SmartSIM - a virtual reality simulator for laparoscopy training using a generic physics engine.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Zohaib Amjad; Kamal, Nabeel; Hameed, Asad; Mahmood, Amama; Zainab, Rida; Sadia, Bushra; Mansoor, Shamyl Bin; Hasan, Osman

2017-09-01

Virtual reality (VR) training simulators have started playing a vital role in enhancing surgical skills, such as hand-eye coordination in laparoscopy, and practicing surgical scenarios that cannot be easily created using physical models. We describe a new VR simulator for basic training in laparoscopy, i.e. SmartSIM, which has been developed using a generic open-source physics engine called the simulation open framework architecture (SOFA). This paper describes the systems perspective of SmartSIM including design details of both hardware and software components, while highlighting the critical design decisions. Some of the distinguishing features of SmartSIM include: (i) an easy-to-fabricate custom-built hardware interface; (ii) use of a generic physics engine to facilitate wider accessibility of our work and flexibility in terms of using various graphical modelling algorithms and their implementations; and (iii) an intelligent and smart evaluation mechanism that facilitates unsupervised and independent learning. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A virtualized software based on the NVIDIA cuFFT library for image denoising: performance analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Galletti, Ardelio; Marcellino, Livia; Montella, Raffaele

2017-01-01

Abstract Generic Virtualization Service (GVirtuS) is a new solution for enabling GPGPU on Virtual Machines or low powered devices. This paper focuses on the performance analysis that can be obtained using a GPGPU virtualized software. Recently, GVirtuS has been extended in order to support CUDA...... ancillary libraries with good results. Here, our aim is to analyze the applicability of this powerful tool to a real problem, which uses the NVIDIA cuFFT library. As case study we consider a simple denoising algorithm, implementing a virtualized GPU-parallel software based on the convolution theorem...

Offering model for a virtual power plant based on stochastic programming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

PandŽić, Hrvoje; Morales González, Juan Miguel; Conejo, Antonio J.

2013-01-01

A virtual power plant aggregates various local production/consumption units that act in the market as a single entity. This paper considers a virtual power plant consisting of an intermittent source, a storage facility, and a dispatchable power plant. The virtual power plant sells and purchases e...

Virtual classes: a powerful mechanism in object-oriented programming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Ole Lehrmann; Møller-Pedersen, Birger

1989-01-01

The notions of class, subclass and virtual procedure are fairly well understood and recognized as some of the key concepts in object-oriented programming. The possibility of modifying a virtual procedure in a subclass is a powerful technique for specializing the general properties of the superclass....... In most object-oriented languages, the attributes of an object may be references to objects and (virtual) procedures. In Simula and BETA it is also possible to have class attributes. The power of class attributes has not yet been widely recognized. In BETA a class may also have virtual class attributes...

Generic 12-Bus Test System for Wind Power Integration Studies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adamczyk, Andrzej Grzegorz; Altin, Müfit; Göksu, Ömer

2012-01-01

, inertial response, frequency control, damping of electromechanical oscillations, balanced and unbalanced fault management, etc. Hence, the power system components: conventional power plants with controls, transmission lines, transformers and loads should be represented accurately to achieve realistic power......High wind power penetration levels into power systems requires an appropriate power system model when assessing impact on the overall system stability. The model should capture the wide range of dynamics related to the wind integration studies, such as voltage control, synchronizing power control...... system characteristics. Additionally, the power system model should be simple and computationally manageable in order to simulate multiple scenarios with different control parameters in a reasonable time. In this paper, a generic power system model is presented in order to comprehend the wind integration...

Market integration of Virtual Power Plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Mette Kirschmeyer; Hansen, Lars Henrik; Bendtsen, Jan Dimon

2013-01-01

develop a three stage market model, which includes Day-Ahead (Spot), Intra-Day and Regulating Power Markets. This allows us to test the hypothesis that the Virtual Power Plant can generate additional profit by trading across several markets. We find that even though profits do increase as more markets...

Generic implications of ATWS events at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant: generic implications. Vol. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-04-01

This report is the first of two volumes. It documents the work of an interoffice, interdisciplinary NRC Task Force established to determine the generic implications of two anticipated transients without scram (ATWS) at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 on February 22 and 25, 1983. A second report will document the NRC actions to be taken based on the work of the Task Force. The Task Force was established to address three questions: (1) Is there a need for prompt action for similar equipment in other facilities. (2) Are NRC and its licensees learning the sefety-management lessons, and, (3) How should the priority and content of the ATWS rule be adjusted. A number of short-term actions were taken through Bulletins and an Information Notice. Intermediate-term actions to address the generic issues will be addressed in the separate report and implemented through appropriate regulatory mechanisms

Implementation of IEC Generic Models of Type 1 Wind Turbine Generator in DIgSILENT PowerFactory

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Haoran ZHAO; Qiuwei WU; Ioannis MARGARIS; Poul S(O)RENSEN

2013-01-01

The implementation method for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) generic models of Type 1 wind turbine generator (WTG) in DIgSILENT PowerFactory is presented.The following items are described,i.e.model structure,model blocks and how to implement these blocks in the PowerFactory environment.Case studies under both normal and fault conditions are done with the implemented IEC generic models of Type 1 WTG,and dynamic responses are captured and analyzed.The case study results show that the IEC generic models of Type 1 WTG can correctly represent the performances of Type 1 WTG under both normal and fault conditions.

High-power microwave generation from a frequency-stabilized virtual cathode source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fazio, M.V.; Hoeberling, R.F.; Kinross-Wright, J.

1988-01-01

The evolution of virtual cathode based high-power microwave-source technology has been directed primarily toward achieving higher peak-power levels. As peak powers in excess of 10 GW have been reported, attention has begun to focus on techniques for producing a more frequency- and phase-stable virtual cathode source. Free-running virtual cathode microwave sources characteristically exhibit bandwidths in a single pulse of tens of percent, which makes them unsuitable for many applications such as power sources for phased array antennas and microwave linear accelerators. Presented here are results of an experimental approach utilizing a high-Q, resonant cavity surrounding the oscillating virtual cathode to achieve frequency stabilization and repeatable narrow-band operation. A cylindrical cavity resonator is used with the microwave power being extracted radially through circumferential slot apertures into L-band waveguide

Competitve problems of virtual power plant sections; Wettbewerbsrechtliche Probleme virtueller Kraftwerksscheiben

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roesgen, Peter

2013-08-01

Due to dynamic price adjustment clauses 'virtual power plant sections' enable long-term contracts although the future costs of electricity production at the time of the conclusion of the contract are not predictable. Nevertheless, power plant sections gain of considerable importance due to the increasing spread in the energy industry practice. At first, the author of the book under consideration describes the different types of virtual power plant sections as well as the necessary complex economic and technical backgrounds. The competitive analysis of virtual power plant sections is the focus of this book. An orientation guide will be developed in the first part of this competitive analysis. With this it can be determined whether a virtual power plant section is qualified as a noticeable restriction of competition. The second part of this competitive analysis examines the extent to which virtual power plant sections may violate the prohibition of abuse of a market dominant position with respect to Article 102 AEUV (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) and ate paragraph paragraph 19 et seq. GWB (Law against the Restriction of Competition).

VISIT - Virtual visits to nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mollaret, Jean-Christophe

2001-01-01

For more than twenty years, EDFs Communication Division has conducted a policy of opening its generation sites to the general public. Around 300,000 people visit a nuclear power plant every year. However, for the security of persons and the safety of facilities, those parts of the plant situated in controlled areas are not accessible to visitors. For the sake of transparency, EDF has taken an interest in the technologies offered by virtual reality to show the general public what a nuclear power plant is really like, so as to initiate dialogue on nuclear energy, particularly with young people. Visit has been developed with virtual reality technologies. It serves to show the invisible (voyage to the core of fission), the inaccessible and to immerse the visitors in environments which are usually closed to the general public (discovery of the controlled area of a nuclear power plant). Visit is used in Public Information Centres which receive visitors to EDF power plants and during international exhibitions and conferences. Visit allows a virtual tour of the following controlled areas: locker room hot area/cold area, a necessary passage before entering the controlled areas; reactor building; fuel building; waste auxiliary building (liquid, solid and gaseous effluents). It also includes a tour of the rooms or equipment usually accessible to the general public: control room, turbine hall, transformer, air cooling tower

FleetPower: Creating Virtual Power Plants in Sustainable Smart Electricity Markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.T. Kahlen (Micha); W. Ketter (Wolfgang); A. Gupta (Alok)

2017-01-01

textabstractElectric vehicles have the potential to be used as virtual power plants to provide reliable back-up power. This generates additional profits for carsharing rental firms, who rent vehicles by the minute. We show this by developing a discrete event simulation platform based on real-time

78 FR 37325 - License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants; Generic Environmental Impact Statement and Standard...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-20

... Nuclear Power Plants; Generic Environmental Impact Statement and Standard Review Plans for Environmental... for Nuclear Power Plants, Supplement 1: Operating License Renewal'' (ESRP). The ESRP serves as a guide... published a final rule, ``Revisions to Environmental Review for Renewal of Nuclear Power Plant Operating...

Heuristic Optimization for the Discrete Virtual Power Plant Dispatch Problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Mette Kirschmeyer; Hansen, Lars Henrik; Bendtsen, Jan Dimon

2014-01-01

We consider a Virtual Power Plant, which is given the task of dispatching a fluctuating power supply to a portfolio of flexible consumers. The flexible consumers are modeled as discrete batch processes, and the associated optimization problem is denoted the Discrete Virtual Power Plant Dispatch...... Problem. First NP-completeness of the Discrete Virtual Power Plant Dispatch Problem is proved formally. We then proceed to develop tailored versions of the meta-heuristic algorithms Hill Climber and Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP). The algorithms are tuned and tested on portfolios...... of varying sizes. We find that all the tailored algorithms perform satisfactorily in the sense that they are able to find sub-optimal, but usable, solutions to very large problems (on the order of 10 5 units) at computation times on the scale of just 10 seconds, which is far beyond the capabilities...

Three-phase model and power-flow analysis of microgrids and virtual power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kamh, M.Z.; Iravani, R. [Toronto Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Energy Systems Group

2009-07-01

A distributed energy resources (DER) unit can be a distributed generation unit, a distributed storage unit, or a hybrid of the two. It can be dispatchable, non-dispatchable or pseudo-dispatchable. A DER unit is connected to the hosting utility directly or via an electronic converter. A three-phase model and power-flow analysis of microgrids and virtual power plants was presented. The presentation discussed DER classification; microgrids and virtual power plants; motivations and goals; and a proposed DER model and power flow approach. Validation and results were also offered. The developed algorithm was implemented in the sequence-component frame using the MATLAB platform. Case studies were offered in order to verify the accuracy of the DER model and the power-flow program. It was concluded that the developed software accommodates different DER configurations and accurately reflects their control strategies. figs.

Regulating power provided by an industrial virtual power plant

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roossien, B.; Kamphuis, I.G.; Doss, A.

2012-01-01

The use of renewable energy sources for the transition towards a sustainable electricity system imposes a number of new challenges for the grid, one of them being the balancing of variable output supply and demand. The flexibility of production and consumption in Virtual Power Plants can be used

Research of nuclear power plant in-service maintenance based on virtual reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yong; Kuang Weijun

2015-01-01

This paper presents a method of constructing nuclear power plant in-service maintenance virtual simulation scene and virtual maintenance process. Taking air baffles dismantling process of CAP1400(China Advanced Passive 1400) nuclear power plant as an instance, this paper discusses ergonomics, space analysis, time assessment based on virtual reality in the process of in-service maintenance. It demonstrates the advantage of using VR technology to design and verify in-service maintenance process of nuclear power plant compared to the conventional way. (author)

Virtual powers and virtual works in mechanics of micropolar continuous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grossetie, J.C.

1981-01-01

The expression of virtual work and virtual powers of internal actions is established for a continuous medium where the actions are defined by fields of forces and moments. A basic formulation of the mechanical problem is thus obtained and can serve as the starting point for variational and quasi-variational formulations of these problems. This expression may be used in thermodynamic developments relating to research or constitutive laws of materials within the context of so-called hidden internal variable formulations. The principle of virtual works is given in general applied then to the classic case through a demonstration consistent with this principle and finally applied to the general case in which distributions of moments are included. The viewpoint adopted is that Euler-Cauchy. This expression will have to be accounted for in establishing thermodynamic relations regarding materials subjected to nuclear effects (irradiated materials)

Generic safety issues for nuclear power plants with light water reactors and measures taken for their resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-09-01

The IAEA Conference on 'The Safety of Nuclear Power: Strategy for the Future' in 1991 was a milestone in nuclear safety. Two of the important items addressed by this conference were ensuring and enhancing safety of operating plants and treatment of nuclear power plants built to earlier safety standards. A number of publications related to these two items issued subsequent to this conference were: A Common Basis for Judging the Safety of Nuclear Power Plants Built to Earlier Standards, INSAG-9 (1995), the IAEA Safety Guide 50-SG-O12, periodic Safety Review of Operational Nuclear Power Plants (1994) and an IAEA publication on the Safety Evaluation of Operating Nuclear Power Plants Built to Earlier Standards - A Common Basis for Judgement (1997). Some of the findings of the 1991 Conference have not yet been fully addressed. An IAEA Symposium on reviewing the Safety of Existing Nuclear Power Plants in 1996 showed that there is an urgent need for operating organizations and national authorities to review operating nuclear power plants which do not meet the high safety levels of the vast majority of plants and to undertake improvements with assistance from the international community if required. Safety reviews of operating nuclear power plants take on added importance in the context of the Convention on Nuclear safety and its implementation. The purpose of this TECDOC compilation based on broad international experience, is to assist the Member States in the reassessment of operating plants by providing a list of generic safety issues identified in nuclear power plants together with measures taken to resolve these issues. These safety issues are generic in nature with regard to light water reactors and the measures for their resolution are for use as a reference for the safety reassessment of operating plants. The TECDOC covers issues thought to be significant to Member States based on consensus process. It provides an introduction to the use of generic safety issues for

Generic dynamic wind turbine models for power system stability analysis: A comprehensive review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Honrubia-Escribano, A.; Gómez-Lázaro, E.; Fortmann, J.

2018-01-01

In recent years, international working groups, mainly from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), have made a major effort to develop generic —also known as simplified or standard— dynamic wind turbine models to be used for power...... system stability analysis. These models are required by power system operators to conduct the planning and operation activities of their networks since the use of detailed manufacturer models is not practical. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the work done in this field, based on the results...... obtained by IEC and WECC working groups in the course of their research, which have motivated the publication of the IEC 61400-27 in February 2015. The final published versions of the generic models developed according to the existing four wind turbine technology types are detailed, highlighting...

Full State Feedback Control for Virtual Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Jay Tillay [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-09-01

This report presents an object-oriented implementation of full state feedback control for virtual power plants (VPP). The components of the VPP full state feedback control are (1) objectoriented high-fidelity modeling for all devices in the VPP; (2) Distribution System Distributed Quasi-Dynamic State Estimation (DS-DQSE) that enables full observability of the VPP by augmenting actual measurements with virtual, derived and pseudo measurements and performing the Quasi-Dynamic State Estimation (QSE) in a distributed manner, and (3) automated formulation of the Optimal Power Flow (OPF) in real time using the output of the DS-DQSE, and solving the distributed OPF to provide the optimal control commands to the DERs of the VPP.

Safety evaluation of nuclear power plant against the virtual tsunami

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chin, S. B.; Imamura, Fumihiko

2004-01-01

The main scope of this study is the numerical analysis of virtual tsunami event near the Ulchin Nuclear Power Plants. In the numerical analysis, the maximum run-up height and draw-down are estimated at the Ulchin Nuclear Power Plants. The computer program developed in this study describes the propagation and associated run-up process of tsunamis by solving linear and nonlinear shallow-water equations with finite difference methods. It can be used to check the safety of a nuclear power plant against tsunami attacks. The program can also be used to calculate run-up height of wave and provide proper design criteria for coastal facilities and structures. A maximum inundation zone along the coastline can be developed by using the moving boundary condition. As a result, it is predicted that the Ulchin Nuclear Power Plants might be safe against the virtual tsunami event. Although the Ulchin Nuclear Power Plants are safe against the virtual tsunami event, the occurrence of a huge tsunami in the seismic gap should be investigated in detail. Furthermore, the possibility of nearshore tsunamis around the Korean Peninsula should also be studied and monitored continuously

Power, Influence Tactics, and Influence Processes in Virtual Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Boughton, Marla

2011-01-01

Current studies of power, influence tactics, and influence processes in virtual teams assume that these constructs operate in a similar manner as they do in the face-to-face (FtF) environment. However, the virtual context differs from the FtF environment on a variety of dimensions, such as the availability of status cues. The differences between…

Draft report on compilation of generic safety issues for light water reactor nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-07-01

A generally accepted approach to characterizing the safety concerns in nuclear power plants is to express them as safety issues which need to be resolved. When such safety issues are applicable to a generation of plants of a particular design or to a family of plants of similar design, they are termed generic safety issues. Examples of generic safety issues are those related to reactor vessel embrittlement, control rod insertion reliability or strainer clogging. The safety issues compiled in this document are based on broad international experience. This compilation is one element in the framework of IAEA activities to assist Member States in reassessing the safety of operating nuclear power plants. Refs.

Draft report on compilation of generic safety issues for light water reactor nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-07-01

A generally accepted approach to characterizing the safety concerns in nuclear power plants is to express them as safety issues which need to be resolved. When such safety issues are applicable to a generation of plants of a particular design or to a family of plants of similar design, they are termed generic safety issues. Examples of generic safety issues are those related to reactor vessel embrittlement, control rod insertion reliability or strainer clogging. The safety issues compiled in this document are based on broad international experience. This compilation is one element in the framework of IAEA activities to assist Member States in reassessing the safety of operating nuclear power plants. Refs

Resolution of Generic Safety Issue 29: Bolting degradation or failure in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, R.E.

1990-06-01

This report describes the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Generic Safety Issue 29, ''Bolting Degradation or Failure in Nuclear Power Plants,'' including the bases for establishing the issue and its historical highlights. The report also describes the activities of the Atomic Industrial Forum (AIF) relevant to this issue, including its cooperation with the Materials Properties Council (MPC) to organize a task group to help resolve the issue. The Electric Power Research Institute, supported by the AIF/MPC task group, prepared and issued a two-volume document that provides, in part, the technical basis for resolving Generic Safety Issue 29. This report presents the NRC's review and evaluation of the two-volume document and NRC's conclusion that this document, in conjunction with other information from both industry and NRC, provides the bases for resolving this issue

Application of virtual reality to simulation in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Pengfei; Yang Yanhua; Yang Yongmu; Duan Dongdong; Luo Jie

2008-01-01

Based on detailed analysis of the structure and key techniques of a virtual reality system, the applications of virtual reality to simulation in nuclear power plant (NPP) were developed. In order to meet the requirement of simulation in NPP, motion simulation of control rod drive system, walking system inside the containment and virtual main control room were presented. A simulator of NPP was connected to interchange dynamic data between virtual main control room and the simulator. The simulating results show that the technique of virtual reality can be applied well to the simulation inside containment, which is filled with activity material, and the simulation of virtual main control room, where human factors must be considered. It also can be used well to design virtual education and training system of NPP. (authors)

Implementation of draft IEC Generic Model of Type 1 Wind Turbine Generator in PowerFactory and Simulink

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhao, Haoran; Wu, Qiuwei; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

2013-01-01

This paper presents the implementation work of IEC generic model of Type 1 wind turbine generator (WTG) in two commercial simulation tools: DIgSILENT PowerFactory (PF) and Matlab Simulink. The model topology, details of the composite blocks and implementation procedure in PF and Simulink environm......This paper presents the implementation work of IEC generic model of Type 1 wind turbine generator (WTG) in two commercial simulation tools: DIgSILENT PowerFactory (PF) and Matlab Simulink. The model topology, details of the composite blocks and implementation procedure in PF and Simulink...

A Market-Based Virtual Power Plant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Shi; Træholt, Chresten; Poulsen, Bjarne

2009-01-01

The fast growing penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and the continuing trend towards a more liberalized electricity market requires more efficient energy management strategies to handle both emerging technical and economic issues. In this paper, a market-based Virtual Power Plant...... (MBVPP) model is proposed which provides individual DER units the accesses to current electricity markets. General bidding scenario and price signal scenario as two optional operation scenarios are operated by one MBVPP. In the end, a use case of a MBVPP with micro Combined Heat and Power (μCHP) systems...

Abstract flexibility description for virtual power plant scheduling

OpenAIRE

Fröhling, Judith

2017-01-01

In the ongoing paradigm shift of the energy market from big power plants to more and more small and decentralized power plants, virtual power plants (VPPs) play an important role. VPPs bundle the capacities of the small and decentralized resources (DER). Planing of VPP operation, that is also called scheduling, relies on the flexibilities of controllable DER in the VPP, e.g., combined heat and power plants (CHPs), heat pumps and batteries. The aim of this thesis is the development of an abstr...

