Virtual Ribosome - a comprehensive DNA translation tool with support for integration of sequence feature annotation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wernersson, Rasmus

2006-01-01

of alternative start codons. ( ii) Integration of sequences feature annotation - in particular, native support for working with files containing intron/ exon structure annotation. The software is available for both download and online use at http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/VirtualRibosome/....

Aging, selective attention, and feature integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Plude, D J; Doussard-Roosevelt, J A

1989-03-01

This study used feature-integration theory as a means of determining the point in processing at which selective attention deficits originate. The theory posits an initial stage of processing in which features are registered in parallel and then a serial process in which features are conjoined to form complex stimuli. Performance of young and older adults on feature versus conjunction search is compared. Analyses of reaction times and error rates suggest that elderly adults in addition to young adults, can capitalize on the early parallel processing stage of visual information processing, and that age decrements in visual search arise as a result of the later, serial stage of processing. Analyses of a third, unconfounded, conjunction search condition reveal qualitatively similar modes of conjunction search in young and older adults. The contribution of age-related data limitations is found to be secondary to the contribution of age decrements in selective attention.

NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine impairs feature integration in visual perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Meuwese, Julia D I; van Loon, Anouk M; Scholte, H Steven; Lirk, Philipp B; Vulink, Nienke C C; Hollmann, Markus W; Lamme, Victor A F

2013-01-01

Recurrent interactions between neurons in the visual cortex are crucial for the integration of image elements into coherent objects, such as in figure-ground segregation of textured images. Blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in monkeys can abolish neural signals related to figure-ground segregation and feature integration. However, it is unknown whether this also affects perceptual integration itself. Therefore, we tested whether ketamine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, reduces feature integration in humans. We administered a subanesthetic dose of ketamine to healthy subjects who performed a texture discrimination task in a placebo-controlled double blind within-subject design. We found that ketamine significantly impaired performance on the texture discrimination task compared to the placebo condition, while performance on a control fixation task was much less impaired. This effect is not merely due to task difficulty or a difference in sedation levels. We are the first to show a behavioral effect on feature integration by manipulating the NMDA receptor in humans.

NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine impairs feature integration in visual perception.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia D I Meuwese

Full Text Available Recurrent interactions between neurons in the visual cortex are crucial for the integration of image elements into coherent objects, such as in figure-ground segregation of textured images. Blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA receptors in monkeys can abolish neural signals related to figure-ground segregation and feature integration. However, it is unknown whether this also affects perceptual integration itself. Therefore, we tested whether ketamine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, reduces feature integration in humans. We administered a subanesthetic dose of ketamine to healthy subjects who performed a texture discrimination task in a placebo-controlled double blind within-subject design. We found that ketamine significantly impaired performance on the texture discrimination task compared to the placebo condition, while performance on a control fixation task was much less impaired. This effect is not merely due to task difficulty or a difference in sedation levels. We are the first to show a behavioral effect on feature integration by manipulating the NMDA receptor in humans.

The neurocognitive basis of feature integration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keizer, André Willem

2010-01-01

One of the most striking features of the brain is that it is modular; it consists of often highly specialized areas. This modular organization requires efficient communication in order to integrate the information that is represented in distinct brain areas. In my thesis, I studied the neural basis

Brain activity patterns uniquely supporting visual feature integration after traumatic brain injury

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Anjali eRaja Beharelle

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Traumatic brain injury (TBI patients typically respond more slowly and with more variability than controls during tasks of attention requiring speeded reaction time. These behavioral changes are attributable, at least in part, to diffuse axonal injury (DAI, which affects integrated processing in distributed systems. Here we use a multivariate method sensitive to distributed neural activity to compare brain activity patterns of patients with chronic phase moderate-to-severe TBI to those of controls during performance on a visual feature-integration task assessing complex attentional processes that has previously shown sensitivity to TBI. The TBI patients were carefully screened to be free of large focal lesions that can affect performance and brain activation independently of DAI. The task required subjects to hold either one or three features of a target in mind while suppressing responses to distracting information. In controls, the multi-feature condition activated a distributed network including limbic, prefrontal, and medial temporal structures. TBI patients engaged this same network in the single-feature and baseline conditions. In multi-feature presentations, TBI patients alone activated additional frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. These results are consistent with neuroimaging studies using tasks assessing different cognitive domains, where increased spread of brain activity changes was associated with TBI. Our results also extend previous findings that brain activity for relatively moderate task demands in TBI patients is similar to that associated with of high task demands in controls.

An Accurate Integral Method for Vibration Signal Based on Feature Information Extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Zhu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available After summarizing the advantages and disadvantages of current integral methods, a novel vibration signal integral method based on feature information extraction was proposed. This method took full advantage of the self-adaptive filter characteristic and waveform correction feature of ensemble empirical mode decomposition in dealing with nonlinear and nonstationary signals. This research merged the superiorities of kurtosis, mean square error, energy, and singular value decomposition on signal feature extraction. The values of the four indexes aforementioned were combined into a feature vector. Then, the connotative characteristic components in vibration signal were accurately extracted by Euclidean distance search, and the desired integral signals were precisely reconstructed. With this method, the interference problem of invalid signal such as trend item and noise which plague traditional methods is commendably solved. The great cumulative error from the traditional time-domain integral is effectively overcome. Moreover, the large low-frequency error from the traditional frequency-domain integral is successfully avoided. Comparing with the traditional integral methods, this method is outstanding at removing noise and retaining useful feature information and shows higher accuracy and superiority.

Integrity of Safety-Related Fast Reactor Structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rose, R.T.; Tomkins, B.

1981-01-01

The LMFBR contains several structural items whose integrity must be safeguarded during the life of the plant. These items include the main core support structures (strongback, diagrid) and the primary tank to which these structures are attached. In order to demonstrate an acceptable level of structural integrity, the chosen design philosophy must be supported by both analytical and experimental evidence. This paper describes the current approaches in the UK to these requirements. Section 2 describes the materials mechanical properties tests performed to date on both fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth in Type 316 austenitic stainless steel plate and weldments. This data illustrates the problems in identifying the relevant materials fracture parameters for use in assessments. Section 3 shows the test programmes in hand to extend the materials programmes to tests on structural features (mainly welded wide plate tests) which incorporate the complexity of weldments in a structural context. This includes experimental evidence on the effects of local weld residual stresses on structural failure. Various routes are open for the integrity assessment of FR structures. These are discussed in Section 4 but in effect they reduce to a fracture mechanics approach using some technique to cope with elastic-plastic fracture. The main problems at present relate to our ability in analysis to cope with residual stresses and the post-initiation region of the fracture resistance curve. Also, there is the problem of initial defect sizing by current NDE techniques. Current conservative analytical assessments give acceptable defect sizes of order a few millimetres in irradiated weldments. Finally, Section 5 discusses the options open in design to cope with safety related structures under normal and abnormal loading conditions. It is clear that several options exist in design to satisfy the demand for high integrity

Integrated Phoneme Subspace Method for Speech Feature Extraction

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Park Hyunsin

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Speech feature extraction has been a key focus in robust speech recognition research. In this work, we discuss data-driven linear feature transformations applied to feature vectors in the logarithmic mel-frequency filter bank domain. Transformations are based on principal component analysis (PCA, independent component analysis (ICA, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA. Furthermore, this paper introduces a new feature extraction technique that collects the correlation information among phoneme subspaces and reconstructs feature space for representing phonemic information efficiently. The proposed speech feature vector is generated by projecting an observed vector onto an integrated phoneme subspace (IPS based on PCA or ICA. The performance of the new feature was evaluated for isolated word speech recognition. The proposed method provided higher recognition accuracy than conventional methods in clean and reverberant environments.

Structural hierarchy of autism spectrum disorder symptoms: an integrative framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyunsik; Keifer, Cara M; Rodriguez-Seijas, Craig; Eaton, Nicholas R; Lerner, Matthew D; Gadow, Kenneth D

2018-01-01

In an attempt to resolve questions regarding the symptom classification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), previous research generally aimed to demonstrate superiority of one model over another. Rather than adjudicating which model may be optimal, we propose an alternative approach that integrates competing models using Goldberg's bass-ackwards method, providing a comprehensive understanding of the underlying symptom structure of ASD. The study sample comprised 3,825 individuals, consecutive referrals to a university hospital developmental disabilities specialty clinic or a child psychiatry outpatient clinic. This study analyzed DSM-IV-referenced ASD symptom statements from parent and teacher versions of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-4R. A series of exploratory structural equation models was conducted in order to produce interpretable latent factors that account for multivariate covariance. Results indicated that ASD symptoms were structured into an interpretable hierarchy across multiple informants. This hierarchy includes five levels; key features of ASD bifurcate into different constructs with increasing specificity. This is the first study to examine an underlying structural hierarchy of ASD symptomatology using the bass-ackwards method. This hierarchy demonstrates how core features of ASD relate at differing levels of resolution, providing a model for conceptualizing ASD heterogeneity and a structure for integrating divergent theories of cognitive processes and behavioral features that define the disorder. These findings suggest that a more coherent and complete understanding of the structure of ASD symptoms may be reflected in a metastructure rather than at one level of resolution. © 2017 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Multilayered photonic integration on SOI platform using waveguide-based bridge structure

Science.gov (United States)

Majumder, Saikat; Chakraborty, Rajib

2018-06-01

A waveguide based structure on silicon on insulator platform is proposed for vertical integration in photonic integrated circuits. The structure consists of two multimode interference couplers connected by a single mode (SM) section which can act as a bridge over any other underlying device. Two more SM sections acts as input and output of the first and second multimode couplers respectively. Potential application of this structure is in multilayered photonic links. It is shown that the efficiency of the structure can be improved by making some design modifications. The entire simulation is done using effective-index based matrix method. The feature size chosen are comparable to waveguides fabricated previously so as to fabricate the proposed structure easily.

When do letter features migrate? A boundary condition for feature-integration theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Butler, B E; Mewhort, D J; Browse, R A

1991-01-01

Feature-integration theory postulates that a lapse of attention will allow letter features to change position and to recombine as illusory conjunctions (Treisman & Paterson, 1984). To study such errors, we used a set of uppercase letters known to yield illusory conjunctions in each of three tasks. The first, a bar-probe task, showed whole-character mislocations but not errors based on feature migration and recombination. The second, a two-alternative forced-choice detection task, allowed subjects to focus on the presence or absence of subletter features and showed illusory conjunctions based on feature migration and recombination. The third was also a two-alternative forced-choice detection task, but we manipulated the subjects' knowledge of the shape of the stimuli: In the case-certain condition, the stimuli were always in uppercase, but in the case-uncertain condition, the stimuli could appear in either upper- or lowercase. Subjects in the case-certain condition produced illusory conjunctions based on feature recombination, whereas subjects in the case-uncertain condition did not. The results suggest that when subjects can view the stimuli as feature groups, letter features regroup as illusory conjunctions; when subjects encode the stimuli as letters, whole items may be mislocated, but subletter features are not. Thus, illusory conjunctions reflect the subject's processing strategy, rather than the architecture of the visual system.

Rigorous assessment and integration of the sequence and structure based features to predict hot spots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Yong

2011-07-01

classifiers are quite effective in predicting hot spots based on sequence features. Hot spots cannot be fully predicted through simple analysis based on physicochemical characteristics, but there is reason to believe that integration of features and machine learning methods can remarkably improve the predictive performance for hot spots.

Rigorous assessment and integration of the sequence and structure based features to predict hot spots

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

effective in predicting hot spots based on sequence features. Hot spots cannot be fully predicted through simple analysis based on physicochemical characteristics, but there is reason to believe that integration of features and machine learning methods can remarkably improve the predictive performance for hot spots. PMID:21798070

Integrated Active and Passive Polymer Optical Components with nm to mm Features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Mads Brøkner; Schøler, Mikkel; Kristensen, Anders

2007-01-01

We present wafer-scale fabrication of integrated active and passive polymer optics with nm to mm features. First order DFB lasers, defined in dye doped SU-8 resist are integrated with SU-8 waveguides.......We present wafer-scale fabrication of integrated active and passive polymer optics with nm to mm features. First order DFB lasers, defined in dye doped SU-8 resist are integrated with SU-8 waveguides....

Substantiating the Conceptual Model of Branding of the Integrated Business Structures

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Nifatova Olena M.

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at researching the theoretical foundations of the concept of branding and forming a conceptual model of branding of the integrated business structures. The concept of branding of IBS is systematized and synthesized by three directions: overview of theories of management of integrated business structures, based on the principle of economic integration; overview of the brand management models based on the principle of brand-oriented management; overview of management approaches, the essence of which is synthesized in the aspect of application to the management of brands of the integrated business structures. Special attention is paid to the factors influencing the efficiency of the process of integration of business structures. Further development of modelling the process of integration branding in the IBS system is of great importance, as the brands of two unifying companies usually have their own identities, unique features within the terms of formation of the brand’s style and philosophy. In such a fundamental issue it is necessary to define the strategy of brand integration, i.e. whether it will be a single brand, a joint brand, a flexible brand or a completely new one.

Integral fast reactor safety features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cahalan, J.E.; Kramer, J.M.; Marchaterre, J.F.; Mueller, C.J.; Pedersen, D.R.; Sevy, R.H.; Wade, D.C.; Wei, T.Y.C.

1988-01-01

The integral fast reactor (IFR) is an advanced liquid-metal-cooled reactor concept being developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The two major goals of the IFR development effort are improved economics and enhanced safety. In addition to liquid metal cooling, the principal design features that distinguish the IFR are: a pool-type primary system, and advanced ternary alloy metallic fuel, and an integral fuel cycle with on-site fuel reprocessing and fabrication. This paper focuses on the technical aspects of the improved safety margins available in the IFR concept. This increased level of safety is made possible by the liquid metal (sodium) coolant and pool-type primary system layout, which together facilitate passive decay heat removal, and a sodium-bonded metallic fuel pin design with thermal and neutronic properties that provide passive core responses which control and mitigate the consequences of reactor accidents

SoftSearch: integration of multiple sequence features to identify breakpoints of structural variations.

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Steven N Hart

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Structural variation (SV represents a significant, yet poorly understood contribution to an individual's genetic makeup. Advanced next-generation sequencing technologies are widely used to discover such variations, but there is no single detection tool that is considered a community standard. In an attempt to fulfil this need, we developed an algorithm, SoftSearch, for discovering structural variant breakpoints in Illumina paired-end next-generation sequencing data. SoftSearch combines multiple strategies for detecting SV including split-read, discordant read-pair, and unmated pairs. Co-localized split-reads and discordant read pairs are used to refine the breakpoints. RESULTS: We developed and validated SoftSearch using real and synthetic datasets. SoftSearch's key features are 1 not requiring secondary (or exhaustive primary alignment, 2 portability into established sequencing workflows, and 3 is applicable to any DNA-sequencing experiment (e.g. whole genome, exome, custom capture, etc.. SoftSearch identifies breakpoints from a small number of soft-clipped bases from split reads and a few discordant read-pairs which on their own would not be sufficient to make an SV call. CONCLUSIONS: We show that SoftSearch can identify more true SVs by combining multiple sequence features. SoftSearch was able to call clinically relevant SVs in the BRCA2 gene not reported by other tools while offering significantly improved overall performance.

Integral fast reactor safety features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cahalan, J.E.; Kramer, J.M.; Marchaterre, J.F.; Mueller, C.J.; Pedersen, D.R.; Sevy, R.H.; Wade, D.C.; Wei, T.Y.C.

1988-01-01

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) is an advanced liquid-metal-cooled reactor concept being developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The two major goals of the IFR development effort are improved economics and enhanced safety. In addition to liquid metal cooling, the principal design features that distinguish the IFR are: (1) a pool-type primary system, (2) an advanced ternary alloy metallic fuel, and (3) an integral fuel cycle with on-site fuel reprocessing and fabrication. This paper focuses on the technical aspects of the improved safety margins available in the IFR concept. This increased level of safety is made possible by (1) the liquid metal (sodium) coolant and pool-type primary system layout, which together facilitate passive decay heat removal, and (2) a sodium-bonded metallic fuel pin design with thermal and neutronic properties that provide passive core responses which control and mitigate the consequences of reactor accidents

The Structural Integrity Centre

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomkins, B.

1987-01-01

The paper concerns the development and work of the Structural Integrity Centre (SIC) at Risley Nuclear Laboratories, United Kingdom. The centre was set up to provide authoritative advice to plant designers and operators on the integrity and life assessment of structures and components across the reactor projects in the United Kingdom. A description is given of the structure and role of the SIC, as well as the Structural Integrity Assessment work. The assessment methods are described for thermally loaded structures and welded structures. Finally, defect significance assessment and environmental effects are outlined. (U.K.)

The Impact of Organizational Structure on Internal and External Integration: An empirical, cross-regional assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xenophon Koufteros

2014-06-01

Full Text Available We examine the effects of organizational structure on cross-functional integration, supplier integration, and customer integration and assess whether such effects vary by geographical region. Specifically, we investigate the impact of centralization, formalization, and complexity on both internal (cross-functional and external (supplier, customer integration. Relationships are examined across Western and East Asian environments using data collected from 238 manufacturing plants in eight countries. We find that structural features have differing impacts on cross-functional, supplier, and customer integration, and these effects vary across geographical regions.

Demonstration of IGCC features - plant integration and syngas combustion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hannemann, F.; Huth, M.; Karg, J.; Schiffers, U. [Siemens AG Power Generation (KWU), Erlanger/Muelheim (Germany)

2000-07-01

Siemens is involved in three IGCC plants in Europe that are currently in operation. Against the background of the Puertollano and Buggenum plants, some of the specific new features of fully integrated IGCC power plants are discussed, including: requirements and design features of the gas turbine syngas supply system; gas turbine operating experience with air extraction for the air separation unit from the gas turbine air compressor; and design requirements and operational features of the combustion system. 7 refs., 17 figs., 1 tab.

Featureous: an Integrated Approach to Location, Analysis and Modularization of Features in Java Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olszak, Andrzej

, it is essential that features are properly modularized within the structural organization of software systems. Nevertheless, in many object-oriented applications, features are not represented explicitly. Consequently, features typically end up scattered and tangled over multiple source code units......, such as architectural layers, packages and classes. This lack of modularization is known to make application features difficult to locate, to comprehend and to modify in isolation from one another. To overcome these problems, this thesis proposes Featureous, a novel approach to location, analysis and modularization...... quantitative and qualitative results suggest that Featureous succeeds at efficiently locating features in unfamiliar codebases, at aiding feature-oriented comprehension and modification, and at improving modularization of features using Java packages....

Structural-phenomenological features of the internal picture of doctors’ illnesses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lazarenko, Victor A.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The vocational activities of doctors and their social status do not ensure their health. And, falling ill, doctors don’t identify themselves with ordinary patients as they have a deep knowledge of medicine. Thus, the internal picture of a doctor’s illness is both a research and a practical problem: the problem of the psychoprevention of doctors’ illnesses at all stages of their professionalization. The purpose of the research was to study the phenomenological features of the internal picture of doctors’ illnesses using the structural approach. The total number of participants was 132. The experimental group consisted of 66 sick doctors, differentiated according to their stage of professionalization: vocational training (students, professional adaptation (interns, full professionalization (doctors. The control group consisted of 66 people who did not have any medical education. All the control subjects were hospitalized with chronic diseases during the study period. The organization of the research was carried out with the use of clinical-psychological and diagnostic methods, the methods of descriptive statistics, and comparative, multidimensional, and structural analysis. The research revealed the following phenomenological features of the internal picture of doctors’ illnesses: the prevalence of some anxiety in the doctors and high awareness of their health; the doctors’ altruistic orientation; their willingness to work despite difficulties; and their ability to achieve high results in different activities. The structural features of the doctors’ image of their own diseases on the cognitive level were the following: qualitative heterogeneity during in-service activities; a high degree of image integration during in-service activities; and stereotyped perceptions of the disease. The emotional level revealed the emotional distance between doctors and their patients, and the behavioral level revealed doctors’ disregard for the

Study on structural integrity in box structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asano, Masayuki; Ueta, Masahiro; Kanaoka, Tadashi; Ikeuchi, Toshiaki; Kodama, Tetsuhiro.

1991-01-01

This study was carried out to give an experimental foundation to the structural integrity of a box structure. Crack growth tests were performed on the reduced scale models, simulating typical portions of the box structure, in air at room temperature. The results show that the amount of crack growth is too small to injure the structural integrity of the models for the postulated loading cycle, and make clear the effective structure against crack growth. (author)

SITE-94. Discrete-feature modelling of the Aespoe site: 2. Development of the integrated site-scale model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geier, J.E.

1996-12-01

A 3-dimensional, discrete-feature hydrological model is developed. The model integrates structural and hydrologic data for the Aespoe site, on scales ranging from semi regional fracture zones to individual fractures in the vicinity of the nuclear waste canisters. Hydrologic properties of the large-scale structures are initially estimated from cross-hole hydrologic test data, and automatically calibrated by numerical simulation of network flow, and comparison with undisturbed heads and observed drawdown in selected cross-hole tests. The calibrated model is combined with a separately derived fracture network model, to yield the integrated model. This model is partly validated by simulation of transient responses to a long-term pumping test and a convergent tracer test, based on the LPT2 experiment at Aespoe. The integrated model predicts that discharge from the SITE-94 repository is predominantly via fracture zones along the eastern shore of Aespoe. Similar discharge loci are produced by numerous model variants that explore uncertainty with regard to effective semi regional boundary conditions, hydrologic properties of the site-scale structures, and alternative structural/hydrological interpretations. 32 refs

SITE-94. Discrete-feature modelling of the Aespoe site: 2. Development of the integrated site-scale model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geier, J.E. [Golder Associates AB, Uppsala (Sweden)

1996-12-01

A 3-dimensional, discrete-feature hydrological model is developed. The model integrates structural and hydrologic data for the Aespoe site, on scales ranging from semi regional fracture zones to individual fractures in the vicinity of the nuclear waste canisters. Hydrologic properties of the large-scale structures are initially estimated from cross-hole hydrologic test data, and automatically calibrated by numerical simulation of network flow, and comparison with undisturbed heads and observed drawdown in selected cross-hole tests. The calibrated model is combined with a separately derived fracture network model, to yield the integrated model. This model is partly validated by simulation of transient responses to a long-term pumping test and a convergent tracer test, based on the LPT2 experiment at Aespoe. The integrated model predicts that discharge from the SITE-94 repository is predominantly via fracture zones along the eastern shore of Aespoe. Similar discharge loci are produced by numerous model variants that explore uncertainty with regard to effective semi regional boundary conditions, hydrologic properties of the site-scale structures, and alternative structural/hydrological interpretations. 32 refs.

Structural integrity analyses: can we manage the advances?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sauve, R.

2006-01-01

Engineering has been one of a number of disciplines in which significant advances in analysis procedures has taken place in the last two decades. In particular, advances in computer technology and engineering software have revolutionized the assessment of component structural integrity for a wide range of applications. A significant development in computational mechanics directly related to computer technology that has had a profound impact on the field of structural integrity is the finite element method. The finite element method has re-defined and expanded the role of structural integrity assessments by providing comprehensive modelling capabilities to engineers involved in design and failure analyses. As computer processing speeds and capacity have increased, so has the role of computer modelling in assessments of component structural integrity. With new product development cycles shrinking, the role of initial testing is being reduced in favour of computer modelling and simulation to assess component life and durability. For ageing structures, the evaluation of remaining life and the impact of degraded structural integrity becomes tractable with the modern advances in computational methods. The areas of structural integrity that have derived great benefit from the advances in numerical techniques include stress analysis, fracture mechanics, dynamics, heat transfer, structural reliability, probabilistic methods and continuum mechanics in general. One of the salient features of the current methods is the ability to handle large complex steady state or transient dynamic problems that exhibit highly non-linear behaviour. With the ever-increasing usage of these advanced methods, the question is posed: Can we manage the advances? Better still are we managing the advances? As with all technological advances that enter mainstream use, comes the need for education, training and certification in the application of these methods, improved quality assurance procedures and

Reduced multimodal integration of memory features following continuous theta burst stimulation of angular gyrus.

Science.gov (United States)

Yazar, Yasemin; Bergström, Zara M; Simons, Jon S

Lesions of the angular gyrus (AnG) region of human parietal cortex do not cause amnesia, but appear to be associated with reduction in the ability to consciously experience the reliving of previous events. We used continuous theta burst stimulation to test the hypothesis that the cognitive mechanism implicated in this memory deficit might be the integration of retrieved sensory event features into a coherent multimodal memory representation. Healthy volunteers received stimulation to AnG or a vertex control site after studying stimuli that each comprised a visual object embedded in a scene, with the name of the object presented auditorily. Participants were then asked to make memory judgments about the studied stimuli that involved recollection of single event features (visual or auditory), or required integration of event features within the same modality, or across modalities. Participants' ability to retrieve context features from across multiple modalities was significantly reduced after AnG stimulation compared to stimulation of the vertex. This effect was observed only for the integration of cross-modal context features but not for integration of features within the same modality, and could not be accounted for by task difficulty as performance was matched across integration conditions following vertex stimulation. These results support the hypothesis that AnG is necessary for the multimodal integration of distributed cortical episodic features into a unified conscious representation that enables the experience of remembering. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Feature-based motion control for near-repetitive structures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Best, de J.J.T.H.

2011-01-01

In many manufacturing processes, production steps are carried out on repetitive structures which consist of identical features placed in a repetitive pattern. In the production of these repetitive structures one or more consecutive steps are carried out on the features to create the final product.

Design, construction and operation features of high-rise structures

Science.gov (United States)

Mylnik, Alexey; Mylnik, Vladimir; Zubeeva, Elena; Mukhamedzhanova, Olga

2018-03-01

The article considers design, construction and operation features of high-rise facilities. The analysis of various situations, that come from improper designing, construction and operation of unique facilities, is carried out. The integrated approach is suggested, when the problems of choosing acceptable constructional solutions related to the functional purpose, architectural solutions, methods of manufacturing and installation, operating conditions for unique buildings and structures are being tackled. A number of main causes for the emergency destruction of objects under construction and operation is considered. A number of measures are proposed on the basis of factor classification in order to efficiently prevent the situations, when various negative options of design loads and emergency impacts occur.

The safety features of an integrated maritime reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyakoshi, Junichi; Yamada, Nobuyuki; Kuwahara, Shin-ichi

1975-01-01

The EFDR-80, a typical integrated maritime reactor, which is being developed in West Germany is outlined. The safety features of the integrated maritime reactor are presented with the analysis of reactor accidents and hazards, and are compared with those of the separated maritime reactor. Furthermore, the safety criteria of maritime reactors in Japan and West Germany are compared, and some of the differences are presented from the viewpoint of reactor design and safety analysis. In this report the authors express an earnest desire that the definite and reasonable safety criteria of the integrated maritime reactor should be established and that the safety criteria of the nuclear ship should be standardized internationally. (auth.)

Organisational Semiosis: integration and serparation between system features and workpractices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodney Clarke

2001-05-01

Full Text Available Traditional information systems theory and practice assumes a tight coupling or integration between workpractices in organisations and the information systems which are notionally built to support them. The relationship between the integration and the separation of workpractices and system features has been theorised as dialectical. It has also been argued that the goal of system design would be to achieve a dynamic equilibrium within this dialectic. However, this paper argues that the above mentioned dialectic forged between integrationist and separations! views can be usefully critiqued by applying systemic semiotics. Systemic semiotics refers to a combination of systemic functional linguistics (a semiotic model of language and its extensions into a general semiotic framework called social semiotics. The latter draws heavily on the notion of dialogism which this paper proposes is useful in rethinking the relationship between workpractices and information systems. In addition, concepts of text and context are drawn from systemic functional linguistics in analysing the workpractices associated with the use of actual information systems features. Two examples are used to explicate this dialogic relationship, including: (i the dynamic renegotiation of a workpractice which is assumed to be closely integrated to a system feature (negotiated separation, and (ii the extension of the system into other locations by means of communicatively organising materials and users in the workplace (indirect integration.

Integrative structure modeling with the Integrative Modeling Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Benjamin; Viswanath, Shruthi; Bonomi, Massimiliano; Pellarin, Riccardo; Greenberg, Charles H; Saltzberg, Daniel; Sali, Andrej

2018-01-01

Building models of a biological system that are consistent with the myriad data available is one of the key challenges in biology. Modeling the structure and dynamics of macromolecular assemblies, for example, can give insights into how biological systems work, evolved, might be controlled, and even designed. Integrative structure modeling casts the building of structural models as a computational optimization problem, for which information about the assembly is encoded into a scoring function that evaluates candidate models. Here, we describe our open source software suite for integrative structure modeling, Integrative Modeling Platform (https://integrativemodeling.org), and demonstrate its use. © 2017 The Protein Society.

INTEGRATED INFORMATION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE PROVIDING BEHAVIORAL FEATURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir N. Shvedenko

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with creation of integrated information system architecture capable of supporting management decisions using behavioral features. The paper considers the architecture of information decision support system for production system management. The behavioral feature is given to an information system, and it ensures extraction, processing of information, management decision-making with both automated and automatic modes of decision-making subsystem being permitted. Practical implementation of information system with behavior is based on service-oriented architecture: there is a set of independent services in the information system that provides data of its subsystems or data processing by separate application under the chosen variant of the problematic situation settlement. For creation of integrated information system with behavior we propose architecture including the following subsystems: data bus, subsystem for interaction with the integrated applications based on metadata, business process management subsystem, subsystem for the current state analysis of the enterprise and management decision-making, behavior training subsystem. For each problematic situation a separate logical layer service is created in Unified Service Bus handling problematic situations. This architecture reduces system information complexity due to the fact that with a constant amount of system elements the number of links decreases, since each layer provides communication center of responsibility for the resource with the services of corresponding applications. If a similar problematic situation occurs, its resolution is automatically removed from problem situation metamodel repository and business process metamodel of its settlement. In the business process performance commands are generated to the corresponding centers of responsibility to settle a problematic situation.

Structural health monitoring feature design by genetic programming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, Dustin Y; Todd, Michael D

2014-01-01

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

Feature integration and spatial attention: common processes for endogenous and exogenous orienting.

Science.gov (United States)

Henderickx, David; Maetens, Kathleen; Soetens, Eric

2010-05-01

Briand (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 24:1243-1256, 1998) and Briand and Klein (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 13:228-241, 1987) demonstrated that spatial cueing effects are larger for detecting conjunction of features than for detecting simple features when spatial attention is oriented exogenously, and not when attention is oriented endogenously. Their results were interpreted as if only exogenous attention affects the posterior spatial attention system that performs the feature binding function attributed to spatial attention by Treisman's feature integration theory (FIT; 1980). In a series of 6 experiments, we attempted to replicate Briand's findings. Manipulations of distractor string size and symmetry of stimulus presentation left and right from fixation were implemented in Posner's cueing paradigm. The data indicate that both exogenous and endogenous cueing address the same attentional mechanism needed for feature binding. The results also limit the generalisability of Briand's proposal concerning the role of exogenous attention in feature integration. Furthermore, the importance to control the effect of unintended attentional capture in a cueing task is demonstrated.

Framework for the Integration of Mobile Device Features in PLM

OpenAIRE

Hopf, Jens Michael

2016-01-01

Currently, companies have covered their business processes with stationary workstations while mobile business applications have limited relevance. Companies can cover their overall business processes more time-efficiently and cost-effectively when they integrate mobile users in workflows using mobile device features. The objective is a framework that can be used to model and control business applications for PLM processes using mobile device features to allow a totally new user experience.

The Contradictions and Compartmentalizing the Interactions between Integrated Business Structures: Aspect of Branding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nifatova Olena M.

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at identifying contradictions and developing a compartmentalizing as to the interaction between integrated business structures, taking into consideration the branding approach to management. The main specific features and contradictions that arise in the process of integration in the domestic market of mergers and acquisitions have been allocated. The contradictions identified were systematized and substantiated at three economic levels: macro-, meso-, and microeconomic. A compartmentalizing of the business units interaction in a merge or an acquisition process has been proposed. This compartmentalizing takes account of the branding aspect through the introduction of «brands interaction» – cluster interaction, circular interaction, holding interaction, linear interaction, which enhances the scientific view of exploring the problem of business units interaction in the process of the formations becoming integrated. The development of a compartmentalizing as to the interaction between integrated business structures, taking into consideration the branding approach to management, would provide a more effective use of the fundamental nature of branding as synergistic force in terms of the system of integration of business structures at the current stage of development of the national economy. Further development of branding issues in this sphere will have a significant impact on the functioning of the integrated business structures with the participation of Ukrainian companies.

D3.5 Report on ECO social network integration features

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Viñuales, Javier; Driesner, Jorge; Tejera, Sara; Tomasini, Alessandra; Loozen, Kjeld; Rocio, Vítor; Bohuschke, Felix; Ternier, Stefaan

2016-01-01

This document describes how integrations with social networks are being developed in ECO platforms. With these new features, participants will be able to share results and other contents through Facebook, Twitter, Google plus.

Structural features that predict real-value fluctuations of globular proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Jamroz, Michal; Kolinski, Andrzej; Kihara, Daisuke

2012-05-01

It is crucial to consider dynamics for understanding the biological function of proteins. We used a large number of molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories of nonhomologous proteins as references and examined static structural features of proteins that are most relevant to fluctuations. We examined correlation of individual structural features with fluctuations and further investigated effective combinations of features for predicting the real value of residue fluctuations using the support vector regression (SVR). It was found that some structural features have higher correlation than crystallographic B-factors with fluctuations observed in MD trajectories. Moreover, SVR that uses combinations of static structural features showed accurate prediction of fluctuations with an average Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.669 and a root mean square error of 1.04 Å. This correlation coefficient is higher than the one observed in predictions by the Gaussian network model (GNM). An advantage of the developed method over the GNMs is that the former predicts the real value of fluctuation. The results help improve our understanding of relationships between protein structure and fluctuation. Furthermore, the developed method provides a convienient practial way to predict fluctuations of proteins using easily computed static structural features of proteins. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Investigation of selected surface integrity features of duplex stainless steel (DSS after turning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Krolczyk

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents surface roughness profiles and Abbott - Firestone curves with vertical and amplitude parameters of surface roughness after turning by means of a coated sintered carbide wedge with a coating with ceramic intermediate layer. The investigation comprised the influence of cutting speed on the selected features of surface integrity in dry machining. The material under investigation was duplex stainless steel with two-phase ferritic-austenitic structure. The tests have been performed under production conditions during machining of parts for electric motors and deep-well pumps. The obtained results allow to draw conclusions about the characteristics of surface properties of the machined parts.

Crossmodal integration enhances neural representation of task-relevant features in audiovisual face perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yuanqing; Long, Jinyi; Huang, Biao; Yu, Tianyou; Wu, Wei; Liu, Yongjian; Liang, Changhong; Sun, Pei

2015-02-01

Previous studies have shown that audiovisual integration improves identification performance and enhances neural activity in heteromodal brain areas, for example, the posterior superior temporal sulcus/middle temporal gyrus (pSTS/MTG). Furthermore, it has also been demonstrated that attention plays an important role in crossmodal integration. In this study, we considered crossmodal integration in audiovisual facial perception and explored its effect on the neural representation of features. The audiovisual stimuli in the experiment consisted of facial movie clips that could be classified into 2 gender categories (male vs. female) or 2 emotion categories (crying vs. laughing). The visual/auditory-only stimuli were created from these movie clips by removing the auditory/visual contents. The subjects needed to make a judgment about the gender/emotion category for each movie clip in the audiovisual, visual-only, or auditory-only stimulus condition as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals were recorded. The neural representation of the gender/emotion feature was assessed using the decoding accuracy and the brain pattern-related reproducibility indices, obtained by a multivariate pattern analysis method from the fMRI data. In comparison to the visual-only and auditory-only stimulus conditions, we found that audiovisual integration enhanced the neural representation of task-relevant features and that feature-selective attention might play a role of modulation in the audiovisual integration. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

FeatureMap3D - a tool to map protein features and sequence conservation onto homologous structures in the PDB

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wernersson, Rasmus; Rapacki, Krzysztof; Stærfeldt, Hans Henrik

2006-01-01

FeatureMap3D is a web-based tool that maps protein features onto 3D structures. The user provides sequences annotated with any feature of interest, such as post-translational modifications, protease cleavage sites or exonic structure and FeatureMap3D will then search the Protein Data Bank (PDB) f...

Cross-modal integration of lexical-semantic features during word processing: evidence from oscillatory dynamics during EEG.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus J van Ackeren

Full Text Available In recent years, numerous studies have provided converging evidence that word meaning is partially stored in modality-specific cortical networks. However, little is known about the mechanisms supporting the integration of this distributed semantic content into coherent conceptual representations. In the current study we aimed to address this issue by using EEG to look at the spatial and temporal dynamics of feature integration during word comprehension. Specifically, participants were presented with two modality-specific features (i.e., visual or auditory features such as silver and loud and asked to verify whether these two features were compatible with a subsequently presented target word (e.g., WHISTLE. Each pair of features described properties from either the same modality (e.g., silver, tiny  =  visual features or different modalities (e.g., silver, loud  =  visual, auditory. Behavioral and EEG data were collected. The results show that verifying features that are putatively represented in the same modality-specific network is faster than verifying features across modalities. At the neural level, integrating features across modalities induces sustained oscillatory activity around the theta range (4-6 Hz in left anterior temporal lobe (ATL, a putative hub for integrating distributed semantic content. In addition, enhanced long-range network interactions in the theta range were seen between left ATL and a widespread cortical network. These results suggest that oscillatory dynamics in the theta range could be involved in integrating multimodal semantic content by creating transient functional networks linking distributed modality-specific networks and multimodal semantic hubs such as left ATL.

Integrated Structural Design Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerregaard Jensen, Lotte; Almegaard, Henrik

2011-01-01

to EU legislation. And a successful engineering student must be prepared to work in the open-ended, multidisciplinary environment necessary to produce structures which comply with EIA demands. This paper describes an innovative course developed at the Technical University of Denmark which integrates...... landscaping and structural design. The integrated courses create a setting for learning about the design of large-scale structures and involve geometry, statics, computer simulation, graphical design and landscape architecture. Together, they educate engineers who can take part in the early design phases...... of a project, function well in design teams, and comply with EU EIA demands....

Structural integrity and fatigue crack propagation life assessment of welded and weld-repaired structures

Science.gov (United States)

Alam, Mohammad Shah

2005-11-01

Structural integrity is the science and technology of the margin between safety and disaster. Proper evaluation of the structural integrity and fatigue life of any structure (aircraft, ship, railways, bridges, gas and oil transmission pipelines, etc.) is important to ensure the public safety, environmental protection, and economical consideration. Catastrophic failure of any structure can be avoided if structural integrity is assessed and necessary precaution is taken appropriately. Structural integrity includes tasks in many areas, such as structural analysis, failure analysis, nondestructive testing, corrosion, fatigue and creep analysis, metallurgy and materials, fracture mechanics, fatigue life assessment, welding metallurgy, development of repairing technologies, structural monitoring and instrumentation etc. In this research fatigue life assessment of welded and weld-repaired joints is studied both in numerically and experimentally. A new approach for the simulation of fatigue crack growth in two elastic materials has been developed and specifically, the concept has been applied to butt-welded joint in a straight plate and in tubular joints. In the proposed method, the formation of new surface is represented by an interface element based on the interface potential energy. This method overcomes the limitation of crack growth at an artificial rate of one element length per cycle. In this method the crack propagates only when the applied load reaches the critical bonding strength. The predicted results compares well with experimental results. The Gas Metal Arc welding processes has been simulated to predict post-weld distortion, residual stresses and development of restraining forces in a butt-welded joint. The effect of welding defects and bi-axial interaction of a circular porosity and a solidification crack on fatigue crack propagation life of butt-welded joints has also been investigated. After a weld has been repaired, the specimen was tested in a universal

Integrative and distinctive coding of visual and conceptual object features in the ventral visual stream.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Chris B; Douglas, Danielle; Newsome, Rachel N; Man, Louisa Ly; Barense, Morgan D

2018-02-02

A significant body of research in cognitive neuroscience is aimed at understanding how object concepts are represented in the human brain. However, it remains unknown whether and where the visual and abstract conceptual features that define an object concept are integrated. We addressed this issue by comparing the neural pattern similarities among object-evoked fMRI responses with behavior-based models that independently captured the visual and conceptual similarities among these stimuli. Our results revealed evidence for distinctive coding of visual features in lateral occipital cortex, and conceptual features in the temporal pole and parahippocampal cortex. By contrast, we found evidence for integrative coding of visual and conceptual object features in perirhinal cortex. The neuroanatomical specificity of this effect was highlighted by results from a searchlight analysis. Taken together, our findings suggest that perirhinal cortex uniquely supports the representation of fully specified object concepts through the integration of their visual and conceptual features. © 2018, Martin et al.

Integrative and distinctive coding of visual and conceptual object features in the ventral visual stream

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Danielle; Newsome, Rachel N; Man, Louisa LY

2018-01-01

A significant body of research in cognitive neuroscience is aimed at understanding how object concepts are represented in the human brain. However, it remains unknown whether and where the visual and abstract conceptual features that define an object concept are integrated. We addressed this issue by comparing the neural pattern similarities among object-evoked fMRI responses with behavior-based models that independently captured the visual and conceptual similarities among these stimuli. Our results revealed evidence for distinctive coding of visual features in lateral occipital cortex, and conceptual features in the temporal pole and parahippocampal cortex. By contrast, we found evidence for integrative coding of visual and conceptual object features in perirhinal cortex. The neuroanatomical specificity of this effect was highlighted by results from a searchlight analysis. Taken together, our findings suggest that perirhinal cortex uniquely supports the representation of fully specified object concepts through the integration of their visual and conceptual features. PMID:29393853

Loss of integrity and atrophy in cingulate structural covariance networks in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

de Schipper, Laura J; van der Grond, Jeroen; Marinus, Johan; Henselmans, Johanna M L; van Hilten, Jacobus J

2017-01-01

In Parkinson's disease (PD), the relation between cortical brain atrophy on MRI and clinical progression is not straightforward. Determination of changes in structural covariance networks - patterns of covariance in grey matter density - has shown to be a valuable technique to detect subtle grey matter variations. We evaluated how structural network integrity in PD is related to clinical data. 3 Tesla MRI was performed in 159 PD patients. We used nine standardized structural covariance networks identified in 370 healthy subjects as a template in the analysis of the PD data. Clinical assessment comprised motor features (Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale; MDS-UPDRS motor scale) and predominantly non-dopaminergic features (SEverity of Non-dopaminergic Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease; SENS-PD scale: postural instability and gait difficulty, psychotic symptoms, excessive daytime sleepiness, autonomic dysfunction, cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms). Voxel-based analyses were performed within networks significantly associated with PD. The anterior and posterior cingulate network showed decreased integrity, associated with the SENS-PD score, p = 0.001 (β = - 0.265, η p 2  = 0.070) and p = 0.001 (β = - 0.264, η p 2  = 0.074), respectively. Of the components of the SENS-PD score, cognitive impairment and excessive daytime sleepiness were associated with atrophy within both networks. We identified loss of integrity and atrophy in the anterior and posterior cingulate networks in PD patients. Abnormalities of both networks were associated with predominantly non-dopaminergic features, specifically cognition and excessive daytime sleepiness. Our findings suggest that (components of) the cingulate networks display a specific vulnerability to the pathobiology of PD and may operate as interfaces between networks involved in cognition and alertness.

A multi-structural and multi-functional integrated fog collection system in cactus.

Science.gov (United States)

Ju, Jie; Bai, Hao; Zheng, Yongmei; Zhao, Tianyi; Fang, Ruochen; Jiang, Lei

2012-01-01

Multiple biological structures have demonstrated fog collection abilities, such as beetle backs with bumps and spider silks with periodic spindle-knots and joints. Many Cactaceae species live in arid environments and are extremely drought-tolerant. Here we report that one of the survival systems of the cactus Opuntia microdasys lies in its efficient fog collection system. This unique system is composed of well-distributed clusters of conical spines and trichomes on the cactus stem; each spine contains three integrated parts that have different roles in the fog collection process according to their surface structural features. The gradient of the Laplace pressure, the gradient of the surface-free energy and multi-function integration endow the cactus with an efficient fog collection system. Investigations of the structure-function relationship in this system may help us to design novel materials and devices to collect water from fog with high efficiencies.

PROSPER: an integrated feature-based tool for predicting protease substrate cleavage sites.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiangning Song

Full Text Available The ability to catalytically cleave protein substrates after synthesis is fundamental for all forms of life. Accordingly, site-specific proteolysis is one of the most important post-translational modifications. The key to understanding the physiological role of a protease is to identify its natural substrate(s. Knowledge of the substrate specificity of a protease can dramatically improve our ability to predict its target protein substrates, but this information must be utilized in an effective manner in order to efficiently identify protein substrates by in silico approaches. To address this problem, we present PROSPER, an integrated feature-based server for in silico identification of protease substrates and their cleavage sites for twenty-four different proteases. PROSPER utilizes established specificity information for these proteases (derived from the MEROPS database with a machine learning approach to predict protease cleavage sites by using different, but complementary sequence and structure characteristics. Features used by PROSPER include local amino acid sequence profile, predicted secondary structure, solvent accessibility and predicted native disorder. Thus, for proteases with known amino acid specificity, PROSPER provides a convenient, pre-prepared tool for use in identifying protein substrates for the enzymes. Systematic prediction analysis for the twenty-four proteases thus far included in the database revealed that the features we have included in the tool strongly improve performance in terms of cleavage site prediction, as evidenced by their contribution to performance improvement in terms of identifying known cleavage sites in substrates for these enzymes. In comparison with two state-of-the-art prediction tools, PoPS and SitePrediction, PROSPER achieves greater accuracy and coverage. To our knowledge, PROSPER is the first comprehensive server capable of predicting cleavage sites of multiple proteases within a single substrate

SRS Tank Structural Integrity Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maryak, Matthew

2010-01-01

The mission of the Structural Integrity Program is to ensure continued safe management and operation of the waste tanks for whatever period of time these tanks are required. Matthew Maryak provides an overview of the Structural Integrity Program to open Session 5 (Waste Storage and Tank Inspection) of the 2010 EM Waste Processing Technical Exchange.

