Purex canyon exhaust fan bearing temperature monitoring system doric 245 datalogger programming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blackaby, W.B.

1994-01-01

A micro-processor based datalogger is used to monitor, display, and log seventeen RTD temperature channels. Five bearings are monitored for each of the three electric motor-fan assemblies and two bearings are monitored on the steam turbine unit. Several alarms per data channel (a High alarm at 236 degrees and a High High alarm at 246 degrees F) will alert the operation's staff to increasing abnormal bearing temperatures. This procedure is cross-referenced to the manufacturers manual. All programming steps will have the following footnote: Mpg x-xx. The Mpg refers to the Manual page, with x as the section number and xx as the page number in that section. When more information is needed, such as pictures or details, then the manual section and page number is provided

Development of a pan-Arctic monitoring plan for polar bears: Background paper

Science.gov (United States)

Vongraven, Dag; Peacock, Lily

2011-01-01

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), by their very nature, and the extreme, remote environment in which they live, are inherently difficult to study and monitor. Monitoring polar bear populations is both arduous and costly and, to be effective, must be a long-term commitment. There are few jurisdictional governments and management boards with a mandate for polar bear research and management, and many have limited resources. Although population monitoring of polar bears has been a focus to some degree within most jurisdictions around the Arctic, of the 19 subpopulations recognised by the IUCN/Species Survival Commission Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG), adequate scientific trend data exist for only three of the subpopulations, fair trend data for five and poor or no trend data for the remaining 11 subpopulations (PBSG 2010a). There are especially critical knowledge gaps for the subpopulations in East Greenland, in the Russian Kara and Laptev seas, and in the Chukchi Sea, which is shared between Russia and the United States. The range covered by these subpopulations represents a third of the total area (approx. 23 million km2) of polar bears’ current range, and more than half if the Arctic Basin is included. If we use popular terms, we know close to nothing about polar bears in this portion of their range.As summer sea-ice extent, and to a lesser degree, spring-time extent, continues to retreat, outpacing model forecasts (Stroeve et al. 2007, Pedersen et al. 2009), polar bears face the challenge of adapting to rapidly changing habitats. There is a need to use current and synthesised information across the Arctic, and to develop new methods that will facilitate monitoring to generate new knowledge at a pan-Arctic scale. The circumpolar dimension can be lost when efforts are channelled into regional monitoring. Developing and implementing a plan that harmonises local, regional and global efforts will increase our power to detect and understand important trends for polar

Monitoring the wild black bear's reaction to human and environmental stressors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iaizzo Paul A

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Bears are among the most physiologically remarkable mammals. They spend half their life in an active state and the other half in a state of dormancy without food or water, and without urinating, defecating, or physical activity, yet can rouse and defend themselves when disturbed. Although important data have been obtained in both captive and wild bears, long-term physiological monitoring of bears has not been possible until the recent advancement of implantable devices. Results Insertable cardiac monitors that were developed for use in human heart patients (Reveal® XT, Medtronic, Inc were implanted in 15 hibernating bears. Data were recovered from 8, including 2 that were legally shot by hunters. Devices recorded low heart rates (pauses of over 14 seconds and low respiration rates (1.5 breaths/min during hibernation, dramatic respiratory sinus arrhythmias in the fall and winter months, and elevated heart rates in summer (up to 214 beats/min (bpm and during interactions with hunters (exceeding 250 bpm. The devices documented the first and last day of denning, a period of quiescence in two parturient females after birthing, and extraordinary variation in the amount of activity/day, ranging from 0 (winter to 1084 minutes (summer. Data showed a transition toward greater nocturnal activity in the fall, preceding hibernation. The data-loggers also provided evidence of the physiological and behavioral responses of bears to our den visits to retrieve the data. Conclusions Annual variations in heart rate and activity have been documented for the first time in wild black bears. This technique has broad applications to wildlife management and physiological research, enabling the impact of environmental stressors from humans, changing seasons, climate change, social interactions and predation to be directly monitored over multiple years.

Utilisation of acoustic emission technique to monitor lubrication condition in a low speed bearing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nordin Jamaludin; Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor

2003-01-01

Monitoring of lubrication condition in rolling element bearings through the use of vibration analysis is an established technique. However, this success has not mirrored at low rotational speeds. At low speeds the energy generated from the poor lubricated bearing lubrication might not show as an obvious change in signature and thus become undetectable using conventional vibration measuring equipment. This paper presents an investigation into the applicability of acoustic emission technique and analysis for detecting poorly lubricated bearing rotating at a speed of 1.12 rpm. Investigations were centered on a test-rig designed to simulate the real bearing used in the field. The variation of lubricant amount in the low-speed bearing was successfully monitored using a new developed method known as pulse injection technique (PIT). The PIT technique was based on acoustic emission method. The technique involved transmitting a Dirac pulse to the test bearing via a transmitting acoustic emission sensor while the bearing was in operation. Analysing the captured acoustic emission signatures using established statistical method could differentiate between properly and poorly lubricated bearing. (Author)

Multiple estimates of effective population size for monitoring a long-lived vertebrate: An application to Yellowstone grizzly bears

Science.gov (United States)

Kamath, Pauline L.; Haroldson, Mark A.; Luikart, Gordon; Paetkau, David; Whitman, Craig L.; van Manen, Frank T.

2015-01-01

Effective population size (Ne) is a key parameter for monitoring the genetic health of threatened populations because it reflects a population's evolutionary potential and risk of extinction due to genetic stochasticity. However, its application to wildlife monitoring has been limited because it is difficult to measure in natural populations. The isolated and well-studied population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem provides a rare opportunity to examine the usefulness of different Ne estimators for monitoring. We genotyped 729 Yellowstone grizzly bears using 20 microsatellites and applied three single-sample estimators to examine contemporary trends in generation interval (GI), effective number of breeders (Nb) and Ne during 1982–2007. We also used multisample methods to estimate variance (NeV) and inbreeding Ne (NeI). Single-sample estimates revealed positive trajectories, with over a fourfold increase in Ne (≈100 to 450) and near doubling of the GI (≈8 to 14) from the 1980s to 2000s. NeV (240–319) and NeI (256) were comparable with the harmonic mean single-sample Ne (213) over the time period. Reanalysing historical data, we found NeV increased from ≈80 in the 1910s–1960s to ≈280 in the contemporary population. The estimated ratio of effective to total census size (Ne/Nc) was stable and high (0.42–0.66) compared to previous brown bear studies. These results support independent demographic evidence for Yellowstone grizzly bear population growth since the 1980s. They further demonstrate how genetic monitoring of Ne can complement demographic-based monitoring of Nc and vital rates, providing a valuable tool for wildlife managers.

Health Assessment of Cooling Fan Bearings Using Wavelet-Based Filtering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiang Miao

2012-12-01

Full Text Available As commonly used forced convection air cooling devices in electronics, cooling fans are crucial for guaranteeing the reliability of electronic systems. In a cooling fan assembly, fan bearing failure is a major failure mode that causes excessive vibration, noise, reduction in rotation speed, locked rotor, failure to start, and other problems; therefore, it is necessary to conduct research on the health assessment of cooling fan bearings. This paper presents a vibration-based fan bearing health evaluation method using comblet filtering and exponentially weighted moving average. A new health condition indicator (HCI for fan bearing degradation assessment is proposed. In order to collect the vibration data for validation of the proposed method, a cooling fan accelerated life test was conducted to simulate the lubricant starvation of fan bearings. A comparison between the proposed method and methods in previous studies (i.e., root mean square, kurtosis, and fault growth parameter was carried out to assess the performance of the HCI. The analysis results suggest that the HCI can identify incipient fan bearing failures and describe the bearing degradation process. Overall, the work presented in this paper provides a promising method for fan bearing health evaluation and prognosis.

An online condition monitoring system implemented an internet connectivity and FTP for low speed slew bearing

Science.gov (United States)

Caesarendra, W.; Kosasih, B.; Tjahjowidodo, T.; Ariyanto, M.; Daryl, LWQ; Pamungkas, D.

2018-04-01

Rapid and reliable information in slew bearing maintenance is not trivial issue. This paper presents the online monitoring system to assist maintenance engineer in order to monitor the bearing condition of low speed slew bearing in sheet metal company. The system is able to pass the vibration information from the place where the bearing and accelerometer sensors are attached to the data center; and from the data center it can be access by opening the online monitoring website from any place and by any person. The online monitoring system is built using some programming languages such as C language, MATLAB, PHP, HTML and CSS. Generally, the flow process is start with the automatic vibration data acquisition; then features are calculated from the acquired vibration data. These features are then sent to the data center; and form the data center, the vibration features can be seen through the online monitoring website. This online monitoring system has been successfully applied in School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Wollongong.

Multiple estimates of effective population size for monitoring a long-lived vertebrate: an application to Yellowstone grizzly bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamath, Pauline L; Haroldson, Mark A; Luikart, Gordon; Paetkau, David; Whitman, Craig; van Manen, Frank T

2015-11-01

Effective population size (N(e)) is a key parameter for monitoring the genetic health of threatened populations because it reflects a population's evolutionary potential and risk of extinction due to genetic stochasticity. However, its application to wildlife monitoring has been limited because it is difficult to measure in natural populations. The isolated and well-studied population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem provides a rare opportunity to examine the usefulness of different N(e) estimators for monitoring. We genotyped 729 Yellowstone grizzly bears using 20 microsatellites and applied three single-sample estimators to examine contemporary trends in generation interval (GI), effective number of breeders (N(b)) and N(e) during 1982-2007. We also used multisample methods to estimate variance (N(eV)) and inbreeding N(e) (N(eI)). Single-sample estimates revealed positive trajectories, with over a fourfold increase in N(e) (≈100 to 450) and near doubling of the GI (≈8 to 14) from the 1980s to 2000s. N(eV) (240-319) and N(eI) (256) were comparable with the harmonic mean single-sample N(e) (213) over the time period. Reanalysing historical data, we found N(eV) increased from ≈80 in the 1910s-1960s to ≈280 in the contemporary population. The estimated ratio of effective to total census size (N(e) /N(c)) was stable and high (0.42-0.66) compared to previous brown bear studies. These results support independent demographic evidence for Yellowstone grizzly bear population growth since the 1980s. They further demonstrate how genetic monitoring of N(e) can complement demographic-based monitoring of N(c) and vital rates, providing a valuable tool for wildlife managers. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Longitudinal fecal hormone analysis for monitoring reproductive activity in the female polar bear (Ursus maritimus).

Science.gov (United States)

Stoops, M A; MacKinnon, K M; Roth, T L

2012-12-01

The objective was to identify suitable enzyme immunoassays to monitor gonadal and placental function in the female polar bear. Immunoreactive progesterone, progesterone metabolite (PdG), estrogen, and androgen metabolite (T) concentrations were measured in fecal samples collected over 24 mo from captive female bears (N = 20). Whereas fecal extracts produced displacement curves parallel to the standard curve for each respective steroid, T and PdG more accurately reflected reproductive events. Concentrations of fecal T increased (P bears excreted higher PdG concentrations (P bears also had a PdG rise in the Fall, suggesting they experienced either pregnancy loss or a pseudopregnancy. Differentiating pregnant and pseudopregnant states was not achieved using fecal PdG alone, but when combined with fecal T, comprehensive diagnoses could be made. Nonparturient bears demonstrated elevated (P bears did not. In summary, noninvasive hormone monitoring techniques were established for the female polar bear. Although this study was directed at facilitating management and breeding efforts of captive polar bears, the methods could be applied to studies of reproductive function in wild populations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Hybrid Generalized Hidden Markov Model-Based Condition Monitoring Approach for Rolling Bearings.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jie; Hu, Youmin; Wu, Bo; Wang, Yan; Xie, Fengyun

2017-05-18

The operating condition of rolling bearings affects productivity and quality in the rotating machine process. Developing an effective rolling bearing condition monitoring approach is critical to accurately identify the operating condition. In this paper, a hybrid generalized hidden Markov model-based condition monitoring approach for rolling bearings is proposed, where interval valued features are used to efficiently recognize and classify machine states in the machine process. In the proposed method, vibration signals are decomposed into multiple modes with variational mode decomposition (VMD). Parameters of the VMD, in the form of generalized intervals, provide a concise representation for aleatory and epistemic uncertainty and improve the robustness of identification. The multi-scale permutation entropy method is applied to extract state features from the decomposed signals in different operating conditions. Traditional principal component analysis is adopted to reduce feature size and computational cost. With the extracted features' information, the generalized hidden Markov model, based on generalized interval probability, is used to recognize and classify the fault types and fault severity levels. Finally, the experiment results show that the proposed method is effective at recognizing and classifying the fault types and fault severity levels of rolling bearings. This monitoring method is also efficient enough to quantify the two uncertainty components.

A Hybrid Generalized Hidden Markov Model-Based Condition Monitoring Approach for Rolling Bearings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Liu

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The operating condition of rolling bearings affects productivity and quality in the rotating machine process. Developing an effective rolling bearing condition monitoring approach is critical to accurately identify the operating condition. In this paper, a hybrid generalized hidden Markov model-based condition monitoring approach for rolling bearings is proposed, where interval valued features are used to efficiently recognize and classify machine states in the machine process. In the proposed method, vibration signals are decomposed into multiple modes with variational mode decomposition (VMD. Parameters of the VMD, in the form of generalized intervals, provide a concise representation for aleatory and epistemic uncertainty and improve the robustness of identification. The multi-scale permutation entropy method is applied to extract state features from the decomposed signals in different operating conditions. Traditional principal component analysis is adopted to reduce feature size and computational cost. With the extracted features’ information, the generalized hidden Markov model, based on generalized interval probability, is used to recognize and classify the fault types and fault severity levels. Finally, the experiment results show that the proposed method is effective at recognizing and classifying the fault types and fault severity levels of rolling bearings. This monitoring method is also efficient enough to quantify the two uncertainty components.

Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Incipient Failure in Journal Bearings( III ) - Development of AE Diagnosis System for Journal Bearings -

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Min Hwa; Cho, Yong Sang; Yoon, Dong Jin; Kwon, Oh Yang

1996-01-01

For the condition monitoring of the journal bearing in rotating machinery, a system for their diagnosis by acoustic emission(AE) was developed. AE has been used to detect abnormal conditions in the bearing system. It was found from the field application study as well as the laboratory experiment using a simulated journal bearing system that AE RMS voltage was the most efficient parameter for the purpose of current study. Based on the above results, algorithms and judgement criteria for the diagnosis system was established. The system is composed of four parts as follows: the sensing part including AE sensor and preamplifier, the signal processing part for RMS-to-DC conversion to measure AE ms voltage, the interface part for transferring RMS voltage data into PC using A/D converter, and the software part including the graphic display of bearing conditions and the diagnosis program

Theoretical investigation of the upper and lower bounds of a generalized dimensionless bearing health indicator

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dong; Tsui, Kwok-Leung

2018-01-01

Bearing-supported shafts are widely used in various machines. Due to harsh working environments, bearing performance degrades over time. To prevent unexpected bearing failures and accidents, bearing performance degradation assessment becomes an emerging topic in recent years. Bearing performance degradation assessment aims to evaluate the current health condition of a bearing through a bearing health indicator. In the past years, many signal processing and data mining based methods were proposed to construct bearing health indicators. However, the upper and lower bounds of these bearing health indicators were not theoretically calculated and they strongly depended on historical bearing data including normal and failure data. Besides, most health indicators are dimensional, which connotes that these health indicators are prone to be affected by varying operating conditions, such as varying speeds and loads. In this paper, based on the principle of squared envelope analysis, we focus on theoretical investigation of bearing performance degradation assessment in the case of additive Gaussian noises, including distribution establishment of squared envelope, construction of a generalized dimensionless bearing health indicator, and mathematical calculation of the upper and lower bounds of the generalized dimensionless bearing health indicator. Then, analyses of simulated and real bearing run to failure data are used as two case studies to illustrate how the generalized dimensionless health indicator works and demonstrate its effectiveness in bearing performance degradation assessment. Results show that squared envelope follows a noncentral chi-square distribution and the upper and lower bounds of the generalized dimensionless health indicator can be mathematically established. Moreover, the generalized dimensionless health indicator is sensitive to an incipient bearing defect in the process of bearing performance degradation.

Active magnetic bearings used as exciters for rolling element bearing outer race defect diagnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Yuanping; Di, Long; Zhou, Jin; Jin, Chaowu; Guo, Qintao

2016-03-01

The active health monitoring of rotordynamic systems in the presence of bearing outer race defect is considered in this paper. The shaft is assumed to be supported by conventional mechanical bearings and an active magnetic bearing (AMB) is used in the mid of the shaft location as an exciter to apply electromagnetic force to the system. We investigate a nonlinear bearing-pedestal system model with the outer race defect under the electromagnetic force. The nonlinear differential equations are integrated using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. The simulation and experimental results show that the characteristic signal of outer race incipient defect is significantly amplified under the electromagnetic force through the AMBs, which is helpful to improve the diagnosis accuracy of rolling element bearing׳s incipient outer race defect. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Report on the biological monitoring program for Bear Creek at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1989-1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hinzman, R.L.; Beauchamp, J.J.; Cada, G.F.; Peterson, M.J.

1996-04-01

The Bear Creek Valley watershed drains the area surrounding several closed Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant waste disposal facilities. Past waste disposal practices in the Bear Creek Valley resulted in the contamination of Bear Creek and consequent ecological damage. Ecological monitoring by the Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) was initiated in the Bear Creek watershed in May 1984 and continues at present. Studies conducted during the first year provided a detailed characterization of the benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek. The initial characterization was followed by a biological monitoring phase in which studies were conducted at reduced intensities

Report on the biological monitoring program for Bear Creek at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1989-1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hinzman, R.L. [ed.; Beauchamp, J.J.; Cada, G.F.; Peterson, M.J. [and others

1996-04-01

The Bear Creek Valley watershed drains the area surrounding several closed Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant waste disposal facilities. Past waste disposal practices in the Bear Creek Valley resulted in the contamination of Bear Creek and consequent ecological damage. Ecological monitoring by the Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) was initiated in the Bear Creek watershed in May 1984 and continues at present. Studies conducted during the first year provided a detailed characterization of the benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek. The initial characterization was followed by a biological monitoring phase in which studies were conducted at reduced intensities.

Automatic Condition Monitoring of Industrial Rolling-Element Bearings Using Motor’s Vibration and Current Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Zhenyu

2015-01-01

An automatic condition monitoring for a class of industrial rolling-element bearings is developed based on the vibration as well as stator current analysis. The considered fault scenarios include a single-point defect, multiple-point defects, and a type of distributed defect. Motivated by the pot...... characteristic frequencies, sideband effects, time-average of spectra, and selection of fault index and thresholds, are also discussed. The experimental work shows a huge potential to use some simple methods for successful diagnosis of industrial bearing systems.......An automatic condition monitoring for a class of industrial rolling-element bearings is developed based on the vibration as well as stator current analysis. The considered fault scenarios include a single-point defect, multiple-point defects, and a type of distributed defect. Motivated...... is extensively studied under diverse operating conditions: different sensor locations, motor speeds, loading conditions, and data samples from different time segments. The experimental results showed the powerful capability of vibration analysis in the bearing point defect fault diagnosis. The current analysis...

Inaccuracy of a physical strain trainer for the monitoring of partial weight bearing.

Science.gov (United States)

Pauser, Johannes; Jendrissek, Andreas; Swoboda, Bernd; Gelse, Kolja; Carl, Hans-Dieter

2011-11-01

To investigate the use of a physical strain trainer for the monitoring of partial weight bearing. Case series with healthy volunteers. Orthopedic clinic. Healthy volunteers (N=10) with no history of foot complaints. Volunteers were taught to limit weight bearing to 10% body weight (BW) and 50% BW, monitored by a physical strain trainer. The parameters peak pressure, maximum force, force-time integral, and pressure-time integral were assessed by dynamic pedobarography when volunteers walked with full BW (condition 1), 50% BW (condition 2), and 10% BW (condition 3). With 10% BW (condition 3), forces with normative gait (condition 1) were statistically significantly reduced under the hindfoot where the physical strain trainer is placed. All pedobarographic parameters were, however, exceeded when the total foot was measured. A limitation to 10% BW with the physical strain trainer (condition 3) was equal to a bisection of peak pressure and maximum force for the total foot with normative gait (condition 1). Halved BW (condition 2) left a remaining mean 82% of peak pressure and mean 59% of maximum force from full BW (condition 1). The concept of controlling partial weight bearing with the hindfoot-addressing device does not represent complete foot loading. Such devices may be preferably applied in cases when the hindfoot in particular must be off-loaded. Other training devices (eg, biofeedback soles) that monitor forces of the total foot have to be used to control partial weight bearing of the lower limb accurately. Copyright © 2011 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Monitoring and mitigating measures to reduce potential impacts of oil and gas exploration and development on bears in the Inuvik region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Branigan, M. [Government of the Northwest Territories, Inuvik, NT (Canada). Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources

2007-07-01

The Inuvik Region consists of the Northwest Territories portion of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and the Gwich'in Settlement Area. The range of grizzly bears, polar bears and black bears extends to different parts of the region. The potential impact of development depends on the season of the development and the species of bear found in the footprint. As such, monitoring and mitigation measures should take this into consideration. This presentation focused on the potential impacts and current practices to monitor and mitigate the impacts in the region. Mitigation measures currently used include: communication with stakeholders; waste management guidelines; use of wildlife monitors to identify key habitat and den sites and to deter bears; minimum flight altitudes; and safety training. Suggestions for additional mitigation measures were also presented. figs.

[What potential do geographic information systems have for population-wide health monitoring in Germany? : Perspectives and challenges for the health monitoring of the Robert Koch Institute].

Science.gov (United States)

Thißen, Martin; Niemann, Hildegard; Varnaccia, Gianni; Rommel, Alexander; Teti, Andrea; Butschalowsky, Hans; Manz, Kristin; Finger, Jonas David; Kroll, Lars Eric; Ziese, Thomas

2017-12-01

Geographic information systems (GISs) are computer-based systems with which geographical data can be recorded, stored, managed, analyzed, visualized and provided. In recent years, they have become an integral part of public health research. They offer a broad range of analysis tools, which enable innovative solutions for health-related research questions. An analysis of nationwide studies that applied geographic information systems underlines the potential this instrument bears for health monitoring in Germany. Geographic information systems provide up-to-date mapping and visualization options to be used for national health monitoring at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Furthermore, objective information on the residential environment as an influencing factor on population health and on health behavior can be gathered and linked to RKI survey data at different geographic scales. Besides using physical information, such as climate, vegetation or land use, as well as information on the built environment, the instrument can link socioeconomic and sociodemographic data as well as information on health care and environmental stress to the survey data and integrate them into concepts for analyses. Therefore, geographic information systems expand the potential of the RKI to present nationwide, representative and meaningful health-monitoring results. In doing so, data protection regulations must always be followed. To conclude, the development of a national spatial data infrastructure and the identification of important data sources can prospectively improve access to high quality data sets that are relevant for the health monitoring.

Fecal steroid analysis for monitoring reproduction in the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schwarzenberger, F.; Schaller, K.; Kolter, L.; Fredriksson, G.M.

2004-01-01

Fecal steroid analyses were conducted on captive (n 1/4 10) and free-ranging (n 1/4 2) sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) in order to establish a noninvasive technique for monitoring endocrine profiles during the estrous cycle and pregnancy. Secondly, the effect of the contraceptive porcine zona

Condition Monitoring for Roller Bearings of Wind Turbines Based on Health Evaluation under Variable Operating States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Fu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Condition monitoring (CM is used to assess the health status of wind turbines (WT by detecting turbine failure and predicting maintenance needs. However, fluctuating operating conditions cause variations in monitored features, therefore increasing the difficulty of CM, for example, the frequency-domain analysis may lead to an inaccurate or even incorrect prediction when evaluating the health of the WT components. In light of this challenge, this paper proposed a method for the health evaluation of WT components based on vibration signals. The proposed approach aimed to reduce the evaluation error caused by the impact of the variable operating condition. First, the vibration signal was decomposed into a set of sub-signals using variational mode decomposition (VMD. Next, the sub-signal energy and the probability distribution were obtained and normalized. Finally, the concept of entropy was introduced to evaluate the health condition of a monitored object to provide an effective guide for maintenance. In particular, the health evaluation for CM was based on a performance review over a range of operating conditions, rather than at a certain single operating condition. Experimental investigations were performed which verified the efficiency of the evaluation method, as well as a comparison with the previous method.

Calandar year 1996 annual groundwater monitoring report for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the US Department of Energy Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-02-01

This annual monitoring report contains groundwater and surface water monitoring data obtained in the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (Bear Creek Regime) during calendar year (CY) 1996. The Bear Creek Regime encompasses a portion of Bear Creek Valley (BCV) west of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (unless otherwise noted, directions are in reference to the Y-12 Plant administrative grid) that contains several sites used for management of hazardous and nonhazardous wastes associated with plant operations. Groundwater and surface water quality monitoring in the Bear Creek Regime is performed under the auspices of the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP). This report contains the information and monitoring data required under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Post-Closure Permit for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (post-closure permit), as modified and issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in September 1995 (permit no. TNHW-087). In addition to the signed certification statement and the RCRA facility information summarized below, permit condition II.C.6 requires the annual monitoring report to address groundwater monitoring activities at the three RCRA Hazardous Waste Disposal Units (HWDUs) in the Bear Creek Regime that are in post-closure corrective action status (the S-3 Site, the Oil Landfarm, and the Bear Creek Burial Grounds/Walk-In Pits).

State Space Formulation of Nonlinear Vibration Responses Collected from a Dynamic Rotor-Bearing System: An Extension of Bearing Diagnostics to Bearing Prognostics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tse, Peter W; Wang, Dong

2017-02-14

Bearings are widely used in various industries to support rotating shafts. Their failures accelerate failures of other adjacent components and may cause unexpected machine breakdowns. In recent years, nonlinear vibration responses collected from a dynamic rotor-bearing system have been widely analyzed for bearing diagnostics. Numerous methods have been proposed to identify different bearing faults. However, these methods are unable to predict the future health conditions of bearings. To extend bearing diagnostics to bearing prognostics, this paper reports the design of a state space formulation of nonlinear vibration responses collected from a dynamic rotor-bearing system in order to intelligently predict bearing remaining useful life (RUL). Firstly, analyses of nonlinear vibration responses were conducted to construct a bearing health indicator (BHI) so as to assess the current bearing health condition. Secondly, a state space model of the BHI was developed to mathematically track the health evolution of the BHI. Thirdly, unscented particle filtering was used to predict bearing RUL. Lastly, a new bearing acceleration life testing setup was designed to collect natural bearing degradation data, which were used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed bearing prognostic method. Results show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed bearing prognostic method is promising and the proposed bearing prognostic method is able to reflect future bearing health conditions.

State Space Formulation of Nonlinear Vibration Responses Collected from a Dynamic Rotor-Bearing System: An Extension of Bearing Diagnostics to Bearing Prognostics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter W. Tse

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Bearings are widely used in various industries to support rotating shafts. Their failures accelerate failures of other adjacent components and may cause unexpected machine breakdowns. In recent years, nonlinear vibration responses collected from a dynamic rotor-bearing system have been widely analyzed for bearing diagnostics. Numerous methods have been proposed to identify different bearing faults. However, these methods are unable to predict the future health conditions of bearings. To extend bearing diagnostics to bearing prognostics, this paper reports the design of a state space formulation of nonlinear vibration responses collected from a dynamic rotor-bearing system in order to intelligently predict bearing remaining useful life (RUL. Firstly, analyses of nonlinear vibration responses were conducted to construct a bearing health indicator (BHI so as to assess the current bearing health condition. Secondly, a state space model of the BHI was developed to mathematically track the health evolution of the BHI. Thirdly, unscented particle filtering was used to predict bearing RUL. Lastly, a new bearing acceleration life testing setup was designed to collect natural bearing degradation data, which were used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed bearing prognostic method. Results show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed bearing prognostic method is promising and the proposed bearing prognostic method is able to reflect future bearing health conditions.

Weak fault detection and health degradation monitoring using customized standard multiwavelets

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Jing; Wang, Yu; Peng, Yizhen; Wei, Chenjun

2017-09-01

Due to the nonobvious symptoms contaminated by a large amount of background noise, it is challenging to beforehand detect and predictively monitor the weak faults for machinery security assurance. Multiwavelets can act as adaptive non-stationary signal processing tools, potentially viable for weak fault diagnosis. However, the signal-based multiwavelets suffer from such problems as the imperfect properties missing the crucial orthogonality, the decomposition distortion impossibly reflecting the relationships between the faults and signatures, the single objective optimization and independence for fault prognostic. Thus, customized standard multiwavelets are proposed for weak fault detection and health degradation monitoring, especially the weak fault signature quantitative identification. First, the flexible standard multiwavelets are designed using the construction method derived from scalar wavelets, seizing the desired properties for accurate detection of weak faults and avoiding the distortion issue for feature quantitative identification. Second, the multi-objective optimization combined three dimensionless indicators of the normalized energy entropy, normalized singular entropy and kurtosis index is introduced to the evaluation criterions, and benefits for selecting the potential best basis functions for weak faults without the influence of the variable working condition. Third, an ensemble health indicator fused by the kurtosis index, impulse index and clearance index of the original signal along with the normalized energy entropy and normalized singular entropy by the customized standard multiwavelets is achieved using Mahalanobis distance to continuously monitor the health condition and track the performance degradation. Finally, three experimental case studies are implemented to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can quantitatively identify the fault signature of a slight rub on

Integrated population modeling of black bears in Minnesota: implications for monitoring and management.

Science.gov (United States)

Fieberg, John R; Shertzer, Kyle W; Conn, Paul B; Noyce, Karen V; Garshelis, David L

2010-08-12

Wildlife populations are difficult to monitor directly because of costs and logistical challenges associated with collecting informative abundance data from live animals. By contrast, data on harvested individuals (e.g., age and sex) are often readily available. Increasingly, integrated population models are used for natural resource management because they synthesize various relevant data into a single analysis. We investigated the performance of integrated population models applied to black bears (Ursus americanus) in Minnesota, USA. Models were constructed using sex-specific age-at-harvest matrices (1980-2008), data on hunting effort and natural food supplies (which affects hunting success), and statewide mark-recapture estimates of abundance (1991, 1997, 2002). We compared this approach to Downing reconstruction, a commonly used population monitoring method that utilizes only age-at-harvest data. We first conducted a large-scale simulation study, in which our integrated models provided more accurate estimates of population trends than did Downing reconstruction. Estimates of trends were robust to various forms of model misspecification, including incorrectly specified cub and yearling survival parameters, age-related reporting biases in harvest data, and unmodeled temporal variability in survival and harvest rates. When applied to actual data on Minnesota black bears, the model predicted that harvest rates were negatively correlated with food availability and positively correlated with hunting effort, consistent with independent telemetry data. With no direct data on fertility, the model also correctly predicted 2-point cycles in cub production. Model-derived estimates of abundance for the most recent years provided a reasonable match to an empirical population estimate obtained after modeling efforts were completed. Integrated population modeling provided a reasonable framework for synthesizing age-at-harvest data, periodic large-scale abundance estimates, and

Pump Coupling & Motor bearing damage detection using Condition Monitoring at DTPS

Science.gov (United States)

Bari, H. M.; Deshpande, A. A.; Jalkote, P. S.; Patil, S. S.

2012-05-01

This paper shares a success story out of the implementation of Co-ordinated Condition Monitoring techniques at DTPS, wherein imminent Mis-alignment of HT auxiliary BFP - 1B and Motor bearing failure of ID FAN - 1B was diagnosed. On 30/12/2010, Booster Pump DE horizontal reading increased from 4.8 to 5.1 and then upto 5.9 mm/sec. It was suspected that Booster pump was mis-aligned with Motor. To confirm misalignment, Phase Analysis was also done which showed that Coupling phase difference was 180 Degrees. Vibration & Phase Analysis helped in diagnosing the exact root cause of abnormity in advance, saving plant from huge losses which could have caused total cost of £ 104,071. On 06/01/2011, ID fan 1B Motor NDE & DE horizontal vibration readings deviated from 0.5 to 0.8 and 0.6 to 0.8 mm/sec (RMS) respectively. Noise level increased from 99.1 to 101.9 db. It was suspected that Motor bearings had loosened over the shaft. Meanwhile, after opening of Motor, Inner race of NDE side was found cracked and loosened over the shaft. Vibration Analysis & Noise Monitoring helped in diagnosing the exact root cause of abnormity in advance, saving plant from huge losses which could have caused total cost of £ 308,857.

Stepping-Motion Motor-Control Subsystem For Testing Bearings

Science.gov (United States)

Powers, Charles E.

1992-01-01

Control subsystem closed-loop angular-position-control system causing motor and bearing under test to undergo any of variety of continuous or stepping motions. Also used to test bearing-and-motor assemblies, motors, angular-position sensors including rotating shafts, and like. Monitoring subsystem gathers data used to evaluate performance of bearing or other article under test. Monitoring subsystem described in article, "Monitoring Subsystem For Testing Bearings" (GSC-13432).

Condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of motor bearings using undersampled vibration signals from a wireless sensor network

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Siliang; Zhou, Peng; Wang, Xiaoxian; Liu, Yongbin; Liu, Fang; Zhao, Jiwen

2018-02-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which consist of miscellaneous sensors are used frequently in monitoring vital equipment. Benefiting from the development of data mining technologies, the massive data generated by sensors facilitate condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. However, too much data increase storage space, energy consumption, and computing resource, which can be considered fatal weaknesses for a WSN with limited resources. This study investigates a new method for motor bearings condition monitoring and fault diagnosis using the undersampled vibration signals acquired from a WSN. The proposed method, which is a fusion of the kurtogram, analog domain bandpass filtering, bandpass sampling, and demodulated resonance technique, can reduce the sampled data length while retaining the monitoring and diagnosis performance. A WSN prototype was designed, and simulations and experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. Experimental results indicated that the sampled data length and transmission time of the proposed method result in a decrease of over 80% in comparison with that of the traditional method. Therefore, the proposed method indicates potential applications on condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of motor bearings installed in remote areas, such as wind farms and offshore platforms.

Automatic Condition Monitoring of Industrial Rolling-Element Bearings Using Motor’s Vibration and Current Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhenyu Yang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available An automatic condition monitoring for a class of industrial rolling-element bearings is developed based on the vibration as well as stator current analysis. The considered fault scenarios include a single-point defect, multiple-point defects, and a type of distributed defect. Motivated by the potential commercialization, the developed system is promoted mainly using off-the-shelf techniques, that is, the high-frequency resonance technique with envelope detection and the average of short-time Fourier transform. In order to test the flexibility and robustness, the monitoring performance is extensively studied under diverse operating conditions: different sensor locations, motor speeds, loading conditions, and data samples from different time segments. The experimental results showed the powerful capability of vibration analysis in the bearing point defect fault diagnosis. The current analysis also showed a moderate capability in diagnosis of point defect faults depending on the type of fault, severity of the fault, and the operational condition. The temporal feature indicated a feasibility to detect generalized roughness fault. The practical issues, such as deviations of predicted characteristic frequencies, sideband effects, time-average of spectra, and selection of fault index and thresholds, are also discussed. The experimental work shows a huge potential to use some simple methods for successful diagnosis of industrial bearing systems.

Research on Linear Wireless Sensor Networks Used for Online Monitoring of Rolling Bearing in Freight Train

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Nan; Meng Qingfeng; Zheng Bin; Li Tong; Ma Qinghai

2011-01-01

This paper presents a Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) technique for the purpose of on-line monitoring of rolling bearing in freight train. A new technical scheme including the arrangements of sensors, the design of sensor nodes and base station, routing protocols, signal acquirement, processing and transmission is described, and an on-line monitoring system is established. Considering the approximately linear arrangements of cars and the running state of freight train, a linear topology structure of WSNs is adopted and five linear routing protocols are discussed in detail as to obtain the desired minimum energy consumption of WSNs. By analysing the simulation results, an optimal multi-hop routing protocol named sub-section routing protocol according to equal distance is adopted, in which all sensor nodes are divided into different groups according to the equal transmission distance, the optimal transmission distance and number of hops of routing protocol are also studied. We know that the communication consumes significant power in WSNs, so, in order to save the limit power supply of WSNs, the data compression and coding scheme based on lifting integer wavelet and embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) algorithms is studied to reduce the amounts of data transmitted. The experimental results of rolling bearing have been given at last to verify the effectiveness of data compression algorithm. The on-line monitoring system of rolling bearing in freight train will be applied to actual application in the near future.

Research on Linear Wireless Sensor Networks Used for Online Monitoring of Rolling Bearing in Freight Train

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Nan; Meng Qingfeng; Zheng Bin [Theory of Lubrication and Bearing Institute, Xi' an Jiaotong University Xi' an, 710049 (China); Li Tong; Ma Qinghai, E-mail: heroyoyu.2009@stu.xjtu.edu.cn [Xi' an Rail Bureau, Xi' an, 710054 (China)

2011-07-19

This paper presents a Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) technique for the purpose of on-line monitoring of rolling bearing in freight train. A new technical scheme including the arrangements of sensors, the design of sensor nodes and base station, routing protocols, signal acquirement, processing and transmission is described, and an on-line monitoring system is established. Considering the approximately linear arrangements of cars and the running state of freight train, a linear topology structure of WSNs is adopted and five linear routing protocols are discussed in detail as to obtain the desired minimum energy consumption of WSNs. By analysing the simulation results, an optimal multi-hop routing protocol named sub-section routing protocol according to equal distance is adopted, in which all sensor nodes are divided into different groups according to the equal transmission distance, the optimal transmission distance and number of hops of routing protocol are also studied. We know that the communication consumes significant power in WSNs, so, in order to save the limit power supply of WSNs, the data compression and coding scheme based on lifting integer wavelet and embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) algorithms is studied to reduce the amounts of data transmitted. The experimental results of rolling bearing have been given at last to verify the effectiveness of data compression algorithm. The on-line monitoring system of rolling bearing in freight train will be applied to actual application in the near future.

[Indicators to monitor the evolution of the economic crisis and its effects on health and health inequalities. SESPAS report 2014].

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Glòria; Rodríguez-Sanz, Maica; Domínguez-Berjón, Felicitas; Cabeza, Elena; Borrell, Carme

2014-06-01

The economic crisis has adverse effects on determinants of health and health inequalities. The aim of this article was to present a set of indicators of health and its determinants to monitor the effects of the crisis in Spain. On the basis of the conceptual framework proposed by the Commission for the Reduction of Social Health Inequalities in Spain, we searched for indicators of social, economic, and political (structural and intermediate) determinants of health, as well as for health indicators, bearing in mind the axes of social inequality (gender, age, socioeconomic status, and country of origin). The indicators were mainly obtained from official data sources published on the internet. The selected indicators are periodically updated and are comparable over time and among territories (among autonomous communities and in some cases among European Union countries), and are available for age groups, gender, socio-economic status, and country of origin. However, many of these indicators are not sufficiently reactive to rapid change, which occurs in the economic crisis, and consequently require monitoring over time. Another limitation is the lack of availability of indicators for the various axes of social inequality. In conclusion, the proposed indicators allow for progress in monitoring the effects of the economic crisis on health and health inequalities in Spain. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Integrated population modeling of black bears in Minnesota: implications for monitoring and management.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John R Fieberg

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Wildlife populations are difficult to monitor directly because of costs and logistical challenges associated with collecting informative abundance data from live animals. By contrast, data on harvested individuals (e.g., age and sex are often readily available. Increasingly, integrated population models are used for natural resource management because they synthesize various relevant data into a single analysis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated the performance of integrated population models applied to black bears (Ursus americanus in Minnesota, USA. Models were constructed using sex-specific age-at-harvest matrices (1980-2008, data on hunting effort and natural food supplies (which affects hunting success, and statewide mark-recapture estimates of abundance (1991, 1997, 2002. We compared this approach to Downing reconstruction, a commonly used population monitoring method that utilizes only age-at-harvest data. We first conducted a large-scale simulation study, in which our integrated models provided more accurate estimates of population trends than did Downing reconstruction. Estimates of trends were robust to various forms of model misspecification, including incorrectly specified cub and yearling survival parameters, age-related reporting biases in harvest data, and unmodeled temporal variability in survival and harvest rates. When applied to actual data on Minnesota black bears, the model predicted that harvest rates were negatively correlated with food availability and positively correlated with hunting effort, consistent with independent telemetry data. With no direct data on fertility, the model also correctly predicted 2-point cycles in cub production. Model-derived estimates of abundance for the most recent years provided a reasonable match to an empirical population estimate obtained after modeling efforts were completed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Integrated population modeling provided a reasonable

Big data in wildlife research: remote web-based monitoring of hibernating black bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Laske, Timothy G; Garshelis, David L; Iaizzo, Paul A

2014-12-11

Numerous innovations for the management and collection of "big data" have arisen in the field of medicine, including implantable computers and sensors, wireless data transmission, and web-based repositories for collecting and organizing information. Recently, human clinical devices have been deployed in captive and free-ranging wildlife to aid in the characterization of both normal physiology and the interaction of animals with their environment, including reactions to humans. Although these devices have had a significant impact on the types and quantities of information that can be collected, their utility has been limited by internal memory capacities, the efforts required to extract and analyze information, and by the necessity to handle the animals in order to retrieve stored data. We surgically implanted miniaturized cardiac monitors (1.2 cc, Reveal LINQ™, Medtronic Inc.), a newly developed human clinical system, into hibernating wild American black bears (N = 6). These devices include wireless capabilities, which enabled frequent transmissions of detailed physiological data from bears in their remote den sites to a web-based data storage and management system. Solar and battery powered telemetry stations transmitted detailed physiological data over the cellular network during the winter months. The system provided the transfer of large quantities of data in near-real time. Observations included changes in heart rhythms associated with birthing and caring for cubs, and in all bears, long periods without heart beats (up to 16 seconds) occurred during each respiratory cycle. For the first time, detailed physiological data were successfully transferred from an animal in the wild to a web-based data collection and management system, overcoming previous limitations on the quantities of data that could be transferred. The system provides an opportunity to detect unusual events as they are occurring, enabling investigation of the animal and site shortly

Health Monitoring of Composite Material Structures using a Vibrometry Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, Mark J.

1997-01-01

Large composite material structures such as aircraft and Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVS) operate in severe environments comprised of vehicle dynamic loads, aerodynamic loads, engine vibration, foreign object impact, lightning strikes, corrosion, and moisture absorption. These structures are susceptible to damage such as delamination, fiber breaking/pullout, matrix cracking, and hygrothermal strain. To ensure human safety and load-bearing integrity, these structures must be inspected to detect and locate often invisible damage and faults before becoming catastrophic. Moreover, nearly all future structures will need some type of in-service inspection technique to increase their useful life and reduce maintenance and overall costs. Possible techniques for monitoring the health and indicating damage on composite structures include: c-scan, thermography, acoustic emissions using piezoceramic actuators or fiber-optic wires with gratings, laser ultrasound, shearography, holography, x-ray, and others. These techniques have limitations in detecting damage that is beneath the surface of the structure, far away from a sensor location, or during operation of the vehicle. The objective of this project is to develop a more global method for damage detection that is based on structural dynamics principles, and can inspect for damage when the structure is subjected to vibratory loads to expose faults that may not be evident by static inspection. A Transmittance Function Monitoring (TFM) method is being developed in this project for ground-based inspection and operational health monitoring of large composite structures as a RLV. A comparison of the features of existing health monitoring approaches and the proposed TFM method is given.

Satellite monitoring of black bear.

Science.gov (United States)

Craighead, J. J.; Craighead, F. C., Jr.; Varney, J. R.; Cote, C. E.

1971-01-01

Description of a feasibility experiment recently performed to test the use of a satellite system for telemetering environmental and physiological data from the winter den of a 'hibernating' black bear, Ursus americanus. The instrumentation procedure and evaluations of the equipment performance and sensory data obtained are discussed in detail.

Roller Bearing Monitoring by New Subspace-Based Damage Indicator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Gautier

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A frequency-band subspace-based damage identification method for fault diagnosis in roller bearings is presented. Subspace-based damage indicators are obtained by filtering the vibration data in the frequency range where damage is likely to occur, that is, around the bearing characteristic frequencies. The proposed method is validated by considering simulated data of a damaged bearing. Also, an experimental case is considered which focuses on collecting the vibration data issued from a run-to-failure test. It is shown that the proposed method can detect bearing defects and, as such, it appears to be an efficient tool for diagnosis purpose.

