Exploring the potential of a structural alphabet-based tool for mining multiple target conformations and target flexibility insight.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leslie Regad

Full Text Available Protein flexibility is often implied in binding with different partners and is essential for protein function. The growing number of macromolecular structures in the Protein Data Bank entries and their redundancy has become a major source of structural knowledge of the protein universe. The analysis of structural variability through available redundant structures of a target, called multiple target conformations (MTC, obtained using experimental or modeling methods and under different biological conditions or different sources is one way to explore protein flexibility. This analysis is essential to improve the understanding of various mechanisms associated with protein target function and flexibility. In this study, we explored structural variability of three biological targets by analyzing different MTC sets associated with these targets. To facilitate the study of these MTC sets, we have developed an efficient tool, SA-conf, dedicated to capturing and linking the amino acid and local structure variability and analyzing the target structural variability space. The advantage of SA-conf is that it could be applied to divers sets composed of MTCs available in the PDB obtained using NMR and crystallography or homology models. This tool could also be applied to analyze MTC sets obtained by dynamics approaches. Our results showed that SA-conf tool is effective to quantify the structural variability of a MTC set and to localize the structural variable positions and regions of the target. By selecting adapted MTC subsets and comparing their variability detected by SA-conf, we highlighted different sources of target flexibility such as induced by binding partner, by mutation and intrinsic flexibility. Our results support the interest to mine available structures associated with a target using to offer valuable insight into target flexibility and interaction mechanisms. The SA-conf executable script, with a set of pre-compiled binaries are available at

The design and performance of the nano-carbon based double layers flexible coating for tunable and high-efficiency microwave absorption

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Danfeng; Hao, Zhifeng; Qian, Yannan; Zeng, Bi; Zhu, Haiping; Wu, Qibai; Yan, Chengjie; Chen, Muyu

2018-05-01

Nanocarbon-based materials are outstanding microwave absorbers with good dielectric properties. In this study, double-layer silicone resin flexible absorbing coatings, composed of carbon-coated nickel nanoparticles (Ni@C) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with low loading and a total thickness of 2 mm, were prepared. The reflection loss (RL) of the double-layer absorbing coatings has measured for frequencies between 2 and 18 GHz using the Arch reflecting testing method. The effects of the thickness and electromagnetic parameters of each layer and of the layer sequence on the absorbing properties were investigated. It is found that the measured bandwidth (RL ≤ - 10 dB) of the optimum double-layer structure in our experiment range achieves 3.70 GHz. The results indicated that the double coating structure composed of different materials has greater synergistic absorption effect on impedance matching than that of same materials with different loading. The maximum RL of S1 (5 wt% CNTs)/S3 (60 wt% Ni@C) double-layer absorbing coating composed of different materials (S1 and S3) was larger than the one achieved using either S1 or S3 alone with the same thickness. This was because double-layer coating provided a suitable matching layer and improve the interfacial impedance. It was also shown that absorbing peak value and frequency position can be adjusted by double-layer coating structure.

CLIP Tool Kit (CTK): a flexible and robust pipeline to analyze CLIP sequencing data.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Ankeeta; Qian, Yingzhi; Weyn-Vanhentenryck, Sebastien M; Zhang, Chaolin

2017-02-15

UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP), followed by high-throughput sequencing, is a powerful biochemical assay that maps in vivo protein-RNA interactions on a genome-wide scale. The CLIP Tool Kit (CTK) aims at providing a set of tools for flexible, streamlined and comprehensive CLIP data analysis. This software package extends the scope of our original CIMS package. The software is implemented in Perl. The source code and detailed documentation are available at http://zhanglab.c2b2.columbia.edu/index.php/CTK . cz2294@columbia.edu. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Flexible architecture: bamboo as a tool for children to play in urban kampung

Science.gov (United States)

Susanto, D.; Widyarko; Ilmiani, A. N.

2018-03-01

Due to the dense population and increase of development, urban kampung in Indonesia is facing a problem of limited children’s play spaces. Flexible architecture with its movable principle is expected to be a solution by creating children’s playing tool that is built among the dense urban kampung. Bamboo is the staple material because it is local, able to regenerate quickly, lightweight, and affordable. By using the exploratory method, this research tries to reveal the previously hidden aspects by evaluating all processes of design-build of three created children’s playing tools. These playing tools can be built in the kampung after three processes of apart-and-reassemble. However, there are several questions which need to be discussed further; the right configuration between the component and the joint of the bamboo, to make apart-and-reassemble process more effective in a dense urban kampung, and also how to make bamboo’s structure able to survive better under rainy seasons and surface humidity.

BPFlexTemplate: A Business Process template generation tool based on similarity and flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Latifa Ilahi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In large organizations with multiple organizational units, process variants emerge due to many aspects, including local management policies, resources or socio-technical limitations. Organizations then struggle to improve a business process which has no longer a single process model to redesign, implement and adjust. In this paper, we propose an approach to tackle these two challenges: decrease the proliferation of process variants in these organizations, and foresee, at the same time, the need of having flexible business processes that allow for a certain degree of adjustment. To validate our approach, we first conducted case studies where we collected six real-world business process variants from two organizational units of the same healthcare organization. We then proposed an algorithm to derive a template process model from all the variants, which includes common and flexible process elements. We implemented our approach in a software tool called BPFlexTemplate, and tested it with the elicited variants.

Layout design optimization of dynamic environment flexible manufacturing systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaber Abu Qudeiri

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The proper positioning of machine tools in flexible manufacturing system is one of the factors that lead to increase in production efficiency. Choosing the optimum position of machine tools curtails the total part handling cost between machine tools within the flexible manufacturing system. In this article, a two-stage approach is presented to investigate the best locations of the machine tools in flexible manufacturing system. The location of each machine tool is selected from the available specific and fixed locations in such a way that it will result in best throughput of the flexible manufacturing system. In the first stage of the two-stage approach, the throughput of randomly selected locations of the machine tool in flexible manufacturing system is computed by proposing a production simulation system. The production simulation system utilizes genetic algorithms to find the locations of the machine tools in flexible manufacturing system that achieve the maximum throughput of the flexible manufacturing system. In the second stage, the generated locations are fed into artificial neural network to find a relation between a machine tool’s location and the throughput that can be used to predict the throughput for any other set of locations. Artificial neural network will result in mitigating the computational time.

Prospective comparison of double contrast barium enema plus flexible sigmoidoscopy v colonoscopy in rectal bleeding: barium enema v colonoscopy in rectal bleeding.

OpenAIRE

Irvine, E J; O'Connor, J; Frost, R A; Shorvon, P; Somers, S; Stevenson, G W; Hunt, R H

1988-01-01

Rectal bleeding often heralds serious colonic disease. The literature suggests that colonoscopy is superior to barium enema plus sigmoidoscopy, although no good comparative studies exist. Seventy one patients with overt rectal bleeding had prospectively flexible sigmoidoscopy, double contrast barium enema and colonoscopy completed independently. Against the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of colonoscopy were 0.69 and 0.78 respectively for a spectrum of colonic lesions, while fo...

ROCKETSHIP: a flexible and modular software tool for the planning, processing and analysis of dynamic MRI studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, Samuel R.; Ng, Thomas S. C.; Santa-Maria, Naomi; Montagne, Axel; Zlokovic, Berislav V.; Jacobs, Russell E.

2015-01-01

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is a promising technique to characterize pathology and evaluate treatment response. However, analysis of DCE-MRI data is complex and benefits from concurrent analysis of multiple kinetic models and parameters. Few software tools are currently available that specifically focuses on DCE-MRI analysis with multiple kinetic models. Here, we developed ROCKETSHIP, an open-source, flexible and modular software for DCE-MRI analysis. ROCKETSHIP incorporates analyses with multiple kinetic models, including data-driven nested model analysis. ROCKETSHIP was implemented using the MATLAB programming language. Robustness of the software to provide reliable fits using multiple kinetic models is demonstrated using simulated data. Simulations also demonstrate the utility of the data-driven nested model analysis. Applicability of ROCKETSHIP for both preclinical and clinical studies is shown using DCE-MRI studies of the human brain and a murine tumor model. A DCE-MRI software suite was implemented and tested using simulations. Its applicability to both preclinical and clinical datasets is shown. ROCKETSHIP was designed to be easily accessible for the beginner, but flexible enough for changes or additions to be made by the advanced user as well. The availability of a flexible analysis tool will aid future studies using DCE-MRI. A public release of ROCKETSHIP is available at (https://github.com/petmri/ROCKETSHIP)

Flexible receiver adapter formal design review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krieg, S.A.

1995-01-01

This memo summarizes the results of the Formal (90%) Design Review process and meetings held to evaluate the design of the Flexible Receiver Adapters, support platforms, and associated equipment. The equipment is part of the Flexible Receiver System used to remove, transport, and store long length contaminated equipment and components from both the double and single-shell underground storage tanks at the 200 area tank farms

Numerical Exploration of Kaldorian Interregional Macrodynamics: Enhanced Stability and Predominance of Period Doubling under Flexible Exchange Rates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toichiro Asada

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We present a discrete two-regional Kaldorian macrodynamic model with flexible exchange rates and explore numerically the stability of equilibrium and the possibility of generation of business cycles. We use a grid search method in two-dimensional parameter subspaces, and coefficient criteria for the flip and Hopf bifurcation curves, to determine the stability region and its boundary curves in several parameter ranges. The model is characterized by enhanced stability of equilibrium, while its predominant asymptotic behavior when equilibrium is unstable is period doubling. Cycles are scarce and short-lived in parameter space, occurring at large values of the degree of capital movement β. By contrast to the corresponding fixed exchange rates system, for cycles to occur sufficient amount of trade is required together with high levels of capital movement. Rapid changes in exchange rate expectations and decreased government expenditure are factors contributing to the creation of interregional cycles. Examples of bifurcation and Lyapunov exponent diagrams illustrating period doubling or cycles, and their development into chaotic attractors, are given. The paper illustrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the numerical approach for dynamical systems of moderately high dimensionality and several parameters.

Asymmetric Flexible Supercapacitor Stack

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leela Mohana Reddy A

2008-01-01

Full Text Available AbstractElectrical double layer supercapacitor is very significant in the field of electrical energy storage which can be the solution for the current revolution in the electronic devices like mobile phones, camera flashes which needs flexible and miniaturized energy storage device with all non-aqueous components. The multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs have been synthesized by catalytic chemical vapor deposition technique over hydrogen decrepitated Mischmetal (Mm based AB3alloy hydride. The polymer dispersed MWNTs have been obtained by insitu polymerization and the metal oxide/MWNTs were synthesized by sol-gel method. Morphological characterizations of polymer dispersed MWNTs have been carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM, transmission electron microscopy (TEM and HRTEM. An assymetric double supercapacitor stack has been fabricated using polymer/MWNTs and metal oxide/MWNTs coated over flexible carbon fabric as electrodes and nafion®membrane as a solid electrolyte. Electrochemical performance of the supercapacitor stack has been investigated using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Use of computer graphics simulation for teaching of flexible sigmoidoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Baillie, J; Jowell, P; Evangelou, H; Bickel, W; Cotton, P

1991-05-01

The concept of simulation training in endoscopy is now well-established. The systems currently under development employ either computer graphics simulation or interactive video technology; each has its strengths and weaknesses. A flexible sigmoidoscopy training device has been designed which uses graphic routines--such as object oriented programming and double buffering--in entirely new ways. These programming techniques compensate for the limitations of currently available desk-top microcomputers. By boosting existing computer 'horsepower' with next generation coprocessors and sophisticated graphics tools such as intensity interpolation (Gouraud shading), the realism of computer simulation of flexible sigmoidoscopy is being greatly enhanced. The computer program has teaching and scoring capabilities, making it a truly interactive system. Use has been made of this ability to record, grade and store each trainee encounter in computer memory as part of a multi-center, prospective trial of simulation training being conducted currently in the USA. A new input device, a dummy endoscope, has been designed that allows application of variable resistance to the insertion tube. This greatly enhances tactile feedback, such as resistance during looping. If carefully designed trials show that computer simulation is an attractive and effective training tool, it is expected that this technology will evolve rapidly and be made widely available to trainee endoscopists.

The Python Spectral Analysis Tool (PySAT) for Powerful, Flexible, and Easy Preprocessing and Machine Learning with Point Spectral Data

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, R. B.; Finch, N.; Clegg, S. M.; Graff, T.; Morris, R. V.; Laura, J.

2018-04-01

The PySAT point spectra tool provides a flexible graphical interface, enabling scientists to apply a wide variety of preprocessing and machine learning methods to point spectral data, with an emphasis on multivariate regression.

Balancing stability and flexibility in adaptive governance: An analysis of tools available in U.S. environmental law

Science.gov (United States)

Kundis Craig, Robin; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Allen, Craig R.; Arnold, Craig Anthony (Tony); Birge, Hannah E.; DeCaro, Daniel A.; Fremier, Alexander K.; Gosnell, Hannah; Schlager, Edella

2017-01-01

Adaptive governance must work “on the ground,” that is, it must operate through structures and procedures that the people it governs perceive to be legitimate and fair, as well as incorporating processes and substantive goals that are effective in allowing social-ecological systems (SESs) to adapt to climate change and other impacts. To address the continuing and accelerating alterations that climate change is bringing to SESs, adaptive governance generally will require more flexibility than prior governance institutions have often allowed. However, to function as good governance, adaptive governance must pay real attention to the problem of how to balance this increased need for flexibility with continuing governance stability so that it can foster adaptation to change without being perceived or experienced as perpetually destabilizing, disruptive, and unfair. Flexibility and stability serve different purposes in governance, and a variety of tools exist to strike different balances between them while still preserving the governance institution’s legitimacy among the people governed. After reviewing those purposes and the implications of climate change for environmental governance, we examine psychological insights into the structuring of adaptive governance and the variety of legal tools available to incorporate those insights into adaptive governance regimes. Because the substantive goals of governance systems will differ among specific systems, we do not purport to comment on what the normative or substantive goals of law should be. Instead, we conclude that attention to process and procedure (including participation), as well as increased use of substantive standards (instead of rules), may allow an increased level of substantive flexibility to operate with legitimacy and fairness, providing the requisite levels of psychological, social, and economic stability needed for communities to adapt successfully to the Anthropocene.

Balancing stability and flexibility in adaptive governance: an analysis of tools available in U.S. environmental law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robin Kundis. Craig

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Adaptive governance must work "on the ground," that is, it must operate through structures and procedures that the people it governs perceive to be legitimate and fair, as well as incorporating processes and substantive goals that are effective in allowing social-ecological systems (SESs to adapt to climate change and other impacts. To address the continuing and accelerating alterations that climate change is bringing to SESs, adaptive governance generally will require more flexibility than prior governance institutions have often allowed. However, to function as good governance, adaptive governance must pay real attention to the problem of how to balance this increased need for flexibility with continuing governance stability so that it can foster adaptation to change without being perceived or experienced as perpetually destabilizing, disruptive, and unfair. Flexibility and stability serve different purposes in governance, and a variety of tools exist to strike different balances between them while still preserving the governance institution's legitimacy among the people governed. After reviewing those purposes and the implications of climate change for environmental governance, we examine psychological insights into the structuring of adaptive governance and the variety of legal tools available to incorporate those insights into adaptive governance regimes. Because the substantive goals of governance systems will differ among specific systems, we do not purport to comment on what the normative or substantive goals of law should be. Instead, we conclude that attention to process and procedure (including participation, as well as increased use of substantive standards (instead of rules, may allow an increased level of substantive flexibility to operate with legitimacy and fairness, providing the requisite levels of psychological, social, and economic stability needed for communities to adapt successfully to the Anthropocene.

PAPA: a flexible tool for identifying pleiotropic pathways using genome-wide association study summaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Yan; Wang, Wenyu; Guo, Xiong; Zhang, Feng

2016-03-15

: Pleiotropy is common in the genetic architectures of complex diseases. To the best of our knowledge, no analysis tool has been developed for identifying pleiotropic pathways using multiple genome-wide association study (GWAS) summaries by now. Here, we present PAPA, a flexible tool for pleiotropic pathway analysis utilizing GWAS summary results. The performance of PAPA was validated using publicly available GWAS summaries of body mass index and waist-hip ratio of the GIANT datasets. PAPA identified a set of pleiotropic pathways, which have been demonstrated to be involved in the development of obesity. PAPA program, document and illustrative example are available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/papav1/files/ : fzhxjtu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Flexible Work Schedules: What Are We Trading off To Get Them?

Science.gov (United States)

Golden, Lonnie

2001-01-01

Flexible work schedules have more than doubled since 1985, but workers sometimes must be willing to increase their hours, work evening shifts, or switch to part-time status, self-employment, or certain occupations to get flexibility. Flexibility was less likely for nonwhite, female, unmarried, and less-educated workers. (Contains 38 notes and…

MoveBots - Flexible Object Handling using Dexterous Grippers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Jimmy Alison

.This dissertation present work that focus on increasing flexibility ofrobotic grasping by using simulation tools, dexterous hands and tactile sensors.The work is centered on development of tools and methods for graspplanning, analysis and simulation.Overall the research contributes with valuable tools......Within recent years there has been an increased focus in flexible automationin industrial production. This focus is strongly related to the demandfor small product batches and individually customized products. To enablesuch flexibility large machinery is exchanged or upgraded with high degreeof...... freedom robot manipulators. These manipulators are programmable andmultipurpose and often only limited by their gripper systems. These limitationsare significant since the design and flexibility of the gripper determineswhich objects the system can handle.Current gripper systems are typically simple...

Double-Twisted Conductive Smart Threads Comprising a Homogeneously and a Gradient-Coated Thread for Multidimensional Flexible Pressure-Sensing Devices

KAUST Repository

Tai, Yanlong

2016-03-17

Fiber-based, flexible pressure-sensing systems have attracted attention recently due to their promising application as electronic skins. Here, a new kind of flexible pressure-sensing device based on a polydimethylsiloxane membrane instrumented with double-twisted smart threads (DTSTs) is reported. DTSTs are made of two conductive threads obtained by coating cotton threads with carbon nanotubes. One thread is coated with a homogeneous thickness of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) to detect the intensity of an applied load and the other is coated with a graded thickness of SWCNTs to identify the position of the load along the thread. The mechanism and capacity of DTSTs to accurately sense an applied load are systematically analyzed. Results demonstrate that the fabricated 1D, 2D, and 3D sensing devices can be used to predict both the intensity and the position of an applied load. The sensors feature high sensitivity (between ≈0.1% and 1.56% kPa) and tunable resolution, good cycling resilience (>104 cycles), and a short response time (minimum 2.5 Hz). The presented strategy is a viable alternative for the design of simple, low-cost pressure sensors.

Numerical Exploration of Kaldorian Macrodynamics: Enhanced Stability and Predominance of Period Doubling and Chaos with Flexible Exchange Rates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toichiro Asada

2008-01-01

Full Text Available We explore a discrete Kaldorian macrodynamic model of an open economy with flexible exchange rates, focusing on the effects of variation of the model parameters, the speed of adjustment of the goods market α, and the degree of capital mobility β. We determine by a numerical grid search method the stability region in parameter space and find that flexible rates cause enhanced stability of equilibrium with respect to variations of the parameters. We identify the Hopf-Neimark bifurcation curve and the flip bifurcation curve, and find that the period doubling cascades which leads to chaos is the dominant behavior of the system outside the stability region, persisting to large values of β. Cyclical behavior of noticeable presence is detected for some extreme values of a state parameter. Bifurcation and Lyapunov exponent diagrams are computed illustrating the complex dynamics involved. Examples of attractors and trajectories are presented. The effect of the speed of adaptation of the expected rate is also briefly discussed. Finally, we explore a special model variation incorporating the “wealth effect” which is found to behave similarly to the basic model, contrary to the model of fixed exchange rates in which incorporation of this effect causes an entirely different behavior.

Flexible global ocean-atmosphere-land system model. A modeling tool for the climate change research community

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Tianjun; Yu, Yongqiang; Liu, Yimin; Wang, Bin

2014-01-01

First book available on systematic evaluations of the performance of the global climate model FGOALS. Covers the whole field, ranging from the development to the applications of this climate system model. Provide an outlook for the future development of the FGOALS model system. Offers brief introduction about how to run FGOALS. Coupled climate system models are of central importance for climate studies. A new model known as FGOALS (the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model), has been developed by the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LASG/IAP, CAS), a first-tier national geophysical laboratory. It serves as a powerful tool, both for deepening our understanding of fundamental mechanisms of the climate system and for making decadal prediction and scenario projections of future climate change. ''Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model: A Modeling Tool for the Climate Change Research Community'' is the first book to offer systematic evaluations of this model's performance. It is comprehensive in scope, covering both developmental and application-oriented aspects of this climate system model. It also provides an outlook of future development of FGOALS and offers an overview of how to employ the model. It represents a valuable reference work for researchers and professionals working within the related areas of climate variability and change.

Formation of double-layered TiO2 structures with selectively-positioned molecular dyes for efficient flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Eun Yi; Yu, Sora; Moon, Jeong Hoon; Yoo, Seon Mi; Kim, Chulhee; Kim, Hwan Kyu; Lee, Wan In

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: A novel flexible tandem dye-sensitized solar cell, selectively loading different dyes in discrete layers, was successfully formed on a plastic substrate by transferring the high-temperature-processed N719/TiO 2 over an organic dye-adsorbed TiO 2 film by a typical compression process at room temperature. -- Highlights: • A novel flexible dye-sensitized solar cell, selectively loading two different dyes in discrete layers, was successfully formed on a plastic substrate. • η of the flexible tandem cell obtained by transferring the high-temperature-processed TiO 2 layer was enhanced from 2.91% to 6.86%. • Interface control between two TiO 2 layers is crucial for the efficient transport of photo-injected electrons from the top to bottom TiO 2 layer. -- Abstract: To fabricate flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) utilizing full solar spectrum, the double-layered TiO 2 films, selectively loading two different dyes in discrete layers, were formed on a plastic substrate by transferring the high-temperature-processed N719/TiO 2 over an organic dye (TA-St-CA)-sensitized TiO 2 film by a typical compression process at room temperature. It was found that interface control between two TiO 2 layers is crucial for the efficient transport of photo-injected electrons from the N719/TiO 2 to the TA-St-CA/TiO 2 layer. Electron impedance spectra (EIS) and transient photoelectron spectroscopic analyses exhibited that introduction of a thin interfacial TiO 2 layer between the two TiO 2 layers remarkably decreased the resistance at the interface, while increasing the electron diffusion constant (D e ) by ∼10 times. As a result, the photovoltaic conversion efficiency (η) of the flexible tandem DSC was 6.64%, whereas that of the flexible cell derived from the single TA-St-CA/TiO 2 layer was only 2.98%. Another organic dye (HC-acid), absorbing a short wavelength region of solar spectrum, was also applied to fabricate flexible tandem DSC. The η of the cell

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) display limited behavioural flexibility when faced with a changing foraging task requiring tool use.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Rachel A; Whiten, Andrew

2018-01-01

Behavioural flexibility, the ability to alter behaviour in response to environmental feedback, and to relinquish previously successful solutions to problems, is a crucial ability in allowing organisms to adapt to novel environments and environmental change; it is essential to cumulative cultural change. To explore this ability in chimpanzees, 18 individuals ( Pan troglodytes ) were presented with an artificial foraging task consisting of a tube partially filled with juice that could be reached by hand or retrieved using tool materials to hand. Effective solutions were then restricted in the second phase of the study by narrowing the diameter of the tube, necessitating the abandonment of previously successful solutions. Chimpanzees showed limited behavioural flexibility in comparison to some previous studies, increasing their use of effective techniques, but also continuing to attempt solutions that had been rendered ineffective. This adds to a literature reporting divergent evidence for flexibility (the ability to alter behaviour in response to environmental feedback, and to relinquish previously successful solutions to problems) versus conservatism (a reluctance or inability to explore or adopt novel solutions to problems when a solution is already known) in apes.

Flexible global ocean-atmosphere-land system model. A modeling tool for the climate change research community

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Tianjun; Yu, Yongqiang; Liu, Yimin; Wang, Bin (eds.) [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, (China). Inst. of Atmospheric Physics

2014-04-01

First book available on systematic evaluations of the performance of the global climate model FGOALS. Covers the whole field, ranging from the development to the applications of this climate system model. Provide an outlook for the future development of the FGOALS model system. Offers brief introduction about how to run FGOALS. Coupled climate system models are of central importance for climate studies. A new model known as FGOALS (the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model), has been developed by the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LASG/IAP, CAS), a first-tier national geophysical laboratory. It serves as a powerful tool, both for deepening our understanding of fundamental mechanisms of the climate system and for making decadal prediction and scenario projections of future climate change. ''Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model: A Modeling Tool for the Climate Change Research Community'' is the first book to offer systematic evaluations of this model's performance. It is comprehensive in scope, covering both developmental and application-oriented aspects of this climate system model. It also provides an outlook of future development of FGOALS and offers an overview of how to employ the model. It represents a valuable reference work for researchers and professionals working within the related areas of climate variability and change.

Remote controller for tool moving in tube especially rotopeenig tool in steam generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tocci, J.L.; Blotas, B.; Francois, D.

1988-01-01

To introduce at distance a tool such a rotopeening tool in a tube, the tool is attached to the extremity of a flexible cable which is enclosed in a flexible sheath. The sheath extremity is fixed on the arm of a carrier. The other extremity of the sheath is fixed in translation on a command bed. The tool introduction is made by a motoreduction gear placed on the bed translating the extremity of the sheath by pinion-rack system [fr

Flexible DNA Path in the MCM Double Hexamer Loaded on DNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Hizume, Kohji; Kominami, Hiroaki; Kobayashi, Kei; Yamada, Hirofumi; Araki, Hiroyuki

2017-05-16

The formation of the pre-replicative complex (pre-RC) during the G1 phase, which is also called the licensing of DNA replication, is the initial and essential step of faithful DNA replication during the subsequent S phase. It is widely accepted that in the pre-RC, double-stranded DNA passes through the holes of two ring-shaped minichromosome maintenance (MCM) 2-7 hexamers; however, the spatial organization of the DNA and proteins involved in pre-RC formation is unclear. Here we reconstituted the pre-RC from purified DNA and proteins and visualized the complex using atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM revealed that the MCM double hexamers formed elliptical particles on DNA. Analysis of the angle of binding of DNA to the MCM double hexamer suggests that the DNA does not completely pass through both holes of the MCM hexamers, possibly because the DNA exited from the gap between Mcm2 and Mcm5. A DNA loop fastened by the MCM double hexamer was detected in pre-RC samples reconstituted from purified proteins as well as those purified from yeast cells, suggesting a higher-order architecture of the loaded MCM hexamers and DNA strands.

A flexible fluorescence correlation spectroscopy based method for quantification of the DNA double labeling efficiency with precision control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hou, Sen; Tabaka, Marcin; Sun, Lili; Trochimczyk, Piotr; Kaminski, Tomasz S; Kalwarczyk, Tomasz; Zhang, Xuzhu; Holyst, Robert

2014-01-01

We developed a laser-based method to quantify the double labeling efficiency of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) in a fluorescent dsDNA pool with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). Though, for quantitative biochemistry, accurate measurement of this parameter is of critical importance, before our work it was almost impossible to quantify what percentage of DNA is doubly labeled with the same dye. The dsDNA is produced by annealing complementary single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) labeled with the same dye at 5′ end. Due to imperfect ssDNA labeling, the resulting dsDNA is a mixture of doubly labeled dsDNA, singly labeled dsDNA and unlabeled dsDNA. Our method allows the percentage of doubly labeled dsDNA in the total fluorescent dsDNA pool to be measured. In this method, we excite the imperfectly labeled dsDNA sample in a focal volume of <1 fL with a laser beam and correlate the fluctuations of the fluorescence signal to get the FCS autocorrelation curves; we express the amplitudes of the autocorrelation function as a function of the DNA labeling efficiency; we perform a comparative analysis of a dsDNA sample and a reference dsDNA sample, which is prepared by increasing the total dsDNA concentration c (c > 1) times by adding unlabeled ssDNA during the annealing process. The method is flexible in that it allows for the selection of the reference sample and the c value can be adjusted as needed for a specific study. We express the precision of the method as a function of the ssDNA labeling efficiency or the dsDNA double labeling efficiency. The measurement precision can be controlled by changing the c value. (letter)

On flexible and rigid nouns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rijkhoff, Jan

2008-01-01

Studies in Language 32-3 (2008), 727-752. Special issue: Parts of Speech: Descriptive tools, theoretical constructs Jan Rijkhoff - On flexible and rigid nouns This article argues that in addition to the flexible lexical categories in Hengeveld’s classification of parts-of-speech systems (Contentive......, Non-Verb, Modifier), there are also flexible word classes within the rigid lexical category Noun (Set Noun, Sort Noun, General Noun). Members of flexible word classes are characterized by their vague semantics, which in the case of nouns means that values for the semantic features Shape...... and Homogeneity are either left undetermined or they are specified in such a way that they do not quite match the properties of the kind of entity denoted by the flexible item in the external world. I will then argue that flexible word classes constitute a proper category (i.e. they are not the result of a merger...

Reliability of a computer software angle tool for measuring spine and pelvic flexibility during the sit-and-reach test.

Science.gov (United States)

Mier, Constance M; Shapiro, Belinda S

2013-02-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of a computer software angle tool that measures thoracic (T), lumbar (L), and pelvic (P) angles as a means of evaluating spine and pelvic flexibility during the sit-and-reach (SR) test. Thirty adults performed the SR twice on separate days. The SR test was captured on video and later analyzed for T, L, and P angles using the computer software angle tool. During the test, 3 markers were placed over T1, T12, and L5 vertebrae to identify T, L, and P angles. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) indicated a very high internal consistency (between trials) for T, L, and P angles (0.95-0.99); thus, the average of trials was used for test-retest (between days) reliability. Mean (±SD) values did not differ between days for T (51.0 ± 14.3 vs. 52.3 ± 16.2°), L (23.9 ± 7.1 vs. 23.0 ± 6.9°), or P (98.4 ± 15.6 vs. 98.3 ± 14.7°) angles. Test-retest reliability (ICC) was high for T (0.96) and P (0.97) angles and moderate for L angle (0.84). Both intrarater and interrater reliabilities were high for T (0.95, 0.94) and P (0.97, 0.97) angles and moderate for L angle (0.87, 0.82). Thus, the computer software angle tool is a highly objective method for assessing spine and pelvic flexibility during a video-captured SR test.

PhySortR: a fast, flexible tool for sorting phylogenetic trees in R.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Timothy G; Bhattacharya, Debashish; Ragan, Mark A; Chan, Cheong Xin

2016-01-01

A frequent bottleneck in interpreting phylogenomic output is the need to screen often thousands of trees for features of interest, particularly robust clades of specific taxa, as evidence of monophyletic relationship and/or reticulated evolution. Here we present PhySortR, a fast, flexible R package for classifying phylogenetic trees. Unlike existing utilities, PhySortR allows for identification of both exclusive and non-exclusive clades uniting the target taxa based on tip labels (i.e., leaves) on a tree, with customisable options to assess clades within the context of the whole tree. Using simulated and empirical datasets, we demonstrate the potential and scalability of PhySortR in analysis of thousands of phylogenetic trees without a priori assumption of tree-rooting, and in yielding readily interpretable trees that unambiguously satisfy the query. PhySortR is a command-line tool that is freely available and easily automatable.

Organizational flexibility as a strategic option: fostering dynamic capabilities of hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Dias, Casimiro; Escoval, Ana

2014-01-01

The main purpose of this article is to examine how the internal and external dimensions of organizational flexibility impact hospital performance. Results reveal that matching internal and external flexibilities contributes to the development of capabilities to adopt new strategic options. Such interactions have a significant impact in terms of hospital performance. A cluster of dynamic hospitals, which is characterised by high levels of both internal and external flexibilities, (instead of that have high levels of both internal and external flexibilities) was found to have the double level of performance compared with other clusters. The implications for research and managerial practice are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Longwoods Publishing.

Application of Recurrence Analysis to the period doubling cascade of a confined buoyant flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angeli, D; Corticelli, M A; Fichera, A; Pagano, A

2017-01-01

Recurrence Analysis (RA) is a promising and flexible tool to identify the behaviour of nonlinear dynamical systems. The potentialities of such a technique are explored in the present work, for the study of transitions to chaos of buoyant flow in enclosures. The case of a hot cylindrical source centred in a square enclosure, is considered here, for which an extensive database of results has been collected in recent years. For a specific value of the system aspect ratio, a sequence of period doublings has been identified, leading to the onset of chaos. RA is applied here to analyse the different flow regimes along the route to chaos. The qualitative visual identification of patterns and the statistics given by the quantitative analysis suggest that this kind of tool is well suited to the study of transitional flows in thermo-fluid dynamics. (paper)

A poly(dimethylsiloxane)-coated flexible mold for nanoimprint lithography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Nae Yoon; Kim, Youn Sang

2007-01-01

In this paper, we introduce an anti-adhesion poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-coated flexible mold and its applications for room-temperature imprint lithography. The flexible mold is fabricated using an ultraviolet-curable prepolymer on a flexible substrate, and its surface is passivated with a thin layer of PDMS to impart an anti-adhesion property. The highly flexible mold enables conformal contact with a substrate on which a low-viscosity polymer resist is spin-cast in a thin layer. Large-area imprinting is then realized at room temperature under significantly reduced pressure. The mold was durable even after repetitive imprinting of over 200 times. Also, we show a double imprinting on the substrate with a PDMS-coated replica polymeric mold having 500 nm line patterns. This enables the formation of matrix patterns with varying feature heights in less than 7 min

REVIEW OF FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM BASED ON MODELING AND SIMULATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SAREN Sanjib Kumar

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper focused on the literature survey of the use of flexible manufacturing system design and operation problems on the basis of simulation tools and their methodology which has been widely used for manufacturing system design and analysis. During this period, simulation has been proving to be an extremely useful analysis and optimization tool, and many articles, papers, and conferences have focused directly on the topic. This paper presents a scenario the use of simulation tools and their methodology in flexible manufacturing system from a period 1982 to 2015.

Highly Conductive Transparent and Flexible Electrodes Including Double-Stacked Thin Metal Films for Transparent Flexible Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jun Hee; Kim, Do-Hong; Jeong, Eun Gyo; Lee, Tae-Woo; Lee, Myung Keun; Park, Jeong Woo; Lee, Hoseung; Choi, Kyung Cheol

2017-05-17

To keep pace with the era of transparent and deformable electronics, electrode functions should be improved. In this paper, an innovative structure is suggested to overcome the trade-off between optical and electrical properties that commonly arises with transparent electrodes. The structure of double-stacked metal films showed high conductivity (electronics are expected.

FDM 3D printed coffee glove embedded with flexible electronic

KAUST Repository

Bahri, Meznan; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa; Brahimi, Tayeb; Dahrouj, Hayssam

2017-01-01

, in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Effat University, and aimed at creating a heating coffee glove product operating on double alkaline batteries using Kapton© as a flexible substrate for the circuit. The circuit and its

Flexibility: the grid knows how to cope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boulanger, Vincent

2017-01-01

As variable energy sources, such as wind power and photovoltaic solar power, are more and more penetrating into the electric power mix, flexibility is therefore a growing challenge, notably concerning the power demand variability. As a matter of fact, experts show that, contrary to the popular belief, there is no needs to use thermal power plants, power-to-gas systems or energy storage for that, thanks to innovative power flexibility and load management tools and technologies (nuclear power plants are also gaining the aptitude to be more flexible than before). The frequency issue is addressed

Tool position tracking control of a nonlinear uncertain flexible robot ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Moreover, other different papers and thesis of flexible manipulators ... various applications is highly sensitive to variations of disturbance torque acting on ...... Dang X 2014 Robust adaptive sliding-mode control of condenser-cleaning mobile.

Improve the surface of silver nanowire transparent electrode using a double-layer structure for the quantum-dot light-emitting diodes

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Seok Hyeon; Been Heo, Su; Kang, Seong Jun

2018-03-01

We developed a double-layer structured transparent electrode for use in flexible quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). Silver nanowires (AgNWs) and highly conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) were coated on a transparent substrate to obtain a highly conductive and flexible transparent electrode. The highly conductive PEDOT:PSS improved the surface roughness of the AgNWs transparent electrode film as well as the surface coverage area of the film. The double-layer structured transparent electrode showed superior mechanical properties than conventional indium-tin oxide (ITO) and AgNWs transparent electrodes. QLEDs with the double-layer structured transparent electrode also showed good reliability under cyclic bending conditions. These results indicate that the double-layer structured AgNWs/PEDOT:PSS transparent electrode described here is a feasible alternative to ITO transparent electrodes for flexible QLEDs.

A positive action handling tool for TRIGA fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McMaster, Ira B.

1976-01-01

Because several elements have disengaged accidentally from the conventional fuel handling tool at the PSBR a need was apparent for a tool whose action was more positive. The new design utilizes rotary motion to provide a positive locking action when the tool engages an element. This action provides a secure grip on the element and positive control by the tool operator over when an element can disengage from the tool. The convenience provided by the flexibility of the original tool is retained by making the lower four feet of the new tool flexible. (author)

Bias stress instability of double-gate a-IGZO TFTs on polyimide substrate

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Won-Ju; Ahn, Min-Ju

2017-09-01

In this study, flexible double-gate thin-film transistor (TFT)-based amorphous indium-galliumzinc- oxide (a-IGZO) was fabricated on a polyimide substrate. Double-gate operation with connected front and back gates was compared with a single-gate operation. As a result, the double-gate a- IGZO TFT exhibited enhanced electrical characteristics as well as improved long-term reliability. Under positive- and negative-bias temperature stress, the threshold voltage shift of the double-gate operation was much smaller than that of the single-gate operation.

Boron cross-linked graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite gel electrolyte for flexible solid-state electric double layer capacitor with high performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Yi-Fu; Wu, Peng-Fei; Zhang, Ming-Qiu; Ruan, Wen-Hong; Giannelis, Emmanuel P.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Gel electrolyte is prepared and used in electric double layer capacitor. • Insertion of boron crosslinks into GO agglomerates opens channels for ion migration. • Solid supercapacitors show excellent specific capacitance and cycle stability. • Nanocomposite electrolyte shows better thermal stability and mechanical properties. - Abstract: A new family of boron cross-linked graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol (GO-B-PVA) nanocomposite gels is prepared by freeze-thaw/boron cross-linking method. Then the gel electrolytes saturated with KOH solution are assembled into electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Structure, thermal and mechanical properties of GO-B-PVA are explored. The electrochemical properties of EDLCs using GO-B-PVA/KOH are investigated, and compared with those using GO-PVA/KOH gel or KOH solution electrolyte. FTIR shows that boron cross-links are introduced into GO-PVA, while the boronic structure inserted into agglomerated GO sheets is demonstrated by DMA analysis. The synergy effect of the GO and the boron crosslinking benefits for ionic conductivity due to unblocking ion channels, and for improvement of thermal stability and mechanical properties of the electrolytes. Higher specific capacitance and better cycle stability of EDLCs are obtained by using the GO-B-PVA/KOH electrolyte, especially the one at higher GO content. The nanocomposite gel electrolytes with excellent electrochemical properties and solid-like character are candidates for the industrial application in high-performance flexible solid-state EDLCs

Grant programs : design features shape flexibility, accountability, and performance information

Science.gov (United States)

1998-06-01

Flexible grants--block grants and similar programs that give state or local governments the flexibility to adapt funded activities to fit the state or local context--are an adaptable policy tool and are found in fields from urban transit to community...

Solid-state electric double layer capacitors fabricated with plastic crystal based flexible gel polymer electrolytes: Effective role of electrolyte anions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suleman, Mohd; Kumar, Yogesh; Hashmi, S.A.

2015-01-01

Flexible gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) thick films incorporated with solutions of lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate (Li-triflate or LiTf) and lithium bis trifluoromethane-sulfonimide (LiTFSI) in a plastic crystal succinonitrile (SN), entrapped in poly(vinylidine fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) have been prepared and characterized. The films have been used as electrolytes in the electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Coconut-shell derived activated carbon with high specific surface area (∼2100 m 2 g −1 ) and mixed (micro- and meso-) porosity has been used as EDLC electrodes. The structural, thermal, and electrochemical characterization of the GPEs have been performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), impedance measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The high ionic conductivity (∼10 −3 S cm −1 at 25 °C), good electrochemical stability window (>4.0 V) and flexible nature of the free-standing films of GPEs show their competence in the fabrication of EDLCs. The EDLCs have been tested using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and charge–discharge studies. The EDLCs using LiTf based electrolyte have been found to give higher values of specific capacitance, specific energy, power density (240–280 F g −1 , ∼39 Wh kg −1 and ∼19 kW kg −1 , respectively) than the EDLC cell with LiTFSI based gel electrolyte. EDLCs have been found to show stable performance for ∼10 4 charge–discharge cycles. The comparative studies indicate the effective role of electrolyte anions on the capacitive performance of the solid-state EDLCs. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • Flexible EDLCs with succinonitrile based gel electrolyte membranes are reported. • Anionic size of salts in gel electrolytes plays important role on capacitive performance. • Li-triflate incorporated gel electrolyte shows better performance over LiTFSI-based gel. �

Solid-state electric double layer capacitors fabricated with plastic crystal based flexible gel polymer electrolytes: Effective role of electrolyte anions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suleman, Mohd; Kumar, Yogesh; Hashmi, S.A., E-mail: sahashmi@physics.du.ac.in

2015-08-01

Flexible gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) thick films incorporated with solutions of lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate (Li-triflate or LiTf) and lithium bis trifluoromethane-sulfonimide (LiTFSI) in a plastic crystal succinonitrile (SN), entrapped in poly(vinylidine fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) have been prepared and characterized. The films have been used as electrolytes in the electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Coconut-shell derived activated carbon with high specific surface area (∼2100 m{sup 2} g{sup −1}) and mixed (micro- and meso-) porosity has been used as EDLC electrodes. The structural, thermal, and electrochemical characterization of the GPEs have been performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), impedance measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The high ionic conductivity (∼10{sup −3} S cm{sup −1} at 25 °C), good electrochemical stability window (>4.0 V) and flexible nature of the free-standing films of GPEs show their competence in the fabrication of EDLCs. The EDLCs have been tested using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and charge–discharge studies. The EDLCs using LiTf based electrolyte have been found to give higher values of specific capacitance, specific energy, power density (240–280 F g{sup −1}, ∼39 Wh kg{sup −1} and ∼19 kW kg{sup −1}, respectively) than the EDLC cell with LiTFSI based gel electrolyte. EDLCs have been found to show stable performance for ∼10{sup 4} charge–discharge cycles. The comparative studies indicate the effective role of electrolyte anions on the capacitive performance of the solid-state EDLCs. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • Flexible EDLCs with succinonitrile based gel electrolyte membranes are reported. • Anionic size of salts in gel electrolytes plays important role on capacitive performance. • Li-triflate incorporated gel electrolyte shows better

Flexible heartbeat sensor for wearable device.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, Yeon Hwa; Kim, Wonhyo; Park, Kwang Bum; Kim, Kunnyun; Seo, Sungkyu

2017-08-15

We demonstrate a flexible strain-gauge sensor and its use in a wearable application for heart rate detection. This polymer-based strain-gauge sensor was fabricated using a double-sided fabrication method with polymer and metal, i.e., polyimide and nickel-chrome. The fabrication process for this strain-gauge sensor is compatible with the conventional flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) processes facilitating its commercialization. The fabricated sensor showed a linear relation for an applied normal force of more than 930 kPa, with a minimum detectable force of 6.25Pa. This sensor can also linearly detect a bending radius from 5mm to 100mm. It is a thin, flexible, compact, and inexpensive (for mass production) heart rate detection sensor that is highly sensitive compared to the established optical photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors. It can detect not only the timing of heart pulsation, but also the amplitude or shape of the pulse signal. The proposed strain-gauge sensor can be applicable to various applications for smart devices requiring heartbeat detection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interfacial characterization of flexible hybrid electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Najafian, Sara; Amirkhizi, Alireza V.; Stapleton, Scott

2018-03-01

Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHEs) are the new generation of electronics combining flexible plastic film substrates with electronic devices. Besides the electrical features, design improvements of FHEs depend on the prediction of their mechanical and failure behavior. Debonding of electronic components from the flexible substrate is one of the most common and critical failures of these devices, therefore, the experimental determination of material and interface properties is of great importance in the prediction of failure mechanisms. Traditional interface characterization involves isolated shear and normal mode tests such as the double cantilever beam (DCB) and end notch flexure (ENF) tests. However, due to the thin, flexible nature of the materials and manufacturing restrictions, tests mirroring traditional interface characterization experiments may not always be possible. The ideal goal of this research is to design experiments such that each mode of fracture is isolated. However, due to the complex nonlinear nature of the response and small geometries of FHEs, design of the proper tests to characterize the interface properties can be significantly time and cost consuming. Hence numerical modeling has been implemented to design these novel characterization experiments. This research involves loading case and specimen geometry parametric studies using numerical modeling to design future experiments where either shear or normal fracture modes are dominant. These virtual experiments will provide a foundation for designing similar tests for many different types of flexible electronics and predicting the failure mechanism independent of the specific FHE materials.

Labour flexibility and innovation, complementary or concurrent strategies? A review of the literature

OpenAIRE

De Spiegelaere, Stan; Van Gyes, Guy; Van Hootegem, Geert

2014-01-01

The European strategy for growth has a double aim: becoming an innovative union and enhancing labour flexibility. Yet, few addressed the question whether these two strategies are compatible or concurrent strategies. Through a review of the literature, we address this question by focusing on different types of labour flexibility (functional, contractual and financial), and two types of innovation outcomes: employee-driven innovation (EDI) and organizational innovativeness. Using insights from ...

PipelineDog: a simple and flexible graphic pipeline construction and maintenance tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Anbo; Zhang, Yeting; Sun, Yazhou; Xing, Jinchuan

2018-05-01

Analysis pipelines are an essential part of bioinformatics research, and ad hoc pipelines are frequently created by researchers for prototyping and proof-of-concept purposes. However, most existing pipeline management system or workflow engines are too complex for rapid prototyping or learning the pipeline concept. A lightweight, user-friendly and flexible solution is thus desirable. In this study, we developed a new pipeline construction and maintenance tool, PipelineDog. This is a web-based integrated development environment with a modern web graphical user interface. It offers cross-platform compatibility, project management capabilities, code formatting and error checking functions and an online repository. It uses an easy-to-read/write script system that encourages code reuse. With the online repository, it also encourages sharing of pipelines, which enhances analysis reproducibility and accountability. For most users, PipelineDog requires no software installation. Overall, this web application provides a way to rapidly create and easily manage pipelines. PipelineDog web app is freely available at http://web.pipeline.dog. The command line version is available at http://www.npmjs.com/package/pipelinedog and online repository at http://repo.pipeline.dog. ysun@kean.edu or xing@biology.rutgers.edu or ysun@diagnoa.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Breathing, bubbling, and bending: DNA flexibility from multimicrosecond simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Zeida, Ari; Machado, Matías Rodrigo; Dans, Pablo Daniel; Pantano, Sergio

2012-08-01

Bending of the seemingly stiff DNA double helix is a fundamental physical process for any living organism. Specialized proteins recognize DNA inducing and stabilizing sharp curvatures of the double helix. However, experimental evidence suggests a high protein-independent flexibility of DNA. On the basis of coarse-grained simulations, we propose that DNA experiences thermally induced kinks associated with the spontaneous formation of internal bubbles. Comparison of the protein-induced DNA curvature calculated from the Protein Data Bank with that sampled by our simulations suggests that thermally induced distortions can account for ˜80% of the DNA curvature present in experimentally solved structures.

Breathing, bubbling, and bending: DNA flexibility from multimicrosecond simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeida, Ari; Machado, Matías Rodrigo; Dans, Pablo Daniel; Pantano, Sergio

2012-08-01

Bending of the seemingly stiff DNA double helix is a fundamental physical process for any living organism. Specialized proteins recognize DNA inducing and stabilizing sharp curvatures of the double helix. However, experimental evidence suggests a high protein-independent flexibility of DNA. On the basis of coarse-grained simulations, we propose that DNA experiences thermally induced kinks associated with the spontaneous formation of internal bubbles. Comparison of the protein-induced DNA curvature calculated from the Protein Data Bank with that sampled by our simulations suggests that thermally induced distortions can account for ~80% of the DNA curvature present in experimentally solved structures.

Electric double-layer capacitors with tea waste derived activated carbon electrodes and plastic crystal based flexible gel polymer electrolytes

Science.gov (United States)

Suleman, M.; Deraman, M.; Othman, M. A. R.; Omar, R.; Hashim, M. A.; Basri, N. H.; Nor, N. S. M.; Dolah, B. N. M.; Hanappi, M. F. Y. M.; Hamdan, E.; Sazali, N. E. S.; Tajuddin, N. S. M.; Jasni, M. R. M.

2016-08-01

We report a novel configuration of symmetrical electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) comprising a plastic crystalline succinonitrile (SN) based flexible polymer gel electrolyte, incorporated with sodium trifluoromethane sulfonate (NaTf) immobilised in a host polymer poly (vinylidine fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP). The cost-effective activated carbon powder possessing a specific surface area (SSA) of ~ 1700 m2g-1 containing a large proportion of meso-porosity has been derived from tea waste to use as supercapacitor electrodes. The high ionic conductivity (~3.6×10-3 S cm-1 at room temperature) and good electrochemical stability render the gel polymer electrolyte film a suitable candidate for the fabrication of EDLCs. The performance of the EDLCs has been tested by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and galvanostatic charge-discharge studies. The performance of the EDLC cell is found to be promising in terms of high values of specific capacitance (~270 F g-1), specific energy (~ 36 Wh kg-1), and power density (~ 33 kW kg-1).

Electric double-layer capacitors with tea waste derived activated carbon electrodes and plastic crystal based flexible gel polymer electrolytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suleman, M; Deraman, M; Othman, M A R; Omar, R; Basri, N H; Nor, N S M; Dolah, B N M; Hanappi, M F Y M; Hamdan, E; Sazali, N E S; Tajuddin, N S M; Jasni, M R M; Hashim, M A

2016-01-01

We report a novel configuration of symmetrical electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) comprising a plastic crystalline succinonitrile (SN) based flexible polymer gel electrolyte, incorporated with sodium trifluoromethane sulfonate (NaTf) immobilised in a host polymer poly (vinylidine fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP). The cost-effective activated carbon powder possessing a specific surface area (SSA) of ∼ 1700 m 2 g -1 containing a large proportion of meso-porosity has been derived from tea waste to use as supercapacitor electrodes. The high ionic conductivity (∼3.6×10 -3 S cm -1 at room temperature) and good electrochemical stability render the gel polymer electrolyte film a suitable candidate for the fabrication of EDLCs. The performance of the EDLCs has been tested by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and galvanostatic charge-discharge studies. The performance of the EDLC cell is found to be promising in terms of high values of specific capacitance (∼270 F g -1 ), specific energy (∼ 36 Wh kg -1 ), and power density (∼ 33 kW kg -1 ). (paper)

Flexible Laser Metal Cutting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villumsen, Sigurd; Jørgensen, Steffen Nordahl; Kristiansen, Morten

2014-01-01

This paper describes a new flexible and fast approach to laser cutting called ROBOCUT. Combined with CAD/CAM technology, laser cutting of metal provides the flexibility to perform one-of-a-kind cutting and hereby realises mass production of customised products. Today’s laser cutting techniques...... possess, despite their wide use in industry, limitations regarding speed and geometry. Research trends point towards remote laser cutting techniques which can improve speed and geometrical freedom and hereby the competitiveness of laser cutting compared to fixed-tool-based cutting technology...... such as punching. This paper presents the concepts and preliminary test results of the ROBOCUT laser cutting technology, a technology which potentially can revolutionise laser cutting....

Dissimilar kinetic behavior of electrically manipulated single- and double-stranded DNA tethered to a gold surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Rant, Ulrich; Arinaga, Kenji; Tornow, Marc; Kim, Yong Woon; Netz, Roland R; Fujita, Shozo; Yokoyama, Naoki; Abstreiter, Gerhard

2006-05-15

We report on the electrical manipulation of single- and double-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides that are end tethered to gold surfaces in electrolyte solution. The response to alternating repulsive and attractive electric surface fields is studied by time-resolved fluorescence measurements, revealing markedly distinct dynamics for the flexible single-stranded and stiff double-stranded DNA, respectively. Hydrodynamic simulations rationalize this finding and disclose two different kinetic mechanisms: stiff polymers undergo rotation around the anchoring pivot point; flexible polymers, on the other hand, are pulled onto the attracting surface segment by segment.

The GlycanBuilder: a fast, intuitive and flexible software tool for building and displaying glycan structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Ceroni, Alessio; Dell, Anne; Haslam, Stuart M

2007-08-07

interfaces: an example is the "GlycoWorkbench", a software tool for assisted annotation of glycan mass spectra. The "GlycanBuilder" represent a flexible, reliable and efficient solution to the problem of input and output of glycan structures in any glycomic tool or database.