Learning about the internal structure of categories through classification and feature inference.

Science.gov (United States)

Jee, Benjamin D; Wiley, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Previous research on category learning has found that classification tasks produce representations that are skewed toward diagnostic feature dimensions, whereas feature inference tasks lead to richer representations of within-category structure. Yet, prior studies often measure category knowledge through tasks that involve identifying only the typical features of a category. This neglects an important aspect of a category's internal structure: how typical and atypical features are distributed within a category. The present experiments tested the hypothesis that inference learning results in richer knowledge of internal category structure than classification learning. We introduced several new measures to probe learners' representations of within-category structure. Experiment 1 found that participants in the inference condition learned and used a wider range of feature dimensions than classification learners. Classification learners, however, were more sensitive to the presence of atypical features within categories. Experiment 2 provided converging evidence that classification learners were more likely to incorporate atypical features into their representations. Inference learners were less likely to encode atypical category features, even in a "partial inference" condition that focused learners' attention on the feature dimensions relevant to classification. Overall, these results are contrary to the hypothesis that inference learning produces superior knowledge of within-category structure. Although inference learning promoted representations that included a broad range of category-typical features, classification learning promoted greater sensitivity to the distribution of typical and atypical features within categories.

Predicting adverse drug reaction profiles by integrating protein interaction networks with drug structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Liang-Chin; Wu, Xiaogang; Chen, Jake Y

2013-01-01

The prediction of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has become increasingly important, due to the rising concern on serious ADRs that can cause drugs to fail to reach or stay in the market. We proposed a framework for predicting ADR profiles by integrating protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks with drug structures. We compared ADR prediction performances over 18 ADR categories through four feature groups-only drug targets, drug targets with PPI networks, drug structures, and drug targets with PPI networks plus drug structures. The results showed that the integration of PPI networks and drug structures can significantly improve the ADR prediction performance. The median AUC values for the four groups were 0.59, 0.61, 0.65, and 0.70. We used the protein features in the best two models, "Cardiac disorders" (median-AUC: 0.82) and "Psychiatric disorders" (median-AUC: 0.76), to build ADR-specific PPI networks with literature supports. For validation, we examined 30 drugs withdrawn from the U.S. market to see if our approach can predict their ADR profiles and explain why they were withdrawn. Except for three drugs having ADRs in the categories we did not predict, 25 out of 27 withdrawn drugs (92.6%) having severe ADRs were successfully predicted by our approach. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Trends and Features of Student Research Integration in Educational Program

Science.gov (United States)

Grinenko, Svetlana; Makarova, Elena; Andreassen, John-Erik

2016-01-01

This study examines trends and features of student research integration in educational program during international cooperation between Østfold University College in Norway and Southern Federal University in Russia. According to research and education approach the international project is aimed to use four education models, which linked student…

Subsurface structures of buried features in the lunar Procellarum region

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wenrui; Heki, Kosuke

2017-07-01

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission unraveled numbers of features showing strong gravity anomalies without prominent topographic signatures in the lunar Procellarum region. These features, located in different geologic units, are considered to have complex subsurface structures reflecting different evolution processes. By using the GRAIL level-1 data, we estimated the free-air and Bouguer gravity anomalies in several selected regions including such intriguing features. With the three-dimensional inversion technique, we recovered subsurface density structures in these regions.

Implementation of a variable-step integration technique for nonlinear structural dynamic analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Underwood, P.; Park, K.C.

1977-01-01

The paper presents the implementation of a recently developed unconditionally stable implicit time integration method into a production computer code for the transient response analysis of nonlinear structural dynamic systems. The time integrator is packaged with two significant features; a variable step size that is automatically determined and this is accomplished without additional matrix refactorizations. The equations of motion solved by the time integrator must be cast in the pseudo-force form, and this provides the mechanism for controlling the step size. Step size control is accomplished by extrapolating the pseudo-force to the next time (the predicted pseudo-force), then performing the integration step and then recomputing the pseudo-force based on the current solution (the correct pseudo-force); from this data an error norm is constructed, the value of which determines the step size for the next step. To avoid refactoring the required matrix with each step size change a matrix scaling technique is employed, which allows step sizes to change by a factor of 100 without refactoring. If during a computer run the integrator determines it can run with a step size larger than 100 times the original minimum step size, the matrix is refactored to take advantage of the larger step size. The strategy for effecting these features are discussed in detail. (Auth.)

An object-oriented feature-based design system face-based detection of feature interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ariffin Abdul Razak

1999-01-01

This paper presents an object-oriented, feature-based design system which supports the integration of design and manufacture by ensuring that part descriptions fully account for any feature interactions. Manufacturing information is extracted from the feature descriptions in the form of volumes and Tool Access Directions, TADs. When features interact, both volumes and TADs are updated. This methodology has been demonstrated by developing a prototype system in which ACIS attributes are used to record feature information within the data structure of the solid model. The system implemented in the C++ programming language and embedded in a menu-driven X-windows user interface to the ACIS 3D Toolkit. (author)

Path-integral and Ornstein-Zernike study of quantum fluid structures on the crystallization line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sesé, Luis M.

2016-01-01

Liquid neon, liquid para-hydrogen, and the quantum hard-sphere fluid are studied with path integral Monte Carlo simulations and the Ornstein-Zernike pair equation on their respective crystallization lines. The results cover the whole sets of structures in the r-space and the k-space and, for completeness, the internal energies, pressures and isothermal compressibilities. Comparison with experiment is made wherever possible, and the possibilities of establishing k-space criteria for quantum crystallization based on the path-integral centroids are discussed. In this regard, the results show that the centroid structure factor contains two significant parameters related to its main peak features (amplitude and shape) that can be useful to characterize freezing.

Path-integral and Ornstein-Zernike study of quantum fluid structures on the crystallization line

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sesé, Luis M., E-mail: msese@ccia.uned.es [Departamento de Ciencias y Técnicas Fisicoquímicas, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Paseo Senda del Rey 9, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

2016-03-07

Liquid neon, liquid para-hydrogen, and the quantum hard-sphere fluid are studied with path integral Monte Carlo simulations and the Ornstein-Zernike pair equation on their respective crystallization lines. The results cover the whole sets of structures in the r-space and the k-space and, for completeness, the internal energies, pressures and isothermal compressibilities. Comparison with experiment is made wherever possible, and the possibilities of establishing k-space criteria for quantum crystallization based on the path-integral centroids are discussed. In this regard, the results show that the centroid structure factor contains two significant parameters related to its main peak features (amplitude and shape) that can be useful to characterize freezing.

Integrated materials–structural models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stang, Henrik; Geiker, Mette Rica

2008-01-01

, repair works and strengthening methods for structures. A very significant part of the infrastructure consists of reinforced concrete structures. Even though reinforced concrete structures typically are very competitive, certain concrete structures suffer from various types of degradation. A framework...... should define a framework in which materials research results eventually should fit in and on the other side the materials research should define needs and capabilities in structural modelling. Integrated materials-structural models of a general nature are almost non-existent in the field of cement based...

Mechanical Design Features of PGSFR NSSS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Chang-Gyu; Koo, Gyeong-Hoi; Cho, Jae-Hun; Kim, Sung-Kyun

2016-01-01

The NSSS(Nuclear Steam Supply System) is composed of PHTS(Primary Heat Transport System), IHTS (Intermediate Heat Transport System), and SGS(Steam Generation System). And, DHRS(Decay Heat Removal System) adopts both the active and passive systems for diversity. The structures including components and piping should be designed to ensure the structural integrity for their design life against mechanical and operational loads. In this study, the mechanical design features for the structures and components that make up PGSFR NSSS are described. The mechanical design features of structures and components for a PGSFR NSSS are described. The structures are being designed to maintain the structural integrity for their design lifetime by considering the high temperature operating condition. The decay heat removal system(DHRS) removes all reactor decay heat in two ways; active type(ADHRS) and passive type(PDHRS). ADHRS consists of DHX, blower, FHX, circulation pump, and expansion tank. But PDHRS consists of DHX, AHX, and expansion tank. FHX is a finned-tube-type sodium-to-air heat exchanger whereas AHX is a helical-type sodium-to-air heat exchanger

Mechanical Design Features of PGSFR NSSS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Chang-Gyu; Koo, Gyeong-Hoi; Cho, Jae-Hun; Kim, Sung-Kyun [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

The NSSS(Nuclear Steam Supply System) is composed of PHTS(Primary Heat Transport System), IHTS (Intermediate Heat Transport System), and SGS(Steam Generation System). And, DHRS(Decay Heat Removal System) adopts both the active and passive systems for diversity. The structures including components and piping should be designed to ensure the structural integrity for their design life against mechanical and operational loads. In this study, the mechanical design features for the structures and components that make up PGSFR NSSS are described. The mechanical design features of structures and components for a PGSFR NSSS are described. The structures are being designed to maintain the structural integrity for their design lifetime by considering the high temperature operating condition. The decay heat removal system(DHRS) removes all reactor decay heat in two ways; active type(ADHRS) and passive type(PDHRS). ADHRS consists of DHX, blower, FHX, circulation pump, and expansion tank. But PDHRS consists of DHX, AHX, and expansion tank. FHX is a finned-tube-type sodium-to-air heat exchanger whereas AHX is a helical-type sodium-to-air heat exchanger.

Experiences with integral microelectronics on smart structures for space

Science.gov (United States)

Nye, Ted; Casteel, Scott; Navarro, Sergio A.; Kraml, Bob

1995-05-01

One feature of a smart structure implies that some computational and signal processing capability can be performed at a local level, perhaps integral to the controlled structure. This requires electronics with a minimal mechanical influence regarding structural stiffening, heat dissipation, weight, and electrical interface connectivity. The Advanced Controls Technology Experiment II (ACTEX II) space-flight experiments implemented such a local control electronics scheme by utilizing composite smart members with integral processing electronics. These microelectronics, tested to MIL-STD-883B levels, were fabricated with conventional thick film on ceramic multichip module techniques. Kovar housings and aluminum-kapton multilayer insulation was used to protect against harsh space radiation and thermal environments. Development and acceptance testing showed the electronics design was extremely robust, operating in vacuum and at temperature range with minimal gain variations occurring just above room temperatures. Four electronics modules, used for the flight hardware configuration, were connected by a RS-485 2 Mbit per second serial data bus. The data bus was controlled by Actel field programmable gate arrays arranged in a single master, four slave configuration. An Intel 80C196KD microprocessor was chosen as the digital compensator in each controller. It was used to apply a series of selectable biquad filters, implemented via Delta Transforms. Instability in any compensator was expected to appear as large amplitude oscillations in the deployed structure. Thus, over-vibration detection circuitry with automatic output isolation was incorporated into the design. This was not used however, since during experiment integration and test, intentionally induced compensator instabilities resulted in benign mechanical oscillation symptoms. Not too surprisingly, it was determined that instabilities were most detectable by large temperature increases in the electronics, typically

Oscillatory neuronal activity reflects lexical-semantic feature integration within and across sensory modalities in distributed cortical networks.

Science.gov (United States)

van Ackeren, Markus J; Schneider, Till R; Müsch, Kathrin; Rueschemeyer, Shirley-Ann

2014-10-22

Research from the previous decade suggests that word meaning is partially stored in distributed modality-specific cortical networks. However, little is known about the mechanisms by which semantic content from multiple modalities is integrated into a coherent multisensory representation. Therefore we aimed to characterize differences between integration of lexical-semantic information from a single modality compared with two sensory modalities. We used magnetoencephalography in humans to investigate changes in oscillatory neuronal activity while participants verified two features for a given target word (e.g., "bus"). Feature pairs consisted of either two features from the same modality (visual: "red," "big") or different modalities (auditory and visual: "red," "loud"). The results suggest that integrating modality-specific features of the target word is associated with enhanced high-frequency power (80-120 Hz), while integrating features from different modalities is associated with a sustained increase in low-frequency power (2-8 Hz). Source reconstruction revealed a peak in the anterior temporal lobe for low-frequency and high-frequency effects. These results suggest that integrating lexical-semantic knowledge at different cortical scales is reflected in frequency-specific oscillatory neuronal activity in unisensory and multisensory association networks. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3314318-06$15.00/0.

Integrated software system for seismic evaluation of nuclear power plant structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, J.; Graves, H.L.

1993-01-01

The computer software CARES (Computer Analysis for Rapid Evaluation of Structures) was developed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It represents an effort to utilize established numerical methodologies commonly employed by industry for structural safety evaluations of nuclear power plant facilities and incorporates them into an integrated computer software package operated on personal computers. CARES was developed with the objective of including all aspects of seismic performance evaluation of nuclear power structures. It can be used to evaluate the validity and accuracy of analysis methodologies used for structural safety evaluations of nuclear power plants by various utilities. CARES has a modular format, each module performing a specific type of analysis. The seismic module integrates all the steps of a complete seismic analysis into a single package with many user-friendly features such as interactiveness and quick turnaround. Linear structural theory and pseudo-linear convolution theory are utilized as the bases for the development with a special emphasis on the nuclear regulatory requirements for structural safety of nuclear plants. The organization of the seismic module is arranged in eight options, each performing a specific step of the analysis with most of input/output interfacing processed by the general manager. Finally, CARES provides comprehensive post-processing capability for displaying results graphically or in tabular form so that direct comparisons can be easily made. (author)

Music Genre Classification using the multivariate AR feature integration model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahrendt, Peter; Meng, Anders

2005-01-01

informative decisions about musical genre. For the MIREX music genre contest several authors derive long time features based either on statistical moments and/or temporal structure in the short time features. In our contribution we model a segment (1.2 s) of short time features (texture) using a multivariate...... autoregressive model. Other authors have applied simpler statistical models such as the mean-variance model, which also has been included in several of this years MIREX submissions, see e.g. Tzanetakis (2005); Burred (2005); Bergstra et al. (2005); Lidy and Rauber (2005)....

Understanding Structural Features of Microbial Lipases–-An Overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Geraldine Sandana Mala

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The structural elucidations of microbial lipases have been of prime interest since the 1980s. Knowledge of structural features plays an important role in designing and engineering lipases for specific purposes. Significant structural data have been presented for few microbial lipases, while, there is still a structure-deficit, that is, most lipase structures are yet to be resolved. A search for ‘lipase structure’ in the RCSB Protein Data Bank ( http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/ returns only 93 hits (as of September 2007 and, the NCBI database ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov reports 89 lipase structures as compared to 14719 core nucleotide records. It is therefore worthwhile to consider investigations on the structural analysis of microbial lipases. This review is intended to provide a collection of resources on the instrumental, chemical and bioinformatics approaches for structure analyses. X-ray crystallography is a versatile tool for the structural biochemists and is been exploited till today. The chemical methods of recent interests include molecular modeling and combinatorial designs. Bioinformatics has surged striking interests in protein structural analysis with the advent of innumerable tools. Furthermore, a literature platform of the structural elucidations so far investigated has been presented with detailed descriptions as applicable to microbial lipases. A case study of Candida rugosa lipase (CRL has also been discussed which highlights important structural features also common to most lipases. A general profile of lipase has been vividly described with an overview of lipase research reviewed in the past.

The European structural integrity research programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Townley, C.H.A.; Acker, D.; Laue, H.

1990-01-01

A thermal hydraulics evaluation of the European Fast Reactor (EFR) design followed by structural analysis is presented in this article to assess the structural integrity research programme to date. Improved design methods are being achieved as a result of the structural integrity programme for the EFR. Excellent collaboration between the nationally based research organizations and the design and construction companies has been important in achieving these improvements. (UK)

A multi-structural and multi-functional integrated fog collection system in cactus

Science.gov (United States)

Ju, Jie; Bai, Hao; Zheng, Yongmei; Zhao, Tianyi; Fang, Ruochen; Jiang, Lei

2012-01-01

Multiple biological structures have demonstrated fog collection abilities, such as beetle backs with bumps and spider silks with periodic spindle-knots and joints. Many Cactaceae species live in arid environments and are extremely drought-tolerant. Here we report that one of the survival systems of the cactus Opuntia microdasys lies in its efficient fog collection system. This unique system is composed of well-distributed clusters of conical spines and trichomes on the cactus stem; each spine contains three integrated parts that have different roles in the fog collection process according to their surface structural features. The gradient of the Laplace pressure, the gradient of the surface-free energy and multi-function integration endow the cactus with an efficient fog collection system. Investigations of the structure–function relationship in this system may help us to design novel materials and devices to collect water from fog with high efficiencies. PMID:23212376

European networks in structural integrity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crutzen, S.; Davies, M.; Hemsworth, B.; Hurst, R.; Kussmaul, K.

1994-01-01

Several institutions and electrical utilities in Europe, including the Joint Research Centre (JRC) have the capability to deal problems posed by the operation and ageing of structural components and with their structural integrity assessment. These institutions and the JRC have developed cooperative programmes now organised in networks. They include utilities, engineering companies, R and D laboratories and Regulatory Bodies. Networks are organised and managed like the successful PISC programme: The Institute for Advanced Materials of JRC plays the role of Operating Agent and Manager of these networks: ENIQ, AMES, NESC, each of them dealing with a specific aspect of fitness for purpose of materials in structural components. There exist strong links between the networks and EC Working Groups on Structural Integrity Codes and Standards. (orig.)

A full feature FASTBUS slave interface using semicustom integrated circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skegg, R.; Daviel, A.; Downing, R.

1986-01-01

Two semi-custom integrated circuits have been designed and manufactured which enable the construction of a full featured FASTBUS slave interface without the need for a detailed knowledge of the FASTBUS protocol. A relatively small amount of board space is required compared to implementations using conventional circuits. The semi-custom devices are described in detail, and an application example is given. (orig.)

GIS Data Modeling of a Regional Geological Structure by Integrating Geometric and Semantic Expressions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HE Handong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Using GIS, data models of geology via geometric descriptions and expressions are being developed. However, the role played by these data models in terms of the description and expression of geological structure phenomenon is limited. To improve the semantic information in geological GIS data models, this study adopts an object-oriented method that describes and expresses the geometric and semantic features of the geological structure phenomenon using geological objects and designs a data model of regional geological structures by integrating geometry and semantics. Moreover, the study designs a semantic "vocabulary-explanation-graph" method for describing the geological phenomenon of structures. Based on the semantic features of regional geological structures and a linear classification method, it divides the regional geological structure phenomenon into 3 divisions, 10 groups, 33 classes and defines the element set and element class. Moreover, it builds the basic geometric network for geological elements based on the geometric and semantic relations among geological objects. Using the ArcGIS Diagrammer Geodatabase, it considers the regional geological structure of the Ning-Zhen Mountains to verify the data model, and the results indicate a high practicability.

Mutual Information Based Dynamic Integration of Multiple Feature Streams for Robust Real-Time LVCSR

Science.gov (United States)

Sato, Shoei; Kobayashi, Akio; Onoe, Kazuo; Homma, Shinichi; Imai, Toru; Takagi, Tohru; Kobayashi, Tetsunori

We present a novel method of integrating the likelihoods of multiple feature streams, representing different acoustic aspects, for robust speech recognition. The integration algorithm dynamically calculates a frame-wise stream weight so that a higher weight is given to a stream that is robust to a variety of noisy environments or speaking styles. Such a robust stream is expected to show discriminative ability. A conventional method proposed for the recognition of spoken digits calculates the weights front the entropy of the whole set of HMM states. This paper extends the dynamic weighting to a real-time large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) system. The proposed weight is calculated in real-time from mutual information between an input stream and active HMM states in a searchs pace without an additional likelihood calculation. Furthermore, the mutual information takes the width of the search space into account by calculating the marginal entropy from the number of active states. In this paper, we integrate three features that are extracted through auditory filters by taking into account the human auditory system's ability to extract amplitude and frequency modulations. Due to this, features representing energy, amplitude drift, and resonant frequency drifts, are integrated. These features are expected to provide complementary clues for speech recognition. Speech recognition experiments on field reports and spontaneous commentary from Japanese broadcast news showed that the proposed method reduced error words by 9.2% in field reports and 4.7% in spontaneous commentaries relative to the best result obtained from a single stream.

An integrated photogrammetric and spatial database management system for producing fully structured data using aerial and remote sensing images.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadi, Farshid Farnood; Ebadi, Hamid

2009-01-01

3D spatial data acquired from aerial and remote sensing images by photogrammetric techniques is one of the most accurate and economic data sources for GIS, map production, and spatial data updating. However, there are still many problems concerning storage, structuring and appropriate management of spatial data obtained using these techniques. According to the capabilities of spatial database management systems (SDBMSs); direct integration of photogrammetric and spatial database management systems can save time and cost of producing and updating digital maps. This integration is accomplished by replacing digital maps with a single spatial database. Applying spatial databases overcomes the problem of managing spatial and attributes data in a coupled approach. This management approach is one of the main problems in GISs for using map products of photogrammetric workstations. Also by the means of these integrated systems, providing structured spatial data, based on OGC (Open GIS Consortium) standards and topological relations between different feature classes, is possible at the time of feature digitizing process. In this paper, the integration of photogrammetric systems and SDBMSs is evaluated. Then, different levels of integration are described. Finally design, implementation and test of a software package called Integrated Photogrammetric and Oracle Spatial Systems (IPOSS) is presented.

An Integrated Photogrammetric and Spatial Database Management System for Producing Fully Structured Data Using Aerial and Remote Sensing Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farshid Farnood Ahmadi

2009-03-01

Full Text Available 3D spatial data acquired from aerial and remote sensing images by photogrammetric techniques is one of the most accurate and economic data sources for GIS, map production, and spatial data updating. However, there are still many problems concerning storage, structuring and appropriate management of spatial data obtained using these techniques. According to the capabilities of spatial database management systems (SDBMSs; direct integration of photogrammetric and spatial database management systems can save time and cost of producing and updating digital maps. This integration is accomplished by replacing digital maps with a single spatial database. Applying spatial databases overcomes the problem of managing spatial and attributes data in a coupled approach. This management approach is one of the main problems in GISs for using map products of photogrammetric workstations. Also by the means of these integrated systems, providing structured spatial data, based on OGC (Open GIS Consortium standards and topological relations between different feature classes, is possible at the time of feature digitizing process. In this paper, the integration of photogrammetric systems and SDBMSs is evaluated. Then, different levels of integration are described. Finally design, implementation and test of a software package called Integrated Photogrammetric and Oracle Spatial Systems (IPOSS is presented.

Image Retrieval based on Integration between Color and Geometric Moment Features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saad, M.H.; Saleh, H.I.; Konbor, H.; Ashour, M.

2012-01-01

Content based image retrieval is the retrieval of images based on visual features such as colour, texture and shape. .the Current approaches to CBIR differ in terms of which image features are extracted; recent work deals with combination of distances or scores from different and usually independent representations in an attempt to induce high level semantics from the low level descriptors of the images. content-based image retrieval has many application areas such as, education, commerce, military, searching, commerce, and biomedicine and Web image classification. This paper proposes a new image retrieval system, which uses color and geometric moment feature to form the feature vectors. Bhattacharyya distance and histogram intersection are used to perform feature matching. This framework integrates the color histogram which represents the global feature and geometric moment as local descriptor to enhance the retrieval results. The proposed technique is proper for precisely retrieving images even in deformation cases such as geometric deformations and noise. It is tested on a standard the results shows that a combination of our approach as a local image descriptor with other global descriptors outperforms other approaches.

Model reduction in integrated controls-structures design

Science.gov (United States)

Maghami, Peiman G.

1993-01-01

It is the objective of this paper to present a model reduction technique developed for the integrated controls-structures design of flexible structures. Integrated controls-structures design problems are typically posed as nonlinear mathematical programming problems, where the design variables consist of both structural and control parameters. In the solution process, both structural and control design variables are constantly changing; therefore, the dynamic characteristics of the structure are also changing. This presents a problem in obtaining a reduced-order model for active control design and analysis which will be valid for all design points within the design space. In other words, the frequency and number of the significant modes of the structure (modes that should be included) may vary considerably throughout the design process. This is also true as the locations and/or masses of the sensors and actuators change. Moreover, since the number of design evaluations in the integrated design process could easily run into thousands, any feasible order-reduction method should not require model reduction analysis at every design iteration. In this paper a novel and efficient technique for model reduction in the integrated controls-structures design process, which addresses these issues, is presented.

Risk Informed Structural Systems Integrity Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Michael Havbro Faber

2017-01-01

The present paper is predominantly a conceptual contribution with an appraisal of major developments in risk informed structural integrity management for offshore installations together with a discussion of their merits and the challenges which still lie ahead. Starting point is taken in a selected...... overview of research and development contributions which have formed the basis for Risk Based Inspection Planning (RBI) as we know it today. Thereafter an outline of the methodical basis for risk informed structural systems integrity management, i.e. the Bayesian decision analysis is provided in summary....... The main focus is here directed on RBI for offshore facilities subject to fatigue damages. New ideas and methodical frameworks in the area of robustness and resilience modeling of structural systems are then introduced, and it is outlined how these may adequately be utilized to enhance Structural Integrity...

Visual feature integration indicated by pHase-locked frontal-parietal EEG signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Steven; Takeda, Yuji; Singh, Archana

2012-01-01

The capacity to integrate multiple sources of information is a prerequisite for complex cognitive ability, such as finding a target uniquely identifiable by the conjunction of two or more features. Recent studies identified greater frontal-parietal synchrony during conjunctive than non-conjunctive (feature) search. Whether this difference also reflects greater information integration, rather than just differences in cognitive strategy (e.g., top-down versus bottom-up control of attention), or task difficulty is uncertain. Here, we examine the first possibility by parametrically varying the number of integrated sources from one to three and measuring phase-locking values (PLV) of frontal-parietal EEG electrode signals, as indicators of synchrony. Linear regressions, under hierarchical false-discovery rate control, indicated significant positive slopes for number of sources on PLV in the 30-38 Hz, 175-250 ms post-stimulus frequency-time band for pairs in the sagittal plane (i.e., F3-P3, Fz-Pz, F4-P4), after equating conditions for behavioural performance (to exclude effects due to task difficulty). No such effects were observed for pairs in the transverse plane (i.e., F3-F4, C3-C4, P3-P4). These results provide support for the idea that anterior-posterior phase-locking in the lower gamma-band mediates integration of visual information. They also provide a potential window into cognitive development, seen as developing the capacity to integrate more sources of information.

Degree of contribution (DoC) feature selection algorithm for structural brain MRI volumetric features in depression detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Kipli, Kuryati; Kouzani, Abbas Z

2015-07-01

Accurate detection of depression at an individual level using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) remains a challenge. Brain volumetric changes at a structural level appear to have importance in depression biomarkers studies. An automated algorithm is developed to select brain sMRI volumetric features for the detection of depression. A feature selection (FS) algorithm called degree of contribution (DoC) is developed for selection of sMRI volumetric features. This algorithm uses an ensemble approach to determine the degree of contribution in detection of major depressive disorder. The DoC is the score of feature importance used for feature ranking. The algorithm involves four stages: feature ranking, subset generation, subset evaluation, and DoC analysis. The performance of DoC is evaluated on the Duke University Multi-site Imaging Research in the Analysis of Depression sMRI dataset. The dataset consists of 115 brain sMRI scans of 88 healthy controls and 27 depressed subjects. Forty-four sMRI volumetric features are used in the evaluation. The DoC score of forty-four features was determined as the accuracy threshold (Acc_Thresh) was varied. The DoC performance was compared with that of four existing FS algorithms. At all defined Acc_Threshs, DoC outperformed the four examined FS algorithms for the average classification score and the maximum classification score. DoC has a good ability to generate reduced-size subsets of important features that could yield high classification accuracy. Based on the DoC score, the most discriminant volumetric features are those from the left-brain region.

Subdomain Precise Integration Method for Periodic Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Wu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A subdomain precise integration method is developed for the dynamical responses of periodic structures comprising many identical structural cells. The proposed method is based on the precise integration method, the subdomain scheme, and the repeatability of the periodic structures. In the proposed method, each structural cell is seen as a super element that is solved using the precise integration method, considering the repeatability of the structural cells. The computational efforts and the memory size of the proposed method are reduced, while high computational accuracy is achieved. Therefore, the proposed method is particularly suitable to solve the dynamical responses of periodic structures. Two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method through comparison with the Newmark and Runge-Kutta methods.

Integrable structures in quantum field theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Negro, Stefano

2016-01-01

This review was born as notes for a lecture given at the Young Researchers Integrability School (YRIS) school on integrability in Durham, in the summer of 2015. It deals with a beautiful method, developed in the mid-nineties by Bazhanov, Lukyanov and Zamolodchikov and, as such, called BLZ. This method can be interpreted as a field theory version of the quantum inverse scattering, also known as the algebraic Bethe ansatz. Starting with the case of conformal field theories (CFTs) we show how to build the field theory analogues of commuting transfer T matrices and Baxter Q -operators of integrable lattice models. These objects contain the complete information of the integrable structure of the theory, viz. the integrals of motion, and can be used, as we will show, to derive the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and nonlinear integral equations. This same method can be easily extended to the description of integrable structures of certain particular massive deformations of CFTs; these, in turn, can be described as quantum group reductions of the quantum sine-Gordon model and it is an easy step to include this last theory in the framework of BLZ approach. Finally we show an interesting and surprising connection of the BLZ structures with classical objects emerging from the study of classical integrable models via the inverse scattering transform method. This connection goes under the name of ODE/IM correspondence and we will present it for the specific case of quantum sine-Gordon model only. (topical review)

Linking structural features of protein complexes and biological function.

Science.gov (United States)

Sowmya, Gopichandran; Breen, Edmond J; Ranganathan, Shoba

2015-09-01

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) establishes the central basis for complex cellular networks in a biological cell. Association of proteins with other proteins occurs at varying affinities, yet with a high degree of specificity. PPIs lead to diverse functionality such as catalysis, regulation, signaling, immunity, and inhibition, playing a crucial role in functional genomics. The molecular principle of such interactions is often elusive in nature. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of known protein complexes from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) is essential for the characterization of structural interface features to determine structure-function relationship. Thus, we analyzed a nonredundant dataset of 278 heterodimer protein complexes, categorized into major functional classes, for distinguishing features. Interestingly, our analysis has identified five key features (interface area, interface polar residue abundance, hydrogen bonds, solvation free energy gain from interface formation, and binding energy) that are discriminatory among the functional classes using Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test. Significant correlations between these PPI interface features amongst functional categories are also documented. Salt bridges correlate with interface area in regulator-inhibitors (r = 0.75). These representative features have implications for the prediction of potential function of novel protein complexes. The results provide molecular insights for better understanding of PPIs and their relation to biological functions. © 2015 The Protein Society.

STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF PLANT CHITINASES AND CHITIN-BINDING PROTEINS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

BEINTEMA, JJ

1994-01-01

Structural features of plant chitinases and chitin-binding proteins are discussed. Many of these proteins consist of multiple domains,of which the chitin-binding hevein domain is a predominant one. X-ray and NMR structures of representatives of the major classes of these proteins are available now,

Integrative approaches to the prediction of protein functions based on the feature selection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Hyunju

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein function prediction has been one of the most important issues in functional genomics. With the current availability of various genomic data sets, many researchers have attempted to develop integration models that combine all available genomic data for protein function prediction. These efforts have resulted in the improvement of prediction quality and the extension of prediction coverage. However, it has also been observed that integrating more data sources does not always increase the prediction quality. Therefore, selecting data sources that highly contribute to the protein function prediction has become an important issue. Results We present systematic feature selection methods that assess the contribution of genome-wide data sets to predict protein functions and then investigate the relationship between genomic data sources and protein functions. In this study, we use ten different genomic data sources in Mus musculus, including: protein-domains, protein-protein interactions, gene expressions, phenotype ontology, phylogenetic profiles and disease data sources to predict protein functions that are labelled with Gene Ontology (GO terms. We then apply two approaches to feature selection: exhaustive search feature selection using a kernel based logistic regression (KLR, and a kernel based L1-norm regularized logistic regression (KL1LR. In the first approach, we exhaustively measure the contribution of each data set for each function based on its prediction quality. In the second approach, we use the estimated coefficients of features as measures of contribution of data sources. Our results show that the proposed methods improve the prediction quality compared to the full integration of all data sources and other filter-based feature selection methods. We also show that contributing data sources can differ depending on the protein function. Furthermore, we observe that highly contributing data sets can be similar among

Coordination Analysis Using Global Structural Constraints and Alignment-based Local Features

Science.gov (United States)

Hara, Kazuo; Shimbo, Masashi; Matsumoto, Yuji

We propose a hybrid approach to coordinate structure analysis that combines a simple grammar to ensure consistent global structure of coordinations in a sentence, and features based on sequence alignment to capture local symmetry of conjuncts. The weight of the alignment-based features, which in turn determines the score of coordinate structures, is optimized by perceptron training on a given corpus. A bottom-up chart parsing algorithm efficiently finds the best scoring structure, taking both nested or non-overlapping flat coordinations into account. We demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing parsers in coordination scope detection on the Genia corpus.

Test Structures For Bumpy Integrated Circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Buehler, Martin G.; Sayah, Hoshyar R.

1989-01-01

Cross-bridge resistors added to comb and serpentine patterns. Improved combination of test structures built into integrated circuit used to evaluate design rules, fabrication processes, and quality of interconnections. Consist of meshing serpentines and combs, and cross bridge. Structures used to make electrical measurements revealing defects in design or fabrication. Combination of test structures includes three comb arrays, two serpentine arrays, and cross bridge. Made of aluminum or polycrystalline silicon, depending on material in integrated-circuit layers evaluated. Aluminum combs and serpentine arrays deposited over steps made by polycrystalline silicon and diffusion layers, while polycrystalline silicon versions of these structures used to cross over steps made by thick oxide layer.

Self-Organizing Neural Integration of Pose-Motion Features for Human Action Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

German Ignacio Parisi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The visual recognition of complex, articulated human movements is fundamental for a wide range of artificial systems oriented towards human-robot communication, action classification, and action-driven perception. These challenging tasks may generally involve the processing of a huge amount of visual information and learning-based mechanisms for generalizing a set of training actions and classifying new samples. To operate in natural environments, a crucial property is the efficient and robust recognition of actions, also under noisy conditions caused by, for instance, systematic sensor errors and temporarily occluded persons. Studies of the mammalian visual system and its outperforming ability to process biological motion information suggest separate neural pathways for the distinct processing of pose and motion features at multiple levels and the subsequent integration of these visual cues for action perception. We present a neurobiologically-motivated approach to achieve noise-tolerant action recognition in real time. Our model consists of self-organizing Growing When Required (GWR networks that obtain progressively generalized representations of sensory inputs and learn inherent spatiotemporal dependencies. During the training, the GWR networks dynamically change their topological structure to better match the input space. We first extract pose and motion features from video sequences and then cluster actions in terms of prototypical pose-motion trajectories. Multi-cue trajectories from matching action frames are subsequently combined to provide action dynamics in the joint feature space. Reported experiments show that our approach outperforms previous results on a dataset of full-body actions captured with a depth sensor, and ranks among the best 21 results for a public benchmark of domestic daily actions.

PREvaIL, an integrative approach for inferring catalytic residues using sequence, structural, and network features in a machine-learning framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Jiangning; Li, Fuyi; Takemoto, Kazuhiro; Haffari, Gholamreza; Akutsu, Tatsuya; Chou, Kuo-Chen; Webb, Geoffrey I

2018-04-14

Determining the catalytic residues in an enzyme is critical to our understanding the relationship between protein sequence, structure, function, and enhancing our ability to design novel enzymes and their inhibitors. Although many enzymes have been sequenced, and their primary and tertiary structures determined, experimental methods for enzyme functional characterization lag behind. Because experimental methods used for identifying catalytic residues are resource- and labor-intensive, computational approaches have considerable value and are highly desirable for their ability to complement experimental studies in identifying catalytic residues and helping to bridge the sequence-structure-function gap. In this study, we describe a new computational method called PREvaIL for predicting enzyme catalytic residues. This method was developed by leveraging a comprehensive set of informative features extracted from multiple levels, including sequence, structure, and residue-contact network, in a random forest machine-learning framework. Extensive benchmarking experiments on eight different datasets based on 10-fold cross-validation and independent tests, as well as side-by-side performance comparisons with seven modern sequence- and structure-based methods, showed that PREvaIL achieved competitive predictive performance, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the precision-recall curve ranging from 0.896 to 0.973 and from 0.294 to 0.523, respectively. We demonstrated that this method was able to capture useful signals arising from different levels, leveraging such differential but useful types of features and allowing us to significantly improve the performance of catalytic residue prediction. We believe that this new method can be utilized as a valuable tool for both understanding the complex sequence-structure-function relationships of proteins and facilitating the characterization of novel enzymes lacking functional annotations

Integration of School Features into Taiwanese Elementary School New English Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Chien, Chin-Wen

2014-01-01

Elementary school English activation curriculum, an additional two culture classes, has been implemented only in New Taipei City in Taiwan starting from 2010, so only a few studies focus on it. This is a case study of an English teacher's integration of a school's features into the activation curriculum in a rural elementary school. This study…

Understanding Protein-Protein Interactions Using Local Structural Features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Planas-Iglesias, Joan; Bonet, Jaume; García-García, Javier

2013-01-01

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) play a relevant role among the different functions of a cell. Identifying the PPI network of a given organism (interactome) is useful to shed light on the key molecular mechanisms within a biological system. In this work, we show the role of structural features...... interacting and non-interacting protein pairs to classify the structural features that sustain the binding (or non-binding) behavior. Our study indicates that not only the interacting region but also the rest of the protein surface are important for the interaction fate. The interpretation...... to score the likelihood of the interaction between two proteins and to develop a method for the prediction of PPIs. We have tested our method on several sets with unbalanced ratios of interactions and non-interactions to simulate real conditions, obtaining accuracies higher than 25% in the most unfavorable...

The future of primordial features with large-scale structure surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xingang; Namjoo, Mohammad Hossein; Dvorkin, Cora; Huang, Zhiqi; Verde, Licia

2016-01-01

Primordial features are one of the most important extensions of the Standard Model of cosmology, providing a wealth of information on the primordial Universe, ranging from discrimination between inflation and alternative scenarios, new particle detection, to fine structures in the inflationary potential. We study the prospects of future large-scale structure (LSS) surveys on the detection and constraints of these features. We classify primordial feature models into several classes, and for each class we present a simple template of power spectrum that encodes the essential physics. We study how well the most ambitious LSS surveys proposed to date, including both spectroscopic and photometric surveys, will be able to improve the constraints with respect to the current Planck data. We find that these LSS surveys will significantly improve the experimental sensitivity on features signals that are oscillatory in scales, due to the 3D information. For a broad range of models, these surveys will be able to reduce the errors of the amplitudes of the features by a factor of 5 or more, including several interesting candidates identified in the recent Planck data. Therefore, LSS surveys offer an impressive opportunity for primordial feature discovery in the next decade or two. We also compare the advantages of both types of surveys.

The future of primordial features with large-scale structure surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Xingang; Namjoo, Mohammad Hossein [Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Dvorkin, Cora [Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Huang, Zhiqi [School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, 510275 (China); Verde, Licia, E-mail: xingang.chen@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: dvorkin@physics.harvard.edu, E-mail: huangzhq25@sysu.edu.cn, E-mail: mohammad.namjoo@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: liciaverde@icc.ub.edu [ICREA and ICC-UB, University of Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Marti i Franques, 1, Barcelona 08028 (Spain)

2016-11-01

Primordial features are one of the most important extensions of the Standard Model of cosmology, providing a wealth of information on the primordial Universe, ranging from discrimination between inflation and alternative scenarios, new particle detection, to fine structures in the inflationary potential. We study the prospects of future large-scale structure (LSS) surveys on the detection and constraints of these features. We classify primordial feature models into several classes, and for each class we present a simple template of power spectrum that encodes the essential physics. We study how well the most ambitious LSS surveys proposed to date, including both spectroscopic and photometric surveys, will be able to improve the constraints with respect to the current Planck data. We find that these LSS surveys will significantly improve the experimental sensitivity on features signals that are oscillatory in scales, due to the 3D information. For a broad range of models, these surveys will be able to reduce the errors of the amplitudes of the features by a factor of 5 or more, including several interesting candidates identified in the recent Planck data. Therefore, LSS surveys offer an impressive opportunity for primordial feature discovery in the next decade or two. We also compare the advantages of both types of surveys.

Metallacyclopentadienes: structural features and coordination in transition metal complexes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolgushin, Fedor M; Yanovsky, Aleksandr I; Antipin, Mikhail Yu

2004-01-01

Results of structural studies of polynuclear transition metal complexes containing the metallacyclopentadiene fragment are overviewed. The structural features of the complexes in relation to the nature of the substituents in the organic moiety of the metallacycles, the nature of the transition metals and their ligand environment are analysed. The main structural characteristics corresponding to different modes of coordination of metallacyclopentadienes to one or two additional metal centres are revealed.

Structural integration of separation and reaction systems: I. Integration of stage-wise processes

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Mitrović Milan

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The structural integration of separation processes, using multifunctional equipment, has been studied on four stage-wise liquid-liquid separations extraction, absorption, distillation, adsorption and on some combinations of these processes. It was shown for stage - wise processes that the ultimate aim of equipment integration is 3-way integration (by components by steps and by stages and that membrane multiphase contactors present concerning the equipment optimal solutions in many cases. First, by using partially integrated equipment and, later by developing fully integrated systems it was experimentally confirmed that structural 3-way integration produces much higher degrees of component separations and component enrichments in compact and safe equipment.

Integrated circuit structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-01-01

The invention describes the fabrication of integrated circuit structures, such as read-only memory components of field-effect transistors, which may be fabricated and then maintained in inventory, and later selectively modified in accordance with a desired pattern. It is claimed that MOS depletion-mode devices in accordance with the invention can be fabricated at lower cost and at higher yields. (U.K.)

Before you see it, you see its parts: evidence for feature encoding and integration in preschool children and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, L A; Massaro, D W

1989-07-01

Preschool children and adults were compared in two experiments examining the basic issue of whether perceptual representations of objects are built-up from independent features along the dimensions of size and brightness. Experiment 1 was a visual search experiment. Subjects searched for targets which differed from distractors either by a single feature or by a conjunction of features. Results from preschoolers were comparable to those from adults, and were consistent with Treisman and Gelade's (1980, Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97-136) feature-integration theory of attention. Their theory states that independent features are encoded in parallel and are later combined with a spatial attention mechanism. However, children's significantly steeper conjunctive search slope indicated a slower speed of feature integration. In Experiment 2, four mathematical models of pattern recognition were tested against classification task data. The findings from both age groups were again consistent with a model assuming that size and brightness features are initially registered, and then integrated. Moreover, the data from Experiment 2 imply that perceptual growth entails small changes in the discriminability of featural representations; however, both experiments show that the operations performed on these representations are the same developmentally.

Structural Integrity in Measures of Self Concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Stenner, A. Jackson; Katzenmeyer, W.G.

Structural integrity of a measure is defined in terms of its replicability, constancy, invariance, and stability. Work completed in the development and validation of the Self Observation Scales (SOS) Primary Level (Stenner and Katzenmeyer, 1973) serves to illustrate one method of establishing structural integrity. The name of each scale of the SOS…

Addressable-Matrix Integrated-Circuit Test Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Sayah, Hoshyar R.; Buehler, Martin G.

1991-01-01

Method of quality control based on use of row- and column-addressable test structure speeds collection of data on widths of resistor lines and coverage of steps in integrated circuits. By use of straightforward mathematical model, line widths and step coverages deduced from measurements of electrical resistances in each of various combinations of lines, steps, and bridges addressable in test structure. Intended for use in evaluating processes and equipment used in manufacture of application-specific integrated circuits.

Common Features in Electronic Structure of the Oxypnictide Superconductors from Photoemission Spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao-Wen, Jia; Hai-Yun, Liu; Wen-Tao, Zhang; Lin, Zhao; Jian-Qiao, Meng; Guo-Dong, Liu; Xiao-Li, Dong; Zhi-An, Ren; Wei, Yi; Guang-Can, Che; Zhong-Xian, Zhao; Gang, Wu; Rong-Hua, Liu; Xian-Hui, Chen; Gen-Fu, Chen; Nan-Lin, Wang; Yong, Zhu; Xiao-Yang, Wang; Gui-Ling, Wang; Yong, Zhou

2008-01-01

High resolution photoemission measurements are carried out on non-superconducting LaFeAsO parent compound and various superconducting RFeAs(O 1-x F x ) (R=La, Ce and Pr) compounds. It is found that the parent LaFeAsO compound shows a metallic character. By extensive measurements, several common features are identified in the electronic structure of these Fe-based compounds: (1) 0.2 eV feature in the valence band, (2) a universal 13-16 meV feature, (3) near Ef spectral weight suppression with decreasing temperature. These universal features can provide important information about band structure, superconducting gap and pseudogap in these Fe-based materials

Integrated seismic design of structure and control systems

CERN Document Server

Castaldo, Paolo

2014-01-01

The structural optimization procedure presented in this book makes it possible to achieve seismic protection through integrated structural/control system design. In particular, it is explained how slender structural systems with a high seismic performance can be achieved through inclusion of viscous and viscoelastic dampers as an integral part of the system. Readers are provided with essential introductory information on passive structural control and passive energy dissipation systems. Dynamic analyses of both single and multiple degree of freedom systems are performed in order to verify the achievement of pre-assigned performance targets, and it is explained how the optimal integrated design methodology, also relevant to retrofitting of existing buildings, should be applied. The book illustrates how structural control research is opening up new possibilities in structural forms and configurations without compromising structural performance.