Tangible interfaces for virtual nuclear power plant control desk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aghina, Mauricio Alves C.; Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Jorge, Carlos Alexandre F.; Lapa, Celso M.F. [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Nomiya, Diogo [Engenharia Eletrica (UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Cunha, Gerson G.; Landau, Luiz [Programa de Engenharia Civil (PEC/COPPE/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2011-07-01

Due to the high safety requirements for nuclear power plant operation, control desks must be designed in such a way operators can take all the procedures safely, with a good overview of all variable indicators and easy access to actuator controls. Also, operators must see alarms indication in a way they can easily identify any abnormal conditions and bring the NPP back to normal operation. The ergonomics and human factors fields have helped evaluations to improve the design of nuclear power plant control systems. Lately, the use of virtual control desks have helped even more such evaluations, by integrating in one platform both nuclear power plant dynamics simulator with a high visual fidelity control desk proto typing. Operators can interact with these virtual control desks in a similar way as with real ones. Such a virtual control desk has been under development at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, IEN/CNEN. This paper reports the latest improvements, with the use of more interaction modes, to turn operation a friendlier task. An automatic speech recognition interface has been implemented as a self-contained system, by accessing directly MS Windows Application Interface, and with online neural network training for spoken commend recognition. Thus, operators can switch among different desk views. Besides this, head tracking interfaces have been integrated with the virtual control desk, to move within desk views according to users head movements. Both marker and markerless-based head tracking interfaces have been implemented. Results are shown and commented. (author)

Tangible interfaces for virtual nuclear power plant control desk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aghina, Mauricio Alves C.; Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Jorge, Carlos Alexandre F.; Lapa, Celso M.F.; Nomiya, Diogo; Cunha, Gerson G.; Landau, Luiz

2011-01-01

Due to the high safety requirements for nuclear power plant operation, control desks must be designed in such a way operators can take all the procedures safely, with a good overview of all variable indicators and easy access to actuator controls. Also, operators must see alarms indication in a way they can easily identify any abnormal conditions and bring the NPP back to normal operation. The ergonomics and human factors fields have helped evaluations to improve the design of nuclear power plant control systems. Lately, the use of virtual control desks have helped even more such evaluations, by integrating in one platform both nuclear power plant dynamics simulator with a high visual fidelity control desk proto typing. Operators can interact with these virtual control desks in a similar way as with real ones. Such a virtual control desk has been under development at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, IEN/CNEN. This paper reports the latest improvements, with the use of more interaction modes, to turn operation a friendlier task. An automatic speech recognition interface has been implemented as a self-contained system, by accessing directly MS Windows Application Interface, and with online neural network training for spoken commend recognition. Thus, operators can switch among different desk views. Besides this, head tracking interfaces have been integrated with the virtual control desk, to move within desk views according to users head movements. Both marker and markerless-based head tracking interfaces have been implemented. Results are shown and commented. (author)

Distributed Power System Virtual Inertia Implemented by Grid-Connected Power Converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fang, Jingyang; Li, Hongchang; Tang, Yi

2018-01-01

Renewable energy sources (RESs), e.g. wind and solar photovoltaics, have been increasingly used to meet worldwide growing energy demands and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, RESs are normally coupled to the power grid through fast-response power converters without any inertia, leading...... to decreased power system inertia. As a result, the grid frequency may easily go beyond the acceptable range under severe frequency events, resulting in undesirable load-shedding, cascading failures, or even large-scale blackouts. To address the ever-decreasing inertia issue, this paper proposes the concept...... of distributed power system virtual inertia, which can be implemented by grid-connected power converters. Without modifications of system hardware, power system inertia can be emulated by the energy stored in the dc-link capacitors of grid-connected power converters. By regulating the dc-link voltages...

Implementation of IEC Generic Model of Type 1 Wind Turbine Generator in DIgSILENT PowerFactory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhao, Haoran; Wu, Qiuwei; Margaris, Ioannis

2013-01-01

The implementation method for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) generic models of Type 1 wind turbine generator (WTG) in DIgSILENT PowerFactory is presented. The following items are described, i.e. model structure, model blocks and how to implement these blocks in the PowerFactory...

Variable Speed (DFIG) Wind Turbines: Rapid Frequency Response to Power System Disturbances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chandrashekhara, Divya K; Hansen, Anca Daniela; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar

2009-01-01

This paper examines the effect of integrating large number of wind turbines particularly the double fed induction generator (DFIG) on the virtual inertia of the Danish power system network. The virtual inertia refers to the kinetic energy stored in the rotating masses which can be released...... initially to counter act the frequency change during a power system disturbance. Simulation studies have been carried out on a generic reduced model of a transmission power grid of the Danish TSO Energinet.dk to assess the impact of loss of generation on system frequency. Further, simulation study has been...

Validation of generic cost estimates for construction-related activities at nuclear power plants: Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simion, G.; Sciacca, F.; Claiborne, E.; Watlington, B.; Riordan, B.; McLaughlin, M.

1988-05-01

This report represents a validation study of the cost methodologies and quantitative factors derived in Labor Productivity Adjustment Factors and Generic Methodology for Estimating the Labor Cost Associated with the Removal of Hardware, Materials, and Structures From Nuclear Power Plants. This cost methodology was developed to support NRC analysts in determining generic estimates of removal, installation, and total labor costs for construction-related activities at nuclear generating stations. In addition to the validation discussion, this report reviews the generic cost analysis methodology employed. It also discusses each of the individual cost factors used in estimating the costs of physical modifications at nuclear power plants. The generic estimating approach presented uses the /open quotes/greenfield/close quotes/ or new plant construction installation costs compiled in the Energy Economic Data Base (EEDB) as a baseline. These baseline costs are then adjusted to account for labor productivity, radiation fields, learning curve effects, and impacts on ancillary systems or components. For comparisons of estimated vs actual labor costs, approximately four dozen actual cost data points (as reported by 14 nuclear utilities) were obtained. Detailed background information was collected on each individual data point to give the best understanding possible so that the labor productivity factors, removal factors, etc., could judiciously be chosen. This study concludes that cost estimates that are typically within 40% of the actual values can be generated by prudently using the methodologies and cost factors investigated herein

A Study of Power and Individualism in Virtual Teams: Trends, Challenges, and Solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Jablonski, Deirdre

2013-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between cultural values and effectiveness of virtual team processes. In order to render an acceptable degree of comparison, four specific team outcomes of virtual team effectiveness were aligned on Hofstede's cultural dimensions of power distance and individualism. The lack of awareness of how power and…

Market Integration of Virtual Power Plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Mette Kirschmeyer

increasingly challenging due to the intrinsic variability of production technologies such as photovoltaics and wind turbines. In a Smart Grid system the balancing task will therefore be handled by mobilizing flexibility on the consumption side. This Thesis assumes that the Smart Grid should be commercially......Global efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide drives the introduction of renewable power production technologies into the existing power system. The real-time balance between production and consumption must, however, still be maintained at all times. Unfortunately, this is becoming....... It does however significantly sharpen the discussion of the flexibility concept and provides a categorization of flexible systems. This Thesis also investigates what value can be created from the different types of flexibility by assuming that the Virtual Power Plant will generate profit by trading...

Optimal Regulation of Virtual Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dall Anese, Emiliano; Guggilam, Swaroop S.; Simonetto, Andrea; Chen, Yu Christine; Dhople, Sairaj V.

2018-03-01

This paper develops a real-time algorithmic framework for aggregations of distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution networks to provide regulation services in response to transmission-level requests. Leveraging online primal-dual-type methods for time-varying optimization problems and suitable linearizations of the nonlinear AC power-flow equations, we believe this work establishes the system-theoretic foundation to realize the vision of distribution-level virtual power plants. The optimization framework controls the output powers of dispatchable DERs such that, in aggregate, they respond to automatic-generation-control and/or regulation-services commands. This is achieved while concurrently regulating voltages within the feeder and maximizing customers' and utility's performance objectives. Convergence and tracking capabilities are analytically established under suitable modeling assumptions. Simulations are provided to validate the proposed approach.

Virtual power plant feasibility study and funding proposal / the virtual power plant objectives, concept, components, context, business plan / objectives, activities and timelines for the VPP feasibility study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacDonald, A.

2004-01-01

This paper presents a proposal for funding a virtual power plant feasibility study. The goals of the virtual power plant are to increase the efficiency of electricity use by creating a market-driven, subsidy-free, financially sustainable mechanism to finance economic Demand Side Management (DSM) by providing a fully liquid market for saved electricity, provide a new revenue opportunity for the Local Distributing Company (LDC) and increase the use of renewable and low environmental impact, high efficiency technologies within the service area

Research on multi - channel interactive virtual assembly system for power equipment under the “VR+” era

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Yilong; Duan, Xitong; Wu, Lei; He, Jin; Xu, Wu

2017-06-01

With the development of the “VR+” era, the traditional virtual assembly system of power equipment has been unable to satisfy our growing needs. In this paper, based on the analysis of the traditional virtual assembly system of electric power equipment and the application of VR technology in the virtual assembly system of electric power equipment in our country, this paper puts forward the scheme of establishing the virtual assembly system of power equipment: At first, we should obtain the information of power equipment, then we should using OpenGL and multi texture technology to build 3D solid graphics library. After the completion of three-dimensional modeling, we can use the dynamic link library DLL package three-dimensional solid graphics generation program to realize the modularization of power equipment model library and power equipment model library generated hidden algorithm. After the establishment of 3D power equipment model database, we set up the virtual assembly system of 3D power equipment to separate the assembly operation of the power equipment from the space. At the same time, aiming at the deficiency of the traditional gesture recognition algorithm, we propose a gesture recognition algorithm based on improved PSO algorithm for BP neural network data glove. Finally, the virtual assembly system of power equipment can really achieve multi-channel interaction function.

The design of VR-CATS for power plant simulator using virtual reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, S. Y.; Yoo, H. J.; Lee, M. S.; Hong, J. H.; Lee, Y. K.

2001-01-01

In Hadong fossil power plant simulator project (1998. 1 ∼ 2000. 7), KEPRI applied virtual reality to the simulator. To provide more efficient operator training, KEPRI further developed the virtual reality technology into VR-CATS( Virtual Reality Computer Assistance Training System), a web-based multimedia training system with virtual reality technologies, in KNPEC-2 projects. By visualizing nuclear power plant system with stereoscopic 3-graphics in this project, VR-CATS enable trainee to navigate whole nuclear power plants including high radiation areas and other restricted areas. In addition, instructors can train the local operators to operate the local valves and other equipment in the local area of the plant. It aims at helping trainees understand system locations and system functions more easily. And, by reproducing main control room with stereoscopic 3-D graphics and linking it with P and ID, operating procedures, and plant components, Virtual panels maximize training effects. During the classroom training, the instructor can acess the stand-by host computer of the simulator through a network. This enables the instructor to can operate the simulator with only soft-panel. With the soft-panel, the instructor can activate any malfunction that he wants to instruct, show the trends of major parameters to the trainee and discuss with them. This desktop simulator function helps trainee to understand basic symptoms of the accidents. With CBT, operators can easily understand why some parameters are increasing or decreasing and what they should to mak the system stable. The VR-CATS for Uljin equips with much stronger and higher level virtual environment. First, all components of the virtual plant are linked with P and ID, ISO drawings, and engineering database. In addition, virtual MCR provides much immersive environment with such virtual reality equipment as HMD and data glove. Operators can also do collaboration work in the network through avatar, real

An Efficient Power Estimation Methodology for Complex RISC Processor-based Platforms

OpenAIRE

Rethinagiri , Santhosh Kumar; Ben Atitallah , Rabie; Dekeyser , Jean-Luc; Niar , Smail; Senn , Eric

2012-01-01

International audience; In this contribution, we propose an efficient power estima- tion methodology for complex RISC processor-based plat- forms. In this methodology, the Functional Level Power Analysis (FLPA) is used to set up generic power models for the different parts of the system. Then, a simulation framework based on virtual platform is developed to evalu- ate accurately the activities used in the related power mod- els. The combination of the two parts above leads to a het- erogeneou...

Development of Multi-physics (Multiphase CFD + MCNP) simulation for generic solution vessel power calculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Seung Jun [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Buechler, Cynthia Eileen [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-07-17

The current study aims to predict the steady state power of a generic solution vessel and to develop a corresponding heat transfer coefficient correlation for a Moly99 production facility by conducting a fully coupled multi-physics simulation. A prediction of steady state power for the current application is inherently interconnected between thermal hydraulic characteristics (i.e. Multiphase computational fluid dynamics solved by ANSYS-Fluent 17.2) and the corresponding neutronic behavior (i.e. particle transport solved by MCNP6.2) in the solution vessel. Thus, the development of a coupling methodology is vital to understand the system behavior at a variety of system design and postulated operating scenarios. In this study, we report on the k-effective (keff) calculation for the baseline solution vessel configuration with a selected solution concentration using MCNP K-code modeling. The associated correlation of thermal properties (e.g. density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, specific heat) at the selected solution concentration are developed based on existing experimental measurements in the open literature. The numerical coupling methodology between multiphase CFD and MCNP is successfully demonstrated, and the detailed coupling procedure is documented. In addition, improved coupling methods capturing realistic physics in the solution vessel thermal-neutronic dynamics are proposed and tested further (i.e. dynamic height adjustment, mull-cell approach). As a key outcome of the current study, a multi-physics coupling methodology between MCFD and MCNP is demonstrated and tested for four different operating conditions. Those different operating conditions are determined based on the neutron source strength at a fixed geometry condition. The steady state powers for the generic solution vessel at various operating conditions are reported, and a generalized correlation of the heat transfer coefficient for the current application is discussed. The assessment of multi

Distributed continuous energy scheduling for dynamic virtual power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niesse, Astrid

2015-01-01

This thesis presents DynaSCOPE as distributed control method for continuous energy scheduling for dynamic virtual power plants (DVPP). DVPPs aggregate the flexibility of distributed energy units to address current energy markets. As an extension of the Virtual Power Plant concept they show high dynamics in aggregation and operation of energy units. Whereas operation schedules are set up for all energy units in a day-ahead planning procedure, incidents may render these schedules infeasible during execution, like deviation from prognoses or outages. Thus, a continuous scheduling process is needed to ensure product fulfillment. With DynaSCOPE, software agents representing single energy units solve this problem in a completely distributed heuristic approach. Using a stepped concept, several damping mechanisms are applied to allow minimum disturbance while continuously trying to fulfill the product as contracted at the market.

76 FR 54507 - Proposed Generic Communication; Draft NRC Generic Letter 2011-XX: Seismic Risk Evaluations for...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2011-0204] Proposed Generic Communication; Draft NRC Generic... functions. SSCs in operating nuclear power plants are designed either in accordance with, or have been... nuclear reactors. The background information relevant to this GL includes the individual plant...

Virtual community centre for power wheelchair training: Experience of children and clinicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Torkia, Caryne; Ryan, Stephen E; Reid, Denise; Boissy, Patrick; Lemay, Martin; Routhier, François; Contardo, Resi; Woodhouse, Janet; Archambault, Phillipe S

2017-11-02

To: 1) characterize the overall experience in using the McGill immersive wheelchair - community centre (miWe-CC) simulator; and 2) investigate the experience of presence (i.e., sense of being in the virtual rather than in the real, physical environment) while driving a PW in the miWe-CC. A qualitative research design with structured interviews was used. Fifteen clinicians and 11 children were interviewed after driving a power wheelchair (PW) in the miWe-CC simulator. Data were analyzed using the conventional and directed content analysis approaches. Overall, participants enjoyed using the simulator and experienced a sense of presence in the virtual space. They felt a sense of being in the virtual environment, involved and focused on driving the virtual PW rather than on the surroundings of the actual room where they were. Participants reported several similarities between the virtual community centre layout and activities of the miWe-CC and the day-to-day reality of paediatric PW users. The simulator replicated participants' expectations of real-life PW use and promises to have an effect on improving the driving skills of new PW users. Implications for rehabilitation Among young users, the McGill immersive wheelchair (miWe) simulator provides an experience of presence within the virtual environment. This experience of presence is generated by a sense of being in the virtual scene, a sense of being involved, engaged, and focused on interacting within the virtual environment, and by the perception that the virtual environment is consistent with the real world. The miWe is a relevant and accessible approach, complementary to real world power wheelchair training for young users.

An islanding microgrid reactive power sharing scheme enhanced by programmed virtual impedances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

He, Jinwei; Li, Yun Wei; Guerrero, Josep M.

2012-01-01

harmonic currents. With the knowledge of feeder impedances, reactive power sharing performance can be enhanced by the regulation of DG unit output virtual impedance. The proposed method realizes accurate real and reactive power sharing in proportion to DG unit rated power. Simulated and experimental...

Virtual environments for nuclear power plant design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown-VanHoozer, S.A.; Singleterry, R.C. Jr.; King, R.W.

1996-01-01

In the design and operation of nuclear power plants, the visualization process inherent in virtual environments (VE) allows for abstract design concepts to be made concrete and simulated without using a physical mock-up. This helps reduce the time and effort required to design and understand the system, thus providing the design team with a less complicated arrangement. Also, the outcome of human interactions with the components and system can be minimized through various testing of scenarios in real-time without the threat of injury to the user or damage to the equipment. If implemented, this will lead to a minimal total design and construction effort for nuclear power plants (NPP)

Virtual Power Plants as a Model for the Competitiveness of Small Manufacturers and Operators of Virtual Power Plants in Markets of Electricity and Gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galic, T.; Tomsic, Z.

2012-01-01

Production of electricity from renewable energy sources and energy-efficient power sources to be connected to the electricity distribution network is still not competitive with electricity production from conventional sources of electricity. A powerful technological development of distributed energy sources and technologies for electricity storage has reduced their production costs, production costs of electricity from distributed energy sources, the costs of simultaneous production of electricity and thermal energy from cogeneration distributed energy sources and thus has facilitated their increased use in practice. It also allows them to interconnect systems such as virtual power plants in order to achieve full economic feasibility of their use. Current electricity and gas customers, now also in the role of small power producers, interconnected by virtual power plants operators, in addition to buying electricity and gas on retail markets for electricity and gas, will be able to sell electricity and new energy services also on wholesale electricity markets. Development and application of new distributed technologies will enable the production of new quantities of electricity which will increase the competitiveness of electricity producers, competitiveness of electricity suppliers of end-customers and elasticity of supply and demand in the electricity market. These processes will also increase the efficiency of the entire systems of electricity supply and of the gas supply systems.(author)

Power Flow Analysis for Low-Voltage AC and DC Microgrids Considering Droop Control and Virtual Impedance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Chendan; Chaudhary, Sanjay Kumar; Savaghebi, Mehdi

2017-01-01

In the low-voltage (LV) ac microgrids (MGs), with a relatively high R/X ratio, virtual impedance is usually adopted to improve the performance of droop control applied to distributed generators (DGs). At the same time, LV dc MG using virtual impedance as droop control is emerging without adequate...... power flow studies. In this paper, power flow analyses for both ac and dc MGs are formulated and implemented. The mathematical models for both types of MGs considering the concept of virtual impedance are used to be in conformity with the practical control of the DGs. As a result, calculation accuracy...... is improved for both ac and dc MG power flow analyses, comparing with previous methods without considering virtual impedance. Case studies are conducted to verify the proposed power flow analyses in terms of convergence and accuracy. Investigation of the impact to the system of internal control parameters...

Demand Response Integration Through Agent-Based Coordination of Consumers in Virtual Power Plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Anders; Umair, Aisha; Ma, Zheng

2016-01-01

of industrial loads. Coordination happens in response to Demand Response events, while considering local objectives in the industrial domain. We illustrate the applicability of our approach on a Virtual Power Plant scenario with three simulated greenhouses. The results suggest that the proposed design is able...... Power Plant design that is able to balance the demand of energy-intensive, industrial loads with the supply situation in the electricity grid. The proposed Virtual Power Plant design uses a novel inter-agent, multi-objective, multi-issue negotiation mechanism, to coordinate the electricity demands...... to coordinate the electricity demands of industrial loads, in compliance with external Demand Response events....

