WorldWideScience

Sample records for safety signal generation

  1. Operational Safety Assessment of Turbo Generators with Wavelet Rényi Entropy from Sensor-Dependent Vibration Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoli Zhang

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid development of sensor technology, various professional sensors are installed on modern machinery to monitor operational processes and assure operational safety, which play an important role in industry and society. In this work a new operational safety assessment approach with wavelet Rényi entropy utilizing sensor-dependent vibration signals is proposed. On the basis of a professional sensor and the corresponding system, sensor-dependent vibration signals are acquired and analyzed by a second generation wavelet package, which reflects time-varying operational characteristic of individual machinery. Derived from the sensor-dependent signals’ wavelet energy distribution over the observed signal frequency range, wavelet Rényi entropy is defined to compute the operational uncertainty of a turbo generator, which is then associated with its operational safety degree. The proposed method is applied in a 50 MW turbo generator, whereupon it is proved to be reasonable and effective for operation and maintenance.

  2. Generator of combined logical signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laviron, Andre; Berard, Claude.

    1982-01-01

    The invention concerns a generator of combined logical signals to form combinations of two outputs at logical level 1 and N-2 outputs at logical level 0, among N generator outputs. This generator is characterized in that it includes a set of N means for storing combinations. Means enable the N storage means to be loaded with the logical levels corresponding to a pre-set starting combination, to control the operations for shifting the contents of the storage means and to control, by transfer facilities, the transfers of contents between these storage means. Controls enable the storage means to be actuated in order to obtain combinations of logical levels 1 and 0. The generation of combinations can be stopped after another pre-set combination. Application is for testing of safety circuits for nuclear power stations [fr

  3. On-line generation of three-dimensional core power distribution using incore detector signals to monitor safety limits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, Jin Wook; Lee, Ki Bog; Na, Man Gyun; Lee, Yoon Joon

    2004-01-01

    It is essential in commercial reactors that the safety limits imposed on the fuel pellets and fuel clad barriers, such as the Linear Power Density (LPD) and the Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio (DNBR), are not violated during reactor operations. In order to accurately monitor the safety limits of current reactor states, a detailed three-dimensional (3D) core power distribution should be estimated from the in-core detector signals. In this paper, we propose a calculation methodology for detailed 3D core power distribution, using in-core detector signals and core monitoring constants such as the 3D Coupling Coefficients (3DCC), node power fraction, and pin-to-node factors. Also, the calculation method for several core safety parameters is introduced. The core monitoring constants for the real core state are promptly provided by the core design code and on-line MASTER(Multi-purpose Analyzer for Static and Transient Effects of Reactors), coupled with the core monitoring program. Through the plant computer, core state variables, which include reactor thermal power, control rod bank position, boron concentration, inlet moderator temperature, and flow rate, are supplied as input data for MASTER. MASTER performs the core calculation based on the neutron balance equation and generates several core monitoring constants corresponding to the real core state in addition to the expected core power distribution. The accuracy of the developed method is verified through a comparison with the current CECOR method. Because in all the verification calculation cases the proposed method shows a more conservative value than the best estimated value and a less conservative one than the current CECOR and COLSS methods, it is also confirmed that this method secures a greater operating margin through the simulation of the YGN-3 cycle-1 core from the viewpoint of the power peaking factor for the LPD and the pseudo hot pin axial power distribution for the DNBR calculation

  4. Safety Impacts of the Actuated Signal Control at Urban Intersections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sang Hyuk Lee

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available To reduce travel time, the actuated signal controls have been implemented at urban intersections. However, the safety impacts of actuated signal controls thus far have rarely been examined. In this assessment of the safety impact of urban intersections with semi-actuated signal controls, the safety performance functions and EB approaches were applied. The semi-actuated signal controls have increased injuries and total crashes in all crash types by around 5.9% and 3.8%, respectively. Regarding the most common crash types, such as angle, sideswipe & rear-end, and head-on crashes, semi-actuated signal controls have been seen to decrease injuries by 7.7%. Total crashes have been reduced by over 9.2% through the use of semi-actuated signal controls. This may be result of optimal signal timings considering traffic conditions during peak time periods. In conclusion, safety impact factors which have been established in this study can be used to improve safety and minimize travel times using semi-actuated signal controls.

  5. Safety assessment for Generation IV nuclear systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leahy, T.J.

    2012-01-01

    The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Risk and Safety Working Group (RSWG) was created to develop an effective approach for the safety of Generation IV advanced nuclear energy systems. Recent RSWG work has focused on the definition of an integrated safety assessment methodology (ISAM) for evaluating the safety of Generation IV systems. ISAM is an integrated 'tool-kit' consisting of 5 analytical techniques that are available and matched to appropriate stages of Generation IV system concept development: 1) qualitative safety features review - QSR, 2) phenomena identification and ranking table - PIRT, 3) objective provision tree - OPT, 4) deterministic and phenomenological analyses - DPA, and 5) probabilistic safety analysis - PSA. The integrated methodology is intended to yield safety-related insights that help actively drive the evolving design throughout the technology development cycle, potentially resulting in enhanced safety, reduced costs, and shortened development time

  6. Signal generation in gas detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stillman, A.

    1993-01-01

    This tutorial describes the generation of electrical signals in gas detectors. Ionization of the gas by the passage of charged particles generates these signals. Starting with the Bethe-Bloch equation, the treatment is a general introduction to the production of ion-pairs in gas devices. I continue with the characterization of the ionization as an electrical signal, and calculate the signal current in a simple example. Another example demonstrates the effect of space charge on the design of a detector. The AGS Booster ionization profile monitor is a model for this calculation

  7. Modeling Guidelines for Code Generation in the Railway Signaling Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrari, Alessio; Bacherini, Stefano; Fantechi, Alessandro; Zingoni, Niccolo

    2009-01-01

    Modeling guidelines constitute one of the fundamental cornerstones for Model Based Development. Their relevance is essential when dealing with code generation in the safety-critical domain. This article presents the experience of a railway signaling systems manufacturer on this issue. Introduction of Model-Based Development (MBD) and code generation in the industrial safety-critical sector created a crucial paradigm shift in the development process of dependable systems. While traditional software development focuses on the code, with MBD practices the focus shifts to model abstractions. The change has fundamental implications for safety-critical systems, which still need to guarantee a high degree of confidence also at code level. Usage of the Simulink/Stateflow platform for modeling, which is a de facto standard in control software development, does not ensure by itself production of high-quality dependable code. This issue has been addressed by companies through the definition of modeling rules imposing restrictions on the usage of design tools components, in order to enable production of qualified code. The MAAB Control Algorithm Modeling Guidelines (MathWorks Automotive Advisory Board)[3] is a well established set of publicly available rules for modeling with Simulink/Stateflow. This set of recommendations has been developed by a group of OEMs and suppliers of the automotive sector with the objective of enforcing and easing the usage of the MathWorks tools within the automotive industry. The guidelines have been published in 2001 and afterwords revisited in 2007 in order to integrate some additional rules developed by the Japanese division of MAAB [5]. The scope of the current edition of the guidelines ranges from model maintainability and readability to code generation issues. The rules are conceived as a reference baseline and therefore they need to be tailored to comply with the characteristics of each industrial context. Customization of these

  8. Safety analysis of urban signalized intersections under mixed traffic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    S, Anjana; M V L R, Anjaneyulu

    2015-02-01

    This study examined the crash causative factors of signalized intersections under mixed traffic using advanced statistical models. Hierarchical Poisson regression and logistic regression models were developed to predict the crash frequency and severity of signalized intersection approaches. The prediction models helped to develop general safety countermeasures for signalized intersections. The study shows that exclusive left turn lanes and countdown timers are beneficial for improving the safety of signalized intersections. Safety is also influenced by the presence of a surveillance camera, green time, median width, traffic volume, and proportion of two wheelers in the traffic stream. The factors that influence the severity of crashes were also identified in this study. As a practical application, the safe values of deviation of green time provided from design green time, with varying traffic volume, is presented in this study. This is a useful tool for setting the appropriate green time for a signalized intersection approach with variations in the traffic volume. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. A Low-cost Multi-channel Analogue Signal Generator

    CERN Document Server

    Muller, F; Shen, W; Stamen, R

    2009-01-01

    A scalable multi-channel analogue signal generator is presented. It uses a commercial low-cost graphics card with multiple outputs in a standard PC as signal source. Each color signal serves as independent channel to generate an analogue signal. A custom-built external PCB was developed to adjust the graphics card output voltage levels for a specific task, which needed differential signals. The system furthermore comprises a software package to program the signal shape. The implementation of the signal generator is presented as well as an application where it was successfully utilized.

  10. A Low-cost Multi-channel Analogue Signal Generator

    CERN Document Server

    Müller, F; The ATLAS collaboration; Shen, W; Stamen, R

    2009-01-01

    A scalable multi-channel analogue signal generator is presented. It uses a commercial low-cost graphics card with multiple outputs in a standard PC as signal source. Each color signal serves as independent channel to generate an analogue signal. A custom-built external PCB was developed to adjust the graphics card output voltage levels for a specific task, which needed differential signals. The system furthermore comprises a software package to program the signal shape. The signal generator was successfully used as independent test bed for the ATLAS Level-1 Trigger Pre-Processor, providing up to 16 analogue signals.

  11. 47 CFR 80.329 - Safety signals and messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    .... It must be sent before the call. (c) In radiotelephony, the safety signal consists of the word... signal and call must be sent on one of the international distress frequencies (2182 kHz or 156.8 MHz...

  12. 21 CFR 882.1430 - Electroencephalograph test signal generator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Electroencephalograph test signal generator. 882.1430 Section 882.1430 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN... Electroencephalograph test signal generator. (a) Identification. An electroencephalograph test signal generator is a...

  13. Design of the Chaotic Signal Generator Based on LABVIEW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian-Guo Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We introduces a new method that can achieve the generation of Colpitts chaotic signal The system is based on virtual instrument platform and combined with MATLAB calculation to achieve the generation of Colpitts chaotic signal and making it analysis with autocorrelation and power spectrum at the same time. Signal channel output of chaotic signal was realized through USB-6009 acquisition module extending DA5405 high-speed DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter chip. The system can adjust parameters based on customers’ requirements to achieve different frequency chaotic signal generation. Compared with the traditional autonomy Colpitts chaotic signal generator, this generator is simple and clear in structure, simple to operate, strong stability, easy to achieve etc.

  14. Safety impacts of red light cameras at signalized intersections based on cellular automata models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chai, C; Wong, Y D; Lum, K M

    2015-01-01

    This study applies a simulation technique to evaluate the hypothesis that red light cameras (RLCs) exert important effects on accident risks. Conflict occurrences are generated by simulation and compared at intersections with and without RLCs to assess the impact of RLCs on several conflict types under various traffic conditions. Conflict occurrences are generated through simulating vehicular interactions based on an improved cellular automata (CA) model. The CA model is calibrated and validated against field observations at approaches with and without RLCs. Simulation experiments are conducted for RLC and non-RLC intersections with different geometric layouts and traffic demands to generate conflict occurrences that are analyzed to evaluate the hypothesis that RLCs exert important effects on road safety. The comparison of simulated conflict occurrences show favorable safety impacts of RLCs on crossing conflicts and unfavorable impacts for rear-end conflicts during red/amber phases. Corroborative results are found from broad analysis of accident occurrence. RLCs are found to have a mixed effect on accident risk at signalized intersections: crossing collisions are reduced, whereas rear-end collisions may increase. The specially developed CA model is found to be a feasible safety assessment tool.

  15. Ocean circulation generated magnetic signals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Manoj, C.; Kuvshinov, A.; Maus, S.

    2006-01-01

    Conducting ocean water, as it flows through the Earth's magnetic field, generates secondary electric and magnetic fields. An assessment of the ocean-generated magnetic fields and their detectability may be of importance for geomagnetism and oceanography. Motivated by the clear identification...... of ocean tidal signatures in the CHAMP magnetic field data we estimate the ocean magnetic signals of steady flow using a global 3-D EM numerical solution. The required velocity data are from the ECCO ocean circulation experiment and alternatively from the OCCAM model for higher resolution. We assume...... of the magnetic field, as compared to the ECCO simulation. Besides the expected signatures of the global circulation patterns, we find significant seasonal variability of ocean magnetic signals in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Compared to seasonal variation, interannual variations produce weaker signals....

  16. An Integrated Safety Assessment Methodology for Generation IV Nuclear Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leahy, Timothy J.

    2010-01-01

    The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Risk and Safety Working Group (RSWG) was created to develop an effective approach for the safety of Generation IV advanced nuclear energy systems. Early work of the RSWG focused on defining a safety philosophy founded on lessons learned from current and prior generations of nuclear technologies, and on identifying technology characteristics that may help achieve Generation IV safety goals. More recent RSWG work has focused on the definition of an integrated safety assessment methodology for evaluating the safety of Generation IV systems. The methodology, tentatively called ISAM, is an integrated 'toolkit' consisting of analytical techniques that are available and matched to appropriate stages of Generation IV system concept development. The integrated methodology is intended to yield safety-related insights that help actively drive the evolving design throughout the technology development cycle, potentially resulting in enhanced safety, reduced costs, and shortened development time.

  17. Analog Filter Design Rules for Multilevel Polybinary Signaling Generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vegas Olmos, Juan José; Cavallero, Francisco javier Vaquero; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2014-01-01

    Polybinary signaling has gained attention lately due to its generation simplicity and reduced spectral usage. This paper presents a study on the requirements for analog filters for the generation of multilevel polybinary signals with three to nine levels.......Polybinary signaling has gained attention lately due to its generation simplicity and reduced spectral usage. This paper presents a study on the requirements for analog filters for the generation of multilevel polybinary signals with three to nine levels....

  18. Safety implications of diesel generator aging management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoopingarner, K.R.

    1989-01-01

    Significant safety improvements can be achieved in diesel-generator management related to aging, testing, and other important regulatory concerns. This paper reports on the progress of aging research related to nuclear service diesel generators, which developed data and information supporting the recommended safety improvements. The key to diesel-generator safety improvements is the development of a new balanced approach where testing, inspections, monitoring and trending, training, and maintenance all have appropriate importance. Safety improvement is projected in a management program that concurrently achieves three goals: first, the reduction of the fast-start stressor by regulatory and utility actions; second, the establishment of more appropriate testing and trending procedures; third, the adoption and use of reliability-centered maintenance activities. This paper describes the recommended safety improvements and the positive role of utility management in the process and outlines a new recommended regulatory approach. Diesel generator aging and wear is the subject of research sponsored by the Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program under the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The research was conducted by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), which is operated for the US Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute. 4 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

  19. Thermonuclear generation program: risks and safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goes, Alexandre Gromann de Araujo

    1999-01-01

    This work deals with the fundamental concepts of risk and safety related to nuclear power generation. In the first chapter, a general evaluation of the various systems for energy generation and their environmental impacts is made. Some definitions for safety and risk are suggested, based on the already existing regulatory processes and also on the current tendencies of risk management. Aspects regarding the safety culture are commented. The International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), a coherent and clear mechanism of communication between nuclear specialists and the general public, is analyzed. The second chapter examines the thermonuclear generation program in Brazil and the role of the National Nuclear Energy Commission. The third chapter presents national and international scenarios in terms of safety and risks, available policies and the main obstacles for future development of nuclear energy and nuclear engineering, and strategies are proposed. In the last chapter, comments about possible trends and recommendations related to practical risk management procedures, taking into account rational criteria for resources distribution and risk reduction are made, envisaging a closer integration between nuclear specialists and the society as a whole, thus decreasing the conflicts in a democratic decision-making process

  20. The next generation of power reactors - safety characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Modro, S.M.

    1995-01-01

    The next generation of commercial nuclear power reactors is characterized by a new approach to achieving reliability of their safety systems. In contrast to current generation reactors, these designs apply passive safety features that rely on gravity-driven transfer processes or stored energy, such as gas-pressurized accumulators or electric batteries. This paper discusses the passive safety system of the AP600 and Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (SBWR) designs

  1. CAMAC based Test Signal Generator using Re-configurable device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Atish; Raval, Tushar; Srivastava, Amit K; Reddy, D Chenna

    2010-01-01

    There are many different types of signal generators, with different purposes and applications (and at varying levels of expense). In general, no device is suitable for all possible applications. Hence the selection of signal generator is as per requirements. For SST-1 Data Acquisition System requirements, we have developed a CAMAC based Test Signal Generator module using Re-configurable device (CPLD). This module is based on CAMAC interface but can be used for testing both CAMAC and PXI Data Acquisition Systems in SST-1 tokamak. It can also be used for other similar applications. Unlike traditional signal generators, which are embedded hardware, it is a flexible hardware unit, programmable through Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed in LabVIEW application development tool. The main aim of this work is to develop a signal generator for testing our data acquisition interface for a large number of channels simultaneously. The module front panel has various connectors like LEMO and D type connectors for signal interface. The module can be operated either in continuous signal generation mode or in triggered mode depending upon application. This can be done either by front panel switch or through CAMAC software commands (for remote operation). Similarly module reset and trigger generation operation can be performed either through front panel push button switch or through software CAMAC commands. The module has the facility to accept external TTL level trigger and clock through LEMO connectors. The module can also generate trigger and the clock signal, which can be delivered to other devices through LEMO connectors. The module generates two types of signals: Analog and digital (TTL level). The analog output (single channel) is generated from Digital to Analog Converter through CPLD for various types of waveforms like Sine, Square, Triangular and other wave shape that can vary in amplitude as well as in frequency. The module is quite useful to test up to 32 channels

  2. Test signal generation for analog circuits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Burdiek

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a new test signal generation approach for general analog circuits based on the variational calculus and modern control theory methods is presented. The computed transient test signals also called test stimuli are optimal with respect to the detection of a given fault set by means of a predefined merit functional representing a fault detection criterion. The test signal generation problem of finding optimal test stimuli detecting all faults form the fault set is formulated as an optimal control problem. The solution of the optimal control problem representing the test stimuli is computed using an optimization procedure. The optimization procedure is based on the necessary conditions for optimality like the maximum principle of Pontryagin and adjoint circuit equations.

  3. Generating strain signals under consideration of road surface profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putra, T. E.; Abdullah, S.; Schramm, D.; Nuawi, M. Z.; Bruckmann, T.

    2015-08-01

    The current study aimed to develop the mechanism for generating strain signal utilising computer-based simulation. The strain data, caused by the acceleration, were undertaken from a fatigue data acquisition involving car movements. Using a mathematical model, the measured strain signals yielded to acceleration data used to describe the bumpiness of road surfaces. The acceleration signals were considered as an external disturbance on generating strain signals. Based on this comparison, both the actual and simulated strain data have similar pattern. The results are expected to provide new knowledge to generate a strain signal via a simulation.

  4. Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Signal Power Generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hadziabdic, Dzenan

    Among the major limitations in high-speed communications and highresolution radars is the lack of efficient and powerful signal sources with low distortion. Microwave and millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signal power is needed for signal transmission. Progress in signal generation stems largely from...... distortion and high PAE were observed. The estimated output power of 42.5 dBm and PAE of 31.3% are comparable to the state-of-the-art results reported for GaN HEMT amplifiers. Wireless communication systems planned in the near future will operate at E-band, around 71-86 GHz, and require mm-wave-PAs to boost...... the application of novel materials like galliumnitride (GaN) and silicon-carbide (SiC) and fabrication of indiumphosphide (InP) based transistors. One goal of this thesis is to assess GaN HEMT technology with respect to linear efficient signal power generation. While most reports on GaN HEMT high-power devices...

  5. Generation of on-line test signals for nuclear instrumentation for PFBR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ram, Rajit; Bhatnagar, P.V.; Rajesh, M.G.; Das, Debashis

    2010-01-01

    Neutron flux monitoring system for PFBR employs pulse signal processing in start up and intermediate power range of reactor operation and Campbell signal processing in intermediate and full power range of reactor operation. Pulse signal processing unit as well as Campbell signal processing unit incorporates FPGA that generates pulse/white noise signal for on-line testing and diagnostic of the channels. In pulse channel fixed/linearly/exponentially varying pulse rate signal is generated over three decades of reactor operation. In the Campbell channel, Poisson distributed noise varying linearly/exponentially is generated over four decades of reactor operation. Multiple numbers of Poisson distributed random pulse trains are summed and amplified to get the white noise signal. Exponentially increasing gain pattern, generated by MATLAB is used to increase the RMS value of the generated noise. The paper discuses the successful testing and validation of pulse and Campbell channel by making use of the generated pulse/white noise signal over wide range of operation for nuclear instrumentation. (author)

  6. Technetium-99 m generator safety simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Sang Koo; Kim, Chong Yeal

    2008-01-01

    Technetium ( 99m Tc) is one of the most widely used radioactive isotopes for diagnosis in the world. In general, 99m Tc is produced inside the so called technetium generator where 99Mo decays to 99m Tc. And the generator is usually made out of lead to shield relatively high energy radiation from 99m Tc and 99 Mo. In this paper, a GEANT4 simulation is carried out to test the safety of the 99m Tc generators, taking domestic and Japanese products with radioactivity of 18.50 GBq (500 mCi) for example. According to the domestic regulation on radiation safety, the dose at 10 cm and 100 cm away from the surface of radiation shielder should not exceed 2 mSv∙h -1 and 0.02 mSv∙h -1 , respectively. The simulated dose turned out about only 10% of the limit, satisfying the domestic regulation

  7. Digital Signal Processing for In-Vehicle Systems and Safety

    CERN Document Server

    Boyraz, Pinar; Takeda, Kazuya; Abut, Hüseyin

    2012-01-01

    Compiled from papers of the 4th Biennial Workshop on DSP (Digital Signal Processing) for In-Vehicle Systems and Safety this edited collection features world-class experts from diverse fields focusing on integrating smart in-vehicle systems with human factors to enhance safety in automobiles. Digital Signal Processing for In-Vehicle Systems and Safety presents new approaches on how to reduce driver inattention and prevent road accidents. The material addresses DSP technologies in adaptive automobiles, in-vehicle dialogue systems, human machine interfaces, video and audio processing, and in-vehicle speech systems. The volume also features: Recent advances in Smart-Car technology – vehicles that take into account and conform to the driver Driver-vehicle interfaces that take into account the driving task and cognitive load of the driver Best practices for In-Vehicle Corpus Development and distribution Information on multi-sensor analysis and fusion techniques for robust driver monitoring and driver recognition ...

  8. Radiological safety aspects of the operation of neutron generators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boggs, R.F.

    1976-01-01

    The purpose of the manual is to provide some basic guidelines to persons with a minimum of training in radiological health or health physics, on some safety aspects of the operation of sealed-tube and Cockcroft-Walton type neutron generators. The manual does not state rules or regulations but presents a description of the most likely hazards. It is relevant to those relatively compact neutron generators which usually operate at less than 150-200 kV for the purpose of producing 14-MeV neutrons. The scope is limited to basic discussions of hazards and measurement techniques. Separate chapters are devoted to the characteristics and use of neutron generators; radiation hazards and safety considerations; radiation monitoring and interpretation of measurements; and requirements for an effective safety programme. Two appendices deal with non-radiation hazards and safety considerations, and with a neutron generator laboratory, respectively. An extensive list of bibliographic references is included

  9. A Generic Software Safety Document Generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denney, Ewen; Venkatesan, Ram Prasad

    2004-01-01

    Formal certification is based on the idea that a mathematical proof of some property of a piece of software can be regarded as a certificate of correctness which, in principle, can be subjected to external scrutiny. In practice, however, proofs themselves are unlikely to be of much interest to engineers. Nevertheless, it is possible to use the information obtained from a mathematical analysis of software to produce a detailed textual justification of correctness. In this paper, we describe an approach to generating textual explanations from automatically generated proofs of program safety, where the proofs are of compliance with an explicit safety policy that can be varied. Key to this is tracing proof obligations back to the program, and we describe a tool which implements this to certify code auto-generated by AutoBayes and AutoFilter, program synthesis systems under development at the NASA Ames Research Center. Our approach is a step towards combining formal certification with traditional certification methods.

  10. Next generation safety performance monitoring at signalized intersections using connected vehicle technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-08-01

    Crash-based safety evaluation is often hampered by randomness, lack of timeliness, and rarity of crash : occurrences. This is particularly the case for technology-driven safety improvement projects that are : frequently updated or replaced by newer o...

  11. Responding to vaccine safety signals during pandemic influenza: a modeling study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith C Maro

    Full Text Available Managing emerging vaccine safety signals during an influenza pandemic is challenging. Federal regulators must balance vaccine risks against benefits while maintaining public confidence in the public health system.We developed a multi-criteria decision analysis model to explore regulatory decision-making in the context of emerging vaccine safety signals during a pandemic. We simulated vaccine safety surveillance system capabilities and used an age-structured compartmental model to develop potential pandemic scenarios. We used an expert-derived multi-attribute utility function to evaluate potential regulatory responses by combining four outcome measures into a single measure of interest: 1 expected vaccination benefit from averted influenza; 2 expected vaccination risk from vaccine-associated febrile seizures; 3 expected vaccination risk from vaccine-associated Guillain-Barre Syndrome; and 4 expected change in vaccine-seeking behavior in future influenza seasons.Over multiple scenarios, risk communication, with or without suspension of vaccination of high-risk persons, were the consistently preferred regulatory responses over no action or general suspension when safety signals were detected during a pandemic influenza. On average, the expert panel valued near-term vaccine-related outcomes relative to long-term projected outcomes by 3:1. However, when decision-makers had minimal ability to influence near-term outcomes, the response was selected primarily by projected impacts on future vaccine-seeking behavior.The selected regulatory response depends on how quickly a vaccine safety signal is identified relative to the peak of the pandemic and the initiation of vaccination. Our analysis suggested two areas for future investment: efforts to improve the size and timeliness of the surveillance system and behavioral research to understand changes in vaccine-seeking behavior.

  12. Differential use of danger and safety signals in an animal model of anxiety vulnerability: The behavioral economics of avoidance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiegler, Kevin M; Fortress, Ashley M; Pang, Kevin C H

    2018-03-02

    Differential processing of danger and safety signals may underlie symptoms of anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder. One symptom common to these disorders is pathological avoidance. The present study examined whether danger and safety signals influence avoidance differently in anxiety-vulnerable Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. SD and WKY rats were tested in a novel progressive ratio avoidance task with and without danger or safety signals. Two components of reinforcement, hedonic value and motivation, were determined by fitting an exponentiated demand equation to the data. Hedonic value of avoidance did not differ between SD and WKY rats, but WKY rats had greater motivation to avoid than SD rats. Removal of the safety signal reduced motivation to avoid in SD, but not WKY, rats. Removal of the danger signal did not alter avoidance in either strain. When danger and safety signals were presented simultaneously, WKY rats responded to the danger signals, whereas SD rats responded to the safety signal. The results provide evidence that 1) safety signals enhance motivation to avoid in SD rats, 2) both danger and safety signals influence motivation in WKY rats, and 3) danger signals take precedence over safety signals when presented simultaneously in WKY rats. Thus, anxiety vulnerability is associated with preferential use of danger signals to motivate avoidance. The differential use of danger and safety signals has important implications for the etiology and treatment of pathological avoidance in anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  13. Engineering Synthetic Proteins to Generate Ca2+ Signals in Mammalian Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qudrat, Anam; Truong, Kevin

    2017-03-17

    The versatility of Ca 2+ signals allows it to regulate diverse cellular processes such as migration, apoptosis, motility and exocytosis. In some receptors (e.g., VEGFR2), Ca 2+ signals are generated upon binding their ligand(s) (e.g., VEGF-A). Here, we employed a design strategy to engineer proteins that generate a Ca 2+ signal upon binding various extracellular stimuli by creating fusions of protein domains that oligomerize to the transmembrane domain and the cytoplasmic tail of the VEGFR2. To test the strategy, we created chimeric proteins that generate Ca 2+ signals upon stimulation with various extracellular stimuli (e.g., rapamycin, EDTA or extracellular free Ca 2+ ). By coupling these chimeric proteins that generate Ca 2+ signals with proteins that respond to Ca 2+ signals, we rewired, for example, dynamic cellular blebbing to increases in extracellular free Ca 2+ . Thus, using this design strategy, it is possible to engineer proteins to generate a Ca 2+ signal to rewire a wide range of extracellular stimuli to a wide range of Ca 2+ -activated processes.

  14. Novel ultra-wideband photonic signal generation and transmission featuring digital signal processing bit error rate measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gibbon, Timothy Braidwood; Yu, Xianbin; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2009-01-01

    We propose the novel generation of photonic ultra-wideband signals using an uncooled DFB laser. For the first time we experimentally demonstrate bit-for-bit DSP BER measurements for transmission of a 781.25 Mbit/s photonic UWB signal.......We propose the novel generation of photonic ultra-wideband signals using an uncooled DFB laser. For the first time we experimentally demonstrate bit-for-bit DSP BER measurements for transmission of a 781.25 Mbit/s photonic UWB signal....

  15. Risk assessment of safety data link and network communication in digital safety feature control system of nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Sang Hun; Son, Kwang Seop; Jung, Wondea; Kang, Hyun Gook

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Safety data communication risk assessment framework and quantitative scheme were proposed. • Fault-tree model of ESFAS unavailability due to safety data communication failure was developed. • Safety data link and network risk were assessed based on various ESF-CCS design specifications. • The effect of fault-tolerant algorithm reliability of safety data network on ESFAS unavailability was assessed. - Abstract: As one of the safety-critical systems in nuclear power plants (NPPs), the Engineered Safety Feature-Component Control System (ESF-CCS) employs safety data link and network communication for the transmission of safety component actuation signals from the group controllers to loop controllers to effectively accommodate various safety-critical field controllers. Since data communication failure risk in the ESF-CCS has yet to be fully quantified, the ESF-CCS employing data communication systems have not been applied in NPPs. This study therefore developed a fault tree model to assess the data link and data network failure-induced unavailability of a system function used to generate an automated control signal for accident mitigation equipment. The current aim is to provide risk information regarding data communication failure in a digital safety feature control system in consideration of interconnection between controllers and the fault-tolerant algorithm implemented in the target system. Based on the developed fault tree model, case studies were performed to quantitatively assess the unavailability of ESF-CCS signal generation due to data link and network failure and its risk effect on safety signal generation failure. This study is expected to provide insight into the risk assessment of safety-critical data communication in a digitalized NPP instrumentation and control system.

  16. Safety surrogate histograms (SSH): A novel real-time safety assessment of dilemma zone related conflicts at signalized intersections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghanipoor Machiani, Sahar; Abbas, Montasir

    2016-11-01

    Drivers' indecisiveness in dilemma zones (DZ) could result in crash-prone situations at signalized intersections. DZ is to the area ahead of an intersection in which drivers encounter a dilemma regarding whether to stop or proceed through the intersection when the signal turns yellow. An improper decision to stop by the leading driver, combined with the following driver deciding to go, can result in a rear-end collision, unless the following driver recognizes a collision is imminent and adjusts his or her behavior at or shortly after the onset of yellow. Considering the significance of DZ-related crashes, a comprehensive safety measure is needed to characterize the level of safety at signalized intersections. In this study, a novel safety surrogate measure was developed utilizing real-time radar field data. This new measure, called safety surrogate histogram (SSH), captures the degree and frequency of DZ-related conflicts at each intersection approach. SSH includes detailed information regarding the possibility of crashes, because it is calculated based on the vehicles conflicts. An example illustrating the application of the new methodology at two study sites in Virginia is presented and discussed, and a comparison is provided between SSH and other DZ-related safety surrogate measures mentioned in the literature. The results of the study reveal the efficacy of the SSH as complementary to existing surrogate measures. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Evaluating the impact of grade crossing safety factors through signal detection theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-22

    The purpose of this effort was to apply signal detection theory to descriptively model the impact : of five grade crossing safety factors to understand their effect on driver decision making. The : safety factors consisted of: improving commercial mo...

  18. Generative Programming for Functional Safety in Mobile Robots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adam, Marian Sorin

    2018-01-01

    execution environment. The effective usage of DeRoS to specify safetyrelated properties of mobile robots and generation of a runtime verification infrastructure for the different controllers has been experimentally demonstrated on ROS-based systems, safety PLCs and microcontrollers. The key issue of making......Safety is a major challenge in robotics, in particular for mobile robots operating in an open and unpredictable environment. Safety certification is desired for commercial robots, but the existing approaches for addressing safety do not provide a clearly defined and isolated programmatic safety...... layer, with an easily understandable specification for facilitating safety certification. Moreover, mobile robots are advanced systems often implemented using a distributed architecture where software components are deployed on heterogeneous hardware modules. Many components are key to the overall...

  19. A device and method for generating a polybinary signal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2018-01-01

    The present disclosure relates to a method for generating an L-level polybinary signal, comprising the steps of: providing a baseband signal with a spectrum defined by a predefined frequency period, f p ; filtering the baseband signal using a low-pass filter having a pre-defined cut-off frequency...

  20. Automating the Generation of Heterogeneous Aviation Safety Cases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denney, Ewen W.; Pai, Ganesh J.; Pohl, Josef M.

    2012-01-01

    A safety case is a structured argument, supported by a body of evidence, which provides a convincing and valid justification that a system is acceptably safe for a given application in a given operating environment. This report describes the development of a fragment of a preliminary safety case for the Swift Unmanned Aircraft System. The construction of the safety case fragment consists of two parts: a manually constructed system-level case, and an automatically constructed lower-level case, generated from formal proof of safety-relevant correctness properties. We provide a detailed discussion of the safety considerations for the target system, emphasizing the heterogeneity of sources of safety-relevant information, and use a hazard analysis to derive safety requirements, including formal requirements. We evaluate the safety case using three classes of metrics for measuring degrees of coverage, automation, and understandability. We then present our preliminary conclusions and make suggestions for future work.

  1. Characteristics of Helicopter-Generated and Volcano-Related Seismic Tremor Signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eibl, Eva P. S.; Lokmer, Ivan; Bean, Christopher J.; Akerlie, Eggert; Vogfjörd, Kristin S.

    2017-04-01

    In volcanic environments it is crucial to distinguish between man-made seismic signals and signals created by the volcano. We compare volcanic, seismic signals with helicopter generated, seismic signals recorded in the last 2.5 years in Iceland. In both cases a long-lasting, emergent seismic signal, that can be referred to as seismic tremor, was generated. In the case of a helicopter, the rotating blades generate pressure pulses that travel through the air and excite Rayleigh waves at up to 40 km distance depending on wind speed, wind direction and topographic features. The longest helicopter related seismic signal we recorded was at the order of 40 minutes long. The tremor usually has a fundamental frequency of more than 10 Hz and overtones at integers of the fundamental frequency. Changes in distance lead to either increases or decreases of the frequency due to the Doppler Effect and are strongest for small source-receiver distances. The volcanic tremor signal was recorded during the Bardarbunga eruption at Holuhraun in 2014/15. For volcano-related seismic signals it is usually more difficult to determine the source process that generated the tremor. The pre-eruptive tremor persists for 2 weeks, while the co-eruptive tremor lasted for 6 months. We observed no frequency changes, most energy between 1 and 2 Hz and no or very little energy above 5 Hz. We compare the different characteristics of helicopter-related and volcano-related seismic signals and discuss how they can be distinguished. In addition we discuss how we can determine if a frequency change is related to a moving source or change in repeat time or a change in the geometry of the resonating body.

  2. Commercial grade item (CGI) dedication of generators for nuclear safety related applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Das, R.K.; Hajos, L.G.

    1993-01-01

    The number of nuclear safety related equipment suppliers and the availability of spare and replacement parts designed specifically for nuclear safety related application are shrinking rapidly. These have made it necessary for utilities to apply commercial grade spare and replacement parts in nuclear safety related applications after implementing proper acceptance and dedication process to verify that such items conform with the requirements of their use in nuclear safety related application. The general guidelines for the commercial grade item (CGI) acceptance and dedication are provided in US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Generic Letters and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Report NP-5652, Guideline for the Utilization of Commercial Grade Items in Nuclear Safety Related Applications. This paper presents an application of these generic guidelines for procurement, acceptance, and dedication of a commercial grade generator for use as a standby generator at Salem Generating Station Units 1 and 2. The paper identifies the critical characteristics of the generator which once verified, will provide reasonable assurance that the generator will perform its intended safety function. The paper also delineates the method of verification of the critical characteristics through tests and provide acceptance criteria for the test results. The methodology presented in this paper may be used as specific guidelines for reliable and cost effective procurement and dedication of commercial grade generators for use as standby generators at nuclear power plants

  3. X-ray image signal generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dalton, B.L.; Lill, B.H.

    1981-01-01

    This patent claim on behalf on EMI Ltd. relates to a flat plate X-ray detector which uses a plate detector exhibiting so-called permanent induced electric polarization in response to a pattern of radiation emergent from a patient to generate a polarization pattern which is scanned by means of a laser to cause discharge of the polarization through the plate and so generate electric signals representative of the X-ray image of the patient. In addition a second laser operating at a different wavelength e.g. infra-red, also scans or floods the plate detector to move 'dark polarisation'. The plate detector may be a phosphor screen or a phosphor screen in combination with a scintillator. (author)

  4. Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal Systems (MMITSS) Basic Safety Message

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — Data were collected during the Multi-Modal Intelligent Transportation Signal Systems (MMITSS) study. MMITSS is a next-generation traffic signal system that seeks to...

  5. Safety effects of traffic signing for left turn flashing yellow arrow signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schattler, Kerrie L; Gulla, Cody J; Wallenfang, Travis J; Burdett, Beau A; Lund, Jessica A

    2015-02-01

    In 2010, the left turn flashing yellow arrow (FYA) signal displays were installed at signalized intersections on state routes in the Peoria, Illinois, area. Supplemental traffic signs with text "Left Turn Yield on Flashing Yellow Arrow" were mounted on the mast arm adjacent to the left turn signal at over half of the FYA installations. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the effectiveness evaluation of the FYA supplemental sign on safety. Analyses are presented on the effects of the FYA supplemental sign for all drivers and a subset of drivers age 65 and older. A crash-based comparison of 164 FYA approaches including 90 approaches with the sign and 74 approaches without the sign showed greater crash reductions when the supplemental FYA sign was present. The results also showed that crashes involving drivers age 65 and older did not experience the same magnitudes of crash reductions as compared to all drivers. The findings of this research indicate that supplemental FYA signs may help in improving safety for left-turning vehicles during the permissive interval. Thus, it is recommended that supplemental signs be used when initially implementing the FYA, and that effort to educate the driving public on new traffic control be made to further improve safety at signalized intersections. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Photonic Ultra-Wideband 781.25-Mb/s Signal Generation and Transmission Incorporating Digital Signal Processing Detection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gibbon, Timothy Braidwood; Yu, Xianbin; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2009-01-01

    The generation of photonic ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse signals using an uncooled distributed-feedback laser is proposed. For the first time, we experimentally demonstrate bit-for-bit digital signal processing (DSP) bit-error-rate measurements for transmission of a 781.25-Mb/s photonic UWB signal...

  7. Signal validation and failure correction algorithms for PWR steam generator feedwater control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nasrallah, C.N.; Graham, K.F.

    1986-01-01

    A critical contributor to the reliability of a nuclear power plant is the reliability of the control systems which maintain plant operating parameters within desired limits. The most difficult system to control in a PWR nuclear power plant and the one which causes the most reactor trips is the control of the feedwater flow to the steam generators. The level in the steam generator must be held within relatively narrow limits, with reactor trips set for both too high and too low a level. The steam generator level is inherently unstable in that it is an open integrator of feedwater flow steam flow mismatch. The steam generator feedwater control system relies on sensed variables in order to generate the appropriate feedwater valve control signal. In current systems, each of these sensed variables comes from a single sensor which may be a separate control sensor or one of the redundant protection sensors that is manually selected by the operator. In case this single signal is false, either due to sensor malfunction or due to a test signal being substituted during periodic test and maintenance, the control system will generate a wrong control signal to the feedwater control valve. This will initiate a steam generator level upset. The solution to this problem is for the control system to sense a given variable with more than one redundant sensor. Normally there are three or four sensors for each variable monitored by the reactor protection system. The techniques discussed allow the control system to compare these redundant sensor signals and generate a validated signal for each measured variable that is insensitive to false signals

  8. An X-ray CCD signal generator with true random arrival time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huo Jia; Xu Yuming; Chen Yong; Cui Weiwei; Li Wei; Zhang Ziliang; Han Dawei; Wang Yusan; Wang Juan

    2011-01-01

    An FPGA-based true random signal generator with adjustable amplitude and exponential distribution of time interval is presented. Since traditional true random number generators (TRNG) are resource costly and difficult to transplant, we employed a method of random number generation based on jitter and phase noise in ring oscillators formed by gates in an FPGA. In order to improve the random characteristics, a combination of two different pseudo-random processing circuits is used for post processing. The effects of the design parameters, such as sample frequency are discussed. Statistical tests indicate that the generator can well simulate the timing behavior of random signals with Poisson distribution. The X-ray CCD signal generator will be used in debugging the CCD readout system of the Low Energy X-ray Instrument onboard the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). (authors)

  9. Safety design philosophy of the ABWR for the next generation LWRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, Takashi; Akinaga, Makoto; Kojima, Yoshihiro

    2009-01-01

    The paper presents safety design philosophy of the advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) to be reflected in developing the next generation light water reactors (LWRs). The basic policy of the ABWR safety design was to improve safety and reduce cost simultaneously by reflecting lessons learned of precursors, incidents and accidents that were beyond the design basis such as the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI 2) accident. The ABWR is a fully active safety plant. The ABWR enhanced redundancy and diversity of active safety systems using probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) insights. It adopted a complete three division active emergency core cooling system (ECCS) and attained a very low core damage frequency (CDF) value of less than 10 -7 /ry for internal events. Only very small residual risks, if any, rather exist in external events such as an extremely large earthquake beyond the design basis. This is because external events can constitute a common cause that disables all the redundant active safety systems. Therefore, it is useless to add one more ECCS train and make a four division active ECCS for external events. Nowadays, however, fully passive safety LWRs are already established. Incorporating some of these passive safety systems we can also establish the next generation LWRs that are truly strong against external events. We can establish a plant that can survive a giant earthquake at least three days without AC power source, SA proof safety design that enables no containment failure and no evacuation to eliminate the residual risks. The same basic policy as the ABWR to improve safety and reduce cost simultaneously is again effective for the next generation LWRs. (author)

  10. Spectral Properties of Chaotic Signals Generated by the Bernoulli Map

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael A. da Costa

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In the last decades, the use of chaotic signals as broadband carriers has been considered in Telecommunications. Despite the relevance of the frequency domain analysis in this field, there are few studies that are concerned with spectral properties of chaotic signals. Bearing this in mind, this paper aims the characterization of the power spectral density (PSD of chaotic orbits generated by Bernoulli maps. We obtain analytic expressions for autocorrelation sequence, PSD and essential bandwidth for chaotic orbits generated by this map as function of the family parameter and Lyapunov exponent. Moreover, we verify that analytical expressions match numerical results. We conclude that the power of the generated orbits is concentrated in low frequencies for all parameters values. Besides, it is possible to obtain chaotic narrowband signals.

  11. Generation of earthquake signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kjell, G.

    1994-01-01

    Seismic verification can be performed either as a full scale test on a shaker table or as numerical calculations. In both cases it is necessary to have an earthquake acceleration time history. This report describes generation of such time histories by filtering white noise. Analogue and digital filtering methods are compared. Different methods of predicting the response spectrum of a white noise signal filtered by a band-pass filter are discussed. Prediction of both the average response level and the statistical variation around this level are considered. Examples with both the IEEE 301 standard response spectrum and a ground spectrum suggested for Swedish nuclear power stations are included in the report

  12. Safety reviews of next-generation light-water reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kudrick, J.A.; Wilson, J.N.

    1997-01-01

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reviewing three applications for design certification under its new licensing process. The U.S. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) and System 80+ designs have received final design approvals. The AP600 design review is continuing. The goals of design certification are to achieve early resolution of safety issues and to provide a more stable and predictable licensing process. NRC also reviewed the Utility Requirements Document (URD) of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and determined that its guidance does not conflict with NRC requirements. This review led to the identification and resolution of many generic safety issues. The NRC determined that next-generation reactor designs should achieve a higher level of safety for selected technical and severe accident issues. Accordingly, NRC developed new review standards for these designs based on (1) operating experience, including the accident at Three Mile Island, Unit 2; (2) the results of probabilistic risk assessments of current and next-generation reactor designs; (3) early efforts on severe accident rulemaking; and (4) research conducted to address previously identified generic safety issues. The additional standards were used during the individual design reviews and the resolutions are documented in the design certification rules. 12 refs

  13. Validation test case generation based on safety analysis ontology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fan, Chin-Feng; Wang, Wen-Shing

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Current practice in validation test case generation for nuclear system is mainly ad hoc. ► This study designs a systematic approach to generate validation test cases from a Safety Analysis Report. ► It is based on a domain-specific ontology. ► Test coverage criteria have been defined and satisfied. ► A computerized toolset has been implemented to assist the proposed approach. - Abstract: Validation tests in the current nuclear industry practice are typically performed in an ad hoc fashion. This study presents a systematic and objective method of generating validation test cases from a Safety Analysis Report (SAR). A domain-specific ontology was designed and used to mark up a SAR; relevant information was then extracted from the marked-up document for use in automatically generating validation test cases that satisfy the proposed test coverage criteria; namely, single parameter coverage, use case coverage, abnormal condition coverage, and scenario coverage. The novelty of this technique is its systematic rather than ad hoc test case generation from a SAR to achieve high test coverage.

  14. The Safety of Second-Generation Antipsychotics During Pregnancy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damkier, Per; Videbech, Poul

    2018-01-01

    The issue of antipsychotic treatment during pregnancy is subject to substantial uncertainty and some controversy among healthcare providers, specifically pertaining to second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) that are subject to a large gap in safety data during pregnancy compared...... with antidepressants. The amount of safety data for the use of SGAs during pregnancy is rapidly increasing, thus constantly changing the level of evidence. We performed a clinically focused review on the safety of SGA during pregnancy. Twenty-three studies provided various pregnancy outcomes for 14,382 pregnant women...... exposed to an SGA during pregnancy. In utero exposure to aripiprazole, olanzapine, and quetiapine is not associated with increased risks of major congenital malformations, whereas risperidone and paliperidone may be associated with a very minor increased risk of congenital malformations. Safety data...

  15. Ultra-Compact linear chirped microwave signal generator

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yan, Siqi; Zhou, Feng; Dong, Jianji

    2017-01-01

    A novel concept to generate linear chirped microwave signal is proposed and experimentally verified. The frequency to time mapping method is used while the Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on the photonic crystal waveguide is employed as the key device with its significant advantages of the ultra...

  16. Traffic signal design and simulation for vulnerable road users safety and bus preemption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lo, Shih-Ching; Huang, Hsieh-Chu

    2015-01-01

    Mostly, pedestrian car accidents occurred at a signalized interaction is because pedestrians cannot across the intersection safely within the green light. From the viewpoint of pedestrian, there might have two reasons. The first one is pedestrians cannot speed up to across the intersection, such as the elders. The other reason is pedestrians do not sense that the signal phase is going to change and their right-of-way is going to be lost. Developing signal logic to protect pedestrian, who is crossing an intersection is the first purpose of this study. In addition, to improve the reliability and reduce delay of public transportation service is the second purpose. Therefore, bus preemption is also considered in the designed signal logic. In this study, the traffic data of the intersection of Chong-Qing North Road and Min-Zu West Road, Taipei, Taiwan, is employed to calibrate and validate the signal logic by simulation. VISSIM 5.20, which is a microscopic traffic simulation software, is employed to simulate the signal logic. From the simulated results, the signal logic presented in this study can protect pedestrians crossing the intersection successfully. The design of bus preemption can reduce the average delay. However, the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal will influence the average delay of cars largely. Thus, whether applying the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal logic to an intersection or not should be evaluated carefully

  17. Traffic signal design and simulation for vulnerable road users safety and bus preemption

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lo, Shih-Ching; Huang, Hsieh-Chu [Department of Transportation Technology and Logistics Management, Chung Hua University, No. 707, Sec. 2, WuFu Rd., Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan (China)

    2015-01-22

    Mostly, pedestrian car accidents occurred at a signalized interaction is because pedestrians cannot across the intersection safely within the green light. From the viewpoint of pedestrian, there might have two reasons. The first one is pedestrians cannot speed up to across the intersection, such as the elders. The other reason is pedestrians do not sense that the signal phase is going to change and their right-of-way is going to be lost. Developing signal logic to protect pedestrian, who is crossing an intersection is the first purpose of this study. In addition, to improve the reliability and reduce delay of public transportation service is the second purpose. Therefore, bus preemption is also considered in the designed signal logic. In this study, the traffic data of the intersection of Chong-Qing North Road and Min-Zu West Road, Taipei, Taiwan, is employed to calibrate and validate the signal logic by simulation. VISSIM 5.20, which is a microscopic traffic simulation software, is employed to simulate the signal logic. From the simulated results, the signal logic presented in this study can protect pedestrians crossing the intersection successfully. The design of bus preemption can reduce the average delay. However, the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal will influence the average delay of cars largely. Thus, whether applying the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal logic to an intersection or not should be evaluated carefully.

  18. Initial assessment of the COMPASS/BeiDou-3: new-generation navigation signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaohong; Wu, Mingkui; Liu, Wanke; Li, Xingxing; Yu, Shun; Lu, Cuixian; Wickert, Jens

    2017-10-01

    The successful launch of five new-generation experimental satellites of the China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, namely BeiDou I1-S, I2-S, M1-S, M2-S, and M3-S, marks a significant step in expanding BeiDou into a navigation system with global coverage. In addition to B1I (1561.098 MHz) and B3I (1269.520 MHz) signals, the new-generation BeiDou-3 experimental satellites are also capable of transmitting several new navigation signals in space, namely B1C at 1575.42 MHz, B2a at 1176.45 MHz, and B2b at 1207.14 MHz. For the first time, we present an initial characterization and performance assessment for these new-generation BeiDou-3 satellites and their signals. The L1/L2/L5 signals from GPS Block IIF satellites, E1/E5a/E5b signals from Galileo satellites, and B1I/B2I/B3I signals from BeiDou-2 satellites are also evaluated for comparison. The characteristics of the B1C, B1I, B2a, B2b, and B3I signals are evaluated in terms of observed carrier-to-noise density ratio, pseudorange multipath and noise, triple-frequency carrier-phase ionosphere-free and geometry-free combination, and double-differenced carrier-phase and code residuals. The results demonstrate that the observational quality of the new-generation BeiDou-3 signals is comparable to that of GPS L1/L2/L5 and Galileo E1/E5a/E5b signals. However, the analysis of code multipath shows that the elevation-dependent code biases, which have been previously identified to exist in the code observations of the BeiDou-2 satellites, seem to be not obvious for all the available signals of the new-generation BeiDou-3 satellites. This will significantly benefit precise applications that resolve wide-lane ambiguity based on Hatch-Melbourne-Wübbena linear combinations and other applications such as single-frequency precise point positioning (PPP) based on the ionosphere-free code-carrier combinations. Furthermore, with regard to the triple-frequency carrier-phase ionosphere-free and geometry-free combination, it is found

  19. Estimating Safety Effects of Green-Man Countdown Devices at Signalized Pedestrian Crosswalk Based on Cellular Automata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Chai

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Safety effects of Green-Man Countdown Device (GMCD at signalized pedestrian crosswalks are evaluated. Pedestrian behavior at GMCD and non-GMCD crosswalks is observed and analyzed. A microsimulation model is developed based on field observations to estimate safety performance. Simulation outputs allow analysts to assess the impacts of GMCD at various conditions with different geometric layout, traffic and pedestrian volumes, and the green time. According to simulation results, it is found that the safety impact of GMCD is affected by traffic condition as well as different time duration within green-man signal phase. In general, GMCD increases average walking velocity, especially during the last few seconds. The installation of GMCD improves safety performance generally, especially at more crowded crossings. Conflict severity is increased during last 10 s after GMCD installation. Findings from this study suggest that the current practice, which is to install GMCD at more crowded crosswalks or near the school zone, is effective. Moreover, at crosswalks with GMCD, longer all red signal phase is suggested to improve pedestrian safety during intergreen period.

  20. Multi-Purpose Radio Signal Generation System, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MRSiG will be able to replace many of the expensive, highly specialized RF signal generators with cheaper generic boxes that can be customized as the...

  1. Automated generation of formal safety conditions from railway interlocking tables

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haxthausen, Anne Elisabeth

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes a tool for extracting formal safety conditions from interlocking tables for railway interlocking systems. The tool has been applied to generate safety conditions for the interlocking system at Stenstrup station in Denmark, and the SAL model checker tool has been used to check...

  2. Time-Frequency Analysis of Signals Generated by Rotating Machines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Zetik

    1999-06-01

    Full Text Available This contribution is devoted to the higher order time-frequency analyses of signals. Firstly, time-frequency representations of higher order (TFRHO are defined. Then L-Wigner distribution (LWD is given as a special case of TFRHO. Basic properties of LWD are illustrated based on the analysis of mono-component and multi-component synthetic signals and acoustical signals generated by rotating machine. The obtained results confirm usefulness of LWD application for the purpose of rotating machine condition monitoring.

  3. An Improved Second-Order Generalized Integrator Based Quadrature Signal Generator

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xin, Zhen; Wang, Xiongfei; Qin, Zian

    2016-01-01

    The second-order generalized integrator based quadrature signal generator (SOGI-QSG) is able to produce in-quadrature signals for many applications, such as frequency estimation, grid synchronization, and harmonic extraction. However, the SOGI-QSG is sensitive to input dc and harmonic components...

  4. Positional information generated by spatially distributed signaling cascades.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Muñoz-García

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available The temporal and stationary behavior of protein modification cascades has been extensively studied, yet little is known about the spatial aspects of signal propagation. We have previously shown that the spatial separation of opposing enzymes, such as a kinase and a phosphatase, creates signaling activity gradients. Here we show under what conditions signals stall in the space or robustly propagate through spatially distributed signaling cascades. Robust signal propagation results in activity gradients with long plateaus, which abruptly decay at successive spatial locations. We derive an approximate analytical solution that relates the maximal amplitude and propagation length of each activation profile with the cascade level, protein diffusivity, and the ratio of the opposing enzyme activities. The control of the spatial signal propagation appears to be very different from the control of transient temporal responses for spatially homogenous cascades. For spatially distributed cascades where activating and deactivating enzymes operate far from saturation, the ratio of the opposing enzyme activities is shown to be a key parameter controlling signal propagation. The signaling gradients characteristic for robust signal propagation exemplify a pattern formation mechanism that generates precise spatial guidance for multiple cellular processes and conveys information about the cell size to the nucleus.

  5. Safety significance of steam generator tube degradation mechanisms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roussel, G; Mignot, P [AIB-Vincotte Nuclear - AVN, Brussels (Belgium)

    1991-07-01

    Steam generator (SG) tube bundle is a part of the Reactor Coolant Pressure Boundary (RCPB): this means that its integrity must be maintained. However, operating experience shows various types of tube degradation to occur in the SG tubing, which may lead to SG tube leaks or SG tube ruptures and create a loss of primary system coolant through the SG, therefore providing a direct path to the environment outside the primary containment structure. In this paper, the major types of known SG tube degradations are described and analyzed in order to assess their safety significance with regard to SG tube integrity. In conclusion: The operational reliability and the safety of the PWR steam generator s requires a sufficient knowledge of the degradation mechanisms to determine the amount of degradation that a tube can withstand and the time that it may remain in operation. They also require the availability of inspection techniques to accurately detect and characterize the various degradations. The status of understanding of the major types of degradation summarized in this paper shows and justifies why efforts are being performed to improve the management of the steam generator tube defects.

  6. Experience on environmental qualification of safety-related components for Darlington Nuclear Generating Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, A.S.; Kukreti, B.M.

    1987-01-01

    The proliferation of Nuclear Power Plant safety concerns has lead to increasing attention over the Environmental Qualification (EQ) of Nuclear Power Plant Safety-Related Components to provide the assurance that the safety related equipment will meet their intended functions during normal operation and postulated accident conditions. The environmental qualification of these components is also a Licensing requirement for Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. This paper provides an overview of EQ and the experience of a pilot project, in the qualification of the Main Moderator System safety-related functions for the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station currently under construction. It addresses the various phases of qualification from the identification of the EQ Safety-Related Components List, definition of location specific service conditions (normal, adbnormal and accident), safety-related functions, Environmental Qualification Assessments and finally, an EQ system summary report for the Main Moderator System. The results of the pilot project are discussed and the methodology reviewed. The paper concludes that the EQ Program developed for Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, as applied to the qualification of the Main Moderator System, contained all the elements necessary in the qualification of safety-related equipment. The approach taken in the qualification of the Moderator safety-related equipment proves to provide a sound framework for the qualification of other safety-related components in the station

  7. Development of remote control software for multiformat test signal generator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gao Yang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The multi format test signal generator mentioned in this paper is the video signal generator named TG8000 produced by Tektronix Company. I will introduce the function about remote control for signal generator, how to connect the computer to the instrument, and how to remote control. My topic uses my computer to connect the instrument through the 10/100/1000 BASE-T port on the rear panel of TG8000. Then I write program to transmit SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments to control TG8000. The application is running on the Windows operating system, the programming language is C#, development environment is Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, using the TCP/IP protocol based on Socket. And the method of remote control refers to the application called TGSetup which is developed by Tektronix Company. This paper includes a brief summary of the basic principle, and introduce for details about the process of remote control software development, and how to use my software. In the end, I will talk about the advantages of my software compared with another one.

  8. Prioritizing Signaling Information Transmission in Next Generation Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmina Baraković

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Next generation transport network is characterized by the use of in-band signaling, where Internet Protocol (IP packets carrying signaling or media information are mixed in transmission. Since transport resources are limited, when any segment of access or core network is congested, IP packets carrying signaling information may be discarded. As a consequence, it may be impossible to implement reachability and quality of service (QoS. Since present approaches are insufficient to completely address this problem, a novel approach is proposed, which is based on prioritizing signaling information transmission. To proof the concept, a simulation study was performed using Network Simulator version 2 (ns-2 and independently developed Session Initiation Protocol (SIP module. The obtained results were statistically processed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 15.0. Summarizing our research results, several issues are identified for future work.

