The 2D Hotelling filter - a quantitative noise-reducing principal-component filter for dynamic PET data, with applications in patient dose reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Axelsson, Jan; Sörensen, Jens

2013-01-01

In this paper we apply the principal-component analysis filter (Hotelling filter) to reduce noise from dynamic positron-emission tomography (PET) patient data, for a number of different radio-tracer molecules. We furthermore show how preprocessing images with this filter improves parametric images created from such dynamic sequence. We use zero-mean unit variance normalization, prior to performing a Hotelling filter on the slices of a dynamic time-series. The Scree-plot technique was used to determine which principal components to be rejected in the filter process. This filter was applied to [ 11 C]-acetate on heart and head-neck tumors, [ 18 F]-FDG on liver tumors and brain, and [ 11 C]-Raclopride on brain. Simulations of blood and tissue regions with noise properties matched to real PET data, was used to analyze how quantitation and resolution is affected by the Hotelling filter. Summing varying parts of a 90-frame [ 18 F]-FDG brain scan, we created 9-frame dynamic scans with image statistics comparable to 20 MBq, 60 MBq and 200 MBq injected activity. Hotelling filter performed on slices (2D) and on volumes (3D) were compared. The 2D Hotelling filter reduces noise in the tissue uptake drastically, so that it becomes simple to manually pick out regions-of-interest from noisy data. 2D Hotelling filter introduces less bias than 3D Hotelling filter in focal Raclopride uptake. Simulations show that the Hotelling filter is sensitive to typical blood peak in PET prior to tissue uptake have commenced, introducing a negative bias in early tissue uptake. Quantitation on real dynamic data is reliable. Two examples clearly show that pre-filtering the dynamic sequence with the Hotelling filter prior to Patlak-slope calculations gives clearly improved parametric image quality. We also show that a dramatic dose reduction can be achieved for Patlak slope images without changing image quality or quantitation. The 2D Hotelling-filtering of dynamic PET data is a computer

The Reduced Rank of Ensemble Kalman Filter to Estimate the Temperature of Non Isothermal Continue Stirred Tank Reactor

OpenAIRE

Erna Apriliani; Dieky Adzkiya; Arief Baihaqi

2011-01-01

Kalman filter is an algorithm to estimate the state variable of dynamical stochastic system. The square root ensemble Kalman filter is an modification of Kalman filter. The square root ensemble Kalman filter is proposed to keep the computational stability and reduce the computational time. In this paper we study the efficiency of the reduced rank ensemble Kalman filter. We apply this algorithm to the non isothermal continue stirred tank reactor problem. We decompose the covariance of the ense...

Petroleum industry is cleaning up its act -- Self-cleaning filters to maximize profits, minimize waste and reduce liability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, D.

2004-01-01

Recent steps taken by the petroleum industry to control end-of-pipe pollution and to minimize waste at the source by changing over to self-cleaning, backwashable filters instead of the traditional disposable filters such as bags or cartridges, are discussed. Various self-cleaning filter systems and their advantages are described, using REACTOGARD which provides total protection for catalysts in fixed-bed reactors and EROSIONGARD, used in fluidized catalytic crackers, as examples. Both filter systems have been developed by RPA Process Technologies, Inc., a global leader in industrial filtration systems. Major advantages attributed to self-cleaning filters include significantly reduced costs through reducing the number of catalyst change-out cycles, maximized platform productivity through virtually eliminating the risk of plugged wells, reduced waste through ability to recycle cleaning liquids, increased profits through shorter return-on-investment cycles, reduced emissions and reduced future liability through higher safety in the workplace; also reduced pollution of landfill sites. 1 photo

Using Kalman Filters to Reduce Noise from RFID Location System

Science.gov (United States)

Xavier, José; Reis, Luís Paulo; Petry, Marcelo

2014-01-01

Nowadays, there are many technologies that support location systems involving intrusive and nonintrusive equipment and also varying in terms of precision, range, and cost. However, the developers some time neglect the noise introduced by these systems, which prevents these systems from reaching their full potential. Focused on this problem, in this research work a comparison study between three different filters was performed in order to reduce the noise introduced by a location system based on RFID UWB technology with an associated error of approximately 18 cm. To achieve this goal, a set of experiments was devised and executed using a miniature train moving at constant velocity in a scenario with two distinct shapes—linear and oval. Also, this train was equipped with a varying number of active tags. The obtained results proved that the Kalman Filter achieved better results when compared to the other two filters. Also, this filter increases the performance of the location system by 15% and 12% for the linear and oval paths respectively, when using one tag. For a multiple tags and oval shape similar results were obtained (11–13% of improvement). PMID:24592186

Remarks on the sampling procedures for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the atmosphere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tomingas, R [Duesseldorf Univ. (Germany, F.R.). Inst. fuer Lufthygiene und Silikoseforschung

1979-01-01

Despite all efforts to optimize the sampling procedure for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) a part of the PAH is lost during the sampling period. The amount of loss depends on the vapour pressure, the air flow rate, the oxidants in the suspended matter and on the sampling time. The sampling time in return is determined by the PAH concentration in the atmosphere and cannot be shortened infinitely, at least not at the expense of the air flow rate. When the concentration of the PAH is extremely low, a repeated change of the filters is advisable. Losses of PAH even occur when filters are stored in the dark. An evaluation of these losses is difficult for many reasons. There is no relationship between the amount of loss and time unit; the decrease of each PAH is different and seems to depend on the composition of the particulate matter collected on the filter. The disappearance of the PAH from the filter is a continual process, therefore a rapid performance of the analysis is inevitable.

An extended Kalman filter approach to non-stationary Bayesian estimation of reduced-order vocal fold model parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadwin, Paul J; Peterson, Sean D

2017-04-01

The Bayesian framework for parameter inference provides a basis from which subject-specific reduced-order vocal fold models can be generated. Previously, it has been shown that a particle filter technique is capable of producing estimates and associated credibility intervals of time-varying reduced-order vocal fold model parameters. However, the particle filter approach is difficult to implement and has a high computational cost, which can be barriers to clinical adoption. This work presents an alternative estimation strategy based upon Kalman filtering aimed at reducing the computational cost of subject-specific model development. The robustness of this approach to Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise is discussed. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) approach is found to perform very well in comparison with the particle filter technique at dramatically lower computational cost. Based upon the test cases explored, the EKF is comparable in terms of accuracy to the particle filter technique when greater than 6000 particles are employed; if less particles are employed, the EKF actually performs better. For comparable levels of accuracy, the solution time is reduced by 2 orders of magnitude when employing the EKF. By virtue of the approximations used in the EKF, however, the credibility intervals tend to be slightly underpredicted.

Separation of special toxic substances from the air and incinerator of offgas streams, especially of radioactive iodine and polycyclic carbon hydrogens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikoopour-Deylami, A.H.

1981-11-01

In the first part of the thesis, the adsorption of radioiodine and methyliodide on different kinds of active charcoal was studied. It was observed that untreated charcoal retains radioiodine sufficiently, while organic compounds as methyliodid could be adsorbed after pretreating with triethylenediamine even at high air velocities. In the presence of moisture in the air the efficiency dropped down to 30% of the original value. In the second part of the work an apparatus using sandfilter columns for the separation of toxic substances and thermochrome column for marking the temperature intervals was developed and posted at different places in athe filtering system of an incineration plant. After extraction of the polycyclic aromates with benzene from the column and chemical separation, the neutral fraction was split by a silicagel column and 14 toxic aromates identified by gas chromatography. It could be proven that 97 +- 2% of the polycyclic aromates were retained by the existing ceramic filter systems. (Author)

Kalman filtering techniques for reducing variance of digital speckle displacement measurement noise

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Donghui Li; Li Guo

2006-01-01

@@ Target dynamics are assumed to be known in measuring digital speckle displacement. Use is made of a simple measurement equation, where measurement noise represents the effect of disturbances introduced in measurement process. From these assumptions, Kalman filter can be designed to reduce variance of measurement noise. An optical and analysis system was set up, by which object motion with constant displacement and constant velocity is experimented with to verify validity of Kalman filtering techniques for reduction of measurement noise variance.

High efficiency cabin air filter in vehicles reduces drivers' roadway particulate matter exposures and associated lipid peroxidation

OpenAIRE

Yu, Nu; Shu, Shi; Lin, Yan; She, Jianwen; Ip, Ho Sai Simon; Qiu, Xinghua; Zhu, Yifang

2017-01-01

Commuters who spend long hours on roads are exposed to high levels of traffic related air pollutants (TRAPs). Despite some well-known multiple adverse effects of TRAPs on human health, limited studies have focused on mitigation strategies to reduce these effects. In this study, we measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ultrafine particle (UFP) concentrations inside and outside 17 taxis simultaneously while they were driven on roadways. The drivers' urinary monohydroxylated polycyclic ar...

A reduced-order filtering approach for 3D dynamical electrical impedance tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voutilainen, A; Lehikoinen, A; Vauhkonen, M; Kaipio, J P

2011-01-01

Recently, it has been shown that the state estimation approach to process tomography can provide estimates that are significantly better than (a sequence of) conventional stationary snapshot estimates. One of the main obstacles of the adoption of the recursive state estimation algorithms, most commonly different versions of the Kalman filter, is the computational complexity. This is due to both the required large dimension for the state variable and the need to use iterative versions of the Kalman filter in such cases in which there are large contrasts or varying background. In this paper, we propose to use a reduced-order representation for the state variable. In particular, we propose to use the proper orthogonal decomposition-related basis for the state. We consider a simulation study with fluctuating background conductivity, and, in particular, with fluctuating contact impedances. We compare the proposed approach to three different versions of the Kalman filter having different computational complexities. We show that this approach allows the reduction of the dimension of the problem approximately by an order of magnitude and yields essentially as accurate estimates as the most accurate traditional Kalman filter version, the iterated extended Kalman filter

Reduced size dual band pass filters for RFID applications with excellent bandpass/bandstop characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Abdalla, M. A.; Choudhary, D. Kumar; Chaudhary, R. Kumar

2018-02-01

This paper presents the design of two reduced size dual-band metamaterial bandpass filters and its simulation followed by measurements of proposed filters. These filters are supporting different frequency bands and primarily could be utilize in radio frequency identification (RFID) application. The filter includes three cells in which two are symmetrical and both inductively coupled with the third cell which is present in between them. In the proposed designs, three different metamaterial composite right/left handed (CRLH) cell resonators have been analysed for compactness. The CRLH cell consists of an interdigital capacitor, a stub/meander line/spiral inductor and a via to connect the top of the structure and ground plane. Finally, the proposed dual band bandpass filters (using meander line and spiral inductor) are showing size reduction by 65% and 50% (with 25% operating frequency reduction), respectively, in comparison with reference filter using stub inductor. More than 30 dB attenuation has been achieved between the two passbands.

Atmospheric chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in East Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kakimoto, Kensaku; Nagayoshi, Haruna; Konishi, Yoshimasa; Kajimura, Keiji; Ohura, Takeshi; Hayakawa, Kazuichi; Toriba, Akira

2014-09-01

This study estimates atmospheric concentrations of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (ClPAHs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in East Asia using a Gas Chromatograph with High Resolution Mass Spectrometer (GC-HRMS). ClPAHs are ubiquitously generated from PAHs through substitution, and some ClPAHs show higher aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-mediated activities than their parent PAHs. Atmospheric particles were collected using a high-volume air sampler equipped with a quartz-fiber filter. We determined the ClPAH concentrations of atmospheric particles collected in Japan (Sapporo, Sagamihara, Kanazawa, and Kitakyushu), Korea (Busan), and China (Beijing). The concentrations of ClPAHs were highest in the winter Beijing sample, where the total mean concentration was approximately 15-70 times higher than in the winter samples from Japan and Korea. The concentrations of Σ19ClPAHs and Σ9PAHs were significantly correlated in the Kanazawa and the Busan samples. This indicates that within those cities ClPAHs and PAHs share the same origin, implying direct chlorination of parent PAHs. Toxic equivalent concentrations (TEQs) of the total ClPAHs and PAHs were lowest in Kanazawa in the summer, reaching 1.18 and 2610fg-TEQm(-3) respectively, and highest in Beijing in the winter, reaching 627 and 4240000fg-TEQm(-3) respectively. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution in soil of suburban areas in Tianjin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Jungang; Shi, Rongguang; Cai, Yanming; Liu, Yong

2010-07-01

Soil contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is an increasing problem and has aroused more and more concern in many countries, including China. In this study, representative soil samples (n = 87) of suburban areas in Tianjin (Xiqing, Dongli, Jinnan, Beichen) were evaluated for 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Surface soil samples were air-dried and sieved. Microwave assisted extraction was used for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons preparation prior to analysis with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The total concentrations of tested polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Xiqing, Dongli, Jinnan, Beichen ranged in 58.5-2,748.3, 36.1-6,734.7, 58.5-4,502.5, 29.7-852.5 ng/g and the averages of total concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were 600.5, 933.6, 640.8, 257.3 ng/g, respectively. Spatial variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil was illustrated; Pollution status and comparison to other cities were also investigated. Serious polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons soil pollution was found in Dongli district, on the contrary, Bap in most sites in Beichen did not exceed relative standards and most sites in Beichen should be classified as non-contaminated soil. Principal component analysis was used to identify the possible sources of different districts. It turned out that coal combustion still was the most important sources in three districts except Beichen. Coking, traffic, cooking, biomass combustion also accounted for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons pollution to certain extent in different districts. These data can be further used to assess the health risk associated with soils polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and help local government find proper way to reduce polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons pollution in soils.

Ex-situ bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sewage sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Sille Bendix; Karakashev, Dimitar Borisov; Angelidaki, Irini

2009-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are regarded as environmental pollutants. A promising approach to reduce PAH pollution is based on the implementation of the natural potential of some microorganisms to utilize hydrocarbons. In this study Proteiniphilum acetatigenes was used for bioaugmentat...

Adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on graphene oxides and reduced graphene oxides.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yubing; Yang, Shubin; Zhao, Guixia; Wang, Qi; Wang, Xiangke

2013-11-01

Graphene has attracted increasing attention in multidisciplinary studies because of its unique physical and chemical properties. Herein, the adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as naphthalene (NAP), anthracene (ANT), and pyrene (PYR), on reduced graphene oxides (rGOs) and graphene oxides (GOs) as a function of pH, humic acid (HA), and temperature were elucidated by means of a batch technique. For comparison, nonpolar and nonporous graphite were also employed in this study. The increasing of pH from 2 to 11 did not influence the adsorption of PAHs on rGOs, whereas the suppressed adsorption of NAP on rGOs was observed both in the presence of HA and under high-temperature conditions. Adsorption isotherms of PAHs on rGOs were in accordance with the Polanyi-Dubinin-Ashtahhov (PDA) model, providing evidence that pore filling and flat surface adsorption were involved. The saturated adsorbed capacities (in mmol g(-1)) of rGOs for PAHs calculated from the PDA model significantly decreased in the order of NAP>PYR>ANT, which was comparable to the results of theoretical calculations. The pore-filling mechanism dominates the adsorption of NAP on rGOs, but the adsorption mechanisms of ANT and PYR on rGOs are flat surface adsorption. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Assimilating irregularly spaced sparsely observed turbulent signals with hierarchical Bayesian reduced stochastic filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Kristen A.; Harlim, John

2013-01-01

In this paper, we consider a practical filtering approach for assimilating irregularly spaced, sparsely observed turbulent signals through a hierarchical Bayesian reduced stochastic filtering framework. The proposed hierarchical Bayesian approach consists of two steps, blending a data-driven interpolation scheme and the Mean Stochastic Model (MSM) filter. We examine the potential of using the deterministic piecewise linear interpolation scheme and the ordinary kriging scheme in interpolating irregularly spaced raw data to regularly spaced processed data and the importance of dynamical constraint (through MSM) in filtering the processed data on a numerically stiff state estimation problem. In particular, we test this approach on a two-layer quasi-geostrophic model in a two-dimensional domain with a small radius of deformation to mimic ocean turbulence. Our numerical results suggest that the dynamical constraint becomes important when the observation noise variance is large. Second, we find that the filtered estimates with ordinary kriging are superior to those with linear interpolation when observation networks are not too sparse; such robust results are found from numerical simulations with many randomly simulated irregularly spaced observation networks, various observation time intervals, and observation error variances. Third, when the observation network is very sparse, we find that both the kriging and linear interpolations are comparable

Wavelet Filtering to Reduce Conservatism in Aeroservoelastic Robust Stability Margins

Science.gov (United States)

Brenner, Marty; Lind, Rick

1998-01-01

Wavelet analysis for filtering and system identification was used to improve the estimation of aeroservoelastic stability margins. The conservatism of the robust stability margins was reduced with parametric and nonparametric time-frequency analysis of flight data in the model validation process. Nonparametric wavelet processing of data was used to reduce the effects of external desirableness and unmodeled dynamics. Parametric estimates of modal stability were also extracted using the wavelet transform. Computation of robust stability margins for stability boundary prediction depends on uncertainty descriptions derived from the data for model validation. F-18 high Alpha Research Vehicle aeroservoelastic flight test data demonstrated improved robust stability prediction by extension of the stability boundary beyond the flight regime.

Evaluation of multistage filtration to reduce sand filter exhaust activity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zippler, D.B.

1975-01-01

Air from the Savannah River Plant Fuel Reprocessing facilities is filtered through deep bed sand filters consisting of 8 1 / 2 feet of gravel and sand. These filters have performed satisfactorily for the past 18 years in maintaining radioactive release levels to a minimum. The apparent filter efficiency has been determined for many years by measurements of the quantity of radioactivity in the air stream before and after the filter. Such tests have indicated efficiencies of 99.9 percent or better. Even with sand filter efficiency approaching a single stage HEPA filter, new emphasis on further reduction in release of plutonium activity to the environment prompted a study to determine what value backup HEPA filtration could provide. To evaluate the specific effect additional HEPA filtration would have on the removal of Pu from the existing sand filter exhaust stream, a test was conducted by passing a sidestream of sand-filtered air through a standard 24 x 24 x 11 1 / 2 in. HEPA filter. Isokinetic air samples were withdrawn upstream and downstream of the HEPA filter and counted for alpha activity. Efficiency calculations indicated that backup HEPA filtration could be expected to provide an additional 99 percent removal of the Pu activity from the present sand-filter exhaust. (U.S.)

White-tailed deer are a biotic filter during community assembly, reducing species and phylogenetic diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Begley-Miller, Danielle R; Hipp, Andrew L; Brown, Bethany H; Hahn, Marlene; Rooney, Thomas P

2014-06-09

Community assembly entails a filtering process, where species found in a local community are those that can pass through environmental (abiotic) and biotic filters and successfully compete. Previous research has demonstrated the ability of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to reduce species diversity and favour browse-tolerant plant communities. In this study, we expand on our previous work by investigating deer as a possible biotic filter altering local plant community assembly. We used replicated 23-year-old deer exclosures to experimentally assess the effects of deer on species diversity (H'), richness (SR), phylogenetic community structure and phylogenetic diversity in paired browsed (control) and unbrowsed (exclosed) plots. Additionally, we developed a deer-browsing susceptibility index (DBSI) to assess the vulnerability of local species to deer. Deer browsing caused a 12 % reduction in H' and 17 % reduction in SR, consistent with previous studies. Furthermore, browsing reduced phylogenetic diversity by 63 %, causing significant phylogenetic clustering. Overall, graminoids were the least vulnerable to deer browsing based on DBSI calculations. These findings demonstrate that deer are a significant driver of plant community assembly due to their role as a selective browser, or more generally, as a biotic filter. This study highlights the importance of knowledge about the plant tree of life in assessing the effects of biotic filters on plant communities. Application of such knowledge has considerable potential to advance our understanding of plant community assembly. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

Digital Simulation of a Hybrid Active Filter - An Active Filter in Series with a Shunt Passive Filter

OpenAIRE

Sitaram, Mahesh I; Padiyar, KR; Ramanarayanan, V

1998-01-01

Active filters have long been in use for the filtering of power system load harmonics. In this paper, the digital simulation results of a hybrid active power filter system for a rectifier load are presented. The active filter is used for filtering higher order harmonics as the dominant harmonics are filtered by the passive filter. This reduces the rating of the active filter significantly. The DC capacitor voltage of the active filter is controlled using a PI controller.

Extraction of sediment-associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with granular activated carbon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rakowska, M.I.; Kupryianchyk, D.; Grotenhuis, J.T.C.; Rijnaarts, H.H.M.; Koelmans, A.A.

2013-01-01

Addition of activated carbon (AC) to sediments has been proposed as a method to reduce ecotoxicological risks of sediment-bound contaminants. The present study explores the effectiveness of granular AC (GAC) in extracting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) from highly contaminated sediments. Four

Bioassay of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Kirk, E.A.

1980-08-01

A positive relationship was found between the photodynamic activity of 24 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons versus published results on the mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and initiation of unscheduled DNA synthesis. Metabolic activation of benzo(a)pyrene resulted in detection of increased mutagenesis in Paramecium tetraurelia as found also in the Ames Salmonella assay. The utility of P. tetraurelia as a biological detector of hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is discussed.

A Fault Detection Filtering for Networked Control Systems Based on Balanced Reduced-Order

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Da-Meng Dai

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the probability of the packet dropout in the networked control systems, a balanced reduced-order fault detection filter is proposed. In this paper, we first analyze the packet dropout effects in the networked control systems. Then, in order to obtain a robust fault detector for the packet dropout, we use the balanced structure to construct a reduced-order model for residual dynamics. Simulation results are provided to testify the proposed method.

A method for reducing energy dependence of thermoluminescence dosimeter response by means of filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bapat, V.N.

1980-01-01

This work describes the application of the method of partial surface shielding for reducing the energy dependence of the X-ray and γ-ray response of a dosimeter containing a CaSO 4 :Dy thermoluminescent phosphor mixed with KCl. in pellet form. Results are given of approximate computation of filter combinations that accomplish this aim, and of experimental verifications. Incorporation of the described filter combination makes it possible to use this relatively sensitive dosimeter for environmental radiation monitoring. A similar approach could be applied to any type of dosimeter in the form of a thin pellet or wafer. (author)

Stability investigations of the ASDEX feedback system with filters for reducing thyristor noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crisanti, F.; Schneider, F.

1983-06-01

A computer program for analysing the absolute and relative stabilities of any complex system by the root-locus method was developed. It is used to reanalyse the present horizontal position feed-back control in the ASDEX tokamak and to select the optimum parameters for this system with RCL filters for reducing thyristor noise. (orig.)

Determination of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Determination of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in air samples in Irbid, north Jordan. A Al-Gawadreh Sat, M.B. Gasim, A.R. Hassan, A Azid. Abstract. Air samples were collected at an urban site and a rural (BERQESH) site during February (2017) until March (2017) to determine concentrations of polycyclic ...

Alternative strategies to reduce cost and waste volume in HEPA filtration using metallic filter media - 59348

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chadwick, Chris

2012-01-01

Document available in abstract form only. Full text of publication follows: The disposal costs of contaminated HEPA and THE filter elements have been proved to be disproportionately high compared with the cost of the elements themselves. Work published elsewhere (Moore, et el 1992; Bergman et al 1997) suggests that the cost of use of traditional, panel type, glass fibre HEPA filtration trains to the DOE was, during that period, $29.5 million, based on a five year life cycle, and including installation, testing, removal and disposal life cycle costs being based on estimates dating from 1987-1990. Within that cost estimate, $300 was the value given to the filter and $4, 450 was given to the peripheral activity. Clearly, if the $4, 450 component could be reduced, tremendous saving could ensue, in addition to the reduction of the legacy burden of waste volume. This issue exists for operators in both the US and in Europe. If HEPA filters could be cleaned to a condition where they could either be re-used or decontaminated to the extent that they could be stored as a lower cost wasteform or if HEPA/THE filter elements were available without any organic content likely to give rise to flammable or explosive decomposition gases during long term storage this would also reduce the costs and monitoring necessary in storage. (author)

Organic/inorganic hybrid filters based on dendritic and cyclodextrin "nanosponges" for the removal of organic pollutants from water.

Science.gov (United States)

Arkas, Michael; Allabashi, Roza; Tsiourvas, Dimitris; Mattausch, Eva-Maria; Perfler, Reinhard

2006-04-15

Long-alkyl chain functionalized poly(propylene imine) dendrimer, poly(ethylene imine) hyperbranched polymer, and beta-cyclodextrin derivatives, which are completely insoluble in water, have the property of encapsulating organic pollutants from water. Ceramic porous filters can be impregnated with these compounds resulting in hybrid organic/ inorganic filter modules. These hybrid filter modules were tested for the effective purification of water, by continuous filtration experiments, employing a variety of water pollutants. It has been established that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be removed very efficiently (more than 95%), and final concentrations of several ppb (microg/ L) are easily obtained. Representatives of the pollutant group of trihalogen methanes (THMs), monoaromatic hydrocarbons (BTX), and pesticides (simazine) can also be removed (>80%), although the filters are saturated considerably faster in these cases.

Numerical study of canister filters with alternatives filter cap configurations

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammed, A. N.; Daud, A. R.; Abdullah, K.; Seri, S. M.; Razali, M. A.; Hushim, M. F.; Khalid, A.

2017-09-01

Air filtration system and filter play an important role in getting a good quality air into turbo machinery such as gas turbine. The filtration system and filter has improved the quality of air and protect the gas turbine part from contaminants which could bring damage. During separation of contaminants from the air, pressure drop cannot be avoided but it can be minimized thus helps to reduce the intake losses of the engine [1]. This study is focused on the configuration of the filter in order to obtain the minimal pressure drop along the filter. The configuration used is the basic filter geometry provided by Salutary Avenue Manufacturing Sdn Bhd. and two modified canister filter cap which is designed based on the basic filter model. The geometries of the filter are generated by using SOLIDWORKS software and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software is used to analyse and simulates the flow through the filter. In this study, the parameters of the inlet velocity are 0.032 m/s, 0.063 m/s, 0.094 m/s and 0.126 m/s. The total pressure drop produce by basic, modified filter 1 and 2 is 292.3 Pa, 251.11 Pa and 274.7 Pa. The pressure drop reduction for the modified filter 1 is 41.19 Pa and 14.1% lower compared to basic filter and the pressure drop reduction for modified filter 2 is 17.6 Pa and 6.02% lower compared to the basic filter. The pressure drops for the basic filter are slightly different with the Salutary Avenue filter due to limited data and experiment details. CFD software are very reliable in running a simulation rather than produces the prototypes and conduct the experiment thus reducing overall time and cost in this study.

Critical point measurement of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikitin, Eugene D.; Popov, Alexander P.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Critical properties of five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were measured. • These hydrocarbons decompose at near-critical temperatures. • Pulse-heating method with short residence times was used. - Abstract: The critical temperatures and the critical pressures of five polycyclic aromatic compounds, namely, acenaphthene, fluorene, anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene have been measured. All the compounds studied decompose at near-critical temperatures. A pulse-heating technique applicable to measuring the critical properties of thermally unstable compounds has been used. The times from the beginning of a heating pulse to the moment of reaching the critical temperature were from (0.06 to 0.85) ms. The short residence times provide little degradation of the substances in the course of the experiments. The experimental critical parameters of the polycyclic aromatic compounds have been compared with those estimated by five predictive methods. The acentric factors of polycyclic aromatic compounds studied have been calculated

Passive Power Filters

CERN Document Server

Künzi, R.

2015-06-15

Power converters require passive low-pass filters which are capable of reducing voltage ripples effectively. In contrast to signal filters, the components of power filters must carry large currents or withstand large voltages, respectively. In this paper, three different suitable filter struc tures for d.c./d.c. power converters with inductive load are introduced. The formulas needed to calculate the filter components are derived step by step and practical examples are given. The behaviour of the three discussed filters is compared by means of the examples. P ractical aspects for the realization of power filters are also discussed.

Birds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Science.gov (United States)

Albers, P.H.

2006-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are present throughout the global environment and are produced naturally and by activities of humans. Effects of PAH on birds have been determined by studies employing egg injection, egg immersion, egg shell application, single and multiple oral doses, subcutaneous injection, and chemical analysis of field-collected eggs and tissue. The four-to six-ring aromatic compounds are the most toxic to embryos, young birds, and adult birds. For embryos, effects include death, developmental abnormalities, and a variety of cellular and biochemical responses. For adult and young birds, effects include reduced egg production and hatching, increased clutch or brood abandonment, reduced growth, increased organweights, and a variety of biochemical responses. Trophic level accumulation is unlikely. Environmental exposure to PAH in areas of high human population or habitats affected by recent petroleum spills might be sufficient to adversely affect reproduction. Evidence of long-term effects of elevated concentrations of environmental PAH on bird populations is very limited and the mechanisms of effect are unclear.

Noise reduction with complex bilateral filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumoto, Mitsuharu

2017-12-01

This study introduces a noise reduction technique that uses a complex bilateral filter. A bilateral filter is a nonlinear filter originally developed for images that can reduce noise while preserving edge information. It is an attractive filter and has been used in many applications in image processing. When it is applied to an acoustical signal, small-amplitude noise is reduced while the speech signal is preserved. However, a bilateral filter cannot handle noise with relatively large amplitudes owing to its innate characteristics. In this study, the noisy signal is transformed into the time-frequency domain and the filter is improved to handle complex spectra. The high-amplitude noise is reduced in the time-frequency domain via the proposed filter. The features and the potential of the proposed filter are also confirmed through experiments.

Quantification of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in cigarette smoke condensate using stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography with atmospheric-pressure photoionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaotao; Hou, Hongwei; Chen, Huan; Liu, Yong; Wang, An; Hu, Qingyuan

2015-09-17

A stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method for the analysis of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in cigarette smoke condensate was developed and validated. Compared with previously reported methods, this method has lower limits of detection (0.04-1.35 ng/cig). Additionally, the proposed method saves time, reduces the number of separation steps, and reduces the quantity of solvent needed. The new method was applied to evaluate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content in 213 commercially available cigarettes in China, under the International Standardization Organization smoking regime and the Health Canadian intense smoking regime. The results showed that the total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content was more than two times higher in samples from the Health Canadian intense smoking regime than in samples from the International Standardization Organization smoking regime (1189.23 vs. 2859.50 ng/cig, ppolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) increased with labeled tar content in both of the tested smoking regimes. There was a positive correlation between total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons under the International Standardization Organization smoking regime with that under the Health Canadian intense smoking regime. The proposed liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method is satisfactory for the rapid, sensitive, and accurately quantitative evaluation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content in cigarette smoke condensate, and it can be applied to assess potential health risks from smoking. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Solvent effects on extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient aerosol samples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flasch Mira

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs in the ambient particulate matter pose one of the most important issues in the focus of environmental management. The concentration of their representative, Benzo(apyrene (BaP, undergoes limitations according to European Union directive. However, a successful control over the pollution levels and their sources is limited by the high uncertainty of analytical and statistical approaches used for their characterization. Here we compare differences in PAH concentrations related to the use of different solvents in the course of ultrasonic extraction of a certified reference material (PM10-like PAH mixture and filter samples of ambient particulate matter collected in Austria for the CG-MS PAH analysis. Using solvents of increasing polarity: Cyclohexane (0,006, Toluene (0,099, Dichloromethane (0,309, Acetone (0,43 and Acetonitrile (0,460, as well as mixtures of those, filters representing high and low concentrations of particulate matter were investigated. Although some scatter of the obtained concentrations was observed no trend related to the polarity of the solvent became visible. Regarding the reproducibility, which can be expected of PAH analysis no significant difference between the different solvents was determined. This result is valid for all compounds under investigation.

On a complete topological inverse polycyclic monoid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. O. Bardyla

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We give sufficient conditions when a topological inverse $\\lambda$-polycyclic monoid $P_{\\lambda}$ is absolutely $H$-closed in the class of topological inverse semigroups. For every infinite cardinal $\\lambda$ we construct the coarsest semigroup inverse topology $\\tau_{mi}$ on $P_\\lambda$ and give an example of a topological inverse monoid $S$ which contains the polycyclic monoid $P_2$ as a dense discrete subsemigroup.

Slow sand filters effectively reduce Phytophthora after a pathogen switch from Fusarium and a simulated pump failure.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eric; Oki, Lorence R

2013-09-15

Slow sand filtration has been shown to effectively reduce Phytophthora zoospores in irrigation water. This experiment tested the reduction of Phytophthora colony forming units (CFUs) by slow sand filtration systems after switching the pathogen contaminating plant leachate from Fusarium to Phytophthora and the resilience of the system to a short period without water, as might be caused by a pump failure. The slow sand filtration system greatly reduced Phytophthora CFUs and transmission after switching the pathogens. In addition, Phytophthora reduction by the slow sand filter was equally effective before and after the simulated pump failure. Reduction of Fusarium was not seen by the SSFs, before or after the simulated pump failure. The results suggest that slow sand filters are effective at reducing larger organisms, such as Phytophthora zoospores, even after a pump failure or a change in pathogens. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reducing false-positive incidental findings with ensemble genotyping and logistic regression based variant filtering methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Kyu-Baek; Lee, In-Hee; Park, Jin-Ho; Hambuch, Tina; Choe, Yongjoon; Kim, MinHyeok; Lee, Kyungjoon; Song, Taemin; Neu, Matthew B; Gupta, Neha; Kohane, Isaac S; Green, Robert C; Kong, Sek Won

2014-08-01

As whole genome sequencing (WGS) uncovers variants associated with rare and common diseases, an immediate challenge is to minimize false-positive findings due to sequencing and variant calling errors. False positives can be reduced by combining results from orthogonal sequencing methods, but costly. Here, we present variant filtering approaches using logistic regression (LR) and ensemble genotyping to minimize false positives without sacrificing sensitivity. We evaluated the methods using paired WGS datasets of an extended family prepared using two sequencing platforms and a validated set of variants in NA12878. Using LR or ensemble genotyping based filtering, false-negative rates were significantly reduced by 1.1- to 17.8-fold at the same levels of false discovery rates (5.4% for heterozygous and 4.5% for homozygous single nucleotide variants (SNVs); 30.0% for heterozygous and 18.7% for homozygous insertions; 25.2% for heterozygous and 16.6% for homozygous deletions) compared to the filtering based on genotype quality scores. Moreover, ensemble genotyping excluded > 98% (105,080 of 107,167) of false positives while retaining > 95% (897 of 937) of true positives in de novo mutation (DNM) discovery in NA12878, and performed better than a consensus method using two sequencing platforms. Our proposed methods were effective in prioritizing phenotype-associated variants, and an ensemble genotyping would be essential to minimize false-positive DNM candidates. © 2014 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Reduced Kalman Filters for Clock Ensembles

Science.gov (United States)

Greenhall, Charles A.

2011-01-01

This paper summarizes the author's work ontimescales based on Kalman filters that act upon the clock comparisons. The natural Kalman timescale algorithm tends to optimize long-term timescale stability at the expense of short-term stability. By subjecting each post-measurement error covariance matrix to a non-transparent reduction operation, one obtains corrected clocks with improved short-term stability and little sacrifice of long-term stability.

Concentric Split Flow Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Stapleton, Thomas J. (Inventor)

2015-01-01

A concentric split flow filter may be configured to remove odor and/or bacteria from pumped air used to collect urine and fecal waste products. For instance, filter may be designed to effectively fill the volume that was previously considered wasted surrounding the transport tube of a waste management system. The concentric split flow filter may be configured to split the air flow, with substantially half of the air flow to be treated traveling through a first bed of filter media and substantially the other half of the air flow to be treated traveling through the second bed of filter media. This split flow design reduces the air velocity by 50%. In this way, the pressure drop of filter may be reduced by as much as a factor of 4 as compare to the conventional design.

Comparison among Wavelet filters and others in the frequency domain for reducing Poisson noise in head CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez Diaz, M.; Ruiz Gonzalez, Y.; Lorenzo Ginori, J. V.

2015-01-01

This paper describes a comparison among some wavelet filters and other most traditional filters in the frequency domain like Median, Wiener and Butter worth to reduce Poisson noise in Computed Tomography (CT) scans. Five slices of CT containing the posterior fossa from an anthropomorphic phantom and from patients were selected. As their original projections contain noise from the acquisition process, some simulated noise-free lesions were added on the images. After that, the whole images were artificially contaminated with Poisson noise over the sinogram-space. The configurations using wavelets drawn from four wavelet families, using various decomposition levels, and different thresholds, were tested in order to determine de-noising performance as well as the rest of the traditional filters. The quality of the resulting images was evaluated by using Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR), HVS absolute norm (H1), and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) as quantitative metrics. We have observed that Wavelet filtering is an alternative to be considered for Poisson noise reduction in image processing of posterior fossa images for head CT with similar behavior to Butter worth and better than Median or Wiener filters for the developed experiment. (Author)

A Review of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heavy Metal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A Review of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heavy Metal Contamination of Fish from Fish Farms. ... Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management ... Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals contribute to pollutants in aquaculture facilities and thus need to be further investigated.

The use of wavelet filters for reducing noise in posterior fossa Computed Tomography images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pita-Machado, Reinado; Perez-Diaz, Marlen; Lorenzo-Ginori, Juan V.; Bravo-Pino, Rolando

2014-01-01

Wavelet transform based de-noising like wavelet shrinkage, gives the good results in CT. This procedure affects very little the spatial resolution. Some applications are reconstruction methods, while others are a posteriori de-noising methods. De-noising after reconstruction is very difficult because the noise is non-stationary and has unknown distribution. Therefore, methods which work on the sinogram-space don’t have this problem, because they always work over a known noise distribution at this point. On the other hand, the posterior fossa in a head CT is a very complex region for physicians, because it is commonly affected by artifacts and noise which are not eliminated during the reconstruction procedure. This can leads to some false positive evaluations. The purpose of our present work is to compare different wavelet shrinkage de-noising filters to reduce noise, particularly in images of the posterior fossa within CT scans in the sinogram-space. This work describes an experimental search for the best wavelets, to reduce Poisson noise in Computed Tomography (CT) scans. Results showed that de-noising with wavelet filters improved the quality of posterior fossa region in terms of an increased CNR, without noticeable structural distortions

A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce Childhood Diarrhea Using Hollow Fiber Water Filter and/or Hygiene–Sanitation Educational Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Lindquist, Erik D.; George, C. M.; Perin, Jamie; Neiswender de Calani, Karen J.; Norman, W. Ray; Davis, Thomas P.; Perry, Henry

2014-01-01

Safe domestic potable water supplies are urgently needed to reduce childhood diarrheal disease. In periurban neighborhoods in Cochabamba, Bolivia, we conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of a household-level hollow fiber filter and/or behavior change communication (BCC) on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to reduce the diarrheal disease in children less than 5 years of age. In total, 952 households were followed for a period of 12 weeks post-distribution of the study interventions. Households using Sawyer PointONE filters had significantly less diarrheal disease compared with the control arm during the intervention period, which was shown by diarrheal prevalence ratios of 0.21 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.15–0.30) for the filter arm and 0.27 (95% CI = 0.22–0.34) for the filter and WASH BCC arm. A non-significant reduction in diarrhea prevalence was reported in the WASH BCC study arm households (0.71, 95% CI = 0.59–0.86). PMID:24865680

Simulasi Filter Pasif Dan Perbandingan Unjuk Kerjanya Dengan Filter Aktif Dan Filter Aktif Hibrid Dalam Meredam Harmonisa Pada Induction Furnace

OpenAIRE

Tanoto, Yusak; Limantara, Limboto; Khandy Lestanto, Khristian

2005-01-01

This paper describe about simulation of Passive Filter in analysis to reduce harmonics that happened in a load such as vacuum casting induction furnace 9 kW, 13.8 kVA, 200V, 3 Ph, 50/60 Hz, also gives comparison with Hybrid Active Filter and Active Filter which made satisfaction result on the previous research. The best result achieved on the use of Hybrid Active Filter on %ITHD for 4.27 % and %VTHD for 3.83%, while Active Filter gave on %ITHD for 5.14 % and %VTHD for 3.82%. There ...

Reduced Graphene Oxide-Hybridized Polymeric High-Internal Phase Emulsions for Highly Efficient Removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Water Matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yipeng; Zhang, Wenjuan; Ruan, Guihua; Li, Xianxian; Cong, Yongzheng; Du, Fuyou; Li, Jianping

2018-03-27

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO)-hybridized polymeric high-internal phase emulsions (RGO/polyHIPEs) with an open-cell structure and hydrophobicity have been successfully prepared using 2-ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the monomer and the cross-linker, respectively. The adsorption mechanism and performance of this RGO/polyHIPEs to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated. Adsorption isotherms of PAHs on RGO/polyHIPEs show that the saturated adsorption capacity is 47.5 mg/g and the equilibrium time is 8 h. Cycling tests show that the adsorption capacity of RGO/polyHIPEs remains stable in 10 adsorption-desorption cycles without observable structure change in RGO/polyHIPEs. Moreover, the PAH residues in water samples after being purified by RGO/polyHIPEs are lower than the limit values in drinking water set by the European Food Safety Authority. These results demonstrate that the RGO/polyHIPEs have great potentiality in PAH removal and water purification.

In-duct countermeasures for reducing fire-generated-smoke-aerosol exposure to HEPA filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvares, N.J.; Beason, D.G.; Ford, H.W.

1978-01-01

An experimental program was conducted to assess the endurance and lifetime of HEPA filters exposed to fire-generated aerosols, and to reduce the aerosol exposure by installing engineering countermeasures in the duct between the fire source and HEPA filters. Large cribs of wood and other potential fuels of interest were ''forcefully burned'' in a partially ventilated enclosure. In a ''forceful burn'' the crib of fuel is continuously exposed to an energetic premixed methane flame during the entire experimental period. This tactic serves two purposes: it optimizes the production of smoke rich in unburned pyrolyzates which provides severe exposure to the filters, and it facilitates the ignition and enhances the combustion of cribs formed with synthetic polymers. The experiments were conducted in an enclosure specifically designed and instrumented for fire tests. The test cell has a volume of 100 m 3 and includes instrumentation to measure the internal temperature distribution, pressure, thermal radiation field, flow fields, gas concentration, particulate size distribution and mass, fuel weight loss, inlet and exit air velocities, and smoke optical density. The countermeasure techniques include the use of passively operated sprinkler systems in the fire test cell, of fine and dense water scrubbing sprays, and of rolling prefiltration systems in the exit duct of the fire test cell. Of the countermeasures surveyed, the rolling prefilter system showed the most promise. This paper concentrates on the effect of control variables; i.e., enclosure air supply, fuel composition and crib porosity on the combustion response; i.e., crib burning rate, enclosure temperature rise, oxygen consumption, and CO, CO 2 and total hydrocarbon production. A discussion of the attempts to rationalize smoke aerosol properties will be included along with results from the effect of countermeasure application on HEPA filter lifetimes

Microplastics Reduce Short-Term Effects of Environmental Contaminants. Part II: Polyethylene Particles Decrease the Effect of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on Microorganisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinteich, Julia; Seidensticker, Sven; Marggrander, Nikolaj; Zarfl, Christiane

2018-02-07

Microplastic particles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are currently discussed as an emerging persistent organic pollutant and as acting as a vector for hydrophobic chemicals. Microplastic particles may ultimately deposit and accumulate in soil as well as marine and freshwater sediments where they can be harmful to organisms. In this study, we tested the sensitivity of natural freshwater sediment bacterial communities (by genetic fingerprint) to exposure to microplastics (polyethylene, 2 and 20 mg/g sediment) and microplastics loaded with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, phenanthrene and anthracene), using a laboratory-based approach. After two weeks of incubation, the bacterial community composition from an unpolluted river section was altered by high concentrations of microplastics, whereas the community downstream of a wastewater treatment plant remained unchanged. Low microplastic concentrations loaded with phenanthrene or anthracene induced a less pronounced response in the sediment communities compared to the same total amount of phenanthrene or anthracene alone. In addition, biodegradation of the PAHs was reduced. This study shows, that microplastic can affect bacterial community composition in unpolluted freshwater sediments. Moreover, the results indicate that microplastics can serve as a vehicle for hydrophobic pollutants but bioavailability of the latter is reduced by the sorption to microplastics.

Power Quality Improvement in a Cascaded Multilevel Inverter Interfaced Grid Connected System Using a Modified Inductive–Capacitive–Inductive Filter with Reduced Power Loss and Improved Harmonic Attenuation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meenakshi Jayaraman

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Recently, multilevel inverters are more researched due to the advantages they offer over conventional voltage source inverters in grid connected applications. Passive filters are connected at the output of these inverters to produce sinusoidal waveforms with reduced harmonics and to satisfy grid interconnection standard requirements. This work proposes a new passive filter topology for a pulse width modulated five-level cascaded inverter interfaced grid connected system. The proposed passive filter inserts an additional resistance-capacitance branch in parallel to the filter capacitor of the traditional inductive–capacitive–inductive filter in addition to a resistance in series with it to reduce damping power loss. It can attenuate the switching frequency harmonic current components much better than the traditional filter while maintaining the same overall inductance, reduced capacitance and resistance values. The basic parameter design procedure and an approach to discover the parameters of the proposed filter is introduced. Further, a novel methodology using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO is recommended to guarantee minimum damping loss while ensuring reduced peak during resonance. In addition, PSO algorithm is newly employed in this work to maximize harmonic attenuation in and around the switching frequency on the premise of allowable values of filter inductance and capacitance. A comparative discussion considering traditional passive filters and the proposed filter is presented and evaluated through experiments conducted on a 110 V, 1 kW five-level grid connected inverter. The modulation algorithm for the multilevel inverter is implemented using a SPARTAN 6-XC6SLX25 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA processor. The analysis shows that the proposed filter not only provides decreased damping power loss but also is capable of providing considerable harmonic ripple reduction in the high frequency band, improved output waveforms and lesser

Combined effects of prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and material hardship on child IQ.

Science.gov (United States)

Vishnevetsky, Julia; Tang, Deliang; Chang, Hsin-Wen; Roen, Emily L; Wang, Ya; Rauh, Virginia; Wang, Shuang; Miller, Rachel L; Herbstman, Julie; Perera, Frederica P

2015-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are common carcinogenic and neurotoxic urban air pollutants. Toxic exposures, including air pollution, are disproportionately high in communities of color and frequently co-occur with chronic economic deprivation. We examined whether the association between child IQ and prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons differed between groups of children whose mothers reported high vs. low material hardship during their pregnancy and through child age 5. We tested statistical interactions between hardships and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as measured by DNA adducts in cord blood, to determine whether material hardship exacerbated the association between adducts and IQ scores. Prospective cohort. Participants were recruited from 1998 to 2006 and followed from gestation through age 7 years. Urban community (New York City) A community-based sample of 276 minority urban youth EXPOSURE MEASURE: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts in cord blood as an individual biomarker of prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure. Maternal material hardship self-reported prenatally and at multiple timepoints through early childhood. Child IQ at 7 years assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Significant inverse effects of high cord PAH-DNA adducts on full scale IQ, perceptual reasoning and working memory scores were observed in the groups whose mothers reported a high level of material hardship during pregnancy or recurring high hardship into the child's early years, and not in those without reported high hardship. Significant interactions were observed between high cord adducts and prenatal hardship on working memory scores (β = -8.07, 95% CI (-14.48, -1.66)) and between high cord adducts and recurrent material hardship (β = -9.82, 95% CI (-16.22, -3.42)). The findings add to other evidence that socioeconomic disadvantage can increase the adverse effects of toxic physical "stressors" like air pollutants

A Single-Phase Current Source Solar Inverter with Constant Instantaneous Power, Improved Reliability, and Reduced-Size DC-Link Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Craig R.

This dissertation presents a novel current source converter topology that is primarily intended for single-phase photovoltaic (PV) applications. In comparison with the existing PV inverter technology, the salient features of the proposed topology are: a) the low frequency (double of line frequency) ripple that is common to single-phase inverters is greatly reduced; b) the absence of low frequency ripple enables significantly reduced size pass components to achieve necessary DC-link stiffness and c) improved maximum power point tracking (MPPT) performance is readily achieved due to the tightened current ripple even with reduced-size passive components. The proposed topology does not utilize any electrolytic capacitors. Instead an inductor is used as the DC-link filter and reliable AC film capacitors are utilized for the filter and auxiliary capacitor. The proposed topology has a life expectancy on par with PV panels. The proposed modulation technique can be used for any current source inverter where an unbalanced three-phase operation is desires such as active filters and power controllers. The proposed topology is ready for the next phase of microgrid and power system controllers in that it accepts reactive power commands. This work presents the proposed topology and its working principle supported by with numerical verifications and hardware results. Conclusions and future work are also presented.

Novel miniature high power ring filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Huifen; Mao Junfa; Luo Zhihua

2005-01-01

The power handling capability of high temperature superconducting (HTS) filters is limited due to current concentration at the edges of the superconducting films. This problem can be overcome by using ring resonator, which employs the edge current free and reduces the current concentration. However, this kind of filter has large size. In order to reduce the cost and size and increase the power handling capability, in this paper a HTS photonic bandgap (PBG) structure filter is developed. The proposed pass band filter with PBG structure exhibits center frequency 12.23 GHz, steepness (about 35 dB/GHz), bandwidth (-3 dB bandwidth is 0.045 GHz), and low insertion loss (about -0.5 dB), and can handle input power up to 1 W (this value was limited by the measurement instrument used in the experiment). The size is reduced by 25%, insertion loss reduced by 37.5%, and steeper roll-off of the filter is also obtained compared with that in published literature

Rotation speed measurement for turbine governor: torsion filtering by using Kalman filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houry, M.P.; Bourles, H.

