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Visceral hypersensitivity is currently considered a key pathophysiological mechanism involved in pain perception in large subgroups of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In IBS, visceral hypersensitivity has been described in 20%?90% of patients. The contribution of the central nervous system and psychological factors to visceral hypersensitivity in patients with IBS may be significant, although still debated. Peripheral factors have gained increasing attention following the recognition that infectious enteritis may trigger the development of persistent IBS symptoms, and the identification of mucosal immune, neural, endocrine, microbiological, and intestinal permeability abnormalities. Growing evidence suggests that these factors ...

Science.gov (United States)

Free-living male meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) emit odours that are attractive to females at the beginning, but not at the end, of the breeding season. The effect of gonadal hormones on female-attractant cues was examined in males born and reared in long (14 h light day-1) and short (10 h light day-1) photoperiods that simulate daylengths in the breeding and nonbreeding seasons, respectively. Gonadectomy affected the attractant properties of odours emitted by long photoperiod, but not short photoperiod, males. Long photoperiod females preferred odours of intact rather than those of gonadectomized long photoperiod males, and odours of gonadectomized long photoperiod males rather than those of intact short photoperiod males. Females did not show a preference between the odours of intact and castrated short photoperiod males. Gonadal hormone replacement in males affected ...

Science.gov (United States)

... Title : Mental Health and Resilience: Soldiers' Perceptions about Psychotherapy, Medications, and Barriers to Care in the United States Military. ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The colour, odour, flavour and texture of a breaded turkey escalope irradiated at doses of 2 and 4 kGy was assessed using a trained sensory panel. Irradiation did not affect raw appearance but during storage the irradiated breaded products became paler than the control samples. The off odour of the raw irradiated products was stronger than that of the unirradiated samples. Irradiation also affected the odour, flavour and texture of the cooked products. Although the trained panelists were able to detect significant differences between irradiated and unirradiated breaded turkey escalopes, the numerical differences between treatments were often quite small. It is possible that an untrained consumer group would be unable to detect these differences. Further research is needed with consumer groups to establish if irradiated breaded products are acceptable. (author). 10 refs, 3 tabs.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are highly polymorphic components of the vertebrate immune system, which play a key role in pathogen resistance. MHC genes may also function as odour-related...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In this paper, we suggest that perception could be modeled by assuming that sensory input is generated by a hierarchy of attractors in a dynamic system. We describe a mathematical model which exploits...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of this report is to provide a brief overview and bibliography of those techniques that may have application for the evaluation of a site to determine if a high energy release event is nuclear in nature. This effort is motivated by recognition of the changing world political climate and the perception that low yield and non-proliferation issues will grow in importance as countries become increasingly involved as signators to treaties that are intended to limit the development and testing of nuclear weapons. Along with an increasing interest in such issues is the awareness of the need to implement improved capabilities for treaty monitoring programs that must deal with assessing suspicious occurrences of high energy release events. In preparing this report, it is recognized that monitoring can take two main forms. The first involves the resolution of unidentified events detected by seismic and satellite National Technical Means. ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

This letter reports a study designed to measure the benefits of voicing in the recognition of concurrent syllables. The target and distracter syllables were either voiced or whispered, producing...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

A prevailing theory proposes that the brain's two visual pathways, the ventral and dorsal, lead to differing visual processing and world representations for conscious perception than those for action....Full Text Available

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... Roman Yangarber, a part-time student programmer/research associate worked on this grant for the first half of the grant period. ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract The success of software projects is quite subjective in nature and is fettered by many risks, the perception of which varies from individual to individual and largely depends on the demographic characteristics of the executives and even the characteristics of the project. This study aims to identify and gauge the software risk dimensions and analyze the differences of perception among executives toward software risks. The contributions of this study untangle the issues underlying risks in the software industry and associates these issues with the perception of the -human- factor present in the industry.

KoreaScience (Korea)

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We propose an approach to achieving early recognition of gesture patterns. Early recognition is a method for recognizing sequential patterns at their earliest stage. Therefore, in the case of gesture recognition, we can get a recognition result for human gestures before the gestures are finished. The most difficult problem in early recognition is knowing when the system has determined the result. Most traditional approaches suffer from this problem, since gestures are often ambiguous. At the start of a gesture, in particular, it is very difficult to determinate the recognition result since insufficient input data have been observed. Therefore, we have improved on the traditional approach by using a self-organizing map.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This experiment was done to determine the effects of irradiation on the physical properties of three kinds of laminated packaging materials, i.e. polypropylene-polypropylene, polypropylene-polyethylene, polyester-polyethylene. Observations were made on pinhole production, leakage, oil resistance, resistance against insect penetration, colour, odour tensile strength, elongation at break, seal strength and tear resistance. The samples were irradiated with doses of 0, 5 and 10 kGy, then stored at room temperature and examined after 0, 3, 6 and 12 months of storage. The results showed that irradiation doses up to 10 kGy, as well as storage up to 12 months, did not create pinholes, or leakage in pouches prepared from laminated films. The resistance of the films to oil and insect penetration, the colour, and the odour were also unchanged. Both irradiation and storage treatments had a significant effect on physical properties of the laminated films. ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundThe variety of ways in which faces are categorized makes face recognition challenging for both synthetic and biological vision systems. Here we focus on two face processing...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

It has been suggested that individual recognition based on song may be constrained by repertoire size in songbirds with very large song repertoires. This hypothesis has been difficult to test...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Dectin-1, the major β-glucan receptor in leukocytes, triggers an effective immune response upon fungal recognition. Here we use sortase-mediated transpeptidation, a technique that allows placement...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The identification of the protein targets for dengue virus-specific T lymphocytes may be useful for planning the development of subunit vaccines against dengue. We studied the recognition by murine...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

A questionnaire survey undertaken among 142 schoolteachers in North Staffordshire revealed most of the respondents did not feel confident when teaching children who had epilepsy and a minority considered...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

A growing body of evidence in cognitive science and neuroscience points towards the existence of a deep interconnection between cognition, perception and action. According to this embodied perspective...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

... And those who study cognition select problems (eg, tower of Hanoi, missionaries and cannibals, logic theorems) with minimal perceptual and motor ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

People assess the quality of the air indoors primarily on the basis of its odors and on their perception of associated health risk. The major current contributors to indoor odorants are human occupant...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

The requirements for successful integration of a computer aided control system for multi degree of

KoreaScience (Korea)

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BackgroundMore optimistic perceptions of cardiovascular disease risk are associated with substantively lower rates of cardiovascular death among men. It remains unknown whether this...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Sleep after learning is often beneficial for memory. Reinstating an environmental context that was present at learning during subsequent retrieval also leads to superior declarative memory performance. This study examined how post-learning sleep, relative to wakefulness, impacts upon context-dependent memory effects. Thirty-two participants encoded word lists in each of two rooms (contexts), which were different in terms of size, odour and background music. Immediately after learning and following a night of sleep or a day of wakefulness, memory for all previously studied words was tested using a category-cued recall task in room one or two alone. Accordingly, a comparison could be made between words retrieved in an environmental context which was the same as, or different to, that of the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Although sulfur is present in many forms in kerosene, mercaptans are most objectionable due to their obnoxious odour and corrosive action. In this study, removal of one of the mercaptans has been reported, using red mud as an unconventional adsorbent. Red mud is a waste product from aluminium producing industries and has been used as an adsorbent for the removal of sulfur compounds as well as for other purposes. Adsorption studies described in this paper indicate that low concentration and high temperature favour the removal of 1-butanethiol from kerosene oil by adsorption on red mud. A first order mechanism has been proposed to describe the adsorption in the present system. Equilibrium data at different temperatures fit well in the Langmuir isotherm equation. Thermodynamic parameters for the present system indicate the feasibility of removal of 1-butanethiol from kerosene oil by adsorption on red mud. 10 refs., 4 figs. 3 tabs.,

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Individuals with Asperger syndrome (AS) have problems in following conversation, especially in the situations where several people are talking. This might result from impairments in audiovisual speech perception, especially from difficulties in focusing attention to speech-relevant visual information and ignoring distracting information. We studied the effect of visual spatial attention on the audiovisual speech perception of adult individuals with AS and matched control participants. Two faces were presented side by side, one uttering /aka/ and the other /ata/, while an auditory stimulus of /apa/ was played. The participants fixated on a central cross and directed their attention to the face that an arrow pointed to, reporting which consonant they heard. We hypothesized that the adults wi...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In this paper we focus on appearance features describing the manual component of Sign Language particularly the Local Binary Patterns. We compare the performance of these features with geometric moments describing the trajectory and shape of hands. Since the non-manual component is also very important for sign recognition we localize facial landmarks via Active Shape Model combined with Landmark detector that increases the robustness of model fitting. We test the recognition performance of individual features and their combinations on a database consisting of 11 signers and 23 signs with several repetitions. Local Binary Patterns outperform the geometric moments. When the features are combined we achieve a recognition rate up to 99.75% for signer dependent tests and 57.54% for signer indep...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A study was carried out to determine optimum decontamination dose for a locally manufactured coconut cream powder. Samples were gamma irradiated (0-15 kGy) and ageing process was achieved using GEER oven at 60 deg. C for 7 days, which is equivalent to one-year storage at room temperature. Iodine value (IV), ranging from 4.8 to 6.4, was not affected by radiation doses and storage, however peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) generally increased with radiation doses. In most samples, peroxide value (meq/kg) reduced after storage, whilst the TBA (mg malonaldehyde/kg), indicator for product quality, slightly increased. The sensory evaluation conducted using 25 taste panellists indicated that scores on odour, creamy taste and overall acceptance for all irradiated samples at more than 5 kGy were significantly lower (P<0.05) than the control. However, the panellists could not detect any significant differences among the irradiation doses (P>0.05). ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Sensory neurons in aging mammals undergo changes in anatomy, physiology and gene expression that correlate with reduced sensory perception. In this study we compared young and aged mice to identify...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectiveTo assess the perceived effectiveness of cigarette health warnings in China, compared with picture and text-only warnings from other countries.Method1169...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The attitude of Nigerian mothers, mainly Yoruba, towards measles vaccine and other aspects of prevention are influenced by different perceptions of the cause of measles. There is a significant correlation...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

An influential neural model of face perception suggests that the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) is sensitive to those aspects of faces that produce transient visual changes, including facial...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), the expression of reproductive behavior requires the perception of social odors. The behavioral response to these odors is mediated...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The full impact of secondary stigma (stigma directed at family) on an HIV-positive individual is unknown. This qualitative research explores perceptions of secondary stigma in the Vietnamese...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Several studies have demonstrated that telephone use presents a challenge for most cochlear implant (CI) users, and this is attributed mainly to the narrow bandwidth (300–3400 Hz) introduced...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

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

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Cytokinins are distributed through the vascular system and trigger responses of target cells via receptor-mediated signal transduction. Perception and transduction of the signal can occur at the plasma...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Objective:This study examined the role of cognitive factors—such as expectancies regarding the consequences of not drinking and perceptions of peer drinking—in...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Sequence-specific interactions between aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and their cognate tRNAs both ensure accurate RNA recognition and prevent the binding of noncognate substrates. Here we show for Escherichia...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A statistical pattern recognition method was applied to the analysis of the signals of crosssectional mean void fraction for discriminating gas-liquid two-phase flow regimes. The analysis and discrimination were carried out based on six key flow patterns : bubble, cap-bubble, plug, froth (F_I and F_I_I), and annular flow. For each flow condition 100 void signals with a recording dimension of 1 second were used and transferred to discrete data, the sampling frequency of which was selected at 100 Hz by comparison between correct recognition rates obtained from different frequencies. The magnitude of the time-averaged void fraction was partly employed supplementary to the pattern recognition method. The boundaries between the six flow regimes were determined corresponding to a correct recognition rate of 80 % and drawn on a superficial gas-liquid velocities diagram. These flow boundaries were also compared ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Although the public generally hold positive attitudes towards wind energy, proposals for the construction of new wind farms are often met with strong resistance. In New Zealand, where the government has recently introduced ambitious policy targets for renewable energy generation, negative perceptions of wind farms are increasingly evident and have the potential to prevent the achievement of these targets. This research sets out to examine what influences social resistance to wind farms in New Zealand. Drawing from public submissions on three wind farm proposals, a framework developed by Devine-Wright [Devine-Wright, P., 2005a. Beyond NIMBYism: towards an integrated Framework for Understanding Public Perceptions of Wind Energy. Wind Energy 8, 125-139.] was used as the basis for identification of factors affecting public perceptions of wind farms. The research found firstly that there was no apparent relationship between the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Animal carcasses from slaughterhouses are usually composted on farms, but the composting process is not optimized and a large volumes of carbonaceous residues are needed. This type of composting takes place over a period of 6 to 9 months in a nonaerated static pile. Quebec's industrial research centre (CRIQ) developed an organic biodrying process (BIOSECO) adapted to large-scale operations in order to optimize the treatment of slaughterhouse residues. Biodrying is a form of composting, in which the thermophilic phase is optimized, making it possible to evaporate large amounts of water. Biodrying is done inside a building and reduces the amount of carbonaceous residues considerably. The process is optimized by the sequence in which the slaughterhouse residues are added, the choice of input and the aeration flow. Slaughterhouse residues can be treated non-stop throughout the entire year. Since the odours are nearly completed limited to the building, the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Using databases derived from the pattern recognition approach, the paper presents a methodology for utilizing fuzzy models to enhance the quality of decision-making using fuzzy-logic algorithms. Two multi-objective fuzzy-logic control algorithms for controlling power system static/dynamic security are presented and analyzed. The first algorithm is based on the successive inferences of fuzzy implication rules for each individual objective, and the second algorithm is an application of the method of fuzzy linear programming. The paper discusses the properties, advantages and limitations of applying fuzzy decision-making logic in the pattern-recognition approach and concludes by highlighting potential areas for further development. (author)