  9. Generation of Long-time Complex Signals for Testing the Instruments for Detection of Voltage Quality Disturbances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Živanović, Dragan; Simić, Milan; Kokolanski, Zivko; Denić, Dragan; Dimcev, Vladimir

    2018-04-01

    Software supported procedure for generation of long-time complex test sentences, suitable for testing the instruments for detection of standard voltage quality (VQ) disturbances is presented in this paper. This solution for test signal generation includes significant improvements of computer-based signal generator presented and described in the previously published paper [1]. The generator is based on virtual instrumentation software for defining the basic signal parameters, data acquisition card NI 6343, and power amplifier for amplification of output voltage level to the nominal RMS voltage value of 230 V. Definition of basic signal parameters in LabVIEW application software is supported using Script files, which allows simple repetition of specific test signals and combination of more different test sequences in the complex composite test waveform. The basic advantage of this generator compared to the similar solutions for signal generation is the possibility for long-time test sequence generation according to predefined complex test scenarios, including various combinations of VQ disturbances defined in accordance with the European standard EN50160. Experimental verification of the presented signal generator capability is performed by testing the commercial power quality analyzer Fluke 435 Series II. In this paper are shown some characteristic complex test signals with various disturbances and logged data obtained from the tested power quality analyzer.

  10. The effects of the non-contingent presentation of safety signals on the elimination of safety behaviors: An experimental comparison between individuals with low and high obsessive-compulsive profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angelakis, Ioannis; Austin, Jennifer L

    2018-06-01

    Safety behaviors, defined as engagement in avoidance within safe environments, are a key symptom of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. They may interfere with daily functioning and as such their emission should be reduced. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of the non-contingent presentation of safety signals (cues produced by safety behaviors) on reducing safety behaviors in participants self-reporting low and high OCD profiles. In total, 32 participants were asked to play a game to gain points and avoid their loss. After having developed avoidance behavior, evidenced by maintaining all of their earned points, they were exposed to safe environments where no point loss was programmed. In Test 1, safety cues (blue bar) were produced contingent on performing safety behaviors. In Test 2, safety cues were presented continuously without any response requirement. Findings demonstrated that high OCD group displayed higher rates of safety behaviors than low OCD group. However, exposure to the non-contingent presentation of safety signals eliminated their emission in both groups. Future studies need to evaluate the effects of different non-contingent schedules on the suppression of safety behaviors. These findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that non-contingent introduction of safety signals eliminated safety behaviors completely, even in high OCD participants, who performed safety behavior at higher rates. Such a treatment protocol may ameliorate exposure therapy in which response prevention constitutes a key element and is generally associated with increased drop-out rates. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Modeling SMAP Spacecraft Attitude Control Estimation Error Using Signal Generation Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rizvi, Farheen

    2016-01-01

    Two ground simulation software are used to model the SMAP spacecraft dynamics. The CAST software uses a higher fidelity model than the ADAMS software. The ADAMS software models the spacecraft plant, controller and actuator models, and assumes a perfect sensor and estimator model. In this simulation study, the spacecraft dynamics results from the ADAMS software are used as CAST software is unavailable. The main source of spacecraft dynamics error in the higher fidelity CAST software is due to the estimation error. A signal generation model is developed to capture the effect of this estimation error in the overall spacecraft dynamics. Then, this signal generation model is included in the ADAMS software spacecraft dynamics estimate such that the results are similar to CAST. This signal generation model has similar characteristics mean, variance and power spectral density as the true CAST estimation error. In this way, ADAMS software can still be used while capturing the higher fidelity spacecraft dynamics modeling from CAST software.

  12. Segmentation Scheme for Safety Enhancement of Engineered Safety Features Component Control System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Sangseok; Sohn, Kwangyoung; Lee, Junku; Park, Geunok

    2013-01-01

    Common Caused Failure (CCF) or undetectable failure would adversely impact safety functions of ESF-CCS in the existing nuclear power plants. We propose the segmentation scheme to solve these problems. Main function assignment to segments in the proposed segmentation scheme is based on functional dependency and critical function success path by using the dependency depth matrix. The segment has functional independence and physical isolation. The segmentation structure is that prohibit failure propagation to others from undetectable failures. Therefore, the segmentation system structure has robustness to undetectable failures. The segmentation system structure has functional diversity. The specific function in the segment defected by CCF, the specific function could be maintained by diverse control function that assigned to other segments. Device level control signals and system level control signals are separated and also control signal and status signals are separated due to signal transmission paths are allocated independently based on signal type. In this kind of design, single device failure or failures on signal path in the channel couldn't result in the loss of all segmented functions simultaneously. Thus the proposed segmentation function is the design scheme that improves availability of safety functions. In conventional ESF-CCS, the single controller generates the signal to control the multiple safety functions, and the reliability is achieved by multiplication within the channel. This design has a drawback causing the loss of multiple functions due to the CCF (Common Cause Failure) and single failure Heterogeneous controller guarantees the diversity ensuring the execution of safety functions against the CCF and single failure, but requiring a lot of resources like manpower and cost. The segmentation technology based on the compartmentalization and functional diversification decreases the CCF and single failure nonetheless the identical types of controllers

  13. Segmentation Scheme for Safety Enhancement of Engineered Safety Features Component Control System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Sangseok; Sohn, Kwangyoung [Korea Reliability Technology and System, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Junku; Park, Geunok [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-05-15

    Common Caused Failure (CCF) or undetectable failure would adversely impact safety functions of ESF-CCS in the existing nuclear power plants. We propose the segmentation scheme to solve these problems. Main function assignment to segments in the proposed segmentation scheme is based on functional dependency and critical function success path by using the dependency depth matrix. The segment has functional independence and physical isolation. The segmentation structure is that prohibit failure propagation to others from undetectable failures. Therefore, the segmentation system structure has robustness to undetectable failures. The segmentation system structure has functional diversity. The specific function in the segment defected by CCF, the specific function could be maintained by diverse control function that assigned to other segments. Device level control signals and system level control signals are separated and also control signal and status signals are separated due to signal transmission paths are allocated independently based on signal type. In this kind of design, single device failure or failures on signal path in the channel couldn't result in the loss of all segmented functions simultaneously. Thus the proposed segmentation function is the design scheme that improves availability of safety functions. In conventional ESF-CCS, the single controller generates the signal to control the multiple safety functions, and the reliability is achieved by multiplication within the channel. This design has a drawback causing the loss of multiple functions due to the CCF (Common Cause Failure) and single failure Heterogeneous controller guarantees the diversity ensuring the execution of safety functions against the CCF and single failure, but requiring a lot of resources like manpower and cost. The segmentation technology based on the compartmentalization and functional diversification decreases the CCF and single failure nonetheless the identical types of

  14. Distortions in processed signals and their application in electronic design - III: An automated generator of communication jamming signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Njau, E.C.

    1987-10-01

    We describe the design and operational features of a simple electronic circuit that is capable of automatically generating a narrow bandwidth jamming signal around each frequency signal received from target transmitters. It is noted that jamming based upon this circuit is fairly difficult to nullify using some of the conventional ''counter jamming'' strategies since in this case the jamming signals are flexibly locked onto the spectral components of the received signals. (author). 3 refs, 3 figs

  15. Quantification of the safety status of PWR steam generators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartonicek, J.; Jonas, O.; Schoeckle, F.

    1996-01-01

    The operational safety of components is affected during the period of operation (e.g., by loads and environmental effects). Additionally, changes in codes and standards can affect the safety margin of a component. In order to determine a quantitative status of the safety, the existing status of the component and the actual knowledge have to be regarded and evaluated. Differences (deficits) with respect to actual demands must be balanced by use of redundant measure to guarantee safety. The procedure is demonstrated using the steam generators of GKN 1 (German nuclear power plant--in operation since 1975) as an example. The existing status of the component regarding design and construction, material, load history (results of monitoring), the results of nondestructive testing and operational experience is determined and related to the actual regulatory and code compliance and to the state of the art in technics. Non-specified loads were measured in operation. Stress and fatigue analysis computations are performed on the base of realistic load patterns (results from monitoring). Thus the safety status can be quantified. Finally the GKN-concept of measures to guarantee the reliability and the safety of the component in future operation is discussed

  16. Public safety around dams : Ontario Power Generation's approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bennett, T; Rowat, L [Ontario Power Generation Inc., Toronto, ON (Canada)

    2009-04-01

    Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has developed a Waterways Public Safety Program that includes elements such as integrating public safety considerations into normal business practices and decisions; applying conservative decision making principles regarding operations where there are issues of public safety; and seeking partnership opportunities that enhance public safety awareness. The key steps to the public safety risk assessment process include identifying each type of known public interaction at a facility; identifying the hazards associated with those interactions; assigning a rating of likelihood and consequence for each separate public interaction at a facility; and assigning a risk rating, with a risk matrix for each public interaction. OPG now requires that a new public safety risk assessment be completed every 3 years. The risk assessment is a guide to implementing control measures to lower the risk of injury at dam facilities. OPG has adopted the model that every water conveyance structure will have an established hazardous area, typically adjacent to the structure. These areas are delineated with red danger signs and other control measures installed as needed. Yellow signs are used to delineate warning areas where there is a reasonable likelihood of minor injury or where the public may become stranded. As a minimum, OPG uses signage, sluicegate audible alarms, a stepped approach to sluicegate openings and public education. Safety booms and buoys as well as fencing and barricades may be used as additional control measures along with security patrols and video surveillance to target specific public interactions. 6 figs.

  17. High-speed ultra-wideband wireless signals over fiber systems: photonic generation and DSP detection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu, Xianbin; Gibbon, Timothy Braidwood; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2009-01-01

    We firstly review the efforts in the literature on ultra-wideband (UWB)-over-fiber systems. Secondly, we present experimental results on photonic generation of high-speed UWB signals by both direct modulation and external optical injecting an uncooled semiconductor laser. Furthermore, we introduce...... the use of digital signal processing (DSP) technology to receive the generated UWB signal at 781.25 Mbit/s. Error-free transmission is achieved....

  18. Basic recognition on safety of nuclear electric power generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyazaki, Keiji

    1995-01-01

    The safety of nuclear electric power generation is not to inflict radiation damage on public. Natural radiation is about 1 mSv every year. As far as the core melting on large scale does not occur, there is not the possibility of exerting serious radiation effect to public. The way of thinking on ensuring the safety is defense in depth. The first protection is the prevention of abnormality, the second protection is the prevention of accidents, and the third protection is the relaxation of effect. As design base accidents, the loss of coolant accident due to the breakdown of inlet pipings of reactors and the breaking of fine tubes in steam generators are included. The suitability of location is evaluated. As the large scale accidents of nuclear power stations in the past, Chernobyl accident and Three Mile Island accident are explained. The features of the countermeasures to the accident in Mihama No. 2 plant are described. The countermeasures to severe accidents, namely accident management and general preventive maintenance are explained. The background of the nonconfidence feeling to nuclear electric power generation and the importance of opening information to public are shown. (K.I.)

  19. Digitally programmable signal generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Priatko, G.J.; Kaskey, J.A.

    1988-01-01

    A digitally programmable signal generator (DPSG) includes a first memory from which data is written into a second memory formed of n banks. Each bank includes four memories and a multiplexer, the banks being read once during each time frame, the read-out bits being multiplexed and fed out serially in synchronism with a plurality of clock pulses occuring during a time frame. The resulting serial bit streams may be fed in parallel to a digital-to-analog converter. The DPSG can be used in applications such as Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) to create an optimal match between the process laser's spectral profile and that of the vaporized material, optical telecommunications, non-optical telecommunication in the microwave and radio spectrum, radar, electronic countermeasures, high speed computer interconnects, local area networks, high definition video transport and the multiplexing of large quantities of slow digital memory into high speed data streams. This invention extends the operation of DPSGs into the GHz range. (author)

  20. Health and safety impacts of nuclear, geothermal, and fossil-fuel electric generation in California. Volume 1. Health and safety impacts of nuclear, geothermal, and fossil-fuel electric generation in California

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nero, A.V. Jr.

    1977-01-01

    This report presents an overview of a project on the health and safety impacts of nuclear, geothermal, and fossil-fuel electric generation in California. In addition to presenting an executive summary of the project, it sets forth the main results of the four tasks of the project: to review the health impacts (and related standards) of these forms of power generation, to review the status of standards related to plant safety (with an emphasis on nuclear power), to consider the role of the California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission in selection of standards, and to set forth methodologies whereby that Commission may review the health and safety aspects of proposed sites and facilities

  1. An empirical Bayes safety evaluation of tram/streetcar signal and lane priority measures in Melbourne.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naznin, Farhana; Currie, Graham; Sarvi, Majid; Logan, David

    2016-01-01

    Streetcars/tram systems are growing worldwide, and many are given priority to increase speed and reliability performance in mixed traffic conditions. Research related to the road safety impact of tram priority is limited. This study explores the road safety impacts of tram priority measures including lane and intersection/signal priority measures. A before-after crash study was conducted using the empirical Bayes (EB) method to provide more accurate crash impact estimates by accounting for wider crash trends and regression to the mean effects. Before-after crash data for 29 intersections with tram signal priority and 23 arterials with tram lane priority in Melbourne, Australia, were analyzed to evaluate the road safety impact of tram priority. The EB before-after analysis results indicated a statistically significant adjusted crash reduction rate of 16.4% after implementation of tram priority measures. Signal priority measures were found to reduce crashes by 13.9% and lane priority by 19.4%. A disaggregate level simple before-after analysis indicated reductions in total and serious crashes as well as vehicle-, pedestrian-, and motorcycle-involved crashes. In addition, reductions in on-path crashes, pedestrian-involved crashes, and collisions among vehicles moving in the same and opposite directions and all other specific crash types were found after tram priority implementation. Results suggest that streetcar/tram priority measures result in safety benefits for all road users, including vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Policy implications and areas for future research are discussed.

  2. Application of signal processing techniques for islanding detection of distributed generation in distribution network: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raza, Safdar; Mokhlis, Hazlie; Arof, Hamzah; Laghari, J.A.; Wang, Li

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Pros & cons of conventional islanding detection techniques (IDTs) are discussed. • Signal processing techniques (SPTs) ability in detecting islanding is discussed. • SPTs ability in improving performance of passive techniques are discussed. • Fourier, s-transform, wavelet, HHT & tt-transform based IDTs are reviewed. • Intelligent classifiers (ANN, ANFIS, Fuzzy, SVM) application in SPT are discussed. - Abstract: High penetration of distributed generation resources (DGR) in distribution network provides many benefits in terms of high power quality, efficiency, and low carbon emissions in power system. However, efficient islanding detection and immediate disconnection of DGR is critical in order to avoid equipment damage, grid protection interference, and personnel safety hazards. Islanding detection techniques are mainly classified into remote, passive, active, and hybrid techniques. From these, passive techniques are more advantageous due to lower power quality degradation, lower cost, and widespread usage by power utilities. However, the main limitations of these techniques are that they possess a large non detection zones and require threshold setting. Various signal processing techniques and intelligent classifiers have been used to overcome the limitations of passive islanding. Signal processing techniques, in particular, are adopted due to their versatility, stability, cost effectiveness, and ease of modification. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of signal processing techniques used to improve common passive islanding detection techniques. A performance comparison between the signal processing based islanding detection techniques with existing techniques are also provided. Finally, this paper outlines the relative advantages and limitations of the signal processing techniques in order to provide basic guidelines for researchers and field engineers in determining the best method for their system

  3. Cultural Transmission and Evolution of Melodic Structures in Multi-generational Signaling Games.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lumaca, Massimo; Baggio, Giosuè

    2017-01-01

    It has been proposed that languages evolve by adapting to the perceptual and cognitive constraints of the human brain, developing, in the course of cultural transmission, structural regularities that maximize or optimize learnability and ease of processing. To what extent would perceptual and cognitive constraints similarly affect the evolution of musical systems? We conducted an experiment on the cultural evolution of artificial melodic systems, using multi-generational signaling games as a laboratory model of cultural transmission. Signaling systems, using five-tone sequences as signals, and basic and compound emotions as meanings, were transmitted from senders to receivers along diffusion chains in which the receiver in each game became the sender in the next game. During transmission, structural regularities accumulated in the signaling systems, following principles of proximity, symmetry, and good continuation. Although the compositionality of signaling systems did not increase significantly across generations, we did observe a significant increase in similarity among signals from the same set. We suggest that our experiment tapped into the cognitive and perceptual constraints operative in the cultural evolution of musical systems, which may differ from the mechanisms at play in language evolution and change.

  4. Lipid rafts generate digital-like signal transduction in cell plasma membranes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Kenichi G N

    2012-06-01

    Lipid rafts are meso-scale (5-200 nm) cell membrane domains where signaling molecules assemble and function. However, due to their dynamic nature, it has been difficult to unravel the mechanism of signal transduction in lipid rafts. Recent advanced imaging techniques have revealed that signaling molecules are frequently, but transiently, recruited to rafts with the aid of protein-protein, protein-lipid, and/or lipid-lipid interactions. Individual signaling molecules within the raft are activated only for a short period of time. Immobilization of signaling molecules by cytoskeletal actin filaments and scaffold proteins may facilitate more efficient signal transmission from rafts. In this review, current opinions of how the transient nature of molecular interactions in rafts generates digital-like signal transduction in cell membranes, and the benefits this phenomenon provides, are discussed. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. A robust random number generator based on differential comparison of chaotic laser signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jianzhong; Wang, Yuncai; Liu, Ming; Xue, Lugang; Li, Pu; Wang, Anbang; Zhang, Mingjiang

    2012-03-26

    We experimentally realize a robust real-time random number generator by differentially comparing the signal from a chaotic semiconductor laser and its delayed signal through a 1-bit analog-to-digital converter. The probability density distribution of the output chaotic signal based on the differential comparison method possesses an extremely small coefficient of Pearson's median skewness (1.5 × 10⁻⁶), which can yield a balanced random sequence much easily than the previously reported method that compares the signal from the chaotic laser with a certain threshold value. Moveover, we experimently demonstrate that our method can stably generate good random numbers at rates of 1.44 Gbit/s with excellent immunity from external perturbations while the previously reported method fails.

  6. Generate the scale-free brain music from BOLD signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Jing; Guo, Sijia; Chen, Mingming; Wang, Weixia; Yang, Hua; Guo, Daqing; Yao, Dezhong

    2018-01-01

    Many methods have been developed to translate a human electroencephalogram (EEG) into music. In addition to EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is another method used to study the brain and can reflect physiological processes. In 2012, we established a method to use simultaneously recorded fMRI and EEG signals to produce EEG-fMRI music, which represents a step toward scale-free brain music. In this study, we used a neural mass model, the Jansen-Rit model, to simulate activity in several cortical brain regions. The interactions between different brain regions were represented by the average normalized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) structural connectivity with a coupling coefficient that modulated the coupling strength. Seventy-eight brain regions were adopted from the Automated Anatomical Labeling (AAL) template. Furthermore, we used the Balloon-Windkessel hemodynamic model to transform neural activity into a blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal. Because the fMRI BOLD signal changes slowly, we used a sampling rate of 250 Hz to produce the temporal series for music generation. Then, the BOLD music was generated for each region using these simulated BOLD signals. Because the BOLD signal is scale free, these music pieces were also scale free, which is similar to classic music. Here, to simulate the case of an epileptic patient, we changed the parameter that determined the amplitude of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) in the neural mass model. Finally, we obtained BOLD music for healthy and epileptic patients. The differences in levels of arousal between the 2 pieces of music may provide a potential tool for discriminating the different populations if the differences can be confirmed by more real data. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Application of best estimate and uncertainty safety analysis methodology to loss of flow events at Ontario's Power Generation's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huget, R.G.; Lau, D.K.; Luxat, J.C.

    2001-01-01

    Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is currently developing a new safety analysis methodology based on best estimate and uncertainty (BEAU) analysis. The framework and elements of the new safety analysis methodology are defined. The evolution of safety analysis technology at OPG has been thoroughly documented. Over the years, the use of conservative limiting assumptions in OPG safety analyses has led to gradual erosion of predicted safety margins. The main purpose of the new methodology is to provide a more realistic quantification of safety margins within a probabilistic framework, using best estimate results, with an integrated accounting of the underlying uncertainties. Another objective of the new methodology is to provide a cost-effective means for on-going safety analysis support of OPG's nuclear generating stations. Discovery issues and plant aging effects require that the safety analyses be periodically revised and, in the past, the cost of reanalysis at OPG has been significant. As OPG enters the new competitive marketplace for electricity, there is a strong need to conduct safety analysis in a less cumbersome manner. This paper presents the results of the first licensing application of the new methodology in support of planned design modifications to the shutdown systems (SDSs) at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station (NGS). The design modifications restore dual trip parameter coverage over the full range of reactor power for certain postulated loss-of-flow (LOF) events. The application of BEAU analysis to the single heat transport pump trip event provides a realistic estimation of the safety margins for the primary and backup trip parameters. These margins are significantly larger than those predicted by conventional limit of the operating envelope (LOE) analysis techniques. (author)

  8. Design and implementation of the NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) detectors output signal generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Xu; Liu, Cong-Zhan; Zhao, Jian-Ling; Zhang, Fei; Zhang, Yi-Fei; Li, Zheng-Wei; Zhang, Shuo; Li, Xu-Fang; Lu, Xue-Feng; Xu, Zhen-Ling; Lu, Fang-Jun

    2014-02-01

    We designed and implemented a signal generator that can simulate the output of the NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) detectors' pre-amplifier onboard the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). Using the development of the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) with VHDL language and adding a random constituent, we have finally produced the double exponential random pulse signal generator. The statistical distribution of the signal amplitude is programmable. The occurrence time intervals of the adjacent signals contain negative exponential distribution statistically.

  9. Hall Sensor Output Signal Fault-Detection & Safety Implementation Logic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee SangHun

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Recently BLDC motors have been popular in various industrial applications and electric mobility. Recently BLDC motors have been popular in various industrial applications and electric mobility. In most brushless direct current (BLDC motor drives, there are three hall sensors as a position reference. Low resolution hall effect sensor is popularly used to estimate the rotor position because of its good comprehensive performance such as low cost, high reliability and sufficient precision. Various possible faults may happen in a hall effect sensor. This paper presents a fault-tolerant operation method that allows the control of a BLDC motor with one faulty hall sensor and presents the hall sensor output fault-tolerant control strategy. The situations considered are when the output from a hall sensor stays continuously at low or high levels, or a short-time pulse appears on a hall sensor signal. For fault detection, identification of a faulty signal and generating a substitute signal, this method only needs the information from the hall sensors. There are a few research work on hall effect sensor failure of BLDC motor. The conventional fault diagnosis methods are signal analysis, model based analysis and knowledge based analysis. The proposed method is signal based analysis using a compensation signal for reconfiguration and therefore fault diagnosis can be fast. The proposed method is validated to execute the simulation using PSIM.

  10. Design and implementation of the NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) detectors output signal generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Xu; Liu Congzhan; Zhao Jianling

    2014-01-01

    We designed and implemented a signal generator that can simulate the output of the NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) detectors' pre-amplifier onboard the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). Using the development of the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) with VHDL language and adding a random constituent, we have finally produced the double exponential random pulse signal generator. The statistical distribution of the signal amplitude is programmable. The occurrence time intervals of the adjacent signals contain negative exponential distribution statistically. (authors)

  11. The trans-generational impact of population density signals on host-parasite interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michel, Jessica; Ebert, Dieter; Hall, Matthew D

    2016-11-25

    The density of a host population is a key parameter underlying disease transmission, but it also has implications for the expression of disease through its effect on host physiology. In response to higher densities, individuals are predicted to either increase their immune investment in response to the elevated risk of parasitism, or conversely to decrease their immune capacity as a consequence of the stress of a crowded environment. However, an individual's health is shaped by many different factors, including their genetic background, current environmental conditions, and maternal effects. Indeed, population density is often sensed through the presence of info-chemicals in the environment, which may influence a host's interaction with parasites, and also those of its offspring. All of which may alter the expression of disease, and potentially uncouple the presumed link between changes in host density and disease outcomes. In this study, we used the water flea Daphnia magna and its obligate bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa, to investigate how signals of high host density impact on host-parasite interactions over two consecutive generations. We found that the chemical signals from crowded treatments induced phenotypic changes in both the parental and offspring generations. In the absence of a pathogen, life-history changes were genotype-specific, but consistent across generations, even when the signal of density was removed. In contrast, the influence of density on infected animals depended on the trait and generation of exposure. When directly exposed to signals of high-density, host genotypes responded differently in how they minimised the severity of disease. Yet, in the subsequent generation, the influence of density was rarely genotype-specific and instead related to ability of the host to minimise the onset of infection. Our findings reveal that population level correlations between host density and infection capture only part of the complex relationship

  12. Cultural Transmission and Evolution of Melodic Structures in Multi-generational Signaling Games

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lumaca, Massimo; Baggio, G.

    2017-01-01

    , and basic and compound emotions as meanings, were transmitted from senders to receivers along diffusion chains in which the receiver in each game became the sender in the next game. During transmission, structural regularities accumulated in the signaling systems, following principles of proximity, symmetry...... and cognitive constraints similarly affect the evolution of musical systems? We conducted an experiment on the cultural evolution of artificial melodic systems, using multi-generational signaling games as a laboratory model of cultural transmission. Signaling systems, using five-tone sequences as signals...

  13. Integration of Optically Generated Impulse Radio UWB Signals into Baseband WDM-PON

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pham, Tien Thang; Yu, Xianbin; Dittmann, Lars

    2011-01-01

    We propose a compact integration system to simultaneously provide wireline and wireless (baseband and ultra-wide band (UWB)) services to end-users in a WDM-PON. A 1-Gbps UWB signal is optically generated and shares the same wavelength with the baseband signal. Error-free performance was achieved...

  14. Generation and reception of spread-spectrum signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moser, R.

    1983-05-01

    The term 'spread-spectrum' implies a technique whereby digitized information is added to a pseudo-random number sequence and the resultant bit stream changes some parameter of the carrier frequency in discrete increments. The discrete modulation of the carrier frequency is usually realized either as a multiple level phase shift keyed or frequency shift keyed signal. The resultant PSK-modulated frequency spectrum is referred to as direct sequence spread-spectrum, whereas the FSK-modulated carrier frequency is referred to as a frequency hopped spread spectrum. These can be considered the major subsets of the more general term 'spread-spectrum'. In discussing signal reception, it is pointed out that active correlation methods are used for channel synchronization when the psuedo random sequences are long or when the processing gain is large, whereas the passive methods may be used for either short pseudo-random noise generation codes or to assist in attaining initial synchronization in long sequence spread-spectrum systems.

  15. Dual-tone optical vector millimeter wave signal generated by frequency-nonupling the radio frequency 16-star quadrature-amplitude-modulation signal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Tonggen; Ma, Jianxin

    2017-12-01

    This paper proposes an original scheme to generate the photonic dual-tone optical millimeter wave (MMW) carrying the 16-star quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) signal via an optical phase modulator (PM) and an interleaver with adaptive photonic frequency-nonupling without phase precoding. To enable the generated optical vector MMW signal to resist the power fading effect caused by the fiber chromatic dispersion, the modulated -5th- and +4th-order sidebands are selected from the output of the PM, which is driven by the precoding 16-star QAM signal. The modulation index of the PM is optimized to gain the maximum opto-electrical conversion efficiency. A radio over fiber link is built by simulation, and the simulated constellations and the bit error rate graph demonstrate that the frequency-nonupling 16-star QAM MMW signal has good transmission performance. The simulation results agree well with our theoretical results.

  16. An ultra-efficient nonlinear planar integrated platform for optical signal processing and generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pu, Minhao; Ottaviano, Luisa; Semenova, Elizaveta

    2017-01-01

    This paper will discuss the recently developed integrated platform: AlGaAs-oninsulator and its broad range of nonlinear applications. Recent demonstrations of broadband optical signal processing and efficient frequency comb generations in this platform will be reviewed.......This paper will discuss the recently developed integrated platform: AlGaAs-oninsulator and its broad range of nonlinear applications. Recent demonstrations of broadband optical signal processing and efficient frequency comb generations in this platform will be reviewed....

  17. A novel LabVIEW-based multi-channel non-invasive abdominal maternal-fetal electrocardiogram signal generator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinek, Radek; Kelnar, Michal; Koudelka, Petr; Vanus, Jan; Bilik, Petr; Janku, Petr; Nazeran, Homer; Zidek, Jan

    2016-02-01

    This paper describes the design, construction, and testing of a multi-channel fetal electrocardiogram (fECG) signal generator based on LabVIEW. Special attention is paid to the fetal heart development in relation to the fetus' anatomy, physiology, and pathology. The non-invasive signal generator enables many parameters to be set, including fetal heart rate (FHR), maternal heart rate (MHR), gestational age (GA), fECG interferences (biological and technical artifacts), as well as other fECG signal characteristics. Furthermore, based on the change in the FHR and in the T wave-to-QRS complex ratio (T/QRS), the generator enables manifestations of hypoxic states (hypoxemia, hypoxia, and asphyxia) to be monitored while complying with clinical recommendations for classifications in cardiotocography (CTG) and fECG ST segment analysis (STAN). The generator can also produce synthetic signals with defined properties for 6 input leads (4 abdominal and 2 thoracic). Such signals are well suited to the testing of new and existing methods of fECG processing and are effective in suppressing maternal ECG while non-invasively monitoring abdominal fECG. They may also contribute to the development of a new diagnostic method, which may be referred to as non-invasive trans-abdominal CTG +  STAN. The functional prototype is based on virtual instrumentation using the LabVIEW developmental environment and its associated data acquisition measurement cards (DAQmx). The generator also makes it possible to create synthetic signals and measure actual fetal and maternal ECGs by means of bioelectrodes.

  18. Operational safety of turbine-generators at Loviisa nuclear power plant; Turbiini-generaattoreiden kaeyttoeturvallisuus Loviisan ydinvoimalaitoksella

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Virolainen, T.

    1997-06-01

    The goal of the study is to assess the operational safety of the turbine-generators at the Loviisa NPP. The lay-out, operation, control, monitoring and testing of turbine-generators have been studied. Taking these findings into consideration and by using operational data of Loviisa and other power plants, the most significant safety issues of the turbine-generator system have been identified. The frequencies for initiating events and possible consequences have been determined based on plant operational experience and related literature. (58 refs.).

  19. Arrays of surface-normal electroabsorption modulators for the generation and signal processing of microwave photonics signals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noharet, Bertrand; Wang, Qin; Platt, Duncan; Junique, Stéphane; Marpaung, D.A.I.; Roeloffzen, C.G.H.

    2011-01-01

    The development of an array of 16 surface-normal electroabsorption modulators operating at 1550nm is presented. The modulator array is dedicated to the generation and processing of microwave photonics signals, targeting a modulation bandwidth in excess of 5GHz. The hybrid integration of the

  20. Digitally generated excitation and near-baseband quadrature detection of rapid scan EPR signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseitlin, Mark; Yu, Zhelin; Quine, Richard W; Rinard, George A; Eaton, Sandra S; Eaton, Gareth R

    2014-12-01

    The use of multiple synchronized outputs from an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) provides the opportunity to perform EPR experiments differently than by conventional EPR. We report a method for reconstructing the quadrature EPR spectrum from periodic signals that are generated with sinusoidal magnetic field modulation such as continuous wave (CW), multiharmonic, or rapid scan experiments. The signal is down-converted to an intermediate frequency (IF) that is less than the field scan or field modulation frequency and then digitized in a single channel. This method permits use of a high-pass analog filter before digitization to remove the strong non-EPR signal at the IF, that might otherwise overwhelm the digitizer. The IF is the difference between two synchronized X-band outputs from a Tektronix AWG 70002A, one of which is for excitation and the other is the reference for down-conversion. To permit signal averaging, timing was selected to give an exact integer number of full cycles for each frequency. In the experiments reported here the IF was 5kHz and the scan frequency was 40kHz. To produce sinusoidal rapid scans with a scan frequency eight times IF, a third synchronized output generated a square wave that was converted to a sine wave. The timing of the data acquisition with a Bruker SpecJet II was synchronized by an external clock signal from the AWG. The baseband quadrature signal in the frequency domain was reconstructed. This approach has the advantages that (i) the non-EPR response at the carrier frequency is eliminated, (ii) both real and imaginary EPR signals are reconstructed from a single physical channel to produce an ideal quadrature signal, and (iii) signal bandwidth does not increase relative to baseband detection. Spectra were obtained by deconvolution of the reconstructed signals for solid BDPA (1,3-bisdiphenylene-2-phenylallyl) in air, 0.2mM trityl OX63 in water, 15 N perdeuterated tempone, and a nitroxide with a 0.5G partially-resolved proton

  1. Direct and indirect health and safety impacts of electrical generation options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Habegger, L.J.; Gasper, J.R.; Brown, C.D.

    1982-01-01

    This report is an analysis of the health and safety risks of seven electrical generation systems, all of which have the potential for commercial availability after the year 2000. The systems are compared on the basis of expected public and occupational deaths and lost workdays associated with average unit generation of 1000 MW(e) per year. The risks and associated uncertainties are estimated for all phases of the energy production cycle, including fuel extraction and processing, on-site construction and system operation and maintenance. Also included are the risks of direct and indirect component manufacture, materials production and energy inputs, all of which are major contributors to the risks of the more capital-intensive solar technologies. The potential significance of major health and safety issues that remain largely unquantifiable are also considered. (author)

  2. Phase-coded microwave signal generation based on a single electro-optical modulator and its application in accurate distance measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fangzheng; Ge, Xiaozhong; Gao, Bindong; Pan, Shilong

    2015-08-24

    A novel scheme for photonic generation of a phase-coded microwave signal is proposed and its application in one-dimension distance measurement is demonstrated. The proposed signal generator has a simple and compact structure based on a single dual-polarization modulator. Besides, the generated phase-coded signal is stable and free from the DC and low-frequency backgrounds. An experiment is carried out. A 2 Gb/s phase-coded signal at 20 GHz is successfully generated, and the recovered phase information agrees well with the input 13-bit Barker code. To further investigate the performance of the proposed signal generator, its application in one-dimension distance measurement is demonstrated. The measurement accuracy is less than 1.7 centimeters within a measurement range of ~2 meters. The experimental results can verify the feasibility of the proposed phase-coded microwave signal generator and also provide strong evidence to support its practical applications.

  3. Thermonuclear generation program: risks and safety; Programa de geracao termonuclear: seus riscos e segurancas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goes, Alexandre Gromann de Araujo

    1999-07-01

    This work deals with the fundamental concepts of risk and safety related to nuclear power generation. In the first chapter, a general evaluation of the various systems for energy generation and their environmental impacts is made. Some definitions for safety and risk are suggested, based on the already existing regulatory processes and also on the current tendencies of risk management. Aspects regarding the safety culture are commented. The International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), a coherent and clear mechanism of communication between nuclear specialists and the general public, is analyzed. The second chapter examines the thermonuclear generation program in Brazil and the role of the National Nuclear Energy Commission. The third chapter presents national and international scenarios in terms of safety and risks, available policies and the main obstacles for future development of nuclear energy and nuclear engineering, and strategies are proposed. In the last chapter, comments about possible trends and recommendations related to practical risk management procedures, taking into account rational criteria for resources distribution and risk reduction are made, envisaging a closer integration between nuclear specialists and the society as a whole, thus decreasing the conflicts in a democratic decision-making process.

  4. Brushless DC motor control system responsive to control signals generated by a computer or the like

    Science.gov (United States)

    Packard, Douglas T. (Inventor); Schmitt, Donald E. (Inventor)

    1987-01-01

    A control system for a brushless DC motor responsive to digital control signals is disclosed. The motor includes a multiphase wound stator and a permanent magnet rotor. The rotor is arranged so that each phase winding, when energized from a DC source, will drive the rotor through a predetermined angular position or step. A commutation signal generator responsive to the shaft position provides a commutation signal for each winding. A programmable control signal generator such as a computer or microprocessor produces individual digital control signals for each phase winding. The control signals and commutation signals associated with each winding are applied to an AND gate for that phase winding. Each gate controls a switch connected in series with the associated phase winding and the DC source so that each phase winding is energized only when the commutation signal and the control signal associated with that phase winding are present. The motor shaft may be advanced one step at a time to a desired position by applying a predetermined number of control signals in the proper sequence to the AND gates and the torque generated by the motor may be regulated by applying a separate control signal to each AND gate which is pulse width modulated to control the total time that each switch connects its associated winding to the DC source during each commutation period.

  5. Perspectives on the development of next generation reactor systems safety analysis codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, H.

    2015-01-01

    'Full text:' Existing reactor system analysis codes, such as RELAP5-3D and TRAC, have gained worldwide success in supporting reactor safety analyses, as well as design and licensing of new reactors. These codes are important assets to the nuclear engineering research community, as well as to the nuclear industry. However, most of these codes were originally developed during the 1970s', and it becomes necessary to develop next-generation reactor system analysis codes for several reasons. Firstly, as new reactor designs emerge, there are new challenges emerging in numerical simulations of reactor systems such as long lasting transients and multi-physics phenomena. These new requirements are beyond the range of applicability of the existing system analysis codes. Advanced modeling and numerical methods must be taken into consideration to improve the existing capabilities. Secondly, by developing next-generation reactor system analysis codes, the knowledge (know how) in two phase flow modeling and the highly complex constitutive models will be transferred to the young generation of nuclear engineers. And thirdly, all computer codes have limited shelf life. It becomes less and less cost-effective to maintain a legacy code, due to the fast change of computer hardware and software environment. There are several critical perspectives in terms of developing next-generation reactor system analysis codes: 1) The success of the next-generation codes must be built upon the success of the existing codes. The knowledge of the existing codes, not just simply the manuals and codes, but knowing why and how, must be transferred to the next-generation codes. The next-generation codes should encompass the capability of the existing codes. The shortcomings of existing codes should be identified, understood, and properly categorized, for example into model deficiencies or numerical method deficiencies. 2) State-of-the-art models and numerical methods must be considered to

  6. Perspectives on the development of next generation reactor systems safety analysis codes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, H., E-mail: Hongbin.Zhang@inl.gov [Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    2015-07-01

    'Full text:' Existing reactor system analysis codes, such as RELAP5-3D and TRAC, have gained worldwide success in supporting reactor safety analyses, as well as design and licensing of new reactors. These codes are important assets to the nuclear engineering research community, as well as to the nuclear industry. However, most of these codes were originally developed during the 1970s', and it becomes necessary to develop next-generation reactor system analysis codes for several reasons. Firstly, as new reactor designs emerge, there are new challenges emerging in numerical simulations of reactor systems such as long lasting transients and multi-physics phenomena. These new requirements are beyond the range of applicability of the existing system analysis codes. Advanced modeling and numerical methods must be taken into consideration to improve the existing capabilities. Secondly, by developing next-generation reactor system analysis codes, the knowledge (know how) in two phase flow modeling and the highly complex constitutive models will be transferred to the young generation of nuclear engineers. And thirdly, all computer codes have limited shelf life. It becomes less and less cost-effective to maintain a legacy code, due to the fast change of computer hardware and software environment. There are several critical perspectives in terms of developing next-generation reactor system analysis codes: 1) The success of the next-generation codes must be built upon the success of the existing codes. The knowledge of the existing codes, not just simply the manuals and codes, but knowing why and how, must be transferred to the next-generation codes. The next-generation codes should encompass the capability of the existing codes. The shortcomings of existing codes should be identified, understood, and properly categorized, for example into model deficiencies or numerical method deficiencies. 2) State-of-the-art models and numerical methods must be considered to

  7. VXIbus-based signal generator for resonant power supply system of the 3 GeV RCS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Fengqing; Watanabe, Yasuhiro; Koseki, Shoichiro; Tani, Norio [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Adachi, Toshikazu; Someya, Hirohiko [High Energy Accelerator Reseach Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan)

    2002-03-01

    The 3 GeV Proton RCS of the JAERI-KEK Joint Project is a 25 Hz separate-function rapid cycling synchrotron under design. Bending magnets (BM) and quadrupole magnets (QM) are excited separately. The 3 GeV RCS requests above 10 families of magnets excited independently, far beyond 3 families in practical RCS's. Difficulty of field tracking between BM and QM is significantly increased. Magnet strings are grouped into resonant networks and excited resonantly with power supplies driven by a waveform pattern, typically a DC-biased sinusoidal signal. To achieve a close tracking between many families, the driving signal of each power supply should be adjusted in phase and amplitude flexibly and dynamically. This report proposes a signal generator based on VXIbus. The VXIbus, an extension of VMEbus (VME eXtensions for Instrument), provides an open architecture with shared process bus and timing. The VXIbus-based signal generator facilitates the timing synchronization and is easy to extend to many channels needed by the 3 GeV RCS. Experimental results of the signal generator are reported. (author)

  8. An Axiomatic Design Approach of Nanofluid-Engineered Nuclear Safety Features for Generation III+ React

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bang, In Cheol; Heo, Gyun Young; Jeong, Yong Hoon; Heo, Sun

    2009-01-01

    A variety of Generation III/III+ reactor designs featuring enhanced safety and improved economics are being proposed by nuclear power industries around the world to solve the future energy supply shortfall. Nanofluid coolants showing an improved thermal performance are being considered as a new key technology to secure nuclear safety and economics. However, it should be noted that there is a lack of comprehensible design works to apply nanofluids to Generation III+ reactor designs. In this work, the review of accident scenarios that consider expected nanofluid mechanisms is carried out to seek detailed application spots. The Axiomatic Design (AD) theory is then applied to systemize the design of nanofluid-engineered nuclear safety systems such as Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) and External Reactor Vessel Cooling System (ERVCS). The various couplings between Gen-III/III+ nuclear safety features and nanofluids are investigated and they try to be reduced from the perspective of the AD in terms of prevention/mitigation of severe accidents. This study contributes to the establishment of a standard communication protocol in the design of nanofluid-engineered nuclear safety systems

  9. Acquisition and extinction of human avoidance behavior: Attenuating effect of safety signals and associations with anxiety vulnerabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jony eSheynin

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available While avoidance behavior is often an adaptive strategy, exaggerated avoidance can be detrimental and result in the development of psychopathologies, such as anxiety disorders. A large animal literature shows that the acquisition and extinction of avoidance behavior in rodents depends on individual differences (e.g., sex, strain and might be modulated by the presence of environmental cues. However, there is a dearth of such reports in human literature, mainly due to the lack of adequate experimental paradigms. In the current study, we employed a computer-based task, where participants control a spaceship and attempt to gain points by shooting an enemy spaceship that appears on the screen. Warning signals predict on-screen aversive events; the participants can learn a protective response to escape or avoid these events. This task has been recently used to reveal facilitated acquisition of avoidance behavior in individuals with anxiety vulnerability, due to female sex or inhibited personality. Here, we extended the task to include an extinction phase, and tested the effect of signals that appeared during safe periods. Healthy young adults (n=122 were randomly assigned to a testing condition with or without such signals. Results showed that the addition of safety signals during the acquisition phase impaired acquisition (in females and facilitated extinction of the avoidance behavior. We also replicated our recent finding of an association between female sex and longer avoidance duration and further showed that females continued to demonstrate more avoidance behavior even on extinction trials when the aversive events no longer occurred. This study is the first to show sex differences on the acquisition and extinction of human avoidance behavior and to demonstrate the role of safety signals in such behavior, highlighting the potential relevance of safety signals for cognitive therapies that focus on extinction learning to treat anxiety symptoms.

  10. Safety assessment for the 24 CANFLEX-NU bundle demonstration irradiation at Wolsong-1 generation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suk, Ho Chun; Cho, M. S.; Jun, J. S. and others

    2001-06-01

    This document is a report on the safety assessment for the 24 CANFLEX-NU(CANDU Flexible fuelling - Natural Uranium) fuel bundle demonstration irradiation at Wolsong-1 Generating Station. The CANFLEX fuel bundle as a CANDU advanced fuel has been jointly developed by KAERI/AECL. This document describes the rationale for the demonstration irradiation and comments on the Korean government licensing issues such as the status of the CANFLEX fuel irradiations at NRU research reactor in AECL, status and plan of the CANFLEX fuel irradiations at a CANDU-6 power reactor, status of the water CHF(Critical Heat Flux) test at Stern Laboratories and the CHF correlation. This documents presents an assessment the consequences of postulated accidents with all safety system available during demonstration irradiation of 24 CANFLEX-NU fuel bundles at Wolsong-1 Generating Station. The assessment is made by two kinds of approaches. One approach is based on the document of the safety assessment for the 24 CANFLEX-NU fuel bundle demonstration irradiation at Point Lepreau Generating Station. The other approach is taken from the safety analyses using the analysis methods and assumptions used in the final safety reports on the 600 MWe CANDU-PHWR Wolsung-2, 3, and 4 Nuclear Power Plants for the Korea Electric Power Cooperation. The analyses are not comprehensive reviews of the postulated accidents, but examination of the expected difference in accident consequences because of the presence of 24 CANFLEX fuel bundles in two channels. The approach is to compare the difference to the safety margin for 37-element bundle cases.

  11. Towards 5G: A Photonic Based Millimeter Wave Signal Generation for Applying in 5G Access Fronthaul

    OpenAIRE

    Alavi, S. E.; Soltanian, M. R. K.; Amiri, I. S.; Khalily, M.; Supa?at, A. S. M.; Ahmad, H.

    2016-01-01

    5G communications require a multi Gb/s data transmission in its small cells. For this purpose millimeter wave (mm-wave) RF signals are the best solutions to be utilized for high speed data transmission. Generation of these high frequency RF signals is challenging in electrical domain therefore photonic generation of these signals is more studied. In this work, a photonic based simple and robust method for generating millimeter waves applicable in 5G access fronthaul is presented. Besides gene...

  12. Microwave-signal generation in a planar Gunn diode with radiation exposure taken into account

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Obolenskaya, E. S., E-mail: bess009@mail.ru, E-mail: obolensk@rf.unn.ru; Tarasova, E. A.; Churin, A. Yu.; Obolensky, S. V. [Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (NNSU) (Russian Federation); Kozlov, V. A. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Physics of Microstructures (Russian Federation)

    2016-12-15

    Microwave-signal generation in planar Gunn diodes with a two-dimensional electron gas, in which we previously studied steady-state electron transport, is theoretically studied. The applicability of a control electrode similar to a field-effect transistor gate to control the parameters of the output diode microwave signal is considered. The results of physical-topological modeling of semiconductor structures with different diode active-region structures, i.e., without a quantum well, with one and two quantum wells separated by a potential barrier, are compared. The calculated results are compared with our previous experimental data on recording Gunn generation in a Schottky-gate field-effect transistor. It is theoretically and experimentally shown that the power of the signal generated by the planar Gunn diode with a quantum well and a control electrode is sufficient to implement monolithic integrated circuits of different functionalities. It is theoretically and experimentally shown that the use of a control electrode on account of the introduction of corrective feedback allows a significant increase in the radiation resistance of a microwave generator with Schottky-gate field-effect transistors.

  13. Microwave-signal generation in a planar Gunn diode with radiation exposure taken into account

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obolenskaya, E. S.; Tarasova, E. A.; Churin, A. Yu.; Obolensky, S. V.; Kozlov, V. A.

    2016-01-01

    Microwave-signal generation in planar Gunn diodes with a two-dimensional electron gas, in which we previously studied steady-state electron transport, is theoretically studied. The applicability of a control electrode similar to a field-effect transistor gate to control the parameters of the output diode microwave signal is considered. The results of physical-topological modeling of semiconductor structures with different diode active-region structures, i.e., without a quantum well, with one and two quantum wells separated by a potential barrier, are compared. The calculated results are compared with our previous experimental data on recording Gunn generation in a Schottky-gate field-effect transistor. It is theoretically and experimentally shown that the power of the signal generated by the planar Gunn diode with a quantum well and a control electrode is sufficient to implement monolithic integrated circuits of different functionalities. It is theoretically and experimentally shown that the use of a control electrode on account of the introduction of corrective feedback allows a significant increase in the radiation resistance of a microwave generator with Schottky-gate field-effect transistors.

  14. Safety improvement technologies for nuclear power generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishida, Koji; Adachi, Hirokazu; Kinoshita, Hirofumi; Takeshi, Noriaki; Yoshikawa, Kazuhiro; Itou, Kanta; Kurihara, Takao; Hino, Tetsushi

    2015-01-01

    As the Hitachi Group's efforts in nuclear power generation, this paper explains the safety improvement technologies that are currently under development or promotion. As efforts for the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the following items have been developed. (1) As for the spent fuel removal of Unit 4, the following items have mainly been conducted: removal of the debris piled up on the top surface of existing reactor building (R/B), removal of the debris deposited in spent fuel pool (SFP), and fuel transfer operation by means of remote underwater work. The removal of all spent fuels was completed in 2014. (2) The survey robots inside R/B, which are composed of a basement survey robot to check leaking spots at upper pressure suppression chamber and a floor running robot to check leaking spots in water, were verified with a field demonstration test at Unit 1. These robots were able to find the leaking spots at midair pipe expansion joint. (3) As the survey robot for reactor containment shells, robots of I-letter posture and horizontal U-letter posture were developed, and the survey on the upper part of first-floor grating inside the containment shells was performed. (4) As the facilities for contaminated water measures, sub-drain purification equipment, Advanced Liquid Processing System, etc. were developed and supplied, which are now showing good performance. On the other hand, an advanced boiling water reactor with high safety of the United Kingdom (UK ABWR) is under procedure of approval for introduction. In addition, a next-generation light-water reactor of transuranic element combustion type is under development. (A.O.)

  15. Drug Safety Monitoring in Children: Performance of Signal Detection Algorithms and Impact of Age Stratification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O.U. Osokogu (Osemeke); C. Dodd (Caitlin); A.C. Pacurariu (Alexandra C.); F. Kaguelidou (Florentia); D.M. Weibel (Daniel); M.C.J.M. Sturkenboom (Miriam)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractIntroduction: Spontaneous reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) can be analyzed to yield additional drug safety evidence for the pediatric population. Signal detection algorithms (SDAs) are required for these analyses; however, the performance of SDAs in the pediatric

  16. Tunable microwave signal generation based on an Opto-DMD processor and a photonic crystal fiber

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Tao; Sang Xin-Zhu; Yan Bin-Bin; Li Yan; Song Fei-Jun; Zhang Xia; Wang Kui-Ru; Yuan Jin-Hui; Yu Chong-Xiu; Ai Qi; Chen Xiao; Zhang Ying; Chen Gen-Xiang; Xiao Feng; Kamal Alameh

    2014-01-01

    Frequency-tunable microwave signal generation is proposed and experimentally demonstrated with a dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on a digital Opto-DMD processor and four-wave mixing (FWM) in a high-nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The high-nonlinear PCF is employed for the generation of the FWM to obtain stable and uniform dual-wavelength oscillation. Two different short passive sub-ring cavities in the main ring cavity serve as mode filters to make SLM lasing. The two lasing wavelengths are electronically selected by loading different gratings on the Opto-DMD processor controlled with a computer. The wavelength spacing can be smartly adjusted from 0.165 nm to 1.08 nm within a tuning accuracy of 0.055 nm. Two microwave signals at 17.23 GHz and 27.47 GHz are achieved. The stability of the microwave signal is discussed. The system has the ability to generate a 137.36-GHz photonic millimeter signal at room temperature

  17. Status and topics of thermal-hydraulic analysis for next-generation LWRs with passive safety systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aritomi, Masanori; Ohnuki, Akira; Arai, Kenji; Kikuta, Michitaka; Yonomoto, Taisuke; Araya, Fumimasa; Akimoto, Hajime

    1999-01-01

    For increasing of electric power demand and reducing of carbon dioxide exhaust in the 21st century, studies of the next-generation light water reactor (LWR) with passive safety systems are developing in the world: AP-600 (by Westing House Co.); SBWR (by General Electric Co.); SWR1000 (by Siemens Co.); NP21 (by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Co., et al.); JPSR (by JAERI). The passive equipment using natural circulation and natural convection are installed in the passive safety system, instead of active safety equipment, such as pumps, etc. It remains still as a important issue, however, to verify the reliability on the functions of the passive equipment, since that the driving forces of the passive equipment are small at comparison with the active safety equipment. The various subjects of thermal-hydraulic analysis for the next-generation light water reactors, such as temperature stratification in the passive safety systems, vapor condensation in the mixture of non-condensable gases and the interactions of the passive safety system with the primary cooling system, are illustrated and discussed in the paper. (M. Suetake)

  18. Comparative health and safety assessment of alternative future electrical-generation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Habegger, L.J.; Gasper, J.R.; Brown, C.D.

    1980-01-01

    The report is an analysis of health and safety risks of seven alternative electrical generation systems, all of which have potential for commercial availability in the post-2000 timeframe. The systems are compared on the basis of expected public and occupational deaths and lost workdays per year associated with 1000 MWe average unit generation. Risks and their uncertainties are estimated for all phases of the energy production cycle, including fuel and raw material extraction and processing, direct and indirect component manufacture, on-site construction, and system operation and maintenance. Also discussed is the potential significance of related major health and safety issues that remain largely unquantifiable. The technologies include: the SPS; a low-Btu coal gasification system with an open-cycle gas turbine combined with a steam topping cycle (CG/CC); a light water fission reactor system without fuel reprocessing (LWR); a liquid metal fast breeder fission reactor system (LMFBR); a central station terrestrial photovoltaic system (CTPV); and a first generation fusion system with magnetic confinement. For comparison with the baseload technologies, risk from a decentralized roof-top photovoltaic system with 6 kWe peak capacity and battery storage (DTPV) was also evaluated

  19. Ultrasonic signal analysis according to laser ultrasound generation position for the detection of delamination in composites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hong, Kyung Min; Choi In Young; Kim, Seong Jong; Kang, Young June [Chonbuk National University, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Gil Dong [GP Inc., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-11-15

    Carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic should be inspected in the fabrication process to enhance quality by preventing defects, such as delamination and voids. Conventional ultrasonic evaluation methods cannot be applied during the fabrication process because they require contact measurement by a transducer. Thus, an optical method using a laser was employed in this study for non-contact ultrasonic evaluation. Ultrasonic signals were generated by a pulsed laser and received by using a laser interferometer. First, an ultrasonic signal was generated from the back side of a material sample with artificial internal defects in the composite. The ultrasonic signal directed through the interior of the specimen was then detected at the front side. After determining the locations of the internal defects, the defects were quantitatively evaluated from the front side of the composite by using ultrasonic signal generation and reception.

  20. Analysis and software development for controlling RF signal generator proton cyclotron Decy-13 using DDS Technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prajitno

    2012-01-01

    Analysis and manufacture of computer programs for controlling the signal generator Radio Frequency (RF) proton cyclotron Decy-13 have been done. Signal generator uses a technique Direct Digital Synthesiser (DDS) which settings must be done with software. Signal generator consists of electronic modules which are: DDS, micro controller ATmega16, amplifier RF.dan ± 12 Vdc power supply. Function of the programs that have been made is to set the DDS module, namely: output frequency, step frequency and phase settings and displays the operating parameters of the DDS and the RF amplifier on the monitor screen. Computer programs created with Visual Basic and has been tested to control the RF signal generator to send data serially to the module ATmega16 and receives data to be displayed on the monitor screen. Testing sending and receiving data is done with a baudrate of 1200 bps to 19200 bps with perfect results. Computer programs that have been made equipped with a Human Machine Interface to provide values parameter input on the DDS operations. (author)

  1. Improvement of Safety Features in Standard Operation Procedure of Tc-99m Generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manisah Saedon; Mohd Khairul Hakimi; Shyen, A.K.S.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes the improvements proposed to the original production procedures for Tc-99m generators. Improvements are intended to add safety and health features for workers into the existing procedures. The difference between the new safe work procedures from the original work procedures; is the concern about the safety and health of employees other than the product safety. One of the suggested safety characteristics is by using the visual aid so that the workers can easily see and read the procedures when they perform their duties, whereas the previous procedures are kept in the manual and difficult to access. The purpose of this paper is to share information about the importance of safety and health features for the workers in the procedures established in addition to provide awareness to all parties involved. (author)

  2. DEVELOPMENT OF RISK-BASED AND TECHNOLOGY-INDEPENDENT SAFETY CRITERIA FOR GENERATION IV SYSTEMS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    William E. Kastenberg; Edward Blandford; Lance Kim

    2009-03-31

    This project has developed quantitative safety goals for Generation IV (Gen IV) nuclear energy systems. These safety goals are risk based and technology independent. The foundations for a new approach to risk analysis has been developed, along with a new operational definition of risk. This project has furthered the current state-of-the-art by developing quantitative safety goals for both Gen IV reactors and for the overall Gen IV nuclear fuel cycle. The risk analysis approach developed will quantify performance measures, characterize uncertainty, and address a more comprehensive view of safety as it relates to the overall system. Appropriate safety criteria are necessary to manage risk in a prudent and cost-effective manner. This study is also important for government agencies responsible for managing, reviewing, and for approving advanced reactor systems because they are charged with assuring the health and safety of the public.

  3. DEVELOPMENT OF RISK-BASED AND TECHNOLOGY-INDEPENDENT SAFETY CRITERIA FOR GENERATION IV SYSTEMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kastenberg, William E.; Blandford, Edward; Kim, Lance

    2009-01-01

    This project has developed quantitative safety goals for Generation IV (Gen IV) nuclear energy systems. These safety goals are risk based and technology independent. The foundations for a new approach to risk analysis has been developed, along with a new operational definition of risk. This project has furthered the current state-of-the-art by developing quantitative safety goals for both Gen IV reactors and for the overall Gen IV nuclear fuel cycle. The risk analysis approach developed will quantify performance measures, characterize uncertainty, and address a more comprehensive view of safety as it relates to the overall system. Appropriate safety criteria are necessary to manage risk in a prudent and cost-effective manner. This study is also important for government agencies responsible for managing, reviewing, and for approving advanced reactor systems because they are charged with assuring the health and safety of the public

  4. Steam generator tube degradation at the Doel 4 plant influence on plant operation and safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scheveneels, G.

