustion of simple aromatics (benzene,...
The experimental survey about the heat transfer between the working fluid and the combustion chamber wall with a direct injection diesel engine has shown the production of a soot layer with increasing loads on the combustion chamber wall. Because the combustion process of methanol occurs without the formation of wall deposits, the same engine spark ignitioned with methanol at the same conditions has shown a higher heat transfer coefficient. Because the heat losses do not only depend on the heat transfer coefficient but also on the driving temperature difference between the working fluid and the combustion chamber wall, the methanol engine with corresponding process management showed lower heat losses than the diesel engine at nearly the same load. (orig./HW)
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.
A new procedure of fuel layering for the Fast Ignition Realization Experiment (FIREX) target is proposed. A conical laser guide heating technique was experimentally demonstrated in principle as the followings. It employed the target consisting of a polystyrene (PS) shell, a fill tube and a conical laser guide. At first, liquid fuel was fed into the shell and existed around the conical laser guide because the surface tension of the fuel must cause it. Then, it was solidified. The laser light provided a heat source to the conical laser guide so that the solid fuel was moved to the other interior of the shell. This process resulted in missing solid fuel around the conical laser guide. To fill the vacant space, liquid fuel was added as temperature was raised to the melting point. After the liquid fuel addition, temperature was lowered to the solidification point again. During this process, most of the solid fuel could survive.
Natural gas is a promising alternative fuel to meet strict engine emission regulations in many countries. Natural gas engines can operate at lean burn and stoichiometric conditions with different combustion and emission characteristics. In this paper, the operating envelope, fuel economy, emissions, cycle-to-cycle variations in indicated mean effective pressure and strategies to achieve stable combustion of lean burn natural gas engines are highlighted. Stoichiometric natural gas engines are briefly reviewed. To keep the output power and torque of natural gas engines comparable to those of their gasoline or Diesel counterparts, high boost pressure should be used. High activity catalyst for methane oxidation and lean deNOx system or three way catalyst with precise air-fuel ratio control str...
Studies technological safety of installing a water spray pressure vessel between electrostatic dedusters and coal sludge ducts. These sprays are in use elsewhere for steam generator ash removal. Dust ignition and explosion tests were carried out to examine flame and pressure wave propagation through the vessel into ducts. Water jet diameter, amount of water sprayed and coal dust removed were varied. Pressure waves exceeded 250 Pa. Test results show the vessel to be suitable for installation in briquetting plants due to its flame and explosion barrier effect and extermination of smoldering dust fires. The only disadvantage of the vessel is seen as its water and electric power consumption; about 8/sup 3//h of water and 1.5 kW/h of power per vessel serving dedusters of a 2,200 m/sup 2/ rotary brown coal dryer.
The authors study technological safety of installing a water spray pressure vessel between electrostatic deduster and coal sludge ducts. These sprays are in use elsewhere for steam generator ash removal. Dust ignition and explosion tests were carried out to examine flame and pressure wave propagation through the vessel into ducts. Water jet diameter, amount of water sprayed and coal dust removed were varied. Pressure waves exceeded 250 Pa. Test results show the vessel to be suitable for installation in briquetting plants due to its flame and explosion barrier effect and extermination of smoldering dust fires. The only disadvantage of the vessel is seen as its water and electric power consumption: about 8 m/sup 3//h of water and 1.5 kW/h of power per vessel serving dedusters of a 2,200 m/sup 2/ rotary brown coal dryer. (MOS).
Long before possible organic effects, exposure to ionizing radiations can provoke anxiety. In front of invisibility, the imagination quickly ignites. The terrorists have perfectly understood it. They are ready to use ionizing radiations as a weapon to remind traumatic images deeply rooted in people's memory. These images induce anxiety with all the clinical expressions connected to it. These symptoms require to be treated because of a possible anarchic development. For that purpose, plans have been elaborated to coordinate the different professional's actions. The coherence of medical management and communication aims to allow the most implicated people to find the way to face the events. When it is not possible, medico-psychological cells permit a specialized care. (author)
Abstract: The recent National Academy of Sciences report on forensic sciences states that the study of fire patterns and debris in arson fires is in need of additional work and eventual standardization. We discuss a recently introduced method that can provide predicted evaporation patterns for ignitable liquids as a function of temperature. The method is a complex fluid analysis protocol, the advanced distillation curve approach, featuring a composition explicit data channel for each distillate fraction (for qualitative, quantitative, and trace analysis), low uncertainty temperature measurements that are thermodynamic state points that can be modeled with an equation of state, consistency with a century of historical data, and an assessment of the energy content of each distillate fraction...
The alliance of J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientist, and Leslie R. Groves, military leader, is often interpreted as the classic example of the clash between the academic mind and the military style. Evidence suggests, instead, that it was a collaboration that led to the dawn of the nuclear age. Instead of a clash, it was collaboration and an implosion of the diverse talents needed for the success of this project. Discussion of these flawed and fascinating individuals still ignites controversy today. This presentation will explore the backgrounds and personalities of these two men and their work together to accomplish their mission. Was the aftermath inevitable, given a relationship based on respect, but perhaps not trust? The genesis of the modern military-industrial complex rested on the genius of these two men, though they personify two distinct American sub-cultures. What lessons can be drawn from their wartime and post-war relationship? What analogies can be drawn ...
Nomographs that calculate the threshold values of surface fire parameters which lead to crown fire initiation were created by linking two separate fire behavior models: Van Wagner?s crown fire ignition criteria and Byram?s surface fire model. The nomographs were also based on the existing surface (fuel load, fuel heat content) and canopy (foliar moisture content, live crown base height) fuel models of Aleppo (Pinus halepensis Mill.) pine forests of Mediterranean Greece. The most important fire parameters for crown fire initiation that are calculated by the nomographs are the critical flame length and the forward spread rate of the surface fire. These parameters are readily observable in the field during fires. The nomographs provide a judicious way to assess whether a crown fire is likely ...
In evaluating commercialization prospects for natural gas fuelled vehicles, this paper compares the performance and emission quality of these innovative vehicles with those using conventional fuels - gasoline and diesel fuels. Assessments are made of the state-of-the-art of current technology relative to fuel storage, air/fuel mixture preparation, in cylinder combustion processes and pollution control. The analysis evidences that while natural gas is an excellent fuel for spark ignition engines, in transport applications its use is hampered by large storage volume requirements and weight. Moreover, the air/fuel mixture preparation, combustion process and exhaust-gas cleaning require a greater research and development effort to make this alternative fuel economically and environmentally competitive with conventional fuels.
Strut lattice structures of reaction-bonded silicon infiltrated silicon carbide ceramics (RB-SiSiC) for air-fuel mixture formation and for nonstationary lean-burn under pressure applications were fabricated. The lattice design with a high porosity >80% was shaped by indirect three-dimensional printing. It was shown that pre-ignition processes in the porous reactor are much faster than in a free combustion, especially at lower temperatures. Interaction of high velocity diesel jets with cylindrical strut ligaments of the SiSiC lattice structure offers a new possibility for quick and efficient fuel distribution (multi-jet splitting) in space.
This patent describes a low emission duel fuel engine system. It comprises: a dual fuel engine having a combustion chamber; a fuel oil supply connected to the engine; a fuel gas supply connected to the engine; and means connected between the fuel oil supply and the engine for injecting fuel oil into the engine. The means connected between the engine and fuel oil supply limiting the injection of fuel oil to the combustion chamber to pilot ignition quantities only, wherein the limiting means includes means for limiting the injection of fuel oil such that the exhaust emission of NO{sub x} is at an emission rate of less than 1 GM/PH-HR, whereby the exhaust emission performance of the dual fuel engine is enhanced.
A 1 MWe power plant using waste wood fuel is to be installed at a US Marine Corps base, which will supply all wood from a landfill site. The core energy conversion technology is a down-draft gasifier supplying approximately 150 Btu/scf gas to both spark ignition and diesel dual-fuel engine-generator sets. Features of the plant design include: (1) grinding wood fuel from a wide range of waste resources, (2) specialized screening for fines removal, (3) complete tar and other waste product control without landfill disposal, and (4) use of process heat for bulk fuel drying, gasifier air pre-heating, and wastewater evaporation.
The Bureau of Mines has investigated the hazards of military explosives dispersed as dust clouds in a 20-L test chamber. For purposes of personnel safety, the spark ignitability of the explosives in the form of unconfined dust layers was also studied. The 20-L data show that most of the explosives dusts were capable of sustaining explosions as dust clouds dispersed in air and some dusts were even capable of sustaining explosions when dispersed in nitrogen. The finest sizes of explosives dusts were less reactive than the larger sizes; this is opposite to the particle size effect observed previously for the pure fuel dusts. The data for the explosives dusts were compared to those for pure fuel dusts. 27 refs., 47 figs.
Flame propagating through zirconium particle cloud in a small-scale vertical rectangle chamber was investigated experimentally. In the experiments, the zirconium quoted 99% purity was used and the diameter of particles was distributed 1?22 ?m. The zirconium dust was dispersed into the chamber by air flow and ignited by an electrode spark. A high-speed video camera was used to record the images of the propagating flame. Micro-thermocouples, schlieren optical system and microscopic lens were used to obtain temperature profiles and flame structure, respectively. Based on the experimental results, flame propagation characteristics and flame structure of zirconium particle cloud were analyzed. The propagation velocity of the flame is quite slow in the initial 14 ms and then accelerates to maxim...
In seeking ways to reduce emissions from two-stroke locomotive type engines, the Navy has evaluated dual-fuel conversions operating on a compression ignition cycle, using up to 94% natural gas and 6% diesel pilot fuel. The Navy has conducted an evaluation and test program under the direction of Dr. Normnn L. Helgeson, at the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center in Port Hueneme, California. Of the Navy`s many diesel engines, those installed in its MUSE (mobile utility support equipment) units for temporary electrical power were the first Navy off-road engines to be affected by emissions regulations. Most of the units are powered by the EMD 645 engine, and when burning diesel fuel do not meet the emission requirements in many areas of the country. This paper discusses the changes and results of the conversion and shakedown tests.
Recently, utilization of natural gas, which is considered to be one of most important alternative fuels for petroleum, has been marked. As thermal efficiency of dual-fuel engine is higher than those of other prime movers with gaseous fuel, i.e., spark-ignited gas engine or gas turbine, it is possible to construct fuel-economical gas power plants with dual-fuel engines. However, its horsepower has been limited to the rather lower range. In 1984, NKK succeeded in developing large-sized dual-fuel engines based on the Pielstick PC4 diesel engine. The horsepower is 1200 HP/cyl, i.e. 21,600 HP for 18-cyclinder engine.
Full text: Institute for Nuclear Research, Pitesti-Mioveni, Romania in direct cooperation with the National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Magurele, Bucharest studied and prepared for coating more than 1000 tiles made of Inconel with 7-9 #mu#m of beryllium for nuclear fusion applications at JET, Culham, UK. The principles of manufacturing processes using thermal evaporation and plasma ignited in pure metal vapors as well as by Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) method and the properties of the Ni and Be coatings are presented. The prepared beryllium layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. (authors)
The feasibility of this procedure was investigated using minerals and ore specimens. The substances were ground then fused using LiBO/sub 2/, quenched with 3% HNO/sub 3/ or mixtures of the acid with 2.5% tartaric acid or 30% H/sub 2/O/sub 2/. The quenched melt was usually completely dissolved within 20 min by placing the beakers in an ultrasonic bath. If any residue was detected, appropriate changes were made in the procedure. Once the procedure has been optimized, any remaining black particles were filtered. If these particles disappeared upon subsequent ignition, they were presumed to have been graphite. Most of the refractory minerals investigated should be expected to be converted to soluble form by this process. 1 table.
In this study a novel sol-gel auto-combustion method, using n-decyltrimethylammonium bromide as a cationic surfactant, has been used to synthesize strontium hexaferrite nanocrystalline powder. The dried nitrate-citrate gel, prepared from a solution of ferric nitrate, strontium nitrate, citric acid, trimethylamine and cationic surfactant, exhibited an auto-combustion behavior after ignition in air. The formation reaction temperature, phase identification, crystallites size, particles size distribution and morphology of resultant strontium hexaferrite powder were investigated by DTA/TGA, FTIR, XRD, LPSA, TEM and SEM techniques. The results showed that in presence of the cationic surfactant, the combustion intensity increases and the crystallite size decreases. The crystallite size of stronti...