The GlycanBuilder: a fast, intuitive and flexible software tool for building and displaying glycan structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dell Anne

2007-08-01

applications to create intuitive and appealing user interfaces: an example is the "GlycoWorkbench", a software tool for assisted annotation of glycan mass spectra. The "GlycanBuilder" represent a flexible, reliable and efficient solution to the problem of input and output of glycan structures in any glycomic tool or database.

FDM 3D printed coffee glove embedded with flexible electronic

KAUST Repository

Bahri, Meznan

2017-10-31

With the advances in 3D printing technology, Flexible Electronics can now be exploited to form the so-called “Embedded Electronics”. This paper describes experiences learned from a research project which ran during summer 2016 at KAUST, in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Effat University, and aimed at creating a heating coffee glove product operating on double alkaline batteries using Kapton© as a flexible substrate for the circuit. The circuit and its batteries are encapsulated in a 3D printed glove, designed using SolidWorks©. The proposed methodology and techniques applied during this work could be further used in implementing other technologies, such as thermoelectric coolers head patches, smart garments, and flexible smartphones. Limitation and recommendation of the present methodology are also discussed.

Fuzzy Approaches to Flexible Querying in XML Retrieval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefania Marrara

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper we review some approaches to flexible querying in XML that apply several techniques among which Fuzzy Set Theory. In particular we focus on FleXy, a flexible extension of XQuery-FT that was developed as a library on the open source engine Base-X. We then present PatentLight, a tool for patent retrieval that was developed to show the expressive power of Flexy.

Who is entitled to double effect?

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, J

1991-10-01

The doctrine of double effect continues to be an important tool in bioethical casuistry. Its role within the Catholic moral tradition continues, and there is considerable interest in it by contemporary moral philosophers. But problems of justification and correct application remain. I argue that if the traditional Catholic conviction that there are exceptionless norms prohibiting inflicting some kinds of harms on people is correct, then double effect is justified and necessary. The objection that double effect is superfluous is a rejection of that normative conviction, not a refutation of double effect itself. This justification suggests the correct way of applying double effect to controversial cases. But versions of double effect which dispense with the absolutism of the Catholic tradition lack justification and fall to the objection that double effect is an unnecessary complication.

Evaluation of the flexibility of protective gloves.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrabi, Lotfi; Dolez, Patricia I; Vu-Khanh, Toan; Lara, Jaime

2008-01-01

Two mechanical methods have been developed for the characterization of the flexibility of protective gloves, a key factor affecting their degree of usefulness for workers. The principle of the first method is similar to the ASTM D 4032 standard relative to fabric stiffness and simulates the deformations encountered by gloves that are not tight fitted to the hand. The second method characterizes the flexibility of gloves that are worn tight fitted. Its validity was theoretically verified for elastomer materials. Both methods should prove themselves as valuable tools for protective glove manufacturers, allowing for the characterization of their existing products in terms of flexibility and the development of new ones better fitting workers' needs.

Demand flexibility from residential heat pump

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhattarai, Bishnu Prasad; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna

2014-01-01

Demand response (DR) is considered as a potentially effective tool to compensate generation intermittency imposed by renewable sources. Further, DR can instigate to offer optimum asset utilization and to avoid or delay the need for new infrastructure investment. Being a sizable load together...... with high thermal time constant, heat pumps (HP) can offer a great deal of flexibility in the future intelligent grids especially to compensate fluctuating generation. However, the HP flexibility is highly dependent on thermal demand profile, namely hot water and space heating demand. This paper proposes...... price based scheduling followed by a demand dispatch based central control and a local voltage based adaptive control, to realize HP demand flexibility. Two-step control architecture, namely local primary control encompassed by the central coordinative control, is proposed to implement...

Flexible Assembly Solar Technology (FAST) Final Technical Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toister, Elad [BrightSource Energy Inc., Jerusalem (Israel)

2014-11-06

The Flexible Assembly Solar Technology (FAST) project was initiated by BrightSource in an attempt to provide potential solar field EPC contractors with an effective set of tools to perform specific construction tasks. These tasks are mostly associated with heliostat assembly and installation, and require customized non-standard tools. The FAST concept focuses on low equipment cost, reduced setup time and increased assembly throughput as compared to the Ivanpah solar field construction tools.

Aspects affecting flexibility of Czech managers’ leadership style

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ladislava Kuchynková

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the potential aspects that affect the flexibility of Czech managers’ leadership style, because the ability to lead subordinates flexibly seems to be necessary for managerial practice in these days full of rapid change. A tool which makes it possible to determine the degree of flexibility of individual managers within the situational leadership style is represented by original method LBAII® developed by Ken Blanchard Companies, which the authors were provided with solely for this purpose. Due to the fact that research based on this method had not been conducted in the Czech Republic, an opportunity to learn new information from this field about the selected sample of Czech managers occurred. First of all, the article introduces the concept of a situational leadership style as well as an explanation of its use in practice. Subsequently it describes in detail the methodology of the authors’ primary research and presents the outcomes of a questionnaire survey conducted in the form of contingency tables and other tools (correspondence map, box plot, scatter plot, which aptly illustrate the data found. Finally, the results obtained are discussed and aspects related to the achieved scores of flexibility of the monitored managers are established based on verified hypotheses.

A Flexible Statechart-to-Model-Checker Translator

Science.gov (United States)

Rouquette, Nicolas; Dunphy, Julia; Feather, Martin S.

2000-01-01

Many current-day software design tools offer some variant of statechart notation for system specification. We, like others, have built an automatic translator from (a subset of) statecharts to a model checker, for use to validate behavioral requirements. Our translator is designed to be flexible. This allows us to quickly adjust the translator to variants of statechart semantics, including problem-specific notational conventions that designers employ. Our system demonstration will be of interest to the following two communities: (1) Potential end-users: Our demonstration will show translation from statecharts created in a commercial UML tool (Rational Rose) to Promela, the input language of Holzmann's model checker SPIN. The translation is accomplished automatically. To accommodate the major variants of statechart semantics, our tool offers user-selectable choices among semantic alternatives. Options for customized semantic variants are also made available. The net result is an easy-to-use tool that operates on a wide range of statechart diagrams to automate the pathway to model-checking input. (2) Other researchers: Our translator embodies, in one tool, ideas and approaches drawn from several sources. Solutions to the major challenges of statechart-to-model-checker translation (e.g., determining which transition(s) will fire, handling of concurrent activities) are retired in a uniform, fully mechanized, setting. The way in which the underlying architecture of the translator itself facilitates flexible and customizable translation will also be evident.

Mechanical response of biopolymer double networks

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Joshua; Das, Moumita

We investigate a double network model of articular cartilage (AC) and characterize its equilibrium mechanical response. AC has very few cells and the extracellular matrix mainly determines its mechanical response. This matrix can be thought of as a double polymer network made of collagen and aggrecan. The collagen fibers are stiff and resist tension and compression forces, while aggrecans are flexible and control swelling and hydration. We construct a microscopic model made of two interconnected disordered polymer networks, with fiber elasticity chosen to qualitatively mimic the experimental system. We study the collective mechanical response of this double network as a function of the concentration and stiffness of the individual components as well as the strength of the connection between them using rigidity percolation theory. Our results may provide a better understanding of mechanisms underlying the mechanical resilience of AC, and more broadly may also lead to new perspectives on the mechanical response of multicomponent soft materials. This work was partially supported by a Cottrell College Science Award.

Highly flexible SRAM cells based on novel tri-independent-gate FinFET

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chengsheng; Zheng, Fanglin; Sun, Yabin; Li, Xiaojin; Shi, Yanling

2017-10-01

In this paper, a novel tri-independent-gate (TIG) FinFET is proposed for highly flexible SRAM cells design. To mitigate the read-write conflict, two kinds of SRAM cells based on TIG FinFETs are designed, and high tradeoff are obtained between read stability and speed. Both cells can offer multi read operations for frequency requirement with single voltage supply. In the first TIG FinFET SRAM cell, the strength of single-fin access transistor (TIG FinFET) can be flexibly adjusted by selecting five different modes to meet the needs of dynamic frequency design. Compared to the previous double-independent-gate (DIG) FinFET SRAM cell, 12.16% shorter read delay can be achieved with only 1.62% read stability decrement. As for the second TIG FinFET SRAM cell, pass-gate feedback technology is applied and double-fin TIG FinFETs are used as access transistors to solve the severe write-ability degradation. Three modes exist to flexibly adjust read speed and stability, and 68.2% larger write margin and 51.7% shorter write delay are achieved at only the expense of 26.2% increase in leakage power, with the same layout area as conventional FinFET SRAM cell.

Nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide anchored zinc oxide nanowires grown on carbon fiber cloth for high-performance flexible pseudocapacitive energy storage devices

KAUST Repository

Shakir, Imran; Shahid, Muhammad; Rana, Usman Ali; Nashef, Inas M Al; Hussain, Rafaqat

2014-01-01

Nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide (Ni-Co LDH) nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array has been directly synthesized on a carbon cloth substrate by a facile cost-effective two-step hydrothermal route. As electrode materials for flexible pseudocapacitors, Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array exhibits a significantly enhanced specific capacitance of 1927 Fg-1, which is a ∼1.8 time greater than pristine Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes. The synthesized Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array shows a maximum energy density of 45.55 Whkg-1 at a power density of 46.15 kWkg -1, which is 35% higher than the pristine Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes electrode. Moreover, Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array exhibit excellent excellent rate capability (80.3% capacity retention at 30 Ag -1) and cycling stability (only 3.98% loss after 3000 cycles), due to the significantly improved faradaic redox reaction. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide anchored zinc oxide nanowires grown on carbon fiber cloth for high-performance flexible pseudocapacitive energy storage devices

KAUST Repository

Shakir, Imran

2014-05-01

Nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxide (Ni-Co LDH) nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array has been directly synthesized on a carbon cloth substrate by a facile cost-effective two-step hydrothermal route. As electrode materials for flexible pseudocapacitors, Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array exhibits a significantly enhanced specific capacitance of 1927 Fg-1, which is a ∼1.8 time greater than pristine Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes. The synthesized Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array shows a maximum energy density of 45.55 Whkg-1 at a power density of 46.15 kWkg -1, which is 35% higher than the pristine Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes electrode. Moreover, Ni-Co LDH nanoflakes-ZnO nanowires hybrid array exhibit excellent excellent rate capability (80.3% capacity retention at 30 Ag -1) and cycling stability (only 3.98% loss after 3000 cycles), due to the significantly improved faradaic redox reaction. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Inspection and monitoring techniques for un-bonded flexible risers and pipelines

OpenAIRE

Simonsen, Anders

2014-01-01

Master's thesis in Offshore technology Un-bonded flexible pipelines and risers are an alternative to conventional rigid steel pipes. The use of flexible pipes has enabled development of several offshore fields that seemed unfeasible with the use of rigid pipes due to extensive seabed preparation and large dynamic motions. The lack of knowledge and integrity management tools for flexible pipes is a limiting factor and cause pipelines and risers to be replaced before their service life has ...

Anti-Forensic Tool Using Double Encryption Scheme

OpenAIRE

Singh, Avtar; Singh, Kuldip

2009-01-01

In this paper we are implementing an Anti- Forensic tool that is used in data hiding approaches of the Anti-Forensic technology. This tool will encrypt a secret file twice: firstly it is encrypted with the XOR and then by the powerful AES (Advance Encryption Standard). To make XOR strong we have used three files that are selected by user. These files will create a mess with the plain text before encryption making the cipher text more secure and harder to break.

An interactive and flexible approach to stamping design and optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, Subir; Kunju, Ravi; Kirby, David

2004-01-01

This paper describes an efficient method that integrates finite element analysis (FEA), mesh morphing and response surface based optimization in order to implement an automated and flexible software tool to optimize stamping tool and process design. For FEA, a robust and extremely fast inverse solver is chosen. For morphing, a state of the art mesh morpher that interactively generates shape variables for optimization studies is used. The optimization algorithm utilized in this study enables a global search for a multitude of parameters and is highly flexible with regards to the choice of objective functions. A quality function that minimizes formability defects resulting from stretching and compression is implemented

Dome shaped micro-laser encapsulated in a flexible film

Science.gov (United States)

Ioppolo, T.; Manzo, M.

2014-11-01

In this paper, we demonstrated multimode laser emission from a dome shaped micro-scale resonator encapsulated in a flexible polymer film. The resonator with a radius of ~60 microns was made of Norland Blocking Adhesive (NBA 107) doped with a solution of rhodamine 6G and ethanol. The dome was encapsulated in a flexible polymeric film made of polydymethylsiloxane (PDMS) with a thickness of 1 mm. The micro-scale laser was optically pumped using a frequency doubled Q-switch Nd:YAG laser with pulse repetition of 10 Hz and pulse duration of 9 ns. Experiments were carried out to investigate the lasing properties of this laser structure. The pumping threshold for multimode laser emission was below 100 µJ cm-2. The average optical quality factor for all observed laser modes was of the order of 104. Using a fluence of 315.8 µJ cm-2 it was observed that the intensity of the laser emission dropped by 62% after 5 min of operation. These results showed that these solid state flexible lasers are easy to fabricate and can be integrated into novel flexible photonic devices and novel photonic sensors.

Assessment of concrete characteristics during the deliberate deformation of a flexible mould after casting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schipper, H.R.; Grunewald, S.; Troian, S.; Raghunath, P.; Schlangen, H.E.J.G.; Copuroglu, O.; Pecur, I.B.; Baricevic, A.; Stirmer, N; Bjegovic, D.

2017-01-01

Expensive CNC (computer numerical controlled)-milled formwork is required for the production of double-curved precast concrete elements for cladding or shell structures. The innovative flexible mould method for economically efficient and sustainable production of such elements, developed at Delft

CRISPRpred: A flexible and efficient tool for sgRNAs on-target activity prediction in CRISPR/Cas9 systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md Khaledur Rahman

Full Text Available The CRISPR/Cas9-sgRNA system has recently become a popular tool for genome editing and a very hot topic in the field of medical research. In this system, Cas9 protein is directed to a desired location for gene engineering and cleaves target DNA sequence which is complementary to a 20-nucleotide guide sequence found within the sgRNA. A lot of experimental efforts, ranging from in vivo selection to in silico modeling, have been made for efficient designing of sgRNAs in CRISPR/Cas9 system. In this article, we present a novel tool, called CRISPRpred, for efficient in silico prediction of sgRNAs on-target activity which is based on the applications of Support Vector Machine (SVM model. To conduct experiments, we have used a benchmark dataset of 17 genes and 5310 guide sequences where there are only 20% true values. CRISPRpred achieves Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve (AUROC-Curve, Area Under Precision Recall Curve (AUPR-Curve and maximum Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC as 0.85, 0.56 and 0.48, respectively. Our tool shows approximately 5% improvement in AUPR-Curve and after analyzing all evaluation metrics, we find that CRISPRpred is better than the current state-of-the-art. CRISPRpred is enough flexible to extract relevant features and use them in a learning algorithm. The source code of our entire software with relevant dataset can be found in the following link: https://github.com/khaled-buet/CRISPRpred.

Ethinylestradiol 20 μg/drospirenone 3 mg in a flexible extended regimen for the management of endometriosis-associated pelvic pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Harada, Tasuku; Kosaka, Saori; Elliesen, Joerg; Yasuda, Masanobu; Ito, Makoto; Momoeda, Mikio

2017-11-01

To investigate the efficacy and safety of ethinylestradiol 20 μg/drospirenone 3 mg in a flexible extended regimen (Flexible MIB ) compared with placebo to treat endometriosis-associated pelvic pain (EAPP). A phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, consisting of a 24-week double-blind treatment phase followed by a 28-week open-label extension phase with an unblinded reference arm. Thirty-two centers. A total of 312 patients with endometriosis. Patients were randomized to Flexible MIB , placebo, or dienogest. The Flexible MIB and placebo arms received 1 tablet per day continuously for 120 days, with a 4-day tablet-free interval either after 120 days or after ≥3 consecutive days of spotting and/or bleeding on days 25-120. After 24 weeks, placebo recipients were changed to Flexible MIB . Patients randomized to dienogest received 2 mg/d for 52 weeks in an unblinded reference arm. Absolute change in the most severe EAPP based on visual analog scale scores from the baseline observation phase to the end of the double-blind treatment phase. Compared with placebo, Flexible MIB significantly reduced the most severe EAPP (mean difference in visual analog scale score: -26.3 mm). Flexible MIB also improved other endometriosis-associated pain and gynecologic findings and reduced the size of endometriomas. Flexible MIB improved EAPP and was well tolerated, suggesting it may be a new alternative for managing endometriosis. NCT01697111. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Flexibility in problem solving and tool use of kea and New Caledonian crows in a multi access box paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Auersperg, Alice M I; von Bayern, Auguste M P; Gajdon, Gyula K; Huber, Ludwig; Kacelnik, Alex

2011-01-01

Parrots and corvids show outstanding innovative and flexible behaviour. In particular, kea and New Caledonian crows are often singled out as being exceptionally sophisticated in physical cognition, so that comparing them in this respect is particularly interesting. However, comparing cognitive mechanisms among species requires consideration of non-cognitive behavioural propensities and morphological characteristics evolved from different ancestry and adapted to fit different ecological niches. We used a novel experimental approach based on a Multi-Access-Box (MAB). Food could be extracted by four different techniques, two of them involving tools. Initially all four options were available to the subjects. Once they reached criterion for mastering one option, this task was blocked, until the subjects became proficient in another solution. The exploratory behaviour differed considerably. Only one (of six) kea and one (of five) NCC mastered all four options, including a first report of innovative stick tool use in kea. The crows were more efficient in using the stick tool, the kea the ball tool. The kea were haptically more explorative than the NCC, discovered two or three solutions within the first ten trials (against a mean of 0.75 discoveries by the crows) and switched more quickly to new solutions when the previous one was blocked. Differences in exploration technique, neophobia and object manipulation are likely to explain differential performance across the set of tasks. Our study further underlines the need to use a diversity of tasks when comparing cognitive traits between members of different species. Extension of a similar method to other taxa could help developing a comparative cognition research program.

Half Double Methodology – Leading projects to impact in half the time with double the impact

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ehlers, Michael; Svejvig, Per

this presentation to learn about the three core elements of the half-double methodology so that you can lead your projects to double the impact in half the time. Objectives: Summarize the half-double methodology and core elements of impact, flow, and leadership; explain how PMI’s project management tools can......Despite developments in agile methodologies over the last 20 years, the potential for optimization in projects is still significant. Current research shows that there are methodologies that can be used to reduce lead time and increase value creation of projects by 30% or more. Join...

Spatially-Variant Tikhonov Regularization for Double-Difference Waveform Inversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Youzuo [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Huang, Lianjie [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Zhang, Zhigang [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2011-01-01

Double-difference waveform inversion is a potential tool for quantitative monitoring for geologic carbon storage. It jointly inverts time-lapse seismic data for changes in reservoir geophysical properties. Due to the ill-posedness of waveform inversion, it is a great challenge to obtain reservoir changes accurately and efficiently, particularly when using time-lapse seismic reflection data. Regularization techniques can be utilized to address the issue of ill-posedness. The regularization parameter controls the smoothness of inversion results. A constant regularization parameter is normally used in waveform inversion, and an optimal regularization parameter has to be selected. The resulting inversion results are a trade off among regions with different smoothness or noise levels; therefore the images are either over regularized in some regions while under regularized in the others. In this paper, we employ a spatially-variant parameter in the Tikhonov regularization scheme used in double-difference waveform tomography to improve the inversion accuracy and robustness. We compare the results obtained using a spatially-variant parameter with those obtained using a constant regularization parameter and those produced without any regularization. We observe that, utilizing a spatially-variant regularization scheme, the target regions are well reconstructed while the noise is reduced in the other regions. We show that the spatially-variant regularization scheme provides the flexibility to regularize local regions based on the a priori information without increasing computational costs and the computer memory requirement.

The Effect of Dextromethorphan Premedication on Cough and Patient Tolerance During Flexible Bronchoscopy: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Amini, Shahideh; Peiman, Soheil; Khatuni, Mahdi; Ghalamkari, Marziyeh; Rahimi, Besharat

2017-10-01

Patients undergoing bronchoscopy can experience problems such as anxiety and cough, requiring various doses of sedatives and analgesics. The purposes of this study were to investigate the effect of premedication with dextromethorphan on patients' cough and anxiety, and the use of analgesics/sedatives during flexible bronchoscopy (FB). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, prospective study was performed to assess the effect of dextromethorphan premedication on patients who underwent diagnostic bronchoscopy. Seventy patients included in this study were randomly allocated into 2 groups: group A consisted of 35 patients who received dextromethorphan before FB; and group B consisted of 35 patients who received a placebo. A questionnaire was given to the patients and bronchoscopist about perception of cough, anxiety, and discomfort. The amount of sedative medication and lidocaine use during the procedure and the procedure time were recorded. The group that was premedicated with dextromethorphan had lower complaint scores, significantly less coughing, significantly less stress assessed by the patient and the physician evaluation, shorter total procedure time, and fewer midazolam requirements during FB (P-value dextromethorphan premedication is an effective approach to facilitate the performance of FB for the physician, and could improve patient comfort.

Flexible Textile-Based Organic Transistors Using Graphene/Ag Nanoparticle Electrode

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youn; Kwon, Yeon Ju; Lee, Kang Eun; Oh, Youngseok; Um, Moon-Kwang; Seong, Dong Gi; Lee, Jea Uk

2016-01-01

Highly flexible and electrically-conductive multifunctional textiles are desirable for use in wearable electronic applications. In this study, we fabricated multifunctional textile composites by vacuum filtration and wet-transfer of graphene oxide films on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile in association with embedding Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) to improve the electrical conductivity. A flexible organic transistor can be developed by direct transfer of a dielectric/semiconducting double layer on the graphene/AgNP textile composite, where the textile composite was used as both flexible substrate and conductive gate electrode. The thermal treatment of a textile-based transistor enhanced the electrical performance (mobility = 7.2 cm2·V−1·s−1, on/off current ratio = 4 × 105, and threshold voltage = −1.1 V) due to the improvement of interfacial properties between the conductive textile electrode and the ion-gel dielectric layer. Furthermore, the textile transistors exhibited highly stable device performance under extended bending conditions (with a bending radius down to 3 mm and repeated tests over 1000 cycles). We believe that our simple methods for the fabrication of graphene/AgNP textile composite for use in textile-type transistors can potentially be applied to the development of flexible large-area electronic clothes. PMID:28335276

Effects of prosthetic foot forefoot flexibility on oxygen cost and subjective preference rankings of unilateral transtibial prosthesis users

OpenAIRE

Mark Edwards, MHPE, CP; Stefania Fatone, PhD; Andrew Hansen, PhD; Elizabeth Klodd, MS

2010-01-01

The investigators conducted a double-blind randomized crossover study to determine the effects of prosthetic foot forefoot flexibility on oxygen cost and subjective preference rankings of 13 unilateral transtibial prosthesis users. Five experimental feet were fabricated for use in the study: F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5. F1 was most flexible, F5 was least flexible, and F3 was designed to conform to a biomimetic ankle-foot roll-over shape. The experimental feet were modeled after the Shape&Roll pros...

A flexible framework for process-based hydraulic and water ...

Science.gov (United States)

Background Models that allow for design considerations of green infrastructure (GI) practices to control stormwater runoff and associated contaminants have received considerable attention in recent years. While popular, generally, the GI models are relatively simplistic. However, GI model predictions are being relied upon by many municipalities and State/Local agencies to make decisions about grey vs. green infrastructure improvement planning. Adding complexity to GI modeling frameworks may preclude their use in simpler urban planning situations. Therefore, the goal here was to develop a sophisticated, yet flexible tool that could be used by design engineers and researchers to capture and explore the effect of design factors and properties of the media used in the performance of GI systems at a relatively small scale. We deemed it essential to have a flexible GI modeling tool that is capable of simulating GI system components and specific biophysical processes affecting contaminants such as reactions, and particle-associated transport accurately while maintaining a high degree of flexibly to account for the myriad of GI alternatives. The mathematical framework for a stand-alone GI performance assessment tool has been developed and will be demonstrated.Framework Features The process-based model framework developed here can be used to model a diverse range of GI practices such as green roof, retention pond, bioretention, infiltration trench, permeable pavement and

Modeling Innovative Power Take-Off Based on Double-Acting Hydraulic Cylinders Array for Wave Energy Conversion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Carlos Antolín-Urbaneja

2015-03-01

Full Text Available One of the key systems of a Wave Energy Converter for extraction of wave energy is the Power Take-Off (PTO device. This device transforms the mechanical energy of a moving body into electrical energy. This paper describes the model of an innovative PTO based on independently activated double-acting hydraulic cylinders array. The model has been developed using a simulation tool, based on a port-based approach to model hydraulics systems. The components and subsystems used in the model have been parameterized as real components and their values experimentally obtained from an existing prototype. In fact, the model takes into account most of the hydraulic losses of each component. The simulations show the flexibility to apply different restraining torques to the input movement depending on the geometrical configuration and the hydraulic cylinders on duty, easily modified by a control law. The combination of these two actions allows suitable flexibility to adapt the device to different sea states whilst optimizing the energy extraction. The model has been validated using a real test bench showing good correlations between simulation and experimental tests.

The Python Spectral Analysis Tool (PySAT): A Powerful, Flexible, Preprocessing and Machine Learning Library and Interface

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, R. B.; Finch, N.; Clegg, S. M.; Graff, T. G.; Morris, R. V.; Laura, J.; Gaddis, L. R.

2017-12-01

Machine learning is a powerful but underutilized approach that can enable planetary scientists to derive meaningful results from the rapidly-growing quantity of available spectral data. For example, regression methods such as Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), can be used to determine chemical concentrations from ChemCam and SuperCam Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) data [1]. Many scientists are interested in testing different spectral data processing and machine learning methods, but few have the time or expertise to write their own software to do so. We are therefore developing a free open-source library of software called the Python Spectral Analysis Tool (PySAT) along with a flexible, user-friendly graphical interface to enable scientists to process and analyze point spectral data without requiring significant programming or machine-learning expertise. A related but separately-funded effort is working to develop a graphical interface for orbital data [2]. The PySAT point-spectra tool includes common preprocessing steps (e.g. interpolation, normalization, masking, continuum removal, dimensionality reduction), plotting capabilities, and capabilities to prepare data for machine learning such as creating stratified folds for cross validation, defining training and test sets, and applying calibration transfer so that data collected on different instruments or under different conditions can be used together. The tool leverages the scikit-learn library [3] to enable users to train and compare the results from a variety of multivariate regression methods. It also includes the ability to combine multiple "sub-models" into an overall model, a method that has been shown to improve results and is currently used for ChemCam data [4]. Although development of the PySAT point-spectra tool has focused primarily on the analysis of LIBS spectra, the relevant steps and methods are applicable to any spectral data. The

Fusion Control of Flexible Logic Control and Neural Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lihua Fu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the basic physical meaning of error E and error variety EC, this paper analyzes the logical relationship between them and uses Universal Combinatorial Operation Model in Universal Logic to describe it. Accordingly, a flexible logic control method is put forward to realize effective control on multivariable nonlinear system. In order to implement fusion control with artificial neural network, this paper proposes a new neuron model of Zero-level Universal Combinatorial Operation in Universal Logic. And the artificial neural network of flexible logic control model is implemented based on the proposed neuron model. Finally, stability control, anti-interference control of double inverted-pendulum system, and free walking of cart pendulum system on a level track are realized, showing experimentally the feasibility and validity of this method.

Dome shaped micro-laser encapsulated in a flexible film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ioppolo, T; Manzo, M

2014-01-01

In this paper, we demonstrated multimode laser emission from a dome shaped micro-scale resonator encapsulated in a flexible polymer film. The resonator with a radius of ∼60 microns was made of Norland Blocking Adhesive (NBA 107) doped with a solution of rhodamine 6G and ethanol. The dome was encapsulated in a flexible polymeric film made of polydymethylsiloxane (PDMS) with a thickness of 1 mm. The micro-scale laser was optically pumped using a frequency doubled Q-switch Nd:YAG laser with pulse repetition of 10 Hz and pulse duration of 9 ns. Experiments were carried out to investigate the lasing properties of this laser structure. The pumping threshold for multimode laser emission was below 100 µJ cm −2 . The average optical quality factor for all observed laser modes was of the order of 10 4 . Using a fluence of 315.8 µJ cm −2 it was observed that the intensity of the laser emission dropped by 62% after 5 min of operation. These results showed that these solid state flexible lasers are easy to fabricate and can be integrated into novel flexible photonic devices and novel photonic sensors. (paper)

Management Tools

Science.gov (United States)

1987-01-01

Manugistics, Inc. (formerly AVYX, Inc.) has introduced a new programming language for IBM and IBM compatible computers called TREES-pls. It is a resource management tool originating from the space shuttle, that can be used in such applications as scheduling, resource allocation project control, information management, and artificial intelligence. Manugistics, Inc. was looking for a flexible tool that can be applied to many problems with minimal adaptation. Among the non-government markets are aerospace, other manufacturing, transportation, health care, food and beverage and professional services.

Flexibility in problem solving and tool use of kea and New Caledonian crows in a multi access box paradigm.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alice M I Auersperg

Full Text Available Parrots and corvids show outstanding innovative and flexible behaviour. In particular, kea and New Caledonian crows are often singled out as being exceptionally sophisticated in physical cognition, so that comparing them in this respect is particularly interesting. However, comparing cognitive mechanisms among species requires consideration of non-cognitive behavioural propensities and morphological characteristics evolved from different ancestry and adapted to fit different ecological niches. We used a novel experimental approach based on a Multi-Access-Box (MAB. Food could be extracted by four different techniques, two of them involving tools. Initially all four options were available to the subjects. Once they reached criterion for mastering one option, this task was blocked, until the subjects became proficient in another solution. The exploratory behaviour differed considerably. Only one (of six kea and one (of five NCC mastered all four options, including a first report of innovative stick tool use in kea. The crows were more efficient in using the stick tool, the kea the ball tool. The kea were haptically more explorative than the NCC, discovered two or three solutions within the first ten trials (against a mean of 0.75 discoveries by the crows and switched more quickly to new solutions when the previous one was blocked. Differences in exploration technique, neophobia and object manipulation are likely to explain differential performance across the set of tasks. Our study further underlines the need to use a diversity of tasks when comparing cognitive traits between members of different species. Extension of a similar method to other taxa could help developing a comparative cognition research program.

Large-area WSe2 electric double layer transistors on a plastic substrate

KAUST Repository

Funahashi, Kazuma; Pu, Jiang; Li, Ming Yang; Li, Lain-Jong; Iwasa, Yoshihiro; Takenobu, Taishi

2015-01-01

Due to the requirements for large-area, uniform films, currently transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) cannot be used in flexible transistor industrial applications. In this study, we first transferred chemically grown large-area WSe2 monolayer films from the as-grown sapphire substrates to the flexible plastic substrates. We also fabricated electric double layer transistors using the WSe2 films on the plastic substrates. These transistors exhibited ambipolar operation and an ON/OFF current ratio of ∼104, demonstrating chemically grown WSe2 transistors on plastic substrates for the first time. This achievement can be an important first step for the next-generation TMDC based flexible devices. © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

Large-area WSe2 electric double layer transistors on a plastic substrate

KAUST Repository

Funahashi, Kazuma

2015-04-27

Due to the requirements for large-area, uniform films, currently transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) cannot be used in flexible transistor industrial applications. In this study, we first transferred chemically grown large-area WSe2 monolayer films from the as-grown sapphire substrates to the flexible plastic substrates. We also fabricated electric double layer transistors using the WSe2 films on the plastic substrates. These transistors exhibited ambipolar operation and an ON/OFF current ratio of ∼104, demonstrating chemically grown WSe2 transistors on plastic substrates for the first time. This achievement can be an important first step for the next-generation TMDC based flexible devices. © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

THE FLEXIBLE BUDGET– BASIC TOOL OF THE MANAGEMENT CONTROL IN THE ECONOMIC ENTITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana RADU

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In the content of this article we emphasize the importance of flexible budgeting of expenses for an economic entity. We focused on indirect costs of production, since they include both variable costs and fixed costs, and the way of their budgeting is different. In the first part of the paper we illustrate how to prepare a flexible budget for more predictable levels of activity, and in the second part, we show how to recalculate budgeted expenses for the actual volume of activity. The budget recalculated for the actual volume of activity allows the comparison, in the correct way, of expenditure forecast to those actually incurred, expenses that relate to the same volume of activity.

Sin tiempos: entre la jornada de trabajo femenino y la maternidad en un contexto laboral flexible

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constanza Gómez Rubio

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This article aims to address some of the current problems affecting Chilean women ranked middle class socially and economically and resident of Santiago, in their integration into the labor dynamics. Therefore, interviews were processed using discourse analysis, establishing three lines of argument: work and employment conditions in relation to the risks and consequences for working women, female labor flexibility, and finally, motherhood as beginning and end of the double workday. The results generated show that the presence of intra and extra organizational factors affect how women perform social evaluations of work and employment, leading to a consequent insecurity of both work and employment, due mainly to more flexible working hours. It is about maintaining the quality of life, the justification that legitimizes the double day of work, and the tensions arising from this situation.

A hydrogel capsule as gate dielectric in flexible organic field-effect transistors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dumitru, L. M.; Manoli, K.; Magliulo, M.; Torsi, L., E-mail: luisa.torsi@uniba.it [Department of Chemistry, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Orabona 4, Bari I-70126 (Italy); Ligonzo, T. [Department of Physics, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Orabona 4, Bari I-70126 (Italy); Palazzo, G. [Department of Chemistry, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Orabona 4, Bari I-70126 (Italy); Center of Colloid and Surface Science—CSGI—Bari Unit, Via Orabona 4, Bari I-70126 (Italy)

2015-01-01

A jellified alginate based capsule serves as biocompatible and biodegradable electrolyte system to gate an organic field-effect transistor fabricated on a flexible substrate. Such a system allows operating thiophene based polymer transistors below 0.5 V through an electrical double layer formed across an ion-permeable polymeric electrolyte. Moreover, biological macro-molecules such as glucose-oxidase and streptavidin can enter into the gating capsules that serve also as delivery system. An enzymatic bio-reaction is shown to take place in the capsule and preliminary results on the measurement of the electronic responses promise for low-cost, low-power, flexible electronic bio-sensing applications using capsule-gated organic field-effect transistors.

Low Cost and Flexible UAV Deployment of Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Lars Yndal; Jacobsen, Lars Toft; Hansen, John Paulin

2017-01-01

-collection needs. The main contribution is the extensible architecture for modularized airborne sensor deployment and real-time data visualisation. Our open-source Android application provides data collection, flight path definition and map tools. Total cost of the system is below 800 dollars. The flexibility...

Flexible white phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes based on multilayered graphene/PEDOT:PSS transparent conducting film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Xiaoxiao; Li, Fushan, E-mail: fushanli@hotmail.com; Wu, Wei; Guo, Tailiang, E-mail: gtl_fzu@hotmail.com

2014-03-01

Highlights: • A double-layered graphene/PEDOT:PSS film was fabricated by spray-coating. • A white flexible phosphorescent OLED was fabricated based on this film. • The white flexible OLED presented pure white light emission. • The flexible OLEDs showed a stable white emission during bending test. - Abstract: A double-layered graphene/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) conductive film was prepared, in which the PEDOT:PSS layer was obtained by using spray-coating technique. A flexible white phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices based on the graphene/PEDOT:PSS conductive film was fabricated. Phosphorescent material tris(2-phenylpyridine) iridium (Ir(ppy){sub 3}) and the fluorescent dye 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnapthacene (Rubrene) were co-doped into 4,4′-N,N′-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP) host. N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB) and 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen) were used as hole-transporting and electron-transporting layer, respectively, and 4,4′-bis(2,2′-diphenylvinyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (DPVBi) was used as blue light-emitting layer. The device presented pure white light emission with a Commission Internationale De I’Eclairage coordinates of (0.31, 0.33) and exhibited an excellent light-emitting stability during the bending cycle test with a radius of curvature of 10 mm.

Flexible white phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes based on multilayered graphene/PEDOT:PSS transparent conducting film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Xiaoxiao; Li, Fushan; Wu, Wei; Guo, Tailiang

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A double-layered graphene/PEDOT:PSS film was fabricated by spray-coating. • A white flexible phosphorescent OLED was fabricated based on this film. • The white flexible OLED presented pure white light emission. • The flexible OLEDs showed a stable white emission during bending test. - Abstract: A double-layered graphene/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) conductive film was prepared, in which the PEDOT:PSS layer was obtained by using spray-coating technique. A flexible white phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices based on the graphene/PEDOT:PSS conductive film was fabricated. Phosphorescent material tris(2-phenylpyridine) iridium (Ir(ppy) 3 ) and the fluorescent dye 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnapthacene (Rubrene) were co-doped into 4,4′-N,N′-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP) host. N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB) and 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen) were used as hole-transporting and electron-transporting layer, respectively, and 4,4′-bis(2,2′-diphenylvinyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (DPVBi) was used as blue light-emitting layer. The device presented pure white light emission with a Commission Internationale De I’Eclairage coordinates of (0.31, 0.33) and exhibited an excellent light-emitting stability during the bending cycle test with a radius of curvature of 10 mm

Boron cross-linked graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite gel electrolyte for flexible solid-state electric double layer capacitor with high performance

KAUST Repository

Huang, Yi-Fu; Wu, Peng-Fei; Zhang, Ming-Qiu; Ruan, Wen-Hong; Giannelis, Emmanuel P.

2014-01-01

A new family of boron cross-linked graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol (GO-B-PVA) nanocomposite gels is prepared by freeze-thaw/boron cross-linking method. Then the gel electrolytes saturated with KOH solution are assembled into electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Structure, thermal and mechanical properties of GO-B-PVA are explored. The electrochemical properties of EDLCs using GO-B-PVA/KOH are investigated, and compared with those using GO-PVA/KOH gel or KOH solution electrolyte. FTIR shows that boron cross-links are introduced into GO-PVA, while the boronic structure inserted into agglomerated GO sheets is demonstrated by DMA analysis. The synergy effect of the GO and the boron crosslinking benefits for ionic conductivity due to unblocking ion channels, and for improvement of thermal stability and mechanical properties of the electrolytes. Higher specific capacitance and better cycle stability of EDLCs are obtained by using the GO-B-PVA/KOH electrolyte, especially the one at higher GO content. The nanocomposite gel electrolytes with excellent electrochemical properties and solid-like character are candidates for the industrial application in high-performance flexible solid-state EDLCs. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Boron cross-linked graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite gel electrolyte for flexible solid-state electric double layer capacitor with high performance

KAUST Repository

Huang, Yi-Fu

2014-06-01

A new family of boron cross-linked graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol (GO-B-PVA) nanocomposite gels is prepared by freeze-thaw/boron cross-linking method. Then the gel electrolytes saturated with KOH solution are assembled into electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Structure, thermal and mechanical properties of GO-B-PVA are explored. The electrochemical properties of EDLCs using GO-B-PVA/KOH are investigated, and compared with those using GO-PVA/KOH gel or KOH solution electrolyte. FTIR shows that boron cross-links are introduced into GO-PVA, while the boronic structure inserted into agglomerated GO sheets is demonstrated by DMA analysis. The synergy effect of the GO and the boron crosslinking benefits for ionic conductivity due to unblocking ion channels, and for improvement of thermal stability and mechanical properties of the electrolytes. Higher specific capacitance and better cycle stability of EDLCs are obtained by using the GO-B-PVA/KOH electrolyte, especially the one at higher GO content. The nanocomposite gel electrolytes with excellent electrochemical properties and solid-like character are candidates for the industrial application in high-performance flexible solid-state EDLCs. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Transparent and flexible electrodes and supercapacitors using polyaniline/single-walled carbon nanotube composite thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Jun; Cheng, Guanghui; Chen, Liwei

2011-08-01

Large-scale transparent and flexible electronic devices have been pursued for potential applications such as those in touch sensors and display technologies. These applications require that the power source of these devices must also comply with transparent and flexible features. Here we present transparent and flexible supercapacitors assembled from polyaniline (PANI)/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) composite thin film electrodes. The ultrathin, optically homogeneous and transparent, electrically conducting films of the PANI/SWNT composite show a large specific capacitance due to combined double-layer capacitance and pseudo-capacitance mechanisms. A supercapacitor assembled using electrodes with a SWNT density of 10.0 µg cm-2 and 59 wt% PANI gives a specific capacitance of 55.0 F g-1 at a current density of 2.6 A g-1, showing its possibility for transparent and flexible energy storage.

29 CFR 1915.132 - Portable electric tools.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 7 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Portable electric tools. 1915.132 Section 1915.132 Labor... § 1915.132 Portable electric tools. The provisions of this section shall apply to ship repairing... frames of portable electric tools and appliances, except double insulated tools approved by Underwriters...

The effects of human resource flexibility on human resources development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SeidMehdi Veise

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Human resources are the primary factor for development of competitiveness and innovation and reaching competitive advantage and they try to improve corporate capabilities through various characteristics such as value creation, scarcity and difficulty of imitation. This paper investigates the effect of human resource flexibility and its dimensions on human resource development and its dimensions. The survey was conducted using descriptive-correlation method that intended to describe how human resource flexibility was effective on human resource development. Questionnaire was tool of data collection. The statistical population included one hundred employees of the Electric Company in Ilam province, thus census method was used. Reliability of the questionnaire was measured via Cronbach's alpha equal to 0.96. The findings revealed that flexibility and its dimensions were effective on human resource development and dimensions of it. As a result, human resource flexibility should be considered for development of human resources and employees with the highest flexibility should be selected.

Flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphrey, L. Dennis

1981-01-01

Flexibility is an important aspect of all sports and recreational activities. Flexibility can be developed and maintained by stretching exercises. Exercises designed to develop flexibility in ankle joints, knees, hips, and the lower back are presented. (JN)

Temperature and composition profile during double-track laser cladding of H13 tool steel

Science.gov (United States)

He, X.; Yu, G.; Mazumder, J.

2010-01-01

Multi-track laser cladding is now applied commercially in a range of industries such as automotive, mining and aerospace due to its diversified potential for material processing. The knowledge of temperature, velocity and composition distribution history is essential for a better understanding of the process and subsequent microstructure evolution and properties. Numerical simulation not only helps to understand the complex physical phenomena and underlying principles involved in this process, but it can also be used in the process prediction and system control. The double-track coaxial laser cladding with H13 tool steel powder injection is simulated using a comprehensive three-dimensional model, based on the mass, momentum, energy conservation and solute transport equation. Some important physical phenomena, such as heat transfer, phase changes, mass addition and fluid flow, are taken into account in the calculation. The physical properties for a mixture of solid and liquid phase are defined by treating it as a continuum media. The velocity of the laser beam during the transition between two tracks is considered. The evolution of temperature and composition of different monitoring locations is simulated.

Directional rolling of positively charged nanoparticles along a flexibility gradient on long DNA molecules.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Suehyun; Joo, Heesun; Kim, Jun Soo

2018-01-31

Directing the motion of molecules/colloids in any specific direction is of great interest in many applications of chemistry, physics, and biological sciences, where regulated positioning or transportation of materials is highly desired. Using Brownian dynamics simulations of coarse-grained models of a long, double-stranded DNA molecule and positively charged nanoparticles, we observed that the motion of a single nanoparticle bound to and wrapped by the DNA molecule can be directed along a gradient of DNA local flexibility. The flexibility gradient is constructed along a 0.8 kilobase-pair DNA molecule such that local persistence length decreases gradually from 50 nm to 40 nm, mimicking a gradual change in sequence-dependent flexibility. Nanoparticles roll over a long DNA molecule from less flexible regions towards more flexible ones as a result of the decreasing energetic cost of DNA bending and wrapping. In addition, the rolling becomes slightly accelerated as the positive charge of nanoparticles decreases due to a lower free energy barrier of DNA detachment from charged nanoparticle for processive rolling. This study suggests that the variation in DNA local flexibility can be utilized in constructing and manipulating supramolecular assemblies of DNA molecules and nanoparticles in structural DNA nanotechnology.

Workforce flexibility - in defence of professional healthcare work.

Science.gov (United States)

Wise, Sarah; Duffield, Christine; Fry, Margaret; Roche, Michael

2017-06-19

Purpose The desirability of having a more flexible workforce is emphasised across many health systems yet this goal is as ambiguous as it is ubiquitous. In the absence of empirical studies in healthcare that have defined flexibility as an outcome, the purpose of this paper is to draw on classic management and sociological theory to reduce this ambiguity. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the Weberian tool of "ideal types". Key workforce reforms are held against Atkinson's model of functional flexibility which aims to increase responsiveness and adaptability through multiskilling, autonomy and teams; and Taylorism which seeks stability and reduced costs through specialisation, fragmentation and management control. Findings Appeals to an amorphous goal of increasing workforce flexibility make an assumption that any reform will increase flexibility. However, this paper finds that the work of healthcare professionals already displays most of the essential features of functional flexibility but many widespread reforms are shifting healthcare work in a Taylorist direction. This contradiction is symptomatic of a failure to confront inevitable trade-offs in reform: between the benefits of specialisation and the costs of fragmentation; and between management control and professional autonomy. Originality/value The paper questions the conventional conception of "the problem" of workforce reform as primarily one of professional control over tasks. Holding reforms against the ideal types of Taylorism and functional flexibility is a simple, effective way the costs and benefits of workforce reform can be revealed.

Design of Soil Salinity Policies with Tinamit, a Flexible and Rapid Tool to Couple Stakeholder-Built System Dynamics Models with Physically-Based Models

Science.gov (United States)

Malard, J. J.; Baig, A. I.; Hassanzadeh, E.; Adamowski, J. F.; Tuy, H.; Melgar-Quiñonez, H.

2016-12-01

Model coupling is a crucial step to constructing many environmental models, as it allows for the integration of independently-built models representing different system sub-components to simulate the entire system. Model coupling has been of particular interest in combining socioeconomic System Dynamics (SD) models, whose visual interface facilitates their direct use by stakeholders, with more complex physically-based models of the environmental system. However, model coupling processes are often cumbersome and inflexible and require extensive programming knowledge, limiting their potential for continued use by stakeholders in policy design and analysis after the end of the project. Here, we present Tinamit, a flexible Python-based model-coupling software tool whose easy-to-use API and graphical user interface make the coupling of stakeholder-built SD models with physically-based models rapid, flexible and simple for users with limited to no coding knowledge. The flexibility of the system allows end users to modify the SD model as well as the linking variables between the two models themselves with no need for recoding. We use Tinamit to couple a stakeholder-built socioeconomic model of soil salinization in Pakistan with the physically-based soil salinity model SAHYSMOD. As climate extremes increase in the region, policies to slow or reverse soil salinity buildup are increasing in urgency and must take both socioeconomic and biophysical spheres into account. We use the Tinamit-coupled model to test the impact of integrated policy options (economic and regulatory incentives to farmers) on soil salinity in the region in the face of future climate change scenarios. Use of the Tinamit model allowed for rapid and flexible coupling of the two models, allowing the end user to continue making model structure and policy changes. In addition, the clear interface (in contrast to most model coupling code) makes the final coupled model easily accessible to stakeholders with

Calculation of Flexible Bus-Bars Electrodynamic Stability with Application of Implicit Scheme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. G. Panamarenka

2008-01-01

Full Text Available A numerical method for calculation of open-air substations’ flexible bus-bars dynamic at short-circuit has been improved on equations of a flexible elastic string with application of an implicit scheme. On the basis of the numerical method a computer program FLEBUS for calculation of substations’ flexible bus-bars dynamic at short-circuit has been developed. An approbation and an estimation of calculation result reliability have been carried out in accordance with the program while using experimental data. On the basis of the obtained information it is possible to assert that the developed program is an independent tool for calculation of electrodynamic stability of substations’ flexible bus-bars.

Role of Pectoral Fin Flexibility in Robotic Fish Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Bazaz Behbahani, Sanaz; Tan, Xiaobo

2017-08-01

Pectoral fins play a vital role in the maneuvering and locomotion of fish, and they have become an important actuation mechanism for robotic fish. In this paper, we explore the effect of flexibility of robotic fish pectoral fins on the robot locomotion performance and mechanical efficiency. A dynamic model for the robotic fish is presented, where the flexible fin is modeled as multiple rigid elements connected via torsional springs and dampers. Blade element theory is used to capture the hydrodynamic force on the fin. The model is validated with experimental results obtained on a robotic fish prototype, equipped with 3D-printed fins of different flexibility. The model is then used to analyze the impacts of fin flexibility and power/recovery stroke speed ratio on the robot swimming speed and mechanical efficiency. It is found that, in general, flexible fins demonstrate advantages over rigid fins in speed and efficiency at relatively low fin-beat frequencies, while rigid fins outperform flexible fins at higher frequencies. For a given fin flexibility, the optimal frequency for speed performance differs from the optimal frequency for mechanical efficiency. In addition, for any given fin, there is an optimal power/recovery stroke speed ratio, typically in the range of 2-3, that maximizes the speed performance. Overall, the presented model offers a promising tool for fin flexibility and gait design, to achieve speed and efficiency objectives for robotic fish actuated with pectoral fins.

Analogue frontend amplifiers for bio-potential measurements manufactured with a-IGZO TFTs on flexible substrate

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garripoli, C.; van der Steen, J.L.; Torricelli, F.; Ghittorelli, M.; Gelinck, G.H.; Van Roermund, A.H.M.; Cantatore, E.

2017-01-01

Three novel differential amplifier topologies using double gate a-IGZO TFTs on flexible substrate are presented in this paper. The designs exploit positive feedback and a load with self-biased top gate to achieve the highest static gain in single stage a-IGZO amplifiers reported to date. After

“Self-Peel-Off” Transfer Produces Ultrathin Polyvinylidene-Fluoride-Based Flexible Nanodevices

KAUST Repository

Tai, Yanlong

2017-02-23

Here, a new strategy, self-peel-off transfer, for the preparation of ultrathin flexible nanodevices made from polyvinylidene-fluoride (PVDF) is reported. In this process, a functional pattern of nanoparticles is transferred via peeling from a temporary substrate to the final PVDF film. This peeling process takes advantage of the differences in the work of adhesion between the various layers (the PVDF layer, the nanoparticle-pattern layer and the substrate layer) and of the high stresses generated by the differential thermal expansion of the layers. The work of adhesion is mainly guided by the basic physical/chemical properties of these layers and is highly sensitive to variations in temperature and moisture in the environment. The peeling technique is tested on a variety of PVDF-based functional films using gold/palladium nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, and lithium iron phosphate. Several PVDF-based flexible nanodevices are prepared, including a single-sided wireless flexible humidity sensor in which PVDF is used as the substrate and a double-sided flexible capacitor in which PVDF is used as the ferroelectric layer and the carrier layer. Results show that the nanodevices perform with high repeatability and stability. Self-peel-off transfer is a viable preparation strategy for the design and fabrication of flexible, ultrathin, and light-weight nanodevices.

Agreement Between Face-to-Face and Free Software Video Analysis for Assessing Hamstring Flexibility in Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Moral-Muñoz, José A; Esteban-Moreno, Bernabé; Arroyo-Morales, Manuel; Cobo, Manuel J; Herrera-Viedma, Enrique

2015-09-01

The objective of this study was to determine the level of agreement between face-to-face hamstring flexibility measurements and free software video analysis in adolescents. Reduced hamstring flexibility is common in adolescents (75% of boys and 35% of girls aged 10). The length of the hamstring muscle has an important role in both the effectiveness and the efficiency of basic human movements, and reduced hamstring flexibility is related to various musculoskeletal conditions. There are various approaches to measuring hamstring flexibility with high reliability; the most commonly used approaches in the scientific literature are the sit-and-reach test, hip joint angle (HJA), and active knee extension. The assessment of hamstring flexibility using video analysis could help with adolescent flexibility follow-up. Fifty-four adolescents from a local school participated in a descriptive study of repeated measures using a crossover design. Active knee extension and HJA were measured with an inclinometer and were simultaneously recorded with a video camera. Each video was downloaded to a computer and subsequently analyzed using Kinovea 0.8.15, a free software application for movement analysis. All outcome measures showed reliability estimates with α > 0.90. The lowest reliability was obtained for HJA (α = 0.91). The preliminary findings support the use of a free software tool for assessing hamstring flexibility, offering health professionals a useful tool for adolescent flexibility follow-up.

Options: the value of flexibilities in long term uranium contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Major-Sosias, M.A.