    1997-01-01

    The steam generator tubes of Doel 4 are affected by a multitude of corrosion phenomena. Some of them have been very difficult to manage because of their extremely fast evolution, non linear evolution behavior or difficult detectability and/or measurability. The exceptional corrosion behavior of the steam generator tubes has had its drawbacks on plant operation and safety. Extensive inspection and repair campaigns have been necessary and have largely increased outage times and radiation exposure to personnel. Although considerable effort was invested by the utility to control corrosion problems, non anticipated phenomena and/or evolution have jeopardized plant safety. The extensive plugging and repairs performed on the steam generators have necessitated continual review of the design basis safety studies and the adaptation of the protection system setpoints. The large asymmetric plugging has further complicated these reviews. During the years many preventive and recently also defence measures have been implemented by the utility to manage corrosion and to decrease the probability and consequences of single or multiple tube rupture. The present state of the Doel 4 steam generators remains troublesome and further examinations are performed to evaluate if continued operation until June '96, when the steam generators will be replaced, is justified

  5. Safety design criteria for the next generation Sodium-cooled fast reactors based on lessons learned from the Fukushima NPS accident

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakai, Takaaki

    2012-01-01

    In this presentation, architecture of the safety design criteria as requirements for SFR system and the activities on safety research works to establish safety evaluation methods for the next generation SFRs are summarized with the basis on lessons learned from the Fukushima NPS accident. Nuclear safety is a grovel issue which should be achieved by the international cooperation. In respect of the development for the next generation reactor, it is necessary to build the harmonized safety criteria and evaluation methods to establish the next level of safety

  6. Distribution of photonically generated 5 Gbits=s impulse radio ultrawideband signals over fiber

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu, Xianbin; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2011-01-01

    We propose an approach to generate ultrawideband (UWB) pulses with tunable high-speed modulation based on pulse compression. Flexible generation of up to a record 5 Gbits=s on-off keying impulse radio UWB signals are successfully demonstrated as well. We also investigate 5 Gbits=s on-off keying bit...

  7. Towards 5G: A Photonic Based Millimeter Wave Signal Generation for Applying in 5G Access Fronthaul

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alavi, S. E.; Soltanian, M. R. K.; Amiri, I. S.; Khalily, M.; Supa'At, A. S. M.; Ahmad, H.

    2016-01-01

    5G communications require a multi Gb/s data transmission in its small cells. For this purpose millimeter wave (mm-wave) RF signals are the best solutions to be utilized for high speed data transmission. Generation of these high frequency RF signals is challenging in electrical domain therefore photonic generation of these signals is more studied. In this work, a photonic based simple and robust method for generating millimeter waves applicable in 5G access fronthaul is presented. Besides generating of the mm-wave signal in the 60 GHz frequency band the radio over fiber (RoF) system for transmission of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with 5 GHz bandwidth is presented. For the purpose of wireless transmission for 5G application the required antenna is designed and developed. The total system performance in one small cell was studied and the error vector magnitude (EVM) of the system was evaluated.

  8. Towards 5G: A Photonic Based Millimeter Wave Signal Generation for Applying in 5G Access Fronthaul.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alavi, S E; Soltanian, M R K; Amiri, I S; Khalily, M; Supa'at, A S M; Ahmad, H

    2016-01-27

    5G communications require a multi Gb/s data transmission in its small cells. For this purpose millimeter wave (mm-wave) RF signals are the best solutions to be utilized for high speed data transmission. Generation of these high frequency RF signals is challenging in electrical domain therefore photonic generation of these signals is more studied. In this work, a photonic based simple and robust method for generating millimeter waves applicable in 5G access fronthaul is presented. Besides generating of the mm-wave signal in the 60 GHz frequency band the radio over fiber (RoF) system for transmission of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with 5 GHz bandwidth is presented. For the purpose of wireless transmission for 5G application the required antenna is designed and developed. The total system performance in one small cell was studied and the error vector magnitude (EVM) of the system was evaluated.

  9. Reactor core and passive safety systems descriptions of a next generation pressure tube reactor - mechanical aspects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yetisir, M.; Gaudet, M.; Rhodes, D.; Hamilton, H.; Pencer, J. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, ON (Canada)

    2014-07-01

    Canada has been developing a channel-type supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor concept, often called the Canadian SCWR. The objective of this reactor concept is to meet the technology goals of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) for the next generation nuclear reactor development, which include enhanced safety features (inherent safe operation and deploying passive safety features), improved resource utilization, sustainable fuel cycle, and greater proliferation resistance than Generation III nuclear reactors. The Canadian SCWR core concept consists of a high-pressure inlet plenum, a separate low-pressure heavy water moderator contained in a calandria vessel, and 336 pressure tubes surrounded by the moderator. The reactor uses supercritical water as a coolant, and a direct steam power cycle to generate electricity. The reactor concept incorporates advanced safety features such as passive core cooling, long-term decay heat rejection to the environment and fuel melt prevention via passive moderator cooling. These features significantly reduce core damage frequency relative to existing nuclear reactors. This paper presents a description of the design concepts for the Canadian SCWR core, reactor building layout and the plant layout. Passive safety concepts are also described that address containment and core cooling following a loss-of coolant accident, as well as long term reactor heat removal at station blackout conditions. (author)

  10. Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH Signal Analysis Using Automated Generated Projection Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xingwei Wang

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH tests provide promising molecular imaging biomarkers to more accurately and reliably detect and diagnose cancers and genetic disorders. Since current manual FISH signal analysis is low-efficient and inconsistent, which limits its clinical utility, developing automated FISH image scanning systems and computer-aided detection (CAD schemes has been attracting research interests. To acquire high-resolution FISH images in a multi-spectral scanning mode, a huge amount of image data with the stack of the multiple three-dimensional (3-D image slices is generated from a single specimen. Automated preprocessing these scanned images to eliminate the non-useful and redundant data is important to make the automated FISH tests acceptable in clinical applications. In this study, a dual-detector fluorescence image scanning system was applied to scan four specimen slides with FISH-probed chromosome X. A CAD scheme was developed to detect analyzable interphase cells and map the multiple imaging slices recorded FISH-probed signals into the 2-D projection images. CAD scheme was then applied to each projection image to detect analyzable interphase cells using an adaptive multiple-threshold algorithm, identify FISH-probed signals using a top-hat transform, and compute the ratios between the normal and abnormal cells. To assess CAD performance, the FISH-probed signals were also independently visually detected by an observer. The Kappa coefficients for agreement between CAD and observer ranged from 0.69 to 1.0 in detecting/counting FISH signal spots in four testing samples. The study demonstrated the feasibility of automated FISH signal analysis that applying a CAD scheme to the automated generated 2-D projection images.

  11. Traffic signal phasing at intersections to improve safety for alcohol-affected pedestrians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenné, Michael G; Corben, Bruce F; Stephan, Karen

    2007-07-01

    Alcohol-affected pedestrians are among the highest-risk groups involved in pedestrian casualty crashes. This paper investigates the opportunities to use a modified form of traffic signal operation during high-risk periods and at high-risk locations to reduce alcohol-affected pedestrian crashes and the severity of injuries that might otherwise occur. The 'Dwell-on-Red' treatment involves displaying a red traffic signal to all vehicle directions during periods when no vehicular traffic is detected, so that drivers approach high-risk intersections at a lower speed than if a green signal were displayed. Vehicle speed data were collected before and after treatment activation at both a control and treatment site. Speed data were collected both 30 m prior to and at the intersection stop line. The treatment was associated with a reduction in mean vehicle speeds of 3.9 kph (9%) and 11.0 kph (28%) at 30 m and stop line collection points, respectively, and substantial reductions in the proportion of vehicles travelling at threatening speeds with regard to the severity of pedestrian injury. Other important road safety concerns may also benefit from this form of traffic signal modification, and it is recommended that other areas of application be explored, including the other severe trauma categories typically concentrated around signalised intersections.

  12. Investigation on the generation characteristic of pressure pulse wave signal during the measurement-while-drilling process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changqing, Zhao; Kai, Liu; Tong, Zhao; Takei, Masahiro; Weian, Ren

    2014-04-01

    The mud-pulse logging instrument is an advanced measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tool and widely used by the industry in the world. In order to improve the signal transmission rate, ensure the accurate transmission of information and address the issue of the weak signal on the ground of oil and gas wells, the signal generator should send out the strong mud-pulse signals with the maximum amplitude. With the rotary valve pulse generator as the study object, the three-dimensional Reynolds NS equations and standard k - ɛ turbulent model were used as a mathematical model. The speed and pressure coupling calculation was done by simple algorithms to get the amplitudes of different rates of flow and axial clearances. Tests were done to verify the characteristics of the pressure signals. The pressure signal was captured by the standpiece pressure monitoring system. The study showed that the axial clearances grew bigger as the pressure wave amplitude value decreased and caused the weakening of the pulse signal. As the rate of flow got larger, the pressure wave amplitude would increase and the signal would be enhanced.

  13. Reactor trip on turbine trip inhibit control system for nuclear power generating system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torres, J.M.; Musick, C.R.

    1976-01-01

    A reactor trip on turbine trip inhibit control system for a nuclear power generating system which utilizes steam bypass valves is described. The control system inhibits a normally automatic reactor trip on turbine trip when the bypass valves have the capability of bypassing enough steam to prevent reactor trip limits from being reached and/or to prevent opening of the secondary safety pressure valves. The control system generates a bypass valve capability signal which is continuously compared with the reactor power. If the capability is greater than the reactor power, then an inhibit signal is generated which prevents a turbine trip signal from tripping the nuclear reactor. 10 claims, 4 figures

  14. Steam generator collector integrity of WWER-1000 reactors. IAEA extrabudgetary programme on the safety of WWER NPPs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, C.; Strupczewski, A. [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

    1995-12-31

    At the Consultants` Meeting on `The Safety of WWER-1000 Model 320 Nuclear Power Plants` organized by the IAEA within the framework of its Extrabudgetary Programme on the Safety of WWER-1000 NPPs, which was held in Vienna, 1-5 June 1992, the problem of WWER-1000 steam generator integrity was identified as an important issue of safety concern. Considering the safety importance of this issue, a Consultants` Meeting on `The Steam Generator Integrity of WWER-1000 Nuclear Power Plants` was convened in Vienna in May 1993, attended by 15 international experts in the area to compile information on the steam generator operating experience, deficiencies and corrective measures implemented and planned. In order to also include information from the main designer OKB Gidropress and to finalize the meeting report the IAEA convened a second meeting on the issue on 23-27 November 1993. The present paper summarizes the information and conclusions from those meetings.

  15. Steam generator collector integrity of WWER-1000 reactors. IAEA extrabudgetary programme on the safety of WWER NPPs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, C; Strupczewski, A [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

    1996-12-31

    At the Consultants` Meeting on `The Safety of WWER-1000 Model 320 Nuclear Power Plants` organized by the IAEA within the framework of its Extrabudgetary Programme on the Safety of WWER-1000 NPPs, which was held in Vienna, 1-5 June 1992, the problem of WWER-1000 steam generator integrity was identified as an important issue of safety concern. Considering the safety importance of this issue, a Consultants` Meeting on `The Steam Generator Integrity of WWER-1000 Nuclear Power Plants` was convened in Vienna in May 1993, attended by 15 international experts in the area to compile information on the steam generator operating experience, deficiencies and corrective measures implemented and planned. In order to also include information from the main designer OKB Gidropress and to finalize the meeting report the IAEA convened a second meeting on the issue on 23-27 November 1993. The present paper summarizes the information and conclusions from those meetings.

  16. Computer soundcard as an AC signal generator and oscilloscope for the physics laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinlapanuntakul, Jinda; Kijamnajsuk, Puchong; Jetjamnong, Chanthawut; Chotikaprakhan, Sutharat

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to develop both an AC signal generator and a dual-channel oscilloscope based on standard personal computer equipped with sound card as parts of the laboratory of the fundamental physics and the introduction to electronics classes. The setup turns the computer into the two channel measured device which can provides sample rate, simultaneous sampling, frequency range, filters and others essential capabilities required to perform amplitude, phase and frequency measurements of AC signal. The AC signal also generate from the same computer sound card output simultaneously in any waveform such as sine, square, triangle, saw-toothed pulsed, swept sine and white noise etc. These can convert an inexpensive PC sound card into powerful device, which allows the students to measure physical phenomena with their own PCs either at home or at university attendance. A graphic user interface software was developed for control and analysis, including facilities for data recording, signal processing and real time measurement display. The result is expanded utility of self-learning for the students in the field of electronics both AC and DC circuits, including the sound and vibration experiments.

  17. A New Second-Order Generalized Integrator Based Quadrature Signal Generator With Enhanced Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xin, Zhen; Qin, Zian; Lu, Minghui

    2016-01-01

    Due to the simplicity and flexibility of the structure of the Second-Order Generalized Integrator based Quadrature Signal Generator (SOGI-QSG), it has been widely used over the past decade for many applications such as frequency estimation, grid synchronization, and harmonic extraction. However......, the SOGI-QSG will produce errors when its input signal contains a dc component or harmonic components with unknown frequencies. The accuracy of the signal detection methods using it may hence be compromised. To overcome the drawback, the First-Order System (FOS) concept is first used to illustrate...

  18. Use of the Safety Monitor in operational decision-making at a nuclear generating facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chien, Shan H.; Hook, Thomas G.; Lee, Roger J.

    1998-01-01

    The utilization of Safety Monitor at a nuclear generating facility in 1994 revolutionized the way US nuclear power plants manage configuration risks. At Southern California Edison (SCE) Company's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, it transformed probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) from a retrospective tool for understanding past risk into a prospective tool for controlling future risk. Since that time, many other nuclear utilities have taken aggressive steps in using PRA better to understand and manage risks associated with plant operation and maintenance. These utilities have employed a variety of methods ranging from systems similar to San Onofre's Safety Monitor to systems dramatically different in both technology and philosophy. In the development and use of its Safety Monitor, SCE has been guided by two philosophical goals: (1) maximize the objectivity of PRA-informed decision-making relative to managing configuration risks, and (2) ensure that risks are managed conservatively

  19. IMPACTS OF GROUP-BASED SIGNAL CONTROL POLICY ON DRIVER BEHAVIOR AND INTERSECTION SAFETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keshuang TANG

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Unlike the typical stage-based policy commonly applied in Japan, the group-based control (often called movement-based in the traffic control industry in Japan refers to such a control pattern that the controller is capable of separately allocating time to each signal group instead of stage based on traffic demand. In order to investigate its applicability at signalized intersections in Japan, an intersection located in Yokkaichi City of Mie Prefecture was selected as an experimental application site by the Japan Universal Traffic Management Society (UTMS. Based on the data collected at the intersection before and after implementing the group-based control policy respectively, this study evaluated the impacts of such a policy on driver behavior and intersection safety. To specify those impacts, a few models utilizing cycle-based data were first developed to interpret the occurrence probability and rate of red-light-running (RLR. Furthermore, analyses were performed on the yellow-entry time (Ye of the last cleared vehicle and post encroachment time (PET during the phase switching. Conclusions supported that the group-based control policy, along with certain other factors, directly or indirectly influenced the RLR behavior of through and right-turn traffics. Meanwhile, it has potential safety benefits as well, indicated by the declined Ye and increased PET values.

  20. EPR meets the next generation PWR safety requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouteille, Francois; Czech, Juergen; Sloan, Sandra

    2006-01-01

    At the origin was the common decision in 1989 of Framatome and Siemens to cooperate to design a Nuclear Island which meets the future needs of utilities. EDF and a group of main German Utilities joined this effort in 1991 and from that point were completely involved in the progress of the work. Compliance of the EPR with the European Utility Requirements (EUR) was verified to ensure a large acceptability of the design by other participating utilities. In addition, the entire process was backed up to the end of 1998 by the French and the German Safety Authorities which engaged into a long-lasting cooperation to define common requirements applicable to future Nuclear Power Plants. Upon signature of the Olkiluoto 3 contract, STUK, the Finnish safety and radiation authority, began reviewing the design of the EPR. Upon the favorable recommendation of STUK, the Finnish government delivered a Construction License for the Olkiluoto 3 NPP on February 17, 2005. Following the positive conclusion of the political debate in France with regard to nuclear energy, EDF will also submit a request to start the construction of an EPR on the Flamanville site. In the US, the first steps in view of a Design Certification by the NRC have been taken. These three independent decisions make the EPR the leading first generation 3+ design under construction. Important safety functions are assured by separate systems in a straightforward operating mode. Four separate, redundant trains for all safety systems are installed in four separate layout division for which a strict separation is ensured so that common mode failure, for example due to internal hazards, can be ruled out. A reduction in common mode failure potential is also obtained by design rules ensuring the systematic application of functional diversity. A four train-redundancy for the major safety systems provides flexibility in adapting the design to maintenance requirements, thus contributing to reduce the outage duration. Additional

  1. Batteryless wireless transmission system for electronic drum uses piezoelectric generator for play signal and power source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishikawa, H; Yoshimi, A; Takemura, K; Tanaka, A; Douseki, T

    2015-01-01

    A batteryless self-powered wireless transmission system has been developed that sends a signal from a drum pad to a synthesizer. The power generated by a piezoelectric generator functions both as the “Play” signal for the synthesizer and as the power source for the transmitter. An FM transmitter, which theoretically operates with zero latency, and a receiver with quick-response squelch of the received signal were developed for wireless transmission with a minimum system delay. Experimental results for an electronic drum without any connecting wires fully demonstrated the feasibility of self-powered wireless transmission with a latency of 900 μs. (paper)

  2. Extraction of two tsunamis signals generated by earthquakes around the Pacific rim

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chu Yonghai

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available As one of the ocean sudden natural disasters, the tsunami is not easily to differentiate from the ocean variation in the open ocean due to the tsunami wave amplitude is lees than one meter with hundreds of kilometers wavelength. But the wave height will increases up to tens of meters with enormous energy when the tsunami aarives at the coast. It would not only devastate entire cities near coast, but also kill miilions of people. It is necessary to forecast and make warning before the tsunami aariving for many countries and regions around the Pacific rim. Two kinds of data were used in this study to extract the signals of 2011 Tohoku tsunami and 2014 Iquique tsunami. Wave undulations from DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis buoys and SLA from altimetry could extract the tsunami signals generated by this two earthquake. The signals of Tohoku tsunami were stronger than that of Iquique tsunami probably due to the 2011 Tohoku tsunami was generated by a magnitude 9. 0 earthquake and the 2014 Iquique tsunami was triggered by a magnitude 8. 2 earthquake.

  3. Input-profile-based software failure probability quantification for safety signal generation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Hyun Gook; Lim, Ho Gon; Lee, Ho Jung; Kim, Man Cheol; Jang, Seung Cheol

    2009-01-01

    The approaches for software failure probability estimation are mainly based on the results of testing. Test cases represent the inputs, which are encountered in an actual use. The test inputs for the safety-critical application such as a reactor protection system (RPS) of a nuclear power plant are the inputs which cause the activation of protective action such as a reactor trip. A digital system treats inputs from instrumentation sensors as discrete digital values by using an analog-to-digital converter. Input profile must be determined in consideration of these characteristics for effective software failure probability quantification. Another important characteristic of software testing is that we do not have to repeat the test for the same input value since the software response is deterministic for each specific digital input. With these considerations, we propose an effective software testing method for quantifying the failure probability. As an example application, the input profile of the digital RPS is developed based on the typical plant data. The proposed method in this study is expected to provide a simple but realistic mean to quantify the software failure probability based on input profile and system dynamics.

  4. Large-scale road safety programmes in low- and middle-income countries: an opportunity to generate evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyder, Adnan A; Allen, Katharine A; Peters, David H; Chandran, Aruna; Bishai, David

    2013-01-01

    The growing burden of road traffic injuries, which kill over 1.2 million people yearly, falls mostly on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite this, evidence generation on the effectiveness of road safety interventions in LMIC settings remains scarce. This paper explores a scientific approach for evaluating road safety programmes in LMICs and introduces such a road safety multi-country initiative, the Road Safety in 10 Countries Project (RS-10). By building on existing evaluation frameworks, we develop a scientific approach for evaluating large-scale road safety programmes in LMIC settings. This also draws on '13 lessons' of large-scale programme evaluation: defining the evaluation scope; selecting study sites; maintaining objectivity; developing an impact model; utilising multiple data sources; using multiple analytic techniques; maximising external validity; ensuring an appropriate time frame; the importance of flexibility and a stepwise approach; continuous monitoring; providing feedback to implementers, policy-makers; promoting the uptake of evaluation results; and understanding evaluation costs. The use of relatively new approaches for evaluation of real-world programmes allows for the production of relevant knowledge. The RS-10 project affords an important opportunity to scientifically test these approaches for a real-world, large-scale road safety evaluation and generate new knowledge for the field of road safety.

  5. Dynamic optical routing and simultaneous generation of millimeter-wave signals for in-building access network

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zou, S.; Okonkwo, C.M.; Cao, Z.; Tran, N.C.; Tangdiongga, E.; Koonen, A.M.J.

    2012-01-01

    Two-stage optical routing using SOA and integrated micro-ring resonator, and remote generation of millimeter-wave signals by optical frequency multiplication is demonstrated for inbuilding network. Both 150Mb/s 64-QAM and 802.11a WLAN signal at 38GHz are transmitted.

  6. High-Capacity Wireless Signal Generation and Demodulation in 75- to 110-GHz Band Employing All-Optical OFDM

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zibar, Darko; Sambaraju, Rakesh; Caballero Jambrina, Antonio

    2011-01-01

    We present a radio-frequency (RF) and bit-rate scalable technique for multigigabit wireless signal generation based on all-optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and photonic up-conversion. Coherent detection supported by digital signal processing is used for signal demodulatio...

  7. A Heckman selection model for the safety analysis of signalized intersections.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuecai Xu

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to provide a new method for estimating crash rate and severity simultaneously.This study explores a Heckman selection model of the crash rate and severity simultaneously at different levels and a two-step procedure is used to investigate the crash rate and severity levels. The first step uses a probit regression model to determine the sample selection process, and the second step develops a multiple regression model to simultaneously evaluate the crash rate and severity for slight injury/kill or serious injury (KSI, respectively. The model uses 555 observations from 262 signalized intersections in the Hong Kong metropolitan area, integrated with information on the traffic flow, geometric road design, road environment, traffic control and any crashes that occurred during two years.The results of the proposed two-step Heckman selection model illustrate the necessity of different crash rates for different crash severity levels.A comparison with the existing approaches suggests that the Heckman selection model offers an efficient and convenient alternative method for evaluating the safety performance at signalized intersections.

  8. Development of a central PC-based system for reactor signal monitoring and analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karim, A.; Ansari, S.A.; Baig, A.R.

    1996-05-01

    A personal computer based system was developed for on-line monitoring, signal processing and display of important parameters of the Pakistan Reactor-1. The system was designed for assistance to both reactor operator and users. It performs three main functions. The first is the centralized radiation monitoring in and around the reactor building. The computer acquires signals from radiation monitoring channels and continuously displays them on distributed monitors. Trend monitoring and alarm generation is also done. In case of any abnormal condition the radiation level data is automatically stored in computer memory for detailed off-line analysis. In the second part the computer does the performance testing of nuclear instrumentation channels by signal statistical analysis and generates alarm in case the channel standard deviation error exceeds the permissible error. Mean values of important nuclear signals are also displayed on distributed monitors as a part of reactor safety parameters display system. The third function is on-line computation of reactor physics parameters of the core which are important from operational and safety point-of-view. The signals from radiation protection system and nuclear instrumentation channels in the reactor were interfaced with the computer for this purpose. The development work was done under an IAEA research contract as a part of coordinated research programme. (author) 12 figs

  9. Development of a central PC-based system for reactor signal monitoring and analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karim, A.; Ansari, S.A.; Rauf Baig, A.

    1998-01-01

    A personal computer based system was developed for on-line monitoring, signal processing and display of important reactor parameters of the Pakistan Research Reactor-1. The system was designed for assistance to both reactor operator and users. It performs three main functions. The first is the centralized radiation monitoring in and around the reactor building. The computer acquires signals from radiation monitoring channels and continuously displays them on distributed monitors. Trend monitoring and alarm generation is also done. In case of any abnormal condition the radiation level data is automatically stored in computer memory for detailed off-line analysis. In the second part the computer does the performance testing of nuclear instrumentation channels by signal statistical analysis, and generates alarm in case the channel standard deviation error exceeds the permissible error. Mean values of important nuclear signals are also displayed on distributed monitors as a part of reactor safety parameters display system. The third function is on-line computation of reactor physics parameters of the core which are important from operational and safety points-of-view. The signals from radiation protection system and nuclear instrumentation channels in the reactor were interfaced with the computer for this purpose. The development work was done under an IAEA research contract as a part of coordinated research programme. (author)

  10. Full-duplex radio-over-fiber system with tunable millimeter-wave signal generation and wavelength reuse for upstream signal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yiqun; Pei, Li; Li, Jing; Li, Yueqin

    2017-06-10

    A full-duplex radio-over-fiber system is proposed, which provides both the generation of a millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signal with tunable frequency multiplication factors (FMFs) and wavelength reuse for uplink data. A dual-driving Mach-Zehnder modulator and a phase modulator are cascaded to form an optical frequency comb. An acousto-optic tunable filter based on a uniform fiber Bragg grating (FBG-AOTF) is employed to select three target optical sidebands. Two symmetrical sidebands are chosen to generate mm waves with tunable FMFs up to 16, which can be adjusted by changing the frequency of the applied acoustic wave. The optical carrier is reused at the base station for uplink connection. FBG-AOTFs driven by two acoustic wave signals are experimentally fabricated and further applied in the proposed scheme. Results of the research indicate that the 2-Gbit/s data can be successfully transmitted over a 25-km single-mode fiber for bidirectional full-duplex channels with power penalty of less than 2.6 dB. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is verified by detailed simulations and partial experiments.

  11. Feedback Signal from Motoneurons Influences a Rhythmic Pattern Generator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rotstein, Horacio G; Schneider, Elisa; Szczupak, Lidia

    2017-09-20

    the actual rhythmic pattern of movements. We have investigated whether motoneurons are limited to function as output units. Analysis of the network that controls crawling behavior in the leech has clearly indicated that motoneurons, in addition to controlling muscle activity, send signals to the pattern generator. Physiological and modeling studies on the role of specific motoneurons suggest that these feedback signals modulate the phase relationship of the rhythmic activity. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/379149-11$15.00/0.

  12. Evaluation of Eddy Current Signals from the Inner Wall Axial Cracks of Steam Generator Tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Myung Sik; Hur, Do Haeng; Lee, Doek Hyun; Han, Jung Ho; Park, Jung Am

    2001-01-01

    For the enhancement of ECT reliability on the primary water stress corrosion cracks of nuclear steam generator tubes, of which the occurrence is on the increase, it is important to comprehend the signal characteristics on crack morphology and to select an appropriate probe type. In this paper, the sizing accuracy and the detectability for the inner wall axial cracks of tubes were quantitatively evaluated using the following specimens: the electric discharge machined notches and the corrosion cracks which were developed on the operating steam generator tubes. The difference of eddy current signal characteristics between pancake and axial coil were also Investigated. The results obtained from this study provide a useful information for more precise evaluation on the inner wall axial tracks oi steam generator tubes

  13. Transfer of safety responsibilities to future generations: regulatory tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kotra, Janet P.

    2008-01-01

    In a forward-looking local development plan, Nye County defends a series of principles like safety, equity, and societal acceptability of responsibility (safety being foremost). The Nye County community clearly advocates permanent oversight of facilities. To respond to community requirements the regulators can establish requirements and guidance to ensure that safety obligations that can reasonably be discharged are in fact carried out and that remaining obligations are transferred as responsibly as possible, so that subsequent generations have the maximum flexibility to discharge their responsibility. There are transferred burdens of cost, risk and effort and these need to be at least partially compensated for by ensuring a subsequent transfer of information, resources and continuity of education, skills and research. The US regulatory requirements for disposal in a geological repository set out obligations in terms of land-ownership and control, records maintenance, performance confirmation, post-closure monitoring, monuments and markers, archives and records preservation and post-closure oversight. For the future the Nye County is proposing that there would be a co-ordinated involvement of the county in planning, development, operation and long term monitoring of the repository. They want to encourage the development of a live-work community for the repository workers so that they will be engaged in the local community as well as working at the facility

  14. The brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 can generate cGMP enabling cGMP-dependent downstream signaling

    KAUST Repository

    Wheeler, Janet I.

    2017-05-08

    The brassinosteroid receptor BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1) is a member of the leucine rich repeat receptor like kinase family. The intracellular kinase domain of BRI1 is an active kinase and also encapsulates a guanylate cyclase catalytic centre. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we confirmed that the recombinant cytoplasmic domain of BRI1 generates pmol amounts of cGMP per μg protein with a preference for magnesium over manganese as a co-factor. Importantly, a functional BRI1 kinase is essential for optimal cGMP generation. Therefore, the guanylate cyclase activity of BRI1 is modulated by the kinase while cGMP, the product of the guanylate cyclase, in turn inhibits BRI1 kinase activity. Furthermore, we show using Arabidopsis root cell cultures that cGMP rapidly potentiates phosphorylation of the downstream substrate BRASSINOSTEROID SIGNALING KINASE 1 (BSK1). Taken together, our results suggest that cGMP acts as a modulator that enhances downstream signaling while dampening signal generation from the receptor. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  15. The brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 can generate cGMP enabling cGMP-dependent downstream signaling

    KAUST Repository

    Wheeler, Janet I.; Wong, Aloysius Tze; Marondedze, Claudius; Groen, Arnoud J.; Kwezi, Lusisizwe; Freihat, Lubna; Vyas, Jignesh; Raji, Misjudeen; Irving, Helen R.; Gehring, Christoph A

    2017-01-01

    The brassinosteroid receptor BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1) is a member of the leucine rich repeat receptor like kinase family. The intracellular kinase domain of BRI1 is an active kinase and also encapsulates a guanylate cyclase catalytic centre. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we confirmed that the recombinant cytoplasmic domain of BRI1 generates pmol amounts of cGMP per μg protein with a preference for magnesium over manganese as a co-factor. Importantly, a functional BRI1 kinase is essential for optimal cGMP generation. Therefore, the guanylate cyclase activity of BRI1 is modulated by the kinase while cGMP, the product of the guanylate cyclase, in turn inhibits BRI1 kinase activity. Furthermore, we show using Arabidopsis root cell cultures that cGMP rapidly potentiates phosphorylation of the downstream substrate BRASSINOSTEROID SIGNALING KINASE 1 (BSK1). Taken together, our results suggest that cGMP acts as a modulator that enhances downstream signaling while dampening signal generation from the receptor. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  16. Generation of synthetic surface electromyography signals under fatigue conditions for varying force inputs using feedback control algorithm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venugopal, G; Deepak, P; Ghosh, Diptasree M; Ramakrishnan, S

    2017-11-01

    Surface electromyography is a non-invasive technique used for recording the electrical activity of neuromuscular systems. These signals are random, complex and multi-component. There are several techniques to extract information about the force exerted by muscles during any activity. This work attempts to generate surface electromyography signals for various magnitudes of force under isometric non-fatigue and fatigue conditions using a feedback model. The model is based on existing current distribution, volume conductor relations, the feedback control algorithm for rate coding and generation of firing pattern. The result shows that synthetic surface electromyography signals are highly complex in both non-fatigue and fatigue conditions. Furthermore, surface electromyography signals have higher amplitude and lower frequency under fatigue condition. This model can be used to study the influence of various signal parameters under fatigue and non-fatigue conditions.

  17. Influence of sodium deposits in steam generator tubes on remote field eddy current signals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thirunavukkarasu, S. [EMSI Section, NDE Division, Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603 102, Tamil Nadu (India); Rao, B.P.C. [EMSI Section, NDE Division, Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603 102, Tamil Nadu (India)], E-mail: bpcrao@igcar.gov.in; Vaidyanathan, S.; Jayakumar, T.; Raj, Baldev [EMSI Section, NDE Division, Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603 102, Tamil Nadu (India)

    2008-04-15

    The presence of sodium deposits in defective regions of steam generator (SG) tubes of fast-breeder reactors is expected to influence the remote field eddy current (RFEC) signals. By exposing five SG tubes having uniform wall loss grooves to a sodium environment in a specially designed test vessel, changes in the shape of RFEC signals were observed and it was possible to approximate the volume of sodium deposited in defects. An invariant signal parameter was determined for quantitative characterization of defects despite the presence of sodium in the defects.

  18. Safety enhancement concept for NPP of new generation with VVER reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bezlepkin, V.; Kukhtevich, I.; Semashko, S.; Svetlov, S.; Solodovnikov, A.

    2004-01-01

    With the present day conditions, in order to successfully promote new NPP designs in the electric power markets, it is necessary to ensure enhanced technical/economic performances provided that international safety requirements are properly adhered to. When compared with high-powered nuclear power plants, NPP VVER-640 design (medium powered) possesses a number of advantages for the regions with undeveloped energy systems. Reduced specific energy intensity of the core adopted in this type of reactor allows to ensure the emergency cooldown of the reactor plant by passive means and to minimize the 'human factor' risk and external effects and provide sound substantiations as to how to retain corium inside RPV in case of severe accidents. At the same time, high-powered NPPs seem to be promising for regions with developed energy systems. Among such designs, NPP VVER-1000 and VVER-1500 designs are the most desirable. Configuration of new generation NPP with VVER-1500 is to be selected based on the gained experience in designing NPPs of previous generations considering the latest safety requirements and situation in the domestic and global energy markets for the time being and in the short run. Recent IAEA publications and latest EUR requirements insist that the following key safety indices should be established for new NPP designs: - aggregated frequency of core melting is 10 -6 (1/year); - frequency of maximum accident release is 10 -7 (1/year). To meet the aforementioned criteria, it is necessary to implement some safety assurance principles recommended by IAEA (in-depth defence, single failure, redundancy, diversity, etc.), application of deterministic and probabilistic methods for selection of safety assurance activities and means and use of reasonable combination of active and passive systems. Application of VVER-640 concept to high-powered NPPs seems to be a formidable task due to a number of reasons, namely, it is quite difficult to carry out cooldown process

  19. Extinction of avoidance behavior by safety learning depends on endocannabinoid signaling in the hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Micale, Vincenzo; Stepan, Jens; Jurik, Angela; Pamplona, Fabricio A; Marsch, Rudolph; Drago, Filippo; Eder, Matthias; Wotjak, Carsten T

    2017-07-01

    The development of exaggerated avoidance behavior is largely responsible for the decreased quality of life in patients suffering from anxiety disorders. Studies using animal models have contributed to the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the acquisition of avoidance responses. However, much less is known about its extinction. Here we provide evidence in mice that learning about the safety of an environment (i.e., safety learning) rather than repeated execution of the avoided response in absence of negative consequences (i.e., response extinction) allowed the animals to overcome their avoidance behavior in a step-down avoidance task. This process was context-dependent and could be blocked by pharmacological (3 mg/kg, s.c.; SR141716) or genetic (lack of cannabinoid CB1 receptors in neurons expressing dopamine D1 receptors) inactivation of CB1 receptors. In turn, the endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitor AM404 (3 mg/kg, i.p.) facilitated safety learning in a CB1-dependent manner and attenuated the relapse of avoidance behavior 28 days after conditioning. Safety learning crucially depended on endocannabinoid signaling at level of the hippocampus, since intrahippocampal SR141716 treatment impaired, whereas AM404 facilitated safety learning. Other than AM404, treatment with diazepam (1 mg/kg, i.p.) impaired safety learning. Drug effects on behavior were directly mirrored by drug effects on evoked activity propagation through the hippocampal trisynaptic circuit in brain slices: As revealed by voltage-sensitive dye imaging, diazepam impaired whereas AM404 facilitated activity propagation to CA1 in a CB1-dependent manner. In line with this, systemic AM404 enhanced safety learning-induced expression of Egr1 at level of CA1. Together, our data render it likely that AM404 promotes safety learning by enhancing information flow through the trisynaptic circuit to CA1. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Generating a synthetic axion signal for cold cark matter axion searches using microwave cavities

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(CDS)2108502; Miceli, Lino

    2017-01-01

    We demonstrated that an axion signal in a RF resonator can be synthesized and controlled with commercially available instrumentation. Although this signal needs refinements, it can be customized to the needs of a specific cold dark matter axion search experiment. Since the modulator in the setup has arbitrary function generator capabilities, this apparatus is already capable to produce the necessary refinements, for instance a maxwellian line shape.

  1. Cross-talk between signaling pathways can generate robust oscillations in calcium and cAMP.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Siso-Nadal

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: To control and manipulate cellular signaling, we need to understand cellular strategies for information transfer, integration, and decision-making. A key feature of signal transduction is the generation of only a few intracellular messengers by many extracellular stimuli. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we model molecular cross-talk between two classic second messengers, cyclic AMP (cAMP and calcium, and show that the dynamical complexity of the response of both messengers increases substantially through their interaction. In our model of a non-excitable cell, both cAMP and calcium concentrations can oscillate. If mutually inhibitory, cross-talk between the two second messengers can increase the range of agonist concentrations for which oscillations occur. If mutually activating, cross-talk decreases the oscillation range, but can generate 'bursting' oscillations of calcium and may enable better filtering of noise. CONCLUSION: We postulate that this increased dynamical complexity allows the cell to encode more information, particularly if both second messengers encode signals. In their native environments, it is unlikely that cells are exposed to one stimulus at a time, and cross-talk may help generate sufficiently complex responses to allow the cell to discriminate between different combinations and concentrations of extracellular agonists.

  2. Overview of fourth generation reactors. Assessment in terms of safety and radiation protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Couturier, J.; Baudrand, O.; Blanc, D.; Bourgois, T.; Hache, G.; Ivanov, E.; Bonneville, H.; Meignen, R.; Nicaise, G.; Bruna, G.; Clement, B.; Kissane, M.; Monhardt, B.

    2012-01-01

    Based on a systematic analysis of the different concepts of fourth generation nuclear reactors, this report gives an overview of specific aspects regarding safety and radiation protection for six concepts: sodium fast reactors (SFR), gas fast reactors (GFR), lead fast reactors (LFR), molten salt reactors (MSR), very high or high temperature reactors (V/HTR) and supercritical water reactors (SCWR). This assessment is based on different studies and researches performed by the IRSN at an international level. For each reactor concept, the report proposes a presentation of the current status of development and its perspectives, describes the safety aspects which are specific to this concept, identifies and discusses elements for safety analysis, and assesses the concept with respect to the Fukushima accident and IAEA recommendations and predefined themes

  3. Comparative Performance Evaluation of Orthogonal-Signal-Generators-Based Single-Phase PLL Algorithms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Han, Yang; Luo, Mingyu; Zhao, Xin

    2016-01-01

    The orthogonal signal generator based phase-locked loops (OSG-PLLs) are among the most popular single-phase PLLs within the areas of power electronics and power systems, mainly because they are often easy to be implement and offer a robust performance against the grid disturbances. The main aim o...

  4. Generating Human-Like Velocity-Adapted Jumping Gait from sEMG Signals for Bionic Leg’s Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weiwei Yu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In the case of dynamic motion such as jumping, an important fact in sEMG (surface Electromyogram signal based control on exoskeletons, myoelectric prostheses, and rehabilitation gait is that multichannel sEMG signals contain mass data and vary greatly with time, which makes it difficult to generate compliant gait. Inspired by the fact that muscle synergies leading to dimensionality reduction may simplify motor control and learning, this paper proposes a new approach to generate flexible gait based on muscle synergies extracted from sEMG signal. Two questions were discussed and solved, the first one concerning whether the same set of muscle synergies can explain the different phases of hopping movement with various velocities. The second one is about how to generate self-adapted gait with muscle synergies while alleviating model sensitivity to sEMG transient changes. From the experimental results, the proposed method shows good performance both in accuracy and in robustness for producing velocity-adapted vertical jumping gait. The method discussed in this paper provides a valuable reference for the sEMG-based control of bionic robot leg to generate human-like dynamic gait.

  5. Applying computer modeling to eddy current signal analysis for steam generator and heat exchanger tube inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sullivan, S.P.; Cecco, V.S.; Carter, J.R.; Spanner, M.; McElvanney, M.; Krause, T.W.; Tkaczyk, R.

    2000-01-01

    Licensing requirements for eddy current inspections for nuclear steam generators and heat exchangers are becoming increasingly stringent. The traditional industry-standard method of comparing inspection signals with flaw signals from simple in-line calibration standards is proving to be inadequate. A more complete understanding of eddy current and magnetic field interactions with flaws and other anomalies is required for the industry to generate consistently reliable inspections. Computer modeling is a valuable tool in improving the reliability of eddy current signal analysis. Results from computer modeling are helping inspectors to properly discriminate between real flaw signals and false calls, and improving reliability in flaw sizing. This presentation will discuss complementary eddy current computer modeling techniques such as the Finite Element Method (FEM), Volume Integral Method (VIM), Layer Approximation and other analytic methods. Each of these methods have advantages and limitations. An extension of the Layer Approximation to model eddy current probe responses to ferromagnetic materials will also be presented. Finally examples will be discussed demonstrating how some significant eddy current signal analysis problems have been resolved using appropriate electromagnetic computer modeling tools

  6. 78 FR 52941 - Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Next Generation Arctic Navigational Safety...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-27

    ... advantages, disadvantages, required technology enhancements, performance, costs, and other issues associated... technology approach to the ``Next Generation Arctic Maritime Navigational Safety Information System,'' which... Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-502, codified at 15 U.S.C. 3710(a)). A CRADA [[Page...

  7. Realization of Quadrature Signal Generator Using Accurate Magnitude Integrator

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xin, Zhen; Yoon, Changwoo; Zhao, Rende

    2016-01-01

    Second-Order Generalized Integrator based Quadrature Signal Generator (SOGI-QSG) has been widely used in single- or three-phase power converter systems due to its simplicity and flexibility. Howeever, its dynamic response is not onyl decided by its damping gain but also influences by the input...... of the AMI-QSG can thus be as simple as the typical FOS. Besides, the structure of the AMI-QSG is further configurated to be able to extract the dc component and harmonic components. The effectiveness of the proposed structures and the correctness of the theoretical analysis are evaluated by experimental...

  8. Comparing Safety and Efficacy of "Third-Generation" Antiepileptic Drugs: Long-Term Extension and Post-marketing Treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwok, Charlotte S; Johnson, Emily L; Krauss, Gregory L

    2017-11-01

    Four "third-generation" antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were approved for adjunctive treatment of refractory focal onset seizures during the past 10 years. Long-term efficacy and safety of the drugs were demonstrated in large extension studies and in reports of subgroups of patients not studied in pivotal trials. Reviewing extension study and post-marketing outcome series for the four newer AEDs-lacosamide, perampanel, eslicarbazepine acetate and brivaracetam-can guide clinicians in treating and monitoring patients. AED extension studies evaluate treatment retention, drug tolerability, and drug safety during individualized treatment with flexible dosing and thus provide information not available in rigid pivotal trials. Patient retention in the studies ranged from 75 to 80% at 1 year and from 36 to 68% at 2-year treatment intervals. Safety findings were generally similar to those of pivotal trials, with no major safety risks identified and with several specific adverse drug effects, such as hyponatremia, reported. The third-generation AEDs, some through new mechanisms and others with improved tolerability compared to related AEDs, provide new options in efficacy and tolerability.

  9. Data-driven drug safety signal detection methods in pharmacovigilance using electronic primary care records: A population based study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shang-Ming Zhou

    2017-04-01

    Data-driven analytic methods are a valuable aid to signal detection of ADEs from large electronic health records for drug safety monitoring. This study finds the methods can detect known ADE and so could potentially be used to detect unknown ADE.

  10. Future generations of CANDU: advantages and development with passive safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duffey, R. B.

    2006-01-01

    Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) advances water reactor and CANDLT technology using an evolutionary development strategy. This strategy ensures that innovations are based firmly on current experience and keeps our development programs focused on one reactor concept, reducing risks, development costs, and product development cycle times. It also assures our customers that our products will never become obsolete or unsupported, and the continuous line of water reactor development is secure and supported into the future. Using the channel reactor advantage of modularity, the subdivided core has the advantage of passive safety by heat removal to the low- pressure moderator. With continuous improvements, the Advanced CANDU Reactor TM (ACR-1000TM) concept will likely remain highly competitive for a number of years and leads naturally to the next phase of CANDU development, namely the Generation IV CANDU -SCWR concept. This is conventional water technology, since supercritical boilers and turbines have been operating for some time in coal-fired power plants. Significant cost, safety, and performance advantages would result from the CANDU-SCWR concept, plus the flexibility of a range of plant sizes suitable for both small and large electric grids, and the ability for co-generation of electric power, process heat, and hydrogen. In CANDU-SCWR, novel developments are included in the primary circuit layout and channel design. The R and D in Canada is integrated with the Generation IV international Forum (GIF) plans, and has started on examining replaceable insulating liners that would ensure channel life, and on providing completely passive reactor decay heat removal directly to the moderator heat sink without forced cooling. In the interests of sustainability, hydrogen production by a CANDU- SCWR is also be included as part of the system requirements, where the methods for hydrogen production will depend on the outlet temperature of the reactor

  11. Self-Tuning Linear Quadratic Supervisory Regulation of a Diesel Generator using Large-Signal State Estimation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Jesper Viese; Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Andersen, Palle

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, a self-tuning linear quadratic supervisory regulator using a large-signal state estimator for a diesel driven generator set is proposed. The regulator improves operational efficiency, in comparison to current implementations, by (i) automating the initial tuning process and (ii...... throughout the operating range of the diesel generator....

  12. WWER-1000 steam generator integrity. A publication of the extrabudgetary programme on the safety of WWER and RBMK nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-07-01

    Programme was initiated by IAEA in 1990 with the aim to assist the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union in evaluating the safety of their first generation WWER-440/230 nuclear power plants. The main objectives were: to identify major design and operational safety issues; to establish international consensus on priorities for safety improvements; and to provide assistance in the review of the competence and and adequacy of safety improvement programs. The scope was extended in 1992 ro include RBMK, WWER-440/312 and WWER-1000 plants in operation and under construction. Based on the operational experience of more than 90 reactor years of WWER-1000 NPPs having 80 steam generators in operation or under construction the steam generator integrity was recognized as an important issue of high safety concern. The purpose of this report is to integrate available information on the issue of WWER-1000 steam generator integrity with the focus on the steam generator cold collector damage in particular. This information covers the status of stem generators at operating plants, cause analysis of collector cracking, the damage mechanisms involved, operational aspects and corrective measures developed and implemented. Consideration is given to material, design and fabrication related aspects, operational conditions, system solutions, and in-service inspection. Detailed conclusions and recommendations are provided for each of these aspects

  13. Overview of Generation IV (Gen IV) Reactor Designs - Safety and Radiological Protection Considerations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudrand, Olivier; Blanc, Daniel; Ivanov, Evgeny; Bonneville, Herve; Clement, Bernard; Kissane, Martin; Meignen, Renaud; Monhardt, Daniel; Nicaise, Gregory; Bourgois, Thierry; Bruna, Giovanni; Hache, Georges; Repussard, Jacques

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this document is to provide an updated overview of specific safety and radiological protection issues for all the reactor concepts adopted by the GIF (Generation IV International Forum), independent of their advantages or disadvantages in terms of resource optimization or long-lived-waste reduction. In particular, this new document attempts to bring out the advantages and disadvantages of each concept in terms of safety, taking into account the Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association (WENRA) statement concerning safety objectives for new nuclear power plants. Using an identical framework for each reactor concept (sodium-cooled fast reactors or SFR, high / very-high temperature helium-cooled reactors of V/HTR, gas-cooled fast reactors or GFR, lead-or lead / bismuth-cooled fast reactors or LFR, molten salt reactors or MSR, and supercritical-water-cooled reactors or SCWR), this summary report provides some general conclusions regarding their safety and radiological protection issues, inspired by WENRA's safety objectives and on the basis of available information. Initial lessons drawn from the events at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011 have also been taken into account in IRSN's analysis of each reactor concept

  14. Routine testing on protective and safety systems and components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rysy, W.

    1977-01-01

    1) In-process inspection, tests during commissioning. 2) Tests during reactor operation. 2.1) Reactor protection system, for example: continuous auto-testing by a dynamic system, check of the output signals; 2.2) safety features: selected examples: functional tests on the ECCS, trial operation of the emergency diesels. 3) Tests during refuelling phase. 3.1) Containment: Leakage rate tests, leak testing; 3.2) coolant system: selected examples: inservice inspections of the pressure vessel, eddy current testing of the steam generator, functional tests of safety valves. (orig./HP) [de

  15. Low power laser generated ultrasound: Signal processing for time domain data acquisition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cleary, A; Thursby, G; McKee, C; Armstrong, I; Culshaw, B; Veres, I; Pierce, S G

    2011-01-01

    The use of low power modulated laser diode systems has previously been established as a suitable method for non-destructive laser generation of ultrasound. Using a quasi-continuous optical excitation amplified by an erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) allows flexible generation of ultrasonic waves, offering control of further parameters such as the frequency content or signal shape. In addition, pseudo-random binary sequences (PRBS) can be used to improve the detected impulse response. Here we compare two sequences, the m-sequence and the Golay code, and discuss the advantages and practical limits of their application with laser diode based optical excitation of ultrasound.

  16. Safety logic systems of PFBR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sambasivan, S. Ilango

    2004-01-01

    Full text : PFBR is provided with two independent, fast acting and diverse shutdown systems to detect any abnormalities and to initiate safety action. Each system consists of sensors, signal processing systems, logics, drive mechanisms and absorber rods. The absorber rods of the first system are Control and Safety Rods (CSR) and that of the second are called as Diverse Safety Rods (DSR). There are nine CSR and three DSR. While CSR are used for startup, control of reactor power, controlled shutdown and SCRAM, the DSR are used only for SCRAM. The respective drive mechanisms are called as CSRDM and DSRDM. Each of these two systems is capable of executing the shutdown satisfactorily with single failure criteria. Two independent safety logic systems based on diverse principles have been designed for the two shut down systems. The analog outputs of the sensors of Core Monitoring Systems comprising of reactor flux monitoring, core temperature monitoring, failed fuel detection and core flow monitoring systems are processed and converted into binary signals depending on their instantaneous values. Safety logic systems receive the binary signals from these core-monitoring systems and process them logically to protect the reactor against postulated initiating events. Neutronic and power to flow (P/Q) signals form the inputs to safety logic system-I and temperature signals are inputs to the safety logic system II. Failed fuel detection signals are processed by both the shut down systems. The two logic systems to actuate the safety rods are also based on two diverse designs and implemented with solid-state devices to meet all the requirements of safety systems. Safety logic system I that caters to neutronic and P/Q signals is designed around combinational logic and has an on-line test facility to detect struck at faults. The second logic system is based on dynamic logic and hence is inherently safe. This paper gives an overview of the two logic systems that have been

  17. Investigation on magnetoacoustic signal generation with magnetic induction and its application to electrical conductivity reconstruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ma Qingyu; He Bin

    2007-01-01

    A theoretical study on the magnetoacoustic signal generation with magnetic induction and its applications to electrical conductivity reconstruction is conducted. An object with a concentric cylindrical geometry is located in a static magnetic field and a pulsed magnetic field. Driven by Lorentz force generated by the static magnetic field, the magnetically induced eddy current produces acoustic vibration and the propagated sound wave is received by a transducer around the object to reconstruct the corresponding electrical conductivity distribution of the object. A theory on the magnetoacoustic waveform generation for a circular symmetric model is provided as a forward problem. The explicit formulae and quantitative algorithm for the electrical conductivity reconstruction are then presented as an inverse problem. Computer simulations were conducted to test the proposed theory and assess the performance of the inverse algorithms for a multi-layer cylindrical model. The present simulation results confirm the validity of the proposed theory and suggest the feasibility of reconstructing electrical conductivity distribution based on the proposed theory on the magnetoacoustic signal generation with magnetic induction

  18. Pulsed neutron generator for mass flow measurement using the pulsed neutron activation technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rochau, G.E.; Hornsby, D.R.; Mareda, J.F.; Riggan, W.C.

    1980-01-01

    A high-output, transportable neutron generator has been developed to measure mass flow velocities in reactor safety tests using the Pulsed Neutron Activation (PNA) Technique. The PNA generator produces >10 10 14 MeV D-T neutrons in a 1.2 millisecond pulse. The Millisecond Pulse (MSP) Neutron Tube, developed for this application, has an expected operational life of 1000 pulses, and it limits the generator pulse repetition rate to 12 pulses/minute. A semiconductor neutron detector is included in the generator package to monitor the neutron output. The control unit, which can be operated manually or remotely, also contains a digital display with a BCD output for the neutron monitor information. The digital logic of the unit controls the safety interlocks and rejects transient signals which could accidently fire the generator

  19. Safety-Evaluation Report related to the D2/D3 steam-generator design modification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-03-01

    This Safety Evaluation Report (SER) related to the D2/D3 steam generator design modification has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The purpose of this SER is to issue the staff's evaluation of the acceptability of the design modification for both installation and full-power operation in the D2/D3 steam generators based on the Design Review Panel Report of January 1983

  20. EDF view on next generation reactor safety and operability issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serviere, G.

    2002-01-01

    In the foreseeable future, EDF will have to compete in an economically de-regulated market. Nuclear currently accounts for more than 80% of the electricity generated by the company, and generation costs are quite competitive compared to that of other competing energies. It is so likely that nuclear units will remain the backbone of EDF generating fleet in the years to come. However, to remain a viable option for electricity generation in the longer term, nuclear will have to maintain both its cost-effectiveness and a very high safety level. This could seem quite straightforward considering the current situation where safety records are at an all time high and Operating and Maintenance costs are under tight control. In fact, it could be a real challenge. Competing fossil technologies progress and there is a concurrent trend to try and improve the performance of future nuclear units. However, in most cases, proposed designs depart from the well-known Light Water Reactor (LWR) technology. They are either new concepts or designs already tested in the past and modified to address some of their perceived drawbacks. Contrary to the prevailing situation where short-term alternatives like the EPR, the ABWR or the AP600 largely build upon experience gathered on operating units, most designs contemplated for implementation beyond 2020 or 2030 cannot be considered proven. Considering the above mentioned uncertainties, EDF have confirmed their preference for proven designs with higher outputs, such as the EPR. However, it would appear unreasonable to consider that new designs are doomed to fail: they could well turn out to be adequate for specific niches in a de-regulated market and provide reasonable alternatives for the utility. Nevertheless, for such an alternative to be considered, additional evidence is needed that utility preferences are reflected in the design, and that all potential technical issues have been identified, adequately addressed and resolved. Currently, EDF

  1. Effectiveness of transmitting safety-measures information in risk communication of nuclear power generation. Evaluation by the receiver of the messages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsumoto, Takanobu; Shiomi, Tetsuro

    2004-01-01

    Effectiveness of risk communication were previously discussed through both ''risk information'' and ''benefit information'' of its topics. However, in technical facilities facilities such as nuclear power plant where safeness is an important concern, not only these two aspects but also safety-measures information'' are required. There have been previously no such discussions about risk communication that included ''safety-measures information''. In this report, we investigated general public's view of the difference in effectiveness of risk communication between two cases. In the first case, only ''risk'' and ''benefit information'' were given. In the second case, we added ''safety-measures information'' as well as ''risk'' and benefit information''. Measurement of the effect was performed using a questionnaire. We divided the subjects into two groups. Each group was shown one side of two pamphlets which had information concerning two conditions, and asked how it feels about ''reliance on information'', ''reliance on informer'', ''posture considered with informer'' which are factors in the process of the attitude change that is shown in the paradigm of risk communication (Kinoshita and Kikkawa, (1990)). Prior to this investigation, we identified each subject is position on nuclear power generation. Thus we were able to clarify the effectiveness of each risk communication style depending on each subject is position (approval, neutrality, objection). As a result, we reached the following conclusions: First about ''reliance on information'', where asked whether the contents of a pamphlet would be reliable, it was found that the person negative to nuclear power generation evaluated lower the pamphlet which included ''safety-measures information'' than the other. However, it was found that regardless of the difference in the position towards nuclear power generation, people who read the pamphlet including ''safety-measures information'' evaluated higher ''reliance on

  2. Signal generation in highly irradiated silicon microstrip detectors for the ATLAS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruggiero, Gennaro

    2003-01-01

    Silicon detectors are the most diffused tracking devices in High Energy Physics (HEP). The reason of such success can be found in the characteristics of the material together with the existing advanced technology for the fabrication of these devices. Nevertheless in many modem HEP experiments the observation of vary rare events require data taking at high luminosity with a consequent extremely intense hadron radiation field that damages the silicon and degrades the performance of these devices. In this thesis work a detailed study of the signal generation in microstrip detectors has been produced with a special care for the ATLAS semiconductor tracker geometry. This has required a development of an appropriate setup to perform measurements with Transient Current/ Charge Technique. This has allowed studying the evolution of the signal in several microstrips detector samples irradiated at fluences covering the range expected in the ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker. For a better understanding of these measurements a powerful software package that simulates the signal generation in these devices has been developed. Moreover in this thesis it has been also shown that the degradation due to radiation in silicon detectors can be strongly reduced if the data taking is done with detectors operated at 130 K. This makes low temperature operation that benefits of the recovery of the charge collection efficiency in highly irradiated silicon detectors (also known as Lazarus effect) an optimal option for future high luminosity experiments. (author)

  3. The effect of stimulus modality on signal detection: implications for assessing the safety of in-vehicle technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merat, Natasha; Jamson, A Hamish

    2008-02-01

    This study examined the effect of two in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) on signal detection in the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities; established whether the detrimental effects of an IVIS on driving could be quantified by these detection tasks; and examined the effect of stimulus modality on signal detection. The peripheral detection task has been used widely for assessing the effects of an IVIS on driving. However, performance on this task relies on drivers' ability to see a series of LEDs, which can be problematic in field tests (e.g., on sunny days). Participants responded to one of three detection tasks during a simulated driving experiment. The effect of IVIS interaction on these detection tasks was also measured. Reduced performance in the detection tasks was assumed to indicate a decline in drivers' ability to handle sudden events in the driving task. Response time to all detection tasks increased by around 200 ms when drivers performed the IVIS tasks, as compared with baseline driving. Analyses of variance and comparison of effect sizes showed the effects of these two IVISs to be the same across the three detection tasks. These detection tasks are useful for quantifying the safety of an IVIS during driving. The absence of a difference in signal detection by modality suggests that performance on these tasks relies on general attentional resources and is not modality specific. The signal detection tasks employed here should be further investigated for their suitability in assessing the safety of in-vehicle systems.

  4. Diagnostic of corrosion defects in steam generator tubes using advanced signal processing from Eddy current testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Formigoni, Andre L.; Lopez, Luiz A.N.M.; Ting, Daniel K.S.