Developing Generic Competences in Online Virtual Education Programmes at the University of Deusto

Science.gov (United States)

Gvaramadze, Irakli

2012-01-01

Purpose: The current paper focuses on the increasing demand for generic competences both from governments and industries. Despite this fact, there is insufficient awareness and information in education systems on how to equip graduates with appropriate generic competences for the world of work and citizenship. This is even more complicated in…

Multi-objective stochastic scheduling optimization model for connecting a virtual power plant to wind-photovoltaic-electric vehicles considering uncertainties and demand response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ju, Liwei; Li, Huanhuan; Zhao, Junwei; Chen, Kangting; Tan, Qingkun; Tan, Zhongfu

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Our research focuses on virtual power plant. • Electric vehicle group and demand response are integrated into virtual power plant. • Stochastic chance constraint planning is applied to overcome uncertainties. • A multi-objective stochastic scheduling model is proposed for virtual power plant. • A three-stage hybrid intelligent solution algorithm is proposed for solving the model. - Abstract: A stochastic chance-constrained planning method is applied to build a multi-objective optimization model for virtual power plant scheduling. Firstly, the implementation cost of demand response is calculated using the system income difference. Secondly, a wind power plant, photovoltaic power, an electric vehicle group and a conventional power plant are aggregated into a virtual power plant. A stochastic scheduling model is proposed for the virtual power plant, considering uncertainties under three objective functions. Thirdly, a three-stage hybrid intelligent solution algorithm is proposed, featuring the particle swarm optimization algorithm, the entropy weight method and the fuzzy satisfaction theory. Finally, the Yunnan distributed power demonstration project in China is utilized for example analysis. Simulation results demonstrate that when considering uncertainties, the system will reduce the grid connection of the wind power plant and photovoltaic power to decrease the power shortage punishment cost. The average reduction of the system power shortage punishment cost and the operation revenue of virtual power plant are 61.5% and 1.76%, respectively, while the average increase of the system abandoned energy cost is 40.4%. The output of the virtual power plant exhibits a reverse distribution with the confidence degree of the uncertainty variable. The proposed algorithm rapidly calculates a global optimal set. The electric vehicle group could provide spinning reserve to ensure stability of the output of the virtual power plant. Demand response could

Microgrid Reactive and Harmonic Power Sharing Using Enhanced Virtual Impedance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

He, Jinwei; Wei Li, Yun; Guerrero, Josep M.

2013-01-01

To address the load sharing problem in islanding microgrids, this paper proposes an improved approach which regulates the distributed generation (DG) unit interfacing virtual impedance at fundamental and selected harmonic frequencies. In contrast to the conventional virtual impedance control where...... only a line current feed-forward term is added to the DG voltage reference, the proposed virtual impedances at fundamental and harmonic frequencies are realized using DG line current and point of common coupling (PCC) voltage feed-forward terms, respectively. With this modification, the mismatched DG...... feeder impedances can be properly compensated, resulting in accurate reactive and harmonic power sharing at the same time. In addition, this paper shows that the microgrid PCC harmonic voltages can be mitigated by reducing the magnitude of DG unit equivalent harmonic impedance. Finally, an improved...

Generic Properties of Curvature Sensing through Vision and Touch

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birgitta Dresp-Langley

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Generic properties of curvature representations formed on the basis of vision and touch were examined as a function of mathematical properties of curved objects. Virtual representations of the curves were shown on a computer screen for visual scaling by sighted observers (experiment 1. Their physical counterparts were placed in the two hands of blindfolded and congenitally blind observers for tactile scaling. The psychophysical data show that curvature representations in congenitally blind individuals, who never had any visual experience, and in sighted observers, who rely on vision most of the time, are statistically linked to the same mathematical properties of the curves. The perceived magnitude of object curvature, sensed through either vision or touch, is related by a mathematical power law, with similar exponents for the two sensory modalities, to the aspect ratio of the curves, a scale invariant geometric property. This finding supports biologically motivated models of sensory integration suggesting a universal power law for the adaptive brain control and balance of motor responses to environmental stimuli from any sensory modality.

Utilization of Flexible Demand in a Virtual Power Plant Set-Up

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thavlov, Anders; Bindner, Henrik W.

2014-01-01

High penetration levels from renewable energy sources in large-scale power systems demand a high degree of flexibility in the transmission and distribution system. This paper presents a method for utilization of flexible demand in the low-voltage distribution system using the thermal mass...... of a building to defer power consumption from electric space heating. The power consumption for heating is controlled by an operational virtual power plant, which is sending a set point for requested power consumption to the building management system. An optimization problem is formulated...

Generic Film Forms for Dynamic Virtual Video Synthesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.A. Lindley

1999-01-01

textabstractThe FRAMES project within the RDN CRC (Cooperative Research Centre for Research Data Networks) is developing an experimental environment for video content-based retrieval and dynamic virtual video synthesis from archives of video data. The FRAMES research prototype is a video synthesis

Agent-based Integration of Complex and Heterogeneous Distributed Energy Resources in Virtual Power Plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Anders; Umair, Aisha; Demazeau, Yves

2017-01-01

A Virtual Power Plant aggregates several Distributed Energy Resources in order to expose them as a single, controllable entity. This enables smaller Distributed Energy Resources to take part in Demand Response programs which traditionally only targeted larger consumers. To date, models for Virtual...

The virtual digital nuclear power plant: A modern tool for supporting the lifecycle of VVER-based nuclear power units

Science.gov (United States)

Arkadov, G. V.; Zhukavin, A. P.; Kroshilin, A. E.; Parshikov, I. A.; Solov'ev, S. L.; Shishov, A. V.

2014-10-01

The article describes the "Virtual Digital VVER-Based Nuclear Power Plant" computerized system comprising a totality of verified initial data (sets of input data for a model intended for describing the behavior of nuclear power plant (NPP) systems in design and emergency modes of their operation) and a unified system of new-generation computation codes intended for carrying out coordinated computation of the variety of physical processes in the reactor core and NPP equipment. Experiments with the demonstration version of the "Virtual Digital VVER-Based NPP" computerized system has shown that it is in principle possible to set up a unified system of computation codes in a common software environment for carrying out interconnected calculations of various physical phenomena at NPPs constructed according to the standard AES-2006 project. With the full-scale version of the "Virtual Digital VVER-Based NPP" computerized system put in operation, the concerned engineering, design, construction, and operating organizations will have access to all necessary information relating to the NPP power unit project throughout its entire lifecycle. The domestically developed commercial-grade software product set to operate as an independently operating application to the project will bring about additional competitive advantages in the modern market of nuclear power technologies.

Smart grids : combination of 'Virtual Power Plant'-concept and 'smart network'-design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

El Bakari, K.; Kling, W.L.

2010-01-01

The concept of virtual power plant (VPP) offers a solution to control and manage higher level of dispersed generation in nowadays passive distribution network. Under certain conditions the VPP is able to displace power and energy which implies more control on the energy flow in the networks. To

Diagnosing component faults in a generic nuclear power plant using counterfactual and temporal reasoning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oehrstroem, P.; Nielsen, F.R.; Pedersen, S.A.

1992-01-01

The subject of main interest is the logical and epistemological aspects of diagnostic reasoning. The aim was to understand the role of conditionals and causality in this respect. A model of causal and temporal reasoning was developed and evaluated in a controlled but complex setting. The generic nuclear power plant was used as a test ground. The coherence and scope of a logical theory of diagnostic reasoning was studied in order to discover whether the theory constitutes an adequate tool for making correct diagnoses of component faults in a generic nuclear power plant. A diagnosing system based on the CIMP system was run on a computer model of a nuclear power plant, various errors were then introduced. The aim of the diagnosis is mainly explanation and only partly repair. The causal field defines a conceptual framework within which the diagnostic purpose is given and within which various diagnostic possibilities and causal relationships are given, here with regard to error detection in a control room. The causal field is tacitly given and related to the operator's training and experience. The logical aspects of the problem of the diagnosis is described. The computer model is described and the symptom language is introduced. The process of reasoning about the possible diagnosis is presented. The utilization of ideas similiar to the heuristic classification is discussed. A data base command language for manipulating lists of symptoms is described and the design of a CIMP user interface for symptom language visualization is outlined. (AB)

The role of inmformation systems in virtual power plants; Die Rolle der Informationssysteme in virtuellen Kraftwerken

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schloegl, F.; Rohrig, K. [Inst. fuer Solare Energieversorgungstechnik e.V. (ISET), Kassel (Germany); Biermann, K. [Deutscher Wetterdienst, Hamburg (Germany); Frank, T. [Envidatec GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Rudion, K. [Otto-von-Guericke-Univ. Magdeburg (Germany)

2006-07-01

Increasing penetration of electricity supply systems with information and communication technologies in combination with a growing share of distributed generation creates an abundance of information. The new challenge to information systems is to provide the user with relevant information. A virtual power plant is a cluster of distributed generation installations which are collectively run by a central control entity. A most essential part of a virtual power plant is the information system. For an efficient development of information systems it is necessary to replace the existing diversity of data formats with some few standards. Forecasts are an important component of the information system. In order to be able to control future virtual power plants it is necessary to improve the accuracy of forecasts constantly. (orig.)

Virtual marketing in virtual enterprises

OpenAIRE

Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Fattahi, Hamaid Ali; Golnam, Arash

2008-01-01

Virtualization caused tremendous evolution in the economics of marketing channels, patterns of physical distribution and the structure of distributors and developed a new concept that is known as virtual marketing (VM). VM combines the powerful technologies of interactive marketing and virtual reality. Virtual enterprise (VE) refers to an organization not having a clear physical locus. In other words, VE is an organization distributed geographically and whose work is coordinated through e...

Virtual screening of compound libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

Cerqueira, Nuno M F S A; Sousa, Sérgio F; Fernandes, Pedro A; Ramos, Maria João

2009-01-01

During the last decade, Virtual Screening (VS) has definitively established itself as an important part of the drug discovery and development process. VS involves the selection of likely drug candidates from large libraries of chemical structures by using computational methodologies, but the generic definition of VS encompasses many different methodologies. This chapter provides an introduction to the field by reviewing a variety of important aspects, including the different types of virtual screening methods, and the several steps required for a successful virtual screening campaign within a state-of-the-art approach, from target selection to postfilter application. This analysis is further complemented with a small collection important VS success stories.

Virtual Power Plant and Microgrids controller for Energy Management based on optimization techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maher G. M. Abdolrasol

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discuss virtual power plant (VPP and Microgrid controller for energy management system (EMS based on optimization techniques by using two optimization techniques namely Backtracking search algorithm (BSA and particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO. The research proposes use of multi Microgrid in the distribution networks to aggregate the power form distribution generation and form it into single Microgrid and let these Microgrid deal directly with the central organizer called virtual power plant. VPP duties are price forecast, demand forecast, weather forecast, production forecast, shedding loads, make intelligent decision and for aggregate & optimizes the data. This huge system has been tested and simulated by using Matlab simulink. These paper shows optimizations of two methods were really significant in the results. But BSA is better than PSO to search for better parameters which could make more power saving as in the results and the discussion.

AEP smart grid demo : virtual power plant simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riggins, M.

2010-01-01

This power point presentation described a virtual power plant simulation study conducted by American Electric Power (AEP), a utility with over 5.4 million customers. The simulation study was conducted in order to enable the installation of smart meters as well as to ensure remote monitoring and control of distribution line devices and energy resources. The simulation study assessed the functionality and performance of a fully integrated smart grid using real system and device information and data. The simulations were also used to optimize power costs and plant efficiency. Energy resources simulated in the study included battery installations, photovoltaic (PV) systems, natural gas-fired reciprocating engines, hybrid electric vehicles, community energy storage systems, and wind turbines. The study also assessed the regional market structure. The impacts of various protocols and standards were assessed in order to determine control system requirement and evaluate constraints and energy efficiency targets. The simulation included regional power system, station transformers, and distribution circuit breakers. Various automation schemes were considered, as well as an integrated VAR control concept. Community energy storage unit specifications were also discussed. tabs., figs.

Applying machine learning techniques for forecasting flexibility of virtual power plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

MacDougall, Pamela; Kosek, Anna Magdalena; Bindner, Henrik W.

2016-01-01

network as well as the multi-variant linear regression. It is found that it is possible to estimate the longevity of flexibility with machine learning. The linear regression algorithm is, on average, able to estimate the longevity with a 15% error. However, there was a significant improvement with the ANN...... approach to investigating the longevity of aggregated response of a virtual power plant using historic bidding and aggregated behaviour with machine learning techniques. The two supervised machine learning techniques investigated and compared in this paper are, multivariate linear regression and single...... algorithm achieving, on average, a 5.3% error. This is lowered 2.4% when learning for the same virtual power plant. With this information it would be possible to accurately offer residential VPP flexibility for market operations to safely avoid causing further imbalances and financial penalties....

Comparison of generic-to-brand switchback patterns for generic and authorized generic drugs

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Richard A.; Qian, Jingjing; Berg, Richard; Linneman, James; Seoane-Vazquez, Enrique; Dutcher, Sarah K.; Raofi, Saeid; Page, C. David; Peissig, Peggy

2018-01-01

Background While generic drugs are therapeutically equivalent to brand drugs, some patients and healthcare providers remain uncertain about whether they produce identical outcomes. Authorized generics, which are identical in formulation to corresponding brand drugs but marketed as a generic, provide a unique post-marketing opportunity to study whether utilization patterns are influenced by perceptions of generic drugs. Objectives To compare generic-to-brand switchback rates between generics and authorized generics. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using claims and electronic health records data from a regional U.S. healthcare system. Ten drugs with authorized generics and generics marketed between 1999 and 2014 were evaluated. Eligible adult patients received a brand drug during the 6 months preceding generic entry, and then switched to a generic or authorized generic. Patients in this cohort were followed for up to 30 months from the index switch date to evaluate occurrence of generic-to-brand switchbacks. Switchback rates were compared between patients on authorized generics versus generics using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models, controlling for individual drug effects, age, sex, Charlson comorbidity score, pre-index drug use characteristics, and pre-index healthcare utilization. Results Among 5,542 unique patients that switched from brand-to-generic or brand-to-authorized generic, 264 (4.8%) switched back to the brand drug. Overall switchback rates were similar for authorized generics compared with generics (HR=0.86; 95% CI 0.65-1.15). The likelihood of switchback was higher for alendronate (HR=1.64; 95% CI 1.20-2.23) and simvastatin (HR=1.81; 95% CI 1.30-2.54) and lower for amlodipine (HR=0.27; 95% CI 0.17-0.42) compared with other drugs in the cohort. Conclusions Overall switchback rates were similar between authorized generic and generic drug users, indirectly supporting similar efficacy and tolerability profiles for

Virtual enterprise architecture and methodology - Initial results from the Globeman21 project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vesterager, Johan; Larsen, Lars Bjørn; Gobbi, Chiara

1999-01-01

This paper will focus on presenting the initial results from the IMS project Globeman21 regarding generic models for Extended Enterprise Management (EEM). In particular the paper outlines a proposed architecture for the creation of virtual enterprises, industrial requirements regarding the generic...... models, terminology for describing extended enterprises, and initial considerations regarding a methodology for EEM. Globeman21 see the extended enterprise as a concept covering the totality of different concepts dealing with the expansion or extension of enterprise activities. One way of realising...... the concept of extended enterprise is through the creation of virtual enterprise, based on a more or less formalised network. This approach is the basis for the development of the generic EEM model within Globeman21....

Utilisation of real-scale renewable energy test facility for validation of generic wind turbine and wind power plant controller models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zeni, Lorenzo; Gevorgian, Vahan; Wallen, Robb

2016-01-01

This article presents an example of application of a modern test facility conceived for experiments regarding the integration of renewable energy in the power system. The capabilities of the test facility are used to validate dynamic simulation models of wind power plants and their controllers....... The models are based on standard and generic blocks. The successful validation of events related to the control of active power (control phenomena in...

Bayesian methodology for generic seismic fragility evaluation of components in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaguchi, Akira; Campbell, R.D.; Ravindra, M.K.

1991-01-01

Bayesian methodology for updating the seismic fragility of components in nuclear power plants is presented. The generic fragility data which have been evaluated based on the past SPSAs are combined with the seismic experience data. Although the seismic experience is limited to the acceleration range below the median capacity of the components, it has been found that the evidence is effective to update the fragility tail. In other words, the uncertainty of the fragility is reduced although the median capacity itself is not modified to a great extent. The annual frequency of failure is also reduced as a result of the updating of the fragility tail. The PDF of the seismic capacity is handled in discrete form, which enables the use of arbitrary type of prior distribution. Accordingly, the Log-N prior can be used which is consistent with the widely used fragility model. For evaluating posterior fragility parameters (A m and B U ), two methods have been proposed. Furthermore, it has been found that the importance of evidence used in the Bayesian methodology can be quantified by the entropy of the evidence. Only the events with high entropy need to be considered in the Bayesian updating of the fragility. The currently available seismic experience database for typical components can be utilized to develop the fragility tail which is contributive to the seismically-induced failure frequency. The combined use of generic fragility and seismic experience data, with the aid of Bayesian methodology, provides refined generic fragility curves which are useful for SPSA studies. (author)

Implementation of IEC Generic Model Type 1 Wind Turbine Generators using RTDS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cha, Seung-Tae; Wu, Qiuwei; Zhao, Haoran

With the ever increasing penetration of the wind power generation, transmission system operators (TSOs) and distribution system operators (DSOs) are demanding an accurate dynamic wind turbine generator (WTG) models for power system stability studies. However, the confidential requirements from wind...... are useful tools to evaluate the impact of the wind power on the power system stability. Thus, a strong stimulus exists for the development of a generic dynamic model in order to further investigate the dynamic response of WTG under grid disturbances. This paper presents the implementation of the IEC generic...... turbine manufacturers prevent the academia and researchers from working on a real or/and manufacturer specific models. A generic WTG model is of great interest that does not contain the confidential information meanwhile represents the manufacturer specific models. These generic dynamic simulation models...

A Generic Danish Distribution Grid Model for Smart Grid Technology Testing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cha, Seung-Tae; Wu, Qiuwei; Østergaard, Jacob

2012-01-01

This paper describes the development of a generic Danish distribution grid model for smart grid technology testing based on the Bornholm power system. The frequency dependent network equivalent (FDNE) method has been used in order to accurately preserve the desired properties and characteristics...... as a generic Smart Grid benchmark model for testing purposes....... by comparing the transient response of the original Bornholm power system model and the developed generic model under significant fault conditions. The results clearly show that the equivalent generic distribution grid model retains the dynamic characteristics of the original system, and can be used...

Virtual Constraint Control of a Powered Prosthetic Leg: From Simulation to Experiments with Transfemoral Amputees.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Robert D; Lenzi, Tommaso; Hargrove, Levi J; Sensinger, Jonathon W

2014-12-01

Recent powered (or robotic) prosthetic legs independently control different joints and time periods of the gait cycle, resulting in control parameters and switching rules that can be difficult to tune by clinicians. This challenge might be addressed by a unifying control model used by recent bipedal robots, in which virtual constraints define joint patterns as functions of a monotonic variable that continuously represents the gait cycle phase. In the first application of virtual constraints to amputee locomotion, this paper derives exact and approximate control laws for a partial feedback linearization to enforce virtual constraints on a prosthetic leg. We then encode a human-inspired invariance property called effective shape into virtual constraints for the stance period. After simulating the robustness of the partial feedback linearization to clinically meaningful conditions, we experimentally implement this control strategy on a powered transfemoral leg. We report the results of three amputee subjects walking overground and at variable cadences on a treadmill, demonstrating the clinical viability of this novel control approach.

Virtual Power Plants of Electric Vehicles in Sustainable Smart Electricity Markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.T. Kahlen (Micha)

2017-01-01

markdownabstractThe batteries of electric vehicles can be used as Virtual Power Plants to balance out frequency deviations in the electricity grid. Carsharing fleet owners have the options to charge an electric vehicle's battery, discharge an electric vehicle's battery, or keep an electric vehicle

Virtual Globes: Serving Science and Society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salman Qureshi

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Virtual Globes reached the mass market in 2005. They created multi-million dollar businesses in a very short time by providing novel ways to explore data geographically. We use the term “Virtual Globes” as the common denominator for technologies offering capabilities to annotate, edit and publish geographic information to a world-wide audience and to visualize information provided by the public and private sectors, as well as by citizens who volunteer new data. Unfortunately, but not surprising for a new trend or paradigm, overlapping terms such as “Virtual Globes”, “Digital Earth”, “Geospatial Web”, “Geoportal” or software specific terms are used heterogeneously. We analyze the terminologies and trends in scientific publications and ask whether these developments serve science and society. While usage can be answered quantitatively, the authors reason from the literature studied that these developments serve to educate the masses and may help to democratize geographic information by extending the producer base. We believe that we can contribute to a better distinction between software centered terms and the generic concept as such. The power of the visual, coupled with the potential of spatial analysis and modeling for public and private purposes raises new issues of reliability, standards, privacy and best practice. This is increasingly addressed in scientific literature but the required body of knowledge is still in its infancy.

An accurate reactive power control study in virtual flux droop control

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Aimeng; Zhang, Jia

2017-12-01

This paper investigates the problem of reactive power sharing based on virtual flux droop method. Firstly, flux droop control method is derived, where complicated multiple feedback loops and parameter regulation are avoided. Then, the reasons for inaccurate reactive power sharing are theoretically analyzed. Further, a novel reactive power control scheme is proposed which consists of three parts: compensation control, voltage recovery control and flux droop control. Finally, the proposed reactive power control strategy is verified in a simplified microgrid model with two parallel DGs. The simulation results show that the proposed control scheme can achieve accurate reactive power sharing and zero deviation of voltage. Meanwhile, it has some advantages of simple control and excellent dynamic and static performance.

