Using Enhanced Grace Water Storage Data to Improve Drought Detection by the U.S. and North American Drought Monitors

Science.gov (United States)

Houborg, Rasmus; Rodell, Matthew; Lawrimore, Jay; Li, Bailing; Reichle, Rolf; Heim, Richard; Rosencrans, Matthew; Tinker, Rich; Famiglietti, James S.; Svoboda, Mark;

Monitoring landscape-level distribution and migration Phenology of Raptors using a volunteer camera-trap network

Science.gov (United States)

Jachowski, David S.; Katzner, Todd; Rodrigue, Jane L.; Ford, W. Mark

2015-01-01

Conservation of animal migratory movements is among the most important issues in wildlife management. To address this need for landscape-scale monitoring of raptor populations, we developed a novel, baited photographic observation network termed the “Appalachian Eagle Monitoring Program” (AEMP). During winter months of 2008–2012, we partnered with professional and citizen scientists in 11 states in the United States to collect approximately 2.5 million images. To our knowledge, this represents the largest such camera-trap effort to date. Analyses of data collected in 2011 and 2012 revealed complex, often species-specific, spatial and temporal patterns in winter raptor movement behavior as well as spatial and temporal resource partitioning between raptor species. Although programmatic advances in data analysis and involvement are needed, the continued growth of the program has the potential to provide a long-term, cost-effective, range-wide monitoring tool for avian and terrestrial scavengers during the winter season. Perhaps most importantly, by relying heavily on citizen scientists, AEMP has the potential to improve long-term interest and support for raptor conservation and serve as a model for raptor conservation programs in other portions of the world.

Explosive phenomena in heavily irradiated NaCl

NARCIS (Netherlands)

denHartog, HW; Vainshtein, DI; Matthews, GE; Williams, RT

1997-01-01

In heavily irradiated NaCl crystals explosive phenomena can be initiated during irradiation or afterwards when samples are heated to temperatures between 100 and 250 degrees C. During irradiation of NaCl Na and Cl-2 precipitates and void structures are produced along with the accumulation of stored

Growth and characterization of heavily doped silicon crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scala, R.; Porrini, M. [MEMC Electronic Materials SpA, via Nazionale 59, 39012 Merano (Italy); Borionetti, G. [MEMC Electronic Materials SpA, viale Gherzi 31, Novara (Italy)

2011-08-15

Silicon crystals grown with the Czochralski method are still the most common material used for the production of electronic devices. In recent years, a growing need of large diameter crystals with increasingly higher doping levels is observed, especially to support the expanding market of discrete devices and its trend towards lower and lower resistivity levels for the silicon substrate. The growth of such heavily doped, large-diameter crystals poses several new challenges to the crystal grower, and the presence of a high dopant concentration in the crystal affects significantly its main properties, requiring also the development of dedicated characterization techniques. This paper illustrates the recent advances in the growth and characterization of silicon crystals heavily doped with antimony, arsenic, phosphorus and boron. (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Phonological memory in sign language relies on the visuomotor neural system outside the left hemisphere language network.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanazawa, Yuji; Nakamura, Kimihiro; Ishii, Toru; Aso, Toshihiko; Yamazaki, Hiroshi; Omori, Koichi

2017-01-01

Sign language is an essential medium for everyday social interaction for deaf people and plays a critical role in verbal learning. In particular, language development in those people should heavily rely on the verbal short-term memory (STM) via sign language. Most previous studies compared neural activations during signed language processing in deaf signers and those during spoken language processing in hearing speakers. For sign language users, it thus remains unclear how visuospatial inputs are converted into the verbal STM operating in the left-hemisphere language network. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigated neural activation while bilinguals of spoken and signed language were engaged in a sequence memory span task. On each trial, participants viewed a nonsense syllable sequence presented either as written letters or as fingerspelling (4-7 syllables in length) and then held the syllable sequence for 12 s. Behavioral analysis revealed that participants relied on phonological memory while holding verbal information regardless of the type of input modality. At the neural level, this maintenance stage broadly activated the left-hemisphere language network, including the inferior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule, for both letter and fingerspelling conditions. Interestingly, while most participants reported that they relied on phonological memory during maintenance, direct comparisons between letters and fingers revealed strikingly different patterns of neural activation during the same period. Namely, the effortful maintenance of fingerspelling inputs relative to letter inputs activated the left superior parietal lobule and dorsal premotor area, i.e., brain regions known to play a role in visuomotor analysis of hand/arm movements. These findings suggest that the dorsal visuomotor neural system subserves verbal learning via sign language by relaying gestural inputs to

When Distribution of Tasks and Skills Are Fundamentally Problematic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Matthiesen, Stina; Bjørn, Pernille

2017-01-01

within a global software project, which relied heavily on feedback from mundane project tools utilized for everyday coordination and monitoring. Our study reveals that these tools hid serious issues relating to both the distribution of sociotechnical skills and a discharge of accountability in task...

Development and Application of an Annual Vegetation-Monitoring Tool in Gishwati Forest Reserve using MODIS NDVI product and Landsat-5 and 7

Science.gov (United States)

Makar, N. I.; Butler, K.; Fox, T.; Geddes, Q. A.; Janse van Vuuren, L.; Li, A.; Sharma, A.

2012-12-01

As the most densely populated country in Africa, Rwanda relies heavily on a limited supply of natural resources to sustain its agrarian economy. Population pressures, economic policy, and the aftermath of the genocide have placed particular stress on the Gishwati Forest in Rwanda's Western Province. Deforestation for agricultural purposes and fuel consumption has disrupted the local climate, soil structure, and topography, leading to increased erosion, landslides and flooding. Once 280 km2, by 1995 the Gishwati Forest was only 6 km2. The Rwandan government and international NGOs have started initiatives to reverse deforestation, which would benefit from monitoring and evaluation using remote sensing technology. This study filled the gaps in the tumultuous history of Gishwati Forest since 1982 using NASA's Earth Observing System, specifically Landsat 5 and AVHRR. In collaboration with partner organizations, we developed a robust, yet simple to use, forest monitoring tool employing MODIS NDVI product and Landsat that provide annual estimates of the forest's health.

Heavily nitrogen doped, graphene supercapacitor from silk cocoon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahu, Vikrant; Grover, Sonia; Tulachan, Brindan; Sharma, Meenakshi; Srivastava, Gaurav; Roy, Manas; Saxena, Manav; Sethy, Niroj; Bhargava, Kalpana; Philip, Deepu; Kim, Hansung; Singh, Gurmeet; Singh, Sushil Kumar; Das, Mainak; Sharma, Raj Kishore

2015-01-01

Doping of graphene with nitrogen is of much interest, since it improves the overall conductivity and supercapacitive properties. Besides conductivity, nitrogen doping also enhances the pseudo-capacitance due to fast and reversible surface redox processes. In this work, we have developed a cheap and easy process for synthesizing heavily nitrogen doped graphene (15% nitrogen) from non-mulberry silk cocoon membrane (Tassar, Antheraea mylitta) by pyrolyzing the cocoon at 400 °C in argon atmosphere. Further we have investigated the performance of this heavily ‘nitrogen doped graphene’ (NDG) in a supercapacitor device. Our results suggest that NDG obtained from cocoon has improved supercapacitor performance. The improved performance is due to the high electronegativity of nitrogen that forms dipoles on the graphene surface. These dipoles consequently enhance the tendency of graphene to attract charged species to its surface. This is a green and clean synthesis approach for developing electronic materials for energy applications

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Colorado Airport Relies on Natural Gas

Science.gov (United States)

Fueling Stations Colorado Airport Relies on Natural Gas Fueling Stations to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: Colorado Airport Relies on Natural Gas Fueling Stations on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: Colorado Airport Relies on Natural Gas Fueling Stations on

Operation of heavily irradiated silicon detectors in non-depletion mode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbitskaya, E.; Eremin, V.; Ilyashenko, I.; Li, Z.; Haerkoenen, J.; Tuovinen, E.; Luukka, P.

2006-01-01

The non-depletion detector operation mode has generally been disregarded as an option in high-energy physics experiments. In this paper, the non-depletion operation is examined by detailed analysis of the electric field distribution and the current pulse response of heavily irradiated silicon (Si) detectors. The previously reported model of double junction in heavily irradiated Si detector is further developed and a simulation of the current pulse response has been performed. It is shown that detectors can operate in a non-depletion mode due to the fact that the value of the electric field in a non-depleted region is high enough for efficient carrier drift. This electric field originates from the current flow through the detector and a consequent drop of the potential across high-resistivity bulk of a non-depleted region. It is anticipated that the electric field in a non-depleted region, which is still electrically neutral, increases with fluence that improves the non-depleted detector operation. Consideration of the electric field in a non-depleted region allows the explanation of the recorded double-peak current pulse shape of heavily irradiated Si detectors and definition of the requirements for the detector operational conditions. Detailed reconstruction of the electric field distribution gives new information on radiation effects in Si detectors

Monitoring Financial Conflict of Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Hickson, Lorraine

2016-01-01

Conflict of interest is heavily intertwined with research. The purpose of this study was to examine the literature and regulations in order to describe efforts required to properly monitor and disclose conflict of interest as researchers become steadily involved in innovation and discovery. The public assumes that when a conflict is disclosed, it…

Remote Excavation of Heavily Contaminated UXO Sites. The Range Master

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Crandall, Alan L

2007-01-01

USA Environmental, Inc., and Timberline Environmental Services, Inc., developed the Range Master, a remote controlled scraper with an integrated power screen, to excavate and sift the top 12 inches of heavily contaminated UXO sites...

Electrochemical Decontamination of Painted and Heavily Corroded Metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marczak, S.; Anderson, J.; Dziewinski, J.

1998-01-01

The radioactive metal wastes that are generated from nuclear fuel plants and radiochemical laboratories are mainly contaminated by the surface deposition of radioactive isotopes. There are presently several techniques used in removing surface contamination involving physical and chemical processes. However, there has been very little research done in the area of soiled, heavily oxidized, and painted metals. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have been developing electrochemical procedures for the decontamination of bare and painted metal objects. These methods have been found to be effective on highly corroded as well as relatively new metals. This study has been successful in decontaminating projectiles and shrapnel excavated during environmental restoration projects after 40+ years of exposure to the elements. Heavily corroded augers used in sampling activities throughout the area were also successfully decontaminated. This process has demonstrated its effectiveness and offers several advantages over the present metal decontamination practices of media blasting and chemical solvents. These advantages include the addition of no toxic or hazardous chemicals, low operating temperature and pressure, and easily scaleable equipment. It is in their future plans to use this process in the decontamination of gloveboxes destined for disposal as TRU waste

Space Weather opportunities from the Swarm mission including near real time applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stolle, Claudia; Floberghagen, Rune; Luehr, Hermann

2013-01-01

Sophisticated space weather monitoring aims at nowcasting and predicting solar-terrestrial interactions because their effects on the ionosphere and upper atmosphere may seriously impact advanced technology. Operating alert infrastructures rely heavily on ground-based measurements and satellite...... these products in timely manner will add significant value in monitoring present space weather and helping to predict the evolution of several magnetic and ionospheric events. Swarm will be a demonstrator mission for the valuable application of LEO satellite observations for space weather monitoring tools....

Alternative Fuels Data Center: St. Louis Airport Relies on Biodiesel and

Science.gov (United States)

Natural Gas Vehicles St. Louis Airport Relies on Biodiesel and Natural Gas Vehicles to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: St. Louis Airport Relies on Biodiesel and Natural Gas Vehicles on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: St. Louis Airport Relies on Biodiesel and

Clinical protein science developments for patient monitoring in hospital central laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Malm, Johan; Marko-Varga, György

2016-12-01

Patient care relies heavily on standardized tests performed in hospital laboratories, typically including clinical chemistry, pathology and microbiology. With the introduction of personalized medicine tremendous efforts have been made to identify new biomarkers of disease with various omics technologies, often including mass spectrometry. In order to validate new biomarkers and perform clinical studies high quality biobank samples are of key importance. In this editorial different aspects of mass spectrometry in future personalized medicine are discussed.

Relying on the Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TK YAYIN KURULU

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The editorial discusses internet filtering in the light of the optional internet packages for users, namely Family, Standard, Kids and Domestic, to be offered by the Information Technologies Board with the "Secure Internet Law" to take effect on August 22, 2011. Also sharing the hesitations about the objectivity of the application with the reader, editorial emphasizes an education system focused on breeding citizens who are not scared of relying on the information and who can, by themselves, decide whether information is harmful or not. References are made to the results of similar applications abroad while the press statement made by Turkish NGOs on the issue are included.

Integrating Enhanced Grace Terrestrial Water Storage Data Into the U.S. and North American Drought Monitors

Science.gov (United States)

Housborg, Rasmus; Rodell, Matthew

2010-01-01

NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites measure time variations nf the Earth's gravity field enabling reliable detection of spatio-temporal variations in total terrestrial water storage (TWS), including ground water. The U.S. and North American Drought Monitors are two of the premier drought monitoring products available to decision-makers for assessing and minimizing drought impacts, but they rely heavily on precipitation indices and do not currently incorporate systematic observations of deep soil moisture and groundwater storage conditions. Thus GRACE has great potential to improve the Drought Monitors hy filling this observational gap. Horizontal, vertical and temporal disaggregation of the coarse-resolution GRACE TWS data has been accomplished by assimilating GRACE TWS anomalies into the Catchment Land Surface Model using ensemble Kalman smoother. The Drought Monitors combine several short-term and long-term drought indices and indicators expressed in percentiles as a reference to their historical frequency of occurrence for the location and time of year in question. To be consistent, we are in the process of generating a climatology of estimated soil moisture and ground water based on m 60-year Catchment model simulation which will subsequently be used to convert seven years of GRACE assimilated fields into soil moisture and groundwater percentiles. for systematic incorporation into the objective blends that constitute Drought Monitor baselines. At this stage we provide a preliminary evaluation of GRACE assimilated Catchment model output against independent datasets including soil moisture observations from Aqua AMSR-E and groundwater level observations from the U.S. Geological Survey's Groundwater Climate Response Network.

Verbal Self-Monitoring in the Second Language

Science.gov (United States)

Broos, Wouter P. J.; Duyck, Wouter; Hartsuiker, Robert J.

2016-01-01

Speakers monitor their own speech for errors. To do so, they may rely on perception of their own speech (external monitoring) but also on an internal speech representation (internal monitoring). While there are detailed accounts of monitoring in first language (L1) processing, it is not clear if and how monitoring is different in a second language…

Positron trapping in heavily irradiated semiconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moser, P.; Pautrat, J.L.; Corbel, C.; Hautojarvi, P.

1985-01-01

Vacancy processes are studied in several heavily irradiated semiconductors. Specimens are ZnTe, CdTe, CdTe (In), InP, InP (Cr), InP (Zn) and Ge. Irradiations are made at 20 K using a 3 MeV Van de Graaff electron accelerator. Doses are 4 x 10 18 e - /cm 2 . Lifetime measurements are made at 77 K at each step of an isochronal annealing (30 min 20 K). In each specimen, the results show a significant increase of the lifetime (+ 30 at + 50 ps) which anneals out in different steps restoring the initial lifetime. The steps are sharp (ΔT/T=0.3) with the exception of InP, InP(Cr), InP(Zn), (ΔT/T=0.9). Tentative interpretations are given

Near-infrared free carrier absorption in heavily doped silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker-Finch, Simeon C.; McIntosh, Keith R.; Yan, Di; Fong, Kean Chern; Kho, Teng C.

2014-01-01

Free carrier absorption in heavily doped silicon can have a significant impact on devices operating in the infrared. In the near infrared, the free carrier absorption process can compete with band to band absorption processes, thereby reducing the number of available photons to optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. In this work, we fabricate 18 heavily doped regions by phosphorus and boron diffusion into planar polished silicon wafers; the simple sample structure facilitates accurate and precise measurement of the free carrier absorptance. We measure and model reflectance and transmittance dispersion to arrive at a parameterisation for the free carrier absorption coefficient that applies in the wavelength range between 1000 and 1500 nm, and the range of dopant densities between ∼10 18 and 3 × 10 20  cm −3 . Our measurements indicate that previously published parameterisations underestimate the free carrier absorptance in phosphorus diffusions. On the other hand, published parameterisations are generally consistent with our measurements and model for boron diffusions. Our new model is the first to be assigned uncertainty and is well-suited to routine device analysis

Free Flap Reconstruction Monitoring Techniques and Frequency in the Era of Restricted Resident Work Hours.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Urjeet A; Hernandez, David; Shnayder, Yelizaveta; Wax, Mark K; Hanasono, Matthew M; Hornig, Joshua; Ghanem, Tamer A; Old, Matthew; Jackson, Ryan S; Ledgerwood, Levi G; Pipkorn, Patrik; Lin, Lawrence; Ong, Adrian; Greene, Joshua B; Bekeny, James; Yiu, Yin; Noureldine, Salem; Li, David X; Fontanarosa, Joel; Greenbaum, Evan; Richmon, Jeremy D

2017-08-01

Free flap reconstruction of the head and neck is routinely performed with success rates around 94% to 99% at most institutions. Despite experience and meticulous technique, there is a small but recognized risk of partial or total flap loss in the postoperative setting. Historically, most microvascular surgeons involve resident house staff in flap monitoring protocols, and programs relied heavily on in-house resident physicians to assure timely intervention for compromised flaps. In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education mandated the reduction in the hours a resident could work within a given week. At many institutions this new era of restricted resident duty hours reshaped the protocols used for flap monitoring to adapt to a system with reduced resident labor. To characterize various techniques and frequencies of free flap monitoring by nurses and resident physicians; and to determine if adapted resident monitoring frequency is associated with flap compromise and outcome. This multi-institutional retrospective review included patients undergoing free flap reconstruction to the head and/or neck between January 2005 and January 2015. Consecutive patients were included from different academic institutions or tertiary referral centers to reflect evolving practices. Technique, frequency, and personnel for flap monitoring; flap complications; and flap success. Overall, 1085 patients (343 women [32%] and 742 men [78%]) from 9 institutions were included. Most patients were placed in the intensive care unit postoperatively (n = 790 [73%]), while the remaining were placed in intermediate care (n = 201 [19%]) or in the surgical ward (n = 94 [7%]). Nurses monitored flaps every hour (q1h) for all patients. Frequency of resident monitoring varied, with 635 patients monitored every 4 hours (q4h), 146 monitored every 8 hours (q8h), and 304 monitored every 12 hours (q12h). Monitoring techniques included physical examination (n = 949 [87

Addition of sunitinib to cetuximab and irinotecan in patients with heavily pre-treated advanced colorectal cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qvortrup, Camilla; Jensen, Benny Vittrup; Jørgensen, Trine Lembrecht

2010-01-01

Results of continuous sunitinib, in combination with cetuximab and irinotecan every other week (SIC) for compassionate use in heavily pre-treated patients with mCRC are presented.......Results of continuous sunitinib, in combination with cetuximab and irinotecan every other week (SIC) for compassionate use in heavily pre-treated patients with mCRC are presented....

Gemcitabine and capecitabine for heavily pre-treated metastatic colorectal cancer patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spindler, Karen-Lise G; Pallisgaard, Niels; Andersen, Rikke F

2014-01-01

AIM: We investigated the efficacy and safety of capecitabine and gemcitabin (GemCap) in heavily pre-treated, therapy-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients and the clinical importance of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) measurement. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients' inclusion criteria included...

Quantifying the importance of diffuse minewater pollution in a historically heavily coal mined catchment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mayes, W.M.; Gozzard, E.; Potter, H.A.B.; Jarvis, A.P.

2008-01-01

There has been considerable progress in developing treatment systems for point sources of minewater pollution in recent years; however, there remains a knowledge gap in the characterisation and remediation of diffuse minewater sources. Data are presented from the River Gaunless catchment, a historically heavily coal mined catchment in the northeast of England. Instream iron (Fe) loadings were monitored alongside loadings arising from point minewater discharges over a 12-month period to assess the dynamic importance of diffuse sources of minewater pollution. In low flow, diffuse sources account for around 50% of instream loading, a proportion which increases to 98% in high flow conditions. The low flow sources appear to be dominated by direct discharge of contaminated groundwater to surface waters in lower reaches of the catchment. In high flow, resuspended Fe-rich sediments, which are both naturally occurring and derived from historic mining, become the dominant diffuse source of Fe in the water column. - Diffuse sources of minewater pollution significantly contribute to instream contaminant loadings under varying flow conditions

Stepped MS(All) Relied Transition (SMART): An approach to rapidly determine optimal multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry parameters for small molecules.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Hui; Zhu, Lin; Wang, Lin; Liu, Huiying; Zhang, Jun; Wu, Mengqiu; Wang, Guangji; Hao, Haiping

2016-02-11

Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) is a universal approach for quantitative analysis because of its high specificity and sensitivity. Nevertheless, optimization of MRM parameters remains as a time and labor-intensive task particularly in multiplexed quantitative analysis of small molecules in complex mixtures. In this study, we have developed an approach named Stepped MS(All) Relied Transition (SMART) to predict the optimal MRM parameters of small molecules. SMART requires firstly a rapid and high-throughput analysis of samples using a Stepped MS(All) technique (sMS(All)) on a Q-TOF, which consists of serial MS(All) events acquired from low CE to gradually stepped-up CE values in a cycle. The optimal CE values can then be determined by comparing the extracted ion chromatograms for the ion pairs of interest among serial scans. The SMART-predicted parameters were found to agree well with the parameters optimized on a triple quadrupole from the same vendor using a mixture of standards. The parameters optimized on a triple quadrupole from a different vendor was also employed for comparison, and found to be linearly correlated with the SMART-predicted parameters, suggesting the potential applications of the SMART approach among different instrumental platforms. This approach was further validated by applying to simultaneous quantification of 31 herbal components in the plasma of rats treated with a herbal prescription. Because the sMS(All) acquisition can be accomplished in a single run for multiple components independent of standards, the SMART approach are expected to find its wide application in the multiplexed quantitative analysis of complex mixtures. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inspection and market-based regulation through emissions trading. The striking reliance on self-monitoring, self-reporting and verification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peeters, M.

2006-01-01

This contribution discusses inspection with regard to emissions trading. It focuses on the EU greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. The core rule of emissions trading is that industries need to cover their emissions with tradable emission rights. There are several options for the government to distribute those rights, basically through a free allocation or an auction. The need to cover emissions with a tradable right gives a financial incentive to firms to choose for the reduction of emissions, of course related to the market price of the tradable right. This price-incentive at the same time urges governments to put in place a sound enforcement approach. One of the characteristics of current emissions trading schemes is that they heavily rely on self-monitoring duties. Nevertheless, the ultimate responsibility to inspect rests on the government. However, with the introduction of emissions trading a remarkable shift takes place: instead of the more traditional control of the actual behaviour of industries, inspection by the government ranges under the greenhouse gas emissions-trading instrument much more towards the control of self-monitoring activities. The use of verifiers within the EU greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme is in this respect a unique new provision, but at the same time raises many practical and fundamental questions.

Mid-infrared plasmonic resonances exploiting heavily-doped Ge on Si

Science.gov (United States)

Biagioni, P.; Sakat, E.; Baldassarre, L.; Calandrini, E.; Samarelli, A.; Gallacher, K.; Frigerio, J.; Isella, G.; Paul, D. J.; Ortolani, M.

2015-03-01

We address the behavior of mid-infrared localized plasmon resonances in elongated germanium antennas integrated on silicon substrates. Calculations based on Mie theory and on the experimentally retrieved dielectric constant allow us to study the tunability and the figures of merit of plasmon resonances in heavily-doped germanium and to preliminarily compare them with those of the most established plasmonic material, gold.

Industrial wireless monitoring with energy-harvesting devices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brian Blake, M.; Das, Kallol; Zand, P.; Havinga, Paul J.M.

Vibration monitoring and analysis techniques are used increasingly for predictive maintenance. While traditional vibration monitoring relies on wired sensor networks, recent industrial technologies such as WirelessHART, ISA100.11a, and IEEE802.15.4e have brought a paradigm shift in the automation

Participatory monitoring and evaluation to aid investment in natural resource manager capacity at a range of scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Peter R; Jacobs, Brent; Leith, Peat

2012-12-01

Natural resource (NR) outcomes at catchment scale rely heavily on the adoption of sustainable practices by private NR managers because they control the bulk of the NR assets. Public funds are invested in capacity building of private landholders to encourage adoption of more sustainable natural resource management (NRM) practices. However, prioritisation of NRM funding programmes has often been top-down with limited understanding of the multiple dimensions of landholder capacity leading to a failure to address the underlying capacity constraints of local communities. We argue that well-designed participatory monitoring and evaluation of landholder capacity can provide a mechanism to codify the tacit knowledge of landholders about the social-ecological systems in which they are embedded. This process enables tacit knowledge to be used by regional NRM bodies and government agencies to guide NRM investment in the Australian state of New South Wales. This paper details the collective actions to remove constraints to improved NRM that were identified by discrete groups of landholders through this process. The actions spanned geographical and temporal scales, and responsibility for them ranged across levels of governance.

Effective HTCondor-based monitoring system for CMS

Science.gov (United States)

Balcas, J.; Bockelman, B. P.; Da Silva, J. M.; Hernandez, J.; Khan, F. A.; Letts, J.; Mascheroni, M.; Mason, D. A.; Perez-Calero Yzquierdo, A.; Vlimant, J.-R.; pre="for the"> CMS Consortium,

2017-10-01

The CMS experiment at the LHC relies on HTCondor and glideinWMS as its primary batch and pilot-based Grid provisioning systems, respectively. Given the scale of the global queue in CMS, the operators found it increasingly difficult to monitor the pool to find problems and fix them. The operators had to rely on several different web pages, with several different levels of information, and sift tirelessly through log files in order to monitor the pool completely. Therefore, coming up with a suitable monitoring system was one of the crucial items before the beginning of the LHC Run 2 in order to ensure early detection of issues and to give a good overview of the whole pool. Our new monitoring page utilizes the HTCondor ClassAd information to provide a complete picture of the whole submission infrastructure in CMS. The monitoring page includes useful information from HTCondor schedulers, central managers, the glideinWMS frontend, and factories. It also incorporates information about users and tasks making it easy for operators to provide support and debug issues.

NuSTAR observations of heavily obscured quasars at z ~ 0.5

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lansbury, G. B.; Alexander, D. M.; Del Moro, A.

2014-01-01

We present NuSTAR hard X-ray observations of three Type 2 quasars at z ≈ 0.4-0.5, optically selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Although the quasars show evidence for being heavily obscured, Compton-thick systems on the basis of the 2-10 keV to [O III] luminosity ratio and multiwavelength...

Sustainable management of peat swamp forest of Sarawak with special reference to ramin (Gonystylus bancanus); development of a monitoring system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijdeven, S.M.J.; Meer, van der P.J.; Chai, F.Y.C.; Tan, S.; Mohizah, M.; Liam, D.

2004-01-01

Peat swamp forests in Sarawak are valuable in terms of timber and biodiversity, but heavily degraded. In order to assess the current status, potential developments and possible management interventions, an adequate monitoring system is necessary. In this study a new monitoring system is proposed,

Vibration-based monitoring and diagnostics using compressive sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Ganesan, Vaahini; Das, Tuhin; Rahnavard, Nazanin; Kauffman, Jeffrey L.

2017-04-01

Vibration data from mechanical systems carry important information that is useful for characterization and diagnosis. Standard approaches rely on continually streaming data at a fixed sampling frequency. For applications involving continuous monitoring, such as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), such approaches result in high volume data and rely on sensors being powered for prolonged durations. Furthermore, for spatial resolution, structures are instrumented with a large array of sensors. This paper shows that both volume of data and number of sensors can be reduced significantly by applying Compressive Sensing (CS) in vibration monitoring applications. The reduction is achieved by using random sampling and capitalizing on the sparsity of vibration signals in the frequency domain. Preliminary experimental results validating CS-based frequency recovery are also provided. By exploiting the sparsity of mode shapes, CS can also enable efficient spatial reconstruction using fewer spatially distributed sensors. CS can thereby reduce the cost and power requirement of sensing as well as streamline data storage and processing in monitoring applications. In well-instrumented structures, CS can enable continued monitoring in case of sensor or computational failures.

Monitoring of wastes containing plutonium. Necessity and method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sousselier, Y.; Pottier, P.

1979-01-01

Importance of problems set by wastes containing plutonium is rapidly growing. Plutonium is not a waste, recycling limits heavily the quantity of plutonium to be stored with wastes. Optimized waste management must take definitive storage and economical limits of plutonium recovery into account. Waste monitoring is a must for safety, economy and waste management. Methods used require reliability, simplicity, sensibility and accuracy particularly for threshold detection [fr

Describing and verifying monitoring capabilities for SLA-driven service-based systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Comuzzi, M.; Spanoudakis, G.; Yu, E.; Eder, J.

2009-01-01

Monitoring the operation of Service Based Systems (SBS) to ensure compliance with a set of service level agreements (SLAs) for example cannot always rely on a pre-specified monitoring infrastructure, where all the information and components required for monitoring are a priori known and available.

Pneumococcal Competence Coordination Relies on a Cell-Contact Sensing Mechanism.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Prudhomme

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Bacteria have evolved various inducible genetic programs to face many types of stress that challenge their growth and survival. Competence is one such program. It enables genetic transformation, a major horizontal gene transfer process. Competence development in liquid cultures of Streptococcus pneumoniae is synchronized within the whole cell population. This collective behavior is known to depend on an exported signaling Competence Stimulating Peptide (CSP, whose action generates a positive feedback loop. However, it is unclear how this CSP-dependent population switch is coordinated. By monitoring spontaneous competence development in real time during growth of four distinct pneumococcal lineages, we have found that competence shift in the population relies on a self-activated cell fraction that arises via a growth time-dependent mechanism. We demonstrate that CSP remains bound to cells during this event, and conclude that the rate of competence development corresponds to the propagation of competence by contact between activated and quiescent cells. We validated this two-step cell-contact sensing mechanism by measuring competence development during co-cultivation of strains with altered capacity to produce or respond to CSP. Finally, we found that the membrane protein ComD retains the CSP, limiting its free diffusion in the medium. We propose that competence initiator cells originate stochastically in response to stress, to form a distinct subpopulation that then transmits the CSP by cell-cell contact.

Maladies reliées aux loisirs aquatiques

Science.gov (United States)

Sanborn, Margaret; Takaro, Tim

2013-01-01

Résumé Objectif Passer en revue les facteurs de risque, la prise en charge et la prévention des maladies reliées aux loisirs aquatiques en pratique familiale. Sources des données Des articles originaux et de synthèse entre janvier 1998 et février 2012 ont été identifiés à l’aide de PubMed et des expressions de recherche en anglais water-related illness, recreational water illness et swimmer illness. Message principal Il y a un risque de 3 % à 8 % de maladies gastrointestinales (MGI) après la baignade. Les groupes à risque élevé de MGI sont les enfants de moins de 5 ans, surtout s’ils n’ont pas été vaccinés contre le rotavirus, les personnes âgées et les patients immunodéficients. Les enfants sont à plus grand risque parce qu’ils avalent plus d’eau quand ils nagent, restent dans l’eau plus longtemps et jouent dans l’eau peu profonde et le sable qui sont plus contaminés. Les adeptes des sports dans lesquels le contact avec l’eau est abondant comme le triathlon et le surf cerf-volant sont aussi à risque élevé et même ceux qui s’adonnent à des activités impliquant un contact partiel avec l’eau comme la navigation de plaisance et la pêche ont un risque de 40 % à 50 % fois plus grand de MGI par rapport à ceux qui ne pratiquent pas de sports aquatiques. Il y a lieu de faire une culture des selles quand on soupçonne une maladie reliée aux loisirs aquatiques et l’échelle clinique de la déshydratation est utile pour l’évaluation des besoins de traitement chez les enfants affectés. Conclusion Les maladies reliées aux loisirs aquatiques est la principale cause de MGI durant la saison des baignades. La reconnaissance que la baignade est une source importante de maladies peut aider à prévenir les cas récurrents et secondaires. On recommande fortement le vaccin contre le rotavirus chez les enfants qui se baignent souvent.

Conductivity and superconductivity in heavily vacant diamond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S A Jafari

2009-08-01

Full Text Available   Motivated by the idea of impurity band superconductivity in heavily Boron doped diamond, we investigate the doping of various elements into diamond to address the question, which impurity band can offer a better DOS at the Fermi level. Surprisingly, we find that the vacancy does the best job in producing the largest DOS at the Fermi surface. To investigate the effect of disorder in Anderson localization of the resulting impurity band, we use a simple tight-binding model. Our preliminary study based on the kernel polynomial method shows that the impurity band is already localized at the concentration of 10-3. Around the vacancy concentration of 0.006 the whole spectrum of diamond becomes localized and quantum percolation takes place. Therefore to achieve conducting bands at concentrations on the scale of 5-10 percent, one needs to introduce correlations such as hopping among the vacancies .

Distributed Monitoring System Based on ICINGA

CERN Multimedia

Haen, C; Neufeld, N

2011-01-01

The LHCb online system relies on a large and heterogeneous I.T. infrastructure : it comprises more than 2000 servers and embedded systems and more than 200 network devices. While for the control and monitoring of detectors, PLCs, and readout boards an industry standard SCADA system PVSSII has been put in production, we use a low level monitoring system to monitor the control infrastructure itself. While our previous system was based on a single central NAGIOS server, our current system uses a distributed ICINGA infrastructure.

Juxtaposed Color Halftoning Relying on Discrete Lines

OpenAIRE

Babaei, Vahid; Hersch, Roger

2013-01-01

Most halftoning techniques allow screen dots to overlap. They rely on the assumption that the inks are transparent, i.e. the inks do not scatter a significant portion of the light back to the air. However, many special effect inks such as metallic inks, iridescent inks or pigmented inks are not transparent. In order to create halftone images, halftone dots formed by such inks should be juxtaposed, i.e. printed side by side. We propose an efficient juxtaposed color halftoning technique for pla...

Yield strength of a heavily drawn Cu-20% Nb filamentary microcomposite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, S.I.

1998-01-01

It has been well documented that heavily-drawn, copper-niobium microcomposites possess high strength and high conductivity. Since niobium has little solubility in copper, the conductivity of the copper is not strongly affected by the addition of niobium. Following extensive mechanical deformation of Cu-Nb, niobium dendrites transform into fine niobium ribbons as a result of the niobium texture upon drawing. This nanostructure contributes to the ultrahigh strength of Cu-Nb microcomposites. The strength of heavily deformed Cu-Nb exceeds that predicted by the rule-of-mixtures (ROM), and a fundamental understanding of the strengthening mechanisms involved has been the subject of much discussion. Spitzig and his coworkers suggests a barrier strengthening model while Funkenbusch and Courtney believe that stored dislocations have a role in substructural hardening. Hangen and Raabe recently proposed an analytical model for the calculation of the yield strength of Cu-Nb microcomposite. The model of Hangen and Raabe and that of Spitzig and his coworkers have a great deal of resemblance since both models attribute the strength to the difficulty of propagating plastic flow through the interface. The purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of the strengthening mechanisms associated with Cu-Nb microcomposites by examining the previous studies on mechanical and microstructural stability of Cu-based microcomposites

Distributed Monitoring of Voltage Collapse Sensitivity Indices

OpenAIRE

Simpson-Porco, John W.; Bullo, Francesco

2016-01-01

The assessment of voltage stability margins is a promising direction for wide-area monitoring systems. Accurate monitoring architectures for long-term voltage instability are typically centralized and lack scalability, while completely decentralized approaches relying on local measurements tend towards inaccuracy. Here we present distributed linear algorithms for the online computation of voltage collapse sensitivity indices. The computations are collectively performed by processors embedded ...

Review of current practices and requirements for the inspection of prestressed concrete pressure vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reimann, K.J.

1980-12-01

Code requirements for pre- and in-service inspection of prestressed concrete pressure vessels as utilized in gas-cooled reactors are reviewed and compared with practices and experiences during construction, commissioning, and operation of such reactors. The pre-service inspection relies heavily on embedded instrumentation for measurements of stresses, temperatures, and displacements. The same instrumentation is later used for in-service surveillance, which additionally includes visual examination of exposed surfaces, monitoring of tendon conditions, and measurement of tendon loads. Improvement of present monitoring instrumentation and/or techniques, rather than development of new in-service inspection methods, is recommended

AFM of metallic nano-particles and nano-structures in heavily irradiated NaCl

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gaynutdinov, R; Vainshtein, DI; Hak, SJ; Tolstikhina, A; Den Hartog, HW

2003-01-01

AFM investigations are reported for heavily, electron irradiated NaCl crystals in ultra high vacuum (UHV) in the non-contact mode-with an UHV AFM/STM Omicron system. To avoid chemical reactions between the radiolytic Na and oxygen and water, the irradiated samples were cleaved and prepared for the

Tracking with heavily irradiated silicon detectors operated at cryogenic temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casagrande, L.; Barnett, B.M.; Bartalina, P.

1999-01-01

In this work, the authors show that a heavily irradiated double-sided silicon microstrip detector recovers its performance when operated at cryogenic temperatures. A DELPHI microstrip detector, irradiated to a fluence of ∼4 x 10 14 p/cm 2 , no longer operational at room temperature, cannot be distinguished from a non-irradiated one when operated at T < 120 K. Besides confirming the previously observed Lazarus effect in single diodes, these results establish, for the first time, the possibility of using standard silicon detectors for tracking applications in extremely demanding radiation environments

Theoretical investigation of the heavily-doped semiconductor aspect of ultra-dilute GaAsN

Science.gov (United States)

Sukpitak, Jessada; Sa-yakanit, Virulh

2015-12-01

The model of GaAs1- y N y ( y = 0.001) as a heavily-doped semiconductor in the ultra-dilute region is attentively examined. The model enables GaAsN to be viewed as a disordered assembly of three-dimensional quantum dots (potential wells) caused by random potential fluctuations from nitrogen pairs in the system. Consequently, Feynman's path-integration technique is applied in order to quantify the density of states (DOS) in the vicinity of the conduction band edge. The obtained DOS tail, even though overestimated, still clearly shows a much shorter tail than that the experimental result does. This shows that the heavily-doped semiconductor viewpoint is not proper for GaAsN, not even in the ultra-dilute region. Furthermore, this also suggests that the impurity wave function overlap is not a basic mechanism of band gap reduction.

Increasing Uncertainty: The Dangers of Relying on Conventional Forces for Nuclear Deterrence

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-14

72 | Air & Space Power Journal Increasing Uncertainty The Dangers of Relying on Conventional Forces for Nuclear Deterrence Jennifer Bradley To put...relationships and should serve as the cornerstone of US nuclear deterrence policy. Although Russia and China are not identified as adversaries of...exactly what has happened over the past year. The US decision to meet the needs of deterrence by relying less on nuclear weapons and instead devel- oping

Remote sensing techniques to monitor nitrogen-driven carbon dynamics in field corn

Science.gov (United States)

Corp, Lawrence A.; Middleton, Elizabeth M.; Campbell, Petya K. E.; Huemmrich, K. Fred; Cheng, Yen-Ben; Daughtry, Craig S. T.

2009-08-01

Patterns of change in vegetation growth and condition are one of the primary indicators of the present and future ecological status of the globe. Nitrogen (N) is involved in photochemical processes and is one of the primary resources regulating plant growth. As a result, biological carbon (C) sequestration is driven by N availability. Large scale monitoring of photosynthetic processes are currently possible only with remote sensing systems that rely heavily on passive reflectance (R) information. Unlike R, fluorescence (F) emitted from chlorophyll is directly related to photochemical reactions and has been extensively used for the elucidation of the photosynthetic pathways. Recent advances in passive fluorescence instrumentation have made the remote acquisition of solar-induced fluorescence possible. The goal of this effort is to evaluate existing reflectance and emerging fluorescence methodologies for determining vegetation parameters related to photosynthetic function and carbon sequestration dynamics in plants. Field corn N treatment levels of 280, 140, 70, and 0 kg N / ha were sampled from an intensive test site for a multi-disciplinary project, Optimizing Production Inputs for Economic and Environmental Enhancement (OPE). Aircraft, near-ground, and leaf-level measurements were used to compare and contrast treatment effects within this experiment site assessed with both reflectance and fluorescence approaches. A number of spectral indices including the R derivative index D730/D705, the normalized difference of R750 vs. R705, and simple ratio R800/R750 differentiated three of the four N fertilization rates and yielded high correlations to three important carbon parameters: C:N, light use efficiency, and grain yield. These results advocate the application of hyperspectral sensors for remotely monitoring carbon cycle dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems.

47 CFR 15.717 - TVBDs that rely on spectrum sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Television Band Devices § 15.717 TVBDs that rely on spectrum sensing. (a) Parties may submit applications for... that are identical in electrical characteristics and antenna systems may be certified under the...

An X-ray wave theory for heavily distorted crystals. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohkawa, T.; Hashimoto, H.

1985-01-01

An X-ray diffraction theory is developed of monochromatic waves having spherical wave front, which is applicable to an interpretation of divergent X-ray diffraction images of crystals containing arbitral types of strain field. The theory is divided into two parts. In part I, Takagi's theory is expanded by introducing amplitude and phase correction functions and a new improved representation for the X-ray diffraction theory is given. In part II dispersion surfaces in heavily distorted crystals are discussed, and in the discussion the resonance shift functions are introduced. These formulations can lead to a complete understanding of the extinction phenomena. (author)

Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme coastal biodiversity monitoring background paper

Science.gov (United States)

McLennan, Donald; Anderson, Rebecca D.; Wegeberg, S.; Pettersvik Arvnes, Maria; Sergienko, Liudmila; Behe, Carolina; Moss-Davies, Pitseolak; Fritz, S.; Markon, Carl J.; Christensen, T.; Barry, T.; Price, C.

2016-01-01

In 2014, the United States (U.S.) and Canada agreed to act as co-lead countries for the initial development of the Coastal Expert Monitoring Group (CEMG) as part of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP, www. cbmp.is) under the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF, www.caff.is) working group. The CAFF Management Board approved Terms of Reference for the CEMG in the spring of 2014. The primary goal of the CEMG is to develop a long term, integrated, multi-disciplinary, circumpolar Arctic Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring Plan (the Coastal Plan) that relies on science and Traditional Knowledge, and has direct and relevant application for communities, industry, government decision makers, and other users. In addition to the monitoring plan, the CAFF working group has asked the CBMP, and thus the CEMG, to develop an implementation plan that identifies timeline, costs, organizational structure and partners. This background paper provides a platform for the guidance for the development of the Coastal Plan and is produced by the CEMG with assistance from a number of experts in multiple countries.

An atom trap relying on optical pumping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bouyer, P.; Lemonde, P.; Ben Dahan, M.; Michaud, A.; Salomon, C.; Dalibard, J.

1994-01-01

We have investigated a new radiation pressure trap which relies on optical pumping and does not require any magnetic field. It employs six circularly polarized divergent beams and works on the red of a J g →J e = J g + 1 atomic transition with J g ≥1/2. We have demonstrated this trap with cesium atoms from a vapour cell using the 852 nm J g = 4→J e = 5 resonance transition. The trap contained up to 3.10 7 atoms in a cloud of 1/√e radius of 330 μm. (orig.)

Can Camera Traps Monitor Komodo Dragons a Large Ectothermic Predator?

OpenAIRE

Ariefiandy, Achmad; Purwandana, Deni; Seno, Aganto; Ciofi, Claudio; Jessop, Tim S.

2013-01-01

Camera trapping has greatly enhanced population monitoring of often cryptic and low abundance apex carnivores. Effectiveness of passive infrared camera trapping, and ultimately population monitoring, relies on temperature mediated differences between the animal and its ambient environment to ensure good camera detection. In ectothermic predators such as large varanid lizards, this criterion is presumed less certain. Here we evaluated the effectiveness of camera trapping to potentially monitor...

Biosensors and invasive monitoring in clinical applications

CERN Document Server

Córcoles, Emma P

2013-01-01

This volume examines the advances of invasive monitoring by means of biosensors and microdialysis. Physical and physiological parameters are commonly monitored in clinical settings using invasive techniques due to their positive outcome in patients’ diagnosis and treatment. Biochemical parameters, however, still rely on off-line measurements and require large pieces of equipment. Biosensing and sampling devices present excellent capabilities for their use in continuous monitoring of patients’ biochemical parameters. However, certain issues remain to be solved in order to ensure a more widespread use of these techniques in today’s medical practices.

External Monitoring and Dynamic Behavior in Mutual Funds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the impact of external monitoring on the behavior in mutual funds. Specifically, we investigate how and why external monitoring can alleviate contracting inefficiency caused by information asymmetry between investors and the manager. It is shown that efficiency loss emerges when investors contract with the manager just relying on her investment return history. The establishment of external monitoring that provides investors more information about the manager’s ability can improve contracting efficiency, which converges to first-best as external monitoring strengthens. These results provide strong support for tightening supervision in mutual fund industry.

Dual Inhibition of EGFR and VEGF in Heavily Pretreated Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Finn Ole; Markussen, Alice; Nielsen, Dorte

2017-01-01

: The combination of irinotecan, bevacizumab, and cetuximab/panitumumab is safe and shows a toxicity profile corresponding to what is expected from the agents alone. The results indicate that the combination in the 4th line may result in a high rate of disease control in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic...

One unit-cell seed layer induced epitaxial growth of heavily nitrogen doped anatase TiO{sub 2} films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, T L; Hirose, Y; Hitosugi, T; Hasegawa, T [Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan)], E-mail: chen@ksp.or.jp

2008-03-21

We present a novel way to obtain heavily nitrogen doped anatase TiO{sub 2} films by using a solid-state nitrogen source. Epitaxial growth of the films was realized by introducing one unit-cell seed layer, which was indicated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction as intensity oscillation. Results of x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that the films were in the anatase phase heavily doped with nitrogen of {approx}15 at%. The films obtained exhibited considerable narrowing of the optical bandgap, resulting in an enhancement of absorption in the visible-light region. (fast track communication)

High-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Fe)Sb

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tu, Nguyen Thanh; Hai, Pham Nam; Anh, Le Duc; Tanaka, Masaaki

2016-01-01

We show high-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga_1_−_x,Fe_x)Sb (x = 23% and 25%) thin films grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. Magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy and anomalous Hall effect measurements indicate intrinsic ferromagnetism of these samples. The Curie temperature reaches 300 K and 340 K for x = 23% and 25%, respectively, which are the highest values reported so far in intrinsic III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors.

Einstein's photoemission emission from heavily-doped quantized structures

CERN Document Server

Ghatak, Kamakhya Prasad

2015-01-01

This monograph solely investigates the Einstein's Photoemission(EP) from Heavily Doped(HD) Quantized Structures on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws. The materials considered are quantized structures of HD non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V, Bismuth Telluride together with various types of HD superlattices and their Quantized counterparts respectively. The EP in HD opto-electronic materials and their nanostructures is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields  that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestions for the experimental determinations of different important physical quantities in HD 2D and 3D materials  and the importance of measurement of band gap in HD optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nano devices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring   physical properties in the presence of intense light waves w...

Intuitive Face Judgments Rely on Holistic Eye Movement Pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Mega, Laura F; Volz, Kirsten G

2017-01-01

Non-verbal signals such as facial expressions are of paramount importance for social encounters. Their perception predominantly occurs without conscious awareness and is effortlessly integrated into social interactions. In other words, face perception is intuitive. Contrary to classical intuition tasks, this work investigates intuitive processes in the realm of every-day type social judgments. Two differently instructed groups of participants judged the authenticity of emotional facial expressions, while their eye movements were recorded: an 'intuitive group,' instructed to rely on their "gut feeling" for the authenticity judgments, and a 'deliberative group,' instructed to make their judgments after careful analysis of the face. Pixel-wise statistical maps of the resulting eye movements revealed a differential viewing pattern, wherein the intuitive judgments relied on fewer, longer and more centrally located fixations. These markers have been associated with a global/holistic viewing strategy. The holistic pattern of intuitive face judgments is in line with evidence showing that intuition is related to processing the "gestalt" of an object, rather than focusing on details. Our work thereby provides further evidence that intuitive processes are characterized by holistic perception, in an understudied and real world domain of intuition research.

DIADEM: a system for collaborative environmental monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Winterboer, A.; Martens, M.A.; Pavlin, G.; Groen, F.C.A.; Evers, V.