Targeting Faulty Bearings for an Ocean Turbine Dynamometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David J. Vendittis

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A real-time, vibrations-based condition monitoring method used to detect, localize, and identify a faulty bearing in an ocean turbine electric motor is presented in this paper. The electric motor is installed in a dynamometer emulating the functions of the actual ocean turbine. High frequency modal analysis and power trending are combined to assess the operational health of the dynamometer’s bearings across an array of accelerometers. Once a defect has been detected, envelope analysis is used to identify the exact bearing containing the defect. After a brief background on bearing fault detection, this paper introduces a simplified mathematical model of the bearing fault, followed with the signal processing approach used to detect, locate, and identify the fault. In the results section, effectiveness of the methods of bearing fault detection presented in this paper is demonstrated through processing data collected, first, from a controlled lathe setup and, second, from the dynamometer. By mounting a bearing containing a defect punched into its inner raceway to a lathe and placing an array of accelerometers along the length of lathe, the bearing fault is clearly detected, localized, and identified as an inner raceway defect. Through retroactively trending the data leading to the near-failure of one of the electric motors in the dynamometer, the authors identified a positive trend in energy levels for a specific frequency band present across the array of accelerometers and identify two bearings as possible sources of the fault.

Augmented fish health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michak, P.; Rogers, R.; Amos, K.

1991-05-01

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) initiated the Augmented Fish Health Monitoring project in 1986. This project was a five year interagency project involving fish rearing agencies in the Columbia Basin. Historically, all agencies involved with fish health in the Columbia Basin were conducting various levels of fish health monitoring, pathogen screening and collection. The goals of this project were; to identify, develop and implement a standardized level of fish health methodologies, develop a common data collection and reporting format in the area of artificial production, evaluate and monitor water quality, improve communications between agencies and provide annual evaluation of fish health information for production of healthier smolts. This completion report will contain a project evaluation, review of the goals of the project, evaluation of the specific fish health analyses, an overview of highlights of the project and concluding remarks. 8 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs

Structural health monitoring feature design by genetic programming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, Dustin Y; Todd, Michael D

2014-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems provide real-time damage and performance information for civil, aerospace, and other high-capital or life-safety critical structures. Conventional data processing involves pre-processing and extraction of low-dimensional features from in situ time series measurements. The features are then input to a statistical pattern recognition algorithm to perform the relevant classification or regression task necessary to facilitate decisions by the SHM system. Traditional design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms can be an expensive and time-consuming process requiring extensive system knowledge and domain expertise. Genetic programming, a heuristic program search method from evolutionary computation, was recently adapted by the authors to perform automated, data-driven design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms for statistical pattern recognition applications. The proposed method, called Autofead, is particularly suitable to handle the challenges inherent in algorithm design for SHM problems where the manifestation of damage in structural response measurements is often unclear or unknown. Autofead mines a training database of response measurements to discover information-rich features specific to the problem at hand. This study provides experimental validation on three SHM applications including ultrasonic damage detection, bearing damage classification for rotating machinery, and vibration-based structural health monitoring. Performance comparisons with common feature choices for each problem area are provided demonstrating the versatility of Autofead to produce significant algorithm improvements on a wide range of problems. (paper)

Demographic characteristics and infectious diseases of a population of American black bears in Humboldt County, California.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephenson, Nicole; Higley, J Mark; Sajecki, Jaime L; Chomel, Bruno B; Brown, Richard N; Foley, Janet E

2015-02-01

American black bears (Ursus americanus) are common, widely distributed, and broad-ranging omnivorous mammals in northern California forests. Bears may be susceptible to pathogens infecting both domestic animals and humans. Monitoring bear populations, particularly in changing ecosystems, is important to understanding ecological features that could affect bear population health and influence the likelihood that bears may cause adverse impacts on humans. In all, 321 bears were captured between May, 2001, and October, 2003, and blood samples were collected and tested for multiple zoonotic and vector-borne diseases. We found a PCR prevalence of 10% for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and a seroprevalence of 28% for Toxoplasma gondii, 26% for Borrelia burgdorferi, 26% for A. phagocytophilum, 8% for Trichinella spiralis, 8% for Francisella tularensis and 1% for Yersinia pestis. In addition, we tested bears for pathogens of domestic dogs and found a seroprevalence of 15% for canine distemper virus and 0.6% for canine parvovirus. Our findings show that black bears can become infected with pathogens that are an important public health concern, as well as pathogens that can affect both domestic animals and other wildlife species.

Accelerated Bearing Life-time Test Rig Development for Low Speed Data Acquisition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Klausen

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Condition monitoring plays an important role in rotating machinery to ensure reliability of the equipment, and to detect fault conditions at an early stage. Although health monitoring methodologies have been thoroughly developed for rotating machinery, low-speed conditions often pose a challenge due to the low signal-to-noise ratio. To this aim, sophisticated algorithms that reduce noise and highlight the bearing faults are necessary to accurately diagnose machines undergoing this condition. In the development phase, sensor data from a healthy and damaged bearing rotating at low-speed is required to verify the performance of such algorithms. A test rig for performing accelerated life-time testing of small rolling element bearings is designed to collect necessary sensor data. Heavy loads at high-speed conditions are applied to the test bearing to wear it out fast. Sensor data is collected in intervals during the test to capture the degeneration features. The main objective of this paper is to provide a detailed overview for the development and analysis of this test rig. A case study with experimental vibration data is also presented to illustrate the efficacy of the developed test rig.

State Space Formulation of Nonlinear Vibration Responses Collected from a Dynamic Rotor-Bearing System: An Extension of Bearing Diagnostics to Bearing Prognostics

OpenAIRE

Peter W. Tse; Dong Wang

2017-01-01

Bearings are widely used in various industries to support rotating shafts. Their failures accelerate failures of other adjacent components and may cause unexpected machine breakdowns. In recent years, nonlinear vibration responses collected from a dynamic rotor-bearing system have been widely analyzed for bearing diagnostics. Numerous methods have been proposed to identify different bearing faults. However, these methods are unable to predict the future health conditions of bearings. To exten...

Telemetry experiments with a hibernating black bear

Science.gov (United States)

Craighead, J. J.; Varney, J. R.; Sumner, J. S.; Craighead, F. C., Jr.

1972-01-01

The objectives of this research were to develop and test telemetry equipment suitable for monitoring physiological parameters and activity of a hibernating bear in its den, to monitor this data and other environmental information with the Nimbus 3 IRLS data collection system, and to refine immobilizing, handling, and other techniques required in future work with wild bears under natural conditions. A temperature-telemetering transmitter was implanted in the abdominal cavity of a captive black bear and body temperature data was recorded continuously during a 3 month hibernation period. Body temperatures ranging between 37.5 and 31.8 C were observed. Body temperature and overall activity were influenced by disturbances and ambient den temperature. Nychthemeral temperature changes were not noticable. A load cell weight recording device was tested for determining weight loss during hibernation. Monitoring of data by satellite was not attempted. The implanted transmitter was removed and the bear was released with a radiolocation collar at the conclusion of the experiment.

Doppler distortion correction based on microphone array and matching pursuit algorithm for a wayside train bearing monitoring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Xingchen; Hu, Zhiyong; He, Qingbo; Zhang, Shangbin; Zhu, Jun

2017-01-01

Doppler distortion and background noise can reduce the effectiveness of wayside acoustic train bearing monitoring and fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a method of combining a microphone array and matching pursuit algorithm to overcome these difficulties. First, a dictionary is constructed based on the characteristics and mechanism of a far-field assumption. Then, the angle of arrival of the train bearing is acquired when applying matching pursuit to analyze the acoustic array signals. Finally, after obtaining the resampling time series, the Doppler distortion can be corrected, which is convenient for further diagnostic work. Compared with traditional single-microphone Doppler correction methods, the advantages of the presented array method are its robustness to background noise and its barely requiring pre-measuring parameters. Simulation and experimental study show that the proposed method is effective in performing wayside acoustic bearing fault diagnosis. (paper)

Doppler distortion correction based on microphone array and matching pursuit algorithm for a wayside train bearing monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xingchen; Hu, Zhiyong; He, Qingbo; Zhang, Shangbin; Zhu, Jun

2017-10-01

Doppler distortion and background noise can reduce the effectiveness of wayside acoustic train bearing monitoring and fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a method of combining a microphone array and matching pursuit algorithm to overcome these difficulties. First, a dictionary is constructed based on the characteristics and mechanism of a far-field assumption. Then, the angle of arrival of the train bearing is acquired when applying matching pursuit to analyze the acoustic array signals. Finally, after obtaining the resampling time series, the Doppler distortion can be corrected, which is convenient for further diagnostic work. Compared with traditional single-microphone Doppler correction methods, the advantages of the presented array method are its robustness to background noise and its barely requiring pre-measuring parameters. Simulation and experimental study show that the proposed method is effective in performing wayside acoustic bearing fault diagnosis.

Promoting health equity: WHO health inequality monitoring at global and national levels

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Bergen, Nicole; Schlotheuber, Anne

2015-01-01

Background Health equity is a priority in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda and other major health initiatives. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a history of promoting actions to achieve equity in health, including efforts to encourage the practice of health inequality monitoring. Health inequality monitoring systems use disaggregated data to identify disadvantaged subgroups within populations and inform equity-oriented health policies, programs, and practices. Objective This paper provides an overview of a number of recent and current WHO initiatives related to health inequality monitoring at the global and/or national level. Design We outline the scope, content, and intended uses/application of the following: Health Equity Monitor database and theme page; State of inequality: reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health report; Handbook on health inequality monitoring: with a focus on low- and middle-income countries; Health inequality monitoring eLearning module; Monitoring health inequality: an essential step for achieving health equity advocacy booklet and accompanying video series; and capacity building workshops conducted in WHO Member States and Regions. Conclusions The paper concludes by considering how the work of the WHO can be expanded upon to promote the establishment of sustainable and robust inequality monitoring systems across a variety of health topics among Member States and at the global level. PMID:26387506

Promoting health equity: WHO health inequality monitoring at global and national levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Bergen, Nicole; Schlotheuber, Anne

2015-01-01

Health equity is a priority in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda and other major health initiatives. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a history of promoting actions to achieve equity in health, including efforts to encourage the practice of health inequality monitoring. Health inequality monitoring systems use disaggregated data to identify disadvantaged subgroups within populations and inform equity-oriented health policies, programs, and practices. This paper provides an overview of a number of recent and current WHO initiatives related to health inequality monitoring at the global and/or national level. We outline the scope, content, and intended uses/application of the following: Health Equity Monitor database and theme page; State of inequality: reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health report; Handbook on health inequality monitoring: with a focus on low- and middle-income countries; Health inequality monitoring eLearning module; Monitoring health inequality: an essential step for achieving health equity advocacy booklet and accompanying video series; and capacity building workshops conducted in WHO Member States and Regions. The paper concludes by considering how the work of the WHO can be expanded upon to promote the establishment of sustainable and robust inequality monitoring systems across a variety of health topics among Member States and at the global level.

Promoting health equity: WHO health inequality monitoring at global and national levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Health equity is a priority in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda and other major health initiatives. The World Health Organization (WHO has a history of promoting actions to achieve equity in health, including efforts to encourage the practice of health inequality monitoring. Health inequality monitoring systems use disaggregated data to identify disadvantaged subgroups within populations and inform equity-oriented health policies, programs, and practices. Objective: This paper provides an overview of a number of recent and current WHO initiatives related to health inequality monitoring at the global and/or national level. Design: We outline the scope, content, and intended uses/application of the following: Health Equity Monitor database and theme page; State of inequality: reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health report; Handbook on health inequality monitoring: with a focus on low- and middle-income countries; Health inequality monitoring eLearning module; Monitoring health inequality: an essential step for achieving health equity advocacy booklet and accompanying video series; and capacity building workshops conducted in WHO Member States and Regions. Conclusions: The paper concludes by considering how the work of the WHO can be expanded upon to promote the establishment of sustainable and robust inequality monitoring systems across a variety of health topics among Member States and at the global level.

Quantitative monitoring of gas flooding in oil-bearing reservoirs using a pulsed neutron tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruhovets, N.; Wyatt, D.F. Jr.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on quantitative monitoring of gas flooding in oil bearing reservoirs which is unique in that saturations of three fluids (gas, oil and water) in the effective pore space have to be determined, while in most other applications saturation behind casing is determined only for two fluids: hydrocarbons and water. A new method has been developed to monitor gas flooding of oil reservoirs. The method is based on computing two porosities: true effective (base) porosity determined before gas flooding, and apparent effective (monitor) porosity determined after gas flooding. The base porosity is determined from open and/or cased hole porosity logs run before the flooding. When open hole logs are available, the cased hole porosity logs are calibrated against open hole log. The monitor porosity is determined from one of the cased hole porosity logs, such as a neutron log or count rate ratio curve from a pulsed neutron log run after the gas flooding. The base and monitor porosities provide determination of the hydrogen index of the reservoir fluid after the flooding. This hydrogen index is then used to determine saturation of the flood agent after flooding. Water saturation after flooding can be determined from the equation which relates neutron total cross section (Σm) to volumetric constituent cross sections, using Σm values from a monitor run (after flooding)

Intelligent condition monitoring method for bearing faults from highly compressed measurements using sparse over-complete features

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, H. O. A.; Wong, M. L. D.; Nandi, A. K.

2018-01-01

Condition classification of rolling element bearings in rotating machines is important to prevent the breakdown of industrial machinery. A considerable amount of literature has been published on bearing faults classification. These studies aim to determine automatically the current status of a roller element bearing. Of these studies, methods based on compressed sensing (CS) have received some attention recently due to their ability to allow one to sample below the Nyquist sampling rate. This technology has many possible uses in machine condition monitoring and has been investigated as a possible approach for fault detection and classification in the compressed domain, i.e., without reconstructing the original signal. However, previous CS based methods have been found to be too weak for highly compressed data. The present paper explores computationally, for the first time, the effects of sparse autoencoder based over-complete sparse representations on the classification performance of highly compressed measurements of bearing vibration signals. For this study, the CS method was used to produce highly compressed measurements of the original bearing dataset. Then, an effective deep neural network (DNN) with unsupervised feature learning algorithm based on sparse autoencoder is used for learning over-complete sparse representations of these compressed datasets. Finally, the fault classification is achieved using two stages, namely, pre-training classification based on stacked autoencoder and softmax regression layer form the deep net stage (the first stage), and re-training classification based on backpropagation (BP) algorithm forms the fine-tuning stage (the second stage). The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to achieve high levels of accuracy even with extremely compressed measurements compared with the existing techniques.

Polar bears at risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Norris, S.; Rosentrater, L.; Eid, P.M. [WWF International Arctic Programme, Oslo (Norway)

2002-05-01

rains also destroy the denning habitat of ringed seals, the polar bears' primary prey. Declines in the ringed seal population would mean a loss of food for polar bears. A trend toward stronger winds and increasing ice drift observed in some parts of the Arctic over the last five decades will likely increase energy expenditures and stress levels in polar bears that spend most of their lives on drifting sea ice. Polar bears face other limiting factors as well. Historically, the main threat to polar bears has been hunting. Satisfactory monitoring information has been obtained for most polar bear populations in recent years, however there is concern about hunting in areas without formal quota systems, such as Greenland. A range of toxic pollutants, including heavy metals, radioactivity, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are found throughout the Arctic. Of greatest concern are the effects of POPs on polar bears, which include a general weakening of the immune system, reduced reproductive success and physical deformities. The expansion of oil development in the Arctic poses additional threats; for example, disturbances to denning females in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska could undermine recruitment of the Beaufort Sea polar bear population. These threats, along with other effects of human activity in the Arctic, combine to pressure polar bears and their habitat. Large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health and can be used to define the minimum area necessary to preserve intact ecosystems. WWF has identified the polar bear as a unique symbol of the complexities and interdependencies of the arctic marine ecosystem as it works toward its goal of preserving biodiversity for future generations.

Demography and genetic structure of a recovering grizzly bear population

Science.gov (United States)

Kendall, K.C.; Stetz, J.B.; Boulanger, J.; Macleod, A.C.; Paetkau, David; White, Gary C.

2009-01-01

Grizzly bears (brown bears; Ursus arctos) are imperiled in the southern extent of their range worldwide. The threatened population in northwestern Montana, USA, has been managed for recovery since 1975; yet, no rigorous data were available to monitor program success. We used data from a large noninvasive genetic sampling effort conducted in 2004 and 33 years of physical captures to assess abundance, distribution, and genetic health of this population. We combined data from our 3 sampling methods (hair trap, bear rub, and physical capture) to construct individual bear encounter histories for use in Huggins-Pledger closed mark-recapture models. Our population estimate, N?? = 765 (95% CI = 715-831) was more than double the existing estimate derived from sightings of females with young. Based on our results, the estimated known, human-caused mortality rate in 2004 was 4.6% (95% CI = 4.2-4.9%), slightly above the 4% considered sustainable; however, the high proportion of female mortalities raises concern. We used location data from telemetry, confirmed sightings, and genetic sampling to estimate occupied habitat. We found that grizzly bears occupied 33,480 km2 in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) during 1994-2007, including 10,340 km beyond the Recovery Zone. We used factorial correspondence analysis to identify potential barriers to gene flow within this population. Our results suggested that genetic interchange recently increased in areas with low gene flow in the past; however, we also detected evidence of incipient fragmentation across the major transportation corridor in this ecosystem. Our results suggest that the NCDE population is faring better than previously thought, and they highlight the need for a more rigorous monitoring program.

Calendar Year 1997 Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report For The Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the U.S. Department of Energy Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, S.B.

1998-02-01

This report contains the groundwater and surface water monitoring data obtained during calendar year (CY) 1997 in compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCIU) post- closure permit (PCP) for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (Bear Creek Regime), and as otherwise required by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5400.1. In July 1997, the Temessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) approved several modifications to the RCRA post-closure corrective action monitoring requirements specified in the PCP. This report has been prepared in accordimce with these modified requirements.

Lunar Health Monitor (LHM)

Science.gov (United States)

Lisy, Frederick J.

2015-01-01

Orbital Research, Inc., has developed a low-profile, wearable sensor suite for monitoring astronaut health in both intravehicular and extravehicular activities. The Lunar Health Monitor measures respiration, body temperature, electrocardiogram (EKG) heart rate, and other cardiac functions. Orbital Research's dry recording electrode is central to the innovation and can be incorporated into garments, eliminating the need for conductive pastes, adhesives, or gels. The patented dry recording electrode has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The LHM is easily worn under flight gear or with civilian clothing, making the system completely versatile for applications where continuous physiological monitoring is needed. During Phase II, Orbital Research developed a second-generation LHM that allows sensor customization for specific monitoring applications and anatomical constraints. Evaluations included graded exercise tests, lunar mission task simulations, functional battery tests, and resting measures. The LHM represents the successful integration of sensors into a wearable platform to capture long-duration and ambulatory physiological markers.

Mimic sensor to monitor condition of human health; Mimic sensor wo riyoshita taicho monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nagata, Y. [Mechanical Engineering Lab., Tokyo (Japan)

2000-04-01

In the aging society where the birth rate decreases and the number of nuclear families increases, it is very important to inquire after the aged or physically handicapped people, to monitor their physical conditions, and to take steps to keep them healthy. As for the in-home physical measurement for the aged or physically handicapped people and the work of health management for them based on such measurement, it is feared that under the present conditions the invalid themselves or their family members or nurses will inevitably have to bear the burden and that nobody can deny the difficulty of continuing such nursing care. If daily physical condition measurement and related data collection are automatically carried out, however, interested people' burden will lessen and in-home heath management will become actually feasible. In this paper, a mimic sensor for realizing such a situation is described, which will measure physical conditions without interfering with the daily life of interested people. Serving as the mimic sensor is a blood flow sensor embedded in a telephone receiver, and changes in the blood flow during telephone conversation and changes in the gaps between peeks will be monitored. The feasibility is shown of continual collection of information necessary for the measurement of physical conditions of the aged or physically handicapped persons. (NEDO)

Metabolic monitoring in New Zealand district health board mental health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Staveley, Aimee; Soosay, Ian; O'Brien, Anthony J

2017-11-10

To audit New Zealand district health boards' (DHBs) metabolic monitoring policies in relation to consumers prescribed second-generation antipsychotic medications using a best practice guideline. Metabolic monitoring policies from DHBs and one private clinic were analysed in relation to a best practice standard developed from the current literature and published guidelines relevant to metabolic syndrome. Fourteen of New Zealand's 20 DHBs currently have metabolic monitoring policies for consumers prescribed antipsychotic medication. Two of those policies are consistent with the literature-based guideline. Eight policies include actions to be taken when consumers meet criteria for metabolic syndrome. Four DHBs have systems for measuring their rates of metabolic monitoring. There is no consensus on who is clinically responsible for metabolic monitoring. Metabolic monitoring by mental health services in New Zealand reflects international experience that current levels of monitoring are low and policies are not always in place. Collaboration across the mental health and primary care sectors together with the adoption of a consensus guideline is needed to improve rates of monitoring and reduce current rates of physical health morbidities.

National health inequality monitoring: current challenges and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Bergen, Nicole; Schlotheuber, Anne; Boerma, Ties

National health inequality monitoring needs considerably more investment to realize equity-oriented health improvements in countries, including advancement towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Following an overview of national health inequality monitoring and the associated resource requirements, we highlight challenges that countries may encounter when setting up, expanding or strengthening national health inequality monitoring systems, and discuss opportunities and key initiatives that aim to address these challenges. We provide specific proposals on what is needed to ensure that national health inequality monitoring systems are harnessed to guide the reduction of health inequalities.

Lunar Health Monitor, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — During the Phase II Lunar Health Monitor program, Orbital Research will develop a second generation wearable sensor suite for astronaut physiologic monitoring. The...

Best management practices in counting urban black bears

OpenAIRE

Fusaro, Jonathan L.; Conner, Mary M.; Conover, Michael R.; Taylor, Timothy J.; Kenyon, Marc W., Jr.

2017-01-01

DNA-based capture-mark-recapture (CMR) techniques are commonly used to obtain population parameters of black bears (Ursus americanus) in rural and wildland landscapes; however, these techniques have not been implemented in urban clusters (i.e., 2,500 to 50,000 residents). Black bears can readily habituate to urban clusters, and wildlife managers need to monitor and manage these urban bear populations. We modified DNAbased CMR for black bear using hair-snares to take into account the small hom...

Comparing urban and wildland bear densities with a DNA-based capture-mark-recapture approach

OpenAIRE

Fusaro, Jonathan L.; Conner, Mary M.; Conover, Michael R.; Taylor, Timothy J.; Kenyon, Marc W., Jr.; Sherman, Jamie R.; Ernest, Holly B.

2017-01-01

California’s black bear (Ursus americanus) population has tripled over the last 3 decades, causing an increased incidence of human–bear conflicts, many of which now occur in urban areas. Consequently, it is imperative that bear managers have the ability to monitor population parameters in both wildland and urban environments to help manage bears. Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods using uniquely typed genetic samples (DNA) collected via hair-snares have been widely used to monitor bears in ...

Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations: Annual report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, 2001

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Charles C.; Haroldson, Mark A.

2001-01-01

The contents of this Annual Report summarize results of monitoring and research from the 2001 field season. The report also contains a summary of nuisance grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) management actions.

Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations: Annual report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, 2006

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Charles C.; Haroldson, Mark A.; West, Karrie K.

2007-01-01

The contents of this Annual Report summarize results of monitoring and research from the 2006 field season. The report also contains a summary of nuisance grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) management actions.

THE BEAR BROOK WATERSHED MANIPULATION PROJECT: WATERSHED SCIENCE IN A POLICY PERSPECTIVE

Science.gov (United States)

The Bear Brook Watershed Manipulation in Maine is a paired watershed experiment. Monitoring of the paired catchments (East Bear Brook - reference; West Bear Brook - experimental) began in early 1987. Chemical manipulation of West Bear Brook catchment began in November 1989. Proce...

Identification of Bearing Failure Using Signal Vibrations

Science.gov (United States)

Yani, Irsyadi; Resti, Yulia; Burlian, Firmansyah

2018-04-01

Vibration analysis can be used to identify damage to mechanical systems such as journal bearings. Identification of failure can be done by observing the resulting vibration spectrum by measuring the vibration signal occurring in a mechanical system Bearing is one of the engine elements commonly used in mechanical systems. The main purpose of this research is to monitor the bearing condition and to identify bearing failure on a mechanical system by observing the resulting vibration. Data collection techniques based on recordings of sound caused by the vibration of the mechanical system were used in this study, then created a database system based bearing failure due to vibration signal recording sounds on a mechanical system The next step is to group the bearing damage by type based on the databases obtained. The results show the percentage of success in identifying bearing damage is 98 %.

Hybrid Modeling Improves Health and Performance Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

2007-01-01

Scientific Monitoring Inc. was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center to create a new, simplified health-monitoring approach for flight vehicles and flight equipment. The project developed a hybrid physical model concept that provided a structured approach to simplifying complex design models for use in health monitoring, allowing the output or performance of the equipment to be compared to what the design models predicted, so that deterioration or impending failure could be detected before there would be an impact on the equipment's operational capability. Based on the original modeling technology, Scientific Monitoring released I-Trend, a commercial health- and performance-monitoring software product named for its intelligent trending, diagnostics, and prognostics capabilities, as part of the company's complete ICEMS (Intelligent Condition-based Equipment Management System) suite of monitoring and advanced alerting software. I-Trend uses the hybrid physical model to better characterize the nature of health or performance alarms that result in "no fault found" false alarms. Additionally, the use of physical principles helps I-Trend identify problems sooner. I-Trend technology is currently in use in several commercial aviation programs, and the U.S. Air Force recently tapped Scientific Monitoring to develop next-generation engine health-management software for monitoring its fleet of jet engines. Scientific Monitoring has continued the original NASA work, this time under a Phase III SBIR contract with a joint NASA-Pratt & Whitney aviation security program on propulsion-controlled aircraft under missile-damaged aircraft conditions.

Vestas V90-3MW Wind Turbine Gearbox Health Assessment Using a Vibration-Based Condition Monitoring System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Romero

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Reliable monitoring for the early fault diagnosis of gearbox faults is of great concern for the wind industry. This paper presents a novel approach for health condition monitoring (CM and fault diagnosis in wind turbine gearboxes using vibration analysis. This methodology is based on a machine learning algorithm that generates a baseline for the identification of deviations from the normal operation conditions of the turbine and the intrinsic characteristic-scale decomposition (ICD method for fault type recognition. Outliers picked up during the baseline stage are decomposed by the ICD method to obtain the product components which reveal the fault information. The new methodology proposed for gear and bearing defect identification was validated by laboratory and field trials, comparing well with the methods reviewed in the literature.

System health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reneke, J.A.; Fryer, M.O.

1995-01-01

Well designed large systems include many instrument taking data. These data are used in a variety of ways. They are used to control the system and its components, to monitor system and component health, and often for historical or financial purposes. This paper discusses a new method of using data from low level instrumentation to monitor system and component health. The method uses the covariance of instrument outputs to calculate a measure of system change. The method involves no complicated modeling since it is not a parameter estimation algorithm. The method is iterative and can be implemented on a computer in real time. Examples are presented for a metal lathe and a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. It is shown that the proposed method is quite sensitive to system changes such as wear out and failure. The method is useful for low level system diagnostics and fault detection

Networked Biomedical System for Ubiquitous Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arjan Durresi

2008-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a distributed system that enables global and ubiquitous health monitoring of patients. The biomedical data will be collected by wearable health diagnostic devices, which will include various types of sensors and will be transmitted towards the corresponding Health Monitoring Centers. The permanent medical data of patients will be kept in the corresponding Home Data Bases, while the measured biomedical data will be sent to the Visitor Health Monitor Center and Visitor Data Base that serves the area of present location of the patient. By combining the measured biomedical data and the permanent medical data, Health Medical Centers will be able to coordinate the needed actions and help the local medical teams to make quickly the best decisions that could be crucial for the patient health, and that can reduce the cost of health service.

Privacy by design in personal health monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordgren, Anders

2015-06-01

The concept of privacy by design is becoming increasingly popular among regulators of information and communications technologies. This paper aims at analysing and discussing the ethical implications of this concept for personal health monitoring. I assume a privacy theory of restricted access and limited control. On the basis of this theory, I suggest a version of the concept of privacy by design that constitutes a middle road between what I call broad privacy by design and narrow privacy by design. The key feature of this approach is that it attempts to balance automated privacy protection and autonomously chosen privacy protection in a way that is context-sensitive. In personal health monitoring, this approach implies that in some contexts like medication assistance and monitoring of specific health parameters one single automatic option is legitimate, while in some other contexts, for example monitoring in which relatives are receivers of health-relevant information rather than health care professionals, a multi-choice approach stressing autonomy is warranted.

Physical health monitoring in mental health settings: a study exploring mental health nurses' views of their role.

Science.gov (United States)

Mwebe, Herbert

2017-10-01

To explore nurses' views of their role in the screening and monitoring of the physical care needs of people with serious mental illness in a mental health service provider. There is increasing awareness through research that people with serious mental illness disproportionately experience and die early from physical health conditions. Mental health nurses are best placed as front-line workers to offer screening, monitoring and interventions; however, their views on physical care interventions are not studied often. Qualitative exploratory study. The study was carried out in a mental health inpatient centre in England. Volunteer sampling was adopted for the study with a total target sample of (n = 20) nurses from three inpatient wards. Semistructured interviews were conducted with (n = 10) registered mental health nurses who had consented to take part in the study. Inductive data analysis and theme development were guided by a thematic analytic framework. Participants shared a clear commitment regarding their role regarding physical health screening and monitoring in mental health settings. Four themes emerged as follows: features of current practice and physical health monitoring; perceived barriers to physical health monitoring; education and training needs; and strategies to improve physical health monitoring. Nurses were unequivocal in their resolve to ensure good standard physical health monitoring and screening interventions in practice. However, identified obstacles have to be addressed to ensure that physical health screening and monitoring is integrated adequately in everyday clinical activities. Achieving this would require improvements in nurses' training, and an integrated multiservice and team-working approach. Attending to the physical health needs of people with serious mental illness has been associated with multiple improvements in both mental and physical health; nurses have a vital role to play in identifying and addressing causes of poor

Forest health monitoring: 2008 national technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara L. Conkling

2012-01-01

The Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program’s annual national technical report has three objectives: (1) to present forest health status and trends from a national or a multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, (2) to introduce new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and (3) to report results of recently completed evaluation monitoring...

Design of wearable health monitoring device

Science.gov (United States)

Devara, Kresna; Ramadhanty, Savira; Abuzairi, Tomy

2018-02-01

Wearable smart health monitoring devices have attracted considerable attention in both research community and industry. Some of the causes are the increasing healthcare costs, along with the growing technology. To address this demand, in this paper, design and evaluation of wearable health monitoring device integrated with smartphone were presented. This device was designed for patients in need of constant health monitoring. The performance of the proposed design has been tested by conducting measurement once in 2 minutes for 10 minutes to obtain heart rate and body temperature data. The comparation between data measured by the proposed device and that measured by the reference device yields only an average error of 1.45% for heart rate and 1.04% for body temperature.

Health Monitoring System Technology Assessments: Cost Benefits Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Renee M.; Murphy, Dennis A.

2000-01-01

The subject of sensor-based structural health monitoring is very diverse and encompasses a wide range of activities including initiatives and innovations involving the development of advanced sensor, signal processing, data analysis, and actuation and control technologies. In addition, it embraces the consideration of the availability of low-cost, high-quality contributing technologies, computational utilities, and hardware and software resources that enable the operational realization of robust health monitoring technologies. This report presents a detailed analysis of the cost benefit and other logistics and operational considerations associated with the implementation and utilization of sensor-based technologies for use in aerospace structure health monitoring. The scope of this volume is to assess the economic impact, from an end-user perspective, implementation health monitoring technologies on three structures. It specifically focuses on evaluating the impact on maintaining and supporting these structures with and without health monitoring capability.

Sustainable Energy Solutions Task 2.0: Wind Turbine Reliability and Maintainability Enhancement through System-wide Structure Health Monitoring and Modifications to Rotating Components

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Twomey, Janet M. [Wichita State Univ., Wichita, KS (United States)

2010-04-30

An evaluation of nondestructive structural health monitoring methods was completed with over 132 documents, 37 specifically about wind turbines, summarized into a technology matrix. This matrix lists the technology, what can be monitored with this technology, and gives a short summary of the key aspects of the technology and its application. Passive and active acoustic emission equipment from Physical Acoustics Corp. and Acellent Technologies have been evaluated and selected for use in experimental state loading and fatigue tests of composite wind turbine blade materials. Acoustic Emission (AE) and Active Ultrasonic Testing (AUT), were applied to composite coupons with both simulated and actual damage. The results found that, while composites are more complicated in nature, compared to metallic structures, an artificial neural network analysis could still be used to determine damage. For the AE system, the failure mode could be determined (i.e. fiber breakage, delamination, etc.). The Acellent system has been evaluated to work well with composite materials. A test-rig for reliability testing of the rotating components was constructed. The research on the types of bearings used in the wind turbines indicated that in most of the designs, the main bearings utilized to support the shaft are cylindrical roller bearings. The accelerated degradation testing of a population of bearings was performed. Vibration and acoustic emission data was collected and analyzed in order to identify a representative degradation signal for each bearing to identify the initiation of the degradation process in the bearings. Afterwards, the RMS of the vibration signal from degradation initiation up to the end of the useful life of the bearing was selected to predict the remaining useful life of the bearing. This step included fitting Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) models to the degradation signals and approximating the probability distribution function (PDF) of remaining useful life

The development on-line monitoring system of active magnetic bearings for HTR-10GT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Zhengang; Shi Lei; Zha Meisheng; Yu Suyuan

2005-01-01

High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR) is recognized as an advanced type of reactor incorporating many design enhancements such as inherent safety features, fuel cycle flexibility, highly fuel utilization, highly efficient electricity generation and process heat application. The research and development of HTR started at the middle of the 1970's, and came to be a part of the Chinese High Technology Program in 1986. A plan to build a 10 MW High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-10) was approved by the State Science and Technology Commission in 1990, and in 1995 the construction was initiated at the Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology (INET), Tsinghua University. The full power 10 MW operation for 72 hours have reached in 2003, and have been checked and accepted by the State Science and Technology Commission. In order to advance the HTR-10 performance, the project of the Helium Gas Turbine Generator for the HTR-10 was authorized by the State Science and Technology Commission, and stared in 2003. In this project, active magnetic bearings (AMBs) are chosen to support the generator rotor and the turbocompressor rotor in the power conversion unit because of their numerous advantages over the conventional bearings. In order to detect how the AMB system works in operation and make diagnosis whether the system behaves normally or not, the monitoring system based on the virtual instruments is designed to monitor the working conditions of the PCU, and to ensure its normal operation. This monitoring system consists of the industry personal computer (PC), the data acquisition system, the measurement transmitters and the LabVIEW system platform. It is located at the PCU control room, and communicates with the master control room by Controller Area Net (CAN). The development is divided into the following three steps: First, a data acquisition platform to collect and acquire all the necessary and useful data from the operation of the AMB system is developed. Second, the

Smart health monitoring systems: an overview of design and modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Baig, Mirza Mansoor; Gholamhosseini, Hamid

2013-04-01

Health monitoring systems have rapidly evolved during the past two decades and have the potential to change the way health care is currently delivered. Although smart health monitoring systems automate patient monitoring tasks and, thereby improve the patient workflow management, their efficiency in clinical settings is still debatable. This paper presents a review of smart health monitoring systems and an overview of their design and modeling. Furthermore, a critical analysis of the efficiency, clinical acceptability, strategies and recommendations on improving current health monitoring systems will be presented. The main aim is to review current state of the art monitoring systems and to perform extensive and an in-depth analysis of the findings in the area of smart health monitoring systems. In order to achieve this, over fifty different monitoring systems have been selected, categorized, classified and compared. Finally, major advances in the system design level have been discussed, current issues facing health care providers, as well as the potential challenges to health monitoring field will be identified and compared to other similar systems.

Health disparities monitoring in the U.S.: lessons for monitoring efforts in Israel and other countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Saad, Kathleen; Avni, Shlomit; Kalter-Leibovici, Ofra

2018-02-28

Health disparities are a persistent problem in many high-income countries. Health policymakers recognize the need to develop systematic methods for documenting and tracking these disparities in order to reduce them. The experience of the U.S., which has a well-established health disparities monitoring infrastructure, provides useful insights for other countries. This article provides an in-depth review of health disparities monitoring in the U.S. Lessons of potential relevance for other countries include: 1) the integration of health disparities monitoring in population health surveillance, 2) the role of political commitment, 3) use of monitoring as a feedback loop to inform future directions, 4) use of monitoring to identify data gaps, 5) development of extensive cross-departmental cooperation, and 6) exploitation of digital tools for monitoring and reporting. Using Israel as a case in point, we provide a brief overview of the healthcare and health disparities landscape in Israel, and examine how the lessons from the U.S. experience might be applied in the Israeli context. The U.S. model of health disparities monitoring provides useful lessons for other countries with respect to documentation of health disparities and tracking of progress made towards their elimination. Given the persistence of health disparities both in the U.S. and Israel, there is a need for monitoring systems to expand beyond individual- and healthcare system-level factors, to incorporate social and environmental determinants of health as health indicators/outcomes.

Ecological effects of contaminants and remedial actions in Bear Creek

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Southworth, G.R.; Loar, J.M.; Ryon, M.G.; Smith, J.G.; Stewart, A.J. (Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)); Burris, J.A. (C. E. Environmental, Inc., Tallahassee, FL (United States))

1992-01-01

Ecological studies of the Bear Creek watershed, which drains the area surrounding several Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant waste disposal facilities, were initiated in May 1984 and are continuing at present. These studies consisted of an initial, detailed characterization of the benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek, and they were followed by a presently ongoing monitoring phase that involves reduced sampling intensities. The characterization phase utilized two approaches: (1) instream sampling of benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek to identify spatial and temporal patterns in distribution and abundance and (2) laboratory bioassays on water samples from Bear Creek and selected tributaries to identify potential sources of toxicity to biota. The monitoring phase of the ecological program relates to the long-term goals of identifying and prioritizing contaminant sources and assessing the effectiveness of remedial actions. It continues activities of the characterization phase at less frequent intervals. The Bear Greek Valley is a watershed that drains the area surrounding several closed Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant waste disposal facilities. Past waste disposal practices in Bear Creek Valley resulted in contamination of Bear Creek and consequent ecological damage. Extensive remedial actions have been proposed at waste sites, and some of the have been implemented or are now underway. The proposed study plan consists of an initial, detailed characterization of the benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek in the first year followed by a reduction in sampling intensity during the monitoring phase of the plan. The results of sampling conducted from May 1984 through early 1989 are presented in this report.

Ecological effects of contaminants and remedial actions in Bear Creek

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Southworth, G.R.; Loar, J.M.; Ryon, M.G.; Smith, J.G.; Stewart, A.J.; Burris, J.A.

1992-01-01

Ecological studies of the Bear Creek watershed, which drains the area surrounding several Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant waste disposal facilities, were initiated in May 1984 and are continuing at present. These studies consisted of an initial, detailed characterization of the benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek, and they were followed by a presently ongoing monitoring phase that involves reduced sampling intensities. The characterization phase utilized two approaches: (1) instream sampling of benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek to identify spatial and temporal patterns in distribution and abundance and (2) laboratory bioassays on water samples from Bear Creek and selected tributaries to identify potential sources of toxicity to biota. The monitoring phase of the ecological program relates to the long-term goals of identifying and prioritizing contaminant sources and assessing the effectiveness of remedial actions. It continues activities of the characterization phase at less frequent intervals. The Bear Greek Valley is a watershed that drains the area surrounding several closed Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant waste disposal facilities. Past waste disposal practices in Bear Creek Valley resulted in contamination of Bear Creek and consequent ecological damage. Extensive remedial actions have been proposed at waste sites, and some of the have been implemented or are now underway. The proposed study plan consists of an initial, detailed characterization of the benthic invertebrate and fish communities in Bear Creek in the first year followed by a reduction in sampling intensity during the monitoring phase of the plan. The results of sampling conducted from May 1984 through early 1989 are presented in this report

The effect of external dynamic loads on the lifetime of rolling element bearings: accurate measurement of the bearing behaviour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobs, W; Boonen, R; Sas, P; Moens, D

2012-01-01

Accurate prediction of the lifetime of rolling element bearings is a crucial step towards a reliable design of many rotating machines. Recent research emphasizes an important influence of external dynamic loads on the lifetime of bearings. However, most lifetime calculations of bearings are based on the classical ISO 281 standard, neglecting this influence. For bearings subjected to highly varying loads, this leads to inaccurate estimations of the lifetime, and therefore excessive safety factors during the design and unexpected failures during operation. This paper presents a novel test rig, developed to analyse the behaviour of rolling element bearings subjected to highly varying loads. Since bearings are very precise machine components, their motion can only be measured in an accurately controlled environment. Otherwise, noise from other components and external influences such as temperature variations will dominate the measurements. The test rig is optimised to perform accurate measurements of the bearing behaviour. Also, the test bearing is fitted in a modular structure, which guarantees precise mounting and allows testing different types and sizes of bearings. Finally, a fully controlled multi-axial static and dynamic load is imposed on the bearing, while its behaviour is monitored with capacitive proximity probes.

An enhanced Hilbert–Huang transform technique for bearing condition monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osman, Shazali; Wang, Wilson

2013-01-01

A new technique, enhanced Hilbert–Huang transform (eHHT), is proposed in this work for fault detection in rolling element bearings. It includes two processes: firstly, the collected vibration signal is denoised to highlight defect-related impulses; and secondly the denoised signal is further processed by the use of the proposed eHHT technique to identify the defect features for bearing fault detection. Signal denoising is carried out by the use of the minimum entropy deconvolution filter to reduce impedance effect of the transmission path of the measured signal. In the proposed eHHT, a novel strategy is proposed to enhance feature extraction based on the analysis of correlation and mutual information. The effectiveness of the proposed eHHT technique in feature extraction and analysis is verified by a series of experimental tests corresponding to different bearing conditions. Its robustness is examined by using data sets from a different resource. (paper)

Prevalence of Trichinella spp. in black bears, grizzly bears, and wolves in the Dehcho Region, Northwest Territories, Canada, including the first report of T. nativa in a grizzly bear from Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Larter, Nicholas C; Forbes, Lorry B; Elkin, Brett T; Allaire, Danny G

2011-07-01

Samples of muscle from 120 black bears (Ursus americanus), 11 grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), and 27 wolves (Canis lupus) collected in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories from 2001 to 2010 were examined for the presence of Trichinella spp. larvae using a pepsin-HCl digestion assay. Trichinella spp. larvae were found in eight of 11 (73%) grizzly bears, 14 of 27 (52%) wolves, and seven of 120 (5.8%) black bears. The average age of positive grizzly bears, black bears, and wolves was 13.5, 9.9, and approximately 4 yr, respectively. Larvae from 11 wolves, six black bears, and seven grizzly bears were genotyped. Six wolves were infected with T. nativa and five with Trichinella T6, four black bears were infected with T. nativa and two with Trichinella T6, and all seven grizzly bears were infected with Trichinella T6 and one of them had a coinfection with T. nativa. This is the first report of T. nativa in a grizzly bear from Canada. Bears have been linked to trichinellosis outbreaks in humans in Canada, and black bears are a subsistence food source for residents of the Dehcho region. In order to assess food safety risk it is important to monitor the prevalence of Trichinella spp. in both species of bear and their cohabiting mammalian food sources.

Serosurvey for selected pathogens in free-ranging American black bears (Ursus americanus) in Maryland, USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Bronson, Ellen; Spiker, Harry; Driscoll, Cindy P

2014-10-01

American black bears (Ursus americanus) in Maryland, USA, live in forested areas in close proximity to humans and their domestic pets. From 1999 to 2011, we collected 84 serum samples from 63 black bears (18 males; 45 females) in five Maryland counties and tested them for exposure to infectious, including zoonotic, pathogens. A large portion of the bears had antibody to canine distemper virus and Toxoplasma gondii, many at high titers. Prevalences of antibodies to zoonotic agents such as rabies virus and to infectious agents of carnivores including canine adenovirus and canine parvovirus were lower. Bears also had antibodies to vector-borne pathogens common to bears and humans such as West Nile virus, Borrelia burgdorferi, Rickettsia rickettsii, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Antibodies were detected to Leptospira interrogans serovars Pomona, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Canicola, Grippotyphosa, and Bratislava. We did not detect antibodies to Brucella canis or Ehrlichia canis. Although this population of Maryland black bears demonstrated exposure to multiple pathogens of concern for humans and domesticated animals, the low levels of clinical disease in this and other free-ranging black bear populations indicate the black bear is likely a spillover host for the majority of pathogens studied. Nevertheless, bear populations living at the human-domestic-wildlife interface with increasing human and domestic animal exposure should continue to be monitored because this population likely serves as a useful sentinel of ecosystem health.

Using spatial mark-recapture for conservation monitoring of grizzly bear populations in Alberta.