The catalytically stabilised thermal combustion (CST) of lean hydrogen-air mixtures was investigated numerically in a turbulent channel flow configuration using a two-dimensional elliptic model with detailed heterogeneous and homogeneous chemical reactions. Comparison between turbulent and laminar cases having the same incoming mean properties shows that turbulence inhibits homogeneous ignition due to increased heat transport away from the near-wall layer. The peak root-mean-square temperature and species fluctuations are always located outside the extent of the homogeneous reaction zone indicating that thermochemical fluctuations have no significant influence on gaseous combustion. (author) 4 figs., 6 refs.
The performance of a gas-fuelled diesel engine (dual fuel) is examined at light load and an effective threshold limit to the combustion of the gaseous fuel through bulk flame spread is identified. The relationship of such a limit to some of the key operating parameters is then discussed. A comparison between the measured values of the limit with those corresponding to the lower flammability limits of the gaseous fuel when evaluated under the prevailing cylinder conditions during pilot diesel fuel ignition showed similar trends. It is suggested that such a similarity may form a basis for estimating the lean operation limits for duel a fuel combustion in engines. A simple approach for estimating the limiting equivalence ratio for the apparent bulk flame spread limit is described for a methane-fuelled dual fuel engine. (Author)
The modeling methods used to compute the neutron-induced activation of target and near-target materials in the NIF facility are presented. A detailed space and energy description of the neutron environment in the different materials is provided. A new capability has been developed to treat in a general way the activation of debris produced in an operational regime of yield and no-yield experiments. First calculations are addressed to analyze the activity of the debris into the target chamber. The contribution of the different components to activity, interior dose rates, and waste disposal rating (WDR) is determined. The importance of the activation coming from primary irradiation in the target, and from secondary irradiation in debris deposited onto the first wall is assessed. Finally, waste hazards of the activated debris when removed out of the chamber and stored are analyzed. (authors)
Information is presented concerning new trends in licensing; seismic considerations and system structural behavior; TMI-2 risk assessment and thermal hydraulics; statistical assessment of potential accidents and verification of computational methods; issues with respect to improved safety; human factors in nuclear power plant operation; diagnostics and activities in support of recovery; LOCA transient analysis; unresolved safety issues and other safety considerations; and fission product transport.
Information is presented concerning new trends in licensing; seismic considerations and system structural behavior; TMI-2 risk assessment and thermal hydraulics; statistical assessment of potential accidents and verification of computational methods; issues with respect to improved safety; human factors in nuclear power plant operation; diagnostics and activities in support of recovery; LOCA transient analysis; unresolved safety issues and other safety considerations; and fission product transport.
The use of computer vision to detect, measure, and perhaps guide the assembly of man-made components is potentially a very significant research and development area. The efficacy of these techniques for any given application depends on both technical and economic considerations. This paper will explore both these considerations using appropriate generic examples. It is our goal to first present a concise discussion of the present state of many technical and economic factors and then extrapolate these factors into the future for the purpose of guiding further investigations.
This article illustrates what typical accept/reject curves might look like and discusses progress made in developing the required inspection techniques for flaw dimensioning. Consideration is given to the relative significance of blunt versus planar types of flaws, and of inherent limitations to the depths of certain types of flaws. Finally, consideration is given to the realities of implementing proposed procedures under field conditions. These are summarized in a series of technical options for implementation of program results.
The performance of a commercial heat pipe was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The effect of the temperature difference, the surface area ratio, and the operational conditions on the performance were studied. The heat flow rate and the vapor temperature were estimated on a ready-made commercial heat pipe. Its performance varied considerably with operational conditions. Theoretical consideration of a mathematical model and several nomographs are also presented. This work is applicable to the design and use of heat pipes in the field.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a proposed Department of Energy facility which will contribute to the resolution of important Defense Program and inertial fusion energy issues for energy production in the future. The NIF will consist of a laser system with 192 independent beamlets transported to a target chamber. The target chamber is a multi-purpose structure that provides the interface between the target and the laser optics. The chamber must be capable of achieving moderate vacuum levels in reasonable times; it must remain dimensionally stable within micron tolerances, provide support for the optics, diagnostics, and target positioner; it must minimize the debris from the x-ray and laser light environments; and it must be capable of supporting external neutron shielding. The chamber must also be fabricated from a low neutron activation material. The fusion reaction in the target gives off neutrons, x-ray and gamma rays. The x-rays and gamma rays interact ...
This paper surveys the publications available in the literature concerning the application of the second-law of thermodynamics to internal combustion engines. The availability (exergy) balance equations of the engine cylinder and subsystems are reviewed in detail providing also relations concerning the definition of state properties, chemical availability, flow and fuel availability, and dead state. Special attention is given to identification and quantification of second-law efficiencies and the irreversibilities of various processes and subsystems. The latter being particularly important since they are not identified in traditional first-law analysis. In identifying these processes and subsystems, the main differences between second- and first-law analyses are also highlighted. A detailed reference is made to the findings of various researchers in the field over the last 40 years concerning all types of internal combustion engines, i.e. spark ignition, ...
BACKGROUND AND CASE STUDY: Surgical fires are rare but preventable. During facial surgery for a 68-year-old man, a fire broke out, resulting in first- and second-degree burns after a nasal cannula ignited in an oxygen-rich environment because of improper draping and tenting. DISCUSSION: Operating room (OR) fires can be prevented if any component of the "fire triangle"-fuels, ignition sources, and oxidizers-is reduced or eliminated. The use of supplemental oxygen in the OR via nasal cannulae, nebulizers, and oxygen cylinders must always considered a potential source of fire. Deficits in knowledge among the surgical team with respect to the prevention and management of surgical fires were apparent. A plan was put into place to improve fire safety education, entailing an educational program that is included in intern and resident orientation. Surgical fire safety training was also put into place for anesthesia and surgical faculty. The anesthesia ...
The effect of liquefied natural gas on pollutant emissions was evaluated experimentally with used and new appliances in the laboratory and with appliances installed in residences, targeting information gaps from previous studies. Burner selection targeted available technologies that are projected to comprise the majority of installed appliances over the next decade. Experiments were conducted on 13 cooktop sets, 12 ovens, 5 broiler burners, 5 storage water heaters, 4 forced air furnaces, 1 wall furnace, and 6 tankless water heaters. Air-free concentrations and fuel-based emission factors were determined for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide, and the number of (predominantly ultrafine) particles over complete burns?including transient effects (device warm-up and intermittent firing of burners) following ignition--and during more stable end-of-burn conditions. Formaldehyde was measured over multi-burn cycles. The baseline fuel was Northern California ...
This handbook presents information and data for high explosives (HEs) of interest to programs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. It is intended to be useful to the scientist or engineer, the novice or expert, who needs to develop a new weapon system, design a physics experiment, or select and/or evaluate an existing explosive. This compilation is limited to production HEs and their components. High explosives are divided into two classes: initial detonating (or primary) and noninitiating (or secondary) explosives. The primary HEs, such as azides and fulminates, are extremely sensitive to ignition by heat, shock, and electrical discharge; ignition leads to high-order detonation of the material - even for milligram quantities. The use of these HEs is therefore limited to squibs and starting materials for low-energy detonators. Because primary explosives have little application at ...
With the fire accident in Browns Ferry nuclear power plant as a turning point, the regulation against fire has been strengthened more strictly as seen in the regulatory guide of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Fire of cables is caused by either the ignition of a cable itself or spread of fire to cables. The aspect of fire is divided into the local ignition and combution and the fire extension and prepagation because of the line-shaped configuration of cables. This report describes the prevention of the spread of fire. As the materials for the prevention of fire spread, fire spread-preventing paint ''Dannekka'', sealant ''Danseal P and L'', and fire prevention tape ''FD tape'' are reported, and the testing method and the results are described in detail. ''Dannekka'' is classified into the solvent dispersion type and the water dispersion type. It may be coated with brush or by spraying. Seal material is required not only to be ...
The Hydrogen Program at Sandia National Laboratories is developing internal combustion engine generators for application in series hybrid vehicles and stationary power units. The program consists of two approaches: investigating the utilization of hydrogen in a conventional crankshaft driven engine and in an advanced free piston configuration. The conventional engine program has taken the direction of utilizing the unique ability to spark ignite homogeneous fuel/air mixtures of hydrogen at low equivalence ratios to achieve low NO{sub x} emissions and high thermal efficiency. The goal is to translate the indicated thermal efficiency of single-cylinder engines into multicylinder configurations achieving at least 40% brake thermal efficiency. When coupled to an electrical generator, the fuel to electricity conversion efficiency would be approximately 37%. A modified Perkins 3.152 Diesel engine is currently being tested and has achieved an indicated thermal efficiency ...
This paper reports on the protection of opening that are exposed to the environment in nuclear facilities which presents an almost overwhelming engineering challenge. Intakes and outflows must permit the passage of large volumes of air or water without impeding their flow, and they are often exposed to corrosive salt and chemicals. An intrusion detection sensor that is intended to protect these openings must be capable of operating reliably under environmentally harsh conditions, and at the same time either provide a physical delay barrier or attach to an existing barrier. A new fiber optic sensor technology has now been developed specifically for protecting environmentally exposed openings. This sensor uses a fiber optic cable embedded in a neoprene rubber frame which is reinforced with Kevlar threads or braided steel cable. The sensor is configured in a mesh pattern with openings sufficiently large to permit air or water to flow unimpeded, but small enough to ...
The delayed detonation model describes the observational properties of the majority of type Ia supernovae very well. Using numerical data from a three-dimensional deflagration model for type Ia supernovae, the intermittency of the turbulent velocity field and its implications on the probability of a deflagration-to-detonation (DDT) transition are investigated. From structure functions of the turbulent velocity fluctuations, we determine intermittency parameters based on the log-normal and the log-Poisson models. On the other hand, the analysis of the turbulent velocity fluctuations in the vicinity of the flame front by Roepke suggests a much higher probability of large velocity fluctuations on the grid scale in comparison to the log-normal intermittency model. Following Pan et al., we computed probability density functions for a DDT for the different distributions. Assuming that a DDT can occur in the stirred flame regime, as proposed by Woosley et al., the ...
We demonstrate that fitted values of stellar radius obtained by fitting theoretical light curves to observations of millisecond period X-ray pulsars can significantly depend on the method used to calculate the light curves. The worst-case errors in the fitted radius are evaluated by restricting ourselves to the case of light emitted and received in the equatorial plane of a rapidly-rotating neutron star. First, using an approximate flux which is adapted to the one-dimensional nature of such an emission region, we show how pulse shapes can be constructed using an exact spacetime metric and fully accounting for time-delay effects. We compare this to a method which approximates the exterior spacetime of the star by the Schwarzschild metric, inserts special relativistic effects by hand, and neglects time-delay effects. By comparing these methods, we show that there are significant differences in these methods for some applications, for example ...
Laser-induced change is studied of the optical absorption and luminescence due to F-H pairs generated by an electron pulse in SrF_2. It is found that laser irradiation near 2.34 eV at a delay of 26 #mu#s after an electron pulse by which F-H pairs are generated reduces the component I of the pairs that has a decay time of 59 #mu#s and optical absorption bands at 2.34 and 4.13 eV and enhances the component II that has a decay time of 7.7 ms and has optical absorption bands at 2.7 and 3.35 eV. Laser irradiation near 2.7 eV at a delay of 4 ms after the electron pulse is found to induce the reverse reaction. Studies of dichroism of the laser-induced reduction and enhancement of the optical absorption bands and the luminescence reveal that the direction of the #SIGMA#-#SIGMA# transition of the F_2"- molecular ion is converted by the transformation from I to II and vice versa. It is suggested that the component I corresponds to the F-H pairs at ...