1996-01-01

It has been commonplace for uranium suppliers to offer utilities long-term contracts with significant quantity flexibilities. These are attractive to the utility for which the consumption of fuel is dependent on variable reactor performance and have given the suppliers an additional competitive tool. The return to a uranium market in which near-term supply is likely to be tight is a disincentive to suppliers to offer new contracts with flexibilities. Typical recent flexibility offers have been significantly less generous than in the past. A methodology is outlined which can be used to give a theoretical estimate of the value of the flexibility provision to the supplier and buyer. It is based on the similarity between flexibility provision and option contracts in the securities and commodity markets. By regarding flexibilities as ''embedded options'' it is possible to apply to them the Black-Scholes option pricing formula as long as the necessary inputs, such as the price of uranium, the loan rate and the volatility, are available. The formula does have its shortfalls, however; in particular, it cannot incorporate the political perturbations that are continually taking place in the uranium industry. (13 figures, 15 references). (UK)

Fluid sampling tool

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Anthony R.; Johnston, Roger G.; Martinez, Ronald K.

1999-05-25

A fluid sampling tool for sampling fluid from a container. The tool has a fluid collecting portion which is drilled into the container wall, thereby affixing it to the wall. The tool may have a fluid extracting section which withdraws fluid collected by the fluid collecting section. The fluid collecting section has a fluted shank with an end configured to drill a hole into a container wall. The shank has a threaded portion for tapping the borehole. The shank is threadably engaged to a cylindrical housing having an inner axial passageway sealed at one end by a septum. A flexible member having a cylindrical portion and a bulbous portion is provided. The housing can be slid into an inner axial passageway in the cylindrical portion and sealed to the flexible member. The bulbous portion has an outer lip defining an opening. The housing is clamped into the chuck of a drill, the lip of the bulbous section is pressed against a container wall until the shank touches the wall, and the user operates the drill. Wall shavings (kerf) are confined in a chamber formed in the bulbous section as it folds when the shank advances inside the container. After sufficient advancement of the shank, an o-ring makes a seal with the container wall.

A modeling method for hybrid energy behaviors in flexible machining systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Yufeng; He, Yan; Wang, Yan; Wang, Yulin; Yan, Ping; Lin, Shenlong

2015-01-01

Increasingly environmental and economic pressures have led to great concerns regarding the energy consumption of machining systems. Understanding energy behaviors of flexible machining systems is a prerequisite for improving energy efficiency of these systems. This paper proposes a modeling method to predict energy behaviors in flexible machining systems. The hybrid energy behaviors not only depend on the technical specification related of machine tools and workpieces, but are significantly affected by individual production scenarios. In the method, hybrid energy behaviors are decomposed into Structure-related energy behaviors, State-related energy behaviors, Process-related energy behaviors and Assignment-related energy behaviors. The modeling method for the hybrid energy behaviors is proposed based on Colored Timed Object-oriented Petri Net (CTOPN). The former two types of energy behaviors are modeled by constructing the structure of CTOPN, whist the latter two types of behaviors are simulated by applying colored tokens and associated attributes. Machining on two workpieces in the experimental workshop were undertaken to verify the proposed modeling method. The results showed that the method can provide multi-perspective transparency on energy consumption related to machine tools, workpieces as well as production management, and is particularly suitable for flexible manufacturing system when frequent changes in machining systems are often encountered. - Highlights: • Energy behaviors in flexible machining systems are modeled in this paper. • Hybrid characteristics of energy behaviors are examined from multiple viewpoints. • Flexible modeling method CTOPN is used to predict the hybrid energy behaviors. • This work offers a multi-perspective transparency on energy consumption

Ultrathin Graphene Membranes as Flexible Electrodes for Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Talapatra, Saikat; Kar, Swastik; Shah, Rakesh; Ghosh, Sujoy; An, Xiaohong; Simmons, Trevor; Washington, Morris; Nayak, Saroj

2010-03-01

We will present the results of our investigations of electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) or supercapacitors (SC) fabricated using graphene based ultra thin membranes. These EDLC's show far superior performance compared to other carbon nanomaterials based EDLC's devices. We found that the graphene based devices possess specific capacitance values as high as 120 F/g, with impressive power densities (˜105 kW/kg) and energy densities (˜9.2 Wh/kg). Further, these devices indicated rapid charge transfer response even without the use of any binders or specially prepared current collectors. Our ultracapacitors reflect a significant improvement over previously reported graphene-based ultracapacitors and are substantially better than those obtained with carbon nanotubes.

Reliability Of Kraus-Weber Exercise Test As An Evaluation Tool In ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reliability Of Kraus-Weber Exercise Test As An Evaluation Tool In Low Back ... strength and flexibility of the back, abdominal, psoas and hamstring muscles. ... Keywords: Kraus-Weber test, low back pain, muscle flexibility, muscle strength.

Optimization of the flexible mould process for the production of double-curved concrete elements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schipper, H.R.; Grunewald, S.; Eigenraam, P.; Raghunath, P.; Kok, M.

2014-01-01

Free-form buildings tend to be expensive. By optimizing the production process, economical and wellperforming concrete structures and elements can be manufactured. In this paper, an innovative method is presented that allows producing highly accurate double curved-elements without the need for

Anchoring FRP Composite Armor in Flexible Offshore Riser Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Costache, Andrei

things, they serve for the transportation of hydrocarbons from the subsea facilities to the production and drilling equipment at the sea surface. Flexible risers are the prime choice for connecting floating production, storage and offloading facilities, because they are specially designed for dynamic...... counterpart. A new double grip design with flat faces is proposed, in which the loads are transferred through friction. The behavior of such grip is studied by means of experimental testing and finite element modeling. Several iterations of the grip system were evaluated over the course of the project...

Double-contrast barium enteroclysis as a patency tool for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced enteropathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumoto, Takayuki; Esaki, Motohiro; Kurahara, Koichi; Hirai, Fumihito; Fuchigami, Tadahiko; Matsui, Toshiyuki; Iida, Mitsuo

2011-11-01

Evaluating small bowel patency is recommended for capsule endoscopy in patients suspected of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced (NSAID) enteropathy. The aim of this investigation was to examine whether radiography is a candidate of patency tool in NSAID enteropathy. We reviewed double-contrast barium enteroclysis in 21 patients with NSAID enteropathy diagnosed either by capsule endoscopy or balloon-assisted endoscopy. The endoscopic findings were classified into circular ulcers, linear ulcers and small mucosal defects. The radiographic signs of the corresponding endoscopic findings were retrieved and the depiction rate was calculated. Of the 21 patients, endoscopy detected circular ulcers, linear ulcers, and small ulcers in 12, 3 and 12 patients, respectively. Small bowel radiography depicted circular narrowing as pseudo-folds in 10 patients (83%) and linear ulcers as eccentric rigidity in 2 patients (67%). However, radiography was able to depict small mucosal defects in only 3 patients (17%). Two of 5 patients with pseudo-folds experienced retention of the capsule. "Pseudo-folds" is a sign corresponding to circular ulcer in NSAID enteropathy, which may be predictive of capsule retention.

Manufacturing and testing flexible microfluidic devices with optical and electrical detection mechanisms

OpenAIRE

Ivan, M.G.; Vivet, F.; Meinders, E.R.

2010-01-01

Flexible microfluidic devices made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) were manufactured by soft lithography, and tested in detection of ionic species using optical absorption spectroscopy and electrical measurements. PDMS was chosen due to its flexibility and ease of surface modification by exposure to plasma and UV treatment, its transparency in UV-Vis regions of the light spectrum, and biocompatibility. The dual-detection mechanism allows the user more freedom in choosing the detection tool, ...

Double-curved precast concrete elements : Research into technical viability of the flexible mould method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schipper, H.R.

2015-01-01

The production of precast, concrete elements with complex, double-curved geometry is expensive due to the high costcosts of the necessary moulds and the limited possibilities for mould reuse. Currently, CNC-milled foam moulds are the solution applied mostly in projects, offering good aesthetic

Orangutans (Pongo spp.) may prefer tools with rigid properties to flimsy tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Walkup, Kristina R; Shumaker, Robert W; Pruetz, Jill D

2010-11-01

Preference for tools with either rigid or flexible properties was explored in orangutans (Pongo spp.) through an extension of D. J. Povinelli, J. E. Reaux, and L. A. Theall's (2000) flimsy-tool problem. Three captive orangutans were presented with three unfamiliar pairs of tools to solve a novel problem. Although each orangutan has spontaneously used tools in the past, the tools presented in this study were novel to the apes. Each pair of tools contained one tool with rigid properties (functional) and one tool with flimsy properties (nonfunctional). Solving the problem required selection of a rigid tool to retrieve a food reward. The functional tool was selected in nearly all trials. Moreover, two of the orangutans demonstrated this within the first test trials with each of the three tool types. Although further research is required to test this statistically, it suggests either a preexisting preference for rigid tools or comprehension of the relevant features required in a tool to solve the task. The results of this study demonstrate that orangutans can recognize, or learn to recognize, relevant tool properties and can choose an appropriate tool to solve a problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

The Double Star Orbit Initial Value Problem

Science.gov (United States)

Hensley, Hagan

2018-04-01

Many precise algorithms exist to find a best-fit orbital solution for a double star system given a good enough initial value. Desmos is an online graphing calculator tool with extensive capabilities to support animations and defining functions. It can provide a useful visual means of analyzing double star data to arrive at a best guess approximation of the orbital solution. This is a necessary requirement before using a gradient-descent algorithm to find the best-fit orbital solution for a binary system.

Faculty career flexibility: Why we need it and how best to achieve it

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, Kate

2010-02-01

Research conducted over the last decade provides compelling evidence that higher education institutions have a strong business case for providing flexibility for their tenure-track and tenured faculty. Flexibility constitutes an effective tool for recruiting and retaining talented faculty. Career flexibility is especially critical to retaining some of the most qualified female PhDs in academic science, engineering, and mathematics. Acquiring the best talent is essential to an institution's ability to achieve excellence and maintain its competitive advantage in a global environment. In an effort to increase the flexibility of faculty careers, the American Council on Education partnered with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create the Award for Faculty Career Flexibility. This presentation will address the origins of the award and share findings from the awards process. Fairly simple and cost effective strategies have been successful in accelerating the cultural change necessary to increase the flexibility of faculty careers. This presentation shares these strategies in addition to information about the types of policies and practices being adopted to support faculty work-life balance through career flexibility. )

Mental flexibility impairment in drivers with early Alzheimer's disease: A simulator-based study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginie Etienne

2013-07-01

Full Text Available After memory impairment, one of the most common troubles of early Alzheimer's disease (AD is the impairment of executive functioning. However, it can have major consequences on daily life, notably on the driving activity. The present study focused on one important executive function involved in driving: mental flexibility; and considered how this impairment can affect driving. Ten patients with early AD were matched with 29 healthy older drivers. All participants were given an evaluation of mental flexibility through neuropsychological tests and an experimental test developed on a static driving simulator. The experiment was divided in two conditions; one without mental flexibility and another condition with a mental flexibility demand. AD patients showed impairments in the neuropsychological tests evaluating mental flexibility. These deficits are linked to the deficits they showed in the driving simulator flexibility tests. This study contributes to the understanding of mental flexibility mechanisms and on their role in driving activity. It also confirms that the driving simulator is a suitable tool to explore cognitive disorders and driving ability.

Fluid sampling tool

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, A.R.; Johnston, R.G.; Martinez, R.K.

1999-05-25

A fluid sampling tool is described for sampling fluid from a container. The tool has a fluid collecting portion which is drilled into the container wall, thereby affixing it to the wall. The tool may have a fluid extracting section which withdraws fluid collected by the fluid collecting section. The fluid collecting section has a fluted shank with an end configured to drill a hole into a container wall. The shank has a threaded portion for tapping the borehole. The shank is threadably engaged to a cylindrical housing having an inner axial passageway sealed at one end by a septum. A flexible member having a cylindrical portion and a bulbous portion is provided. The housing can be slid into an inner axial passageway in the cylindrical portion and sealed to the flexible member. The bulbous portion has an outer lip defining an opening. The housing is clamped into the chuck of a drill, the lip of the bulbous section is pressed against a container wall until the shank touches the wall, and the user operates the drill. Wall shavings (kerf) are confined in a chamber formed in the bulbous section as it folds when the shank advances inside the container. After sufficient advancement of the shank, an o-ring makes a seal with the container wall. 6 figs.

Roll-to-roll UV imprint lithography for flexible electronics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maury, P.; Turkenburg, D.H.; Stroeks, N.; Giesen, P.; Barbu, I.; Meinders, E.R.; Bremen, A. van; Iosad, N.; Werf, R. van der; Onvlee, H.

2011-01-01

We propose a roll-to-roll UV imprint lithography tool as a way to pattern flexible PET foil with µm-resolution. As a way to overcome dimensional instability of the foil and its effect on overlay, a self-align approach was investigated, that permits to make several layers in a single lithography

Wearable supercapacitors on polyethylene terephthalate fabrics with good wash fastness and high flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Guixia; Babaahmadi, Vahid; He, Nanfei; Liu, Yixin; Pan, Qin; Montazer, Majid; Gao, Wei

2017-11-01

All solid-state micro-supercapacitors (MSC) have emerged as attractive energy-storage units for portable and wearable electronics. Here, we describe a textile-based solid-state MSC via laser scribing of graphene oxide (GO) coatings on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric. The laser-scribed graphene oxide layers (LGO) possess three-dimensionally porous structure suitable for electrochemical-double-layer formation. To improve the wash fastness and the flexibility of the as-prepared MSCs, glutaraldehyde (GA) was employed to crosslink the GO layers and PVA-gel electrolyte onto the PET fabric. The resultant all solid-state MSCs exhibited excellent flexibility, high areal specific capacitance (756 μF·cm-2 at 20 mV·s-1), and good rate capability when subject to bending and laundering. Furthermore, the MSC device showed a high power density of about 1.4 W·cm-3 and an energy density of 5.3 × 10-5 Wh·cm-3, and retained 98.3% of its initial capacitance after 1000 cycles at a current density of 0.5 mA·cm-2. This work is the first demonstration of in-plane MSCs on PET fabric surfaces with enhanced durability and flexibility.

Double Vacuum Bag Process for Resin Matrix Composite Manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Tan-Hung (Inventor); Jensen, Brian J. (Inventor)

2007-01-01

A double vacuum bag molding assembly with improved void management and laminate net shape control which provides a double vacuum enviromnent for use in fabricating composites from prepregs containing air and/or volatiles such as reactive resin matrix composites or composites from solvent containing prepregs with non-reactive resins matrices. By using two vacuum environments during the curing process, a vacuum can be drawn during a B-stage of a two-step cycle without placing the composite under significant relative pressure. During the final cure stage, a significant pressure can be applied by releasing the vacuum in one of the two environments. Inner and outer bags are useful for creating the two vacuum environments with a perforated tool intermediate the two. The composite is placed intermediate a tool plate and a caul plate in the first environment with the inner bag and tool plate defining the first environment. The second environment is characterized by the outer bag which is placed over the inner bag and the tool plate.

An Architecture Combining IMS-LD and Web Services for Flexible Data-Transfer in CSCL

Science.gov (United States)

Magnisalis, Ioannis; Demetriadis, Stavros

2017-01-01

This article presents evaluation data regarding the MAPIS3 architecture which is proposed as a solution for the data-transfer among various tools to promote flexible collaborative learning designs. We describe the problem that this architecture deals with as "tool orchestration" in collaborative learning settings. This term refers to a…

Flexible and weaveable capacitor wire based on a carbon nanocomposite fiber.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Jing; Bai, Wenyu; Guan, Guozhen; Zhang, Ye; Peng, Huisheng

2013-11-06

A flexible and weaveable electric double-layer capacitor wire is developed by twisting two aligned carbon nanotube/ordered mesoporous carbon composite fibers with remarkable mechanical and electronic properties as electrodes. This capacitor wire exhibits high specific capacitance and long life stability. Compared with the conventional planar structure, the capacitor wire is also lightweight and can be integrated into various textile structures that are particularly promising for portable and wearable electronic devices. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

On flexibility

OpenAIRE

Weiss, Christoph R.; Briglauer, Wolfgang

2000-01-01

By building on theoretical work by Mills and Schumann (1985) and Ungern-Sternberg (1990) this paper provides evidence on the determinants of two dimensions of flexibility, the flexibility in adjusting aggregate output over time (tactical flexibility) as well as the ability to switch quickly between products (operational flexibility). Econometric analysis of a sample of 40.000 farms in Upper-Austria for the period 1980 to 1990 suggests that larger full-time farms operated by younger, better ed...

Facilitated ion transport in all-solid-state flexible supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Bong Gill; Hong, Jinkee; Hong, Won Hi; Hammond, Paula T; Park, HoSeok

2011-09-27

The realization of highly flexible and all-solid-state energy-storage devices strongly depends on both the electrical properties and mechanical integrity of the constitutive materials and the controlled assembly of electrode and solid electrolyte. Herein we report the preparation of all-solid-state flexible supercapacitors (SCs) through the easy assembly of functionalized reduced graphene oxide (f-RGO) thin films (as electrode) and solvent-cast Nafion electrolyte membranes (as electrolyte and separator). In particular, the f-RGO-based SCs (f-RGO-SCs) showed a 2-fold higher specific capacitance (118.5 F/g at 1 A/g) and rate capability (90% retention at 30 A/g) compared to those of all-solid-state graphene SCs (62.3 F/g at 1A/g and 48% retention at 30 A/g). As proven by the 4-fold faster relaxation of the f-RGO-SCs than that of the RGO-SCs and more capacitive behavior of the former at the low-frequency region, these results were attributed to the facilitated ionic transport at the electrical double layer by means of the interfacial engineering of RGO by Nafion. Moreover, the superiority of all-solid-state flexible f-RGO-SCs was demonstrated by the good performance durability under the 1000 cycles of charging and discharging due to the mechanical integrity as a consequence of the interconnected networking structures. Therefore, this research provides new insight into the rational design and fabrication of all-solid-state flexible energy-storage devices as well as the fundamental understanding of ion and charge transport at the interface. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Balance and flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

2003-12-01

The 'work-life balance' and flexible working are currently key buzz terms in the NHS. Those looking for more information on these topics should visit Flexibility at www.flexibility.co.uk for a host of resources designed to support new ways of working, including information on flexible workers and flexible rostering, the legal balancing act for work-life balance and home working.

Nuclear structure and double beta decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogel, P.

1988-01-01

Double beta decay is a rare transition between two nuclei of the same mass number A involving a change of the nuclear charge Z by two units. It has long been recognized that the Oν mode of double beta decay, where two electrons and no neutrinos are emitted, is a powerful tool for the study of neutrino properties. Its observation would constitute a convincing proof that there exists a massive Majorana neutrino which couples to electrons. Double beta decay is a process involving an intricate mixture of particle physics and physics of the nucleus. The principal nuclear physics issues have to do with the evaluation of the nuclear matrix elements responsible for the decay. If the authors wish to arrive at quantitative answers for the neutrino properties the authors have no choice but to learn first how to understand the nuclear mechanisms. The authors describe first the calculation of the decay rate of the 2ν mode of double beta decay, in which two electrons and two antineutrinos are emitted

Tools of the Mind. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

Science.gov (United States)

What Works Clearinghouse, 2008

2008-01-01

"Tools of the Mind" is an early childhood curriculum for preschool and kindergarten children, designed to foster children's executive function through development of self-regulation, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Activities emphasize both executive functioning and academic skills. One study of "Tools of the Mind"…

Piezo-phototronic effect enhanced UV photodetector based on CuI/ZnO double-shell grown on flexible copper microwire.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jingyu; Zhang, Yang; Liu, Caihong; Peng, Mingzeng; Yu, Aifang; Kou, Jinzong; Liu, Wei; Zhai, Junyi; Liu, Juan

2016-12-01

In this work, we present a facile, low-cost, and effective approach to fabricate the UV photodetector with a CuI/ZnO double-shell nanostructure which was grown on common copper microwire. The enhanced performances of Cu/CuI/ZnO core/double-shell microwire photodetector resulted from the formation of heterojunction. Benefiting from the piezo-phototronic effect, the presentation of piezocharges can lower the barrier height and facilitate the charge transport across heterojunction. The photosensing abilities of the Cu/CuI/ZnO core/double-shell microwire detector are investigated under different UV light densities and strain conditions. We demonstrate the I-V characteristic of the as-prepared core/double-shell device; it is quite sensitive to applied strain, which indicates that the piezo-phototronic effect plays an essential role in facilitating charge carrier transport across the CuI/ZnO heterojunction, then the performance of the device is further boosted under external strain.

A method for generating double-ring-shaped vector beams

Science.gov (United States)

Huan, Chen; Xiao-Hui, Ling; Zhi-Hong, Chen; Qian-Guang, Li; Hao, Lv; Hua-Qing, Yu; Xu-Nong, Yi

2016-07-01

We propose a method for generating double-ring-shaped vector beams. A step phase introduced by a spatial light modulator (SLM) first makes the incident laser beam have a nodal cycle. This phase is dynamic in nature because it depends on the optical length. Then a Pancharatnam-Berry phase (PBP) optical element is used to manipulate the local polarization of the optical field by modulating the geometric phase. The experimental results show that this scheme can effectively create double-ring-shaped vector beams. It provides much greater flexibility to manipulate the phase and polarization by simultaneously modulating the dynamic and the geometric phases. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11547017), the Hubei Engineering University Research Foundation, China (Grant No. z2014001), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China (Grant No. 2014CFB578).

Open source tools for ATR development and performance evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Baumann, James M.; Dilsavor, Ronald L.; Stubbles, James; Mossing, John C.

2002-07-01

Early in almost every engineering project, a decision must be made about tools; should I buy off-the-shelf tools or should I develop my own. Either choice can involve significant cost and risk. Off-the-shelf tools may be readily available, but they can be expensive to purchase and to maintain licenses, and may not be flexible enough to satisfy all project requirements. On the other hand, developing new tools permits great flexibility, but it can be time- (and budget-) consuming, and the end product still may not work as intended. Open source software has the advantages of both approaches without many of the pitfalls. This paper examines the concept of open source software, including its history, unique culture, and informal yet closely followed conventions. These characteristics influence the quality and quantity of software available, and ultimately its suitability for serious ATR development work. We give an example where Python, an open source scripting language, and OpenEV, a viewing and analysis tool for geospatial data, have been incorporated into ATR performance evaluation projects. While this case highlights the successful use of open source tools, we also offer important insight into risks associated with this approach.

Case and Administrative Support Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Case and Administrative Support Tools (CAST) is the secure portion of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) Dashboard business process automation tool used to help reduce office administrative labor costs while increasing employee effectiveness. CAST supports business functions which rely on and store Privacy Act sensitive data (PII). Specific business processes included in CAST (and respective PII) are: -Civil Rights Cast Tracking (name, partial medical history, summary of case, and case correspondance). -Employment Law Case Tracking (name, summary of case). -Federal Tort Claims Act Incident Tracking (name, summary of incidents). -Ethics Program Support Tools and Tracking (name, partial financial history). -Summer Honors Application Tracking (name, home address, telephone number, employment history). -Workforce Flexibility Initiative Support Tools (name, alternative workplace phone number). -Resource and Personnel Management Support Tools (name, partial employment and financial history).

Determining the flexibility of regular and chaotic attractors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marhl, Marko; Perc, Matjaz

2006-01-01

We present an overview of measures that are appropriate for determining the flexibility of regular and chaotic attractors. In particular, we focus on those system properties that constitute its responses to external perturbations. We deploy a systematic approach, first introducing the simplest measure given by the local divergence of the system along the attractor, and then develop more rigorous mathematical tools for estimating the flexibility of the system's dynamics. The presented measures are tested on the regular Brusselator and chaotic Hindmarsh-Rose model of an excitable neuron with equal success, thus indicating the overall effectiveness and wide applicability range of the proposed theory. Since responses of dynamical systems to external signals are crucial in several scientific disciplines, and especially in natural sciences, we discuss several important aspects and biological implications of obtained results

Novel electric double-layer capacitor with a coaxial fiber structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xuli; Qiu, Longbin; Ren, Jing; Guan, Guozhen; Lin, Huijuan; Zhang, Zhitao; Chen, Peining; Wang, Yonggang; Peng, Huisheng

2013-11-26

A coaxial electric double-layer capacitor fiber is developed from the aligned carbon nanotube fiber and sheet, which functions as two electrodes with a polymer gel sandwiched between them. The unique coaxial structure enables a rapid transportation of ions between the two electrodes with a high electrochemical performance. These energy storage fibers are also flexible and stretchable, and can be woven into and widely used for electronic textiles. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Double-well magnetic trap for Bose-Einstein condensates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, N.R.; Wilson, A.C.; Foot, C.J.

2002-01-01

We present a magnetic trapping scheme for neutral atoms based on a hybrid of Ioffe-Pritchard and time-averaged orbiting potential traps. The resulting double-well magnetic potential has readily controllable barrier height and well separation. This offers a new tool for studying the behavior of Bose condensates in double-well potentials, and in particular for atom optics and interferometry. We formulate a description for the potential of this magnetic trap and discuss practical issues such as loading with atoms, evaporative cooling and manipulating the potential

Office flexible cystoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavoussi, L R; Clayman, R V

1988-11-01

Since the development of the first purpose-built flexible cystoscope in 1984, flexible cystoscopy has become an accepted diagnostic and therapeutic modality. Indeed, it is estimated that more than 10 per cent of practicing urologists are already familiar with this technology. The flexible cystoscope has markedly extended the urologist's ability to examine the bladder, and it has become a valuable adjunct to the rigid cystoscope. Although the operation of this instrument is vastly different from that of its rigid counterpart, with practice, the technique can be learned. After experience is obtained with diagnostic flexible cystoscopy, the urologist will likely prefer this new instrument for bladder inspection, as it provides for a more thorough yet less morbid and less expensive examination. In the future, the development of improved and smaller instrumentation will further extend the therapeutic indications for flexible cystoscopy. Indeed, advances in laser technology are already providing the urologist with 300- to 600-micron (0.9 to 1.8F) flexible probes capable of incision (KTP laser), fulguration (Nd:YAG laser), and stone disintegration (tunable dye laser). Lastly, the skills obtained in using the flexible cystoscope are all readily applicable to the development of dexterity with the already available flexible nephroscope and the more recently developed flexible ureteroscope.

The role of the hippocampus in flexible cognition and social behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachael D Rubin

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Successful behavior requires actively acquiring and representing information about the environment and people, and manipulating and using those acquired representations flexibly to optimally act in and on the world. The frontal lobes have figured prominently in most accounts of flexible or goal-directed behavior, as evidenced by often-reported behavioral inflexibility in individuals with frontal lobe dysfunction. Here, we propose that the hippocampus also plays a critical role by forming and reconstructing relational memory representations that underlie flexible cognition and social behavior. There is mounting evidence that damage to the hippocampus can produce inflexible and maladaptive behavior when such behavior places high demands on the generation, recombination, and flexible use of information. This is seen in abilities as diverse as memory, navigation, exploration, imagination, creativity, decision-making, character judgments, establishing and maintaining social bonds, empathy, social discourse, and language use. Thus, the hippocampus, together with its extensive interconnections with other neural systems, supports the flexible use of information in general. Further, we suggest that this understanding has important clinical implications. Hippocampal abnormalities can produce profound deficits in real-world situations, which typically place high demands on the flexible use of information, but are not always obvious on diagnostic tools tuned to frontal lobe function. This review documents the role of the hippocampus in supporting flexible representations and aims to expand our understanding of the dynamic networks that operate as we move through and create meaning of our world.

The role of the hippocampus in flexible cognition and social behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Rubin, Rachael D; Watson, Patrick D; Duff, Melissa C; Cohen, Neal J

2014-01-01

Successful behavior requires actively acquiring and representing information about the environment and people, and manipulating and using those acquired representations flexibly to optimally act in and on the world. The frontal lobes have figured prominently in most accounts of flexible or goal-directed behavior, as evidenced by often-reported behavioral inflexibility in individuals with frontal lobe dysfunction. Here, we propose that the hippocampus also plays a critical role by forming and reconstructing relational memory representations that underlie flexible cognition and social behavior. There is mounting evidence that damage to the hippocampus can produce inflexible and maladaptive behavior when such behavior places high demands on the generation, recombination, and flexible use of information. This is seen in abilities as diverse as memory, navigation, exploration, imagination, creativity, decision-making, character judgments, establishing and maintaining social bonds, empathy, social discourse, and language use. Thus, the hippocampus, together with its extensive interconnections with other neural systems, supports the flexible use of information in general. Further, we suggest that this understanding has important clinical implications. Hippocampal abnormalities can produce profound deficits in real-world situations, which typically place high demands on the flexible use of information, but are not always obvious on diagnostic tools tuned to frontal lobe function. This review documents the role of the hippocampus in supporting flexible representations and aims to expand our understanding of the dynamic networks that operate as we move through and create meaning of our world.

Europeanization by it is tools: the case of European transnational projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sanchez Salgado, R.

2010-01-01

In the understanding of Europeanization, specific tools of governance matter. Europeanization through flexible tools of governance enables strategic uses by domestic actors, and does not necessaritly preclude policy transfer or transformation. As long as they favour participation, European

A fast vibro-acoustic response analysis method for double wall structures including a viscothermal air layer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Basten, T.G.H.; Grooteman, F.P.

2000-01-01

The damping behaviour of a thin air layer between two flexible panels can be used to reduce sound radiation of structural excited panels. The numerical model of the double wall panels takes into account full acousto-elastic interaction and viscothermal wave propagation in the air layer. This means

The importance of flexibility in supply and demand in the natural gas market - The Brazilian case; A importancia da flexibilidade na oferta e na demanda de gas natural - o caso do mercado brasileiro

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Almeida, Jose Ricardo Uchoa Cavalcanti

2008-05-15

The objective of this dissertation is to identify and discuss the main tools in implementing flexibility in supply and demand in the natural gas market, as well as highlight those which are the most appropriate for the Brazilian market. Flexibility, in this context, means the ability to guarantee a balance of supply versus demand without deficits, considering, mainly, the seasonal variations (winter-summer). From there, the study analyzes these flexibility tools in detail. Next, it discusses which of these flexibility tools are currently being used in more mature foreign markets and which tools could be feasibly applied to the Brazilian market. This dissertation also addresses how the natural gas thermoelectric market in Brazil shows a wide range of seasonality due to this segment's nature of complementing the Brazilian hydroelectric complex. This occurs because the capacity to generate hydroelectricity depends on rainfall for supplying reservoirs. Because of this interdependence, it examines how each the natural gas industry and the power industry operate, and their convergence. The flexibility tools which are already implemented here in Brazil are then presented. Finally, additional relevant new concepts and information are discussed to support the conclusions and final comments about the flexibility tools evolution and new applications. (author)

The importance of flexibility in supply and demand in the natural gas market - The Brazilian case; A importancia da flexibilidade na oferta e na demanda de gas natural - o caso do mercado brasileiro

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Almeida, Jose Ricardo Uchoa Cavalcanti

2008-05-15

The objective of this dissertation is to identify and discuss the main tools in implementing flexibility in supply and demand in the natural gas market, as well as highlight those which are the most appropriate for the Brazilian market. Flexibility, in this context, means the ability to guarantee a balance of supply versus demand without deficits, considering, mainly, the seasonal variations (winter-summer). From there, the study analyzes these flexibility tools in detail. Next, it discusses which of these flexibility tools are currently being used in more mature foreign markets and which tools could be feasibly applied to the Brazilian market. This dissertation also addresses how the natural gas thermoelectric market in Brazil shows a wide range of seasonality due to this segment's nature of complementing the Brazilian hydroelectric complex. This occurs because the capacity to generate hydroelectricity depends on rainfall for supplying reservoirs. Because of this interdependence, it examines how each the natural gas industry and the power industry operate, and their convergence. The flexibility tools which are already implemented here in Brazil are then presented. Finally, additional relevant new concepts and information are discussed to support the conclusions and final comments about the flexibility tools evolution and new applications. (author)

A novel numerical model for estimating the collapse pressure of flexible pipes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nogueira, Victor P.P.; Antoun Netto, Theodoro [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao em Engenharia], e-mail: victor@lts.coppe.ufrj.br

2009-07-01

As the worldwide oil and gas industry operational environments move to ultra-deep waters, failure mechanisms in flexible pipes such as instability of the armor layers under compression and hydrostatic collapse are more likely to occur. Therefore, it is important to develop reliable numerical tools to reproduce the failure mechanisms that may occur in flexible pipes. This work presents a representative finite element model of flexible pipe capable to reproduce its pre and post-collapse behavior under hydrostatic pressure. The model, developed in the scope of this work, uses beam elements and includes nonlinear kinematics and material behavior influences. The dependability of the numerical results is assessed in light of experimental tests on flexible pipes with 4 inches and 8 inches nominal diameter available in the literature (Souza, 2002). The applied methodology provided coherent values regarding the estimation of the collapse pressures and results have shown that the proposed model is capable to reproduce experimental results. (author)

On Rational Design of Double Hull Tanker Structures against Collision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paik, Jeom Kee; Chung, Jang Young; Choe, Ich Hung

1999-01-01

This paper is a summary of recent research and development in areas related to the design technology for double hull tanker structures against low energy collision, jointly undertaken by the Hyundai Heavy Industries, the American Bureau of Shipping, the Technical University of Denmark and the Pusan...... in the present study were (i) developing a framework for the collision design procedure for double hull tanker structures, (ii) experimental investigation of the structural crashworthiness of the collided vessels in collision or stranding, using double skinned structural models, (iii) validation of the special...... investigation of the energy absorption capability characteristics of a collided double hull VLCC side structure in collision, and (vi) development of a new modified Minorsky method for double hull tanker side structures. The tools developed and the results and insights obtained by the present study should...

Simulation of a flexible wind turbine response to a grid fault

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anca Daniela; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

2007-01-01

The purpose of this work is to illustrate the impact of a grid fault on the mechanical loads of a wind turbine. Grid faults generate transients in the generator electromagnetic torque, which are propagated in the wind turbine, stressing its mechanical components. Grid faults are normally simulated...... in power system simulation tools applying simplified mechanical models of the drive train. This paper presents simulations of the wind turbine load response to grid faults with an advanced aeroelastic computer code (HAWC2). The core of this code is an advanced model for the flexible structure of the wind...... turbines, taking the flexibility of the tower, blades and other components of the wind turbines into account. The effect of a grid fault on the wind turbine flexible structure is assessed for a typical fixed speed wind turbine, equipped with an induction generator....

Casting metal microstructures from a flexible and reusable mold

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cannon, Andrew H; King, William P

2009-01-01

This paper describes casting-based microfabrication of metal microstructures and nanostructures. The metal was cast into flexible silicone molds which were themselves cast from microfabricated silicon templates. Microcasting is demonstrated in two metal alloys of melting temperature 70 °C or 138 °C. Many structures were successfully cast into the metal with excellent replication fidelity, including ridges with periodicity 400 nm and holes or pillars with diameter in the range 10–100 µm and aspect ratio up to 2:1. The flexibility of the silicone mold permits casting of curved surfaces, which we demonstrate by fabricating a cylindrical metal roller of diameter 8 mm covered with microstructures. The metal microstructures can be in turn used as a reusable molding tool

A Flexible Online Metadata Editing and Management System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aguilar, Raul [Arizona State University; Pan, Jerry Yun [ORNL; Gries, Corinna [Arizona State University; Inigo, Gil San [University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Palanisamy, Giri [ORNL

2010-01-01

A metadata editing and management system is being developed employing state of the art XML technologies. A modular and distributed design was chosen for scalability, flexibility, options for customizations, and the possibility to add more functionality at a later stage. The system consists of a desktop design tool or schema walker used to generate code for the actual online editor, a native XML database, and an online user access management application. The design tool is a Java Swing application that reads an XML schema, provides the designer with options to combine input fields into online forms and give the fields user friendly tags. Based on design decisions, the tool generates code for the online metadata editor. The code generated is an implementation of the XForms standard using the Orbeon Framework. The design tool fulfills two requirements: First, data entry forms based on one schema may be customized at design time and second data entry applications may be generated for any valid XML schema without relying on custom information in the schema. However, the customized information generated at design time is saved in a configuration file which may be re-used and changed again in the design tool. Future developments will add functionality to the design tool to integrate help text, tool tips, project specific keyword lists, and thesaurus services. Additional styling of the finished editor is accomplished via cascading style sheets which may be further customized and different look-and-feels may be accumulated through the community process. The customized editor produces XML files in compliance with the original schema, however, data from the current page is saved into a native XML database whenever the user moves to the next screen or pushes the save button independently of validity. Currently the system uses the open source XML database eXist for storage and management, which comes with third party online and desktop management tools. However, access to

Development of a robotic nozzle inspection with a flexible transducer array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobigny, Blandine; Wattiau, Olivier; Bey, Sebastien; Vanhoye, Arnaud; Ancrenaz, Patrick; Dumas, Philippe; Fournier, Laurent

2016-01-01

The evaluation of the integrity of the nuclear plant components is a major issue. It is mandatory to assess the degradation due to the aging. NDE aim is to detect potential defects, resulting of thermal fatigue, and to be able to evaluate their dimensions. Ultrasonic non destructive testing has demonstrated its efficiency for detection and characterization of such defects and industrial probes offer satisfactory results in various applications. However, the complex geometry of some components (nozzle,..) severely limits the inspection performances. Indeed, the use of conventional probes is restricted to regular surfaces. Flexible transducer arrays technology provides an attractive solution in ultrasonic NDT for the inspection of complex geometry components. Its ability to conform to the wavy surface of the component and to ensure a good coupling when the limits of conventional probes are reached, makes it suitable for the characterization of a defect detected in a nozzle. To develop and implement a flexible probe inspection of a nozzle weld, several skills are needed: especially ultrasonic, robotic, simulation skills. Moreover, an innovative tool dedicated to delay laws and probe position calculation is used to optimize the performance of such phased array probes. In the framework of a partnership, EDF, the CEA LIST and AREVA have developed a robotic inspection tool able to be operate on nuclear site, in order to characterize defects located in the inner radius of a nozzle with a flexible transducer array. The article describes the use of the new tools developed for the nozzle case. It also presents acquisition results and the contribution of this technology of potential defect characterization. These results are compared to classical phased-array methods.

Virtual Sensor for Kinematic Estimation of Flexible Links in Parallel Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Bengoa, Pablo; Zubizarreta, Asier; Cabanes, Itziar; Mancisidor, Aitziber; Pinto, Charles; Mata, Sara

2017-08-23

The control of flexible link parallel manipulators is still an open area of research, endpoint trajectory tracking being one of the main challenges in this type of robot. The flexibility and deformations of the limbs make the estimation of the Tool Centre Point (TCP) position a challenging one. Authors have proposed different approaches to estimate this deformation and deduce the location of the TCP. However, most of these approaches require expensive measurement systems or the use of high computational cost integration methods. This work presents a novel approach based on a virtual sensor which can not only precisely estimate the deformation of the flexible links in control applications (less than 2% error), but also its derivatives (less than 6% error in velocity and 13% error in acceleration) according to simulation results. The validity of the proposed Virtual Sensor is tested in a Delta Robot, where the position of the TCP is estimated based on the Virtual Sensor measurements with less than a 0.03% of error in comparison with the flexible approach developed in ADAMS Multibody Software.

Flexible structured high-frequency film bulk acoustic resonator for flexible wireless electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Changjian; Shu, Yi; Yang, Yi; Ren, Tian-Ling; Jin, Hao; Dong, Shu-Rong; Chan, Mansun

2015-01-01

Flexible electronics have inspired many novel and very important applications in recent years and various flexible electronic devices such as diodes, transistors, circuits, sensors, and radiofrequency (RF) passive devices including antennas and inductors have been reported. However, the lack of a high-performance RF resonator is one of the key bottlenecks to implement flexible wireless electronics. In this study, for the first time, a novel ultra-flexible structured film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is proposed. The flexible FBAR is fabricated on a flexible polyimide substrate using piezoelectric thin film aluminum nitride (AlN) for acoustic wave excitation. Both the shear wave and longitudinal wave can be excited under the surface interdigital electrodes configuration we proposed. In the case of the thickness extension mode, a flexible resonator with a working frequency as high as of 5.2325 GHz has been realized. The resonators stay fully functional under bending status and after repeated bending and re-flattening operations. This flexible high-frequency resonator will serve as a key building block for the future flexible wireless electronics, greatly expanding the application scope of flexible electronics. (paper)

Preliminary clinical report of flexible videoarthroscopy in diagnostic knee and hip arthroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouaicha, Samy; Dora, Claudio; Puskas, Gabor J; Koch, Peter P; Wirth, Stephan H; Meyer, Dominik C

2012-01-01

Compared to rigid arthroscopic optics, a flexible camera system offers theoretically significant advantages: It has the potential to adapt to the naturally curved surface of joints, to move within the joint without stress to the cartilage or capsule and thereby to reduce the number of portals needed. Former studies evaluated flexible fiberoptic systems which were insufficient regarding image resolution. This is the first report on a new flexible videoendoscope with the so called "chip-on-the-tip" technology used in human joints. With a plasma sterilized 3.9 diameter flexible video endoscopy system (Visera ENF V, OLYMPUS) commonly used in diagnostic rhino-laryngoscopy, we performed preliminary testing in cadaveric knee joints. After successful feasibility testing we utilized the tool in two qualitative diagnostic knee and five hip arthroscopies in combination with conventional rigid 30° and 70° arthroscopes (STORZ). Qualitative evaluation showed superior visualisation of the posterior aspects of the knee joint as insertion of the posterior medial and lateral meniscal horn, tibial insertion of the posterior cruciate ligament and the posterolateral capsulo-ligamentous corner with acceptable image resolution and clarity compared to the rigid arthroscope. In the hip, it was possible to pass around the femoral neck, avoiding additional portals. There seemed to be virtually no risk for cartilage damage at all. Difficulties of the system were scope handling, navigation and orientation within the joint as well as potential damage to the tool itself. This is to our knowledge the first report on flexible videoarthroscopy. Some of the expectations were met, such as to reach virtually every corner the joint with minimal risk for the cartilage or other joint structures and with acceptable image quality. However, there are many significant disadvantages which question the routine use of such a videoendoscopic system with its present technical features. © 2012 – IOS Press and

SPOT-A SENSOR PLACEMENT OPTIMIZATION TOOL FOR ...

Science.gov (United States)

journal article This paper presents SPOT, a Sensor Placement Optimization Tool. SPOT provides a toolkit that facilitates research in sensor placement optimization and enables the practical application of sensor placement solvers to real-world CWS design applications. This paper provides an overview of SPOT’s key features, and then illustrates how this tool can be flexibly applied to solve a variety of different types of sensor placement problems.

Simulation and Flexibility Analysis of Milk Production Process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cheng, Hongyuan; Friis, Alan

. Such flexible dairy production line can adjust its production pace in manufacturing different products without replacing existing equipment in the production line. In this work, the dairy process simulator is applied to study the flexibility of milk production line. In the same production line, various......In this work, process simulation method is used to simulate pasteurised market milk production line. A commercial process simulation tool - Pro/II from Simulation Science Inc. is used in the simulation work. In the simulation, a new model is used to calculate the thermal property of milk....... In this work, a simulator is obtained for the milk production line. Using the simulator, different milk processing situation can be quantitatively simulated investigated, such as different products production, capacity changes, fat content changes in raw milk, energy cost at different operation conditions etc...

Spring-back of flexible roll forming bending process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Y; Kim, D H; Jung, D W

2015-01-01

Simulations are now widely used in the field of roll forming because of their convenience. Simulations provide a low cost, secure and fast analysis tool. Flexible roll forming provides the desired shapes with a one time forming process. For roll forming, the velocity of the sheet and friction are important factors to attain an ideal shape. Because it is a complicated process, simulations provide a better understanding of the roll forming process. Simulations were peformed using ABAQUS software linked to elastic-plastic modules which we developed taking into account of interactions between these fields [1]. The application of this method makes it possible to highlight the strain-stress and mechanical behaviour laws and the spring-back. Thus, the flexible roll forming and bending process can be well described by the simulation software and guide the actual machine. (paper)

Gas market distorting effects of imbalanced gas balancing rules: Inefficient regulation of pipeline flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keyaerts, Nico; Hallack, Michelle; Glachant, Jean-Michel; D'haeseleer, William

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes the value and cost of line-pack flexibility in liberalized gas markets through examination of the techno-economic characteristics of gas transport pipelines and the trade-offs between different ways to use the infrastructure: transport and flexibility. Line-pack flexibility is becoming increasingly important as a tool to balance gas supply and demand over different periods. In the European liberalized market context, a monopolist unbundled network operator offers regulated transport services and flexibility (balancing) services according to the network code and balancing rules. Therefore, gas policy makers should understand the role and consequences of line-pack regulation. The analysis shows that the line-pack flexibility service has an important economic value for the shippers and the TSO. Furthermore, the analysis identifies distorting effects in the gas market due to inadequate regulation of line-pack flexibility: by disregarding the sunk costs of flexibility in the balancing rules, the overall efficiency of the gas system is decreased. Finally, the analysis demonstrates that the actual costs of line-pack flexibility are related to the peak cumulative imbalance throughout the balancing period. Any price for pipeline flexibility should, therefore, be based on the related trade-off between the right to use the line-pack flexibility and the provision of transport services. - Research Highlights: →Line-pack flexibility is a main gas balancing instrument. →Capacity related costs of line-pack flexibility depend on peak cumulative imbalances. →Line-pack pricing rules determine choice between ex ante and ex post balancing. →Inefficient line-pack regulation causes gas market distortions.

Flexibility@Work 2013: yearly report on flexible labor and employment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, E.; Heyma, A.; Prins, J.

2013-01-01

There is no clear evidence that the strong growth in the share of flexible labor relations between 2002 and 2007 points at a worldwide trend towards a larger share of flexible labor at the expense of traditional open-ended labor contracts. The growth in flexible labor varies too much between

Double-tuned radiofrequency coil for (19)F and (1)H imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Otake, Yosuke; Soutome, Yoshihisa; Hirata, Koji; Ochi, Hisaaki; Bito, Yoshitaka

2014-01-01

We developed a double-tuned radiofrequency (RF) coil using a novel circuit method to double tune for fluorine-19 (19F) and 1H magnetic resonance imaging, whose frequencies are very close to each other. The RF coil consists of 3 parallel-connected series inductor capacitor circuits. A computer simulation for our double-tuned RF coil with a phantom demonstrated that the coil has tuned resonant frequency and high sensitivity for both 19F and 1H. Drug distribution was visualized at 7 tesla using this RF coil and a rat administered perfluoro 15-crown-5-ether emulsion. The double-tune RF coil we developed may be a powerful tool for 19F and 1H imaging.

Internet MEMS design tools based on component technology

Science.gov (United States)

Brueck, Rainer; Schumer, Christian

1999-03-01

The micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) industry in Europe is characterized by small and medium sized enterprises specialized on products to solve problems in specific domains like medicine, automotive sensor technology, etc. In this field of business the technology driven design approach known from micro electronics is not appropriate. Instead each design problem aims at its own, specific technology to be used for the solution. The variety of technologies at hand, like Si-surface, Si-bulk, LIGA, laser, precision engineering requires a huge set of different design tools to be available. No single SME can afford to hold licenses for all these tools. This calls for a new and flexible way of designing, implementing and distributing design software. The Internet provides a flexible manner of offering software access along with methodologies of flexible licensing e.g. on a pay-per-use basis. New communication technologies like ADSL, TV cable of satellites as carriers promise to offer a bandwidth sufficient even for interactive tools with graphical interfaces in the near future. INTERLIDO is an experimental tool suite for process specification and layout verification for lithography based MEMS technologies to be accessed via the Internet. The first version provides a Java implementation even including a graphical editor for process specification. Currently, a new version is brought into operation that is based on JavaBeans component technology. JavaBeans offers the possibility to realize independent interactive design assistants, like a design rule checking assistants, a process consistency checking assistants, a technology definition assistants, a graphical editor assistants, etc. that may reside distributed over the Internet, communicating via Internet protocols. Each potential user thus is able to configure his own dedicated version of a design tool set dedicated to the requirements of the current problem to be solved.

External laundry service. A tool for fleet management and flexible decommissioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brueckner, Guenter; Schmitt, Burkhard; Micklinghoff, Michael

2014-01-01

While it is common in other countries such as the USA or Sweden to send out contaminated garments to an external laundering facility, this is not the case in Germany, where the preferred tendency in the nuclear industry is to remain independent from an external service provider. After the US based company 'UniTech' built a laundering facility for controlled area garment in Coevorden, Netherlands, in 1996, German operators began testing this service for decommissioning work. At the time, their justification for this choice was based on the following: - In case of a disrupted delivery the consequences would not be as severe for a nuclear power plant in the process of decommissioning. - Additional investments (evaporators) would have been necessary to install in the laundries of the individual nuclear power plants. - The existing on-site laundries and waste treatment equipment were often not suited to deal with nuclides, specific to decommissioning. It quickly became evident that a specialized service provider could conduct the necessary tasks more effectively, more flexibly, and with higher quality than an ancillary on-site facility. In addition, it became evident that central fleet management tasks are facilitated by contracting an external service provider. Business and technical processes, and requirements agreed upon in a framework agreement, supported the introduction of unified standards. The road map for future decommissioning projects in Germany is impacted by many uncertainties. Therefore, planning requires a great deal of flexibility. Here, as with other related operations, it is critical that enough protective garments are in the right place at the right time. If this does not happen, delays, additional costs and changes to process planning result. For these reasons, an external laundering and garment management service is the most reliable solution. Industry experience shows that even very short-term requests for large quantities of protective garments

Responding to the call for globalization in nursing education: the implementation of the transatlantic double-degree program.

Science.gov (United States)

Hornberger, Cynthia A; Erämaa, Sirkka; Helembai, Kornélia; McCartan, Patrick J; Turtiainen, Tarja

2014-01-01

Increased demand for nurses worldwide has highlighted the need for a flexible nursing workforce eligible for licensure in multiple countries. Nursing's curricular innovation mirrors the call for reform within higher education including globalization of curricula (E. J. S. Hovenga, 2004; D. Nayyar, 2008; B. J. G. Wood, S. M. Tapsall, & G. N. Soutar, 2005), increased opportunities for student mobility exchanges, dialogue between different academic traditions, and mutual understanding and transparency between universities (J. González & R. Wagenaar, 2005). The European Union (EU) and United States have combined efforts to achieve these objectives by creating the Atlantis program in 2007 (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). This article describes experiences of four nursing programs participating in an Atlantis project to develop a double-degree baccalaureate program for undergraduate nursing students. Early learnings include increasing awareness and appreciation of essential curricular and performance competencies of the baccalaureate-prepared professional nurse. Challenges include language competency; variations in curriculum, cultural norms, student expectations, and learning assessment; and philosophical differences regarding first-level professional nurse preparation as specialist versus generalist. The Transatlantic Double Degree program has successfully implemented the double-degree program. Members have gained valuable insights into key issues surrounding the creation of a more uniform, yet flexible, educational standard between our countries. © 2014.

Double Skin Facades for Office Buildings. Literature Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poirazis, Harris

2004-07-01

The aim of this report is to describe the concept of Double Skin Facades based on different sources of literature. Although the concept is not new, there is a growing tendency from the architects to put it into practice. Its complexity and adaptability to different climatic conditions increase the need for careful design. Since the construction types can differ from one location to another, it is obvious that the comparison of different literature sources is not always relevant. Since the concept of Double Skin Facades is complicated and its use and function affects different parameters of the building, the literature studied is from different fields. It is clear that the design of the system is crucial for the performance of the building. It is the opinion of the author that the Double Skin Facades can provide both improved indoor climate and reduced use of energy in the same time if designed properly. If the approach is overall and the goals to be achieved are clear, then the mentioned system is flexible enough to meet climatic changes for most types of building use. The classification of the Double Skin Facades is important since the initial approach can influence the design stage. After selecting the type of Double Facade appropriate for the building, it is necessary to define the design and the technical parameters (such as the materials used) that can influence the function and the performance of the system and the physical properties of the cavity. The accuracy of calculations of the facade performance in the design stage will lead to more precise predictions. It is clear that by prioritizing the main goals of the double facade system in different ways, the building design and construction can differ adapting to the performance requirements of the designers, and the needs of the users. The advantages and disadvantages of double skin facades found in different literature sources are mentioned and described. Furthermore, examples of office buildings with

The MSFR as a flexible CR reactor: the viewpoint of safety

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fiorina, C.; Cammi, A. [Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20136 Milan (Italy); Franceschini, F. [Westinghouse Electric Company LL, 1000 Westinghouse Dr., Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (United States); Krepel, J. [Paul Scherrer Institut, PSI WEST, 5234 Villigen (Switzerland)

2013-07-01

In this paper, the possibility has first been discussed of using the liquid-fuelled Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) as a flexible conversion ratio (CR) reactor without design modification. By tuning the reprocessing rate it is possible to determine the content of fission products in the core, which in turn can significantly affect the neutron economy without incurring in solubility problems. The MSFR can thus be operated as U-233 breeder (CR>1), iso-breeder (CR=1) and burner reactor (CR<1). In particular a 40 year doubling time can be achieved, as well as a considerable Transuranics and MA (minor actinide) burning rate equal to about 150 kg{sub HN}/GWE-yr. The safety parameters of the MSFR have then been evaluated for different fuel cycle strategies. Th use and a softer spectrum combine to give a strong Doppler coefficient, one order of magnitude higher compared to traditional fast reactors (FRs). The fuel expansion coefficient is comparable to the Doppler coefficient and is only mildly affected by core compositions, thus assisting the fuel cycle flexibility of the MSFR. βeff and generation time are comparable to the case of traditional FRs, if a static fuel is assumed. A notable reduction of βeff is caused by salt circulation, but a low value of this parameter is a limited concern in the MSFR thanks to the lack of a burnup reactivity swing and of positive feedbacks. A simple approach has also been developed to evaluate the MSFR capabilities to withstand all typical double-fault accidents, for different fuel cycle options.