Science.gov (United States)

Boulanger, John; Nielsen, Scott E; Stenhouse, Gordon B

2018-03-26

One of the challenges in conservation is determining patterns and responses in population density and distribution as it relates to habitat and changes in anthropogenic activities. We applied spatially explicit capture recapture (SECR) methods, combined with density surface modelling from five grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) management areas (BMAs) in Alberta, Canada, to assess SECR methods and to explore factors influencing bear distribution. Here we used models of grizzly bear habitat and mortality risk to test local density associations using density surface modelling. Results demonstrated BMA-specific factors influenced density, as well as the effects of habitat and topography on detections and movements of bears. Estimates from SECR were similar to those from closed population models and telemetry data, but with similar or higher levels of precision. Habitat was most associated with areas of higher bear density in the north, whereas mortality risk was most associated (negatively) with density of bears in the south. Comparisons of the distribution of mortality risk and habitat revealed differences by BMA that in turn influenced local abundance of bears. Combining SECR methods with density surface modelling increases the resolution of mark-recapture methods by directly inferring the effect of spatial factors on regulating local densities of animals.

ANN based Performance Evaluation of BDI for Condition Monitoring of Induction Motor Bearings

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Raj Kumar; Giri, V. K.

2017-06-01

One of the critical parts in rotating machines is bearings and most of the failure arises from the defective bearings. Bearing failure leads to failure of a machine and the unpredicted productivity loss in the performance. Therefore, bearing fault detection and prognosis is an integral part of the preventive maintenance procedures. In this paper vibration signal for four conditions of a deep groove ball bearing; normal (N), inner race defect (IRD), ball defect (BD) and outer race defect (ORD) were acquired from a customized bearing test rig, under four different conditions and three different fault sizes. Two approaches have been opted for statistical feature extraction from the vibration signal. In the first approach, raw signal is used for statistical feature extraction and in the second approach statistical features extracted are based on bearing damage index (BDI). The proposed BDI technique uses wavelet packet node energy coefficients analysis method. Both the features are used as inputs to an ANN classifier to evaluate its performance. A comparison of ANN performance is made based on raw vibration data and data chosen by using BDI. The ANN performance has been found to be fairly higher when BDI based signals were used as inputs to the classifier.

Population growth of Yellowstone grizzly bears: Uncertainty and future monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, R.B.; White, Gary C.; Schwartz, C.C.; Haroldson, M.A.

2007-01-01

Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the US Rocky Mountains have recently increased in numbers, but remain vulnerable due to isolation from other populations and predicted reductions in favored food resources. Harris et al. (2006) projected how this population might fare in the future under alternative survival rates, and in doing so estimated the rate of population growth, 1983–2002. We address issues that remain from that earlier work: (1) the degree of uncertainty surrounding our estimates of the rate of population change (λ); (2) the effect of correlation among demographic parameters on these estimates; and (3) how a future monitoring system using counts of females accompanied by cubs might usefully differentiate between short-term, expected, and inconsequential fluctuations versus a true change in system state. We used Monte Carlo re-sampling of beta distributions derived from the demographic parameters used by Harris et al. (2006) to derive distributions of λ during 1983–2002 given our sampling uncertainty. Approximate 95% confidence intervals were 0.972–1.096 (assuming females with unresolved fates died) and 1.008–1.115 (with unresolved females censored at last contact). We used well-supported models of Haroldson et al. (2006) and Schwartz et al. (2006a,b,c) to assess the strength of correlations among demographic processes and the effect of omitting them in projection models. Incorporating correlations among demographic parameters yielded point estimates of λ that were nearly identical to those from the earlier model that omitted correlations, but yielded wider confidence intervals surrounding λ. Finally, we suggest that fitting linear and quadratic curves to the trend suggested by the estimated number of females with cubs in the ecosystem, and using AICc model weights to infer population sizes and λ provides an objective means to monitoring approximate population trajectories in addition to demographic

The use of the road to health card in monitoring child health | Tarwa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The use of the road to health card in monitoring child health. ... The Road to Health Chart (RTHC) provides a simple, cheap, practical and convenient method of monitoring child health. The RTHC could assist ... Conclusions: Many parents believe that the RTHC is only required for Well-baby-clinic visits, not for consultations.

Health Monitor for Multitasking, Safety-Critical, Real-Time Software

Science.gov (United States)

Zoerner, Roger

2011-01-01

Health Manager can detect Bad Health prior to a failure occurring by periodically monitoring the application software by looking for code corruption errors, and sanity-checking each critical data value prior to use. A processor s memory can fail and corrupt the software, or the software can accidentally write to the wrong address and overwrite the executing software. This innovation will continuously calculate a checksum of the software load to detect corrupted code. This will allow a system to detect a failure before it happens. This innovation monitors each software task (thread) so that if any task reports "bad health," or does not report to the Health Manager, the system is declared bad. The Health Manager reports overall system health to the outside world by outputting a square wave signal. If the square wave stops, this indicates that system health is bad or hung and cannot report. Either way, "bad health" can be detected, whether caused by an error, corrupted data, or a hung processor. A separate Health Monitor Task is started and run periodically in a loop that starts and stops pending on a semaphore. Each monitored task registers with the Health Manager, which maintains a count for the task. The registering task must indicate if it will run more or less often than the Health Manager. If the task runs more often than the Health Manager, the monitored task calls a health function that increments the count and verifies it did not go over max-count. When the periodic Health Manager runs, it verifies that the count did not go over the max-count and zeroes it. If the task runs less often than the Health Manager, the periodic Health Manager will increment the count. The monitored task zeroes the count, and both the Health Manager and monitored task verify that the count did not go over the max-count.

Mobile health monitoring system for community health workers

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Sibiya, G

2014-09-01

Full Text Available of hypertension as it provides real time information and eliminates the need to visit a healthcare facility to take blood pressure readings. Our proposed mobile health monitoring system enables faster computerization of data that has been recorded... pressure, heart rate and glucose readings. These reading closely related to most common NCDs. D. Feedback to health worker and the subject of care Community health workers are often not professionally trained on health. As a result they are not expected...

Wearable Sensors for Remote Health Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Majumder, Sumit; Mondal, Tapas; Deen, M Jamal

2017-01-12

Life expectancy in most countries has been increasing continually over the several few decades thanks to significant improvements in medicine, public health, as well as personal and environmental hygiene. However, increased life expectancy combined with falling birth rates are expected to engender a large aging demographic in the near future that would impose significant  burdens on the socio-economic structure of these countries. Therefore, it is essential to develop cost-effective, easy-to-use systems for the sake of elderly healthcare and well-being. Remote health monitoring, based on non-invasive and wearable sensors, actuators and modern communication and information technologies offers an efficient and cost-effective solution that allows the elderly to continue to live in their comfortable home environment instead of expensive healthcare facilities. These systems will also allow healthcare personnel to monitor important physiological signs of their patients in real time, assess health conditions and provide feedback from distant facilities. In this paper, we have presented and compared several low-cost and non-invasive health and activity monitoring systems that were reported in recent years. A survey on textile-based sensors that can potentially be used in wearable systems is also presented. Finally, compatibility of several communication technologies as well as future perspectives and research challenges in remote monitoring systems will be discussed.

Wearable Sensors for Remote Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumit Majumder

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Life expectancy in most countries has been increasing continually over the several few decades thanks to significant improvements in medicine, public health, as well as personal and environmental hygiene. However, increased life expectancy combined with falling birth rates are expected to engender a large aging demographic in the near future that would impose significant  burdens on the socio-economic structure of these countries. Therefore, it is essential to develop cost-effective, easy-to-use systems for the sake of elderly healthcare and well-being. Remote health monitoring, based on non-invasive and wearable sensors, actuators and modern communication and information technologies offers an efficient and cost-effective solution that allows the elderly to continue to live in their comfortable home environment instead of expensive healthcare facilities. These systems will also allow healthcare personnel to monitor important physiological signs of their patients in real time, assess health conditions and provide feedback from distant facilities. In this paper, we have presented and compared several low-cost and non-invasive health and activity monitoring systems that were reported in recent years. A survey on textile-based sensors that can potentially be used in wearable systems is also presented. Finally, compatibility of several communication technologies as well as future perspectives and research challenges in remote monitoring systems will be discussed.

Acoustic Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Frankenstein, B.; Augustin, J.; Hentschel, D.; Schubert, F.; Köhler, B.; Meyendorf, N.

2008-02-01

Future safety and maintenance strategies for industrial components and vehicles are based on combinations of monitoring systems that are permanently attached to or embedded in the structure, and periodic inspections. The latter belongs to conventional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and can be enhanced or partially replaced by structural health monitoring systems. However, the main benefit of this technology for the future will consist of systems that can be differently designed based on improved safety philosophies, including continuous monitoring. This approach will increase the efficiency of inspection procedures at reduced inspection times. The Fraunhofer IZFP Dresden Branch has developed network nodes, miniaturized transmitter and receiver systems for active and passive acoustical techniques and sensor systems that can be attached to or embedded into components or structures. These systems have been used to demonstrate intelligent sensor networks for the monitoring of aerospace structures, railway systems, wind energy generators, piping system and other components. Material discontinuities and flaws have been detected and monitored during full scale fatigue testing. This paper will discuss opportunities and future trends in nondestructive evaluation and health monitoring based on new sensor principles and advanced microelectronics. It will outline various application examples of monitoring systems based on acoustic techniques and will indicate further needs for research and development.

[Use of routine data from statutory health insurances for federal health monitoring purposes].

Science.gov (United States)

Ohlmeier, C; Frick, J; Prütz, F; Lampert, T; Ziese, T; Mikolajczyk, R; Garbe, E

2014-04-01

Federal health monitoring deals with the state of health and the health-related behavior of populations and is used to inform politics. To date, the routine data from statutory health insurances (SHI) have rarely been used for federal health monitoring purposes. SHI routine data enable analyses of disease frequency, risk factors, the course of the disease, the utilization of medical services, and mortality rates. The advantages offered by SHI routine data regarding federal health monitoring are the intersectoral perspective and the nearly complete absence of recall and selection bias in the respective population. Further, the large sample sizes and the continuous collection of the data allow reliable descriptions of the state of health of the insurants, even in cases of multiple stratification. These advantages have to be weighed against disadvantages linked to the claims nature of the data and the high administrative hurdles when requesting the use of SHI routine data. Particularly in view of the improved availability of data from all SHI insurants for research institutions in the context of the "health-care structure law", SHI routine data are an interesting data source for federal health monitoring purposes.

Wearable sensors for human health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Asada, H. Harry; Reisner, Andrew

2006-03-01

Wearable sensors for continuous monitoring of vital signs for extended periods of weeks or months are expected to revolutionize healthcare services in the home and workplace as well as in hospitals and nursing homes. This invited paper describes recent research progress in wearable health monitoring technology and its clinical applications, with emphasis on blood pressure and circulatory monitoring. First, a finger ring-type wearable blood pressure sensor based on photo plethysmogram is presented. Technical issues, including motion artifact reduction, power saving, and wearability enhancement, will be addressed. Second, sensor fusion and sensor networking for integrating multiple sensors with diverse modalities will be discussed for comprehensive monitoring and diagnosis of health status. Unlike traditional snap-shot measurements, continuous monitoring with wearable sensors opens up the possibility to treat the physiological system as a dynamical process. This allows us to apply powerful system dynamics and control methodologies, such as adaptive filtering, single- and multi-channel system identification, active noise cancellation, and adaptive control, to the monitoring and treatment of highly complex physiological systems. A few clinical trials illustrate the potentials of the wearable sensor technology for future heath care services.

Design of smart neonatal health monitoring system using SMCC.

Science.gov (United States)

De, Debashis; Mukherjee, Anwesha; Sau, Arkaprabha; Bhakta, Ishita

2017-02-01

Automated health monitoring and alert system development is a demanding research area today. Most of the currently available monitoring and controlling medical devices are wired which limits freeness of working environment. Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a better alternative in such an environment. Neonatal intensive care unit is used to take care of sick and premature neonates. Hypothermia is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality and morbidity. To prevent it an automated monitoring system is required. In this Letter, an automated neonatal health monitoring system is designed using sensor mobile cloud computing (SMCC). SMCC is based on WSN and MCC. In the authors' system temperature sensor, acceleration sensor and heart rate measurement sensor are used to monitor body temperature, acceleration due to body movement and heart rate of neonates. The sensor data are stored inside the cloud. The health person continuously monitors and accesses these data through the mobile device using an Android Application for neonatal monitoring. When an abnormal situation arises, an alert is generated in the mobile device of the health person. By alerting health professional using such an automated system, early care is provided to the affected babies and the probability of recovery is increased.

Bearing Fault Detection Based on Empirical Wavelet Transform and Correlated Kurtosis by Acoustic Emission.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Zheyu; Lin, Jing; Wang, Xiufeng; Xu, Xiaoqiang

2017-05-24

Rolling bearings are widely used in rotating equipment. Detection of bearing faults is of great importance to guarantee safe operation of mechanical systems. Acoustic emission (AE), as one of the bearing monitoring technologies, is sensitive to weak signals and performs well in detecting incipient faults. Therefore, AE is widely used in monitoring the operating status of rolling bearing. This paper utilizes Empirical Wavelet Transform (EWT) to decompose AE signals into mono-components adaptively followed by calculation of the correlated kurtosis (CK) at certain time intervals of these components. By comparing these CK values, the resonant frequency of the rolling bearing can be determined. Then the fault characteristic frequencies are found by spectrum envelope. Both simulation signal and rolling bearing AE signals are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the new method performs well in identifying bearing fault frequency under strong background noise.

Intelligent Engine Systems Work Element 1.3: Sub System Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Ashby, Malcolm; Simpson, Jeffrey; Singh, Anant; Ferguson, Emily; Frontera, mark

2005-01-01

The objectives of this program were to develop health monitoring systems and physics-based fault detection models for engine sub-systems including the start, lubrication, and fuel. These models will ultimately be used to provide more effective sub-system fault identification and isolation to reduce engine maintenance costs and engine down-time. Additionally, the bearing sub-system health is addressed in this program through identification of sensing requirements, a review of available technologies and a demonstration of a demonstration of a conceptual monitoring system for a differential roller bearing. This report is divided into four sections; one for each of the subtasks. The start system subtask is documented in section 2.0, the oil system is covered in section 3.0, bearing in section 4.0, and the fuel system is presented in section 5.0.

Flexible Sensing Electronics for Wearable/Attachable Health Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xuewen; Liu, Zheng; Zhang, Ting

2017-07-01

Wearable or attachable health monitoring smart systems are considered to be the next generation of personal portable devices for remote medicine practices. Smart flexible sensing electronics are components crucial in endowing health monitoring systems with the capability of real-time tracking of physiological signals. These signals are closely associated with body conditions, such as heart rate, wrist pulse, body temperature, blood/intraocular pressure and blood/sweat bio-information. Monitoring such physiological signals provides a convenient and non-invasive way for disease diagnoses and health assessments. This Review summarizes the recent progress of flexible sensing electronics for their use in wearable/attachable health monitoring systems. Meanwhile, we present an overview of different materials and configurations for flexible sensors, including piezo-resistive, piezo-electrical, capacitive, and field effect transistor based devices, and analyze the working principles in monitoring physiological signals. In addition, the future perspectives of wearable healthcare systems and the technical demands on their commercialization are briefly discussed. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Accurate bearing remaining useful life prediction based on Weibull distribution and artificial neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Ben Ali, Jaouher; Chebel-Morello, Brigitte; Saidi, Lotfi; Malinowski, Simon; Fnaiech, Farhat

2015-05-01

Accurate remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of critical assets is an important challenge in condition based maintenance to improve reliability and decrease machine's breakdown and maintenance's cost. Bearing is one of the most important components in industries which need to be monitored and the user should predict its RUL. The challenge of this study is to propose an original feature able to evaluate the health state of bearings and to estimate their RUL by Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) techniques. In this paper, the proposed method is based on the data-driven prognostic approach. The combination of Simplified Fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory Map (SFAM) neural network and Weibull distribution (WD) is explored. WD is used just in the training phase to fit measurement and to avoid areas of fluctuation in the time domain. SFAM training process is based on fitted measurements at present and previous inspection time points as input. However, the SFAM testing process is based on real measurements at present and previous inspections. Thanks to the fuzzy learning process, SFAM has an important ability and a good performance to learn nonlinear time series. As output, seven classes are defined; healthy bearing and six states for bearing degradation. In order to find the optimal RUL prediction, a smoothing phase is proposed in this paper. Experimental results show that the proposed method can reliably predict the RUL of rolling element bearings (REBs) based on vibration signals. The proposed prediction approach can be applied to prognostic other various mechanical assets.

Context aware sensing for health monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Landete, F.; Chen, W.; Bouwstra, S.; Feijs, L.M.G.; Bambang Oetomo, S.

2012-01-01

Health Monitoring systems with textile sensors offer more comfort compared to gel electrodes, however they tend to suffer from poor skin contact and motion artifacts. In order to improve the monitoring reliability, we propose to apply multiple sensors and context aware sensing. A context aware

Activity monitoring systems in health care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kröse, B.; van Oosterhout, T.; van Kasteren, T.; Salah, A.A.; Gevers, T.

2011-01-01

This chapter focuses on activity monitoring in a home setting for health care purposes. First the most current sensing systems are described, which consist of wearable and ambient sensors. Then several approaches for the monitoring of simple actions are discussed, like falls or therapies. After

Acceptance by laypersons and medical professionals of the personalized eHealth platform, eHealthMonitor.

Science.gov (United States)

Griebel, Lena; Kolominsky-Rabas, Peter; Schaller, Sandra; Siudyka, Jakub; Sierpinski, Radoslaw; Papapavlou, Dimitrios; Simeonidou, Aliki; Prokosch, Hans-Ulrich; Sedlmayr, Martin

2017-09-01

Often, eHealth services are not accepted because of factors such as eHealth literacy or trust. Within this study, eHealthMonitor was evaluated in three European countries (Germany, Greece, and Poland) by medical professionals and laypersons with respect to numerous acceptance factors. Questionnaires were created on the basis of factors from literature and with the help of scales which have already been validated. A qualitative survey was conducted in Germany, Poland, and Greece. The eHealth literacy of all participants was medium/high. Laypersons mostly agreed that they could easily become skillful with eHealthMonitor and that other people thought that they should use eHealthMonitor. Amongst medical professionals, a large number were afraid that eHealthMonitor could violate their privacy or the privacy of their patients. Overall, the participants thought that eHealthMonitor was a good concept and that they would use it. The main hindrances to the use of eHealthMonitor were found in trust issues including data privacy. In the future, more research on the linkage of all measured factors is needed, for example, to address the question of whether highly educated people tend to mistrust eHealth information more than people with lower levels of education.

Wearable sensors for health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Suciu, George; Butca, Cristina; Ochian, Adelina; Halunga, Simona

2015-02-01

In this paper we describe several wearable sensors, designed for monitoring the health condition of the patients, based on an experimental model. Wearable sensors enable long-term continuous physiological monitoring, which is important for the treatment and management of many chronic illnesses, neurological disorders, and mental health issues. The system is based on a wearable sensors network, which is connected to a computer or smartphone. The wearable sensor network integrates several wearable sensors that can measure different parameters such as body temperature, heart rate and carbon monoxide quantity from the air. After the portable sensors measuring parameter values, they are transmitted by microprocessor through the Bluetooth to the application developed on computer or smartphone, to be interpreted.

Bearing structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, A.S.; Preece, G.E.

1988-01-01

A hydrostatic bearing for the lower end of the vertical shaft of a sodium pump comprises a support shell encircling the shaft and a bush located between the shell and shaft. Liquid sodium is fed from the pump outlet to the bush/shaft and bush/shell interfaces to provide hydrostatic support. The bush outer surface and the shell inner surface are of complementary part-spherical shape and the bush floats relative to the shaft so that the bush can align itself with the shaft axis. Monitoring of the relative rotational speed of the bush with respect to the shaft (such rotation being induced by the viscous drag forces present) is also performed for the purposes of detecting abnormal operation of the bearing or partial seizure, at least one magnet is rotatable with the bush, and a magnetic sensor provides an output having a frequency related to the speed of the bush. (author)

Eastern slopes grizzly bear project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-01-01

The cumulative effects of human activities on the grizzly bears in the central Canadian Rockies are not well known. As a result, a project was initiated in 1994 to address the urgent requirement for accurate scientific information on the habitat and populations of grizzly bears in the area of the Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country. This area is probably the most heavily used and developed area where the grizzly still survives. The information gathered throughout the course of this study will be used to better protect and manage the bears and other sensitive carnivores in the region. Using telemetry, researchers are monitoring 25 grizzly bears which were radio-collared in a 22,000 square-kilometer area in the upper Bow Valley drainage of the eastern Alberta slopes. The researchers involved in the project are working with representatives from Husky Oil and Talisman Energy on the sound development of the Moose Mountain oil and gas field without adversely affecting the grizzly bear population. Information collected over seven years indicated that the grizzly bears have few and infrequent offspring. Using the information gathered so far, the location of the Moose Mountain to Jumping Pound pipeline was carefully selected, since the bears recover very slowly from high mortality, and also considering that the food and cover had already been compromised by the high number of roads, trails and other human activities in the area. The status of the population and habitat of the grizzly bear will be assessed upon the conclusion of the field research phase in 2001. Models will be updated using the data obtained during eight years and will assist in the understanding of complex variables that affect grizzly bears.

Patient monitoring in mobile health: opportunities and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Safdari, Reza

2014-01-01

In most countries chronic diseases lead to high health care costs and reduced productivity of people in society. The best way to reduce costs of health sector and increase the empowerment of people is prevention of chronic diseases and appropriate health activities management through monitoring of patients. To enjoy the full benefits of E-health, making use of methods and modern technologies is very important. This literature review articles were searched with keywords like Patient monitoring, Mobile Health, and Chronic Disease in Science Direct, Google Scholar and Pub Med databases without regard to the year of publications. Applying remote medical diagnosis and monitoring system based on mobile health systems can help significantly to reduce health care costs, correct performance management particularly in chronic disease management. Also some challenges are in patient monitoring in general and specific aspects like threats to confidentiality and privacy, technology acceptance in general and lack of system interoperability with electronic health records and other IT tools, decrease in face to face communication between doctor and patient, sudden interruptions of telecommunication networks, and device and sensor type in specific aspect. It is obvious identifying the opportunities and challenges of mobile technology and reducing barriers, strengthening the positive points will have a significant role in the appropriate planning and promoting the achievements of the health care systems based on mobile and helps to design a roadmap for improvement of mobile health.

Public Perceptions of Bears and Management Interventions in Japan

OpenAIRE

Sakurai, Ryo; Jacobson, Susan K.

2011-01-01

Conservation of bears is a challenge globally. In Japan, Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) are considered a nuisance because of agricultural and property damage and personal human danger due to occasional human casualties. Reduction of human–bear conflicts in Japan would improve long-term conservation of bears and reduce risks to human health and safety. To understand Japanese perceptions of and experience with bears, we analyzed results of 5 public surveys...

Analysis of acoustic emission data for bearings subject to unbalance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rapinder Sawhney

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Acoustic Emission (AE is an effective nondestructive method for investigating the behavior of materials under stress. In recent decades, AE applications in structural health monitoring have been extended to other areas such as rotating machineries and cutting tools. This research investigates the application of acoustic emission data for unbalance analysis and detection in rotary systems. The AE parameter of interest in this study is a discrete variable that covers the significance of count, duration and amplitude of AE signals. A statistical model based on Zero-Inflated Poisson (ZIP regression is proposed to handle over-dispersion and excess zeros of the counting data. The ZIP model indicates that faulty bearings can generate more transient wave in the AE waveform. Control charts can easily detect the faulty bearing using the parameters of the ZIP model. Categorical data analysis based on generalized linear models (GLM is also presented. The results demonstrate the significance of the couple unbalance.

Sampling and analysis plan for groundwater and surface water monitoring at the Y-12 Plant during calendar year 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-10-01

This plan provides a description of the groundwater and surface-water quality monitoring activities planned for calendar year (CY) 1995 at the Department of Energy Y-12 Plant. Included in this plan are the monitoring activities managed by the Y-12 Plant Health, Safety, Environment, and Accountability (HSEA) Organization through the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP). Other groundwater and surface water monitoring activities (e.g. selected Environmental Restoration Program activities, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) monitoring) not managed through the Y-12 Plant GWPP are not addressed in this report. Several monitoring programs will be implemented in three hydrogeologic regimes: the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (Bear Creek Regime), the Upper East Fork Poplar Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (East Fork Regime), and the Chestnut Ridge Hydrogeologic Regime (Chestnut Ridge Regime). The Bear Creek and East Fork regimes are located within Bear Creek Valley, and the Chestnut Ridge Regime is located south of the Y-12 Plant. For various reasons, modifications to the 1995 monitoring programs may be necessary during implementation. For example, changes in regulatory requirements may alter the parameters specified for selected wells, or wells could be added to or deleted from the monitoring network. All modifications to the monitoring programs will be approved by the Y-12 Plant GWPP manager and documented as addenda to this sampling and analysis plan

A review on data-driven fault severity assessment in rolling bearings

Science.gov (United States)

Cerrada, Mariela; Sánchez, René-Vinicio; Li, Chuan; Pacheco, Fannia; Cabrera, Diego; Valente de Oliveira, José; Vásquez, Rafael E.

2018-01-01

Health condition monitoring of rotating machinery is a crucial task to guarantee reliability in industrial processes. In particular, bearings are mechanical components used in most rotating devices and they represent the main source of faults in such equipments; reason for which research activities on detecting and diagnosing their faults have increased. Fault detection aims at identifying whether the device is or not in a fault condition, and diagnosis is commonly oriented towards identifying the fault mode of the device, after detection. An important step after fault detection and diagnosis is the analysis of the magnitude or the degradation level of the fault, because this represents a support to the decision-making process in condition based-maintenance. However, no extensive works are devoted to analyse this problem, or some works tackle it from the fault diagnosis point of view. In a rough manner, fault severity is associated with the magnitude of the fault. In bearings, fault severity can be related to the physical size of fault or a general degradation of the component. Due to literature regarding the severity assessment of bearing damages is limited, this paper aims at discussing the recent methods and techniques used to achieve the fault severity evaluation in the main components of the rolling bearings, such as inner race, outer race, and ball. The review is mainly focused on data-driven approaches such as signal processing for extracting the proper fault signatures associated with the damage degradation, and learning approaches that are used to identify degradation patterns with regards to health conditions. Finally, new challenges are highlighted in order to develop new contributions in this field.

Managing brown bears and wilderness recreation on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, Michael J.; Schloeder, Catherine A.

1992-03-01

The Russian River-Cooper Lake-Resurrection River trail system, on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, traverses essential brown bear habitat. To set management guidelines for this area, the trail system was monitored using questionnaire cards and electronic trail counters from 1984 through 1987. This helped to determine the extent and type of human use and human-bear encounters in the area. Management recommendations were intended to reduce the potential displacement of brown bears by hikers and to inform wilderness users of the proper camping techniques to avoid attracting bears to the campsite. An average of 5800 visitors hiked or camped along the trail system each year. Encounters between hikers and brown bears averaged 7/yr while encounters with black bears averaged 35/yr. Minor problems occurred with both the electronic trail counters and the questionnaire. Modilications to these methods are discussed. A Limits of Acceptable Change format should be considered for the trail system to determine the character and future direction of recreational activities and monitoring of the trail system should continue in the future.

Investigation of bearing inner ring-cage thermal characteristics based on CdTe quantum dots fluorescence thermometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, Ke; Yan, Bei; Li, Ben Q.; Hong, Jun

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A novel method for bearing inner ring/cage thermal monitoring was first presented. • Temperature rise of bearing inner ring in real work condition was obtained. • The rotation speed (6000 r/min) measured here is much higher than all the existing methods. - Abstract: A novel wireless temperature sensor and non-intrusive temperature measurement method for bearing monitoring were proposed in this paper, based on spectrum parameter analysis of CdTe quantum dots films. The CdTe QDs were synthesized and were used in constructing of a sensor film by means of Layer-by-layer Electrostatic Self-assembly method. The fluorescence spectrum properties of the sensor were characterized. At rotation speed 5000–6000 r/min, bearing cage and inner ring temperature were presented first in this paper by the CdTe QDs sensor. The results were verified by theoretical analysis and by thermocouples, with an error typically below 10% or smaller. Compared to the traditional outer ring monitoring, the measurement and monitoring of bearing rolling elements is of very importance, especially at high rotation speed.

Conservation of brown bear in the Alps: space use and settlement behavior of reintroduced bears

Science.gov (United States)

Preatoni, Damiano; Mustoni, Andrea; Martinoli, Adriano; Carlini, Eugenio; Chiarenzi, Barbara; Chiozzini, Simonetta; Van Dongen, Stefan; Wauters, Luc A.; Tosi, Guido

2005-11-01

Large carnivores typically need large home ranges containing habitats patches of different quality. Consequently, their conservation requires habitat protection and management at the landscape scale. In some cases, reintroduction might be used to support remnant or restore extinct populations. This is the case for the brown bear ( Ursus arctos) in the Italian Alps. We monitored spacing behavior and settlement of reintroduced brown bears in Adamello-Brenta Natural Park, North-Italy, using radio-tracking. Habitat use, dispersion and survival were studied to evaluate the success of reintroduction and possible conflicts with man. All three males and five of seven females settled in the study area. Most bears roamed widely the first months after release, exploring the new habitat. Patterns of home range overlap between seasons and years revealed that home range use stabilized the year after first hibernation. Home ranges were larger in the mating season (May-July) than in spring or autumn. Home ranges varied between 34 and 1813 km 2 the year after release, but core-areas, where feeding activity was concentrated, were much smaller. Some bears had exclusive core-areas in summer and autumn, but most showed considerable core-area overlap with animals of the same and/or the opposite sex. Bears selected deciduous forests, mixed and conifer forests were used according to availability, and areas with anthropogenic disturbance were avoided. Most bears settled and some reproduced successfully at the release site, causing high initial population growth, suggesting that reintroduction can help to re-establish a brown bear population in the Italian Alps.

Introduction to:Forest health monitoring program

Science.gov (United States)

Mark J. Ambrose

2009-01-01

This annual technical report is a product of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program. The report provides information about a variety of issues relating to forest health at a national scale. FHM national reports have the dual focus of presenting analyses of the latest available data and showcasing innovative techniques for analyzing forest health data. The report is...

Foothills model forest grizzly bear study : project update

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-01-01

This report updates a five year study launched in 1999 to ensure the continued healthy existence of grizzly bears in west-central Alberta by integrating their needs into land management decisions. The objective was to gather better information and to develop computer-based maps and models regarding grizzly bear migration, habitat use and response to human activities. The study area covers 9,700 square km in west-central Alberta where 66 to 147 grizzly bears exist. During the first 3 field seasons, researchers captured and radio collared 60 bears. Researchers at the University of Calgary used remote sensing tools and satellite images to develop grizzly bear habitat maps. Collaborators at the University of Washington used trained dogs to find bear scat which was analyzed for DNA, stress levels and reproductive hormones. Resource Selection Function models are being developed by researchers at the University of Alberta to identify bear locations and to see how habitat is influenced by vegetation cover and oil, gas, forestry and mining activities. The health of the bears is being studied by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre. The study has already advanced the scientific knowledge of grizzly bear behaviour. Preliminary results indicate that grizzlies continue to find mates, reproduce and gain weight and establish dens. These are all good indicators of a healthy population. Most bear deaths have been related to poaching. The study will continue for another two years. 1 fig.

Solar activity monitoring and forecasting capabilities at Big Bear Solar Observatory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. T. Gallagher

2002-07-01

Full Text Available The availability of full-disk, high-resolution Ha images from Big Bear Solar Observatory (USA, Kanzelhöhe Solar Observatory (Austria, and Yunnan Astronomical Observatory (China allows for the continual monitoring of solar activity with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. Typically, this Global Ha Network (GHN provides almost uninterrupted Ha images with a cadence of 1 min and an image scale of 1'' per pixel.  Every hour, GHN images are transferred to the web-based BBSO Active Region Monitor (ARM; www.bbso.njit.edu/arm, which includes the most recent EUV, continuum, and magnetogram data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, together with magnetograms from the Global Oscillation Network Group. ARM also includes a variety of active region properties from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Environment Center, such as up-to-date active region positions, GOES 5-min X-ray data, and flare identification. Stokes I, V, Q, and U images are available from the recently operational BBSO Digital Vector Magnetograph and the Vector Magnetograph at the Huairou Solar Observing Station of Beijing Observatory. Vector magnetograms provide complete information on the photospheric magnetic field, and allow for magnetic flux gradients, electric currents, and shear forces to be calculated: these measurements are extremely sensitive to conditions resulting in flaring activity. Furthermore, we have developed a Flare Prediction System which estimates the probability for each region to produce C-, M-, or X-class flares based on nearly eight years of NOAA data from cycle 22. This, in addition to BBSO’s daily solar activity reports, has proven a useful resource for activity forecasting.Key words. Solar physics, astronomy and astrophysics (flares and mass ejections; instruments and techniques; photosphere and chromosphere

Detection of failures of axle-bearings of railway vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bižić Milan B.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The failure of axle-bearing is one of the most common causes of derailments of railway vehicles which are usually accompanied by huge material damage and human casualties. Modern railways are working intensively on the development and implementation of appropriate systems for early detection of axlebearing malfunctions, which are typically manifested by increasing of its temperature. The most common approach is based on the use of wayside systems or checkpoints located in certain places along the track. There is also an innovative approach that involves using the system for continuous measuring and online monitoring of axle-boxes temperature. The main aim is to provide early detection of malfunctions of the axle-bearing and prevention of the potential derailment. This paper analyses the existing solutions for the detection of axle-bearings malfunctions with special emphasis on the working principle and the main advantages and disadvantages. The paper presents the basics of the one newly developed wireless measuring system for on-line monitoring of axle-boxes temperature. The measuring system was tested in real conditions and can be successfully applied to the commercial railway vehicles. The main conclusion is that systems for on-line monitoring of axle-bearings temperatures are far more efficient than wayside systems. Obtained results may be important for those who deal with these and similar problems, problems of development, exploitation and maintenance of railway vehicles, strategies, regulations, etc.

Health and safety plan for phase II of the Bear Creek Valley treatability study Oak Ridge Y-12 plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-05-01

This Health and Safety Plan (HASP) addresses the health and safety (H&S) concerns and requirements for the Bear Creek Valley (BCV) Treatability Study at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. Samples will be collected from effluent following treatment tests of extraction columns, algal mats, and mature wetlands supplied by surface water locations and existing groundwater monitoring well locations. The project Sampling and Analysis Plan addresses the project description, technical objectives, procedures, and planned work activities in greater detail. It is the responsibility of the project managers, field manager, and site health and safety officer (SHSO) to determine that the requirements of this HASP are sufficiently protective. If it is determined that the requirements of this HASP are not sufficiently protective, a field change order(s) (FCO) will be prepared. FCOs will include a completed job hazard analysis or similar worksheet to ensure complete hazard assessment. FCOs must be approved by the Environmental Management and Enrichment Facilities (EMEF) project manager, EMEF H&S manager, subcontractor project or field manager, and subcontractor H&S representative. As a minimum, FCOs will be prepared if additional tasks will be performed or if contaminant exposure is anticipated.

Health and safety plan for phase II of the Bear Creek Valley treatability study Oak Ridge Y-12 plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-05-01

This Health and Safety Plan (HASP) addresses the health and safety (H ampersand S) concerns and requirements for the Bear Creek Valley (BCV) Treatability Study at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. Samples will be collected from effluent following treatment tests of extraction columns, algal mats, and mature wetlands supplied by surface water locations and existing groundwater monitoring well locations. The project Sampling and Analysis Plan addresses the project description, technical objectives, procedures, and planned work activities in greater detail. It is the responsibility of the project managers, field manager, and site health and safety officer (SHSO) to determine that the requirements of this HASP are sufficiently protective. If it is determined that the requirements of this HASP are not sufficiently protective, a field change order(s) (FCO) will be prepared. FCOs will include a completed job hazard analysis or similar worksheet to ensure complete hazard assessment. FCOs must be approved by the Environmental Management and Enrichment Facilities (EMEF) project manager, EMEF H ampersand S manager, subcontractor project or field manager, and subcontractor H ampersand S representative. As a minimum, FCOs will be prepared if additional tasks will be performed or if contaminant exposure is anticipated

Health effects from long-range transported contaminants in Arctic top predators: An integrated review based on studies of polar bears and relevant model species.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonne, Christian

2010-07-01

The aim of this review is to provide a thorough overview of the health effects from the complexed biomagnified mixture of long-range transported industrial organochlorines (OCs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and mercury (Hg) on polar bear (Ursus maritimus) health. Multiple scientific studies of polar bears indicate negative relationships between exposure to these contaminants and health parameters; however, these are all of a correlative nature and do not represent true cause-and-effects. Therefore, information from controlled studies of farmed Norwegian Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and housed East and West Greenland sledge dogs (Canis familiaris) were included as supportive weight of evidence in the clarification of contaminant exposure and health effects in polar bears. The review showed that hormone and vitamin concentrations, liver, kidney and thyroid gland morphology as well as reproductive and immune systems of polar bears are likely to be influenced by contaminant exposure. Furthermore, exclusively based on polar bear contaminant studies, bone density reduction and neurochemical disruption and DNA hypomethylation of the brain stem seemed to occur. The range of tissue concentration, at which these alterations were observed in polar bears, were ca. 1-70,000 ng/g lw for OCs (blood plasma concentrations of some PCB metabolites even higher), ca. 1-1000 ng/g lw for PBDEs and for PFCs and Hg 114-3052 ng/g ww and 0.1-50 microg/g ww, respectively. Similar concentrations were found in farmed foxes and housed sledge dogs while the lack of dose response designs did not allow an estimation of threshold levels for oral exposure and accumulated tissue concentrations. Nor was it possible to pinpoint a specific group of contaminants being more important than others nor analyze their interactions. For East Greenland polar bears the corresponding daily SigmaOC and SigmaPBDE oral exposure was estimated to be 35 and 0.34 microg/kg body

Experimental Estimation of Journal Bearing Stiffness for Damage Detection in Large Hydrogenerators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geraldo Carvalho Brito

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Based on experimental pieces of evidence collected in a set of twenty healthy large hydrogenerators, this article shows that the operating conditions of the tilting pad journal bearings of these machines may have unpredictable and significant changes. This behavior prevents the theoretical determination of bearing stiffness and damping coefficients with an adequate accuracy and makes damage detection difficult. Considering that dynamic coefficients have similar sensitivity to damage and considering that it is easier to monitor bearing stiffness than bearing damping, this article discusses a method to estimate experimentally the effective stiffness coefficients of hydrogenerators journal bearings, using only the usually monitored vibrations, with damage detection purposes. Validated using vibration signals synthesized by a simplified mathematical model that simulates the dynamic behavior of large hydrogenerators, the method was applied to a journal bearing of a 700 MW hydrogenerator, using two different excitations, the generator rotor unbalance and the vortices formed in the turbine rotor when this machine operates at partial loads. The experimental bearing stiffnesses obtained using both excitations were similar, but they were also much lower than the theoretical predictions. The article briefly discusses the causes of these discrepancies, the method’s uncertainties, and the possible improvements in its application.

Vibration based blind identification of bearing failures for autonomous wireless sensor nodes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sanchez Ramirez, Andrea; Loendersloot, Richard; Tinga, Tiedo; Bregon, A.; Daigle, M.J.

2014-01-01

Despite all the attention received by maintainers, undetected roller bearings failures are still a major source of concern in relation with reliability losses and high maintenance costs. Because of that, bearing condition assessment through vibration monitoring remains an intensive topic of

Self-monitoring practices, attitudes, and needs of individuals with bipolar disorder: implications for the design of technologies to manage mental health.

Science.gov (United States)

Murnane, Elizabeth L; Cosley, Dan; Chang, Pamara; Guha, Shion; Frank, Ellen; Gay, Geri; Matthews, Mark

2016-05-01

To understand self-monitoring strategies used independently of clinical treatment by individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), in order to recommend technology design principles to support mental health management. Participants with BD (N = 552) were recruited through the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the International Bipolar Foundation, and WeSearchTogether.org to complete a survey of closed- and open-ended questions. In this study, we focus on descriptive results and qualitative analyses. Individuals reported primarily self-monitoring items related to their bipolar disorder (mood, sleep, finances, exercise, and social interactions), with an increasing trend towards the use of digital tracking methods observed. Most participants reported having positive experiences with technology-based tracking because it enables self-reflection and agency regarding health management and also enhances lines of communication with treatment teams. Reported challenges stem from poor usability or difficulty interpreting self-tracked data. Two major implications for technology-based self-monitoring emerged from our results. First, technologies can be designed to be more condition-oriented, intuitive, and proactive. Second, more automated forms of digital symptom tracking and intervention are desired, and our results suggest the feasibility of detecting and predicting emotional states from patterns of technology usage. However, we also uncovered tension points, namely that technology designed to support mental health can also be a disruptor. This study provides increased understanding of self-monitoring practices, attitudes, and needs of individuals with bipolar disorder. This knowledge bears implications for clinical researchers and practitioners seeking insight into how individuals independently self-manage their condition as well as for researchers designing monitoring technologies to support mental health management. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University

Equity-Oriented Monitoring in the Context of Universal Health Coverage

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Bergen, Nicole; Koller, Theadora; Prasad, Amit; Schlotheuber, Anne; Valentine, Nicole; Lynch, John; Vega, Jeanette

2014-01-01

Monitoring inequalities in health is fundamental to the equitable and progressive realization of universal health coverage (UHC). A successful approach to global inequality monitoring must be intuitive enough for widespread adoption, yet maintain technical credibility. This article discusses methodological considerations for equity-oriented monitoring of UHC, and proposes recommendations for monitoring and target setting. Inequality is multidimensional, such that the extent of inequality may vary considerably across different dimensions such as economic status, education, sex, and urban/rural residence. Hence, global monitoring should include complementary dimensions of inequality (such as economic status and urban/rural residence) as well as sex. For a given dimension of inequality, subgroups for monitoring must be formulated taking into consideration applicability of the criteria across countries and subgroup heterogeneity. For economic-related inequality, we recommend forming subgroups as quintiles, and for urban/rural inequality we recommend a binary categorization. Inequality spans populations, thus appropriate approaches to monitoring should be based on comparisons between two subgroups (gap approach) or across multiple subgroups (whole spectrum approach). When measuring inequality absolute and relative measures should be reported together, along with disaggregated data; inequality should be reported alongside the national average. We recommend targets based on proportional reductions in absolute inequality across populations. Building capacity for health inequality monitoring is timely, relevant, and important. The development of high-quality health information systems, including data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting practices that are linked to review and evaluation cycles across health systems, will enable effective global and national health inequality monitoring. These actions will support equity-oriented progressive realization of UHC

Structural health monitoring system/method using electroactive polymer fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Scott-Carnell, Lisa A. (Inventor); Siochi, Emilie J. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A method for monitoring the structural health of a structure of interest by coupling one or more electroactive polymer fibers to the structure and monitoring the electroactive responses of the polymer fiber(s). Load changes that are experienced by the structure cause changes in the baseline responses of the polymer fiber(s). A system for monitoring the structural health of the structure is also provided.

Structural health monitoring with a wireless vibration sensor network

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Basten, T.G.H.; Sas, P; Schiphorst, F.B.A.; Jonckheere, S.; Moens, D.

2012-01-01

Advanced maintenance strategies for infrastructure assets such as bridges or off shore wind turbines require actual and reliable information of the maintenance status. Structural health monitoring based on vibration sensing can help in supplying the input needed for structural health monitoring

Carbon fiber epoxy composites for both strengthening and health monitoring of structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvado, Rita; Lopes, Catarina; Szojda, Leszek; Araújo, Pedro; Gorski, Marcin; Velez, Fernando José; Castro-Gomes, João; Krzywon, Rafal

2015-05-06

This paper presents a study of the electrical and mechanical behavior of several continuous carbon fibers epoxy composites for both strengthening and monitoring of structures. In these composites, the arrangement of fibers was deliberately diversified to test and understand the ability of the composites for self-sensing low strains. Composites with different arrangements of fibers and textile weaves, mainly unidirectional continuous carbon reinforced composites, were tested at the dynamometer. A two-probe method was considered to measure the relative electrical resistance of these composites during loading. The measured relative electrical resistance includes volume and contact electrical resistances. For all tested specimens, it increases with an increase in tensile strain, at low strain values. This is explained by the improved alignment of fibers and resulting reduction of the number of possible contacts between fibers during loading, increasing as a consequence the contact electrical resistance of the composite. Laboratory tests on strengthening of structural elements were also performed, making hand-made composites by the "wet process", which is commonly used in civil engineering for the strengthening of all types of structures in-situ. Results show that the woven epoxy composite, used for strengthening of concrete elements is also able to sense low deformations, below 1%. Moreover, results clearly show that this textile sensor also improves the mechanical work of the strengthened structural elements, increasing their bearing capacity. Finally, the set of obtained results supports the concept of a textile fabric capable of both structural upgrade and self-monitoring of structures, especially large structures of difficult access and needing constant, sometimes very expensive, health monitoring.