Science.gov (United States)

This Spanish-language master's thesis presents a study which measured special education teachers' knowledge of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) virus transmission and their attitudes toward children with AIDS in schools. Attitudes were then related to social variables such as sex, teacher's age, and knowing someone with AIDS. A survey of 101 Oswego County, New York, special education teachers found that 52 percent had a moderate knowledge about AIDS transmission, and 48 percent of respondents had a positive perception of children with AIDS. Findings also indicated that teachers had received effective training and information about AIDS; teachers seemed to feel insecure about applying that knowledge to particular situations of possible risk; knowing people with AIDS provoked negative or inadequate perceptions of that population; and age, sex, and teaching experience were not related to teachers' perceptions or ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Mating signals are often directed at numerous senses and provide information about species identity, gender, receptiveness, individual identity and mate quality. Given the diversity of colourful body...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Sequence-directed variations in the canonical DNA double helix structure that retain Watson-Crick base-pairing play important roles in DNA recognition, topology, and nucleosome positioning....Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundSurface electromyography (sEMG) signals have been used in numerous studies for the classification of hand gestures and movements and successfully implemented in the position...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Efficiency of translation termination relies on the specific recognition of the three stop codons by the eukaryotic translation termination factor eRF1. To date only a few proteins are known to be involved...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

A large percentage of patients with HIV/AIDS will develop dermatological complications. Consequently, all practising clinicians and pathologists in regions with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS must be...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Totipotent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into every cell type. Renewal of totipotent stem cells in the germline and cellular differentiation during early embryogenesis rely upon posttranscriptional...Full Text Available

CERN Multimedia

A scientific breakthrough at Queen's University's Sudbury Neutrino Observatory has received major international recognition. The journal Science ranked the discovery that cracked the "neutrino problem" second, in the journal's top 10 scientific achievements of 2002 (1/2 page).

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Recognition of HIV-1 ssRNA by TLR7 induces the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines that may contribute to the systemic immune activation associated with HIV-1 disease progression. Here...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

cdc18+ of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a periodically expressed gene that is required for entry into S phase and for the coordination of S phase with mitosis. cdc18+ is related to the Saccharomyces...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Understanding the interactions between herpesviruses and their host cells and also the interactions between neoplastically transformed cells and the host immune system is fundamental to understanding...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The dynamical signals of sound pressure oscillation in natural convective subcooled boiling system are obtained by using computer data acquisition technique. Through frequency-domain analysis of typical dynamical data, combined with study on the acquired time series of sound pressure, are observed and explained. The time-frequency phenomena, such as the onset of shock wave, frequency doubling relation of sound pressure, combination of sound frequency spectrum peaks etc., which describe the characteristics of natural convective subcooled boiling system are presented. Furthermore, based on frequency spectra of sound pressure, related eigen vectors are defined and established and with dynamical clustering method, regime recognition for the dynamical process of system is carried out. Results of recognition are consistent with that of qualitative analysis of time series, which is of great significance for automatic monitoring system of nuclear ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

SUMMARYMotile dendritic filopodial processes are thought to be precursors of spine synapses, but how motility relates to cell-surface cues required for axon-dendrite recognition...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Periodontal diseases are infections of the tissues supporting the dentition. Recognition that relatively specific microfloras are associated with distinct clinical forms of periodontal disease has prompted...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

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 ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The use of spatially referenced data in cancer studies is gaining in prominence, fueled by the development and availability of spatial analytic tools and the broadening recognition of the linkages between...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Competent Haemophilus cells recognize and preferentially take up Haemophilus DNA during genetic transformation. This preferential uptake is correlated with the presence on incoming DNA of an 11-base-pair...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In the cellular immune response, recognition by CTL-TCRs of viral antigens presented as peptides by HLA class I molecules, triggers destruction of the virally infected cell (Townsend, A.R.M., J. Rothbard,...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In the field of international human resource management, studies have seldom examined organizational justice, social exchange, and psychological contract together as important factors in influencing the expatriate adjustment process. The purpose of this research is to fill the research gap by examining these factors and their relationships with expatriate adjustment. The researcher conducted a survey of Taiwanese business expatriates during the first quarter of 2007, collecting 219 valid samples for analysis. A hierarchical regression model was used to test the research framework hypotheses, which showed that expatriates' perception of organizational justice has a positive influence both on their perceptions of social exchange and on their psychological contract fulfillment. Expatriates' p...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Speech perception integrates auditory and visual information. This is evidenced by the McGurk illusion where seeing the talking face influences the auditory phonetic percept and by the audiovisual detection advantage where seeing the talking face influences the detectability of the acoustic speech signal. Here, we show that identification of phonetic content and detection can be dissociated as speech-specific and non-specific audiovisual integration effects. To this end, we employed synthetically modified stimuli, sine wave speech (SWS), which is an impoverished speech signal that only observers informed of its speech-like nature recognize as speech. While the McGurk illusion only occurred for informed observers, the audiovisual detection advantage occurred for na?ve observers as well. Thi...

CERN Document Server

One of the salient features of human perception is its invariance under dilatation in addition to the Euclidean group, but its non-invariance under special conformal transformation. We investigate a holographic approach to the information processing in image discrimination with this feature. We claim that a strongly coupled analogue of the statistical model proposed by Bialek and Zee can be holographically realized in scale invariant but non-conformal Euclidean geometries. We identify the Bayesian probability distribution of our generalized Bialek-Zee model with the GKPW partition function of the dual gravitational system. We provide a concrete example of the geometric configuration based on a vector condensation model coupled with the Euclidean Einstein-Hilbert action. From the proposed geometry, we study sample correlation functions to compute the Bayesian probability distribution.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The term biological motion is often used by researchers studying the patterns of movement generated by living forms and in sports. We studied a pattern recognition system of motion in sport using biological motion data. Biological motion data are acquired using a 3D motion capture system. However, 3D motion capture systems are very expensive. In this article, a biological motion capture system was built using acceleration sensors. Our proposed system uses the technique of Gaussian fitting and regression analysis. We tested our proposed system in pattern recognition of outdoor tennis and its evaluations.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Room air quality and thus thermal comfort for the occupiers in closed spaces depend on several factors: temperature and humidity of the air, temperature of the surrounding surfaces, content of foreign matter of the air, acoustical perceptions, electric fields and ions as well as colours and light. Air humidification, cleaning and ionization largely contributes to improved room air quality. The article goes into problems of too dry and polluted air as well as into measures with which these problems can be solved. (BWI).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Standard SCR catalysts possess high activity for the hydrolysis of HNCO and thus explain the suitability of urea as a selective reducing agent for NO{sub x}. At high space velocities HNCO-slip can get perceptible over the entire temperature range. This can be attributed to the fact that the temperature dependence is strong for the SCR reaction, but weak for the hydrolysis reaction. (author) 3 figs., 5 refs.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundIn Nigeria ACT use at the community level has not been evaluated and the use of antimalarial drugs (commonly chloroquine (CQ)) at home has been shown to be largely incorrect....Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Target recognition requires the ability to distinguish targets from non-targets, a capability called one-class generalization. To function as a one-class classifier, a neural network must have three types of generalization: within-class, between-class, and out-of-class. We discuss these three types of generalization and identify neural network architectures that meet these requirements. We have applied our one-class classifier ideas to the problem of automatic target recognition in synthetic aperture radar. We have compared three neural network algorithms: Carpenter and Grossberg`s algorithmic version of the Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART-2A), Kohonen`s Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ), and Reilly and Cooper`s Restricted Columb Energy network (RCE). The ART 2-A neural network has given the best results, with 100% within-class, and out-of-class generalization. Experiments show that the network`s performance is sensitive to vigilance and number ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The production of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the recognition of C-terminal cholecystokinin pentapeptide (CCK-5) in the presence of metal ion is reported. The MIPs were produced under the same molar ratio of template to monomers (acrylamide, N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide) in the presence or absence of nitrilotriacetic acid-nickel (Ni-NTA) complex. Scanning electron microscopy images of MIPs were obtained in an attempt to correlate the adsorption characteristics with polymer's morphology. Subsequently Ni2+ was removed and substituted by other divalent ions such as Mg2+, Fe2+, Zn2+, Co2+ and Cu2+. It was found that polymers containing the metal ion complex with the order Fe-NTA, Ni-NTA and Cu-NTA presented lower dissociation constant values than the rest thus exhibiting stronger guest binding activity. The percentage of theoretical maximum binding sites Bmax was almost the same for these ions, indicating that the ion-template coordination is responsible ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recent studies have shown that there is a wide variety of approaches to education and training of the Qualified Expert across the European Union. National education and training programmes show often large differences in content, duration, level, the introduction of practical work, etc. As they stand, such differences are a barrier to the mutual recognition of the Qualified Expert status and, in part, are contributing to a perceived shortage in expertise in radiation protection and safety. The overall aim of ENETRAP is to determine mechanisms that in the longer term will facilitate better integration of education and training activities (with a view to mutual recognition across the European Union) and to ensure the ongoing provision of the necessary competence and expertise at the level of the Qualified Expert. The ENETRAP project is a 6FP coordination action. It started in April 2005 and runs over a period of 24 months. (authors)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The phase composition and microstructure of O'-sialon prepared from Chinese coal gangue have been studied. The use of Si powder is more effective than that of activated carbon or mainly carbon with a little silicon for reduction-nitridation. For specimens with 40% Si addition, more than 80% of O'-sialon may be obtained when nitrided at 1500 degree sign C. The formed O'-sialon was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The parameters for O'-Sialon preparation are optimized by computer pattern recognition program based on principal component analysis, the target parameter optimum regions with higher relative content of O'-Sialon was indicated by this way.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

We have developed a playmate robot system for playing the rock-paper-scissors game with humans. The playmate robot recognizes the hand motions of a human using image processing without attaching any additional units to the human. The playmate robot system consists of three parts: a game management part, a hand motion recognition part, and a robot hand control part. The system functions as follows. (1) Before the game is played, the game management part decides on the motion of the robot hand from amongst rock, paper, and scissors. After the game is played, the robot develops a reaction using speech and facial expressions depending on the result of the game. (2) The hand motion recognition part recognizes the hand motion of the human. It does not use any additional units on the human?s body...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

As part of its air quality monitoring activities, Alberta Environment conducts unannounced mobile air quality surveys each year using the Department's Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory (MAML). This laboratory provides a snapshot of the air quality at the location monitored for a particular time and space. The MAML measures several pollutants in the air including ammonia, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, ozone, particulate matter, reduced sulphur compounds and sulphur dioxide. Alberta Environment conducted a series of ambient air quality monitoring surveys in the Lloydminster Area in 2002, 2003 and 2004. This report presents the results of the five monitored locations over eight seasons of monitoring, which were selected in consultation with stakeholders and staff from Alberta Environment's Central Region office. Canister samples were also collected during these surveys for later laboratory analyses of volatile organic compounds. Results from other ...