Rigid or flexible sigmoidoscopy in colorectal clinics? Appraisal through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Ahmad, Nasir Zaheer

2012-06-01

Rigid sigmoidoscopy is sometimes performed at first presentation in colorectal clinics. We assessed the feasibility of flexible sigmoidoscopy in similar situations by comparing it with rigid sigmoidoscopy as a first investigative tool.

An FMS Dynamic Production Scheduling Algorithm Considering Cutting Tool Failure and Cutting Tool Life

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Setiawan, A; Wangsaputra, R; Halim, A H; Martawirya, Y Y

2016-01-01

This paper deals with Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) production rescheduling due to unavailability of cutting tools caused either of cutting tool failure or life time limit. The FMS consists of parallel identical machines integrated with an automatic material handling system and it runs fully automatically. Each machine has a same cutting tool configuration that consists of different geometrical cutting tool types on each tool magazine. The job usually takes two stages. Each stage has sequential operations allocated to machines considering the cutting tool life. In the real situation, the cutting tool can fail before the cutting tool life is reached. The objective in this paper is to develop a dynamic scheduling algorithm when a cutting tool is broken during unmanned and a rescheduling needed. The algorithm consists of four steps. The first step is generating initial schedule, the second step is determination the cutting tool failure time, the third step is determination of system status at cutting tool failure time and the fourth step is the rescheduling for unfinished jobs. The approaches to solve the problem are complete-reactive scheduling and robust-proactive scheduling. The new schedules result differences starting time and completion time of each operations from the initial schedule. (paper)

Double hard scattering without double counting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diehl, Markus [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Gaunt, Jonathan R. [VU Univ. Amsterdam (Netherlands). NIKHEF Theory Group; Schoenwald, Kay [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany)

2017-02-15

Double parton scattering in proton-proton collisions includes kinematic regions in which two partons inside a proton originate from the perturbative splitting of a single parton. This leads to a double counting problem between single and double hard scattering. We present a solution to this problem, which allows for the definition of double parton distributions as operator matrix elements in a proton, and which can be used at higher orders in perturbation theory. We show how the evaluation of double hard scattering in this framework can provide a rough estimate for the size of the higher-order contributions to single hard scattering that are affected by double counting. In a numeric study, we identify situations in which these higher-order contributions must be explicitly calculated and included if one wants to attain an accuracy at which double hard scattering becomes relevant, and other situations where such contributions may be neglected.

Double hard scattering without double counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diehl, Markus; Gaunt, Jonathan R.

2017-02-01

Double parton scattering in proton-proton collisions includes kinematic regions in which two partons inside a proton originate from the perturbative splitting of a single parton. This leads to a double counting problem between single and double hard scattering. We present a solution to this problem, which allows for the definition of double parton distributions as operator matrix elements in a proton, and which can be used at higher orders in perturbation theory. We show how the evaluation of double hard scattering in this framework can provide a rough estimate for the size of the higher-order contributions to single hard scattering that are affected by double counting. In a numeric study, we identify situations in which these higher-order contributions must be explicitly calculated and included if one wants to attain an accuracy at which double hard scattering becomes relevant, and other situations where such contributions may be neglected.

Overlay metrology for double patterning processes

Science.gov (United States)

Leray, Philippe; Cheng, Shaunee; Laidler, David; Kandel, Daniel; Adel, Mike; Dinu, Berta; Polli, Marco; Vasconi, Mauro; Salski, Bartlomiej

2009-03-01

The double patterning (DPT) process is foreseen by the industry to be the main solution for the 32 nm technology node and even beyond. Meanwhile process compatibility has to be maintained and the performance of overlay metrology has to improve. To achieve this for Image Based Overlay (IBO), usually the optics of overlay tools are improved. It was also demonstrated that these requirements are achievable with a Diffraction Based Overlay (DBO) technique named SCOLTM [1]. In addition, we believe that overlay measurements with respect to a reference grid are required to achieve the required overlay control [2]. This induces at least a three-fold increase in the number of measurements (2 for double patterned layers to the reference grid and 1 between the double patterned layers). The requirements of process compatibility, enhanced performance and large number of measurements make the choice of overlay metrology for DPT very challenging. In this work we use different flavors of the standard overlay metrology technique (IBO) as well as the new technique (SCOL) to address these three requirements. The compatibility of the corresponding overlay targets with double patterning processes (Litho-Etch-Litho-Etch (LELE); Litho-Freeze-Litho-Etch (LFLE), Spacer defined) is tested. The process impact on different target types is discussed (CD bias LELE, Contrast for LFLE). We compare the standard imaging overlay metrology with non-standard imaging techniques dedicated to double patterning processes (multilayer imaging targets allowing one overlay target instead of three, very small imaging targets). In addition to standard designs already discussed [1], we investigate SCOL target designs specific to double patterning processes. The feedback to the scanner is determined using the different techniques. The final overlay results obtained are compared accordingly. We conclude with the pros and cons of each technique and suggest the optimal metrology strategy for overlay control in double

Hybrid procedure for total laryngectomy with a flexible robot-assisted surgical system.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuler, Patrick J; Hoffmann, Thomas K; Veit, Johannes A; Rotter, Nicole; Friedrich, Daniel T; Greve, Jens; Scheithauer, Marc O

2017-06-01

Total laryngectomy is a standard procedure in head-and-neck surgery for the treatment of cancer patients. Recent clinical experiences have indicated a clinical benefit for patients undergoing transoral robot-assisted total laryngectomy (TORS-TL) with commercially available systems. Here, a new hybrid procedure for total laryngectomy is presented. TORS-TL was performed in human cadavers (n = 3) using a transoral-transcervical hybrid procedure. The transoral approach was performed with a robotic flexible robot-assisted surgical system (Flex®) and compatible flexible instruments. Transoral access and visualization of anatomical landmarks were studied in detail. Total laryngectomy is feasible with a combined transoral-transcervical approach using the flexible robot-assisted surgical system. Transoral visualization of all anatomical structures is sufficient. The flexible design of the robot is advantageous for transoral surgery of the laryngeal structures. Transoral robot assisted surgery has the potential to reduce morbidity, hospital time and fistula rates in a selected group of patients. Initial clinical studies and further development of supplemental tools are in progress. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dynamic Model of a Rotating Flexible Arm-Flexible Root Mechanism Driven by a Shaft Flexible in Torsion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.Z. Ismail

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a dynamic model of a rotating flexible beam carrying a payload at its tip. The model accounts for the driving shaft and the arm root flexibilities. The finite element method and the Lagrangian dynamics are used in deriving the equations of motion with the small deformation theory assumptions and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The obtained model is a nonlinear-coupled system of differential equations. The model is simulated for different combinations of shaft and root flexibilities and arm properties. The simulation results showed that the root flexibility is an important factor that should be considered in association with the arm and shaft flexibilities, as its dynamics influence the motor motion. Moreover, the effect of system non-linearity on the dynamic behavior is investigated by simulating the equivalent linearized system and it was found to be an important factor that should be considered, particularly when designing a control strategy for practical implementation.

Experimental Research on Vibrations of Double Harmonic Gear Transmission

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sava Ianici

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Gears transmission can be important sources of vibration in the mechanical system structures and can have a significant share in the overall vibration level. The current trend of significant increase in powers and speeds transmitted by modern mechanical systems, along with the size reduction, may cause a worsening of the behaviour of transmissions with gears in terms of vibration, especially when the optimization criteria were not respected in the design, execution and installation phase. This paper presents a study of vibrations that occur in a double harmonic gear transmission (DHGT, based on experimental research. The experimental researches revealed that in a double harmonic gear transmission the vibrations are initiated and develop in the multipara harmonics engagement of the teeth and in the kinematic couplings materialized between the wave generator and the flexible toothed wheel. These vibrations are later transmitted by means of the shafts and bearings to the transmission housing, respectively, through the walls of it, propagating in the air.

Double Pomeron Exchange from the ISR to the SSC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albrow, M.G.

1989-01-01

After a general introduction to Double Pomeron Exchange I show how the existence of the process was demonstrated at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings and discuss its value there as a spectroscopic tool in meson/glueball studies. At higher collision energies as now available at the Super Proton Synchrotron and Fermilab pp-bar Colliders it would be very interesting to study hard processes in Double Pomeron Exchange and investigate Pomeron structure. The still higher Large Hadron Collider and Superconducting Super Collider energies extend the range of this physics dramatically, possibly into the electroweak sector. (author)

Global Sourcing Flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ørberg Jensen, Peter D.; Petersen, Bent

2013-01-01

the higher costs (but decreased risk for value chain disruption) embedded in a more flexible global sourcing model that allows the firm to replicate and/or relocate activities across multiple locations. We develop a model and propositions on facilitating and constraining conditions of global sourcing...... sourcing flexibility. Here we draw on prior research in the fields of organizational flexibility, international business and global sourcing as well as case examples and secondary studies. In the second part of the paper, we discuss the implications of global sourcing flexibility for firm strategy...... and operations against the backdrop of the theory-based definition of the construct. We discuss in particular the importance of global sourcing flexibility for operational performance stability, and the trade-off between specialization benefits, emerging from location and service provider specialization, versus...

Modular numerical tool for gas turbine simulation

OpenAIRE

Sampedro Casis, Rodrigo

2015-01-01

In this work a free tool for the simulation of turboprops was implemented, capable of simulating the various components of a jet engine, separately or in conjunction, with different degrees of thermodynamic modelling or complexity, in order to simulate an entire jet engine. The main characteristics of this software includes its compatibility, open code and GNU license, non-existing in today's market. Furthermore, the tool was designed with a greater flexibility and a more adapted work environ...

Dpaper: An Authoring Tool for Extractable Digital Papers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoqiu Le

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To develop a structured, rich media digital paper authoring tool with an objectbased model that enables interactive, playable, and convertible functions. Design/methodology/approach: We propose Dpaper to organize the content (text, data, rich media, etc. of dissertation papers as XML and HTML5 files by means of digital objects and digital templates. Findings: Dpaper provides a structured-paper editorial platform for the authors of PhDs to organize research materials and to generate various digital paper objects that are playable and reusable. The PhD papers are represented as Web pages and structured XML files, which are marked with semantic tags. Research limitations: The proposed tool only provides access to a limited number of digital objects. For instance, the tool cannot create equations and graphs, and typesetting is not yet flexible compared to MS Word. Practical implications: The Dpaper tool is designed to break through the patterns of unstructured content organization of traditional papers, and makes the paper accessible for not only reading but for exploitation as data, where the document can be extractable and reusable. As a result, Dpaper can make the digital publishing of dissertation texts more flexible and efficient, and their data more assessable. Originality/value: The Dpaper tool solves the challenge of making a paper structured and object-based in the stage of authoring, and has practical values for semantic publishing.

Heat Treatment of Tools in Light Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Petukhov, V. A.

2005-09-01

Heat treatment processes for some tools (knitting needles, travelers for thimbles of spinning and doubling frames, thread-forming spinnerets) used for the production of cloths, hosiery, and other articles) in the knitting and textile industries are considered. Problems of the choice of steel and the kind and parameters of heat treatment are discussed in connection with the special features of tool design and operating conditions.

Effect of multiple forming tools on geometrical and mechanical properties in incremental sheet forming

Science.gov (United States)

Wernicke, S.; Dang, T.; Gies, S.; Tekkaya, A. E.

2018-05-01

The tendency to a higher variety of products requires economical manufacturing processes suitable for the production of prototypes and small batches. In the case of complex hollow-shaped parts, single point incremental forming (SPIF) represents a highly flexible process. The flexibility of this process comes along with a very long process time. To decrease the process time, a new incremental forming approach with multiple forming tools is investigated. The influence of two incremental forming tools on the resulting mechanical and geometrical component properties compared to SPIF is presented. Sheets made of EN AW-1050A were formed to frustums of a pyramid using different tool-path strategies. Furthermore, several variations of the tool-path strategy are analyzed. A time saving between 40% and 60% was observed depending on the tool-path and the radii of the forming tools while the mechanical properties remained unchanged. This knowledge can increase the cost efficiency of incremental forming processes.

Conflicting flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Jong, P.; Schaap, A.

2011-01-01

New buildings are designed for first users. For a sustainable approach there are many advantages in designing in flexibility and adjustability in order to enable and facilitate the other sequential users. For the first investor this flexibility is translated into improved exit values due to

Effects of prosthetic foot forefoot flexibility on oxygen cost and subjective preference rankings of unilateral transtibial prosthesis users.

Science.gov (United States)

Klodd, Elizabeth; Hansen, Andrew; Fatone, Stefania; Edwards, Mark

2010-01-01

The investigators conducted a double-blind randomized crossover study to determine the effects of prosthetic foot forefoot flexibility on oxygen cost and subjective preference rankings of 13 unilateral transtibial prosthesis users. Five experimental feet were fabricated for use in the study: F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5. F1 was most flexible, F5 was least flexible, and F3 was designed to conform to a biomimetic ankle-foot roll-over shape. The experimental feet were modeled after the Shape&Roll prosthetic foot (originally produced by Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; now in public domain) but had different numbers of saw cuts within the forefoot members, allowing more or less flexibility during walking. Participants walked at the same comfortable, freely selected speed on the treadmill for 7 min with each foot while energy expenditure was measured. No significant difference was found in oxygen cost (mL O(2)/kg/m) between the different feet (p = 0.17), and the order of use was also not significant (p = 0.94). However, the preference ranking was significantly affected by the flexibility of the feet (p = 0.002), with the most flexible foot (F1) ranking significantly poorer than feet F3 (p = 0.003) and F4 (p = 0.004). Users may prefer prosthetic feet that match the flexibility of an intact ankle-foot system, even though we did not detect an energetic benefit at freely selected speeds.

Improved guide tube bulge tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaill, R.E.; Phillips, W.D.

1979-01-01

A guide tube bulge tool for securing control rod guide tubes to a fuel assembly grid, includes a cylinder having several flexible tines each of which is equipped with a semispherical radially outwardly extending projection. A tapered ram fits into the cylinder so as to force the tines outwardly when the ram is pulled into the cylinder while supporting the other tines. (UK)

Building flexible real-time systems using the Flex language

Science.gov (United States)

Kenny, Kevin B.; Lin, Kwei-Jay

1991-01-01

The design and implementation of a real-time programming language called Flex, which is a derivative of C++, are presented. It is shown how different types of timing requirements might be expressed and enforced in Flex, how they might be fulfilled in a flexible way using different program models, and how the programming environment can help in making binding and scheduling decisions. The timing constraint primitives in Flex are easy to use yet powerful enough to define both independent and relative timing constraints. Program models like imprecise computation and performance polymorphism can carry out flexible real-time programs. In addition, programmers can use a performance measurement tool that produces statistically correct timing models to predict the expected execution time of a program and to help make binding decisions. A real-time programming environment is also presented.

Substitution effect and effect of axle’s flexibility at (pseudo-rotaxanes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Friedrich Malberg

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the effect of substitution with different functional groups and of molecular flexibility by changing within the axle from a single C–C bond to a double C=C bond. Therefore, we present static quantum chemical calculations at the dispersion-corrected density functional level (DFT-D3 for several Leigh-type rotaxanes. The calculated crystal structure is in close agreement with the experimental X-ray data. Compared to a stiffer axle, a more flexible one results in a stronger binding by 1–3 kcal/mol. Alterations of the binding energy in the range of 5 kcal/mol could be achieved by substitution with different functional groups. The hydrogen bond geometry between the isophtalic unit and the carbonyl oxygen atoms of the axle exhibited distances in the range of 2.1 to 2.4 Å for six contact points, which shows that not solely but to a large amount the circumstances in the investigated rotaxanes are governed by hydrogen bonding. Moreover, the complex with the more flexible axle is usually more unsymmetrical than the one with the stiff axle. The opposite is observed for the experimentally investigated axle with the four phenyl stoppers. Furthermore, we considered an implicit continuum solvation model and found that the complex binding is weakened by approximately 10 kcal/mol, and hydrogen bonds are slightly shortened (by up to 0.2 Å.

Docking ligands into flexible and solvated macromolecules. 7. Impact of protein flexibility and water molecules on docking-based virtual screening accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Therrien, Eric; Weill, Nathanael; Tomberg, Anna; Corbeil, Christopher R; Lee, Devin; Moitessier, Nicolas

2014-11-24

The use of predictive computational methods in the drug discovery process is in a state of continual growth. Over the last two decades, an increasingly large number of docking tools have been developed to identify hits or optimize lead molecules through in-silico screening of chemical libraries to proteins. In recent years, the focus has been on implementing protein flexibility and water molecules. Our efforts led to the development of Fitted first reported in 2007 and further developed since then. In this study, we wished to evaluate the impact of protein flexibility and occurrence of water molecules on the accuracy of the Fitted docking program to discriminate active compounds from inactive compounds in virtual screening (VS) campaigns. For this purpose, a total of 171 proteins cocrystallized with small molecules representing 40 unique enzymes and receptors as well as sets of known ligands and decoys were selected from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and the Directory of Useful Decoys (DUD), respectively. This study revealed that implementing displaceable crystallographic or computationally placed particle water molecules and protein flexibility can improve the enrichment in active compounds. In addition, an informed decision based on library diversity or research objectives (hit discovery vs lead optimization) on which implementation to use may lead to significant improvements.

The Flexible Learning Needs and Preferences of Regional Occupational Therapy Students In Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Zeldenryk, Lynne; Bradey, Scott

2013-01-01

This study aimed to explore the flexible learning needs and preferences of occupational therapy students from a regional Australian university. Participants ("n"?=?170) were surveyed using a quantitative survey tool. Findings were analysed using SPSS to determine significant differences between variable attributes of the student cohort.…

FY1995 study of very flexible software structures based on soft-software components; 1995 nendo yawarankana software buhin ni motozuku software no choju kozo ni kansuru kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-03-01

The purpose of this study is to develop the method and tools for changing the software structure flexibly along with the continuous continuous change of its environment and conditions of use. The goal is the software of very high adaptability by using soft-software components and flexible assembly. The CASE tool platform Sapid based on a fine-grained repository was developed and enforced for raising the abstraction level of program code and for mining potential flexible components. To reconstruct the software adaptable to a required environment, the SQM (Software Quark Model) was used in managing interconnectivity and other semantic relationships of among components. On these two basic systems, we developed various methods and tools such as those for static and dynamic analysis of very flexible software structures, program transformation description, program pattern extraction and composition component optimization by partial evaluation, component extraction by function slicing, code encapsulation, and component navigation and application. (NEDO)

Flexible symmetric supercapacitors based on vertical TiO2 and carbon nanotubes

Science.gov (United States)

Chien, C. J.; Chang, Pai-Chun; Lu, Jia G.

2010-03-01

Highly conducting and porous carbon nanotubes are widely used as electrodes in double-layer-effect supercapacitors. In this presentation, vertical TiO2 nanotube array is fabricated by anodization process and used as supercapacitor electrode utilizing its compact density, high surface area and porous structure. By spin coating carbon nanotube networks on vertical TiO2 nanotube array as electrodes with 1M H2SO4 electrolyte in between, the specific capacitance can be enhanced by 30% compared to using pure carbon nanotube network alone because of the combination of double layer effect and redox reaction from metal oxide materials. Based on cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements, this type of hybrid electrode has proven to be suitable for high performance supercapacitor application and maintain desirable cycling stability. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique shows that the electrode has good electrical conductivity. Furthermore, we will discuss the prospect of extending this energy storage approach in flexible electronics.

Inter-vertebral flexibility of the ostrich neck: implications for estimating sauropod neck flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Cobley, Matthew J; Rayfield, Emily J; Barrett, Paul M

2013-01-01

The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal of muscle groups and measures of flexibility of the neck in a living analogue, the ostrich (Struthio camelus). The possible effect of cartilage on flexibility is also examined, as this was previously overlooked in osteological estimates of sauropod neck function. These comparisons show that soft tissues are likely to have limited the flexibility of the neck beyond the limits suggested by osteology alone. In addition, the inferred presence of cartilage, and varying the inter-vertebral spacing within the synovial capsule, also affect neck flexibility. One hypothesis proposed that flexibility is constrained by requiring a minimum overlap between successive zygapophyses equivalent to 50% of zygapophyseal articular surface length (ONP50). This assumption is tested by comparing the maximum flexibility of the articulated cervical column in ONP50 and the flexibility of the complete neck with all tissues intact. It is found that this model does not adequately convey the pattern of flexibility in the ostrich neck, suggesting that the ONP50 model may not be useful in determining neck function if considered in isolation from myological and other soft tissue data.

Inter-vertebral flexibility of the ostrich neck: implications for estimating sauropod neck flexibility.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew J Cobley

Full Text Available The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal of muscle groups and measures of flexibility of the neck in a living analogue, the ostrich (Struthio camelus. The possible effect of cartilage on flexibility is also examined, as this was previously overlooked in osteological estimates of sauropod neck function. These comparisons show that soft tissues are likely to have limited the flexibility of the neck beyond the limits suggested by osteology alone. In addition, the inferred presence of cartilage, and varying the inter-vertebral spacing within the synovial capsule, also affect neck flexibility. One hypothesis proposed that flexibility is constrained by requiring a minimum overlap between successive zygapophyses equivalent to 50% of zygapophyseal articular surface length (ONP50. This assumption is tested by comparing the maximum flexibility of the articulated cervical column in ONP50 and the flexibility of the complete neck with all tissues intact. It is found that this model does not adequately convey the pattern of flexibility in the ostrich neck, suggesting that the ONP50 model may not be useful in determining neck function if considered in isolation from myological and other soft tissue data.

Designing Online Assessment Tools for Disengaged Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Brader, Andy; Luke, Allan; Klenowski, Val; Connolly, Stephen; Behzadpour, Adib

2014-01-01

This article reports on the development of online assessment tools for disengaged youth in flexible learning environments. Sociocultural theories of learning and assessment and Bourdieu's sociological concepts of capital and exchange were used to design a purpose-built content management system. This design experiment engaged participants in…

Implementation of superconducting fault current limiter for flexible operation in the power substation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Chong Suk, E-mail: chong_suk@korea.ac.kr [School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Anam dong, Seonbukgu, Seoul 136-713 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Hansang [School of Railway and Electrical Engineering, Kyungil University, Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do 712-701 (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Yoon-sung [Department of Electric and Energy Engineering, Catholic University of Daegu, Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do 712-702 (Korea, Republic of); Suh, Jaewan [School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Anam dong, Seonbukgu, Seoul 136-713 (Korea, Republic of); Jang, Gilsoo, E-mail: gjang@korea.ac.kr [School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Anam dong, Seonbukgu, Seoul 136-713 (Korea, Republic of)

2014-09-15

Highlights: • The power load concentrated in load centers results in high levels of fault current. • This paper introduces a fault current reduction scheme using SFCLs in substations. • The SFCL is connected in parallel to the bus tie between the two busbars. • The fault current mitigation using SFCLs is verified through PSS/e simulations. - Abstract: The concentration of large-scale power loads located in the metropolitan areas have resulted in high fault current levels during a fault thereby requiring the substation to operate in the double busbar configuration mode. However, the double busbar configuration mode results in deterioration of power system reliability and unbalanced power flow in the adjacent transmission lines which may result in issues such as overloading of lines. This paper proposes the implementation of the superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) to be installed between the two substation busbars for a more efficient and flexible operation of the substation enabling both single and double busbar configurations depending on the system conditions for guaranteeing power system reliability as well as fault current limitations. Case studies are being performed for the effectiveness of the SFCL installation and results are compared for the cases where the substation is operating in single and double busbar mode and with and without the installation of the SFCL for fault current mitigation.

Internal ultrasonic inspection of flexible pipe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baltzersen, O. (IKU Petroleumsforskning A/S, Trondheim (Norway) Norwegian Inst. of Tech., Trondheim (Norway). Div. of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics); Waag, T.I. (IKU Petroleumsforskning A/S, Trondheim (Norway))

1993-10-01

Methods for internal ultrasonic inspection of flexible pipe have been investigated through experiments with a short sample of Coflexip pipe. Ultrasonic backscatter methods using normal and non-normal incidence have been used for qualitative high contrast ultrasonic imaging of the inner surface of the pipe. Analysis of the internal cross-section has been performed based on the use of a non-contact ultrasonic caliper, and processing procedures which enable calculation of, and compensation for, eccentricity of the tool in the pipe. The methods developed can be used to quantitatively estimate the thickness of the internal carcass, and perform high resolution topographic mapping of the inner surface. (Author)

Heat exchanger tube tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gugel, G.

1976-01-01

Certain types of heat-exchangers have tubes opening through a tube sheet to a manifold having an access opening offset from alignment with the tube ends. A tool for inserting a device, such as for inspection or repair, is provided for use in such instances. The tool is formed by a flexible guide tube insertable through the access opening and having an inner end provided with a connector for connection with the opening of the tube in which the device is to be inserted, and an outer end which remains outside of the chamber, the guide tube having adequate length for this arrangement. A flexible transport hose for internally transporting the device slides inside of the guide tube. This hose is long enough to slide through the guide tube, into the heat-exchanger tube, and through the latter to the extent required for the use of the device. The guide tube must be bent to reach the end of the heat-exchanger tube and the latter may be constructed with a bend, the hose carrying anit-friction elements at interspaced locations along its length to make it possible for the hose to negotiate such bends while sliding to the location where the use of the device is required

Simultaneous Scheduling of Jobs, AGVs and Tools Considering Tool Transfer Times in Multi Machine FMS By SOS Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Sivarami Reddy, N.; Ramamurthy, D. V., Dr.; Prahlada Rao, K., Dr.

2017-08-01

This article addresses simultaneous scheduling of machines, AGVs and tools where machines are allowed to share the tools considering transfer times of jobs and tools between machines, to generate best optimal sequences that minimize makespan in a multi-machine Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS). Performance of FMS is expected to improve by effective utilization of its resources, by proper integration and synchronization of their scheduling. Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS) algorithm is a potent tool which is a better alternative for solving optimization problems like scheduling and proven itself. The proposed SOS algorithm is tested on 22 job sets with makespan as objective for scheduling of machines and tools where machines are allowed to share tools without considering transfer times of jobs and tools and the results are compared with the results of existing methods. The results show that the SOS has outperformed. The same SOS algorithm is used for simultaneous scheduling of machines, AGVs and tools where machines are allowed to share tools considering transfer times of jobs and tools to determine the best optimal sequences that minimize makespan.

Method for analyzing structural changes of flexible metal-organic frameworks induced by adsorbates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dubbeldam, D.; Krishna, R.; Snurr, R.Q.

2009-01-01

Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) have crystal structures that exhibit unusual flexibility. An extreme example is that of the "breathing MOF" MIL-53 that expands or shrinks to admit guest molecules like CO2 and water. We present a powerful simulation tool to quickly calculate unit cell shape and size

A Flexible framework for forward and inverse modeling of stormwater control measures

Science.gov (United States)

Aflaki, S.; Massoudieh, A.

2016-12-01

Models that allow for design considerations of green infrastructure (GI) practices to control stormwater runoff and associated contaminants have received considerable attention in recent years. While popular, generally, the GI models are relatively simplistic. However, GI model predictions are being relied upon by many municipalities and State/Local agencies to make decisions about grey vs. green infrastructure improvement planning. Adding complexity to GI modeling frameworks may preclude their use in simpler urban planning situations. Therefore, the goal here was to develop a sophisticated, yet flexible tool that could be used by design engineers and researchers to capture and explore the effect of design factors and properties of the media used in the performance of GI systems at a relatively small scale. We deemed it essential to have a flexible GI modeling tool that is capable of simulating GI system components and specific biophysical processes affecting contaminants such as reactions, and particle-associated transport accurately while maintaining a high degree of flexibly to account for the myriad of GI alternatives. The mathematical framework for a stand-alone GI performance assessment tool has been developed and will be demonstrated. The process-based model framework developed here can be used to model a diverse range of GI practices such as green roof, retention pond, bioretention, infiltration trench, permeable pavement and other custom-designed combinatory systems. Four demonstration applications covering a diverse range of systems will be presented. The example applications include a evaluating hydraulic performance of a complex bioretention system, hydraulic analysis of porous pavement system, flow colloid-facilitated transport, reactive transport and groundwater recharge underneath an infiltration pond and finally reactive transport and bed-sediment interactions in a wetland system will be presented.

Design Tool for 5-20 MW Direct Drive Generators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leban, Krisztina Monika; Ritchie, Ewen; Argeseanu, Alin

2014-01-01

This paper reports on a machine design tool for large (5-10MW) direct drive electrical generator. The aim of the work is to construct a flexible calculation tool that enables the analysis of different ideas and concepts for generator design. The tool is intended for engineers that are involved...... in the design of wind turbine systems. The design tool comprises calculation modules that are kept as independent as possible from each other so that new machine geometries and types can be modelled by reusing, recombining and modifying the different modules. Choice of the most suitable candidates...

The effect of tooling design parameters on web-warping in the flexible roll forming of UHSS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiao, Jingsi; Weiss, Matthias; Rolfe, Bernard; Mendiguren, Joseba; Galdos, Lander

2013-01-01

To reduce weight and improve passenger safety there is an increased need in the automotive industry to use Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) for structural and crash components. However, the application of UHSS is restricted by their limited formability and the difficulty of forming them in conventional processes. An alternative method of manufacturing structural auto body parts from UHSS is the flexible roll forming process which can accommodate materials with high strength and limited ductility in the production of complex and weight-optimised components. However, one major concern in the flexible roll forming is web-warping, which is the height deviation of the profile web area. This paper investigates, using a numerical model, the effect on web-warping with respect to various forming methods. The results demonstrate that different forming methods lead to different amount of web-warping in terms of forming the product with identical geometry

The effect of tooling design parameters on web-warping in the flexible roll forming of UHSS

Science.gov (United States)

Jiao, Jingsi; Rolfe, Bernard; Mendiguren, Joseba; Galdos, Lander; Weiss, Matthias

2013-12-01

To reduce weight and improve passenger safety there is an increased need in the automotive industry to use Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) for structural and crash components. However, the application of UHSS is restricted by their limited formability and the difficulty of forming them in conventional processes. An alternative method of manufacturing structural auto body parts from UHSS is the flexible roll forming process which can accommodate materials with high strength and limited ductility in the production of complex and weight-optimised components. However, one major concern in the flexible roll forming is web-warping, which is the height deviation of the profile web area. This paper investigates, using a numerical model, the effect on web-warping with respect to various forming methods. The results demonstrate that different forming methods lead to different amount of web-warping in terms of forming the product with identical geometry.

Flexible Carbon Aerogels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina Schwan

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Carbon aerogels are highly porous materials with a large inner surface area. Due to their high electrical conductivity they are excellent electrode materials in supercapacitors. Their brittleness, however, imposes certain limitations in terms of applicability. In that context, novel carbon aerogels with varying degree of flexibility have been developed. These highly porous, light aerogels are characterized by a high surface area and possess pore structures in the micrometer range, allowing for a reversible deformation of the aerogel network. A high ratio of pore size to particle size was found to be crucial for high flexibility. For dynamic microstructural analysis, compression tests were performed in-situ within a scanning electron microscope allowing us to directly visualize the microstructural flexibility of an aerogel. The flexible carbon aerogels were found to withstand between 15% and 30% of uniaxial compression in a reversible fashion. These findings might stimulate further research and new application fields directed towards flexible supercapacitors and batteries.

Tool-use and tool-making by captive, group-living orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) at an artificial termite mound.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamichi, Masayuki

2004-01-30

The present study examined the use and making of tools to obtain foodstuffs in artificial-mound holes by five captive, group-living Sumatran orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii). Three adult orangutans frequently stripped leaves and twigs from a branch provided (tool-making), and then inserted the tool into a hole to obtain foodstuffs (tool-using). A 5-year-old female juvenile usually used the tools that adult orangutans had previously used, but rarely made tools herself. A 2-year-old male infant did not use any tools. The adult orangutans tend to leave one to several leaves at the top of the branch than to leave many leaves on the branch or to strip all leaves. It seemed likely that tools with appropriate leaves are easier to insert into holes and obtain more foodstuffs, compared with branches with many leaves or sticks without any leaves. When the orangutans were unable to insert a tool into a hole, they usually modified the tool and/or changed their tool-using technique, such as changing how they grasped the tool. These findings are discussed from the perspectives of the orangutan's behavioral flexibility regarding tool-use skills and hierarchical organization in food-processing techniques.

Fospropofol Disodium for Sedation in Elderly Patients Undergoing Flexible Bronchoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Silvestri, Gerard A; Vincent, Brad D; Wahidi, Momen M

2011-01-01

BACKGROUND: Fospropofol disodium is a water-soluble prodrug of propofol. A subset analysis was undertaken of elderly patients (≥65 y) undergoing flexible bronchoscopy, who were part of a larger multicenter, randomized, double-blind study. METHODS: Patients received fentanyl citrate (50 mcg) followed by fospropofol at initial (4.88mg/kg) and supplemental (1.63mg/kg) doses. The primary end point was sedation success (3 consecutive Modified Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation scores of ≤4 and procedure completion without alternative sedative or assisted ventilation). Treatment success, time to fully alert, patient and physician satisfaction, and safety/tolerability were also evaluated. RESULTS: In the elderly patients subset (n=61), sedation success was 92%, the mean time to fully alert was 8.0±10.9 min, and memory retention was 72% during recovery, and these were comparable with the younger patients subgroup (age, Sedation-related adverse events occurred in 23% of the elderly and 18% of the younger patients (age, sedation, rapid time to fully alert, and high satisfaction in this elderly subset undergoing flexible bronchoscopy, which was comparable with outcomes in younger patients.

Reactor FaceMap Tool: A modern graphics tool for displaying reactor data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, J.C.

1991-01-01

A prominent graphical user interface in reactor physics applications at the Savannah River Site is the reactor facemap display. This is a two dimensional view of a cross section of a reactor. In the past each application which needed a facemap implemented its own version. Thus, none of the code was reused, the facemap implementation was hardware dependent and the user interface was different for each facemap. The Reactor FaceMap Tool was built to solve these problems. Through the use of modern computing technologies such as X Windows, object-oriented programming and client/server technology the Reactor FaceMap Tool has the flexibility to work in many diverse applications and the portability to run on numerous types of hardware

Tubing and cable cutting tool

Science.gov (United States)

Mcsmith, D. D.; Richardson, J. I. (Inventor)

1984-01-01

A hand held hydraulic cutting tool was developed which is particularly useful in deactivating ejection seats in military aircraft rescue operations. The tool consists primarily of a hydraulic system composed of a fluid reservoir, a pumping piston, and an actuator piston. Mechanical cutting jaws are attached to the actuator piston rod. The hydraulic system is controlled by a pump handle. As the pump handle is operated the actuator piston rod is forced outward and thus the cutting jaws are forced together. The frame of the device is a flexible metal tubing which permits easy positioning of the tool cutting jaws in remote and normally inaccessible locations. Bifurcated cutting edges ensure removal of a section of the tubing or cable to thereby reduce the possibility of accidental reactivation of the tubing or cable being severed.

Ac-induced disruption of the doubleDs structure in tomato

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rommens, Caius M.T.; Biezen, Erik A. van der; Ouwerkerk, Pieter B.F.; Nijkamp, H. John J.; Hille, Jacques

1991-01-01

The maize doubleDs element is stably maintained in the tomato genome. Upon the subsequent introduction of Ac into a plant containing doubleDs, disruption of the doubleDs structure and DNA rearrangements at the site of the doubleDs element were observed. No indications were obtained for excision of

Dereplication, Aggregation and Scoring Tool (DAS Tool) v1.0

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2017-03-01

Communities of uncultivated microbes are critical to ecosystem function and microorganism health, and a key objective of metagenomic studies is to analyze organism-specific metabolic pathways and reconstruct community interaction networks. This requires accurate assignment of genes to genomes, yet existing binning methods often fail to predict a reasonable number of genomes and report many bins of low quality and completeness. Furthermore, the performance of existing algorithms varies between samples and biotypes. Here, we present a dereplication, aggregation and scoring strategy, DAS Tool, that combines the strengths of a flexible set of established binning algorithms. DAS Tools applied to a constructed community generated more accurate bins than any automated method. Further, when applied to samples of different complexity, including soil, natural oil seeps, and the human gut, DAS Tool recovered substantially more near-complete genomes than any single binning method alone. Included were three genomes from a novel lineage . The ability to reconstruct many near-complete genomes from metagenomics data will greatly advance genome-centric analyses of ecosystems.

Reversibly Bistable Flexible Electronics

KAUST Repository

Alfaraj, Nasir

2015-05-01

Introducing the notion of transformational silicon electronics has paved the way for integrating various applications with silicon-based, modern, high-performance electronic circuits that are mechanically flexible and optically semitransparent. While maintaining large-scale production and prototyping rapidity, this flexible and translucent scheme demonstrates the potential to transform conventionally stiff electronic devices into thin and foldable ones without compromising long-term performance and reliability. In this work, we report on the fabrication and characterization of reversibly bistable flexible electronic switches that utilize flexible n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. The transistors are fabricated initially on rigid (100) silicon substrates before they are peeled off. They can be used to control flexible batches of light-emitting diodes, demonstrating both the relative ease of scaling at minimum cost and maximum reliability and the feasibility of integration. The peeled-off silicon fabric is about 25 µm thick. The fabricated devices are transferred to a reversibly bistable flexible platform through which, for example, a flexible smartphone can be wrapped around a user’s wrist and can also be set back to its original mechanical position. Buckling and cyclic bending of such host platforms brings a completely new dimension to the development of flexible electronics, especially rollable displays.

Study of double porous silicon surfaces for enhancement of silicon solar cell performance

Science.gov (United States)

Razali, N. S. M.; Rahim, A. F. A.; Radzali, R.; Mahmood, A.

2017-09-01

In this work, design and simulation of double porous silicon surfaces for enhancement of silicon solar cell is carried out. Both single and double porous structures are constructed by using TCAD ATHENA and TCAD DEVEDIT tools of the SILVACO software respectively. After the structures were created, I-V characteristics and spectral response of the solar cell were extracted using ATLAS device simulator. Finally, the performance of the simulated double porous solar cell is compared with the performance of both single porous and bulk-Si solar cell. The results showed that double porous silicon solar cell exhibited 1.8% efficiency compared to 1.3% and 1.2% for single porous silicon and bulk-Si solar cell.

Effect of the Power Balance® band on static balance, hamstring flexibility, and arm strength in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Verdan, Princess J R; Marzilli, Thomas S; Barna, Geanina I; Roquemore, Anntionette N; Fenter, Brad A; Blujus, Brittany; Gosselin, Kevin P

2012-08-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Power Balance® bands on strength, flexibility, and balance. Strength and flexibility were measured using the MicroFit system. Strength was measured via a bicep curl and flexibility via the sit-and-reach method. Balance was measured by the BIODEX System SD. There were 4 different conditions for the balance test: eyes open on a firm surface (EOFS), eyes closed on a firm surface (ECFS), eyes open on a foam surface (EOFoS), and eyes closed on a foam surface (ECFoS). There were 24 subjects in the study (10 men and 14 women). A counterbalance, double-blind, placebo, controlled within-subject design was used. Each of the subjects participated in 3 treatment sessions, consisting of Power Balance®, placebo band, and no band. An alpha level of p ≤ 0.05 was set a priori. There were no significant differences in strength, flexibility, or balance with regard to the treatments used. There was a significant difference between the conditions in the balance test (p = 0.000): EOFS (0.51), ECFS (0.68), EOFoS (0.99), and ECFoS (2.18); however, these were independent of the treatment conditions. The results indicate that the Power Balance® bands did not have an effect on strength, flexibility, or balance.

Flexible MEMS: A novel technology to fabricate flexible sensors and electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Tu, Hongen

This dissertation presents the design and fabrication techniques used to fabricate flexible MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) devices. MEMS devices and CMOS(Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) circuits are traditionally fabricated on rigid substrates with inorganic semiconductor materials such as Silicon. However, it is highly desirable that functional elements like sensors, actuators or micro fluidic components to be fabricated on flexible substrates for a wide variety of applications. Due to the fact that flexible substrate is temperature sensitive, typically only low temperature materials, such as polymers, metals, and organic semiconductor materials, can be directly fabricated on flexible substrates. A novel technology based on XeF2(xenon difluoride) isotropic silicon etching and parylene conformal coating, which is able to monolithically incorporate high temperature materials and fluidic channels, was developed at Wayne State University. The technology was first implemented in the development of out-of-plane parylene microneedle arrays that can be individually addressed by integrated flexible micro-channels. These devices enable the delivery of chemicals with controlled temporal and spatial patterns and allow us to study neurotransmitter-based retinal prosthesis. The technology was further explored by adopting the conventional SOI-CMOS processes. High performance and high density CMOS circuits can be first fabricated on SOI wafers, and then be integrated into flexible substrates. Flexible p-channel MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistors) were successfully integrated and tested. Integration of pressure sensors and flow sensors based on single crystal silicon has also been demonstrated. A novel smart yarn technology that enables the invisible integration of sensors and electronics into fabrics has been developed. The most significant advantage of this technology is its post-MEMS and post-CMOS compatibility. Various high

BBAT: Bunch and bucket analysis tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deng, D.P.

1995-01-01

BBAT is written to meet the need of an interactive graphical tool to explore the longitudinal phase space. It is driven for testing new ideas or new tricks quickly. It is especially suitable for machine physicists or operation staff as well both in the control room during machine studies or off-line to analyze the data. The heart of the package contains a set of c-routines to do the number crunching. The graphics part is wired with scripting language tcl/tk and BLT. The c-routines are general enough that one can write new applications such as animation of the bucket as a machine parameter varies via a sliding scale. BBAT deals with single rf system. For double rf system, one can use Dr. BBAT, which stands for Double rf Bunch and Bucket Analysis Tool. One usage of Dr. BBAT is to visualize the process of bunch coalescing and flat bunch creation

Microscopic dual-energy CT (microDECT): a flexible tool for multichannel ex vivo 3D imaging of biological specimens.

Science.gov (United States)

Handschuh, S; Beisser, C J; Ruthensteiner, B; Metscher, B D

2017-07-01

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) uses two different x-ray energy spectra in order to differentiate between tissues, materials or elements in a single sample or patient. DECT is becoming increasingly popular in clinical imaging and preclinical in vivo imaging of small animal models, but there have been only very few reports on ex vivo DECT of biological samples at microscopic resolutions. The present study has three main aims. First, we explore the potential of microscopic DECT (microDECT) for delivering isotropic multichannel 3D images of fixed biological samples with standard commercial laboratory-based microCT setups at spatial resolutions reaching below 10 μm. Second, we aim for retaining the maximum image resolution and quality during the material decomposition. Third, we want to test the suitability for microDECT imaging of different contrast agents currently used for ex vivo staining of biological samples. To address these aims, we used microCT scans of four different samples stained with x-ray dense contrast agents. MicroDECT scans were acquired with five different commercial microCT scanners from four companies. We present a detailed description of the microDECT workflow, including sample preparation, image acquisition, image processing and postreconstruction material decomposition, which may serve as practical guide for applying microDECT. The MATLAB script (The Mathworks Inc., Natick, MA, USA) used for material decomposition (including a graphical user interface) is provided as a supplement to this paper (https://github.com/microDECT/DECTDec). In general, the presented microDECT workflow yielded satisfactory results for all tested specimens. Original scan resolutions have been mostly retained in the separate material fractions after basis material decomposition. In addition to decomposition of mineralized tissues (inherent sample contrast) and stained soft tissues, we present a case of double labelling of different soft tissues with subsequent

Flexible Carpooling: Exploratory Study

OpenAIRE

Dorinson, Diana; Gay, Deanna; Minett, Paul; Shaheen, Susan

2009-01-01

Energy consumption could be reduced if more people shared rides rather than driving alone yet carpooling represents a small proportion of all potential carpoolers. Prior research has found that many who might carpool were concerned about reduced flexibility with carpooling. If flexibility is one of the barriers how could carpooling be organized to be more flexible? In Northern Virginia a flexible system has evolved where there are 3,500 single-use carpools per day. In another example there ...

Tools for Climate Services

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, H. C.

2007-05-01

Full realization of socio-economic benefits of from public investments in climate services remains incomplete because decision makers have difficulty: 1) interpreting individual products, 2) appropriately judging information credibility, and 3) linking different types of information, both conceptually and practically. Addressing these barriers is as important as improving the science leading to improved information. The challenge is creating flexible climate information products and tools that can accommodate unique user needs; the goal is a systemic change in the nature of information delivery and use. The underlying assumption is not that climate information is good and useful, and simply needs to be communicated effectively. Rather, a number of conditions must be met before decision makers can make informed choices about whether to use particular information in a specific situation. Several case studies, of varying success, illustrate user-centric strategies for developing decision support tools: a forecast evaluation tool, a climate information management system, and a hydrologic alert system. However, tools alone will not bridge the barriers in climate services, with training and other capacity- building activities remaining important activities.

The fierce urgency of now: a proactive, pervasive content awareness tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Powell, James E [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Collins, Linn M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Martinez, Mark L B [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2009-01-01

Information awareness is distinct from explicit infonnation seeking, such as searching. We describe an information awareness tool that supports text composition by providing awareness of relevant content and references proactively and non-intrusively. As a user composes text, the tool automatically searches mUltiple sources, retrieves results, and displays links to the results. The tool has been implemented using Web 2.0 and Digital Library 2.0 technologies, and is flexible and highly configurable.

Developing a Parametric Urban Design Tool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steinø, Nicolai; Obeling, Esben

2014-01-01

Parametric urban design is a potentially powerful tool for collaborative urban design processes. Rather than making one- off designs which need to be redesigned from the ground up in case of changes, parametric design tools make it possible keep the design open while at the same time allowing...... for a level of detailing which is high enough to facilitate an understan- ding of the generic qualities of proposed designs. Starting from a brief overview of parametric design, this paper presents initial findings from the development of a parametric urban design tool with regard to developing a structural...... logic which is flexible and expandable. It then moves on to outline and discuss further development work. Finally, it offers a brief reflection on the potentials and shortcomings of the software – CityEngine – which is used for developing the parametric urban design tool....

Local Flexibility Market Design for Aggregators Providing Multiple Flexibility Services at Distribution Network Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pol Olivella-Rosell

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a general description of local flexibility markets as a market-based management mechanism for aggregators. The high penetration of distributed energy resources introduces new flexibility services like prosumer or community self-balancing, congestion management and time-of-use optimization. This work is focused on the flexibility framework to enable multiple participants to compete for selling or buying flexibility. In this framework, the aggregator acts as a local market operator and supervises flexibility transactions of the local energy community. Local market participation is voluntary. Potential flexibility stakeholders are the distribution system operator, the balance responsible party and end-users themselves. Flexibility is sold by means of loads, generators, storage units and electric vehicles. Finally, this paper presents needed interactions between all local market stakeholders, the corresponding inputs and outputs of local market operation algorithms from participants and a case study to highlight the application of the local flexibility market in three scenarios. The local market framework could postpone grid upgrades, reduce energy costs and increase distribution grids’ hosting capacity.

[Inspecting the cochlear scala tympanic with flexible and semi-flexible micro-endoscope].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Daoxcing; Zhang, Yankun

2006-02-01

Flexible and semi-flexible micro-endoscopes were used in cochlear scala tympani inspection , to explore their application in inner ear examination. Fifteen profound hearing loss patients preparing for cochlear implant were included in this study. During the operation, micro-endoscopy was performed after opening the cochlear scala tympani. And 1 mm diameter semi-flexible micro-endoscope could go as deep as 9 mm into the cochlear scala tympani, while 0. 5 mm diameter flexible micro-endoscope could go as deep as 25 mm. The inspecting results were compared with video recording. Using 0.5 mm flexible micro-endoscope, we canould check cochlear scala tympani with depth range of 15-25 mm, but the video imaging was not clear enough to examine the microstructure in the cochlear. With 1 mm diameter semi-flexible micro-endoscope, we could reach 9 mm deep into the cochlear. During the examination, we found 3 cases with calcification deposit in osseous spiral lamina, l case with granulation tissue in the lateral wall of scala tympani, no abnormal findings in the other 11 cases. Inspecting the cochlear scala tympani with 0.5 mm flexible micro-endoscope, even though we can reach the second circuit of the cochlear, it is difficult to find the pathology in the cochlear because of the poor video imaging. With 1 mm semi-flexible micro-endoscope, we can identify the microstructure of the cochlear clearly and find the pathologic changes, but the inserting depth was limited to 9 mm with limitation to examine the whole cochlear.

Development of Flexible Pneumatic Cylinder with Built-in Flexible Linear Encoder and Flexible Bending Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Akagi, Tetsuya; Dohta, Shujiro; Matsushita, Hisashi; Fukuhara, Akimasa

The purpose of this study is to develop a lightweight and intelligent soft actuator which can be safely attached to the human body. A novel flexible pneumatic cylinder that can be used even if it is deformed by external force had been proposed. The cylinder can realize both pushing and pulling motions even if the cylinder bends. In this paper, a flexible pneumatic cylinder with a built-in flexible linear encoder is proposed and tested. The encoder can detect the cylinder displacement even if the cylinder bends. In the next step, to realize an intelligent flexible cylinder, it is essential to recognize the angle of deflection of the cylinder to estimate the direction of the external force. Therefore, a flexible bending sensor that can measure the directional angle by attaching it to the end of the cylinder is also proposed and tested. The tested bending sensor also consists of four inexpensive photo-reflectors set on the circumferential surface to the cylinder tube every 90 degrees from the center of the tube. By measuring the distance between the photo reflector and the surface of the tube at each point, the bending directional angle of the cylinder can be obtained. A low cost measuring system using a micro-computer incorporating a programmed Up/Down counter to measure the displacement of the cylinder is also developed. As a result, it was confirmed that the measuring accuracy of the bending directional angle was good, less than 0.7 degrees as a standard deviation.

A time-dependent B-spline R-matrix approach to double ionization of atoms by XUV laser pulses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guan Xiaoxu; Zatsarinny, O; Noble, C J; Bartschat, K [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Drake University, Des Moines, IA 50311 (United States); Schneider, B I [Physics Division, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virgina 22230 (United States)], E-mail: xiaoxu.guan@drake.edu, E-mail: oleg.zatsarinny@drake.edu, E-mail: cjn@maxnet.co.nz, E-mail: klaus.bartschat@drake.edu, E-mail: bschneid@nsf.gov

2009-07-14

We present an ab initio and non-perturbative time-dependent approach to the problem of double ionization of a general atom driven by intense XUV laser pulses. After using a highly flexible B-spline R-matrix method to generate field-free Hamiltonian and electric dipole matrices, the initial state is propagated in time using an efficient Arnoldi-Lanczos scheme. Test calculations for double ionization of He by a single laser pulse yield good agreement with benchmark results obtained with other methods. The method is then applied to two-colour pump-probe processes, for which momentum and energy distributions of the two outgoing electrons are presented.

A semi-analytical bearing model considering outer race flexibility for model based bearing load monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Kerst, Stijn; Shyrokau, Barys; Holweg, Edward

2018-05-01

This paper proposes a novel semi-analytical bearing model addressing flexibility of the bearing outer race structure. It furthermore presents the application of this model in a bearing load condition monitoring approach. The bearing model is developed as current computational low cost bearing models fail to provide an accurate description of the more and more common flexible size and weight optimized bearing designs due to their assumptions of rigidity. In the proposed bearing model raceway flexibility is described by the use of static deformation shapes. The excitation of the deformation shapes is calculated based on the modelled rolling element loads and a Fourier series based compliance approximation. The resulting model is computational low cost and provides an accurate description of the rolling element loads for flexible outer raceway structures. The latter is validated by a simulation-based comparison study with a well-established bearing simulation software tool. An experimental study finally shows the potential of the proposed model in a bearing load monitoring approach.

