... 2008. Characterizing the relative contributions of large vessels to total oceannoisefields: a case study using the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank ...
We exploit theoretically a class of rectangular cylindrical devices for noise shielding by using acoustic metamaterials. The function of noise shielding is justified by both the far-field and near-field full-wave simulations based on the finite element method. The enlargement of equivalent acoustic scattering cross sections is revealed to be the physical mechanism for this function. This work makes it possible to design a window with both noise shielding and air flow. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)
Monolithic N-channel junction field effect transistors (NJFETs) dc characteristics, small signal parameters and noise have been studied from 300 K down to cryogenic temperatures before and after irradiation with {sup 60}Co {gamma}-rays and fast neutrons (1 MeV). Radiation induced effects on dc parameters and noise are reviewed. Noise spectral density measurements performed at various temperatures have shown that the radiation induces a noise increase which is temperature and frequency dependent. (orig.). 14 refs.
FELs require tight control of the amplitudes and phase of the fields in two linear accelerator tanks to obtain stable lasing. The accelerator control loops must establish constant, stable, repeatable amplitudes and phases of the rf fields and must have excellent bandwidth to control high-frequency noise components. A model of the feedback loops has been developed that agrees well with measurements and allows easy substitution of components and circuits, thus reducing breadboarding requirements. The model permits both frequency and time-domain analysis. The accelerator control scheme and model are described and the control of noise in feedback loops is discussed, showing how low-frequency-noise components (errors) can be corrected, but high-frequency-noise components (errors) are actually amplified by the feedback circuit. Measurements of ...
Motional heating of ions in micro-fabricated traps is a challenge hindering experimental realization of large-scale quantum processing devices. Recently a series of measurements of the heating rates in surface-electrode ion traps characterized their frequency, distance, and temperature dependencies, but our understanding of the microscopic origin of this noise is still vague. In this work we develop a theoretical model for the electric fieldnoise which is associated with a random distribution of adsorbed atoms on the trap electrode surface. By using first principle calculations of the fluctuating dipole moments of the adsorbed atoms we evaluate the distance, frequency and temperature dependence of the resulting electric field fluctuation spectrum.Our theory calculates the noise spectrum beyond the standard scenario of two-level fluctuators, by incorporating all the relevant ...
It is well known that laser oscillation is initiated by spontaneous radiation ''noise.'' Evidence for this is often based on the complete theory of laser oscillation, including the quantization of the electromagnetic field. In this article, the buildup of laser oscillation from quantum noise is demonstrated using the most elementary classical equation describing the amplification of laser intensity.
Low-frequency current noise and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics have been studied in InAs/GaAs self-assembled Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetectors in dark conditions and under illumination, at T = 77K and T = 5K. The noise behavior is consistent with a generation-recombination fluctuation process mainly related to thermally excited charge carriers at T = 77K. At T = 5K the current noise is consistent with a mechanism of fluctuations driven by the electric field, related to tunneling rather than emission-capture of charge carriers from the Quantum Dots. A very effective noise suppression mechanism, related to the tunneling regime, determines a decrease of fluctuation intensity as a function of the voltage. At T = 5K, an interesting behavior is observed in the current-voltage and noise power spectra for some of nominally identical QDIP structures in the ...
This paper reports on the first U.S. tanker converted to a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit which takes up station in Gombe-Beta field off Gabon by Dec. 1. FPSO Ocean Producer will work under a 3 year, day rate contract let late in 1990 by Amoco-Gabon Bombe Marin co., a unit of Amoco Production Co. (OGJ, Dec. 24, 1990, p. 27). Gombe-Beta field is in the Atlantic Ocean about 70 miles south of Port Gentil, Gabon. Ocean Producer will be moored in 50 ft of water 3.7 miles off Gabon, with Bombe-Beta's unmanned production platform about 820 ft astern. The vessel will be held in position by a disconnectable, asymmetric, six point, spread mooring system, It is owned and operated by Oceaneering International Services Ltd. (OISL). Affiliate Oceaneering Production Systems (OPS) converted the 78,061 dwt oil tanker MT ...
provides global ocean-surface wind fields with more structures than numerical weather prediction (Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol 25, No. 6, 761-764). The NSCAT data sets was produced...
Pollution abatement measures against impulsive low frequency noises including mine blasting noise require precise measurement of sound waveforms, but no instruments have been designed for that purpose, nor commercially available. This paper describes investigations on such instruments as noise level meters currently available commercially on their instrumental characteristics using indoor experiments and field measurements. The following matters were clarified: An instrument combining a microphone with an amplifier can not determine the response from the measuring system from the respective frequency characteristics alone, and requires a discussion on the overall response from the measuring system. A preferred noise level meter would be an instrument that has the lower limit for the frequency characteristics of the microphone extended to several hertz, and measures ...
This book, an updated version of the 1985 edition, contains thirteen chapters, beginning with a preface which provides the objective of the book. The primary objective is to offer a comprehensive survey of the biological, hydrological, mathematical, and biochemical aspects of stream, lake, estuary, and ocean pollution analysis. The book also contains ten appendices of useful tables and nomographs of pertinent data. This book provides a very good summary and review of stream, lake, estuary, and ocean pollution. This book is recommended for environmental engineering students, environmental consulting engineers, and regulatory personnel. It provides an excellent summary of the field of stream and lake analysis and modeling. Every chapter includes a significant number of questions and pertinent references.
Spratly Islands, located in the southern part of the South China Sea (SCS), consist of more than 100 small islands, coral reefs and banks. Remote sensing is the only way to obtain a synoptic view of all of the islands in such a large area. It has been demonstrated that satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is a very powerful tool for monitoring meso-scale and small-scale ocean processes in a large area. In this study, satellite SAR images were used to study the ocean environment in the area of Spratly Islands. The aim was to understand the capability of satellite remote sensing to monitor ocean processes and provide information for future field studies. Two sets of high-resolution European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS)-2 SAR images over the entire Spratly Islands area were coll...
Understanding the processes responsible for coastal change is important for managing our coastal resources, both natural and economic. The current scientific understanding of coastal sediment transport and geology suggests that examining coastal processes at regional scales can lead to significant insight into how the coastal zone evolves. To better identify the significant processes affecting our coastlines and how those processes create coastal change we developed a Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) Modeling System, which is comprised of the Model Coupling Toolkit to exchange data fields between the ocean model ROMS, the atmosphere model WRF, the wave model SWAN, and the sediment capabilities of the Community Sediment Transport Model. This formulation builds upon ...
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plants discharge large volumes of cold water into the upper ocean. A three-dimensional, limited-area model was developed to investigate the regional influence of the far-field effluent plume created by the negatively buoyant discharge. The model was applied to discharges from a 40-MW/sub e/ OTEC plant into coastal waters characterized by various ambient ocean conditions. A typical ambient temperature structure and nutrient distribution, as well as the behavior of the effluent plume itself, were strongly modified by the discharge-induced circulation. Although temperature perturbations in the plume were small, upward entrainment of nutrients from below the thermocline was significant. The regional influence of discharges from an 80-MW/sub e/ OTEC plant, the interactions between the discharges from two adjacent 40-MW/sub e/ OTEC plants, and the effects of coastal ...
The tidal motion of the ocean water through the ambient magnetic field, generates secondary electric field. This motionally induced electric field can be detected in the sea or inland and has a potential for electrical soundings of the Earth. A first goal of the paper is to gain an understanding of the global distribution of the electric signal due to tidal ocean flow. We simulate the electric signals for two tidal constituents - lunar semidiurnal (M2) and diurnal (O1) tides. We assume a realistic Earth's conductivity model with a surface thin shell and 1-D mantle underneath. Simulations demonstrate that in some coastal regions the amplitudes of the electric field can reach 100 mV/km and 10 mV/km for M2 and O1 tides respectively. The changes of lithosphere resistance produce detectable changes in the tidal electric signals. We show that our predictions are in a ...
The Los Alamos FEL requires tight control of the amplitudes and phases of the fields in two linear accelerator tanks to obtain stable lasing. The accelerator control loops must establish constant, stable, repeatable amplitudes and phases of the rf fields and must have excellent bandwidth to control high-frequency noise components. A model of the feedback loops has been developed that agrees well with measurements and allows easy substitution of components and circuits, thus reducing breadboarding requirements. The model permits both frequency and time-domain analysis. This paper describes the accelerator control scheme and our model and discusses the control of noise in feedback loops, showing how low-frequency-noise components (errors) can be corrected, but high-frequency-noise components (errors) are actually amplified by the feedback circuit. Measurements of ...
Full text: A method to measure noise power spectrum of a full field digital mammography system is presented. The effect of X-ray radiation dose, size and configuration of region of interest on normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS) was investigated. Flat field images were acquired using RQA-M2 beam quality technique (Mo/Mo anode-filter, 28 kV, 2 mm Al) with different clinical radiation doses. The images were cropped at about 4 cm from the edge of the breast wall and then divided into different size of non-overlapping or overlapping segments. NNPS was determined through de trending, 2-D fast Fourier transformation and normalization. Our measurement shows that high radiation dose gave lower NNPS at a specific beam quality. (author)
A method to measure noise power spectrum of a full field digital mammography system is presented. The effect of X-ray radiation dose, size and configuration of region of interest on normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS) was investigated. Flat field images were acquired using RQA-M2 beam quality technique (Mo/Mo anode-filter, 28 kV, 2 mm Al) with different clinical radiation doses. The images were cropped at about 4 cm from the edge of the breast wall and then divided into different size of non-overlapping or overlapping segments. NNPS was determined through detrending, 2-D fast Fourier transformation and normalization. Our measurement shows that high radiation dose gave lower NNPS at a specific beam quality.
Much public health research has been directed to studies of cancer risks due to chemical agents. Recently, increasing attention has been given to adverse reproductive outcomes as another, shorter-term...Full Text Available
Kepler Mission results are rapidly contributing to fundamentally new discoveries in both the exoplanet and asteroseismology fields. The data returned from Kepler are unique in terms of the number of stars observed, precision of photometry for time series observations, and the temporal extent of high duty cycle observations. As the first mission to provide extensive time series measurements on thousands of stars over months to years at a level hitherto possible only for the Sun, the results from Kepler will vastly increase our knowledge of stellar variability for quiet solar-type stars. Here we report on the stellar noise inferred on the timescale of a few hours of most interest for detection of exoplanets via transits. By design the data from moderately bright Kepler stars are expected to have roughly comparable levels of noise intrinsic to the stars and arising from a combination of fundamental limitations such as Poisson ...
This site explains how temperature, pressure, and salinity work together to determine the density of ocean water. The three density layers of the ocean are described by means of text description and a graphic illustration.
Many of the world's coral reefs suffered high coral mortality during the 1998 ENSO, with the highest mortality in the western Indian Ocean (WIO). A meta-analysis of field data on change in coral cover across the 1998 ENSO event was conducted for 36 major reef areas in the WIO, and relationship of the change with the historical sea-surface temperature (SST) variability investigated. WIO reefs were categorized into three major SST groups of differing coral cover change. Cover change was negatively associated with standard deviation (SD) SST until about SD 2.3, with increasing flatness of the SST frequency distributions. It increased with further increase in SD as the SST distributions became strongly bimodal in the Arabian/Persian Gulf area. The study indicates that environmental resistance/...
Spacecraft studies of the three terrestrial planets with atmospheres have made it possible to make meaningful comparisons that shed light on their common origin and divergent evolutionary paths. Early in their histories, all three apparently had oceans and extensive volcanism; Mars and Earth, at least, had magnetic fields, and Earth, at least, had life. All three currently have climates determined by energy balance relationships involving carbon dioxide, water and aerosols, regulated by solar energy deposition, atmospheric and ocean circulation, composition, and cloud physics and chemistry. This paper addresses the extent to which current knowledge allows us to explain the observed state of each planet, its planetology, climatology and biology, within a common framework. Areas of ignorance...
The paper reports the results of the studies performed at the Electric Research Center of ENEL (Italian National Electricity Board) in the field of compacting high voltage transmission lines, from the point of view of dielectric and corona noise constraints. The results of switching impulse withstand voltage tests, performed on typical compact line insulation configurations, are given and optimization criteria of such insulation configurations in relation to switching impulse are outlined. The constraints regarding surface withstand voltage in polluted conditions of the above insulations are analyzed and the possibility of reducing their dimensions by using unconventional insulation materials is considered. Finally, evaluations of corona noise in the case of optimization of the line encumbrance from the point of view of dielectric constraints are given.
In 2009 the European Space Agency satellite mission GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) was launched. Its objectives are the precise and detailed determination of the Earth's gravity field and geoid. Its core instrument, a three axis gravitational gradiometer, measures the gravity gradient components V xx , V yy , V zz and V xz (second-order derivatives of the gravity potential V) with high precision and V xy , V yz with low precision, all in the instrument reference frame. The long wavelength gravity field is recovered from the orbit, measured by GPS (Global Positioning System). Characteristic elements of the mission are precise star tracking, a Sun-synchronous and very low (260 km) orbit, angular control by magnetic torquing and an extremely stiff and thermally stable instrument environment. GOCE is complementary to GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), ...
Calls for containers to transport compressed natural gas, and a ship or barge to house some 200 employees in the Terra Nova offshore oilfield while the oil field's floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) system is undergoing a major overhaul, are attracting attention on Canada's east coast offshore oilpatch. The FPSO is located offshore, 350 km east of St. John's, Newfoundland. Petro-Canada, operators of the FPSO anticipate that by having all required personnel nearby, the total shutdown time for the overhaul could be minimized. The CNG container was designed by Trans Ocean Gas Inc. in response to an invitation by Husky Oil and Petro-Canada, the White Rose field partners. Trans Ocean Gas strongly believes that CNG will become the technology of choice for getting natural gas ashore and to markets from stranded hydrocarbon pools in Atlantic Canada and the rest of the ...
The quantum nature of the electromagnetic field imposes a fundamental limit on the sensitivity of optical precision measurements such as spectroscopy, microscopy, and interferometry. The so-called quantum limit is set by the zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, which constrain the precision with which optical signals can be measured. In the world of precision measurement, laser-interferometric gravitational wave (GW) detectors are the most sensitive position meters ever operated, capable of measuring distance changes on the order of 10^-18 m RMS over kilometer separations caused by GWs from astronomical sources. The sensitivity of currently operational and future GW detectors is limited by quantum optical noise. Here we demonstrate a 44% improvement in displacement sensitivity of a prototype GW detector with suspended quasi-free mirrors at frequencies where the sensitivity is ...
A method to achieve NMR of dilute samples in the earth's magnetic field by applying para-hydrogen induced polarization is presented. Maximum achievable polarization enhancements were calculated by numerically simulating the experiment and compared to the experimental results and to the thermal equilibrium in the earth's magnetic field. Simultaneous 19F and 1H NMR detection on a sub-milliliter sample of a fluorinated alkyne at millimolar concentration (1018 nuclear spins) was realized with just one single scan. A highly resolved spectrum with a signal/noise ratio higher than 50:1 was obtained without using an auxiliary magnet or any form of radio frequency shielding.
An eddy current inspection has been applied for a pre-service and in-service examination of a steam generator in nuclear power plants. The experience from the inspection of steam generators showed that many plants had an excessive number of tubes with eddy current noise signals over several hundreds, which originated from manufacturing anomalies. The plants in U.S suffered significant downstream inspection costs, history reviews, and diagnostic testing because some signals resembled flaws and others masked a flaw. These lessens learned resulted in issuing the guidelines for steam generator tubing specifications and repair, in order to reduce the number of anomalous signals in the tubes and also to provide the requirement of a signal to noise ratio by applying a field type examination with bobbin coil eddy current probes at a manufacturing process. Besides the noise signals of a bobbin coil eddy current ...
Weak lensing measurements are entering a precision era to statistically map the distribution of matter in the universe. The most common measurement has been of the variance of the projected surface density of matter, which corresponds to the induced correlation in alignments of background galaxies. This measurement of the fluctuations is insensitive to the total mass content, like using waves on the ocean to measure its depths. But when the depth is shallow as happens near a beach, waves become skewed. Similarly, a measurement of skewness in the projected matter distribution directly measures the total matter content of the universe. While skewness has already been convincingly detected, its constraint on cosmology is still weak. We address optimal analyses for the CFHT Legacy Survey in the presence of noise. We show that a compensated Gaussian filter with a width of 2.5 arc minutes optimizes the cosmological constraint, yielding $\\Delta ...
The metabolism of organic matter in the coastal regions of the ocean may significantly affect the oceanic carbon budget. This paper describes the high percentage (30%) of oceanic oxidation that occurs in coastal areas and the impact of this metabolism on the carbon cycle and climate of earth. Organic metabolism in the ocean appears to be a source of carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere. Oxidation in the coastal zone is of special interest, as it is likely influenced by anthropogenic activity. Recommendations for future research on this topic are proposed. 129 refs., 2 figs., 6 tabs.
The read/write characteristics for perpendicular magnetic recording media of focused-ion-beam (FIB)-etched recording heads were investigated. It was found that the trailing edge of an FIB-etched head produces a higher gradient in the magnetic field perpendicular to the medium than a head which has not been etched. The signal-to-noise ratio of the medium increased with the FIB-etched write gap. A high-Bs and thin pole increased the magnetic field's gradient in the perpendicular direction, resulting in excellent read/write characteristics.
In 1982 the semi-submersible drilling unit Ocean Ranger capsized and sank off the Grand Banks, resulting in the loss of the entire 84-man crew. A Royal Commission was set up to conduct an enquiry into the incident, and to carry out a process of research and opinion-gathering towards providing recommendations to both federal and Newfoundland governments. The primary purpose of the Commission was to determine why the Ocean Ranger sank, why none of the crew were saved, and how to avoid similar disasters. A number of studies and seminars were held to focus expert knowledge and opinion in several key fields and to update studies and fill gaps in the data base. Summaries of selected study reports and the seminar proceedings are presented in the following areas: the environment, including ice, marine climatology, weather forecasting services, wave climatology, oceanographic information, and seabed information; design, including ...
The adsorption capacity of radionuclides onto suspended sediment was experimented on each of the coastal seawater sampled around the Kori and the Wolsung nuclear power plant. During the experiment the quantity and size fraction of suspended sediment were adjusted and the seawater and sediment chemistry is approximated to the expected field condition. Because the sorption capacity depends on the specific minerals, ocean chemistry and radionuclide involved, it is necessary to analyze sediment mineralogy. Clay mineral is dominant in seabed mineral and suspended sediment as the result of x-ray diffraction. Radionuclide sorbed to silty-clay mineral can be rather transported to ocean than scavenged to seabed because of low quantity and fine grained suspended sediment in the coast around the Kori and the Wolsung. The result of adsorption examinations shows that {sup 139}Ce and {sup 51}Cr and {sup 110m}Ag are strongly sorbed to ...
The adsorption capacity of radionuclides onto suspended sediment was experimented on each of the coastal seawater sampled around the Kori and the Wolsung nuclear power plant. During the experiment the quantity and size fraction of suspended sediment were adjusted and the seawater and sediment chemistry is approximated to the expected field condition. Because the sorption capacity depends on the specific minerals, ocean chemistry and radionuclide involved, it is necessary to analyze sediment mineralogy. Clay mineral is dominant in seabed mineral and suspended sediment as the result of x-ray diffraction. Radionuclide sorbed to silty-clay mineral can be rather transported to ocean than scavenged to seabed because of low quantity and fine grained suspended sediment in the coast around the Kori and the Wolsung. The result of adsorption examinations shows that "1"3"9Ce and "5"1Cr and "1"1"0"mAg are strongly sorbed to suspended ...
The authors have discovered chert xenoliths from green rocks in the Pippu area, central Hokkaido, Japan. Reports were given on the discovery with regard to the state of its production, chemical composition of the green rocks, and radiolarian fossils produced from the chert and their age. Considerations were given on the geological significance thereof. On 23 green rocks and five cherts out of the collected samples, rock slices were prepared, and petrographic statement was made by using a polarizing microscope. In addition, the whole petro-chemical composition analysis was performed on green rocks to discuss the radiolarian fossils and geological ages. The following conclusions were obtained as a result: green rocks may be identified as a product of igneous activities in a large plate in a certain period from the latter Callovian period of the middle age of the Jurassic period to the Barremian period of the Paleozoic era in the Cretaceous period; and their formation ...
A simple analytical/numerical model has been developed for computing the evolution, over periods of up to a few hours, of the current and temperature profile in the upper layer of the ocean. The model is based upon conservation laws for heat and momentum, and employs an eddy diffusion parameterisation which is dependent on both the wind speed and the wind stress applied at the sea surface. Other parameters such as the bulk-skin surface temperature difference and CO$_2$ flux are determined by application of the Molecular Oceanic Boundary Layer Model (MOBLAM) of Schluessel and Soloviev. A similar model, for the current profile only, predicts a temporary increase in wave breaking intensity and decrease in wave height under conditions where the wind speed increases suddenly, such as, for example, during gusts and squalls. The model results are compared with measurements from the lagrangian Skin Depth Experimental Profiler (SkinDeEP) surface ...
Effective localization of small magnets against a noisy, real world background can involve various methods to first identify the magnetic fields produced by the magnet of interest, then to filter out background noise, and then to analyze the available magnetic field data to localize the magnet. Here we discuss low cost techniques which allow localization of small magnets with field strengths in the milliGauss range against real world background fields in the range of hundreds of mG, which may be fluctuating by up to tens of mG. Such techniques allow magnet tracking to be used to localize catheters in place of more invasive and expensive methods, e.g. fluoroscopy, for a variety of applications, including drug infusion with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs), laser ablation (TMR, PTMR) and introduction of pacemaker leads.
Data from a detailed evaluation of environment conditions in three U.S. Army field stations are presented. Three field stations were evaluated: Kunia, Augsburg, and Berlin. Results from a questionnaire administered to over 600 people at all sites in three job types (operator, analyst, and administrative/other) are given which indicate major concerns with conditions such as temperature, lighting, space, furniture, equipment functioning, and general environmental quality. Physical data obtained from measurements of over 270 work stations indicated the presence of cold temperatures, low light levels, reduced VDT screen contrast, glare, and distracting noises. The report provides the basic data that support the concerns expressed by Headquarters; namely, that field-station personnel perform their jobs under conditions likely to impair their effectiveness. Suggestions for improving conditions are given in a ...
We report the growth and fabrication of midwave infrared InAs/GaSb strain layer superlattice (SLS) detectors. Growth of alternate interfaces leads to a reduced strain between the GaSb buffer and SLS ({delta}a{sub parallel}/a=-5x10{sup -4}), enabling the growth of active regions up to 3 {mu}m (625 periods). The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the active region were characterized using x-ray crystallography and photoluminescence, respectively. p-i-n detectors were grown using 625 periods of 8 ML (monolayer) InAs/8 ML GaSb as the active region. The {lambda}{sub cutoff} for the detectors was 4.6 {mu}m with a conversion efficiency of 32% at V{sub b}=-0.2 V. Detectivity was obtained using noise power spectral density measurements under 300 K 2{pi} field of view illumination and was equal to 5.2x10{sup 10} and 3x10{sup 10} cm Hz{sup 1/2}/W (V{sub b}=-0.02 V, T=80 K) in the white noise and 1/f ...
Gas transmission pipelines are susceptible to both internal (gas side) and external (soil side) corrosion attack. Internal corrosion is caused by the presence of salt laden moisture, CO{sub 2}, H{sub 2}S, and perhaps O{sub 2} in the natural gas. Internal corrosion usually manifests itself as general corrosion. However, the presence of chlorides in entrained water also can lead to pitting corrosion damage. The electrochemical noise technique can differentiate general from localized corrosion and provide estimates of corrosion rates without external perturbation of the corroding system. It is increasingly being applied to field and industrial installations for in situ corrosion monitoring. It has been used here to determine its suitability for monitoring internal and external corrosion damage on gas transmission pipelines. Corrosion measurements were made in three types of environments: (1) aqueous solutions typical of those found within gas ...
Radio interference and TV interference are being a problem in urban and rural areas. This interference is generated by high voltage transmission lines as well as distribution lines. The radio noise can be produced by polluted or damaged insulators, and by metal parts of the distribution lines. The corona effect on the surface of the dielectric material produces high frequency electromagnetic fields during the ionization and during the recombination period. Fields of different intensity are produced by positive voltage and negative voltage. The insulator flashover (leaking current) also produces electromagnetic fields. A new technique to measure these fields was developed. This technique measures the radiated fields on time domain and on frequency domain. This permits us to characterize the radiated field and thus identify the type of the ...
tions, final noise-power spectral density measurements were made. These measurements of the noise-power spectral density were not the desired phase- noise ...
In order to improve the well-known short operational life time of BF3 counters, three potential adsorbents for impurity gases (graphite, activated charcoal and a zirconium-aluminum mixture) were introduced into BF3 counters in the form of coating on the aluminum cathode surface. Tests in el fields revealed that a partial coating of activated charcoal provides the best result. The improvement of their operational life in el fields was about three orders of magnitude in terms of tolerable exposure. Many counters with a partial coating of activated charcoal were further tested from the following viewpoints: background noise, vibration and shock, el pulse discrimination, operational life in a neutron field and non-operational in-reactor exposure life. The results were satisfactory for reactor control and protection usage. (author).
To study the nanoscale electronic order in strongly correlated electron systems and vortex states in high-Tc superconductors in high magnetic fields, we have developed scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) for the 18 T cryocooled superconducting magnet (18T-CSM). The test results of the STM operation in the 18T-CSM at room temperature indicate that our STM has a good atomic resolution up to 18 T when we use the nonmagnetic vibration-isolation table which reduce the vibration noise from the cryocoolers of the 18T-CSM. In this paper, we report on the design of the high-field STM system for large-scale magnets and its performance.
The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) is to evaluate the radiological conditions at former MED-US AEC sites. Purpose of the Ocean FUSRAP program is to assess the feasibility of ocean disposal of FUSRAP waste which contains trace natural radioactive materials. This paper presents soil characterization information on the Middlesex, NJ, Sampling Plant site, and reports preliminary ocean dispersion calculations. (DLC)
A series of speeches is presented which cover political aspects of ocean energy, legislation, the status of the DOE Ocean Energy Program, the Maritime Administration OTEC Support Program. Six workshop reports are given covering ocean energy technology and systems concepts, power systems concepts, environmental developments, energy transfer and utilization, construction and test capabilities, and industry development. (LEW)
For good image quality using ultrasound inverse scattering, one alternately solves the well-posed forward scattering equation for an estimated total field and the ill-posed inverse scattering equation for the desired object property function. In estimating the total field, error or noise contaminates the coefficients of both matrix and data of the inverse scattering equation. Previous work on ill-posed inverse ultrasonic scattering commonly used Tikhonov regularization, which considers error only in the data. The solution so obtained is not precise enough to reconstruct the quantitative internal structure of a large or high-contrast object. This paper adopts the truncated total least squares method, simultaneously considering error and noise on both sides of the inverse scattering equation, and compares it with the classical Tikhonov regularization. We show that it can substantially improve ...
The specific goals of this research are to (1) determine daily and seasonal variability of seawater pCO{sub 2} partial pressure of CO{sub 2} and NO{sub 3} in Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) waters; (2) estimate seasonal CO{sub 2} fluxes between the MAB shelf and the atmosphere; and (3) determine the primary controls of surface seawater pCO{sub 2} in this coastal system. During the first phase of the DOE-OMP (1992-1995) we developed the Submersible Autonomous Moored Instrument for CO{sub 2} (SAMI-CO{sub 2}) which is designed to measure seawater CO{sub 2} on ocean moorings for extended periods.
In the study, wind data from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) are used to determine atmospheric circulation changes which are empirically associated with the air temperature changes. Some understanding of the natural processes which produce climate change is anticipated from the study of these associations. Systematic changes of wind in US coastal regions with periods of climate warming and cooling suggest circulation changes, in addition to carbon dioxide-controlled radiation effects, could produce the climate changes indicated by air temperature. A statistical procedure for analyses of COADS was used to determine decade-period vector wind-field differences from the COADS record period. The statistical procedure for these analyses is explained and the wind differences are compared to summaries of mid-Atlantic coast island-station observations.
A seasonal forecasting technique to produce probabilistic and deterministic streamflow forecasts for 23 basins in Norway and northern Sweden is developed in this work. Large scale circulation and moisture fields, forecasted by the ECHAM4.5 model 4 months in advance, are used to forecast spring flows. The technique includes model output statistics (MOS) based on a non-linear Neural Network (NN) approach. Results show that streamflow forecasts from Global Circulation Model (GCM) predictions, for the Scandinavia region are viable and highest skill values were found for basins located in south-western Norway. The physical interpretation of the forecasting skill is that stations close to the Norwegian coast are directly exposed to prevailing winds from the Atlantic ocean, which constitute the principal source of predictive information from the atmosphere on the seasonal timescale.