As network bandwidth continues to grow and longer paths are used to exchange large scientific data between storage systems and GRID computation, it has become increasingly obvious that there is a need to deploy a packet drop avoidance mechanism into network transmission protocols. Current end-to-end congestion avoidance mechanisms used in Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) have worked well on low bandwidth delay product networks, but with newer high-bandwidth delay networks they have shown to be inefficient and prone to unstable. This is largely due to increased network bandwidth coupled with changes in internet traffic patterns. These changes come from a variety of new network applications that are being developed to take advantage of the increased network bandwidth. This paper will examine the end-to-end congestion avoidance mechanism and perform a step-by-step analysis of its theory. In addition we will propose an alternative approach ...
ObjectivesThe main objective of this study is to address the following specific questions: 1. Are the delayed effects of poor early diet on whole organism performance and senescence contingent on, or exacerbated by, the subsequent occurrence of compensatory growth? 2. Does the rate of growth influence levels of resting metabolism and/or oxidative stress, and if so, for how long does this persist? 3. How are the levels of early nutrition, growth, resting metabolism and oxidative stress linked to the lev [continued...]DescriptionIt is now widely appreciated that, while animals may appear to recover from periods of poor food quality or quantity experienced in early development, adverse effects may occur later in adult life. Such effects can influence the performance of complete cohorts of animals, and have important consequences for population dynamics. The reasons why such delayed effects occur across the animals' lifetimes are poorly understood. ...
Tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum(III) (Alq3) shows electronic absorption bands at 378, 360 (in a 1:1 mixed solvent of methanol and ethanol (ME) at 77 K), 334, 316, 300, 263, 255.8, and 233 nm in ethanol at room temperature. According to the polarized fluorescence excitation spectrum together with MO calculations, for instance, the 360 nm band is assigned to an LL CT transition (an intramolecular charge transfer transition between two ligands), and the 378 nm band to an LM/ML CT one (an intramolecular charge transfer transition between ligand and metal). Alq3 shows a broad fluorescence band peaking at around 478 nm in the ME matrix at 77 K. The emission spectrum measured with a phosphoroscope has two emission bands at 567 and 478 nm. The 567 nm band accompanies vibronic bands at 578 and 605 nm, being safely assigned to a phosphorescence of Alq3. The lifetimes of the 478 and 567 nm bands are both 5.4 ms. The lifetime of the 478 nm band together with the band position and its band shape ...
Through analysis of archival images and photometry from the Spitzer GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys combined with Two Micron All Sky Survey and MSX data, we have identified 488 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in the giant molecular cloud M17 SWex, which extends #approx#50 pc southwest from the prominent Galactic H II region M17. Our sample includes >200 YSOs with masses >3 M _s_u_n that will become B-type stars on the main sequence. Extrapolating over the stellar initial mass function (IMF), we find that M17 SWex contains >1.3 x 10"4 young stars, representing a proto-OB association. The YSO mass function is significantly steeper than the Salpeter IMF, and early O stars are conspicuously absent from M17 SWex. Assuming M17 SWex will form an OB association with a Salpeter IMF, these results reveal the combined effects of (1) more rapid circumstellar disk evolution in more massive YSOs and (2) delayed onset of massive star formation.
In this report we assessed retrospectively the usefulness of Thallium-201 chloride scintigraphy for diagnosing malignant tumors of the maxillofacial region. Thallium-201 chloride scintigraphy was performed on 74 patients with malignant tumors and 8 patients with benign tumors, and a retention index was calculated from the early and delayed scintigrams (delayed accumulation ratio/ early accumulation ratio). This retention index depended on the blood flow of tumors and the affinity of tumors with Thallium-201 chloride. The retention index was large for malignant tumors (avg.: 1.05) and small for benign tumors (avg.: 0.78). Concerning the degree of malignancy (the histological type and the degree of tumor involvement), the retention index was higher in highly malignant tumors (1.20 for poorly-differentiated tumors and 1.19 for aggressive-involvement-type tumors) and lower for tumors of low malignancy (1.02 for well-differentiated tumors and 0.98 ...
An approximate expression for whistler-mode group velocity is obtained, taking into account the effects of electron temperature and anisotropy, density and ion effects, effects of oblique propagation and a non-dipolarity of the dayside magnetospheric magnetic field. This expression is applied to the propagation of whistlers between one hemisphere and the other. It is pointed out that at frequencies close to the upper cut-off of whistler spectra, perturbations to whistler group delay times due to temperature effects can be of the same order of magnitude as, or even higher than, the corresponding perturbations due to finite electron density and ion effects. A method of magnetospheric electron temperature diagnostics is proposed and applied to two whistlers recorded at Halley (L = 4.3). It is pointed out that the values of temperature obtained from the analysis of whistler spectra depend on the choice of model of electron density and temperature distribution in the ...
The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) features a three-loop, sodium-cooled 400 MWt mixed oxide fueled reactor designed for the irradiation testing of fuels and materials for use in liquid metal cooled fast reactors. To establish the ultimate capability of a particular fuel design and thereby generate information that will lead to improvements, many of the fuel irradiations are continued until a loss of cladding integrity (failure) occurs. When the cladding fails, fission gas escapes from the fuel pin and enters the reactor cover gas system. If the cladding failure permits the primary sodium to come in contact with the fuel, recoil fission products can enter the sodium. The presence of recoil fission products in the sodium can be detected by monitoring for the presence of delayed neutrons in the coolant. It is the present philosophy to not operate FFTF when a failure has occurred that permits fission fragments to enter the sodium. Thus, it is important that the ...
The front-end electronics system for the anode signals of the CMS Endcap Muon cathode strip chambers has about 183000 channels. The purposes of the anode front-end electronics are to acquire precise muon timing information for bunch crossing number identification at the Level-1 muon trigger system and to provide a coarse radial position of the muon track. Each anode channel consists of an input protection network, amplifier, shaper, constant-fraction discriminator, and a programmable delay. The essential parts of the electronics include a 16-channel amplifier-shaper-discriminator ASIC CMP16 and a 16-channel ASIC D16G providing programmable time delay. The ASIC CMP16 was optimized for the large cathode chamber size (up to 3 x 2.5 m2) and for the large input capacitance (up to 200 pf). The ASIC combines low power consumption (30 mW/channel) with good time resolution (2 - 3 ns). The del ay ASIC D16G makes possible the alignment of signals with an ...
Spatio-temporal preferences and encounter statistics provide realistic measures to understand mobile user's behavioral preferences and transfer opportunities in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). The time dependent behavior and periodic reappearances at specific locations can approximate future online presence while encounter statistics can aid to forward the routing decisions. It is theoretically shown that such characteristics heavily affect the performance of routing protocols. Therefore, mobility models demonstrating such characteristics are also expected to show identical routing performance. However, we argue models despite capturing these properties deviate from their expected routing performance. We use realistic traces to validate this observation on two mobility models. Our empirical results for epidemic routing show those models' largely differ (delay 67% & reachability 79%) from the observed values. This in-turn call for two ...
While sharing resources the efficiency is substantially degraded as a result of the scarceness of availability of the requested resources in a multiclient support manner. These resources are often aggravated by many factors like the temporal constraints for availability or node flooding by the requested replicated file chunks. Thus replicated file chunks should be efficiently disseminated in order to enable resource availability on-demand by the mobile users. This work considers a cross layered middleware support system for efficient delay-sensitive streaming by using each device's connectivity and social interactions in a cross layered manner. The collaborative streaming is achieved through the epidemically replicated file chunk policy which uses a transition-based approach of a chained model of an infectious disease with susceptible, infected, recovered and death states. The Gossip-based stateful model enforces the mobile nodes whether to host a file chunk or not ...
Passage through dams is a major source of mortality of anadromous juvenile salmonids because some populations must negotiate up to eight dams in Columbia and Snake rivers. Dams cause direct mortality when fish pass through turbines, but dams may also cause indirect mortality by altering migration conditions in rivers. Forebays immediately upstream of dams have decreased the water velocity of rivers and may contribute substantially to the total migration delay of juvenile salmonids. Recently, Coutant (2001a) suggested that in addition to low water velocities, lack of natural turbulence may contribute to migration delay by causing fish to lose directional cues. Coutant (2001a) further hypothesized that restoring turbulence in dam forebays may reduce migration delay by providing directional cues that allow fish to find passage routes more quickly (Coutant 2001a). Although field experiments have yielded proof of the concept of ...
The author points out that errors in certain measurements are preventing improvements in coke: thermocouples (errors caused by the thermocouple installation and variations in the temperature of the cold junctions); dilatometers (errors caused by size of heating block and differences in starting temperature led to differences between two instruments); errors in measuring the bulk density of the coking charge. The elimination of these sources of error in determinations of the technological and physical properties of coke oven charge should assist in the study of other problems which are delaying improvements in blast furnace coke production.
This study was initiated to provide empirical data and analyses on the dam passage timing, travel rate, survival, and life history variation of fall Chinook salmon that are produced in the Clearwater River. The area of interest for this study focuses on the lower four miles of the Clearwater River and its confluence with the Snake River because this is an area where many fish delay their seaward migration. The goal of the project is to increase our understanding of the environmental and biological factors that affect juvenile life history of fall Chinook salmon in the Clearwater River. The following summaries are provided for each of the individual chapters in this report.
This text-book (electronic book - multi-media CD-ROM) constitutes a course-book - author's collection of lectures. It consists of 13 lectures in which the reader acquaints with the basis of radiobiology: Introduction to radiobiology; Physical fundamentals of radiobiology; Radiation of cells; Modification of radiation damage of cells; Reparation of radiation damage of cells; Radiation syndromes and their modification; Radiation injury; Radiation damage of tissues; Effect of radiation on embryo and fetus; Biological effects of incorporated radionuclides; Therapy of acute irradiation sickness; Delayed consequences of irradiation; Radiation oncology and radiotherapy. This course-book may be interesting for students, post-graduate students of chemistry, biology, physics, medicine as well as for teachers, scientific workers and physicians. (author)
Control of human filarial infections currently depends on chemotherapeutic strategies predominantly directed at microfilariae. Doxycycline therapy in an extended daily dose regimen sterilizes and kills adult stages, but the utility of this drug for routine field use remains an issue of concern. No macrofilaricidal drugs with efficacy after one or two doses are available for use, delaying the achievement of the elimination or eradication of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. Moxidectin, a macrocyclic lactone, is currently in clinical trials for onchocerciasis. A few other drugs that have already been approved for use in veterinary practice or in human medicine for other indications are available for investigation. Early drug discovery pipelines are poorly populated and the process of ...
Time delay neural networks trained with the backpropagation algorithm are derived for the gun fire control system to correct the miss distance between a target and the projectiles from the gun. Its performance is compared to optimum linear filter based on minimum mean square error [R.E. Kalman, A new approach to linear filtering and prediction problems, J. Basic Eng. 82D (1960) 35-44.]. The structure of the proposed neural controller is described and performance results are shown.
The micropulse lidar (MPL) is a ground-based optical remote sensing system designed primarily to determine the altitude of clouds overhead. The physical principle is the same as for radar. Pulses of energy are transmitted into the atmosphere; the energy scattered back to the transceiver is collected and measured as a time-resolved signal. From the time delay between each outgoing transmitted pulse and the backscattered signal, the distance to the scatterer is infered. Besides real-time detection of clouds, post-processing of the lidar return can also characterize the extent and properties of aerosol or other particle-laden regions.
We have measured the K-shell ionization probability across the 6.06-MeV resonance in /sup 88/Sr(p,p/sub 0/) where the resonance width is large compared to the energy transferred to the electron. The results are found to agree quantitatively with the theory developed by Blair and Anholt. The effect of the time delay on the ionization probability, introduced by the nuclear scattering at the resonance energy, is discussed.
Lifetimes have been measured in the {pi}h{sub 9/2} (yrast) and {pi}i{sub 13/2} (excited) bands in the nuclei {sup 181}Ir and {sup 187}Au using the Recoil Distance Method (RDM). The results clearly indicate that the {pi}i{sub 13/2} band exhibits an increased deformation over the {pi}h{sub 9/2} band, in keeping with the premise that the delayed crossing in this band is due to enhanced quadrupole deformation. (author). 3 refs, 1 fig, 2 tab.