1995-11-01

The rotation speed of a turbogenerator is disturbed by its shaft torsion. Obtaining a filtered measure of this sped a problem of a great practical importance for turbine governor. A good filtering of this speed must meet two requirements: it must cut frequencies of the shaft torsion oscillation and it must not reduce or delay the signal in the pass-band. i.e. at lower frequencies. At Electricite de France, the speed measure is used to set in motion the fast valving system as quickly as possible, after a short circuit close to the unit (to contribute to the stability) or after an islanding (to quickly reach a balance with the house load). It is difficult to satisfy these two requirements by using conventional filtering methods. The standard solution consists in a first order filter: at Electricite de France, its time constant is equal to 80 ms; We have decided to improve this filtering by designing a new filter which cuts the frequencies of the shaft torsion oscillation without reducing the bandwidth of the speed measure. If one uses conventional methods to obtain a band-stop filter (for instance a Butterworth, a Chebyshev or an elliptic band-stop filter),it is easy to obtain the desired magnitude but not a phase near zero in the whole pass-band. Therefore, we have chosen to design the filter by using Kalman's theory. The measurement noise is modeled as a colored one, generated by a very lightly damped system driven by a white noise. The resulting Kalman filter is an effective band-stop filter, whose phase nicely remains near zero in the whole pass-band. (authors). 13 refs., 12 figs

Reducing uncertainties associated with filter-based optical measurements of light absorbing carbon particles with chemical information

Science.gov (United States)

Engström, J. E.; Leck, C.

2011-08-01

The presented filter-based optical method for determination of soot (light absorbing carbon or Black Carbon, BC) can be implemented in the field under primitive conditions and at low cost. This enables researchers with small economical means to perform monitoring at remote locations, especially in the Asia where it is much needed. One concern when applying filter-based optical measurements of BC is that they suffer from systematic errors due to the light scattering of non-absorbing particles co-deposited on the filter, such as inorganic salts and mineral dust. In addition to an optical correction of the non-absorbing material this study provides a protocol for correction of light scattering based on the chemical quantification of the material, which is a novelty. A newly designed photometer was implemented to measure light transmission on particle accumulating filters, which includes an additional sensor recording backscattered light. The choice of polycarbonate membrane filters avoided high chemical blank values and reduced errors associated with length of the light path through the filter. Two protocols for corrections were applied to aerosol samples collected at the Maldives Climate Observatory Hanimaadhoo during episodes with either continentally influenced air from the Indian/Arabian subcontinents (winter season) or pristine air from the Southern Indian Ocean (summer monsoon). The two ways of correction (optical and chemical) lowered the particle light absorption of BC by 63 to 61 %, respectively, for data from the Arabian Sea sourced group, resulting in median BC absorption coefficients of 4.2 and 3.5 Mm-1. Corresponding values for the South Indian Ocean data were 69 and 97 % (0.38 and 0.02 Mm-1). A comparison with other studies in the area indicated an overestimation of their BC levels, by up to two orders of magnitude. This raises the necessity for chemical correction protocols on optical filter-based determinations of BC, before even the sign on the

Reducing uncertainties associated with filter-based optical measurements of light absorbing carbon particles with chemical information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. E. Engström

2011-08-01

Full Text Available The presented filter-based optical method for determination of soot (light absorbing carbon or Black Carbon, BC can be implemented in the field under primitive conditions and at low cost. This enables researchers with small economical means to perform monitoring at remote locations, especially in the Asia where it is much needed.

One concern when applying filter-based optical measurements of BC is that they suffer from systematic errors due to the light scattering of non-absorbing particles co-deposited on the filter, such as inorganic salts and mineral dust. In addition to an optical correction of the non-absorbing material this study provides a protocol for correction of light scattering based on the chemical quantification of the material, which is a novelty. A newly designed photometer was implemented to measure light transmission on particle accumulating filters, which includes an additional sensor recording backscattered light. The choice of polycarbonate membrane filters avoided high chemical blank values and reduced errors associated with length of the light path through the filter.

Two protocols for corrections were applied to aerosol samples collected at the Maldives Climate Observatory Hanimaadhoo during episodes with either continentally influenced air from the Indian/Arabian subcontinents (winter season or pristine air from the Southern Indian Ocean (summer monsoon. The two ways of correction (optical and chemical lowered the particle light absorption of BC by 63 to 61 %, respectively, for data from the Arabian Sea sourced group, resulting in median BC absorption coefficients of 4.2 and 3.5 Mm⁻¹. Corresponding values for the South Indian Ocean data were 69 and 97 % (0.38 and 0.02 Mm⁻¹. A comparison with other studies in the area indicated an overestimation of their BC levels, by up to two orders of magnitude. This raises the necessity for chemical correction protocols on optical filter

The use of filters to reduce the potential α-energy due to radon daughters in the cabs of mining vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zettwoog, P.; Duport, P.; Campbell, F.E.; Caplan, H.S.

1982-01-01

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the performance of filters for use in ventilation systems and describes an experiment performed in an inactive stope in an operating uranium mine in France. A series of truck engine air filters were used, designed to remove dust in the tens of microns range with an efficiency of about 5-20. They were chosen because they were designed from the outset to operate under the conditions of shock and vibration likely to be encountered in a mine. It was concluded that the use of the Liebherr filter will reduce the working level in the machine cab by a factor of two. (U.K.)

Higher safety and saving of filter material with multi-way sorption filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohlmeyer, M.; Benzel, M.

1978-01-01

The multi-way filter 'Nuclear Karlsruhe' satisfies the requirements of operational safety, high utilisation of the filter material and low pressure drop. An important factor contributing to increased operational safety is due to the fact that the nearly total utilisation of the filter material eliminates the need for optimisation weighing costs against safety. The reduction in filter material consumption reduces not only the direct procurement costs but also the costs of nuclear plants, is radioactive. This contributes in several respects towards a better protection of the environment. The MWS filter can also be used, and presents the same advantages, in non-nuclear plants. (orig.) [de

Rotation speed measurement for turbine governor: torsion filtering by using Kalman filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houry, M.P.; Bourles, H.

1996-01-01

The rotation speed of a turbogenerator is disturbed by its shaft torsion. Obtaining a filtered measure of this speed is a problem of a great practical importance for turbine governor. A good filtering of this speed must meet two requirements: it must cut frequencies of the shaft torsion oscillation and it must not reduce or delay the signal in the pass-band, i.e. at lower frequencies. At Electricite de France, the speed measure is used to set in motion the fast valving system as quickly as possible, after a short circuit close to the unit or rather an islanding. It is difficult to satisfy these two requirements by using conventional filtering methods. The standard solution consists in a first order filter: at Electricite de France, its time constant is equal to 80 ms. We have decided to improve this filtering by designing a new filter which cuts the frequencies of the shaft torsion oscillation without reducing the bandwidth to the speed measure. If one uses conventional methods to obtain a band stop filter, it is easy to obtain the desired magnitude but not a phase near zero in the whole pass-band. Therefore, we have chosen to design the filter by using Kalman'a theory. The measurement noise is modeled as a colored one, generated by a very lightly damped system driven by a while noise. The resulting Kalman filter is an effective band stop filter, whose phase nicely remains near zero in the whole pass-band. The digital simulations we made and the tests we carried out with the Electricite de France Micro Network laboratory show the advantages of the rotation speed filter we designed using Kalman's theory. With the proposed filter, the speed measure filtering is better in terms of reduction and phase shift. the result is that there are less untimely solicitations of the fast valving system. Consequently, this device improves the power systems stability by minimizing the risks of deep perturbations due to a temporary lack of generation and the risks of under-speed loss

Improving Image Matching by Reducing Surface Reflections Using Polarising Filter Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Conen, N.; Hastedt, H.; Kahmen, O.; Luhmann, T.

2018-05-01

In dense stereo matching applications surface reflections may lead to incorrect measurements and blunders in the resulting point cloud. To overcome the problem of disturbing reflexions polarising filters can be mounted on the camera lens and light source. Reflections in the images can be suppressed by crossing the polarising direction of the filters leading to homogeneous illuminated images and better matching results. However, the filter may influence the camera's orientation parameters as well as the measuring accuracy. To quantify these effects, a calibration and an accuracy analysis is conducted within a spatial test arrangement according to the German guideline VDI/VDE 2634.1 (2002) using a DSLR with and without polarising filter. In a second test, the interior orientation is analysed in more detail. The results do not show significant changes of the measuring accuracy in object space and only very small changes of the interior orientation (Δc ≤ 4 μm) with the polarising filter in use. Since in medical applications many tiny reflections are present and impede robust surface measurements, a prototypic trinocular endoscope is equipped with polarising technique. The interior and relative orientation is determined and analysed. The advantage of the polarising technique for medical image matching is shown in an experiment with a moistened pig kidney. The accuracy and completeness of the resulting point cloud can be improved clearly when using polarising filters. Furthermore, an accuracy analysis using a laser triangulation system is performed and the special reflection properties of metallic surfaces are presented.

IMPROVING IMAGE MATCHING BY REDUCING SURFACE REFLECTIONS USING POLARISING FILTER TECHNIQUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Conen

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In dense stereo matching applications surface reflections may lead to incorrect measurements and blunders in the resulting point cloud. To overcome the problem of disturbing reflexions polarising filters can be mounted on the camera lens and light source. Reflections in the images can be suppressed by crossing the polarising direction of the filters leading to homogeneous illuminated images and better matching results. However, the filter may influence the camera’s orientation parameters as well as the measuring accuracy. To quantify these effects, a calibration and an accuracy analysis is conducted within a spatial test arrangement according to the German guideline VDI/VDE 2634.1 (2002 using a DSLR with and without polarising filter. In a second test, the interior orientation is analysed in more detail. The results do not show significant changes of the measuring accuracy in object space and only very small changes of the interior orientation (Δc ≤ 4 μm with the polarising filter in use. Since in medical applications many tiny reflections are present and impede robust surface measurements, a prototypic trinocular endoscope is equipped with polarising technique. The interior and relative orientation is determined and analysed. The advantage of the polarising technique for medical image matching is shown in an experiment with a moistened pig kidney. The accuracy and completeness of the resulting point cloud can be improved clearly when using polarising filters. Furthermore, an accuracy analysis using a laser triangulation system is performed and the special reflection properties of metallic surfaces are presented.

Direct-immersion solid-phase microextraction coupled to fast gas chromatography mass spectrometry as a purification step for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons determination in olive oil.

Science.gov (United States)

Purcaro, Giorgia; Picardo, Massimo; Barp, Laura; Moret, Sabrina; Conte, Lanfranco S

2013-09-13

The aim of the present work was to optimize a preparation step for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a fatty extract. Solid-phase microextraction is an easy preparation technique, which allows to minimize solvent consumption and reduce sample manipulation. A Carbopack Z/polydimethylsiloxane fiber, particularly suitable for extraction of planar compounds, was employed to extract polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from a hexane solution obtained after a previous extraction with acetonitrile from oil, followed by a liquid-liquid partition between acetonitrile and hexane. The proposed method was a rapid and sensitive solution to reduce the interference of triglycerides saving the column life and avoiding frequent cleaning of the mass spectrometer ion source. Despite the non-quantitative extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from oil using acetonitrile, the signal-to-noise ratio was significantly improved obtaining a limit of detection largely below the performance criteria required by the European Union legislation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the immune system of fish: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reynaud, S.; Deschaux, P.

2006-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are an important class of environmental pollutants that are known to be carcinogenic and immunotoxic. This review summarizes the diverse literature on the effects of these pollutants on innate and acquired immunity in fish and the mechanism of PAH-induced immunotoxicity. Among innate immune parameters, many authors have focused on macrophage activities in fish exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Macrophage respiratory burst appears especially sensitive to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Among acquired immune parameters, lymphocyte proliferation appears highly sensitive to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure. However, the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on both specific and non-specific immunity are contradictory and depend on the mode of exposure, the dose used or the species studied. In contrast to mammals, fewer studies have been done in fish to determine the mechanism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-induced toxicity. This phenomenon seems to implicate different intracellular mechanisms such as metabolism by cytochrome P4501A, binding to the Ah-receptor, or increased intracellular calcium. Advances in basic knowledge of fish immunity should lead to improvements in monitoring fish health and predicting the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on fish populations, which is a fundamental ecotoxicological goal

The effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the immune system of fish: A review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reynaud, S. [Laboratoire d' Ecologie Alpine. UMR CNRS 5553. Universite Joseph Fourier. BP 53. 38041 Grenoble cedex 9 (France) and Laboratory of General and Comparative Immunophysiology, Science Teaching and Research Unit, 123, av. Albert Thomas, 87060 Limoges (France)]. E-mail: stephane.reynaud@ujf-grenoble.fr; Deschaux, P. [Laboratory of General and Comparative Immunophysiology, Science Teaching and Research Unit, 123, av. Albert Thomas, 87060 Limoges (France)

2006-05-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are an important class of environmental pollutants that are known to be carcinogenic and immunotoxic. This review summarizes the diverse literature on the effects of these pollutants on innate and acquired immunity in fish and the mechanism of PAH-induced immunotoxicity. Among innate immune parameters, many authors have focused on macrophage activities in fish exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Macrophage respiratory burst appears especially sensitive to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Among acquired immune parameters, lymphocyte proliferation appears highly sensitive to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure. However, the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on both specific and non-specific immunity are contradictory and depend on the mode of exposure, the dose used or the species studied. In contrast to mammals, fewer studies have been done in fish to determine the mechanism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-induced toxicity. This phenomenon seems to implicate different intracellular mechanisms such as metabolism by cytochrome P4501A, binding to the Ah-receptor, or increased intracellular calcium. Advances in basic knowledge of fish immunity should lead to improvements in monitoring fish health and predicting the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on fish populations, which is a fundamental ecotoxicological goal.

A Series-LC-Filtered Active Trap Filter for High Power Voltage Source Inverter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bai, Haofeng; Wang, Xiongfei; Loh, Poh Chiang

2016-01-01

Passive trap filters are widely used in high power Voltage Source Inverters (VSI) for the switching harmonic attenuation. The usage of the passive trap filters requires clustered and fixed switching harmonic spectrum, which is not the case for low pulse-ratio or Variable Switching Frequency (VSF...... current control of the auxiliary converter, which can be challenging considering that the switching harmonics have very high orders. In this paper, an Active Trap Filter (ATF) based on output impedance shaping is proposed. It is able to bypass the switching harmonics by providing nearly zero output...... impedance. A series-LC-filter is used to reduce the power rating and synthesize the desired output impedance of the ATF. Compared with the existing approaches, the compensated frequency range is greatly enlarged. Also, the current reference is simply set to zero, which reduces the complexity of the control...

Microplastics Reduce Short-Term Effects of Environmental Contaminants. Part II: Polyethylene Particles Decrease the Effect of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on Microorganisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Kleinteich

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Microplastic particles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are currently discussed as an emerging persistent organic pollutant and as acting as a vector for hydrophobic chemicals. Microplastic particles may ultimately deposit and accumulate in soil as well as marine and freshwater sediments where they can be harmful to organisms. In this study, we tested the sensitivity of natural freshwater sediment bacterial communities (by genetic fingerprint to exposure to microplastics (polyethylene, 2 and 20 mg/g sediment and microplastics loaded with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, phenanthrene and anthracene, using a laboratory-based approach. After two weeks of incubation, the bacterial community composition from an unpolluted river section was altered by high concentrations of microplastics, whereas the community downstream of a wastewater treatment plant remained unchanged. Low microplastic concentrations loaded with phenanthrene or anthracene induced a less pronounced response in the sediment communities compared to the same total amount of phenanthrene or anthracene alone. In addition, biodegradation of the PAHs was reduced. This study shows, that microplastic can affect bacterial community composition in unpolluted freshwater sediments. Moreover, the results indicate that microplastics can serve as a vehicle for hydrophobic pollutants but bioavailability of the latter is reduced by the sorption to microplastics.

Prediction of environmental parameters of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with COSMO-RS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schröder, B.; Santos, L.M.N.B.F.; Alves da Rocha, M.A.; Oliveira, M.B.; Marrucho, I.M.; Coutinho, J.A.P.

2010-01-01

The methodology for the prediction of properties of environmental relevance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons based on the conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS/COSMOtherm) is presented and evaluated, with a special focus on the aqueous solubility of polycyclic aromatic

Infrared Spectroscopy of Matrix-Isolated Polycyclic Aromatic Nitrogen Heterocycles (PANHs)

Science.gov (United States)

Mattioda, A. L.; Hudgins, D. M.; Bauschlicher, C. W.; Allamandola, L. J.; Biemesderfer, C. D.; Rosi, M.

2002-01-01

The mid-infrared spectra of the nitrogen-containing heterocyclic polycyclic aromatic compounds 1-azabenz[a]-anthracene; 2-azabenz[a]anthracene; 1-azachrysene; 2-azachrysene; 4-azachrysene; 2-azapyrene, and 7,8 benzoquinoline in their neutral and cation forms were investigated. The spectra of these species isolated in an argon matrix have been measured. Band frequencies and intensities were tabulated and these data compared with spectra computed using density functional theory at the B3LYP level. The overall agreement between experiment and theory is quite good, in keeping with earlier results on homonuclear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The differences between the spectral properties of nitrogen bearing aromatics and non-substituted, neutral polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons will be discussed.

Use of the Kalman filter in signal processing to reduce beam requirements for alpha-particle diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, W.S.

1986-01-01

Several techniques proposed for diagnosing the velocity distribution of fast alpha-particles in a burning plasma require the injection of a beam of fast neutral atoms as probes. The author discusses how improving signal detection techniques is a high leverage factor in reducing the cost of the diagnostic beam. Optimal estimation theory provides a computational algorithm, the Kalman filter, that can optimally estimate the amplitude of a signal with arbitrary (but known) time dependence in the presence of noise. In one example presented, based on a square-wave signal and assumed noise levels, the Kalman filter achieves an enhancement of signal detection efficiency of about a factor of 10 (as compared with the straightforward observation of the signal superimposed on noise) with an observation time of 100 signal periods

Particle Kalman Filtering: A Nonlinear Bayesian Framework for Ensemble Kalman Filters*

KAUST Repository

Hoteit, Ibrahim

2012-02-01

This paper investigates an approximation scheme of the optimal nonlinear Bayesian filter based on the Gaussian mixture representation of the state probability distribution function. The resulting filter is similar to the particle filter, but is different from it in that the standard weight-type correction in the particle filter is complemented by the Kalman-type correction with the associated covariance matrices in the Gaussian mixture. The authors show that this filter is an algorithm in between the Kalman filter and the particle filter, and therefore is referred to as the particle Kalman filter (PKF). In the PKF, the solution of a nonlinear filtering problem is expressed as the weighted average of an “ensemble of Kalman filters” operating in parallel. Running an ensemble of Kalman filters is, however, computationally prohibitive for realistic atmospheric and oceanic data assimilation problems. For this reason, the authors consider the construction of the PKF through an “ensemble” of ensemble Kalman filters (EnKFs) instead, and call the implementation the particle EnKF (PEnKF). It is shown that different types of the EnKFs can be considered as special cases of the PEnKF. Similar to the situation in the particle filter, the authors also introduce a resampling step to the PEnKF in order to reduce the risk of weights collapse and improve the performance of the filter. Numerical experiments with the strongly nonlinear Lorenz-96 model are presented and discussed.

Epoxide-Opening Cascades in the Synthesis of Polycyclic Polyether Natural Products

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

The group of polycyclic polyether natural products is of special interest due to the fascinating structure and biological effects displayed by its members. The latter includes potentially therapeutic antibiotic, antifungal, and anticancer properties, as well as extreme lethality. The polycyclic structural features of this family can, in some cases, be traced to their biosynthetic origin, but in others that are less well understood, only to proposed biosynthetic pathways that feature dramatic, yet speculative, epoxide–opening cascades. In this review we summarize how such epoxide–opening cascade reactions have been used in the synthesis of polycyclic polyethers and related natural products. PMID:19572302

Neutron Beam Filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adib, M.

2011-01-01

The purpose of filters is to transmit neutrons with selected energy, while remove unwanted ones from the incident neutron beam. This reduces the background, and the number of spurious. The types of commonly used now-a-day neutron filters and their properties are discussed in the present work. There are three major types of neutron filters. The first type is filter of selective thermal neutron. It transmits the main reflected neutrons from a crystal monochromate, while reject the higher order contaminations accompanying the main one. Beams coming from the moderator always contain unwanted radiation like fast neutrons and gamma-rays which contribute to experimental background and to the biological hazard potential. Such filter type is called filter of whole thermal neutron spectrum. The third filter type is it transmits neutrons with energies in the resonance energy range (En . 1 KeV). The main idea of such neutron filter technique is the use of large quantities of a certain material which have the deep interference minima in its total neutron cross-section. By transmitting reactor neutrons through bulk layer of such material, one can obtain the quasimonochromatic neutron lines instead of white reactor spectrum.

Novel Control Strategy for VSI and CSI Active Filters and Comparing These Two Types of Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gholam Reza Arab

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Recently to eliminate the harmonics and improve the power factor of the power networks, much attention has been attracted to active filters. The advantages of these filters are lower volume and their better compensating characteristics than the passive filters. In conventional sliding mode controllers, the source current waveform is fluctuated in near to zero values. In this paper, using a new sliding technique, lower Total Harmonic Distortion (THD in source current is obtained and the current waveform is improved. As well as, two novel control strategies for two types of active filters, VSI and CSI is proposed and then these two types of filters are compared to reduce THD value of source current.The proposed controlled strategies are simulated by MATLAB/Simulink. The Simulation results confirm that the proposed strategies reduce the THD of source current more than other strategies, and active filter based on CSI has a better performance than active filter based on VSI with a dead time area (for avoiding short circuit of the source in high powers.

Reducing and filtering point clouds with enhanced vector quantization.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, Stefano; Ferrigno, Giancarlo; Piuri, Vincenzo; Borghese, N Alberto

2007-01-01

Modern scanners are able to deliver huge quantities of three-dimensional (3-D) data points sampled on an object's surface, in a short time. These data have to be filtered and their cardinality reduced to come up with a mesh manageable at interactive rates. We introduce here a novel procedure to accomplish these two tasks, which is based on an optimized version of soft vector quantization (VQ). The resulting technique has been termed enhanced vector quantization (EVQ) since it introduces several improvements with respect to the classical soft VQ approaches. These are based on computationally expensive iterative optimization; local computation is introduced here, by means of an adequate partitioning of the data space called hyperbox (HB), to reduce the computational time so as to be linear in the number of data points N, saving more than 80% of time in real applications. Moreover, the algorithm can be fully parallelized, thus leading to an implementation that is sublinear in N. The voxel side and the other parameters are automatically determined from data distribution on the basis of the Zador's criterion. This makes the algorithm completely automatic. Because the only parameter to be specified is the compression rate, the procedure is suitable even for nontrained users. Results obtained in reconstructing faces of both humans and puppets as well as artifacts from point clouds publicly available on the web are reported and discussed, in comparison with other methods available in the literature. EVQ has been conceived as a general procedure, suited for VQ applications with large data sets whose data space has relatively low dimensionality.

Box-particle intensity filter

OpenAIRE

Schikora, Marek; Gning, Amadou; Mihaylova, Lyudmila; Cremers, Daniel; Koch, Wofgang; Streit, Roy

2012-01-01

This paper develops a novel approach for multi-target tracking, called box-particle intensity filter (box-iFilter). The approach is able to cope with unknown clutter, false alarms and estimates the unknown number of targets. Furthermore, it is capable of dealing with three sources of uncertainty: stochastic, set-theoretic and data association uncertainty. The box-iFilter reduces the number of particles significantly, which improves the runtime considerably. The low particle number enables thi...

6 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.cdr

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Administrator

mutations and birth defects (Zedec, 1980;. White, 1986). ... include the use of creosote-treated wood in. Polycyclic ... concentrations of PAHs ranged from below detection limit of 0.01 µg/kg wet wt to 34.04 ± 0.56 µg/kg wet wt in S. maderensis ...

Apparatus for Removing Remaining Adhesives of Filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Il Sik; Kim, Tae Kuk; Hong, Dae Seok; Ji, Young Yong; Ryu, Woo Seog

2010-01-01

A Large amount of ventilation filter was used at radiation areas not only in nuclear power plants but also in nuclear facilities. These spent ventilation filters are generated as radioactive waste and composed of a steel frame, glass fiber media and aluminum separator. When treated, the spent filter is separated into filter media for air purification and frame. After separation, while the filter media is collected using steel drum for reducing internal exposure, the filter frame is treated further to remove adhesives for recycling the frame as many as possible in order to reduce waste and cost and improve working conditions. Usually, the adhesives are separated from the filter frame manually. As a result, a lot of time and labor is required. So, the objective of this study is to develop a motor-driven apparatus for removing adhesives efficiently

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Critical Review of Environmental Occurrence and Bioremediation.

Science.gov (United States)

Alegbeleye, Oluwadara Oluwaseun; Opeolu, Beatrice Oluwatoyin; Jackson, Vanessa Angela

2017-10-01

The degree of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contamination of environmental matrices has increased over the last several years due to increase in industrial activities. Interest has surrounded the occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for many decades because they pose a serious threat to the health of humans and ecosystems. The importance of the need for sustainable abatement strategies to alleviate contamination therefore cannot be overemphasised, as daily human activities continue to create pollution from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and impact the natural environment. Globally, attempts have been made to design treatment schemes for the remediation and restoration of contaminated sites. Several techniques and technologies have been proposed and tested over time, the majority of which have significant limitations. This has necessitated research into environmentally friendly and cost-effective clean-up techniques. Bioremediation is an appealing option that has been extensively researched and adopted as it has been proven to be relatively cost-effective, environmentally friendly and is publicly accepted. In this review, the physicochemical properties of some priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as the pathways and mechanisms through which they enter the soil, river systems, drinking water, groundwater and food are succinctly examined. Their effects on human health, other living organisms, the aquatic ecosystem, as well as soil microbiota are also elucidated. The persistence and bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are discussed as well, as they are important factors that influence the rate, efficiency and overall success of remediation. Bioremediation (aerobic and anaerobic), use of biosurfactants and bioreactors, as well as the roles of biofilms in the biological treatment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are also explored.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Critical Review of Environmental Occurrence and Bioremediation

Science.gov (United States)

Alegbeleye, Oluwadara Oluwaseun; Opeolu, Beatrice Oluwatoyin; Jackson, Vanessa Angela

2017-10-01

The degree of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contamination of environmental matrices has increased over the last several years due to increase in industrial activities. Interest has surrounded the occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for many decades because they pose a serious threat to the health of humans and ecosystems. The importance of the need for sustainable abatement strategies to alleviate contamination therefore cannot be overemphasised, as daily human activities continue to create pollution from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and impact the natural environment. Globally, attempts have been made to design treatment schemes for the remediation and restoration of contaminated sites. Several techniques and technologies have been proposed and tested over time, the majority of which have significant limitations. This has necessitated research into environmentally friendly and cost-effective clean-up techniques. Bioremediation is an appealing option that has been extensively researched and adopted as it has been proven to be relatively cost-effective, environmentally friendly and is publicly accepted. In this review, the physicochemical properties of some priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as the pathways and mechanisms through which they enter the soil, river systems, drinking water, groundwater and food are succinctly examined. Their effects on human health, other living organisms, the aquatic ecosystem, as well as soil microbiota are also elucidated. The persistence and bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are discussed as well, as they are important factors that influence the rate, efficiency and overall success of remediation. Bioremediation (aerobic and anaerobic), use of biosurfactants and bioreactors, as well as the roles of biofilms in the biological treatment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are also explored.

Particle Kalman Filtering: A Nonlinear Framework for Ensemble Kalman Filters

KAUST Repository

Hoteit, Ibrahim

2010-09-19

Optimal nonlinear filtering consists of sequentially determining the conditional probability distribution functions (pdf) of the system state, given the information of the dynamical and measurement processes and the previous measurements. Once the pdfs are obtained, one can determine different estimates, for instance, the minimum variance estimate, or the maximum a posteriori estimate, of the system state. It can be shown that, many filters, including the Kalman filter (KF) and the particle filter (PF), can be derived based on this sequential Bayesian estimation framework. In this contribution, we present a Gaussian mixture‐based framework, called the particle Kalman filter (PKF), and discuss how the different EnKF methods can be derived as simplified variants of the PKF. We also discuss approaches to reducing the computational burden of the PKF in order to make it suitable for complex geosciences applications. We use the strongly nonlinear Lorenz‐96 model to illustrate the performance of the PKF.

Oxidation kinetics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by permanganate.

Science.gov (United States)

Forsey, Steven P; Thomson, Neil R; Barker, James F

2010-04-01

The reactivity of permanganate towards polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons (PAHs) is well known but little kinetic information is available. This study investigated the oxidation kinetics of a selected group of coal tar creosote compounds and alkylbenzenes in water using permanganate, and the correlation between compound reactivity and physical/chemical properties. The oxidation of naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, 1-methylnaphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, carbazole isopropylbenzene, ethylbenzene and methylbenzene closely followed pseudo first-order reaction kinetics. The oxidation of pyrene was initially very rapid and did not follow pseudo first-order kinetics at early times. Fluoranthene was only partially oxidized and the oxidation of anthracene was too fast to be captured. Biphenyl, dibenzofuran, benzene and tert-butylbenzene were non-reactive under the study conditions. The oxidation rate was shown to increase with increasing number of polycyclic rings because less energy is required to overcome the aromatic character of a polycyclic ring than is required for benzene. Thus the rate of oxidation increased in the series naphthalenepermanganate. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimization and determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in biochar-based fertilizers.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ping; Zhou, Hui; Gan, Jay; Sun, Mingxing; Shang, Guofeng; Liu, Liang; Shen, Guoqing

2015-03-01

The agronomic benefit of biochar has attracted widespread attention to biochar-based fertilizers. However, the inevitable presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in biochar is a matter of concern because of the health and ecological risks of these compounds. The strong adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to biochar complicates their analysis and extraction from biochar-based fertilizers. In this study, we optimized and validated a method for determining the 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in biochar-based fertilizers. Results showed that accelerated solvent extraction exhibited high extraction efficiency. Based on a Box-Behnken design with a triplicate central point, accelerated solvent extraction was used under the following optimal operational conditions: extraction temperature of 78°C, extraction time of 17 min, and two static cycles. The optimized method was validated by assessing the linearity of analysis, limit of detection, limit of quantification, recovery, and application to real samples. The results showed that the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exhibited good linearity, with a correlation coefficient of 0.996. The limits of detection varied between 0.001 (phenanthrene) and 0.021 mg/g (benzo[ghi]perylene), and the limits of quantification varied between 0.004 (phenanthrene) and 0.069 mg/g (benzo[ghi]perylene). The relative recoveries of the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were 70.26-102.99%. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

X-ray fluoroscopy spatio-temporal filtering with object detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aufrichtig, R.; Wilson, D.L.; University Hospitals of Cleveland, OH

1995-01-01

One potential way to reduce patient and staff x-ray fluoroscopy dose is to reduce the quantum exposure to the detector and compensate the additional noise with digital filtering. A new filtering method, spatio-temporal filtering with object detection, is described that reduces noise while minimizing motion and spatial blur. As compared to some conventional motion-detection filtering schemes, this object-detection method incorporates additional a priori knowledge of image content; i.e. much of the motion occurs in isolated long thin objects (catheters, guide wires, etc.). The authors create object-likelihood images and use these to control spatial and recursive temporal filtering such as to reduce blurring the objects of interest. They use automatically computed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to optimize the object-likelihood enhancement method and determine that oriented matched filter kernels with 4 orientations are appropriate. The matched filter kernels are simple projected cylinders. The authors demonstrate the method on several representative x-ray fluoroscopy sequences to which noise is added to simulate very low dose acquisitions. With processing, they find that noise variance is significantly reduced with slightly less noise reduction near moving objects. They estimate an effective exposure reduction greater than 80%

Biochar filters reduced the toxic effects of nickel on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) grown in nutrient film technique hydroponic system.

Science.gov (United States)

Mosa, Ahmed; El-Banna, Mostafa F; Gao, Bin

2016-04-01

This work used the nutrient film technique to evaluate the role of biochar filtration in reducing the toxic effects of nickel (Ni(2+)) on tomato growth. Three hydroponic treatments: T1 (control), T2 (with Ni(2+)), and T3 (with Ni(2+) and biochar) were used in the experiments. Scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform spectroscopy was used to characterize the pre- and post-treatment biochar samples. The results illustrated that precipitation, ion exchange, and complexation with surface functional groups were the potential mechanisms of Ni(2+) removal by biochar. In comparison to the control, the T2 treatment showed severe Ni-stress with alterations in cell wall structure, distortions in cell nucleus, disturbances in mitochondrial system, malformations in stomatal structure, and abnormalities in chloroplast structure. The biochar filters in T3 treatment reduced dysfunctions of cell organelles in root and shoot cells. Total chlorophyll concentration decreased by 41.6% in T2 treatment. This reduction, however, was only 20.8% due to the protective effect of the biochar filters. The presence of Ni(2+) in the systems reduced the tomato fruit yield 58.5% and 31.9% in T2 and T3, respectively. Nickel concentrations reached the toxic limit in roots, shoots, and fruits in T2, which were not observed in T3. Biochar filters in T3 also minimized the dramatic reductions in nutrients concentration in roots, shoots, and fruits, which occurred in T2 treatment due to the severe Ni-stress. Findings from this work suggested that biochar filters can be used on farms as a safeguard for wastewater irrigation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Face Recognition using Gabor Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sajjad MOHSIN

2011-01-01

Full Text Available An Elastic Bunch Graph Map (EBGM algorithm is being proposed in this research paper that successfully implements face recognition using Gabor filters. The proposed system applies 40 different Gabor filters on an image. As aresult of which 40 images with different angles and orientation are received. Next, maximum intensity points in each filtered image are calculated and mark them as Fiducial points. The system reduces these points in accordance to distance between them. The next step is calculating the distances between the reduced points using distance formula. At last, the distances are compared with database. If match occurs, it means that the image is recognized.

Reconfigurable Mixed Mode Universal Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neelofer Afzal

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel mixed mode universal filter configuration capable of working in voltage and transimpedance mode. The proposed single filter configuration can be reconfigured digitally to realize all the five second order filter functions (types at single output port. Other salient features of proposed configuration include independently programmable filter parameters, full cascadability, and low sensitivity figure. However, all these features are provided at the cost of quite large number of active elements. It needs three digitally programmable current feedback amplifiers and three digitally programmable current conveyors. Use of six active elements is justified by introducing three additional reduced hardware mixed mode universal filter configurations and its comparison with reported filters.

Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons between the Particulate and the Gas Phase of Mainstream Cigarette Smoke in Relation to Cigarette Technological Characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalaitzoglou M

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Particulate- and gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs were determined in the mainstream smoke (MSS of 59 manufactured cigarette brands (commercially available brands of unknown tobacco and blend type with variable ‘tar’ yields and physical/technological characteristics. Depending on the existence/absence of filter, the ‘tar’ yield indicated on the packet, and the cigarette length and diameter, the examined cigarette brands were classified into 15 groups: non filter (NF, high (H, medium (M, light (L, super light (SL, ultra light (UL, one-tar yields (O, 100 mm long cigarettes (H-100, L-100, SL-100, UL-100, O-100, and slim cigarettes (SL-SLIM, UL-SLIM, O-SLIM. Cigarettes were smoked in a reference smoking machine equipped with glass fibre filters for collection of PAHs bound to total particulate matter (TPM, and polyurethane foam plugs (PUF for collection of gas-phase PAHs. The relationships of gas- and particulate-phase concentrations of PAHs (ng/cig with the contents of typical MSS components, such as TPM, ‘tar’, nicotine and carbon monoxide were investigated. In addition, the phase partitioning of PAHs in MSS was evaluated in relation to the technological characteristics of cigarettes.

Characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) present in sampled cooked food

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palm Naa-Dedei, L.M.

2010-07-01

The study was conducted to determine the levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the following traditionally prepared food: smoked and grilled Scomba japonicus, grilled meat (khebab) and bread sampled from some Ghanaian markets. By way of preparation of traditional food, some food comes into direct contact with smoke or extremely high temperature which are potential sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon generation. Levels of 20 individual Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons including acenaphthene, acenaphtyelene, anthanthrene, anthracene, benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(e)pyrene, benzo(ghi)perylene, benzo(j)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, chrysene, cyclopenta(cd)pyrene, dibenzo(ah)anthracene, fluoranthene, fluorene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene were determined in 11 smoked and 5 grilled fish, 4 grilled pieces of meat and 3 loaves of baked bread using gas chromatographic techniques with flame ionization detector. Benzo(a)pyrene, which is one of the few PAH for which a legal limit exists in different types of food matrices and other high molecular weight PAHs suspected to be carcinogenic have been detected in high concentrations in most samples. Bread samples gave mean polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations of up to 20.39 μg/kg while khebab samples gave mean polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbon concentrations of up to 67.61 μg/kg. There was positive correlation of 0.987 between levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in khebab samples from locations Osu and Atomic down. There was a positive correlation in the concentrations of the high molecular weight PAHs in all smoked fishes from four locations with values between 0.954 and 0.999 for the correlation between any two groups. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentration determined in smoked fish samples deceased in terms of location according to the order Winneba > Madina > Chorkor > Ada.

A Novel Design of Sparse Prototype Filter for Nearly Perfect Reconstruction Cosine-Modulated Filter Banks

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Wei Xu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Cosine-modulated filter banks play a major role in digital signal processing. Sparse FIR filter banks have lower implementation complexity than full filter banks, while keeping a good performance level. This paper presents a fast design paradigm for sparse nearly perfect-reconstruction (NPR cosine-modulated filter banks. First, an approximation function is introduced to reduce the non-convex quadratically constrained optimization problem to a linearly constrained optimization problem. Then, the desired sparse linear phase FIR prototype filter is derived through the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP performed under the weighted l 2 norm. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is an effective paradigm to design sparse NPR cosine-modulated filter banks.

The spatial extent of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emission in the Herbig star HD 179218

Science.gov (United States)

Taha, A. S.; Labadie, L.; Pantin, E.; Matter, A.; Alvarez, C.; Esquej, P.; Grellmann, R.; Rebolo, R.; Telesco, C.; Wolf, S.

2018-04-01

Aim. We investigate, in the mid-infrared, the spatial properties of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission in the disk of HD 179218, an intermediate-mass Herbig star at 300 pc. Methods: We obtained mid-infrared images in the PAH-1, PAH-2 and Si-6 filters centered at 8.6, 11.3, and 12.5 μm, and N-band low-resolution spectra using CanariCam on the 10-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). We compared the point spread function (PSF) profiles measured in the PAH filters to the profile derived in the Si-6 filter, where the thermal continuum emission dominates. We performed radiative transfer modeling of the spectral energy distribution (SED) and produced synthetic images in the three filters to investigate different spatial scenarios. Results: Our data show that the disk emission is spatially resolved in the PAH-1 and PAH-2 filters, while unresolved in the Si-6 filter. Thanks to very good observing conditions, an average full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.232'', 0.280'' and 0.293'' is measured in the three filters, respectively. Gaussian disk fitting and quadratic subtraction of the science and calibrator PSFs suggests a lower-limit characteristic angular diameter of the emission of 100 mas, or 30 au. The photometric and spectroscopic results are compatible with previous findings. Our radiative transfer (RT) modeling of the continuum suggests that the resolved emission should result from PAH molecules on the disk atmosphere being UV-excited by the central star. Simple geometrical models of the PAH component compared to the underlying continuum point to a PAH emission uniformly extended out to the physical limits of the disk model. Furthermore, our RT best model of the continuum requires a negative exponent of the surface density power-law, in contrast with earlier modeling pointing to a positive exponent. Conclusions: We have spatially resolved - for the first time to our knowledge - the PAHs emission in the disk of HD 179218 and set constraints on its

Toxicity assessment of volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in motorcycle exhaust.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chang-Tang; Chen, Bor-Yann

2008-05-30

This study investigates the toxicity of various pollutant species from motorcycle exhaust via dose-response analysis and margin of safety using Escherichia coli DH5 alpha. The toxicity evaluation of the major components of motorcycle exhaust volatile organic compounds (VOCs), collected with impinger, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), collected with filter and XAD-2, is essential to determine emission standards for motorcycles. The toxicity of benzene (B), toluene (T), ethyl benzene (E) and xylene (X) was selected for comparison as standard VOCs emitted from motorcycles. In addition, three types of reformulated gasoline (high oxygenate and high benzene content (No. 1), low oxygen and high benzene (No. 2), and low oxygen and low benzene (No. 3) were prepared to reveal combined toxicity of individual compositions. Motorcycle exhaust is significantly more toxic than BTEX due to the highly toxic VOCs generated from incomplete combustion. Overall toxicity evaluation showed that the toxicity, indicated as EC50, was approximately as follows: PAHs>two-stroke engines>four-stroke engines>BTEX.

Toxicity assessment of volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in motorcycle exhaust

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, C.-T.; Chen, B.-Y.

2008-01-01

This study investigates the toxicity of various pollutant species from motorcycle exhaust via dose-response analysis and margin of safety using Escherichia coli DH5α. The toxicity evaluation of the major components of motorcycle exhaust volatile organic compounds (VOCs), collected with impinger, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), collected with filter and XAD-2, is essential to determine emission standards for motorcycles. The toxicity of benzene (B), toluene (T), ethyl benzene (E) and xylene (X) was selected for comparison as standard VOCs emitted from motorcycles. In addition, three types of reformulated gasoline (high oxygenate and high benzene content (No. 1), low oxygen and high benzene (No. 2), and low oxygen and low benzene (No. 3) were prepared to reveal combined toxicity of individual compositions. Motorcycle exhaust is significantly more toxic than BTEX due to the highly toxic VOCs generated from incomplete combustion. Overall toxicity evaluation showed that the toxicity, indicated as EC 50 , was approximately as follows: PAHs > two-stroke engines > four-stroke engines > BTEX

Reducing contrast contamination in radial turbo-spin-echo acquisitions by combining a narrow-band KWIC filter with parallel imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Daniel; Breuer, Felix A; Völker, Michael; Brandt, Tobias; Griswold, Mark A; Jakob, Peter M; Blaimer, Martin

2014-12-01

Cartesian turbo spin-echo (TSE) and radial TSE images are usually reconstructed by assembling data containing different contrast information into a single k-space. This approach results in mixed contrast contributions in the images, which may reduce their diagnostic value. The goal of this work is to improve the image contrast from radial TSE acquisitions by reducing the contribution of signals with undesired contrast information. Radial TSE acquisitions allow the reconstruction of multiple images with different T2 contrasts using the k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) filter. In this work, the image contrast is improved by reducing the band-width of the KWIC filter. Data for the reconstruction of a single image are selected from within a small temporal range around the desired echo time. The resulting dataset is undersampled and, therefore, an iterative parallel imaging algorithm is applied to remove aliasing artifacts. Radial TSE images of the human brain reconstructed with the proposed method show an improved contrast when compared with Cartesian TSE images or radial TSE images with conventional KWIC reconstructions. The proposed method provides multi-contrast images from radial TSE data with contrasts similar to multi spin-echo images. Contaminations from unwanted contrast weightings are strongly reduced. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fusing porphyrins with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocycles for optoelectronic applications

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Mark E.; Diev, Viacheslav; Hanson, Kenneth; Forrest, Stephen R.

2015-08-18

A compound that can be used as a donor material in organic photovoltaic devices comprising a non-activated porphyrin fused with one or more non-activated polycyclic aromatic rings or one or more non-activated heterocyclic rings can be obtained by a thermal fusion process. The compounds can include structures of Formula I: ##STR00001## By heating the reaction mixture of non-activated porphyrins with non-activated polycyclic aromatic rings or heterocyclic rings to a fusion temperature and holding for a predetermined time, fusion of one or more polycyclic rings or heterocyclic rings to the non-activated porphyrin core in meso,.beta. fashion is achieved resulting in hybrid structures containing a distorted porphyrin ring with annulated aromatic rings. The porphyrin core can be olygoporphyrins.

Filtering Photogrammetric Point Clouds Using Standard LIDAR Filters Towards DTM Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Z.; Gerke, M.; Vosselman, G.; Yang, M. Y.

2018-05-01

Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) can be generated from point clouds acquired by laser scanning or photogrammetric dense matching. During the last two decades, much effort has been paid to developing robust filtering algorithms for the airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. With the point cloud quality from dense image matching (DIM) getting better and better, the research question that arises is whether those standard Lidar filters can be used to filter photogrammetric point clouds as well. Experiments are implemented to filter two dense matching point clouds with different noise levels. Results show that the standard Lidar filter is robust to random noise. However, artefacts and blunders in the DIM points often appear due to low contrast or poor texture in the images. Filtering will be erroneous in these locations. Filtering the DIM points pre-processed by a ranking filter will bring higher Type II error (i.e. non-ground points actually labelled as ground points) but much lower Type I error (i.e. bare ground points labelled as non-ground points). Finally, the potential DTM accuracy that can be achieved by DIM points is evaluated. Two DIM point clouds derived by Pix4Dmapper and SURE are compared. On grassland dense matching generates points higher than the true terrain surface, which will result in incorrectly elevated DTMs. The application of the ranking filter leads to a reduced bias in the DTM height, but a slightly increased noise level.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in air samples of meat smokehouses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Åse Marie; Olsen, I L; Poulsen, O M

1992-01-01

In a screening programme nine Danish meat smokehouses were randomly selected for measurements on concentration of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). A total of 23 stationary air samples were collected during the entire working period of the kiln either above the kiln doors or approx......In a screening programme nine Danish meat smokehouses were randomly selected for measurements on concentration of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). A total of 23 stationary air samples were collected during the entire working period of the kiln either above the kiln doors...

Distribution and health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in smoke aerosols from burning of selected garden wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hui, Tay Joo; Seng, Tan Hock; Mohd Radzi Abas; Norhayati Mohd Tahir

2008-01-01

A study has been carried out to characterize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from the burning of five types of typical garden wastes viz, Bachang, Mango, Jackfruit, Jambu Air litter fall and a type of Grass. The samples were burned to the ember and respective smoke aerosols emitted during the burning period were sampled using high volume filtration on a pre-cleaned glass fibre filters. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were extracted using dichloromethane-methanol (3:1) as solvent and the extracts fractionated on silica-alumina column. Detection and quantification of PAHs compounds were carried out using GC-MS. Results indicated that burning resulted in the formation of significant amount of PAHs compounds in all samples; total PAHs compounds emitted were in the range of 0.41 to 42.2 μg/ m 3 . The major PAHs compound exhibited in all smoke samples were three to four rings PAHs (example fluoranthene and pyrene) with lesser amount of five to six rings (example benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(g,h,i) perylene) and two rings PAHs (example acenaphthylene). The BaP equivalency results showed that the potential health risk from these garden wastes smoke were very significant; total BaP equivalency values were in the range of 5.60 E+04 pg/ m 3 - 4.98 E+06 pg/ m 3 with Jambu Air smoke exhibited the highest potential health risk. (author)

Contrast effects of a gadolinium filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, A.E.

1981-01-01

Several authors have suggested using heavy metal filters with K edges in the diagnostic energy range to reduce the width of the x-ray spectrum and hence reduce patient radiation exposure. This spectral narrowing also increases subject contrast and permits an increase in tube potential. Results of contrast measurements are presented for a 250 mu gadolinium filter. It was found that aluminum filter contrast could be matched by using 8 to 10 kVp higher potential with the gadolinium filter. Similar results were found for calcium tungstate and rare-earth screens. Measurements were also done to determine skin exposure and mAs ratios for both constant contrast and constant kVp technique conversion methods. A simple theory with one adjustable parameter gives a reasonable fit to the experimental results

Progress towards the use of disposable filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macphail, I.

1979-08-01

Thermally degradable materials have been evaluated for service in HEPA filter units used to filter gases from active plants. The motivation was to reduce the bulk storage problems of contaminated filters by thermal decomposition to gaseous products and a solid residue substantially comprised of the filtered particulates. It is shown that while there are no commercially available alternatives to the glass fibre used in the filter medium, it would be feasible to manufacture the filter case and spacers from materials which could be incinerated. Operating temperatures, costs and the type of residues for disposal are discussed for filter case materials. (U.K.)

Filtered-X Affine Projection Algorithms for Active Noise Control Using Volterra Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sicuranza Giovanni L

2004-01-01

Full Text Available We consider the use of adaptive Volterra filters, implemented in the form of multichannel filter banks, as nonlinear active noise controllers. In particular, we discuss the derivation of filtered-X affine projection algorithms for homogeneous quadratic filters. According to the multichannel approach, it is then easy to pass from these algorithms to those of a generic Volterra filter. It is shown in the paper that the AP technique offers better convergence and tracking capabilities than the classical LMS and NLMS algorithms usually applied in nonlinear active noise controllers, with a limited complexity increase. This paper extends in two ways the content of a previous contribution published in Proc. IEEE-EURASIP Workshop on Nonlinear Signal and Image Processing (NSIP '03, Grado, Italy, June 2003. First of all, a general adaptation algorithm valid for any order of affine projections is presented. Secondly, a more complete set of experiments is reported. In particular, the effects of using multichannel filter banks with a reduced number of channels are investigated and relevant results are shown.

A Game Theoretic Fault Detection Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Walter H.; Speyer, Jason L.