The Jeanne d`Arc Basin is located 320 km offshore in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. It is a Mesozoic failed-rift basin with recoverable oil reserves of about 2 billion barrels. Its huge Hibernia Field will be in production by late 1997. The basin has been reappraised using sequence stratigraphic concepts, and renewed exploration in the area is expected. The Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous sedimentary accumulation in the Basin was formed by the extensional tectonics that created the North Atlantic Ocean. The sedimentary packages were placed in chronostratigraphic order by calibrating the biostratigraphy of the Oxfordian to Maastrichtian section to the detailed ammonite zonation from the North Sea.
We present a dynamical spectral model for Large Eddy Simulation of the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations based on the Eddy Damped Quasi Normal Markovian approximation. This model extends classical spectral Large Eddy Simulations for the Navier-Stokes equations to incorporate general (non Kolmogorovian) spectra as well as eddy noise. We derive the model for MHD and show that introducing a new eddy-damping time for the dynamics of spectral tensors in the absence of equipartition between the velocity and magnetic fields leads to better agreement with direct numerical simulations, an important point for dynamo computations.
The use of a selective epitaxial growth technique for fabricating YBCO thin-film microstructures is described. No film post-deposition processing is required; hence damage to the structure is minimized. The technique is compatible with a passivation process to protect the structure without exposure to air. The microbridges, Josephson junctions and rf SQUIDs protected by an amorphous YBCO passivation have long lifetime even after severe accelerated aging tests. Rf SQUIDs fabricated by this technique show a significant reduction of low-frequency noise when operating in weak magnetic fields compared with SQUIDs fabricated by the conventional ion beam etching technique. (author)
Growing ecological awareness in the car industry resulted in further developments of the otto and diesel engines, and of alternative fuels like cars with electric drive. This article gives an overview on a number of pertinent developments. The possible uses of electric cars are still limited by the battery in terms of storage capacity, output, service life and weight so that for the time being their use can be expected to be restricted to public and local-authority antreprises or to companies driving within city areas preferably. A break-through is expected by the industry in the field of high-temperature batteries although there are still a number of problems unsolved. (BWI).
In the presented case study CRS processing was able to improve the overall data quality of the processed lines in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and imaging. The complex geology is causing serious problems in conventional NMO/DMO processing that were solved by CRS processing. Even a depth processing with velocities calculated from CRS attributes gives good results similar to those from PreSDM in terms of the velocity field. Data quality of poststack depth migrated CRS stacks is even better than the image from PreSDM. (orig.)
The purpose of the Ocean FUSRAP Program, which began in March 1981, is to assess the technical, environmental, and institutional feasibility of disposing, in the ocean and on the ocean floor, of FUSRAP waste which contains traces of natural radioactive materials. The initial planning has focused on the Middlesex, New Jersey, Sampling Plant site and surrounding properties, which contain on the order of 100,000 metric tons of material. The Belgian Congo uranium ore and other uranium ores used by the United States were handled at the sampling plant site and have since been removed.
Previous studies have found that classrooms are often inadequately ventilated, with the resultant increased risk of negative impacts on the pupils. This paper describes a series of field measurements that investigated the indoor air quality, thermal comfort and acoustic performance of nine recently built secondary schools in England. The most significant conclusion is that the complex interaction between ventilation, thermal comfort and acoustics presents considerable challenges for designers. The study showed that while the acoustic standards are demanding it was possible to achieve natural ventilation designs that met the criteria for indoor ambient noise levels when external noise levels were not excessive. Most classrooms in the sample met the requirement of limiting the daily average CO{sub 2} concentration to below 1500 ppm but just a few met the need to readily provide 8 l/s per person of fresh air under the easy ...
An IEC-TDG waveform analysis program that can accurately calculate the waveform parameters in waveforms containing much noise as well as waveforms based on the IEC 1083-2 standard was developed in the impulse voltage and current test field. In the conventional curve fitting method, it is difficult to solve the non-linear equation directly when obtaining waveform parameters from the assigned discrete data. An approximate solution method is low in precision. Therefore, the residual between the standardized data and approximate function was calculated for high-speed Fourier transformation. Unrelated components were eliminated from the calculated frequency spectrum to synthesize waveforms. An L-M method is used for analysis. The solution is first tracked by a maximum diving method. If the convergence is judged to have been largely promoted, the method is switched into a Newton method to continue the calculation. The non-linear equation in a curve ...
Large area, single-element Si(Li) detectors have been fabricated using a novel geometry which yields detectors with reduced capacitance and hence reduced noise at short amplifier pulse-processing times. A typical device employing the new geometry with a thickness of 6 mm and an active area of 175 mm 2 has a capacitance of only 0.5 pf, compared to 2.9 pf for a conventional planar device with equivalent dimensions. These new low capacitance detectors, used in conjunction with low capacitance field effect transistors, will result in x-ray spectrometers capable of operating at very high count rates while still maintaining excellent energy resolution. The spectral response of the low capacitance detectors to a wide range of x-ray energies at 80 K is comparable to typical state-of-the-art conventional Si(Li) devices. In addition to their low capacitance, the new devices offer other advantages over conventional detectors. Detector fabrication ...
Low transition temperature (low-{Tc}) and high-{Tc} Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) have been used to perform high-resolution magnetic measurements on samples whose temperatures are much higher than the operating temperatures of the devices. Part 1 of this work focuses on measurements of the rigidity of flux vortices in high-{Tc} superconductors using two low-{Tc} SQUIDs, one on either side of a thermally-insulated sample. The correlation between the signals of the SQUIDs is a direct measure of the extent of correlation between the movements of opposite ends of vortices. These measurements were conducted under the previously-unexplored experimental conditions of nominally-zero applied magnetic field, such that vortex-vortex interactions were unimportant, and with zero external current. At specific temperatures, the authors observed highly-correlated noise sources, suggesting that the vortices moved as rigid rods. At other ...
Abstract A method was developed to quantify the effect of scanner instability on functional MRI data by comparing the instability noise to endogenous noise present when scanning a human. The instability noise was computed from agar phantom data collected with two flip angles, allowing for a separation of the instability from the background noise. This method was used on human data collected at four 3 T scanners, allowing the physiological noise level to be extracted from the data. In a -well-operating- scanner, the instability noise is generally less than 10% of physiological noise in white matter and only about 2% of physiological noise in cortex. This indicates that instability in a well-operating scanner adds very little noise to functional MRI results. This new method allows researcher...
This paper proposes a high accuracy numerical method to model oil spill trajectories using a particle-tracking algorithm. The Euler method, used to calculate oil trajectories, can give adequate solutions in most open ocean applications. However, this method may not predict accurate particle trajectories in certain highly non-uniform velocity fields near coastal zones or in river problems. Simple numerical experiments show that the Euler method may also introduce artificial numerical dispersion that could lead to overestimation of spill areas. This article proposes a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method with fourth-order velocity interpolation to calculate oil trajectories that minimise these problems. The algorithm is implemented in the OilTrack model to predict oil trajectories following the 'Nissos Amorgos' oil spill accident that occurred in the Gulf of Venezuela in 1997. Despite lack of adequate field ...
The audible noise produced by corona on high-voltage transmission lines has several characteristics that differentiate it from other community noises. Transmission line noise is quite broadband and has a significant high frequency content. Special instrumentation designed to measure this type of noise pollution is described. All measuring systems have the same three basic elements: a transducer, a processing device, and an output device. Recorders, microphone devices, frequency analyzers, and meteorological instrumentation are discussed.
period T. Also shown is the returned chirp from a specular reflector at ...... algorithms is a Brown (1977) model of the return waveform, which assumes a ...... Townsend, W.F., 1980: An initial assessment of the performance achieved by ...
The world's oceans contain a complex mixture of micro-organisms that are for the most part, uncharacterized both genetically and biochemically. We report here a metagenomic study of the marine planktonic...Full Text Available
The Subseabed Disposal Program has recently completed a 30-day, 0.286-scale laboratory simulation of an In Situ Heat Transfer Experiment (ISHTE), scheduled for eventual deployment in the deep ocean 600 nautical miles north of Hawaii. 10 figures.
The Subseabed Disposal Program has recently completed a 30-day, 0.286-scale laboratory simulation of an In Situ Heat Transfer Experiment (ISHTE), scheduled for eventual deployment in the deep ocean 600 nautical miles north of Hawaii. 10 figures.
Only half of the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels stays in the atmosphere. It is thought that the oceans absorb the rest. To understand the world's climate it is necessary to know how the atmosphere, ocean and biosphere interact.
The report gives an initial assessment of the feasibility of disposing of flue gas desulfurization wastes in mines and in the ocean. The purpose of the assessment was to evaluate environmental, technical, regulatory, and economic aspects of the use of such disposal sites. Availab...
Noise pollution from human traffic networks and industrial activity impacts vast areas of our planet. While anthropogenic noise effects on animal communication are well documented, we have very limited...Full Text Available
Parallel imaging reconstructions result in spatially varying noise amplification characterized by the g-factor, precluding conventional measurements of noise from the final...Full Text Available
OBJECTIVES—To investigate the relation between different types of exposure to noise and a classic sign of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL), the audiometric notch. METHODS—The...Full Text Available
... Studies People Projects Opportunities Framework Critical Sectors Development Goals Geographic Region Geographic Scale Research Themes Printer-Friendly Center for Ocean Solutions Early Career Fellowship Program Location: Stanford, California Source: The Center for Ocean Solutions (“Ocean Solutions”) seeks one or more recent graduates who have received a JD, MBA or PhD in the natural, physical or social sciences in the last five years, and who ...
''Climates of the Oceans'' deals with the atmosphere over the world oceans and provides a treatment not only of the climatic elements such as temperature, pressure, wind, precipitation etc., but also of the circulation of the atmosphere and its changes throughout the year. The connection between sea and overlying air is examined through studies of the water and heat balance. Numerous maps and tables illustrate the elements and their fluctuations over the water and on islands and coasts.
The authors have measured the noise of MOS transistors of the United Technology Microelectronics Center (UTMC) 1.2 [mu]m radiation hardened CMOS P-well process from the weak to moderate inversion region. The noise power spectral densities of both NMOS and PMOS devices were measured from 1 KHz to 50 MHz. The bandwidth was chosen such that the important components of the spectral densities such as the white thermal noise and the 1/f noise could be easily resolved and analyzed in detail. In this paper the effects of different device terminal DC biases and channel geometries on the noise are described.
This spring, Newfoundland will send off a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to the offshore Terra Nova field. The Terra Nova will proceed southeast through Bull Arm, then northeast out of Trinity Bay, then heads southeast to the Jeanne d'Arc Basin on the Grand Banks. The Terra Nova is expected to produce 115,000 barrels of oil per day for six years, when it reaches full capacity. The consortium, headed by Petro-Canada as senior ownership partner and operator, built an environment protection program into every aspect of the project. Some of the features of the environment protection program include glory holes excavated on the ocean floor for the protection of production equipment from icebergs, to a flare stack on the platform, which has four legs to provide stability in rough seas. The FPSO was designed to withstand sea ice, icebergs, and severe winter storms. Flow lines are also protected, and in the event ...
This paper describes a 1993 field experiment entitled Marine Aerosol Properties and Thermal Imager Performance Trial (MAPTIP) conducted by NATO AC/243 Panel 04/RSG.8 and 04/RSG.5 in the Dutch coastal waters. Objectives were: to improve and validate vertical marine aerosol models by providing an extensive set of aerosol and meteorological measurements, within a coastal environment at different altitudes and for a range of meteorological conditions; make aerosol and meteorological observations in the first 10 m of the ocean surface with a view to extending existing aerosol models to incorporate near-surface effects; and to assess marine boundary layer effects on thermal Imaging systems. Aerosol and meteorological instruments, as well as thermal imagers and calibrated targets, were utilized. This network of instrumentation has provided a comprehensive database of aerosol size distribution profiles and relevant meteorological variables throughout ...
Canadian oilfields are a prime breeding ground for talent, technology and industrial management. This paper described how Canadian talent was recognized in 2001 for three major projects which included a cold-ocean production platform in the Sea of Okhotsk in Siberia, a mountain pipeline project in South America, and an in-situ underground extraction technology in the oilsands of Alberta. The cold-ocean production platform project was recruited by Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., an international consortium originally led by Marathon Oil Co which is now led by Royal Dutch Shell. The oil production platform is stationed 16 kilometres offshore of Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Sakhalin Energy bought and converted the Molikpaq, an innovative platform made in the 1980s for the Beaufort Sea by Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. The second project included Calgary's Hydroconsult EN3 Services Ltd. which was responsible for the construction of ...
Richmond Harbor is on the eastern shoreline of central San Francisco Bay and its access channels and several of the shipping berths are no longer wide or deep enough to accommodate modem deeper-draft vessels. The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (PL99-662) authorized the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), San Francisco District to deepen and widen the navigation channels in Richmond Harbor. Several options for disposal of the material from this dredging project are under consideration by USACE: disposal within San Francisco Bay, at open-ocean disposal sites, or at uplands disposal sites. Purpose of this study was to conduct comprehensive evaluations, including chemical, biological, and bioaccumulation testing of sediments in selected areas of Richmond Harbor. This information was required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USACE. Battelle/Marine Sciences Laboratory collected 20 core samples, both 4-in. and 12-in., to a project depth of -40 ft ...
Mechanisms, AGARD Conference Proceedings No. 131, 1974, Paper No. 11. ... Olsen, W. and Karchmer, A., Lip Noise Generated by Flow Separation From Nozzle ...
Abstract In this paper, the effect of several turbulence parameters during various flow conditions in Owens Valley, educed from coherent Doppler lidar data have been studied. Radial velocity structure functions are processed to estimate the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rate, integral length scale and velocity variance, assuming a theoretical model for isotropic wind fields. Corrections for turbulence measurements have been considered to address the complications due to inherent volumetric averaging of radial velocity over each range gate, noise of the lidar data, and the assumptions required to estimate effects of smaller scales of motion on turbulence quantities. Using data from the Terrain-induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX) in April-May 2006, vertical profiles of wind and tur...
The Galactic Exoplanet Survey Telescope (GEST) will observe a 2 square degree field in the Galactic bulge to search for extra-solar planets using a gravitational lensing technique. This gravitational lensing technique is the only method employing currently available technology that can detect Earth-mass planets at high signal-to-noise, and can measure the frequency of terrestrial planets as a function of Galactic position. GEST's sensitivity extends down to the mass of Mars, and it can detect hundreds of terrestrial planets with semi-major axes ranging from 0.7 AU to infinity. GEST will be the first truly comprehensive survey of the Galaxy for planets like those in our own Solar System.
We study the spike statistics of neurons in a network with dynamically balanced excitation and inhibition. Our model, intended to represent a generic cortical column, comprises randomly connected excitatory and inhibitory leaky integrate-and-fire neurons, driven by excitatory input from an external population. The high connectivity permits a mean field description in which synaptic currents can be treated as gaussian noise, the mean and autocorrelation function of which are calculated self-consistently from the firing statistics of single model neurons. Within this description, a wide range of Fano factors is possible. We find that the irregularity of spike trains is controlled mainly by the strength of the synapses relative to the difference between the firing threshold and the postfiring reset level of the membrane potential. For moderately strong synapses, we find spike statistics very similar to those observed in primary visual cortex.
The detection of explosives is a notoriously difficult problem, especially at stand-off distances, due to their (generally) low vapor pressure, environmental and matrix interferences, and packaging. We are exploring optimal dynamic detection to exploit the best capabilities of recent advances in laser technology and recent discoveries in optimal shaping of laser pulses for control of molecular processes to significantly enhance the standoff detection of explosives. The core of the ODD-Ex technique is the introduction of optimally shaped laser pulses to simultaneously enhance sensitivity of explosives signatures while reducing the influence of noise and the signals from background interferents in the field (increase selectivity). These goals are being addressed by operating in an optimal nonlinear fashion, typically with a single shaped laser pulse inherently containing within it coherently locked control and probe sub-pulses. With sufficient ...
Fetal MRI examines non-invasively the unborn fetus. Ultrafast MRI sequences effectively suppress fetal motion. Multiple case reports and studies have shown that fetal MRI is particularly helpful in the evaluation of the central nervous system. The high contrast-to-noise ratio, the high spatial resolution, the multiplanar capabilities, the large field of view and the simultaneous visualisation of fetal and maternal structures have proven to be advantageous. Fetal MRI is particularly helpful in the evaluation of the normal and pathological development of the brain. Despite the fact that no side effects have been reported or are to be expected, the use of MRI during pregnancy is still limited to the second and third trimester of pregnancy. Magnetic resonance imaging contrast media are not to be used as it passes the placenta. Ultrasound remains the primary screening modality for fetal pathology; fetal MRI can serve as an adjunct or second-line ...
We report on characterization of a set of AlGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) photodetectors. The model structure used in the calculation is the p-i-n heterojunction with 20 AlGaN/GaN MQW structures in i-region. The MQW structures have 2nm GaN quantum well width and 15nm AlxGa1-xN barrier width. The cutoff wavelength of the MQW photodetectors can be tuned by adjusting the well width and barrier height. Including the polarization field effects, on increasing Al mole fraction, the transition energy decreases, the total noise increases, and the responsivity has a red shift, and so the detectivity decreases and has a red shift.
Discusses the Methodological Directions for Expected Noise Calculation and Noise Reduction Design in Coal Preparation Plants developed at the Institute of Solid Fuel Preparation. Calculation of expected sound pressure levels is described. An exemplary chart of noise levels in the coal feed section of the coal preparation plant at the Taldinskii surface mine is presented. Procedures for planning noise pollution abatement measures and checking the expected noise levels are considered and explained on the example of the project of the coal crushing section in the Taldinskii plant (Kemerovugol' association) designed by Sibgiproshakht. A SMD-117 jaw crusher, 300 mm screen and a conveyor are to work in a space of 45,820 m{sup 3} with 30 m ceiling height. The expected noise level calculated for the working place of the crusher operator is 93-95 dBA without ...
Beyond a great number of applications in mineral process, the hydrocyclone separation has been used recently in an increasing number of fields, such as: environmental engineering, petrochemical engineering, food engineering, electrochemical engineering, pulp bioengineering, processes and paper industries, among others. Nowadays, the produced water is treated and then reinjected in the surface and also in return to the formation. In the offshore platforms, the produced water can be directly discarded in the ocean, since the dispersed phase concentration (oil) is according to Brazilian regulating agency limits. The basic principle used in hydrocyclone separation is the centrifugal sedimentation machine: the suspended particles are submitted to centrifugal acceleration, which separates them from the fluid. The basic geometry of a hydrocyclone consists of four parts: a cylindrical section for feeding, a conical section for swirling, an overflow and ...
The volume examines the scientific interfaces and technological applications of physics. Twelve areas are dealt with: biological physics--biophysics, the brain, and theoretical biology; the physics-chemistry interface--instrumentation, surfaces, neutron and synchrotron radiation, polymers, organic electronic materials; materials science; geophysics--tectonics, the atmosphere and oceans, planets, drilling and seismic exploration, and remote sensing; computational physics--complex systems and applications in basic research; mathematics--field theory and chaos; microelectronics--integrated circuits, miniaturization, future trends; optical information technologies--fiber optics and photonics; instrumentation; physics applications to energy needs and the environment; national security--devices, weapons, and arms control; medical physics--radiology, ultrasonics, NMR, and photonics. An executive summary and many chapters contain recommendations ...
The Crown of the Continent is one of the premiere ecosystems in North America containing Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the Bob Marshall-Great Bear-Scapegoat Wilderness Complex in Montana, various Provincial Parks in British Columbia and Alberta, several national and state forest lands in the USA, and Crown Lands in Canada. The region is also the headwater source for three of the continent's great rivers: Columbia, Missouri and Saskatchewan that flow to the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, respectively. While the region has many remarkably pristine headwater streams and receiving rivers, there are many pending threats to water quality and quantity. One of the most urgent threats comes from the coal and gas fields in the northern part of the Crown of the Continent, where coal deposits are proposed for mountain-top removal and open-pit mining operations. This will have significant effects on the waters of the region, its ...
The authors will be conducting an integrated seismic experiment to image the structure of the crust and upper mantle of northern California immediately before and after passage of the Mendocino Triple Junction. The purpose of this representation is to describe the project to other scientists interested in geological and geophysical processes in this region and to solicit input relevant to detailed siting of the funded seismic profiles. The experiment encompasses two field seasons: onshore seismic refraction/wide angle reflection data acquisition along three long profiles scheduled for late summer, 1993; and MCS deep crustal seismic reflection data acquisition accompanied by simultaneous large aperture recording using both ocean bottom and onshore seismographs, tentatively scheduled for summer, 1994. This study represents a component of a long-term, multi-disciplinary effort on the part of many investigators to exploit this well defined system ...
In the utilization of the thermal energy by ocean temperature difference and factory waste heat, the high performance heating surfaces in pipes from which scale can be removed are required. As the method of removing scale, the method using sponge balls seems most suitable, but for applying this method, as the form of the protrusions attached to the inner surfaces of pipes, smooth circular are form is desirable. The promotion of heat transfer with the rows of circular arc protrusions like this is strongly related to the mode of flow and such structure as separation, recirculation flow, readhesion and turbulent energy generation. In this study, as the basic research to optimize the heating surface with the rows of smooth protrusions, the flow characteristics and the heat transfer characteristics including the turbulent structure of the wake of protrusions were experimentally determined, and the essence of the heat transfer characteristics was to be clarified on the ...
Purpose/Objective: At present, treatment verification between portal and reference images is performed based on manually-identified features by radiation oncologist, which is both time-consuming and potentially error-prone. There is a demand for the computerized verification procedure in clinical application. The purpose of this study is to develop a computerized portal verification scheme for pelvic treatment fields. Materials/Methods: The automated verification system involves image acquisition, image feature extraction, feature matching between reference and portal images and quantitative evaluation of patient setup. Electronic portal images with a matrix size of 256 x 256 and 12 bit gray levels were acquired using a liquid matrix electronic portal imaging device. Simulation images were acquired by digitizing simulation films using a TV camera into images with 256 x 256 matrix and 8 bit gray levels. Initially a Canny edge detector is applied to identify the ...
Structural engineering implies four factors particularly relevant to sonics: airborne noise abatement, insulation of plumbing, by-pass insulation and noise absorption (noise abatement). These are exemplified with special regard to methodical and/or product-specific noise pollution abatement measures. Besides, reference is made to DIN standards 4109 providing both engineers with practical advice and pipe fitters or plumbers with concrete examples for application. VDI recommendations 3733 convey essential knowledge of how to properly apply sonic principles in the planning, design and installation of pipes. (BR).
Subcritical source-driven noise measurements are simultaneous Rossia and randomly pulsed neutron measurements that provide measured quantities that can be related to the subcritical neutron multiplication factor. In fact, subcritical source-driven noise measurements should be performed in lieu of Rossia measurements because of the additional information that is obtained from noise measurements such as the spectral ratio and the coherence functions. The basic understanding of source-driven noise analysis measurements can be developed from a point reactor kinetics model to demonstrate how the measured quantities relate to the subcritical neutron multiplication factor.
A CANDU nuclear reactor was shut down for over one year because steam generator (SG) tubes had failed with outer diameter stress-corrosion cracking (ODSCC) in the U-bend section. Novel, single-pass eddy current transmit-receive probes, denoted as C3, were successful in detecting all significant cracks so that the cracked tubes could be plugged and the unit restarted. Significant numbers of tubes with SCC were removed from a SG in order to validate the results of the new probe. Results from metallurgical examinations were used to obtain probability-of-detection (POD) and sizing accuracy plots to quantify the performance of this new inspection technique. Though effective, the above approach of relying on tubes removed from a reactor is expensive, in terms of both economic and radiation-exposure costs. This led to a search for more affordable methods to validate inspection techniques and procedures. Methods are presented for calculating POD curves based on ...
A CANDU nuclear reactor was shut down for over one year because steam generator (SG) tubes had failed with outer diameter stress-corrosion cracking (ODSCC) in the U-bend section. Novel, single-pass eddy current transmit-receive probes, denoted as C3, were successful in detecting all significant cracks so that the cracked tubes could be plugged and the unit restarted. Significant numbers of tubes with SCC were removed from a SG in order to validate the results of the new probe. Results from metallurgical examinations were used to obtain probability-of-detection (POD) and sizing accuracy plots to quantify the performance of this new inspection technique. Though effective, the above approach of relying on tubes removed from a reactor is expensive, in terms of both economic and radiation-exposure costs. This led to a search for more affordable methods to validate inspection techniques and procedures. Methods are presented for calculating POD curves based on ...
This paper introduces marketability and parts application of PBT in the automotive field. Based on the pursuits in automobiles of weight reduction as measures to improve engine performance, drive performance, and fuel consumption, as well as trends of higher class car orientation, market expansion is expected on engineering resins including PBT. Adoption of PBT/polycarbonate (PC)-based alloy resins is on increase for use in external car parts because of the chemical resistance in PBT, low-temperature shock resistance and appearance of PC. Substitution from Nylon resin in connector application is progressing rapidly because of problems in dimensional stability and compound noise. Air bag sensor parts need to be free of maloperation due to contamination and corrosion in metal contacts caused from gases generated from formed parts, hence development of resins of low gas generation grade is wanted. Valves for exhaust control require ...
There are at present 116 floating production systems and 60 storage vessels dotting the oceans involved in hydrocarbon exploration and production activities. Although concentrated mostly in the North Sea, they can be found also off the coast of Australia, eastern Canada, Brazil, some African nations and the Gulf of Mexico. They range from converted tankers to purpose built rigs. The most adaptable of the various systems is the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, first developed as a cost-effective means of developing fields in Brazil's very deep offshore areas. Still being tested and modified for work in widely different environments, FPSOs appear to have met all requirements in producing expenditure efficiencies, maximizing profits, and protecting workers. One of the most efficient and most technically advanced is a 292-metre long FPSO built for the Terra Nova Alliance by Daewoo Shipyards in South Korea. It ...
ObjectivesNot EnteredDescriptionMethane hydrate in an ice-like substance consisting of molecules of methane gas combined chemically with water. It is stable at high pressures and low temperatures. Since the ocean floor is normally cold, but temperatures increase with depth inside the Earth, such conditions normally prevail for a few hundred meters below the seafloor where the ocean depth is more than a few hundred metres. Methane beneath the ocean floor is formed by the decomposition of organic material. At the edges of the co [continued...
Chemical composition of fine aerosol particles over the northern Chilean coastal waters was determined onboard the U.S. DOE G-1 aircraft during the VOCALS (VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study) field campaign between October 16 and November 15, 2008. SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, and total organics (Org) were determined using an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, and SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, Na+, Cl-, CH3SO3-, Mg2+, Ca2+, and K+ were determined using a particle-into-liquid sampler-ion chromatography technique. The results show the marine boundary layer (MBL) aerosol mass was dominated by non- sea-salt SO42- followed by Na+, Cl-, Org, NO3-, and NH4+, in decreasing importance; CH3SO3-, Ca2+, and K+ rarely exceeded their respective limits of detection. The SO42- aerosols were strongly acidic as the equivalent NH4+ to SO42- ratio was only ~0.25 on average. NaCl particles, presumably of sea-salt origin, showed chloride deficits but retained Cl- typically more ...
The effect of 50 Hz and 60 Hz (frequencies of current distribution) and 20 kHz to 50 kHz (frequencies of induction cooktop) magnetic interference on implanted pacemakers have been assessed with the present generation of device technology. Sixty patients implanted in 1998 and 1999 with dual chamber pacemakers from 9 different manufacturers were monitored with telemetry while passing through, and standing between a system of two coils. They generated a 50 Hz or a 60 Hz magnetic field at 50 microT. Then, patients used a cooktop at different power. The recordings were made with the standard setting of "medically correct" sensing parameters chosen for the patients. Then pacemakers were reprogrammed to the unipolar mode, with the highest atrial (A) and ventricular (V) sensitivity that did not induce muscular inhibition while moving. Between each exposure (50 Hz, 60 Hz or 20 kHz to 50 kHz), the pacemaker programmation was controlled. At the end of the tests, pacemakers ...
Federal regulators were set to vote on a plan to protect deep water corals and other sensitive fish habitats that will likely include a permanent ban on ...