Demonstrating TTC-PON robustness and flexibility

CERN Document Server

Brandao de Souza Mendes, Eduardo; Soos, Csaba; Saint-Germain, Logan; Vasey, Francois

2018-01-01

In 2016, a TTC-PON (Timing, Trigger and Control system based on Passive Optical Networks) demonstrator was presented at TWEPP as an alternative to replace the TTC system, currently responsible for delivering timing, trigger and control commands in the LHC experiments. Towards a deployment foreseen for ALICE phase-1 upgrade, the system has been consolidated through flexible software implementation providing full configuration, complete calibration and extended monitoring and diagnostic tools. A new demonstrator setup was built with various FPGA platforms to test the system with an increased number of nodes and under different environmental conditions. This paper focuses on the TTC-PON system design with a discussion on its features and scaled-up tests.

Energy Flexibility in Retail Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Zheng; Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun

2017-01-01

Retail buildings has an important role for demand side energy flexibility because of their high energy consumption, variety of energy flexibility resources, and centralized control via building control systems. Energy flexibility requires agreements and collaborations among different actors......), with the discussion of the stakeholders’ roles and their interrelation in delivering energy flexibility with the influential factors to the actual implementation of energy flexible operation of their buildings. Based on a literature analysis, the results cover stakeholders’ types and roles, perceptions (drivers......, barriers, and benefits), energy management activities and technology adoptions, and the stakeholders’ interaction for the energy flexibility in retail buildings....

Coupled double-distribution-function lattice Boltzmann method for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Q; He, Y L; Wang, Y; Tao, W Q

2007-11-01

A coupled double-distribution-function lattice Boltzmann method is developed for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Different from existing thermal lattice Boltzmann methods, this method can recover the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with a flexible specific-heat ratio and Prandtl number. In the method, a density distribution function based on a multispeed lattice is used to recover the compressible continuity and momentum equations, while the compressible energy equation is recovered by an energy distribution function. The energy distribution function is then coupled to the density distribution function via the thermal equation of state. In order to obtain an adjustable specific-heat ratio, a constant related to the specific-heat ratio is introduced into the equilibrium energy distribution function. Two different coupled double-distribution-function lattice Boltzmann models are also proposed in the paper. Numerical simulations are performed for the Riemann problem, the double-Mach-reflection problem, and the Couette flow with a range of specific-heat ratios and Prandtl numbers. The numerical results are found to be in excellent agreement with analytical and/or other solutions.

Flexible Word Classes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

• First major publication on the phenomenon • Offers cross-linguistic, descriptive, and diverse theoretical approaches • Includes analysis of data from different language families and from lesser studied languages This book is the first major cross-linguistic study of 'flexible words', i.e. words...... that cannot be classified in terms of the traditional lexical categories Verb, Noun, Adjective or Adverb. Flexible words can - without special morphosyntactic marking - serve in functions for which other languages must employ members of two or more of the four traditional, 'specialised' word classes. Thus......, flexible words are underspecified for communicative functions like 'predicating' (verbal function), 'referring' (nominal function) or 'modifying' (a function typically associated with adjectives and e.g. manner adverbs). Even though linguists have been aware of flexible world classes for more than...

Touch, tools, and telepresence : embodiment in mediated environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

IJsselsteijn, W.A.; Haans, A.; Rogowitz, B.E.; Pappas, T.N.

2008-01-01

We tend to think of our body image as fixed. However, human brains appear to support highly negotiable body images. As a result, our brains show a remarkable flexibility in incorporating non-biological elements (tools and technologies) into the body image, provided reliable, real-time intersensory

The Doctrine of Double Effect as an Ineffective Tool in War Theory

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

classroom setting wherein the topic of the course was “ Ethics , Law and International Affairs.” 2 solely morality-based approach. Though elements of...McIntyre, supra note 2. 5 Id. 6 McIntyre, supra note 2. 7 For example, see Alison McIntyre, “Doing Away With Double Effect,” Ethics , Vol. 111...distinguishable in hindsight. With respect to the second claim, an act utilitarian would argue that it makes no difference what result an agent is committed

Model-based setup assistant for progressive tools

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, Robert; Gräler, Manuel; Homberg, Werner; Henke, Christian; Trächtler, Ansgar

2018-05-01

In the field of production systems, globalization and technological progress lead to increasing requirements regarding part quality, delivery time and costs. Hence, today's production is challenged much more than a few years ago: it has to be very flexible and produce economically small batch sizes to satisfy consumer's demands and avoid unnecessary stock. Furthermore, a trend towards increasing functional integration continues to lead to an ongoing miniaturization of sheet metal components. In the industry of electric connectivity for example, the miniaturized connectors are manufactured by progressive tools, which are usually used for very large batches. These tools are installed in mechanical presses and then set up by a technician, who has to manually adjust a wide range of punch-bending operations. Disturbances like material thickness, temperatures, lubrication or tool wear complicate the setup procedure. In prospect of the increasing demand of production flexibility, this time-consuming process has to be handled more and more often. In this paper, a new approach for a model-based setup assistant is proposed as a solution, which is exemplarily applied in combination with a progressive tool. First, progressive tools, more specifically, their setup process is described and based on that, the challenges are pointed out. As a result, a systematic process to set up the machines is introduced. Following, the process is investigated with an FE-Analysis regarding the effects of the disturbances. In the next step, design of experiments is used to systematically develop a regression model of the system's behaviour. This model is integrated within an optimization in order to calculate optimal machine parameters and the following necessary adjustment of the progressive tool due to the disturbances. Finally, the assistant is tested in a production environment and the results are discussed.

Designing decision support tools for targeted N-regulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Andreas Aagaard; Piil, Kristoffer; Andersen, Peter Stubkjær

2017-01-01

data model for land use data – the dNmark landscape model. Based on input data which is corrected and edited by workshop participants, the tool estimates the effect of potential land use scenarios on nutrient emissions. The tool was tested in 5 scenario workshops in case areas in Denmark in 2016...... in Denmark to develop and improve a functioning decision support tool for landscape scale N-management. The aim of the study is to evaluate how a decision support tool can best be designed in order to enable landscape scale strategic N-management practices. Methods: A prototype GIS-tool for capturing......, storing, editing, displaying and modelling landscape scale farming practices and associated emission consequences was developed. The tool was designed to integrate locally held knowledge with national scale datasets in live scenario situations through the implementation of a flexible, uniform and editable...

Impact of Flexibility of Manufacturing System Components on Competitiveness of SMEs in Northern India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shakun Preet Kaur

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present manufacturing environment is characterized by a number of changes which poses challenges to a typical manufacturing unit. Time demands a shift from the traditional manufacturing strategies as they do not fit to present market competition. A flexible systems strategy has to be designed for remaining competitive in the market and perform well. For designing strategies and policies it is important to know the factors that influence performance of the system. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the flexibility of manufacturing system components on competitiveness of SMEs in northern India. A questionnaire based survey was conducted in the SMEs across northern India analysing three sectors namely automotive, machine tool and light engineering (mechanical components and equipment. The study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating the impact of machine, material handling and worker flexibility on competitiveness of manufacturing firms. This paper presents a Structural Equation Model displaying the impact of flexibility of manufacturing system components on competitiveness of SMEs.

Flexible magnetoimpedance sensor

KAUST Repository

Li, Bodong; Kavaldzhiev, Mincho; Kosel, Jü rgen

2015-01-01

Flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensors fabricated using a NiFe/Cu/NiFe tri-layer on Kapton substrate have been studied. A customized flexible microstrip transmission line was employed to investigate the MI sensors's magnetic field and frequency

Immediate Effects of Neurodynamic Sliding versus Muscle Stretching on Hamstring Flexibility in Subjects with Short Hamstring Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Castellote-Caballero, Yolanda; Valenza, Maríe C.; Puentedura, Emilio J.; Fernández-de-las-Peñas, César; Alburquerque-Sendín, Francisco

2014-01-01

Background. Hamstring injuries continue to affect active individuals and although inadequate muscle extensibility remains a commonly accepted factor, little is known about the most effective method to improve flexibility. Purpose. To determine if an isolated neurodynamic sciatic sliding technique would improve hamstring flexibility to a greater degree than stretching or a placebo intervention in asymptomatic subjects with short hamstring syndrome (SHS). Study Design. Randomized double-blinded controlled trial. Methods. One hundred and twenty subjects with SHS were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: neurodynamic sliding, hamstring stretching, and placebo control. Each subject's dominant leg was measured for straight leg raise (SLR) range of motion (ROM) before and after interventions. Data were analyzed with a 3 × 2 mixed model ANOVA followed by simple main effects analyses. Results. At the end of the study, more ROM was observed in the Neurodynamic and Stretching groups compared to the Control group and more ROM in the Neurodynamic group compared to Stretching group. Conclusion. Findings suggest that a neurodynamic sliding technique will increase hamstring flexibility to a greater degree than static hamstring stretching in healthy subjects with SHS. Clinical Relevance. The use of neurodynamic sliding techniques to improve hamstring flexibility in sports may lead to a decreased incidence in injuries; however, this needs to be formally tested. PMID:26464889

Scalable synthesis of freestanding sandwich-structured graphene/polyaniline/graphene nanocomposite paper for flexible all-solid-state supercapacitor.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Fei; Yang, Shengxiong; Zhang, Zheye; Liu, Hongfang; Xiao, Junwu; Wan, Lian; Luo, Jun; Wang, Shuai; Liu, Yunqi

2015-03-23

We reported a scalable and modular method to prepare a new type of sandwich-structured graphene-based nanohybrid paper and explore its practical application as high-performance electrode in flexible supercapacitor. The freestanding and flexible graphene paper was firstly fabricated by highly reproducible printing technique and bubbling delamination method, by which the area and thickness of the graphene paper can be freely adjusted in a wide range. The as-prepared graphene paper possesses a collection of unique properties of highly electrical conductivity (340 S cm(-1)), light weight (1 mg cm(-2)) and excellent mechanical properties. In order to improve its supercapacitive properties, we have prepared a unique sandwich-structured graphene/polyaniline/graphene paper by in situ electropolymerization of porous polyaniline nanomaterials on graphene paper, followed by wrapping an ultrathin graphene layer on its surface. This unique design strategy not only circumvents the low energy storage capacity resulting from the double-layer capacitor of graphene paper, but also enhances the rate performance and cycling stability of porous polyaniline. The as-obtained all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor exhibits high energy density, high power density, excellent cycling stability and exceptional mechanical flexibility, demonstrative of its extensive potential applications for flexible energy-related devices and wearable electronics.

Scalable Synthesis of Freestanding Sandwich-structured Graphene/Polyaniline/Graphene Nanocomposite Paper for Flexible All-Solid-State Supercapacitor

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Fei; Yang, Shengxiong; Zhang, Zheye; Liu, Hongfang; Xiao, Junwu; Wan, Lian; Luo, Jun; Wang, Shuai; Liu, Yunqi

2015-03-01

We reported a scalable and modular method to prepare a new type of sandwich-structured graphene-based nanohybrid paper and explore its practical application as high-performance electrode in flexible supercapacitor. The freestanding and flexible graphene paper was firstly fabricated by highly reproducible printing technique and bubbling delamination method, by which the area and thickness of the graphene paper can be freely adjusted in a wide range. The as-prepared graphene paper possesses a collection of unique properties of highly electrical conductivity (340 S cm-1), light weight (1 mg cm-2) and excellent mechanical properties. In order to improve its supercapacitive properties, we have prepared a unique sandwich-structured graphene/polyaniline/graphene paper by in situ electropolymerization of porous polyaniline nanomaterials on graphene paper, followed by wrapping an ultrathin graphene layer on its surface. This unique design strategy not only circumvents the low energy storage capacity resulting from the double-layer capacitor of graphene paper, but also enhances the rate performance and cycling stability of porous polyaniline. The as-obtained all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor exhibits high energy density, high power density, excellent cycling stability and exceptional mechanical flexibility, demonstrative of its extensive potential applications for flexible energy-related devices and wearable electronics.

Effect of the Power Balance® hologram on balance, flexibility, strength and speed-coordination among university students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Merino Marban, Daniel Mayorga Vega, Emilio Fernández Rodríguez, Francisco José Santana Pérez, Oscar Romero Ramos

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the body’s energy field, the inventors of Power Balance® have created a hologram that theoretically runs through frequencies that are in our natural environment. Its creators say that people may experience improve balance, strength, flexibility, endurance, concentration, coordination and recovery time, among others. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effect of Power Balance® hologram on balance, flexibility, strength and speed-coordination in university students. A sample of 105 young volunteers’ physical education students (age 20.91 ± 3.36 years, mass 69.69 ± 11.35 kg, height 171.70 ± 8.07 cm was used. A between-group experimental design with double-blind control group was used to evaluate the possible effects of the Power Balance ® on the dynamic balance, flexibility, abdominal strength, endurance and speed-coordination measured with the Dynamic Balance Test, Sit and Reach, Sit-ups in 30 seconds and Race 10 x 5 m, respectively. A t of Student for independent and dependent samples was used to assess the potential effects between-group and intra-group, respectively. Power Balance®’s hologram produces no significant effects on the balance, flexibility, strength and speed-coordination among university students

Computer finite element analysis of stress derived from particular units of torsionally flexible metal coupling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariusz KUCZAJ

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In this article the results of Finite Element Analysis (FEA results of stresses derived from chosen units of torsionally flexible metal coupling are presented. As model and simulation tool for particular component loads is used the Autodesk Inventor Professional 2009 program.

Flexible magnetoimpedance sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Bodong; Kavaldzhiev, Mincho N.; Kosel, Jürgen

2015-01-01

Flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensors fabricated using a NiFe/Cu/NiFe tri-layer on Kapton substrate have been studied. A customized flexible microstrip transmission line was employed to investigate the MI sensors's magnetic field and frequency responses and their dependence on the sensors's deflection. For the first time, the impedance characteristic is obtained through reflection coefficient analysis over a wide range of frequencies from 0.1 MHz to 3 GHz and for deflections ranging from zero curvature to a radius of 7.2 cm. The sensor element maintains a high MI ratio of up to 90% and magnetic sensitivity of up to 9.2%/Oe over different bending curvatures. The relationship between the curvature and material composition is discussed based on the magnetostriction effect and stress simulations. The sensor's large frequency range, simple fabrication process and high sensitivity provide a great potential for flexible electronics and wireless applications. - Highlights: • A flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensor is developed. • Studies are carried out using a flexible microstrip transmission line. • An MI ratio of up to 90% is obtained. • The effect of magnetostriction is studied

Flexible transparent electrode

Science.gov (United States)

Demiryont, Hulya; Shannon, Kenneth C., III; Moorehead, David; Bratcher, Matthew

2011-06-01

This paper presents the properties of the EclipseTECTM transparent conductor. EclipseTECTM is a room temperature deposited nanostructured thin film coating system comprised of metal-oxide semiconductor elements. The system possesses metal-like conductivity and glass-like transparency in the visible region. These highly conductive TEC films exhibit high shielding efficiency (35dB at 1 to 100GHz). EclipseTECTM can be deposited on rigid or flexible substrates. For example, EclipseTECTM deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is extremely flexible that can be rolled around a 9mm diameter cylinder with little or no reduction in electrical conductivity and that can assume pre-extension states after an applied stress is relieved. The TEC is colorless and has been tailored to have high visible transmittance which matches the eye sensitivity curve and allows the viewing of true background colors through the coating. EclipseTECTM is flexible, durable and can be tailored at the interface for applications such as electron- or hole-injecting OLED electrodes as well as electrodes in flexible displays. Tunable work function and optical design flexibility also make EclipseTECTM well-suited as a candidate for grid electrode replacement in next-generation photovoltaic cells.

Flexible Foam Model.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neilsen, Michael K.; Lu, Wei-Yang; Werner, Brian T.; Scherzinger, William M.; Lo, Chi S.

2018-03-01

Experiments were performed to characterize the mechanical response of a 15 pcf flexible polyurethane foam to large deformation at different strain rates and temperatures. Results from these experiments indicated that at room temperature, flexible polyurethane foams exhibit significant nonlinear elastic deformation and nearly return to their original undeformed shape when unloaded. However, when these foams are cooled to temperatures below their glass transition temperature of approximately -35 o C, they behave like rigid polyurethane foams and exhibit significant permanent deformation when compressed. Thus, a new model which captures this dramatic change in behavior with temperature was developed and implemented into SIERRA with the name Flex_Foam to describe the mechanical response of both flexible and rigid foams to large deformation at a variety of temperatures and strain rates. This report includes a description of recent experiments. Next, development of the Flex Foam model for flexible polyurethane and other flexible foams is described. Selection of material parameters are discussed and finite element simulations with the new Flex Foam model are compared with experimental results to show behavior that can be captured with this new model.

Conceptual design of EAST flexible in-vessel inspection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, X.B.; Song, Y.T.; Li, C.C.; Lei, M.Z.; Li, G.

2010-01-01

Remote handling technology, especially the flexible in-vessel inspection system (FIVIS) without breaking the working condition of the vacuum vessel, has been identified as one major challenge on the maintenance for the future tokamak fusion reactor. The FIVIS introduced here is specially developed for EAST superconducting tokamak that has actively cooled plasma facing components (PFCs). It aims flexible close-up inspection of EAST PFCs to help the understanding of operation issues that could occur in the vacuum vessel. This paper resumes the preliminary work of the FIVIS project, including the requirement analysis and the development of the conceptual design. The FIVIS consists out of a long reach multi-articulated manipulator and a process tool. The manipulator has a modular design for its subsystems and can reach all areas of the first wall in the distance of 15 mm and in the range of ±90 o along toroidal direction. It will be folded and hidden in the designated horizontal port during plasma discharge period.

Molecular model for solubility of gases in flexible polymers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neergaard, Jesper; Hassager, Ole; Szabo, Peter

1999-01-01

We propose a model for a priori prediction of the solubility of gases in flexible polymers. The model is based on the concept of ideal solubility of gases in liquids. According to this concept, the mole fraction of gases in liquids is given by Raoult's law with the total pressure and the vapor...... pressure of the gas, where the latter may have to be extrapolated. However, instead of considering each polymer molecule as a rigid structure, we estimate the effective number of degrees of freedom from an equivalent freely jointed bead-rod model for the flexible polymer. In this model, we associate...... the length of the rods with the molecular weight corresponding to a Kuhn step. The model provides a tool for crude estimation of the gas solubility on the basis of only the monomer unit of the polymer and properties of the gas. A comparison with the solubility data for several gases in poly...

Towards the Development of Effective and Flexible Information Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aphrodite Tsalgatidou

1994-05-01

Full Text Available The development of Information Systems which are effective (i.e. satisfy users' needs and flexible enough to incorporate future changes of user requirements basically depends on the importance given to the requirements analysis stage and to the techniques employed for their development This paper presents a new approach to requirements analysis through an environment called VENUS. The VENUS environment provides a set of tools to support the requirements capture and analysis process so that design and development is more effective and flexible. The construction of user requirements starts by first constructing an Entity-Relationship Model which is then transformed to an Object-oriented Rule-based Model (ORM where rules are used for the definition of the behaviour of each object class. ORM is then mapped to a graphical Petri-net based model and is validated by employing graphical animation and exploiting formal properties of the underlying Petri-net formalism.

Assembling nitrogen and oxygen co-doped graphene quantum dots onto hierarchical carbon networks for all-solid-state flexible supercapacitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Zhen; Li, Yanfeng; Wang, Liang; Cao, Ling; Liu, Xiang; Chen, Zhiwen; Pan, Dengyu; Wu, Minghong

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The all-carbon ternary flexible electrodes have been fabricated by the electrode deposition of nitrogen and oxygen co-doped single-crystalline GQDs. • The flexible electrodes deliver ultrahigh specific capacitance (461 mF cm"−"2) by inducing a high concentration of active nitrogen and oxygen at edge. • Symmetrical N-O-GQD/CNT/CC all-solid-state flexible supercapacitors offer energy density up to 32 μWh cm"−"2 and demonstrate the good stability, high flexibility, and folding ability under different deformations. • Nitrogen and oxygen co-doped GQDs can function as a highly active, solution-processable pseudocapacitive materials applicable to high-performance supercapacitors. - Abstract: We present a novel approach for hierarchical fabrication of high-performance, all-solid-state, flexible supercapacitors from environmentally friendly all-carbon materials. Three-dimensional carbon nanotube/carbon cloth network (CNT/CC) is used as a conductive, flexible and free-standing scaffold for the electro-deposition of highly N/O co-doped graphene quantum dots to form the high-activity, all-carbon electrodes. The hierarchical structure of the CNT/CC network with high electrical conductivity and high surface area provides improved conductive pathways for the efficient activation of GQDs with high pseudocapacitance and electrical double layer capacitance. The obtained N-O-GQD/CNT/CC electrodes for all-solid-state flexible supercapacitors exhibit an ultrahigh areal capacitance of up to 461 mF cm"−"2 at a current density of 0.5 mA cm"−"2, while keeping high rate and cyclic performances. This work highlights the great potential of highly active GQDs in the construction of high-performance flexible energy-storage devices.

Identifying Functional Requirements for Flexible Airspace Management Concept Using Human-In-The-Loop Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Paul U.; Bender, Kim; Pagan, Danielle

2011-01-01

Flexible Airspace Management (FAM) is a mid- term Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) concept that allows dynamic changes to airspace configurations to meet the changes in the traffic demand. A series of human-in-the-loop (HITL) studies have identified procedures and decision support requirements needed to implement FAM. This paper outlines a suggested FAM procedure and associated decision support functionality based on these HITL studies. A description of both the tools used to support the HITLs and the planned NextGen technologies available in the mid-term are presented and compared. The mid-term implementation of several NextGen capabilities, specifically, upgrades to the Traffic Management Unit (TMU), the initial release of an en route automation system, the deployment of a digital data communication system, a more flexible voice communications network, and the introduction of a tool envisioned to manage and coordinate networked ground systems can support the implementation of the FAM concept. Because of the variability in the overall deployment schedule of the mid-term NextGen capabilities, the dependency of the individual NextGen capabilities are examined to determine their impact on a mid-term implementation of FAM. A cursory review of the different technologies suggests that new functionality slated for the new en route automation system is a critical enabling technology for FAM, as well as the functionality to manage and coordinate networked ground systems. Upgrades to the TMU are less critical but important nonetheless for FAM to be fully realized. Flexible voice communications network and digital data communication system could allow more flexible FAM operations but they are not as essential.

Planning low-carbon electricity systems under uncertainty considering operational flexibility and smart grid technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Rodrigo; Street, Alexandre; Arroyo, José M; Mancarella, Pierluigi

2017-08-13

Electricity grid operators and planners need to deal with both the rapidly increasing integration of renewables and an unprecedented level of uncertainty that originates from unknown generation outputs, changing commercial and regulatory frameworks aimed to foster low-carbon technologies, the evolving availability of market information on feasibility and costs of various technologies, etc. In this context, there is a significant risk of locking-in to inefficient investment planning solutions determined by current deterministic engineering practices that neither capture uncertainty nor represent the actual operation of the planned infrastructure under high penetration of renewables. We therefore present an alternative optimization framework to plan electricity grids that deals with uncertain scenarios and represents increased operational details. The presented framework is able to model the effects of an array of flexible, smart grid technologies that can efficiently displace the need for conventional solutions. We then argue, and demonstrate via the proposed framework and an illustrative example, that proper modelling of uncertainty and operational constraints in planning is key to valuing operationally flexible solutions leading to optimal investment in a smart grid context. Finally, we review the most used practices in power system planning under uncertainty, highlight the challenges of incorporating operational aspects and advocate the need for new and computationally effective optimization tools to properly value the benefits of flexible, smart grid solutions in planning. Such tools are essential to accelerate the development of a low-carbon energy system and investment in the most appropriate portfolio of renewable energy sources and complementary enabling smart technologies.This article is part of the themed issue 'Energy management: flexibility, risk and optimization'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Investigation of the effects of process and geometrical parameters on formability in tube hydroforming using a modular hydroforming tool

Science.gov (United States)

Joghan, Hamed Dardaei; Staupendahl, Daniel; Hassan, Hamad ul; Henke, Andreas; Keesser, Thorsten; Legat, Francois; Tekkaya, A. Erman

2018-05-01

Tube hydroforming is one of the most important manufacturing processes for the production of exhaust systems. Tube hydroforming allows generating parts with highly complex geometries with the forming accuracies needed in the automotive sector. This is possible due to the form-closed nature of the production process. One of the main cost drivers is tool manufacturing, which is expensive and time consuming, especially when forming large parts. To cope with the design trend of individuality, which is gaining more and more importance and leads to a high number of product variants, a new flexible tool design was developed. The designed tool offers a high flexibility in manufacturing different shapes and geometries of tubes with just local alterations and relocation of tool segments. The tolerancing problems that segmented tools from the state of the art have are overcome by an innovative and flexible die holder design. The break-even point of this initially more expensive tool design is already overcome when forming more than 4 different tube shapes. Together with an additionally designed rotary hydraulic tube feeding system, a highly adaptable forming setup is generated. To investigate the performance of the developed tool setup, a study on geometrical and process parameters during forming of a spherical dome was done. Austenitic stainless steel (grade 1.4301) tube with a diameter of 40 mm and a thickness of 1.5 mm was used for the investigations. The experimental analyses were supported by finite element simulations and statistical analyses. The results show that the flexible tool setup can efficiently be used to analyze the interaction of the inner pressure, friction, and the location of the spherical dome and demonstrate the high influence of the feeding rate on the formed part.

Resonant cavity enhanced light harvesting in flexible thin-film organic solar cells

KAUST Repository

Sergeant, Nicholas P.

2013-04-24

Dielectric/metal/dielectric (DMD) electrodes have the potential to significantly increase the absorption efficiency and photocurrent in flexible organic solar cells. We demonstrate that this enhancement is attributed to a broadband cavity resonance. Silver-based semitransparent DMD electrodes with sheet resistances below 10 ohm/sq. are fabricated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates in a high-throughput roll-to-roll sputtering tool. We carefully study the effect of the semitransparent DMD electrode (here composed of ZnxSnyOz/Ag/InxSn yOz) on the optical device performance of a copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)/fullerene (C60) bilayer cell and illustrate that a resonant cavity enhanced light trapping effect dominates the optical behavior of the device. © 2013 Optical Society of America.

Mesoscale brain explorer, a flexible python-based image analysis and visualization tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Haupt, Dirk; Vanni, Matthieu P; Bolanos, Federico; Mitelut, Catalin; LeDue, Jeffrey M; Murphy, Tim H

2017-07-01

Imaging of mesoscale brain activity is used to map interactions between brain regions. This work has benefited from the pioneering studies of Grinvald et al., who employed optical methods to image brain function by exploiting the properties of intrinsic optical signals and small molecule voltage-sensitive dyes. Mesoscale interareal brain imaging techniques have been advanced by cell targeted and selective recombinant indicators of neuronal activity. Spontaneous resting state activity is often collected during mesoscale imaging to provide the basis for mapping of connectivity relationships using correlation. However, the information content of mesoscale datasets is vast and is only superficially presented in manuscripts given the need to constrain measurements to a fixed set of frequencies, regions of interest, and other parameters. We describe a new open source tool written in python, termed mesoscale brain explorer (MBE), which provides an interface to process and explore these large datasets. The platform supports automated image processing pipelines with the ability to assess multiple trials and combine data from different animals. The tool provides functions for temporal filtering, averaging, and visualization of functional connectivity relations using time-dependent correlation. Here, we describe the tool and show applications, where previously published datasets were reanalyzed using MBE.

Shape: A 3D Modeling Tool for Astrophysics.

Science.gov (United States)

Steffen, Wolfgang; Koning, Nicholas; Wenger, Stephan; Morisset, Christophe; Magnor, Marcus

2011-04-01

We present a flexible interactive 3D morpho-kinematical modeling application for astrophysics. Compared to other systems, our application reduces the restrictions on the physical assumptions, data type, and amount that is required for a reconstruction of an object's morphology. It is one of the first publicly available tools to apply interactive graphics to astrophysical modeling. The tool allows astrophysicists to provide a priori knowledge about the object by interactively defining 3D structural elements. By direct comparison of model prediction with observational data, model parameters can then be automatically optimized to fit the observation. The tool has already been successfully used in a number of astrophysical research projects.

CAN THE POWER BALANCE® BRACELET IMPROVE BALANCE, FLEXIBILITY, STRENGTH, AND POWER?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Porcari

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Athletes are constantly searching for something that will give them a competitive edge. Performance jewelry is one of the latest products on the market designed to improve athletic performance. The most common claims are that wearing this performance jewelry will improve flexibility, balance, and strength. There is considerable marketing of these products, including testimonial evidence by high profile athletes, in support of the purported benefits. In demonstrations designed to validate the performance enhancing benefits of these products, however, companies typically conduct the testing in the following sequence: The first trial is done without the bracelet on and the second trial is performed with the bracelet on. Invariably, subjects perform better on the second trial. This brings into questions whether the improvement on the second trial is due to 1 a benefit of the bracelet, 2 the fact the subjects were warmed-up (Maud et al., 2006a; 2006b, 3 subjects being habituated to the task (Benson and Friedman, 1996; Wright et al., 2009, or 4 a placebo effect (Beedie and Foad, 2009.One of the most popular performance enhancing bracelets currently on the market is sold by Power Balance® (www.powerbalance.com. The Power Balance® bracelet has two dime-sized holograms; one on either side of the bracelet. The holograms within the Power Balance® bracelet are designed to "resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body". This purportedly improves flexibility, balance, and strength. To our knowledge, no randomized, double- blind, placebo trials have ever been conducted evaluating the validity of these claims. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether wearing of the Power Balance® bracelet can improve trunk flexibility, balance, strength, and lower body power.Forty-two NCAA Division III athletes (22M: 20.1 ± 1.4 years, 1.82 ± 6.4 m, 82.0 ± 12.6 kg; 20F: 19.5 ± 1.3 years, 1.66 ± 6. 8 m, 63.2 ± 8.1 kg completed four

Cross-linking of polymer and ionic liquid as high-performance gel electrolyte for flexible solid-state supercapacitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong, Xiongwei; Tang, Jun; Cao, Lujie; Kong, Weiguang; Sun, Zheng; Cheng, Hua; Lu, Zhouguang; Pan, Hui; Xu, Baomin

2017-01-01

Highlights: •A facile method to prepare gel polymer electrolyte with high conductivity is proposed. •A flexible symmetric capacitor based on the prepared GPE shows ultra-flexibility. •The capacitor with high voltage can power up a 3.0 V LED even bended to a angle of 180°. -- Abstract: It is highly desirable to develop flexible solid-state electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) with non-liquid electrolyte. However, it is still a great challenge to prepare gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) possessing high ionic conductivity and good mechanical property. In this work, a simple and novel method to improve the conductivity and mechanical properties of GPE film for their applications as electrolyte and separator in EDLC is presented. The GPE film is prepared by cross-linking ionic liquid (IL) with poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) and benzophenone (Bp) followed by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Then, a non-woven cellulose separator (FPC) is used to absorb the GPE. By tuning the mass ratio (n) between IL and PEO, the flexible EDLC cooperated with low-cost active carbon and the electrolyte film with n = 10 has a high capacitance of 70.84 F∙g −1 , a wide and stable electrochemical window of 3.5 V, an energy density of 30.13 Wh∙kg −1 and a power density of 874.8 W∙kg −1 at a current density of 1 A∙g −1 , which can drive a 3.0 V light-emitting diode (LED). Importantly, the excellent performance of the flexible and low-cost EDLC can be maintained at a bending angle up to 180°, indicating the ultra-flexibility. It is expected that the IL-PEO-FPC electrolyte film is a promising candidate of GPE for flexible devices and energy storage systems.

Free-Suspension Residual Flexibility Testing of Space Station Pathfinder: Comparison to Fixed-Base Results

Science.gov (United States)

Tinker, Michael L.

1998-01-01

Application of the free-suspension residual flexibility modal test method to the International Space Station Pathfinder structure is described. The Pathfinder, a large structure of the general size and weight of Space Station module elements, was also tested in a large fixed-base fixture to simulate Shuttle Orbiter payload constraints. After correlation of the Pathfinder finite element model to residual flexibility test data, the model was coupled to a fixture model, and constrained modes and frequencies were compared to fixed-base test. modes. The residual flexibility model compared very favorably to results of the fixed-base test. This is the first known direct comparison of free-suspension residual flexibility and fixed-base test results for a large structure. The model correlation approach used by the author for residual flexibility data is presented. Frequency response functions (FRF) for the regions of the structure that interface with the environment (a test fixture or another structure) are shown to be the primary tools for model correlation that distinguish or characterize the residual flexibility approach. A number of critical issues related to use of the structure interface FRF for correlating the model are then identified and discussed, including (1) the requirement of prominent stiffness lines, (2) overcoming problems with measurement noise which makes the antiresonances or minima in the functions difficult to identify, and (3) the use of interface stiffness and lumped mass perturbations to bring the analytical responses into agreement with test data. It is shown that good comparison of analytical-to-experimental FRF is the key to obtaining good agreement of the residual flexibility values.

Incentivizing Flexibility in System Operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milligan, Michael [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bloom, Aaron P [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Townsend, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ela, Erik [Electric Power Research Institute; Botterud, Audun [Argonne National Laboratory; Levin, Todd [Argonne National Laboratory

2018-02-15

Defining flexibility has been a challenge that a number of industry members and researchers have attempted to address in recent years. With increased variability and uncertainty of variable generation (VG), the resources on the system will have to be more flexible to adjust output, so that power output ranges, power ramp rates, and energy duration sustainability are sufficient to meet the needs of balancing supply with demand at various operational timescales. This chapter discusses whether existing market designs provide adequate incentives for resources to offer their flexibility into the market to meet the increased levels of variability and uncertainty introduced by VG in the short-term operational time frame. It presents a definition of flexibility and discusses how increased levels of VG require increased needs for flexibility on power systems. Following this introductory material, the chapter examines how existing market designs ensure that resources have the right incentives to provide increased flexibility, and then discusses a number of emerging market design elements that impact flexibility incentives.

A New Approach for Flexible Molecular Docking Based on Swarm Intelligence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Fu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Molecular docking methods play an important role in the field of computer-aided drug design. In the work, on the basis of the molecular docking program AutoDock, we present QLDock as a tool for flexible molecular docking. For the energy evaluation, the algorithm uses the binding free energy function that is provided by the AutoDock 4.2 tool. The new search algorithm combines the features of a quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO algorithm and local search method of Solis and Wets for solving the highly flexible protein-ligand docking problem. We compute the interaction of 23 protein-ligand complexes and compare the results with those of the QDock and AutoDock programs. The experimental results show that our approach leads to substantially lower docking energy and higher docking precision in comparison to Lamarckian genetic algorithm and QPSO algorithm alone. QPSO-ls algorithm was able to identify the correct binding mode of 74% of the complexes. In comparison, the accuracy of QPSO and LGA is 52% and 61%, respectively. This difference in performance rises with increasing complexity of the ligand. Thus, the novel algorithm QPSO-ls may be used to dock ligand with many rotatable bonds with high accuracy.

Air Traffic Control Tools Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomáš Noskievič

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Undoubtedly air transport in today’s world wouldn’t be able to exist without any air traffic control service. As the air transport has been coming through major changes and it has been expanding, it is assumed that its volume will be doubled in the next 15 years. Air traffic control uses strictly organised procedures to ensure safe course of air operations. With the skies covered with more airplanes every year, new tools must be introduced to allow the controllers to manage this rising amount of flying aircraft and to keep the air transport safe. This paper provides a comprehensive and organized material, which describes the newest tools and systems used by air traffic control officers. It proposes improvements for further research and development of ATC tools.

Aeroelastic Analysis of a Flexible Wing Wind Tunnel Model with Variable Camber Continuous Trailing Edge Flap Design

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Nhan; Ting, Eric; Lebofsky, Sonia

2015-01-01

This paper presents data analysis of a flexible wing wind tunnel model with a variable camber continuous trailing edge flap (VCCTEF) design for drag minimization tested at the University of Washington Aeronautical Laboratory (UWAL). The wind tunnel test was designed to explore the relative merit of the VCCTEF concept for improved cruise efficiency through the use of low-cost aeroelastic model test techniques. The flexible wing model is a 10%-scale model of a typical transport wing and is constructed of woven fabric composites and foam core. The wing structural stiffness in bending is tailored to be half of the stiffness of a Boeing 757-era transport wing while the torsional stiffness is about the same. This stiffness reduction results in a wing tip deflection of about 10% of the wing semi-span. The VCCTEF is a multi-segment flap design having three chordwise camber segments and five spanwise flap sections for a total of 15 individual flap elements. The three chordwise camber segments can be positioned appropriately to create a desired trailing edge camber. Elastomeric material is used to cover the gaps in between the spanwise flap sections, thereby creating a continuous trailing edge. Wind tunnel data analysis conducted previously shows that the VCCTEF can achieve a drag reduction of up to 6.31% and an improvement in the lift-to-drag ratio (L=D) of up to 4.85%. A method for estimating the bending and torsional stiffnesses of the flexible wingUWAL wind tunnel model from static load test data is presented. The resulting estimation indicates that the stiffness of the flexible wing is significantly stiffer in torsion than in bending by as much as 9 to 1. The lift prediction for the flexible wing is computed by a coupled aerodynamic-structural model. The coupled model is developed by coupling a conceptual aerodynamic tool Vorlax with a finite-element model of the flexible wing via an automated geometry deformation tool. Based on the comparison of the lift curve slope

Graphene-based materials for flexible supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Yuanlong; El-Kady, Maher F; Wang, Lisa J; Zhang, Qinghong; Li, Yaogang; Wang, Hongzhi; Mousavi, Mir F; Kaner, Richard B

2015-06-07

The demand for flexible/wearable electronic devices that have aesthetic appeal and multi-functionality has stimulated the rapid development of flexible supercapacitors with enhanced electrochemical performance and mechanical flexibility. After a brief introduction to flexible supercapacitors, we summarize current progress made with graphene-based electrodes. Two recently proposed prototypes for flexible supercapacitors, known as micro-supercapacitors and fiber-type supercapacitors, are then discussed. We also present our perspective on the development of graphene-based electrodes for flexible supercapacitors.

Flexible Metal Oxide/Graphene Oxide Hybrid Neuromorphic Devices on Flexible Conducting Graphene Substrates

OpenAIRE

Wan, Chang Jin; Wang, Wei; Zhu, Li Qiang; Liu, Yang Hui; Feng, Ping; Liu, Zhao Ping; Shi, Yi; Wan, Qing

2016-01-01

Flexible metal oxide/graphene oxide hybrid multi-gate neuron transistors were fabricated on flexible graphene substrates. Dendritic integrations in both spatial and temporal modes were successfully emulated, and spatiotemporal correlated logics were obtained. A proof-of-principle visual system model for emulating lobula giant motion detector neuron was investigated. Our results are of great interest for flexible neuromorphic cognitive systems.

Floating substructure flexibility of large-volume 10MW offshore wind turbine platforms in dynamic calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borg, Michael; Hansen, Anders Melchior; Bredmose, Henrik

2016-01-01

Designing floating substructures for the next generation of 10MW and larger wind turbines has introduced new challenges in capturing relevant physical effects in dynamic simulation tools. In achieving technically and economically optimal floating substructures, structural flexibility may increase to the extent that it becomes relevant to include in addition to the standard rigid body substructure modes which are typically described through linear radiation-diffraction theory. This paper describes a method for the inclusion of substructural flexibility in aero-hydro-servo-elastic dynamic simulations for large-volume substructures, including wave-structure interactions, to form the basis of deriving sectional loads and stresses within the substructure. The method is applied to a case study to illustrate the implementation and relevance. It is found that the flexible mode is significantly excited in an extreme event, indicating an increase in predicted substructure internal loads. (paper)

Wearable Fabrics with Self-Branched Bimetallic Layered Double Hydroxide Coaxial Nanostructures for Hybrid Supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagaraju, Goli; Chandra Sekhar, S; Krishna Bharat, L; Yu, Jae Su

2017-11-28

We report a flexible battery-type electrode based on binder-free nickel cobalt layered double hydroxide nanosheets adhered to nickel cobalt layered double hydroxide nanoflake arrays on nickel fabric (NC LDH NFAs@NSs/Ni fabric) using facile and eco-friendly synthesis methods. Herein, we utilized discarded polyester fabric as a cost-effective substrate for in situ electroless deposition of Ni, which exhibited good flexibility, light weight, and high conductivity. Subsequently, the vertically aligned NC LDH NFAs were grown on Ni fabric by means of a hot-air oven-based method, and fluffy-like NC LDH NS branches are further decorated on NC LDH NFAs by a simple electrochemical deposition method. The as-prepared core-shell-like nanoarchitectures improve the specific surface area and electrochemical activity, which provides the ideal pathways for electrolyte diffusion and charge transportation. When the electrochemical performance was tested in 1 M KOH aqueous solution, the core-shell-like NC LDH NFAs@NSs/Ni fabric electrode liberated a maximum areal capacity of 536.96 μAh/cm 2 at a current density of 2 mA/cm 2 and excellent rate capability of 78.3% at 30 mA/cm 2 (420.5 μAh/cm 2 ) with a good cycling stability. Moreover, a fabric-based hybrid supercapacitor (SC) was assembled, which achieves a stable operational potential window of 1.6 V, a large areal capacitance of 1147.23 mF/cm 2 at 3 mA/cm 2 , and a high energy density of 0.392 mWh/cm 2 at a power density of 2.353 mW/cm 2 . Utilizing such high energy storage abilities and flexible properties, the fabricated hybrid SC operated the wearable digital watch and electric motor fan for real-time applications.

Iterating between Tools to Create and Edit Visualizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigelow, Alex; Drucker, Steven; Fisher, Danyel; Meyer, Miriah

2017-01-01

A common workflow for visualization designers begins with a generative tool, like D3 or Processing, to create the initial visualization; and proceeds to a drawing tool, like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, for editing and cleaning. Unfortunately, this is typically a one-way process: once a visualization is exported from the generative tool into a drawing tool, it is difficult to make further, data-driven changes. In this paper, we propose a bridge model to allow designers to bring their work back from the drawing tool to re-edit in the generative tool. Our key insight is to recast this iteration challenge as a merge problem - similar to when two people are editing a document and changes between them need to reconciled. We also present a specific instantiation of this model, a tool called Hanpuku, which bridges between D3 scripts and Illustrator. We show several examples of visualizations that are iteratively created using Hanpuku in order to illustrate the flexibility of the approach. We further describe several hypothetical tools that bridge between other visualization tools to emphasize the generality of the model.

Flexible Electronics Research Facility

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Flexible Electronics Research Facility designs, synthesizes, tests, and fabricates materials and devices compatible with flexible substrates for Army information...

A flexible tactile sensitive sheet using a hetero-core fiber optic sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Fujino, S.; Yamazaki, H.; Hosoki, A.; Watanabe, K.

2014-05-01

In this report, we have designed a tactile sensitive sheet based on a hetero-core fiber-optic sensor, which realize an areal sensing by using single sensor potion in one optical fiber line. Recently, flexible and wide-area tactile sensing technology is expected to applied to acquired biological information in living space and robot achieve long-term care services such as welfare and nursing-care and humanoid technology. A hetero-core fiber-optic sensor has several advantages such as thin and flexible transmission line, immunity to EMI. Additionally this sensor is sensitive to moderate bending actions with optical loss changes and is independent of temperature fluctuation. Thus, the hetero-core fiber-optic sensor can be suitable for areal tactile sensing. We measure pressure characteristic of the proposed sensitive sheet by changing the pressure position and pinching characteristic on the surface. The proposed tactile sensitive sheet shows monotonic responses on the whole sensitive sheet surface although different sensitivity by the position is observed at the sensitive sheet surface. Moreover, the tactile sensitive sheet could sufficiently detect the pinching motion. In addition, in order to realize the discrimination between pressure and pinch, we fabricated a doubled-over sensor using a set of tactile sensitive sheets, which has different kinds of silicon robbers as a sensitive sheet surface. In conclusion, the flexible material could be given to the tactile sensation which is attached under proposed sensitive sheet.

Flexibility within Fidelity

Science.gov (United States)

Kendall, Philip C.; Gosch, Elizabeth; Furr, Jami M.; Sood, Erica

2008-01-01

The authors address concerns regarding manual-based treatments, highlighting the role of flexibility and creativity. A cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety called the Coping Cat program demonstrates the flexible application of manuals and emphasizes the importance of a child-centered, personalized approach that involves the child in the…

Double-double effect and coordination number

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mioduski, T.

1992-01-01

The original method of interpretation together with its theoretical foundations is developed, making it possible to use location and direction of the double-double (tetrad) effect within the Ln and An series to determine the coordination number (CN) complexes of the f-block elements. The method is applied for potentiometric and radiometric equilibrium studies. It has been pointed and that the decisive factor for the direction of the double-double effect in the case of the Gibbs energy variations is a difference in the CN of the f-element ion between the reaction product complex and that for the reaction substrate the ''regular'' effect for a given tetrad is accompanied by decrease in the CN while the ''reverse'' effect by increase in the CN. (author). 122 refs, 5 tabs, 8 figs

A modal analysis of flexible aircraft dynamics with handling qualities implications

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, D. K.

1983-01-01

A multivariable modal analysis technique is presented for evaluating flexible aircraft dynamics, focusing on meaningful vehicle responses to pilot inputs and atmospheric turbulence. Although modal analysis is the tool, vehicle time response is emphasized, and the analysis is performed on the linear, time-domain vehicle model. In evaluating previously obtained experimental pitch tracking data for a family of vehicle dynamic models, it is shown that flexible aeroelastic effects can significantly affect pitch attitude handling qualities. Consideration of the eigenvalues alone, of both rigid-body and aeroelastic modes, does not explain the simulation results. Modal analysis revealed, however, that although the lowest aeroelastic mode frequency was still three times greater than the short-period frequency, the rigid-body attitude response was dominated by this aeroelastic mode. This dominance was defined in terms of the relative magnitudes of the modal residues in selected vehicle responses.

A parametric approach for the valuation of power plant flexibility options

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Hentschel

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Conventional generation units encounter a changing role in modern societies’ energy supply. With increased need for flexible operation, engineers and project managers have to evaluate the benefits of technical improvements. For this purpose, a valuation tool has been developed, comparing economical cornerstones and technical constraints of generation units to European Energy Exchange prices for PHELIX 2014. It enables the user to relate a change in technical parameters to an economic effect and possible revenues. Four different types of conventional power plants are investigated in scenarios with increasing CO2 and fuel prices to determine the impact of different flexibility options. Results show that an increased ramp rate has not the same magnitude of positive economic impact as reduced minimum operation load, based on an observation on a price signal with resolution of fifteen minutes.

Risk management with substitution options: Valuing flexibility in small-scale energy systems

Science.gov (United States)

Knapp, Karl Eric

Several features of small-scale energy systems make them more easily adapted to a changing operating environment than large centralized designs. This flexibility is often manifested as the ability to substitute inputs. This research explores the value of this substitution flexibility and the marginal value of becoming a "little more flexible" in the context of real project investment in developing countries. The elasticity of substitution is proposed as a stylized measure of flexibility and a choice variable. A flexible alternative (elasticity > 0) can be thought of as holding a fixed-proportions "nflexible" asset plus a sequence of exchange options---the option to move to another feasible "recipe" each period. Substitutability derives value from following a contour of anticipated variations and from responding to new information. Substitutability value, a "cost savings option", increases with elasticity and price risk. However, the required premium to incrementally increase flexibility can in some cases decrease with an increase in risk. Variance is not always a measure of risk. Tools from stochastic dominance are newly applied to real options with convex payoffs to correct some misperceptions and clarify many common modeling situations that meet the criteria for increased variance to imply increased risk. The behavior of the cost savings option is explored subject to a stochastic input price process. At the point where costs are identical for all alternatives, the stochastic process for cost savings becomes deterministic, with savings directly proportional to elasticity of substitution and price variance. The option is also formulated as a derivative security via dynamic programming. The partial differential equation is solved for the special case of Cobb-Douglas (elasticity = 1) (also shown are linear (infinite elasticity), Leontief (elasticity = 0)). Risk aversion is insufficient to prefer a more flexible alternative with the same expected value. Intertemporal

A background free double beta decay experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giomataris, I

2011-01-01

We present a new detection scheme for rejecting backgrounds in neutrino-less double beta decay experiments. It relies on the detection of Cherenkov light emitted by electrons in the MeV region. The momentum threshold is tuned to reach a good discrimination between background and good events. We consider many detector concepts and a range of target materials. The most promising is the high-pressure 136 Xe emitter where the required energy threshold is easily adjusted. Combination of this concept and a high pressure Time Projection Chamber could provide an optimal solution. A simple and low cost effective solution is the use of the Spherical Proportional Counter that provides, using a single read-out channel, two delayed signals from ionization and Cherenkov light. In solid-state double beta decay emitters, because of its higher density, the considered process is out of energy range. An escape will be the fabrication of double decay emitters having lower density by using for instance the aerogel technique. It is surprising that a technology used for particle identification in high-energy physics becomes a powerful tool for rejecting backgrounds in such low-energy experiments.

Multiobjective Joint Optimization of Production Scheduling and Maintenance Planning in the Flexible Job-Shop Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianfei Ye

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In order to solve the joint optimization of production scheduling and maintenance planning problem in the flexible job-shop, a multiobjective joint optimization model considering the maximum completion time and maintenance costs per unit time is established based on the concept of flexible job-shop and preventive maintenance. A weighted sum method is adopted to eliminate the index dimension. In addition, a double-coded genetic algorithm is designed according to the problem characteristics. The best result under the circumstances of joint decision-making is obtained through multiple simulation experiments, which proves the validity of the algorithm. We can prove the superiority of joint optimization model by comparing the result of joint decision-making project with the result of independent decision-making project under fixed preventive maintenance period. This study will enrich and expand the theoretical framework and analytical methods of this problem; it provides a scientific decision analysis method for enterprise to make production plan and maintenance plan.

Double pulse laser ablation and plasma: Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy signal enhancement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babushok, V.I.; DeLucia, F.C.; Gottfried, J.L.; Munson, C.A.; Miziolek, A.W.

2006-01-01

A review of recent results of the studies of double laser pulse plasma and ablation for laser induced breakdown spectroscopy applications is presented. The double pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy configuration was suggested with the aim of overcoming the sensitivity shortcomings of the conventional single pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy technique. Several configurations have been suggested for the realization of the double pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy technique: collinear, orthogonal pre-spark, orthogonal pre-heating and dual pulse crossed beam modes. In addition, combinations of laser pulses with different wavelengths, different energies and durations were studied, thus providing flexibility in the choice of wavelength, pulse width, energy and pulse sequence. The double pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy approach provides a significant enhancement in the intensity of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy emission lines up to two orders of magnitude greater than a conventional single pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy. The double pulse technique leads to a better coupling of the laser beam with the plasma plume and target material, thus providing a more temporally effective energy delivery to the plasma and target. The experimental results demonstrate that the maximum effect is obtained at some optimum separation delay time between pulses. The optimum value of the interpulse delay depends on several factors, such as the target material, the energy level of excited states responsible for the emission, and the type of enhancement process considered. Depending on the specified parameter, the enhancement effects were observed on different time scales ranging from the picosecond time level (e.g., ion yield, ablation mass) up to the hundred microsecond level (e.g., increased emission intensity for laser induced breakdown spectroscopy of submerged metal target in water). Several suggestions have been proposed to explain

Forum Theater’s potential as a Research Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Calsamiglia Madurga

2016-03-01

Full Text Available We present a theoretical and epistemological reflection on Forum Theater’s potential as a Research Tool. Our presence on social action and research has led us to a double reflection on qualitative research’s limitations on the affect studies and the Forum Theater’s potential as a research tool to tackle research about affects. After some specific experiences in action research (qualitative research on romantic love and gender violence, and the creation process of the Forum Theater “Is it a joke?”, we explore Forum Theatre’s possibilities as a research tool in the feminist epistemology framework.

WAGE FLEXIBILITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TECULESCU Silviu Alexandru

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The paper follows to offer the most efficient solutions for the attainment by Romania of the economic development level associated to the Western European countries. It proposes the division of the flexibility of labour market in three components, namely: internal flexibility, external flexibility and wage flexibility. The analysis performed within the present study will emphasize the wage flexibility. Wage flexibility can be classified in four components: a plans of individual and group incentives; b plans of assigning wages out of productivity; c plans of distribution of profits and, respectively, d plans of suggestions. The labour market flexibility, in general, and especially the wage flexibility contributes to the increase of employee motivation at the workplace, aspect which leeds to the growth of labour productivity, through this one being put the bases of the medium- and long-term economic development.

Energy Flexibility in the Power System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Ma, Zheng; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2017-01-01

Energy flexibility can address the challenges of large scale integration of renewable energy resources and thereby increasing imbalance in the power system. Flexible power system can provide reliable supply, low electricity cost and sustainability. Various situations and factors influence...... the adoption of the flexibility solutions, such as flexible electricity generation, demand-response, and electricity storage. This paper tries to analyze the current energy flexibility solutions and the factors that can influence the energy flexibility adoption. This paper takes Philippines as case study...... to provide an overview of the current condition of the Philippines’ power system and discuss the energy flexibility in the Philippines’ power system. A further discussion and recommendation is conducted in the end of the paper....