Transformation of Mg-bearing amorphous calcium carbonate to Mg-calcite - In situ monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Purgstaller, Bettina; Mavromatis, Vasileios; Immenhauser, Adrian; Dietzel, Martin

2016-02-01

The formation of Mg-bearing calcite via an amorphous precursor is a poorly understood process that is of relevance for biogenic and abiogenic carbonate precipitation. In order to gain an improved insight on the controls of Mg incorporation in calcite formed via an Mg-rich amorphous calcium carbonate (Mg-ACC) precursor, the precipitation of Mg-ACC and its transformation to Mg-calcite was monitored by in situ Raman spectroscopy. The experiments were performed at 25.0 ± 0.03 °C and pH 8.3 ± 0.1 and revealed two distinct pathways of Mg-calcite formation: (i) At initial aqueous Mg/Ca molar ratios ⩽ 1:6, Mg-calcite formation occurs via direct precipitation from solution. (ii) Conversely, at higher initial Mg/Ca molar ratios, Mg-calcite forms via an intermediate Mg-rich ACC phase. In the latter case, the final product is a calcite with up to 20 mol% Mg. This Mg content is significant higher than that of the Mg-rich ACC precursor phase. Thus, a strong net uptake of Mg ions from the solution into the crystalline precipitate throughout and also subsequent to ACC transformation is postulated. Moreover, the temporal evolution of the geochemical composition of the reactive solution and the Mg-ACC has no significant effect on the obtained ;solubility product; of Mg-ACC. The enrichment of Mg in calcite throughout and subsequent to Mg-ACC transformation is likely affected by the high aqueous Mg/Ca ratio and carbonate alkalinity concentrations in the reactive solution. The experimental results have a bearing on the formation mechanism of Mg-rich calcites in marine early diagenetic environments, where high carbonate alkalinity concentrations are the rule rather than the exception, and on the insufficiently investigated inorganic component of biomineralisation pathways in many calcite secreting organisms.

Principles in wireless building health monitoring systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Pentaris, F. P.; Makris, J. P.; Stonham, J.; Vallianatos, F.

2012-04-01

Monitoring the structural state of a building is essential for the safety of the people who work, live, visit or just use it as well as for the civil protection of urban areas. Many factors can affect the state of the health of a structure, namely man made, like mistakes in the construction, traffic, heavy loads on the structures, explosions, environmental impacts like wind loads, humidity, chemical reactions, temperature changes and saltiness, and natural hazards like earthquakes and landslides. Monitoring the health of a structure provides the ability to anticipate structural failures and secure the safe use of buildings especially those of public services. This work reviews the state of the art and the challenges of a wireless Structural Health Monitoring (WiSHM). Literature review reveals that although there is significant evolution in wireless structural health monitoring, in many cases, monitoring by itself is not enough to predict when a structure becomes inappropriate and/or unsafe for use, and the damage or low durability of a structure cannot be revealed (Chintalapudi, et al., 2006; Ramos, Aguilar, & Lourenço, 2011). Several features and specifications of WiSHM like wireless sensor networking, reliability and autonomy of sensors, algorithms of data transmission and analysis should still be evolved and improved in order to increase the predictive effectiveness of the SHM (Jinping Ou & Hui Li, 2010; Lu & Loh, 2010) . Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by the ARCHEMEDES III Program of the Ministry of Education of Greece and the European Union in the framework of the project entitled «Interdisciplinary Multi-Scale Research of Earthquake Physics and Seismotectonics at the front of the Hellenic Arc (IMPACT-ARC) ».

Eastern slopes grizzly bear project : project update

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-01-01

This report updates a study to examine the cumulative effects of human activities on the grizzly bears in the central Canadian Rockies. The project was initiated in 1994 to acquire accurate scientific information on the habitat and populations of grizzly bears in the area of the Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country. This area is probably the most heavily used and developed area where the grizzly still survives. The information gathered throughout the course of the study is used to better protect and manage the bears and other sensitive carnivores in the region. Using telemetry, researchers monitored 25 grizzly bears which were radio-collared in a 22,000 square-kilometer area in the upper Bow Valley drainage of the eastern Alberta slopes. The researchers worked with representatives from Husky Oil and Rigel Energy on the development of the Moose Mountain oil and gas field without adversely affecting the grizzly bear population. Information collected over eight years indicates that the grizzly bears have few and infrequent offspring. Using the information gathered thus far, the location of the Moose Mountain to Jumping Pound pipeline was carefully selected, since the bears suffer from high mortality, and the food and cover had already been compromised by the high number of roads, trails and other human activities in the area. The research concluded in November 2001 provides sufficient information to accurately asses the status of the grizzly bear population and habitat. The data will be analyzed and integrated in 2002 into models that reflect the variables affecting grizzly bears and a final report will be published.

Research of Two Different Impulsive Faults of Rolling Element Bearing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Zhinong; Xing Chenghong; Feng Kun; Gao Jinji

2012-01-01

Fans and pumps are key machines in process industries such as petrochemical and petroleum industries. Their faults can be catastrophic and result in costly downtime. Bearing fault is almost the most common fault of fans and pumps as rolling element bearings are widely used in these machines. Hence, condition monitoring and diagnosis of bearings are important. Two different impulsive faults of bearings have been observed and studied in previous research. The first fault presents very clear impulsive symptom in envelope spectrum, but the bearing can work for a long time. The other fault shows relatively indistinct symptom, but the bearing will break down in a short time. To overcome the problems of inaccurate diagnosis, a combinational approach based on an impulsive energy indicator and traditional enveloping analysis is proposed in this paper. This approach discriminate these two faults well and can support the maintenance decision for the machines with rolling element bearings.

Grizzly bear diet shifting on reclaimed mines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan Cristescu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Industrial developments and reclamation change habitat, possibly altering large carnivore food base. We monitored the diet of a low-density population of grizzly bears occupying a landscape with open-pit coal mines in Canada. During 2009–2010 we instrumented 10 bears with GPS radiocollars and compared their feeding on reclaimed coal mines and neighboring Rocky Mountains and their foothills. In addition, we compared our data with historical bear diet for the same population collected in 2001–2003, before extensive mine reclamation occurred. Diet on mines (n=331 scats was dominated by non-native forbs and graminoids, while diets in the Foothills and Mountains consisted primarily of ungulates and Hedysarum spp. roots respectively, showing diet shifting with availability. Field visitation of feeding sites (n=234 GPS relocation clusters also showed that ungulates were the main diet component in the Foothills, whereas on reclaimed mines bears were least carnivorous. These differences illustrate a shift to feeding on non-native forbs while comparisons with historical diet reveal emergence of elk as an important bear food. Food resources on reclaimed mines attract bears from wilderness areas and bears may be more adaptable to landscape change than previously thought. The grizzly bear’s ready use of mines cautions the universal view of this species as umbrella indicative of biodiversity.

Recent Developments on Wireless Sensor Networks Technology for Bridge Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guang-Dong Zhou

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM systems have shown great potential to sense the responses of a bridge system, diagnose the current structural conditions, predict the expected future performance, provide information for maintenance, and validate design hypotheses. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs that have the benefits of reducing implementation costs of SHM systems as well as improving data processing efficiency become an attractive alternative to traditional tethered sensor systems. This paper introduces recent technology developments in the field of bridge health monitoring using WSNs. As a special application of WSNs, the requirements and characteristics of WSNs when used for bridge health monitoring are firstly briefly discussed. Then, the state of the art in WSNs-based bridge health monitoring systems is reviewed including wireless sensor, network topology, data processing technology, power management, and time synchronization. Following that, the performance validations and applications of WSNs in bridge health monitoring through scale models and field deployment are presented. Finally, some existing problems and promising research efforts for promoting applications of WSNs technology in bridge health monitoring throughout the world are explored.

[Monitoring system on prison health: feasibility and recommendations].

Science.gov (United States)

Develay, Aude-Emmanuelle; Verdot, Charlotte; Grémy, Isabelle

2015-01-01

This article presents the results of two studies designed to define the feasibility and framework of the future prison health monitoring system in France. The objective of the first study was to obtain the points of view of professionals involved in prison health and the second study was designed to assess the feasibility of using prisoner's medical files for epidemiological purposes. The point of view of various professionals was collected by questionnaire sent to 43 randomly selected prison physicians and by 22 semi-directive interviews. The feasibility study was based on analysis of the medical files of 330 randomly selected prisoners in eleven prisons chosen in order to reflect the diversity of correctional settings and prison populations. Additional interviews were conducted with the medical staff of these prison facilities. There is a consensus on the need to monitor prison health, but there are contrasting views on data collection methods (surveys or routinely collected data]. The feasibility study also showed that the implementation of a prison health monitoring system based on routinely collected data from prisoner's medical records was not feasible at the present time in France. In the light of these findings, it is recommended to initially develop a monitoring system based on regular nationwide surveys, while pursuing computerization and standardization of health data in prison.

Pollen Bearing Honey Bee Detection in Hive Entrance Video Recorded by Remote Embedded System for Pollination Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Babic, Z.; Pilipovic, R.; Risojevic, V.; Mirjanic, G.

2016-06-01

Honey bees have crucial role in pollination across the world. This paper presents a simple, non-invasive, system for pollen bearing honey bee detection in surveillance video obtained at the entrance of a hive. The proposed system can be used as a part of a more complex system for tracking and counting of honey bees with remote pollination monitoring as a final goal. The proposed method is executed in real time on embedded systems co-located with a hive. Background subtraction, color segmentation and morphology methods are used for segmentation of honey bees. Classification in two classes, pollen bearing honey bees and honey bees that do not have pollen load, is performed using nearest mean classifier, with a simple descriptor consisting of color variance and eccentricity features. On in-house data set we achieved correct classification rate of 88.7% with 50 training images per class. We show that the obtained classification results are not far behind from the results of state-of-the-art image classification methods. That favors the proposed method, particularly having in mind that real time video transmission to remote high performance computing workstation is still an issue, and transfer of obtained parameters of pollination process is much easier.

Forest health monitoring in the United States: focus on national reports

Science.gov (United States)

Kurt Riitters; Kevin Potter

2013-01-01

The health and sustainability of United States forests have been monitored for many years from several different perspectives. The national Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program was established in 1990 by Federal and State agencies to develop a national system for monitoring and reporting on the status and trends of forest ecosystem health. We describe and illustrate...

Forest health monitoring: 2007 national technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Barbara L. Conkling

2011-01-01

The Forest Health Monitoring Program produces an annual technical report that has two main objectives. The first objective is to present information about forest health from a national perspective. The second objective is to present examples of useful techniques for analyzing forest health data new to the annual national reports and new applications of techniques...

Forest health monitoring: 2009 national technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara L. Conkling

2012-01-01

The annual national technical report of the Forest Health Monitoring Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation...

A synthesis of evaluation monitoring projects by the forest health monitoring program (1998-2007)

Science.gov (United States)

William A. Bechtold; Michael J. Bohne; Barbara L. Conkling; Dana L. Friedman

2012-01-01

The national Forest Health Monitoring Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, has funded over 200 Evaluation Monitoring projects. Evaluation Monitoring is designed to verify and define the extent of deterioration in forest ecosystems where potential problems have been identified. This report is a synthesis of results from over 150 Evaluation...

Monitoring intervention coverage in the context of universal health coverage.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ties Boerma

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Monitoring universal health coverage (UHC focuses on information on health intervention coverage and financial protection. This paper addresses monitoring intervention coverage, related to the full spectrum of UHC, including health promotion and disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliation. A comprehensive core set of indicators most relevant to the country situation should be monitored on a regular basis as part of health progress and systems performance assessment for all countries. UHC monitoring should be embedded in a broad results framework for the country health system, but focus on indicators related to the coverage of interventions that most directly reflect the results of UHC investments and strategies in each country. A set of tracer coverage indicators can be selected, divided into two groups-promotion/prevention, and treatment/care-as illustrated in this paper. Disaggregation of the indicators by the main equity stratifiers is critical to monitor progress in all population groups. Targets need to be set in accordance with baselines, historical rate of progress, and measurement considerations. Critical measurement gaps also exist, especially for treatment indicators, covering issues such as mental health, injuries, chronic conditions, surgical interventions, rehabilitation, and palliation. Consequently, further research and proxy indicators need to be used in the interim. Ideally, indicators should include a quality of intervention dimension. For some interventions, use of a single indicator is feasible, such as management of hypertension; but in many areas additional indicators are needed to capture quality of service provision. The monitoring of UHC has significant implications for health information systems. Major data gaps will need to be filled. At a minimum, countries will need to administer regular household health surveys with biological and clinical data collection. Countries will also need to improve the

Wearable Health Monitoring Systems, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing a wearable health monitoring system for the human body that is functional, comfortable,...

Wearable Health Monitoring Systems, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing a wearable health monitoring system for the human body that is functional, comfortable,...

Application of near field communication for health monitoring in daily life.

Science.gov (United States)

Strömmer, Esko; Kaartinen, Jouni; Pärkkä, Juha; Ylisaukko-Oja, Arto; Korhonen, Ilkka

2006-01-01

We study the possibility of applying an emerging RFID-based communication technology, NFC (Near Field Communication), to health monitoring. We suggest that NFC is, compared to other competing technologies, a high-potential technology for short-range connectivity between health monitoring devices and mobile terminals. We propose practices to apply NFC to some health monitoring applications and study the benefits that are attainable with NFC. We compare NFC to other short-range communication technologies such as Bluetooth and IrDA, and study the possibility of improving the usability of health monitoring devices with NFC. We also introduce a research platform for technical evaluation, applicability study and application demonstrations of NFC.

Bearing system

Science.gov (United States)

Kapich, Davorin D.

1987-01-01

A bearing system includes backup bearings for supporting a rotating shaft upon failure of primary bearings. In the preferred embodiment, the backup bearings are rolling element bearings having their rolling elements disposed out of contact with their associated respective inner races during normal functioning of the primary bearings. Displacement detection sensors are provided for detecting displacement of the shaft upon failure of the primary bearings. Upon detection of the failure of the primary bearings, the rolling elements and inner races of the backup bearings are brought into mutual contact by axial displacement of the shaft.

Grizzly bears and mining in the Cheviot region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Symbaluk, M.; Archibald, T. [Foothills Research Inst., Hinton, AB (Canada)

2008-07-01

This presentation described a grizzly bear research program conducted by the Foothill Research Institute at the Cheviot mine. The research program uses a satellite land classification protocol and remote sensing tools to map and identify the grizzly bear habitat. Modelling is also conducted to predict bear probabilities. Global information systems (GIS) are used to evaluate bear responses to human activities. Grizzly bear health and wellness is also assessed as part of the programs. Land maps are combined with global positioning systems (GPS) and resource selection function (RSF) models in order to map grizzly bear distribution. Data obtained from the program is used to inform decision-making and support policy development. Previous studies predicted that the grizzly bear population would disappear from the Cheviot mine area after 20 years of its being in operation. The research program provided real data to test predictions made during previous environmental assessments. Grizzly bear populations have actually increased in the mining area. It was concluded that the bears have moved more freely through industrial landscapes than previously predicted. tabs., figs.

Carbon Fiber Epoxy Composites for Both Strengthening and Health Monitoring of Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita Salvado

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a study of the electrical and mechanical behavior of several continuous carbon fibers epoxy composites for both strengthening and monitoring of structures. In these composites, the arrangement of fibers was deliberately diversified to test and understand the ability of the composites for self-sensing low strains. Composites with different arrangements of fibers and textile weaves, mainly unidirectional continuous carbon reinforced composites, were tested at the dynamometer. A two-probe method was considered to measure the relative electrical resistance of these composites during loading. The measured relative electrical resistance includes volume and contact electrical resistances. For all tested specimens, it increases with an increase in tensile strain, at low strain values. This is explained by the improved alignment of fibers and resulting reduction of the number of possible contacts between fibers during loading, increasing as a consequence the contact electrical resistance of the composite. Laboratory tests on strengthening of structural elements were also performed, making hand-made composites by the “wet process”, which is commonly used in civil engineering for the strengthening of all types of structures in-situ. Results show that the woven epoxy composite, used for strengthening of concrete elements is also able to sense low deformations, below 1%. Moreover, results clearly show that this textile sensor also improves the mechanical work of the strengthened structural elements, increasing their bearing capacity. Finally, the set of obtained results supports the concept of a textile fabric capable of both structural upgrade and self-monitoring of structures, especially large structures of difficult access and needing constant, sometimes very expensive, health monitoring.

Detection of generator bearing inner race creep by means of vibration and temperature analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skrimpas, Georgios Alexandros; Dragiev, Ivaylo G.; Hilmisson, Reynir

2015-01-01

Vibration and temperature analysis are the two dominating condition monitoring techniques applied to fault detection of bearing failures in wind turbine generators. Relative movement between the bearing inner ring and generator axle is one of the most severe failure modes in terms of secondary...... damages and development. Detection of bearing creep can be achieved reliably based on continuous trending of the amplitude of vibration running speed harmonic and temperature absolute values. In order to decrease the number of condition indicators which need to be assessed, it is proposed to exploit...... a weighted average descriptor calculated based on the 3rd up to 6th harmonic orders. Two cases of different bearing creep severity are presented, showing the consistency of the combined vibration and temperature data utilization. In general, vibration monitoring reveals early signs of abnormality several...

EEMD-based multiscale ICA method for slewing bearing fault detection and diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Žvokelj, Matej; Zupan, Samo; Prebil, Ivan

2016-05-01

A novel multivariate and multiscale statistical process monitoring method is proposed with the aim of detecting incipient failures in large slewing bearings, where subjective influence plays a minor role. The proposed method integrates the strengths of the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) multivariate monitoring approach with the benefits of Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), which adaptively decomposes signals into different time scales and can thus cope with multiscale system dynamics. The method, which was named EEMD-based multiscale ICA (EEMD-MSICA), not only enables bearing fault detection but also offers a mechanism of multivariate signal denoising and, in combination with the Envelope Analysis (EA), a diagnostic tool. The multiscale nature of the proposed approach makes the method convenient to cope with data which emanate from bearings in complex real-world rotating machinery and frequently represent the cumulative effect of many underlying phenomena occupying different regions in the time-frequency plane. The efficiency of the proposed method was tested on simulated as well as real vibration and Acoustic Emission (AE) signals obtained through conducting an accelerated run-to-failure lifetime experiment on a purpose-built laboratory slewing bearing test stand. The ability to detect and locate the early-stage rolling-sliding contact fatigue failure of the bearing indicates that AE and vibration signals carry sufficient information on the bearing condition and that the developed EEMD-MSICA method is able to effectively extract it, thereby representing a reliable bearing fault detection and diagnosis strategy.

Monitoring 'monitoring' and evaluating 'evaluation': an ethical framework for monitoring and evaluation in public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Gopichandran, Vijayaprasad; Indira Krishna, Anil Kumar

2013-01-01

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is an essential part of public health programmes. Since M&E is the backbone of public health programmes, ethical considerations are important in their conduct. Some of the key ethical considerations are avoiding conflicts of interest, maintaining independence of judgement, maintaining fairness, transparency, full disclosure, privacy and confidentiality, respect, responsibility, accountability, empowerment and sustainability. There are several ethical frameworks in public health, but none focusing on the monitoring and evaluation process. There is a need to institutionalise the ethical review of M&E proposals. A theoretical framework for ethical considerations is proposed in this paper. This proposed theoretical framework can act as the blueprint for building the capacity of ethics committees to review M&E proposals. A case study is discussed in this context. After thorough field testing, this practical and field-based ethical framework can be widely used by donor agencies, M&E teams, institutional review boards and ethics committees.

Condition monitoring of thrust ball bearings using continuous AE

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Chlada, Milan; Nohal, L.; Převorovský, Zdeněk

2016-01-01

Roč. 26, č. 2 (2016), A14-A14 ISSN 1213-3825. [Europen Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing /32./. 07.09.2016-09.09.2016, Praha] Grant - others:NETME Centre Plus - národní program udržitelnosti(CZ) LO1202 Institutional support: RVO:61388998 Keywords : continuous acoustic emission * rolling contact fatigue * thrust ball bearing * histogram of counting periods * wavelet analysis Subject RIV: BI - Acoustic s

Assessing the value of structural health monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thöns, S.; Faber, Michael Havbro

2013-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are designed for assisting owners and operators with information and forecasts concerning the fitness for purpose of structures and building systems. The benefit associated with the implementation of SHM may in some cases be intuitively anticipated...... as their responses and performances over their life-cycle. In addition, the quality of monitoring and the performance of possible remedial actions triggered by monitoring results are modeled probabilistically.The consequences accounted for, in principle include all consequences associated with the performance...

Robust bearing estimation for 3-component stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

CLAASSEN, JOHN P.

2000-01-01

A robust bearing estimation process for 3-component stations has been developed and explored. The method, called SEEC for Search, Estimate, Evaluate and Correct, intelligently exploits the inherent information in the arrival at every step of the process to achieve near-optimal results. In particular the approach uses a consistent framework to define the optimal time-frequency windows on which to make estimates, to make the bearing estimates themselves, to construct metrics helpful in choosing the better estimates or admitting that the bearing is immeasurable, and finally to apply bias corrections when calibration information is available to yield a single final estimate. The algorithm was applied to a small but challenging set of events in a seismically active region. It demonstrated remarkable utility by providing better estimates and insights than previously available. Various monitoring implications are noted from these findings

Fault Diagnosis of Motor Bearing by Analyzing a Video Clip

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siliang Lu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Conventional bearing fault diagnosis methods require specialized instruments to acquire signals that can reflect the health condition of the bearing. For instance, an accelerometer is used to acquire vibration signals, whereas an encoder is used to measure motor shaft speed. This study proposes a new method for simplifying the instruments for motor bearing fault diagnosis. Specifically, a video clip recording of a running bearing system is captured using a cellphone that is equipped with a camera and a microphone. The recorded video is subsequently analyzed to obtain the instantaneous frequency of rotation (IFR. The instantaneous fault characteristic frequency (IFCF of the defective bearing is obtained by analyzing the sound signal that is recorded by the microphone. The fault characteristic order is calculated by dividing IFCF by IFR to identify the fault type of the bearing. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method are verified by a series of experiments. This study provides a simple, flexible, and effective solution for motor bearing fault diagnosis. Given that the signals are gathered using an affordable and accessible cellphone, the proposed method is proven suitable for diagnosing the health conditions of bearing systems that are located in remote areas where specialized instruments are unavailable or limited.

Mobile Patient Monitoring: the MobiHealth System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Konstantas, D.; van Halteren, Aart; Bults, Richard G.A.; Wac, K.E.; Widya, I.A.; Dokovski, N.T.; Jones, Valerie M.; Dokovsky, Nicolai; Koprinkov, G.T.; Herzog, Rainer; Bos, L.; Laxminarayan, S.

2004-01-01

The forthcoming wide availability of high bandwidth public wireless networks will give rise to new mobile health care services. Towards this direction the MobiHealth1 project has developed and trialed a highly customisable vital signals’ monitoring system based on a Body Area Network (BAN) and an

Scoping review: national monitoring frameworks for social determinants of health and health equity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leo Pedrana

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: The strategic importance of monitoring social determinants of health (SDH and health equity and inequity has been a central focus in global discussions around the 2011 Rio Political Declaration on SDH and the Millennium Development Goals. This study is part of the World Health Organization (WHO equity-oriented analysis of linkages between health and other sectors (EQuAL project, which aims to define a framework for monitoring SDH and health equity. Objectives: This review provides a global summary and analysis of the domains and indicators that have been used in recent studies covering the SDH. These studies are considered here within the context of indicators proposed by the WHO EQuAL project. The objectives are as follows: to describe the range of international and national studies and the types of indicators most frequently used; report how they are used in causal explanation of the SDH; and identify key priorities and challenges reported in current research for national monitoring of the SDH. Design: We conducted a scoping review of published SDH studies in the PubMed® database to obtain evidence of socio-economic indicators. We evaluated, selected, and extracted data from national scale studies published from 2004 to 2014. The research included papers published in English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Results: The final sample consisted of 96 articles. SDH monitoring is well reported in the scientific literature independent of the economic level of the country and magnitude of deprivation in population groups. The research methods were mostly quantitative and many papers used multilevel and multivariable statistical analyses and indexes to measure health inequalities and SDH. In addition to the usual economic indicators, a high number of socio-economic indicators were used. The indicators covered a broad range of social dimensions, which were given consideration within and across different social groups. Many

Scoping review: national monitoring frameworks for social determinants of health and health equity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrana, Leo; Pamponet, Marina; Walker, Ruth; Costa, Federico; Rasella, Davide

2016-01-01

The strategic importance of monitoring social determinants of health (SDH) and health equity and inequity has been a central focus in global discussions around the 2011 Rio Political Declaration on SDH and the Millennium Development Goals. This study is part of the World Health Organization (WHO) equity-oriented analysis of linkages between health and other sectors (EQuAL) project, which aims to define a framework for monitoring SDH and health equity. This review provides a global summary and analysis of the domains and indicators that have been used in recent studies covering the SDH. These studies are considered here within the context of indicators proposed by the WHO EQuAL project. The objectives are as follows: to describe the range of international and national studies and the types of indicators most frequently used; report how they are used in causal explanation of the SDH; and identify key priorities and challenges reported in current research for national monitoring of the SDH. We conducted a scoping review of published SDH studies in the PubMed(®) database to obtain evidence of socio-economic indicators. We evaluated, selected, and extracted data from national scale studies published from 2004 to 2014. The research included papers published in English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. The final sample consisted of 96 articles. SDH monitoring is well reported in the scientific literature independent of the economic level of the country and magnitude of deprivation in population groups. The research methods were mostly quantitative and many papers used multilevel and multivariable statistical analyses and indexes to measure health inequalities and SDH. In addition to the usual economic indicators, a high number of socio-economic indicators were used. The indicators covered a broad range of social dimensions, which were given consideration within and across different social groups. Many indicators included in the WHO EQuAL framework were not

Diet and environment shape fecal bacterial microbiota composition and enteric pathogen load of grizzly bears.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clarissa Schwab

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Diet and environment impact the composition of mammalian intestinal microbiota; dietary or health disturbances trigger alterations in intestinal microbiota composition and render the host susceptible to enteric pathogens. To date no long term monitoring data exist on the fecal microbiota and pathogen load of carnivores either in natural environments or in captivity. This study investigates fecal microbiota composition and the presence of pathogenic Escherichia coli and toxigenic clostridia in wild and captive grizzly bears (Ursus arctos and relates these to food resources consumed by bears. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Feces were obtained from animals of two wild populations and from two captive animals during an active bear season. Wild animals consumed a diverse diet composed of plant material, animal prey and insects. Captive animals were fed a regular granulated diet with a supplement of fruits and vegetables. Bacterial populations were analyzed using quantitative PCR. Fecal microbiota composition fluctuated in wild and in captive animals. The abundance of Clostridium clusters I and XI, and of C. perfringens correlated to regular diet protein intake. Enteroaggregative E. coli were consistently present in all populations. The C. sordellii phospholipase C was identified in three samples of wild animals and for the first time in Ursids. CONCLUSION: This is the first longitudinal study monitoring the fecal microbiota of wild carnivores and comparing it to that of captive individuals of the same species. Location and diet affected fecal bacterial populations as well as the presence of enteric pathogens.

Diet and environment shape fecal bacterial microbiota composition and enteric pathogen load of grizzly bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwab, Clarissa; Cristescu, Bogdan; Northrup, Joseph M; Stenhouse, Gordon B; Gänzle, Michael

2011-01-01

Diet and environment impact the composition of mammalian intestinal microbiota; dietary or health disturbances trigger alterations in intestinal microbiota composition and render the host susceptible to enteric pathogens. To date no long term monitoring data exist on the fecal microbiota and pathogen load of carnivores either in natural environments or in captivity. This study investigates fecal microbiota composition and the presence of pathogenic Escherichia coli and toxigenic clostridia in wild and captive grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and relates these to food resources consumed by bears. Feces were obtained from animals of two wild populations and from two captive animals during an active bear season. Wild animals consumed a diverse diet composed of plant material, animal prey and insects. Captive animals were fed a regular granulated diet with a supplement of fruits and vegetables. Bacterial populations were analyzed using quantitative PCR. Fecal microbiota composition fluctuated in wild and in captive animals. The abundance of Clostridium clusters I and XI, and of C. perfringens correlated to regular diet protein intake. Enteroaggregative E. coli were consistently present in all populations. The C. sordellii phospholipase C was identified in three samples of wild animals and for the first time in Ursids. This is the first longitudinal study monitoring the fecal microbiota of wild carnivores and comparing it to that of captive individuals of the same species. Location and diet affected fecal bacterial populations as well as the presence of enteric pathogens.

Efficient color correction method for smartphone camera-based health monitoring application.

Science.gov (United States)

Duc Dang; Chae Ho Cho; Daeik Kim; Oh Seok Kwon; Jo Woon Chong

2017-07-01

Smartphone health monitoring applications are recently highlighted due to the rapid development of hardware and software performance of smartphones. However, color characteristics of images captured by different smartphone models are dissimilar each other and this difference may give non-identical health monitoring results when the smartphone health monitoring applications monitor physiological information using their embedded smartphone cameras. In this paper, we investigate the differences in color properties of the captured images from different smartphone models and apply a color correction method to adjust dissimilar color values obtained from different smartphone cameras. Experimental results show that the color corrected images using the correction method provide much smaller color intensity errors compared to the images without correction. These results can be applied to enhance the consistency of smartphone camera-based health monitoring applications by reducing color intensity errors among the images obtained from different smartphones.

Serial transrectal ultrasonography for monitoring the reproductive activity of the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus ussuricus).

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, H G; Jeong, D H; Yang, J J; Lee, B K; Kong, J K; Lee, J W; Kim, I H

2015-02-01

This study evaluated the structural changes in the reproductive tract of Asiatic black bears using serial transrectal ultrasonography. In addition, the ultrasonographic observations were compared with the results of vaginal cytology and hormonal analyses. The collection of blood for hormonal analysis, vaginal cytology and transrectal ultrasonography was performed in two bears (Bears 1 and 2) from June 2011 to August 2013 without mating and in a third bear (Bear 3) from April to December 2012, allowing natural mating. Serial ultrasonographic observations showed cyclic changes in ovarian structures (e.g. emergence of small follicles, growth and ovulation of dominant follicles and corpus luteum (CL) formation) during the reproductive cycles of the three bears. The diameter of the uterine horns remained similar throughout the reproductive cycle in Bears 1 and 2, and it remained similar from April until October, but an enlargement containing foetuses was observed in Bear 3 in December. The ultrasonographic observations were consistent with the data obtained through vaginal cytology and progesterone analysis during the reproductive cycle. An average of 4.0 (±0.4) dominant follicles was observed during the oestrous stage (May-August), during which the superficial cells accounted for >90% of the total vaginal cells. In addition, the detection of an average of 2.6 (±0.2) CL was associated with increased plasma progesterone concentrations (3.0 ± 0.4 ng/ml) between June and December (near hibernation). In conclusion, serial transrectal ultrasonography demonstrated yearly oestrous (ovulation) cycles via follicular dynamics and CL formation on ovaries, accordingly with vaginal cytology and hormonal level in the Asiatic black bear. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Integrating Social Media Monitoring Into Public Health Emergency Response Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadi, Tamer A; Fleshler, Keren

2016-10-01

Social media monitoring for public health emergency response and recovery is an essential response capability for any health department. The value of social media for emergency response lies not only in the capacity to rapidly communicate official and critical incident information, but as a rich source of incoming data that can be gathered to inform leadership decision-making. Social media monitoring is a function that can be formally integrated into the Incident Command System of any response agency. The approach to planning and required resources, such as staffing, logistics, and technology, is flexible and adaptable based on the needs of the agency and size and scope of the emergency. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has successfully used its Social Media Monitoring Team during public health emergency responses and planned events including major Ebola and Legionnaires' disease responses. The concepts and implementations described can be applied by any agency, large or small, interested in building a social media monitoring capacity. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 6).

Accelerated Testing of UH-60 Viscous Bearings for Degraded Grease Fault

Science.gov (United States)

Dykas, Brian; Hood, Adrian; Krantz, Timothy; Klemmer, Marko

2015-01-01

An accelerated aging investigation of critical aviation bearings lubricated with MIL-PRF- 81322 grease was conducted to derive an understanding of the mechanisms of grease degradation and loss of lubrication over time. The current study focuses on UH-60 Black Hawk viscous damper bearings supporting the tail rotor driveshaft, which were subjected to more than 5800 hours of testing in a heated environment to accelerate the deterioration of the grease. The mechanism of grease degradation is a reduction in the oil/thickener ratio rather than the expected chemical degradation of grease constituents. Over the course of testing, vibration and temperature monitoring of bearings was conducted and trends for failing bearings are presented.

Delayed child-bearing.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Jo-Ann; Tough, Suzanne

2012-01-01

To provide an overview of delayed child-bearing and to describe the implications for women and health care providers. Delayed child-bearing, which has increased greatly in recent decades, is associated with an increased risk of infertility, pregnancy complications, and adverse pregnancy outcome. This guideline provides information that will optimize the counselling and care of Canadian women with respect to their reproductive choices. Maternal age is the most important determinant of fertility, and obstetric and perinatal risks increase with maternal age. Many women are unaware of the success rates or limitations of assisted reproductive technology and of the increased medical risks of delayed child-bearing, including multiple births, preterm delivery, stillbirth, and Caesarean section. This guideline provides a framework to address these issues. Studies published between 2000 and August 2010 were retrieved through searches of PubMed and the Cochrane Library using appropriate key words (delayed child-bearing, deferred pregnancy, maternal age, assisted reproductive technology, infertility, and multiple births) and MeSH terms (maternal age, reproductive behaviour, fertility). The Internet was also searched using similar key words, and national and international medical specialty societies were searched for clinical practice guidelines and position statements. Data were extracted based on the aims, sample, authors, year, and results. The quality of evidence was rated using the criteria described in the Report of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (Table 1). The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Women who delay child-bearing are at increased risk of infertility. Prospective parents, especially women, should know that their fecundity and fertility begin to decline significantly after 32 years of age. Prospective parents should know that assisted reproductive technologies cannot guarantee a live birth or completely

Device-based monitoring in physical activity and public health research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bassett, David R

2012-01-01

Measurement of physical activity is important, given the vital role of this behavior in physical and mental health. Over the past quarter of a century, the use of small, non-invasive, wearable monitors to assess physical activity has become commonplace. This review is divided into three sections. In the first section, a brief history of physical activity monitoring is provided, along with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of different devices. In the second section, recent applications of physical activity monitoring in physical activity and public health research are discussed. Wearable monitors are being used to conduct surveillance, and to determine the extent and distribution of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in populations around the world. They have been used to help clarify the dose–response relation between physical activity and health. Wearable monitors that provide feedback to users have also been used in longitudinal interventions to motivate research participants and to assess their compliance with program goals. In the third section, future directions for research in physical activity monitoring are discussed. It is likely that new developments in wearable monitors will lead to greater accuracy and improved ease-of-use. (paper)

Journal bearing

Science.gov (United States)

Menke, John R.; Boeker, Gilbert F.

1976-05-11

1. An improved journal bearing comprising in combination a non-rotatable cylindrical bearing member having a first bearing surface, a rotatable cylindrical bearing member having a confronting second bearing surface having a plurality of bearing elements, a source of lubricant adjacent said bearing elements for supplying lubricant thereto, each bearing element consisting of a pair of elongated relatively shallowly depressed surfaces lying in a cylindrical surface co-axial with the non-depressed surface and diverging from one another in the direction of rotation and obliquely arranged with respect to the axis of rotation of said rotatable member to cause a flow of lubricant longitudinally along said depressed surfaces from their distal ends toward their proximal ends as said bearing members are rotated relative to one another, each depressed surface subtending a radial angle of less than 360.degree., and means for rotating said rotatable bearing member to cause the lubricant to flow across and along said depressed surfaces, the flow of lubricant being impeded by the non-depressed portions of said second bearing surface to cause an increase in the lubricant pressure.

Three-Dimensional Health Monitoring of Sandwich Composites, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This SBIR project delivers a single-chip structural health-monitoring (SHM) system that uses the impedance method to monitor bulk interiors and wave propagation...

A Comparative Experimental Study on Identification of Defect Severity in Rolling Element Bearings using Acoustic Emission and Vibration Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.V. Rao

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the comparison between Vibration Analysis (VA and Acoustic Emission (AE method to predict the defect severity in rolling element bearings with respect to the gradual increase of defect size. In bearing fault diagnosis vibration based methods are very popular, but the signals acquired by its transducers from the bearings are distorted by other faults and mechanical noise from the equipment. Vibration based methods are effective when the defect in the bearings has already become severe. AE is a non destructive testing (NDT technique used in structural health monitoring and its application for bearing defect diagnosis is gaining momentum as an alternate diagnostic tool because of its inherent high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR. A bearing test rig was designed and set up to study the various defects in rolling element bearings in real environment. In earlier cases, though the researchers studied on different types of seeded defects with random sizes, they could not ascertain the correlation between their defect sizes and the vibration amplitude. The experimental investigation reported in this paper is centered on seeded defect of same type with gradual increase of its size on outer race of radially loaded cylindrical roller bearings and running the defective bearing at different speeds and loads. Data acquired through AE & vibration probes simultaneously for better diagnosis. Comparisons between AE and VA over a range of speed and load conditions at gradual increase of defect size are presented and from them it is concluded that AE method is superior to identify the severity of defect.

Camshaft bearing arrangement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aoi, K.; Ozawa, T.

1986-06-10

A bearing arrangement is described for the camshaft of an internal combustion engine or the like which camshaft is formed along its length in axial order with a first bearing surface, a first cam lobe, a second bearing surface, a second cam lobe, a third bearing surface, a third cam lobe and a fourth bearing surface, the improvement comprising first bearing means extending around substantially the full circumference of the first bearing surface and journaling the first bearing surface, second bearing means extending around substantially less than the circumference of the second bearing surface and journaling the second bearing surface, third bearing means extending around substantially less than the circumference of the third bearing surface and journaling the third bearing surface, and fourth bearing means extending around substantially the full circumference of the fourth bearing surface and journaling the first bearing surface.

Smart Materials in Structural Health Monitoring, Control and Biomechanics

CERN Document Server

Soh, Chee-Kiong; Bhalla, Suresh

2012-01-01

"Smart Materials in Structural Health Monitoring, Control and Biomechanics" presents the latest developments in structural health monitoring, vibration control and biomechanics using smart materials. The book mainly focuses on piezoelectric, fibre optic and ionic polymer metal composite materials. It introduces concepts from the very basics and leads to advanced modelling (analytical/ numerical), practical aspects (including software/ hardware issues) and case studies spanning civil, mechanical and aerospace structures, including bridges, rocks and underground structures. This book is intended for practicing engineers, researchers from academic and R&D institutions and postgraduate students in the fields of smart materials and structures, structural health monitoring, vibration control and biomedical engineering. Professor Chee-Kiong Soh and Associate Professor Yaowen Yang both work at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Suresh Bhalla is an A...

Forest health monitoring: 2005 national technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Mark J. Ambrose; Barbara L. Conkling

2007-01-01

The Forest Health Monitoring program's annual national technical report presents results of forest health analyses from a national perspective using data from a variety of sources. The report is organized according to the Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests of the Santiago Declaration. The results...

Forest health monitoring: 2006 national technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Mark J. Ambrose; Barbara L. Conkling

2009-01-01

The Forest Health Monitoring Program’s annual national technical report presents results of forest health analyses from a national perspective using data from a variety of sources. The report is organized according to the Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests of the...

Intelligent Control and Health Monitoring. Chapter 3

Science.gov (United States)

Garg, Sanjay; Kumar, Aditya; Mathews, H. Kirk; Rosenfeld, Taylor; Rybarik, Pavol; Viassolo, Daniel E.

2009-01-01

Advanced model-based control architecture overcomes the limitations state-of-the-art engine control and provides the potential of virtual sensors, for example for thrust and stall margin. "Tracking filters" are used to adapt the control parameters to actual conditions and to individual engines. For health monitoring standalone monitoring units will be used for on-board analysis to determine the general engine health and detect and isolate sudden faults. Adaptive models open up the possibility of adapting the control logic to maintain desired performance in the presence of engine degradation or to accommodate any faults. Improved and new sensors are required to allow sensing at stations within the engine gas path that are currently not instrumented due in part to the harsh conditions including high operating temperatures and to allow additional monitoring of vibration, mass flows and energy properties, exhaust gas composition, and gas path debris. The environmental and performance requirements for these sensors are summarized.

Physical health care monitoring for people with serious mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Tosh, Graeme; Clifton, Andrew V; Xia, Jun; White, Margueritte M

2014-01-17

Current guidance suggests that we should monitor the physical health of people with serious mental illness, and there has been a significant financial investment over recent years to provide this. To assess the effectiveness of physical health monitoring, compared with standard care for people with serious mental illness. We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group Trials Register (October 2009, update in October 2012), which is based on regular searches of CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. All randomised clinical trials focusing on physical health monitoring versus standard care, or comparing i) self monitoring versus monitoring by a healthcare professional; ii) simple versus complex monitoring; iii) specific versus non-specific checks; iv) once only versus regular checks; or v) different guidance materials. Initially, review authors (GT, AC, SM) independently screened the search results and identified three studies as possibly fulfilling the review's criteria. On examination, however, all three were subsequently excluded. Forty-two additional citations were identified in October 2012 and screened by two review authors (JX and MW), 11 of which underwent full screening. No relevant randomised trials which assess the effectiveness of physical health monitoring in people with serious mental illness have been completed. We identified one ongoing study. There is still no evidence from randomised trials to support or refute current guidance and practice. Guidance and practice are based on expert consensus, clinical experience and good intentions rather than high quality evidence.

Real-time health monitoring of civil infrastructure systems in Colombia

Science.gov (United States)

Thomson, Peter; Marulanda Casas, Johannio; Marulanda Arbelaez, Johannio; Caicedo, Juan

2001-08-01

Colombia's topography, climatic conditions, intense seismic activity and acute social problems place high demands on the nations deteriorating civil infrastructure. Resources that are available for maintenance of the road and railway networks are often misdirected and actual inspection methods are limited to a visual examination. New techniques for inspection and evaluation of safety and serviceability of civil infrastructure, especially bridges, must be developed. Two cases of civil structures with health monitoring systems in Colombia are presented in this paper. Construction of the Pereria-Dos Quebradas Viaduct was completed in 1997 with a total cost of 58 million dollars, including 1.5 million dollars in health monitoring instrumentation provided and installed by foreign companies. This health monitoring system is not yet fully operational due to the lack of training of national personnel in system operation and extremely limited technical documentation. In contrast to the Pereria-Dos Quebradas Viaduct monitoring system, the authors have proposed a relatively low cost health monitoring system via telemetry. This system has been implemented for real-time monitoring of accelerations of El Hormiguero Bridge spanning the Cauca River using the Colombian Southwest Earthquake Observatory telemetry systems. This two span metallic bridge, located along a critical road between the cities of Puerto Tejada and Cali in the Cauca Valley, was constructed approximately 50 years ago. Experiences with this system demonstrate how effective low cost systems can be used to remotely monitor the structural integrity of deteriorating structures that are continuously subject to high loading conditions.

[Monitoring social determinants of health].