The classification of petrels (Pterodroma spp.) from Round Island, near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, has confounded researchers since their...Full Text Available
Objectives(i) Investigate the correlation between Antarctic sea-ice and equatorial sea-surface temperature anomalies in a realistically forced ocean model simulation of the last 50 years. (ii) Determine whether and how the enormous seasonal change in distribution of sea-ice modifies the seasonal cycle at the Equator. (iii) Determine the detailed pathways of wave propagation both in a historically-forced simulation and in response to realistic perturbations. (iv) Quantify the amplitude of the response i [continued...]DescriptionIt is well known that the equatorial ocean-atmosphere system plays a key role in global climate events such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. There is now compelling evidence that changes in the Antarctic can strongly and quickly affect the equatorial ocean and the ENSO cycle. Observations demonstrate statistically significant correlations (teleconnections) between the Antarctic ...
Deforestation farther inland causes delayed reactions. When roots no longer hold soil in place, it ends up muddying streams, rivers, and coastal waters. ...
A Self-Powered Underwater Robot for Ocean Exploration and Beyond ... first unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that is completely powered by renewable energy . ...
The company reports that with the help of outside companies, they completed all major fixes including high-voltage transmission lines to neighborhood ...
A strategy for the management of the disposal of low-level radioactive wastes into coastal zones and ocean waters has developed over the past three decades. While there has been a substantial increase in the number of international and required agreements there has also been a concomitant improvement in our understanding of the ocean and the processes at work within it. This has allowed more rigorous and reliable assessments to be made of the radiological consequences. With the continued development of basic guidelines of radiological protection by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) methodologies have been formulated to derive the fundamental scientific requirement - the relationship between disposal or release rate to the ocean and the resultant radiation dose to exposed human populations.
Present and potential future changes to the global environment have important implications for marine pollution and for the air-sea exchange of both anthropogenic and natural substances. This report addresses three issues related to the potential impact of global change on the air-sea exchange of chemicals: Global change and the air-sea transfer of the nutrients nitrogen and iron. Global change and the air-sea exchange of gases. Oceanic responses to radiative and oxidative changes in the atmosphere. The deposition of atmospheric anthropogenic nitrogen has probably increased biological productivity in coastal regions along many continental margins. Atmospheric deposition of new nitrogen may also have increased productivity somewhat in mid-ocean regions. The projected future increases of nitrogen oxide emissions from Asia, Africa and South America will provide significant increases in the rate of deposition of oxidized nitrogen to the central ...
Cheap air conditioning from oceanic temperature differences is a possible new competitor for coal in coastal regions. Coal suppliers planning expansion in growing economies need to be aware of the possibilities and limitations of this new competitor. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) used to be uneconomic but the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELH) has developed a very economic method of utilising the temperature difference between warm ocean surface and cold deep ocean to generate energy for air conditioning. The article outlines the process and mentions demonstrations of OTEC technology to produce electricity and air conditioning at a site in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Indonesia and India have viable sites for OTEC installations, and NELH is working with Madras State on a project to construct a commercial OTEC plant in India. 2 photos.
... Mineral and Organic Matter in the Coastal and Near-Coastal Ocean. ... Personal Author(s) : Stavn, Robert H. ; Spiering, Bruce A. ; Gould, Richard W ...
The two most important issues in designing future gravitational wave interferometric detectors are, in our opinion, thermal and optical noise. In this paper we discuss some approaches for reducing these noises. About thermal noise we show a possible cryogenic solution. About optical noise (namely, the combined effect of shot noise and radiation pressure noise) we show that it is possible to apply a recently proposed reduction strategy based on a 'quantum feedback' (Courty et al 2003 Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 083601; Courty et al 2003 Preprint gr-qc/0301068) to a full Fabry-Perot cavity. This can be seen as a further step towards the practical realization of a detector which is able to evade the standard quantum limit.
Point contact Josephson junctions can function as millimeter wave heterodyne mixers with conversion gain. The best results achieved thus far show a single sideband conversion gain of 1.3 and a mixer contribution to the system noise temperature of 54"0K. Both of these results are approximately 5 times better than the best published figures for cooled Schottky barrier diode mixers operated at the same frequency. The measured noise for a variety of junctions can be expressed as a universal function of the normalized rf frequency #OMEGA# = h#omega#/2eI/sub c/R. It is about a factor 2 larger than the calculated noise arising from the thermal noise in the junction shunt resistance, R. The noise calculation was done for the resistively shunted junction model using an analog junction simulator.
Variability in motor performance decreases with practice but is never entirely eliminated, due in part to inherent motor noise. The present study develops a method that quantifies how performers...Full Text Available
The likelihood that past experience will produce correct guides to current practice depends on the signal-to-noise ratio for the clinical problem of interest. If the signal-to-noise ratio is high, the...Full Text Available
An examination of the noise of polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors, in the context of flat panel x-ray imager development, is reported. The study was conducted in the spirit of exploring...Full Text Available
A new method of random data analysis has been developed with special implications for membrane noise. The integral spectrometer uses overlapping broad-band filters of simple design, whose bandwidth...Full Text Available
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of short gravity waves is examined in order to explain the recent findings of the decrease in momentum transfer from hurricane winds to sea waves. A three-fluid configuration of a foam layer between the atmosphere and the ocean is suggested to provide signifficant stabilization of the system and shifting the marginal critical wavelength to the shortwave part of the spectrum. It is conjectured that such stabilization leads to the observed drag reduction. The high contrasts in three fluid densities provide a universal mechanism for stabilizing surface perturbations.
... Rachel has also studied Geological Oceanography at the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, including a year spent at the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory, Surrey, as a student researcher for the British Mid-Ocean Ridge Initiative (BRIDGE). Rachel has authored the following 1 Working Papers: 2002 ecm-2002-05 Towards Integrated Catchment/Coastal Management: Science, Policy ...
Separate abstracts were prepared for 20 papers in this conference report and includes all papers in the ''engineering'' section (program E). Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), moorings, cables, corrosion protection, corrosion testing, coatings, offshore platforms, pipelines, OTEC models and pilot plants, and energy transfer are topics discussed.
The aim of this paper is to provide a general view of wave energy resource assessment. First, a review of the origin of waves and the transformation they undergo as they propagate towards the coast through waters of decreasing depth is presented. Following this, the wave and wave-energy parameters and the statistics required for resource characterization are described. The various types of wave data and their usefulness for the present purposes are summarised. A common methodology for assessment of the wave energy resource is developed. Finally, a general description of the global open ocean resource is presented.
...ENSO Applications Center (PEAC) Institutional Affiliation: PEAC's core members are The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Office of Global Programs (NOAA/OGP) The NOAA National Weather Service - Pacific Region (NWS-PR), The University of Hawaii - School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology UH/SOEST, The University of Guam - Water and Energy Research Institute (UOG/WERI), and a regional association of the USAPI Governments, the Pacific Basin ...
Audible noise from corona discharge had been identified as one of the most important factors in the design of conductor configurations for high-voltage transmission lines. 500 kV and above. Therefore this paper describes audible noise characteristics of 6 X 480 mm{sup 2} conductor bundle in KEPRI 765 kV Test Line and Corona Cage. Prediction formula for audible(corona) noise on a 765 kV Transmission Line was developed using this results. (author). 4 refs., 4 figs., 4 tabs.
This paper presents calculations of the {sup 252}Cf-source-driven noise analysis measurements for subcritical highly enriched uranium metal cylinders using the Monte Carlo code MCNP-DSP. This code directly calculates the noise analysis data from the {sup 252}Cf- source-driven noise analysis method for both neutron and gamma ray detectors. Direct calculation of experimental observables by the Monte Carlo method allows for the benchmarking of the calculational model and the cross sections and for determining the bias in the calculation.
A method for simulating power law noise in clocks and oscillators is presented based on modification of the spectrum of white phase noise, then Fourier transforming to the time domain. Symmetric real matrices are introduced whose traces--the sums of their eigenvalues--are equal to the Allan variances, in overlapping or non-overlapping forms, as well as for the corresponding forms of the modified Allan variance. Diagonalization of these matrices leads to expressions for the probability distributions for observing a variance at an arbitrary value of the sampling or averaging interval $\\tau$, and hence for estimating confidence in the measurements. A number of applications are presented for the common power-law noises.
A model that fully describes the response properties of visual neurons must be able to predict their activity during natural vision. While many models have been proposed for the visual system, few have ever been tested against this criterion. To address this issue, we have developed a general framework for fitting and validating nonlinear models of visual neurons using natural visual stimuli. Our approach derives from linear spatiotemporal receptive field (STRF) analysis, which has frequently been used to study the visual system. However, prior to the linear filtering stage typical of STRFs, a linearizing transformation is applied to the stimulus to account for nonlinear response properties. We used this approach to compare two models for neurons in primary visual cortex: a nonlinear Fourier power model, which accounts for spatial phase invariant tuning, and a traditional linear model. We characterized prediction accuracy in terms of the total explainable variance, ...
Considerations were given on typical applications of nylon resin parts to automotive use and their future trends through news topics. GF strengthened nylon resin is used in cylinder head covers substituting aluminum because of advantages in nylon resin of weight reducibility, vibration suppressibility, and noise shielding capability. Radiator tank uses N66GF 30% strengthened nylon in more than 60% of bonnet type passenger cars. Nylon resin is used most in harness connectors installed in locations that require heat resistance. External car parts such as bumpers, fenders, and wheel caps use to some extent nylon resin in the form of strengthened and up-graded polymer alloy. BMW in Germany used in its high-class production cars intake manifolds made of GF strengthened Nylon 66. The majority of engine{prime}s gas intake system parts has been replaced with Nylon blow-formed parts. The resin industry is aiming at developing Nylon resin with aromatic components to use into ...
We describe a new concept for a MEMS-based active spatial filter for astronomical spectroscopy. The goal of this device is to allow the use of a diffraction-limited spectrometer on a seeing limited observation at improved throughput over a comparable seeing-limited spectrometer, thus reducing the size and cost of the spectrometer by a factor proportional to r0/D (For the case of a 10 meter telescope this size reduction will be approximately a factor of 25 to 50). We use a fiber-based integral field unit (IFU) that incorporates an active MEMS mirror array to feed an astronomical spectrograph. A fast camera is used in parallel to sense speckle images at a spatial resolution of lambda/D and at a temporal frequency greater than that of atmospheric fluctuations. The MEMS mirror-array is used as an active shutter to feed speckle images above a preset intensity threshold to the spectrometer, thereby increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the ...
In order to improve the image quality of linear tomography performed with the Fuji Computed Radiography (FCR) system, we have examined one-dimensional unsharp mask filtering to reduce blur formed in the direction of tomographic swing. We determined a mask size and a weighting factor of the image processing suitable to obtain a quality tomogram. The mask size of 41 x 1 pixels for a 14 x 14'' imaging plate, which modifies the original image date and results in demonstrating a peak frequency at 0.2 cycles/mm for spatial frequency spectrum, is superior in showing fine vessel structures and morphological features of pathology in the lung fields. An additional spatial frequency filtration in the direction perpendicular to the tomographic movement reduces the blur and clearly demonstrates object contours running parallel to the tube movement. However, the additional filtration increases the appearance of noise on the processed image ...
Geometrically anisotropic eddy current probes are a type of separate function probes especially fit to the detection of defects showing a preferential direction. This kind of flaw induces a coupling between the transmitter and the receiver by guiding eddy currents from the one to the other. On the other hand, this coupling will be almost non-existent in the presence of defects or spurious effects not displaying this geometrical particularity. Basic studies on an elementary two-coil set-up allow the acknowledgment of the intrinsic qualities of such probes: good signal-to-noise ratio, influence field practically constant on the whole defect length, ability to detect bridged defects, insensitivity to lift off. These results can be improved by achieving multicoils probes adapted to different kinds of problems. An application to continuous casting slabs testing yields very interesting results in the detection of cracks, while getting rid of the ...
In an effort to evaluate the feasibility of introducing computed radiography (FCR) into mass screening for lung cancer, the ability of FCR to detect nodules one cm in diameter was examined using a humanoid chest phantom. Based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the detectability of FCR was compared with that of conventional radiography and photofluorography. The values of area under ROC curves were higher for FCR (0.963 for image similar to that with conventional film-intensifying screen system, image A; and 0.952 for processed image, image B) than the other two methods (0.774 for radiography and 0.789 for photofluorography). Degradation of image quality in FCR could be avoided by a wide latitude even if proper exposure techniques might not be employed. Images A and B in FCR yielded excellent delineation for nodules in the lung field and in the retrocardiac and subdiaphragmatic regions, respectively. This may have implications for the value of ...
In an effort to evaluate the feasibility of introducing computed radiography (FCR) into mass screening for lung cancer, the ability of FCR to detect nodules one cm in diameter was examined using a humanoid chest phantom. Based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the detectability of FCR was compared with that of conventional radiography and photofluorography. The values of area under ROC curves were higher for FCR (0.963 for image similar to that with conventional film-intensifying screen system, image A; and 0.952 for processed image, image B) than the other two methods (0.774 for radiography and 0.789 for photofluorography). Degradation of image quality in FCR could be avoided by a wide latitude even if proper exposure techniques might not be employed. Images A and B in FCR yielded excellent delineation for nodules in the lung field and in the retrocardiac and subdiaphragmatic regions, respectively. This may have implications for the value of ...
Bluestein's Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), commonly called the Chirp-Z Transform (CZT), is a little-known algorithm that offers engineers a high-resolution FFT combined with the ability to specify bandwidth. In the field of digital signal processing, engineers are always challenged to detect tones, frequencies, signatures, or some telltale sign that signifies a condition that must be indicated, ignored, or controlled. One of these challenges is to detect specific frequencies, for instance when looking for tones from telephones or detecting 60-Hz noise on power lines. The Goertzel algorithm described in Embedded Systems Programming, September 2002, offered a powerful tool toward finding specific frequencies faster than the FFT.Another challenge involves analyzing a range of frequencies, such as recording frequency response measurements, matching voice patterns, or displaying spectrum information on the face of an amateur radio. To meet ...
A method of augmenting heat transfer in the interior of a fluid or from the interface of a solid in contact to a fluid by utilizing electro hydrodynamic (EHD) phenomena has the following advantages: the heat transfer can be effected by using a relatively small, light-weight high voltage source and some simple structural members; no vibration and noise are generated; the method has a control function to control heat transfer by adjustment of field and voltage; and this method is effective in cost-saving. It is mass transfer by the electric force caused by interaction between true charges or polarized charges in a fluid and external electric filed that plays an important role in most of such heat transfer augmentation methods by EHD. Examples of heat transfer augmentation by EHD phenomena include electricaly induced convection, contribution of EHD effect to heat transfer accompanied with boiling, heat transfer by corona wind accompanied with ...
To analyse the thermal noise of the pendulum mode of a suspended mirror, we interferometrically detect the differential movement of two mirrors suspended as multiple-stage pendulums. We present the set-up of this experiment and the current sensitivity, and also the different steps that we took in the past to increase the sensitivity, which include an auto alignment of the laser beam into the resonator eigenmode, changes of the seismic isolation system to more damping stages and higher moments of inertia and an intensive noise hunting.
Thermally recyclable Nb point-contact Josephson junctions are investigated as low-noise mixers with an external local oscillator at 115 GHz. The best single sideband mixer noise temperature achieved is 140 ( +- 20) K with a (SSB) conversion loss of 2.4 ( +- 0.5) dB. Such rugged junctions are suitable for use in practical receivers and should give unprecedented sensitivity at the shorter millimeter wavelengths.
The prediction of faults on high voltage transmission lines requires the detection of incipient faults, which is implemented by detection of the radio noise due to contaminated insulators, insulation deterioration, and improver connections. It is shown that the radio noise due to incipient faults is separable and identifiable from normal transmission line radio noise, hence faults can be predicted.
The study of audible noise from high voltage transmission lines and a high voltage transformer station was conducted in three parts. Part 1 consisted of long-term measurement and statistical analysis by computer reduction of audible noise as a result of corona discharge from high voltage transmission lines and the associated weather conditions which contribute to this noise. Recommendations are given concerning further computer programming in order to improve the statistical reliability of corona noise presence and reduce the degree of background noise contamination of the present results. Part 2 consisted of categorizing and cataloguing of corona noise spectra from long-term measurements on 550, 735 and 765 kV transmission lines and to provide a library of such sounds on magnetic tape to be used in the ongoing study of corona noise. ...
In the fall of 2003, the operators noticed that in the recently-refurbished Bruce A Shutdown System no. 1 (SDS1) the noise level in Log Rate signals were much larger than before. At the request of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), all Canadian CANDU reactors took action to characterize their Log Rate noise. Staff of the Inspection and Maintenance Services division of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has collected high-speed high-accuracy noise data from nearly all 16 Ontario reactors, either as part of routine measurements before planned outages or as a dedicated noise recording. This paper gives the results of examining a suitable subset of this data, with respect to the characteristics and possible causes of Log Rate noise. The reactor and instrumentation design is different at each station: the locations of the moderator injection nozzles, the location of the ion ...
During the last several years, audible noise produced by high voltage transmission lines in corona has emerged as an important design consideration. In this same time frame a number of different methods for calculating audible noise levels have been proposed. The methods currently available, for both ac and dc lines, are described in this paper and are compared through application to practical line geometries for which data from long-term measurements are available.
The oceanic phytoplancton productivity may essentially influence the total rate of the atmospheric CO{sub 2} absorption by the ocean - that is, a considerable amount of CO{sub 2} will be taken-up in the 50 micrometers thick layer near the air-sea interface. Even if phytoplancton production constitutes only 5% of the total oceanic biota production, this will increase the rate of CO{sub 2} absorption more than twice compared with the present estimates. The reason is that metabolic activity of phytoplancton leads to the emergence in a thin scin (50 micrometers, the average size of phytoplancton cells) layer near the water surface of an additional minimum in the CO{sub 2} partial pressure profile and of an additional maximum of {Delta} {sup 13}C in the same area. These two extremums cannot be detected if the corresponding characteristics are averaged over any microscopic area in the well mixing layer that is more than 1 meter ...
Impedance Noise Identification is an in-situ method of measuring battery impedance as a function of frequency using a random small signal noise excitation source. Through a series of auto- and cross-correlations and Fast Fourier Transforms, the battery complex impedance as a function of frequency can be determined. The results are similar to those measured under a lab-scale electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement. The lab-scale measurements have been shown to correlate well with resistance and power data that are typically used to ascertain the remaining life of a battery. To this end, the Impedance Noise Identification system is designed to acquire the same type of data as an on-board tool. A prototype system is now under development, and results are being compared to standardized measurement techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. A brief description of the Impedance ...
The detection of a stochastic background of gravitational waves could significantly impact our understanding of the physical processes that shaped the early Universe. The challenge lies in separating the cosmological signal from other stochastic processes such as instrument noise and astrophysical foregrounds. One approach is to build two or more detectors and cross correlate their output, thereby enhancing the common gravitational wave signal relative to the uncorrelated instrument noise. When only one detector is available, as will likely be the case with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), alternative analysis techniques must be developed. Here we show that models of the noise and signal transfer functions can be used to tease apart the gravitational and instrument noise contributions. We discuss the role of gravitational wave insensitive "null channels" formed from particular combinations ...
SummaryObjectiveTo assess the level of noise generated by music shops in an urban city in Nigeria. Study designCross-sectional, descriptive study. MethodologyThe study involved music shops in three out of eight identified clusters of market areas in Benin City. A semi-structured, researcher-administered questionnaire was also used to collect data from music shop owners. Noise levels generated by speakers in the music shops were measured using a sound level meter, and blood pressure measurements were taken with a mercury sphygmomanometer. ResultsOf the 250 music shops studied, more than 90.0% generated noise levels >85 dB, and 54.8% had a continuous pattern of noise. Longer duration of working years was significantly associated with decreased hearing (P = 0.01), shouting when talking (P = 0...
A theoretical background of crosshole reflection imaging with pre stack, multi-mode reverse time migration has been investigated. The crosshole migration has been carried out by solving two-way scalar wave equation with finite difference approximation. The wave field extrapolation was performed backward in time, with the imaging condition applied at each extrapolation time step to create partial image of the reflector. The complete migrated image was obtained by adding all the partial images from each time step. With multi-component crosshole data available, it is possible to separate the recorded data into primary P- and S-wave field. Separating wave field before migration is helpful in enhancing migrated image quality since only one wave mode can be dealt at a time with the scalar wave equation. It is possible to migrate mixed-mode primary reflections(P-S and S-P) as well as pure mode ones. These multi-mode migrations ...
Abstract We have experimentally and theoretically investigated the equivalent magnetic noise in a magnetoelectric Metglas/ 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 laminate sensor unit by considering the constituent noise sources of dielectric loss (NDE) and DC leakage resistance (NR). In the low frequency range (f = 1 Hz), theory predicts that NR dominates the noise charge (1.6 times larger than NDE), with a 1 Hz noise of 9.1\\;{\\rm pt}/\\sqrt {\\rm Hz}. The experimental equivalent magnetic noise was 10.8\\;{\\rm pt}/\\sqrt {\\rm Hz}. This observed value is slightly higher than the predicted one, which might be due to an oversimplification of the theoretical model in terms of electrical charge amplifier and external vibration noise sources. ( 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
The growing global public concern over deteriorating air quality and greenhouse gases emissions released from various combustion processes, and particularly power plants and transportation system, led governments and local authorities, especially in industrialised countries into taking these issues seriously and establishing standards to reduce air pollution down to acceptable levels, (clean air act, earth summit,...). The transportation sector has another unwanted product, noise pollution caused by different segments of this sector including the noise produced by the engine, tires noise and exhaust noise, in addition to the noise product by private standby generals operating during electricity cut-off periods. To be able to estimate the environmental impacts of the national power plants and the transportation sector, it is necessary to collect enough data (samples of lead ...
The summertime tropical cyclogenesis rate per unit area in the eastern Pacific ocean is arguably higher than in any other location in the world. Many if not most of these cyclones form from African easterly waves which cross Central America into the Pacific. Of order 25% of these waves intensify into cyclones. A significant fraction of east Pacific tropical cyclones undergoes landfall on the Mexican coast. Those which do not, generally dissipate over cold ocean waters north of the east Pacific intertropical convergence zone, often not far from land. The layer of warm ocean water which supports the development of east Pacific cyclones is unusually shallow and is structured by anticyclonic vortices which form by various processes and propagate slowly to the west. These vortices locally deepen the oceanic mixed layer and support stronger convection than their surroundings, possibly promoting ...
The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) of the Department of Energy is designed to identify and evaluate the radiological conditions at sites formerly used by the Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District and the US Atomic Energy Commission. Where required, remedial action will be instituted to remove potential restrictions on the use of the sites due to residual low-level radioactive contamination. A total of 31 sites that may require remedial action has been identified. The purpose of the Ocean FUSRAP Program, which began in March 1981, is to assess the technical, environmental, and institutional feasibility of disposing, in the ocean and on the ocean floor, of FUSRAP soil and rubble which contains traces of natural radioactive materials. The initial focus has been on the Middlesex, New Jersey, Sampling Plant site and surrounding properties, which contain on the order of 100,000 metric tons of ...
The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) of the Department of Energy is designed to identify and evaluate the radiological conditions at sites formerly used by the Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District and the US Atomic Energy Commission. Where required, remedial action will be instituted to remove potential restrictions on the use of the sites due to residual low-level radioactive contamination. A total of 31 sites that may require remedial action has been identified. The purpose of the Ocean FUSRAP Program, which began in March 1981, is to assess the technical, environmental, and institutional feasibility of disposing, in the ocean and on the ocean floor, of FUSRAP soil and rubble which contains traces of natural radioactive materials. The initial focus has been on the Middlesex, New Jersey, Sampling Plant site and surrounding properties, which contain on the order of 100,000 metric tons of ...
The island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) lies within the North Caribbean strike-slip plate boundary zone. The post-Eocene history of Hispaniola is marked by strike-slip accretion of crustal fragments onto a Late Cretaceous-Eocene island arc. Three onshore Neogene clastic basins have been the focus of petroleum exploration in Hispaniola. Oil production was achieved by drilling surface anticlines in the Azua Basin in South-Central Hispaniola (Dominican Republic) during World War II (Maleno and Higuerito fields). More modern seismic exploration has been carried out in the Enriquillo, San Juan and Cibao Basins, but has not resulted in production. Recent surface and seismic stratigraphic mapping has elucidated the geologic history of Southern Hispaniola. It consists of several Late Cretaceous-Eocene oceanic and island-arc terranes separated by E-W to NW/SE-striking ''ramp'' or thrust-bound clastic ...
Climates at regional scale are strongly dependent on the interaction between atmosphere and its lower boundary, the oceans and the land surface mosaic. Land surfaces influence climate through their albedo, and the aerodynamic roughness, the processes of the biosphere and many soil hydrological properties; all these factors vary considerably geographically. Land surfaces receive a certain portion of the solar irradiance depending on the cloudiness, atmospheric transparency and surface albedo. Short-wave solar irradiance is the source of the heat energy exchange at the earth`s surface and also regulates many biological processes, e.g. photosynthesis. Methods for estimating solar irradiance, atmospheric transparency and surface albedo were reviewed during the course of this project. The solar energy at earth`s surface is consumed for heating the soil and the lower atmosphere. Where moisture is available, evaporation is one of the key components of the surface energy ...
The Earth`s oceans, forests, agricultural lands and other natural areas absorb about half of the carbon dioxide emitted from anthropogenic sources. Terrestrial carbon sequestration strategies are immediately available to bridge the gap between current terrestrial sequestration capacity and high-capacity geologic sequestration projects available in 10 to 20 years. Terrestrial carbon sequestration strategies consist of implementing land management practices aimed at decreasing CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and developing advanced measurement tools to inventory and monitor carbon processes in soils and biota. In addition to atmospheric CO2 mitigation and carbon trading advantages, terrestrial carbon sequestration produces a variety of benefits which include reclamation of degraded lands, increased soil productivity, increased land value and a more secure food source. Carbon storage in soil depends on climate and management practices, with potential yearly ...
Political leaders in numerous nations argue for an upper limit of the global average surface temperature of 2 K above the pre-industrial level, in order to attempt to avoid the most serious impacts of climate change. This paper analyzes what this limit implies in terms of radiative forcing, emissions pathways and abatement costs, for a range of assumptions on rate of ocean heat uptake and climate sensitivity. The primary aim is to analyze the importance of ocean heat uptake for radiative forcing pathways that temporarily overshoot the long-run stabilization forcing, yet keep the temperature increase at or below the 2 K limit. In order to generate such pathways, an integrated climate-economy model, MiMiC, is used, in which the emissions pathways generated represent the least-cost solution o...
Various SST indices in the Indo-Pacific region have been proposed in the literature in light of a long-range seasonal forecasting of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). However, the dynamics associated with these different indices have never been compared in detail. To this end, the present work re-examines the variabilities of ISM rainfall, onset and withdrawal dates at interannual timescales and explores their relationships with El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and various modes of coupled variability in the Indian Ocean. Based on recent findings in the literature, five SST indices are considered here: Ni?o3.4 SST index in December?January both preceding [Nino(?1)] and following the ISM [Nino(0)], South East Indian Ocean (SEIO) SST in February?March, the Indian Ocean Basin (IOB) mode in ...
Man's wastes are polluting the oceans from various sources and delivered by various routes. The result has been the loss of habitat and the irreversible altering of marine ecosystems. Development in the coastal zones and offshore activities that disrupt biologically sensitive areas have led to international negotiations to regulate these impacts and develop a law of the sea. Basic to international cooperation, however, is the need to develop answers to questions about the ecological consequences of development programs and the carrying capacity of the oceans. Current information does not demonstrate long-term global impacts, making it difficult to detect and predict incremental changes and causal relationships. Society needs to determine how much environmental damage it will accept and then to develop appropriate technology, such as biomonitoring. Society also needs to reexamine its positions on technology-based regulatory controls to ...
The total amount of uranium dissolved in seawater at a uniform concentration of 3 mg U/m{sup 3} in the world's oceans is 4.5 billion tons. An adsorption method using polymeric adsorbents capable of specifically recovering uranium from seawater is reported to be economically feasible. A uranium-specific nonwoven fabric was used as the adsorbent packed in an adsorption cage 16 m{sup 2} in cross-sectional area and 16 cm in height. We submerged three adsorption cages in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 20 m at 7 km offshore of Japan. The three adsorption cages consisted of stacks of 52 000 sheets of the uranium-specific non-woven fabric with a total mass of 350 kg. The total amount of uranium recovered by the nonwoven fabric was >1 kg in terms of yellow cake during a total submersion time of 240 days in the ocean.