Lifetimes have been measured in the #pi#h_9_/_2 (yrast) and #pi#i_1_3_/_2 (excited) bands in the nuclei "1"8"1Ir and "1"8"7Au using the Recoil Distance Method (RDM). The results clearly indicate that the #pi#i_1_3_/_2 band exhibits an increased deformation over the #pi#h_9_/_2 band, in keeping with the premise that the delayed crossing in this band is due to enhanced quadrupole deformation. (author). 3 refs, 1 fig, 2 tab.
To improve operational safety of the fuel channel for Wolsung units the recommended primary heat transport system (PHTS) operating guidelines were developed, which provides a safe operation window in terms of pressure and temperature to maintain fuel channel integrity, which is similar to pressure-temperature curves used for primary pressure boundary integrity in PWRs and deterministic Leak-Before Break (LBB) analyses were conducted using recent understanding of delayed hydride cracking (DHC) mechanism. In addition, a comparative assessment of LBB analysis was made using the procedures of Fitness For Service Guidelines(FFSG) for pressure tubes rev. 0 and rev. 1.
The ability to control the flow of water around the body dictates the performance of marine mammals in the aquatic environment. Morphological specializations of marine mammals afford mechanisms for passive flow control. Aside from the design of the body, which minimizes drag, the morphology of the appendages provides hydrodynamic advantages with respect to drag, lift, thrust, and stall. The flukes of cetaceans and sirenians and flippers of pinnipeds possess geometries with flexibility, which enhance thrust production for high efficiency swimming. The pectoral flippers provide hydrodynamic lift for maneuvering. The design of the flippers is constrained by performance associated with stall. Delay of stall can be accomplished passively by modification of the flipper leading edge. Such a desig...
With the increasing use of high voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission lines there is a growing concern among the public about possible human health effects resulting from exposure to the electric fields associated with these lines. While there is no definitive evidence of such effects, mounting public fear and activism over hypothesized health risks is already causing delays in the licensing and constuction of major power transmission facilities, and is encouraging the formation of regulatory policy. This paper briefly reviews the concerns, biological effects data and standards for HVAC transmission lines.
The nuclei {sup 81}Zr and {sup 85}Mo with T{sub z}=1/2 have been reinvestigated via their {beta}-delayed proton emissions with p-{gamma} coincidence measurement. The half-life of {sup 81}Zr has been measured to be 5.3{+-}0.5 s, which agrees with one of the two previous values. For {sup 85}Mo, the measured half-life is 3.2{+-}0.2 s, which revises the previous value. (orig.) With 3 figs., 12 refs.
The nuclei "8"1Zr and "8"5Mo with T_z=1/2 have been reinvestigated via their #beta#-delayed proton emissions with p-#gamma# coincidence measurement. The half-life of "8"1Zr has been measured to be 5.3#+-#0.5 s, which agrees with one of the two previous values. For "8"5Mo, the measured half-life is 3.2#+-#0.2 s, which revises the previous value. (orig.).
Almost every electric utility company involved in nuclear plant construction has experienced difficulty as a result of the deteriorating condition of the nuclear industry as a whole. The thrust of a growing number of lawsuits brought against electric companies for alleged violations of federal securities laws is that the companies failed to reveal cost overruns, delays, and the risk of cancellation and write-off of nuclear plants in their annual reports and registration statements. A review of several suits and the disclosure requirements of securities statutes concludes that, although investors have known about utility problems, they have just become aware this year that the entire financial viability of the electric companies is threatened.
A high voltage self-blowing circuit breaker with closing resistors is equipped with an auxiliary contact inserted in the trip control circuit of an electrical circuit breaker. The auxiliary contact is actuated by the mechanical control rod of the circuit breaker in such a way as to prevent any operator closing error. A high-speed mechanism is inserted in the link system connecting the control rod and the auxiliary contact, with dead travel to delay closing of the auxiliary contact when a closing operation takes place and to prevent a tripping order from being transmitted too early. Such an early transmission would be liable to cause a flashover on the inserter contacts and damage to the circuit breaker.
The Advanced Photon Source consists of five accelerators. The injection timing system provides the signals required to cause a bunch emitted from the electron gun to navigate through intermediate accelerators to a specific bucket (1 out of 1296) within the storage ring. Two linacs and a positron accumulator ring operate at 60Hz while a booster synchrotron ramps and injects into the storage ring at 2Hz. The distributed, modular VME/VXI-based injection timing system is controlled by two EPICS-based input/output controllers (IOCs). Over 40 VME/VXI cards have been developed to implement the system. Card types range from 352MHz VXI timing modules to VME-based fiber optic fanouts and logic translators/drivers. All timing is distributed with fiber optics. Timing references are derived directly from machine low-level rf of 9.77MHz and 352MHz. The timing references provide triggers to programmable delay generators. Three grades of timing are provided. Precision timing is ...
The effective fraction of delayed photoneutrons ({beta}{sup ph}) has been theoretically defined and experimentally determined in various different configurations of the LWR-PROTEUS critical facility. The peculiarity lies in the fact that the reactor has D{sub 2}O in only one of the four fuelled zones, thus D({gamma},n)H reactions take place mainly in this region. The work is divided into three parts. The first part is devoted to the description of the LWR-PROTEUS facility and to the measurements of {beta}{sup ph}. These experimental values are derived from standard inverse-kinetics analysis of neutron flux decay experiments for each of seven different configurations, with nine additional groups of neutron precursors to account for photoneutron effects. In the second part, the coupled neutron and gamma Boltzmann equations are reduced to exact point kinetics equations using the photon infinite-velocity approximation, and then to the point reactor model. ...
Canadian railway traffic is delayed until lines are plowed of snow following heavy snowfalls. A modification that would permit higher plowing speeds and fewer delays could realize significant benefits in addition to direct fuel and labor savings. The objective of this project was to carry out a cost benefit analysis on a low-friction coating applied to a mainline railway snow plow. The assessment was carried out using old Canadian National Railway snow plows for test purposes. An analytical model was developed to estimate the importance of friction reduction to fuel consumption and power requirements. The sensitivity analysis revealed a bump or discontinuity in the power vs speed profile, corresponding to the minimum plow speed at which the snow will cease to flow over the plow. Reducing the coefficient of friction reduces this minimum plowing speed. This could mean the difference between success and failure in plowing some tight, heavily laden ...
This study was performed to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of double-phase Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with hyperparathyroidism. We also evaluated the relationship between Tc-99m MIBI uptake and oxyphil cell contents in parathyroid glands. The subjects were 28 parathyroid glands of 10 patients who underwent Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy and parathyroidectomy for clinically suspected hyperparathyroidism. Early and delayed pinhole images were obtained at 15 minutes and 2 hours after injection of Tc-99m MIBI, and SPECT images were followed. The weight and oxyphil cell contents of parathyroid tissue were obtained from pathologic specimen, and the scintigraphic findings were compared with histopathology. In surgical histopathology, 6 parathyroid adenomas and 9 parathyroid hyperplasias were confirmed. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of early and ...
Optimal design of the hyperfractionated radiotherapy requires basic radiobiological data such as the critical dose per fraction, number of fractions per day and total equivalent dose, to name a few. As a prelude to in vivo hyperfractionated irradiation, the authors carried out experiments to determine quantitative changes in the proliferation and cell kinetic parameters of multicellular spheroids after hyperfractionated irradiation. Experiments were carried out with HeLa S-3 spheroid growing in MEM culture media. Hyperfractionated irradiation schedules were 1.5 Gy/f, 2f/day and 1.0 Gy/f, 3 f/day. At intervals after irradiation, cell numbers, growth delays and cell cycle distribution of spheroids were determined. The kinetic data were obtained by the use of flow cytometry. The most pronounced changes in cell kinetic parameters were early G/sub 2/M block, proportional to single radiation dose up to 4.0 Gy. There was a corresponding depletion of G1 population as a ...
In association with periodic inspection of CANDU nuclear power plant components, Canadian Standards Association issued CSA N285.8 in 2005 as technical requirements for in-service evaluation of zirconium alloy pressure tubes in CANDU reactors. This first version, CSA N285.8 involves procedures for, firstly, the evaluation of pressure tube flaws, secondly, the evaluation of pressure tube to calandria tube contact and, thirdly, the assessment of a reactor core, and material properties and derived quantities. The evaluation of pressure tube flaws includes delayed hydride cracking evaluation the procedures of which are stipulated based on the existing delayed hydride cracking models. For example, the evaluation of flaw-tip hydride precipitation during reactor cooldown involves a procedure to calculate the equilibrium hydrogen equivalent concentration in solution at the flaw tip, Htipas follows: Htip=Hfexp[- (VH delta no.)/RT], where Hf is the total ...
Low resolution and un-sharp facial images are always captured from surveillance videos because of long human-camera distance and human movements. Previous works addressed this problem by using an active camera to capture close-up facial images without considering human movements and mechanical delays of the active camera. In this paper, we proposed a unified framework to capture facial images in video surveillance systems by using one static and active camera in a cooperative manner. Human faces are first located by a skin-color based real-time face detection algorithm. A stereo camera model is also employed to approximate human face location and his/her velocity with respect to the active camera. Given the mechanical delays of the active camera, the position of a target face with a given delay can be estimated using a Human-Camera Synchronization Model. By controlling the active camera with corresponding amount of pan, ...
ObjectiveAnimal feeding practices in the United States have changed considerably over the past century. As large-scale, concentrated production methods have become the predominant...Full Text Available
...qualified and who were under consideration at the time, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack chose an animal husbandry specialist employed by one of the largest organic livestock product marketers in the country. While this appointee had grown up on a conventional farm, her immediate occupation is not that of ...
This revision of the APT Waste Management Plan details the waste management requirements and issues specific to the APT plant for design considerations, construction, and operation. The APT Waste Management Plan is by its nature a living document and will be reviewed at least annually and revised as required.
Albeit the considerable progress that has been made both in our understanding of the pathophysiology of acute renal failure (ARF) and in its treatment (continuous renal replacement therapies), the morbidity...Full Text Available
Reliable dietary assessment is a challenging yet essential task for determining general health. Existing efforts are manual, require considerable effort, and are prone to underestimation and misrepresentation...Full Text Available
The dwelling is equipped with solar collectors which heat the air circulating in the cavity walls and the space beneath the floors. The thermal aspects of such a building are described. Heat balance, losses, heating by the sun in different seasons are described. Different measures taken to reduce the energy losses are described.
BackgroundWhile physical health has improved considerably over recent decades in Finland, the disease burden of mental health, especially that of depression, has become increasingly...Full Text Available
BackgroundPlasmodium falciparum morbid and fatal risks are considerably higher in areas supporting parasite prevalence ≥25%, when compared with low transmission...Full Text Available
BackgroundPrevious studies in Ascomycetes have shown that the function of gene families of which the size is considerably larger in extant pathogens than in non-pathogens could be...Full Text Available
BackgroundThere has been considerable effort to discover plant-derived antibacterials against methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which...Full Text Available
Analysis of the pulsed-field gel electrophoretic profiles of 82 pneumococcal isolates with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (RSC) and of 90 co-occurring susceptible isolates indicates a considerable...Full Text Available
BACKGROUND: Patients with shoulder disorders are believed to benefit considerably from steroid injections. However, the controversy about their efficacy persists. AIM: The study was designed to assess...Full Text Available
Chemicals having a capacity to disturb the endocrine system have attracted considerable interest during recent years. There is a shortage of well-characterized in vivo tests with which to study such...Full Text Available
The planned spallation source can be of considerable significance for biomedical basic research and for clinically relevant diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The following gives a brief description and explanations for its possible use in clinical medicine: I. Treatment of Malignant Tumors II. Production of Isotopes for Biochemical Investigations in Living Organisms for Diagnostic Purposes.
Subjects covered in this section are: (1) PCAST panel promotes energy research cooperation; (2) Letter issued by ANS urges funding balance in FFTF restart consideration and (3) FESAC panel releases report on priorities and balance.
Less wind power plants in the landscape, more power from renewables, less carbon dioxide and higher tax: The advantages of repowering for communities are considerable. Still, they are hesitant to use it. (orig.)
This report presents geologic considerations that are pertinent to the Remedial Action Plan for Slick Rock mill tailings. Topics covered include regional geology, site geology, geologic stability, and geologic suitability.