    2009-01-01

    Recently, the Brazilian Angra I PWR nuclear power plant went into a programmed shutdown for substitution of its Steam Generator (SG) which life was shortened due to stress corrosion in its tubes. The total cost of investment were around R$724 million. The signals generated during an Eddy-current Testing (ECT) inspection in SG tubes of nuclear plant allows for the localization and dimensioning of defects in the tubes. The defects related with corrosion generate complex signals that are difficult to analyze and are the most common cause in SG replacement in nuclear power plants around the world. The objective of this paper is the development of a methodology that allows for the characterization of corrosion signals by ECT inspections applied in the heat exchangers tubes of SG of a nuclear power plant. In this present work, the aim is to investigate distributed type defects by inducing controlled corrosion in sample tubes of different materials The ECT signals obtained from these samples tubes with corrosion implanted, will be analyzed using Zetec ECT equipment, the MIZ-17ET and its probes. The data acquisition will use a NI PC A/D CARD 700 card and the LabVIEW program. Subsequently, we will apply mathematical tools for signal processing like time windowed Fast Fourier transforms and Wavelets transforms, in MATLAB platform, which will allow effectiveness to remove the noises and to extract representative characteristics for the defect being analyzed. Previously obtained results as well as the proposal for the future work will be presented. (author)

  5. Photonics-based real-time ultra-high-range-resolution radar with broadband signal generation and processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fangzheng; Guo, Qingshui; Pan, Shilong

    2017-10-23

    Real-time and high-resolution target detection is highly desirable in modern radar applications. Electronic techniques have encountered grave difficulties in the development of such radars, which strictly rely on a large instantaneous bandwidth. In this article, a photonics-based real-time high-range-resolution radar is proposed with optical generation and processing of broadband linear frequency modulation (LFM) signals. A broadband LFM signal is generated in the transmitter by photonic frequency quadrupling, and the received echo is de-chirped to a low frequency signal by photonic frequency mixing. The system can operate at a high frequency and a large bandwidth while enabling real-time processing by low-speed analog-to-digital conversion and digital signal processing. A conceptual radar is established. Real-time processing of an 8-GHz LFM signal is achieved with a sampling rate of 500 MSa/s. Accurate distance measurement is implemented with a maximum error of 4 mm within a range of ~3.5 meters. Detection of two targets is demonstrated with a range-resolution as high as 1.875 cm. We believe the proposed radar architecture is a reliable solution to overcome the limitations of current radar on operation bandwidth and processing speed, and it is hopefully to be used in future radars for real-time and high-resolution target detection and imaging.

  6. Review on Dutch-German steam generator safety activities in the field of SNR-development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dumm, K.; Westenbrugge, J.K. van

    1984-01-01

    This paper reviews the results of the experimental and theoretical safety related work for SNR steam generators in brief. A review of the operating experience with SNR-300 sodium-water heat-exchangers and protection philosophy used in SNR-2 is also given

  7. W-band OFDM photonic vector signal generation employing a single Mach-Zehnder modulator and precoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Jiangnan; Li, Xinying; Xu, Yuming; Zhang, Ziran; Chen, Long; Yu, Jianjun

    2015-09-07

    We present a simple radio-over-fiber (RoF) link architecture for millimeter-wave orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission using only one Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and precoding technique. In the transmission system, the amplitudes and the phase of the driving radio-frequency (RF) OFDM signal on each sub-carrier are precoded, to ensure that the OFDM signal after photodetector (PD) can be restored to original OFDM signal. The experimental results show that the bit-error ratios (BERs) of the transmission system are less than the forward-error-correction (FEC) threshold of 3.8 × 10(-3), which demonstrates that the generation of OFDM vector signal based on our proposed scheme can be employed in our system architecture.

  8. PC-based analog signal generator for simulated detector signals and arbitrary test waveforms for testing the nuclear instruments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Catanescu, V.

    1999-01-01

    This work is performed in cooperation with IAEA-Vienna as a project, proposed as part of Agency's C o-ordinated Research Programme of Development of Computer-based Troubleshooting Tools and Instruments. A convenient way for testing and calibrating modern scientific equipment is to connect the test instruments to a personal computer to get additional feasibilities. This way, all settings for test, measurement and data acquisition functions are done by means of PC and are controlled by software drivers. This multifunctional spectrometric pulse generator is able to characterize different parts of high-resolution nuclear spectroscopy chain (preamplifier, amplifier, analog to digital converter, multichannel analyzer) as well as the whole chain. For this it generates periodic or random pulses with shape, time and amplitude specifications controlled by PC. Characteristics such as integral linearity, differential linearity, dead time, rate channel shifting and others will be easily determined. The block diagram of the multifunctional spectrometric generator is shown. The main sections are: PC-interface, control registers and command generation; PC-controlled periodic and random logic pulse oscillators; PC-controlled delay and width of periodic or random logic pulses; constant and ultra-linear ramp references for spectrometric pulse generation; generation of the tail and flat top pulses with PC-controlled amplitude and decay time; semi-gaussian pulse generation, polarity inverter and output amplifier. The specifications for generated signal correspond to: shape, time specifications and amplitude size. (author)

  9. Safety provision during heating of coal downcast shafts with gas heat generators using degassed methane

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    В. Р. Алабьев

    2017-06-01

    Together with heat generators of mixed type the article also describes a working principle of heat generator of indirect action type, which to the fullest extent possible meets requirements of Russian Federation legislation and regulation for application of this heat generators in coal mines conditions. The article has a principal working scheme of heat unit layout using this type of generator. It is shown that after development of corresponding normative documents regulating processes of design, construction and operation of heating units using heaters of indirect action, their application in Russian coal mines will be possible without breaking Safety standards and rules.

  10. Safety valve opening and closing operation monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kodama, Kunio; Takeshima, Ikuo; Takahashi, Kiyokazu.

    1981-01-01

    Purpose: To enable the detection of the closing of a safety valve when the internal pressure in a BWR type reactor is a value which will close the safety valve, by inputting signals from a pressure detecting device mounted directly at a reactor vessel and a safety valve discharge pressure detecting device to an AND logic circuit. Constitution: A safety valve monitor is formed of a pressure switch mounted at a reactor pressure vessel, a pressure switch mounted at the exhaust pipe of the escape safety valve and a logic circuit and the lide. When the input pressure of the safety valve is raised so that the valve and the pressure switch mounted at the exhaust pipe are operated, an alarm is indicated, and the operation of the pressure switch mounted at a pressure vessel is eliminated. If the safety valve is not reclosed when the vessel pressure is decreased lower than the pressure at which it is to be reclosed after the safety valve is operated, an alarm is generated by the logic circuit since both the pressure switches are operated. (Sekiya, K.)

  11. Programming a DSP card for generating an ECG signal with possibility of anomalies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamrouni, Sayma

    2013-01-01

    This project consists of programming a DSP designed to generate an ECG signal with a probability of anomaly. To begin with, we get to know the characteristics of a DSP card and its architecture. As a second step, we programmed the DSP32C using the compiler D3CC associated with Textpad in order to obtain an analog signal in the respective outputs. And then finally, we developed a graphical user interface using the programming software LabVIEW that aims controlling the good operation of DSP. The tests previously made have proved the good operation of the application.

  12. Investigation on the performance of an optically generated RF local oscillator signal in Ku-band DVB-S systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Khan, M.R.H.; Marpaung, D.A.I.; Burla, M.; Roeloffzen, C.G.H.; Bernhardi, Edward; de Ridder, R.M.

    2011-01-01

    We investigate a way to externally generate the local oscillator (LO) signal used for downconversion of the Ku-band (10.7 − 12.75 GHz) RF signal received from a phased array antenna (PAA). The signal is then translated to an intermediate frequency (950 − 2150 MHz) at the output of the mixer of

  13. Generation and tunable enhancement of a sum-frequency signal in lithium niobate nanowires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sergeyev, Anton; Reig Escalé, Marc; Grange, Rachel

    2017-02-01

    Recent developments in the fabrication of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) structures down to the nanoscale opens up novel applications of this versatile material in nonlinear optics. Current nonlinear optical studies in sub-micron waveguides are mainly restricted to the generation of second and third harmonics. In this work, we demonstrate the generation and waveguiding of the sum-frequency generation (SFG) signal in a single LiNbO3 nanowire with a cross-section of 517 nm  ×  654 nm. Furthermore, we enhance the guided SFG signal 17.9 times by means of modal phase matching. We also display tuning of the phase-matched wavelength by varying the nanowire cross-section and changing the polarization of the incident laser. The results prove that LiNbO3 nanowires can be successfully used for nonlinear wave-mixing applications and assisting the miniaturization of optical devices. , which features invited work from the best early-career researchers working within the scope of J Phys D. This project is part of the Journal of Physics series’ 50th anniversary celebrations in 2017. Rachel Grange was selected by the Editorial Board of J Phys D as an Emerging Leader.

  14. The Psychological Aspect of Safety Culture: Application of the Theory of Generations for the Formation of Safety Culture Among Personnel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melnitckaia, T.B.

    2016-01-01

    The formation of safety culture is an attempt of constructive influence on the socio psychological atmosphere of the team and the behavior of employees. By way of creating specific settings, the value system for the organization staff as part of the organizational culture, it is possible to forecast, plan and promote the desired behavior. However, it is necessary to take into account the corporate culture spontaneously established in the organization. The leaders often try to establish a safety culture, where the progressive values, norms are declared, and the results obtained are not those expected. This is partly because the organizational norms and values implemented come into conflict with reality and, therefore, are actively rejected by many members of the organization. The theory of generations developed by the American scientists (N. Howe, W. Strauss) helps in the analysis and consideration of the staff values formed under the influence of many factors, depending on the age of employees, in the course of safety culture formation. (author)

  15. Basis for the safety approach for design and assessment of Generation IV nuclear systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiorini, G.L.; Leahy, T.

    2009-01-01

    The primary objective of the RSWG is the implementation of a harmonized approach on long-term safety, and to address risk and regulatory issues in development of the next generation of nuclear systems. To this end, the group is proposing safety goals and evaluation methodology applicable for the design and assessment of future systems. The paper resumes the content of the first RSWG report which provides insights for the safety approach and assists the GIF Systems Steering Committee as well as the GIF Experts Group and the GIF Policy Group for the definition of the most adequate safety related Gen IV R and D. The document is also an essential contributor to help identifying the needed supportive crosscut R and D effort (i.e. applicable to all the innovative nuclear technologies). Although the report presents a number of thoughts and recommendations, it really represents only the start of the efforts for the RSWG. (author)

  16. A Weibull Approach for Enabling Safety-Oriented Decision-Making for Electronic Railway Signaling Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emanuele Pascale

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the advantages of using Weibull distributions, within the context of railway signaling systems, for enabling safety-oriented decision-making. Failure rates are used to statistically model the basic event of fault-tree analysis, and their value sizes the maximum allowable latency of failures to fulfill the safety target for which the system has been designed. Relying on field-return failure data, Weibull parameters have been calculated for an existing electronic signaling system and a comparison with existing predictive reliability data, based on exponential distribution, is provided. Results are discussed in order to drive considerations on the respect of quantitative targets and on the impact that a wrong hypothesis might have on the choice of a given architecture. Despite the huge amount of information gathered through the after-sales logbook used to build reliability distribution, several key elements for reliable estimation of failure rate values are still missing. This might affect the uncertainty of reliability parameters and the effort required to collect all the information. We then present how to intervene when operational failure rates present higher values compared to the theoretical approach: increasing the redundancies of the system or performing preventive maintenance tasks. Possible consequences of unjustified adoption of constant failure rate are presented. Some recommendations are also shared in order to build reliability-oriented logbooks and avoid data censoring phenomena by enhancing the functions of the electronic boards composing the system.

  17. A Framework for Evaluation of Safety and Generation Effect of Investment Considering Life Cycle Management in Nuclear Power Plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Hui Chang; Kim, Joon Hyun; Ahn, Nam Sung

    2006-01-01

    Along with the increasing pressure to enhance generation availability with low cost or investment, regulatory organization has been focused on the enhancement of safety in performance-based and risk informed regulation framework. Considering this, the most cost-beneficial solution should be found among the short-term and long-term investment plans. The objective of this research is to propose a generalized framework to evaluate safety and generation effect of investment plan for equipment in nuclear power plants

  18. Bioelectrochemical biosensor for water toxicity detection: generation of dual signals for electrochemical assay confirmation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yuan; Wang, Yan-Zhai; Fang, Zhen; Yu, Yang-Yang; Yong, Yang-Chun

    2018-02-01

    Toxicity assessment of water is of great important to the safety of human health and to social security because of more and more toxic compounds that are spilled into the aquatic environment. Therefore, the development of fast and reliable toxicity assessment methods is of great interest and attracts much attention. In this study, by using the electrochemical activity of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 cells as the toxicity indicator, 3,5-dichlorophenol (DCP) as the model toxic compound, a new biosensor for water toxicity assessment was developed. Strikingly, the presence of DCP in the water significantly inhibited the maximum current output of the S. oneidensis MR-1 in a three-electrode system and also retarded the current evolution by the cells. Under the optimized conditions, the maximum current output of the biosensor was proportional to the concentration of DCP up to 30 mg/L. The half maximal inhibitory concentration of DCP determined by this biosensor is about 14.5 mg/L. Furthermore, simultaneous monitoring of the retarded time (Δt) for current generation allowed the identification of another biosensor signal in response to DCP which could be employed to verify the electrochemical result by dual confirmation. Thus, the present study has provided a reliable and promising approach for water quality assessment and risk warning of water toxicity.

  19. Test of safety injection supply by diesel generator under reactor vessel closed condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Hao; Bi Fengchuan; Che Junxia; Zhang Jianwen; Yang Bo

    2014-01-01

    The paper studied that the test of diesel generator full load take-up under the condition of actual safety injection and reactor vessel closed in Ningde nuclear project unit l. It is proved that test result accorded with design criteria, meanwhile, the test was removed from the key path of project schedule, which cut a huge cost. (authors)

  20. Comparative health and safety assessment of the satellite power system and other electrical generation alternatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-12-01

    The work reported here is an analysis of existing data on the health and safety risks of a satellite power system and six electrical generation systems: a combined-cycle coal power system with a low-Btu gasifier and open-cycle gas turbine; a light water fission power system without fuel reprocessing; a liquid-metal, fast-breeder fission reactor; a centralized and decentralized, terrestrial, solar-photovoltaic power system; and a first-generation design for a fusion power system. The systems are compared on the basis of expected deaths and person-days lost per year associated with 1000 MW of average electricity generation. Risks are estimated and uncertainties indicated for all phases of the energy production cycle, including fuel and raw material extraction and processing, direct and indirect component manufacture, on-site construction, and system operation and maintenance. Also discussed is the potential significance of related major health and safety issues that remain largely unquantifiable. The appendices provide more detailed information on risks, uncertainties, additional research needed, and references for the identified impacts of each system

  1. Efficient trigger signal generation from wasted backward amplified stimulated emission at optical amplifiers for optical coherence tomography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Seung Taek

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper propose an optical structure to generate trigger signals for optical coherence tomography (OCT using backward light which is usually disposed. The backward light is called backward amplified stimulated emission generated from semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA when using swept wavelength tunable laser (SWTL. A circulator is applied to block undesirable lights in the SWTL instead of an isolator in common SWTL. The circulator also diverts backward amplified spontaneous lights, which finally bring out trigger signals for a high speed digitizer. The spectra of the forward lights at SOA and the waveform of the backward lights were measured to check the procedure of the trigger formation in the experiment. The results showed that the trigger signals from the proposed SWTL with the circulator was quite usable in OCT.

  2. Safety of mechanical devices. Safety of automation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pahl, G.; Schweizer, G.; Kapp, K.

    1985-01-01

    The paper deals with the classic procedures of safety engineering in the sectors mechanical engineering, electrical and energy engineering, construction and transport, medicine technology and process technology. Particular stress is laid on the safety of automation systems, control technology, protection of mechanical devices, reactor safety, mechanical constructions, transport systems, railway signalling devices, road traffic and protection at work in chemical plans. (DG) [de

  3. Scoping analyses for the safety injection system configuration for Korean next generation reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bae, Kyoo Hwan; Song, Jin Ho; Park, Jong Kyoon

    1996-01-01

    Scoping analyses for the Safety Injection System (SIS) configuration for Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) are performed in this study. The KNGR SIS consists of four mechanically separated hydraulic trains. Each hydraulic train consisting of a High Pressure Safety Injection (HPSI) pump and a Safety Injection Tank (SIT) is connected to the Direct Vessel Injection (DVI) nozzle located above the elevation of cold leg and thus injects water into the upper portion of reactor vessel annulus. Also, the KNGR is going to adopt the advanced design feature of passive fluidic device which will be installed in the discharge line of SIT to allow more effective use of borated water during the transient of large break LOCA. To determine the feasible configuration and capacity of SIT and HPSl pump with the elimination of the Low Pressure Safety Injection (LPSI) pump for KNGR, licensing design basis evaluations are performed for the limiting large break LOCA. The study shows that the DVI injection with the fluidic device SlT enhances the SIS performance by allowing more effective use of borated water for an extended period of time during the large break LOCA

  4. Four New Applications of Second-Order Generalized Integrator Quadrature Signal Generator

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xin, Zhen; Zhao, Rende; Wang, Xiongfei

    2016-01-01

    The Second-Order Generalized Integrator (SOGI) was used as a building block for the SOGI-Quadrature-Signal Generator (SOGI-QSG) which has been widely used for grid synchronization, frequency estimation, and harmonic extraction over the past decade. This paper further investigates its integration...... and differentiation characteristics, with four new integrators and differentiators proposed. Theoretical analysis shows that the proposed SOGI-QSG based integration and differentiation methods can effectively overcome the drawbacks of the pure integrator and differentiator. The proposed four new methods...

  5. Evaluation of the use of envelope analysis and DWT on AE signals generated from degrading shafts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gu, Dongsik; Kim, Jaegu; Kelimu, Tulugan; Huh, Sun-Chul; Choi, Byeong-Keun

    2012-01-01

    Vibration analysis is widely used in machinery diagnosis. Wavelet transforms and envelope analysis, which have been implemented in many applications in the condition monitoring of machinery, are applied in the development of a condition monitoring system for early detection of faults generated in several key components of machinery. Early fault detection is a very important factor in condition monitoring and a basic component for the application of condition-based maintenance (CBM) and predictive maintenance (PM). In addition, acoustic emission (AE) sensors have specific characteristics that are highly sensitive to high-frequency and low-energy signals. Therefore, the AE technique has been applied recently in studies on the early detection of failure. In this paper, AE signals caused by crack growth on a rotating shaft were captured through an AE sensor. The AE signatures were pre-processed using the proposed signal processing method, after which power spectrums were generated from the FFT results. In the power spectrum, some peaks from fault frequencies were presented. According to the results, crack growth in rotating machinery can be considered and detected using an AE sensor and the signal processing method.

  6. 47 CFR 80.1129 - Locating and homing signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ....1129 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) Operating Procedures for Distress and Safety Communications § 80.1129 Locating and homing signals. (a) Locating signals are...

  7. 47 CFR 80.327 - Urgency signals and messages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ....327 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Safety Watch Requirements and Procedures Distress, Alarm, Urgency and Safety Procedures § 80.327 Urgency signals and messages. (a) The urgency signal indicates that the...

  8. Search for a QGP with a TPC spectrometer, and QGP signals predicted by new event generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindenbaum, S.J.

    1988-01-01

    The BNL/CCNY/Johns Hopkins/Rice Collaboration has developed and successfully tested a TPC Magnetic Spectrometer to search for OGP signals produced by ion beams at AGS. Test data with 14.5 GeV/c /times/ A Oxygen ions incident on a Pb target has been obtained. These include a 78-prong nuclear interaction in the MPS magnet which was pattern recognized with an efficiency ∼75%. A cascade and plasma event generator has also been developed, the predictions of which are used to illustrate how our technique can detect possible plasma signals at AGS and RHIC. A 4π tracking TPC magnetic spectrometer has been proposed for RHIC. The new event generator predicts striking central rapidity bump QGP signals at RHIC for p, /bar p/, π/sup +-/, K/sup +-/, etc., produced by 100 GeV/c /times/ A Au on Au collisions and these are presented. 2 refs., 13 figs., 1 tab

  9. High-speed ultra-wideband wireless signals over fiber systems: Photonic generation and DSP detection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu, Xianbin; Gibbon, Timothy Braidwood; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

    2009-01-01

    We firstly review the efforts in the literature on UWB over-fiber systems. Secondly, we present experimental results on photonic generation of high-speed UWB signals by both direct modulation and external optical injecting an uncooled semiconductor laser. Furthermore, we introduce the use of digi...

  10. Safety criteria for the next generation of European reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dominguez Bautista, M.T.

    1995-01-01

    For the next generation of reactors, European companies operating in the electricity sector have drawn up a document called European Utilities Requirement (EUR), which sets out the requirements to be met by the designers of future reactors. The main objective of these new requirements is to increase the safety in existing reactors, making good use of operating experience available and the technological developments of the last decade. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the most significant characteristics, describing how the EUR requirements have been prepared and how they are being implemented by the designers. Areas covered are: - Combining deterministic and probabilistic criteria - Automation of control systems - Design extension for severe accidents - Containment design - Emergency plans - Autonomy versus manual operation

  11. Scale Thickness Measurement of Steam Generator Tubing Using Eddy Current Signal of Bobbin Coil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Chang Soo; Um, Ki Soo; Kim, Jae Dong

    2012-01-01

    Steam generator is one of the major components of nuclear power plant and steam generator tubes are the pressure boundary between primary and secondary side, which makes them critical for nuclear safety. As the operating time of nuclear power plant increases, not only damage mechanisms but also scaled deposits on steam generator tubes are known to be problematic causing tube support flow hole blockage and heat fouling. The ability to assess the extent and location of scaled deposits on tubes became essential for management and maintenance of steam generator and eddy current bobbin data can be utilized to measure thickness of scale on tubes. In this paper, tube reference standards with various thickness of scaled deposit has been set up to provide information about the overall deposit condition of steam generator tubes, providing essential tool for steam generator management and maintenance to predict and prevent future damages. Also, methodology to automatically measure scale thickness on tubes has been developed and applied to field data to estimate overall scale amount.

  12. Coincident steam generator tube rupture and stuck-open safety relief valve carryover tests: MB-2 steam generator transient response test program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garbett, K.; Mendler, O.J.; Gardner, G.C.; Garnsey, R.; Young, M.Y.

    1987-03-01

    In PWR steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) faults, a direct pathway for the release of radioactive fission products can exist if there is a coincident stuck-open safety relief valve (SORV) or if the safety relief valve is cycled. In addition to the release of fission products from the bulk steam generator water by moisture carryover, there exists the possibility that some primary coolant may be released without having first mixed with the bulk water - a process called primary coolant bypassing. The MB-2 Phase II test program was designed specifically to identify the processes for droplet carryover during SGTR faults and to provide data of sufficient accuracy for use in developing physical models and computer codes to describe activity release. The test program consisted of sixteen separate tests designed to cover a range of steady-state and transient fault conditions. These included a full SGTR/SORV transient simulation, two SGTR overfill tests, ten steady-state SGTR tests at water levels ranging from very low levels in the bundle up to those when the dryer was flooded, and three moisture carryover tests without SGTR. In these tests the influence of break location and the effect of bypassing the dryer were also studied. In a final test the behavior with respect to aerosol particles in a dry steam generator, appropriate to a severe accident fault, was investigated

  13. Direct UV written Michelson interferometer for RZ signal generation using phase-to-intensity modulation conversion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Peucheret, Christophe; Geng, Yan; Zsigri, Beata

    2005-01-01

    An integrated Michelson delay interferometer structure making use of waveguide gratings as reflective elements is proposed and fabricated by direct ultraviolet writing. Successful return-to-zero alternate-mark-inversion signal generation using phase-to-intensity modulation conversion...

  14. A technique for the deconvolution of the pulse shape of acoustic emission signals back to the generating defect source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houghton, J.R.; Packman, P.F.; Townsend, M.A.

    1976-01-01

    Acoustic emission signals recorded after passage through the instrumentation system can be deconvoluted to produce signal traces indicative of those at the generating source, and these traces can be used to identify characteristics of the source

  15. Impact Safety Control Strategy for the Battery System of an Example Electric Bus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhen-po Wang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a side impact safety control strategy for the battery system, aiming at defusing the hazards of unacceptable behaviors of the battery system such as high-voltage hazards. Based on some collision identification metrics, a side impact discrimination algorithm and a side impact severity algorithm are developed for electric buses. Based on the study on the time to break for power battery, the side impact discrimination algorithm response time is about 20 ms posing a great challenge to the side impact discrimination algorithm. At the same time, the reliability of the impact safety control strategy developed in this paper is evaluated for other plausible side impact signals generated by finite element analysis. The results verify that the impact safety control strategy exhibits robust performance and is able to trigger a breaking signal for power battery system promptly and accurately.

  16. The Cause of an Eddy Current Signal Noise from a Steam Generator Tube and its Effect on the Detectability of a Crack

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Deok Hyun; Choi, Myung Sik; Hur, Do Haeng; Kim, Kyung Mo; Han, Jung Ho

    2008-01-01

    An eddy current inspection has been applied for a pre-service and in-service examination of a steam generator in nuclear power plants. The experience from the inspection of steam generators showed that many plants had an excessive number of tubes with eddy current noise signals over several hundreds, which originated from manufacturing anomalies. The plants in U.S suffered significant downstream inspection costs, history reviews, and diagnostic testing because some signals resembled flaws and others masked a flaw. These lessens learned resulted in issuing the guidelines for steam generator tubing specifications and repair, in order to reduce the number of anomalous signals in the tubes and also to provide the requirement of a signal to noise ratio by applying a field type examination with bobbin coil eddy current probes at a manufacturing process. Besides the noise signals of a bobbin coil eddy current probe from manufacturing anomalies, the excessive background noise of the rotating coil eddy current probe signal is frequently observed from a tube and it negatively affects the detection and sizing estimate of a defect. Since the inspection intervals are being extended up to 60 months for the more recent steam generator of corrosion resistant alloy 690TT tubing, the detection of an earlier crack and an accurate sizing are becoming more important in the activity of a non-destructive examination. In this study, the cause of an eddy current signal noise of a rotating coil probe from a steam generator tube was examined and its influence on the detectability of a crack was analyzed

  17. Neuropeptidomics Mass Spectrometry Reveals Signaling Networks Generated by Distinct Protease Pathways in Human Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hook, Vivian; Bandeira, Nuno

    2015-12-01

    Neuropeptides regulate intercellular signaling as neurotransmitters of the central and peripheral nervous systems, and as peptide hormones in the endocrine system. Diverse neuropeptides of distinct primary sequences of various lengths, often with post-translational modifications, coordinate and integrate regulation of physiological functions. Mass spectrometry-based analysis of the diverse neuropeptide structures in neuropeptidomics research is necessary to define the full complement of neuropeptide signaling molecules. Human neuropeptidomics has notable importance in defining normal and dysfunctional neuropeptide signaling in human health and disease. Neuropeptidomics has great potential for expansion in translational research opportunities for defining neuropeptide mechanisms of human diseases, providing novel neuropeptide drug targets for drug discovery, and monitoring neuropeptides as biomarkers of drug responses. In consideration of the high impact of human neuropeptidomics for health, an observed gap in this discipline is the few published articles in human neuropeptidomics compared with, for example, human proteomics and related mass spectrometry disciplines. Focus on human neuropeptidomics will advance new knowledge of the complex neuropeptide signaling networks participating in the fine control of neuroendocrine systems. This commentary review article discusses several human neuropeptidomics accomplishments that illustrate the rapidly expanding diversity of neuropeptides generated by protease processing of pro-neuropeptide precursors occurring within the secretory vesicle proteome. Of particular interest is the finding that human-specific cathepsin V participates in producing enkephalin and likely other neuropeptides, indicating unique proteolytic mechanisms for generating human neuropeptides. The field of human neuropeptidomics has great promise to solve new mechanisms in disease conditions, leading to new drug targets and therapeutic agents for human

  18. Experimentally generated randomness certified by the impossibility of superluminal signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bierhorst, Peter; Knill, Emanuel; Glancy, Scott; Zhang, Yanbao; Mink, Alan; Jordan, Stephen; Rommal, Andrea; Liu, Yi-Kai; Christensen, Bradley; Nam, Sae Woo; Stevens, Martin J; Shalm, Lynden K

    2018-04-01

    From dice to modern electronic circuits, there have been many attempts to build better devices to generate random numbers. Randomness is fundamental to security and cryptographic systems and to safeguarding privacy. A key challenge with random-number generators is that it is hard to ensure that their outputs are unpredictable 1-3 . For a random-number generator based on a physical process, such as a noisy classical system or an elementary quantum measurement, a detailed model that describes the underlying physics is necessary to assert unpredictability. Imperfections in the model compromise the integrity of the device. However, it is possible to exploit the phenomenon of quantum non-locality with a loophole-free Bell test to build a random-number generator that can produce output that is unpredictable to any adversary that is limited only by general physical principles, such as special relativity 1-11 . With recent technological developments, it is now possible to carry out such a loophole-free Bell test 12-14,22 . Here we present certified randomness obtained from a photonic Bell experiment and extract 1,024 random bits that are uniformly distributed to within 10 -12 . These random bits could not have been predicted according to any physical theory that prohibits faster-than-light (superluminal) signalling and that allows independent measurement choices. To certify and quantify the randomness, we describe a protocol that is optimized for devices that are characterized by a low per-trial violation of Bell inequalities. Future random-number generators based on loophole-free Bell tests may have a role in increasing the security and trust of our cryptographic systems and infrastructure.

  19. Digital Signal Processing and Generation for a DC Current Transformer for Particle Accelerators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zorzetti, Silvia [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

    2013-01-01

    The thesis topic, digital signal processing and generation for a DC current transformer, focuses on the most fundamental beam diagnostics in the field of particle accelerators, the measurement of the beam intensity, or beam current. The technology of a DC current transformer (DCCT) is well known, and used in many areas, including particle accelerator beam instrumentation, as non-invasive (shunt-free) method to monitor the DC current in a conducting wire, or in our case, the current of charged particles travelling inside an evacuated metal pipe. So far, custom and commercial DCCTs are entirely based on analog technologies and signal processing, which makes them inflexible, sensitive to component aging, and difficult to maintain and calibrate.

  20. Application of Software Safety Analysis Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, G. Y.; Hur, S.; Cheon, S. W.; Kim, D. H.; Lee, D. Y.; Kwon, K. C.; Lee, S. J.; Koo, Y. H.

    2009-01-01

    A fully digitalized reactor protection system, which is called the IDiPS-RPS, was developed through the KNICS project. The IDiPS-RPS has four redundant and separated channels. Each channel is mainly composed of a group of bistable processors which redundantly compare process variables with their corresponding setpoints and a group of coincidence processors that generate a final trip signal when a trip condition is satisfied. Each channel also contains a test processor called the ATIP and a display and command processor called the COM. All the functions were implemented in software. During the development of the safety software, various software safety analysis methods were applied, in parallel to the verification and validation (V and V) activities, along the software development life cycle. The software safety analysis methods employed were the software hazard and operability (Software HAZOP) study, the software fault tree analysis (Software FTA), and the software failure modes and effects analysis (Software FMEA)

  1. Information Management system of the safety regulatory requirements and guidance for the Korea next generation reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yun, Y. C.; Lee, J. H.; Lee, H. C.; Lee, J. S.

    2000-01-01

    In order to achieve the safety of the Korea Next Generation Reactors (KNGR), the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety has carried out the Safety and Regulatory Requirements and Guidance (SRRG) development program from 1992 such as establishment of the SRRG hierarchy, development of technical requirements and guidance, and consideration of new licensing system. The SRRG hierarchy for the KNGR was consisted of five tiers; Safety Objectives, Safety Principles, General Safety Criteria, Specific Safety Requirements and Safety Regulatory Guides. The developed SRRG have been compared the criteria in 10CFR and Reg. Guide in the U.S.A and the IAEA documents for assuring internationally acceptable level of the SRRG. To improve the efficiency and accuracy of SRRG development, the construction of database system was required in the course of development. Therefore, the Information Management System of SRRG for the KNGR has been developed which enables developers to quickly and accurately seek and systematically manage whole contexts of the SRRG, reference requirements, and current atomic energy regulation rules. Moreover, through homepage whose URL is 'http://kngr.kins.re.kr', the concerned persons and public can acquire the information related with SRRG and KNGR project, and post his/her thought to the opinion forum in the homepage

  2. Information Management system of the safety regulatory requirements and guidance for the Korea next generation reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yun, Y. C. [LG-EDS Systems, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, J. H.; Lee, H. C.; Lee, J. S. [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2000-05-01

    In order to achieve the safety of the Korea Next Generation Reactors (KNGR), the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety has carried out the Safety and Regulatory Requirements and Guidance (SRRG) development program from 1992 such as establishment of the SRRG hierarchy, development of technical requirements and guidance, and consideration of new licensing system. The SRRG hierarchy for the KNGR was consisted of five tiers; Safety Objectives, Safety Principles, General Safety Criteria, Specific Safety Requirements and Safety Regulatory Guides. The developed SRRG have been compared the criteria in 10CFR and Reg. Guide in the U.S.A and the IAEA documents for assuring internationally acceptable level of the SRRG. To improve the efficiency and accuracy of SRRG development, the construction of database system was required in the course of development. Therefore, the Information Management System of SRRG for the KNGR has been developed which enables developers to quickly and accurately seek and systematically manage whole contexts of the SRRG, reference requirements, and current atomic energy regulation rules. Moreover, through homepage whose URL is 'http://kngr.kins.re.kr', the concerned persons and public can acquire the information related with SRRG and KNGR project, and post his/her thought to the opinion forum in the homepage.

  3. The nuclear safety regulation in Japan and the response to changes of circumstances surrounding the nuclear electricity generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hombu, K.; Hirota, M.; Taniguchi, T.; Tanaka, N.; Akimoto, S.

    2001-01-01

    The influences of external factors on nuclear safety are discussed in this paper, based on the views on the circumstances of nuclear electricity generation. The following external factors, which might have some potential impacts on nuclear safety, are selected for discussion: (1) The deregulation in the electricity generation industry; (2) The modification of approval/certification system in the regulation of electricity generation; (3) The influences on social atmosphere due to the occurrence of a series of troubles; (4) The government reform and the structural adjustment of industry and (5) Others. Our further discussion seems to focus on the following 2 issues: (a) Whether nuclear power and the other electrical sources should compete with each other for short term economical cost, or whether factors of cost stability and competitiveness as well as longer term energy supply security and global environmental issues ranging over several decades should be considered; (b) How to realize the appropriate regulation from the perspective of public acceptance and confidence (when a series of troubles occur) without imposing unnecessary burdens on industry and without jeopardizing safety. These issues may be common among many countries and can be widely discussed. (author)

  4. A Study on AE Signal Analysis of Composite Materials Using Matrix Piezo Electric Sensor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Yeun Ho; Choi, Jin Ho; Kweon, Jin Hwe

    2007-01-01

    As fiber reinforced composite materials are widely used in aircraft, space structures and robot arms, the study on non-destructive testing methods has become an important research area for improving their reliability and safety. AE (acoustic emission) can evaluate the defects by detecting the emitting strain energy when elastic waves are generated by the initiation and growth of crack, plastic deformation, fiber breakage, matrix cleavage, or delamination. In the paper, AE signals generated under uniaxial tension were measured and analyzed using the 8x8 matrix piezo electric sensor. The electronic circuit to control the transmitting distance of AE signals was designed and constructed. The optical data storage system was also designed to store the AE signal of 64 channels using LED (light emitting diode) elements. From the tests, it was shown that the source location and propagation path of AE signals in composite materials could be detected effectively by the 8x8 matrix piezo electric sensor

  5. Automatic generation and verification of railway interlocking control tables using FSM and NuSMV

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad B. YAZDI

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to their important role in providing safe conditions for train movements, railway interlocking systems are considered as safety critical systems. The reliability, safety and integrity of these systems, relies on reliability and integrity of all stages in their lifecycle including the design, verification, manufacture, test, operation and maintenance.In this paper, the Automatic generation and verification of interlocking control tables, as one of the most important stages in the interlocking design process has been focused on, by the safety critical research group in the School of Railway Engineering, SRE. Three different subsystems including a graphical signalling layout planner, a Control table generator and a Control table verifier, have been introduced. Using NuSMV model checker, the control table verifier analyses the contents of control table besides the safe train movement conditions and checks for any conflicting settings in the table. This includes settings for conflicting routes, signals, points and also settings for route isolation and single and multiple overlap situations. The latest two settings, as route isolation and multiple overlap situations are from new outcomes of the work comparing to works represented on the subject recently.

  6. Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers' choices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Dongil; Christopoulos, George I; King-Casas, Brooks; Ball, Sheryl B; Chiu, Pearl H

    2015-06-01

    Individuals' risk attitudes are known to guide choices about uncertain options. However, in the presence of others' decisions, these choices can be swayed and manifest as riskier or safer behavior than one would express alone. To test the mechanisms underlying effective social 'nudges' in human decision-making, we used functional neuroimaging and a task in which participants made choices about gambles alone and after observing others' selections. Against three alternative explanations, we found that observing others' choices of gambles increased the subjective value (utility) of those gambles for the observer. This 'other-conferred utility' was encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and these neural signals predicted conformity. We further identified a parametric interaction with individual risk preferences in anterior cingulate cortex and insula. These data provide a neuromechanistic account of how information from others is integrated with individual preferences that may explain preference-congruent susceptibility to social signals of safety and risk.

  7. Verification of FPGA-Signal using the test board which is applied to Safety-related controller

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung, Youn-Hu; Yoo, Kwanwoo; Lee, Myeongkyun; Yun, Donghwa [SOOSAN ENS, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    This article aims to provide the verification method for BGA-type FPGA of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) developed as Safety Class. The logic of FPGA in the control device with Safety Class is the circuit to control overall logic of PLC. Saftety-related PLC must meet the international standard specifications. With this reason, we use V and V according to an international standard in order to secure high reliability and safety. By using this, we are supposed to proceed to a variety of verification courses for extra reliability and safety analysis. In order to have efficient verification of test results, we propose the test using the newly changed BGA socket which can resolve the problems of the conventional socket on this paper. The Verification of processes is divided into verification of Hardware and firmware. That processes are carried out in the unit testing and integration testing. The proposed test method is simple, the effect of cost reductions by batch process. In addition, it is advantageous to measure the signal from the Hi-speed-IC due to its short length of the pins and it was plated with the copper around it. Further, it also to prevent abrasion on the IC ball because it has no direct contact with the PCB. Therefore, it can be actually applied is to the BGA package test and we can easily verify logic as well as easily checking the operation of the designed data.

  8. Boiling water reactor with innovative safety concept: The Generation III+ SWR-1000

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stosic, Zoran V. [AREVA NP GmbH, Koldestr. 16, 91052 Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: Zoran.Stosic@areva.com; Brettschuh, Werner; Stoll, Uwe [AREVA NP GmbH, Koldestr. 16, 91052 Erlangen (Germany)

    2008-08-15

    AREVA NP has developed an innovative boiling water reactor (BWR) SWR-1000 in close cooperation with German nuclear utilities and with support from various European partners. This Generation III+ reactor design marks a new era in the successful tradition of BWR and, with a net electrical output of approximately 1250 MWe, is aimed at ensuring competitive power generating costs compared to gas and coal fired stations. It is particularly suitable for countries whose power networks cannot facilitate large power plants. At the same time, the SWR-1000 meets the highest safety standards, including control of core melt accidents. These objectives are met by supplementing active safety systems with passive safety equipment of various designs for accident detection and control and by simplifying systems needed for normal plant operation on the basis of past operating experience. The plant is also protected against airplane crash loads. The functional capabilities and capacities of all new systems and components were successfully tested under realistic and conservative boundary conditions in large-scale test facilities in Finland, Switzerland and Germany. In general, the SWR-1000 design is based on well-proven analytical codes and design tools validated for BWR applications through recalculation of relevant experiments and independent licensing activities performed by authorities or their experts. The overview of used analytical codes and design tools as well as performed experimental validation programs is presented. Effective implementation of passive safety systems is demonstrated through the numerical simulation of transients and loss of coolant accidents (LOCAs) as well as through analytical simulation of a severe accident associated with the core melt. In the LOCA simulation presented the existing active core flooding systems were not used for emergency control: only passive systems were relevant for the analyses. Despite this - no core heat-up occurred. In the case of

  9. Toward multimodal signal detection of adverse drug reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harpaz, Rave; DuMouchel, William; Schuemie, Martijn; Bodenreider, Olivier; Friedman, Carol; Horvitz, Eric; Ripple, Anna; Sorbello, Alfred; White, Ryen W; Winnenburg, Rainer; Shah, Nigam H

    2017-12-01

    Improving mechanisms to detect adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is key to strengthening post-marketing drug safety surveillance. Signal detection is presently unimodal, relying on a single information source. Multimodal signal detection is based on jointly analyzing multiple information sources. Building on, and expanding the work done in prior studies, the aim of the article is to further research on multimodal signal detection, explore its potential benefits, and propose methods for its construction and evaluation. Four data sources are investigated; FDA's adverse event reporting system, insurance claims, the MEDLINE citation database, and the logs of major Web search engines. Published methods are used to generate and combine signals from each data source. Two distinct reference benchmarks corresponding to well-established and recently labeled ADRs respectively are used to evaluate the performance of multimodal signal detection in terms of area under the ROC curve (AUC) and lead-time-to-detection, with the latter relative to labeling revision dates. Limited to our reference benchmarks, multimodal signal detection provides AUC improvements ranging from 0.04 to 0.09 based on a widely used evaluation benchmark, and a comparative added lead-time of 7-22 months relative to labeling revision dates from a time-indexed benchmark. The results support the notion that utilizing and jointly analyzing multiple data sources may lead to improved signal detection. Given certain data and benchmark limitations, the early stage of development, and the complexity of ADRs, it is currently not possible to make definitive statements about the ultimate utility of the concept. Continued development of multimodal signal detection requires a deeper understanding the data sources used, additional benchmarks, and further research on methods to generate and synthesize signals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. IEEE standard for design qualification of safety systems equipment used in nuclear power generating stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1980-01-01

    This standard is written to serve as a general standard for qualification of all types of safety systems equipment, mechanical and instrumentation as well as electrical. It also establishes principles and procedures to be followed in preparing specific safety systems equipment standards. Guidance for qualifying specific safety systems equipment may be found in various specific equipment qualification standards that are now available or are being prepared. It is required that safety systems equipment in nuclear power generating stations meet or exceed its performance requirements throughout its installed life. This is accomplished by a disciplined program of design qualification and quality assurance of design, production, installation, maintenance and surveillance. This standard is for the design qualification section of the program only. Design qualification is intended to demonstrate the capability of the equipment design to perform its safety function(s) over the expected range of normal, abnormal, design basis event, post design basis event, and in-service test conditions. Inherent to design qualification is the requirement for demonstration, within limitations afforded by established technical state-of-the-art, that in-service aging throughout the qualified life established for the equipment will not degrade safety systems equipment from its original design condition to the point where it cannot perform its required safety function(s), upon demand. The above requirement reflects the primary role of design qualification to provide reasonable assurance that design- and age-related common failure modes will not occur during performance of safety function(s) under postulated service conditions

  11. Emissions generated during laser cutting; safety precautions; Emissions produits lors du coupage au laser; mesures de securite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haferkamp, H.; Goede, M.; Puster, T.; Seebaum, D. [Laser Eentrum, Hanovre (Germany); Bach, F. [Institut fur Werkstoffkunde, Universite de Hanovre (Germany)

    1999-07-01

    The generation of particulate and gaseous emissions from metals and organic materials during CO{sub 2} and Nd:YAG laser cutting is described. The laser-generated air contaminants (LGAC's) are characterised in terms of their quantity, composition, and chemical complexity, and the emissions are assessed on an occupational medicine basis. The hazard potential of LGAC's are mentioned, and safety systems are discussed.

  12. Educating Next Generation Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineers at the Idaho National Laboratory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    J. D. Bess; J. B. Briggs; A. S. Garcia

    2011-09-01

    One of the challenges in educating our next generation of nuclear safety engineers is the limitation of opportunities to receive significant experience or hands-on training prior to graduation. Such training is generally restricted to on-the-job-training before this new engineering workforce can adequately provide assessment of nuclear systems and establish safety guidelines. Participation in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) can provide students and young professionals the opportunity to gain experience and enhance critical engineering skills. The ICSBEP and IRPhEP publish annual handbooks that contain evaluations of experiments along with summarized experimental data and peer-reviewed benchmark specifications to support the validation of neutronics codes, nuclear cross-section data, and the validation of reactor designs. Participation in the benchmark process not only benefits those who use these Handbooks within the international community, but provides the individual with opportunities for professional development, networking with an international community of experts, and valuable experience to be used in future employment. Traditionally students have participated in benchmarking activities via internships at national laboratories, universities, or companies involved with the ICSBEP and IRPhEP programs. Additional programs have been developed to facilitate the nuclear education of students while participating in the benchmark projects. These programs include coordination with the Center for Space Nuclear Research (CSNR) Next Degree Program, the Collaboration with the Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office to train nuclear and criticality safety engineers, and student evaluations as the basis for their Master's thesis in nuclear engineering.

  13. Educating Next Generation Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineers at the Idaho National Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bess, J.D.; Briggs, J.B.; Garcia, A.S.

    2011-01-01

    One of the challenges in educating our next generation of nuclear safety engineers is the limitation of opportunities to receive significant experience or hands-on training prior to graduation. Such training is generally restricted to on-the-job-training before this new engineering workforce can adequately provide assessment of nuclear systems and establish safety guidelines. Participation in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) can provide students and young professionals the opportunity to gain experience and enhance critical engineering skills. The ICSBEP and IRPhEP publish annual handbooks that contain evaluations of experiments along with summarized experimental data and peer-reviewed benchmark specifications to support the validation of neutronics codes, nuclear cross-section data, and the validation of reactor designs. Participation in the benchmark process not only benefits those who use these Handbooks within the international community, but provides the individual with opportunities for professional development, networking with an international community of experts, and valuable experience to be used in future employment. Traditionally students have participated in benchmarking activities via internships at national laboratories, universities, or companies involved with the ICSBEP and IRPhEP programs. Additional programs have been developed to facilitate the nuclear education of students while participating in the benchmark projects. These programs include coordination with the Center for Space Nuclear Research (CSNR) Next Degree Program, the Collaboration with the Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office to train nuclear and criticality safety engineers, and student evaluations as the basis for their Master's thesis in nuclear engineering.

  14. Safety Evaluation Report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generating Station (Docket No. 50-354)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-10-01

    The Safety Evaluation Report for the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company, as applicant, for a license to operate the Hope Creek Generating Station (Docket No. 50-354), has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Salem County, New Jersey. Subject to favorable resolution of the items discussed in this report, the NRC staff concludes that the facility can be operated by the applicant without endangering the health and safety of the public

  15. Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers’ choices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Dongil; Ball, Sheryl B; Chiu, Pearl H

    2015-01-01

    Individuals’ risk attitudes are known to guide choices about uncertain options. However, in the presence of others’ decisions, these choices can be swayed and manifest as riskier or safer behavior than one would express alone. To test the mechanisms underlying effective social ‘nudges’ in human decision-making, we used functional neuroimaging and a task in which participants made choices about gambles alone and after observing others’ selections. Against three alternative explanations, we found that observing others’ choices of gambles increased the subjective value (utility) of those gambles for the observer. This ‘other-conferred utility’ was encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and these neural signals predicted conformity. We further identified a parametric interaction with individual risk preferences in anterior cingulate cortex and insula. These data provide a neuromechanistic account of how information from others is integrated with individual preferences that may explain preference-congruent susceptibility to social signals of safety and risk. PMID:25984890

  16. Probabilistic Inference on Multiple Normalized Signal Profiles from Next Generation Sequencing: Transcription Factor Binding Sites

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun; Peng, Chengbin; Li, Yue

    2015-01-01

    With the prevalence of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) with sequencing (ChIP-Seq) technology, massive ChIP-Seq data has been accumulated. The ChIP-Seq technology measures the genome-wide occupancy of DNA-binding proteins in vivo. It is well-known that different DNA-binding protein occupancies may result in a gene being regulated in different conditions (e.g. different cell types). To fully understand a gene's function, it is essential to develop probabilistic models on multiple ChIP-Seq profiles for deciphering the gene transcription causalities. In this work, we propose and describe two probabilistic models. Assuming the conditional independence of different DNA-binding proteins' occupancies, the first method (SignalRanker) is developed as an intuitive method for ChIP-Seq genome-wide signal profile inference. Unfortunately, such an assumption may not always hold in some gene regulation cases. Thus, we propose and describe another method (FullSignalRanker) which does not make the conditional independence assumption. The proposed methods are compared with other existing methods on ENCODE ChIP-Seq datasets, demonstrating its regression and classification ability. The results suggest that FullSignalRanker is the best-performing method for recovering the signal ranks on the promoter and enhancer regions. In addition, FullSignalRanker is also the best-performing method for peak sequence classification. We envision that SignalRanker and FullSignalRanker will become important in the era of next generation sequencing. FullSignalRanker program is available on the following website: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/∼wkc/FullSignalRanker/ © 2015 IEEE.

  17. Probabilistic Inference on Multiple Normalized Signal Profiles from Next Generation Sequencing: Transcription Factor Binding Sites

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun

    2015-04-20

    With the prevalence of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) with sequencing (ChIP-Seq) technology, massive ChIP-Seq data has been accumulated. The ChIP-Seq technology measures the genome-wide occupancy of DNA-binding proteins in vivo. It is well-known that different DNA-binding protein occupancies may result in a gene being regulated in different conditions (e.g. different cell types). To fully understand a gene\\'s function, it is essential to develop probabilistic models on multiple ChIP-Seq profiles for deciphering the gene transcription causalities. In this work, we propose and describe two probabilistic models. Assuming the conditional independence of different DNA-binding proteins\\' occupancies, the first method (SignalRanker) is developed as an intuitive method for ChIP-Seq genome-wide signal profile inference. Unfortunately, such an assumption may not always hold in some gene regulation cases. Thus, we propose and describe another method (FullSignalRanker) which does not make the conditional independence assumption. The proposed methods are compared with other existing methods on ENCODE ChIP-Seq datasets, demonstrating its regression and classification ability. The results suggest that FullSignalRanker is the best-performing method for recovering the signal ranks on the promoter and enhancer regions. In addition, FullSignalRanker is also the best-performing method for peak sequence classification. We envision that SignalRanker and FullSignalRanker will become important in the era of next generation sequencing. FullSignalRanker program is available on the following website: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/∼wkc/FullSignalRanker/ © 2015 IEEE.

  18. Aspects of nuclear safety at power plants and fuel cycle plants in the USSR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kozlov, N.I.; Efimov, E.; Dubovskij, B.G.; Dikarev, V.; Lyubchenko, V.; Kruglov, A.K.

    1977-01-01

    The paper discusses the problems of organizing inspection monitoring of power plants including the development of some regulations and norms and the interaction between the USSR State Nuclear Safety Organization, scientific and designing organizations and power plants. The principles of computer use to work out advice for operational staff and warning signals and commands for the reactor control and protection system are discussed. Some attention is turned to the importance of using high-speed computers to calculate prompt reactivity values and to determine impurity concentrations in the coolant and margins to permissible operational limits. In particular, reactimeters are considered as signal generators in monitor and protection systems. Some problems of nuclear safety inspection, the issue and inculcation of some regulations and operational documents on nuclear safety, and instrumentation of plants reprocessing or processing fuel elements are presented. Methods of determining the critical parameters of technological units are described, together with the fundamental principles of fuel cycle plant nuclear safety, providing margin coefficients, accounting for deviations from the normal operational process and other problems, as well as methods of keeping the restrictions on nuclear safety requirements at fuel cycle plants. (author)

  19. GDE2 regulates subtype-specific motor neuron generation through inhibition of Notch signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabharwal, Priyanka; Lee, Changhee; Park, Sungjin; Rao, Meenakshi; Sockanathan, Shanthini

    2011-09-22

    The specification of spinal interneuron and motor neuron identities initiates within progenitor cells, while motor neuron subtype diversification is regulated by hierarchical transcriptional programs implemented postmitotically. Here we find that mice lacking GDE2, a six-transmembrane protein that triggers motor neuron generation, exhibit selective losses of distinct motor neuron subtypes, specifically in defined subsets of limb-innervating motor pools that correlate with the loss of force-generating alpha motor neurons. Mechanistically, GDE2 is expressed by postmitotic motor neurons but utilizes extracellular glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase activity to induce motor neuron generation by inhibiting Notch signaling in neighboring motor neuron progenitors. Thus, neuronal GDE2 controls motor neuron subtype diversity through a non-cell-autonomous feedback mechanism that directly regulates progenitor cell differentiation, implying that subtype specification initiates within motor neuron progenitor populations prior to their differentiation into postmitotic motor neurons. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Research of Cubic Bezier Curve NC Interpolation Signal Generator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shijun Ji

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Interpolation technology is the core of the computer numerical control (CNC system, and the precision and stability of the interpolation algorithm directly affect the machining precision and speed of CNC system. Most of the existing numerical control interpolation technology can only achieve circular arc interpolation, linear interpolation or parabola interpolation, but for the numerical control (NC machining of parts with complicated surface, it needs to establish the mathematical model and generate the curved line and curved surface outline of parts and then discrete the generated parts outline into a large amount of straight line or arc to carry on the processing, which creates the complex program and a large amount of code, so it inevitably introduce into the approximation error. All these factors affect the machining accuracy, surface roughness and machining efficiency. The stepless interpolation of cubic Bezier curve controlled by analog signal is studied in this paper, the tool motion trajectory of Bezier curve can be directly planned out in CNC system by adjusting control points, and then these data were put into the control motor which can complete the precise feeding of Bezier curve. This method realized the improvement of CNC trajectory controlled ability from the simple linear and circular arc to the complex project curve, and it provides a new way for economy realizing the curve surface parts with high quality and high efficiency machining.

  1. Present status and future plan on LMFBR steam generator safety study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanabe, Hiromi; Kuroha, Mitsuo

    1985-01-01

    The results of the sodium-water reaction test which has been carried out for the safety evaluation of the water leak phenomena in the steam generators for the prototype FBR were summarized. This is related to the behavior of minute leak, the behavior of wear and damage propagation of neighboring tubes due to small and medium leaking jets, and the pressure/flow phenomena occurring at the time of large leak. Moreover, this is related to the development of analysis codes, the development of water leak-detecting system, and the development of the techniques for treating reaction products remaining in the system at the time of accidents. Also the research and development required hereafter for determining the basic specification of the steam generators for a demonstration FBR and future FBRs and reducing the cost were examined. The water leaks in the steam generators for FBRs have been reported in the Fermi reactor of USA, the PFR of Great Britain, the BN-350 of USSR, the Phenix reactor of France and so on. In Japan, the sodium-water reaction has been well understood, and the facilities for the countremeasures to it have been established. The sodium-water reaction phenomena, the present status of sodium-water reaction research and others are reported. (Kako, I.)

  2. Analysis of subpulse generation from delayed-interference signal-wavelength converter for wide carrier recovery rate range

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sakaguchi, J.; Nielsen, Mads Lønstrup; Ohira, T.

    2008-01-01

    The generation of subpulses in delayed-interference signal-wavelength converters (DISCS) had been suspected as a Curse of waveform degradation in their application in ultrafast (similar to 160GHz) optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) communication systems. We reported its first observation...

  3. Safety Evaluation Report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generating Station (Docket No. 50-354)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-10-01

    Supplement No. 3 to the Safety Evaluation Report on the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company on its own behalf as co-owner and as agent for the other co-owner, the Atlantic City Electric Company, for a license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County, New Jersey. This supplement reports the status of certain items that had not been resolved at the time of publication of the Safety Evaluation Report. 6 tabs

  4. Complicating factors in safety testing of drug metabolites: Kinetic differences between generated and preformed metabolites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prueksaritanont, Thomayant; Lin, Jiunn H.; Baillie, Thomas A.

    2006-01-01

    This paper aims to provide a scientifically based perspective on issues surrounding the proposed toxicology testing of synthetic drug metabolites as a means of ensuring adequate nonclinical safety evaluation of drug candidates that generate metabolites considered either to be unique to humans or are present at much higher levels in humans than in preclinical species. We put forward a number of theoretical considerations and present several specific examples where the kinetic behavior of a preformed metabolite given to animals or humans differs from that of the corresponding metabolite generated endogenously from its parent. The potential ramifications of this phenomenon are that the results of toxicity testing of the preformed metabolite may be misleading and fail to characterize the true toxicological contribution of the metabolite when formed from the parent. It is anticipated that such complications would be evident in situations where (a) differences exist in the accumulation of the preformed versus generated metabolites in specific tissues, and (b) the metabolite undergoes sequential metabolism to a downstream product that is toxic, leading to differences in tissue-specific toxicity. Owing to the complex nature of this subject, there is a need to treat drug metabolite issues in safety assessment on a case-by-case basis, in which a knowledge of metabolite kinetics is employed to validate experimental paradigms that entail administration of preformed metabolites to animal models

  5. Key role of integrin α(IIb)β (3) signaling to Syk kinase in tissue factor-induced thrombin generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Meijden, Paola E J; Feijge, Marion A H; Swieringa, Frauke; Gilio, Karen; Nergiz-Unal, Reyhan; Hamulyák, Karly; Heemskerk, Johan W M

    2012-10-01

    The fibrin(ogen) receptor, integrin α(IIb)β(3), has a well-established role in platelet spreading, aggregation and clot retraction. How α(IIb)β(3) contributes to platelet-dependent coagulation is less well resolved. Here, we demonstrate that the potent suppressing effect of clinically used α(IIb)β(3) blockers on tissue factor-induced thrombin generation is linked to diminished platelet Ca(2+) responses and phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure. The same blockers suppress these responses in platelets stimulated with collagen and thrombin receptor agonists, whereas added fibrinogen potentiates these responses. In platelets spreading on fibrinogen, outside-in α(IIb)β(3) signaling similarly enhances thrombin-induced Ca(2+) rises and PS exposure. These responses are reduced in α(IIb)β(3)-deficient platelets from patients with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. Furthermore, the contribution of α(IIb)β(3) to tissue factor-induced platelet Ca(2+) rises, PS exposure and thrombin generation in plasma are fully dependent on Syk kinase activity. Tyrosine phosphorylation analysis confirms a key role of Syk activation, which is largely but not exclusively dependent on α(IIb)β(3) activation. It is concluded that the majority of tissue factor-induced procoagulant activity of platelets relies on Syk activation and ensuing Ca(2+) signal generation, and furthermore that a considerable part of Syk activation relies on α(IIb)β(3) signaling. These results hence point to a novel role of Syk in integrin-dependent thrombin generation.