The total amount of uranium dissolved in seawater at a uniform concentration of 3 mg U/m3 in the world's oceans is 4.5 billion tons. An adsorption method using polymeric adsorbents capable of specifically recovering uranium from seawater is reported to be economically feasible. A uranium-specific nonwoven fabric was used as the adsorbent packed in an adsorption cage 16 m2 in cross-sectional area and 16 cm in height. We submerged three adsorption cages in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 20 m at 7 km offshore of Japan. The three adsorption cages consisted of stacks of 52 000 sheets of the uranium-specific non-woven fabric with a total mass of 350 kg. The total amount of uranium recovered by the nonwoven fabric was >1 kg in terms of yellow cake during a total submersion time of 240 days in the ocean.
The work presented here demonstrates the ability of proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) to perform fast-response measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (including methanol, acetonitrile, acetaldehyde, acetone, PAN-type compounds, alpha- and beta-pinene, nopinone and pinonaldehyde) at the pptv level and its versatile applicability in the field of environmental trace gas analysis. Laboratory and field experiments including various calibration techniques and intercomparisons with other measurement techniques such as gas chromatography, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy were performed providing a first characterization of the PTR-MS instrument performance (sensitivity, detection limit, precision, accuracy). Typically a detection limit (S/N=2) of 50 pptv for a 10 s signal integration time, a precision of 5 % and an accuracy in the range between 10 and 25 % were ...
The aim of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively study MR artifacts of various stents on the basis of in vitro experiments. We were particularly interested whether sequence type and orientation of the stent with respect to the static magnetic field influences the artifact. We examined 18 stents of different material (nitinol, stainless steel, cobalt alloy), different design of the stent meshes (AccuLink, OmniLink, DynaLink, Xact, Protoge, Wallstent Monorail), different diameter (5-10 mm) and different length (18-58 mm) with a turbo spin echo (TSE), a 2D-fast low angle shot (FLASH) and a 3D-FLASH sequence. The MR images were examined qualitatively with respect to possible artifacts. Furthermore we examined the MR data quantitatively: The contrast-noise-ratio (CNR) was determined both within the stent and outside (within the tube); based on these values we calculated the transparency factor P, furthermore we calculated the apparent ...
Four 10 MW, highly-stabilized power supply modules have been installed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, FL, to energize water-cooled, resistive, high-field research magnets. The power supply modules achieve a long term current stability if 10 ppM over a 12 h period with a short term ripple and noise variation of <10 ppM over a time period of one cycle. The power supply modules can operate independently, feeding four separate magnets, or two, three or four modules can operate in parallel. Each power supply module consists of a 12.5 kV vacuum circuit breaker, two three-winding, step-down transformers, a 24-pulse rectifier with interphase reactors, and a passive and an active filter. Two different transformer tap settings allow rated dc supply output voltages of 400 and 500 V. The rated current of a supply module is 17 kA and each supply module has a one-hour overload capability of 20 kA. The ...
of satellite, aircraft and ground-based observations. In ..... swarm traps by Utah Department of Food and Agriculture (DAF) personnel. Preliminary Results ..... the 150th anniversary of the book's publication and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. ...... cold war submarine missions to find that Arctic Ocean ...
BackgroundDinoflagellates are unicellular, often photosynthetic protists that play a major role in the dynamics of the Earth's oceans and climate. Sequencing of dinoflagellate nuclear...Full Text Available
Meso- and submesoscales (fronts, eddies, filaments) in surface ocean flow have a crucial influence on marine ecosystems. Their dynamics partly control the foraging behavior and the displacement of marine...Full Text Available
The ratio of particle velocity to translation speed exceeds 1 for 98% of .... The westward movement of the meandering jet and eddy system transports nutrient- rich ...... J. Hydrometeor., 4, 1044-1066. Gedney, N., P. M. Cox, H. Douville, ...
BackgroundIt has been reported that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influences the interannual variation of endemic cholera in Bangladesh. There is increased...Full Text Available
BackgroundFood supply from the ocean is constrained by the shortage of domesticated and selected fish. Development of genomic models of economically important fishes should assist...Full Text Available
Separate abstracts were prepared for 60 papers in this volume of conference proceedings. None other papers in the proceedings were previously abstracted for EDB. Also included in the proceedings but not indexed separately are six workshop summaries and a session introduction. (LEW)
Computer programs have been developed to define the temperature increase which would be needed to bring deep-ocean water into density equilibrium with surface water for locations where data are available. A series of continuous-flow studies on phytoplankton blooms resulting from mixtures of 80 percent deep and 20 percent surface water in 2000-liter concrete culturing vessels (''reactors'') has been completed. A quantitative determination of nutrient utilization and flow through a combined primary and secondary trophic level system has been completed. This study utilized the clam Tapes semidecussata, fed from phytoplankton grown in 80 percent deep and 20 percent surface water. An analysis of the fate of the deep water discharged from a floating OTEC plant indicates that horizontal containment of the resulting deep water: surface water mixture is necessary if conditions optimal for open-sea mariculture are to obtain. The design of ...
In the IEEE Marine Technology Society OCEANS 2009 Conference, Biloxi. October 26-29, 2009. Biloxi, MS. Al-Hamdan, M.; Estes, M.; Quattrochi, D.; Thom, R.; ...
Records of past climates contained in ice cores, ocean sediments, and other archives show that large, abrupt, widespread climate changes have occurred repeatedly in the past. These changes were especially...Full Text Available
Foreward: Preface; Introduction; The natural science of global climate change; Land and water use; Coastal zones and oceans; Energy and industry; Energy and social systems; Technological change; and Sponsoring organizations, International Advisory Board, and project participants.
It is now widely accepted that novel infectious disease can be a leading cause of serious population decline and even outright extinction in some invertebrate and vertebrate groups (e.g., amphibians)....Full Text Available
Harmful algal blooms, caused by rapid growth and accumulation of certain microalgae in the ocean, pose considerable impacts on marine environments, aquatic industries and even public health. Here, we...Full Text Available
One tiny marine plant makes life on Earth possible: phytoplankton. These microscopic photosynthetic drifters form the basis of the marine food web, they regulate carbon in the atmosphere, and are responsible for half of the photosynthesis that takes place on this planet.
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an indicator of living biomass in marine particulates. This report details the method used by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to analyze particulate ATP in samples taken from oligotrophic, tropical ocean waters. It represents a synthesis of previously published methods.
BackgroundOceans are iron-deficient and nutrient-poor environments. These conditions impart limitations on our understanding of and our ability to identify microorganisms from the...Full Text Available
Picocyanobacteria of the genus Synechococcus are important contributors to marine primary production and are ubiquitous in the world's oceans. This genus is genetically diverse, and...Full Text Available
The present paper is concerned with the prediction method for the motions and tensions of mooring lines on slack-moored floating oceanic architectural building in coastal zone. The motions and the tensions of mooring lines were estimated by the time domain numerical simulation in the present method. The present method includes the nonlinearity of mooring system, slow varying wave drift force. The authors performed a time domain numerical simulation for motions and the tensions of mooring lines on floating barge in two component waves. Also, the results obtained by numerical simulation were compared with the experimental results. The validity of the present method was confirmed.
In this work trailing edge noise levels of a research aerofoil have been computed and compared to aeroacoustic measurements using two different approaches. On the other hand, aerodynamic and aeroacoustic calculations were performed with the full Navier-Stokes CFD code Fluent [Fluent Inc 2005 Fluent 6.2 Users Guide, Lebanon, NH, USA] on the basis of a steady RANS simulation. Aerodynamic characteristics were computed by the aid of various turbulence models. By the combined usage of implemented broadband noise source models, it was tried to isolate and determine the trailing edge noise level. Throughout this work two methods of different computational cost have been tested and quantitative and qualitative results obtained. On the one hand, the semi-empirical noise prediction tool NAFNoise [Moriarty P 2005 NAFNoise User's Guide. Golden, Colorado, July. http://wind.nrel.gov/designcodes/ simulators/NAFNoise] ...
The PLL (Phase Locked Loop) has two modes: search mode and locking mode. The mode is determined by how far apart the internal frequency is from the external frequency. When the internal - and exter nal frequencies are close, the PLL is in locking mode. While locking on the external frequency, the PLL can largely be expressed as a linear term superimposed with a small "noise" term. We can t herefore calculate a transfer function that will completely describe the performance of the PLL apart from the precision, which is determined by the noise term. Two ideas are presented on how to re duce the noise term. The first idea is to compensate the noise term with an equal value of opposite sign. This completely removes the noise when the PLL locks on a steady frequency. Unfortunately it can not be used for the LEP Q-meter which is plagued by the presence of satellite frequencies. For other ...
The current status of a computational aeroacoustics (CAA) approach to simulate broadband noise is reviewed. The method rests on the use of steady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation to describe the time-averaged motion of turbulent flow. By means of synthetic turbulence the steady one-point statistics (e.g. turbulence kinetic energy) and turbulent length- and time-scales of RANS are translated into fluctuations having statistics that very accurately reproduce the initial RANS target-setting. The synthetic fluctuations are used to prescribe sound sources which drive linear perturbation equations. The whole approach represents a methodology to solve statistical noise theory with state-of-the-art CAA tools in the time-domain. A brief overview of the synthetic turbulence model and its numerical discretization in terms of the random particle-mesh (RPM) and fast random particle-mesh (FRPM) method is given. Results are presented for ...
Electrochemical noise generated during stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of type 304 stainless steel (UNS S30400) and {alpha}-brass were studied. Noise patterns showed common characteristics (i.e., a quick drop and slow recovery of the potential). The quick drop corresponded to the initiation of localized events where fresh metal was exposed. The slow recovery corresponded to the repassivation process of the exposed bare metal. The potential drop rate and recovery rate were almost constant during the SCC process for a given SCC system. For random noise, rates of potential rise and drop were similar. Frequency of the noise generated during SCC increased with an increase in applied stress. SCC initiation could be monitored and determined according to noise characteristics and distribution. Since the shift of background potentials had an obvious influence on characteristics of power ...
It is often advantageous to generate power with combinations of wind and ocean waves. In fact ocean waves, their generation, propagation, dissipation are directly related to wind velocity and its duration oven the sea. In this paper an attempt has been made to demonstrate statistically to present some advantages with combined wind and ocean wave power generation. Even though many conceptual techniques and methods are possible to harness combined power generation, it is important to test feasibility of combined output as well as individual outputs mathematically. One of the major advantages of combined wind and wave power generation is to improve probability of continuous power supply (it minimises the interruptions and compensates power fluctuations with one another). Some of the major wave characteristics like wave Height (H), Time period (T), Wave length (L) significantly influence wave power generation. Interestingly, ...
Multiple receivers can be utilized to enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of MRI by employing the parallel imaging technique. Previously, we have reported the L-curve Tikhonov regularization technique to mitigate noise amplification resulting from the geometrical correlations between channels in a coil array. Nevertheless, one major disadvantage of regularized image reconstruction is lengthy computational time in regularization parameter estimation. At a fixed noise level, L-curve regularization parameter estimation was also found not to be robust across repetitive measurements, particularly for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) acquisitions. Here we report a computationally efficient and robust method to estimate the regularization parameter by partitioning the variance of the noise-white...
During the present project the mechanisms of generation of low frequency noise (LFN) for upwind rotors has been investigated. A 3.6 MW turbine has been simulated with a noise prediction model from NASA in US. Running the model on this turbine a number of important turbine design parameters with influence on the LFN have been identified as well as other parameters not linked to the turbine design. Of important parameters can be mentioned 1) rotor rotational speed, 2) blade/tower clearance, 3) rotor configuration - upwind/downwind, 4) unsteadiness/turbulence in inflow. Further, the directivity characteristics of LFN has been computed as well as reduction in noise as function of distance from the turbine. In general low levels of LFN has been computed for the upwind rotor in standard configuration. (au)
Apr 18, 2008 ... The FSS was produced by point-source filtering the individual detector data ... a 1-sigma noise map; and a coverage map giving the count of ...
According to empirical observations, some pattern formation phenomena in driven many-particle systems are more pronounced in the presence of a certain noise level. We investigate this phenomenon of fluctuation-driven ordering with a cellular automaton model of interactive motion in space and find an optimal noise strength, while order breaks down at high(er) fluctuation levels. Additionally, we discuss the phenomenon of noise- and drift-induced self-organization in systems that would show disorder in the absence of fluctuations. In the future, related studies may have applications to the control of many-particle systems such as the efficient separation of particles. The rather general formulation of our model in the spirit of game theory may allow to shed some light on several different kinds of noise-induced ordering phenomena observed in physical, chemical, biological, and socio-economic systems ...
A high-speed light-Diesel engine with direct injection has been developed by the Institute of Combustion Engines, Graz. Thanks to light construction throughout, exhaust gas supercharger and noise-reduced composition a Diesel engine could be built that is comparable to Otto-cycle engines as regards performance, weight, aggregate size and noise production but far superior to these with respect to fuel consumption and exhaust gas emission.
Correlation characteristics of quantum noise on the shadow radiation image (RI) of the object under nondestructive testing are studied. Mathematical model of RI occasional distortions is derived. The model takes into account the parameters of object under testing and of radiation beam by radiation quanta flux density. The results obtained can be used as a component in the process of investigation of various radiation testing systems
From nuclear science symposium; San Francisco, California, USA (14 Nov 1973). A digital Fourier analyzer was programmed to perform reactor neutron noise analysis measurements and on-line processing of the data to obtain the steady-state reactivity. The system is suitable for recovering cross spectral density with low correlatedsignal component and for repetitive measurements with efficient use of reactor time. (auth)
Taking both white noise and colored environmental noise into account, a general stochastic logistic model under regime switching is proposed and studied. Sufficient conditions for extinction, nonpersistence in the mean, weak persistence, stochastic permanence and global attractivity are established. The critical number between weak persistence and extinction is obtained. Moreover, some simulation figures are introduced to illustrate the main results.
An automated surveillance and baseline noise signature acquisition system is being demonstrated at Sequoyah-1. A nonperturbing method is also being developed for monitoring the subcritical reactivity during initial core loading in LWRs, in fuel storage and processing facilities, and during postaccident recovery operations such as Three Mile Island-2. (DLC)
In order to materialize the automobile use small direct injection diesel engine (DI), the reduction in both exhaust emission and noise, as studied, was explained in summary. The DI, as excellent in fuel consumption characteristics, was studied to be adopted to the small automobile, with the materialization of small DI to be about 600cc in capacity per cylinder. However the further diminution in dimension had not been materialized yet, because of the aggravation in exhaust emission and vibration noise. Then a single spray DI, characterized by the approximate sphericity in shape of combustion chamber and adoption of cast iron made piston and two-stage spring nozzle, was prototypically made, with optimizing the combustion in characteristics, decreasing HC in exhaust quantity by modifying the injection system, doing also NOx in exhaust quantity by adopting the lag angle at injection time and EGR, modifying the structure to lower the ...
Combustion noise, knock and ignition limits data are measured and presented for a dual fuel engine running on dual fuels of Diesel and three gaseous fuels separately. The gaseous fuels used are liquefied petroleum gas, pure methane and compressed natural gas mixture. The maximum pressure rise rate during combustion is presented as a measure of combustion noise, and the knocking and ignition limits are presented as torque output at the onset of knocking and ignition failure. Experimental investigation on the dual fuel engine revealed the noise generated from combustion, knocking and ignition limits for all gases at different design and operating conditions. A Ricardo E6 Diesel version engine is converted to run on dual fuel of Diesel and the tested gaseous fuel and is used throughout the work. The engine is fully computerized, and the cylinder pressure data, crank angle data and engine operating variables are stored in a PC ...
The Moderator Temperature Coefficient of reactivity (MTC) was earlier proven to be properly determined via noise analysis when the neutron noise is measured locally and when the radial average of the moderator temperature noise is used. Nevertheless, measurements revealed that the MTC was correctly estimated on a much narrower frequency band (0.6 - 0.7 Hz) than expected (0.1 - 1.0 Hz). The present paper investigates the effect of the feedback on the MTC determination using this new MTC noise estimator (which could explain the deviation at low frequencies, i.e. between 0.1 - 0.5 Hz) and the effect of the detector time constants (which could explain the deviation at high frequencies, i.e. between 0.7 - 1.0 Hz). For that purpose, a coupled neutronic/thermalhydraulic model of the Ringhals-3 PWR is developed in the frequency-domain, based on a radial 2-dimensional heterogeneous representation of the core. ...
The windmill industry in Denmark is currently confronted with making a choice between competing technologies so that the role of the stimulus of state subsidies for research has lately increased in importance. The Ministry of Energy, it is claimed, must be aware of this as possibilities for making use of research results are dictated by the market and competition. The industry is not sympathetic to the idea of state research contracts with specified goals for which manufacturers must produce a technical solution. Consultancy firms should work towards solving general problems which could help the industry as a whole. Wind turbines which are cheap to produce and operate are of more interest to industry than those which are technologically advanced or of a lighter construction. It is not thought to be advantageous to concentrate the allocation of subsidies on one key project chosen by the Ministry itself, such as the current intense interest in turbine blades. Aerodynamics, ...
The windmill industry in Denmark is currently confronted with making a choice between competing technologies so that the role of the stimulus of state subsidies for research has lately increased in importance. The Ministry of Energy, it is claimed, must be aware of this as possibilities for making use of research results are dictated by the market and competition. The industry is not sympathetic to the idea of state research contracts with specified goals for which manufacturers must produce a technical solution. Consultancy firms should work towards solving general problems which could help the industry as a whole. Wind turbines which are cheap to produce and operate are of more interest to industry than those which are technologically advanced or of a lighter construction. It is not thought to be advantageous to concentrate the allocation of subsidies on one key project chosen by the Ministry itself, such as the current intense interest in turbine blades. Aerodynamics, ...
To develop a work in an area with high radiation, it requires of a detailed knowledge of the surroundings work, a communication and effective vision, a near dosimetric control. In a work where the spaces variables and reduced accesses exist, noise that hinders the communication, defendant operative condition, radiation field and taking of decision, it is necessary to have tools that allow a total control of the environment to make opportune and effective decisions, there where the task is developed. Under this elementary concept, it was developed in the Laguna Verde Central a project that it allowed a mechanism, interactive of control in spaces complex; to see, to hear, to speak, to measure. This concept takes to the creation of an equipped system with closed circuit of television, wireless communication systems, tele dosimetry wireless systems, VHS and DVD recording equipment, uninterrupted energy units. The system requires of an electric ...
After an international ideas competition by TNC Switzerland and Germany in 1996, six companies where given the opportunity to construct a prototype of their newly developed integrated PV-sound barrier concepts. The main goal was to develop highly integrated concepts, allowing the reduction of PV sound barrier systems costs, as well as the demonstration of specific concepts for different noise situations. This project is strongly correlated with a German project. Three of the concepts of the competition are demonstrated along a highway near Munich, constructed in 1997. The three Swiss installations had to be constructed at different locations, reflecting three typical situations for sound barriers. The first Swiss installation was the world first Bi-facial PV-sound barrier. It was built on a highway bridge at Wallisellen-Aubrugg in 1997. The operational experience of the installation is positive. But due to the different efficiencies of the two cell sides, its ...
In 2004, the Southeastern France regional council asked the regional health observatory to conduct an environmental health inventory to i) identify environmental health problems in this area; ii) examine the relations between environmental exposure to pollutants and human health; and iii) help public officials to identify priorities in this area. We collected and validated data from national, regional and local institutions, constructed environmental (levels of emissions and pollutants), health (mortality, incidence, prevalence) and behavioral indicators (e.g., complaints about odors), and compared these over time and between places when possible. For each topic, we summarized current knowledge about the links between environment and health. In southeastern France, as in other French areas, indoor air pollution, home and leisure injuries and other home-related risks are public health issues. Other topics are more significant or particular to southeastern France: transportation (air ...
A prototype for a quasi-cw, and high-average power free electron laser (FEL) driven by a 15 MeV superconducting rf linac has been developed, and constructed at Tokai, JAERI since 1989. Cryogenic and accelerating fields' performances of four JAERI superconducting accelerator modules have been realized without any serious problem in the FEL accelerator vault and experimental hall. Since modification and related maintenance of the cryogenic refrigerator system for the driver were completed in the middle of October 1995, the system has run with no trouble, and the driver has been continuously run very successfully up to now. The optical resonator system and related electron beam transport system have been modified to realize larger acceptance than the old for both of the undulator radiation and energetic electron beam in 1995 Japanese fiscal year. In the modification, an alignment and distance measurement system has been newly developed, and successfully applied to ...
The authors report on observations of plasma wave turbulence generated during electron beam injections, spacecraft potential variations, and neutral gas emissions of the CHARGE 2 sounding rocket experiment. The payload was flown in a mother/daughter configuration, with the two sub-payloads electrically connected by an insulated, conducting tether. While tethered, the two platforms were separated, drifting apart in a direction perpendicular to both the magnetic field and to the spacecraft velocity, reaching a maximum distance of 426 m at the end of the flight. The mother carried a high-voltage (HV) system (0-460 V), biasing the mother negative relative to the daughter. The operation of the HV bias system simulated the motional emf induced in larger orbiting space structures like the Tethered Satellite System 1 (TSS 1) space shuttle mission scheduled for the spring of 1992. In addition, the mother carried an electron beam accelerator (1 keV, 0-46 mA). The daughter ...
A conventional PET scanner has a 15-25 cm axial field-of-view (FOV) and images a whole body using about six bed positions. An OpenPET geometry can extend the axial FOV with a limited number of detectors. The entire whole-body PET scanner must be able to process a large amount of data effectively. In this work, we study feasibility of the fully 3D entire whole-body PET scanner using the GATE simulation. The OpenPET has 12 block detector rings with the ring diameter of 840 mm and each block detector ring consists of 48 depth-of-interaction (DOI) detectors. The OpenPET has the axial length of 895.95 mm with five parts of 58.95 mm open gaps. The OpenPET has higher single data loss than a conventional PET scanner at grouping circuits. NECR of the OpenPET decreases by single data loss. But single data loss is mitigated by separating the axially arranged detector into two parts. Also, multiple coincidences are found to be important for the entire whole-body PET scanner. ...
Decadal-scale climate variations over the Pacific Ocean and its surroundings are strongly related to the so-called Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) which is coherent with wintertime climate over North America and Asian monsoon, and have important impacts on marine ecosystems and fisheries. In a near-term climate prediction covering the period up to 2030, we require knowledge of the future state of internal variations in the climate system such as the PDO as well as the global warming signal. We perform sets of ensemble hindcast and forecast experiments using a coupled atmosphere-ocean climate model to examine the predictability of internal variations on decadal timescales, in addition to the response to external forcing due to changes in concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, volcanic activity, and solar cycle variations. Our results highlight that an initialization of the upper-ocean state using historical ...
The improvement in the functions of the viscous flow calculation method VEGA-SHIP around a ship and the expansion of application range were described as the numerical flow simulation in ship and ocean engineering and at the same time application examples to the ocean engineering by the general-purpose flow simulation code FLOW-3D handling the non-steady flow with a free surface were introduced as the numerical simulation regarding such products as a water gate and a dam. In the VEGA-SHIP, water surface was handled as a fixed wall so that wave could not be calculated. Therefore, an algorithm for calculating wave on the water surface was added to the VEGA-SHIP and a calculation method simultaneously considering the creation of wave around the ship and viscosity was developed. The FLOW-3D was used to calculate the phenomenon where inside liquid moved greatly due to the oscillation of a tank and hit against and damaged the tank ceiling in the tank, ...
Measurements of dissolved and atmospheric nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O) are presented for three coastal environments: (1) the central North Sea, (2) the German Bight, and (3) the Gironde estuary. The contribution of coastal regions to the oceanic emissions of atmospheric N{sub 2}O were also determined. N{sub 2}O was measured with a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector and analyzed. The surface waters of the central North Sea and the German bight were found to be near equilibrium with the overlying atmosphere, while the mean saturation in the Gironde estuary was 132%. Mean saturations in coastal regions without estuaries or upwelling phenomena were only slightly higher than in the open ocean. When estuaries and regions with upwelling are included, however, approximately 60% of the oceanic N{sub 2}O flux is attributable to coastal regions. A review of published data indicated that previous studies have ...
A parameterized surface wave-induced vertical mixing (B"v) is incorporated into the Modular Ocean Model version 4 (MOM4). A comparison of the two numerical experiments with and without B"v shows that B"v can significantly improve the upper-ocean (20-100m) simulation in summer. The simulated upper-ocean temperature errors are reduced in summer due to the surface wave-induced vertical diffusive heat flux. The non-breaking-wave-induced vertical mixing can increase the probability of the simulated SST biases between -1^oC and 1^oC from 64% to 76% in the Southern Hemisphere (60^oS-10^oS) in January, and from 66% to 75% in the Northern Hemisphere (10^oN-60^oN) in July. The averaged mixed layer depth (MLD) simulated by the MOM4 without B"v is 14.4m shallower than the observations in 10^oS-60^oS i...
The collision of the Earth with extra-terrestrial ice-volatile bodies is proposed as a mechanism to produce rapid changes in the geologic record. These bodies would be analogs of the ice satellites found for the Jovian planets and suspected for comets and certain low density bodies in the Asteroid belt. Five generic end-members are postulated: (1) water ice; (2) dry ice: carbon-carbon dioxide rich, (3) oceanic (chloride) ice; (4) sulfur-rich ice; (5) ammonia hydrate-rich ice; and (6) clathrate: methane-rich ice. Due to the volatile nature of these bodies, evidence for their impact with the Earth would be subtle and probably best reflected geochemically or in the fossil record. Actual boloids impacting the Earth may have a variable composition, generally some admixture with water ice. However for discussion purposes, only the effects of a dominant component will be treated. The general geological effects of such collisions, as a function of the dominant component ...
This study investigates the turnover of polysaccharides by heterotrophic bacterioplankton in the northern Bay of Biscay, a productive marine system on the continental margin of the temperate Atlantic Ocean. Bacterial biomass production (BBP) near the surface ranged from 0.5 to 25.7 nmol C L?1 h?1 during small phytoplankton blooms in May and June that occurred after the main spring bloom. A direct relationship between BBP and total polysaccharides strongly suggests the dependence of bacterial growth on the availability of semi-labile organic matter. Concentrations of combined glucose as well as rate constants of extracellular glucosidase activity and glucose uptake were determined to estimate the actual carbon fluxes from bacterial polysaccharide turnover. Results reveal that ...
SZI global distribution due to biogeochemical cycle in environment reservoirs has been studied. It is shown that during the operation of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and at a modern level of the decontamination factor the SZI concentration in some natural media (soil, the Earth biosphere, ocean mixing layer) will increase by 4-5 orders. Recommended gradual increase of the decontamnation factor in time for conserving the SZI concentration level not exceeding one order in comparison with modern one is given. At that to the end of the century the decontamination factor must be of an order of 1 x 10U in the case of SZI intake to the ocean mixing layer and of 1 x 10V in the case of its intake to the atmosphere.
"1"2"9I global distribution due to biogeochemical cycle in environment reservoirs has been studied. It is shown that during the operation of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and at a modern level of the decontamination factor the "1"2"9I concentration in some natural media (soil, the Earth biosphere, ocean mixing layer) will increase by 4-5 orders. Recommended gradual increase of the decontamnation factor in time for conserving the "1"2"9I concentration level not exceeding one order in comparison with modern one is given. At that to the end fof the centary the decontamination factor must be of an order of 1x10"4 in the case of "1"2"9I intake to the ocean mixing layer and of 1x10"5 in the case of its intake to the atmosphere.
Remotely sensed ocean color data and numerical modeling have been used to study the phenology of both spring and fall phytoplankton blooms (FPBs) in the Nova Scotian Shelf (NSS)-Gulf of Maine (GoM) region. The ocean color data reveal a general pattern of westward progression of the spring phytoplankton bloom (SPB), and an eastward progression of the FPB in the NSS-GoM region. The spatial pattern of mean chlorophyll concentration in spring is similar to that in fall, with a lower concentration in the NSS and higher in the GoM. Interannually, there is a weak but significant tendency for years with earlier (delayed) SPBs to be followed by delayed (earlier) FPBs, but the mean chlorophyll concentrations during SPBs are not correlated with those during FPBs. The interannual variability of SPB ti...
The Offshore Comet is a modern offshore drilling rig with a hydraulic-cylinder-actuated jacking (raising and lowering) system. Hydraulic-cylinder jacking provides a safe and efficient method for placing the rig at the desired height above the water and insuring that it can withstand the expected heavy loads imposed by machinery, supplies, and the ocean environment. The drilling rig consists of a steel-hulled barge that is floated to the site and then supported during drilling operations by four steel triangular-cross-section lattice legs. The legs are planted firmly on the ocean bottom by a procedure called preloading. Each leg with its integral footing weighs 657 tons. The barge with its deck load can weigh up to 9200 tons.