1. In rat soleus muscle, high frequency electrical stimulation produced a rapid increase in intracellular Na+ (Na+i) content. This was considerably larger in muscles contracting without developing tension...Full Text Available
The paper reviews the main observational data on pulsars, both the individual characteristics of pulsars and the properties they possess as members of the Galaxy. Consideration is then given to pulsar ages and to pulsar initial periods. An attempt is made to clarify the 'true' ages of pulsars.
BackgroundIrritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD) show considerable overlap and are both associated with psychiatric comorbidity. The present study aimed to...Full Text Available
The current obesity pandemic is expected to result in considerable downstream morbidity, mortality and incremental costs to health care systems around the world. The major metabolic complications of...Full Text Available
Military working dogs are rapidly becoming integral to military operations. While they bring many valuable capabilities to the battlefield, it is important that Special Operations leaders consider canine team capabilities and requirements when planning mi...
BackgroundDespite considerable efforts to promote and support guideline use, adherence is often suboptimal. Barriers to adherence vary not only across guidelines but also across...Full Text Available
BackgroundSeasonal influenza A infection affects a significant cohort of the global population annually, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality. Therapeutic strategies...Full Text Available
Importance of the fieldThe cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoforms that are selectively induced following exposure to structurally-diverse chemicals often are the ones capable...Full Text Available
The conversion of coal to oil can be carried out in two ways. A synthesis route and a degradation route. Each of these routes are described and several degradation processes are explored. The testing of several fuels produced from coal is also given considerations.
BackgroundAlthough considerable progress has been made in the treatment of chronic kidney disease, compromised quality of life continues to be a significant problem for patients...Full Text Available
for an Air Force Manufacturing technology program whose aim is the establishment of organic matrix ...... display considerations for advanced energy/flight management sys- ...... Future System - The Roadmap of the System of the Future - ...... data storage units, pilot's guidance indicators, and a quick look ...
Several compact proton accelerator systems for use in proton therapy have recently been proposed. Of paramount importance to the development of such an accelerator system is the maximum kinetic energy...Full Text Available
Localized mRNA provides spatial and temporal protein expression essential to cell development and physiology. To explore the mechanisms involved, considerable effort has been spent in establishing new...Full Text Available
Dyslexia (or reading disability) and specific language impairment (or SLI) are common childhood disorders that show considerable co-morbidity and diagnostic overlaps and have been suggested to share...Full Text Available
A series of N-alkylamide epoxides have shown considerable selective activity against insects. The N-ethyl and 7,11-dichloro-N-ethyl derivatives showed particularly pronounced activity, and this paper...Full Text Available
Beamline VI is a wiggler-based, multi-kilowatt, intense synchrotron radiation beamline installed SPEAR. The thermal design parameters for this beamline are presented and then design considerations and construction descriptions are given for many of the high-power photon beamline elements.
Harmful algal blooms, caused by rapid growth and accumulation of certain microalgae in the ocean, pose considerable impacts on marine environments, aquatic industries and even public health. Here, we...Full Text Available
The clinical significance, Gram stain reaction, and genus affiliation of Gardnerella vaginalis have been controversial since Gardner and Dukes described the organism as the cause of "nonspecific vaginitis,"...Full Text Available
This study explored posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive change resulting from struggling with trauma, among 7- to 10-year-olds impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Analyses focused on child self-system...Full Text Available
Environmental health concerns in the Persian Gulf are peculiar to the geography of the region. Prevention of heat and solar injury deserves primary consideration, but cold injury also may occur in the...Full Text Available
When choosing an electromagnetic tracking system (EMTS) for image-guided procedures several factors must be taken into consideration. Among others these include the system’s refresh rate, the...Full Text Available
A rapid expansion of urban systems, particularly in less-developed countries, pose considerable challenges. Urbanization also provides opportunities for socio-economic progress. Relative contribution...Full Text Available
In order to decrease tritium exposure to workers, the ratio of which is up to 40% of total exposure, tritium removal facility is getting to be one of the considerable parameters in Korea, due to the next CANDUs to be operated at Wolsung NPP. For investiga...
This investigation clearly demonstrates that through partial impregnation techniques wood-polymer composites can be formed from the Pinus species grown in South Africa with a considerable saving in monomer costs without sacrificing the important physical properties of these materials.
BackgroundEffective prevention of excessive alcohol use has the potential to reduce the public burden of disease considerably. We investigated the cost-effectiveness of Screening...Full Text Available
Finland has set up several national air pollution control programmes in order to implement international conventions. As a rule these programmes have focused on one pollutant. The national second carbon dioxide commission is at present working on a new programme to curb carbon dioxide emissions, and this will unavoidably affect other programmes, too. This study presents the existing programmes and their respective implementation costs. The aim has been to focus on the interaction between different air pollution combatting measures and the possibilities of setting priorities on a cost basis. The main result is that it will be difficult to integrate overall aims for general welfare and subsequent energy consumption with environmental considerations, especially in air pollution control. If the increase in energy generation follows current scenarios, the costs for air pollution abatement measures will require a considerable portion of the increase ...
The use of mice for the assay of tetanus toxoids would offer considerable advantages over the use of guinea-pigs, but mice cannot readily be immunized with the fluid tetanus toxoid at present designated...Full Text Available
Requirements for food packaging materials include whether there is any interaction between the food and the package during or after the irradiation, and whether as a result of the irradiation, volatile or leachable substances are released from the pack into the food. The performance of cellulose-based materials and plastic films under irradiation are discussed.
The main problems encountered during the operation of horizontal steam generators are considered. Design features of the new PGV-1000MK and PGV-1500 steam generators are analyzed.
BackgroundVariable platelet response to clopidogrel has been widely observed. Studies have shown that the mean aggregation response to clopidogrel can be changed...Full Text Available
Following a brief description of the SSC, the computing needs are discussed for both the accelerator design and the experimentation. The computing power required is considerably beyond that being used at present facilities, and parallel processing is expected to play an important role in supplying these needs.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is increasing in incidence, creating worldwide public health concerns and impacting morbidity and mortality rates. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated shared...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
The different radiation loads caused by natural and artificial radionuclides are compared in this paper. This examples will serve to illustrate that the problem of population exposure to radiation can only be solved in consideration of all components and to show which effects of the radiation from natural sources are of special importance in this connexion. (orig./AK).
Currently there is considerable interest among oncologists to find anticancer drugs in Chinese herbal medicine (CHM). In the past, clinical data showed that some herbs possessed anticancer properties,...Full Text Available
Transgenic mouse models have contributed considerably to our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which androgens control spermatogenesis. Cell-selective ablation of the androgen...Full Text Available
... relative suitability of areas for production of commercial timber was determined based on considerations of operability, proximity ... habitats, and an ecologically-based estimate of sustainable timber pr...
Accurate segmentation of tissue microarrays is a challenging topic because of some of the similarities exhibited by normal tissue and tumor regions. Processing speed is another consideration...Full Text Available
This report documents the concluding efforts at the Engineering Sciences Laboratory of TRW on two specific areas of current research activity within the more general context of proposed lean-burn operation of Otto-cycle-type automotive engines. These areas are: (1) achievement of knock-free performance, both under available fuels and current compression ratios and also under higher-octane fuels (e.g., alcohols) and higher-compression-ratio design (for greater thermal efficiency); and (2) identification of counterstrategies for two-wall (crevice-type) quenching of flame propagation, a phenomenon now widely acknowledged to be the major source of unburned-hydrocarbon emissions exhausted from homogeneous-charge cyclinders. There are certainly other highly active areas of research in Otto-cycle engines, such as turbocharging, ignition devices, and valve design, but the two above-cited topics were the topics of this project.
Uranium-aluminum alloys with a significant enrichment of uranium with "2"3"3U or "2"3"5U serve as nuclear fuels in research reactors. The quality assurance of this fuel requires, among other things, precise knowledge that all trace metal constituents that affect neutron economy, fuel integrity, and fuel fabrication process parameters are well within the specification limits. Trace metal characterization of "2"3"5U-Al alloy has been carried out by atomic spectrometry. The trace metal constituents of interest are grouped into common metals (silver, boron, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, nickel, lead, silicon, tin, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, and zinc) and lanthanides (cerium, dysprosium, europium, gadolinium, holminium, lutetium, samarium, and terbium). The elements yttrium and zirconium are grouped with the latter in view of the chemical separation procedure used. The alloy samples are dissolved in 6 M HCl and evaporated to ...
A gas injection diesel engine was developed as an approaching measure to the diversification of fuel. Contrary to the usual low pressure gas application engine, this engine applies a so-called diffuse combustion method, in which high pressure (24.7Mpa) gas fuel is injected directly in the cylinder and is ignited and combusted by a little pilot fuel injected almost at the same time. The engine have following features. As a principle, it can attain the same heat efficiency and output rate as a diesel engine in any load range. It is excellent in responsibility to load fluctuation. There is no internal leakage of gas fuel to the scavenging chamber (the crank chamber) in the compression stroke. Not only a wide range of mixed combustion of gas fuel and heavy oil fuel, but also single combustion of heavy oil is possible. It is, therefore, drawing attention as an engine for an LNG ship and also for a power generation plant with the recent increasing demand of gas fuel ...
The performance of jet fuel with an oxidant mixture containing 70 percent liquid fluorine and 30 percent liquid oxygen by weight was investigated in a 500-pound-thrust engine operating at a chamber pressure of 300 pounds per square inch absolute. A one-oxidant-on-one-fuel skewed-hole impinging-jet injector was evaluated in a chamber of characteristic length equal to 50 inches. A maximum experimental specific impulse of 268 pound-seconds per pound was obtained at 25 percent fuel, which corresponds to 96 percent of the maximum theoretical specific impulse based on frozen composition expansion. The maximum characteristic velocity obtained was 6050 feet per second at 23 percent fuel, or 94 percent of the theoretical maximum. The average thrust coefficient was 1.38 for the 500-pound thrust combustion-chamber nozzle used, which was 99 percent of the theoretical (frozen) maximum. Mixtures of fluorine and oxygen were found to be self-igniting with jet fuel with fluorine ...
More than 2 years after the Gulf conflict, scientists are continuing to keep a close watch on marine pollution stemming from the war. Following the conflict in early 1991, major concern was raised worldwide when an estimated four to eight million barrels of crude oil were directly released into the Persian Gulf from the Sea Island terminal in Kuwait. Such amounts clearly made it the largest oil spill in history. The catastrophe was exacerbated when Kuwaiti oil fields were ignited. The magnitude of the pollution, and the types of toxic contaminants involved, led to a worldwide response through the United Nations system. An inter-agency plan of action was developed quickly. As one of its steps, the co-ordinating agency - the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - asked the IAEA's Marine Environment Laboratory (MEL) in Monaco to help make a preliminary assessment of the situation. The Laboratory's main goal in initial surveys was to map the extent and general ...
In order to establish the optimum fueling in a natural gas fueled dual fuel engine, tests were made for some operational parameters and their combination on the engine performances and the exhaust emissions. The results show that the gas oil quantity should be increased and gas oil injection timing should be advanced to suppress unburned hydrocarbon emission at middle and low output range, while the quantity should be reduced and the timing should be retarded to avoid onset of knock at high loads. The unburned hydrocarbon emission and the thermal efficiency are improved at the same load avoiding too lean natural gas premixture by restriction of intake charge air. However the improvement is limited because the ignition and initial combustion of pilot diesel fuel is deteriorated when the cylinder pressure is excessively lowered by throttling. The increase in pilot gas oil amount is effective for low-load operation and the adequate combination of throttle control and ...
This study investigated the engine performance and emissions of a supercharged dual-fuel engine fueled by hydrogen-rich coke oven gas and ignited by a pilot amount of diesel fuel. The engine was tested for use as a cogeneration engine, so power output while maintaining a reasonable thermal efficiency was important. Experiments were carried out at a constant pilot injection pressure and pilot quantity for different fuel-air equivalence ratios and at various injection timings without and with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The experimental strategy was to optimize the injection timing to maximize engine power at different fuel-air equivalence ratios without knocking and within the limit of the maximum cylinder pressure. The engine was tested first without EGR condition up to the maximum possible fuel-air equivalence ratio of 0.65. A maximum indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) of 1425 kPa and a thermal efficiency of 39% were obtained. However, the nitrogen ...