Science.gov (United States)

Espelt, Albert; Continente, Xavier; Domingo-Salvany, Antonia; Domínguez-Berjón, M Felicitas; Fernández-Villa, Tania; Monge, Susana; Ruiz-Cantero, M Teresa; Perez, Glòria; Borrell, Carme

2016-11-01

Public health surveillance is the systematic and continuous collection, analysis, dissemination and interpretation of health-related data for planning, implementation and evaluation of public health initiatives. Apart from the health system, social determinants of health include the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, and they go a long way to explaining health inequalities. A surveillance system of the social determinants of health requires a comprehensive and social overview of health. This paper analyses the importance of monitoring social determinants of health and health inequalities, and describes some relevant aspects concerning the implementation of surveillance during the data collection, compilation and analysis phases, as well as dissemination of information and evaluation of the surveillance system. It is important to have indicators from sources designed for this purpose, such as continuous records or periodic surveys, explicitly describing its limitations and strengths. The results should be published periodically in a communicative format that both enhances the public's ability to understand the problems that affect them, whilst at the same time empowering the population, with the ultimate goal of guiding health-related initiatives at different levels of intervention. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Smart homes and home health monitoring technologies for older adults: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lili; Stroulia, Eleni; Nikolaidis, Ioanis; Miguel-Cruz, Antonio; Rios Rincon, Adriana

2016-07-01

Around the world, populations are aging and there is a growing concern about ways that older adults can maintain their health and well-being while living in their homes. The aim of this paper was to conduct a systematic literature review to determine: (1) the levels of technology readiness among older adults and, (2) evidence for smart homes and home-based health-monitoring technologies that support aging in place for older adults who have complex needs. We identified and analyzed 48 of 1863 relevant papers. Our analyses found that: (1) technology-readiness level for smart homes and home health monitoring technologies is low; (2) the highest level of evidence is 1b (i.e., one randomized controlled trial with a PEDro score ≥6); smart homes and home health monitoring technologies are used to monitor activities of daily living, cognitive decline and mental health, and heart conditions in older adults with complex needs; (3) there is no evidence that smart homes and home health monitoring technologies help address disability prediction and health-related quality of life, or fall prevention; and (4) there is conflicting evidence that smart homes and home health monitoring technologies help address chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The level of technology readiness for smart homes and home health monitoring technologies is still low. The highest level of evidence found was in a study that supported home health technologies for use in monitoring activities of daily living, cognitive decline, mental health, and heart conditions in older adults with complex needs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural health monitoring an advanced signal processing perspective

CERN Document Server

Chen, Xuefeng; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas

2017-01-01

This book highlights the latest advances and trends in advanced signal processing (such as wavelet theory, time-frequency analysis, empirical mode decomposition, compressive sensing and sparse representation, and stochastic resonance) for structural health monitoring (SHM). Its primary focus is on the utilization of advanced signal processing techniques to help monitor the health status of critical structures and machines encountered in our daily lives: wind turbines, gas turbines, machine tools, etc. As such, it offers a key reference guide for researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals who work in the field of SHM.

Testing methods for using high-resolution satellite imagery to monitor polar bear abundance and distribution

Science.gov (United States)

LaRue, Michelle A.; Stapleton, Seth P.; Porter, Claire; Atkinson, Stephen N.; Atwood, Todd C.; Dyck, Markus; Lecomte, Nicolas

2015-01-01

High-resolution satellite imagery is a promising tool for providing coarse information about polar species abundance and distribution, but current applications are limited. With polar bears (Ursus maritimus), the technique has only proven effective on landscapes with little topographic relief that are devoid of snow and ice, and time-consuming manual review of imagery is required to identify bears. Here, we evaluated mechanisms to further develop methods for satellite imagery by examining data from Rowley Island, Canada. We attempted to automate and expedite detection via a supervised spectral classification and image differencing to expedite image review. We also assessed what proportion of a region should be sampled to obtain reliable estimates of density and abundance. Although the spectral signature of polar bears differed from nontarget objects, these differences were insufficient to yield useful results via a supervised classification process. Conversely, automated image differencing—or subtracting one image from another—correctly identified nearly 90% of polar bear locations. This technique, however, also yielded false positives, suggesting that manual review will still be required to confirm polar bear locations. On Rowley Island, bear distribution approximated a Poisson distribution across a range of plot sizes, and resampling suggests that sampling >50% of the site facilitates reliable estimation of density (CV large-scale applications remain limited because of the challenges in automation and the limited environments in which the method can be effectively applied. Improvements in resolution may expand opportunities for its future uses.

Testing methods for using high-resolution satellite imagery to monitor polar bear abundance and distribution

Science.gov (United States)

LaRue, Michelle A.; Stapleton, Seth P.; Porter, Claire; Atkinson, Stephen N.; Atwood, Todd C.; Dyck, Markus; Lecomte, Nicolas

2015-01-01

High-resolution satellite imagery is a promising tool for providing coarse information about polar species abundance and distribution, but current applications are limited. With polar bears (Ursus maritimus), the technique has only proven effective on landscapes with little topographic relief that are devoid of snow and ice, and time-consuming manual review of imagery is required to identify bears. Here, we evaluated mechanisms to further develop methods for satellite imagery by examining data from Rowley Island, Canada. We attempted to automate and expedite detection via a supervised spectral classification and image differencing to expedite image review. We also assessed what proportion of a region should be sampled to obtain reliable estimates of density and abundance. Although the spectral signature of polar bears differed from nontarget objects, these differences were insufficient to yield useful results via a supervised classification process. Conversely, automated image differencing—or subtracting one image from another—correctly identified nearly 90% of polar bear locations. This technique, however, also yielded false positives, suggesting that manual review will still be required to confirm polar bear locations. On Rowley Island, bear distribution approximated a Poisson distribution across a range of plot sizes, and resampling suggests that sampling >50% of the site facilitates reliable estimation of density (CV in certain areas, but large-scale applications remain limited because of the challenges in automation and the limited environments in which the method can be effectively applied. Improvements in resolution may expand opportunities for its future uses.

Advanced health monitor for automated driving functions

OpenAIRE

Mikovski Iotov, I.

2017-01-01

There is a trend in the automotive domain where driving functions are taken from the driver by automated driving functions. In order to guarantee the correct behavior of these auto-mated driving functions, the report introduces an Advanced Health Monitor that uses Tem-poral Logic and Probabilistic Analysis to indicate the system’s health.

In situ health monitoring of piezoelectric sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Scott L. (Inventor); Drouant, George J. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

An in situ health monitoring apparatus may include an exciter circuit that applies a pulse to a piezoelectric transducer and a data processing system that determines the piezoelectric transducer's dynamic response to the first pulse. The dynamic response can be used to evaluate the operating range, health, and as-mounted resonance frequency of the transducer, as well as the strength of a coupling between the transducer and a structure and the health of the structure.

System Identification of Wind Turbines for Structural Health Monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Perisic, Nevena

Structural health monitoring is a multi-disciplinary engineering field that should allow the actual wind turbine maintenance programmes to evolve to the next level, hence increasing safety and reliability and decreasing turbines downtime. The main idea is to have a sensing system on the structure...... cases are considered, two practical problems from the wind industry are studied, i.e. monitoring of the gearbox shaft torque and the tower root bending moments. The second part of the thesis is focused on the influence of friction on the health of the wind turbine and on the nonlinear identification...... that monitors the system responses and notifies the operator when damages or degradations have been detected. However, some of the response signals that contain important information about the health of the wind turbine components cannot be directly measured, or measuring them is highly complex and costly...

Regional Geographic Information Systems of Health and Environmental Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kurolap Semen A.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article describes a new scientific and methodological approach to designing geographic information systems of health and environmental monitoring for urban areas. Geographic information systems (GIS are analytical tools of the regional health and environmental monitoring; they are used for an integrated assessment of the environmental status of a large industrial centre or a part of it. The authors analyse the environmental situation in Voronezh, a major industrial city, located in the Central Black Earth Region with a population of more than 1 million people. The proposed research methodology is based on modern approaches to the assessment of health risks caused by adverse environmental conditions. The research work was implemented using a GIS and multicriteria probabilistic and statistical evaluation to identify cause-and-effect links, a combination of action and reaction, in the dichotomy ‘environmental factors — public health’. The analysis of the obtained statistical data confirmed an increase in childhood diseases in some areas of the city. Environmentally induced diseases include congenital malformations, tumors, endocrine and urogenital pathologies. The main factors having an adverse impact on health are emissions of carcinogens into the atmosphere and the negative impact of transport on the environment. The authors identify and characterize environmentally vulnerable parts of the city and developed principles of creating an automated system of health monitoring and control of environmental risks. The article offers a number of measures aimed at the reduction of environmental risks, better protection of public health and a more efficient environmental monitoring.

Introduction to: The Forest Health monitoring program

Science.gov (United States)

Barbara L. Conkling

2011-01-01

The National Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, produces an annual technical report on forest health as one of its products. The report is organized using the Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests (Montréal Process Working Group 2007) as a...

Polychlorinated biphenyls and reproductive hormones in female polar bears at Svalbard.

Science.gov (United States)

Haave, Marte; Ropstad, Erik; Derocher, Andrew E; Lie, Elisabeth; Dahl, Ellen; Wiig, Øystein; Skaare, Janneche U; Jenssen, Bjørn Munro

2003-04-01

High concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in polar bears from Svalbard have increased concern for that population's reproductive health. We examined whether there were associations between the plasma concentrations of PCBs and reproductive hormones [progesterone (P4)] and 17 beta-estradiol (E2)] in free-living female polar bears from Svalbard. Concentrations of P4 depended on reproductive status, and concentrations were lowest in females with offspring--females with cubs and females with yearlings. In these females, the P4 concentrations were positively correlated with plasma sigma PCBs (sum of all analyzed polychlorinated biphenyl congeners) concentrations. The sigma PCBs concentrations explained 27% of the variation in the P4 concentrations. There were no correlations between sigma PCBs and E2 and cortisol in any of the groups of polar bears, or between sigma PCBs and P4 in single polar bears. Although the sigma PCBs-P4 relationship in female polar bears with offspring is not evidence per se of a direct cause-effect association, the results indicate that PCBs may affect levels of P4 in polar bear females. There is a clear need to further assess the hormone balance and population health of polar bears at Svalbard.

Monitoring and Benchmarking eHealth in the Nordic Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Nøhr, Christian; Koch, Sabine; Vimarlund, Vivian; Gilstad, Heidi; Faxvaag, Arild; Hardardottir, Gudrun Audur; Andreassen, Hege K; Kangas, Maarit; Reponen, Jarmo; Bertelsen, Pernille; Villumsen, Sidsel; Hyppönen, Hannele

2018-01-01

The Nordic eHealth Research Network, a subgroup of the Nordic Council of Ministers eHealth group, is working on developing indicators to monitor progress in availability, use and outcome of eHealth applications in the Nordic countries. This paper reports on the consecutive analysis of National eHealth policies in the Nordic countries from 2012 to 2016. Furthermore, it discusses the consequences for the development of indicators that can measure changes in the eHealth environment arising from the policies. The main change in policies is reflected in a shift towards more stakeholder involvement and intensified focus on clinical infrastructure. This change suggests developing indicators that can monitor understandability and usability of eHealth systems, and the use and utility of shared information infrastructure from the perspective of the end-users - citizens/patients and clinicians in particular.

Capacity building for health inequality monitoring in Indonesia: enhancing the equity orientation of country health information system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Nambiar, Devaki; Tawilah, Jihane; Schlotheuber, Anne; Briot, Benedicte; Bateman, Massee; Davey, Tamzyn; Kusumawardani, Nunik; Myint, Theingi; Nuryetty, Mariet Tetty; Prasetyo, Sabarinah; Suparmi; Floranita, Rustini

Inequalities in health represent a major problem in many countries, including Indonesia. Addressing health inequality is a central component of the Sustainable Development Goals and a priority of the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO provides technical support for health inequality monitoring among its member states. Following a capacity-building workshop in the WHO South-East Asia Region in 2014, Indonesia expressed interest in incorporating health-inequality monitoring into its national health information system. This article details the capacity-building process for national health inequality monitoring in Indonesia, discusses successes and challenges, and how this process may be adapted and implemented in other countries/settings. We outline key capacity-building activities undertaken between April 2016 and December 2017 in Indonesia and present the four key outcomes of this process. The capacity-building process entailed a series of workshops, meetings, activities, and processes undertaken between April 2016 and December 2017. At each stage, a range of stakeholders with access to the relevant data and capacity for data analysis, interpretation and reporting was engaged with, under the stewardship of state agencies. Key steps to strengthening health inequality monitoring included capacity building in (1) identification of the health topics/areas of interest, (2) mapping data sources and identifying gaps, (3) conducting equity analyses using raw datasets, and (4) interpreting and reporting inequality results. As a result, Indonesia developed its first national report on the state of health inequality. A number of peer-reviewed manuscripts on various aspects of health inequality in Indonesia have also been developed. The capacity-building process undertaken in Indonesia is designed to be adaptable to other contexts. Capacity building for health inequality monitoring among countries is a critical step for strengthening equity-oriented national health

Monitoring Bridge Dynamic Responses Using Fiber Bragg Grating Tiltmeters.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Feng; Chen, Gang S; Hulsey, J Leroy

2017-10-20

In bridge health monitoring, tiltmeters have been used for measuring rotation and curvature; however, their application in dynamic parameter identification has been lacking. This study installed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) tiltmeters on the bearings of a bridge and monitored the dynamic rotational angle. The dynamic features, including natural frequencies and mode shapes, have been identified successfully. The innovation presented in this paper is the first-time use of FBG tiltmeter readings to identify the natural frequencies of a long-span steel girder bridge. The identified results have been verified using a bridge finite element model. This paper introduces a new method for the dynamic monitoring of a bridge using FBG tiltmeters. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed in the conclusion.

Monitoring Bridge Dynamic Responses Using Fiber Bragg Grating Tiltmeters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feng Xiao

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In bridge health monitoring, tiltmeters have been used for measuring rotation and curvature; however, their application in dynamic parameter identification has been lacking. This study installed fiber Bragg grating (FBG tiltmeters on the bearings of a bridge and monitored the dynamic rotational angle. The dynamic features, including natural frequencies and mode shapes, have been identified successfully. The innovation presented in this paper is the first-time use of FBG tiltmeter readings to identify the natural frequencies of a long-span steel girder bridge. The identified results have been verified using a bridge finite element model. This paper introduces a new method for the dynamic monitoring of a bridge using FBG tiltmeters. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed in the conclusion.

Evaluation of Calendar Year 1996 groundwater and surface water quality data for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the US Department of Energy Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-08-01

This report presents an evaluation of the groundwater monitoring data obtained in the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (Bear Creek Regime) during calendar year (CY) 1996. The monitoring data were collected for the multiple programmatic purposes of the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP) and have been reported in Calendar Year 1996 Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the US Department of Energy Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Annual Monitoring report presents only the results of the monitoring data evaluations required for waste management sites addressed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) post-closure permit for the Bear Creek Regime. The Annual Monitoring Report also serves as a consolidated reference for the groundwater and surface water monitoring data obtained throughout the Bear Creek Regime under the auspices of the Y-12 GWPP. This report provides an evaluation of the CY 1996 monitoring data with an emphasis on regime-wide groundwater and surface water quality and long-term concentration trends of regulated and non-regulated monitoring parameters

Evaluation of Calendar Year 1996 groundwater and surface water quality data for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the US Department of Energy Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-08-01

This report presents an evaluation of the groundwater monitoring data obtained in the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (Bear Creek Regime) during calendar year (CY) 1996. The monitoring data were collected for the multiple programmatic purposes of the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP) and have been reported in Calendar Year 1996 Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the US Department of Energy Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Annual Monitoring report presents only the results of the monitoring data evaluations required for waste management sites addressed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) post-closure permit for the Bear Creek Regime. The Annual Monitoring Report also serves as a consolidated reference for the groundwater and surface water monitoring data obtained throughout the Bear Creek Regime under the auspices of the Y-12 GWPP. This report provides an evaluation of the CY 1996 monitoring data with an emphasis on regime-wide groundwater and surface water quality and long-term concentration trends of regulated and non-regulated monitoring parameters.

Bridge health monitoring with consideration of environmental effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Yuhee; Kim, Hyunsoo; Shin, Soobong; Park, Jongchil

2012-01-01

Reliable response measurements are extremely important for proper bridge health monitoring but incomplete and unreliable data may be acquired due to sensor problems and environmental effects. In the case of a sensor malfunction, parts of the measured data can be missing so that the structural health condition cannot be monitored reliably. This means that the dynamic characteristics of natural frequencies can change as if the structure is damaged due to environmental effects, such as temperature variations. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a systematic procedure of data analysis to recover missing data and eliminate the environmental effects from the measured data. It also proposed a health index calculated statistically using revised data to evaluate the health condition of a bridge. The proposed method was examined using numerically simulated data with a truss structure and then applied to a set of field data measured from a cable stayed bridge

Bridge health monitoring with consideration of environmental effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Yuhee; Kim, Hyunsoo; Shin, Soobong [Inha Univ., Incheon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jongchil [Korea Expressway Co., (Korea, Republic of)

2012-12-15

Reliable response measurements are extremely important for proper bridge health monitoring but incomplete and unreliable data may be acquired due to sensor problems and environmental effects. In the case of a sensor malfunction, parts of the measured data can be missing so that the structural health condition cannot be monitored reliably. This means that the dynamic characteristics of natural frequencies can change as if the structure is damaged due to environmental effects, such as temperature variations. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a systematic procedure of data analysis to recover missing data and eliminate the environmental effects from the measured data. It also proposed a health index calculated statistically using revised data to evaluate the health condition of a bridge. The proposed method was examined using numerically simulated data with a truss structure and then applied to a set of field data measured from a cable stayed bridge.

Adaptive and Online Health Monitoring System for Autonomous Aircraft

OpenAIRE

Mokhtar, Maizura; Zapatel-Bayo, Sergio Z.; Hussein, Saed; Howe, Joe M.

2012-01-01

Good situation awareness is one of the key attributes required to maintain safe flight, especially for an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). Good situation awareness can be achieved by incorporating an Adaptive Health Monitoring System (AHMS) to the aircraft. The AHMS monitors the flight outcome or flight behaviours of the aircraft based on its external environmental conditions and the behaviour of its internal systems. The AHMS does this by associating a health value to the aircraft's behaviour b...

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Borbón-García

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The Andean bear is an endemic species of the tropical Andes who has an almost exclusively plant-based diet. Since herbivorous mammals do not carry enzymes for fiber degradation, the establishment of symbiosis with cellulolytic microorganisms in their gastrointestinal (GI tract is necessary to help them fulfill their nutritional needs. Furthermore, as described for other mammals, a stable, diverse, and balanced gut microbial composition is an indicator of a healthy status of the host; under disturbances this balance can be lost, leading to potential diseases of the host. The goal of this study was to describe the gut microbiota of wild and captive Andean bears and determine how habitat status influences the composition and diversity of the gut symbiotic community. Fecal samples from wild (n = 28 and captive (n = 8 Andean bears were collected in “Reserva Pantano de Martos” and “Fundación Bioandina”, Colombia. Composition and diversity analyses were performed using amplicons from the V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene sequenced using the Ion PGM platform. PICRUSt algorithm was applied to predict the gene content of the gut microbiome of wild and captive Andean bears. A total of 5,411 and 838 OTUs were identified for wild and captive bears, respectively. Captive bears contained a lower number of bacterial phyla (n = 7 compared to wild individuals (n = 9. Proteobacteria (59.03% and Firmicutes (14.03% were the phyla that contributed the most to differences between wild and captive bears (overall dissimilarity = 87.72%. At family level, Enterobacteriaceae drove the main differences between the two groups (13.7%. PICRUSt metagenomics predictions suggested a similar pattern of relative abundance of gene families associated with the metabolism of carbohydrates across samples in wild individuals, despite the taxonomic differences of their gut microbiota. Captivity alters the availability and diversity of food resources, which likely reduces microbiota

Structural health monitoring 2012. Proceedings. Vol. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boller, Christian

2012-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology, dealing with the development and implementation of techniques and systems where monitoring, inspection and damage detection become an integral part of structures and thus a matter of automation. It further merges with a variety of techniques related to diagnostics and prognostics. SHM emerged from the field of smart structures and laterally encompasses disciplines such as structural dynamics, materials and structures, fatigue and fracture, non-destructive testing and evaluation, sensors and actuators, microelectronics, signal processing and much more. To be effective in the development of SHM systems, a multidisciplinary approach is therefore required. Without this global view it will be difficult for engineers to holistically manage the operation of an engineering structure through its life cycle in the future and to generate new breakthroughs in structural engineering. The second volume of the proceedings contains topics dealing with applications in the field of aeronautics, astronautic, civil engineering (bridges), energy (wind power), structural health monitoring (transportation), and poster presentations. Ten of the contributions are separately analyzed for the ENERGY database.

Frequency Selective Surface for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Norlyana Azemi, Saidatul; Mustaffa, Farzana Hazira Wan; Faizal Jamlos, Mohd; Abdullah Al-Hadi, Azremi; Soh, Ping Jack

2018-03-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies have attained attention to monitor civil structures. SHM sensor systems have been used in various civil structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels and so on. However the previous sensor for SHM is wired and encounter with problem to cover large areas. Therefore, wireless sensor was introduced for SHM to reduce network connecting problem. Wireless sensors for Structural Health monitoring are new technology and have many advantages to overcome the drawback of conventional and wired sensor. This project proposed passive wireless SHM sensor using frequency selective surface (FSS) as an alternative to conventional sensors. The electromagnetic wave characteristic of FSS will change by geometrical changes of FSS due to mechanical strain or structural failure. The changes feature is used as a sensing function without any connecting wires. Two type of design which are circular ring and square loop along with the transmission and reflection characteristics of SHM using FSS were discussed in this project. A simulation process has shown that incident angle characteristics can be use as a data for SHM application.

Incipient Fault Detection for Rolling Element Bearings under Varying Speed Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Lang; Li, Naipeng; Lei, Yaguo; Li, Ningbo

2017-06-20

Varying speed conditions bring a huge challenge to incipient fault detection of rolling element bearings because both the change of speed and faults could lead to the amplitude fluctuation of vibration signals. Effective detection methods need to be developed to eliminate the influence of speed variation. This paper proposes an incipient fault detection method for bearings under varying speed conditions. Firstly, relative residual (RR) features are extracted, which are insensitive to the varying speed conditions and are able to reflect the degradation trend of bearings. Then, a health indicator named selected negative log-likelihood probability (SNLLP) is constructed to fuse a feature set including RR features and non-dimensional features. Finally, based on the constructed SNLLP health indicator, a novel alarm trigger mechanism is designed to detect the incipient fault. The proposed method is demonstrated using vibration signals from bearing tests and industrial wind turbines. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method for incipient fault detection of rolling element bearings under varying speed conditions.

Environment monitoring and residents health condition monitoring of nuclear power plant Bohunice region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Letkovicova, M.; Rehak, R.; Stehlikova, B.; Celko, M.; Hraska, S.; Klocok, L.; Kostial, J.; Prikazsky, V.; Vidovic, J.; Zirko, M.; Beno, T.; Mitosinka, J.

1998-01-01

The report contents final environment evaluation and selected characteristic of residents health physics of nuclear power plant Bohunice region. Evaluated data were elaborated during analytical period 1993-1997.Task solving which results are documented in this final report was going on between 1996- 1998. The report deals in individual stages with the following: Information obtaining and completing which characterize demographic situation of the area for the 1993-1997 period; Datum obtaining and completing which contain selected health physics characteristics of the area residents; Database structures for individual data archiving from monitoring and collection; Brief description of geographic information system for graphic presentation of evaluation results based on topographic base; Digital mapping structure description; Results and evaluation of radionuclide monitoring in environment performed by Environmental radiation measurements laboratory by the nuclear power plant Bohunice for the 1993-1997 period. Demographic situation evaluation and selected health physics characteristics of the area of nuclear power plant residents for the 1993-1997 period are summarized in the final part of the document. Monitoring results and their evaluation is processed in graph, table, text description and map output forms. Map outputs are processed in the geographic information system Arc View GIS 3.0a environment

Genetic health and population monitoring of two small black bear (Ursus americanus populations in Alabama, with a regional perspective of genetic diversity and exchange.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John P Draper

Full Text Available One of the major concerns in conservation today is the loss of genetic diversity which is a frequent consequence of population isolation and small population sizes. Fragmentation of populations and persecution of carnivores has posed a substantial threat to the persistence of free ranging carnivores in North America since the arrival of European settlers. Black bears have seen significant reductions in range size from their historic extent, which is most pronounced in the southeastern United States and even more starkly in Alabama where until recently bears were reduced to a single geographically isolated population in the Mobile River Basin. Recently a second population has naturally re-established itself in northeastern Alabama. We sought to determine size, genetic diversity and genetic connectivity for these two populations in relation to other regional populations. Both populations of black bears in Alabama had small population sizes and had moderate to low genetic diversity, but showed different levels of connectivity to surrounding populations of bears. The Mobile River Basin population had a small population size at only 86 individuals (76-124, 95% C.I., the lowest genetic diversity of compared populations (richness = 2.33, Ho and He = 0.33, and showed near complete genetic isolation from surrounding populations across multiple tests. The newly recolonizing population in northeastern Alabama had a small but growing population doubling in 3 years (34 individuals 26-43, 95% C.I., relatively moderate genetic diversity compared to surrounding populations (richness = 3.32, Ho = 0.53, He = 0.65, and showed a high level of genetic connectivity with surrounding populations.

Genetic health and population monitoring of two small black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in Alabama, with a regional perspective of genetic diversity and exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Draper, John P; Waits, Lisette P; Adams, Jennifer R; Seals, Christopher L; Steury, Todd D

2017-01-01

One of the major concerns in conservation today is the loss of genetic diversity which is a frequent consequence of population isolation and small population sizes. Fragmentation of populations and persecution of carnivores has posed a substantial threat to the persistence of free ranging carnivores in North America since the arrival of European settlers. Black bears have seen significant reductions in range size from their historic extent, which is most pronounced in the southeastern United States and even more starkly in Alabama where until recently bears were reduced to a single geographically isolated population in the Mobile River Basin. Recently a second population has naturally re-established itself in northeastern Alabama. We sought to determine size, genetic diversity and genetic connectivity for these two populations in relation to other regional populations. Both populations of black bears in Alabama had small population sizes and had moderate to low genetic diversity, but showed different levels of connectivity to surrounding populations of bears. The Mobile River Basin population had a small population size at only 86 individuals (76-124, 95% C.I.), the lowest genetic diversity of compared populations (richness = 2.33, Ho and He = 0.33), and showed near complete genetic isolation from surrounding populations across multiple tests. The newly recolonizing population in northeastern Alabama had a small but growing population doubling in 3 years (34 individuals 26-43, 95% C.I.), relatively moderate genetic diversity compared to surrounding populations (richness = 3.32, Ho = 0.53, He = 0.65), and showed a high level of genetic connectivity with surrounding populations.

Health monitoring of civil structures using fiber optic sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varma, Veto; Kumar, Praveen; Charan, J.J.; Reddy, G.R.; Vaze, K.K.; Kushwaha, H.S.

2003-08-01

During the lifetime of the reactor, the civil structure is subjected to many operational and environmental loads. Hence it is increasingly important to monitor the conditions of the structure and insure its safety and integrity. The conventional gauges have proved to be not sufficiently catering the problem of long term health monitoring of the structure because of its many limitations. Hence it is mandatory to develop a technique for the above purpose. Present study deals with the application of Fiber optic sensors (EFPI strain Gauges) in the civil structure for its health monitoring. Various experiments were undertaken and suitability of sensors was checked. A technique to embed the optical sensor inside the concrete is successfully developed and tested. (author)

Integrating structural health and condition monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

May, Allan; Thöns, Sebastian; McMillan, David

2015-01-01

window’ allowing for the possible detection of faults up to 6 months in advance. The SHM system model uses a reduction in the probability of failure factor to account for lower modelling uncertainties. A case study is produced that shows a reduction in operating costs and also a reduction in risk......There is a large financial incentive to minimise operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for offshore wind power by optimising the maintenance plan. The integration of condition monitoring (CM) and structural health monitoring (SHM) may help realise this. There is limited work on the integration...

Remedial investigation work plan for Bear Creek (Y02-S600) at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, R.R.; Bogle, M.A.; Clapp, R.B.; Dearstone, K.; Dreier, R.B.; Early, T.O.; Herbes, S.E.; Loar, J.M.; Parr, P.D.; Southworth, G.R.

1991-07-01

As part of its response to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the US Department of Energy had agreed to further investigate contamination of Bear Creek and its floodplain resulting from releases of hazardous waste or hazardous constituents from the Y-12 Plant solid waste management units (SWMU) located in the Bear Creek watershed. That proposed RCRA Facility Investigation has been modified to incorporate the requirements of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) into a Remedial Investigation (RI) Plan for Bear Creek. This document is the RI Plan for Bear Creek and its flood-of-record floodplain. The following assumptions were made in the preparation of this RI Plan: (1) That source-area groundwater monitoring will be conducted as a part of the comprehensive groundwater monitoring plan for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime; and (2) that postclosure activities associated with each SWMU do not explicitly include a comprehensive assessment of surface water, sediment, and floodplain soil contamination in Bear Creek and its tributaries. The RI Plan is thus intended to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of Bear Creek and its floodplain than that provided by the investigative monitoring and risk assessment activities associated with the ten individual SWMUs. RI activities will be carefully coordinated with other monitoring and assessment activities to avoid redundancy and to maximize the utility of data gathered during the investigation. 121 refs., 61 figs., 46 tabs

Multi-metric model-based structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Hongki; Spencer, B. F.

2014-04-01

ABSTRACT The inspection and maintenance of bridges of all types is critical to the public safety and often critical to the economy of a region. Recent advanced sensor technologies provide accurate and easy-to-deploy means for structural health monitoring and, if the critical locations are known a priori, can be monitored by direct measurements. However, for today's complex civil infrastructure, the critical locations are numerous and often difficult to identify. This paper presents an innovative framework for structural monitoring at arbitrary locations on the structure combining computational models and limited physical sensor information. The use of multi-metric measurements is advocated to improve the accuracy of the approach. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed hybrid monitoring framework, particularly focusing on fatigue life assessment of steel structures.

Grizzly bear

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, C.C.; Miller, S.D.; Haroldson, M.A.; Feldhamer, G.; Thompson, B.; Chapman, J.

2003-01-01

The grizzly bear inspires fear, awe, and respect in humans to a degree unmatched by any other North American wild mammal. Like other bear species, it can inflict serious injury and death on humans and sometimes does. Unlike the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) of the sparsely inhabited northern arctic, however, grizzly bears still live in areas visited by crowds of people, where presence of the grizzly remains physically real and emotionally dominant. A hike in the wilderness that includes grizzly bears is different from a stroll in a forest from which grizzly bears have been purged; nighttime conversations around the campfire and dreams in the tent reflect the presence of the great bear. Contributing to the aura of the grizzly bear is the mixture of myth and reality about its ferocity. unpredictable disposition, large size, strength, huge canines, long claws, keen senses, swiftness, and playfulness. They share characteristics with humans such as generalist life history strategies. extended periods of maternal care, and omnivorous diets. These factors capture the human imagination in ways distinct from other North American mammals. Precontact Native American legends reflected the same fascination with the grizzly bear as modern stories and legends (Rockwell 1991).

Personalized Health Monitoring System for Managing Well-Being in Rural Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Nedungadi, Prema; Jayakumar, Akshay; Raman, Raghu

2017-12-14

Rural India lacks easy access to health practitioners and medical centers, depending instead on community health workers. In these areas, common ailments that are easy to manage with medicines, often lead to medical escalations and even fatalities due to lack of awareness and delayed diagnosis. The introduction of wearable health devices has made it easier to monitor health conditions and to connect doctors and patients in urban areas. However, existing initiatives have not succeeded in providing adequate health monitoring to rural and low-literate patients, as current methods are expensive, require consistent connectivity and expect literate users. Our design considerations address these concerns by providing low-cost medical devices connected to a low-cost health platform, along with personalized guidance based on patient physiological parameters in local languages, and alerts to medical practitioners in case of emergencies. This patient-centric integrated healthcare system is designed to manage the overall health of villagers with real-time health monitoring of patients, to offer guidance on preventive care, and to increase health awareness and self-monitoring at an affordable price. This personalized health monitoring system addresses the health-related needs in remote and rural areas by (1) empowering health workers in monitoring of basic health conditions for rural patients in order to prevent escalations, (2) personalized feedback regarding nutrition, exercise, diet, preventive Ayurveda care and yoga postures based on vital parameters and (3) reporting of patient data to the patient's health center with emergency alerts to doctor and patient. The system supports community health workers in the diagnostic procedure, management, and reporting of rural patients, and functions well even with only intermittent access to Internet.

Experimental Research on Quick Structural Health Monitoring Technique for Bridges Using Smartphone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuefeng Zhao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In the recent years, with the development and popularization of smartphone, the utilization of smartphone in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM has attracted increasing attention owing to its unique feature. Since bridges are of great importance to society and economy, bridge health monitoring has very practical significance during its service life. Furthermore, rapid damage assessment of bridge after an extreme event such as earthquake is very important in the recovery work. Smartphone-based bridge health monitoring and postevent damage evaluation have advantages over the conventional monitoring techniques, such as low cost, ease of installation, and convenience. Therefore, this study investigates the implementation feasibility of the quick bridge health monitoring technique using smartphone. A novel vision-based cable force measurement method using smartphone camera is proposed, and, then, its feasibility and practicality is initially validated through cable model test. An experiment regarding multiple parameters monitoring of one bridge scale model is carried out. Parameters, such as acceleration, displacement, and angle, are monitored using smartphone. The experiment results show that there is a good agreement between the reference sensor and smartphone measurements in both time and frequency domains.

A Review of Infectious Agents in Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) and Their Long-Term Ecological Relevance.

Science.gov (United States)

Fagre, Anna C; Patyk, Kelly A; Nol, Pauline; Atwood, Todd; Hueffer, Karsten; Duncan, Colleen

2015-09-01

Disease was a listing criterion for the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2008; it is therefore important to evaluate the current state of knowledge and identify any information gaps pertaining to diseases in polar bears. We conducted a systematic literature review focused on infectious agents and associated health impacts identified in polar bears. Overall, the majority of reports in free-ranging bears concerned serosurveys or fecal examinations with little to no information on associated health effects. In contrast, most reports documenting illness or pathology referenced captive animals and diseases caused by etiologic agents not representative of exposure opportunities in wild bears. As such, most of the available infectious disease literature has limited utility as a basis for development of future health assessment and management plans. Given that ecological change is a considerable risk facing polar bear populations, future work should focus on cumulative effects of multiple stressors that could impact polar bear population dynamics.

Porous polycarbene-bearing membrane actuator for ultrasensitive weak-acid detection and real-time chemical reaction monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jian-Ke; Zhang, Weiyi; Guterman, Ryan; Lin, Hui-Juan; Yuan, Jiayin

2018-04-30

Soft actuators with integration of ultrasensitivity and capability of simultaneous interaction with multiple stimuli through an entire event ask for a high level of structure complexity, adaptability, and/or multi-responsiveness, which is a great challenge. Here, we develop a porous polycarbene-bearing membrane actuator built up from ionic complexation between a poly(ionic liquid) and trimesic acid (TA). The actuator features two concurrent structure gradients, i.e., an electrostatic complexation (EC) degree and a density distribution of a carbene-NH 3 adduct (CNA) along the membrane cross-section. The membrane actuator performs the highest sensitivity among the state-of-the-art soft proton actuators toward acetic acid at 10 -6  mol L -1 (M) level in aqueous media. Through competing actuation of the two gradients, it is capable of monitoring an entire process of proton-involved chemical reactions that comprise multiple stimuli and operational steps. The present achievement constitutes a significant step toward real-life application of soft actuators in chemical sensing and reaction technology.

Monitoring of corrosion damage using high-frequency guided ultrasonic waves

OpenAIRE

Chew, D.; Fromme, P.

2014-01-01

Due to adverse environmental conditions corrosion can develop during the life cycle of industrial structures, e.g., offshore oil platforms, ships, and desalination plants. Both pitting corrosion and generalized corrosion leading to wall thickness loss can cause the degradation of the integrity and load bearing capacity of the structure. Structural health monitoring of corrosion damage in difficult to access areas can in principle be achieved using high frequency guided waves propagating along...

Identification methods for structural health monitoring

CERN Document Server

Papadimitriou, Costas

2016-01-01

The papers in this volume provide an introduction to well known and established system identification methods for structural health monitoring and to more advanced, state-of-the-art tools, able to tackle the challenges associated with actual implementation. Starting with an overview on fundamental methods, introductory concepts are provided on the general framework of time and frequency domain, parametric and non-parametric methods, input-output or output only techniques. Cutting edge tools are introduced including, nonlinear system identification methods; Bayesian tools; and advanced modal identification techniques (such as the Kalman and particle filters, the fast Bayesian FFT method). Advanced computational tools for uncertainty quantification are discussed to provide a link between monitoring and structural integrity assessment. In addition, full scale applications and field deployments that illustrate the workings and effectiveness of the introduced monitoring schemes are demonstrated.

Food availability and foraging near human developments by black bears

Science.gov (United States)

Merkle, Jerod A.; Robinson, Hugh S.; Krausman, Paul R.; Alaback, Paul B.

2013-01-01

Understanding the relationship between foraging ecology and the presence of human-dominated landscapes is important, particularly for American black bears (Ursus americanus), which sometimes move between wildlands and urban areas to forage. The food-related factors influencing this movement have not been explored, but can be important for understanding the benefits and costs to black bear foraging behavior and the fundamental origins of bear conflicts. We tested whether the scarcity of wildland foods or the availability of urban foods can explain when black bears forage near houses, examined the extent to which male bears use urban areas in comparison to females, and identified the most important food items influencing bear movement into urban areas. We monitored 16 collared black bears in and around Missoula, Montana, during 2009 and 2010, while quantifying the rate of change in green vegetation and the availability of 5 native berry-producing species outside the urban area, the rate of change in green vegetation, and the availability of apples and garbage inside the urban area. We used parametric time-to-event models in which an event was a bear location collected within 100 m of a house. We also visited feeding sites located near houses and quantified food items bears had eaten. The probability of a bear being located near a house was 1.6 times higher for males, and increased during apple season and the urban green-up. Fruit trees accounted for most of the forage items at urban feeding sites (49%), whereas wildland foods composed fruit trees, appear to be more important than the availability of garbage in influencing when bears forage near houses.

Localizing the HL7 Personal Health Monitoring Record for Danish Telemedicine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Henrik Bærbak

2014-01-01

Telemedicine holds a promise of lowering cost in health care and improving the life quality of chronic ill patients by allowing monitoring in the home. The Personal Health Monitoring Record (PHMR) is an international HL7 standard data format for encoding measurements made by devices in the home...

Field metabolic rate and PCB adipose tissue deposition efficiency in East Greenland polar bears derived from contaminant monitoring data.

Science.gov (United States)

Pavlova, Viola; Nabe-Nielsen, Jacob; Dietz, Rune; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Vorkamp, Katrin; Rigét, Frank Farsø; Sonne, Christian; Letcher, Robert J; Grimm, Volker

2014-01-01

Climate change will increasingly affect the natural habitat and diet of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Understanding the energetic needs of polar bears is therefore important. We developed a theoretical method for estimating polar bear food consumption based on using the highly recalcitrant polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener, 2,2',4,4',55-hexaCB (CB153) in bear adipose tissue as an indicator of food intake. By comparing the CB153 tissue concentrations in wild polar bears with estimates from a purposely designed individual-based model, we identified the possible combinations of field metabolic rates (FMR) and CB153 deposition efficiencies in East Greenland polar bears. Our simulations indicate that if 30% of the CB153 consumed by polar bear individuals were deposited into their adipose tissue, the corresponding FMR would be only two times the basal metabolic rate. In contrast, if the modelled CB153 deposition efficiency were 10%, adult polar bears would require six times more energy than that needed to cover basal metabolism. This is considerably higher than what has been assumed for polar bears in previous studies though it is similar to FMRs found in other marine mammals. An implication of this result is that even relatively small reductions in future feeding opportunities could impact the survival of East Greenland polar bears.

Predicting the Remaining Useful Life of Rolling Element Bearings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hooghoudt, Jan Otto; Jantunen, E; Yi, Yang

2018-01-01

Condition monitoring of rolling element bearings is of vital importance in order to keep the industrial wheels running. In wind industry this is especially important due to the challenges in practical maintenance. The paper presents an attempt to improve the capability of prediction of remaining...

Vibration-based structural health monitoring of harbor caisson structure

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, So-Young; Lee, So-Ra; Kim, Jeong-Tae

2011-04-01

This study presents vibration-based structural health monitoring method in foundation-structure interface of harbor caisson structure. In order to achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. Firstly, vibration-based response analysis method is selected and structural health monitoring (SHM) technique is designed for harbor caisson structure. Secondly, the performance of designed SHM technique for harbor structure is examined by FE analysis. Finally, the applicability of designed SHM technique for harbor structure is evaluated by dynamic tests on a lab-scaled caisson structure.

77 FR 70423 - Black Bear Hydro Partners, LLC and Black Bear Development Holdings, LLC and Black Bear SO, LLC...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-26

... Bear Hydro Partners, LLC and Black Bear Development Holdings, LLC and Black Bear SO, LLC; Notice of..., 2012, Black Bear Hydro Partners, LLC, sole licensee (transferor) and Black Bear Development Holdings, LLC and Black Bear SO, LLC (transferees) filed an application for the partial the transfer of licenses...

Field metabolic rate and PCB adipose tissue deposition efficiency in East Greenland polar bears derived from contaminant monitoring data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viola Pavlova

Full Text Available Climate change will increasingly affect the natural habitat and diet of polar bears (Ursus maritimus. Understanding the energetic needs of polar bears is therefore important. We developed a theoretical method for estimating polar bear food consumption based on using the highly recalcitrant polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB congener, 2,2',4,4',55-hexaCB (CB153 in bear adipose tissue as an indicator of food intake. By comparing the CB153 tissue concentrations in wild polar bears with estimates from a purposely designed individual-based model, we identified the possible combinations of field metabolic rates (FMR and CB153 deposition efficiencies in East Greenland polar bears. Our simulations indicate that if 30% of the CB153 consumed by polar bear individuals were deposited into their adipose tissue, the corresponding FMR would be only two times the basal metabolic rate. In contrast, if the modelled CB153 deposition efficiency were 10%, adult polar bears would require six times more energy than that needed to cover basal metabolism. This is considerably higher than what has been assumed for polar bears in previous studies though it is similar to FMRs found in other marine mammals. An implication of this result is that even relatively small reductions in future feeding opportunities could impact the survival of East Greenland polar bears.

To track or not to track: user reactions to concepts in longitudinal health monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Beaudin, Jennifer S; Intille, Stephen S; Morris, Margaret E

2006-01-01

Advances in ubiquitous computing, smart homes, and sensor technologies enable novel, longitudinal health monitoring applications in the home. Many home monitoring technologies have been proposed to detect health crises, support aging-in-place, and improve medical care. Health professionals and potential end users in the lay public, however, sometimes question whether home health monitoring is justified given the cost and potential invasion of privacy. The aim of the study was to elicit specific feedback from health professionals and laypeople about how they might use longitudinal health monitoring data for proactive health and well-being. Interviews were conducted with 8 health professionals and 26 laypeople. Participants were asked to evaluate mock data visualization displays that could be generated by novel home monitoring systems. The mock displays were used to elicit reactions to longitudinal monitoring in the home setting as well as what behaviors, events, and physiological indicators people were interested in tracking. Based on the qualitative data provided by the interviews, lists of benefits of and concerns about health tracking from the perspectives of the practitioners and laypeople were compiled. Variables of particular interest to the interviewees, as well as their specific ideas for applications of collected data, were documented. Based upon these interviews, we recommend that ubiquitous "monitoring" systems may be more readily adopted if they are developed as tools for personalized, longitudinal self-investigation that help end users learn about the conditions and variables that impact their social, cognitive, and physical health.

Phylogeography of mitochondrial DNA variation in brown bears and polar bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Shields, G F; Adams, D; Garner, G; Labelle, M; Pietsch, J; Ramsay, M; Schwartz, C; Titus, K; Williamson, S

2000-05-01

We analyzed 286 nucleotides of the middle portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 61 brown bears from three locations in Alaska and 55 polar bears from Arctic Canada and Arctic Siberia to test our earlier observations of paraphyly between polar bears and brown bears as well as to test the extreme uniqueness of mitochondrial DNA types of brown bears on Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof (ABC) islands of southeastern Alaska. We also investigated the phylogeography of brown bears of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula in relation to other Alaskan brown bears because the former are being threatened by increased human development. We predicted that: (1) mtDNA paraphyly between brown bears and polar bears would be upheld, (2) the mtDNA uniqueness of brown bears of the ABC islands would be upheld, and (3) brown bears of the Kenai Peninsula would belong to either clade II or clade III of brown bears of our earlier studies of mtDNA. All of our predictions were upheld through the analysis of these additional samples. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Phylogeography of mitochondrial DNA variation in brown bears and polar bears

Science.gov (United States)

Shields, Gerald F.; Adams, Deborah; Garner, Gerald W.; Labelle, Martine; Pietsch, Jacy; Ramsay, Malcolm; Schwartz, Charles; Titus, Kimberly; Williamson, Scott

2000-01-01

We analyzed 286 nucleotides of the middle portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 61 brown bears from three locations in Alaska and 55 polar bears from Arctic Canada and Arctic Siberia to test our earlier observations of paraphyly between polar bears and brown bears as well as to test the extreme uniqueness of mitochondrial DNA types of brown bears on Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof (ABC) islands of southeastern Alaska. We also investigated the phylogeography of brown bears of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula in relation to other Alaskan brown bears because the former are being threatened by increased human development. We predicted that: (1) mtDNA paraphyly between brown bears and polar bears would be upheld, (2) the mtDNA uniqueness of brown bears of the ABC islands would be upheld, and (3) brown bears of the Kenai Peninsula would belong to either clade II or clade III of brown bears of our earlier studies of mtDNA. All of our predictions were upheld through the analysis of these additional samples.