In 1946, the Philippines raised claims in the South China Sea over an area already known as Spratly Islands. This claim advanced through peculiar stages, starting when Thomas Cloma allegedly discovered islands in 1946, later named as Freedomland, and maturing to some extent in 1978 by the governments claim over the so-called Kalayaan Island Group. Considered as an oceanic expansion of its frontiers, this paper reviews the basis of the claim, first over the nature of Clomas activities, and secondly over the measures the Philippine government took as a reaction of Clomas claim of discovery of an area already known in western cartography as the Spratlys. Eventually, what is the nature of the link between the 1978 Kalayaan Islands Groups official claim and 1956 Clomas private one?
Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS v 3.0), a three-dimensional numerical ocean model, was previously enhanced for shallow water applications by including wave-induced radiation stress forcing provided through coupling to wave propagation models (SWAN, REF/DIF). This enhancement made it suitable for surf zone applications as demonstrated using examples of obliquely incident waves on a planar beach and rip current formation in longshore bar trough morphology (Haas and Warner, 2009). In this contribution, we present an update to the coupled model which implements a wave roller model and also a modified method of the radiation stress term based on Mellor (2008, 2011a,b,in press) that includes a vertical distribution which better simulates non-conservative (i.e., wave breaking) processes and ...
The purpose of this paper is to check up a GPS (global positioning system) impact on scientific research activities of the Geodetic Society of Japan. First, it is mentioned that the conventional geoid-based concept of 'gravity anomaly' should be changed to a new definition, according to the GPS-determined ellipsoidal height system. Secondly, the results of many experiments, which have been made to monitor ocean-plate motions relative to the Japanese island-arcs, demonstrate that GPS is a powerful tool for obtaining temporal changes in horizontal displacement induced by the plate motion. Therefore, it is suggested that terrestrial measurements, such as triangulation and long-range leveling, would be replaced by GPS measurements in near future. Moreover, it is pointed out that GPS geodesy should play an important role in monitoring secular sea level trend due to global warming of the atmosphere and ocean. 19 refs., 4 figs.
Mesopelagic zooplankton may meet their nutritional and metabolic requirements in a number of ways including consumption of sinking particles, carnivory, and vertical migration. How these feeding modes change with depth or location, however, is poorly known. We analyzed fatty acid (FA) profiles to characterize zooplankton diet and large particle (>51?m) composition in the mesopelagic zone (base of euphotic zone ?1000m) at two contrasting time-series sites in the subarctic (station K2) and subtropical (station ALOHA) Pacific Ocean. Total FA concentration was 15.5 times higher in zooplankton tissue at K2, largely due to FA storage by seasonal vertical migrators such as Neocalanus and Eucalanus. FA biomarkers specific to herbivory implied a higher plant-derived food sou...
World demand for rare-earth elements and the metal yttrium?which are crucial for novel electronic equipment and green-energy technologies?is increasing rapidly. Several types of seafloor sediment harbour high concentrations of these elements. However, seafloor sediments have not been regarded as a rare-earth element and yttrium resource, because data on the spatial distribution of these deposits are insufficient. Here, we report measurements of the elemental composition of over 2,000 seafloor sediments, sampled at depth intervals of around one metre, at 78 sites that cover a large part of the Pacific Ocean. We show that deep-sea mud contains high concentrations of rare-earth elements and yttrium at numerous sites throughout the eastern South and central North Pacific. We estimate that an a...
Increase in power utility loads in industrialized countries, as well as developing countries, demands a higher level of transmission line voltage. Radio interference (RI) problems have been determined to be a limiting factor in selecting the size of transmission line conductors. Transmission line noise is primarily caused by corona discharges in the immediate vicinity of the conductor. It has been observed that discharges occur during both half-cycles of the applied voltage, but positive corona is usually predominant at AM radio frequencies range with practical high-voltage and extra high-voltage transmission lines. The corona radio noise effect is highly dependent upon the presence of particles on the surface of the conductor and the increase of the electrical gradient beyond the breakdown value of the air. Therefore, corona radio noise varies significantly with the weather and atmospheric conditions and generally ...
Increase in power utility loads in industrialized countries, as well as developing countries, demands a higher level of transmission line voltage. Radio interference (RI) problems have been determined to be a limiting factor in selecting the size of transmission line conductors. Transmission line noise is primarily caused by corona discharges in the immediate vicinity of the conductor. It has been observed that discharges occur during both half-cycles of the applied voltage, but positive corona is usually predominant at AM radio frequencies range with practical high-voltage and extra high-voltage transmission lines. The corona radio noise effect is highly dependent upon the presence of particles on the surface of the conductor and the increase of the electrical gradient beyond the breakdown value of the air. Therefore, corona radio noise varies significantly with the weather and atmospheric conditions and generally ...
Increase in power utility loads in industrialized countries, as well as developing countries, demands a higher level of transmission line voltage. Radio interference (RI) problems have been determined to be a limiting factor in selecting the size of transmission line conductors. Transmission line noise is primarily caused by corona discharges in the immediate vicinity of the conductor. It has been observed that discharges occur during both half-cycles of the applied voltage, but positive corona is usually predominant at AM radio frequencies range with practical high-voltage and extra high-voltage transmission lines. The corona radio noise effect is highly dependent upon the presence of particles on the surface of the conductor and the increase of the electrical gradient beyond the breakdown value of the air. Therefore, corona radio noise varies significantly with the weather and atmospheric conditions and generally ...
This is a continuation of our paper [Liu, M., Wang, K., 2010. Persistence and extinction of a stochastic single-species model under regime switching in a polluted environment, J. Theor. Biol. 264, 934-944]. Taking both white noise and colored noise into account, a stochastic single-species model under regime switching in a polluted environment is studied. Sufficient conditions for extinction, stochastic nonpersistence in the mean, stochastic weak persistence and stochastic permanence are established. The threshold between stochastic weak persistence and extinction is obtained. The results show that a different type of noise has a different effect on the survival results. PMID:20816991
There is a clear incentive, therefore, for early consideration of the measures required to meet noise and vibration standards. The platform or rig owner and the operator are jointly responsible for agreeing a noise and vibration control policy and approach at the conceptual design stage, and for then passing on their requirements to the engineering design teams. The engineering design teams and acoustic and vibration specialists for their part need to use all their skill and judgement to apply that policy to the intensely complex job of designing and fabricating topsides facilities. With these concerns as background, UEG started, and has nearly completed, a two-phase study to provide detailed guidance to project managers and designers to assist them to develop appropriate policy and procedures and to help them put those procedures into practice. This paper describes the development of UEG's study, its application and benefits.
The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Code KIVA II has been applied to model combustion pressure oscillations in the Indirect Injection Diesel Engine. These oscillations are attenuated and transmitted by the engine structure to the surroundings as noise. The computational model was used to evaluate changes in design and operating characteristics of an engine, and the effect of these on the intensity of gas pressure oscillation. The results in general corroborate the trends of published experimental measurements of combustion noise. A 40% increase in grid resolution showed minor changes in the magnitude of cylinder pressure oscillation and approximately 0.5{degree} crank angle phase advance in the oscillation cycle compared with the grid used for the results presented here. 18 refs., 18 figs.
A study has been conducted on the statistics of detected neutrons that leaked from four subcritical reflected, enriched-uranium assemblies, to explore the feasibility of developing a criticality warning system based on neutron noise analysis. Studies were conducted on three possible discriminators, i.e., three signatures that might be used to discriminate among assemblies of various multiplications. The noise analysis techniques studied performed well enough in deeply subcritical situations to deserve testing in an applications environment. They have a good chance of detecting changes in reactivity that are potentially dangerous. One can expect sharpest results when doing comparisons, i.e., when comparing two records, one taken in the past under circumstances known to be normal and one taken now to search for change.
By varying different variables (potential, chloride content, surface pretreatment etc.) it is possible to show the effect of increasingly harsher corrosion conditions on passive-layer stability. These changes will not be detected by conventional methods e.g. measurement of passive current density, until a very late stage. Electrochemical noise measurement will allow the action of inhibitors to be detected in a rapid and effective manner. High-alloy steels and titanium claddings subjected to pitting corrosion in chloride-containing media demonstrate how to use this method for problem solutions and to open up new practical applications. The effect of mechanical stresses (natural, tensile) on the corrosion system can be detected by electrochemical noise which opens up new methods for crack corrosion studying and monitoring. (orig./DG).
Incomplete convergence in numerical simulation such as computational physics simulations and/or Monte Carlo simulations can enter into the calculation of the objective function in an optimization problem, producing noise, bias, and topo- graphical inaccuracy in the objective function. These affect accuracy and convergence rate in the optimization problem. This paper is concerned with global searching of a diverse parameter space, graduating to accelerated local convergence to a (hopefully) global optimum, in a framework that acknowledges convergence uncertainty and manages model resolu- tion to efficiently reduce uncertainty in the final optimum. In its own right, the global-to-local optimization engine employed here (devised for noise tolerance) performs better than other classical and contemporary optimization approaches tried individually and in combination on the "industrial" test problem to be presented.
Steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants are periodically checked by means of eddy current probes. The output of a probe is composed of three types of signals: known events (rolling zone, support plates, U-bend part), noise (mainly metallurgical noise) and possible flaws. The latter are random transients, both in arrival time and in shape: they have to be detected and then estimated, before to be fed to the high level stages of a diagnostic system. The objective of the study presented is to develop a semi-automatic system, which could manage and process more than 1 M-bytes of data per tube and provide an operator with reliable diagnostics proposals within a few minutes. This can be achieved only by cooperation of several digital signal processing techniques: detection, segmentation, estimation, noise subtraction, adaptive filtering, modelization, pattern recognition. The paper describes some of these items.
Deep level effects in GaAs MOSFET have been characterised in the ohmic channel using DLTS, low frequency excess noise and dispersion technique. An isothermal multi exponential curve fitting method has been devised and implanted into the DLTS system. Multi exponential curve fitting method used to decompose a multi exponential transient into its constituents so that the peak signature can be better characterised for the case whereas several peaks are closely spaced. Low frequency excess noise and dispersion techniques also confirm the trap in signature of the same traps observed in the DLTS measurements. (author)
A possibility of geophysical measurements using the large scale laser interferometrical gravitational wave antenna is discussed. An interferometer with suspended mirrors can be used as a gradiometer measuring variations of an angle between gravity force vectors acting on the spatially separated suspensions. We analyze restrictions imposed by the atmospheric noises on feasibility of such measurements. Two models of the atmosphere are invoked: a quiet atmosphere with a hydrostatic coupling of pressure and density and a dynamic model of moving region of the density anomaly (cyclone). Both models lead to similar conclusions up to numerical factors. Besides the hydrostatic approximation, we use a model of turbulent atmosphere with the pressure fluctuation spectrum f^{-7/3} to explore the Newtonian noise in a higher frequency domain (up to 10 Hz) predicting the gravitational noise background for modern gravitational wave ...
To improve the performance of voice activity detector (VAD) in noisy environments, this paper concentrates on three critical aspects related to noise robustness including speech features, feature distributions and temporal dependence. Based on the statistic on TIMIT and NOIZEUS, Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCCs) are selected as speech features, Gaussian Mixture distributions (GMD) are applied to associate the observations in MFCC domain with both speech and non-speech states, and Weibull and Gamma distributions are used to explicitly model noise and speech durations, respectively. To integrate these aspects into VAD, the hidden semi-Markov model (HSMM) as a generalized hidden Markov model (HMM) is introduced first. Then the VAD decision is made according to the likelihood ratio t...
The present guidelines supplement the 'VGB guidelines for the reduction of noise in thermal power plants' with indications for the ordering and quality assurance of the individual noise-producing machines and equipment of power plant operation. These guides are to simplify the commissioning and delivering for the orderer and deliverer. In addition, these guidelines are to lead to a successful cooperation of all parties in the reduction of the sound radiation. A precondition for this is an explanation of the sound technical demands which must be made on the single machines or mechanical equipment in power plant systems. A protection of the neighbourhood as well as operational personnel against noise according to the state of technology is to be achieved by a clear form of ordering and quality assurance. The ordering and assurance procedure for all aggregates in the region of the grounds of a power plant up to the ...
Synthetic gene networks can be used to control gene expression and cellular phenotypes in a variety of applications. In many instances, however, such networks can behave unreliably due to gene expression...Full Text Available
New visual pigments were formed with 4-hydroxy retinals in isolated vertebrate rod photoreceptors by exposing bleached rods from the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, to lipid vesicles containing...Full Text Available
Quartz has a dissipation factor of approximately 10(-4), which is an order of magnitude less than that of the best glasses previously used to fabricate patch pipettes; it's dielectric constant of 3.8...Full Text Available
A robust technique for determining the principal axes of a 3D shape represented by a point set, possibly with noise, is presented. We use techniques from robust statistics to guide the classical...Full Text Available
Currently several groups are actively researching the integration of a megavoltage teletherapy unit with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for real-time image-guided radiotherapy. The use of a...Full Text Available
The sources of non-white noise in Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are many. Familiar sources include low-frequency drift due to hardware imperfections, oscillatory noise due to respiration and cardiac pulsation and residual movement artefacts not accounted for by rigid body registration. These contributions give rise to temporal autocorrelation in the residuals of the fMRI signal and invalidate the statistical analysis as the errors are no longer independent. The low-frequency drift is often removed by high-pass filtering, and other effects are typically modelled as an autoregressive (AR) process. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach: Nuisance Variable Regression (NVR). By inclusion of confounding effects in a general linear model (GLM), we first confirm that the spatial distribution of the various fMRI noise sources is similar to what has already been ...
The sources of non-white noise in Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are many. Familiar sources include low-frequency drift due to hardware imperfections, oscillatory noise due to respiration and cardiac pulsation and residual movement artefacts not accounted for by rigid body registration. These contributions give rise to temporal autocorrelation in the residuals of the fMRI signal and invalidate the statistical analysis as the errors are no longer independent. The low-frequency drift is often removed by high-pass filtering, and other effects are typically modelled as an autoregressive (AR) process. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach: Nuisance Variable Regression (NVR). By inclusion of confounding effects in a general linear model (GLM), we first confirm that the spatial distribution of the various fMRI noise sources is similar to what has already been ...
Scatter correction is crucial to the quality of reconstructed images in x-ray cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Most of existing scatter correction methods assume smooth scatter distributions. The...Full Text Available
The latest-generation cochlear implant devices provide many deaf patients with good speech recognition in quiet listening conditions. However, speech recognition deteriorates rapidly as the level of...Full Text Available
A comparitive analysis is made of the principal characteristics of narrow-band and conventional semiconductor light amplifiers. It is shown that quasi-distributed filtering of the spontaneous radiation ensures a high gain and a low level of the spontaneous noise at the amplifier output.
... Southall et al. 2007). However, based on preliminary simulation modeling that attempted to allow for various uncertainties in ... 1986. Behavioral responses of gray whales to industrial noise:
The report deals with the energy consumption of traffic and its emissions of hazardous substances into the air, and stresses the advantages of the electric car with respect to energy consumption and noise generation. 5 figs., 3 refs.
Low kVp settings provide high conspicuity of contrast materials at CT but may result in high image noise, particularly in larger patients. Material decomposition at dual energy CT can differentiate...Full Text Available
The temporal fine structure (TFS) of sound contributes significantly to the perception of music and speech in noise. The evaluation of new strategies to improve TFS delivery in cochlear implants (CIs)...Full Text Available
The susceptibility to pitting corrosion of AA2024-T4, AA7075-T651 and AA7475-T761 aluminium alloys was investigated in aqueous neutral chloride solution for the purpose of comparison using electrochemical noise measurement. The experimentally measured electrochemical noises were analysed based upon the combined stochastic theory and shot-noise theory using the Weibull distribution function. From the occurrence of two linear regions on one Weibull probability plot, it was suggested that there existed two stochastic processes of uniform corrosion and pitting corrosion; pitting corrosion was distinguished from uniform corrosion in terms of the frequency of events in the stochastic analysis. Accordingly, the present analysis method allowed us to investigate pitting corrosion independently. The susceptibility to pitting corrosion was appropriately evaluated by determining pit embryo formation rate in the stochastic analysis. The ...
... to-noise density than the uplink budget has (74.2 ... in heav:, point-to-point link applications with ... 11.7 Expanded bands allocated (Ku band) (500 MHz ...
A method for determining the reactivity of subcritical systems of fissile material, using neutron-noise power spectral density measurements in conjunction with a /sup 252/Cf source, has been tested in experiments with an aqueous solution containing uranium fluoride (4.95 wt% /sup 235/U). The kappasub(eff)-values obtained from the ratio of spectral densities G*/sub 12/G/sub 13//G/sub 11/G/sub 23/ agreed with those from break-frequency noise analysis and with bias-corrected transport theory calculations within the statistical uncertainty of the measurements. Corrections for the effects of spatial modes and source-detector locations appear to be well-understood, since measurements for a variety of source-detector positions resulted in essentially the same kappasub(eff)-values. Modal correction factors were such that ignoring them would result in higher values of kappasub(eff) than actually occur. The measurements have demonstrated the ...
Air conditioning of urban electric cars by Peltier effect is simulated. Advantages (noise, simplicity of construction and of regulation, good heating performances...) and disadvantages (cooling performances lower than actual compressors, actual costs...) are presented. (A.B.). 8 refs., 5 figs.
An ascending node occurs when the subsatellite point crosses the earth's equator going from .... 11dB sigma-naught. This error budget includes the altimeter noise, ...... it is also recommended to filter the data as follows to ...
... This course is jointly taught between the School of Civil Engineering and the Environment and the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences. Scholarships 2 UK/EU fees only Scholarships are available for the academic year 2010/11. Awards will be given on the basis of merit. Flexible part-time study route available Back to top Home | About Us | Prospective Students |...
Part I of this thesis is on long-term iceberg collision-risk assessment methods for fixed offshore structures. Estimates for the long-term probability that an iceberg will hit a fixed offshore structure are based on estimates of the total volume of produced iceberg, a model for the size distribution of icebergs and a description of how iceberg trajectories ``fill`` the plane (the ocean`s surface). Part II of the thesis discusses methods for analysis of low resolution data in the sense that the size of the area covered by each pixel is not small compared to the dominating floes. Still, this type of data can provide estimates of the ice extent (and hence the ice edge) and ice concentration. The estimates of the ice edge (at least) seem to be physically significant in the sense that ``in some way`` they can reflect ice drift in an image time sequence. A priori this is far from obvious. A central idea is that the ``ice edge`` is close to a transition zone between two ...
The Subseabed Disposal Project (SDP) was part of an international program that investigated the feasibility of high-level radioactive waste disposal in the deep ocean sediments. This report briefly describes the seven-step iterative performance assessment procedures used in this study and presents representative results of the last iteration. The results of the performance are compared to interim standards developed for the SDP, to other conceptual repositories, and to related metrics. The attributes, limitations, uncertainties, and remaining tasks in the SDP feasibility phase are discussed.
... The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton is one of the world's leading research centres for the study of ocean and earth sciences. Southampton General Hospital One of the country's leading teaching hospitals and the base for the University's School of Medicine. Winchester School of Art Founded in 1863, Winchester School of Art is based 12 miles (20 kilometres) north of Southampton in the historic city of Winchester,...
This report highlights the significance of the geological sciences to the nation and to society. Discussions include understanding plate tectonics and surface processes, exploring the continental crust, ocean basins and the deep earth, applications of geology to social problems such as mineral resources, waste disposal, siting of critical facilities, geological hazards, water resources management, and coastal zones. The state of health of geological research is also discussed. (ACR)
...Modern Languages Music Philosophy Faculty of Medicine Faculty of Medicine page Academic unit: Medicine Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences page Academic units: Biological Sciences Chemistry National Oceanography Centre, Southampton Ocean and Earth Science Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences page Academic units: Electronics and Computer Science Optoelectronics Research Centre Physics and Astronomy Faculty of Social and Human Sciences ...
... 01, 2009 | Rate It Marine Technology Society https://www.mtsociety.org/home.aspx emphasizes the importance of marine technology as it applies to global issues, encourages marine technology education and facilitates the use of marine technology in managing marine resources Added: Mar. 11, 2010 |...
In this activity, students will make a turbidity current. They will discover how fluids of differing densities interact with one another, learn some ways the densities of fluids can be changed and observe how density currents transport and deposit tremendous amounts of sediment in lakes and in the ocean. Additional options allow students to create and observe different kinds of density currents.
The oceanic bathypelagic realm (1000–4000 m) is a nutrient-poor habitat. Most fishes living there have pelagic larvae using the rich waters of the upper 200 m. Morphological...Full Text Available
...6 Resource type: reference data Global Change Master Directory An extensive source of information about satellite and in situ Earth science data, with broad coverage of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, oceans, solid earth, and biosphere. Author: NASA Subjects: climatology, global change, oceanographic data DeweyClass: 551.6 Resource type: documents, news International ...
DescriptionRemote sensing of the sea surface from satellites in near-polar orbits has contributed greatly to our understanding of the links between physical and biological processes in marine systems. However most of this progress has been made in open oceanic waters or major upwelling areas, and many unresolved problems are encountered in coastal regions and shelf seas. In these optically complex waters, quantitative remote sensing requires a more sophisticated interpretation strategy than that implemente [continued...
Resistive analogous meters for spatial and time characteristics in ocean agitation are most often used in practical oceanography in coastal zones but are based on bridge circuits determined to have shortcomings in their linearity range. This shortcoming is eliminated in the circuit of an instrument developed in an oceanographic laboratory (IMIO, Vana). Principle and block circuits are indicated, and static calibration curves are presented as are the correlative functions in the frequency spectrums obtained with the help of sea agitation recorded at a fixed point and at a depth of 6 meters.
Ammonia is a common and highly toxic pollutant which, in sufficient quantities, will adversely affect aquatic organisms. This ammonia criteria document for salt water will allow establishment of regulatory standards for ammonia discharge into estuaries, near coastal zones and oceans. Possible adverse impacts in highly sensitive and abundant ecosystems such as estuaries make regulation particularly important.
As part of an ongoing strategic research project to find barrels of radioactive waste off San Francisco, the U.S. Navy (USN), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) pooled their expertise, resources, and technology to form a partnership to verify new computer enhancement techniques developed for detecting targets the size of 55 gallon barrels on sidescan sonar images. Between 1946 and 1970, approximately 47,800 large barrels and other containers of radioactive waste were dumped in the ocean west of San Francisco; the containers litter an area of the sea floor of at least 1400 km {sup 2} knows as the Farallon Island Radioactive Waste Dump. The exact location of the containers and the potential hazard the containers pose to the environment is unknown. The USGS developed computer techniques and contracted with private industry to enhance sidescan data, collected in cooperation with the GFNMS, to detect ...
We report on a promising approach to high-sensitivity anisotropy measurements using a high-finesse cavity locked by optical feedback to a diode laser. We provide a simple and effective way to decouple the weak anisotropy of interest from the inherent mirror's birefringence whose drift may be identified as the key limiting parameter in cavity-based techniques. We demonstrate a shot-noise-limited phase shift resolution previously inaccessible in an optical cavity, readily achieving the state-of-the-art level of 3x10"-"1"3 rad.
A hysteretic subcritical period-doubling bifurcation is observed in the nonlinear strain dynamics of a magnetostrictive oscillator. The dynamic strain response of the magnetostrictive oscillator was observed with a high-resolution fiber optic interferometer. The effects of low-frequency modulation and band-limited stochastic fluctuations on such a bifurcation are investigated. Power spectral density measurements show that for an optimal value of externally injected noise the signal-to-noise ratio of a low-frequency modulation signal is enhanced by greater than 14 dB, thus indicating the first experimental observation of stochastic resonance near a bistable period-doubling bifurcation. 10 refs., 7 figs.
Josephson effect heterodyne mixers with external local oscillators are very promising low noise mm-wave receivers for applications such as radio astronomy. Experiments at 36 GHz have shown that both the noise and the conversion efficiency of mixers made using Nb point contacts are in quantitative agreement with values calculated from the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model. Preliminary measurements at 140 GHz suggest that this agreement extends to higher frequencies. In this paper the theoretical limits to the sensitivity of such receivers are explored as a function of the signal frequency. (Auth.).
This study deals with the application of wavelet analysis to detection and characterization of defects from eddy-current and ultrasonic testing signals of a low signal-to-noise ratio. Presented in this paper are the methods for processing eddy-current testing signals of heat exchanger tubes of a steam generator in a nuclear power plant. The results of processing eddy-current testing signals of tube test pieces with artificial flaws show that the flaw signals corrupted by noise and/or non-defect signals can be effectively detected and characterized by using the wavelet methods. (author)
Localized corrosion has a stochastic character by nature. This character leads to an observed random behavior: fluctuations of the free potential, fluctuations of the current when a constant potential is maintained. This random signal, which is similar to an electric noise, can be analyzed either in the time domain by counting the events or in the frequency domain by measuring the power spectral density of the electrochemical noise. The experimental techniques developed for investigating the localized corrosion on the probabilistic point of view, i.e., statistical counting and power spectral density measurements, are discussed. Then the experimental results reported in the literature are reviewed in order to see what kind of parameters are accessible and how they can be related to the localized corrosion processes.
For millions of people general noise and especially traffic noise are the main sources of environmental pollution. The increasingly stricter noise pollution abatement limiting values laid down by the law call for motor vehicle noise pollution abatement measures. Within the framework of today`s cost- and performance-oriented automobile and engine development developing engineers are required to reduce noise levels. The present state of the art is described and future possibilities of combustion engine structure-borne noise calculation and optimization are discussed from the point of view of K + P Computerunterstuetzte Strukturanalysen GmbH. (orig.) [Deutsch] Laerm allgemein und dabei speziell wiederum der Verkehrslaerm steht fuer Millionen von Menschen an allererster Stelle der persoenlichen Belastung durch die Umwelt. Zur Minderung der Laermbelastung werden vom ...
The proton beam has an advantage of the sharp dose falloff in dose distribution called Bragg peak while conventional radiation therapy modalities such as photons exhibit considerable amount of exit dose. To take advantage of this property it is important to know the exact location of the distal dose falloff. An error can cause overdose to the normal tissue or underdose to the tumor volume. The only way of finding out the dose distribution in-situ in particle therapy is to measure the gammas produced by nuclear reactions with tissue materials. Two kinds of gammas can be used: one is prompt gamma and the other is coincident gamma from the positron-emission isotopes. We chose to detect prompt gammas, and developed a prompt gamma scanning system (PGS). The proton beams of the proton therapy facility at National Cancer Center were used. The gamma distribution was compared to the dose distribution measured by an ionization chamber at three different energies of 100, 150, 200 MeV's. ...
Because of the chaotic nature of the corrosion process and the complexity of the electrochemical noise signals that are generated, there is no generally accepted method of measuring and interpreting these signals that allows the consistent detection and identification of sustained localized pitting (SLP) as compared to general corrosion. We have reexamined electrochemical noise analysis (ENA) of localized corrosion using different hardware, signal collection, and signal processing designs than those used in conventional ENA techniques. The new data acquisition system was designed to identify and monitor the progress of SLP by analyzing the power spectral density (PSD) of the trend of the corrosion current noise level (CNL) and potential noise level (PNL). Each CNL and PNL data point was calculated from the root-mean- square value of the ac components of current and potential fluctuation signals, which ...
Surface wave tomography method based on analysis of ambient noise is widely used during the last decade. It is assumed that correlated component of noise is composed of surface waves generated by sources distributed over the Earth's surface more or less uniformly. In such a case the cross-correlation function (CCF) at two stations may be considered as the Green's function of surface wave. This function should be symmetric relatively to zero time. However analysis of CCF at the stations located at the East-European Platform shows that as a rule CCF is characterized with a strong asymmetry. Since "purered noise cannot be extracted from seismic records due to superposition of earthquake signals, the method for calculation of CCF includes amplitude normalization for suppression of earthquakes that reduces signals from earthquakes to a noise level. The parts of records containing waves from earthquakes are ...
Seismic monitoring at the Las Tres Virgenes, BCS, geothermal field started in 1992 with an analog station of vertical components detecting a large number of earthquakes of varying magnitudes. In February 1993, a seismic network was installed, composed of six digital stations DR-2000-with S-6000 and S-5000 sensors and three registration channels (N-S, E-W and vertical). This was the basis for the development of a program to correct arrival-time data for P and S waves due to instrument drift. From January to April 1994 and May to August 1995, based on the 170 seismic events recorded, a velocity model was proposed. From December 1995 to July 1996, seismic data were processed and interpreted, and zones of occurrence were determined for events according to magnitude and the predominant noise in the field. From September 2003 to December 2004, 10 seismic stations (permanent and temporary) were installed and monitored and it was ...