Endotoxin Structures in the Psychrophiles Psychromonas marina and Psychrobacter cryohalolentis Contain Distinctive Acyl Features

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Charles R. Sweet

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Lipid A is the essential component of endotoxin (Gram-negative lipopolysaccharide, a potent immunostimulatory compound. As the outer surface of the outer membrane, the details of lipid A structure are crucial not only to bacterial pathogenesis but also to membrane integrity. This work characterizes the structure of lipid A in two psychrophiles, Psychromonas marina and Psychrobacter cryohalolentis, and also two mesophiles to which they are related using MALDI-TOF MS and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME GC-MS. P. marina lipid A is strikingly similar to that of Escherichia coli in organization and total acyl size, but incorporates an unusual doubly unsaturated tetradecadienoyl acyl residue. P. cryohalolentis also shows structural organization similar to a closely related mesophile, Acinetobacter baumannii, however it has generally shorter acyl constituents and shows many acyl variants differing by single methylene (-CH2- units, a characteristic it shares with the one previously reported psychrotolerant lipid A structure. This work is the first detailed structural characterization of lipid A from an obligate psychrophile and the second from a psychrotolerant species. It reveals distinctive structural features of psychrophilic lipid A in comparison to that of related mesophiles which suggest constitutive adaptations to maintain outer membrane fluidity in cold environments.

Structural integrity of graphite core support structures of HTTR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Iyoku, Tatsuo; Toyota, Junji; Sato, Sadao; Shiozawa, Shusaku

1990-02-01

The graphite core support structures (GCSSs) of the HTTR (High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor) are an arrangement of graphite blocks and posts that support the core and provide a lower plenum and a hot-leg path for the primary coolant. The GCSSs are designed not to be replaced by new items during plant life time (about twenty years). To maintain structural integrity of the GCSSs, conservative design has been made sufficiently on the basis of structural tests. The present study confirmed that reactor safety was still maintained even if failure and destruction of the GCSSs is supposed to occur. The GCSSs are fabricated under strict quality control and the observation and surveillance programs are planed to examine the structual integrity of the GCSSs during an operation. This paper describes the concept of design and quality control and summarizes structural tests, observation and surveillance programs. (author)

Plated lamination structures for integrated magnetic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Bucknell C.

2014-06-17

Semiconductor integrated magnetic devices such as inductors, transformers, etc., having laminated magnetic-insulator stack structures are provided, wherein the laminated magnetic-insulator stack structures are formed using electroplating techniques. For example, an integrated laminated magnetic device includes a multilayer stack structure having alternating magnetic and insulating layers formed on a substrate, wherein each magnetic layer in the multilayer stack structure is separated from another magnetic layer in the multilayer stack structure by an insulating layer, and a local shorting structure to electrically connect each magnetic layer in the multilayer stack structure to an underlying magnetic layer in the multilayer stack structure to facilitate electroplating of the magnetic layers using an underlying conductive layer (magnetic or seed layer) in the stack as an electrical cathode/anode for each electroplated magnetic layer in the stack structure.

Chinese wine classification system based on micrograph using combination of shape and structure features

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Yi

2011-06-01

Chinese wines can be classification or graded by the micrographs. Micrographs of Chinese wines show floccules, stick and granule of variant shape and size. Different wines have variant microstructure and micrographs, we study the classification of Chinese wines based on the micrographs. Shape and structure of wines' particles in microstructure is the most important feature for recognition and classification of wines. So we introduce a feature extraction method which can describe the structure and region shape of micrograph efficiently. First, the micrographs are enhanced using total variation denoising, and segmented using a modified Otsu's method based on the Rayleigh Distribution. Then features are extracted using proposed method in the paper based on area, perimeter and traditional shape feature. Eight kinds total 26 features are selected. Finally, Chinese wine classification system based on micrograph using combination of shape and structure features and BP neural network have been presented. We compare the recognition results for different choices of features (traditional shape features or proposed features). The experimental results show that the better classification rate have been achieved using the combinational features proposed in this paper.

A Feature-Based Structural Measure: An Image Similarity Measure for Face Recognition

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Noor Abdalrazak Shnain

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Facial recognition is one of the most challenging and interesting problems within the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. During the last few years, it has gained special attention due to its importance in relation to current issues such as security, surveillance systems and forensics analysis. Despite this high level of attention to facial recognition, the success is still limited by certain conditions; there is no method which gives reliable results in all situations. In this paper, we propose an efficient similarity index that resolves the shortcomings of the existing measures of feature and structural similarity. This measure, called the Feature-Based Structural Measure (FSM, combines the best features of the well-known SSIM (structural similarity index measure and FSIM (feature similarity index measure approaches, striking a balance between performance for similar and dissimilar images of human faces. In addition to the statistical structural properties provided by SSIM, edge detection is incorporated in FSM as a distinctive structural feature. Its performance is tested for a wide range of PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio, using ORL (Olivetti Research Laboratory, now AT&T Laboratory Cambridge and FEI (Faculty of Industrial Engineering, São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil databases. The proposed measure is tested under conditions of Gaussian noise; simulation results show that the proposed FSM outperforms the well-known SSIM and FSIM approaches in its efficiency of similarity detection and recognition of human faces.

The Benchmarking of Integrated Business Structures

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Nifatova Olena M.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to study the role of the benchmarking in the process of integration of business structures in the aspect of knowledge sharing. The results of studying the essential content of the concept “integrated business structure” and its semantic analysis made it possible to form our own understanding of this category with an emphasis on the need to consider it in the plane of three projections — legal, economic and organizational one. The economic projection of the essential content of integration associations of business units is supported by the organizational projection, which is expressed through such essential aspects as existence of a single center that makes key decisions; understanding integration as knowledge sharing; using the benchmarking as exchange of experience on key business processes. Understanding the process of integration of business units in the aspect of knowledge sharing involves obtaining certain information benefits. Using the benchmarking as exchange of experience on key business processes in integrated business structures will help improve the basic production processes, increase the efficiency of activity of both the individual business unit and the IBS as a whole.

The influence of target structure on topographical features produced by ion beam sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitton, J.L.; Grant, W.A.

1981-01-01

Ion beam erosion of solid surfaces often results in the development of distinctive topographical features. The relationship between the type of features formed by ion erosion and target structure has been investigated. Single crystals of copper and nickel and the amorphous alloy Metglas have been bombarded to high doses (approx. >=10 19 ions cm -2 ) with 40 keV Ar + and P + . Topography changes were monitored using SEM and structural changes by TEM. Targets that retain their long range crystallinity show sharply defined, regular features that are related to the target structure. Targets that are highly disordered, either intrinsically or as a result of the ion bombardment, produce diffuse, smaller features. Those differences are observed at all stages in topographical evolution. (orig.)

Visual feature integration theory: past, present, and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Quinlan, Philip T

2003-09-01

Visual feature integration theory was one of the most influential theories of visual information processing in the last quarter of the 20th century. This article provides an exposition of the theory and a review of the associated data. In the past much emphasis has been placed on how the theory explains performance in various visual search tasks. The relevant literature is discussed and alternative accounts are described. Amendments to the theory are also set out. Many other issues concerning internal processes and representations implicated by the theory are reviewed. The article closes with a synopsis of what has been learned from consideration of the theory, and it is concluded that some of the issues may remain intractable unless appropriate neuroscientific investigations are carried out.

Alertness modulates conflict adaptation and feature integration in an opposite way.

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Peiduo Liu

Full Text Available Previous studies show that the congruency sequence effect can result from both the conflict adaptation effect (CAE and feature integration effect which can be observed as the repetition priming effect (RPE and feature overlap effect (FOE depending on different experimental conditions. Evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests that a close correlation exists between the neural mechanisms of alertness-related modulations and the congruency sequence effect. However, little is known about whether and how alertness mediates the congruency sequence effect. In Experiment 1, the Attentional Networks Test (ANT and a modified flanker task were used to evaluate whether the alertness of the attentional functions had a correlation with the CAE and RPE. In Experimental 2, the ANT and another modified flanker task were used to investigate whether alertness of the attentional functions correlate with the CAE and FOE. In Experiment 1, through the correlative analysis, we found a significant positive correlation between alertness and the CAE, and a negative correlation between the alertness and the RPE. Moreover, a significant negative correlation existed between CAE and RPE. In Experiment 2, we found a marginally significant negative correlation between the CAE and the RPE, but the correlation between alertness and FOE, CAE and FOE was not significant. These results suggest that alertness can modulate conflict adaptation and feature integration in an opposite way. Participants at the high alerting level group may tend to use the top-down cognitive processing strategy, whereas participants at the low alerting level group tend to use the bottom-up processing strategy.

Alertness Modulates Conflict Adaptation and Feature Integration in an Opposite Way

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jia; Huang, Xiting; Chen, Antao

2013-01-01

Previous studies show that the congruency sequence effect can result from both the conflict adaptation effect (CAE) and feature integration effect which can be observed as the repetition priming effect (RPE) and feature overlap effect (FOE) depending on different experimental conditions. Evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests that a close correlation exists between the neural mechanisms of alertness-related modulations and the congruency sequence effect. However, little is known about whether and how alertness mediates the congruency sequence effect. In Experiment 1, the Attentional Networks Test (ANT) and a modified flanker task were used to evaluate whether the alertness of the attentional functions had a correlation with the CAE and RPE. In Experimental 2, the ANT and another modified flanker task were used to investigate whether alertness of the attentional functions correlate with the CAE and FOE. In Experiment 1, through the correlative analysis, we found a significant positive correlation between alertness and the CAE, and a negative correlation between the alertness and the RPE. Moreover, a significant negative correlation existed between CAE and RPE. In Experiment 2, we found a marginally significant negative correlation between the CAE and the RPE, but the correlation between alertness and FOE, CAE and FOE was not significant. These results suggest that alertness can modulate conflict adaptation and feature integration in an opposite way. Participants at the high alerting level group may tend to use the top-down cognitive processing strategy, whereas participants at the low alerting level group tend to use the bottom-up processing strategy. PMID:24250824

Integrating Features of Islamic Traditional Home and Smart Home

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Mona El Basyouni

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Architecture is a mirror that reflects the various elements of its environment and surroundings, such as climate, geographical characteristics, standard architectural principles, and social, cultural and scientific developments. Muslims of different regions were able, through architecture, to portray their temperaments and environments, free of external influence and guarantee life goals for users. Every day, building owners and occupants experience the constant challenges of comfort, convenience, cost, productivity, performance and sustainability. Owners, designers, builders, and operators are continuously faced with new processes, technologies and offerings to help them achieve better building performance. Since an intelligent building is run by a “system of systems” that is integrated to deliver a higher level of operational efficiency and an improved set of user-interface tools than are usually found in traditional building automation; at the other hand Arab homes with Islamic Identity guarantee all life goals for use.. Hence, this research focus on the smart environmental treatments of Islamic features for traditional architecture in Arabs homes, features of smart home and life goals for resident users.Trying to achieve a methodology combining them for enriching Arab experience of traditional architecture and its architectural results, with the modern trends of smart architecture. This combination aims at creating a residential model combining the benefits and features of Arab Islamic identity and intelligent design.

Structural integrity evaluation of FTL in-pool piping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, J. Y

1998-05-01

HANARO fuel test loop will be equipped in HANARO to obtain the development betterment of advanced fuel and materials through the irradiation test. The object of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity of FTL in-pool piping by investigating a dynamic analysis of the loop containing a postulated rupture section. The method to perform the dynamic analysis and structural integrity evaluation caused by the pipe whip in water environment can be a reference for a similar structural integrity evaluation. (author). 7 refs., 39 tabs., 34 figs.

Advanced GPR imaging of sedimentary features: integrated attribute analysis applied to sand dunes

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Wenke; Forte, Emanuele; Fontolan, Giorgio; Pipan, Michele

2018-04-01

We evaluate the applicability and the effectiveness of integrated GPR attribute analysis to image the internal sedimentary features of the Piscinas Dunes, SW Sardinia, Italy. The main objective is to explore the limits of GPR techniques to study sediment-bodies geometry and to provide a non-invasive high-resolution characterization of the different subsurface domains of dune architecture. On such purpose, we exploit the high-quality Piscinas data-set to extract and test different attributes of the GPR trace. Composite displays of multi-attributes related to amplitude, frequency, similarity and textural features are displayed with overlays and RGB mixed models. A multi-attribute comparative analysis is used to characterize different radar facies to better understand the characteristics of internal reflection patterns. The results demonstrate that the proposed integrated GPR attribute analysis can provide enhanced information about the spatial distribution of sediment bodies, allowing an enhanced and more constrained data interpretation.

Structural differences and architectural features of two different polypropylene slings (TVT-O and I-STOP) have no impact on biocompatibility and tissue reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Przydacz, Mikolaj; Adli, Oussama El Yazami; Mahfouz, Wally; Loutochin, Oleg; Bégin, Louis R; Corcos, Jacques

2017-06-30

To evaluate the impact of design features of the synthetic mid-urethral slings on tissue integrity and inflammatory responses. In total 30 female Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with type I monofilamentous, macroporous polypropylene meshes: Gynecare TVT-Obturator tape ® (Ethicon Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Somerville, NJ, USA) and I-STOP ® (CL Medical Inc., Lyon, France). All animal groups were sacrificed at set time intervals - 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months - and the abdominal wall was harvested with mesh strips for histological evaluation. All mesh strips appeared to be well incorporated into the abdominal wall, and no signs of shrinkage was noticed. All specimens showed a thin/delicate, loose, fibrous interface between the synthetic graft plate and abdominal wall, along with mild inflammatory reactions from 6 weeks to 12 months. Both mesh brands induced comparable, minimal foreign body reactions and integrated well into the host tissues despite differences in architectural features. TVT-O ® and I-STOP ® evoked similar low-grade inflammatory responses up to 12 months in this animal model. Structural differences and architectural features of polypropylene slings used in this study have had no impact on tissue integrity and inflammatory responses.

THE ESSENCE OF STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY IN THE INTEGRATED STRUCTURE

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A. I. Khorev

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Summary. In the beginning of the article is defined a rational sequence of the consideration of the nature of the strategy of a company development, included into an integrated structure. Further the article describes the following items separately: "a strategy", "a development of a company", and "an integrational structure", applying them to companies included to the integrated structure; separating them from a strategy of development of an autonomous company. The article defines functions which such strategy must define, taking into consideration the nature of the strategy of the company development, included into an integrated structure. Next, the article defines six steps which describe a sequence of development of the strategy of the company development, included into an integrated structure. The analysis which is defined in the article allows determining a complete definition of essence of the strategy of the company development, included into an integrated structure. The article also defines a place of the strategy of development into the hierarchical structure of the strategies. The strategy of the company development, included into an integrated structure (as well as the strategy of development of an autonomous company -- is a competition strategy, and it separates "strategy of leadership for costs", “differentiation strategy”, and “strategy of focusing for costs”. Also authors are analyzed the strategy of the cost optimization. According to the complex definition of the strategy, and the strategy's place inside the hierarchical structure, the article defines functions which corporate, competitive, and functional strategies execute during the management of companies inside an integrational structure. The article presents characteristics of applied strategic decisions at different levels of all three types of strategies. The article's researches allow companies included to the integrated structure define their place inside the

Constructing and validating readability models: the method of integrating multilevel linguistic features with machine learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, Yao-Ting; Chen, Ju-Ling; Cha, Ji-Her; Tseng, Hou-Chiang; Chang, Tao-Hsing; Chang, Kuo-En

2015-06-01

Multilevel linguistic features have been proposed for discourse analysis, but there have been few applications of multilevel linguistic features to readability models and also few validations of such models. Most traditional readability formulae are based on generalized linear models (GLMs; e.g., discriminant analysis and multiple regression), but these models have to comply with certain statistical assumptions about data properties and include all of the data in formulae construction without pruning the outliers in advance. The use of such readability formulae tends to produce a low text classification accuracy, while using a support vector machine (SVM) in machine learning can enhance the classification outcome. The present study constructed readability models by integrating multilevel linguistic features with SVM, which is more appropriate for text classification. Taking the Chinese language as an example, this study developed 31 linguistic features as the predicting variables at the word, semantic, syntax, and cohesion levels, with grade levels of texts as the criterion variable. The study compared four types of readability models by integrating unilevel and multilevel linguistic features with GLMs and an SVM. The results indicate that adopting a multilevel approach in readability analysis provides a better representation of the complexities of both texts and the reading comprehension process.

Integrated water flow model and modflow-farm process: A comparison of theory, approaches, and features of two integrated hydrologic models

Science.gov (United States)

Dogrul, Emin C.; Schmid, Wolfgang; Hanson, Randall T.; Kadir, Tariq; Chung, Francis

2016-01-01

Effective modeling of conjunctive use of surface and subsurface water resources requires simulation of land use-based root zone and surface flow processes as well as groundwater flows, streamflows, and their interactions. Recently, two computer models developed for this purpose, the Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM) from the California Department of Water Resources and the MODFLOW with Farm Process (MF-FMP) from the US Geological Survey, have been applied to complex basins such as the Central Valley of California. As both IWFM and MFFMP are publicly available for download and can be applied to other basins, there is a need to objectively compare the main approaches and features used in both models. This paper compares the concepts, as well as the method and simulation features of each hydrologic model pertaining to groundwater, surface water, and landscape processes. The comparison is focused on the integrated simulation of water demand and supply, water use, and the flow between coupled hydrologic processes. The differences in the capabilities and features of these two models could affect the outcome and types of water resource problems that can be simulated.

An Integrated Skills Approach Using Feature Movies in EFL at Tertiary Level

Science.gov (United States)

Tuncay, Hidayet

2014-01-01

This paper presents the results of a case study based on an integrated skills approach using feature movies (DVDs) in EFL syllabi at the tertiary level. 100 students took part in the study and the data was collected through a three - section survey questionnaire: demographic items, 18 likert scale questions and an open-ended question. The data…

CREATING EFFECTIVE MODELS OF VERTICAL INTEGRATED STRUCTURES IN UKRAINE

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D. V. Koliesnikov

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The results of scientific research aimed at development of methodology-theoretical mechanisms of building the effective models of vertically-integrated structures are presented. A presence of vertically-integrated structures on natural-monopolistic markets at private and governmental sectors of economy and priority directions of integration are given.

Compressive behavior of pervious concretes and a quantification of the influence of random pore structure features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deo, Omkar; Neithalath, Narayanan

2010-01-01

Research highlights: → Identified the relevant pore structure features of pervious concretes, provided methodologies to extract those, and quantified the influence of these features on compressive response. → A model for stress-strain relationship of pervious concretes, and relationship between model parameters and parameters of the stress-strain relationship developed. → Statistical model for compressive strength as a function of pore structure features; and a stochastic model for the sensitivity of pore structure features in strength prediction. - Abstract: Properties of a random porous material such as pervious concrete are strongly dependent on its pore structure features, porosity being an important one among them. This study deals with developing an understanding of the material structure-compressive response relationships in pervious concretes. Several pervious concrete mixtures with different pore structure features are proportioned and subjected to static compression tests. The pore structure features such as pore area fractions, pore sizes, mean free spacing of the pores, specific surface area, and the three-dimensional pore distribution density are extracted using image analysis methods. The compressive stress-strain response of pervious concretes, a model to predict the stress-strain response, and its relationship to several of the pore structure features are outlined. Larger aggregate sizes and increase in paste volume fractions are observed to result in increased compressive strengths. The compressive response is found to be influenced by the pore sizes, their distributions and spacing. A statistical model is used to relate the compressive strength to the relevant pore structure features, which is then used as a base model in a Monte-Carlo simulation to evaluate the sensitivity of the predicted compressive strength to the model terms.

Structural analysis program of plant piping system. Introduction of AutoPIPE V8i new feature. JSME PPC-class 2 piping code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motohashi, Kazuhiko

2009-01-01

After an integration with ADLPipe, AutoPIPE V8i (ver.9.1) became the structural analysis program of plant piping system featured with analysis capability for the ASME NB Class 1 and JSME PPC-Class 2 piping codes including ASME NC Class 2 and ASME ND Class 3. This article described analysis capability for the JSME PPC-Class 2 piping code as well as new general features such as static analysis up to 100 thermal, 10 seismic and 10 wind load cases including different loading scenarios and pipe segment edit function: join, split, reverse and re-order segments. (T. Tanaka)

An integration of minimum local feature representation methods to recognize large variation of foods

Science.gov (United States)

Razali, Mohd Norhisham bin; Manshor, Noridayu; Halin, Alfian Abdul; Mustapha, Norwati; Yaakob, Razali

2017-10-01

Local invariant features have shown to be successful in describing object appearances for image classification tasks. Such features are robust towards occlusion and clutter and are also invariant against scale and orientation changes. This makes them suitable for classification tasks with little inter-class similarity and large intra-class difference. In this paper, we propose an integrated representation of the Speeded-Up Robust Feature (SURF) and Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) descriptors, using late fusion strategy. The proposed representation is used for food recognition from a dataset of food images with complex appearance variations. The Bag of Features (BOF) approach is employed to enhance the discriminative ability of the local features. Firstly, the individual local features are extracted to construct two kinds of visual vocabularies, representing SURF and SIFT. The visual vocabularies are then concatenated and fed into a Linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) to classify the respective food categories. Experimental results demonstrate impressive overall recognition at 82.38% classification accuracy based on the challenging UEC-Food100 dataset.

Integrated network for structural integrity monitoring of critical components in nuclear facilities, RIMIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Maria; Constantinescu, Dan Mihai; Brad, Sebastian; Ducu, Catalin; Malinovschi, Viorel

2008-01-01

The round table aims to join specialists working in the research area of the Romanian R and D Institutes and Universities involved in structural integrity assessment of materials, especially those working in the nuclear field, together with the representatives of the end user, the Cernavoda NPP. This scientific event will offer the opportunity to disseminate the theoretical, experimental and modelling activities, carried out to date, in the framework of the National Program 'Research of Excellence', Module I 2006-2008, managed by the National Authority for Scientific Research. Entitled 'Integrated Network for Structural Integrity Monitoring of Critical Components in Nuclear Facilities, RIMIS, the project has two main objectives: 1. - to elaborate a procedure applicable to the structural integrity assessment of critical components used in Romanian nuclear facilities (CANDU type Reactor, Hydrogen Isotopes Separation installations); 2. - to integrate the national networking into a similar one of European level, and to enhance the scientific significance of Romanian R and D organisations as well as to increase the contribution in solving major issues of the nuclear field. The topics of the round table will be focused on: 1. Development of a Structural Integrity Assessment Methodology applicable to the nuclear facilities components; 2. Experimental investigation methods and procedures; 3. Numeric simulation of nuclear components behaviour; 4. Further activities to finalize the assessment procedure. Also participations and contributions to sustain the activity in the European Network NULIFE, FP6 will be discussed. (authors)

Integrated corporate structure life cycle management modeling and organization

OpenAIRE

Naumenko, M.; Morozova, L.

2011-01-01

Integrated business structure presented as complementary pool of its participants skills. The methodical approach to integrated business structure life cycle modeling proposed. Recommendations of enterprises life cycles stages correlate are submitted.

Integration of internal and external facial features in 8- to 10-year-old children and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Meinhardt-Injac, Bozana; Persike, Malte; Meinhardt, Günter

2014-06-01

Investigation of whole-part and composite effects in 4- to 6-year-old children gave rise to claims that face perception is fully mature within the first decade of life (Crookes & McKone, 2009). However, only internal features were tested, and the role of external features was not addressed, although external features are highly relevant for holistic face perception (Sinha & Poggio, 1996; Axelrod & Yovel, 2010, 2011). In this study, 8- to 10-year-old children and adults performed a same-different matching task with faces and watches. In this task participants attended to either internal or external features. Holistic face perception was tested using a congruency paradigm, in which face and non-face stimuli either agreed or disagreed in both features (congruent contexts) or just in the attended ones (incongruent contexts). In both age groups, pronounced context congruency and inversion effects were found for faces, but not for watches. These findings indicate holistic feature integration for faces. While inversion effects were highly similar in both age groups, context congruency effects were stronger for children. Moreover, children's face matching performance was generally better when attending to external compared to internal features. Adults tended to perform better when attending to internal features. Our results indicate that both adults and 8- to 10-year-old children integrate external and internal facial features into holistic face representations. However, in children's face representations external features are much more relevant. These findings suggest that face perception is holistic but still not adult-like at the end of the first decade of life. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Feature Extraction for Structural Dynamics Model Validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farrar, Charles [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Nishio, Mayuko [Yokohama University; Hemez, Francois [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Stull, Chris [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Park, Gyuhae [Chonnam Univesity; Cornwell, Phil [Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Figueiredo, Eloi [Universidade Lusófona; Luscher, D. J. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Worden, Keith [University of Sheffield

2016-01-13

As structural dynamics becomes increasingly non-modal, stochastic and nonlinear, finite element model-updating technology must adopt the broader notions of model validation and uncertainty quantification. For example, particular re-sampling procedures must be implemented to propagate uncertainty through a forward calculation, and non-modal features must be defined to analyze nonlinear data sets. The latter topic is the focus of this report, but first, some more general comments regarding the concept of model validation will be discussed.

Integrating Multi-omic features exploiting Chromosome Conformation Capture data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan eMerelli

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The representation, integration and interpretation of omic data is a complex task, in particular considering the huge amount of information that is daily produced in molecular biology laboratories all around the world. The reason is that sequencing data regarding expression profiles, methylation patterns, and chromatin domains is difficult to harmonize in a systems biology view, since genome browsers only allow coordinate-based representations, discarding functional clusters created by the spatial conformation of the DNA in the nucleus. In this context, recent progresses in high throughput molecular biology techniques and bioinformatics have provided insights into chromatin interactions on a larger scale and offer a formidable support for the interpretation of multi-omic data. In particular, a novel sequencing technique called Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C allows the analysis of the chromosome organization in the cell’s natural state. While performed genome wide, this technique is usually called Hi-C. Inspired by service applications such as Google Maps, we developed NuChart, an R package that integrates Hi-C data to describe the chromosomal neighbourhood starting from the information about gene positions, with the possibility of mapping on the achieved graphs genomic features such as methylation patterns and histone modifications, along with expression profiles. In this paper we show the importance of the NuChart application for the integration of multi-omic data in a systems biology fashion, with particular interest in cytogenetic applications of these techniques. Moreover, we demonstrate how the integration of multi-omic data can provide useful information in understanding why genes are in certain specific positions inside the nucleus and how epigenetic patterns correlate with their expression.

INTEGRATION OF IMAGE-DERIVED AND POS-DERIVED FEATURES FOR IMAGE BLUR DETECTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.-A. Teo

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The image quality plays an important role for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV’s applications. The small fixed wings UAV is suffering from the image blur due to the crosswind and the turbulence. Position and Orientation System (POS, which provides the position and orientation information, is installed onto an UAV to enable acquisition of UAV trajectory. It can be used to calculate the positional and angular velocities when the camera shutter is open. This study proposes a POS-assisted method to detect the blur image. The major steps include feature extraction, blur image detection and verification. In feature extraction, this study extracts different features from images and POS. The image-derived features include mean and standard deviation of image gradient. For POS-derived features, we modify the traditional degree-of-linear-blur (blinear method to degree-of-motion-blur (bmotion based on the collinear condition equations and POS parameters. Besides, POS parameters such as positional and angular velocities are also adopted as POS-derived features. In blur detection, this study uses Support Vector Machines (SVM classifier and extracted features (i.e. image information, POS data, blinear and bmotion to separate blur and sharp UAV images. The experiment utilizes SenseFly eBee UAV system. The number of image is 129. In blur image detection, we use the proposed degree-of-motion-blur and other image features to classify the blur image and sharp images. The classification result shows that the overall accuracy using image features is only 56%. The integration of image-derived and POS-derived features have improved the overall accuracy from 56% to 76% in blur detection. Besides, this study indicates that the performance of the proposed degree-of-motion-blur is better than the traditional degree-of-linear-blur.

An integrated condition-monitoring method for a milling process using reduced decomposition features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2017-01-01

Complex and non-stationary cutting chatter affects productivity and quality in the milling process. Developing an effective condition-monitoring approach is critical to accurately identify cutting chatter. In this paper, an integrated condition-monitoring method is proposed, where reduced features are used to efficiently recognize and classify machine states in the milling process. In the proposed method, vibration signals are decomposed into multiple modes with variational mode decomposition, and Shannon power spectral entropy is calculated to extract features from the decomposed signals. Principal component analysis is adopted to reduce feature size and computational cost. With the extracted feature information, the probabilistic neural network model is used to recognize and classify the machine states, including stable, transition, and chatter states. Experimental studies are conducted, and results show that the proposed method can effectively detect cutting chatter during different milling operation conditions. This monitoring method is also efficient enough to satisfy fast machine state recognition and classification. (paper)

Heuristic algorithms for feature selection under Bayesian models with block-diagonal covariance structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Foroughi Pour, Ali; Dalton, Lori A

2018-03-21

Many bioinformatics studies aim to identify markers, or features, that can be used to discriminate between distinct groups. In problems where strong individual markers are not available, or where interactions between gene products are of primary interest, it may be necessary to consider combinations of features as a marker family. To this end, recent work proposes a hierarchical Bayesian framework for feature selection that places a prior on the set of features we wish to select and on the label-conditioned feature distribution. While an analytical posterior under Gaussian models with block covariance structures is available, the optimal feature selection algorithm for this model remains intractable since it requires evaluating the posterior over the space of all possible covariance block structures and feature-block assignments. To address this computational barrier, in prior work we proposed a simple suboptimal algorithm, 2MNC-Robust, with robust performance across the space of block structures. Here, we present three new heuristic feature selection algorithms. The proposed algorithms outperform 2MNC-Robust and many other popular feature selection algorithms on synthetic data. In addition, enrichment analysis on real breast cancer, colon cancer, and Leukemia data indicates they also output many of the genes and pathways linked to the cancers under study. Bayesian feature selection is a promising framework for small-sample high-dimensional data, in particular biomarker discovery applications. When applied to cancer data these algorithms outputted many genes already shown to be involved in cancer as well as potentially new biomarkers. Furthermore, one of the proposed algorithms, SPM, outputs blocks of heavily correlated genes, particularly useful for studying gene interactions and gene networks.

Structural integrity assessment of HANARO pool cover

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryu, Jeong Soo

2001-11-01

This report is for the seismic analysis and the structural integrity evaluation of HANARO Pool Cover in accordances with the requirement of the Technical Specification for Seismic Analysis of HANARO Pool Cover. For performing the seismic analysis and evaluating the structural integrity for HANARO Pool Cover, the finite element analysis model using ANSYS 5.7 was developed and the dynamic characteristics were analyzed. The seismic response spectrum analyses of HANARO Pool Cover under the design floor response spectrum loads of OBE and SSE were performed. The analysis results show that the stress values in HANARO Pool Cover for the seismic loads are within the ASME Code limits. It is also confirmed that the fatigue usage factor is less than 1.0. Therefore any damage on structural integrity is not expected when an HANARO Pool Cover is installed in the upper part of the reactor pool

Structural integrity aspects of reactor safety

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A large experimental programme supported the structural integrity demonstration. ... Categories in which the structures, systems and components (SSC) are .... One of the ways in which the decision to live with the defect can be aided is the .... The Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) (figure 18) being designed by BARC ...

Strengthening, modification and repair techniques’ prioritization for structural integrity control of ageing offshore structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samarakoon, Samindi M.K.; Ratnayake, R.M. Chandima

2015-01-01

Structural integrity control is vital for existing ageing as well as newly built offshore and onshore structures. Structural integrity control becomes highly sensitive to interventions under a potential loss of structural integrity when it comes to offshore oil and gas production and process facilities. This is mainly due to the inherent constraints present in carrying out engineering work in the offshore atmosphere. It has been further exacerbated by the ageing offshore structures and the necessity of carrying out life extension toward the end of their design service lives. Local and international regulations demand the implementation of appropriate strengthening, modification and repair plans when significant changes in the structural integrity are revealed. In this context, strengthening, modification and repair techniques such as welding, member removal/reduction of loading, mechanical clamping and grouted repairs play a vital role. This manuscript presents an approach for prioritizing the strengthening, modification and repair techniques using a multi-criteria analysis approach. An analytic hierarchy process has been selected for the analysis via an illustrative case. It also provides a comprehensive overview of currently existing; strengthening, modification and repair techniques and their comparative pros and cons. - Highlights: • Structural integrity control (SIC) of ageing and intact offshore structures. • Strengthening, modification and/or repair (SMR) techniques have been explained. • Application of multi-criteria analysis conserving SI has been illustrated. • SMR techniques prioritization and sensitivity analysis has been performed

DroidEnsemble: Detecting Android Malicious Applications with Ensemble of String and Structural Static Features

KAUST Repository

Wang, Wei

2018-05-11

Android platform has dominated the Operating System of mobile devices. However, the dramatic increase of Android malicious applications (malapps) has caused serious software failures to Android system and posed a great threat to users. The effective detection of Android malapps has thus become an emerging yet crucial issue. Characterizing the behaviors of Android applications (apps) is essential to detecting malapps. Most existing work on detecting Android malapps was mainly based on string static features such as permissions and API usage extracted from apps. There also exists work on the detection of Android malapps with structural features, such as Control Flow Graph (CFG) and Data Flow Graph (DFG). As Android malapps have become increasingly polymorphic and sophisticated, using only one type of static features may result in false negatives. In this work, we propose DroidEnsemble that takes advantages of both string features and structural features to systematically and comprehensively characterize the static behaviors of Android apps and thus build a more accurate detection model for the detection of Android malapps. We extract each app’s string features, including permissions, hardware features, filter intents, restricted API calls, used permissions, code patterns, as well as structural features like function call graph. We then use three machine learning algorithms, namely, Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) and Random Forest (RF), to evaluate the performance of these two types of features and of their ensemble. In the experiments, We evaluate our methods and models with 1386 benign apps and 1296 malapps. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of DroidEnsemble. It achieves the detection accuracy as 95.8% with only string features and as 90.68% with only structural features. DroidEnsemble reaches the detection accuracy as 98.4% with the ensemble of both types of features, reducing 9 false positives and 12 false

Integrable nonlinear Schrödinger system on a lattice with three structural elements in the unit cell

Science.gov (United States)

Vakhnenko, Oleksiy O.

2018-05-01

Developing the idea of increasing the number of structural elements in the unit cell of a quasi-one-dimensional lattice as applied to the semi-discrete integrable systems of nonlinear Schrödinger type, we construct the zero-curvature representation for the general integrable nonlinear system on a lattice with three structural elements in the unit cell. The integrability of the obtained general system permits to find explicitly a number of local conservation laws responsible for the main features of system dynamics and in particular for the so-called natural constraints separating the field variables into the basic and the concomitant ones. Thus, considering the reduction to the semi-discrete integrable system of nonlinear Schrödinger type, we revealed the essentially nontrivial impact of concomitant fields on the Poisson structure and on the whole Hamiltonian formulation of system dynamics caused by the nonzero background values of these fields. On the other hand, the zero-curvature representation of a general nonlinear system serves as an indispensable key to the dressing procedure of system integration based upon the Darboux transformation of the auxiliary linear problem and the implicit Bäcklund transformation of field variables. Due to the symmetries inherent to the six-component semi-discrete integrable nonlinear Schrödinger system with attractive-type nonlinearities, the Darboux-Bäcklund dressing scheme is shown to be simplified considerably, giving rise to the appropriately parameterized multi-component soliton solution consisting of six basic and four concomitant components.

CLASSIFICATION OF INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF 2D AND 3D FEATURES EXTRACTED FROM UAV DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. M. Gevaert

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs are capable of providing very high resolution and up-to-date information to support informal settlement upgrading projects. In order to provide accurate basemaps, urban scene understanding through the identification and classification of buildings and terrain is imperative. However, common characteristics of informal settlements such as small, irregular buildings with heterogeneous roof material and large presence of clutter challenge state-of-the-art algorithms. Especially the dense buildings and steeply sloped terrain cause difficulties in identifying elevated objects. This work investigates how 2D radiometric and textural features, 2.5D topographic features, and 3D geometric features obtained from UAV imagery can be integrated to obtain a high classification accuracy in challenging classification problems for the analysis of informal settlements. It compares the utility of pixel-based and segment-based features obtained from an orthomosaic and DSM with point-based and segment-based features extracted from the point cloud to classify an unplanned settlement in Kigali, Rwanda. Findings show that the integration of 2D and 3D features leads to higher classification accuracies.

Topological features of the Sokolov integrable case on the Lie algebra so(3,1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Novikov, D V

2014-01-01

The integrable Sokolov case on so(3,1) ⋆ is investigated. This is a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom, in which the Hamiltonian and the additional integral are homogeneous polynomials of degrees 2 and 4, respectively. It is an interesting feature of this system that connected components of common level surfaces of the Hamiltonian and the additional integral turn out to be noncompact. The critical points of the moment map and their indices are found, the bifurcation diagram is constructed, and the topology of noncompact level surfaces is determined, that is, the closures of solutions of the Sokolov system on so(3,1) are described. Bibliography: 24 titles

Sequential Modulations in a Combined Horizontal and Vertical Simon Task: Is There ERP Evidence for Feature Integration Effects?

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppe, Katharina; Küper, Kristina; Wascher, Edmund

2017-01-01

In the Simon task, participants respond faster when the task-irrelevant stimulus position and the response position are corresponding, for example on the same side, compared to when they have a non-corresponding relation. Interestingly, this Simon effect is reduced after non-corresponding trials. Such sequential effects can be explained in terms of a more focused processing of the relevant stimulus dimension due to increased cognitive control, which transfers from the previous non-corresponding trial (conflict adaptation effects). Alternatively, sequential modulations of the Simon effect can also be due to the degree of trial-to-trial repetitions and alternations of task features, which is confounded with the correspondence sequence (feature integration effects). In the present study, we used a spatially two-dimensional Simon task with vertical response keys to examine the contribution of adaptive cognitive control and feature integration processes to the sequential modulation of the Simon effect. The two-dimensional Simon task creates correspondences in the vertical as well as in the horizontal dimension. A trial-by-trial alternation of the spatial dimension, for example from a vertical to a horizontal stimulus presentation, generates a subset containing no complete repetitions of task features, but only complete alternations and partial repetitions, which are equally distributed over all correspondence sequences. In line with the assumed feature integration effects, we found sequential modulations of the Simon effect only when the spatial dimension repeated. At least for the horizontal dimension, this pattern was confirmed by the parietal P3b, an event-related potential that is assumed to reflect stimulus-response link processes. Contrary to conflict adaptation effects, cognitive control, measured by the fronto-central N2 component of the EEG, was not sequentially modulated. Overall, our data provide behavioral as well as electrophysiological evidence for feature

Westinghouse integrated protection system. An overview of the software design and maintenance features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibson, R.J.

1995-01-01

The Westinghouse Integrated Protection System was designed with the goal of providing a system which can be easily verified, validated, and maintained. The software design and structure promote the ease of translation from functional requirements to applications function software while also improving the ability to verify and maintain the applications function software. The use of independent, reusable, common functions software modules focuses the design, verification, and validation of the software and reduces the likelihood of errors occurring during the application and maintenance of the software. The simple continuous loop method of operation used throughout the IPS provides a standard deterministic method of operation. The IPS design also incorporates the use of embedded self-diagnostics to perform continuous hardware oriented tests of the system and the use of an independent subsystem to automatically perform a functional test of the system. Maintenance interfaces also exist to readily identify and locate faults as well as providing other maintenance capabilities. These testing and maintenance features enhance the overall reliability and availability of the system. (orig.) (2 refs., 2 figs.)

Photonic Integrated Circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Krainak, Michael; Merritt, Scott

2016-01-01

Integrated photonics generally is the integration of multiple lithographically defined photonic and electronic components and devices (e.g. lasers, detectors, waveguides passive structures, modulators, electronic control and optical interconnects) on a single platform with nanometer-scale feature sizes. The development of photonic integrated circuits permits size, weight, power and cost reductions for spacecraft microprocessors, optical communication, processor buses, advanced data processing, and integrated optic science instrument optical systems, subsystems and components. This is particularly critical for small spacecraft platforms. We will give an overview of some NASA applications for integrated photonics.

Overview of Hanford Single Shell Tank (SST) Structural Integrity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rast, Richard S.; Washenfelder, Dennis J.; Johnson, Jeremy M.

2013-11-14

To improve the understanding of the single-shell tanks (SSTs) integrity, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS), the USDOE Hanford Site tank contractor, developed an enhanced Single-Shell Tank Integrity Project (SSTIP) in 2009. An expert panel on SST integrity, consisting of various subject matters experts in industry and academia, was created to provide recommendations supporting the development of the project. This panel developed 33 recommendations in four main areas of interest: structural integrity, liner degradation, leak integrity and prevention, and mitigation of contamination migration, Seventeen of these recommendations were used to develop the basis for the M-45-10-1 Change Package for the Hanford Federal Agreement and Compliance Order, which is also known as the Tri-Party Agreement. The structural integrity of the tanks is a key element in completing the cleanup mission at the Hanford Site. There are eight primary recommendations related to the structural integrity of Hanford Single-Shell Tanks. Six recommendations are being implemented through current and planned activities. The structural integrity of the Hanford is being evaluated through analysis, monitoring, inspection, materials testing, and construction document review. Structural evaluation in the form of analysis is performed using modern finite element models generated in ANSYS. The analyses consider in-situ, thermal, operating loads and natural phenomena such as earthquakes. Structural analysis of 108 of 149 Hanford Single-Shell Tanks has concluded that the tanks are structurally sound and meet current industry standards. Analysis of the remaining Hanford Single-Shell Tanks is scheduled for FY2014. Hanford Single-Shell Tanks are monitored through a dome deflection program. The program looks for deflections of the tank dome greater than 1/4 inch. No such deflections have been recorded. The tanks are also subjected to visual inspection. Digital cameras record the interior surface of

Overview of Hanford Single Shell Tank (SST) Structural Integrity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rast, Richard S.; Washenfelder, Dennis J.; Johnson, Jeremy M.

2013-01-01

To improve the understanding of the single-shell tanks (SSTs) integrity, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS), the USDOE Hanford Site tank contractor, developed an enhanced Single-Shell Tank Integrity Project (SSTIP) in 2009. An expert panel on SST integrity, consisting of various subject matters experts in industry and academia, was created to provide recommendations supporting the development of the project. This panel developed 33 recommendations in four main areas of interest: structural integrity, liner degradation, leak integrity and prevention, and mitigation of contamination migration, Seventeen of these recommendations were used to develop the basis for the M-45-10-1 Change Package for the Hanford Federal Agreement and Compliance Order, which is also known as the Tri-Party Agreement. The structural integrity of the tanks is a key element in completing the cleanup mission at the Hanford Site. There are eight primary recommendations related to the structural integrity of Hanford Single-Shell Tanks. Six recommendations are being implemented through current and planned activities. The structural integrity of the Hanford is being evaluated through analysis, monitoring, inspection, materials testing, and construction document review. Structural evaluation in the form of analysis is performed using modern finite element models generated in ANSYS. The analyses consider in-situ, thermal, operating loads and natural phenomena such as earthquakes. Structural analysis of 108 of 149 Hanford Single-Shell Tanks has concluded that the tanks are structurally sound and meet current industry standards. Analysis of the remaining Hanford Single-Shell Tanks is scheduled for FY2014. Hanford Single-Shell Tanks are monitored through a dome deflection program. The program looks for deflections of the tank dome greater than 1/4 inch. No such deflections have been recorded. The tanks are also subjected to visual inspection. Digital cameras record the interior surface of

MULTI-SCALE SEGMENTATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION REMOTE SENSING IMAGES BY INTEGRATING MULTIPLE FEATURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Di

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Most of multi-scale segmentation algorithms are not aiming at high resolution remote sensing images and have difficulty to communicate and use layers’ information. In view of them, we proposes a method of multi-scale segmentation of high resolution remote sensing images by integrating multiple features. First, Canny operator is used to extract edge information, and then band weighted distance function is built to obtain the edge weight. According to the criterion, the initial segmentation objects of color images can be gained by Kruskal minimum spanning tree algorithm. Finally segmentation images are got by the adaptive rule of Mumford–Shah region merging combination with spectral and texture information. The proposed method is evaluated precisely using analog images and ZY-3 satellite images through quantitative and qualitative analysis. The experimental results show that the multi-scale segmentation of high resolution remote sensing images by integrating multiple features outperformed the software eCognition fractal network evolution algorithm (highest-resolution network evolution that FNEA on the accuracy and slightly inferior to FNEA on the efficiency.

GENERIC Integrators: Structure Preserving Time Integration for Thermodynamic Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Öttinger, Hans Christian

2018-04-01

Thermodynamically admissible evolution equations for non-equilibrium systems are known to possess a distinct mathematical structure. Within the GENERIC (general equation for the non-equilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling) framework of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which is based on continuous time evolution, we investigate the possibility of preserving all the structural elements in time-discretized equations. Our approach, which follows Moser's [1] construction of symplectic integrators for Hamiltonian systems, is illustrated for the damped harmonic oscillator. Alternative approaches are sketched.