1995-01-01

The fault detection process is modelled as a disturbance attenuation problem. The solution to this problem is found via differential game theory, leading to an H(sub infinity) filter which bounds the transmission of all exogenous signals save the fault to be detected. For a general class of linear systems which includes some time-varying systems, it is shown that this transmission bound can be taken to zero by simultaneously bringing the sensor noise weighting to zero. Thus, in the limit, a complete transmission block can he achieved, making the game filter into a fault detection filter. When we specialize this result to time-invariant system, it is found that the detection filter attained in the limit is identical to the well known Beard-Jones Fault Detection Filter. That is, all fault inputs other than the one to be detected (the "nuisance faults") are restricted to an invariant subspace which is unobservable to a projection on the output. For time-invariant systems, it is also shown that in the limit, the order of the state-space and the game filter can be reduced by factoring out the invariant subspace. The result is a lower dimensional filter which can observe only the fault to be detected. A reduced-order filter can also he generated for time-varying systems, though the computational overhead may be intensive. An example given at the end of the paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the filter as a tool for fault detection and identification.

Emission of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from the Exhalation Zones of Thermally Active Mine Waste Dumps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrycja Kuna-Gwoździewicz

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents results of research carried out on the occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH in gases of exhalation zones, created on the surface of a thermally active coal mine waste dump. The oxidation and self-heating of mine waste are accompanied with the intensive emission of flue gases, including PAH group compounds. Taking into consideration the fact the hydrocarbons show strong genotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic properties, research was conducted to establish their content in the examined gases. The research object was a gangue dump located in Rybnik. The research was performed in 2012. In total, 24 samples of gas were collected with PUF (polyurethane foam sampling cartridges with a quartz fibre filter and an aspirator. The collected samples were analysed with the use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC and a fluorescence detector (FLD to evaluate the amount of PAH present.

Application of a Reduced Order Kalman Filter to Initialize a Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model: Impact on the Prediction of El Nino

Science.gov (United States)

Ballabrera-Poy, Joaquim; Busalacchi, Antonio J.; Murtugudde, Ragu

2000-01-01

A reduced order Kalman Filter, based on a simplification of the Singular Evolutive Extended Kalman (SEEK) filter equations, is used to assimilate observed fields of the surface wind stress, sea surface temperature and sea level into the nonlinear coupled ocean-atmosphere model. The SEEK filter projects the Kalman Filter equations onto a subspace defined by the eigenvalue decomposition of the error forecast matrix, allowing its application to high dimensional systems. The Zebiak and Cane model couples a linear reduced gravity ocean model with a single vertical mode atmospheric model of Zebiak. The compatibility between the simplified physics of the model and each observed variable is studied separately and together. The results show the ability of the model to represent the simultaneous value of the wind stress, SST and sea level, when the fields are limited to the latitude band 10 deg S - 10 deg N. In this first application of the Kalman Filter to a coupled ocean-atmosphere prediction model, the sea level fields are assimilated in terms of the Kelvin and Rossby modes of the thermocline depth anomaly. An estimation of the error of these modes is derived from the projection of an estimation of the sea level error over such modes. This method gives a value of 12 for the error of the Kelvin amplitude, and 6 m of error for the Rossby component of the thermocline depth. The ability of the method to reconstruct the state of the equatorial Pacific and predict its time evolution is demonstrated. The method is shown to be quite robust for predictions I up to six months, and able to predict the onset of the 1997 warm event fifteen months before its occurrence.

Dynamic beam filtering for miscentered patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Andrew; Shyr, William; Gang, Grace J; Stayman, J Webster

2018-02-01

Accurate centering of the patient within the bore of a CT scanner takes time and is often difficult to achieve precisely. Patient miscentering can result in significant dose and image noise penalties with the use of traditional bowtie filters. This work describes a system to dynamically position an x-ray beam filter during image acquisition to enable more consistent image performance and potentially lower dose needed for CT imaging. We propose a new approach in which two orthogonal low-dose scout images are used to estimate a parametric model of the object describing its shape, size, and location within the field of view (FOV). This model is then used to compute an optimal filter motion profile by minimizing the variance of the expected detector fluence for each projection. Dynamic filtration was implemented on a cone-beam CT (CBCT) test bench using two different physical filters: 1) an aluminum bowtie and 2) a structured binary filter called a multiple aperture device (MAD). Dynamic filtration performance was compared to a static filter in studies of dose and reconstruction noise as a function of the degree of miscentering of a homogeneous water phantom. Estimated filter trajectories were found to be largely sinusoidal with an amplitude proportional to the amount of miscentering. Dynamic filtration demonstrated an improved ability to keep the spatial distribution of dose and reconstruction noise at baseline levels across varying levels of miscentering, reducing the maximum noise and dose deviation from 53% to 15% and 42% to 14% respectively for the bowtie filter, and 25% to 8% and 24% to 15% respectively for the MAD filter. Dynamic positioning of beam filters during acquisition improves dose utilization and image quality over static filters for miscentered patients. Such dynamic filters relax positioning requirements and have the potential to reduce set-up time and lower dose requirements.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degradation by laccase ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PRECIOUS

2009-11-02

Nov 2, 2009 ... Full Length Research Paper. Polycyclic aromatic ... production of paper, feeds, chemicals and fuels there is ... microbes with the production of lignin-modifying enzymes ... enable white rot fungi to degrade a variety of toxic.

POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CONTAMINATION LEVELS IN COLLECTED SAMPLES FROM VICINITY OF A HIGHWAY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. V. Samimi ، R. Akbari Rad ، F. Ghanizadeh

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Tehran as the biggest city of Iran with a population of more than 10 millions has potentially high pollutant exposures of gas oil and gasoline combustion from vehicles that are commuting in the highways every day. The vehicle exhausts contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are produced by incomplete combustion and can be directly deposited in the environment. In the present study, the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contamination in the collected samples of a western highway in Tehran was investigated. The studied location was a busy highway in Tehran. High performance liquid chromatography equipped with florescence detector was used for determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations in the studied samples. Total concentration of the ten studied polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons compounds ranged from 11107 to 24342 ng/g dry weight in the dust samples and increased from 164 to 2886 ng/g dry weight in the soil samples taken from 300 m and middle of the highway, respectively. Also the average of Σ PAHs was 1759 ng/L in the water samples of pools in parks near the highway. The obtained results indicated that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contamination levels were very high in the vicinity of the highway.

[On the content of polycyclic aromatics in middle distillates].

Science.gov (United States)

Herlan, A

1982-05-01

The concentrations of polycyclic aromatics determined up to now in Diesel fuel and light fuel oil are between five percent by weight for all and 0.02 percent by weight for nearly a dozen individuals. These results are contrasted and commented. It is not adequate to the problem to consider only a few polycycles in the analysis and to neglect practical completely alkylated derivates. Already for this reason the results with the small concentrations are not regarded to be characteristics for middle distillates. Probably insufficient analytics are also responsible for the determination of the low contents.

Reducing and verifying haloacetic acids in treated drinking water using a biological filter system.

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Jie C; Chan, Hung Y; Yang, Chih Y; Tseng, Wei B; Han, Jia Y

2014-01-01

This study focused on reducing the haloacetic acid (HAA) concentrations in treated drinking water. HAA has been thought to be one possible nutrient supporting heterotrophic bacteria regrowth in drinking water. In this study, experiments were conducted using a pilot-scale system to evaluate the efficiency of biological filters (BF) for reducing excess HAA concentrations in water. The BF system reduced the total HAA concentration and the concentrations of five HAA species in the water. Dichloroacetic acid (DCAA), monobromoacetic acid (MBAA) and dibromoacetic acid (DBAA) were the three main HAA5 species that were present in the treated drinking water in this investigation. Combined, these three species represent approximately 77% of the HAA5 in the finished water after BF. The verification of the empirical HAA equation for the outlet in the BF system indicated linear relationships with high correlation coefficients. The empirical equation for the HAA5 concentrations in the finished water was established by examining other nutrients (e.g., dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm wavelength (UV254), and ammonia nitrogen) that can reduce pathogenic contamination. These findings may be useful for designing advanced processes for conventional water treatment plants or for managing water treatment and distribution systems for providing high-quality drinking water.

The intractable cigarette 'filter problem'.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Bradford

2011-05-01

became the fundamental cigarette filter material. By the mid-1960s, the meaning of the phrase 'filter problem' changed, such that the effort to develop effective filters became a campaign to market cigarette designs that would sustain the myth of cigarette filter efficacy. This study indicates that cigarette designers at Philip Morris, British-American Tobacco, Lorillard and other companies believed for a time that they might be able to reduce some of the most dangerous substances in mainstream smoke through advanced engineering of filter tips. In their attempts to accomplish this, they developed the now ubiquitous cellulose acetate cigarette filter. By the mid-1960s cigarette designers realised that the intractability of the 'filter problem' derived from a simple fact: that which is harmful in mainstream smoke and that which provides the smoker with 'satisfaction' are essentially one and the same. Only in the wake of this realisation did the agenda of cigarette designers appear to transition away from mitigating the health hazards of smoking and towards the perpetuation of the notion that cigarette filters are effective in reducing these hazards. Filters became a marketing tool, designed to keep and recruit smokers as consumers of these hazardous products.

Bacteria Removal from Stormwater Runoff Using Tree Filters: A Comparison of a Conventional and an Innovative System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura A. Schifman

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Non-point source pollution of stormwater contributes high contaminant loads into surface water bodies and poses a threat to the ecosystem, public health and economy. Although (pretreatment standards have not been introduced at the federal level, Rhode Island (RI has set minimal contaminant reduction standards for stormwater using structural best management practices (BMP. As BMP performance depends highly on geographical location and climate, and the Northeastern United States experiences broad ranges of temperatures throughout the year along with long intermittent periods between precipitation events, stormwater treatment can be challenging. In this field study, two tree filters were evaluated: a conventional unit (CTF with sand/shale mix as filter media, and a modified tree filter (ITF with an added layer of red cedar wood chips amended with 3-(trihydroxysilylpropyldimethyloctadecyl ammonium chloride. Both BMPs were monitored for 346 days primarily for Escherichia coli and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH. Both tree filters met or outperformed RI’s standards for bacteria removal (60% and TSS (85%, making them a good choice for BMP use in this climate. Total suspended solids, E. coli, PAHs, nitrate, and phosphate removal is higher in ITF. A controlled field scale tracer test using E. coli confirmed these results.

Replacement of HEPA Filters at the LANL CMR Facility: Risks Reduced by Comprehensive Waste Characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corpion, J.; Barr, A.; Martinez, P.; Bader, M.

2002-01-01

In March 2001, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) completed the replacement of 720 radioactively contaminated HEPA filters for $5.7M. This project was completed five months ahead of schedule and $6.0M under budget with no worker injuries or contaminations. Numerous health and safety, environmental, and waste disposal problems were overcome, including having to perform work in a radioactively contaminated work environment, that was also contaminated with perchlorates (potential explosive). High waste disposal costs were also an issue. A project risk analysis and government cost estimate determined that the cost of performing the work would be $11.8M. To reduce risk, a $1.2M comprehensive condition assessment was performed to determine the degree of toxic and radioactive contamination trapped on the HEPA filters; and to determine whether explosive concentrations of perchlorates were present. Workers from LANL and personnel from Waldheim International of Knoxville, TN collected hundreds of samples wearing personnel protective gear against radioactive, toxic, and explosive hazards. LANL also funded research at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to determine the explosivity of perchlorates. The data acquired from the condition assessment showed that toxic metals, toxic organic compounds, and explosive concentrations of perchlorates were absent. The data also showed that the extent of actinide metal contamination was less than expected, reducing the potential of transuranic waste generation by 50%. Consequently, $4.2M in cost savings and $1.8M in risk reduction were realized by increased worker productivity and waste segregation

Hybrid Filter Membrane

Science.gov (United States)

Laicer, Castro; Rasimick, Brian; Green, Zachary

2012-01-01

Cabin environmental control is an important issue for a successful Moon mission. Due to the unique environment of the Moon, lunar dust control is one of the main problems that significantly diminishes the air quality inside spacecraft cabins. Therefore, this innovation was motivated by NASA s need to minimize the negative health impact that air-suspended lunar dust particles have on astronauts in spacecraft cabins. It is based on fabrication of a hybrid filter comprising nanofiber nonwoven layers coated on porous polymer membranes with uniform cylindrical pores. This design results in a high-efficiency gas particulate filter with low pressure drop and the ability to be easily regenerated to restore filtration performance. A hybrid filter was developed consisting of a porous membrane with uniform, micron-sized, cylindrical pore channels coated with a thin nanofiber layer. Compared to conventional filter media such as a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, this filter is designed to provide high particle efficiency, low pressure drop, and the ability to be regenerated. These membranes have well-defined micron-sized pores and can be used independently as air filters with discreet particle size cut-off, or coated with nanofiber layers for filtration of ultrafine nanoscale particles. The filter consists of a thin design intended to facilitate filter regeneration by localized air pulsing. The two main features of this invention are the concept of combining a micro-engineered straight-pore membrane with nanofibers. The micro-engineered straight pore membrane can be prepared with extremely high precision. Because the resulting membrane pores are straight and not tortuous like those found in conventional filters, the pressure drop across the filter is significantly reduced. The nanofiber layer is applied as a very thin coating to enhance filtration efficiency for fine nanoscale particles. Additionally, the thin nanofiber coating is designed to promote capture of

High temperature filter for incinerator gas purification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Billard, Francois; Brion, Jacques; Cousin, Michel; Delarue, Roger

1969-01-01

This note describes a regenerable filter for the hot filtering of incinerator gases. The filter is made of several wire gauze candles coated with asbestos fibers as filtering medium. Unburnt products, like carbon black, terminate their combustion on the filter, reducing the risk of clogging and enhancing the operation time to several hundreds of hours between two regeneration cycles. The filter was tested on a smaller scale mockup, and then on an industrial pilot plant with a 20 kg/h capacity during a long duration. This note describes the installation and presents the results obtained [fr

Determination of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. ... collected from the most polluted part of Bangsai river at Saver industrial zone was analyzed for the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, anthracene, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A ... EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT

Tunable Microwave Filter Design Using Thin-Film Ferroelectric Varactors

Science.gov (United States)

Haridasan, Vrinda

Military, space, and consumer-based communication markets alike are moving towards multi-functional, multi-mode, and portable transceiver units. Ferroelectric-based tunable filter designs in RF front-ends are a relatively new area of research that provides a potential solution to support wideband and compact transceiver units. This work presents design methodologies developed to optimize a tunable filter design for system-level integration, and to improve the performance of a ferroelectric-based tunable bandpass filter. An investigative approach to find the origins of high insertion loss exhibited by these filters is also undertaken. A system-aware design guideline and figure of merit for ferroelectric-based tunable band- pass filters is developed. The guideline does not constrain the filter bandwidth as long as it falls within the range of the analog bandwidth of a system's analog to digital converter. A figure of merit (FOM) that optimizes filter design for a specific application is presented. It considers the worst-case filter performance parameters and a tuning sensitivity term that captures the relation between frequency tunability and the underlying material tunability. A non-tunable parasitic fringe capacitance associated with ferroelectric-based planar capacitors is confirmed by simulated and measured results. The fringe capacitance is an appreciable proportion of the tunable capacitance at frequencies of X-band and higher. As ferroelectric-based tunable capac- itors form tunable resonators in the filter design, a proportionally higher fringe capacitance reduces the capacitance tunability which in turn reduces the frequency tunability of the filter. Methods to reduce the fringe capacitance can thus increase frequency tunability or indirectly reduce the filter insertion-loss by trading off the increased tunability achieved to lower loss. A new two-pole tunable filter topology with high frequency tunability (> 30%), steep filter skirts, wide stopband

EDF operational experience of primary circuit filter usage. Analysis of results and strategy for optimizing filtration and reducing solid wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mascarenhas, Darren; Moleiro, Edgar; Bancelin, Estelle; Bretelle, Jean-Luc

2014-01-01

Pleated fibreglass media filter cartridges are used throughout the auxiliary systems at nuclear power plants across the 58 reactors of EDF fleet. The main role of these filters is to remove suspended solids from coolant to prevent them accumulating in circuits or in equipments. In the primary circuit, these filters therefore limit the deposition of solids that are active or could become active if allowed to recirculate throughout the primary circuit, avoiding potential consequences such as an increase in dose rates, axial offset anomalies, demineralisers fouling, higher pressure losses in primary loop, and clogging of the primary pumps. Since 2008, a steady increase in the consumption of filters has been noticed, and therefore an increase in the amount of solid waste to treat. Preliminary studies have identified the primary circuit high-flow filters of the 1300/1450 MWe reactors as the main source of this increase. Not only has this stretched of solid waste containers production to the limit, as well as strained site resources and increased risks of operational errors during periods of frequent filter changes; it has also suggested that there is an underlying problem that could pose a serious risk to the primary circuit if untreated. Further studies have been carried out to identify more precisely the impact of possible causes, including increased quality surveillance of the filters, correlation of consumption data with the concentrations of various conditioning products and typical pollutants, and an impact analysis of events such as steam generator replacements or new practices like zinc injection. Work has been done with the filter manufacturer to improve their service lifetime and a simulation tool has been developed in order to understand and optimise filtration. We are also working with sites on creating good practices and avoiding bad ones. These actions should reduce the consumption in the short term while still assuring a high quality of filtration and

Filter aids influence on pressure drop across a filtration system

Science.gov (United States)

Hajar, S.; Rashid, M.; Nurnadia, A.; Ammar, M. R.; Hasfalina, C. M.

2017-06-01

Filter aids is commonly used to reduce pressure drop across air filtration system as it helps to increase the efficiency of filtration of accumulated filter cake. Filtration velocity is one of the main parameters that affect the performance of filter aids material. In this study, a formulated filter aids consisting of PreKot™ and activated carbon mixture (designated as PrekotAC) was tested on PTFE filter media under various filtration velocities of 5, 6, and 8 m/min at a constant material loading of 0.2 mg/mm2. Results showed that pressure drop is highly influenced by filtration velocity where higher filtration velocity leads to a higher pressure drop across the filter cake. It was found that PrekotAC performed better in terms of reducing the pressure drop across the filter cake even at the highest filtration velocity. The diversity in different particle size distribution of non-uniform particle size in the formulated PrekotAC mixture presents a higher permeability causes a lower pressure drop across the accumulated filter cake. The finding suggests that PrekotAC is a promising filter aids material that helps reducing the pressure drop across fabric filtration system.

Multistage parallel-serial time averaging filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Theodosiou, G.E.

1980-01-01

Here, a new time averaging circuit design, the 'parallel filter' is presented, which can reduce the time jitter, introduced in time measurements using counters of large dimensions. This parallel filter could be considered as a single stage unit circuit which can be repeated an arbitrary number of times in series, thus providing a parallel-serial filter type as a result. The main advantages of such a filter over a serial one are much less electronic gate jitter and time delay for the same amount of total time uncertainty reduction. (orig.)

Differences of diurnal variations of some aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations in aerosols of the urban area of Madrid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez, M. M.; Perez-Pastor, R. M.; Bea, F. J.; Campos, A.; Gonzalez, D.

1991-01-01

A study on daily concentration changes of polycyclic aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons (PAH's and AH's), was carried out in aerosols sampled m the Ciudad Universitaria of Madrid. Samples were taken at morning and night during February and June, for short sampling times, on glass fiber filters in Hi-Vol samplers, and then extracted ultrasonically with cyclohexane. Analysis were performed by HRGC with fused-silica capillary columns. The variable traffic rate, and the strong influence during winter periods of domestic heating are characteristic of this place. The aim of this work was to evaluate diurnal and seasonal variations of selected AH and PAH in the urban area of Madrid, by using descriptive parameters, such as total concentrations of AH and PAH, characteristic profiles and predominance carbon index. (Author)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons affect survival and development of common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) embryos and hatchlings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Meter, Robin J [School of Environmental Science, Engineering, and Policy and Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Spotila, James R [School of Environmental Science, Engineering, and Policy and Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Avery, Harold W [School of Environmental Science, Engineering, and Policy and Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)

2006-08-15

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic compounds found in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We assessed the impact of PAHs and crude oil on snapping turtle development and behavior by exposing snapping turtle eggs from the Refuge and from three clean reference sites to individual PAHs or a crude oil mixture at stage 9 of embryonic development. Exposure to PAHs had a significant effect on survival rates in embryos from one clean reference site, but not in embryos from the other sites. There was a positive linear relationship between level of exposure to PAHs and severity of deformities in embryos collected from two of the clean reference sites. Neither righting response nor upper temperature tolerance (critical thermal maximum, CTM) of snapping turtle hatchlings with no or minor deformities was significantly affected by exposure to PAHs. - Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the egg reduces survival of snapping turtle embryos and causes developmental abnormalities.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons affect survival and development of common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) embryos and hatchlings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Meter, Robin J.; Spotila, James R.; Avery, Harold W.

2006-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic compounds found in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We assessed the impact of PAHs and crude oil on snapping turtle development and behavior by exposing snapping turtle eggs from the Refuge and from three clean reference sites to individual PAHs or a crude oil mixture at stage 9 of embryonic development. Exposure to PAHs had a significant effect on survival rates in embryos from one clean reference site, but not in embryos from the other sites. There was a positive linear relationship between level of exposure to PAHs and severity of deformities in embryos collected from two of the clean reference sites. Neither righting response nor upper temperature tolerance (critical thermal maximum, CTM) of snapping turtle hatchlings with no or minor deformities was significantly affected by exposure to PAHs. - Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the egg reduces survival of snapping turtle embryos and causes developmental abnormalities

A rigid porous filter and filtration method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chiang, Ta-Kuan; Straub, Douglas, Straub L.; Dennis, Richard A.

1998-12-01

The present invention involves a porous rigid filter comprising a plurality of concentric filtration elements having internal flow passages and forming external flow passages there between. The present invention also involves a pressure vessel containing the filter for the removal of particulate from high pressure particulate containing gases, and further involves a method for using the filter to remove such particulate. The present filter has the advantage of requiring fewer filter elements due to the high surface area- to-volume ratio provided by the filter, requires a reduced pressure vessel size, and exhibits enhanced mechanical design properties, improved cleaning properties, configuration options, modularity and ease of fabrication.

An evaluation of interventions for reducing the risk of PRRSV introduction to filtered farms via retrograde air movement through idle fans.

Science.gov (United States)

Alonso, Carmen; Otake, Satoshi; Davies, Peter; Dee, Scott

2012-06-15

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an economically significant pathogen of pigs that can be transported via the airborne route out to 9.1 km. To reduce this risk, large swine facilities have started to implement systems to filter contaminated incoming air. A proposed means of air filtration failure is the retrograde movement of air (back-drafting) from the external environment into the animal air space through non-filtered points such as idle wall fans; however, this risk has not been validated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to prove that PRRSV introduction via retrograde air movement through idle fans is a true risk; (2) to determine the minimum retrograde air velocity necessary to introduce PRRSV to an animal airspace from an external source; and (3) to evaluate the efficacy of different interventions designed to reduce this risk. A retrograde air movement model was used to test a range of velocities and interventions, including a standard plastic shutter, a plastic shutter plus a canvas cover, a nylon air chute, an aluminum shutter plus an air chute and a double shutter system. Results indicated that retrograde air movement is a real risk for PRRSV introduction to a filtered air space; however, it required a velocity of 0.76 m/s. In addition, while all the interventions designed to reduce this risk were superior when compared to a standard plastic shutter, significant differences were detected between treatments. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source identification and seasonal variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons associated with atmospheric fine and coarse particles in the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Teixeira, Elba Calesso; Agudelo-Castañeda, Dayana M.; Fachel, Jandyra Maria Guimarães; Leal, Karen Alam; Garcia, Karine de Oliveira; Wiegand, Flavio

2012-11-01

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in fine (PM2.5) and coarse particles (PM2.5-10) in an urban and industrial area in the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre (MAPA), Brazil. Sixteen U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured. Filters containing ambient air particulate were extracted with dichloromethane using Soxhlet. Extracts were later analyzed, for determining PAH concentrations, using a gaseous chromatograph coupled with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were more concentrated in PM2.5 with an average of 70% of total PAHs in the MAPA. The target PAH apportionment among the main emission sources was carried out by diagnostic PAH concentration ratios, and principal component analysis (PCA). PAHs with higher molecular weight showed higher percentages in the fine particles in the MAPA. Based on the diagnostic ratios and PCA analysis, it may be concluded that the major contribution of PAHs was from vehicular sources (diesel and gasoline), especially in the PM2.5 fraction, as well as coal and wood burning. The winter/summer ratio in the PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 fractions in the MAPA was 3.1 and 1.8, respectively, revealing the seasonal variation of PAHs in the two fractions. The estimated toxicity equivalent factor (TEF), used to assess the contribution of the carcinogenic potency, confirms a significant presence of the moderately active carcinogenic PAHs BaP and DahA in the samples collected in the MAPA.

On filtering over Îto-Volterra observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael V. Basin

2000-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the Kalman-Bucy filter is designed for an Îto-Volterra process over Ito-Volterra observations that cannot be reduced to the case of a differential observation equation. The Kalman-Bucy filter is then designed for an Ito-Volterra process over discontinuous Ito-Volterra observations. Based on the obtained results, the filtering problem over discrete observations with delays is solved. Proofs of the theorems substantiating the filtering algorithms are given.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Levels in Two ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations were measured by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID) in two fish species, Sardinella maderensis (Flat sardinella) and Galeoides decadactylus (Lesser African threadfin or Shine-nose or Common threadfin) from Ghanaian coastal waters and ...

Filtered region of interest cone-beam rotational angiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schafer, Sebastian; Noeel, Peter B.; Walczak, Alan M.; Hoffmann, Kenneth R.

2010-01-01

Purpose: Cone-beam rotational angiography (CBRA) is widely used in the modern clinical settings. In a number of procedures, the area of interest is often considerably smaller than the field of view (FOV) of the detector, subjecting the patient to potentially unnecessary x-ray dose. The authors therefore propose a filter-based method to reduce the dose in the regions of low interest, while supplying high image quality in the region of interest (ROI). Methods: For such procedures, the authors propose a method of filtered region of interest (FROI)-CBRA. In the authors' approach, a gadolinium filter with a circular central opening is placed into the x-ray beam during image acquisition. The central region is imaged with high contrast, while peripheral regions are subjected to a substantial lower intensity and dose through beam filtering. The resulting images contain a high contrast/intensity ROI, as well as a low contrast/intensity peripheral region, and a transition region in between. To equalize the two regions' intensities, the first projection of the acquisition is performed with and without the filter in place. The equalization relationship, based on Beer's law, is established through linear regression using corresponding filtered and nonfiltered data. The transition region is equalized based on radial profiles. Results: Evaluations in 2D and 3D show no visible difference between conventional FROI-CBRA projection images and reconstructions in the ROI. CNR evaluations show similar image quality in the ROI, with a reduced CNR in the reconstructed peripheral region. In all filtered projection images, the scatter fraction inside the ROI was reduced. Theoretical and experimental dose evaluations show a considerable dose reduction; using a ROI half the original FOV reduces the dose by 60% for the filter thickness of 1.29 mm. Conclusions: These results indicate the potential of FROI-CBRA to reduce the dose to the patient while supplying the physician with the desired

Filtered region of interest cone-beam rotational angiography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schafer, Sebastian; Noeel, Peter B.; Walczak, Alan M.; Hoffmann, Kenneth R. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States) and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Computer Science, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States) and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Mechanical Engineering, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Computer Science, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States) and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States)

2010-02-15

Purpose: Cone-beam rotational angiography (CBRA) is widely used in the modern clinical settings. In a number of procedures, the area of interest is often considerably smaller than the field of view (FOV) of the detector, subjecting the patient to potentially unnecessary x-ray dose. The authors therefore propose a filter-based method to reduce the dose in the regions of low interest, while supplying high image quality in the region of interest (ROI). Methods: For such procedures, the authors propose a method of filtered region of interest (FROI)-CBRA. In the authors' approach, a gadolinium filter with a circular central opening is placed into the x-ray beam during image acquisition. The central region is imaged with high contrast, while peripheral regions are subjected to a substantial lower intensity and dose through beam filtering. The resulting images contain a high contrast/intensity ROI, as well as a low contrast/intensity peripheral region, and a transition region in between. To equalize the two regions' intensities, the first projection of the acquisition is performed with and without the filter in place. The equalization relationship, based on Beer's law, is established through linear regression using corresponding filtered and nonfiltered data. The transition region is equalized based on radial profiles. Results: Evaluations in 2D and 3D show no visible difference between conventional FROI-CBRA projection images and reconstructions in the ROI. CNR evaluations show similar image quality in the ROI, with a reduced CNR in the reconstructed peripheral region. In all filtered projection images, the scatter fraction inside the ROI was reduced. Theoretical and experimental dose evaluations show a considerable dose reduction; using a ROI half the original FOV reduces the dose by 60% for the filter thickness of 1.29 mm. Conclusions: These results indicate the potential of FROI-CBRA to reduce the dose to the patient while supplying the physician with

Box-particle probability hypothesis density filtering

OpenAIRE

Schikora, M.; Gning, A.; Mihaylova, L.; Cremers, D.; Koch, W.

2014-01-01

This paper develops a novel approach for multitarget tracking, called box-particle probability hypothesis density filter (box-PHD filter). The approach is able to track multiple targets and estimates the unknown number of targets. Furthermore, it is capable of dealing with three sources of uncertainty: stochastic, set-theoretic, and data association uncertainty. The box-PHD filter reduces the number of particles significantly, which improves the runtime considerably. The small number of box-p...

A modified LLCL-filter with the reduced conducted EMI noise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Weimin; Sun, Yunjie; Lin, Zhe

2013-01-01

For a transformerless grid-tied converter using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), the harmonics of grid-injected current, the leakage current and the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) noise are three important issues during design of the output filter. In this paper, the Common-Mode (CM...

Perbandingan Passive LC Filter Dan Passve Single Tuned Filter Untuk Mereduksi Harmonisa Variable Speed Drive Dengan Beban Motor Induksi Tiga Fasa

OpenAIRE

Mustamam

2016-01-01

Most of the tools that used as speed control of three phase induction motors rotation is 1 phase Variable Speed Drive (VSD), where VSD is a harmonic generator. Therefore the harmonics that arise in the VSD can be reduced by using passive LC filters fasif namely passive single tuned filter that meet the standards IEC61000-3-2 Class A.The results obtained through passive LC filter could reduce the total distortion of harmonic current (THDi) from 102.9% to 23.78% while passive sin...

Frequency Domain Image Filtering Using CUDA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Awais Rajput

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate the implementation of image filtering in frequency domain using NVIDIA?s CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture. In contrast to signal and image filtering in spatial domain which uses convolution operations and hence is more compute-intensive for filters having larger spatial extent, the frequency domain filtering uses FFT (Fast Fourier Transform which is much faster and significantly reduces the computational complexity of the filtering. We implement the frequency domain filtering on CPU and GPU respectively and analyze the speed-up obtained from the CUDA?s parallel processing paradigm. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of frequency domain filtering on CUDA, we implement three frequency domain filters, i.e., Butterworth, low-pass and Gaussian for processing different sizes of images on CPU and GPU respectively and perform the GPU vs. CPU benchmarks. The results presented in this paper show that the frequency domain filtering with CUDA achieves significant speed-up over the CPU processing in frequency domain with the same level of (output image quality on both the processing architectures

Frequency domain image filtering using cuda

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajput, M.A.; Khan, U.A.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we investigate the implementation of image filtering in frequency domain using NVIDIA's CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). In contrast to signal and image filtering in spatial domain which uses convolution operations and hence is more compute-intensive for filters having larger spatial extent, the frequency domain filtering uses FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) which is much faster and significantly reduces the computational complexity of the filtering. We implement the frequency domain filtering on CPU and GPU respectively and analyze the speed-up obtained from the CUDA's parallel processing paradigm. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of frequency domain filtering on CUDA, we implement three frequency domain filters, i.e., Butter worth, low-pass and Gaussian for processing different sizes of images on CPU and GPU respectively and perform the GPU vs. CPU benchmarks. The results presented in this paper show that the frequency domain filtering with CUDA achieves significant speed-up over the CPU processing in frequency domain with the same level of (output) image quality on both the processing architectures. (author)

z-transform DFT filters and FFT's

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bruun, G.

1978-01-01

The paper shows how discrete Fourier transformation can be implemented as a filter bank in a way which reduces the number of filter coefficients. A particular implementation of such a filter bank is directly related to the normal complex FFT algorithm. The principle developed further leads to types...... of DFT filter banks which utilize a minimum of complex coefficients. These implementations lead to new forms of FFT's, among which is acos/sinFFT for a real signal which only employs real coefficients. The new FFT algorithms use only half as many real multiplications as does the classical FFT....

Performance Estimation for Lowpass Ternary Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenton Steele

2003-11-01

Full Text Available Ternary filters have tap values limited to −1, 0, or +1. This restriction in tap values greatly simplifies the multipliers required by the filter, making ternary filters very well suited to hardware implementations. Because they incorporate coarse quantisation, their performance is typically limited by tap quantisation error. This paper derives formulae for estimating the achievable performance of lowpass ternary filters, thereby allowing the number of computationally intensive design iterations to be reduced. Motivated by practical communications systems requirements, the performance measure which is used is the worst-case stopband attenuation.

Combination of Wiener filtering and singular value decomposition filtering for volume imaging PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shao, L.; Lewitt, R.M.; Karp, J.S.

1995-01-01

Although the three-dimensional (3D) multi-slice rebinning (MSRB) algorithm in PET is fast and practical, and provides an accurate reconstruction, the MSRB image, in general, suffers from the noise amplified by its singular value decomposition (SVD) filtering operation in the axial direction. Their aim in this study is to combine the use of the Wiener filter (WF) with the SVD to decrease the noise and improve the image quality. The SVD filtering ''deconvolves'' the spatially variant axial response function while the WF suppresses the noise and reduces the blurring not modeled by the axial SVD filter but included in the system modulation transfer function. Therefore, the synthesis of these two techniques combines the advantages of both filters. The authors applied this approach to the volume imaging HEAD PENN-PET brain scanner with an axial extent of 256 mm. This combined filter was evaluated in terms of spatial resolution, image contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio with several phantoms, such as a cold sphere phantom and 3D brain phantom. Specifically, the authors studied both the SVD filter with an axial Wiener filter and the SVD filter with a 3D Wiener filter, and compared the filtered images to those from the 3D reprojection (3DRP) reconstruction algorithm. Their results indicate that the Wiener filter increases the signal-to-noise ratio and also improves the contrast. For the MSRB images of the 3D brain phantom, after 3D WF, both the Gray/White and Gray/Ventricle ratios were improved from 1.8 to 2.8 and 2.1 to 4.1, respectively. In addition, the image quality with the MSRB algorithm is close to that of the 3DRP algorithm with 3D WF applied to both image reconstructions

Bioremediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon contaminated ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigates the effect of lead and chromium on the rate of bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminated clay soil. Naphthalene was used as a target PAH. The soil was sterilized by heating at 120oC for one hour. 100g of the soil was contaminated with lead, chromium, nickel and mercury ...

A modified LLCL-filter with the reduced conducted EMI noise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Weimin; Sun, Yunjie; Lin, Zhe

2014-01-01

For a transformerless grid-tied converter using pulse width modulation, the harmonics of grid-injected current, the leakage current, and the electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise are three important issues during designing of the output filter. In this paper, the common mode and the differential...

Introduction to the Box Particle Filtering

OpenAIRE

Gning, Amadou; Ristic, B; Mihaylova, Lyudmila; Abdallah, F.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a novel method for solving nonlinear filtering problems. This approach is particularly appealing in practical situations involving imprecise stochastic measurements, thus resulting in very broad posterior densities. It relies on the concept of a box particle, which occupies a small and controllable rectangular region having a non-zero volume in the state space. Key advantages of the box particle filter (Box-PF) against the standard particle filter (PF) are in its reduced c...

Particle Kalman Filtering: A Nonlinear Bayesian Framework for Ensemble Kalman Filters*

KAUST Repository

Hoteit, Ibrahim; Luo, Xiaodong; Pham, Dinh-Tuan

2012-01-01

introduce a resampling step to the PEnKF in order to reduce the risk of weights collapse and improve the performance of the filter. Numerical experiments with the strongly nonlinear Lorenz-96 model are presented and discussed.

Formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by ionizing radiations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez, G.; Lilia, E.; Cristalli, A.

1986-01-01

Gaseous 0-terphenyl, 1-phenylnaphthalene, and 9-phenylanthracene were submitted to gamma rays. The yields of cyclization products, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, show that at least one twentieth of the intermediates formed undergo intramolecular reaction. (author)

Toxic Potential of Carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Toxic Potential of Carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (cPAHs) and Heavy Metal in Crude Oil from Gokana Area, Rivers State, Nigeria. ... Considerable caution should be applied in exploration, exposure and distribution of the crude oil through protected and well maintained pipelines to avoid the possible ...

FLOWING BILATERAL FILTER: DEFINITION AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxime Moreaud

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The bilateral filter plays a key role in image processing applications due to its intuitive parameterization and its high quality filter result, smoothing homogeneous regions while preserving the edges of the objects. Considering the image as a topological relief, seeing pixel intensities as peaks and valleys, we introduce a way to control the tonal weighting coefficients, the flowing bilateral filter, reducing "halo" artifacts typically produced by the regular bilateral filter around a large peak surrounded by two valleys of lower values. In this paper we propose to investigate exact and approximated versions of CPU and parallel GPU (Graphical Processing Unit based implementations of the regular and flowing bilateral filter using the NVidia CUDA API. Fast implementations of these filters are important for the processing of large 3D volumes up to several GB acquired by x-ray or electron tomography.

Updated spam filters reduce amount of messages in spam folder

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2010-01-01

The flow of spam (unsolicited e-mail) targetting CERN mailboxes is constantly increasing: 96% of the 2 million mails received daily at CERN consist in successfully filtered spam, but spammers get smarter and detecting spam is becoming ever more difficult. In order to address this evolution, a new spam-detection software engine will progressively be deployed in next weeks. The aim is to decrease number of SPAM messages which are delivered to users’ Inboxes and to spam folders. Users can notify mail service about SPAM messages. To submit a spam message one can send it as an attachment. For more details please refer to the help pages (see links below). Useful links: To report spam messages please refer to information on http://cern.ch/mail/Help/?fdid=31 To configure spam filtering for your CERN mailbox, go to http://cern.ch/mail and click ‘spam fight’. Thank you for your collaboration. CERN Mail Services

High-temperature superconducting passive microwave devices, filters and antennas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohshima, S.

2000-01-01

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) passive microwave devices, such as filters and antennas, are promising devices. In particular, HTS filters may be successfully marketed in the near future. Cross-coupled filters, ring filters, and coplanar waveguide filters are good options to reduce filter size. On the other hand, HTS patch antennas which can be cooled by a cryo-cooler are also promising devices as well, since they show higher efficiency than normal antennas. This paper examines the design process and filter properties of HTS filters as well as the gains, directivity, and cooling system of HTS patch antennas. (author)

The intractable cigarette ‘filter problem’

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

production. The synthetic plastic cellulose acetate became the fundamental cigarette filter material. By the mid-1960s, the meaning of the phrase ‘filter problem’ changed, such that the effort to develop effective filters became a campaign to market cigarette designs that would sustain the myth of cigarette filter efficacy. Conclusions This study indicates that cigarette designers at Philip Morris, British-American Tobacco, Lorillard and other companies believed for a time that they might be able to reduce some of the most dangerous substances in mainstream smoke through advanced engineering of filter tips. In their attempts to accomplish this, they developed the now ubiquitous cellulose acetate cigarette filter. By the mid-1960s cigarette designers realised that the intractability of the ‘filter problem’ derived from a simple fact: that which is harmful in mainstream smoke and that which provides the smoker with ‘satisfaction’ are essentially one and the same. Only in the wake of this realisation did the agenda of cigarette designers appear to transition away from mitigating the health hazards of smoking and towards the perpetuation of the notion that cigarette filters are effective in reducing these hazards. Filters became a marketing tool, designed to keep and recruit smokers as consumers of these hazardous products. PMID:21504917

Microbiological effectiveness of mineral pot filters in Cambodia.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Joe; Chai, Ratana; Wang, Alice; Sobsey, Mark D

2012-11-06

Mineral pot filters (MPFs) are household water treatment (HWT) devices that are manufactured and distributed by the private sector, with millions of users in Southeast Asia. Their effectiveness in reducing waterborne microbes has not been previously investigated. We purchased three types of MPFs available on the Cambodian market for systematic evaluation of bacteria, virus, and protozoan surrogate microbial reduction in laboratory challenge experiments following WHO recommended performance testing protocols. Results over the total 1500 L testing period per filter indicate that the devices tested were highly effective in reducing Esherichia coli (99.99%+), moderately effective in reducing bacteriophage MS2 (99%+), and somewhat effective against Bacillus atrophaeus, a spore-forming bacterium we used as a surrogate for protozoa (88%+). Treatment mechanisms for all filters included porous ceramic and activated carbon filtration. Our results suggest that these commercially available filters may be at least as effective against waterborne pathogens as other, locally available treatment options such as ceramic pot filters or boiling. More research is needed on the role these devices may play as interim solutions to the problem of unsafe drinking water in Cambodia and globally.

A Low Cost Structurally Optimized Design for Diverse Filter Types

Science.gov (United States)

Kazmi, Majida; Aziz, Arshad; Akhtar, Pervez; Ikram, Nassar

2016-01-01

A wide range of image processing applications deploys two dimensional (2D)-filters for performing diversified tasks such as image enhancement, edge detection, noise suppression, multi scale decomposition and compression etc. All of these tasks require multiple type of 2D-filters simultaneously to acquire the desired results. The resource hungry conventional approach is not a viable option for implementing these computationally intensive 2D-filters especially in a resource constraint environment. Thus it calls for optimized solutions. Mostly the optimization of these filters are based on exploiting structural properties. A common shortcoming of all previously reported optimized approaches is their restricted applicability only for a specific filter type. These narrow scoped solutions completely disregard the versatility attribute of advanced image processing applications and in turn offset their effectiveness while implementing a complete application. This paper presents an efficient framework which exploits the structural properties of 2D-filters for effectually reducing its computational cost along with an added advantage of versatility for supporting diverse filter types. A composite symmetric filter structure is introduced which exploits the identities of quadrant and circular T-symmetries in two distinct filter regions simultaneously. These T-symmetries effectually reduce the number of filter coefficients and consequently its multipliers count. The proposed framework at the same time empowers this composite filter structure with additional capabilities of realizing all of its Ψ-symmetry based subtypes and also its special asymmetric filters case. The two-fold optimized framework thus reduces filter computational cost up to 75% as compared to the conventional approach as well as its versatility attribute not only supports diverse filter types but also offers further cost reduction via resource sharing for sequential implementation of diversified image

Magnetic graphene oxide as adsorbent for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites in human urine.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Linli; Xu, Hui

2014-09-01

Detection of monohydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons metabolites in urine is an advisable and valid method to assess human environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In this work, novel Fe3O4/graphene oxide composites were prepared and their application in the magnetic solid-phase extraction of monohydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urine was investigated by coupling with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. In the hybrid material, superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles provide fast separation to simplify the analytical process and graphene oxide provides a large functional surface for the adsorption. The prepared magnetic nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The experimental conditions were optimized systematically. Under the optimal conditions, the recoveries of these compounds were in the range of 98.3-125.2%, the relative standard deviations ranged between 6.8 and 15.5%, and the limits of detection were in the range of 0.01-0.15 ng/mL. The simple, quick, and affordable method was successfully used in the analysis of human urinary monohydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in two different cities. The results indicated that the monohydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons level in human urine can provide useful information for environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

[Improving Agricultural Safety of Soils Contaminated with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by In Situ Bioremediation].

Science.gov (United States)

Jiao, Hai-huan; Pan, Jian-gang; Xu, Shena-jun; Bai, Zhi-hui; Wang, Dong; Huang, Zhan-bin

2015-08-01

In order to reduce the risk of enrichment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in crops, reduce the potential hazards of food-sourced PAHs to human and increase the agricultural safety of PAHs contaminated soils, the bio-augmented removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated through in situ remediation by introducing Rhodobacter sphaeroides (RS) into the agricultural soil contaminated by PAHs. The 50-times diluted RS was sprayed on leaf surface (in area B) or irrigated to roots (in area D). The treatment of spraying water of the equal amount was taken as the control (A) and the wheat field without any treatment as the blank (CK). Treatments were conducted since wheat seeding. Soil and wheat samples were collected in the mature period to analyze the changes of community structure of the soil microorganisms and the concentration of PAHs in soils and investigate the strengthening and restoration effects of RS on PAHs contaminated soils. Compared to the CK Area, the areas B and D revealed that the variation ratio of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) that were the biomarker of soil microorganisms was 29.6%, and the ratio of total PAHs removed was increased 1.59 times and 1.68 times, respectively. The dry weight of wheat grain of 50 spikes was increased by 8.95% and 12.5%, respectively, and the enrichment factor of total PAHs was decreased by 58.9% and 62.2% respectively in the wheat grains. All the results suggested that RS reduced enrichment of PAHs in wheat grains and increased wheat yield, which had great exploitation and utilization potentiality in repairing and improving the agricultural safety of the soils contaminated with PHAs.

Remediation of soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

2011-02-14

Feb 14, 2011 ... The aim of this study was to determine ways of remediating soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with crude oil. The study involves the use of planted cowpeas, mushrooms, algae, dead vegetable and live earthworm, and fire-heating of the contaminated garden soil ...

Adaptable Iterative and Recursive Kalman Filter Schemes

Science.gov (United States)

Zanetti, Renato

2014-01-01

Nonlinear filters are often very computationally expensive and usually not suitable for real-time applications. Real-time navigation algorithms are typically based on linear estimators, such as the extended Kalman filter (EKF) and, to a much lesser extent, the unscented Kalman filter. The Iterated Kalman filter (IKF) and the Recursive Update Filter (RUF) are two algorithms that reduce the consequences of the linearization assumption of the EKF by performing N updates for each new measurement, where N is the number of recursions, a tuning parameter. This paper introduces an adaptable RUF algorithm to calculate N on the go, a similar technique can be used for the IKF as well.

Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in rural agricultural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AJB SERVER

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (15), pp. 1415-1421, 3 August 2006 ... Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of chemicals that are formed during ... site for refinery process wastes, which has been operated since 1958 ...

Degradation and utilization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by indigenous soil bacteria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stetzenbach, L.D.A.

1986-01-01

The persistence of industrially derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the subsurface may be significantly affected by the metabolism of soil bacteria. This study was conducted to determine the ability of indigenous soil bacteria to decrease the concentration of four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene, fluorene, anthracene, and pyrene) and to utilize the compounds as a substrate for growth. Soil cores from petroleum contaminated and noncontaminated sites contained 10 5 -10 7 viable microorganisms per gram dryweight of soil. Gram negative rod-shaped bacteria predominated. Decreases in the concentration of the four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were observed during incubation with bacterial isolates in aqueous suspension by the use of high performance liquid chromatography. Corresponding increases in bacterial numbers indicated utilization of the compounds as a carbon source. Soil samples from the contaminated sites contained greater numbers of bacteria utilizing anthracene and pyrene than soil samples from uncontaminated sites. Degradation rates of the four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were related to the compound, its concentration, and the bacterium. Biodegradation of pyrene was positively correlated with the presence of oxygen. Pyrene was biodegraded by an Acinetobacter sp. under aerobic conditions but not under anaerobic or microaerophilic conditions. Studies with radiolabeled 14 C-anthracene demonstrated utilization of the labeled carbon as a source of carbon by viable bacterial cells in aqueous suspension. Incorporation of 14 C into cellular biomass however was not observed during incubation of 14 C-anthracene in soil

A quantum extended Kalman filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emzir, Muhammad F; Woolley, Matthew J; Petersen, Ian R

2017-01-01

In quantum physics, a stochastic master equation (SME) estimates the state (density operator) of a quantum system in the Schrödinger picture based on a record of measurements made on the system. In the Heisenberg picture, the SME is a quantum filter. For a linear quantum system subject to linear measurements and Gaussian noise, the dynamics may be described by quantum stochastic differential equations (QSDEs), also known as quantum Langevin equations, and the quantum filter reduces to a so-called quantum Kalman filter. In this article, we introduce a quantum extended Kalman filter (quantum EKF), which applies a commutative approximation and a time-varying linearization to systems of nonlinear QSDEs. We will show that there are conditions under which a filter similar to a classical EKF can be implemented for quantum systems. The boundedness of estimation errors and the filtering problem with ‘state-dependent’ covariances for process and measurement noises are also discussed. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the quantum EKF by applying it to systems that involve multiple modes, nonlinear Hamiltonians, and simultaneous jump-diffusive measurements. (paper)

A quantum extended Kalman filter

Science.gov (United States)

Emzir, Muhammad F.; Woolley, Matthew J.; Petersen, Ian R.

2017-06-01

In quantum physics, a stochastic master equation (SME) estimates the state (density operator) of a quantum system in the Schrödinger picture based on a record of measurements made on the system. In the Heisenberg picture, the SME is a quantum filter. For a linear quantum system subject to linear measurements and Gaussian noise, the dynamics may be described by quantum stochastic differential equations (QSDEs), also known as quantum Langevin equations, and the quantum filter reduces to a so-called quantum Kalman filter. In this article, we introduce a quantum extended Kalman filter (quantum EKF), which applies a commutative approximation and a time-varying linearization to systems of nonlinear QSDEs. We will show that there are conditions under which a filter similar to a classical EKF can be implemented for quantum systems. The boundedness of estimation errors and the filtering problem with ‘state-dependent’ covariances for process and measurement noises are also discussed. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the quantum EKF by applying it to systems that involve multiple modes, nonlinear Hamiltonians, and simultaneous jump-diffusive measurements.