Science.gov (United States)

Peer assessment provides a powerful avenue for students to receive feedback on their learning. Although student perceptions of peer assessment have been studied extensively in higher education, little qualitative research has been undertaken with medical students in problem-based learning (PBL) curricula. A qualitative study of students' attitudes to, and perceptions of, peer assessment was undertaken within the framework of a larger study of metacognition with first-year medical students at the University of Queensland. A highly structured format for provision of feedback was utilised in the study design. Many recommendations from the higher education literature on optimal implementation of peer-assessment procedures were put into practice. Results indicated the existence of six main themes: (1) increased responsibility for others, (2) improved learning, (3) lack of relevancy, (4) challenges, (5) discomfort, and (6) effects on the PBL process. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This study examines some radiation accidents occurred in the past. This information has been systematically assessed to get global lessons. The experience feedback shows that the most of accidents happened in certain conditions. These conditions can be distributed in four categories: 1- perception and vigilance in occupation: accidental exposure happened by lack of vigilance in details and lack of vigilance and perception; 2- procedures: accidental exposure happened following a lack of procedures or control that were not enough complete, not enough documented or not completely implemented; 3- training and understanding: accidental exposures happened because the personnel was not enough qualified and educated, did not get the general training nor the the necessary specialized training; 4- liabilities: accidental exposures happened following lacks and ambiguity in the definition of functions of the personnel and in the hierarchy liabilities. In ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Until recent years, those involved in the design, operation and regulation of nuclear power systems devoted more resources to forward movement than to the back end of the fuel cycle. Now, though, concerted thought and international cooperation have been devoted to the question of nuclear waste management. The expert consensus is that sufficient knowledge exists to make e.g. disposal decisions with an acceptable level of confidence. In the first phases of research, decision processes were adapted to the tasks at hand. However, at some point in each nuclearized country, there came a time when waste management implied finding repository sites. At that time management abruptly entered the social sphere - where unfortunate experience has shown time and time again that classical decision processes are not adapted to facilitating societal acceptance of management solutions. This paper recounts the various management frameworks that have been tested in a number of countries in the goal of ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary The First Nations people of British Columbia experience reincarnation as a revitalization of their culture. This article documents the perseverance of reincarnation experiences among the Beaver, Witsuwit'en, and Gitxsan peoples of British Columbia, as well as my own growth in understanding such experiences. It recounts examples of rebirth cases. It explains what rebirth experiences mean to the First Nations people. It describes how these experiences are embedded in their perception of this world and embodied in their beliefs of spiritual realms, which include the interconnected and parallel worlds of fish and land animals, on this world and in spiritual dimensions. While the rebirth worldview contrasts with that of the Western scientific world, this is a worldview I have come to en...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This article considers the appeal of cognitive neuroscience research to the general public within the context of the deep puzzles involved in using our minds to understand how our minds work. It offers a few promising examples of findings that illuminate the ways of the mind and reveal these workings to be counter-intuitive with our subjective experience. However, this promise is tempered by the powerful role that perception, attention, and cognition play in how we reason about evidence. It argues that the interplay between what we believe about the nature of our minds and what the findings suggest constitutes a primary challenge in encouraging public understanding of cognitive neuroscience findings.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The paper demonstrates an application of advanced decision support tools within the framework of the environmental information system of the Province of Milan. These tools include environmental simulation models, multi criteria analysis, risk analysis and environmental accounting for marketable emission permits. After describing the general structure of the system, three demonstrational case studies are introduced concerning: groundwater pollution management; atmospheric pollution management; urban environmental quality perception and management. In the conclusion, potential use of tools like the ones implemented by the province of Milan within the framework of Local Agenda 21 processes is recalled.

Science.gov (United States)

A critical element of a retinal prosthesis is the stimulating electrode array, which is placed in close proximity to the retina. It is via this retinal-electrode interface that a retinal prosthesis electrically stimulates nerve cells to produce the perception of light. The impedance load seen by the current driver consists of the tissue resistance and the complex electrode impedance. The results in this paper show that the tissue resistance of the retina is significantly greater than that of the vitreous humor in the eye. Circuit models of the electrode-retina interface are used to parameterize the different contributors to the overall impedance. PMID:17325413

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A Zinc/Air Battery Review and Strategic Planning Meeting was held in 1993. One outcome of the meeting was recognition of the need for a report on the current status of the technology. This report contains contributions from many of the attendees at the above meeting and expresses their views on where the technology is today and what could/should be done to improve its performance.

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With the aim of an experimental check on the validity of the theory of molecular recognition, the authors have carried out the chemical-enzymatic synthesis and cloning of the gene of human calcitonin and also of the genes of antisense polypeptides to human calcitonin and miniproinsulin. It has been shown that recombinant plasmids obtained on the basis of these synthetic genes are capable of ensuring the biosynthesis of the given polypeptides in E. coli cells as hybrid proteins with the IgG-binding domain of staphylococcal protein A.

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Cellulose raw materials costs must be considered in order to obtain a minimized hexose cost. In recognition of this fact, it may be economically advantageous to operate at less than maximum hexose concentration in the reactor and to recycle unreacted cellulose. The objective of this article is to optimize a cellulose-recycle reactor system for producing hexose at minimum cost. A sensitivity analysis of the important variables in the mathematical model of this system is also discussed.

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Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-{gamma} (PPAR{gamma}) regulates metabolic homeostasis and adipocyte differentiation, and it is activated by oxidized and nitrated fatty acids. Here we report the crystal structure of the PPAR{gamma} ligand binding domain bound to nitrated linoleic acid, a potent endogenous ligand of PPAR{gamma}. Structural and functional studies of receptor-ligand interactions reveal the molecular basis of PPAR{gamma} discrimination of various naturally occurring fatty acid derivatives.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Authors describe diagnostic dilemma of differentiating pyelonephritis with lymphomatous involvement of kidney in a known case of lymphoma. FDG uptake pattern was non-discriminatory and pyelonephritis diagnosed retrospectively on follow up study. Authors emphasize the importance of recognition of features and subtle clues of infection evident on CT component of PET-CT. (author)

Science.gov (United States)

Over the past ten years face segmentation has developed rapidly and various algorithms have been proposed. In this paper we will demonstrate a face detection system based on skin color and the spaces RGB, normalized RGB, HSV and YCbCr are concentrated here. Through combing them the more accurate face region will be detected.

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Ileal dysgenesis is an uncommon condition of unknown etiology occurring in the distal ileum in the region of the vitelline duct. The CT appearance of this lesion, although not previously described to our knowledge, is characteristic. We report a patient with ileal dysgenesis who had an abdominal CT scan to evaluate chronic iron deficiency anemia and protein-losing enteropathy. Recognition of this lesion by pediatric radiologists is important; so that surgical treatment, which is simple and effective, can be initiated quickly. (orig.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An interface-marker technique has been used to investigate the relative rates of diffusion of Si and of metal atoms during the growth of metal silicide films. The technique enables recognition of a reference plane in thin film diffusion using Rutherford backscattering, while minimizing any perturbation of the diffusion process. Examples are drawn from studies of the growth of silicides of W, Mo, Ta, Nb, Pd and Pt. (orig.).

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The process of implementing a damage detection strategy for aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering infrastructure is referred to as structural health monitoring (SHM). Here damage is defined as changes to the material and/or geometric properties of these systems, including changes to the boundary conditions and system connectivity, which adversely affect the system's current or future performance. Our approach is to address the SHM problem in the context of a statistical pattern recognition paradigm (Farrar, Nix and Doebling, 2001). In this paradigm, the process can be broken down into four parts: (1) Operational Evaluation, (2) Data Acquisition, (3) Feature Extraction, and (4) Statistical Model Development for Feature Discrimination. When one attempts to apply this paradigm to data from 'real-world' structures, it quickly becomes apparent that data cleansing, normalization, fusion and compression, which can be implemented with ...

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One of the keystones of the canceled BTeV experiment (proposed at Fermilab's Tevatron) was its sophisticated three-level trigger. The trigger was designed to reject 99.9% of light-quark background events and retain a large number of B decays. The BTeV Pixel Detector provided a 3-dimensional, high resolution tracking system to detect B signatures. The Level 1 pixel detector trigger was proposed as a two stage process, a track-segment finder and a vertex finder which analyzed every accelerator crossing. In simulations the track-segment finder stage outputs an average of 200 track-segments per accelerator crossing (2.5MHz). The vertexing stage finds vertices and associates track-segments with the vertices found. This paper proposes a novel adaptive pattern recognition model to find the number and the estimated location of vertices, and to cluster track-segments around those vertices. The track clustering and vertex finding is done in parallel. The pattern ...

Science.gov (United States)

Digital libraries play a crucial role in distance learning. Nowadays, they are one of the fundamental information sources for the students enrolled in this learning system. These libraries contain huge amount of instructional data (text, audio and video) offered by the distance learning program. Organization of the digital libraries is therefore very important for easy and fast access to the desired information. Improper categorization of data may mislead the students searching the library. Since manual categorization of huge amount of data might be challenging, an automatic and reliable method is needed. In this sense, this paper proposes an automated categorization scheme for digital libraries in distance learning. The categorization scheme is designed and developed by a pattern recognition approach. Effectiveness of the proposed scheme is evaluated on widely used Reuters database. The results of the experimental study verify that the proposed scheme is ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Using longitudinal data from Ukraine we examine the extent of any long-lasting effects of exposure to the Chernobyl disaster on the health and labour market performance of the adult workforce. Variation in the local area level of radiation fallout from the Chernobyl accident is considered as a random exogenous shock with which to try to establish its causal impact on poor health, labour force participation, hours worked and wages. There appears to be a significant positive association between local area-level radiation dosage and perception of poor health, though much weaker associations between local area-level dosage and other specific self-reported health conditions. There is also some evidence to suggest that those who lived in areas more exposed to Chernobyl-induced radiation have sig...

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

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PurposeThe purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of submucosal versus intramuscular administration of dexamethasone sodium phosphate on patients' quality of life after surgical removal of impacted lower third molars. Patients and MethodsA randomized, non-blind, clinical trial was planned. The sample was composed of patients requiring extraction under local anesthesia of a single partial bony impacted mandibular third molar with Class II or III and position B or C, according to the Pell and Gregory classification. The patients were randomly distributed into 1 of 3 groups: submucosal dexamethasone, intramuscular dexamethasone, and a control group that received no steroid. A modified translated questionnaire was used to assess the patients' perception regarding different qual...

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Many new technologies and approaches to the provision of comfort inside buildings such as displacement ventilation, mixed-mode strategies, personally controllable (task-ambient) designs, chilled beams as well as some old but recently fashionable ones such as natural ventilation are prompting a rethink of the accepted comfort wisdom. How can a single combination of thermal environmental parameters be deemed unacceptable in a conventional heating ventilation and air-conditioning setting, and yet be regarded as acceptable, or even pleasant, in a naturally ventilated or mixed-mode setting? Why do current comfort standards prescribe static and isothermal conditions for comfort in one building, and dynamic and spatially variable indoor climates for comfort in another? The phenomenon of alliesthe...

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The precedence effect (PE) is thought to be beneficial for proper localization and perception of sounds. The majority of recent physiological studies focus on the neural discharges correlated with PE in the inferior colliculus (IC). Pentobarbital anesthesia is widely used in physiological studies. However, little is known of the effect of pentobarbital on the discharge of neurons in PE. Neuronal responses in the IC from 23 male SD rats were recorded by standard extracellular recording techniques following presentation of 4ms white noise bursts, presented from either or both of two loud speakers, at different interstimulus delays (ISDs). The neural responses were recorded for off-line analysis before or after intraperitoneal administration of pentobarbital at a loading or maintenance dose. ...