  6. Effects of coding dictionary on signal generation: a consideration of use of MedDRA compared with WHO-ART.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Elliot G

    2002-01-01

    To support signal generation a terminology should facilitate recognition of medical conditions by using terms which represent unique concepts, providing appropriate, homogeneous grouping of related terms. It should allow intuitive or mathematical identification of adverse events reaching a threshold frequency or with disproportionate incidence, permit identification of important events which are commonly drug-related, and support recognition of new syndromes. It is probable that the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) preferred terms (PTs) or high level terms (HLTs) will be used to represent adverse events for the purposes of signal generation. A comparison with 315 WHO Adverse Reaction Terminology (WHO-ART) PTs showed that for about 72% of WHO-ART PTs, there were one or two corresponding MedDRA PTs. However, there were instances where there were many MedDRA PTs corresponding to single WHO-ART PTs. In many cases, MedDRA HLTs grouped large numbers of PTs and sometimes there could be problems when a single HLT comprises PTs which represent very different medical concepts, or conditions which differ greatly in their clinical importance. Further studies are needed to compare the way in which identical data sets coded with MedDRA and with other terminologies actually function in generating and exploring signals using the same methods of detection and evaluation.

  7. A simple predistortion technique for suppression of nonlinear effects in periodic signals generated by nonlinear transducers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, A.; Simon, L.; Lotton, P.

    2018-04-01

    Mechanical transducers, such as shakers, loudspeakers and compression drivers that are used as excitation devices to excite acoustical or mechanical nonlinear systems under test are imperfect. Due to their nonlinear behaviour, unwanted contributions appear at their output besides the wanted part of the signal. Since these devices are used to study nonlinear systems, it should be required to measure properly the systems under test by overcoming the influence of the nonlinear excitation device. In this paper, a simple method that corrects distorted output signal of the excitation device by means of predistortion of its input signal is presented. A periodic signal is applied to the input of the excitation device and, from analysing the output signal of the device, the input signal is modified in such a way that the undesirable spectral components in the output of the excitation device are cancelled out after few iterations of real-time processing. The experimental results provided on an electrodynamic shaker show that the spectral purity of the generated acceleration output approaches 100 dB after few iterations (1 s). This output signal, applied to the system under test, is thus cleaned from the undesirable components produced by the excitation device; this is an important condition to ensure a correct measurement of the nonlinear system under test.

  8. 49 CFR 229.109 - Safety valves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Safety valves. 229.109 Section 229.109..., DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY STANDARDS Safety Requirements Steam Generators § 229.109 Safety valves. Every steam generator shall be equipped with at least two safety valves that have a...

  9. Safety Evaluation Report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generation Station (Docket No. 50-354). Supplement No. 6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-07-01

    Supplement No. 6 to the Safety Evaluation Report on the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company on its own behalf as co-owner and as agent for the other co-owner, the Atlantic City Electric Company, for a license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County, New Jersey. This supplement reports the status of certain items that has not been resolved at the time of the publication of the Safety Evaluation Report. This supplement supports the issuance of a full-power license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station

  10. Assessment and Management of Ageing of Major Nuclear Power Plant Components Important to Safety: Steam Generators. 2011 Update

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-11-01

    At present there are over four hundred forty operational nuclear power plants (NPPs) in IAEA Member States. Ageing degradation of the systems, structures of components during their operational life must be effectively managed to ensure the availability of design functions throughout the plant service life. From the safety perspective, this means controlling, within acceptable limits, the ageing degradation and wear-out of plant components important to safety so that adequate safety margins remain, i.e. integrity and functional capability in excess of normal operating requirements. This IAEA-TECDOC is one in a series of reports on the assessment and management of ageing of the major NPP components important to safety. The reports are based on experience and practices of NPP operators, regulators, designers, manufacturers, and technical support organizations. The current practices for the assessment of safety margins (fitness for service) and the inspection, monitoring and mitigation of ageing degradation of selected components of Canada deuteriumuranium (CANDU) reactor, boiling water reactor (BWR), pressurized water reactor (PWR), and water moderated, water cooled energy reactor (WWER) plants are documented in the reports. These practices are intended to help all involved directly and indirectly in ensuring the safe operation of NPPs, and also to provide a common technical basis for dialogue between plant operators and regulators when dealing with age related licensing issues. Since the reports are written from a safety perspective, they do not address life or life cycle management of the plant components, which involves the integration of ageing management and economic planning. The target audience of the reports consists of technical experts from NPPs and from regulatory, plant design, manufacturing and technical support organizations dealing with specific plant components addressed in the reports. The component addressed in the present publication is the steam

  11. Numerical simulations of eddy current testing signals of steam generator tubes by 3-D finite element method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakai, Takayuki; Soneda, Naoki

    1996-01-01

    In every inspection of Japanese PWR plants, all of steam generator tubes are inspected using Eddy Current Testing (ECT) method. However, the relationships between the ECT signals and the defect shapes are known only for the representative shapes of defects. In order to improve the reliability of inspections and the capability of ECT probes, development of numerical simulation technique of the ECT signals for arbitrarily shaped defects is essential. In this study, three-dimensional finite element code is developed to simulate the ECT signals for any kinds of defects in the SG tubes. The code is fully vectorized so that it runs on the supercomputers very efficiently. The simulation results agree very well with the experimental results. Sensitivity analyses are performed to investigate the relationships between the defect shapes and the ECT signals. (author)

  12. Optimization of design solutions on safety and economy for power unit of NPP with WWER reactor of new generation. Annex 8

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krushelnitsky, V.N.; Berkovich, V.M.; Shvyrayev, Yu.; Podshebaykin, A.K.; Fil, N.S.

    2002-01-01

    Development of new generation WWER reactors is being carried out in Russia. These new projects with WWER reactors aim to achieve increased levels of safety and reduced costs. This paper describes these designs and discusses the main factors leading to the safety level increase and the improved economics. (author)

  13. Signal to noise ratio enhancement for Eddy Current testing of steam generator tubes in PWR's

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Georgel, B.

    1985-01-01

    Noise reduction is a compulsory task when we try to recognize and characterize flaws. The signals we deal with come from Eddy Current testings of steam generator steel tubes. We point out the need for a spectral invariant in digital spectral analysis of 2 components signals. We make clear the pros and cons of classical passband filtering and suggest the use of a new noise cancellation method first discussed by Moriwaki and Tlusty. We generalize this tricky technique and prove it is a very special case of the well-known Wiener filter. In that sense the M-T method is shown to be optimal. 6 refs

  14. A Nuclear Safety System based on Industrial Computer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Ji Hyeon; Oh, Do Young; Lee, Nam Hoon; Kim, Chang Ho; Kim, Jae Hack

    2011-01-01

    The Plant Protection System(PPS), a nuclear safety Instrumentation and Control (I and C) system for Nuclear Power Plants(NPPs), generates reactor trip on abnormal reactor condition. The Core Protection Calculator System (CPCS) is a safety system that generates and transmits the channel trip signal to the PPS on an abnormal condition. Currently, these systems are designed on the Programmable Logic Controller(PLC) based system and it is necessary to consider a new system platform to adapt simpler system configuration and improved software development process. The CPCS was the first implementation using a micro computer in a nuclear power plant safety protection system in 1980 which have been deployed in Ulchin units 3,4,5,6 and Younggwang units 3,4,5,6. The CPCS software was developed in the Concurrent Micro5 minicomputer using assembly language and embedded into the Concurrent 3205 computer. Following the micro computer based CPCS, PLC based Common-Q platform has been used for the ShinKori/ShinWolsong units 1,2 PPS and CPCS, and the POSAFE-Q PLC platform is used for the ShinUlchin units 1,2 PPS and CPCS. In developing the next generation safety system platform, several factors (e.g., hardware/software reliability, flexibility, licensibility and industrial support) can be considered. This paper suggests an Industrial Computer(IC) based protection system that can be developed with improved flexibility without losing system reliability. The IC based system has the advantage of a simple system configuration with optimized processor boards because of improved processor performance and unlimited interoperability between the target system and development system that use commercial CASE tools. This paper presents the background to selecting the IC based system with a case study design of the CPCS. Eventually, this kind of platform can be used for nuclear power plant safety systems like the PPS, CPCS, Qualified Indication and Alarm . Pami(QIAS-P), and Engineering Safety

  15. A Nuclear Safety System based on Industrial Computer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Ji Hyeon; Oh, Do Young; Lee, Nam Hoon; Kim, Chang Ho; Kim, Jae Hack [Korea Electric Power Corporation Engineering and Construction, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-05-15

    The Plant Protection System(PPS), a nuclear safety Instrumentation and Control (I and C) system for Nuclear Power Plants(NPPs), generates reactor trip on abnormal reactor condition. The Core Protection Calculator System (CPCS) is a safety system that generates and transmits the channel trip signal to the PPS on an abnormal condition. Currently, these systems are designed on the Programmable Logic Controller(PLC) based system and it is necessary to consider a new system platform to adapt simpler system configuration and improved software development process. The CPCS was the first implementation using a micro computer in a nuclear power plant safety protection system in 1980 which have been deployed in Ulchin units 3,4,5,6 and Younggwang units 3,4,5,6. The CPCS software was developed in the Concurrent Micro5 minicomputer using assembly language and embedded into the Concurrent 3205 computer. Following the micro computer based CPCS, PLC based Common-Q platform has been used for the ShinKori/ShinWolsong units 1,2 PPS and CPCS, and the POSAFE-Q PLC platform is used for the ShinUlchin units 1,2 PPS and CPCS. In developing the next generation safety system platform, several factors (e.g., hardware/software reliability, flexibility, licensibility and industrial support) can be considered. This paper suggests an Industrial Computer(IC) based protection system that can be developed with improved flexibility without losing system reliability. The IC based system has the advantage of a simple system configuration with optimized processor boards because of improved processor performance and unlimited interoperability between the target system and development system that use commercial CASE tools. This paper presents the background to selecting the IC based system with a case study design of the CPCS. Eventually, this kind of platform can be used for nuclear power plant safety systems like the PPS, CPCS, Qualified Indication and Alarm . Pami(QIAS-P), and Engineering Safety

  16. Acoustic signal generation in excised muscle by pulsed proton beam irradiation and the possibility of its clinical application to radiation therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hayakawa, Yoshinori; Tada, Junichiro; Inada, Tetsuo; Kitagawa, Toshio; Wagai, Toshio; Yoshioka, Katsuya.

    1989-01-01

    Acoustic signals generated in liquids and in metals by pulsed proton beam are thought to be thermal shock wave due to localized energy deposition of incident protons. Thus the intensity of generated acoustic signals is almost proportional to the energy deposited at the region. This suggests the possibility for measuring spatial distribution of energy deposition of proton beam using the acoustic method. In proton beam radiation therapy, treatment planning is developed from data of X-ray computer tomography which reflects the information on the electron density distribution in the patient's body. Ensuring the agreement of the dose distribution in the patient with the planned one, however, is difficult. It is expected that the acoustic method can provide a useful tool for this purpose. The pulsed proton beam of 50ns in pulse width is used for cancer therapy at the University of Tsukuba. A hydrophone is used to detect acoustic signals generated by pulsed proton beam. Detected signals are amplified ten thousand times before being averaged and analyzed by digital oscilloscope. Measurements made suggest that the method could be useful for radiation therapy. (N.K.)

  17. Safety evaluation report related to the operation of Wolf Creek Generating Staton, Unit No. 1, (Docket No. STN 50-482). Supplement No. 4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-12-01

    Supplement No. 4 to the Safety Evaluation Report related to the operation of the Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit No. 1 updates the information contained in the Safety Evaluation Report, dated April 1982 and Supplements 1, 2, and 3, dated August 1982, June 1983 and August, 1983, respectively. Supplement No. 4 addresses open issues, confirmatory items and addresses Board Notifications. The Safety Evaluation and its supplements pertain to the application for a license to operate the Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit No. 1 filed by Kansas Gas and Electric Company on February 19, 1980. The Construction Permit No. CPPR-147 was issued on May 17, 1977

  18. Expert system for eddy current signal analysis: non destructive testing of steam generator tubings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benoist, B.

    1991-01-01

    Automatic analysis, by computer, of defect signals in steam generator tubes, based on Eddy current multifrequency technique, is must often inefficient due to pilgrim noise. The first step is to use a method that allows us to eleminate the noise: the adaptative interpolation. Thanks to this method, which ensures reliable data on each channel, the analysis can be realised by taking into account the data corresponding to each basic or mixed channel. By correlating these diverse data, we can class the signals according to two types of defects: single defects (symmetrical), multiple defects (several in the same place). The second step is to use an expert system which allows a reliable diagnosis for whatever family the defect belongs to. According to this classification, analysis is continued and results in the characterization of the defect. The expert system has already been developed with the general purpose application expert system shell SUPER, which is briefly described. The knowledge base (SOCRATE) and the specific tools developed for this application are thoroughly described. The first results obtained with signals corresponding to real defects, that have been recorded in different places, are presented and discussed. The expert system is revealed efficient in all the studied cases, even with signals obtained in very noisy environments [fr

  19. Experimentally Generated Random Numbers Certified by the Impossibility of Superluminal Signaling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bierhorst, Peter; Shalm, Lynden K.; Mink, Alan; Jordan, Stephen; Liu, Yi-Kai; Rommal, Andrea; Glancy, Scott; Christensen, Bradley; Nam, Sae Woo; Knill, Emanuel

    Random numbers are an important resource for applications such as numerical simulation and secure communication. However, it is difficult to certify whether a physical random number generator is truly unpredictable. Here, we exploit the phenomenon of quantum nonlocality in a loophole-free photonic Bell test experiment to obtain data containing randomness that cannot be predicted by any theory that does not also allow the sending of signals faster than the speed of light. To certify and quantify the randomness, we develop a new protocol that performs well in an experimental regime characterized by low violation of Bell inequalities. Applying an extractor function to our data, we obtain 256 new random bits, uniform to within 10- 3 .

  20. Eddy currents signal processing for steam generator inspection in PWR nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Georgel, B.

    1992-01-01

    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

  1. Augmented Reality for Real-Time Detection and Interpretation of Colorimetric Signals Generated by Paper-Based Biosensors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell, Steven M; Doménech-Sánchez, Antonio; de la Rica, Roberto

    2017-06-23

    Colorimetric tests are becoming increasingly popular in point-of-need analyses due to the possibility of detecting the signal with the naked eye, which eliminates the utilization of bulky and costly instruments only available in laboratories. However, colorimetric tests may be interpreted incorrectly by nonspecialists due to disparities in color perception or a lack of training. Here we solve this issue with a method that not only detects colorimetric signals but also interprets them so that the test outcome is understandable for anyone. It consists of an augmented reality (AR) app that uses a camera to detect the colored signals generated by a nanoparticle-based immunoassay, and that yields a warning symbol or message when the concentration of analyte is higher than a certain threshold. The proposed method detected the model analyte mouse IgG with a limit of detection of 0.3 μg mL -1 , which was comparable to the limit of detection afforded by classical densitometry performed with a nonportable device. When adapted to the detection of E. coli, the app always yielded a "hazard" warning symbol when the concentration of E. coli in the sample was above the infective dose (10 6 cfu mL -1 or higher). The proposed method could help nonspecialists make a decision about drinking from a potentially contaminated water source by yielding an unambiguous message that is easily understood by anyone. The widespread availability of smartphones along with the inexpensive paper test that requires no enzymes to generate the signal makes the proposed assay promising for analyses in remote locations and developing countries.

  2. Safety Assessment for transient event occurred during the ASTS test of Hanbit Unit 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Changkeun; Kim, Yohan; Ha, Sangjun

    2014-01-01

    Safety Injection has been actuated during the ASTS (Automatic Seismic Trip System) test of Hanbit Unit 2 on Feb. 28, 2014. It could be bad effect on system integrity. KHNP has been performed safety assessment of system for effect of Safety Injection (SI) actuation occurred during the ASTS test of hanbit Unit 2. Stable state of nuclear power plant system has been confirmed according to Safety Injection and reactor trip event occurred during the ASTS test of hanbit Unit 2. In the result of system safety assessment, major variables of nuclear power plant are located in optimal range and not exceed safety limit. It remains nuclear fuel and the integrity of the power plant is in a safe condition were conformed. After ASTS action, thermal elimination has been processed throughout the turbine until turbine signal occurrence because ASTS is connected to M-G set in the present hanbit Unit 2. Therefore, Safety Injection signal has been actuated by rapid reduction of Steam Generator pressure. In this paper, it is concluded that consideration of equipment and setpoint is needed for that Safety Injection has been not occurred under the unnecessary situation. Stable state of nuclear power plant system has been confirmed for Safety Injection and reactor trip event occurred during the ASTS test of hanbit Unit 2. In the result of system safety assessment, major variables of nuclear power plant are located in optimal range and not exceed safety limit. It remains nuclear fuel and the integrity of the plant is in a safe condition were conformed. It is concluded that consideration of equipment and setpoint is needed for that Safety Injection has been not occurred under the unnecessary situation

  3. U18 : Traffic signal safety (phase B).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-08-01

    Efficiently scheduling traffic, particularly heavy vehicles, remains a key challenge in transportation engineering. This project has focused on the development of a novel trafficsignal-control methodology to improve the safety of heavy vehicles on...

  4. Learning sparse generative models of audiovisual signals

    OpenAIRE

    Monaci, Gianluca; Sommer, Friedrich T.; Vandergheynst, Pierre

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents a novel framework to learn sparse represen- tations for audiovisual signals. An audiovisual signal is modeled as a sparse sum of audiovisual kernels. The kernels are bimodal functions made of synchronous audio and video components that can be positioned independently and arbitrarily in space and time. We design an algorithm capable of learning sets of such audiovi- sual, synchronous, shift-invariant functions by alternatingly solving a coding and a learning pr...

  5. A Comparison of the Safety Analysis Process and the Generation IV Proliferation Resistance/Physical Protection Assessment Methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    T. A. Bjornard; M. D. Zentner

    2006-01-01

    The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) is a vehicle for the cooperative international development of future nuclear energy systems. The Generation IV program has established primary objectives in the areas of sustainability, economics, safety and reliability, and Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection (PR and PP). In order to help meet the latter objective a program was launched in December 2002 to develop a rigorous means to assess nuclear energy systems with respect to PR and PP. The study of Physical Protection of a facility is a relatively well established methodology, but an approach to evaluate the Proliferation Resistance of a nuclear fuel cycle is not. This paper will examine the Proliferation Resistance (PR) evaluation methodology being developed by the PR group, which is largely a new approach and compare it to generally accepted nuclear facility safety evaluation methodologies. Safety evaluation methods have been the subjects of decades of development and use. Further, safety design and analysis is fairly broadly understood, as well as being the subject of federally mandated procedures and requirements. It is therefore extremely instructive to compare and contrast the proposed new PR evaluation methodology process with that used in safety analysis. By so doing, instructive and useful conclusions can be derived from the comparison that will help to strengthen the PR methodological approach as it is developed further. From the comparison made in this paper it is evident that there are very strong parallels between the two processes. Most importantly, it is clear that the proliferation resistance aspects of nuclear energy systems are best considered beginning at the very outset of the design process. Only in this way can the designer identify and cost effectively incorporate intrinsic features that might be difficult to implement at some later stage. Also, just like safety, the process to implement proliferation resistance should be a dynamic

  6. Natural Language Interface for Safety Certification of Safety-Critical Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denney, Ewen; Fischer, Bernd

    2011-01-01

    Model-based design and automated code generation are being used increasingly at NASA. The trend is to move beyond simulation and prototyping to actual flight code, particularly in the guidance, navigation, and control domain. However, there are substantial obstacles to more widespread adoption of code generators in such safety-critical domains. Since code generators are typically not qualified, there is no guarantee that their output is correct, and consequently the generated code still needs to be fully tested and certified. The AutoCert generator plug-in supports the certification of automatically generated code by formally verifying that the generated code is free of different safety violations, by constructing an independently verifiable certificate, and by explaining its analysis in a textual form suitable for code reviews.

  7. Physiological modules for generating discrete and rhythmic movements: component analysis of EMG signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bengoetxea, Ana; Leurs, Françoise; Hoellinger, Thomas; Cebolla, Ana Maria; Dan, Bernard; Cheron, Guy; McIntyre, Joseph

    2014-01-01

    A central question in Neuroscience is that of how the nervous system generates the spatiotemporal commands needed to realize complex gestures, such as handwriting. A key postulate is that the central nervous system (CNS) builds up complex movements from a set of simpler motor primitives or control modules. In this study we examined the control modules underlying the generation of muscle activations when performing different types of movement: discrete, point-to-point movements in eight different directions and continuous figure-eight movements in both the normal, upright orientation and rotated 90°. To test for the effects of biomechanical constraints, movements were performed in the frontal-parallel or sagittal planes, corresponding to two different nominal flexion/abduction postures of the shoulder. In all cases we measured limb kinematics and surface electromyographic activity (EMG) signals for seven different muscles acting around the shoulder. We first performed principal component analysis (PCA) of the EMG signals on a movement-by-movement basis. We found a surprisingly consistent pattern of muscle groupings across movement types and movement planes, although we could detect systematic differences between the PCs derived from movements performed in each shoulder posture and between the principal components associated with the different orientations of the figure. Unexpectedly we found no systematic differences between the figure eights and the point-to-point movements. The first three principal components could be associated with a general co-contraction of all seven muscles plus two patterns of reciprocal activation. From these results, we surmise that both "discrete-rhythmic movements" such as the figure eight, and discrete point-to-point movement may be constructed from three different fundamental modules, one regulating the impedance of the limb over the time span of the movement and two others operating to generate movement, one aligned with the

  8. Wind Turbine Generator System Safety and Function Test Report for the Entegrity EW50 Wind Turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, J.; Huskey, A.; Jager, D.; Hur, J.

    2012-11-01

    This report summarizes the results of a safety and function test that NREL conducted on the Entegrity EW50 wind turbine. This test was conducted in accordance with the International Electrotechnical Commissions' (IEC) standard, Wind Turbine Generator System Part 2: Design requirements for small wind turbines, IEC 61400-2 Ed.2.0, 2006-03.

  9. Singlet oxygen treatment of tumor cells triggers extracellular singlet oxygen generation, catalase inactivation and reactivation of intercellular apoptosis-inducing signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riethmüller, Michaela; Burger, Nils; Bauer, Georg

    2015-12-01

    Intracellular singlet oxygen generation in photofrin-loaded cells caused cell death without discrimination between nonmalignant and malignant cells. In contrast, extracellular singlet oxygen generation caused apoptosis induction selectively in tumor cells through singlet oxygen-mediated inactivation of tumor cell protective catalase and subsequent reactivation of intercellular ROS-mediated apoptosis signaling through the HOCl and the NO/peroxynitrite signaling pathway. Singlet oxygen generation by extracellular photofrin alone was, however, not sufficient for optimal direct inactivation of catalase, but needed to trigger the generation of cell-derived extracellular singlet oxygen through the interaction between H2O2 and peroxynitrite. Thereby, formation of peroxynitrous acid, generation of hydroxyl radicals and formation of perhydroxyl radicals (HO2(.)) through hydroxyl radical/H2O2 interaction seemed to be required as intermediate steps. This amplificatory mechanism led to the formation of singlet oxygen at a sufficiently high concentration for optimal inactivation of membrane-associated catalase. At low initial concentrations of singlet oxygen, an additional amplification step needed to be activated. It depended on singlet oxygen-dependent activation of the FAS receptor and caspase-8, followed by caspase-8-mediated enhancement of NOX activity. The biochemical mechanisms described here might be considered as promising principle for the development of novel approaches in tumor therapy that specifically direct membrane-associated catalase of tumor cells and thus utilize tumor cell-specific apoptosis-inducing ROS signaling. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Safety and Feasibility of Using the Second-Generation Pillcam Colon Capsule to Assess Active Colonic Crohn's Disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D'Haens, Geert; Löwenberg, Mark; Samaan, Mark A.; Franchimont, Denis; Ponsioen, Cyriel; van den Brink, Gijs R.; Fockens, Paul; Bossuyt, Peter; Amininejad, Leila; Rajamannar, Gopalan; Lensink, Elsemieke M.; van Gossum, Andre M.

    2015-01-01

    The second-generation Pillcam Colon Capsule Endoscope (PCCE-2; Given Imaging Ltd, Yoqneam, Israel) is an ingestible capsule for visualization of the colon. We performed a multicenter pilot study to assess its safety and feasibility in evaluating the severity of Crohn's disease (CD). In a prospective

  11. HTGR safety philosophy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Joksimovic, V.; Fisher, C. R. [General Atomic Co., San Diego, CA (USA)

    1981-01-15

    The accident at the Three Mile Island has focused public attention on reactor safety. Many public figures advocate a safer method of generating nuclear electricity for the second nuclear era in the U.S. The paper discusses the safety philosophy of a concept deemed suitable for this second nuclear era. The HTGR, in the course of its evolution, included safety as a significant determinant in design philosophy. This is particularly evident in the design features which provide inherent safety. Inherent features cause releases from a wide spectrum of accident conditions to be low. Engineered features supplement inherent features. The significance of HTGR safety features is quantified and order-of-magnitude type of comparisons are made with alternative ways of generating electricity.

  12. HTGR safety philosophy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joksimovic, V.; Fisher, C.R.

    1981-01-01

    The accident at the Three Mile Island has focused public attention on reactor safety. Many public figures advocate a safer method of generating nuclear electricity for the second nuclear era in the U.S. The paper discusses the safety philosophy of a concept deemed suitable for this second nuclear era. The HTGR, in the course of its evolution, included safety as a significant determinant in design philosophy. This is particularly evident in the design features which provide inherent safety. Inherent features cause releases from a wide spectrum of accident conditions to be low. Engineered features supplement inherent features. The significance of HTGR safety features is quantified and order-of-magnitude type of comparisons are made with alternative ways of generating electricity. (author)

  13. HTGR safety philosophy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joskimovic, V.; Fisher, C.R.

    1980-08-01

    The accident at the Three Mile Island has focused public attention on reactor safety. Many public figures advocate a safer method of generating nuclear electricity for the second nuclear era in the US. The paper discusses the safety philosophy of a concept deemed suitable for this second nuclear era. The HTGR, in the course of its evolution, included safety as a significant determinant in design philosophy. This is particularly evident in the design features which provide inherent safety. Inherent features cause releases from a wide spectrum of accident conditions to be low. Engineered features supplement inherent features. The significance of HTGR safety features is quantified and order-of-magnitude type of comparisons are made with alternative ways of generating electricity

  14. IEEE Std 600: IEEE trial-use standard requirements for organizations that conduct qualification testing of safety systems equipment for use in nuclear power generating stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    The purpose of this standard is to provide requirements for establishing a program for conducting qualification tests of safety systems equipment used in nuclear power generating stations. Compliance with the requirements of this standard does not assure the adequacy of the qualification tests performed. This standard applies to organizations that conduct qualification tests on equipment that has a definable safety function and is an identifiable part of a safety system for use in nuclear power generating stations. It requires a technical program, a quality assurance program, and a demonstrated ability to meet specified technical requirements. It does not apply to materials tests, production tests, normal performance testing, qualification by analysis, qualification by operating experience, or reliability tests such as diesel-generator multiple start tests. The intent of this standard is to achieve greater consistency, reliability, and reproducibility of test results and to provide adequate control of qualification testing of safety systems equipment

  15. Drug safety data mining with a tree-based scan statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulldorff, Martin; Dashevsky, Inna; Avery, Taliser R; Chan, Arnold K; Davis, Robert L; Graham, David; Platt, Richard; Andrade, Susan E; Boudreau, Denise; Gunter, Margaret J; Herrinton, Lisa J; Pawloski, Pamala A; Raebel, Marsha A; Roblin, Douglas; Brown, Jeffrey S

    2013-05-01

    In post-marketing drug safety surveillance, data mining can potentially detect rare but serious adverse events. Assessing an entire collection of drug-event pairs is traditionally performed on a predefined level of granularity. It is unknown a priori whether a drug causes a very specific or a set of related adverse events, such as mitral valve disorders, all valve disorders, or different types of heart disease. This methodological paper evaluates the tree-based scan statistic data mining method to enhance drug safety surveillance. We use a three-million-member electronic health records database from the HMO Research Network. Using the tree-based scan statistic, we assess the safety of selected antifungal and diabetes drugs, simultaneously evaluating overlapping diagnosis groups at different granularity levels, adjusting for multiple testing. Expected and observed adverse event counts were adjusted for age, sex, and health plan, producing a log likelihood ratio test statistic. Out of 732 evaluated disease groupings, 24 were statistically significant, divided among 10 non-overlapping disease categories. Five of the 10 signals are known adverse effects, four are likely due to confounding by indication, while one may warrant further investigation. The tree-based scan statistic can be successfully applied as a data mining tool in drug safety surveillance using observational data. The total number of statistical signals was modest and does not imply a causal relationship. Rather, data mining results should be used to generate candidate drug-event pairs for rigorous epidemiological studies to evaluate the individual and comparative safety profiles of drugs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Safety approach and research and development presentation for the selected systems of the International forum Generation IV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiorini, G.L.

    2003-01-01

    This paper deals with the six projects of the Generation IV forum: Sodium Fast reactor, lead fast reactor, gas fast reactor, very high temperature reactor, supercritical water reactor, molten salt reactor. The technical objectives of the reactor safety and the design/evaluation approach are discussed. (A.L.B.)

  17. Up to 40 Gb/s wireless signal generation and demodulation in 75-110 GHz band using photonic techniques

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sambaraju, R.; Zibar, Darko; Caballero Jambrina, Antonio

    2010-01-01

    Record wireless signal capacity of up to 40 Gb/s is demonstrated in the 75-110 GHz band. All-optical OFDM and photonic up-conversion are used for generation and digital coherent detection for demodulation....

  18. Signal Characteristics of Eddy Current Test for Intergranular Attack of Steam Generator Tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Myung Sik; Lee, Deok Hyun; Han, Jung Ho; Hur, Do Haeng; Cho, Se Gon; Yim, Chang Jae

    2002-01-01

    Because intergranular attack (IGA), one of the localized corrosion forms occurring on steam generator tubes, can not be fabricated by an electric discharge machining method, there are few data for the eddy current test (ECT) characteristics of IGA. In this paper, the characteristics of eddy current signals are evaluated using nonexpanded tubes with IGA defects formed in 0.1 M sodium tetrathionate solution at 40 .deg. C. The detectability and sizing accuracy of IGA were discussed in terms of the coil type and frequency of the ECT probes

  19. JSFR design progress related to development of safety design criteria for generation IV sodium-cooled fast reactors. (3) Progress of component design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enuma, Yasuhiro; Kawasaki, Nobuchika; Orita, Junichi; Eto, Masao; Miyagawa, Takayuki

    2015-01-01

    In the frame work of generation IV international forum (GIF), safety design criteria (SDC) and safety design guideline (SDG) for the generation IV sodium-cooled fast reactors have been developing in the circumstance of worldwide deployment of SFRs. JAEA, JAPC, MFBR have been investigating design study for JSFR to satisfy SDC in the feasibility study of SDG for Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). In addition to the safety measures, maintainability, reparability and manufacturability are taken into account in the JSFR design study. This paper describes the design of main components. Enlargement of the access route for the inspection devices and addition of the access routes were carried out for the reactor structure. The pump-integrated IHX (pump/IHX) was modified for the primary heat exchanger (PHX), which was installed for the decay heat removal in the IHX at the upper plenum, to be removable for improved repair and maintenance. For the steam generator (SG), protective wall tube type design is under investigation as an option with less R and D risks. (author)

  20. Regulator Loss Functions and Hierarchical Modeling for Safety Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatfield, Laura A; Baugh, Christine M; Azzone, Vanessa; Normand, Sharon-Lise T

    2017-07-01

    Regulators must act to protect the public when evidence indicates safety problems with medical devices. This requires complex tradeoffs among risks and benefits, which conventional safety surveillance methods do not incorporate. To combine explicit regulator loss functions with statistical evidence on medical device safety signals to improve decision making. In the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample, we select pediatric inpatient admissions and identify adverse medical device events (AMDEs). We fit hierarchical Bayesian models to the annual hospital-level AMDE rates, accounting for patient and hospital characteristics. These models produce expected AMDE rates (a safety target), against which we compare the observed rates in a test year to compute a safety signal. We specify a set of loss functions that quantify the costs and benefits of each action as a function of the safety signal. We integrate the loss functions over the posterior distribution of the safety signal to obtain the posterior (Bayes) risk; the preferred action has the smallest Bayes risk. Using simulation and an analysis of AMDE data, we compare our minimum-risk decisions to a conventional Z score approach for classifying safety signals. The 2 rules produced different actions for nearly half of hospitals (45%). In the simulation, decisions that minimize Bayes risk outperform Z score-based decisions, even when the loss functions or hierarchical models are misspecified. Our method is sensitive to the choice of loss functions; eliciting quantitative inputs to the loss functions from regulators is challenging. A decision-theoretic approach to acting on safety signals is potentially promising but requires careful specification of loss functions in consultation with subject matter experts.

  1. Safety evaluation report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generating Station (Docket No. 50-354). Supplement 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-08-01

    Supplement No. 2 to the Safety Evaluation Report on the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company as applicant for itself and Atlantic City Electric Company, as owners, for a license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County, New Jersey. This supplement reports the status of certain items that had not been resolved at the time of publication of the Safety Evaluation Report

  2. Comparison of higher-order multiphoton signal generation and collection at the 1700-nm window based on transmittance measurement of objective lenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Wenhui; Wang, Yuxin; Liu, Hongji; Wang, Kai; Qiu, Ping; Wang, Ke

    2018-01-01

    One benefit of excitation at the 1700-nm window is the more accessible modalities of multiphoton signal generation. It is demonstrated here that the transmittance performance of the objective lens is of vital importance for efficient higher-order multiphoton signal generation and collection excited at the 1700-nm window. Two commonly used objective lenses for multiphoton microscopy (MPM) are characterized and compared, one with regular coating and the other with customized coating for high transmittance at the 1700-nm window. Our results show that, fourth harmonic generation imaging of mouse tail tendon and 5-photon fluorescence of carbon quantum dots using the regular objective lens shows an order of magnitude signal higher than those using the customized objective lens. Besides, the regular objective lens also enables a 3-photon fluorescence imaging depth of >1600 μm in mouse brain in vivo. Our results will provide guidelines for objective lens selection for MPM at the 1700-nm window. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Arcing and rf signal generation during target irradiation by a high-energy, pulsed neutral particle beam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robiscoe, R.T.

    1988-02-01

    We present a theory describing the dynamics of arc discharges in bulk dielectric materials on board space-based vehicles. Such ''punch-through'' arcs can occur in target satellites irradiated by high-energy (250 MeV), pulsed (100 mA x 10 ms) neutral particle beams. We treat the arc as a capacitively limited avalanche current in the target dielectric material, and we find expressions for the arc duration, charge transport, currents, and discharge energy. These quantities are adjusted to be consistent with known scaling laws for the area of charge depleted by the arc. After a brief account of the statistical distribution of voltages at which the arc starts and stops, we calculate the signal strength and frequency spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation broadcast by the arc. We find that arcs from thick (/similar to/1 cm) targets can generate rf signals detectable up to 1000 km from the target, bu a radio receiver operating at frequency 80 MHz, bandwidth 100 kHz, and detection threshold -105 dBm. These thick-target arc signals are 10 to 20 dB above ambient noise at the receiver, and they provide target hit assessment if the signal spectrum can be sampled at several frequencies in the nominal range 30-200 MHz. Thin-target (/similar to/1 mm) arc signals are much weaker, but when they are detecable in conjunction with thick-target signals, target discrimination is possible by comparing the signal frequency spectra. 24 refs., 12 figs

  4. The role of the safety analysis organization in steam generators replacement and reactor vessel head replacement evaluations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choe, Whee G.; Boatwright, W.J.

    2004-01-01

    When a major component in a nuclear power plant is replaced, especially the steam generators, the plant operator is presented a rare opportunity to learn from operating experience and significantly improve the performance, reliability and robustness of the plant. In addition to the use of improved materials, improved design margins can be built into the component specification that can later be used to provide meaningful operating margins. A Safety Analysis organization that is well-integrated with other plant organizations and possesses a detailed knowledge of the plant design and licensing bases can effectively balance the wants and needs of each organization to optimize the benefits realized by the plant as a whole. Knowledge of the assumptions, limitations, and available margins, both analytical and operating, can be used to specify a replacement steam generator design that optimizes costs and operating improvements. The work scope required to support the new design can be controlled through carefully selected and evaluated restrictions in operations, development of alternate operating strategies, and imposition of appropriate limitations. The important point is that the effective Safety Analysis organization must possess both the breadth and depth of knowledge of the plant design and operations and proactively use this information to support the replacement steam generator project. (author)

  5. NRC Information No. 90-18: Potential problems with Crosby safety relief valves used on diesel generator air start receiver tanks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rossi, C.E.

    1992-01-01

    On March 31, 1989, Cooper Industries was made aware of circumstances at Perry Unit 1 that led to the Division I EDG being declared inoperable. A Crosby safety relief valve on one of the two EDG starting air receiving tanks was inadvertently hit during maintenance activities. The force of the impact caused the valve to open and blow down both air receiving tanks. The safety relief valve did not reseat until approximately 30 psig below the EDG automatic start lockout signal. On January 12, 1990, Cooper Industries learned that a similar event had occurred at Comanche Peak. On January 17, 1990, Cooper Industries submitted a 10 CFR Part 21 report on the affected safety relief valves (Crosby style JMBU and JRU safety relief valves). Although Crosby-style JMBU and JRU safety relief valves were designed to meet the requirements of Section VIII of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, they were not seismically qualified. In addition, the blowdown characteristics of the valves were not consistent with the functional requirements of the system in which they were installed. Cooper Industries has recommended replacing these valves with seismically qualified valves that have the proper blowdown reseat characteristics

  6. 30 CFR 56.14219 - Brakeman signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Brakeman signals. 56.14219 Section 56.14219... Safety Practices and Operational Procedures § 56.14219 Brakeman signals. When a train is under the direction of a brakeman and the train operator cannot clearly recognize the brakeman's signals, the train...

  7. 30 CFR 57.14219 - Brakeman signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Brakeman signals. 57.14219 Section 57.14219... Equipment Safety Practices and Operational Procedures § 57.14219 Brakeman signals. When a train is under the direction of a brakeman and the train operator cannot clearly recognize the brakeman's signals, the train...

  8. Generation and coherent detection of QPSK signal using a novel method of digital signal processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yuan; Hu, Bingliang; He, Zhen-An; Xie, Wenjia; Gao, Xiaohui

    2018-02-01

    We demonstrate an optical quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signal transmitter and an optical receiver for demodulating optical QPSK signal with homodyne detection and digital signal processing (DSP). DSP on the homodyne detection scheme is employed without locking the phase of the local oscillator (LO). In this paper, we present an extracting one-dimensional array of down-sampling method for reducing unwanted samples of constellation diagram measurement. Such a novel scheme embodies the following major advantages over the other conventional optical QPSK signal detection methods. First, this homodyne detection scheme does not need strict requirement on LO in comparison with linear optical sampling, such as having a flat spectral density and phase over the spectral support of the source under test. Second, the LabVIEW software is directly used for recovering the QPSK signal constellation without employing complex DSP circuit. Third, this scheme is applicable to multilevel modulation formats such as M-ary PSK and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or higher speed signals by making minor changes.

  9. Nuclear safety in Slovak Republic. Status of safety improvements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toth, A.

    1999-01-01

    Status of the safety improvements at Bohunice V-1 units concerning WWER-440/V-230 design upgrading were as follows: supplementing of steam generator super-emergency feed water system; higher capacity of emergency core cooling system; supplementing of automatic links between primary and secondary circuit systems; higher level of secondary system automation. The goal of the modernization program for Bohunice V-1 units WWER-440/V-230 was to increase nuclear safety to the level of the proposals and IAEA recommendations and to reach probability goals of the reactor concerning active zone damage, leak of radioactive materials, failures of safety systems and damage shields. Upgrading program for Mochovce NPP - WWER-440/V-213 is concerned with improving the integrity of the reactor pressure vessel, steam generators 'leak before break' methods applied for the NPP, instrumentation and control of safety systems, diagnostic systems, replacement of in-core monitoring system, emergency analyses, pressurizers safety relief valves, hydrogen removal system, seismic evaluations, non-destructive testing, fire protection. Implementation of quality assurance has a special role in improvement of operational safety activities as well as safety management and safety culture, radiation protection, decommissioning and waste management and training. The Year 2000 problem is mentioned as well

  10. Dam safety at Seven Sisters Generating Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carson, R. W.; Gupta, R. C.

    1996-01-01

    A safety surveillance program for all hydraulic structures in Manitoba was first implemented in 1979, and updated in 1988. This contribution describes the current status of the program, and the nature of the issues that the program was designed to address. The Seven Sisters Station's dam on the Winnipeg River, about 90 km northeast of the City of Winnipeg, was used as an example. Extensive reviews of flood risks and downstream inundation potential at Seven Sisters' revealed a number of deficiencies; these findings will be incorporated into a corporate plan of overall remediation. Updating the program will also include efforts to ensure adherence to national dam safety guidelines. 5 figs

  11. The passive safety systems of the Swr 1000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neumann, D.

    2001-01-01

    In recent years, a new boiling water reactor (BWR) plant called the SWR 1000 has been developed by Siemens on behalf of Germany's electric utilities. This new plant design concept incorporates the wide range of operating experience gained with German BWRs. The main objective behind developing the SWR 1000 was to design a plant with a rated electric output of approximately 1000 MW which would not only have a lower capital cost and lower power generating costs but would also provide a much higher level of nuclear safety compared to plants currently in operation. This safety-related goal has been met through, for example, the use of passive safety equipment. Passive systems make a significant contribution towards increasing the over-all level of plant safety due to the way in which they operate. They function solely accord-ing to basic laws of nature, such as gravity, and perform their designated functions with-out any need for electric power or other sources of external energy, or signals from instrumentation and control (I and C) equipment. The passive safety systems have been designed such that design basis accidents can be controlled using just these systems alone. However, the design concept of the SWR 1000 is nevertheless still based on the provision of active safety systems in addition to passive systems. (author)

  12. Generating a city's first report on bicyclist safety: lessons from the field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, Dahianna S; Hemenway, David

    2017-08-03

    For cities aiming to create a useful surveillance system for bicycle injuries, a common challenge is that city crash reporting is scattered, faulty or non-existent. We document some of the lessons we learnt in helping the city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, do the following: (1) Create a prototype for a comprehensive police crash data set (2) Produce the city's first cyclist safety report, (3) Make crash data available to the public and (4) Generate policy recommendations for both specific roadside improvements and for sustainable changes to the police department's crash reporting database. We provided research and technical assistance to government partners to generate the report and used participant-observation field notes to generate the list of learnt lessons. After the release of the report, the city implemented immediate activities aimed at making an effort to prevent injuries, including: (1) Furnishing over 1800 taxis with stickers to prevent 'dooring,' (2) Adding pavement markings at trolley tracks to decrease the likelihood that cyclists would fall from getting their wheels lodged in the tracks, (3) Conducting targeted enforcement of traffic laws and (4) Working directly with state and federal agencies to fund a more comprehensive surveillance system. As of January of 2017, nearly 4 years after its public release, 19 170 users have viewed the crash data set 23 247 times. Some of the lessons include finding and using committed champions, prioritising the use of existing data, creating opportunities to bridge divisions between stakeholders, partnering with local universities for assistance with advanced analytics and using deliverables, such as a cyclist safety report, to advocate for sustainability. Providing an initial report on bicycle crashes in Boston served to identify specific problems, showed the value of a data system, and provided a blueprint for an improved data system. Building a useful surveillance system depends in no small part on the

  13. High frequency seismic signal generated by landslides on complex topographies: from point source to spatially distributed sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangeney, A.; Kuehnert, J.; Capdeville, Y.; Durand, V.; Stutzmann, E.; Kone, E. H.; Sethi, S.

    2017-12-01

    During their flow along the topography, landslides generate seismic waves in a wide frequency range. These so called landquakes can be recorded at very large distances (a few hundreds of km for large landslides). The recorded signals depend on the landslide seismic source and the seismic wave propagation. If the wave propagation is well understood, the seismic signals can be inverted for the seismic source and thus can be used to get information on the landslide properties and dynamics. Analysis and modeling of long period seismic signals (10-150s) have helped in this way to discriminate between different landslide scenarios and to constrain rheological parameters (e.g. Favreau et al., 2010). This was possible as topography poorly affects wave propagation at these long periods and the landslide seismic source can be approximated as a point source. In the near-field and at higher frequencies (> 1 Hz) the spatial extent of the source has to be taken into account and the influence of the topography on the recorded seismic signal should be quantified in order to extract information on the landslide properties and dynamics. The characteristic signature of distributed sources and varying topographies is studied as a function of frequency and recording distance.The time dependent spatial distribution of the forces applied to the ground by the landslide are obtained using granular flow numerical modeling on 3D topography. The generated seismic waves are simulated using the spectral element method. The simulated seismic signal is compared to observed seismic data from rockfalls at the Dolomieu Crater of Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion).Favreau, P., Mangeney, A., Lucas, A., Crosta, G., and Bouchut, F. (2010). Numerical modeling of landquakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 37(15):1-5.

  14. Technical evaluation of the electrical, instrumentation, and control design aspects of the override of containment purge valve isolation and other engineered safety feature signals for the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hackett, D.B.

    1980-01-01

    This report documents the technical evaluation of the electrical, instrumentation, and control design aspects of the override of containment purge valve isolation and other engineered safety feature signals for the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant. The review criteria are based on IEEE Std-279-1971 requirements for the safety signals to all purge and ventilation isolation valves. This report is supplied as part of the Selected Electrical, Instrumentation, and Control Systems Issues Program being conducted for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

  15. Method for protecting an electric generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuehnle, Barry W.; Roberts, Jeffrey B.; Folkers, Ralph W.

    2008-11-18

    A method for protecting an electrical generator which includes providing an electrical generator which is normally synchronously operated with an electrical power grid; providing a synchronizing signal from the electrical generator; establishing a reference signal; and electrically isolating the electrical generator from the electrical power grid if the synchronizing signal is not in phase with the reference signal.

  16. Status of the design and safety project for the sodium-cooled fast reactor as a generation IV nuclear energy system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niwa, Hajime; Fiorini, Gian-Luigi; Sim, Yoon-Sub; Lennox, Tom; Cahalan, James E.

    2005-01-01

    The Design and Safety Project Management Board (DSPMB) was established under the Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) System Steering Committee (SSC) in the Generation IV international Forum. The DSPMB will promote collaborative R and D activities on reactor core design, and safety assessment for candidate systems, and also integrate these results together with those from other PMBs such as advanced fuel and component to a whole fast reactor system in order to develop high performance systems that will satisfy the goals of Generation IV nuclear energy systems. The DSPMB has formulated the present R and D schedules for this purpose. Two SFR concepts were proposed: a loop-type system with primarily a MOX fuel core and a pool-type system with a metal fuel core. Study of innovative systems and their evaluation will also be included. The safety project will cover both the safety assessment of the design and the preparation of the methods/tools to be used for the assessment. After a rather short viability phase, the project will move to the performance phase for development of performance data and design optimization of conceptual designs. This paper describes the schedules, work packages and tasks for the collaborative studies of the member countries. (author)

  17. Logarithmic-function generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caron, P. R.

    1975-01-01

    Solid-state logarithmic-function generator is compact and provides improved accuracy. Generator includes a stable multivibrator feeding into RC circuit. Resulting exponentially decaying voltage is compared with input signal. Generator output is proportional to time required for exponential voltage to decay from preset reference level to level of input signal.

  18. Monitoring product safety in the postmarketing environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharrar, Robert G; Dieck, Gretchen S

    2013-10-01

    The safety profile of a medicinal product may change in the postmarketing environment. Safety issues not identified in clinical development may be seen and need to be evaluated. Methods of evaluating spontaneous adverse experience reports and identifying new safety risks include a review of individual reports, a review of a frequency distribution of a list of the adverse experiences, the development and analysis of a case series, and various ways of examining the database for signals of disproportionality, which may suggest a possible association. Regulatory agencies monitor product safety through a variety of mechanisms including signal detection of the adverse experience safety reports in databases and by requiring and monitoring risk management plans, periodic safety update reports and postauthorization safety studies. The United States Food and Drug Administration is working with public, academic and private entities to develop methods for using large electronic databases to actively monitor product safety. Important identified risks will have to be evaluated through observational studies and registries.

  19. The properties of ULF/VLF signals generated by the SURA facility without ionospheric currents modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotik, D. S.; Raybov, A. V.; Ermakova, E. N.

    2012-12-01

    During the last three years the comprehensive study of ionospheric generation of the artificial signals in ULF/VLF band was carried out at SURA facility. This research was stimulated by successive HAARP experiments on detection the low frequency signals genreated due the action of the ponderomotive forces. Two experimental campaigns under different ionospheric, geomagnetic and facility operation mode conditions was undertaken every year from 2010 to 2012. Here we are summarizing the main features of the artificial ULF/VLF signals observed in vicinity the SURA site. The signals in the 2-20 Hz band were observed in the small area around the facility with the radius approximately 15 km. It was not signal detection at the 30 km distance. The maximum of the amplitude was detected in the nearest receiving point about 3 km away from the transmitting array. The amplitude increased about 3 times when the beam was inclined on16 degrees to the south so the footprint of the geomagnetic field line comes close to the point of observation. The ULF signals increased slightly when the SURA operating frequency overlaps the critical foF2 frequency. As a rule the daytime signals are smaller then nighttime one. No any correlation was observed with geomagnetic disturbances. The time delay of the ionospheric ULF signals measured by phase method was estimated as 300-400 ms. Polarization of the ULF signals has a pronounced elliptical character. Sometimes it was linear. The part of measurements in June 2012 was coincide with magnetic storm (June 16-18, Kp=6). It was observed broadening of the signal line at frequencies of 11 and 17 Hz up to 0.2 Hz at the recovery stage of the storm at June 18 (see the figure). This fact can be interpreted as the result of the signal interaction with the radiation belt protons appeared over there during the storm time. In 2012 campaigns it was firstly observed at SURA signals on frequencies of several kilohertz at nightime which could not be explained by

  20. JSFR design progress related to development of safety design criteria for Generation IV sodium-cooled fast reactors. (1) Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamide, Hideki; Ando, Masato; Ito, Takaya

    2015-01-01

    JAEA, JAPC and MFBR have been conducting design study for the Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (JSFR), which is a design concept aiming at future commercial use as sustainable electric power source. As the result of the design study and R and D activity related the innovative technologies incorporated in the design in the Fast Reactor Cycle Technology Development (FaCT) project up to 2010, basic design concept of JSFR was established and its development process to the commercialization including construction and operation of a demonstration version of JSFR was outlined. JSFR is a looptype next generation sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), which is aiming at achieving development targets of Generation IV reactors concerning sustainability, safety and reliability, economics and proliferation resistance and physical protection by introducing the innovative technologies such as shortened high-chromium steel piping. The output power is assumed for the design study as 1,500 MWe for the commercial version and 750 MWe for the demonstration version. In FaCT phase I up to 2010, in order to evaluate feasibility to achieve the development targets, the design study has been conducted on the main components and systems. Since 2011, in order to contribute to the development of safety design criteria (SDC) and safety design guideline (SDG), which include the lessons learned from the TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants accident, in the frame work of Generation IV International Forum (GIF), the design study is focusing on the design measures against severe external events such as earthquake and tsunami. At the same time, the design study is going into detail and paying much attention to the maintenance and repair to make surer its feasibility. This paper summarizes the design concept of the demonstration version of JSFR in which progress of design work was incorporated for the safety issues on SDC and SDG of a SFR. (author)

  1. Research on Driver Behavior in Yellow Interval at Signalized Intersections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhaosheng Yang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Vehicles are often caught in dilemma zone when they approach signalized intersections in yellow interval. The existence of dilemma zone which is significantly influenced by driver behavior seriously affects the efficiency and safety of intersections. This paper proposes the driver behavior models in yellow interval by logistic regression and fuzzy decision tree modeling, respectively, based on camera image data. Vehicle’s speed and distance to stop line are considered in logistic regression model, which also brings in a dummy variable to describe installation of countdown timer display. Fuzzy decision tree model is generated by FID3 algorithm whose heuristic information is fuzzy information entropy based on membership functions. This paper concludes that fuzzy decision tree is more accurate to describe driver behavior at signalized intersection than logistic regression model.

  2. Water safety near hydro generating stations: pictographic warning signs. Phase 2 of CEA No. 9110 G-31

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-06-01

    There has been concern about the effectiveness of safety signage for persons using lands and waters near hydro-electric generating plants for recreational purposes. Safety signs showing animated cartoon figures were evaluated for comprehension and acceptance. Groups evaluating the effectiveness of signs included youth, English as a second language groups,, literacy-impaired, recent immigrant and native groups. Approximately ten different hazardous or potentially dangerous scenarios were presented. For most of the scenarios, at least 75 percent comprehension of signs without words was achieved. For some signs without words, comprehension levels were less satisfactory, despite improvements in graphics. Guidelines and recommendations for developing and using the signs were included in the report

  3. Guidelines for Safety Evaluation of a Potential for PWR Steam Generator Tube Failure due to Fluid elastic Instability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jo, Jong Chull; Do, Kyu Sik; Sheen, Cheol [Nuclear System Evaluation Dept., Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-05-15

    It was found that both SG tube rupture events occurred at North Anna Unit 1 in 1987 and at Mihama Unit 2 in 1991 were caused by a high cycle fatigue due to fluid elastic instability. Therefore, with regard to nuclear safety it is important to design the SG properly in a conservative manner so that the potential for SG U-tube failures due to fluid elastic instability can be minimized. This article provides guidelines for assessing the potential for SG U-tube damage due to fluid elastic instability. This article described guidelines for safety evaluation of a potential for PWR steam generator tube failure due to fluid elastic instability. The guidelines address the requirements for realistically performing the SG thermal-hydraulic analysis and the modal analysis of tubes as well as the criteria for conservatively determining the added mass, the damping ratio and the fluid elastic instability coefficient. The guidelines can be used to predict the potential SG tubes which are susceptible to failure due to fluid elastic instability at operating nuclear power plants and also to evaluate the safety and structural integrity of new SG designs at the licensing review stage. Failure of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) steam generator (SG) tube leads to a leakage of contaminated primary coolant to the secondary system, which has serious safety implications such as the potential for direct release of radioactive fission products to the environment and the loss of coolant. Excessive tube vibration excited by dynamic forces of internal or external fluid flow is called flow-induced vibration (FIV). Among the FIV mechanisms, the so-called fluid elastic instability of SG tubes in cross flow is the most important safety issue in the design of SGs because it may cause severe tube failure in a very short time.

  4. Low-cost safety enhancements for stop-controlled and signalized intersections

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-05-01

    The purpose of this document is to present information on suggested effective, low-cost intersection countermeasures developed using intersection safety research results and input from an intersection safety expert panel. These low-cost countermeasur...

  5. Pediatric Drug Safety Signal Detection: A New Drug–Event Reference Set for Performance Testing of Data-Mining Methods and Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O.U. Osokogu (Osemeke); F. Fregonese (Federica); C. Ferrajolo (Carmen); K.M.C. Verhamme (Katia); S. de Bie (Sandra); G. Jong (Geert’t); M. Catapano (Mariana); D. Weibel (Daniel); F. Kaguelidou (Florentia); W.M. Bramer (Wichor); Y. Hsia (Yingfen); I. Wong (Ian); M. Gazarian (Madlen); J. Bonhoeffer (Jan); M.C.J.M. Sturkenboom (Miriam)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractBackground: Better evidence regarding drug safety in the pediatric population might be generated from existing data sources such as spontaneous reporting systems and electronic healthcare records. The Global Research in Paediatrics (GRiP)–Network of Excellence aims to develop

  6. Safety analysis program for steam generators replacement and power uprate at Tihange 2 nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delhaye, X.; Charlier, A.; Damas, Ph.; Druenne, H.; Mandy, C.; Parmentier, F.; Pirson, J.; Zhang, J.

    2002-01-01

    The Belgian Tihange 2 nuclear power plant went into commercial operation in 1983 producing a thermal power of 2785 MW. Since the commissioning of the plant the steam generators U-tubes have been affected by primary stress corrosion cracking. In order to avoid further degradation of the performance and an increase in repair costs, Electrabel, the owner of the plant, decided in 1997 to replace the 3 steam generators. This decision was supported by the feasibility study performed by Tractebel Energy Engineering which demonstrated that an increase of 10% of the initial power together with a fuel cycle length of 18 months was achieved. Tractebel Energy Engineering was entrusted by Electrabel as the owner's engineer to manage the project. This paper presents the role of Tractebel Energy Engineering in this project and the safety analysis program necessary to justify the new operation point and the fuel cycle extension to 18 months re-analysis of FSAR chapter 15 accidents and verification of the capacity of the safety and auxiliary systems. The FSAR chapter 15 accidents were reanalyzed jointly by Framatome and Tractebel Energy Engineering while the systems verifications were carried out by Tractebel Energy Engineering. (author)

  7. Stacouf: A new system for automatic processing of eddy current signal from steam generator testing of PWR power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ducreux, J.; Eyrolles, P.; Meylogan, T.

    1990-01-01

    A new system called STACOUF will be soon industrialized. The aim is to improve on-site signal processing for eddy testing of steam generators. Testing time, quality and productivity will be improved [fr

  8. Study on characteristics of EMR signals induced from fracture of rock samples and their application in rockburst prediction in copper mine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xiaofei; Wang, Enyuan

    2018-06-01

    A rockburst is a dynamic disaster that occurs during underground excavation or mining which has been a serious threat to safety. Rockburst prediction and control are as important as any other underground engineering in deep mines. For this paper, we tested electromagnetic radiation (EMR) signals generated during the deformation and fracture of rock samples from a copper mine under uniaxial compression, tension, and cycle-loading experiments, analyzed the changes in the EMR intensity, pulse number, and frequency corresponding to the loading, and a high correlation between these EMR parameters and the applied loading was observed. EMR apparently reflects the deformation and fracture status to the loaded rock. Based on this experimental work, we invented the KBD5-type EMR monitor and used it to test EMR signals generated in the rock surrounding the Hongtoushan copper mine. From the test results, it is determined the responding characteristics of EMR signals generated by changes in mine-generated stresses and stress concentrations and it is proposed that this EMR monitoring method can be used to provide early warning for rockbursts.