ObjectivesThe overall aim of the proposed research is explicit in the project title, i.e. the creation of a map of current vertical land movements in the UK based on an optimal combination of absolute gravity (AG) and continuous GPS (CGPS). This is consistent with specific objective (ii) of WP1.9 of the Oceans 2025 programme and is related to priority topic area 4 (application of satellite geodesy to sea level science) of the NERC Strategic Ocean Funding Initiative (SOFI). From long term geological an [continued...]DescriptionThe proposed research aims to create a map of current vertical land movements in the UK based on an optimal combination of estimates from two geodetic surveying and monitoring techniques; the measurement of absolute gravity (AG) and the use of high precision, continuous GPS (CGPS) observations. From long term geological and geophysical studies, vertical land movements in the UK are thought to be of the order of 1 to 2 ...
Platinum Group Element (PGE) concentrations in garnet pyroxenite xenoliths from Oahu, Hawaii, are significantly lower than those in mantle peridotites and show fractionated patterns (e.g. PdN/OsN=2-10, PdN/IrN=4-24; N=chondrite normalized) and very high ReN/OsN ratios (9-248). Mass balance calculations show that the bulk rock pyroxenite PGE inventory is controlled by the presence of sulfide phases. The 187Os/188Os ratios of these pyroxenites vary from subchondritic to suprachondritic (0.123-0.164); and the 187Os/188Os ratios show good correlations with bulk rock and clinopyroxene major and trace element compositions, and bulk rock PGE and sulfur abundances. These observations suggest that the Os isotope compositions in these pyroxenites largely reflect primary processes in the oceanic mant...
Two researchers, Tom Goreau of the Discovery Laboratory in Jamaica and Raymond Hayes of Howard University, claim that they have evidence that nearly clinches the temperature connection to the bleached corals in the Caribbean and that the coral bleaching is an indication of Greenhouse warming. The incidents of scattered bleaching of corals, which have been reported for decades, are increasing in both intensity and frequency. The researchers based their theory on increased temperature of the seas measured by satellites. However, some other scientists feel that the satellites measure the temperature of only the top few millimeters of the water and that since corals lie on reefs perhaps 60 to 100 feet below the ocean surface, the elevated temperatures are not significant.
Gas hydrates have impacted the oil and gas industry since 1934, when they were first found to plug pipelines. Today we know that in deep oceans and in permafrost, very substantial gas reserves are present in hydrated form. Concerns are being raised about in situ dissociation for both energy and greenhouse implications upon methane release. In Japan work is underway to consider the storage of carbon dioxide, concentrated in clathrates. This talk will deal with some basic questions. Why should we be interested in gas hydrates? What are gas hydrates? How do gas hydrates form? How might hydrates impact on the energy/environmental picture?
This paper describes the phenomenology of nuclear explosions and technologies for their detection as relevant to On-Site Inspection (OSI) for a comprehensive test-ban (CTB). Our experience with the US nuclear test program which has been primarily carried out at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and in the Pacific Ocean. The goals of OSI are to resolve ambiguous events, reduce uncertainty, deter attempts at evasion, and provide responsive and technically competent means of confirming the occurrence of a nuclear explosion should deterrence fail. These goals would include finding evidence of an evasive nuclear explosion or evidence that the event was non-nuclear, such as an earthquake or large chemical explosion.
A shock absorber mechanism and method for use on the leg structure of a jack-up offshore drilling rig is described. It is mounted on the bottom of each existing leg of a drilling rig and comprises a pointed piston member which is positioned on the bottom of the leg structure and projects downwards through the can/footing of the rig leg. The piston member is held in place by a resilient tension member which is designed to absorb shock forces during vertical/axial impact of the leg structure when contact is made with the ocean floor. (author).
The theme of the conference was recent developments in airborne remote sensing and their applications. The proceedings contain the papers presented at 14 general sessions and 13 interactive sessions covering airborne platforms, sensor systems, airborne/spaceborne synergy, atmospheric and oceanic measurements, land cover/land use, emergency response and reconnaissance, data handling, forestry, agriculture, water resources, geospatial reference, system calibration, environmental monitoring and planning, and information product advancements. Two papers are abstracted separately.
In the United States, economic growth increasingly requires that greater volumes of freshwater be made available for new users, yet supplies of freshwater are already allocated to existing users. Currently, water for new users is made available through re-allocation of xisting water supplies-for example, by cities purchasing agricultural water rights. Water may also be made available through conservation efforts and, in some locales, through the development of ''new'' water from non-traditional sources such as the oceans, deep aquifer rackish groundwater, and water reuse.
... (restricted)] 251-260 Revisiting new variant famine: the case of Swaziland by Scott Naysmith & Alex Waal & Alan Whiteside [Downloadable! (restricted)] 261-269 Food prices and the HIV response: findings from rapid regional assessments in eastern and southern Africa in 2008[InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.][InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] by Stuart Gillespie & Paul Jere & John Msuya & Scott Drimie [Downloadable! (restricted)] 271-289 Declining global per capita agricultural production and warming oceans ...
... (restricted)] 319-341 The value of container terminal investment to ocean carrier strategy by Thomas Pawlik & Lars Stemmler & Alfred J Baird ... (restricted)] 142-173 Prediction of arrival times and human resources allocation for container terminal by Gianfranco Fancello & Claudia Pani & Marco Pisano ... (restricted)] 347-369 Analysis of berth allocation and inspection operations in a container terminal by Yongpei Guan & Kang-hung Yang [Downloadable! (... (restricted)] 237-262 Container terminal concessions: A game theory application to the case of the ports of Pakistan by Naima Saeed & Odd ...
...assistantship in Suburban Ecology Location: Bedford, NY Deadline: August 15, 2008 Postdoctoral Fellow in energy Location: University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Deadline: August 11, 2008 Junior Professional Fellowship Sustainable Development Governance Programme Location: UNU, Yokohama, Japan Deadline: August 1, 2008 Center for Ocean Solutions Early Career Fellowship Program Location: Stanford, California Deadline: July 15, 2008 Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis Postdoctoral Research Fellow Location: Singapore Deadline: July 15, ...
A study for Cs-137 radionuclide dispersion in the marine environment through of compartmental model (Box Model) is presented. The model simulates the surface water contamination caused by direct atmospheric deposition, surface wash off, desorption from sediments and transfer with the ground water of accidentally released radionuclides. For this study the model was applied to the North Sea, near to Sellafield, based on the transfer coefficients obtain at the literature. The results obtained are in good agreement with the literature, being that the model developed can be applied in to the brazilian coastal regions. (author). 7 refs, 7 figs.
Measurements of carbon metabolism, production and exchange along food webs suggest that large fractions of the organic matter produced on continental shelves must be exported to continental slopes. The annual loss of organic matter from continental shelf ecosystems is far greater than in the open ocean. If part of the loss of nearshore primary production has increased in those coastal zones where anthropogenic inorganic nutrient supplies have been consistently increasing since the industrial revolution, then burial and diagenesis of this material in slope depocentres could represent the missing BMTs of carbon in global CO/sub 2/ budgets.
In this project we determined primary production and optical variability in the shelf and slope waters off of Cape Hatteras, N.C. These processes were addressed in conjunction with other Ocean Margins Program investigators, during the Spring Transition period and during Summer. We found that there were significant differences in measured parameters between Spring and Summer, enabling us to develop seasonally specific carbon production and ecosystem models as well as seasonal and regional algorithm improvements for use in remote sensing applications.
The {sup 252}Cf-source-driven noise analysis method has been used in measurements for subcritical configurations of fissile systems for a variety of applications including a dynamic measurement that was the first step in applying this method to monitor fuel in a future reprocessing plant These measurements showed that this method has potential to monitor many dynamic situations in processing plants such as in a continuous dissolver or batch dissolvers either to obtain the neutron multiplication factor k or to be used as a signature to verify that various processes are occurring in a repeatable or bounded way. This verification of normal operation would be by comparing noise analysis signatures for the process with reference signatures. Abnormal operation could be ascertained if the signature deviates by some specified amount from the reference signatures from normal operation. The deviations from normal could be specified by measurement or by ...
The ultra-high pressure waterjet technology was being evaluated at Florida International University (FIU) as a baseline technology. In conjunction with FIU's evaluation of efficiency and cost, this report covers the evaluation conducted for safety and health issues. It is a commercially available technology and has been used for various projects at locations throughout the country. The ultra-high pressure waterjet technology acts as a cutting tool for the removal of surface substrates. The Husky trademark pump feeds water to a lance that directs the high pressure water at the surface to be removed. The safety and health evaluation during the testing demonstration focused on two main areas of exposure. These were dust and noise. The dust exposure was found to be minimal, which would be expected due to the wet environment inherent in the technology, but noise exposure was at a significant level. Further testing for noise is ...
This paper describes recent measurements of the subcritical neutron multiplication factor using the /sup 252/Cf source-driven neutron noise analysis method. This work was supported by a program of collaboration between the United States Department of Energy and the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation of Japan related to the development of fast breeder technology. The experiment reported consists of a configuration of two interacting tanks of uranyl nitrate aqueous solution with different uranium concentrations in each tank. The /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis method obtains the subcriticality from the signals of three detectors: the first, a parallel plate ionization chamber with /sup 252/Cf electroplated on one of its plates that is located in or near the system containing the fissile material, and produces an electrical pulse for every spontaneous fission that occurs and thereby serves as a timed source of ...
Inter-symbol interference (ISI) channels with data dependent Gauss Markov noise have been used to model read channels in magnetic recording and other data storage systems. The Viterbi algorithm can be adapted for performing maximum likelihood sequence detection in such channels. However, the problem of finding an analytical upper bound on the bit error rate of the Viterbi detector in this case has not been fully investigated. Current techniques rely on an exhaustive enumeration of short error events and determine the BER using a union bound. In this work, we consider a subset of the class of ISI channels with data dependent Gauss-Markov noise. We derive an upper bound on the pairwise error probability (PEP) between the transmitted bit sequence and the decoded bit sequence that can be expressed as a product of functions depending on current and previous states in the (incorrect) decoded sequence and the (correct) transmitted sequence. In ...
One of the main goals in the determination of three-dimensional macromolecular structures from electron microscope images of individual molecules and complexes (single particles) is a sufficiently high spatial resolution, about 4 A, at which the interpretation with an atomic model becomes possible. To reach high resolution, an iterative refinement procedure using an expectation maximization algorithm is often used that leads to a more accurate alignment of the positional and orientational parameters for each particle. We show here the results of refinement algorithms that use a phase residual, a linear correlation coefficient, or a weighted correlation coefficient to align individual particles. The algorithms were applied to computer-generated data sets that contained projections from model structures, as well as noise. The algorithms show different degrees of over-fitting, especially at high resolution where the signal is weak. We demonstrate that the degree of ...
We analyze the impact of trap states in the oxide layer of a superconducting tunnel junctions, on the fluctuation of the Josephson critical current, thus on coherence in superconducting qubits. Two mechanisms are usually considered: the current blockage due to repulsion at the occupied trap states, and the noise from electrons hopping across a trap. We extend previous studies of noninteracting traps to the case where the traps have on-site electron repulsion inside one ballistic channel. The repulsion not only allows the appropriate temperature dependence of 1/f noise, but also is a control to the coupling between the computational qubit and the spurious two-level systems inside the oxide dielectric. We use second order perturbation theory which allows to obtain analytical formulae for the interacting bound states and spectral weights, limited to small and intermediate repulsions. Remarkably, it still reproduces the main features of the model ...
Steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants are periodically checked by means of eddy current probes. The output of a probe is composed of three types of signals: known events (rolling zone, support plates, U-bend part), noise (mainly metallurgical noise) and possible flaws. The latter are random transients, both in arrival time and in shape: they have to be detected and then estimated, before to be fed to the high level stages of a diagnostics system. The objective of the study presented is to develop a semi-automatic system, which could manage and process more than 1 M-bytes of data per tube and provide an operator with reliable diagnostics proposals within a few minutes. This can be achieved only by cooperation of several digital signal processing techniques: detection, segmentation, estimation, noise subtraction, adaptive filtering, modelization, pattern recognition. The paper describes some of these items.
Steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants are periodically checked by means of eddy current probes. The output of a probe is composed of three types of signals: known events (rolling zone, support plates, U-bend part), noise (mainly metallurgical noise) and possible flaws. The latter are random transients, both in arrival time and in shape: they have to be detected and then estimated, before to be fed to the high level stages of a diagnostic system. The objective of the study presented is to develop a semi-automatic system, which could manage and process more than 1 M-bytes of data per tube and provide an operator with reliable diagnostics proposals within a few minutes. This can be achieved only by cooperation of several digital signal processing techniques: detection, segmentation, estimation, noise subtraction, adaptive filtering, modelization, pattern recognition. The paper describes some of these items.
Probabilistic broadcast has been widely used as a flooding optimization mechanism to alleviate the effect of broadcast storm problem (BSP) in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Many research studies have been carried-out to develop and evaluate the performance of this mechanism in an error-free (noiseless) environment. In reality, wireless communication channels in MANETs are an error-prone and suffer from high packet-loss due to presence of noise, i.e., noisy environment. In this paper, we propose a simulation model that can be used to evaluate the performance of probabilistic broadcast for flooding in noisy environment. In the proposed model, the noise-level is represented by a generic name, probability of reception (pc) (0<=pc<=1), where pc=1 for noiseless and <1 for noisy environment. The effect of noise is determined randomly by generating a random number \\zeta (0<=\\zeta<1); if \\zeta<=pc means the ...
The /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis method for obtaining the subcriticality of an assembly of fissile material from cross-power spectral densities (CPSDs) was developed to avoid some difficulties inherent in other measurement methods. This method requires measurement of frequency-dependent CPSD between a pair of detectors in or near the fissile assembly and CPSDs between these detectors and a source of correlated neutron noise from an ionization chamber containing /sup 252/Cf, also in or near the fissile assembly. Also, the auto-power spectral density of the source is required. The ratio of spectral densities is then formed and is related to the subcriticality. To date various measurements have been performed which demonstrate the usefulness of the method including measurements with single uranium metal cylinders. The experiments described here, which used coupled uranium (93.15 wt % /sup 235/U) metal cylinders separated by ...
We fabricate a low noise erbium-doped fiber ring laser that can be continuously tuned over 102nm by insertion of the fiber Fabry-Perot tunable filter (FFP-TF) in the ring cavity with a novel cavity structure and the optimal gain medium length. As an application of this fiber ring laser, we performed the absorption spectroscopy of acetylene (13C2H2) and hydrogen cyanide (H13C14N) and measure the absorption spectra of more than 50 transition lines of these gases with an excellent signal to noise ratio (SNR). The pressure broadening coefficients of four acetylene transition lines are obtained using this fiber ring laser and an external cavity laser diode.
The utilization of thermal fluctuations or Johnson/Nyquist noise as a spectroscopic method to determine transport properties in conductors or semiconductors is developed. The autocorrelation function is obtained from power spectral density measurements thus enabling electronic transport property calculation through the Green-Kubo formalism. This experimental approach is distinct from traditional numerical methods such as molecular dynamics simulations, which have been used to extract the autocorrelation function and directly related physics only. This work reports multi-transport property measurements consisting of the electronic relaxation time, resistivity, mobility, diffusion coefficient, electronic contribution to thermal conductivity and Lorenz number from experimental data. Double va...
Remote detection of chemicals using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) utilizing DIAL (Differential Absorption LIDAR) is now a standard detection technique for both military and civilian activities. We have developed a novel nonlinear optical phase conjugation system that can reduce the effects of speckle noise and atmospheric turbulence on DIAL remote detection systems. We have shown numerically and experimentally that it is possible to increase the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for LIDAR systems under certain conditions using optical phase conjugation. This increase in S/N can result in more accurate detection of chemical effluents while simultaneously reducing the time necessary to acquire this information.
The ability of the /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis method to measure subcriticality has been demonstrated in a variety of experimental configurations of fissile materials. Calculations for an approximately 4-m-dia configuration of light water reactor (LWR) fuel elements indicated the feasibility of measuring the subcriticality of large, loosely coupled arrays of LWR fuel elements by this same method. These analysis suggested application to the initial loading of both pressurized and boiling water reactors, zero-power testing of reactors (such as shutdown margin measurements after initial loading), light water reactor refueling, and safe storage of LWR spent fuel. In the fuel storage application, direct measurement of subcriticality in the actual fuel storage facilities provides the parameter which is directly related to criticality safety.
This study has been carried out in the framework of a collaboration between the laboratory of processes automation (LAP, Caen (France)), and Air Com, a monitoring network for the prevention of atmospheric pollution in Basse-Normandie. It aims at obtaining a medium and long term forecast of the ozone level above the Caen city. The expected goal is to foresee the pollution peaks exceeding the warning thresholds, but the rareness of such events make them more difficult to predict. In order to solve this kind of problem, a neural modeling method combined with a noise injection technique has been implemented in order to obtain a sufficiently performing model over the whole domain of operation. (J.S.)
We examine moving average (MA) filters for estimating the integrated variance (IV) of a financial asset price in a framework where high-frequency price data are contaminated with market microstructure noise. We show that the sum of squared MA residuals must be scaled to enable a suitable estimator of IV. The scaled estimator is shown to be consistent, first-order efficient, and asymptotically Gaussian distributed about the integrated variance under restrictive assumptions. Under more plausible assumptions, such as time-varying volatility, the MA model is misspecified. This motivates an extensive simulation study of the merits of the MA-based estimator under misspecification. Specifically, we consider nonconstant volatility combined with rounding errors and various forms of dependence between the noise and efficient returns. We benchmark the scaled MA-based estimator to subsample and realized kernel estimators and find that the MA-based ...
This paper provides an alternative approach to Duffie and Lando [Econometrica 69 (2001) 633-664] for obtaining a reduced form credit risk model from a structural model. Duffie and Lando obtain a reduced form model by constructing an economy where the market sees the manager's information set plus noise. The noise makes default a surprise to the market. In contrast, we obtain a reduced form model by constructing an economy where the market sees a reduction of the manager's information set. The reduced information makes default a surprise to the market. We provide an explicit formula for the default intensity based on an Azema martingale, and we use excursion theory of Brownian motions to price risky debt.
In the international study of IEA Annex 27 `Demonstration and evaluation of domestic ventilation systems` a number of simple tools to gain insight into the characteristics of ventilation systems for dwellings are presented. The assessment is made with respect to e.g. indoor air quality, comfort, noise, energy, costs and reliability. In three articles the results of Annex 27 will be discussed. In the first article background information of IEA Annex 27 was given as well as applications in the Netherlands. In this second article attention is paid to the assessment models (`simplified tools`) for indoor air quality, thermal comfort and noise. 6 refs.
The difference between the two nonclassical lights, i.e., the squeezed state and number-phase minimum uncertainty state (NUS) is discussed. The four different generation principles for NUS are described. They are: unitary evolution using self-phase modulation; nonunitary state reduction by the first kind measurement; controlled state reduction by quantum correlation measurement-feedback, and high saturated laser oscillation with suppressed-pump-noise. The constant current-driven semiconductor laser based on the last principle generated the NUS with photon number noise reduced below the standard quantum limit by 40 percent in the entire frequency region from dc to 1.1 GHz. Several applications of NUS including quantum communication, quantum mechanical computers and interferometric gravitational detection are discussed briefly. This presentation is represented by viewgraphs only.
An experimental investigation has been carried out to examine for the first time the performance and combustion noise of an indirect injection diesel engine running with new fuel derived from pure jojoba oil, jojoba methyl ester, and its blends with gas oil. A Ricardo E6 compression swirl diesel engine was fully instrumented for the measurement of combustion pressure and its rise rate and other operating parameters. Test parameters included the percentage of jojoba methyl ester in the blend, engine speed, load, injection timing and engine compression ratio. Results showed that the new fuel derived from jojoba is generally comparable and a good replacement to gas oil in diesel engine at most engine operating conditions, in terms of performance parameters and combustion noise produced. (author)
Abstract: In many biological processes heterogeneity within clonal cell populations is an important issue. One of the most striking examples is a population of cancer cells in which after a common, identical death signal some cells die whereas others survive. The reason for this heterogeneity is intrinsic and extrinsic noise. In this paper we present a mechanistic multi-scale modeling framework for cell populations, in which the dynamics of every individual cell is captured by a parameter dependent stochastic differential equation (SDE). Heterogeneity among individual cells is accounted for by differences in parameter values, modeling extrinsic influences. Based on the statistical properties of the extrinsic noise and the SDE model for the individual cell, a partial differential equation (...
Readout integrated circuits (ROICs) for focal plane arrays (FPAs) have become increasingly complex to meet the needs of modern infrared systems. BAE Systems has pioneered a number of advanced signal processing architectures for FPA ROICs. Demonstrated signal processing capabilities of BAE Systems FPAs include analog-to-digital conversion, offset subtraction, individual pixel automatic gain compensation, transient noise suppression, on-FPA defect deselection, reconfigurable pixels, spatial neural network processing and subframe noise averaging. BAE Systems FPA advanced signal processing is not just for demonstrations, but is used in many of their deliverable FPAs, improving real system performance.
The /sup 252/Cf-source-driven noise analysis method determines the subcriticality of a system containing fissionable material from the ratio of cross power spectral densities between the detectors that detect particles from the fission process and between these detectors and an ionization chamber containing a spontaneously fissioning neutron source which provides neutrons to induce fission in the system. This method has two advantages: (1) a calibration is not required and thus subcriticality can be determined from measurements only on the subcritical system of interest, and (2) the subcriticality is independent of the type of detector or its efficiency. These properties of this technique are illustrated by measurements.
In this paper, a hybrid time-frequency method (HTM) based on the improved Morlet wavelet and auto terms window (ATW) is presented. The Morlet wavelet, for its shape is similar to the mechanical shock signals, is added two parameters which decide the shape of the mother wavelet. The added parameters and the appropriate scale parameter for continuous wavelet transformation (CWT) are calculated using the cross validation method (CVM) and the minimum Shannon entropy method. The useless noise in the original signal can be filtered by the CWT filter de-noising process. An ATW based on the Smoothed Pseudo Wigner-Ville Distribution (SPWVD) spectrum is designed as a window function to suppress the cross terms in Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD). The gear fault diagnosis experiment results show that ...
In order to study nuclear criticality safety related to the development of fast breeder technology, /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis measurements were performed with a Pu-U nitrate solution in a slab tank of various heights and thickness varying 11.43 cm to 19.05 cm. The results and conclusions of these experiments are (1) a capability to measure the subcriticality of a multiplying system of slab geometry to a k/sub eff/ as low as 0.7 was demonstrated, (2) calculated neutron multiplication factors agreed with those from the experiments within approx.0.02, and (3) the applicability of the method for plutonium solution systems was demonstrated. This paper describes measurements in which the height of the slab was varied for a fixed thickness and the thickness varied for a fixed height, which are the first applications of this measurement method to slab geometry.
This SBIR Phase I developed neutron detectors made from gallium arsenide (GaAs) p-type/ intrinsic/n-type (P-I-N) diodes grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) onto semi-insulating (S1) bulk GaAs wafers. A layer of isotonically enriched boron-10 evaporated onto the front surface serves to convert incoming neutrons into lithium ions and a 1.47 MeV alpha particle which creates electron-hole pairs that are detected by the GaAs diode. Various thicknesses of ''intrinsic'' (I) undoped GaAs were tested, as was use of a back-surface field (BSF) formed from a layer of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}As. Schottky-barrier diodes formed from the same structures without the p+ GaAs top layer were tested as a comparison. After mesa etching and application of contacts, devices were tested in visible light before application of the boron coating. Internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the best diode near the GaAs bandedge is over 90%. The ...
We consider the problem of minimal (multiplicative) complexity of polynomial multiplication and multiplication in finite extensions of fields. For infinite fields minimal complexities are known [Winograd,...Full Text Available
The {sup 252}Cf-source-driven noise analysis method has been used in measurements for subcritical configurations of fissile systems for a variety of applications. Measurements of 25 fissile systems have been performed with a wide variety of materials and configurations. This method has been applied to measurements for (1) initial fuel loading of reactors, (2) quality assurance of reactor fuel elements, (3) fuel preparation facilities, (4) fuel processing facilities, (5) fuel storage facilities, (6) zero-power testing of reactors, and (7) verification of calculational methods for assemblies with the neutron k < l. These previous measurements, performed with a wide variety of multiplying systems, demonstrated the usefulness of the method. The high sensitivity of noise-measured parameters to small changes in fissile systems has been observed in several measurements. This high sensitivity has been evaluated using Monte Carlo neutron transport ...
In order to understand the detail transient two-phase flow structure, more advanced two-phase flow instrumentation is required. One advanced technique for flow visualization is real-time neutron radiography. Reconstruction method of visualized radiographic image of liquid metal two-phase flow generated by the real-time neutron radiography system is proposed in this paper. Image processing techniques for noise reduction and image enhancement are discussed in detail. (author).
In order to understand the detail transient two-phase flow structure, more advanced two-phase flow instrumentation is required. One advanced technique for flow visualization is real-time neutron radiography. Reconstruction method of visualized radiographic image of liquid metal two-phase flow generated by the real-time neutron radiography system is proposed in this paper. Image processing techniques for noise reduction and image enhancement are discussed in detail. (author).
During its jubilee, the French building technical and scientific centre (CSTB) has organized a colloquium about the future tendencies of buildings evolution in the 20 forthcoming years: autonomy in energy production and wastes or effluents management, reduction of water consumption and management of water, hot water production and space heating, bio-sensors for the management of indoor air-quality, control of noise environment using active acoustic systems etc.. (J.S.)
A method to deduce the 2 x 2 transport matrix for coupled heat and particle transport in Tokamaks is proposed. The method applies to perturbative experiments, and is based on a Fourier transform of the measured signals of temperature and density. By analyzing different linear combinations of temperature and density, the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the transport matrix are determined. The method is tested for a number of illustrative cases using simulated data, and the sensitivity to noise on the signals is evaluated. (author).
The multi-spray direct injection diesel engine has the best efficiency of all combustion systems. The optimization of the air-fuel mixture parameters, especially of the fuel injection, enables the forming of the combustion process in a way, that all requirements and legislative regulations concerning power output, noise and exhaust emissions can be fulfilled. Electronic controlled unit injector systems, as developed by Voest-Alpine Automotive GmbH, Linz, offer the necessary potential to meet the complex requirements.
We present a thorough analysis of single atom detection using optical cavities. The large set of parameters that influence the signal-to-noise ratio for cavity detection is considered, with an emphasis on detunings, probe power, cavity finesse and photon detection schemes. Real device operating restrictions for single photon counting modules and standard photodiodes are included in our discussion, with heterodyne detection emerging as the clearly favourable technique, particularly for detuned detection at high power.
A network of second-generation low-temperature gravitational radiation detectors is nearing completion. These detectors, sensitive to mechanical strains of order 10"-"1"8, are possible because of a variety of technical innovations that have been made in cryogenics, low-noise superconducting instrumentation, and vibration isolation techniques. Another five orders of magnitude improvement in energy sensitivity of resonant-mass detectors is possible before the linear amplifier quantum limit is encountered. 33 references, 3 figures, 1 table.
We discuss the use of active control to reduce mirror position fluctuations at the quantum level. We have shown in a recent experiment that it is possible to reduce the thermal noise of a mirror by measuring and controlling its motion with an optomechanical sensor based on a high-finesse optical cavity. This approach can be extended to lock the mirror motion at the quantum level, and to suppress the quantum effects of radiation pressure in interferometric measurements such as gravitational-wave detectors. The sensitivity improvement is furthermore independent of losses in the interferometer.
It is shown that de-noising a measured time signal by wavelet technique produces a rather good result in time domain, while it has unwanted consequences in spectrum estimation. Therefore it can be used for reconstruction of the picture of the physical process, but it should be avoided, when the aim is to reveal eigenfrequencies or transient behaviour of the spectra.
The image processing system for the dynamic neutron radiography has been developed. It is based on the hardware subset, composed by the method of the pipe-line and use of algorithm of local statistics. The processing speed per one pixel is shorter than 100 n sec and video-rate processing can be executed on it. Some image processes for improving the quality of the real-time neutron image, noise reduction and contrast stretching would be attempted by the use of this system. (author).
Heterodyne detection with a point-contact Josephson junction has been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The measured performance of the device at 36 GHz is in good agreement with the theory. By operating vanadium point contacts at 1.4 K, the authors have achieved a single-sideband (SSB) mixer noise temperature of 54 K with a conversion gain of 1.35 and a signal bandwidth on the order of 1 GHz. A potentially impressive performance for these devices at submillimeter wavelengths can be extrapolated from the results.