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Given the important role of parent-youth communication in adolescent well-being and quality of life, we sought to examine the relationship between specific communication variables and youth perceived quality of life in general and as a deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) individual. A convenience sample of 230 youth (mean age = 14.1, standard deviation = 2.2; 24% used sign only, 40% speech only, and 36% sign + speech) was surveyed on communication-related issues, generic and DHH-specific quality of life, and depression symptoms. Higher youth perception of their ability to understand parents' communication was significantly correlated with perceived quality of life as well as lower reported depressive symptoms and lower perceived stigma. Youth who use speech as their single mode of communication ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper seeks to challenge the traditional way in which we assess the value of green buildings in terms of their environmental friendliness, energy efficiency and whole life cost. In the UK, quantity surveyors (or cost consultants) have a perception that more energy efficient and environmentally friendly buildings cost between 5% and 15% more to build from the outset. This common assumption is not backed up by recent research and should be questioned. Construction professionals need to be informed of the whole life cost and environmental impact of buildings so that they can encourage key stakeholders to make more sustainable choices. These emerging issues together with practical tools are considered with case studies from recent projects. (Author)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In this paper I argue that when a researcher is a research instrument, it is likely that the researcher would develop a heightened awareness of his/her own cultural conditioning, especially in the case of cross-cultural studies. And that such awareness would make him/her realise that one's own cultural background may indeed have an influence on formulating his/her research methodology. The paper is based on my own research project on development cooperation between Japan and Cambodia, whereby I examined the perceptions of Cambodians and Japanese on what an appropriate power relationship between donors and recipients should be. At the outset of my research project, I paid little attention to my own cultural condition and the role it might play in my study, though I was aware that being Japa...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Knowledge on environmental variability and how it is affected by disturbances is crucial for understanding patterns of biodiversity and determining adequate conservation strategies. The aim of this study is to assess environmental variability in patches undergoing post-fire vegetation recovery, identifying trends of change and their relevant drivers. We particularly evaluate: the value of three spectral indices derived from Landsat satellite data [Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Wetness Component of the Tasseled Cap Transformation (TCW)] for describing secondary succession; the effectiveness of three metrics (diversity, evenness and richness) as indicators of patch variability; and how thematic resolution can affect the perception of environme...

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In this study, a two-stage support-vector-regression optimization model (TSOM) is developed for the planning of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in the urban districts of Beijing, China. It represents a new effort to enhance the analysis accuracy in optimizing the MSW management system through coupling the support-vector-regression (SVR) model with an interval-parameter mixed integer linear programming (IMILP). The developed TSOM can not only predict the city's future waste generation amount, but also reflect dynamic, interactive, and uncertain characteristics of the MSW management system. Four kernel functions such as linear kernel, polynomial kernel, radial basis function, and multi-layer perception kernel are chosen based on three quantitative simulation performance criteria [i.e....

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Bubbly and slug flows have been analyzed using the afore-mentioned techniques. An image series of bubbly-slug flow is shown. The image separation time is 17 ms, and the total flow length is {approx} 10 cm. A circular eddy pattern that follows the slug can be readily seen and tracked, although reliability is low due to motion in the transverse direction. This motion also adds considerable error to the velocity measurements using image recognition technique. This will increase the reliability and accuracy of the tracking method.

CERN Document Server

Similarity searching finds application in a wide variety of domains including multilingual databases, computational biology, pattern recognition and text retrieval. Similarity is measured in terms of a distance function edit distance in general metric spaces, which is expensive to compute. Indexing techniques can be used reduce the number of distance computations. We present an analysis of various existing similarity indexing structures for the same. The performance obtained using the index structures studied was found to be unsatisfactory . We propose an indexing technique that combines the features of clustering with M tree(MTB) and the results indicate that this gives better performance.

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...The RSPB: Birds by family: Owls E-mail to a friendE-newsletterContact us Home England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales About Overview Awards & recognition Contact ...Birds by family PrintHome Birds and wildlife Bird guide Birds by family Owls Owls Owls are specialised birds with round heads and rather flat ...or dished faces, with forward-facing eyes and a short, hooked bill. Most are nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk)... Owls are found all over the temperate and tropical parts of the world. Barn owl With heart shaped face, buff back ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The clinical and radiographic features of the intermediate form of osteopetrosis in two sibs are presented in which the disorder appears to have been inherited as a recessive trait. Although this form of osteopetrosis has been poorly delineated, its recognition is practically important in order to give an accurate prognosis. This paper also presents an unusual complication of bilateral avascular necrosis of the femoral head in the younger sib. Radiographic changes of the femoral heads suggest those of Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, though the possibility of avascular necrosis following unrecognized femoral neck fracture is not completely excluded. (orig.).

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Resistance and tolerance are two types of host defense mechanisms that increase fitness in response to fungi. Several genetic polymorphisms in pattern recognition receptors, most remarkably Toll-like receptors (TLRs), have been described to influence resistance and tolerance to aspergillosis in distinct clinical settings. TLRs on dendritic cells pivotally contribute in determining the balance between immunopathology and protective immunity to the fungus. Epithelial cells also contribute to this balance via selected TLRs converging on indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). Studies in experimental hematopoietic transplantation confirmed the dichotomy of pathways leading to resistance and tolerance to the fungus providing new insights on the relative contribution of the hematopoietic/nonhematopoi...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The International Atomic Energy Agency is undertaking a program for strengthening its safeguards on the recognition that safeguards must give assurance not only of the non-diversion of declared material or that declared facilities are not being misused, but also of the absence of any undeclared nuclear activities in States which have signed comprehensive safeguards agreements with the Agency. The IAEA has determined that the detection of undeclared nuclear activities and the creation of confidence in the continuing peaceful use of declared material and facilities is largely dependent on more information being made available to the Agency and on the capability of the Agency to make more effective use of this additional information, as well as existing information.

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Two patients with femoral neck fractures, one displaced and one undisplaced, are presented. Preoperative intravital staining with tetracycline and Tc-MDP scintimetry both showed intact femoral head circulation while Tc-MDP-scintimetry 1 week after operation showed pronounced circulatory deficiency. Sr/sup 85/-scintimetry performed at the same time was inconclusive. Segmental collapse was observed radiographically, 8 and 12 months postoperatively. The major vascular injury resulting in avascularity most probably occured during the procedure of osteosynthesis, and Tc-MDP-scintimetry was found suitable for early postoperative recognition of avascular necrosis in both fractures.

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The tet repressor regulated expression of the Tn-10-encoded tetracycline resistance determinant in a tetracycline-dependent manner. In the absence of tetracycline, the tet repressor binds as a dimer to the 19-base-pair palindromic tet operator sequence. Amino acid homologies and genetic studies with trans-dominant mutants suggest that sequence-specific recognition of the tet operator involves the extensively studied helix-turn-helix motif. We have used the uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) footprinting systems to identify thymine contacts in the tet operator that are essential for the formation of tet repressor-operator complexes.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

RangerMaster{trademark} is the embedded firmware for Quantrad Sensor`s integrated nuclear instrument package, the Ranger{trademark}. The Ranger{trademark}, which is both a gamma-ray and neutron detection system, was originally developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for in situ surveys at the Plutonium Facility to confirm the presence of nuclear materials. The new RangerMaster{trademark} software expands the library of isotopes and simplifies the operation of the instrument by providing an easy mode suitable for untrained operators. The expanded library of the Ranger{trademark} now includes medical isotopes {sup 99}Tc, {sup 201}Tl, {sup 111}In, {sup 67}Ga, {sup 133}Xe, {sup 103}Pa, and {sup 131}I; industrial isotopes {sup 241}Am, {sup 57}Co, {sup 133}Ba, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 40}K, {sup 60}Co, {sup 232}Th, {sup 226}Ra, and {sup 207}Bi; and nuclear materials {sup 235}U, {sup 238}U, {sup 233}U, and {sup 239}Pu. To accomplish isotopic identification, a simulated spectrum for each of the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In recent decades, it has become increasingly clear that the global climate is becoming warmer and that regional climates are changing. This report summarizes the results of an integrated assessment of vulnerability to climate change and adaptation options in the Netherlands carried out between July 2000 and July 2001 within the framework of the Dutch National Research Program on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change (NRP-2). The project's main aims were: - to provide an overview of scientific insights, expert judgements and stakeholders' perceptions of current and future impacts (positive and negative) of climate change for several economic sectors, human health, and natural systems in the Netherlands, considering various cross-sectoral interactions, - to develop a set of adaptation options for these sectors through a participatory process with the main stakeholders, - to perform an integrated assessment of cross-sectoral interactions of climate change impacts ...

CERN Document Server

The avalanche quantity of the information developed by mankind has led to concept of automation of knowledge extraction - Data Mining ([1]). This direction is connected with a wide spectrum of problems - from recognition of the fuzzy set to creation of search machines. Important component of Data Mining is processing of the text information. Such problems lean on concept of classification and clustering ([2]). Classification consists in definition of an accessory of some element (text) to one of in advance created classes. Clustering means splitting a set of elements (texts) on clusters which quantity are defined by localization of elements of the given set in vicinities of these some natural centers of these clusters. Realization of a problem of classification initially should lean on the given postulates, basic of which - the aprioristic information on primary set of texts and a measure of affinity of elements and classes.

CERN Document Server

We survey a new area of parameter-free similarity distance measures useful in data-mining, pattern recognition, learning and automatic semantics extraction. Given a family of distances on a set of objects, a distance is universal up to a certain precision for that family if it minorizes every distance in the family between every two objects in the set, up to the stated precision (we do not require the universal distance to be an element of the family). We consider similarity distances for two types of objects: literal objects that as such contain all of their meaning, like genomes or books, and names for objects. meaning, like genomes or books, and names for objects. The latter may have literal embodyments like the first type, but may also be abstract like ``red'' or ``christianity.'' For the first type we consider a family of computable distance measures corresponding to parameters expressing similarity according to particular features between pairs of literal ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This article argues the importance of ensuring initiatives aimed at improving children-s social and emotional well-being are based on sound participatory principles. The discussion posits links between the recognition of children, dialogic approaches to participation, changing conceptualisations of children and childhood, and children-s well-being. It explores these links in light of one particular initiative, Seasons for Growth (Graham, 1996, 2002, Seasons for Growth; Loss and Grief Education Program. MacKillop Foundation), an education programme built around emerging evidence that giving children a voice assists them to adapt to family change. The paper concludes with insights into what is involved when we locate notions of -having a say- as a key element in promoting children-s well-bei...

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Advances in the theory and practice of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are reviewed for the period 1965-1990. The proceedings of two landmark conferences are used as a basis for discussion: Ohio State University (1967) and Kohler, WI (1988). The discussion is developed around the following topics: metal-environment combinations, testing, fractography, metallurgical aspects, electrochemical aspects and crack chemistry, mechanisms, and prediction and mitigation. It is concluded that the main developments since 1967 are the recognition of the lack of specificity of SCC environments, the use of slow strain rate and fracture mechanics testing, quantitative SEM fractography, studies of grain boundary structure and compositions, transient electrochemistry of bare metal surfaces, measurement and modelling of crack chemistry, elaboration of several SCC models, including slip-dissolution and film induced cleavage, and mitigation by alloy development or anodic protection. ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The possibility of developing reactor designs with inherent safety characteristics sufficient to provide walk away safety is receiving additional emphasis in the LMR program. A key element in this effort is the recognition that LMR's possess safety characteristics above and beyond those employed in past safety review processes. Some of these additional safety characteristics are due to reactivity feedback effects caused by small structural movements during hypothetical severe design transients. The effects of these characteristics upon the behavior of the FFTF under such transients has been assessed and is discussed in this paper. The paper also presents a preliminary test matrix which might allow experimental verification of the structural reactivity feedback effects. Such experimental verification should be very useful to innovative designers seeking to optimize inherent safety.

Science.gov (United States)

In this paper, we introduce a new recursive neural network model able to process directed acyclic graphs with labelled edges. The model uses a state transition function which considers the edge labels and is independent both from the number and the order of the children of each node. The computational capabilities of the new recursive architecture are assessed. Moreover, in order to test the proposed architecture on a practical challenging application, the problem of object detection in images is also addressed. In fact, the localization of target objects is a preliminary step in any recognition system. The proposed technique is general and can be applied in different detection systems, since it does not exploit any a priori knowledge on the particular problem. Some experiments on face detection, carried out on scenes acquired by an indoor camera, are reported, showing very promising results. PMID:16181770

CERN Document Server

The paper introduces scaled Bregman distances of probability distributions which admit non-uniform contributions of observed events. They are introduced in a general form covering not only the distances of discrete and continuous stochastic observations, but also the distances of random processes and signals. It is shown that the scaled Bregman distances extend not only the classical ones studied in the previous literature, but also the information divergence and the related wider class of convex divergences of probability measures. An information processing theorem is established too, but only in the sense of invariance w.r.t. statistically sufficient transformations and not in the sense of universal monotonicity. Pathological situations where coding can increase the classical Bregman distance are illustrated by a concrete example. In addition to the classical areas of application of the Bregman distances and convex divergences such as recognition, classification, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report, the eighth in a series of annual reports, was prepared in response to congressional inquiries concerning how nuclear regulatory research is used. It summarizes the accomplishments of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during FY 1992. A special emphasis on accomplishments in nuclear power plant aging research reflects recognition that a number of plants are entering the final portion of their original 40-year operating licenses and that, in addition to current aging effects, a focus on safety considerations for license renewal becomes timely. The primary purpose of performing regulatory research is to develop and provide the Commission and its staff with the technical bases for regulatory decisions on the safe operation of licensed nuclear reactors and facilities, to find unknown or unexpected safety problems, and to develop data and related information for the purpose of revising the Commission`s rules, regulatory guides, or other guidance.