A comparison of filters for thoracic diagnosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oestmann, J.W.; Hendrickx, P.; Rieder, P.; Geerlings, H.; Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

1986-01-01

The effect of three types of filter on the quality of radiographs of the chest was compared. These filters improve visualization of mediastinal structures without significantly reducing the quality of the pulmonary image. In practice the Du Pont filter proved best; the quality of the central and peripheral portions of the lung image is equal to that of an ordinary radiograph and visualization of the mediastinum is improved. The Agfa-Gevaert filter showed no significant disadvantages compared with the ordinary techniques but the improvement in mediastinal visualization is not that marked. The 3M-filter yields poor images of the central portions of the lung and its type of construction prevents the retrocardiac structures from being pictured as well as with the other filters. (orig.) [de

Treatment of Stormwater using Fibre Filter Media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johir, M. A. H.; Lee, J. J.; Vigneswaran, S.; Kandasamy, J.; Shaw, K.

2009-01-01

In this study, a high-rate fibre filter was used as a pre-treatment to stormwater in conjunction with in-line flocculation. The effect of operating the fibre filter with different packing densities (105, 115 and 125 kg/m 3 ) and filtration velocities (20, 40, 60 m/h) with and without in-line flocculation was investigated. In-line flocculation was provided using 5, 10 and 15 mg/L of ferric chloride (FeCl 3 .6H 2 O). The filter performance was studied in terms of pressure drop (ΔP), solids removal efficiency, heavy metals (total) removal efficiency and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency. It is found that the use of in-line flocculation at a dose of 15 mg/L improved the performance of fibre filter as measured by turbidity removal (95%), total suspended solids reduction (98%), colour removal efficiency (99%), TOC removal (reduced by 30-40 %) and total coliform removal (93%). The modified fouling index reduced from 750-950 to 12 s/L 2 proving that fibre filter can be an excellent pre-treatment to membrane filtration that may be consider as post-treatment. The removal efficiency of heavy metal was variable as their concentration in raw water was small. Even though the concentration of some of these metals such as iron, aluminium, copper and zinc were reduced, others like nickel, chromium and cadmium showed lower removal rates.

A grid-voltage-sensorless resistive active power filter with series LC-filter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bai, Haofeng; Wang, Xiongfei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2017-01-01

Voltage-sensorless control has been investigated for Voltage Source Inverters (VSIs) for many years due to the reduced system cost and potentially improved system reliability. The VSI based Resistive Active Power Filters (R-APFs) are now widely used to prevent the harmonic resonance in power...... distribution network, for which the voltage sensors are needed in order to obtain the current reference. In this paper a grid-voltage-sensorless control strategy is proposed for the R-APF with series LC-filter. Unlike the traditional resistance emulation method, this proposed control method re...

A Grid-Voltage-Sensorless Resistive Active Power Filter with Series LC-Filter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bai, Haofeng; Wang, Xiongfei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2018-01-01

Voltage-sensorless control has been investigated for Voltage Source Inverters (VSIs) for many years due to the reduced system cost and potentially improved system reliability. The VSI based Resistive Active Power Filters (R-APFs) are now widely used to prevent the harmonic resonance in power...... distribution network, for which the voltage sensors are needed in order to obtain the current reference. In this paper a grid-voltage-sensorless control strategy is proposed for the R-APF with series LC-filter. Unlike the traditional resistance emulation method, this proposed control method re...

UV Fluorescence Photography of Works of Art : Replacing the Traditional UV Cut Filters with Interference Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís BRAVO PEREIRA

2010-09-01

Full Text Available For many years filters like the Kodak Wratten E series, or the equivalent Schneider B+W 415, were used as standard UV cut filters, necessary to obtain good quality on UV Fluorescence photography. The only problem with the use of these filters is that, when they receive the UV radiation that they should remove, they present themselves an internal fluorescence as side effect, that usually reduce contrast and quality on the final image. This article presents the results of our experiences on using some innovative filters, that appeared available on the market in recent years, projected to adsorb UV radiation even more efficiently than with the mentioned above pigment based standard filters: the interference filters for UV rejection (and, usually, for IR rejection too manufactured using interference layers, that present better results than the pigment based filters. The only problem with interference filters type is that they are sensitive to the rays direction and, because of that, they are not adequate to wide-angle lenses. The internal fluorescence for three filters: the B+W 415 UV cut (equivalent to the Kodak Wratten 2E, pigment based, the B+W 486 UV IR cut (an interference type filter, used frequently on digital cameras to remove IR or UV and the Baader UVIR rejection filter (two versions of this interference filter were used had been tested and compared. The final quality of the UV fluorescence images seems to be of a superior quality when compared to the images obtained with classic filters.

AGRONOMIC OPTIMIZATION FOR PHYTOREMEDIATION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS

Science.gov (United States)

Phytoremediation is a low-cost method of using plants to degrade, volatilize or sequester organic and metal pollutants that has been used in efforts to remediate sites contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) refinery wastes. Non-native plant species aggressivel...

Investigations of material balance and the formation of metabolites on white rot in clamps in soil loaded with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zarth, M.

1993-01-01

One examines from a concrete case to what extent the potential danger of white rot in bio-beds caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) is reduced. The potential danger is mainly determined by the remainder of the PAH's. The remainder paths to be considered (micro-biological decomposition, transport and abiotic processes) are shown. (orig.) [de

Identifying specific interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mulas, Giacomo; Malloci, Giuliano; Porceddu, Ignazio

2005-01-01

Interstellar Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been thought to be ubiquitous for more than twenty years, yet no single species in this class has been identified in the Interstellar Medium (ISM) to date. The unprecedented sensitivity and resolution of present Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and forthcoming Herschel observations in the far infrared spectral range will offer a unique way out of this embarrassing impasse

Filter element, particularly for cleaning hot gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoelter, H.

1980-01-01

The fibres of the filter cloth consists of aluminium silicate. The filter cloth lies on a mesh made of ceramic material, e.g. 99% SiO 2 and 1% Cr 2 O 3 . In order to reduce the bending stress at the edges of the filter cloth, particularly when cleaning, there are bend protection devices in the form of curved surfaces made of felt or similar material in the edge areas. (DG) [de

HEPA air filter (image)

Science.gov (United States)

... pet dander and other irritating allergens from the air. Along with other methods to reduce allergens, such ... controlling the amount of allergens circulating in the air. HEPA filters can be found in most air ...

The application of expandable polystyrene pellets as filter media to controlled filter in a uranium mill

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mao Ruiguo; Liu Mingde; Li Chunhua

1987-11-01

Expandable polystyrene pellets as filter media are used for controlled filter of uranium ore processing. Results from bench scale tests, pilot plant tests and full scale tests are satisfactory. The filter used in the full scale tests is 4 m in diameter, and the capacity is from 75 to 100 m 3 per hour. The soild content in the pregnant solution which overflowing the first thichener contains about 250 ppm of suspended solid can be reduced to 5 ∼ 10 ppm. The filter bed is backflushed with the feed liquors and the backflush returns to the countercurrent decantation circuit. The entrainment loss of the organic phase in the raffinate from solvnet extraction can be decreased by about 60% with treating the filtrated solution

A filter for reducing the angular dependence of LiF; Ti, Mg for beta radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akabani, G.; Poston, J.W. Sr.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on an improvement in the angular dependence of LiF:Ti,Mg (TAD-100) for beta radiation which was achieved by using a special filter design which produced a constant dosimeter response over a range of +70 degrees and -70 degrees. The filter material used was acetate. The filter design was tested with three different beta sources, Sr/Y-90, Tl-204 and Pm-147 with average energies of 0.8, 0.24 and 0.06 MeV, respectively. The average response at 180 degrees of the new filtered dosimeter differed by less than 5% when compared to the response at zero degrees. An average decrease in sensitivity of 53% for Sr-90, 70% for Tl-204 and 67% for Pm-147 was obtained due to filter use. All doses were calculated for a depth dose in tissue of 0.07 mm equivalent to 7 mg/cm 2 as is recommended in ICRP Publication 26. A comparison of the energy dependence for a bare TAD-100 at 0.0 mm and 0.07 mm depth in tissue was obtained

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in Danish barbecued meat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Duedahl-Olesen, Lene; Aaslyng, Margit Dall; Meinert, Lene

2015-01-01

Barbecuing is known to result in the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A validated method that employed pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) followed by solid phase extraction (SPE) on Silica and analytical determination by GC-MS was applied...

Photolytic and radiolytic destruction of natural polycyclic mycotoxins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mammadov, Kh. F

2011-01-01

Full text: The kinetics of degradation of natural polycyclic toxins in grains and dried fruits under the influence of UV-light and ionizing radiation 60 C and the probability of radiolytic detoxication of these products has been studied for the first time

Active filter for the DESY III dipole circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bothe, W.

1991-01-01

The DESY 3 dipole circuit is now operated in a ramp mode cycle with 3.6 s repetition rate. Excitation is done by a 12-pulse thyristor converter, followed by a passive filter. The existing current control could be improved by addition of an active filter. The use of a more efficient passive filter reduces the size of the active filter and does not deteriorate the dynamic behavior. The design of the control loops and the results of the simulation are presented

Accumulation of polycyclic arenes in Baltic Sea algae

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Veldre, I.A.; Itra, A.R.; Paal' me, L.P.; Kukk, Kh.A.

1985-01-01

The paper presents data on the level of benzo(a)pyrene (BP) and some other polycyclic arenes in alga and phanerogam specimens from different gulfs of the Baltic Sea. Algae were shown to absorb BP from sea water. The mean concentration of BP in sea water was under 0.004 microgram/1, while in algae it ranged 0.1-21.2 micrograms/kg dry weight. Algae accumulate BP to a higher degree than phanerogams. The highest concentrations of BP were found in algae Enteromorpha while the lowest ones in Furcellaria. In annual green algae, BP level was higher in autumn, i. e. at the end of vegetation period, than in spring. Brown algae Fucus vesiculosus is recommended for monitoring polycyclic arene pollution in the area from Vormsi Island to Kaesmu and green algae Cladophora or Enteromorpha in the eastern part of the Finnish Gulf.

Two-stage nonrecursive filter/decimator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoder, J.R.; Richard, B.D.

1980-08-01

A two-stage digital filter/decimator has been designed and implemented to reduce the sampling rate associated with the long-term computer storage of certain digital waveforms. This report describes the design selection and implementation process and serves as documentation for the system actually installed. A filter design with finite-impulse response (nonrecursive) was chosen for implementation via direct convolution. A newly-developed system-test statistic validates the system under different computer-operating environments

Ion exchange nonwoven fabric chemical filter. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekiguchi, Hideaki

2000-01-01

This report outlined the characteristics of EPIX filter and its complex with activated carbon to eliminate organic compounds from solvent. Elimination performance of this filter was determined using an ion chromatographic analyzer. EPIX filter showed high performance to eliminate trace amount of ionic compounds. The rate of elimination was both 99% or more for NH 3 and SO 2 in an early phase of filtration. Release of dust as well as impurities was significantly reduced by the use of EPIX filter. Gases once adsorbed on the filter were not released even at an elevated temperature of atmosphere. Combined use of non-woven fabrics was possible. For EPIX filter, there are three kinds; strong acid cation exchange filter and strong/weak basic anion filters. The weak basic anion filter has been applied to the conventional apparatus in wafer makers because the filter was very effective for selective boron trapping. When polyethyleneterephthalate was used as the base polymer, radical groups produced on the polymer were co-polymerized with monomer substances. The lifetime of filter was estimated on a base of gas concentration and wind velocity to determine the time to replace with a new one. Furthermore, the loss of pressure became less than a half when EPIX filter was used. (M.N.)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a coal tar standard reference material - SRM 1597a updated

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wise, Stephen A.; Poster, Dianne L.; Rimmer, Catherine A.; Schubert, Patricia; Sander, Lane C.; Schantz, Michele M. [National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Analytical Chemistry Division, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Leigh, Stefan D. [National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Statistical Engineering Division, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Moessner, Stephanie [National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Analytical Chemistry Division, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); GMP/Comparator Labs, Werthenstein Chemie AG, Industrie Nord, Schachen (Switzerland)

2010-09-15

SRM 1597 Complex Mixture of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Coal Tar, originally issued in 1987, was recently reanalyzed and reissued as SRM 1597a with 34 certified, 46 reference, and 12 information concentrations (as mass fractions) for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASHs) including methyl-substituted PAHs and PASHs. The certified and reference concentrations (as mass fractions) were based on results of analyses of the coal tar material using multiple analytical techniques including gas chromatography/mass spectrometry on four different stationary phases and reversed-phase liquid chromatography. SRM 1597a is currently the most extensively characterized SRM for PAHs and PASHs. (orig.)

Oxidation kinetics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by permanganate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Forsey, S.P.; Thomson, N.R.; Barker, J.F. [University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON (Canada). Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering

2010-04-15

The reactivity of permanganate towards polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons (PAHs) is well known but little kinetic information is available. This study investigated the oxidation kinetics of a selected group of coal tar creosote compounds and alkylbenzenes in water using permanganate, and the correlation between compound reactivity and physical/chemical properties. The oxidation of naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, 1-methylnaphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, carbazole isopropylbenzene, ethylbenzene and methylbenzene closely followed pseudo first-order reaction kinetics. The oxidation of pyrene was initially very rapid and did not follow pseudo first-order kinetics at early times. Fluoranthene was only partially oxidized and the oxidation of anthracene was too fast to be captured. Biphenyl, dibenzofuran, benzene and tert-butylbenzene were non-reactive under the study conditions. The oxidation rate was shown to increase with increasing number of polycyclic rings because less energy is required to overcome the aromatic character of a polycyclic ring than is required for benzene. Thus the rate of oxidation increased in the series naphthalene < phenanthrene < pyrene. The rate of side chain reactivity is controlled by the C-H bond strength. For the alkyl substituted benzenes an excellent correlation was observed between the reaction rate coefficients and bond dissociation energies, but for the substituted PAHs the relationship was poor. A trend was found between the reaction rate coefficients and the calculated heats of complexation indicating that significant ring oxidation occurred in addition to side chain oxidation. Clar's aromatic sextet theory was used to predict the relative stability of arenes towards ring oxidation by permanganate.

Perception-Based Filtering for MMOGs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Souad El Merhebi

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Online games have exploded in the last few years. These games face several problems linked to scalability and interactivity. In fact, online games should provide a quick feedback of users' interactions as well as a coherent view of the shared world. However, the search for enhanced scalability dramatically increases message exchange. Such an increase consumes processing power and bandwidth, and thus limits interactivity, consistency, and scalability. To reduce the rate of message exchange, distributed virtual environment systems use filtering techniques such as interest management that filters messages according to users' interests in the world. These interests are influenced by perceptual facts which we study in this paper in order to build upon them a perception-based filtering technique. This technique satisfies users' needs by precisely providing an exact filtering which is more efficient than other techniques.

In-line Kevlar filters for microfiltration of transuranic-containing liquid streams.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzales, G J; Beddingfield, D H; Lieberman, J L; Curtis, J M; Ficklin, A C

1992-06-01

The Department of Energy Rocky Flats Plant has numerous ongoing efforts to minimize the generation of residue and waste and to improve safety and health. Spent polypropylene liquid filters held for plutonium recovery, known as "residue," or as transuranic mixed waste contribute to storage capacity problems and create radiation safety and health considerations. An in-line process-liquid filter made of Kevlar polymer fiber has been evaluated for its potential to: (1) minimize filter residue, (2) recover economically viable quantities of plutonium, (3) minimize liquid storage tank and process-stream radioactivity, and (4) reduce potential personnel radiation exposure associated with these sources. Kevlar filters were rated to less than or equal to 1 mu nominal filtration and are capable of reducing undissolved plutonium particles to more than 10 times below the economic discard limit, however produced high back-pressures and are not yet acid resistant. Kevlar filters performed independent of loaded particles serving as a sieve. Polypropylene filters removed molybdenum particles at efficiencies equal to Kevlar filters only after loading molybdenum during recirculation events. Kevlars' high-efficiency microfiltration of process-liquid streams for the removal of actinides has the potential to reduce personnel radiation exposure by a factor of 6 or greater, while simultaneously achieving a reduction in the generation of filter residue and waste by a factor of 7. Insoluble plutonium may be recoverable from Kevlar filters by incineration.

Treatment of Stormwater using Fibre Filter Media

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johir, M. A. H.; Lee, J. J.; Vigneswaran, S., E-mail: s.vigneswaran@uts.edu.au; Kandasamy, J. [University of Technology, Faculty of Engineering and IT (Australia); Shaw, K. [Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies Australia (Australia)

2009-12-15

In this study, a high-rate fibre filter was used as a pre-treatment to stormwater in conjunction with in-line flocculation. The effect of operating the fibre filter with different packing densities (105, 115 and 125 kg/m{sup 3}) and filtration velocities (20, 40, 60 m/h) with and without in-line flocculation was investigated. In-line flocculation was provided using 5, 10 and 15 mg/L of ferric chloride (FeCl{sub 3}.6H{sub 2}O). The filter performance was studied in terms of pressure drop ({Delta}P), solids removal efficiency, heavy metals (total) removal efficiency and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency. It is found that the use of in-line flocculation at a dose of 15 mg/L improved the performance of fibre filter as measured by turbidity removal (95%), total suspended solids reduction (98%), colour removal efficiency (99%), TOC removal (reduced by 30-40 %) and total coliform removal (93%). The modified fouling index reduced from 750-950 to 12 s/L{sup 2} proving that fibre filter can be an excellent pre-treatment to membrane filtration that may be consider as post-treatment. The removal efficiency of heavy metal was variable as their concentration in raw water was small. Even though the concentration of some of these metals such as iron, aluminium, copper and zinc were reduced, others like nickel, chromium and cadmium showed lower removal rates.

Effect of smoking on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effects of smoking on proximate composition, energy values and concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were studied in raw and smoked samples of catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Crude protein was higher in the tilapia sample for both raw and smoked samples.

Image pre-filtering for measurement error reduction in digital image correlation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yihao; Sun, Chen; Song, Yuntao; Chen, Jubing

2015-02-01

In digital image correlation, the sub-pixel intensity interpolation causes a systematic error in the measured displacements. The error increases toward high-frequency component of the speckle pattern. In practice, a captured image is usually corrupted by additive white noise. The noise introduces additional energy in the high frequencies and therefore raises the systematic error. Meanwhile, the noise also elevates the random error which increases with the noise power. In order to reduce the systematic error and the random error of the measurements, we apply a pre-filtering to the images prior to the correlation so that the high-frequency contents are suppressed. Two spatial-domain filters (binomial and Gaussian) and two frequency-domain filters (Butterworth and Wiener) are tested on speckle images undergoing both simulated and real-world translations. By evaluating the errors of the various combinations of speckle patterns, interpolators, noise levels, and filter configurations, we come to the following conclusions. All the four filters are able to reduce the systematic error. Meanwhile, the random error can also be reduced if the signal power is mainly distributed around DC. For high-frequency speckle patterns, the low-pass filters (binomial, Gaussian and Butterworth) slightly increase the random error and Butterworth filter produces the lowest random error among them. By using Wiener filter with over-estimated noise power, the random error can be reduced but the resultant systematic error is higher than that of low-pass filters. In general, Butterworth filter is recommended for error reduction due to its flexibility of passband selection and maximal preservation of the allowed frequencies. Binomial filter enables efficient implementation and thus becomes a good option if computational cost is a critical issue. While used together with pre-filtering, B-spline interpolator produces lower systematic error than bicubic interpolator and similar level of the random

Correction of Bowtie-Filter Normalization and Crescent Artifacts for a Clinical CBCT System.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hong; Kong, Vic; Huang, Ke; Jin, Jian-Yue

2017-02-01

To present our experiences in understanding and minimizing bowtie-filter crescent artifacts and bowtie-filter normalization artifacts in a clinical cone beam computed tomography system. Bowtie-filter position and profile variations during gantry rotation were studied. Two previously proposed strategies (A and B) were applied to the clinical cone beam computed tomography system to correct bowtie-filter crescent artifacts. Physical calibration and analytical approaches were used to minimize the norm phantom misalignment and to correct for bowtie-filter normalization artifacts. A combined procedure to reduce bowtie-filter crescent artifacts and bowtie-filter normalization artifacts was proposed and tested on a norm phantom, CatPhan, and a patient and evaluated using standard deviation of Hounsfield unit along a sampling line. The bowtie-filter exhibited not only a translational shift but also an amplitude variation in its projection profile during gantry rotation. Strategy B was better than strategy A slightly in minimizing bowtie-filter crescent artifacts, possibly because it corrected the amplitude variation, suggesting that the amplitude variation plays a role in bowtie-filter crescent artifacts. The physical calibration largely reduced the misalignment-induced bowtie-filter normalization artifacts, and the analytical approach further reduced bowtie-filter normalization artifacts. The combined procedure minimized both bowtie-filter crescent artifacts and bowtie-filter normalization artifacts, with Hounsfield unit standard deviation being 63.2, 45.0, 35.0, and 18.8 Hounsfield unit for the best correction approaches of none, bowtie-filter crescent artifacts, bowtie-filter normalization artifacts, and bowtie-filter normalization artifacts + bowtie-filter crescent artifacts, respectively. The combined procedure also demonstrated reduction of bowtie-filter crescent artifacts and bowtie-filter normalization artifacts in a CatPhan and a patient. We have developed a step

Design and application of finite impulse response digital filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, T.R.; Sampathkumaran, K.S.

1982-01-01

The finite impulse response (FIR) digital filter is a spatial domain filter with a frequency domain representation. The theory of the FIR filter is presented and techniques are described for designing FIR filters with known frequency response characteristics. Rational design principles are emphasized based on characterization of the imaging system using the modulation transfer function and physical properties of the imaged objects. Bandpass, Wiener, and low-pass filters were designed and applied to 201 Tl myocardial images. The bandpass filter eliminates low-frequency image components that represent background activity and high-frequency components due to noise. The Wiener, or minimum mean square error filter 'sharpens' the image while also reducing noise. The Wiener filter illustrates the power of the FIR technique to design filters with any desired frequency reponse. The low-pass filter, while of relative limited use, is presented to compare it with a popular elementary 'smoothing' filter. (orig.)

Developing particulate thin filter using coconut fiber for motor vehicle emission

Science.gov (United States)

Wardoyo, A. Y. P.; Juswono, U. P.; Riyanto, S.

2016-03-01

Amounts of motor vehicles in Indonesia have been recognized a sharply increase from year to year with the increment reaching to 22 % per annum. Meanwhile motor vehicles produce particulate emissions in different sizes with high concentrations depending on type of vehicles, fuels, and engine capacity. Motor Particle emissions are not only to significantly contribute the atmosphric particles but also adverse to human health. In order to reduce the particle emission, it is needed a filter. This study was aimed to develop a thin filter using coconut fiber to reduce particulate emissions for motor vehicles. The filter was made of coconut fibers that were grinded into power and mixed with glues. The filter was tested by the measurements of particle concentrations coming out from the vehicle exhaust directly and the particle concentrations after passing through the filter. The efficiency of the filter was calculated by ratio of the particle concentrations before comming in the filter to the particle conentrations after passing through the filter. The results showed that the efficiency of the filter obtained more than 30 %. The efficiency increases sharply when a number of the filters are arranged paralelly.

In-situ continuous scanning high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter monitoring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchner, K.N.; Johnson, C.M.; Lucerna, J.J.; Barnett, R.L.

1985-01-01

The testing and replacement of HEPA filters, which are widely used in the nuclear industry to purify process air before it is ventilated to the atmosphere, is a costly and labor-intensive undertaking. Current methods of testing filter performance, such as differential pressure measurement and scanning air monitoring, allow for determination of overall filter performance but preclude detection of symptoms of incipient filter failure, such as small holes in the filters themselves. Using current technology, a continual in-situ monitoring system has been designed which provides three major improvements over current methods of filter testing and replacement. This system (1) realizes a cost savings by reducing the number of intact filters which are currently being replaced unnecessarily, (2) provides a more accurate and quantitative measurement of filter performance than is currently achieved with existing testing methods, and (3) reduces personnel exposure to a radioactive environment by automatically performing most testing operations. The operation and performance of the HEPA filter monitoring system are discussed

Mobile sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and nitro-PAH: Results of samples collected in a roadway tunnel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benner, B.A. Jr.; Gordon, G.E.; Wise, S.A.

1987-01-01

A recent review article emphasized the need for further characterizations of the carbonaceous fraction of mobile source emissions, particularly with the impending removal of lead alkyl octane boosters and bromine-containing lead scavengers from regular leaded gasolines. The lead and bromine emitted from the combustion of these fuels have been used as tracers of mobile source emissions for a number of years. Single vehicle emission studies have shed light on the relationship between engine operating parameters and the chemical characteristics of the emissions but they are not suitable for use in source apportionment studies which require emission data from a large number of different vehicles. Air particulate samples collected near a busy highway or in a roadway tunnel would be more appropriate for use in estimating the mobile source contribution of organic compounds to a region. Suspended particle samples collected in a heavily-travelled roadway tunnel (Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, Baltimore, Maryland) were characterized for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and some nitro-PAH by gas and liquid chromatographic techniques. These samples included those collected on Teflon filters and on glass fiber filters for investigating any differences in samples collected on an inert (Teflon) and more reactive (glass-fiber) medium. All samples collected on Teflon were backed-up with polyurethane foam plugs (PUF) which trapped any inherent vapor-phase PAH as well as any compounds ''blown-off'' the particles during collection

UV irradiation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ices: production of alcohols, quinones, and ethers

Science.gov (United States)

Bernstein, M. P.; Sandford, S. A.; Allamandola, L. J.; Gillette, J. S.; Clemett, S. J.; Zare, R. N.

1999-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water ice were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation under astrophysical conditions, and the products were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Peripheral carbon atoms were oxidized, producing aromatic alcohols, ketones, and ethers, and reduced, producing partially hydrogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, molecules that account for the interstellar 3.4-micrometer emission feature. These classes of compounds are all present in carbonaceous meteorites. Hydrogen and deuterium atoms exchange readily between the PAHs and the ice, which may explain the deuterium enrichments found in certain meteoritic molecules. This work has important implications for extraterrestrial organics in biogenesis.

Multilevel ensemble Kalman filtering

KAUST Repository

Hoel, Haakon

2016-01-08

The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is a sequential filtering method that uses an ensemble of particle paths to estimate the means and covariances required by the Kalman filter by the use of sample moments, i.e., the Monte Carlo method. EnKF is often both robust and efficient, but its performance may suffer in settings where the computational cost of accurate simulations of particles is high. The multilevel Monte Carlo method (MLMC) is an extension of classical Monte Carlo methods which by sampling stochastic realizations on a hierarchy of resolutions may reduce the computational cost of moment approximations by orders of magnitude. In this work we have combined the ideas of MLMC and EnKF to construct the multilevel ensemble Kalman filter (MLEnKF) for the setting of finite dimensional state and observation spaces. The main ideas of this method is to compute particle paths on a hierarchy of resolutions and to apply multilevel estimators on the ensemble hierarchy of particles to compute Kalman filter means and covariances. Theoretical results and a numerical study of the performance gains of MLEnKF over EnKF will be presented. Some ideas on the extension of MLEnKF to settings with infinite dimensional state spaces will also be presented.

Multilevel ensemble Kalman filtering

KAUST Repository

Hoel, Haakon; Chernov, Alexey; Law, Kody; Nobile, Fabio; Tempone, Raul

2016-01-01

The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is a sequential filtering method that uses an ensemble of particle paths to estimate the means and covariances required by the Kalman filter by the use of sample moments, i.e., the Monte Carlo method. EnKF is often both robust and efficient, but its performance may suffer in settings where the computational cost of accurate simulations of particles is high. The multilevel Monte Carlo method (MLMC) is an extension of classical Monte Carlo methods which by sampling stochastic realizations on a hierarchy of resolutions may reduce the computational cost of moment approximations by orders of magnitude. In this work we have combined the ideas of MLMC and EnKF to construct the multilevel ensemble Kalman filter (MLEnKF) for the setting of finite dimensional state and observation spaces. The main ideas of this method is to compute particle paths on a hierarchy of resolutions and to apply multilevel estimators on the ensemble hierarchy of particles to compute Kalman filter means and covariances. Theoretical results and a numerical study of the performance gains of MLEnKF over EnKF will be presented. Some ideas on the extension of MLEnKF to settings with infinite dimensional state spaces will also be presented.

An Evaluation of Uncertainty Associated to Analytical Measurements of Selected Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Ambient Air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barrado, A. I.; Garcia, S.; Perez, R. M.

2013-01-01

This paper presents an evaluation of uncertainty associated to analytical measurement of eighteen polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in ambient air by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC/FD). The study was focused on analyses of PM 1 0, PM 2 .5 and gas phase fractions. Main analytical uncertainty was estimated for eleven polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), four nitro polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nitro-PAHs) and two hydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) based on the analytical determination, reference material analysis and extraction step. Main contributions reached 15-30% and came from extraction process of real ambient samples, being those for nitro- PAHs the highest (20-30%). Range and mean concentration of PAC mass concentrations measured in gas phase and PM 1 0/PM 2 .5 particle fractions during a full year are also presented. Concentrations of OH-PAHs were about 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than their parent PAHs and comparable to those sparsely reported in literature. (Author)

Backflushable filter experience at the N Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ball, B.; Best, W.T.; Keith, R.C.

1987-01-01

The N Reactor is an 4000 MWt, light-water cooled, graphite-moderated reactor located on the Hanford Site in Washington State. A radwaste pilot plant to process plant effluent was constructed in order to maximize future efficiency when a full size radioactive processing facility is built. The pilot plant's purpose is to vary operational parameters such as filtration and ion exchange on a smaller scale to gather as much data as possible. The input to the pilot plant is radioactive drain lines from the N Reactor. The effluent passes through a backflushable filter and a series of ion exchange columns all scaled down from the future proposed facility. A backflushable filter was selected for this application because of the specific characteristics of the plant effluent and the potential reduced operating costs. The filter performance has been excellent in terms of filtration of the effluent. Typical total suspended solids in the plant effluent range from 1 to 6.1 ppm; the filter reduces this value to less than 0.1 ppm. In addition to outstanding filtration efficiency, the use of a precoat material on the filter has resulted in impressive decontamination factors. The filter has been successful in removing up to 50% of the influent activity. An improved performance of several nuclides over other filtration systems has also been achieved. By varying the composition and amount of precoat material on the filter, substantial reductions in waste volumes (and associated operating and disposal costs) have been demonstrated while maintaining a high degree of removal of both activity and total suspended solids

Determination of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water by solid-phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xianli; Kang, Haiyan; Wu, Junfeng

2016-05-01

Given the potential risks of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the analysis of their presence in water is very urgent. We have developed a novel procedure for determining chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water based on solid-phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The extraction parameters of solid-phase extraction were optimized in detail. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed method showed wide linear ranges (1.0-1000 ng/L) with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9952 to 0.9998. The limits of detection and the limits of quantification were in the range of 0.015-0.591 and 0.045-1.502 ng/L, respectively. Recoveries ranged from 82.5 to 102.6% with relative standard deviations below 9.2%. The obtained method was applied successfully to the determination of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in real water samples. Most of the chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were detected and 1-monochloropyrene was predominant in the studied water samples. This is the first report of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water samples in China. The toxic equivalency quotients of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the studied tap water were 9.95 ng the toxic equivalency quotient m(-3) . 9,10-Dichloroanthracene and 1-monochloropyrene accounted for the majority of the total toxic equivalency quotients of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in tap water. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Investigation of the impacts of ethyl lactate based Fenton treatment on soil quality for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-contaminated soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Suyin; Yap, Chiew Lin; Ng, Hoon Kiat; Venny

2013-11-15

This study aims to investigate the impacts of ethyl lactate (EL) based Fenton treatment on soil quality for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-contaminated soils. Accumulation of oxygenated-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oxy-PAHs) was observed, but quantitative measurement on the most abundant compound 9,10-anthraquinone (ATQ) showed lower accumulation of the compound than that reported for ethanol (ET) based Fenton treatment. In general, as compared to conventional water (CW) based Fenton treatment, the EL based Fenton treatment exerted either a lower or higher negative impact on soil physicochemical properties depending on the property type and shared the main disadvantage of reduced soil pH. For revegetation, EL based Fenton treatment was most appropriately adopted for soil with native pH >/~ 6.2 in order to obtain a final soil pH >/~ 4.9 subject to the soil buffering capacity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In-place HEPA filter penetration test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergman, W.; Wilson, K.; Elliott, J.; Bettencourt, B.; Slawski, J.W.

1997-01-01

We have demonstrated the feasibility of conducting penetration tests on high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters as installed in nuclear ventilation systems. The in-place penetration test, which is designed to yield equivalent penetration measurements as the standard DOP efficiency test, is based on measuring the aerosol penetration of the filter installation as a function of particle size using a portable laser particle counter. This in-place penetration test is compared to the current in-place leak test using light scattering photometers for single HEPA filter installations and for HEPA filter plenums using the shroud method. Test results show the in-place penetration test is more sensitive than the in-place leak test, has a similar operating procedure, but takes longer to conduct. Additional tests are required to confirm that the in-place penetration test yields identical results as the standard dioctyl phthalate (DOP) penetration test for HEPA filters with controlled leaks in the filter and gasket and duct by-pass leaks. Further development of the procedure is also required to reduce the test time before the in- place penetration test is practical

Evaluation of the effects of an arm artifact reduction filter in computed tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nozaki, Fumie; Ohno, Hajime; Hirako, Tetsuya

2002-01-01

While performing CT during arterial portography (CTAP) or CT arteriography (CTA), we have instructed patients to in order to reduce streak artifacts. However the repetitive raising and lowering their arms has made it difficult to keep a clean zone and as well as to maintain the position of a target organ. An arm artifact reduction (AAR) filter developed by GE Yokokawa Medical System has been reported to be useful for reducing streak artifacts in CTAP and CTA. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effectiveness of the AAR filter in terms of artifact reduction ratio, CT value, standard deviation and spatial resolution. The use of an AAR filter reduced streak artifacts on images by 15-22% compared with those on images obtained by without the use of the filter and limited deterioration of spatial resolution to within 1%. Moreover, CT value in examination using AAR filter showed no significant change compared with that in non-filter's examination. It is concluded that the use of an AAR filter reduces the burden for the patient and increase the accuracy and flexibility of CT examination while minimizing the reduction in the image quality in CTAP and CTA. (author)

High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter performance following service and radiation exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, L.R.

1975-01-01

Small HEPA filters were exposed to a 60 Co source with a radiation strength of 3 x 10 7 rads per hour and then exposed to steam--air mixtures at several times filter design flow, followed by extended exposure to steam and air at reduced flow. Additional filters were exposed to air flow in a reactor confinement system and then similarly tested with steam--air mixture flows. The test data and calculated effects of filter pluggage with moisture on confinement system performance following potential reactor accidents are described. Gamma radiation exposure impaired the performance of new filters only slightly and temporarily improved performance of service aged filters. Normal confinement system service significantly impaired filter performance although not sufficiently to prevent adequate performance of the SRP confinement system following an unlikely reactor accident. Calculations based on measured filter pluggage indicate that during an accident air flow could be reduced approximately 50 percent with service-degraded HEPA filters present, or approximately 10 percent with new filters damaged by the radiation exposure. (U.S.)

The distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in shallow groundwater from an alluvial-diluvial fan of the Hutuo River in North China

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jincui; Zhao, Yongsheng; Sun, Jichao; Zhang, Ying; Liu, Chunyan

2018-06-01

This paper has investigated the concentration and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in shallow groundwater from an alluvial-diluvial fan of the Hutuo River in North China. Results show that the concentration levels of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons range from 0 to 92.06 ng/L, do not conform to drinking water quality standards in China (GB 5749- 2006). However, the concentration figures of priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are much lower than that of other studies conducted elsewhere in China. In addition, highly-concentrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (50-92 ng/L) are fragmentarily distributed. The composition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from this study indicates that low molecular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are predominant in groundwater samples, medium molecular compounds occur at low concentrations, and high molecular hydrocarbons are not detected. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon composition in groundwater samples is basically the same as that of gaseous samples in the atmosphere in this study. Therefore, the atmospheric input is assumed to be an important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, no less than wastewater discharge, adhesion on suspended solids, and surface water leakage. Ratios of specific polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons demonstrate that they mainly originate from wood or coal combustion as well as natural gas and partially from petroleum according to the result of principal component analysis. On the whole, conclusions are drawn that the contamination sources of these polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are likely petrogenic and pyrolytic inputs. Future investigations by sampling topsoil, vadose soil, and the atmosphere can further verify aforementioned conclusions.

GRIM-Filter: Fast seed location filtering in DNA read mapping using processing-in-memory technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jeremie S; Senol Cali, Damla; Xin, Hongyi; Lee, Donghyuk; Ghose, Saugata; Alser, Mohammed; Hassan, Hasan; Ergin, Oguz; Alkan, Can; Mutlu, Onur

2018-05-09

Seed location filtering is critical in DNA read mapping, a process where billions of DNA fragments (reads) sampled from a donor are mapped onto a reference genome to identify genomic variants of the donor. State-of-the-art read mappers 1) quickly generate possible mapping locations for seeds (i.e., smaller segments) within each read, 2) extract reference sequences at each of the mapping locations, and 3) check similarity between each read and its associated reference sequences with a computationally-expensive algorithm (i.e., sequence alignment) to determine the origin of the read. A seed location filter comes into play before alignment, discarding seed locations that alignment would deem a poor match. The ideal seed location filter would discard all poor match locations prior to alignment such that there is no wasted computation on unnecessary alignments. We propose a novel seed location filtering algorithm, GRIM-Filter, optimized to exploit 3D-stacked memory systems that integrate computation within a logic layer stacked under memory layers, to perform processing-in-memory (PIM). GRIM-Filter quickly filters seed locations by 1) introducing a new representation of coarse-grained segments of the reference genome, and 2) using massively-parallel in-memory operations to identify read presence within each coarse-grained segment. Our evaluations show that for a sequence alignment error tolerance of 0.05, GRIM-Filter 1) reduces the false negative rate of filtering by 5.59x-6.41x, and 2) provides an end-to-end read mapper speedup of 1.81x-3.65x, compared to a state-of-the-art read mapper employing the best previous seed location filtering algorithm. GRIM-Filter exploits 3D-stacked memory, which enables the efficient use of processing-in-memory, to overcome the memory bandwidth bottleneck in seed location filtering. We show that GRIM-Filter significantly improves the performance of a state-of-the-art read mapper. GRIM-Filter is a universal seed location filter that can be

Finite differences with exponential filtering in the calculation of reactivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suescun Diaz, Daniel; Senra Martinez, Aquilino

2010-01-01

A formulation for the calculation of reactivity using a recursive process is presented in this paper, as well as the treatment to reduce noise intensity that is found in the nuclear power signal. Using the history of nuclear power considered as the memory of such power and the filter exponentially adjusted with the least squares method, it is possible to reduce the nuclear power fluctuations without causing attenuation for the calculation of reactivity and with a smaller delay than that for low-pass filter of first order delay filter. (orig.)

Finite differences with exponential filtering in the calculation of reactivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suescun Diaz, Daniel; Senra Martinez, Aquilino [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). COPPE - Programa de Engenharia Nuclear

2010-08-15

A formulation for the calculation of reactivity using a recursive process is presented in this paper, as well as the treatment to reduce noise intensity that is found in the nuclear power signal. Using the history of nuclear power considered as the memory of such power and the filter exponentially adjusted with the least squares method, it is possible to reduce the nuclear power fluctuations without causing attenuation for the calculation of reactivity and with a smaller delay than that for low-pass filter of first order delay filter. (orig.)

Determination of Selected Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Particulate Matter Samples with Low Mass Loading: An Approach to Test Method Accuracy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susana García-Alonso

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A miniaturized analytical procedure to determine selected polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs in low mass loadings (<10 mg of particulate matter (PM is evaluated. The proposed method is based on a simple sonication/agitation method using small amounts of solvent for extraction. The use of a reduced sample size of particulate matter is often limiting for allowing the quantification of analytes. This also leads to the need for changing analytical procedures and evaluating its performance. The trueness and precision of the proposed method were tested using ambient air samples. Analytical results from the proposed method were compared with those of pressurized liquid and microwave extractions. Selected PACs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs and nitro polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs were determined by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC/FD. Taking results from pressurized liquid extractions as reference values, recovery rates of sonication/agitation method were over 80% for the most abundant PAHs. Recovery rates of selected NPAHs were lower. Enhanced rates were obtained when methanol was used as a modifier. Intermediate precision was estimated by data comparison from two mathematical approaches: normalized difference data and pooled relative deviations. Intermediate precision was in the range of 10–20%. The effectiveness of the proposed method was evaluated in PM aerosol samples collected with very low mass loadings (<0.2 mg during characterization studies from turbofan engine exhausts.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in occupational vs. urban environmental air

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Branisteanu, R.; Aiking, H.

1998-01-01

Objectives: To evaluate the balance between occupational and environmental exposure to suspended particulate matter (SPM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), comparison measurements were performed in a coal-fired power plant and the urban atmosphere from the town nearby. Methods: The

Linear filtering applied to Monte Carlo criticality calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, G.W.; Pike, D.H.; Petrie, L.M.

1975-01-01

A significant improvement in the acceleration of the convergence of the eigenvalue computed by Monte Carlo techniques has been developed by applying linear filtering theory to Monte Carlo calculations for multiplying systems. A Kalman filter was applied to a KENO Monte Carlo calculation of an experimental critical system consisting of eight interacting units of fissile material. A comparison of the filter estimate and the Monte Carlo realization was made. The Kalman filter converged in five iterations to 0.9977. After 95 iterations, the average k-eff from the Monte Carlo calculation was 0.9981. This demonstrates that the Kalman filter has the potential of reducing the calculational effort of multiplying systems. Other examples and results are discussed

Harmonic distortion in microwave photonic filters.

Science.gov (United States)

Rius, Manuel; Mora, José; Bolea, Mario; Capmany, José

2012-04-09

We present a theoretical and experimental analysis of nonlinear microwave photonic filters. Far from the conventional condition of low modulation index commonly used to neglect high-order terms, we have analyzed the harmonic distortion involved in microwave photonic structures with periodic and non-periodic frequency responses. We show that it is possible to design microwave photonic filters with reduced harmonic distortion and high linearity even under large signal operation.

Implementation of Kalman filter algorithm on models reduced using singular pertubation approximation method and its application to measurement of water level

Science.gov (United States)

Rachmawati, Vimala; Khusnul Arif, Didik; Adzkiya, Dieky

2018-03-01

The systems contained in the universe often have a large order. Thus, the mathematical model has many state variables that affect the computation time. In addition, generally not all variables are known, so estimations are needed to measure the magnitude of the system that cannot be measured directly. In this paper, we discuss the model reduction and estimation of state variables in the river system to measure the water level. The model reduction of a system is an approximation method of a system with a lower order without significant errors but has a dynamic behaviour that is similar to the original system. The Singular Perturbation Approximation method is one of the model reduction methods where all state variables of the equilibrium system are partitioned into fast and slow modes. Then, The Kalman filter algorithm is used to estimate state variables of stochastic dynamic systems where estimations are computed by predicting state variables based on system dynamics and measurement data. Kalman filters are used to estimate state variables in the original system and reduced system. Then, we compare the estimation results of the state and computational time between the original and reduced system.

Filter-adsorber aging assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winegardner, W.K. [Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States)

1995-02-01

An aging assessment of high-efficiency particulate (HEPA) air filters and activated carbon gas adsorption units was performed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory as part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (USNRC) Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program. This evaluation of the general process in which characteristics of these two components gradually change with time or use included the compilation of information concerning failure experience, stressors, aging mechanisms and effects, and inspection, surveillance, and monitoring methods (ISMM). Stressors, the agents or stimuli that can produce aging degradation, include heat, radiation, volatile contaminants, and even normal concentrations of aerosol particles and gasses. In an experimental evaluation of degradation in terms of the tensile breaking strength of aged filter media specimens, over forty percent of the samples did not meet specifications for new material. Chemical and physical reactions can gradually embrittle sealants and gaskets as well as filter media. Mechanisms that can lead to impaired adsorber performance are associated with the loss of potentially available active sites as a result of the exposure of the carbon to airborne moisture or volatile organic compounds. Inspection, surveillance, and monitoring methods have been established to observe filter pressure drop buildup, check HEPA filters and adsorbers for bypass, and determine the retention effectiveness of aged carbon. These evaluations of installed filters do not reveal degradation in terms of reduced media strength but that under normal conditions aged media can continue to effectively retain particles. However, this degradation may be important when considering the likelihood of moisture, steam, and higher particle loadings during severe accidents and the fact it is probable that the filters have been in use for an extended period.

Sensory Pollution from Bag Filters, Carbon Filters and Combinations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bekö, Gabriel; Clausen, Geo; Weschler, Charles J.

2008-01-01

by an upstream pre-filter (changed monthly), an EU7 filter protected by an upstream activated carbon (AC) filter, and EU7 filters with an AC filter either downstream or both upstream and downstream. In addition, two types of stand-alone combination filters were evaluated: a bag-type fiberglass filter...... that contained AC and a synthetic fiber cartridge filter that contained AC. Air that had passed through used filters was most acceptable for those sets in which an AC filter was used downstream of the particle filter. Comparable air quality was achieved with the stand-alone bag filter that contained AC...

Dynamic positron emission tomography image restoration via a kinetics-induced bilateral filter.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaoying Bian

Full Text Available Dynamic positron emission tomography (PET imaging is a powerful tool that provides useful quantitative information on physiological and biochemical processes. However, low signal-to-noise ratio in short dynamic frames makes accurate kinetic parameter estimation from noisy voxel-wise time activity curves (TAC a challenging task. To address this problem, several spatial filters have been investigated to reduce the noise of each frame with noticeable gains. These filters include the Gaussian filter, bilateral filter, and wavelet-based filter. These filters usually consider only the local properties of each frame without exploring potential kinetic information from entire frames. Thus, in this work, to improve PET parametric imaging accuracy, we present a kinetics-induced bilateral filter (KIBF to reduce the noise of dynamic image frames by incorporating the similarity between the voxel-wise TACs using the framework of bilateral filter. The aim of the proposed KIBF algorithm is to reduce the noise in homogeneous areas while preserving the distinct kinetics of regions of interest. Experimental results on digital brain phantom and in vivo rat study with typical (18F-FDG kinetics have shown that the present KIBF algorithm can achieve notable gains over other existing algorithms in terms of quantitative accuracy measures and visual inspection.

Determination of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aquatic products by solid-phase extraction and GC-MS.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiying; Guo, Yuanming; Sun, Xiumei; Hao, Qing; Cheng, Xin; Zhang, Lu

2018-02-22

We propose a method for the simultaneous determination of 15 kinds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine samples (muscle) employing gas chromatography with mass spectrometry after saponification with ultrasound-assisted extraction and solid-phase extraction. The experimental conditions were optimized by the response surface method. In addition, the effects of different lyes and extractants on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons extraction were discussed, and saturated sodium carbonate was first used as the primary saponification reaction and extracted with 10 mL of ethyl acetate and secondly 1 mol/L of sodium hydroxide and 10 mL of n-hexane were used to achieve better results. The average recovery was 67-112%. Satisfactory data showed that the method has good reproducibility with a relative standard deviation of <13%. The detection limits of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were 0.02-0.13 ng/g. Compared with other methods, this method has the advantages of simple pretreatment, low solvent consumption, maximum polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons extraction, the fast separation speed, and the high extraction efficiency. It is concluded that this method meets the batch processing requirements of the sample and can also be used to determine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in other high-fat (fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish) biological samples. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Effectiveness of interim stage filter in the exhaust system of glove boxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patre, D.K.; Vangara, H.; Thanamani, S.; Gopalakrishnan, R.K.; Mhatre, Amol M.

2018-01-01

All operations in radiochemical laboratories are carried out in containment systems like Glove boxes and Fume hoods. For controlling air contamination two separate air cleaning systems are incorporated. Laboratory has general ventilation system and glove boxes are provided with a negative pressure system (NPS). Glove box exhaust air is passed through three stage filtration systems: in situ, interim and final before discharging to the atmosphere. In addition to the individual HEPA filters of each glove box, there is an interim HEPA filter bank introduced at the laboratory end. This was introduced to reduce a load on main exhaust filter system. Finally the exhaust air is discharged through the final stage HEPA filter located in the filter house through the Stack. The interim HEPA filter bank provides additional protection for the release of particulate activity and reduces load on the final stage filters. In the present work efforts have been put to validate the interim stage filter, which has been introduced, to limit the environmental release

Intelligent Optimize Design of LCL Filter for Three-Phase Voltage-Source PWM Rectifier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sun, Wei; Chen, Zhe; Wu, Xiaojie

2009-01-01

Compared to traditional L filter, a LCL filter is more effective on reducing harmonic distortion at switch frequency. So it is important to choose the LCL filter parameters to achieve good filtering effect. This paper introduces some traditional design methods. Design of a LCL filter by genetic a...

A Simple Analytical Method Using HPLC with Fluorescence Detection to Determine Selected Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Filter Samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, S.; Perez, R. M.