2011-01-01

Environmental monitoring and emergency response projects in urban-industrial areas increasingly rely on efficient collaboration between experts in control rooms and at incident locations, and citizens who live or work in the area. In the video accompanying this abstract we present a system that uses

Long Term Geoelectrical Monitoring of Deep-water Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf Coast

Science.gov (United States)

Heenan, J. W.; Ntarlagiannis, D.; Slater, L. D.; Atekwana, E. A.; Ross, C.; Nolan, J. T.; Atekwana, E. A.

2011-12-01

In the aftermath of the catastrophic Deep-water Horizon (DWH) spill in the Gulf Coast, opportunities exist to study the evolution of fresh crude oil contamination in beach sediments and marshes. Grand Terre 1 Island, off the coast of Grand Isle in southern Louisiana, is an uninhabited barrier island, heavily impacted by the DWH spill, and ideal for undisturbed long term monitoring of crude oil degradation processes. A 10 channel Syscal-Pro resistivity / IP instrument (IRIS Instruments, France) is the heart of the fully autonomous geoelectrical monitoring system; the system, which is housed in a weatherproof container, relies solely on solar power, is controlled by an energy efficient PC and can be accessed remotely via web tools. The monitoring scheme involves collecting bi-daily resistivity measurements from surface and shallow boreholes, ranging from January 2011 to the present; environmental parameters, such as T, are continuously recorded at several depths. During regular field trips we perform larger scale geophysical surveys, and geochemical measurements (pH, DO, T, fluid C) to support the continuous geophysical monitoring. The contaminated layer on site is a visually distinctive layer of crude oil, isolated by cleaner sands above and below which is identified by a clear and obvious resistive anomaly in preliminary surveys. Early results show a decrease in average of the resistance values of each dataset over time. Further processing of the data yields a linearly shaped resistive anomaly, which coincides with the location of the oil layer. The changes in subsurface resistivity appear to be focused within this anomaly. Time filtering of the data by the time that they were collected, morning or evening, reveals a diurnal variation. While both time frames follow the same overall trend, the measurements in the morning are slightly more resistive than those in the evening. This indicates that there are environmental factors, such as temperature, that need to be

A system utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to monitor individual rodent behavior in complex social settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Howerton, Christopher L; Garner, Joseph P; Mench, Joy A

2012-07-30

Pre-clinical investigation of human CNS disorders relies heavily on mouse models. However these show low predictive validity for translational success to humans, partly due to the extensive use of rapid, high-throughput behavioral assays. Improved assays to monitor rodent behavior over longer time scales in a variety of contexts while still maintaining the efficiency of data collection associated with high-throughput assays are needed. We developed an apparatus that uses radio frequency identification device (RFID) technology to facilitate long-term automated monitoring of the behavior of mice in socially or structurally complex cage environments. Mice that were individually marked and implanted with transponders were placed in pairs in the apparatus, and their locations continuously tracked for 24 h. Video observation was used to validate the RFID readings. The apparatus and its associated software accurately tracked the locations of all mice, yielding information about each mouse's location over time, its diel activity patterns, and the amount of time it was in the same location as the other mouse in the pair. The information that can be efficiently collected in this apparatus has a variety of applications for pre-clinical research on human CNS disorders, for example major depressive disorder and autism spectrum disorder, in that it can be used to quantify validated endophenotypes or biomarkers of these disorders using rodent models. While the specific configuration of the apparatus described here was designed to answer particular experimental questions, it can be modified in various ways to accommodate different experimental designs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-Term Stability of Oxide Nanowire Sensors via Heavily Doped Oxide Contact.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Hao; Takahashi, Tsunaki; Kanai, Masaki; Zhang, Guozhu; He, Yong; Nagashima, Kazuki; Yanagida, Takeshi

2017-12-22

Long-term stability of a chemical sensor is an essential quality for long-term collection of data related to exhaled breath, environmental air, and other sources in the Internet of things (IoT) era. Although an oxide nanowire sensor has shown great potential as a chemical sensor, the long-term stability of sensitivity has not been realized yet due to electrical degradation under harsh sensing conditions. Here, we report a rational concept to accomplish long-term electrical stability of metal oxide nanowire sensors via introduction of a heavily doped metal oxide contact layer. Antimony-doped SnO 2 (ATO) contacts on SnO 2 nanowires show much more stable and lower electrical contact resistance than conventional Ti contacts for high temperature (200 °C) conditions, which are required to operate chemical sensors. The stable and low contact resistance of ATO was confirmed for at least 1960 h under 200 °C in open air. This heavily doped oxide contact enables us to realize the long-term stability of SnO 2 nanowire sensors while maintaining the sensitivity for both NO 2 gas and light (photo) detections. The applicability of our method is confirmed for sensors on a flexible polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate. Since the proposed fundamental concept can be applied to various oxide nanostructures, it will give a foundation for designing long-term stable oxide nanomaterial-based IoT sensors.

Self-Assembled Formation of Well-Aligned Cu-Te Nano-Rods on Heavily Cu-Doped ZnTe Thin Films

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jing; Cheng, Man Kit; Lai, Ying Hoi; Wei, Guanglu; Yang, Sean Derman; Wang, Gan; Ho, Sut Kam; Tam, Kam Weng; Sou, Iam Keong

2016-11-01

Cu doping of ZnTe, which is an important semiconductor for various optoelectronic applications, has been successfully achieved previously by several techniques. However, besides its electrical transport characteristics, other physical and chemical properties of heavily Cu-doped ZnTe have not been reported. We found an interesting self-assembled formation of crystalline well-aligned Cu-Te nano-rods near the surface of heavily Cu-doped ZnTe thin films grown via the molecular beam epitaxy technique. A phenomenological growth model is presented based on the observed crystallographic morphology and measured chemical composition of the nano-rods using various imaging and chemical analysis techniques. When substitutional doping reaches its limit, the extra Cu atoms favor an up-migration toward the surface, leading to a one-dimensional surface modulation and formation of Cu-Te nano-rods, which explain unusual observations on the reflection high energy electron diffraction patterns and apparent resistivity of these thin films. This study provides an insight into some unexpected chemical reactions involved in the heavily Cu-doped ZnTe thin films, which may be applied to other material systems that contain a dopant having strong reactivity with the host matrix.

High-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Fe)Sb

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tu, Nguyen Thanh [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Department of Physics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy, 280, An Duong Vuong Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City 748242 (Viet Nam); Hai, Pham Nam [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-0033 (Japan); Center for Spintronics Research Network (CSRN), The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Anh, Le Duc [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Tanaka, Masaaki [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Center for Spintronics Research Network (CSRN), The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)

2016-05-09

We show high-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga{sub 1−x},Fe{sub x})Sb (x = 23% and 25%) thin films grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. Magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy and anomalous Hall effect measurements indicate intrinsic ferromagnetism of these samples. The Curie temperature reaches 300 K and 340 K for x = 23% and 25%, respectively, which are the highest values reported so far in intrinsic III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors.

Becoming a Heavily Tattooed Young Body: From a Bodily Experience to a Body Project

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Vitor Sérgio

2014-01-01

Why some young people start to tattoo their bodies? And why some of them keep going on with this practice, until having all body tattooed? What doing so means to them? These are some of the questions that underlie a qualitative research project carried out in Portugal on heavily tattooed young people. In this article, the author discusses their…

Juxtaposed color halftoning relying on discrete lines.

Science.gov (United States)

Babaei, Vahid; Hersch, Roger D

2013-02-01

Most halftoning techniques allow screen dots to overlap. They rely on the assumption that the inks are transparent, i.e., the inks do not scatter a significant portion of the light back to the air. However, many special effect inks, such as metallic inks, iridescent inks, or pigmented inks, are not transparent. In order to create halftone images, halftone dots formed by such inks should be juxtaposed, i.e., printed side by side. We propose an efficient juxtaposed color halftoning technique for placing any desired number of colorant layers side by side without overlapping. The method uses a monochrome library of screen elements made of discrete lines with rational thicknesses. Discrete line juxtaposed color halftoning is performed efficiently by multiple accesses to the screen element library.

The SARVIEWS Project: Automated SAR Processing in Support of Operational Near Real-time Volcano Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, F. J.; Webley, P. W.; Dehn, J.; Arko, S. A.; McAlpin, D. B.; Gong, W.

2016-12-01

Volcanic eruptions are among the most significant hazards to human society, capable of triggering natural disasters on regional to global scales. In the last decade, remote sensing has become established in operational volcano monitoring. Centers like the Alaska Volcano Observatory rely heavily on remote sensing data from optical and thermal sensors to provide time-critical hazard information. Despite this high use of remote sensing data, the presence of clouds and a dependence on solar illumination often limit their impact on decision making. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems are widely considered superior to optical sensors in operational monitoring situations, due to their weather and illumination independence. Still, the contribution of SAR to operational volcano monitoring has been limited in the past due to high data costs, long processing times, and low temporal sampling rates of most SAR systems. In this study, we introduce the automatic SAR processing system SARVIEWS, whose advanced data analysis and data integration techniques allow, for the first time, a meaningful integration of SAR into operational monitoring systems. We will introduce the SARVIEWS database interface that allows for automatic, rapid, and seamless access to the data holdings of the Alaska Satellite Facility. We will also present a set of processing techniques designed to automatically generate a set of SAR-based hazard products (e.g. change detection maps, interferograms, geocoded images). The techniques take advantage of modern signal processing and radiometric normalization schemes, enabling the combination of data from different geometries. Finally, we will show how SAR-based hazard information is integrated in existing multi-sensor decision support tools to enable joint hazard analysis with data from optical and thermal sensors. We will showcase the SAR processing system using a set of recent natural disasters (both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) to demonstrate its

Cytogenetic abnormalities of the descendants of permanent residents of heavily contaminated East Kazakhstan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaizhunusova, Nailya; Madiyeva, Madina; Tanaka, Kimio; Hoshi, Masaharu; Kawano, Noriyuki; Noso, Yoshihiro; Takeichi, Nobuo; Rakhypbekov, Tolebay; Urazalina, Nailya; Dovgal, Galina; Rymbaeva, Tamara; Tokanova, Sholpan; Beisengazina, Meruert; Kembayeva, Kulypash; Inoue, Ken

2017-11-01

More than 400 nuclear explosion tests were conducted at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS) and significant radioactive substances were released. The long-term consequences of the activities at the SNTS and the appearance of any hereditary effects remain insufficiently studied about 25 years after the test site was closed. The population living in villages near the SNTS are considered to have been heavily exposed to external and internal radiation. This study aims to perform an assessment and comprehensive cytogenetic analysis of the inhabitants living near the SNTS, and their first-(F1) and second-(F2) generation children. Residents of the East Kazakhstan region living in the area covered by the former SNTS were included in the study. To evaluate the hereditary effects of nuclear testing, comprehensive chromosome analyses were performed in lymphocytes using conventional Giemsa and fluorescent in situ hybridization methods in 115 F1 and F2 descendants in the villages of Dolon and Sarzhal, which were heavily contaminated. The parents of the subjects had permanently lived in the villages. A higher number of stable-type chromosome aberrations such as translocations was found in these residents than in 80 residents of the control area, Kokpecty, which indicates the possibility that radiation had biological effects on the exposed subjects.

Intuitive Face Judgments Rely on Holistic Eye Movement Pattern

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura F. Mega

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Non-verbal signals such as facial expressions are of paramount importance for social encounters. Their perception predominantly occurs without conscious awareness and is effortlessly integrated into social interactions. In other words, face perception is intuitive. Contrary to classical intuition tasks, this work investigates intuitive processes in the realm of every-day type social judgments. Two differently instructed groups of participants judged the authenticity of emotional facial expressions, while their eye movements were recorded: an ‘intuitive group,’ instructed to rely on their “gut feeling” for the authenticity judgments, and a ‘deliberative group,’ instructed to make their judgments after careful analysis of the face. Pixel-wise statistical maps of the resulting eye movements revealed a differential viewing pattern, wherein the intuitive judgments relied on fewer, longer and more centrally located fixations. These markers have been associated with a global/holistic viewing strategy. The holistic pattern of intuitive face judgments is in line with evidence showing that intuition is related to processing the “gestalt” of an object, rather than focusing on details. Our work thereby provides further evidence that intuitive processes are characterized by holistic perception, in an understudied and real world domain of intuition research.

Rapid enhancement of nodal quasiparticle mass with heavily underdoping in Bi2212

Science.gov (United States)

Anzai, Hiroaki; Arita, Masashi; Namatame, Hirofumi; Taniguchi, Masaki; Ishikado, Motoyuki; Fujita, Kazuhiro; Ishida, Shigeyuki; Uchida, Shin-ichi; Ino, Akihiro

2018-05-01

We report substantial advance of our low-energy angle-resolved photoemission study of nodal quasiparticles in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. The new data cover the samples from underdoped down to heavily underdoped levels. We also present the nodal Fermi velocities that determined by using an excitation-photon energy of hν = 7.0 eV over a wide doping range. The consistency between the results with hν = 8.1 and 7.0 eV allows us to rule out the effect of photoemission matrix elements. In comparison with the data previously reported, the nodal effective mass increases by a factor of ∼ 1.5 in going from optimally doped to heavily underdoped levels. We find a rapid enhancement of the nodal quasiparticle mass at low doping levels near the superconductor-to-insulator transition. The effective coupling spectrum, λ (ω) , is extracted directly from the energy derivatives of the quasiparticle dispersion and scattering rate, as a causal function of the mass enhancement factor. A steplike increase in Reλ (ω) around ∼ 65 meV is demonstrated clearly by the Kramers-Kronig transform of Imλ (ω) . To extract the low-energy renormalization effect, we calculated a simple model for the electron-boson interaction. This model reveals that the contribution of the renormalization at | ω | ≤ 15 meV to the quasiparticle mass is larger than that around 65 meV in underdoped samples.

An accurate measurement of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation with heavily gas-dominated ALFALFA galaxies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papastergis, E.; Adams, E. A. K.; van der Hulst, J. M.

2016-01-01

We use a sample of 97 galaxies selected from the Arecibo legacy fast ALFA (ALFALFA) 21 cm survey to make an accurate measurement of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTFR). These galaxies are specifically selected to be heavily gas-dominated (Mgas/M∗ ≳ 2.7) and to be oriented edge-on. The former

Integrating SAR with Optical and Thermal Remote Sensing for Operational Near Real-Time Volcano Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, F. J.; Webley, P.; Dehn, J.; Arko, S. A.; McAlpin, D. B.

2013-12-01

Volcanic eruptions are among the most significant hazards to human society, capable of triggering natural disasters on regional to global scales. In the last decade, remote sensing techniques have become established in operational forecasting, monitoring, and managing of volcanic hazards. Monitoring organizations, like the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), are nowadays heavily relying on remote sensing data from a variety of optical and thermal sensors to provide time-critical hazard information. Despite the high utilization of these remote sensing data to detect and monitor volcanic eruptions, the presence of clouds and a dependence on solar illumination often limit their impact on decision making processes. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems are widely believed to be superior to optical sensors in operational monitoring situations, due to the weather and illumination independence of their observations and the sensitivity of SAR to surface changes and deformation. Despite these benefits, the contributions of SAR to operational volcano monitoring have been limited in the past due to (1) high SAR data costs, (2) traditionally long data processing times, and (3) the low temporal sampling frequencies inherent to most SAR systems. In this study, we present improved data access, data processing, and data integration techniques that mitigate some of the above mentioned limitations and allow, for the first time, a meaningful integration of SAR into operational volcano monitoring systems. We will introduce a new database interface that was developed in cooperation with the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) and allows for rapid and seamless data access to all of ASF's SAR data holdings. We will also present processing techniques that improve the temporal frequency with which hazard-related products can be produced. These techniques take advantage of modern signal processing technology as well as new radiometric normalization schemes, both enabling the combination of

Harnessing monitoring measurements in urban environments for decision making after nuclear accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaiser, J.C.; Proehl, G.

2007-01-01

This article gives an overview on the conceptual design of the Inhabited Areas Monitoring Module IA MM which will be introduced into European decision support systems for nuclear emergencies. It will improve the use of monitoring data of radioactive contamination in urban environments for decision making. IAMM converts the dated gamma dose rate (GDR) measurements from geo-referenced locations into maps of surface contamination with an enhanced spatial resolution. Depending on the availability of the monitoring data, IAMM relies on two modes of operation. If there are only a few measurements, these are taken to improve the maps from a deposition model using data assimilation. If the number of measurements is sufficient to apply spatial interpolation IAMM will rely entirely on monitoring data. Suitable geo-referenced data points will be interpreted by IAMM with respect to their detector environment using the concept of location factors. The endpoints of IAMM can be used directly for decision making or dose calculations with either simple dose models or the more refined EuRopean Model for INhabited areas (ERMIN). (orig.)

Humos monitoring system of leaks in to the containment atmosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matal, O.; Zaloudek, J.; Matal, O. Jr.; Klinga, J.; Brom, J.

1997-01-01

HUmidity MOnitoring System (HUMOS) has been developed and designed to detect the presence of leak in selected primary circuit high energy pipelines and components that are evaluated from the point of view of Leak Before Break (LBB) requirements. It also requires to apply technical tools for detection and identification of coolant leaks from primary circuit and components of PWRs reactors. Safety significant of leaks depend on: leak source (location); leak rate, and leak duration. Therefore to detect and monitor coolant leaks in to the containment atmosphere during reactor operation is one of important safety measures. As potential leak sources flange connection in the upper head region of WWER reactors can be considered. HUMOS does not rely on the release of radioactivity to detect leaks but rather the relies on detection of moisture in the air resulting from a primary boundary leak. Because HUMOS relies on moisture and temperature detection, leaks can be detected without requiring the reactor to be critical. Therefore leaks can be detected during integrity pressure tests and any other mode of operation provided the reactor ventilation system is operating and primary circuit and components are pressurized. 3 figs

AFM of metallic nano-particles and nano-structures in heavily irradiated NaCl

OpenAIRE

Gaynutdinov, R; Vainshtein, DI; Hak, SJ; Tolstikhina, A; Den Hartog, HW

2003-01-01

AFM investigations are reported for heavily, electron irradiated NaCl crystals in ultra high vacuum (UHV) in the non-contact mode-with an UHV AFM/STM Omicron system. To avoid chemical reactions between the radiolytic Na and oxygen and water, the irradiated samples were cleaved and prepared for the experiments in UHV At the surface of freshly cleaved samples, we have observed sodium nano-precipitates with shapes, which depend on the irradiation dose and the volume fraction of the radiolytic Na...

Stored energy and annealing behavior of heavily deformed aluminium

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kamikawa, Naoya; Huang, Xiaoxu; Kondo, Yuka

2012-01-01

It has been demonstrated in previous work that a two-step annealing treatment, including a low-temperature, long-time annealing and a subsequent high-temperature annealing, is a promising route to control the microstructure of a heavily deformed metal. In the present study, structural parameters...... are quantified such as boundary spacing, misorientation angle and dislocation density for 99.99% aluminium deformed by accumulative roll-bonding to a strain of 4.8. Two different annealing processes have been applied; (i) one-step annealing for 0.5 h at 100-400°C and (ii) two-step annealing for 6 h at 175°C...... followed by 0.5 h annealing at 200-600°C, where the former treatment leads to discontinuous recrystallization and the latter to uniform structural coarsening. This behavior has been analyzed in terms of the relative change during annealing of energy stored as elastic energy in the dislocation structure...

Modern techniques for condition monitoring of railway vehicle dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ngigi, R W; Pislaru, C; Ball, A; Gu, F

2012-01-01

A modern railway system relies on sophisticated monitoring systems for maintenance and renewal activities. Some of the existing conditions monitoring techniques perform fault detection using advanced filtering, system identification and signal analysis methods. These theoretical approaches do not require complex mathematical models of the system and can overcome potential difficulties associated with nonlinearities and parameter variations in the system. Practical applications of condition monitoring tools use sensors which are mounted either on the track or rolling stock. For instance, monitoring wheelset dynamics could be done through the use of track-mounted sensors, while vehicle-based sensors are preferred for monitoring the train infrastructure. This paper attempts to collate and critically appraise the modern techniques used for condition monitoring of railway vehicle dynamics by analysing the advantages and shortcomings of these methods.

Bio-effect monitoring using a [(15)N]methacetin test as diagnostic tool to monitor remediation effects in an industrially polluted region.

Science.gov (United States)

Rolle-Kampczyk, Ulrike Elisabeth; Rehwagen, Martina; Franck, Ulrich; Weiss, Holger; Krumbiegel, Peter; Herbarth, Olf

2006-04-10

The classical way to demonstrate the efficiency of remediation is measuring the reduction of toxic compounds in the environment. Nevertheless, more important is the risk reduction in human health. To determine changing health effects, exposure and bio-effects have to be monitored at time of and during remediation. Kindergarten children from a heavily polluted industrial (n=23) and a control area (n=12) were investigated. The region-specific outdoor and indoor exposure [27 volatile organic compounds (VOC), emphasis on tri- and tetrachloroethylene (TRI, TETRA)], the internal load [(trichloroacetic acid-TCA-as urine metabolites of TRI and TETRA and S-phenyl- and S-benzylmercapturic acid (SPMA and SBMA) as metabolites of benzene and toluene], and biological effect assessment ([(15)N]methacetin test-a non-invasive stable isotope test to determine the unspecific liver detoxification capacity of an individual) were measured twice a year during 2 years of remediation (1997/1998). It could be shown that in- and outdoor levels of TRI and TETRA decreased by 47% in the heavily polluted village, Greppin, while the levels remained much the same in the control village, Roitzsch. This trend was reflected in the decreasing elimination of TCA in the urine (41%) by the Greppin children, with no differences in the TCA elimination in Roitzsch probands. As the remediation efforts decreased the burden of exposure, the children's liver detoxification capacity improved as well. Combining different methods, such as exposure-effect (external and internal loads) and bio-effect monitoring, proved to be useful to assess remediation successes including the improvement in human health.

Thermal performance monitoring and optimisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sunde, Svein; Berg; Oeyvind

1998-01-01

Monitoring of the thermal efficiency of nuclear power plants is expected to become increasingly important as energy-market liberalisation exposes plants to increasing availability requirements and fiercer competition. The general goal in thermal performance monitoring is straightforward: to maximise the ratio of profit to cost under the constraints of safe operation. One may perceive this goal to be pursued in two ways, one oriented towards fault detection and cost-optimal predictive maintenance, and another determined at optimising target values of parameters in response to any component degradation detected, changes in ambient conditions, or the like. Annual savings associated with effective thermal-performance monitoring are expected to be in the order of $ 100 000 for power plants of representative size. A literature review shows that a number of computer systems for thermal-performance monitoring exists, either as prototypes or commercially available. The characteristics and needs of power plants may vary widely, however, and decisions concerning the exact scope, content and configuration of a thermal-performance monitor may well follow a heuristic approach. Furthermore, re-use of existing software modules may be desirable. Therefore, we suggest here the design of a flexible workbench for easy assembly of an experimental thermal-performance monitor at the Halden Project. The suggested design draws heavily on our extended experience in implementing control-room systems featured by assets like high levels of customisation, flexibility in configuration and modularity in structure, and on a number of relevant adjoining activities. The design includes a multi-computer communication system and a graphical user's interface, and aims at a system adaptable to any combination of in-house or end user's modules, as well as commercially available software. (author)

Web-based monitoring tools for Resistive Plate Chambers in the CMS experiment at CERN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, M.S.; Ban, Y.; Cai, J.; Li, Q.; Liu, S.; Qian, S.; Wang, D.; Xu, Z.; Zhang, F.; Choi, Y.; Kim, D.; Goh, J.; Choi, S.; Hong, B.; Kang, J.W.; Kang, M.; Kwon, J.H.; Lee, K.S.; Lee, S.K.; Park, S.K.

2014-01-01

The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) are used in the CMS experiment at the trigger level and also in the standard offline muon reconstruction. In order to guarantee the quality of the data collected and to monitor online the detector performance, a set of tools has been developed in CMS which is heavily used in the RPC system. The Web-based monitoring (WBM) is a set of java servlets that allows users to check the performance of the hardware during data taking, providing distributions and history plots of all the parameters. The functionalities of the RPC WBM monitoring tools are presented along with studies of the detector performance as a function of growing luminosity and environmental conditions that are tracked over time

On-line monitoring of base current and forward emitter current gain of the voltage regulator's serial pnp transistor in a radiation environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vukić Vladimir Đ.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A method of on-line monitoring of the low-dropout voltage regulator's operation in a radiation environment is developed in this paper. The method had to enable detection of the circuit's degradation during exploitation, without terminating its operation in an ionizing radiation field. Moreover, it had to enable automatic measurement and data collection, as well as the detection of any considerable degradation, well before the monitored voltage regulator's malfunction. The principal parameters of the voltage regulator's operation that were monitored were the serial pnp transistor's base current and the forward emitter current gain. These parameters were procured indirectly, from the data on the voltage regulator's load and quiescent currents. Since the internal consumption current in moderately and heavily loaded devices was used, the quiescent current of a negligibly loaded voltage regulator of the same type served as a reference. Results acquired by on-line monitoring demonstrated marked agreement with the results acquired from examinations of the voltage regulator's maximum output current and minimum dropout voltage in a radiation environment. The results were particularly consistent in tests with heavily loaded devices. Results obtained for moderately loaded voltage regulators and the risks accompanying the application of the presented method, were also analyzed.

In situ observation of triple junction motion during recovery of heavily deformed aluminum

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yu, Tianbo; Hughes, Darcy A.; Hansen, Niels

2015-01-01

-junctions are pinned by deformation-induced interconnecting and lamellar boundaries, which slow down the recovery process and lead to a stop-go migration pattern. This pinning mechanism stabilizes the deformation microstructure, i.e. the structure is stabilized by balancing the driving and pinning forces controlling......Microstructural evolution during in situ annealing of heavily cold-rolled aluminum has been studied by transmission electron microscopy, confirming that an important recovery mechanism is migration of triple junctions formed by three lamellar boundaries (Y-junctions). The migrating Y...

Nice Guys Finish Last: Are People with Higher Tax Morale Taxed more Heavily?

OpenAIRE

Philipp Doerrenberg; Denvil Duncan; Clemens Fuest; Andreas Peichl

2012-01-01

This paper is the first to provide evidence of efficient taxation of groups with heterogeneous levels of 'tax morale'. We set up an optimal income tax model where high tax morale implies a high subjective cost of evading taxes. The model predicts that 'nice guys finish last': groups with higher tax morale will be taxed more heavily, simply because taxing them is less costly. Based on unique cross-country micro data and an IV approach to rule out reverse causality, we find empirical support fo...

Konfuciānisma, daoisma un budisma mantojums Ķīnas tautas reliģijā

OpenAIRE

Dudaļeva, Jūlija

2014-01-01

Šī bakalaura darba nosaukums ir „Konfuciānisma, daoisma un budisma mantojums Ķīnas tautas reliģijā”. Nosaukums ķīniešu tautas reliģijas ir pētnieku izveidots, un tas neatbilst nevienam tradicionālam ķīniešu nosaukumam. Tautas reliģija ir brīvi strukturēts ticību, prakses, dievību, mītu un vērtību savienojums, kas ietver sevī elementus no senču dievkalpojumiem, mirušo kulta, dabas pielūgsmes, animisma, vietējām tradīcijām, daoisma, konfuciānisma un budisma. Darba mērķis ir izpētīt konfuciān...

12 CFR 221.117 - When bank in “good faith” has not relied on stock as collateral.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... bank in “good faith” has not relied on stock as collateral. (a) The Board has received questions... “indirectly secured” by stock as indicated by the phrase, “if the lender, in good faith, has not relied upon...

Monitoring protein synthesis by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) in vivo

OpenAIRE

sprotocols

2015-01-01

Currently available methodologies for measuring protein synthesis rates rely on metabolic labelling by incorporation of radioactive amino acids into nascent polypeptides. These approaches are hampered by several limitations and cannot be applied to monitor protein synthesis in specific cells or tissues, in live specimens. Here, we describe a novel method for monitoring protein synthesis in specific cells and tissues of live Caenorhabditis elegans animals. Fluorescent reporter proteins such as...

A framework for hierarchical and recursive monitoring of service based systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Comuzzi, M.; Spanoudakis, G.

2009-01-01

Runtime monitoring of Service Based Systems (SBSs) usually relies on information derived from I/O messages exchanged within business processes implementing services. When service provisioning is regulated by complex Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between service requesters, (composed) services, and

Building capacity in biodiversity monitoring at the global scale

Science.gov (United States)

Schmeller, Dirk S.; Bohm, Monika; Arvanitidis, Christos; Barber-Meyer, Shannon; Brummitt, Neil; Chandler, Mark; Chatzinikolaou, Eva; Costello, Mark J.; Ding, Hui; García-Moreno, Jaime; Gill, Michael J.; Haase, Peter; Jones, Miranda; Juillard, Romain; Magnusson, William E.; Martin, Corinne S.; McGeoch, Melodie A.; Mihoub, Jean-Baptiste; Pettorelli, Nathalie; Proença, Vânia; Peng, Cui; Regan, Eugenie; Schmiedel, Ute; Simsika, John P.; Weatherdon, Lauren; Waterman, Carly; Xu, Haigen; Belnap, Jayne

2017-01-01

Human-driven global change is causing ongoing declines in biodiversity worldwide. In order to address these declines, decision-makers need accurate assessments of the status of and pressures on biodiversity. However, these are heavily constrained by incomplete and uneven spatial, temporal and taxonomic coverage. For instance, data from regions such as Europe and North America are currently used overwhelmingly for large-scale biodiversity assessments due to lesser availability of suitable data from other, more biodiversity-rich, regions. These data-poor regions are often those experiencing the strongest threats to biodiversity, however. There is therefore an urgent need to fill the existing gaps in global biodiversity monitoring. Here, we review current knowledge on best practice in capacity building for biodiversity monitoring and provide an overview of existing means to improve biodiversity data collection considering the different types of biodiversity monitoring data. Our review comprises insights from work in Africa, South America, Polar Regions and Europe; in government-funded, volunteer and citizen-based monitoring in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. The key steps to effectively building capacity in biodiversity monitoring are: identifying monitoring questions and aims; identifying the key components, functions, and processes to monitor; identifying the most suitable monitoring methods for these elements, carrying out monitoring activities; managing the resultant data; and interpreting monitoring data. Additionally, biodiversity monitoring should use multiple approaches including extensive and intensive monitoring through volunteers and professional scientists but also harnessing new technologies. Finally, we call on the scientific community to share biodiversity monitoring data, knowledge and tools to ensure the accessibility, interoperability, and reporting of biodiversity data at a global scale.

Near-Field Imaging of Free Carriers in ZnO Nanowires with a Scanning Probe Tip Made of Heavily Doped Germanium

Science.gov (United States)

Sakat, Emilie; Giliberti, Valeria; Bollani, Monica; Notargiacomo, Andrea; Pea, Marialilia; Finazzi, Marco; Pellegrini, Giovanni; Hugonin, Jean-Paul; Weber-Bargioni, Alexander; Melli, Mauro; Sassolini, Simone; Cabrini, Stefano; Biagioni, Paolo; Ortolani, Michele; Baldassarre, Leonetta

2017-11-01

A novel scanning probe tip made of heavily doped semiconductor is fabricated and used instead of standard gold-coated tips in infrared scattering-type near-field microscopy. Midinfrared near-field microscopy experiments are conducted on ZnO nanowires with a lateral resolution better than 100 nm, using tips made of heavily electron-doped germanium with a plasma frequency in the midinfrared (plasma wavelength of 9.5 μ m ). Nanowires embedded in a dielectric matrix are imaged at two wavelengths, 11.3 and 8.0 μ m , above and below the plasma wavelength of the tips. An opposite sign of the imaging contrasts between the nanowire and the dielectric matrix is observed at the two infrared wavelengths, indicating a clear role of the free-electron plasma in the heavily doped germanium tip in building the imaging contrast. Electromagnetic simulations with a multispherical dipole model accounting for the finite size of the tip are well consistent with the experiments. By comparison of the simulated and measured imaging contrasts, an estimate for the local free-carrier density in the investigated ZnO nanowires in the low 1019 cm-3 range is retrieved. The results are benchmarked against the scattering intensity and phase maps obtained on the same sample with a gold-coated probe tip in pseudoheterodyne detection mode.

Anemonefishes rely on visual and chemical cues to correctly identify conspecifics

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Nicole K.; Dixson, Danielle L.

2017-09-01

Organisms rely on sensory cues to interpret their environment and make important life-history decisions. Accurate recognition is of particular importance in diverse reef environments. Most evidence on the use of sensory cues focuses on those used in predator avoidance or habitat recognition, with little information on their role in conspecific recognition. Yet conspecific recognition is essential for life-history decisions including settlement, mate choice, and dominance interactions. Using a sensory manipulated tank and a two-chamber choice flume, anemonefish conspecific response was measured in the presence and absence of chemical and/or visual cues. Experiments were then repeated in the presence or absence of two heterospecific species to evaluate whether a heterospecific fish altered the conspecific response. Anemonefishes responded to both the visual and chemical cues of conspecifics, but relied on the combination of the two cues to recognize conspecifics inside the sensory manipulated tank. These results contrast previous studies focusing on predator detection where anemonefishes were found to compensate for the loss of one sensory cue (chemical) by utilizing a second cue (visual). This lack of sensory compensation may impact the ability of anemonefishes to acclimate to changing reef environments in the future.

REMOTE BIOSENSOR FOR IN SITU MONITORING OF ORGANOPHOSPHATE NERVE AGENTS. (R823663)

Science.gov (United States)

A remote electrochemical biosensor for field monitoring of organophosphate nerve agents is described. The new sensor relies on the coupling of the effective biocatalytic action of organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) with a submersible amperometric probe design. This combination resu...

Modular Subsea Monitoring Network (MSM) - Realizing Integrated Environmental Monitoring Solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Mosch, Thomas; Fietzek, Peer

2016-04-01

In a variety of scientific and industrial application areas, ranging i.e. from the supervision of hydrate fields over the detection and localization of fugitive emissions from subsea oil and gas production to fish farming, fixed point observatories are useful and applied means. They monitor the water column and/or are placed at the sea floor over long periods of time. They are essential oceanographic platforms for providing valuable long-term time series data and multi-parameter measurements. Various mooring and observatory endeavors world-wide contribute valuable data needed for understanding our planet's ocean systems and biogeochemical processes. Continuously powered cabled observatories enable real-time data transmission from spots of interest close to the shore or to ocean infrastructures. Independent of the design of the observatories they all rely on sensors which demands for regular maintenance. This work is in most cases associated with cost-intensive maintenance on a regular time basis for the entire sensor carrying fixed platform. It is mandatory to encounter this asset for long-term monitoring by enhancing hardware efficiency. On the basis of two examples of use from the area of hydrate monitoring (off Norway and Japan) we will present the concept of the Modular Subsea Monitoring Network (MSM). The modular, scalable and networking capabilities of the MSM allow for an easy adaptation to different monitoring tasks. Providing intelligent power management, combining chemical and acoustical sensors, adaptation of the payload according to the monitoring tasks, autonomous powering, modular design for easy transportation, storage and mobilization, Vessel of Opportunity-borne launching and recovery capability with a video-guided launcher system and a rope recovery system are key facts addressed during the development of the MSM. Step by step the MSM concept applied to the observatory hardware will also be extended towards the gathered data to maximize the

The Long-Term Multicenter Observational Study of Dabigatran Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation (RELY-ABLE) Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Connolly, S. J.; Wallentin, L.; Ezekowitz, M. D.

2013-01-01

. There is a need for longer-term follow-up of patients on dabigatran and for further data comparing the 2 dabigatran doses. Methods and Results Patients randomly assigned to dabigatran in RE-LY were eligible for the Long-term Multicenter Extension of Dabigatran Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (RELY...

Measurement of surface recombination velocity on heavily doped indium phosphide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jenkins, P.; Ghalla-Goradia, M.; Faur, M.; Bailey, S.

1990-01-01

The controversy surrounding the published low values of surface recombination velocity (SRV) in n-InP, solidified in recent years when modeling of existing n/p InP solar cells revealed that the front surface SRV had to be higher than 1 x 10 6 cm/sec in order to justify the poor blue response that is characteristic of all n/p InP solar cells. In this paper, SRV on heavily doped (>10 18 cm -3 )n-type and p-type InP is measured as a function of surface treatment. For the limited range of substrates and surface treatments studied, SRV and surface stability depend strongly on the surface treatment. SRVs of ∼10 5 cm/sec in both p-type and n-type InP are obtainable, but in n-type the low SRV surfaces were unstable, and the only stable surfaces on n-type had SRVs of >10 6 cm/sec

Heavily-doped 2D-quantized structures and the Einstein relation

CERN Document Server

Ghatak, Kamakhya P

2015-01-01

This book presents the Einstein Relation(ER) in two-dimensional (2-D) Heavily Doped(HD) Quantized Structures. The materials considered are quantized structures of HD non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V, Bismuth Telluride together with various types of HD superlattices and their Quantized counterparts respectively. The ER in HD opto-electronic materials and their nanostructures is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestion for the experimental determination of HD 2D and 3D ERs and the importance of measurement of band gap in HD optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nanodevices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring photon induced physical properties) are also discussed in this context. The influence of crossed electric and quantizing ma...

Global Drought Monitoring and Forecasting based on Satellite Data and Land Surface Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Sheffield, J.; Lobell, D. B.; Wood, E. F.

2010-12-01

Monitoring drought globally is challenging because of the lack of dense in-situ hydrologic data in many regions. In particular, soil moisture measurements are absent in many regions and in real time. This is especially problematic for developing regions such as Africa where water information is arguably most needed, but virtually non-existent on the ground. With the emergence of remote sensing estimates of all components of the water cycle there is now the potential to monitor the full terrestrial water cycle from space to give global coverage and provide the basis for drought monitoring. These estimates include microwave-infrared merged precipitation retrievals, evapotranspiration based on satellite radiation, temperature and vegetation data, gravity recovery measurements of changes in water storage, microwave based retrievals of soil moisture and altimetry based estimates of lake levels and river flows. However, many challenges remain in using these data, especially due to biases in individual satellite retrieved components, their incomplete sampling in time and space, and their failure to provide budget closure in concert. A potential way forward is to use modeling to provide a framework to merge these disparate sources of information to give physically consistent and spatially and temporally continuous estimates of the water cycle and drought. Here we present results from our experimental global water cycle monitor and its African drought monitor counterpart (http://hydrology.princeton.edu/monitor). The system relies heavily on satellite data to drive the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface model to provide near real-time estimates of precipitation, evapotranspiraiton, soil moisture, snow pack and streamflow. Drought is defined in terms of anomalies of soil moisture and other hydrologic variables relative to a long-term (1950-2000) climatology. We present some examples of recent droughts and how they are identified by the system, including

Marine reserves and reproductive biomass: a case study of a heavily targeted reef fish.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett M Taylor

Full Text Available Recruitment overfishing (the reduction of a spawning stock past a point at which the stock can no longer replenish itself is a common problem which can lead to a rapid and irreversible fishery collapse. Averting this disaster requires maintaining a sufficient spawning population to buffer stochastic fluctuations in recruitment of heavily harvested stocks. Optimal strategies for managing spawner biomass are well developed for temperate systems, yet remain uncertain for tropical fisheries, where the danger of collapse from recruitment overfishing looms largest. In this study, we explored empirically and through modeling, the role of marine reserves in maximizing spawner biomass of a heavily exploited reef fish, Lethrinus harak around Guam, Micronesia. On average, spawner biomass was 16 times higher inside the reserves compared with adjacent fished sites. Adult density and habitat-specific mean fish size were also significantly greater. We used these data in an age-structured population model to explore the effect of several management scenarios on L. harak demography. Under minimum-size limits, unlimited extraction and all rotational-closure scenarios, the model predicts that preferential mortality of larger and older fish prompt dramatic declines in spawner biomass and the proportion of male fish, as well as considerable declines in total abundance. For rotational closures this occurred because of the mismatch between the scales of recovery and extraction. Our results highlight how alternative management scenarios fall short in comparison to marine reserves in preserving reproductively viable fish populations on coral reefs.

First Operation of the Abort Gap Monitors for LHC

CERN Document Server

Bart Pedersen, S; Bravin, E; Boccardi, A; Goldblatt, A; Jeff, A; Roncarolo, F; Fisher, A

2010-01-01

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) beam-dump system relies on extraction kickers that need 3 microseconds to rise to their nominal field. Since particles transiting the kickers during the rise will not be dumped properly, the proton population in this interval must always remain below quench and damage limits. A specific monitor to measure the particle population of this gap has been designed based on the detection of synchrotron radiation using a gated photomultiplier. Since the quench and damage limits change with the beam energy, the acceptable population in the abort gap and the settings of the monitor must adapt accordingly. This paper presents the design of the monitor, the calibration procedure and the detector performance with beam.

Portal monitoring for detecting fissile materials and chemical explosives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albright, D.

1992-01-01

The portal monitoring of pedestrians, packages, equipment, and vehicles entering or leaving areas of high physical security has been common for many years. Many nuclear facilities rely on portal monitoring to prevent the theft or diversion of plutonium and highly enriched uranium. At commercial airports, portals are used to prevent firearms and explosives from being smuggled onto airplanes. An August 1989 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation requires US airlines to screen luggage on international flights for chemical explosives. This paper reports that portal monitoring is now being introduced into arms-control agreements. Because some of the portal-monitoring equipment that would be useful in verifying arms-control agreements is already widely used as part of the physical security systems at nuclear facilities and commercial airports, the authors review these uses of portal monitoring, as well as its role in verifying the INF treaty. Then the authors survey the major types of portal-monitoring equipment that would be most useful in detecting nuclear warheads or fissile material

Microbial Diversity of a Heavily Polluted Microbial Mat and Its Community Changes following Degradation of Petroleum Compounds

Science.gov (United States)

Abed, Raeid M. M.; Safi, Nimer M. D.; Köster, Jürgen; de Beer, Dirk; El-Nahhal, Yasser; Rullkötter, Jürgen; Garcia-Pichel, Ferran

2002-01-01

We studied the microbial diversity of benthic cyanobacterial mats inhabiting a heavily polluted site in a coastal stream (Wadi Gaza) and monitored the microbial community response induced by exposure to and degradation of four model petroleum compounds in the laboratory. Phormidium- and Oscillatoria-like cyanobacterial morphotypes were dominant in the field. Bacteria belonging to different groups, mainly the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteriodes group, the γ and β subclasses of the class Proteobacteria, and the green nonsulfur bacteria, were also detected. In slurry experiments, these communities efficiently degraded phenanthrene and dibenzothiophene completely in 7 days both in the light and in the dark. n-Octadecane and pristane were degraded to 25 and 34% of their original levels, respectively, within 7 days, but there was no further degradation until 40 days. Both cyanobacterial and bacterial communities exhibited noticeable changes concomitant with degradation of the compounds. The populations enriched by exposure to petroleum compounds included a cyanobacterium affiliated phylogenetically with Halomicronema. Bacteria enriched both in the light and in the dark, but not bacteria enriched in any of the controls, belonged to the newly described Holophaga-Geothrix-Acidobacterium phylum. In addition, another bacterial population, found to be a member of green nonsulfur bacteria, was detected only in the bacteria treated in the light. All or some of the populations may play a significant role in metabolizing the petroleum compounds. We concluded that the microbial mats from Wadi Gaza are rich in microorganisms with high biodegradative potential. PMID:11916684

Anomalous transmission through heavily doped conducting polymer films with periodic subwavelength hole array

Science.gov (United States)

Matsui, Tatsunosuke; Vardeny, Z. Valy; Agrawal, Amit; Nahata, Ajay; Menon, Reghu

2006-08-01

We observed resonantly enhanced (or anomalous transmission) terahertz transmission through two-dimensional (2D) periodic arrays of subwavelength apertures with various periodicities fabricated on metallic organic conducting polymer films of polypyrrole heavily doped with PF 6 molecules [PPy(PF6)]. The anomalous transmission spectra are in good agreement with a model involving surface plasmon polariton excitations on the film surfaces. We also found that the resonantly enhanced transmission peaks are broader in the exotic metallic PPy(PF6) films compared to those formed in 2D aperture array in regular metallic films such as silver, indicating that the surface plasmon polaritons on the PPy(PF6) film surfaces have higher attenuation.

Permanent cathodic protection monitoring systems for offshore pipelines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Britton, Jim [Deepwater Corrosion Services Inc., Houston, TX (United States)

2009-07-01

Historically offshore pipeline cathodic protection monitoring has relied on the use of portable survey techniques. This has typically relied on ROV assisted or surface deployed survey methods. These methods have been shown to have technical as well as economic shortcomings, this is particularly true of buried offshore pipelines where accuracy is always questionable. As more focus is being placed on offshore pipeline integrity, it was time for a new method to emerge. The technology discussed involves the retro-placement of permanent clamp-on monitors onto the pipeline which can measure pipeline to seawater potential as well as current density. The sensors can be interrogated locally using light powered subsea voltage readouts. Application of the technology can be either during pipeline construction, during installation of life extension CP systems, or during routine subsea pipeline interventions. The new method eliminates the need for long cables or expensive acoustic or modulated data transfer and provides all the information required to fully verify CP system performance, thus eliminating the need for expensive close-interval surveys. Some deployment case histories will be presented along with feasibility of application on deep water pipelines and comparative economics. (author)

A shallow geothermal experiment in a sandy aquifer monitored using electric resistivity tomography

OpenAIRE

Hermans, Thomas; Vandenbohede, Alexander; Lebbe, Luc; Nguyen, Frédéric

2012-01-01

Groundwater resources are increasingly used around the world for geothermal exploitation systems. To monitor such systems and to estimate their governing parameters, we rely mainly on borehole observations of the temperature field at a few locations. Bulk electrical resistivity variations can bring important information on temperature changes in aquifers. In this paper, we demonstrate the ability of surface electrical resistivity tomography to monitor spatially temperature variations in a san...

The Beam Instrumentation and Diagnostic Challenges for LHC Operation at high Energy

CERN Document Server

Jones, OR

2014-01-01

This contribution will present the role of beam diagnostics in facing the challenges posed by running the LHC close to its design energy of 7TeV. Machine protection will be ever more critical, with the quench level of the magnets significantly reduced, so relying heavily on the beam loss system, abort gap monitor, interlocks on the beam position and fast beam current change system. Non-invasive profile monitoring also becomes more of a challenge, with standard synchrotron light imaging limited by diffraction and rest gas ionization monitoring dominated by space charge effects. There is also a requirement to better understand beam instabilities, of which several were observed during Run I, leading to the need for synchronised bunch-by-bunch, turn-by-turn information from many distributed instrumentation systems. All of these challenges will be discussed along with the strategies adopted to overcome them.

Un premier service mobile en Égypte qui relie les petits exploitants ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Un premier service mobile en Égypte qui relie les petits exploitants aux acheteurs. Un homme qui parle sur un téléphone mobile. Les petits exploitants agricoles dominent l'agriculture égyptienne, mais leur manque de connaissances en matière de commercialisation et de compétences techniques, ainsi qu'une mauvaise ...

Immobilization of α-Amylase from Anoxybacillus sp. SK3-4 on ReliZyme and Immobead Supports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ummirul Mukminin Kahar

2016-09-01

Full Text Available α-Amylase from Anoxybacillus sp. SK3-4 (ASKA is a thermostable enzyme that produces a high level of maltose from starches. A truncated ASKA (TASKA variant with improved expression and purification efficiency was characterized in an earlier study. In this work, TASKA was purified and immobilized through covalent attachment on three epoxide (ReliZyme EP403/M, Immobead IB-150P, and Immobead IB-150A and an amino-epoxide (ReliZyme HFA403/M activated supports. Several parameters affecting immobilization were analyzed, including the pH, temperature, and quantity (mg of enzyme added per gram of support. The influence of the carrier surface properties, pore sizes, and lengths of spacer arms (functional groups on biocatalyst performances were studied. Free and immobilized TASKAs were stable at pH 6.0–9.0 and active at pH 8.0. The enzyme showed optimal activity and considerable stability at 60 °C. Immobilized TASKA retained 50% of its initial activity after 5–12 cycles of reuse. Upon degradation of starches and amylose, only immobilized TASKA on ReliZyme HFA403/M has comparable hydrolytic ability with the free enzyme. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an immobilization study of an α-amylase from Anoxybacillus spp. and the first report of α-amylase immobilization using ReliZyme and Immobeads as supports.