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...the School, the research group structure was recently revised and now comprises the following teams: Drug Design and Analysis Pharmaceutics Pharmacy Practice and Policy Pharmacological and Biomedical Science The current structure was designed to take into account the future development of research in the academic area. The ...Discovery, Molecular Modelling, Pharmacology and Molecular Biology) and international recognition (Biological Sciences), which have now been re-organised into the Drug Design and Analysis and Pharmacological and Biomedical Sciences teams. The reorganisation also aimed to improve the research reputation of the other teams. The improvements in ... Email to a friend Print Within this area Drug design and analysis Pharmaceutics Pharmacy practice and policy Pharmacological and biomedical sciences Projects Publications Staff Considering a course? Research Degrees Course Finder Order a Prospectus Subject Areas Sunderland Facts Student Life Getting ...

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Abstract The air-water interface presents several interesting features, namely a) a molecularly flat environment, b) a boundary region between two phases with different dielectric constants, c) permits or promotes dynamic interactions within the interface region, and d) a point of interaction between hydrophobic compounds and aqueous molecules. Accordingly, Langmuir monolayers at the air-water interface have several unique characteristics and properties, which require investigation. In this review-type personal account, typical examples of molecular recognition and molecular patterning at air-water interfaces are first introduced, followed by descriptions of specific and unusual properties of monolayers on water. In addition, two examples of our own results concerning Langmuir monolayers a...

Science.gov (United States)

Since the elucidation of the structure of double helical DNA, the construction of small molecules that recognize and react at specific DNA sites has been an area of considerable interest. In particular, the study of transition metal complexes that bind DNA with specificity has been a burgeoning field. This growth has been due in large part to the useful properties of metal complexes, which possess a wide array of photophysical attributes and allow for the modular assembly of an ensemble of recognition elements. Here we review recent experiments in our laboratory aimed at the design and study of octahedral metal complexes that bind DNA non-covalently and target reactions to specific sites. Emphasis is placed both on the variety of methods employed to confer site-specificity and upon the many applications for these complexes. Particular attention is given to the family of complexes recently designed that target single base mismatches in duplex DNA through ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Isolation of functional and intact mitochondria from solid tissue is crucial for studies that focus on the elucidation of normal mitochondrial physiology and/or mitochondrial dysfunction in conditions such as aging, diabetes, and cancer. There is growing recognition of the importance of mitochondria both as targets for drug development and as off-target mediators of drug side effects. Unfortunately, mitochondrial isolation from tissue is generally carried out using homogenizer-based methods that require extensive operator experience to obtain reproducible high-quality preparations. These methods limit dissemination, impede scale-up, and contribute to difficulties in reproducing experimental results over time and across laboratories. Here we describe semiautomated methods to disrupt tissue ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (2004) of the Convention on Biological Diversity established a mandate for the negotiation of an international regime on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing arising from their utilization. Negotiations have been proceeding and have entered the final phase. Seven working group meetings have been held to date and there is expectation that an instrument will emerge by the final deadline - the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010. A key component singled out for inclusion in the international regime relates to the recognition and protection of the rights of indigenous and local communities (ILCs) over their traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources. The Ninth Meeting o...

Science.gov (United States)

The capacity to estimate the head pose of another person is a common human ability that presents a unique challenge for computer vision systems. Compared to face detection and recognition, which have been the primary foci of face-related vision research, identity-invariant head pose estimation has fewer rigorously evaluated systems or generic solutions. In this paper, we discuss the inherent difficulties in head pose estimation and present an organized survey describing the evolution of the field. Our discussion focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and spans 90 of the most innovative and characteristic papers that have been published on this topic. We compare these systems by focusing on their ability to estimate coarse and fine head pose, highlighting approaches that are well suited for unconstrained environments. PMID:19229078

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

339 CT und 95 MRT examinations in 210 partients were evaluated retrospectively to determine the value of CT and MRT for follow-up of head and neck tumors and for diagnosing recurrences. Semi-quantitative evaluation of tumor extent during and after radiotherapy showed advantages for MRT since changes induced by treatment, particularly oedema, produced less contrast loss in the images. CT had a sensitivity of 81% for the recognition of recurrences; this was 92% for MRT. Specificity for CT was 76% and for MRT 86%. Concerning the reliability of individual diagnostic criteria, space occupying lesions were the most valuable in CT diagnosis. For MRT, space occupying lesions and infiltration into neighbouring structures were of equal value. Because of differences in the nature of the signals, MRT proved better than CT in characterising recurrent masses and this improved the differentiation between scarring and local tumour recurrence. (orig.).

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In this paper we propose an entropy measure for interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets, which generalizes three entropy measures defined independently by Szmidt, Wang and Huang, for intuitionistic fuzzy sets. We also give an approach to construct similarity measures using entropy measures for interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets. In particular, the proposed entropy measure for interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets can yield a similarity measure. Several illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed formulas. We apply the similarity measure to solve problems on pattern recognitions, multi-criteria fuzzy decision making and medical diagnosis.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The integral membrane protein synaptophysin is one of the most abundant polypeptide components of synaptic vesicles. It is not essential for neurotransmission despite its abundance but is believed to modulate the efficiency of the synaptic vesicle cycle. Detailed behavioral analyses were therefore performed on synaptophysin knockout mice to test whether synaptophysin affects higher brain functions. We find that these animals are more exploratory than their wild type counterparts examining novel objects more closely and intensely in an enriched open field arena. We also detect impairments in learning and memory, most notably reduced object novelty recognition and reduced spatial learning. These deficits are unlikely caused by impaired vision, since all electroretinographic parameters measur...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This new book presents a practical how to approach to understanding and solving the problems of corrosion of structural materials. Although it is written mainly for those having a limited technical background in corrosion, it also provides more experienced engineers with a useful overview of the principles of corrosion and can be used as a general guide for developing a corrosion-control program. Contents include: the effects and economic impact of corrosion; basic concepts important to corrosion; principles of aqueous corrosion; forms of corrosion: recognition and prevention; types of corrosive environments; corrosion characteristics of structural materials; corrosion control by proper design; corrosion control by materials selection; corrosion control by protective coatings and inhibitors; corrosion control by cathodic and anodic protection; corrosion testing and monitoring; techniques for diagnosis of corrosion failures; and glossary of corrosion-related terms.

Science.gov (United States)

In order to increase the speed of photoelectric conversion, a linear CCD is applied as the photoelectric converter instead of the traditional photodiode. A white LED is used as the light source of the system. The color information of the urine test strip is transferred into the CCD through a reflecting optical system. It is then converted to digital signals by an A/D converter. The test results of urine analysis are obtained by a data processing system. An ARM microprocessor is selected as the CPU of the system and a CPLD is employed to provide a driving timing for the CCD drive and the A/D converter. Active HDL7.2 and Verilog HDL are used to simulate the driving timing of the CPLD. Experimental results show that the correctness rate of the test results is better than 90%. The system satisfies the requirements of the color information collection of urine analyzer.

Environmental Research Database

ObjectivesCoastal ecosystems in developing countries supply a diverse range of services to local communities and national economies, including fish production, protection against floods and storms and support to tourism. Multiple drivers of change are influencing the status of the ecosystems, most of which are anthropogenic (Brown et al., 2006). Managing coastal ecosystems requires recognition of the diverse range of uses and users, and coordination between structures and processes, many of which are curr [continued...]DescriptionCommitment to the management of coastal ecosystems through addressing both ecological and social objectives already exists in East and Southern Africa (Glavovic 2006; Gustavson et al. 2009). More understanding, however, of the ecosystem services of priority to the poor and to poverty alleviation would strengthen the capacity of these initiatives to deliver on poverty alleviation and resource sustainability. The coastal regions of Tanzania, ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Orientation in the environment can draw on a variety of cognitive strategies. We asked 634 healthy volunteers to perform a comprehensive battery administered through an internet website (www.gettinglost.ca), testing different orientation strategies in virtual environments to determine the effect of age and gender upon these skills. Older participants (46-67years of age) performed worse than younger participants (18-30 or 31-45years of age) in all orientation skills assessed, including landmark recognition, integration of body-centered information, forming association between landmarks and body turns, and the formation and use of a cognitive map. Among all tests, however, the ability to form cognitive maps resulted to be the significant factor best at predicting the individuals' age group. ...

Science.gov (United States)

Throughout their history, Americans have believed that citizens' fulfillment of their individual duties in a participatory democracy is at least partly met through the forming of groups around important societal issues. Given the complex nature of political socialization, this study investigated identifiable determinants of social action that might be used to advantage in educating young people for citizenship in a democracy. This study attempted to differentiate among junior high, high school and college students (N=517) who were inclined and not inclined to act on their concerns about nuclear threat with selected demographic, psychological, political, and educational variables. The results of a discriminant functional analysis indicated that in comparison with the non-action group, students in the action group were characterized by reporting less trust in government, more exposure to sources of nuclear war information, more political knowledge, a more liberal political orientation, ...

CERN Document Server

In the rod and hole paradox as described by Rindler (1961 Am. J. Phys. 29 365-6), a rigid rod moves at high speed over a table towards a hole of the same size. Observations from the inertial frames of the rod and slot are widely different. Rindler explains these differences by the concept of differing perceptions in rigidity. Gron and Johannesen (1993 Eur. J. Phys. 14 97-100) confirmed this aspect by computer simulation where the shapes of the rods are different as observed from the co-moving frames of the rod and slot. Lintel and Gruber (2005 Eur. J. Phys. 26 19-23) presented an approach based on retardation due to speed of stress propagation. In this paper we consider the situation when two parallel rods collide while approaching each other along a line at an inclination with their axis. The collisions of the top and bottom ends are reversed in time order as observed from the two co-moving frames. This result is explained by the concept of extended present ...

Science.gov (United States)

Purpose: The present research aims to identify the difficulties and obstacles for developing digital libraries in the seven regional branches of Islamic Azad University (IAU), Iran, and to study the status of librarians' skills and education programmes at these institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The 40 individuals working in the regional branch libraries of IAU were surveyed by a questionnaire consisting of 34 questions, and the collected data were analysed using SPSS software (version 16). Findings: It was found that the most important difficulties are the lack of suitable equipment and untrained personnel (i.e. a lack of sufficient training programmes). Research limitations/implications: Because of the small number of participants, it is suggested that a larger scale study is carried out. It is also proposed that the suggestions made by the participants will be considered and implemented, based on the digital library (DL) developments in academic libraries in different ...

Science.gov (United States)

This article contains the argument that the human ability to travel mentally in time constitutes a discontinuity between ourselves and other animals. Mental time travel comprises the mental reconstruction of personal events from the past (episodic memory) and the mental construction of possible events in the future. It is not an isolated module, but depends on the sophistication of other cognitive capacities, including self-awareness, meta-representation, mental attribution, understanding the perception-knowledge relationship, and the ability to dissociate imagined mental states from one's present mental state. These capacities are also important aspects of so-called theory of mind, and they appear to mature in children at around age 4. Furthermore, mental time travel is generative, involving the combination and recombination of familiar elements, and in this respect may have been a precursor to language. Current evidence, although indirect or based on anecdote ...