Computer based virtual reality approach towards its application in an accidental emergency at nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan Jun; Yao Qingshan

1999-01-01

Virtual reality is a computer based system for creating and receiving virtual world. As an emerging branch of computer discipline, this approach is extensively expanding and widely used in variety of industries such as national defence, research, engineering, medicine and air navigation. The author intends to present the fundamentals of virtual reality, in attempt to study some interested aspects for use in nuclear power emergency planning

An Internet of Things Generic Reference Architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhalerao, Dipashree M.; Riaz, Tahir; Madsen, Ole Brun

2013-01-01

Internet of things Network is a future application of Internet. This network has three major basic blocks as business process or Application, core network or internetwork and peripheral network as Things or objects. The assembly has the basic intention of connecting all physical and virtual things......, and keeping track of all these things for monitoring and controlling some information. IoT architecture is studied from software architecture, overall system architecture and network architecture point of view. Paper puts forward the requirements of software architecture along with, its component...... and deployment diagram, process and interface diagram at abstract level. Paper proposes the abstract generic IoT reference and concrete abstract generic IoT reference architectures. Network architecture is also put up as a state of the art. Paper shortly gives overviews of protocols used for IoT. Some...

Introduction of virtual detectors for core monitoring system of korean standard nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eun, Ki Lee.; Yong, Hee Kim.; Jybe, Ho Cha.; Moon, Ghu Park.

2000-01-01

A novel algorithm known as the virtual detector method (VDM) is introduced to reconstruct the axial power shape (APS) for the on-line core monitoring system of the Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP). A pure statistical method (SM) is also introduced and the results are compared with the currently implemented five-mode Fourier fitting method (FFM). VDM adopts nine virtual detector informations coupled with a regression model based on the Alternating Conditional Expectation (ACE) algorithm. VDM uses Fourier fitting with the information of nine virtual detectors expanded from the currently implemented FFM, which uses five-level detector information. By introducing virtual detectors, we can increase the number of axial detectors, and thus expect the computational errors of APS to be reduced. The two methods (SM and VDM) are applied to in-core mapping data from six cycles of Yong Gwang nuclear power plant Units 3 and 4. For ∼ 3500 cases of APSs extracted from a cycle of operation which is simulated by a three-dimensional nodal code, the accuracy of the three methods (SM, VDM, FFM) is compared. The average root mean square (RMS) error and average of axial peaking error of SM and VDM resulted in reduction of more than 50 % and 70 %, respectively, relative to FFM. VDM and SM also show more realistic axial profiles and predict more accurate axial peaking than FFM. These improvements can contribute to a larger thermal margin. SM shows the most accurate results for all cases. VDM can almost obtain the same results as SM, and using far fewer computation steps. VDM can be a useful tool for precisely reconstructing axial power shapes in a core monitoring system. (authors)

Optimization of a Virtual Power Plant to Provide Frequency Support.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neely, Jason C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Johnson, Jay [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Gonzalez, Sigifredo [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Lave, Matthew Samuel [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Delhotal, Jarod James [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-12-01

Increasing the penetration of distributed renewable sources, including photovoltaic (PV) sources, poses technical challenges for grid management. The grid has been optimized over decades to rely upon large centralized power plants with well-established feedback controls, but now non-dispatchable, renewable sources are displacing these controllable generators. This one-year study was funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot program and is intended to better utilize those variable resources by providing electric utilities with the tools to implement frequency regulation and primary frequency reserves using aggregated renewable resources, known as a virtual power plant. The goal is to eventually enable the integration of 100s of Gigawatts into US power systems.

Comparison of Generic-to-Brand Switchback Rates Between Generic and Authorized Generic Drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Richard A; Qian, Jingjing; Berg, Richard; Linneman, James; Seoane-Vazquez, Enrique; Dutcher, Sarah K; Raofi, Saeid; Page, C David; Peissig, Peggy

2017-04-01

Generic drugs contain identical active ingredients as their corresponding brand drugs and are pharmaceutically equivalent and bioequivalent, whereas authorized generic drugs (AGs) contain both identical active and inactive ingredients as their corresponding brand drugs but are marketed as generics. This study compares generic-to-brand switchback rates between generic and AGs. Retrospective cohort study. Claims and electronic health record data from a regional U.S. health care system. The full cohort consisted of 5542 unique patients who received select branded drugs during the 6 months prior to their generic drug market availability (between 1999 and 2014) and then were switched to an AG or generic drug within 30 months of generic drug entry. For these patients, 5929 unique patient-drug combinations (867 with AGs and 5062 with generic drugs) were evaluated. Ten drugs with AGs and generics marketed between 1999 and 2014 were evaluated. The date of the first generic prescription was considered the index date for each drug, and it marked the beginning of follow-up to evaluate the occurrence of generic-to-brand switchback patterns over the subsequent 30 months. Switchback rates were compared between patients receiving AGs versus those receiving generics using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, controlling for individual drug effects, age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Score, pre-index drug use characteristics, and pre-index health care utilization. Among the 5542 unique patients who switched from brand to generic or brand to AG, 264 (4.8%) switched back to the brand drug. Overall switchback rates were similar for AGs compared with generics (hazard ratio [HR] 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-1.15). The likelihood of switchback was higher for alendronate (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.20-2.23) and simvastatin (HR 1.81, 95% CI 1.30-2.54) and lower for amlodipine (HR 0.27, 95% CI 0.17-0.42) compared with the other drugs evaluated. Overall switchback rates were similar

Remote Power Control Injection of Grid-Connected Power Converters Based on Virtual Flux

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nurul Fazlin Roslan

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Renewable Energy Source (RES-based power plants need to control the active and reactive power at the Point of Common Connection (PCC with the grid, in order to comply with the requirements of the Transmission System Operators (TSOs. This point is normally far away from the power converter station, and the cables and step-up transformers have a non-neglectable influence on the delivered power. In order to overcome this drawback, this paper presents a control algorithm that permits one to control remotely the power injected at the PCC, by adjusting the local controller of the Voltage Source Converters (VSCs. In this work, the synchronization with the grid is done based on the Virtual Flux (VF concept. The results reveals that the VF estimation is able to produce a reliable estimation of the grid voltage in any point of the network, and makes it possible to calculate the necessary current reference for injecting a desired active and reactive power at a point that can be some kilometres away. In this paper the main principle for this remote power control is presented. Likewise, the simulation and experimental results will be shown in order to analyse the effectiveness of the proposed system.

Development of generic soil profiles and soil data development for SSI analyses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parker, Josh, E-mail: jparker@nuscalepower.com [NuScale Power, 1000 NE Circle Boulevard, Suite 10310, Corvallis, OR 97330 (United States); Khan, Mohsin; Rajagopal, Raj [ARES Corporation, 1990N California Boulevard, Suite 500, Walnut Creek, CA 94596 (United States); Groome, John [NuScale Power, 1000 NE Circle Boulevard, Suite 10310, Corvallis, OR 97330 (United States)

2014-04-01

This paper presents the approach to developing generic soil profiles for the design of reactor building for small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plant developed by NuScale Power. The reactor building is a deeply embedded structure. In order to perform soil structure interaction (SSI) analyses, generic soil profiles are required to be defined for the standardized Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) designs for the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in a design control document (DCD). The development of generic soil profiles is based on utilization of information on generic soil profiles from the new standardized nuclear power plant designs already submitted to the NRC for license certification. Eleven generic soil profiles have been recommended, and those profiles cover a wide range of parameters such as soil depth, shear wave velocity, unit weight, Poisson's ratio, water table, and depth to rock strata. The soil profiles are developed for a range of shear wave velocities between bounds of 1000 fps and 8000 fps as inferred from NRC Standard Review Plan (NUREG 0800) Sections 3.7.1 and 3.7.2. To account for the soil degradation due to seismic events, the strain compatible soil properties are based on the EPRI generic soil degradation curves. In addition, one dimensional soil dynamic response analyses were performed to study the soil layer input motions for performing the SSI analyses.

Interactive Virtual Reactor and Control Room for Education and Training at Universities and Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satoh, Yoshinori; Li, Ye; Zhu, Xuefeng; Rizwan, Uddin

2014-01-01

Efficient and effective education and training of nuclear engineering students and nuclear workers are critical for the safe operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants. With an eye toward this need, we have focused on the development of 3D models of virtual labs for education, training as well as to conduct virtual experiments. These virtual labs, that are expected to supplement currently available resources, and have the potential to reduce the cost of education and training, are most easily developed on game-engine platforms. We report some recent extensions to the virtual model of the University of Illinois TRIGA reactor

Interactive Virtual Reactor and Control Room for Education and Training at Universities and Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Satoh, Yoshinori; Li, Ye; Zhu, Xuefeng; Rizwan, Uddin [University of Illinois, Urbana (United States)

2014-08-15

Efficient and effective education and training of nuclear engineering students and nuclear workers are critical for the safe operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants. With an eye toward this need, we have focused on the development of 3D models of virtual labs for education, training as well as to conduct virtual experiments. These virtual labs, that are expected to supplement currently available resources, and have the potential to reduce the cost of education and training, are most easily developed on game-engine platforms. We report some recent extensions to the virtual model of the University of Illinois TRIGA reactor.

Interrater Reliability of the Power Mobility Road Test in the Virtual Reality-Based Simulator-2.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamaraj, Deepan C; Dicianno, Brad E; Mahajan, Harshal P; Buhari, Alhaji M; Cooper, Rory A

2016-07-01

To assess interrater reliability of the Power Mobility Road Test (PMRT) when administered through the Virtual Reality-based SIMulator-version 2 (VRSIM-2). Within-subjects repeated-measures design. Participants interacted with VRSIM-2 through 2 display options (desktop monitor vs immersive virtual reality screens) using 2 control interfaces (roller system vs conventional movement-sensing joystick), providing 4 different driving scenarios (driving conditions 1-4). Participants performed 3 virtual driving sessions for each of the 2 display screens and 1 session through a real-world driving course (driving condition 5). The virtual PMRT was conducted in a simulated indoor office space, and an equivalent course was charted in an open space for the real-world assessment. After every change in driving condition, participants completed a self-reported workload assessment questionnaire, the Task Load Index, developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A convenience sample of electric-powered wheelchair (EPW) athletes (N=21) recruited at the 31st National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Not applicable. Total composite PMRT score. The PMRT had high interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]>.75) between the 2 raters in all 5 driving conditions. Post hoc analyses revealed that the reliability analyses had >80% power to detect high ICCs in driving conditions 1 and 4. The PMRT has high interrater reliability in conditions 1 and 4 and could be used to assess EPW driving performance virtually in VRSIM-2. However, further psychometric assessment is necessary to assess the feasibility of administering the PMRT using the different interfaces of VRSIM-2. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Knowledge-based operation guidance system for nuclear power plants based on generic task methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Naoyuki; Chandrasekaran, B.; Bhatnager, R.

1989-01-01

A knowledge-based system for operation guidance of nuclear power plants is proposed. The Dynamic Procedure Management System (DPMS) is designed and developed to assist human operators interactively by selecting and modifying predefined operation procedures in a dynamic situation. Unlike most operation guidance systems, DPMS has been built based on Generic Task Methodology, which makes the overall framework of the system perspicuous and also lets domain knowledge be represented in a natural way. This paper describes the organization of the system, the definition of each task, and the form and organization of knowledge, followed by an application example. (author)

Enhanced power sharing in microgrids using the modified droop and virtual line impedance systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aghasafari, M.A.; Lopes, L.A.C.; Williamson, S. [Concordia Univ., Montreal, PQ (Canada). Power Electronics and Energy Research Group

2009-06-15

The microgrid is the local electricity network which connects several distributed energy systems. This paper proposed a control strategy which provided better power sharing than that of other control systems with low sensibility to the line unbalances, with fast and non-oscillatory responses. These distributed sources (which can include solar panels) were connected together using inverters in a low voltage microgrid. Power equations of the system were considered and presented from the droop strategy point of view and the importance of including virtual impedances in the control system was considered. The performance of the system was verified by means of simulations. Several illustrations and graphs were presented, including a simplified power stage of the system; power sharing variations by change in the first source voltage phase; power sharing variations as the first source voltage magnitude changes; power sharing variations by change in the system steady state frequency; and apparent power changes by change in the system steady state frequency. The control system and its levels was also illustrated including its four levels, namely an inverter current control loop; inverter voltage control loop; virtual resistance loop; and droop control loop. It was concluded that the control scheme for isolated microgrids yielded good speed, power sharing, and efficiency with small transient oscillations. The system could make good power sharing insensitive to the line unbalance. 8 refs., 1 tab., 11 figs.

Virtual Golden Foods Corporation: Generic Skills in a Virtual Crisis Environment (A Pilot Study)

Science.gov (United States)

Godat, Meredith

2007-01-01

Workplace learning in a crisis-rich environment is often difficult if not impossible to integrate into programs so that students are able to experience and apply crisis management practices and principles. This study presents the results of a pilot project that examined the effective use of a virtual reality (VR) environment as a tool to teach…

76 FR 24920 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-03

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response... Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service... Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback...

76 FR 35069 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-15

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response...; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on... (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery...

78 FR 74175 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-10

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response...: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on... Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback...

Virtual power plants in energy industry law. Possible manifestations and from them resulting legal questions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahlbrandt, Lea Katharina

2017-01-01

Although cogeneration plants are operated with fossil fuels are not quite as environmentally friendly as EEG systems they have a much more favorable effect due to their high efficiency climate as conventional power plants. In the future this could can even improve with the aid of fuel cell technology. Therefore, they play for the transition to a safe and secure more efficient power supply conditions for a merger of cogeneration plants overall favorable, in particular because that no influence on the or the emission trading obligation of the plant operators has. However, the complete elimination of avoided network charges could be counterproductive. Just virtual power plants of cogeneration plants have an effect on a feed-in that the grid not charged, so fees for a decentralized feed in these cases can be justified. Also the development of cogeneration development within the framework of the newly introduced calls will have a major impact on the development of virtual power stations. [de

76 FR 17861 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-31

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods...; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery... Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback...

76 FR 25693 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-05

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service... Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency...

Advances on generic exemption levels and generic clearance levels in the argentinean regulatory field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muñiz, C.C.; Bossio, M.C.

2011-01-01

With the aim of optimizing the regulatory effort in Argentina, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN) evaluated two worldwide concepts used in the radioactive waste management field: “Generic Exemption Levels” and “Generic Clearance Levels”. The objective of this paper is to present the progress made in the past two years in relation to these topics and to present the results of the specific requests received from users of radioactive material. Since the approval of both Generic Levels, the ARN received two exemption requests. The first one, regarding the practice of dismantling lighting rods with 241 Am. The other case regards the international trade, distribution, usage and final disposal of lighting products with radioactive material ( 85 Kr and 232 Th). Concerning clearance, there has not been any request yet. However, in the future the ARN expects to receive this kind of requests from nuclear power plants and other facilities related to the nuclear fuel cycle. (authors) [es

A generic multi-hazard and multi-risk framework and its application illustrated in a virtual city

Science.gov (United States)

Mignan, Arnaud; Euchner, Fabian; Wiemer, Stefan

2013-04-01

We present a generic framework to implement hazard correlations in multi-risk assessment strategies. We consider hazard interactions (process I), time-dependent vulnerability (process II) and time-dependent exposure (process III). Our approach is based on the Monte Carlo method to simulate a complex system, which is defined from assets exposed to a hazardous region. We generate 1-year time series, sampling from a stochastic set of events. Each time series corresponds to one risk scenario and the analysis of multiple time series allows for the probabilistic assessment of losses and for the recognition of more or less probable risk paths. Each sampled event is associated to a time of occurrence, a damage footprint and a loss footprint. The occurrence of an event depends on its rate, which is conditional on the occurrence of past events (process I, concept of correlation matrix). Damage depends on the hazard intensity and on the vulnerability of the asset, which is conditional on previous damage on that asset (process II). Losses are the product of damage and exposure value, this value being the original exposure minus previous losses (process III, no reconstruction considered). The Monte Carlo method allows for a straightforward implementation of uncertainties and for implementation of numerous interactions, which is otherwise challenging in an analytical multi-risk approach. We apply our framework to a synthetic data set, defined by a virtual city within a virtual region. This approach gives the opportunity to perform multi-risk analyses in a controlled environment while not requiring real data, which may be difficultly accessible or simply unavailable to the public. Based on the heuristic approach, we define a 100 by 100 km region where earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fluvial floods, hurricanes and coastal floods can occur. All hazards are harmonized to a common format. We define a 20 by 20 km city, composed of 50,000 identical buildings with a fixed economic

Generic Software Architecture for Launchers

Science.gov (United States)

Carre, Emilien; Gast, Philippe; Hiron, Emmanuel; Leblanc, Alain; Lesens, David; Mescam, Emmanuelle; Moro, Pierre

2015-09-01

The definition and reuse of generic software architecture for launchers is not so usual for several reasons: the number of European launcher families is very small (Ariane 5 and Vega for these last decades); the real time constraints (reactivity and determinism needs) are very hard; low levels of versatility are required (implying often an ad hoc development of the launcher mission). In comparison, satellites are often built on a generic platform made up of reusable hardware building blocks (processors, star-trackers, gyroscopes, etc.) and reusable software building blocks (middleware, TM/TC, On Board Control Procedure, etc.). If some of these reasons are still valid (e.g. the limited number of development), the increase of the available CPU power makes today an approach based on a generic time triggered middleware (ensuring the full determinism of the system) and a centralised mission and vehicle management (offering more flexibility in the design and facilitating the long term maintenance) achievable. This paper presents an example of generic software architecture which could be envisaged for future launchers, based on the previously described principles and supported by model driven engineering and automatic code generation.

Generic magnetic fusion reactor cost assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheffield, J.

1985-01-01

The Fusion Energy Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discusses ''generic'' magnetic fusion reactors. The author comments on DT burning magnetic fusion reactor models being possibly operational in the 21st century. Representative parameters from D-T reactor studies are given, as well as a shematic diagram of a generic fusion reactor. Values are given for winding pack current density for existing and future superconducting coils. Topics included are the variation of the cost of electricity (COE), the dependence of the COE on the net electric power of the reactor, and COE formula definitions

Benefits of Digital Equipment Generic Qualification Activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, James E.; Steiman, Samuel C.

2002-01-01

As a result of nuclear power plant instrumentation and control obsolescence issues, there have been numerous activities during recent years relating to the qualification of digital equipment. Some of these activities have been 'generic' in nature in that the qualification was not limited to plant specific applications, but was intended to cover a broad base of potential applications of the digital equipment. These generic qualifications have been funded by equipment manufacturers and by utility groups and organizations. The generic activities sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have been pilot projects for an overall generic qualification approach. The primary benefit resulting from the generic qualification work to date is that a number of digital platforms and digital devices are now available for use in various nuclear safety-related applications. Many of the tests and evaluations necessary to support plant specific applications have been completed. The amount of data and documentation that each utility must develop on a case by case basis has been significantly reduced. There are also a number of additional benefits resulting from these industry efforts. The challenges and difficulties in qualifying digital equipment for safety-related applications are now more clearly understood. EPRI has published a lessons learned document (EPRI Report 1001452, Generic Qualification of Commercial Grade Digital Devices: Lessons Learned from Initial Pilots, which covers several different qualification areas, including device selection, project planning, vendor surveys and design reviews, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) qualification. Application of the experience and lessons learned from the EPRI pilot activities should help reduce the effort and cost required for future qualification work. Most generic qualification activities for commercial equipment have been conducted using the approach of EPRI TR-106439, Guideline on Evaluation and Acceptance

Virtual resistance-based control strategy for DC link regeneration protection and current sharing in uninterruptible power supply

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lu, Jinghang; Guan, Yajuan; Savaghebi, Mehdi

2017-01-01

To address the DC link voltage regeneration issue in parallel Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system, a DC link voltage protection (DCVP) method through online virtual resistance regulation is proposed. The proposed control strategy is able to protect the DC link from overvoltage that may...... trigger the protection mechanism of the UPS system. Moreover, a current sharing control strategy by regulating the virtual resistance is proposed to address the circulating current caused by the active power feeding. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified by experimental results from...

RBMK nuclear power plants: Generic safety issues. A publication of the extrabudgetary programme on the safety of WWER and RBMK nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-05-01

This report has been prepared on the basis of above mentioned report and it is intended to provide information on RBMK NPPs generic safety issues. As all other insights, recommendations and conclusions resulting from the IAEA Programme, this report is intended to assist national decision makers, who have sole responsibility for the regulation and safe operation of their nuclear power plants. It also serves to focus national and international projects on priority of the RBMK safety improvements. 23 refs, 10 figs, 3 tabs

Risk averse optimal operation of a virtual power plant using two stage stochastic programming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tajeddini, Mohammad Amin; Rahimi-Kian, Ashkan; Soroudi, Alireza

2014-01-01

VPP (Virtual Power Plant) is defined as a cluster of energy conversion/storage units which are centrally operated in order to improve the technical and economic performance. This paper addresses the optimal operation of a VPP considering the risk factors affecting its daily operation profits. The optimal operation is modelled in both day ahead and balancing markets as a two-stage stochastic mixed integer linear programming in order to maximize a GenCo (generation companies) expected profit. Furthermore, the CVaR (Conditional Value at Risk) is used as a risk measure technique in order to control the risk of low profit scenarios. The uncertain parameters, including the PV power output, wind power output and day-ahead market prices are modelled through scenarios. The proposed model is successfully applied to a real case study to show its applicability and the results are presented and thoroughly discussed. - Highlights: • Virtual power plant modelling considering a set of energy generating and conversion units. • Uncertainty modelling using two stage stochastic programming technique. • Risk modelling using conditional value at risk. • Flexible operation of renewable energy resources. • Electricity price uncertainty in day ahead energy markets

Experimental progress on virtual-cathode very high power microwave source development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fazio, M.V.; Hoeberling, R.F.