We calculate the structure of accretion disks around Kerr black holes for accretion rates 0.001 - 10 M_sun/s. Such disks are plausible candidates for the central engine of gamma-ray bursts. Our disk model is fully relativistic and treats accurately microphysics of the accreting matter: neutrino emissivity, opacity, electron degeneracy, and nuclear composition. The neutrino-cooled disk forms above a critical accretion rate that depends on the black hole spin. The disk has the ``ignition'' radius r_ign where neutrino flux rises dramatically, cooling becomes efficient, and the proton-to-nucleon ratio Y_e drops. Other characteristic radii are r_alpha where most of alpha-particles are disintegrated, r_nu where the disk becomes neutrino-opaque, and r_trap where neutrinos get trapped and advected into the black hole. We find r_alpha, r_ign, r_nu, r_trap and show their dependence on the accretion rate. We discuss the qualitative picture of accretion and present sample ...
In this study a modified solid state synthesis (auto-ignition method) is used to form nanosized spinel type material LiMg{sub 0.05}Ni{sub 0.45}Mn{sub 1.5}O{sub 4}. This material presents a high voltage plateau at 4.75 V vs. Li/Li{sup +}. Structural and electrochemical characterisations have been performed using a wide range of techniques (TEM, neutron diffraction, galvanostatic measurements, and impedance spectroscopy). Besides, in situ XAS has been performed to monitor the evolution of Ni and Mn oxidation state during Li intercalation. The material presents an ordered cubic spinel structure, good capacity retention upon cycling (131 mAh g{sup -1} at C/10 and 117 mAh g{sup -1} at 1C) and good electronic conductivity (10{sup -6} S cm{sup -1} at RT). The simultaneous presence of Mn{sup 3+}/Mn{sup 4+} in the structure has been investigated and explained by inclusion of disordered nanodomains in the structure. (author)
Microwaves were used to induce self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) in the reaction 3TiO{sub 2}+3C+(4+x)Al {yields} 3TiC+2Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}+xAl. The SHS process was studied for x = 0 and 4, using slow and fast heating rates and with and without the application of uniaxial pressure. Less than 50 watts was required to internally ignite the samples using a TE{sub 102} microwave cavity mode. Uniaxial stresses in the range of 200-1400 psi were continuously applied along the vertical axis of some of the processed samples as the SHS reactions were initiated. SEM photomicrographs clearly indicate differences in the formation of whiskers and other microstructural features in the products obtained from microwave and conventional hot wire techniques. The x = 0 samples processed with fast and slow microwave heating rates reached higher densities than the conventionally processed samples.
We are attempting to characterize and model the micromechanical response of highly-filled polymers. In this class of materials, the continuous plastic binder used to bond the highly-filled material dominates the observed viscoelastic response. As a result, realistic lifetime analysis of these materials will require a thorough understanding of the contribution of the plastic binder. Laboratory applications of these materials include plastic bonded explosives, propellants, a variety of specialized filled organic materials for stockpile systems, and highly filled epoxy dielectric materials for the National Ignition Facility. We have explored numerous techniques to characterize the local microstructure of plastic bonded explosives. However, insufficient funding was obtained to bring these technologies to maturity, nevertheless our present tool set is significantly better than 2 years ago. We have also made some progress in developing an appropriate micromechanical ...
The Natural Gas Vehicle Challenge `92, organized by Argonne National Laboratory and sponsored by the US Department of Energy, the Energy, Mines, and Resources - Canada, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and many others, resulted in 20 varied approaches to the conversion of a gasoline-fueled, spark-ignited, internal combustion engine to dedicated natural gas use. Starting with a GMC Sierra 2500 pickup truck, donated by General Motors, teams of college and university student engineers strived to optimize Chevrolet V-8 engines operating on natural gas for improved emissions, fuel economy, performance, and advanced design features. This paper focuses on the results of the emission event, and compares engine mechanical configurations, engine management systems, catalyst configurations and locations, and approaches to fuel control and the relationship of these parameters to engine-out and tailpipe emissions of regulated exhaust constituents. Nine of the ...
Through the innovative design of a novel end plug scheme employing octopole MHD stabilization, the authors present the conceptual design of ''MINIMARS'', a small commercial fusion reactor based on the tandem mirror principle. The current baseline for MINIMARS has a net electric output of 600 MWe and they have configured the design for short construction times, factory-built modules, inherently safe blanket systems, and multiplexing in station sizes of #approx =# 600-2400 MWe. They demonstrate that the compact octopole end cell provides a number of advantages over the more conventional quadrupole (yin-yang) end cell encountered in the MARS tandem mirror reactor study, and enables ignition to be achieved with much shorter central cell lengths. Accordingly, being economic in small sizes, MINIMARS provides an attractive alternative to the more conventional larger conceptual fusion reactors encountered to date, and would contribute significantly to the lowering of ...
The fault detection and diagnosis system for gas engines was developed to improve the reliability of cogeneration systems (CGS). Most of existing fault detection systems monitor the trend of each part condition of engines and diagnose faults based on trend change, resulting in slow detection. Although early detection systems are available, those are complex, expensive and poor in flexibility and applicability. Since CGSs combined with gas engines increased to 1/3 of the whole CGS, engine troubles cause possible serious faults. The fault diagnosis system was thus developed to prevent serious faults which can early detect, in particular, abnormal conditions of parts around a combustion chamber such as ignition plug, intake valve and exhaust valve by monitoring exhaust pressure waveforms in an exhaust collector. Since this system can detect progressive occurrence frequency of abnormal conditions and degradation of engine parts, it can transfer previous time management ...
Video images of laser beams imprinted with distinguishable features are used for alignment of 192 laser beams at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Algorithms designed to determine the position of these beams enable the control system to perform the task of alignment. Centroiding is a common approach used for determining the position of beams. However, real world beam images suffer from intensity fluctuation or other distortions which make such an approach susceptible to higher position measurement variability. Matched filtering used for identifying the beam position results in greater stability of position measurement compared to that obtained using the centroiding technique. However, this gain is achieved at the expense of extra processing time required for each beam image. In this work we explore the possibility of using a field programmable logic array (FPGA) to speed up these computations. The results indicate a performance improvement of 20 using the FPGA ...
Diesel engines operating on gaseous fuels are commonly known as dual-fuel engines. In the present work, a single-cylinder, compression ignition, indirect injection research (Ricardo E6) engine has been installed at United Arab Emirates University for investigation of the exhaust emissions when the engine is operating as a dual-fuel engine. The influence of changes in major operating and design parameters, such as the concentration of gaseous fuel in the cylinder charge, pilot fuel quantity, injection timing and intake temperature, on the production of exhaust emissions was investigated. Diesel fuel was used as the pilot fuel, while methane or propane was used as the main fuel which was inducted in the intake manifold and mixed with the intake air. The experimental investigations showed that the poor emissions at light loads can be improved significantly by increasing the concentration of gaseous fuel (total equivalence ratio), employing a large pilot fuel quantity, ...
This project is a seven year plan starting from 1997, and is aiming at developing vehicles that use the clean energy instead of petroleum, consume 1/2 of the running energy and discharge 1/2 of the CO{sub 2} of the existing vehicles. The research and development are respectively conducted for every kind of vehicles. Namely, for cars, the developments focus on methanol improved fuel battery cars and ANG series hybrid vehicles carried with flywheel battery. For 2 ton loading trucks, they are CNG self-ignition ceramics engine, capacitor/battery in combination use, series hybrid vehicles in combination with discharge energy recovery technology, CNG rarefaction combustion engine, use of lithium ion battery, and series/parallel hybrid vehicles etc. And, LNG mirror cycle engine, capacitor carrying, series hybrid vehicle, dimethylether engine, flywheel battery or capacitor carrying series hybrid vehicle etc., are for public transportation bus. (NEDO)
The plasma plume generated by a new type of high energy Janitor known as the railplug, is examined. The railplug is a miniaturized railgun that has the potential for improving ignition characteristics of combustible mixtures in engines. The objective of the study is to gain an uderstanding of the characteristics of the plasma created by a transparent railplug, and to validate a multidimensional computer simulation of the plasma and shock fronts. The nature of the plume emitted by the railplug was examined for three levels of electrical energy while firing into air at a pressure of 1 atm. The computer model is to be used to predict trends in railplug performance for various railplug designs, energies, and ambient conditions. The velocity of the plasma movement inside a transparent railplug was measured, as well as the velocity of the plume ejected from the cavity. A shock is produced at the initiation point of the arc and propagates down the cavity, eventually ...
This report presented an analysis of incidents gathered by the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry committee in relation to explosive atmospheres in wellbores, vessels, tanks, and piping systems. The aim of the report was to develop industry recommended practices for oil and gas industry fires and explosions. Two accident theory models were used to set out the relationships between hazards, defenses, and losses. Three levels of defenses were identified based on organizational, local workplace, and human factors. An organizational responsibility approach was used to examine the activities of key people with the system. Incidents were analyzed based on an expanded fire triangle used to identify fire and explosion hazards. The study showed that the ignition of hydrocarbons into the air was a factor in nearly 50 per cent of the incidents. A lack of understanding of liquid-hydrocarbon properties was demonstrated in incidents involving oxidized hydrocarbons. A lack of ...
Surgical fires--fires that occur on or in a surgical patient--are a rare but devastating complication of surgical procedures. They can happen during almost any kind of operation and can have dire consequences for both the patient and the hospital. The risk of surgical fires can be minimized as long as everyone on the surgical team understands how fires start and what to do when they occur. It's important to recognize the interaction among ignition sources, oxidizers, and fuels--the three sides of the classic fire triangle. What's more, staff members need to be alert to "hidden" fire risks, such as unsuspected oxygen-enriched atmospheres and less-than-obvious fuels. They also need to be drilled in the correct steps for responding to fires. In this guide, we describe the elements of surgical fires, including the types of equipment and materials that make up each side of the fire triangle. Through a series of case histories, we illustrate the many ways in which fires ...
The power industry is undergoing major changes. Deregulation and a competitive climate demand effective solutions. Costs and losses must be reduced, and overall efficiency must be raised. Industrial options connected to energy market and environmental considerations are discussed. Themes discussed in this paper are environmental challenges, the fuel factor, power plants in use today, the Norwegian power system, the European system, power exchange across borders, the transmission system, the future European system, and options for Norwegian industry. 27 figs.
The short range of low-energy electrons has made them suitable for the treatment of skin lesions, especially when extensive areas must be irradiated with special considerations to save the normal underlying tissue. This report covers some salient features of total body electron irradiation: the construction of the large fields required, x-ray contamination levels, and multiple-field techniques. While the investigation is essentially experimental, we also indicate the results of calculations. We conclude most generally that treatment planning with whole skin irradiations can be as precise as with smaller fields.
Much as it is accepted for pollution control reasons air pollution abatement still is the subject of heated debates. Pollutant emissions can considerably be reduced with the help of electric power supplies. In order not to prejudice electric power users tariffs have to be adapted to the prices of other energy sources available on the market. There is a general need for energy conservation, resource conservation and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Thermal insulation is among the remedial measures. Fundamental air pollution abatement measures will have to be avoiding smog warnings which are known to considerably interfere with both economic and private activities.
The contribution under consideration spans a wide curve from the first deadly accident of motorized aviation in the year 1908 up to newer tendencies of the so-called team resources management on observation points and control stations in order to pursue fundamental questions in man-machine systems. A continuous differentiation in the consideration of the factor human beings in complex technical systems is described. This is illustrated by the example of concepts for leadership, communication and decision making on observation points and control stations.
The near-term availability of domestic and selected foreign uranium resources for use by United States electric utilities is considered in light of projected geopolitical and socioeconomic considerations. No attempt is made to analyze the impact on domestic uranium supply of inflation or cost-price considerations, the introduction of the breeder reactor, limitations in enrichment capacity, or the presently expanding uranium inventory. All data are current as of mid-1980. The period with which this research is concerned is 1980-1995. It is concluded that the United States must promote responsible, environmentally acceptable uranium resource exploration and development, if this nation is to remain self sufficient in this necessary energy commodity.