Science.gov (United States)

Preschool-age children hold negative attitudes toward overweight peers (i.e., anti-fat attitudes), but little is known about individual differences in these attitudes. The current study investigated actual weight status and perceived body size in relation to preschool-age children's anti-fat attitudes. Sixty-nine 4-6 year-olds (61% girls) were individually interviewed about their body size perceptions using a figure rating scale and anti-fat attitudes using multiple methods (including an adjective rating scale and ratings of acceptability for different body shapes). Results suggested that children's perceived body size, not actual body size, was related to their attitudes about an overweight figure and the number of figures rated as acceptable. Children who perceived themselves as heavier held fewer anti-fat attitudes. Perceived and actual body size ratings were not related to ratings of a thin figure. This study suggests the importance of examining children's body ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A linear induction accelerator that produces a beam of energetic heavy ions (T -- 10 GeV, A -- 200 amu) is a prime candidate as a driver for an inertial fusion power plant. Some early perceptions were that heavy-ion drive fusion would not be cost-competitive with other power sources because of the high cost of the accelerators. However, improved understanding of the physics of heavy-ion transport and acceleration (supported by experimental results), combined with advances in accelerator technology, have resulted in accelerator design costs -- 50% of previous estimates. As a result, heavy-ion drive fusion power plants are now projected to be cost-competitive with other conceptual fusion power plants. A brief formulation of transport and acceleration physics is presented here, along with a description of the induction Linac cost optimization code LIACEP. Cost trends are presented and discussed, along with specific cost estimates for several accelerator designs ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of this research is to clarify how psychological factor's impact on public acceptance of nuclear energy varies with people's degree of knowledge. For this purpose, we carried out questionnaire survey about nuclear energy at Suginami ward, Tokyo. After collecting data, we applied factor analysis to the data, and found 4 factors: Trust in the Authorities, Superiority of Nuclear Power Generation, Benefit for Nuclear Power Plants' Siting Areas, and Risk Perception about Nuclear Technology. In addition, using multiple regression analysis, we evaluated the impact of the 4 factors on 2 issues: the decision for or against nuclear policy and the reaction to nuclear power plant siting. Consequently, we found the change of impact of all 4 factors on the 2 issues. Especially, the impact of the 4 factors to the reaction to nuclear power plant siting was drastically changed by respondent's degree of knowledge. (author)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In the preparing stage of Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR), the expected inventories of radwaste treatment systems are estimated. The inventory calculation plays an important role in the estimation of environmental radiation as well as nuclear power plant (hereafter referred to NPP) integrity, and further improvement of the public perception for NPP or radiation. The inventory has been accumulated and periodically measured for every NPP during the whole operation in Korea. But, a detailed analysis and database construction for the inventory have not still been carried out. For estimating the inventory change in this study, the radwaste treatment systems of Wolsung (hereafter referred to WS) nuclear power units 3 and 4 were selected as the reference systems. An analysis and prediction of the inventory change were performed for total activity released to environment during the whole operation. The linear regression analysis based on least squares method was ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The paper summarizes the results obtained in two interview studies conducted in the communities of Storuman and Malaa in northern Sweden, 1995 and 1997. It highlights the similarities and differences with respect to the public participation and decision processes which preceded the respective referenda in the two communities. The presentation includes the arguments used by proponents and opponents, the changes over time, as well as the time frame and the information involved in the processes. It is concluded e.g. that local cultures, life-styles, knowledge of similar events, and the time for and management of the participation process are important and salient factors in the resulting social dynamics. Factors of possibly more fundamental importance were also discerned, however, including overall attitude to and valuation of nuclear power, perceptions of development, solidarity, power and power distribution in relation to current as well as future situations. It is ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The formation and breakdown of the passive films on stainless steels are mainly controlled by ionic and electronic transport processes. Both these processes are in part controlled by the electronic properties of the oxide film. Consequently, it is vital to gain a detailed perception of the electronic properties of the passive films together with structural and compositional information for a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms behind passivity and localised corrosion. As a step towards this goal the passive films formed on two main austenitic stainless steels AISI 316L and AISI 304L in borate solution were characterised by in situ Raman spectroscopy and photocurrent spectroscopy coupled with electrochemical measurements. This revealed the formation of an Fe-Cr spinel as the dominant constituent in the passive films with more Cr enrichment in the oxide film on 316L than that of 304L. Bandgap readings and semiconductivities of the two stainless steels suggested ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

ATR-X (alpha-thalassemia/mental retardation, X-linked) syndrome is a human congenital disorder that causes severe intellectual disabilities. Mutations in the ATRX gene, which encodes an ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeler, are responsible for the syndrome. Approximately 50% of the missense mutations in affected persons are clustered in a cysteine-rich domain termed ADD (ATRX-DNMT3-DNMT3L, ADD{sub ATRX}), whose function has remained elusive. Here we identify ADD{sub ATRX} as a previously unknown histone H3-binding module, whose binding is promoted by lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) but inhibited by lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). The cocrystal structure of ADD{sub ATRX} bound to H3{sub 1-15}K9me3 peptide reveals an atypical composite H3K9me3-binding pocket, which is distinct from the conventional trimethyllysine-binding aromatic cage. Notably, H3K9me3-pocket mutants and ATR-X syndrome mutants are defective in both H3K9me3 binding and localization at pericentromeric heterochromatin; ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

One approach to validate nuclear power plant (NPP) signals makes use of pattern recognition techniques. This approach often assumes that there is a set of signal prototypes that are continuously compared with the actual sensor signals. These signal prototypes are often computed based on empirical models with little or no knowledge about physical processes. A common problem of all data-based models is their limited ability to make predictions on the basis of available training data. Another problem is related to suboptimal training algorithms. Both of these potential shortcomings with conventional approaches to signal validation and sensor operability validation are successfully resolved by adopting a recently proposed learning paradigm called the support vector machine (SVM). The work presented here is a novel application of SVM for data-based modeling of system state variables in an NPP, integrated with a nonlinear, nonparametric technique called the multivariate ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The ALICE heavy-ion particle physics experiment is currently being built at CERN near Geneva. It will use a PC cluster of 900 dual-processor machines for the last stages of the data readout process and a network of 400 microcomputers for the configuration and control of the cluster nodes. One of the most important objectives to be achieved in such experiments is to guarantee the utilized devices are running correctly during the experiment life-time. A second aspect is the extremely high availability and reliability requirements of the applications being run, the so called high level trigger (HLT). The SysMES framework is a scalable, decentralized, fault tolerant, dynamic, rule based tool set for the monitoring of networks of target systems and applications. The management algorithms consist of the following steps: system and application monitoring, recognition of undesirable states, event (message) generation, local event handling on the target, event forwarding to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lectin is a generic name of sugar binding protein in living organisms. With an objective to clarify physiological functions of lectin in marine invertebrates and utilize it as a useful material in the bio-chemical industry, studies were carried out on the chemical structure, distribution in living organisms and structural changes of lectin. Lectin is involved with such physiological actions as immunity reactions, generation and differentiation, Ca fixation and symbiosis. Lectin is one of the main components of lymph fluid in shellfish and crustacean, and is a multi-functional polymer that is related with foreign substance recognition, Ca transport, and shell formation. Lectin of a certain kind shows strong actions to accelerate cell division. Organs and cells were cultivated for lectin producing organs and lectin producing cells to verify the production thereof. Elucidation was attempted in a molecular level on such physiological functions as foreign substance ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

GSTD1 is one of several insect glutathione S-transferases capable of metabolizing the insecticide DDT. Here we use crystallography and NMR to elucidate the binding of DDT and glutathione to GSTD1. The crystal structure of Drosophila melanogaster GSTD1 has been determined to 1.1 {angstrom} resolution, which reveals that the enzyme adopts the canonical GST fold but with a partially occluded active site caused by the packing of a C-terminal helix against one wall of the binding site for substrates. This helix would need to unwind or be displaced to enable catalysis. When the C-terminal helix is removed from the model of the crystal structure, DDT can be computationally docked into the active site in an orientation favoring catalysis. Two-dimensional {sup 1}H,{sup 15}N heteronuclear single-quantum coherence NMR experiments of GSTD1 indicate that conformational changes occur upon glutathione and DDT binding and the residues that broaden upon DDT binding support the predicted binding site. ...

Science.gov (United States)

The present work reports on Raman and Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) vibrational fingerprints of ?-carotene and haemoglobin in fresh whole blood (i.e. right after blood test) with different laser excitations, i.e. visible (514 nm) and near-infrared (NIR, 785 nm). The use of colloidal silver nanoparticles significantly increases the Raman signal, thus providing a clear SERS spectrum of blood. The collected spectra have been examined and marker bands of ?-carotene and of the haem prosthetic group of haemoglobin have been found. In particular, the fundamental features of ?-carotene (514 nm excitation), blood proteins and haem molecules (785 nm excitation) were recognized and assigned. Moreover haemoglobin SERS signals can be identified and related with its oxygenation state (oxy-haemoglobin). The data reported show the prospects of Raman and SERS techniques to detect important bio-molecules in a whole blood sample with no pre-treatment. PMID:21622021

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper examines the dynamic international political economic environment in which petroleum exploration and production companies must operate when considering investments in the economically transitional nations of the former Soviet Union or developing nations In this period of critical global changes low oil prices is only one factor with which petroleum companies Must be. concerned in their investment decisions Other factors include the transition from a bipolar world to a multipolar world of free trade zones. the general malaise of the international economy public and political recognition that nations and industries can no longer practice environmental {open_quotes}beggar-thy-neighbor{close_quotes} policies, and the rejection of aggregate national economic growth policies for sustainable economic development policies in both the Developed and developing world This paper focuses on actions which investing petroleum exploration and production companies can ...

CERN Document Server

In order to produce a low energy effective field theory from a string model, it is necessary to specify a vacuum state. In order that this vacuum be supersymmetric, it is well known that all field expectation values must be along so-called flat directions, leaving the F- and D-terms of the scalar potential to be zero. The situation becomes particularly interesting when one attempts to realize such directions while assigning VEVS to fields transforming under non-Abelian representations of the gauge group. Since the expectation value is now shared among multiple components of a field, satisfaction of flatness becomes an inherently geometrical problem in the group space. Furthermore, the possibility emerges that a single seemingly dangerous F-term might experience a self-cancellation among its components. The hope exists that the geometric language can provide an intuitive and immediate recognition of when the D and F conditions are simultaneously compatible, as well ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Theoretical prediction of nuclear masses is analyzed as a pattern recognition problem on the N-Z plane. A global pattern is observed by plotting the differences between measured masses and Liquid Drop Model (LDM) predictions. After unfolding the data by removing the smooth LDM mass contributions, the remaining microscopic effects have proved difficult to model, although they display a striking pattern. These deviations carry information related to shell closures, nuc]ear deformation and the residual nuclear interactions. In the present work the more than 2000 known nuclear masses are studied as an array in the N-Z plane viewed through a mask, behind which the approximately 7000 unknown unstable nuclei that can exist between the proton and neutron drip lines are hidden. We show here that employing a Fourier transform deconvolution method these by masses can be predicted with similar accuracy than standard methods. We believe that a more general approach needs to be ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of paralic successions is complicated by the complex interfingering of marine and continental strata. The successions may also include terrestrial extensions of marine parasequences and completely independent lacustrine parasequence analogues. Failure in recognizing the possible interbedding of these two independent parasequence types may lead to construction of sequence stratigraphic schemes based on incompatible data sets. We have studied a Lower Jurassic paralic section from the Baltic island of Bornholm. The Hettangian-Sinemurian Sose Bugt Member (Ronne Formation) of Bornholm includes lacustrine, fluvial and restricted marine, estuarine deposits reflecting the basin-margin position. Biostatigraphic resolution is poor and a sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the paralic succession is far from straightforward. A multidisciplinary approach including facies analysis, recognition and lateral tracting of key surface, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Model-based approaches to pattern recognition and machine vision have been proposed to overcome the exorbitant training requirements of earlier computational paradigms. However, uncertainties in data were found to lead to a combinatorial explosion of the computational complexity. This issue is related here to the roles of a priori knowledge vs. adaptive learning. What is the a-priori knowledge representation that supports learning? I introduce Modeling Field Theory (MFT), a model-based neural network whose adaptive learning is based on a priori models. These models combine deterministic, fuzzy, and statistical aspects to account for a priori knowledge, its fuzzy nature, and data uncertainties. In the process of learning, a priori fuzzy concepts converge to crisp or probabilistic concepts. The MFT is a convergent dynamical system of only linear computational complexity. Fuzzy logic turns out to be essential for reducing the combinatorial complexity to linear one. I ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The preS2 antigens of hepatitis B virus (HBV), which causes a serious health problem in the world, have been implicated in hepatocyte cell binding and viral penetration. Therefore, the importance of antibody production against preS2 antigen for early diagnosis of HBV has been well established. In this study, the recombinant HBV preS2 single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody was successfully expressed in E. coli with the novel cold shock vector (pCold) under the cspA promoter, and its expression level was compared with the pET vector under the T7 promoter. Additionally, a host with an oxidizing cytoplasm, E. coli trxB/gor double mutant, was used to improve the soluble expression. The anti-HBV preS2 scFv using pCold vector was successfully expressed in a soluble and functional form in ...