Polar bears from space: Assessing satellite imagery as a tool to track Arctic wildlife

Science.gov (United States)

Stapleton, Seth P.; LaRue, Michelle A.; Lecomte, Nicolas; Atkinson, Stephen N.; Garshelis, David L.; Porter, Claire; Atwood, Todd C.

2014-01-01

Development of efficient techniques for monitoring wildlife is a priority in the Arctic, where the impacts of climate change are acute and remoteness and logistical constraints hinder access. We evaluated high resolution satellite imagery as a tool to track the distribution and abundance of polar bears. We examined satellite images of a small island in Foxe Basin, Canada, occupied by a high density of bears during the summer ice-free season. Bears were distinguished from other light-colored spots by comparing images collected on different dates. A sample of ground-truthed points demonstrated that we accurately classified bears. Independent observers reviewed images and a population estimate was obtained using mark- recapture models. This estimate (N: 94; 95% Confidence Interval: 92-105) was remarkably similar to an abundance estimate derived from a line transect aerial survey conducted a few days earlier (N: 102; 95% CI: 69-152). Our findings suggest that satellite imagery is a promising tool for monitoring polar bears on land, with implications for use with other Arctic wildlife. Large scale applications may require development of automated detection processes to expedite review and analysis. Future research should assess the utility of multi-spectral imagery and examine sites with different environmental characteristics.

Polar bears from space: assessing satellite imagery as a tool to track Arctic wildlife.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seth Stapleton

Full Text Available Development of efficient techniques for monitoring wildlife is a priority in the Arctic, where the impacts of climate change are acute and remoteness and logistical constraints hinder access. We evaluated high resolution satellite imagery as a tool to track the distribution and abundance of polar bears. We examined satellite images of a small island in Foxe Basin, Canada, occupied by a high density of bears during the summer ice-free season. Bears were distinguished from other light-colored spots by comparing images collected on different dates. A sample of ground-truthed points demonstrated that we accurately classified bears. Independent observers reviewed images and a population estimate was obtained using mark-recapture models. This estimate (N: 94; 95% Confidence Interval: 92-105 was remarkably similar to an abundance estimate derived from a line transect aerial survey conducted a few days earlier (N: 102; 95% CI: 69-152. Our findings suggest that satellite imagery is a promising tool for monitoring polar bears on land, with implications for use with other Arctic wildlife. Large scale applications may require development of automated detection processes to expedite review and analysis. Future research should assess the utility of multi-spectral imagery and examine sites with different environmental characteristics.

Polar bears from space: assessing satellite imagery as a tool to track Arctic wildlife.

Science.gov (United States)

Stapleton, Seth; LaRue, Michelle; Lecomte, Nicolas; Atkinson, Stephen; Garshelis, David; Porter, Claire; Atwood, Todd

2014-01-01

Development of efficient techniques for monitoring wildlife is a priority in the Arctic, where the impacts of climate change are acute and remoteness and logistical constraints hinder access. We evaluated high resolution satellite imagery as a tool to track the distribution and abundance of polar bears. We examined satellite images of a small island in Foxe Basin, Canada, occupied by a high density of bears during the summer ice-free season. Bears were distinguished from other light-colored spots by comparing images collected on different dates. A sample of ground-truthed points demonstrated that we accurately classified bears. Independent observers reviewed images and a population estimate was obtained using mark-recapture models. This estimate (N: 94; 95% Confidence Interval: 92-105) was remarkably similar to an abundance estimate derived from a line transect aerial survey conducted a few days earlier (N: 102; 95% CI: 69-152). Our findings suggest that satellite imagery is a promising tool for monitoring polar bears on land, with implications for use with other Arctic wildlife. Large scale applications may require development of automated detection processes to expedite review and analysis. Future research should assess the utility of multi-spectral imagery and examine sites with different environmental characteristics.

Structure health monitoring system using internet and database technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Il Bum; Kim, Chi Yeop; Choi, Man Yong; Lee, Seung Seok

2003-01-01

Structural health monitoring system should developed to be based on internet and database technology in order to manage efficiently large structures. This system is operated by internet connected with the side of structures. The monitoring system has some functions: self monitoring, self diagnosis, and self control etc. Self monitoring is the function of sensor fault detection. If some sensors are not normally worked, then this system can detect the fault sensors. Also Self diagnosis function repair the abnormal condition of sensors. And self control is the repair function of the monitoring system. Especially, the monitoring system can identify the replacement of sensors. For further study, the real application test will be performed to check some unconvince.

Structural health monitoring system using internet and database technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Chi Yeop; Choi, Man Yong; Kwon, Il Bum; Lee, Seung Seok [Nonstructive Measurment Lab., KRISS, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2003-07-01

Structure health monitoring system should develope to be based on internet and database technology in order to manage efficiency large structures. This system is operated by internet connected with the side of structures. The monitoring system has some functions: self monitoring, self diagnosis, and self control etc. Self monitoring is the function of sensor fault detection. If some sensors are not normally worked, then this system can detect the fault sensors. Also Self diagnosis function repair the abnormal condition of sensors. And self control is the repair function of the monitoring system. Especially, the monitoring system can identify the replacement of sensors. For further study, the real application test will be performed to check some unconviniences.

Structure health monitoring system using internet and database technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, Il Bum; Kim, Chi Yeop; Choi, Man Yong; Lee, Seung Seok [Smart Measurment Group. Korea Resarch Institute of Standards and Science, Saejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2003-05-15

Structural health monitoring system should developed to be based on internet and database technology in order to manage efficiently large structures. This system is operated by internet connected with the side of structures. The monitoring system has some functions: self monitoring, self diagnosis, and self control etc. Self monitoring is the function of sensor fault detection. If some sensors are not normally worked, then this system can detect the fault sensors. Also Self diagnosis function repair the abnormal condition of sensors. And self control is the repair function of the monitoring system. Especially, the monitoring system can identify the replacement of sensors. For further study, the real application test will be performed to check some unconvince.

Structural health monitoring system using internet and database technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Chi Yeop; Choi, Man Yong; Kwon, Il Bum; Lee, Seung Seok

2003-01-01

Structure health monitoring system should develope to be based on internet and database technology in order to manage efficiency large structures. This system is operated by internet connected with the side of structures. The monitoring system has some functions: self monitoring, self diagnosis, and self control etc. Self monitoring is the function of sensor fault detection. If some sensors are not normally worked, then this system can detect the fault sensors. Also Self diagnosis function repair the abnormal condition of sensors. And self control is the repair function of the monitoring system. Especially, the monitoring system can identify the replacement of sensors. For further study, the real application test will be performed to check some unconviniences.

Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2016

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara L. Conkling

2017-01-01

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introducesnew techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed...

Incipient Fault Detection for Rolling Element Bearings under Varying Speed Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lang Xue

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Varying speed conditions bring a huge challenge to incipient fault detection of rolling element bearings because both the change of speed and faults could lead to the amplitude fluctuation of vibration signals. Effective detection methods need to be developed to eliminate the influence of speed variation. This paper proposes an incipient fault detection method for bearings under varying speed conditions. Firstly, relative residual (RR features are extracted, which are insensitive to the varying speed conditions and are able to reflect the degradation trend of bearings. Then, a health indicator named selected negative log-likelihood probability (SNLLP is constructed to fuse a feature set including RR features and non-dimensional features. Finally, based on the constructed SNLLP health indicator, a novel alarm trigger mechanism is designed to detect the incipient fault. The proposed method is demonstrated using vibration signals from bearing tests and industrial wind turbines. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method for incipient fault detection of rolling element bearings under varying speed conditions.

40 CFR 437.4 - Monitoring requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... wastewater resulting from the treatment of metal-bearing waste, oily waste, or organic-bearing waste must... STANDARDS THE CENTRALIZED WASTE TREATMENT POINT SOURCE CATEGORY § 437.4 Monitoring requirements. (a) Permit... compliance for each subpart after treatment and before mixing of the waste with wastes of any other subpart...

Active magnetic bearing for use in compressors and other turbomachinery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hennau, J.N.

1989-01-01

Active magnetic bearings and dry gas seals are now in operation on quite a number of compressors, turbines and generators, proving than an oil-free system is actually working and that furthermore, it has merits in energy savings, rotor dynamic monitoring and improved reliability. The technology of active magnetic bearing has been developed mainly in France after the Second World War for space application, but soon there appeared the large possibilities in industrial applications starting with the vacuum industry (turbomolecular pump), followed by the machine tool industry (high power and high speed milling and grinding spindles) and the large turbomachinery field (centrifugal compressors, blowers, steam and gas turbines, turbogenerators). Merits of the active magnetic bearing vary from one application to another, but they all derive from the fact that we have no contact between the rotor and the stator and that the electronic control of the bearings can cope with the rotor dynamics and provide useful information on the operating conditions

Grizzly bear predation rates on caribou calves in northeastern Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Donald D.; McCabe, Thomas R.

1997-01-01

During June 1993 and 1994, 11 radiocollared and 7 unmarked grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) were monitored visually (observation) from fixed-wing aircraft to document predation on calves of the Porcupine Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) Herd (PCH) in northeastern Alaska. Twenty-six (72%) grizzly bear observations were completed (???60 min) successfully (median duration = 180 min; ??95% CI = 136-181 min; range = 67-189 min) and 10 were discontinued (duration ???24 min) due to disturbance to the bear, or unfavorable weather conditions. Of the 26 successfully completed observations, 15 (58%) included predatory activity (encounter) directed at caribou calves and 8 (31%) included kills. Of 32 encounters, 9 resulted in kills, for a success rate of 28%. The median duration of encounters was 1 minute (??95% CI = 1-2 min; range = 1-6 min; n = 32;), and the median time spent at a kill was 14 minutes (??95% CI = 9-23 min; range = 6-56 min; n = 9). Sows with young (n = 4) killed more frequently (75%; P = 0.0178) than barren sows, boars, and consorting pairs combined (17%; n = 18). Estimated kill rate was highest for sows with young (6.3 kills/bear/day; n = 4), followed by barren sows (4.6 kills/bear/day; n = 5), boars (1.9 kills/bear/day; n = 5), and, finally, consorting pairs (1.0 kills/bear/day; n = 8). Estimated kill rate obtained via conventional radiotracking point surveys (4.8 kills/bear/day) was higher than that obtained via concurrent bear observations (3.1 kills/bear/day). Our research provides baseline estimates of predation rates by grizzly bears on caribou calves that will enhance the capability of wildlife professionals in managing populations of both predators and their prey.

Introgressive hybridization: brown bears as vectors for polar bear alleles.

Science.gov (United States)

Hailer, Frank

2015-03-01

The dynamics and consequences of introgression can inform about numerous evolutionary processes. Biologists have therefore long been interested in hybridization. One challenge, however, lies in the identification of nonadmixed genotypes that can serve as a baseline for accurate quantification of admixture. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Cahill et al. (2015) analyse a genomic data set of 28 polar bears, eight brown bears and one American black bear. Polar bear alleles are found to be introgressed into brown bears not only near a previously identified admixture zone on the Alaskan Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof (ABC) Islands, but also far into the North American mainland. Elegantly contrasting admixture levels at autosomal and X chromosomal markers, Cahill and colleagues infer that male-biased dispersal has spread these introgressed alleles away from the Late Pleistocene contact zone. Compared to a previous study on the ABC Island population in which an Alaskan brown bear served as a putatively admixture-free reference, Cahill et al. (2015) utilize a newly sequenced Swedish brown bear as admixture baseline. This approach reveals that brown bears have been impacted by introgression from polar bears to a larger extent (up to 8.8% of their genome), than previously known, including the bear that had previously served as admixture baseline. No evidence for introgression of brown bear into polar bear is found, which the authors argue could be a consequence of selection. Besides adding new exciting pieces to the puzzle of polar/brown bear evolutionary history, the study by Cahill and colleagues highlights that wildlife genomics is moving from analysing single genomes towards a landscape genomics approach. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Validity and reliability of the South African health promoting schools monitoring questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Struthers, Patricia; Wegner, Lisa; de Koker, Petra; Lerebo, Wondwossen; Blignaut, Renette J

2017-04-01

Health promoting schools, as conceptualised by the World Health Organisation, have been developed in many countries to facilitate the health-education link. In 1994, the concept of health promoting schools was introduced in South Africa. In the process of becoming a health promoting school, it is important for schools to monitor and evaluate changes and developments taking place. The Health Promoting Schools (HPS) Monitoring Questionnaire was developed to obtain opinions of students about their school as a health promoting school. It comprises 138 questions in seven sections: socio-demographic information; General health promotion programmes; health related Skills and knowledge; Policies; Environment; Community-school links; and support Services. This paper reports on the reliability and face validity of the HPS Monitoring Questionnaire. Seven experts reviewed the questionnaire and agreed that it has satisfactory face validity. A test-retest reliability study was conducted with 83 students in three high schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The kappa-coefficients demonstrate mostly fair (κ-scores between 0.21 and 0.4) to moderate (κ-scores between 0.41 and 0.6) agreement between test-retest General and Environment items; poor (κ-scores up to 0.2) agreement between Skills and Community test-retest items, fair agreement between Policies items, and for most of the questions focussing on Services a fair agreement was found. The study is a first effort at providing a tool that may be used to monitor and evaluate students' opinions about changes in health promoting schools. Although the HPS Monitoring Questionnaire has face validity, the results of the reliability testing were inconclusive. Further research is warranted. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Forest Health Monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara L. Conkling

2015-01-01

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation...

Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara L. Conkling

2015-01-01

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation...

A study on the ultrasonic measurement for damage evaluation of power plant bearing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Guk

2004-01-01

For the purpose of monitoring by ultrasonic test of the ball bearing conditions in rotating machinery, a system for their diagnosis was developed. Ultrasonic technique is used to detect abnormal conditions in the bearing system. And various data such as frequency spectrum, energy and amplitude of ultrasonic signals, and ultrasonic parameters were acquired during experiments with the simulated ball bearing system. Based on the above results and practical application for power plant, algorithms and judgement criteria for diagnosis system was established. Bearing diagnosis system is composed of four parts as follows : sensing part for ultrasonic sensor and preamplifier, signal processing part for measuring frequency spectrum, energy and amplitude, interface part for connecting ultrasonic signal to PC using A/D converter, graphic display and software part for display of bearing condition and for managing of diagnosis program

Smart sensor systems for human health breath monitoring applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, G W; Xu, J C; Biaggi-Labiosa, A M; Laskowski, D; Dutta, P K; Mondal, S P; Ward, B J; Makel, D B; Liu, C C; Chang, C W; Dweik, R A

2011-09-01

Breath analysis techniques offer a potential revolution in health care diagnostics, especially if these techniques can be brought into standard use in the clinic and at home. The advent of microsensors combined with smart sensor system technology enables a new generation of sensor systems with significantly enhanced capabilities and minimal size, weight and power consumption. This paper discusses the microsensor/smart sensor system approach and provides a summary of efforts to migrate this technology into human health breath monitoring applications. First, the basic capability of this approach to measure exhaled breath associated with exercise physiology is demonstrated. Building from this foundation, the development of a system for a portable asthma home health care system is described. A solid-state nitric oxide (NO) sensor for asthma monitoring has been identified, and efforts are underway to miniaturize this NO sensor technology and integrate it into a smart sensor system. It is concluded that base platform microsensor technology combined with smart sensor systems can address the needs of a range of breath monitoring applications and enable new capabilities for healthcare.

Policy based Agents in Wireless Body Sensor Mesh Networks for Patient Health Monitoring

OpenAIRE

Kevin Miller; Suresh Sankaranarayanan

2009-01-01

There is presently considerable research interest in using wireless and mobile technologies in patient health monitoring particularly in hospitals and nursing homes. For health monitoring,, an intelligent agent based hierarchical architecture has already been published by one of the authors of this paper. Also, the technique of monitoring and notifying the health of patients using an intelligent agent, to the concerned hospital personnel, has also been proposed. We now present the details of ...

Detection Damage in Bearing System of Jet Engine Using the Vibroacoustic Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Żokowski Mariusz

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article discusses typical, operational systems for monitoring vibrations of jet engines, which constitute the propulsion of combat aircraft of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. After that, the paper presents the stage of installing vibration measuring sensors in the direct area of one of the jet engine bearings, which is a support system for its rotor. The article discusses results of carried out analyses of data gathered during tests of the engine in the conditions a jet engine test bed. Results of detecting damages to the bear-ing, using sensors built in the direct area will be presented.

Rolling bearings control by comparing the wavelet of scaling ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The method for bearing monitoring is proposed, which makes it possible to automate the process of defect detection and to increase the resolving power during vibrationacoustic control performance. The result of the study showed that the application of analysis algorithms with the use of wavelet transformation allows to ...

The design of an m-Health monitoring system based on a cloud computing platform

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Boyi; Xu, Lida; Cai, Hongming; Jiang, Lihong; Luo, Yang; Gu, Yizhi

2017-01-01

Compared to traditional medical services provided within hospitals, m-Health monitoring systems (MHMSs) face more challenges in personalised health data processing. To achieve personalised and high-quality health monitoring by means of new technologies, such as mobile network and cloud computing, in this paper, a framework of an m-Health monitoring system based on a cloud computing platform (Cloud-MHMS) is designed to implement pervasive health monitoring. Furthermore, the modules of the framework, which are Cloud Storage and Multiple Tenants Access Control Layer, Healthcare Data Annotation Layer, and Healthcare Data Analysis Layer, are discussed. In the data storage layer, a multiple tenant access method is designed to protect patient privacy. In the data annotation layer, linked open data are adopted to augment health data interoperability semantically. In the data analysis layer, the process mining algorithm and similarity calculating method are implemented to support personalised treatment plan selection. These three modules cooperate to implement the core functions in the process of health monitoring, which are data storage, data processing, and data analysis. Finally, we study the application of our architecture in the monitoring of antimicrobial drug usage to demonstrate the usability of our method in personal healthcare analysis.

Grizzly bear monitoring by the Heiltsuk people as a crucible for First Nation conservation practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William G. Housty

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Guided by deeply held cultural values, First Nations in Canada are rapidly regaining legal authority to manage natural resources. We present a research collaboration among academics, tribal government, provincial and federal government, resource managers, conservation practitioners, and community leaders supporting First Nation resource authority and stewardship. First, we present results from a molecular genetics study of grizzly bears inhabiting an important conservation area within the territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation in coastal British Columbia. Noninvasive hair sampling occurred between 2006 and 2009 in the Koeye watershed, a stronghold for grizzly bears, salmon, and Heiltsuk people. Molecular demographic analyses revealed a regionally significant population of bears, which congregate at the Koeye each salmon-spawning season. There was a minimum of 57 individual bears detected during the study period. Results also pointed to a larger than expected source geography for salmon-feeding bears in the study area (> 1000 km², as well as early evidence of a declining trend in the bear population potentially explained by declining salmon numbers. Second, we demonstrate and discuss the power of integrating scientific research with a culturally appropriate research agenda developed by indigenous people. Guided explicitly by principles from Gvi'ilas or customary law, this research methodology is coupled with Heiltsuk culture, enabling results of applied conservation science to involve and resonate with tribal leadership in ways that have eluded previous scientific endeavors. In this context, we discuss the effectiveness of research partnerships that, from the outset, create both scientific programs and integrated communities of action that can implement change. We argue that indigenous resource management requires collaborative approaches like ours, in which science-based management is embedded within a socially and culturally appropriate

Development of structural health monitoring techniques using dynamics testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

James, G.H. III [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Experimental Structural Dynamics Dept.

1996-03-01

Today`s society depends upon many structures (such as aircraft, bridges, wind turbines, offshore platforms, buildings, and nuclear weapons) which are nearing the end of their design lifetime. Since these structures cannot be economically replaced, techniques for structural health monitoring must be developed and implemented. Modal and structural dynamics measurements hold promise for the global non-destructive inspection of a variety of structures since surface measurements of a vibrating structure can provide information about the health of the internal members without costly (or impossible) dismantling of the structure. In order to develop structural health monitoring for application to operational structures, developments in four areas have been undertaken within this project: operational evaluation, diagnostic measurements, information condensation, and damage identification. The developments in each of these four aspects of structural health monitoring have been exercised on a broad range of experimental data. This experimental data has been extracted from structures from several application areas which include aging aircraft, wind energy, aging bridges, offshore structures, structural supports, and mechanical parts. As a result of these advances, Sandia National Laboratories is in a position to perform further advanced development, operational implementation, and technical consulting for a broad class of the nation`s aging infrastructure problems.

Remote health monitoring for elderly through interactive television

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Providing remote health monitoring to specific groups of patients represents an issue of great relevance for the national health systems, because of the costs related to moving health operators, the time spent to reach remote sites, and the high number of people needing health assistance. At the same time, some assistance activities, like those related to chronical diseases, may be satisfied through a remote interaction with the patient, without a direct medical examination. Methods Moving from this considerations, our paper proposes a system architecture for the provisioning of remote health assistance to older adults, based on a blind management of a network of wireless medical devices, and an interactive TV Set Top Box for accessing health related data. The selection of TV as the interface between the user and the system is specifically targeted to older adults. Due to the private nature of the information exchanged, a certified procedure is implemented for data delivery, through the use of non conditional smart cards. All these functions may be accomplished through a proper design of the system management, and a suitable interactive application. Results The interactive application acting as the interface between the user and the system on the TV monitor has been evaluated able to help readability and clear understanding of the contents and functions proposed. Thanks to the limited amount of data to transfer, even a Set Top Box equipped with a traditional PSTN modem may be used to support the proposed service at a basic level; more advanced features, like audio/video connection, may be activated if the Set Top Box enables a broadband connection (e.g. ADSL). Conclusions The proposed layered architecture for a remote health monitoring system can be tailored to address a wide range of needs, according with each patient’s conditions and capabilities. The system exploits the potentialities offered by Digital Television receivers, a friendly MHP interface

Monitoring health interventions--who's afraid of LQAS?

Science.gov (United States)

Pezzoli, Lorenzo; Kim, Sung Hye

2013-11-08

Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) is used to evaluate health services. Subunits of a population (lots) are accepted or rejected according to the number of failures in a random sample (N) of a given lot. If failures are greater than decision value (d), we reject the lot and recommend corrective actions in the lot (i.e. intervention area); if they are equal to or less than d, we accept it. We used LQAS to monitor coverage during the last 3 days of a meningitis vaccination campaign in Niger. We selected one health area (lot) per day reporting the lowest administrative coverage in the previous 2 days. In the sampling plan we considered: N to be small enough to allow us to evaluate one lot per day, deciding to sample 16 individuals from the selected villages of each health area, using probability proportionate to population size; thresholds and d to vary according to administrative coverage reported; α ≤5% (meaning that, if we would have conducted the survey 100 times, we would have accepted the lot up to five times when real coverage was at an unacceptable level) and β ≤20% (meaning that we would have rejected the lot up to 20 times, when real coverage was equal or above the satisfactory level). We classified all three lots as with the acceptable coverage. LQAS appeared to be a rapid, simple, and statistically sound method for in-process coverage assessment. We encourage colleagues in the field to consider using LQAS in complement with other monitoring techniques such as house-to-house monitoring.

General Purpose Data-Driven Online System Health Monitoring with Applications to Space Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Iverson, David L.; Spirkovska, Lilly; Schwabacher, Mark

2010-01-01

Modern space transportation and ground support system designs are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex. Determining the health state of these systems using traditional parameter limit checking, or model-based or rule-based methods is becoming more difficult as the number of sensors and component interactions grows. Data-driven monitoring techniques have been developed to address these issues by analyzing system operations data to automatically characterize normal system behavior. System health can be monitored by comparing real-time operating data with these nominal characterizations, providing detection of anomalous data signatures indicative of system faults, failures, or precursors of significant failures. The Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) is a general purpose, data-driven system health monitoring software tool that has been successfully applied to several aerospace applications and is under evaluation for anomaly detection in vehicle and ground equipment for next generation launch systems. After an introduction to IMS application development, we discuss these NASA online monitoring applications, including the integration of IMS with complementary model-based and rule-based methods. Although the examples presented in this paper are from space operations applications, IMS is a general-purpose health-monitoring tool that is also applicable to power generation and transmission system monitoring.

A Battery Health Monitoring Framework for Planetary Rovers

Science.gov (United States)

Daigle, Matthew J.; Kulkarni, Chetan Shrikant

2014-01-01

Batteries have seen an increased use in electric ground and air vehicles for commercial, military, and space applications as the primary energy source. An important aspect of using batteries in such contexts is battery health monitoring. Batteries must be carefully monitored such that the battery health can be determined, and end of discharge and end of usable life events may be accurately predicted. For planetary rovers, battery health estimation and prediction is critical to mission planning and decision-making. We develop a model-based approach utilizing computaitonally efficient and accurate electrochemistry models of batteries. An unscented Kalman filter yields state estimates, which are then used to predict the future behavior of the batteries and, specifically, end of discharge. The prediction algorithm accounts for possible future power demands on the rover batteries in order to provide meaningful results and an accurate representation of prediction uncertainty. The framework is demonstrated on a set of lithium-ion batteries powering a rover at NASA.

INTEROPERABLE FRAMEWORK SOLUTION TO ICU HEALTH CARE MONITORING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shola Usha Rani

2015-03-01

Full Text Available An interoperable telehealth system provides an independent healthcare solution for better management of health and wellness. It allows people to manage their heart disease and diabetes etc. by sending their health parameters like blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels, temperature, weight, respiration from remote place to health professional, and get real-time feedback on their condition. Here different medical devices are connected to the patient for monitoring. Each kind of device is manufactured by different vendors. And each device information and communication requires different installation and network design. It causes design complexities and network overheads when moving patients for diagnosis examinations. This problem will be solved by interoperability among devices. The ISO/IEEE 11073 is an international standard which produces interoperable hospital information system solution to medical devices. One such type of integrated environment that requires the integration of medical devices is ICU (Intensive Care Unit. This paper presents the issues for ICU monitoring system and framework solution for it.

Health technology assessment to optimize health technology utilization: using implementation initiatives and monitoring processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Frønsdal, Katrine B; Facey, Karen; Klemp, Marianne; Norderhaug, Inger Natvig; Mørland, Berit; Røttingen, John-Arne

2010-07-01

The way in which a health technology is used in any particular health system depends on the decisions and actions of a variety of stakeholders, the local culture, and context. In 2009, the HTAi Policy Forum considered how health technology assessment (HTA) could be improved to optimize the use of technologies (in terms of uptake, change in use, or disinvestment) in such complex systems. In scoping, it was agreed to focus on initiatives to implement evidence-based guidance and monitoring activities. A review identified systematic reviews of implementation initiatives and monitoring activities. A two-day deliberative workshop was held to discuss key papers, members' experiences, and collectively address key questions. This consensus paper was developed by email and finalized at a postworkshop meeting. Evidence suggests that the impact and use of HTA could be increased by ensuring timely delivery of relevant reports to clearly determined policy receptor (decision-making) points. To achieve this, the breadth of assessment, implementation initiatives such as incentives and targeted, intelligent dissemination of HTA result, needs to be considered. HTA stakeholders undertake a variety of monitoring activities, which could inform optimal use of a technology. However, the quality of these data varies and is often not submitted to an HTA. Monitoring data should be sufficiently robust so that they can be used in HTA to inform optimal use of technology. Evidence-based implementation initiatives should be developed for HTA, to better inform decision makers at all levels in a health system about the optimal use of technology.

Measurement of exposures to radioactivity and monitoring of effects on health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spira, Alfred; Boutou, Odile

1999-01-01

On the request of the French ministries of Health and of the Environment, the author reports thoughts and proposals regarding epidemiological problems related to natural and artificial radioactive emissions. He first reports an analysis of the present context (assessment of health risks, ionizing radiation in France, radiation protection, nuclear operators, relationship between ionizing radiation and health, epidemiology) and knowledge (about nuclear and health, available results, current investigations). He outlines the benefits of an epidemiological monitoring and its requirements, and identifies the various components of this monitoring. While presenting current works, biological and epidemiological studies performed in the northern Cotentin area, he makes some specific proposals for this area and notably for the workers of La Hague. He proposes the implementation of a national arrangement comprising a measurement of exposures, an epidemiological monitoring, and a sociological survey. He discusses the associated administrative organisation and needs

Diagnosis of Bearing System using Minimum Variance Cepstrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jeong Han; Choi, Young Chul; Park, Jin Ho; Lee, Won Hyung; Kim, Chan Joong

2005-01-01

Various bearings are commonly used in rotating machines. The noise and vibration signals that can be obtained from the machines often convey the information of faults and these locations. Monitoring conditions for bearings have received considerable attention for many years, because the majority of problems in rotating machines are caused by faulty bearings. Thus failure alarm for the bearing system is often based on the detection of the onset of localized faults. Many methods are available for detecting faults in the bearing system. The majority of these methods assume that faults in bearings produce impulses. Impulse events can be attributed to bearing faults in the system. McFadden and Smith used the bandpass filter to filter the noise signal and then obtained the envelope by using the envelope detector. D. Ho and R. B Randall also tried envelope spectrum to detect faults in the bearing system, but it is very difficult to find resonant frequency in the noisy environments. S. -K. Lee and P. R. White used improved ANC (adaptive noise cancellation) to find faults. The basic idea of this technique is to remove the noise from the measured vibration signal, but they are not able to show the theoretical foundation of the proposed algorithms. Y.-H. Kim et al. used a moving window. This algorithm is quite powerful in the early detection of faults in a ball bearing system, but it is difficult to decide initial time and step size of the moving window. The early fault signal that is caused by microscopic cracks is commonly embedded in noise. Therefore, the success of detecting fault signal is completely determined by a method's ability to distinguish signal and noise. In 1969, Capon coined maximum likelihood (ML) spectra which estimate a mixed spectrum consisting of line spectrum, corresponding to a deterministic random process, plus arbitrary unknown continuous spectrum. The unique feature of these spectra is that it can detect sinusoidal signal from noise. Our idea

Performance of Small Bore 60NiTi Hybrid Ball Bearings: Preliminary Life Test Results

Science.gov (United States)

Dellacorte, Christopher; Howard, S. Adam

2016-01-01

Small bore (R8 size) hybrid ball bearings made with 60NiTi races and silicon nitride balls are under development for highly corrosive aerospace applications that are also exposed to heavy static (shock) loads. The target application is the vacuum pump used inside the wastewater recycling system on the International Space Station. To verify bearing longevity, life tests are run at 2000rpm for time periods up to 5000 hours. Accelerometers with data tracking are used to monitor operation and the bearings are disassembled and inspected at intervals to assess wear. Preliminary tests show that bearings made from 60NiTi are feasible for this aerospace and potentially other industrial applications that must endure similar operating environments.

Compressive Sensing of Roller Bearing Faults via Harmonic Detection from Under-Sampled Vibration Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Gang; Hou, Wei; Wang, Huaqing; Luo, Ganggang; Ma, Jianwei

2015-10-09

The Shannon sampling principle requires substantial amounts of data to ensure the accuracy of on-line monitoring of roller bearing fault signals. Challenges are often encountered as a result of the cumbersome data monitoring, thus a novel method focused on compressed vibration signals for detecting roller bearing faults is developed in this study. Considering that harmonics often represent the fault characteristic frequencies in vibration signals, a compressive sensing frame of characteristic harmonics is proposed to detect bearing faults. A compressed vibration signal is first acquired from a sensing matrix with information preserved through a well-designed sampling strategy. A reconstruction process of the under-sampled vibration signal is then pursued as attempts are conducted to detect the characteristic harmonics from sparse measurements through a compressive matching pursuit strategy. In the proposed method bearing fault features depend on the existence of characteristic harmonics, as typically detected directly from compressed data far before reconstruction completion. The process of sampling and detection may then be performed simultaneously without complete recovery of the under-sampled signals. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by simulations and experiments.

A qualitative review for wireless health monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Arshad, Atika; Fadzil Ismail, Ahmad; Khan, Sheroz; Zahirul Alam, A. H. M.; Tasnim, Rumana; Samnan Haider, Syed; Shobaki, Mohammed M.; Shahid, Zeeshan

2013-12-01

A proliferating interest has been being observed over the past years in accurate wireless system development in order to monitor incessant human activities in health care centres. Furthermore because of the swelling number of elderly population and the inadequate number of competent staffs for nursing homes there is a big market petition for health care monitoring system. In order to detect human researchers developed different methods namely which include Field Identification technique, Visual Sensor Network, radar detection, e-mobile techniques and so on. An all-encompassing overview of the non-wired human detection application advancement is presented in this paper. Inductive links are used for human detection application while wiring an electronic system has become impractical in recent times. Keeping in mind the shortcomings, an Inductive Intelligent Sensor (IIS) has been proposed as a novel human monitoring system for future implementation. The proposed sensor works towards exploring the signature signals of human body movement and size. This proposed sensor is fundamentally based on inductive loop that senses the presence and a passing human resulting an inductive change.

Polar bears: the fate of an icon.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzgerald, Kevin T

2013-11-01

Polar bears are one of the most iconic animals on our planet. Worldwide, even people who would never see one are drawn to these charismatic arctic ice hunters. They are the world's largest terrestrial carnivore, and despite being born on land, they spend most of their lives out on the sea ice and are considered a marine mammal. Current global studies estimate there are around 20,000 animals in some 19 discrete circumpolar populations. Aside from pregnant females denning in the winter months to give birth, the white bears do not hibernate. They spend their winters on the sea ice hunting seals, an activity they are spectacularly adapted for. Research on these animals is incredibly difficult because of the inhospitable surroundings they inhabit and how inaccessible they make the bears. For many years, the sum of our understanding of the natural history of polar bears came from tracks, scats, the remains of their kills, abandoned dens, and anecdotal observations of native hunters, explorers, and early biologists. Nonetheless, the last 40 years have seen a much better picture of their biology emerge thanks to, first, dedicated Canadian researchers and, later, truly international efforts of workers from many countries. Veterinarians have contributed to our knowledge of the bears by delivering and monitoring anesthesia, obtaining blood samples, performing necropsies, investigating their reproduction, conducting radiotelemetry studies, and examining their behavior. Recently, new technologies have been developed that revolutionize the study of the lives and natural history of undisturbed polar bears. These advances include better satellite radiotelemetry equipment and the development of remote-controlled miniature devices equipped with high-definition cameras. Such new modalities provide dramatic new insights into the life of polar bears. The remarkable degree of specialized adaptation to life on the sea ice that allowed the bears to be successful is the very reason that

Natural roller bearing fault detection by angular measurement of true instantaneous angular speed

Science.gov (United States)

Renaudin, L.; Bonnardot, F.; Musy, O.; Doray, J. B.; Rémond, D.

2010-10-01

The challenge in many production activities involving large mechanical devices like power transmissions consists in reducing the machine downtime, in managing repairs and in improving operating time. Most online monitoring systems are based on conventional vibration measurement devices for gear transmissions or bearings in mechanical components. In this paper, we propose an alternative way of bearing condition monitoring based on the instantaneous angular speed measurement. By the help of a large experimental investigation on two different applications, we prove that localized faults like pitting in bearing generate small angular speed fluctuations which are measurable with optical or magnetic encoders. We also emphasize the benefits of measuring instantaneous angular speed with the pulse timing method through an implicit angular sampling which ensures insensitivity to speed fluctuation. A wide range of operating conditions have been tested for the two applications with varying speed, load, external excitations, gear ratio, etc. The tests performed on an automotive gearbox or on actual operating vehicle wheels also establish the robustness of the proposed methodology. By the means of a conventional Fourier transform, angular frequency channels kinematically related to the fault periodicity show significant magnitude differences related to the damage severity. Sideband effects are evidently seen when the fault is located on rotating parts of the bearing due to load modulation. Additionally, slip effects are also suspected to be at the origin of enlargement of spectrum peaks in the case of double row bearings loaded in a pure radial direction.

EcoBears

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Nick; Pedersen, Sandra Bleuenn; Sørensen, Jens Ager

2015-01-01

In this paper, we introduce the EcoBears concept that aims to augment household appliances with functional and aesthetic features to promote their "use'' and "longevity of use'' to prevent their disposal. The EcoBears also aim to support the communication of environmental issues in the home setting....... We present our initial design and implementation of the EcoBears that consist of two bear modules (a mother and her cub). We also present our preliminary concept validations and lessons learned to be considered for future directions....

Time-frequency Methods for Structural Health Monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pyayt, A.L.; Kozionov, A.P.; Mokhov, I.I.; Lang, B.; Meijer, R.J.; Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V.; Sloot, P.M.A.

2014-01-01

Detection of early warning signals for the imminent failure of large and complex engineered structures is a daunting challenge with many open research questions. In this paper we report on novel ways to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of flood protection systems (levees, earthen dikes and

Time-frequency methods for structural health monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pyayt, A.L.; Kozionov, A.P.; Mokhov, I.I.; Lang, B.; Meijer, R.J.; Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V.; Sloot, P.M.A.

2014-01-01

Detection of early warning signals for the imminent failure of large and complex engineered structures is a daunting challenge with many open research questions. In this paper we report on novel ways to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of flood protection systems (levees, earthen dikes and

Model-based health monitoring of hybrid systems

CERN Document Server

Wang, Danwei; Low, Chang Boon; Arogeti, Shai

2013-01-01

Offers in-depth comprehensive study on health monitoring for hybrid systems Includes new concepts, such as GARR, mode tracking and multiple failure prognosis Contains many examples, making the developed techniques easily understandable and accessible Introduces state-of-the-art algorithms and methodologies from experienced researchers

Advanced health monitor for automated driving functions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mikovski Iotov, I.

2017-01-01

There is a trend in the automotive domain where driving functions are taken from the driver by automated driving functions. In order to guarantee the correct behavior of these auto-mated driving functions, the report introduces an Advanced Health Monitor that uses Tem-poral Logic and Probabilistic

Mobile patient monitoring: The MobiHealth system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wac, K.E.; Bults, Richard G.A.; van Beijnum, Bernhard J.F.; Widya, I.A.; Jones, Valerie M.; Konstantas, D.; Vollenbroek-Hutten, Miriam Marie Rosé; Hermens, Hermanus J.

2009-01-01

The emergence of high bandwidth public wireless networks and miniaturized personal mobile devices give rise to new mobile healthcare services. To this end, the MobiHealth system provides highly customizable vital signs tele-monitoring and tele-treatment system based on a body area network (BAN) and

On the use of temperature for online condition monitoring of geared systems - A review

Science.gov (United States)

Touret, T.; Changenet, C.; Ville, F.; Lalmi, M.; Becquerelle, S.

2018-02-01

Gear unit condition monitoring is a key factor for mechanical system reliability management. When they are subjected to failure, gears and bearings may generate excessive vibration, debris and heat. Vibratory, acoustic or debris analyses are proven approaches to perform condition monitoring. An alternative to those methods is to use temperature as a condition indicator to detect gearbox failure. The review focuses on condition monitoring studies which use this thermal approach. According to the failure type and the measurement method, it exists a distinction whether it is contact (e.g. thermocouple) or non-contact temperature sensor (e.g. thermography). Capabilities and limitations of this approach are discussed. It is shown that the use of temperature for condition monitoring has a clear potential as an alternative to vibratory or acoustic health monitoring.

Structural health monitoring using wireless sensor networks

Science.gov (United States)

Sreevallabhan, K.; Nikhil Chand, B.; Ramasamy, Sudha

2017-11-01

Monitoring and analysing health of large structures like bridges, dams, buildings and heavy machinery is important for safety, economical, operational, making prior protective measures, and repair and maintenance point of view. In recent years there is growing demand for such larger structures which in turn make people focus more on safety. By using Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Accelerometer we can perform Structural Health Monitoring by studying the dynamic response through measure of ambient vibrations and strong motion of such structures. By using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) we can embed these sensors in wireless networks which helps us to transmit data wirelessly thus we can measure the data wirelessly at any remote location. This in turn reduces heavy wiring which is a cost effective as well as time consuming process to lay those wires. In this paper we developed WSN based MEMS-accelerometer for Structural to test the results in the railway bridge near VIT University, Vellore campus.

Stable isotopes to detect food-conditioned bears and to evaluate human-bear management

Science.gov (United States)

Hopkins, John B.; Koch, Paul L.; Schwartz, Charles C.; Ferguson, Jake M.; Greenleaf, Schuyler S.; Kalinowski, Steven T.

2012-01-01

We used genetic and stable isotope analysis of hair from free-ranging black bears (Ursus americanus) in Yosemite National Park, California, USA to: 1) identify bears that consume human food, 2) estimate the diets of these bears, and 3) evaluate the Yosemite human–bear management program. Specifically, we analyzed the isotopic composition of hair from bears known a priori to be food-conditioned or non-food-conditioned and used these data to predict whether bears with an unknown management status were food-conditioned (FC) or non-food-conditioned (NFC). We used a stable isotope mixing model to estimate the proportional contribution of natural foods (plants and animals) versus human food in the diets of FC bears. We then used results from both analyses to evaluate proactive (population-level) and reactive (individual-level) human–bear management, and discussed new metrics to evaluate the overall human–bear management program in Yosemite. Our results indicated that 19 out of 145 (13%) unknown bears sampled from 2005 to 2007 were food-conditioned. The proportion of human food in the diets of known FC bears likely declined from 2001–2003 to 2005–2007, suggesting proactive management was successful in reducing the amount of human food available to bears. In contrast, reactive management was not successful in changing the management status of known FC bears to NFC bears, or in reducing the contribution of human food to the diets of FC bears. Nine known FC bears were recaptured on 14 occasions from 2001 to 2007; all bears were classified as FC during subsequent recaptures, and human–bear management did not reduce the amount of human food in the diets of FC bears. Based on our results, we suggest Yosemite continue implementing proactive human–bear management, reevaluate reactive management, and consider removing problem bears (those involved in repeated bear incidents) from the population.

Bearing Performance Degradation Assessment Using Linear Discriminant Analysis and Coupled HMM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, T; Chen, J; Zhou, X N; Xiao, W B

2012-01-01

Bearing is one of the most important units in rotary machinery, its performance may vary significantly under different working stages. Thus it is critical to choose the most effective features for bearing performance degradation prediction. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is a useful method in finding few feature's dimensions that best discriminate a set of features extracted from original vibration signals. Another challenge in bearing performance degradation is how to build a model to recognize the different conditions with the data coming from different monitoring channels. In this paper, coupled hidden Markov models (CHMM) is presented to model interacting processes which can overcome the defections of the HMM. Because the input data in CHMM are collected by several sensors, and the interacting information can be fused by coupled modalities, it is more effective than HMM which used only one state chain. The model can be used in estimating the bearing performance degradation states according to several observation data. When becoming degradation pattern recognition, the new observation features should be input into the pre-trained CHMM and calculate the performance index (PI) of the outputs, the changing of PI could be used to describe the different degradation level of the bearings. The results show that PI will decline with the increase of the bearing degradation. Assessment results of the whole life time experimental bearing signals validate the feasibility and effectiveness of this method.

Integration of structural health monitoring solutions onto commercial aircraft via the Federal Aviation Administration structural health monitoring research program

Science.gov (United States)

Swindell, Paul; Doyle, Jon; Roach, Dennis

2017-02-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started a research program in structural health monitoring (SHM) in 2011. The program's goal was to understand the technical gaps of implementing SHM on commercial aircraft and the potential effects on FAA regulations and guidance. The program evolved into a demonstration program consisting of a team from Sandia National Labs Airworthiness Assurance NDI Center (AANC), the Boeing Corporation, Delta Air Lines, Structural Monitoring Systems (SMS), Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp (AEM) and the FAA. This paper will discuss the program from the selection of the inspection problem, the SHM system (Comparative Vacuum Monitoring-CVM) that was selected as the inspection solution and the testing completed to provide sufficient data to gain the first approved use of an SHM system for routine maintenance on commercial US aircraft.

Multinational surveys for monitoring eHealth policy implementations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gilstad, Heidi; Faxvaag, Arild; Hyppönen, Hannele

2014-01-01

Development of multinational variables for monitoring eHealth policy implementations is a complex task and requires multidisciplinary, knowledgebased international collaboration. Experts in an interdisciplinary workshop identified useful data and pitfalls for comparative variable development...