The establishment of workable collaborative relations with indigenous elites formed a vital part of the maintenance of the British Empire. This was especially so in the Malay States, where the Malay rulers enjoyed considerable local prestige as religious leaders and as the organising principle of Malay society itself. As the case of Sultan Ibrahim of Johore demonstrates, nevertheless, indigenous collaborators were no mere puppets and enjoyed considerable freedom of action to frustrate and impede the policies of their imperial overlords. Sultan Ibrahim presents a particularly interesting case study as his 64-year reign more or less spanned the entire period of formal British rule in Malaya.
I formulate a model in which money coexists with equity shares on a risky aggregate endowment. Agents can use equity as a means of payment, so shocks to equity prices translate into aggregate liquidity shocks that disrupt the mechanism of exchange. I characterize a family of optimal monetary policies and find that the resulting equity prices are independent of monetary considerations. I also study a perturbation of the family of optimal policies that targets a positive constant nominal interest rate and find that in this case the real equity return includes a liquidity return that depends on monetary considerations.
NIF target diagnostics are being developed to observe and measure the extreme physics of targets irradiated by the 192-beam laser. The response time of target materials can be on the order of 100ps--the time it takes light to travel 3 cm--temperatures more than 100 times hotter than the surface of the sun, and pressures that exceed 109 atmospheres. Optical and x-ray diagnostics were developed and fielded to observe and record the results of the first 4-beam experiments at NIF. Hard and soft x-ray spectra were measured, and time-integrated and gated x-ray images of hydrodynamics experiments were recorded. Optical diagnostics recorded backscatter from the target, and VISAR laser velocimetry measurements were taken of laser-shocked target surfaces. Additional diagnostics are being developed and commissioned to observe and diagnose ignition implosions, including various neutron and activation diagnostics. NIF's diagnostics are being developed at LLNL and with ...
Further improvement of dimensional tolerance and elimination of such post-processing as cutting work are required for the maximum exhibition of the features of sintered parts. Powder behavior in fall filling and leveling off is observed with the prototype of visual apparatus for observing powder filling. It is found that the delay in the replacement of powder by air in the die and the fall along the angle of repose are the causes for the occurrence of particle size segregation, and that the diagonal downward slide of powder in upper layer only in leveling off is the cause for nonuniformity of the density. As a result, it is found that improvement of powder flowability and minimization of shaking are important for uniform and rapid filling of powder in a thin walled and complicated shape die cavity, and a guide for developing uniform filling method is made clear. Based on the result, a new uniform filling method for powder is under development to improve the ...
My assignment on the SP-100 Vacuum Vessel Vacuum System Team was to perform a transient pump down analysis for the vacuum vessel that will house the SP-100 reactor during testing. Pump down time was calculated for air and helium. For all cases the proposed vacuum system will be able to pump down the vessel within the required time. The use of a larger rotary piston pump (DUO250) improves the pump down time by 35 minutes and therefore should be considered. The 6-inch duct for the roughing line is optimal, however, because all cases are well below the 24 hour time frame, the 4-inch duct is sufficient. The use of the single turbomolecular pump during pump down is sufficient. A pump down with helium in the vessel and a helium inleakage delays the time to achieve the base pressure marginally and is acceptable.
Energy projects are extremely capitalistic and the costs involved have a significant weight on the balance sheets of companies. This paper describes the general rules of financing policies used by companies from the natural gas and petroleum industries: constraints (external and financial markets, partnership, warranties..); implication of financiers; risk analysis (political (nationalization, civil or military troubles, difficult transfer of profits outside the project..), financial (property developer, nature of the project, delay, cost overruns, performance, market..)); financial instruments (proper funds and debt, bankers and insurers, loans etc..). These rules are illustrated with several examples of recent projects of gas pipelines and exploitation of oil fields abroad. (J.S.)
Elevation of zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP) levels in the blood has served as an indicator of lead poisoning and iron deficiency anemia for many years. We have discovered that sublethal doses of whole body irradiation with x-rays also elevates ZPP 2-3-fold over normal levels. The ZPP level does not begin to increase until days 12-14 postirradiation and peaks between days 18 and 20 before returning to normal levels between days 28 and 35. Increasing the radiation dose delays the onset of the rise in ZPP, but does not affect the magnitude of the elevation. At lethal doses, ZPP elevation is not observed. Neither of the two previously described mechanisms that cause elevations of ZPP, namely iron deficiency and inhibition of ferrochelatase, are responsible for the radiation-induced elevation of ZPP. The elevation of ZPP appears to be correlated with the recovery of the hematopoietic system from radiation injury.
Modern civilisation is based on substantial utilisation of energy. Rapid industrial development and improvement of living standards in India require energy planners to adequately forecast the energy demand and take appropriate measures in advance. However, the development and establishment of new technology is a slow process, sometimes extending over decades. Hence, energy options based on new technologies need to be planned for much in advance making allowance for uncertainties and delays. Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) technology is an advanced energy option promising abundant and economic supply of power. Research and development work on FBRs has been conducted at the Indira Gandhi Centre of Atomic Research (IGC) since 1971. The international trends in FBR development are highlighted in this discussion and an overview of some of the research activities at IGC is presented. (author). 8 refs., 7 tab s.
Reactor Power Measurement is an essential part of the Reactor Power Control Loop in PHWRs. None of the available power measuring sensor offers characteristics which allow their direct use in the Reactor Power Control Loop. Thermal power, which is considered as relatively accurate, suffers from measurement delays and is used only as reference. Neutronic power sensors like Ion Chambers and Self Powered Neutron Detectors (SPNDs) which sense instantaneous power suffer from inaccuracies. A technique is required which makes use of both types-reference power and instantaneous power to extract real power information from the signals. This paper describes techniques to calibrate (correct) neutronic power that with the thermal reference power signals. The paper also brings out limitation of the calibration technique. (author)
This series of measurements with a mixed Pu-U nitrate solution (280 g Pu/liter, 180 g U/liter) in a 35.54-cm-diam cylindrical tank provides a wide variety of experimental data for subcritical configurations that can be used to verify calculational methods and nuclear data. The Pu contained 7.85 wt% {sup 240}Pu and the uranium was natural uranium. The measurements performed were: inverse count rate, prompt neutron decay constants, inverse kinetics, and frequency analysis by the {sup 252}Cf source driven method. These data are presented in sufficient detail that the results of the experiments can be calculated directly. For purposes of extrapolating to the delayed critical height the ratio of spectral densities was linear with height and thus provided the best estimate of critical height.
This paper presents a new method to improve sensorless performance of matrix converter drives using a parameter estimation scheme. To improve low-speed sensorless performance, the non-Iinearities of a matrix converter drive such as commutation delays, turn-on and turn-off times of switching devices, and on-state switching device voltage drop is modelled using PQR transformation and compensated using a reference current control scheme. To eliminate the input current distortion due to the input voltage unbalance, a simple method using PQR transformation is also presented. The proposed compensation method is applied for high performance induction motor drives using a 3 kW matrix converter system without a speed sensor. Experimental results are shown to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed strategy.
The traffic flow information guidance can improve the operating efficiency of regional traffic. On the basis of the information guidance model and survey data, this paper takes advantage of the VISSIM software to simulate the traffic in a region within the Southwest Second Ring of Beijing constructed by six roads and six intersections and makes a comparative evaluation on the operation of the regional road traffic flow before and after the implementation of the traffic flow information guidance measures. The analysis of five different guided flow cases shows that if the guided left-turn traffic flows in southbound I.A increases from 10% to 30%, the travel time of the left-turn traffic flow in southbound I.A has a reduction from 18% to 42%, and its delay also reduces from 234 s to 164 s. In...
This paper presents a new and simple method for sensorless control of matrix converter drives using a power flowing to the motor. The proposed control algorithm is based on controlling the instantaneous real and imaginary powers into the induction motor. To improve low-speed sensorless performance, the nonlinearities of a matrix converter drive such as commutation delays, turn-ON and turn-OFF times of switching devices, and on-state switching device voltage drop are modeled using a PQ power transformation and compensated using a reference power control scheme. The proposed sensorless control method is applied for the induction motor drive using a 3 kW matrix converter system. Experimental results are shown to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed strategy. Udgivelsesdato: September
A system model for transmission of computer user's data with a finite number of regular users in a resource-sharing mode in parallel distributed information-processing systems is considered. The mini/microcomputer included in the system model is considered to be receiving the mixed arrival data of the user from a picture-phone terminal with uniformly-distributed data arrivals and a teletypewriter terminal with Erlang-distributed data arrivals. The large-memory performance of the mini/microcomputer is analysed with the mixed input data, constant service-times, synchronous transmission and single server interruption through a first-order Markov process. A simple and general approach to calculate the data arrivals from picture-phone and teletypewriter terminals and their mixed data arrivals is presented. Expressions for memory content probability and average queueing delay are derived. The application of the model is illustrated by presenting an integrated ...
Purpose. To examine the impact of residual limb osteomyelitis (RLO) on the rehabilitation of lower limb amputees. Method. Retrospective review of the casenotes of patients with RLO. Information sought included details of amputation, clinical features of investigations for and management of RLO and its effect on rehabilitation. Results. There were seven transfemoral and three transtibial amputees. Indications for amputation were vascular disease in nine cases, trauma in one. In each case, delayed wound healing or residual limb pain prompted radiological, hematological and microbiological investigations. Average time between amputation and diagnosis was 187 days. One patient died before treatment commenced. Two transtibial amputees were treated with intravenous antibiotics while rehabilitati...
The theory of a method of determination of the reactivity from power spectral density measurements with /sup 252/Cf and the results of experiments with a critical assembly mock-up of a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor and with uranium (93.2 wt % /sup 235/U) metal cylinders and a sphere are presented. This method of reactivity determination has an advantage over existing methods in that it determines the reactivity only from properties of the reactor at the subcritical state of interest and thus does not require a calibration near delayed criticality. In these experiments the reactivity was varied by changing the fissile loading or the amount of neutron absorber inserted; for the LMFBR mock-up, the reactivity varied to approximately 75 dollars subcritical, and for the uranium metal assemblies, to approximately 30 dollars subcritical.
The radiographic features of Ewing's sarcoma of the bones of the hands and feet are reviewed utilizing cases obtained from the Mayo Clinic patient files and the consultation files of Drs. D.C. Dahlin and K.K. Unni. This series consists of a total of 43 cases of pathologically proven Ewing's sarcoma involving the small bones of the hands and feet. The classic radiographic features of Ewing's sarcoma in the long bones, including lytic, permeative destruction, aggressive periosteal reaction, cortical violation, and a soft tissue mass, are also seen in the bones of the hands and feet, with similar frequency. These classic features are most commonly present in lesions affecting the short tubular bones. Lesions affecting the tarsal bones more often demonstrate atypical radiographic features. These atypical radiographic appearances may play a role in the reported delay in diagnosis of Ewing's sarcoma within the tarsal bones. (orig.)
Effect of different factors on survival of patients with Ewing sarcoma (20 people), primary bone reticulosarcoma (43) and myeloma (10) of pelvic bones, has been studied. Independently of the method of treatment, the rate of 3-year survival from reticulosarcoma start constituted (31.5+-7.1)%, Ewing sarcoma - (33.0+-10.8)%, myeloma - (36.0+-15.9)%. Index of 5-year survival in case of reticulosarcoma constituted (20.9+-6.4)%, Ewing sarcoma - (23.6+-11.0)%, myeloma - (36.0+-15.9)%. Improvement of delayed results after prophylactic therapy courses is pointed out. Degree of pelvic bone affection is of a very important prognostic value.
Physicians are exercising their responsibility as healers in their efforts to prevent nuclear war. Death for Hiroshima survivors was experienced in four stages: the immediate impact of destruction, the acute impact of radiation, delayed radiation effects, and later identification as an atomic bomb survivor. Each phase had its physical and psychological impacts and negates Hiroshima as a model for rational behavior despite those who claim survival is possible for those who are prepared. The psychic effects of modern nuclear, chemical, and germ warfare need to be challenged with a symbolization of life and immortality. Studies of psychological reactions to the terror children felt during practice air-raid drills indicate that the fears can be surpressed and re-emerge in adult life as a linking of death with collective annihilation. Other themes which emerge are feelings of impermanence, craziness, identification with the bomb, and a double existence. Psychic numbing ...