Symmetric Encryption Relying on Chaotic Henon System for Secure Hardware-Friendly Wireless Communication of Implantable Medical Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taha Belkhouja

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Healthcare remote devices are recognized as a promising technology for treating health related issues. Among them are the wireless Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs: These electronic devices are manufactured to treat, monitor, support or replace defected vital organs while being implanted in the human body. Thus, they play a critical role in healing and even saving lives. Current IMDs research trends concentrate on their medical reliability. However, deploying wireless technology in such applications without considering security measures may offer adversaries an easy way to compromise them. With the aim to secure these devices, we explore a new scheme that creates symmetric encryption keys to encrypt the wireless communication portion. We will rely on chaotic systems to obtain a synchronized Pseudo-Random key. The latter will be generated separately in the system in such a way that avoids a wireless key exchange, thus protecting patients from the key theft. Once the key is defined, a simple encryption system that we propose in this paper will be used. We analyze the performance of this system from a cryptographic point of view to ensure that it offers a better safety and protection for patients.

Development of an Image Colorimeter for Noncontact Skin Color Measurement and Application to the Dermatological Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Akimoto, Makio; Chen, Yu; Miyazaki, Michio; Yamashita, Toyonobu; Miyakawa, Michio; Hata, Mieko

The skin is unique as an organ that is highly accessible to direct visual inspection with light. Visual inspection of cutaneous morphology is the mainstay of clinical dermatology, but relies heavily on subjective assessment by the skilled dermatologists. We present an imaging colorimeter of non-contact skin color measuring system and some experimented results using such instrument. The system is comprised by a video camera, light source, a real-time image processing board, magneto optics disk and personal computer which controls the entire system. The CIE-L*a*b* uniform color space is used. This system is used for monitoring of some clinical diagnosis. The instrument is non-contact, easy to operate, and has a high precision unlike the conventional colorimeters. This instrument is useful for clinical diagnoses, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of treatment.

Very heavily electron-doped CrSi2 as a high-performance high-temperature thermoelectric material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, David; Singh, David J

2012-01-01

We analyze the thermoelectric behavior, using first principles and Boltzmann transport calculations, of very heavily electron-doped CrSi 2 and find that at temperatures of 900-1250 K and electron dopings of 1-4 × 10 21 cm -3 , thermopowers as large in magnitude as 200 μV K -1 may be found. Such high thermopowers at such high carrier concentrations are extremely rare, and suggest that excellent thermoelectric performance may be found in these ranges of temperature and doping. (paper)

SWMM LID Module Validation Study

Science.gov (United States)

EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a computational code heavily relied upon by industry for the simulation of wastewater and stormwater infrastructure performance. Many municipalities are relying on SWMM results to design multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade infrastructu...

Evaluation of the use of polymer modified bitumen in the production of high modulus asphalt for heavily-trafficked roads

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Komba, Julius J

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Enrobé à Module Élevé (EME) technology, a High Modulus Asphalt (HiMA), has been introduced to South Africa to provide an optimum solution for the design and construction of heavily trafficked roads. Implementation of EME technology in South Africa...

Coal conversion and aquatic environments: overview of impacts and strategies for monitoring. Environmental Sciences Division publication No. 1112

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roop, R. D.; Sanders, F. S.; Barnthouse, L. W.

1977-01-01

Impact assessment and environmental monitoring are difficult but crucial steps needed to ensure the environmentally safe development of coal conversion technologies. This paper summarizes strategies for impact assessment and monitoring developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for DOE's program to build demonstration facilities. Impacts on aquatic environments depend heavily on the abiotic and biotic characteristics of the site and details of facility design. Key issues include availability of water, use of ''zero-discharge'' designs, and methods of handling solid wastes. In monitoring programs emphasis is placed on (1) thorough use of existing data, (2) use of a synoptic reconnaissance survey, criteria for choosing parameters to be measured, and the search for ecologically meaningful, cost-effective methods.

Coarse-Grained Online Monitoring of BTI Aging by Reusing Power-Gating Infrastructure

OpenAIRE

Tenentes, V.; Rossi, D.; Sheng Yang,; Khursheed, S.; Al-Hashimi, B.M.; Gunn, S.R.

2017-01-01

In this paper, we present a novel coarse-grained technique for monitoring online the Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) aging of circuits by exploiting their power gating infrastructure. The proposed technique relies on monitoring the discharge time of the virtual-power-network during stand-by operations, the value of which depends on the threshold voltage of the CMOS devices in the power-gated design (PGD). It does not require any distributed sensors, because the virtual-power network is alr...

Designing a patient monitoring system for bipolar disorder using Semantic Web technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Thermolia, Chryssa; Bei, Ekaterini S; Petrakis, Euripides G M; Kritsotakis, Vangelis; Tsiknakis, Manolis; Sakkalis, Vangelis

2015-01-01

The new movement to personalize treatment plans and improve prediction capabilities is greatly facilitated by intelligent remote patient monitoring and risk prevention. This paper focuses on patients suffering from bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by severe mood swings. We exploit the advantages of Semantic Web and Electronic Health Record Technologies to develop a patient monitoring platform to support clinicians. Relying on intelligently filtering of clinical evidence-based information and individual-specific knowledge, we aim to provide recommendations for treatment and monitoring at appropriate time or concluding into alerts for serious shifts in mood and patients' non response to treatment.

High-resolution heavily T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic neurohypophysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanharawi, Imane El; Tzarouchi, Loukia [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Cardoen, Liesbeth [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Universite Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Martinerie, Laetitia; Leger, Juliane; Carel, Jean-Claude [Universite Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Inserm U1141, DHU PROTECT, Paris (France); Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service d' Endocrinologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Elmaleh-Berges, Monique [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Inserm U1141, DHU PROTECT, Paris (France); Alison, Marianne [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Universite Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Inserm U1141, DHU PROTECT, Paris (France)

2017-05-15

In anterior pituitary deficiency, patients with non visible pituitary stalk have more often multiple deficiencies and persistent deficiency than patients with visible pituitary stalk. To compare the diagnostic value of a high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence to 1.5-mm-thick unenhanced and contrast-enhanced sagittal T1-weighted sequences to assess the presence of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland. We retrospectively evaluated the MRI data of 14 children diagnosed with ectopic posterior pituitary gland between 2010 and 2014. We evaluated the presence of a pituitary stalk using a sagittal high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence and a 1.5-mm sagittal T1-weighted turbo spin-echo sequence before and after contrast medium administration. A pituitary stalk was present on at least one of the sequences in 10 of the 14 children (71%). T2-weighted sequence depicted the pituitary stalk in all 10 children, whereas the 1.5-mm-thick T1-weighted sequence depicted 2/10 (20%) before contrast injection and 8/10 (80%) after contrast injection (P=0.007). Compared with 1.5-mm-thick contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences, high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence demonstrates better sensitivity in detecting the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland, suggesting that contrast injection is unnecessary to assess the presence of a pituitary stalk in this setting. (orig.)

High-resolution heavily T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic neurohypophysis.

Science.gov (United States)

El Sanharawi, Imane; Tzarouchi, Loukia; Cardoen, Liesbeth; Martinerie, Laetitia; Leger, Juliane; Carel, Jean-Claude; Elmaleh-Berges, Monique; Alison, Marianne

2017-05-01

In anterior pituitary deficiency, patients with non visible pituitary stalk have more often multiple deficiencies and persistent deficiency than patients with visible pituitary stalk. To compare the diagnostic value of a high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence to 1.5-mm-thick unenhanced and contrast-enhanced sagittal T1-weighted sequences to assess the presence of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland. We retrospectively evaluated the MRI data of 14 children diagnosed with ectopic posterior pituitary gland between 2010 and 2014. We evaluated the presence of a pituitary stalk using a sagittal high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence and a 1.5-mm sagittal T1-weighted turbo spin-echo sequence before and after contrast medium administration. A pituitary stalk was present on at least one of the sequences in 10 of the 14 children (71%). T2-weighted sequence depicted the pituitary stalk in all 10 children, whereas the 1.5-mm-thick T1-weighted sequence depicted 2/10 (20%) before contrast injection and 8/10 (80%) after contrast injection (P=0.007). Compared with 1.5-mm-thick contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences, high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence demonstrates better sensitivity in detecting the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland, suggesting that contrast injection is unnecessary to assess the presence of a pituitary stalk in this setting.

Ecophysiological characterization of early successional biological soil crusts in heavily human-impacted areas

Science.gov (United States)

Szyja, Michelle; Büdel, Burkhard; Colesie, Claudia

2018-04-01

Ecophysiological characterizations of photoautotrophic communities are not only necessary to identify the response of carbon fixation related to different climatic factors, but also to evaluate risks connected to changing environments. In biological soil crusts (BSCs), the description of ecophysiological features is difficult, due to the high variability in taxonomic composition and variable methodologies applied. Especially for BSCs in early successional stages, the available datasets are rare or focused on individual constituents, although these crusts may represent the only photoautotrophic component in many heavily disturbed ruderal areas, such as parking lots or building areas with increasing surface area worldwide. We analyzed the response of photosynthesis and respiration to changing BSC water contents (WCs), temperature and light in two early successional BSCs. We investigated whether the response of these parameters was different between intact BSC and the isolated dominating components. BSCs dominated by the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune and dominated by the green alga Zygogonium ericetorum were examined. A major divergence between the two BSCs was their absolute carbon fixation rate on a chlorophyll basis, which was significantly higher for the cyanobacterial crust. Nevertheless, independent of species composition, both crust types and their isolated organisms had convergent features such as high light acclimatization and a minor and very late-occurring depression in carbon uptake at water suprasaturation. This particular setup of ecophysiological features may enable these communities to cope with a high variety of climatic stresses and may therefore be a reason for their success in heavily disturbed areas with ongoing human impact. However, the shape of the response was different for intact BSC compared to separated organisms, especially in absolute net photosynthesis (NP) rates. This emphasizes the importance of measuring intact BSCs under natural

Quantitative Microstructural Characterization of Thick Aluminum Plates Heavily Deformed Using Equal Channel Angular Extrusion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishin, Oleg; Segal, V.M.; Ferrasse, S.

2012-01-01

A detailed quantitative analysis of the microstructure has been performed in three orthogonal planes of 15-mm-thick aluminum plates heavily deformed via two equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) routes. One route was a conventional route A with no rotation between passes. Another route involved...... sequential 90 deg rotations about the normal direction (ND) between passes. The microstructure in the center of these plates, and especially the extent of microstructural heterogeneity, has been characterized quantitatively and compared with that in bar samples extruded via either route A or route Bc with 90...... Bc. © The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2012...

Features of the band structure and conduction mechanisms of n-HfNiSn heavily doped with Y

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romaka, V. A., E-mail: vromaka@polynet.lviv.ua [National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Pidstryhach Institute for Applied Problems of Mechanics and Mathematics (Ukraine); Rogl, P. [Universitet Wien, Institut für Physikalische Chemie (Austria); Romaka, V. V. [National University “Lvivska Politechnika” (Ukraine); Kaczorowski, D. [Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research (Poland); Krayovskyy, V. Ya. [National University “Lvivska Politechnika” (Ukraine); Stadnyk, Yu. V.; Horyn, A. M. [Ivan Franko Lviv National University (Ukraine)

2017-02-15

The crystalline and electronic structures, energy, kinetic, and magnetic characteristics of n-HfNiSn semiconductor heavily doped with Y acceptor impurity are studied in the ranges: T = 80–400 K, N{sub A}{sup Y} ≈ 1.9 × 10{sup 20}–5.7 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup –3} (x = 0.01–0.30), and H ≤ 10 kG. The nature of the mechanism of structural defect generation is determined, which leads to a change in the band gap and the degree of semiconductor compensation, the essence of which is the simultaneous reduction and elimination of structural donor-type defects as a result of the displacement of ~1% of Ni atoms from the Hf (4a) site, and the generation of structural acceptor-type defects by substituting Hf atoms with Y atoms at the 4a site. The results of calculations of the electronic structure of Hf{sub 1–x}Y{sub x}NiSn are in agreement with the experimental data. The discussion is performed within the Shklovskii–Efros model of a heavily doped and compensated semiconductor.

Diagnosing and alleviating the impact of performance pressure on mathematical problem solving.

Science.gov (United States)

DeCaro, Marci S; Rotar, Kristin E; Kendra, Matthew S; Beilock, Sian L

2010-08-01

High-pressure academic testing situations can lead people to perform below their actual ability levels by co-opting working memory (WM) resources needed for the task at hand (Beilock, 2008). In the current work we examine how performance pressure impacts WM and design an intervention to alleviate pressure's negative impact. Specifically, we explore the hypothesis that high-pressure situations trigger distracting thoughts and worries that rely heavily on verbal WM. Individuals performed verbally based and spatially based mathematics problems in a low-pressure or high-pressure testing situation. Results demonstrated that performance on problems that rely heavily on verbal WM resources was less accurate under high-pressure than under low-pressure tests. Performance on spatially based problems that do not rely heavily on verbal WM was not affected by pressure. Moreover, the more people reported worrying during test performance, the worse they performed on the verbally based (but not spatially based) maths problems. Asking some individuals to focus on the problem steps by talking aloud helped to keep pressure-induced worries at bay and eliminated pressure's negative impact on performance.

Simultaneous rota-stenting and transcatheter aortic valve implantation for patients with heavily calcified coronary stenosis and aortic stenosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yung-Tsai Lee

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Given that coronary artery disease (CAD in octogenarians undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI often presents with more complex lesions and extensive calcification, rotational atherectomy (RA may be needed in some cases before stenting. However, data regarding the feasibility and safety of simultaneous RA during TAVI using the Medtronic CoreValve (MCV; Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA system are lacking. Three out of 107 (2.8% patients (2 females, average age 85.6 years, mean aortic valve area 0.5 cm2, mean left ventricular ejection fraction 39%, mean Logistic EuroScore 70%, with complex, heavily calcified coronary stenosis, and severe valvular aortic stenosis (AS were treated with TAVI and RA due to high surgical risk. After balloon valvuloplasty, all coronary lesions were successfully treated with RA and stenting, immediately followed by transfemoral TAVI with a self-expandable MCV. Our data suggested that in the very elderly patients with severe and heavily calcified CAD and AS who were turned down for cardiac surgery, RA and stenting followed by TAVI may be performed successfully in a combined, single-stage procedure.

High sugar-induced insulin resistance in Drosophila relies on the lipocalin Neural Lazarillo.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthieu Y Pasco

Full Text Available In multicellular organisms, insulin/IGF signaling (IIS plays a central role in matching energy needs with uptake and storage, participating in functions as diverse as metabolic homeostasis, growth, reproduction and ageing. In mammals, this pleiotropy of action relies in part on a dichotomy of action of insulin, IGF-I and their respective membrane-bound receptors. In organisms with simpler IIS, this functional separation is questionable. In Drosophila IIS consists of several insulin-like peptides called Dilps, activating a unique membrane receptor and its downstream signaling cascade. During larval development, IIS is involved in metabolic homeostasis and growth. We have used feeding conditions (high sugar diet, HSD that induce an important change in metabolic homeostasis to monitor possible effects on growth. Unexpectedly we observed that HSD-fed animals exhibited severe growth inhibition as a consequence of peripheral Dilp resistance. Dilp-resistant animals present several metabolic disorders similar to those observed in type II diabetes (T2D patients. By exploring the molecular mechanisms involved in Drosophila Dilp resistance, we found a major role for the lipocalin Neural Lazarillo (NLaz, a target of JNK signaling. NLaz expression is strongly increased upon HSD and animals heterozygous for an NLaz null mutation are fully protected from HSD-induced Dilp resistance. NLaz is a secreted protein homologous to the Retinol-Binding Protein 4 involved in the onset of T2D in human and mice. These results indicate that insulin resistance shares common molecular mechanisms in flies and human and that Drosophila could emerge as a powerful genetic system to study some aspects of this complex syndrome.

Induction hardening of tool steel for heavily loaded aircraft engine components

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rokicki P.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Induction hardening is an innovative process allowing modification of the materials surface with more effective, cheaper and more reproducible way to compare with conventional hardening methods used in the aerospace industry. Unfortunately, high requirements and strict regulation concerning this branch of the industry force deep research allowing to obtain results that would be used for numerical modelling of the process. Only by this way one is able to start the industrial application of the process. The main scope of presented paper are results concerning investigation of microstructure evolution of tool steel after single-frequency induction hardening process. The specimens that aim in representing final industrial products (as heavily loaded gears, were heat- -treated with induction method and subjected to metallographic preparation, after which complex microstructure investigation was performed. The results obtained within the research will be a basis for numerical modelling of the process of induction hardening with potential to be introduced for the aviation industrial components.

GLRT Based Anomaly Detection for Sensor Network Monitoring

KAUST Repository

Harrou, Fouzi

2015-12-07

Proper operation of antenna arrays requires continuously monitoring their performances. When a fault occurs in an antenna array, the radiation pattern changes and can significantly deviate from the desired design performance specifications. In this paper, the problem of fault detection in linear antenna arrays is addressed within a statistical framework. Specifically, a statistical fault detection method based on the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) principle is utilized for detecting potential faults in linear antenna arrays. The proposed method relies on detecting deviations in the radiation pattern of the monitored array with respect to a reference (fault-free) one. To assess the abilities of the GLR based fault detection method, three case studies involving different types of faults have been performed. The simulation results clearly illustrate the effectiveness of the GLR-based fault detection method in monitoring the performance of linear antenna arrays.

GLRT Based Anomaly Detection for Sensor Network Monitoring

KAUST Repository

Harrou, Fouzi; Sun, Ying

2015-01-01

Proper operation of antenna arrays requires continuously monitoring their performances. When a fault occurs in an antenna array, the radiation pattern changes and can significantly deviate from the desired design performance specifications. In this paper, the problem of fault detection in linear antenna arrays is addressed within a statistical framework. Specifically, a statistical fault detection method based on the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) principle is utilized for detecting potential faults in linear antenna arrays. The proposed method relies on detecting deviations in the radiation pattern of the monitored array with respect to a reference (fault-free) one. To assess the abilities of the GLR based fault detection method, three case studies involving different types of faults have been performed. The simulation results clearly illustrate the effectiveness of the GLR-based fault detection method in monitoring the performance of linear antenna arrays.

Climate, soil and plant functional types as drivers of global fine-root trait variation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Freschet, Grégoire T.; Valverde-Barrantes, Oscar J.; Tucker, Caroline M.; Craine, Joseph M.; McCormack, M. Luke; Violle, Cyrille; Fort, Florian; Blackwood, Christopher B.; Urban-Mead, Katherine R.; Iversen, Colleen M.; Bonis, Anne; Comas, Louise H.; Cornelissen, Johannes H.C.; Dong, Ming; Guo, Dali; Hobbie, Sarah E.; Holdaway, Robert J.; Kembel, Steven W.; Makita, Naoki; Onipchenko, Vladimir G.; Picon-Cochard, Catherine; Reich, Peter B.; de la Riva, Enrique G.; Smith, Stuart W.; Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.; Tjoelker, Mark G.; Wardle, David A.; Roumet, Catherine

2017-01-01

Ecosystem functioning relies heavily on below-ground processes, which are largely regulated by plant fine-roots and their functional traits. However, our knowledge of fine-root trait distribution relies to date on local- and regional-scale studies with limited numbers of species, growth forms and

Listening to Yourself Is like Listening to Others: External, but Not Internal, Verbal Self-Monitoring Is Based on Speech Perception

Science.gov (United States)

Huettig, Falk; Hartsuiker, Robert J.

2010-01-01

Theories of verbal self-monitoring generally assume an internal (pre-articulatory) monitoring channel, but there is debate about whether this channel relies on speech perception or on production-internal mechanisms. Perception-based theories predict that listening to one's own inner speech has similar behavioural consequences as listening to…

Evaluation of Activity Recognition Algorithms for Employee Performance Monitoring

OpenAIRE

Mehreen Mumtaz; Hafiz Adnan Habib

2012-01-01

Successful Human Resource Management plays a key role in success of any organization. Traditionally, human resource managers rely on various information technology solutions such as Payroll and Work Time Systems incorporating RFID and biometric technologies. This research evaluates activity recognition algorithms for employee performance monitoring. An activity recognition algorithm has been implemented that categorized the activity of employee into following in to classes: job activities and...

Structural coarsening during annealing of an aluminum plate heavily deformed using ECAE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishin, Oleg V.; Zhang, Yubin; Godfrey, A.

2015-01-01

The microstructure and softening behaviour have been investigated in an aluminum plate heavily deformed by equal channel angular extrusion and subsequently annealed at 170 °C. It is found that at this temperature the microstructure evolves by coarsening with no apparent signs of recrystallization...... even after 2 h of annealing. Both coarsening and softening are rapid within first 10 minutes of annealing followed by a slower evolution with increasing annealing duration. Evidence of triple junction (TJ) motion during coarsening is obtained by inspecting the microstructure in one region using...... the electron backscatter diffraction technique both before and after annealing for 10 minutes. The fraction of fast-migrating TJs is found to strongly depend of the type of boundaries composing a junction. The greatest fraction of fast-migrating TJs is in the group, where all boundaries forming a junction...

Perancangan Aplikasi Monitoring Produksi pada Perusahaan yang Memproduksi Acrylic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilo Legowo

2012-06-01

Full Text Available A lot of problems often occur in production monitoring, because companies still rely on manual processing system. Therefore, this research is objected to facilitate the monitoring of production processes, to minimize human error in the production process, to make automatic the process of existing transactions, toclarify the duties of production monitoring of an acrylic manufacturer. The research methodology used is literature study by reviewing previous theories and studies related to the topic. Furthermore, analysis method by studying the running system of the company as well as evaluating the distributed questionnaire and analyzing the results. And finally is the design method using the Object-Oriented with UML. The research resulted in an application design of a production monitoring system. The result of this design has been implemented into the selected DBMS. The new monitoring system helps monitoring the production system properly, as well as makes the transaction run systematically. The each production process starting from project orders, sample orders,sales orders, material releases, production, assembly, and delivery order within can be monitored quickly and properly. The activity reports can also be generated more systematically and comprehensibly.

Backward diodes using heavily Mg-doped GaN growth by ammonia molecular-beam epitaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Okumura, Hironori; Martin, Denis; Malinverni, Marco; Grandjean, Nicolas

2016-02-01

We grew heavily Mg-doped GaN using ammonia molecular-beam epitaxy. The use of low growth temperature (740 °C) allows decreasing the incorporation of donor-like defects (p-type doping compensation. As a result, a net acceptor concentration of 7 × 1019 cm-3 was achieved, and the hole concentration measured by Hall effect was as high as 2 × 1019 cm-3 at room temperature. Using such a high Mg doping level, we fabricated GaN backward diodes without polarization-assisted tunneling. The backward diodes exhibited a tunneling-current density of 225 A/cm2 at a reverse bias of -1 V at room temperature.

Robust Sensing of Approaching Vehicles Relying on Acoustic Cues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitsunori Mizumachi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The latest developments in automobile design have allowed them to be equipped with various sensing devices. Multiple sensors such as cameras and radar systems can be simultaneously used for active safety systems in order to overcome blind spots of individual sensors. This paper proposes a novel sensing technique for catching up and tracking an approaching vehicle relying on an acoustic cue. First, it is necessary to extract a robust spatial feature from noisy acoustical observations. In this paper, the spatio-temporal gradient method is employed for the feature extraction. Then, the spatial feature is filtered out through sequential state estimation. A particle filter is employed to cope with a highly non-linear problem. Feasibility of the proposed method has been confirmed with real acoustical observations, which are obtained by microphones outside a cruising vehicle.

Fuel combustion, air pollution exposure, and health: The situation in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, K.R.

1993-01-01

There are a number of recent studies of air pollution in developing-country cities, each of necessity relying heavily on the one available source of comparative international ambient monitoring data, Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS). In this review, therefore, rather than simply reproduce the GEMS data. The author chose to examine developing-country air pollution from the standpoint of a useful analysis technique that has been under development in recent years: Basically the review is composed of four parts: (1) a brief description of the historical and current relationship between energy use and air pollution; (2) an explanation of the idea of exposure assessment and the power that it can bring to analyses of the health impacts of air pollution; (3) focusing on developing countries, a global exposure assessment, combining demographic data with GEMS outdoor data and less-developed country (LDC) indoor air-monitoring studies; (4) a review of the health effects literature relevant to the micro-environments found to harbor the largest human exposures. 104 refs

Towards monitoring the englacial fracture state using virtual-reflector seismology

Science.gov (United States)

Lindner, F.; Weemstra, C.; Walter, F.; Hadziioannou, C.

2018-04-01

In seismology, coda wave interferometry (CWI) is an effective tool to monitor time-lapse changes using later arriving, multiply scattered coda waves. Typically, CWI relies on an estimate of the medium's impulse response. The latter is retrieved through simple time-averaging of receiver-receiver cross-correlations of the ambient field, i.e. seismic interferometry (SI). In general, the coda are induced by heterogeneities in the Earth. Being comparatively homogeneous, however, ice bodies such as glaciers and ice sheets exhibit little scattering. In addition, the temporal stability of the time-averaged cross-correlations suffers from temporal variations in the distribution and amplitude of the passive seismic sources. Consequently, application of CWI to ice bodies is currently limited. Nevertheless, fracturing and changes in the englacial macroscopic water content alter the bulk elastic properties of ice bodies, which can be monitored with cryoseismological measurements. To overcome the current limited applicability of CWI to ice bodies, we therefore introduce virtual-reflector seismology (VRS). VRS relies on a so-called multidimensional deconvolution (MDD) process of the time-averaged crosscorrelations. The technique results in the retrieval of a medium response that includes virtual reflections from a contour of receivers enclosing the region of interest (i.e., the region to be monitored). The virtual reflections can be interpreted as artificial coda replacing the (lacking) natural scattered coda. Hence, this artificial coda might be exploited for the purpose of CWI. From an implementation point of view, VRS is similar to SI by MDD, which, as its name suggests, also relies on a multidimensional deconvolution process. SI by MDD, however, does not generate additional virtual reflections. Advantageously, both techniques mitigate spurious coda changes associated with temporal variations in the distribution and amplitude of the passive seismic sources. In this work, we

Active Job Monitoring in Pilots

Science.gov (United States)

Kuehn, Eileen; Fischer, Max; Giffels, Manuel; Jung, Christopher; Petzold, Andreas

2015-12-01

Recent developments in high energy physics (HEP) including multi-core jobs and multi-core pilots require data centres to gain a deep understanding of the system to monitor, design, and upgrade computing clusters. Networking is a critical component. Especially the increased usage of data federations, for example in diskless computing centres or as a fallback solution, relies on WAN connectivity and availability. The specific demands of different experiments and communities, but also the need for identification of misbehaving batch jobs, requires an active monitoring. Existing monitoring tools are not capable of measuring fine-grained information at batch job level. This complicates network-aware scheduling and optimisations. In addition, pilots add another layer of abstraction. They behave like batch systems themselves by managing and executing payloads of jobs internally. The number of real jobs being executed is unknown, as the original batch system has no access to internal information about the scheduling process inside the pilots. Therefore, the comparability of jobs and pilots for predicting run-time behaviour or network performance cannot be ensured. Hence, identifying the actual payload is important. At the GridKa Tier 1 centre a specific tool is in use that allows the monitoring of network traffic information at batch job level. This contribution presents the current monitoring approach and discusses recent efforts and importance to identify pilots and their substructures inside the batch system. It will also show how to determine monitoring data of specific jobs from identified pilots. Finally, the approach is evaluated.

Automatic outdoor monitoring system for photovoltaic panels.

Science.gov (United States)

Stefancich, Marco; Simpson, Lin; Chiesa, Matteo

2016-05-01

Long-term acquisition of solar panel performance parameters, for panels operated at maximum power point in their real environment, is of critical importance in the photovoltaic research sector. However, few options exist for the characterization of non-standard panels such as concentrated photovoltaic systems, heavily soiled or shaded panels or those operating under non-standard spectral illumination; certainly, it is difficult to find such a measurement system that is flexible and affordable enough to be adopted by the smaller research institutes or universities. We present here an instrument aiming to fill this gap, autonomously tracking and maintaining any solar panel at maximum power point while continuously monitoring its operational parameters and dissipating the produced energy without connection to the power grid. The instrument allows periodic acquisition of current-voltage curves to verify the employed maximum power point tracking approach. At the same time, with hardware schematics and software code being provided, it provides a flexible open development environment for the monitoring of non-standard generators like concentrator photovoltaic systems and to test novel power tracking approaches. The key issues, and the corresponding solutions, encountered in the design are analyzed in detail and the relevant schematics presented.

Automatic outdoor monitoring system for photovoltaic panels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stefancich, Marco [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerce, Istituto dei Materiali per l’Elettronica ed il Magnetismo (CNR-IMEM), Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy; Simpson, Lin [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA; Chiesa, Matteo [Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 54224, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2016-05-01

Long-term acquisition of solar panel performance parameters, for panels operated at maximum power point in their real environment, is of critical importance in the photovoltaic research sector. However, few options exist for the characterization of non-standard panels such as concentrated photovoltaic systems, heavily soiled or shaded panels or those operating under non-standard spectral illumination; certainly, it is difficult to find such a measurement system that is flexible and affordable enough to be adopted by the smaller research institutes or universities. We present here an instrument aiming to fill this gap, autonomously tracking and maintaining any solar panel at maximum power point while continuously monitoring its operational parameters and dissipating the produced energy without connection to the power grid. The instrument allows periodic acquisition of current-voltage curves to verify the employed maximum power point tracking approach. At the same time, with hardware schematics and software code being provided, it provides a flexible open development environment for the monitoring of non-standard generators like concentrator photovoltaic systems and to test novel power tracking approaches. The key issues, and the corresponding solutions, encountered in the design are analyzed in detail and the relevant schematics presented.

Ambient and Unobtrusive Cardiorespiratory Monitoring Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruser, Christoph; Antink, Christoph Hoog; Wartzek, Tobias; Walter, Marian; Leonhardt, Steffen

2015-01-01

Monitoring vital signs through unobtrusive means is a goal which has attracted a lot of attention in the past decade. This review provides a systematic and comprehensive review over the current state of the field of ambient and unobtrusive cardiorespiratory monitoring. To this end, nine different sensing modalities which have been in the focus of current research activities are covered: capacitive electrocardiography, seismo- and ballistocardiography, reflective photoplethysmography (PPG) and PPG imaging, thermography, methods relying on laser or radar for distance-based measurements, video motion analysis, as well as methods using high-frequency electromagnetic fields. Current trends in these subfields are reviewed. Moreover, we systematically analyze similarities and differences between these methods with respect to the physiological and physical effects they sense as well as the resulting implications. Finally, future research trends for the field as a whole are identified.

Monitoring angiogenesis using magnetic resonance methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, David Alberg

2008-01-01

When a tumor reaches a certain size it can no longer rely on passive perfusion for nutrition. The tumor therefore emits signaling molecules which stimulating surrounding vessels to divide and grow towards the tumor, a process known as angiogenesis. Very little angiogenesis is present in healthy...... adults where it is primaily found in wound healing, pregnancy and during the menstrual cycle. This thesis focus on the negative consequences of angiogenesis in cancer. It consists of a an initial overview followed by four manuscripts. The overview gives a short introduction to the process of angiogenesis...... and the involved signaling molecules. Subsequently, a short review of contrast agents and perfusion measurements is given. Finally, methods for monitoring angiogenesis using magnetic resonance imaging are reviewed. A method for monitoring early stages of angiogenesis as well as the effect of anti...

Thermal conductivity of high-porosity heavily doped biomorphic silicon carbide prepared from sapele wood biocarbon

Science.gov (United States)

Parfen'eva, L. S.; Orlova, T. S.; Smirnov, B. I.; Smirnov, I. A.; Misiorek, H.; Mucha, J.; Jezowski, A.; Cabezas-Rodriguez, R.; Ramirez-Rico, J.

2012-08-01

The electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of high-porosity (˜52 vol %, channel-type pores) bio-SiC samples prepared from sapele wood biocarbon templates have been measured in the temperature range 5-300 K. An analysis has been made of the obtained results in comparison with the data for bio-SiC samples based on beech and eucalyptus, as well as for polycrystalline β-SiC. The conclusion has been drawn that the electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of bio-SiC samples based on natural wood are typical of heavily doped polycrystalline β-SiC.

A new corrosion monitoring technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Gerald K.

2000-01-01

Internal Corrosion Monitoring has relied upon 5 basic techniques. Little improvement in performance has been achieved in any of these. Many newer internal corrosion monitoring techniques have proved of little value in the field although some have instances of success in the laboratory. Industry has many high value hydrocarbon applications requiring corrosion rate monitoring for real-time problem solving and control. The high value of assets and the cost of asset replacement makes it necessary to practice cost effective process and corrosion control with sensitivity beyond the 5 basic techniques. This new metal loss technology offers this sensitivity. Traditional metal loss technology today provides either high sensitivity with short life, or conversely, long life but with substantially reduced sensitivity. The new metal loss technology offers an improved working life of sensors without significantly compromising performance. The paper discusses the limitations of existing on-line technologies and describes the performance of a new technology. This new metal loss technology was introduced at NACE Corrosion 99'. Since that time several field projects have been completed or are ongoing. This paper will discuss the new metal loss technology and report on some of the data that has been obtained.(author)

Spin relaxation through lateral spin transport in heavily doped n -type silicon

Science.gov (United States)

Ishikawa, M.; Oka, T.; Fujita, Y.; Sugiyama, H.; Saito, Y.; Hamaya, K.

2017-03-01

We experimentally study temperature-dependent spin relaxation including lateral spin diffusion in heavily doped n -type silicon (n+-Si ) layers by measuring nonlocal magnetoresistance in small-sized CoFe/MgO/Si lateral spin-valve (LSV) devices. Even at room temperature, we observe large spin signals, 50-fold the magnitude of those in previous works on n+-Si . By measuring spin signals in LSVs with various center-to-center distances between contacts, we reliably evaluate the temperature-dependent spin diffusion length (λSi) and spin lifetime (τSi). We find that the temperature dependence of τSi is affected by that of the diffusion constant in the n+-Si layers, meaning that it is important to understand the temperature dependence of the channel mobility. A possible origin of the temperature dependence of τSi is discussed in terms of the recent theories by Dery and co-workers.

Chromosome aberrations of bone marrow cells in heavily exposed atomic bomb survivors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Kimio; Kamada, Nanao; Kuramoto, Atsushi; Ohkita, Takeshi

1986-01-01

Seven hundred and ten bone marrow cells from 13 A-bomb survivors, who were heavily exposed to atomic radiation, were examined using chromosome banding method. An average frequency of chromosome aberrations was 17 %. The most common structural abnormality was translocation (47 %), followed by complex aberrations involving three or more chromosomes (32 %). These abnormalities were frequently seen in A-bomb survivors exposed to estimated doses of 3.5 - 4.0 Gy. Eighty two percent of the structural aberrations were stable. Diploid cells were seen in 0.4 % and tetraploid cells were seen in 0.7 %. The frequency of breakpoint sites was high in chromosomes 1 and 17; while it was low in chromosomes 3, 6, 9, and 11. Abnormal clones were seen in one of the 13 survivors. Chromosome aberrations common to the bone marrow cells and peripheral lymphocytes were not seen in the same individual. (Namekawa, K.)

The WIRED Survey. I. A Bright IR Excess Due to Dust Around the Heavily Polluted White Dwarf Galex J193156.8+011745

Science.gov (United States)

Debes, John H.; Hoard, D. W.; Kilic, Mukremin; Wachter, Stefanie; Leisawitz, David T.; Cohen, Martin; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Griffith, Roger L.

2011-01-01

With the launch of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), a new era of detecting planetary debris around white dwarfs (WDs) has begun with the WISE InfraRed Excesses around Degenerates (WIRED) Survey. The WIRED survey will be sensitive to substellar objects and dusty debris around WDs out to distances exceeding 100 pc, well beyond the completeness level of local WDs and covering a large fraction of known WDs detected with the SDSS DR4 WD catalog. In this paper, we report an initial result of the WIRED survey, the detection of the heavily polluted hydrogen WD (spectral type DAZ) GALEX Jl93156.S-KlI1745 at 3.35 and 4.6/Lm. We find that the excess is consistent with either a narrow dusty ring with an inner radius of 29 RWD. outer radius of 40 RWD, and a face-on inclination, or a disk with an inclination of 70 , an inner radius of 23 RWD. and an outer radius of 80 RWD. We also report initial optical spectroscopic monitoring of several metal lines present in the photosphere and find no variability in the line strengths or radial velocities of the lines. We rule out all but planetary mass companions to GALEXl931 out to 0.5 AU.

Multi-Isotope Process (MIP) Monitor: A Near-Real-Time Monitor For Reprocessing Facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwantes, Jon M.; Douglas, Matthew; Orton, Christopher R.; Fraga, Carlos G.; Christensen, Richard

2008-01-01

The threat of protracted diversion of Pu from commercial reprocessing operations is perhaps the greatest concern to national and international agencies tasked with safeguarding these facilities. While it is generally understood that a method for direct monitoring of process on-line and in near-real time (NRT) would be the best defense against protracted diversion scenarios, an effective method with these qualities has yet to be developed. Here, we attempt to bridge this gap by proposing an on-line NRT process monitoring method that should be sensitive to minor alterations in process conditions and compatible with small, easily deployable, detection systems. This Approach is known as the Multi-Isotope Process (MIP) Monitor and involves the determination and recognition of the contaminant pattern within a process stream for a suite of indicator (radioactive) elements present in the spent fuel as a function of process variables. Utilization of a suite of radio-elements, including ones with multiple oxidation states, decreases the likelihood that attempts to divert Pu by altering the ReDox environment within the process would go undetected. In addition, by identifying gamma-emitting indicator isotopes, this Approach might eliminate the need for bulky neutron detection systems, relying instead on small, portable, high-resolution gamma detectors easily deployable throughout the facility

Annual budget of Gd and related Rare Earth Elements in a river basin heavily disturbed by anthropogenic activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hissler, Christophe; Stille, Peter; Guignard, Cédric; François Iffly, Jean; Pfister, Laurent

2014-05-01

budget of the REE in the particulate and dissolved fractions of the river water and the waste water treatment plant effluents. Enrichments in Gd have been observed for the dissolved fraction of the water during low water levels. This enrichment has not been detected in the surrounding soils of the basin and can be related to the effluents of the waste water treatment plants, which control the REE chemistry of the dissolved fraction during the low water period. When flood events occur, the Gd anomaly progressively disappears and gives way to the chemical signature of the basin soils. The REE and intense hydrological monitoring we performed at the same time allowed for the annual quantification of the anthropogenic vs. natural REE fluxes in the river water of this heavily polluted basin.

Transmission Line Security Monitor: Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John Svoboda

2011-04-01

The Electric Power Transmission Line Security Monitor System Operational Test is a project funded by the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG). TSWG operates under the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office that functions under the Department of Defense. The Transmission Line Security Monitor System is based on technology developed by Idaho National Laboratory. The technology provides a means for real-time monitoring of physical threats and/or damage to electrical transmission line towers and conductors as well as providing operational parameters to transmission line operators to optimize transmission line operation. The end use is for monitoring long stretches of transmission lines that deliver electrical power from remote generating stations to cities and industry. These transmission lines are generally located in remote transmission line corridors where security infrastructure may not exist. Security and operational sensors in the sensor platform on the conductors take power from the transmission line and relay security and operational information to operations personnel hundreds of miles away without relying on existing infrastructure. Initiated on May 25, 2007, this project resulted in pre-production units tested in realistic operational environments during 2010. A technology licensee, Lindsey Manufacturing of Azusa California, is assisting in design, testing, and ultimately production. The platform was originally designed for a security monitoring mission, but it has been enhanced to include important operational features desired by electrical utilities.

Defects in heavily phosphorus-doped Si epitaxial films probed by monoenergetic positron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uedono, Akira; Tanigawa, Shoichiro; Suzuki, Ryoichi; Ohgaki, Hideaki; Mikado, Tomohisa.

1994-01-01

Vacancy-type defects in heavily phosphorus-doped Si epitaxial films were probed by monoenergetic positron beams. Doppler broadening profiles of the annihilation radiation and lifetime spectra of positrons were measured for the epitaxial films grown on the Si substrates by plasma chemical vapor deposition. For the as-deposited film, divacancy-phosphorus complexes were found with high concentration. After 600degC annealing, vacancy clusters were formed near the Si/Si interface, while no drastic change in the depth distribution of the divacancy-phosphorus complexes was observed. By 900degC annealing, the vacancy clusters were annealed out; however, the average number of phosphorus atoms coupled with divacancies increased. The relationship between the vacancy-type defects probed by the positron annihilation technique and the carrier concentration was confirmed. (author)

Defects in heavily phosphorus-doped Si epitaxial films probed by monoenergetic positron beams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uedono, Akira; Tanigawa, Shoichiro [Tsukuba Univ., Ibaraki (Japan). Inst. of Materials Science; Suzuki, Ryoichi; Ohgaki, Hideaki; Mikado, Tomohisa

1994-11-01

Vacancy-type defects in heavily phosphorus-doped Si epitaxial films were probed by monoenergetic positron beams. Doppler broadening profiles of the annihilation radiation and lifetime spectra of positrons were measured for the epitaxial films grown on the Si substrates by plasma chemical vapor deposition. For the as-deposited film, divacancy-phosphorus complexes were found with high concentration. After 600degC annealing, vacancy clusters were formed near the Si/Si interface, while no drastic change in the depth distribution of the divacancy-phosphorus complexes was observed. By 900degC annealing, the vacancy clusters were annealed out; however, the average number of phosphorus atoms coupled with divacancies increased. The relationship between the vacancy-type defects probed by the positron annihilation technique and the carrier concentration was confirmed. (author).

Simulation of Heavily Irradiated Silicon Pixel Sensors and Comparison with Test Beam Measurements

CERN Document Server

Chiochia, Vincenzo; Bortoletto, Daniela; Cremaldi, Lucien; Cucciarelli, Susanna; Dorokhov, Andrei; Hoermann, Christoph; Kim, Dongwook; Konecki, Marcin; Kotlinski, Danek; Prokofiev, Kirill; Regenfus, Christian; Rohe, Tilman; Sanders, David A.; Son, Seunghee; Speer, Thomas; Chiochia, Vincenzo; Swartz, Morris; Bortoletto, Daniela; Cremaldi, Lucien; Cucciarelli, Susanna; Dorokhov, Andrei; Hoermann, Christoph; Kim, Dongwook; Konecki, Marcin; Kotlinski, Danek; Prokofiev, Kirill; Regenfus, Christian; Rohe, Tilman; Sanders, David A.; Son, Seunghee; Speer, Thomas

2004-01-01

Charge collection measurements performed on heavily irradiated p-spray DOFZ pixel sensors with a grazing angle hadron beam provide a sensitive determination of the electric field within the detectors. The data are compared with a complete charge transport simulation of the sensor which includes signal trapping and charge induction effects. A linearly varying electric field based upon the standard picture of a constant type-inverted effective doping density is inconsistent with the data. A two-trap double junction model implemented in the ISE TCAD software can be tuned to produce a doubly-peaked electric field which describes the data reasonably well. The modeled field differs somewhat from previous determinations based upon the transient current technique. The model can also account for the level of charge trapping observed in the data.

The Nature of the Torus in the Heavily Obscured AGN Markarian 3: an X-Ray Study

Science.gov (United States)

Guainazzi, M.; Risaliti, G.; Awaki, H.; Arevalo, P.; Bauer, F. E.; Bianchi, S.; Boggs, S.E; Brandt, W. N.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.;

Beam, background and luminosity monitoring in LHCb and upgrade of the LHCb fast readout control

CERN Document Server

Alessio, Federico; Le Gac, R

2011-01-01

The work described in this thesis was developed, implemented and completely put in operations during the first year of physics data taking at the LHC. It is shown here that it is aimed at studying beam and background characteristics, monitor the global timing of the experiment, monitor online the luminosity at LHCb and monitor most the experimental conditions which can affect the LHCb physics data quality. The many functionalities of the presented systems are outlined in great detail and some selected topics of analysis are presented in order to validate the good performance. The various systems in fact showed high reliability, completeness and robustness and hence it heavily contributed to the global efficiency of the LHCb experiment and also contributed directly to the commissioning and running of the LHC machine for first physics runs. Some important concepts are also brought to attention in this thesis as possible solutions to be taken into account at the LHC. A scintillator system for beam, background an...

Tourism revenue as a conservation tool for threatened birds in protected areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Steven, Rochelle; Castley, J Guy; Buckley, Ralf

2013-01-01

Many bird populations worldwide are at risk of extinction, and rely heavily on protected area networks for their continued conservation. Tourism to these areas contributes to conservation by generating revenue for management. Here we quantify the contribution of tourism revenue for bird species in the IUCN Red List, using a simple accounting method. Relevant data are available for 90 (16%) of the 562 critically endangered and endangered species. Contributions of tourism to bird conservation are highest, 10-64%, in South America, Africa, and their neighbouring islands. Critically endangered bird species rely on tourism more heavily than endangered species (pmanagement budgets by promoting birdwatching tourism specifically.

High Thermoelectric Performance by Convergence of Bands in IV-VI Semiconductors, Heavily Doped PbTe, and Alloys/Nanocomposites

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, G. Jeffrey (Inventor); Pei, Yanzhong (Inventor)

2015-01-01

The present invention teaches an effective mechanism for enhancing thermoelectric performance through additional conductive bands. Using heavily doped p-PbTe materials as an example, a quantitative explanation is disclosed, as to why and how these additional bands affect the figure of merit. A high zT of approaching 2 at high temperatures makes these simple, likely more stable (than nanostructured materials) and Tl-free materials excellent for thermoelectric applications.

Incentivizing monitoring and compliance in trophy hunting.

Science.gov (United States)

Bunnefeld, Nils; Edwards, Charles T T; Atickem, Anagaw; Hailu, Fetene; Milner-Gulland, E J

2013-12-01

Conservation scientists are increasingly focusing on the drivers of human behavior and on the implications of various sources of uncertainty for management decision making. Trophy hunting has been suggested as a conservation tool because it gives economic value to wildlife, but recent examples show that overharvesting is a substantial problem and that data limitations are rife. We use a case study of trophy hunting of an endangered antelope, the mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni), to explore how uncertainties generated by population monitoring and poaching interact with decision making by 2 key stakeholders: the safari companies and the government. We built a management strategy evaluation model that encompasses the population dynamics of mountain nyala, a monitoring model, and a company decision making model. We investigated scenarios of investment into antipoaching and monitoring by governments and safari companies. Harvest strategy was robust to the uncertainty in the population estimates obtained from monitoring, but poaching had a much stronger effect on quota and sustainability. Hence, reducing poaching is in the interests of companies wishing to increase the profitability of their enterprises, for example by engaging community members as game scouts. There is a threshold level of uncertainty in the population estimates beyond which the year-to-year variation in the trophy quota prevented planning by the safari companies. This suggests a role for government in ensuring that a baseline level of population monitoring is carried out such that this level is not exceeded. Our results illustrate the importance of considering the incentives of multiple stakeholders when designing frameworks for resource use and when designing management frameworks to address the particular sources of uncertainty that affect system sustainability most heavily. Incentivando el Monitoreo y el Cumplimiento en la Caza de Trofeos. © 2013 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by

Invitro genotoxicity, assessment of cytotoxicity and of Rely X luting cement on human lymphocyte cells before and after irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shetty, Shilpa S.; Hegde, Mithra N.; Shabin; Hegde, Nidarsh D.; Suchetha Kumari; Sanjeev, Ganesh

2013-01-01

In dentistry, a luting agent is a viscous material placed between tooth structure and a prosthesis that by polymerization firmly attach the prosthesis to the tooth structure. Luting agents contact a large area of dentin when used for crown cementation. There is little information on biocompatibility tests, especially on the effect of electron beam irradiation on cytotoxicity for luting resin cements. To determine the in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of Rely X luting cement on human lymphocyte cells before and after irradiation. Rely X luting cement was obtained commercially. Samples were prepared as per the ISO standard size of 25x2x2 mm using polytetrafluoroethylene teflon mould and divided into two groups - non irradiated and irradiated groups. The samples in irradiated category were exposed to 200 Gy of electron beam irradiation at Microtron Centre, Mangalore University, Mangalore, India. For hemolysis the samples were immersed in phosphate buffer saline and incubated at 370℃ for 24 hrs, 7 days and 14 days. 200 μl of 24 hr material extract was mixed with human peripheral blood lymphocyte tested for comet assay by single cell DNA comet assay. Hemolytic activity of non irradiated Rely X luting cement after 24 hrs, 7 days and 14 days was 54.78±1.48, 69.91±2.41 and 43.21±0.92 respectively whereas hemolytic activity of irradiated Rely X luting cement after 24 hrs, 7 days and 14 days was 91.8±8.29, 56.95±19.7 and 41.34±12.30. The irradiation of Rely X luting cement with 200 Gy dose of electron beam irradiation caused an increase in the frequency of DNA damage when compared to that of the non-irradiated group. Based on the experimental condition, it is concluded that incomplete polymerization of the dental luting cements has resulted in the elution of the resin components which are responsible for the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of Rely X luting cement on human lymphocyte cells. (author)

13 years of 137Cs monitoring in meat and milk during the outdoor grazing period in Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liland, A.; Amundsen, I.; Bergan, T.D.