2014-01-01

A study on the comparison and evaluation of a miniaturized extraction method for the determination of selected PACs in sample filters is presented. The main objective was the optimization and development of simple, rapid and low cost methods, minimizing the use of extracting solvent volume. The work also includes a study on the intermediate precision. (Author)

Quantized, piecewise linear filter network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Aasted

1993-01-01

A quantization based piecewise linear filter network is defined. A method for the training of this network based on local approximation in the input space is devised. The training is carried out by repeatedly alternating between vector quantization of the training set into quantization classes...... and equalization of the quantization classes linear filter mean square training errors. The equalization of the mean square training errors is carried out by adapting the boundaries between neighbor quantization classes such that the differences in mean square training errors are reduced...

Fast bilateral filtering of CT-images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steckmann, Sven; Baer, Matthias; Kachelriess, Marc [Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ., Erlangen (Germany). Inst. of Medical Physics (IMP)

2011-07-01

The Bilateral filter is able to get a lower noise level while retaining the edges in images. The downside of a bilateral filter is the high order of the problem itself. While having a Volume size of N with a dimension of d and a filter window of r the problem is of size N{sup d} . r{sup d}. In the literature there are some proposals for speeding up by reducing this order by approximating a component of the filter. This leads to inaccurate results which often implies non acceptable artifacts for medical imaging. A better way for medical imaging is to speed up the filter itself while leaving the basic structure intact. This is the way our implementation uses. We solve the problem of calculating the function of e{sup -x} in an efficient way on modern architectures, and the problem of vectorizing the filtering process. As result we implemented a filter which is 2.5 times faster than the highly optimized basic approach. By comparing the basic analytical approach with the final algorithm, the differences in quality of the computing process is negligible to the human eye. We are able to process a volume with 512{sup 3} voxels with a filter of 25 x 25 x 1 in 21 s on a modern Intel Xeon platform with two X5590 processors running at 3.33 GHz. (orig.)

Occupational Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon of Wildland Firefighters at Prescribed and Wildland Fires.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro, Kathleen M; Cisneros, Ricardo; Noth, Elizabeth M; Balmes, John R; Hammond, S Katharine

2017-06-06

Wildland firefighters suppressing wildland fires or conducting prescribed fires work long shifts during which they are exposed to high levels of wood smoke with no respiratory protection. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are hazardous air pollutants formed during incomplete combustion. Exposure to PAHs was measured for 21 wildland firefighters suppressing two wildland fires and 4 wildland firefighters conducting prescribed burns in California. Personal air samples were actively collected using XAD4-coated quartz fiber filters and XAD2 sorbent tubes. Samples were analyzed for 17 individual PAHs through extraction with dichloromethane and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer analysis. Naphthalene, retene, and phenanthrene were consistently the highest measured PAHs. PAH concentrations were higher at wildland fires compared to prescribed fires and were highest for firefighters during job tasks that involve the most direct contact with smoke near an actively burning wildland fire. Although concentrations did not exceed current occupational exposure limits, wildland firefighters are exposed to PAHs not only on the fire line at wildland fires, but also while working prescribed burns and while off-duty. Characterization of occupational exposures from wildland firefighting is important to understand better any potential long-term health effects.

Determination of levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Soil samples contaminated with spent motor engine oil collected from Abakaliki auto-mechanic site were analyzed to determine the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) components which are often targets in environmental check. Identification and quantification of the PAH components was accomplished ...

The effect of Bangerter filters on binocular function in observers with amblyopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zidong; Li, Jinrong; Thompson, Benjamin; Deng, Daming; Yuan, Junpeng; Chan, Lily; Hess, Robert F; Yu, Minbin

2014-10-28

We assessed whether partial occlusion of the nonamblyopic eye with Bangerter filters can immediately reduce suppression and promote binocular summation of contrast in observers with amblyopia. In Experiment 1, suppression was measured for 22 observers (mean age, 20 years; range, 14-32 years; 10 females) with strabismic or anisometropic amblyopia and 10 controls using our previously established "balance point" protocol. Measurements were made at baseline and with 0.6-, 0.4-, and 0.2-strength Bangerter filters placed over the nonamblyopic/dominant eye. In Experiment 2, psychophysical measurements of contrast sensitivity were made under binocular and monocular viewing conditions for 25 observers with anisometropic amblyopia (mean age, 17 years; range, 11-28 years; 14 females) and 22 controls (mean age, 24 years; range, 22-27; 12 female). Measurements were made at baseline, and with 0.4- and 0.2-strength Bangerter filters placed over the nonamblyopic/dominant eye. Binocular summation ratios (BSRs) were calculated at baseline and with Bangerter filters in place. Experiment 1: Bangerter filters reduced suppression in observers with amblyopia and induced suppression in controls (P = 0.025). The 0.2-strength filter eliminated suppression in observers with amblyopia and this was not a visual acuity effect. Experiment 2: Bangerter filters were able to induce normal levels of binocular contrast summation in the group of observers with anisometropic amblyopia for a stimulus with a spatial frequency of 3 cycles per degree (cpd, P = 0.006). The filters reduced binocular summation in controls. Bangerter filters can immediately reduce suppression and promote binocular summation for mid/low spatial frequencies in observers with amblyopia. Copyright 2014 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

Biotransformation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pyrene by the marine polychaete Nereis virens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Anne; Giessing, Anders M. B.; Rasmussen, Lene Juel

2005-01-01

In vivo and in vitro biotransformation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pyrene was investigated in the marine polychaete Nereis virens. Assays were designed to characterize phase I and II enzymes isolated from gut tissue. High-pressure liquid chromatography measurement of 1-hydroxypyr......In vivo and in vitro biotransformation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pyrene was investigated in the marine polychaete Nereis virens. Assays were designed to characterize phase I and II enzymes isolated from gut tissue. High-pressure liquid chromatography measurement of 1...

Optimal Design of High-Order Passive-Damped Filters for Grid-Connected Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beres, Remus Narcis; Wang, Xiongfei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2016-01-01

Harmonic stability problems caused by the resonance of high-order filters in power electronic systems are ever increasing. The use of passive damping does provide a robust solution to address these issues, but at the price of reduced efficiency due to the presence of additional passive components....... Hence, a new method is proposed in this paper to optimally design the passive damping circuit for the LCL filters and LCL with multi-tuned LC traps. In short, the optimization problem reduces to the proper choice of the multi-split capacitors or inductors in the high-order filter. Compared to existing...... filter resonance. The passive filters are designed, built and validated both analytically and experimentally for verification....

Epigenetic modulation of Chlorella (Chlorella vulgaris) on exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Mihi; Youn, Je-In; Kim, Seung Joon; Park, Jong Y

2015-11-01

DNA methylation in promoter region can be a new chemopreventive marker against polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We performed a randomized, double blind and cross-over trial (N=12 healthy females) to evaluate chlorella (Chlorella vulgaris)-induced epigenetic modulation on exposure to PAHs. The subjects consumed 4 tablets of placebo or chlorella supplement (total chlorophyll ≈ 8.3mg/tablet) three times a day before meals for 2 weeks. When the subjects consumed chlorella, status of global hypermethylation (5-methylcytosine) was reduced, compared to placebo (p=0.04). However, DNA methylation at the DNMT1 or NQO1 was not modified by chlorella. We observed the reduced levels of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), a typical metabolite of PAHs, by chlorella intake (pchlorella-induced changes in global hypermethylation and urinary 1-OHP (pchlorella works for PAH-detoxification through the epigenetic modulation, the interference of ADME of PAHs and the interaction of mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling the sustainability of a ceramic water filter intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellor, Jonathan; Abebe, Lydia; Ehdaie, Beeta; Dillingham, Rebecca; Smith, James

2014-02-01

Ceramic water filters (CWFs) are a point-of-use water treatment technology that has shown promise in preventing early childhood diarrhea (ECD) in resource-limited settings. Despite this promise, some researchers have questioned their ability to reduce ECD incidences over the long term since most effectiveness trials conducted to date are less than one year in duration limiting their ability to assess long-term sustainability factors. Most trials also suffer from lack of blinding making them potentially biased. This study uses an agent-based model (ABM) to explore factors related to the long-term sustainability of CWFs in preventing ECD and was based on a three year longitudinal field study. Factors such as filter user compliance, microbial removal effectiveness, filter cleaning and compliance declines were explored. Modeled results indicate that broadly defined human behaviors like compliance and declining microbial effectiveness due to improper maintenance are primary drivers of the outcome metrics of household drinking water quality and ECD rates. The model predicts that a ceramic filter intervention can reduce ECD incidence amongst under two year old children by 41.3%. However, after three years, the average filter is almost entirely ineffective at reducing ECD incidence due to declining filter microbial removal effectiveness resulting from improper maintenance. The model predicts very low ECD rates are possible if compliance rates are 80-90%, filter log reduction efficiency is 3 or greater and there are minimal long-term compliance declines. Cleaning filters at least once every 4 months makes it more likely to achieve very low ECD rates as does the availability of replacement filters for purchase. These results help to understand the heterogeneity seen in previous intervention-control trials and reemphasize the need for researchers to accurately measure confounding variables and ensure that field trials are at least 2-3 years in duration. In summary, the CWF

Filtering microphonics in dark matter germanium experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morales, J.; Garcia, E.; Ortiz de Solorzano, A.; Morales, A.; Nunz-Lagos, R.; Puimedon, J.; Saenz, C.; Villar, J.A.

1992-01-01

A technique for reducing the microphonic noise in a germanium spectrometer used in dark matter particles searches is described. Filtered energy spectra, corresponding to 48.5 kg day of data in a running experiment in the Canfranc tunnel are presented. Improvements of this filtering procedure with respect to the method of rejecting those events not distributed evenly in time are also discussed. (orig.)

Differences of diurnal variations of some aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations in aerosol of the urban area of Madrid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez Garcia, M.M.; Perez Pastor, R.M.; Bea, J.F.; Campos, A.; Gonzalez Diaz, D.

1990-01-01

A study on daily concentration changes of polycyclic aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons (PAH's and AH's), was carried out in aerosols sampled in the Ciudad Universitaria of Madrid. Samples were taken at morning and night during February and June, for short sampling times, on glass fiber filters in Hi-Vol samplers, and then extracted ultrasonically with cyclohexane. Analysis were performed by HRGC with fused-silica capillary columns. The variable traffic rate, and the strong influence during winter periods of domestic heating are characteristic of this place. The aim of this work was to evaluate diurnal and seasonal variations of selected AH and PAH in the urban area of Madrid, by using descriptive parameters, such as total concentrations of AH and PAH, characteristic profiles and predominance carbon index. From these results, it has been tried to identify emission sources of the studied hydrocarbons. (Author). 10 refs

In-place HEPA filter penetration test

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergman, W.; Wilson, K.; Elliott, J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)] [and others

1997-08-01

We have demonstrated the feasibility of conducting penetration tests on high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters as installed in nuclear ventilation systems. The in-place penetration test, which is designed to yield equivalent penetration measurements as the standard DOP efficiency test, is based on measuring the aerosol penetration of the filter installation as a function of particle size using a portable laser particle counter. This in-place penetration test is compared to the current in-place leak test using light scattering photometers for single HEPA filter installations and for HEPA filter plenums using the shroud method. Test results show the in-place penetration test is more sensitive than the in-place leak test, has a similar operating procedure, but takes longer to conduct. Additional tests are required to confirm that the in-place penetration test yields identical results as the standard dioctyl phthalate (DOP) penetration test for HEPA filters with controlled leaks in the filter and gasket and duct by-pass leaks. Further development of the procedure is also required to reduce the test time before the in-place penetration test is practical. 14 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.

Voltage Harmonics Mitigation through Hybrid Active Power Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anwer Ali Sahito

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Fast dynamic response, high efficiency, low cost and small size of power electronic converters have exponentially increased their use in modern power system which resulted in harmonically distorted voltage and currents. Voltage harmonics mainly caused by current harmonics are more dangerous as performance and expected operating life of other power system equipment are affected by harmonically distorted supply voltage. Electronic filter circuits are used to improve system power quality by mitigating adverse effects of harmonics. Hybrid filters having advantages of both passive and active filters are preferred to resolve the problem of harmonics efficiently and avoiding any chance of resonance. In this paper, a three phase three wire network is considered to supply an adjustable speed drive represented by a resistive load connected across a three phase bridge rectifier. Simulation of the considered system shows THD (Total Harmonic Distortion of 18.91 and 7.61% in supply current and voltage respectively. A HAPF (Hybrid Active Power Filter is proposed to reduce these THD values below 5% as recommended by IEEE Standard-519. P-Q theorem is used to calculate required parameters for proposed filter, which is implemented through hysteresis control. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the designed filter as THD for both current and voltage have reduced below allowable limit of 5%.

Control strategies of active filters in the context of power conditioning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dan, Stan George; Benjamin, Doniga Daniel; Magureanu, R.

2005-01-01

performance of active filters, and thus constitute a viable improved approach for harmonic compensation. In this paper a parallel hybrid filter is studied for current harmonic compensation. The hybrid filter is formed by a single tuned LC filter per phase and a small-rated power three-phase active filter......Active Power Filters have been intensively explored in the past decade. Various topologies and control schemes have been documented aiming at reducing the cost and improving the performance of the compensation system. Hybrid active filters inherit the efficiency of passive filters and the improved......, which are directly connected in series without any matching transformer. The required rating of the active filter is much smaller than a conventional standalone active filter would be. No additional switching-ripple filter is required for the hybrid filter because the LC filter functions not only...

A generalized adaptive mathematical morphological filter for LIDAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Zheng

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology has become the primary method to derive high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), which are essential for studying Earth's surface processes, such as flooding and landslides. The critical step in generating a DTM is to separate ground and non-ground measurements in a voluminous point LIDAR dataset, using a filter, because the DTM is created by interpolating ground points. As one of widely used filtering methods, the progressive morphological (PM) filter has the advantages of classifying the LIDAR data at the point level, a linear computational complexity, and preserving the geometric shapes of terrain features. The filter works well in an urban setting with a gentle slope and a mixture of vegetation and buildings. However, the PM filter often removes ground measurements incorrectly at the topographic high area, along with large sizes of non-ground objects, because it uses a constant threshold slope, resulting in "cut-off" errors. A novel cluster analysis method was developed in this study and incorporated into the PM filter to prevent the removal of the ground measurements at topographic highs. Furthermore, to obtain the optimal filtering results for an area with undulating terrain, a trend analysis method was developed to adaptively estimate the slope-related thresholds of the PM filter based on changes of topographic slopes and the characteristics of non-terrain objects. The comparison of the PM and generalized adaptive PM (GAPM) filters for selected study areas indicates that the GAPM filter preserves the most "cut-off" points removed incorrectly by the PM filter. The application of the GAPM filter to seven ISPRS benchmark datasets shows that the GAPM filter reduces the filtering error by 20% on average, compared with the method used by the popular commercial software TerraScan. The combination of the cluster method, adaptive trend analysis, and the PM filter allows users without much experience in

Severe accident consequence mitigation by filtered containment venting at Canadian nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lebel, Luke S.; Morreale, Andrew C.; Korolevych, Volodymyr; Brown, Morgan J.; Gyepi-Garbrah, Sam

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Use of filtered containment venting during a severe accident assessed. • Severe accident simulations performed using MAAP-CANDU and ADDAM. • Flow capacity, initiation protocols, efficiency, mass and thermal loading evaluated. • Efficient, robust system drastically reduces accident consequences. - Abstract: Having the capability to use filtered containment venting during a severe nuclear accident can significantly reduce its overall consequences. This study employs the MAAP-CANDU severe accident analysis code and the ADDAM atmospheric dispersion code to study the progression of: an unmitigated station blackout accident at a generic pressurized heavy water reactor, the release of radioactive material into the environment, the subsequent dispersion of the fission products through the atmosphere and the subsequent consequences (evacuation radius). The goal is to evaluate the application of filtered venting as an accident mitigation technology. Several aspects of filtered containment venting system design, like flow capacity, initiation protocols, filter efficiency, mass loading, and thermal loading are considered. An efficient and robust filtered containment venting system can reduce the amount of radiological materials emitted during an accident by 25 times or more, and as a result considerably reduce the off-site consequences of an accident.

Ash reduction system using electrically heated particulate matter filter

Science.gov (United States)

Gonze, Eugene V [Pinckney, MI; Paratore, Jr., Michael J; He, Yongsheng [Sterling Heights, MI

2011-08-16

A control system for reducing ash comprises a temperature estimator module that estimates a temperature of an electrically heated particulate matter (PM) filter. A temperature and position estimator module estimates a position and temperature of an oxidation wave within the electrically heated PM filter. An ash reduction control module adjusts at least one of exhaust flow, fuel and oxygen levels in the electrically heated PM filter to adjust a position of the oxidation wave within the electrically heated PM filter based on the oxidation wave temperature and position.

Model for optimising the execution of anti-spam filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Ruano-Ordás

2016-12-01

Full Text Available During last years, the combination of several filtering techniques for the development of anti-spam systems has gained a enormous popularity. However, although the accuracy achieved by these models has increased considerably, its use has entailed the emergence of new challenges such as the need to reduce the excessive use of computational resources, the increase of filtering speed and the adjustment of the weights used for the combination of several filtering techniques. In order to achieve this goal we have been refined several aspects including: (i the design and development of small technical improvements to increase the overall performance of the filter, (ii application of genetic algorithms to increase filtering accuracy and (iii the use of scheduling algorithms to improve filtering throughput.

Filter arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Page, Ralph H.; Doty, Patrick F.

2017-08-01

The various technologies presented herein relate to a tiled filter array that can be used in connection with performance of spatial sampling of optical signals. The filter array comprises filter tiles, wherein a first plurality of filter tiles are formed from a first material, the first material being configured such that only photons having wavelengths in a first wavelength band pass therethrough. A second plurality of filter tiles is formed from a second material, the second material being configured such that only photons having wavelengths in a second wavelength band pass therethrough. The first plurality of filter tiles and the second plurality of filter tiles can be interspersed to form the filter array comprising an alternating arrangement of first filter tiles and second filter tiles.

The AGILE on-board Kalman filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giuliani, A.; Cocco, V.; Mereghetti, S.; Pittori, C.; Tavani, M.

2006-01-01

On-board reduction of particle background is one of the main challenges of space instruments dedicated to gamma-ray astrophysics. We present in this paper a discussion of the method and main simulation results of the on-board background filter of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) of the AGILE mission. The GRID is capable of detecting and imaging with optimal point spread function gamma-ray photons in the range 30MeV-30GeV. The AGILE planned orbit is equatorial, with an altitude of 550km. This is an optimal orbit from the point of view of the expected particle background. For this orbit, electrons and positrons of kinetic energies between 20MeV and hundreds of MeV dominate the particle background, with significant contributions from high-energy (primary) and low-energy protons, and gamma-ray albedo-photons. We present here the main results obtained by extensive simulations of the on-board AGILE-GRID particle/photon background rejection algorithms based on a special application of Kalman filter techniques. This filter is applied (Level-2) sequentially after other data processing techniques characterizing the Level-1 processing. We show that, in conjunction with the Level-1 processing, the adopted Kalman filtering is expected to reduce the total particle/albedo-photon background rate to a value (=<10-30Hz) that is compatible with the AGILE telemetry. The AGILE on-board Kalman filter is also effective in reducing the Earth-albedo-photon background rate, and therefore contributes to substantially increase the AGILE exposure for celestial gamma-ray sources

Filtering observations without the initial guess

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, T. M.; Abbondanza, C.; Gross, R. S.; Heflin, M. B.; Parker, J. W.; Soja, B.; Wu, X.

2017-12-01

Noisy geophysical observations sampled irregularly over space and time are often numerically "analyzed" or "filtered" before scientific usage. The standard analysis and filtering techniques based on the Bayesian principle requires "a priori" joint distribution of all the geophysical parameters of interest. However, such prior distributions are seldom known fully in practice, and best-guess mean values (e.g., "climatology" or "background" data if available) accompanied by some arbitrarily set covariance values are often used in lieu. It is therefore desirable to be able to exploit efficient (time sequential) Bayesian algorithms like the Kalman filter while not forced to provide a prior distribution (i.e., initial mean and covariance). An example of this is the estimation of the terrestrial reference frame (TRF) where requirement for numerical precision is such that any use of a priori constraints on the observation data needs to be minimized. We will present the Information Filter algorithm, a variant of the Kalman filter that does not require an initial distribution, and apply the algorithm (and an accompanying smoothing algorithm) to the TRF estimation problem. We show that the information filter allows temporal propagation of partial information on the distribution (marginal distribution of a transformed version of the state vector), instead of the full distribution (mean and covariance) required by the standard Kalman filter. The information filter appears to be a natural choice for the task of filtering observational data in general cases where prior assumption on the initial estimate is not available and/or desirable. For application to data assimilation problems, reduced-order approximations of both the information filter and square-root information filter (SRIF) have been published, and the former has previously been applied to a regional configuration of the HYCOM ocean general circulation model. Such approximation approaches are also briefed in the

Design of low complexity sharp MDFT filter banks with perfect reconstruction using hybrid harmony-gravitational search algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Sakthivel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The design of low complexity sharp transition width Modified Discrete Fourier Transform (MDFT filter bank with perfect reconstruction (PR is proposed in this work. The current trends in technology require high data rates and speedy processing along with reduced power consumption, implementation complexity and chip area. Filters with sharp transition width are required for various applications in wireless communication. Frequency response masking (FRM technique is used to reduce the implementation complexity of sharp MDFT filter banks with PR. Further, to reduce the implementation complexity, the continuous coefficients of the filters in the MDFT filter banks are represented in discrete space using canonic signed digit (CSD. The multipliers in the filters are replaced by shifters and adders. The number of non-zero bits is reduced in the conversion process to minimize the number of adders and shifters required for the filter implementation. Hence the performances of the MDFT filter bank with PR may degrade. In this work, the performances of the MDFT filter banks with PR are improved using a hybrid Harmony-Gravitational search algorithm.

Carcinogenic action of polycyclic hydrocarbons in animals and man

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shabad, L M

1976-01-01

Polycyclic hydrocarbons are universally present in the atmosphere, soil, lakes and streams, vegetation, and human and animal tissues, the concentrations varying with distance from the sources (heating systems, industrial plants, automobile highways and airports, petroleum refineries, etc.). The most potent of the carcinogens is benz(a)pyrene whose presence in an object, as shown by studies done in the author's laboratory, is an indication that other polycyclic hydrocarbons are also present. These studies also demonstrated that while benz(a)pyrene may accumulate in soil with seasonal fluctuations, it can also be destroyed by certain microorganisms. Other experiments showed that benz(a)pyrene and other such compounds can be destroyed in tissue culture as well as in vivo (e.g., benz(a)pyrene given to cows with fodder was found in their milk but not in meat after they were slaughtered). It is suggested that maximum permissible concentrations be set for benz(a)pyrene in air and water to minimize its potential carcinogenic effects.

An approach for fixed coefficient RNS-based FIR filter

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivasa Reddy, Kotha; Sahoo, Subhendu Kumar

2017-08-01

In this work, an efficient new modular multiplication method for {2k-1, 2k, 2k+1-1} moduli set is proposed to implement a residue number system (RNS)-based fixed coefficient finite impulse response filter. The new multiplication approach reduces the number of partial products by using pre-loaded product block. The reduction in partial products with the proposed modular multiplication improves the clock frequency and reduces the area and power as compared with the conventional modular multiplication. Further, the present approach eliminates a binary number to residue number converter circuit, which is usually needed at the front end of RNS-based system. In this work, two fixed coefficient filter architectures with the new modular multiplication approach are proposed. The filters are implemented using Verilog hardware description language. The United Microelectronics Corporation 90 nm technology library has been used for synthesis and the results area, power and delay are obtained with the help of Cadence register transfer level compiler. The power delay product (PDP) is also considered for performance comparison among the proposed filters. One of the proposed architecture is found to improve PDP gain by 60.83% as compared with the filter implemented with conventional modular multiplier. The filters functionality is validated with the help of Altera DSP Builder.

Analog Filter Design Rules for Multilevel Polybinary Signaling Generation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

2014-01-01

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

MODELING GALACTIC EXTINCTION WITH DUST AND 'REAL' POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mulas, Giacomo; Casu, Silvia; Cecchi-Pestellini, Cesare; Zonca, Alberto

2013-01-01

We investigate the remarkable apparent variety of galactic extinction curves by modeling extinction profiles with core-mantle grains and a collection of single polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Our aim is to translate a synthetic description of dust into physically well-grounded building blocks through the analysis of a statistically relevant sample of different extinction curves. All different flavors of observed extinction curves, ranging from the average galactic extinction curve to virtually 'bumpless' profiles, can be described by the present model. We prove that a mixture of a relatively small number (54 species in 4 charge states each) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can reproduce the features of the extinction curve in the ultraviolet, dismissing an old objection to the contribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to the interstellar extinction curve. Despite the large number of free parameters (at most the 54 × 4 column densities of each species in each ionization state included in the molecular ensemble plus the 9 parameters defining the physical properties of classical particles), we can strongly constrain some physically relevant properties such as the total number of C atoms in all species and the mean charge of the mixture. Such properties are found to be largely independent of the adopted dust model whose variation provides effects that are orthogonal to those brought about by the molecular component. Finally, the fitting procedure, together with some physical sense, suggests (but does not require) the presence of an additional component of chemically different very small carbonaceous grains.

随机奇异系统分布式最优融合降阶卡尔曼滤波器%Distributed Reduced-order Optimal Fusion Kalman Filters for Stochastic Singular Systems

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

孙书利; 马静

2006-01-01

Based on the optimal fusion algorithm weighted by matrices in the linear minimum variance (LMV) sense, a distributed full-order optimal fusion Kalman filter (DFFKF) is given for discrete-time stochastic singular systems with multiple sensors, which involves the inverse of a highdimension matrix to compute matrix weights. To reduce the computational burden, a distributed reduced-order fusion Kalman filter (DRFKF) is presented, which involves in parallel the inverses of two relatively low-dimension matrices to compute matrix weights. A simulation example shows the effectiveness.

Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by arbuscular mycorrhizal leek plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, A.; Dalpe, Y.

2005-01-01

A study was conducted to examine the response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), nutrient uptake, and leek growth under greenhouse conditions. This experiment included 3 mycorrhizal treatments, 2 microorganism treatments, 2 PAH chemicals, and 4 concentrations of PAHs. Plant growth was greatly reduced by the addition of anthracene or phenanthrene in soil, whereas mycorrhizal inoculation not only increased plant growth, but also enhanced uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus. PAH concentrations in soil was lowered through the inoculation of two different strains of the species G. intraradices and G. versiforme. In 12 weeks of pot cultures, anthracene and phenanthrene concentrations decreased for all 3 PAH levels tested. However, the reduced amount of phenanthrene in soil was greater than that of anthracene. The addition of a soil microorganism extract into pot cultures accelerated the PAH degradation. The inoculation of AMF in a hydrocarbon contaminated soil was shown to enhance PAHs soil decontamination. It was concluded that a soil colonized with AMF can not only improve plant growth but can also stimulate soil microflora abundance and diversity. AMF may therefore directly influence PAH soil decontamination through plant growth enhancement

Efficient design of FIR filter based low-pass differentiators for biomedical signal processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wulf Michael

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper describes an alternative design of linear phase low-pass differentiators with a finite impulse response (type III FIR filter. To reduce the number of necessary filter coefficients, the differentiator’s transfer function is approximated by a Fourier series of a triangle function. Thereby the filter’s transition steepness towards the stopband is intentionally reduced. It can be shown that the proposed design of low-pass differentiators yields to similar results as other published design recommendations, while the filter order can be significantly reduced.

Activation analysis by filtered neutrons. Preliminary investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skarnemark, G.; Rodinson, T.; Skaalberg, M.; Tokay, R.K.

1986-01-01

In order to investigate if measuring sensibility and precision by epithermal neutron activation analysis may be improved, different types of geological and biologic test samples were radiated. The test samples were enclosed in an extra filter of tungsten or sodium in order to reduce the flux of those neutrons that otherwise would induce interfering activity in the sample. The geological test samples consist of granites containing lanthanides which had been crushed in tung- sten carbide grinder. Normally such test samples show a interferins 1 87W-activity. By use of a tungsten filter the activity was reduced by up to 60%, which resulted in a considerable improvement of sensibility and precision of the measurement. The biologic test samples consisted of evaporated urine from patients treated with the cell poison cis-platinol. A reliable method to measure the platinum content has not existed so far. This method, however, enables platinum contents as low as about 0.1 ppm to be determined which is quite adequate. To sum up this preliminary study has demonstrated that activation analysis using filtered neutrons, correctly applied, is a satisfactory method of reducing interferences without complicated and time-consuming chemical separation procedures. (O.S.)

Design strategy for the combined system of shunt passive and series active filters

OpenAIRE

Fujita, Hideki; Akagi, Hirofumi

1991-01-01

A design strategy for the combined power filter for a three-phase twelve-pulse thyristor rectifier is proposed. The shunt passive filter, which can minimize the output voltage of the series active filter, is designed and tested in a prototype model. A specially designed shunt passive filter makes it possible to reduce the required rating of the series active filter to 60% compared with a conventional shunt passive filter

In Situ Cleanable Alternative HEPA Filter Media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamson, D. J.; Terry, M. T.

2002-01-01

Energy's Hazardous Facilities'', found that conventional glass fiber HEPA filters are structurally weak and easily damaged by water or fire. The structurally stronger sintered metal and ceramic filters would reduce the potential of a catastrophic HEPA filter failure due to filter media breakthrough in the process ventilation system. An in situ regenerable system may also find application in recovering nuclear materials, such as plutonium, collected on glove box exhaust HEPA filters. This innovative approach of the in situ regenerative filtration system may be a significant improvement upon the shortfalls of conventional disposable HEPA filters

Ex-situ bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sewage sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Jens Ejbye; Larsen, S.B.; Karakashev, Dimitar Borisov

2008-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are naturally occurring organic compounds. As a result of anthropogenic activities, PAH concentration has increased in the environment considerably. PAH are regarded as environmental pollutants because they have toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects on l...

Role of IVC Filters in Endovenous Therapy for Deep Venous Thrombosis: The FILTER-PEVI (Filter Implantation to Lower Thromboembolic Risk in Percutaneous Endovenous Intervention) Trial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharifi, Mohsen; Bay, Curt; Skrocki, Laura; Lawson, David; Mazdeh, Shahnaz

2012-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the necessity of and recommend indications for inferior vena cava (IVC) filter implantation during percutaneous endovenous intervention (PEVI) for deep venous thrombosis (DVT).BackgroundPEVI has emerged as a powerful tool in the management of acute proximal DVT. Instrumentation of extensive fresh thrombus is potentially associated with iatrogenic pulmonary embolism (PE). The true frequency of this complication has not been studied in a randomized fashion. We evaluated IVC filter implantation during PEVI for DVT. Methods: A total of 141 patients with symptomatic proximal DVT undergoing PEVI for symptomatic DVT were randomized to receive an IVC filter (70 patients) or no filter (71 patients; control group). The anticoagulation and PEVI regimen were similar between the two groups. Patients with development of symptoms suggestive of PE underwent objective testing for PE. Results: PE developed in 1 of the 14 symptomatic patients in the filter group and 8 of the 22 patients in the control group (P = 0.048). There was no mortality in any group. Three patients (4.2%) in the control group had transient hemodynamic instability necessitating resuscitory efforts. Predictors of iatrogenic PE were found to be PE at admission; involvement of two or more adjacent venous segments with acute thrombus; inflammatory form of DVT (severe erythema, edema, pain, and induration); and vein diameter of ≥7 mm with preserved architecture. Conclusions: IVC filter implantation during PEVI reduces the risk of iatrogenic PE by eightfold without a mortality benefit. A selective approach may be exercised in filter implantation during PEVI.

Role of IVC Filters in Endovenous Therapy for Deep Venous Thrombosis: The FILTER-PEVI (Filter Implantation to Lower Thromboembolic Risk in Percutaneous Endovenous Intervention) Trial

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharifi, Mohsen, E-mail: seyedmohsensharifi@yahoo.com [Arizona Cardiovascular Consultants (United States); Bay, Curt [A.T. Still University, Arizona School of Health Sciences (United States); Skrocki, Laura; Lawson, David; Mazdeh, Shahnaz [Arizona Cardiovascular Consultants (United States)

2012-12-15

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the necessity of and recommend indications for inferior vena cava (IVC) filter implantation during percutaneous endovenous intervention (PEVI) for deep venous thrombosis (DVT).BackgroundPEVI has emerged as a powerful tool in the management of acute proximal DVT. Instrumentation of extensive fresh thrombus is potentially associated with iatrogenic pulmonary embolism (PE). The true frequency of this complication has not been studied in a randomized fashion. We evaluated IVC filter implantation during PEVI for DVT. Methods: A total of 141 patients with symptomatic proximal DVT undergoing PEVI for symptomatic DVT were randomized to receive an IVC filter (70 patients) or no filter (71 patients; control group). The anticoagulation and PEVI regimen were similar between the two groups. Patients with development of symptoms suggestive of PE underwent objective testing for PE. Results: PE developed in 1 of the 14 symptomatic patients in the filter group and 8 of the 22 patients in the control group (P = 0.048). There was no mortality in any group. Three patients (4.2%) in the control group had transient hemodynamic instability necessitating resuscitory efforts. Predictors of iatrogenic PE were found to be PE at admission; involvement of two or more adjacent venous segments with acute thrombus; inflammatory form of DVT (severe erythema, edema, pain, and induration); and vein diameter of {>=}7 mm with preserved architecture. Conclusions: IVC filter implantation during PEVI reduces the risk of iatrogenic PE by eightfold without a mortality benefit. A selective approach may be exercised in filter implantation during PEVI.

Adaptive linear predictor FIR filter based on the Cyclone V FPGA with HPS to reduce narrow band RFI in AERA radio detection of cosmic rays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Szadkowski, Zbigniew [University of Lodz, Department of Physics and Applied Informatics, 90-236 Lodz, (Poland)

2015-07-01

IIR-notch filter or by the FIR filter based on the linear predictions. For the LP FIR filter the refreshment time of the filter coefficients was to long and filter did not keep up with the changes of a contamination structure, mainly due to a long calculation time in a slow processors. We propose to use the Cyclone V SE chip with embedded micro-controller operating with 925 MHz internal clock to significantly reduce a refreshment time of the FIR coefficients. The lab results are promising. (authors)

Multiple model cardinalized probability hypothesis density filter

Science.gov (United States)

Georgescu, Ramona; Willett, Peter

2011-09-01

The Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter propagates the first-moment approximation to the multi-target Bayesian posterior distribution while the Cardinalized PHD (CPHD) filter propagates both the posterior likelihood of (an unlabeled) target state and the posterior probability mass function of the number of targets. Extensions of the PHD filter to the multiple model (MM) framework have been published and were implemented either with a Sequential Monte Carlo or a Gaussian Mixture approach. In this work, we introduce the multiple model version of the more elaborate CPHD filter. We present the derivation of the prediction and update steps of the MMCPHD particularized for the case of two target motion models and proceed to show that in the case of a single model, the new MMCPHD equations reduce to the original CPHD equations.

Gated myocardial SPECT using spatial and temporal filtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hatton, R.L.; Hutton, B.F.; Kyme, A.Z.; Larcos, G.

2002-01-01

Full text: Standard protocols for examining myocardial perfusion and motion defects involve the use of gated SPECT images, and a composite of the gated frames. This study examines the usefulness of extracting one or a combination of frames from the gated image to assess perfusion, and whether the addition of a temporal filter to the gated image improves signal to noise. Choice of the most appropriate frame was also considered. Sixteen and eight frame gated SPECT studies were simulated using the dynamic NURBS-based cardiac torso (NCAT) phantom. Variously sized perfusion defects were included in the inferior wall to assess contrast to normal tissue. Scatter and attenuation were not included. Butterworth spatial cutoff frequencies were varied to establish the most appropriate combination of temporal/spatial filters to reduce noise and retain contrast in the images. The 16 frame data produced higher ejection fraction across all spatial filter cutoffs, and generally was unaffected by temporal filtering. Temporal filtering reduced the noise in a uniform liver region in the gated images to within 25% of the composite image noise. The lesion extent and contrast were greater in the end-diastolic frames compared to end-systolic and mid-cycle frames. In conclusion, by using a temporally filtered end-diastolic image from the gated sequence, a favourable balance between noise and contrast can be achieved. Work is progress to confirm these findings in the clinical situation. Copyright (2002) The Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine Inc

Real time microcontroller implementation of an adaptive myoelectric filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagwell, P J; Chappell, P H

1995-03-01

This paper describes a real time digital adaptive filter for processing myoelectric signals. The filter time constant is automatically selected by the adaptation algorithm, giving a significant improvement over linear filters for estimating the muscle force and controlling a prosthetic device. Interference from mains sources often produces problems for myoelectric processing, and so 50 Hz and all harmonic frequencies are reduced by an averaging filter and differential process. This makes practical electrode placement and contact less critical and time consuming. An economic real time implementation is essential for a prosthetic controller, and this is achieved using an Intel 80C196KC microcontroller.

Particle Kalman Filtering: A Nonlinear Framework for Ensemble Kalman Filters

KAUST Repository

Hoteit, Ibrahim; Luo, Xiaodong; Pham, Dinh-Tuan; Moroz, Irene M.

2010-01-01

In this contribution, we present a Gaussian mixture‐based framework, called the particle Kalman filter (PKF), and discuss how the different EnKF methods can be derived as simplified variants of the PKF. We also discuss approaches to reducing the computational burden of the PKF in order to make it suitable for complex geosciences applications. We use the strongly nonlinear Lorenz‐96 model to illustrate the performance of the PKF.

Graphic filter library implemented in CUDA language

OpenAIRE

Peroutková, Hedvika

2009-01-01

This thesis deals with the problem of reducing computation time of raster image processing by parallel computing on graphics processing unit. Raster image processing thereby refers to the application of graphic filters, which can be applied in sequence with different settings. This thesis evaluates the suitability of using parallelization on graphic card for raster image adjustments based on multicriterial choice. Filters are implemented for graphics processing unit in CUDA language. Opacity ...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as a tracer of star formation?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peeters, E; Spoon, HWW; Tielens, AGGM

2004-01-01

Infrared (IR) emission features at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3 mum are generally attributed to IR fluorescence from ( mainly) far-ultraviolet (FUV) pumped large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. As such, these features trace the FUV stellar flux and are thus a measure of star

A study of the microbiology and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A study was carried out on the drill cuttings from three different oil and gas wells located at Ologbo Community at Edo State with respect to their microbiology and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) compositional profile and sources. Isolation and enumeration of heterotrophic bacteria and fungi was carried out using ...

Reducing diarrhea through the use of household-based ceramic water filters: a randomized, controlled trial in rural Bolivia.

Science.gov (United States)

Clasen, Thomas F; Brown, Joseph; Collin, Simon; Suntura, Oscar; Cairncross, Sandy

2004-06-01

Ceramic water filters have been identified as one of the most promising and accessible technologies for treating water at the household level. In a six-month trial, water filters were distributed randomly to half of the 50 participating households in a rural community in Bolivia; the remaining households continued to use customary water handling practices and served as controls. In four rounds of sampling following distribution of the filters, 100% of the 96 water samples from the filter households were free of thermotolerant coliforms compared with 15.5% of the control household samples. Diarrheal disease risk for individuals in intervention households was 70% lower than for controls (95% confidence interval [CI] = 53-80%; P ceramic water filters enable low-income households to treat and maintain the microbiologic quality of their drinking water.

Target Centroid Position Estimation of Phase-Path Volume Kalman Filtering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fengjun Hu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available For the problem of easily losing track target when obstacles appear in intelligent robot target tracking, this paper proposes a target tracking algorithm integrating reduced dimension optimal Kalman filtering algorithm based on phase-path volume integral with Camshift algorithm. After analyzing the defects of Camshift algorithm, compare the performance with the SIFT algorithm and Mean Shift algorithm, and Kalman filtering algorithm is used for fusion optimization aiming at the defects. Then aiming at the increasing amount of calculation in integrated algorithm, reduce dimension with the phase-path volume integral instead of the Gaussian integral in Kalman algorithm and reduce the number of sampling points in the filtering process without influencing the operational precision of the original algorithm. Finally set the target centroid position from the Camshift algorithm iteration as the observation value of the improved Kalman filtering algorithm to fix predictive value; thus to make optimal estimation of target centroid position and keep the target tracking so that the robot can understand the environmental scene and react in time correctly according to the changes. The experiments show that the improved algorithm proposed in this paper shows good performance in target tracking with obstructions and reduces the computational complexity of the algorithm through the dimension reduction.

A Review of Passive Filters for Grid-Connected Voltage Source Converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beres, Remus Narcis; Wang, Xiongfei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2014-01-01

LCL filter is the common interface between the Pulse Width Modulated Voltage Source Converter (PWM VSC) and the utility grid due to high harmonic attenuation capability and reduced size of the passive elements. The present paper investigates the most promising passive damping methods for the LCL...... topology but also propose an overview of high order filters capable to offer even more attenuation than the LCL filter at a reduced size. This is the case of more recently introduced LCL topology with tuned traps. However, it is shown that by decreasing the size of the passive elements the robustness...

Filter assembly for metallic and intermetallic tube filters

Science.gov (United States)

Alvin, Mary Anne; Lippert, Thomas E.; Bruck, Gerald J.; Smeltzer, Eugene E.

2001-01-01

A filter assembly (60) for holding a filter element (28) within a hot gas cleanup system pressure vessel is provided, containing: a filter housing (62), said filter housing having a certain axial length and having a peripheral sidewall, said sidewall defining an interior chamber (66); a one piece, all metal, fail-safe/regenerator device (68) within the interior chamber (66) of the filter housing (62) and/or extending beyond the axial length of the filter housing, said device containing an outward extending radial flange (71) within the filter housing for seating an essential seal (70), the device also having heat transfer media (72) disposed inside and screens (80) for particulate removal; one compliant gasket (70) positioned next to and above the outward extending radial flange of the fail-safe/regenerator device; and a porous metallic corrosion resistant superalloy type filter element body welded at the bottom of the metal fail-safe/regenerator device.

Statistically-Efficient Filtering in Impulsive Environments: Weighted Myriad Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan G. Gonzalez

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Linear filtering theory has been largely motivated by the characteristics of Gaussian signals. In the same manner, the proposed Myriad Filtering methods are motivated by the need for a flexible filter class with high statistical efficiency in non-Gaussian impulsive environments that can appear in practice. Myriad filters have a solid theoretical basis, are inherently more powerful than median filters, and are very general, subsuming traditional linear FIR filters. The foundation of the proposed filtering algorithms lies in the definition of the myriad as a tunable estimator of location derived from the theory of robust statistics. We prove several fundamental properties of this estimator and show its optimality in practical impulsive models such as the α-stable and generalized-t. We then extend the myriad estimation framework to allow the use of weights. In the same way as linear FIR filters become a powerful generalization of the mean filter, filters based on running myriads reach all of their potential when a weighting scheme is utilized. We derive the “normal” equations for the optimal myriad filter, and introduce a suboptimal methodology for filter tuning and design. The strong potential of myriad filtering and estimation in impulsive environments is illustrated with several examples.

Filter material charging apparatus for filter assembly for radioactive contaminants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldsmith, J.M.; O'Nan, A. Jr.

1977-01-01

A filter charging apparatus for a filter assembly is described. The filter assembly includes a housing with at least one filter bed therein and the filter charging apparatus for adding filter material to the filter assembly includes a tank with an opening therein, the tank opening being disposed in flow communication with opposed first and second conduit means, the first conduit means being in flow communication with the filter assembly housing and the second conduit means being in flow communication with a blower means. Upon activation of the blower means, the blower means pneumatically conveys the filter material from the tank to the filter housing

The filter of choice: filtration method preference among injecting drug users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keijzer Lenneke

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Injection drug use syringe filters (IDUSF are designed to prevent several complications related to the injection of drugs. Due to their small pore size, their use can reduce the solution's insoluble particle content and thus diminish the prevalence of phlebitis, talcosis.... Their low drug retention discourages from filter reuse and sharing and can thus prevent viral and microbial infections. In France, drug users have access to sterile cotton filters for 15 years and to an IDUSF (the Sterifilt® for 5 years. This study was set up to explore the factors influencing filter preference amongst injecting drug users. Methods Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through 241 questionnaires and the participation of 23 people in focus groups. Results Factors found to significantly influence filter preference were duration and frequency of injecting drug use, the type of drugs injected and subculture. Furthermore, IDU's rationale for the preference of one type of filter over others was explored. It was found that filter preference depends on perceived health benefits (reduced harms, prevention of vein damage, protection of injection sites, drug retention (low retention: better high, protective mechanism against the reuse of filters; high retention: filter reuse as a protective mechanism against withdrawal, technical and practical issues (filter clogging, ease of use, time needed to prepare an injection and believes (the conviction that a clear solution contains less active compound. Conclusion It was concluded that the factors influencing filter preference are in favour of change; a shift towards the use of more efficient filters can be made through increased availability, information and demonstrations.

Desorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from field-contaminated soil to a two-dimensional hydrophobic surface before and after bioremediation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jing; Aitken, Michael D

2012-10-01

Dermal exposure can represent a significant health risk in settings involving potential contact with soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, there is limited work on the ability of PAHs in contaminated soil to reach the skin surface via desorption from the soil. We evaluated PAH desorption from a field-contaminated soil to a two-dimensional hydrophobic surface (C18 extraction disk) as a measure of potential dermal exposure as a function of soil loading (5-100 mg dry soil cm(-2)), temperature (20-40°C), and soil moisture content (2-40%) over periods up to 16d. The efficacy of bioremediation in removing the most readily desorbable PAH fractions was also evaluated. Desorption kinetics were described well by an empirical two-compartment kinetic model. PAH mass desorbed to the C18 disk kept increasing at soil loadings well above the estimated monolayer coverage, suggesting mechanisms for PAH transport to the surface other than by direct contact. Such mechanisms were reinforced by observations that desorption occurred even with dry or moist glass microfiber filters placed between the C18 disk and the soil. Desorption of all PAHs was substantially reduced at a soil moisture content corresponding to field capacity, suggesting that transport through pore air contributed to PAH transport to the C18 disk. The lower molecular weight PAHs had greater potential to desorb from soil than higher molecular weight PAHs. Biological treatment of the soil in a slurry-phase bioreactor completely eliminated PAH desorption to the C18 disks. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Desorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from field-contaminated soil to a two-dimensional hydrophobic surface before and after bioremediation

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jing; Aitken, Michael D.

2012-01-01

Dermal exposure can represent a significant health risk in settings involving potential contact with soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, there is limited work on the ability of PAHs in contaminated soil to reach the skin surface via desorption from the soil. We evaluated PAH desorption from a field-contaminated soil to a two-dimensional hydrophobic surface (C18 extraction disk) as a measure of potential dermal exposure as a function of soil loading (5 to 100 mg dry soil/cm2), temperature (20 °C to 40 °C), and soil moisture content (2% to 40%) over periods up to 16 d. The efficacy of bioremediation in removing the most readily desorbable PAH fractions was also evaluated. Desorption kinetics were described well by an empirical two-compartment kinetic model. PAH mass desorbed to the C18 disk kept increasing at soil loadings well above the estimated monolayer coverage, suggesting mechanisms for PAH transport to the surface other than by direct contact. Such mechanisms were reinforced by observations that desorption occurred even with dry or moist glass microfiber filters placed between the C18 disk and the soil. Desorption of all PAHs was substantially reduced at a soil moisture content corresponding to field capacity, suggesting that transport through pore air contributed to PAH transport to the C18 disk. The lower molecular weight PAHs had greater potential to desorb from soil than higher molecular weight PAHs. Biological treatment of the soil in a slurry-phase bioreactor completely eliminated PAH desorption to the C18 disks. PMID:22704210

Processing of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by fog in an urban environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrenhauser, Franz S; Khadapkar, Kalindi; Wang, Youliang; Hutchings, James W; Delhomme, Olivier; Kommalapati, Raghava R; Herckes, Pierre; Wornat, Mary J; Valsaraj, Kalliat T

2012-10-26

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are ubiquitous pollutants in the atmosphere, predominantly known for their toxicity. Although there has been substantial work on the atmospheric degradation of PAH, little is known about how the presence of atmospheric droplets (e.g., a fog cloud) affects the fate of PAH. In order to assess the processing of PAH and their corresponding oxidation products during a fog event, two field-sampling campaigns in Fresno, CA and Davis, CA were conducted. The simultaneous evaluation of concentrations of the PAH and oxygenated polycyclic aromatic compounds (OPAC) in the gas phase, particulate matter and fog water droplets before, during and after fog allows for the characterization of transformative and transport processes in a fog cloud. By tracking the ratio of OPAC to PAH in the individual atmospheric phases, two major polycyclic aromatic compounds-processing pathways can be identified: (i) the dissolution of OPAC from particulate matter and (ii) the uptake and oxidation of PAH in the fog water droplets. Wet deposition steadily decreases the pollutant concentration in the fog cloud droplets during a fog event; however, uptake and concentration via evaporative water loss upon the dissipation of a fog cloud cause an increase in the atmospheric pollutant concentration.

Utilization of plastics as transparent x-ray filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masuda, Yathuhiko; Inui, Saburo; Kooda, Kazunao; Takiguchi, Kiyomi; Abe, Yoshinobu.