Evaluation of datum unit for diagnostics of journal-bearing systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, Byung Chul; Jung, Joon Ha; Youn, Byeng Doog; Kim, Yeon Whan; Bae, Yong Chae

2015-01-01

Journal bearings support rotors using fluid film between the rotor and the stator. Generally, journal bearings are used in large rotor systems such as turbines in a power plant, because even in high-speed and load conditions, journal bearing systems run in a stable condition. To enhance the reliability of journal-bearing systems, in this paper, we study health-diagnosis algorithms that are based on the supervised learning method. Specifically, this paper focused on defining the unit of features, while other previous papers have focused on defining various features of vibration signals. We evaluate the features of various lengths or units on the separable ability basis. From our results, we find that one cycle datum in the time-domain and 60 cycle datum in the frequency domain are the optimal datum units for real-time journal-bearing diagnosis systems

Evaluation of datum unit for diagnostics of journal-bearing systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeon, Byung Chul; Jung, Joon Ha; Youn, Byeng Doog [Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Yeon Whan; Bae, Yong Chae [Power Generation Laboratory, KEPCO Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-08-15

Journal bearings support rotors using fluid film between the rotor and the stator. Generally, journal bearings are used in large rotor systems such as turbines in a power plant, because even in high-speed and load conditions, journal bearing systems run in a stable condition. To enhance the reliability of journal-bearing systems, in this paper, we study health-diagnosis algorithms that are based on the supervised learning method. Specifically, this paper focused on defining the unit of features, while other previous papers have focused on defining various features of vibration signals. We evaluate the features of various lengths or units on the separable ability basis. From our results, we find that one cycle datum in the time-domain and 60 cycle datum in the frequency domain are the optimal datum units for real-time journal-bearing diagnosis systems.

Movements of female polar bears (Usrus maritimus) in the East Greenland pack ice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiig, Øystein; Born, Erik W.; Pedersen, Leif Toudal

2003-01-01

The movements of two adult female polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in East Greenland and the Greenland Sea area were studied by use of satellite telemetry between the fall of 1994 and the summer of 1998. One female was tracked for 621 days, the other for 1,415 days. During this time the females used...... for a closer monitoring of the effects of this change on the East Greenland polar bear population....... movement rates varied between 0.32 and 0.76km/h. Both bears had very large home ranges (242,000 and 468,000 km(2)) within the dynamic pack ice of the Greenland Sea. The facts that the bears made extensive use of the offshore sea ice and that there is a marked reduction of the Greenland Sea ice call...

Construction of health monitoring system for traveler based on the mobile Internet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Haoqian

2017-04-01

Full Text Available With the development of communication technology and computer technology,intelligent terminals represented by smartphone and mobile Internet have become indispensable tools in people's life and work.As the intelligent terminal platform is widely used and the wearable medical equipment is gradually mature,this paper based on the Internet designs and develops a health monitoring system for travelers who suffered from chronic diseases or worried about their physical conditions,to provide a whole process of health monitoring and assistant service.The system,combing smartphone and wearable medical devices,uploads the health and physical signs data to the health monitoring platform through the mobile Internet.Then the professionals statistically analyze the data and provide appropriate advice and guidance,so as to achieve the remote medical treatment for travelers.

Comparison of Alignment Correction Angles Between Fixed-Bearing and Mobile-Bearing UKA.

Science.gov (United States)

Inoue, Atsuo; Arai, Yuji; Nakagawa, Shuji; Inoue, Hiroaki; Yamazoe, Shoichi; Kubo, Toshikazu

2016-01-01

Good outcomes have been reported with both fixed-bearing and mobile-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). However, overcorrected alignment could induce the progression of arthritis on the non-arthroplasty side. Changes of limb alignment after UKA with both types of bearings (fixed bearing: 24 knees, mobile bearing: 28 knees) were investigated. The mean difference between the preoperative standing femoral-tibial angle (FTA) and postoperative standing FTA was significantly larger in mobile bearing UKA group. In fixed-bearing UKA, there must be some laxity in MCL tension so that a 2-mm tension gauge can be inserted. In mobile-bearing UKA, appropriate MCL tension is needed to prevent bearing dislocation. This difference in MCL tension may have caused the difference in the correction angle between the groups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research of the Quality of Quarry Dumpers Engine Crankshafts Sliding Bearings of Various Manufacturers

Science.gov (United States)

Korotkov, Alexander; Korotkova, Lidiya; Vidin, Denis

2017-11-01

Sliding bearings are an important part of many large and critical components. They are widely used in power equipment, high-capacity pumps, compressors, electric motors and internal combustion engines (ICE). As a rule, sliding bearings include an antifriction bushing, part of the shaft surface (bearing journal), and a layer of oil between them. These are complex and critical parts in which there may occur dangerous defects, and which directly affect the durability, accuracy and reliability of the entire unit. To ensure high reliability of the equipment with sliding bearings applied in complex equipment, it is necessary to provide the quality control and sufficient level of monitoring of the technical condition, as well as diagnosis of emerging defects. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the internal combustion engines sliding bearings quality of various manufacturing companies. It gives operational properties of bearings depending on the compositional composition. The results of chemical analysis of the base, the cover and intermediate layers of the ICE liners are presented here. We have also made recommendations to increase the operational performance of sliding bearings.

Application of ubiquitous computing in personal health monitoring systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunze, C; Grossmann, U; Stork, W; Müller-Glaser, K D

2002-01-01

A possibility to significantly reduce the costs of public health systems is to increasingly use information technology. The Laboratory for Information Processing Technology (ITIV) at the University of Karlsruhe is developing a personal health monitoring system, which should improve health care and at the same time reduce costs by combining micro-technological smart sensors with personalized, mobile computing systems. In this paper we present how ubiquitous computing theory can be applied in the health-care domain.

Learning to Monitor Machine Health with Convolutional Bi-Directional LSTM Networks

OpenAIRE

Rui Zhao; Ruqiang Yan; Jinjiang Wang; Kezhi Mao

2017-01-01

In modern manufacturing systems and industries, more and more research efforts have been made in developing effective machine health monitoring systems. Among various machine health monitoring approaches, data-driven methods are gaining in popularity due to the development of advanced sensing and data analytic techniques. However, considering the noise, varying length and irregular sampling behind sensory data, this kind of sequential data cannot be fed into classification and regression mode...

Simulation-driven machine learning: Bearing fault classification

Science.gov (United States)

Sobie, Cameron; Freitas, Carina; Nicolai, Mike

2018-01-01

Increasing the accuracy of mechanical fault detection has the potential to improve system safety and economic performance by minimizing scheduled maintenance and the probability of unexpected system failure. Advances in computational performance have enabled the application of machine learning algorithms across numerous applications including condition monitoring and failure detection. Past applications of machine learning to physical failure have relied explicitly on historical data, which limits the feasibility of this approach to in-service components with extended service histories. Furthermore, recorded failure data is often only valid for the specific circumstances and components for which it was collected. This work directly addresses these challenges for roller bearings with race faults by generating training data using information gained from high resolution simulations of roller bearing dynamics, which is used to train machine learning algorithms that are then validated against four experimental datasets. Several different machine learning methodologies are compared starting from well-established statistical feature-based methods to convolutional neural networks, and a novel application of dynamic time warping (DTW) to bearing fault classification is proposed as a robust, parameter free method for race fault detection.

Towards "Zero" False Positive in Structural Health Monitoring

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Chiu, Wing K; Chang, F. K; Tian, Daniel T

2007-01-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is one aspect of a revolution based on the use of Smart Materials and Structures technologies that have the potential to provide major gains in structural performance and cost-efficient life management...

Analyzing Whitebark Pine Distribution in the Northern Rocky Mountains in Support of Grizzly Bear Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, R.; Landenburger, L.; Jewett, J.

2007-12-01

Whitebark pine seeds have long been identified as the most significant vegetative food source for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and, hence, a crucial element of suitable grizzly bear habitat. The overall health and status of whitebark pine in the GYE is currently threatened by mountain pine beetle infestations and the spread of whitepine blister rust. Whitebark pine distribution (presence/absence) was mapped for the GYE using Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) imagery and topographic data as part of a long-term inter-agency monitoring program. Logistic regression was compared with classification tree analysis (CTA) with and without boosting. Overall comparative classification accuracies for the central portion of the GYE covering three ETM+ images along a single path ranged from 91.6% using logistic regression to 95.8% with See5's CTA algorithm with the maximum 99 boosts. The analysis is being extended to the entire northern Rocky Mountain Ecosystem and extended over decadal time scales. The analysis is being extended to the entire northern Rocky Mountain Ecosystem and extended over decadal time scales.

Six Years in the Life of a Mother Bear - The Longest Continuous Heart Rate Recordings from a Free-Ranging Mammal

Science.gov (United States)

Laske, Timothy G.; Iaizzo, Paul A.; Garshelis, David L.

2017-01-01

Physiological monitoring of free-ranging wild animals is providing new insights into their adaptations to a changing environment. American black bears (Ursus americanus) are highly adaptable mammals, spending up to half the year hibernating, and the remainder of the year attempting to gain weight on a landscape with foods that vary seasonally and year to year. We recorded heart rate (HR) and corresponding activity of an adult female black bear over the course of six years, using an implanted monitor. Despite yearly differences in food, and an every-other year reproductive cycle, this bear exhibited remarkable consistency in HR and activity. HR increased for 12 weeks in spring, from minimal hibernation levels (mean 20-25 beats/minute [bpm]; min 10 bpm) to summer active levels (July daytime: mean 95 bpm). Timing was delayed following one cold winter. In August the bear switched from primarily diurnal to nocturnal, coincident with the availability of baits set by legal hunters. Activity in autumn was higher when the bear was with cubs. Birthing of cubs in January was identified by a transient increase in HR and activity. Long-term physiological and behavioral monitoring is valuable for understanding adaptations of free-ranging animals to climate change, food availability, and human-related stressors.

Operating experience of gas bearing helium circulators in HTGR development facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimomura, H.; Kawaji, S.; Fujisaki, K.; Ihizuka, T.

1988-01-01

The large scale helium gas test facility (HENDEL) has been constructed and operated since March 1982 at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute to develop HTGR components. The five electric driven gas circulators with dynamic gas bearings are used to circulate the helium gas of 4MPa and 400 deg. C in loops for their compactness, gas tightness, easy maintenance and free from gas contamination. All of these circulators are variable speed types of 3,000 to 12,000 rpm and have the same gas bearings and electric motors. The four machines among them are equipped with centrifugal impeller and one other machine has regenerative type, and the weight of both type rotors are nearly the same. After the troubles and repairing, both type of circulators were tested and the vibration characteristics were measured as preventing maintenance. From the test and measurements of the circulators, it was presumed that the first trouble on regenerative type was caused from excess unbalance force by falling off of a small pin from the rotating part and the second severe trouble on it was caused by the whipping in gas bearing. The static load on tilting pads indicated close relations to occurrence of the whirling through the measurements. It is recognized that fine balancing of the rotors and delicate clearance adjustment of the bearings are very important for the rotor stability and that the mechanism should be designed and machined so precise as to be adjustable. As the gas bearing would be damaged in an instantaneously short time, the monitoring technique for it should be so fast and predictive as to prevent serious damage. Through the tests, the vibration spectrum monitoring method seems to be predictive and useful for early detection of the shaft instability. It will be concluded that the gas bearing machine is an excellent system in its design philosophy, however, it also needs highly precise machining and delicate maintenance technique. 4 refs, 10 figs, 1 tab

Long-term real-time structural health monitoring using wireless smart sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Shinae; Mensah-Bonsu, Priscilla O.; Li, Jingcheng; Dahal, Sushil

2013-04-01

Improving the safety and security of civil infrastructure has become a critical issue for decades since it plays a central role in the economics and politics of a modern society. Structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure using wireless smart sensor network has emerged as a promising solution recently to increase structural reliability, enhance inspection quality, and reduce maintenance costs. Though hardware and software framework are well prepared for wireless smart sensors, the long-term real-time health monitoring strategy are still not available due to the lack of systematic interface. In this paper, the Imote2 smart sensor platform is employed, and a graphical user interface for the long-term real-time structural health monitoring has been developed based on Matlab for the Imote2 platform. This computer-aided engineering platform enables the control, visualization of measured data as well as safety alarm feature based on modal property fluctuation. A new decision making strategy to check the safety is also developed and integrated in this software. Laboratory validation of the computer aided engineering platform for the Imote2 on a truss bridge and a building structure has shown the potential of the interface for long-term real-time structural health monitoring.

Health monitoring system for transmission shafts based on adaptive parameter identification

Science.gov (United States)

Souflas, I.; Pezouvanis, A.; Ebrahimi, K. M.

2018-05-01

A health monitoring system for a transmission shaft is proposed. The solution is based on the real-time identification of the physical characteristics of the transmission shaft i.e. stiffness and damping coefficients, by using a physical oriented model and linear recursive identification. The efficacy of the suggested condition monitoring system is demonstrated on a prototype transient engine testing facility equipped with a transmission shaft capable of varying its physical properties. Simulation studies reveal that coupling shaft faults can be detected and isolated using the proposed condition monitoring system. Besides, the performance of various recursive identification algorithms is addressed. The results of this work recommend that the health status of engine dynamometer shafts can be monitored using a simple lumped-parameter shaft model and a linear recursive identification algorithm which makes the concept practically viable.

Continuous Monitoring of Glucose for Type 1 Diabetes: A Health Technology Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. People with type 1 diabetes must manage their blood glucose levels by monitoring the amount of glucose in their blood and administering appropriate amounts of insulin via injection or an insulin pump. Continuous glucose monitoring may be beneficial compared to self-monitoring of blood glucose using a blood glucose meter. It provides insight into a person's blood glucose levels on a continuous basis, and can identify whether blood glucose levels are trending up or down. We conducted a health technology assessment, which included an evaluation of clinical benefit, value for money, and patient preferences related to continuous glucose monitoring. We compared continuous glucose monitoring with self-monitoring of blood glucose using a finger-prick and a blood glucose meter. We performed a systematic literature search for studies published since January 1, 2010. We created a Markov model projecting the lifetime horizon of adults with type 1 diabetes, and performed a budget impact analysis from the perspective of the health care payer. We also conducted interviews and focus group discussions with people who self-manage their type 1 diabetes or support the management of a child with type 1 diabetes. Twenty studies were included in the clinical evidence review. Compared with self-monitoring of blood glucose, continuous glucose monitoring improved the percentage of time patients spent in the target glycemic range by 9.6% (95% confidence interval 8.0-11.2) to 10.0% (95% confidence interval 6.75-13.25) and decreased the number of severe hypoglycemic events.Continuous glucose monitoring was associated with higher costs and small increases in health benefits (quality-adjusted life-years). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) ranged from $592,206 to $1,108,812 per quality-adjusted life-year gained in analyses comparing four continuous glucose monitoring interventions to usual care

Groundwater quality assessment for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the Y-12 Plant: 1991 groundwater quality data and calculated rate of contaminant migration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-02-01

The report contains groundwater and surface water quality data obtained during the 1991 calendar year at several hazardous and non- hazardous waste management facilities associated with the US Department of Energy (DOE) Y-12 Plant (Figure 1). These sites are southwest of the Y-12 Plant complex within the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (BCHR), which is one of three regimes defined for the purposes of groundwater and surface-water quality monitoring and remediation (Figure 2). The Environmental Management Department of the Y-12 Plant Health, Safety, Environment, and Accountability (HSEA) Division manages the monitoring activities in each regime as part of the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP).

Groundwater quality assessment for the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime at the Y-12 Plant: 1991 groundwater quality data and calculated rate of contaminant migration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-02-01

The report contains groundwater and surface water quality data obtained during the 1991 calendar year at several hazardous and non- hazardous waste management facilities associated with the US Department of Energy (DOE) Y-12 Plant (Figure 1). These sites are southwest of the Y-12 Plant complex within the Bear Creek Hydrogeologic Regime (BCHR), which is one of three regimes defined for the purposes of groundwater and surface-water quality monitoring and remediation (Figure 2). The Environmental Management Department of the Y-12 Plant Health, Safety, Environment, and Accountability (HSEA) Division manages the monitoring activities in each regime as part of the Y-12 Plant Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP)

Modelling of Outer and Inner Film Oil Pressure for Floating Ring Bearing Clearance in Turbochargers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Hao; Shi Zhanqun; Gu Fengshou; Ball, Andrew

2011-01-01

Floating ring bearing is widely used in turbochargers to undertake the extreme condition of high rotating speed and high operating temperature. It is also the most concerned by the designers and users alike due to its high failure rate and high maintenance cost. Any little clearance change may result in oil leakage, which in turn cause blue smoke or black smoke according to leakage types. However, there is no condition monitoring of this bearing because it is almost impossible to measure the clearance especially the inner clearance, in which the inner oil film directly bears the high speed rotation. In stead of measuring clearance directly, this paper has proposed a method that uses film pressure as a measure to monitor the bearing clearance and its variation. A non-linear mathematical model is developed by using Reynolds equations with non-linear oil film pressure. A full description of the outer and inner film is provided along both axial and radial directions. A numerical simulation is immediately carried out. Variable clearance changes are investigated using the mathematical model. Results show the relationship between clearance and film pressure.

Wearable health monitoring using capacitive voltage-mode Human Body Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Maity, Shovan; Das, Debayan; Sen, Shreyas

2017-07-01

Rapid miniaturization and cost reduction of computing, along with the availability of wearable and implantable physiological sensors have led to the growth of human Body Area Network (BAN) formed by a network of such sensors and computing devices. One promising application of such a network is wearable health monitoring where the collected data from the sensors would be transmitted and analyzed to assess the health of a person. Typically, the devices in a BAN are connected through wireless (WBAN), which suffers from energy inefficiency due to the high-energy consumption of wireless transmission. Human Body Communication (HBC) uses the relatively low loss human body as the communication medium to connect these devices, promising order(s) of magnitude better energy-efficiency and built-in security compared to WBAN. In this paper, we demonstrate a health monitoring device and system built using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) sensors and components, that can collect data from physiological sensors and transmit it through a) intra-body HBC to another device (hub) worn on the body or b) upload health data through HBC-based human-machine interaction to an HBC capable machine. The system design constraints and signal transfer characteristics for the implemented HBC-based wearable health monitoring system are measured and analyzed, showing reliable connectivity with >8× power savings compared to Bluetooth low-energy (BTLE).

Accelerated Aging Experiments for Capacitor Health Monitoring and Prognostics

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This paper discusses experimental setups for health monitoring and prognostics of electrolytic capacitors under nominal operation and accelerated aging conditions....

Propulsion health monitoring of a turbine engine disk using spin test data

Science.gov (United States)

Abdul-Aziz, Ali; Woike, Mark; Oza, Nikunj; Matthews, Bryan; Baakilini, George

2010-03-01

On line detection techniques to monitor the health of rotating engine components are becoming increasingly attractive options to aircraft engine companies in order to increase safety of operation and lower maintenance costs. Health monitoring remains a challenging feature to easily implement, especially, in the presence of scattered loading conditions, crack size, component geometry and materials properties. The current trend, however, is to utilize noninvasive types of health monitoring or nondestructive techniques to detect hidden flaws and mini cracks before any catastrophic event occurs. These techniques go further to evaluate materials' discontinuities and other anomalies that have grown to the level of critical defects which can lead to failure. Generally, health monitoring is highly dependent on sensor systems that are capable of performing in various engine environmental conditions and able to transmit a signal upon a predetermined crack length, while acting in a neutral form upon the overall performance of the engine system. Efforts are under way at NASA Glenn Research Center through support of the Intelligent Vehicle Health Management Project (IVHM) to develop and implement such sensor technology for a wide variety of applications. These efforts are focused on developing high temperature, wireless, low cost and durable products. Therefore, in an effort to address the technical issues concerning health monitoring of a rotor disk, this paper considers data collected from an experimental study using high frequency capacitive sensor technology to capture blade tip clearance and tip timing measurements in a rotating engine-like-disk-to predict the disk faults and assess its structural integrity. The experimental results collected at a range of rotational speeds from tests conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center's Rotordynamics Laboratory will be evaluated using multiple data-driven anomaly detection techniques to identify anomalies in the disk. This study

A review of bear farming and bear trade in Lao People's Democratic Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Livingstone

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study reviews the bear farming industry in Lao PDR with the objective of documenting the current number of commercial bear facilities (i.e. captive bear facilities judged to be trading in bear bile and/or bears and bear parts and the number of bears contained within these facilities, noting changes since it was last examined between 2000 and 2012 by Livingstone and Shepherd (2014. We surveyed all known commercial bear facilities and searched for previously unrecorded facilities. We compared our records with Livingstone and Shepherd (2014 and corrected some duplicate records from their study. In 2017, we recorded seven commercial facilities; four dedicated bear farms, and three tiger farms that were reportedly also keeping bears. We found that between 2012 and 2017 the recorded number of dedicated bear farms reduced by two, and the recorded number of tiger farms also keeping bears increased by one. Within the same period, the total number of captive bears among all facilities in Lao PDR hardly changed (+one, but the number of bears within each facility did. The northern facilities, owned by ethnic Chinese, have expanded since 2012, and central and southern facilities have downsized or closed. While bear farming appears to be downsizing in Lao PDR overall, efforts to phase it out are undermined by the expansion of foreign owned facilities in the north, within Special and Specific Economic Zones that largely cater to a Chinese market, and where the Lao government's efforts to enforce laws and protect wildlife appear to be lacking. Closing the facilities in the north will require political will and decisive law enforcement. Keywords: Bear farms, Bear bile, Gall bladder, Urso-deoxycholic acid, Bear bile extraction facilities, Lao PDR, Ursus thibetanus

Engagement with eHealth Self-Monitoring in a Primary Care-Based Weight Management Intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolin, Kathleen Y; Steinberg, Dori M; Lane, Ilana B; Askew, Sandy; Greaney, Mary L; Colditz, Graham A; Bennett, Gary G

2015-01-01

While eHealth approaches hold promise for improving the reach and cost-effectiveness of behavior change interventions, they have been challenged by declining participant engagement over time, particularly for self-monitoring behaviors. These are significant concerns in the context of chronic disease prevention and management where durable effects are important for driving meaningful changes. "Be Fit, Be Well" was an eHealth weight loss intervention that allowed participants to self-select a self-monitoring modality (web or interactive voice response (IVR)). Participants could change their modality. As such, this study provides a unique opportunity to examine the effects of intervention modality choice and changing modalities on intervention engagement and outcomes. Intervention participants, who were recruited from community health centers, (n = 180) were expected to self-monitor health behaviors weekly over the course of the 24-month intervention. We examined trends in intervention engagement by modality (web, IVR, or changed modality) among participants in the intervention arm. The majority (61%) of participants chose IVR self-monitoring, while 39% chose web. 56% of those who selected web monitoring changed to IVR during the study versus no change in those who initially selected IVR. Self-monitoring declined in both modalities, but completion rates were higher in those who selected IVR. There were no associations between self-monitoring modality and weight or blood pressure outcomes. This is the first study to compare web and IVR self-monitoring in an eHealth intervention where participants could select and change their self-monitoring modality. IVR shows promise for achieving consistent engagement.

Novelty detection methods for online health monitoring and post data analysis of turbopumps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lei Hu; Niaoqing, Hu; Xinpeng, Zhang; Fengshou, Gu; Ming, Gao

2013-01-01

As novelty detection works when only normal data are available, it is of considerable promise for health monitoring in cases lacking fault samples and prior knowledge. We present two novelty detection methods for health monitoring of turbopumps in large-scale liquid propellant rocket engines. The first method is the adaptive Gaussian threshold model. This method is designed to monitor the vibration of the turbopumps online because it has minimal computational complexity and is easy for implementation in real time. The second method is the one-class support vector machine (OCSVM) which is developed for post analysis of historical vibration signals. Via post analysis the method not only confirms the online monitoring results but also provides diagnostic results so that faults from sensors are separated from those actually from the turbopumps. Both of these two methods are validated to be efficient for health monitoring of the turbopumps.

Design and Analysis of Architectures for Structural Health Monitoring Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Mukkamala, Ravi; Sixto, S. L. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

During the two-year project period, we have worked on several aspects of Health Usage and Monitoring Systems for structural health monitoring. In particular, we have made contributions in the following areas. 1. Reference HUMS architecture: We developed a high-level architecture for health monitoring and usage systems (HUMS). The proposed reference architecture is shown. It is compatible with the Generic Open Architecture (GOA) proposed as a standard for avionics systems. 2. HUMS kernel: One of the critical layers of HUMS reference architecture is the HUMS kernel. We developed a detailed design of a kernel to implement the high level architecture.3. Prototype implementation of HUMS kernel: We have implemented a preliminary version of the HUMS kernel on a Unix platform.We have implemented both a centralized system version and a distributed version. 4. SCRAMNet and HUMS: SCRAMNet (Shared Common Random Access Memory Network) is a system that is found to be suitable to implement HUMS. For this reason, we have conducted a simulation study to determine its stability in handling the input data rates in HUMS. 5. Architectural specification.

Molecular phylogeny and SNP variation of polar bears (Ursus maritimus), brown bears (U. arctos), and black bears (U. americanus) derived from genome sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Cronin, Matthew A; Rincon, Gonzalo; Meredith, Robert W; MacNeil, Michael D; Islas-Trejo, Alma; Cánovas, Angela; Medrano, Juan F

2014-01-01

We assessed the relationships of polar bears (Ursus maritimus), brown bears (U. arctos), and black bears (U. americanus) with high throughput genomic sequencing data with an average coverage of 25× for each species. A total of 1.4 billion 100-bp paired-end reads were assembled using the polar bear and annotated giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) genome sequences as references. We identified 13.8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the 3 species aligned to the polar bear genome. These data indicate that polar bears and brown bears share more SNP with each other than either does with black bears. Concatenation and coalescence-based analysis of consensus sequences of approximately 1 million base pairs of ultraconserved elements in the nuclear genome resulted in a phylogeny with black bears as the sister group to brown and polar bears, and all brown bears are in a separate clade from polar bears. Genotypes for 162 SNP loci of 336 bears from Alaska and Montana showed that the species are genetically differentiated and there is geographic population structure of brown and black bears but not polar bears.

Twenty years of children’s health monitoring: organization, results, conclusions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandra Anatol’evna Shabunova

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Deep understanding of human potential reproduction, presenting it as a continuous cycle and reflecting the continuity of generations, is significant for the formation of health and development of children. Today’s children will determine the future of Russian society. It is they who in 10–15 years will be a major part of the labor and creative population, a demographic base of the country. The research into children’s problems through the prism of socio-economic development helps identify targets of the state many-sided policy. The article presents results of the long-term medical sociological monitoring on the formation of child health carried out by the Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of RAS with the support of the Vologda Oblast Healthcare Department since 1995. The special monitoring study of health dynamics in real time is unique not only for the Vologda Oblast, but for Russia as well. It reveals the transformation of a personality and the dependence of these changes on direct and indirect factors. The work’s feature is that it addresses an extremely important and wide range of issues: whether man was born healthy or not, if he/she is unhealthy, then why and why he/she was born unhealthy; whether his/her health after the birth is improving or deteriorating; if health is changing, what causes the changes. The 15 year observations disclose the dynamics of child health in the conditions of transformation processes taking place in the country. If the official statistics only records certain health trends, the monitoring results allow us to talk about them at a qualitatively new level. They reveal the underlying causes of demographic processes. The conclusion is, on the one hand, obvious and, on the other hand, it can not be neglected: economic stability and orderly development of the social sphere are critical for family well-being and child health. The reverse situation leads to the destruction of the family

Structural Performance Evaluation of Tsing MA Bridge Deck Using Long-Term Monitoring Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Y. Q.; Xia, H. W.; Ko, J. M.

The Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong is suspension bridge with a main span of 1377 m carrying both highway and railway traffic. After completing its construction in 1997, the bridge was instrumented by the Hong Kong SAR Government Highways Department with a long-term structural health monitoring system comprising about 300 sensors permanently installed on the bridge. As part of this monitoring system, a total of 110 strain gauges have been installed to measure strain at the deck cross-sections and bearings. In this study, a method for real-time structural performance evaluation of the stiffening deck system making use of long-term strain measurement data is proposed and verified using the strain monitoring data from a typical deck cross-section of the Tsing Ma Bridge.

Flexible, Stretchable Sensors for Wearable Health Monitoring: Sensing Mechanisms, Materials, Fabrication Strategies and Features

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yan; Wang, Hai; Zhao, Wei; Qin, Hongbo; Xie, Yongqiang

2018-01-01

Wearable health monitoring systems have gained considerable interest in recent years owing to their tremendous promise for personal portable health watching and remote medical practices. The sensors with excellent flexibility and stretchability are crucial components that can provide health monitoring systems with the capability of continuously tracking physiological signals of human body without conspicuous uncomfortableness and invasiveness. The signals acquired by these sensors, such as body motion, heart rate, breath, skin temperature and metabolism parameter, are closely associated with personal health conditions. This review attempts to summarize the recent progress in flexible and stretchable sensors, concerning the detected health indicators, sensing mechanisms, functional materials, fabrication strategies, basic and desired features. The potential challenges and future perspectives of wearable health monitoring system are also briefly discussed. PMID:29470408

Continuous health monitoring of Graphite Epoxy Motorcases (GEM)

Science.gov (United States)

Finlayson, Richard D.; Schaafsma, David T.; Shen, H. Warren; Carlos, Mark F.; Miller, Ronnie K.; Shepherd, Brent

2001-07-01

Following the explosion of Delta 241 (IIR-1) on January 17th, 1997, the failure investigation board concluded that the Graphite Epoxy Motorcases (GEM's) should be inspected for damage just prior to launch. Subsequent investigations and feedback from industry led to an Aerospace Corporation proposal to instrument the entire fleet of GEM's with a continuous health monitoring system. The period of monitoring would extend from the initial acceptance testing through final erection on the launch pad. As this proposal demonstrates, (along with the increasing use of advanced composite materials in aircraft, automobiles, military hardware, and aerospace components such as rocket motorcases) a sizable need for composite health assessment measures exist. Particularly where continuous monitoring is required for the detection of damage from impacts and other sources of high mechanical and thermal stresses. Even low-momentum impacts can lead to barely visible impact damage (BVID), corresponding to a significant weakening of the composite. This damage, undetectable by visual inspection, can in turn lead to sudden and catastrophic failure when the material is subjected to a normal operating load. There is perhaps no system with as much potential for truly catastrophic failure as a rocket motor. We will present an update on our ongoing efforts with the United States Air Force Delta II Program Office, and The Aerospace Corporation. This will cover the development of a local, portable, surface-mounted, fiberoptic sensor based impact damage monitor designed to operate on a Delta II GEM during transport, storage, and handling. This system is designed to continuously monitor the GEMs, to communicate wirelessly with base stations and maintenance personnel, to operate autonomously for extended periods, and to fit unobtrusively on the GEM itself.

Structural health monitoring of bridge cables : An overview

OpenAIRE

DRISSI HABTI, Monssef; BETTI, Raimondo; YANEV, Bojidar

2009-01-01

Bridges are critical components of the civil infrastructure and are normally designed for a long life span. The life span of suspension bridges depends on the health of their cables, which, in turn, is a function of many factors. Therefore, continuous health monitoring (SHM) and regular condition assessment of cables is highly desirable. In this article, some SHM procedures based on direct, indirect non-destructive techniques NDT, and vibration theory are presented.

Stratigraphic variations and secondary porosity within the Maynardville Limestone in Bear Creek Valley, Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldstrand, P.M.

1995-05-01

To evaluate groundwater and surface water contamination and migration near the Oak Ridge Y-12 plant, a Comprehensive Groundwater Monitoring Plan was developed. As part of the Maynardville exit pathways monitoring program, monitoring well clusters were ii installed perpendicular to the strike of the Maynardville Limestone, that underlies the southern part of the Y-12 Plant and Bear Creek Valley (BCV). The Maynardville Project is designed to locate potential exit pathways of groundwater, study geochemical characteristics and factors affecting the occurrence and distribution of water-bearing intervals, and provide hydrogeologic information to be used to reduce the potential impacts of contaminants entering the Maynardville Limestone

Mobile health-monitoring system through visible light communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Yee-Yong; Chung, Wan-Young

2014-01-01

Promising development in the light emitting diode (LED) technology has spurred the interest to adapt LED for both illumination and data transmission. This has fostered the growth of interest in visible light communication (VLC), with on-going research to utilize VLC in various applications. This paper presents a mobile-health monitoring system, where healthcare information such as biomedical signals and patient information are transmitted via the LED lighting. A small and portable receiver module is designed and developed to be attached to the mobile device, providing a seamless monitoring environment. Three different healthcare information including ECG, PPG signals and HL7 text information is transmitted simultaneously, using a single channel VLC. This allows for a more precise and accurate monitoring and diagnosis. The data packet size is carefully designed, to transmit information in a minimal packet error rate. A comprehensive monitoring application is designed and developed through the use of a tablet computer in our study. Monitoring and evaluation such as heart rate and arterial blood pressure measurement can be performed concurrently. Real-time monitoring is demonstrated through experiment, where non-hazardous transmission method can be implemented alongside a portable device for better and safer healthcare service.

Summary Report: Forest Health Monitoring in the South, 1991

Science.gov (United States)

William A. Bechtold; William H. Hoffard; Robert L. Anderson

1992-01-01

The USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have launched a joint program to monitor the health of forests iu the United States. The program is still in the initial phases of implementation, but several indicators of forest health are undergoiug development and permanent plots have been established in 12 States. This report contains...

Summary of Forest health monitoring: 2006 national technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Mark J. Ambrose

2009-01-01

Forest Health Monitoring (FHM), together with cooperating researchers both in and outside of the Forest Service, continues to investigate a variety of issues relating to forest health. This report provides some of the latest analyses and results. The broad range of indicators presented demonstrates one reason it can be difficult to draw general conclusions about the...

Teddy Bear Stories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Leeuwen, Theo; Caldas-Coulthardt, Carmen

2014-01-01

This paper presents a semiotic analysis of a key cultural artefact, the teddy bear. After introducing the iconography of the teddy bear, it analyses different kinds of stories to show how teddy bears are endowed with meaning in everyday life: stories from children's books, reminiscenses by adults...... bears have traditionally centred on interpersonal relations within the nuclear family, but have recently been institutionalized and commercialized....

Nuclear propulsion control and health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, P. B.; Edwards, R. M.

1993-11-01

An integrated control and health monitoring architecture is being developed for the Pratt & Whitney XNR2000 nuclear rocket. Current work includes further development of the dynamic simulation modeling and the identification and configuration of low level controllers to give desirable performance for the various operating modes and faulted conditions. Artificial intelligence and knowledge processing technologies need to be investigated and applied in the development of an intelligent supervisory controller module for this control architecture.

Self-learning health monitoring algorithm in composite structures

Science.gov (United States)

Grassia, Luigi; Iannone, Michele; Califano, America; D'Amore, Alberto

2018-02-01

The paper describes a system that it is able of monitoring the health state of a composite structure in real time. The hardware of the system consists of a wire of strain sensors connected to a control unit. The software of the system elaborates the strain data and in real time is able to detect the presence of an eventual damage of the structures monitored with the strain sensors. The algorithm requires as input only the strains of the monitored structured measured on real time, i.e. those strains coming from the deformations of the composite structure due to the working loads. The health monitoring system does not require any additional device to interrogate the structure as often used in the literature, instead it is based on a self-learning procedure. The strain data acquired when the structure is healthy are used to set up the correlations between the strain in different positions of structure by means of neural network. Once the correlations between the strains in different position have been set up, these correlations act as a fingerprint of the healthy structure. In case of damage the correlation between the strains in the position of the structure near the damage will change due to the change of the stiffness of the structure caused by the damage. The developed software is able to recognize the change of the transfer function between the strains and consequently is able to detect the damage.

Monitoring Indoor Air Quality for Enhanced Occupational Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Pitarma, Rui; Marques, Gonçalo; Ferreira, Bárbara Roque

2017-02-01

Indoor environments are characterized by several pollutant sources. Because people spend more than 90% of their time in indoor environments, several studies have pointed out the impact of indoor air quality on the etiopathogenesis of a wide number of non-specific symptoms which characterizes the "Sick Building Syndrome", involving the skin, the upper and lower respiratory tract, the eyes and the nervous system, as well as many building related diseases. Thus, indoor air quality (IAQ) is recognized as an important factor to be controlled for the occupants' health and comfort. The majority of the monitoring systems presently available is very expensive and only allow to collect random samples. This work describes the system (iAQ), a low-cost indoor air quality monitoring wireless sensor network system, developed using Arduino, XBee modules and micro sensors, for storage and availability of monitoring data on a web portal in real time. Five micro sensors of environmental parameters (air temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and luminosity) were used. Other sensors can be added for monitoring specific pollutants. The results reveal that the system can provide an effective indoor air quality assessment to prevent exposure risk. In fact, the indoor air quality may be extremely different compared to what is expected for a quality living environment. Systems like this would have benefit as public health interventions to reduce the burden of symptoms and diseases related to "sick buildings".

Continuous Monitoring of Glucose for Type 1 Diabetes: A Health Technology Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Vandersluis, Stacey; Kabali, Conrad; Djalalov, Sandjar; Gajic-Veljanoski, Olga; Wells, David; Holubowich, Corinne

2018-01-01

Background Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. People with type 1 diabetes must manage their blood glucose levels by monitoring the amount of glucose in their blood and administering appropriate amounts of insulin via injection or an insulin pump. Continuous glucose monitoring may be beneficial compared to self-monitoring of blood glucose using a blood glucose meter. It provides insight into a person's blood glucose levels on a continuous basis, and can identify whether blood glucose levels are trending up or down. Methods We conducted a health technology assessment, which included an evaluation of clinical benefit, value for money, and patient preferences related to continuous glucose monitoring. We compared continuous glucose monitoring with self-monitoring of blood glucose using a finger-prick and a blood glucose meter. We performed a systematic literature search for studies published since January 1, 2010. We created a Markov model projecting the lifetime horizon of adults with type 1 diabetes, and performed a budget impact analysis from the perspective of the health care payer. We also conducted interviews and focus group discussions with people who self-manage their type 1 diabetes or support the management of a child with type 1 diabetes. Results Twenty studies were included in the clinical evidence review. Compared with self-monitoring of blood glucose, continuous glucose monitoring improved the percentage of time patients spent in the target glycemic range by 9.6% (95% confidence interval 8.0–11.2) to 10.0% (95% confidence interval 6.75–13.25) and decreased the number of severe hypoglycemic events. Continuous glucose monitoring was associated with higher costs and small increases in health benefits (quality-adjusted life-years). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) ranged from $592,206 to $1,108,812 per quality-adjusted life-year gained in analyses comparing four continuous glucose monitoring

Distributed Rocket Engine Testing Health Monitoring System, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The on-ground and Distributed Rocket Engine Testing Health Monitoring System (DiRETHMS) provides a system architecture and software tools for performing diagnostics...

Distributed Rocket Engine Testing Health Monitoring System, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Leveraging the Phase I achievements of the Distributed Rocket Engine Testing Health Monitoring System (DiRETHMS) including its software toolsets and system building...

Standards of lithium monitoring in mental health trusts in the UK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shingleton-Smith Amber

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Lithium is a commonly prescribed drug with a narrow therapeutic index, and recognised adverse effects on the kidneys and thyroid. Clinical guidelines for the management of bipolar affective disorder published by The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE recommend checks of renal and thyroid function before lithium is prescribed. They further recommend that all patients who are prescribed lithium should have their renal and thyroid function checked every six months, and their serum lithium checked every three months. Adherence to these recommendations has not been subject to national UK audit. Methods The Prescribing Observatory for Mental Health (POMH-UK invited all National Health Service Mental Health Trusts in the UK to participate in a benchmarking audit of lithium monitoring against recommended standards. Data were collected retrospectively from clinical records and submitted electronically. Results 436 clinical teams from 38 Trusts submitted data for 3,373 patients. In patients recently starting lithium, there was a documented baseline measure of renal or thyroid function in 84% and 82% respectively. For patients prescribed lithium for a year or more, the NICE standards for monitoring lithium serum levels, and renal and thyroid function were met in 30%, 55% and 50% of cases respectively. Conclusions The quality of lithium monitoring in patients who are in contact with mental health services falls short of recognised standards and targets. Findings from this audit, along with reports of harm received by the National Patient Safety Agency, prompted a Patient Safety Alert mandating primary care, mental health and acute Trusts, and laboratory staff to work together to ensure systems are in place to support recommended lithium monitoring by December 2010.

“Bear-ly” learning: Limits of abstraction in black bear cognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Vonk

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We presented two American black bears (Ursus americanus with a serial list learning memory task, and one of the bears with a matching-to-sample task. After extended training, both bears demonstrated some success with the memory task but failed to generalize the overarching rule of the task to novel stimuli. Matching to sample proved even more difficult for our bear to learn. We conclude that, despite previous success in training bears to respond to natural categories, quantity discriminations, and other related tasks, that bears may possess a cognitive limitation with regards to learning abstract rules. Future tests using different procedures are necessary to determine whether this is a limit of bears’ cognitive capacities, or a limitation of the current tasks as presented. Future tests should present a larger number of varying stimuli. Ideally, bears of various species should be tested on these tasks to demonstrate species as well as individual differences.

A STUDY ON HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM: RECENT ADVANCEMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atika Arshad

2014-12-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: A proliferating interest has been observed over the past years in the development of an accurate system for monitoring continuous human activities in the health care sectors, especially for the elderly. This paper conducts a survey of the various techniques and methods that are proposed to monitor the movements and activities of the elderly people. These techniques promise a useful and dependable detection system to give support and lessen the medical expenses of health care for the elderly. The detection approaches are divided into five main categories: wearable device based, wireless based, ambience device based, vision based and floor sensor / electric field sensors based. These techniques have focused on the pros and cons of the existing methods for recognizing the prospective scope of research in the domain of health monitoring systems. Apart from highlighting and analyzing the features of the existing techniques, perspectives on probable future studies have been detailed. ABSTRAK: Dewasa ini, pembangunan sistem yang tepat untuk memantau aktiviti berterusan terutamanya dalam sektor kesihatan warga tua mula mendapat tempat. Kaji selidik telah dijalankan dengan pelbagai teknik dan kaedah untuk meninjau pergerakan dan aktiviti golongan warga tua. Kaedah-kaedah ini memberikan sistem pengesanan yang berguna dan dipercayai untuk memberikan sokongan serta mengurangkan kos perubatan kesihatan bagi golongan tua. Pendekatan pengesanan dibahagikan kepada lima kategori utama; alatan yang dapat dipakai, alatan tanpa wayar, alatan berdasarkan persekitaran, alatan berasaskan penglihatan dan alatan berdasarkan pengesan pada lantai / medan elektrik.  Teknik-teknik ini memfokuskan kepada pro dan kontra kaedah yang sedia ada untuk mengenalpasti skop prospektif penyelidikan dalam domain sistem pengawasan kesihatan.  Selain daripada mengetengah dan menganalisa ciri-ciri teknik yang sedia ada, perspektif kajian akan datang juga diperincikan.KEYWORDS: health

A power supply design of body sensor networks for health monitoring of neonates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, W.; Sonntag, C.L.W.; Boesten, F.; Bambang Oetomo, S.; Feijs, L.M.G.

2008-01-01

Critically ill new born babies are extremely tiny and vulnerable to external disturbance. Non-invasive health monitoring with body sensor networks is crucial for the survival of these neonates and the quality of their life later on. A key question for health monitoring with body sensor networks is

An Overview of the NASA Aviation Safety Program Propulsion Health Monitoring Element

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Donald L.

2000-01-01

The NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) has been initiated with aggressive goals to reduce the civil aviation accident rate, To meet these goals, several technology investment areas have been identified including a sub-element in propulsion health monitoring (PHM). Specific AvSP PHM objectives are to develop and validate propulsion system health monitoring technologies designed to prevent engine malfunctions from occurring in flight, and to mitigate detrimental effects in the event an in-flight malfunction does occur. A review of available propulsion system safety information was conducted to help prioritize PHM areas to focus on under the AvSP. It is noted that when a propulsion malfunction is involved in an aviation accident or incident, it is often a contributing factor rather than the sole cause for the event. Challenging aspects of the development and implementation of PHM technology such as cost, weight, robustness, and reliability are discussed. Specific technology plans are overviewed including vibration diagnostics, model-based controls and diagnostics, advanced instrumentation, and general aviation propulsion system health monitoring technology. Propulsion system health monitoring, in addition to engine design, inspection, maintenance, and pilot training and awareness, is intrinsic to enhancing aviation propulsion system safety.

The effects of a 12-week program of static upper extremity weight bearing exercises on weight bearing in children with hemiplegic type of cerebral palsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Jayaraman

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The  major  objective  of  this  study  was  to  quantify  the  effects  of a  12-week  program  of  weight  bearing  exercises  on  weight  borne  through  the hand and grip pressures in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. This study also sought to monitor the change in spasticity immediately following weight-bearing  exercises.  A  quasi-experimental,  one  group  pre-test,  post-test  study  was used. Eleven children with hemiplegic type of cerebral palsy from a special school in KwaZulu Natal participated after fully informed written consent. The intervention consisted of a 12-week program of weight bearing. The Tekscan Grip system was used to quantify weight borne through the hand during extended arm prone and quadruped positions and whilst holding a pencil and a tumbler. The modified Ashworth grading of spasticity was used to monitor spasticity. The data was analysed using the random effects GLS model Wald Chi Square test. Significant increases in contact pressure in extended arms prone (p=0,012 and quadruped (p=0,002 and when holding a pencil (p=0,045 was noted post-test compared to pre-test. Significant increases in contact area of the hand was also noted in prone (p=0,000, quadruped (p=0, 03 at assessment 7 and when holding a pencil (p=0,035.  A significant decrease in spasticity during elbow extension (p=0,004, and wrist flexion (p=0,026 and extension (p=0,004 was noted. An overall significant effect of static weight bearing exercises on weight borne through the hands, grip strength and spasticity justifies the use of static weight-bearing in therapy.