An Matching Method for Vehicle-borne Panoramic Image Sequence Based on Adaptive Structure from Motion Feature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHANG Zhengpeng

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Panoramic image matching method with the constraint condition of local structure from motion similarity feature is an important method, the process requires multivariable kernel density estimations for the structure from motion feature used nonparametric mean shift. Proper selection of the kernel bandwidth is a critical step for convergence speed and accuracy of matching method. Variable bandwidth with adaptive structure from motion feature for panoramic image matching method has been proposed in this work. First the bandwidth matrix is defined using the locally adaptive spatial structure of the sampling point in spatial domain and optical flow domain. The relaxation diffusion process of structure from motion similarity feature is described by distance weighting method of local optical flow feature vector. Then the expression form of adaptive multivariate kernel density function is given out, and discusses the solution of the mean shift vector, termination conditions, and the seed point selection method. The final fusions of multi-scale SIFT the features and structure features to establish a unified panoramic image matching framework. The sphere panoramic images from vehicle-borne mobile measurement system are chosen such that a comparison analysis between fixed bandwidth and adaptive bandwidth is carried out in detail. The results show that adaptive bandwidth is good for case with the inlier ratio changes and the object space scale changes. The proposed method can realize the adaptive similarity measure of structure from motion feature, improves the correct matching points and matching rate, experimental results have shown our method to be robust.

Structural conceptual models of water-conducting features at Aespoe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bossart, P.; Mazurek, M.; Hermansson, Jan

1998-01-01

Within the framework of the Fracture Classification and Characterization Project (FCC), water conducting features (WCF) in the Aespoe tunnel system and on the surface of Aespoe Island are being characterized over a range of scales. The larger-scale hierarchies of WCF are mostly constituted of fault arrays, i.e. brittle structures that accommodated episodes of shear strain. The smaller-scale WCF (contained within blocks 1 m. Structural evidence indicates that the fractures within the TRUE-1 block constitute an interconnected system with a pronounced anisotropy

Analysis of Conserved Structural Features of Selenoprotein K | Al ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Selenium plays important roles in human health and these roles may be exerted through its presence in selenoproteins. Among the 25 selenoproteins in human is selenoprotein K (SelK) whose exact function is still unclear. Here, we investigated the conserved structural features of SelK using bioinformatics as an approach ...

The research of structural features of astralens - nanodimensional carbon particles of fulleroid type

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ponomarev, A.N.; Nikitin, V.A.; Rybalko, V.V.

2006-01-01

The article is focused on the research of structural features of astralens - nanodimensional carbonic particles of fulleroid type. Astralens are perspective nanomodificators of properties of materials of different types. The potentials os astralens as modificators depend on their characteristic structural features, and in the first place, on the distribution of nanoparticles by sizes. The typical dimensions of astralens are determined to be within the range of 15-75 nm [ru

Nonlinear structural analysis using integrated force method

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A new formulation termed the Integrated Force Method (IFM) was proposed by Patnaik ... nated ``Structure (nY m)'' where (nY m) are the force and displacement degrees of ..... Patnaik S N, Yadagiri S 1976 Frequency analysis of structures.

Tools for integrated sequence-structure analysis with UCSF Chimera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huang Conrad C

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Comparing related structures and viewing the structures in the context of sequence alignments are important tasks in protein structure-function research. While many programs exist for individual aspects of such work, there is a need for interactive visualization tools that: (a provide a deep integration of sequence and structure, far beyond mapping where a sequence region falls in the structure and vice versa; (b facilitate changing data of one type based on the other (for example, using only sequence-conserved residues to match structures, or adjusting a sequence alignment based on spatial fit; (c can be used with a researcher's own data, including arbitrary sequence alignments and annotations, closely or distantly related sets of proteins, etc.; and (d interoperate with each other and with a full complement of molecular graphics features. We describe enhancements to UCSF Chimera to achieve these goals. Results The molecular graphics program UCSF Chimera includes a suite of tools for interactive analyses of sequences and structures. Structures automatically associate with sequences in imported alignments, allowing many kinds of crosstalk. A novel method is provided to superimpose structures in the absence of a pre-existing sequence alignment. The method uses both sequence and secondary structure, and can match even structures with very low sequence identity. Another tool constructs structure-based sequence alignments from superpositions of two or more proteins. Chimera is designed to be extensible, and mechanisms for incorporating user-specific data without Chimera code development are also provided. Conclusion The tools described here apply to many problems involving comparison and analysis of protein structures and their sequences. Chimera includes complete documentation and is intended for use by a wide range of scientists, not just those in the computational disciplines. UCSF Chimera is free for non-commercial use and is

Structural Integrity Evaluation of Containment Vessel under Severe Accident for PGSFR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Seong-Hyeon; Koo, Gyeong-Hoi; Kim, Sung-Kyun

2016-01-01

This paper provides structural integrity evaluation results of CV of the PGSFR(Prototype Gen-IV Sodium Fast Reactor) under severe accident through transient analysis. The evaluation was carried out according to ASME B and PV Code Sec. III-Subsection NH rule. Structural integrity of CV was evaluated through transient analysis of structure in case of severe accident. Stress evaluation results for selected evaluation sections satisfy design criteria of ASME B and PV Code Sec. III Subsection NH. The transient load condition of normal operation will considered in the future work. The purpose of RVCS is to maintain the integrity of concrete structure during normal power operation. Therefore RVCS should be designed to keep the temperature of concrete surface under design limit and to minimize heat loss through CV(Containment Vessel). And in case of severe accident, the integrity of reactor structure and concrete structure should be maintained. Therefore RVCS should be designed to satisfy ASME Level D service limits. When RVCS works with breakdown of DHRS after severe accident, the temperature change of inner and outer surface of CV over time can affect structural integrity of CV. To verify the structural integrity, it is necessary to perform transient analysis of CV structure under changing temperature over time

Prediction of Protein Structural Class Based on Gapped-Dipeptides and a Recursive Feature Selection Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taigang Liu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The prior knowledge of protein structural class may offer useful clues on understanding its functionality as well as its tertiary structure. Though various significant efforts have been made to find a fast and effective computational approach to address this problem, it is still a challenging topic in the field of bioinformatics. The position-specific score matrix (PSSM profile has been shown to provide a useful source of information for improving the prediction performance of protein structural class. However, this information has not been adequately explored. To this end, in this study, we present a feature extraction technique which is based on gapped-dipeptides composition computed directly from PSSM. Then, a careful feature selection technique is performed based on support vector machine-recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE. These optimal features are selected to construct a final predictor. The results of jackknife tests on four working datasets show that our method obtains satisfactory prediction accuracies by extracting features solely based on PSSM and could serve as a very promising tool to predict protein structural class.

Multimodal Feature Integration in the Angular Gyrus during Episodic and Semantic Retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnici, Heidi M.; Richter, Franziska R.; Yazar, Yasemin

2016-01-01

Much evidence from distinct lines of investigation indicates the involvement of angular gyrus (AnG) in the retrieval of both episodic and semantic information, but the region's precise function and whether that function differs across episodic and semantic retrieval have yet to be determined. We used univariate and multivariate fMRI analysis methods to examine the role of AnG in multimodal feature integration during episodic and semantic retrieval. Human participants completed episodic and semantic memory tasks involving unimodal (auditory or visual) and multimodal (audio-visual) stimuli. Univariate analyses revealed the recruitment of functionally distinct AnG subregions during the retrieval of episodic and semantic information. Consistent with a role in multimodal feature integration during episodic retrieval, significantly greater AnG activity was observed during retrieval of integrated multimodal episodic memories compared with unimodal episodic memories. Multivariate classification analyses revealed that individual multimodal episodic memories could be differentiated in AnG, with classification accuracy tracking the vividness of participants' reported recollections, whereas distinct unimodal memories were represented in sensory association areas only. In contrast to episodic retrieval, AnG was engaged to a statistically equivalent degree during retrieval of unimodal and multimodal semantic memories, suggesting a distinct role for AnG during semantic retrieval. Modality-specific sensory association areas exhibited corresponding activity during both episodic and semantic retrieval, which mirrored the functional specialization of these regions during perception. The results offer new insights into the integrative processes subserved by AnG and its contribution to our subjective experience of remembering. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using univariate and multivariate fMRI analyses, we provide evidence that functionally distinct subregions of angular gyrus (An

Multimodal Feature Integration in the Angular Gyrus during Episodic and Semantic Retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnici, Heidi M; Richter, Franziska R; Yazar, Yasemin; Simons, Jon S

2016-05-18

Much evidence from distinct lines of investigation indicates the involvement of angular gyrus (AnG) in the retrieval of both episodic and semantic information, but the region's precise function and whether that function differs across episodic and semantic retrieval have yet to be determined. We used univariate and multivariate fMRI analysis methods to examine the role of AnG in multimodal feature integration during episodic and semantic retrieval. Human participants completed episodic and semantic memory tasks involving unimodal (auditory or visual) and multimodal (audio-visual) stimuli. Univariate analyses revealed the recruitment of functionally distinct AnG subregions during the retrieval of episodic and semantic information. Consistent with a role in multimodal feature integration during episodic retrieval, significantly greater AnG activity was observed during retrieval of integrated multimodal episodic memories compared with unimodal episodic memories. Multivariate classification analyses revealed that individual multimodal episodic memories could be differentiated in AnG, with classification accuracy tracking the vividness of participants' reported recollections, whereas distinct unimodal memories were represented in sensory association areas only. In contrast to episodic retrieval, AnG was engaged to a statistically equivalent degree during retrieval of unimodal and multimodal semantic memories, suggesting a distinct role for AnG during semantic retrieval. Modality-specific sensory association areas exhibited corresponding activity during both episodic and semantic retrieval, which mirrored the functional specialization of these regions during perception. The results offer new insights into the integrative processes subserved by AnG and its contribution to our subjective experience of remembering. Using univariate and multivariate fMRI analyses, we provide evidence that functionally distinct subregions of angular gyrus (AnG) contribute to the retrieval of

Structural features of subtype-selective EP receptor modulators.

Science.gov (United States)

Markovič, Tijana; Jakopin, Žiga; Dolenc, Marija Sollner; Mlinarič-Raščan, Irena

2017-01-01

Prostaglandin E2 is a potent endogenous molecule that binds to four different G-protein-coupled receptors: EP1-4. Each of these receptors is a valuable drug target, with distinct tissue localisation and signalling pathways. We review the structural features of EP modulators required for subtype-selective activity, as well as the structural requirements for improved pharmacokinetic parameters. Novel EP receptor subtype selective agonists and antagonists appear to be valuable drug candidates in the therapy of many pathophysiological states, including ulcerative colitis, glaucoma, bone healing, B cell lymphoma, neurological diseases, among others, which have been studied in vitro, in vivo and in early phase clinical trials. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

MMM: A toolbox for integrative structure modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeschke, Gunnar

2018-01-01

Structural characterization of proteins and their complexes may require integration of restraints from various experimental techniques. MMM (Multiscale Modeling of Macromolecules) is a Matlab-based open-source modeling toolbox for this purpose with a particular emphasis on distance distribution restraints obtained from electron paramagnetic resonance experiments on spin-labelled proteins and nucleic acids and their combination with atomistic structures of domains or whole protomers, small-angle scattering data, secondary structure information, homology information, and elastic network models. MMM does not only integrate various types of restraints, but also various existing modeling tools by providing a common graphical user interface to them. The types of restraints that can support such modeling and the available model types are illustrated by recent application examples. © 2017 The Protein Society.

Integrated structure/control design - Present methodology and future opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Weisshaar, T. A.; Newsom, J. R.; Zeiler, T. A.; Gilbert, M. G.

1986-01-01

Attention is given to current methodology applied to the integration of the optimal design process for structures and controls. Multilevel linear decomposition techniques proved to be most effective in organizing the computational efforts necessary for ISCD (integrated structures and control design) tasks. With the development of large orbiting space structures and actively controlled, high performance aircraft, there will be more situations in which this concept can be applied.

Structural features of nitroaromatics that determine mutagenic activity in Salmonella typhimurium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vance, W.A.; Levin, D.E.

1984-01-01

Seventeen structurally homologous nitroaromatics were tested for direct-acting mutagenic potency in nine strains of Salmonella typhimurium. The following four structural features were determined to have a strong influence on mutagenic activity: physical dimensions of the aromatic rings, isomeric position of the nitro group, conformation of the nitro group with respect to the plane of the aromatic rings, and ability to resonance-stabilize the utimate electrophile. Progressive addition of five- and six-membered rings to a nitrobenzene nucleus demonstrated that mutagenic activity was a direct function of size. Nitroaromatics with a nitro group oriented along the long axis of symmetry of the molecule were more potent mutagens that those with the nitro group oriented along the short axis. These results are discussed in light of the insertion-denaturation model for intercalation of certain DNA adducts. Finally, structural features that contribute to resonance stabilization of the reactive nitrenium ion enhance mutagenic potency. The predictive value of these structure-activity relationships should permit a first approximation in the assessment of mutagenic potency of nitroaromatics

Integration of fluidic jet actuators in composite structures

Science.gov (United States)

Schueller, Martin; Lipowski, Mathias; Schirmer, Eckart; Walther, Marco; Otto, Thomas; Geßner, Thomas; Kroll, Lothar

2015-04-01

Fluidic Actuated Flow Control (FAFC) has been introduced as a technology that influences the boundary layer by actively blowing air through slots or holes in the aircraft skin or wind turbine rotor blade. Modern wing structures are or will be manufactured using composite materials. In these state of the art systems, AFC actuators are integrated in a hybrid approach. The new idea is to directly integrate the active fluidic elements (such as SJAs and PJAs) and their components in the structure of the airfoil. Consequently, the integration of such fluidic devices must fit the manufacturing process and the material properties of the composite structure. The challenge is to integrate temperature-sensitive active elements and to realize fluidic cavities at the same time. The transducer elements will be provided for the manufacturing steps using roll-to-roll processes. The fluidic parts of the actuators will be manufactured using the MuCell® process that provides on the one hand the defined reproduction of the fluidic structures and, on the other hand, a high light weight index. Based on the first design concept, a demonstrator was developed in order to proof the design approach. The output velocity on the exit was measured using a hot-wire anemometer.

Assessment of integrity of structures containing cracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Townley, C.H.A.

1976-01-01

The object of the investigations is to provide a method of assessing the safety and integrity of structures containing cracklike defects. Estimated load at which the cracked structure will fail is compared with the highest load likely to be applied in service

West-Life, Tools for Integrative Structural Biology

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2018-01-01

Structural biology is part of molecular biology focusing on determining structure of macromolecules inside living cells and cell membranes. As macromolecules determines most of the functions of cells the structural knowledge is very useful for further research in metabolism, physiology to application in pharmacology etc. As macromolecules are too small to be observed directly by light microscope, there are other methods used to determine the structure including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-Ray crystalography, cryo electron microscopy and others. Each method has it's advantages and disadvantages in the terms of availability, sample preparation, resolution. West-Life project has ambition to facilitate integrative approach using multiple techniques mentioned above. As there are already lot of software tools to process data produced by the techniques above, the challenge is to integrate them together in a way they can be used by experts in one technique but not experts in other techniques. One product ...

In vivo genome-wide profiling of RNA secondary structure reveals novel regulatory features.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Yiliang; Tang, Yin; Kwok, Chun Kit; Zhang, Yu; Bevilacqua, Philip C; Assmann, Sarah M

2014-01-30

RNA structure has critical roles in processes ranging from ligand sensing to the regulation of translation, polyadenylation and splicing. However, a lack of genome-wide in vivo RNA structural data has limited our understanding of how RNA structure regulates gene expression in living cells. Here we present a high-throughput, genome-wide in vivo RNA structure probing method, structure-seq, in which dimethyl sulphate methylation of unprotected adenines and cytosines is identified by next-generation sequencing. Application of this method to Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings yielded the first in vivo genome-wide RNA structure map at nucleotide resolution for any organism, with quantitative structural information across more than 10,000 transcripts. Our analysis reveals a three-nucleotide periodic repeat pattern in the structure of coding regions, as well as a less-structured region immediately upstream of the start codon, and shows that these features are strongly correlated with translation efficiency. We also find patterns of strong and weak secondary structure at sites of alternative polyadenylation, as well as strong secondary structure at 5' splice sites that correlates with unspliced events. Notably, in vivo structures of messenger RNAs annotated for stress responses are poorly predicted in silico, whereas mRNA structures of genes related to cell function maintenance are well predicted. Global comparison of several structural features between these two categories shows that the mRNAs associated with stress responses tend to have more single-strandedness, longer maximal loop length and higher free energy per nucleotide, features that may allow these RNAs to undergo conformational changes in response to environmental conditions. Structure-seq allows the RNA structurome and its biological roles to be interrogated on a genome-wide scale and should be applicable to any organism.

Romanian network for structural integrity assessment of nuclear components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Maria; Constantinescu, Dan Mihai; Brad, Sebastian; Ducu, Catalin

2008-01-01

Full text: Based of the Romanian option to develop and operate nuclear facilities, using as model the networks created at European level and taking into account the international importance of the structural integrity assessments for lifetime extension of the nuclear components, a national Project started since 2005 in the framework of the National Program 'Research of Excellence', Modulus I 2006-2008, managed by the Ministry of Education and Research. Entitled 'Integrated Network for Structural Integrity Monitoring of Critical Components in Nuclear Facilities', with the acronym RIMIS, the Project had two main objectives: - to elaborate a procedure applicable to the structural integrity assessment of the critical components used in Romanian nuclear facilities; - to integrate the national networking in a similar one, at European level, to enhance the scientific significance of Romanian R and D organizations as well as to increase the contribution to solving one of the major issue of the nuclear field. The paper aimed to present the activities performed in the Romanian institutes, involved in the Project, the final results obtained as part of the R and D activities, including experimental, theoretical and modeling ones regarding structural integrity assessment of nuclear components employed in CANDU type reactors. Also the activity carried out in the framework of the NULIFE network, created at European level of the FP6 Program and sustained by the RIMIS network will be described. (authors)

Structural integrity of LMFBRs including leak before break

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinzens, K.; Laue, H.; Hosemann, B.

1990-01-01

Th German Basis Safety Concept is an approach which allows the possibility of catastrophic failures to be excluded. It was developed in Germany to render the probabilistic approach unnecessary for safety cases relating to nuclear power plants. The process of evaluation started in 1972, and in 1979 the Basis Safety Concept was officially published and thus became a legal requirement for LWR plants. With appropriate modifications in regard of the particular features of LMFBR, this concept has also been applied to SNR 300. The 'Structural Integrity Demonstration Concept' of SNR 300 is based on five principles: Principle of quality by design and fabrication, Principle of multiple examination, Principle of worst case consideration, Principle of operating surveillance and documentation, Principle of verification and continuous development. The same principles are taken over for SNR 2. The specific requirements on the components relevant to safety have to be defined at an early stage so that the components can be designed appropriately to the feasibility of the measures required by the concept. (orig.)

CLASS-PAIR-GUIDED MULTIPLE KERNEL LEARNING OF INTEGRATING HETEROGENEOUS FEATURES FOR CLASSIFICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Q. Wang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In recent years, many studies on remote sensing image classification have shown that using multiple features from different data sources can effectively improve the classification accuracy. As a very powerful means of learning, multiple kernel learning (MKL can conveniently be embedded in a variety of characteristics. The conventional combined kernel learned by MKL can be regarded as the compromise of all basic kernels for all classes in classification. It is the best of the whole, but not optimal for each specific class. For this problem, this paper proposes a class-pair-guided MKL method to integrate the heterogeneous features (HFs from multispectral image (MSI and light detection and ranging (LiDAR data. In particular, the one-against-one strategy is adopted, which converts multiclass classification problem to a plurality of two-class classification problem. Then, we select the best kernel from pre-constructed basic kernels set for each class-pair by kernel alignment (KA in the process of classification. The advantage of the proposed method is that only the best kernel for the classification of any two classes can be retained, which leads to greatly enhanced discriminability. Experiments are conducted on two real data sets, and the experimental results show that the proposed method achieves the best performance in terms of classification accuracies in integrating the HFs for classification when compared with several state-of-the-art algorithms.

Overview Of Hanford Single Shell Tank (SST) Structural Integrity - 12123

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rast, R.S.; Rinker, M.W.; Washenfelder, D.J.; Johnson, J.B.

2012-01-01

To improve the understanding of the single-shell tanks (SSTs) integrity, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS), the USDOE Hanford Site tank contractor, developed an enhanced Single-Shell Tank Integrity Project in 2009. An expert panel on SST integrity, consisting of various subject matters experts in industry and academia, was created to provide recommendations supporting the development of the project. This panel developed 33 recommendations in four main areas of interest: structural integrity, liner degradation, leak integrity and prevention, and mitigation of contamination migration. Seventeen of these recommendations were used to develop the basis for the M-45-10-1 Change Package for the Hanford Federal Agreement and Compliance Order, which is also known as the Tri-Party Agreement. The structural integrity of the tanks is a key element in completing the cleanup mission at the Hanford Site. There are eight primary recommendations related to the structural integrity of Hanford SSTs. Six recommendations are being implemented through current and planned activities. The structural integrity of the Hanford SSTs is being evaluated through analysis, monitoring, inspection, materials testing, and construction document review. Structural evaluation in the form of analysis is performed using modern finite element models generated in ANSYS(reg s ign) The analyses consider in-situ, thermal, operating loads and natural phenomena such as earthquakes. Structural analysis of 108 of 149 Hanford SSTs has concluded that the tanks are structurally sound and meet current industry standards. Analyses of the remaining Hanford SSTs are scheduled for FY2013. Hanford SSTs are monitored through a dome deflection program. The program looks for deflections of the tank dome greater than 1/4 inch. No such deflections have been recorded. The tanks are also subjected to visual inspection. Digital cameras record the interior surface of the concrete tank domes, looking for cracks and

OVERVIEW OF HANFORD SINGLE SHELL TANK (SST) STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY - 12123

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

RAST RS; RINKER MW; WASHENFELDER DJ; JOHNSON JB

2012-01-25

To improve the understanding of the single-shell tanks (SSTs) integrity, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS), the USDOE Hanford Site tank contractor, developed an enhanced Single-Shell Tank Integrity Project in 2009. An expert panel on SST integrity, consisting of various subject matters experts in industry and academia, was created to provide recommendations supporting the development of the project. This panel developed 33 recommendations in four main areas of interest: structural integrity, liner degradation, leak integrity and prevention, and mitigation of contamination migration. Seventeen of these recommendations were used to develop the basis for the M-45-10-1 Change Package for the Hanford Federal Agreement and Compliance Order, which is also known as the Tri-Party Agreement. The structural integrity of the tanks is a key element in completing the cleanup mission at the Hanford Site. There are eight primary recommendations related to the structural integrity of Hanford SSTs. Six recommendations are being implemented through current and planned activities. The structural integrity of the Hanford SSTs is being evaluated through analysis, monitoring, inspection, materials testing, and construction document review. Structural evaluation in the form of analysis is performed using modern finite element models generated in ANSYS{reg_sign} The analyses consider in-situ, thermal, operating loads and natural phenomena such as earthquakes. Structural analysis of 108 of 149 Hanford SSTs has concluded that the tanks are structurally sound and meet current industry standards. Analyses of the remaining Hanford SSTs are scheduled for FY2013. Hanford SSTs are monitored through a dome deflection program. The program looks for deflections of the tank dome greater than 1/4 inch. No such deflections have been recorded. The tanks are also subjected to visual inspection. Digital cameras record the interior surface of the concrete tank domes, looking for cracks and

Photonic Structure-Integrated Two-Dimensional Material Optoelectronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianjiao Wang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The rapid development and unique properties of two-dimensional (2D materials, such as graphene, phosphorene and transition metal dichalcogenides enable them to become intriguing candidates for future optoelectronic applications. To maximize the potential of 2D material-based optoelectronics, various photonic structures are integrated to form photonic structure/2D material hybrid systems so that the device performance can be manipulated in controllable ways. Here, we first introduce the photocurrent-generation mechanisms of 2D material-based optoelectronics and their performance. We then offer an overview and evaluation of the state-of-the-art of hybrid systems, where 2D material optoelectronics are integrated with photonic structures, especially plasmonic nanostructures, photonic waveguides and crystals. By combining with those photonic structures, the performance of 2D material optoelectronics can be further enhanced, and on the other side, a high-performance modulator can be achieved by electrostatically tuning 2D materials. Finally, 2D material-based photodetector can also become an efficient probe to learn the light-matter interactions of photonic structures. Those hybrid systems combine the advantages of 2D materials and photonic structures, providing further capacity for high-performance optoelectronics.

Structural integrity monitoring of critical components in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Maria; Constantinescu, Dan Mihai; Brad, Sebastian; Ducu, Catalin; Malinovschi, Viorel

2007-01-01

Full text: The paper presents the results obtained as part of the Project 'Integrated Network for Structural Integrity Monitoring of Critical Components in Nuclear Facilities', RIMIS, a research work underway within the framework of the Ministry of Education and Research Programme 'Research of Excellence'. The main objective of the Project is to constitute a network integrating the national R and D institutes with preoccupations in the structural integrity assessment of critical components in the nuclear facilities operating in Romania, in order to elaborate a specific procedure for this field. The degradation mechanisms of the structural materials used in the CANDU type reactors, operated by Unit 1 and Unit 2 at Cernavoda (pressure tubes, fuel elements sheaths, steam generator tubing) and in the nuclear facilities relating to reactors of this type as, for instance, the Hydrogen Isotopes Separation facility, will be investigated. The development of a flexible procedure will offer the opportunity to extend the applications to other structural materials used in the nuclear field and in the non-nuclear fields as well, in cooperation with other institutes involved in the developed network. The expected results of the project will allow the integration of the network developed at national level in the structures of similar networks operating within the EU, the enhancement of the scientific importance of Romanian R and D organizations as well as the increase of our country's contribution in solving the major issues of the nuclear field. (authors)

Comprehensive Assessment of Integration Activity of Business Structures in Russian Regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariya Gennad’evna Karelina

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In the context of economic sanctions and growing international isolation, the research into regional differences in integration development acquires special relevance for Russia; this fact determines the need for a comprehensive assessment of integration activity of business structures in Russian regions. The diversity of approaches to the study of problems and prospects of economic integration and the current debate about the role of integration processes in the development of regional economies determined a comprehensive approach to the concepts of “integration” and “integration activity” in order to create objective prerequisites for analyzing integration activity of business structures in the regions of Russia. The information base of the research is the data of Russian information and analytical agencies. The tools used in the research include methods for analyzing structural changes, methods for analyzing economic differentiation and concentration, nonparametric statistics methods, and econometric analysis methods. The first part of the paper shows that socio-economic development in constituent entities of Russia is closely connected with the operation of integrated business structures located on their territory. Having studied the structure and dynamics of integration activity, we reveal the growing heterogeneity of integration activity of business structures in Russian regions. The hypothesis about significant divergence of mergers and acquisitions for corporate structures in Russian regions was confirmed by high values of the Gini coefficient, the Herfindahl index and the decile differentiation coefficient. The second part of the paper contains a comparative analysis and proposes an econometric approach to the measurement of integration activity of business structures in subjects of the Russian Federation on the basis of integral synthetic categories. The approach we propose focuses on the development of a system of indicators

Accurate facade feature extraction method for buildings from three-dimensional point cloud data considering structural information

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yongzhi; Ma, Yuqing; Zhu, A.-xing; Zhao, Hui; Liao, Lixia

2018-05-01

Facade features represent segmentations of building surfaces and can serve as a building framework. Extracting facade features from three-dimensional (3D) point cloud data (3D PCD) is an efficient method for 3D building modeling. By combining the advantages of 3D PCD and two-dimensional optical images, this study describes the creation of a highly accurate building facade feature extraction method from 3D PCD with a focus on structural information. The new extraction method involves three major steps: image feature extraction, exploration of the mapping method between the image features and 3D PCD, and optimization of the initial 3D PCD facade features considering structural information. Results show that the new method can extract the 3D PCD facade features of buildings more accurately and continuously. The new method is validated using a case study. In addition, the effectiveness of the new method is demonstrated by comparing it with the range image-extraction method and the optical image-extraction method in the absence of structural information. The 3D PCD facade features extracted by the new method can be applied in many fields, such as 3D building modeling and building information modeling.

First Canadian workshop on engineering structural integrity : CWESI. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The First Canadian Workshop on Engineering Structural Integrity (CWESI) was held on October 16 and 17, 2002, in Toronto, Canada. The purpose of the Workshop was to review strategies for ESI in a number of key industries, and to attempt to plot a course for co-operation in ESI activities and implementation of ESI initiatives in Canadian industry, together with support for appropriate educational, research and development activities. The Workshop consisted of presentations by speakers from a number of industries. Presentations focused on in-service experience under service conditions related to the Canadian environment. This Workshop was attended by practising structural integrity engineers, managers with the responsibility for delivery of safe and reliable operation, and researchers in the structural integrity area

Evaluation of physical structural features on influencing enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of micronized wood

Science.gov (United States)

Jinxue Jiang; Jinwu Wang; Xiao Zhang; Michael Wolcott

2016-01-01

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass is highly dependent on the changes in structural features after pretreatment. Mechanical milling pretreatment is an effective approach to alter the physical structure of biomass and thus improve enzymatic hydrolysis. This study examined the influence of structural characteristics on the enzymatic hydrolysis of micronized...

The role of emotion in musical improvisation: an analysis of structural features.

Science.gov (United States)

McPherson, Malinda J; Lopez-Gonzalez, Monica; Rankin, Summer K; Limb, Charles J

2014-01-01

One of the primary functions of music is to convey emotion, yet how music accomplishes this task remains unclear. For example, simple correlations between mode (major vs. minor) and emotion (happy vs. sad) do not adequately explain the enormous range, subtlety or complexity of musically induced emotions. In this study, we examined the structural features of unconstrained musical improvisations generated by jazz pianists in response to emotional cues. We hypothesized that musicians would not utilize any universal rules to convey emotions, but would instead combine heterogeneous musical elements together in order to depict positive and negative emotions. Our findings demonstrate a lack of simple correspondence between emotions and musical features of spontaneous musical improvisation. While improvisations in response to positive emotional cues were more likely to be in major keys, have faster tempos, faster key press velocities and more staccato notes when compared to negative improvisations, there was a wide distribution for each emotion with components that directly violated these primary associations. The finding that musicians often combine disparate features together in order to convey emotion during improvisation suggests that structural diversity may be an essential feature of the ability of music to express a wide range of emotion.

An expert system for integrated structural analysis and design optimization for aerospace structures

Science.gov (United States)

1992-04-01

The results of a research study on the development of an expert system for integrated structural analysis and design optimization is presented. An Object Representation Language (ORL) was developed first in conjunction with a rule-based system. This ORL/AI shell was then used to develop expert systems to provide assistance with a variety of structural analysis and design optimization tasks, in conjunction with procedural modules for finite element structural analysis and design optimization. The main goal of the research study was to provide expertise, judgment, and reasoning capabilities in the aerospace structural design process. This will allow engineers performing structural analysis and design, even without extensive experience in the field, to develop error-free, efficient and reliable structural designs very rapidly and cost-effectively. This would not only improve the productivity of design engineers and analysts, but also significantly reduce time to completion of structural design. An extensive literature survey in the field of structural analysis, design optimization, artificial intelligence, and database management systems and their application to the structural design process was first performed. A feasibility study was then performed, and the architecture and the conceptual design for the integrated 'intelligent' structural analysis and design optimization software was then developed. An Object Representation Language (ORL), in conjunction with a rule-based system, was then developed using C++. Such an approach would improve the expressiveness for knowledge representation (especially for structural analysis and design applications), provide ability to build very large and practical expert systems, and provide an efficient way for storing knowledge. Functional specifications for the expert systems were then developed. The ORL/AI shell was then used to develop a variety of modules of expert systems for a variety of modeling, finite element analysis, and

Structural features and in-service inspection of the LTHR-200 pressure vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiong Dunshi; He Shuyan; Liu Junjie; Yu Suyuan

1993-01-01

LTHR-200 is a low temperature district-heating reactor. It adopts double-shell design pressure vessel and metal containment. Because of the safety and structural features of the reactor, the in-service inspection of the pressure vessel can be simplified greatly. LTHR-200 is an integrated arrangement. Both its core components and the main heat exchangers are contained in the reactor pressure vessel. The coolant of the main loop is run by a full-power natural circulation and there need no main pumps and pipes. Thus, the reactor pressure vessel constitutes the pressure boundary of the reactor's main loop coolant. In regard to these features, a small-sized containment is designed for the reactor. The metal safety container with a small volume is placed closely around the reactor pressure vessel. Outside the metal containment, there is a large reinforced concrete construction for the reactor. Their main operation and design parameters are as follows: The pressure vessel: operation pressure = 2.4 MPa; design pressure = 3.0 MPa; design temperature = 250 deg C; 40 year fast neutron (E>1MeV) fluence in the belt-line region = < 10E16n/cm; internal diameter = 5000 mm; material SA516-70; shell thickness 65 mm; The metal containment: maximum operation pressure = 1.8 MPa; design pressure = 1.8 MPa; design temperature = 250 deg. C; upper internal diameter 7000 mm; lower internal diameter = 5600 mm; material = SA516-70; shell thickness, upper part = 80 mm; lower part = 50 mm. All penetrating pipes through the pressure vessel are located at the top penetration section of the shell. All the internal diameters of penetrating pipes are less than 50 mm. Inside and outside the metal containment wall respectively, isolating valves are connected to the reactor coolant pipe which passes through the containment. These two isolating valves use different driving methods. Every penetrating part of the reactor construction uses a proper form of structure according to safety requirements

Integrated Multidisciplinary Constrained Optimization of Offshore Support Structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haghi, Rad; Molenaar, David P; Ashuri, Turaj; Van der Valk, Paul L C

2014-01-01

In the current offshore wind turbine support structure design method, the tower and foundation, which form the support structure are designed separately by the turbine and foundation designer. This method yields a suboptimal design and it results in a heavy, overdesigned and expensive support structure. This paper presents an integrated multidisciplinary approach to design the tower and foundation simultaneously. Aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, structure and soil mechanics are the modeled disciplines to capture the full dynamic behavior of the foundation and tower under different environmental conditions. The objective function to be minimized is the mass of the support structure. The model includes various design constraints: local and global buckling, modal frequencies, and fatigue damage along different stations of the structure. To show the usefulness of the method, an existing SWT-3.6-107 offshore wind turbine where its tower and foundation are designed separately is used as a case study. The result of the integrated multidisciplinary design optimization shows 12.1% reduction in the mass of the support structure, while satisfying all the design constraints

A functional-structural kiwifruit vine model integrating architecture, carbon dynamics and effects of the environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cieslak, Mikolaj; Seleznyova, Alla N; Hanan, Jim

2011-04-01

Functional-structural modelling can be used to increase our understanding of how different aspects of plant structure and function interact, identify knowledge gaps and guide priorities for future experimentation. By integrating existing knowledge of the different aspects of the kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) vine's architecture and physiology, our aim is to develop conceptual and mathematical hypotheses on several of the vine's features: (a) plasticity of the vine's architecture; (b) effects of organ position within the canopy on its size; (c) effects of environment and horticultural management on shoot growth, light distribution and organ size; and (d) role of carbon reserves in early shoot growth. Using the L-system modelling platform, a functional-structural plant model of a kiwifruit vine was created that integrates architectural development, mechanistic modelling of carbon transport and allocation, and environmental and management effects on vine and fruit growth. The branching pattern was captured at the individual shoot level by modelling axillary shoot development using a discrete-time Markov chain. An existing carbon transport resistance model was extended to account for several source/sink components of individual plant elements. A quasi-Monte Carlo path-tracing algorithm was used to estimate the absorbed irradiance of each leaf. Several simulations were performed to illustrate the model's potential to reproduce the major features of the vine's behaviour. The model simulated vine growth responses that were qualitatively similar to those observed in experiments, including the plastic response of shoot growth to local carbon supply, the branching patterns of two Actinidia species, the effect of carbon limitation and topological distance on fruit size and the complex behaviour of sink competition for carbon. The model is able to reproduce differences in vine and fruit growth arising from various experimental treatments. This implies it will be a valuable

Photonic crystals based on opals and inverse opals: synthesis and structural features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klimonsky, S O; Abramova, Vera V; Sinitskii, Alexander S; Tretyakov, Yuri D

2011-01-01

Methods of synthesis of photonic crystals based on opals and inverse opals are considered. Their structural features are discussed. Data on different types of structural defects and their influence on the optical properties of opaline materials are systematized. The possibilities of investigation of structural defects by optical spectroscopy, electron microscopy, microradian X-ray diffraction, laser diffraction and using an analysis of Kossel ring patterns are described. The bibliography includes 253 references.

Control structure selection for energy integrated distillation column

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, J.E.; Jørgensen, Sten Bay

1998-01-01

This paper treats a case study on control structure selection for an almost binary distillation column. The column is energy integrated with a heat pump in order to transfer heat from the condenser to the reboiler. This integrated plant configuration renders the possible control structures somewhat...... different from what is usual for binary distillation columns. Further the heat pump enables disturbances to propagate faster through the system. The plant has six possible actuators of which three must be used to stabilize the system. Hereby three actuators are left for product purity control. An MILP...

Improving Remote Sensing Scene Classification by Integrating Global-Context and Local-Object Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Zeng

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Recently, many researchers have been dedicated to using convolutional neural networks (CNNs to extract global-context features (GCFs for remote-sensing scene classification. Commonly, accurate classification of scenes requires knowledge about both the global context and local objects. However, unlike the natural images in which the objects cover most of the image, objects in remote-sensing images are generally small and decentralized. Thus, it is hard for vanilla CNNs to focus on both global context and small local objects. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel end-to-end CNN by integrating the GCFs and local-object-level features (LOFs. The proposed network includes two branches, the local object branch (LOB and global semantic branch (GSB, which are used to generate the LOFs and GCFs, respectively. Then, the concatenation of features extracted from the two branches allows our method to be more discriminative in scene classification. Three challenging benchmark remote-sensing datasets were extensively experimented on; the proposed approach outperformed the existing scene classification methods and achieved state-of-the-art results for all three datasets.

CAD-Based Modeling of Advanced Rotary Wing Structures for Integrated 3-D Aeromechanics Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Staruk, William

This dissertation describes the first comprehensive use of integrated 3-D aeromechanics modeling, defined as the coupling of 3-D solid finite element method (FEM) structural dynamics with 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD), for the analysis of a real helicopter rotor. The development of this new methodology (a departure from how rotor aeroelastic analysis has been performed for 40 years), its execution on a real rotor, and the fundamental understanding of aeromechanics gained from it, are the key contributions of this dissertation. This work also presents the first CFD/CSD analysis of a tiltrotor in edgewise flight, revealing many of its unique loading mechanisms. The use of 3-D FEM, integrated with a trim solver and aerodynamics modeling, has the potential to enhance the design of advanced rotors by overcoming fundamental limitations of current generation beam-based analysis tools and offering integrated internal dynamic stress and strain predictions for design. Two primary goals drove this research effort: 1) developing a methodology to create 3-D CAD-based brick finite element models of rotors including multibody joints, controls, and aerodynamic interfaces, and 2) refining X3D, the US Army's next generation rotor structural dynamics solver featuring 3-D FEM within a multibody formulation with integrated aerodynamics, to model a tiltrotor in the edgewise conversion flight regime, which drives critical proprotor structural loads. Prior tiltrotor analysis has primarily focused on hover aerodynamics with rigid blades or forward flight whirl-flutter stability with simplified aerodynamics. The first goal was met with the development of a detailed methodology for generating multibody 3-D structural models, starting from CAD geometry, continuing to higher-order hexahedral finite element meshing, to final assembly of the multibody model by creating joints, assigning material properties, and defining the aerodynamic interface. Several levels of verification and

Preliminary Guideline for the High Temperature Structure Integrity Assessment Procedure Part II. High Temperature Structural Integrity Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jae Han; Kim, J. B.; Lee, H. Y.; Park, C. G.; Joo, Y. S.; Koo, G. H.; Kim, S. H

2007-02-15

A high temperature structural integrity assessment belongs to the Part II of a whole preliminary guideline for the high temperature structure. The main contents of this guideline are the evaluation procedures of the creep-fatigue crack initiation and growth in high temperature condition, the high temperature LBB evaluation procedure, and the inelastic evaluations of the welded joints in SFR structures. The methodologies for the proper inelastic analysis of an SFR structures in high temperatures are explained and the guidelines of inelastic analysis options using ANSYS and ABAQUS are suggested. In addition, user guidelines for the developed NONSTA code are included. This guidelines need to be continuously revised to improve the applicability to the design and analysis of the SFR structures.

Evaluation of time integration methods for transient response analysis of nonlinear structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, K.C.

1975-01-01

Recent developments in the evaluation of direct time integration methods for the transient response analysis of nonlinear structures are presented. These developments, which are based on local stability considerations of an integrator, show that the interaction between temporal step size and nonlinearities of structural systems has a pronounced effect on both accuracy and stability of a given time integration method. The resulting evaluation technique is applied to a model nonlinear problem, in order to: 1) demonstrate that it eliminates the present costly process of evaluating time integrator for nonlinear structural systems via extensive numerical experiments; 2) identify the desirable characteristics of time integration methods for nonlinear structural problems; 3) develop improved stiffly-stable methods for application to nonlinear structures. Extension of the methodology for examination of the interaction between a time integrator and the approximate treatment of nonlinearities (such as due to pseudo-force or incremental solution procedures) is also discussed. (Auth.)

Integrative analysis of gene expression and DNA methylation using unsupervised feature extraction for detecting candidate cancer biomarkers.

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, Myungjin; Nakai, Kenta

2018-04-01

Currently, cancer biomarker discovery is one of the important research topics worldwide. In particular, detecting significant genes related to cancer is an important task for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Conventional studies mostly focus on genes that are differentially expressed in different states of cancer; however, noise in gene expression datasets and insufficient information in limited datasets impede precise analysis of novel candidate biomarkers. In this study, we propose an integrative analysis of gene expression and DNA methylation using normalization and unsupervised feature extractions to identify candidate biomarkers of cancer using renal cell carcinoma RNA-seq datasets. Gene expression and DNA methylation datasets are normalized by Box-Cox transformation and integrated into a one-dimensional dataset that retains the major characteristics of the original datasets by unsupervised feature extraction methods, and differentially expressed genes are selected from the integrated dataset. Use of the integrated dataset demonstrated improved performance as compared with conventional approaches that utilize gene expression or DNA methylation datasets alone. Validation based on the literature showed that a considerable number of top-ranked genes from the integrated dataset have known relationships with cancer, implying that novel candidate biomarkers can also be acquired from the proposed analysis method. Furthermore, we expect that the proposed method can be expanded for applications involving various types of multi-omics datasets.

Road Network Extraction from VHR Satellite Images Using Context Aware Object Feature Integration and Tensor Voting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Maboudi

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Road networks are very important features in geospatial databases. Even though high-resolution optical satellite images have already been acquired for more than a decade, tools for automated extraction of road networks from these images are still rare. One consequence of this is the need for manual interaction which, in turn, is time and cost intensive. In this paper, a multi-stage approach is proposed which integrates structural, spectral, textural, as well as contextual information of objects to extract road networks from very high resolution satellite images. Highlights of the approach are a novel linearity index employed for the discrimination of elongated road segments from other objects and customized tensor voting which is utilized to fill missing parts of the network. Experiments are carried out with different datasets. Comparison of the achieved results with the results of seven state-of-the-art methods demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed approach.

Design structure for in-system redundant array repair in integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Bright, Arthur A.; Crumley, Paul G.; Dombrowa, Marc; Douskey, Steven M.; Haring, Rudolf A.; Oakland, Steven F.; Quellette, Michael R.; Strissel, Scott A.

2008-11-25

A design structure for repairing an integrated circuit during operation of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit comprising of a multitude of memory arrays and a fuse box holding control data for controlling redundancy logic of the arrays. The design structure provides the integrated circuit with a control data selector for passing the control data from the fuse box to the memory arrays; providing a source of alternate control data, external of the integrated circuit; and connecting the source of alternate control data to the control data selector. The design structure further passes the alternate control data from the source thereof, through the control data selector and to the memory arrays to control the redundancy logic of the memory arrays.

Formation of integrated structural units using the systematic and integrated method when implementing high-rise construction projects

Science.gov (United States)

Abramov, Ivan

2018-03-01

Development of design documentation for a future construction project gives rise to a number of issues with the main one being selection of manpower for structural units of the project's overall implementation system. Well planned and competently staffed integrated structural construction units will help achieve a high level of reliability and labor productivity and avoid negative (extraordinary) situations during the construction period eventually ensuring improved project performance. Research priorities include the development of theoretical recommendations for enhancing reliability of a structural unit staffed as an integrated construction crew. The author focuses on identification of destabilizing factors affecting formation of an integrated construction crew; assessment of these destabilizing factors; based on the developed mathematical model, highlighting the impact of these factors on the integration criterion with subsequent identification of an efficiency and reliability criterion for the structural unit in general. The purpose of this article is to develop theoretical recommendations and scientific and methodological provisions of an organizational and technological nature in order to identify a reliability criterion for a structural unit based on manpower integration and productivity criteria. With this purpose in mind, complex scientific tasks have been defined requiring special research, development of corresponding provisions and recommendations based on the system analysis findings presented herein.