  9. Photonic generation of ultra-wideband signals by direct current modulation on SOA section of an SOA-integrated SGDBR laser.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Hui; Yu, Yonglin; Shu, Tan; Huang, Dexiu; Jiang, Shan; Barry, Liam P

    2010-03-29

    Photonic ultra-wideband (UWB) pulses are generated by direct current modulation of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) section of an SOA-integrated sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector (SGDBR) laser. Modulation responses of the SOA section of the laser are first simulated with a microwave equivalent circuit model. Simulated results show a resonance behavior indicating the possibility to generate UWB signals with complex shapes in the time domain. The UWB pulse generation is then experimentally demonstrated for different selected wavelength channels with an SOA-integrated SGDBR laser.

  10. Digital Generation of Noise-Signals with Arbitrary Constant or Time-Varying Spectra (A noise generation software package and its application)

    CERN Document Server

    Tückmantel, Joachim

    2008-01-01

    Artificial creation of arbitrary noise signals is used in accelerator physics to reproduce a measured perturbation spectrum for simulations but also to generate real-time shaped noise spectra for controlled emittance blow-up giving tailored properties to the final bunch shape. It is demonstrated here how one can produce numerically what is, for all practical purposes, an unlimited quantity of non-periodic noise data having any predefined spectral density. This spectral density may be constant or varying with time. The noise output never repeats and has excellent statistical properties, important for very long-term applications. It is difficult to obtain such flexibility and spectral cleanliness using analogue techniques. This algorithm was applied both in computer simulations of bunch behaviour in the presence of RF noise in the PS, SPS and LHC and also to generate real-time noise, tracking the synchrotron frequency change during the energy ramp of the SPS and producing controlled longitudinal emittance blow-...

  11. Regulator of G-protein signaling 18 controls both platelet generation and function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathalie Delesque-Touchard

    Full Text Available RGS18 is a myeloerythroid lineage-specific regulator of G-protein signaling, highly expressed in megakaryocytes (MKs and platelets. In the present study, we describe the first generation of a RGS18 knockout mouse model (RGS18-/-. Interesting phenotypic differences between RGS18-/- and wild-type (WT mice were identified, and show that RGS18 plays a significant role in both platelet generation and function. RGS18 deficiency produced a gain of function phenotype in platelets. In resting platelets, the level of CD62P expression was increased in RGS18-/- mice. This increase correlated with a higher level of plasmatic serotonin concentration. RGS18-/- platelets displayed a higher sensitivity to activation in vitro. RGS18 deficiency markedly increased thrombus formation in vivo. In addition, RGS18-/- mice presented a mild thrombocytopenia, accompanied with a marked deficit in MK number in the bone marrow. Analysis of MK maturation in vitro and in vivo revealed a defective megakaryopoiesis in RGS18-/- mice, with a lower bone marrow content of only the most committed MK precursors. Finally, RGS18 deficiency was correlated to a defect of platelet recovery in vivo under acute conditions of thrombocytopenia. Thus, we highlight a role for RGS18 in platelet generation and function, and provide additional insights into the physiology of RGS18.

  12. Effect of the surface roughness on the seismic signal generated by a single rock impact: insight from laboratory experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachelet, Vincent; Mangeney, Anne; de Rosny, Julien; Toussaint, Renaud

    2016-04-01

    The seismic signal generated by rockfalls, landslides or avalanches is a unique tool to detect, characterize and monitor gravitational flow activity, with strong implication in terms of natural hazard monitoring. Indeed, as natural flows travel down the slope, they apply stresses on the ground, generating seismic waves in a wide frequency band. Our ultimate objective is to relate the granular flow properties to the generated signals that result from the different physical processes involved. We investigate here the more simple process: the impact of a single bead on a rough surface. Farin et al. [2015] have already shown theoretically and experimentally the existence of a link between the properties of an impacting bead (mass and velocity) on smooth surfaces, and the emitted signal (radiated elastic energy and mean frequency). This demonstrates that the single impactor properties can be deduced from the form of the emitted signal. We extend this work here by investigating the impact of single beads and gravels on rough and erodible surfaces. Experimentally, we drop glass and steel beads of diameters from 2 mm to 10 mm on a PMMA plate. The roughness of this last is obtained by gluing 3mm-diameter glass beads on one of its face. Free beads have been also added to get erodible beds. We track the dropped impactor motion, times between impacts and the generated acoustic waves using two fast cameras and 8 accelerometers. Cameras are used in addition to estimate the impactor rotation. We investigate the energy balance during the impact process, especially how the energy restitution varies as a function of the energy lost through acoustic waves. From these experiments, we clearly observe that even if more dissipative processes are involved (friction, grain reorganization, etc.), the single bead scaling laws obtained on smooth surfaces remain valid. A main result of this work is to quantify the fluctuations of the characteristic quantities such as the bounce angle, the

  13. Auditable Safety Analysis and Final Hazard Classification for the 105-N Reactor Zone and 109-N Steam Generator Zone Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kloster, G.L.

    1998-07-01

    This document is a graded auditable safety analysis (ASA) and final hazard classification (FHC) for the Reactor/Steam Generator Zone Segment. The Reactor/Steam Generator Zone Segment, part of the N Reactor Complex, that is also known as the Reactor Building and Steam Generator Cells. The installation of the modifications described within to support surveillance and maintenance activities are to be completed by July 1, 1999. The surveillance and maintenance activities addressed within are assumed to continue for the next 15- 20 years, until the initiation of facility D ampersand D (i.e., Interim Safe Storage). The graded ASA in this document is in accordance with EDPI-4.30-01, Rev. 1, Safety Analysis Documentation, (BHI-DE-1) and is consistent with guidance provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. This ASA describes the hazards within the facility and evaluates the adequacy of the measures taken to reduce, control, or mitigate the identified hazards. This document also serves as the FHC for the Reactor/Steam Generator Zone Segment. This FHC is developed through the use of bounding accident analyses that envelope the potential exposures to personnel

  14. Expert system for the automatic analysis of the Eddy current signals from the monitoring of vapor generators of a PWR type reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benoist, P.; David, B.; Pigeon, M.

    1990-01-01

    An expert system for the automatic analysis of signals from Eddy currents is presented. The system was developed in order to detect and analyse the defects which may exist in vapor generators. The extraction of a signal from a high level background noise is possible. The organization of the work during the system's development, the results of the technique for the extraction of the signal from the background noise, and an example concerning the interpretation of the signal from a defect are presented [fr

  15. A Distributed Control Strategy Based on DC Bus Signaling for Modular Photovoltaic Generation Systems With Battery Energy Storage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sun, Kai; Zhang, Li; Xing, Yan

    2011-01-01

    on improved dc bus signaling is proposed for a modular photovoltaic (PV) generation system with battery energy storage elements. In this paper, the modular PV generation system is composed of three modular dc/dc converters for PV arrays, two grid-connected dc/ac converters, and one dc/dc converter for battery......, grid-connected inversion, and islanding with constant voltage (CV) generation.The power balance of the system under extreme conditions such as the islanding operation with a full-charged battery is taken into account in this control strategy. The dc bus voltage level is employed as an information......Modular generation system, which consists of modular power conditioning converters, is an effective solution to integrate renewable energy sources with conventional utility grid to improve reliability and efficiency, especially for photovoltaic generation. A distributed control strategy based...

  16. Signal Processing for the Impedance Measurement on an Electrochemical Generator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    El-Hassane AGLZIM

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Improving the life time of batteries or fuel cells requires the optimization of components such as membranes and electrodes and enhancement of the flow of gases [1], [2]. These goals could be reached by using a real time measurement on loaded generator. The impedance spectroscopy is a new way that was recently investigated. In this paper, we present an electronic measurement instrumentation developed in our laboratory to measure and plot the impedance of a loaded electrochemical generator like batteries and fuel cells. Impedance measures were done according to variations of the frequency in a larger band than what is usually used. The electronic instrumentation is controlled by Hpvee® software which allows us to plot the Nyquist graph of the electrochemical generator impedance. The theoretical results obtained in simulation under Pspice® confirm the choice of the method and its advantage. For safety reasons, the experimental preliminary tests were done on a 12 V vehicle battery, having an input current of 330 A and a capacity of 40 Ah and are now extended to a fuel cell. The results were plotted at various nominal voltages of the battery (12.7 V, 10 V, 8 V and 5 V and with two imposed currents (0.6 A and 4 A. The Nyquist diagram resulting from the experimental data enable us to show an influence of the load of the battery on its internal impedance. The similitude in the graph form and in order of magnitude of the values obtained (both theoretical and practical enables us to validate our electronic measurement instrumentation. Different sensors (temperature, pressure were placed around the device under test (DUT. These influence parameters were permanently recorded. Results presented here concern a classic loaded 12 V vehicle battery. The Nyquist diagram resulting from the experimental data confirms the influence of the load of the DUT on its internal impedance.

  17. Overview of Generation IV (Gen IV) Reactor Designs - Safety and Radiological Protection Considerations. Published on September 24, 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Couturier, Jean; Bruna, Giovanni; Baudrand, Olivier; Blanc, Daniel; Ivanov, Evgeny; Bonneville, Herve; Clement, Bernard; Kissane, Martin; Meignen, Renaud; Monhardt, Daniel; Nicaise, Gregory; Bourgois, Thierry; Hache, Georges

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this document is to provide an updated overview of specific safety and radiological protection issues for all the reactor concepts adopted by the GIF (Generation IV International Forum), independent of their advantages or disadvantages in terms of resource optimization or long-lived-waste reduction. In particular, this new document attempts to bring out the advantages and disadvantages of each concept in terms of safety, taking into account the Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association (WENRA) statement concerning safety objectives for new nuclear power plants. Using an identical framework for each reactor concept (sodium-cooled fast reactors or SFR, high / very-high temperature helium-cooled reactors of V/HTR, gas-cooled fast reactors or GFR, lead-or lead / bismuth-cooled fast reactors or LFR, molten salt reactors or MSR, and supercritical-water-cooled reactors or SCWR), this summary report provides some general conclusions regarding their safety and radiological protection issues, inspired by WENRA's safety objectives and on the basis of available information. Initial lessons drawn from the events at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011 have also been taken into account in IRSN's analysis of each reactor concept

  18. Selenide isotope generator for the Galileo Mission: safety test plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-01-01

    The intent of this safety test plan is to outline particular kinds of safety tests designed to produce information which would be useful in the safety analysis process. The program deals primarily with the response of the RTG to accident environments; accordingly two criteria were established: (1) safety tests should be performed for environments which are the most critical in terms of risk contribution; and (2) tests should be formulated to determine failure conditions for critical heat source components rather than observe heat source response in reference accident environments. To satisfy criterion 1. results of a recent safety study were used to rank various accidents in terms of expected source terms. Six kinds of tests were then proposed which would provide information meeting the second criterion

  19. Nuclear safety - Topical issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-01-01

    The following topical issues related to nuclear safety are discussed: steam generators; maintenance strategies; control rod drive nozzle cracks; core shrouds cracks; sump strainer blockage; fire protection; computer software important for safety; safety during shutdown; operational safety experience; external hazards and other site related issues. 5 figs, 5 tabs

  20. Safety Arguments for Next Generation, Location Aware Computing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, C. W.; Holloway, C. M.

    2010-01-01

    Concerns over accuracy, availability, integrity, and continuity have limited the integration of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) for safety-critical applications. More recent augmentation systems, such as the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and the North American Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) have begun to address these concerns. Augmentation architectures build on the existing GPS/GLONASS infrastructures to support location based services in Safety of Life (SoL) applications. Much of the technical development has been directed by air traffic management requirements, in anticipation of the more extensive support to be offered by GPS III and Galileo. WAAS has already been approved to provide vertical guidance for aviation applications. During the next twelve months, the full certification of EGNOS for SoL applications is expected. This paper discusses similarities and differences between the safety assessment techniques used in Europe and North America.

  1. Review on signal-by-wire and power-by-wire actuation for more electric aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Charles MARÉ

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The huge and rapid progress in electric drives offers new opportunities to improve the performances of aircraft at all levels: fuel burn, environmental footprint, safety, integration and production, serviceability, and maintainability. Actuation for safety-critical applications like flight-controls, landing gears, and even engines is one of the major consumers of non-propulsive power. Conventional actuation with centralized hydraulic power generation and distribution and control of power by throttling has been well established for decades, but offers a limited potential of evolution. In this context, electric drives become more and more attractive to remove the natural drawbacks of conventional actuation and to offer new opportunities for improving performance. This paper takes the stock, at both the signal and power levels, of the evolution of actuation for safety-critical applications in aerospace. It focuses on the recent advances and the remaining challenges to be taken toward full electrical actuation for commercial and military aircraft, helicopters, and launchers. It logically starts by emphasizing the specificity of safety-critical actuation for aerospace. The following section addresses in details the evolution of aerospace actuation from mechanically-signaled and hydraulically-supplied to all electric, with special emphasis on research and development programs and on solutions entered into service. Finally, the last section reviews the challenges to be taken to generalize the use of all-electric actuators for future aircraft programs.

  2. Safety Evaluation Report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generating Station (Docket No. 50-354). Supplement No. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-03-01

    Supplement No. 1 to the Safety Evaluation Report on the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company as applicant for itself and Atlantic City Electric Company, as owners, for a license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County, New Jersey. This supplement reports the status of certain items that had not been resolved at the time of publication of the Safety Evaluation Report

  3. Graphical symbols -- Safety colours and safety signs -- Part 1: Design principles for safety signs in workplaces and public areas

    CERN Document Server

    International Organization for Standardization. Geneva

    2002-01-01

    This International Standard establishes the safety identification colours and design principles for safety signs to be used in workplaces and in public areas for the purpose of accident prevention, fire protection, health hazard information and emergency evacuation. It also establishes the basic principles to be applied when developing standards containing safety signs. This part of ISO 3864 is applicable to workplaces and all locations and all sectors where safety-related questions may be posed. However, it is not applicable to the signalling used for guiding rail, road, river, maritime and air traffic and, generally speaking, to those sectors subject to a regulation which may differ.

  4. Application of FMEA method in railway signalling projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szmel Dariusz

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the FMEA method application, which is relevant in verification of design of two separated railway signalling systems. The efficiency of the method at the stage of the design was discussed. The method was identified as an important element of safety management process and as safety analysis method, which is included in the Safety Case and is applied for the sake of safety arguments and its assessment. Safety process management comprises several phases and appropriate actions, linked with each other in the way to create safety life cycle consistent with system life cycle. The safety case is a set of documents demonstrating that the product is compliant with defined safety requirements including analysis that indicates the correctness of the design and the correct reaction of the system to the failures, with appropriate and requested fail-safe reaction. It is necessary that railway signalling system should fulfil SIL4 requirement and remain safe in case of occurrence any kind of single failure of the equipment considered as possible.

  5. Monitoring circuit for reactor safety systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keefe, Donald J.

    1976-01-01

    The ratio between the output signals of a pair of reactor safety channels is monitored. When ratio falls outside of a predetermined range, it indicates that one or more of the safety channels has malfunctioned.

  6. BDNF-induced nitric oxide signals in cultured rat hippocampal neurons: time course, mechanism of generation, and effect on neurotrophin secretion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolarow, Richard; Kuhlmann, Christoph R W; Munsch, Thomas; Zehendner, Christoph; Brigadski, Tanja; Luhmann, Heiko J; Lessmann, Volkmar

    2014-01-01

    BDNF and nitric oxide signaling both contribute to plasticity at glutamatergic synapses. However, the role of combined signaling of both pathways at the same synapse is largely unknown. Using NO imaging with diaminofluoresceine in cultured hippocampal neurons we analyzed the time course of neurotrophin-induced NO signals. Application of exogenous BDNF, NT-4, and NT-3 (but not NGF) induced NO signals in the soma and in proximal dendrites of hippocampal neurons that were sensitive to NO synthase activity, TrkB signaling, and intracellular calcium elevation. The effect of NO signaling on neurotrophin secretion was analyzed in BDNF-GFP, and NT-3-GFP transfected hippocampal neurons. Exogenous application of the NO donor sodium-nitroprusside markedly inhibited neurotrophin secretion. However, endogenously generated NO in response to depolarization and neurotrophin stimulation, both did not result in a negative feedback on neurotrophin secretion. These results suggest that a negative feedback of NO signaling on synaptic secretion of neurotrophins operates only at high intracellular levels of nitric oxide that are under physiological conditions not reached by depolarization or BDNF signaling.

  7. The significance of thermohydraulic conditions for the corrosion safety of PWR steam generators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gulich, J.F.

    1975-04-01

    In several PWR nuclear power plants leakages have occurred in the steam generator which were caused by localised corrosion attack. While the attention of manufacturers and operators is focused on the influences of feedwater chemistry and tube material, the present work highlights the fact that the damage always occurred in those places where flow regimed are poorly defined. The investigation leads to the result that local dry out of the heating surface can be contributing cause of damage. A method is indicated for estimating the thermohydraulic conditions in the inflow region over the tube plate and measures to improve corrosion safety are discussed. (author)

  8. Safety objectives for next generation reactors: proving their achievement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanguy, P.Y.

    1996-01-01

    Assuming that there is a consensus between regulatory bodies and nuclear operating organizations on safety objectives for future plants, how are we going to demonstrate that they have been achieved, with a reasonable certainty? Right from the beginning, I would like to underline the importance of convincing the public that high level safety objectives will be effectively achieved in future nuclear power plants. The mere fulfillment of administrative requirements might not be sufficient to obtain public acceptance. One has to take into account the changes that have occurred in the public preception of nuclear risks in the wake of the Chernobyl accident. Today public opinion rules out the possibility not only that such a catastrophic accident could recur, but also that any accident with detrimental health consequences off-site could occur. The nuclear industry has to reflect this concern in its safety demonstration, independently of proving the achievement of technical safety goals. The public opinion issue will be readdressed at the end of this paper. (orig.)

  9. Signal validation of SPDS variables for Westinghouse and Combustion Engineering plants - an EPRI project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1987-01-01

    Signal validation in the context of this project is the process of combining information from multiple plant sensors to produce highly reliable information about plant conditions. High information reliability is achieved by the use of redundant sources of information and by the inherent detection, identification, and isolation of faulty signals. The signal validation methodology that has been developed in previous EPRI-sponsored projects has been enhanced and applied toward validation of critical safety-related SPDS signals in the Northeast Utilities Millstone 3 Westinghouse PWR plant and the Millstone 2 Combustion Engineering PWR plant. The designs were implemented in FORTRAN software and tested off-line using recorded plant sensor data, RETRAN-generated simulation data, and data to exercise software logic branches and the integration of software modules. Designs and software modules have been developed for 15 variables to support six PWR SPDS critical safety functions as required by a utility advisory group attached to the project. The signal validation process automates a task currently performed by plant operators and does so with consistent, verified logic regardless of operator stress and training level. The methodology uses a simple structure of generic software blocks, a modular implementation, and it performs effectively within the processor and memory constraints of modern plant process computers. The ability to detect and isolate sensor failures with greater sensitivity, robustness, and coverage of common-cause failures should ultimately lead to improved plant availability, efficiency, and productivity

  10. 30 CFR 56.19096 - Familiarity with signal code.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 56.19096 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR METAL AND NONMETAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS-SURFACE METAL AND NONMETAL MINES Personnel... signals for cages, skips, and mantrips when persons or materials are being transported shall be familiar...

  11. 30 CFR 57.19096 - Familiarity with signal code.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 57.19096 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR METAL AND NONMETAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND METAL AND NONMETAL MINES Personnel... signals for cages, skips, and mantrips when persons or materials are being transported shall be familiar...

  12. Bracebridge dam safety presentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kulchycky, Vince [Bracebridge Generation Ltd. (Canada)

    2011-07-01

    In Bracebridge, Ontario, hydroelectric generators have been in use since 1901. Bracebridge Generation is now upgrading the Wilson's Falls unit from 600kW to 2900kW. Bracebridge Generation addressed public safety with an independent audit and signage, fencing, booms and buoys installed. Unfortunately these measures did not prevent a recent drowning at the utility's site. More widespread warnings and safety education were seen as measures to stop people from swimming on the utility's property.

  13. Reactive Oxygen Species Generation-Scavenging and Signaling during Plant-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal and Piriformospora indica Interaction under Stress Condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nath, Manoj; Bhatt, Deepesh; Prasad, Ram; Gill, Sarvajeet S; Anjum, Naser A; Tuteja, Narendra

    2016-01-01

    A defined balance between the generation and scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is essential to utilize ROS as an adaptive defense response of plants under biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Moreover, ROS are not only a major determinant of stress response but also act as signaling molecule that regulates various cellular processes including plant-microbe interaction. In particular, rhizosphere constitutes the biologically dynamic zone for plant-microbe interactions which forms a mutual link leading to reciprocal signaling in both the partners. Among plant-microbe interactions, symbiotic associations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and arbuscular mycorrhizal-like fungus especially Piriformospora indica with plants are well known to improve plant growth by alleviating the stress-impacts and consequently enhance the plant fitness. AMF and P. indica colonization mainly enhances ROS-metabolism, maintains ROS-homeostasis, and thereby averts higher ROS-level accrued inhibition in plant cellular processes and plant growth and survival under stressful environments. This article summarizes the major outcomes of the recent reports on the ROS-generation, scavenging and signaling in biotic-abiotic stressed plants with AMF and P. indica colonization. Overall, a detailed exploration of ROS-signature kinetics during plant-AMF/ P. indica interaction can help in designing innovative strategies for improving plant health and productivity under stress conditions.

  14. Improvement of small-signal stability of power system by controlling doubly fed induction generators of a large-capacity wind farm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomohiro Adachi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Many wind turbine generations have been installed into power systems around the world, where in recent years doubly fed induction generator (DFIG attracts a lot of attentions because of its efficiency and controllability. However, the DFIG is connected to the power system through inverters and originally does not have an ability to release the kinetic energy of the rotor or resorb the surplus power of the power system as the kinetic energy. Therefore, it has not been made clear how the DFIGs have an influence on small-signal stability in power systems. In this paper, we propose a control scheme of the DFIG and analyse its effect on the small-signal stability of the power system by eigenvalue calculations and time-domain simulations.

  15. ANALYSIS OF MONTE CARLO SIMULATION SAMPLING TECHNIQUES ON SMALL SIGNAL STABILITY OF WIND GENERATOR- CONNECTED POWER SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TEMITOPE RAPHAEL AYODELE

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Monte Carlo simulation using Simple Random Sampling (SRS technique is popularly known for its ability to handle complex uncertainty problems. However, to produce a reasonable result, it requires huge sample size. This makes it to be computationally expensive, time consuming and unfit for online power system applications. In this article, the performance of Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS technique is explored and compared with SRS in term of accuracy, robustness and speed for small signal stability application in a wind generator-connected power system. The analysis is performed using probabilistic techniques via eigenvalue analysis on two standard networks (Single Machine Infinite Bus and IEEE 16–machine 68 bus test system. The accuracy of the two sampling techniques is determined by comparing their different sample sizes with the IDEAL (conventional. The robustness is determined based on a significant variance reduction when the experiment is repeated 100 times with different sample sizes using the two sampling techniques in turn. Some of the results show that sample sizes generated from LHS for small signal stability application produces the same result as that of the IDEAL values starting from 100 sample size. This shows that about 100 sample size of random variable generated using LHS method is good enough to produce reasonable results for practical purpose in small signal stability application. It is also revealed that LHS has the least variance when the experiment is repeated 100 times compared to SRS techniques. This signifies the robustness of LHS over that of SRS techniques. 100 sample size of LHS produces the same result as that of the conventional method consisting of 50000 sample size. The reduced sample size required by LHS gives it computational speed advantage (about six times over the conventional method.

  16. Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal Systems Signal Plans for Roadside Equipment

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — Data were collected during the Multi-Modal Intelligent Transportation Signal Systems (MMITSS) study. MMITSS is a next-generation traffic signal system that seeks to...

  17. Modeling pedestrian crossing speed profiles considering speed change behavior for the safety assessment of signalized intersections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iryo-Asano, Miho; Alhajyaseen, Wael K M

    2017-11-01

    Pedestrian safety is one of the most challenging issues in road networks. Understanding how pedestrians maneuver across an intersection is the key to applying countermeasures against traffic crashes. It is known that the behaviors of pedestrians at signalized crosswalks are significantly different from those in ordinary walking spaces, and they are highly influenced by signal indication, potential conflicts with vehicles, and intersection geometries. One of the most important characteristics of pedestrian behavior at crosswalks is the possible sudden speed change while crossing. Such sudden behavioral change may not be expected by conflicting vehicles, which may lead to hazardous situations. This study aims to quantitatively model the sudden speed changes of pedestrians as they cross signalized crosswalks under uncongested conditions. Pedestrian speed profiles are collected from empirical data and speed change events are extracted assuming that the speed profiles are stepwise functions. The occurrence of speed change events is described by a discrete choice model as a function of the necessary walking speed to complete crossing before the red interval ends, current speed, and the presence of turning vehicles in the conflict area. The amount of speed change before and after the event is modeled using regression analysis. A Monte Carlo simulation is applied for the entire speed profile of the pedestrians. The results show that the model can represent the pedestrian travel time distribution more accurately than the constant speed model. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Bracebridge dam safety presentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kulchycky, Vince [Bracebridge Generation Ltd. (Canada)

    2011-07-01

    In Bracebridge, Ontario, hydroelectric generators have been in use since 1901. Bracebridge Generation is now upgrading the Wilson's Falls unit from 600kW to 2900kW. Bracebridge Generation addressed public safety with an independent audit and signage, fencing, booms and buoys installed. Unfortunately these measures did not prevent a recent drowning at the utility's site. More widespread warnings and safety education were seen as measures to stop people from swimming on the utility's property.

  19. Fusion safety status report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-10-01

    This report includes information on a) tritium handling and safety; b) activation product generation and release; c) lithium safety; d) superconducting magnet safety; e) operational safety and shielding; f) environmental impact; g) recycling, decommissioning and waste management; and h) accident analysis. Recommendations for high priority research and development are presented, as well as the current status in each area

  20. ASTRID SFR prototype steam generator design evolution related to safety and cost issues - 15236

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woaye Hune, A.; Gerber, A.; Pirus, J.P.; Soucille, L.; Rodriguez, G.; Beauchamp, F.

    2015-01-01

    One option of the ASTRID prototype power conversion systems (PCS) is the steam cycle based on the Rankine cycle, which has been implemented in the past in France in the Phenix and Superphenix Sodium Fast Reactors, and is also being implemented in other SFRs in construction in the world (Russia, India, China). This paper is placed in the context of the Rankine cycle ameliorations and in particular on the Steam Generator (SG), developed by AREVA, from the safety point of view without significant penalty on cost. Therefore significant progresses are expected to reduce sodium/water reaction accident scenario impact as much by prevention as by mitigation. ASTRID project performed a thorough comparison of SG designs with regard to these safety requirements but also including increased sodium/water segregation (inlet and outlet of sodium implemented at the bottom of the SG), material issues and cost considerations. The design is based today on a monolithic SG with alloy 800 helical tubes but equipped with geometric specificities necessary for allowing the use of a single component per secondary loop. (authors)

  1. Monitoring circuit for reactor safety systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keefe, D.J.

    1976-01-01

    The ratio between the output signals of a pair of reactor safety channels is monitored. When ratio falls outside of a predetermined range, it indicates that one or more of the safety channels has malfunctioned. 3 claims, 2 figures

  2. Expert system for the automatic analysis of the Eddy current signals from the monitoring of vapor generators of a PWR, type reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lefevre, F.; Baumaire, A.; Comby, R.; Benas, J.C.

    1990-01-01

    The automatization of the monitoring of the steam generator tubes required some developments in the field of data processing. The monitoring is performed by means of Eddy current tests. Improvements in signal processing and in pattern recognition associated to the artificial intelligence techniques induced EDF (French Electricity Company) to develop an automatic signal processing system. The system, named EXTRACSION (French acronym for Expert System for the Processing and classification of Signals of Nuclear Nature), insures the coherence between the different fields of knowledge (metallurgy, measurement, signals) during data processing by applying an object oriented representation [fr

  3. Applications of wavelet transforms for nuclear power plant signal analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seker, S.; Turkcan, E.; Upadhyaya, B.R.; Erbay, A.S.

    1998-01-01

    The safety of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) may be enhanced by the timely processing of information derived from multiple process signals from NPPs. The most widely used technique in signal analysis applications is the Fourier transform in the frequency domain to generate power spectral densities (PSD). However, the Fourier transform is global in nature and will obscure any non-stationary signal feature. Lately, a powerful technique called the Wavelet Transform, has been developed. This transform uses certain basis functions for representing the data in an effective manner, with capability for sub-band analysis and providing time-frequency localization as needed. This paper presents a brief overview of wavelets applied to the nuclear industry for signal processing and plant monitoring. The basic theory of Wavelets is also summarized. In order to illustrate the application of wavelet transforms data were acquired from the operating nuclear power plant Borssele in the Netherlands. The experimental data consist of various signals in the power plant and are selected from a stationary power operation. Their frequency characteristics and the mutual relations were investigated using MATLAB signal processing and wavelet toolbox for computing their PSDs and coherence functions by multi-resolution analysis. The results indicate that the sub-band PSD matches with the original signal PSD and enhances the estimation of coherence functions. The Wavelet analysis demonstrates the feasibility of application to stationary signals to provide better estimates in the frequency band of interest as compared to the classical FFT approach. (author)

  4. Carbon-11 labeled diacylglycerol for signal transduction imaging by positron CT. Evaluation of the quality and safety for clinical use

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujii, Ryou [Nishijin Hospital, Kyoto (Japan); Imahori, Yoshio; Ido, Tatsuo [and others

    1995-02-01

    To elucidate the synaptic transmission in the neural system, we have been developing fundamental studies for intracellular signaling. For clinical application of carbon-11 labeled diacylglycerol (1-[1-{sup 11}C]butyryl-2-palmitoyl-rac-glycerol: {sup 11}C-DAG) using positron emission computed tomography (PET), we evaluated the quality and the safety of {sup 11}C-DAG as the solution for injection. As a result, {sup 11}C-DAG was synthesized within 50 minutes, including the preparation step for injection. The half life time and energy spectrum of {sup 11}C-DAG were the same as the physical character of carbon-11, and other radioisotopes were not detected. In the quality control, {sup 11}C-DAG solution was negative in the examination of bacterial contamination and the pyrogen test in three successive synthesis procedures. In the acute toxicity test by administration of {sup 11}C-DAG and 100 {mu}mol/kg of non-radioactive DAG to the rat intravenously, the systemic condition of the rat was not changed and no abnormalities were found in any organ 24 hours after administration. These findings indicated the safety of {sup 11}C-DAG solution. Clinical application of {sup 11}C-DAG using positron emission tomography may be useful to elucidate the dysfunction of intracellular signaling in disorders of higher cortical function such as Alzheimer disease. (author).

  5. The Influence of Lead on Generation of Signalling Molecules and Accumulation of Flavonoids in Pea Seedlings in Response to Pea Aphid Infestation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnieszka Woźniak

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an abiotic factor, i.e., lead at various concentrations (low causing a hormesis effect and causing high toxicity effects, on the generation of signalling molecules in pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Cysterski seedlings and then during infestation by the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris. The second objective was to verify whether the presence of lead in pea seedling organs and induction of signalling pathways dependent on the concentration of this metal trigger defense responses to A. pisum. Therefore, the profile of flavonoids and expression levels of genes encoding enzymes of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway (phenylalanine ammonialyase and chalcone synthase were determined. A significant accumulation of total salicylic acid (TSA and abscisic acid (ABA was recorded in the roots and leaves of pea seedlings growing on lead-supplemented medium and next during infestation by aphids. Increased generation of these phytohormones strongly enhanced the biosynthesis of flavonoids, including a phytoalexin, pisatin. This research provides insights into the cross-talk between the abiotic (lead and biotic factor (aphid infestation on the level of the generation of signalling molecules and their role in the induction of flavonoid biosynthesis.

  6. Safety evaluation report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generation Station (Docket No. 50-354). Supplement No. 5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-04-01

    Supplement No. 5 to the Safety Evaluation Report on the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company on its own behalf as co-owner and as agent for the other co-owner, the Atlantic City Electric Company, for a license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County, New Jersey. This supplement reports the status of certain items that had not been resolved at the time of the publication of the Safety Evaluation Report

  7. Safety Evaluation Report related to the operation of Hope Creek Generating Station (Docket No. 50-354). Supplement No. 4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-12-01

    Supplement No. 4 to the Safety Evaluation Report on the application filed by Public Service Electric and Gas Company on its own behalf as co-owner and as agent for the other co-owner, the Atlantic City Electric Company, for a license to operate Hope Creek Generating Station has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County, New Jersey. This supplement reports the status of certain items that had not been resolved at the time of publication of the Safety Evaluation Report

  8. Seismic qualification using digital signal processing/modal testing and finite element techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steedman, J.B.; Edelstein, A.

    1983-01-01

    A systematic procedure in which digital signal processing, modal testing and finite element techniques can be used to seismically qualify Class IE equipment for use in nuclear generating stations is presented. A new method was also developed in which measured transmissibility functions and Fourier transformation techniques were combined to compute instrument response spectra. As an illustrative example of the qualification method, the paper follows the qualification of a safety related Class IE Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Control Panel subjected to both seismic and hydrodynamic loading conditions

  9. 49 CFR 229.105 - Steam generator number.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Steam generator number. 229.105 Section 229.105..., DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY STANDARDS Safety Requirements Steam Generators § 229.105 Steam generator number. An identification number shall be marked on the steam generator's...

  10. F-band millimeter-wave signal generation for wireless link data transmission using on-chip photonic integrated dual-wavelength sources

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guzman, Robinson; Carpintero, G.; Gordon Gallegos, Carlos; Lawniczuk, Katarzyna; Leijtens, Xaveer

    2015-01-01

    Millimeter-waves (30-300 GHz) have interest due to the wide bandwidths available for carrying information, enabling broadband wireless communications. Photonics is a key technology for millimeter wave signal generation, recently demonstrating the use of photonic integration to reduce size and cost.

  11. 25 Gbit/s differential phase-shift-keying signal generation using directly modulated quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeghuzi, A.; Schmeckebier, H.; Stubenrauch, M.; Bimberg, D.; Meuer, C.; Schubert, C.; Bunge, C.-A.

    2015-01-01

    Error-free generation of 25-Gbit/s differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) signals via direct modulation of InAs quantum-dot (QD) based semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is experimentally demonstrated with an input power level of −5 dBm. The QD SOAs emit in the 1.3-μm wavelength range and provide a small-signal fiber-to-fiber gain of 8 dB. Furthermore, error-free DPSK modulation is achieved for constant optical input power levels from 3 dBm down to only −11 dBm for a bit rate of 20 Gbit/s. Direct phase modulation of QD SOAs via current changes is thus demonstrated to be much faster than direct gain modulation

  12. Generation of Flattened Multicarrier Signals from a Single Laser Source for 330 Gbps WDM-PON Transmission over 25 km SSMF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ullah, Sibghat; Liu, Bo; Ullah, Rahat; Ahmad, Muhammad; Wang, Fu; Zhang, Lijia; Xin, Xiangjun; Memon, Kamran Ali; Khalid, Hafiz Ahmad

    2017-12-01

    A novel technique is proposed for optical frequency comb generation with a budget friendly system. A Mach-Zehnder modulator is used in connectivity with continuous wave optical signal which is filtered by rectangle optical filter and the signal is then amplified by erbium-doped fiber amplifier. With a frequency spacing of 10 GHz 33 useable OFC lines were generated with good tone to noise ratio which is quite impressive for such a cost effective setup. Each generated carrier carries differential phase shift keying based data of 10 Gbps. A total of 330 Gbps multiplexed data is successfully transmitted through a standard single mode fiber length of 25-km. During the downlink transmission the power penalties are observed to be negligible. The resulted eye diagrams are wide and promises to be a good system for wavelength division multiplexed-passive optical network.

  13. Optimal threshold of error decision related to non-uniform phase distribution QAM signals generated from MZM based on OCS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Xifeng; Zhou, Wen

    2018-03-01

    Optical vector radio-frequency (RF) signal generation based on optical carrier suppression (OCS) in one Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) can realize frequency-doubling. In order to match the phase or amplitude of the recovered quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal, phase or amplitude pre-coding is necessary in the transmitter side. The detected QAM signals usually have one non-uniform phase distribution after square-law detection at the photodiode because of the imperfect characteristics of the optical and electrical devices. We propose to use optimal threshold of error decision for non-uniform phase contribution to reduce the bit error rate (BER). By employing this scheme, the BER of 16 Gbaud (32 Gbit/s) quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) millimeter wave signal at 36 GHz is improved from 1 × 10-3 to 1 × 10-4 at - 4 . 6 dBm input power into the photodiode.

  14. Image processing for an automatic detection of defect signals from electromagnetic cartographies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benoist, B.; Marqueste, L.; Birac, C.

    1994-01-01

    As the population of nuclear power plants ages, new defects are appearing in steam generator tubes (stress corrosion, corrosion pitting and intergranular corrosion). For more sophisticated expert appraisal of these defects, tubes can be examined by multifrequency eddy-current testing with an absolute coil (diameter value of 1 mm). A device, consisting of a push-puller mechanism and a motor-driven probe carrying this absolute coil, gives a helical movement to scan the inner surface of the tube. The signals obtained can be represented in the form of cartographies (3D representation in which the coordinates are the circumference, the length and amplitude of the X or Y component at a given frequency). The detection of defect signals by visual examination of these eddy-current cartographies is not always reproducible. The article describes an image processing procedure for the detection of defect signals which leads to a better reproductibility for more safety

  15. Next Generation Public Safety and Emergency Technologies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bonde, Camilla; Tadayoni, Reza; Skouby, Knud Erik

    2014-01-01

    The paper researches the existing European standards for Public Safety and Emergency (PSE) services (also called Public Protection Disaster Relief “PPDR”), and identifies based on user studies in Denmark conflicts between the current deployments of the standards and the user requirements. The aim...

  16. Innovation in the Safety of nuclear systems: fundamental aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herranz, L. E.

    2009-01-01

    Safety commercial nuclear reactors has been an indispensable condition for future enlargement of power generation based on nuclear technology. Its fundamental principle, defence in depth, far from being outdated, is still adopted as a key foundation in the advanced nuclear system (generations III and IV). Nevertheless, the cumulative experience gained in the operation and maintenance of nuclear reactors, the development of methodologies like the probabilistic safety analysis, the use of passive safety systems and, even, the inherent characteristics of some new design (which exclude accident scenarios), allow estimating safety figures of merit even more outstanding that those achieved in the second generation of nuclear reactors. This safety innovation of upcoming nuclear reactors has entailed a huge investigation program (generation III) that will be focused on optimizing and demonstrating the postulated safety of future nuclear systems (Generation IV). (Author)

  17. Safety, tolerability, and risks associated with first- and second-generation antipsychotics: a state-of-the-art clinical review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solmi, Marco; Murru, Andrea; Pacchiarotti, Isabella; Undurraga, Juan; Veronese, Nicola; Fornaro, Michele; Stubbs, Brendon; Monaco, Francesco; Vieta, Eduard; Seeman, Mary V; Correll, Christoph U; Carvalho, André F

    2017-01-01

    Since the discovery of chlorpromazine (CPZ) in 1952, first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) have revolutionized psychiatric care in terms of facilitating discharge from hospital and enabling large numbers of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) to be treated in the community. Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) ushered in a progressive shift from the paternalistic management of SMI symptoms to a patient-centered approach, which emphasized targets important to patients – psychosocial functioning, quality of life, and recovery. These drugs are no longer limited to specific Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categories. Evidence indicates that SGAs show an improved safety and tolerability profile compared with FGAs. The incidence of treatment-emergent extrapyramidal side effects is lower, and there is less impairment of cognitive function and treatment-related negative symptoms. However, treatment with SGAs has been associated with a wide range of untoward effects, among which treatment-emergent weight gain and metabolic abnormalities are of notable concern. The present clinical review aims to summarize the safety and tolerability profile of selected FGAs and SGAs and to link treatment-related adverse effects to the pharmacodynamic profile of each drug. Evidence, predominantly derived from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and clinical trials of the drugs amisulpride, aripiprazole, asenapine, brexpiprazole, cariprazine, clozapine, iloperidone, lurasidone, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone, sertindole, ziprasidone, CPZ, haloperidol, loxapine, and perphenazine, is summarized. In addition, the safety and tolerability profiles of antipsychotics are discussed in the context of the “behavioral toxicity” conceptual framework, which considers the longitudinal course and the clinical and therapeutic consequences of treatment-emergent side effects. In SMI, SGAs with safer metabolic profiles should ideally be prescribed

  18. Effect of placement of droop based generators in distribution network on small signal stability margin and network loss

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dheer, D.K.; Doolla, S.; Bandyopadhyay, S.

    2017-01-01

    , small signal stability margin is on the fore. The present research studied the effect of location of droop-controlled DGs on small signal stability margin and network loss on a modified IEEE 13 bus system, an IEEE 33-bus distribution system and a practical 22-bus radial distribution network. A complete...... loss and stability margin is further investigated by identifying the Pareto fronts for modified IEEE 13 bus, IEEE 33 and practical 22-bus radial distribution network with application of Reference point based Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (R-NSGA). Results were validated by time domain......For a utility-connected system, issues related to small signal stability with Distributed Generators (DGs) are insignificant due to the presence of a very strong grid. Optimally placed sources in utility connected microgrid system may not be optimal/stable in islanded condition. Among others issues...

  19. Safety evaluation report related to steam generator repair at H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit No. 2. Docket No. 50-261

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-11-01

    A Safety Evaluation Report was prepared for the H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant Unit No. 2 by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. This report considers the safety aspects of the proposed steam generator repair at H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant Unit No. 2. The report focuses on the occupational radiation exposure associated with the proposed repair program. It concludes that there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety on the public will not be endangered by the conduct of the proposed action, such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations, and the issuance of this amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or the health and safety of the public

  20. Search for QGP signals at AGS with a TPC spectrometer, and comparison of our event generator predictions for plasma model and cascade interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindenbaum, S.J.; Foley, K.J.; Eiseman, S.E.

    1988-01-01

    We have developed and successfully tested a TPC Magnetic Spectrometer to search for QGP signals produced by ion beams at AGS. We also developed a cascade and plasma event generator the predictions of which are used to illustrate how our technique can detect possible plasma signals. 4 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab

  1. A method of multi-crack shape identification from eddy current testing signals of steam generator tubes including support plates as noise sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagaya, Yoshiaki; Endo, Hisashi; Takagi, Toshiyuki; Uchimoto, Tetsuya

    2005-01-01

    This paper deals with identifying multiple cracks from eddy current testing (ECT) signals obtained in a steam generator tube with a support plate and deposits. Assume two-dimensionally scanned ECT signals to be a picture image, then the signal processing by a multi-frequency technique eliminates noise caused by the support plate and deposits. A template matching with help of genetic algorithms detects number and positions of cracks from the image after the signal processing. Inverse analysis estimates the crack profile based on the predicted position of cracks. The number and positions of the cracks are sufficiently well predicted. Crack shape reconstructions are achieved with a satisfactory degree of accuracy. (author)

  2. European consumers and beef safety

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Van Wezemael, Lynn; Verbeke, Wim; Kügler, Jens Oliver

    2010-01-01

    European beef consumption has been gradually declining during the past decades, while consumers' concerns about beef safety have increased. This paper explores consumer perceptions of and interest in beef safety and beef safety information, and their role in beef safety assessment and the beef...... consumption decision making process. Eight focus group discussions were performed with a total of 65 beef consumers in four European countries. Content analysis revealed that European consumers experienced difficulties in the assessment of the safety of beef and beef products and adopted diverging uncertainty...... reduction strategies. These include the use of colour, labels, brands and indications of origin as cues signalling beef safety. In general, consumer trust in beef safety was relatively high, despite distrust in particular actors....

  3. Next generation PWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Toshihiko; Fukuda, Toshihiko; Usui, Shuji

    2001-01-01

    Development of LWR for power generation in Japan has been intended to upgrade its reliability, safety, operability, maintenance and economy as well as to increase its capacity in order, since nuclear power generation for commercial use was begun on 1970, to steadily increase its generation power. And, in Japan, ABWR (advanced BWR) of the most promising LWR in the world, was already used actually and APWR (advanced PWR) with the largest output in the world is also at a step of its actual use. And, development of the APWR in Japan was begun on 1980s, and is at a step of plan on construction of its first machine at early of this century. However, by large change of social affairs, economy of nuclear power generation is extremely required, to be positioned at an APWR improved development reactor promoted by collaboration of five PWR generation companies and the Mitsubishi Electric Co., Ltd. Therefore, on its development, investigation on effect of change in social affairs on nuclear power stations was at first carried out, to establish a design requirement for the next generation PWR. Here were described on outline, reactor core design, safety concept, and safety evaluation of APWR+ and development of an innovative PWR. (G.K.)

  4. An evaluation of safety culture initiatives at BNSF Railway

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-01

    Major safety culture (SC) initiatives initiated in the FRA Office of Research, Technology and Development (RT&D), such as Clear Signal for Action (CSA), the Investigation of Safety Related Occurrences Protocol (ISROP), the Participative Safety Rules ...

  5. Safety evaluation of driver cognitive failures and driving errors on right-turn filtering movement at signalized road intersections based on Fuzzy Cellular Automata (FCA) model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chai, Chen; Wong, Yiik Diew; Wang, Xuesong

    2017-07-01

    This paper proposes a simulation-based approach to estimate safety impact of driver cognitive failures and driving errors. Fuzzy Logic, which involves linguistic terms and uncertainty, is incorporated with Cellular Automata model to simulate decision-making process of right-turn filtering movement at signalized intersections. Simulation experiments are conducted to estimate the relationships between cognitive failures and driving errors with safety performance. Simulation results show Different types of cognitive failures are found to have varied relationship with driving errors and safety performance. For right-turn filtering movement, cognitive failures are more likely to result in driving errors with denser conflicting traffic stream. Moreover, different driving errors are found to have different safety impacts. The study serves to provide a novel approach to linguistically assess cognitions and replicate decision-making procedures of the individual driver. Compare to crash analysis, the proposed FCA model allows quantitative estimation of particular cognitive failures, and the impact of cognitions on driving errors and safety performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Study of the prompt gamma ray signal from fissions in special nuclear materials induced using an associated particle neutron generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koltick, D. S.; Kane, S. Z.

    2009-01-01

    More than 42 million cargo containers entered the United States in 2005. To search for a few kilograms of special nuclear material (SNM) within this vast stream of cargo, an inspection system based on neutron-induced fission followed by the coincident detection of multiple prompt fission gamma rays is investigated using MCNP-Polimi code. The system utilizes two deuterium-tritium (DT) associated particle neutron generators, each capable of 10 9 neutrons/s at 14.1 MeV, with sub-nanosecond timing resolution ZnO:Ga alpha detectors internal to the generator. Because prompt fission signals are approximately 100 times stronger than the delayed signals, the neutron flux is greatly reduced compared to 10 11-12 neutrons/s required for systems based on delayed signals such as the 'nuclear car wash' [4]. In addition the system utilizes 30 cm deep liquid krypton (LKr) noble gas detectors having 94% detection efficiency for 1 MeV gamma rays, high solid angle coverage (∼ 50% of the total solid angle), and sub-nanosecond timing resolution (∼ 600 ps). An algorithm for distinguishing U-235 from U-238 is presented. (authors)

  7. Neuronal IFN-beta-induced PI3K/Akt-FoxA1 signalling is essential for generation of FoxA1(+)Treg cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Yawei; Marin, Andrea; Ejlerskov, Patrick

    2017-01-01

    Neurons reprogramme encephalitogenic T cells (Tenc) to regulatory T cells (Tregs), either FoxP3(+)Tregs or FoxA1(+)Tregs. We reported previously that neuronal ability to generate FoxA1(+)Tregs was central to preventing neuroinflammation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Mice...... lacking interferon (IFN)-β were defective in generating FoxA1(+)Tregs in the brain. Here we show that lack of neuronal IFNβ signalling is associated with the absence of programme death ligand-1 (PDL1), which prevents their ability to reprogramme Tenc cells to FoxA1(+)Tregs. Passive transfer-EAE via IFNβ......-competent Tenc cells to mice lacking IFNβ and active induced-EAE in mice lacking its receptor, IFNAR, in the brain (Nes(Cre):Ifnar(fl/fl)) result in defective FoxA1(+)Tregs generation and aggravated neuroinflammation. IFNβ activates neuronal PI3K/Akt signalling and Akt binds to transcription factor FoxA1...

  8. Psychological aspects of food safety risk perception

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scholderer, Joachim

    signals, motivating approach. Novelty, and the detection of certain olfactory and visual cues associated with spoilage or contamination, act as orientation or threat signals and motivate closer inspection or avoidance. Anticipatory affects are an inherent part of these behaviour regulation systems...... problematic food safety behaviours are likely to occur. The presentation will begin with an overview of the relevant psychological mechanisms that regulate approach and avoidance behaviour with respect to potentially hazardous foods. Learned representations of familiarity and reward value act as safety...

  9. LFR safety approach and main ELFR safety analysis results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bubelis, E.; Schikorr, M.; Frogheri, M.; Mansani, L.; Bandini, G.; Burgazzi, L.; Mikityuk, K.; Zhang, Y.; Lo Frano, R.; Forgione, N.

    2013-01-01

    LFR safety approach: → A global safety approach for the LFR reference plant has been assessed and the safety analyses methodology has been developed. → LFR follows the general guidelines of the Generation IV safety concept recommendations. Thus, improved safety and higher reliability are recognized as an essential priority. → The fundamental safety objectives and the Defence-in-Depth (DiD) approach, as described by IAEA Safety Guides, have been preserved. → The recommendations of the Risk and Safety Working Group (RSWG) of GEN-IV IF has been taken into account: • safety is to be “built-in” in the fundamental design rather than “added on”; • full implementation of the Defence-in-Depth principles in a manner that is demonstrably exhaustive, progressive, tolerant, forgiving and well-balanced; • “risk-informed” approach - deterministic approach complemented with a probabilistic one; • adoption of an integrated methodology that can be used to evaluate and document the safety of Gen IV nuclear systems - ISAM. In particular the OPT tool is the fundamental methodology used throughout the design process

  10. High Speed Wireless Signal Generation and Demodulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Caballero Jambrina, Antonio; Sambaraju, Rakesh; Zibar, Darko

    We present the experimental demonstration of high speed wireless generation, up to 40 Gb/s, in the 75-110 GHz wireless band. All-optical OFDM and photonic up-conversion are used for generation and single side-band modulation with digital coherent detection for demodulation....

  11. Advancing the CANDU reactor: From generation to generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hopwood, Jerry; Duffey, Romney B.; Yu, Steven; Torgerson, Dave F.

    2006-01-01

    Emphasizing safety, reliability and economics, the CANDU reactor development strategy is one of continuous improvement, offering value and assured support to customers worldwide. The Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR-1000) generation, designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), meets the new economic expectation for low-cost power generation with high capacity factors. The ACR is designed to meet customer needs for reduced capital cost, shorter construction schedule, high plant capacity factor, low operating cost, increased operating life, simple component replacement, enhanced safety features, and low environmental impact. The ACR-1000 design evolved from the internationally successful medium-sized pressure tube reactor (PTR) CANDU 6 and incorporates operational feedback from eight utilities that operate 31 CANDU units. This technical paper provides a brief description of the main features of the ACR-1000, and its major role in the development path of the generations of the pressure tube reactor concept. The motivation, philosophy and design approach being taken for future generation of CANDU pressure tube reactors are described

  12. Compact biomedical pulsed signal generator for bone tissue stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kronberg, James W.

    1993-01-01

    An apparatus for stimulating bone tissue for stimulating bone growth or treating osteoporosis by applying directly to the skin of the patient an alternating current electrical signal comprising wave forms known to simulate the piezoelectric constituents in bone. The apparatus may, by moving a switch, stimulate bone growth or treat osteoporosis, as desired. Based on low-power CMOS technology and enclosed in a moisture-resistant case shaped to fit comfortably, two astable multivibrators produce the desired waveforms. The amplitude, pulse width and pulse frequency, and the subpulse width and subpulse frequency of the waveforms are adjustable. The apparatus, preferably powered by a standard 9-volt battery, includes signal amplitude sensors and warning signals indicate an output is being produced and the battery needs to be replaced.

  13. Pedestrian Urban Safety System and Comfort at Traffic Signals PUSSYCATS : new pedestrian facilities : technique, observations and opinions, a drive-project in France, the UK and The Netherlands.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Levelt, P.B.M.

    1994-01-01

    PUSSYCATS (Pedestrian Urban Safety System and Comfort at Traffic Signals) is a new system incorporating technical improvements better adapted to pedestrians needs and behaviour. A Kerb-side detector mat replaces the push buttons, with infrared sensors detecting the presence of pedestrians on the

  14. OPG waterways public safety program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bennett, T [Ontario Power Generation Inc., Niagara Falls, ON (Canada)

    2009-07-01

    Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has 64 hydroelectric generating stations, 241 dams, and 109 dams in Ontario's registry with the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). In 1986, it launched a formal dam safety program. This presentation addressed the importance of public safety around dams. The safety measures are timely because of increasing public interaction around dams; the public's unawareness of hazards; public interest in extreme sports; easier access by recreational vehicles; the perceived right of public to access sites; and the remote operation of hydroelectric stations. The presentation outlined the OPG managed system approach, with particular reference to governance; principles; standards and procedures; and aspects of implementation. Specific guidelines and governing documents for public safety around dams were identified, including guidelines for public safety of waterways; booms and buoys; audible warning devices and lights; public safety signage; fencing and barricades; and risk assessment for public safety around waterways. The presentation concluded with a discussion of audits and management reviews to determine if safety objectives and targets have been met. figs.

  15. BMP4 signaling is involved in the generation of inner ear sensory epithelia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Yucheng

    2005-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The robust expression of BMP4 in the incipient sensory organs of the inner ear suggests possible roles for this signaling protein during induction and development of auditory and vestibular sensory epithelia. Homozygous BMP4-/- animals die before the inner ear's sensory organs develop, which precludes determining the role of BMP4 in these organs with simple gene knockout experiments. Results Here we use a chicken otocyst culture system to perform quantitative studies on the development of inner ear cell types and show that hair cell and supporting cell generation is remarkably reduced when BMP signaling is blocked, either with its antagonist noggin or by using soluble BMP receptors. Conversely, we observed an increase in the number of hair cells when cultured otocysts were treated with exogenous BMP4. BMP4 treatment additionally prompted down-regulation of Pax-2 protein in proliferating sensory epithelial progenitors, leading to reduced progenitor cell proliferation. Conclusion Our results implicate BMP4 in two events during chicken inner ear sensory epithelium formation: first, in inducing the switch from proliferative sensory epithelium progenitors to differentiating epithelial cells and secondly, in promoting the differentiation of hair cells within the developing sensory epithelia.

  16. Issues regarding Risk Effect Analysis of Digitalized Safety Systems and Main Risk Contributors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Hyun Gook; Jang, Seung-Cheol

    2008-01-01

    Risk factors of safety-critical digital systems affect overall plant risk. In order to assess this risk effect, a risk model of a digitalized safety system is required. This article aims to provide an overview of the issues when developing a risk model and demonstrate their effect on plant risk quantitatively. Research activities in Korea for addressing these various issues, such as the software failure probability and the fault coverage of self monitoring mechanism are also described. The main risk contributors related to the digitalized safety system were determined in a quantitative manner. Reactor protection system and engineered safety feature component control system designed as part of the Korean Nuclear I and C System project are used as example systems. Fault-tree models were developed to assess the failure probability of a system function which is designed to generate an automated signal for actuating both of the reactor trip and the complicated accident-mitigation actions. The developed fault trees were combined with a plant risk model to evaluate the effect of a digitalized system's failure on the plant risk. (authors)

  17. Evaluation of anticipatory signal to steam generator pressure control program for 700 MWe Indian pressurized heavy water reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pahari, S.; Hajela, S.; Rammohan, H. P.; Malhotra, P. K.; Ghadge, S. G.

    2012-01-01

    700 MWe Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (IPHWR) is horizontal channel type reactor with partial boiling at channel outlet. Due to boiling, it has a large volume of vapor present in the primary loops. It has two primary loops connected with the help of pressurizer surge line. The pressurizer has a large capacity and is partly filled by liquid and partly by vapor. Large vapor volume improves compressibility of the system. During turbine trip or load rejection, pressure builds up in Steam Generator (SG). This leads to pressurization of Primary Heat Transport System (PHTS). To control pressurization of SG and PHTS, around 70% of the steam generated in SG is dumped into the condenser by opening Condenser Steam Dump Valves (CSDVs) and rest of the steam is released to the atmosphere by opening Atmospheric Steam Discharge Valves (ASDVs) immediately after sensing the event. This is accomplished by adding anticipatory signal to the output of SG pressure controller. Anticipatory signal is proportional to the thermal power of reactor and the proportionality constant is set so that SG pressure controller's output jacks up to ASDV opening range when operating at 100% FP. To simulate this behavior for 700 MWe IPHWR, Primary and secondary heat transport system is modeled. SG pressure control and other process control program have also been modeled to capture overall plant dynamics. Analysis has been carried out with 3-D neutron kinetics coupled thermal hydraulic computer code ATMIKA.T to evaluate the effect of the anticipatory signal on PHT pressure and over all plant dynamics during turbine trip in 700 MWe IPHWR. This paper brings out the results of the analysis with and without considering anticipatory signal in SG pressure control program during turbine trip. (authors)

  18. Front-line ownership: generating a cure mindset for patient safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmerman, Brenda; Reason, Paige; Rykert, Liz; Gitterman, Leah; Christian, Jennifer; Gardam, Michael

    2013-01-01

    Great advances have been made in standardization and human factors engineering that have reduced variability and increased reliability in healthcare. As important as these advances are, the authors believe there is another important but largely ignored layer to the safety story in healthcare that has prevented us from progressing. In the field of infection prevention and control (IPAC), despite great attempts over several decades to improve compliance with hand hygiene, surveillance, environmental cleaning, isolation protocols and other control measures, very significant challenges remain. We believe this failure is in part due to the power gradients, often dysfunctional relationships and lack of safety mindfulness that exist in hospitals and healthcare more generally. Furthermore, safety culture requires different approaches and considerable ongoing attentiveness. If this is the case, and the authors contend in this paper that it is, then the role of the front line is much more important than many of our healthcare safety and IPAC approaches suggest. Copyright © 2013 Longwoods Publishing.

  19. Safety evaluation report related to steam generator tube repair and return to operation Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No. 1 (Docket No. 50-289)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silver, H.