Heat pumps can be installed indoors or outdoors. H. Klein investigates which site would be preferable for a one-family house. Advantages and disadvantages with regard to necessary space, noise, maintenance and repair are discussed; heat losses in both cases of installations are dealt with. Mathematic calculation shows that indoor installation is safer and more adequate in terms of energy savings.
This book presents the papers given at a symposium on occupational safety in coal mines. Topics considered at the symposium included human factors, causes and prevention of personal injuries, remote sensing for ground control, respirable dust generation by continuous miners, accident analysis, hazard analysis of mining equipment, coal mine blasting accidents, coal mine respirable dust sampling, and noise in the mining industry.
A device for marking and searching for information on a magnetic carrier is described. In order to increase the noise immunity and reliability of the data recording and reading paths, the recording head is included between the amplifier of the clock pulses for the master oscillator and through the amplifier of the code pulses for the logical element unit. The reproduction head is connected through the code pulse shaper-amplifier with a switch which is connected with the display unit, and through another analogous clock pulse amplifier with a multivibrator.
We apply two variations of the principle of Minimum Cross Entropy (the Kullback information measure) to fit parameterized probability density models to observed data densities. For an array beamforming problem with P incident narrowband point sources, N > P sensors, and colored noise, both approaches yield eigenvector fitting methods similar to that of the MUSIC algorithm[1]. Furthermore, the corresponding cross-entropies are related to the MDL model order selection criterion[2].
This article describes a new natural-gas-fired combined cycle cogeneration plant in Bellingham, Washington. The topics of the article include community impact, siting constraints, natural gas fuel, the flexibility provided by the steam turbine, the cooling tower and pumps, air-quality, noise, and cooling water system constraints, and community relations program.
In this paper we present a modeling framework for analyzing computer models with two types of variations. The paper is based on a case study of an orthopedic surgical unit, which has both controllable and uncontrollable factors. Our results show that this structure of variation can be modeled effectively with linear mixed effects models and generalized additive models. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A new technique is described in this paper for a general active radio frequency (RF) filter trap that can be used for suppressing noise or interference on high voltage (HV) transmission lines. The technique exploits the Miller effect of an RF amplifier in conjunction with a special sensing circuit, and is potentially far more economical to implement than conventional techniques that use passive HV filter components.
We identify emission lines of post-iron peak elements in very high signal-to-noise spectra of a sample of planetary nebulae. Analysis of lines from ions of Kr and Xe reveals enhancements in most of the PNe, in agreement with the theories of s-process in AGB star. Surprisingly, we did not detect lines from Br even though s-process calculations indicate that it should be produced with Kr at detectable levels.
Surface barrier detectors may be damaged, because of microplasma breakdown, in rapid application of bias voltage. The high performance FETs of very low noise preamplifiers may also be damaged by rapid changes of the bias voltage. The electronic device described permits the gradual application and removal of the bias voltage, without any influence on the power supply specification. (Auth.).
The author briefly discusses definition of terms, gives an introduction to measurement techniques and describes the characteristics of various low-frequency fields and their causes using typical examples: natural electric fields (thunderstroms), natural magnetic fields, technical electric constant fields (urban transportation, households), static magnetic fields (urban transportation, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging), technical electric alternating fields (high-voltage transmission lines, households), and magnetic alternating fields (high-voltage transmission lines). The author discusses both occupational exposure and that of the general public while underpinning his statements by numerous tables, measurement diagrams and charts. (Uhe).
The adjoint of an ocean general circulation model is used as a tool for investigating the causes of changes in ENSO SST indices. We identify adjoint Kelvin and Rossby waves in the sensitivities to sea level and wind stress at earlier times, which can be traced back for more than a year through western and weak eastern boundary reflections. Depending on the thermocline depth the first and second baroclinic modes are excited. The sensitivities to the heat flux and SST are local and decay in about a month. The sensitivities to the fluxes are converted into the influence of SST using the adjoint of a statistical atmosphere model. Focusing on SST perturbations in the index region itself, we recover, up to a scale factor, the delayed oscillator concept.
There is now a scientific consensus that current rates of accumulation of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere will result in significant global warming and climate change. These changes are likely to have important impacts on a wide range of human activities and the natural environment. There has now been a considerable weight of literature published on the impacts of global warming, much of it very recent. This report seeks to summarise the important results, to analyse the uncertainties and to make a preliminary analysis of the feasibility of monetarising these environmental costs. The impacts of global warming are divided into ten major categories: agriculture, forests and forestry, terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, hydrology and water resources, sea level rise and coastal zones, energy, infrastructure/transport/industry, human health and air quality, oceans, and cryospheric impacts. The results of major summary reports are analysed, notably the report of ...
The spectre of major climate change caused by the greenhouse effect has generated intensive research, heated scientific debate and a concerted international effort to draft agreements for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This report of Scientific Perspectives on the greenhouse problem explains the technical issues in the debate in language readily understandable to the non-specialist. The inherent complexities of attempts to simulate the earth's climate are explained, particularly with regard to the effects of clouds and the circulation of the oceans, which together represent the largest factors of uncertainty in current global warming forecasts. Results of the search for the 'greenhouse signal' in existing climate records aredescribed in chapter 3 (part two). Chapter 5 (part two) develops a projection of 21st-century warming based on relatively firm evidence of the earth's actual response to known increases in greenhouse gas emissions during the last 100 ...
This is our response to a comment by Walter Eifler on our paper `A simple model for the short-time evolution of near-surface current and temperature profiles' (arXiv:physics/0503186, accepted for publication in Deep-Sea Research II). Although Eifler raises genuine issues regarding our model's validity and applicability, we are nevertheless of the opinion that it is of value for the short-term evolution of the upper-ocean profiles of current and temperature. The fact that the effective eddy viscosity tends to infinity for infinite time under a steady wind stress may not be surprising. It can be interpreted as a vertical shift of the eddy viscosity profile and an increase in the size of the dominant turbulent eddies under the assumed conditions of small stratification and infinite water depth.
A detailed knowledge about the dynamics of phytoplanktonic photosynthesis and respiration is crucial for the determination of primary productivity in open oceans as well as for biotechnological applications. The dynamics are best studied in photobioreactors that are able to simulate natural conditions in such, that light can be modulated not only diurnally but also mimicking effects of solar elevation angle from sunrise to sunset, variable cloudiness, light modulation in refractory sun flecks due to water waves, or light intermittence due to turbulent flow in dense suspensions. In addition, high performance photobioreactors ought to be able to monitor in real time photosynthetic and respiratory activities as well as culture growth. Here, we demonstrate performance of a newly designed bench...
The Eady problem of baroclinic instability as applicable to quasi-geostrophic oceanic flows with zero internal PV gradients is revisited by introducing a mild slope and Ekman pumping on the lower boundary. The solution behaviour is determined by the isopycnal slope relative to either the bottom slope or the ratio of Ekman depth to horizontal wavenumber. Attention is paid to the physical interpretation of the growing, decaying and stable disturbances, with emphasis on the intimate connection between the quasigeostrophic edge waves and Eady waves, and the role of the isopycnal slope for the stability properties as opposed to the bottom density gradient. The disturbance structure is found to be strongly influenced by the boundary conditions. For a sloping bottom boundary, the growth rate is enhanced for the most unstable waves if the isopycnals tilt in the same direction as the bottom, but in general non-standard boundary conditions tend to retard the growth of ...
This paper presents results, numeric and experimental, due to installation operation of a Risers Uphold Sub-Surface Buoy, (BSR). This kind of installation developed by PETROBRAS is unique in the world. The work of BSR installation was based on a numeric pre analysis to verify the system and determine the main parameters to be experimentally verified. The second phase of the work was the experimental analysis in a deep water ocean basin. s. The work describes the BSR and their main accessories, the experimental environment and the model constructed in aluminum in a 1:12 scale and the main results. (author)
Maldives comprise some of the most characteristic and significant atoll systems, but the meiobenthic assemblages of these islands are still largely unknown. A study on meiofauna was conducted on three Maldivian sandy back-reef platforms differently exposed to stronger westerly monsoons. Clear high energy effects of the waves causing currents and erosions were observed at the completely exposed and isolated offshore reef of Thoddoo Island. Wave energy of medium intensity was confirmed at Rasdhoo by depositional structures (finolhu), while a medium to low energy level was recorded at Gulhi on the basis of the presence of a low sandy bar. The meiofaunal assemblage counted 17 major taxa. Copepods and nematodes were dominant, followed by platyhelminthes and polychaetes. The nematode assemblage ...
The Seabed Disposal Project (SDP) was evaluating the technical feasibility of high-level nuclear waste disposal in deep ocean sediments. Working standards were needed for risk assessments, evaluation of alternative designs, sensitivity studies, and conceptual design guidelines. This report completes a three part program to develop radiological standards for the feasibility phase of the SDP. The characteristics of subseabed disposal and how they affect the selection of standards are discussed. General radiological protection standards are reviewed, along with some new methods, and a systematic approach to developing standards is presented. The selected interim radiological standards for the SDP and the reasons for their selection are given. These standards have no legal or regulatory status and will be replaced or modified by regulatory agencies if subseabed disposal is implemented. 56 refs., 29 figs., 15 tabs.
Experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that instantaneous daily rates of egg-larval mortality of Pacific herring were higher at two oil-exposed sites than at two other sites not so exposed. Results showed that egg-larval mortality was twice as great in the oil-exposed areas as in the two non-oiled areas. Larval growth rates were also severely affected; they were about half of those measured in populations from other areas of the north Pacific Ocean. A cautionary note was introduced to the effect that the differences in the egg-larval mortality between oiled and control sites may have been influenced by differences in egg dessication, predation, and wave scouring, hence these results should not be construed as conclusive evidence of oil spill damage. 40 refs., 6 figs.
One proposed solution to the problem of ballast-mediated aquatic invasions involves chemically treating ballast water to kill key target organisms. Here, we examine the efficacy of three commercially available ballast water biocides using vegetative microalgae, dinoflagellate resting cysts and bacteria as test organisms. Chemicals tested were the ballast water biocides SeaKleen and Peraclean Ocean, and the chlorine dioxide biocide Vibrex. Results demonstrate that the applicability of each of the three chemical biocides as a routine ballast water treatment is limited by factors such as cost, biological effectiveness and possible residual toxicity of the discharged ballast water (assessed on the basis of impact on motility of vegetative marine microalgae). Of the three biocides tested, Perac...
Abstract: The basement of the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent areas can be divided into six divisions (regions) - Paleozoic Erathem graben-faulted basement division in Beibu Gulf, Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip pull-apart in Yinggehai waters, Paleozoic Erathem faulted-depression in eastern Hainan, Paleozoic Erathem rifted in northern Xisha (Paracel), Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip extending in southern Xisha, and Paleozoic-Mesozoic Erathem extending in Nansha Islands (Spratly) waters. The Pre-Cenozoic basement in the SCS and Yunkai continental area are coeval within the Tethyan tectonic domain in the Pre-Cenozoic Period. They are formed on the background of the Paleo-Tethyan tectonic domain, and are important components of the Eastern Tethyan multi-island-ocean system. Three branches of t...
This paper describes the design, fabrication and application of a micro-fabricated salinity sensor system. The theoretical electrochemical behaviour is described using electrical equivalent diagrams and simple scaling properties are investigated analytically and numerically using finite element method (FEM). The chip design and fabrication is described and measurement results of two different electrode designs are presented. The 4mm Formula Not Shown 4mm multi-sensor allows for salinity determination with an accuracy of Formula Not Shown 0.5psu through determination of the electrical conductivity, temperature and pressure with accuracies of Formula Not Shown 0.6mS, Formula Not Shown 0.065 Formula Not Shown C and Formula Not Shown 0.05bar, respectively.
The Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory uses the U.S. Navy's Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) to supply high-resolution wind data for use in its real-time dispersion modeling system. ARAC has used COAMPS products to support several events and exercises, and COAMPS forecasts appear accurate, based on qualitative examination. Recently ARAC has developed a quantitative verification system which calculates COAMPS error and bias statistics, comparing COAMPS forecasts of various lengths with observational data. This paper shows how this system has been used to guide ARAC operators, who need an estimate of the likely behavior of COAMPS forecasts of various lengths in different regions, seasons, and weather patterns.
The Taiwan Strait is an important channel in the west Pacific Ocean transporting water and chemical constituents between the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Due to its complex bottom topography, alternating monsoon forcing and conjunction of several current systems [such as the Zhejiang-Fujian (Zhe-Min) Coastal Current, the Kuroshio intrusion and the extension of the South China Sea Warm Current], the physical and biogeochemical processes and ecosystem dynamics in the Taiwan Strait vary significantly both in space and in time. Our recent interdisciplinary studies, combining in situ and remote sensing observations with numerical modeling, allow us to address several important issues concerning the Taiwan Strait. The temporal and spatial variation of circulation in the Taiwan Strait ...
To reconstruct the profiles of heavy metal levels in the South Ocean ecosystem of Antarctica, the concentrations of lead (Pb), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) in seal hairs and lake sediments spanning the past 1500?years from Fildes Peninsula of King George Island and in weathering lake sediments from Nelson Island of West Antarctica were determined. The lead contents in the seal hairs and the weathering sediments show a sharp increase since the late 1800s, very likely due to anthropogenic contamination from modern industries. After the 1980s, the Pb content in seal hairs dropped by one-third, apparently due to the reduced usage of leaded gasoline in the Southern Hemisphere. Copper arises mainly from the weathering process, and its level may be substantially affected...
The magnetic field strengths of most millisecond pulsars(MSP) are about $10^{8-9}$ Gauss. The accretion induced magnetic field evolution scenario here concludes that the field decay is invesely related to the accreted mass and the minimum field or bottom field stops at about $10^{8}$ Gauss if accreted with the Eddington accretion rate, which is proportionally related with the accretion rate as $\\dot{M}^{1/2}$. The possibility of the low field $\\sim 10^{7}$ Gauss MSPs has been proposed for the future radio observation.
The progress of digital audio technology enabled the familiar use of the products such as CD and DAT in the acoustic measurement. For example, a signal reproduced with CD player is inputted into a subject of measurement and DAT recorder records its response. However, the sampling cannot be synchronized completely with the input signal although both nominal sample rates are set up equally, because player and recorder work independently. It is the most popular software solution to perform the synchronous addition after converting the recorded signal into the original sampling rate. However, the rate conversion also has the error due to the windowing in the high frequency region of processed signal. This paper proposes a new method for averaging asynchronous sampling data to solve these problems. To evaluate performance, the transfer function of only measuring equipment estimated from asynchronous sampling data was compared with the measuring result in synchronous sampling condition. Both ...
Studies on the multivariate autoregressive (MAR) analysis are carried out for the choice of the parameters for modelling the data obtained from various sensors optimally. Accordingly, the roles of the parameters on the analysis results are identified and the related ambiguities are reduced. Experimental investigations are carried out by means of synthesized reactor noise-like data obtained from a digital simulator providing simulated stochastic signals of an operating nuclear reactor so that the simulator constitutes a favourable tool for the present studies aimed. As the system is well defined with its known structure, precise comparison of the MAR analysis results with the true values is performed. With the help of the information gained through the studies carried out, conditions to be taken care of for optimal signal processing in MAR modelling are determined. Although the parameters involved are related among themselves and they have to be given different ...
Internet bandwidth is in high demand, and one way that web sites lower the amount of bandwidth they use is by compressing their site's images. This lowers the amount of bandwidth used, and makes the site load much faster. There are of course many other useful applications for compressed images. Bit Plane Complexity Segmentation (BPCS) digital picture steganography is a technique to hide data inside an image file. BPCS achieves high embedding rates with low distortion based on the theory that noise-like regions in a bit-plane can be replaced with noise-like secret data without discernible loss in image quality. This is possible because the human eye, while very good at distinguishing anomalies in areas of homogenous texture, is bad at distinguishing anomalies in visually complex areas. However, BPCS is not a robust embedding scheme, and any lossy compression usually destroys the data. Wavelet image compression using the Discreet Wavelet ...
Sensor has been developed for the measurement of seismic wave rotary components. The vertical axis rotary component sensor is constituted of four L22Ds, similar to each other in performance, fixed in a ring formation on a metal bed. The ring is 22cm in diameter, and the four coils are connected so that their outputs will be added up. A horizontal axis rotary component sensor is built in the similar way. The rotary component sensors are all connected to a spectrum analyzer for the measurement of micromotions. It is found that the four-L22D combination can detect a rotary component of 335mV/deg/s. The sensor can detect both vertical and horizontal components with roughly the same sensitivity. A ring-form combination of conventional electromagnetic seismometers, though only as a temporary expedient, can perform high-resolution detection of rotary components and determine the absolute values of earthquakes or noise levels. In the case of a gyrosensor available on the ...
Data that arises from computer vision and image processing is often characterized by a mixture of multiple linear (or affine) subspaces, leading to the challenging problem of subspace segmentation. We observe that the heart of segmentation is to deal with the data that may not strictly follow subspace structures, i.e., to handle the data corrupted by noise. In this work we therefore address the subspace recovery problem. Given a set of data samples approximately drawn from a union of multiple subspaces, our goal is to segment the samples into their respective subspaces and correct the possible noise as well, i.e., our goal is to recover the subspace structures from corrupted data. To this end, we propose low-rank representation (LRR) for recovering a low-rank data matrix from corrupted observations. The recovery is performed by seeking the lowest-rank representation among all the candidates that can represent the data vectors as linear ...
Concerning the gamma emitters, the only analysis on soils put in evidence the presence of cesium-137 ({sup 137}Cs), that does not come from the cyclotron functioning but from past man action as the Chernobylsk accident and the nuclear weapon tests in atmosphere. Independently of the functioning of the installation, we observe an increase of the ambient gamma radiation only near radioactive waste storage. It results of the storage of the former cyclotron elements. The induced increase is moderated because at 5 meters the values do not exceed the background noise. In relation with the functioning of the installation an increase of the ambient gamma radiation is noticed. Two causes are to considered: the release of radionuclides in atmosphere with gaseous effluents and the radiance of radiation sources inside the building. After the stopping of the installation (48 h at least), no increase of gamma radiation is observed. About the neutrons monitoring, the measures ...
The {sup 252}Cf-source-driven noise analysis method is a versatile measurements tool that has been applied to measurements for initial loading of reactors, quality assurance of reactor fuel elements, fuel processing facilities, fuel reprocessing facilities, fuel storage facilities, zero-power testing of reactors, verification of calculational methods, process monitoring, characterization of storage vaults, and nuclear weapons identification. This method`s broad range of application is due to the wide variety of time- and frequency domain signatures, each with unique properties, obtained from the measurement. The following parameters are obtained from this measurement: average detector count rates, detector multiplicities, detector autocorrelations, cross-correlation between detectors, detector autopower spectral densities, cross-power spectral densities between detectors, coherences, and ratios of spectral densities. All of these measured parameters can also be ...
Removing noise from data is often the first step in data analysis. Denoising techniques should not only reduce the noise, but do so without blurring or changing the location of the edges. Many approaches have been proposed to accomplish this; in this paper, they focus on one such approach, namely the use of non-linear diffusion operators. This approach has been studied extensively from a theoretical viewpoint ever since the 1987 work of Perona and Malik showed that non-linear filters outperformed the more traditional linear Canny edge detector. They complement this theoretical work by investigating the performance of several isotropic diffusion operators on test images from scientific domains. They explore the effects of various parameters such as the choice of diffusivity function, explicit and implicit methods for the discretization of the PDE, and approaches for the spatial discretization of the non-linear operator etc. They also compare ...
This report describes the method of Allan variance and its application to the characterization of a Ring Laser Gyro`s (RLG) performance. Allan variance, a time domain analysis technique, is an accepted IEEE standard for gyro specifications. The method was initially developed by David Allan of the National Bureau of Standards to quantify the error statistics of a Cesium beam frequency standard employed as the US Frequency Standards in 1960`s. The method can, in general, be applied to analyze the error characteristics of any precision measurement instrument. The key attribute of the method is that it allows for a finer, easier characterization and identification of error sources and their contribution to the overall noise statistics. This report presents an overview of the method, explains the relationship between Allan variance and power spectral density distribution of underlying noise sources, describes the batch and recursive implementation ...
The Nilsson Plate High Frequency Adaptation of the Static Electrification Monitor developed by Electric Research and Management, Inc. for EPRI has demonstrated that the Nilsson Plate can be utilized as a practical high frequency antenna to record partial discharge activity within a transformer. Tests in the ABB factory at Muncie, IN on a 650 MVA, 345/20.9 kV, three-phase unit step-up transformer for TU Electric showed the Nilsson plate detecting partial discharge activity. Although this test was the first attempt at using the Nilsson plate in this manner, and in spite of higher than expected electrical noise levels, the data demonstrated that partial discharges can be detected. The tests also demonstrated that corona activity external to the transformer was not recorded by the plate. Some development work needs to be completed to eliminate the noise source from other monitors on the Static Electrification monitor, and to utilize ...
We demonstrate detection of a single core-shell magnetite-silica nanoparticle (outer diameter #approx#120 nm, moment #approx#10"4#mu#_B) using an Nb dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) with the loop size of 350 nm operational at T < 10 K. The system noise was minimized down to 0.2 #mu##PHI#_0 Hz"-"1"/"2 using a cryogenic SQUID series array pre-amplifier. Initial measurements of an individual magnetic nanoparticle were performed and a clear change of the noise spectra of the nano-SQUID was detected at low frequencies in the presence of the nanoparticle. Similar behaviour was confirmed with an FePt nanoparticle with a larger magnetic moment (diameter #approx#150 nm, moment #approx#10"6#mu#_B). Thus, we demonstrate a magnetic sensor based on a dc nano-SQUID and enabling detection of small moments (potentially down to a few electron spins). Such a sensor is of considerable significance for nanomagnetic metrology and quantum ...
Low noise, high resolution and high dose efficiency are the common requirements for most X-ray imaging applications. Especially in medical applications the dose efficiency is a necessity for detector systems. We present the imaging performance of the Medipix2 readout chip bump bonded to a 300 mu m thick Si detector as a function of the detection threshold, a free parameter not available in conventional integrating imaging systems. Spatial resolution has been measured using the modulation transfer function (MTF) and it varies between 8.2 Ip/mm and 11.0 Ip/mm at 70%. An associated measurement of noise power spectrum (NPS) permits us to derive the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) which can be as a high as 25.5 % for a broadband incoming spectrum. The influence of charge diffusion in the sensor together with threshold variation in the readout chip is discussed. Although the Medipix2 system is used in photon counting mode with a single threshold ...
A linear structural equation model relates random variables of interest and corresponding Gaussian noise terms via a linear equation system. Each such model can be represented by a mixed graph in which directed edges encode the linear equations, and bidirected edges indicate possible correlations among noise terms. We study parameter identifiability in these models, that is, we ask for conditions that ensure that the edge coefficients and correlations appearing in a linear structural equation model can be uniquely recovered from the covariance matrix of the associated normal distribution. We treat the case of generic identifiability, where unique recovery is possible for almost every choice of parameters. We give a new graphical criterion that is sufficient for generic identifiability. It improves criteria from prior work and does not require the directed part of the graph to be acyclic. We also develop a related necessary condition and examine ...
Bit Plane Complexity Segmentation (BPCS) digital picture steganography is a technique to hide data inside an image file. BPCS achieves high embedding rates with low distortion based on the theory that noise-like regions in an image's bit-planes can be replaced with noise-like secret data without significant loss in image quality. . In this framework we will propose a collaborate approach for select frame for Hiding Data within MPEG Video Using Bit Plane Complexity Segmentation. This approach will invent high secure data hidden using select frame form MPEG Video and furthermore we will assign the well-built of the approach; during this review the author will answer the question why they used select frame steganography. In additional to the security issues we will use the digital video as a cover to the data hidden. The reason behind opt the video cover in this approach is the huge amount of single frames image per sec which in turn overcome the ...
A number of noise equivalent quanta (NEQ(u)) has been used in the evaluation of imaging systems. In this paper, we have evaluated the image quality of Fuji computed radiography (FCR) using of NEQ (u) and considered with the effects of the aliasing error of the FCR. The noise samples of the FCR were made by three different exposure levels, and one of these has the same exposure level of the screen-film system. These samples were set with the same characteristic curve condition as that of the screen-film system. Results indicate that NEQ (u) of the FCR system at low frequencies varies depending on the exposure level. On the same exposure level, NEQ(u) of screen-film system has a higher value than that of FCR in the frequency region over 2.5 cycles/mm. Moreover, the aliasing error of FCR increases at the frequency region over 5 cycles/mm. We concluded that it is necessary to compare with the screen-film system in a frequency region under 5 ...
A number of noise equivalent quanta (NEQ(u)) has been used in the evaluation of imaging systems. In this paper, we have evaluated the image quality of Fuji computed radiography (FCR) using of NEQ (u) and considered with the effects of the aliasing error of the FCR. The noise samples of the FCR were made by three different exposure levels, and one of these has the same exposure level of the screen-film system. These samples were set with the same characteristic curve condition as that of the screen-film system. Results indicate that NEQ (u) of the FCR system at low frequencies varies depending on the exposure level. On the same exposure level, NEQ(u) of screen-film system has a higher value than that of FCR in the frequency region over 2.5 cycles/mm. Moreover, the aliasing error of FCR increases at the frequency region over 5 cycles/mm. We concluded that it is necessary to compare with the screen-film system in a frequency region under 5 ...
Chapter 1 reviews the current and projected air pollution abatement measures of the Federal Government. Chapter 2 describes the development, status, and projected measures in industrial plant safety. Chapter 3 lists the points of emphasis of noise abatement; it presents the legal fundamentals and the resulting measures of the Federal Government. Each chapters starts by summarizing the present situation and then gives an outlook on tasks to cope with in the future. (orig.). [Deutsch] Kapitel 1 befasst sich mit dem Bereich der Luftreinhaltung und beschreibt die Massnahmen der Bundesregierung, die sie im Rahmen ihrer Umweltvorsorgepolitik bisher getroffen hat und fuer die Zukunft noch geplant sind. Kapitel 2 beschreibt die Entwicklung, den derzeitigen Stand und die kuenftigen Massnahmen im Bereich der Sicherheit industrieller Anlagen. Kapitel 3 nennt die Schwerpunkte der Laermbekaempfung und stellt die gesetzlichen Grundlagen sowie die daraus resultierenden Massnahmen ...
The energy resolution of small NaI(Tl), CsI(Tl), BGO, GSO, YAP and LSO crystals has been studied using 16 mm diameter large area avalanche photodiodes (LAAPD) and a 52 mm diameter photomultiplier. The best result of 4.8% for 662 keV #gamma#-rays from a "1"3"7Cs source was obtained with a 9 mm in diameter by 9 mm high CsI(Tl) scintillator coupled to an LAAPD. Measuring the number of primary electron-hole pairs produced in the LAAPD and photoelectrons in the photomultiplier, as well as the noise contribution of the LAAPD, allowed a quantitative discussion of the results. The energy resolutions measured with LAAPDs are comparable to, or significantly better (at certain emission wavelengths) than, those obtained with the photomultiplier. At energies above 100 keV the energy resolution measured with the majority of crystals and the LAAPD was weakly affected by the photodiode noise contribution. The advantages and limitations of LAAPDs in energy ...
This paper proposes a new pattern recognition system employing optical joint transform correlation (JTC) technique which offers a great number of advantages over similar digital techniques, including very fast operation, simple architecture and capability of updating the reference image in real time. The proposed JTC technique incorporates a synthetic discriminant function (SDF) of the target image estimated from different training images to make the pattern recognition performance invariant to noise and distortion. It then involves four different phase-shifted versions of the same target SDF reference image, which are individually joint transform correlated with the given input scene. When the correlation signals are combined, it produces a single cross-correlation peak corresponding to each potential target present in the given input scene. The proposed technique also includes a fringe-adjusted filter to generate a delta-like correlation peak with high ...
Development status of small direct injection diesel engine at Isuzu Motors Ltd. is reviewed. There is much difficulty in combustion optimization of small DI engines, due to small combustion chamber volume, large surface to volume ratio, wide engine speed range and so on. Novel ideas in the area of injection system, combustion chamber and induction swirl were tried to solve these problems and their effects are presented here. Our prototype DI engines which adopted some of these ideas has turned out to have better fuel economy by about 15 percent, 2 - 3 dB(A) higher noise level than IDI and almost the same power output performance as IDI. As to exhaust emissions, they have a possibility to conform to '86 California emission standards, in inertia weight classes up to 2625 LBS. The remaining problem areas are noise emission, durability of injection pump and cabin heater performance. These problems must be solved by further innovation, ...