Development of Technology for Structural Integrity Evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choun, Young Sun; Choi, I. K.; Kim, M. K. and others

2005-03-01

The purpose of this study is a development of seismic safety and structural integrity evaluation method of the structure in the Nuclear Power plant (NPP). The purpose of 1st sub-Topic is the development and improvement of the seismic safety evaluation methodology for the Nuclear Power Plant structures and safety related equipment. The purpose of 2nd sub-topic is the increasing of structure and equipment seismic capacity through the reducing of seismic force. The purpose of 3rd sub-topic is the development of 3-D nonlinear finite element analysis program for prestressed concrete containment building. The last purpose if the evaluation of the failure mechanism of containment structure and structure capacity and the assessment of integrity of containment through the of leakage test. As a result of this research, there are many research results were produced. The scenario earthquake developing method was developed and the effect of the structures and equipment was analyzed. The effectiveness of isolation system was determined and optimum isolation systems for each equipment were selected. The NUCAS-3D program for the 3 dimensional numerical analysis of containment building using the embedded tendon element and rebar element was developed. The tension behavior of containment building was examined and the leakage rate of the concrete crack was determined. The results of this research can be successfully used for many fields of integrity of NPP site. It can be used for development of design earthquake for the seismic design and safety evaluation and establishment of seismic safety evaluation program and seismic capacity improvement program for existing NPP. In case of seismic isolation part, it can be used for the application to the selection of optimum isolation devices for equipment isolation and to the effective evaluation of each seismic isolation devices. In containment analysis part, it can be used for ultimate pressure capacity evaluation of prestressed concrete

Modeling and Detecting Feature Interactions among Integrated Services of Home Network Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Igaki, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Masahide

This paper presents a framework for formalizing and detecting feature interactions (FIs) in the emerging smart home domain. We first establish a model of home network system (HNS), where every networked appliance (or the HNS environment) is characterized as an object consisting of properties and methods. Then, every HNS service is defined as a sequence of method invocations of the appliances. Within the model, we next formalize two kinds of FIs: (a) appliance interactions and (b) environment interactions. An appliance interaction occurs when two method invocations conflict on the same appliance, whereas an environment interaction arises when two method invocations conflict indirectly via the environment. Finally, we propose offline and online methods that detect FIs before service deployment and during execution, respectively. Through a case study with seven practical services, it is shown that the proposed framework is generic enough to capture feature interactions in HNS integrated services. We also discuss several FI resolution schemes within the proposed framework.

Quantification of Lignin and Its Structural Features in Plant Biomass Using

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Erven, Van Gijs; Visser, de Ries; Merkx, Donny W.H.; Strolenberg, Willem; Gijsel, de Peter; Gruppen, Harry; Kabel, Mirjam A.

2017-01-01

Understanding the mechanisms underlying plant biomass recalcitrance at the molecular level can only be achieved by accurate analyses of both the content and structural features of the molecules involved. Current quantification of lignin is, however, majorly based on unspecific gravimetric

Integrative structural modeling with small angle X-ray scattering profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schneidman-Duhovny Dina

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Recent technological advances enabled high-throughput collection of Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS profiles of biological macromolecules. Thus, computational methods for integrating SAXS profiles into structural modeling are needed more than ever. Here, we review specifically the use of SAXS profiles for the structural modeling of proteins, nucleic acids, and their complexes. First, the approaches for computing theoretical SAXS profiles from structures are presented. Second, computational methods for predicting protein structures, dynamics of proteins in solution, and assembly structures are covered. Third, we discuss the use of SAXS profiles in integrative structure modeling approaches that depend simultaneously on several data types.

The RCSB protein data bank: integrative view of protein, gene and 3D structural information.

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Peter W; Prlić, Andreas; Altunkaya, Ali; Bi, Chunxiao; Bradley, Anthony R; Christie, Cole H; Costanzo, Luigi Di; Duarte, Jose M; Dutta, Shuchismita; Feng, Zukang; Green, Rachel Kramer; Goodsell, David S; Hudson, Brian; Kalro, Tara; Lowe, Robert; Peisach, Ezra; Randle, Christopher; Rose, Alexander S; Shao, Chenghua; Tao, Yi-Ping; Valasatava, Yana; Voigt, Maria; Westbrook, John D; Woo, Jesse; Yang, Huangwang; Young, Jasmine Y; Zardecki, Christine; Berman, Helen M; Burley, Stephen K

2017-01-04

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB, http://rcsb.org), the US data center for the global PDB archive, makes PDB data freely available to all users, from structural biologists to computational biologists and beyond. New tools and resources have been added to the RCSB PDB web portal in support of a 'Structural View of Biology.' Recent developments have improved the User experience, including the high-speed NGL Viewer that provides 3D molecular visualization in any web browser, improved support for data file download and enhanced organization of website pages for query, reporting and individual structure exploration. Structure validation information is now visible for all archival entries. PDB data have been integrated with external biological resources, including chromosomal position within the human genome; protein modifications; and metabolic pathways. PDB-101 educational materials have been reorganized into a searchable website and expanded to include new features such as the Geis Digital Archive. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Gigascale Silicon Photonic Transmitters Integrating HBT-based Carrier-injection Electroabsorption Modulator Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Enjin

Demand for more bandwidth is rapidly increasing, which is driven by data intensive applications such as high-definition (HD) video streaming, cloud storage, and terascale computing applications. Next-generation high-performance computing systems require power efficient chip-to-chip and intra-chip interconnect yielding densities on the order of 1Tbps/cm2. The performance requirements of such system are the driving force behind the development of silicon integrated optical interconnect, providing a cost-effective solution for fully integrated optical interconnect systems on a single substrate. Compared to conventional electrical interconnect, optical interconnects have several advantages, including frequency independent insertion loss resulting in ultra wide bandwidth and link latency reduction. For high-speed optical transmitter modules, the optical modulator is a key component of the optical I/O channel. This thesis presents a silicon integrated optical transmitter module design based on a novel silicon HBT-based carrier injection electroabsorption modulator (EAM), which has the merits of wide optical bandwidth, high speed, low power, low drive voltage, small footprint, and high modulation efficiency. The structure, mechanism, and fabrication of the modulator structure will be discussed which is followed by the electrical modeling of the post-processed modulator device. The design and realization of a 10Gbps monolithic optical transmitter module integrating the driver circuit architecture and the HBT-based EAM device in a 130nm BiCMOS process is discussed. For high power efficiency, a 6Gbps ultra-low power driver IC implemented in a 130nm BiCMOS process is presented. The driver IC incorporates an integrated 27-1 pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) generator for reliable high-speed testing, and a driver circuit featuring digitally-tuned pre-emphasis signal strength. With outstanding drive capability, the driver module can be applied to a wide range of carrier

Structural and compositional features of high-rise buildings: experimental design in Yekaterinburg

Science.gov (United States)

Yankovskaya, Yulia; Lobanov, Yuriy; Temnov, Vladimir

2018-03-01

The study looks at the specifics of high-rise development in Yekaterinburg. High-rise buildings are considered in the context of their historical development, structural features, compositional and imaginative design techniques. Experience of Yekaterinburg architects in experimental design is considered and analyzed. Main issues and prospects of high-rise development within the Yekaterinburg structure are studied. The most interesting and significant conceptual approaches to the structural and compositional arrangement of high-rise buildings are discussed.

The role of emotion in musical improvisation: an analysis of structural features.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malinda J McPherson

Full Text Available One of the primary functions of music is to convey emotion, yet how music accomplishes this task remains unclear. For example, simple correlations between mode (major vs. minor and emotion (happy vs. sad do not adequately explain the enormous range, subtlety or complexity of musically induced emotions. In this study, we examined the structural features of unconstrained musical improvisations generated by jazz pianists in response to emotional cues. We hypothesized that musicians would not utilize any universal rules to convey emotions, but would instead combine heterogeneous musical elements together in order to depict positive and negative emotions. Our findings demonstrate a lack of simple correspondence between emotions and musical features of spontaneous musical improvisation. While improvisations in response to positive emotional cues were more likely to be in major keys, have faster tempos, faster key press velocities and more staccato notes when compared to negative improvisations, there was a wide distribution for each emotion with components that directly violated these primary associations. The finding that musicians often combine disparate features together in order to convey emotion during improvisation suggests that structural diversity may be an essential feature of the ability of music to express a wide range of emotion.

Structure and origin of Australian ring and dome features with reference to the search for asteroid impact events

Science.gov (United States)

Glikson, Andrew

2018-01-01

Ring, dome and crater features on the Australian continent and shelf include (A) 38 structures of confirmed or probable asteroid and meteorite impact origin and (B) numerous buried and exposed ring, dome and crater features of undefined origin. A large number of the latter include structural and geophysical elements consistent with impact structures, pending test by field investigations and/or drilling. This paper documents and briefly describes 43 ring and dome features with the aim of appraising their similarities and differences from those of impact structures. Discrimination between impact structures and igneous plugs, volcanic caldera and salt domes require field work and/or drilling. Where crater-like morphological patterns intersect pre-existing linear structural features and contain central morphological highs and unique thrust and fault patterns an impact connection needs to tested in the field. Hints of potential buried impact structures may be furnished by single or multi-ring TMI patterns, circular TMI quiet zones, corresponding gravity patterns, low velocity and non-reflective seismic zones.

The Temporal Dynamics of Feature Integration for Color, form, and Motion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KS Pilz

2012-07-01

Full Text Available When two similar visual stimuli are presented in rapid succession, only their fused image is perceived, without having conscious access to the single stimuli. Such feature fusion occurs both for color (eg, Efron1973 and form (eg, Scharnowski et al 2007. For verniers, the fusion process lasts for more than 400 ms, as has been shown using TMS (Scharnowski et al 2009. In three experiments, we used light masks to investigate the time course of feature fusion for color, form, and motion. In experiment one, two verniers were presented in rapid succession with opposite offset directions. Subjects had to indicate the offset direction of the vernier. In a second experiment, a red and a green disk were presented in rapid succession, and subjects had to indicate whether the fused, yellow disk appeared rather than red or green. In a third experiment, three frames of random dots were presented successively. The first two frames created a percept of apparent motion to the upper right; and the last two frames, one to the upper left or vice versa. Subjects had to indicate the direction of motion. All stimuli were presented foveally. In all three experiments, we first balanced performance so that neither the first nor the second stimulus dominated the fused percept. In a second step, a light mask was presented either before, during, or after stimulus presentation. Depending on presentation time, the light masks modulated the fusion process so that either the first or the second stimulus dominated the percept. Our results show that unconscious feature fusion lasts more than five times longer than the actual stimulus duration, which indicates that individual features are stored for a substantial amount of time before they are integrated.

The integrable structure of nonrational conformal field theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bytsko, A. [Steklov Mathematics Institute, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Teschner, J. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

2009-02-15

Using the example of Liouville theory, we show how the separation into left- and rightmoving degrees of freedom of a nonrational conformal field theory can be made explicit in terms of its integrable structure. The key observation is that there exist separate Baxter Q-operators for left- and right-moving degrees of freedom. Combining a study of the analytic properties of the Q-operators with Sklyanin's Separation of Variables Method leads to a complete characterization of the spectrum. Taking the continuum limit allows us in particular to rederive the Liouville reflection amplitude using only the integrable structure. (orig.)

Integration of Error Compensation of Coordinate Measuring Machines into Feature Measurement: Part I—Model Development

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Roque; D’Amato, Roberto; Gómez, Emilio; Domingo, Rosario

2016-01-01

The development of an error compensation model for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and its integration into feature measurement is presented. CMMs are widespread and dependable instruments in industry and laboratories for dimensional measurement. From the tip probe sensor to the machine display, there is a complex transformation of probed point coordinates through the geometrical feature model that makes the assessment of accuracy and uncertainty measurement results difficult. Therefore, error compensation is not standardized, conversely to other simpler instruments. Detailed coordinate error compensation models are generally based on CMM as a rigid-body and it requires a detailed mapping of the CMM’s behavior. In this paper a new model type of error compensation is proposed. It evaluates the error from the vectorial composition of length error by axis and its integration into the geometrical measurement model. The non-explained variability by the model is incorporated into the uncertainty budget. Model parameters are analyzed and linked to the geometrical errors and uncertainty of CMM response. Next, the outstanding measurement models of flatness, angle, and roundness are developed. The proposed models are useful for measurement improvement with easy integration into CMM signal processing, in particular in industrial environments where built-in solutions are sought. A battery of implementation tests are presented in Part II, where the experimental endorsement of the model is included. PMID:27690052

Integration of Error Compensation of Coordinate Measuring Machines into Feature Measurement: Part I—Model Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roque Calvo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The development of an error compensation model for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs and its integration into feature measurement is presented. CMMs are widespread and dependable instruments in industry and laboratories for dimensional measurement. From the tip probe sensor to the machine display, there is a complex transformation of probed point coordinates through the geometrical feature model that makes the assessment of accuracy and uncertainty measurement results difficult. Therefore, error compensation is not standardized, conversely to other simpler instruments. Detailed coordinate error compensation models are generally based on CMM as a rigid-body and it requires a detailed mapping of the CMM’s behavior. In this paper a new model type of error compensation is proposed. It evaluates the error from the vectorial composition of length error by axis and its integration into the geometrical measurement model. The non-explained variability by the model is incorporated into the uncertainty budget. Model parameters are analyzed and linked to the geometrical errors and uncertainty of CMM response. Next, the outstanding measurement models of flatness, angle, and roundness are developed. The proposed models are useful for measurement improvement with easy integration into CMM signal processing, in particular in industrial environments where built-in solutions are sought. A battery of implementation tests are presented in Part II, where the experimental endorsement of the model is included.

Integrating structural health and condition monitoring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

May, Allan; Thöns, Sebastian; McMillan, David

2015-01-01

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

Cortical mechanisms for trans-saccadic memory and integration of multiple object features

Science.gov (United States)

Prime, Steven L.; Vesia, Michael; Crawford, J. Douglas

2011-01-01

Constructing an internal representation of the world from successive visual fixations, i.e. separated by saccadic eye movements, is known as trans-saccadic perception. Research on trans-saccadic perception (TSP) has been traditionally aimed at resolving the problems of memory capacity and visual integration across saccades. In this paper, we review this literature on TSP with a focus on research showing that egocentric measures of the saccadic eye movement can be used to integrate simple object features across saccades, and that the memory capacity for items retained across saccades, like visual working memory, is restricted to about three to four items. We also review recent transcranial magnetic stimulation experiments which suggest that the right parietal eye field and frontal eye fields play a key functional role in spatial updating of objects in TSP. We conclude by speculating on possible cortical mechanisms for governing egocentric spatial updating of multiple objects in TSP. PMID:21242142

An integrated multi-sensor fusion-based deep feature learning approach for rotating machinery diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jie; Hu, Youmin; Wang, Yan; Wu, Bo; Fan, Jikai; Hu, Zhongxu

2018-05-01

The diagnosis of complicated fault severity problems in rotating machinery systems is an important issue that affects the productivity and quality of manufacturing processes and industrial applications. However, it usually suffers from several deficiencies. (1) A considerable degree of prior knowledge and expertise is required to not only extract and select specific features from raw sensor signals, and but also choose a suitable fusion for sensor information. (2) Traditional artificial neural networks with shallow architectures are usually adopted and they have a limited ability to learn the complex and variable operating conditions. In multi-sensor-based diagnosis applications in particular, massive high-dimensional and high-volume raw sensor signals need to be processed. In this paper, an integrated multi-sensor fusion-based deep feature learning (IMSFDFL) approach is developed to identify the fault severity in rotating machinery processes. First, traditional statistics and energy spectrum features are extracted from multiple sensors with multiple channels and combined. Then, a fused feature vector is constructed from all of the acquisition channels. Further, deep feature learning with stacked auto-encoders is used to obtain the deep features. Finally, the traditional softmax model is applied to identify the fault severity. The effectiveness of the proposed IMSFDFL approach is primarily verified by a one-stage gearbox experimental platform that uses several accelerometers under different operating conditions. This approach can identify fault severity more effectively than the traditional approaches.

A prototype feature system for feature retrieval using relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, J.; Usery, E.L.

2009-01-01

Using a feature data model, geographic phenomena can be represented effectively by integrating space, theme, and time. This paper extends and implements a feature data model that supports query and visualization of geographic features using their non-spatial and temporal relationships. A prototype feature-oriented geographic information system (FOGIS) is then developed and storage of features named Feature Database is designed. Buildings from the U.S. Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and subways in Chicago, Illinois are used to test the developed system. The results of the applications show the strength of the feature data model and the developed system 'FOGIS' when they utilize non-spatial and temporal relationships in order to retrieve and visualize individual features.

Critical Features of Fragment Libraries for Protein Structure Prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Trevizani, Raphael; Custódio, Fábio Lima; Dos Santos, Karina Baptista; Dardenne, Laurent Emmanuel

2017-01-01

The use of fragment libraries is a popular approach among protein structure prediction methods and has proven to substantially improve the quality of predicted structures. However, some vital aspects of a fragment library that influence the accuracy of modeling a native structure remain to be determined. This study investigates some of these features. Particularly, we analyze the effect of using secondary structure prediction guiding fragments selection, different fragments sizes and the effect of structural clustering of fragments within libraries. To have a clearer view of how these factors affect protein structure prediction, we isolated the process of model building by fragment assembly from some common limitations associated with prediction methods, e.g., imprecise energy functions and optimization algorithms, by employing an exact structure-based objective function under a greedy algorithm. Our results indicate that shorter fragments reproduce the native structure more accurately than the longer. Libraries composed of multiple fragment lengths generate even better structures, where longer fragments show to be more useful at the beginning of the simulations. The use of many different fragment sizes shows little improvement when compared to predictions carried out with libraries that comprise only three different fragment sizes. Models obtained from libraries built using only sequence similarity are, on average, better than those built with a secondary structure prediction bias. However, we found that the use of secondary structure prediction allows greater reduction of the search space, which is invaluable for prediction methods. The results of this study can be critical guidelines for the use of fragment libraries in protein structure prediction.

Licensing aspects of structural integrity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, M.J.; Hemsworth, B.; Boydon, F.M.D.; Harrop, L.P.; Waters, R.

1992-01-01

Examples are given of the wide variety of structural integrity assessments of nuclear plant carried out by the United Kingdom Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) and the consequent need for a flexible approach within the framework provided by the Safety Assessment Principles. The paper describes the use of the Special Case Procedure and draws the distinction between the assessment of incredibility of failure of components and components whose failures are considered within the design basis. Assessment examples provided are the Sizewell B reactor pressure vessel, Magnox reactor pressure vessels, the Prototype Fast Reactor core support structure, Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor steam plant, Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) vessels, and Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor pressure tubes. (author)

Process Features in Writing: Internal Structure and Incremental Value over Product Features. Research Report. ETS RR-15-27

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Mo; Deane, Paul

2015-01-01

In educational measurement contexts, essays have been evaluated and formative feedback has been given based on the end product. In this study, we used a large sample collected from middle school students in the United States to investigate the factor structure of the writing process features gathered from keystroke logs and the association of that…

Development of Probabilistic Structural Analysis Integrated with Manufacturing Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Pai, Shantaram S.; Nagpal, Vinod K.

2007-01-01

An effort has been initiated to integrate manufacturing process simulations with probabilistic structural analyses in order to capture the important impacts of manufacturing uncertainties on component stress levels and life. Two physics-based manufacturing process models (one for powdered metal forging and the other for annular deformation resistance welding) have been linked to the NESSUS structural analysis code. This paper describes the methodology developed to perform this integration including several examples. Although this effort is still underway, particularly for full integration of a probabilistic analysis, the progress to date has been encouraging and a software interface that implements the methodology has been developed. The purpose of this paper is to report this preliminary development.

An integrated algorithm for hypersonic fluid-thermal-structural numerical simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jia-Wei; Wang, Jiang-Feng

2018-05-01

In this paper, a fluid-structural-thermal integrated method is presented based on finite volume method. A unified integral equations system is developed as the control equations for physical process of aero-heating and structural heat transfer. The whole physical field is discretized by using an up-wind finite volume method. To demonstrate its capability, the numerical simulation of Mach 6.47 flow over stainless steel cylinder shows a good agreement with measured values, and this method dynamically simulates the objective physical processes. Thus, the integrated algorithm proves to be efficient and reliable.

Common structural features of cholesterol binding sites in crystallized soluble proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Bukiya, Anna N; Dopico, Alejandro M

2017-06-01

Cholesterol-protein interactions are essential for the architectural organization of cell membranes and for lipid metabolism. While cholesterol-sensing motifs in transmembrane proteins have been identified, little is known about cholesterol recognition by soluble proteins. We reviewed the structural characteristics of binding sites for cholesterol and cholesterol sulfate from crystallographic structures available in the Protein Data Bank. This analysis unveiled key features of cholesterol-binding sites that are present in either all or the majority of sites: i ) the cholesterol molecule is generally positioned between protein domains that have an organized secondary structure; ii ) the cholesterol hydroxyl/sulfo group is often partnered by Asn, Gln, and/or Tyr, while the hydrophobic part of cholesterol interacts with Leu, Ile, Val, and/or Phe; iii ) cholesterol hydrogen-bonding partners are often found on α-helices, while amino acids that interact with cholesterol's hydrophobic core have a slight preference for β-strands and secondary structure-lacking protein areas; iv ) the steroid's C21 and C26 constitute the "hot spots" most often seen for steroid-protein hydrophobic interactions; v ) common "cold spots" are C8-C10, C13, and C17, at which contacts with the proteins were not detected. Several common features we identified for soluble protein-steroid interaction appear evolutionarily conserved. Copyright © 2017 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Unique structural features facilitate lizard tail autotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanggaard, Kristian W; Danielsen, Carl Chr; Wogensen, Lise; Vinding, Mads S; Rydtoft, Louise M; Mortensen, Martin B; Karring, Henrik; Nielsen, Niels Chr; Wang, Tobias; Thøgersen, Ida B; Enghild, Jan J

2012-01-01

Autotomy refers to the voluntary shedding of a body part; a renowned example is tail loss among lizards as a response to attempted predation. Although many aspects of lizard tail autotomy have been studied, the detailed morphology and mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we showed that tail shedding by the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) and the associated extracellular matrix (ECM) rupture were independent of proteolysis. Instead, lizard caudal autotomy relied on biological adhesion facilitated by surface microstructures. Results based on bio-imaging techniques demonstrated that the tail of Gekko gecko was pre-severed at distinct sites and that its structural integrity depended on the adhesion between these segments.

Relevance feature selection of modal frequency-ambient condition pattern recognition in structural health assessment for reinforced concrete buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

He-Qing Mu

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Modal frequency is an important indicator for structural health assessment. Previous studies have shown that this indicator is substantially affected by the fluctuation of ambient conditions, such as temperature and humidity. Therefore, recognizing the pattern between modal frequency and ambient conditions is necessary for reliable long-term structural health assessment. In this article, a novel machine-learning algorithm is proposed to automatically select relevance features in modal frequency-ambient condition pattern recognition based on structural dynamic response and ambient condition measurement. In contrast to the traditional feature selection approaches by examining a large number of combinations of extracted features, the proposed algorithm conducts continuous relevance feature selection by introducing a sophisticated hyperparameterization on the weight parameter vector controlling the relevancy of different features in the prediction model. The proposed algorithm is then utilized for structural health assessment for a reinforced concrete building based on 1-year daily measurements. It turns out that the optimal model class including the relevance features for each vibrational mode is capable to capture the pattern between the corresponding modal frequency and the ambient conditions.

Path Integration Applied to Structural Systems with Uncertain Properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Søren R.K.; Köylüoglu, H. Ugur

Path integration (cell-to-cell mapping) method is applied to evaluate the joint probability density function (jpdf) of the response of the structural systems, with uncertain properties, subject to white noise excitation. A general methodology to deal with uncertainties is outlined and applied...... to the friction controlled slip of a structure on a foundation where the friction coefficient is modelled as a random variable. Exact results derived using the total probability theorem are compared to the ones obtained via path integration....

Features Of Household Lexics, Their Characteristics And Structural Analysis In The Modern English Language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aygun Yusifova

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The present paper aims to analyze the most inherent features and characteristics of household lexis in English. Special emphasis has been placed on their names of the objects used in everyday life, kitchen utensils, animal and birds. Lexical units concerning ceremonies, habits and traditions are also among the scope of the paper. Moreover, the study deals with the structural features of the units under consideration. It is believed that the thematic-semantic characterization of every-day lexis can have both pedagogical and linguistic implications, especially when dealing with comparative structures.

Automatic feature learning using multichannel ROI based on deep structured algorithms for computerized lung cancer diagnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wenqing; Zheng, Bin; Qian, Wei

2017-10-01

This study aimed to analyze the ability of extracting automatically generated features using deep structured algorithms in lung nodule CT image diagnosis, and compare its performance with traditional computer aided diagnosis (CADx) systems using hand-crafted features. All of the 1018 cases were acquired from Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) public lung cancer database. The nodules were segmented according to four radiologists' markings, and 13,668 samples were generated by rotating every slice of nodule images. Three multichannel ROI based deep structured algorithms were designed and implemented in this study: convolutional neural network (CNN), deep belief network (DBN), and stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE). For the comparison purpose, we also implemented a CADx system using hand-crafted features including density features, texture features and morphological features. The performance of every scheme was evaluated by using a 10-fold cross-validation method and an assessment index of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The observed highest area under the curve (AUC) was 0.899±0.018 achieved by CNN, which was significantly higher than traditional CADx with the AUC=0.848±0.026. The results from DBN was also slightly higher than CADx, while SDAE was slightly lower. By visualizing the automatic generated features, we found some meaningful detectors like curvy stroke detectors from deep structured schemes. The study results showed the deep structured algorithms with automatically generated features can achieve desirable performance in lung nodule diagnosis. With well-tuned parameters and large enough dataset, the deep learning algorithms can have better performance than current popular CADx. We believe the deep learning algorithms with similar data preprocessing procedure can be used in other medical image analysis areas as well. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

FORMATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATED STRUCTURES IN THE ALUMINUM INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. B. Kazbekova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper reveals the theoretical foundations of economic efficiency of production and integrated structures formation. Their advantages are demonstrated by the example of the formation of vertically integrated structures in the aluminium industry in the framework created by smelting aluminium cluster inKazakhstan. Also examines the valuable experience gained in the organization of such structures in theRussian Federationin recent years

Structural features that optimize high temperature superconductivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jorgensen, J.D.; Argonne Nat. Lab., IL; Hinks, D.G.; Argonne Nat. Lab., IL; Chmaissem, O.; Argonne Nat. Lab., IL; Argyriou, D.N.; Argonne Nat. Lab., IL; Mitchell, J.F.; Argonne Nat. Lab., IL; Dabrowski, B.

1996-01-01

Studies of a large number of compounds have provided a consistent picture of what structural features give rise to the highest T c 's in copper-oxide superconductors. For example, various defects can be introduced into the blocking layer to provide the optimum carrier concentration, but defects that form in or adjacent to the CuO 2 layers will lower T c and eventually destroy superconductivity. After these requirements are satisfied, the highest T c 's are observed for compounds (such as the HgBa 2 Ca n-1 Cu n O 2n+2+x family) that have flat and square CuO 2 planes and long apical Cu-O bonds. This conclusion is confirmed by the study of materials in which the flatness of the CuO 2 plane can be varied in a systematic way. In more recent work, attention has focused on how the structure can be modified, for example, by chemical substitution, to improve flux pinning properties. Two strategies are being investigated: (1) Increasing the coupling of pancake vortices to form vortex lines by shortening or ''metallizing'' the blocking layer; and (2) the formation of defects that pin flux. (orig.)

Integrated circuit for processing a low-frequency signal from a seismic detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malashevich, N. I.; Roslyakov, A. S.; Polomoshnov, S. A., E-mail: S.Polomoshnov@tsen.ru; Fedorov, R. A. [Research and Production Complex ' Technological Center' of the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology (Russian Federation)

2011-12-15

Specific features for the detection and processing of a low-frequency signal from a seismic detector are considered in terms of an integrated circuit based on a large matrix crystal of the 5507 series. This integrated circuit is designed for the detection of human movements. The specific features of the information signal, obtained at the output of the seismic detector, and the main characteristics of the integrated circuit and its structure are reported.

Structural damage identification using damping: a compendium of uses and features

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, M. S.; Sha, G. G.; Gao, Y. F.; Ostachowicz, W.

2017-04-01

The vibration responses of structures under controlled or ambient excitation can be used to detect structural damage by correlating changes in structural dynamic properties extracted from responses with damage. Typical dynamic properties refer to modal parameters: natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping. Among these parameters, natural frequencies and mode shapes have been investigated extensively for their use in damage characterization by associating damage with reduction in local stiffness of structures. In contrast, the use of damping as a dynamic property to represent structural damage has not been comprehensively elucidated, primarily due to the complexities of damping measurement and analysis. With advances in measurement technologies and analysis tools, the use of damping to identify damage is becoming a focus of increasing attention in the damage detection community. Recently, a number of studies have demonstrated that damping has greater sensitivity for characterizing damage than natural frequencies and mode shapes in various applications, but damping-based damage identification is still a research direction ‘in progress’ and is not yet well resolved. This situation calls for an overall survey of the state-of-the-art and the state-of-the-practice of using damping to detect structural damage. To this end, this study aims to provide a comprehensive survey of uses and features of applying damping in structural damage detection. First, we present various methods for damping estimation in different domains including the time domain, the frequency domain, and the time-frequency domain. Second, we investigate the features and applications of damping-based damage detection methods on the basis of two predominant infrastructure elements, reinforced concrete structures and fiber-reinforced composites. Third, we clarify the influential factors that can impair the capability of damping to characterize damage. Finally, we recommend future research directions

The quality management system in leading organization of the integrated structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kunitsyn A. M.

2018-02-01

Full Text Available the article has analyzed the problem of integrated structure management. The author has noted that the implementation of recommendations outlined in the article will allow building and improving the quality management system in leading organization of integrated structure on a regular basis that meets the requirements.

Structure-preserving integrators in nonlinear structural dynamics and flexible multibody dynamics

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

This book focuses on structure-preserving numerical methods for flexible multibody dynamics, including nonlinear elastodynamics and geometrically exact models for beams and shells. It also deals with the newly emerging class of variational integrators as well as Lie-group integrators. It discusses two alternative approaches to the discretization in space of nonlinear beams and shells. Firstly, geometrically exact formulations, which are typically used in the finite element community and, secondly, the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, which is popular in the multibody dynamics community. Concerning the discretization in time, the energy-momentum method and its energy-decaying variants are discussed. It also addresses a number of issues that have arisen in the wake of the structure-preserving discretization in space. Among them are the parameterization of finite rotations, the incorporation of algebraic constraints and the computer implementation of the various numerical methods. The practical application...

Integrated Structural Biology for α-Helical Membrane Protein Structure Determination.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Yan; Fischer, Axel W; Teixeira, Pedro; Weiner, Brian; Meiler, Jens

2018-04-03

While great progress has been made, only 10% of the nearly 1,000 integral, α-helical, multi-span membrane protein families are represented by at least one experimentally determined structure in the PDB. Previously, we developed the algorithm BCL::MP-Fold, which samples the large conformational space of membrane proteins de novo by assembling predicted secondary structure elements guided by knowledge-based potentials. Here, we present a case study of rhodopsin fold determination by integrating sparse and/or low-resolution restraints from multiple experimental techniques including electron microscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Simultaneous incorporation of orthogonal experimental restraints not only significantly improved the sampling accuracy but also allowed identification of the correct fold, which is demonstrated by a protein size-normalized transmembrane root-mean-square deviation as low as 1.2 Å. The protocol developed in this case study can be used for the determination of unknown membrane protein folds when limited experimental restraints are available. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feature selection for high-dimensional integrated data

KAUST Repository

Zheng, Charles

2012-04-26

Motivated by the problem of identifying correlations between genes or features of two related biological systems, we propose a model of feature selection in which only a subset of the predictors Xt are dependent on the multidimensional variate Y, and the remainder of the predictors constitute a “noise set” Xu independent of Y. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigated the relative performance of two methods: thresholding and singular-value decomposition, in combination with stochastic optimization to determine “empirical bounds” on the small-sample accuracy of an asymptotic approximation. We demonstrate utility of the thresholding and SVD feature selection methods to with respect to a recent infant intestinal gene expression and metagenomics dataset.

Feature selection for high-dimensional integrated data

KAUST Repository

Zheng, Charles; Schwartz, Scott; Chapkin, Robert S.; Carroll, Raymond J.; Ivanov, Ivan

2012-01-01

Motivated by the problem of identifying correlations between genes or features of two related biological systems, we propose a model of feature selection in which only a subset of the predictors Xt are dependent on the multidimensional variate Y, and the remainder of the predictors constitute a “noise set” Xu independent of Y. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigated the relative performance of two methods: thresholding and singular-value decomposition, in combination with stochastic optimization to determine “empirical bounds” on the small-sample accuracy of an asymptotic approximation. We demonstrate utility of the thresholding and SVD feature selection methods to with respect to a recent infant intestinal gene expression and metagenomics dataset.

Structure-function relationships during segregated and integrated network states of human brain functional connectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukushima, Makoto; Betzel, Richard F; He, Ye; van den Heuvel, Martijn P; Zuo, Xi-Nian; Sporns, Olaf

2018-04-01

Structural white matter connections are thought to facilitate integration of neural information across functionally segregated systems. Recent studies have demonstrated that changes in the balance between segregation and integration in brain networks can be tracked by time-resolved functional connectivity derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data and that fluctuations between segregated and integrated network states are related to human behavior. However, how these network states relate to structural connectivity is largely unknown. To obtain a better understanding of structural substrates for these network states, we investigated how the relationship between structural connectivity, derived from diffusion tractography, and functional connectivity, as measured by rs-fMRI, changes with fluctuations between segregated and integrated states in the human brain. We found that the similarity of edge weights between structural and functional connectivity was greater in the integrated state, especially at edges connecting the default mode and the dorsal attention networks. We also demonstrated that the similarity of network partitions, evaluated between structural and functional connectivity, increased and the density of direct structural connections within modules in functional networks was elevated during the integrated state. These results suggest that, when functional connectivity exhibited an integrated network topology, structural connectivity and functional connectivity were more closely linked to each other and direct structural connections mediated a larger proportion of neural communication within functional modules. Our findings point out the possibility of significant contributions of structural connections to integrative neural processes underlying human behavior.

Integrating spatial and numerical structure in mathematical patterning

Science.gov (United States)

Ni’mah, K.; Purwanto; Irawan, E. B.; Hidayanto, E.

2018-03-01

This paper reports a study monitoring the integrating spatial and numerical structure in mathematical patterning skills of 30 students grade 7th of junior high school. The purpose of this research is to clarify the processes by which learners construct new knowledge in mathematical patterning. Findings indicate that: (1) students are unable to organize the structure of spatial and numerical, (2) students were only able to organize the spatial structure, but the numerical structure is still incorrect, (3) students were only able to organize numerical structure, but its spatial structure is still incorrect, (4) students were able to organize both of the spatial and numerical structure.

Delineating the structure of normal and abnormal personality: an integrative hierarchical approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Markon, Kristian E; Krueger, Robert F; Watson, David

2005-01-01

Increasing evidence indicates that normal and abnormal personality can be treated within a single structural framework. However, identification of a single integrated structure of normal and abnormal personality has remained elusive. Here, a constructive replication approach was used to delineate an integrative hierarchical account of the structure of normal and abnormal personality. This hierarchical structure, which integrates many Big Trait models proposed in the literature, replicated across a meta-analysis as well as an empirical study, and across samples of participants as well as measures. The proposed structure resembles previously suggested accounts of personality hierarchy and provides insight into the nature of personality hierarchy more generally. Potential directions for future research on personality and psychopathology are discussed.

Delineating the Structure of Normal and Abnormal Personality: An Integrative Hierarchical Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Markon, Kristian E.; Krueger, Robert F.; Watson, David

2008-01-01

Increasing evidence indicates that normal and abnormal personality can be treated within a single structural framework. However, identification of a single integrated structure of normal and abnormal personality has remained elusive. Here, a constructive replication approach was used to delineate an integrative hierarchical account of the structure of normal and abnormal personality. This hierarchical structure, which integrates many Big Trait models proposed in the literature, replicated across a meta-analysis as well as an empirical study, and across samples of participants as well as measures. The proposed structure resembles previously suggested accounts of personality hierarchy and provides insight into the nature of personality hierarchy more generally. Potential directions for future research on personality and psychopathology are discussed. PMID:15631580

Unveiling network-based functional features through integration of gene expression into protein networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Jalili, Mahdi; Gebhardt, Tom; Wolkenhauer, Olaf; Salehzadeh-Yazdi, Ali

2018-06-01

Decoding health and disease phenotypes is one of the fundamental objectives in biomedicine. Whereas high-throughput omics approaches are available, it is evident that any single omics approach might not be adequate to capture the complexity of phenotypes. Therefore, integrated multi-omics approaches have been used to unravel genotype-phenotype relationships such as global regulatory mechanisms and complex metabolic networks in different eukaryotic organisms. Some of the progress and challenges associated with integrated omics studies have been reviewed previously in comprehensive studies. In this work, we highlight and review the progress, challenges and advantages associated with emerging approaches, integrating gene expression and protein-protein interaction networks to unravel network-based functional features. This includes identifying disease related genes, gene prioritization, clustering protein interactions, developing the modules, extract active subnetworks and static protein complexes or dynamic/temporal protein complexes. We also discuss how these approaches contribute to our understanding of the biology of complex traits and diseases. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cardiac adaptations to obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance, edited by Professors Jan F.C. Glatz, Jason R.B. Dyck and Christine Des Rosiers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unique structural features facilitate lizard tail autotomy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristian W Sanggaard

Full Text Available Autotomy refers to the voluntary shedding of a body part; a renowned example is tail loss among lizards as a response to attempted predation. Although many aspects of lizard tail autotomy have been studied, the detailed morphology and mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we showed that tail shedding by the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko and the associated extracellular matrix (ECM rupture were independent of proteolysis. Instead, lizard caudal autotomy relied on biological adhesion facilitated by surface microstructures. Results based on bio-imaging techniques demonstrated that the tail of Gekko gecko was pre-severed at distinct sites and that its structural integrity depended on the adhesion between these segments.

STYLE - A European project on structural integrity: Progress of the work after 2 Years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heussner, Stefan; Nicak, Tomas; Keim, Elisabeth

2012-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the progress of the work on the EURATOM project STYLE (Structural integrity for lifetime management - non-RPV components). The project focuses on the structural integrity assessment of reactor coolant pressure boundary components (RCPB) relevant to ageing and life time management. The 4-years project started in January 2010 and is now in its third year. Within STYLE realistic failure models for some of the key components will be identified. The range of assessment tools considered will include those for assessment of component failure by advanced fracture mechanics analyses validated on small and large scale experiments, quantification of weld residual stresses by numerical analysis and by measurements, stress corrosion crack initiation and growth effects and assessment of RCPB components (excluding the reactor pressure vessel) under dynamic and seismic loading. Based on theoretical and experimental results, performance assessment and further development of simplified engineering assessment methods (EAM) will be carried out considering both deterministic and probabilistic approaches. Integrity assessment case studies and large scale demonstration experiments will be performed on Mock-ups of safety relevant components. These will include a repair weld in an aged butt-welded austenitic pipe, a dissimilar narrow gap TIG weld (following the EPR design) and a cladded ferritic pipe. Moreover, experiments on specimens and feature test pieces will be carried out to support the large scale Mock-up analyses. The end product of the project ('STYLE TOOLS') will comprise best practice guidelines on the use of advanced tools, on improvement and qualification of EAM as a part of European Leak-before-break (LBB) procedures and on life time management of the integrity of RCPB components in European nuclear power plants. The project is interacting with the European Network of Excellence NUGENIA (former NULIFE). (author)

Crowding with conjunctions of simple features.

Science.gov (United States)

Põder, Endel; Wagemans, Johan

2007-11-20

Several recent studies have related crowding with the feature integration stage in visual processing. In order to understand the mechanisms involved in this stage, it is important to use stimuli that have several features to integrate, and these features should be clearly defined and measurable. In this study, Gabor patches were used as target and distractor stimuli. The stimuli differed in three dimensions: spatial frequency, orientation, and color. A group of 3, 5, or 7 objects was presented briefly at 4 deg eccentricity of the visual field. The observers' task was to identify the object located in the center of the group. A strong effect of the number of distractors was observed, consistent with various spatial pooling models. The analysis of incorrect responses revealed that these were a mix of feature errors and mislocalizations of the target object. Feature errors were not purely random, but biased by the features of distractors. We propose a simple feature integration model that predicts most of the observed regularities.

Temporal resolution for the perception of features and conjunctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bodelón, Clara; Fallah, Mazyar; Reynolds, John H

2007-01-24

The visual system decomposes stimuli into their constituent features, represented by neurons with different feature selectivities. How the signals carried by these feature-selective neurons are integrated into coherent object representations is unknown. To constrain the set of possible integrative mechanisms, we quantified the temporal resolution of perception for color, orientation, and conjunctions of these two features. We find that temporal resolution is measurably higher for each feature than for their conjunction, indicating that time is required to integrate features into a perceptual whole. This finding places temporal limits on the mechanisms that could mediate this form of perceptual integration.

How Perception Guides Action: Figure-Ground Segmentation Modulates Integration of Context Features into S-R Episodes

Science.gov (United States)

Frings, Christian; Rothermund, Klaus

2017-01-01

Perception and action are closely related. Responses are assumed to be represented in terms of their perceptual effects, allowing direct links between action and perception. In this regard, the integration of features of stimuli (S) and responses (R) into S-R bindings is a key mechanism for action control. Previous research focused on the…

Influence of a Cyclic Events Configuration on a Elevated Temperature Structural Integrity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Chang-Gyu; Koo, Gyeong-Hoi; Lee, Jae-Han

2008-01-01

A nuclear power plant generally undergoes the various types of operating events for a plant life time. The cyclic events for a life time may bring about a structural failure such as fatigue damage. The structures of the LMR(Liquid Metal Reactor) operated in a elevated temperature environment are seriously affected by a thermal deformation and strain. Therefore, the thermal transient condition is a key factor for ensuring the structural integrity for the LMR reactor structures. Since it is not easy to consider the entire operating events at the preliminary or conceptual design stage, the LMR structural integrity is evaluated with representative duty cycle events. In this study, the influence of the elevated temperature structural integrity evaluation per the combination and sequence of the duty cycle events is investigated

Features of Inner Structure of Placer Gold of the North-Eastern Part Siberian Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Gerasimov, Boris; Zhuravlev, Anatolii; Ivanov, Alexey

2017-12-01

Mineral and raw material base of placer and ore gold is based on prognosis evaluation, which allows to define promising areas regarding gold-bearing deposit prospecting. But there are some difficulties in gold primary source predicting and prospecting at the North-east Siberian platform, because the studied area is overlapped by thick cover of the Cenozoic deposits, where traditional methods of gold deposit prospecting are ineffective. In this connection, detailed study of typomorphic features of placer gold is important, because it contains key genetic information, necessary for development of mineralogical criteria of prognosis evaluation of ore gold content. Authors studied mineralogical-geochemical features of placer gold of the Anabar placer area for 15 years, with a view to identify indicators of gold, typical for different formation types of primary sources. This article presents results of these works. In placer regions, where primary sources of gold are not identified, there is need to study typomorphic features of placer gold, because it contains important genetic information, necessary for the development of mineralogical criteria of prognosis evaluation of ore gold content. Inner structures of gold from the Anabar placer region are studied, as one of the diagnostic typomorphic criteria as described in prominent method, developed by N.V. Petrovskaya [1980]. Etching of gold was carried out using reagent: HCl + HNO3 + FeCl3 × 6H2O + CrO3 +thioureat + water. Identified inner structures wer studied in details by means of scanning electron microscope JEOL JSM-6480LV. Two types of gold are identified according to the features of inner structure of placer gold of the Anabar region. First type - medium-high karat fine, well processed gold with significantly changed inner structure. This gold is allochthonous, which was redeposited many times from ancient intermediate reservoirs to younger deposits. Second type - low-medium karat, poorly rounded gold with

Integrated system for seismic evaluations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, J.; Philippacopoulos, A.J.; Miller, C.A.; Costantino, C.J.; Graves, H.

1989-01-01

This paper describes the various features of the seismic module of the CARES system (computer analysis for rapid evaluation of structures). This system was developed to perform rapid evaluations of structural behavior and capability of nuclear power plant facilities. The CARES is structural in a modular format. Each module performs a specific type of analysis i.e., static or dynamic, linear or nonlinear, etc. This paper describes the features of the seismic module in particular. The development of the seismic modules of the CARES system is based on an approach which incorporates major aspects of seismic analysis currently employed by the industry into an integrated system that allows for carrying out interactively computations of structural response to seismic motions. The code operates on a PC computer system and has multi-graphics capabilities

Structural Integrity Inspection and Visualization System, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Based on the successful feasibility demonstration in Phase I, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to continue the development of a novel Structural Integrity...

Supplier integration in product development: A matter of designing the project structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Danilovic

2007-11-01

Full Text Available In product development close collaboration between systems integrators and suppliers is important. The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of the work breakdown structure (WBS and work packages (WPs in product development on the possibility of carrying through the strategy of supplier involvement into collaborative practice and to investigate how supplier involvement can be improved by altering the design of collaborative WBS and WP structures. Dependence Structure Matrix (DSM is introduced in order to analyse, visualise and manage interdependencies, in terms of information exchange between the systems integrator and supplier. This article shows how DSM can support the alternative design of integrated and collaborative WBS and integrated WPs following the logic of dependencies and the flow of information in order to support a strategy focusing on integration of suppliers on project and team level.