Double Charge Exchange Reactions and Double Beta Decay

Science.gov (United States)

Auerbach, N.

2018-05-01

The subject of this presentation is at the forefront of nuclear physics, namely double beta decay. In particular one is most interested in the neutrinoless process of double beta decay, when the decay proceeds without the emission of two neutrinos. The observation of such decay would mean that the lepton conservation symmetry is violated and that the neutrinos are of Majorana type, meaning that they are their own anti-particles. The life time of this process has two unknowns, the mass of the neutrino and the nuclear matrix element. Determining the nuclear matrix element and knowing the cross-section well will set limits on the neutrino mass. There is a concentrated effort among the nuclear physics community to calculate this matrix element. Usually these matrix elements are a very small part of the total strength of the transition operators involved in the process. There is no simple way to “calibrate” the nuclear double beta decay matrix element. The double beta decay is a double charge exchange process, therefore it is proposed that double charge exchange reactions using ion projectiles on nuclei that are candidates for double beta decay, will provide additional necessary information about the nuclear matrix elements.

The Klinger hot gas double axial valve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kruschik, J.; Hiltgen, H.

1984-01-01

The Klinger hot gas valve is a medium controlled double axial valve with advanced design features and safety function. It was first proposed by Klinger early in 1976 for the PNP-Project as a containment shut-off for hot helium (918 deg. C and 42 bar), because a market research has shown that such a valve is not state of present techniques. In the first stage of development a feasibility study had to be made by detailed design, calculation and by basic experiments for key components in close collaboration with Interatom/GHT. This was the basis for further design, calculation, construction and experimental work for such a valve prototype within the new development contract. The stage of knowledge to that time revealed the following key priority development areas: Finite element stress analysis for the highly stressed high temperature main components; development of an insulation layout; Detailed experimental tests of functionally important structural components or units of the valve, partly at Klingers (gasstatic bearings, flexible metallic sealing element, aerodynamic and thermohydraulic tests), partly at Interatom (actuator unit and also gasstatic bearings), partly at HRB in Juelich (flexible metallic sealing system, aerodynamic and thermohydraulic tests); Design of a test valve for experimental work in the KVK (test circuit at Interatom) for evaluation of temperature distribution and reliability of operation; Design of a prototype and extensive testing in the KVK

USMC Logistics Resource Allocation Optimization Tool

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Pryor 2006). The background information included assumptions of the weight carried by pack animals vs. war horses and the amount of feed consumed...by different animals while being transported at sea versus open grazing on land. A book review of this workshop’s proceedings provides the essence...this study’s ability to model all aspects of mission, equipment types, failure modes, repair times, carcass cycles, etc., into a flexible tool

A flexible and portable powerpack by solid-state supercapacitor and dye-sensitized solar cell integration

Science.gov (United States)

Scalia, Alberto; Bella, Federico; Lamberti, Andrea; Bianco, Stefano; Gerbaldi, Claudio; Tresso, Elena; Pirri, Candido Fabrizio

2017-08-01

The recent need to benefit from electricity in every moment of daily life, particularly when the access to the electric grid is limited, is forcing the scientific and industrial community to an intensive effort towards the production of integrated energy harvesting and storage devices able to drive low power electronics. In this framework, flexibility represents a mandatory requirement to cover non-planar or bendable surfaces, more and more common in nowadays-electronic devices. To this purpose, here we present an innovative device consisting of a TiO2 nanotube-based dye sensitized solar cell and a graphene-based electrical double layer capacitor integrated in a flexible architecture. Both the units are obtained by easily scalable fabrication processes exploiting photopolymer membranes as electrolytes and metal grids as current collectors. The performance of the two units and of the integrated system are thoroughly investigated by electrochemical measurements also under different irradiation conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this work shows the highest energy conversion and storage efficiency (1.02%) ever attained under 1 Sun irradiation condition for a flexible dye-sensitized-based non-wired photocapacitor. Noteworthy, this value dramatically increases while lowering the illumination condition to 0.3 Sun, achieving a remarkable value of 1.46%, thus showing optimal performances in real operation conditions.

Organizational flexibility estimation

OpenAIRE

Komarynets, Sofia

2013-01-01

By the help of parametric estimation the evaluation scale of organizational flexibility and its parameters was formed. Definite degrees of organizational flexibility and its parameters for the Lviv region enterprises were determined. Grouping of the enterprises under the existing scale was carried out. Special recommendations to correct the enterprises behaviour were given.

Inter-Vertebral Flexibility of the Ostrich Neck: Implications for Estimating Sauropod Neck Flexibility

OpenAIRE

Cobley, Matthew J.; Rayfield, Emily J.; Barrett, Paul M.

2013-01-01

The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal o...

Flexible automated manufacturing for SMEs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grube Hansen, David; Bilberg, Arne; Madsen, Erik Skov

2017-01-01

SMEs are in general highly flexible and agile in order to accommodate the customer demands in the paradigm of High Mix-Low Volume manufacturing. The flexibility and agility have mainly been enabled by manual labor, but as we are entering the technology and data driven fourth industrial revolution......, where augmented operators and machines work in cooperation in a highly flexible and productive manufacturing system both an opportunity and a need has raised for developing highly flexible and efficient automation....

AIR Tools II: algebraic iterative reconstruction methods, improved implementation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Per Christian; Jørgensen, Jakob Sauer

2017-01-01

with algebraic iterative methods and their convergence properties. The present software is a much expanded and improved version of the package AIR Tools from 2012, based on a new modular design. In addition to improved performance and memory use, we provide more flexible iterative methods, a column-action method...

The Design of Tools for Sketching Sensor-Based Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brynskov, Martin; Lunding, Rasmus; Vestergaard, Lasse Steenbock

2012-01-01

, flexibility and cost, aimed at wearable and ultra-mobile prototyping where fast reaction is needed (e.g. in controlling sound), and we discuss the general issues facing this category of embodied interaction design tools. We then present the platform in more detail, both regarding hard- ware and software...

Immediate Effects of Neurodynamic Sliding versus Muscle Stretching on Hamstring Flexibility in Subjects with Short Hamstring Syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yolanda Castellote-Caballero

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Hamstring injuries continue to affect active individuals and although inadequate muscle extensibility remains a commonly accepted factor, little is known about the most effective method to improve flexibility. Purpose. To determine if an isolated neurodynamic sciatic sliding technique would improve hamstring flexibility to a greater degree than stretching or a placebo intervention in asymptomatic subjects with short hamstring syndrome (SHS. Study Design. Randomized double-blinded controlled trial. Methods. One hundred and twenty subjects with SHS were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: neurodynamic sliding, hamstring stretching, and placebo control. Each subject’s dominant leg was measured for straight leg raise (SLR range of motion (ROM before and after interventions. Data were analyzed with a 3×2 mixed model ANOVA followed by simple main effects analyses. Results. At the end of the study, more ROM was observed in the Neurodynamic and Stretching groups compared to the Control group and more ROM in the Neurodynamic group compared to Stretching group. Conclusion. Findings suggest that a neurodynamic sliding technique will increase hamstring flexibility to a greater degree than static hamstring stretching in healthy subjects with SHS. Clinical Relevance. The use of neurodynamic sliding techniques to improve hamstring flexibility in sports may lead to a decreased incidence in injuries; however, this needs to be formally tested.

On flexible and rigid nouns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rijkhoff, Jan

2010-01-01

classes. Finally this article wants to claim that the distinction between rigid and flexible noun categories (a) adds a new dimension to current classifications of parts of speech systems, (b) correlates with certain grammatical phenomena (e.g. so-called number discord), and (c) helps to explain the parts......This article argues that in addition to the major flexible lexical categories in Hengeveld’s classification of parts of speech systems (Contentive, Non-Verb, Modifier), there are also flexible word classes within the rigid lexical category Noun (Set Noun, Sort Noun, General Noun). Members...... by the flexible item in the external world. I will then argue that flexible word classes constitute a proper category (i.e. they are not the result of a merger of some rigid word classes) in that members of flexible word categories display the same properties regarding category membership as members of rigid word...

ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE BARRIERS USED AS SAFETY PROTECTION IN WOODWORKING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Pavlovic

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Machine tools use physical barriers, made by flexible thermoplastic materials, to protect the environment and the operators against the projections of wood chips and parts of cutting tools. These barriers constitute a partial closure and allow the passage of the workpiece, being simultaneously able to contain sharp fragments projected at high speed. The present research was conducted with the aim to evaluate the real effectiveness of these barriers, to investigate their dynamic behaviour by numerical simulations. Results showed that these barriers, if properly considered, could retain heavier masses and higher speeds. The research also allowed, in fact, to investigate the influence of several factors in design, selection and use, as material, shape, position, assemblages and many others, highlighting weaknesses and identifying possible measures to increase its effectiveness.

A Printed Xi-Shaped Left-Handed Metamaterial on Low-Cost Flexible Photo Paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashraf, Farhad Bin; Alam, Touhidul; Islam, Mohammad Tariqul

2017-07-05

A Xi-shaped meta structure, has been introduced in this paper. A modified split-ring resonator (MSRR) and a capacitive loaded strip (CLS) were used to achieve the left-handed property of the metamaterial. The structure was printed using silver metallic nanoparticle ink, using a very low-cost photo paper as a substrate material. Resonators were inkjet-printed using silver nanoparticle metallic ink on paper to make this metamaterial flexible. It is also free from any kind of chemical waste, which makes it eco-friendly. A double negative region from 8.72 GHz to 10.91 GHz (bandwidth of 2.19 GHz) in the X-band microwave spectra was been found. Figure of merit was also obtained to measure any loss in the double negative region. The simulated result was verified by the performance of the fabricated prototype. The total dimensions of the proposed structure were 0.29 λ × 0.29 λ × 0.007 λ . It is a promising unit cell because of its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and easy fabrication process.

A Compact Inductive Position Sensor Made by Inkjet Printing Technology on a Flexible Substrate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataša Samardžić

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design, simulation and fabrication of an inductive angular position sensor on a flexible substrate. The sensor is composed of meandering silver coils printed on a flexible substrate (Kapton film using inkjet technology. The flexibility enables that after printing in the plane, the coils could be rolled and put inside each other. By changing the angular position of the internal coil (rotor related to the external one (stator, the mutual inductance is changed and consequently the impedance. It is possible to determine the angular position from the measured real and imaginary part of the impedance, in our case in the frequency range from 1 MHz to 10 MHz. Experimental results were compared with simulation results obtained by in-house developed software tool, and very good agreement has been achieved. Thanks to the simple design and fabrication, smaller package space requirements and weight, the presented sensor represents a cost-effective alternative to the other sensors currently used in series production applications.

Flexible magnetoimpidence sensor

KAUST Repository

Kavaldzhiev, Mincho

2015-05-01

Recently, flexible electronic devices have attracted increasing interest, due to the opportunities they promise for new applications such as wearable devices, where the components are required to flex during normal use[1]. In this light, different magnetic sensors, like microcoil, spin valve, giant magnetoresistance (GMR), magnetoimpedance (MI), have been studied previously on flexible substrates.

The histogramming tool hparse

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikulin, V.; Shabratova, G.

2005-01-01

A general-purpose package aimed to simplify the histogramming in the data analysis is described. The proposed dedicated language for writing the histogramming scripts provides an effective and flexible tool for definition of a complicated histogram set. The script is more transparent and much easier to maintain than corresponding C++ code. In the TTree analysis it could be a good complement to the TTreeViewer class: the TTreeViewer is used for choice of the required histogram/cut set, while the hparse enables one to generate a code for systematic analysis

Global Analysis of Flexible Risers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Banke, Lars

1996-01-01

Flexible pipes are often a technically attractive alternative to the traditional steel pipe. Often commercial utilisation of oil/gas fields depends on the use of flexible pipes. An example is when floating production vessels are used, where the flexible pipe follows the wave induced motions...

Designing structural supply chain flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mulinski, Ksawery Jan

2012-01-01

In a continuously changing business environment the role of supply chain flexibility is constantly increasing. A flexible supply chain can ensure survival in quickly changing market conditions as well as enable sustainable growth. This thesis explores the topic of supply chain flexibility with focus

Flexibility in insulin prescription

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanjay Kalra

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This communication explores the concept of flexibility, a propos insulin preparations and insulin regimes used in the management of type 2 diabetes. The flexibility of an insulin regime or preparation is defined as their ability to be injected at variable times, with variable injection-meal time gaps, in a dose frequency and quantum determined by shared decision making, with a minimal requirement of glucose monitoring and health professional consultation, with no compromise on safety, efficiency and tolerability. The relative flexibility of various basal, prandial and dual action insulins, as well as intensive regimes, is compared. The biopsychosocial model of health is used to assess the utility of different insulins while encouraging a philosophy of flexible insulin usage.

Keeping you safe by making machine tools safe

CERN Multimedia

2012-01-01

CERN’s third safety objective for 2012 concerns the safety of equipment - and machine tools in particular.   There are three prerequisites for ensuring that a machine tool can be used safely: ·      the machine tool must comply with Directive 2009/104/EC, ·      the layout of the workshop must be compliant, and ·      everyone who uses the machine tool must be trained. Provided these conditions are met, the workshop head can grant authorisation to use the machine tool. To fulfil this objective, an inventory of the machine tools must be drawn up and the people responsible for them identified. The HSE Unit's Safety Inspection Service produces compliance reports for the machine tools. In order to meet the third objective set by the Director-General, the section has doubled its capacity to carry out inspections: ...

Extension of an Object-Oriented Optimization Tool: User's Reference Manual

Science.gov (United States)

Pak, Chan-Gi; Truong, Samson S.

2015-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center has developed a cost-effective and flexible object-oriented optimization (O (sup 3)) tool that leverages existing tools and practices and allows easy integration and adoption of new state-of-the-art software. This object-oriented framework can integrate the analysis codes for multiple disciplines, as opposed to relying on one code to perform analysis for all disciplines. Optimization can thus take place within each discipline module, or in a loop between the O (sup 3) tool and the discipline modules, or both. Six different sample mathematical problems are presented to demonstrate the performance of the O (sup 3) tool. Instructions for preparing input data for the O (sup 3) tool are detailed in this user's manual.

Directly Printable Flexible Strain Sensors for Bending and Contact Feedback of Soft Actuators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled Elgeneidy

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a fully printable sensorized bending actuator that can be calibrated to provide reliable bending feedback and simple contact detection. A soft bending actuator following a pleated morphology, as well as a flexible resistive strain sensor, were directly 3D printed using easily accessible FDM printer hardware with a dual-extrusion tool head. The flexible sensor was directly welded to the bending actuator’s body and systematically tested to characterize and evaluate its response under variable input pressure. A signal conditioning circuit was developed to enhance the quality of the sensory feedback, and flexible conductive threads were used for wiring. The sensorized actuator’s response was then calibrated using a vision system to convert the sensory readings to real bending angle values. The empirical relationship was derived using linear regression and validated at untrained input conditions to evaluate its accuracy. Furthermore, the sensorized actuator was tested in a constrained setup that prevents bending, to evaluate the potential of using the same sensor for simple contact detection by comparing the constrained and free-bending responses at the same input pressures. The results of this work demonstrated how a dual-extrusion FDM printing process can be tuned to directly print highly customizable flexible strain sensors that were able to provide reliable bending feedback and basic contact detection. The addition of such sensing capability to bending actuators enhances their functionality and reliability for applications such as controlled soft grasping, flexible wearables, and haptic devices.

Double-Skin Facade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalyanova, Olena

favored by companies and their employees. To bring the reduction of energy use in these buildings application of suitable tools and methods is necessary to achieve successful design solutions. Earlier work on the topic of DSF modelling was examined from various publications. As a result, the main...... IEA Annex 34/43, subtask E "Double-Skin Facade". The results of empirical validation are discussed in this work. Discussion and analysis of experimental results is carried out. It has lead to hypothesis of recirculation flow phenomenon in the DSF cavity. Finally, a suggestion of a new numerical model...... is developed to account for recirculation flow appearance in the DSF cavity. The model is based on a simple mass balance between the boundary layer flow and the main flow in the cavity....

Double-Sided Sliding-Paraboloid (DSSP): A new tool for preprocessing GPR data

Science.gov (United States)

Rashed, Mohamed; Rashed, Essam A.

2017-05-01

Background noise in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data is a nagging problem that degrades the quality of GPR images and increases their ambiguity. There are several methods adopting different strategies to remove background noise. In this study, we present the Double-Sided Sliding-Paraboloid (DSSP) as a new background removal technique. Experiments conducted on field GPR data show that the proposed DSSP technique has several advantages over existing background removal techniques. DSSP removes background noise more efficiently while preserving first arrivals and other strong horizontal reflections. Moreover, DSSP introduces no artifacts to GPR data and corrects data for DC-shift and wow noise.

Option pricing: a flexible tool to disseminate shared savings contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedberg, Mark W; Buendia, Anthony M; Lauderdale, Katherine E; Hussey, Peter S

2013-08-01

Due to volatility in healthcare costs, shared savings contracts can create systematic financial losses for payers, especially when contracting with smaller providers. To improve the business case for shared savings, we calculated the prices of financial options that payers can "sell" to providers to offset these losses. Using 2009 to 2010 member-level total cost of care data from a large commercial health plan, we calculated option prices by applying a bootstrap simulation procedure. We repeated these simulations for providers of sizes ranging from 500 to 60,000 patients and for shared savings contracts with and without key design features (minimum savings thresholds,bonus caps, cost outlier truncation, and downside risk) and under assumptions of zero, 1%, and 2% real cost reductions due to the shared savings contracts. Assuming no real cost reduction and a 50% shared savings rate, per patient option prices ranged from $225 (3.1% of overall costs) for 500-patient providers to $23 (0.3%) for 60,000-patient providers. Introducing minimum savings thresholds, bonus caps, cost outlier truncation, and downside risk reduced these option prices. Option prices were highly sensitive to the magnitude of real cost reductions. If shared savings contracts cause 2% reductions in total costs, option prices fall to zero for all but the smallest providers. Calculating the prices of financial options that protect payers and providers from downside risk can inject flexibility into shared savings contracts, extend such contracts to smaller providers, and clarify the tradeoffs between different contract designs, potentially speeding the dissemination of shared savings.

Development of a core management tool for MYRRHA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalůvka, David; Van den Eynde, Gert; Vandewalle, Stefan

2013-01-01

Highlights: • An in-core fuel management tool is being developed for the flexible irradiation machine MYRRHA. • Specific issues of the MYRRHA in-core fuel management are briefly discussed. • The tool addresses the loading pattern optimization problem. • Illustrative in-core fuel management optimization problems are solved using the tool. - Abstract: MYRRHA is an advanced multi-purpose irradiation facility under development at SCK• CEN in Mol, Belgium. In order to ensure an economical and safe operation of the reactor, an in-core fuel management tool is being developed within the project to address the loading pattern optimization problem. In the paper, the current version of the tool – its architecture and design, unique features, and the field of its application, are presented. In the second part of the paper, the tool’s capabilities are demonstrated on simple MYRRHA in-core fuel management optimization problems

Dry-spray deposition of TiO2 for a flexible dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using a nanoparticle deposition system (NPDS).

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Min-Saeng; Chun, Doo-Man; Choi, Jung-Oh; Lee, Jong-Cheon; Kim, Yang Hee; Kim, Kwang-Su; Lee, Caroline Sunyong; Ahn, Sung-Hoon

2012-04-01

TiO2 powders were deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates for application to the photoelectrode of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). In the conventional DSSC manufacturing process, a semiconductor oxide such as TiO2 powder requires a sintering process at higher temperature than the glass transition temperature (T(g)) of polymers, and thus utilization of flexible polymer substrates in DSSC research has been constrained. To overcome this restriction related to sintering, we used a nanoparticle deposition system (NPDS) that could produce a thin coating layer through a dry-spray method under atmospheric pressure at room temperature. The powder was sprayed through a slit-type nozzle having a 0.4 x 10 mm2 rectangular outlet. In order to determine the deposited TiO2 thickness, five kinds of TiO2 layered specimens were prepared, where the specimens have single and double layer structures. Deposited powders on the ITO coated PET substrates were observed using FE-SEM and a scan profiler The thicker TiO2 photoelectrode with a DSSC having a double layer structure showed higher energy efficiency than the single layer case. The highest fabricated flexible DSSC displayed a short circuit current density J(sc) = 1.99 mA cm(-2), open circuit voltage V(oc) = 0.71 V, and energy efficiency eta = 0.94%. These results demonstrate the possibility of utilizing the dry-spray method to fabricate a TiO2 layer on flexible polymer substrates at room temperature under atmospheric pressure.

Flexible polyimide films hybrid with functionalized boron nitride and graphene oxide simultaneously to improve thermal conduction and dimensional stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Mei-Hui; Tseng, I-Hsiang; Chiang, Jen-Chi; Li, Jheng-Jia

2014-06-11

Coupling agent-functionalized boron nitride (f-BN) and glycidyl methacrylate-grafted graphene (g-TrG) are simultaneously blended with polyimide (PI) to fabricate a flexible, electrically insulating and thermally conductive PI composite film. The silk-like g-TrG successfully fills in the gap between PI and f-BN to complete the thermal conduction network. In addition, the strong interaction between surface functional groups on f-BN and g-TrG contributes to the effective phonon transfer in the PI matrix. The thermal conductivity (TC) of the PI/f-BN composite films containing additional 1 wt % of g-TrG is at least doubled to the value of PI/f-BN and as high as 16 times to that of the pure PI. The hybrid film PI/f-BN-50/g-TrG-1 exhibits excellent flexibility, sufficient insulating property, the highest TC of 2.11 W/mK, and ultralow coefficient of thermal expansion of 11 ppm/K, which are perfect conditions for future flexible substrate materials requiring efficient heat dissipation.

Education for Flexible Personality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogomir Novak

1998-12-01

Full Text Available Flexible personality transforms both cultural environment and itself. Post-modern personality is both contemplative and active. On one hand, it is subject to inner imagination of a creative act, and on the other hand, to creation of a tangible product What is more, flexible personality is also autonomous, mature, healthy and well balanced, as well as stable and responsive to the demand for change. Due to ever quicker changes, flexible personality is a must. And it is a task. The impact of professional work of adults on the education of children, however, is being conditioned by the exrigid family and rigid enterprises or institutions in which adults are employed. Nevertheless, flexible educational style is not repressive, as it used to be, nor permissive and totally concentrated on the child. It is a choice between the two qualities. The educators' style is dependent on their attitude towards life (play and self-education and not only towards work. Nowadays, flexibility is a way towards quality management of social and personal changes.

A Web-Based Authoring Tool for Algebra-Related Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Virvou

2000-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the development of a web-based authoring tool for Intelligent Tutoring Systems. The tool aims to be useful to teachers and students of domains that make use of algebraic equations. The initial input to the tool is a "description" of a specific domain given by a human teacher. In return the tool provides assistance at the construction of exercises by the human teacher and then monitors the students while they are solving the exercises and provides appropriate feedback. The tool incorporates intelligence in its diagnostic component, which performs error diagnosis to students’ errors. It also handles the teaching material in a flexible and individualised way.

Robust retention and transfer of tool construction techniques in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vale, Gill L.; Flynn, Emma G.; Pender, Lydia

2016-01-01

months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years...... previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex...

Transcatheter Closure of Bilateral Multiple Huge Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations with Homemade Double-Umbrella Occluders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong Hongshan; Xu Ke; Shao Haibo

2008-01-01

A 28-year-old man underwent successful transcatheter occlusion of three huge pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) using homemade double-umbrella occluders and stainless steel coils. Thoracic CT with three-dimensional reconstruction and pulmonary angiography were used for treatment planning and follow-up. The diameters of the feeding vessels were 11 mm, 13 mm, and 14 mm, respectively. This report demonstrates the novel design and utility of the double-umbrella occluder, an alternative tool for treatment of large PAVMs.

Operational experience with double acting piston pumps for cryogenic helium and nitrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vosswinkel, F.

1978-01-01

The design of a high efficiency double acting piston pump suitable for pumping liquefied gases at cryogenic temperatures for cable cooling, is reported. The pump has proved flexible, reliable and efficient in operation. The plunger-type pumps can be used for filling cryostats or dewars with liquid helium or nitrogen from a pressure free or pressurized storage vessel, or as circulators for subcooled, saturated and/or supercritical helium in large scale cooling experiments. Flow rates of up to 17 g/s, maximum operating pressure of 600 kPa absolute and maximum differential pressure of approximately 100 kPa are obtained. (UK)

Pregabalin in patients with central neuropathic pain: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a flexible-dose regimen

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vranken, J. H.; Dijkgraaf, M. G. W.; Kruis, M. R.; van der Vegt, M. H.; Hollmann, M. W.; Heesen, M.

2008-01-01

The effective treatment of patients suffering from central neuropathic pain remains a clinical challenge, despite a standard pharmacological approach in combination with anticonvulsants and antidepressants. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the effects of pregabalin on

Graphene-cellulose paper flexible supercapacitors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weng, Zhe; Su, Yang; Li, Feng; Du, Jinhong; Cheng, Hui-Ming [Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016 (China); Wang, Da-Wei [ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Qld 4072 (Australia)

2011-10-15

A simple and scalable method to fabricate graphene-cellulose paper (GCP) membranes is reported; these membranes exhibit great advantages as freestanding and binder-free electrodes for flexible supercapacitors. The GCP electrode consists of a unique three-dimensional interwoven structure of graphene nanosheets and cellulose fibers and has excellent mechanical flexibility, good specific capacitance and power performance, and excellent cyclic stability. The electrical conductivity of the GCP membrane shows high stability with a decrease of only 6% after being bent 1000 times. This flexible GCP electrode has a high capacitance per geometric area of 81 mF cm{sup -2}, which is equivalent to a gravimetric capacitance of 120 F g{sup -1} of graphene, and retains >99% capacitance over 5000 cycles. Several types of flexible GCP-based polymer supercapacitors with various architectures are assembled to meet the power-energy requirements of typical flexible or printable electronics. Under highly flexible conditions, the supercapacitors show a high capacitance per geometric area of 46 mF cm{sup -2} for the complete devices. All the results demonstrate that polymer supercapacitors made using GCP membranes are versatile and may be used for flexible and portable micropower devices. (Copyright copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Recycling production designs: the value of coordination and flexibility in aluminum recycling operations

Science.gov (United States)

Brommer, Tracey H.

The growing motivation for aluminum recycling has prompted interest in recycling alternative and more challenging secondary materials. The nature of these alternative secondary materials necessitates the development of an intermediate recycling facility that can reprocess the secondary materials into a liquid product Two downstream aluminum remelters will incorporate the liquid products into their aluminum alloy production schedules. Energy and environmental benefits result from delivering the products as liquid but coordination challenges persist because of the energy cost to maintain the liquid. Further coordination challenges result from the necessity to establish a long term recycling production plan in the presence of long term downstream aluminum remelter production uncertainty and inherent variation in the daily order schedule of the downstream aluminum remelters. In this context a fundamental question arises, considering the metallurgical complexities of dross reprocessing, what is the value of operating a coordinated set of by-product reprocessing plants and remelting cast houses? A methodology is presented to calculate the optimal recycling center production parameters including 1) the number of recycled products, 2) the volume of recycled products, 3) allocation of recycled materials across recycled products, 4) allocation of recycled products across finished alloys, 4) the level of flexibility for the recycling center to operate. The methods implemented include, 1) an optimization model to describe the long term operations of the recycling center, 2) an uncertainty simulation tool, 3) a simulation optimization method, 4) a dynamic simulation tool with four embedded daily production optimization models of varying degrees of flexibility. This methodology is used to quantify the performance of several recycling center production designs of varying levels of coordination and flexibility. This analysis allowed the identification of the optimal recycling

Analytical quality by design: a tool for regulatory flexibility and robust analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Peraman, Ramalingam; Bhadraya, Kalva; Padmanabha Reddy, Yiragamreddy

2015-01-01

Very recently, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a few new drug applications (NDA) with regulatory flexibility for quality by design (QbD) based analytical approach. The concept of QbD applied to analytical method development is known now as AQbD (analytical quality by design). It allows the analytical method for movement within method operable design region (MODR). Unlike current methods, analytical method developed using analytical quality by design (AQbD) approach reduces the number of out-of-trend (OOT) results and out-of-specification (OOS) results due to the robustness of the method within the region. It is a current trend among pharmaceutical industry to implement analytical quality by design (AQbD) in method development process as a part of risk management, pharmaceutical development, and pharmaceutical quality system (ICH Q10). Owing to the lack explanatory reviews, this paper has been communicated to discuss different views of analytical scientists about implementation of AQbD in pharmaceutical quality system and also to correlate with product quality by design and pharmaceutical analytical technology (PAT).

Tools of the Trade for More Effective Instructional Leaders.

Science.gov (United States)

Pino, Edward C.

1988-01-01

Instructional leaders need a sturdy support system and a sound background in clinical supervision to be effective administrators. This article identifies three vital tools of the trade: a specific set of basic skills for quality teaching; a support system for each teaching skill; and a dependable, flexible, and personalized delivery system. (MLH)

A novel application of exergy analysis: Lean manufacturing tool to improve energy efficiency and flexibility of hydrocarbon processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haragovics, Máté; Mizsey, Péter

2014-01-01

This work investigates the techniques used in evaluating distillation structures from lean manufacturing point of view. Oil and gas industry has already started adopting lean manufacturing principles in different types of processes from information flow to processing technologies. Generally, energy costs are the most important factors in processing hydrocarbons. Introducing flexibility desired by lean principles to the system may conflict energy efficiency of the system. However, this does not mean that the economic optimum is the energetic optimum. Therefore all possible changes due to temporarily stopped or not fully utilised plants have to be investigated, resulting in a large amount of cases that have to be evaluated. For evaluation exergy analysis can be used as it involves all energy types, and evaluation is straightforward. In this paper plain distillation structures are investigated, and the boundaries of the systems are set up according to the status of the site. Four component case studies are presented that show that the very same distillation structure can be more or less efficient depending on the status of the industrial site. It is also shown that exergy analysis used with different boundaries on the same system can show flexibility of the system and reveals potentials. - Highlights: • The article focuses on the flexibility aspect of lean manufacturing. • Exergy analysis of distillation scheme alternatives, energy efficiency. • Different boundaries define different scenarios of the same system is investigated. • The energy efficiency of distillation schemes also depends on their operating mode. • The exergy reserves of a distillation system can be revealed with exergy analysis

World wide matching of registration metrology tools of various generations

Science.gov (United States)

Laske, F.; Pudnos, A.; Mackey, L.; Tran, P.; Higuchi, M.; Enkrich, C.; Roeth, K.-D.; Schmidt, K.-H.; Adam, D.; Bender, J.

2008-10-01

Turn around time/cycle time is a key success criterion in the semiconductor photomask business. Therefore, global mask suppliers typically allocate work loads based on fab capability and utilization capacity. From a logistical point of view, the manufacturing location of a photomask should be transparent to the customer (mask user). Matching capability of production equipment and especially metrology tools is considered a key enabler to guarantee cross site manufacturing flexibility. Toppan, with manufacturing sites in eight countries worldwide, has an on-going program to match the registration metrology systems of all its production sites. This allows for manufacturing flexibility and risk mitigation.In cooperation with Vistec Semiconductor Systems, Toppan has recently completed a program to match the Vistec LMS IPRO systems at all production sites worldwide. Vistec has developed a new software feature which allows for significantly improved matching of LMS IPRO(x) registration metrology tools of various generations. We will report on the results of the global matching campaign of several of the leading Toppan sites.

Three-dimensional formulation of rigid-flexible multibody systems with flexible beam elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia-Vallejo, D.; Mayo, J.; Escalona, J. L.; Dominguez, J.

2008-01-01

Multibody systems generally contain solids with appreciable deformations and which decisively influence the dynamics of the system. These solids have to be modeled by means of special formulations for flexible solids. At the same time, other solids are of such a high stiffness that they may be considered rigid, which simplifies their modeling. For these reasons, for a rigid-flexible multibody system, two types of formulations coexist in the equations of the system. Among the different possibilities provided in the literature on the material, the formulation in natural coordinates and the formulation in absolute nodal coordinates are utilized in this paper to model the rigid and flexible solids, respectively. This paper contains a mixed formulation based on the possibility of sharing coordinates between a rigid solid and a flexible solid. The global mass matrix of the system is shown to be constant and, in addition, many of the constraint equations obtained upon utilizing these formulations are linear and can be eliminated

Robot-based additive manufacturing for flexible die-modelling in incremental sheet forming

Science.gov (United States)

Rieger, Michael; Störkle, Denis Daniel; Thyssen, Lars; Kuhlenkötter, Bernd

2017-10-01

The paper describes the application concept of additive manufactured dies to support the robot-based incremental sheet metal forming process (`Roboforming') for the production of sheet metal components in small batch sizes. Compared to the dieless kinematic-based generation of a shape by means of two cooperating industrial robots, the supporting robot models a die on the back of the metal sheet by using the robot-based fused layer manufacturing process (FLM). This tool chain is software-defined and preserves the high geometrical form flexibility of Roboforming while flexibly generating support structures adapted to the final part's geometry. Test series serve to confirm the feasibility of the concept by investigating the process challenges of the adhesion to the sheet surface and the general stability as well as the influence on the geometric accuracy compared to the well-known forming strategies.

Conducting polymer micro-supercapacitors for flexible energy storage and Ac line-filtering

KAUST Repository

Kurra, Narendra

2015-04-01

We propose a novel surfactant-mediated process to fabricate flexible microsupercapacitors (MSCs) combining conventional photolithography and electrochemical deposition. The anionic surfactant mediates the process of electropolymerisation at a lower anodic potential while causing template effects in producing porous conducting poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) electrodes. Using this strategy, PEDOT MSCs with remarkable performance in terms of tunable frequency response and energy density are achieved. Specifically, ultrahigh scan rate capability up to 500V/s is achieved with a crossover frequency of 400Hz at a phase angle of -45°. This is the first polymer-based redox microsupercapacitor with excellent frequency characteristics other than carbonaceous-based electrochemical double layer capacitors reported so far in the literature. Thus, the micro-supercapacitors exhibit maximum areal cell capacitance of 9mF/cm2 with a volumetric stack capacitance of 50F/cm3 in 1M H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The flexibility and stability of these PEDOT MSCs is tested in aqueous gel electrolyte which showed a capacitance retention up to 80% over 10,000 cycles with a Coulombic efficiency of 100%. The maximum energy density of solid state ion gel based PEDOT MSCs was found to be 7.7mWh/cm3, which is comparable to the lithium based thin film batteries and superior to the current state-of-the-art carbon and metal oxide based MSCs. Further, the tandem configuration of flexible solid state ion gel based PEDOT MSCs is employed to demonstrate it as a power source for glowing a red light emitting diode. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Design Tool for Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leban, Krisztina Monika

. A comparison of the selected machine types in view of up-scaling to 20 [MW] was performed. As an example fitness criterion, the use of active materials for the generators was considered. Based on this, suggestions for 20 [MW] generators were made. The results are discussed and future work, directions......The current work offers a comparison of the proposed machine geometries for 6 [MW] direct drive wind generator candidates with the prospective of up scaling to 20MW. The suggestions are based on a design tool especially built for this investigation. The in-built flexibility of the design tool gives...

Poster: A modern Python interface for the Generic Mapping Tools

OpenAIRE

Uieda, Leonardo; Wessel, Paul

2017-01-01

Poster presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting 2017.Abstract: IN51B-0018Inkscape source files for the poster and a Jupyter notebook with the demo are on the Github repository: github.com/leouieda/agu2017 The demo notebook can be run online using the MyBinder service: agu2017demo.gmtpython.xyzAbstractFigures generated by The Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) are present in countless publications across the Earth sciences. The command-line interface of GMT lends the tool its flexibility bu...

PsyAcoustX: A flexible MATLAB® package for psychoacoustics research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gavin M. Bidelman

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The demands of modern psychophysical studies require precise stimulus delivery and flexible platforms for experimental control. Here, we describe PsyAcoustX, a new, freely available suite of software tools written in the MATLAB® environment to conduct psychoacoustics research on a standard PC. PsyAcoustX provides a flexible platform to generate and present auditory stimuli in real time and record users’ behavioral responses. Data are automatically logged by stimulus condition and aggregated in an exported spreadsheet for offline analysis. Detection thresholds can be measured adaptively under basic and complex auditory masking tasks and other paradigms (e.g., amplitude modulation detection within minutes. The flexibility of the module offers experimenters access to nearly every conceivable combination of stimulus parameters (e.g., probe-masker relations. Example behavioral applications are highlighted including the measurement of audiometric thresholds, basic simultaneous and non-simultaneous (i.e., forward and backward masking paradigms, gap detection, and amplitude modulation detection. Examples of these measurements are provided including the psychoacoustic phenomena of temporal overshoot, psychophysical tuning curves and temporal modulation transfer functions. Importantly, the core design of PsyAcoustX is easily modifiable, allowing users the ability to easily adapt its basic structure and create additional modules for measuring discrimination/detection thresholds for other auditory attributes (e.g., pitch, intensity, etc. or binaural paradigms.

Development of the Coping Flexibility Scale: Evidence for the Coping Flexibility Hypothesis

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Tsukasa

2012-01-01

"Coping flexibility" was defined as the ability to discontinue an ineffective coping strategy (i.e., evaluation coping) and produce and implement an alternative coping strategy (i.e., adaptive coping). The Coping Flexibility Scale (CFS) was developed on the basis of this definition. Five studies involving approximately 4,400 Japanese…

CRITICAL RADAR: TOOL AND METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATING CURRENT PROJECTS USING MULTIPLE VARIABLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

André M. Ferrari

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Many resources are invested in measurement processes of projects indicators without, however, give a clear view of which projects deserves the right attention at the right time. This paper proposes the use of statistics, through the analysis of multiple variables and their interrelationships, to give better basis to a critical assessment methodology of current projects used in a multinational mining company. The contribution of the research is to report the methodology called Critical Radar which is based on a graphical tool with simple operationalization that can support the decision making in complex environments, and has great flexibility across the different market scenarios and possible changes in companies guidelines. The tool has great potential to help evaluate current projects due to their characteristics of flexible use in different business areas; high degree of freedom for improvement; use of known market tool in its development; ease of viewing the results through charts and notes and user freedom to use any existing indicators in the company if complied with some statistical data quality characteristics.

Flexible Environmental Modeling with Python and Open - GIS

Science.gov (United States)

Pryet, Alexandre; Atteia, Olivier; Delottier, Hugo; Cousquer, Yohann

2015-04-01

Numerical modeling now represents a prominent task of environmental studies. During the last decades, numerous commercial programs have been made available to environmental modelers. These software applications offer user-friendly graphical user interfaces that allow an efficient management of many case studies. However, they suffer from a lack of flexibility and closed-source policies impede source code reviewing and enhancement for original studies. Advanced modeling studies require flexible tools capable of managing thousands of model runs for parameter optimization, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. In addition, there is a growing need for the coupling of various numerical models associating, for instance, groundwater flow modeling to multi-species geochemical reactions. Researchers have produced hundreds of open-source powerful command line programs. However, there is a need for a flexible graphical user interface allowing an efficient processing of geospatial data that comes along any environmental study. Here, we present the advantages of using the free and open-source Qgis platform and the Python scripting language for conducting environmental modeling studies. The interactive graphical user interface is first used for the visualization and pre-processing of input geospatial datasets. Python scripting language is then employed for further input data processing, call to one or several models, and post-processing of model outputs. Model results are eventually sent back to the GIS program, processed and visualized. This approach combines the advantages of interactive graphical interfaces and the flexibility of Python scripting language for data processing and model calls. The numerous python modules available facilitate geospatial data processing and numerical analysis of model outputs. Once input data has been prepared with the graphical user interface, models may be run thousands of times from the command line with sequential or parallel calls. We

The Flexibility of Pusher Furnace Grate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Słowik J.A.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The lifetime of guide grates in pusher furnaces for heat treatment could be increased by raising the flexibility of their structure through, for example, the replacement of straight ribs, parallel to the direction of grate movement, with more flexible segments. The deformability of grates with flexible segments arranged in two orientations, i.e. crosswise (perpendicular to the direction of compression and lengthwise (parallel to the direction of compression, was examined. The compression process was simulated using SolidWorks Simulation program. Relevant regression equations were also derived describing the dependence of force inducing the grate deformation by 0.25 mm ‒ modulus of grate elasticity ‒ on the number of flexible segments in established orientations. These calculations were made in Statistica and Scilab programs. It has been demonstrated that, with the same number of segments, the crosswise orientation of flexible segments increases the grate structure flexibility in a more efficient way than the lengthwise orientation. It has also been proved that a crucial effect on the grate flexibility has only the quantity and orientation of segments (crosswise / lengthwise, while the exact position of segments changes the grate flexibility by less than 1%.

An educational tool for interactive parallel and distributed processing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pagliarini, Luigi; Lund, Henrik Hautop

2012-01-01

In this article we try to describe how the modular interactive tiles system (MITS) can be a valuable tool for introducing students to interactive parallel and distributed processing programming. This is done by providing a handson educational tool that allows a change in the representation...... of abstract problems related to designing interactive parallel and distributed systems. Indeed, the MITS seems to bring a series of goals into education, such as parallel programming, distributedness, communication protocols, master dependency, software behavioral models, adaptive interactivity, feedback......, connectivity, topology, island modeling, and user and multi-user interaction which can rarely be found in other tools. Finally, we introduce the system of modular interactive tiles as a tool for easy, fast, and flexible hands-on exploration of these issues, and through examples we show how to implement...

High Performance Electronics on Flexible Silicon

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2016-09-01

Over the last few years, flexible electronic systems have gained increased attention from researchers around the world because of their potential to create new applications such as flexible displays, flexible energy harvesters, artificial skin, and health monitoring systems that cannot be integrated with conventional wafer based complementary metal oxide semiconductor processes. Most of the current efforts to create flexible high performance devices are based on the use of organic semiconductors. However, inherent material\\'s limitations make them unsuitable for big data processing and high speed communications. The objective of my doctoral dissertation is to develop integration processes that allow the transformation of rigid high performance electronics into flexible ones while maintaining their performance and cost. In this work, two different techniques to transform inorganic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor electronics into flexible ones have been developed using industry compatible processes. Furthermore, these techniques were used to realize flexible discrete devices and circuits which include metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors, the first demonstration of flexible Fin-field-effect-transistors, and metal-oxide-semiconductors-based circuits. Finally, this thesis presents a new technique to package, integrate, and interconnect flexible high performance electronics using low cost additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing and inkjet printing. This thesis contains in depth studies on electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the fabricated devices.

Project management support tool implementation. DynaLearn, EC FP7 STREP project 231526, Deliverable D1.1

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bredeweg, B.; Liem, J.

2009-01-01

Different project management tools have been evaluated. We have chosen several well-known, flexible and mature tools to support management activities and communication between the DynaLearn project participants. We have created a DynaLearn website for stakeholders outside the DynaLearn website. An

Pandora - a simulation tool for safety assessments. Technical description and user's guide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ekstroem, Per-Anders

2010-12-01

This report documents a flexible simulation tool, Pandora, used in several post closure safety assessments in both Sweden and Finland to assess the radiological dose to man due to releases from radioactive waste repositories. Pandora allows the user to build compartment models to represent the migration and fate of radionuclides in the environment. The tool simplifies the implementation and simulation of radioecological biosphere models in which there exist a large set of radionuclides and input variables. Based on the well-known technical computing software MATLAB and especially its interactive graphical environment Simulink, Pandora receives many benefits. MATLAB/Simulink is a highly flexible tool used for simulations of practically any type of dynamic system; it is widely used, continuously maintained, and often upgraded. By basing the tool on this commercial software package, we gain both the graphical interface provided by Simulink, as well as the ability to access the advanced numerical equation solving routines in MATLAB. Since these numerical methods are well established and quality assured in their MATLAB implementation, the solution methods used in Pandora can be considered to have high level of quality assurance. The structure of Pandora provides clarity in the model format, which means the model itself assists its own documentation, since the model can be understood by inspecting its structure. With the introduction of the external tool Pandas (Pandora assessment tool), version handling and an integrated way of performing the entire calculation chain has been added. Instead of being dependent on other commercial statistical software as Risk for performing probabilistic assessments, they can now be performed within the tool

Double-differential heavy-ion production cross sections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, T. M.; Townsend, L. W.

2004-01-01

Current computational tools used for space or accelerator shielding studies transport energetic heavy ions either using a one-dimensional straight-ahead approximation or by dissociating the nuclei into protons and neutrons and then performing neutron and proton transport using Monte Carlo techniques. Although the heavy secondary particles generally travel close to the beam direction, a proper treatment of the light ions produced in these reactions requires that double-differential cross sections should be utilised. Unfortunately, no fundamental nuclear model capable of serving as an event generator to provide these cross sections for all ions and energies of interest exists currently. Herein, we present a model for producing double-differential heavy-ion production cross sections that uses heavy-ion fragmentation yields produced by the NUCFRG2 fragmentation code coupled with a model of energy degradation in nucleus-nucleus collisions and systematics of momentum distributions to provide energy and angular dependences of the heavy-ion production. (authors)

Workplace flexibility: from research to action.

Science.gov (United States)

Galinsky, Ellen; Sakai, Kelly; Wigton, Tyler

2011-01-01

Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton explore the "time famine" among American workers-the continuing sense among employees of not having enough time to manage the multiple responsibilities of work and personal and family life. Noting that large shares of U.S. employees report feeling the need for greater workplace flexibility to enable them to take better care of family responsibilities, the authors examine a large-scale community-engagement initiative to increase workplace flexibility voluntarily. Using the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce as a primary source of data, the authors begin with an overview of the prevalence of flexibility in today's American workplace. They track which categories of employees have access to various flexibility options, as well as the extent to which employees with access to various types of flexibility use those options. Findings from the study indicate that the majority of employees want flexibility but that access to it varies, with more advantaged employees--those who are well educated, have high salaries, and work full time, for example--being doubly advantaged in having greater access to flexibility. A number of employers, say the authors, tend to be skeptical of the value of workplace flexibility and to fear that employees will abuse it if it is offered. But the study data reveal that most employees use flexibility quite conservatively. When the authors use their nationally representative data set to investigate correlations between access to workplace flexibility and a range of workplace outcomes especially valued by employers--employee engagement, job satisfaction, retention, and health--they find that employers as well as employees can benefit from flexibility. Finally, the authors discuss When Work Works, a large, national community-based initiative under way since 2003 to increase voluntary adoption of workplace flexibility. The authors detail the conceptual basis of the project's design, noting its

Free-form Flexible Lithium-Ion Microbattery

KAUST Repository

Kutbee, Arwa T.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Ahmed, Sally; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2016-01-01

Wearable electronics need miniaturized, safe and flexible power sources. Lithium ion battery is a strong candidate as high performance flexible battery. The development of flexible materials for battery electrodes suffers from the limited material

Correlation of Lateral Cephalogram and Flexible Laryngoscopy with Sleep Study in Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Science.gov (United States)

Narayanan, Anila; Faizal, Bini

2015-01-01

Objective. To study the correlation between lateral cephalogram, flexible laryngoscopy, and sleep study in patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Background. Screening tools should be devised for predicting OSA which could be performed on an outpatient basis. With this aim we studied the skeletal and soft tissue characteristics of proven OSA patients. Methods. A prospective study was performed in patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea by sleep study. They were evaluated clinically and subjected to lateral cephalometry and nasopharyngolaryngoscopy. The findings were matched to see if they corresponded to AHI of sleep study in severity. An attempt was made to see whether the data predicted the patients who would benefit from oral appliance or surgery as the definitive treatment in indicated cases. Results. A retropalatal collapse seen on endoscopy could be equated to the distance from mandibular plane to hyoid (MP-H) of lateral cephalometry and both corresponded to severity of AHI. At the retroglossal region, there was a significant correlation with MP-H, length of the soft palate, and AHI. Conclusion. There is significant correlation of lateral cephalogram and awake flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy with AHI in OSA. In unison they form an excellent screening tool for snorers.

A Low Mass On-Chip Readout Scheme for Double-Sided Silicon Strip Detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Irmler, C., E-mail: christian.irmler@oeaw.ac.at [HEPHY Vienna – Institute of High Energy Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Nikolsdorfer Gasse 18, A-1050 Vienna (Austria); Bergauer, T.; Frankenberger, A.; Friedl, M.; Gfall, I. [HEPHY Vienna – Institute of High Energy Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Nikolsdorfer Gasse 18, A-1050 Vienna (Austria); Higuchi, T. [University of Tokyo, Kavli Institute for Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan); Ishikawa, A. [Tohoku University, Department of Physics, Aoba Aramaki Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Joo, C. [Seoul National University, High Energy Physics Laboratory, 25-107 Shinlim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Kah, D.H.; Kang, K.H. [Kyungpook National University, Department of Physics, 1370 Sankyuk Dong, Buk Gu, Daegu 702-701 (Korea, Republic of); Rao, K.K. [Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Experimental High Energy Physics Group, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005 (India); Kato, E. [Tohoku University, Department of Physics, Aoba Aramaki Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Mohanty, G.B. [Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Experimental High Energy Physics Group, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005 (India); Negishi, K. [Tohoku University, Department of Physics, Aoba Aramaki Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan); Onuki, Y.; Shimizu, N. [University of Tokyo, Department of Physics, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Tsuboyama, T. [KEK, 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801 (Japan); Valentan, M. [HEPHY Vienna – Institute of High Energy Physics of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Nikolsdorfer Gasse 18, A-1050 Vienna (Austria)

2013-12-21

B-factories like the KEKB in Tsukuba, Japan, operate at relatively low energies and thus require detectors with very low material budget in order to minimize multiple scattering. On the other hand, front-end chips with short shaping time like the APV25 have to be placed as close to the sensor strips as possible to reduce the capacitive load, which mainly determines the noise figure. In order to achieve both – minimal material budget and low noise – we developed a readout scheme for double-sided silicon detectors, where the APV25 chips are placed on a flexible circuit, which is glued onto the top side of the sensor. The bottom-side strips are connected by two flexible circuits, which are bent around the edge of the sensor. This so-called “Origami” design will be utilized to build the Silicon Vertex Detector of the Belle II experiment, which will consist of four layers made from ladders with up to five double-sided silicon strip sensors in a row. Each ladder will be supported by two ribs made of a carbon fiber and Airex foam core sandwich. The heat dissipated by the front-end chips will be removed by a highly efficient two-phase CO{sub 2} system. Thanks to the Origami concept, all APV25 chips are aligned in a row and thus can be cooled by a single thin cooling pipe per ladder. We present the concept and the assembly procedure of the Origami chip-on-sensor modules.

A Low Mass On-Chip Readout Scheme for Double-Sided Silicon Strip Detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irmler, C.; Bergauer, T.; Frankenberger, A.; Friedl, M.; Gfall, I.; Higuchi, T.; Ishikawa, A.; Joo, C.; Kah, D.H.; Kang, K.H.; Rao, K.K.; Kato, E.; Mohanty, G.B.; Negishi, K.; Onuki, Y.; Shimizu, N.; Tsuboyama, T.; Valentan, M.

2013-01-01

B-factories like the KEKB in Tsukuba, Japan, operate at relatively low energies and thus require detectors with very low material budget in order to minimize multiple scattering. On the other hand, front-end chips with short shaping time like the APV25 have to be placed as close to the sensor strips as possible to reduce the capacitive load, which mainly determines the noise figure. In order to achieve both – minimal material budget and low noise – we developed a readout scheme for double-sided silicon detectors, where the APV25 chips are placed on a flexible circuit, which is glued onto the top side of the sensor. The bottom-side strips are connected by two flexible circuits, which are bent around the edge of the sensor. This so-called “Origami” design will be utilized to build the Silicon Vertex Detector of the Belle II experiment, which will consist of four layers made from ladders with up to five double-sided silicon strip sensors in a row. Each ladder will be supported by two ribs made of a carbon fiber and Airex foam core sandwich. The heat dissipated by the front-end chips will be removed by a highly efficient two-phase CO 2 system. Thanks to the Origami concept, all APV25 chips are aligned in a row and thus can be cooled by a single thin cooling pipe per ladder. We present the concept and the assembly procedure of the Origami chip-on-sensor modules

Cognitive Flexibility in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jónsson, Hjalti; Salkovskis, Paul M.

BT for problems such as OCD requires a level of cognitive flexibility (that is the ability to take a different perspective on ones problems). It could be argued that problems in set shifting (by neuropsychological tests) might underpin problems in this area. Two assessments were used (1: perception...... of cognitive flexibility was assessed by questionnaire 2: neuropsychological evaluation of set shifting). This study will recruit three groups: OCD patients, anxious and healthy controls. Cognitive flexibility is measured using modified version of the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (Martin & Rubin, 1995......) and neuropsychological measures of cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Cart Sorting Test, Trail Making Test A/B, The Brixton Test). IN addition to the group comparison, the relationship between perceived flexibility, set shifting and psychopathology will be investigated. The implications of the findings for treatment...