GAS BEARING

Science.gov (United States)

Skarstrom, C.W.

1960-09-01

A gas lubricated bearing for a rotating shaft is described. The assembly comprises a stationary collar having an annular member resiliently supported thereon. The collar and annular member are provided with cooperating gas passages arranged for admission of pressurized gas which supports and lubricates a bearing block fixed to the rotatable shaft. The resilient means for the annular member support the latter against movement away from the bearing block when the assembly is in operation.

Monitoring health interventions – who's afraid of LQAS?

Science.gov (United States)

Pezzoli, Lorenzo; Kim, Sung Hye

2013-01-01

Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) is used to evaluate health services. Subunits of a population (lots) are accepted or rejected according to the number of failures in a random sample (N) of a given lot. If failures are greater than decision value (d), we reject the lot and recommend corrective actions in the lot (i.e. intervention area); if they are equal to or less than d, we accept it. We used LQAS to monitor coverage during the last 3 days of a meningitis vaccination campaign in Niger. We selected one health area (lot) per day reporting the lowest administrative coverage in the previous 2 days. In the sampling plan we considered: N to be small enough to allow us to evaluate one lot per day, deciding to sample 16 individuals from the selected villages of each health area, using probability proportionate to population size; thresholds and d to vary according to administrative coverage reported; α ≤5% (meaning that, if we would have conducted the survey 100 times, we would have accepted the lot up to five times when real coverage was at an unacceptable level) and β ≤20% (meaning that we would have rejected the lot up to 20 times, when real coverage was equal or above the satisfactory level). We classified all three lots as with the acceptable coverage. LQAS appeared to be a rapid, simple, and statistically sound method for in-process coverage assessment. We encourage colleagues in the field to consider using LQAS in complement with other monitoring techniques such as house-to-house monitoring. PMID:24206650

Combination of Weight-Bearing Training and Anti-MSTN Polyclonal Antibody Improve Bone Quality In Rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Liang; Gao, Xiaohang; Yang, Xiaoying; Zhang, Didi; Zhang, Xiaojun; Du, Haiping; Han, Yanqi; Sun, Lijun

2016-12-01

Weight-bearing exercise is beneficial to bone health. Myostatin (MSTN) deficiency has a positive effect on bone formation. We wondered if a combination of weight-bearing training and polyclonal antibody for MSTN (MsAb) would augment bone formation to a greater degree than single treatment. In this study, rats were randomly assigned to four groups: Control, weight-bearing training (WT), MsAb, and WT+MsAb. The trained rats ran at 15 m/min bearing with 35% of their body weight, 40 min/day (2 min of running followed by 2 min of rest), 6 days/week, for 8 weeks. The rats with MsAb were injected once a week with MsAb for 8 weeks. MicroCT analysis showed that compared with the MsAb group, WT+MsAb significantly enhanced cortical bone mineral density (BMD) (p .05), weight-bearing training significantly increased energy absorption (p weight-bearing training and MsAb have a greater positive effect on bone than treatment with either MsAb or weight-bearing training alone, suggesting that resistance training in combination with MSTN antagonists could be an effective approach for improving bone health and reducing osteoporosis risk.

The use of animals as a surveillance tool for monitoring environmental health hazards, human health hazards and bioterrorism.

Science.gov (United States)

Neo, Jacqueline Pei Shan; Tan, Boon Huan

2017-05-01

This review discusses the utilization of wild or domestic animals as surveillance tools for monitoring naturally occurring environmental and human health hazards. Besides providing early warning to natural hazards, animals can also provide early warning to societal hazards like bioterrorism. Animals are ideal surveillance tools to humans because they share the same environment as humans and spend more time outdoors than humans, increasing their exposure risk. Furthermore, the biologically compressed lifespans of some animals may allow them to develop clinical signs more rapidly after exposure to specific pathogens. Animals are an excellent channel for monitoring novel and known pathogens with outbreak potential given that more than 60 % of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate as zoonoses. This review attempts to highlight animal illnesses, deaths, biomarkers or sentinel events, to remind human and veterinary public health programs that animal health can be used to discover, monitor or predict environmental health hazards, human health hazards, or bioterrorism. Lastly, we hope that this review will encourage the implementation of animals as a surveillance tool by clinicians, veterinarians, ecosystem health professionals, researchers and governments. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Low Cost Sensor Controller for Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Birbas, M.; Petrellis, N.; Gioulekas, F.

2015-09-01

Aging population can benefit from health care systems that allow their health and daily life to be monitored by expert medical staff. Blood pressure, temperature measurements or more advanced tests like Electrocardiograms (ECG) can be ordered through such a healthcare system while urgent situations can be detected and alleviated on time. The results of these tests can be stored with security in a remote cloud or database. Such systems are often used to monitor non-life threatening patient health problems and their advantage in lowering the cost of the healthcare services is obvious. A low cost commercial medical sensor kit has been used in the present work, trying to improve the accuracy and stability of the sensor measurements, the power consumption, etc. This Sensor Controller communicates with a Gateway installed in the patient's residence and a tablet or smart phone used for giving instructions to the patient through a comprehensive user interface. A flexible communication protocol has been defined supporting any short or long term sensor sampling scenario. The experimental results show that it is possible to achieve low power consumption by applying apropriate sleep intervals to the Sensor Controller and by deactivating periodically some of its functionality.

Cointegration as a data normalization tool for structural health monitoring applications

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Dustin Y.; Todd, Michael D.

2012-04-01

The structural health monitoring literature has shown an abundance of features sensitive to various types of damage in laboratory tests. However, robust feature extraction in the presence of varying operational and environmental conditions has proven to be one of the largest obstacles in the development of practical structural health monitoring systems. Cointegration, a technique adapted from the field of econometrics, has recently been introduced to the SHM field as one solution to the data normalization problem. Response measurements and feature histories often show long-run nonstationarity due to fluctuating temperature, load conditions, or other factors that leads to the occurrence of false positives. Cointegration theory allows nonstationary trends common to two or more time series to be modeled and subsequently removed. Thus, the residual retains sensitivity to damage with dependence on operational and environmental variability removed. This study further explores the use of cointegration as a data normalization tool for structural health monitoring applications.

Integrity mechanism for eHealth tele-monitoring system in smart home environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mantas, Georgios; Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios; Komninos, Nikos

2009-01-01

During the past few years, a lot of effort has been invested in research and development of eHealth tele-monitoring systems that will provide many benefits for healthcare delivery from the healthcare provider to the patient's home. However, there is a plethora of security requirements in eHealth tele-monitoring systems. Data integrity of the transferred medical data is one of the most important security requirements that should be satisfied in these systems, since medical information is extremely sensitive information, and even sometimes life threatening information. In this paper, we present a data integrity mechanism for eHealth tele-monitoring system that operates in a smart home environment. Agent technology is applied to achieve data integrity with the use of cryptographic smart cards. Furthermore, the overall security infrastructure and its various components are described.

Alpha Stable Distribution Based Morphological Filter for Bearing and Gear Fault Diagnosis in Nuclear Power Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinghui Zhang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Gear and bearing play an important role as key components of rotating machinery power transmission systems in nuclear power plants. Their state conditions are very important for safety and normal operation of entire nuclear power plant. Vibration based condition monitoring is more complicated for the gear and bearing of planetary gearbox than those of fixed-axis gearbox. Many theoretical and engineering challenges in planetary gearbox fault diagnosis have not yet been resolved which are of great importance for nuclear power plants. A detailed vibration condition monitoring review of planetary gearbox used in nuclear power plants is conducted in this paper. A new fault diagnosis method of planetary gearbox gears is proposed. Bearing fault data, bearing simulation data, and gear fault data are used to test the new method. Signals preprocessed using dilation-erosion gradient filter and fast Fourier transform for fault information extraction. The length of structuring element (SE of dilation-erosion gradient filter is optimized by alpha stable distribution. Method experimental verification confirmed that parameter alpha is superior compared to kurtosis since it can reflect the form of entire signal and it cannot be influenced by noise similar to impulse.

Data for development in health: a case study and monitoring framework from Kazakhstan

Science.gov (United States)

Obermann, Konrad; Chanturidze, Tata; Richardson, Erica; Tanirbergenov, Serik; Shoranov, Marat; Nurgozhaev, Ali

2016-01-01

Healthcare reforms are often not coupled with a relevant and appropriate monitoring framework, leaving policymakers and the public without evidence about the implications of such reforms. Kazakhstan has embarked on a large-scale reform of its healthcare system in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage. The health-related 2020 Strategic Development Goals reflect this political ambition. In a case-study approach and on the basis of published and unpublished evidence as well as personal involvement and experience (A) the indicators in the 2020 Strategic Development Goals were assessed and (B) a ‘data-mapping’ exercise was conducted, where the WHO health system framework was used to describe the data available at present in Kazakhstan and comment on the different indicators regarding their usefulness for monitoring the current health-related 2020 Strategic Development Goals in Kazakhstan. It was concluded that the country’s current monitoring framework needs further development to track the progress and outcomes of policy implementation. The application of a modified WHO/World Bank/Global Fund health system monitoring framework was suggested to examine the implications of recent health sector reforms. Lessons drawn from the Kazakhstan experience on tailoring the suggested framework, collecting the data, and using the generated intelligence in policy development and decision-making can serve as a useful example for other middle-income countries, potentially enabling them to fast-track developments in the health sector. PMID:28588905

New trends in structural health monitoring

CERN Document Server

Güemes, J

2013-01-01

Experts actively working in structural health monitoring and control techniques present the current research, areas of application and tendencies for the future of this technology, including various design issues involved. Examples using some of the latest hardware and software tools, experimental data from small scale laboratory demonstrators and measurements made on real structures illustrate the book. It will be a reference for professionals and students in the areas of engineering, applied natural sciences and engineering management.

Engine health monitoring systems: Tools for improved maintenance management in the 1980's

Science.gov (United States)

Kimball, J. C.

1981-01-01

The performance monitoring aspect of maintenance, characteristic of the engine health monitoring system are discussed. An overview of the system activities is presented and a summary of programs for improved monitoring in the 1980's are discussed.

Polar bear mother-offspring interactions in maternity dens in captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

van Gessel, Chad

2015-01-01

Two female polar bears at Dierenrijk Zoo in the Netherlands were monitored at their maternity den one day before the birth of their cubs and three days postpartum. Each bear was monitored for 96 hr to document behaviour and vocalisations. The goal was to obtain insight into the differences between the mother that lost her litter and the other that successfully reared her cubs. Six groups of cub vocalisations were identified: Comfort, Discomfort, Distress, Nursing Attempts, Nursing, and No Vocalisation. Maternal vocalisations were split into three groups: Calm, Grooming, and Stress. Maternal behaviours were also split into three groups: Active, Rest, and Stress. The unsuccessful mother produced more stress vocalisations before and during the birth of her cub, whereas the successful mother appeared less stressed. Vocalisations indicate that the cub that died tried to nurse but was unsuccessful. The unsuccessful mother showed less stress as her cub got weaker and vocalised less. From this I suggest that maternal stress was a factor in cub mortality. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genomic evidence of geographically widespread effect of gene flow from polar bears into brown bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Cahill, James A; Stirling, Ian; Kistler, Logan; Salamzade, Rauf; Ersmark, Erik; Fulton, Tara L; Stiller, Mathias; Green, Richard E; Shapiro, Beth

2015-03-01

Polar bears are an arctic, marine adapted species that is closely related to brown bears. Genome analyses have shown that polar bears are distinct and genetically homogeneous in comparison to brown bears. However, these analyses have also revealed a remarkable episode of polar bear gene flow into the population of brown bears that colonized the Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof islands (ABC islands) of Alaska. Here, we present an analysis of data from a large panel of polar bear and brown bear genomes that includes brown bears from the ABC islands, the Alaskan mainland and Europe. Our results provide clear evidence that gene flow between the two species had a geographically wide impact, with polar bear DNA found within the genomes of brown bears living both on the ABC islands and in the Alaskan mainland. Intriguingly, while brown bear genomes contain up to 8.8% polar bear ancestry, polar bear genomes appear to be devoid of brown bear ancestry, suggesting the presence of a barrier to gene flow in that direction. © 2014 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Monitoring of health care personnel employee and occupational health immunization program practices in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrico, Ruth M; Sorrells, Nikka; Westhusing, Kelly; Wiemken, Timothy

2014-01-01

Recent studies have identified concerns with various elements of health care personnel immunization programs, including the handling and management of the vaccine. The purpose of this study was to assess monitoring processes that support evaluation of the care of vaccines in health care settings. An 11-question survey instrument was developed for use in scripted telephone surveys. State health departments in all 50 states in the United States and the District of Columbia were the target audience for the surveys. Data from a total of 47 states were obtained and analyzed. No states reported an existing monitoring process for evaluation of health care personnel immunization programs in their states. Our assessment indicates that vaccine evaluation processes for health care facilities are rare to nonexistent in the United States. Identifying existing practice gaps and resultant opportunities for improvements may be an important safety initiative that protects patients and health care personnel. Copyright © 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

EFFECT OF CLEARANCE THE BALL BEARINGS ON INCORRECT WORK OF THREE-SUPORT BEARING SHAFT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarosław KACZOR

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Durability deep groove ball bearings depends on factors (called attributes design, technological and operational. Among the design features one of the most important is play in the bearings. Polish Norm shows five groups of looseness in the bearings, in which the play range from 0 to 105 microns. Manufacturers of rolling bearings they only play group, which has a bearing data, without giving the exact value of the slack. Aim of this study is to determine how it affects the play in the bearings to work three-bearing shafts, including elasticity and resilience three-bearing shafts.

Applications of fiber optic sensors in concrete structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Jingyun; Zhang, Wentao; Sun, Baochen; Du, Yanliang

2007-11-01

The research of fiber optic extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) sensors and their applications in concrete structural health monitoring are presented in this paper. Different types of fiber optic EFPI sensors are designed and fabricated. Experiments are carried out to test the performance of the sensors. The results show that the sensors have good linearity and stability. The applications of the fiber optic EFPI sensors in concrete structural health monitoring are also introduced. Ten fiber optic sensors are embedded into one section of the Liaohe Bridge in Qinghuangdao-Shenyang Railway. Field test demonstrates that the results of fiber optic sensors agree well with conventional strain gauges.

Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara L. Conkling

2016-01-01

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi- State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation...

Remote Monitoring of the Structural Health of Hydrokinetic Composite Turbine Blades

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J.L. Rovey

2012-09-21

A health monitoring approach is investigated for hydrokinetic turbine blade applications. In-service monitoring is critical due to the difficult environment for blade inspection and the cost of inspection downtime. Composite blade designs have advantages that include long life in marine environments and great control over mechanical properties. Experimental strain characteristics are determined for static loads and free-vibration loads. These experiments are designed to simulate the dynamic characteristics of hydrokinetic turbine blades. Carbon/epoxy symmetric composite laminates are manufactured using an autoclave process. Four-layer composite beams, eight-layer composite beams, and two-dimensional eight-layer composite blades are instrumented for strain. Experimental results for strain measurements from electrical resistance gages are validated with theoretical characteristics obtained from in-house finite-element analysis for all sample cases. These preliminary tests on the composite samples show good correlation between experimental and finite-element strain results. A health monitoring system is proposed in which damage to a composite structure, e.g. delamination and fiber breakage, causes changes in the strain signature behavior. The system is based on embedded strain sensors and embedded motes in which strain information is demodulated for wireless transmission. In-service monitoring is critical due to the difficult environment for blade inspection and the cost of inspection downtime. Composite blade designs provide a medium for embedding sensors into the blades for in-situ health monitoring. The major challenge with in-situ health monitoring is transmission of sensor signals from the remote rotating reference frame of the blade to the system monitoring station. In the presented work, a novel system for relaying in-situ blade health measurements in hydrokinetic systems is described and demonstrated. An ultrasonic communication system is used to transmit

75 FR 52504 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-26

...; National Animal Health Monitoring System; Dairy Heifer Raiser 2010 Study AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health... Service's intention to initiate an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring... Warnken, Management and Program Analyst, Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, VS, APHIS, 2150...

Third-Order Spectral Techniques for the Diagnosis of Motor Bearing Condition Using Artificial Neural Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, D.-M.; Stronach, A. F.; MacConnell, P.; Penman, J.

2002-03-01

This paper addresses the development of a novel condition monitoring procedure for rolling element bearings which involves a combination of signal processing, signal analysis and artificial intelligence methods. Seven approaches based on power spectrum, bispectral and bicoherence vibration analyses are investigated as signal pre-processing techniques for application in the diagnosis of a number of induction motor rolling element bearing conditions. The bearing conditions considered are a normal bearing and bearings with cage and inner and outer race faults. The vibration analysis methods investigated are based on the power spectrum, the bispectrum, the bicoherence, the bispectrum diagonal slice, the bicoherence diagonal slice, the summed bispectrum and the summed bicoherence. Selected features are extracted from the vibration signatures so obtained and these are used as inputs to an artificial neural network trained to identify the bearing conditions. Quadratic phase coupling (QPC), examined using the magnitude of bispectrum and bicoherence and biphase, is shown to be absent from the bearing system and it is therefore concluded that the structure of the bearing vibration signatures results from inter-modulation effects. In order to test the proposed procedure, experimental data from a bearing test rig are used to develop an example diagnostic system. Results show that the bearing conditions examined can be diagnosed with a high success rate, particularly when using the summed bispectrum signatures.

Space Station Environmental Health System water quality monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Vincze, Johanna E.; Sauer, Richard L.

1990-01-01

One of the unique aspects of the Space Station is that it will be a totally encapsulated environment and the air and water supplies will be reclaimed for reuse. The Environmental Health System, a subsystem of CHeCS (Crew Health Care System), must monitor the air and water on board the Space Station Freedom to verify that the quality is adequate for crew safety. Specifically, the Water Quality Subsystem will analyze the potable and hygiene water supplies regularly for organic, inorganic, particulate, and microbial contamination. The equipment selected to perform these analyses will be commercially available instruments which will be converted for use on board the Space Station Freedom. Therefore, the commercial hardware will be analyzed to identify the gravity dependent functions and modified to eliminate them. The selection, analysis, and conversion of the off-the-shelf equipment for monitoring the Space Station reclaimed water creates a challenging project for the Water Quality engineers and scientists.

A VME based health monitoring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Yiming; Wang Chunhong

2011-01-01

It introduces a VME based health system for monitoring the working status of VME crates in the BEPCⅡ. It consists of a PC and a VME crate where a CMM (Classic Monitor System) is installed. The CMM module is responsible for collecting data from the power supply and temperature as well as fan speed inside the VME crate and send these data to the PC via the serial port. The author developed EPICS asynchronous driver by using a character-based device protocol StreamDevice. The data is saved into EPICS IOC database in character. Man-machine interface which is designed by BOY displays the running status of the VME crate including the power supply and temperature as well as fan speed. If the value of records display unusual, the color of the value will be changed into red. This can facilitate the maintenance of the VME crates. (authors)

Bayesian updating and decision making using correlated structural health monitoring observations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jannie Sønderkær

2018-01-01

A Bayesian approach is often applied when updating a deterioration model using observations from expected structural health monitoring or condition monitoring. Usually, observations are assumed to be independent conditioned on the damage size, but this assumption does not always hold, especially ...... is properly modeled. In case of correlated observations, an advanced decision model using all past observations for decision making is needed to make monitoring feasible compared to only using inspections....

A fully automated health-care monitoring at home without attachment of any biological sensors and its clinical evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Motoi, Kosuke; Ogawa, Mitsuhiro; Ueno, Hiroshi; Kuwae, Yutaka; Ikarashi, Akira; Yuji, Tadahiko; Higashi, Yuji; Tanaka, Shinobu; Fujimoto, Toshiro; Asanoi, Hidetsugu; Yamakoshi, Ken-ichi

2009-01-01

Daily monitoring of health condition is important for an effective scheme for early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of lifestyle-related diseases such as adiposis, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other diseases. Commercially available devices for health care monitoring at home are cumbersome in terms of self-attachment of biological sensors and self-operation of the devices. From this viewpoint, we have been developing a non-conscious physiological monitor installed in a bath, a lavatory, and a bed for home health care and evaluated its measurement accuracy by simultaneous recordings of a biological sensors directly attached to the body surface. In order to investigate its applicability to health condition monitoring, we have further developed a new monitoring system which can automatically monitor and store the health condition data. In this study, by evaluation on 3 patients with cardiac infarct or sleep apnea syndrome, patients' health condition such as body and excretion weight in the toilet and apnea and hypopnea during sleeping were successfully monitored, indicating that the system appears useful for monitoring the health condition during daily living.

Affordable Remote Health Monitoring System for the Elderly Using Smart Mobile Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew CLARK

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aging population has been growing as life expectancy increases. In the years to come a much larger percentage of the population will be dependent on others for their daily care. According to a recent report more than 11 million seniors live alone in the USA. These seniors may face serious consequences when they have an emergency situation. However health-monitoring systems are often not affordable for many seniors. The remote health monitoring system presented in this paper addresses the challenge to provide caregivers an emergency alert system for the elderly based on monitoring of their heart rates, breathing activities, and room temperature measurements. The device also allows the dependents to make on demand request for assistance. The remote communication is enabled through the cellular telephone services; so there is no special or additional subscription services needed. This is essential to make the device more affordable for the elderly. We expect that this affordable remote health-monitoring system can be used to help seniors who live alone be safer and healthier.

Dedicated real-time monitoring system for health care using ZigBee.

Science.gov (United States)

Alwan, Omar S; Prahald Rao, K

2017-08-01

Real-time monitoring systems (RTMSs) have drawn considerable attentions in the last decade. Several commercial versions of RTMS for patient monitoring are available which are used by health care professionals. Though they are working satisfactorily on various communication protocols, their range, power consumption, data rate and cost are really bothered. In this study, the authors present an efficient embedded system based wireless health care monitoring system using ZigBee. Their system has a capability to transmit the data between two embedded systems through two transceivers over a long range. In this, wireless transmission has been applied through two categories. The first part which contains Arduino with ZigBee will send the signals to the second device, which contains Raspberry with ZigBee. The second device will measure the patient data and send it to the first device through ZigBee transceiver. The designed system is demonstrated on volunteers to measure the body temperature which is clinically important to monitor and diagnose for fever in the patients.

Investigation of Wireless Sensor Networks for Structural Health Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks (WSNs are one of the most able technologies in the structural health monitoring (SHM field. Through intelligent, self-organising means, the contents of this paper will test a variety of different objects and different working principles of sensor nodes connected into a network and integrated with data processing functions. In this paper the key issues of WSN applied in SHM are discussed, including the integration of different types of sensors with different operational modalities, sampling frequencies, issues of transmission bandwidth, real-time ability, and wireless transmitter frequency. Furthermore, the topology, data fusion, integration, energy saving, and self-powering nature of different systems will be investigated. In the FP7 project “Health Monitoring of Offshore Wind Farms,” the above issues are explored.

Penile density and globally used chemicals in Canadian and Greenland polar bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonne, Christian; Dyck, Markus; Rigét, Frank F; Beck Jensen, Jens-Erik; Hyldstrup, Lars; Letcher, Robert J; Gustavson, Kim; Gilbert, M Thomas P; Dietz, Rune

2015-02-01

Industrially produced chemicals have been a major environmental concern across our entire Globe since the onset of rapid industrial development around the early 1900. Many of the substances being used are known to be endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and are also known to be long-range dispersed and to biomagnify to very high concentrations in the tissues of Arctic apex predators such as polar bears (Ursus maritimus). A major concern relating to EDCs is their effects on vital organ-tissues such as bone and it is possible that EDCs represent a more serious challenge to the species' survival than the more conventionally proposed prey reductions linked to climate change. We therefore analyzed penile bone mineral density (BMD) as a key phenotype for reproductive success in 279 polar bear samples born 1990-2000 representing eight polar bear subpopulations. Since EDC concentrations were not available from the same specimens, we compared BMD with published literature information on EDC concentrations. Latitudinal and longitudinal BMD and EDC gradients were clearly observed, with Western Hudson bears having the highest BMD and lowest EDCs, and North East Greenland polar bears carrying the lowest BMD and highest EDCs. A BMD vs. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) regression analysis showed that BMD decreased as a function of the eight subpopulations' PCB concentrations and this relationship was close to being significant (p=0.10, R(2)=0.39). Risk quotient (RQ) estimation demonstrated that PCBs could be in a range that may lead to disruption of normal reproduction and development. It is therefore likely that EDCs directly affect development and bone density in polar bears. Canadian bears had in general the best health and the North East Greenland subpopulation being at the highest risk of having negative health effects. While reductions in BMD is in general unhealthy, reductions in penile BMD could lead to increased risk of species extinction because of mating and subsequent

Bearings fault detection in helicopters using frequency readjustment and cyclostationary analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Girondin, Victor; Pekpe, Komi Midzodzi; Morel, Herve; Cassar, Jean-Philippe

2013-07-01

The objective of this paper is to propose a vibration-based automated framework dealing with local faults occurring on bearings in the transmission of a helicopter. The knowledge of the shaft speed and kinematic computation provide theoretical frequencies that reveal deteriorations on the inner and outer races, on the rolling elements or on the cage. In practice, the theoretical frequencies of bearing faults may be shifted. They may also be masked by parasitical frequencies because the numerous noisy vibrations and the complexity of the transmission mechanics make the signal spectrum very profuse. Consequently, detection methods based on the monitoring of the theoretical frequencies may lead to wrong decisions. In order to deal with this drawback, we propose to readjust the fault frequencies from the theoretical frequencies using the redundancy introduced by the harmonics. The proposed method provides the confidence index of the readjusted frequency. Minor variations in shaft speed may induce random jitters. The change of the contact surface or of the transmission path brings also a random component in amplitude and phase. These random components in the signal destroy spectral localization of frequencies and thus hide the fault occurrence in the spectrum. Under the hypothesis that these random signals can be modeled as cyclostationary signals, the envelope spectrum can reveal that hidden patterns. In order to provide an indicator estimating fault severity, statistics are proposed. They make the hypothesis that the harmonics at the readjusted frequency are corrupted with an additive normally distributed noise. In this case, the statistics computed from the spectra are chi-square distributed and a signal-to-noise indicator is proposed. The algorithms are then tested with data from two test benches and from flight conditions. The bearing type and the radial load are the main differences between the experiences on the benches. The fault is mainly visible in the

Tunable Laser Development for In-flight Fiber Optic Based Structural Health Monitoring Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Lance; Parker, Allen; Chan, Patrick

2014-01-01

The objective of this task is to investigate, develop, and demonstrate a low-cost swept lasing light source for NASA DFRC's fiber optics sensing system (FOSS) to perform structural health monitoring on current and future aerospace vehicles. This is the regular update of the Tunable Laser Development for In-flight Fiber Optic Based Structural Health Monitoring Systems website.

Health monitoring method for composite materials

Science.gov (United States)

Watkins, Jr., Kenneth S.; Morris, Shelby J [Hampton, VA

2011-04-12

An in-situ method for monitoring the health of a composite component utilizes a condition sensor made of electrically conductive particles dispersed in a polymeric matrix. The sensor is bonded or otherwise formed on the matrix surface of the composite material. Age-related shrinkage of the sensor matrix results in a decrease in the resistivity of the condition sensor. Correlation of measured sensor resistivity with data from aged specimens allows indirect determination of mechanical damage and remaining age of the composite component.

Geology and geomorphology of Bear Lake Valley and upper Bear River, Utah and Idaho

Science.gov (United States)

Reheis, M.C.; Laabs, B.J.C.; Kaufman, D.S.

2009-01-01

Bear Lake, on the Idaho-Utah border, lies in a fault-bounded valley through which the Bear River flows en route to the Great Salt Lake. Surficial deposits in the Bear Lake drainage basin provide a geologic context for interpretation of cores from Bear Lake deposits. In addition to groundwater discharge, Bear Lake received water and sediment from its own small drainage basin and sometimes from the Bear River and its glaciated headwaters. The lake basin interacts with the river in complex ways that are modulated by climatically induced lake-level changes, by the distribution of active Quaternary faults, and by the migration of the river across its fluvial fan north of the present lake. The upper Bear River flows northward for ???150 km from its headwaters in the northwestern Uinta Mountains, generally following the strike of regional Laramide and late Cenozoic structures. These structures likely also control the flow paths of groundwater that feeds Bear Lake, and groundwater-fed streams are the largest source of water when the lake is isolated from the Bear River. The present configuration of the Bear River with respect to Bear Lake Valley may not have been established until the late Pliocene. The absence of Uinta Range-derived quartzites in fluvial gravel on the crest of the Bear Lake Plateau east of Bear Lake suggests that the present headwaters were not part of the drainage basin in the late Tertiary. Newly mapped glacial deposits in the Bear River Range west of Bear Lake indicate several advances of valley glaciers that were probably coeval with glaciations in the Uinta Mountains. Much of the meltwater from these glaciers may have reached Bear Lake via groundwater pathways through infiltration in the karst terrain of the Bear River Range. At times during the Pleistocene, the Bear River flowed into Bear Lake and water level rose to the valley threshold at Nounan narrows. This threshold has been modified by aggradation, downcutting, and tectonics. Maximum lake

Structural Health Monitoring Analysis for the Orbiter Wing Leading Edge

Science.gov (United States)

Yap, Keng C.

2010-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews Structural Health Monitoring Analysis for the Orbiter Wing Leading Edge. The Wing Leading Edge Impact Detection System (WLE IDS) and the Impact Analysis Process are also described to monitor WLE debris threats. The contents include: 1) Risk Management via SHM; 2) Hardware Overview; 3) Instrumentation; 4) Sensor Configuration; 5) Debris Hazard Monitoring; 6) Ascent Response Summary; 7) Response Signal; 8) Distribution of Flight Indications; 9) Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA); 10) Model Correlation; 11) Impact Tests; 12) Wing Leading Edge Modeling; 13) Ascent Debris PRA Results; and 14) MM/OD PRA Results.

Experimental Research on Quick Structural Health Monitoring Technique for Bridges Using Smartphone

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Xuefeng; Ri, Kwang; Han, Ruicong; Yu, Yan; Li, Mingchu; Ou, Jinping

2016-01-01

In the recent years, with the development and popularization of smartphone, the utilization of smartphone in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has attracted increasing attention owing to its unique feature. Since bridges are of great importance to society and economy, bridge health monitoring has very practical significance during its service life. Furthermore, rapid damage assessment of bridge after an extreme event such as earthquake is very important in the recovery work. Smartphone-b...

Monitoring health interventions – who's afraid of LQAS?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Pezzoli

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS is used to evaluate health services. Subunits of a population (lots are accepted or rejected according to the number of failures in a random sample (N of a given lot. If failures are greater than decision value (d, we reject the lot and recommend corrective actions in the lot (i.e. intervention area; if they are equal to or less than d, we accept it. We used LQAS to monitor coverage during the last 3 days of a meningitis vaccination campaign in Niger. We selected one health area (lot per day reporting the lowest administrative coverage in the previous 2 days. In the sampling plan we considered: N to be small enough to allow us to evaluate one lot per day, deciding to sample 16 individuals from the selected villages of each health area, using probability proportionate to population size; thresholds and d to vary according to administrative coverage reported; α≤5% (meaning that, if we would have conducted the survey 100 times, we would have accepted the lot up to five times when real coverage was at an unacceptable level and β≤20% (meaning that we would have rejected the lot up to 20 times, when real coverage was equal or above the satisfactory level. We classified all three lots as with the acceptable coverage. LQAS appeared to be a rapid, simple, and statistically sound method for in-process coverage assessment. We encourage colleagues in the field to consider using LQAS in complement with other monitoring techniques such as house-to-house monitoring.

eHealth in the future of medications management: personalisation, monitoring and adherence.

Science.gov (United States)

Car, Josip; Tan, Woan Shin; Huang, Zhilian; Sloot, Peter; Franklin, Bryony Dean

2017-04-05

Globally, healthcare systems face major challenges with medicines management and medication adherence. Medication adherence determines medication effectiveness and can be the single most effective intervention for improving health outcomes. In anticipation of growth in eHealth interventions worldwide, we explore the role of eHealth in the patients' medicines management journey in primary care, focusing on personalisation and intelligent monitoring for greater adherence. eHealth offers opportunities to transform every step of the patient's medicines management journey. From booking appointments, consultation with a healthcare professional, decision-making, medication dispensing, carer support, information acquisition and monitoring, to learning about medicines and their management in daily life. It has the potential to support personalisation and monitoring and thus lead to better adherence. For some of these dimensions, such as supporting decision-making and providing reminders and prompts, evidence is stronger, but for many others more rigorous research is urgently needed. Given the potential benefits and barriers to eHealth in medicines management, a fine balance needs to be established between evidence-based integration of technologies and constructive experimentation that could lead to a game-changing breakthrough. A concerted, transdisciplinary approach adapted to different contexts, including low- and middle-income contries is required to realise the benefits of eHealth at scale.

Tribo-characteristics of self-lubricating ball bearings for the LE-7 liquid hydrogen rocket-turbopump

Science.gov (United States)

Nosaka, Masataka; Oike, Mamoru; Kikuchi, Masataka; Kamijo, Kenjiro; Tajiri, Masanori

1993-07-01

The tribo characteristics of self-lubricating 40-mm-bore ball bearings with a retainer of glass cloth-polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) laminate, which has elliptical pockets with a large pocket clearance, were tested under thrust loads at speeds up to 50,000 rpm, 2 million DN, in liquid hydrogen (LH2) and in liquid nitrogen (LN2). During testing, the bearing torque, outer-race temperature, and electric resistance between the inner and outer races were monitored to verify the formation and rupture of a PTFE transfer film. Testing showed that the bearings having the elliptical retainer pockets were superior to the conventional bearings with circular pockets. It was determined that, at the maximum inner race spinning velocity of about 5 m/s, a PTFE transfer film could sustain the maximum Hertz stress, up to about 2000 N/sq mm, in LH2, without severe film rupture resulting in bearing seizure. In LN2, the critical load capacity of PTFE transfer film with bearing seizure was about 2700 N/sq mm.

International comparative evaluation of knee replacement with fixed or mobile-bearing posterior-stabilized prostheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Graves, Stephen; Sedrakyan, Art; Baste, Valborg; Gioe, Terence J; Namba, Robert; Martínez Cruz, Olga; Stea, Susanna; Paxton, Elizabeth; Banerjee, Samprit; Isaacs, Abby J; Robertsson, Otto

2014-12-17

Posterior-stabilized total knee prostheses were introduced to address instability secondary to loss of posterior cruciate ligament function, and they have either fixed or mobile bearings. Mobile bearings were developed to improve the function and longevity of total knee prostheses. In this study, the International Consortium of Orthopaedic Registries used a distributed health data network to study a large cohort of posterior-stabilized prostheses to determine if the outcome of a posterior-stabilized total knee prosthesis differs depending on whether it has a fixed or mobile-bearing design. Aggregated registry data were collected with a distributed health data network that was developed by the International Consortium of Orthopaedic Registries to reduce barriers to participation (e.g., security, proprietary, legal, and privacy issues) that have the potential to occur with the alternate centralized data warehouse approach. A distributed health data network is a decentralized model that allows secure storage and analysis of data from different registries. Each registry provided data on mobile and fixed-bearing posterior-stabilized prostheses implanted between 2001 and 2010. Only prostheses associated with primary total knee arthroplasties performed for the treatment of osteoarthritis were included. Prostheses with all types of fixation were included except for those with the rarely used reverse hybrid (cementless tibial and cemented femoral components) fixation. The use of patellar resurfacing was reported. The outcome of interest was time to first revision (for any reason). Multivariate meta-analysis was performed with linear mixed models with survival probability as the unit of analysis. This study includes 137,616 posterior-stabilized knee prostheses; 62% were in female patients, and 17.6% had a mobile bearing. The results of the fixed-effects model indicate that in the first year the mobile-bearing posterior-stabilized prostheses had a significantly higher hazard

Moire-Fringe-Based Fiber Optic Tiltmeter for Structural Health Monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Dae Hyun

2008-01-01

This paper presents a novel fiber optic tiltmeter system for the health monitoring of large-size structures. The system is composed of a sensor head, a light control unit and a signal processing unit. The sensing mechanism of the sensor head is based on a novel integration of the moire fringe phenomenon with fiber optics to achieve a robust performance in addition to its immunity to EM interference, easy ratting, and low cost. In this paper, a prototype of the fiber optic tiltmeter system has been developed successfully. A low-cost light control unit has been developed to drive the system's optic and electronic components. From an experimental test, the fiber optic tiltmeter is proven to be a prospective sensor for the monitoring of the tilting angle of civil structure with a good linearity. Finally, the test also successfully demonstrates the performance and the potential of the novel fiber optic tiltmeter system to monitor the health of civil infrastructures.

Moire-Fringe-Based Fiber Optic Tiltmeter for Structural Health Monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dae Hyun [Seoul National of Technology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2008-04-15

This paper presents a novel fiber optic tiltmeter system for the health monitoring of large-size structures. The system is composed of a sensor head, a light control unit and a signal processing unit. The sensing mechanism of the sensor head is based on a novel integration of the moire fringe phenomenon with fiber optics to achieve a robust performance in addition to its immunity to EM interference, easy ratting, and low cost. In this paper, a prototype of the fiber optic tiltmeter system has been developed successfully. A low-cost light control unit has been developed to drive the system's optic and electronic components. From an experimental test, the fiber optic tiltmeter is proven to be a prospective sensor for the monitoring of the tilting angle of civil structure with a good linearity. Finally, the test also successfully demonstrates the performance and the potential of the novel fiber optic tiltmeter system to monitor the health of civil infrastructures.

Simultaneous Structural Health Monitoring and Vibration Control of Adaptive Structures Using Smart Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Myung-Hyun Kim

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The integration of actuators and sensors using smart materials enabled various applications including health monitoring and structural vibration control. In this study, a robust control technique is designed and implemented in order to reduce vibration of an active structure. Special attention is given to eliminating the possibility of interaction between the health monitoring system and the control system. Exploiting the disturbance decoupling characteristic of the sliding mode observer, it is demonstrated that the proposed observer can eliminate the possible high frequency excitation from the health monitoring system. At the same time, a damage identification scheme, which tracks the changes of mechanical impedance due to the presence of damage, has been applied to assess the health condition of structures. The main objective of this paper is to examine the potential of combining the two emerging techniques together. Using the collocated piezoelectric sensors/actuators for vibration suppression as well as for health monitoring, this technique enabled to reduce the number of system components, while enhancing the performance of structures. As an initial study, both simulation and experimental investigations were performed for an active beam structure. The results show that this integrated technique can provide substantial vibration reductions, while detecting damage on the structure at the same time.

Evaluation of bearing configurations using the single bearing tester in liquid nitrogen

Science.gov (United States)

Jett, T.; Hall, P.; Thom, R.

1991-01-01

Various bearing configurations were tested using the Marshall Space Flight Center single bearing tester with LN2 as the cryogenic coolant. The baseline was one Rocketdyne phase one high pressure oxidizer turbopump (HPOTP) pump end 45-mm bore bearing. The bearing configurations that were tested included a Salox/M cage configuration, a silicon nitride ball configuration, an elongated cage configuration, and a Bray 601 grease configuration.

Dynamic Model for Hydro-Turbine Generator Units Based on a Database Method for Guide Bearings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Xu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A suitable dynamic model of rotor system is of great significance not only for supplying knowledge of the fault mechanism, but also for assisting in machine health monitoring research. Many techniques have been developed for properly modeling the radial vibration of large hydro-turbine generator units. However, an applicable dynamic model has not yet been reported in literature due to the complexity of the boundary conditions and exciting forces. In this paper, a finite element (FE rotor dynamic model of radial vibration taking account of operating conditions is proposed. A brief and practical database method is employed to model the guide bearing. Taking advantage of the method, rotating speed and bearing clearance can be considered in the model. A novel algorithm, which can take account of both transient and steady-state analysis, is proposed to solve the model. Dynamic response for rotor model of 125 MW hydro-turbine generator units in Gezhouba Power Station is simulated. Field data from Optimal Maintenance Information System for Hydro power plants (HOMIS are analyzed compared with the simulation. Results illustrate the application value of the model in providing knowledge of the fault mechanism and in failure diagnosis.

Improvement of journal bearing operation at heavy misalignment using bearing flexibility and compliant liners

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Kim; Klit, Peder

2012-01-01

A flexure journal bearing design is proposed that will improve operational behaviour of a journal bearing at pronounced misalignment. Using a thermoelastohydrodynamic model, it is shown that the proposed flexure journal bearing has vastly increased the hydrodynamic performance compared to the stiff...... bearing when misaligned. The hydrodynamic performance is evaluated on lubricant film thickness, pressure and temperature. Furthermore, the influence of a compliant bearing liner is investigated and it is found that it increases the hydrodynamic performance when applied to a stiff bearing, whereas...... the liner has practically no influence on the flexure journal bearing's performance....

Health Monitoring System Based on Intra-Body Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Razak, A. H. A.; Ibrahim, I. W.; Ayub, A. H.; Amri, M. F.; Hamzi, M. H.; Halim, A. K.; Ahmad, A.; Junid, S. A. M. Al

2015-11-01

This paper presents a model of a Body Area Network (BAN) health monitoring system based on Intra-Body Communication. Intra-body Communication (IBC) is a communication technique that uses the human body as a medium for electrical signal communication. One of the visions in the health care industry is to provide autonomous and continuous self and the remote health monitoring system. This can be achieved via BAN, LAN and WAN integration. The BAN technology itself consists of short range data communication modules, sensors, controller and actuators. The information can be transmitted to the LAN and WAN via the RF technology such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and ANT. Although the implementations of RF communication have been successful, there are still limitations in term of power consumption, battery lifetime, interferences and signal attenuations. One of the solutions for Medical Body Area Network (MBANs) to overcome these issues is by using an IBC technique because it can operate at lower frequencies and power consumption compared to the existing techniques. The first objective is to design the IBC's transmitter and receiver modules using the off the shelf components. The specifications of the modules such as frequency, data rate, modulation and demodulation coding system were defined. The individual module were designed and tested separately. The modules was integrated as an IBC system and tested for functionality then was implemented on PCB. Next objective is to model and implement the digital parts of the transmitter and receiver modules on the Altera's FPGA board. The digital blocks were interfaced with the FPGA's on board modules and the discrete components. The signals that have been received from the transmitter were converted into a proper waveform and it can be viewed via external devices such as oscilloscope and Labview. The signals such as heartbeats or pulses can also be displayed on LCD. In conclusion, the IBC project presents medical health monitoring model

Temporal monitoring of liver and kidney lesions in contaminated East Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus) during 1999-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonne, Christian; Letcher, Robert J; Leifsson, Pall S; Rigét, Frank F; Bechshøft, Thea Ø; Bossi, Rossana; Asmund, Gert; Dietz, Rune

2012-11-01

Organohalogen contaminants bioaccumulate to high concentrations in tissues of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). The exposure levels are in the order to be toxic to inner organs like liver and kidney. We therefore investigated the temporal development of lesions in liver (n=115) and kidney (n=122) samples from East Greenland polar bears taken over the 12 year period from 1999 to 2010. Seven liver and seven kidney lesions were observed of which six were age-related. Controlling for this, the analyses showed that hepatic steatosis and renal cell infiltrations, glomerular sclerosis and tubular hyperplasia decreased over the investigated time period (all ppolar bears. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nuclear genomic sequences reveal that polar bears are an old and distinct bear lineage.

Science.gov (United States)

Hailer, Frank; Kutschera, Verena E; Hallström, Björn M; Klassert, Denise; Fain, Steven R; Leonard, Jennifer A; Arnason, Ulfur; Janke, Axel

2012-04-20

Recent studies have shown that the polar bear matriline (mitochondrial DNA) evolved from a brown bear lineage since the late Pleistocene, potentially indicating rapid speciation and adaption to arctic conditions. Here, we present a high-resolution data set from multiple independent loci across the nuclear genomes of a broad sample of polar, brown, and black bears. Bayesian coalescent analyses place polar bears outside the brown bear clade and date the divergence much earlier, in the middle Pleistocene, about 600 (338 to 934) thousand years ago. This provides more time for polar bear evolution and confirms previous suggestions that polar bears carry introgressed brown bear mitochondrial DNA due to past hybridization. Our results highlight that multilocus genomic analyses are crucial for an accurate understanding of evolutionary history.

An autonomous structural health monitoring solution

Science.gov (United States)

Featherston, Carol A.; Holford, Karen M.; Pullin, Rhys; Lees, Jonathan; Eaton, Mark; Pearson, Matthew

2013-05-01