2002-01-01

After the Chernobyl accident, it was soon realised that the consequence of the radioactive fallout in Norway was more severe for animals grazing unimproved pastures than for other farm animals. High radiocaesium levels were registered in mutton, goat's milk and cow's milk. Due to this fact, monitoring of 137 Cs in meat and milk during the outdoor grazing period (June-September) was initiated for selected livestock. The research programme started in 1988 and is still ongoing. It includes monitoring of live sheep and lambs, and milk from goats and cows in regions moderately to heavily affected by the Chernobyl fallout. In years abundant in fungi, like 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2000, the 137 CS levels in the autumn have been markedly higher for sheep and milk than expected from natural decay. Some of the time series from the summer monitoring is presented here. (au)

On-line monitoring and inservice inspection in codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartonicek, J.; Zaiss, W.; Bath, H.R.

1999-01-01

The relevant regulatory codes determine the ISI tasks and the time intervals for recurrent components testing for evaluation of operation-induced damaging or ageing in order to ensure component integrity on the basis of the last available quality data. In-service quality monitoring is carried out through on-line monitoring and recurrent testing. The requirements defined by the engineering codes elaborated by various institutions are comparable, with the KTA nuclear engineering and safety codes being the most complete provisions for quality evaluation and assurance after different, defined service periods. German conventional codes for assuring component integrity provide exclusively for recurrent inspection regimes (mainly pressure tests and optical testing). The requirements defined in the KTA codes however always demanded more specific inspections relying on recurrent testing as well as on-line monitoring. Foreign codes for ensuring component integrity concentrate on NDE tasks at regular time intervals, with time intervals scope of testing activities being defined on the basis of the ASME code, section XI. (orig./CB) [de

Radiological aerial monitoring in a nuclear emergency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Hyeongki; Kim, Juyoul; Jung, Gunhyo

2008-01-01

Since North Korea announced the underground nuclear test on last October 9th, 2006, many countries around the world have worried about the atmospheric dispersion and pollution of radioactive materials crossing the border by the clandestine nuclear test. After that time, verifying the existence of nuclear test by detecting radioactive materials such as xenon, I-131, and Cs-134 at the early stage of radiological emergency, locating the position of test site by backward trajectory analysis, and chasing the moving path of airborne radionuclide have been heavily issued. And collection of airborne radioactivity and gamma radiation monitoring technology using an aircraft have been recently examined by an authority concerned in South Korea. Although various techniques of radiological aerial monitoring have been developed and operated around the world, the relevant technical development or research is still required. In order to decide potential measuring location and time within the framework of radiological monitoring system, we use HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model developed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of U.S. Department of Commerce. The model is validated and assessed against North Korea's nuclear test. Calculation results of radionuclide trajectory show a good agreement with measured values. Backward trajectory analysis is useful to track the radiological source term, possible time and place of nuclear accidents and/or activities. Nationwide early warning system using aircraft and atmospheric dispersion model can help a nearly real-time forecasting and warning in preparation for radiological emergencies. (author)

Excitatory amino acid b-N-methylamino-L-alanine is a putative environmental neurotoxin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VLADIMIR NEDELJKOV

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The amino acid b-N-methylamino-L-alanine (L-BMAA has been associated with the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism-dementia complex in three distinct western Pacific populations. The putative neurotoxin is produced by cyanobacteria, which live symbiotically in the roots of cycad trees. L-BMAA was thought to be a threat only to those few populations whose diet and medicines rely heavily on cycad seeds. However, the recent discovery that cyanobacteria from diverse terrestrial, freshwater, and saltwater ecosystems around the world produce the toxin requires a reassessment of whether it poses a larger health threat. Therefore, it is proposed that monitoring L-BMAA levels in cyanobacteria-contaminated water supplies might be prudent.

Heavily doped n-type a-IGZO by F plasma treatment and its thermal stability up to 600 °C

Science.gov (United States)

Um, Jae Gwang; Jang, Jin

2018-04-01

We report the electrical properties and thermal stability of heavily doped, amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) treated with fluorine (F) plasma. When the F doping concentration in a-IGZO is 17.51 × 1021/cm-3, the a-IGZO exhibits a carrier concentration of 6 × 1019 cm-3, a resistivity of 3 × 10-3 Ω cm, and a Hall mobility of 20 cm2/V s. This indicates that F is a suitable n-type dopant in a-IGZO. The similarity of the ionic radius of F to that of oxygen (O) allows substitutional doping by replacing O with F or the occupation of the oxygen vacancy (VO) site by F and consequent reduction in defect density. The semiconducting property of a-IGZO can change into metallic behavior by F doping. The defect passivation by F incorporation is confirmed by the XPS depth profile, which reveals the significant reduction in the VO concentration due to the formation of In-F bonds. The heavily doped a-IGZO exhibits thermally stable conductivity up to 600 °C annealing and thus can be widely used for the ohmic contact of a-IGZO devices.

Predominance of heavily calcified coccolithophores at low CaCO3 saturation during winter in the Bay of Biscay

OpenAIRE

Smith, Helen E. K.; Tyrrell, Toby; Charalampopoulou, Anastasia; Dumousseaud, Cynthia; Legge, Oliver J.; Birchenough, Sarah; Pettit, Laura R.; Garley, Rebecca; Hartman, Sue E.; Hartman, Mark C.; Sagoo, Navjit; Daniels, Chris J.; Achterberg, Eric P.; Hydes, David J.

2012-01-01

Coccolithophores are an important component of the Earth system, and, as calcifiers, their possible susceptibility to ocean acidification is of major concern. Laboratory studies at enhanced pCO2 levels have produced divergent results without overall consensus. However, it has been predicted from these studies that, although calcification may not be depressed in all species, acidification will produce “a transition in dominance from more to less heavily calcified coccolithophores” [Ridgwell A,...

Detection of pressure tube leaks relying on moisture beetles only

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kenchington, J.M.; Choi, A.; Jin, Y.

2004-01-01

A major decision was made for Pickering NGS A Annulus Gas System (ACS) that detection of a pressure tube (PT) leak should be achieved by using only moisture beetles and that dew point monitors would provide 'early warning' without status to shut down the reactor. Experience with Unit 3 has shown that dew point monitoring of pressure tube leaks was particularly subject to gas leaks and surface adsorption effects. Unit 4 was the first one to be converted during the full scale pressure tube replacement programme. Because of the fundamental change in design philosophy, moisture injection tests were carried out during commissioning to demonstrate that performance matched design. In particular it was necessary to show that leak before break (LBB) would be achieved if a leak occurred in the limiting string. Units 1 and 3 have since been converted. No decision has been taken to convert Pickering B units as gas leaks are small and no significant adsorption effects are anticipated. Hence dew point monitoring will not be impaired. (author)

Cortical control of object-specific grasp relies on adjustments of both activity and effective connectivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tia, Banty; Takemi, Mitsuaki; Kosugi, Akito

2017-01-01

The cortical mechanisms of grasping have been extensively studied in macaques and humans. Here, we investigated whether common marmosets could rely on similar mechanisms despite striking differences in manual dexterity. Two common marmosets were trained to grasp-and-pull three objects eliciting d...

Whole body personnel monitoring via ionization detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koster, J.E.; Bounds, K.A.; Kerr, P.L.; Steadman, P.A.; Whitley, C.R.

1998-02-01

A project between Fernald EMP and LANL is to field a monitor for the detection of alpha-emitting contamination on a human body. Traditional personnel monitoring for alpha emitters involves either frisking with a probe or pressing against large detectors in order to overcome the short range of alpha particles. These methods have a low alpha collection efficiency, and can miss contamination on less accessible surfaces. The authors have investigated the sensitivity and practicality of measuring the entire subject simultaneously using the technique of ionization monitoring. The goal is to create a booth that personnel step into quickly during egress from radiological facilities. The detection technique relies on a breeze of air passing over the subject. Alpha emission produces copious ions in the ambient air which are transported by the air current to an ion collector, resulting in a small electrical current proportional to the amount of contamination. Results indicate a conservative sensitivity of 3,000 disintegrations per minute localized to one of five areas of the body in a measurement lasting less than 2 minutes

Influence of quantum confinement on the carrier contribution to the elastic constants in quantum confined heavily doped non-linear optical and optoelectronic materials: simplified theory and the suggestion for experimental determination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baruah, D; Choudhury, S; Singh, K M; Ghatak, K P

2007-01-01

In this paper we study the carrier contribution to elastic constants in quantum confined heavily doped non-linear optical compounds on the basis of a newly formulated electron dispersion law taking into account the anisotropies of the effective electron masses and spin orbit splitting constants together with the proper inclusion of the crystal field splitting in the Hamiltonian within the framework of k.p formalism. All the results of heavily doped three, and two models of Kane for heavily doped III-V materials form special cases of our generalized analysis. It has been found, taking different heavily doped quantum confined materials that, the carrier contribution to the elastic constants increases with increase in electron statistics and decrease in film thickness in ladder like manners for all types of quantum confinements with different numerical values which are totally dependent on the energy band constants. The said contribution is greatest in quantum dots and least in quantum wells together with the fact the heavy doping enhances the said contributions for all types of quantum confined materials. We have suggested an experimental method of determining the carrier contribution to the elastic constants in nanostructured materials having arbitrary band structures

13 years of {sup 137}Cs monitoring in meat and milk during the outdoor grazing period in Norway

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liland, A.; Amundsen, I.; Bergan, T.D. [Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Oesteraes (Norway)

2002-04-01

After the Chernobyl accident, it was soon realised that the consequence of the radioactive fallout in Norway was more severe for animals grazing unimproved pastures than for other farm animals. High radiocaesium levels were registered in mutton, goat's milk and cow's milk. Due to this fact, monitoring of {sup 137}Cs in meat and milk during the outdoor grazing period (June-September) was initiated for selected livestock. The research programme started in 1988 and is still ongoing. It includes monitoring of live sheep and lambs, and milk from goats and cows in regions moderately to heavily affected by the Chernobyl fallout. In years abundant in fungi, like 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2000, the {sup 137}CS levels in the autumn have been markedly higher for sheep and milk than expected from natural decay. Some of the time series from the summer monitoring is presented here. (au)

Wire system aging assessment and condition monitoring (WASCO)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fantoni, P.F.

2007-04-01

Nuclear facilities rely on electrical wire systems to perform a variety of functions for successful operation. Many of these functions directly support the safe operation of the facility; therefore, the continued reliability of wire systems, even as they age, is critical. Condition Monitoring (CM) of installed wire systems is an important part of any aging program, both during the first 40 years of the qualified life and even more in anticipation of the license renewal for a nuclear power plant. This report contains some test results of a method for wire system condition monitoring, developed at the Halden Reactor Project, called LIRA (LIne Resonance Analysis), which can be used on-line to detect any local or global changes in the cable electrical parameters as a consequence of insulation faults or degradation. (au)

Radiation dose monitoring in the clinical routine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guberina, Nika [UK Essen (Germany). Radiology

2017-04-15

Here we describe the first clinical experiences regarding the use of an automated radiation dose management software to monitor the radiation dose of patients during routine examinations. Many software solutions for monitoring radiation dose have emerged in the last decade. The continuous progress in radiological techniques, new scan features, scanner generations and protocols are the primary challenge for radiation dose monitoring software systems. To simulate valid dose calculations, radiation dose monitoring systems have to follow current trends and stay constantly up-to-date. The dose management software is connected to all devices at our institute and conducts automatic data acquisition and radiation dose calculation. The system incorporates 18 virtual phantoms based on the Cristy phantom family, estimating doses in newborns to adults. Dose calculation relies on a Monte Carlo simulation engine. Our first practical experiences demonstrate that the software is capable of dose estimation in the clinical routine. Its implementation and use have some limitations that can be overcome. The software is promising and allows assessment of radiation doses, like organ and effective doses according to ICRP 60 and ICRP 103, patient radiation dose history and cumulative radiation doses. Furthermore, we are able to determine local diagnostic reference doses. The radiation dose monitoring software systems can facilitate networking between hospitals and radiological departments, thus refining radiation doses and implementing reference doses at substantially lower levels.

Chemical Explosion Experiments to Improve Nuclear Test Monitoring - Developing a New Paradigm for Nuclear Test Monitoring with the Source Physics Experiments (SPE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snelson, Catherine M.; Abbott, Robert E.; Broome, Scott T.; Mellors, Robert J.; Patton, Howard J.; Sussman, Aviva J.; Townsend, Margaret J.; Walter, William R.

2013-01-01

A series of chemical explosions, called the Source Physics Experiments (SPE), is being conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop a new more physics-based paradigm for nuclear test monitoring. Currently, monitoring relies on semi-empirical models to discriminate explosions from earthquakes and to estimate key parameters such as yield. While these models have been highly successful monitoring established test sites, there is concern that future tests could occur in media and at scale depths of burial outside of our empirical experience. This is highlighted by North Korean tests, which exhibit poor performance of a reliable discriminant, mb:Ms (Selby et al., 2012), possibly due to source emplacement and differences in seismic responses for nascent and established test sites. The goal of SPE is to replace these semi-empirical relationships with numerical techniques grounded in a physical basis and thus applicable to any geologic setting or depth

Reliģijas, apmierinātības ar dzīvi un pašvērtējuma saistība.

OpenAIRE

Bērziņa, Annija

2015-01-01

Šī darba mērķis ir noskaidrot saistību starp reliģiju, apmierinātību ar dzīvi un pašvērtējumu. Apmierinātība ar dzīvi sevī ietver laimi, subjektīvo labklājību un pozitīvas emocijas. Šī darba ietvaros vairāk tiks apskatīta subjektīvā labklājība. Reliģija ir ticība kam mistiskam , kas sevī ietver reliģisku normu ievērošanu, rituālus, ticību un būšanu reliģiskā kopienā. Starp subjektīvo labklājību un reliģiju pastāv pozitīva korelācija. Pašvērtējums ir cilvēka subjektīvs viedoklis par...

Tourism revenue as a conservation tool for threatened birds in protected areas.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rochelle Steven

Full Text Available Many bird populations worldwide are at risk of extinction, and rely heavily on protected area networks for their continued conservation. Tourism to these areas contributes to conservation by generating revenue for management. Here we quantify the contribution of tourism revenue for bird species in the IUCN Red List, using a simple accounting method. Relevant data are available for 90 (16% of the 562 critically endangered and endangered species. Contributions of tourism to bird conservation are highest, 10-64%, in South America, Africa, and their neighbouring islands. Critically endangered bird species rely on tourism more heavily than endangered species (p<0.02. Many protected areas could also enhance their management budgets by promoting birdwatching tourism specifically.

Tourism Revenue as a Conservation Tool for Threatened Birds in Protected Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Steven, Rochelle; Castley, J. Guy; Buckley, Ralf

2013-01-01

Many bird populations worldwide are at risk of extinction, and rely heavily on protected area networks for their continued conservation. Tourism to these areas contributes to conservation by generating revenue for management. Here we quantify the contribution of tourism revenue for bird species in the IUCN Red List, using a simple accounting method. Relevant data are available for 90 (16%) of the 562 critically endangered and endangered species. Contributions of tourism to bird conservation are highest, 10–64%, in South America, Africa, and their neighbouring islands. Critically endangered bird species rely on tourism more heavily than endangered species (p<0.02). Many protected areas could also enhance their management budgets by promoting birdwatching tourism specifically. PMID:23667498

The effects of ambient music on simulated anaesthesia monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanderson, P M; Tosh, N; Philp, S; Rudie, J; Watson, M O; Russell, W J

2005-11-01

We examined the effect of no music, classical music or rock music on simulated patient monitoring. Twenty-four non-anaesthetist participants with high or low levels of musical training were trained to monitor visual and auditory displays of patients' vital signs. In nine anaesthesia test scenarios, participants were asked every 50-70 s whether one of five vital signs was abnormal and the trend of its direction. Abnormality judgements were unaffected by music or musical training. Trend judgements were more accurate when music was playing (p = 0.0004). Musical participants reported trends more accurately (p = 0.004), and non-musical participants tended to benefit more from music than did the musical participants (p = 0.063). Music may provide a pitch and rhythm standard from which participants can judge changes in vital signs from auditory displays. Nonetheless, both groups reported that it was easier to monitor the patient with no music (p = 0.0001), and easier to rely upon the auditory displays with no music (p = 0.014).

Improving agricultural drought monitoring in West Africa using root zone soil moisture estimates derived from NDVI

Science.gov (United States)

McNally, A.; Funk, C. C.; Yatheendradas, S.; Michaelsen, J.; Cappelarere, B.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Verdin, J. P.

2012-12-01

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) relies heavily on remotely sensed rainfall and vegetation data to monitor agricultural drought in Sub-Saharan Africa and other places around the world. Analysts use satellite rainfall to calculate rainy season statistics and force crop water accounting models that show how the magnitude and timing of rainfall might lead to above or below average harvest. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is also an important indicator of growing season progress and is given more weight over regions where, for example, lack of rain gauges increases error in satellite rainfall estimates. Currently, however, near-real time NDVI is not integrated into a modeling framework that informs growing season predictions. To meet this need for our drought monitoring system a land surface model (LSM) is a critical component. We are currently enhancing the FEWS NET monitoring activities by configuring a custom instance of NASA's Land Information System (LIS) called the FEWS NET Land Data Assimilation System. Using the LIS Noah LSM, in-situ measurements, and remotely sensed data, we focus on the following questions: What is the relationship between NDVI and in-situ soil moisture measurements over the West Africa Sahel? How can we use this relationship to improve modeled water and energy fluxes over the West Africa Sahel? We investigate soil moisture and NDVI cross-correlation in the time and frequency domain to develop a transfer function model to predict soil moisture from NDVI. This work compares sites in southwest Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali to test the generality of the transfer function. For several sites with fallow and millet vegetation in the Wankama catchment in southwest Niger we developed a non-parametric frequency response model, using NDVI inputs and soil moisture outputs, that accurately estimates root zone soil moisture (40-70cm). We extend this analysis by developing a low order parametric transfer function

Pollination with heavily irradiated pollen in Nicotiana: induced parthenogenesis and embryological study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musial, K.; Przywara, L.

1999-01-01

Nicotiana crosses were pollinated in situ and in vitro with heavily irradiated pollen (500, 700, 1000 Gy) to induce parthenogenesis and to study the development of embryo and endosperm. Haploids were obtained after in situ pollination only; however, parthenogenetic proembryos occurred also after in vitro pollination. It was demonstrated that ovule culture following pollination offers a better chance to produce haploids than undisturbed pollination does. Pollination with irradiated pollen (PwIP) stron gly decreased the number of endosperm cells and the size of embryo sacs, and it affected the development of embryos; no significant differences between applied irradiation doses were found. Ovules with endosperm only, embryo only, and with both embryo and endosperm were observed. The most frequent were the ovules with endosperm only, the rarest with embryo only. A small amount of storage products occurred in the endosperm cells. The diploid chromosome number counted in the endosperm produced after PwIP points to their origin without fertilization. An interesting phenomenon observed after PwIP was vigorous growth of endothelium. (author)

NuSTAR J033202-2746.8: direct constraints on the Compton reflection in a heavily obscured quasar at z ≈ 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Del Moro, A.; Mullaney, J. R.; Alexander, D. M.

2014-01-01

We report Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observations of NuSTAR J033202-2746.8, a heavily obscured, radio-loud quasar detected in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South, the deepest layer of the NuSTAR extragalactic survey (∼400 ks, at its deepest). NuSTAR J033202-2746.8 is reliably......-2746.8, indicating that this source is a heavily obscured quasar (NH = 5.6+−0.80.9 × 1023 cm−2) with luminosity L10-40 keV ≈ 6.4 × 1044 erg s−1. Although existing optical and near-infrared (near-IR) data, as well as follow-up spectroscopy with the Keck and VLT telescopes, failed to provide a secure redshift......-Newton data alone. The measured reflection fraction is higher than the R∼0 typically observed in bright radio-loud quasars such as NuSTAR J033202-2746.8, which has L1.4 GHz≈1027 W Hz−1. Constraining the spectral shape of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), including bright quasars, is very important...

Relationship between levels of serum creatinine and perirenal hyperintensity on heavily T2-weighted MR images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erden, Ayse, E-mail: ayse.erden@medicine.ankara.edu.tr [Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Talatpasa Bulvari, Sihhiye, 06100 Ankara (Turkey); Sahin, Burcu Savran, E-mail: bsavrans@hotmail.com [Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Talatpasa Bulvari, Sihhiye, 06100 Ankara (Turkey); Orgodol, Horolsuren, E-mail: hoogii99@yahoo.com [Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Talatpasa Bulvari, Sihhiye, 06100 Ankara (Turkey); Erden, Ilhan, E-mail: erden@medicine.ankara.edu.tr [Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Talatpasa Bulvari, Sihhiye, 06100 Ankara (Turkey); Biyikli, Zeynep, E-mail: zeynep.biyikli@gmail.com [Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Talatpasa Bulvari, Sihhiye, 06100 Ankara (Turkey)

2011-11-15

Objective: To determine the frequency of perirenal hyperintensity on heavily T2-weighted images and to evaluate its relationship with serum creatinine levels. Subjects and methods: Axial and coronal single-shot fast spin-echo images which have been originally obtained for MR cholangiopancreatography in 150 subjects were examined by two observers individually for the presence of perirenal hyperintensity. The morphologic properties of perirenal hyperintensity (peripheral rim-like, discontinuous, polar) were recorded. Chi square test was used to test whether the frequencies of bilateral perirenal hyperintensity differ significantly in subjects with high serum creatinine levels and those with normal creatinine levels. This test was also used to compare the frequencies of perirenal hyperintensity in patients with and without renal cysts and in patients with and without corticomedullary differentiation. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: The perirenal hyperintensity was identified in 40 of 150 cases (26.6%) on heavily T2-weighted image. Serum creatinine levels were high in 18 of 150 cases (12%). The perirenal hyperintensity was present in 11 of 18 subjects (61%) with high serum creatinine levels and 26 of 132 subjects (19.7%) with normal creatinine levels. The difference of rates in two groups was statistically significant. Odds ratio was 6407 (95% confidence interval 2264-18,129). The frequency of perirenal hyperintensity was also significantly higher in subjects with renal cyst or cysts in whom serum creatinine levels were normal (p < 0.05) (37.5% vs. 11.8%). Conclusion: Perirenal hyperintensities are more frequent in patients with high serum creatinine levels. They are also more common in patients with simple renal cysts.

Relationship between levels of serum creatinine and perirenal hyperintensity on heavily T2-weighted MR images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erden, Ayse; Sahin, Burcu Savran; Orgodol, Horolsuren; Erden, Ilhan; Biyikli, Zeynep

2011-01-01

Objective: To determine the frequency of perirenal hyperintensity on heavily T2-weighted images and to evaluate its relationship with serum creatinine levels. Subjects and methods: Axial and coronal single-shot fast spin-echo images which have been originally obtained for MR cholangiopancreatography in 150 subjects were examined by two observers individually for the presence of perirenal hyperintensity. The morphologic properties of perirenal hyperintensity (peripheral rim-like, discontinuous, polar) were recorded. Chi square test was used to test whether the frequencies of bilateral perirenal hyperintensity differ significantly in subjects with high serum creatinine levels and those with normal creatinine levels. This test was also used to compare the frequencies of perirenal hyperintensity in patients with and without renal cysts and in patients with and without corticomedullary differentiation. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: The perirenal hyperintensity was identified in 40 of 150 cases (26.6%) on heavily T2-weighted image. Serum creatinine levels were high in 18 of 150 cases (12%). The perirenal hyperintensity was present in 11 of 18 subjects (61%) with high serum creatinine levels and 26 of 132 subjects (19.7%) with normal creatinine levels. The difference of rates in two groups was statistically significant. Odds ratio was 6407 (95% confidence interval 2264-18,129). The frequency of perirenal hyperintensity was also significantly higher in subjects with renal cyst or cysts in whom serum creatinine levels were normal (p < 0.05) (37.5% vs. 11.8%). Conclusion: Perirenal hyperintensities are more frequent in patients with high serum creatinine levels. They are also more common in patients with simple renal cysts.

Climate change impacts on municipal, mining, and agricultural water supplies in Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel G. Neary; Pablo Garcia-Chevesich

2008-01-01

Agricultural and municipal water supply interests in Chile rely heavily on streams which flow from the Andes Mountains. The highly productive Copiapo agricultural region, on the southern edge of the Atacama Desert, is a major supplier of fruit and other crops for the Northern American market during winter. This region relies entirely on snow and icemelt streams to...

Essential variables help to focus sustainable development goals monitoring

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Reyers, B

2017-06-01

Full Text Available indicators [1], each one of which relies on existing and new multiple data streams for its development (Figure 1a). Under this current proliferation logic, the process of developing an SDG monitoring system inexorably results in an ever-expanding set....sciencedirect.com Essential Sustainable Development Goal Variables Reyers et al. 99abstraction provides a degree of independence from observations, thus accommodating multiple diverse pri- mary data streams across regions and sections, as well as the flexibility to meet...

High-frequency remote monitoring of large lakes with MODIS 500 m imagery

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, Ian M.; Loftin, Cynthia S.; Sader, Steven A.

2012-01-01

Satellite-based remote monitoring programs of regional lake water quality largely have relied on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) owing to its long image archive, moderate spatial resolution (30 m), and wide sensitivity in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, despite some notable limitations such as temporal resolution (i.e., 16 days), data pre-processing requirements to improve data quality, and aging satellites. Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on Aqua/Terra platforms compensate for these shortcomings, although at the expense of spatial resolution. We developed and evaluated a remote monitoring protocol for water clarity of large lakes using MODIS 500 m data and compared MODIS utility to Landsat-based methods. MODIS images captured during May–September 2001, 2004 and 2010 were analyzed with linear regression to identify the relationship between lake water clarity and satellite-measured surface reflectance. Correlations were strong (R² = 0.72–0.94) throughout the study period; however, they were the most consistent in August, reflecting seasonally unstable lake conditions and inter-annual differences in algal productivity during the other months. The utility of MODIS data in remote water quality estimation lies in intra-annual monitoring of lake water clarity in inaccessible, large lakes, whereas Landsat is more appropriate for inter-annual, regional trend analyses of lakes ≥ 8 ha. Model accuracy is improved when ancillary variables are included to reflect seasonal lake dynamics and weather patterns that influence lake clarity. The identification of landscape-scale drivers of regional water quality is a useful way to supplement satellite-based remote monitoring programs relying on spectral data alone.

Monitoring of radioiodine and methods for rapid measurement, 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamada, Hiroshi

1979-01-01

Milk is selected as an indicator or critical food in the environmental monitoring samples, and radioactive iodine as a specific critical radionuclide. Rapid determination of Iodine-131 in the milk has been developed as a standard procedure for the network of environmental radioactivity monitoring in a state of emergency. Outline of the procedure is gamma-ray spectrometry using a heavily shielded 3''diameter x 3'' sodium iodide (thallium-activated) crystal as a detector, 2 liter of Marinelli Beaker for a raw milk and a multi channel pulse height analyzer for quantitative analysis of gamma spectra through the utilization of simultaneous equations. The analysis is what we call ''Milk Matrix Method'' introducing calibration data from the standard samples of Iodine-131, Cesium-137 and Potassium-40. They were selected experimentally, and counting data from the sample were taken into the elements of matrix of set up three simultaneous equations. Most recently detected concentration of Iodine-131 in milk was 81 pCi per liter in 20 May 1978, originated from the nuclear explosion test carried out by the People's Republic of China in 15 May 1978. (author)

Resonantly-enhanced transmission through a periodic array of subwavelength apertures in heavily-doped conducting polymer films

Science.gov (United States)

Matsui, Tatsunosuke; Vardeny, Z. Valy; Agrawal, Amit; Nahata, Ajay; Menon, Reghu

2006-02-01

We observed resonantly-enhanced terahertz transmission through two-dimensional (2D) periodic arrays of subwavelength apertures with various periodicities fabricated on metallic organic conducting polymer films of polypyrrole heavily doped with PF6 molecules [PPy(PF6)]. The "anomalous transmission" spectra are in good agreement with a model involving surface plasmon polariton excitations on the film surfaces. We also found that the `anomalous transmission' peaks are broader in the exotic metallic PPy (PF6) films compared to those formed in 2D aperture array in regular metallic films such as silver, showing that the surface plasmon polaritons on the PPy (PF6) film surfaces have higher attenuation.

Challenges in monitoring and managing engineered slopes in a changing climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hughes Paul N

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Geotechnical asset owners need to know which parts of their asset network are vulnerable to climate change induced failure in order to optimise future investment. Protecting these vulnerable slopes requires monitoring systems capable of identifying and alerting to asset operators changes in the internal conditions that precede failure. Current monitoring systems are heavily reliant on point sensors which can be difficult to interpret across slope scale. This paper presents challenges to producing such a system and research being carried out to address some of these using electrical resistance tomography (ERT. Experimental results show that whilst it is possible to measure soil water content indirectly via resistivity the relationship between resistivity and water content will change over time for a given slope. If geotechnical parameters such as pore water pressure are to be estimated using this method then ERT systems will require integrating with more conventional geotechnical instrumentation to ensure correct representative information is provided. The paper also presents examples of how such data can be processed and communicated to asset owners for the purposes of asset management.

Detecting gunshots using wearable accelerometers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles E Loeffler

Full Text Available Gun violence continues to be a staggering and seemingly intractable issue in many communities. The prevalence of gun violence among the sub-population of individuals under court-ordered community supervision provides an opportunity for intervention using remote monitoring technology. Existing monitoring systems rely heavily on location-based monitoring methods, which have incomplete geographic coverage and do not provide information on illegal firearm use. This paper presents the first results demonstrating the feasibility of using wearable inertial sensors to recognize wrist movements and other signals corresponding to firearm usage. Data were collected from accelerometers worn on the wrists of subjects shooting a number of different firearms, conducting routine daily activities, and participating in activities and tasks that could be potentially confused with firearm discharges. A training sample was used to construct a combined detector and classifier for individual gunshots, which achieved a classification accuracy of 99.4 percent when tested against a hold-out sample of observations. These results suggest the feasibility of using inexpensive wearable sensors to detect firearm discharges.

Low dose monitoring by double implant technique in IC fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, I.B.; Weidemann, J.

1995-01-01

The utilisation of low dose implant monitoring (using Boron) in a manufacturing line has been discussed. The utilisation of phosphorus ions as the second implant dose were also studied as comparison. The technique relies on the fact that the sheet resistant of doped layer will increase significantly when damaged by relatively low implant dose. The technique is very sensitive and applicable for adjusting the channel dose so that an accurate threshold voltage in MOS device could be achieved

Experiment, monitoring, and gradient methods used to infer climate change effects on plant communities yield consistent patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Sarah C. Elmendorf; Gregory H.R. Henry; Robert D. Hollisterd; Anna Maria Fosaa; William A. Gould; Luise Hermanutz; Annika Hofgaard; Ingibjorg I. Jonsdottir; Janet C. Jorgenson; Esther Levesque; Borgbor Magnusson; Ulf Molau; Isla H. Myers-Smith; Steven F. Oberbauer; Christian Rixen; Craig E. Tweedie; Marilyn Walkers

2015-01-01

Inference about future climate change impacts typically relies on one of three approaches: manipulative experiments, historical comparisons (broadly defined to include monitoring the response to ambient climate fluctuations using repeat sampling of plots, dendroecology, and paleoecology techniques), and space-for-time substitutions derived from sampling along...

Intelligent Data Understanding for Architecture Analysis of Entry, Descent, and Landing

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Because Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) system validations are limited in Earth environments, these technologies rely heavily on models and analysis tools to...

AN AMELIORATED DETECTION STATISTICS FOR ADAPTIVE MASK MEDIAN FILTRATION OF HEAVILY NOISED DIGITAL IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geeta Hanji

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Noise reduction is an important area of research in image processing applications. The performance of the digital image noise filtering method primarily depends upon the accuracy of noise detection scheme. This paper presents an effective detector based, adaptive mask, median filtration of heavily noised digital images affected with fixed value (or salt and pepper impulse noise. The proposed filter presents a novel approach; an ameliorated Rank Ordered Absolute Deviation (ROAD statistics to judge whether the input pixel is noised or noise free. If a pixel is detected as corrupted, it is subjected to adaptive mask median filtration; otherwise, it is kept unchanged. Extensive experimental results and comparative performance evaluations demonstrate that the proposed filter outperforms the existing decision type, median based filters with powerful noise detectors in terms of objective performance measures and visual retrieviation accuracy.

Meta-Reasoning: Monitoring and Control of Thinking and Reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Ackerman, Rakefet; Thompson, Valerie A

2017-08-01

Meta-Reasoning refers to the processes that monitor the progress of our reasoning and problem-solving activities and regulate the time and effort devoted to them. Monitoring processes are usually experienced as feelings of certainty or uncertainty about how well a process has, or will, unfold. These feelings are based on heuristic cues, which are not necessarily reliable. Nevertheless, we rely on these feelings of (un)certainty to regulate our mental effort. Most metacognitive research has focused on memorization and knowledge retrieval, with little attention paid to more complex processes, such as reasoning and problem solving. In that context, we recently developed a Meta-Reasoning framework, used here to review existing findings, consider their consequences, and frame questions for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monitoring Urban Heat Island Through Google Earth Engine: Potentialities and Difficulties in Different Cities of the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Ravanelli, R.; Nascetti, A.; Cirigliano, R. V.; Di Rico, C.; Monti, P.; Crespi, M.

2018-04-01

The aim of this work is to exploit the large-scale analysis capabilities of the innovative Google Earth Engine platform in order to investigate the temporal variations of the Urban Heat Island phenomenon as a whole. A intuitive methodology implementing a largescale correlation analysis between the Land Surface Temperature and Land Cover alterations was thus developed.The results obtained for the Phoenix MA are promising and show how the urbanization heavily affects the magnitude of the UHI effects with significant increases in LST. The proposed methodology is therefore able to efficiently monitor the UHI phenomenon.

Human children rely more on social information than chimpanzees do.

Science.gov (United States)

van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Call, Josep; Haun, Daniel B M

2014-11-01

Human societies are characterized by more cultural diversity than chimpanzee communities. However, it is currently unclear what mechanism might be driving this difference. Because reliance on social information is a pivotal characteristic of culture, we investigated individual and social information reliance in children and chimpanzees. We repeatedly presented subjects with a reward-retrieval task on which they had collected conflicting individual and social information of equal accuracy in counterbalanced order. While both species relied mostly on their individual information, children but not chimpanzees searched for the reward at the socially demonstrated location more than at a random location. Moreover, only children used social information adaptively when individual knowledge on the location of the reward had not yet been obtained. Social information usage determines information transmission and in conjunction with mechanisms that create cultural variants, such as innovation, it facilitates diversity. Our results may help explain why humans are more culturally diversified than chimpanzees. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Clonal variation in survival and growth of hybrid poplar and willow in an in situ trial on soils heavily contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons

Science.gov (United States)

Ronald S., Jr. Zalesny; Edmund O. Bauer; Richard B. Hall; Jill A. Zalesny; Joshua Kunzman; Chris J. Rog; Don E. Riemenschneider

2005-01-01

Species and hybrids between species belonging to the genera Populus (poplar) and Salix (willow) have been used successfully for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. Our objectives were to: 1) evaluate the potential for establishing genotypes of poplar and willow on soils heavily contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons and 2)...

Deep Vadose Zone Treatability Test for the Hanford Central Plateau: Interim Post-Desiccation Monitoring Results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Truex, Michael J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Oostrom, Martinus [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Strickland, Christopher E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Johnson, Timothy C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Johnson, Christian D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Clayton, Ray E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Chronister, Glen B. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2013-09-01

A field test of desiccation is being conducted as an element of the deep vadose zone treatability test program. Desiccation technology relies on removal of water from a portion of the subsurface such that the resultant low moisture conditions inhibit downward movement of water and dissolved contaminants. Previously, a field test report (Truex et al. 2012a) was prepared describing the active desiccation portion of the test and initial post-desiccation monitoring data. Additional monitoring data have been collected at the field test site during the post-desiccation period and is reported herein along with interpretation with respect to desiccation performance. This is an interim report including about 2 years of post-desiccation monitoring data.

Open Source Platform Application to Groundwater Characterization and Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Ntarlagiannis, D.; Day-Lewis, F. D.; Falzone, S.; Lane, J. W., Jr.; Slater, L. D.; Robinson, J.; Hammett, S.

2017-12-01

Groundwater characterization and monitoring commonly rely on the use of multiple point sensors and human labor. Due to the number of sensors, labor, and other resources needed, establishing and maintaining an adequate groundwater monitoring network can be both labor intensive and expensive. To improve and optimize the monitoring network design, open source software and hardware components could potentially provide the platform to control robust and efficient sensors thereby reducing costs and labor. This work presents early attempts to create a groundwater monitoring system incorporating open-source software and hardware that will control the remote operation of multiple sensors along with data management and file transfer functions. The system is built around a Raspberry PI 3, that controls multiple sensors in order to perform on-demand, continuous or `smart decision' measurements while providing flexibility to incorporate additional sensors to meet the demands of different projects. The current objective of our technology is to monitor exchange of ionic tracers between mobile and immobile porosity using a combination of fluid and bulk electrical-conductivity measurements. To meet this objective, our configuration uses four sensors (pH, specific conductance, pressure, temperature) that can monitor the fluid electrical properties of interest and guide the bulk electrical measurement. This system highlights the potential of using open source software and hardware components for earth sciences applications. The versatility of the system makes it ideal for use in a large number of applications, and the low cost allows for high resolution (spatially and temporally) monitoring.

Asymptotic Connectivity of Low Duty-Cycled Wireless Sensor Networks

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kim, Dongsook; Hsin, Chih-fan; Liu, Mingyan

2004-01-01

The Army's Future Combat Systems potentially rely heavily on the efficient use of unattended sensors to detect, identify and track targets in order to enhance situation awareness, agility and survivability...

HappyFace as a monitoring tool for the ATLAS experiment

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00367045; Yahyapour, Ramin

The importance of monitoring on HEP grid computing systems is growing due to a significant increase in their complexity. Computer scientists and administrators have been studying and building effective ways to gather information on and clarify a status of each local grid infrastructure. The HappyFace project aims at making the above-mentioned workflow possible. It aggregates, processes and stores the informa- tion and the status of different HEP monitoring resources into the common database of HappyFace. The system displays the information and the status through a single interface. However, this model of HappyFace relied on the monitoring resources which are al- ways under development in the HEP experiments. Consequently, HappyFace needed to have direct access methods to the grid application and grid service layers in the dif- ferent HEP grid systems. To cope with this issue, we use a reliable HEP software repos- itory, the CernVM File System. We propose a new implementation and an architecture of HappyFace, ...

Mathis software for controlling BCAM-based monitoring and alignment systems

CERN Document Server

Klumb, Francis; Kautzmann, Guillaume; CERN. Geneva. ATS Department

2016-01-01

The MATHIS Software (Monitoring and Alignment Tracking for HIE-Isolde Software) aims at providing 3D positions of physical components of the HIE-Isolde superconducting modules, accurately and permanently measured by well-designed networks of BCAM devices (Brandeis Camera Angle Monitoring). Although it is originally intended for the HIE-Isolde project, its architecture and its use cases have been extended and optimized for more general setups. Most of the configuration data are stored either within XML-formatted files or within databases. The adaptation of MATHIS for different BCAM monitoring systems therefore does not require any further code rewriting. Moreover, the software is fully cross-platform and can either be run on the specific Linux machines driving the accelerator electronic devices, or be used on independent Windows workstations as a stand-alone software. In the first case, the software mainly relies on FESA (Front End Software Architecture) which is an object-oriented real-time framework that ens...

Search for Dark Matter in events with a highly energetic jet and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at $\\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

CERN Document Server

Pöttgen, Ruth; Pauly, Thilo; Tapprogge, Stefan; Wengler, Thorsten

2016-01-01

Any physics analysis at a collider experiment heavily relies on an efficient trigger system to filter out potentially interesting events. To ensure stable operation, a continuous and detailed real-time monitoring is essential. Two such online monitoring features for the Central Trigger of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European centre for particle physics, CERN, are developed as part of this thesis and are presented in detail. To prepare the ATLAS experiment for the second run of the LHC starting in 2015, among other systems the Central Trigger hardware will be upgraded to remove resource limitations and allow for the connection of newly installed systems. This thesis reports on the corresponding changes and extensions in the simulation of the Central Trigger, the implementation of which is part of this work. A further part of this thesis presents a search for Dark Matter candidates. Cosmological observations indicate that about 80% of the matter content of the universe consist...

Significance of material analysis in industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourke, T.M.

1999-01-01

Full text: Most industries need to have laboratories to meet production, customer and statutory requirements. Failure to have such a service would result in production losses, material failures and customer complaints leading to expensive claims for damages. Laboratory functions are to monitor production processes, certify the end product and assist in trouble shooting production problems and material failures. This means that laboratories are an essential part of industry and need to have access to a wide range of instrumentation (XRF, XRD, AES, ICP, SEM, etc). Monitoring and reporting on the industries environmental licences for effluent and emissions is also the responsibility of the laboratory. Licence exceedance leads to heavy fines and continual exceedance would result in plant closure. The mining industry relies heavily on laboratories to certify that the material meets the customer specification. The large tonnages involved means that small errors in composition can result in losses amounting to many thousands of dollars. Copyright (1999) Australian X-ray Analytical Association Inc

Mechanisms of vegetation removal by floods on bars of a heavily managed gravel bed river (The Isere River, France)

Science.gov (United States)

Jourdain, Camille; Belleudy, Philippe; Tal, Michal; Malavoi, Jean-René

2016-04-01

In natural alpine gravel bed rivers, floods and their associated bedload transport maintain channels active and free of mature woody vegetation. In managed rivers, where flood regime and sediment supply have been modified by hydroelectric infrastructures and sediment mining, river beds tend to stabilize. As a result, in the recent past, mature vegetation has established on gravel bars of many gravel bed rivers worldwide. This established vegetation increases the risk of flooding by decreasing flow velocity and increasing water levels. In addition, the associated reduction in availability of pioneer habitats characteristic of these environments typically degrades biodiversity. Managing hydrology in a way that would limit vegetation establishment on bars presents an interesting management option. In this context, our study aims at understanding the impacts of floods of varying magnitude on vegetation removal, and identifying and quantifying the underlying mechanisms. Our study site is the Isère River, a heavily managed gravel bed river flowing in the western part of the French Alps. We studied the impact of floods on sediment transport and vegetation survival at the bar scale through field monitoring from 2014 to 2015, focusing on young salicaceous vegetation (chains, and topographic surveys. Hourly water discharge was obtained from the national gauging network. The hydraulics of monitored floods was characterized using a combination of field measurements and 2D hydraulic modeling: water levels were measured with pressure sensors and Large Scale Particle Velocimetry was used to measure flow velocities. These data were used to calibrate 2D hydrodynamic model using TELEMAC2D. At the reach scale, removal of mature vegetation was assed using a series of historical aerial photographs between 2001 and 2015. Our monitoring period covered a series of floods with recurrence intervals of 2 to 4 times per year, as well as one large flood with a 10 year return period. Only the

A model for describing the eutrophication in a heavily regulated coastal lagoon. Application to the Albufera of Valencia (Spain).

Science.gov (United States)

del Barrio Fernández, Pilar; Gómez, Andrés García; Alba, Javier García; Díaz, César Álvarez; Revilla Cortezón, José Antonio

2012-12-15

A simplified two-dimensional eutrophication model was developed to simulate temporal and spatial variations of chlorophyll-a in heavily regulated coastal lagoons. This model considers the hydrodynamics of the whole study area, the regulated connexion of the lagoon with the sea, the variability of the input and output nutrient loads, the flux from the sediments to the water column, the phytoplankton growth and mortality kinetics, and the zooplankton grazing. The model was calibrated and validated by applying it to the Albufera of Valencia, a hypertrophic system whose connection to the sea is strongly regulated by a system of sluice-gates. The calibration and validation results presented a significant agreement between the model and the data obtained in several surveys. The accuracy was evaluated using a quantitative analysis, in which the average uncertainty of the model prediction was less than 6%. The results confirmed an expected phytoplankton bloom in April and October, achieving mean maximum values around 250 μg l(-1) of chlorophyll-a. A mass balance revealed that the eutrophication process is magnified by the input loads of nutrients, mainly from the sediments, as well as by the limited connection of the lagoon with the sea. This study has shown that the developed model is an efficient tool to manage the eutrophication problem in heavily regulated coastal lagoons. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Logical Characterisation of Concept Transformations from Human into Machine relying on Predicate Logic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Badie, Farshad

2016-01-01

Providing more human-like concept learning in machines has always been one of the most significant goals of machine learning paradigms and of human-machine interaction techniques. This article attempts to provide a logical specification of conceptual mappings from humans’ minds into machines......’ knowledge bases. I will focus on the representation of the mappings (transformations) relying on First-Order Predicate Logic. Additionally, the structure of concepts in the common ground between humans and machines will be analysed. It seems quite necessary to pay attention to the philosophy...

Minimally Intrusive Embedded Sensors for High Mass to Mars Thermal Protection Systems

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The safety and overall mission success of space vehicles rely heavily on the integrity of the TPS to protect valuable payload during atmospheric entry. Future...

Fully Printed Flexible 4-Bit 2D (4x4) 16-Element Phased Array Antenna for Lunar Surface Communications, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA's future exploration missions focus on the manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond, which will rely heavily on the development of a reliable...

Wisconsins Experience with Medicaid Auto Enrollment

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) relies heavily on the expansion of Medicaid eligibility to cover uninsured populations. In February 2008,...

Risk-adapted monitoring is not inferior to extensive on-site monitoring: Results of the ADAMON cluster-randomised study.

Science.gov (United States)

Brosteanu, Oana; Schwarz, Gabriele; Houben, Peggy; Paulus, Ursula; Strenge-Hesse, Anke; Zettelmeyer, Ulrike; Schneider, Anja; Hasenclever, Dirk

2017-12-01

Background According to Good Clinical Practice, clinical trials must protect rights and safety of patients and make sure that the trial results are valid and interpretable. Monitoring on-site has an important role in achieving these objectives; it controls trial conduct at trial sites and informs the sponsor on systematic problems. In the past, extensive on-site monitoring with a particular focus on formal source data verification often lost sight of systematic problems in study procedures that endanger Good Clinical Practice objectives. ADAMON is a prospective, stratified, cluster-randomised, controlled study comparing extensive on-site monitoring with risk-adapted monitoring according to a previously published approach. Methods In all, 213 sites from 11 academic trials were cluster-randomised between extensive on-site monitoring (104) and risk-adapted monitoring (109). Independent post-trial audits using structured manuals were performed to determine the frequency of major Good Clinical Practice findings at the patient level. The primary outcome measure is the proportion of audited patients with at least one major audit finding. Analysis relies on logistic regression incorporating trial and monitoring arm as fixed effects and site as random effect. The hypothesis was that risk-adapted monitoring is non-inferior to extensive on-site monitoring with a non-inferiority margin of 0.60 (logit scale). Results Average number of monitoring visits and time spent on-site was 2.1 and 2.7 times higher in extensive on-site monitoring than in risk-adapted monitoring, respectively. A total of 156 (extensive on-site monitoring: 76; risk-adapted monitoring: 80) sites were audited. In 996 of 1618 audited patients, a total of 2456 major audit findings were documented. Depending on the trial, findings were identified in 18%-99% of the audited patients, with no marked monitoring effect in any of the trials. The estimated monitoring effect is -0.04 on the logit scale with two-sided 95

Stereoselective, nitro-Mannich/lactamisation cascades for the direct synthesis of heavily decorated 5-nitropiperidin-2-ones and related heterocycles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavol Jakubec

2012-04-01

Full Text Available A versatile nitro-Mannich/lactamisation cascade for the direct stereoselective synthesis of heavily decorated 5-nitropiperidin-2-ones and related heterocycles has been developed. A highly enantioenriched substituted 5-nitropiperidin-2-one was synthesised in a four component one-pot reaction combining an enantioselective organocatalytic Michael addition with the diastereoselective nitro-Mannich/lactamisation cascade. Protodenitration and chemoselective reductive manipulation of the heterocycles was used to install contiguous and fully substituted stereocentres in the synthesis of substituted piperidines.