The use of borated plaster to isolate uranium (93.2 wt % /sup 235/U) metal was studied in a series of subcritical experiments with uranium metal cylinders (7.0 in. diam, 2.0 in. thick) and slabs (approx.1.4 x approx.5.4 x approx.10.1 in. dimensions). In the cylindrical experiments, the thickness of borated plaster was varied up to 10 in. and the subcriticality measured using the /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis method. In the experiments with the uranium slabs, an array of slabs 3 wide and 8 high was assembled in steps to demonstrate the subcriticality of this array with 3.75-in.-thick borated plaster as an isolating material between all uranium slabs. In the slab experiments, both noise analysis and source neutron multiplication measurements were performed. Before assembly of the slab array the presence of boron in the plaster was verified by neutron transmission and gamma-ray spectrometry measurements.
The /sup 252/Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis method has been tested in a wide variety of experiments that have indicated the broad range of applicability of the method. The neutron multiplication factor k/sub eff/ has been satisfactorily detemined for a variety of materials including uranium metal, light water reactor fuel pins, fissile solutions, fuel plates in water, and interacting cylinders. For a uranyl nitrate solution tank which is typical of a fuel processing or reprocessing plant, the k/sub eff/ values were satisfactorily determined for values between 0.92 and 0.5 using a simple point kinetics interpretation of the experimental data. The short measurement times, in several cases as low as 1 min, have shown that the development of this method can lead to a practical subcriticality monitor for many in-plant applications. The further development of the method will require experiments oriented toward particular applications including dynamic ...
We calculate the quarkonium dissociation rate in the P and CP-odd domains (bubbles) that were possibly created in heavy-ion collisions. In the presence of the magnetic field produced by the valence quarks of colliding ions, parity-odd domains generate electric field. Quarkonium dissociation is the result of quantum tunneling of quark or antiquark through the potential barrier in this electric field. The strength of the electric field in the quarkonium comoving frame depends on the quarkonium velocity with respect to the background magnetic field. We investigate momentum, electric field strength and azimuthal dependence of the dissociation rate. Azimuthal distribution of quarkonia surviving in the electromagnetic field is strongly anisotropic; the form of anisotropy depends on the relation between the electric and magnetic ...
The climate modeling community has focused recently on improving our understanding of certain processes, such as cloud feedbacks and ocean circulation, that are deemed critical to climate-change prediction. Although attention to such processes is warranted, emphasis on these areas has diminished a general appreciation of the role played by the large-scale dynamics of the extratropical atmosphere. Lack of interest in extratropical dynamics may reflect the assumption that these dynamical processes are a non-problem as far as climate modeling is concerned, since general circulation models (GCMs) calculate motions on this scale from first principles. Nevertheless, serious shortcomings in our ability to understand and simulate large-scale dynamics exist. Partly due to a paucity of standard GCM diagnostic calculations of large-scale motions and their transports of heat, momentum, potential vorticity, and moisture, a comprehensive understanding of the role of large-scale ...
Metagenomics projects based on shotgun sequencing of populations of micro-organisms yield insight into protein families. We used sequence similarity clustering to explore proteins with a comprehensive dataset consisting of sequences from available databases together with 6.12 million proteins predicted from an assembly of 7.7 million Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) sequences. The GOS dataset covers nearly all known prokaryotic protein families. A total of 3,995 medium- and large-sized clusters consisting of only GOS sequences are identified, out of which 1,700 have no detectable homology to known families. The GOS-only clusters contain a higher than expected proportion of sequences of viral origin, thus reflecting a poor sampling of viral diversity until now. Protein domain distributions in the GOS dataset and current protein databases show distinct biases. Several protein domains that were previously categorized as kingdom specific are shown to have GOS examples in ...
The Outstanding Achievement Award in Water Pollution Control' is intended to recognize the water pollution control program that best demonstrates achieving significant, lasting, and measurable excellence in water-quality improvement in preventing water-quality degradation in a region, basin, or water body. This article is about the 1991 Award. This year, WPCF honored Los Angeles Hyperion Treatment Plant with a citation of outstanding achievement. To qualify for this honor, Hyperion has remarkably improved the quality of wastewater discharged to Santa Monica Bay since 1985. Capital programs developed by Los Angeles to achieve this rapid improvement, coined the Hyperion Improvement Program (HIP), reflect the city's commitment to protect the valuable resource of Santa Monica Bay. The HIP was conceived in 1986 to cease sludge ocean disposal by the end of 1987 and expedite effluent quality improvement before 1991, when the full secondary expansion is ...
Ophiolitic rocks occur as wall rocks of the 2.7 Ga Louis Lake batholith near Atlantic City, Wyoming. All of the Archean rocks are strongly deformed and metamorphosed to a greenschist and amphibolite facies, but relict structures and textures are commonly preserved. These include the following, from west to east: (1) metadiabase with rare coarse-grained metagabbro; (2) ultramafic rocks and metagabbro; (3) amphibolite, locally pillowed, overlain(.) by pelitic schist, banded iron formation, and quartzite; and (4) pillow lavas, massive sills or flows, and minor metasedimentary rocks. Slice 1 locally contains parallel dike margins and rare metagabbro screens; these features suggest that it may represent a sheeted dike complex. Slice 2 locally contains ultramafic rocks having relict cumulus textures and igneous layering, corresponding to the cumulus portion of an ophiolite. The pillow lavas of slice 4 and possibly slice 3 are interpreted as comprising the extrusive portion of the ophiolite. ...
A 12 m.y. record of large rhyolitic eruptions from the Coromandel (CVZ) and Taupo (TVZ) volcanic zones of New Zealand is contained in cores retrieved by Leg 181 of the Ocean Drilling Program. Site 1124, located 670 km from the TVZ, has a maximum of 134 macroscopic tephra layers with a total thickness of 13.18 m. These units, along with between 7 and 63 tephras from 3 other sites, were dated by a combination of magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, isothermal plateau fission track determinations, and geochemical correlation with onshore tephra deposits. Additional time control for the last 3 m.y. came from an orbitally tuned, benthic, oxygen isotope profile for Site 1123. Results extend the incomplete terrestrial record of volcanism by placing the first major rhyolitic eruption in the CVZ at c. 12 Ma, c. 1.6-1 m.y. earlier than previously known. Tephras became thicker and more frequent from the late Miocene into the Quaternary - a trend that probably reflected (1) ...
Four major projects at UNRSL have been supported by NWPO-Neotectonics Yucca Mountain Task 4 funds during the last year: (1) Operation and analysis of data from the UNRSL microearthquake network at Yucca Mountain. (2) Continued operation, maintenance, and calibration of three broadband stations. Limited data analysis was also initiated. (3) Continued review by Dr. Brune of documents and literature related to seismic hazard and tectonics of the Yucca Mountain region. (4) Testing of noise levels in boreholes.
The mechanism of abrupt increase of the giant magneto impedance (GMI) ratio in the ion irradiated Co-based amorphous ribbon has been investigated. The grazing incident X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope were used to characterize the samples before and after ion irradiation. The GMI-ratio considerably increased in the ion irradiated samples and the GMI response showed strong dependence on the driving frequencies. The Barkhausen noise (BN) signals are increased for the Ar ion irradiated sample with dose of 1x10^1^7 ion/cm^2. The results are interpreted in terms of GMI variation associated with domain wall dynamics.
Twenty years after its building, the tertiary sector of La Defense district near Paris has been rehabilitated. The main reason is not only the age and wear of materials but the heating costs, the fire protection regulations, the search for a better air quality and air renewing with less dusts, smells and noise and a controlled moisture. This paper describes first the original installation of the Monge CB 6 office building and then the renovated installation: the central hot and cold air-treatment plant, the variable flow ventilation system, the air extraction and supply system threw the roofs and the pressure and thermal regulation of the installation. (J.S.)
X-ray observations of the RSCVn system sigma Geminorum have been undertaken with the ROSAT observatory. Several spectra of very good signal-to-noise ratio were obtained. Spectral fitting using metal abundances amounting to 50% of solar values reveal two temperature components at 2 MK and 12 MK. Previous EXOSAT observations showed another component at 40 MK. Particular interest is focused on the temporal variations of the X-ray emission. It is found that variations occur on time scales ranging from years to hours and minutes.
The method of reactivity determination using noise analysis correlation measurements with /sup 252/Cf was used to determine the reactivity for subcritical 17.77-cm-dia uranium (93.2 wt percent /sup 235/U) metal cylinders with reactivities as low as 25 dollars. Far subcritical tests were performed with right circular cylinders of uranium metal for which the subcritical reactivity was known from other inverse kinetics and prompt neutron decay constant measurements.
We propose a simple and accurate method to evaluate the outage probability at the output of arbitrarily fading L-branch diversity combining receiver. The method is based on the saddlepoint approximation, which only requires the knowledge of the moment generating functions of the signal-to-noise ratio at the output of each diversity branch. In addition, we show that the obtained results reduce to closed-form expressions in many particular cases of practical interest. Numerical results illustrate a very high accuracy of the proposed method for practical outage values and for a large mixture of fading and system parameters.
The numerical analysis of the experimental data on viscosity change by time in the period after fast heating and crystal-liquid phase transition for the copper nonequilibrium melts and the Fe_7_0Cr_1_0P_1_3C_7 glass-forming melt near their melting temperatures is accomplished through the method of correlation functions and the Rytov-Dimentberg criterion. The observed dependences have nonmonotonic oscillating character but they do not relate to auto-oscillations. The proposed theoretical model of the properties oscillations origination by relaxation in the nonequilibrium liquids explains them as manifestation of noise-induced transitions in the metastable area near the critical temperatures (melting, structural transitions)
Nonlinear distortion added by the loudspeaker in a hearing aid lowers the signal-to-noise ratio and may degrade the hearing aid user's ability to understand speech. The balancedarmature- type loudspeakers, predominantly used in hearing aids, are inherently nonlinear devices, as any displacement of the loudspeaker diaphragm inevitably changes the magnetic and electrical characteristics of the loudspeaker. A numerical time-domain model capable of describing these nonlinearities is presented. By simulation it is demonstrated how the output distortion could potentially be reduced significantly through careful design of the mechanical properties of the armature.
There is much interest worldwide in low-emission, low-noise electric cars. Modern vehicles with advanced technology are an interesting alternative to conventional cars. (orig.) [Deutsch] Das Interesse an den emissionsfreien und leisen Elektroautos ist weltweit ungebrochen. Die heute verfuegbaren Fahrzeuge zeigen die betraechtlichen, in den letzten Jahren erzielten Fortschritte, die sie fuer immer mehr Anwender zu einer beliebten Alternative zur Benutzung des konventionellen Autos machen. (orig.)
A Si array neutron detector is proposed based on commercial CCD and CMOS sensor technology coupled with a thin film neutron conversion coating. System sensitivity is estimated for a baseline device containing a single array and various schemes to increase detection probability by simple area scaling and stacking are discussed. Some possible use scenarios are discussed involving static and moving sources. Likely neutron source fluxes for weapons grade and commercial grade nuclear material are estimated along with expected intensities of cosmic background neutrons which would establish a noise floor to detection limits.
Magnetic properties of a recently developed Fe-based amorphous alloy with a high saturation induction of 1.65 T are reviewed. The increased saturation induction is fully utilized in transformers with reduced magnetic losses, physical sizes and audible noises, minimizing some of the drawbacks of amorphous metal-based transformers based on a currently available amorphous alloy. Impacts of this on the worldwide energy savings and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are discussed. A recent effort in achieving a saturation induction beyond 1.65 T in nanocrystalline alloys is mentioned.
Coherent x-ray production by a seeded free electron laser (FEL) is important for next generation synchrotron light sources. The authors examine the feasibility and features of FEL emission seeded by a high-order harmonic generation (HHG) of an infrared laser. In addition to the intrinsic FEL chirp, the longitudinal profile and spectral bandwidth of the HHG seed are modified significantly by the FEL interaction well before saturation. This smears out the original attosecond pulselet structure. The authors introduce criteria for this smearing effect on the pulselet and the stretching effect on the entire pulse. They discuss the noise issue in such a seeded FEL.
The paper reports extensive analyses of the fractal geometry of cellular dislocation structures observed in Cu deformed in multiple-slip orientation. Several methods presented for the determination of fractal dimensions are shown to give consistent results. Criteria are formulated which allow the distinguishing of fractal from non-fractal patterns, and implications of fractal dislocation patterning for quantitative metallography are discussed in detail. For an interpretation of the findings a theoretical model is outlined according to which dislocation cell formation is associated to a noise-induced structural transition far from equilibrium. This allows relating the observed fractal dimensions to the stochastic properties of deformation by collective dislocation glide.
Computer processing was adopted to pick up significant signals from the undefined Moessbauer spectra. A program, by which smoothing and curve fitting was made possible, was devised and applied to the analysis of the Moessbauer spectra of "5"7Fe enriched iron and other specimens. Although this processing sometimes distorted the absorption peaks, it was quite effective for elimination of noise and finding of exact positions of absorption peaks. Availability of the processing was demonstrated by several examples obtained for "5"7Fe enriched iron, natural iron, calcined ferric oxyhydroxides, red mud residue and its calcined product. (auth.).
In this work feed hardware for fed-batch cultivation is presented (broth recycle feed injection system or BRFIS). BRFIS proved superior to conventional submerged or dripped feed systems in reducing dissolved oxygen (DO) oscillations during Escherichia coli fed-batch cultivation (5 min coefficient of variation of 0.7% for BRFIS as compared to 26% or greater for conventional feeding hardware in a 2 L test reactor). Hence, BRFIS is useful for fed-batch cultivation systems where the DO signal is used in measurement or control. PMID:12675613
The approach-to-critical measurements reported were for a plate-type fuel element where the height of the water moderator and side and top reflector were increased. Measurements were also performed with each of the two annuli of the fuel element to verify both the presence of boron in the fuel plates and the proper uranium loading prior to assembly of the two annuli for full submersion measurements. Measurements were also performed with detectors external to the reflector (> 15 cm of water on top, bottom, and side) for the assembled, submerged HFIR fuel element.
The theoretical alignment limit for focused ion beam (FIB) implantation was deduced from the calculated resolution for the detection of an alignment mark. The alignment resolution varies with the signal to noise ratio and there is an optimum current which gives the best resolution. The alignment resolution epsilon/sub sigma/ is approximately 0.006 ..mu..m for a 160 keV Si/sup ++/ beam from our FIB implanter. The measured alignment error is approximately 0.06 ..mu..m and the main reason of this discrepancy is vibration. The ultimate limit on the alignment error can be reached through improvements in the implanter system.
In the present work we introduce a novel multi-agent model with the aim to reproduce the dynamics of a double auction market at microscopic time scale through a faithful simulation of the matching mechanics in the limit order book. The agents follow a noise decision making process where their actions are related to a stochastic variable, the market sentiment, which we define as a mixture of public and private information. The model, despite making just few basic assumptions over the trading strategies of the agents, is able to reproduce several empirical features of the high-frequency dynamics of the market microstructure not only related to the price movements but also to the deposition of the orders in the book.
Plasma confinement by permanent magnets has been studied. An analytic formula for the field of a single bar magnet has been obtained. Generalization to various configurations of multidipole fields has also been found. Any two-dimensional field may now be completely described by a simple function of complex variables in closed form. Vector potential has also been obtained by integrating over a prescribed Riemann surface. The confinement of plasma by multidipole fields then becomes obvious through conservation principles.
The study of interaction of tachyons with superluminal electromagnetic fields has been undertaken and it has been shown that the energy of this interaction is similar to that of bradyons with ordinary electromagnetic fields except that the roles of virtual and longitudinal parts are interchanged. It has also been shown that the interaction of tachyons with superluminal electromagnetic fields in time-energy representation is identical to the interaction of bradyons with ordinary electromagnetic fields in space-momentum representation. 19 references.
The study of interaction of tachyons with superluminal electromagnetic fields has been undertaken and it has been shown that the energy of this interaction is similar to that of bradyons with ordinary electromagnetic fields except that the roles of virtual and longitudinal parts are interchanged. It has also been shown that the interaction of tachyons with superluminal electromagnetic fields in time-energy representation is identical to the interaction of bradyons with ordinary electromagnetic fields in space-momentum representation. (author).
Based on the Morlet wavelet transformation and Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD), we present a wind turbine fault diagnosis method in this paper. Wind turbine can be damaged by moisture absorption, fatigue, wind gusts or lightening strikes. Due to this reason, there is an increasing need to monitor the health of these structures. Vibration analysis is the best-known technology applied in wind turbine condition monitoring, in which the time-frequency analysis techniques such as Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) are widely used. Theoretically WVD has an infinite resolution in time-frequency domain. For early wind turbine fault signals, however, there are two main difficulties in WVD analysis. One is strong noise signals in the background and the other is cross terms in WVD itself. In this paper, continuous wavelet transformation (CWT) is employed to filter useless noise in raw vibration signals, and auto terms window (ATW) function is used to ...
Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations can be accurate but are also computationally intensive. In contrast, convolution superposition (CS) offers faster and smoother results but by making approximations. We investigated MC denoising techniques, which use available convolution superposition results and new noise filtering methods to guide and accelerate MC calculations. Two main approaches were developed to combine CS information with MC denoising. In the first approach, the denoising result is iteratively updated by adding the denoised residual difference between the result and the MC image. Multi-scale methods were used (wavelets or contourlets) for denoising the residual. The iterations are initialized by the CS data. In the second approach, we used a frequency splitting technique by quadrature filtering to combine low frequency components derived from MC simulations with high frequency components derived from CS components. The rationale is to take the scattering ...
An experiment was performed with a mock-up of the core of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) reactor to evaluate three reactivity measurement methods for application to liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBR): modified source multiplication measurements with the low-level flux monitor for refueling (35 dollars subcritical) of FFTF, noise analysis to 35 dollars subcritical, and inverse kinetics rod drop to 12 dollars subcritical. To investigate the spatial dependence of these measurement methods and to resolve discrepancies previously reported, detectors were placed in the core, reflector, and radial shield, and experimental data were collected with the reactivity at near delayed criticality to 35 dollars subcritical. Conclusions from this experiment are the following. Low-level flux monitors in the shield of the FFTF will be adequate for reactivity surveillance during refueling, using the modified source multiplication method calibrated near critical by an ...
The Milstar communications satellite system will provide secure antijam communication capabilities for DOD operations into the next century. In order to accomplish this task, the Milstar system will employ precise timekeeping on its satellites and at its ground control stations. The constellation will consist of four satellites in geosynchronous orbit, each carrying a set of four rubidium (Rb) atomic clocks. Several times a day, during normal operation, the Mission Control Element (MCE) will collect timing information from the constellation, and after several days use this information to update the time and frequency of the satellite clocks. The MCE will maintain precise time with a cesium (Cs) atomic clock, synchronized to UTC(USNO) via a GPS receiver. We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation of Milstar's space segment timekeeping. The simulation includes the effects of: uplink/downlink time transfer noise; satellite crosslink time transfer ...
The standard protocol in multislice spiral CT (MSCT) angiography for coronary arteries with fixed tube current-time settings leads to an overexposure and thus to an unnecessary high radiation dose in patients with lower weight when compared to heavier patients. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of reducing the radiation dose by adapting the tube current-time settings individually. Fifty patients underwent retrospectively ECG-gated MSCT of the heart. In 25 patients (group A{sub 1}) a standard protocol with constant tube current-time settings was used (4 x 1-mm collimation, 120 kV, 400 mAs{sub eff}). Subsequently, artificial image noise was added to the data of these patients simulating a directive for weight-adapted tube current-time settings (group A{sub 2}). In the other 25 patients (group B) an alternative protocol with individually weight-adapted tube current-time settings was applied. The data of all groups were evaluated by a regression ...
The standard protocol in multislice spiral CT (MSCT) angiography for coronary arteries with fixed tube current-time settings leads to an overexposure and thus to an unnecessary high radiation dose in patients with lower weight when compared to heavier patients. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of reducing the radiation dose by adapting the tube current-time settings individually. Fifty patients underwent retrospectively ECG-gated MSCT of the heart. In 25 patients (group A_1) a standard protocol with constant tube current-time settings was used (4 x 1-mm collimation, 120 kV, 400 mAs_e_f_f). Subsequently, artificial image noise was added to the data of these patients simulating a directive for weight-adapted tube current-time settings (group A_2). In the other 25 patients (group B) an alternative protocol with individually weight-adapted tube current-time settings was applied. The data of all groups were evaluated by a regression analysis. The ...
Previous experiments in fast critical assemblies demonstrated a method of determining reactivity from power spectral density measurements with /sup 252/Cf. This method determines reactivity from properties of the reactor only at the subcritical state of interest, thus it does not require a calibration near delayed criticality. The interpretation of the measured data to obtain reactivity does not require knowledge of the relative or absolute values of the source intensity, knowledge of the detection efficiencies, or knowledge of the detection instrumentation frequency responses. An experiment was performed at the Pool Critical Assembly to evaluate the possibility of /sup 252/Cf source driven neutron noise spectral density measurements in light water moderated reactors. This experiment showed that using commercially available detectors, such measurements can be performed in a reasonable time, that is, the measurement of the quantity of interest (the ratio of spectral ...
The development of MCNP-DSP, which allows direct calculation of the measured time and frequency analysis parameters from subcritical measurements using the {sup 252}Cf-source-driven noise analysis method, permits the validation of calculational methods for criticality safety with in-plant subcritical measurements. In addition, a method of obtaining the bias in the calculations, which is essential to the criticality safety specialist, is illustrated using the results of measurements with 17.771-cm-diam, enriched (93.15), unreflected, and unmoderated uranium metal cylinders. For these uranium metal cylinders the bias obtained using MCNP-DSP and ENDF/B-V cross-section data increased with subcriticality. For a critical experiment [height (h) = 12.629 cm], it was {minus}0.0061 {+-} 0.0003. For a 10.16-cm-high cylinder (k {approx} 0.93), it was 0.0060 {+-} 0.0016, and for a subcritical cylinder (h = 8.13 cm, k {approx} 0.85), the bias was {minus}0.0137 {+-} 0.0037, more ...
There is significant interest in using computed tomography (CT) for in vivo imaging applications in mouse models of disease. Most commercially available mouse x-ray CT scanners utilize a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector coupled via fibre optic taper to a phosphor screen. However, there has been little research to determine if this is the optimum detector for the specific task of in vivo mouse imaging. To investigate this issue, we have evaluated four detectors, including an amorphous selenium (a-Se) detector, an amorphous silicon (a-Si) detector with a gadolinium oxysulphide (GOS) screen, a CCD with a 3:1 fibre taper and a GOS screen, and a CCD with a 2:1 fibre taper and both GOS and thallium-doped caesium iodide (CsI:Tl) screens. The detectors were evaluated by measuring the modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), detective quantum efficiency (DQE), stability over multiple exposures, and noise in reconstructed CT ...
Abstract in english We present a detailed derivation of the effective dielectric constant to be used in the dispersion relation for electrostatic waves in the case of a plasma immersed in a inhomogeneous magnetic field, with inhomogeneity perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field.
Methods of algebraic quantum field theory are used to classify all field- and observable algebras, whose common germ is the U(1)-current algebra. An elementary way is described to compute characters of such algebras. It exploits the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger condition for Gibbs states. (orig.).
The authors have investigated here whether tachyons can move in stable circular orbits in Kerr, Kerr-Newmann and Lewis fields owing to their dragging effect. It is found that stable circular orbits are possible only in a Lewis field.
The authors have investigated here whether tachyons can move in stable circular orbits in Kerr, Kerr-Newmann and Lewis fields owing to their dragging effect. It is found that stable circular orbits are possible only in a Lewis field. (author).
A new type of radiation which occurs when particles are accelerated in the field of a longitudinal wave and in a transverse magnetic field is studied. The characteristics of such spontaneous radiation are obtained, and the influence of collective effects on the radiation is analyzed. The application of the findings to the theory of free electron lasers is discussed. 8 references.
In addition, for breast cancer, a fifth field, Reconstruction--First Course is recorded. V.02.E Reconstruction--First Course (breast only) 1 digit These codes for these fields are included as Appendix C of this manual.
The receptive field of a neuron reflects its function. For example, for parallel fiber (PF) inputs in C3 zone the cerebellar cortex, the excitatory and inhibitory receptive fields of a Purkinje cell...Full Text Available
Pulmonary function tests were performed on seven adult dairy cows with an expanded lung field (ExLF) and the results were compared to the values from seven cows with normal lung fields. The cows with...Full Text Available
The energy-momentum tensor of a massless spinor field is constructed and studied based on the previously proposed interpretation of quantum effects of such a field in the anisotropic metric of Bianchi type IX. The characteristic properties of the energy-momentum tensor in the mixed universe model are discussed.
This report describes the results obtained during Stage 13 of a long-term research and development program concerning the development of diagnostics and monitoring methods for nuclear reactors. A brief proposal for the continuation of this program in Stage 14 is also given at the end of the report. The program executed in Stage 13 consists of three parts and the work performed in each part is summarized below. 1. Study of criticality, neutron kinetics and neutron noise in molten salt reactors (MSR). Although the original goal of the investigations of the MSR in Stage 13 was to calculate the neutron noise induced by the fluctuations of the fuel temperature, the study, solution and interpretation of the static problem, as well as to define an approximate version of the point kinetic approximation was necessary to perform. As it turned out, these tasks in themselves were more involved, and also very edifying, to solve. Hence, in this report, we ...
There are several equivalent descriptions for constant B-field background of open string. The background can be interpreted as constant B-field as well as constant gauge field strength or infinitely many D-branes with non-commuting Chan-Paton matrices. In this article, the equivalence of these open string theories is studied in Witten's cubic open string field theory. Through the map between these equivalent descriptions, both algebra of non-commutative coordinates as well as Chan-Paton matrix algebra are identified with subalgebras of open string field algebra. (author)
Comparison of dosimetry measured in a noncylindrical Rando-Alderson phantom by two-field, four-field, and six-field total-skin electron-beam therapy (TSEBT) techniques with our dual-field rotational (DFR) technique reveals a superior dosimetry for the latter. Our technique of dual-field rotational DFR-TSEBT is described in detail, and its advantages and indications for the primary management of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) are discussed.
Topologically non trivial effects appearing in the discussion of duality transformations in higher genus manifold are discussed in a simple example, and their relation with the properties of Topological Field Theories is established. (author). 16 refs.
OBJECTIVE--The study was performed to examine the influence of the exposure to magnetic fields in the potrooms of an electrolysis plant on the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms among the employees....Full Text Available
Provisions (a) NPDES field personnel shall be currently trained and certified in CPR and basic first-aid procedures. (b) NPDES field personnel shall be aware of the...
Protein motions on all timescales faster than molecular tumbling are encoded in the spectral density. The dissection of complex protein dynamics is typically performed using relaxation rates determined at high and ultra-high field. Here we expand this range of the spectral density to low fields through field cycling using the nucleocapsid protein of the SARS coronavirus as a model system. The field-cycling approach enables site-specific measurements of R{sub 1} at low fields with the sensitivity and resolution of a high-field magnet. These data, together with high-field relaxation and heteronuclear NOE, provide evidence for correlated rigid-body motions of the entire {beta}-hairpin, and corresponding motions of adjacent loops with a time constant of 0.8 ns (mesodynamics). MD simulations substantiate these findings and provide direct ...
Field studies among diverse biomes demonstrate that nitrogen concentration (% N) at leaf- and canopy-scales is strongly related to carbon uptake and cycling ...
Academic, government, and industrial field researchers have generated a significant database of field studies of the volatility of soil applied fumigants. However, limited work exists in validating physical models against field volatility data sets and fully exploring the volatility parametric response surface. Field studies quantifying atmospheric flux for soil fumigants 1,3-dichloropropene and chloropicrin are validated against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA Salinity Laboratory) soil physics model CHAIN_2D that was modified specifically for agronomic uses of soil fumigants. Comparison between model predictions and field observations for six unique field trials in five different states indicate that CHAIN_2D effectively captures the magnitude and duration of fumigant em...
A review of the literature is provided for the topic of health-related research and power frequency electromagnetic fields. Minimal evidence for concern is present on the basis of animal and plant research....Full Text Available
The first cohomology of the Virasoro algebra with coefficients in string fields are investigated. The relation between them and the Nambu-Goto action for a closed string is established. (orig.).
Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Whirlpool Galaxy Deep Field Credit & Copyright: Jon Christensen Explanation: Follow the handle...
The reduction of four-vector and electromagnetic fields produced by spin-1 tachyons has been derived in terms of standard helicity representations of inhomogeneous Lorentz group, and the conditions for these superluminal electromagnetic fields to satisfy the Maxwell's field equations have been derived. 16 refs.