Multi-fiber WDM networks are becoming the major telecommunication platforms for transmitting exponentially increasing data traffic. While today's networks are mainly providing circuit-switched connections, optical packet-switching technologies have been investigated for years, aiming at achieving more efficient utilizations of network resources. In this paper, we have evaluated, for the first time, the packet-loss performance of multi-fiber optical packet switches (MOPS). Our main contributions are threefold. Firstly, we have proposed simple and accurate analytical models for analyzing packet-loss performance of (i) the most fundamental MOPS configuration, (ii) MOPS equipped with fiber delay lines (FDLs) and (iii) shared wavelength converters (SWCs). Secondly, we have shown that the MOPS n...
The precedence effect (PE) is thought to be beneficial for proper localization and perception of sounds. The majority of recent physiological studies focus on the neural discharges correlated with PE in the inferior colliculus (IC). Pentobarbital anesthesia is widely used in physiological studies. However, little is known of the effect of pentobarbital on the discharge of neurons in PE. Neuronal responses in the IC from 23 male SD rats were recorded by standard extracellular recording techniques following presentation of 4ms white noise bursts, presented from either or both of two loud speakers, at different interstimulus delays (ISDs). The neural responses were recorded for off-line analysis before or after intraperitoneal administration of pentobarbital at a loading or maintenance dose. ...
Welded Ni-base alloys and Alloy 800 were exposed under metal dusting conditions at 600 C and 650 C for up to 6000 hours. Alloy 800 was attacked very strongly already in the first days and Alloy 600 also rather soon and widespread, on both materials attack started mainly in the heat affected zone. Several surface states of Alloy 600: brushed, ground, sand-blasted and pickled were tried only grinding caused a modest delay and decrease of metal dusting attack. Generally the attack was less widespread but deeper at 650 C than at 600 C, also for Alloy 601 and 602. The latter alloys show minor, mainly local attack, but especially the welds are affected. TIG welding led to better resistance than hand-welding. (Abstract Copyright [2003], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)
The performance of the gaseous fuel supply and its influence on hydrocarbon (HC) emissions of dual-fuel engines have been investigated. A new design of manifold respirators with mixers is also presented in the paper. The design of the gaseous fuel supply system has a great influence on HC emissions in the dual-fuel engine at light load. The problem of scavenging is discussed and solved by using the manifold respirators in the dual-fuel engine. It performs the function of retarding the gaseous fuel entry timing from the moment of intake valve opening, and its delaying effects have been measured and tested. Experimental results show that the manifold respirator gives the best performance in reducing HC emissions compared with a common pipe mixer and a respirator with bo miser. In addition, the mixing effects are sensitive to the mixer configuration. (Author)
Dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis is associated with various pathological conditions and arrhythmogenesis of the heart. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of an acute increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) on the electrophysiology of ventricular myocytes by mimicking intracellular Ca2+ overload. The [Ca2+]i was clamped to either a controlled (65?100 nmol L?1) or increased (1 ?mol L?1) level. The transmembrane action potentials and ionic currents were recorded using whole-cell patch clamp techniques. We found that the acute increase in [Ca2+]i shortened the action potential duration, reduced the action potential amplitude, maximum depolarization velocity and resting membrane potential, caused delayed after-depolarizations (DADs), and tri...
We present the results of an ongoing project to use the X-ray observations of Type Ia Supernova Remnants to constrain the physical processes involved in Type Ia Supernova explosions. We use the Tycho Supernova Remnant (SN 1572) as a benchmark case, comparing its observed spectrum with models for the X-ray emission from the shocked ejecta generated from different kinds of Type Ia explosions. Both the integrated spectrum of Tycho and the spatial distribution of the Fe and Si emission in the remnant are well reproduced by delayed detonation models with stratified ejecta. All the other Type Ia explosion models fail, including well-mixed deflagrations calculated in three dimensions.
Placement of dental implants in the interforaminal region of the edentulous mandible is considered a safe and routine surgical procedure. Hemorrhage in the floor of the mouth has been reported as a rare, potentially life-threatening complication related to the placement of implants in this region. In this case report the authors present an immediate and a delayed case of massive bleeding in the floor of the mouth after implant placement. This highly vascularized region is vulnerable and bleeding can be induced easily by instrumentation, causing a vascular trauma, usually by perforation of lingual periostium. In almost all cases the expanding hematoma formation starts during surgery. The effect of the vasoconstrictive agent in the local anesthesic combined with an injury of the lingual arte...
14 surgical patients with non-hepatobiliary diseases were studied with "9"9"mTc-EHIDA imaging to evaluate the effect of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) on the hepatobiliary function. Duration of TPN ranged from 6-56 days, 10 of the 14 patients Beijing within 10 days. The results showed that: (1) 11 of 14 patients had abnormal scintigraphic features. The most prominet findings were delayed liver excretion and prolonged blood clearance time. This fact suggests that not only the rate of excretion of the bile from the liver is decreased but the uptake ability of the hepatorcyte is also impaired. (2) The effect of TPN on liver function is reversible. It was concluded that in order to prevent irreversible damage of hepatobiliary function caused by TPN, the duration of TPN should not be too long and oral intake of nutrients should be resumed as soon as possible.
Heart cells from the clam Ruditapes decussatus were routinely cultured with a high level of reproducibility in sea water based medium. Three cell types attached to the plastic after 2?days and could be maintained in vitro for at least 1?month: epithelial-like cells, round cells and fibroblastic cells. Fibroblastic cells were identified as functional cardiomyocytes due to their spontaneous beating, their ultrastructural characteristics and their reactivity with antibodies against sarcomeric ?-actinin, sarcomeric tropomyosin, myosin and troponin T-C. Patch clamp measurements allowed the identification of ionic currents characteristic of cardiomyocytes: a delayed potassium current (I K?slow) strongly suppressed (95%) by tetraethylammonium (1?mM), a fast inactivating potassium current (I K?fas...
Diurnal and seasonal thermal constancy, a greatly delayed seasonal temperature maximum, and summer cool and winter warm conditions characterize the stream environment below a deep-release dam in Colorado. Low diversity index and equitability values and changes in macroinvertebrate species composition may result from failure of the temperature regime to provide the thermal stimuli essential for various life-cycle phenomena. It is hypothesized that the following sublethal effects, directly or indirectly resulting from the modified temperature regime, may further alter macroinvertebrate community structure: reduction of niche overlap and a shift toward an equilibrium community as a consequence of reduced environmental fluctuation; more intense competition associated with greater productivity; elimination of major invertebrate predators; and failure of the limited temperature range to provide optimal temperatures for various physiological processes. Effects of the ...
The detection of a stochastic background of gravitational waves could significantly impact our understanding of the physical processes that shaped the early Universe. The challenge lies in separating the cosmological signal from other stochastic processes such as instrument noise and astrophysical foregrounds. One approach is to build two or more detectors and cross correlate their output, thereby enhancing the common gravitational wave signal relative to the uncorrelated instrument noise. When only one detector is available, as will likely be the case with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), alternative analysis techniques must be developed. Here we show that models of the noise and signal transfer functions can be used to tease apart the gravitational and instrument noise contributions. We discuss the role of gravitational wave insensitive "null channels" formed from particular combinations of the time delay interferometry, and derive a new combination ...
During this reporting period the experimental apparatus was completed after substantial delays by the manufacturer. The equipment has been fully tested to familiarize the staff with its operating and safety procedures. An initial liquefaction study has begun on samples of Utah coal (60 microns or less) using 50 grams of iron-titanium alloy, 500 ml of tetralin, and 150 grams of powdered coal at 500/sup 0/F and 500 psig. Results will be available in the next quarterly report. A new researcher has been added to the project to address the hydrogen absorption of new and recycled alloy samples. 2 figs.
The ability to cope with plant defense chemicals differs between specialist and generalist species. In this study, we examined the effects of the concentration of the two main iridoid glycosides (IGs) in Plantago lanceolata, aucubin and catalpol, on the performance of a specialist and two generalist herbivores and their respective endoparasitoids. Development of the specialist herbivore Melitaea cinxia was unaffected by the total leaf IG concentration in its host plant. By contrast, the generalist herbivores Spodoptera exigua and Chrysodeixis chalcites showed delayed larval and pupal development on plant genotypes with high leaf IG concentrations, respectively. This result is in line with the idea that specialist herbivores are better adapted to allelochemicals in host plants on which they...
Some results and experimental procedures of laboratory are reported in the frame of researches conducted for the development of new nanostructured composite materials. These new materials, which are constituted by an organic phase: the polymer and an inorganic phase: the silicate, are being strongly investigated nowadays so it is expected that they could provide, among other, better electrical insulation properties and flame-delay in electrical and electronic applications. The laboratory experimental work has been developed from two families of polymers, thermoplastics and thermosets and clays silicates providing lamellar type. There are now some preliminary results, such as obtaining thin films of these nanocomposite materials, their complete characterization by X-ray diffraction, scanning microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis, they do well to wait for future research activities. (author)
The use of chemically selective laser ionization combined with beta-delayed neutron counting at ISOLDE has permitted identification and half-life measurements for {sup 61}Mn up through {sup 69}Mn. The 14(4)-ms half life for {sup 69}Mn is one of the shortest determined for any nuclide beyond the sd shell. Gamma-ray singles and coincidence spectra have been determined for the decays of {sup 64,66}Mn to levels of {sup 64,66}Fe, revealing strong deformation and vanishing of the N=40 subshell in the Fe isotopes. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}
We present constraints on theoretical models of Type Ia SNe using spatially resolved ASCA X-ray spectroscopy of four galaxy clusters: Abell 496, Abell 2199, Abell 3571 & Perseus. All four clusters have central Fe abundance enhancements and an ensemble of abundance ratios are used to show that most of the Fe in the central regions of the clusters comes from SN Ia. At the center of each cluster, simultaneous analysis of spectra from all ASCA instruments shows that the Ni to Fe abundance ratio (normalized by the solar ratio) is ~ 4. We use the Ni/Fe ratio as a discriminator between SN Ia explosion models: the Ni/Fe ratio of ejecta from the "Convective Deflagration" model W7 is consistent with the observations, while those of "delayed detonation" models are not consistent at the 90% confidence level.
Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate how a combination of different scaffold architectures and rotational culture would influence the functional properties of thick cartilaginous tissues engineered using either chondrocytes or bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). Expanded porcine chondrocytes and BM-MSCs were suspended in 2% agarose and cast in custom-designed moulds to produce either regular solid or channelled construct cylinders. The study consisted of three seperate experimental arms. First, chondrocyte and BM-MSC constructs were cultured in free swelling conditions for 9 weeks. Second, constructs were subjected to rotational culture for a period of 3 weeks. Finally, BM-MSC-seeded constructs were subjected to delayed rotational culture, in which cons...
Gold-coated iron nanoparticles (NPs) selectively and significantly (P <0.0001) inhibit proliferation of oral- and colorectal-cancer cells in vitro at doses as low as 5 mg/mL, but have little adverse effect on normal healthy control cells. The particle treatment caused delay in cell-cycle progression, especially in the S-phase. There was no significant difference in the NP uptake between cancer and control cells, and cytotoxicity resulted primarily from the iron core, before oxidation, rather than from the Fe ions released from the core. In contrast with magnetic NPs that usually serve as drug carriers, diagnostic probes or hyperthermia media, the iron, before oxidation, in the NPs selectively suppressed cancer cell growth and left healthy control cells unaffected in vitro and in vivo. This...
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...
This paper presents a new method to compensate the nonlinearities for matrix converter drives. The nonlinearities of matrix converter drives such as commutation delay, turn-on and turn-off time of the switching devices, and on-state switching device voltage drop is corrected by a new matrix converter model using the direction of current. The proposed method does not need any additional hardware or complicated software and it is easy to realize by applying the algorithm to the conventional vector control. The proposed compensation method is applied for high-performance induction motor drives using a 3-kW matrix converter system without a speed sensor. Experimental results show the proposed method provides good compensating characteristics.