1980-01-01

An attempt has been made to develop heavy atom containing transparent plastic filters which are identical with conventional aluminum or copper filters in X-ray attenuating property. These transparent filters can be used as fixed at the front of a conventional multilayer collimator without obstructing the optical detection of the field size of X-ray exposure. It has become a serious problem that recent increasing use of X-ray in diagnostics, namely increasing patient exposure, may cause baneful influence upon the patients. To reduce such patient exposure, the I.C.R.P. has recommended the proper use of metal filters made of aluminum or copper with regards to the applied tube potential. These filters are generally used as fixed at the X-ray tube window or used at the front of a multilayer collimator as added filters. In the former case, and exchange of filters to select the best one with regards to the applied tube potential needs complicated works, and in the latter, the use of the added filters also needs complicated works to confirm field size before each radiography. These troublesome works have at time resulted in improper uses of the filters although the effective selection of filters is known to be useful to the reduction of patient exposure. Therefore, the problem of reduction of patient exposure by means of filtration still remains practically unsolved. To offer practical added filters which do not possess above mentioned disadvantages of metal filters, we tried to develop transparent added filters. Transparent plastics as the material of the filters were loaded with heavy atoms to equalize X-ray attenuating property with aluminum or copper. (author)

Leak test method and test device for iodine filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukasawa, Tetsuo; Funabashi, Kiyomi; Miura, Noboru; Miura, Eiichi.

1995-01-01

An air introduction device which can change a humidity is disposed upstream of an iodine filter to be tested, and a humidity measuring device is disposed downstream of the iodine filter respectively. At first, dried air reduced with humidity is flown from the air introduction device to the iodine filter, to remove moisture content from an iodine adsorber in the iodine filter. Next, air at an increased humidity is supplied to the iodine filter. The difference between the time starting the supply of the highly humid air and the time detecting the high humidity at the humidity measuring device is measured. When the time difference is smaller than the time difference measured previously in a normal iodine filter, it shows the presence of leak in the iodine filter to be tested. With such procedures, leakage in the iodine filter which removes radioactive iodine from off-gases discharged from the radioactive material handling facilities can be detected easily by using water (steams), namely, a naturally present material. (I.N.)

Design and synthesis of fused polycycles via Diels–Alder reaction and ring-rearrangement metathesis as key steps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sambasivarao Kotha

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Atom efficient processes such as the Diels–Alder reaction (DA and the ring-rearrangement metathesis (RRM have been used to design new polycycles. In this regard, ruthenium alkylidene catalysts are effective in realizing the RRM of bis-norbornene derivatives prepared by DA reaction and Grignard addition. Here, fused polycycles are assembled which are difficult to produce by conventional synthetic routes.

Design and synthesis of fused polycycles via Diels-Alder reaction and ring-rearrangement metathesis as key steps.

Science.gov (United States)

Kotha, Sambasivarao; Ravikumar, Ongolu

2015-01-01

Atom efficient processes such as the Diels-Alder reaction (DA) and the ring-rearrangement metathesis (RRM) have been used to design new polycycles. In this regard, ruthenium alkylidene catalysts are effective in realizing the RRM of bis-norbornene derivatives prepared by DA reaction and Grignard addition. Here, fused polycycles are assembled which are difficult to produce by conventional synthetic routes.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils around Guanting Reservoir, Beijing, China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jiao, W.T.; Lu, Y.L.; Wang, T.Y.; Li, J.; Han, Jingyi; Wang, G.; Hu, W.Y.

2009-01-01

The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( 16PAHs) were measured by gas chromatography equipped with a mass spectrometry detector (GC-MS) in 56 topsoil samples around Guanting Reservior (GTR), which is an important water source for Beijing. Low to medium levels of PAH contamination

A vector Wiener filter for dual-radionuclide imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Links, J.M.; Prince, J.L.; Gupta, S.N.

1996-01-01

The routine use of a single radionuclide for patient imaging in nuclear medicine can be complemented by studies employing two tracers to examine two different processes in a single organ, most frequently by simultaneous imaging of both radionuclides in two different energy windows. In addition, simultaneous transmission/emission imaging with dual-radionuclides has been described, with one radionuclide used for the transmission study and a second for the emission study. There is thus currently considerable interest in dual-radionuclide imaging. A major problem with all dual-radionuclide imaging is the crosstalk between the two radionuclides. Such crosstalk frequently occurs, because scattered radiation from the higher energy radionuclide is detected in the lower energy window, and because the lower energy radionuclide may have higher energy emissions which are detected in the higher energy window. The authors have previously described the use of Fourier-based restoration filtering in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) to improve quantitative accuracy by designing a Wiener or other Fourier filter to partially restore the loss of contrast due to scatter and finite spatial resolution effects. The authors describe here the derivation and initial validation of an extension of such filtering for dual-radionuclide imaging that simultaneously (1) improves contrast in each radionuclide's direct image, (2) reduces image noise, and (3) reduces the crosstalk contribution from the other radionuclide. This filter is based on a vector version of the Wiener filter, which is shown to be superior [in the minimum mean square error (MMSE) sense] to the sequential application of separate crosstalk and restoration filters

Treatment of municipal wastewater in full-scale on-site sand filter reduces BOD efficiently but does not reach requirements for nitrogen and phosphorus removal.

Science.gov (United States)

Laaksonen, Petteri; Sinkkonen, Aki; Zaitsev, Gennadi; Mäkinen, Esa; Grönroos, Timo; Romantschuk, Martin

2017-04-01

by high nitrate levels and poor nitrogen reductions, denitrification was inefficient or absent. During the winter period, the temperature in the filter dropped to near freezing, but at all time points, the flow of water was unaffected by freezing. During snowmelt and heavy rain, occasional flooding was observed. Such situations may lead to dilution rather than purification of the wastewater. In conclusion, the sand filter tested worked well for reduction of the organic load in municipal wastewater but failed to sufficiently reduce nitrogen and phosphorus levels.

A design aid for sizing filter strips using buffer area ratio

Science.gov (United States)

M.G. Dosskey; M.J. Helmers; D.E. Eisenhauer

2011-01-01

Nonuniform field runoff can reduce the effectiveness of filter strips that are a uniform size along a field margin. Effectiveness can be improved by placing more filter strip where the runoff load is greater and less where the load is smaller. A modeling analysis was conducted of the relationship between pollutant trapping efficiency and the ratio of filter strip area...

Feature-Based Nonlocal Polarimetric SAR Filtering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoli Xing

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR images are inherently contaminated by multiplicative speckle noise, which complicates the image interpretation and image analyses. To reduce the speckle effect, several adaptive speckle filters have been developed based on the weighted average of the similarity measures commonly depending on the model or probability distribution, which are often affected by the distribution parameters and modeling texture components. In this paper, a novel filtering method introduces the coefficient of variance ( CV and Pauli basis (PB to measure the similarity, and the two features are combined with the framework of the nonlocal mean filtering. The CV is used to describe the complexity of various scenes and distinguish the scene heterogeneity; moreover, the Pauli basis is able to express the polarimetric information in PolSAR image processing. This proposed filtering combines the CV and Pauli basis to improve the estimation accuracy of the similarity weights. Then, the similarity of the features is deduced according to the test statistic. Subsequently, the filtering is proceeded by using the nonlocal weighted estimation. The performance of the proposed filter is tested with the simulated images and real PolSAR images, which are acquired by AIRSAR system and ESAR system. The qualitative and quantitative experiments indicate the validity of the proposed method by comparing with the widely-used despeckling methods.

Self-commissioning notch filter for active damping in three phase LCL-filter based grid converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alzola, Rafael Pena; Liserre, Marco; Blaabjerg, Frede

2013-01-01

inductance variations it is proposed to estimate the resonance frequency by means of Fourier analysis. The Goertzel algorithm, instead of the FFT, is used to reduce the calculation and memory requirements. Thus, the proposed self-commissioning notch filter results robust and consumes little computational...

High performance liquid chromatographic separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on microparticulate pyrrolidone and application to the analysis of shale oil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mourey, T.H.; Siggia, S.; Uden, P.C.; Crowley, R.J.

1980-01-01

A chemically bonded pyrrolidone substrate is used for the high performance liquid chromatographic separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The cyclic amide phase interacts electronically with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in both the normal and reversed phase modes. Separation is effected according to the number of aromatic rings and the type of ring condensation. Information obtained is very different from that observed on hydrocarbon substrates, and thus these phases can be used in a complementary fashion to give a profile of polycyclic aromatics in shale oil samples. 7 figures, 1 table

Volume reduction of contaminated filter wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buttedahl, O.I.; Terada, K.

1976-01-01

Reported are details of a pilot project to design and construct a compactor to reduce the handling of high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters used in air filtration systems at facilities where radioactive materials are processed. In such systems at Rocky Flats Plant, filters require frequent change and removal. Large quantities are used and will be increased for future operations. With the completion of the pilot model, it has been demonstrated that volume reductions of more than 80% can be achieved and cost savings will be realized also

Soil sealing degree as factor influencing urban soil contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mendyk Łukasz

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of the study was to determine role of soil sealing degree as the factor influencing soil contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs. The study area included four sampling sites located within the administrative boundaries of the Toruń city, Poland. Sampling procedure involved preparing soil pits representing three examples of soil sealing at each site: non-sealed soil as a control one (I and two degrees of soil sealing: semi-pervious surface (II and totally impervious surface (III. Together with basic properties defined with standard procedures (particle size distribution, pH, LOI, content of carbonates content of selected PAHs was determined by dichloromethane extraction using gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS. Obtained results show that urban soils in the city of Toruń are contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Soil sealing degree has a strong influence on the soil contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Totally sealed soils are better preserved from atmospheric pollution including PAHs. Combustion of grass/wood/coal was the main source of determined PAHs content in examined soils.

Decreasing the amplitude deviation of Guassian filter in surface roughness measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bo; Wang, Yu

2008-12-01

A new approach for decreasing the amplitude characteristic deviation of Guassian filter in surface roughness measurements is presented in this paper. According to Central Limit Theorem, many different Guassian approximation filters could be constructed. By using first-order Butterworth filter and moving average filter to approximate Guassian filter, their directions of amplitude deviation are opposite, and their locations of extreme value are close. So the linear combination of them could reduce the amplitude deviation greatly. The maximum amplitude deviation is only about 0.11% through paralleling them. The algorithm of this new method is simple and its efficiency is high.

Strong CH/O interactions between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and water: Influence of aromatic system size.

Science.gov (United States)

Veljković, Dušan Ž

2018-03-01

Energies of CH/O interactions between water molecule and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with a different number of aromatic rings were calculated using ab initio calculations at MP2/cc-PVTZ level. Results show that an additional aromatic ring in structure of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons significantly strengthens CH/O interactions. Calculated interaction energies in optimized structures of the most stable tetracene/water complex is -2.27 kcal/mol, anthracene/water is -2.13 kcal/mol and naphthalene/water is -1.97 kcal/mol. These interactions are stronger than CH/O contacts in benzene/water complex (-1.44 kcal/mol) while CH/O contacts in tetracene/water complex are even stronger than CH/O contacts in pyridine/water complexes (-2.21 kcal/mol). Electrostatic potential maps for different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were calculated and used to explain trends in the energies of interactions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons affect androgen receptor activation in vitro

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vinggaard, Anne Marie; Hnida, Christina; Larsen, John Christian

2000-01-01

Nine structurally different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were tested for their ability to either agonize or antagonize the human androgen receptor (hAR) in a sensitive reporter gene assay based on CHO cells transiently cotransfected with a hAR vector and an MMTV-LUC vector. Benz...

Low-pass parabolic FFT filter for airborne and satellite lidar signal processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiao, Zhongke; Liu, Bo; Liu, Enhai; Yue, Yongjian

2015-10-14

In order to reduce random errors of the lidar signal inversion, a low-pass parabolic fast Fourier transform filter (PFFTF) was introduced for noise elimination. A compact airborne Raman lidar system was studied, which applied PFFTF to process lidar signals. Mathematics and simulations of PFFTF along with low pass filters, sliding mean filter (SMF), median filter (MF), empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and wavelet transform (WT) were studied, and the practical engineering value of PFFTF for lidar signal processing has been verified. The method has been tested on real lidar signal from Wyoming Cloud Lidar (WCL). Results show that PFFTF has advantages over the other methods. It keeps the high frequency components well and reduces much of the random noise simultaneously for lidar signal processing.

Adams-Bashforth-Moulton method with Savitzky-Golay filter to reduce reactivity fluctuations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suescun-Diaz, Daniel; Rasero Causil, Diego A. [Univ. Surcolombiana, Neiva (Colombia). Dept. de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Figueroa-Jimenez, Jorge H. [Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, Cali (Colombia). Dept. de Ciencias Naturales y Matematicas

2017-12-15

In this paper we present a new method of calculating reactivity with fluctuation reduction. First we propose the generalized predictor and corrector using the fourth order Adams-Basforth-Moulton (ABM) for the numerical solution of the point kinetic equations for the calculation of reactivity, without using the history of nuclear power. Due to the nature of point kinetic equations, we use modifiers of the different predictors to increase precision in the approximation obtained. Secondly, we use the filter known as Savitzky-Golay (SG), which permits the reduction of the fluctuation in reactivity. It is known that the SG filter smoothing without diminishing the value of the nuclear power, irrespective of its form; this guarantees the reduction of Gaussian random noise levels, which is distributed around the average value of the nuclear power of up to σ = 0.1, with a time step h = 0.01 s. This formulation uses the Gram polynomial approximation, with a degree d = 2 the results show better values in the maximum difference in reactivity in comparison with that reported in literature.

Risk of human exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: A case study in Beijing, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Yanxin; Li, Qi; Wang, Hui; Wang, Bin; Wang, Xilong; Ren, Aiguo; Tao, Shu

2015-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can cause adverse effects on human health. The relative contributions of their two major intake routes (diet and inhalation) to population PAH exposure are still unclear. We modeled the contributions of diet and inhalation to the overall PAH exposure of the population of Beijing in China, and assessed their human incremental lifetime cancer risks (ILCR) using a Mont Carlo simulation approach. The results showed that diet accounted for about 85% of low-molecular-weight PAH (L-PAH) exposure, while inhalation accounted for approximately 57% of high-molecular-weight PAH (H-PAH) exposure of the Beijing population. Meat and cereals were the main contributors to dietary PAH exposure. Both gaseous- and particulate-phase PAHs contributed to L-PAH exposure through inhalation, whereas exposure to H-PAHs was mostly from the particulate-phase. To reduce the cancer incidence of the Beijing population, more attention should be given to inhaled particulate-phase PAHs with considerable carcinogenic potential. - Highlights: • We modeled the contributions of diet and inhalation to population PAH exposure. • Diet contributed 85% of population exposure to low molecular-weight PAHs. • Inhalation contributed 57% of population exposure to high molecular-weight PAHs. • The PAH exposure level with body-weight adjustment decreased with age increasing. • The population cancer risk of PAH exposure is lower than the serious risk level. - The exposure of the Beijing population to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was mainly from inhaled particulate matter

The Application of Paired Parallel Filters for Ultra-Wideband Signal Processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. L. Chernyshev

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers a unit in which the parallel filters on regular lines are pair-attached. This connection allows to reduce a side line impedance at the point of connection. At the same time these lines become narrow, and the possibility to excite higher modes in the joint reduces.Consider the scattering matrix of four identical lines connection. Then find the scattering matrix of connection in which two side lines are connected with filters. Particular cases of the reflection coefficients of different filters are considered. It is shown that only in the case of identical filters there remained a linear relationship between the input filter coefficients of reflection and transmission coefficient of the unit. It facilitates the solution of the problem of synthesis. Restrictions on the transfer coefficient are found. In transition to the time domain impulse response of connection under consideration and the expression for the synthesis were defined. The paper considers an example of implementation of the matched filtering in this connection. In this case, the output signal is a half-sum of the input signal and their autocorrelation function.

Treatment vault shielding for a flattening filter-free medical linear accelerator

Science.gov (United States)

Kry, Stephen F.; Howell, Rebecca M.; Polf, Jerimy; Mohan, Radhe; Vassiliev, Oleg N.

2009-03-01

The requirements for shielding a treatment vault with a Varian Clinac 2100 medical linear accelerator operated both with and without the flattening filter were assessed. Basic shielding parameters, such as primary beam tenth-value layers (TVLs), patient scatter fractions, and wall scatter fractions, were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations of 6, 10 and 18 MV beams. Relative integral target current requirements were determined from treatment planning studies of several disease sites with, and without, the flattening filter. The flattened beam shielding data were compared to data published in NCRP Report No. 151, and the unflattened beam shielding data were presented relative to the NCRP data. Finally, the shielding requirements for a typical treatment vault were determined for a single-energy (6 MV) linac and a dual-energy (6 MV/18 MV) linac. With the exception of large-angle patient scatter fractions and wall scatter fractions, the vault shielding parameters were reduced when the flattening filter was removed. Much of this reduction was consistent with the reduced average energy of the FFF beams. Primary beam TVLs were reduced by 12%, on average, and small-angle scatter fractions were reduced by up to 30%. Head leakage was markedly reduced because less integral target current was required to deliver the target dose. For the treatment vault examined in the current study, removal of the flattening filter reduced the required thickness of the primary and secondary barriers by 10-20%, corresponding to 18 m3 less concrete to shield the single-energy linac and 36 m3 less concrete to shield the dual-energy linac. Thus, a shielding advantage was found when the linac was operated without the flattening filter. This translates into a reduction in occupational exposure and/or the cost and space of shielding.

Treatment vault shielding for a flattening filter-free medical linear accelerator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kry, Stephen F; Howell, Rebecca M; Polf, Jerimy; Mohan, Radhe; Vassiliev, Oleg N [Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States)], E-mail: sfkry@mdanderson.org

2009-03-07

The requirements for shielding a treatment vault with a Varian Clinac 2100 medical linear accelerator operated both with and without the flattening filter were assessed. Basic shielding parameters, such as primary beam tenth-value layers (TVLs), patient scatter fractions, and wall scatter fractions, were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations of 6, 10 and 18 MV beams. Relative integral target current requirements were determined from treatment planning studies of several disease sites with, and without, the flattening filter. The flattened beam shielding data were compared to data published in NCRP Report No. 151, and the unflattened beam shielding data were presented relative to the NCRP data. Finally, the shielding requirements for a typical treatment vault were determined for a single-energy (6 MV) linac and a dual-energy (6 MV/18 MV) linac. With the exception of large-angle patient scatter fractions and wall scatter fractions, the vault shielding parameters were reduced when the flattening filter was removed. Much of this reduction was consistent with the reduced average energy of the FFF beams. Primary beam TVLs were reduced by 12%, on average, and small-angle scatter fractions were reduced by up to 30%. Head leakage was markedly reduced because less integral target current was required to deliver the target dose. For the treatment vault examined in the current study, removal of the flattening filter reduced the required thickness of the primary and secondary barriers by 10-20%, corresponding to 18 m{sup 3} less concrete to shield the single-energy linac and 36 m{sup 3} less concrete to shield the dual-energy linac. Thus, a shielding advantage was found when the linac was operated without the flattening filter. This translates into a reduction in occupational exposure and/or the cost and space of shielding.

Treatment vault shielding for a flattening filter-free medical linear accelerator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kry, Stephen F; Howell, Rebecca M; Polf, Jerimy; Mohan, Radhe; Vassiliev, Oleg N

2009-01-01

The requirements for shielding a treatment vault with a Varian Clinac 2100 medical linear accelerator operated both with and without the flattening filter were assessed. Basic shielding parameters, such as primary beam tenth-value layers (TVLs), patient scatter fractions, and wall scatter fractions, were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations of 6, 10 and 18 MV beams. Relative integral target current requirements were determined from treatment planning studies of several disease sites with, and without, the flattening filter. The flattened beam shielding data were compared to data published in NCRP Report No. 151, and the unflattened beam shielding data were presented relative to the NCRP data. Finally, the shielding requirements for a typical treatment vault were determined for a single-energy (6 MV) linac and a dual-energy (6 MV/18 MV) linac. With the exception of large-angle patient scatter fractions and wall scatter fractions, the vault shielding parameters were reduced when the flattening filter was removed. Much of this reduction was consistent with the reduced average energy of the FFF beams. Primary beam TVLs were reduced by 12%, on average, and small-angle scatter fractions were reduced by up to 30%. Head leakage was markedly reduced because less integral target current was required to deliver the target dose. For the treatment vault examined in the current study, removal of the flattening filter reduced the required thickness of the primary and secondary barriers by 10-20%, corresponding to 18 m 3 less concrete to shield the single-energy linac and 36 m 3 less concrete to shield the dual-energy linac. Thus, a shielding advantage was found when the linac was operated without the flattening filter. This translates into a reduction in occupational exposure and/or the cost and space of shielding.

Experimental study of filter cake formation on different filter media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saleem, M.

2009-01-01

Removal of particulate matter from gases generated in the process industry is important for product recovery as well as emission control. Dynamics of filtration plant depend on operating conditions. The models, that predict filter plant behaviour, involve empirical resistance parameters which are usually derived from limited experimental data and are characteristics of the filter media and filter cake (dust deposited on filter medium). Filter cake characteristics are affected by the nature of filter media, process parameters and mode of filter regeneration. Removal of dust particles from air is studied in a pilot scale jet pulsed bag filter facility resembling closely to the industrial filters. Limestone dust and ambient air are used in this study with two widely different filter media. All important parameters like pressure drop, gas flow rate, dust settling, are recorded continuously at 1s interval. The data is processed for estimation of the resistance parameters. The pressure drop rise on test filter media is compared. Results reveal that the surface of filter media has an influence on pressure drop rise (concave pressure drop rise). Similar effect is produced by partially jet pulsed filter surface. Filter behaviour is also simulated using estimated parameters and a simplified model and compared with the experimental results. Distribution of cake area load is therefore an important aspect of jet pulse cleaned bag filter modeling. Mean specific cake resistance remains nearly constant on thoroughly jet pulse cleaned membrane coated filter bags. However, the trend can not be confirmed without independent cake height and density measurements. Thus the results reveal the importance of independent measurements of cake resistance. (author)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in stellar medium

Science.gov (United States)

Rastogi, Shantanu

2005-06-01

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an important com- ponent of the Interstellar Medium (ISM). They are being used as probes for understanding of process and conditions of different astrophysical environments. The understanding of their IR spectra and its variations with PAH size and ionization state is useful in characterizing the ISM. Spectral features of model graphene sheets and also that of smaller PAH molecules are reported. The variation of intensity with charge state of the molecule shows that cations give a better correlation with observations. The relationship between changes in charge distribution with intensity changes upon ionization has been probed.

Mineralization of polycyclic and n-heterocyclic aromatic compounds in hydrocarbon-contaminated soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grosser, R.J.; Warshawsky, D.; Vestal, J.R.

1995-01-01

The comparative mineralization of eight polycyclic aromatic compounds in five soils collected from an abandoned coal tar refinery in eastern Ohio was determined. The soils showed differences only in total extractable hydrocarbon content of the soil chemical characteristics measured. The compounds studied included five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene, and carcinogenic benz[a]anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene) and three N-heterocyclic aromatics (9H-carbazole, and carcinogenic 7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazole and dibenz[a,j]acridine). Mineralization was measured by serum bottle radiorespirometry. Only phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, and carbazole were mineralized in the soils after 64 d. Two of the soils with eight to 15 times the hexane -extractable hydrocarbon content consistently showed more rapid initial rates and higher overall extents of mineralization compared to the other three soils. Overall extents of mineralization ranged from 38 to 55% for phenanthrene, 10 to 60% for anthracene, 25 to 70% for pyrene, background to 40% for benz[a]anthracene, and 25 to 50% for carbazole after 64 d. Extents of mineralization by indigenous soil microbiota appear to be more dependent on the chemical characteristics of the soil and not soil total biomass and activity. Cultures capable of degrading phenanthrene, anthracene, and pyrene were obtained following enrichment techniques. A Mycobacterium sp. capable of degrading these three compounds was isolated and reintroduced into two of the soils, resulting in mineralization enhanced above that of the indigenous soil microbial population. These data indicate that the future success of bioremediation methods relies on the characterization of environmental parameters affecting microbial degradation as well as the isolation of microbial populations that can reduce toxicity in the environment

MST Filterability Tests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poirier, M. R. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Burket, P. R. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Duignan, M. R. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2015-03-12

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is currently treating radioactive liquid waste with the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) and the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU). The low filter flux through the ARP has limited the rate at which radioactive liquid waste can be treated. Recent filter flux has averaged approximately 5 gallons per minute (gpm). Salt Batch 6 has had a lower processing rate and required frequent filter cleaning. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) has a desire to understand the causes of the low filter flux and to increase ARP/MCU throughput. In addition, at the time the testing started, SRR was assessing the impact of replacing the 0.1 micron filter with a 0.5 micron filter. This report describes testing of MST filterability to investigate the impact of filter pore size and MST particle size on filter flux and testing of filter enhancers to attempt to increase filter flux. The authors constructed a laboratory-scale crossflow filter apparatus with two crossflow filters operating in parallel. One filter was a 0.1 micron Mott sintered SS filter and the other was a 0.5 micron Mott sintered SS filter. The authors also constructed a dead-end filtration apparatus to conduct screening tests with potential filter aids and body feeds, referred to as filter enhancers. The original baseline for ARP was 5.6 M sodium salt solution with a free hydroxide concentration of approximately 1.7 M.3 ARP has been operating with a sodium concentration of approximately 6.4 M and a free hydroxide concentration of approximately 2.5 M. SRNL conducted tests varying the concentration of sodium and free hydroxide to determine whether those changes had a significant effect on filter flux. The feed slurries for the MST filterability tests were composed of simple salts (NaOH, NaNO₂, and NaNO₃) and MST (0.2 – 4.8 g/L). The feed slurry for the filter enhancer tests contained simulated salt batch 6 supernate, MST, and filter enhancers.

Kalman Filter for Spinning Spacecraft Attitude Estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Markley, F. Landis; Sedlak, Joseph E.

2008-01-01

This paper presents a Kalman filter using a seven-component attitude state vector comprising the angular momentum components in an inertial reference frame, the angular momentum components in the body frame, and a rotation angle. The relatively slow variation of these parameters makes this parameterization advantageous for spinning spacecraft attitude estimation. The filter accounts for the constraint that the magnitude of the angular momentum vector is the same in the inertial and body frames by employing a reduced six-component error state. Four variants of the filter, defined by different choices for the reduced error state, are tested against a quaternion-based filter using simulated data for the THEMIS mission. Three of these variants choose three of the components of the error state to be the infinitesimal attitude error angles, facilitating the computation of measurement sensitivity matrices and causing the usual 3x3 attitude covariance matrix to be a submatrix of the 6x6 covariance of the error state. These variants differ in their choice for the other three components of the error state. The variant employing the infinitesimal attitude error angles and the angular momentum components in an inertial reference frame as the error state shows the best combination of robustness and efficiency in the simulations. Attitude estimation results using THEMIS flight data are also presented.

A paired wedge filter system for compensation in dose differences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, H.; Sakurai, Y.; Kondo, S.; Abe, S.; Hayakawa, N.; Aoyama, Y.; Obata, Y.; Ishigaki, T.

1998-01-01

Objective: In radiotherapy, it is important to conform the high dose volume to the planned target volume. A variable thickness paired wedge filter system was developed to compensate for dose inhomogeneity arising from field width segment variation in conformal irradiation. Materials and methods: The present study used a 6 MV linear accelerator equipped with multileaf collimator leaves and a paired wedge compensating filter system. The dose variation due to field width was measured in each field segment width. The variation in attenuation of the compensators was measured as a function of filter position. As the field width increases, the relative absorbed dose also increases; this is the point of requiring compensation, so it can be in reverse proportion. Results: As the field width increases, the relative absorbed dose also increases; this is why compensation is required and thus it must be in reverse proportion. Attenuation of the absorbed dose by the paired filters was in proportion to the filter position. The filter position to compensate for the difference of absorbed doses was defined by the square root of the field width. For a field varying in width from 4 to 16 cm, the variation in the absorbed dose across the field was reduced from 12% to 2.7%. Conclusion: This paired wedge filter system reduced absorbed dose variations across multileaf collimator shaped fields and can facilitate treatment planning in conformal therapy. (Copyright (c) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in disks around young solar-type stars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geers, Vincent Carlo

2007-01-01

In this thesis we study the dust around solar-type young stars. In particular, we focus on one specific species of dust, namely the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a family of large molecules, or small grains, that are widely observed in nearby star-forming regions. We address the following

Multispecies and monoculture rhizoremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the soil

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Maila, MP

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, the authors investigated the potential of multispecies rhizoremediation and monoculture rhizoremediation in decontaminating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminated soil. Plant-mediated PAH dissipation was evaluated using...

Stabilization void-fill encapsulation high-efficiency particulate filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alexander, R.G.; Stewart, W.E.; Phillips, S.J.; Serkowski, M.M.; England, J.L.; Boynton, H.C.

1994-05-01

This report discusses high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter systems that which are contaminated with radionuclides are part of the nuclear fuel processing systems conducted by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and require replacement and safe and efficient disposal for plant safety. Two K-3 HEPA filters were removed from service, placed burial boxes, buried, and safely and efficiently stabilized remotely which reduced radiation exposure to personnel and the environment

SHPOLSKII FLUOROMETRIC-DETERMINATION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS IN COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTAL-SAMPLES

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ARIESE, F; GOOIJER, C; Velthorst, N.H.; Hofstraat, J.W.

1991-01-01

High-resolution fluorimetry in low-temperature n-alkane Shpol'skii matrices is a powerful technique for the analysis of rigid, non-polar compounds like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Because of the method's sensitivity and selectivity, sample clean-up, preconcentration and even chromatographic

Trapping of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by amphiphilic cyclodextrin functionalized polypropylene nonwovens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lumholdt, Ludmilla; Nielsen, Ronnie Bo Højstrup; Larsen, Kim Lambertsen

of the textile fibers. In this study we present the ability of amphiphilic CD coated polypropylene nonwovens to trap 8 different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons/endocrine disruptors from aqueous solutions thus demonstrating the potential of using the amphiphilic cyclodextrins for water purification....

Concurrent hyperthermia estimation schemes based on extended Kalman filtering and reduced-order modelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Potocki, J K; Tharp, H S

1993-01-01

The success of treating cancerous tissue with heat depends on the temperature elevation, the amount of tissue elevated to that temperature, and the length of time that the tissue temperature is elevated. In clinical situations the temperature of most of the treated tissue volume is unknown, because only a small number of temperature sensors can be inserted into the tissue. A state space model based on a finite difference approximation of the bioheat transfer equation (BHTE) is developed for identification purposes. A full-order extended Kalman filter (EKF) is designed to estimate both the unknown blood perfusion parameters and the temperature at unmeasured locations. Two reduced-order estimators are designed as computationally less intensive alternatives to the full-order EKF. Simulation results show that the success of the estimation scheme depends strongly on the number and location of the temperature sensors. Superior results occur when a temperature sensor exists in each unknown blood perfusion zone, and the number of sensors is at least as large as the number of unknown perfusion zones. Unacceptable results occur when there are more unknown perfusion parameters than temperature sensors, or when the sensors are placed in locations that do not sample the unknown perfusion information.

Simulation model of harmonics reduction technique using shunt active filter by cascade multilevel inverter method

Science.gov (United States)

Andreh, Angga Muhamad; Subiyanto, Sunardiyo, Said

2017-01-01

Development of non-linear loading in the application of industry and distribution system and also harmonic compensation becomes important. Harmonic pollution is an urgent problem in increasing power quality. The main contribution of the study is the modeling approach used to design a shunt active filter and the application of the cascade multilevel inverter topology to improve the power quality of electrical energy. In this study, shunt active filter was aimed to eliminate dominant harmonic component by injecting opposite currents with the harmonic component system. The active filter was designed by shunt configuration with cascaded multilevel inverter method controlled by PID controller and SPWM. With this shunt active filter, the harmonic current can be reduced so that the current wave pattern of the source is approximately sinusoidal. Design and simulation were conducted by using Power Simulator (PSIM) software. Shunt active filter performance experiment was conducted on the IEEE four bus test system. The result of shunt active filter installation on the system (IEEE four bus) could reduce THD current from 28.68% to 3.09%. With this result, the active filter can be applied as an effective method to reduce harmonics.

Are consistent equal-weight particle filters possible?

Science.gov (United States)

van Leeuwen, P. J.

2017-12-01

Particle filters are fully nonlinear data-assimilation methods that could potentially change the way we do data-assimilation in highly nonlinear high-dimensional geophysical systems. However, the standard particle filter in which the observations come in by changing the relative weights of the particles is degenerate. This means that one particle obtains weight one, and all other particles obtain a very small weight, effectively meaning that the ensemble of particles reduces to that one particle. For over 10 years now scientists have searched for solutions to this problem. One obvious solution seems to be localisation, in which each part of the state only sees a limited number of observations. However, for a realistic localisation radius based on physical arguments, the number of observations is typically too large, and the filter is still degenerate. Another route taken is trying to find proposal densities that lead to more similar particle weights. There is a simple proof, however, that shows that there is an optimum, the so-called optimal proposal density, and that optimum will lead to a degenerate filter. On the other hand, it is easy to come up with a counter example of a particle filter that is not degenerate in high-dimensional systems. Furthermore, several particle filters have been developed recently that claim to have equal or equivalent weights. In this presentation I will show how to construct a particle filter that is never degenerate in high-dimensional systems, and how that is still consistent with the proof that one cannot do better than the optimal proposal density. Furthermore, it will be shown how equal- and equivalent-weights particle filters fit within this framework. This insight will then lead to new ways to generate particle filters that are non-degenerate, opening up the field of nonlinear filtering in high-dimensional systems.

Development of the quickmix injector for in-situ filter testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costigan, G.; Loughborough, D.

1993-01-01

In-situ filter testing is routinely carried out on nuclear ventilation plant to assess the effectiveness of installed filter systems. Ideally the system is tested by introducing a sub-micron aerosol upstream of the filter, in such a way as to present a uniform challenge to the whole of the upstream filter face. Samples are withdrawn from upstream and downstream of the filter, and the respective concentrations are used to calculate the system (or filter) efficiency. These requirements are documented in the Atomic Energy Code of Practice, AECP 1054. The Filter Development Section at Harwell Laboratory has been investigating methods of improving the accuracy and reliability of the in-situ filter test over the past ten years. The programme has included the evaluation of devices used to mix the aerosol and multi-point samplers to obtain representative aerosol samples. This paper reports the results of laboratory trials on the open-quotes QUICKMIXclose quotes injector developed and patented by Harwell. The Quickmix injector is designed to mix the test aerosol with the air stream and thereby reduce the duct length required to produce uniform concentrations. The injector has been tested in ducts ranging from 150 mm diameter to 610 mm square, at air velocities up to 26 m/s. Upstream mixing lengths required to achieve a ± 10% concentration variation on the mean were reduced to between 2 and 5 duct diameters, with a very small pressure drop. This simple, compact device is being installed in new and existing plants in the UK to improve the accuracy and reliability of in-situ filter testing. Some examples of plant applications are given, together with some of the first results from operating plant

Characterization of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental tobacco smokes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohammad Fais Fadzil; Norhayati Mohd Tahir

2007-01-01

A study has been conducted to investigate the distribution of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). ETS is the smoke that is present in the ambient air due to smoking of tobacco. Types of cigarettes (C1R1 and C6R1) were chosen based on a result of a simple survey carried out to determine the consumer choice of cigarette brand. In analyzing the ETS, volunteers were asked to smoke each brand of cigarette in a closed room and the ETS was then collected using the high Volume Air Sampler fitted with a glass fiber filter. Smoke samples from the glass fiber filter were then extracted using Ultrasonic Agitation and fractionated into aliphatic and aromatic fraction using silica-alumina column. Identification and quantification was done using gas chromatography with flame ionization detector. Results indicated the presence of n-alkanes in ETS, ranging from C 13 to C 36 with an odd to even carbon number predominance with Carbon Preference Index(CPI) values ranging from 3.34 to 4.90. Total identified resolved aliphatic hydrocarbons (TIRAH) concentration found in ETS ranged from 590 μg m -3 to 591 μg m -3 with the percentage of plant wax n-alkanes ranging from 61% to 64% of the TIRAH found in ETS samples. In source apportionment, CPI > 1 and high percentage of plant wax n-alkanes has generally been associated with the contribution of terrestrial plant source, thus this result indicates that even after curing process and smoking of tobacco, the overall signature of the source of n-alkanes is still preserved. Amount of PAHs detected in all ETS samples ranged from 11.7 ng m -3 to 56.1 ng m -3 . Results also indicated the presence of medium to high molecular weight PAHs with dominant presence of benzo(g, h, i)perylene compound. This result seems to support the contention that smoking process involves a high temperature burning with an oxygen deficient zone in the cigarette itself. Although the concentrations were low, the

Alternating minimisation for glottal inverse filtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bleyer, Ismael Rodrigo; Lybeck, Lasse; Auvinen, Harri; Siltanen, Samuli; Airaksinen, Manu; Alku, Paavo

2017-01-01

A new method is proposed for solving the glottal inverse filtering (GIF) problem. The goal of GIF is to separate an acoustical speech signal into two parts: the glottal airflow excitation and the vocal tract filter. To recover such information one has to deal with a blind deconvolution problem. This ill-posed inverse problem is solved under a deterministic setting, considering unknowns on both sides of the underlying operator equation. A stable reconstruction is obtained using a double regularization strategy, alternating between fixing either the glottal source signal or the vocal tract filter. This enables not only splitting the nonlinear and nonconvex problem into two linear and convex problems, but also allows the use of the best parameters and constraints to recover each variable at a time. This new technique, called alternating minimization glottal inverse filtering (AM-GIF), is compared with two other approaches: Markov chain Monte Carlo glottal inverse filtering (MCMC-GIF), and iterative adaptive inverse filtering (IAIF), using synthetic speech signals. The recent MCMC-GIF has good reconstruction quality but high computational cost. The state-of-the-art IAIF method is computationally fast but its accuracy deteriorates, particularly for speech signals of high fundamental frequency ( F 0). The results show the competitive performance of the new method: With high F 0, the reconstruction quality is better than that of IAIF and close to MCMC-GIF while reducing the computational complexity by two orders of magnitude. (paper)

Decoupled deblurring filter and its application to elastic migration and inversion

KAUST Repository

Feng, Zongcai

2017-08-17

We present a decoupled deblurring filter that approximates the multiparameter Hessian inverse by using local filters to approximate its submatrices for the same and different parameter classes. Numerical tests show that the filter not only reduces the footprint noise, balances the amplitudes and increases the resolution of the elastic migration images, but also mitigates the crosstalk artifacts. When used as a preconditioner, it accelerates the convergence rate for elastic inversion.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in some grounded coffee brands.

Science.gov (United States)

Grover, Inderpreet Singh; Sharma, Rashmi; Singh, Satnam; Pal, Bonamali

2013-08-01

Potentially toxic 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in four brands of grounded coffee. Four to 13 PAHs were detected. Concentrations of total PAHs in different brands of coffee samples were in the range of 831.7-1,589.7 μg/kg. Benzo[a]pyrene (2A: probable human carcinogen) was found in Nescafe Premium whereas naphthalene (2B: possible human carcinogen) was found in all the samples of coffee.

Seasonal effect and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in PM2.5

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Md Firoz; Latif, Mohd Talib; Lim, Chee Hou; Amil, Norhaniza; Jaafar, Shoffian Amin; Dominick, Doreena; Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul; Sahani, Mazrura; Tahir, Norhayati Mohd

2015-04-01

This study aims to investigate distribution and sources of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) bound to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) captured in a semi-urban area in Malaysia during different seasons, and to assess their health risks. PM2.5 samples were collected using a high volume air sampler on quartz filter paper at a flow rate of 1 m3 min-1 for 24 h. PAHs on the filter paper were extracted with dichloromethane (DCM) using an ultrasonic centrifuge solid-phase extraction method and measured by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The results showed that the range of PAHs concentrations in the study period was between 0.21 and 12.08 ng m-3. The concentrations of PAHs were higher during the south-west monsoon (0.21-12.08 ng m-3) compared to the north-east monsoon (0.68-3.80 ng m-3). The high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs (≥5 ring) are significantly prominent (>70%) compared to the low molecular weight (LMW) PAHs (≤4 ring) in PM2.5. The Spearman correlation indicates that the LMW and HMW PAHs correlate strongly among themselves. The diagnostic ratios (DRs) of I[c]P/I[c]P + BgP and B[a]P/B[g]P suggest that the HMW PAHs originated from fuel combustion sources. The source apportionment analysis of PAHs was resolved using DRs-positive matrix factorization (PMF)-multiple linear regression (MLR). The main sources identified were (a) gasoline combustion (65%), (b) diesel and heavy oil combustion (19%) and (c) natural gas and coal burning (15%). The health risk evaluation, by means of the lifetime lung cancer risk (LLCR), showed no potential carcinogenic risk from the airborne BaPeq (which represents total PAHs at the present study area in Malaysia). The seasonal LLCR showed that the carcinogenic risk of total PAHs were two fold higher during south-westerly monsoon compared to north-easterly monsoon.

Radioactive liquid waste filtering device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inami, Ichiro; Tabata, Masayuki; Kubo, Koji.

1988-01-01

Purpose: To prevent clogging in filter materials and improve the filtration performance for radioactive liquid wastes without increasing the amount of radioactive wastes. Constitution: In a radioactive waste filtering device, a liquid waste recycling pipe and a liquid recycling pump are disposed for recycling the radioactive liquid wastes in a liquid wastes vessel. In this case, the recycling pipe and the recycling pump are properly selected so as to satisfy the conditions capable of making the radioactive liquid wastes flowing through the pipe to have the Reynolds number of 10 4 - 10 5 . By repeating the transportation of radioactive liquid wastes in the liquid waste vessel through the liquid waste recycling pipe by the liquid waste recycling pump and then returning them to the liquid waste vessel again, particles of fine grain size in the suspended liquids are coagulated with each other upon collision to increase the grain size of the suspended particles. In this way, clogging of the filter materials caused by the particles of fine grain size can be prevented, thereby enabling to prevent the increase in the rising rate of the filtration differential pressure, reduce the frequency for the occurrence of radioactive wastes such as filter sludges and improve the processing performance. (Kamimura, M.)

Random matrix theory filters in portfolio optimisation: A stability and risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Daly, J.; Crane, M.; Ruskin, H. J.

2008-07-01

Random matrix theory (RMT) filters, applied to covariance matrices of financial returns, have recently been shown to offer improvements to the optimisation of stock portfolios. This paper studies the effect of three RMT filters on the realised portfolio risk, and on the stability of the filtered covariance matrix, using bootstrap analysis and out-of-sample testing. We propose an extension to an existing RMT filter, (based on Krzanowski stability), which is observed to reduce risk and increase stability, when compared to other RMT filters tested. We also study a scheme for filtering the covariance matrix directly, as opposed to the standard method of filtering correlation, where the latter is found to lower the realised risk, on average, by up to 6.7%. We consider both equally and exponentially weighted covariance matrices in our analysis, and observe that the overall best method out-of-sample was that of the exponentially weighted covariance, with our Krzanowski stability-based filter applied to the correlation matrix. We also find that the optimal out-of-sample decay factors, for both filtered and unfiltered forecasts, were higher than those suggested by Riskmetrics [J.P. Morgan, Reuters, Riskmetrics technical document, Technical Report, 1996. http://www.riskmetrics.com/techdoc.html], with those for the latter approaching a value of α=1. In conclusion, RMT filtering reduced the realised risk, on average, and in the majority of cases when tested out-of-sample, but increased the realised risk on a marked number of individual days-in some cases more than doubling it.

Assessment of reduced-order unscented Kalman filter for parameter identification in 1-dimensional blood flow models using experimental data.

Science.gov (United States)

Caiazzo, A; Caforio, Federica; Montecinos, Gino; Muller, Lucas O; Blanco, Pablo J; Toro, Eluterio F

2016-10-25

This work presents a detailed investigation of a parameter estimation approach on the basis of the reduced-order unscented Kalman filter (ROUKF) in the context of 1-dimensional blood flow models. In particular, the main aims of this study are (1) to investigate the effects of using real measurements versus synthetic data for the estimation procedure (i.e., numerical results of the same in silico model, perturbed with noise) and (2) to identify potential difficulties and limitations of the approach in clinically realistic applications to assess the applicability of the filter to such setups. For these purposes, the present numerical study is based on a recently published in vitro model of the arterial network, for which experimental flow and pressure measurements are available at few selected locations. To mimic clinically relevant situations, we focus on the estimation of terminal resistances and arterial wall parameters related to vessel mechanics (Young's modulus and wall thickness) using few experimental observations (at most a single pressure or flow measurement per vessel). In all cases, we first perform a theoretical identifiability analysis on the basis of the generalized sensitivity function, comparing then the results owith the ROUKF, using either synthetic or experimental data, to results obtained using reference parameters and to available measurements. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Harmonic reduction by using single-tuned passive filter in plastic processing industry

Science.gov (United States)

Fahmi, M. I.; Baafai, U.; Hazmi, A.; Nasution, T. H.

2018-02-01

The using of non-linear loads generated by industrial machines may result inconsistent harmonics that do not reach the IEEE 519 - 1992 standards. This study discusses the use of single-tuned passive filters in reducing harmonics in the plastics processing industry. The system modeling using matlab / simulink simulation resulted in total harmonic distortion (THD) of 15.55%, can be reduced to 4.77% harmonics in accordance with IEEE 519 - 1992 standards. From the simulation results also seen that single-tuned passive filter can reduce the harmonics of the current 82.23% harmonic that wants to be reduced and also can reduce other orders harmonics between 7% to 8%.

Low Power Systolic Array Based Digital Filter for DSP Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Karthick

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Main concepts in DSP include filtering, averaging, modulating, and correlating the signals in digital form to estimate characteristic parameter of a signal into a desirable form. This paper presents a brief concept of low power datapath impact for Digital Signal Processing (DSP based biomedical application. Systolic array based digital filter used in signal processing of electrocardiogram analysis is presented with datapath architectural innovations in low power consumption perspective. Implementation was done with ASIC design methodology using TSMC 65 nm technological library node. The proposed systolic array filter has reduced leakage power up to 8.5% than the existing filter architectures.

Kalman filtering applied to a reagent feed system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griffin, C.D.; Croson, D.V.; Feeley, J.J.

1988-01-01

Using a Kalman filter solves a troublesome measurement noise problem and, at the same time, improves nuclear safety by detecting leaks to the process' feed tanks. To demonstrate how this technology of optimal estimation can be exploited, this article presents a systematic plan and example of how a Kalman filter was proven in industrial use on a reagent analyzer. A process to recycle uranium from spent fuel elements uses a reagent stream containing boron to dissolve the fuel. The boron is the neutron poison that prevents a nuclear chain reaction during the uranium dissolution. The purpose of the Kalman filter for this system is to reduce the uncertainty in the boron concentration measurement. The filter also provides incipient fault detection by estimating the unmeasured state of any unpoisoned solution, which would dilute the boron solution, entering the feed vessel

Controlling Stormwater Quality with Filter Soil—Event and Dry Weather Testing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karin Cederkvist

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The use of filter soil is increasing for control of quality of stormwater runoff prior to infiltration or discharge. This study aimed to gain knowledge about treatment efficacy of filter soils at field scale. Percolate samples from swale-trench systems with filter soil based on agricultural till with/without limestone were monitored for 15 and 9 rain events respectively. Further, two curb extensions with filter soil based on landfill soil were monitored for 10 and 8 events. Pollutant concentrations in percolate were compared to influent samples from the catchment area. Additionally one of the curb extensions was tested twice by adding high-dose synthetic influent containing runoff pollutants of concern. Despite generally low influent pollutant levels, phosphorus, copper, zinc, lead and some polyaromatic hydrocarbons exceeded guiding criteria for protection of groundwater and freshwater. Concentrations in the percolate were in most cases reduced, but phosphorus increased and despite reduced concentrations copper, lead and benzo(apyrene still exceeded guiding criteria. Pollutants from the synthetic influent were efficiently retained, except the pesticide MCPA. Filter soil based on landfill soil tended to perform better than agricultural till. No impact of limestone was observed. Overall the filter soils performed well in retaining pollutants, despite simultaneous processes of mobilization and immobilization.

Polycyclic selection system for the tropical rainforests of northern Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Glen T. Dale; Grahame B. Applegate

1992-01-01

The polycyclic selection logging system developed and practiced for many years in the tropical rainforests of north Queensland has been successful in integrating timber production with the protection of conservation values. The system has been used by the Queensland Forest Service to manage north Queensland rainforests. The Queensland system has considerable potential...

Controlling flow conditions of test filters in iodine filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmberg, R.; Laine, J.

1979-03-01

Several different iodine filter and test filter designs and experience gained from their operation are presented. For the flow experiments, an iodine filter system equipped with flow regulating and measuring devices was built. In the experiments the influence of the packing method of the iodine sorption material and the influence of the flow regulating and measuring divices upon the flow conditions in the test filters was studied. On the basis of the experiments it has been shown that the flows through the test filters always can be adjusted to a correct value if there only is a high enough pressure difference available across the test filter ducting. As a result of the research, several different methods are presented with which the flows through the test filters in both operating and future iodine sorption system can easily be measured and adjusted to their correct values. (author)

A study on the characteristics of the flow distribution in the Module Ceramic Filter during filter cleaning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Jin-Do; Kim, Jang-Woo; Chung, Hwi-Bok; Im, Byoung-Uk; Chung, Eun-Ho; Yoon, Sang-Wook

2010-01-01

Ceramic filter has demonstrated as an attractive system to improve the efficiency and to reduce the effluent pollutants. Removal of particulates from the hot gas stream is very important in air pollution control. In particular, the elimination of the particulate matters discharged from a gas turbine at high temperature can prevent the corrosion the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle. In this study, a Lab. scale test and numerical simulation were carried out to comprehend the relationship between pulse jet pressure and recovery of pressure drop and to characterize the reverse cleaning flow through a ceramic filter. (author)

Staged fluidized-bed combustion and filter system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mei, J.S.; Halow, J.S.