1987-01-01

The evolution of rf accelerator technology toward high-power, high-current, low-emittance beams produces an ever-increasing demand for efficient, very high power microwave sources. The present klystron technology has performed very well but is not expected to produce reliable gigawatt peak-power units in the 1- to 10-GHz regime. Further major advancements must involve other types of sources. The reflexing electron sources can produce microwave powers at the gigawatt level and have demonstrated operation from 800 MHz to 40 GHz. Pulse length appears to be limited by electron-beam diode closure, and reflexing electron devices have been operated in a repetitively pulsed mode. An experiment is under way to investigate concepts to stabilize the frequency of the virtual cathode source. If one can successfully frequency and phase lock this source to an external signal, then this source can operate as a very high power microwave amplifier making it practical for accelerator applications. The progress on an experiment to test these concepts will be discussed

Generic substitution: micro evidence from register data in Norway.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalen, Dag Morten; Furu, Kari; Locatelli, Marilena; Strøm, Steinar

2011-02-01

The importance of prices, doctor and patient characteristics, and market institutions for the likelihood of choosing generic drugs instead of the more expensive original brand-name version are examined. Using an extensive dataset extracted from The Norwegian Prescription Database containing all prescriptions dispensed to individuals in February 2004 and 2006 on 23 different drugs (chemical substances) in Norway, we find strong evidence for the importance of both doctor and patient characteristics for the choice probabilities. The price difference between brand and generic versions and insurance coverage both affect generic substitution. Moreover, controlling for the retail chain affiliation of the dispensing pharmacy, we find that pharmacies play an important role in promoting generic substitution. In markets with more recent entry of generic drugs, brand-name loyalty proves to be much stronger, giving less explanatory power to our demand model.

76 FR 21800 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Generic...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-18

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response... Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative... Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service...

Is micro-CHP price controllable under price signal controlled Virtual Power Plants?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Shi; Træholt, Chresten; Poulsen, Bjarne

2011-01-01

As micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) systems move towards mass deployment together with other kinds of distributed energy resources (DER), an increasing emphasis has been placed on how to coordinate such a large diversified DER portfolio in an efficient way by the Virtual Power Plant (VPP...... for three different micro-CHP systems to investigate the feasibility of being controlled by price. Such analysis is relevant for both controller designs for micro-CHP systems and VPP related operations. The results indicate that controlling the micro-CHP systems by price is feasible but could result...

Selection and impedance based model of a lithium ion battery technology for integration with virtual power plant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Swierczynski, Maciej Jozef; Stroe, Daniel Ioan; Stan, Ana-Irina

2013-01-01

is to integrate lithium-ion batteries into virtual power plants; thus, the power system stability and the energy quality can be increased. The selection of the best lithium-ion battery candidate for integration with wind power plants is a key aspect for the economic feasibility of the virtual power plant...... investment. This paper presents a methodology for selection, between three candidates, of a Li-ion battery which offers long cycle lifetime at partial charge/discharge (required by many grid support applications) while providing a low cost per cycle also. For the selected Li-ion battery an impedance......-based diagnostic tool for lifetime estimation was developed and verified. This diagnostic tool can be extended into an impedance-based lifetime model that will be able to predict the remaining useful lifetime of Li-ion batteries for specific grid support applications....

Consolidating Learning in Power Systems: Virtual Reality Applied to the Study of the Operation of Electric Power Transformers

Science.gov (United States)

Barata, Pebertli Nils Alho; Filho, Manoel Ribeiro; Nunes, Marcus V. Alves

2015-01-01

Within the field of electric power systems, the study of electrical equipment can be frustrating and demotivating because of the lack of a clear vision of how this equipment functions and operates in a real environment. The use of virtual reality can provide a more concrete representation for students, who rarely have the opportunity to visit a…

Virtual instrument for controlling and monitoring digitalized power supply in SSRF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Junlong; Chen Huanguang; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing; Xu Ruinian; Shen Tianjian; Li Deming

2006-01-01

The Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) needs extremely precise power supplies for their various magnets. A digital controller is being developed for the power converters of the SSRF power supply (PS). In the digital controller, a fully digital pulse-width modulator (PWM) directly controls the power unit insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) of the PS. A program in LabVIEW language has been developed to control and monitor the digital PS via serial communication (RS232) from a PC and to modify its parameters as well. In this article, the software design of the virtual instrument for controlling and monitoring digitalized PS and its associated functions are described, and the essential elements of the program graphical main-VI and sub-VI source code are presented and explained. The communication protocol and the structure of the developed system are also included in this article. (authors)

The Optimal Dispatch of a Power System Containing Virtual Power Plants under Fog and Haze Weather

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yajing Gao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With the growing influence of fog and haze (F-H weather and the rapid development of distributed energy resources (DERs and smart grids, the concept of the virtual power plant (VPP employed in this study would help to solve the dispatch problem caused by multiple DERs connected to the power grid. The effects of F-H weather on photovoltaic output forecast, load forecast and power system dispatch are discussed according to real case data. The wavelet neural network (WNN model was employed to predict photovoltaic output and load, considering F-H weather, based on the idea of “similar days of F-H”. The multi-objective optimal dispatch model of a power system adopted in this paper contains several VPPs and conventional power plants, under F-H weather, and the mixed integer linear programming (MILP and the Yalmip toolbox of MATLAB were adopted to solve the dispatch model. The analysis of the results from a case study proves the validity and feasibility of the model and the algorithms.

Xenon-induced power oscillations in a generic small modular reactor

Science.gov (United States)

Kitcher, Evans Damenortey

As world demand for energy continues to grow at unprecedented rates, the world energy portfolio of the future will inevitably include a nuclear energy contribution. It has been suggested that the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) could play a significant role in the spread of civilian nuclear technology to nations previously without nuclear energy. As part of the design process, the SMR design must be assessed for the threat to operations posed by xenon-induced power oscillations. In this research, a generic SMR design was analyzed with respect to just such a threat. In order to do so, a multi-physics coupling routine was developed with MCNP/MCNPX as the neutronics solver. Thermal hydraulic assessments were performed using a single channel analysis tool developed in Python. Fuel and coolant temperature profiles were implemented in the form of temperature dependent fuel cross sections generated using the SIGACE code and reactor core coolant densities. The Power Axial Offset (PAO) and Xenon Axial Offset (XAO) parameters were chosen to quantify any oscillatory behavior observed. The methodology was benchmarked against results from literature of startup tests performed at a four-loop PWR in Korea. The developed benchmark model replicated the pertinent features of the reactor within ten percent of the literature values. The results of the benchmark demonstrated that the developed methodology captured the desired phenomena accurately. Subsequently, a high fidelity SMR core model was developed and assessed. Results of the analysis revealed an inherently stable SMR design at beginning of core life and end of core life under full-power and half-power conditions. The effect of axial discretization, stochastic noise and convergence of the Monte Carlo tallies in the calculations of the PAO and XAO parameters was investigated. All were found to be quite small and the inherently stable nature of the core design with respect to xenon-induced power oscillations was confirmed. Finally, a

Virtual Communities of Collaborative Learning for Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Sotomayor, Gilda E.

2014-01-01

This article aims to outline and project three new learning scenarios for Higher Education that, after the emergence of ICT and communication through the Network-lnternet, have appeared under the generic name of virtual communities. To that end, we start from a previous conceptual analysis on collaborative learning, cooperative learning and…

Generic medicines and generic substitution: contrasting perspectives of stakeholders in Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Leary, A; Usher, C; Lynch, M; Hall, M; Hemeryk, L; Spillane, S; Gallagher, P; Barry, M

2015-12-15

The Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 passed into law in July 2013 and legislated for generic substitution in Ireland. The aim of the study was to ascertain the knowledge and perceptions of stakeholders i.e. patients, pharmacists and prescribers, of generic medicines and to generic substitution with the passing of legislation. Three stakeholder specific questionnaires were developed to assess knowledge of and perceptions to generic medicines and generic substitution. Purposive samples of patients, prescribers and pharmacists were analysed. Descriptive quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken. A total of 762 healthcare professionals and 353 patients were recruited. The study highlighted that over 84% of patients were familiar with generic medicines and are supportive of the concept of generic substitution. Approximately 74% of prescribers and 84% of pharmacists were supportive of generic substitution in most cases. The main areas of concern highlighted by the healthcare professionals that might impact on the successful implementation of the policy, were the issue of bioequivalence with generic medicines, the computer software systems used at present in general practitioner (GP) surgeries and the availability of branded generics. The findings from this study identify a high baseline rate of acceptance to generic medicines and generic substitution among patients, prescribers and pharmacists in the Irish setting. The concerns of the main stakeholders provide a valuable insight into the potential difficulties that may arise in its implementation, and the need for on-going reassurance and proactive dissemination of the impact of the generic substitution policy. The existing positive attitude to generic medicines and generic substitution among key stakeholders in Ireland to generic substitution, combined with appropriate support and collaboration should result in the desired increase in rates of prescribing, dispensing and use of generic

Investigation of Bose Condensation in Ideal Bose Gas Trapped under Generic Power Law Potential in d Dimension

Science.gov (United States)

Mehedi Faruk, Mir; Sazzad Hossain, Md.; Muktadir Rahman, Md.

2016-02-01

The changes in characteristics of Bose condensation of ideal Bose gas due to an external generic power law potential U=\\sumi=1dci\\vert xi/ai\\vertni are studied carefully. Detailed calculation of Kim et al. (J. Phys. Condens. Matter 11 (1999) 10269) yielded the hierarchy of condensation transitions with changing fractional dimensionality. In this manuscript, some theorems regarding specific heat at constant volume CV are presented. Careful examination of these theorems reveal the existence of hidden hierarchy of the condensation transition in trapped systems as well.

Developing Virtual Power Plant for Optimized Distributed Energy Resources Operation and Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Shi

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are small-scale power generation and storage technologies, (typically in the range of a few kWe to tens of kWe) located close to the customer side. They are right now under heavy development and have a great market potential in the near future. However, these so......Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are small-scale power generation and storage technologies, (typically in the range of a few kWe to tens of kWe) located close to the customer side. They are right now under heavy development and have a great market potential in the near future. However...... units in the electric power system  Efficient electricity market participation to benefit both power system operation and DER owners To address these issues, an innovative concept Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is investigated in this PhD study. Based on a comprehensive overview of the state of the art...

Enhancing Cellular Coverage Quality by Virtual Access Point and Wireless Power Transfer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinsong Gui

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The ultradensification deploying for cellular networks is a direct and effective method for the improvement of network capacity. However, the benefit is achieved at the cost of network infrastructure investment and operating overheads, especially when there is big gap between peak-hour Internet traffic and average one. Therefore, we put forward the concept of virtual cellular coverage area, where wireless terminals with high-end configuration are motivated to enhance cellular coverage quality by both providing RF energy compensation and rewarding free traffic access to Internet. This problem is formulated as the Stackelberg game based on three-party circular decision, where a Macro BS (MBS acts as the leader to offer a charging power to Energy Transferring Relays (ETRs, and the ETRs and their associating Virtual Access Points (VAPs act as the followers to make their decisions, respectively. According to the feedback from the followers, the leader may readjust its strategy. The circular decision is repeated until the powers converge. Also, the better response algorithm for each game player is proposed to iteratively achieve the Stackelberg-Nash Equilibrium (SNE. Theoretical analysis proves the convergence of the proposed game scheme, and simulation results demonstrate its effectiveness.

Aircraft panel with sensorless active sound power reduction capabilities through virtual mechanical impedances

Science.gov (United States)

Boulandet, R.; Michau, M.; Micheau, P.; Berry, A.

2016-01-01

This paper deals with an active structural acoustic control approach to reduce the transmission of tonal noise in aircraft cabins. The focus is on the practical implementation of the virtual mechanical impedances method by using sensoriactuators instead of conventional control units composed of separate sensors and actuators. The experimental setup includes two sensoriactuators developed from the electrodynamic inertial exciter and distributed over an aircraft trim panel which is subject to a time-harmonic diffuse sound field. The target mechanical impedances are first defined by solving a linear optimization problem from sound power measurements before being applied to the test panel using a complex envelope controller. Measured data are compared to results obtained with sensor-actuator pairs consisting of an accelerometer and an inertial exciter, particularly as regards sound power reduction. It is shown that the two types of control unit provide similar performance, and that here virtual impedance control stands apart from conventional active damping. In particular, it is clear from this study that extra vibrational energy must be provided by the actuators for optimal sound power reduction, mainly due to the high structural damping in the aircraft trim panel. Concluding remarks on the benefits of using these electrodynamic sensoriactuators to control tonal disturbances are also provided.

A study on development of virtual panel and virtual collaboration system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, H. J.; Park, S. Y.; Lee, M. S.; Hong, J. H.

2001-01-01

The Nuclear I and C group of KEPRI has been peforming research and development on the VRCATS, Virtual Reality based Computer Assisted Training System. For the past two years, we have developed the first VRCATS for Youngkwang 1 nuclear power plant. Currently, we are developing an advanced VRCATS for Uljin 3 nuclear power plant. In this paepr, we will describe virtual panel system and VR based collaborate training system (VRCATS) of the Uljin VRCATS. Since Virtual Panel provides the same environment as the real MCR, trainees can expect the same training effect with Virtual Panel as they do with full scope simulator. i.e., trainees can check key variables and operate the plants and get responses with Virtual Panel. VRCTS provides another realistic training environment for trainees. In VRCATS, for example, operators in a group can work together t handle LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident) according to emergency operation procedures

A generic task approach to a real time nuclear power plant fault diagnosis and advisory system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hajek, B.K.; Miller, D.W.; Bhatnagar, R.; Stasenko, J.E.; Punch, W.F. III; Yamada, N.

1988-01-01

A generic task toolkit developed at The Ohio State University Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence Research (LAIR) has been used in the development of an aid for operators of nuclear power plants. The toolkit consists of high level programming tools that enable knowledge to be used in accordance with its need. That is, if diagnosis is the need, a framework for performing diagnosis is provided. The operator aid provides for monitoring the conditions in the plant, detecting abnormal events, and providing the operator with guidance and advice through procedures on what path should be followed to mitigate the consequences. 8 refs., 5 figs

Server virtualization solutions

OpenAIRE

Jonasts, Gusts

2012-01-01

Currently in the information technology sector that is responsible for a server infrastructure is a huge development in the field of server virtualization on x86 computer architecture. As a prerequisite for such a virtualization development is growth in server productivity and underutilization of available computing power. Several companies in the market are working on two virtualization architectures – hypervizor and hosting. In this paper several of virtualization products that use host...

Nuclear power plant Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL). Appendix B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasza, K.E.; Diercks, D.R.; Holland, J.W.; Choi, S.U.

1996-12-01

The purpose of this generic aging lessons learned (GALL) review is to provide a systematic review of plant aging information in order to assess materials and component aging issues related to continued operation and license renewal of operating reactors. Literature on mechanical, structural, and thermal-hydraulic components and systems reviewed consisted of 97 Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) reports, 23 NRC Generic Letters, 154 Information Notices, 29 Licensee Event Reports (LERs), 4 Bulletins, and 9 Nuclear Management and Resources Council Industry Reports (NUMARC IRs) and literature on electrical components and systems reviewed consisted of 66 NPAR reports, 8 NRC Generic Letters, 111 Information Notices, 53 LERs, 1 Bulletin, and 1 NUMARC IR. More than 550 documents were reviewed. The results of these reviews were systematized using a standardized GALL tabular format and standardized definitions of aging-related degradation mechanisms and effects. The tables are included in volumes 1 and 2 of this report. A computerized data base has also been developed for all review tables and can be used to expedite the search for desired information on structures, components, and relevant aging effects. A survey of the GALL tables reveals that all ongoing significant component aging issues are currently being addressed by the regulatory process. However, the aging of what are termed passive components has been highlighted for continued scrutiny. This report consists of Volume 2, which consists of the GALL literature review tables for the NUMARC Industry Reports reviewed for the report

Modified enforcement policy relating to 10 CFR 50.49, ''Environmental qualification of electrical equipment important to safety for nuclear power plants'' (Generic Letter 88-07)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miraglia, F.J.

1992-01-01

Generic Letters, Bulletins, and Information Notices have been issued to provide guidance regarding the application and enforcement of 10 CFR 50.49, ''Environmental Qualification of Electric Equipment Important to Safety for Nuclear Power Plants.'' Generic Letter 85-15, issued August 6, 1985, and Generic Letter 86-15, issued September 22, 1986, provided information related to the deadlines for compliance with 10 CFR 50.49 and possible civil penalties applicable to licensees who were not in compliance with the rule as of the November 30, 1985 deadline. Upon review, the Commission found that the EQ Enforcement Policy promulgated in Generic Letter 86-15, could result in imposition of civil penalties that did not properly reflect the safety significance of EQ violations with respect to civil penalties imposed in the past. In the interest of continuing a tough but fair enforcement policy, the Commission determined that the EQ Enforcement Policy should be revised. The purpose of this letter is to provide a modification to the NRC's enforcement policy, as approved by the Commission, for environmental qualification (EQ) violations. This letter replaces the guidance provided in Generic Letters 85-15 and 86-15

Virtual Refrigerant Mass Flow and Power Sensors for Variable-Speed Compressors

OpenAIRE

Kim, Woohyun; Braun, James E.

2012-01-01

The use of variable-speed compressors in heat pumps and air conditioners has increased in recent years in order to improve comfort and energy efficiency. At the same time, there is a trend towards embedding more sensors in this type of equipment to facilitate real-time energy monitoring and diagnostics. Although compressor mass flow rate and power consumption are useful indices for performance monitoring and diagnostics, they are expensive to measure. The virtual variable-speed compressor sen...

The influence and evaluation of different virtual reality presentations for the main control room of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Rouwen; Lin Chiuhsiang Joe; Lin Shiaufeng; Yang Chihwei; Cheng Tsungchieh; Yang Lichen

2011-01-01

Certainly, a nuclear power plant (NPP) is a complex system and requires high reliability. Engineering technology plays an important role in NPP that requires complex technical equipment and interfaces in order to achieve public security and working safety. Through training, operators can understand the nuclear power system and further establish the fit between human operators and the system, in order to reduce human errors and to ensure the working safety of the control room of NPP. However, the operator trainings for the control room of NPP are difficult and time-consuming. Virtual control room is thus developed using the virtual reality (VR) technology to help the training process. Presently several researches have developed virtual system for NPP for the purpose of training. However, whether the virtual training system for the control room of NPP can give users realistic immersive context as in the real environment is unknown. Whether these virtual systems are helpful in training performance are yet to be confirmed. For this reason, the control room of Lung-Men NPP of Taiwan was constructed with VR technology in this study in order to compare the performances of two VR representation methods (Desktop VR and Project VR). A searching task was planned in which the operators have to find out the objects appointed by the experimenter in the virtual interface of the main control room. The time to complete the task was collected as dependent variables in this experiment. The subjects have to complete the questionnaire that was developed for evaluating the usability of the virtual interface of MRC after finishing the experiment. The result showed that the performance of the virtual interface of NPP presented by the VR projector was better than the desktop. (author)

Optimization of virtual source parameters in neutron scattering instrumentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Habicht, K; Skoulatos, M

2012-01-01

We report on phase-space optimizations for neutron scattering instruments employing horizontal focussing crystal optics. Defining a figure of merit for a generic virtual source configuration we identify a set of optimum instrumental parameters. In order to assess the quality of the instrumental configuration we combine an evolutionary optimization algorithm with the analytical Popovici description using multidimensional Gaussian distributions. The optimum phase-space element which needs to be delivered to the virtual source by preceding neutron optics may be obtained using the same algorithm which is of general interest in instrument design.

Combined heat and power considered as a virtual steam cycle heat pump

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowe, Robert

2011-01-01

The first aim of this paper is to shed light on the thermodynamic reasons for the practical pursuit of low temperature operation by engineers involved in the design and the operation of combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating (DH) systems. The paper shows that the steam cycle of a combined heat and power generator is thermodynamically equivalent to a conventional steam cycle generator plus an additional virtual steam cycle heat pump. This apparently novel conceptualisation leads directly to (i) the observed sensitivity of coefficient of performance of CHP to supply and return temperatures in associated DH systems, and (ii) the conclusion that the performance of CHP will tend to be significantly higher than real heat pumps operating at similar temperatures. The second aim, which is pursued more qualitatively, is to show that the thermodynamic performance advantages of CHP are consistent with the goal of deep, long-term decarbonisation of industrialised economies. As an example, estimates are presented, which suggest that CHP based on combined-cycle gas turbines with carbon capture and storage has the potential to reduce the carbon intensity of delivered heat by a factor of ∼30, compared with a base case of natural gas-fired condensing boilers. - Highlights: → Large-scale CHP systems are thermodynamically equivalent to virtual steam cycle heat pumps. → COPs of such virtual heat pumps are necessarily better than the Carnot limit for real heat pumps. → COPs can approach 9 for plant matched to district heating systems with flow temperatures of 90 deg. C. → CHP combined with CCGT and CCS can reduce the carbon intensity of delivered heat ∼30-fold.