29 CFR 1926.951 - Tools and protective equipment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... falling objects, electric shock, or burns. (b) Personal climbing equipment. (1) Body belts with straps or...) Be equipped with three-wire cord having the ground wire permanently connected to the tool frame and... “Double Insulated”; or (iii) Be connected to the power supply by means of an isolating transformer, or...

WEBnm@ v2.0: Web server and services for comparing protein flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Sandhya P; Fuglebakk, Edvin; Hollup, Siv M; Skjærven, Lars; Cragnolini, Tristan; Grindhaug, Svenn H; Tekle, Kidane M; Reuter, Nathalie

2014-12-30

Normal mode analysis (NMA) using elastic network models is a reliable and cost-effective computational method to characterise protein flexibility and by extension, their dynamics. Further insight into the dynamics-function relationship can be gained by comparing protein motions between protein homologs and functional classifications. This can be achieved by comparing normal modes obtained from sets of evolutionary related proteins. We have developed an automated tool for comparative NMA of a set of pre-aligned protein structures. The user can submit a sequence alignment in the FASTA format and the corresponding coordinate files in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) format. The computed normalised squared atomic fluctuations and atomic deformation energies of the submitted structures can be easily compared on graphs provided by the web user interface. The web server provides pairwise comparison of the dynamics of all proteins included in the submitted set using two measures: the Root Mean Squared Inner Product and the Bhattacharyya Coefficient. The Comparative Analysis has been implemented on our web server for NMA, WEBnm@, which also provides recently upgraded functionality for NMA of single protein structures. This includes new visualisations of protein motion, visualisation of inter-residue correlations and the analysis of conformational change using the overlap analysis. In addition, programmatic access to WEBnm@ is now available through a SOAP-based web service. Webnm@ is available at http://apps.cbu.uib.no/webnma . WEBnm@ v2.0 is an online tool offering unique capability for comparative NMA on multiple protein structures. Along with a convenient web interface, powerful computing resources, and several methods for mode analyses, WEBnm@ facilitates the assessment of protein flexibility within protein families and superfamilies. These analyses can give a good view of how the structures move and how the flexibility is conserved over the different structures.

Flexible packaging for PV modules

Science.gov (United States)

Dhere, Neelkanth G.

2008-08-01

Economic, flexible packages that provide needed level of protection to organic and some other PV cells over >25-years have not yet been developed. However, flexible packaging is essential in niche large-scale applications. Typical configuration used in flexible photovoltaic (PV) module packaging is transparent frontsheet/encapsulant/PV cells/flexible substrate. Besides flexibility of various components, the solder bonds should also be flexible and resistant to fatigue due to cyclic loading. Flexible front sheets should provide optical transparency, mechanical protection, scratch resistance, dielectric isolation, water resistance, UV stability and adhesion to encapsulant. Examples are Tefzel, Tedlar and Silicone. Dirt can get embedded in soft layers such as silicone and obscure light. Water vapor transmittance rate (WVTR) of polymer films used in the food packaging industry as moisture barriers are ~0.05 g/(m2.day) under ambient conditions. In comparison, light emitting diodes employ packaging components that have WVTR of ~10-6 g/(m2.day). WVTR of polymer sheets can be improved by coating them with dense inorganic/organic multilayers. Ethylene vinyl acetate, an amorphous copolymer used predominantly by the PV industry has very high O2 and H2O diffusivity. Quaternary carbon chains (such as acetate) in a polymer lead to cleavage and loss of adhesional strength at relatively low exposures. Reactivity of PV module components increases in presence of O2 and H2O. Adhesional strength degrades due to the breakdown of structure of polymer by reactive, free radicals formed by high-energy radiation. Free radical formation in polymers is reduced when the aromatic rings are attached at regular intervals. This paper will review flexible packaging for PV modules.

Distributing Knight. Using Type-Based Publish/Subscribe for Building Distributed Collaboration Tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damm, Christian Heide; Hansen, Klaus Marius

2002-01-01

more important. We present Distributed Knight, an extension to the Knight tool, for distributed, collaborative, and gesture-based object-oriented modelling. Distributed Knight was built using the type-based publish/subscribe paradigm. Based on this case, we argue that type-based publish......Distributed applications are hard to understand, build, and evolve. The need for decoupling, flexibility, and heterogeneity in distributed collaboration tools present particular problems; for such applications, having the right abstractions and primitives for distributed communication becomes even....../subscribe provides a natural and effective abstraction for developing distributed collaboration tools....

Flexible devices: from materials, architectures to applications

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Mingzhi; Ma, Yue; Yuan, Xin; Hu, Yi; Liu, Jie; Jin, Zhong

2018-01-01

Flexible devices, such as flexible electronic devices and flexible energy storage devices, have attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years for their potential applications in modern human lives. The development of flexible devices is moving forward rapidly, as the innovation of methods and manufacturing processes has greatly encouraged the research of flexible devices. This review focuses on advanced materials, architecture designs and abundant applications of flexible devices, and discusses the problems and challenges in current situations of flexible devices. We summarize the discovery of novel materials and the design of new architectures for improving the performance of flexible devices. Finally, we introduce the applications of flexible devices as key components in real life. Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Nos. 2017YFA0208200, 2016YFB0700600, 2015CB659300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21403105, 21573108), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 020514380107).

Developmental constraints on behavioural flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Holekamp, Kay E; Swanson, Eli M; Van Meter, Page E

2013-05-19

We suggest that variation in mammalian behavioural flexibility not accounted for by current socioecological models may be explained in part by developmental constraints. From our own work, we provide examples of constraints affecting variation in behavioural flexibility, not only among individuals, but also among species and higher taxonomic units. We first implicate organizational maternal effects of androgens in shaping individual differences in aggressive behaviour emitted by female spotted hyaenas throughout the lifespan. We then compare carnivores and primates with respect to their locomotor and craniofacial adaptations. We inquire whether antagonistic selection pressures on the skull might impose differential functional constraints on evolvability of skulls and brains in these two orders, thus ultimately affecting behavioural flexibility in each group. We suggest that, even when carnivores and primates would theoretically benefit from the same adaptations with respect to behavioural flexibility, carnivores may nevertheless exhibit less behavioural flexibility than primates because of constraints imposed by past adaptations in the morphology of the limbs and skull. Phylogenetic analysis consistent with this idea suggests greater evolutionary lability in relative brain size within families of primates than carnivores. Thus, consideration of developmental constraints may help elucidate variation in mammalian behavioural flexibility.

RNAPattMatch: a web server for RNA sequence/structure motif detection based on pattern matching with flexible gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Drory Retwitzer, Matan; Polishchuk, Maya; Churkin, Elena; Kifer, Ilona; Yakhini, Zohar; Barash, Danny

2015-01-01

Searching for RNA sequence-structure patterns is becoming an essential tool for RNA practitioners. Novel discoveries of regulatory non-coding RNAs in targeted organisms and the motivation to find them across a wide range of organisms have prompted the use of computational RNA pattern matching as an enhancement to sequence similarity. State-of-the-art programs differ by the flexibility of patterns allowed as queries and by their simplicity of use. In particular—no existing method is available as a user-friendly web server. A general program that searches for RNA sequence-structure patterns is RNA Structator. However, it is not available as a web server and does not provide the option to allow flexible gap pattern representation with an upper bound of the gap length being specified at any position in the sequence. Here, we introduce RNAPattMatch, a web-based application that is user friendly and makes sequence/structure RNA queries accessible to practitioners of various background and proficiency. It also extends RNA Structator and allows a more flexible variable gaps representation, in addition to analysis of results using energy minimization methods. RNAPattMatch service is available at http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/rnapattmatch. A standalone version of the search tool is also available to download at the site. PMID:25940619

OpenMDAO: Framework for Flexible Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis and Optimization Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Heath, Christopher M.; Gray, Justin S.

2012-01-01

The OpenMDAO project is underway at NASA to develop a framework which simplifies the implementation of state-of-the-art tools and methods for multidisciplinary design, analysis and optimization. Foremost, OpenMDAO has been designed to handle variable problem formulations, encourage reconfigurability, and promote model reuse. This work demonstrates the concept of iteration hierarchies in OpenMDAO to achieve a flexible environment for supporting advanced optimization methods which include adaptive sampling and surrogate modeling techniques. In this effort, two efficient global optimization methods were applied to solve a constrained, single-objective and constrained, multiobjective version of a joint aircraft/engine sizing problem. The aircraft model, NASA's nextgeneration advanced single-aisle civil transport, is being studied as part of the Subsonic Fixed Wing project to help meet simultaneous program goals for reduced fuel burn, emissions, and noise. This analysis serves as a realistic test problem to demonstrate the flexibility and reconfigurability offered by OpenMDAO.

An Asynchronous Circuit Design Technique for a Flexible 8-Bit Microprocessor

Science.gov (United States)

Karaki, Nobuo; Nanmoto, Takashi; Inoue, Satoshi

This paper presents an asynchronous design technique, an enabler for the emerging technology of flexible microelectronics that feature low-temperature processed polysilicon (LTPS) thin-film transistors (TFT) and surface-free technology by laser annealing/ablation (SUFTLA®). The first design instance chosen is an 8-bit microprocessor. LTPS TFTs are good for realizing displays having integrated VLSI circuit at lower costs. However, LTPS TFTs have drawbacks, including substantial deviations in characteristics and the self-heating phenomenon. To solve these problems, the authors adopted the asynchronous circuit design technique and developed an asynchronous design language called Verilog+, which is based on a subset of Verilog HDL® and includes minimal primitives used for describing the communications between modules, and the dedicated tools including a translator called xlator and a synthesizer called ctrlsyn. The flexible 8-bit microprocessor stably operates at 500kHz, drawing 180μA from a 5V power source. The microprocessor's electromagnetic emissions are 21dB less than those of the synchronous counterpart.

Flexible Thermoelectric Generators on Silicon Fabric

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2012-01-01

In this work, the development of a Thermoelectric Generator on Flexible Silicon Fabric is explored to extend silicon electronics for flexible platforms. Low cost, easily deployable plastic based flexible electronics are of great interest for smart

“DRYPACK” - a calculation and analysis tool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, M.B.; Toftegaard, R.; Schneider, P.

2013-01-01

drying processes. Moreover, it is possible to change the configuration of the dryer by including/changing energy saving components to illustrate the potential of the new configuration. The calculation tool is demonstrated in four different case studies, where the actual energy consumption and possible......“DryPack” is a calculation tool that visualises the energy consumption of airbased and superheated steam drying processes. With “DryPack”, it is possible to add different components to a simple drying process, and thereby increase the flexibility, which makes it possible to analyse the most common...... energy consumption reductions by using “DryPack” are calculated. With the “DryPack” calculation tool, it is possible to calculate four different unit operations with moist air (dehumidification of air, humidification of air, mixing of two air streams, and heating of air). In addition, a Mollier diagram...

The Flexibility of Organization and the flexibility of product – premises of organizational success

OpenAIRE

Todorut, Amalia Venera

2008-01-01

Flexibility represents the ability of a manufactural system to adapt to some diversified tasks of production, thus to assure an economic efficiency – the rapport time/cost should be optimum, with insignificant structure changes within a long period of time. The central role of flexibility is to permit the survival and the success of the organizations in a turbulent circumstance, which is characteristic to the new world tendencies. The more flexible the organization becomes, the better it resp...

Static Aeroelastic and Longitudinal Trim Model of Flexible Wing Aircraft Using Finite-Element Vortex-Lattice Coupled Solution

Science.gov (United States)

Ting, Eric; Nguyen, Nhan; Trinh, Khanh

2014-01-01

This paper presents a static aeroelastic model and longitudinal trim model for the analysis of a flexible wing transport aircraft. The static aeroelastic model is built using a structural model based on finite-element modeling and coupled to an aerodynamic model that uses vortex-lattice solution. An automatic geometry generation tool is used to close the loop between the structural and aerodynamic models. The aeroelastic model is extended for the development of a three degree-of-freedom longitudinal trim model for an aircraft with flexible wings. The resulting flexible aircraft longitudinal trim model is used to simultaneously compute the static aeroelastic shape for the aircraft model and the longitudinal state inputs to maintain an aircraft trim state. The framework is applied to an aircraft model based on the NASA Generic Transport Model (GTM) with wing structures allowed to flexibly deformed referred to as the Elastically Shaped Aircraft Concept (ESAC). The ESAC wing mass and stiffness properties are based on a baseline "stiff" values representative of current generation transport aircraft.

Overview of laboratory data tools available in a single electronic medical record

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil R Kudler

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Laboratory data account for the bulk of data stored in any given electronic medical record (EMR. To best serve the user, electronic laboratory data needs to be flexible and customizable. Our aim was to determine the various ways in which laboratory data get utilized by clinicians in our health system′s EMR. Method: All electronic menus, tabs, flowsheets, notes and subsections within the EMR (Millennium v2007.13, Cerner Corporation, Kansas City, MO, US were explored to determine how clinicians utilize discrete laboratory data. Results: Laboratory data in the EMR were utilized by clinicians in five distinct ways: within flowsheets, their personal inbox (EMR messaging, with decision support tools, in the health maintenance tool, and when incorporating laboratory data into their clinical notes and letters. Conclusions : Flexible electronic laboratory data in the EMR hava many advantages. Users can view, sort, pool, and appropriately route laboratory information to better support trend analyses, clinical decision making, and clinical charting. Laboratory data in the EMR can also be utilized to develop clinical decision support tools. Pathologists need to participate in the creation of these EMR tools in order to better support the appropriate utilization of laboratory information in the EMR.

Time-dependent B-spline R-matrix approach to double ionization of atoms by XUV laser pulses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guan Xiaoxu; Zatsarinny, Oleg; Bartschat, Klaus [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa 50311 (United States); Noble, Clifford J [Computational Science and Engineering Department, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Schneider, Barry I, E-mail: xiaoxu.guan@drake.ed, E-mail: klaus.bartschat@drake.ed, E-mail: bschneid@nsf.go [Physics Division, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virgina 22230 (United States)

2009-11-01

We present an ab initio and non-perturbative time-dependent approach to the problem of double ionization of a general atom driven by intense XUV laser pulses. After using a highly flexible B-spline R-matrix method to generate field-free Hamiltonian and electric dipole matrices, the initial state is propagated in time using an efficient Arnoldi-Lanczos scheme. Example results for momentum and energy distributions of the two outgoing electrons in two-color pump-probe processes of He are presented.

Contagious flexibility? A study on whether schedule flexibility facilitates work-life enrichment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Vivi Bach; Jeppesen, Hans Jeppe

2012-08-01

Schedule flexibility defines an important generating resource for work-life enrichment; however, our knowledge about how such spillovers take place is limited. This multiple case study examines how workers from different working time contexts with varying levels of schedule flexibility experience work-life interplay. Given the adopted explorative design, it is important to interpret the findings in a tentative light. Nonetheless, the study offers important insight into work-life enrichment that may guide future research in this field. The findings indicate that schedule flexibility may act as a boundary-spanning resource owing to the agency potential it offers workers. Thus, it seemed that flexible schedule opportunities enabled workers to engage more fully in personal life activities, which in turn had a positive influence on their work involvement through positive affect. Such positive role engagements appeared, however, to be greatly determined by workers' boundary management and by time conditions of work and family. In conclusion, the major findings and limitation of the study are discussed against existing research and theory. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Self-Organization of +-Crown Ether Derivatives into Double-Columnar Arrays Controlled by Supramolecular Isomers of Hydrogen-Bonded Anionic Biimidazolate Ni Complexes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Makoto Tadokoro

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Anionic tris (biimidazolate nickelate (II ([Ni(Hbim3]−, which is a hydrogen-bonding (H-bonding molecular building block, undergoes self-organization into honeycomb-sheet superstructures connected by complementary intermolecular H-bonds. The crystal obtained from the stacking of these sheets is assembled into channel frameworks, approximately 2 nm wide, that clathrate two cationic K+-crown ether derivatives organised into one-dimensional (1D double-columnar arrays. In this study, we have shown that all five cationic guest-included crystals form nanochannel structures that clathrate the 1-D double-columnar arrays of one of the four types of K+-crown ether derivatives, one of which induces a polymorph. This is accomplished by adaptably fitting two types of anionic [Ni(Hbim3]− host arrays. One is a ΔΛ−ΔΛ−ΔΛ⋯ network with H-bonded linkages alternating between the two different optical isomers of the Δ and Λ types with flexible H-bonded [Ni(Hbim3]−. The other is a ΔΔΔ−ΛΛΛ⋯ network of a racemate with 1-D H-bonded arrays of the same optical isomer for each type. Thus, [Ni(Hbim3]− can assemble large cations such as K+ crown-ether derivatives into double-columnar arrays by highly recognizing flexible H-bonding arrangements with two host networks of ΔΛ−ΔΛ−ΔΛ⋯ and ΔΔΔ−ΛΛΛ⋯.

Optimal Scheduling for Retrieval Jobs in Double-Deep AS/RS by Evolutionary Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuo-Yang Wu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We investigate the optimal scheduling of retrieval jobs for double-deep type Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS in the Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS used in modern industrial production. Three types of evolutionary algorithms, the Genetic Algorithm (GA, the Immune Genetic Algorithm (IGA, and the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO algorithm, are implemented to obtain the optimal assignments. The objective is to minimize the working distance, that is, the shortest retrieval time travelled by the Storage and Retrieval (S/R machine. Simulation results and comparisons show the advantages and feasibility of the proposed methods.

Design and construction of porous metal–organic frameworks based on flexible BPH pillars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao, Xiang-Rong; Yang, Guang-sheng; Shao, Kui-Zhan; Su, Zhong-Min; Yuan, Gang; Wang, Xin-Long

2013-01-01

Three metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), [Co 2 (BPDC) 2 (4-BPH)·3DMF] n (1), [Cd 2 (BPDC) 2 (4-BPH) 2 ·2DMF] n (2) and [Ni 2 (BDC) 2 (3-BPH) 2 (H 2 O)·4DMF] n (3) (H 2 BPDC=biphenyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid, H 2 BDC=terephthalic acid, BPH=bis(pyridinylethylidene)hydrazine and DMF=N,N′-dimethylformamide), have been solvothermally synthesized based on the insertion of heterogeneous BPH pillars. Framework 1 has “single-pillared” MOF-5-like motif with inner cage diameters of up to 18.6 Å. Framework 2 has “double pillared” MOF-5-like motif with cage diameters of 19.2 Å while 3 has “double pillared” 8-connected framework with channel diameters of 11.0 Å. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) shows that 3 is a dynamic porous framework. - Graphical abstract: By insertion of flexible BPH pillars based on “pillaring” strategy, three metal–organic frameworks are obtained showing that the porous frameworks can be constructed in a much greater variety. Highlights: ► Frameworks 1 and 2 have MOF-5 like motif. ► The cube-like cages in 1 and 2 are quite large, comparable to the IRMOF-10. ► Framework 1 is “single-pillared” mode while 2 is “double-pillared” mode. ► PXRD and gas adsorption analysis show that 3 is a dynamic porous framework.

Solving Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling Problem Using Gravitational Search Algorithm and Colored Petri Net

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behnam Barzegar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Scheduled production system leads to avoiding stock accumulations, losses reduction, decreasing or even eliminating idol machines, and effort to better benefitting from machines for on time responding customer orders and supplying requested materials in suitable time. In flexible job-shop scheduling production systems, we could reduce time and costs by transferring and delivering operations on existing machines, that is, among NP-hard problems. The scheduling objective minimizes the maximal completion time of all the operations, which is denoted by Makespan. Different methods and algorithms have been presented for solving this problem. Having a reasonable scheduled production system has significant influence on improving effectiveness and attaining to organization goals. In this paper, new algorithm were proposed for flexible job-shop scheduling problem systems (FJSSP-GSPN that is based on gravitational search algorithm (GSA. In the proposed method, the flexible job-shop scheduling problem systems was modeled by color Petri net and CPN tool and then a scheduled job was programmed by GSA algorithm. The experimental results showed that the proposed method has reasonable performance in comparison with other algorithms.

Building Flexible Manufacturing Systems Based on Peer-Its

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Hechinger

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Peer-to-peer computing principles have started to pervade into mechanical control systems, inducing a paradigm shift from centralized to autonomic control. We have developed a self-contained, miniaturized, universal and scalable peer-to-peer based hardware-software system, the peer-it platform, to serve as a stick-on computer solution to raise real-world artefacts like, for example, machines, tools, or appliances towards technology-rich, autonomous, self-induced, and context-aware peers, operating as spontaneously interacting ensembles. The peer-it platform integrates sensor, actuator, and wireless communication facilities on the hardware level, with an object-oriented, component-based coordination framework at the software level, thus providing a generic platform for sensing, computing, controlling, and communication on a large scale. The physical appearance of a peer-it supports pinning it to real-world artefacts, while at the same time integrating those artefacts into a mobile ad hoc network of peers. Peer-it networks thus represent ensembles of coordinated artefacts, exhibiting features of autonomy like self-management at the node level and self-organization at the network level. We demonstrate how the peer-it system implements the desired flexibility in automated manufacturing systems to react in the case of changes, whether intended or unexpectedly occuring. The peer-it system enables machine flexibility in that it adapts production facilities to produce new types of products, or change the order of operation executed on parts instantaneously. Secondly, it enables routing flexibility, that is, the ability to use multiple machines to spontaneously perform the same operation on one part alternatively (to implement autonomic fault tolerance or to absorb large-scale changes in volume, capacity, or capability (to implement autonomic scalability.

UNITY OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL FUNCTIONS FLEXIBILITY

OpenAIRE

George MOLDOVEANU; Cosmin DOBRIN

2012-01-01

The paper has the goal to analyse the correlation of the flexibility of all organizational functions. Based upon theoretical and practical studies, the decrease of flexibility into an "activity area" of organizations implies a diminution on a large scale of the flexibility of the processing system as a law expression of the decreasing outputs within economy. Therefore, at the level of each organizational function there are several major directions ensuring the flexibility of the "ensemble".

A generic flexible and robust approach for intelligent real-time video-surveillance systems

Science.gov (United States)

Desurmont, Xavier; Delaigle, Jean-Francois; Bastide, Arnaud; Macq, Benoit

2004-05-01

In this article we present a generic, flexible and robust approach for an intelligent real-time video-surveillance system. A previous version of the system was presented in [1]. The goal of these advanced tools is to provide help to operators by detecting events of interest in visual scenes and highlighting alarms and compute statistics. The proposed system is a multi-camera platform able to handle different standards of video inputs (composite, IP, IEEE1394 ) and which can basically compress (MPEG4), store and display them. This platform also integrates advanced video analysis tools, such as motion detection, segmentation, tracking and interpretation. The design of the architecture is optimised to playback, display, and process video flows in an efficient way for video-surveillance application. The implementation is distributed on a scalable computer cluster based on Linux and IP network. It relies on POSIX threads for multitasking scheduling. Data flows are transmitted between the different modules using multicast technology and under control of a TCP-based command network (e.g. for bandwidth occupation control). We report here some results and we show the potential use of such a flexible system in third generation video surveillance system. We illustrate the interest of the system in a real case study, which is the indoor surveillance.

Flexible barrier technology for enabling rollable AMOLED displays and upscaling flexible OLED lighting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, F.M.; Unnikrishnan, S.; Weijer, P. van de; Assche, F. van; Shen, J.; Ellis, T.; Manders, W.; Akkerman, H.; Bouten, P.; Mol, A.M.B. van

2013-01-01

The availability of a high performance thin-film barrier is the most critical challenge in upscaling and commercializing flexible OLED products. We report a flexible thin-film-barrier technology that meets lifetime specifications for OLED lighting, and demonstrate it in rollable QVGA a-IGZO AMOLED

Intrinsic flexibility of porous materials; theory, modelling and the flexibility window of the EMT zeolite framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fletcher, Rachel E.; Wells, Stephen A.; Leung, Ka Ming; Edwards, Peter P.; Sartbaeva, Asel

2015-01-01

Framework materials possess intrinsic flexibility which can be investigated using geometric simulation. We review framework flexibility properties in energy materials and present novel results on the flexibility window of the EMT zeolite framework containing 18-crown-6 ether as a structure directing agent (SDA). Framework materials have structures containing strongly bonded polyhedral groups of atoms connected through their vertices. Typically the energy cost for variations of the inter-polyhedral geometry is much less than the cost of distortions of the polyhedra themselves – as in the case of silicates, where the geometry of the SiO 4 tetrahedral group is much more strongly constrained than the Si—O—Si bridging angle. As a result, framework materials frequently display intrinsic flexibility, and their dynamic and static properties are strongly influenced by low-energy collective motions of the polyhedra. Insight into these motions can be obtained in reciprocal space through the ‘rigid unit mode’ (RUM) model, and in real-space through template-based geometric simulations. We briefly review the framework flexibility phenomena in energy-relevant materials, including ionic conductors, perovskites and zeolites. In particular we examine the ‘flexibility window’ phenomenon in zeolites and present novel results on the flexibility window of the EMT framework, which shed light on the role of structure-directing agents. Our key finding is that the crown ether, despite its steric bulk, does not limit the geometric flexibility of the framework

Acoustic contributions of a sound absorbing blanket placed in a double panel structure: Absorption Versus Transmission

OpenAIRE

Doutres , Olivier; Atalla , Noureddine

2010-01-01

International audience; The objective of this paper is to propose a simple tool to estimate the absorption vs. transmission loss contributions of a multilayered blanket unbounded in a double panel structure and thus guide its optimization. The normal incidence airborne sound transmission loss of the double panel structure, without structure-borne connections, is written in terms of three main contributions; (i) sound transmission loss of the panels, (ii) sound transmission loss of the blanket...

[Voix d'Or, an audio tool to revive memories].

Science.gov (United States)

Braunschweig, Lina

2010-01-01

Voix d'Or is an audio tool designed to awaken the affective memory of elderly people and particularly those suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Every month it offers new radio programmes to initiate or facilitate leisure and entertainment activities, memory workshops or provide the basis of quiet moments. The tool has a double objective: to procure well-being, boost the individual's self-esteem and recognise his/her history and to facilitate exchange and communication between the residents and the staff of a care home.

Explicitly-correlated ring-coupled-cluster-doubles theory: Including exchange for computations on closed-shell systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hehn, Anna-Sophia; Holzer, Christof; Klopper, Wim, E-mail: klopper@kit.edu

2016-11-10

Highlights: • Ring-coupled-cluster-doubles approach now implemented with exchange terms. • Ring-coupled-cluster-doubles approach now implemented with F12 functions. • Szabo–Ostlund scheme (SO2) implemented for use in SAPT. • Fast convergence to the limit of a complete basis. • Implementation in the TURBOMOLE program system. - Abstract: Random-phase-approximation (RPA) methods have proven to be powerful tools in electronic-structure theory, being non-empirical, computationally efficient and broadly applicable to a variety of molecular systems including small-gap systems, transition-metal compounds and dispersion-dominated complexes. Applications are however hindered due to the slow basis-set convergence of the electron-correlation energy with the one-electron basis. As a remedy, we present approximate explicitly-correlated RPA approaches based on the ring-coupled-cluster-doubles formulation including exchange contributions. Test calculations demonstrate that the basis-set convergence of correlation energies is drastically accelerated through the explicitly-correlated approach, reaching 99% of the basis-set limit with triple-zeta basis sets. When implemented in close analogy to early work by Szabo and Ostlund [36], the new explicitly-correlated ring-coupled-cluster-doubles approach including exchange has the perspective to become a valuable tool in the framework of symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) for the computation of dispersion energies of molecular complexes of weakly interacting closed-shell systems.

Optimized flexible cover films for improved conversion efficiency in thin film flexible solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Guterman, Sidney; Wen, Xin; Gudavalli, Ganesh; Rhajbhandari, Pravakar; Dhakal, Tara P.; Wilt, David; Klotzkin, David

2018-05-01

Thin film solar cell technologies are being developed for lower cost and flexible applications. For such technologies, it is desirable to have inexpensive, flexible cover strips. In this paper, we demonstrate that transparent silicone cover glass adhesive can be doped with TiO2 nanoparticles to achieve an optimal refractive index and maximize the performance of the cell. Cells covered with the film doped with nanoparticles at the optimal concentration demonstrated a ∼1% increase in photocurrent over the plain (undoped) film. In addition, fused silica beads can be incorporated into the flexible cover slip to realize a built-in pseudomorphic glass diffuser layer as well. This additional degree of freedom in engineering flexible solar cell covers allows maximal performance from a given cell for minimal increased cost.

Double path-integral migration velocity analysis: a real data example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Jessé C; Schleicher, Jörg

2011-01-01

Path-integral imaging forms an image with no knowledge of the velocity model by summing over the migrated images obtained for a set of migration velocity models. Double path-integral imaging migration extracts the stationary velocities, i.e. those velocities at which common-image gathers align horizontally, as a byproduct. An application of the technique to a real data set demonstrates that quantitative information about the time migration velocity model can be determined by double path-integral migration velocity analysis. Migrated images using interpolations with different regularizations of the extracted velocities prove the high quality of the resulting time-migration velocity information. The so-obtained velocity model can then be used as a starting model for subsequent velocity analysis tools like migration tomography or other tomographic methods

Free-form Flexible Lithium-Ion Microbattery

KAUST Repository

Kutbee, Arwa T.

2016-03-02

Wearable electronics need miniaturized, safe and flexible power sources. Lithium ion battery is a strong candidate as high performance flexible battery. The development of flexible materials for battery electrodes suffers from the limited material choices. In this work, we present integration strategy to rationally design materials and processes to report flexible inorganic lithium-ion microbattery with no restrictions on the materials used. The battery shows an enhanced normalized capacity of 147 μAh/cm2 when bent.

Flexible Programmes in Higher Professional Education: Expert Validation of a Flexible Educational Model

Science.gov (United States)

Schellekens, Ad; Paas, Fred; Verbraeck, Alexander; van Merrienboer, Jeroen J. G.

2010-01-01

In a preceding case study, a process-focused demand-driven approach for organising flexible educational programmes in higher professional education (HPE) was developed. Operations management and instructional design contributed to designing a flexible educational model by means of discrete-event simulation. Educational experts validated the model…

Flexible position probe assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitz, J.J.

1977-01-01

The combination of a plurality of tubular transducer sections and a flexible supporting member extending through the tubular transducer sections forms a flexible elongated probe of a design suitable for monitoring the level of an element, such as a nuclear magnetically permeable control rod or liquid. 3 claims, 23 figures

Flexible Learning Environments: Leveraging the Affordances of Flexible Delivery and Flexible Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Janette R.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this article is to explore the key features of "flexible learning environments" (FLEs). Key principles associated with FLEs are explained. Underlying tenets and support mechanisms necessary for the implementation of FLEs are described. Similarities and differences in traditional learning and FLEs are explored. Finally, strategies…

Flexible aluminum tubes and a least square multi-objective non-linear optimization scheme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endelt, Benny; Nielsen, Karl Brian; Olsen, Soeren

2004-01-01

The automotive industry currently uses rubber hoses as the media carrier between e.g. the radiator and the engine, and the basic idea is to replace the rubber hoses with flexible aluminum tubes.A good quality is defined through several quality measurements, i.e. in the current case the key objective is to produce a flexible convolution through optimization of the tool geometry, but the process should also be stable, and the process stability is evaluated through Forming Limit Diagrams. Typically the defined objectives are conflicting, i.e. the optimized configuration represents therefore a trade-off between the individual objectives, in this case flexibility versus process stability.The optimization problem is solved through iteratively minimizing the object function. A second-order least square scheme is used for the approximation of the quadratic model, and the change in the design parameters is evaluated through the trust region scheme and box constraints are introduced within the trust region framework. Furthermore, the object function is minimized by applying the non-monotone scheme, and the trust region subproblem is solved by applying the Cholesky factorization scheme.An optimal bell shaped geometry is identified and the design is verified experimentally

Practical protective tools for occupational exposure: 1) double focus spectacles for the aged with highly refracted glass lens 2) remodeled barrier for radiation protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurokawa, S; Yabe, S; Takamura, A; Ishizaki, H; Aizawa, S

2000-11-30

Two practical protective tools for occupational exposure for neurointerventional radiologists are presented. The first purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of double focus spectacles for the aged with a highly refracted glass lens (special spectacles for the aged) for radiation protection of the crystalline lens of the eye in comparison with other spectacles on the market, based on the measurement of film density which was obtained by exposure of X-ray through those spectacles. As a result of the film densitometry mentioned above, the effectiveness of special spectacles for the aged in radiation protection was nearly equal to the effectiveness of a goggle type shield which is made with a 0.07 mm lead-equivalent plastic lens. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the protective barrier, which we remodeled for cerebral angiography or neuroendovascular therapy, for radiation exposure, based on the measurement in a simulated study with a head phantom, and on the measurement of radiation exposure in operaters during procedures of clinical cases. In the experimental study radiation exposure in supposed position of the crystalline lens was reduced to about one third and radiation exposure in supposed position of the gonadal glands was reduced to about one seventh, compared to radiation exposure without employing the barrier. The radiation exposure was monitored at the left breast of three radiologists, in 215 cases of cerebral angiography. Employing the barrier in cerebral angiography, average equivalent dose at the left breast measured 1.49mu Sv during 10 min of fluoroscopy. In three kinds of neuroendovascular therapy in 40 cases, radiation exposure in an operator was monitored in the same fashion and the dose was recorded less than the result reported in previous papers in which any protective barrier have not been employed in the procedure (1,2). As a result, the two above mentioned protective tools are

Applying open source data visualization tools to standard based medical data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kopanitsa, Georgy; Taranik, Maxim

2014-01-01

Presentation of medical data in personal health records (PHRs) requires flexible platform independent tools to ensure easy access to the information. Different backgrounds of the patients, especially elder people require simple graphical presentation of the data. Data in PHRs can be collected from heterogeneous sources. Application of standard based medical data allows development of generic visualization methods. Focusing on the deployment of Open Source Tools, in this paper we applied Java Script libraries to create data presentations for standard based medical data.

Frequency Characteristics of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotube Resonator with Different Length

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun-Ha LEE

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we have conducted classical molecular dynamics simulations for DWCNTs of various wall lengths to investigate their use as ultrahigh frequency nano-mechanical resonators. We sought to determine the variations in the frequency of these resonators according to changes in the DWCNT wall lengths. For a double-walled carbon nanotube resonator with a shorter inner nanotube, the shorter inner nanotube can be considered to be a flexible core, and thus, the length influences the fundamental frequency. In this paper, we analyze the variation in frequency of ultra-high frequency nano-mechnical resonators constructed from DWCNTs with different wall lengths.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.2.12951

High-tech hammer : BBJ Tools transforms the traditional fluid hammer into a revolutionary drilling tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Byfield, M.

2010-12-15

This article described BBJ Tools' patent-pending fluid hammer that enhances drilling rate of penetration. The technology was awarded the 2010 winner for best drilling technology for a company with fewer than 100 employees. The fluid hammer features several improvements in terms of maintaining drill-bit integrity, steering ability, and operating flexibility. The hammer incorporates a positive displacement motor and adjustable housing that uniquely allow the driller to steer the drill bit. The fluid hammer works with both polycrystalline diamond compact bits and roller cones. The unique weight-to-bit-transfer design allows the operator to have diversified percussion control. More weight on the bit results in more force, and hammering stops when weight is taken off the bit. The major components of the mud motor are incorporated into the fluid hammer, allowing the tool to compete in every application in which a mud motor is used. The percussion mechanism transmits left-hand reactive torque to the housing. The rate of penetration is substantially better than other similar tools on the market. 2 figs.

Assessment of the Medial Longitudinal Arch in children with Flexible Pes Planus by Plantar Pressure Mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmoatasem, E M; Eid, M A

2016-12-01

Plantar Pressure mapping was introduced as a new modality for assessment of the height of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot. Therefore, the aim of this study is to correlate the plantar pressure mapping readings of arch index contact force ratio (AICFR) in children with flexible pes planus with radiographic measurements and static plantar footprints in order to determine the reliability of pressure mapping as a modality for the assessment and follow up of the flat foot deformity. Radiographic measurements, foot prints, and pressure mapping scans were recorded for each foot at initial presentation and at latest follow up in 28 children (56 feet) with flexible pes planus. A positive correlation of pressure mapping results was found with the talo-first metatarsal angle, the calcaneal pitch angle, as well as the footprint scans (P plantar pressure mapping is a reliable and effective tool in screening, diagnosis, and follow up of children with flexible pes planus.

Development of remote handling tools and equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakahira, Masataka; Oka, Kiyoshi; Taguchi, Kou; Ito, Akira; Fukatsu, Seiichi; Oda, Yasushi; Kajiura, Soji; Yamazaki, Seiichiro; Aoyama, Kazuo.

1997-01-01

The remote handling (RH) tools and equipment development in ITER focuses mainly on the welding and cutting technique, weld inspection and double-seal door which are essential factors in the replacement of in-vessel components such as divertor and blanket. The conceptual design of these RH tools and equipment has been defined through ITER engineering design activity (EDA). Similarly, elementary R and D of the RH tools and equipment have been extensively performed to accumulate a technological data base for process and performance qualification. Based on this data, fabrications of full-scale RH tools and equipment are under progress. A prototypical bore tool for pipe welding and cutting has already been fabricated and is currently undergoing integrated performance tests. This paper describes the design outline of the RH tools and equipment related to in-vessel components maintenance, and highlights the current status of RH tools and equipment development by the Japan Home Team as an ITER R and D program. This paper also includes an outline of insulation joint and quick-pipe connector development, which has also been conducted through the ITER R and D program in order to standardize RH operations and components. (author)

Resin Flow in Fiber Preformed by Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding with Flexible Tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.M. Shokrieh

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding, as a sub-branch of RTM is a method of manufacturing composite specimens. Considering the industrial development of this method, different modified techniques are designed to improve its performance. Among these techniques, using a half flexible mold is regarded as an important method. In this work, dominant equations of resin flow through the mold in polar coordinates are solved analytically. Based on this approach, closed-form solutions have been presented for different parameters such as thickness variation of preformed fiber, resin pressure, resin velocity and fiber volume fraction as functions of two variables, namely, time and the distance from injection port. After verification of the approach employed in this work, the results are presented. Important parameters influencing the quality and the rate production are studied in detail.

On period doubling bifurcations of cycles and the harmonic balance method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itovich, Griselda R.; Moiola, Jorge L.

2006-01-01

This works attempts to give quasi-analytical expressions for subharmonic solutions appearing in the vicinity of a Hopf bifurcation. Starting with well-known tools as the graphical Hopf method for recovering the periodic branch emerging from classical Hopf bifurcation, precise frequency and amplitude estimations of the limit cycle can be obtained. These results allow to attain approximations for period doubling orbits by means of harmonic balance techniques, whose accuracy is established by comparison of Floquet multipliers with continuation software packages. Setting up a few coefficients, the proposed methodology yields to approximate solutions that result from a second period doubling bifurcation of cycles and to extend the validity limits of the graphical Hopf method

ESTIMATION OF FLEXIBILITY OF AN ORGANIZATION ON THE GROUND OF THE CALCULATION OF PROFIT MARGIN RATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Gennadevna Rybakova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of the flexibility of an organization as the ability to adapt effectively to the external environment. The authors have identified and investigated different approaches to estimating the flexibility of an organization on the ground of flexibility grading, calculation of the general index of flexibility as well as the calculation of flexibility’s ranking score. We have identified the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. A new method of the estimation of an organization’s flexibility on the ground of the calculation of relative profit margin has been developed. This method is the multifunctional assessment tool of enterprise’s functionability in the current context of difficult and volatile economic environment. It allows in the early stage to identify negative trends in the production and financial figures and thus, it enables the organizational leadership to take steps in advance in order to avert a crisis in its activity. Keeping the profit margin at the same rate at the forced contraction of output, because of the negative impact of external factors, will confirm that the organization has adapted to the external environment and, therefore, it is flexible. The organization can be considered with margin rate beginning to low up to zero value as an organization with an insufficient level of flexibility that is at the “zone of crisis” and it is characterized by the depletion of reserved funds and reduction of current assets. Loss-maker is nonflexible and the presence of loss means that the organization has an evident sign of crisis and it can be bankrupt.

Creating a Double-Spring Model to Teach Chromosome Movement during Mitosis & Meiosis

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Peigao

2012-01-01

The comprehension of chromosome movement during mitosis and meiosis is essential for understanding genetic transmission, but students often find this process difficult to grasp in a classroom setting. I propose a "double-spring model" that incorporates a physical demonstration and can be used as a teaching tool to help students understand this…

Studying the Relative Positions of the Teeth of Conjugated Wheels in the Double Harmonic Transmission

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Draghiţa Ianici

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a detailed study of the gearing processes in the two stages of the double harmonic transmission. To highlight the graphics of the relative motion of the conjugates teeth it was developed an original calculation program, written in Visual Basic. By running the calculation program, the relative successive positions of the conjugate teeth were viewed and the basic parameters of the gearing were established: the angle profile (α, the tooth height (h and the size of the deformation of the flexible toothed wheel (w0.

Experimental data and boundary conditions for a Double - Skin Facade building in preheating mode

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Olena Kalyanova; Heiselberg, Per; Jensen, Rasmus Lund

Frequent discussions of double skin façade energy performance have started a dialogue about the methods, models and tools for simulation of double façade systems and reliability of their results. Their reliability will increase with empirical validation of the software. Detailed experimental work......’. This covers such problem areas as measurements of naturally induced air flow, measurements of air temperature under direct solar radiation exposure, etc. Finally, in order to create a solid foundation for software validation, the uncertainty and limitations in the experimental results are discussed. In part...

Structure and software tools of AIDA.

Science.gov (United States)

Duisterhout, J S; Franken, B; Witte, F

1987-01-01

AIDA consists of a set of software tools to allow for fast development and easy-to-maintain Medical Information Systems. AIDA supports all aspects of such a system both during development and operation. It contains tools to build and maintain forms for interactive data entry and on-line input validation, a database management system including a data dictionary and a set of run-time routines for database access, and routines for querying the database and output formatting. Unlike an application generator, the user of AIDA may select parts of the tools to fulfill his needs and program other subsystems not developed with AIDA. The AIDA software uses as host language the ANSI-standard programming language MUMPS, an interpreted language embedded in an integrated database and programming environment. This greatly facilitates the portability of AIDA applications. The database facilities supported by AIDA are based on a relational data model. This data model is built on top of the MUMPS database, the so-called global structure. This relational model overcomes the restrictions of the global structure regarding string length. The global structure is especially powerful for sorting purposes. Using MUMPS as a host language allows the user an easy interface between user-defined data validation checks or other user-defined code and the AIDA tools. AIDA has been designed primarily for prototyping and for the construction of Medical Information Systems in a research environment which requires a flexible approach. The prototyping facility of AIDA operates terminal independent and is even to a great extent multi-lingual. Most of these features are table-driven; this allows on-line changes in the use of terminal type and language, but also causes overhead. AIDA has a set of optimizing tools by which it is possible to build a faster, but (of course) less flexible code from these table definitions. By separating the AIDA software in a source and a run-time version, one is able to write

Assembling surface mounted components on ink-jet printed double sided paper circuit board

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersson, Henrik A; Manuilskiy, Anatoliy; Haller, Stefan; Sidén, Johan; Nilsson, Hans-Erik; Hummelgård, Magnus; Olin, Håkan; Hummelgård, Christine

2014-01-01

Printed electronics is a rapidly developing field where many components can already be manufactured on flexible substrates by printing or by other high speed manufacturing methods. However, the functionality of even the most inexpensive microcontroller or other integrated circuit is, at the present time and for the foreseeable future, out of reach by means of fully printed components. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate hybrid printed electronics, where regular electrical components are mounted on flexible substrates to achieve high functionality at a low cost. Moreover, the use of paper as a substrate for printed electronics is of growing interest because it is an environmentally friendly and renewable material and is, additionally, the main material used for many packages in which electronics functionalities could be integrated. One of the challenges for such hybrid printed electronics is the mounting of the components and the interconnection between layers on flexible substrates with printed conductive tracks that should provide as low a resistance as possible while still being able to be used in a high speed manufacturing process. In this article, several conductive adhesives are evaluated as well as soldering for mounting surface mounted components on a paper circuit board with ink-jet printed tracks and, in addition, a double sided Arduino compatible circuit board is manufactured and programmed. (paper)

Assembling surface mounted components on ink-jet printed double sided paper circuit board.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Henrik A; Manuilskiy, Anatoliy; Haller, Stefan; Hummelgård, Magnus; Sidén, Johan; Hummelgård, Christine; Olin, Håkan; Nilsson, Hans-Erik

2014-03-07

Printed electronics is a rapidly developing field where many components can already be manufactured on flexible substrates by printing or by other high speed manufacturing methods. However, the functionality of even the most inexpensive microcontroller or other integrated circuit is, at the present time and for the foreseeable future, out of reach by means of fully printed components. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate hybrid printed electronics, where regular electrical components are mounted on flexible substrates to achieve high functionality at a low cost. Moreover, the use of paper as a substrate for printed electronics is of growing interest because it is an environmentally friendly and renewable material and is, additionally, the main material used for many packages in which electronics functionalities could be integrated. One of the challenges for such hybrid printed electronics is the mounting of the components and the interconnection between layers on flexible substrates with printed conductive tracks that should provide as low a resistance as possible while still being able to be used in a high speed manufacturing process. In this article, several conductive adhesives are evaluated as well as soldering for mounting surface mounted components on a paper circuit board with ink-jet printed tracks and, in addition, a double sided Arduino compatible circuit board is manufactured and programmed.

Assembling surface mounted components on ink-jet printed double sided paper circuit board

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andersson, Henrik A; Manuilskiy, Anatoliy; Haller, Stefan; Sidén, Johan; Nilsson, Hans-Erik [Department of Electronics Design, Mid Sweden University, SE-851 70 Sundsvall (Sweden); Hummelgård, Magnus; Olin, Håkan [Department of Natural Science, Mid Sweden University, SE-851 70 Sundsvall (Sweden); Hummelgård, Christine [Acreo Swedish ICT AB, Håstaholmen 4, SE-824 42 Hudiksvall (Sweden)

2014-03-07

Printed electronics is a rapidly developing field where many components can already be manufactured on flexible substrates by printing or by other high speed manufacturing methods. However, the functionality of even the most inexpensive microcontroller or other integrated circuit is, at the present time and for the foreseeable future, out of reach by means of fully printed components. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate hybrid printed electronics, where regular electrical components are mounted on flexible substrates to achieve high functionality at a low cost. Moreover, the use of paper as a substrate for printed electronics is of growing interest because it is an environmentally friendly and renewable material and is, additionally, the main material used for many packages in which electronics functionalities could be integrated. One of the challenges for such hybrid printed electronics is the mounting of the components and the interconnection between layers on flexible substrates with printed conductive tracks that should provide as low a resistance as possible while still being able to be used in a high speed manufacturing process. In this article, several conductive adhesives are evaluated as well as soldering for mounting surface mounted components on a paper circuit board with ink-jet printed tracks and, in addition, a double sided Arduino compatible circuit board is manufactured and programmed. (paper)

Performance measurement of supply chain flexibility using witness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rituraj Chandrakar

2012-10-01

Full Text Available In today’s global scenario of intense competition and environmental uncertainty flexibility in supply chain has an important role to play for the existence of any supply chain business. A need to be responsive to the constantly changing market scenario and cater to the customer needs, a certain degree of flexibility is required, which requires the coordination of many plants to produce and deliver goods to customers located in different places, and suppliers, which provide each plant with the required components. This paper intends to measure the degree of flexibility required for a two stage supply chain and assessing both the supplier flexibility and the assembler flexibility. In this paper, nine configurations of the SC are considered resulting from the combination of the three degrees of supplier and manufacturer flexibility, i.e. no flexibility, limited flexibility and total flexibility, respectively. Simulation model representing the different flexibility configurations are evaluated and the performance of each configuration analyzed to determine the flexibility configuration suitable to a supply chain. In particular the performance analysis of lead time, work-in-process, service level and cost are measured to determine the suitable flexibility.

Software industrial flexible

OpenAIRE

Díaz Araya, Daniel; Muñoz, Leandro; Sirerol, Daniel; Oviedo, Sandra; Ibáñez, Francisco S.

2012-01-01

En este trabajo se pretende investigar y proponer técnicas, métodos y tecnologías que permitan el desarrollo de software flexible en ambientes industriales. El objetivo es generar métodos y técnicas para facilitar el desarrollo de software flexible en ambientes industriales. Las áreas de investigación son los sistemas de scheduling de producción, la generación de software para plataformas de hardware abiertas y la innovación.

Flexible Al-doped ZnO films grown on PET substrates using linear facing target sputtering for flexible OLEDs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Jin-A; Shin, Hyun-Su; Choi, Kwang-Hyuk; Kim, Han-Ki

2010-01-01

We report the characteristics of flexible Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films prepared by a plasma damage-free linear facing target sputtering (LFTS) system on PET substrates for use as a flexible transparent conducting electrode in flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The electrical, optical and structural properties of LFTS-grown flexible AZO electrodes were investigated as a function of dc power. We obtained a flexible AZO film with a sheet resistance of 39 Ω/□ and an average transmittance of 84.86% in the visible range although it was sputtered at room temperature without activation of the Al dopant. Due to the effective confinement of the high-density plasma between the facing AZO targets, the AZO film was deposited on the PET substrate without plasma damage and substrate heating caused by bombardment of energy particles. Moreover, the flexible OLED fabricated on the AZO/PET substrate showed performance similar to the OLED fabricated on a ITO/PET substrate in spite of a lower work function. This indicates that LFTS is a promising plasma damage-free and low-temperature sputtering technique for deposition of flexible and indium-free AZO electrodes for use in cost-efficient flexible OLEDs.

Development and high temperature sealing performance study of double sealing flange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Qinhua; Fu Yuan; Xie Leidong; Li Zhong; Tang Zhongfeng

2013-01-01

Background: Flange is an important component used in the connection between pipes or between pipe and equipment. It is widely used in mechanical industry, petrochemical industry and nuclear industry. Ordinary flange could be oxidized oi corroded under high temperature and strong corrosion condition, which leads to flange's failure. Purpose: The aim is to design and validate the double sealing flange which could be used in high temperature and strong corrosion condition stably and supplied as a reliable detachable connection for petrochemical industry and nuclear industry under high temperature and strong corrosion environment. Methods: New flange is designed using flexible graphite spiral wound gaskets and C style metal ring double sealing structure. The unique protection gas design ensures the graphite spiral wound gasket used in high temperature reliably. Test bed is built to verify the stability of the flange. Results: Pressure reducing of graphite spiral wound gasket is only 0.01 MPa at 750℃, 0.7 MPa for 43 h, there is not obvious oxidation phenomenon at the same time. The leakage rate of metal C sealing ring is 11.51×10 -4 atm cc/s, and the metal C ring sealing's performance meets the engineering requirements. Conclusion: The leakage rate of double sealing flange is almost zero under 0.7 MPa at 750℃, which meets the engineering requirements. It avoids oxidizing at high temperature and corroding under strong corrosion condition. (authors)

Visual Basic, Excel-based fish population modeling tool - The pallid sturgeon example

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Edward H.; Wildhaber, Mark L.; Green, Nicholas S.; Albers, Janice L.

2016-02-10

The model presented in this report is a spreadsheet-based model using Visual Basic for Applications within Microsoft Excel (http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7057D0Z) prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It uses the same model structure and, initially, parameters as used by Wildhaber and others (2015) for pallid sturgeon. The difference between the model structure used for this report and that used by Wildhaber and others (2015) is that variance is not partitioned. For the model of this report, all variance is applied at the iteration and time-step levels of the model. Wildhaber and others (2015) partition variance into parameter variance (uncertainty about the value of a parameter itself) applied at the iteration level and temporal variance (uncertainty caused by random environmental fluctuations with time) applied at the time-step level. They included implicit individual variance (uncertainty caused by differences between individuals) within the time-step level.The interface developed for the model of this report is designed to allow the user the flexibility to change population model structure and parameter values and uncertainty separately for every component of the model. This flexibility makes the modeling tool potentially applicable to any fish species; however, the flexibility inherent in this modeling tool makes it possible for the user to obtain spurious outputs. The value and reliability of the model outputs are only as good as the model inputs. Using this modeling tool with improper or inaccurate parameter values, or for species for which the structure of the model is inappropriate, could lead to untenable management decisions. By facilitating fish population modeling, this modeling tool allows the user to evaluate a range of management options and implications. The goal of this modeling tool is to be a user-friendly modeling tool for developing fish population models useful to natural resource

Two methods for decreasing the flexibility gap in national energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batas Bjelić, Ilija; Rajaković, Nikola; Krajačić, Goran; Duić, Neven

2016-01-01

More variable renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures create an additional flexibility gap and require a novel energy planning method for sustainable national energy systems. The firstly presented method uses only EnergyPLAN tool in order to decrease the flexibility gap in a national energy system. Generic Optimization program (GenOpt"®) is an optimization program for the minimization of a cost function that is evaluated by an external simulation program, such as EnergyPLAN, which was used as the second method in this research. Successful strategies to decrease the flexibility gap are verified on the case of the Serbian national energy system using two methods for its structure design: (1) the iterative method, based on heuristics and manual procedure of using only EnergyPLAN, and (2) the optimization method, based on soft-linking of EnergyPLAN with GenOpt"®. The latter method, named EPOPT (EnergyPlan-genOPT), found the solution for the structure of the sustainable national energy system at the total cost of 8190 M€, while the iterative method was only able to find solutions at the cost in the range of 8251–8598 M€ by targeting only one sustainability goal. The advantages of the EPOPT method are its accuracy, user-friendliness and minimal costs, are valuable for planners. - Highlights: • Heuristic and optimization method for sustainable national energy system structure. • The same input assumptions resulting in different energy system structure. • Both methods are successful in decreasing of the flexibility gap. • The EPOPT method advantages are in the speed, accuracy and planner comfort. • Advanced method for the sustainable national energy policy planning.