CERN Document Server

Finding "densely connected clusters" in a graph is in general an important and well studied problem in the literature \\cite{Schaeffer}. It has various applications in pattern recognition, social networking and data mining \\cite{Duda,Mishra}. Recently, Ames and Vavasis have suggested a novel method for finding cliques in a graph by using convex optimization over the adjacency matrix of the graph \\cite{Ames, Ames2}. Also, there has been recent advances in decomposing a given matrix into its "low rank" and "sparse" components \\cite{Candes, Chandra}. In this paper, inspired by these results, we view "densely connected clusters" as imperfect cliques, where imperfections correspond missing edges, which are relatively sparse. We analyze the problem in a probabilistic setting and aim to detect disjointly planted clusters. Our main result basically suggests that, one can find \\emph{dense} clusters in a graph, as long as the clusters are sufficiently large. We conclude ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mass density of a composite is generally taken as the volume-averaged value of components' densities. Moreover, the same volume-averaged mass density is usually used to calculate the wave speed in the long-wavelength limit, i.e., where the wavelength is much larger than the size of the inhomogeneities. In this paper, we show via rigorous derivation that the dynamic mass density used in the calculation of (long-wavelength) wave speed can differ significantly from the static volume-averaged value. This recognition is shown to yield an excellent account of some recent experimental data, as well as to make possible the realization of acoustic metamaterials. Physical reason for the difference between two mass densities is attributed to the relative motion between the components. That is, the implicit assumption-that all components in a composite must move uniformly in the long-wavelength limit-can be violated in the limit of large acoustic impedance contrast ...

Science.gov (United States)

Gallstone is a common disease with a 10% prevalence in the United States and Western Europe. However, it is only symptomatic in 20-30% of patients, with biliary pain "colic" being the most common symptom. Complications of asymptomatic gallstone disease are generally rare, with an incidence of <1 %/yr. The most common complications of gallstone disease are acute cholecystitis, acute pancreatitis, ascending cholangitis, and gangrenous gallbladder. Less frequent complications include Mirizzi syndrome, cholecystocholedochal fistula, and gallstone ileus. Mirizzi syndrome and cholecystocholedochal fistula are two manifestations of the same process that starts with impaction of a gallstone in the gallbladder neck that results in obstruction of the bile duct, causing jaundice. The gallstone may erode into the bile duct, causing cholecystocholedochal fistula. Gallstone ileus refers to small bowel obstruction resulting from the impaction of one or more gallstones after they have migrated ...

Science.gov (United States)

N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis has led to the elucidation of several regulator genes for melanocyte and skin development. Here we characterized a mutant from ENU mutagenesis with similar phenotype as that of Splotch mutant, including exencephaly, spina bifida and abnormal limbs in homozygotes as well as white belly spotting and occasionally loop-tail in heterozygotes. This novel mutant was named as Sp(xG). Through genome-wide linkage analysis in backcross progenies with microsatellite markers, the Sp(xG) was confined to a region between D1MIT415 and D1MIT7 on chromosome 1, where notable Pax3 gene was located. Direct sequencing revealed that Sp(xG) carried a nucleotide A894G missense transition in exon 6 of Pax3 gene that resulted in Asn to Asp substitution at amino acid 269 within the highly-conserved homeodomain (HD) DNA recognition module, which was the first point mutation found in this domain in mice. This N269D mutation impaired the transactivation ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Molecular recognition by calix[6]arene-based receptors bearing three primary alkylamino side chain arms (1) is described. Complexation of ZnII ion provides the dinuclear m-hydroxo complex ${{\\bf 2}{{{\\rm OH}\\hfill \\atop {\\rm G}\\hfill}}}$, XRD characterization of which, together with solution studies, provided evidence of its hosting of neutral polar organic guests G. Treatment of this complex with a carboxylic acid or a sulfonamide (XH) results in the formation of mononuclear species ${{\\bf 3}{{{\\rm X}\\hfill \\atop {\\rm G}\\hfill}}}$, one of which (X = Cl) has been characterized by XRD. A dicationic complex ${{\\bf 3}{{{\\rm RNH}{_{2}}\\hfill \\atop {\\rm G}\\hfill}}}$ is obtained upon treatment of ${{\\bf 2}{{{\\rm OH}\\hfill \\atop {\\rm G}\\hfill}}}$ with a mixture of an alkylamine and a strong acid....

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The French radioactive waste management act of December 30, 1991, included two key provisions. It initiated a major research program with three areas of investigation concerning high-level long-lived radioactive waste management routes, and called for the Government to submit a legislative proposal to Parliament within 15 years (by 2006) specifying the policy guidelines adopted. Considering the sensitive nature of the subject, the questions surrounding the issue of radioactive waste, and the social, economic and environmental concerns for present and future generations, the Government has inaugurated, in 2005, a nationwide public debate on these issues between the submittal of the research reports and the parliamentary discussion of the proposed law. In this context, the CEA has decided to concentrate at Marcoule the expertise and experience acquired in the area of radioactive waste management and to make it available to stakeholders and to the public. A scientific cultural center, ...

Science.gov (United States)

Background: Accountability demands are increasingly pushing school leaders to explore more data and do more sophisticated analyses. Data-driven decision making (DDDM) has become an emerging field of practice for school leadership and a central focus of education policy and practice. Purpose: This study examined principals' DDDM practices and identified the factors influencing DDDM using the theoretical frame of information use environments. Participants: Participants were 183 public high school principals in a Midwestern state. Research Design: The research design was cross-sectional survey research. Data Collection and Analysis: Survey instruments were developed and administered to principals. Structural equation modeling was conducted to determine what factors significantly affect principals' DDDM practices in different leadership dimensions. Findings: Principals used data more frequently in instructional and organization operational leadership than in the leadership dimensions of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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 ...

Science.gov (United States)

The global spread of HIV and AIDS has presented a major threat to development, affecting the health of the poor and many aspects of social and economic development. The greatest impact of the epidemic has been felt in sub-Saharan Africa, and Zambia ranks among the worst hit countries. The Free Basic Education Policy in Zambia upholds the right of all children to a universal basic education. This study explored staff and student perceptions of the impact of the epidemic on access to, and the quality of, basic education for AIDS-affected children, orphans and other vulnerable children (OVCs) in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate ranges from 34 to 40%, and life expectancy has dropped to 33 years. Data were collected from education personnel in six districts of the Copperbelt with the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS and from staff and students in six schools. The data indicated a range of factors that adversely affect the access ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report was prepared in response to a request from the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee (NERAC) subcommittee on ''Long-Term Isotope Research and Production Plans.'' The NERAC subcommittee has asked for a reply to a number of questions regarding (1) ''How well does the Department of Energy (DOE) infrastructure sme the need for commercial and medical isotopes?'' and (2) ''What should be the long-term role of the federal government in providing commercial and medical isotopes?' Our report addresses the questions raised by the NERAC subcommittee, and especially the 10 issues that were raised under the first of the above questions (see Appendix). These issues are related to the isotope products offered by the DOE Isotope Production Sites, the capabilities and condition of the facilities used to produce these products, the management of the isotope production programs at DOE ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

If geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) are to make a significant mark in the market, we believe that it will be through energy service pricing contracts offered by retailcos. The benefits of GHPs are ideally suited to energy service pricing (ESP) contractual arrangements; however, few retailcos are thoroughly familiar with the benefits of GHPs. Many of the same barriers that have prevented GHPs from reaching their full potential in the current market environment remain in place for retailcos. A lack of awareness, concerns over the actual efficiencies of GHPs, perceptions of extremely high first costs, unknown records for maintenance costs, etc. have all contributed to limited adoption of GHP technology. These same factors are of concern to retailcos as they contemplate long term customer contracts. The central focus of this project was the creation of models, using actual GHP operating data and the experience of seasoned professionals, to simulate the financial ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Throughout the 1990's to year 2000, energy integration, and particularly natural gas integration, was seen as a major goal in the southern cone of South America. The regional perspective for energy was related to an even more challenging objective - Latin American economic integration, which was quickly moving forward by the constitution of Mercosur, the free trade zone built by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, and also having Bolivia and Chile as special partners. Mercosur was getting stronger and becoming a successful political project. Trade conflicts existed, but they were considered normal and nobody would disagree about the viability of Mercosur. By the beginning of the 21. century, the economic integration process in South America was already advancing timidly as compared to the impetus from the beginning of 1990's. Mercosur started facing complex and almost insurmountable challenges after the numerous global financial crises (from 1998 to 2003) had affected the economic ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We use the bulge Sersic index n and bulge-to-total mass ratio (B/T) to explore the fundamental question of how bulges form. We perform two-dimensional bulge-disk-bar decomposition on H-band images of 143 bright, high-mass (M _* #>=# 1.0 x 10"1"0 M _s_u_n) low-to-moderately inclined (i < 70"0) spirals. Our results are as follows. (1) Our H-band bar fraction (#approx#58%) is consistent with that from ellipse fits. (2) 70% of the stellar mass is in disks, 10% in bars, and 20% in bulges. (3) A large fraction (#approx#69%) of bright spirals have B/T#<=# 0.2, and #approx#76% have low n #<=# 2 bulges. These bulges exist in barred and unbarred galaxies across a wide range of Hubble types. (4) About 65% (68%) of bright spirals with n #<=# 2 (B/T #<=# 0.2) bulges host bars, suggesting a possible link between bars and bulges. (5) We compare the results with predictions from a set of #LAMBDA#CDM models. In the models, a high-mass spiral can have a bulge with a present-day low ...

Science.gov (United States)

Drosophila melanogaster has long been at the forefront of studies of transcriptional regulation in animals. Many fundamental ideas--such as cis control elements that act over long distances, the regulation of development by hierarchical cascades of transcription factors, dosage compensation, and position effect variegation--originated from studies of the fruit fly. The recent completion of the euchromatic DNA sequence of Drosophila is another breakthrough. The sequence data highlight important unanswered questions. For example, only one-fifth of the 124 Mb of Drosophila euchromatic DNA codes for protein. The function of the remaining 100 Mb of mostly unique DNA is largely unknown. Some proportion of this non-reading frame DNA must encode the functional recognition sites targeted by the approximately 700 sequence-specific DNA binding proteins that regulate transcription in Drosophila, but what proportion? Most or very little? Promoter sequences by definition contain ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) administers and operates the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site, which hosts a deep geologic repository for safe disposal of U.S. defense-related TRU waste and is located 42 kilometers (km) east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. CBFO also manages the National Transuranic Waste Program (NTP), which oversees TRU waste management from generation to disposal. The WIPP began receiving waste in March 1999. In some areas of broad international interest, the CBFO has developed a leading expertise through its 25-year WIPP repository and TRU waste characterization activities. In addition to participating in relevant and beneficial experiments, the CBFO will provide the international community convenient access to this information by sponsoring and hosting symposia and workshops on relevant topics and by participation in international waste management organizations and topical meetings. In recognition of the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