The effect of irradiation temperature on the optical attenuation recovery in heavily Ge-doped single mode silica core fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertolotti, M.; Mabrouk, M.A.; Ferrari, A.; Serra, A.; Viezzoli, G.

1992-01-01

The behaviour under irradiation of a single mode fiber heavily doped with germanium has been investigated at 0.85 μm and 1.3 μm under different irradiation temperatures in the range from -65degC to 60degC. The time behaviour of the recovery of the induced attenuation has been described using empirical equations, for different temperatures. An nth order kinetics seems appropriate to describe the results and the order of kinetics has been determined at different temperatures. (orig.)

Launch prices for new pharmaceuticals in the heavily regulated and subsidized Spanish market, 1995-2007.

Science.gov (United States)

Puig-Junoy, Jaume; López-Valcárcel, Beatriz González

2014-06-01

This paper provides empirical evidence on the explanatory factors affecting introductory prices of new pharmaceuticals in a heavily regulated and highly subsidized market. We collect a data set consisting of all new chemical entities launched in Spain between 1997 and 2005, and model launch prices following an extended version of previous economic models. We found that, unlike in the US and Sweden, therapeutically "innovative" products are not overpriced relative to "imitative" ones after having controlled for other factors. Price setting is mainly used as a mechanism to adjust for inflation independently of the degree of innovation. The drugs that enter through the centralized EMA approval procedure are overpriced, which may be a consequence of market globalization and international price setting. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical Gaps in Pristine and Heavily Doped Silicon Nanocrystals: DFT versus Quantum Monte Carlo Benchmarks.

Science.gov (United States)

Derian, R; Tokár, K; Somogyi, B; Gali, Á; Štich, I

2017-12-12

We present a time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) study of the optical gaps of light-emitting nanomaterials, namely, pristine and heavily B- and P-codoped silicon crystalline nanoparticles. Twenty DFT exchange-correlation functionals sampled from the best currently available inventory such as hybrids and range-separated hybrids are benchmarked against ultra-accurate quantum Monte Carlo results on small model Si nanocrystals. Overall, the range-separated hybrids are found to perform best. The quality of the DFT gaps is correlated with the deviation from Koopmans' theorem as a possible quality guide. In addition to providing a generic test of the ability of TDDFT to describe optical properties of silicon crystalline nanoparticles, the results also open up a route to benchmark-quality DFT studies of nanoparticle sizes approaching those studied experimentally.

Radiation-related monitoring and environmental research at the Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anspaugh, L.R.; Patton, S.E.; Shinn, J.H.; Black, S.C.; Costa, C.F.; Elle, D.R.; Essington, E.H.; Gilbert, R.O.; Gonzalez, D.A.; Hunter, R.B.; Medica, P.A.; McArthur, R.D.; Thompson, C.B.; O'Farrell, T.P.; Romney, E.M.

1990-01-01

Beginning with the first nuclear-weapons-related tests at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in 1951, a radiation-related monitoring program was established to determine the levels and distribution of radionuclides released. Primary methods involved survey-meter-equipped field-monitoring teams and placement of film badges and air-sampling devices at fixed locations. Beginning in the mid-1950s, more stringent standards, the results of this monitoring program, and the results of related research programs led to increased engineering efforts to reduce local fallout. With passage of the National Environmental Policy Act and increased concern about possible effects of radiation exposure, environmental activities related to the NTS increased. There is now an extensive monitoring program at the NTS to assess radiological conditions resulting from past tests and from continued testing of nuclear-weapons devices. In populated areas near NTS, there is also a monitoring effort that relies on assistance from local communities. Other efforts include reconstruction of radiation doses received by offsite residents during the 1950s and 1960s, determination of the current inventory and distribution of radionuclides in surface soil, and studies of the movement of radionuclides in the desert ecosystem

77 FR 70117 - Purchase of Certain Debt Securities by Business and Industrial Development Companies Relying on...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-23

... 3235-AL02 Purchase of Certain Debt Securities by Business and Industrial Development Companies Relying... securities; (B) is engaged or proposes to engage in the business of issuing face-amount certificates of the... business of issuing redeemable securities, the operations of which are subject to regulation by the State...

76 FR 69545 - Conditions and Requirements for Relying on Component Part Testing or Certification, or Another...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-08

... the final rule to incorporate the concept that a finished product certifier may rely upon finished... revised, on our own initiative, the final rule to incorporate the concept that a finished product... Vol. 76 Tuesday, No. 216 November 8, 2011 Part IV Consumer Product Safety Commission 16 CFR Parts...

Episodic Memory Retrieval Functionally Relies on Very Rapid Reactivation of Sensory Information.

Science.gov (United States)

Waldhauser, Gerd T; Braun, Verena; Hanslmayr, Simon

2016-01-06

Episodic memory retrieval is assumed to rely on the rapid reactivation of sensory information that was present during encoding, a process termed "ecphory." We investigated the functional relevance of this scarcely understood process in two experiments in human participants. We presented stimuli to the left or right of fixation at encoding, followed by an episodic memory test with centrally presented retrieval cues. This allowed us to track the reactivation of lateralized sensory memory traces during retrieval. Successful episodic retrieval led to a very early (∼100-200 ms) reactivation of lateralized alpha/beta (10-25 Hz) electroencephalographic (EEG) power decreases in the visual cortex contralateral to the visual field at encoding. Applying rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation to interfere with early retrieval processing in the visual cortex led to decreased episodic memory performance specifically for items encoded in the visual field contralateral to the site of stimulation. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that episodic memory functionally relies on very rapid reactivation of sensory information. Remembering personal experiences requires a "mental time travel" to revisit sensory information perceived in the past. This process is typically described as a controlled, relatively slow process. However, by using electroencephalography to measure neural activity with a high time resolution, we show that such episodic retrieval entails a very rapid reactivation of sensory brain areas. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation to alter brain function during retrieval revealed that this early sensory reactivation is causally relevant for conscious remembering. These results give first neural evidence for a functional, preconscious component of episodic remembering. This provides new insight into the nature of human memory and may help in the understanding of psychiatric conditions that involve the automatic intrusion of unwanted memories. Copyright

Drought Monitoring and Forecasting: Experiences from the US and Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Sheffield, Justin; Chaney, Nate; Yuan, Xing; Wood, Eric

2013-04-01

Drought has important but very different consequences regionally due to differences in vulnerability. These differences derive from variations in exposure related to climate variability and change, sensitivity of local populations, and coping capacity at all levels. Managing the risk of drought impacts relies on a variety of measures to reduce vulnerability that includes forewarning of drought development through early-warning systems. Existing systems rely on a variety of observing systems from satellites to local observers, modeling tools, and data dissemination methods. They range from sophisticated state-of-the-art systems to simple ground reports. In some regions, systems are virtually non-existent due to limited national capacity. This talk describes our experiences in developing and implementing drought monitoring and seasonal forecast systems in the US and sub-Saharan Africa as contrasting examples of the scientific challenges and user needs in developing early warning systems. In particular, early warning can help improve livelihoods based on subsistence farming in sub-Saharan Africa; whist reduction of economic impacts is generally foremost in the US. For the US, our national drought monitoring and seasonal forecast system has been operational for over 8 years and provides near real-time updates on hydrological states at ~12km resolution and hydrological forecasts out to 9 months. Output from the system contributes to national assessments such as from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the US National Drought Monitor (USDM). For sub-Saharan Africa, our experimental drought monitoring system was developed as a translation of the US system but presents generally greater challenges due to, for example, lack of ground data and unique user needs. The system provides near real-time updates based on hydrological modeling and satellite based precipitation estimates, and has recently been augmented by a seasonal forecast component. We discuss the

Structural health monitoring methodology for aircraft condition-based maintenance

Science.gov (United States)

Saniger, Jordi; Reithler, Livier; Guedra-Degeorges, Didier; Takeda, Nobuo; Dupuis, Jean Pierre

2001-06-01

Reducing maintenance costs while keeping a constant level of safety is a major issue for Air Forces and airlines. The long term perspective is to implement condition based maintenance to guarantee a constant safety level while decreasing maintenance costs. On this purpose, the development of a generalized Structural Health Monitoring System (SHMS) is needed. The objective of such a system is to localize the damages and to assess their severity, with enough accuracy to allow low cost corrective actions. The present paper describes a SHMS based on acoustic emission technology. This choice was driven by its reliability and wide use in the aerospace industry. The described SHMS uses a new learning methodology which relies on the generation of artificial acoustic emission events on the structure and an acoustic emission sensor network. The calibrated acoustic emission events picked up by the sensors constitute the knowledge set that the system relies on. With this methodology, the anisotropy of composite structures is taken into account, thus avoiding the major cause of errors of classical localization methods. Moreover, it is adaptive to different structures as it does not rely on any particular model but on measured data. The acquired data is processed and the event's location and corrected amplitude are computed. The methodology has been demonstrated and experimental tests on elementary samples presented a degree of accuracy of 1cm.

Incorporating genetic sampling in long-term monitoring and adaptive management in the San Diego County Management Strategic Plan Area, Southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Vandergast, Amy G.

2017-06-02

Habitat and species conservation plans usually rely on monitoring to assess progress towards conservation goals. Southern California, USA, is a hotspot of biodiversity and home to many federally endangered and threatened species. Here, several regional multi-species conservation plans have been implemented to balance development and conservation goals, including in San Diego County. In the San Diego County Management Strategic Plan Area (MSPA), a monitoring framework for the preserve system has been developed with a focus on species monitoring, vegetation monitoring, threats monitoring and abiotic monitoring. Genetic sampling over time (genetic monitoring) has proven useful in gathering species presence and abundance data and detecting population trends, particularly related to species and threats monitoring objectives. This report reviews genetic concepts and techniques of genetics that relate to monitoring goals and outlines components of a genetic monitoring scheme that could be applied in San Diego or in other monitoring frameworks throughout the Nation.

A sensor monitoring system for telemedicine, safety and security applications

Science.gov (United States)

Vlissidis, Nikolaos; Leonidas, Filippos; Giovanis, Christos; Marinos, Dimitrios; Aidinis, Konstantinos; Vassilopoulos, Christos; Pagiatakis, Gerasimos; Schmitt, Nikolaus; Pistner, Thomas; Klaue, Jirka

2017-02-01

A sensor system capable of medical, safety and security monitoring in avionic and other environments (e.g. homes) is examined. For application inside an aircraft cabin, the system relies on an optical cellular network that connects each seat to a server and uses a set of database applications to process data related to passengers' health, safety and security status. Health monitoring typically encompasses electrocardiogram, pulse oximetry and blood pressure, body temperature and respiration rate while safety and security monitoring is related to the standard flight attendance duties, such as cabin preparation for take-off, landing, flight in regions of turbulence, etc. In contrast to previous related works, this article focuses on the system's modules (medical and safety sensors and associated hardware), the database applications used for the overall control of the monitoring function and the potential use of the system for security applications. Further tests involving medical, safety and security sensing performed in an real A340 mock-up set-up are also described and reference is made to the possible use of the sensing system in alternative environments and applications, such as health monitoring within other means of transport (e.g. trains or small passenger sea vessels) as well as for remotely located home users, over a wired Ethernet network or the Internet.

The origin of double peak electric field distribution in heavily irradiated silicon detectors

CERN Document Server

Eremin, V; Li, Z

2002-01-01

The first observation of double peak (DP) electric field distribution in heavily neutron irradiated (>10 sup 1 sup 4 n/cm sup 2) semiconductor detectors has been published about 6 yr ago. However, this effect was not quantitatively analyzed up to now. The explanation of the DP electric field distribution presented in this paper is based on the properties of radiation induced deep levels in silicon, which act as deep traps, and on the distribution of the thermally generated free carrier concentration in the detector bulk. In the frame of this model, the earlier published considerations on the so-called 'double junction (DJ) effect' are discussed as well. The comparison of the calculated electric field profiles at different temperatures with the experimental ones allows one to determine a set of deep levels. This set of deep levels, and their charge filling status are essential to the value and the distribution of space charge in the space charge region in the range of 305-240 K, which is actual temperature ran...

Intelligent Query Answering Through Rule Learning and Generalization

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Carsten, James

2004-01-01

The Department of Defense (DoD) relies heavily on information systems to complete a myriad of tasks, from day-to-day personnel actions to mission critical imagery retrieval, intelligence analysis, and mission planning...

Flow Control Enabled Aircraft Design

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Nangia, Rajendar

2004-01-01

...: Many future advanced aircraft concepts being considered by the Air Force fall outside the current aerodynamic design practice and will rely heavily on the use of flow control technology to optimize flight performance...

Regulated Medicare Advantage And Marketplace Individual Health Insurance Markets Rely On Insurer Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Richard G; McGuire, Thomas G

2017-09-01

Two important individual health insurance markets-Medicare Advantage and the Marketplaces-are tightly regulated but rely on competition among insurers to supply and price health insurance products. Many local health insurance markets have little competition, which increases prices to consumers. Furthermore, both markets are highly subsidized in ways that can exacerbate the impact of market power-that is, the ability to set price above cost-on health insurance prices. Policy makers need to foster robust competition in both sectors and avoid designing subsidies that make the market-power problem worse. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Contrast-enhanced MR imaging monitoring of acute tumor response to chemotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ranney, D.F.; Cohen, J.M.; Antich, P.P.; Endman, W.A.; Kulkarni, P.; Weinreb, J.C.; Giovanella, B.

1987-01-01

Treatment responses of human malignant melanomas were monitored at millimeter resolution in athymic mice by injecting a new polymeric contrast agent, Gd-DTPA-dextran (0.1 mmol Gd/kg, intravenously). Proton MR imaging (0.35 T, spin-echo, repetition time = 0.5 second, echo time = 50 msec) was performed 30 hours after administering diphtheria toxin. Pre-contrast medium images revealed only homogeneous intermediate-intensity tumor masses. Post-contrast medium images of untreated (viable) tumors demonstrated 32% enhancement throughout the entire mass. Post-contrast medium images of toxin-treated tumors revealed marked enhancement (65%) of the histologically viable outer rims, lesser enhancement (38%) of heavily damaged subregions, and no enhancement of dead tumor. These acute, contrast medium-enhanced MR images accurately identified tumor subregions that survived for longer than one week

A socio-environmental monitoring system for a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowell, Kim

2017-11-03

To identify potentially critical changes in an area's ongoing ability to produce multiple ecosystem services, a monitoring system was designed and implemented for the Mornington Peninsula and Westernport Biosphere Reserve in southeast Australia. The system is underpinned by an "environmental vital signs" (EVS) approach that was adopted to provide early warning of critical changes in human and natural characteristics of the area. The six themes monitored are non-coastal water, land including vegetation, biodiversity, natural heritage, built environment (including human population and economic activity), and coasts. These are monitored for the entire area, and each of its five constituent town council areas. After a critical change in any of these is identified, further investigation is required to identify causal factors and, if required, determine an appropriate response. The system relies on data available from external (third-party) organisations to monitor the natural and human characteristics of the area that were important in its designation as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Strengths and weaknesses associated with the use of third-party data are discussed. These include adoption of baseline years and data reporting periods for different factors, costs, and data quality.

Wearable Antennas for Remote Health Care Monitoring Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Corchia

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Remote monitoring of the elderly in telehealth applications requires that the monitoring must not affect the elderly’s regular habits. To ensure this requirement, the components (i.e., sensor and antenna necessary to carry out such monitoring should blend in with the elderly’s daily routine. To this end, an effective strategy relies on employing wearable antennas that can be fully integrated with clothes and that can be used for remotely transmitting/receiving the sensor data. Starting from these considerations, in this work, two different methods for wearable antenna fabrication are described in detail: the first resorts to the combined use of nonwoven conductive fabrics and of a cutting plotter for shaping the fabric, whereas the second considered fabrication method resorts to the embroidery of conductive threads. To demonstrate the suitability of the considered fabrication techniques and to highlight their pros and cons, numerical and experimental results related to different wearable antennas are also reported and commented on. Results demonstrate that the presented fabrication techniques and strategies are very flexible and can be used to obtain low-cost wearable antennas with performance tailored for the specific application at hand.

NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of luminous, heavily obscured, WISE-selected quasars at z ∼ 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stern, D.; Eisenhardt, P. R. M. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Mail Stop 169-221, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Lansbury, G. B.; Alexander, D. M.; Del Moro, A.; Gandhi, P. [Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Assef, R. J. [Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército Libertador 441, Santiago (Chile); Brandt, W. N.; Griffith, R. L. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Ballantyne, D. R. [Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 (United States); Baloković, M.; Bridge, C. [Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Bauer, F. E. [Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 306, Santiago 22 (Chile); Benford, D. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Blain, A. [Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, 1 University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH (United Kingdom); Boggs, S. E.; Craig, W. W. [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States); Brightman, M. [Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, D-85748, Garching bei München (Germany); Christensen, F. E. [Danish Technical University, DK-2800 Lyngby (Denmark); Comastri, A., E-mail: daniel.k.stern@jpl.nasa.gov [INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40127, Bologna (Italy); and others

2014-10-20

We report on a NuSTAR and XMM-Newton program that has observed a sample of three extremely luminous, heavily obscured WISE-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z ∼ 2 across a broad X-ray band (0.1 – 79 keV). The parent sample, selected to be faint or undetected in the WISE 3.4 μm (W1) and 4.6 μm (W2) bands but bright at 12 μm (W3) and 22 μm (W4), are extremely rare, with only ∼1000 so-called 'W1W2-dropouts' across the extragalactic sky. Optical spectroscopy reveals typical redshifts of z ∼ 2 for this population, implying rest-frame mid-IR luminosities of νL {sub ν}(6 μm) ∼ 6 × 10{sup 46} erg s{sup –1} and bolometric luminosities that can exceed L {sub bol} ∼ 10{sup 14} L {sub ☉}. The corresponding intrinsic, unobscured hard X-ray luminosities are L(2-10 keV) ∼ 4 × 10{sup 45} erg s{sup –1} for typical quasar templates. These are among the most AGNs known, though the optical spectra rarely show evidence of a broad-line region and the selection criteria imply heavy obscuration even at rest-frame 1.5 μm. We designed our X-ray observations to obtain robust detections for gas column densities N {sub H} ≤ 10{sup 24} cm{sup –2}. In fact, the sources prove to be fainter than these predictions. Two of the sources were observed by both NuSTAR and XMM-Newton, with neither being detected by NuSTAR (f {sub 3-24} {sub keV} ≲ 10{sup –13} erg cm{sup –2} s{sup –1}), and one being faintly detected by XMM-Newton (f {sub 0.5-10} {sub keV} ∼ 5 × 10{sup –15} erg cm{sup –2} s{sup –1}). A third source was observed only with XMM-Newton, yielding a faint detection (f {sub 0.5-10} {sub keV} ∼ 7 × 10{sup –15} erg cm{sup –2} s{sup –1}). The X-ray data imply these sources are either X-ray weak, or are heavily obscured by column densities N {sub H} ≳ 10{sup 24} cm{sup –2}. The combined X-ray and mid-IR analysis seems to favor this second possibility, implying the sources are extremely obscured, consistent with Compton

NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of luminous, heavily obscured, WISE-selected quasars at z ∼ 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stern, D.; Eisenhardt, P. R. M.; Lansbury, G. B.; Alexander, D. M.; Del Moro, A.; Gandhi, P.; Assef, R. J.; Brandt, W. N.; Griffith, R. L.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Baloković, M.; Bridge, C.; Bauer, F. E.; Benford, D.; Blain, A.; Boggs, S. E.; Craig, W. W.; Brightman, M.; Christensen, F. E.; Comastri, A.

2014-01-01

We report on a NuSTAR and XMM-Newton program that has observed a sample of three extremely luminous, heavily obscured WISE-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z ∼ 2 across a broad X-ray band (0.1 – 79 keV). The parent sample, selected to be faint or undetected in the WISE 3.4 μm (W1) and 4.6 μm (W2) bands but bright at 12 μm (W3) and 22 μm (W4), are extremely rare, with only ∼1000 so-called 'W1W2-dropouts' across the extragalactic sky. Optical spectroscopy reveals typical redshifts of z ∼ 2 for this population, implying rest-frame mid-IR luminosities of νL ν (6 μm) ∼ 6 × 10 46 erg s –1 and bolometric luminosities that can exceed L bol ∼ 10 14 L ☉ . The corresponding intrinsic, unobscured hard X-ray luminosities are L(2-10 keV) ∼ 4 × 10 45 erg s –1 for typical quasar templates. These are among the most AGNs known, though the optical spectra rarely show evidence of a broad-line region and the selection criteria imply heavy obscuration even at rest-frame 1.5 μm. We designed our X-ray observations to obtain robust detections for gas column densities N H ≤ 10 24 cm –2 . In fact, the sources prove to be fainter than these predictions. Two of the sources were observed by both NuSTAR and XMM-Newton, with neither being detected by NuSTAR (f 3-24 keV ≲ 10 –13 erg cm –2 s –1 ), and one being faintly detected by XMM-Newton (f 0.5-10 keV ∼ 5 × 10 –15 erg cm –2 s –1 ). A third source was observed only with XMM-Newton, yielding a faint detection (f 0.5-10 keV ∼ 7 × 10 –15 erg cm –2 s –1 ). The X-ray data imply these sources are either X-ray weak, or are heavily obscured by column densities N H ≳ 10 24 cm –2 . The combined X-ray and mid-IR analysis seems to favor this second possibility, implying the sources are extremely obscured, consistent with Compton-thick, luminous quasars. The discovery of a significant population of heavily obscured, extremely luminous AGNs would not conform to the standard

Monitoring Ingress of Moisture in Structural Concrete Using a Novel Optical-Based Sensor Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeo, T L; Cox, M A C; Boswell, L F; Sun, T; Grattan, K T V

2006-01-01

The detection of moisture ingress in concrete is important for structural monitoring and in this work is realised by monitoring the shift in the characteristic wavelength of a fibre Bragg grating-based sensor. The sensor relies upon a moisture-sensitive polymer layer deposited on the fibre Bragg grating (FBG) and the strain induced on it as a result of polymer swelling is monitored. Moisture ingress experiments were carried out using two such optical fibre sensors, placed at varying distances from the edge of the face of standard concrete cubes to the inner part of the concrete sample and subjected to water at a constant temperature. Information on the properties of different types of concrete and thus potentially on the migration of dissolved salts and their effect on reinforcement bars within concrete can be obtained

Volcano monitoring using the Global Positioning System: Filtering strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, K.M.; Cervelli, Peter; Lisowski, M.; Miklius, Asta; Segall, P.; Owen, S.

2001-01-01

Permanent Global Positioning System (GPS) networks are routinely used for producing improved orbits and monitoring secular tectonic deformation. For these applications, data are transferred to an analysis center each day and routinely processed in 24-hour segments. To use GPS for monitoring volcanic events, which may last only a few hours, real-time or near real-time data processing and subdaily position estimates are valuable. Strategies have been researched for obtaining station coordinates every 15 min using a Kalman filter; these strategies have been tested on data collected by a GPS network on Kilauea Volcano. Data from this network are tracked continuously, recorded every 30 s, and telemetered hourly to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. A white noise model is heavily impacted by data outages and poor satellite geometry, but a properly constrained random walk model fits the data well. Using a borehole tiltmeter at Kilauea's summit as ground-truth, solutions using different random walk constraints were compared. This study indicates that signals on the order of 5 mm/h are resolvable using a random walk standard deviation of 0.45 cm/???h. Values lower than this suppress small signals, and values greater than this have significantly higher noise at periods of 1-6 hours. Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union.

A Simple Approach for Monitoring Business Service Time Variation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su-Fen Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Control charts are effective tools for signal detection in both manufacturing processes and service processes. Much of the data in service industries comes from processes having nonnormal or unknown distributions. The commonly used Shewhart variable control charts, which depend heavily on the normality assumption, are not appropriately used here. In this paper, we propose a new asymmetric EWMA variance chart (EWMA-AV chart and an asymmetric EWMA mean chart (EWMA-AM chart based on two simple statistics to monitor process variance and mean shifts simultaneously. Further, we explore the sampling properties of the new monitoring statistics and calculate the average run lengths when using both the EWMA-AV chart and the EWMA-AM chart. The performance of the EWMA-AV and EWMA-AM charts and that of some existing variance and mean charts are compared. A numerical example involving nonnormal service times from the service system of a bank branch in Taiwan is used to illustrate the applications of the EWMA-AV and EWMA-AM charts and to compare them with the existing variance (or standard deviation and mean charts. The proposed EWMA-AV chart and EWMA-AM charts show superior detection performance compared to the existing variance and mean charts. The EWMA-AV chart and EWMA-AM chart are thus recommended.

A simple approach for monitoring business service time variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Su-Fen; Arnold, Barry C

2014-01-01

Control charts are effective tools for signal detection in both manufacturing processes and service processes. Much of the data in service industries comes from processes having nonnormal or unknown distributions. The commonly used Shewhart variable control charts, which depend heavily on the normality assumption, are not appropriately used here. In this paper, we propose a new asymmetric EWMA variance chart (EWMA-AV chart) and an asymmetric EWMA mean chart (EWMA-AM chart) based on two simple statistics to monitor process variance and mean shifts simultaneously. Further, we explore the sampling properties of the new monitoring statistics and calculate the average run lengths when using both the EWMA-AV chart and the EWMA-AM chart. The performance of the EWMA-AV and EWMA-AM charts and that of some existing variance and mean charts are compared. A numerical example involving nonnormal service times from the service system of a bank branch in Taiwan is used to illustrate the applications of the EWMA-AV and EWMA-AM charts and to compare them with the existing variance (or standard deviation) and mean charts. The proposed EWMA-AV chart and EWMA-AM charts show superior detection performance compared to the existing variance and mean charts. The EWMA-AV chart and EWMA-AM chart are thus recommended.

Soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of heavily boron-doped superconducting diamond films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Yokoya, T. Nakamura, T. Matushita, T. Muro, H. Okazaki, M. Arita, K. Shimada, H. Namatame, M. Taniguchi, Y. Takano, M. Nagao, T. Takenouchi, H. Kawarada and T. Oguchi

2006-01-01

Full Text Available We have performed soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SXARPES of microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition diamond films with different B concentrations in order to study the origin of the metallic behavior of superconducting diamond. SXARPES results clearly show valence band dispersions with a bandwidth of ~23 eV and with a top of the valence band at gamma point in the Brillouin zone, which are consistent with the calculated valence band dispersions of pure diamond. Boron concentration-dependent band dispersions near the Fermi level (EF exhibit a systematic shift of EF, indicating depopulation of electrons due to hole doping. These SXARPES results indicate that diamond bands retain for heavy boron doping and holes in the diamond band are responsible for the metallic states leading to superconductivity at low temperature. A high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy spectrum near EF of a heavily boron-doped diamond superconductor is also presented.

Precise Th/U-dating of small and heavily coated samples of deep sea corals

Science.gov (United States)

Lomitschka, Michael; Mangini, Augusto

1999-07-01

Marine carbonate skeletons like deep-sea corals are frequently coated with iron and manganese oxides/hydroxides which adsorb additional thorium and uranium out of the sea water. A new cleaning procedure has been developed to reduce this contamination. In this further cleaning step a solution of Na 2EDTA (Na 2H 2T B) and ascorbic acid is used which composition is optimised especially for samples of 20 mg of weight. It was first tested on aliquots of a reef-building coral which had been artificially contaminated with powdered ferromanganese nodule. Applied on heavily contaminated deep-sea corals (scleractinia), it reduced excess 230Th by another order of magnitude in addition to usual cleaning procedures. The measurement of at least three fractions of different contamination, together with an additional standard correction for contaminated carbonates results in Th/U-ages corrected for the authigenic component. A good agreement between Th/U- and 14C-ages can be achieved even for extremely coated corals.

Prospective high thermoelectric performance of the heavily p-doped half-Heusler compound CoVSn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Hongliang; Ming, Wenmei; Parker, David S.; Du, Mao-Hua; Singh, David J.

2017-01-01

The electronic structure and transport properties of the half-Heusler compound CoVSn are studied in this paper systematically by combining first-principles electronic structure calculations and Boltzmann transport theory. The band structure at the valence-band edge is complex with multiple maxima derived from hybridized transition element d states. The result is a calculated thermopower larger than 200 μV /Κ within a wide range of doping concentrations and temperatures for heavily doped p-type CoVSn. The thermoelectric properties additionally benefit from the corrugated shapes of the hole pockets in our calculated isoenergy surfaces. Our calculated power factor S"2σ/τ (with respect to an average unknown scattering time) of CoVSn is comparable to that of FeNbSb. A smaller lattice thermal conductivity can be expected from the smaller group velocities of acoustical modes compared to FeNbSb. Finally, overall, good thermoelectric performance for CoVSn can be expected by considering the electronic transport and lattice thermal conductivity.

Path-integral calculation of the density of states in heavily doped strongly compensated semiconductors in a magnetic field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koinov, Z.G.; Yanchev, I.Y.

1981-09-01

The density of states in heavily doped strongly compansated semiconductors in a strong magnetic field is calculated by using the path-integral method. The case is considered when correlation exists in the impurity positions owing to the Coulomb interactions between the charged donors and acceptors during the high-temperature preparation of the samples. The semiclassical formula is rederived and corrections to it due to the long-range character of the potential and its short-range fluctuations are obtained. The density of states in the tail is studied and analytical results are given in the classical and quantum cases. (author)

78 FR 29392 - Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems, Systems Important to Safety, and Items Relied...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-20

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2013-0098] Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems, Systems Important to Safety, and Items Relied on for Safety AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION... (NRC) is issuing for public comment Draft Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2013-XX, ``Embedded Digital...

Heavily doped GaAs:Te layers grown by MOVPE using diisopropyl telluride as a source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daniltsev, V. M.; Demidov, E. V.; Drozdov, M. N.; Drozdov, Yu. N., E-mail: drozdyu@ipmras.ru; Kraev, S. A.; Surovegina, E. A.; Shashkin, V. I.; Yunin, P. A. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Physics of Microstructures (Russian Federation)

2016-11-15

The capabilities of GaAs epitaxial layers extremely heavily doped with tellurium by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy using diisopropyl telluride as a source are studied. It is shown that tellurium incorporation into GaAs occurs to an atomic concentration of 10{sup 21} cm{sup –3} without appreciable diffusion and segregation effects. Good carrier concentrations (2 × 10{sup 19} cm{sup –3}) and specific contact resistances of non-alloyed ohmic contacts (1.7 × 10{sup –6} Ω cm{sup 2}) give grounds to use such layers to create non-alloyed ohmic contacts in electronic devices. A sharp decrease in the electrical activity of Te atoms, a decrease in the electron mobility, and an increase in the contact resistance at atomic concentrations above 2 × 10{sup 20} cm{sup –3} are detected.

Comparison and cost analysis of drinking water quality monitoring requirements versus practice in seven developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Crocker, Jonny; Bartram, Jamie

2014-07-18

Drinking water quality monitoring programs aim to support provision of safe drinking water by informing water quality management. Little evidence or guidance exists on best monitoring practices for low resource settings. Lack of financial, human, and technological resources reduce a country's ability to monitor water supply. Monitoring activities were characterized in Cambodia, Colombia, India (three states), Jordan, Peru, South Africa, and Uganda according to water sector responsibilities, monitoring approaches, and marginal cost. The seven study countries were selected to represent a range of low resource settings. The focus was on monitoring of microbiological parameters, such as E. coli, coliforms, and H2S-producing microorganisms. Data collection involved qualitative and quantitative methods. Across seven study countries, few distinct approaches to monitoring were observed, and in all but one country all monitoring relied on fixed laboratories for sample analysis. Compliance with monitoring requirements was highest for operational monitoring of large water supplies in urban areas. Sample transport and labor for sample collection and analysis together constitute approximately 75% of marginal costs, which exclude capital costs. There is potential for substantive optimization of monitoring programs by considering field-based testing and by fundamentally reconsidering monitoring approaches for non-piped supplies. This is the first study to look quantitatively at water quality monitoring practices in multiple developing countries.

HANDOVER MANAGEABILITY AND PERFORMANCE MODELING IN

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SOFTLINKS DIGITAL

Developed software for project management rely heavily on collecting metrics to provide the progress ... the scope of the executing project. ..... in project planning and reflection. [2]. .... Data mining for unusual movements in temporal data.

Challenges regarding the start-up of an anaerobic biological sulphate reactor using H2 and CO2 as electron donor and carbon sources

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Roux, SP

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Include neutralization and chemical precipitation as well as membrane dependent processes. Biological sulphate reduction is another, environmentally benign option but relies heavily on the availability of an economically viable electron donor...

Waste processing air cleaning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kriskovich, J.R.

1998-01-01

Waste processing and preparing waste to support waste processing relies heavily on ventilation. Ventilation is used at the Hanford Site on the waste storage tanks to provide confinement, cooling, and removal of flammable gases

Creating the next generation of transportation professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-01

"The transportation industry, like every other profession that relies heavily on the science, technology, : engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, faces a growing shortage of professional engineers. The : purpose of this project was to investiga...

effects of climate change on poultry production in ondo state, nigeria

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Osondu

2013-03-19

Mar 19, 2013 ... climatic factors that affect general grain harvest, their supply to the market and ultimately cost of ... climatic conditions encouraged the distribution and development of diseases. .... Intensive poultry industries rely heavily on.

Implementation of remove monitoring in facilities under safeguards with unattended systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beddingfield, David H.; Nordquist, Heather A.; Umebayaashi, Eiji

2009-01-01

Remote monitoring is being applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at nuclear facilities around the world. At the Monju Reactor in Japan we have designed, developed and implemented a remote monitoring approach that can serve as a model for applying remote monitoring to facilities that are already under full-scope safeguards using unattended instrumentation. Remote monitoring implementations have historically relied upon the use of specialized data collection hardware and system design features that integrate remote monitoring into the safeguards data collection system. The integration of remote monitoring and unattended data collection increases the complexity of safeguards data collection systems. This increase in complexity necessarily produces a corresponding reduction of system reliability compared to less-complex unattended monitoring systems. At the Monju facility we have implemented a remote monitoring system that is decoupled from the activity of safeguards data collection. In the completed system the function of remote data transfer is separated from the function of safeguards data collection. As such, a failure of the remote monitoring function cannot produce an associated loss of safeguards data, as is possible with integrated remote-monitoring implementations. Currently, all safeguards data from this facility is available to the IAEA on a 24/7 basis. This facility employs five radiation-based unattended systems, video surveillance and numerous optical seal systems. The implementation of remote monitoring at this facility, while increasing the complexity of the safeguards system, is designed to avoid any corresponding reduction in reliability of the safeguards data collection systems by having decoupled these functions. This design and implementation can serve as a model for implementation of remote monitoring at nuclear facilities that currently employ unattended safeguards systems.

Einfluss von Flüssigkeitskontamination auf die Verbundfestigkeit von Wurzelkanalsealern (Adseal und RelyX Unicem)

OpenAIRE

Höfer, Margarita

2010-01-01

Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, eine Aussage über die Verbundfestigkeit des epoxidharz-basierten Wurzelkanalsealers Adseal und des selbstadhäsiven methacrylatbasierten Befestigungszements RelyX Unicem zum Wurzelkanaldentin in Abhängigkeit vom Verbleib der Spülflüssigkeit im Wurzelkanal zu treffen. Die Kontamination des Wurzelkanals wurde mittels dreier verschiedener Spüllösungen durchgeführt. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Scherfestigkeitsmessungen sowie lichtmikroskopische Untersuchungen der Sealer-Sprea...

Carrier compensation mechanism in heavily Nb-doped anatase Ti{sub 1-x}Nb{sub x}O{sub 2+{delta}} epitaxial thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nogawa, H; Chikamatsu, A; Hirose, Y; Hasegawa, T [Department of Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Nakao, S [Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan); Kumigashira, H; Oshima, M, E-mail: chikamatsu@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)

2011-09-14

We investigated the electronic structures of anatase Ti{sub 1-x}Nb{sub x}O{sub 2+{delta}} (TNO) thin films as a function of Nb concentration x using photoemission spectroscopy (PES) measurements to elucidate the origin of the abrupt decrease in carrier activation in heavily Nb-doped regime. The existing intensity ratio of Nb{sup 5+} evaluated from Nb 3d core-level PES spectra maintained a constant value of {approx}0.8 at x = 0.06-0.3, implying that electron carriers generated by Nb doping are compensated by p-type defects. Ti 2p-3d and O1s-2p resonant PES measurements of x = 0.06-0.3 films revealed that the in-gap states positioned {approx}1 eV below the Fermi level (E{sub F}) have a mixed character of Ti 3d and O 2p orbitals, whereas the states at E{sub F} mainly have a Ti 3d nature. We proposed a carrier compensation mechanism that interstitial oxygen atoms strongly combined with surrounding Nb atoms kill conduction electrons in heavily Nb-doped anatase TiO{sub 2}.

The Concept of Law and International Society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schaumburg-Müller, Sten

Hedley Bull, one of the founders of the School of International Society (English School) relies heavily on H.L.A. Hart in his understanding of law, including international law. The contribution seeks to explore 1) how Bull has creatively made use of Hart's Concept of Law, 2) on which points Hart'......'s theory has short comings, 3) on which additional points Bull's use of the concept of law has short comings, and 4) sketch of ideas how to improve the various short comings.......Hedley Bull, one of the founders of the School of International Society (English School) relies heavily on H.L.A. Hart in his understanding of law, including international law. The contribution seeks to explore 1) how Bull has creatively made use of Hart's Concept of Law, 2) on which points Hart...

Experimental performance evaluation of sintered Gd spheres packed beds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tura, A.; Nielsen, Klaus K.; Van Nong, Ngo

2016-01-01

Research in magnetic refrigeration heavily relies on the use of packed spheres in regenerators, however little investigation to verify that such non-monolithic arrangements guarantee a sufficiently constrained structure has yet been performed. This work presents a preliminary comparison of the pe......Research in magnetic refrigeration heavily relies on the use of packed spheres in regenerators, however little investigation to verify that such non-monolithic arrangements guarantee a sufficiently constrained structure has yet been performed. This work presents a preliminary comparison...... of the performance of AMRs consisting of Gd spheres with diameters ranging from 450-550 microns partially sintered by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) to similar spheres, sorted in the same size range and from the same batch, but merely packed. Pressure drop is compared at uniform temperature and at a range of heat...

Magnetic resonance thermometry for monitoring photothermal effects of interstitial laser irradiation

Science.gov (United States)

Goddard, Jessica; Jose, Jessnie; Figueroa, Daniel; Le, Kelvin; Liu, Hong; Nordquist, Robert E.; Hode, Tomas; Chen, Wei R.

2012-03-01

Selective photothermal interaction using dye-assisted non-invasive laser irradiation has limitations when treating deeper tumors or when the overlying skin is heavily pigmented. We developed an interstitial laser irradiation method to induce the desired photothermal effects. An 805-nm near-infrared laser with a cylindrical diffuser was used to treat rat mammary tumors by placing the active tip of the fiber inside the target tumors. Three different power settings (1.0 to 1.5 watts) were applied to treat animal tumors with an irradiation duration of 10 minutes. The temperature distributions of the treated tumors were measured by a 7.1-Tesla magnetic resonance imager using proton resonance frequency (PRF) method. Three-dimensional temperature profiles were reconstructed and assessed using PRF. This is the first time a 7.1-Tesla magnetic resonance imager has been used to monitor interstitial laser irradiation via PRF. This study provides a basic understanding of the photothermal interaction needed to control the thermal damage inside tumor using interstitial laser irradiation. It also shows that PRF can be used effectively in monitoring photothermal interaction. Our long-term goal is to develop a PRF-guided laser therapy for cancer treatment.

Thermodynamic monitoring and misfunction detection in turbocharged diesel engines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milazzo, A.N.; Bidini, G.

1992-01-01

Many kinds of fault detection systems for reciprocating engines have been proposed. Mostly these systems rely on dynamic analysis of engine behavior or chemical analysis of exhaust. Very few systems achieve a real on line diagnosis. On the other hand, land based and aeronautic turbine power plants are mostly equipped with thermodynamic fault detection systems (gas path analysis). The authors are trying to design a simple, cheap and reliable diesel engine monitoring system, performing a real time, continuous service. State of the art dynamics, gas path analysis and some new ideas will be used. Here we present the first part of this project, dealing with thermodynamic engine analysis. Soon we hope to present also a different approach, relying on engine dynamic analysis. This paper is mainly concerned with diesel engines. It seems reasonable to concentrate ourselves on large and based engines, whose size and cost justify the implementation of a fault detection system. Anyway many results are fairly general, and could be used for smaller engines, like vehicle engines, and other cases in which large number of units can lower costs

The Integration of the Fire Scout Tactical Unmanned Aerial System into Littoral Combat Ship Missions

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Marsh, James J

2007-01-01

...) is an effective mission multiplier for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The U.S. Navy relies heavily on unmanned systems, such as the Fire Scout UAS, to enable LCS to conduct several complex littoral missions...

Sensor network design for multimodal freight transportation systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-15

The agricultural and manufacturing industries in the US Midwest region rely heavily on the efficiency of freight transportation systems. While the growth of freight movement far outpaces that of the transportation infrastructure, ensuring the efficie...

Study on a monitoring strategy to support decision making for geological repository closure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suyama, Yasuhiro; Tanabe, Hiromi; Eto, Jiro; Yoshimura, Kimitaka

2010-01-01

Japan currently plans to dispose of high-level radioactive wastes (vitrified HLWs) produced from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in deep geological formations, in order to isolate the radioactive wastes from the human environment for tens of thousands of years. Such a geological repository must be designed to ensure operational safety and post-closure safety. Then, following the closure of the geological repository, post-closure safety will be provided by an engineered barrier system (EBS) and a natural barrier system (NBS) without relying on monitoring or institutional control. However, from a technical standpoint, monitoring has been required during backfilling in current studies. Additionally, there has been strong social pressure to continue monitoring during all the phases including post-closure. On the basis of the current situations, a monitoring strategy for geological disposal must be studied to ensure the long term safety of geological disposal. Focusing on decision making for geological repository closure, the authors have created a basic logical structure for the decision making process with the principles for ensuring safety and have developed a monitoring strategy based on the logical structure. The monitoring strategy is founded on three key aspects: the role of monitoring, boundary conditions of monitoring at the time of decision making, and a methodology for monitoring planning. Then, the monitoring strategy becomes a starting point of monitoring planning during site characterization, construction, operation and staged closure, as well as post-closure with institutional control, and of social science studies. (author)

New approach to airborne monitoring of radioactive pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoeschl, V.; Jurza, P.; Pavlik, B.

1997-01-01

The use of remote sensing methods in the monitoring of an environment is increasing. The best results are obtained when various types of exploration methods are available. This paper presents the use of airborne gamma ray methods, which can be included in a wide scope of works related to environmental problems. It may concern uranium mining areas, areas surrounding various nuclear facilities or areas of Chernobyl fallout. Gamma ray spectrometry data can be combined with airborne magnetic, surface gravity and satellite imagery data to obtain maximum information in data output. Airborne geophysics is able to detect and delineate radioactive contamination and to find important geological trends defining the geological structure of the monitored area. Our company PICODAS Prague Ltd. introduces new sophisticated airborne instrumentation as well as up-to-date data processing and data presentation techniques. In the Czech Cretaceous, a long term project, ''The Structurally-tectonic Survey of the South-West Foreland of the Straz Deposit'' has been undertaken, concerning the ecological load on the environment, especially the pollution of the underground water level horizons due to uranium mining in that area. The major interest is the complicated tectonic structure which interferes heavily with the hydrogeological situation of the region. The paper presents the results of airborne surveys and the interpretation of other geophysical data from the surroundings of Straz pod Ralskem and from Karlovy Vary. (author)

A greenhouse-gas information system monitoring and validating emissions reporting and mitigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jonietz, Karl K [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dimotakis, Paul E [JPL/CAL TECH; Roman, Douglas A [LLNL; Walker, Bruce C [SNL

2011-09-26

system that meets specifications derived from imposed requirements; the need for rigorous calibration, verification, and validation (CV&V) standards, processes, and records for all measurement and modeling/data-inversion data; the need to develop and adopt an uncertainty-quantification (UQ) regimen for all measurement and modeling data; and the requirement that GHGIS products can be subjected to third-party questioning and scientific scrutiny. This report examines and assesses presently available capabilities that could contribute to a future GHGIS. These capabilities include sensors and measurement technologies; data analysis and data uncertainty quantification (UQ) practices and methods; and model-based data-inversion practices, methods, and their associated UQ. The report further examines the need for traceable calibration, verification, and validation processes and attached metadata; differences between present science-/research-oriented needs and those that would be required for an operational GHGIS; the development, operation, and maintenance of a GHGIS missions-operations center (GMOC); and the complex systems engineering and integration that would be required to develop, operate, and evolve a future GHGIS. Present monitoring systems would be heavily relied on in any GHGIS implementation at the outset and would likely continue to provide valuable future contributions to GHGIS. However, present monitoring systems were developed to serve science/research purposes. This study concludes that no component or capability presently available is at the level of technological maturity and readiness required for implementation in an operational GHGIS today. However, purpose-designed and -built components could be developed and implemented in support of a future GHGIS. The study concludes that it is possible to develop and provide a capability-driven prototype GHGIS, as part of a Phase-1 effort, within three years from project-funding start, that would make use of and

Simulated real-time process monitoring of a molten salt electrorefiner

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rappleye, Devin; Simpson, Michael; Cumberland, Riley; McNelis, David; Yim, Man-Sung

2014-01-01

Highlights: • An alternative approach to safeguarding and monitoring pyroprocessing is proposed. • Possible signals to be used to monitor an electrorefiner are identified. • An inverse model was developed to determine deposition rates at the cathode. • The sensitivity of certain parameters in the inverse model are presented. - Abstract: An alternative approach to monitoring the pyrochemical process (pyroprocessing) for spent nuclear fuel treatment is proposed and examined. This approach relies on modeling and the real-time analysis of process readings. Using an electrorefiner model, named ERAD, cathode potential and cell current were identified as useful process readings. To provide a real-time analysis of these two process readings, an inverse model was developed based on fundamental electrochemical relations. The model was applied to the following operating modes: pure uranium deposition, co-deposition of uranium and plutonium, and co-deposition of uranium and zirconium. Using the cell current and cathode potential, the model predicted which species were depositing and their rates. The deposition rates predicted by the inverse model compared favorably to those calculated by ERAD

FerryBox-assisted monitoring of mixed layer pH in the Norwegian Coastal Current

OpenAIRE

Reggiani, Emanuele R.; King, Andrew L.; Norli, Marit; Jaccard, Pierre; Sørensen, Kai; Bellerby, Richard G.J.

2016-01-01

The evaluation of marine carbonate system variability and the impacts of ocean acidification (OA) on coastal marine ecosystems increasingly rely on monitoring platforms capable of delivering near real-time in situ carbonate system observations. These observations are also used for developing models and scenarios of OA, including potential impacts on marine ecosystem structure and function. An embedded flow-through spectrophotometric pH detection system has been developed alongside an underway...

Go girl! Facilitating exploration of transportation careers for girls

Science.gov (United States)

2007-07-01

The transportation engineering profession, like every other profession that relies heavily on the engineering, technology and science fields, faces a challenging future. A recent study by the National Science Board reported a troubling decline in the...

Research of Smart Grid Cyber Architecture and Standards Deployment with High Adaptability for Security Monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Rui; Hu, Weihao; Chen, Zhe

2015-01-01

Security Monitoring is a critical function for smart grid. As a consequence of strongly relying on communication, cyber security must be guaranteed by the specific system. Otherwise, the DR signals and bidding information can be easily forged or intercepted. Customers’ privacy and safety may suffer...... huge losses. Although OpenADR specificationsprovide continuous, secure and reliable two-way communications in application level defined in ISO model, which is also an open architecture for security is adopted by it and no specific or proprietary technologies is restricted to OpenADR itself....... It is significant to develop a security monitoring system. This paper discussed the cyber architecture of smart grid with high adaptability for security monitoring. An adaptable structure with Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is proposed. Focusing on this network structure, the rational utilization of standards...

Zebra mussel monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hennagir, T.