The structure of Lactococcus lactis thioredoxin reductase reveals molecular features of photo-oxidative damage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjoldager, Nicklas; Bang, Maria Blanner; Rykær, Martin

2017-01-01

The NADPH-dependent homodimeric flavoenzyme thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) provides reducing equivalents to thioredoxin, a key regulator of various cellular redox processes. Crystal structures of photo-inactivated thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) from the Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis have...... been determined. These structures reveal novel molecular features that provide further insight into the mechanisms behind the sensitivity of this enzyme toward visible light. We propose that a pocket on the si-face of the isoalloxazine ring accommodates oxygen that reacts with photo-excited FAD...... thus be a widespread feature among bacterial TrxR with the described characteristics, which affords applications in clinical photo-therapy of drug-resistant bacteria....

One-step synthesis and structural features of CdS/montmorillonite nanocomposites.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Zhaohui; Zhu, Huaiyong; Bulcock, Shaun R; Ringer, Simon P

2005-02-24

A novel synthesis method was introduced for the nanocomposites of cadmium sulfide and montmorillonite. This method features the combination of an ion exchange process and an in situ hydrothermal decomposition process of a complex precursor, which is simple in contrast to the conventional synthesis methods that comprise two separate steps for similar nanocomposite materials. Cadmium sulfide species in the composites exist in the forms of pillars and nanoparticles, the crystallized sulfide particles are in the hexagonal phase, and the sizes change when the amount of the complex for the synthesis is varied. Structural features of the nanocomposites are similar to those of the clay host but changed because of the introduction of the sulfide into the clay.

A real nonlinear integrable couplings of continuous soliton hierarchy and its Hamiltonian structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Fajun

2011-01-01

Some integrable coupling systems of existing papers are linear integrable couplings. In the Letter, beginning with Lax pairs from special non-semisimple matrix Lie algebras, we establish a scheme for constructing real nonlinear integrable couplings of continuous soliton hierarchy. A direct application to the AKNS spectral problem leads to a novel nonlinear integrable couplings, then we consider the Hamiltonian structures of nonlinear integrable couplings of AKNS hierarchy with the component-trace identity. - Highlights: → We establish a scheme to construct real nonlinear integrable couplings. → We obtain a novel nonlinear integrable couplings of AKNS hierarchy. → Hamiltonian structure of nonlinear integrable couplings AKNS hierarchy is presented.

The relevance of crack arrest phenomena for pressure vessel structural integrity assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Connors, D.C.; Dowling, A.R.; Flewitt, P.E.J.

1996-01-01

The potential role of a crack arrest argument for the structural integrity assessments of steel pressure vessels and the relationship between crack initiation and crack arrest philosophies are described. A typical structural integrity assessment using crack initiation fracture mechanics is illustrated by means of a case study based on assessment of the steel pressure vessels for Magnox power stations. Evidence of the occurrence of crack arrest in structures is presented and reviewed, and the applications to pressure vessels which are subjected to similar conditions are considered. An outline is given of the material characterisation that would be required to undertake a crack arrest integrity assessment. It is concluded that crack arrest arguments could be significant in the structural integrity assessment of PWR reactor pressure vessels under thermal shock conditions, whereas for Magnox steel pressure vessels it would be limited in its potential to supporting existing arguments. (author)

Advancing representation of hydrologic processes in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) through integration of the TOPographic MODEL (TOPMODEL) features

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, J.; Wu, Y.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a study of the integration of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and the TOPographic MODEL (TOPMODEL) features for enhancing the physical representation of hydrologic processes. In SWAT, four hydrologic processes, which are surface runoff, baseflow, groundwater re-evaporation and deep aquifer percolation, are modeled by using a group of empirical equations. The empirical equations usually constrain the simulation capability of relevant processes. To replace these equations and to model the influences of topography and water table variation on streamflow generation, the TOPMODEL features are integrated into SWAT, and a new model, the so-called SWAT-TOP, is developed. In the new model, the process of deep aquifer percolation is removed, the concept of groundwater re-evaporation is refined, and the processes of surface runoff and baseflow are remodeled. Consequently, three parameters in SWAT are discarded, and two new parameters to reflect the TOPMODEL features are introduced. SWAT-TOP and SWAT are applied to the East River basin in South China, and the results reveal that, compared with SWAT, the new model can provide a more reasonable simulation of the hydrologic processes of surface runoff, groundwater re-evaporation, and baseflow. This study evidences that an established hydrologic model can be further improved by integrating the features of another model, which is a possible way to enhance our understanding of the workings of catchments.

Integrated piping structural analysis system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motoi, Toshio; Yamadera, Masao; Horino, Satoshi; Idehata, Takamasa

1979-01-01

Structural analysis of the piping system for nuclear power plants has become larger in scale and in quantity. In addition, higher quality analysis is regarded as of major importance nowadays from the point of view of nuclear plant safety. In order to fulfill to the above requirements, an integrated piping structural analysis system (ISAP-II) has been developed. Basic philosophy of this system is as follows: 1. To apply the date base system. All information is concentrated. 2. To minimize the manual process in analysis, evaluation and documentation. Especially to apply the graphic system as much as possible. On the basis of the above philosophy four subsystems were made. 1. Data control subsystem. 2. Analysis subsystem. 3. Plotting subsystem. 4. Report subsystem. Function of the data control subsystem is to control all information of the data base. Piping structural analysis can be performed by using the analysis subsystem. Isometric piping drawing and mode shape, etc. can be plotted by using the plotting subsystem. Total analysis report can be made without the manual process through the reporting subsystem. (author)

Large-scale lithography for sub-500nm features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelzer, R L; Steininger, T; Belier, Benoit; Julie, Gwenaelle

2006-01-01

The interest in micro- and nanotechnologies has grown rapidly in the last years. The applications are versatile and different techniques found its way into several research domains as optics, electronics, magnetism, fluidics, etc. In all of these fields integration of more and more functions on steadily decreasing device dimensions lead to an increase in structural density and feature size. Expensive and slow processes utilizing projection steppers or e-beam direct writer equipment are used to fabricate nm features today. A high throughput and cost effective method adapted on a standard mask aligner will be demonstrated, making features of below 300nm available on wafer-level. We will demonstrate results of 4 different resists exposed on a DUV proximity aligner and plasma etched for optical and biological applications in the sub-300nm range

Large-scale lithography for sub-500nm features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pelzer, R L [Technology group, EV Group, DI Erich Thallner Str. 1, A-4780 Schaerding (Austria); Steininger, T [Technology group, EV Group, DI Erich Thallner Str. 1, A-4780 Schaerding (Austria); Belier, Benoit [CNRS, Institut d' Electronique Fondamentale, Universite Paris-Sud Bat 220, F- 91405 Orsay Cedex (France); Julie, Gwenaelle [CNRS, Institut d' Electronique Fondamentale, Universite Paris-Sud Bat 220, F- 91405 Orsay Cedex (France)

2006-04-01

The interest in micro- and nanotechnologies has grown rapidly in the last years. The applications are versatile and different techniques found its way into several research domains as optics, electronics, magnetism, fluidics, etc. In all of these fields integration of more and more functions on steadily decreasing device dimensions lead to an increase in structural density and feature size. Expensive and slow processes utilizing projection steppers or e-beam direct writer equipment are used to fabricate nm features today. A high throughput and cost effective method adapted on a standard mask aligner will be demonstrated, making features of below 300nm available on wafer-level. We will demonstrate results of 4 different resists exposed on a DUV proximity aligner and plasma etched for optical and biological applications in the sub-300nm range.

16 CFR 1511.5 - Structural integrity tests.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Structural integrity tests. 1511.5 Section 1511.5 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION FEDERAL HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ACT... lowest position in the cylinder. If the uppermost edge of the component or fragment is below the plane of...

Features of geology in Anyuan hot spot area of southern Jiangxi Province

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin Jinrong; Li Ziying; Pang Yaqing; Hu Zhihua; Gao Fei; Wang Yongjian; Zhong Qilong

2013-01-01

Based on the synthetical research on the characteristics of regional geology and structure, magmatic activity and metamorphism, it is considered that Anyuan area in southern Jiangxi Province has features of continent hot spot, and Anyuan hot spot area is an integrated geology body effected by the metamorphism. magmatism, tectonism and hydrothermal metallogenesis originated by the mantle upheaving. Anyuan hot spot area is a mineralization cluster area of uranium and poly-metal, which has the feature of ring structure, negative abnormity of gravity and high field of radioactivity. It is considered that metallogenesis of uranium and poly-metal is close to crust-mantle mixing and fluid of deep source. (authors)

Genome-Wide Analysis of Transposon and Retroviral Insertions Reveals Preferential Integrations in Regions of DNA Flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Vrljicak, Pavle; Tao, Shijie; Varshney, Gaurav K; Quach, Helen Ngoc Bao; Joshi, Adita; LaFave, Matthew C; Burgess, Shawn M; Sampath, Karuna

2016-04-07

DNA transposons and retroviruses are important transgenic tools for genome engineering. An important consideration affecting the choice of transgenic vector is their insertion site preferences. Previous large-scale analyses of Ds transposon integration sites in plants were done on the basis of reporter gene expression or germ-line transmission, making it difficult to discern vertebrate integration preferences. Here, we compare over 1300 Ds transposon integration sites in zebrafish with Tol2 transposon and retroviral integration sites. Genome-wide analysis shows that Ds integration sites in the presence or absence of marker selection are remarkably similar and distributed throughout the genome. No strict motif was found, but a preference for structural features in the target DNA associated with DNA flexibility (Twist, Tilt, Rise, Roll, Shift, and Slide) was observed. Remarkably, this feature is also found in transposon and retroviral integrations in maize and mouse cells. Our findings show that structural features influence the integration of heterologous DNA in genomes, and have implications for targeted genome engineering. Copyright © 2016 Vrljicak et al.

Hydrotalcites: relation between structural features, basicity and activity in the Wittig reaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sychev, M.V.; Prihod'ko, R.V.; Erdmann, K.; Mangel, A.; Santen, van R.A.

2001-01-01

Carbonate hydrotalcitrs (HTls) were prepared by coprecipitation of metal nitrate salts and Na2CO3. The structural features of noncalcined, calcined and reconstructed materials were characterized by XRD, Al-27 MAS NMR, AAS and N-2 adsorption. If was shown that reconstruction of the calcined HTls due

Role of innovative institutional structures in integrated governance. A case study of integrating health and nutrition programs in Chhattisgarh, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalita, Anuska; Mondal, Shinjini

2012-01-01

The aim of this paper is to highlight the significance of integrated governance in bringing about community participation, improved service delivery, accountability of public systems and human resource rationalisation. It discusses the strategies of innovative institutional structures in translating such integration in the areas of public health and nutrition for poor communities. The paper draws on experience of initiating integrated governance through innovations in health and nutrition programming in the resource-poor state of Chhattisgarh, India, at different levels of governance structures--hamlets, villages, clusters, blocks, districts and at the state. The study uses mixed methods--i.e. document analysis, interviews, discussions and quantitative data from facilities surveys--to present a case study analyzing the process and outcome of integration. The data indicate that integrated governance initiatives improved convergence between health and nutrition departments of the state at all levels. Also, innovative structures are important to implement the idea of integration, especially in contexts that do not have historical experience of such partnerships. Integration also contributed towards improved participation of communities in self-governance, community monitoring of government programs, and therefore, better services. As governments across the world, especially in developing countries, struggle towards achieving better governance, integration can serve as a desirable process to address this. Integration can affect the decentralisation of power, inclusion, efficiency, accountability and improved service quality in government programs. The institutional structures detailed in this paper can provide models for replication in other similar contexts for translating and sustaining the idea of integrated governance. This paper is one of the few to investigate innovative public institutions of a and community mobilisation to explore this important, and under

A scaleable integrated sensing and control system for NDE, monitoring, and control of medium to very large composite smart structures

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Jerry; Rhoades, Valerie; Arner, Radford; Clem, Timothy; Cuneo, Adam

2007-04-01

technology which may use other hardware processors and various communications means. For example, two demonstrations of SHIELD have been completed, in January and May 2005 respectively. One demonstration used algorithms in C running in multiple threads in the SHIELD core and utilizing two different sensor networks, one CAN bus and one wireless. The second had algorithms operating in C on the SHIELD core and other algorithms running on multiple Texas Instruments DSP processors using a NATNI that communicated via wired TCP/IP. A key feature of SHIELD is the implementation of a wireless ZIGBEE (802.15.4) network for implementing large numbers of small, low cost, low power sensors communication via a meshstar wireless network. While SHIELD was designed to integrate with a wide variety of existing communications protocols, a ZIGBEE network capability was implemented specifically for SHIELD. This will facilitate the monitoring of medium to very large structures including marine applications, utility scale multi-megawatt wind energy systems, and aircraft/spacecraft. The SHIELD wireless network will facilitate large numbers of sensors (up to 32000), accommodate sensors embedded into the composite material, can communicate to both sensors and actuators, and prevents obsolescence by providing for re-programming of the nodes via remote RF communications. The wireless network provides for ultra-low energy use, spatial location, and accurate timestamping, utilizing the beaconing feature of ZIGBEE.

Integrated Management of Structural Pests in Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Illinois State Dept. of Public Health, Springfield.

The state of Illinois is encouraging schools to better inspect and evaluate the causes of their pest infestation problems through use of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) guidelines developed by the Illinois Department of Public Health. This guide reviews the philosophy and organization of an IPM program for structural pests in schools,…

From childhood adversity to problem behaviors: Role of psychological and structural social integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Lo-Hsin; Tsai, Meng-Che; Liang, Ya-Lun; Strong, Carol; Lin, Chung-Ying

2018-01-01

Childhood adversity (CA) is associated with problem behaviors in adolescence, but the mediators, that is, those factors that help build resilience and prevent some children who experience CA from engaging in problem behaviors, await more exploration, including social integration. The aim of this study was to identify the association between CA and adolescent problem behaviors, and to further examine the mediating role of social integration distinctly as psychological and structural integration. Data used were from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, a core panel of 4,261 students (age 13) surveyed in 2001 and followed for three more waves until age 18. For psychological integration, an average score was calculated to represent adolescents' feelings about their school. Structural integration was constructed using several items about adolescents' school and extracurricular activities. We used structural equation modeling with the diagonally weighted least squares method to examine the effect of CA on the primary outcome: adolescent problem behaviors via social integration. The hypothesized structural equation model specifying the path from CA to adolescent problem behavior had good fit. Respondents with one CA were indirectly linked to problem behaviors via psychological but not structural integration (e.g. the level of participation in school and non-school activities). On mediation analysis, psychological integration significantly mediated the paths from one CA to all six problem behaviors (all P integration; two or more CA were not associated with significant paths to problem behaviors. The contribution of social integration is crucial to an adolescent's development from CA to problem behaviors. To form supportive social relationships to achieve better health, we suggest that those adolescents who have been exposed to CA should be helped to join more teams and take part in more activities, thereby increasing their opportunities for social interaction, and improving

Integrated system for seismic evaluations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, J.; Philippacopoulos, A.J.; Miller, C.A.; Costantino, C.J.; Graves, H.

1989-01-01

This paper describes the various features of the Seismic Module of the CARES system (Computer Analysis for Rapid Evaluation of Structures). This system was developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to perform rapid evaluations of structural behavior and capability of nuclear power plant facilities. The CARES is structured in a modular format. Each module performs a specific type of analysis i.e., static or dynamic, linear or nonlinear, etc. This paper describes the features of the Seismic Module in particular. The development of the Seismic Module of the CARES system is based on an approach which incorporates all major aspects of seismic analysis currently employed by the industry into an integrated system that allows for carrying out interactively computations of structural response to seismic motions. The code operates on a PC computer system and has multi-graphics capabilities. It has been designed with user friendly features and it allows for interactive manipulation of various analysis phases during the seismic design process. The capabilities of the seismic module include (a) generation of artificial time histories compatible with given design ground response spectra, (b) development of Power Spectral Density (PSD) functions associated with the seismic input, (c) deconvolution analysis using vertically propagating shear waves through a given soil profile, and (d) development of in-structure response spectra or corresponding PSD's. It should be pointed out that these types of analyses can also be performed individually by using available computer codes such as FLUSH, SAP, etc. The uniqueness of the CARES, however, lies on its ability to perform all required phases of the seismic analysis in an integrated manner. 5 refs., 6 figs

Ensuring Structural Integrity through Reliable Residual Stress Measurement: From Crystals to Crankshafts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edwards, Lyndon

2005-01-01

Full text: The determination of accurate, reliable stresses is critical to many fields of engineering and, in particular, the structural integrity and hence, safety, of many systems. Neutron stress measurement is a non-destructive technique that uniquely provides insights into stress fields deep within components and structures. As such, it has become an increasingly important tool within the engineering community leading to improved manufacturing processes to reduce stress and distortion as well as to the definition of more precise structural integrity lifting procedures. This talk describes the current state of the art and identifies the key opportunities for improved structural integrity provided by the 2nd generation dedicated engineering stress diffractometers currently being designed and commissioned world-wide. Examples are provided covering a range of industrially relevant problems from the fields. (author)

Integrated aerodynamic-structural design of a forward-swept transport wing

Science.gov (United States)

Haftka, Raphael T.; Grossman, Bernard; Kao, Pi-Jen; Polen, David M.; Sobieszczanski-Sobieski, Jaroslaw

1989-01-01

The introduction of composite materials is having a profound effect on aircraft design. Since these materials permit the designer to tailor material properties to improve structural, aerodynamic and acoustic performance, they require an integrated multidisciplinary design process. Futhermore, because of the complexity of the design process, numerical optimization methods are required. The utilization of integrated multidisciplinary design procedures for improving aircraft design is not currently feasible because of software coordination problems and the enormous computational burden. Even with the expected rapid growth of supercomputers and parallel architectures, these tasks will not be practical without the development of efficient methods for cross-disciplinary sensitivities and efficient optimization procedures. The present research is part of an on-going effort which is focused on the processes of simultaneous aerodynamic and structural wing design as a prototype for design integration. A sequence of integrated wing design procedures has been developed in order to investigate various aspects of the design process.

INNOVATION DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT IN VERTICALLY INTEGRATED HOLDING COMPANY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalya T. Uspenskaja

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The trend towards production consolidation and integration processes taking place both in the Russian and global economies leads to development of business associations, with a holding company being the most common form inRussiaand around the globe. The evidence in favor of the formation of holding companies is that they can benefit from the scale (bulk purchasing, centralized stuff training; in the global capital and exports markets they can be more effective than smaller businesses and, if non-profitable, a loss-making structure is easier to liquidate than the entire company; holding companies and associations can be an effective defender from political interference. As the importance of the well-functioning and harmonized procedure for the companies’ integration will increase (especially in the context of Russian business, where specific features of many areas of the production system imply the use of holding oligopolies as the most effective form of market structures, there is a need in their more profound study and, in particular, in the analysis of the most important technologies of the general integration procedure. The article outlines the relevance of innovative development management of vertically integrated holding systems, lists principles of innovative activity management and considers the features of innovation management of a vertically integrated holding company. The objective of the research is to study theoretical and practical aspects of innovative development management in vertically integrated holding systems. The object of research is management structures in innovative holding companies. While working on the article, the following methods of economic research were used: abstract and logical method, empirical method, method of expert evaluations, as well as methods of structural and functional and statistical analysis. 

Deep integration: a paradigm shift in the synthesis of active antenna systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maaskant, R.

2017-01-01

Deep integration is the visionary future trend of merging conducting, semi-conducting and insulating materials into a single heterogeneous structure that is capable of offering multi-functional RF features. This paper introduces the deep integration concept, describes its potential advantages, lists

Integrated Modeling for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project: Structural Analysis Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, John; Mosier, Mark; Howard, Joe; Hyde, Tupper; Parrish, Keith; Ha, Kong; Liu, Frank; McGinnis, Mark

2004-01-01

This paper presents viewgraphs about structural analysis activities and integrated modeling for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The topics include: 1) JWST Overview; 2) Observatory Structural Models; 3) Integrated Performance Analysis; and 4) Future Work and Challenges.

Structured approaches to large-scale systems: Variational integrators for interconnected Lagrange-Dirac systems and structured model reduction on Lie groups

Science.gov (United States)

Parks, Helen Frances

This dissertation presents two projects related to the structured integration of large-scale mechanical systems. Structured integration uses the considerable differential geometric structure inherent in mechanical motion to inform the design of numerical integration schemes. This process improves the qualitative properties of simulations and becomes especially valuable as a measure of accuracy over long time simulations in which traditional Gronwall accuracy estimates lose their meaning. Often, structured integration schemes replicate continuous symmetries and their associated conservation laws at the discrete level. Such is the case for variational integrators, which discretely replicate the process of deriving equations of motion from variational principles. This results in the conservation of momenta associated to symmetries in the discrete system and conservation of a symplectic form when applicable. In the case of Lagrange-Dirac systems, variational integrators preserve a discrete analogue of the Dirac structure preserved in the continuous flow. In the first project of this thesis, we extend Dirac variational integrators to accommodate interconnected systems. We hope this work will find use in the fields of control, where a controlled system can be thought of as a "plant" system joined to its controller, and in the approach of very large systems, where modular modeling may prove easier than monolithically modeling the entire system. The second project of the thesis considers a different approach to large systems. Given a detailed model of the full system, can we reduce it to a more computationally efficient model without losing essential geometric structures in the system? Asked without the reference to structure, this is the essential question of the field of model reduction. The answer there has been a resounding yes, with Principal Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) with snapshots rising as one of the most successful methods. Our project builds on previous work

Stability of FDG-PET Radiomics features - An integrated analysis of test-retest and inter-observer variability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leijenaar, Ralph T. H.; Carvalho, Sara; Rios Velazquez, Emmanuel [Dept. of Radiation Oncology (MAASTRO), GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht Univ. Medical Center, Maastricht (Netherlands)] [and others

2013-10-15

Purpose: Besides basic measurements as maximum standardized uptake value (SUV){sub max} or SUV{sub mean} derived from 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) scans, more advanced quantitative imaging features (i.e. 'Radiomics' features) are increasingly investigated for treatment monitoring, outcome prediction, or as potential biomarkers. With these prospected applications of Radiomics features, it is a requisite that they provide robust and reliable measurements. The aim of our study was therefore to perform an integrated stability analysis of a large number of PET-derived features in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), based on both a test-retest and an inter-observer setup. Methods: Eleven NSCLC patients were included in the test-retest cohort. Patients underwent repeated PET imaging within a one day interval, before any treatment was delivered. Lesions were delineated by applying a threshold of 50 % of the maximum uptake value within the tumor. Twenty-three NSCLC patients were included in the inter-observer cohort. Patients underwent a diagnostic whole body PET-computed tomography (CT). Lesions were manually delineated based on fused PET-CT, using a standardized clinical delineation protocol. Delineation was performed independently by five observers, blinded to each other. Fifteen first order statistics, 39 descriptors of intensity volume histograms, eight geometric features and 44 textural features were extracted. For every feature, test-retest and inter-observer stability was assessed with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the coefficient of variability, normalized to mean and range. Similarity between test-retest and inter-observer stability rankings of features was assessed with Spear man's rank correlation coefficient. Results: Results showed that the majority of assessed features had both a high test-retest (71%) and inter-observer (91%) stability in terms of their ICC. Overall, features more stable in repeated PET

Integrating personality structure, personality process, and personality development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baumert, Anna; Schmitt, Manfred; Perugini, Marco; Johnson, Wendy; Blum, Gabriela; Borkenau, Peter; Costantini, Giulio; Denissen, J.J.A.; Fleeson, William; Grafton, Ben; Jayawickreme, Eranda; Kurzius, Elena; MacLeod, Colin; Miller, Lynn C.; Read, Stephen J.; Robinson, Michael D.; Wood, Dustin; Wrzus, Cornelia

2017-01-01

In this target article, we argue that personality processes, personality structure, and personality development have to be understood and investigated in integrated ways in order to provide comprehensive responses to the key questions of personality psychology. The psychological processes and

An Integrated Account of Generalization across Objects and Features

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, Charles; Shafto, Patrick; Tenenbaum, Joshua B.

2012-01-01

Humans routinely make inductive generalizations about unobserved features of objects. Previous accounts of inductive reasoning often focus on inferences about a single object or feature: accounts of causal reasoning often focus on a single object with one or more unobserved features, and accounts of property induction often focus on a single…

New unified fracture toughness estimation scheme for structural integrity assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wallin, K; Nevasmaa, P [VTT, Espoo (Finland); Bannister, A [Research and Development, British Steel plc., Swinden Technology Centre Rotherham (United Kingdom)

1999-12-31

At present, treatment of fracture toughness data varies depending on the type of data (K{sub IC}, J, CTOD) that are available for fracture mechanics analysis. This complicates structural integrity assessment and makes it difficult to apply any single, unified procedure. Within the Brite-Euram project `SINTAP` a fracture toughness estimation scheme has been developed for the unified treatment of data for use in structural integrity assessment. As a procedure, it can be applied to Charpy data, as well as to fracture toughness data, and is suitable for the treatment of data at both single and different temperatures. The data sets may contain results from both homogeneous and inhomogeneous material, making the procedure applicable also to welded joints. The procedure allows fracture toughness assessment with quantified probability and confidence levels. Irrespective of the type of the original data, one material-specific K{sub mat} value representing a conservative estimate of the mean fracture toughness is obtained (with its probability distribution). This information can then be applied to structural integrity assessment. (orig.) 4 refs.

New unified fracture toughness estimation scheme for structural integrity assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wallin, K.; Nevasmaa, P. [VTT, Espoo (Finland); Bannister, A. [Research and Development, British Steel plc., Swinden Technology Centre Rotherham (United Kingdom)

1998-12-31

At present, treatment of fracture toughness data varies depending on the type of data (K{sub IC}, J, CTOD) that are available for fracture mechanics analysis. This complicates structural integrity assessment and makes it difficult to apply any single, unified procedure. Within the Brite-Euram project `SINTAP` a fracture toughness estimation scheme has been developed for the unified treatment of data for use in structural integrity assessment. As a procedure, it can be applied to Charpy data, as well as to fracture toughness data, and is suitable for the treatment of data at both single and different temperatures. The data sets may contain results from both homogeneous and inhomogeneous material, making the procedure applicable also to welded joints. The procedure allows fracture toughness assessment with quantified probability and confidence levels. Irrespective of the type of the original data, one material-specific K{sub mat} value representing a conservative estimate of the mean fracture toughness is obtained (with its probability distribution). This information can then be applied to structural integrity assessment. (orig.) 4 refs.

Topic structure affects semantic integration: evidence from event-related potentials.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaohong; Chen, Xuhai; Chen, Shuang; Xu, Xiaoying; Yang, Yufang

2013-01-01

This study investigated whether semantic integration in discourse context could be influenced by topic structure using event-related brain potentials. Participants read discourses in which the last sentence contained a critical word that was either congruent or incongruent with the topic established in the first sentence. The intervening sentences between the first and the last sentence of the discourse either maintained or shifted the original topic. Results showed that incongruent words in topic-maintained discourses elicited an N400 effect that was broadly distributed over the scalp while those in topic-shifted discourses elicited an N400 effect that was lateralized to the right hemisphere and localized over central and posterior areas. Moreover, a late positivity effect was only elicited by incongruent words in topic-shifted discourses, but not in topic-maintained discourses. This suggests an important role for discourse structure in semantic integration, such that compared with topic-maintained discourses, the complexity of discourse structure in topic-shifted condition reduces the initial stage of semantic integration and enhances the later stage in which a mental representation is updated.

An integrable coupling family of Merola-Ragnisco-Tu lattice systems, its Hamiltonian structure and related nonisospectral integrable lattice family

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu Xixiang, E-mail: xu_xixiang@hotmail.co [College of Science, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266510 (China)

2010-01-04

An integrable coupling family of Merola-Ragnisco-Tu lattice systems is derived from a four-by-four matrix spectral problem. The Hamiltonian structure of the resulting integrable coupling family is established by the discrete variational identity. Each lattice system in the resulting integrable coupling family is proved to be integrable discrete Hamiltonian system in Liouville sense. Ultimately, a nonisospectral integrable lattice family associated with the resulting integrable lattice family is constructed through discrete zero curvature representation.

An integrable coupling family of Merola-Ragnisco-Tu lattice systems, its Hamiltonian structure and related nonisospectral integrable lattice family

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Xixiang

2010-01-01

An integrable coupling family of Merola-Ragnisco-Tu lattice systems is derived from a four-by-four matrix spectral problem. The Hamiltonian structure of the resulting integrable coupling family is established by the discrete variational identity. Each lattice system in the resulting integrable coupling family is proved to be integrable discrete Hamiltonian system in Liouville sense. Ultimately, a nonisospectral integrable lattice family associated with the resulting integrable lattice family is constructed through discrete zero curvature representation.

An integrated structure- and system-based framework to identify new targets of metabolites and known drugs

KAUST Repository

Naveed, Hammad; Hameed, Umar Farook Shahul; Harrus, Deborah; Bourguet, William; Arold, Stefan T.; Gao, Xin

2015-01-01

Results: Here, we present a novel integrated structure- and system-based approach of drug-target prediction (iDTP) to enable the large-scale discovery of new targets for small molecules, such as pharmaceutical drugs, co-factors and metabolites (collectively called ‘drugs’). For a given drug, our method uses sequence order–independent structure alignment, hierarchical clustering, and probabilistic sequence similarity to construct a probabilistic pocket ensemble (PPE) that captures promiscuous structural features of different binding sites on known targets. A drug’s PPE is combined with an approximation of its delivery profile to reduce false positives. In our cross-validation study, we use iDTP to predict the known targets of eleven drugs, with 63% sensitivity and 81% specificity. We then predicted novel targets for these drugs—two that are of high pharmacological interest, the nuclear receptor PPARγ and the oncogene Bcl-2, were successfully validated through in vitro binding experiments. Our method is broadly applicable for the prediction of protein-small molecule interactions with several novel applications to biological research and drug development.

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks: Structure, Feature Extraction and Training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Namatēvs Ivars

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs are aimed at processing data that have a known network like topology. They are widely used to recognise objects in images and diagnose patterns in time series data as well as in sensor data classification. The aim of the paper is to present theoretical and practical aspects of deep CNNs in terms of convolution operation, typical layers and basic methods to be used for training and learning. Some practical applications are included for signal and image classification. Finally, the present paper describes the proposed block structure of CNN for classifying crucial features from 3D sensor data.

Review of intense irradiation data and discussion on structural integrity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suzuki, K.; Jitsukawa, S.; Okubo, N. [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai-mura, Naga-gun, Ibaraki-ken (Japan)

2007-07-01

Full text of publication follows: Mechanical property data on austenitic stainless steels and F82H have been reviewed to discuss for developing structural integrity methodologies of intensely irradiated components such as first walls. The following have been already clarified: (1) Fracture ductility is still high even though tensile rupture elongation is reduced remarkably. (2) Strain-hardening occurs in true stress-logarithmic strain (true strain) relationship. Work-softening behavior observed in nominal stress-nominal strain curves is simply resulted from a reduction of work hardening rate accompanied by the increase of flow stress level by irradiation. The review lead to an innovative design concept for application to intensely irradiated components. A special consideration is given to unique feature of bending moment in developing design methodology for preventing ductile fracture of intensely irradiated materials. Another discussion is also made on how to simulate mechanical behavior of intensely irradiated components, because mechanical testing of component-wise specimens after intense irradiation is inevitable for the development of design concepts, although irradiation on such a large scale specimen seems to be almost impossible with current irradiation facilities. (authors)

Organizational bases of creation and functioning of the integrated structures in the investment in construction sphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subbotin Artem Sergeevich

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Integration is one of the results of the world industrial and economic processes globalization. Integration of production and commercial units and formation of modern structures of corporate level are one of current trends of development of the organization and management, both science, and practice. Formation and development of integrated structures became an important modern phenomenon in the organization of corporate level. Integration processes in organizations to large extend influence the relation of competitive strengths on the market and as a result the competitive ability of its objects. It is accepted to distinguish vertically and horizontally integrated structures. The use of the integrated structures allows providing steady development of investment and construction activity within state-private partnership, and thanks to its flexible structure it is capable to react to changes of external and internal factors quickly and adequately. Moreover, it is necessary to point out the possibility of using the cluster model in the process of describing functioning of integrated structures.

Integrating Intelligent Structured Training with a Virtual Dismounted Environment

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jensen, Randy; Tasoluk, Coskun; Marshall, Henry; Sims, Jason; Green, Gary

2007-01-01

.... This paper reviews results from the integration of an Intelligent Structured Trainer with the embedded Virtual Warrior Soldier prototype developed for the Army RDECOM Simulation and Training Technology Center...

Improved Fabrication of Ceramic Matrix Composite/Foam Core Integrated Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Hurwitz, Frances I.

2009-01-01

The use of hybridized carbon/silicon carbide (C/SiC) fabric to reinforce ceramic matrix composite face sheets and the integration of such face sheets with a foam core creates a sandwich structure capable of withstanding high-heatflux environments (150 W/cm2) in which the core provides a temperature drop of 1,000 C between the surface and the back face without cracking or delamination of the structure. The composite face sheet exhibits a bilinear response, which results from the SiC matrix not being cracked on fabrication. In addition, the structure exhibits damage tolerance under impact with projectiles, showing no penetration to the back face sheet. These attributes make the composite ideal for leading edge structures and control surfaces in aerospace vehicles, as well as for acreage thermal protection systems and in high-temperature, lightweight stiffened structures. By tailoring the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of a carbon fiber containing ceramic matrix composite (CMC) face sheet to match that of a ceramic foam core, the face sheet and the core can be integrally fabricated without any delamination. Carbon and SiC are woven together in the reinforcing fabric. Integral densification of the CMC and the foam core is accomplished with chemical vapor deposition, eliminating the need for bond-line adhesive. This means there is no need to separately fabricate the core and the face sheet, or to bond the two elements together, risking edge delamination during use. Fibers of two or more types are woven together on a loom. The carbon and ceramic fibers are pulled into the same pick location during the weaving process. Tow spacing may be varied to accommodate the increased volume of the combined fiber tows while maintaining a target fiber volume fraction in the composite. Foam pore size, strut thickness, and ratio of face sheet to core thickness can be used to tailor thermal and mechanical properties. The anticipated CTE for the hybridized composite is managed by

Cavity structural integrity evaluation of steam explosion using LS-DYNA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Dae-Young; Park, Chang-Hwan [FNC Technology Co. Ltd., Yongin (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Kap-sun [KHNP Central Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

For investigating the mechanical response of the newly-designed NPP against an steam explosion, the cavity structural integrity evaluation was performed, in which the mechanical load resulted from a steam explosion in the reactor cavity was calculated. In the evaluation, two kinds of approach were considered, one of which is a deterministic manner and the other is a probabilistic one. In this report, the procedure and the results of the deterministic analysis are presented When entering the severe accident, the core is relocated to the lower head. In this case, an Ex-Vessel Steam Explosion(EVSE) can occur. It can threaten the structural integrity of the cavity due to the load applied to the walls or slabs of the cavity. The large amount of the energy transmitted from interaction between the molten corium and the water causes a dynamic loading onto the concrete walls resulting not only to affect the survivability of the various equipment but also to threaten the integrity of the containment. In this report, the response of the cavity wall structure is analyzed using the nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) code. The resulting stress and strain of the structure were evaluated by the criteria in NEI07-13. Until now, deterministic analysis was performed via finite element analysis for the dynamic load generated by the steam explosion to investigate the effect on the cavity structure. A deterministic method was used in this study using the specific values of material properties and clearly defined steam explosion pressure curve. The results showed that the rebar and the liner are kept intact even at the high pressure pulse given by the steam explosion. The liner integrity is more critical to judge the preservation of the lean-tightness. In the meantime, there were found cracks in concrete media.

nRC: non-coding RNA Classifier based on structural features.

Science.gov (United States)

Fiannaca, Antonino; La Rosa, Massimo; La Paglia, Laura; Rizzo, Riccardo; Urso, Alfonso

2017-01-01

Non-coding RNA (ncRNA) are small non-coding sequences involved in gene expression regulation of many biological processes and diseases. The recent discovery of a large set of different ncRNAs with biologically relevant roles has opened the way to develop methods able to discriminate between the different ncRNA classes. Moreover, the lack of knowledge about the complete mechanisms in regulative processes, together with the development of high-throughput technologies, has required the help of bioinformatics tools in addressing biologists and clinicians with a deeper comprehension of the functional roles of ncRNAs. In this work, we introduce a new ncRNA classification tool, nRC (non-coding RNA Classifier). Our approach is based on features extraction from the ncRNA secondary structure together with a supervised classification algorithm implementing a deep learning architecture based on convolutional neural networks. We tested our approach for the classification of 13 different ncRNA classes. We obtained classification scores, using the most common statistical measures. In particular, we reach an accuracy and sensitivity score of about 74%. The proposed method outperforms other similar classification methods based on secondary structure features and machine learning algorithms, including the RNAcon tool that, to date, is the reference classifier. nRC tool is freely available as a docker image at https://hub.docker.com/r/tblab/nrc/. The source code of nRC tool is also available at https://github.com/IcarPA-TBlab/nrc.

High throughput platforms for structural genomics of integral membrane proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Mancia, Filippo; Love, James

2011-08-01

Structural genomics approaches on integral membrane proteins have been postulated for over a decade, yet specific efforts are lagging years behind their soluble counterparts. Indeed, high throughput methodologies for production and characterization of prokaryotic integral membrane proteins are only now emerging, while large-scale efforts for eukaryotic ones are still in their infancy. Presented here is a review of recent literature on actively ongoing structural genomics of membrane protein initiatives, with a focus on those aimed at implementing interesting techniques aimed at increasing our rate of success for this class of macromolecules. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crossover integral equation theory for the liquid structure study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai, S.K.; Chen, H.C.

1994-08-01

The main purpose of this work is to report on a calculation that describes the role of the long-range bridge function [H. Iyetomi and S. Ichimaru, Phys. Rev. A 25, 2434 (1982)] as applied to the study of structure of simple liquid metals. It was found here that this bridge function accounts pretty well for the major part of long-range interactions but is physically inadequate for describing the short-range part of liquid structure. To improve on the theory we have drawn attention to the crossover integral equation method which, in essence, amounts to adding to the above bridge function a short-range correction of bridge diagrams. The suggested crossover procedure has been tested for the case of liquid metal Cs. Remarkably good agreement with experiment was obtained confirming our conjecture that the crossover integral equation approach as stressed in this work is potentially an appropriate theory for an accurate study of liquid structure possibly for the supercooled liquid regime. (author). 21 refs, 3 figs

Prediction of human protein function from post-translational modifications and localization features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Lars Juhl; Gupta, Ramneek; Blom, Nikolaj

2002-01-01

a number of functional attributes that are more directly related to the linear sequence of amino acids, and hence easier to predict, than protein structure. These attributes include features associated with post-translational modifications and protein sorting, but also much simpler aspects......We have developed an entirely sequence-based method that identifies and integrates relevant features that can be used to assign proteins of unknown function to functional classes, and enzyme categories for enzymes. We show that strategies for the elucidation of protein function may benefit from...

The sequence, structure and evolutionary features of HOTAIR in mammals

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

. Conclusions HOTAIR exists in mammals, has poorly conserved sequences and considerably conserved structures, and has evolved faster than nearby HoxC genes. Exons of HOTAIR show distinct evolutionary features, and a 239 bp domain in the 1804 bp exon6 is especially conserved. These features, together with the absence of some exons and sequences in mouse, rat and kangaroo, suggest ab initio generation of HOTAIR in marsupials. Structure prediction identifies two fragments in the 5' end exon1 and the 3' end domain B of exon6, with sequence and structure invariably occurring in various predicted structures of exon1, the domain B of exon6 and the full HOTAIR. PMID:21496275

Integrating normal and abnormal personality structure: a proposal for DSM-V.

Science.gov (United States)

Widiger, Thomas A

2011-06-01

The personality disorders section of the American Psychiatric Association's fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) is currently being developed. The purpose of the current paper is to encourage the authors of DSM-V to integrate normal and abnormal personality structure within a common, integrative model, and to suggest that the optimal choice for such an integration would be the five-factor model (FFM) of general personality structure. A proposal for the classification of personality disorder from the perspective of the FFM is provided. Discussed as well are implications and issues associated with an FFM of personality disorder, including validity, coverage, feasibility, clinical utility, and treatment implications.

Thermodynamically self-consistent integral equations and the structure of liquid metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pastore, G.; Kahl, G.

1987-01-01

We discuss the application of the new thermodynamically self-consistent integral equations for the determination of the structural properties of liquid metals. We present a detailed comparison of the structure (S(q) and g(r)) for models of liquid alkali metals as obtained from two thermodynamically self-consistent integral equations and some published exact computer simulation results; the range of states extends from the triple point to the expanded metal. The theories which only impose thermodynamic self-consistency without any fitting of external data show an excellent agreement with the simulation results, thus demonstrating that this new type of integral equation is definitely superior to the conventional ones (hypernetted chain, Percus-Yevick, mean spherical approximation, etc). (author)

The prospect of modern thermomechanics in structural integrity calculations of large-scale pressure vessels

Science.gov (United States)

Fekete, Tamás

2018-05-01

Structural integrity calculations play a crucial role in designing large-scale pressure vessels. Used in the electric power generation industry, these kinds of vessels undergo extensive safety analyses and certification procedures before deemed feasible for future long-term operation. The calculations are nowadays directed and supported by international standards and guides based on state-of-the-art results of applied research and technical development. However, their ability to predict a vessel's behavior under accidental circumstances after long-term operation is largely limited by the strong dependence of the analysis methodology on empirical models that are correlated to the behavior of structural materials and their changes during material aging. Recently a new scientific engineering paradigm, structural integrity has been developing that is essentially a synergistic collaboration between a number of scientific and engineering disciplines, modeling, experiments and numerics. Although the application of the structural integrity paradigm highly contributed to improving the accuracy of safety evaluations of large-scale pressure vessels, the predictive power of the analysis methodology has not yet improved significantly. This is due to the fact that already existing structural integrity calculation methodologies are based on the widespread and commonly accepted 'traditional' engineering thermal stress approach, which is essentially based on the weakly coupled model of thermomechanics and fracture mechanics. Recently, a research has been initiated in MTA EK with the aim to review and evaluate current methodologies and models applied in structural integrity calculations, including their scope of validity. The research intends to come to a better understanding of the physical problems that are inherently present in the pool of structural integrity problems of reactor pressure vessels, and to ultimately find a theoretical framework that could serve as a well

A Lax integrable hierarchy, bi-Hamiltonian structure and finite-dimensional Liouville integrable involutive systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xia Tiecheng; Chen Xiaohong; Chen Dengyuan

2004-01-01

An eigenvalue problem and the associated new Lax integrable hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations are presented in this paper. As two reductions, the generalized nonlinear Schroedinger equations and the generalized mKdV equations are obtained. Zero curvature representation and bi-Hamiltonian structure are established for the whole hierarchy based on a pair of Hamiltonian operators (Lenard's operators), and it is shown that the hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations is integrable in Liouville's sense. Thus the hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations has infinitely many commuting symmetries and conservation laws. Moreover the eigenvalue problem is nonlinearized as a finite-dimensional completely integrable system under the Bargmann constraint between the potentials and the eigenvalue functions. Finally finite-dimensional Liouville integrable system are found, and the involutive solutions of the hierarchy of equations are given. In particular, the involutive solutions are developed for the system of generalized nonlinear Schroedinger equations

Structural Integrity Management for Fixed Offshore Platforms in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Narayanan Sambu Potty; Mohammad Kabir B. Mohd Akram

2009-01-01

Structural Integrity Management (SIM) is important for the protection of offshore crew, environment, business assets and company and industry reputation. API RP 2A contained guidelines for assessment of existing platforms mostly for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). ISO 19902 SIM framework also does not specifically cater for Malaysia. There are about 200 platforms in Malaysia with 90 exceeding their design life. The Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB) uses the Asset Integrity Management ...

Hamiltonian structure of the integrable coupling of the Jaulent-Miodek hierarchy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yufeng; Fan, Engui

2006-01-01

A scheme for deducing Hamiltonian structures of the higher-dimensional hierarchies of evolution equations is presented which is devoting to obtaining the Hamiltonian structures of integrable coupling of the Jaulent-Miodek hierarchy

Integrated failure probability estimation based on structural integrity analysis and failure data: Natural gas pipeline case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dundulis, Gintautas; Žutautaitė, Inga; Janulionis, Remigijus; Ušpuras, Eugenijus; Rimkevičius, Sigitas; Eid, Mohamed

2016-01-01

In this paper, the authors present an approach as an overall framework for the estimation of the failure probability of pipelines based on: the results of the deterministic-probabilistic structural integrity analysis (taking into account loads, material properties, geometry, boundary conditions, crack size, and defected zone thickness), the corrosion rate, the number of defects and failure data (involved into the model via application of Bayesian method). The proposed approach is applied to estimate the failure probability of a selected part of the Lithuanian natural gas transmission network. The presented approach for the estimation of integrated failure probability is a combination of several different analyses allowing us to obtain: the critical crack's length and depth, the failure probability of the defected zone thickness, dependency of the failure probability on the age of the natural gas transmission pipeline. A model's uncertainty analysis and uncertainty propagation analysis are performed, as well. - Highlights: • Degradation mechanisms of natural gas transmission pipelines. • Fracture mechanic analysis of the pipe with crack. • Stress evaluation of the pipe with critical crack. • Deterministic-probabilistic structural integrity analysis of gas pipeline. • Integrated estimation of pipeline failure probability by Bayesian method.