Generic safety issues for nuclear power plants with pressurized heavy water reactors and measures for their resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-06-01

be used in reassessing the safety of individual operating plants. In 1998, the IAEA completed IAEA-TECDOC-1044 entitled Generic Safety Issues for Nuclear Power Plants with Light Water Reactors and Measures Taken for their Resolution and established the associated LWRGSIDB database (Computer Manual Series No. 13). The present compilation, which is based on broad international experience, is an extension of this work to cover pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs). As in the case of LWRs, it is one element in the framework of IAEA activities to assist Member States in reassessing the safety of operating nuclear power plants. It addresses generic safety issues identified in nuclear power plants using PHWRs. In most cases, the measures taken or planned to resolve these issues are also identified. The work on this report was initiated by the Senior Regulators of Countries Operating CANDU-Type Nuclear Power Plants at one of their annual meetings. It was carried out within the framework of the IAEA's programme on National Regulatory Infrastructure for Nuclear Installation Safety and serves to enhance regulatory effectiveness through the exchange of safety related information

Generic safety insights for inspection of boiling water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higgins, J.C.; Taylor, J.H.; Fresco, A.N.; Hillman, B.M.

1987-01-01

As the number of operating nuclear power plants (NPP) increases, safety inspection has increased in importance. However, precisely what is important, and what is not important? What should one focus inspection efforts on. Over the last two years Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PR) techniques have been developed to aid in the inspection process. Broad interest in generic PRA-based methods has arisen in the past year, since only about 25% of the US nuclear power plants have completed PRAs, and also, inspectors want PRA-based tools for these plants. This paper describes the BNL program to develop generic BWR PRA-based inspection insights or inspection guidance designed to be applied to plants without PRAs

A COMPUTATIONAL WORKBENCH ENVIRONMENT FOR VIRTUAL POWER PLANT SIMULATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mike Bockelie; Dave Swensen; Martin Denison; Adel Sarofim; Connie Senior

2004-12-22

In this report is described the work effort to develop and demonstrate a software framework to support advanced process simulations to evaluate the performance of advanced power systems. Integrated into the framework are a broad range of models, analysis tools, and visualization methods that can be used for the plant evaluation. The framework provides a tightly integrated problem-solving environment, with plug-and-play functionality, and includes a hierarchy of models, ranging from fast running process models to detailed reacting CFD models. The framework places no inherent limitations on the type of physics that can be modeled, numerical techniques, or programming languages used to implement the equipment models, or the type or amount of data that can be exchanged between models. Tools are provided to analyze simulation results at multiple levels of detail, ranging from simple tabular outputs to advanced solution visualization methods. All models and tools communicate in a seamless manner. The framework can be coupled to other software frameworks that provide different modeling capabilities. Three software frameworks were developed during the course of the project. The first framework focused on simulating the performance of the DOE Low Emissions Boiler System Proof of Concept facility, an advanced pulverized-coal combustion-based power plant. The second framework targeted simulating the performance of an Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle - Fuel Cell Turbine (IGCC-FCT) plant configuration. The coal gasifier models included both CFD and process models for the commercially dominant systems. Interfacing models to the framework was performed using VES-Open, and tests were performed to demonstrate interfacing CAPE-Open compliant models to the framework. The IGCC-FCT framework was subsequently extended to support Virtual Engineering concepts in which plant configurations can be constructed and interrogated in a three-dimensional, user-centered, interactive

Virtual Reality Simulators in the Process IndustryA Review of Existing Systems and the Way Towards ETS

OpenAIRE

Cibulka, Jaroslav; Komulainen, Tiina M.; Mirtaheri, Peyman; Nazir, Salman; Manca, Davide

2016-01-01

Simulator training with Virtual Reality Simulators deeply engages the operators and improves the learning outcome. The available commercial 3D and Virtual Reality Simulator products range from generic models for laptops to specialized projection rooms with a great variety of different audiovisual, haptic, and sensory effects. However, current virtual reality simulators do not take into account the physical and psychological strain involved in field operators’ work in real process plants. Coll...

78 FR 40729 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request: Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-08

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response... Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: Washington Headquarters Service (WHS), DOD. ACTION: 30... (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery...

Virtualization A Manager's Guide

CERN Document Server

Kusnetzky, Dan

2011-01-01

What exactly is virtualization? As this concise book explains, virtualization is a smorgasbord of technologies that offer organizations many advantages, whether you're managing extremely large stores of rapidly changing data, scaling out an application, or harnessing huge amounts of computational power. With this guide, you get an overview of the five main types of virtualization technology, along with information on security, management, and modern use cases. Topics include: Access virtualization-Allows access to any application from any deviceApplication virtualization-Enables applications

Generic event trees and the treatment of dependencies and non-proceduralized actions in a low power and shutdown Probabilistic Risk Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forester, J.; Yakle, J.; Whitehead, D.; Darby, J.

1993-01-01

Sandia National Laboratories was tasked by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to perform a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) of a boiling water reactor (BWR) during low power and shutdown (LP ampersand S) conditions. The plant chosen for the study was Grand Gulf Nuclear Station (GGNS), a BWR 6. In performing the analysis, it was found that in comparison with full-power PRAs, the low decay heat levels present during LP ampersand S conditions result in a relatively large number of ways by which cooling can be provided to the core. In addition, because of the less stringent requirements imposed on system configurations possible is large and the availability of plant systems is more difficult to specify. These aspects of the LP ampersand S environment led to the development and use of ''generic'' event trees in performing the analysis. The use of ''generic'' event trees, in turn, had a significant impact on the nature of the human reliability analysis (HRA) that was performed. This paper describes the development of the event trees for the LP ampersand S PRA and important aspects of the resulting HRA

Soft Skills assessment through virtual environments in the university sector : A narrative review

OpenAIRE

Ruiz Morales, Yovanni; Biencinto López, Chantal; García García, Mercedes; Carpintero Molina, Elvira

2017-01-01

The paper presents a narrative on the state of the question about the teaching and assessment of generic soft skills through Virtual Environments (VEs) in universities, based on consultation of scientific journals in electronic and printed format published between 2000 and 2014, as well as research projects focused on the development of generic skills through VEs. The paper summarises the theoretical and empirical contributions as a way of providing a greater insight into a line of research t...

Initial Northwest Power Act Power Sales Contracts : Final Environmental Impact Statement. Volume 3, Appendix M, Contract Copies.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1992-01-01

This report, is part of the final environmental impact statement of the Bonneville Power Administration, consists of an appendix of contract copies related to the following: Detailed Index to Generic Utility Power Sales Contracts, Text of Generic Utility Contract, Detailed Index to Generic DSI Power Sales Contracts, Text of Generic DSI Contract, Text of Residential Purchase and Sale Agreement (Residential Exchange), and Detailed Index to General Contract Provisions -- GCP Form PSC-2 (Incorporated into all three types of contracts as an Exhibit).

Virtual superheroes: using superpowers in virtual reality to encourage prosocial behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robin S Rosenberg

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that playing prosocial video games leads to greater subsequent prosocial behavior in the real world. However, immersive virtual reality allows people to occupy avatars that are different from them in a perceptually realistic manner. We examine how occupying an avatar with the superhero ability to fly increases helping behavior. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a two-by-two design, participants were either given the power of flight (their arm movements were tracked to control their flight akin to Superman's flying ability or rode as a passenger in a helicopter, and were assigned one of two tasks, either to help find a missing diabetic child in need of insulin or to tour a virtual city. Participants in the "super-flight" conditions helped the experimenter pick up spilled pens after their virtual experience significantly more than those who were virtual passengers in a helicopter. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that having the "superpower" of flight leads to greater helping behavior in the real world, regardless of how participants used that power. A possible mechanism for this result is that having the power of flight primed concepts and prototypes associated with superheroes (e.g., Superman. This research illustrates the potential of using experiences in virtual reality technology to increase prosocial behavior in the physical world.

Development of a virtual power market model to investigate strategic and collusive behavior of market players

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shafie-khah, Miadreza; Parsa Moghaddam, Mohsen; Sheikh-El-Eslami, Mohamad Kazem

2013-01-01

In this paper, a virtual power market model is proposed to investigate the behavior of power market players from regulator's point of view. In this approach, strategic players are modeled in a multi-agent environment. These agents which are virtual representative of actual players forecast the prices and participate in the markets, exactly the same as real world situation. In addition, the role of ISO is encountered by using security constraint unit commitment (SCUC) and security constraint economic dispatch (SCED) solutions. Moreover, the interaction between market players is modeled using a heuristic dynamic game theory algorithm based on the supply function equilibria (SFE). In addition to the collusive behavior, using the proposed model, the short-term strategic behavior of players, which their effects will appear in long-term, can be simulated. The proposed model enables the market regulators to make decision before implementing new market rules with the confidence of their results. To represent the effectiveness of the proposed method, a case study including wind power plants is considered and the impact of various market rules on players’ behavior is simulated and discussed. Numerical studies indicate that simulating the strategic and collusive behavior prior to any change in the market rules is necessary. - Highlights: • A virtual power market model is proposed using a heuristic dynamic game theory. • The proposed model can simulate the behavior of market players in a certain period. • This model can evaluate the oligopoly, collusive and strategic behavior of players. • The price uncertainty and security constraint are considered. • Neglecting strategic behavior of players can cause adverse consequences

Evaluation and proposed improvements to effectiveness of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission generic communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thurber, J.A.; Melber, B.D.; Geisendorfer, C.L.; Vallario, R.W.

1988-01-01

This report describes an evaluation of NRC generic communications with industry concerning safety related issues of commercial nuclear power plandts. The analysis builds on the findings presented in the 1986 Office of Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD) Special Study Report, ''An Overview of Nuclear Power Plant Operating Experience Feedback Programs'' (AEOD/S602). The primary objective of the report is to present practical recommendations for improving NRC's documents and generic communications system. The report is based upon a systematic review and evaluation of NRC and industry operating experience documents. It also includes an analysis of interviews with licensee personnel at five utilities and their nuclear power plants. NRC regional and headquarters managers and staff were also interviewed for the study. NRC and licensee personnel interviewed are generally satisfied with the current NRC-industry communications system; however, several problems and potential solutions to those problems are identified in this study. The report makes seven major recommendations for improvement in the effectiveness of NRC-industry generic communications about nuclear power plant operating experience

Efficient Color-Dressed Calculation of Virtual Corrections

CERN Document Server

Giele, Walter; Winter, Jan

2010-01-01

With the advent of generalized unitarity and parametric integration techniques, the construction of a generic Next-to-Leading Order Monte Carlo becomes feasible. Such a generator will entail the treatment of QCD color in the amplitudes. We extend the concept of color dressing to one-loop amplitudes, resulting in the formulation of an explicit algorithmic solution for the calculation of arbitrary scattering processes at Next-to-Leading order. The resulting algorithm is of exponential complexity, that is the numerical evaluation time of the virtual corrections grows by a constant multiplicative factor as the number of external partons is increased. To study the properties of the method, we calculate the virtual corrections to $n$-gluon scattering.

Virtual Communities of Collaborative Learning for Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilda E. Sotomayor

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article aims to outline and project three new learning scenarios for Higher Education that, after the emergence of ICT and communication through the Network-lnternet, have come under the generic name of virtual communities. To that end, we start from a previous conceptual analysis on collaborative learning, cooperative learning and related concepts taking place in these communities and serving as a basis for sorting them into three types in particular: communities of educational work of professional practice and scientific knowledge. Virtual communities where the activities undertaken and skills acquired are set as important parts of our personal learning development, wich are necessary to build the Knowledge Society.

Virtual Organizations: Beyond Network Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liviu Gabriel CRETU

2006-01-01

Full Text Available One of the most used buzz-words in (e-business literature of the last decade is virtual organization. The term "virtual" can be identified in all sorts of combinations regarding the business world. From virtual products to virtual processes or virtual teams, everything that is “touched” by the computer’s processing power instantly becomes virtual. Moreover, most of the literature treats virtual and network organizations as being synonyms. This paper aims to draw a much more distinctive line between the two concepts. Providing a more coherent description of what virtual organization might be is also one of our intentions.

Simultaneous Imbalance Reduction and Peak Shaving using a Field Operational Virtual Power Plant with Pumps

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pruissen, O.P. van; Kok, J.K.; Eisma, A.

2015-01-01

The Dutch electricity infrastructure is challenged by the deployment of large numbers of heat pumps in newly-built domestic residences. An example is the apartment complex of Couperus in The Hague where 300 apartments are heated by individual heat pumps. This building was operated as a Virtual Power

Application Prospect of Block Chain Technology in Virtual Power Plant%区块链技术在虚拟电厂中的应用前景

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

何奇琳; 艾芊

2017-01-01

从区块链技术与虚拟电厂的概念和特点出发,通过二者特性的相似点以及虚拟电厂的发展需求,分析了区块链技术与虚拟电厂融合的互补性,重点分析了区块链技术应用于虚拟电厂的可行性;同时,区块链技术与虚拟电厂技术融合后的系统仍存在一些问题,值得思考和关注.%Based on the concept and characteristics of blockchain and virtual power plants,this paper analyzed the complementarity of integration between block chain technology and virtual power plant technology through the similarity of these two technology's characteristics and the development demand of virtual power plants,and focuses on analysis of the feasibility about the blockchain technology used in a virtual power plant.At the same time,the blockchain technology and the virtual power plant technology fusion system still has some problems worthy of our consideration and concern.

76 FR 13020 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-09

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response... Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: Department of... Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency...

Method for developing cost estimates for generic regulatory requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

The NRC has established a practice of performing regulatory analyses, reflecting costs as well as benefits, of proposed new or revised generic requirements. A method had been developed to assist the NRC in preparing the types of cost estimates required for this purpose and for assigning priorities in the resolution of generic safety issues. The cost of a generic requirement is defined as the net present value of total lifetime cost incurred by the public, industry, and government in implementing the requirement for all affected plants. The method described here is for commercial light-water-reactor power plants. Estimating the cost for a generic requirement involves several steps: (1) identifying the activities that must be carried out to fully implement the requirement, (2) defining the work packages associated with the major activities, (3) identifying the individual elements of cost for each work package, (4) estimating the magnitude of each cost element, (5) aggregating individual plant costs over the plant lifetime, and (6) aggregating all plant costs and generic costs to produce a total, national, present value of lifetime cost for the requirement. The method developed addresses all six steps. In this paper, we discuss on the first three

76 FR 37825 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-28

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Activities; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: U...): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' to OMB for...

The generic article

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farkas, D.F.; Swart, Henriëtte de

2005-01-01

We take a fresh look at the connection between genericity and (in)definiteness by reconsidering a long-standing puzzle concerning the relation between definiteness and genericity. We contrast English on the one hand and Romance languages and Hungarian on the other, focusing on generic sentences

Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Handling and storage of spent light water power reactor fuel. Volume 1. Executive summary and text

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-08-01

The Generic Environmental Impact Statement on spent fuel storage was prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff in response to a directive from the Commissioners published in the Federal Register, September 16, 1975 (40 FR 42801). The Commission directed the staff to analyze alternatives for the handling and storage of spent light water power reactor fuel with particular emphasis on developing long range policy. Accordingly, the scope of this statement examines alternative methods of spent fuel storage as well as the possible restriction or termination of the generation of spent fuel through nuclear power plant shutdown. Volume 1 includes the executive summary and the text

A Location Selection Policy of Live Virtual Machine Migration for Power Saving and Load Balancing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jia Zhao

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Green cloud data center has become a research hotspot of virtualized cloud computing architecture. And load balancing has also been one of the most important goals in cloud data centers. Since live virtual machine (VM migration technology is widely used and studied in cloud computing, we have focused on location selection (migration policy of live VM migration for power saving and load balancing. We propose a novel approach MOGA-LS, which is a heuristic and self-adaptive multiobjective optimization algorithm based on the improved genetic algorithm (GA. This paper has presented the specific design and implementation of MOGA-LS such as the design of the genetic operators, fitness values, and elitism. We have introduced the Pareto dominance theory and the simulated annealing (SA idea into MOGA-LS and have presented the specific process to get the final solution, and thus, the whole approach achieves a long-term efficient optimization for power saving and load balancing. The experimental results demonstrate that MOGA-LS evidently reduces the total incremental power consumption and better protects the performance of VM migration and achieves the balancing of system load compared with the existing research. It makes the result of live VM migration more high-effective and meaningful.

A location selection policy of live virtual machine migration for power saving and load balancing.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jia; Ding, Yan; Xu, Gaochao; Hu, Liang; Dong, Yushuang; Fu, Xiaodong

2013-01-01

Green cloud data center has become a research hotspot of virtualized cloud computing architecture. And load balancing has also been one of the most important goals in cloud data centers. Since live virtual machine (VM) migration technology is widely used and studied in cloud computing, we have focused on location selection (migration policy) of live VM migration for power saving and load balancing. We propose a novel approach MOGA-LS, which is a heuristic and self-adaptive multiobjective optimization algorithm based on the improved genetic algorithm (GA). This paper has presented the specific design and implementation of MOGA-LS such as the design of the genetic operators, fitness values, and elitism. We have introduced the Pareto dominance theory and the simulated annealing (SA) idea into MOGA-LS and have presented the specific process to get the final solution, and thus, the whole approach achieves a long-term efficient optimization for power saving and load balancing. The experimental results demonstrate that MOGA-LS evidently reduces the total incremental power consumption and better protects the performance of VM migration and achieves the balancing of system load compared with the existing research. It makes the result of live VM migration more high-effective and meaningful.

Distributed generation and demand response dispatch for a virtual power player energy and reserve provision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Faria, Pedro; Soares, Tiago; Vale, Zita

2014-01-01

Recent changes in the operation and planning of power systems have been motivated by the introduction of Distributed Generation (DG) and Demand Response (DR) in the competitive electricity markets’ environment, with deep concerns at the efficiency level. In this context, grid operators, market...... proposes a methodology which considers the joint dispatch of demand response and distributed generation in the context of a distribution network operated by a virtual power player. The resources’ participation can be performed in both energy and reserve contexts. This methodology contemplates...

Virtual working systems to support R&D groups

Science.gov (United States)

Dew, Peter M.; Leigh, Christine; Drew, Richard S.; Morris, David; Curson, Jayne

1995-03-01

The paper reports on the progress at Leeds University to build a Virtual Science Park (VSP) to enhance the University's ability to interact with industry, grow its applied research and workplace learning activities. The VSP exploits the advances in real time collaborative computing and networking to provide an environment that meets the objectives of physically based science parks without the need for the organizations to relocate. It provides an integrated set of services (e.g. virtual consultancy, workbased learning) built around a structured person- centered information model. This model supports the integration of tools for: (a) navigating around the information space; (b) browsing information stored within the VSP database; (c) communicating through a variety of Person-to-Person collaborative tools; and (d) the ability to the information stored in the VSP including the relationships to other information that support the underlying model. The paper gives an overview of a generic virtual working system based on X.500 directory services and the World-Wide Web that can be used to support the Virtual Science Park. Finally the paper discusses some of the research issues that need to be addressed to fully realize a Virtual Science Park.

Use of virtual environments to reduce the construction costs of the next generation nuclear power reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whisker, V.E.; Baratta, A.J.

2007-01-01

The near term deployment of the next generation of reactors will only be successful if they are built on time and without the costly overruns experienced in the previous generation. One critical factor in achieving these goals is to ensure the design is optimized for constructability. In this work the authors explored the effectiveness of full-scale virtual reality simulation in the optimization of the design and construction of the next generation of nuclear reactors. The research tested the suitability of immersive virtual reality display technology in aiding engineers in evaluating potential cost reductions that can be realized by the optimization of design and installation and construction sequences. The intent of this research is to see if this type of technology can be used in capacities similar to those currently filled by full-scale physical mockups and desktop simulations. Using a fully-immersive five sided virtual reality system, known as a CAVE, the authors constructed a series of virtual mockups that represented two next generation nuclear power plants, the Westinghouse AP-1000 and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). These virtual mockups were then tested as a design tool to help locate and correct problem areas, to optimize the construction sequence, and to assist with familiarizing trades people with the performance of maintenance activities. A series of experiments were performed to assess the usefulness of these virtual mockups in accomplishing these tasks. (authors)

Virtual instrumention-based linearity test platform for DCCT of digital power supply at SSRF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Junlong; Li Deming; Shen Tianjian; Liu Hong

2008-01-01

Based on virtual instrumentation, a reliable and effective test platform, performing instrument control, data acquisition and data recording, has been established to evaluate linearity of high performance DCCT (DC current transducer) for digital power supply at Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF). The software in LabVIEW language was developed to perform computer communication via serial communication (RS232) and GPIB, providing a friendly user interface to the linearity test platform. This makes it easy to test the linearity and control power on or off and current output of high-precision and high-current DC constant current output power supply. The experimental data, stored in an EXCEL file, can be processed to obtain DCCT linearity, and provide basis to further analyze DCCT performance in the future. (authors)

[Generic drugs: good or bad? Physician's knowledge of generic drugs and prescribing habits].