For the construction of underground facilities comprising access tunnels, connecting tunnels, main tunnels and disposal tunnels, a large number of tunnels will be excavated in deep rock formations. These excavations will extend hundreds kilometers in total length. Therefore, special attention must be paid, to transporting large volume of debris, ventilation, emergency escape routes in case of accident, and other factors. In addition, special attention must also paid to potential accidents which might in underground excavations, including unstable facing phenomena (such as collapse and swelling of facing at weak layer sections), spring water flow resulting collapse of rock, gas eruption, and rock burst. While considering these factors to be emphasized during the construction of geological disposal facilities, the investigation reviewed the existing working methods on individual construction technologies of access tunnels, main tunnels, connecting tunnels, disposal tunnels, and disposal ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In the present study, vibration tests have been carried out on notched concrete prisms. The tests have been conducted to study modal parameters and vibration signatures in order to enhance the knowledge of monitoring concrete structures. Notch (artificially introduced crack) of constant widths and varying depths has been introduced in the concrete prisms at different locations. The specimens have been subjected to impact excitations by dropping a specific weight from a fixed height and at a particular location. The natural frequencies of notched and intact prisms have been experimentally measured. The frequency response functions (FRF) as obtained from multichannel pulse analyzer have been synthesized to evaluate the fundamental mode shape of vibration of the prisms by a curve fitting method. These curves have been further post-processed to obtain the modal curvature values. Pattern Recognition Scheme is applied to synthesize vibration signatures for the evaluation ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fusion energy is one of only a few truly long-term energy options. Since its inception in the 1950s, the vision of the fusion energy research program has been to develop a viable means of harnessing the virtually unlimited energy stored in the nuclei of light atoms--the primary fuel deuterium is present as one part in 6,500 of all hydrogen. This vision grew out of the recognition that the immense power radiated by the sun is fueled by nuclear fusion in its hot core. Such high temperatures are a prerequisite for driving significant fusion reactions. The fascinating fourth state of matter at high temperatures is known as plasma. It is only in this fourth state of matter that the nuclei of two light atoms can fuse, releasing the excess energy that was needed to separately bind each of the original two nuclei. Because the nuclei of atoms carry a net positive electric charge, they repel each other. Hydrogenic nuclei, such as deuterium and tritium, must be heated to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recent work on the St. Louis Limestone in southwestern Kansas has demonstrated that these units contain a significant eolian facies component (up to 80-90% of total unit thickness). Reservoir intervals within the St. Louis are confined to relatively thin subtidal grainstones that, in turn, are capped by a muddy carbonate and shale facies. Critical to exploration and development of these grain-shoal reservoirs is an understanding of their spatial and stratigraphic distribution. Core through the St. Louis and St. Genevieve limestones has been examined and features have been recognized at the top of the eolianites. These surfaces are interpreted as long-term exposure surfaces. The contact between the subtidal grainstone shoals and the overlying muddy carbonate and shale facies is relatively sharp and is interpreted as representing a flooding surface separating shoal from muddy-open shelf facies. In the St. Louis Limestone, the subtidal carbonate grainstone reservoir intervals consist of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The hydroelectric industry's recognition of the importance of avoiding unexpected failure, or forced outages, led to the development of probabilistic, or risk-based, methods in order to attempt to quantify exposures. Traditionally, such analysis has been carried out by qualitative assessments, relying on experience and sound engineering judgment to determine the optimum time to maintain, repair or replace a part or system. Depending on the nature of the problem, however, and the level of experience of those included in the decision making process, it is difficult to find a balance between acting proactively and accepting some amount of risk. The development of a practical means for establishing the probability of failure of any part or system, based on the determination of the statistical distribution of engineering properties such as acting stresses, is discussed. The capacity-demand analysis methodology, coupled with probablistic, risk-based analysis, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The 1990s promise to be a decade of change. In business, the focus will be on restructuring for purposes of improved productivity and efficiency. The Department of Energy (DOE) has recognized that change is on the horizon. The Yucca Mountain Project, carried out under the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) within the DOE is under new leadership. This new leadership is restructuring its operations to provide better focus, greater efficiency, meaningful products demonstrating progress and a more open operational environment. Criticisms of past operations have been reviewed and evaluated such that the new management organization derives benefit from the past. In recognition that management concerns may be manifested in other areas, Yucca Mountain Project management believes that reorganization is necessary to maximize efficiency. In designing the new organization, a high priority has been placed upon making changes which enable the federal ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

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PETROBRAS/TRANSPETRO Pipelines and Terminals has 500 regular employees and 5.064 out sourced workers in its Southeast Division. The out sourced employees work through 125 contracts involving a wide range of activities such as maintenance, operational, pipeline launching , engineering, administrative and auxiliary services. Among these workers, 200 people are subjected to benzene occupational exposure, which might be present in the products we transport in our pipelines. Benzene is recognized as a carcinogen according to ACGIH and Brazilian Ministry of Labour regulation NR- 15. Exposure to benzene in an uncontrolled way, be it chronic or sharp, may affect the worker's health such as: hematological alterations, neoplasys, neurobehavior alterations. Our program PPEOB (acronym in Portuguese for benzene occupational exposure prevention program) involved the work force and fosters health by anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of the situations that ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The stunning, intricate interaction between the visual, vestibular and optomotor systems--each a miracle on its own--ensures maintenance of orientation in space as well as visual recognition and target selection despite a host of sensory conflicts and adversary disturbances. Their main goals are to keep a target of interest on the fovea by either maintaining or shifting the direction of gaze in order to produce an accurate internal representation of the visual surroundings, in particular the selected target, and to continuously mirror the spatial relationship between these various visual elements and the self. Not surprising, the implementation of this host of elaborate neural networks encompasses almost every part of the brain, including the brainstem, cerebellum, extrapyramidal system and many areas of the cerebral cortex. Thus far, these systems are among the best investigated in brain research; and enormous knowledge was amassed over the last century employing ...

Science.gov (United States)

This study presents a novel approach to modeling the electrocardiogram (ECG): the Gaussian pulse decomposition. Constituent waves of the ECG are decomposed into and represented by Gaussian pulses using an iterative algorithm: the chip away decomposition (ChAD) algorithm. At each iteration, a nonlinear minimization method is used to fit a portion of the ECG waveform with a single Gaussian pulse, which is then subtracted from the ECG waveform. The process iterates on the resulting residual waveform until the normalized mean square error is below an acceptable level. Three different minimization methods were compared for their applicability to the ChAD algorithm; the Nelder-Mead simplex method was found to be more noise-tolerant than the Newton-Raphson method or the steepest descent method. Using morphologically different ECG waveforms from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database, it was demonstrated that the ChAD algorithm is capable of modeling not only normal beats, but also abnormal beats, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Technology is being developed for preparing functional materials by synthesizing new functional peptides in which non-natural amino acid needed for the functional manifestation is introduced, and by modifying the surface of a base plate such as silica glass by using such peptides. Activities were conducted in the three areas of (1) creation of functional molecules, (2) materialization technology, and (3) comprehensive investigation and research; the activities were carried out independently and parallelly in the first two areas. In (1), design technique for the structures and functions of peptides was developed, as were conformational control technique, synthesis of peptides having optical/electronic functions, peptide synthesis by an enzyme method, and R and D on introduction of non-natural amino acid into peptides; in (2), element technologies were developed such as substrate forming technique (pattern forming and thin film forming technology), substrate modification technique, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Economics may one day dictate that it makes sense to replace oil or natural gas with coal in boilers that were originally designed to burn oil or gas. In recognition of this future possibility, Pittsburgh Energy Technical Center (PETC) has supported a program led by ABB Power Plant Laboratories in cooperation with the Energy and Fuels Research Center of Penn State University to develop the High Efficiency Advanced Coal Combustor (HEACC). The objective of the program is to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of retrofitting a gas/oil designed boiler to burn micronized coal. In support of the overall objective the following specific areas were targeted: a coal handling/preparation system that can meet the technical requirements for retrofitting microfine coal on a boiler designed for burning oil or natural gas; maintaining boiler thermal performance in accordance with specifications when burning oil or natural gas; maintaining NOx emissions at or below ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Drosophila sequence-specific DNA binding protein, Adf-1, is capable of activating transcription of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene, Adh, and is implicated in the transcriptional control of other developmentally regulated genes. We have cloned the cDNA encoding Adf-1 by generating specific DNA probes deduced from partial amino acid sequence of the protein. Several cDNA clones encoding an extended open reading frame were isolated from a phage lambda library. The complete amino acid sequence of Adf-1 deduced from the longest cDNA reveals structural similarities to the putative helix-turn-helix DNA binding motif of Myb and Myb-related proteins. DNA sequence analysis of genomic clones and Northern blot analysis of mRNA suggest that Adf-1 is a single-copy gene encoding a 1.9-kb transcript. Purified recombinant Adf-1 expressed in Escherichia coli binds specifically to Adf-1 recognition sites and activates transcription of a synthetic Adh promoter in vitro in a manner ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

'The objective of this project is to provide a means to optimize ligand architecture for f-block metal recognition. The authors strategy builds on an innovative and successful molecular modeling approach in developing polyether ligand design criteria for the alkali and alkaline earth cations. The hypothesis underlying this proposal is that differences in metal ion binding with multidentate ligands bearing the same number and type of donor groups are primarily attributable to intramolecular steric factors. They propose quantifying these steric factors through the application of molecular mechanics models. The research involves close integration of theoretical and experimental chemistry. The experimental work entails synthesizing novel ligands and experimentally determining structures and binding constants for metal ion complexation by series of ligands in which architecture is systematically varied. The theoretical work entails using electronic structure ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

To illustrate frequently encountered anatomic variations on PNS computed tomography(CT) and to assess their clinical significance. CT findings of 1523 patients, who underwent PNS CT with no history of sinus surgery, were reviewed, and prevalence of each anatomic variation and its relationship with mucociliary clearance pathway was evaluated. Two categories of anatomic variations were encountered. The first group included variations of the turbinates, such as concha bullosa(28.6%), paradoxical middle turbinate(31.5%), of the uncinate process, such as medially bent or folded(36.3%), laterally bent(3.7%) or uncinate bulla(0.5%), of the ethmoidal sinus, such as Haller's cell(28.2%), large agger nasi cell(9.6%) or large ethmoidal bulla(23.5%) and nasal septal deviation(24.1%), which might cause obstruction of mucociliary clearance pathway and thus give rise to secondary obstructive sinusitis. The second group included Onodi cell(1.4%) and medial depression of the lamina ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We previously reported the identification of a new family of plant methyltransferases (MTs), named the SABATH family, that use S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) to methylate a carboxyl moiety or a nitrogen-containing functional group on a diverse array of plant compounds. The Arabidopsis genome alone contains 24 distinct SABATH genes. To identify the catalytic specificities of members of this protein family in Arabidopsis, we screened recombinantly expressed and purified enzymes with a large number of potential substrates. Here, we report that the Arabidopsis thaliana gene At3g44860 encodes a protein with high catalytic specificity towards farnesoic acid (FA). Under steady-state conditions, this farnesoic acid carboxyl methyltransferase (FAMT) exhibits K{sub M} values of 41 and 71 {mu}M for FA and SAM, respectively. A three-dimensional model of FAMT constructed based upon similarity to the experimentally determined structure of Clarkia breweri salicylic acid methyltransferase (SAMT) ...

Science.gov (United States)

Research into methods for reasoning under uncertainty is currently one of the most exciting areas of artificial intelligence, largely because it has recently become possible to record, store, and process large amounts of data. While impressive achievements have been made in pattern classification problems such as handwritten character recognition, face detection, speaker identification, and prediction of gene function, it is even more exciting that researchers are on the verge of introducing systems that can perform large-scale combinatorial analyses of data, decomposing the data into interacting components. For example, computational methods for automatic scene analysis are now emerging in the computer vision community. These methods decompose an input image into its constituent objects, lighting conditions, motion patterns, etc. Two of the main challenges are finding effective representations and models in specific applications and finding efficient algorithms ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In comparison to deterministic criteria, probabilistic reliability indices like interruption frequency and unavailability give a more differentiated insight into reliability in an electrical energy network. One possibility for network planning based on these indices is the definition of limits for customer nodes, another is the monetarisation of reliability in terms of interruption costs. Because of numerous disadvantages, interruption cost methods could not up to now win broad recognition in network planning in Western Europe. A more recent method for the monetarisation of reliability circumventing most of these disadvantages is the insurance system. In this system the customer selects a tariff class in an insurance system, and the utility reimburses its customers in the case of an interruption. In its first section, the paper describes a method for the flexible and realistic optimisation of MV networks. This method based on Genetic optimisation is able to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report describes the results made in fulfillment of contract DE-FG26-02NT15451, ''Multicomponent Seismic Analysis and Calibration to Improve Recovery from Algal Mounds: Application to the Roadrunner/Towaoc Area of the Paradox Basin, Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, Colorado''. Optimizing development of highly heterogeneous reservoirs where porosity and permeability vary in unpredictable ways due to facies variations can be challenging. An important example of this is in the algal mounds of the Lower and Upper Ismay reservoirs of the Paradox Basin in Utah and Colorado. It is nearly impossible to develop a forward predictive model to delineate regions of better reservoir development, and so enhanced recovery processes must be selected and designed based upon data that can quantitatively or qualitatively distinguish regions of good or bad reservoir permeability and porosity between existing well control. Recent advances in seismic acquisition and ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Full text: The IRSN has been organizing enquiries with the French population about risk and risk perception for a long time. In 2002, a collaboration between the IRSN in France and the SCK.CEN in Belgium has been set-up to simultaneously (November 2002) organise this poll in both countries. In each country, a representative sample of the population (over 1000 participants per country) has been consulted by Computer Aided Personal Interviews of about 30 minutes with the professional help of commercial companies: BVA in France and Research International in Belgium. The enquiry yields a broad spectrum of interesting data; here only the results relevant for the emergency context will be presented. One should be aware that these data were collected in a 'normal' period; important differences in behaviour may occur given a serious crisis. A first finding is that more than half of the respondents are convinced that an accident as severe as the Chernobyl disaster may ...