Analysis Method for Integrating Components of Product

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Jun Ho [Inzest Co. Ltd, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Kun Sang [Kookmin Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-04-15

This paper presents some of the methods used to incorporate the parts constituting a product. A new relation function concept and its structure are introduced to analyze the relationships of component parts. This relation function has three types of information, which can be used to establish a relation function structure. The relation function structure of the analysis criteria was established to analyze and present the data. The priority components determined by the analysis criteria can be integrated. The analysis criteria were divided based on their number and orientation, as well as their direct or indirect characteristic feature. This paper presents a design algorithm for component integration. This algorithm was applied to actual products, and the components inside the product were integrated. Therefore, the proposed algorithm was used to conduct research to improve the brake discs for bicycles. As a result, an improved product similar to the related function structure was actually created.

Analysis Method for Integrating Components of Product

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Jun Ho; Lee, Kun Sang

2017-01-01

This paper presents some of the methods used to incorporate the parts constituting a product. A new relation function concept and its structure are introduced to analyze the relationships of component parts. This relation function has three types of information, which can be used to establish a relation function structure. The relation function structure of the analysis criteria was established to analyze and present the data. The priority components determined by the analysis criteria can be integrated. The analysis criteria were divided based on their number and orientation, as well as their direct or indirect characteristic feature. This paper presents a design algorithm for component integration. This algorithm was applied to actual products, and the components inside the product were integrated. Therefore, the proposed algorithm was used to conduct research to improve the brake discs for bicycles. As a result, an improved product similar to the related function structure was actually created.

Subsurface mapping of Rustenburg Layered Suite (RLS), Bushveld Complex, South Africa: Inferred structural features using borehole data and spatial analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bamisaiye, O. A.; Eriksson, P. G.; Van Rooy, J. L.; Brynard, H. M.; Foya, S.; Billay, A. Y.; Nxumalo, V.

2017-08-01

Faults and other structural features within the mafic-ultramafic layers of the Bushveld Complex have been a major issue mainly for exploration and mine planning. This study employed a new approach in detecting faults with both regional and meter scale offsets, which was not possible with the usually applied structure contour mapping. Interpretations of faults from structural and isopach maps were previously based on geological experience, while meter-scale faults were virtually impossible to detect from such maps. Spatial analysis was performed using borehole data primarily. This resulted in the identification of previously known structures and other hitherto unsuspected structural features. Consequently, the location, trends, and geometry of faults and some regional features within the Rustenburg Layered Suite (RLS) that might not be easy to detect through field mapping are adequately described in this study.

Consumers’ Preferences for Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Product Features: A Structured Content Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine E. Kistler

2017-06-01

Full Text Available To inform potential governmental regulations, we aimed to develop a list of electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS product features important to U.S. consumers by age and gender. We employed qualitative data methods. Participants were eligible if they had used an ENDS at least once. Groups were selected by age and gender (young adult group aged 18–25, n = 11; middle-age group aged 26–64, n = 9; and women’s group aged 26–64, n = 9. We conducted five individual older adult interviews (aged 68–80. Participants discussed important ENDS features. We conducted a structured content analysis of the group and interview responses. Of 34 participants, 68% were white and 56% were female. Participants mentioned 12 important ENDS features, including: (1 user experience; (2 social acceptability; (3 cost; (4 health risks/benefits; (5 ease of use; (6 flavors; (7 smoking cessation aid; (8 nicotine content; (9 modifiability; (10 ENDS regulation; (11 bridge between tobacco cigarettes; (12 collectability. The most frequently mentioned ENDS feature was modifiability for young adults, user experience for middle-age and older adults, and flavor for the women’s group. This study identified multiple features important to ENDS consumers. Groups differed in how they viewed various features by age and gender. These results can inform ongoing regulatory efforts.

Economic analysis of the structure, Integration and Performance of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The data for the study were collected with the aid of a questionnaire. Statistical tools such as simple descriptive statistics, Gini coefficient, Shepherd-Futrel functional ... Key words: Rice; Market structure; Market integration and Performance.

Integrability and Poisson Structures of Three Dimensional Dynamical Systems and Equations of Hydrodynamic Type

Science.gov (United States)

Gumral, Hasan

Poisson structure of completely integrable 3 dimensional dynamical systems can be defined in terms of an integrable 1-form. We take advantage of this fact and use the theory of foliations in discussing the geometrical structure underlying complete and partial integrability. We show that the Halphen system can be formulated in terms of a flat SL(2,R)-valued connection and belongs to a non-trivial Godbillon-Vey class. On the other hand, for the Euler top and a special case of 3-species Lotka-Volterra equations which are contained in the Halphen system as limiting cases, this structure degenerates into the form of globally integrable bi-Hamiltonian structures. The globally integrable bi-Hamiltonian case is a linear and the sl_2 structure is a quadratic unfolding of an integrable 1-form in 3 + 1 dimensions. We complete the discussion of the Hamiltonian structure of 2-component equations of hydrodynamic type by presenting the Hamiltonian operators for Euler's equation and a continuum limit of Toda lattice. We present further infinite sequences of conserved quantities for shallow water equations and show that their generalizations by Kodama admit bi-Hamiltonian structure. We present a simple way of constructing the second Hamiltonian operators for N-component equations admitting some scaling properties. The Kodama reduction of the dispersionless-Boussinesq equations and the Lax reduction of the Benney moment equations are shown to be equivalent by a symmetry transformation. They can be cast into the form of a triplet of conservation laws which enable us to recognize a non-trivial scaling symmetry. The resulting bi-Hamiltonian structure generates three infinite sequences of conserved densities.

Structural Integrity and Hydraulic Stability of Dolos Armour Layers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burcharth, H. F.

A method for development of design diagrams to ensure structural integrity of slender unreinforced concrete breakwater armour units is presented. The method is based on experimental data from small scale flume tests as well as impact loading of prototype and small scale units. A prerequisite......-parameter characterization makes it possible to develop simple design diagrams for engineering purposes. Specific design diagrams for integrity of Dolos armour units with the waist ratio as a variable have been produced....

A Few Expanding Integrable Models, Hamiltonian Structures and Constrained Flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yufeng

2011-01-01

Two kinds of higher-dimensional Lie algebras and their loop algebras are introduced, for which a few expanding integrable models including the coupling integrable couplings of the Broer-Kaup (BK) hierarchy and the dispersive long wave (DLW) hierarchy as well as the TB hierarchy are obtained. From the reductions of the coupling integrable couplings, the corresponding coupled integrable couplings of the BK equation, the DLW equation, and the TB equation are obtained, respectively. Especially, the coupling integrable coupling of the TB equation reduces to a few integrable couplings of the well-known mKdV equation. The Hamiltonian structures of the coupling integrable couplings of the three kinds of soliton hierarchies are worked out, respectively, by employing the variational identity. Finally, we decompose the BK hierarchy of evolution equations into x-constrained flows and t n -constrained flows whose adjoint representations and the Lax pairs are given. (general)

Roll-to-roll embedded conductive structures integrated into organic photovoltaic devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van de Wiel, H J; Galagan, Y; Van Lammeren, T J; De Riet, J F J; Gilot, J; Nagelkerke, M G M; Lelieveld, R H C A T; Shanmugam, S; Pagudala, A; Groen, W A; Hui, D

2013-01-01

Highly conductive screen printed metallic (silver) structures (current collecting grids) combined with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) are a viable replacement for indium tin oxide (ITO) and inkjet printed silver as transparent electrode materials. To provide successful integration into organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, screen printed silver current collecting grids should be embedded into a substrate to avoid topology issues. In this study micron-thick conductive structures are embedded and integrated into OPV devices. The embedded structures are produced roll-to-roll with optimized process settings and materials. Topology measurements show that the embedded grids are well suited for integration into OPV devices since the surface is almost without spikes and has low surface roughness. JV measurements of OPV devices with embedded structures on a polyethylene terephthalate/silicon nitride (PET/SiN) substrate show an efficiency of 2.15%, which is significantly higher than identical flexible devices with ITO (1.02%) and inkjet printed silver (1.48%). The use of embedded screen printed silver instead of ITO and inkjet printed silver in OPV devices will allow for higher efficiency devices which can be produced with larger design and process freedom. (paper)

SMART Structures User's Guide - Version 3.0

Science.gov (United States)

Spangler, Jan L.

1996-01-01

Version 3.0 of the Solid Modeling Aerospace Research Tool (SMART Structures) is used to generate structural models for conceptual and preliminary-level aerospace designs. Features include the generation of structural elements for wings and fuselages, the integration of wing and fuselage structural assemblies, and the integration of fuselage and tail structural assemblies. The highly interactive nature of this software allows the structural engineer to move quickly from a geometry that defines a vehicle's external shape to one that has both external components and internal components which may include ribs, spars, longerons, variable depth ringframes, a floor, a keel, and fuel tanks. The geometry that is output is consistent with FEA requirements and includes integrated wing and empennage carry-through and frame attachments. This report provides a comprehensive description of SMART Structures and how to use it.

Two items remembered as precisely as one: how integral features can improve visual working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Gi Yeul; Flombaum, Jonathan I

2013-10-01

In the ongoing debate about the efficacy of visual working memory for more than three items, a consensus has emerged that memory precision declines as memory load increases from one to three. Many studies have reported that memory precision seems to be worse for two items than for one. We argue that memory for two items appears less precise than that for one only because two items present observers with a correspondence challenge that does not arise when only one item is stored--the need to relate observations to their corresponding memory representations. In three experiments, we prevented correspondence errors in two-item trials by varying sample items along task-irrelevant but integral (as opposed to separable) dimensions. (Initial experiments with a classic sorting paradigm identified integral feature relationships.) In three memory experiments, our manipulation produced equally precise representations of two items and of one item.

Light-harvesting features revealed by the structure of plant Photosystem I

CERN Document Server

Ben-Shem, A; Nelson, N; 10.1023/B:PRES.0000036881.23512.42

2004-01-01

Oxygenic photosynthesis is driven by two multi-subunit membrane protein complexes, Photosystem I and Photosystem II. In plants and green algae, both complexes are composed of two moieties: a reaction center (RC), where light-induced charge translocation occurs, and a peripheral antenna that absorbs light and funnels its energy to the reaction center. The peripheral antenna of PS I (LHC I) is composed of four gene products (Lhca 1-4) that are unique among the chlorophyll a/b binding proteins in their pronounced long-wavelength absorbance and in their assembly into dimers. The recently determined structure of plant Photosystem I provides the first relatively high- resolution structural model of a super-complex containing a reaction center and its peripheral antenna. We describe some of the structural features responsible for the unique properties of LHC I and discuss the advantages of the particular LHC I dimerization mode over monomeric or trimeric forms. In addition, we delineate some of the interactions betw...

Finger-vein and fingerprint recognition based on a feature-level fusion method

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jinfeng; Hong, Bofeng

2013-07-01

Multimodal biometrics based on the finger identification is a hot topic in recent years. In this paper, a novel fingerprint-vein based biometric method is proposed to improve the reliability and accuracy of the finger recognition system. First, the second order steerable filters are used here to enhance and extract the minutiae features of the fingerprint (FP) and finger-vein (FV). Second, the texture features of fingerprint and finger-vein are extracted by a bank of Gabor filter. Third, a new triangle-region fusion method is proposed to integrate all the fingerprint and finger-vein features in feature-level. Thus, the fusion features contain both the finger texture-information and the minutiae triangular geometry structure. Finally, experimental results performed on the self-constructed finger-vein and fingerprint databases are shown that the proposed method is reliable and precise in personal identification.

Damage and noise sensitivity evaluation of autoregressive features extracted from structure vibration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yao, Ruigen; Pakzad, Shamim N

2014-01-01

In the past few decades many types of structural damage indices based on structural health monitoring signals have been proposed, requiring performance evaluation and comparison studies on these indices in a quantitative manner. One tool to help accomplish this objective is analytical sensitivity analysis, which has been successfully used to evaluate the influences of system operational parameters on observable characteristics in many fields of study. In this paper, the sensitivity expressions of two damage features, namely the Mahalanobis distance of autoregressive coefficients and the Cosh distance of autoregressive spectra, will be derived with respect to both structural damage and measurement noise level. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is illustrated in a numerical case study on a 10-DOF system, where their results are compared with those from direct simulation and theoretical calculation. (paper)

Structural integrity evaluation of PWR nuclear reactor pressure vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cruz, Julio R.B.; Mattar Neto, Miguel

1999-01-01

The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is the most important structural component of a PWR nuclear power plant. It contains the reactor core and is the main component of the primary system pressure boundary, the system responsible for removing the heat generated by the nuclear reactions. It is considered not replaceable and, therefore, its lifetime is a key element to define the plant life as a whole. Three critical issues related to the reliability of the RPV structural integrity come out by reason of the radiation damage imposed to the vessel material during operation. These issues concern the definition of pressure versus temperature limits for reactor heatup and cooldown, pressurized thermal shock evaluation and assessment of reactor vessels with low upper shelf Charpy impact energy levels. This work aims to present the major aspects related to these topics. The requirements for preventing fracture of the RPV are reviewed as well as the available technology for assessing the safety margins. For each mentioned problem, the several steps for structural integrity evaluation are described and the analysis methods are discussed. (author)

USING MATRIX METHODS OF PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS IN DESIGNING VERTICAL-INTEGRATED BUILDING STRUCTURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rakytska S.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Ensuring productive functioning of corporations requires assessment and management decisions in terms of choosing effective areas of its activities. Purpose. Investigation of the possibilities of using matrix methods in the formation of a business portfolio in order to create a vertically-integrated structure in the construction complex. Results. Portfolio analysis is an effective tool, first of all, for functionally flexible, “many grocery” companies, who have the opportunity to quickly make changes to their business portfolio. For the production of the final construction product, you need the entire technological chain – from the supplier of primary raw materials, to the implementation and further maintenance of finished products. The strategy of the integrated structure is designed to: coordinate the objectives of the merged enterprises, determine the degree of their interaction, maximize the effect of the integration of business entities, develop ways to react newly formed corporation to changes taking place in the external environment, determine the most effective way of its development time, to ensure the competitive advantages of an integrated structure. The construction of a complex multi-level corporation in a building complex requires the development of a certain algorithm of action, which will ensure the optimality of the newly created structure and effective functioning.

Detecting Structural Features in Metallic Glass via Synchrotron Radiation Experiments Combined with Simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gu-Qing Guo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Revealing the essential structural features of metallic glasses (MGs will enhance the understanding of glass-forming mechanisms. In this work, a feasible scheme is provided where we performed the state-of-the-art synchrotron-radiation based experiments combined with simulations to investigate the microstructures of ZrCu amorphous compositions. It is revealed that in order to stabilize the amorphous state and optimize the topological and chemical distribution, besides the icosahedral or icosahedral-like clusters, other types of clusters also participate in the formation of the microstructure in MGs. This cluster-level co-existing feature may be popular in this class of glassy materials.

Empirical Analysis of the Integration Activity of Business Structures in the Regions of Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Gennadyevna Karelina

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article investigates the integration activity of business structures in the regions of Russia. A wide variety of approaches to the study of the problems and prospects of economic integration and the current dispute on the role of integration processes in the regional economic development have determined the complexity of the concepts “integration” and “integration activities” in order to develop the objective conditions to analyse the integration activity of business structures in the Russian regions. The monitoring of the current legal system of the Russian Federation carried out in the area of statistics and compiling statistical databases on mergers and acquisitions has showed the absence of the formal executive authority dealing with the compiling and collections of information on the integration activity at the regional level. In this connection, the data of Russian information and analytical agencies are made from the information and analytical base. As the research tools, the methods of analysis of structural changes, methods of analysis of economic differentiation and concentration, methods of non-parametric statistics are used. The article shows the close relationship between the social and economic development of the subjects of Russia and the integrated business structures functioning on its territory. An investigation of the integration activity structure and dynamics in the subjects of the Russian Federation based on the statistical data for the period from 2003 to 2012 has revealed the increasing heterogeneity of the integration activity of business structures in the regions of Russia. The hypothesis of a substantial divergence of mergers and acquisitions of corporate structures in the Russian regions was confirmed by the high values of the Gini coefficient, the Herfindahl index, and the decile coefficient of differentiation. The research results are of practical importance since they can be used to improve the existing

Teaching structure: student use of software tools for understanding macromolecular structure in an undergraduate biochemistry course.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaswal, Sheila S; O'Hara, Patricia B; Williamson, Patrick L; Springer, Amy L

2013-01-01

Because understanding the structure of biological macromolecules is critical to understanding their function, students of biochemistry should become familiar not only with viewing, but also with generating and manipulating structural representations. We report a strategy from a one-semester undergraduate biochemistry course to integrate use of structural representation tools into both laboratory and homework activities. First, early in the course we introduce the use of readily available open-source software for visualizing protein structure, coincident with modules on amino acid and peptide bond properties. Second, we use these same software tools in lectures and incorporate images and other structure representations in homework tasks. Third, we require a capstone project in which teams of students examine a protein-nucleic acid complex and then use the software tools to illustrate for their classmates the salient features of the structure, relating how the structure helps explain biological function. To ensure engagement with a range of software and database features, we generated a detailed template file that can be used to explore any structure, and that guides students through specific applications of many of the software tools. In presentations, students demonstrate that they are successfully interpreting structural information, and using representations to illustrate particular points relevant to function. Thus, over the semester students integrate information about structural features of biological macromolecules into the larger discussion of the chemical basis of function. Together these assignments provide an accessible introduction to structural representation tools, allowing students to add these methods to their biochemical toolboxes early in their scientific development. © 2013 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

On the use of INS to improve Feature Matching

Science.gov (United States)

Masiero, A.; Guarnieri, A.; Vettore, A.; Pirotti, F.

2014-11-01

The continuous technological improvement of mobile devices opens the frontiers of Mobile Mapping systems to very compact systems, i.e. a smartphone or a tablet. This motivates the development of efficient 3D reconstruction techniques based on the sensors typically embedded in such devices, i.e. imaging sensors, GPS and Inertial Navigation System (INS). Such methods usually exploits photogrammetry techniques (structure from motion) to provide an estimation of the geometry of the scene. Actually, 3D reconstruction techniques (e.g. structure from motion) rely on use of features properly matched in different images to compute the 3D positions of objects by means of triangulation. Hence, correct feature matching is of fundamental importance to ensure good quality 3D reconstructions. Matching methods are based on the appearance of features, that can change as a consequence of variations of camera position and orientation, and environment illumination. For this reason, several methods have been developed in recent years in order to provide feature descriptors robust (ideally invariant) to such variations, e.g. Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), Affine SIFT, Hessian affine and Harris affine detectors, Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER). This work deals with the integration of information provided by the INS in the feature matching procedure: a previously developed navigation algorithm is used to constantly estimate the device position and orientation. Then, such information is exploited to estimate the transformation of feature regions between two camera views. This allows to compare regions from different images but associated to the same feature as seen by the same point of view, hence significantly easing the comparison of feature characteristics and, consequently, improving matching. SIFT-like descriptors are used in order to ensure good matching results in presence of illumination variations and to compensate the approximations related to the estimation

Iterative feature refinement for accurate undersampled MR image reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shanshan; Liu, Jianbo; Liu, Qiegen; Ying, Leslie; Liu, Xin; Zheng, Hairong; Liang, Dong

2016-05-01

Accelerating MR scan is of great significance for clinical, research and advanced applications, and one main effort to achieve this is the utilization of compressed sensing (CS) theory. Nevertheless, the existing CSMRI approaches still have limitations such as fine structure loss or high computational complexity. This paper proposes a novel iterative feature refinement (IFR) module for accurate MR image reconstruction from undersampled K-space data. Integrating IFR with CSMRI which is equipped with fixed transforms, we develop an IFR-CS method to restore meaningful structures and details that are originally discarded without introducing too much additional complexity. Specifically, the proposed IFR-CS is realized with three iterative steps, namely sparsity-promoting denoising, feature refinement and Tikhonov regularization. Experimental results on both simulated and in vivo MR datasets have shown that the proposed module has a strong capability to capture image details, and that IFR-CS is comparable and even superior to other state-of-the-art reconstruction approaches.

Iterative feature refinement for accurate undersampled MR image reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Shanshan; Liu, Jianbo; Liu, Xin; Zheng, Hairong; Liang, Dong; Liu, Qiegen; Ying, Leslie

2016-01-01

Accelerating MR scan is of great significance for clinical, research and advanced applications, and one main effort to achieve this is the utilization of compressed sensing (CS) theory. Nevertheless, the existing CSMRI approaches still have limitations such as fine structure loss or high computational complexity. This paper proposes a novel iterative feature refinement (IFR) module for accurate MR image reconstruction from undersampled K-space data. Integrating IFR with CSMRI which is equipped with fixed transforms, we develop an IFR-CS method to restore meaningful structures and details that are originally discarded without introducing too much additional complexity. Specifically, the proposed IFR-CS is realized with three iterative steps, namely sparsity-promoting denoising, feature refinement and Tikhonov regularization. Experimental results on both simulated and in vivo MR datasets have shown that the proposed module has a strong capability to capture image details, and that IFR-CS is comparable and even superior to other state-of-the-art reconstruction approaches. (paper)

Features of construction of the individual trajectory education to computer science on the basis dynamic integrated estimation of level of knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ольга Юрьевна Заславская

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In article features of realisation of the mechanism of construction of an optimum trajectory of education to computer science on the basis of a dynamic integrated estimation of level of knowledge are considered.

Guiding exploration in conformational feature space with Lipschitz underestimation for ab-initio protein structure prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Xiaohu; Zhang, Guijun; Zhou, Xiaogen

2018-04-01

Computing conformations which are essential to associate structural and functional information with gene sequences, is challenging due to the high dimensionality and rugged energy surface of the protein conformational space. Consequently, the dimension of the protein conformational space should be reduced to a proper level, and an effective exploring algorithm should be proposed. In this paper, a plug-in method for guiding exploration in conformational feature space with Lipschitz underestimation (LUE) for ab-initio protein structure prediction is proposed. The conformational space is converted into ultrafast shape recognition (USR) feature space firstly. Based on the USR feature space, the conformational space can be further converted into Underestimation space according to Lipschitz estimation theory for guiding exploration. As a consequence of the use of underestimation model, the tight lower bound estimate information can be used for exploration guidance, the invalid sampling areas can be eliminated in advance, and the number of energy function evaluations can be reduced. The proposed method provides a novel technique to solve the exploring problem of protein conformational space. LUE is applied to differential evolution (DE) algorithm, and metropolis Monte Carlo(MMC) algorithm which is available in the Rosetta; When LUE is applied to DE and MMC, it will be screened by the underestimation method prior to energy calculation and selection. Further, LUE is compared with DE and MMC by testing on 15 small-to-medium structurally diverse proteins. Test results show that near-native protein structures with higher accuracy can be obtained more rapidly and efficiently with the use of LUE. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diffusion tensor image registration using hybrid connectivity and tensor features.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qian; Yap, Pew-Thian; Wu, Guorong; Shen, Dinggang

2014-07-01

Most existing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) registration methods estimate structural correspondences based on voxelwise matching of tensors. The rich connectivity information that is given by DTI, however, is often neglected. In this article, we propose to integrate complementary information given by connectivity features and tensor features for improved registration accuracy. To utilize connectivity information, we place multiple anchors representing different brain anatomies in the image space, and define the connectivity features for each voxel as the geodesic distances from all anchors to the voxel under consideration. The geodesic distance, which is computed in relation to the tensor field, encapsulates information of brain connectivity. We also extract tensor features for every voxel to reflect the local statistics of tensors in its neighborhood. We then combine both connectivity features and tensor features for registration of tensor images. From the images, landmarks are selected automatically and their correspondences are determined based on their connectivity and tensor feature vectors. The deformation field that deforms one tensor image to the other is iteratively estimated and optimized according to the landmarks and their associated correspondences. Experimental results show that, by using connectivity features and tensor features simultaneously, registration accuracy is increased substantially compared with the cases using either type of features alone. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Structural integrity evaluations of CANDU pressure tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radu, Vasile

2003-01-01

The core of a CANDU-6 pressurized heavy water reactor consists of some hundred horizontal pressure tubes that are manufactured from a Zr-2.5%Nb alloy and which contain the fuel bundles. These tubes are susceptible to a damaging phenomenon known as Delayed Hydride Cracking (DHC). The Zr-2.5%Nb alloy is susceptible to DHC phenomenon when there is diffusion of hydrogen atoms to a service-induced flaws, followed by the hydride platelets formation on the certain crystallographic planes in the matrix material. Finally, the development of hydride regions at the flaw-tip will happened. These hydride regions are able to fracture under stress-temperature conditions (DHC initiation) and the cracks can extend and grow by DHC mechanism. Some studies have been focused on the potential to initiate DHC at the blunt flaws in a CANDU reactor pressure tube and a methodology for structural integrity evaluation was developed. The methodology based on the Failure Assessment Diagrams (FAD's) consists in an integrated graphical plot, where the fracture failure and plastic collapse are simultaneously evaluated by means of two non-dimensional variables (K r and L r ). These two variables represent the ratio of the applied value of either stress or stress intensity factor and the resistance parameter of corresponding magnitude (yield stress or fracture toughness, respectively). Once the plotting plane is determined by the variables K r and L r , the procedure defines a critical failure line that establishes the safe area. The paper will demonstrate the possibility to perform structural integrity evaluations by means of Failure Assessment Diagrams for flaws occurring in CANDU pressure tubes. (author)

Structural Integrity Assessment of Reactor Containment Subjected to Aircraft Crash

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Junyong; Chang, Yoonsuk

2013-01-01

When an accident occurs at the NPP, containment building which acts as the last barrier should be assessed and analyzed structural integrity by internal loading or external loading. On many occasions that can occur in the containment internal such as LOCA(Loss Of Coolant Accident) are already reflected to design. Likewise, there are several kinds of accidents that may occur from the outside of containment such as earthquakes, hurricanes and strong wind. However, aircraft crash that at outside of containment is not reflected yet in domestic because NPP sites have been selected based on the probabilistic method. After intentional aircraft crash such as World Trade Center and Pentagon accident in US, social awareness for safety of infrastructure like NPP was raised world widely and it is time for assessment of aircraft crash in domestic. The object of this paper is assessment of reactor containment subjected to aircraft crash by FEM(Finite Element Method). In this paper, assessment of structural integrity of containment building subjected to certain aircraft crash was carried out. Verification of structure integrity of containment by intentional severe accident. Maximum stress 61.21MPa of horizontal shell crash does not penetrate containment. Research for more realistic results needed by steel reinforced concrete model

Conjunctive Coding of Complex Object Features

Science.gov (United States)

Erez, Jonathan; Cusack, Rhodri; Kendall, William; Barense, Morgan D.

2016-01-01

Critical to perceiving an object is the ability to bind its constituent features into a cohesive representation, yet the manner by which the visual system integrates object features to yield a unified percept remains unknown. Here, we present a novel application of multivoxel pattern analysis of neuroimaging data that allows a direct investigation of whether neural representations integrate object features into a whole that is different from the sum of its parts. We found that patterns of activity throughout the ventral visual stream (VVS), extending anteriorly into the perirhinal cortex (PRC), discriminated between the same features combined into different objects. Despite this sensitivity to the unique conjunctions of features comprising objects, activity in regions of the VVS, again extending into the PRC, was invariant to the viewpoints from which the conjunctions were presented. These results suggest that the manner in which our visual system processes complex objects depends on the explicit coding of the conjunctions of features comprising them. PMID:25921583

Local appearance features for robust MRI brain structure segmentation across scanning protocols

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Achterberg, H.C.; Poot, Dirk H. J.; van der Lijn, Fedde

2013-01-01

Segmentation of brain structures in magnetic resonance images is an important task in neuro image analysis. Several papers on this topic have shown the benefit of supervised classification based on local appearance features, often combined with atlas-based approaches. These methods require...... a representative annotated training set and therefore often do not perform well if the target image is acquired on a different scanner or with a different acquisition protocol than the training images. Assuming that the appearance of the brain is determined by the underlying brain tissue distribution...... with substantially different imaging protocols and on different scanners. While a combination of conventional appearance features trained on data from a different scanner with multiatlas segmentation performed poorly with an average Dice overlap of 0.698, the local appearance model based on the new acquisition...

Inkjet Printing of Functional and Structural Materials: Fluid Property Requirements, Feature Stability, and Resolution

Science.gov (United States)

Derby, Brian

2010-08-01

Inkjet printing is viewed as a versatile manufacturing tool for applications in materials fabrication in addition to its traditional role in graphics output and marking. The unifying feature in all these applications is the dispensing and precise positioning of very small volumes of fluid (1-100 picoliters) on a substrate before transformation to a solid. The application of inkjet printing to the fabrication of structures for structural or functional materials applications requires an understanding as to how the physical processes that operate during inkjet printing interact with the properties of the fluid precursors used. Here we review the current state of understanding of the mechanisms of drop formation and how this defines the fluid properties that are required for a given liquid to be printable. The interactions between individual drops and the substrate as well as between adjacent drops are important in defining the resolution and accuracy of printed objects. Pattern resolution is limited by the extent to which a liquid drop spreads on a substrate and how spreading changes with the overlap of adjacent drops to form continuous features. There are clearly defined upper and lower bounds to the width of a printed continuous line, which can be defined in terms of materials and process variables. Finer-resolution features can be achieved through appropriate patterning and structuring of the substrate prior to printing, which is essential if polymeric semiconducting devices are to be fabricated. Low advancing and receding contact angles promote printed line stability but are also more prone to solute segregation or “coffee staining” on drying.

Identification of similar regions of protein structures using integrated sequence and structure analysis tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heiland Randy

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Understanding protein function from its structure is a challenging problem. Sequence based approaches for finding homology have broad use for annotation of both structure and function. 3D structural information of protein domains and their interactions provide a complementary view to structure function relationships to sequence information. We have developed a web site http://www.sblest.org/ and an API of web services that enables users to submit protein structures and identify statistically significant neighbors and the underlying structural environments that make that match using a suite of sequence and structure analysis tools. To do this, we have integrated S-BLEST, PSI-BLAST and HMMer based superfamily predictions to give a unique integrated view to prediction of SCOP superfamilies, EC number, and GO term, as well as identification of the protein structural environments that are associated with that prediction. Additionally, we have extended UCSF Chimera and PyMOL to support our web services, so that users can characterize their own proteins of interest. Results Users are able to submit their own queries or use a structure already in the PDB. Currently the databases that a user can query include the popular structural datasets ASTRAL 40 v1.69, ASTRAL 95 v1.69, CLUSTER50, CLUSTER70 and CLUSTER90 and PDBSELECT25. The results can be downloaded directly from the site and include function prediction, analysis of the most conserved environments and automated annotation of query proteins. These results reflect both the hits found with PSI-BLAST, HMMer and with S-BLEST. We have evaluated how well annotation transfer can be performed on SCOP ID's, Gene Ontology (GO ID's and EC Numbers. The method is very efficient and totally automated, generally taking around fifteen minutes for a 400 residue protein. Conclusion With structural genomics initiatives determining structures with little, if any, functional characterization

Coastal Geographic Structures in Coastal-Marine Environmental Management

Science.gov (United States)

Baklanov, P. Ya.; Ganzei, K. S.; Ermoshin, V. V.

2018-01-01

It has been proposed to distinguish the coastal geographic structures consisting of a spatial combination of three interconnected and mutually conditioned parts (coastal-territorial, coastal, coastal-marine), which are interlinked with each other by the cumulative effect of real-energy flows. Distinguishing specific resource features of the coastal structures, by which they play a connecting role in the complex coastalmarine management, has been considered. The main integral resource feature of the coastal structures is their connecting functions, which form transitional parts mutually connecting the coastal-territorial and coastalmarine environmental management.

Key structural features of nonsteroidal ligands for binding and activation of the androgen receptor.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Donghua; He, Yali; Perera, Minoli A; Hong, Seoung Soo; Marhefka, Craig; Stourman, Nina; Kirkovsky, Leonid; Miller, Duane D; Dalton, James T

2003-01-01

The purposes of the present studies were to examine the androgen receptor (AR) binding ability and in vitro functional activity of multiple series of nonsteroidal compounds derived from known antiandrogen pharmacophores and to investigate the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of these nonsteroidal compounds. The AR binding properties of sixty-five nonsteroidal compounds were assessed by a radioligand competitive binding assay with the use of cytosolic AR prepared from rat prostates. The AR agonist and antagonist activities of high-affinity ligands were determined by the ability of the ligand to regulate AR-mediated transcriptional activation in cultured CV-1 cells, using a cotransfection assay. Nonsteroidal compounds with diverse structural features demonstrated a wide range of binding affinity for the AR. Ten compounds, mainly from the bicalutamide-related series, showed a binding affinity superior to the structural pharmacophore from which they were derived. Several SARs regarding nonsteroidal AR binding were revealed from the binding data, including stereoisomeric conformation, steric effect, and electronic effect. The functional activity of high-affinity ligands ranged from antagonist to full agonist for the AR. Several structural features were found to be determinative of agonist and antagonist activities. The nonsteroidal AR agonists identified from the present studies provided a pool of candidates for further development of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) for androgen therapy. Also, these studies uncovered or confirmed numerous important SARs governing AR binding and functional properties by nonsteroidal molecules, which would be valuable in the future structural optimization of SARMs.

Mechanical design features and challenges for the ITER ICRH antenna

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borthwick, A. [UKAEA/Euratom Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom)], E-mail: andy.borthwick@yahoo.co.uk; Agarici, G. [Fusion for Energy, Barcelona (Spain); Davis, A. [UKAEA/Euratom Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Dumortier, P.; Durodie, F. [LPP-ERM-KMS, Association EURATOM-Belgian State, Brussels (Belgium); Fanthome, J.; Hamlyn-Harris, C.; Hancock, A.D.; Lockley, D. [UKAEA/Euratom Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Mitteau, R. [Euratom-CEA Association, DSM/IRFM, CEA-Cadarache, 13108 St Paul lez Durance (France); Nightingale, M. [UKAEA/Euratom Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Sartori, R. [Fusion for Energy, Barcelona (Spain); Vulliez, K. [Euratom-CEA Association, DSM/IRFM, CEA-Cadarache, 13108 St Paul lez Durance (France)

2009-06-15

The ITER Ion Cyclotron Resonant Heating (ICRH) antenna provides plasma heating at a power of 20 MW. Operation in the ITER environment imposes significant thermal power handling capability, structural integrity, shielding and operations requirements. The design will require a step change over any predecessor in terms of power, scale and complexity. This paper reports the main mechanical design features that address the challenges and often conflicting requirements during the conceptual design phase.

Structural and phylogenetic analysis of Rhodobacter capsulatus NifF: uncovering general features of nitrogen-fixation (nif)-flavodoxins.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez-Dorado, Inmaculada; Bortolotti, Ana; Cortez, Néstor; Hermoso, Juan A

2013-01-09

Analysis of the crystal structure of NifF from Rhodobacter capsulatus and its homologues reported so far reflects the existence of unique structural features in nif flavodoxins: a leucine at the re face of the isoalloxazine, an eight-residue insertion at the C-terminus of the 50's loop and a remarkable difference in the electrostatic potential surface with respect to non-nif flavodoxins. A phylogenetic study on 64 sequences from 52 bacterial species revealed four clusters, including different functional prototypes, correlating the previously defined as "short-chain" with the firmicutes flavodoxins and the "long-chain" with gram-negative species. The comparison of Rhodobacter NifF structure with other bacterial flavodoxin prototypes discloses the concurrence of specific features of these functional electron donors to nitrogenase.

Integrative computational models of cardiac arrhythmias -- simulating the structurally realistic heart

Science.gov (United States)

Trayanova, Natalia A; Tice, Brock M

2009-01-01

Simulation of cardiac electrical function, and specifically, simulation aimed at understanding the mechanisms of cardiac rhythm disorders, represents an example of a successful integrative multiscale modeling approach, uncovering emergent behavior at the successive scales in the hierarchy of structural complexity. The goal of this article is to present a review of the integrative multiscale models of realistic ventricular structure used in the quest to understand and treat ventricular arrhythmias. It concludes with the new advances in image-based modeling of the heart and the promise it holds for the development of individualized models of ventricular function in health and disease. PMID:20628585

A systematic review of the relationship between subchondral bone features, pain and structural pathology in peripheral joint osteoarthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Andrew J; Campbell, T Mark; Hopkinson, Devan; Kingsbury, Sarah R; Bowes, Mike A; Conaghan, Philip G

2015-08-25

Bone is an integral part of the osteoarthritis (OA) process. We conducted a systematic literature review in order to understand the relationship between non-conventional radiographic imaging of subchondral bone, pain, structural pathology and joint replacement in peripheral joint OA. A search of the Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane library databases was performed for original articles reporting association between non-conventional radiographic imaging-assessed subchondral bone pathologies and joint replacement, pain or structural progression in knee, hip, hand, ankle and foot OA. Each association was qualitatively characterised by a synthesis of the data from each analysis based upon study design, adequacy of covariate adjustment and quality scoring. In total 2456 abstracts were screened and 139 papers were included (70 cross-sectional, 71 longitudinal analyses; 116 knee, 15 hip, six hand, two ankle and involved 113 MRI, eight DXA, four CT, eight scintigraphic and eight 2D shape analyses). BMLs, osteophytes and bone shape were independently associated with structural progression or joint replacement. BMLs and bone shape were independently associated with longitudinal change in pain and incident frequent knee pain respectively. Subchondral bone features have independent associations with structural progression, pain and joint replacement in peripheral OA in the hip and hand but especially in the knee. For peripheral OA sites other than the knee, there are fewer associations and independent associations of bone pathologies with these important OA outcomes which may reflect fewer studies; for example the foot and ankle were poorly studied. Subchondral OA bone appears to be a relevant therapeutic target. PROSPERO registration number: CRD 42013005009.

Tutorial: Integrated-photonic switching structures

Science.gov (United States)

Soref, Richard

2018-02-01

Recent developments in waveguided 2 × 2 and N × M photonic switches are reviewed, including both broadband and narrowband resonant devices for the Si, InP, and AlN platforms. Practical actuation of switches by electro-optical and thermo-optical techniques is discussed. Present datacom-and-computing applications are reviewed, and potential applications are proposed for chip-scale photonic and optoelectronic integrated switching networks. Potential is found in the reconfigurable, programmable "mesh" switches that enable a promising group of applications in new areas beyond those in data centers and cloud servers. Many important matrix switches use gated semiconductor optical amplifiers. The family of broadband, directional-coupler 2 × 2 switches featuring two or three side-coupled waveguides deserves future experimentation, including devices that employ phase-change materials. The newer 2 × 2 resonant switches include standing-wave resonators, different from the micro-ring traveling-wave resonators. The resonant devices comprise nanobeam interferometers, complex-Bragg interferometers, and asymmetric contra-directional couplers. Although the fast, resonant devices offer ultralow switching energy, ˜1 fJ/bit, they have limitations. They require several trade-offs when deployed, but they do have practical application.

Fast large-scale clustering of protein structures using Gauss integrals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harder, Tim; Borg, Mikael; Boomsma, Wouter

2011-01-01

trajectories. Results: We present Pleiades, a novel approach to clustering protein structures with a rigorous mathematical underpinning. The method approximates clustering based on the root mean square deviation by rst mapping structures to Gauss integral vectors – which were introduced by Røgen and co......-workers – and subsequently performing K-means clustering. Conclusions: Compared to current methods, Pleiades dramatically improves on the time needed to perform clustering, and can cluster a signicantly larger number of structures, while providing state-ofthe- art results. The number of low energy structures generated...

Low-Carbon Transportation Oriented Urban Spatial Structure: Theory, Model and Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuyao Ye

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Optimising the spatial structure of cities to promote low-carbon travel is a primary goal of urban planning and construction innovation in the low-carbon era. There is a need for basic research on the structural characteristics that help to reduce motor traffic, thereby promoting energy conservation. We first review the existing literature on the influence of urban spatial structure on transport carbon dioxide emissions and summarise the influence mechanisms. We then present two low-carbon transportation oriented patterns of urban spatial structure including the traditional walking city and the modern transit metropolis, illustrated by case studies. Furthermore, we propose an improved model Green Transportation System Oriented Development (GTOD, which is an extension of traditional transit-oriented development (TOD and includes the additional features of a walking city and an emphasis on the integration of land use with a green transportation system, consisting of the public transportation and non-auto travel system. A compact urban form, effective mix of land use and appropriate scale of block are the basic structural features of a low-carbon transportation city. However, these features are only effective at promoting low-carbon transportation when integrated with the green traffic systems. Proper integration of the urban structural system with the green space system is also required. The optimal land use/transportation integration strategy is to divide traffic corridors with wedge-shaped green spaces and limit development along the transit corridors. This strategy forms the basis of the proposed urban structural model to promote low-carbon transportation and sustainable urban growth management.

DSSR-enhanced visualization of nucleic acid structures in Jmol.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Robert M; Lu, Xiang-Jun

2017-07-03

Sophisticated and interactive visualizations are essential for making sense of the intricate 3D structures of macromolecules. For proteins, secondary structural components are routinely featured in molecular graphics visualizations. However, the field of RNA structural bioinformatics is still lagging behind; for example, current molecular graphics tools lack built-in support even for base pairs, double helices, or hairpin loops. DSSR (Dissecting the Spatial Structure of RNA) is an integrated and automated command-line tool for the analysis and annotation of RNA tertiary structures. It calculates a comprehensive and unique set of features for characterizing RNA, as well as DNA structures. Jmol is a widely used, open-source Java viewer for 3D structures, with a powerful scripting language. JSmol, its reincarnation based on native JavaScript, has a predominant position in the post Java-applet era for web-based visualization of molecular structures. The DSSR-Jmol integration presented here makes salient features of DSSR readily accessible, either via the Java-based Jmol application itself, or its HTML5-based equivalent, JSmol. The DSSR web service accepts 3D coordinate files (in mmCIF or PDB format) initiated from a Jmol or JSmol session and returns DSSR-derived structural features in JSON format. This seamless combination of DSSR and Jmol/JSmol brings the molecular graphics of 3D RNA structures to a similar level as that for proteins, and enables a much deeper analysis of structural characteristics. It fills a gap in RNA structural bioinformatics, and is freely accessible (via the Jmol application or the JSmol-based website http://jmol.x3dna.org). © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Integrity analysis of an upper guide structure flange

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Ki Hyoung; Kang, Sung Sik; Jhung, Myung Jo [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

The integrity assessment of reactor vessel internals should be conducted in the design process to secure the safety of nuclear power plants. Various loads such as self-weight, seismic load, flow-induced load, and preload are applied to the internals. Therefore, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code, Section III, defines the stress limit for reactor vessel internals. The present study focused on structural response analyses of the upper guide structure upper flange. The distributions of the stress intensity in the flange body were analyzed under various design load cases during normal operation. The allowable stress intensities along the expected sections of stress concentration were derived from the results of the finite element analysis for evaluating the structural integrity of the flange design. Furthermore, seismic analyses of the upper flange were performed to identify dynamic behavior with respect to the seismic and impact input. The mode superposition and full transient methods were used to perform time–history analyses, and the displacement at the lower end of the flange was obtained. The effect of the damping ratio on the response of the flange was also evaluated, and the acceleration was obtained. The results of elastic and seismic analyses in this study will be used as basic information to judge whether a flange design meets the acceptance criteria.

Integrity management of offshore structures and its implication on computation of structural action effects and resistance

Science.gov (United States)

Moan, T.

2017-12-01

An overview of integrity management of offshore structures, with emphasis on the oil and gas energy sector, is given. Based on relevant accident experiences and means to control the associated risks, accidents are categorized from a technical-physical as well as human and organizational point of view. Structural risk relates to extreme actions as well as structural degradation. Risk mitigation measures, including adequate design criteria, inspection, repair and maintenance as well as quality assurance and control of engineering processes, are briefly outlined. The current status of risk and reliability methodology to aid decisions in the integrity management is briefly reviewed. Finally, the need to balance the uncertainties in data, methods and computational efforts and the cautious use and quality assurance and control in applying high fidelity methods to avoid human errors, is emphasized, and with a plea to develop both high fidelity as well as efficient, simplified methods for design.

Innovations in individual feature history management - The significance of feature-based temporal model

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, J.; Seong, J.C.; Kim, B.; Usery, E.L.

2008-01-01

A feature relies on three dimensions (space, theme, and time) for its representation. Even though spatiotemporal models have been proposed, they have principally focused on the spatial changes of a feature. In this paper, a feature-based temporal model is proposed to represent the changes of both space and theme independently. The proposed model modifies the ISO's temporal schema and adds new explicit temporal relationship structure that stores temporal topological relationship with the ISO's temporal primitives of a feature in order to keep track feature history. The explicit temporal relationship can enhance query performance on feature history by removing topological comparison during query process. Further, a prototype system has been developed to test a proposed feature-based temporal model by querying land parcel history in Athens, Georgia. The result of temporal query on individual feature history shows the efficiency of the explicit temporal relationship structure. ?? Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007.