1994-01-01

In less than a decade, zebra mussels have become the latest environmental scourge to plague the North American power industry. Infestations in the Great Lakes region have already reached natural disaster proportions. The invasion shows little sign of subsiding; Michigan's inland waters are the next most likely threatened area. In the southern United States, the mussles' migration has extended about 50 miles deeper than experts had originally predicted. By the year 2000, zebra mussel monitoring and control efforts will cost business and industry $5 billion, according to the federal Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990. Estimates of more than $1 million to control mussel fouling are projected for the Great Lakes area alone. While small independent hydropower stations are not as susceptible to zebra mussles as coal or nuclear facilities, there is cause for concern. Infestations can quickly foul hydropower plant components, hampering equipment operation and reducing facility efficiency. In extreme cases, leaving the mussels unchecked can result in stoplog gate flow blockage or false water level gauge readings. Advance prevention is often an effective first-line of defense against this troublesome, rapidly spreading and extremely prolific mollusk. Mussel monitoring efforts should begin a year in advance of when zebra mussels are expected to appear in a given location. Hydropower facility components that come into contact or rely exclusively on raw water are at greatest risk, as are other external components such as embayment walls, screens, trashracks and fish ladders.

Effect of impurity correlation on the density of states in slightly compensated heavily doped semiconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doan Nhat Quang; Nguyen Nhu Dat; Dinh Van An

1993-07-01

A theory is developed of the electron density of states (DOS) in slightly compensated heavily doped semiconductors which undergo a thermal treatment. The calculation is carried out within the semiclassical approach to the random impurity field, taking adequately into account high-temperature correlation among the impurities and low temperature screening due to the free carriers as well. Then, a simple analytic expression for the DOS is obtained which exhibits the same energy dependence as in the case of a random impurity distribution, but now with some correlation-induced changes in the coefficients. A numerical estimation on non-compensated n-type sample of GaAs at a doping level of 5 x 10 18 cm -3 shows that in the tail region the correlated DOS turns out to be somewhat larger and cut less sharply than the random one. (author). 45 refs, 2 figs, 1 tab

Protein fiber linear dichroism for structure determination and kinetics in a low-volume, low-wavelength couette flow cell

OpenAIRE

Dafforn, Tim; Rajendra, Jacindra; Halsall, David J.; Serpell, Louise C.; Rodger, Alison

2004-01-01

High-resolution structure determination of soluble globular proteins relies heavily on x-ray crystallography techniques. Such an approach is often ineffective for investigations into the structure of fibrous proteins as these proteins generally do not crystallize. Thus investigations into fibrous protein structure have relied on less direct methods such as x-ray fiber diffraction and circular dichroism. Ultraviolet linear dichroism has the potential to provide additional information on the st...

Variable Accuracy of Wearable Heart Rate Monitors during Aerobic Exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillinov, Stephen; Etiwy, Muhammad; Wang, Robert; Blackburn, Gordon; Phelan, Dermot; Gillinov, A Marc; Houghtaling, Penny; Javadikasgari, Hoda; Desai, Milind Y

2017-08-01

Athletes and members of the public increasingly rely on wearable HR monitors to guide physical activity and training. The accuracy of newer, optically based monitors is unconfirmed. We sought to assess the accuracy of five optically based HR monitors during various types of aerobic exercise. Fifty healthy adult volunteers (mean ± SD age = 38 ± 12 yr, 54% female) completed exercise protocols on a treadmill, a stationary bicycle, and an elliptical trainer (±arm movement). Each participant underwent HR monitoring with an electrocardiogaphic chest strap monitor (Polar H7), forearm monitor (Scosche Rhythm+), and two randomly assigned wrist-worn HR monitors (Apple Watch, Fitbit Blaze, Garmin Forerunner 235, and TomTom Spark Cardio), one on each wrist. For each exercise type, HR was recorded at rest, light, moderate, and vigorous intensity. Agreement between HR measurements was assessed using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (rc). Across all exercise conditions, the chest strap monitor (Polar H7) had the best agreement with ECG (rc = 0.996) followed by the Apple Watch (rc = 0.92), the TomTom Spark (rc = 0.83), and the Garmin Forerunner (rc = 0.81). Scosche Rhythm+ and Fitbit Blaze were less accurate (rc = 0.75 and rc = 0.67, respectively). On treadmill, all devices performed well (rc = 0.88-0.93) except the Fitbit Blaze (rc = 0.76). While bicycling, only the Garmin, Apple Watch, and Scosche Rhythm+ had acceptable agreement (rc > 0.80). On the elliptical trainer without arm levers, only the Apple Watch was accurate (rc = 0.94). None of the devices was accurate during elliptical trainer use with arm levers (all rc < 0.80). The accuracy of wearable, optically based HR monitors varies with exercise type and is greatest on the treadmill and lowest on elliptical trainer. Electrode-containing chest monitors should be used when accurate HR measurement is imperative.

Computer based systems for fast reactor core temperature monitoring and protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wall, D.N.

1991-01-01

Self testing fail safe trip systems and guardlines have been developed using dynamic logic as a basis for temperature monitoring and temperature protection in the UK. The guardline and trip system have been tested in passive operation on a number of reactors and a pulse coded logic guardline is currently in use on the DIDO test reactor. Acoustic boiling noise and ultrasonic systems have been developed in the UK as diverse alternatives to using thermocouples for temperature monitoring and measurement. These systems have the advantage that they make remote monitoring possible but they rely on complex signal processing to achieve their output. The means of incorporating such systems within the self testing trip system architecture are explored and it is apparent that such systems, particularly that based on ultrasonics has great potential for development. There remain a number of problems requiring detailed investigation in particular the verification of the signal processing electronics and trip software. It is considered that these problems while difficult are far from insurmountable and this work should result in the production of protection and monitoring systems suitable for deployment on the fast reactor. 6 figs

Successful Chemotherapy with Nab-Paclitaxel in a Heavily Treated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient: A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mikiko Ishihara

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC accounts for the majority of all lung cancers. A 69-year-old female with postoperatively recurrent NSCLC was treated weekly with nanoparticle-albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel monotherapy every 4 weeks as a tenth line chemotherapy, and stable disease was achieved by seven cycles of this regimen. The patient developed grade 4 neutropenia and grade 3 leukopenia, but none of the other toxicities, including febrile neutropenia and peripheral neuropathy, were severe, and thus she was able to tolerate this salvage chemotherapy. To our knowledge this is the first report of the efficacy of nab-paclitaxel monotherapy in a heavily treated NSCLC patient.

Raspberry Pi Based Intelligent Wireless Sensor Node for Localized Torrential Rain Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaozhuo Xu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks are proved to be effective in long-time localized torrential rain monitoring. However, the existing widely used architecture of wireless sensor networks for rain monitoring relies on network transportation and back-end calculation, which causes delay in response to heavy rain in localized areas. Our work improves the architecture by applying logistic regression and support vector machine classification to an intelligent wireless sensor node which is created by Raspberry Pi. The sensor nodes in front-end not only obtain data from sensors, but also can analyze the probabilities of upcoming heavy rain independently and give early warnings to local clients in time. When the sensor nodes send the probability to back-end server, the burdens of network transport are released. We demonstrate by simulation results that our sensor system architecture has potentiality to increase the local response to heavy rain. The monitoring capacity is also raised.

Compact data structure and scalable algorithms for the sparse grid technique

KAUST Repository

Murarasu, Alin; Weidendorfer, Josef; Buse, Gerrit; Butnaru, Daniel; Pflü ger, Dirk

2011-01-01

The sparse grid discretization technique enables a compressed representation of higher-dimensional functions. In its original form, it relies heavily on recursion and complex data structures, thus being far from well-suited for GPUs. In this paper

Chemistry of Iron N -heterocyclic carbene complexes: Syntheses, structures, reactivities, and catalytic applications

KAUST Repository

Riener, Korbinian; Haslinger, Stefan; Raba, Andreas; Hogerl, Manuel Peter; Cokoja, Mirza; Herrmann, Wolfgang A.; Kü hn, Fritz

2014-01-01

Iron is the most abundant transition metal in Earth's crust. It is relatively inexpensive, not very toxic, and environmentally benign. Undoubtedly, due to the involvement in a multitude of biological processes, which heavily rely on the rich

THE NEED FOR FUNCTION PLATFORMS IN ENGINEER TO ORDER INDUSTRIES

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alblas, Alex; Wortmann, Hans; Bergendahl, MN; Grimheden, M; Leifer, L; Skogstad, P; Cantamessa, M

2009-01-01

Many industries base their innovations on product platforms. Platforms have predefined modularity with standardized interfaces. However, product platforms provide significant challenges to engineering industries that rely heavily on R&D, such as microlithography systems. Developing these systems

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

African Journals Online (AJOL)

TB which relies heavily on culture and phenotypic. DST are ... strains from East Asian Lineage and Beijing sub lin- eage acquire DR ...... Indian Journal of Chest Diseases & Allied Sci- ence ... Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and.

The Figures of Speech, "Ethos," and Aristotle: Notes toward a Rhetoric of Business Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Kallendorf, Craig; Kallendorf, Carol

1985-01-01

Demonstrates that business writers rely far more heavily than expected on classical figures of speech. Uses Aristotle's "Rhetoric" to show that figures of speech offer a powerful tool for the persuasive function of modern business communication. (PD)

Autonomous Radiation Monitoring of Small Vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fabris, Lorenzo; Hornback, Donald Eric

2010-01-01

Small private vessels are one avenue by which nuclear materials may be smuggled across international borders. While one can contemplate using the terrestrial approach of radiation portal monitors on the navigable waterways that lead to many ports, these systems are ill-suited to the problem. They require vehicles to pass at slow speeds between two closely-spaced radiation sensors, relying on the uniformity of vehicle sizes to space the detectors, and on proximity to link an individual vehicle to its radiation signature. In contrast to roadways where lanes segregate vehicles, and motion is well controlled by inspection booths; channels, inlets, and rivers present chaotic traffic patterns populated by vessels of all sizes. We have developed a unique solution to this problem based on our portal-less portal monitor instrument that is designed to handle free-flowing traffic on roadways with up to five-traffic lanes. The instrument uses a combination of visible-light and gamma-ray imaging to acquire and link radiation images to individual vehicles. It was recently tested in a maritime setting. In this paper we present the instrument, how it functions, and the results of the recent tests.

Foreign Trade Dvelopment between Libya and the European Union

OpenAIRE

Mansoor Maitah; Nassir Salim; Abulgasem Bazina

2011-01-01

This article deals with the analysis of foreign trade development betweenLibyaand the European Union in the recent years. Libya is one of the developing countries with large area, low density of population and large endowment of natural resources, oil and gas. The Libyan economy like a number of other Arab economies, depends heavily on oil revenue, it relies heavily on a single exportable commodity, as the main source of foreign exchange earnings. Trade relations betweenLibyaand the European ...

Comparison and Cost Analysis of Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Requirements versus Practice in Seven Developing Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonny Crocker

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Drinking water quality monitoring programs aim to support provision of safe drinking water by informing water quality management. Little evidence or guidance exists on best monitoring practices for low resource settings. Lack of financial, human, and technological resources reduce a country’s ability to monitor water supply. Monitoring activities were characterized in Cambodia, Colombia, India (three states, Jordan, Peru, South Africa, and Uganda according to water sector responsibilities, monitoring approaches, and marginal cost. The seven study countries were selected to represent a range of low resource settings. The focus was on monitoring of microbiological parameters, such as E. coli, coliforms, and H2S-producing microorganisms. Data collection involved qualitative and quantitative methods. Across seven study countries, few distinct approaches to monitoring were observed, and in all but one country all monitoring relied on fixed laboratories for sample analysis. Compliance with monitoring requirements was highest for operational monitoring of large water supplies in urban areas. Sample transport and labor for sample collection and analysis together constitute approximately 75% of marginal costs, which exclude capital costs. There is potential for substantive optimization of monitoring programs by considering field-based testing and by fundamentally reconsidering monitoring approaches for non-piped supplies. This is the first study to look quantitatively at water quality monitoring practices in multiple developing countries.

Open circuit potential monitored digital photocorrosion of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well microstructures

Science.gov (United States)

Aithal, Srivatsa; Dubowski, Jan J.

2018-04-01

Nanostructuring of semiconductor wafers with an atomic level depth resolution is a challenging task, primarily due to the limited availability of instruments for in situ monitoring of such processes. Conventional digital etching relies on calibration procedures and cumbersome diagnostics applied between or at the end of etching cycles. We have developed a photoluminescence (PL) based process for monitoring in situ digital photocorrosion (DPC) of GaAs/AlGaAs microstructures at rates below 0.2 nm per cycle. In this communication, we demonstrate that DPC of GaAs/AlGaAs microstructures could be monitored with open circuit potential (OCP) measured between the photocorroding surface of a microstructure and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode installed in the sample chamber. The excellent correlation between the position of both PL and OCP maxima indicates that the DPC process could be monitored in situ for materials that do not necessarily exhibit measurable PL emission.

DREAM(D): An adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation algorithm to solve discrete, noncontinuous, and combinatorial posterior parameter estimation problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vrugt, J.A.; ter Braak, C.J.F.

2011-01-01

Formal and informal Bayesian approaches have found widespread implementation and use in environmental modeling to summarize parameter and predictive uncertainty. Successful implementation of these methods relies heavily on the availability of efficient sampling methods that approximate, as closely

Optimizing the Disposition and Retrograde of United States Air Force Class VII Equipment from Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-27

merchandise significantly reduces the overall percentage of sold merchandise – catalog companies, book publishers, and consumer electronics...three models relies heavily upon Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) coding. VBA code houses the decision logic that activates constraints, applies

Computational and statistical methods for high-throughput mass spectrometry-based PTM analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schwämmle, Veit; Vaudel, Marc

2017-01-01

Cell signaling and functions heavily rely on post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins. Their high-throughput characterization is thus of utmost interest for multiple biological and medical investigations. In combination with efficient enrichment methods, peptide mass spectrometry analy...

Generating Electric Power in the Pacific Northwest. Implications of Alternative Technologies

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Pernin, Christopher

2002-01-01

...: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. For much of the past 50 years, these states have relied heavily on hydroelectric power to meet their energy needs, and this inexpensive electricity has helped keep electricity rates low in the region...

Partitioning of evapotranspiration using a stable isotope technique in an arid and high temperature agricultural production system

KAUST Repository

Lu, Xuefei; Liang, Liyin L.; Wang, Lixin; Jenerette, G. Darrel; McCabe, Matthew; Grantz, David A.

2016-01-01

Agricultural production in the hot and arid low desert systems of southern California relies heavily on irrigation. A better understanding of how much and to what extent irrigated water is transpired by crops relative to being lost through

Feed based on vegetable materials changes the muscle proteome of the carnivore rainbow trout

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jessen, Flemming; Wulff, Tune; Bach Mikkelsen, J.

2011-01-01

Feed production for aquaculture of carnivore fish species relies heavily on protein and lipid from the limited resources of wild fish and other sea living organisms. Thus the development of alternative feeds replacing fish meal and oil with components of vegetable origin is important for a sustai......Feed production for aquaculture of carnivore fish species relies heavily on protein and lipid from the limited resources of wild fish and other sea living organisms. Thus the development of alternative feeds replacing fish meal and oil with components of vegetable origin is important...... trout fed two different diets identical in protein and oil content, but with diet C based on fish meal and oil and diet V based on rapeseed oil and vegetable proteins. In addition to the proteomic investigation the textural properties of the fish were analysed by sensory profiling. Protein expression...

Facilitating political decisions using species distribution models to assess restoration measures in heavily modified estuaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Heuner, Maike; Weber, Arnd; Schröder, Uwe; Kleinschmit, Birgit; Schröder, Boris

2016-09-15

The European Water Framework Directive requires a good ecological potential for heavily modified water bodies. This standard has not been reached for most large estuaries by 2015. Management plans for estuaries fall short in linking implementations between restoration measures and underlying spatial analyses. The distribution of emergent macrophytes - as an indicator of habitat quality - is here used to assess the ecological potential. Emergent macrophytes are capable of settling on gentle tidal flats where hydrodynamic stress is comparatively low. Analyzing their habitats based on spatial data, we set up species distribution models with 'elevation relative to mean high water', 'mean bank slope', and 'length of bottom friction' from shallow water up to the vegetation belt as key predictors representing hydrodynamic stress. Effects of restoration scenarios on habitats were assessed applying these models. Our findings endorse species distribution models as crucial spatial planning tools for implementing restoration measures in modified estuaries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Caution required when relying on a colleague's advice; a comparison between professional advice and evidence from the literature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaafsma, Frederieke; Verbeek, Jos; Hulshof, Carel; van Dijk, Frank

2005-01-01

Background: Occupational Physicians rely especially on advice from colleagues when answering their information demands. On the other hand, Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) promotes the use of up-to-date research literature instead of experts. To find out if there was a difference between expert-based

Influence of a deep-level-defect band formed in a heavily Mg-doped GaN contact layer on the Ni/Au contact to p-GaN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xiao-Jing; Zhao De-Gang; Jiang De-Sheng; Chen Ping; Zhu Jian-Jun; Liu Zong-Shun; Yang Jing; He Xiao-Guang; Yang Hui; Zhang Li-Qun; Zhang Shu-Ming; Le Ling-Cong; Liu Jian-Ping

2015-01-01

The influence of a deep-level-defect (DLD) band formed in a heavily Mg-doped GaN contact layer on the performance of Ni/Au contact to p-GaN is investigated. The thin heavily Mg-doped GaN (p ++ -GaN) contact layer with DLD band can effectively improve the performance of Ni/Au ohmic contact to p-GaN. The temperature-dependent I–V measurement shows that the variable-range hopping (VRH) transportation through the DLD band plays a dominant role in the ohmic contact. The thickness and Mg/Ga flow ratio of p ++ -GaN contact layer have a significant effect on ohmic contact by controlling the Mg impurity doping and the formation of a proper DLD band. When the thickness of the p ++ -GaN contact layer is 25 nm thick and the Mg/Ga flow rate ratio is 10.29%, an ohmic contact with low specific contact resistivity of 6.97× 10 −4 Ω·cm 2 is achieved. (paper)

Simplified unified analysis of switched-RC passive mixers, samplers, and N -Path filters using the adjoint network

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pavan, Shanthi; Klumperink, Eric A.M.

2017-01-01

Recent innovations in software defined CMOS radio transceiver architectures heavily rely on high linearity switched-RC sampler and passive-mixer circuits, driven by digitally programmable multiphase clocks. Although seemingly simple, the frequency domain analysis of these linear periodically time

Rebuilding common property management : a case study of community-based natural resource management in rural Guizhou, China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sun, Qiu

2007-01-01

Environmental degradation and rural poverty are inter-related problems of great concern to developing countries. The poor mostly live in environmentally fragile regions and rely heavily on natural resources for their livelihood subsistence. Unfortunately, environmental degradation and rural poverty

Acetylation dynamics of human nuclear proteins during the ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage response

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bennetzen, Martin; Andersen, J.S.; Lasen, D.H.

2013-01-01

Genotoxic insults, such as ionizing radiation (IR), cause DNA damage that evokes a multifaceted cellular DNA damage response (DDR). DNA damage signaling events that control protein activity, subcellular localization, DNA binding, protein-protein interactions, etc. rely heavily on time...

Advanced image based methods for structural integrity monitoring: Review and prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Farahani, Behzad V.; Sousa, Pedro José; Barros, Francisco; Tavares, Paulo J.; Moreira, Pedro M. G. P.

2018-02-01

There is a growing trend in engineering to develop methods for structural integrity monitoring and characterization of in-service mechanical behaviour of components. The fast growth in recent years of image processing techniques and image-based sensing for experimental mechanics, brought about a paradigm change in phenomena sensing. Hence, several widely applicable optical approaches are playing a significant role in support of experiment. The current review manuscript describes advanced image based methods for structural integrity monitoring, and focuses on methods such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC), Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA), Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) and Speckle Pattern Shearing Interferometry (Shearography). These non-contact full-field techniques rely on intensive image processing methods to measure mechanical behaviour, and evolve even as reviews such as this are being written, which justifies a special effort to keep abreast of this progress.

A framework to monitor activities of satellite data processing in real-time

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, M. D.; Kryukov, A. P.

2018-01-01

Space Monitoring Data Center (SMDC) of SINP MSU is one of the several centers in the world that collects data on the radiational conditions in near-Earth orbit from various Russian (Lomonosov, Electro-L1, Electro-L2, Meteor-M1, Meteor-M2, etc.) and foreign (GOES 13, GOES 15, ACE, SDO, etc.) satellites. The primary purposes of SMDC are: aggregating heterogeneous data from different sources; providing a unified interface for data retrieval, visualization, analysis, as well as development and testing new space weather models; and controlling the correctness and completeness of data. Space weather models rely on data provided by SMDC to produce forecasts. Therefore, monitoring the whole data processing cycle is crucial for further success in the modeling of physical processes in near-Earth orbit based on the collected data. To solve the problem described above, we have developed a framework called Live Monitor at SMDC. Live Monitor allows watching all stages and program components involved in each data processing cycle. All activities of each stage are logged by Live Monitor and shown in real-time on a web interface. When an error occurs, a notification message will be sent to satellite operators via email and the Telegram messenger service so that they could take measures in time. The Live Monitor’s API can be used to create a customized monitoring service with minimum coding.

SOURCES OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

OpenAIRE

Spash, Clive L.; Young, A.

1994-01-01

Energy from fossil fuels have become dominant in the industrialised and industrialising economies of the world. However, fossil fuels are also recognised as heavily polluting and responsible for a range of modern environmental and health problems. Nuclear power is a similar conventional energy source in that it relies upon depletion of a limited stock resource and is associated with a range of social and environmental problems. However, the alternative energy sources relying upon flow reso...

It Wetted my Appetite! Demographic Differences in Perceiving Gastronomy Content on Social Media : A Study of Fast Foods Restaurants in Port Harcourt

OpenAIRE

Ukpabi, Dandison; Karjaluoto, Heikki; Ikaba, Victoria; Wali, Kemkamma; Kpunee, Henry

2017-01-01

Fast food chains have emerged to be a dominant sector in the Nigerian retail industry, contributing to employment generation and the nation’s GDP. In the face of dynamic competitive business landscape, this sector has continuously relied on the traditional method of communicating, engaging and retaining customers. This anachronistic approach has cut them from a profitable customer segment which relies heavily on ICT tools such as social media. Thus, the aim of this study is ...

Political and Economic Theory of Standards.

OpenAIRE

Vandemoortele, Thijs

2011-01-01

Standards are increasingly important in the global market system. Consumers rely progressively more on public standards (set by governments) as well as private standards (set by firms) to make their consumption decisions. Similarly producers rely heavily on standards to gear their production systems to one another and to increase transparency and traceability throughout the supply chain. Standards address a large variety of issues in consumption and production such as nutritional (e.g. low fa...

A vibration-based health monitoring program for a large and seismically vulnerable masonry dome

Science.gov (United States)

Pecorelli, M. L.; Ceravolo, R.; De Lucia, G.; Epicoco, R.

2017-05-01

Vibration-based health monitoring of monumental structures must rely on efficient and, as far as possible, automatic modal analysis procedures. Relatively low excitation energy provided by traffic, wind and other sources is usually sufficient to detect structural changes, as those produced by earthquakes and extreme events. Above all, in-operation modal analysis is a non-invasive diagnostic technique that can support optimal strategies for the preservation of architectural heritage, especially if complemented by model-driven procedures. In this paper, the preliminary steps towards a fully automated vibration-based monitoring of the world’s largest masonry oval dome (internal axes of 37.23 by 24.89 m) are presented. More specifically, the paper reports on signal treatment operations conducted to set up the permanent dynamic monitoring system of the dome and to realise a robust automatic identification procedure. Preliminary considerations on the effects of temperature on dynamic parameters are finally reported.

Vadose Zone Monitoring of Dairy Green Water Lagoons using Soil Solution Samplers.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brainard, James R.; Coplen, Amy K

2005-11-01

Over the last decade, dairy farms in New Mexico have become an important component to the economy of many rural ranching and farming communities. Dairy operations are water intensive and use groundwater that otherwise would be used for irrigation purposes. Most dairies reuse their process/green water three times and utilize lined lagoons for temporary storage of green water. Leakage of water from lagoons can pose a risk to groundwater quality. Groundwater resource protection infrastructures at dairies are regulated by the New Mexico Environment Department which currently relies on monitoring wells installed in the saturated zone for detecting leakage of waste water lagoon liners. Here we present a proposal to monitor the unsaturated zone beneath the lagoons with soil water solution samplers to provide early detection of leaking liners. Early detection of leaking liners along with rapid repair can minimize contamination of aquifers and reduce dairy liability for aquifer remediation. Additionally, acceptance of vadose zone monitoring as a NMED requirement over saturated zone monitoring would very likely significantly reduce dairy startup and expansion costs. Acknowledgment Funding for this project was provided by the Sandia National Laboratories Small Business Assistance Program

Time-lapse gravity data for monitoring and modeling artificial recharge through a thick unsaturated zone

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Jeffrey R.; Ferre, Ty P.A.; Creutzfeldt, Benjamin

2016-01-01

Groundwater-level measurements in monitoring wells or piezometers are the most common, and often the only, hydrologic measurements made at artificial recharge facilities. Measurements of gravity change over time provide an additional source of information about changes in groundwater storage, infiltration, and for model calibration. We demonstrate that for an artificial recharge facility with a deep groundwater table, gravity data are more sensitive to movement of water through the unsaturated zone than are groundwater levels. Groundwater levels have a delayed response to infiltration, change in a similar manner at many potential monitoring locations, and are heavily influenced by high-frequency noise induced by pumping; in contrast, gravity changes start immediately at the onset of infiltration and are sensitive to water in the unsaturated zone. Continuous gravity data can determine infiltration rate, and the estimate is only minimally affected by uncertainty in water-content change. Gravity data are also useful for constraining parameters in a coupled groundwater-unsaturated zone model (Modflow-NWT model with the Unsaturated Zone Flow (UZF) package).

Aquifer depletion in the Lower Mississippi River Basin: challenges and solutions

Science.gov (United States)

The Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB) is a nationally- and internationally-important region of intensive agricultural production that relies heavily on the underlying Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA) for row crop irrigation. Extensive irrigation coupled with the region’s geology ...

Digital resonant laser printing: Bridging nanophotonic science and consumer products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhu, Xiaolong; Keshavarz Hedayati, Mehdi; Raza, Søren

2018-01-01

Nanophotonics research relies heavily on state-of-the-art and costly nano and microfabrication tech-nologies. While such technologies are fairly mature, their implementation in large-scale manufacturingof photonic devices is not straightforward. This is a major roadblock for integrating...

Governing China’s food quality through transparency: A review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mol, A.P.J.

2014-01-01

In coping with food quality problems, China relies heavily on state institutions, such as laws and regulations, governmental standards and certification, and inspections and enforcement. Recently, transparency (or information disclosure) has been introduced in China’s governance framework to cope

Evidence of auditory insensitivity to vocalization frequencies in two frogs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goutte, Sandra; Mason, Matthew J; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob

2017-01-01

The emergence and maintenance of animal communication systems requires the co-evolution of signal and receiver. Frogs and toads rely heavily on acoustic communication for coordinating reproduction and typically have ears tuned to the dominant frequency of their vocalizations, allowing discriminat...

Online Preventative Non-Destructive Evaluation in Automated Fibre Placement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tonnaer, R.; Shroff, S.; Groves, R.M.

2016-01-01

The strict quality requirements for aerospace composite struc- tures give rise to costly quality control procedures. In automated bre placement (AFP) these procedures rely heavily on manual work and inspection. This research aims at performing preventative non-destructive evaluation of composite

Use of Gene Expression Changes in Blood to Elucidate Mechanistic Indicators of Childhood Asthma (MICA)

Science.gov (United States)

Risk assessment increasingly relies more heavily on mode of action, thus the identification of human bioindicators of disease becomes all the more important. Genomic methods represent a tool for both mode of action determination and bioindicator identification. The Mechanistic In...

Developing a national and international research community in tree breeding through a web-based information system

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Hohls, DR

2008-11-01

Full Text Available CSIR research group has developed a web-based information system on tree breeding, which will link national and international partners, which data dating back more than 80 years. Tree breeding relies heavily on managing and exploiting data. While...

Oral Historical, Documentary and Archaeological Investigations of Colbert, Barton, and Vinton, Mississippi: An Interim Report on Phase I of the Tombigbee Historic Townsites Project. Volume I.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-05-01

wells, springs, and troughs constructed near artesian wells. Cornmeal and molasses production both required specialized equipment. Inf or- mants recall...their own. Blacks relied heavily on cornmeal , while the white population usually maintained stocks of wheat flour. Transportation. River transportation

Between and beyond additivity and non-additivity : the statistical modelling of genotype by environment interaction in plant breeding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eeuwijk, van F.A.

1996-01-01

In plant breeding it is a common observation to see genotypes react differently to environmental changes. This phenomenon is called genotype by environment interaction. Many statistical approaches for analysing genotype by environment interaction rely heavily on the analysis of variance model.

Absorption and fluorescence lineshape theory for polynomial potentials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anda, Andre; De Vico, Luca; Hansen, Thorsten

2016-01-01

The modeling of vibrations in optical spectra relies heavily on the simplifications brought about by using harmonic oscillators. However, realistic molecular systems can deviate substantially from this description. We develop two methods which show that the extension to arbitrarily shaped potenti...

Overcoming Barriers To IVHS -- Lessons From Other Technologies, Final Task F Report, Model Advanced Traffic Management System Franchise Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

1995-08-25

VIABLE ADVANCED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS WILL BE CENTRAL TO THE : DEVELOPMENT OF ITS TECHNOLOGIES, AND CRITICAL TO THE DELIVERY OF MANY PRIVATE SECTOR ITS SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC. BY ITS VERY NATURE, HOWEVER, ATMS RELIES HEAVILY ON ACCESS TO THE PUB...

The effect of destination linked feature selection in real-time network intrusion detection

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mzila, P

2013-07-01

Full Text Available techniques in the network intrusion detection system (NIDS) is the feature selection technique. The ability of NIDS to accurately identify intrusion from the network traffic relies heavily on feature selection, which describes the pattern of the network...

GPU-accelerated CFD Simulations for Turbomachinery Design Optimization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aissa, M.H.

2017-01-01

Design optimization relies heavily on time-consuming simulations, especially when using gradient-free optimization methods. These methods require a large number of simulations in order to get a remarkable improvement over reference designs, which are nowadays based on the accumulated engineering

Bayesian Inference for Signal-Based Seismic Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, D.

2015-12-01

Traditional seismic monitoring systems rely on discrete detections produced by station processing software, discarding significant information present in the original recorded signal. SIG-VISA (Signal-based Vertically Integrated Seismic Analysis) is a system for global seismic monitoring through Bayesian inference on seismic signals. By modeling signals directly, our forward model is able to incorporate a rich representation of the physics underlying the signal generation process, including source mechanisms, wave propagation, and station response. This allows inference in the model to recover the qualitative behavior of recent geophysical methods including waveform matching and double-differencing, all as part of a unified Bayesian monitoring system that simultaneously detects and locates events from a global network of stations. We demonstrate recent progress in scaling up SIG-VISA to efficiently process the data stream of global signals recorded by the International Monitoring System (IMS), including comparisons against existing processing methods that show increased sensitivity from our signal-based model and in particular the ability to locate events (including aftershock sequences that can tax analyst processing) precisely from waveform correlation effects. We also provide a Bayesian analysis of an alleged low-magnitude event near the DPRK test site in May 2010 [1] [2], investigating whether such an event could plausibly be detected through automated processing in a signal-based monitoring system. [1] Zhang, Miao and Wen, Lianxing. "Seismological Evidence for a Low-Yield Nuclear Test on 12 May 2010 in North Korea". Seismological Research Letters, January/February 2015. [2] Richards, Paul. "A Seismic Event in North Korea on 12 May 2010". CTBTO SnT 2015 oral presentation, video at https://video-archive.ctbto.org/index.php/kmc/preview/partner_id/103/uiconf_id/4421629/entry_id/0_ymmtpps0/delivery/http

Monitor for detecting and assessing exposure to airborne nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marra, Johan; Voetz, Matthias; Kiesling, Heinz-Juergen

2010-01-01

An important safety aspect of the workplace environment concerns the severity of its air pollution with nanoparticles (NP; <100 nm) and ultrafine particles (UFP; <300 nm). Depending on their size and chemical nature, exposure to these particles through inhalation can be hazardous because of their intrinsic ability to deposit in the deep lung regions and the possibility to subsequently pass into the blood stream. Recommended safety measures in the nanomaterials industry are pragmatic, aiming at exposure minimization in general, and advocating continuous control by monitoring both the workplace air pollution level and the personal exposure to airborne NPs. This article describes the design and operation of the Aerasense NP monitor that enables intelligence gathering in particular with respect to airborne particles in the 10-300 nm size range. The NP monitor provides real time information about their number concentration, average size, and surface areas per unit volume of inhaled air that deposit in the various compartments of the respiratory tract. The monitor's functionality relies on electrical charging of airborne particles and subsequent measurements of the total particle charge concentration under various conditions. Information obtained with the NP monitor in a typical workplace environment has been compared with simultaneously recorded data from a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) capable of measuring the particle size distribution in the 11-1086 nm size range. When the toxicological properties of the engineered and/or released particles in the workplace are known, personal exposure monitoring allows a risk assessment to be made for a worker during each workday, when the workplace-produced particles can be distinguished from other (ambient) particles.

Nondestructive assay of special nuclear material for uranium fuel-fabrication facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, H.A. Jr.; Schillebeeckx, P.

1997-01-01

A high-quality materials accounting system and effective international inspections in uranium fuel-fabrication facilities depend heavily upon accurate nondestructive assay measurements of the facility's nuclear materials. While item accounting can monitor a large portion of the facility inventory (fuel rods, assemblies, storage items), the contents of all such items and mass values for all bulk materials must be based on quantitative measurements. Weight measurements, combined with destructive analysis of process samples, can provide highly accurate quantitative information on well-characterized and uniform product materials. However, to cover the full range of process materials and to provide timely accountancy data on hard-to-measure items and rapid verification of previous measurements, radiation-based nondestructive assay (NDA) techniques play an important role. NDA for uranium fuel fabrication facilities relies on passive gamma spectroscopy for enrichment and U isotope mass values of medium-to-low-density samples and holdup deposits; it relies on active neutron techniques for U-235 mass values of high-density and heterogeneous samples. This paper will describe the basic radiation-based nondestructive assay techniques used to perform these measurements. The authors will also discuss the NDA measurement applications for international inspections of European fuel-fabrication facilities

Validation of Storm Water Management Model Storm Control Measures Modules

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, M. A.; Platz, M. C.

2017-12-01

EPA's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a computational code heavily relied upon by industry for the simulation of wastewater and stormwater infrastructure performance. Many municipalities are relying on SWMM results to design multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade infrastructure upgrades. Since the 1970's, EPA and others have developed five major releases, the most recent ones containing storm control measures modules for green infrastructure. The main objective of this study was to quantify the accuracy with which SWMM v5.1.10 simulates the hydrologic activity of previously monitored low impact developments. Model performance was evaluated with a mathematical comparison of outflow hydrographs and total outflow volumes, using empirical data and a multi-event, multi-objective calibration method. The calibration methodology utilized PEST++ Version 3, a parameter estimation tool, which aided in the selection of unmeasured hydrologic parameters. From the validation study and sensitivity analysis, several model improvements were identified to advance SWMM LID Module performance for permeable pavements, infiltration units and green roofs, and these were performed and reported herein. Overall, it was determined that SWMM can successfully simulate low impact development controls given accurate model confirmation, parameter measurement, and model calibration.

Comparative study and quantification of cementite decomposition in heavily drawn pearlitic steel wires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamontagne, A. [University of Lyon, INSA Lyon, MATEIS–UMR CNRS 5510, Bât. St Exupéry, 3ème étage, 25 Avenue Jean Capelle, Villeurbanne Cedex 69621 (France); Massardier, V., E-mail: veronique.massardier@insa-lyon.fr [University of Lyon, INSA Lyon, MATEIS–UMR CNRS 5510, Bât. St Exupéry, 3ème étage, 25 Avenue Jean Capelle, Villeurbanne Cedex 69621 (France); Kléber, X. [University of Lyon, INSA Lyon, MATEIS–UMR CNRS 5510, Bât. St Exupéry, 3ème étage, 25 Avenue Jean Capelle, Villeurbanne Cedex 69621 (France); Sauvage, X. [University of Rouen, GPM, UMR CNRS 6634, BP 12, Avenue de l’Université, 76801 Saint-Etienne du Rouvray (France); Mari, D. [Institute of Condensed Matter Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Station 3, Lausanne CH-1015 (Switzerland)

2015-09-17

Heavily cold-drawing was performed on a pearlitic steel wire and on an ultra-low carbon (ULC) steel wire in order to highlight and quantify the microstructural changes caused by this type of deformation. Both global techniques (thermoelectric power, electrical resistivity, internal fiction background) and local techniques (Atom Probe Tomography) were combined for this study. It was shown that two distinct stages have to be taken into account during the cold-drawing of pearlitic steels. The first stage (below a true strain of 1.5) was attributed mainly to the lamellar alignment, while the second stage (above a true strain of 1.5) was unambiguously interpreted as being due to a gradual enrichment of the carbon content of ferrite arising from the strain induced cementite decomposition. The carbon content in solid solution in ferrite was assessed as a function of the true strain. All the techniques showed that this carbon content exceeds the solubility limit of carbon in the ferrite above a true strain of 2.2. A correlation between the increase in the carbon content of ferrite and the increase in yield strength was also highlighted. Moreover, a scenario was proposed to explain the microstructural changes caused by drawing.

Comparative study and quantification of cementite decomposition in heavily drawn pearlitic steel wires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamontagne, A.; Massardier, V.; Kléber, X.; Sauvage, X.; Mari, D.

2015-01-01

Heavily cold-drawing was performed on a pearlitic steel wire and on an ultra-low carbon (ULC) steel wire in order to highlight and quantify the microstructural changes caused by this type of deformation. Both global techniques (thermoelectric power, electrical resistivity, internal fiction background) and local techniques (Atom Probe Tomography) were combined for this study. It was shown that two distinct stages have to be taken into account during the cold-drawing of pearlitic steels. The first stage (below a true strain of 1.5) was attributed mainly to the lamellar alignment, while the second stage (above a true strain of 1.5) was unambiguously interpreted as being due to a gradual enrichment of the carbon content of ferrite arising from the strain induced cementite decomposition. The carbon content in solid solution in ferrite was assessed as a function of the true strain. All the techniques showed that this carbon content exceeds the solubility limit of carbon in the ferrite above a true strain of 2.2. A correlation between the increase in the carbon content of ferrite and the increase in yield strength was also highlighted. Moreover, a scenario was proposed to explain the microstructural changes caused by drawing

Direct identification of interstitial Mn in heavily p-type doped GaAs and evidence of its high thermal stability

CERN Document Server

Pereira, LMC; Correia, JG; Decoster, S; da Silva, MR; Araújo, JP; Vantomme, A

2011-01-01

We report on the lattice location of Mn in heavily p-type doped GaAs by means of $\\beta^{-}$-emission channeling from the decay of $^{56}$Mn. The majority of the Mn atoms substitute for Ga and up to 31% occupy the tetrahedral interstitial site with As nearest neighbors. Contrary to the general belief, we find that interstitial Mn is immobile up to 400$^{\\circ}$C, with an activation energy for diffusion of 1.7–2.3 eV. Such high thermal stability of interstitial Mn has significant implications on the strategies and prospects for achieving room temperature ferromagnetism in Ga$_{1−x}$Mn$_{x}$As.

Monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations. Lessons from a natural field experiment in Norway

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Telle, Kjetil

2012-07-01

Relying on a small natural field experiment with random assignment of treatments, I estimate effects of three core elements of most monitoring and enforcement practices: self-reporting, audit frequency and specific deterrence. I find evidence of evasive reporting of violations in self-audits, as more violations are detected in on-site audits than in self-audits. Announcing the increased audit frequency has no effect on compliance, but an audit raises the firm's subsequent compliance substantially.(Author)

Anemia predicts thromboembolic events, bleeding complications and mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation : insights from the RE-LY trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Westenbrink, B. D.; Alings, M.; Connolly, S. J.; Eikelboom, J.; Ezekowitz, M. D.; Oldgren, J.; Yang, S.; Pongue, J.; Yusuf, S.; Wallentin, L.; van Gilst, W. H.

BackgroundAnemia may predispose to thromboembolic events or bleeding in anticoagulated patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). ObjectivesTo investigate whether anemia is associated with thromboembolic events and bleeding in patients with AF. Patients and methodsWe retrospectively analyzed the RE-LY

Unusual near-band-edge photoluminescence at room temperature in heavily-doped ZnO:Al thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohanty, Bhaskar Chandra; Yeon, Deuk Ho; Das, Sachindra Nath; Kwak, Ji Hye; Yoon, Kyung Hoon; Cho, Yong Soo

2013-01-01

Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) properties of heavily-doped ZnO:Al thin films (with carrier concentration n in the range of 5–20 × 10 20 cm −3 ) prepared by pulsed laser deposition have been investigated. Despite their high carrier concentration, the films exhibited strong room temperature near-band-edge bound excitons at ∼3.34 eV and an unusual peak at ∼3.16 eV, and negligible deep-level emission even for the films deposited at a temperature as low as 25 °C. The radiative efficiency of the films increased with growth temperature as a result of increased n and improved crystallinity. A large blue shift of optical band gap was observed, which is consistent with the n-dependent Burstein–Moss and band gap-renormalization effects. Comparison of the results of the PL and optical measurements revealed a large Stokes shift that increased with increase in n. It has been explained by a model based on local potential fluctuations caused by randomly-distributed doping impurities. - Highlights: • Studied PL properties of heavily-doped ZnO:Al films grown by PLD. • Unusual strong near-band-edge emissions and negligible deep-level emission at RT. • Increased optical band gap with growth temperature and thus carrier concentration. • Stokes shift and PL peak width increased with carrier concentration. • Results explained by a model based on local potential fluctuations

Dynamic monitoring of blood-brain barrier integrity using water exchange index (WEI) during mannitol and CO2 challenges in mouse brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Shuning; Farrar, Christian T; Dai, Guangping; Kwon, Seon Joo; Bogdanov, Alexei A; Rosen, Bruce R; Kim, Young R

2013-04-01

The integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is critical to normal brain function. Traditional techniques for the assessment of BBB disruption rely heavily on the spatiotemporal analysis of extravasating contrast agents. However, such methods based on the leakage of relatively large molecules are not suitable for the detection of subtle BBB impairment or for the performance of repeated measurements in a short time frame. Quantification of the water exchange rate constant (WER) across the BBB using strictly intravascular contrast agents could provide a much more sensitive method for the quantification of the BBB integrity. To estimate WER, we have recently devised a powerful new method using a water exchange index (WEI) biomarker and demonstrated BBB disruption in an acute stroke model. Here, we confirm that WEI is sensitive to even very subtle changes in the integrity of the BBB caused by: (i) systemic hypercapnia and (ii) low doses of a hyperosmolar solution. In addition, we have examined the sensitivity and accuracy of WEI as a biomarker of WER using computer simulation. In particular, the dependence of the WEI-WER relation on changes in vascular blood volume, T1 relaxation of cellular magnetization and transcytolemmal water exchange was explored. Simulated WEI was found to vary linearly with WER for typically encountered exchange rate constants (1-4 Hz), regardless of the blood volume. However, for very high WER (>5 Hz), WEI became progressively more insensitive to increasing WER. The incorporation of transcytolemmal water exchange, using a three-compartment tissue model, helped to extend the linear WEI regime to slightly higher WER, but had no significant effect for most physiologically important WERs (WER < 4 Hz). Variation in cellular T1 had no effect on WEI. Using both theoretical and experimental approaches, our study validates the utility of the WEI biomarker for the monitoring of BBB integrity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Diagnosis of Coxiella burnetii infection: comparison of a whole blood interferon-gamma production assay and a Coxiella ELISPOT

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schoffelen, T.; Limonard, G.J.; Bleeker-Rovers, C.P.; Bouwman, J.J.; Meer, J.W. van der; Nabuurs-Franssen, M.H.; Sprong, T.; Deuren, M. van

2014-01-01

Diagnosis of ongoing or past infection with Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever, relies heavily on serology: the measurement of C. burnetii-specific antibodies, reflecting the host's humoral immune response. However, cell-mediated immune responses play an important, probably even more

Power Electronics and Electric Machines | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Power Electronics and Electric Machines NREL's power electronics and electric machines research helping boost the performance of power electronics components and systems, while driving down size, weight technical barriers to EDV commercialization. EDVs rely heavily on power electronics to distribute the proper

Suitability of the Cellient (TM) cell block method for diagnosing soft tissue and bone tumors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Song, W.; van Hemel, B. M.; Suurmeijer, A. J. H.

BACKGROUNDThe diagnosis of tumors of soft tissue and bone (STB) heavily relies on histological biopsies, whereas cytology is not widely used. Cellient(TM) cell blocks often contain small tissue fragments. In addition to Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) interpretation of histological features,

Low Motor Assessment : A Comparative Pilot Study with Young Children With and Without Motor Impairment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruiter, S.A.J.; Nakken, H.; Van der Meulen, B.F.; Lunenborg, C.B.

Most of the developmental instruments that measure cognitive development in children rely heavily on fine motor skills, especially for young children whose language skills are not yet well developed. This is problematic when evaluating the cognitive development of young children with motor

Linking Complex Problem Solving to Opportunity Identification Competence within the Context of Entrepreneurship

Science.gov (United States)

Baggen, Yvette; Mainert, Jakob; Lans, Thomas; Biemans, Harm J. A.; Greiff, Samuel; Mulder, Martin

2015-01-01

Today's working life is increasingly characterized by entrepreneurial challenges. Entrepreneurial challenges start at an individual level with the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities, which is acknowledged as one of the key competencies for lifelong learning. Since the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities relies heavily on…

Biobased Nanoparticles for Broadband UV Protection with Photostabilized UV Filters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hayden, D.R.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/412640694; Imhof, A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/145641600; Velikov, K. P.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/239483472

2016-01-01

Sunscreens rely on multiple compounds to provide effective and safe protection against UV radiation. UV filters in sunscreens, in particular, provide broadband UV protection but are heavily linked to adverse health effects due to the generation of carcinogenic skin-damaging reactive oxygen species

Constrained Optimization Methods in Health Services Research—An Introduction: Report 1 of the ISPOR Optimization Methods Emerging Good Practices Task Force

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Crown, William; Buyukkaramikli, Nasuh; Thokala, Praveen; Morton, Alec; Sir, Mustafa Y.; Marshall, Deborah A.; Tosh, Jon; Padula, William V.; IJzerman, Maarten Joost; Wong, Peter K.; Pasupathy, Kalyan S.

2017-01-01

Providing health services with the greatest possible value to patients and society given the constraints imposed by patient characteristics, health care system characteristics, budgets, and so forth relies heavily on the design of structures and processes. Such problems are complex and require a

Biochemistry Instructors' Perceptions of Analogies and Their Classroom Use

Science.gov (United States)

Orgill, MaryKay; Bussey, Thomas J.; Bodner, George M.

2015-01-01

Biochemistry education relies heavily on students' abilities to conceptualize abstract cellular and molecular processes, mechanisms, and components. From a constructivist standpoint, students build their understandings of these abstract processes by connecting, expanding, or revising their prior conceptions and experiences. As such, biochemistry…

Disease quantification in dermatology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greve, Tanja Maria; Kamp, Søren; Jemec, Gregor B E

2013-01-01

Accurate documentation of disease severity is a prerequisite for clinical research and the practice of evidence-based medicine. The quantification of skin diseases such as psoriasis currently relies heavily on clinical scores. Although these clinical scoring methods are well established and very ...

Design considerations for a large-scale image-based text search engine in historical manuscript collections

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schomaker, Lambertus

2016-01-01

This article gives an overview of design considerations for a handwriting search engine based on pattern recognition and high-performance computing, “Monk”. In order to satisfy multiple and often conflicting technological requirements, an architecture is used which heavily relies on high-performance

Simulation-based optimization for product and process design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Driessen, L.

2006-01-01

The design of products and processes has gradually shifted from a purely physical process towards a process that heavily relies on computer simulations (virtual prototyping). To optimize this virtual design process in terms of speed and final product quality, statistical methods and mathematical

Testing of SWMM Model’s LID Modules

Science.gov (United States)

EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a computational code heavily relied upon by industry for the simulation of wastewater and stormwater infrastructure performance to . design and build multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade infrastructure upgrades. Since the 1970’s, EPA a...