1994-01-01

A staged fluidized-bed combustion and filter system are described for substantially reducing the quantity of waste through the complete combustion into ash-type solids and gaseous products. The device has two fluidized-bed portions, the first primarily as a combustor/pyrolyzer bed, and the second as a combustor/filter bed. The two portions each have internal baffles to define stages so that material moving therein as fluidized beds travel in an extended route through those stages. Fluidization and movement is achieved by the introduction of gases into each stage through a directional nozzle. Gases produced in the combustor/pyrolyzer bed are permitted to travel into corresponding stages of the combustor/filter bed through screen filters that permit gas flow but inhibit solids flow. Any catalyst used in the combustor/filter bed is recycled. The two beds share a common wall to minimize total volume of the system. A slightly modified embodiment can be used for hot gas desulfurization and sorbent regeneration. Either side-by-side rectangular beds or concentric beds can be used. The system is particularly suited to the processing of radioactive and chemically hazardous waste. 10 figures

Kalman filter data assimilation: targeting observations and parameter estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellsky, Thomas; Kostelich, Eric J; Mahalov, Alex

2014-06-01

This paper studies the effect of targeted observations on state and parameter estimates determined with Kalman filter data assimilation (DA) techniques. We first provide an analytical result demonstrating that targeting observations within the Kalman filter for a linear model can significantly reduce state estimation error as opposed to fixed or randomly located observations. We next conduct observing system simulation experiments for a chaotic model of meteorological interest, where we demonstrate that the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) with targeted observations based on largest ensemble variance is skillful in providing more accurate state estimates than the LETKF with randomly located observations. Additionally, we find that a hybrid ensemble Kalman filter parameter estimation method accurately updates model parameters within the targeted observation context to further improve state estimation.

Kalman filter data assimilation: Targeting observations and parameter estimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellsky, Thomas; Kostelich, Eric J.; Mahalov, Alex

2014-01-01

This paper studies the effect of targeted observations on state and parameter estimates determined with Kalman filter data assimilation (DA) techniques. We first provide an analytical result demonstrating that targeting observations within the Kalman filter for a linear model can significantly reduce state estimation error as opposed to fixed or randomly located observations. We next conduct observing system simulation experiments for a chaotic model of meteorological interest, where we demonstrate that the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) with targeted observations based on largest ensemble variance is skillful in providing more accurate state estimates than the LETKF with randomly located observations. Additionally, we find that a hybrid ensemble Kalman filter parameter estimation method accurately updates model parameters within the targeted observation context to further improve state estimation

The Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filter: A Filter Bank Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karlsson Rickard

2010-01-01

Full Text Available For computational efficiency, it is important to utilize model structure in particle filtering. One of the most important cases occurs when there exists a linear Gaussian substructure, which can be efficiently handled by Kalman filters. This is the standard formulation of the Rao-Blackwellized particle filter (RBPF. This contribution suggests an alternative formulation of this well-known result that facilitates reuse of standard filtering components and which is also suitable for object-oriented programming. Our RBPF formulation can be seen as a Kalman filter bank with stochastic branching and pruning.

Ultrahigh-rate supercapacitors based on eletrochemically reduced graphene oxide for ac line-filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Kaixuan; Sun, Yiqing; Li, Chun; Yuan, Wenjing; Shi, Gaoquan

2012-02-01

The recent boom in multifunction portable electronic equipments requires the development of compact and miniaturized electronic circuits with high efficiencies, low costs and long lasting time. For the operation of most line-powered electronics, alternating current (ac) line-filters are used to attenuate the leftover ac ripples on direct current (dc) voltage busses. Today, aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) are widely applied for this purpose. However, they are usually the largest components in electronic circuits. Replacing AECs by more compact capacitors will have an immense impact on future electronic devices. Here, we report a double-layer capacitor based on three-dimensional (3D) interpenetrating graphene electrodes fabricated by electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide (ErGO-DLC). At 120-hertz, the ErGO-DLC exhibited a phase angle of -84 degrees, a specific capacitance of 283 microfaradays per centimeter square and a resistor-capacitor (RC) time constant of 1.35 milliseconds, making it capable of replacing AECs for the application of 120-hertz filtering.

Convergent Filter Bases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coghetto Roland

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We are inspired by the work of Henri Cartan [16], Bourbaki [10] (TG. I Filtres and Claude Wagschal [34]. We define the base of filter, image filter, convergent filter bases, limit filter and the filter base of tails (fr: filtre des sections.

Towards Effective Trust-Based Packet Filtering in Collaborative Network Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meng, Weizhi; Li, Wenjuan; Kwok, Lam-For

2017-01-01

compromised by insider attacks. In this paper, we adopt the existing CIDN framework and aim to apply a collaborative trust-based approach to reduce unwanted packets. More specifically, we develop a collaborative trust-based packet filter, which can be deployed in collaborative networks and be robust against...... typical insider attacks (e.g., betrayal attacks). Experimental results in various simulated and practical environments demonstrate that our filter can perform effectively in reducing unwanted traffic and can defend against insider attacks through identifying malicious nodes in a quick manner, as compared...

Data assimilation in integrated hydrological modeling using ensemble Kalman filtering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Jørn; Madsen, H.; Jensen, Karsten Høgh

2015-01-01

Groundwater head and stream discharge is assimilated using the ensemble transform Kalman filter in an integrated hydrological model with the aim of studying the relationship between the filter performance and the ensemble size. In an attempt to reduce the required number of ensemble members...... and estimating parameters requires a much larger ensemble size than just assimilating groundwater head observations. However, the required ensemble size can be greatly reduced with the use of adaptive localization, which by far outperforms distance-based localization. The study is conducted using synthetic data...

Requirements for a cleanable steel HEPA filter derived from a systems analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergman, W.

1996-06-01

A systems analysis was conducted to determine customer requirements for a cleanable high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in DOE Environmental Management (EM) facilities. The three principal drivers for cleanable steel HEPA are large cost savings, improved filter reliability, and new regulations; they produce a strong incentive to DOE customers to use cleanable steel HEPA filters. Input for customer requirements were obtained from field trips to EM sites and from discussions. Most existing applications require that cleanable steel HEPA filters meet size/performance requirements of standard glass HEPA filters; applications in new facilities can relax size/weight/pressure drop requirements on a case-by-case basis. We then obtained input from commercial firms on availability of cleanable steel HEPA filters. Systems analysis then showed that currently available technology was only able to meet customer needs in a limited number of cases. Further development is needed to meet requirements of EM customers. For cleanable steel HEPA to be retrofitted into existing systems, pressure drop and weight must be reduced. Pressure drop can be reduced by developing steel fiber media from 0.5 μm dia steel fibers. Weight can be reduced by packaging the steel fiber media in one of the standard HEPA configurations. Although most applications will be able to use standard 304 or 316L alloys, an acid resistant alloy such as Hastelloy or Inconel will be needed for incinerator and other thermal processes

Microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volkering, F.; Breure, A.M.; Andel, J.G. van

1992-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are hazardous compounds originating from oil, tar, creosote, or from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Application of biotechnological techniques for remediation of polluted soils from PAH demonstrated that the high molecular compounds are degraded very slowly, and that the residual concentration of PAH often is too high to permit application of the treated soil. Investigations were started to establish process parameters for optimal biodegradation of PAH. The aim is to achieve a relation between the physical properties of PAH and the biodegradation kinetics in different matrices, in order to identify applicability of biotechnological cleanup methods for waste streams and polluted soil. (orig.) [de

Study of LCL filter performance for inverter fed grid connected system

Science.gov (United States)

Thamizh Thentral, T. M.; Geetha, A.; Subramani, C.

2018-04-01

The abandoned use of power electronic converters in the application of grid connected system paves a way for critical injected harmonics. Hence the use of filter becomes a significant play among the present scenario. Higher order passive filter is mostly preferred in this application because of its reduced cost and size. This paper focuses on the design of LCL filter for the reduction of injected harmonics. The reason behind choosing LCL filter is inductor sizing and good ripple component attenuation over the other conventional filters. This work is simulated in MATLAB platform and the results are prominent to the objectives mentioned above. Also, the simulation results are verified with the implemented hardware model.

Application of DFT Filter Banks and Cosine Modulated Filter Banks in Filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuan-Pei; Vaidyanathan, P. P.

1994-01-01

None given. This is a proposal for a paper to be presented at APCCAS '94 in Taipei, Taiwan. (From outline): This work is organized as follows: Sec. II is devoted to the construction of the new 2m channel under-decimated DFT filter bank. Implementation and complexity of this DFT filter bank are discussed therein. IN a similar manner, the new 2m channel cosine modulated filter bank is discussed in Sec. III. Design examples are given in Sec. IV.

Performance test of filtering system for controlling the turbidity of secondary cooling water in HANARO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Y. C.; Woo, J. S.; Jo, Y. K.; Loo, J. S.; Lim, N. Y.

2001-01-01

There is about 80 m 3 /h loss of the secondary cooling water by evaporation, windage and blowdown during the operation of HANARO, 30 MW research reactor. When the secondary cooling water is treated by high Ca-hardness treatment program for minimizing the blowdown loss, only the trubidity exceeds the limit. By adding filtering system it was confirned, through the relation of turbidity and filtering rate of secondary cooling water, that the turbidity is reduced below the limit (5 deg.) by 2 % of filtering rate without blowdown. And it was verified, through the field performace test of filtering system under normal operation condition, that the circulation pumps get proper capacity and that filter units reduce the turbidity below the limit. Therefore, the secondary cooling water can be treated by the high Ca-hardness program and filter system without blowdown

Model-Based Engine Control Architecture with an Extended Kalman Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Csank, Jeffrey T.; Connolly, Joseph W.

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the design and implementation of an extended Kalman filter (EKF) for model-based engine control (MBEC). Previously proposed MBEC architectures feature an optimal tuner Kalman Filter (OTKF) to produce estimates of both unmeasured engine parameters and estimates for the health of the engine. The success of this approach relies on the accuracy of the linear model and the ability of the optimal tuner to update its tuner estimates based on only a few sensors. Advances in computer processing are making it possible to replace the piece-wise linear model, developed off-line, with an on-board nonlinear model running in real-time. This will reduce the estimation errors associated with the linearization process, and is typically referred to as an extended Kalman filter. The nonlinear extended Kalman filter approach is applied to the Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation 40,000 (C-MAPSS40k) and compared to the previously proposed MBEC architecture. The results show that the EKF reduces the estimation error, especially during transient operation.

Application of adaptive Kalman filter in vehicle laser Doppler velocimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Zhe; Sun, Qiao; Du, Lei; Bai, Jie; Liu, Jingyun

2018-03-01

Due to the variation of road conditions and motor characteristics of vehicle, great root-mean-square (rms) error and outliers would be caused. Application of Kalman filter in laser Doppler velocimetry(LDV) is important to improve the velocity measurement accuracy. In this paper, the state-space model is built by using current statistical model. A strategy containing two steps is adopted to make the filter adaptive and robust. First, the acceleration variance is adaptively adjusted by using the difference of predictive observation and measured observation. Second, the outliers would be identified and the measured noise variance would be adjusted according to the orthogonal property of innovation to reduce the impaction of outliers. The laboratory rotating table experiments show that adaptive Kalman filter greatly reduces the rms error from 0.59 cm/s to 0.22 cm/s and has eliminated all the outliers. Road experiments compared with a microwave radar show that the rms error of LDV is 0.0218 m/s, and it proves that the adaptive Kalman filtering is suitable for vehicle speed signal processing.

Infrared image background modeling based on improved Susan filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Yuehua, Xia

2018-02-01

When SUSAN filter is used to model the infrared image, the Gaussian filter lacks the ability of direction filtering. After filtering, the edge information of the image cannot be preserved well, so that there are a lot of edge singular points in the difference graph, increase the difficulties of target detection. To solve the above problems, the anisotropy algorithm is introduced in this paper, and the anisotropic Gauss filter is used instead of the Gauss filter in the SUSAN filter operator. Firstly, using anisotropic gradient operator to calculate a point of image's horizontal and vertical gradient, to determine the long axis direction of the filter; Secondly, use the local area of the point and the neighborhood smoothness to calculate the filter length and short axis variance; And then calculate the first-order norm of the difference between the local area of the point's gray-scale and mean, to determine the threshold of the SUSAN filter; Finally, the built SUSAN filter is used to convolution the image to obtain the background image, at the same time, the difference between the background image and the original image is obtained. The experimental results show that the background modeling effect of infrared image is evaluated by Mean Squared Error (MSE), Structural Similarity (SSIM) and local Signal-to-noise Ratio Gain (GSNR). Compared with the traditional filtering algorithm, the improved SUSAN filter has achieved better background modeling effect, which can effectively preserve the edge information in the image, and the dim small target is effectively enhanced in the difference graph, which greatly reduces the false alarm rate of the image.

Theoretical studies of the structures and local aromaticity of conjugated polycyclic hydrocarbons using three aromatic indices

Science.gov (United States)

Sakai, Shogo; Kita, Yuki

2013-07-01

The structures and local aromaticity of some conjugated polycyclic hydrocarbons (from the butadienoid, acene, and phenylene series) are studied using ab initio MO and density functional methods. The aromaticities of the molecules are estimated using three indices: the nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS), the harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA), and the index of deviation from aromaticity (IDA). Assessment of the relationships between the structures and the aromatic indices shows that the IDA values correspond best to the characteristics of the conjugated polycyclic hydrocarbon structures.

THE INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF NEUTRAL POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CLUSTERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ricca, Alessandra; Bauschlicher, Charles W. Jr.; Allamandola, Louis J.

2013-01-01

The mid-infrared spectra of neutral homogeneous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) clusters have been computed using density functional theory including an empirical correction for dispersion. The C-H out-of-plane bending modes are redshifted for all the clusters considered in this work. The magnitude of the redshift and the peak broadening are dependent on PAH size, shape, and on the PAH arrangement in the cluster

THE INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF NEUTRAL POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CLUSTERS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ricca, Alessandra [Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, 189 Bernardo Avenue, Suite 100, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States); Bauschlicher, Charles W. Jr. [Entry Systems and Technology Division, Mail Stop 230-3, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Allamandola, Louis J., E-mail: Alessandra.Ricca-1@nasa.gov, E-mail: Charles.W.Bauschlicher@nasa.gov [Space Science Division, Mail Stop 245-6, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)

2013-10-10

The mid-infrared spectra of neutral homogeneous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) clusters have been computed using density functional theory including an empirical correction for dispersion. The C-H out-of-plane bending modes are redshifted for all the clusters considered in this work. The magnitude of the redshift and the peak broadening are dependent on PAH size, shape, and on the PAH arrangement in the cluster.

Carcinogenic activity of polycyclic hydrocarbons on man and animals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shabad, L M

1976-03-01

Basic facts are reported on the carcinogenic activity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) towards humans and animals. Benzyprene (BP) is taken as a standard indicator for PAH. Studies of the distribution of BP in atmosphere, hydrosphere, in soil, in plants, and in animals led to an understanding of the accumulation and breakdown of this chemical. On this basis, safety limits were set as a prophylactic measure.

The control of a biotrickling filter

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Lith, C.P.M.; Ottengraf, S.P.P.; Diks, R.M.M.

1994-01-01

Emissions from composting plants must be reduced with high efficiencies by means of closed systems and treatment of ventilation air. Biofilters are used for air treatment, however these systems have several disadvantages, e.g. large required filter mols. and low controllability. A promising new

Rotating Ceramic Water Filter Discs System for Water Filtration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riyadh Z. Al Zubaidy

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This work aimed to design, construct and operate a new laboratory scale water filtration system. This system was used to examine the efficiency of two ceramic filter discs as a medium for water filtration. These filters were made from two different ceramic mixtures of local red clay, sawdust, and water. The filtration system was designed with two rotating interfered modules of these filters. Rotating these modules generates shear force between water and the surfaces of filter discs of the filtration modules that works to reduce thickness of layer of rejected materials on the filters surfaces. Each module consists of seven filtration units and each unit consists of two ceramic filter discs. The average measured hydraulic conductivity of the first module was 13.7mm/day and that for the second module was 50mm/day. Results showed that the water filtration system can be operated continuously with a constant flow rate and the filtration process was controlled by a skin thin layer of rejected materials. The ceramic water filters of both filtration modules have high removal efficiency of total suspended solids up to 100% and of turbidity up to 99.94%.

Analysis of particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by on-line coupled supercritical fluid extraction-liquid chromatography-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

Shimmo, Masahiko; Adler, Heidi; Hyötyläinen, Tuulia; Hartonen, Kari; Kulmala, Markku; Riekkola, Marja-Liisa

An on-line supercritical fluid extraction-liquid chromatography-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SFE-LC-GC-MS) method was developed for the analysis of the particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The limits of detection of the system for the quantification standards were in the range of 0.25-0.57 ng, while the limits of determinations for filter samples varied from 0.02 to 0.04 ng m -3 (24 h sampling). The linearity was excellent from 5 to 300 ng ( R2>0.967). The analysis could be carried out in a closed system without tedious manual sample pretreatment and with no risk of errors by contamination or loss of the analytes. The results of the SFE-LC-GC-MS method were comparable with those for Soxhlet and shake-flask extractions with GC-MS. The new method was applied to the analysis of PAHs collected by high-volume filter in the Helsinki area to study the seasonal trend of the concentrations. The individual PAH concentrations varied from 0.015 to more than 1 ng m -3, while total PAH concentrations varied from 0.81 to 5.68 ng m -3. The concentrations were generally higher in winter than in summer. The mass percentage of the total PAHs in total suspended particulates ranged from 2.85×10 -3% in July to 15.0×10 -3% in December. Increased emissions in winter, meteorological conditions, and more serious artefacts during the sampling in summer season may explain the concentration profiles.

Enhanced Stormwater Contaminant Removal Using Tree Filters And Modified Sorbents

Science.gov (United States)

Schifman, L. A.; Kasaraneni, V. K.; Boving, T. B.; Oyanedel-Craver, V.

2012-12-01

Stormwater runoff, particularly in urban areas, contains several groups of contaminants that negatively impact surface- and groundwater quality if left untreated. Contaminants in runoff are often addressed by structural best management practices (BMP) that capture and treat runoff before discharging it. Many BMPs, such as tree filters, act as primary filtration devices that attenuate total suspended solids, nutrients, and heavy metals from runoff; but typically these BMPs are not designed to treat bacteria and have only minor petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) treatment capabilities. To address this shortcoming, three materials (red cedar wood chips, expanded shale, and crushed concrete) were modified with either Quaternary Ammonium Silane (QAS) or Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) to provide antimicrobial properties to the matrix and/or exploit their affinity to sorb PH, particularly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Results show that of the three materials investigated, wood chips exhibit the highest sorption capacity for QAS, making this material favorable for treating bacteria, while at the same time attenuating PAHs by sorption processes. In case of AgNP amendments to wood, less uptake and more desorption from the wood matrix was observed. Relative to wood, expanded shale and crushed concrete exhibited less affinity for QAS (results for AgNPs are pending). Currently, batch isotherm and unsaturated flow column studies are under way to determine the performance of the amended materials with regard to removal of bacteria, nutrients, heavy metals, and PAH from artificially contaminated runoff. In this presentation, the contaminant removal efficiency of all modified and unmodified materials will be discussed on the background of how these materials may find use in enhanced treatment of stormwater in tree filter BMPs.

A Study of Parallel Operation of an active Filter and passive Filters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Zhe; Blaabjerg, Frede; Pedersen, John Kim

2002-01-01

This paper reports investigations of the parallel operations of a current controlled active filter and passive filters in a system with current harmonic sources. The task of reactive power and harmonic compensation is shared by the active filter and passive filters. The passive filters are used...... arrangements of the active and passive filters can operate relatively independently, also the compensation flexibility of the active filter can be fully exploited, such as one active filter for several harmonic sources.The simulation studies on various systems have been performed to evaluate the effectiveness...... of the systems. The results show that the power factor is corrected by the passive filters, harmonics are minimized by both active and passive filters and overloading of the filter system can be avoided....

Attenuation of spurious responses in electromechanical filters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olsson, Roy H.; Hietala, Vincent M.

2018-04-10

A spur cancelling, electromechanical filter includes a first resonator having a first resonant frequency and one or more first spurious responses, and it also includes, electrically connected to the first resonator, a second resonator having a second resonant frequency and one or more second spurious responses. The first and second resonant frequencies are approximately identical, but the first resonator is physically non-identical to the second resonator. The difference between the resonators makes the respective spurious responses different. This allows for filters constructed from a cascade of these resonators to exhibit reduced spurious responses.

On Ensemble Nonlinear Kalman Filtering with Symmetric Analysis Ensembles

KAUST Repository

Luo, Xiaodong; Hoteit, Ibrahim; Moroz, Irene M.

2010-01-01

However, by adopting the Monte Carlo method, the EnSRF also incurs certain sampling errors. One way to alleviate this problem is to introduce certain symmetry to the ensembles, which can reduce the sampling errors and spurious modes in evaluation of the means and covariances of the ensembles [7]. In this contribution, we present two methods to produce symmetric ensembles. One is based on the unscented transform [8, 9], which leads to the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) [8, 9] and its variant, the ensemble unscented Kalman filter (EnUKF) [7]. The other is based on Stirling’s interpolation formula (SIF), which results in the divided difference filter (DDF) [10]. Here we propose a simplified divided difference filter (sDDF) in the context of ensemble filtering. The similarity and difference between the sDDF and the EnUKF will be discussed. Numerical experiments will also be conducted to investigate the performance of the sDDF and the EnUKF, and compare them to a well‐established EnSRF, the ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) [2].

Efficient composite broadband polarization retarders and polarization filters

Science.gov (United States)

Dimova, E.; Ivanov, S. S.; Popkirov, G.; Vitanov, N. V.

2014-12-01

A new type of broadband polarization half-wave retarder and narrowband polarization filters are described and experimentally tested. Both, the retarders and the filters are designed as composite stacks of standard optical half-wave plates, each of them twisted at specific angles. The theoretical background of the proposed optical devices was obtained by analogy with the method of composite pulses, known from the nuclear and quantum physics. We show that combining two composite filters built from different numbers and types of waveplates, the transmission spectrum is reduced from about 700 nm to about 10 nm width.We experimentally demonstrate that this method can be applied to different types of waveplates (broadband, zero-order, multiple order, etc.).

A reaction mechanism for gasoline surrogate fuels for large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

KAUST Repository

Raj, Abhijeet; Charry Prada, Iran David; Amer, Ahmad Amer; Chung, Suk-Ho

2012-01-01

This work aims to develop a reaction mechanism for gasoline surrogate fuels (n-heptane, iso-octane and toluene) with an emphasis on the formation of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Starting from an existing base mechanism for gasoline

Cancer Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Soils and Sediments of India: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Tarafdar, Abhrajyoti; Sinha, Alok

2017-10-01

A carcinogenic risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils and sediments was conducted using the probabilistic approach from a national perspective. Published monitoring data of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in soils and sediments at different study points across India were collected and converted to their corresponding BaP equivalent concentrations. These BaP equivalent concentrations were used to evaluate comprehensive cancer risk for two different age groups. Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis were applied to quantify uncertainties of risk estimation. The analysis denotes 90% cancer risk value of 1.770E-5 for children and 3.156E-5 for adults at heavily polluted site soils. Overall carcinogenic risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils of India were mostly in acceptance limits. However, the food ingestion exposure route for sediments leads them to a highly risked zone. The 90% risk values from sediments are 7.863E-05 for children and 3.999E-04 for adults. Sensitivity analysis reveals exposure duration and relative skin adherence factor for soil as the most influential parameter of the assessment, followed by BaP equivalent concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For sediments, biota to sediment accumulation factor of fish in terms of BaP is most sensitive on the total outcome, followed by BaP equivalent and exposure duration. Individual exposure route analysis showed dermal contact for soils and food ingestion for sediments as the main exposure pathway. Some specific locations such as surrounding areas of Bhavnagar, Raniganj, Sunderban, Raipur, and Delhi demand potential strategies of carcinogenic risk management and reduction. The current study is probably the first attempt to provide information on the carcinogenic risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil and sediments across India.

Polytetrafluoroethylene-jacketed stirrer modified with graphene oxide and polydopamine for the efficient extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zinxin; Mwadini, Mwadini Ahmada; Chen, Zilin

2016-10-01

Steel stirrers jacketed with polytetrafluoroethylene can be regarded as an ideal substrate for stirrer bar sorptive extraction. However, it is still a great challenge to immobilize graphene onto a polytetrafluoroethylene stirrer due to the high chemical resistance of the surface of a polytetrafluoroethylene stirrer. We describe here a method to modify the surface of polytetrafluoroethylene stirrers with graphene. In this work, graphene was used as the sorbent due to its excellent adsorption capability for aromatic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic compounds. Graphene was successfully immobilized onto polytetrafluoroethylene-stirrer by a bio-inspired polydopamine functionalization method. The graphene-modified polytetrafluoroethylene-stirrer shows good stability and tolerance to stirring, ultrasonication, strong acidic and basic solutions, and to organic solvents. The multilayer coating was characterized by scanning electronic microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. After the optimization of some experimental conditions, the graphene-modified polytetrafluoroethylene stirrer was used for the stirrer bar sorptive extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in which the binding between the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the graphene layer was mainly based on π-π stacking and hydrophobic interactions. The graphene-modified polytetrafluoroethylene-stirrer-based stirrer bar sorptive extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with great extraction efficiency, with enrichment factors from 18 to 62. The method has low limits of detection of 1-5 pg/mL, wide linear range (5-100 and 10-200 pg/mL), good linearity (R ≥ 0.9957) and good reproducibility (RSD ≤ 6.45%). The proposed method has been applied to determine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in real dust samples. Good recoveries were obtained, ranging from 88.53 to 109.43%. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag

Cancer Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Soils and Sediments of India: A Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarafdar, Abhrajyoti; Sinha, Alok

2017-10-01

A carcinogenic risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils and sediments was conducted using the probabilistic approach from a national perspective. Published monitoring data of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in soils and sediments at different study points across India were collected and converted to their corresponding BaP equivalent concentrations. These BaP equivalent concentrations were used to evaluate comprehensive cancer risk for two different age groups. Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis were applied to quantify uncertainties of risk estimation. The analysis denotes 90% cancer risk value of 1.770E-5 for children and 3.156E-5 for adults at heavily polluted site soils. Overall carcinogenic risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils of India were mostly in acceptance limits. However, the food ingestion exposure route for sediments leads them to a highly risked zone. The 90% risk values from sediments are 7.863E-05 for children and 3.999E-04 for adults. Sensitivity analysis reveals exposure duration and relative skin adherence factor for soil as the most influential parameter of the assessment, followed by BaP equivalent concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For sediments, biota to sediment accumulation factor of fish in terms of BaP is most sensitive on the total outcome, followed by BaP equivalent and exposure duration. Individual exposure route analysis showed dermal contact for soils and food ingestion for sediments as the main exposure pathway. Some specific locations such as surrounding areas of Bhavnagar, Raniganj, Sunderban, Raipur, and Delhi demand potential strategies of carcinogenic risk management and reduction. The current study is probably the first attempt to provide information on the carcinogenic risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil and sediments across India.

Backflush HPLC for the isolation of polycyclic aromatic compounds - a comparative study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oestman, C.E.; Colmsjoe, A.L.

1987-12-01

Semipreparative HPLC utilizing a polar bonded phase was applied to the isolation of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) from complex samples using a backflush technique. Aminopropyl- and cyanopropyl-modified silica was tested. Aminopropyl-modified silica was found to be superior in achieving rapid, selective and non discriminating isolation of PAC. This was compared with the most commonly used isolation methods, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylformamide (DMF) and nitromethane liquid-liquid extractions, and silica and SephadexLH-20 open column chromatography. Strong discrimination of alkylated PAC and polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocyclics (PANH) was found for the liquid-liquid extractions and the LH-20 column chromatography. These comparisons were made using both standard compounds and a sample of used crank-case oil, indicating the necessity of using a real sample for evaluation of extraction methods. Recoveries of 42 PACs are reported.

Development of filters and housings for use on active plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hackney, S.; Pratt, R.P.

1983-01-01

New designs of housings for conventional HEPA filters have been developed and are now in use. A further design is planned for future use. The main features to be developed are the engineering of double door systems to replace bag posting and other methods of filter changing which expose personnel to hazardous environments and the addition of a secondary containment to reduce the role of the gasket seal in the filtration efficiency. Also under development are circular geometry filters of HEPA standard which offer significant advantages over rectangular filters for applications requiring remote shielded change facilities. Two types of filter construction are being evaluated, conventional radial flow cartridge filters and spiral-wound, axial-flow filters. The application of circular filters for primary filter systems on active plant is in hand. A push-through change system has been developed for a new cell facility under construction at Harwell. Existing rectangular filters on a high activity cell are being replaced with clusters of small cartridge filters to overcome changing and disposal problems. A similar system but using 1700 m 3 /h filters for large volume off-gas treatment is also being studied. A remote change shielded filter installation is being developed for use in high alpha, beta, gamma extract systems. The design incorporates large cartridge filters in sealed drums with remote transfer and connection to duct work in the facility. A novel application of the use of double-lid technology removes the need for separate shut off dampers and enables the drums to be sealed for all transfer operations

Identifying risk sources of air contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Science.gov (United States)

Huzlik, Jiri; Bozek, Frantisek; Pawelczyk, Adam; Licbinsky, Roman; Naplavova, Magdalena; Pondelicek, Michael

2017-09-01

This article is directed to determining concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are sorbed to solid particles in the air. Pollution sources were identified on the basis of the ratio of benzo[ghi]perylene (BghiPe) to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). Because various important information is lost by determining the simple ratio of concentrations, least squares linear regression (classic ordinary least squares regression), reduced major axis, orthogonal regression, and Kendall-Theil robust diagnostics were utilized for identification. Statistical evaluation using all aforementioned methods demonstrated different ratios of the monitored PAHs in the intervals examined during warmer and colder periods. Analogous outputs were provided by comparing gradients of the emission factors acquired from the measured concentrations of BghiPe and BaP in motor vehicle exhaust gases. Based on these outputs, it was possible plausibly to state that the influence of burning organic fuels in heating stoves is prevalent in colder periods whereas in warmer periods transport was the exclusive source because other sources of PAH emissions were not found in the examined locations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microbial Degradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Characterization of Bacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Tikilili, P. V.; Chirwa, E. M. N.

2010-01-01

Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was studied. Naphthalene was used as a model compound to represent these compounds. Low initial concentrations of naphthalene in a range of 30-60 mg/L were completely degraded after incubation for 15 hrs by consortia from a landfill soil while consortia from minewater took more that 29 hrs to reach complete degradation.

Gravity Matching Aided Inertial Navigation Technique Based on Marginal Robust Unscented Kalman Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the topic of gravity matching aided inertial navigation technology using Kalman filter. The dynamic state space model for Kalman filter is constructed as follows: the error equation of the inertial navigation system is employed as the process equation while the local gravity model based on 9-point surface interpolation is employed as the observation equation. The unscented Kalman filter is employed to address the nonlinearity of the observation equation. The filter is refined in two ways as follows. The marginalization technique is employed to explore the conditionally linear substructure to reduce the computational load; specifically, the number of the needed sigma points is reduced from 15 to 5 after this technique is used. A robust technique based on Chi-square test is employed to make the filter insensitive to the uncertainties in the above constructed observation model. Numerical simulation is carried out, and the efficacy of the proposed method is validated by the simulation results.

Efficient Scalable Median Filtering Using Histogram-Based Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Oded

2018-05-01

Median filtering is a smoothing technique for noise removal in images. While there are various implementations of median filtering for a single-core CPU, there are few implementations for accelerators and multi-core systems. Many parallel implementations of median filtering use a sorting algorithm for rearranging the values within a filtering window and taking the median of the sorted value. While using sorting algorithms allows for simple parallel implementations, the cost of the sorting becomes prohibitive as the filtering windows grow. This makes such algorithms, sequential and parallel alike, inefficient. In this work, we introduce the first software parallel median filtering that is non-sorting-based. The new algorithm uses efficient histogram-based operations. These reduce the computational requirements of the new algorithm while also accessing the image fewer times. We show an implementation of our algorithm for both the CPU and NVIDIA's CUDA supported graphics processing unit (GPU). The new algorithm is compared with several other leading CPU and GPU implementations. The CPU implementation has near perfect linear scaling with a speedup on a quad-core system. The GPU implementation is several orders of magnitude faster than the other GPU implementations for mid-size median filters. For small kernels, and , comparison-based approaches are preferable as fewer operations are required. Lastly, the new algorithm is open-source and can be found in the OpenCV library.

Designing an Inverter-based Operational Transconductance Amplifier-capacitor Filter with Low Power Consumption for Biomedical Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousefinezhad, Sajad; Kermani, Saeed; Hosseinnia, Saeed

2018-01-01

The operational transconductance amplifier-capacitor (OTA-C) filter is one of the best structures for implementing continuous-time filters. It is particularly important to design a universal OTA-C filter capable of generating the desired filter response via a single structure, thus reducing the filter circuit power consumption as well as noise and the occupied space on the electronic chip. In this study, an inverter-based universal OTA-C filter with very low power consumption and acceptable noise was designed with applications in bioelectric and biomedical equipment for recording biomedical signals. The very low power consumption of the proposed filter was achieved through introducing bias in subthreshold MOSFET transistors. The proposed filter is also capable of simultaneously receiving favorable low-, band-, and high-pass filter responses. The performance of the proposed filter was simulated and analyzed via HSPICE software (level 49) and 180 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. The rate of power consumption and noise obtained from simulations are 7.1 nW and 10.18 nA, respectively, so this filter has reduced noise as well as power consumption. The proposed universal OTA-C filter was designed based on the minimum number of transconductance blocks and an inverter circuit by three transconductance blocks (OTA).

Artifact removal from EEG signals using adaptive filters in cascade

Science.gov (United States)

Garcés Correa, A.; Laciar, E.; Patiño, H. D.; Valentinuzzi, M. E.

2007-11-01

Artifacts in EEG (electroencephalogram) records are caused by various factors, like line interference, EOG (electro-oculogram) and ECG (electrocardiogram). These noise sources increase the difficulty in analyzing the EEG and to obtaining clinical information. For this reason, it is necessary to design specific filters to decrease such artifacts in EEG records. In this paper, a cascade of three adaptive filters based on a least mean squares (LMS) algorithm is proposed. The first one eliminates line interference, the second adaptive filter removes the ECG artifacts and the last one cancels EOG spikes. Each stage uses a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, which adjusts its coefficients to produce an output similar to the artifacts present in the EEG. The proposed cascade adaptive filter was tested in five real EEG records acquired in polysomnographic studies. In all cases, line-frequency, ECG and EOG artifacts were attenuated. It is concluded that the proposed filter reduces the common artifacts present in EEG signals without removing significant information embedded in these records.

Artifact removal from EEG signals using adaptive filters in cascade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garces Correa, A; Laciar, E; Patino, H D; Valentinuzzi, M E

2007-01-01

Artifacts in EEG (electroencephalogram) records are caused by various factors, like line interference, EOG (electro-oculogram) and ECG (electrocardiogram). These noise sources increase the difficulty in analyzing the EEG and to obtaining clinical information. For this reason, it is necessary to design specific filters to decrease such artifacts in EEG records. In this paper, a cascade of three adaptive filters based on a least mean squares (LMS) algorithm is proposed. The first one eliminates line interference, the second adaptive filter removes the ECG artifacts and the last one cancels EOG spikes. Each stage uses a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, which adjusts its coefficients to produce an output similar to the artifacts present in the EEG. The proposed cascade adaptive filter was tested in five real EEG records acquired in polysomnographic studies. In all cases, line-frequency, ECG and EOG artifacts were attenuated. It is concluded that the proposed filter reduces the common artifacts present in EEG signals without removing significant information embedded in these records

Artifact removal from EEG signals using adaptive filters in cascade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garces Correa, A [Gabinete de TecnologIa Medica, Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina); Laciar, E [Gabinete de TecnologIa Medica, Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina); Patino, H D [Instituto de Automatica, Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina); Valentinuzzi, M E [Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biologicas (INSIBIO), UNT-CONICET, Tucuman (Argentina)

2007-11-15

Artifacts in EEG (electroencephalogram) records are caused by various factors, like line interference, EOG (electro-oculogram) and ECG (electrocardiogram). These noise sources increase the difficulty in analyzing the EEG and to obtaining clinical information. For this reason, it is necessary to design specific filters to decrease such artifacts in EEG records. In this paper, a cascade of three adaptive filters based on a least mean squares (LMS) algorithm is proposed. The first one eliminates line interference, the second adaptive filter removes the ECG artifacts and the last one cancels EOG spikes. Each stage uses a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, which adjusts its coefficients to produce an output similar to the artifacts present in the EEG. The proposed cascade adaptive filter was tested in five real EEG records acquired in polysomnographic studies. In all cases, line-frequency, ECG and EOG artifacts were attenuated. It is concluded that the proposed filter reduces the common artifacts present in EEG signals without removing significant information embedded in these records.

Phytoremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by cv. Crioula: A Brazilian alfalfa cultivar.

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, Wilber S; Manoel, Evelin A; Santos, Noemi S; Nunes, Rosane O; Domiciano, Giselli C; Soares, Marcia R

2018-07-03

This work aimed to evaluate the phytoremediation capacity of the alfalfa cultivar Crioula in soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), primary pollutants with mutagenic and carcinogenic potential. Alfalfa was grown from seed for 40 days on soil amended with anthracene, pyrene, and phenanthrene. Soil and plant tissue was collected for biometric assay, dry mass analysis, and PAH analysis by liquid chromatography. Increased total PAH concentration was associated with decreases in plant biomass, height, and internode length. The Crioula cultivar had a satisfactory phytoremediation effect, reducing total PAH concentration (300 ppm) in the experimental soil by 85% in 20 days, and by more than 95% in 40 days. The PAH showed a tendency to be removed in the temporal order: phenanthrene before pyrene before anthracene, and the removal ratio was influenced by the initial soil concentration of each PAH.

Influence of Bridgehead Substitution and Ring Annelation on the Photophysical Properties of Polycyclic DBO-Type Azoalkanes.

Science.gov (United States)

Adam, Waldemar; Nikolaus, Achim; Sauer, Jürgen

1999-05-14

The photophysical data for the polycyclic, bridgehead-substituted derivatives 1-10 of the photoreluctant diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene (DBO) are presented. Substitution on the bridgehead positions with radical-stabilizing substituents enhances the photoreactivity (Phi(r)) and decreases the fluorescence quantum yields (Phi(f)) and lifetimes (tau) compared to the parent DBO. The annelated rings have no influence on the photoreactivity, except when steric interactions with an alpha substituent hinder the optimal radical-stabilizing conformation. The fused rings and some of the bridgehead substituents reduce the solvent-induced quenching of the singlet-excited azo chromophore by steric shielding of the azo group and, thus, increase the fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes.

Improved Passive-Damped LCL Filter to Enhance Stability in Grid-Connected Voltage-Source Converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beres, Remus Narcis; Wang, Xiongfei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2015-01-01

This paper proposes an improved passive-damped LCL filter to be used as interface between the grid-connected voltage-source converters and the utility grid. The proposed filter replaces the LCL filter capacitor with a traditional C-type filter with the resonant circuit tuned in such a way...... passive-damped LCL filter. To verify the benefits of the proposed filter, a comparison with the conventional filter is made in terms of losses and ratings when both the filters are designed under the same condition....... that switching harmonics due to pulse width modulation are to be cancelled. Since the tuned circuit of the C-type filter suppresses the switching harmonics more effectively, the total inductance of the filter can be reduced. Additionally, the rating of the damping resistor is lower, compared with conventional...

Photodynamic activity of polycyclic hydrocarbon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Epstein, S S

1963-01-01

Exposure of Paramecium caudatum to suspensions of 3,4-benzopyrene, followed by long wave ultraviolet irradiation, results in cell death at times related, inter alia, to carcinogen concentration. Prior to death, the cells exhibit progressive immobilization and blebbing. This photodynamic response is a sensitized photo-oxidation, as it is oxygen-dependent and inhibited by anti-oxidants, such as butylated hydroxy anisole and ..cap alpha..-tocopherol. Protection is also afforded by other agents, including Tweens, tryptophan and certain fractions of plasma proteins. No evidence was found for the involvement of peroxides or sulfhydryl groups. The correlations between photodynamic toxicity and carcinogenicity in a large series of polycyclic hydrocarbons is under investigation. Assays of air extracts for photodynamic toxicity are in progress. Significant toxicity has been found in oxygenated besides aromatic fractions.

Rectifier Filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. A. Bladyko

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The paper contains definition of a smoothing factor which is suitable for any rectifier filter. The formulae of complex smoothing factors have been developed for simple and complex passive filters. The paper shows conditions for application of calculation formulae and filters. 

Assessment of the bioavailability and phytotoxicity of sediment spiked with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Science.gov (United States)

Rončević, Srđan; Spasojević, Jelena; Maletić, Snežana; Jazić, Jelena Molnar; Isakovski, Marijana Kragulj; Agbaba, Jasmina; Grgić, Marko; Dalmacija, Božo

2016-02-01

Large amounts of sediment are dredged globally every year. This sediment is often contaminated with low concentrations of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides and other organic pollutants. Some of this sediment is disposed of on land, creating a need for risk assessment of the sediment disposal method, to minimize the degradation of environmental quality and prevent risks to human health. Evaluating the available fractions of certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is very important, as in the presence of various organisms, they are believed to be easily subject to the processes of bioaccumulation, biosorption and transformation. In order to determine the applicability of applying these methods for the evaluation of pollutant bioavailability in sediments, the desorption kinetics from the sediment of various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the presence of Tenax and XAD4 were examined over the course of 216 h. Changes in the PAH concentrations in dredged sediments using five different seed plants during a short time of period (10 days) were also followed. Using chemical extraction techniques with Tenax and XAD4, a time of around 24 h is enough to achieve equilibrium for all four PAHs. Results showed good agreement between the seed accumulation and PAH extraction methods with both agents. If we compare the two extraction techniques, XAD4 gave better results for phenanthrene, pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene, and Tenax gave better results for chrysene.

Design and control of an LCL-filter-based three-phase active rectifier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liserre, Marco; Blaabjerg, Frede; Hansen, Steffan

2005-01-01

This paper proposes a step-by-step procedure for designing the LCL filter of a front-end three-phase active rectifier. The primary goal is to reduce the switching frequency ripple at a reasonable cost, while at the same time achieving a high-performance front-end rectifier (as characterized...... by a rapid dynamic response and good stability margin). An example LCL filter design is reported and a filter has been built and tested using the values obtained from this design. The experimental results demonstrate the performance of the design procedure both for the LCL filter and for the rectifier...... a powerful tool to design an LCL-filter-based active rectifier while avoiding trial-and-error procedures that can result in having to build several filter prototypes....

Multirate Digital Filters Based on FPGA and Its Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharaf El-Din, R.M.A.

2013-01-01

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is one of the fastest growing techniques in the electronics industry. It is used in a wide range of application fields such as, telecommunications, data communications, image enhancement and processing, video signals, digital TV broadcasting, and voice synthesis and recognition. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) offers good solution for addressing the needs of high performance DSP systems. The focus of this thesis is on one of the basic DSP functions, namely filtering signals to remove unwanted frequency bands. Multi rate Digital Filters (MDFs) are the main theme here. Theory and implementation of MDF, as a special class of digital filters, will be discussed. Multi rate digital filters represent a class of digital filters having a number of attractive features like, low requirements for the coefficient word lengths, significant saving in computation and storage requirements results in a significant reduction in its dynamic power consumption. This thesis introduces an efficient FPGA realization of a multi rate decimation filter with narrow pass-band and narrow transition band to reduce the frequency sample rate by factor of 64 for noise thermometer applications. The proposed multi rate decimation filter is composed of three stages; the first stage is a Cascaded Integrator Comb (CIC) decimation filter, the second stage is a two-coefficient Half-Band (HB) filter and the last stage is a sharper transition HB filter. The frequency responses of individual stages as well as the overall filter response have been demonstrated with full simulation using MATLAB. The design and implementation of the proposed MDF on FPGA (XILINX Virtex XCV800 BG432-4), using VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL), has been introduced. The implementation areas of the proposed filter stages are compared. Using CIC-HB technique saves 18% of the design area, compared to using six stages HB decimation filters.

Enhanced diffusion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in artificial and natural aqueous solutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mayer, Philipp; Fernqvist, M.M.; Christensen, P.S.

2007-01-01

Uptake of hydrophobic organic compounds into organisms is often limited by the diffusive transport through a thin boundary layer. Therefore, a microscale diffusion technique was applied to determine the diffusive mass transfer of 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through water, air, surfactant...

Sources and deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to western US national parks

Science.gov (United States)

Seasonal snowpack, lichens, and lake sediment cores were collected from fourteen lake catchments in eight western U.S. National Parks and analyzed for sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to determine their current and historical deposition, as well as to identify thei...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-polluted dredged peat sediments and earthworms: a mutual interference

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eijsackers, H.J.P.; Jonge, de S.; Muijs, B.; Slijkerman, D.; Gestel, van C.A.M.

2001-01-01

In lowland areas of the Netherlands, any peat sediments will gradually become enriched with anthropogenically derived Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Due to Dutch policy standards these (anaerobic) sediments are not allowed to be dredged and placed onto land. Under aerobic conditions, however,

Filter testing and development for prolonged transuranic service and waste reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geer, J.A.; Buttedahl, O.I.; Skaats, C.D.; Terada, K.; Woodard, R.W.

1977-02-01

The life of High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters used in transuranic service is influenced greatly by the gaseous and particulate matter to which the filters are exposed. The most severe conditions encountered at Rocky Flats are at the ventilation systems serving the plutonium recovery operations in Bldg. 771. A project of filter testing and development for prolonged transuranic service and waste reduction was formally initiated at Rocky Flats on July 1, 1975. The project is directed toward improving filtration methods which will prolong the life of HEPA filter systems without sacrificing effectiveness. Another important aspect of the project is to reduce the volume of HEPA filter waste shipped from the plant for long-term storage. Progress to September 30, 1976, is reported

Improving the quality of brain CT image from Wavelet filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pita Machado, Reinaldo; Perez Diaz, Marlen; Bravo Pino, Rolando

2012-01-01

An algorithm to reduce Poisson noise is described using Wavelet filters. Five tomographic images of patients and a head anthropomorphic phantom were used. They were acquired with two different CT machines. Due to the original images contain the acquisition noise; some simulated free noise lesions were added to the images and after that the whole images were contaminated with noise. Contaminated images were filtered with 9 Wavelet filters at different decomposition levels and thresholds. Image quality of filtered and unfiltered images was graded using the Signal to Noise ratio, Normalized Mean Square Error and the Structural Similarity Index, as well as, by the subjective JAFROC methods with 5 observers. Some filters as Bior 3.7 and dB45 improved in a significant way head CT image quality (p<0.05) producing an increment in SNR without visible structural distortions

Efficient Algorithms and Design for Interpolation Filters in Digital Receiver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaowei Niu

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Based on polynomial functions this paper introduces a generalized design method for interpolation filters. The polynomial-based interpolation filters can be implemented efficiently by using a modified Farrow structure with an arbitrary frequency response, the filters allow many pass- bands and stop-bands, and for each band the desired amplitude and weight can be set arbitrarily. The optimization coefficients of the interpolation filters in time domain are got by minimizing the weighted mean squared error function, then converting to solve the quadratic programming problem. The optimization coefficients in frequency domain are got by minimizing the maxima (MiniMax of the weighted mean squared error function. The degree of polynomials and the length of interpolation filter can be selected arbitrarily. Numerical examples verified the proposed design method not only can reduce the hardware cost effectively but also guarantee an excellent performance.

Local drinking water filters reduce diarrheal disease in Cambodia: a randomized, controlled trial of the ceramic water purifier.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Joe; Sobsey, Mark D; Loomis, Dana

2008-09-01

A randomized, controlled intervention trial of two household-scale drinking water filters was conducted in a rural village in Cambodia. After collecting four weeks of baseline data on household water quality, diarrheal disease, and other data related to water use and handling practices, households were randomly assigned to one of three groups of 60 households: those receiving a ceramic water purifier (CWP), those receiving a second filter employing an iron-rich ceramic (CWP-Fe), and a control group receiving no intervention. Households were followed for 18 weeks post-baseline with biweekly follow-up. Households using either filter reported significantly less diarrheal disease during the study compared with a control group of households without filters as indicated by longitudinal prevalence ratios CWP: 0.51 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.41-0.63); CWP-Fe: 0.58 (95% CI: 0.47-0.71), an effect that was observed in all age groups and both sexes after controlling for clustering within households and within individuals over time.

The protective role of ceramic filters against natural radioactivity of water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domanski, T.; Bakir, Y.Y.Y.; El-Zenki, S.; Bem, H.