    1983-11-01

    Based on our evaluation of the steam generator tube repair method and of subsequent operation using the repaired steam generators, we conclude that the steam generator tube kinetic expansion process is acceptable, that applicable GDC have been met, and that there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered by subsequent operation of the plant

  20. Formal Methods and Safety Certification: Challenges in the Railways Domain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fantechi, Alessandro; Ferrari, Alessio; Gnesi, Stefania

    2016-01-01

    The railway signalling sector has historically been a source of success stories about the adoption of formal methods in the certification of software safety of computer-based control equipment.......The railway signalling sector has historically been a source of success stories about the adoption of formal methods in the certification of software safety of computer-based control equipment....

  1. Reactor protecting device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ono, Hiroshi; Kasuga, Hajime; Kasuga, Hiroshi.

    1984-01-01

    Purpose: To reduce the recycling flowrate thereby decrease the neutron flux level before the reactor shutdown upon generation of abnormality such as increase in the neutron flux, by setting the safety level lower than the value for generating the reaction scram signal. Constitution: A netron flux safety level setter and an instruction signal generator are disposed between a neutron flux detector and a recycling flowrate control device. A neutron flux safety level lower than the level for generating a reactor scram signal and higher that the level for the ordinary operation is set and, if the detection level for the neutron flux in the reactor core arrives at the safety level, a neutron flux decreasing instruction signal is outputted from the instruction signal generator to the recycling flowrate control device to thereby decrease the recycling flowrate and decrease the neutron flux without reaching the reactor shutdown, whereby the thermal safety of the fuel rod can be maintained and the reactor operation performance can be improved. (Moriyama, K.)

  2. Hydrolysis products generated by lipoprotein lipase and endothelial lipase differentially impact THP-1 macrophage cell signalling pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essaji, Yasmin; Yang, Yanbo; Albert, Carolyn J; Ford, David A; Brown, Robert J

    2013-08-01

    Macrophages express lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and endothelial lipase (EL) within atherosclerotic plaques; however, little is known about how lipoprotein hydrolysis products generated by these lipases might affect macrophage cell signalling pathways. We hypothesized that hydrolysis products affect macrophage cell signalling pathways associated with atherosclerosis. To test our hypothesis, we incubated differentiated THP-1 macrophages with products from total lipoprotein hydrolysis by recombinant LPL or EL. Using antibody arrays, we found that the phosphorylation of six receptor tyrosine kinases and three signalling nodes--most associated with atherosclerotic processes--was increased by LPL derived hydrolysis products. EL derived hydrolysis products only increased the phosphorylation of tropomyosin-related kinase A, which is also implicated in playing a role in atherosclerosis. Using electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, we identified the species of triacylglycerols and phosphatidylcholines that were hydrolyzed by LPL and EL, and we identified the fatty acids liberated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. To determine if the total liberated fatty acids influenced signalling pathways, we incubated differentiated THP-1 macrophages with a mixture of the fatty acids that matched the concentrations of liberated fatty acids from total lipoproteins by LPL, and we subjected cell lysates to antibody array analyses. The analyses showed that only the phosphorylation of Akt was significantly increased in response to fatty acid treatment. Overall, our study shows that macrophages display potentially pro-atherogenic signalling responses following acute treatments with LPL and EL lipoprotein hydrolysis products.

  3. IEEE standard requirements for reliability analysis in the design and operation of safety systems for nuclear power generating stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1976-01-01

    The purpose of this standard is to provide uniform, minimum acceptable requirements for the performance of reliability analyses for safety-related systems found in nuclear-power generating stations, but not to define the need for an analysis. The need for reliability analysis has been identified in other standards which expand the requirements of regulations (e.g., IEEE Std 379-1972 (ANSI N41.2-1972), ''Guide for the Application of the Single-Failure Criterion to Nuclear Power Generating Station Protection System,'' which describes the application of the single-failure criterion). IEEE Std 352-1975, ''Guide for General Principles of Reliability Analysis of Nuclear Power Generating Station Protection Systems,'' provides guidance in the application and use of reliability techniques referred to in this standard

  4. Zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test for drug safety signal detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Lan; Zheng, Dan; Zalkikar, Jyoti; Tiwari, Ram

    2017-02-01

    In recent decades, numerous methods have been developed for data mining of large drug safety databases, such as Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Adverse Event Reporting System, where data matrices are formed by drugs such as columns and adverse events as rows. Often, a large number of cells in these data matrices have zero cell counts and some of them are "true zeros" indicating that the drug-adverse event pairs cannot occur, and these zero counts are distinguished from the other zero counts that are modeled zero counts and simply indicate that the drug-adverse event pairs have not occurred yet or have not been reported yet. In this paper, a zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test method is proposed to identify drug-adverse event pairs that have disproportionately high reporting rates, which are also called signals. The maximum likelihood estimates of the model parameters of zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test are obtained using the expectation and maximization algorithm. The zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test is also modified to handle the stratified analyses for binary and categorical covariates (e.g. gender and age) in the data. The proposed zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test method is shown to asymptotically control the type I error and false discovery rate, and its finite sample performance for signal detection is evaluated through a simulation study. The simulation results show that the zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test method performs similar to Poisson model based likelihood ratio test method when the estimated percentage of true zeros in the database is small. Both the zero-inflated Poisson model based likelihood ratio test and likelihood ratio test methods are applied to six selected drugs, from the 2006 to 2011 Adverse Event Reporting System database, with varying percentages of observed zero-count cells.

  5. Generation of a command language for nuclear signal and image processing on the basis of a general interactive system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pretschner, D.P.; Pfeiffer, G.; Deutsches Elektronen-Sychnchrotron

    1981-01-01

    In the field of nuclear medicine, BASIC and FORTRAN are currently being favoured as higher-level programming languages for computer-aided signal processing, and most operating systems of so-called ''freely programmable analyzers'' in nuclear wards have compilers for this purpose. However, FORTRAN is not an interactive language and thus not suited for conversational computing as a man-machine interface. BASIC, on the other hand, although a useful starting language for beginners, is not sufficiently sophisticated for complex nuclear medicine problems involving detailed calculations. Integration of new methods of signal acquisition, processing and presentation into an existing system or generation of new systems is difficult in FORTRAN, BASIC or ASSEMBLER and can only be done by system specialists, not by nuclear physicians. This problem may be solved by suitable interactive systems that are easy to learn, flexible, transparent and user-friendly. An interactive system of this type, XDS, was developed in the course of a project on evaluation of radiological image sequences. An XDS-generated command processing system for signal and image processing in nuclear medicine is described. The system is characterized by interactive program development and execution, problem-relevant data types, a flexible procedure concept and an integrated system implementation language for modern image processing algorithms. The advantages of the interactive system are illustrated by an example of diagnosis by nuclear methods. (orig.) [de

  6. Investigation of safety margin for turbine generator foundation affected by Alkali Silica reaction based on non-linear structure analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimizu, H.; Asai, Y.; Hosokawa, T.; Sekimoto, H.; Sato, K.; Oshima, R.; Takiguchi, K.; Masuda, Y.; Nishiguchi, I.

    2005-01-01

    A turbine generator foundation is a reinforced concrete structure having a table deck and columns to support equipments. After operation of the plant, the expansion of the table deck in turbine longitudinal axis has been observed. By investigation of concrete material properties, it was found that the expansion has been caused by alkali-silica reaction. This study has been performed to evaluate the safety allowance of strength capacity of the turbine generator foundation by nonlinear analysis using beam element model with elongation, rebar strain and material properties data which have been measured for almost 30 years in actual foundation. (authors)

  7. Safety improvement of Paks nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vamos, G.

    1999-01-01

    Safety upgrading completed in the early nineties at the Paks NPP include: replacement of steam generator safety valves and control valves; reliability improvement of the electrical supply system; modification of protection logic; enhancement of the fire protection; construction of full scope Training Simulator. Design safety upgrading measures achieved in recent years were concerned with: relocation of steam generator emergency feed-water supply; emergency gas removal from the primary coolant system; hydrogen management in the containment; protection against sumps; preventing of emergency core cooling system tanks from refilling. Increasing seismic resistance, containment assessment, refurbishment of reactor protection system, improving reliability of emergency electrical supply, analysis of internal hazards are now being implemented. Safety upgrading measures which are being prepared include: bleed and feed procedures; reactor over-pressurisation protection in cold state; treatment of steam generator primary to secondary leak accidents. Operational safety improvements are dealing with safety culture, training measures and facilities; symptom based emergency operating procedures; in-service inspection; fire protection. The significance of international cooperation is emphasised in view of achieving nuclear safety standards recognised in EU

  8. Fundamental Safety Principles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdelmalik, W.E.Y.

    2011-01-01

    This work presents a summary of the IAEA Safety Standards Series publication No. SF-1 entitled F UDAMENTAL Safety PRINCIPLES p ublished on 2006. This publication states the fundamental safety objective and ten associated safety principles, and briefly describes their intent and purposes. Safety measures and security measures have in common the aim of protecting human life and health and the environment. These safety principles are: 1) Responsibility for safety, 2) Role of the government, 3) Leadership and management for safety, 4) Justification of facilities and activities, 5) Optimization of protection, 6) Limitation of risks to individuals, 7) Protection of present and future generations, 8) Prevention of accidents, 9)Emergency preparedness and response and 10) Protective action to reduce existing or unregulated radiation risks. The safety principles concern the security of facilities and activities to the extent that they apply to measures that contribute to both safety and security. Safety measures and security measures must be designed and implemented in an integrated manner so that security measures do not compromise safety and safety measures do not compromise security.

  9. Calcium signals can freely cross the nuclear envelope in hippocampal neurons: somatic calcium increases generate nuclear calcium transients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bading Hilmar

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In hippocampal neurons, nuclear calcium signaling is important for learning- and neuronal survival-associated gene expression. However, it is unknown whether calcium signals generated by neuronal activity at the cell membrane and propagated to the soma can unrestrictedly cross the nuclear envelope to invade the nucleus. The nuclear envelope, which allows ion transit via the nuclear pore complex, may represent a barrier for calcium and has been suggested to insulate the nucleus from activity-induced cytoplasmic calcium transients in some cell types. Results Using laser-assisted uncaging of caged calcium compounds in defined sub-cellular domains, we show here that the nuclear compartment border does not represent a barrier for calcium signals in hippocampal neurons. Although passive diffusion of molecules between the cytosol and the nucleoplasm may be modulated through changes in conformational state of the nuclear pore complex, we found no evidence for a gating mechanism for calcium movement across the nuclear border. Conclusion Thus, the nuclear envelope does not spatially restrict calcium transients to the somatic cytosol but allows calcium signals to freely enter the cell nucleus to trigger genomic events.

  10. Social contention about safety of nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nemoto, Kazuyasu

    1978-01-01

    In Japan, the contentions and arguments on the safety of nuclear power generation have been active since its first introduction, and these are greatly influenced by the nation's experiences of atomic bombs in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Bikini. As the result, the attitude of peoples toward the acceptance of nuclear power plants is significantly different from that in other countries. The situation in Japan of social contentions about nuclear power safety is explained in two aspects: acceptance of the safety, by peoples and Japanese pattern of safety contentions. In both upstream and downstream of nuclear power generation, not only the safety but also the right or wrong for nuclear power generation itself is discussed. The problem of nuclear power safety has gone into the region beyond the technological viewpoint. The pattern of safety contentions in Japan is the entanglement of three sectors; i.e. local people, labor unions and political parties, enterprises and administration, and intellectuals. (Mori, K.)

  11. Safety assessment for a disposal option of TENORM wastes coming from the electric generation in Cuba

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leyva, Dennys; Gil, Reinaldo; Peralta, Jose L.; Odalys Ramos

    2008-01-01

    The aim of the present paper was the safety assessment for a disposal option of ashes wastes coming from the electric generation in Cuba. The ashes are planned to be disposed as subsurface layer, covered with soil under controlled conditions. The composition of theses wastes are TENORM ( 226 Ra and 224 Ra) and heavy metals (vanadium, chromium, zinc), therefore, their disposal should accomplish the national and international defined regulations. The adopted safety assessment methodology, allowed the identification and selection of the main scenarios to evaluate, the mathematical models to apply and the comparison against the assessment criteria. According to the assessment context and the site characteristics, the atmospheric and groundwater scenarios were evaluated. During the modelling stage were included the identification of the main exposure pathways and the most relevant assessment processes were modelled (transport of contaminants, radioactive decay, etc.). For atmospheric dispersion, the SCREEN3 model was adopted, including the radioactive decay and other radiological properties. The DRAF model was used for the groundwater scenario. The doses for inhalation, external irradiation and foodstuff ingestion were obtained using several dosimetric models. The results showed that the 226 Ra concentration values were higher than the 228 Ra in the evaluation points, for atmospheric and groundwater scenarios. This behaviour is influenced by the small radioactive inventory, the shorter half life of the 228 Ra and the distance between the disposal site and the evaluation points. The obtained external doses were always below the dose limits for the members of the public and for all scenarios, including the more conservatives. The lower dose (by ingestion) values were associated to the scenarios of radionuclides transport through the geosphere. According the safety assessment and the established scenarios, the evaluated disposal practice does not represent a relevant

  12. Maintenance of safety behaviors via response-produced stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angelakis, Ioannis; Austin, Jennifer L

    2015-11-01

    Animal studies suggest that safety behaviors may be maintained by internally or externally produced safety signals, which function as positive reinforcers. We designed two experiments to test this phenomenon with humans. Participants played a computerized game in which they could earn or lose treasures by clicking on a map. In baseline, losses could be postponed by pressing a pedal that also produced a blue bar at the bottom of the screen. During test conditions, no losses were programmed, and pedal presses turned the bar from yellow to blue (Test 1) or blue to yellow (Test 2). In Experiment 2, new participants were exposed to the same conditions but were given information about the safety of the test environment. In both experiments, participants engaged in high rates of pedal pressing when presses were followed by blue bars, suggesting the bar functioned as a safety signal. We discuss how these findings may relate to safety behaviors commonly observed in certain mental health disorders. © The Author(s) 2015.

  13. Progress of nuclear safety research, 1990

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1990-07-01

    Since the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) was founded as a nonprofit, general research and development organization for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, it has actively pursued the research and development of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is the primary source of energy in Japan where energy resources are scarce. The safety research is recognized at JAERI as one of the important issues to be clarified, and the safety research on nuclear power generation, nuclear fuel cycle, waste management and environmental safety has been conducted systematically since 1973. As of the end of 1989, 38 reactors were in operation in Japan, and the nuclear electric power generated in 1988 reached 29 % of the total electric power generated. 50 years have passed since nuclear fission was discovered in 1939. The objective of the safety research at JAERI is to earn public support and trust for the use of nuclear energy. The overview of the safety research at JAERI, fuel behavior, reliability of reactor structures and components, reactor thermal-hydraulics during LOCA, safety assessment of nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel cycle facilities, radioactive waste management and environmental radioactivity are reported. (K.I.)

  14. A battery-operated pilot balloon time-signal generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ralph H. Moltzau

    1966-01-01

    Describes the design and construction of a 1-pound, battery-operated, time-signal transmitter, which is usable with portable radio or field telephone circuits for synchronizing multi-theodolite observation of pilot balloons.

  15. THEORY OF SIGNAL GENERATION IN A PHOTOACOUSTIC CELL

    OpenAIRE

    Bein , B.; Pelzl , J.

    1983-01-01

    Based on the fundamental physical equations governing the dynamical behaviour of a gas, the pressure signal is derived for a gas-filled photoacoustic cell in contact with a radiation-heated solid sample.

  16. Test Results of a Platform for Safety I and C Systems of SMART MMIS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suh, Yong Suk; Keum, Jong Yong; Jeong, Kwang Il; Lee, Joon Ku; Lee, Sang Seok; Kim, Kwan Woong

    2011-01-01

    SMART (System-integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor), a 330MWt integral pressurized light water reactor that integrates four reactor coolant pumps, one pressurizer, eight steam generators, and one reactor core into a reactor vessel, has been under development at KAERI since 1997. A standard design safety analysis report of the SMART prepared by KAERI was submitted to Korea institute of nuclear safety (KINS) at the end of 2010. KAERI aims to achieve standard design approval (SDA) from KINS by the end of 2011. SMART MMIS has been designed using digital systems. It has digital-based compact control rooms. Its instrumentation and control (I and C) systems are designed using modular equipment connected through datalinks. Non-safety I and C systems are designed based on the commercial distributed control systems. Safety I and C systems are based on a new platform developed by KAERI. The platform is a high-speed digital signal processor (DSP)-based control unit. It plays the role of a module that provides control functions of the safety I and C systems. The test facilities have been developed at KAERI since 2009. This paper presents the development and test results of the platform

  17. Analysis on the Acoustic Emission Signals in the Crack Evolution of Steam Generator Tube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Jung Ho; Hur, Do Haeng; Kim, Kyung Mo; Choi, Myung Sik; Lee, Deok Hyun

    2007-01-01

    The evolution of a defect in steam generator (SG) tube during plant operation can be classified into the stages of initiation and propagation. However, the detection and discrimination of these two stages are difficult, and the real time monitoring of the defect evolution in plant operation is impossible. Moreover, it was generally known that the commercial nondestructive examination techniques such as eddy current test(ECT) can detect the defect already grown up to the size of more than 40% in tube wall thickness. Therefore, the scope of the present study is to develop the fundamental technology for monitoring the degradation process from the initiation stage to the subsequent propagation stage by acoustic emission (AE) signal measurement

  18. Sources of Safety Data and Statistical Strategies for Design and Analysis: Postmarket Surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izem, Rima; Sanchez-Kam, Matilde; Ma, Haijun; Zink, Richard; Zhao, Yueqin

    2018-03-01

    Safety data are continuously evaluated throughout the life cycle of a medical product to accurately assess and characterize the risks associated with the product. The knowledge about a medical product's safety profile continually evolves as safety data accumulate. This paper discusses data sources and analysis considerations for safety signal detection after a medical product is approved for marketing. This manuscript is the second in a series of papers from the American Statistical Association Biopharmaceutical Section Safety Working Group. We share our recommendations for the statistical and graphical methodologies necessary to appropriately analyze, report, and interpret safety outcomes, and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of safety data obtained from passive postmarketing surveillance systems compared to other sources. Signal detection has traditionally relied on spontaneous reporting databases that have been available worldwide for decades. However, current regulatory guidelines and ease of reporting have increased the size of these databases exponentially over the last few years. With such large databases, data-mining tools using disproportionality analysis and helpful graphics are often used to detect potential signals. Although the data sources have many limitations, analyses of these data have been successful at identifying safety signals postmarketing. Experience analyzing these dynamic data is useful in understanding the potential and limitations of analyses with new data sources such as social media, claims, or electronic medical records data.

  19. Leak detection in gas pipeline by acoustic and signal processing - A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adnan, N. F.; Ghazali, M. F.; Amin, M. M.; Hamat, A. M. A.

    2015-12-01

    The pipeline system is the most important part in media transport in order to deliver fluid to another station. The weak maintenance and poor safety will contribute to financial losses in term of fluid waste and environmental impacts. There are many classifications of techniques to make it easier to show their specific method and application. This paper's discussion about gas leak detection in pipeline system using acoustic method will be presented in this paper. The wave propagation in the pipeline is a key parameter in acoustic method when the leak occurs and the pressure balance of the pipe will generated by the friction between wall in the pipe. The signal processing is used to decompose the raw signal and show in time- frequency. Findings based on the acoustic method can be used for comparative study in the future. Acoustic signal and HHT is the best method to detect leak in gas pipelines. More experiments and simulation need to be carried out to get the fast result of leaking and estimation of their location.

  20. Safety of nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Safety requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    This publication covers the broad scope of requirements for fuel cycle facilities that, in light of the experience and present state of technology, must be satisfied to ensure safety for the lifetime of the facility. Topics of specific reference include aspects of nuclear fuel generation, storage, reprocessing and disposal. Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The safety objective, concepts and safety principles; 3. Legal framework and regulatory supervision; 4. The management system and verification of safety; 5. Siting of the facility; 6. Design of the facility; 7. Construction of the facility; 8. Commissioning of the facility; 9. Operation of the facility; 10. Decommissioning of the facility; Appendix I: Requirements specific to uranium fuel fabrication facilities; Appendix II: Requirements specific to mixed oxide fuel fabrication facilities; Appendix III: Requirements specific to conversion facilities and enrichment facilities

  1. Safety strategy and its technical realization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franzen, L.F.

    1981-01-01

    Main goal of the nuclear safety strategy is to avoid an unbalance between heat generation and heat removal in all operating states. Such unbalance could result from transient in which either the heat generation exceeds the nominal values or the heat removal falls below these values. Another cause could be loss of coolant accident in which the coolant required for the heat removal is lost, totally or partially. The available safety systems provide, eventually after shutdown of the reactor, for the re-establishment of the balance between heat generation and heat removal. They serve as back-up for the normal process system which are already contributing to safety. Generally speaking, the very essence of the safety provisions is to make the occurrence of accident conditions unprobable and to prevent the occurence of emergency situations. In the implementation of this strategy, the defence-in-depth approach is applied. Its first line can be described with such terms as 'basic safety and quality assurance', the second line with 'accident prevention' and the third line with 'consequence mitigation'. (orig.)

  2. Evaluation on safety issues of SMART

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, W. S.; Seol, K. W.; Yoon, Y. K.; Lee, J. H.

    2001-01-01

    Safety issues on the SMART were evaluated in the light of the compliance with the Ministerial Ordinance of Technical Requirements applying to Nuclear Installations, which was recently revised. Evaluation concludes that regulatory requirements associated with following items have to be developed as the licensing criteria for the SMART: (1) proving the safety of design or materials different form existing reactors; (2) coping with beyond design basis accidents; (3) rulemaking on the safety of reactor safeguard vessel ; (4) ensuring integrity of steam generator tubes; and (5) classifying equipment based on their safety significance. Appropriate actions including implementation of new requirements under development should be taken for safety issues such as diversity of reactivity control and in-service inspection of steam generator tubes that are not complied with the current Technical Requirements. Safety level of the SMART design will be evaluated further by the more detailed assessment according to the Technical Requirements, and additional safety issues will be identified and resolved, if it necessary

  3. A rigorous analysis of digital pre-emphasis and DAC resolution for interleaved DAC Nyquist-WDM signal generation in high-speed coherent optical transmission systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Yi; Wang, Junyi; He, Xuan; Pan, Zhongqi

    2018-02-01

    The Nyquist spectral shaping techniques facilitate a promising solution to enhance spectral efficiency (SE) and further reduce the cost-per-bit in high-speed wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems. Hypothetically, any Nyquist WDM signals with arbitrary shapes can be generated by the use of the digital signal processing (DSP) based electrical filters (E-filter). Nonetheless, in actual 100G/ 200G coherent systems, the performance as well as DSP complexity are increasingly restricted by cost and power consumption. Henceforward it is indispensable to optimize DSP to accomplish the preferred performance at the least complexity. In this paper, we systematically investigated the minimum requirements and challenges of Nyquist WDM signal generation, particularly for higher-order modulation formats, including 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or 64QAM. A variety of interrelated parameters, such as channel spacing and roll-off factor, have been evaluated to optimize the requirements of the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) resolution and transmitter E-filter bandwidth. The impact of spectral pre-emphasis has been predominantly enhanced via the proposed interleaved DAC architecture by at least 4%, and hence reducing the required optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) at a bit error rate (BER) of 10-3 by over 0.45 dB at a channel spacing of 1.05 symbol rate and an optimized roll-off factor of 0.1. Furthermore, the requirements of sampling rate for different types of super-Gaussian E-filters are discussed for 64QAM Nyquist WDM transmission systems. Finally, the impact of the non-50% duty cycle error between sub-DACs upon the quality of the generated signals for the interleaved DAC structure has been analyzed.

  4. Integration of HV components. Requirements on the next generation of HV components; Integration von Hochvoltkomponenten. Anforderungen an die naechste Generation von HV-Komponenten

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hauck, Uwe; Ginsberg, Thomas; Brand, Robert [Tyco Electronics AMP GmbH, Bensheim/Berlin (Germany)

    2010-07-01

    The distribution of electrical power plays a significant role in alternative drive systems. Driven by higher voltage and current values, a new generation of automotive connector and power distribution technologies have evolved with new safety requirements such as touch protection, interlock circuitry, and shielding. Connectors have to be compliant with these new safety requirements as well as fulfill the general mechanical, environmental and ergonomic design requirements (such as packaging, mating/ unmating force, sealing, etc.). Fuse and relay boxes with high voltage/current classification not only switch and distribute electrical power, but they also protect components from overvoltage. Depending upon the application, such boxes may include a current sensor and have some digital signal processing capability to achieve this protection. Since relatively moderate volumes and flat ramp up curves can be expected for the next years, standardization and cross-ORM applicability of components and subsystems are the keys to success in this market. (orig.)

  5. Safety standards for near surface disposal and the safety case and supporting safety assessment for demonstrating compliance with the standards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Metcalf, P.

    2003-01-01

    The report presents the safety standards for near surface disposal (ICRP guidance and IAEA standards) and the safety case and supporting safety assessment for demonstrating compliance with the standards. Special attention is paid to the recommendations for disposal of long-lived solid radioactive waste. The requirements are based on the principle for the same level of protection of future individuals as for the current generation. Two types of exposure are considered: human intrusion and natural processes and protection measures are discussed. Safety requirements for near surface disposal are discussed including requirements for protection of human health and environment, requirements or safety assessments, waste acceptance and requirements etc

  6. Incorporating Traffic Control and Safety Hardware Performance Functions into Risk-based Highway Safety Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zongzhi Li

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Traffic control and safety hardware such as traffic signs, lighting, signals, pavement markings, guardrails, barriers, and crash cushions form an important and inseparable part of highway infrastructure affecting safety performance. Significant progress has been made in recent decades to develop safety performance functions and crash modification factors for site-specific crash predictions. However, the existing models and methods lack rigorous treatments of safety impacts of time-deteriorating conditions of traffic control and safety hardware. This study introduces a refined method for computing the Safety Index (SI as a means of crash predictions for a highway segment that incorporates traffic control and safety hardware performance functions into the analysis. The proposed method is applied in a computation experiment using five-year data on nearly two hundred rural and urban highway segments. The root-mean square error (RMSE, Chi-square, Spearman’s rank correlation, and Mann-Whitney U tests are employed for validation.

  7. Risk limitation, safety and environmental compatibility in electricity generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angelini, A.M.

    1981-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to present the problem of meeting future electricity needs while at the same time reducing to a minimum the risks, the pollution of air and water and the environmental effects of power stations. The first resource to exploit is the ''virtual source'' represented by energy saving pursued to the limit of the possible. The second, in order of priority, is that of renewable resources as yet unused and under development. Unfortunately, in most countries these latter resources are far from sufficient: it is then necessary to choose between the use of conventional fossil fuels and nuclear fuels. In this paper it is shown that, of all the possible fossil fuels, only coal can be considered for electricity production. As a result, in meeting new electricity needs, the choice will have to be made between coal and nuclear power. Attention is directed to factors having a significant influence on this choice, particularly the risks and safety problems in the widest sense, with a view to making a global evaluation comprising not just generating stations but the entire production cycle, from the search for the primary source to the supplying of electricity to the user. The most important problems that arise in this connection are briefly analysed in the paper, which concludes with an appeal for more objectivity in providing information on energy, such information being at present very ''polluted'' and exerting a major influence on the views of experts. (author)

  8. Detection of Artificially Generated Seismic Signals Using Balloon-Borne Infrasound Sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishnamoorthy, Siddharth; Komjathy, Attila; Pauken, Michael T.; Cutts, James A.; Garcia, Raphael F.; Mimoun, David; Cadu, Alexandre; Sournac, Anthony; Jackson, Jennifer M.; Lai, Voon Hui; Bowman, Daniel C.

    2018-04-01

    We conducted an experiment in Pahrump, Nevada, in June 2017, where artificial seismic signals were created using a seismic hammer, and the possibility of detecting them from their acoustic signature was examined. In this work, we analyze the pressure signals recorded by highly sensitive barometers deployed on the ground and on tethers suspended from balloons. Our signal processing results show that wind noise experienced by a barometer on a free-flying balloon is lower compared to one on a moored balloon. This has never been experimentally demonstrated in the lower troposphere. While seismoacoustic signals were not recorded on the hot air balloon platform owing to operational challenges, we demonstrate the detection of seismoacoustic signals on our moored balloon platform. Our results have important implications for performing seismology in harsh surface environments such as Venus through atmospheric remote sensing.

  9. Safety-evaluation report related to the operation of Limerick Generating Station, Units 1 and 2 (Docket Nos. 50-352 and 50-353)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-08-01

    The Safety Evaluation Report for the application filed by the Philadelphia Electric Company, as applicant and owner, for licenses to operate the Limerick Generating Station Units 1 and 2 (Docket Nos. 50-352 and 50-353), has been prepared by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility is located near Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Subject to favorable resolution of the items discussed in this report, the NRC staff concludes that the facility can be operated by the applicant without endangering the health and safety of the public

  10. Sensibility to Changes of Vibrational Modes of Excited Electron: Sum Frequency Signals Versus Difference Frequency Signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gu Anna; Liang Xianting

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate a two electronic level system with vibrational modes coupled to a Brownian oscillator bath. The difference frequency generation (DFG) signals and sum frequency generation (SFG) signals are calculated. It is shown that, for the same model, the SFG signals are more sensitive than the DFG signals to the changes of the vibrational modes of the electronic two-level system. Because the SFG conversion efficiency can be improved by using the time-delay method, the findings in this paper predict that the SFG spectrum may probe the changes of the microstructure more effectively. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)

  11. User's guide for signal validation software: Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swisher, V.I.

    1987-09-01

    Northeast Utilities has implemented a real-time signal validation program into the safety parameter display systems (SPDS) at Millstone Units 2 and 3. Signal validation has been incorporated to improve the reliability of the information being used in the SPDS. Signal validation uses Parity Space Vector Analysis to process SPDS sensor data. The Parity Space algorithm determines consistency among independent, redundant input measurements. This information is then used to calculate a validated estimate of that parameter. Additional logic is incorporated to compare partially redundant measurement data. In both plants the SPDS has been designed to monitor the status of critical safety functions (CSFs) and provide information that can be used with plant-specific emergency operating procedures (EOPs). However the CSF logic, EOPs, and complement of plant sensors vary for these plants due to their different design characteristics (MP2 - 870 MWe Combustion Engineering PWR, MP3 - 1150 MWe Westinghouse PWR). These differences in plant design and information requirements result in a variety of signal validation applications

  12. Extracting Ocean-Generated Tidal Magnetic Signals from Swarm Data Through Satellite Gradiometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabaka, Terence J.; Tyler, Robert H.; Olsen, Nils

    2016-01-01

    Ocean-generated magnetic field models of the Principal Lunar, M2, and the Larger Lunar elliptic, N2, semidiurnal tidal constituents were estimated through a "Comprehensive Inversion" of the first 20.5 months of magnetic measurements from European Space Agency's (ESA) Swarm satellite constellation mission. While the constellation provides important north-south along-track gradiometry information, it is the unique low-spacecraft pair that allows for east-west cross-track gradiometry. This latter type is crucial in delivering an M2 estimate of similar quality with that derived from over 10 years of CHAMP satellite data but over a shorter interval, at higher altitude, and during more magnetically disturbed conditions. Recovered N2 contains nonoceanic signal but is highly correlated with theoretical models in regions of maximum oceanic amplitude. Thus, satellite magnetic gradiometry may eventually enable the monitoring of ocean electrodynamic properties at temporal resolutions of 1 to 2 years, which may have important implications for the inference of ocean temperature and salinity.

  13. Validated Models for Radiation Response and Signal Generation in Scintillators: Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kerisit, Sebastien N.; Gao, Fei; Xie, YuLong; Campbell, Luke W.; Van Ginhoven, Renee M.; Wang, Zhiguo; Prange, Micah P.; Wu, Dangxin

    2014-12-01

    This Final Report presents work carried out at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under the project entitled “Validated Models for Radiation Response and Signal Generation in Scintillators” (Project number: PL10-Scin-theor-PD2Jf) and led by Drs. Fei Gao and Sebastien N. Kerisit. This project was divided into four tasks: 1) Electronic response functions (ab initio data model) 2) Electron-hole yield, variance, and spatial distribution 3) Ab initio calculations of information carrier properties 4) Transport of electron-hole pairs and scintillation efficiency Detailed information on the results obtained in each of the four tasks is provided in this Final Report. Furthermore, published peer-reviewed articles based on the work carried under this project are included in Appendix. This work was supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D/NA-22), of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

  14. Use of generator substitution to determine the real attenuation of informative signals in the compromising emanation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander A. Golyakhov

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available A determination of real attenuation of information signal's radiation on a way from the source to a possible location of intelligence devices is considered to be the most difficult operation while assessing information security against leakage of electromagnetic emanation. In this context the problem of automation of this kind of measurement is of great interest. It takes considerable effort and time to measure the attenuation by existing automated systems. That is why the measurements are generally taken within the limited range of frequencies only. Along with that, a spectre of a single information impulse has a leaf-structure and is solid on every frequency leaf. So electromagnetic field intensity attenuation measurement carried on the some preselected frequencies is not able to represent the complete attenuation characteristics. The measurements of attenuation in the whole informative signal spectre within the given frequency range requires a few thousand measurements, which makes the current method ineffective and time consuming. The relevant specialized automatized measurement systems of security verification has active protection system noise measurement mode, which can be used to measure the real attenuation. In this article a rather exact method of real attenuation of informative signal of video subsystem of electron-ray tube monitor measurement is described and confirmed in experiment. The measurements were made using specialized automatized system “Sigurd” and video subsystem informative signal noise generator. The described method allows a significant reduction of  the time needed for specialized investigations of security verification on electromagnetic emanation.

  15. Safety evaluation report related to the operation of Limerick Generating Station, Units 1 and 2 (Docket Nos. 50-352-50-353). Supplement 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-12-01

    This report supplements the Safety Evaluation Report (NUREG-0991, August 1983) for the application filed by the Philadelphia Electric Company, as applicant and owner, for licenses to operate the Limerick Generating Station Units 1 and 2 (Docket Nos. 50-352 and 50-353). The facility is located near Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Subject to favorable resolution of the items discussed in this report, the NRC staff concludes that the facility can be operated by the applicant without endangering the health and safety of the public

  16. PULSE SYNTHESIZING GENERATOR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerns, Q.A.

    1963-08-01

    >An electronlc circuit for synthesizing electrical current pulses having very fast rise times includes several sinewave generators tuned to progressively higher harmonic frequencies with signal amplitudes and phases selectable according to the Fourier series of the waveform that is to be synthesized. Phase control is provided by periodically triggering the generators at precisely controlled times. The outputs of the generators are combined in a coaxial transmission line. Any frequency-dependent delays that occur in the transmission line can be readily compensated for so that the desired signal wave shape is obtained at the output of the line. (AEC)

  17. Random pulse generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Ya'nan; Jin Dapeng; Zhao Dixin; Liu Zhen'an; Qiao Qiao; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

    2007-01-01

    Due to the randomness of radioactive decay and nuclear reaction, the signals from detectors are random in time. But normal pulse generator generates periodical pulses. To measure the performances of nuclear electronic devices under random inputs, a random generator is necessary. Types of random pulse generator are reviewed, 2 digital random pulse generators are introduced. (authors)

  18. Signal noise/interferer combiner unit programmable (SINCUP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinezdepison, Emilio

    1988-12-01

    The Signal Noise Interferer Combiner Unit Programmable (SINCUP) has been developed to facilitate laboratory performance testing of Very Low Frequency (VLF/Low Frequency (LF) receivers. To accomplish this, the unit allows the combining in controlled amounts of various real-world environmental and manmade interference with an information carrying signal. The externally modulated signal is combined with internally/externally generated Gaussian noise and/or with an internally/externally generated interferer. In order to test modern digital processing techniques, such as Adaptive Null Steering, Eigenvector Sorting, and Widrow-Hoff adaptive filters, SINCUP is capable of generating and meeting much higher signal-to-noise plus interference ratios than earlier channel simulators. The present software has been written to accommodate a dynamic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) range from -60 to +60 dB. Higher dynamic range units could be implemented.

  19. Intermediate probabilistic safety assessment approach for safety critical digital systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taeyong, Sung; Hyun Gook, Kang

    2001-01-01

    Even though the conventional probabilistic safety assessment methods are immature for applying to microprocessor-based digital systems, practical needs force to apply it. In the Korea, UCN 5 and 6 units are being constructed and Korean Next Generation Reactor is being designed using the digital instrumentation and control equipment for the safety related functions. Korean regulatory body requires probabilistic safety assessment. This paper analyzes the difficulties on the assessment of digital systems and suggests an intermediate framework for evaluating their safety using fault tree models. The framework deals with several important characteristics of digital systems including software modules and fault-tolerant features. We expect that the analysis result will provide valuable design feedback. (authors)

  20. Power plants and safety 1982

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1982-01-01

    The papers of this volume deal with the whole range of safety issues from planning and construction to the operation of power plants, and discuss also issues like availability and safety of power plants, protective clothes and their incommodating effect, alternatives for rendering hot-water generators safe and the safety philosophy in steam turbine engineering. (HAG) [de

  1. Safety analysis of urban arterials at the meso level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jia; Wang, Xuesong

    2017-11-01

    Urban arterials form the main structure of street networks. They typically have multiple lanes, high traffic volume, and high crash frequency. Classical crash prediction models investigate the relationship between arterial characteristics and traffic safety by treating road segments and intersections as isolated units. This micro-level analysis does not work when examining urban arterial crashes because signal spacing is typically short for urban arterials, and there are interactions between intersections and road segments that classical models do not accommodate. Signal spacing also has safety effects on both intersections and road segments that classical models cannot fully account for because they allocate crashes separately to intersections and road segments. In addition, classical models do not consider the impact on arterial safety of the immediately surrounding street network pattern. This study proposes a new modeling methodology that will offer an integrated treatment of intersections and road segments by combining signalized intersections and their adjacent road segments into a single unit based on road geometric design characteristics and operational conditions. These are called meso-level units because they offer an analytical approach between micro and macro. The safety effects of signal spacing and street network pattern were estimated for this study based on 118 meso-level units obtained from 21 urban arterials in Shanghai, and were examined using CAR (conditional auto regressive) models that corrected for spatial correlation among the units within individual arterials. Results showed shorter arterial signal spacing was associated with higher total and PDO (property damage only) crashes, while arterials with a greater number of parallel roads were associated with lower total, PDO, and injury crashes. The findings from this study can be used in the traffic safety planning, design, and management of urban arterials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All

  2. Acoustic Leak Detection Testing Using KAERI Sodium-Water Reaction Signals for a SFR Steam Generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Tae-Joon; Jeong, Ji-Young; Kim, Jong-Man; Kim, Byung-Ho; Hahn, Do-Hee; Yugay, Valeriy S.

    2009-01-01

    The results of an experimental study of water in a sodium leak noise spectrum formation at 0.004-0.54 g/sec, various rates of water into a sodium leak, smaller than 1.0 g/sec, are presented. We focused on studying a micro leak detection with an increasing rate of water into sodium. On the basis of the experimental leak noise data manufactured in KAERI the simple dependency of an acoustic signal level from the rate of a micro and small leak at different frequency bands is presented to understand the principal analysis for the development of an acoustic leak detection methodology used in a K- 600 steam generator

  3. The brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 can generate cGMP enabling cGMP-dependent downstream signaling

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Wheeler, J

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available ) with the ll PickUp Injection mode using the loading pump at 15 ll min�1 flow rate for 3 min. Samples were then loaded on a RSLC, 75 lm 9 500 mm, nanoVi- per, C18, 2 lm, 100 �A column (Acclaim, PepMap) retrofitted to an EASY-spray source with a flow rate of 300... receptor BRI1 can generate cGMP enabling cGMP-dependent downstream signaling Janet I. Wheeler1,2,†, Aloysius Wong3,4, Claudius Marondedze3,5, Arnoud J. Groen5, Lusisizwe Kwezi1,6, Lubna Freihat1, Jignesh Vyas1, Misjudeen A. Raji7, Helen R. Irving1...

  4. Large-scale experimental facility for emergency condition investigation of a new generation NPP WWER-640 reactor with passive safety systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aniskevich, Y.N.; Vasilenko, V.A.; Zasukha, V.K.; Migrov, Y.A.; Khabensky, V.B. [Research Inst. of Technology NITI (Russian Federation)

    1997-12-31

    The creation of the large-scale integral experimental facility (KMS) is specified by the programme of the experimental investigations to justify the engineering decisions on the safety of the design of the new generation NPP with the reactor WWER-640. The construction of KMS in a full volume will allow to conduct experimental investigations of all physical phenomena and processes, practically, occurring during the accidents on the NPPs with the reactor of WWER type and including the heat - mass exchange processes with low rates of the coolant, which is typical during the utilization of the passive safety systems, process during the accidents with a large leak, and also the complex intercommunicated processes in the reactor unit, passive safety systems and in the containment with the condition of long-term heat removal to the final absorber. KMS is being constructed at the Research Institute of Technology (NITI), Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad region, Russia. (orig.). 5 refs.

  5. Large-scale experimental facility for emergency condition investigation of a new generation NPP WWER-640 reactor with passive safety systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aniskevich, Y.N.; Vasilenko, V.A.; Zasukha, V.K.; Migrov, Y.A.; Khabensky, V.B.

    1997-01-01

    The creation of the large-scale integral experimental facility (KMS) is specified by the programme of the experimental investigations to justify the engineering decisions on the safety of the design of the new generation NPP with the reactor WWER-640. The construction of KMS in a full volume will allow to conduct experimental investigations of all physical phenomena and processes, practically, occurring during the accidents on the NPPs with the reactor of WWER type and including the heat - mass exchange processes with low rates of the coolant, which is typical during the utilization of the passive safety systems, process during the accidents with a large leak, and also the complex intercommunicated processes in the reactor unit, passive safety systems and in the containment with the condition of long-term heat removal to the final absorber. KMS is being constructed at the Research Institute of Technology (NITI), Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad region, Russia. (orig.)

  6. Large-scale experimental facility for emergency condition investigation of a new generation NPP WWER-640 reactor with passive safety systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aniskevich, Y N; Vasilenko, V A; Zasukha, V K; Migrov, Y A; Khabensky, V B [Research Inst. of Technology NITI (Russian Federation)

    1998-12-31

    The creation of the large-scale integral experimental facility (KMS) is specified by the programme of the experimental investigations to justify the engineering decisions on the safety of the design of the new generation NPP with the reactor WWER-640. The construction of KMS in a full volume will allow to conduct experimental investigations of all physical phenomena and processes, practically, occurring during the accidents on the NPPs with the reactor of WWER type and including the heat - mass exchange processes with low rates of the coolant, which is typical during the utilization of the passive safety systems, process during the accidents with a large leak, and also the complex intercommunicated processes in the reactor unit, passive safety systems and in the containment with the condition of long-term heat removal to the final absorber. KMS is being constructed at the Research Institute of Technology (NITI), Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad region, Russia. (orig.). 5 refs.

  7. Modernized accurate methods for processing of in-core measurement signals in WWER reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polak, T.

    1996-01-01

    Utilization of the new accurate WIMS-KAERI library (WIMKAL-88) to generate the following characteristics for Rhodium SPND: Sensitivity depletion law by high (approx= 75%) burnup of emitter; influence of burnup-history on depletion law course; influence of neutron spectrum change on Rh-SPND sensitivity caused by change of fuel enrichment, fuel burnup, moderator temperature, concentration of boracid, central pin power rate and concentration of Xe 135 ; generating and experimental testing of Rh-SPND signal to linear pin power rate and signal to neutron flux conversion factors. Rh-SPND instrumentation optimization (reduction) related to safety and operational aspects as needed for 3D power surveillance in WWER-1000 reactors. Analysis of SPND reduction from 64x7 to 46x7 by method of Shannon information entropy optimization. Influence of reduction on accuracy of 3D power distribution reconstruction. Physical methods of 3D power distribution unfolding in new modernized on-line I and C system in NPP J. Bohunice with in-core measurements according to 210 thermocouples and 36x7 Rh-SPNDs. Program system TOPRE under QNX operating system network in FORTRAN 77, neutronic background calculations by macrocode MOBY-DICK. (author). 10 refs, 6 figs, 7 tabs

  8. Ageing study of the engineered safety features actuation system of the Loviisa NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simola, K.; Maskuniitty, M.

    1995-06-01

    An ageing study of the engineered safety features actuation system of the Loviisa nuclear power plant has been performed. The operating experience, including failure and maintenance histories of analog measuring devices, logics for safety signal formation and individual control electronics of pumps and valves, has been collected and analysed. The safety importance of system components has been studied with a fault tree analysis of a selected safety function. Based on the results of the analysis of operating experiences and the fault tree analysis, some components were selected for deeper analyses. According to the operating experience, the amount of failures in the Loviisa plant safety system has been low and no increasing trend in the failure history can yet be observed. Only a few failures had prohibited the propagation of the safety signal, mostly the failures have caused a false alarm. The failures reported have concerned mainly limit signal units, transmitters, and priority units. According to the fault tree analysis of one safety function, the most important components of this subsystem are individual control units and pulse/DC converters. Failure modes and effect analyses were performed for priority and individual control unit, limit signal unit and comparator and pulse/DC converter in order to identify the critical failure modes of these devices. (orig.) (15 refs., 26 figs., 9 tabs.)

  9. Reactor safety protection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishi, Hiroshi; Yokoyama, Tsuguo.

    1989-01-01

    A plurality of neutron detectors are disposed around a reactor core and detection signals from optional two neutron detectors are inputted into a ratio calculation device. If the ratio between both of the neutron flux level signals exceeds a predetermined value, a reactor trip signal is generated from an alarm setting device. Further, detection signals from all of the neutron detection devices are inputted into an average calculation device and the reactor trip signal is generated also in a case where the average value exceeds a predetermined set value. That is, when the reactor core power is increased locally, the detection signal from the neutron detector nearer to the point of power increase is greater than the increase rate for the entire reactor core power, while the detection signal from the neutron detector remote from the point of power increase is smaller. Thus, the local power increase ratio in the FBR reactor core can be detected efficiently by calculating the ratio for the neutron flux level signals from two neutron detectors, thereby enabling to exactly recognize the local power increase rate in the reactor core. (N.H.)

  10. Review of Microwave Photonics Technique to Generate the Microwave Signal by Using Photonics Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raghuwanshi, Sanjeev Kumar; Srivastav, Akash

    2017-12-01

    Microwave photonics system provides high bandwidth capabilities of fiber optic systems and also contains the ability to provide interconnect transmission properties, which are virtually independent of length. The low-loss wide bandwidth capability of optoelectronic systems makes them attractive for the transmission and processing of microwave signals, while the development of high-capacity optical communication systems has required the use of microwave techniques in optical transmitters and receivers. These two strands have led to the development of the research area of microwave photonics. So, we can considered microwave photonics as the field that studies the interaction between microwave and optical waves for applications such as communications, radars, sensors and instrumentations. In this paper we have thoroughly reviewed the microwave generation techniques by using photonics technology.

  11. Steam Generator control in Nuclear Power Plants by water mass inventory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dong Wei [North Carolina State University, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Box 7909, Raleigh, NC 27695-7909 (United States); Doster, J. Michael [North Carolina State University, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Box 7909, Raleigh, NC 27695-7909 (United States)], E-mail: doster@eos.ncsu.edu; Mayo, Charles W. [North Carolina State University, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Box 7909, Raleigh, NC 27695-7909 (United States)

    2008-04-15

    Control of water mass inventory in Nuclear Steam Generators is important to insure sufficient cooling of the nuclear reactor. Since downcomer water level is measurable, and a reasonable indication of water mass inventory near steady-state, conventional feedwater control system designs attempt to maintain downcomer water level within a relatively narrow operational band. However, downcomer water level can temporarily react in a reverse manner to water mass inventory changes, commonly known as shrink and swell effects. These complications are accentuated during start-up or low power conditions. As a result, automatic or manual control of water level is difficult and can lead to high reactor trip rates. This paper introduces a new feedwater control strategy for Nuclear Steam Generators. The new method directly controls water mass inventory instead of downcomer water level, eliminating complications from shrink and swell all together. However, water mass inventory is not measurable, requiring an online estimator to provide a mass inventory signal based on measurable plant parameters. Since the thermal-hydraulic response of a Steam Generator is highly nonlinear, a linear state-observer is not feasible. In addition, difficulties in obtaining flow regime and density information within the Steam Generator make an estimator based on analytical methods impractical at this time. This work employs a water mass estimator based on feedforward neural networks. By properly choosing and training the neural network, mass signals can be obtained which are suitable for stable, closed-loop water mass inventory control. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that water mass control can significantly improve the operation and safety of Nuclear Steam Generators.

  12. Steam Generator control in Nuclear Power Plants by water mass inventory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dong Wei; Doster, J. Michael; Mayo, Charles W.

    2008-01-01

    Control of water mass inventory in Nuclear Steam Generators is important to insure sufficient cooling of the nuclear reactor. Since downcomer water level is measurable, and a reasonable indication of water mass inventory near steady-state, conventional feedwater control system designs attempt to maintain downcomer water level within a relatively narrow operational band. However, downcomer water level can temporarily react in a reverse manner to water mass inventory changes, commonly known as shrink and swell effects. These complications are accentuated during start-up or low power conditions. As a result, automatic or manual control of water level is difficult and can lead to high reactor trip rates. This paper introduces a new feedwater control strategy for Nuclear Steam Generators. The new method directly controls water mass inventory instead of downcomer water level, eliminating complications from shrink and swell all together. However, water mass inventory is not measurable, requiring an online estimator to provide a mass inventory signal based on measurable plant parameters. Since the thermal-hydraulic response of a Steam Generator is highly nonlinear, a linear state-observer is not feasible. In addition, difficulties in obtaining flow regime and density information within the Steam Generator make an estimator based on analytical methods impractical at this time. This work employs a water mass estimator based on feedforward neural networks. By properly choosing and training the neural network, mass signals can be obtained which are suitable for stable, closed-loop water mass inventory control. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that water mass control can significantly improve the operation and safety of Nuclear Steam Generators

  13. Prediction of Clinically Relevant Safety Signals of Nephrotoxicity through Plasma Metabolite Profiling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. B. Mattes

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Addressing safety concerns such as drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI early in the drug pharmaceutical development process ensures both patient safety and efficient clinical development. We describe a unique adjunct to standard safety assessment wherein the metabolite profile of treated animals is compared with the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database in order to predict the potential for a wide variety of adverse events, including DIKI. To examine this approach, a study of five compounds (phenytoin, cyclosporin A, doxorubicin, captopril, and lisinopril was initiated by the Technology Evaluation Consortium under the auspices of the Drug Safety Executive Council (DSEC. The metabolite profiles for rats treated with these compounds matched established reference patterns in the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database indicative of each compound’s well-described clinical toxicities. For example, the DIKI associated with cyclosporine A and doxorubicin was correctly predicted by metabolite profiling, while no evidence for DIKI was found for phenytoin, consistent with its clinical picture. In some cases the clinical toxicity (hepatotoxicity, not generally seen in animal studies, was detected with MetaMap Tox. Thus metabolite profiling coupled with the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database offers a unique and powerful approach for augmenting safety assessment and avoiding clinical adverse events such as DIKI.

  14. ARTIST: a cooperative safety project to study fission product retention in a ruptured steam generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guentay, S.; Dehbi, A.; Suckow, D.; Birchley, J.

    2001-01-01

    Sequences such as a steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) with stuck-open relief valve represent a significant public risk by virtue of the open path for release of radioactivity. The release may be lessened by deposition of fission products on the steam generator (SG) tubes and other structures or by scrubbing in the secondary coolant. The absence of empirical data, the complexity of the geometry and controlling processes, however, make the retention difficult to quantify and credit for it is typically not taken in risk assessments. The ARTIST experimental program to be conducted at Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland, will simulate the flow and retention of aerosol-borne fission products in the SG secondary, and thus provide a unique database to support safety assessments and analytical models. The project, foreseen in seven phases, will study phenomena at the separate effect and integral levels, and also address accident management (AM) issues. The prescribed values of the controlling parameters (aerosol size, aerosol type, gas flow velocity, residence time, etc) cover the range expected in severe and design basis accident scenarios. (authors)

  15. Self-powered 'AND' logic circuit of dynamic type with positive safety and application of said 'AND' circuit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lefebvre, Claude; Therond, J.P.

    1974-01-01

    The present invention relates to a self-powered 'AND' logic circuit of dynamic type with positive safety, which delivers on duty operation an output signal equal to the logic product of the input logic signals. The invention relates also to the use of said 'AND' logic circuits in developing n/m logics also of dynamic types with positive safety, delivering on duty operation a zero valued signal when, at least n of the m input signals have the value zero. This type of logics can be inserted in nuclear reactor protection systems; when the value of the reactor operating physical characteristics go out of the safety margins, or true trouble affects 'AND' circuits the value of the output signal is zero, that triggers off the safety absorber drap, for instance [fr

  16. Safety measures to address the year 2000 issue at medical facilities which use radiation generators and radioactive materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-03-01

    In resolution GC(42)/RES/11 on 'Measures to Address the Year 2000 (Y2K) Issue', adopted on 25 September 1998, the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - inter alia - urged Member States 'to share information with the Secretariat regarding diagnostic and corrective actions being planned or implemented by operating and regulatory organizations at their ... medical facilities which use radioactive materials to make those facilities Year 2000 ready', encouraged the Secretariat 'within existing resources to act as a clearing-house and central point of contact for Member States to exchange information regarding diagnostic and remediation actions being taken at ... medical facilities which use radioactive materials to make these facilities Year 2000 ready', urged the Secretariat 'to handle the information provided by Member States carefully' and requested the Director General to report to it at its next (1999) regular session on the implementation of that resolution. The IAEA Secretariat convened a group of consultants who met in Vienna from 14 to 18 December 1998 and produced this report. The consultants decided that the report should cover not just 'medical facilities which use radioactive materials' but also medical facilities which, while perhaps not using radioactive materials, use ionizing radiation produced by radiation generators such as accelerators. The reports issued together are: Achieving Year 2000 Readiness: Basic Processes; Safety Measures to Address the Year 2000 Issue at Medical Facilities Which Use Radiation Generators and Radioactive Materials; and Safety Measures to Address the Year 2000 Issue at Radioactive Waste Management Facilities. This report addresses means of dealing with the Y2K problem at medical facilities which use radiation generators and radioactive materials

  17. Wavelets transforms and fuzzy logic in the eddy-current inspection of nuclear power plants steam generator tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lopez, Luiz Antonio Negro Martin

    2002-01-01

    Nuclear power plants steam generators around the world have presented early damage history in their tubes, caused either by design errors or by inappropriate operation, which besides reducing the availability and the safety of the nuclear power plants it also generates heavy economical burden. To monitor the steam generators operational condition, the Eddy Current testing of their tubes is the non destructive method used to detect, localize, classify and to size the defects. The inspection is performed by inserting probes with coils in the tubes generating a signal correlated to the defect. These signals produced by the probe electric circuit are composed by the resistance and the inductive components which can be combined to produce a Lissajous figure in the complex plane. However, Eddy-Current signals contain noise which induce subjectivity inducing to errors in the inspector diagnosis. It is not uncommon to have different diagnosis from two inspectors about the same signal. The present work has the objective of supplying a methodology to analyze the signals which could help the inspector in the difficult task of interpreting the Eddy Current signals. It is proposed a method to remove the noise based on Wavelets Transforms. It is also proposed a normalization in the signal phase angle measurements. Furthermore, two additional characteristics are also studied, namely: the signal amplitudes and the widths of the Lissajous petals. The use of a Fuzzy Logic based inference engine is also developed and its use is demonstrated to be viable. The defects studied in this work are those which produces volumetric changes in the material. In order to test the proposed methodology, several artificial defects were produced in tubes using different types of materials like: brass, 316L stainless steel and Inconel 600 to produce a experimental data base. An Eddy-Current inspection equipment, the MIZ-17ET was used. Around 1000 time series signals of defects were acquired through

  18. NMR signal transducer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kucheryaev, A.G.; Oliferchuk, N.L.

    1975-01-01

    A signal transducer of nuclear magnetic resonance for simultaneously measuring frequency and intensitivity of two various isotope signals, which are in one specimen is described. The transducer represents radiofrequency circuit with two resonance frequences, which is common for two autodyne generators. To decrease measuring time and to increase recording diagram stability the radiofrequency circuit has LC netork, in the inductivity of which investigated specimen is located; a circuit variable capacity is connected in parallel with one of the autodyne generators. Besides the radiofrequency circuit has an inductance coil in series with a standard specimen inside as well as a variable capacitor connected in parallel with the second autodyne generator. An amplitude of oscillation of each resonance frequency is controlled and adjusted separately. The transducer described can be used for the measurement of a nuclei concentration, isotope concentration and for the spin determination

  19. [Enlightenment of adverse reaction monitoring on safety evaluation of traditional Chinese medicines].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Hai-bo; Du, Xiao-xi; Ren, Jing-tian; Yang, Le; Guo, Xiao-xin; Pang, Yu

    2015-04-01

    The adverse reaction monitoring is important in warning the risks of traditional Chinese medicines at an early stage, finding potential quality problems and ensuring the safe clinical medication. In the study, efforts were made to investigate the risk signal mining techniques in line with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicines, particularly the complexity in component, processing, compatibility, preparation and clinical medication, find early risk signals of traditional Chinese medicines and establish a traditional Chinese medicine safety evaluation system based on adverse reaction risk signals, in order to improve the target studies on traditional Chinese medicine safety, effective and timely control risks and solve the existing frequent safety issue in traditional Chinese medicines.

  20. Experimental Analysis of 60-GHz VCSEL and ECL Photonic Generation and Transmission of Impulse-Radio Ultra-Wideband Signals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beltran, Marta; Jensen, Jesper Bevensee; Llorente, Roberto

    2011-01-01

    for comparison purposes. Real-time bit-error-rate (BER) performance of generated signals at 3.125 Gb/s is evaluated combining fiber and 2-m wireless transmission. Different optical fiber types including 1-km bend-insensitive single-mode fiber and 20-km nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber is evaluated. $\\hbox......{BER} for the ECL and $\\hbox{BER} for the VCSEL requiring higher received optical power than the ECL is demonstrated employing electrical power detection....