Sustainability effects of household-scale biogas in rural China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gosens, J.; Lu Yonglong,; He Guizhen,; Bluemling, B.; Beckers, T.A.M.

2013-01-01

Households in rural China rely heavily on low quality fuels which results in reduced quality of life and environmental degradation. This study assesses the comparative contribution of household scale biogas installations to the broad set of sustainability objectives in the Chinese biogas policy

Integrated and implicit : how residents learn CanMEDS roles by participating in practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renting, Nienke; Raat, A N Janet; Dornan, Tim; Wenger-Trayner, Etienne; van der Wal, Martha A; Borleffs, Jan C C; Gans, Rijk O B; Jaarsma, A Debbie C

CONTEXT: Learning outcomes for residency training are defined in competency frameworks such as the CanMEDS framework, which ultimately aim to better prepare residents for their future tasks. Although residents' training relies heavily on learning through participation in the workplace under the

Wealth, welfare and sustainable growth and development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moe, Thorvald

2011-07-01

This Policy Note discuses, based on modern development theory and wealth accounting, challenges for economic- and fiscal policies in resource-producing countries defined as countries - both developed and developing low income countries - which rely heavily on non-renewable or exhaustible natural wealth.(Author)

75 FR 56509 - Multi-Sector Trade Mission to Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-16

... Administration granted Nigeria Category 1 status under the international aviation safety assessment program... culture relies heavily on the strength of personal contacts to consummate deals. This trade mission offers... aviation industries. The transport ministry (aviation division) is planning to fix, purchase and install...

Solar Filaments as Tracers of Subsurface Processes

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tribpo

and filament eruptions, then, one might hope to discover important properties of the .... reasoning would lead to an estimated average field of 23 G in the corona, in ... paradigm relies heavily on the concept of twisted flux ropes as agents of ...

Nectar production in oilseeds: Food for pollinators in an agriculture dominated landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Simplified agroecosystems have degraded habitats for beneficial insects throughout the Midwest and Northern Great Plains of the USA. Beneficial insects include pollinators and natural enemies of crop pests, and both rely heavily on floral resources and habitat diversity to maintain healthy populatio...

Parental Criminality, Family Violence and Intergenerational Transmission of Crime Within a Birth Cohort

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Junger, Marianne; Greene, J.; Schipper, R.; Hesper, F.; Estourgie, V.

2013-01-01

Previous studies documented that crime is heavily concentrated in families. However, many studies relied on relatively small samples, often males and information on criminal involvement was self-reported. The present study investigates: (1) the prevalence of arrests in three generations; (2) the

The interactive presentation of 3D information obtained from reconstructed datasets and 3D placement of single histological sections with the 3D portable document format

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Boer, Bouke A.; Soufan, Alexandre T.; Hagoort, Jaco; Mohun, Timothy J.; van den Hoff, Maurice J. B.; Hasman, Arie; Voorbraak, Frans P. J. M.; Moorman, Antoon F. M.; Ruijter, Jan M.

2011-01-01

Interpretation of the results of anatomical and embryological studies relies heavily on proper visualization of complex morphogenetic processes and patterns of gene expression in a three-dimensional (3D) context. However, reconstruction of complete 3D datasets is time consuming and often researchers

Visualizing asphalt roller trajectories in context: acquiring, processing, and representing sensor readings

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vasenev, Alexandr

2015-01-01

The asphalt compaction process relies heavily on the skills and knowledge of roller operators who act alongside other stakeholders involved in asphalt paving. It is essential that these construction specialists: (1) are adequately informed about the initial temperature distribution of the asphalt

Constrained Optimization Methods in Health Services Research - An Introduction : Report 1 of the ISPOR Optimization Methods Emerging Good Practices Task Force

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Crown, William; Buyukkaramikli, Nasuh; Thokala, Praveen; Morton, Alec; Sir, Mustafa Y.; Marshall, Deborah A.; Tosh, Jon; Padula, William V.; IJzerman, Maarten Joost; Wong, Peter K.; Pasupathy, Kalyan S.

2017-01-01

Providing health services with the greatest possible value to patients and society given the constraints imposed by patient characteristics, health care system characteristics, budgets, and so forth relies heavily on the design of structures and processes. Such problems are complex and require a

75 FR 24737 - Extension of the Designation of Nicaragua for Temporary Protected Status and Automatic Extension...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-05

... people of Nicaragua continue to rely heavily on international assistance, and recovery from Hurricane... World Food Programme (WFP), these recurring environmental disasters destroyed the country's economic... genuine and to relate to the employee. Employees also may present any other legally acceptable document or...

Aero-elastic Stability Analysis for Large-Scale Wind Turbines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meng, F.

2011-01-01

Nowadays, many modern countries are relying heavily on non-renewable resources. One common example of non-renewable resources is fossil fuel. Non-renewable resources are ?nite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve. In contrast,

SIMONA: A multi-purpose acoustic data simulator for development and testing of sonar signal processing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Robert, M.K.; Groen, J.; Konijnendijk, N.J.

2005-01-01

The development of undersea defence technologies such as sonar relies heavily on the availability of high quality acoustic data. However, data acquisition is particularly expensive as sea trials involve experienced manpower and costly high-tech equipment. Also, at sea, the environment remains

Introduction to the special issue : "Cognitive perspectives on group decision and negotiation"

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kolfschoten, G.L.; Reinig, B.A.

2013-01-01

Many organizations today rely heavily on their knowledge assets and engage in collaboration to leverage those assets.Managers and decision makers increasingly are forced to forge strategy, negotiate, and make decisions based on a vast amount of complex and dynamic information and expertise.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Science.gov (United States)

... Pain Therapies Webinar View All Events Director's Corner The NINDS R35 Program: An innovation experiment Tuesday, May 15, 2018 NIH relies heavily ... Find Funding Opportunities About Funding Funding Types: Know the ... Mechanisms Research Program Award (R35) Javits Award (R37) Landis ...

Cooperativity in CYP2E1 Metabolism of Acetaminophen and Styrene Mixtures

OpenAIRE

Hartman, Jessica H.; Letzig, Lynda G.; Robertsc, Dean W.; James, Laura P.; Fifer, E. Kim; Miller, Grover P.

2015-01-01

Risk assessment for exposure to mixtures of drugs and pollutants relies heavily on in vitro characterization of their bioactivation and/or metabolism individually and extrapolation to mixtures assuming no interaction. Herein, we demonstrated that in vitro CYP2E1 metabolic activation of acetaminophen and styrene mixtures could not be explained through the Michaelis-Menten mechanism or any models relying on that premise. As a baseline for mixture studies with styrene, steady-state analysis of a...

Site Screening and Technical Guidance for Monitored Natural Attenuation at DOE Sites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borns, D.J.; Brady, P.V.; Brady, W.D.; Krupka, K.M.; Spalding, B.P.; Waters, R.D.; Zhang, P.

1999-03-01

Site Screening and Technical Guidance for Monitored Natural Attenuation at DOE Sites briefly outlines the biological and geochemical origins of natural attenuation, the tendency for natural processes in soils to mitigate contaminant transport and availability, and the means for relying on monitored natural attenuation (MNA) for remediation of contaminated soils and groundwaters. This report contains a step-by-step guide for (1) screening contaminated soils and groundwaters on the basis of their potential for remediation by natural attenuation and (2) implementing MNA consistent with EPA OSWER Directive 9200.4-17. The screening and implementation procedures are set up as a web-based tool (http://www.sandia.gov/eesector/gs/gc/na/mnahome.html) to assist US Department of Energy (DOE) site environmental managers and their staff and contractors to adhere to EPA guidelines for implementing MNA. This document is intended to support the Decision Maker's Framework Guide and Monitoring Guide both to be issued from DOE EM-40. Further technical advances may cause some of the approach outlined in this document to change over time.

[Scope of the latest RE-LY substudies: clinical implications].

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta, N

2012-03-01

The approval of the use of dabiatran in stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrilation (NVAF) is based on the results of the RE-LY (Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy) trial, one of the largest studies to date in this entity. In this trial, dabigatran showed similar safety and efficacy to warfarin in primary and secondary prevention of stroke in patients with AF. At a dose of 150 mg twice daily, dabigatran was superior to warfarin in the prevention of stroke or systemic embolism and the 110 mg dose twice daily showed similar efficacy and greater safety, given the lower incidence of hemorrhage. These results were consistently found in the various subanalyses, with some slight differences of interest for clinical practice. The ideal candidates for dabiatran are patients with NVAF suitable for cardioversion, who require short periods of anticoagulation, patients in remote geographical areas with difficulty in achieving good anticoagulation control or good control with anti-vitamin K treatment due to IRN fluctuations, and patients with a low risk of hemorrhage and a CHADS score ≥ 3 and/or with prior stroke, whenever there are no contraindications. The choice of dabigatran dose should be evaluated according to the patient's individual characteristics (caution must be exercised when prescribing this drug in the elderly and in renal insufficiency) and embolic and/or hemorrhagic risk. Studies of the long-term safety of this drug, pharmacoeconomic analyses in Spain and post-commercialization pharmacovigilance data are required before the definitive uses of this drug can be established. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Laboratory tools for diagnosis and monitoring response in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tohami, Tali; Nagler, Arnon; Amariglio, Ninette

2012-08-01

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal hematological disease that represents 15-20% of all adult leukemia cases. The study and treatment of CML has contributed pivotal advances to translational medicine and cancer therapy. The discovery that a single chromosomal abnormality, the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome, is responsible for the etiology of this disease was a milestone for treating and understanding CML. Subsequently, CML became the first disease for which allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is the treatment of choice. Currently, CML is one of the few diseases where treatment targeted against the chromosomal abnormality is the sole frontline therapy for newly diagnosed patients. The use of directed therapy for CML challenged disease monitoring during treatment and led to the development of definitions that document response and predict relapse sooner than the former routine methods. These methods relied on classical cytogenetics through molecular cytogenetics (FISH) and, finally, on molecular monitoring assays. This review discusses the laboratory tools used for diagnosing CML, for monitoring during treatment, and for assessing remission or relapse. The advantages and disadvantages of each test, the common definition of response levels, and the efforts to standardize molecular monitoring for CML patient management are discussed.

Electro-resistive bands for non-invasive cardiac and respiration monitoring, a feasibility study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gargiulo, Gaetano D; Breen, Paul P; O’Loughlin, Aiden

2015-01-01

Continuous unobtrusive monitoring of tidal volume, particularly for critical care patients (i.e. neonates and patients in intensive care) during sleep studies and during daily activities, is still an unresolved monitoring need. Also a successful monitoring solution is yet to be proposed for continuous non-invasive cardiac stroke volume monitoring that is a novel clinical need. In this paper we present the feasibility study for a wearable, non-invasive, non-contact and unobtrusive sensor (embedded in a standard T-shirt) based on four electro-resistive bands that simultaneously monitors tidal volume and cardiac stroke volume changes. This low power sensor system (requires only 100 mW and accepts a wide power supply range up to ±18 V); thus the sensor can be easily embedded in existing wearable solutions (i.e. Holter monitors). Moreover, being contactless, it can be worn over bandages or electrodes, and as it does not rely over the integrity of the garment to work, it allows practitioners to perform procedures during monitoring. For this preliminary evaluation, one subject has worn the sensor over the period of 24 h (removing it only to shower); the accuracy of the tidal volume tested against a portable spirometer reported a precision of ±10% also during physical activity; accuracy tests for cardiac output (as it may require invasive procedure) have not been carried out in this preliminary trial. (note)

Comparing infants' use of featural and spatiotemporal information when individuating objects in an event monitoring design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krøjgaard, Peter

. The results obtained using this design reveal that infants are more successful using spatiotemporal object information than when using featural information. However, recent studies using the less cognitively demanding event monitoring design have revealed that even younger infants are capable of object...... in the present series of experiments in which infants' use of spatiotemporal and featural information is compared directly using the less demanding event monitoring design. The results are discussed in relation to existing empirical evidence......., to what extent infants rely on spatiotemporal or featural object information when individuating objects is currently under debate. Hitherto, infants' use of spatiotemporal and featural object information has only been compared directly using the rather cognitively demanding event mapping design...

Bridge monitoring by interferometric deformation sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Inaudi, Daniele; Vurpillot, Samuel; Casanova, Nicoletta

1996-09-01

In many concrete bridges, the deformations are the most relevant parameter to be monitored in both short and long- terms. Strain monitoring gives only local information about the material behavior and too many such sensors would therefore be necessary to gain a complete understanding of the bridge behavior. We have found that fiber optic deformation sensors, with measurement bases of the order of one to a few meters, can give useful information both during the first days after concrete pouring and in the long term. In a first phase it is possible to monitor the thermal expansion due to the exothermic setting reaction and successively the thermal and drying shrinkages. Thanks to the long sensor basis, the detection of a crack traverse to the measurement region becomes probable and the evolution of cracks can therefore be followed with a reduced number of sensors. In the long-term it is possible to measure the geometric deformations and therefore the creeping of the bridge under static loads, especially under its own weight. In the past two years, our laboratory has installed hundreds of fiber optic deformation sensors in more than five concrete, composite steel-concrete, refurbished and enlarged bridges (road, highway and railway bridges). The measuring technique relies on low-coherence interferometry and offers a resolution down to a few microns even for long-term measurements. This contribution briefly discusses the measurement technique and then focuses on the development of a reliable sensor for direct concrete embedding and on the experimental results obtained on these bridges.

Replacing Heavily Damaged Teeth by Third Molar Autotransplantation With the Use of Cone-Beam Computed Tomography and Rapid Prototyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Verweij, Jop P; Anssari Moin, David; Wismeijer, Daniel; van Merkesteyn, J P Richard

2017-09-01

This article describes the autotransplantation of third molars to replace heavily damaged premolars and molars. Specifically, this article reports on the use of preoperative cone-beam computed tomographic planning and 3-dimensional (3D) printed replicas of donor teeth to prepare artificial tooth sockets. In the present case, an 18-year-old patient underwent autotransplantation of 3 third molars to replace 1 premolar and 2 molars that were heavily damaged after trauma. Approximately 1 year after the traumatic incident, autotransplantation with the help of 3D planning and rapid prototyping was performed. The right maxillary third molar replaced the right maxillary first premolar. The 2 mandibular wisdom teeth replaced the left mandibular first and second molars. During the surgical procedure, artificial tooth sockets were prepared with the help of 3D printed donor tooth copies to prevent iatrogenic damage to the actual donor teeth. These replicas of the donor teeth were designed based on the preoperative cone-beam computed tomogram and manufactured with the help of 3D printing techniques. The use of a replica of the donor tooth resulted in a predictable and straightforward procedure, with extra-alveolar times shorter than 2 minutes for all transplantations. The transplanted teeth were placed in infraocclusion and fixed with a suture splint. Postoperative follow-up showed physiologic integration of the transplanted teeth and a successful outcome for all transplants. In conclusion, this technique facilitates a straightforward and predictable procedure for autotransplantation of third molars. The use of printed analogues of the donor teeth decreases the risk of iatrogenic damage and the extra-alveolar time of the transplanted tooth is minimized. This facilitates a successful outcome. Copyright © 2017 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Boron deactivation in heavily boron-doped Czochralski silicon during rapid thermal anneal: Atomic level understanding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Chao; Dong, Peng; Yi, Jun; Ma, Xiangyang; Yang, Deren; Lu, Yunhao

2014-01-01

The changes in hole concentration of heavily boron (B)-doped Czochralski silicon subjected to high temperature rapid thermal anneal (RTA) and following conventional furnace anneal (CFA) have been investigated. It is found that decrease in hole concentration, namely, B deactivation, is observed starting from 1050 °C and increases with RTA temperature. The following CFA at 300–500 °C leads to further B deactivation, while that at 600–800 °C results in B reactivation. It is supposed that the interaction between B atoms and silicon interstitials (I) thus forming BI pairs leads to the B deactivation during the high temperature RTA, and, moreover, the formation of extended B 2 I complexes results in further B deactivation in the following CFA at 300–500 °C. On the contrary, the dissociation of BI pairs during the following CFA at 600–800 °C enables the B reactivation. Importantly, the first-principles calculation results can soundly account for the above-mentioned supposition

Boron deactivation in heavily boron-doped Czochralski silicon during rapid thermal anneal: Atomic level understanding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gao, Chao; Dong, Peng; Yi, Jun; Ma, Xiangyang, E-mail: luyh@zju.edu.cn, E-mail: mxyoung@zju.edu.cn; Yang, Deren [State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China); Lu, Yunhao, E-mail: luyh@zju.edu.cn, E-mail: mxyoung@zju.edu.cn [International Center for New-Structured Materials and Laboratory of New-Structured Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China)

2014-01-20

The changes in hole concentration of heavily boron (B)-doped Czochralski silicon subjected to high temperature rapid thermal anneal (RTA) and following conventional furnace anneal (CFA) have been investigated. It is found that decrease in hole concentration, namely, B deactivation, is observed starting from 1050 °C and increases with RTA temperature. The following CFA at 300–500 °C leads to further B deactivation, while that at 600–800 °C results in B reactivation. It is supposed that the interaction between B atoms and silicon interstitials (I) thus forming BI pairs leads to the B deactivation during the high temperature RTA, and, moreover, the formation of extended B{sub 2}I complexes results in further B deactivation in the following CFA at 300–500 °C. On the contrary, the dissociation of BI pairs during the following CFA at 600–800 °C enables the B reactivation. Importantly, the first-principles calculation results can soundly account for the above-mentioned supposition.

PROFILE: Integrating Stressor and Response Monitoring into a Resource-Based Water-Quality Assessment Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

ROUX; KEMPSTER; KLEYNHANS; VAN; DU

1999-01-01

/ South African water law as well as the country's water resource management policies are currently under review. The Water Law Principles, which were established as part of this review process, indicate a commitment to sustainable development of water resources and the protection of an ecological "reserve." Such policy goals highlight the limitations of traditional and current water-quality management strategies, which rely on stressor monitoring and associated regulation of pollution. The concept of an assimilative capacity is central to the implementation of the current water-quality management approach. Weaknesses inherent in basing water management on the concept of assimilative capacity are discussed. Response monitoring is proposed as a way of addressing some of the weaknesses. Following a global trend, the new policy goals emphasize the need to protect rather than to use the ability of ecosystems to recover from disturbances. This necessitates the adoption of response measurements to quantify ecological condition and monitor ecological change. Response monitoring focuses on properties that are essential to the sustainability of the ecosystem. These monitoring tools can be used to establish natural ranges of ecological change within ecosystems, as well as to quantify conceptually acceptable and unacceptable ranges of change. Through a framework of biological criteria and biological impairment standards, the results of response monitoring can become an integral part of future water resource management strategies in South Africa. KEY WORDS: Stressor monitoring; Response monitoring; Assimilative capacity; Ecosystem stability; Resilience; Biocriteria

Sabiedriskās attiecības jauno reliģisko kustību praksē. Baznīcas "Jaunā paaudze" gadījuma analīze

OpenAIRE

Maļuha, Sandra

2008-01-01

Izstrādātā bakalaura darba nosaukums ir „Sabiedriskās attiecības jauno reliģisko kustību praksē: baznīcas „Jaunā paaudze” gadījuma analīze”. Darbā aplūkotā pētnieciskā problēma ir jauns, līdz šim maz pētīts fenomens - sabiedrisko attiecību mērķu realizācija jauno reliģisko kustību darbībā. Izvēlētais pētniecības objekts ir baznīca „Jaunā paaudze”, kura, pēc Tieslietu ministrijas Reliģisko lietu pārvaldes sniegtajiem datiem, šobrīd ir lielākā jaunā reliģiskā kustība Latvijā. Teorētiskā pama...

An intelligent stand-alone ultrasonic device for monitoring local structural damage: implementation and preliminary experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pertsch, Alexander; Kim, Jin-Yeon; Wang, Yang; Jacobs, Laurence J

2011-01-01

Continuous structural health monitoring has the potential to significantly improve the safety management of aged, in-service civil structures. In particular, monitoring of local damage growth at hot-spot areas can help to prevent disastrous structural failures. Although ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) has proved to be effective in monitoring local damage growth, conventional equipment and devices are usually bulky and only suitable for scheduled human inspections. The objective of this research is to harness the latest developments in embedded hardware and wireless communication for developing a stand-alone, compact ultrasonic device. The device is directed at the continuous structural health monitoring of civil structures. Relying on battery power, the device possesses the functionalities of high-speed actuation, sensing, signal processing, and wireless communication. Integrated with contact ultrasonic transducers, the device can generate 1 MHz Rayleigh surface waves in a steel specimen and measure response waves. An envelope detection algorithm based on the Hilbert transform is presented for efficiently determining the peak values of the response signals, from which small surface cracks are successfully identified

Hypoxic areas, density-dependence and food limitation drive the body condition of a heavily exploited marine fish predator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Casini, Michele; Käll, Filip; Hansson, Martin

2016-01-01

Investigating the factors regulating fish condition is crucial in ecology and the management of exploited fish populations. The body condition of cod (Gadus morhua) in the Baltic Sea has dramatically decreased during the past two decades, with large implications for the fishery relying on this re...

Towards Monitoring-as-a-service for Scientific Computing Cloud applications using the ElasticSearch ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

Bagnasco, S.; Berzano, D.; Guarise, A.; Lusso, S.; Masera, M.; Vallero, S.

2015-12-01

The INFN computing centre in Torino hosts a private Cloud, which is managed with the OpenNebula cloud controller. The infrastructure offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) services to different scientific computing applications. The main stakeholders of the facility are a grid Tier-2 site for the ALICE collaboration at LHC, an interactive analysis facility for the same experiment and a grid Tier-2 site for the BESIII collaboration, plus an increasing number of other small tenants. The dynamic allocation of resources to tenants is partially automated. This feature requires detailed monitoring and accounting of the resource usage. We set up a monitoring framework to inspect the site activities both in terms of IaaS and applications running on the hosted virtual instances. For this purpose we used the ElasticSearch, Logstash and Kibana (ELK) stack. The infrastructure relies on a MySQL database back-end for data preservation and to ensure flexibility to choose a different monitoring solution if needed. The heterogeneous accounting information is transferred from the database to the ElasticSearch engine via a custom Logstash plugin. Each use-case is indexed separately in ElasticSearch and we setup a set of Kibana dashboards with pre-defined queries in order to monitor the relevant information in each case. For the IaaS metering, we developed sensors for the OpenNebula API. The IaaS level information gathered through the API is sent to the MySQL database through an ad-hoc developed RESTful web service. Moreover, we have developed a billing system for our private Cloud, which relies on the RabbitMQ message queue for asynchronous communication to the database and on the ELK stack for its graphical interface. The Italian Grid accounting framework is also migrating to a similar set-up. Concerning the application level, we used the Root plugin TProofMonSenderSQL to collect accounting data from the interactive analysis facility. The BESIII

Two cases of acute leukemia in heavily exposed a-bomb survivors following radiotherapy for breast cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikami, Motoko; Kuramoto, Atsushi; Kamada, Nanao; Ohkita, Takeshi; Sawada, Hisao.

1980-03-01

Two cases of acute leukemia in heavily exposed atomic bomb survivors following postoperative 60 Co radiotherapy for breast cancer are presented. Case 1, a female who received an estimated dose of 364 rad from the A-bomb at the age of 22, was diagnosed as having left breast cancer 17 years later. At the age of 48, about 8 years after undergoing postoperative 60 Co radiotherapy, she developed acute monocytic leukemia. Case 2, a female who received an estimated dose of 594 rad from the A-bomb at the age of 37, was diagnosed as having right breast cancer 22 years later. At the age of 63, 4 years after postoperative 60 Co radiotherapy, she was found to have acute erythroleukemia. Both cases had been exposed to the A-bomb in Hiroshima and to therapeutic radiation after developing breast cancer presumably induced by A-bomb exposure. Thus it is proposed that acute leukemia was induced by exposure to large doses of radiation from two sources. (author)

ATLAS trigger operations: Monitoring with “Xmon” rate prediction system

CERN Document Server

Aukerman, Andrew Todd; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

We present the operations and online monitoring with the “Xmon” rate prediction system for the trigger system at the ATLAS Experiment. A two-level trigger system reduces the LHC’s bunch-crossing rate, 40 MHz at design capacity, to an average recording rate of about 1 kHz, while maintaining a high efficiency of selecting events of interest. The Xmon system uses the luminosity value to predict trigger rates that are, in turn, compared with incoming rates. The predictions rely on past runs to parameterize the luminosity dependency of the event rate for a trigger algorithm. Some examples are given to illustrate the performance of the tool during recent operations.

16 CFR 1115.5 - Reporting of failures to comply with a voluntary consumer product safety standard relied upon by...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... voluntary consumer product safety standard relied upon by the Commission under section 9 of the CPSA. 1115.5 Section 1115.5 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT REGULATIONS SUBSTANTIAL PRODUCT HAZARD REPORTS General Interpretation § 1115.5 Reporting of failures to comply...

CFO and channel estimation for MISO-OFDM systems

KAUST Repository

Ladaycia, Abdelhamid; Abed-Meraim, Karim; Bader, Ahmed; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2017-01-01

-relay transmission protocols such that the geo-routing one proposed by A. Bader et al in 2012. Indeed, the outstanding performance of this multi-hop relaying scheme relies heavily on the channel and CFO estimation quality at the PHY layer. In this work, two

Cost-effectiveness analysis of algae energy production in the EU

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kovacevic, V.; Wesseler, J.H.H.

2010-01-01

Today’s society relies heavily on fossil fuels as a main energy source. Global energy demand increase, energy security and climate change are the main drivers of the transition towards alternative energy sources. This paper analyses algal biodiesel production for the EU road transportation and

Capture of melon flies, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae), in a food-baited Multilure trap: influence of distance, diet, and sex

Science.gov (United States)

Many countries operate trapping programs to detect invasions of pestiferous fruit fly species (Diptera: Tephritidae). Surveillance relies heavily on traps baited with male lures, which, while powerful, have limited effectiveness, because (i) they are sex-specific and (ii) males of some species do no...

Evaluation of anaerobic soil disinfestation amendments and rates for conventional tomato production in Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Methyl bromide and other soil fumigants have been heavily relied upon to control soilborne plant pathogens, nematodes, and weeds in polyethylene-mulched vegetable production in Florida. However, negative aspects of their use on the environment and human health have increased the interest in non-chem...

Prioritizing West African medicinal plants for conservation and sustainable extraction studies based on market surveys and species distribution models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Andel, T.R.; Croft, S.; van Loon, E.E.; Quiroz, D.; Towns, A.M.; Raes, N.

2015-01-01

Sub-Saharan African human populations rely heavily on wild-harvested medicinal plants for their health. The trade in herbal medicine provides an income for many West African people, but little is known about the effects of commercial extraction on wild plant populations. Detailed distribution maps

Prioritizing West African medicinal plants for conservation and sustainable extraction studies based on market surveys and species distribution models.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andel, van T.R.; Croft, S.; Loon, van E.E.; Quiroz Villarreal, D.K.; Towns, A.M.; Raes, N.

2015-01-01

Sub-Saharan African human populations rely heavily on wild-harvested medicinal plants for their health. The trade in herbal medicine provides an income for many West African people, but little is known about the effects of commercial extraction on wild plant populations. Detailed distribution maps

Tactile pavement for guiding walking direction: An assessment of heading direction and gait stability.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pluyter, N.; de Wit, L.P.; Bruijn, S.M.; Plaisier, M.A.

2015-01-01

For maintaining heading direction while walking we heavily rely on vision. Therefore, walking in the absence of vision or with visual attention directed elsewhere potentially leads to dangerous situations. Here we investigated whether tactile information from the feet can be used as a (partial)

Helicopter Gas Turbine Engine Performance Analysis : A Multivariable Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arush, Ilan; Pavel, M.D.

2017-01-01

Helicopter performance relies heavily on the available output power of the engine(s) installed. A simplistic single-variable analysis approach is often used within the flight-testing community to reduce raw flight-test data in order to predict the available output power under different atmospheric

When cognitive biases lead to business process management issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Razavian, M.; Turetken, O.; Vanderfeesten, I.T.P.; Dumas, M.; Fantinato, M.

2017-01-01

There is a broad consensus that design decision making is important for Business Process Management success. Despite many business process design approaches and practices that are available, the quality of business process analysis and design relies heavily on human factors. Some of these factors

The influence of an in vitro generated bone-like extracellular matrix on osteoblastic gene expression of marrow stromal cells.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pham, Q.P.; Kasper, F.K.; Baggett, L.S.; Raphael, R.M.; Jansen, J.A.; Mikos, A.G.

2008-01-01

The function and development of cells rely heavily on the signaling interactions with the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Therefore, a tissue engineering scaffold should mimic native ECM to recreate the in vivo environment. Previously, we have shown that an in vitro generated ECM secreted by

QUIN: Providing Integrated Analysis Support to Crime Investigators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, S.; Vecht, B. van der; Wermeskerken, F.J.P. van; Streefkerk, J.W.

2016-01-01

Crime investigators heavily rely on their large knowledge of criminal behavior. When investigating a new case, applying this knowledge can lead to cognitive overload and tunnel vision. Some support systems are developed to search through historical data and knowledge more easily, but still require

Framing the issues of resistance management in soybean

Science.gov (United States)

The soybean insect-pest complex consists of both long-established and new invasive pests. Management of these pests has been achieved by various means, but often relies heavily on the application of insecticides and the development of insect-resistant soybean varieties. Pest management practitione...

Quality online personalisation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T. Li (Ting); T. Unger (Till)

2012-01-01

textabstractWhen done right, personalisation online can be an effective way to enhance the buying or consuming experience, thus stimulating purchasing. However, it can also rely heavily on customers’ private details, a very sensitive and currently hot issue. So, how do online marketeers deal

Data-driven architectural production and operation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bier, H.H.; Mostafavi, S.

2014-01-01

Data-driven architectural production and operation as explored within Hyperbody rely heavily on system thinking implying that all parts of a system are to be understood in relation to each other. These relations are increasingly established bi-directionally so that data-driven architecture is not

Data-driven architectural design to production and operation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bier, H.H.; Mostafavi, S.

2015-01-01

Data-driven architectural production and operation explored within Hyperbody rely heavily on system thinking implying that all parts of a system are to be understood in relation to each other. These relations are established bi-directionally so that data-driven architecture is not only produced

High-speed cryptography and cryptanalysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schwabe, P.

2011-01-01

Modern digital communication relies heavily on cryptographic protection to ensure data integrity and privacy. In order to deploy state-of-the art cryptographic primitives and protocols in real-world scenarios, one needs to highly optimize software for both speed and security. This requires careful

Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Rents: a Simulation of the Market Process

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keyhani, M; Levesque, M.; Madhok, A.

2015-01-01

While strategy theory relies heavily on equilibrium theories of economic rents such as Ricardian and monopoly rents, we do not yet have a comprehensive theory of disequilibrium or entrepreneurial rents. We use cooperative game theory to structure computer simulations of the market process in which

What would happen to education if we take education evidence seriously?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vleuten, C.P.M. van der; Driessen, E.W.

2014-01-01

Educational practice and educational research are not aligned with each other. Current educational practice heavily relies on information transmission or content delivery to learners. Yet evidence shows that delivery is only a minor part of learning. To illustrate the directions we might take to

Engineering spectrally unentangled photon pairs from nonlinear microring resonators by pump manipulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Jesper Bjerge; Koefoed, Jacob Gade; Rottwitt, Karsten

2018-01-01

The future of integrated quantum photonics relies heavily on the ability to engineer refined methods for preparing the quantum states needed to implement various quantum protocols. An important example of such states is quantum-correlated photon pairs, which can be efficiently generated using spo...

Microbial chain elongation based on methanol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, Wei-Shan

2017-01-01

Our society relies heavily on fossil resources to fulfill our energy and commodity demands and this dependence has led to negative economic, environmental and societal consequences. The re-generation rate of fossil resources is much slower than their consumption rate, making these resources a

Proteins, physics and probability kinematics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hamelryck, Thomas Wim; Boomsma, Wouter Krogh; Ferkinghoff-Borg, Jesper

2015-01-01

Proteins are biomolecules that are of great importance in science, biotechnology and medicine. Their function relies heavily on their three-dimensional shape, which in turn follows from their amino acid sequence. Therefore, there is great interest in modelling the three-dimensional structure of p...

Replicative phenotyping adds value to genotypic resistance testing in heavily pre-treated HIV-infected individuals - the Swiss HIV Cohort Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martinetti Gladys

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Replicative phenotypic HIV resistance testing (rPRT uses recombinant infectious virus to measure viral replication in the presence of antiretroviral drugs. Due to its high sensitivity of detection of viral minorities and its dissecting power for complex viral resistance patterns and mixed virus populations rPRT might help to improve HIV resistance diagnostics, particularly for patients with multiple drug failures. The aim was to investigate whether the addition of rPRT to genotypic resistance testing (GRT compared to GRT alone is beneficial for obtaining a virological response in heavily pre-treated HIV-infected patients. Methods Patients with resistance tests between 2002 and 2006 were followed within the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS. We assessed patients' virological success after their antiretroviral therapy was switched following resistance testing. Multilevel logistic regression models with SHCS centre as a random effect were used to investigate the association between the type of resistance test and virological response (HIV-1 RNA Results Of 1158 individuals with resistance tests 221 with GRT+rPRT and 937 with GRT were eligible for analysis. Overall virological response rates were 85.1% for GRT+rPRT and 81.4% for GRT. In the subgroup of patients with >2 previous failures, the odds ratio (OR for virological response of GRT+rPRT compared to GRT was 1.45 (95% CI 1.00-2.09. Multivariate analyses indicate a significant improvement with GRT+rPRT compared to GRT alone (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.31-2.15. Conclusions In heavily pre-treated patients rPRT-based resistance information adds benefit, contributing to a higher rate of treatment success.

Heavily T2-weighted MR myelography vs CT myelography in spontaneous intracranial hypotension.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y-F; Lirng, J-F; Fuh, J-L; Hseu, S-S; Wang, S-J

2009-12-01

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of heavily T2-weighted magnetic resonance myelography (MRM) in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). Patients with SIH were recruited prospectively, and first underwent MRM and then computed tomographic myelography (CTM). The results of MRM were validated with the gold standard, CTM, focusing on 1) CSF leaks along the nerve roots, 2) epidural CSF collections, and 3) high-cervical (C1-3) retrospinal CSF collections. Comparisons of these 3 findings between the 2 studies were made by kappa statistics and agreement rates. Targeted epidural blood patches (EBPs) were placed at the levels of CSF leaks if supportive treatment failed. Nineteen patients (6 men and 13 women, mean age 37.9 +/- 8.6 years) with SIH completed the study. MRM did not differ from CTM in the detection rates of CSF leaks along the nerve roots (84% vs 74%, p = 0.23), high-cervical retrospinal CSF collections (32% vs 16%, p = 0.13), and epidural CSF collections (89% vs 79%, p = 0.20). MRM demonstrated more spinal levels of CSF leaks (2.2 +/- 1.7 vs 1.5 +/- 1.5, p = 0.011) and epidural collections (12.2 +/- 5.9 vs 7.1 +/- 5.8, p localizing CSF leaks for patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. This noninvasive technique may be an alternative to computed tomographic myelography before targeted epidural blood patches.

In-Situ Creep Monitoring Using the Potential Drop Method

Science.gov (United States)

Madhi, E.; Sposito, G.; Davies, C. M.; Cawley, P.; Nagy, P. B.

2011-06-01

A directional low-frequency Alternating Current Potential Drop (ACPD) sensor was developed for in-situ monitoring of creep in metals. The sensor relies on a modified ACPD technique that measures simultaneously both values of resistance in the axial and lateral directions using a square electrode configuration. As compared to the more commonly used in-line electrode configuration, the square arrangement used in this sensor is much more directional and thus allows the detection of creep-induced anisotropy and texture. The technique monitors the variation in the ratio of the measured axial and lateral resistances, therefore can efficiently separate the mostly isotropic common part of the resistivity variation caused by reversible temperature variations from the mostly anisotropic differential part caused by direct geometrical and indirect material effects of creep. Initially, this ratio is roughly proportional to the axial creep strain, while at later stages, the resistance ratio increases even faster with creep strain because of the formation of directional discontinuities such as preferentially oriented grain boundary cavities and multiple-site microcracks in the material.

Preliminary Results From a Heavily Instrumented Engine Ice Crystal Icing Test in a Ground Based Altitude Test Facility

Science.gov (United States)

Flegel, Ashlie B.; Oliver, Michael J.

2016-01-01

Preliminary results from the heavily instrumented ALF502R-5 engine test conducted in the NASA Glenn Research Center Propulsion Systems Laboratory are discussed. The effects of ice crystal icing on a full scale engine is examined and documented. This same model engine, serial number LF01, was used during the inaugural icing test in the Propulsion Systems Laboratory facility. The uncommanded reduction of thrust (rollback) events experienced by this engine in flight were simulated in the facility. Limited instrumentation was used to detect icing on the LF01 engine. Metal temperatures on the exit guide vanes and outer shroud and the load measurement were the only indicators of ice formation. The current study features a similar engine, serial number LF11, which is instrumented to characterize the cloud entering the engine, detect/characterize ice accretion, and visualize the ice accretion in the region of interest. Data were acquired at key LF01 test points and additional points that explored: icing threshold regions, low altitude, high altitude, spinner heat effects, and the influence of varying the facility and engine parameters. For each condition of interest, data were obtained from some selected variations of ice particle median volumetric diameter, total water content, fan speed, and ambient temperature. For several cases the NASA in-house engine icing risk assessment code was used to find conditions that would lead to a rollback event. This study further helped NASA develop necessary icing diagnostic instrumentation, expand the capabilities of the Propulsion Systems Laboratory, and generate a dataset that will be used to develop and validate in-house icing prediction and risk mitigation computational tools. The ice accretion on the outer shroud region was acquired by internal video cameras. The heavily instrumented engine showed good repeatability of icing responses when compared to the key LF01 test points and during day-to-day operation. Other noticeable

Development of Field Information Monitoring System Based on the Internet of Things

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Ken; Liang, Xiaoying; Wang, Keqiang

With the rapid development and wide application of electronics, communication and embedded system technologies, the global agriculture is changing from traditional agriculture that is to improve the production relying on the increase of labor, agricultural inputs to the new stage of modern agriculture with low yields, high efficiency, real-time and accuracy. On the other hand the research and development of the Internet of Things, which is an information network to connect objects, with the full capacity to perceive objects, and having the capabilities of reliable transmission and intelligence processing for information, allows us to obtain real-time information of anything. The application of the Internet of Things in field information online monitoring is an effective solution for present wired sensor monitoring system, which has much more disadvantages, such as high cost, the problems of laying lines and so on. In this paper, a novel field information monitoring system based on the Internet of Things is proposed. It can satisfy the requirements of multi-point measurement, mobility, convenience in the field information monitoring process. The whole structure of system is given and the key designs of system design are described in the hardware and software aspect. The studies have expanded current field information measurement methods and strengthen the application of the Internet of Things.

Levels-of-processing effect on internal source monitoring in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ragland, J Daniel; McCarthy, Erin; Bilker, Warren B; Brensinger, Colleen M; Valdez, Jeffrey; Kohler, Christian; Gur, Raquel E; Gur, Ruben C

2006-05-01

Recognition can be normalized in schizophrenia by providing patients with semantic organizational strategies through a levels-of-processing (LOP) framework. However, patients may rely primarily on familiarity effects, making recognition less sensitive than source monitoring to the strength of the episodic memory trace. The current study investigates whether providing semantic organizational strategies can also normalize patients' internal source-monitoring performance. Sixteen clinically stable medicated patients with schizophrenia and 15 demographically matched healthy controls were asked to identify the source of remembered words following an LOP-encoding paradigm in which they alternated between processing words on a 'shallow' perceptual versus a 'deep' semantic level. A multinomial analysis provided orthogonal measures of item recognition and source discrimination, and bootstrapping generated variance to allow for parametric analyses. LOP and group effects were tested by contrasting recognition and source-monitoring parameters for words that had been encoded during deep versus shallow processing conditions. As in a previous study there were no group differences in LOP effects on recognition performance, with patients and controls benefiting equally from deep versus shallow processing. Although there were no group differences in internal source monitoring, only controls had significantly better performance for words processed during the deep encoding condition. Patient performance did not correlate with clinical symptoms or medication dose. Providing a deep processing semantic encoding strategy significantly improved patients' recognition performance only. The lack of a significant LOP effect on internal source monitoring in patients may reflect subtle problems in the relational binding of semantic information that are independent of strategic memory processes.

da Vinci decoded: does da Vinci stereopsis rely on disparity?

Science.gov (United States)

Tsirlin, Inna; Wilcox, Laurie M; Allison, Robert S

2012-11-01

In conventional stereopsis, the depth between two objects is computed based on the retinal disparity in the position of matching points in the two eyes. When an object is occluded by another object in the scene, so that it is visible only in one eye, its retinal disparity cannot be computed. Nakayama and Shimojo (1990) found that a precept of quantitative depth between the two objects could still be established for such stimuli and proposed that this precept is based on the constraints imposed by occlusion geometry. They named this and other occlusion-based depth phenomena "da Vinci stereopsis." Subsequent research found quantitative depth based on occlusion geometry in several other classes of stimuli grouped under the term da Vinci stereopsis. However, Nakayama and Shimojo's findings were later brought into question by Gillam, Cook, and Blackburn (2003), who suggested that quantitative depth in their stimuli was perceived based on conventional disparity. In order to understand whether da Vinci stereopsis relies on one type of mechanism or whether its function is stimulus dependent we examine the nature and source of depth in the class of stimuli used by Nakayama and Shimojo (1990). We use three different psychophysical and computational methods to show that the most likely source for depth in these stimuli is occlusion geometry. Based on these experiments and previous data we discuss the potential mechanisms responsible for processing depth from monocular features in da Vinci stereopsis.

NuSTAR observations of heavily obscured quasars at z ∼ 0.5

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lansbury, G. B.; Alexander, D. M.; Moro, A. Del; Gandhi, P.; Aird, J. [Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Assef, R. J. [Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército Libertador 441, Santiago (Chile); Stern, D. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Mail Stop 169-221, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Ballantyne, D. R. [Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 (United States); Baloković, M.; Grefenstette, B. W.; Harrison, F. A. [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, 1216 East California Boulevard, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Bauer, F. E. [Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22 (Chile); Boggs, S. E. [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Brandt, W. N. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Christensen, F. E.; Craig, W. W. [DTU Space-National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327, DK-2800 Lyngby (Denmark); Elvis, M. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Hailey, C. J. [Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, 550 W 120th Street, Columbia University, NY 10027 (United States); Hickox, R. C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States); Koss, M., E-mail: g.b.lansbury@durham.ac.uk [Institute for Astronomy, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, CH-8093 Zurich (Switzerland); and others

2014-04-10

We present NuSTAR hard X-ray observations of three Type 2 quasars at z ≈ 0.4-0.5, optically selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Although the quasars show evidence for being heavily obscured, Compton-thick systems on the basis of the 2-10 keV to [O III] luminosity ratio and multiwavelength diagnostics, their X-ray absorbing column densities (N {sub H}) are poorly known. In this analysis, (1) we study X-ray emission at >10 keV, where X-rays from the central black hole are relatively unabsorbed, in order to better constrain N {sub H}. (2) We further characterize the physical properties of the sources through broad-band near-UV to mid-IR spectral energy distribution analyses. One of the quasars is detected with NuSTAR at >8 keV with a no-source probability of <0.1%, and its X-ray band ratio suggests near Compton-thick absorption with N {sub H} ≳ 5 × 10{sup 23} cm{sup –2}. The other two quasars are undetected, and have low X-ray to mid-IR luminosity ratios in both the low-energy (2-10 keV) and high-energy (10-40 keV) X-ray regimes that are consistent with extreme, Compton-thick absorption (N {sub H} ≳ 10{sup 24} cm{sup –2}). We find that for quasars at z ∼ 0.5, NuSTAR provides a significant improvement compared to lower energy (<10 keV) Chandra and XMM-Newton observations alone, as higher column densities can now be directly constrained.

Country Report. Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Lars Skov

2018-01-01

As a small, open economy Denmark has a pursued a distinct path of capitalist production that relies heavily on innovation in design, production and administration and, therefore, a deliberate dependency on sophisticated information technology and intellectual property. The state has long since...... and business community appears to rely less on penal prosecution than technology-driven and community-supported early warning. The state stresses prevention, detection and technical counter-measures through voluntary cooperation by affected public authorities and private enterprises; only in militarily...

RF Power Detector/Monitor Upgrade for the 500MHz Systems at the ALS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baptiste, K.

2003-01-01

Several systems rely on the accurate and linear detection of 500 MHz signals, (the fundamental frequency of both the Booster Ring and Storage Ring) over a dynamic range in excess of 25dB. Prior to this upgrade, the detector/monitor was diode based and though this type of detector could handle the dynamic range requirement it could not do so in an accurate and linear manner. In order to meet the requirements (dynamic range greater than or equal to 25dB, accurate and linear to +-0.25dB over the range, and additional circuitry to interface to the legacy control system and interlocks), a new RF Power Detector/Monitor has been developed using two AD8361, Analog Devices Tru RMS Detectors and a fuzzy comparator, which extends the overall detector's range to twice that of the AD8361. Further information is available [www.analogedevices.com/]. Details of the design requirements and the detector/monitor's circuit as well as the performance of the detector will be presented

Potential Use of Passive Sampling for Environmental Monitoring of Petroleum E&P Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Traditional environmental monitoring relies on water or soil samples being taken at various time increments and sent to offsite laboratories for analysis. Reliance on grab samples generally captures limited “snapshots” of environmental contaminant concentrations, is time intensive, costly, and generates residual waste from excess sample and/or reagents used in the analysis procedures. As an alternative, we are evaluating swellable organosilica sorbents to create passive sampling systems for monitoring applications. Previous work has focused on absorption and detection of fuels, chlorinated solvents, endocrine disruptors, explosives, pesticides, fluorinated chemicals, and metals including Ba, Sr, Hg, Pb, Fe, Cu, and Zn. The advantages of swellable organosilica are that the material cancapture target compounds for an extended periods of time, does not absorb natural organic matter, and resists biofilm formation since the sorbent possesses an animated surface morphology.

Towards an Intelligent Monitoring System for Patients with Obstrusive Sleep Apnea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xavier Rafael-Palou

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Due to the growing incidence of chronic diseases and aging populations, the pressure to control costs and the expectations of continuous improvements in the quality of service have increased the need to understand how healthcare is provided and to determine whether cost-effective improvements to care practices can be made. In the case of people suffering Obstructive Sleep Apnea, patients using self-administer nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP may receive information on the treatment only once they go to a visit with the lung specialist. In this paper, we propose an IoT-based Intelligent Monitoring System that relies on machine learning to achieve a threefold goal: (1 it is aimed at early detecting compliance in order to predict CPAP usage; (2 it monitors the actual adherence degree to the treatment to keep informed both the patient and the lung specialists; and (3 it sends recommendations to the patient to empower her/him and to better follow up.