1992-01-01

The paper presents results of measurements of the natural radioactivity of tap water where samples were taken in front of, and behind the ceramic filter commonly used in houses for the purification of tap water. Altogether, 289 samples were taken, processed and measured during 1985-1986 in Kuwait. Results reveal the fact that ceramic filters reduce substantially the natural radioactivity in water (the 'gross' alpha activity reduced by the factor 2.18 ± 18%; the 'gross' beta by 1.53 ± 1.6%. (author)

Fuzzy Logic-Based Filter for Removing Additive and Impulsive Noise from Color Images

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yuhong; Li, Hongyang; Jiang, Huageng

2017-12-01

This paper presents an efficient filter method based on fuzzy logics for adaptively removing additive and impulsive noise from color images. The proposed filter comprises two parts including noise detection and noise removal filtering. In the detection part, the fuzzy peer group concept is applied to determine what type of noise is added to each pixel of the corrupted image. In the filter part, the impulse noise is deducted by the vector median filter in the CIELAB color space and an optimal fuzzy filter is introduced to reduce the Gaussian noise, while they can work together to remove the mixed Gaussian-impulse noise from color images. Experimental results on several color images proves the efficacy of the proposed fuzzy filter.

Novel trimming technique for tunable HTS microstrip filters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sekiya, N. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Yamanashi University, Nakagawa-Sekiya Laboratory, 4-3-11 Takeda, Kofu 400-8511 (Japan)], E-mail: nsekiya@yamanashi.ac.jp; Nakagawa, Y. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Yamanashi University, Nakagawa-Sekiya Laboratory, 4-3-11 Takeda, Kofu 400-8511 (Japan); Saito, A.; Ohshima, S. [Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Johnan, Yonezawa 992-8510 (Japan)

2008-09-15

We have developed a method using additional electric pads for trimming tunable high-temperature superconducting (HTS) microstrip filters. These filters are generally tuned by adjusting the gap between a dielectric floating plate above the filter. When the floating plate approached the filter, the center frequency was shifted to a lower frequency. However, the insertion loss increases due to variation in the external quality factors varying from the design parameter. The external quality factors are usually controlled by adjusting the length of the input/output (I/O) coupled-line elements and the gap between the elements and the resonator. In our method, additional electric pads are distributed at the open-end of the I/O coupled-line elements of a 3-pole hairpin bandpass filter to enable adjustment of the external quality factors so as to reduce insertion loss. The electric pads consist of line-and-space patterns. They are eclectically connected to the coupled-line elements to adjust the line length and gap width and thereby control the external quality factors. An electromagnetic simulator was used for the design and analysis. The simulation results showed that the additional electric pads are effective in improving the insertion loss of the HTS bandpass filter after tuning.

Novel trimming technique for tunable HTS microstrip filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekiya, N.; Nakagawa, Y.; Saito, A.; Ohshima, S.

2008-01-01

We have developed a method using additional electric pads for trimming tunable high-temperature superconducting (HTS) microstrip filters. These filters are generally tuned by adjusting the gap between a dielectric floating plate above the filter. When the floating plate approached the filter, the center frequency was shifted to a lower frequency. However, the insertion loss increases due to variation in the external quality factors varying from the design parameter. The external quality factors are usually controlled by adjusting the length of the input/output (I/O) coupled-line elements and the gap between the elements and the resonator. In our method, additional electric pads are distributed at the open-end of the I/O coupled-line elements of a 3-pole hairpin bandpass filter to enable adjustment of the external quality factors so as to reduce insertion loss. The electric pads consist of line-and-space patterns. They are eclectically connected to the coupled-line elements to adjust the line length and gap width and thereby control the external quality factors. An electromagnetic simulator was used for the design and analysis. The simulation results showed that the additional electric pads are effective in improving the insertion loss of the HTS bandpass filter after tuning

Random matrix theory filters and currency portfolio optimisation

Science.gov (United States)

Daly, J.; Crane, M.; Ruskin, H. J.

2010-04-01

Random matrix theory (RMT) filters have recently been shown to improve the optimisation of financial portfolios. This paper studies the effect of three RMT filters on realised portfolio risk, using bootstrap analysis and out-of-sample testing. We considered the case of a foreign exchange and commodity portfolio, weighted towards foreign exchange, and consisting of 39 assets. This was intended to test the limits of RMT filtering, which is more obviously applicable to portfolios with larger numbers of assets. We considered both equally and exponentially weighted covariance matrices, and observed that, despite the small number of assets involved, RMT filters reduced risk in a way that was consistent with a much larger S&P 500 portfolio. The exponential weightings indicated showed good consistency with the value suggested by Riskmetrics, in contrast to previous results involving stocks. This decay factor, along with the low number of past moves preferred in the filtered, equally weighted case, displayed a trend towards models which were reactive to recent market changes. On testing portfolios with fewer assets, RMT filtering provided less or no overall risk reduction. In particular, no long term out-of-sample risk reduction was observed for a portfolio consisting of 15 major currencies and commodities.

Hybrid Active Filter with Variable Conductance for Harmonic Resonance Suppression in Industrial Power Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Tzung-Lin; Wang, Yen-Ching; Li, Jian-Cheng

2015-01-01

Unintentional series and/or parallel resonances, due to the tuned passive filter and the line inductance, may result in severe harmonic distortion in the industrial power system. This paper presents a hybrid active filter to suppress harmonic resonance and reduce harmonic distortion as well...... expensive. A reasonable trade-off between filtering performances and cost is to use the hybrid active filter. Design consideration are presented and experimental results are provided to validate effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, this paper discusses filtering performances on line impedance...

Retina-Inspired Filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Doutsi, Effrosyni; Fillatre, Lionel; Antonini, Marc; Gaulmin, Julien

2018-07-01

This paper introduces a novel filter, which is inspired by the human retina. The human retina consists of three different layers: the Outer Plexiform Layer (OPL), the inner plexiform layer, and the ganglionic layer. Our inspiration is the linear transform which takes place in the OPL and has been mathematically described by the neuroscientific model "virtual retina." This model is the cornerstone to derive the non-separable spatio-temporal OPL retina-inspired filter, briefly renamed retina-inspired filter, studied in this paper. This filter is connected to the dynamic behavior of the retina, which enables the retina to increase the sharpness of the visual stimulus during filtering before its transmission to the brain. We establish that this retina-inspired transform forms a group of spatio-temporal Weighted Difference of Gaussian (WDoG) filters when it is applied to a still image visible for a given time. We analyze the spatial frequency bandwidth of the retina-inspired filter with respect to time. It is shown that the WDoG spectrum varies from a lowpass filter to a bandpass filter. Therefore, while time increases, the retina-inspired filter enables to extract different kinds of information from the input image. Finally, we discuss the benefits of using the retina-inspired filter in image processing applications such as edge detection and compression.

Enhanced Stormwater Contaminant Removal and Improved Runoff Quality Using Modified Sorbents in Tree Filters

Science.gov (United States)

Schifman, L. A.; Kasaraneni, V.; Boving, T. B.; Oyanedel-Craver, V.

2013-12-01

Stormwater runoff, particularly in urban areas, contains high concentrations of pathogens that are often cited as one of the main reasons for beach closings and other water quality issues in coastal areas. Commonly found contaminants in runoff are often addressed by structural best management practices (BMP) that capture and treat the runoff before discharging it. Many BMP, such as tree filters, act as primary filtration devices that attenuate total suspended solids, nutrients, and heavy metals from runoff, but typically these BMPs are not designed to treat bacteria and have only minor petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) treatment capabilities. To address this shortcoming, the contaminant retention of an alternative sorption material was compared to expanded shale that is usually used in tree filters. Red cedar wood chips were modified with either Quaternary Ammonium Silane (QAS) or Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) to provide antimicrobial properties to the matrix and/or exploit their affinity to sorb PH, particularly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Results show that the wood chips exhibit the highest sorption capacity for QAS, making this material favorable for treating bacteria, while at the same time attenuating PAH by sorption processes. In the case of AgNP amendment to wood, less AgNP uptake and more desorption from the wood matrix was observed, making this amendment less favorable for bacteria deactivation. Batch experiments show that wood chips modified with QAS can remove up to 3 orders of magnitude of bacteria and retain up to 0.1 mg/g of PAH compared to shale, which has very limited bacteria deactivation (less than one order of magnitude) a PAH retention capacity of 0.04 mg/g. In this talk, the contaminant removal efficiency of the modified and unmodified materials will be discussed on the background of how these materials may find use in enhanced treatment of stormwater in tree filter BMPs.

Environmental Remediation: Removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nkansah, Marian Asantewah

2012-11-15

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous persistent semi-volatile organic compounds. They are contaminants that are resistant to degradation and can remain in the environment for long periods due to their high degree of conjugation, and aromaticity. PAHs are present in industrial effluents as products of incomplete combustion processes of organic compounds. Petroleum, coal and shale oil contain extremely complex mixtures of these PAHs, and their transport and refining process can also result in the release of PAHs. It is therefore prudent that such effluents are treated before discharge into the environment. In this project, different approaches to the treatment of PAHs have been investigated. Hydrous pyrolysis has been explored as a potential technique for degrading PAHs in water using anthracene as a model compound. The experiments were performed under different conditions of temperature, substrate, redox systems and durations. The conditions include oxidising systems comprising pure water, hydrogen peroxide and Nafion-SiO2 solid catalyst in water; and reducing systems of formic acid and formic acid / Nafion-SiO2 / Pd-C catalysts to assess a range of reactivities. Products observed in GCMS analysis of the extract from the water phase include anthrone, anthraquinone, xanthone and multiple hydro-anthracene derivatives (Paper I). In addition a modified version of the Nafion-SiO2 solid catalyst in water oxidising system was tested; and reducing systems of formic acid and formic acid / Nafion-SiO2 / Pd-C catalysts were adopted for the conversion of a mixture of anthracene, fluorene and fluoranthene. The rate of conversion in the mixture was high as compared to that of only anthracene (Paper II). Also the use of LECA (Lightweight expanded clay aggregates) as an adsorbent (Paper III) for PAHs (phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene) removal from water has been.(Author)

Protein structure and ionic selectivity in calcium channels: selectivity filter size, not shape, matters.

Science.gov (United States)

Malasics, Attila; Gillespie, Dirk; Nonner, Wolfgang; Henderson, Douglas; Eisenberg, Bob; Boda, Dezso

2009-12-01

Calcium channels have highly charged selectivity filters (4 COO(-) groups) that attract cations in to balance this charge and minimize free energy, forcing the cations (Na(+) and Ca(2+)) to compete for space in the filter. A reduced model was developed to better understand the mechanism of ion selectivity in calcium channels. The charge/space competition (CSC) mechanism implies that Ca(2+) is more efficient in balancing the charge of the filter because it provides twice the charge as Na(+) while occupying the same space. The CSC mechanism further implies that the main determinant of Ca(2+) versus Na(+) selectivity is the density of charged particles in the selectivity filter, i.e., the volume of the filter (after fixing the number of charged groups in the filter). In this paper we test this hypothesis by changing filter length and/or radius (shape) of the cylindrical selectivity filter of our reduced model. We show that varying volume and shape together has substantially stronger effects than varying shape alone with volume fixed. Our simulations show the importance of depletion zones of ions in determining channel conductance calculated with the integrated Nernst-Planck equation. We show that confining the protein side chains with soft or hard walls does not influence selectivity.

Chemistry and photophysics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the interstellar medium

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boschman, Leon

2017-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium, and it is thought that they are a key factor in the formation of molecular hydrogen at high gas and dust grain temperatures. We have explored how PAHs can contribute to the formation of H2 by taking a small PAH

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in biochar and biochar amended soil

Science.gov (United States)

A method for the determination of the 16 USEPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in biochar and soil amended with biochar was developed. Samples were Soxhlet extracted with acetone:cyclohexane 1:1, and PAHs were analysed by GC-MS after silica gel clean-up. In a comparative study based on reflu...

Braile vena cava filter and greenfield filter in terms of centralization.

Science.gov (United States)

de Godoy, José Maria Pereira; Menezes da Silva, Adinaldo A; Reis, Luis Fernando; Miquelin, Daniel; Torati, José Luis Simon

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate complications experienced during implantation of the Braile Vena Cava filter (VCF) and the efficacy of the centralization mechanism of the filter. This retrospective cohort study evaluated all Braile Biomédica VCFs implanted from 2004 to 2009 in Hospital de Base Medicine School in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. Of particular concern was the filter's symmetry during implantation and complications experienced during the procedure. All the angiographic examinations performed during the implantation of the filters were analyzed in respect to the following parameters: migration of the filter, non-opening or difficulties in the implantation and centralization of the filter. A total of 112 Braile CVFs were implanted and there were no reports of filter opening difficulties or in respect to migration. Asymmetry was observed in 1/112 (0.9%) cases. A statistically significant difference was seen on comparing historical data on decentralization of the Greenfield filter with the data of this study. The Braile Biomédico filter is an evolution of the Greenfield filter providing improved embolus capture and better implantation symmetry.

The NASA Ames Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Infrared Spectroscopic Database : The Computed Spectra

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bauschlicher, C. W.; Boersma, C.; Ricca, A.; Mattioda, A. L.; Cami, J.; Peeters, E.; de Armas, F. Sanchez; Saborido, G. Puerta; Hudgins, D. M.; Allamandola, L. J.

The astronomical emission features, formerly known as the unidentified infrared bands, are now commonly ascribed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The laboratory experiments and computational modeling done at the NASA Ames Research Center to create a collection of PAH IR spectra relevant

Purcell filter of unusual shape in fair superferric sextupole magnet for improving the field quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarma, P.R.; Dutta Gupta, A.; Nandi, C.; Saha, S.; Chattopadhyay, S.; Pal, G.

2013-01-01

In the Energy Buncher Section of the Super-FRS of the FAIR project, magnets of very high quality and wide aperture are needed. Wide aperture of these magnets generates large end-effects which can be reduced by end shaping and using Purcell filters which are voids in the pole for modifying the field. In the present work we have investigated various shapes of Purcell filters in magnets, especially in superferric sextupole magnets. Conventional Purcell filters are through and through rectangular voids in the pole region, a little away from the pole face. We have seen that the length of the Purcell filter is an important parameter which can be optimized. Thus one can use partially penetrating filters. We have further shown that Purcell filters of unusual geometry which start right from the pole face can be effectively used in reducing the weight of the iron, while keeping the field quality intact or improve the field quality, keeping the weight constant. (author)

Emission factors of polycyclic and nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from residential combustion of coal and crop residue pellets.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaoyang; Liu, Shijie; Xu, Yisheng; Liu, Yu; Chen, Lijiang; Tang, Ning; Hayakawa, Kazuichi

2017-12-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs) are toxic pollutants mainly produced during fossil fuel combustion. Domestic coal stoves, which emit large amounts of PAHs and NPAHs, are widely used in the Chinese countryside. In this study, emission factors (Efs) for 13 PAH species and 21 NPAH species for four raw coal (three bituminous and one anthracite), one honeycomb briquette, and one crop residue pellet (peanut hulls) samples burned in a typical Chinese rural cooking stove were determined experimentally. The PAH and NPAH Efs for the six fuels were 3.15-49 mg/kg and 0.32-100 μg/kg, respectively. Peanut hulls had very high Efs for both PAHs and NPAHs, and honeycomb briquettes had the lowest Efs. 2-Nitropyrene and 2-nitrofluoranthene, which are NPAHs typically found in secondary organic aerosol, were detected in the emissions from some fuels, suggesting that chemical reactions may have occurred in the dilution tunnel between the flue gas leaving the stove and entering the sampler. The 1-nitropyrene to pyrene diagnostic ratios for coal and peanut hulls were 0.0001 ± 0.0001 and 0.0005, respectively. These were in the same order of magnitude as reference ratios for emissions during coal combustion. The 6-nitrobenzo[a]pyrene to benzo[a]pyrene ratios for the fuels were determined, and the ratios for coal and peanut hulls were 0.0010 ± 0.0001 and 0.0014, respectively. The calculated potential toxic risks indicated that peanut hull emissions were very toxic, especially in terms of NPAHs, compared with emissions from the other fuels. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Filtered atmospheric venting of LWR containments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoegberg, L.; Ahlstroem, P.E.; Bachofner, E.; Graeslund, C.; Johansson, K.; Nilsson, L.; Persson, Aa.; Eriksson, B.

1981-03-01

The FILTRA project is a cooperative Swedish programme which started in February 1980. It is aimed at investigating the possibility of reducing the risk for a large release of radioactivity, assuming a severe reactor accident. The project has been focused on filtered venting of the reactor containment. The first stage of the project has dealt with two types of severe accident sequences, namely core meltdown as a result of the complete loss of water supplies to the reactor pressure vessel and insufficient cooling of the reactor containment. Some important conclusion are the following. The applicability of computer models used to describe various phenomena in the accident sequence must be scrutinized. The details of the design of the containment are important and must be taken into consideration in a more accurate manner than in previous analyses. A pressure relief area of less than 1 m 2 appears to be adequate. The following principles should guide the technical design of filtered venting systems, namely reduction of the risk for the release of those radioactive substances which could cause long term land contamination, provision for a passive function of the vent filter system during the first 24 hours and achievement of filtering capabilities which make leakages in severe accidents comparable to the leakages of radioactive substances in less severe accidents, which do not necessarily actuate the pressure relief system. Nothing indicates that a system for filtered venting of a BWR containment would have a significant negative effect on the safety within the framework of the design basis. Efforts should be directed towards designing a filtered venting system for a BWR such as Barsebaeck. (authors)

Efficient design of multiplier-less digital channelizers using recombination non-uniform filter banks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaeen Kalathil

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A novel approach for the efficient realization of digital channelizers in software defined radios using recombination filter banks is proposed in this paper. Digital channelizer is the core of software defined radio. Computationally efficient design supporting multiple channels with different bandwidths and low complexity are inevitable requirements for the digital channelizers. Recombination filter banks method is used to obtain non-uniform filter banks with rational sampling factors, using a two stage structure. It consists of a uniform filter bank and trans-multiplexer. In this work, the uniform filter bank and trans-multiplexer are designed using cosine modulated filter banks. The prototype filter design is made simple, efficient and fast, using window method. The multiplier-less realization of recombination filter banks in the canonic signed digit space using nature inspired optimization algorithms, results in reduced implementation complexity.

Visual object tracking by correlation filters and online learning

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xin; Xia, Gui-Song; Lu, Qikai; Shen, Weiming; Zhang, Liangpei

2018-06-01

Due to the complexity of background scenarios and the variation of target appearance, it is difficult to achieve high accuracy and fast speed for object tracking. Currently, correlation filters based trackers (CFTs) show promising performance in object tracking. The CFTs estimate the target's position by correlation filters with different kinds of features. However, most of CFTs can hardly re-detect the target in the case of long-term tracking drifts. In this paper, a feature integration object tracker named correlation filters and online learning (CFOL) is proposed. CFOL estimates the target's position and its corresponding correlation score using the same discriminative correlation filter with multi-features. To reduce tracking drifts, a new sampling and updating strategy for online learning is proposed. Experiments conducted on 51 image sequences demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is superior to the state-of-the-art approaches.

Development of an elution device for ViroCap virus filters.

Science.gov (United States)

Fagnant, Christine Susan; Toles, Matthew; Zhou, Nicolette Angela; Powell, Jacob; Adolphsen, John; Guan, Yifei; Ockerman, Byron; Shirai, Jeffry Hiroshi; Boyle, David S; Novosselov, Igor; Meschke, John Scott

2017-10-19

Environmental surveillance of waterborne pathogens is vital for monitoring the spread of diseases, and electropositive filters are frequently used for sampling wastewater and wastewater-impacted surface water. Viruses adsorbed to electropositive filters require elution prior to detection or quantification. Elution is typically facilitated by a peristaltic pump, although this requires a significant startup cost and does not include biosafety or cross-contamination considerations. These factors may pose a barrier for low-resource laboratories that aim to conduct environmental surveillance of viruses. The objective of this study was to develop a biologically enclosed, manually powered, low-cost device for effectively eluting from electropositive ViroCap™ virus filters. The elution device described here utilizes a non-electric bilge pump, instead of an electric peristaltic pump or a positive pressure vessel. The elution device also fully encloses liquids and aerosols that could contain biological organisms, thereby increasing biosafety. Moreover, all elution device components that are used in the biosafety cabinet are autoclavable, reducing cross-contamination potential. This device reduces costs of materials while maintaining convenience in terms of size and weight. With this new device, there is little sample volume loss due to device inefficiency, similar virus yields were demonstrated during seeded studies with poliovirus type 1, and the time to elute filters is similar to that required with the peristaltic pump. The efforts described here resulted in a novel, low-cost, manually powered elution device that can facilitate environmental surveillance of pathogens through effective virus recovery from ViroCap filters while maintaining the potential for adaptability to other cartridge filters.

MODELING GALACTIC EXTINCTION WITH DUST AND 'REAL' POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mulas, Giacomo; Casu, Silvia; Cecchi-Pestellini, Cesare [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Strada n.54, Loc. Poggio dei Pini, I-09012 Capoterra (Italy); Zonca, Alberto, E-mail: gmulas@oa-cagliari.inaf.it, E-mail: silvia@oa-cagliari.inaf.it, E-mail: ccp@oa-cagliari.inaf.it, E-mail: azonca@oa-cagliari.inaf.it [Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Cagliari, Strada Prov.le Monserrato-Sestu Km 0.700, I-09042 Monserrato (Italy)

2013-07-01

We investigate the remarkable apparent variety of galactic extinction curves by modeling extinction profiles with core-mantle grains and a collection of single polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Our aim is to translate a synthetic description of dust into physically well-grounded building blocks through the analysis of a statistically relevant sample of different extinction curves. All different flavors of observed extinction curves, ranging from the average galactic extinction curve to virtually 'bumpless' profiles, can be described by the present model. We prove that a mixture of a relatively small number (54 species in 4 charge states each) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can reproduce the features of the extinction curve in the ultraviolet, dismissing an old objection to the contribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to the interstellar extinction curve. Despite the large number of free parameters (at most the 54 Multiplication-Sign 4 column densities of each species in each ionization state included in the molecular ensemble plus the 9 parameters defining the physical properties of classical particles), we can strongly constrain some physically relevant properties such as the total number of C atoms in all species and the mean charge of the mixture. Such properties are found to be largely independent of the adopted dust model whose variation provides effects that are orthogonal to those brought about by the molecular component. Finally, the fitting procedure, together with some physical sense, suggests (but does not require) the presence of an additional component of chemically different very small carbonaceous grains.

Balanced microwave filters

CERN Document Server

Hong, Jiasheng; Medina, Francisco; Martiacuten, Ferran

2018-01-01

This book presents and discusses strategies for the design and implementation of common-mode suppressed balanced microwave filters, including, narrowband, wideband, and ultra-wideband filters This book examines differential-mode, or balanced, microwave filters by discussing several implementations of practical realizations of these passive components. Topics covered include selective mode suppression, designs based on distributed and semi-lumped approaches, multilayer technologies, defect ground structures, coupled resonators, metamaterials, interference techniques, and substrate integrated waveguides, among others. Divided into five parts, Balanced Microwave Filters begins with an introduction that presents the fundamentals of balanced lines, circuits, and networks. Part 2 covers balanced transmission lines with common-mode noise suppression, including several types of common-mode filters and the application of such filters to enhance common-mode suppression in balanced bandpass filters. Next, Part 3 exa...

Factors Affecting the Levels of Heavy Metals in Juices Processed with Filter Aids.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhengfang; Jackson, Lauren S; Jablonski, Joseph E

2017-06-01

This study investigated factors that may contribute to the presence of arsenic and other heavy metals in apple and grape juices processed with filter aids. Different types and grades of filter aids were analyzed for arsenic, lead, and cadmium with inductively coupled plasma-tandem mass spectrometry. Potential factors affecting the transfer of heavy metals to juices during filtration treatments were evaluated. Effects of washing treatments on removal of heavy metals from filter aids were also determined. Results showed that diatomaceous earth (DE) generally contained a higher level of arsenic than perlite, whereas perlite had a higher lead content than DE. Cellulose contained the lowest level of arsenic among the surveyed filter aids. All samples of food-grade filter aids contained arsenic and lead levels that were below the U.S. Pharmacopeia and National Formulary limits of 10 ppm of total leachable arsenic and lead for food-grade DE filter aids. Two samples of arsenic-rich (>3 ppm) food-grade filter aids raised the level of arsenic in apple and grape juices during laboratory-scale filtration treatments, whereas three samples of low-arsenic (filter aids did not affect arsenic levels in filtered juices. Filtration tests with simulated juices (pH 2.9 to 4.1, Brix [°Bx] 8.2 to 18.1, total suspended solids [TSS] 0.1 to 0.5%) showed that pH or sugar content had no effect on arsenic levels of filtered juices, whereas arsenic content of filtered juice was elevated when higher amounts of filter aid were used for filtration. Authentic unfiltered apple juice (pH 3.6, °Bx 12.9, TSS 0.4%) and grape juice (pH 3.3, °Bx 16.2, TSS 0.05%) were used to verify results obtained with simulated juices. However, body feed ratio did not affect the arsenic content of filtered authentic juices. Washing treatments were effective at reducing arsenic, but not cadmium or lead, concentrations in a DE filter aid. This study identified ways to reduce the amount of arsenic transferred to juices

Backflushable filter insert

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keith, R.C.; Vandenberg, T.; Randolph, M.C.; Lewis, T.B.; Gillis, P.J. Jr.

1988-01-01

Filter elements are mounted on a tube plate beneath an accumulator chamber whose wall is extended by skirt and flange to form a closure for the top of pressure vessel. The accumulator chamber is annular around a central pipe which serves as the outlet for filtered water passing from the filter elements. The chamber contains filtered compressed air from supply. Periodically the filtration of water is stopped and vessel is drained. Then a valve is opened, allowing the accumulated air to flow from chamber up a pipe and down pipe, pushing the filtered water from pipe back through the filter elements to clean them. The accumulator chamber is so proportioned, relative to the volume of the system communicating therewith during backflushing, that the equilibrium pressure during backflushing cannot exceed the pressure rating of the vessel. However a line monitors the pressure at the top of the vessel, and if it rises too far a bleed valve is automatically opened to depressurise the system. The chamber is intended to replace the lid of an existing vessel to convert a filter using filter aid to one using permanent filter elements. (author)

Effect of varied quantities of zeolite on the reduction of polycyclic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This research was carried out to determine the possibility of total and selective reduction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content in cigarette smoke by applying different amounts of zeolite directly to the cigarette blend. Zeolite catalysts CuZSM-5 were applied in the form of suspension to the cut tobacco blend in ...

Filter replacement lifetime prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Hamann, Hendrik F.; Klein, Levente I.; Manzer, Dennis G.; Marianno, Fernando J.

2017-10-25

Methods and systems for predicting a filter lifetime include building a filter effectiveness history based on contaminant sensor information associated with a filter; determining a rate of filter consumption with a processor based on the filter effectiveness history; and determining a remaining filter lifetime based on the determined rate of filter consumption. Methods and systems for increasing filter economy include measuring contaminants in an internal and an external environment; determining a cost of a corrosion rate increase if unfiltered external air intake is increased for cooling; determining a cost of increased air pressure to filter external air; and if the cost of filtering external air exceeds the cost of the corrosion rate increase, increasing an intake of unfiltered external air.

Anti-clogging filter system

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Erik P.

2015-05-19

An anti-clogging filter system for filtering a fluid containing large particles and small particles includes an enclosure with at least one individual elongated tubular filter element in the enclosure. The individual elongated tubular filter element has an internal passage, a closed end, an open end, and a filtering material in or on the individual elongated tubular filter element. The fluid travels through the open end of the elongated tubular element and through the internal passage and through the filtering material. An anti-clogging element is positioned on or adjacent the individual elongated tubular filter element and provides a fluid curtain that preferentially directs the larger particulates to one area of the filter material allowing the remainder of the filter material to remain more efficient.

Ammonia-nitrogen and Phosphate Reduction by Bio-Filter using Factorial Design

Science.gov (United States)

Kasmuri, Norhafezah; Ashikin Mat Damin, Nur; Omar, Megawati

2018-02-01

Untreated landfill leachate is known to have endangered the environment. As such new treatment must be sought to ensure its cost-effective and sustainable treatment. Thus this paper reports the effectiveness of bio-filter to remove pollutants. In this research, the reduction of nutrients concentration was evaluated in two conditions: using bio-filter and without bio-filter. Synthetic wastewater was used in the batch culture. It was conducted within 21 days in the initial mediums of 100 mg/L ammonia-nitrogen. The nitrification medium consisted of 100 mg/L of ammonia-nitrogen while the nitrite assay had none. The petri dish experiment was also conducted to observe the existence of any colony. The results showed 22% of ammonia- nitrogen reduction and 33% phosphate in the nitrification medium with the bio-filter. The outcome showed that the bio-filter was capable to reduce the concentration of pollutants by retaining the slow growing bacteria (AOB and NOB) on the plastic carrier surface. The factorial design was applied to study the effect of the initial ammonia-nitrogen concentration and duration on nitrite-nitrogen removal. Finally, a regression equation was produced to predict the rate of nitrite-nitrogen removal without conducting extended experiments and to reduce the number of trials experiment.

Optimized Beam Sculpting with Generalized Fringe-rate Filters

Science.gov (United States)

Parsons, Aaron R.; Liu, Adrian; Ali, Zaki S.; Cheng, Carina

2016-03-01

We generalize the technique of fringe-rate filtering, whereby visibilities measured by a radio interferometer are re-weighted according to their temporal variation. As the Earth rotates, radio sources traverse through an interferometer’s fringe pattern at rates that depend on their position on the sky. Capitalizing on this geometric interpretation of fringe rates, we employ time-domain convolution kernels to enact fringe-rate filters that sculpt the effective primary beam of antennas in an interferometer. As we show, beam sculpting through fringe-rate filtering can be used to optimize measurements for a variety of applications, including mapmaking, minimizing polarization leakage, suppressing instrumental systematics, and enhancing the sensitivity of power-spectrum measurements. We show that fringe-rate filtering arises naturally in minimum variance treatments of many of these problems, enabling optimal visibility-based approaches to analyses of interferometric data that avoid systematics potentially introduced by traditional approaches such as imaging. Our techniques have recently been demonstrated in Ali et al., where new upper limits were placed on the 21 {cm} power spectrum from reionization, showcasing the ability of fringe-rate filtering to successfully boost sensitivity and reduce the impact of systematics in deep observations.

Robust estimation of event-related potentials via particle filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukami, Tadanori; Watanabe, Jun; Ishikawa, Fumito

2016-03-01

In clinical examinations and brain-computer interface (BCI) research, a short electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement time is ideal. The use of event-related potentials (ERPs) relies on both estimation accuracy and processing time. We tested a particle filter that uses a large number of particles to construct a probability distribution. We constructed a simple model for recording EEG comprising three components: ERPs approximated via a trend model, background waves constructed via an autoregressive model, and noise. We evaluated the performance of the particle filter based on mean squared error (MSE), P300 peak amplitude, and latency. We then compared our filter with the Kalman filter and a conventional simple averaging method. To confirm the efficacy of the filter, we used it to estimate ERP elicited by a P300 BCI speller. A 400-particle filter produced the best MSE. We found that the merit of the filter increased when the original waveform already had a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (i.e., the power ratio between ERP and background EEG). We calculated the amount of averaging necessary after applying a particle filter that produced a result equivalent to that associated with conventional averaging, and determined that the particle filter yielded a maximum 42.8% reduction in measurement time. The particle filter performed better than both the Kalman filter and conventional averaging for a low SNR in terms of both MSE and P300 peak amplitude and latency. For EEG data produced by the P300 speller, we were able to use our filter to obtain ERP waveforms that were stable compared with averages produced by a conventional averaging method, irrespective of the amount of averaging. We confirmed that particle filters are efficacious in reducing the measurement time required during simulations with a low SNR. Additionally, particle filters can perform robust ERP estimation for EEG data produced via a P300 speller. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Edge Probability and Pixel Relativity-Based Speckle Reducing Anisotropic Diffusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, Deepak; Chaudhury, Santanu; Sarkar, Mukul; Soin, Arvinder Singh; Sharma, Vivek

2018-02-01

Anisotropic diffusion filters are one of the best choices for speckle reduction in the ultrasound images. These filters control the diffusion flux flow using local image statistics and provide the desired speckle suppression. However, inefficient use of edge characteristics results in either oversmooth image or an image containing misinterpreted spurious edges. As a result, the diagnostic quality of the images becomes a concern. To alleviate such problems, a novel anisotropic diffusion-based speckle reducing filter is proposed in this paper. A probability density function of the edges along with pixel relativity information is used to control the diffusion flux flow. The probability density function helps in removing the spurious edges and the pixel relativity reduces the oversmoothing effects. Furthermore, the filtering is performed in superpixel domain to reduce the execution time, wherein a minimum of 15% of the total number of image pixels can be used. For performance evaluation, 31 frames of three synthetic images and 40 real ultrasound images are used. In most of the experiments, the proposed filter shows a better performance as compared to the state-of-the-art filters in terms of the speckle region's signal-to-noise ratio and mean square error. It also shows a comparative performance for figure of merit and structural similarity measure index. Furthermore, in the subjective evaluation, performed by the expert radiologists, the proposed filter's outputs are preferred for the improved contrast and sharpness of the object boundaries. Hence, the proposed filtering framework is suitable to reduce the unwanted speckle and improve the quality of the ultrasound images.

Selection vector filter framework

Science.gov (United States)

Lukac, Rastislav; Plataniotis, Konstantinos N.; Smolka, Bogdan; Venetsanopoulos, Anastasios N.

2003-10-01

We provide a unified framework of nonlinear vector techniques outputting the lowest ranked vector. The proposed framework constitutes a generalized filter class for multichannel signal processing. A new class of nonlinear selection filters are based on the robust order-statistic theory and the minimization of the weighted distance function to other input samples. The proposed method can be designed to perform a variety of filtering operations including previously developed filtering techniques such as vector median, basic vector directional filter, directional distance filter, weighted vector median filters and weighted directional filters. A wide range of filtering operations is guaranteed by the filter structure with two independent weight vectors for angular and distance domains of the vector space. In order to adapt the filter parameters to varying signal and noise statistics, we provide also the generalized optimization algorithms taking the advantage of the weighted median filters and the relationship between standard median filter and vector median filter. Thus, we can deal with both statistical and deterministic aspects of the filter design process. It will be shown that the proposed method holds the required properties such as the capability of modelling the underlying system in the application at hand, the robustness with respect to errors in the model of underlying system, the availability of the training procedure and finally, the simplicity of filter representation, analysis, design and implementation. Simulation studies also indicate that the new filters are computationally attractive and have excellent performance in environments corrupted by bit errors and impulsive noise.

Investigating Superhydrogenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons as catalysts for Interstellar H2 formation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simonsen, Frederik Doktor Skødt

, are observed. Because of relatively high H2 destruction rates in these regions, the presently accepted formation routes on dust grains cannot exclusively account for the observed abundances [1]. Therefore, new formation routes are needed and lately attention has been drawn towards molecules called polycyclic...

Refining of high-temperature uranium melt by filtration through foam-ceramic filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antsiferov, V.N.; Porozova, S.E.; Filippov, V.B.; Shtutsa, M.G.; Il'enko, E.V.; Kolotygina, N.S.

2004-01-01

An opportunity of applying foam-ceramic filters of corundum-mullite composition has been studied in refining natural uranium melts. Uranium melting conditions were chosen depending on technical characteristics of the foam ceramic filters. When their using, a portion of nonmetallic inclusions decreases by 20-30% (as little as 2.0-3.5% ingot weight), their size is reduced and their distribution in the ingot volume is equalized, contamination of uranium by the filter material being failed to be noticed. The parameters of foam-ceramic filters are optimized for provision of stable characteristics of uranium melt filtration process [ru

Three-dimensional anisotropic adaptive filtering of projection data for noise reduction in cone beam CT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maier, Andreas; Wigstroem, Lars; Hofmann, Hannes G.; Hornegger, Joachim; Zhu Lei; Strobel, Norbert; Fahrig, Rebecca [Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States) and Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, Linkoeping University, Linkoeping (Sweden); Pattern Recognition Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91054, Erlangen (Germany); Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Programs, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 (United States); Siemens AG Healthcare, Forchheim 91301 (Germany); Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

2011-11-15

Purpose: The combination of quickly rotating C-arm gantry with digital flat panel has enabled the acquisition of three-dimensional data (3D) in the interventional suite. However, image quality is still somewhat limited since the hardware has not been optimized for CT imaging. Adaptive anisotropic filtering has the ability to improve image quality by reducing the noise level and therewith the radiation dose without introducing noticeable blurring. By applying the filtering prior to 3D reconstruction, noise-induced streak artifacts are reduced as compared to processing in the image domain. Methods: 3D anisotropic adaptive filtering was used to process an ensemble of 2D x-ray views acquired along a circular trajectory around an object. After arranging the input data into a 3D space (2D projections + angle), the orientation of structures was estimated using a set of differently oriented filters. The resulting tensor representation of local orientation was utilized to control the anisotropic filtering. Low-pass filtering is applied only along structures to maintain high spatial frequency components perpendicular to these. The evaluation of the proposed algorithm includes numerical simulations, phantom experiments, and in-vivo data which were acquired using an AXIOM Artis dTA C-arm system (Siemens AG, Healthcare Sector, Forchheim, Germany). Spatial resolution and noise levels were compared with and without adaptive filtering. A human observer study was carried out to evaluate low-contrast detectability. Results: The adaptive anisotropic filtering algorithm was found to significantly improve low-contrast detectability by reducing the noise level by half (reduction of the standard deviation in certain areas from 74 to 30 HU). Virtually no degradation of high contrast spatial resolution was observed in the modulation transfer function (MTF) analysis. Although the algorithm is computationally intensive, hardware acceleration using Nvidia's CUDA Interface provided an 8

Three-dimensional anisotropic adaptive filtering of projection data for noise reduction in cone beam CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maier, Andreas; Wigstroem, Lars; Hofmann, Hannes G.; Hornegger, Joachim; Zhu Lei; Strobel, Norbert; Fahrig, Rebecca

2011-01-01

Purpose: The combination of quickly rotating C-arm gantry with digital flat panel has enabled the acquisition of three-dimensional data (3D) in the interventional suite. However, image quality is still somewhat limited since the hardware has not been optimized for CT imaging. Adaptive anisotropic filtering has the ability to improve image quality by reducing the noise level and therewith the radiation dose without introducing noticeable blurring. By applying the filtering prior to 3D reconstruction, noise-induced streak artifacts are reduced as compared to processing in the image domain. Methods: 3D anisotropic adaptive filtering was used to process an ensemble of 2D x-ray views acquired along a circular trajectory around an object. After arranging the input data into a 3D space (2D projections + angle), the orientation of structures was estimated using a set of differently oriented filters. The resulting tensor representation of local orientation was utilized to control the anisotropic filtering. Low-pass filtering is applied only along structures to maintain high spatial frequency components perpendicular to these. The evaluation of the proposed algorithm includes numerical simulations, phantom experiments, and in-vivo data which were acquired using an AXIOM Artis dTA C-arm system (Siemens AG, Healthcare Sector, Forchheim, Germany). Spatial resolution and noise levels were compared with and without adaptive filtering. A human observer study was carried out to evaluate low-contrast detectability. Results: The adaptive anisotropic filtering algorithm was found to significantly improve low-contrast detectability by reducing the noise level by half (reduction of the standard deviation in certain areas from 74 to 30 HU). Virtually no degradation of high contrast spatial resolution was observed in the modulation transfer function (MTF) analysis. Although the algorithm is computationally intensive, hardware acceleration using Nvidia's CUDA Interface provided an 8.9-fold

Decontamination factors of ceramic filter in radioactive waste incineration system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanbe, Hiromi; Mayuzumi, Masami; Ono, Tetsuo; Yoshiki, Shinya; Kouyama, Hiroaki; Nagae, Madoka; Sekiguchi, Ryosaku; Takaoku, Yoshinobu; Hozumi, Masahiro.

1987-01-01

A suspension-firing type radioactive waste incineration system is developed and cold demonstration testing of ceramic filters for the system are carried out. The incineration system, which is useful for a wide variety of waste materials, can serve to simplify the facilities and to reduce the costs for waste disposal. The incineration system can be used for drying-processing of concentrated waste liquids and disposal of flame resistant materials including ion exchange resins and rubber, as well as for ordinary combustible solid materials. An on-line backwash system is adopted to allow the ceramic filters to operate stably for a long period of time. For one-step filtering using the ceramic filter, the decontamination factor is greater than 10 5 for the processing of various wastes. In a practical situation, there exist vapor produced by the spray drier and the cladding in used ion exchange resin, which act to increase the decontamination performance of the ceramic filters to ensure safe operation. For the waste incineration system equipped with a waste gas processing apparatus consisting of a ceramic filter and HEPA filter, the overall decontamination factor is expected to be greater than 10 6 at portions down to the outlet of the ceramic filter and greater than 10 8 at portions down to the outlet of the HEPA filter. (Nogami, K.)

Direct photolysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in drinking water sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanches, S.; Leitao, C.; Penetra, A.; Cardoso, V.V.; Ferreira, E.; Benoliel, M.J.; Crespo, M.T. Barreto; Pereira, V.J.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Low pressure UV photolysis can be used by drinking water utilities to degrade PAHs. → Real water matrices with different compositions were tested. → Photolysis kinetic parameters and by-product formation are described. → The formation of photolysis by-products is highly dependent on the source waters. - Abstract: The widely used low pressure lamps were tested in terms of their efficiency to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons listed as priority pollutants by the European Water Framework Directive and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in water matrices with very different compositions (laboratory grade water, groundwater, and surface water). Using a UV fluence of 1500 mJ/cm 2 , anthracene and benzo(a)pyrene were efficiently degraded, with much higher percent removals obtained when present in groundwater (83-93%) compared to surface water (36-48%). The removal percentages obtained for fluoranthene were lower and ranged from 13 to 54% in the different water matrices tested. Several parameters that influence the direct photolysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were determined and their photolysis by-products were identified by mass spectrometry. The formation of photolysis by-products was found to be highly dependent on the source waters tested.

Changing ventilation filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hackney, S.

1980-01-01

A filter changing unit has a door which interlocks with the door of a filter chamber so as to prevent contamination of the outer surfaces of the doors by radioactive material collected on the filter element and a movable support which enables a filter chamber thereonto to be stored within the unit in such a way that the doors of the unit and the filter chamber can be replaced. The door pivots and interlocks with another door by means of a bolt, a seal around the periphery lip of the first door engages the periphery of the second door to seal the gap. A support pivots into a lower filter element storage position. Inspection windows and glove ports are provided. The unit is releasably connected to the filter chamber by bolts engaging in a flange provided around an opening. (author)

Ultra-compact microwave filters using kinetic inductance microstrip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pond, J.M.; Carroll, K.R.; Cukauskas, E.J.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on multi-pole microwave filters designed and fabricated using microstrip transmission line sections which consist of two very thin films of sputtered niobium nitride (NbN) separated by another very thin film of sputtered Si. Since the thicknesses of all three films are much less than the superconducting penetration depth, the kinetic inductance is significantly greater than the magnetic inductance. As a result, the phase velocity of a microstrip transmission line is much less than the free space speed of light. Since resonant structures are reduced in size proportionately, the size and weight of microstrip circuits can be greatly reduced. Prototype filters consisting of four open circuit half-wavelength microstrip stubs separated by full-wavelength microstrip sections have been measured. The circuits are connected to 34 mil diameter coaxial cable via an intermediate coplanar waveguide section. Passbands of 4 GHz separated by 3 GHz reject bands have been measured in a structure which occupies less than 0.5 cm 2 including the coplanar waveguide transitions. Higher-order passbands, although possessing an increased insertion loss, maintain filter passband characteristics through 20.0 GHz

Device for automatic filter changing. Einrichtung zum selbsttaetigen Wechseln eines Filters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matschoss, V; Naschwitz, A; Wild, H

1984-01-05

A filter is moved from a store to an aerosol pipe by a lifting device and is clamped there. At the end of the operating period, the lifting device moves a new filter to a parking place. Control is from limit switches of the lifting, clamping and thrust devices and the position control of the store is by the limit switches. The filter changing device is enclosed in a gastight case, prevents blockage of a filter and makes it possible to set a certain operating period, to change the filter without interrupting the aerosol flow and to measure each filter in the sequence of operation outside the aerosol flow.

DIGITAL FILTERS IMPLEMENTATION IN MICROPROCESSOR-BASED RELAY PROTECTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. V. Rumiantsev

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents the implementation of digital filters used in digital relay protection current measuring elements. Mathematical descriptions of the considered digital filters as well as the computer programs for their coefficients calculation are described. It has been shown that in order to reliable estimate the digital filter performance its input signals waveforms must be close to the actual secondary current waveform of the current transformer to which the digital protection with the estimated digital filter is connected. For these purposes in MatLab–Simulink dynamic simulation environment the power system and the current measuring element models were developed. Performed calculations allowed to reveal that the exponentially decaying DC component which in some cases contains in primary fault current drives the current transformer core into saturation even when its nominal parameters are not exceeded. This results in distortion of the current transformer secondary current which in this case contains higher and inter-harmonics. Moreover, such harmonic content is not completely taking into account during coefficients calculation of the considered digital filters what results in signal magnitude estimation inaccuracy. Comparison of the digital filters response to the above-mentioned input signals allowed to find out such digital filter implementations which enable signal magnitude estimation with a minimum error. Ways of filtering quality improvement concerned with the window functions are proposed. Thus, the joint usage of digital filter and Hamming window allows to achieve the zero value of the signal magnitude gain factor in high-frequency range and substantially suppress all spectral components above 100 Hz. The increasing of the signal magnitude settling time in this case can be reduced by choosing the most optimal parameters of the all components of the current measuring element.

Single-Chip FPGA Azimuth Pre-Filter for SAR

Science.gov (United States)

Gudim, Mimi; Cheng, Tsan-Huei; Madsen, Soren; Johnson, Robert; Le, Charles T-C; Moghaddam, Mahta; Marina, Miguel

2005-01-01

A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) on a single lightweight, low-power integrated-circuit chip has been developed to implement an azimuth pre-filter (AzPF) for a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) system. The AzPF is needed to enable more efficient use of data-transmission and data-processing resources: In broad terms, the AzPF reduces the volume of SAR data by effectively reducing the azimuth resolution, without loss of range resolution, during times when end users are willing to accept lower azimuth resolution as the price of rapid access to SAR imagery. The data-reduction factor is selectable at a decimation factor, M, of 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 so that users can trade resolution against processing and transmission delays. In principle, azimuth filtering could be performed in the frequency domain by use of fast-Fourier-transform processors. However, in the AzPF, azimuth filtering is performed in the time domain by use of finite-impulse-response filters. The reason for choosing the time-domain approach over the frequency-domain approach is that the time-domain approach demands less memory and a lower memory-access rate. The AzPF operates on the raw digitized SAR data. The AzPF includes a digital in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) demodulator. In general, an I/Q demodulator effects a complex down-conversion of its input signal followed by low-pass filtering, which eliminates undesired sidebands. In the AzPF case, the I/Q demodulator takes offset video range echo data to the complex baseband domain, ensuring preservation of signal phase through the azimuth pre-filtering process. In general, in an SAR I/Q demodulator, the intermediate frequency (fI) is chosen to be a quarter of the range-sampling frequency and the pulse-repetition frequency (fPR) is chosen to be a multiple of fI. The AzPF also includes a polyphase spatial-domain pre-filter comprising four weighted integrate-and-dump filters with programmable decimation factors and overlapping phases. To prevent aliasing of signals

POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON FORMATION IN OPPOSED FLOW DIFFUSION FLAMES OF ETHANE. (R825412)

Science.gov (United States)

AbstractThe effect of fuel-side carbon density on the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation in atmospheric pressure, opposed flow, ethane diffusion flames has been studied using heated micro-probe sampling and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (...

Signal filtering algorithm for depth-selective diffuse optical topography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujii, M; Nakayama, K

2009-01-01

A compact filtered backprojection algorithm that suppresses the undesirable effects of skin circulation for near-infrared diffuse optical topography is proposed. Our approach centers around a depth-selective filtering algorithm that uses an inverse problem technique and extracts target signals from observation data contaminated by noise from a shallow region. The filtering algorithm is reduced to a compact matrix and is therefore easily incorporated into a real-time system. To demonstrate the validity of this method, we developed a demonstration prototype for depth-selective diffuse optical topography and performed both computer simulations and phantom experiments. The results show that the proposed method significantly suppresses the noise from the shallow region with a minimal degradation of the target signal.

Factors affecting elimination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from traditional smoked common carp meat

Science.gov (United States)

Babić, J.; Vidaković, S.; Škaljac, S.; Kartalović, B.; Ljubojević, D.; Ćirković, M.; Teodorović, V.

2017-09-01

Smoking techniques have been progressively improved and different procedures have been developed in different regions for treating fish. In these times, the technology is mainly used for enrichment of fish with specific taste and odour, to extend the shelf-life of these perishable products and appearance required widely on the market. A lot of chemical contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed during the combustion of fuel in the smoking process. PAHs are a group of compounds that have been the subject of great concern in the recent years due to their toxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic potentials to humans. These fact can have a significant impact on the acceptance of these products by consumers. In this review article, the objective is to describe factors affecting elimination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from traditional smoked common carp meat.