  1. To signal or not to signal: that should not be the question.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faw, Harold W

    2013-10-01

    The purpose of the present research was to examine rates of turn signal use, a positive and potentially valuable means by which drivers can communicate. A second purpose was to explore factors that might impact these rates, including the modeling influence of other drivers. A series of observations involving more than 5600 vehicles making turns were recorded at a variety of intersections in British Columbia, Canada. Though the occurrence of signal use varied widely, ranging from a low of 54% to a high of 95%, the overall rate was 76%. Drivers used turn signals significantly less often when making right as compared with left turns, when traffic volume was higher, and when a designated turning lane was provided. In addition, compared with drivers following another vehicle not using signals, those following a vehicle with turn signals on were significantly more likely to activate their turn signals, suggesting a possible modeling effect. Both internal and external influences on turn signal use by drivers were considered. External factors explored in this research included direction of turn, traffic volume, intersection configuration, and the example of other drivers. It was concluded that the practice of signaling turns merits more research attention, since consistent use of signals is a potential contributor to enhanced safety for all road users. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Poisson pre-processing of nonstationary photonic signals: Signals with equality between mean and variance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poplová, Michaela; Sovka, Pavel; Cifra, Michal

    2017-01-01

    Photonic signals are broadly exploited in communication and sensing and they typically exhibit Poisson-like statistics. In a common scenario where the intensity of the photonic signals is low and one needs to remove a nonstationary trend of the signals for any further analysis, one faces an obstacle: due to the dependence between the mean and variance typical for a Poisson-like process, information about the trend remains in the variance even after the trend has been subtracted, possibly yielding artifactual results in further analyses. Commonly available detrending or normalizing methods cannot cope with this issue. To alleviate this issue we developed a suitable pre-processing method for the signals that originate from a Poisson-like process. In this paper, a Poisson pre-processing method for nonstationary time series with Poisson distribution is developed and tested on computer-generated model data and experimental data of chemiluminescence from human neutrophils and mung seeds. The presented method transforms a nonstationary Poisson signal into a stationary signal with a Poisson distribution while preserving the type of photocount distribution and phase-space structure of the signal. The importance of the suggested pre-processing method is shown in Fano factor and Hurst exponent analysis of both computer-generated model signals and experimental photonic signals. It is demonstrated that our pre-processing method is superior to standard detrending-based methods whenever further signal analysis is sensitive to variance of the signal.

  3. Meeting the next generation PWR safety requirements: The EPR Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salhi, Othman

    2008-01-01

    The development process pursued the harmonization of technical solutions and the integration of all the lessons learned from earlier nuclear plants built by both vendors. As far as safety more specifically is concerned, the basic choice for the EPR was to adopt an evolutionary approach based on experience feedback from the reactors built by Areva, which at the time already amounted to nearly 100. This philosophy makes today's Areva EPR the natural descendant of the most advanced French N4 and German Konvoi power reactors currently in operation. EPR design choices affecting safety were motivated by a continuous quest for higher levels of safety. A two-fold approach was followed: 1. improvement of the measures aimed at further reducing the already very low probability of core melt 2. incorporation of measures aimed at further limiting the consequences of a severe accident, in the knowledge that its probability of occurrence has been considerably reduced. Through its filiations with French N4 and German Konvoi power reactors, the EPR benefits from the uninterrupted, evolutionary innovation process that has supported the development of PWRs since their introduction into the market place. This is especially true for safety where the EPR brings a unique combination of both tried and tested and innovative features that further improve the prevention of severe accidents and their mitigation

  4. Safety policy in the production of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siddall, E.

    1982-01-01

    When safety is properly understood, defined and quantified, it can be seen that the development of our present industrial civilization has resulted in a progressive improvement in human safety. Increased safety has come with increased wealth in such close association that a high degree of cause-and-effect relationship must be considered. The quantitative relationship between wealth production and safety improvement is derived from different sources of evidence. When this is applied to the wealth production from electricity generation in a standard module of population in an advanced society, a safety benefit is indicated which exceeds the assessed direct risk associated with the electricity generation by orders of magnitude. It appears that a goal or policy intended to confer the greatest safety benefit to the population would result in attitudes and actions diametrically opposite to those which are conventional at the moment

  5. Detection of Artificially Generated Seismic Signals using Balloon-borne Infrasound Sensors

    OpenAIRE

    Krishnamoorthy, Siddharth; Komjathy, Attila; Pauken, Michael T.; Cutts, James A.; Garcia, Raphael F.; Mimoun, David; Cadu, Alexandre; Sournac, Anthony; Jackson, Jennifer M.; Lai, Voon Hui; Bowman, Daniel C.

    2018-01-01

    We conducted an experiment in Pahrump, Nevada, in June 2017, where artificial seismic signals were created using a seismic hammer, and the possibility of detecting them from their acoustic signature was examined. In this work, we analyze the pressure signals recorded by highly sensitive barometers deployed on the ground and on tethers suspended from balloons. Our signal processing results show that wind noise experienced by a barometer on a free‐flying balloon is lower compared to one on a mo...

  6. Status of nuclear safety R ampersand D in the US

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bari, R.A.

    1993-01-01

    The status of nuclear safety research and development in the US is presented with particular emphasis on work performed by Brookhaven National Laboratory. The nuclear safety program in the US encompasses safety of the current generation of operating commercial reactors, safety-related design of the next generation of advanced reactors, and safety activities for the reactors owned by the US Department of Energy. The broad topical areas of safety research include (but are not limited to) severe accidents, reliability/risk assessment, human performance, thermal-hydraulics, plant aging, seismic, and structural studies

  7. Nuclear power reactors of new generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ponomarev-Stepnoi, N.N.; Slesarev, I.S.

    1988-01-01

    The paper presents discussions on the following topics: fuel supply for nuclear power; expansion of the sphere of nuclear power applications, such as district heating; comparative estimates of power reactor efficiencies; safety philosophy of advanced nuclear plants, including passive protection and inherent safety concepts; nuclear power unit of enhanced safety for the new generation of nuclear power plants. The emphasis is that designers of new generation reactors face a complicated but technically solvable task of developing highly safe, efficient, and economical nuclear power sources having a wide sphere of application

  8. The safety function in Scottish Nuclear

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKeown, J.

    1991-01-01

    The Director of Safety for Scottish Nuclear Ltd, the company which has owned and operated Scotland's nuclear power generating capacity since privatization, explains how the management of safety is realized within the company, in line with the company's motto of ''Quality, Safety, Excellence''. A commitment to the highest levels of safety management in all its aspects is emphasized, from Board level down. The various measures taken to ensure these aims are realized are explained in three broad areas, radiological protection, operational nuclear safety and industrial safety. (UK)

  9. LC Quadrature Generation in Integrated Circuits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Kåre Tais

    2001-01-01

    Today quadrature signals for IQ demodulation are provided through RC polyphase networks, quadrature oscillators or double frequency VCOs. This paper presents a new method for generating quadrature signals in integrated circuits using only inductors and capacitors. This LC quadrature generation...

  10. A benefit assessment of using in-core neutron detector signals in core protection calculator system (CPCS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, S.; Park, S.J.; Seong, P.H.

    1997-01-01

    A Core Protection Calculator System (CPCS) is a digital computer based safety system generating trip signals based on the calculation of Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio (DNBR) and Local Power Density (LPD). Currently, CPCS uses ex-core detector signals for core power calculation and it has some uncertainties. In this study, in-core detector signals which directly measure inside flux of core are applied to CPCS to get more accurate power distribution profile, DNBR and LPD. In order to improve axial power distribution calculation, piece-wise cubic Spline method is applied; from the 40 nodes of expanded signals, more accurate and detailed core information can be provided. Simulation is carried out to verify its applicability to power distribution calculation. Simulation result shows that the improved method reduces the calculational uncertainties significantly and it allows larger operational margin. It is also expected that no power reduction is required while Core Operating Limit Supervisory System (COLSS) is out-of-service due to reduced uncertainties when the improved method is applied. In this study, a quantitative economic benefit assessment of using in-core neutron detector signals is also carried out. (authors)

  11. A benefit assessment of using in-core neutron detector signals in core protection calculator system(CPCS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Seung

    1996-02-01

    A Core Protection Calculator System(CPCS) is a digital computer based safety system generating trip signals based on the calculation of Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio(DNBR) and Local Power Density(LPD). Currently, CPCS uses ex-core detector signals for core power calculation and it has some uncertainties. In this study, In-core detector signals which directly measure inside flux of core are applied to CPCS to get more accurate power distribution profile, DNBR and LPD. In order to improve axial power distribution calculation, piecewise cubic spline method is applied: From the 40 nodes of expanded signals, more accurate and detailed core information can be provided. Simulation is carried out to verify its applicability to power distribution calculation. Simulation result shows that the improved method reduces the calculational uncertainties significantly and it allows larger operational margin. It is also expected that no power reduction is required while Core Operating Limit Supervisory System(COLSS) is out-of-service due to reduced uncertainties when the improved method is applied. In this study, a quantitative economic benefit assessment of using in-core neutron detector signals is also carried out

  12. Search for a signal of quarks of a fourth generation in same-sign dilepton final states with ATLAS

    CERN Document Server

    Wendland, Dennis

    2010-01-01

    Currently, a fourth generation of fermions can not be excluded, neither based on theoretical arguments nor by experimental constraints. In this thesis a method developed to extract a signal coming from quarks of such a fourth family with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. The search is performed with the selection of final states containing two same-sign charged leptons, which is a rare Standard Model signature. The signal extraction method presented is a cut-based counting analysis and includes a data-driven background estimation. The analysis is tested on pseudo data which were created from simulated data sets. Furthermore, the uncertainties on the obtained results are estimated by a so-called "Toy Monte Carlo Study". An optimisation of the cuts is finally performed using a multivariate analysis in order to maximise the significance.

  13. Status and subjects of thermal-hydraulic analysis for next-generation LWRs with passive safety systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-03-01

    The present status and subjects on thermal-hydraulic analysis for next-generation light water reactors (LWRs) with passive safety systems were summarized based on survey results and discussion by subcommittee on improvement of reactor thermal-hydraulic analysis codes under nuclear code committee in Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. This survey was performed to promote the research of improvement of reactor thermal-hydraulic analysis codes in future. In the first part of this report, the status and subjects on system analysis and those on evaluation of passive safety system performance are summarized for various types of reactor proposed before. In the second part, the status and subjects on multidimensional two-phase flow analysis are reviewed, since the multidimensional analysis was recognized as one of most important subjects through the investigation in the first part. Besides, databases for bubbly flow and annular dispersed flow were explored, those are needed to assess and verify each multidimensional analytical method. The contents in this report are the forefront of thermal-hydraulic analysis for LWRs and those include current findings for the development of multidimensional two-phase flow analytical method. Thus, we expect that the contents can offer various useful information against the improvement of reactor thermal-hydraulic analysis codes in future. (author)

  14. Types of safety assessments of near surface repository for radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mateeva, M.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to presents the classification of different types safety assessments of near surface repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste substantiated with results of safety assessments generated in Bulgaria. The different approach of safety assessments applied for old existing repository as well as for site selection for construction new repository is outlined. The regulatory requirements in Bulgaria define three main types of assessments: Safety assessment; Technical substation of repository safety; Assessment of repository influence on environment that is in form of report prepared from the Ministry of environment and waters on the base of results obtained in two first types of assessments. Additionally first type is subdivided in three categories - preliminary safety assessment, safety assessment and post closure safety assessment, which are generated using deterministic approach. The technical substation of repository safety is generated using probabilistic approach. Safety assessment results that are presented here are based on evaluation of existing old repository type 'Radon' in Novi Han and real site selection procedure for new near surface repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste from nuclear power station in Kozloduy. The important role of safety assessment for improvement the repository safety as well as for repository licensing, correct site selection and right choice of engineer barriers and repository design is discussed using generated results. (author)

  15. A concept of passive safety pressurized water reactor system with inherent matching nature of core heat generation and heat removal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murao, Yoshio; Araya, Fumimasa; Iwamura, Takamichi; Okumura, Keisuke

    1995-01-01

    The reduction of manpower in operation and maintenance by simplification of the system are essential to improve the safety and the economy of future light water reactors. At the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), a concept of a simplified passive safety reactor system JPSR was developed for this purpose and in the concept minimization of developing work and conservation of scale-up capability in design were considered. The inherent matching nature of core heat generation and heat removal rate is introduced by the core with high reactivity coefficient for moderator density and low reactivity coefficient for fuel temperature (Doppler effect) and once-through steam generators (SGs). This nature makes the nuclear steam supply system physically-slave for the steam and energy conversion system by controlling feed water mass flow rate. The nature can be obtained by eliminating chemical shim and adopting in-vessel control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) units and a low power density core. In order to simplify the system, a large pressurizer, canned pumps, passive residual heat removal systems with air coolers as a final heat sink and passive coolant injection system are adopted and the functions of volume and boron concentration control and seal water supply are eliminated from the chemical and volume control system (CVCS). The emergency diesel generators and auxiliary component cooling system of 'safety class' for transferring heat to sea water as a final heat sink in emergency are also eliminated. All of systems are built in the containment except for the air coolers of the passive residual heat removal system. The analysis of the system revealed that the primary coolant expansion in 100% load reduction in 60 s can be mitigated in the pressurizer without actuating the pressure relief valves and the pressure in 50% load change in 30 s does not exceed the maximum allowable pressure in accidental conditions in regardless of pressure regulation. (author)

  16. Safety assessment of the SMART design during SBLOCA tests using the high pressure safety injection pump of the SMART-ITL facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bae, Hwang; Ryu, Sung Uk; Jeon, Byong-Guk; Yang, Jin-Hwa; Yoon, Eun-Koo; Shin, Yong-Cheol; Min, Kyoung-Ho; Park, Jong-Kuk; Choi, Nam-Hyun; Bang, Yun-Gon; Seo, Chan-Jong; Yi, Sung-Jae; Park, Hyun-Sik [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    SMART is a small-sized integral pressurized light water reactor designed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) from 1997 and received standard design approval (SDA) by the Korean regulatory body in July 2012. Single reactor pressure vessel contains all of the main components including a pressurizer (PZR), steam generators (SG) and reactor coolant pumps (RCP) without any large-size pipes. Several tests to verify a safety and performance of SMART design were carried out. This paper introduces a comparison with three SBLOCA tests. Overall thermal-hydraulic phenomena were observed and showed a traditional trend to decrease a system pressure and temperature. A collapsed water level of the hot side indicated that the safety injection system was successfully operated to recover the reactor coolant system (RCS) and protect the core uncover. An SBLOCA test simulating a guillotine break on the SIS, SCS, and PSV was performed. It was enough to keep a steady-state condition before the SBLOCA test begins. An actuation signal as the boundary condition was properly simulated during the transient test. The scenarios of the SBLOCA in the SMART design were reproduced well using the SMART-ITL facility. The safety injection is effective to protect the core uncover as well as to cool down the RCS. All of the measured parameters show reasonable behaviors.

  17. Safety assessment of the SMART design during SBLOCA tests using the high pressure safety injection pump of the SMART-ITL facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bae, Hwang; Ryu, Sung Uk; Jeon, Byong-Guk; Yang, Jin-Hwa; Yoon, Eun-Koo; Shin, Yong-Cheol; Min, Kyoung-Ho; Park, Jong-Kuk; Choi, Nam-Hyun; Bang, Yun-Gon; Seo, Chan-Jong; Yi, Sung-Jae; Park, Hyun-Sik

    2016-01-01

    SMART is a small-sized integral pressurized light water reactor designed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) from 1997 and received standard design approval (SDA) by the Korean regulatory body in July 2012. Single reactor pressure vessel contains all of the main components including a pressurizer (PZR), steam generators (SG) and reactor coolant pumps (RCP) without any large-size pipes. Several tests to verify a safety and performance of SMART design were carried out. This paper introduces a comparison with three SBLOCA tests. Overall thermal-hydraulic phenomena were observed and showed a traditional trend to decrease a system pressure and temperature. A collapsed water level of the hot side indicated that the safety injection system was successfully operated to recover the reactor coolant system (RCS) and protect the core uncover. An SBLOCA test simulating a guillotine break on the SIS, SCS, and PSV was performed. It was enough to keep a steady-state condition before the SBLOCA test begins. An actuation signal as the boundary condition was properly simulated during the transient test. The scenarios of the SBLOCA in the SMART design were reproduced well using the SMART-ITL facility. The safety injection is effective to protect the core uncover as well as to cool down the RCS. All of the measured parameters show reasonable behaviors

  18. Safety policy in the production of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siddall, E.

    1983-01-01

    When safety is properly understood, defined and quantified, it can be seen that the development of our present industrial civilization has resulted in a progressive and great improvement in human safety which is still continuing. Increased safety has come with increased wealth in such close association that a high degree of cause-and-effect relationship must be considered. The quantitative relationship between wealth production and safety improvement is derived from different sources of evidence. When this is applied to the wealth production from electricity generation in a standard module of population in an advanced society, a safety benefit is indicated which exceeds the assessed direct risk associated with the electricity generation by orders of magnitude. It appears that a goal or policy intended to confer the greatest safety benefit to the population would result in attitudes and actions diametrically opposite to those which are conventional at the moment

  19. Wavelet-Based Signal Processing of Electromagnetic Pulse Generated Waveforms

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Ardolino, Richard S

    2007-01-01

    This thesis investigated and compared alternative signal processing techniques that used wavelet-based methods instead of traditional frequency domain methods for processing measured electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waveforms...

  20. Transient analysis for resolving safety issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chao, J.; Layman, W.

    1987-01-01

    The Nuclear Safety Analysis Center (NSAC) has a Generic Safety Analysis Program to help resolve high priority generic safety issues. This paper describes several high priority safety issues considered at NSAC and how they were resolved by transient analysis using thermal hydraulics and neutronics codes. These issues are pressurized thermal shock (PTS), anticipated transients without scram (ATWS), steam generator tube rupture (SGTR), and reactivity transients in light of the Chernobyl accident

  1. Safety assessment and verification for nuclear power plants. Safety guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    This Safety Guide was prepared under the IAEA programme for safety standards for nuclear power plants. The present publication is a revision of the IAEA Safety Guide on Management of Nuclear Power Plants for Safe Operation issued in 1984. It supplements Section 2 of the Safety Requirements publication on Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Operation. Nuclear power technology is different from the customary technology of power generation from fossil fuel and by hydroelectric means. One major difference between the management of nuclear power plants and that of conventional generating plants is the emphasis that should be placed on nuclear safety, quality assurance, the management of radioactive waste and radiological protection, and the accompanying national regulatory requirements. This Safety Guide highlights the important elements of effective management in relation to these aspects of safety. The attention to be paid to safety requires that the management recognize that personnel involved in the nuclear power programme should understand, respond effectively to, and continuously search for ways to enhance safety in the light of any additional requirements socially and legally demanded of nuclear energy. This will help to ensure that safety policies that result in the safe operation of nuclear power plants are implemented and that margins of safety are always maintained. The structure of the organization, management standards and administrative controls should be such that there is a high degree of assurance that safety policies and decisions are implemented, safety is continuously enhanced and a strong safety culture is promoted and supported. The objective of this publication is to guide Member States in setting up an operating organization which facilitates the safe operation of nuclear power plants to a high level internationally. The second objective is to provide guidance on the most important organizational elements in order to contribute to a strong safety

  2. Safety assessment and verification for nuclear power plants. Safety guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    This Safety Guide was prepared under the IAEA programme for safety standards for nuclear power plants. The present publication is a revision of the IAEA Safety Guide on Management of Nuclear Power Plants for Safe Operation issued in 1984. It supplements Section 2 of the Safety Requirements publication on Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Operation. Nuclear power technology is different from the customary technology of power generation from fossil fuel and by hydroelectric means. One major difference between the management of nuclear power plants and that of conventional generating plants is the emphasis that should be placed on nuclear safety, quality assurance, the management of radioactive waste and radiological protection, and the accompanying national regulatory requirements. This Safety Guide highlights the important elements of effective management in relation to these aspects of safety. The attention to be paid to safety requires that the management recognize that personnel involved in the nuclear power programme should understand, respond effectively to, and continuously search for ways to enhance safety in the light of any additional requirements socially and legally demanded of nuclear energy. This will help to ensure that safety policies that result in the safe operation of nuclear power plants are implemented and that margins of safety are always maintained. The structure of the organization, management standards and administrative controls should be such that there is a high degree of assurance that safety policies and decisions are implemented, safety is continuously enhanced and a strong safety culture is promoted and supported. The objective of this publication is to guide Member States in setting up an operating organization which facilitates the safe operation of nuclear power plants to a high level internationally. The second objective is to provide guidance on the most important organizational elements in order to contribute to a strong safety

  3. 40 CFR 257.3-8 - Safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Safety. 257.3-8 Section 257.3-8... and Practices § 257.3-8 Safety. (a) Explosive gases. The concentration of explosive gases generated by... shall not pose a hazard to the safety of persons or property from fires. This may be accomplished...

  4. A full Bayes before-after study accounting for temporal and spatial effects: Evaluating the safety impact of new signal installations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sacchi, Emanuele; Sayed, Tarek; El-Basyouny, Karim

    2016-09-01

    Recently, important advances in road safety statistics have been brought about by methods able to address issues other than the choice of the best error structure for modeling crash data. In particular, accounting for spatial and temporal interdependence, i.e., the notion that the collision occurrence of a site or unit times depend on those of others, has become an important issue that needs further research. Overall, autoregressive models can be used for this purpose as they can specify that the output variable depends on its own previous values and on a stochastic term. Spatial effects have been investigated and applied mostly in the context of developing safety performance functions (SPFs) to relate crash occurrence to highway characteristics. Hence, there is a need for studies that attempt to estimate the effectiveness of safety countermeasures by including the spatial interdependence of road sites within the context of an observational before-after (BA) study. Moreover, the combination of temporal dynamics and spatial effects on crash frequency has not been explored in depth for SPF development. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to carry out a BA study accounting for spatial effects and temporal dynamics in evaluating the effectiveness of a road safety treatment. The countermeasure analyzed was the installation of traffic signals at unsignalized urban/suburban intersections in British Columbia (Canada). The full Bayes approach was selected as the statistical framework to develop the models. The results demonstrated that zone variation was a major component of total crash variability and that spatial effects were alleviated by clustering intersections together. Finally, the methodology used also allowed estimation of the treatment's effectiveness in the form of crash modification factors and functions with time trends. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Analysing supercritical water reactor's (SCWR's) special safety systems using probabilistic tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ituen, I.; Novog, D.R.

    2011-01-01

    The next generation of reactors, termed Generation IV, has very attractive features -- its superior safety characteristics, high thermal efficiency, and fuel cycle sustainability. A key element of the Generation IV designs is the improvement in safety, which in turn requires improvements in safety system performance and reliability, as well as a reduction in initiating event frequencies. This study compares the response of the systems important to safety in the CANDU-Supercritical Water Reactor to those of the generic CANDU under a main steamline break accident and loss of forced circulation events -- to quantify the improvements in safety for the pre-conceptual CANDU SCWR design. Probabilistic safety analysis is the tool used in this study to test the behavior of the pre- conceptual design during these events. (author)

  6. Techniques for processing remote field eddy current signals from bend regions of steam generator tubes of prototype fast breeder reactor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thirunavukkarasu, S. [Non Destructive Evaluation Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, TN 603 102 (India); Rao, B.P.C., E-mail: bpcrao@igcar.gov.in [Non Destructive Evaluation Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, TN 603 102 (India); Jayakumar, T.; Raj, Baldev [Non Destructive Evaluation Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, TN 603 102 (India)

    2011-04-15

    Steam generator (SG) is one of the most critical components of sodium cooled fast breeder reactor. Remote field eddy current (RFEC) technique has been chosen for in-service inspection (ISI) of these ferromagnetic SG tubes made of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel (Grade 91). Expansion bends are provided in the SGs to accommodate differential thermal expansion. During ISI using RFEC technique, in expansion bend regions, exciter-receiver coil misalignment, bending stresses, probe wobble and magnetic permeability variations produce disturbing noise hindering detection of defects. Fourier filtering, cross-correlation and wavelet transform techniques have been studied for noise reduction as well as enhancement of RFEC signals of defects in bend regions, having machined grooves and localized defects. Performance of these three techniques has been compared using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Fourier filtering technique has shown better performance for noise reduction while cross-correlation technique has resulted in significant enhancement of signals. Wavelet transform technique has shown the combined capability of noise reduction and signal enhancement and resulted in unambiguous detection of 10% of wall loss grooves and localized defects in the bend regions with SNR better than 7 dB.

  7. Diversity of Neuropeptide Cell-Cell Signaling Molecules Generated by Proteolytic Processing Revealed by Neuropeptidomics Mass Spectrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hook, Vivian; Lietz, Christopher B.; Podvin, Sonia; Cajka, Tomas; Fiehn, Oliver

    2018-04-01

    Neuropeptides are short peptides in the range of 3-40 residues that are secreted for cell-cell communication in neuroendocrine systems. In the nervous system, neuropeptides comprise the largest group of neurotransmitters. In the endocrine system, neuropeptides function as peptide hormones to coordinate intercellular signaling among target physiological systems. The diversity of neuropeptide functions is defined by their distinct primary sequences, peptide lengths, proteolytic processing of pro-neuropeptide precursors, and covalent modifications. Global, untargeted neuropeptidomics mass spectrometry is advantageous for defining the structural features of the thousands to tens of thousands of neuropeptides present in biological systems. Defining neuropeptide structures is the basis for defining the proteolytic processing pathways that convert pro-neuropeptides into active peptides. Neuropeptidomics has revealed that processing of pro-neuropeptides occurs at paired basic residues sites, and at non-basic residue sites. Processing results in neuropeptides with known functions and generates novel peptides representing intervening peptide domains flanked by dibasic residue processing sites, identified by neuropeptidomics. While very short peptide products of 2-4 residues are predicted from pro-neuropeptide dibasic processing sites, such peptides have not been readily identified; therefore, it will be logical to utilize metabolomics to identify very short peptides with neuropeptidomics in future studies. Proteolytic processing is accompanied by covalent post-translational modifications (PTMs) of neuropeptides comprising C-terminal amidation, N-terminal pyroglutamate, disulfide bonds, phosphorylation, sulfation, acetylation, glycosylation, and others. Neuropeptidomics can define PTM features of neuropeptides. In summary, neuropeptidomics for untargeted, global analyses of neuropeptides is essential for elucidation of proteases that generate diverse neuropeptides for cell

  8. Diversity of Neuropeptide Cell-Cell Signaling Molecules Generated by Proteolytic Processing Revealed by Neuropeptidomics Mass Spectrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hook, Vivian; Lietz, Christopher B.; Podvin, Sonia; Cajka, Tomas; Fiehn, Oliver

    2018-05-01

    Neuropeptides are short peptides in the range of 3-40 residues that are secreted for cell-cell communication in neuroendocrine systems. In the nervous system, neuropeptides comprise the largest group of neurotransmitters. In the endocrine system, neuropeptides function as peptide hormones to coordinate intercellular signaling among target physiological systems. The diversity of neuropeptide functions is defined by their distinct primary sequences, peptide lengths, proteolytic processing of pro-neuropeptide precursors, and covalent modifications. Global, untargeted neuropeptidomics mass spectrometry is advantageous for defining the structural features of the thousands to tens of thousands of neuropeptides present in biological systems. Defining neuropeptide structures is the basis for defining the proteolytic processing pathways that convert pro-neuropeptides into active peptides. Neuropeptidomics has revealed that processing of pro-neuropeptides occurs at paired basic residues sites, and at non-basic residue sites. Processing results in neuropeptides with known functions and generates novel peptides representing intervening peptide domains flanked by dibasic residue processing sites, identified by neuropeptidomics. While very short peptide products of 2-4 residues are predicted from pro-neuropeptide dibasic processing sites, such peptides have not been readily identified; therefore, it will be logical to utilize metabolomics to identify very short peptides with neuropeptidomics in future studies. Proteolytic processing is accompanied by covalent post-translational modifications (PTMs) of neuropeptides comprising C-terminal amidation, N-terminal pyroglutamate, disulfide bonds, phosphorylation, sulfation, acetylation, glycosylation, and others. Neuropeptidomics can define PTM features of neuropeptides. In summary, neuropeptidomics for untargeted, global analyses of neuropeptides is essential for elucidation of proteases that generate diverse neuropeptides for cell

  9. Spent fuel storage criticality safety

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amin, E M; Elmessiry, A M [National center of nuclear safety and radiation control atomic energy authority, (Egypt)

    1995-10-01

    The safety aspects of the spent fuel storage pool of the Egyptian test and research reactor one (ET-R R-1) has to be assessed as part of a general overall safety evaluation to be included in a safety analysis report (SAR) for this reactor. The present work treats the criticality safety of the spent fuel storage pool. Conservative calculations based on using fresh fuel has been performed, as well as less conservative using burned fuel. The calculations include cross library generation for burned and fresh fuel for the ET-R R-1 fuel type. The WIMS-D 4 code has been used in library generation and burn up calculation the critically calculations are performed using the one dimensional transport code (ANISN) and the two dimensional diffusion code (DIXY2). The possibility of increasing the storage efficiency either by insertion of absorber sheets of soluble boron salts or by reduction of fuel rod separation has been studied. 8 figs., 2 tabs.

  10. Spent fuel storage criticality safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amin, E.M.; Elmessiry, A.M.

    1995-01-01

    The safety aspects of the spent fuel storage pool of the Egyptian test and research reactor one (ET-R R-1) has to be assessed as part of a general overall safety evaluation to be included in a safety analysis report (SAR) for this reactor. The present work treats the criticality safety of the spent fuel storage pool. Conservative calculations based on using fresh fuel has been performed, as well as less conservative using burned fuel. The calculations include cross library generation for burned and fresh fuel for the ET-R R-1 fuel type. The WIMS-D 4 code has been used in library generation and burn up calculation the critically calculations are performed using the one dimensional transport code (ANISN) and the two dimensional diffusion code (DIXY2). The possibility of increasing the storage efficiency either by insertion of absorber sheets of soluble boron salts or by reduction of fuel rod separation has been studied. 8 figs., 2 tabs

  11. Second generation of TELEPERM XS applications successful in operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weber, P.

    2008-01-01

    Safety I and C plays an important part in safety and availability of nuclear power plants. AREVA NP, the nuclear technology enterprise, recently began delivery of the second generation TELEPERM XS digital safety I and C technology. Qinshan 1, the first Chinese-built reactor, had its reactor protection system replaced. The plant has been back on the grid since January 12, 2008. Moreover, the Swedish Ringhals 1 nuclear generating unit has operated a neutron flux measuring system of the second-generation TELEPERM XS since October 2007. Both systems are running to their users' full satisfaction. TELEPERM XS has meanwhile been employed in 49 plants in twelve countries. This safety I and C system by AREVA NP can be used with nearly all reactor lines, for both new reactor designs and upgrading nuclear power plants in operation. Here are some examples of successful installations of reactor protection, reactor control and limiting, neutron flux measurement and Diesel power control systems with TELEPERM XS: the Tianwan 1 and 2 units in China (VVER plants), Oskarsham 2 in Sweden (boiling water reactor), and Neckarwestheim 1 and 2 in Germany (pressurized water reactors). TELEPERM XS systems are being planned for the new plants of Olkiluoto 3 in Finland (EPR), Flamanville 3 in France (EPR), Taishan 1 and 2 in China (EPR), and Ling Ao 3 and 4 in China (CPR 1000). For quick and unproblematic implementation of TELEPERM XS in a plant, the system with all subassemblies, functions, and input/output signals is fully tested in a testing station. For this purpose, AREVA NP built one of the largest testing stations in the world for I and C cabinets, the 'TELEPERM XS Integration Center', at its German location in Erlangen. More than 200 I and C cabinets can be tested simultaneously in these installations. The 'I and C and Electrical Systems' Forum is attached to the testing station. This is where the company presents to its customers and partner firms realistic solutions, in combination

  12. Research on Shaft Subsynchronous Oscillation Characteristics of Parallel Generators and SSDC Application in Mitigating SSO of Multi-Generators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shen Wang

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Subsynchronous oscillation (SSO of generators caused by high voltage direct current (HVDC systems can be solved by applying supplemental subsynchronous damping controller (SSDC. SSDC application in mitigating SSO of single-generator systems has been studied intensively. This paper focuses on SSDC application in mitigating SSO of multi-generator systems. The phase relationship of the speed signals of the generators under their common mechanical natural frequencies is a key consideration in SSDC design. The paper studies in detail the phase relationship of the speed signals of two generators in parallel under their shared mechanical natural frequency, revealing regardless of whether the two generators are identical or not, there always exists a common-mode and an anti-mode under their common natural frequency, and the phase relationship of the speed signals of the generators depends on the extent to which the anti-mode is stimulated. The paper further demonstrates that to guarantee the effectiveness of SSDC, the anti-phase mode component of its input signal should be eliminated. Based on the above analysis, the paper introduces the design process of SSDC for multi-generator systems and verifies its effectiveness through simulation in Power Systems Computer Aided Design/Electromagnetic Transients including Direct Current (PSCAD/EMTDC.

  13. Comparing performance level estimation of safety functions in three distributed structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hietikko, Marita; Malm, Timo; Saha, Heikki

    2015-01-01

    The capability of a machine control system to perform a safety function is expressed using performance levels (PL). This paper presents the results of a study where PL estimation was carried out for a safety function implemented using three different distributed control system structures. Challenges relating to the process of estimating PLs for safety related distributed machine control functions are highlighted. One of these examines the use of different cabling schemes in the implementation of a safety function and its effect on the PL evaluation. The safety function used as a generic example in PL calculations relates to a mobile work machine. It is a safety stop function where different technologies (electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic) can be utilized. It was detected that by replacing analogue cables with digital communication the system structure becomes simpler with less number of failing components, which can better the PL of the safety function. - Highlights: • Integration in distributed systems enables systems with less components. • It offers high reliability and diagnostic properties. • Analogue signals create uncertainty in signal reliability and difficult diagnostics

  14. Digital circuit for the introduction and later removal of dither from an analog signal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borgen, Gary S.

    1994-05-01

    An electronics circuit is presented for accurately digitizing an analog audio or like data signal into a digital equivalent signal by introducing dither into the analog signal and then subsequently removing the dither from the digitized signal prior to its conversion to an analog signal which is a substantial replica of the incoming analog audio or like data signal. The electronics circuit of the present invention is characterized by a first pseudo-random number generator which generates digital random noise signals or dither for addition to the digital equivalent signal and a second pseudo-random number generator which generates subtractive digital random noise signals for the subsequent removal of dither from the digital equivalent signal prior its conversion to the analog replica signal.

  15. Safety and performance of the second generation EnligHTN™ Renal Denervation System in patients with drug-resistant, uncontrolled hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Worthley, Stephen G; Wilkins, Gerard T; Webster, Mark W; Montarello, Joseph K; Delacroix, Sinny; Whitbourn, Robert J; Warren, Roderic J

    2017-07-01

    Catheter-based renal denervation for the treatment of drug-resistant hypertension has been intensively investigated in recent years. To date, only limited data have been published using multi-electrode radiofrequency ablation systems that can deliver lesions with a pre-determined pattern. This study was designed to evaluate the safety and performance of the second generation EnligHTN™ Renal Denervation System. This first-in-human, prospective, multi-center, non-randomized study included 39 patients (62% male, mean age 63 years, and mean baseline office blood pressure 174/93 mmHg) with drug-resistant hypertension. The primary safety and performance objectives were to characterize, from baseline to 6 months post procedure, the rate of serious procedural and device related adverse events, as adjudicated by an independent Clinical Events Committee, and the reduction of office systolic blood pressure. Renal artery denervation, using the second generation EnligHTN multi-electrode system significantly reduced office blood pressure from baseline to 1, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months by 19/7, 26/9, 25/7, 23/7, 25/8 and 27/9 mmHg, respectively (p ≤ 0.0005). No serious device or procedure related adverse events affecting the renal arteries or renal function occurred through 24 months of follow-up. Renal sympathetic denervation using the second generation EnligHTN Renal Denervation System resulted in safe, rapid, and significant mean office blood pressure reduction that was sustained through 24 months. Future studies will need to address the utility of this system against an appropriate sham based comparator. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. NB Power's public safety perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sisk, P [New Brunswick Power, Fredericton, NB (Canada)

    2009-07-01

    New Brunswick Power Generation (NB Power) - Genco operates and maintains one of North America's most diverse generating systems. It consists of 15 hydro, coal, oil and diesel-powered generating stations and supplies approximately 75 per cent of the in-province load. It also exports energy to neighbouring New England, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. This presentation provided some history regarding public safety issues at NB Power. The Mactaquac generating system was discussed with particular reference to its activities, challenges and control measures such as signage, audible alarms, visuals, security fencing, and coast guard navigation buoys. Several recommendations were presented, such as developing a tool to conduct risk assessment at all hydro stations; developing a public safety campaign; installing booms where required; standardizing signs; evaluating security risks; and conducting pre-spill inspections to remove the public from dangerous areas. figs.

  17. Radiation Safety in Production of Y-90 from an electrochemical generator. CENTIS experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ayra Pardo, Fernando Enrique

    2016-01-01

    From a project with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Isotope Center installation and commissioning began operating an electrochemical generator of Sr-90 / Y-90 inside a glove box shielded. The aim was to ensure the production of Y-90 needed in the research carried out in Cuba with this radionuclide for the medical industry. Associate at the beginning of this practice, compliance with all regulatory requirements approved in the country from the radiological point of view that demonstrated the safety of this for both operators and the general public became necessary. Using the MCNPX code generator installation was simulated and the equivalent dose Hp (10) were obtained for the operator: 6.27 mSv / y Hp (0.07): 17 mSv / a for a source of 10 Ci of 90 Sr- 90 Y . Also the use of TLD dosimeters similar to those used for gamma emitting radionuclides for controlling beta exposures was evaluated. high sensitivity lithium fluoride tablets couple energy beta particles of Y-90 which ensures its use for measuring the magnitude Hp (007) was demonstrated. two possible solutions for the recovery of liquid waste 90 Sr one another by distillation and ion exchange are evaluated. To transport the Y-90 may be used the package currently used in marketing the rest of the CENTIS radiopharmaceuticals. As a final result, the practice was approved and included in the Operating License Center Isotopes. (author)

  18. High-sweeping-speed optically synchronized dual-channel terahertz-signal generator for driving a superconducting tunneling mixer and its application to active gas sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Kyoung-Hwan; Shimizu, Naofumi; Kohjiro, Satoshi; Kikuchi, Ken'ichi; Wakatsuki, Atsushi; Kukutsu, Naoya; Kado, Yuichi

    2009-10-12

    We propose a high-sweeping-speed optically synchronized dual-channel terahertz (THz) signal generator for an active gas-sensing system with a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer. The generator can sweep a frequency range from 200 to 500 GHz at a speed of 375 GHz/s and a frequency resolution of 500 MHz. With the developed gas-sensing system, a gas-absorption-line measurement was successfully carried out with N(2)O gas in that frequency range.

  19. A comparative study of chaotic and white noise signals in digital watermarking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mooney, Aidan; Keating, John G.; Pitas, Ioannis

    2008-01-01

    Digital watermarking is an ever increasing and important discipline, especially in the modern electronically-driven world. Watermarking aims to embed a piece of information into digital documents which their owner can use to prove that the document is theirs, at a later stage. In this paper, performance analysis of watermarking schemes is performed on white noise sequences and chaotic sequences for the purpose of watermark generation. Pseudorandom sequences are compared with chaotic sequences generated from the chaotic skew tent map. In particular, analysis is performed on highpass signals generated from both these watermark generation schemes, along with analysis on lowpass watermarks and white noise watermarks. This analysis focuses on the watermarked images after they have been subjected to common image distortion attacks. It is shown that signals generated from highpass chaotic signals have superior performance than highpass noise signals, in the presence of such attacks. It is also shown that watermarks generated from lowpass chaotic signals have superior performance over the other signal types analysed

  20. Design safety improvements of Kozloduy NPP to meet the modern safety requirements towards the old generation PWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hinovski, M.P.; Sabinov, S.

    2001-01-01

    Activities related to safety improvement of Kozloduy NPP units, started at the end of 1970s included seismic resistance upgrading, fire safety improvement, reliable heat final absorber etc. During the last 10 years the approach was systematized and improved. Units 1 to 4 are of great interest; therefore here we will discuss these units only. As a result of studies and analyses performed at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, problems related to the safety were identified and complex of technical measures was developed and planned. A considerable part of these measures has already been implemented, and the rest will be performed during the next years. Activities were performed by stages, and at the moment the last stage is under way. It shall be finished by the year 2003. The number of the measures is quite large to describe them here in full scope -- during the first stage of the safety program (1991-1993) were developed and analyzed more than 4200 documents and more than 160 measures were executed. During the second and third stages more than 300 important improvements were realized. In the frame of the program, financed by EBRD, 10 new systems with great importance were implemented and 8 systems were significantly modified. The main measures are described below. (author)

  1. Salicylic acid signaling inhibits apoplastic reactive oxygen species signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Enjun; Brosché, Mikael

    2014-06-04

    Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are used by plants as signaling molecules during stress and development. Given the amount of possible challenges a plant face from their environment, plants need to activate and prioritize between potentially conflicting defense signaling pathways. Until recently, most studies on signal interactions have focused on phytohormone interaction, such as the antagonistic relationship between salicylic acid (SA)-jasmonic acid and cytokinin-auxin. In this study, we report an antagonistic interaction between SA signaling and apoplastic ROS signaling. Treatment with ozone (O3) leads to a ROS burst in the apoplast and induces extensive changes in gene expression and elevation of defense hormones. However, Arabidopsis thaliana dnd1 (defense no death1) exhibited an attenuated response to O3. In addition, the dnd1 mutant displayed constitutive expression of defense genes and spontaneous cell death. To determine the exact process which blocks the apoplastic ROS signaling, double and triple mutants involved in various signaling pathway were generated in dnd1 background. Simultaneous elimination of SA-dependent and SA-independent signaling components from dnd1 restored its responsiveness to O3. Conversely, pre-treatment of plants with SA or using mutants that constitutively activate SA signaling led to an attenuation of changes in gene expression elicited by O3. Based upon these findings, we conclude that plants are able to prioritize the response between ROS and SA via an antagonistic action of SA and SA signaling on apoplastic ROS signaling.

  2. Application of condition-based HRA method for a manual actuation of the safety features in a nuclear power Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Hyun Gook; Jang, Seung-Cheol

    2006-01-01

    A practical approach to develop a more realistic fault-tree model with a consideration of various conditions endured by a human operator is proposed. In safety-critical systems, the generation failure of an actuation signal is caused by the concurrent failures of the automated systems and an operator action. These two sources of safety signals are complicatedly correlated. The failures of sensors or automated systems will cause a lack of necessary information for a human operator and result in error-forcing contexts such as the loss of corresponding alarms and indications. It is well known that the error-forcing contexts largely affect the operator's performance. An automated system which consists of multiple processing channels and complex components is also affected by the availability of the sensors. This paper proposes a condition-based human reliability assessment (CBHRA) method in order to address these complicated conditions in a practical way. We apply the CBHRA method to the manual actuation of the safety features such as a reactor trip and auxiliary feedwater actuation in Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants. Even the human error probability of each given condition is simply assumed, the application results prove that the CBHRA effectively accommodates the complicated error-forcing contexts into the fault trees

  3. Sargent-IV Project. Development of new methodologies for safety analysis of Generation IV reactors; Proyecto SARGEB-IV. Desarrollo de nuevas metodologias de analisis de seguridad para reactores de Generacion IV

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Queral, C.; Gallego, E.; Jimenez, G.

    2013-07-01

    The main result of this paper is the proposal for the addition of new ingredients in the safety analysis methodologies for Generation-IV reactors that integrates the features of probabilistic safety analysis within deterministic. This ensures a higher degree of integration between the classical deterministic and probabilistic methodologies.

  4. Perceptions of safety in the workplace

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voelz, G.L.

    1980-01-01

    The concept of safety in the workplace is changing. Safety First was a slogan generated at a time when life and limb were at significant risk in many industries. Now much more subtle effects, such as late health effects due to industrial exposure and trauma, including mental stress, have become a concern to the safety specialists. Despite the changes in the concepts of safety today, the principles of safety in the workplace remain the same. They are management leadership, procedures, safe work conditions, safety training for supervisors and employees, medical surveillance, and careful accident reporting, investigation and record keeping

  5. Method and apparatus for anti-islanding protection of distributed generations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Zhihong; John, Vinod; Wang, Changyong; Garces, Luis Jose; Zhou, Rui; Li, Lei; Walling, Reigh Allen; Premerlani, William James; Sanza, Peter Claudius; Liu, Yan; Dame, Mark Edward

    2006-03-21

    An apparatus for anti-islanding protection of a distributed generation with respect to a feeder connected to an electrical grid is disclosed. The apparatus includes a sensor adapted to generate a voltage signal representative of an output voltage and/or a current signal representative of an output current at the distributed generation, and a controller responsive to the signals from the sensor. The controller is productive of a control signal directed to the distributed generation to drive an operating characteristic of the distributed generation out of a nominal range in response to the electrical grid being disconnected from the feeder.

  6. Calcium Signaling in Taste Cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medler, Kathryn F.

    2014-01-01

    The sense of taste is a common ability shared by all organisms and is used to detect nutrients as well as potentially harmful compounds. Thus taste is critical to survival. Despite its importance, surprisingly little is known about the mechanisms generating and regulating responses to taste stimuli. All taste responses depend on calcium signals to generate appropriate responses which are relayed to the brain. Some taste cells have conventional synapses and rely on calcium influx through voltage-gated calcium channels. Other taste cells lack these synapses and depend on calcium release to formulate an output signal through a hemichannel. Beyond establishing these characteristics, few studies have focused on understanding how these calcium signals are formed. We identified multiple calcium clearance mechanisms that regulate calcium levels in taste cells as well as a calcium influx that contributes to maintaining appropriate calcium homeostasis in these cells. Multiple factors regulate the evoked taste signals with varying roles in different cell populations. Clearly, calcium signaling is a dynamic process in taste cells and is more complex than has previously been appreciated. PMID:25450977

  7. Pulse shaping for all-optical signal processing of ultra-high bit rate serial data signals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Palushani, Evarist

    The following thesis concerns pulse shaping and optical waveform manipulation for all-optical signal processing of ultra-high bit rate serial data signals, including generation of optical pulses in the femtosecond regime, serial-to-parallel conversion and terabaud coherent optical time division...

  8. Safety design requirements for safety systems and components of JSFR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kubo, Shigenobu; Shimakawa, Yoshio; Yamano, Hidemasa; Kotake, Shoji

    2011-01-01

    Safety design requirements for JSFR were summarized taking the development targets of the FaCT project and design feature of JSFR into account. The related safety principle and requirements for Monju, CRBRP, PRISM, SPX, LWRs, IAEA standards, goals of GIF, basic principle of INPRO etc. were also taken into account so that the safety design requirements can be a next-generation global standard. The development targets for safety and reliability are set based on those of FaCT, namely, ensuring safety and reliability equal to future LWR and related fuel cycle facilities. In order to achieve these targets, the defence-in-depth concept is used as the basic safety design principle. General features of the safety design requirements are 1) Achievement of higher reliability, 2) Achievement of higher inspectability and maintainability, 3) Introduction of passive safety features, 4) Reduction of operator action needs, 5) Design consideration against Beyond Design Basis Events, 6) In-Vessel Retention of degraded core materials, 7) Prevention and mitigation against sodium chemical reactions, and 8) Design against external events. The current specific requirements for each system and component are summarized taking the basic design concept of JSFR into account, which is an advanced loop-type large-output power plant with a mixed-oxide-fuelled core. (author)

  9. Safety investigation of 'Mutsu', the first nuclear ship in Japan (the correspondence to the guideline of safety design examination, etc.)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1981-01-01

    Japan Nuclear Ship Development Agency had made previously application for the permission of the alteration of the reactor installation in the nuclear ship Mutsu (the first of this kind in Japan), based on the overall safety investigation of the ship made by JNDA. Taking the opportunity of the governmental safety examination concerning the permission, the correspondence of the safety aspects of the n.s. Mutsu to the existing guidelines for the safety of nuclear reactor facilities was examined. These results to further enhance the safety of the n.s. Mutsu are described concerning the following matters: the safety design examination guideline for power-generating LWR facilities (58 items); the safety evaluation guideline for power-generating LWR facilities (the analysis of abnormal transients during operation and accidents); the safety countermeasures to be adopted in the reactor plant of the n.s. Mutsu from the situation of the TMI nuclear accident in U.S. (7 in design and 10 in operation management); the analysis simulating the TMI accident. (J.P.N.)

  10. Potential of acoustic monitoring for safety assessment of primary system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olma, B.J.

    1997-01-01

    Safety assessment of the primary system and its components with respect to their mechanical integrity is increasingly supported by acoustic signature analysis during power operation of the plants. Acoustic signals of Loose Parts Monitoring System sensors are continuously monitored by dedicated digital systems for signal bursts associated with metallic impacts. Several years of ISTec/GRS experience and the practical use of its digital systems MEDEA and RAMSES have shown that acoustic monitoring is very successful for detecting component failures at an early stage. Advanced powerful tools for classification and acoustic evaluation of burst signals have recently been realized. The paper presents diagnosis experiences of BWR's and PWR's safety assessment. (author). 7 refs, 8 figs

  11. Signal-BNF: A Bayesian Network Fusing Approach to Predict Signal Peptides

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhi Zheng

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A signal peptide is a short peptide chain that directs the transport of a protein and has become the crucial vehicle in finding new drugs or reprogramming cells for gene therapy. As the avalanche of new protein sequences generated in the postgenomic era, the challenge of identifying new signal sequences has become even more urgent and critical in biomedical engineering. In this paper, we propose a novel predictor called Signal-BNF to predict the N-terminal signal peptide as well as its cleavage site based on Bayesian reasoning network. Signal-BNF is formed by fusing the results of different Bayesian classifiers which used different feature datasets as its input through weighted voting system. Experiment results show that Signal-BNF is superior to the popular online predictors such as Signal-3L and PrediSi. Signal-BNF is featured by high prediction accuracy that may serve as a useful tool for further investigating many unclear details regarding the molecular mechanism of the zip code protein-sorting system in cells.

  12. Nitric oxide signals are interlinked with calcium signals in normal pancreatic stellate cells upon oxidative stress and inflammation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jakubowska, Monika A; Ferdek, Pawel E; Gerasimenko, Oleg V; Gerasimenko, Julia V; Petersen, Ole H

    2016-08-01

    The mammalian diffuse stellate cell system comprises retinoid-storing cells capable of remarkable transformations from a quiescent to an activated myofibroblast-like phenotype. Activated pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) attract attention owing to the pivotal role they play in development of tissue fibrosis in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. However, little is known about the actual role of PSCs in the normal pancreas. These enigmatic cells have recently been shown to respond to physiological stimuli in a manner that is markedly different from their neighbouring pancreatic acinar cells (PACs). Here, we demonstrate the capacity of PSCs to generate nitric oxide (NO), a free radical messenger mediating, for example, inflammation and vasodilatation. We show that production of cytosolic NO in PSCs is unambiguously related to cytosolic Ca(2+) signals. Only stimuli that evoke Ca(2+) signals in the PSCs elicit consequent NO generation. We provide fresh evidence for the striking difference between signalling pathways in PSCs and adjacent PACs, because PSCs, in contrast to PACs, generate substantial Ca(2+)-mediated and NOS-dependent NO signals. We also show that inhibition of NO generation protects both PSCs and PACs from necrosis. Our results highlight the interplay between Ca(2+) and NO signalling pathways in cell-cell communication, and also identify a potential therapeutic target for anti-inflammatory therapies. © 2016 The Authors.

  13. Methods and strategies for future reactor safety goals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, Steven Andrew

    There have been significant discussions over the past few years by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), and others as to the adequacy of the NRC safety goals for use with the next generation of nuclear power reactors to be built in the United States. The NRC, in its safety goals policy statement, has provided general qualitative safety goals and basic quantitative health objectives (QHOs) for nuclear reactors in the United States. Risk metrics such as core damage frequency (CDF) and large early release frequency (LERF) have been used as surrogates for the QHOs. In its review of the new plant licensing policy the ACRS has looked at the safety goals, as has the NRC. A number of issues have been raised including what the Commission had in mind when it drafted the safety goals and QHOs, how risk from multiple reactors at a site should be combined for evaluation, how the combination of a new and old reactor at the same site should be evaluated, what the criteria for evaluating new reactors should be, and whether new reactors should be required to be safer than current generation reactors. As part of the development and application of the NRC safety goal policy statement the Commissioners laid out the expectations for the safety of a nuclear power plant but did not address the risk associated with current multi-unit sites, potential modular reactor sites, and hybrid sites that could contain current generation reactors, new passive reactors, and/or modular reactors. The NRC safety goals and the QHOs refer to a "nuclear power plant," but do not discuss whether a "plant" refers to only a single unit or all of the units on a site. There has been much discussion on this issue recently due to the development of modular reactors. Additionally, the risk of multiple reactor accidents on the same site has been largely ignored in the probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) done to date, and in most risk

  14. The safety interlocking system at the NAC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Visser, K.; Mostert, H.

    1984-01-01

    The central safety interlocking system (CSIS) controls the higher level of interlocking between the various cyclotron subsystems. It ensures the safe operation of the entire cyclotron facility as regards personnel safety and proper instrument operation. The system consists of a micro-processor with a ROM-based safety interlocking program, relay output modules providing ''safety OK'' instructions to all interlocked apparatus, alarm input modules connected to transducers providing binary alarm status signals and an interface to the central control computer. All solid state electronic components of the system are situated in a low level radiation area and are interfaced to cyclotron equipment by means of 24 V relays

  15. Design and development of microcontroller based programmable ramp generator for AC-DC converter for simulating decay power transient in experimental facility for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srivastava, Gaurava Deep; Kulkarni, R.D.

    2015-01-01

    In nuclear power plants, fuel is subjected to a wide range of power and temperature transients during normal and abnormal conditions. The reactor setback and step-back power pattern, fast temperature profile occurred during Loss of Coolant Accident and decay power followed by shutdown of power plant are the typical transients in nuclear power plant. For a variety of reactor engineering and reactor safety related study, one needs to simulate these transients in experimental facility. In experimental facilities, high response AC-DC converters are used to handle these power and temperature transients safely in a controlled manner for generating a database which is utilized for design of thermal hydraulic system, development of computer codes, study of reliability of reactor safety system, etc. for nuclear power plants. The paper presents the methodology developed for simulating the typical reactor decay power transient in an experimental facility. The design and simulation of AC-DC power electronic converter of 3 MW capacity is also presented. The microcontroller based programmable ramp generator is designed and hardware implemented for feeding reference voltage to the closed loop control system of AC-DC converter for obtaining the decay power profile at the converter output. The typical decay power transient of the nuclear power plant is divided into several small power ramps for simulating the transient. The signal corresponding to each power ramp is generated by programmable ramp generator and fed to the comparator for generating control signal for the converter. The actual decay power transient obtained from the converter is compared with the theoretical decay power transient. (author)

  16. A model for generating Surface EMG signal of m. Tibialis Anterior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siddiqi, Ariba; Kumar, Dinesh; Arjunan, Sridhar P

    2014-01-01

    A model that simulates surface electromyogram (sEMG) signal of m. Tibialis Anterior has been developed and tested. This has a firing rate equation that is based on experimental findings. It also has a recruitment threshold that is based on observed statistical distribution. Importantly, it has considered both, slow and fast type which has been distinguished based on their conduction velocity. This model has assumed that the deeper unipennate half of the muscle does not contribute significantly to the potential induced on the surface of the muscle and has approximated the muscle to have parallel structure. The model was validated by comparing the simulated and the experimental sEMG signal recordings. Experiments were conducted on eight subjects who performed isometric dorsiflexion at 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100% maximal voluntary contraction. Normalized root mean square and median frequency of the experimental and simulated EMG signal were computed and the slopes of the linearity with the force were statistically analyzed. The gradients were found to be similar (p>0.05) for both experimental and simulated sEMG signal, validating the proposed model.

  17. Rad waste disposal safety analysis / Integrated safety assessment of a waste repository

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Jongtae; Choi, Jongwon; Kang, Chulhyung

    2012-04-01

    We developed CYPRUS+and adopted PID and RES method for the development of scenario. Safety performance assessment program was developed using GoldSim for the safety assessment of disposal system for the disposal of spnet fuels and wastes resulting from the pyrpoprocessing. Biosphere model was developed and verified in cooperation with JAEA. The capability to evaluate post-closure performance and safety was added to the previously developed program. And, nuclide migration and release to the biosphere considering site characteristics was evaluated by using deterministic and probabilistic approach. Operational safety assessment for drop, fire, and earthquake was also statistically evaluated considering well-established input parameter distribution. Conservative assessment showed that dose rate is below the limit value of low- and intermediate-level repository. Gas generation mechanism within engineered barrier was defined and its influence on safety was evaluated. We made probabilistic safety assessment by obtaining the probability distribution functions of important input variables and also made a sensitivity analysis. The maximum annual dose rate was shown to be below the safety limit value of 10 mSv/yr. The structure and element of safety case was developed to increase reliability of safety assessment methodology for a deep geological repository. Finally, milestone for safety case development and implementation strategy for each safety case element was also proposed

  18. Signal recovery of the corrupted metal impact signal using the adaptive filtering in NPPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Dai Il; Shin, Won Ky; Oh, Sung Hun; Yun, Won Young

    1995-01-01

    Loose Part Monitoring System (LPMS) is one of the fundamental diagnostic tools installed in the nuclear power plants. In this paper, recovery process algorithm and model for the corrupted impact signal generated by loose parts is presented. The characteristics of this algorithm can obtain a proper burst signal even though background noise is considerably high level comparing with actual impact signal. To verify performance of the proposed algorithm, we evaluate mathematically signal-to-noise ratio of primary output and noise. The performance of this recovery process algorithm is shown through computer simulation

  19. Redox signaling during hypoxia in mammalian cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kimberly A. Smith

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Hypoxia triggers a wide range of protective responses in mammalian cells, which are mediated through transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms. Redox signaling in cells by reactive oxygen species (ROS such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 occurs through the reversible oxidation of cysteine thiol groups, resulting in structural modifications that can change protein function profoundly. Mitochondria are an important source of ROS generation, and studies reveal that superoxide generation by the electron transport chain increases during hypoxia. Other sources of ROS, such as the NAD(PH oxidases, may also generate oxidant signals in hypoxia. This review considers the growing body of work indicating that increased ROS signals during hypoxia are responsible for regulating the activation of protective mechanisms in diverse cell types.

  20. MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Reporting Program MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it ... approved information that can help patients avoid serious adverse events. Potential Signals of Serious Risks/New Safety ...