Office Visits to Monitor Stimulant Medication Safety and Efficacy: Recommended Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Zima, Bonnie T; Norquist, Grayson S; Altchuler, Steven I; Behrens, Jacob; Iles-Shih, Matthew D; Ng, Yiu Kee Warren; Schaepper, Mary Ann

2018-06-01

The clinical guidance based on the research article, "Specific Components of Pediatricians' Medication-Related Care Predict Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Improvement," published in the June 2017 issue, 1 might be premature. The authors, Epstein et al., suggest that "Physicians do not need to necessarily rely on office visits to monitor medication response and side effects in the week(s) after initially prescribing medication, but instead could use phone calls or email correspondence to check in with the family" (p. 489). However, this advice has the potential to be misinterpreted that phone or email contact is acceptable clinical practice to monitor stimulant medication safety and efficacy, especially during the maintenance phase. It also could be erroneously interpreted that phone or email contact is sufficient for follow-up care for children receiving medication treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for national quality measures. Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Coordinated bird monitoring: Technical recommendations for military lands

Science.gov (United States)

Bart, Jonathan; Manning, Ann; Fischer, Richard; Eberly, Chris

2012-01-01

following these procedures, DoD will minimize the possibility for a proposed action to unintentionally take migratory birds at a level that would violate any of the migratory bird treaties and potentially impact mission activities. In addition, implementing conservation and monitoring programs for migratory birds supports the ecosystem integrity necessary to sustain DoD's natural resources for the military mission.Non-compliance with the procedural requirements of the MBTA could result in a private party lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). A lawsuit filed under APA involving a Navy bombing range is the basis for a court ruling that unintentional take of migratory birds applies to federal actions. Ensuring the necessary data is available to adequately assess impacts of a proposed action will help avoid lawsuits or help ensure such lawsuits have no grounds. The data gathered in a bird monitoring program will provide the best scientific data available to assess the expected impacts of a proposed action on migratory bird species through the NEPA process. This report presents recommendations developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the Department of Defense (DoD) on establishing a "Coordinated Bird Monitoring (CBM) Plan." The CBM Plan is intended to ensure that DoD meets its conservation and regulatory responsibilities for monitoring birds (Chapter 1). The report relies heavily on recommendations in the report, "Opportunities for improving avian monitoring" (http://www.nabci-us.org/aboutnabci/monitoringreportfinal0307.pdf), by the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative (U.S. NABCI Monitoring Subcommittee, 2007) and on a review of 358 current DoD bird monitoring programs carried out as part of this project (Chapter 2). This report contains 12 recommendations which, if followed, would result in a comprehensive, efficient, and useful approach to bird monitoring. The recommendations are based on the entire report but are presented together at

Food consumption and nutrition in the Kenya Coast

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaver, W.; Mwadime, R.K.N.

1998-01-01

For a sizeable portion of Kenya's coastal population food security is not assured. Furthermore, the current food pattern, which relies heavily on maize and cassava, is lacking in dietary quality and variety. This results in nutritional problems among the population which are partly hidden, but which

Identifying the Factors That Influence Change in SEBD Using Logistic Regression Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Camilleri, Liberato; Cefai, Carmel

2013-01-01

Multiple linear regression and ANOVA models are widely used in applications since they provide effective statistical tools for assessing the relationship between a continuous dependent variable and several predictors. However these models rely heavily on linearity and normality assumptions and they do not accommodate categorical dependent…

Joint default probabilities and country risk

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholtens, Bert; Hameeteman, Daphne

2003-01-01

The assessment of country risk is of crucial importance for both developing countries and international lenders and investors. Many existing country risk approaches are opaque and heavily rely on subjective choices. In general, they lack a theoretical basis. To assess country risk, we use the Merton

Joint default probabilities and sovereign risk

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholtens, Bert; Hameeteman, Daphne

2007-01-01

The assessment of sovereign risk is of crucial importance for international lenders and investors. Many existing sovereign risk approaches are opaque and heavily rely on subjective choices. In general, they lack a theoretical basis. To assess sovereign risk, we use the Merton model in which a loan

Effects of the Meetings-Flow Approach on Quality Teamwork in the Training of Software Capstone Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chung-Yang; Hong, Ya-Chun; Chen, Pei-Chi

2014-01-01

Software development relies heavily on teamwork; determining how to streamline this collaborative development is an essential training subject in computer and software engineering education. A team process known as the meetings-flow (MF) approach has recently been introduced in software capstone projects in engineering programs at various…

Understanding Student Recommendations to Attend NIACC

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Michael C.

2008-01-01

Successful organizations, both public and private, rely heavily on "word-of-mouth recommendations" for their products and services. Financial viability of any organization depends profoundly on formal and informal networks of customers who pass their assessments of an organization's performance to acquaintances, friends and families.…

iLearning: The Future of Higher Education? Student Perceptions on Learning with Mobile Tablets

Science.gov (United States)

Rossing, Jonathan P.; Miller, Willie M.; Cecil, Amanda K.; Stamper, Suzan E.

2012-01-01

The growing use of mobile technology on college campuses suggests the future of the classroom, including learning activities, research, and even student faculty communications, will rely heavily on mobile technology. Since Fall 2010, an interdisciplinary team of faculty from Indiana University--Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has…

Reallocating Human Resources to Maximize Student Achievement: A Critical Case Study of a Southern California School District

Science.gov (United States)

Glazener, Adrianna Kathleen

2013-01-01

This study applied the Evidence-Based Model (Odden & Picus, 2008) as a framework for determining how district leadership could potentially reallocate human resources to maximize the opportunity for student achievement, relying heavily on the ten strategies for doubling student performance (Odden, 2009; Odden & Archibald, 2009) and the…

Impact of Time Expenditure on Household Preferences for Cooking Fuels

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Das, Karabee; Hiloidhari, Moonmoon; Baruah, Deben C; Nonhebel, Sanderine

2018-01-01

Access to energy for cooking is one of the major challenges that rural India faces. Most of the rural households of North-Eastern India rely heavily upon fuelwood and traditional open-fire cookstoves for cooking activities. And everyday collection of fuelwood is time-consuming. Hence, women often

Educators' Experiences of Inclusive Learning Contexts: An Exploration of Competencies

Science.gov (United States)

Magare, Ishmael; Kitching, Ansie Elizabeth; Roos, Vera

2010-01-01

The successful implementation of inclusive education relies heavily on educators. Inclusive education is based on values such as human dignity, equality, human rights and freedom. The complexity of the interactive relationships between different systems, such as learners, educators, families, schools and the learning context, was recognised in…

Ethnic Resources Utilization of Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs in the Chicago Minority Area.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kwang Chung; Hurh, Won Moo

1985-01-01

Korean entrepreneurs rely heavily on their ethnic resources for both business formation and operation. While such resource utilization facilitates immigrants' business entry and gives them competitive advantage in the general marketplace, the same mechanism poses the problems of entra-ethnic business competition and precarious position as a…

Climate change and drought risks for agriculture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhagen, J.; Put, M.; Zaal, F.; Keulen, van H.

2004-01-01

Changes in rainfall patterns and risk of crop failure are discussed in this chapter. Agriculture is by far the most important economic activity in the region. The success of this economic activity relies heavily on water availability during the growing season. For rainfed production systems timing

76 FR 45491 - Creation of a Low Power Radio Service; Amendment of Service and Eligibility Rules for FM...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-29

... Bureau study, the validity of its methodology and its relevance in informing our translator dismissal... preemption by full-service stations. LPFM stations also face potential displacement from full service... processing plan rely heavily on Arbitron market definitions. In this regard we note that the DC Circuit has...

Australian Educational Institutions International Markets: A Correspondence Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Mazzarol, Timothy W.; Soutar, Geoffrey N.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The global market for international students have become highly competitive and many institutions, particularly higher education institutions, rely heavily on fee income from overseas students. This study aims to examine the countries from which Australian education institutions draw such students and used this information to better…

A Quantitative Study on the Relationship of Information Security Policy Awareness, Enforcement, and Maintenance to Information Security Program Effectiveness

Science.gov (United States)

Francois, Michael T.

2016-01-01

Today's organizations rely heavily on information technology to conduct their daily activities. Therefore, their information security systems are an area of heightened security concern. As a result, organizations implement information security programs to address and mitigate that concern. However, even with the emphasis on information security,…

Characterization of the LM5 pectic galactan epitope with synthetic analogues of β-1,4-d-galactotetraose

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Mathias Christian Franch; Boos, Irene; Marcus, Susan E.

2016-01-01

Plant cell wall glycans are important polymers that are crucial to plant development and serve as an important source of sustainable biomass. The study of polysaccharides in the plant cell wall relies heavily on monoclonal antibodies for localization and visualization of glycans, using e.g. Immun...

Do Local Contributions Affect the Efficacy of Public Primary Schools?

Science.gov (United States)

Jimenez, Emmanuel; Paqueo, Vicente

1996-01-01

Uses cost, financial sources, and student achievement data from Philippine primary schools (financed primarily from central sources) to discover if financial decentralization leads to more efficient schools. Schools that rely more heavily on local sources (contributions from local school boards, municipal government, parent-teacher associations,…

78 FR 5771 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-28

..., Office of Management and Budget (OMB), New Executive Office Building, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC... Title: List Sampling Frame Survey. OMB Control Number: 0535-0140. Summary of Collection: General... statistics. To accomplish this objective, NASS relies heavily on the use of sample surveys statistically...

Human automation integration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barnes, M.; Cosenzo, K.; Galster, s.; Hollnagel, E.; Miller, C.; Parasuraman, R.; Reising, J.; Taylor, R.; Breda, L. van

2007-01-01

Many versions of future concept of operations (CONOPS) rely heavily on UMVs. The pressure to take the human out of immediate control of these vehicles is being driven by several factors. These factors include a reduction in cost for the production and maintenance of the vehicle, operational

Holistic Indexing in Main-memory Column-stores

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Petraki (Eleni); S. Idreos (Stratos); S. Manegold (Stefan)

2015-01-01

textabstractGreat database systems performance relies heavily on index tuning, i.e., creating and utilizing the best indices depending on the workload. However, the complexity of the index tuning process has dramatically increased in recent years due to ad-hoc workloads and shortage of time and

Unparalleled sample treatment throughput for proteomics workflows relying on ultrasonic energy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jorge, Susana; Araújo, J E; Pimentel-Santos, F M; Branco, Jaime C; Santos, Hugo M; Lodeiro, Carlos; Capelo, J L

2018-02-01

We report on the new microplate horn ultrasonic device as a powerful tool to speed proteomics workflows with unparalleled throughput. 96 complex proteomes were digested at the same time in 4min. Variables such as ultrasonication time, ultrasonication amplitude, and protein to enzyme ratio were optimized. The "classic" method relying on overnight protein digestion (12h) and the sonoreactor-based method were also employed for comparative purposes. We found the protein digestion efficiency homogeneously distributed in the entire microplate horn surface using the following conditions: 4min sonication time and 25% amplitude. Using this approach, patients with lymphoma and myeloma were classified using principal component analysis and a 2D gel-mass spectrometry based approach. Furthermore, we demonstrate the excellent performance by using MALDI-mass spectrometry based profiling as a fast way to classify patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and ankylosing spondylitis. Finally, the speed and simplicity of this method were demonstrated by clustering 90 patients with knee osteoarthritis disease (30), with a prosthesis (30, control group) and healthy individuals (30) with no history of joint disease. Overall, the new approach allows profiling a disease in just one week while allows to match the minimalism rules as outlined by Halls. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unrestricted release measurements with ambient air ionization monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacArthur, D.; Gunn, R.; Dockray, T.; Luff, C.

1999-01-01

Radiation monitoring systems based on the long-range alpha detection (LRAD) technique, such as the BNFL Instruments IonSens trademark, provide a single contamination measurement for an entire object rather than the more familiar individual readings for smaller surface areas. The LRAD technique relies on the ionization of ambient air molecules by alpha particles, and the subsequent detection of these ions, rather than direct detection of the alpha particles themselves. A single monitor can detect all of the ions produced over a large object and report a total contamination level for the entire surface of that object. However, both the unrestricted release limits specified in USDOE Order 5400.5 (and similar documents in other countries), and the definitions of radioactive waste categories, are stated in terms of contamination per area. Thus, conversion is required between the total effective contamination as measured by the LRAD-based detector and the allowable release limits. In addition, since the release limits were not written assuming an averaging detector system, the method chosen to average the assumed contamination over the object can have a significant impact on the effective sensitivity of the detector

Epibenthic diversity and productivity on a heavily trawled Barents Sea bank (Tromsøflaket

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monika Kędra

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Shallow Arctic banks have been observed to harbour rich communities of epifaunal organisms, but have not been well-studied with respect to composition or function due to sampling challenges. In order to determine how these banks function in the Barents Sea ecosystem, we used a combination of video and trawl/dredge sampling at several locations on a heavily trawled bank, Tromsøflaket – located at the southwestern entrance to the Barents Sea. We describe components of the benthic community, and calculate secondary production of dominant epifaunal organisms. Forty-six epibenthic taxa were identified, and sponges were a significant part of the surveyed benthic communities. There were differences in diversity and production among areas, mainly related to the intensity of trawling activities. Gamma was the most diverse and productive area, with highest species abundance and biomass. Trawled areas had considerably lower species numbers, and significant differences in epifaunal abundance and biomass were found between all trawled and untrawled areas. Trawling seems to have an impact on the sponge communities: mean individual poriferan biomass was higher in untrawled areas, and, although poriferans were observed in areas subjected to more intensive trawling, they were at least five times less frequent than in untrawled areas.

Road Environments: Impact of Metals on Human Health in Heavily Congested Cities of Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Adamiec, Ewa

2017-06-29

Road dust as a by-product of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions can be a major cause of systemic oxidative stress and multiple disorders. Substantial amounts of road dust are repeatedly resuspended, in particular at traffic lights and junctions where more braking is involved, causing potential threat to pedestrians, especially children. In order to determine the degree of contamination in the heavily traffic-congested cities of Poland, a total of 148 samples of road dust (RD), sludge from storm drains (SL) and roadside soil (RS) were collected. Sixteen metals were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in all samples. Chemical evaluation followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that road environments have been severely contaminated with traffic-related elements. Concentration of copper in all road-environment samples is even higher, exceeding even up to 15 times its average concentrations established for the surrounding soils. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment revealed that the hazard index (HI) for children in all road-environment samples exceeds the safe level of 1. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to potential health risks caused by the ingestion of traffic-related particles during outdoor activities.

Comparison of the Thermal Degradation of Heavily Nb-Doped and Normal PZT Thin Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jeong-Suong; Kang, YunSung; Kang, Inyoung; Lim, SeungMo; Shin, Seung-Joo; Lee, JungWon; Hur, Kang Heon

2017-03-01

The degradation of niobium-doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and two types of PZT thin films were investigated. Undoped PZT, two-step PZT, and heavily Nb-doped PZT (PNZT) around the morphotropic phase boundary were in situ deposited under optimum condition by RF-magnetron sputtering. All 2- [Formula: see text]-thick films had dense perovskite columnar grain structure and self-polarized (100) dominant orientation. PZT thin films were deposited on Pt/TiO x bottom electrode on Si wafer, and PNZT thin film was on Ir/TiW electrode with the help of orientation control. Sputtered PZT films formed on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscope and the degradation rates were compared at different temperatures. PNZT showed the best resistance to the thermal degradation, followed by two-step PZT. To clarify the effect of oxygen vacancies on the degradation of the film at high temperature, photoluminescence measurement was conducted, which confirmed that oxygen vacancy rate was the lowest in heavy PNZT. Nb-doping PZT thin films suppressed the oxygen deficit and made high imprint with self-polarization. This defect distribution and high internal field allowed PNZT thin film to make the piezoelectric sensors more stable and reliable at high temperature, such as reflow process of MEMS packaging.

Spectral Indices to Monitor Nitrogen-Driven Carbon Uptake in Field Corn

Science.gov (United States)

Corp, Lawrence A.; Middleton, Elizabeth M.; Campbell, Peya E.; Huemmrich, K. Fred; Daughtry, Craig S. T.; Russ, Andrew; Cheng, Yen-Ben

2010-01-01

Climate change is heavily impacted by changing vegetation cover and productivity with large scale monitoring of vegetation only possible with remote sensing techniques. The goal of this effort was to evaluate existing reflectance (R) spectroscopic methods for determining vegetation parameters related to photosynthetic function and carbon (C) dynamics in plants. Since nitrogen (N) is a key constituent of photosynthetic pigments and C fixing enzymes, biological C sequestration is regulated in part by N availability. Spectral R information was obtained from field corn grown at four N application rates (0, 70, 140, 280 kg N/ha). A hierarchy of spectral observations were obtained: leaf and canopy with a spectral radiometer; aircraft with the AISA sensor; and satellite with EO-1 Hyperion. A number of spectral R indices were calculated from these hyperspectral observations and compared to geo-located biophysical measures of plant growth and physiological condition. Top performing indices included the R derivative index D730/D705 and the normalized difference of R750 vs. R705 (ND705), both of which differentiated three of the four N fertilization rates at multiple observation levels and yielded high correlations to these carbon parameters: light use efficiency (LUE); C:N ratio; and crop grain yield. These results advocate the use of hyperspectral sensors for remotely monitoring carbon cycle dynamics in managed terrestrial ecosystems.

[Zeme, vara un reliģija viduslaikos un jaunajas laikos Baltijas jūras reģionā] / Marija Golubeva

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Golubeva, Marija, 1973-

2011-01-01

Arvustus: Zeme, vara un reliģija viduslaikos un jaunajas laikos Baltijas jūras reģionā / Hrsg. von Andris Šnē. Acta Universitatis Latviensis ; 725. (Riga: Verlag Latvijas Universitātes Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2009)

4D monitoring of actively failing rockslopes

Science.gov (United States)

Rosser, Nick; Williams, Jack; Hardy, Richard; Brain, Matthew

2017-04-01

Assessing the conditions which promote rockfall to collapse relies upon detailed monitoring, ideally before, during and immediately after failure. With standard repeat surveys it is common that surveys do not coincide with or capture precursors, or that surveys are widely spaced relative to the timing and duration of driving forces such as storms. As a result gaining insight into the controls on failure and the timescales over which precursors operate remains difficult to establish with certainty, and establishing direct links between environmental conditions and rock-falls, or sequences of events prior to rockfall, remain difficult to define. To address this, we present analysis of a high-frequency 3D laser scan dataset captured using a new permanently installed system developed to constantly monitor actively failing rock slopes. The system is based around a time of flight laser scanner, integrated with and remotely controlled by dedicated controls and analysis software. The system is configured to capture data at 0.1 m spacing across > 22,000 m3 at up to 30 minute intervals. Here we present results captured with this system over a period of 9 months, spanning spring to winter 2015. Our analysis is focussed upon improving the understanding of the nature of small (volumetric measurement of rock face erosion. The results hold implications for understanding of rockfall mechanics, but also for how actively eroding surfaces can be monitored at high temporal frequency. Whilst high frequency data is ideal for describing processes that evolve rapidly through time, the cumulative errors that accumulate when monitored changes are dominated by inverse power-law distributed volumes are significant. To conclude we consider the benefits of defining survey frequency on the basis of the changes being detected relative to the accumulation of errors that inevitably arises when comparing high numbers of sequential surveys.

Improvement on p-type CVD diamond semiconducting properties by fabricating thin heavily-boron-doped multi-layer clusters isolated each other in unintentionally boron-doped diamond layer

Science.gov (United States)

Maida, Osamu; Tabuchi, Tomohiro; Ito, Toshimichi

2017-12-01

We have developed a new fabrication process to decrease the effective activation energy of B atoms doped in diamond without a significant decrease in the carrier mobility by fabricating heavily B-doped clusters with very low mobility which are embedded in lightly-B-doped diamond layers. The resistivities of the heavily B-doped and unintentionally B-doped diamond stacked layers had almost no temperature dependence, suggesting the presence of an impurity-band conduction in these diamond layers. On the other hand, the resistivities of the samples after the embedding growth process of the stacked layers that had been appropriately divided to innumerable small clusters by means of a suitable etching process increased with decreasing the temperature from 330 to 130 K. The effective activation energies and Hall mobilities at room temperature of both samples were estimated to be 0.21 eV, 106 cm2 V-1 s-1 for micron-sized clusters and 0.23 eV, 470 cm2 V-1 s-1 for nano-sized clusters, respectively, indicating that the diamond film structure fabricated in this work is effective for the improvement of the p-type performance for the B-doped CVD diamond.

Self-monitoring of blood glucose in diabetes mellitus: arguments for an individualized approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Nauck, Michael A; El-Ouaghlidi, Andrea; Vardarli, Irfan

2009-09-01

The utility of glucose self-monitoring in different types and stages of diabetes is controversial, as there is only sparse relevant evidence from randomized controlled clinical trials. In this analysis, the authors aim to develop individualized recommendations based on clinical needs and the available literature. The PubMed database was searched for articles that appeared up to 30 September 2008 containing the terms "measurement," "control","monitoring," and "hypoglycemia"; the retrieved articles were supplemented by other articles that were cited in them. A directed search was also made for the recommendations of the German, European, American, and international diabetological societies. Conclusions were then drawn about the useful modalities and extent of glucose self-monitoring on the basis of the clinical features of the major types of diabetes and the main treatment strategies for them. With the exception of intensified treatment strategies (which rely on blood-sugar regulation with insulin), only a few evidence-based recommendations can be derived from randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses. Nonetheless, a strategy for self-monitoring according to the patient's individual needs can be derived from the characteristics of therapeutic regimens: depending on the type of diabetes from which the patient suffers, the predicted number of glucometer strips required for self-monitoring will vary from almost none to roughly 400 per month. The decision to use glucose self-monitoring, as well as the type and extent of self-monitoring that will be used, should be based on the individual patient's type of diabetes, treatment regimen, and clinical characteristics. Like any other type of therapeutic intervention, self-monitoring should have a well-documented, rational justification.

Atmospheric depositions around a heavily industrialized area in a seasonally dry tropical environment of India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Raj Kumar; Agrawal, Madhoolika

2005-01-01

Clear and throughfall bulk depositions were collected in the downwind of a highly industrialized region in Sonbhadra district of India to estimate the influence of anthropogenic activities on chemical composition of depositions. Significant spatial and temporal variations in depositions of cations and anions were observed. Depositions were higher near the thermal power stations and coalmines as compared to distantly situated site. Seasonally summer samples showed maximum cation and anion depositions followed by winter and minimum in rainy season. The mean pH of the depositions indicates that rainfall in the area is alkaline. Among the anions, maximum deposition was recorded for SO 4 2- followed by NO 3 - and minimum for Cl - . Among the cations, Ca 2+ deposition was maximum followed by NH 4 + . Na + , K + and Mg 2+ deposition rates showed more or less similar values. The depositions of cations and anions as well as pH were higher in throughfall than clearfall samples. Results of the present study suggest that atmospheric depositions are strongly modified due to thermal power stations and coal mines in the area. - Atmospheric abundance of cations have neutralized the acidity of depositions around a heavily industrialized area in India

Impaired serum inhibin-B and number of germ cells in boys with cryptorchidism following heavily gestational maternal smoking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hildorf, Simone; Clasen-Linde, Erik; Dong, Lihua

2018-01-01

heavily (>10 cigarettes/day) during pregnancy with age matched cryptorchid controls of nonsmoking mothers (1:6). We studied: birthweight, germ-cell number/tubular cross section, frequency of germ cells positive for placental-like alkaline phosphatase (PLAP), gonadotropins and inhibin-B. RESULTS: 501 boys...... were sons of nonsmokers, 72 boys of intermittent smokers and 28 boys of heavy smokers. 39%, 44% and 61% respectively had bilateral cryptorchidism. Compared to age-matched cryptorchid controls of nonsmoking mothers, sons of heavy smokers had lower birthweight (p = 0.006), germ-cell number/tubular cross...... could add detailed knowledge to the impact of maternal gestational smoking on pathogenesis of cryptorchidism. METHODS: 601 cryptorchid boys aged 4 months to 14 years old were included. Because normal hormones have a pronounced age dependency, we compared results from boys whose mothers had smoked...

Qualitative Investigation into Students' Use of Divergence and Curl in Electromagnetism

Science.gov (United States)

Bollen, Laurens; van Kampen, Paul; Baily, Charles; De Cock, Mieke

2016-01-01

Many students struggle with the use of mathematics in physics courses. Although typically well trained in rote mathematical calculation, they often lack the ability to apply their acquired skills to physical contexts. Such student difficulties are particularly apparent in undergraduate electrodynamics, which relies heavily on the use of vector…

Educating for an Entrepreneurial Career: Developing Opportunity-Recognition Ability

Science.gov (United States)

Sardeshmukh, Shruti R.; Smith-Nelson, Ronda M.

2011-01-01

Entrepreneurship as a career option has become increasingly desirable, and there is a real need to develop an opportunity-oriented entrepreneurial mindset among tertiary students. Current entrepreneurship education heavily relies on the linear process of business planning and rarely encourages the complex and non-linear thinking patterns necessary…

Linked data for transaction based enterprise interoperability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Folmer, E.J.A.; Krukkert, D.

2015-01-01

Interoperability is of major importance in B2B environments. Starting with EDI in the ‘80s, currently interoperability relies heavily on XMLbased standards. Although having great impact, still issues remain to be solved for improving B2B interoperability. These issues include lack of dynamics, cost

Impact of a Short Intervention on Novices' Categorization Criteria

Science.gov (United States)

Docktor, Jennifer L.; Mestre, Jose P.; Ross, Brian H.

2012-01-01

Research on physics problem categorization has established that proficient problem solvers are able to group together physics problems that would be solved by similar principles and use conceptual approaches when solving problems, whereas weak solvers rely more heavily upon surface features (objects, contexts, and quantities provided) to identify…

Analysis of Access Control Policies in Operating Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hong

2009-01-01

Operating systems rely heavily on access control mechanisms to achieve security goals and defend against remote and local attacks. The complexities of modern access control mechanisms and the scale of policy configurations are often overwhelming to system administrators and software developers. Therefore, mis-configurations are common, and the…

The Role of Speech Prosody and Text Reading Prosody in Children's Reading Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Veenendaal, Nathalie J.; Groen, Margriet A.; Verhoeven, Ludo

2014-01-01

Background: Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody--which is independent from reading skills--in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could…

National Intelligence Survey. Spain. Section 23. Weather and Climate

Science.gov (United States)

1963-07-01

on to successor organiza- tions. In 1934 the meteorological services were organized as the Servicio Meteorolögico Nacional (S.M.N.). Spain became a...service’s communications system for collecting data relies heavily on tele- phone, telegraph, and CW-radio broadcasts. A micro -wave radio teletype

Salinity guidelines for irrigation: Case studies from Water Research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the entire fruit and wine industries are dependent on irrigation. Cropping in the Eastern and Northern Cape also relies heavily on irrigation. ..... The soils were described as deep, fine sandy, dominantly red, ..... crops. For example, leaves of deciduous fruit trees (apri- ..... Laboratory Handbook 60, USDA, Washington. 160 pp.

Why Should I Use University Library Website Resources? Discipline Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yong-Mi

2011-01-01

Users across academic disciplines utilize different information sources based on the resource's usefulness and relevance. This study's findings show that users from arts and sciences disciplines are much more likely to utilize university library website resources and printed materials than business users who heavily rely on commercial websites.…

Research

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Kimberley Hospital Complex is a 657-bed tertiary healthcare facility in the Northern Cape ... imperative to obtain a baseline profile of the potential clinician teachers at the institution. ... Community-based education relies heavily on family ... qualifications were obtained in Cuba (n=5), Pakistan (n=3), Brazil, Ghana,. Nigeria ...

CDF [Collider Detector at Fermilab] detector simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freeman, J.

1987-12-01

The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) uses several different simulation programs, each tuned for specific applications. The programs rely heavily on the extensive test beam data that CDF has accumulated. Sophisticated shower parameterizations are used, yielding enormous gains in speed over full cascade programs. 3 refs., 5 figs

Implications of Counter-Attitudinal Information Exposure in Further Information- Seeking and Attitude Change

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sangwon

2017-01-01

Introduction: Given that people rely heavily on their party affiliation to make their political decisions, an interesting dilemma occurs when people are exposed to counter-attitudinal information from the party they identify with. This paper examines how exposure to counter-attitudinal messages from the party an individual identifies with…

A Solder Based Self Assembly Project in an Introductory IC Fabrication Course

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Madhav; Lusth, John C.; Burkett, Susan L.

2015-01-01

Integrated circuit (IC) fabrication principles is an elective course in a senior undergraduate and early graduate student's curriculum. Over the years, the semiconductor industry relies heavily on students with developed expertise in the area of fabrication techniques, learned in an IC fabrication theory and laboratory course. The theory course…

76 FR 13201 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 1660-0039; FEMA...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-10

... serve as models of excellence and state and local fire service agencies rely heavily on the curriculum to train their personnel. To maintain the quality of these training programs, it is critical that... individual job performance and the fire and emergency response department/community where the student works...

The Rhetorical Illusions of News

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peters, Chris; Broersma, Marcel

2017-01-01

; and so on and so forth. In sum: the conditioned reaction on questions about ‘what journalism is good for’ tends to lead back toward familiar rhetorics and rationales. Journalism’s normative claims rely heavily upon these established modernist discourses which serve to affirm its essential role within...

Non-Informed Consent Cultures: Privacy policies and app contracts on Facebook

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bechmann, Anja

2014-01-01

of consent practices on Facebook, the article argues that with the growing importance and use of these services the consent culture of the internet has turned into a blind non-informed consent culture, heavily relying on social incentives and group dynamics in decision-making that are not adequately...

The Bastardisation of History: Mythology and Transculturation in Tertius Kapp’s 'Rooiland'

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stuit, H.

2015-01-01

This article analyses Tertius Kapp’s play Rooiland (2013) from the per­spective of mythology and transculturation. The play takes place in an unspecified South African prison during an immanent gang war within its walls and relies heavily on prison gang histories, which are often referred to as

Conflict or Cooperation: The Use of Backchannelling in ELF Negotiations

Science.gov (United States)

Bjorge, Anne Kari

2010-01-01

The international business community relies heavily on English Lingua Franca (ELF) as a shared means of communication, and English business language programmes thus feature prominently within the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Business ESP programmes, however, have little focus on active listening, which previous research has…

Anomalous U(1)A and electroweak symmetry breaking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gogoladze, I.; Tsulaya, M.

2000-01-01

A new mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking in the supersymmetric Standard Model is suggested. Our suggestion is based on the presence of an anomalous U(1) A gauge symmetry, which naturally arises in the four-dimensional superstring theory, and heavily relies on the corresponding Fayet-Illiopoulos ξ-term

Piquing Student Curiosity with Title Pages from Works by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Lee Ann

2013-01-01

Long before public libraries, online bookstores that ship directly to our homes, technologies that enable the downloading of publications directly to mobile devices, and social networks supporting virtual book clubs, eighteenth-century book readers relied heavily on literary societies, subscription libraries, and the advice of and selections made…

Renal replacement therapy registries--time for a structured data quality evaluation programme

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Couchoud, Cécile; Lassalle, Mathilde; Cornet, Ronald; Jager, Kitty J.

2013-01-01

Registries in the area of renal replacement therapy (RRT) are intended to be a tool for epidemiological research, health care planning and improvement of quality of care. In this perspective, the value of a population-based RRT registry and its ability to achieve its goals rely heavily on the

Affecting Factors and Outcome on Intermittent Internet Pulling Behavior in Taiwan's Undergraduate Students

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui-Jen; Lay, Yun-Long

2011-01-01

Nowadays people's lives heavily rely on Internet facilities. Internet users generally have constant Internet connectivity and intermittently click on sites they want to access even amidst studying or working. In this study, we sought to examine the factors affecting intermittent Internet pulling behavior on undergraduate students. Furthermore, the…

Tunnel Vision in Population Research: A Case in Point.

Science.gov (United States)

Serron, Luis A.

This paper takes a critical look at a demographic study of Mexico, namely, Tad Fisher's "Mexico: The Problem of People". Fisher's study relies heavily on population growth as a poverty generating factor. The paper states that Fisher's study exhibited perceptual narrowness by not considering the Marxist interpretation that capitalist…

Bayesian Data Analysis (lecture 2)

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2018-01-01

framework but we will also go into more detail and discuss for example the role of the prior. The second part of the lecture will cover further examples and applications that heavily rely on the bayesian approach, as well as some computational tools needed to perform a bayesian analysis.

Bayesian Data Analysis (lecture 1)

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2018-01-01

framework but we will also go into more detail and discuss for example the role of the prior. The second part of the lecture will cover further examples and applications that heavily rely on the bayesian approach, as well as some computational tools needed to perform a bayesian analysis.

Charging electric cars from solar energy

OpenAIRE

Liang, Xusheng; Tanyi, Elvis; Zou, Xin

2016-01-01

Before vehicles were heavily relied on coal, fossil fuels and wind for power.  Now, they are rapidly being replaced by electric vehicles and or plug-in hybrid electric cars. But these electric cars are still faced with the problem of energy availability because they rely on energy from biomass, hydro power and wind turbines for power generation. The abundance of solar radiation and its use as solar energy as a power source in driving these rapidly increasing electric cars is not only an impor...

Oral etoposide in heavily pre-treated metastatic breast cancer: A retrospective series.

Science.gov (United States)

Giannone, G; Milani, A; Ghisoni, E; Genta, S; Mittica, G; Montemurro, F; Valabrega, G

2018-04-01

Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) can derive clinical benefit from several subsequent lines of chemotherapy. However, in heavily pre-treated patients, agents with clinical activity, a favourable side effects profile and a convenient administration modality are preferred. We retrospectively analyzed 110 patients with previously treated MBC, who received oral etoposide at the dose of 50 mg/day for 20 days in 28 days cycles, between 2003 and 2017. Because this was not a prospectively planned study, to describe the clinical performance of oral etoposide we adopted the approach suggested by Dzimitrowicz and colleagues (J Clin Oncol. 2016; 34:3511-17); Tumour Response (TR) was defined as the proportion of physician-reported clinical or imaging response; Prolonged Duration on Therapy (PDT) as the proportion of non-progressing patients whose treatment lasted more than 6 months. Furthermore, we evaluated median duration on therapy (TD) and median Overall Survival (OS) by the Kaplan Meier method. The median number of previous chemotherapy lines was 5 (range 2-8). TR, PDT, median TD and median OS were 6.4%, 18.2% 4 (range 3.5-4.5) and 10.6 (range 8.4-12.8) months respectively. Interestingly, etoposide activity was unrelated to the number of previous lines and type of metastatic involvement. Oral etoposide was well tolerated with only two patients discontinuing therapy due to toxicity. In this large, single Institution, real practice analysis oral etoposide is a valuable and safe option for pre-treated metastatic breast cancer patients and might be considered in patients failing other approaches, but still suitable for chemotherapy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bioremediation of soil heavily contaminated with crude oil and its products: composition of the microbial consortium

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JELENA S. MILIĆ

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Bioremediation, a process that utilizes the capability of microorganism to degrade toxic waste, is emerging as a promising technology for the treatment of soil and groundwater contamination. The technology is very effective in dealing with petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. The aim of this study was to examine the composition of the microbial consortium during the ex situ experiment of bioremediation of soil heavily contaminated with crude oil and its products from the Oil Refinery Pančevo, Serbia. After a 5.5-month experiment with biostimulation and bioventilation, the concentration of the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH had been reduced from 29.80 to 3.29 g/kg (89 %. In soil, the dominant microorganism population comprised Gram-positive bacteria from actinomycete-Nocardia group. The microorganisms which decompose hydrocarbons were the dominant microbial population at the end of the process, with a share of more than 80 % (range 107 CFU/g. On the basis of the results, it was concluded that a stable microbial community had been formed after initial fluctuations.

Assessment of public perception and environmental compliance at a pulp and paper facility: a Canadian case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Emma; Bernier, Meagan; Blotnicky, Brenden; Golden, Peter G; Janes, Jeffrey; Kader, Allison; Kovacs-Da Costa, Rachel; Pettipas, Shauna; Vermeulen, Sarah; Walker, Tony R

2015-12-01

Communities across Canada rely heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods. One such community in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, has both benefited and suffered, because of its proximity to a pulp and paper mill (currently owned by Northern Pulp). Since production began in 1967, there have been increasing impacts to the local environment and human health. Environmental reports funded by the mill were reviewed and compared against provincial and federal regulatory compliance standards. Reports contrasted starkly to societal perceptions of local impacts and independent studies. Most environmental monitoring reports funded by the mill indicate some levels of compliance in atmospheric and effluent emissions, but when compliance targets were not met, there was a lack of regulatory enforcement. After decades of local pollution impacts and lack of environmental compliance, corporate social responsibility initiatives need implementing for the mill to maintain its social licence to operate.

Linking requirements with capabilities for deforestation monitoring in the context of the UNFCCC-REDD process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herold, Martin; Johns, Tracy

2007-01-01

As the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change nears the end of a two-year period of evaluation of the issue of reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries, participating countries have agreed on the need to address this globally important source of greenhouse gas emissions. Negotiations on policy frameworks to monitor and reduce deforestation rely on an understanding of the scientific and technical capacity to support these efforts. Current UNFCCC programs to improve observation of land and forest cover change can provide valuable input to a future policy mechanism focusing on deforestation emissions from developing countries. Countries participating in the current debate have officially referenced the value of remote sensing tools and methods for deforestation monitoring, and have identified specific needs and goals related to their implementation. Based on these identified needs, this paper outlines recommendations for a monitoring framework that can be globally applied with sufficient levels of accuracy and certainty. This framework can serve as a starting point for monitoring programs, and can be modified in response to expected progress in establishing an international policy framework for reducing emissions from deforestation

Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nemet, Gregory F. [La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin, 1225 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)]|[Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53726 (United States)

2009-03-15

The combination of substantial public funding of nascent energy technologies and recent increases in the costs of those that have been most heavily supported has raised questions about whether policy makers should sustain, alter, enhance, or terminate such programs. This paper uses experience curves for photovoltaics (PV) and wind to (1) estimate ranges of costs for these public programs and (2) introduce new ways of evaluating recent cost dynamics. For both technology cases, the estimated costs of the subsidies required to reach targets are sensitive to the choice of time period on which cost projections are based. The variation in the discounted social cost of subsidies exceeds an order of magnitude. Vigilance is required to avoid the very expensive outcomes contained within these distributions of social costs. Two measures of the significance of recent deviations are introduced. Both indicate that wind costs are within the expected range of prior forecasts but that PV costs are not. The magnitude of the public funds involved in these programs heightens the need for better analytical tools with which to monitor and evaluate cost dynamics. (author)

Profile distortion by beam space-charge in Ionization Profile Monitors

CERN Document Server

Vilsmeier, D; Wettig, T

Measuring the transverse beam size in the Large Hadron Collider by using Ionization Profile Monitors is a difficult task for energies above injection during the energy ramp from 450 GeV to 6.5TeV. The beam size decreases from around 1mm to 200um and the brightness of the beam is high enough to destroy the structure of any form of interacting matter. While the electron trajectories are confined by an external electro-magnetic field which forces the electrons accordingly on helix paths with certain gyroradii, this gyration is heavily increased under the influence of the electric field of the beam. Smaller beam sizes, which go hand in hand with increased bunch electric fields, lead to larger gyroradii of the ionized electrons, which results in strongly distorted profiles. In addition, this distortion becomes more visible for smaller beam sizes as the extent of gyration grows compared to the actual beam size. Depending on the initial momentum distribution of the electrons, emerging from the ionization process wit...

Effects of thin heavily Mg-doped GaN capping layer on ohmic contact formation of p-type GaN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, L L; Zhao, D G; Jiang, D S; Chen, P; Le, L C; Li, L; Liu, Z S; Zhang, S M; Zhu, J J; Wang, H; Zhang, B S; Yang, H

2013-01-01

The growth condition of thin heavily Mg-doped GaN capping layer and its effect on ohmic contact formation of p-type GaN were investigated. It is confirmed that the excessive Mg doping can effectively enhance the Ni/Au contact to p-GaN after annealing at 550 °C. When the flow rate ratio between Mg and Ga gas sources is 6.4% and the layer width is 25 nm, the capping layer grown at 850 °C exhibits the best ohmic contact properties with respect to the specific contact resistivity (ρ c ). This temperature is much lower than the conventional growth temperature of Mg-doped GaN, suggesting that the deep-level-defect induced band may play an important role in the conduction of capping layer. (paper)

Monitoring corrosion and biofilm formation in nuclear plants using electrochemical methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Licina, G.J.; Nekoksa, G.; Ward, G.L.; Howard, R.L.; Cubicciotti, D.

1993-01-01

During the 1980's, degradation of piping, heat exchangers, and other components in raw water cooled systems by a variety of corrosion mechanisms became an important in the reliability and cost effectiveness of U.S. nuclear plants. General and localized corrosion, including pitting and crevice corrosion, have all been shown to be operative in nuclear plant cooling systems. Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) also afflicts nuclear cooling water and service water systems. The prediction of locations to be inspected, selection of mitigation measures, and control of water treatments and maintenance planning rely upon the accuracy and sensitivity of monitoring techniques. Electrochemical methods can provide rapid measurements of corrosion and biological activity on line. The results from a corrosion monitoring study in a service water system at a fresh water cooled nuclear plant are presented. This study utilized determinations of open circuit potential and reversed potentiodynamic scans on carbon steels, Admiralty, and stainless steels (Types 304 and 316 as well as high chromium, high molybdenum ferritic and austenitic grades) to evaluate the rate and form of corrosion to be anticipated in typical service. An electrochemical method that permits the monitoring of biofilm activity on-line has been developed. Results from laboratory and in-plant exposure in a nuclear power plant system are presented

Linking community-based monitoring to water policy: Perceptions of citizen scientists.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Tyler; Cohen, Alice

2018-05-05

This paper examines the relationships between Community-Based Water Monitoring (CBM) and government-led water initiatives. Drawing on a cross-Canada survey of over one hundred organizations, we explore the reasons why communities undertake CBM, the monitoring protocols they follow, and the extent to which CBM program members feel their findings are incorporated into formal (i.e., government-led) decision-making processes. Our results indicate that despite following standardized and credible monitoring protocols, fewer than half of CBM organizations report that their data is being used to inform water policy at any level of government. Moreover, respondents report higher rates of cooperation and data-sharing between CBM organizations themselves than between CBM organizations and their respective governments. These findings are significant, because many governments continue to express support for CBM. We explore the barriers between CBM data collection and government policy, and suggest that structural barriers include lack of multi-year funding, inconsistent protocols, and poor communication. More broadly, we argue that the distinction between formal and informal programming is unclear, and that addressing known CBM challenges will rely on a change in perception: CBM cannot simply be a less expensive alternative to government-driven data collection. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Progress in the development of the neutron flux monitoring system of the French GEN-IV SFR: simulations and experimental validations [ANIMMA--2015-IO-98

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jammes, C.; Filliatre, P.; De Izarra, G. [CEA, DEN, DER, Instrumentation, Sensors and Dosimetry Laboratory, Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, (France); Elter, Zs.; Pazsit, I. [Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Division of Nuclear Engineering, SE-412 96 Goteborg, (Sweden); Verma, V.; Hellesen, C.; Jacobsson, S. [Division of Applied Nuclear Physics, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, (Sweden); Hamrita, H.; Bakkali, M. [CEA, DRT, LIST, Sensors and Electronic Architecture Laboratory, Saclay, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, (France); Chapoutier, N.; Scholer, A-C.; Verrier, D. [AREVA NP, 10 rue Juliette Recamier F-69456 Lyon, (France); Cantonnet, B.; Nappe, J-C. [PHONIS France S.A.S, Nuclear Instrumentation, Avenue Roger Roncier, B.P. 520, F-19106 Brive Cedex, (France); Molinie, P.; Dessante, P.; Hanna, R.; Kirkpatrick, M.; Odic, E. [Supelec, Department of Power and Energy System, F-91192 Gif Sur Yvette, (France); Jadot, F. [CEA, DEN, DER, ASTRID Project Group, Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, (France)

2015-07-01

The neutron flux monitoring system of the French GEN-IV sodium-cooled fast reactor will rely on high temperature fission chambers installed in the reactor vessel and capable of operating over a wide-range neutron flux. The definition of such a system is presented and the technological solutions are justified with the use of simulation and experimental results. (authors)

MercNet: A national monitoring network to assess responses to changing mercury emissions in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Schmeltz, D.; Evers, D.C.; Driscoll, C.T.; Artz, R.; Cohen, M.; Gay, D.; Haeuber, R.; Krabbenhoft, D.P.; Mason, R.; Morris, K.; Wiener, J.G.

2011-01-01

A partnership of federal and state agencies, tribes, industry, and scientists from academic research and environmental organizations is establishing a national, policy-relevant mercury monitoring network, called MercNet, to address key questions concerning changes in anthropogenic mercury emissions and deposition, associated linkages to ecosystem effects, and recovery from mercury contamination. This network would quantify mercury in the atmosphere, land, water, and biota in terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems to provide a national scientific capability for evaluating the benefits and effectiveness of emission controls. Program development began with two workshops, convened to establish network goals, to select key indicators for monitoring, to propose a geographic network of monitoring sites, and to design a monitoring plan. MercNet relies strongly on multi-institutional partnerships to secure the capabilities and comprehensive data that are needed to develop, calibrate, and refine predictive mercury models and to guide effective management. Ongoing collaborative efforts include the: (1) development of regional multi-media databases on mercury in the Laurentian Great Lakes, northeastern United States, and eastern Canada; (2) syntheses and reporting of these data for the scientific and policy communities; and (3) evaluation of potential monitoring sites. The MercNet approach could be applied to the development of other monitoring programs, such as emerging efforts to monitor and assess global mercury emission controls. ?? 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC (outside the USA).

Reconstructing historical trends in metal input in heavily-disturbed, contaminated estuaries: studies from Bilbao, Southampton Water and Sicily

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cundy, A.B.; Croudace, I.W.; Cearreta, A.; Irabien, M.J.

2003-01-01

Estuaries may be important reservoirs for contaminants as they tend to act as sinks for fine, contaminant-reactive sediments, and, historically, they have acted as centres for industrial and urban development. Analysis of dated sediment cores from these areas may allow historical trends in heavy metal input to be reconstructed, and recent and historical inputs of metal contaminants to be compared. Undisturbed saltmarsh settings have been used widely in the reconstruction of historical trends in metal input as saltmarshes provide a stable, vegetated substrate of dominantly fine sediments, and are less prone to erosion and reworking than adjacent mudflat areas. In comparison, much less research on historical pollution trends has been undertaken at estuarine sites which are prone to severe local disturbance, such as intertidal areas which are routinely dredged or where sedimentary processes have been modified by human activities such as shipping, salt working, port activities, land claim etc. This paper assesses the usefulness of 210 Pb and 137 Cs dating, combined with geochemical studies, in reconstructing historical trends in heavy metal input and sediment accretion in 3 heavily-modified, industrialised estuarine areas in Europe: the Bilbao estuary (Spain), Southampton Water (UK), and the Mulinello estuary (Sicily). Of these sites, only a salt marsh core from the Mulinello estuary provides a high-resolution record of recent heavy metal inputs. In Southampton Water only a partial record of changing metal inputs over time is retained due to land-claim and possible early-diagenetic remobilisation, while at Bilbao the vertical distribution of heavy metals in intertidal flats is mainly controlled by input on reworked sediment particles and variations in sediment composition. Where 137 Cs and 210 Pb distributions with depth allow a chronology of sediment deposition to be established, and early-diagenetic remobilisation has been minimal, mudflat and saltmarsh cores from

An Evaluation of Normal versus Lognormal Distribution in Data Description and Empirical Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Diwakar, Rekha

2017-01-01

Many existing methods of statistical inference and analysis rely heavily on the assumption that the data are normally distributed. However, the normality assumption is not fulfilled when dealing with data which does not contain negative values or are otherwise skewed--a common occurrence in diverse disciplines such as finance, economics, political…

Balancing Openness and Interpretation in Active Listening

Science.gov (United States)

Topornycky, Joseph; Golparian, Shaya

2016-01-01

Active listening is an important communication skill in a variety of disciplines and professions, including the profession of Educational Development. In our roles as educational developers, we engage in a variety of processes, all of which rely heavily on the practice of active listening. Emerging strategies of active listening praxis have…

Exploring the Role of First Impressions in Rater-Based Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Timothy J.

2014-01-01

Medical education relies heavily on assessment formats that require raters to assess the competence and skills of learners. Unfortunately, there are often inconsistencies and variability in the scores raters assign. To ensure the scores from these assessment tools have validity, it is important to understand the underlying cognitive processes that…

Commercial Transfer--A Business Model Innovation for the Entrepreneurial University

Science.gov (United States)

Gaus, Olaf; Raith, Matthias G.

2016-01-01

While knowledge-intensive societies rely heavily on universities for the creation of knowledge, its translation into economic value is typically performed by firms in the market. Since universities increasingly depend on additional funds for new and expensive research, current policies urge them to interact proactively with the market. The authors…

Engineering Undergraduates' Views of A-Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics as Preparation for Their Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Darlington, Ellie; Bowyer, Jessica

2017-01-01

An ongoing reform programme of the post-16 Advanced "A"-level qualifications in England and Wales means that pre-university mathematics content and assessment will change from 2017. Undergraduate engineering is a subject that relies heavily on mathematics, and applicants to engineering degree programmes in the UK are required to have…

Cultivating Teachers' Morality and the Pedagogy of Emotional Rationality

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Minkang

2013-01-01

Teachers are expected to act ethically and provide moral role models in performing their duties, even though teacher education has often relegated the cultivation of teachers' ethical awareness and moral development to the margins. When it is addressed, the main theoretical assumptions have relied heavily on the cognitivist developmental theories…