Evaluation of structure integrity of the lifting handle of CRB

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, S.-Y. [Radiation Protection Association, Taiwan (China); Lin, S.-R. [Radiation Protection Association, Taiwan (China)], E-mail: srlin@iner.gov.tw; Kang, L.-C. [Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taiwan (China); Chang, Han-Jou [Department of Nuclear Safety, TPC, Taiwan (China)

2008-09-15

Since visual inspection was applied to inspect the control rod blades (CRBs) of nuclear power plants in Taiwan, indications have been found in areas such as roller-pin hole, sheath and tie-rod of CRB. Many preliminary safety analyses with conservative assumptions have been conducted to endorse the continuing operation of the units. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity of those CRBs during lifting operation. Detailed finite element models of the lifting handle of the CRB are built with emphasis on the postulated crack near the roller-pin hole. Both the D-215 type CRB and the Marathon type CRB are evaluated. It is concluded that the structural integrity is guaranteed even under the worst postulated situation.

Association between MRI structural features and cognitive measures in pediatric multiple sclerosis

Science.gov (United States)

Amoroso, N.; Bellotti, R.; Fanizzi, A.; Lombardi, A.; Monaco, A.; Liguori, M.; Margari, L.; Simone, M.; Viterbo, R. G.; Tangaro, S.

2017-09-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and demyelinating disease associated with neurodegenerative processes that lead to brain structural changes. The disease affects mostly young adults, but 3-5% of cases has a pediatric onset (POMS). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is generally used for diagnosis and follow-up in MS patients, however the most common MRI measures (e.g. new or enlarging T2-weighted lesions, T1-weighted gadolinium- enhancing lesions) have often failed as surrogate markers of MS disability and progression. MS is clinically heterogenous with symptoms that can include both physical changes (such as visual loss or walking difficulties) and cognitive impairment. 30-50% of POMS experience prominent cognitive dysfunction. In order to investigate the association between cognitive measures and brain morphometry, in this work we present a fully automated pipeline for processing and analyzing MRI brain scans. Relevant anatomical structures are segmented with FreeSurfer; besides, statistical features are computed. Thus, we describe the data referred to 12 patients with early POMS (mean age at MRI: 15.5 +/- 2.7 years) with a set of 181 structural features. The major cognitive abilities measured are verbal and visuo-spatial learning, expressive language and complex attention. Data was collected at the Department of Basic Sciences, Neurosciences and Sense Organs, University of Bari, and exploring different abilities like the verbal and visuo-spatial learning, expressive language and complex attention. Different regression models and parameter configurations are explored to assess the robustness of the results, in particular Generalized Linear Models, Bayes Regression, Random Forests, Support Vector Regression and Artificial Neural Networks are discussed.

Structural integrity and management of aging in internal components of BWR reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arganis J, C.R.

2004-01-01

Presently work the bases to apply structural integrity and the handling of the aging of internal components of the pressure vessel of boiling water reactors of water are revised and is carried out an example of structural integrity in the horizontal welding H4 of the encircling one of the core of a reactor, taking data reported in the literature. It is also revised what is required to carry out the handling program or conduct of the aging (AMP). (Author)

Structural features of the San Andreas fault at Tejon Pass, California

Science.gov (United States)

Dewers, T. A.; Reches, Z.; Brune, J. N.

2002-12-01

We mapped a 2 km belt along the San Andreas fault (SAF) in the Tejon Pass area where road cuts provide fresh exposures of the fault zone and surrounding rocks. Our 1:2,000 structural mapping is focused on analysis of faulting processes and is complementary to regional mapping at 1:12,000 scale by Ramirez (M.Sc., UC Santa Barbara, 1984). The dominant rock units are the Hungry Valley Formation of Pliocene age (clastic sediments) exposed south of the SAF, and the Tejon Lookout granite (Cretaceous) and Neenach Volcanic Formation exposed north of it. Ramirez (1983) deduced ~220 km of post-Miocene lateral slip. The local trend of the SAF is about N60W and it includes at least three main, subparallel segments that form a 200 m wide zone. The traces of the segments are quasi-linear, discontinuous, and they are stepped with respect to each other, forming at least five small pull-aparts and sag ponds in the mapping area. The three segments were not active semi-contemporaneously and the southern segment is apparently the oldest. The largest pull-apart, 60-70 m wide, displays young (Quaternary?) silt and shale layers. We found two rock bodies that are suspected as fault-rocks. One is a 1-2 m thick sheet-like body that separates the Tejon Lookout granite from young (Recent?) clastic rocks. In the field, it appears as a gouge zone composed of poorly cemented, dark clay size grains; however, the microstructure of this rock does not reveal clear shear features. The second body is the 80-120 m wide zone of Tejon Lookout granite that extends for less than 1 km along the SAF in the mapped area. It is characterized by three structural features: (1) pulverization into friable, granular material by multitude of grain-crossing fractures; (2) abundance of dip-slip small faults that are gently dipping toward and away from the SAF; and (3) striking lack of evidence for shear parallel to the SAF. The relationships between these features and the large right-lateral shear along the SAF are

Structural integrity analysis of an INPP building under external loading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dundulis, G.; Karalevicius, R.; Uspuras, E.; Kulak, R.F.; Marchertas, A.

2005-01-01

After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D. C. using civil airplanes, the evaluation of civil airplane crashes into civil and NPP structures has become very important. The interceptions of many terrorists' communications reveal that the use of commandeered commercial aircraft is still a major part of their plans for destruction. Aircraft crash or other flying objects in the territory of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) represents a concern to the plant. Aircraft traveling at high velocity have a destructive potential. The aircraft crash may damage the roof and walls of buildings, pipelines, electric motors, cases of power supplies, power cables of electricity transmission and other elements and systems, which are important for safety. Therefore, the evaluation of the structural response to an of aircraft crash is important and was selected for analysis. The structural integrity analysis due to the effects of an aircraft crash on an NPP building structure is the subject of this paper. The finite element method was used for the structural analysis of a typical Ignalina NPP building. The structural integrity analysis was performed for a portion of the ALS using the dynamic loading of an aircraft crash impact model. The computer code NEPTUNE was used for this analysis. The local effects caused by impact of the aircraft's engine on the building wall were evaluated independently by using an empirical formula. (authors)

The Role of Emotion in Musical Improvisation: An Analysis of Structural Features

OpenAIRE

McPherson, Malinda J.; Lopez-Gonzalez, Monica; Rankin, Summer K.; Limb, Charles J.

2014-01-01

One of the primary functions of music is to convey emotion, yet how music accomplishes this task remains unclear. For example, simple correlations between mode (major vs. minor) and emotion (happy vs. sad) do not adequately explain the enormous range, subtlety or complexity of musically induced emotions. In this study, we examined the structural features of unconstrained musical improvisations generated by jazz pianists in response to emotional cues. We hypothesized that musicians would not u...

Structural Integrity Evaluation of the KALIMER-600 Reactor Core Support Structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Chang Gyu; Kim, Jong Bum; Lee, Jae Han

2005-01-01

KALIMER-600(Korea Advanced LIquid MEtal Reactor, 600MWe) is a pool type sodium-cooled liquid metal reactor. Since the normal operating temperature of KALIMER-600 is 545 .deg. C, the reactor structures in the hot pool region are designed and evaluated according to the elevated temperature design rules such as the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section III, Subsection NH. Since the core support structure of KALIMER-600 is in the cold pool region under 400 .deg. C, a high temperature inelastic behavior is not expected. Thus the stress and fatigue limits are the main concerns to assure the structural design integrity following the ASME Subsection NG. In this paper, the evaluations of the stress and fatigue damage for the core support structure of KALIMER-600 are carrried out in the case of a normal operation condition using the rules of ASME Subsection NG. To obtain the stress values, a heat transfer analysis and a stress analysis under a combined loading condition are performed. From the stress distribution results, the critical sections are selected and the stress and fatigue limits are evaluated for the selected regions

Classification of Vessels in Single-Pol COSMO-SkyMed Images Based on Statistical and Structural Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fan Wu

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Vessel monitoring is one of the most important maritime applications of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR data. Because of the dihedral reflections between the vessel hull and sea surface and the trihedral reflections among superstructures, vessels usually have strong backscattering in SAR images. Furthermore, in high-resolution SAR images, detailed information on vessel structures can be observed, allowing for vessel classification in high-resolution SAR images. This paper focuses on the feature analysis of merchant vessels, including bulk carriers, container ships and oil tankers, in 3 m resolution COSMO-SkyMed stripmap HIMAGE mode images and proposes a method for vessel classification. After preprocessing, a feature vector is estimated by calculating the average value of the kernel density estimation, three structural features and the mean backscattering coefficient. Support vector machine (SVM classifier is used for the vessel classification, and the results are compared with traditional methods, such as the K-nearest neighbor algorithm (K-NN and minimum distance classifier (MDC. In situ investigations are conducted during the SAR data acquisition. Corresponding Automatic Identification System (AIS reports are also obtained as ground truth to evaluate the effectiveness of the classifier. The preliminary results show that the combination of the average value of the kernel density estimation and mean backscattering coefficient has good ability for classifying the three types of vessels. When adding the three structural features, the results slightly improve. The result of the SVM classifier is better than that of K-NN and MDC. However, the SVM requires more time, when the parameters of the kernel are estimated.

Structural integrity of a reinforced concrete structure and a pipe outlet under hydrogen detonation conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saarenheimo, A.; Silde, A.; Calonius, K.

2002-05-01

Structural integrity of a reinforced concrete wall and a pipe penetration under detonation conditions in a selected reactor building room of Olkiluoto BWR were studied. Hydrogen leakage from the pressurised containment to the sur rounding reactor building is possible during a severe accident. Leaked hydrogen tends to accumulate in the reactor building rooms where the leak is located leading to a stable stratification and locally very high hydrogen concentration. If ignited, a possibility to flame acceleration and detonation cannot be ruled out. The structure may survive the peak detonation transient because the eigenperiod of the structure is considerably longer than the duration of the peak detonation. However, the relatively slowly decreasing static type pressure after a peak detonation damages the wall more severely. Elastic deformations in reinforcement are recoverable and cracks in these areas will close after the pressure decrease. But there will be remarkable compression crushing and the static type slowly decreasing over pressure clearly exceeds the loading capacity of the wall. Structural integrity of a pipe outlet was considered also under detonation conditions. The effect of drag forces was taken into account. Damping and strain rate dependence of yield strength were not taken into consideration. The boundary condition at the end of the pipe line model was varied in order to find out the effect of the stiffness of the pipeline outside the calculation model. The calculation model where the lower pipe end is free to move axially, is conservative from the pipe penetration integrity point of view. Even in this conservative study, the highest peak value for the maximum plastic deformation is 3.5%. This is well below the success criteria found in literature. (au)

Structural features of various kinds of carbon fibers as determined by small-angle X-ray scattering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Denghua; Du, Sujun [Shanxi Transportation Research Institute, National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Road Materials, Taiyuan (China); Lu, Chunxiang; Wu, Gangping; Yang, Yu; Wang, Lina [Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Engineering Laboratory for Carbon Fiber Technology, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Taiyuan (China)

2016-11-15

The structural features of polyacrylonitrile and pitch-based carbon fibers were analyzed from a comprehensive point of view by X-ray measurements and related techniques. The results indicated that the undulating graphite ribbon with embedded microvoid was the main structural unit for graphitic fibers. The void's parameters for these fibers could be obtained directly by small-angle X-ray scattering following the classic method deduced based on the typical two-phase system (i.e., Porod's law, Guinier's law and Debye's law). The non-graphitic fibers, however, were composed of two-dimensional turbostratic crystallites in the aggregation of microfibril and thus had a quasi two-phase structure (microfibril, interfibrillar amorphous structure and microvoid embedded within the microfibril). The extended Debye or Beaucage model in this case should be applied in order to obtain the structural parameters. It also revealed that the quasi two-phase system would complete its transformation to two-phase system during high-temperature graphitization. Therefore, the degree of graphitization was speculated to be the essential indicator distinguishing graphitic fibers from non-graphitic ones and would be helpful in understanding the transformation of structural features during the graphitization of carbon fibers. (orig.)

Low cost, small form factor, and integration as the key features for the optical component industry takeoff

Science.gov (United States)

Schiattone, Francesco; Bonino, Stefano; Gobbi, Luigi; Groppi, Angelamaria; Marazzi, Marco; Musio, Maurizio

2003-04-01

In the past the optical component market has been mainly driven by performances. Today, as the number of competitors has drastically increased, the system integrators have a wide range of possible suppliers and solutions giving them the possibility to be more focused on cost and also on footprint reduction. So, if performances are still essential, low cost and Small Form Factor issues are becoming more and more crucial in selecting components. Another evolution in the market is the current request of the optical system companies to simplify the supply chain in order to reduce the assembling and testing steps at system level. This corresponds to a growing demand in providing subassemblies, modules or hybrid integrated components: that means also Integration will be an issue in which all the optical component companies will compete to gain market shares. As we can see looking several examples offered by electronic market, to combine low cost and SFF is a very challenging task but Integration can help in achieving both features. In this work we present how these issues could be approached giving examples of some advanced solutions applied to LiNbO3 modulators. In particular we describe the progress made on automation, new materials and low cost fabrication methods for the parts. We also introduce an approach in integrating optical and electrical functionality on LiNbO3 modulators including RF driver, bias control loop, attenuator and photodiode integrated in a single device.

Lagrangian and Hamiltonian structures in an integrable hierarchy and space–time duality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avan, Jean; Caudrelier, Vincent; Doikou, Anastasia; Kundu, Anjan

2016-01-01

We define and illustrate the novel notion of dual integrable hierarchies, on the example of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) hierarchy. For each integrable nonlinear evolution equation (NLEE) in the hierarchy, dual integrable structures are characterized by the fact that the zero-curvature representation of the NLEE can be realized by two Hamiltonian formulations stemming from two distinct choices of the configuration space, yielding two inequivalent Poisson structures on the corresponding phase space and two distinct Hamiltonians. This is fundamentally different from the standard bi-Hamiltonian or generally multitime structure. The first formulation chooses purely space-dependent fields as configuration space; it yields the standard Poisson structure for NLS. The other one is new: it chooses purely time-dependent fields as configuration space and yields a different Poisson structure at each level of the hierarchy. The corresponding NLEE becomes a space evolution equation. We emphasize the role of the Lagrangian formulation as a unifying framework for deriving both Poisson structures, using ideas from covariant field theory. One of our main results is to show that the two matrices of the Lax pair satisfy the same form of ultralocal Poisson algebra (up to a sign) characterized by an r-matrix structure, whereas traditionally only one of them is involved in the classical r-matrix method. We construct explicit dual hierarchies of Hamiltonians, and Lax representations of the triggered dynamics, from the monodromy matrices of either Lax matrix. An appealing procedure to build a multi-dimensional lattice of Lax pair, through successive uses of the dual Poisson structures, is briefly introduced.

Lagrangian and Hamiltonian structures in an integrable hierarchy and space–time duality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Avan, Jean, E-mail: Jean.Avan@u-cergy.fr [Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation (CNRS UMR 8089), Université de Cergy-Pontoise, F-95302 Cergy-Pontoise (France); Caudrelier, Vincent, E-mail: v.caudrelier@city.ac.uk [Department of Mathematics, City University London, Northampton Square, EC1V 0HB London (United Kingdom); Doikou, Anastasia, E-mail: A.Doikou@hw.ac.uk [Department of Mathematics, Heriot-Watt University, EH14 4AS, Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Kundu, Anjan, E-mail: Anjan.Kundu@saha.ac.in [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Theory Division, Kolkata (India)

2016-01-15

We define and illustrate the novel notion of dual integrable hierarchies, on the example of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) hierarchy. For each integrable nonlinear evolution equation (NLEE) in the hierarchy, dual integrable structures are characterized by the fact that the zero-curvature representation of the NLEE can be realized by two Hamiltonian formulations stemming from two distinct choices of the configuration space, yielding two inequivalent Poisson structures on the corresponding phase space and two distinct Hamiltonians. This is fundamentally different from the standard bi-Hamiltonian or generally multitime structure. The first formulation chooses purely space-dependent fields as configuration space; it yields the standard Poisson structure for NLS. The other one is new: it chooses purely time-dependent fields as configuration space and yields a different Poisson structure at each level of the hierarchy. The corresponding NLEE becomes a space evolution equation. We emphasize the role of the Lagrangian formulation as a unifying framework for deriving both Poisson structures, using ideas from covariant field theory. One of our main results is to show that the two matrices of the Lax pair satisfy the same form of ultralocal Poisson algebra (up to a sign) characterized by an r-matrix structure, whereas traditionally only one of them is involved in the classical r-matrix method. We construct explicit dual hierarchies of Hamiltonians, and Lax representations of the triggered dynamics, from the monodromy matrices of either Lax matrix. An appealing procedure to build a multi-dimensional lattice of Lax pair, through successive uses of the dual Poisson structures, is briefly introduced.

Understanding Learner Strengths and Weaknesses: Assessing Performance on an Integrated Writing Task

Science.gov (United States)

Sawaki, Yasuyo; Quinlan, Thomas; Lee, Yong-Won

2013-01-01

The present study examined the factor structures across features of 446 examinees' responses to a writing task that integrates reading and listening modalities as well as reading and listening comprehension items of the TOEFL iBT[R] (Internet-based test). Both human and automated scores obtained for the integrated essays were utilized. Based on a…

Sustainable Corporate Social Media Marketing Based on Message Structural Features: Firm Size Plays a Significant Role as a Moderator

OpenAIRE

Moon Young Kang; Byungho Park

2018-01-01

Social media has been receiving attention as a cost-effective tool to build corporate brand image and to enrich customer relationships. This phenomenon calls for more attention to developing a model that measures the impact of structural features, used in corporate social media messages. Based on communication science, this study proposes a model to measure the impact of three essential message structural features (interactivity, formality, and immediacy) in corporate social media on customer...

The evaluation of multi-structure, multi-atlas pelvic anatomy features in a prostate MR lymphography CAD system

Science.gov (United States)

Meijs, M.; Debats, O.; Huisman, H.

2015-03-01

In prostate cancer, the detection of metastatic lymph nodes indicates progression from localized disease to metastasized cancer. The detection of positive lymph nodes is, however, a complex and time consuming task for experienced radiologists. Assistance of a two-stage Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) system in MR Lymphography (MRL) is not yet feasible due to the large number of false positives in the first stage of the system. By introducing a multi-structure, multi-atlas segmentation, using an affine transformation followed by a B-spline transformation for registration, the organ location is given by a mean density probability map. The atlas segmentation is semi-automatically drawn with ITK-SNAP, using Active Contour Segmentation. Each anatomic structure is identified by a label number. Registration is performed using Elastix, using Mutual Information and an Adaptive Stochastic Gradient optimization. The dataset consists of the MRL scans of ten patients, with lymph nodes manually annotated in consensus by two expert readers. The feature map of the CAD system consists of the Multi-Atlas and various other features (e.g. Normalized Intensity and multi-scale Blobness). The voxel-based Gentleboost classifier is evaluated using ROC analysis with cross validation. We show in a set of 10 studies that adding multi-structure, multi-atlas anatomical structure likelihood features improves the quality of the lymph node voxel likelihood map. Multiple structure anatomy maps may thus make MRL CAD more feasible.

Structural and Phylogenetic Analysis of Rhodobacter capsulatus NifF: Uncovering General Features of Nitrogen-fixation (nif-Flavodoxins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inmaculada Pérez-Dorado

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Analysis of the crystal structure of NifF from Rhodobacter capsulatus and its homologues reported so far reflects the existence of unique structural features in nif flavodoxins: a leucine at the re face of the isoalloxazine, an eight-residue insertion at the C-terminus of the 50’s loop and a remarkable difference in the electrostatic potential surface with respect to non-nif flavodoxins. A phylogenetic study on 64 sequences from 52 bacterial species revealed four clusters, including different functional prototypes, correlating the previously defined as “short-chain” with the firmicutes flavodoxins and the “long-chain” with gram-negative species. The comparison of Rhodobacter NifF structure with other bacterial flavodoxin prototypes discloses the concurrence of specific features of these functional electron donors to nitrogenase.

Proof of Concept of Integrated Load Measurement in 3D Printed Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michaël Hinderdael

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Currently, research on structural health monitoring systems is focused on direct integration of the system into a component or structure. The latter results in a so-called smart structure. One example of a smart structure is a component with integrated strain sensing for continuous load monitoring. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, now also enables such integration of functions inside components. As a proof-of-concept, the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM technique was used to integrate a strain sensing element inside polymer (ABS tensile test samples. The strain sensing element consisted of a closed capillary filled with a fluid and connected to an externally mounted pressure sensor. The volumetric deformation of the integrated capillary resulted in pressure changes in the fluid. The obtained pressure measurements during tensile testing are reported in this paper and compared to state-of-the-art extensometer measurements. The sensitivity of the 3D printed pressure-based strain sensor is primarily a function of the compressibility of the capillary fluid. Air- and watertightness are of critical importance for the proper functioning of the 3D printed pressure-based strain sensor. Therefore, the best after-treatment procedure was selected on basis of a comparative analysis. The obtained pressure measurements are linear with respect to the extensometer readings, and the uncertainty on the strain measurement of a capillary filled with water (incompressible fluid is ±3.1 µstrain, which is approximately three times less sensitive than conventional strain gauges (±1 µstrain, but 32 times more sensitive than the same sensor based on air (compressible fluid (±101 µstrain.

Structural and sequence features of two residue turns in beta-hairpins.

Science.gov (United States)

Madan, Bharat; Seo, Sung Yong; Lee, Sun-Gu

2014-09-01

Beta-turns in beta-hairpins have been implicated as important sites in protein folding. In particular, two residue β-turns, the most abundant connecting elements in beta-hairpins, have been a major target for engineering protein stability and folding. In this study, we attempted to investigate and update the structural and sequence properties of two residue turns in beta-hairpins with a large data set. For this, 3977 beta-turns were extracted from 2394 nonhomologous protein chains and analyzed. First, the distribution, dihedral angles and twists of two residue turn types were determined, and compared with previous data. The trend of turn type occurrence and most structural features of the turn types were similar to previous results, but for the first time Type II turns in beta-hairpins were identified. Second, sequence motifs for the turn types were devised based on amino acid positional potentials of two-residue turns, and their distributions were examined. From this study, we could identify code-like sequence motifs for the two residue beta-turn types. Finally, structural and sequence properties of beta-strands in the beta-hairpins were analyzed, which revealed that the beta-strands showed no specific sequence and structural patterns for turn types. The analytical results in this study are expected to be a reference in the engineering or design of beta-hairpin turn structures and sequences. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Surface plasmon polariton band gap structures: implications to integrated plasmonic circuits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bozhevolnyi, S. I.; Volkov, V. S.; Østergaard, John Erland

2001-01-01

phenomenon related to strong multiple scattering of light in periodic media. The interest to the PBG structures has dramatically risen since the possibility of efficient waveguiding around a sharp corner of a line defect in the PBG structure has been pointed out. Given the perspective of integrating various...

Detection and analysis of unusual features in the structural model and structure-factor data of a birch pollen allergen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rupp, Bernhard

2012-01-01

The structure factors deposited with PDB entry 3k78 show properties inconsistent with experimentally observed diffraction data, and without uncertainty represent calculated structure factors. The refinement of the model against these structure factors leads to an isomorphous structure different from the deposited model with an implausibly small R value (0.019). Physically improbable features in the model of the birch pollen structure Bet v 1d are faithfully reproduced in electron density generated with the deposited structure factors, but these structure factors themselves exhibit properties that are characteristic of data calculated from a simple model and are inconsistent with the data and error model obtained through experimental measurements. The refinement of the model against these structure factors leads to an isomorphous structure different from the deposited model with an implausibly small R value (0.019). The abnormal refinement is compared with normal refinement of an isomorphous variant structure of Bet v 1l. A variety of analytical tools, including the application of Diederichs plots, Rσ plots and bulk-solvent analysis are discussed as promising aids in validation. The examination of the Bet v 1d structure also cautions against the practice of indicating poorly defined protein chain residues through zero occupancies. The recommendation to preserve diffraction images is amplified

Structured Matrix Completion with Applications to Genomic Data Integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Tianxi; Cai, T Tony; Zhang, Anru

2016-01-01

Matrix completion has attracted significant recent attention in many fields including statistics, applied mathematics and electrical engineering. Current literature on matrix completion focuses primarily on independent sampling models under which the individual observed entries are sampled independently. Motivated by applications in genomic data integration, we propose a new framework of structured matrix completion (SMC) to treat structured missingness by design. Specifically, our proposed method aims at efficient matrix recovery when a subset of the rows and columns of an approximately low-rank matrix are observed. We provide theoretical justification for the proposed SMC method and derive lower bound for the estimation errors, which together establish the optimal rate of recovery over certain classes of approximately low-rank matrices. Simulation studies show that the method performs well in finite sample under a variety of configurations. The method is applied to integrate several ovarian cancer genomic studies with different extent of genomic measurements, which enables us to construct more accurate prediction rules for ovarian cancer survival.

A generic data structure for integrated modelling of tokamak physics and subsystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imbeaux, F.; Huysmans, G.T.A.; Airaj, M.; Guillerminet, B.; Ottaviani, M.; Peysson, Y.; Signoret, J.; Basiuk, V.; Lister, J.B.; Sauter, O.; Zwingmann, W.; Eriksson, L.G.; Appel, L.; Coster, D.; Konz, C.; Pereverzev, G.; Kalupin, D.; Manduchi, G.; Strand, P.

2010-01-01

The European Integrated Tokamak Modelling Task Force (ITM-TF) is developing a new type of fully modular and flexible integrated tokamak simulator, which will allow a large variety of simulation types This ambitious goal requires new concepts of data structure and work-flow organisation, which are described for the first time in this paper The backbone of the system is a physics- and work-flow-oriented data structure which allows for the deployment of a fully modular and flexible work-flow organisation. The data structure is designed to be generic for any tokamak device and can be used to address physics simulation results, experimental data (including description of subsystem hardware) and engineering issues. (authors)

Fluorescence microscopy for the characterization of structural integrity

Science.gov (United States)

Street, Kenneth W.; Leonhardt, Todd A.

1991-01-01

The absorption characteristics of light and the optical technique of fluorescence microscopy for enhancing metallographic interpretation are presented. Characterization of thermally sprayed coatings by optical microscopy suffers because of the tendency for misidentification of the microstructure produced by metallographic preparation. Gray scale, in bright field microscopy, is frequently the only means of differentiating the actual structural details of porosity, cracking, and debonding of coatings. Fluorescence microscopy is a technique that helps to distinguish the artifacts of metallographic preparation (pullout, cracking, debonding) from the microstructure of the specimen by color contrasting structural differences. Alternative instrumentation and the use of other dye systems are also discussed. The combination of epoxy vacuum infiltration with fluorescence microscopy to verify microstructural defects is an effective means to characterize advanced materials and to assess structural integrity.

ARTICULATED MODES OF INTEGRATION: THE STRUCTURING OF THE EUROPEAN URBAN SYSTEM

OpenAIRE

Rozenblat, Céline; Pumain, Denise

2008-01-01

European integration is for its essential part reflected in the building of urban networks that are increasing interdependencies between cities. Evidence of this process is brought through the observation of a variety of networks whose nodes are located in cities, especially the development of international functions. Analysis of airlines networks (2000) as well as the economic linkages between multinational firms (1990,1996) provide a good illustration reflecting the dominant features of suc...

A multilayered integrated sensor for three-dimensional, micro total analysis systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao, Jing; Song, Fuchuan; Seo, Sang-Woo

2013-01-01

This paper presents a layer-by-layer integration approach of different functional devices and demonstrates a heterogeneously integrated optical sensor featuring a micro-ring resonator and a high-speed thin-film InGaAs-based photodetector co-integrated with a microfluidic droplet generation device. A thin optical device structure allows a seamless integration with other polymer-based devices on a silicon platform. The integrated sensor successfully demonstrates its transient measurement capability of two-phase liquid flow in a microfluidic droplet generation device. The proposed approach represents an important step toward fully integrated micro total analysis systems. (paper)

Plasma and process characterization of high power magnetron physical vapor deposition with integrated plasma equipment--feature profile model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Da; Stout, Phillip J.; Ventzek, Peter L.G.

2003-01-01

High power magnetron physical vapor deposition (HPM-PVD) has recently emerged for metal deposition into deep submicron features in state of the art integrated circuit fabrication. However, the plasma characteristics and process mechanism are not well known. An integrated plasma equipment-feature profile modeling infrastructure has therefore been developed for HPM-PVD deposition, and it has been applied to simulating copper seed deposition with an Ar background gas for damascene metalization. The equipment scale model is based on the hybrid plasma equipment model [M. Grapperhaus et al., J. Appl. Phys. 83, 35 (1998); J. Lu and M. J. Kushner, ibid., 89, 878 (2001)], which couples a three-dimensional Monte Carlo sputtering module within a two-dimensional fluid model. The plasma kinetics of thermalized, athermal, and ionized metals and the contributions of these species in feature deposition are resolved. A Monte Carlo technique is used to derive the angular distribution of athermal metals. Simulations show that in typical HPM-PVD processing, Ar + is the dominant ionized species driving sputtering. Athermal metal neutrals are the dominant deposition precursors due to the operation at high target power and low pressure. The angular distribution of athermals is off axis and more focused than thermal neutrals. The athermal characteristics favor sufficient and uniform deposition on the sidewall of the feature, which is the critical area in small feature filling. In addition, athermals lead to a thick bottom coverage. An appreciable fraction (∼10%) of the metals incident to the wafer are ionized. The ionized metals also contribute to bottom deposition in the absence of sputtering. We have studied the impact of process and equipment parameters on HPM-PVD. Simulations show that target power impacts both plasma ionization and target sputtering. The Ar + ion density increases nearly linearly with target power, different from the behavior of typical ionized PVD processing. The

Insights into Protein Sequence and Structure-Derived Features Mediating 3D Domain Swapping Mechanism using Support Vector Machine Based Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khader Shameer

2010-06-01

Full Text Available 3-dimensional domain swapping is a mechanism where two or more protein molecules form higher order oligomers by exchanging identical or similar subunits. Recently, this phenomenon has received much attention in the context of prions and neuro-degenerative diseases, due to its role in the functional regulation, formation of higher oligomers, protein misfolding, aggregation etc. While 3-dimensional domain swap mechanism can be detected from three-dimensional structures, it remains a formidable challenge to derive common sequence or structural patterns from proteins involved in swapping. We have developed a SVM-based classifier to predict domain swapping events using a set of features derived from sequence and structural data. The SVM classifier was trained on features derived from 150 proteins reported to be involved in 3D domain swapping and 150 proteins not known to be involved in swapped conformation or related to proteins involved in swapping phenomenon. The testing was performed using 63 proteins from the positive dataset and 63 proteins from the negative dataset. We obtained 76.33% accuracy from training and 73.81% accuracy from testing. Due to high diversity in the sequence, structure and functions of proteins involved in domain swapping, availability of such an algorithm to predict swapping events from sequence and structure-derived features will be an initial step towards identification of more putative proteins that may be involved in swapping or proteins involved in deposition disease. Further, the top features emerging in our feature selection method may be analysed further to understand their roles in the mechanism of domain swapping.

Integration of electrical resistivity imaging and ground penetrating radar to investigate solution features in the Biscayne Aquifer

Science.gov (United States)

Yeboah-Forson, Albert; Comas, Xavier; Whitman, Dean

2014-07-01

The limestone composing the Biscayne Aquifer in southeast Florida is characterized by cavities and solution features that are difficult to detect and quantify accurately because of their heterogeneous spatial distribution. Such heterogeneities have been shown by previous studies to exert a strong influence in the direction of groundwater flow. In this study we use an integrated array of geophysical methods to detect the lateral extent and distribution of solution features as indicative of anisotropy in the Biscayne Aquifer. Geophysical methods included azimuthal resistivity measurements, electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) and were constrained with direct borehole information from nearby wells. The geophysical measurements suggest the presence of a zone of low electrical resistivity (from ERI) and low electromagnetic wave velocity (from GPR) below the water table at depths of 4-9 m that corresponds to the depth of solution conduits seen in digital borehole images. Azimuthal electrical measurements at the site reported coefficients of electrical anisotropy as high as 1.36 suggesting the presence of an area of high porosity (most likely comprising different types of porosity) oriented in the E-W direction. This study shows how integrated geophysical methods can help detect the presence of areas of enhanced porosity which may influence the direction of groundwater flow in a complex anisotropic and heterogeneous karst system like the Biscayne Aquifer.

Microdevelopment of Complex Featural and Spatial Integration with Contextual Support

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela L. Hirsch

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Complex spatial decisions involve the ability to combine featural and spatial information in a scene. In the present work, 4- through 9-year-old children completed a complex map-scene correspondence task under baseline and supported conditions. Children compared a photographed scene with a correct map and with map-foils that made salient an object feature or spatial property. Map-scene matches were analyzed for the effects of age and featural-spatial information on children’s selections. In both conditions children significantly favored maps that highlighted object detail and object perspective rather than color, landmark, and metric elements. Children’s correct performance did not differ by age and was suboptimal, but their ability to choose correct maps improved significantly when contextual support was provided. Strategy variability was prominent for all age groups, but at age 9 with support children were more likely to give up their focus on features and transition to the use of spatial strategies. These findings suggest the possibility of a U-shaped curve for children’s development of geometric knowledge: geometric coding is predominant early on, diminishes for a time in middle childhood in favor of a preference for features, and then reemerges along with the more advanced abilities to combine featural and spatial information.

A Novel Ship Detection Method Based on Gradient and Integral Feature for Single-Polarization Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Shi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available With the rapid development of remote sensing technologies, SAR satellites like China’s Gaofen-3 satellite have more imaging modes and higher resolution. With the availability of high-resolution SAR images, automatic ship target detection has become an important topic in maritime research. In this paper, a novel ship detection method based on gradient and integral features is proposed. This method is mainly composed of three steps. First, in the preprocessing step, a filter is employed to smooth the clutters and the smoothing effect can be adaptive adjusted according to the statistics information of the sub-window. Thus, it can retain details while achieving noise suppression. Second, in the candidate area extraction, a sea-land segmentation method based on gradient enhancement is presented. The integral image method is employed to accelerate computation. Finally, in the ship target identification step, a feature extraction strategy based on Haar-like gradient information and a Radon transform is proposed. This strategy decreases the number of templates found in traditional Haar-like methods. Experiments were performed using Gaofen-3 single-polarization SAR images, and the results showed that the proposed method has high detection accuracy and rapid computational efficiency. In addition, this method has the potential for on-board processing.

Features and Recursive Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuniya Nasukawa

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the cross-linguistic tendency that weak vowels are realized with a central quality such as ə, ɨ, or ɯ, this paper attempts to account for this choice by proposing that the nucleus itself is one of the three monovalent vowel elements |A|, |I| and |U| which function as the building blocks of melodic structure. I claim that individual languages make a parametric choice to determine which of the three elements functions as the head of a nuclear expression. In addition, I show that elements can be freely concatenated to create melodic compounds. The resulting phonetic value of an element compound is determined by the specific elements it contains and by the head-dependency relations between those elements. This concatenation-based recursive mechanism of melodic structure can also be extended to levels above the segment, thus ultimately eliminating the need for syllabic constituents. This approach reinterprets the notion of minimalism in phonology by opposing the string-based flat structure.

Structural Integrity Evaluation for the IVTM Gripper in PGSFR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, S. H.; Koo, G. H. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

The materials of the gripper used for the analysis are the 316SS in the gripper body parts and the Inconel 718 alloy in the gripper finger parts, respectively. For six sections of the IVTM gripper, the structural integrity according to ASME-NB design rule is checked for the dead weight and refueling load because it is under the low temperature during the refueling operation. As a result of the evaluation, it is reviewed the IVTM gripper design has the structural adequacy. IVTM (In-Vessel Transfer Machine) is the instrument for transferring the core assembly inside the reactor vessel. The IVTM use the gripper finger for the connection and disconnection with the core assembly, which is designed to be possible for the rotation and vertical movement of the gripper. We can see that the IVTM gripper is supported by the gripper guide structure. In the gripper movement, the gripper is lowered to pick up the core assembly with its fingers closed. On contact with the end of the core assembly, the gripper fingers are opened, and then connected with the core assembly. The gripper is then raised with the core assembly. This is the gripper mechanism to handle the core assembly. The purpose of this study is to analyze the gripper stresses and displacements for the design loads applied to the gripper, and also to evaluate the structural integrity of the gripper design for 60 year lifetime.

Plant life management. Progress for structural integrity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solin, J.

2003-03-01

A joint project cluster of industry, VTT and other R and D suppliers is dealing with managing of lifetime of critical structures and components in energy and process industry. The research topics include systematic component lifetime management, data management, integrity and lifetime of pressure bearing components, non-destructive inspection, interactions of coolant and materials, environmentally assisted cracking and ageing of reactor internals. This Symposium is a compilation of selected papers describing an intermediate status of the projects after three years of research and development. (orig.)

Organizational contextual features that influence the implementation of evidence-based practices across healthcare settings: a systematic integrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shelly-Anne; Jeffs, Lianne; Barwick, Melanie; Stevens, Bonnie

2018-05-05

Organizational contextual features have been recognized as important determinants for implementing evidence-based practices across healthcare settings for over a decade. However, implementation scientists have not reached consensus on which features are most important for implementing evidence-based practices. The aims of this review were to identify the most commonly reported organizational contextual features that influence the implementation of evidence-based practices across healthcare settings, and to describe how these features affect implementation. An integrative review was undertaken following literature searches in CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases from January 2005 to June 2017. English language, peer-reviewed empirical studies exploring organizational context in at least one implementation initiative within a healthcare setting were included. Quality appraisal of the included studies was performed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Inductive content analysis informed data extraction and reduction. The search generated 5152 citations. After removing duplicates and applying eligibility criteria, 36 journal articles were included. The majority (n = 20) of the study designs were qualitative, 11 were quantitative, and 5 used a mixed methods approach. Six main organizational contextual features (organizational culture; leadership; networks and communication; resources; evaluation, monitoring and feedback; and champions) were most commonly reported to influence implementation outcomes in the selected studies across a wide range of healthcare settings. We identified six organizational contextual features that appear to be interrelated and work synergistically to influence the implementation of evidence-based practices within an organization. Organizational contextual features did not influence implementation efforts independently from other features. Rather, features were interrelated and often influenced each

Integrated remote sensing techniques for the detection of buried archaeological adobe structures: preliminary results in Cahuachi (Peru)

Science.gov (United States)

Masini, N.; Rizzo, E.; Lasaponara, R.; Orefici, G.

2008-11-01

This paper is focused on the jointly use of satellite Quickbird (QB) images and Ground Probing Radar (GPR) for assessing their capability in the detection of archaeological adobe structures (sun-dried earth material). Such detection is particularly complex. due to the low contrast generally existing between the archaeological features and the background. Two significant test areas were investigated in the Ceremonial Centre of Cahuachi (in the Nasca territory, Southern Peru) dating back to 6th century BC to 4th century AD. Our results showed that both satellite and GPR data provided valuable indications for unearthing precious ancient remains. Our preliminary analyses pointed out that the integrated use of non destructive remote sensing techniques has high potentiality for its important scientific implications and for its significant contributions to cultural resource management.

Flexible PCPDTBT:PCBM solar cells with integrated grating structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oliveira Hansen, Roana Melina de; Liu, Yinghui; Madsen, Morten

2013-01-01

We report on development of flexible PCPDTBT:PCBM solar cells with integrated diffraction gratings on the bottom electrodes. The presented results address PCPDTBT:PCBM solar cells in an inverted geometry, which contains implemented grating structures whose pitch is tuned to match the absorption...... spectra of the active layer. This optimized solar cell structure leads to an enhanced absorption in the active layer and thus improved short-circuit currents and power conversion efficiencies in the fabricated devices. Fabrication of the solar cells on thin polyimide substrates which are compatible...

Integration of Absorption Feature Information from Visible to Longwave Infrared Spectral Ranges for Mineral Mapping

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Veronika Kopačková

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Merging hyperspectral data from optical and thermal ranges allows a wider variety of minerals to be mapped and thus allows lithology to be mapped in a more complex way. In contrast, in most of the studies that have taken advantage of the data from the visible (VIS, near-infrared (NIR, shortwave infrared (SWIR and longwave infrared (LWIR spectral ranges, these different spectral ranges were analysed and interpreted separately. This limits the complexity of the final interpretation. In this study a presentation is made of how multiple absorption features, which are directly linked to the mineral composition and are present throughout the VIS, NIR, SWIR and LWIR ranges, can be automatically derived and, moreover, how these new datasets can be successfully used for mineral/lithology mapping. The biggest advantage of this approach is that it overcomes the issue of prior definition of endmembers, which is a requested routine employed in all widely used spectral mapping techniques. In this study, two different airborne image datasets were analysed, HyMap (VIS/NIR/SWIR image data and Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS, LWIR image data. Both datasets were acquired over the Sokolov lignite open-cast mines in the Czech Republic. It is further demonstrated that even in this case, when the absorption feature information derived from multispectral LWIR data is integrated with the absorption feature information derived from hyperspectral VIS/NIR/SWIR data, an important improvement in terms of more complex mineral mapping is achieved.

Review of research in feature based design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Salomons, O.W.; van Houten, Frederikus J.A.M.; Kals, H.J.J.

1993-01-01

Research in feature-based design is reviewed. Feature-based design is regarded as a key factor towards CAD/CAPP integration from a process planning point of view. From a design point of view, feature-based design offers possibilities for supporting the design process better than current CAD systems

Periodic reviews of structural integrity of gas-cooled reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banks, P.J.; Stokoe, T.Y.; Thomas, D.L.

1995-01-01

Nuclear Electric operates 12 gas-cooled reactor power stations which have been in service for between 5 and 30 years. Periodically, comprehensive reviews of the safety cases are carried out for each station. The approach followed in these reviews in respect of structural integrity is outlined with the use of illustrative examples. (author)

New Integrable Couplings of Generalized Kaup-Newell Hierarchy and Its Hamiltonian Structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xia Tiecheng; Zhang Gailian; Fan Engui

2011-01-01

A new isospectral problem is firstly presented, then we derive integrable system of soliton hierarchy. Also we obtain new integrable couplings of the generalized Kaup-Newell soliton equations hierarchy and its Hamiltonian structures by using Tu scheme and the quadratic-form identity. The method can be generalized to other soliton hierarchy. (general)

FDTD-SPICE for Characterizing Metamaterials Integrated with Electronic Circuits

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Zhengwei Hao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A powerful time-domain FDTD-SPICE simulator is implemented and applied to the broadband analysis of metamaterials integrated with active and tunable circuit elements. First, the FDTD-SPICE modeling theory is studied and details of interprocess communication and hybridization of the two techniques are discussed. To verify the model, some simple cases are simulated with results in both time domain and frequency domain. Then, simulation of a metamaterial structure constructed from periodic resonant loops integrated with lumped capacitor elements is studied, which demonstrates tuning resonance frequency of medium by changing the capacitance of the integrated elements. To increase the bandwidth of the metamaterial, non-Foster transistor configurations are integrated with the loops and FDTD-SPICE is applied to successfully bridge the physics of electromagnetic and circuit topologies and to model the whole composite structure. Our model is also applied to the design and simulation of a metasurface integrated with nonlinear varactors featuring tunable reflection phase characteristic.

Urban slum structure: integrating socioeconomic and land cover data to model slum evolution in Salvador, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Hacker, Kathryn P; Seto, Karen C; Costa, Federico; Corburn, Jason; Reis, Mitermayer G; Ko, Albert I; Diuk-Wasser, Maria A

2013-10-20

The expansion of urban slums is a key challenge for public and social policy in the 21st century. The heterogeneous and dynamic nature of slum communities limits the use of rigid slum definitions. A systematic and flexible approach to characterize, delineate and model urban slum structure at an operational resolution is essential to plan, deploy, and monitor interventions at the local and national level. We modeled the multi-dimensional structure of urban slums in the city of Salvador, a city of 3 million inhabitants in Brazil, by integrating census-derived socioeconomic variables and remotely-sensed land cover variables. We assessed the correlation between the two sets of variables using canonical correlation analysis, identified land cover proxies for the socioeconomic variables, and produced an integrated map of deprivation in Salvador at 30 m × 30 m resolution. The canonical analysis identified three significant ordination axes that described the structure of Salvador census tracts according to land cover and socioeconomic features. The first canonical axis captured a gradient from crowded, low-income communities with corrugated roof housing to higher-income communities. The second canonical axis discriminated among socioeconomic variables characterizing the most marginalized census tracts, those without access to sanitation or piped water. The third canonical axis accounted for the least amount of variation, but discriminated between high-income areas with white-painted or tiled roofs from lower-income areas. Our approach captures the socioeconomic and land cover heterogeneity within and between slum settlements and identifies the most marginalized communities in a large, complex urban setting. These findings indicate that changes in the canonical scores for slum areas can be used to track their evolution and to monitor the impact of development programs such as slum upgrading.

Featureous: infrastructure for feature-centric analysis of object-oriented software

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2010-01-01

The decentralized nature of collaborations between objects in object-oriented software makes it difficult to understand how user-observable program features are implemented and how their implementations relate to each other. It is worthwhile to improve this situation, since feature-centric program...... understanding and modification are essential during software evolution and maintenance. In this paper, we present an infrastructure built on top of the NetBeans IDE called Featureous that allows for rapid construction of tools for feature-centric analysis of object-oriented software. Our infrastructure...... encompasses a lightweight feature location mechanism, a number of analytical views and an API allowing for addition of third-party extensions. To form a common conceptual framework for future feature-centric extensions, we propose to structure feature centric analysis along three dimensions: perspective...