Surgical treatment of double thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with a rigid proximal thoracic curve.

Science.gov (United States)

Sudo, Hideki; Abe, Yuichiro; Abumi, Kuniyoshi; Iwasaki, Norimasa; Ito, Manabu

2016-02-01

There is limited consensus on the optimal surgical strategy for double thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Recent studies have reported that pedicle screw constructs to maximize scoliosis correction cause further thoracic spine lordosis. The objective of this study was to apply a new surgical technique for double thoracic AIS with rigid proximal thoracic (PT) curves and assess its clinical outcomes. Twenty one consecutive patients with Lenke 2 AIS and a rigid PT curve (Cobb angle ≥30º on side-bending radiographs, flexibility ≤30 %) treated with the simultaneous double-rod rotation technique (SDRRT) were included. In this technique, a temporary rod is placed at the concave side of the PT curve. Then, distraction force is applied to correct the PT curve, which reforms a sigmoid double thoracic curve into an approximate single thoracic curve. As a result, the PT curve is typically converted from an apex left to an apex right curve before applying the correction rod for PT and main thoracic curve. All patients were followed for at least 2 years (average 2.7 years). The average main thoracic and PT Cobb angle correction rate at the final follow-up was 74.7 and 58.0 %, respectively. The average preoperative T5-T12 thoracic kyphosis was 9.3°, which improved significantly to 19.0° (p corrected using SDRRT for Lenke 2 AIS with a rigid PT curve.

Efficacy Management of Urolithiasis: Flexible Ureteroscopy versus Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Tauber, Volkmar; Wohlmuth, Martin; Hochmuth, Andreas; Schimetta, Wolfgang; Schimetta, Wofgang; Krause, F Steffen

2015-01-01

To evaluate the efficacy of flexible ureterscopy (fURS) and extracorporal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) in the treatment of urolithiasis, complemented by a subgroup analysis of lower pole calyx. Retrospective analysis of patients treated by fURS or SWL was performed by independent variables such as gender, age, nephrolith size, double-J stent (DJ stent) and stone localisation. Out of 326 patients, 165 were treated by SWL and 161 by fURS. Complete stone removal was achieved by fURS in 83.2% and by SWL in 43.0% (p auxillary DJ stent was performed more often preoperative before fURS. The subgroup analysis of lower pole calyx confirmed these evaluations. Complete stone-free removal was almost 8 times higher after fURS compared to SWL. The efficacy of fURS in treatment of urolithiasis is substantially higher than the efficacy of SWL. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Mechanistic modelling of weak interlayers in flexible and semi-flexible road pavements: Part 2

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Beer, Morris

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This paper (Part 2 of a two-part set of papers) discusses models and illustrates the adverse effects of weak layers, interlayers, laminations and/or weak interfaces in flexible and semi-flexible pavements, also incorporating lightly cemented layers...

Implementation of New Communication Tools to an Online Chemistry Course

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Karno

2018-01-01

Online courses provide flexibility and convenience for students and have become very popular in recent years. With the advance of technology and change of habits for the uses of traditional communication tools among students, there is a need for educators to explore effective ways to communicate with students that fit their social-media life…

Flexible magnetoimpedance sensor

KAUST Repository

Li, Bodong

2015-03-01

Flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensors fabricated using a NiFe/Cu/NiFe tri-layer on Kapton substrate have been studied. A customized flexible microstrip transmission line was employed to investigate the MI sensors\\'s magnetic field and frequency responses and their dependence on the sensors\\'s deflection. For the first time, the impedance characteristic is obtained through reflection coefficient analysis over a wide range of frequencies from 0.1 MHz to 3 GHz and for deflections ranging from zero curvature to a radius of 7.2 cm. The sensor element maintains a high MI ratio of up to 90% and magnetic sensitivity of up to 9.2%/Oe over different bending curvatures. The relationship between the curvature and material composition is discussed based on the magnetostriction effect and stress simulations. The sensor\\'s large frequency range, simple fabrication process and high sensitivity provide a great potential for flexible electronics and wireless applications.

THE FLEXIBILITY-AUTOMATION CORRESPONDENCE TO A VIRTUAL COMMERCIAL SOCIETY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liliana Doble

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Design and operation of FMS is based on system requirement can be as productive and flexible as necessary, i.e. obtaining controlled correspondence between the degree of flexibility and automation of system.The flexibility of a FMS (Flexible Manufacturing Systems is determined by two important criteria: Flexible hardware structure of the system; Flexible software structure. Flexible hardware structure of the CS system (calculation system is determined to its turn according to three components: Flexibility of technological subsystem; Flexibility subsystem of storage, transport and handling;Flexibility of informational subsystem.

Docking of flexible ligands to flexible receptors in solution by molecular dynamics simulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mangoni, R; Roccatano, D; Di Nola, A

1999-01-01

In this paper, a method of simulating the docking of small flexible ligands to flexible receptors in water is reported. The method is based on molecular dynamics simulations and is an extension of an algorithm previously reported by Di Nola et al, (Di Nola et al,, Proteins 1994;19:174-182), The

Application of Lean Manufacturing Tools in the Food and Beverage Industries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui Borges Lopes

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Recent years have shown an increasing use of lean manufacturing (LM principles and tools in several industrial sectors. Already a well-established management philosophy, it has shown numerous successful applications even outside production environments. This work presents the application of some LM tools, and the corresponding shift in philosophy, in two Portuguese companies of the food and beverage industries. Main implementation issues are presented and discussed; followed by the results obtained from the application of LM tools in the production system of these companies. Significant gains are obtained in both companies and, more importantly, it instills a continuous improvement culture and increases production flexibility while reducing lead times.

Flexible Early Warning Systems with Workflows and Decision Tables

Science.gov (United States)

Riedel, F.; Chaves, F.; Zeiner, H.

2012-04-01

are usually only suited for rigid processes. We show how improvements can be achieved by using decision tables and rule-based adaptive workflows. Decision tables have been shown to be an intuitive tool that can be used by domain experts to express rule sets that can be interpreted automatically at runtime. Adaptive workflows use a rule-based approach to increase the flexibility of workflows by providing mechanisms to adapt workflows based on context changes, human intervention and availability of services. The combination of workflows, decision tables and rule-based adaption creates a framework that opens up new possibilities for flexible and adaptable workflows, especially, for use in early warning and crisis management systems.

Aggregating and Disaggregating Flexibility Objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siksnys, Laurynas; Valsomatzis, Emmanouil; Hose, Katja

2015-01-01

In many scientific and commercial domains we encounter flexibility objects, i.e., objects with explicit flexibilities in a time and an amount dimension (e.g., energy or product amount). Applications of flexibility objects require novel and efficient techniques capable of handling large amounts...... and aiming at energy balancing during aggregation. In more detail, this paper considers the complete life cycle of flex-objects: aggregation, disaggregation, associated requirements, efficient incremental computation, and balance aggregation techniques. Extensive experiments based on real-world data from...

Distributed flexibility in inertial swimmers

Science.gov (United States)

Floryan, Daniel; Rowley, Clarence W.; Smits, Alexander J.

2017-11-01

To achieve fast and efficient swimming, the flexibility of the propulsive surfaces is an important feature. To better understand the effects of distributed flexibility (either through inhomogeneous material properties, varying geometry, or both) we consider the coupled solid and fluid mechanics of the problem. Here, we develop a simplified model of a flexible swimmer, using Euler-Bernoulli theory to describe the solid, Theodorsen's theory to describe the fluid, and a Blasius boundary layer to incorporate viscous effects. Our primary aims are to understand how distributed flexibility affects the thrust production and efficiency of a swimmer with imposed motion at its leading edge. In particular, we examine the modal shapes of the swimmer to gain physical insight into the observed trends. Supported under ONR MURI Grant N00014-14-1-0533, Program Manager Robert Brizzolara.

Flexibility of trunnion piping elbows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, G.D.; Chao, Y.J.

1987-01-01

Flexibility factors and stress indices for piping component such as straight pipe, elbows, butt-welding tees, branch connections, and butt-welding reducers are contained in the code, but many of the less common piping components, like the trunnion elbow, do not have flexibility factors or stress indices defined. The purpose of this paper is to identify the in-plane and out-of-plane flexibility factors in accordance with code procedures for welded trunnions attached to the tangent centerlines of long radius elbows. This work utilized the finite element method as applicable to plates and shells for calculating the relative rotations of the trunnion elbow-ends for in-plane and out-of-plane elbow moment loadings. These rotations are used to derive the corresponding in-plane and out-of-plane flexibility factors. (orig./GL)

Influence of Technological Assets on Organizational Performance through Absorptive Capacity, Organizational Innovation and Internal Labour Flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Encarnación García-Sánchez

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Organizational innovation is increasingly mandatory for firms to overcome their competitors. Organizational innovation is especially relevant in today’s dynamic and turbulent environments, where other internal variables—such as technological assets, employee training, coordination of new management capabilities, and new flexible human resources and more adaptable organizational designs—must be encouraged to create value and competitive advantage. The purpose of our research is to analyse whether technological assets influence absorptive capacity (potential and realized absorptive capacity and how absorptive capacity influences internal labour flexibility, organizational innovation and performance. We achieve these goals by analysing the interrelations among internal labour flexibility, organizational innovation and performance, using the theory of resources and capabilities. A quantitative study was carried out with data gathered by personal interview using a structured questionnaire. Relationships proposed in the theoretical model were estimated through a structural equation model, using a sample of 160 European technology companies. The results show that support for technology and improvement of technological skills and technological distinctive competencies promote improvement in organizational performance through their positive influence on the processes of potential and realized absorption capacity. Potential absorptive capacity influences realized absorptive capacity, which impacts not only internal labour flexibility but also organizational innovation and organizational performance. Further, internal labour flexibility influences organizational performance through organizational innovation. This issue is of particular interest when considering the dynamic nature of turbulent technological environments in which the organization operates. Technological assets thus identify new sources of flexibility and organizational innovation based

Design and fabrication of a double-sided piezoelectric transducer for harvesting vibration power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Wei-Tsai; Chen, Ying-Chung [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC (China); Kao, Kuo-Sheng [Department of Computer and Communication, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC (China); Chu, Yu-Hsien [Department of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC (China); Cheng, Chien-Chuan, E-mail: chengccc@dlit.edu.tw [Department of Electronic Engineering, De Lin Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC (China)

2013-02-01

This investigation examines a means of integrating high-performance ZnO piezoelectric thin films with a flexible stainless steel substrate (SUS304) to fabricate a double-sided piezoelectric transducer for vibration-energy harvesting applications. The double-sided piezoelectric transducer is constructed by depositing ZnO piezoelectric thin films on both the front and the back sides of the SUS304 substrate. The titanium and platinum layers were deposited using a dual-gun DC sputtering system between the ZnO piezoelectric thin film and the back side of the SUS304 substrate. The scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction of ZnO piezoelectric films reveal a rigid surface structure and a highly c-axis-preferring orientation. To fabricate a transducer with a low resonant frequency, a tip-mass of 0.5 g and a vibration-area of 1 cm{sup 2} are designed, based on the cantilever vibration theory. The maximum open circuit voltage of the power transducer is approximately 18 V. After rectification and filtering through a 33 nF capacitor, a specific power output of 1.31 μW/cm{sup 2} is obtained from the transducers with a load resistance of 6 MΩ. The variation of the power output of ± 0.001% is obtained after 24-hour continuous test. - Highlights: ► A double-sided piezoelectric transducer is fabricated with the ZnO thin films. ► Vibrated frequency of a double-sided transducer is designed and presented. ► A maximum output power of 3.23 μW/cm{sup 2} is obtained under turbulent vibration.

An Educational Tool for Interactive Parallel and Distributed Processing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pagliarini, Luigi; Lund, Henrik Hautop

2011-01-01

In this paper we try to describe how the Modular Interactive Tiles System (MITS) can be a valuable tool for introducing students to interactive parallel and distributed processing programming. This is done by providing an educational hands-on tool that allows a change of representation of the abs......In this paper we try to describe how the Modular Interactive Tiles System (MITS) can be a valuable tool for introducing students to interactive parallel and distributed processing programming. This is done by providing an educational hands-on tool that allows a change of representation...... of the abstract problems related to designing interactive parallel and distributed systems. Indeed, MITS seems to bring a series of goals into the education, such as parallel programming, distributedness, communication protocols, master dependency, software behavioral models, adaptive interactivity, feedback......, connectivity, topology, island modeling, user and multiuser interaction, which can hardly be found in other tools. Finally, we introduce the system of modular interactive tiles as a tool for easy, fast, and flexible hands-on exploration of these issues, and through examples show how to implement interactive...

Computing tools for implementing standards for single-case designs.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Li-Ting; Peng, Chao-Ying Joanne; Chen, Ming-E

2015-11-01

In the single-case design (SCD) literature, five sets of standards have been formulated and distinguished: design standards, assessment standards, analysis standards, reporting standards, and research synthesis standards. This article reviews computing tools that can assist researchers and practitioners in meeting the analysis standards recommended by the What Works Clearinghouse: Procedures and Standards Handbook-the WWC standards. These tools consist of specialized web-based calculators or downloadable software for SCD data, and algorithms or programs written in Excel, SAS procedures, SPSS commands/Macros, or the R programming language. We aligned these tools with the WWC standards and evaluated them for accuracy and treatment of missing data, using two published data sets. All tools were tested to be accurate. When missing data were present, most tools either gave an error message or conducted analysis based on the available data. Only one program used a single imputation method. This article concludes with suggestions for an inclusive computing tool or environment, additional research on the treatment of missing data, and reasonable and flexible interpretations of the WWC standards. © The Author(s) 2015.

CCTop: An Intuitive, Flexible and Reliable CRISPR/Cas9 Target Prediction Tool.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Stemmer

Full Text Available Engineering of the CRISPR/Cas9 system has opened a plethora of new opportunities for site-directed mutagenesis and targeted genome modification. Fundamental to this is a stretch of twenty nucleotides at the 5' end of a guide RNA that provides specificity to the bound Cas9 endonuclease. Since a sequence of twenty nucleotides can occur multiple times in a given genome and some mismatches seem to be accepted by the CRISPR/Cas9 complex, an efficient and reliable in silico selection and evaluation of the targeting site is key prerequisite for the experimental success. Here we present the CRISPR/Cas9 target online predictor (CCTop, http://crispr.cos.uni-heidelberg.de to overcome limitations of already available tools. CCTop provides an intuitive user interface with reasonable default parameters that can easily be tuned by the user. From a given query sequence, CCTop identifies and ranks all candidate sgRNA target sites according to their off-target quality and displays full documentation. CCTop was experimentally validated for gene inactivation, non-homologous end-joining as well as homology directed repair. Thus, CCTop provides the bench biologist with a tool for the rapid and efficient identification of high quality target sites.

Building Flexible Manufacturing Systems Based on Peer-Its

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

dos Santos Rocha M

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Peer-to-peer computing principles have started to pervade into mechanical control systems, inducing a paradigm shift from centralized to autonomic control. We have developed a self-contained, miniaturized, universal and scalable peer-to-peer based hardware-software system, the peer-it platform, to serve as a stick-on computer solution to raise real-world artefacts like, for example, machines, tools, or appliances towards technology-rich, autonomous, self-induced, and context-aware peers, operating as spontaneously interacting ensembles. The peer-it platform integrates sensor, actuator, and wireless communication facilities on the hardware level, with an object-oriented, component-based coordination framework at the software level, thus providing a generic platform for sensing, computing, controlling, and communication on a large scale. The physical appearance of a peer-it supports pinning it to real-world artefacts, while at the same time integrating those artefacts into a mobile ad hoc network of peers. Peer-it networks thus represent ensembles of coordinated artefacts, exhibiting features of autonomy like self-management at the node level and self-organization at the network level. We demonstrate how the peer-it system implements the desired flexibility in automated manufacturing systems to react in the case of changes, whether intended or unexpectedly occuring. The peer-it system enables machine flexibility in that it adapts production facilities to produce new types of products, or change the order of operation executed on parts instantaneously. Secondly, it enables routing flexibility, that is, the ability to use multiple machines to spontaneously perform the same operation on one part alternatively (to implement autonomic fault tolerance or to absorb large-scale changes in volume, capacity, or capability (to implement autonomic scalability.

Work Life Balance in the Netherlands: Flexible working hours and a flexible working place (Japanese)

OpenAIRE

KENJOH Eiko

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of Dutch approach to achieving Work Life Balance (WLB) and to draw policy implications for Japan. It is argued that flexibility of working hours and flexibility offered at one's working place are essential elements of WLB. In this respect, the Netherlands has attained relatively advanced policies and practices. For instance, workers in the Netherlands enjoy a strong degree of flexibility in terms of working hours, a system that strives to...

Correlation of Lateral Cephalogram and Flexible Laryngoscopy with Sleep Study in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anila Narayanan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. To study the correlation between lateral cephalogram, flexible laryngoscopy, and sleep study in patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA. Background. Screening tools should be devised for predicting OSA which could be performed on an outpatient basis. With this aim we studied the skeletal and soft tissue characteristics of proven OSA patients. Methods. A prospective study was performed in patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea by sleep study. They were evaluated clinically and subjected to lateral cephalometry and nasopharyngolaryngoscopy. The findings were matched to see if they corresponded to AHI of sleep study in severity. An attempt was made to see whether the data predicted the patients who would benefit from oral appliance or surgery as the definitive treatment in indicated cases. Results. A retropalatal collapse seen on endoscopy could be equated to the distance from mandibular plane to hyoid (MP-H of lateral cephalometry and both corresponded to severity of AHI. At the retroglossal region, there was a significant correlation with MP-H, length of the soft palate, and AHI. Conclusion. There is significant correlation of lateral cephalogram and awake flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy with AHI in OSA. In unison they form an excellent screening tool for snorers.

Multiple quay cranes scheduling for double cycling in container terminals.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Yanling; Zhang, Xiaoju; Yang, Zhongzhen

2017-01-01

Double cycling is an efficient tool to increase the efficiency of quay crane (QC) in container terminals. In this paper, an optimization model for double cycling is developed to optimize the operation sequence of multiple QCs. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the ship handling operation considering the ship balance constraint. To solve the model, an algorithm based on Lagrangian relaxation is designed. Finally, we compare the efficiency of the Lagrangian relaxation based heuristic with the branch-and-bound method and a genetic algorithm using instances of different sizes. The results of numerical experiments indicate that the proposed model can effectively reduce the unloading and loading times of QCs. The effects of the ship balance constraint are more notable when the number of QCs is high.

Multiple quay cranes scheduling for double cycling in container terminals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanling Chu

Full Text Available Double cycling is an efficient tool to increase the efficiency of quay crane (QC in container terminals. In this paper, an optimization model for double cycling is developed to optimize the operation sequence of multiple QCs. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the ship handling operation considering the ship balance constraint. To solve the model, an algorithm based on Lagrangian relaxation is designed. Finally, we compare the efficiency of the Lagrangian relaxation based heuristic with the branch-and-bound method and a genetic algorithm using instances of different sizes. The results of numerical experiments indicate that the proposed model can effectively reduce the unloading and loading times of QCs. The effects of the ship balance constraint are more notable when the number of QCs is high.

Business Models for Power System Flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boscan, Luis; Poudineh, Rahmatallah

2016-01-01

As intermittent, renewable resources gain more share in the generation mix, the need for power system flexibility increases more than ever. Parallel to this, technological change and the emergence of new players bringing about innovative solutions are boosting the development of flexibility...... business models will play an important role in ensuring sufficiency and efficiency of flexibility services....

Observing Double Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Genet, Russell M.; Fulton, B. J.; Bianco, Federica B.; Martinez, John; Baxter, John; Brewer, Mark; Carro, Joseph; Collins, Sarah; Estrada, Chris; Johnson, Jolyon; Salam, Akash; Wallen, Vera; Warren, Naomi; Smith, Thomas C.; Armstrong, James D.; McGaughey, Steve; Pye, John; Mohanan, Kakkala; Church, Rebecca

2012-05-01

Double stars have been systematically observed since William Herschel initiated his program in 1779. In 1803 he reported that, to his surprise, many of the systems he had been observing for a quarter century were gravitationally bound binary stars. In 1830 the first binary orbital solution was obtained, leading eventually to the determination of stellar masses. Double star observations have been a prolific field, with observations and discoveries - often made by students and amateurs - routinely published in a number of specialized journals such as the Journal of Double Star Observations. All published double star observations from Herschel's to the present have been incorporated in the Washington Double Star Catalog. In addition to reviewing the history of visual double stars, we discuss four observational technologies and illustrate these with our own observational results from both California and Hawaii on telescopes ranging from small SCTs to the 2-meter Faulkes Telescope North on Haleakala. Two of these technologies are visual observations aimed primarily at published "hands-on" student science education, and CCD observations of both bright and very faint doubles. The other two are recent technologies that have launched a double star renaissance. These are lucky imaging and speckle interferometry, both of which can use electron-multiplying CCD cameras to allow short (30 ms or less) exposures that are read out at high speed with very low noise. Analysis of thousands of high speed exposures allows normal seeing limitations to be overcome so very close doubles can be accurately measured.

Digestive Enzyme Supplementation for Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Science.gov (United States)

Munasinghe, Sujeeva A.; Oliff, Carolyn; Finn, Judith; Wray, John A.

2010-01-01

To examine the effects of a digestive enzyme supplement in improving expressive language, behaviour and other symptoms in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial using crossover design over 6 months for 43 children, aged 3-8 years. Outcome measurement tools included monthly Global Behaviour Rating…

Flexible lithium-ion planer thin-film battery

KAUST Repository

Kutbee, Arwa T.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2016-01-01

Commercialization of wearable electronics requires miniaturized, flexible power sources. Lithium ion battery is a strong candidate as the next generation high performance flexible battery. The development of flexible materials for battery electrodes

PTFE films with improved flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Muraca, R. F.; Koch, A. A.

1972-01-01

Development and application of flexible polytetrafluroethylene films for expulsion bladders in spacecraft propellant tanks are described. Flexibility of material is obtained by reducing crystallinity through annealing and quenching in water. Physical and mechanical properties of material are presented.

International double taxation

OpenAIRE

Körbl, Hugo

2012-01-01

1 Summary This thesis deals with the issue of international double taxation of income and capital and methods for its solution. International double taxation is an issue which states began to deal with in the late 19th century. This interest intensified after the First World War when also the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations) began to deal with international double taxation. Most attention the phenomenon of double taxation of income and capital with an international elemen...

SAGES: a suite of freely-available software tools for electronic disease surveillance in resource-limited settings.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheri L Lewis

Full Text Available Public health surveillance is undergoing a revolution driven by advances in the field of information technology. Many countries have experienced vast improvements in the collection, ingestion, analysis, visualization, and dissemination of public health data. Resource-limited countries have lagged behind due to challenges in information technology infrastructure, public health resources, and the costs of proprietary software. The Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance (SAGES is a collection of modular, flexible, freely-available software tools for electronic disease surveillance in resource-limited settings. One or more SAGES tools may be used in concert with existing surveillance applications or the SAGES tools may be used en masse for an end-to-end biosurveillance capability. This flexibility allows for the development of an inexpensive, customized, and sustainable disease surveillance system. The ability to rapidly assess anomalous disease activity may lead to more efficient use of limited resources and better compliance with World Health Organization International Health Regulations.

Consumer Central Energy Flexibility in Office Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Ma, Zheng; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2017-01-01

Energy flexibility in buildings will play an important role in the smart energy system. Office buildings have more potentials to provide energy flexibility to the grid compared to other types of buildings, due to the existing building management, control systems and large energy consumption....... Consumers in office buildings (building owners/managers and occupants) take a main role for adopting and engaging in building energy flexibility. In this paper provides a systematic review of consumer central energy flexibility in office buildings with the discussion of social, technical and business...... can boost energy flexibility in the office buildings....

Formation of double layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leung, P.; Wong, A.Y.; Quon, B.H.

1981-01-01

Experiments on both stationary and propagating double layers and a related analytical model are described. Stationary double layers were produced in a multiple plasma device, in which an electron drift current was present. An investigation of the plasma parameters for the stable double layer condition is described. The particle distribution in the stable double layer establishes a potential profile, which creates electron and ion beams that excite plasma instabilities. The measured characteristics of the instabilities are consistent with the existence of the double layer. Propagating double layers are formed when the initial electron drift current is large. Ths slopes of the transition region increase as they propagate. A physical model for the formation of a double layer in the experimental device is described. This model explains the formation of the low potential region on the basis of the space charge. This space charge is created by the electron drift current. The model also accounts for the role of ions in double layer formation and explains the formation of moving double layers. (Auth.)

Correlation of Lateral Cephalogram and Flexible Laryngoscopy with Sleep Study in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

OpenAIRE

Narayanan, Anila; Faizal, Bini

2015-01-01

Objective. To study the correlation between lateral cephalogram, flexible laryngoscopy, and sleep study in patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Background. Screening tools should be devised for predicting OSA which could be performed on an outpatient basis. With this aim we studied the skeletal and soft tissue characteristics of proven OSA patients. Methods. A prospective study was performed in patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea by sleep study. They were evaluat...

Spectral collocation method with a flexible angular discretization scheme for radiative transfer in multi-layer graded index medium

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Linyang; Qi, Hong; Sun, Jianping; Ren, Yatao; Ruan, Liming

2017-05-01

The spectral collocation method (SCM) is employed to solve the radiative transfer in multi-layer semitransparent medium with graded index. A new flexible angular discretization scheme is employed to discretize the solid angle domain freely to overcome the limit of the number of discrete radiative direction when adopting traditional SN discrete ordinate scheme. Three radial basis function interpolation approaches, named as multi-quadric (MQ), inverse multi-quadric (IMQ) and inverse quadratic (IQ) interpolation, are employed to couple the radiative intensity at the interface between two adjacent layers and numerical experiments show that MQ interpolation has the highest accuracy and best stability. Variable radiative transfer problems in double-layer semitransparent media with different thermophysical properties are investigated and the influence of these thermophysical properties on the radiative transfer procedure in double-layer semitransparent media is also analyzed. All the simulated results show that the present SCM with the new angular discretization scheme can predict the radiative transfer in multi-layer semitransparent medium with graded index efficiently and accurately.

Special Issue: Flexible Work Arrangements.

Science.gov (United States)

Olmstead, Barney, Ed.

1996-01-01

Section 1 contains five chapters on flexible work arrangements, self-employment, working from home, part-time professionals, job sharing, and temporary employment. Section 2 includes reviews of four books on working flexibly, concluding with a list of 23 additional readings. (SK)

Pandora - a simulation tool for safety assessments. Technical description and user's guide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ekstroem, Per-Anders (Facilia AB (Sweden))

2010-12-15

This report documents a flexible simulation tool, Pandora, used in several post closure safety assessments in both Sweden and Finland to assess the radiological dose to man due to releases from radioactive waste repositories. Pandora allows the user to build compartment models to represent the migration and fate of radionuclides in the environment. The tool simplifies the implementation and simulation of radioecological biosphere models in which there exist a large set of radionuclides and input variables. Based on the well-known technical computing software MATLAB and especially its interactive graphical environment Simulink, Pandora receives many benefits. MATLAB/Simulink is a highly flexible tool used for simulations of practically any type of dynamic system; it is widely used, continuously maintained, and often upgraded. By basing the tool on this commercial software package, we gain both the graphical interface provided by Simulink, as well as the ability to access the advanced numerical equation solving routines in MATLAB. Since these numerical methods are well established and quality assured in their MATLAB implementation, the solution methods used in Pandora can be considered to have high level of quality assurance. The structure of Pandora provides clarity in the model format, which means the model itself assists its own documentation, since the model can be understood by inspecting its structure. With the introduction of the external tool Pandas (Pandora assessment tool), version handling and an integrated way of performing the entire calculation chain has been added. Instead of being dependent on other commercial statistical software as @Risk for performing probabilistic assessments, they can now be performed within the tool

Methodology for validating technical tools to assess customer Demand Response: Application to a commercial customer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alcazar-Ortega, Manuel; Escriva-Escriva, Guillermo; Segura-Heras, Isidoro

2011-01-01

The authors present a methodology, which is demonstrated with some applications to the commercial sector, in order to validate a Demand Response (DR) evaluation method previously developed and applied to a wide range of industrial and commercial segments, whose flexibility was evaluated by modeling. DR is playing a more and more important role in the framework of electricity systems management for the effective integration of other distributed energy resources. Consequently, customers must identify what they are using the energy for in order to use their flexible loads for management purposes. Modeling tools are used to predict the impact of flexibility on the behavior of customers, but this result needs to be validated since both customers and grid operators have to be confident in these flexibility predictions. An easy-to-use two-steps method to achieve this goal is presented in this paper.

Flexible displays, rigid designs?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hornbæk, Kasper

2015-01-01

Rapid technological progress has enabled a wide range of flexible displays for computing devices, but the user experience--which we're only beginning to understand--will be the key driver for successful designs.......Rapid technological progress has enabled a wide range of flexible displays for computing devices, but the user experience--which we're only beginning to understand--will be the key driver for successful designs....

Flexible lithium-ion planer thin-film battery

KAUST Repository

Kutbee, Arwa T.

2016-02-03

Commercialization of wearable electronics requires miniaturized, flexible power sources. Lithium ion battery is a strong candidate as the next generation high performance flexible battery. The development of flexible materials for battery electrodes suffers from the limited material choices. In this work, we present a flexible inorganic lithium-ion battery with no restrictions on the materials used. The battery showed an enhanced normalized capacity of 146 ??Ah/cm2.

Fast and anisotropic flexibility-rigidity index for protein flexibility and fluctuation analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Opron, Kristopher [Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Xia, Kelin [Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Wei, Guo-Wei, E-mail: wei@math.msu.edu [Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States)

2014-06-21

Protein structural fluctuation, typically measured by Debye-Waller factors, or B-factors, is a manifestation of protein flexibility, which strongly correlates to protein function. The flexibility-rigidity index (FRI) is a newly proposed method for the construction of atomic rigidity functions required in the theory of continuum elasticity with atomic rigidity, which is a new multiscale formalism for describing excessively large biomolecular systems. The FRI method analyzes protein rigidity and flexibility and is capable of predicting protein B-factors without resorting to matrix diagonalization. A fundamental assumption used in the FRI is that protein structures are uniquely determined by various internal and external interactions, while the protein functions, such as stability and flexibility, are solely determined by the structure. As such, one can predict protein flexibility without resorting to the protein interaction Hamiltonian. Consequently, bypassing the matrix diagonalization, the original FRI has a computational complexity of O(N{sup 2}). This work introduces a fast FRI (fFRI) algorithm for the flexibility analysis of large macromolecules. The proposed fFRI further reduces the computational complexity to O(N). Additionally, we propose anisotropic FRI (aFRI) algorithms for the analysis of protein collective dynamics. The aFRI algorithms permit adaptive Hessian matrices, from a completely global 3N × 3N matrix to completely local 3 × 3 matrices. These 3 × 3 matrices, despite being calculated locally, also contain non-local correlation information. Eigenvectors obtained from the proposed aFRI algorithms are able to demonstrate collective motions. Moreover, we investigate the performance of FRI by employing four families of radial basis correlation functions. Both parameter optimized and parameter-free FRI methods are explored. Furthermore, we compare the accuracy and efficiency of FRI with some established approaches to flexibility analysis, namely

Flexibility evaluation of multiechelon supply chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, João Flávio de Freitas; Conceição, Samuel Vieira; Pinto, Luiz Ricardo; de Camargo, Ricardo Saraiva; Júnior, Gilberto de Miranda

2018-01-01

Multiechelon supply chains are complex logistics systems that require flexibility and coordination at a tactical level to cope with environmental uncertainties in an efficient and effective manner. To cope with these challenges, mathematical programming models are developed to evaluate supply chain flexibility. However, under uncertainty, supply chain models become complex and the scope of flexibility analysis is generally reduced. This paper presents a unified approach that can evaluate the flexibility of a four-echelon supply chain via a robust stochastic programming model. The model simultaneously considers the plans of multiple business divisions such as marketing, logistics, manufacturing, and procurement, whose goals are often conflicting. A numerical example with deterministic parameters is presented to introduce the analysis, and then, the model stochastic parameters are considered to evaluate flexibility. The results of the analysis on supply, manufacturing, and distribution flexibility are presented. Tradeoff analysis of demand variability and service levels is also carried out. The proposed approach facilitates the adoption of different management styles, thus improving supply chain resilience. The model can be extended to contexts pertaining to supply chain disruptions; for example, the model can be used to explore operation strategies when subtle events disrupt supply, manufacturing, or distribution.

A Flexible Label-Free Biosensor Sensitive and Selective to TNF-a: Application for Chronic Heart Failure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdoullatif BARAKET

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a is a key pro-inflammatory cytokine that is characterized by elevated circulating levels for chronic heart failure (CHF and left ventricular assisted device (LVAD implantation patients, respectively. Therefore, a rapid and ease-of-use diagnostic tool is required to monitor LVAD patients at a high risk of mortality during early expression of an inflammatory storm. In this paper, we report on the quantitative electrochemical detection of human TNF-a with its corresponding antibody (Ab immobilized onto the functionalized biosensor surface. The label-free biosensor was fabricated on a gold surface that was deposited on a flexible polyimide (PI substrate. The interfacial properties of the functionalized flexible gold electrodes were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV in the presence of Fe(CN64-/3- as the redox-active species. Afterwards, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS technique was used to determine the TNF-a concentrations. EIS results confirmed that the developed flexible biosensor can accurately detect TNF-a with a good sensitivity in the dynamic range of 0.1 pg/mL to 0.5 ng/mL. Overall, the developed flexible biosensor was easy to fabricate and the results demonstrate a good selectivity in the presence of other cytokines such as interleukin: (IL-10 and (IL-1.

Hardness, function, emotional well-being, satisfaction and the overall sexual experience in men using 100-mg fixed-dose or flexible-dose sildenafil citrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Ströberg, P; Kaminetsky, J C; Park, N C; Goldfischer, E R; Creanga, D L; Stecher, V J

2010-01-01

The prescribing information for sildenafil citrate (VIAGRA, Pfizer, New York, NY, USA) recommends flexible dosing (50 mg initially, adjusted to 100 or 25 mg based on effectiveness and tolerability) in most men with erectile dysfunction (ED). In many men, however, 100 mg may be the most appropriate initial dose because it would reduce the need for titration and could prevent discouragement and treatment abandonment should 50 mg be insufficient. Results of two previously published double-blind, placebo-controlled sildenafil trials of similar design except for a fixed-dose vs flexible-dose regimen were analyzed. Relative to the flexible-dose, approximately one-third more men were satisfied with an initial and fixed dose of 100 mg. In addition, tolerability was similar, and improvements from baseline in outcomes on validated, ED-specific, patient-reported questionnaires were either similar (erectile function and the percentage of completely hard and fully rigid erections) or greater (emotional well-being and the overall sexual experience). The similarity in outcomes is not surprising given that almost 90% of the men in the flexible-dose trial titrated to 100 mg after 2 weeks. These data suggest prescription of an initial dose of 100 mg for men with ED, except in those for whom it is inappropriate.

Cauchy problem for differential operators with double characteristics non-effectively hyperbolic characteristics

CERN Document Server

Nishitani, Tatsuo

2017-01-01

Combining geometrical and microlocal tools, this monograph gives detailed proofs of many well/ill-posed results related to the Cauchy problem for differential operators with non-effectively hyperbolic double characteristics. Previously scattered over numerous different publications, the results are presented from the viewpoint that the Hamilton map and the geometry of bicharacteristics completely characterizes the well/ill-posedness of the Cauchy problem. A doubly characteristic point of a differential operator P of order m (i.e. one where Pm = dPm = 0) is effectively hyperbolic if the Hamilton map FPm has real non-zero eigenvalues. When the characteristics are at most double and every double characteristic is effectively hyperbolic, the Cauchy problem for P can be solved for arbitrary lower order terms. If there is a non-effectively hyperbolic characteristic, solvability requires the subprincipal symbol of P to lie between − Pµj and P µj , where iµj are the positive imaginary eigenvalues of FPm ....

Flexible Airspace Management (FAM) Research 2010 Human-in-the-Loop Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Paul U.; Brasil, Connie; Homola, Jeffrey; Kessell, Angela; Prevot, Thomas; Smith, Nancy

2011-01-01

A human-in-the-Ioop (HITL) simulation was conducted to assess potential user and system benefits of Flexible Airspace Management (FAM) concept, as well as designing role definitions, procedures, and tools to support the FAM operations in the mid-term High Altitude Airspace (HAA) environment. The study evaluated the benefits and feasibility of flexible airspace reconfiguration in response to traffic overload caused by weather deviations, and compared them to those in a baseline condition without the airspace reconfiguration. The test airspace consisted of either four sectors in one Area of Specialization or seven sectors across two Areas. The test airspace was assumed to be at or above FL340 and fully equipped Vvith data communications (Data Comm). Other assumptions were consistent with those of the HAA concept. Overall, results showed that FAM operations with multiple Traffic Management Coordinators, Area Supervisors, and controllers worked remarkably well. The results showed both user and system benefits, some of which include the increased throughput, decreased flight distance, more manageable sector loads, and better utilized airspace. Also, the roles, procedures, airspace designs, and tools were all very well received. Airspace configuration options that resulted from a combination of algorithm-generated airspace configurations with manual modifications were well acceptec and posed little difficuIty and/or workload during airspace reconfiguration process. The results suggest a positive impact of FAM operations in HAA. Further investigation would be needed to evaluate if the benefits and feasibility would extend in either non-HAA or mixed equipage environment.

Functional aspects of protein flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Teilum, Kaare; Olsen, Johan G; Kragelund, Birthe B

2009-01-01

this into an intuitive perception of protein function is challenging. Flexibility is of overwhelming importance for protein function, and the changes in protein structure during interactions with binding partners can be dramatic. The present review addresses protein flexibility, focusing on protein-ligand interactions...

Leveraging Python Interoperability Tools to Improve Sapphire's Usability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gezahegne, A; Love, N S

2007-12-10

The Sapphire project at the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) develops and applies an extensive set of data mining algorithms for the analysis of large data sets. Sapphire's algorithms are currently available as a set of C++ libraries. However many users prefer higher level scripting languages such as Python for their ease of use and flexibility. In this report, we evaluate four interoperability tools for the purpose of wrapping Sapphire's core functionality with Python. Exposing Sapphire's functionality through a Python interface would increase its usability and connect its algorithms to existing Python tools.

A Polysulfide-Infiltrated Carbon Cloth Cathode for High-Performance Flexible Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji-Yoon Song

2018-02-01

Full Text Available For practical application of lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs, it is crucial to develop sulfur cathodes with high areal capacity and cycle stability in a simple and inexpensive manner. In this study, a carbon cloth infiltrated with a sulfur-containing electrolyte solution (CC-S was utilized as an additive-free, flexible, high-sulfur-loading cathode. A freestanding carbon cloth performed double duty as a current collector and a sulfur-supporting/trapping material. The active material in the form of Li2S6 dissolved in a 1 M LiTFSI-DOL/DME solution was simply infiltrated into the carbon cloth (CC during cell fabrication, and its optimal loading amount was found to be in a range between 2 and 10 mg/cm2 via electrochemical characterization. It was found that the interwoven carbon microfibers retained structural integrity against volume expansion/contraction and that the embedded uniform micropores enabled a high loading and an efficient trapping of sulfur species during cycling. The LSB coin cell employing the CC-S electrode with an areal sulfur loading of 6 mg/cm2 exhibited a high areal capacity of 4.3 and 3.2 mAh/cm2 at C/10 for 145 cycles and C/3 for 200 cycles, respectively, with minor capacity loss (<0.03%/cycle. More importantly, such high performance could also be realized in flexible pouch cells with dimensions of 2 cm × 6 cm before and after 300 bending cycles. Simple and inexpensive preparation of sulfur cathodes using CC-S electrodes, therefore, has great potential for the manufacture of high-performance flexible LSBs.

Skill Flexibility among Schoolteachers: Operationalization and Organizational Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenblatt, Zehava; Inbal, Batia

1999-01-01

Investigates effects of skill flexibility on Israeli secondary teachers' work attitudes and job performance. Both role and functional flexibility were associated with improved teachers' work performance; role flexibility is linked to high organizational commitment and low powerlessness. Principals appreciate skill flexibility, but organizational…

Flexible labour strategy in the Dutch automotive industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Riemsdijk, Maarten; de Leede, Jan

2001-01-01

Labour flexibility is a major way for companies to become more flexible. Why companies use flexible labour relations varies widely per industry. We assess the development of labour flexibility within the Dutch automotive industry. Four cases, together representing the production chain, are

Endogenous price flexibility and optimal monetary policy

OpenAIRE

Ozge Senay; Alan Sutherland

2014-01-01

Much of the literature on optimal monetary policy uses models in which the degree of nominal price flexibility is exogenous. There are, however, good reasons to suppose that the degree of price flexibility adjusts endogenously to changes in monetary conditions. This article extends the standard new Keynesian model to incorporate an endogenous degree of price flexibility. The model shows that endogenizing the degree of price flexibility tends to shift optimal monetary policy towards complete i...

A unifying computational framework for stability and flexibility of arousal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christin eKosse

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Arousal and consciousness flexibly adjust to salient cues, but remain stable despite noise and disturbance. Diverse, highly interconnected neural networks govern the underlying transitions of behavioural state; these networks are robust but very complex. Frameworks from systems engineering provide powerful tools for understanding functional logic behind component complexity. From a general systems viewpoint, a minimum of three communicating control modules may enable flexibility and stability to coexist. Comparators would subtract current arousal from desired arousal, producing an error signal. Regulators would compute control signals from this error. Generators would convert control signals into arousal, which is fed back to comparators, to make the system noise-proof through self-correction. Can specific neurons correspond to these control elements? To explore this, here we consider the brain-wide orexin/hypocretin network, which is experimentally established to be vital for flexible and stable arousal. We discuss whether orexin neurons may act as comparators, and their target neurons as regulators and generators. Experiments are proposed for testing such predictions, based on computational simulations showing that comparators, regulators, and generators have distinct temporal signatures of activity. If some regulators integrate orexin-communicated errors, robust arousal control may be achieved via integral feedback (a basic engineering strategy for tracking a set-point despite noise. An integral feedback view also suggests functional roles for specific molecular aspects, such as differing life-spans of orexin peptides. The proposed framework offers a unifying logic for molecular, cellular, and network details of arousal systems, and provides insight into behavioral state transitions, complex behaviour, and bases for disease.

The UCSC Table Browser data retrieval tool

OpenAIRE

Karolchik, Donna; Hinrichs, Angela S.; Furey, Terrence S.; Roskin, Krishna M.; Sugnet, Charles W.; Haussler, David; Kent, W. James

2004-01-01

The University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Table Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgText) provides text-based access to a large collection of genome assemblies and annotation data stored in the Genome Browser Database. A flexible alternative to the graphical-based Genome Browser, this tool offers an enhanced level of query support that includes restrictions based on field values, free-form SQL queries and combined queries on multiple tables. Output can be filtered to restrict the f...

Flexible, ionic liquid-based micro-supercapacitor produced by supersonic cluster beam deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bettini, L.G.; Piseri, P.; De Giorgio, F.; Arbizzani, C.; Milani, P.; Soavi, F.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We exploited Supersonic Cluster Beam Deposition for the fabrication of a flexible, planar micro-supercapacitor featuring nanostructured carbon electrodes deposited on a plastic Mylar substrate and N-trimethyl-N-propyl-ammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (N 1113 TFSI) ionic liquid electrolyte. • The micro-supercapacitor operates at 3 V above RT up to 80 °C with a capacitance density approaching 10 F cm −3 and delivering maximum specific energy and power densities of 10 mWh cm −3 and 8-10 W cm −3 . • The micro-supercapacitor features long cycling stability over 2x10 4 cycle on flat and bent configuration. -- Graphical abstract: Display Omitted -- Abstract: Power generation and storage in electronics require flexible, thin micro-electrochemical energy storage/conversion systems. Micro-supercapacitors (μSCs) with double-layer capacitance carbon electrodes are attracting much attention for their capability of delivering short power pulses with high stability over repeated charge/discharge cycling. Supersonic Cluster Beam Deposition (SCBD) is an effective strategy for the development of nanostructured, binder-free porous carbon electrodes on temperature sensitive substrates including polymers. We exploited SCBD for the development of a flexible, planar μSC featuring nanostructured carbon (ns-C) electrodes deposited on a plastic Mylar substrate and N-trimethyl-N-propyl-ammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (N 1113 TFSI) ionic liquid electrolyte. The electrochemical performance at different temperatures of the μSC which operates at 3 V above RT up to 80 °C with a capacitance density approaching 10 F cm −3 and delivering maximum specific energy and power densities of 10 mWh cm −3 and 8-10 W cm −3 with long cycling stability over 2 × 10 4 cycles is here reported and discussed

ESF [Exploratory Shaft Facility] flexibility analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brusenback, R.W.

1987-03-01

This report directs that uncertainty allowances be included within the ESF facilities. The recommendations herein developed are intended as input to Title II Design criteria. Flexibility is measured first by lineal ft of drift, and then by hoisting rate and capacity of supporting utilities and services. A defined probability of need shows an extra 10,000 ft of drift for the first level of flexibility responding to testing and operations, and over 60,000 ft of drift for the second level of flexibility which recognizes possible need for perimeter drifting to investigate geologic stratigraphy. Observing there will be time constraints, a single shaft muck hoisting rate up to 170 to 250 tons per hour is recommended. The potential hoisting rate recommended for flexibility should be satisfied by a hoist approximately equivalent to, or conveniently upgraded from those being considered for sinking and construction, or 1000 horsepower. The cost of flexibility is limited to engineering planning and design (mostly conceptual) which makes later expansion achievable, and to selected items for initial construction where later upgrading would be impractical, impossible, or very costly. The cost is fixed to the level of flexibility and does not vary with excavated footage. The incremental margin is only a small fraction of the additional footage made available. Flexibility presents a strategy and not a position of design or technology. Examples used in this report are intended to be illustrative only, and not to lead design or cost estimates. 7 tabs

Factors impeding flexible inpatient unit design.

Science.gov (United States)

Pati, Debajyoti; Evans, Jennie; Harvey, Thomas E; Bazuin, Doug

2012-01-01

To identify and examine factors extraneous to the design decision-making process that could impede the optimization of flexibility on inpatient units. A 2006 empirical study to identify domains of design decisions that affect flexibility on inpatient units found some indication in the context of the acuity-adaptable operational model that factors extraneous to the design process could have negatively influenced the successful implementation of the model. This raised questions regarding extraneous factors that might influence the successful optimization of flexibility. An exploratory, qualitative method was adopted to examine the question. Stakeholders from five recently built acute care inpatient units participated in the study, which involved three types of data collection: (1) verbal protocol data from a gaming session; (2) in-depth semi-structured interviews; and (3) shadowing frontline personnel. Data collection was conducted between June 2009 and November 2010. The study revealed at least nine factors extraneous to the design process that have the potential to hinder the optimization of flexibility in four domains: (1) systemic; (2) cultural; (3) human; and (4) financial. Flexibility is critical to hospital operations in the new healthcare climate, where cost reduction constitutes a vital target. From this perspective, flexibility and efficiency strategies can be influenced by (1) return on investment, (2) communication, (3) culture change, and (4) problem definition. Extraneous factors identified in this study could also affect flexibility in other care settings; therefore, these findings may be viewed from the overall context of hospital design.

OCCAM: a flexible, multi-purpose and extendable HPC cluster

Science.gov (United States)

Aldinucci, M.; Bagnasco, S.; Lusso, S.; Pasteris, P.; Rabellino, S.; Vallero, S.

2017-10-01

The Open Computing Cluster for Advanced data Manipulation (OCCAM) is a multipurpose flexible HPC cluster designed and operated by a collaboration between the University of Torino and the Sezione di Torino of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. It is aimed at providing a flexible, reconfigurable and extendable infrastructure to cater to a wide range of different scientific computing use cases, including ones from solid-state chemistry, high-energy physics, computer science, big data analytics, computational biology, genomics and many others. Furthermore, it will serve as a platform for R&D activities on computational technologies themselves, with topics ranging from GPU acceleration to Cloud Computing technologies. A heterogeneous and reconfigurable system like this poses a number of challenges related to the frequency at which heterogeneous hardware resources might change their availability and shareability status, which in turn affect methods and means to allocate, manage, optimize, bill, monitor VMs, containers, virtual farms, jobs, interactive bare-metal sessions, etc. This work describes some of the use cases that prompted the design and construction of the HPC cluster, its architecture and resource provisioning model, along with a first characterization of its performance by some synthetic benchmark tools and a few realistic use-case tests.

Highly Stretchable and Conductive Superhydrophobic Coating for Flexible Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Xiaojing; Li, Hongqiang; Lai, Xuejun; Chen, Zhonghua; Zeng, Xingrong

2018-03-28

Superhydrophobic materials integrating stretchability with conductivity have huge potential in the emerging application horizons such as wearable electronic sensors, flexible power storage apparatus, and corrosion-resistant circuits. Herein, a facile spraying method is reported to fabricate a durable superhydrophobic coating with excellent stretchable and electrical performance by combing 1-octadecanethiol-modified silver nanoparticles (M-AgNPs) with polystyrene- b-poly(ethylene- co-butylene)- b-polystyrene (SEBS) on a prestretched natural rubber (NR) substrate. The embedding of M-AgNPs in elastic SEBS matrix and relaxation of prestretched NR substrate construct hierarchical rough architecture and endow the coating with dense charge-transport pathways. The fabricated coating exhibits superhydrophobicity with water contact angle larger than 160° and a high conductivity with resistance of about 10 Ω. The coating not only maintains superhydrophobicity at low/high stretch ratio for the newly generated small/large protuberances but also responds to stretching and bending with good sensitivity, broad sensing range, and stable response cycles. Moreover, the coating exhibits excellent durability to heat and strong acid/alkali and mechanical forces including droplet impact, kneading, torsion, and repetitive stretching-relaxation. The findings conceivably stand out as a new tool to fabricate multifunctional superhydrophobic materials with excellent stretchability and conductivity for flexible electronics under wet or corrosive environments.

Academic perceptions amongst educators towards eLearning tools in dental education.

Science.gov (United States)

Handal, Boris; Groenlund, Catherine; Gerzina, Tania

2011-04-01

This paper reports an explorative study about academic educators' perceptions towards learning management systems (LMS) and eLearning tools as used in dental education. Fifty-five educators participated in an online survey which explored their views on eLearning tools within the context of their own professional training background and teaching needs. In general, educators felt that the eLearning LMS (also known as WebCT/Blackboard) was a tool that suited their teaching and learning needs in terms of flexibility, interactivity and accessibility despite a significant level of self-reported lack of competence in the technology. The paper describes current eLearning professional development initiatives in light of these findings. © 2011 FDI World Dental Federation.

Financial Flexibility as a Phenomenon of Manifestation of Flexibility of the Financial System at the Micro-level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laktionova Oleksandra A.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The article considers financial flexibility of economic subjects in the context of specific features of manifestation of this property at the micro-level of the financial system. It generalises various theoretical approaches to understanding the essence of the financial flexibility in the context of motives of its formation, sources and instruments of realisation. It specifies criteria of financial flexibility: manoeuvrability, efficiency and economy. It studies interrelation between the financial flexibility and financial restrictions at the micro-level and, consequently, factors that determine them: capital market imperfection, development level and structure of the financial system, cyclicity of economy, and company characteristics (including financial architecture. The article describes their distinguishing features. It states that apart from maintaining the financial flexibility during formation of money reserves and debt load resource the companies can be guided by other motives. It offers classification of types of financial flexibility based on the sources and goals of formation, influence upon the financial potential, stages of reproduction of financial resources, the instruments used, engaged elements of the financial mechanism, stages of the business cycle and types of the used financial resources.