Science.gov (United States)

García, A J; Martos, F; Leiva, F; Sánchez de la Cuesta, F

2003-01-01

In this article we analyze the responses of 1220 Spanish physicians who participated in a survery about generic drugs. A previously validated questionnaire was sent to physicians through the Spanish Medical Councils of the different provinces. Four items were analyzed: what doctors know about generic drugs (knowledge); physicians' prescribing habits concerning these drugs (attitude and professional competence); how prescription of generic drugs effects pharmaceutical costs amd, finally, what doctors believe a generic drug should be. The influence of physician-related variables (age, type of contract, specialty, workload, etc.) on prescribing of generic drugs was also analyzed. In view of the results, we believe that to rationalize expenditure through and appropriate policy on generic drugs Spanish health authorities should offer more and better training and information (clear and independent) about what generic drugs are.

Generic Accounting and Reporting Software for Research Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaernry, C.

2010-01-01

This poster will give a general description of a generic accounting and reporting software for research reactors. The program has been designed to be a powerful working tool for the operator. The software is designed to be extremely easy to handle and at the same time give the operator the maximal power of searches, calculations and reports that a modern advanced system can produce. The systems are designed to take make the relevant accountancy for the site and perform the reporting to IAEA in Code 10. Generic software for accounting and reporting for research and other smaller facilities is something that has been asked for by many parties. Software like this could be distributed to facilities in need of a powerful accountancy and reporting system for a much lower cost than the systems that is now custom made for these facilities. This will greatly increase the quality of accountancy at these facilities and the quality of the reporting to IAEA and other state offices etc. The software is based on our advanced custom made software series 'STAR' that has been in use in many places for more than a decade with successful use. (author)

Virtual Impedance Based Stability Improvement for DC Microgrids with Constant Power Loads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lu, Xiaonan; Sun, Kai; Huang, Lipei

2014-01-01

DC microgrid provides an efficient way to integrate different kinds of renewable energy sources with DC couplings. In this paper, in order to improve the stability of DC microgrids with constant power loads (CPLs), a virtual impedance based method is proposed. The CPLs have inherent instability....... To validate the stability with the above stabilizers in a DC microgrid with parallel interfacing converters and CPL, the impedance matching approach is employed. The output impedance of the source converter and input impedance of the load are calculated respectively, and the influence of droop control...

Virtual Power Players Internal Negotiation and Management in MASCEM

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Santos, Gabriel; Pinto, Tiago; Vale, Zita

2013-01-01

for the management of coalitions in electricity markets. This approach is tested using the multi-agent market simulator MASCEM (Multi-Agent Simulator of Competitive Electricity Markets), taking advantage of its ability to provide the means to model and simulate Virtual Power Players (VPP). VPPs are represented......Electricity Markets are not only a new reality but an evolving one as the involved players and rules change at a relatively high rate. Multi-agent simulation combined with Artificial Intelligence techniques may result in very helpful sophisticated tools. This paper presents a new methodology...... as coalitions of agents, with the capability of negotiating both in the market and internally, with their members in order to combine and manage their individual specific characteristics and goals, with the strategy and objectives of the VPP itself. A case study using real data from the Iberian Electricity...

Joint Scheduling Optimization of Virtual Power Plants and Equitable Profit Distribution Using Shapely Value Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhong-fu Tan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The installation capacity of wind and solar photovoltaic power is continually increasing, which makes renewable energy grid connection and power generation an important link of China’s power structure optimization. A virtual power plant (VPP is an important way to help distributed energy resource grid connection and promote renewable energy industry development. To study the economic scheduling problem of various distributed energy resources and the profit distribution problem of VPP alliance, this study builds a separate operation scheduling model for individual VPP and a joint operation scheduling model for VPP alliance, as well as the profit distribution model. The case study verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed model. The sensitivity analysis provides information about VPP decision-making in accordance with the policy environment development trend.

Generic impact statement for commercial radioactive waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Unruh, C.M.

1976-01-01

ERDA is preparing a generic environmental impact statement on the treatment and disposal of waste resulting from commercial reactors and post fission operations in the light water reactor (LWR) fuel cycle. Expert contributions will be provided by many of the ERDA national laboratories and contractors. The waste management aspects of the statement will be based on available technology as presented in the recently issued ''Alternatives for Managing Waste from Reactors and Post Fission Operations in the LWR Fuel Cycle,'' ERDA-76-43 Document. This 1500 page, five volume Technical Alternative Document (TAD) describes the status of technology (to September, 1975) for handling post fission radioactive waste generated by the production of electricity by nuclear power light water reactor-generator systems. The statement will be generic in nature discussing typical or hypothetical facilities in typical or hypothetical environments. It is not intended to replace environmental statements required in support of specific projects nor for Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing procedures. A major purpose of the generic statement is to inform the public and to solicit comments on the ERDA program for: (1) the final disposition of commercial radioactive waste, (2) waste treatment, (3) waste interim storage, and (4) transportation of waste. The statement will discuss the ERDA contingency program to provide retrievable storage of such waste if they should be transferred to Federal custody prior to the availability of the geologic isolation facilities for terminal disposal. The generic statement will not address radioactive waste resulting from U.S. Defense Programs, the mining or milling of uranium, the management of waste from the breeder reactor program, waste from other nations, nor will it include an evaluation of the impact of waste resulting from power sources other than light water reactors

Brand vs generic adverse event reporting patterns: An authorized generic-controlled evaluation of cardiovascular medications.

Science.gov (United States)

Alatawi, Y; Rahman, Md M; Cheng, N; Qian, J; Peissig, P L; Berg, R L; Page, C D; Hansen, R A

2018-06-01

Some public scepticism exists about generics in terms of whether brand and generic drugs produce identical outcomes. This study explores whether adverse event (AE) reporting patterns are similar between brand and generic drugs, using authorized generics (AGs) as a control for possible generic drug perception biases. Events reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System from the years 2004-2015 were analysed. Drugs were classified as brand, AG or generic based on drug and manufacturer names. Reports were included if amlodipine, losartan, metoprolol extended release (ER) or simvastatin were listed as primary or secondary suspect drugs. Disproportionality analyses using the reporting odds ratio (ROR) assessed the relative rate of reporting labelled AEs compared to reporting these AEs with all other drugs. The Breslow-Day test compared RORs across brand, AG and generic. Interrupted time series analysis evaluated the impact of generic entry on reporting trends. Generics accounted for significant percentages of total U.S. reports, but AGs accounted for smaller percentages of reports, including for amlodipine (14.26%), losartan (1.48%), metoprolol ER (0.35%) and simvastatin (0.70%). Whereas the RORs were significantly different for multiple brand vs generic comparisons, the AG vs generic comparisons yielded fewer statistically significant findings. Namely, only the ROR for AG differed from generic for amlodipine with peripheral oedema (P brand and generic compared with AG and generic. Use of AGs as a control for perception biases against generics is useful, but this approach can be limited by small AG report numbers. Requiring the manufacturer name to be printed on the prescription bottle or packaging could improve the accuracy of assignment for products being reported. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Impact of Avatar Personalization and Immersion on Virtual Body Ownership, Presence, and Emotional Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Waltemate, Thomas; Gall, Dominik; Roth, Daniel; Botsch, Mario; Latoschik, Marc Erich

2018-04-01

This article reports the impact of the degree of personalization and individualization of users' avatars as well as the impact of the degree of immersion on typical psychophysical factors in embodied Virtual Environments. We investigated if and how virtual body ownership (including agency), presence, and emotional response are influenced depending on the specific look of users' avatars, which varied between (1) a generic hand-modeled version, (2) a generic scanned version, and (3) an individualized scanned version. The latter two were created using a state-of-the-art photogrammetry method providing a fast 3D-scan and post-process workflow. Users encountered their avatars in a virtual mirror metaphor using two VR setups that provided a varying degree of immersion, (a) a large screen surround projection (L-shape part of a CAVE) and (b) a head-mounted display (HMD). We found several significant as well as a number of notable effects. First, personalized avatars significantly increase body ownership, presence, and dominance compared to their generic counterparts, even if the latter were generated by the same photogrammetry process and hence could be valued as equal in terms of the degree of realism and graphical quality. Second, the degree of immersion significantly increases the body ownership, agency, as well as the feeling of presence. These results substantiate the value of personalized avatars resembling users' real-world appearances as well as the value of the deployed scanning process to generate avatars for VR-setups where the effect strength might be substantial, e.g., in social Virtual Reality (VR) or in medical VR-based therapies relying on embodied interfaces. Additionally, our results also strengthen the value of fully immersive setups which, today, are accessible for a variety of applications due to the widely available consumer HMDs.

Enabling Data Intensive Science through Service Oriented Science: Virtual Laboratories and Science Gateways

Science.gov (United States)

Lescinsky, D. T.; Wyborn, L. A.; Evans, B. J. K.; Allen, C.; Fraser, R.; Rankine, T.

2014-12-01

We present collaborative work on a generic, modular infrastructure for virtual laboratories (VLs, similar to science gateways) that combine online access to data, scientific code, and computing resources as services that support multiple data intensive scientific computing needs across a wide range of science disciplines. We are leveraging access to 10+ PB of earth science data on Lustre filesystems at Australia's National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) Research Data Storage Infrastructure (RDSI) node, co-located with NCI's 1.2 PFlop Raijin supercomputer and a 3000 CPU core research cloud. The development, maintenance and sustainability of VLs is best accomplished through modularisation and standardisation of interfaces between components. Our approach has been to break up tightly-coupled, specialised application packages into modules, with identified best techniques and algorithms repackaged either as data services or scientific tools that are accessible across domains. The data services can be used to manipulate, visualise and transform multiple data types whilst the scientific tools can be used in concert with multiple scientific codes. We are currently designing a scalable generic infrastructure that will handle scientific code as modularised services and thereby enable the rapid/easy deployment of new codes or versions of codes. The goal is to build open source libraries/collections of scientific tools, scripts and modelling codes that can be combined in specially designed deployments. Additional services in development include: provenance, publication of results, monitoring, workflow tools, etc. The generic VL infrastructure will be hosted at NCI, but can access alternative computing infrastructures (i.e., public/private cloud, HPC).The Virtual Geophysics Laboratory (VGL) was developed as a pilot project to demonstrate the underlying technology. This base is now being redesigned and generalised to develop a Virtual Hazards Impact and Risk Laboratory

Effect of generic issues program on improving safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fard, M. R.; Kauffman, J. V.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) identifies (by its assessment of plant operation) certain issues involving public health and safety, the common defense and security, or the environment that could affect multiple entities under NRC jurisdiction. The Generic Issues Program (GIP) addresses the resolution of these Generic Issues (GIs). The resolution of these issues may involve new or revised rules, new or revised guidance, or revised interpretation of rules or guidance that affect nuclear power plant licensees, nuclear material certificate holders, or holders of other regulatory approvals. U.S. NRC provides information related to the past and ongoing GIP activities to the general public by the use of three main resources, namely NUREG-0933, 'Resolution of Generic Safety Issues, ' Generic Issues Management Control System (GIMCS), and GIP public web page. GIP information resources provide information such as historical information on resolved GIs, current status of the open GIs, policy documents, program procedures, GIP annual and quarterly reports and the process to contact GIP and propose a GI This paper provides an overview of the GIP and several examples of safety improvements resulting from the resolution of GIs. In addition, the paper provides a brief discussion of a few recent GIs to illustrate how the program functions to improve safety. (authors)

Control of heavy loads at nuclear power plants: Resolution of Generic Technical Activity A-36. Technical report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

George, H.J.

1980-07-01

This report summarizes work performed by the NRC staff in the resolution of Generic Technical Activity A-36, Control of Heavy Loads Near Spent Fuel. Generic Technical Activity A-36 is one of the generic technical subjects designated as unresolved safety issues pursuant to Section 210 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. The report describes the technical studies and evaluations performed by the NRC staff, the staff's guidelines based on these studies, and the staff's plans for implementaton of its technical guidelines

Generic antibiotics in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujimura, Shigeru; Watanabe, Akira

2012-08-01

Generic drugs have been used extensively in many developed countries, although their use in Japan has been limited. Generic drugs reduce drug expenses and thereby national medical expenditure. Because generic drugs provide advantages for both public administration and consumers, it is expected that they will be more widely used in the future. However, the diffusion rate of generic drugs in Japan is quite low compared with that of other developed countries. An investigation on generic drugs conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan revealed that 17.2 % of doctors and 37.2 % of patients had not used generic drugs. The major reasons for this low use rate included distrust of off-patent products and lower drug price margin compared with the brand name drug. The generic drugs available in the market include external drugs such as wet packs, antihypertensive agents, analgesics, anticancer drugs, and antibiotics. Among them, antibiotics are frequently used in cases of acute infectious diseases. When the treatment of these infections is delayed, the infection might be aggravated rapidly. The pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics (PK-PD) theory has been adopted in recent chemotherapy, and in many cases, the most appropriate dosage and administration of antibiotics are determined for individual patients considering renal function; high-dosage antibiotics are used preferably for a short duration. Therefore, a highly detailed antimicrobial agent is necessary. However, some of the generic antibiotics have less antibacterial potency or solubility than the brand name products. We showed that the potency of the generic products of vancomycin and teicoplanin is lower than that of the branded drugs by 14.6 % and 17.3 %, respectively. Furthermore, we confirmed that a generic meropenem drug for injection required about 82 s to solubilize in saline, whereas the brand product required only about 21 s. It was thought that the cause may be the difference in size of bulk

Micro-size cogeneration plants and virtual power plants. New energy landscapes; Mikro-KWK und virtuelle Kraftwerke. Neue Energielandschaften

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roon, Serafin von [Forschungsstelle fuer Energiewirtschaft e.V., Muenchen (Germany)

2009-07-01

Combined heat and power generation is an established technology. With micro-size cogeneration units, the technology is now available to private single or multiple dwellings and for decentral power supply of residential blocks. With the right political boundary conditions and integrated into virtual power stations, this is an option for enhanced use of renewable energy sources and for decentral, flexible and climate-friendly heat and power generation in buildings. Economic efficiency analyses by experts, high utilisation rates, innovative developments of the manufacturers and a positive public image are all in favour of a great future for micro-size cogeneration units. (orig.)

Generic licensing issues applicable to Wolsong 3 and 4 licensing review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyd, Frederick C.

1994-01-01

The Wolsong 3 and 4 nuclear power plants are of CANDU type which were designed according to the rules and regulations of the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) of Canada. In 1992 AECB staff issued a first formal report (to the AECB Board) on 'generic safety issues affecting power reactors'. This was followed by a second report in 1993. These reports dealt with safety issues associated with Canadian CANDU nuclear power plants that applied to all or several plants and were considered insufficiently resolved. In most cases the concern was lack of certainty in the related safety analyses. The AECB staff report of 1993 identified eight 'generic action items' and six 'long-term research issues', three of which AECB staff have indicated may be moved into the 'action' category. This report, prepared for the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), reviews the background of the AECB 'generic action items' and the three 'long-term research issues' noted above. It also reviews an additional topic - steam line failure outside of containment - which was included in the request from KINS. In all, twelve issues are covered. These background reviews are followed by a discussion of the relevance of each issue to the licensing review (for Construction Permit) of Wolsong 3 and 4 and recommended actions to be taken by KINS

Design and Evaluation of a Secure Virtual Power Plant.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Jay Tillay [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-09-01

For three years, Sandia National Laboratories, Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign investigated a smart grid vision in which renewable-centric Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) provided ancillary services with interoperable distributed energy resources (DER). This team researched, designed, built, and evaluated real-time VPP designs incorporating DER forecasting, stochastic optimization, controls, and cyber security to construct a system capable of delivering reliable ancillary services, which have been traditionally provided by large power plants or other dedicated equipment. VPPs have become possible through an evolving landscape of state and national interconnection standards, which now require DER to include grid-support functionality and communications capabilities. This makes it possible for third party aggregators to provide a range of critical grid services such as voltage regulation, frequency regulation, and contingency reserves to grid operators. This paradigm (a) enables renewable energy, demand response, and energy storage to participate in grid operations and provide grid services, (b) improves grid reliability by providing additional operating reserves for utilities, independent system operators (ISOs), and regional transmission organization (RTOs), and (c) removes renewable energy high-penetration barriers by providing services with photovoltaics and wind resources that traditionally were the jobs of thermal generators. Therefore, it is believed VPP deployment will have far-reaching positive consequences for grid operations and may provide a robust pathway to high penetrations of renewables on US power systems. In this report, we design VPPs to provide a range of grid-support services and demonstrate one VPP which simultaneously provides bulk-system energy and ancillary reserves.

User and virtual organisation support in EGEE

CERN Document Server

Donno, Flavia

2006-01-01

User and virtual organisation support in EGEE Providing adequate user support in a grid environment is a very challenging task due to the distributed nature of the grid. The variety of users and the variety of Virtual Organizations (VO) with a wide range of applications in use add further to the challenge. The people asking for support are of various kinds. They can be generic grid beginners, users belonging to a given Virtual Organization and dealing with a specific set of applications, site administrators operating grid services and local computing infrastructures, grid monitoring operators who check the status of the grid and need to contact the specific site to report problems; to this list can be added network specialists and others. Wherever a user is located and whatever the problem experienced is, a user expects from a support infrastructure a given set of services. A non-exhaustive list is the following: a) a single access point for support; b) a portal with a well structured sources of information a...

Cosmological N-body simulations with generic hot dark matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandbyge, Jacob; Hannestad, Steen

2017-01-01

We have calculated the non-linear effects of generic fermionic and bosonic hot dark matter components in cosmological N-body simulations. For sub-eV masses, the non-linear power spectrum suppression caused by thermal free-streaming resembles the one seen for massive neutrinos, whereas for masses...

A generic high-dose rate {sup 192}Ir brachytherapy source for evaluation of model-based dose calculations beyond the TG-43 formalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ballester, Facundo, E-mail: Facundo.Ballester@uv.es [Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics, University of Valencia, Burjassot 46100 (Spain); Carlsson Tedgren, Åsa [Department of Medical and Health Sciences (IMH), Radiation Physics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping SE-581 85, Sweden and Department of Medical Physics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm SE-171 76 (Sweden); Granero, Domingo [Department of Radiation Physics, ERESA, Hospital General Universitario, Valencia E-46014 (Spain); Haworth, Annette [Department of Physical Sciences, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 (Australia); Mourtada, Firas [Department of Radiation Oncology, Helen F. Graham Cancer Center, Christiana Care Health System, Newark, Delaware 19713 (United States); Fonseca, Gabriel Paiva [Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares – IPEN-CNEN/SP, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil and Department of Radiation Oncology (MAASTRO), GROW, School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht 6201 BN (Netherlands); Zourari, Kyveli; Papagiannis, Panagiotis [Medical Physics Laboratory, Medical School, University of Athens, 75 MikrasAsias, Athens 115 27 (Greece); Rivard, Mark J. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111 (United States); Siebert, Frank-André [Clinic of Radiotherapy, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel 24105 (Germany); Sloboda, Ron S. [Department of Medical Physics, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2, Canada and Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3 (Canada); and others

2015-06-15

Purpose: In order to facilitate a smooth transition for brachytherapy dose calculations from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group No. 43 (TG-43) formalism to model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCAs), treatment planning systems (TPSs) using a MBDCA require a set of well-defined test case plans characterized by Monte Carlo (MC) methods. This also permits direct dose comparison to TG-43 reference data. Such test case plans should be made available for use in the software commissioning process performed by clinical end users. To this end, a hypothetical, generic high-dose rate (HDR) {sup 192}Ir source and a virtual water phantom were designed, which can be imported into a TPS. Methods: A hypothetical, generic HDR {sup 192}Ir source was designed based on commercially available sources as well as a virtual, cubic water phantom that can be imported into any TPS in DICOM format. The dose distribution of the generic {sup 192}Ir source when placed at the center of the cubic phantom, and away from the center under altered scatter conditions, was evaluated using two commercial MBDCAs [Oncentra{sup ®} Brachy with advanced collapsed-cone engine (ACE) and BrachyVision ACUROS{sup TM}]. Dose comparisons were performed using state-of-the-art MC codes for radiation transport, including ALGEBRA, BrachyDose, GEANT4, MCNP5, MCNP6, and PENELOPE2008. The methodologies adhered to recommendations in the AAPM TG-229 report on high-energy brachytherapy source dosimetry. TG-43 dosimetry parameters, an along-away dose-rate table, and primary and scatter separated (PSS) data were obtained. The virtual water phantom of (201){sup 3} voxels (1 mm sides) was used to evaluate the calculated dose distributions. Two test case plans involving a single position of the generic HDR {sup 192}Ir source in this phantom were prepared: (i) source centered in the phantom and (ii) source displaced 7 cm laterally from the center. Datasets were independently produced by

Saving Money and Time with Virtual Server

CERN Document Server

Sanders, Chris

2006-01-01

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 consistently proves to be worth its weight in gold, with new implementations thought up every day. With this product now a free download from Microsoft, scores of new users are able to experience what the power of virtualization can do for their networks. This guide is aimed at network administrators who are interested in ways that Virtual Server 2005 can be implemented in their organizations in order to save money and increase network productivity. It contains information on setting up a virtual network, virtual consolidation, virtual security, virtual honeypo

Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Construction Cost Reductions through the Use of Virtual Environments - Task 4 Report: Virtual Mockup Maintenance Task Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Timothy Shaw; Anthony Baratta; Vaughn Whisker

2005-02-28

Task 4 report of 3 year DOE NERI-sponsored effort evaluating immersive virtual reality (CAVE) technology for design review, construction planning, and maintenance planning and training for next generation nuclear power plants. Program covers development of full-scale virtual mockups generated from 3D CAD data presented in a CAVE visualization facility. This report focuses on using Full-scale virtual mockups for nuclear power plant training applications.

Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Construction Cost Reductions through the Use of Virtual Environments - Task 4 Report: Virtual Mockup Maintenance Task Evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timothy Shaw; Anthony Baratta; Vaughn Whisker

2005-01-01

Task 4 report of 3 year DOE NERI-sponsored effort evaluating immersive virtual reality (CAVE) technology for design review, construction planning, and maintenance planning and training for next generation nuclear power plants. Program covers development of full-scale virtual mockups generated from 3D CAD data presented in a CAVE visualization facility. This report focuses on using Full-scale virtual mockups for nuclear power plant training applications

Scripting XML with Generic Haskell

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Atanassow, F.; Clarke, D.; Jeuring, J.T.

2003-01-01

A generic program is written once and works on values of many data types. Generic Haskell is a recent extension of the functional programming language Haskell that supports generic programming. This paper discusses how Generic Haskell can be used to implement XML tools whose behaviour depends on

Scripting XML with Generic Haskell

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Atanassow, F.; Clarke, D.; Jeuring, J.T.

2007-01-01

A generic program is written once and works on values of many data types. Generic Haskell is a recent extension of the functional programming language Haskell that supports generic programming. This paper discusses how Generic Haskell can be used to implement XML tools whose behaviour depends on

Development, implementation and pilot evaluation of a Web-based Virtual Patient Case Simulation environment – Web-SP

OpenAIRE

Boberg Jonas; Johnson Gunilla; Zary Nabil; Fors Uno GH

2006-01-01

Abstract Background The Web-based Simulation of Patients (Web-SP) project was initiated in order to facilitate the use of realistic and interactive virtual patients (VP) in medicine and healthcare education. Web-SP focuses on moving beyond the technology savvy teachers, when integrating simulation-based education into health sciences curricula, by making the creation and use of virtual patients easier. The project strives to provide a common generic platform for design/creation, management, e...

Short-term economics of virtual power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kok, J.K.

2009-08-01

The Virtual Power Plant (VPP) has gained an increasing interest over the last few years. A VPP is a flexible representation of a portfolio of Distributed Energy Resources (DER: distributed generation, demand response and electricity storage). One of the key activities of a VPP is the delivery of (near-)real-time balancing services. In order to operate such a (near-)real-time coordination activity optimally, the VPP needs to maintain a dynamic merit-order list of all DER participating in the VPP. In order to make optimal decisions based on this list, the merit order needs to be based on the true marginal cost (or marginal benefit in case of demand response) of the individual DER units. The marginal electricity costs of most types of DER are highly dependent on local context and, hence, change over time. From analysis of the short-term bid strategies of various DER units, the existence of a bid strategy spectrum becomes clear. On one end of the spectrum, bidding strategies are based straightforwardly on true marginal cost or benefit. Further along the spectrum, optimal bidding strategies become less dependent on marginal cost levels and more on the price dynamics in the (VPP) market context. These results are relevant for VPP operations both from business and technical perspectives.

Coalition of distributed generation units to virtual power players - a game theory approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morais, Hugo; Sousa, Tiago M; Santos, Gabriel

2015-01-01

and the existence of new management players such as several types of aggregators. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the coalition between distributed generation units originating Virtual Power Players (VPP) considering a game theory approach. The proposed approach consists in the analysis...... strategies, size and goals, each parameter has different importance. VPP can also manage other type of energy resources, like storage units, electric vehicles, demand response programs or even parts of the MV and LV distribution network. A case study with twelve VPPs with different characteristics and one...

77 FR 12089 - Proposed Generic Communication; Regulatory Issue Summary 2012-XX: Developing Inservice Testing...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-28

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2012-0048] Proposed Generic Communication; Regulatory Issue... CFR) Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to satisfy the... inservice testing programs during the initial 120-month program interval following nuclear power plant...

Virtualization in the Operations Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Pitts, Lee; Lankford, Kim; Felton, Larry; Pruitt, Robert

2010-01-01

Virtualization provides the opportunity to continue to do "more with less"---more computing power with fewer physical boxes, thus reducing the overall hardware footprint, power and cooling requirements, software licenses, and their associated costs. This paper explores the tremendous advantages and any disadvantages of virtualization in all of the environments associated with software and systems development to operations flow. It includes the use and benefits of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification, and identifies lessons learned concerning hardware and network configurations. Using the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as an example, we demonstrate that deploying virtualized servers as a means of managing computing resources is applicable and beneficial to many areas of application, up to and including flight operations.

A PLC generic requirements and specification for safety-related applications in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Jea Bok; Lee, C. K.; Lee, D. Y.

2001-12-01

This report presents the requirements and specification to be applied to the generic qualification of programmable Logic Controller(PLC), which is being developed as part of the KNICS project, 'Development of the Digital Reactor Safety Systems' of which purpose is the application to safety-related instrumentation and control systems in nuclear power plants. This report defines the essential and critical characteristics that shall be included as part of a PLC design for safety-related application. The characteristics include performance, reliability, accuracy, the overall response time from an input to the PLC exceeding it trip condition to the resulting outputs, and the specification of processors and memories in digital controller. It also specifies the quality assurance process for software development, dealing with executive software, firmware, application software tools for developing the application software, and human machine interface(HMI). In addition, this report reviews the published standards and guidelines that are required for the PLC development and the quality assurance processes such as environment requirements, seismic withstand requirements, EMI/RFI withstand requirements, and isolation test

Open access for ALICE analysis based on virtualization technology

CERN Document Server

Buncic, P; Schutz, Y

2015-01-01

Open access is one of the important leverages for long-term data preservation for a HEP experiment. To guarantee the usability of data analysis tools beyond the experiment lifetime it is crucial that third party users from the scientific community have access to the data and associated software. The ALICE Collaboration has developed a layer of lightweight components built on top of virtualization technology to hide the complexity and details of the experiment-specific software. Users can perform basic analysis tasks within CernVM, a lightweight generic virtual machine, paired with an ALICE specific contextualization. Once the virtual machine is launched, a graphical user interface is automatically started without any additional configuration. This interface allows downloading the base ALICE analysis software and running a set of ALICE analysis modules. Currently the available tools include fully documented tutorials for ALICE analysis, such as the measurement of strange particle production or the nuclear modi...

Using virtual machine monitors to overcome the challenges of monitoring and managing virtualized cloud infrastructures

Science.gov (United States)

Bamiah, Mervat Adib; Brohi, Sarfraz Nawaz; Chuprat, Suriayati

2012-01-01

Virtualization is one of the hottest research topics nowadays. Several academic researchers and developers from IT industry are designing approaches for solving security and manageability issues of Virtual Machines (VMs) residing on virtualized cloud infrastructures. Moving the application from a physical to a virtual platform increases the efficiency, flexibility and reduces management cost as well as effort. Cloud computing is adopting the paradigm of virtualization, using this technique, memory, CPU and computational power is provided to clients' VMs by utilizing the underlying physical hardware. Beside these advantages there are few challenges faced by adopting virtualization such as management of VMs and network traffic, unexpected additional cost and resource allocation. Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) or hypervisor is the tool used by cloud providers to manage the VMs on cloud. There are several heterogeneous hypervisors provided by various vendors that include VMware, Hyper-V, Xen and Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM). Considering the challenge of VM management, this paper describes several techniques to monitor and manage virtualized cloud infrastructures.

Estimation of Engine Intake Air Mass Flow using a generic Speed-Density method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vojtíšek Michal

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Measurement of real driving emissions (RDE from internal combustion engines under real-world operation using portable, onboard monitoring systems (PEMS is becoming an increasingly important tool aiding the assessment of the effects of new fuels and technologies on environment and human health. The knowledge of exhaust flow is one of the prerequisites for successful RDE measurement with PEMS. One of the simplest approaches for estimating the exhaust flow from virtually any engine is its computation from the intake air flow, which is calculated from measured engine rpm and intake manifold charge pressure and temperature using a generic speed-density algorithm, applicable to most contemporary four-cycle engines. In this work, a generic speed-density algorithm was compared against several reference methods on representative European production engines - a gasoline port-injected automobile engine, two turbocharged diesel automobile engines, and a heavy-duty turbocharged diesel engine. The overall results suggest that the uncertainty of the generic speed-density method is on the order of 10% throughout most of the engine operating range, but increasing to tens of percent where high-volume exhaust gas recirculation is used. For non-EGR engines, such uncertainty is acceptable for many simpler and screening measurements, and may be, where desired, reduced by engine-specific calibration.

Art in virtual reality 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Ben

2010-01-01

For decades, virtual reality artwork has existed in a small but highly influential niche in the world of electronic and new media art. Since the early 1990's, virtual reality installations have come to define an extreme boundary point of both aesthetic experience and technological sophistication. Classic virtual reality artworks have an almost mythological stature - powerful, exotic, and often rarely exhibited. Today, art in virtual environments continues to evolve and mature, encompassing everything from fully immersive CAVE experiences to performance art in Second Life to the use of augmented and mixed reality in public space. Art in Virtual Reality 2010 is a public exhibition of new artwork that showcases the diverse ways that contemporary artists use virtual environments to explore new aesthetic ground and investigate the continually evolving relationship between our selves and our virtual worlds.

The Optimal Configuration Scheme of the Virtual Power Plant Considering Benefits and Risks of Investors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingmin Wang

2017-07-01

Full Text Available A virtual power plant (VPP is a special virtual unit that integrates various distributed energy resources (DERs distributed in the generation and consumption sides. The optimal configuration scheme of the VPP needs to break the geographical restrictions to make full use of DERs, considering the uncertainties. First, the components of the DERs and the structure of the VPP are briefly introduced. Next, the cubic exponential smoothing method is adopted to predict the VPP load requirement. Finally, the optimal configuration of the DER capacities inside the VPP is calculated by using portfolio theory and genetic algorithms (GA. The results show that the configuration scheme can optimize the DER capacities considering uncertainties, guaranteeing economic benefits of investors, and fully utilizing the DERs. Therefore, this paper provides a feasible reference for the optimal configuration scheme of the VPP from the perspective of investors.

Theft of Virtual Property — Towards Security Requirements for Virtual Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Anja

The article is focused to introduce the topic of information technology security for Virtual Worlds to a security experts’ audience. Virtual Worlds are Web 2.0 applications where the users cruise through the world with their individually shaped avatars to find either amusement, challenges or the next best business deal. People do invest a lot of time but beyond they invest in buying virtual assets like fantasy witcheries, wepaons, armour, houses, clothes,...etc with the power of real world money. Although it is called “virtual” (which is often put on the same level as “not existent”) there is a real value behind it. In November 2007 dutch police arrested a seventeen years old teenager who was suspicted to have stolen virtual items in a Virtual World called Habbo Hotel [Reuters07]. In order to successfully provide security mechanisms into Virtual Worlds it is necessarry to fully understand the domain for which the security mechansims are defined. As Virtual Worlds must be clasified into the domain of Social Software the article starts with an overview of how to understand Web 2.0 and gives a short introduction to Virtual Worlds. The article then provides a consideration of assets of Virtual Worlds participants, describes how these assets can be threatened and gives an overview of appopriate security requirements and completes with an outlook of possible countermeasures.

Implementation of a virtual link between power system testbeds at Marshall Spaceflight Center and Lewis Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Doreswamy, Rajiv

1990-01-01

The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) owns and operates a space station module power management and distribution (SSM-PMAD) testbed. This system, managed by expert systems, is used to analyze and develop power system automation techniques for Space Station Freedom. The Lewis Research Center (LeRC), Cleveland, Ohio, has developed and implemented a space station electrical power system (EPS) testbed. This system and its power management controller are representative of the overall Space Station Freedom power system. A virtual link is being implemented between the testbeds at MSFC and LeRC. This link would enable configuration of SSM-PMAD as a load center for the EPS testbed at LeRC. This connection will add to the versatility of both systems, and provide an environment of enhanced realism for operation of both testbeds.

IAEA's experience in compiling a generic component reliability data base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomic, B.; Lederman, L.

1991-01-01

Reliability data are essential in probabilistic safety assessment, with component reliability parameters being particularly important. Component failure data which is plant specific would be most appropriate but this is rather limited. However, similar components are used in different designs. Generic data, that is all data that is not plant specific to the plant being analyzed but which relates to components more generally, is important. The International Atomic Energy Agency has compiled the Generic Component Reliability Data Base from data available in the open literature. It is part of the IAEA computer code package for fault/event tree analysis. The Data Base contains 1010 different records including most of the components used in probabilistic safety analyses of nuclear power plants. The data base input was quality controlled and data sources noted. The data compilation procedure and problems associated with using generic data are explained. (UK)

Simulation of Digital Control Computer of Nuclear Power Plant Based on Virtual Machine Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hou, Xue Yan; Li, Shu; Li, Qing

2011-01-01

Based on analyzing DCC (Digital Control Computer) instruction sets, memory map, display controllers and I/O system, virtual machine of DCC (abbr. VM DCC) has been developed. The executive and control programs, same as running on NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) unit's DCC, can run on the VM DCC smoothly and get same control results. Dual VM DCC system has been successfully applied in NPP FSS(Full Scope Simulator) training. It not only improves FSS's fidelity but also makes maintaining easier

Development of generic floor response spectra for equipment qualification for seismic loads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curren, J.R.; Costantino, C.J.

1984-01-01

A generic floor response spectra has been developed for use in the qualification of electrical and mechanical equipment in operating nuclear power plants. Actual PWR and BWR - Mark I structural models were used as representative of a class of structures. For each model, the stiffness properties were varied, with the same mass, so as to extend the fundamental base structure natural frequency from 2 cps to 36 cps. This resulted in fundamental mode coupled natural frequencies as low as 0.86 cps and as high as 30 cps. The characteristics of 1000 floor response spectra were studied to determine the generic spectra. A procedure for its application to any operating plant has been established. The procedure uses as much or as little information that currently exists at the plant relating to the question of equipment qualification. A generic floor response spectra is proposed for the top level of a generic structure. Reduction factors are applied to the peak acceleration for equipment at lower levels

Development of generic floor response spectra for equipment qualification for seismic loads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curreri, J.R.; Costantino, C.J.

1984-10-01

A generic floor response spectra has been developed for use in the qualification of electrical and mechanical equipment in operating nuclear power plants. Actual PWR and BWR - Mark I structural models were used as representative of a class of structures. For each model, the stiffness properties were varied, with the same mass, so as to extend the fundamental base structure natural frequency from 2 cps to 36 cps. This resulted in fundamental mode coupled natural frequencies as low as 0.86 cps and as high as 30 cps. The characteristics of 1000 floor response spectra were studied to determine the generic spectra. A procedure for its application to any operating plant has been established. The procedure uses as much or as little information that currently exists at the plant relating to the question of equipment qualification. A generic floor response spectra is proposed for the top level of a generic structure. Reduction factors are applied to the peak acceleration for equipment at lower levels

Nuclear power plant Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL). Main report and appendix A

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaza, K.E.; Diercks, D.R.; Holland, J.W.; Choi, S.U. [and others

1996-12-01

The purpose of this generic aging lessons learned (GALL) review is to provide a systematic review of plant aging information in order to assess materials and component aging issues related to continued operation and license renewal of operating reactors. Literature on mechanical, structural, and thermal-hydraulic components and systems reviewed consisted of 97 Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) reports, 23 NRC Generic Letters, 154 Information Notices, 29 Licensee Event Reports (LERs), 4 Bulletins, and 9 Nuclear Management and Resources Council Industry Reports (NUMARC IRs) and literature on electrical components and systems reviewed consisted of 66 NPAR reports, 8 NRC Generic Letters, 111 Information Notices, 53 LERs, 1 Bulletin, and 1 NUMARC IR. More than 550 documents were reviewed. The results of these reviews were systematized using a standardized GALL tabular format and standardized definitions of aging-related degradation mechanisms and effects. The tables are included in volume s 1 and 2 of this report. A computerized data base has also been developed for all review tables and can be used to expedite the search for desired information on structures, components, and relevant aging effects. A survey of the GALL tables reveals that all ongoing significant component aging issues are currently being addressed by the regulatory process. However, the aging of what are termed passive components has been highlighted for continued scrutiny. This document is Volume 1, consisting of the executive summary, summary and observations, and an appendix listing the GALL literature review tables.

Nuclear power plant Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL). Main report and appendix A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasza, K.E.; Diercks, D.R.; Holland, J.W.; Choi, S.U.

1996-12-01

The purpose of this generic aging lessons learned (GALL) review is to provide a systematic review of plant aging information in order to assess materials and component aging issues related to continued operation and license renewal of operating reactors. Literature on mechanical, structural, and thermal-hydraulic components and systems reviewed consisted of 97 Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) reports, 23 NRC Generic Letters, 154 Information Notices, 29 Licensee Event Reports (LERs), 4 Bulletins, and 9 Nuclear Management and Resources Council Industry Reports (NUMARC IRs) and literature on electrical components and systems reviewed consisted of 66 NPAR reports, 8 NRC Generic Letters, 111 Information Notices, 53 LERs, 1 Bulletin, and 1 NUMARC IR. More than 550 documents were reviewed. The results of these reviews were systematized using a standardized GALL tabular format and standardized definitions of aging-related degradation mechanisms and effects. The tables are included in volumes 1 and 2 of this report. A computerized data base has also been developed for all review tables and can be used to expedite the search for desired information on structures, components, and relevant aging effects. A survey of the GALL tables reveals that all ongoing significant component aging issues are currently being addressed by the regulatory process. However, the aging of what are termed passive components has been highlighted for continued scrutiny. This document is Volume 1, consisting of the executive summary, summary and observations, and an appendix listing the GALL literature review tables

Modeling of power train by applying the virtual prototype concept; Kaso genkei ni yoru power train no model ka

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hiramatsu, S; Harada, Y; Arakawa, H; Komori, S [Mazda Motor Corp., Hiroshima (Japan); Sumida, S [U-Shin Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

1997-10-01

This paper describes the simulation of power train that includes the model developed by applying the virtual prototype concept. By this concept, subsystem models which consist of functional model and mechanism models are integrated into a total system model. This peculiarity in architecture of model, which is called the hierarchical structure, enables us to model a system of large scale with many units, systems and parts easily. Two kinds of computer simulations are performed. One is engine revolution fluctuation by accessory load input, and the other is changing gears by automatic transmission. They are verified to have sufficient accuracy. 2 refs., 12 figs.

Aspects of a generic photovoltaic model examined under the German grid code for medium voltage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Theologitis, Ioannis-Thomas; Troester, Eckehard; Ackermann, Thomas [Energynautics GmbH, Langen (Germany)

2011-07-01

The increasing peneration of photovoltaic power systems into the power grid has attached attention to the issue of ensuring the smooth absorbance of the solar energy, while securing the normal and steady operation of the grid as well. Nowadays, the PV systems must meet a number of technical requirements to address this issue. This paper investigates a generic grid-connected photovoltaic model that was developed by DIgSILENT and is part of the library in the new version of PowerFactory v.14.1 software that is used in this study. The model has a nominal rated peak power of 0.5 MVA and a designed power factor cos{phi}0.95. The study focuses on the description of the model, its control system and its ability to reflect important requirements that a grid-connected PV system should have by January 2011 according to the German grid code for medium voltage. The model undergoes various simulations. Static voltage support, active power control and dynamic voltage support - Fault Ride Through (FRT) is examined. The results show that the generic model is capable for active power reduction under over-frequency occasions and FRT behavior in cases of voltage dips. The reactive power control that is added in the model improves the control system and makes the model capable for static voltage support in sudden active power injection changes at the point of common coupling. Beside the simplifications and shortcomings of this generic model, basic requirements of the modern PV systems can be addressed. Further improvements could make it more complete and applicable for more detailed studies. (orig.)

Structural Design of HRA Database using generic task for Quantitative Analysis of Human Performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Seung Hwan; Kim, Yo Chan; Choi, Sun Yeong; Park, Jin Kyun; Jung Won Dea [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

This paper describes a design of generic task based HRA database for quantitative analysis of human performance in order to estimate the number of task conductions. The estimation method to get the total task conduction number using direct counting is not easy to realize and maintain its data collection framework. To resolve this problem, this paper suggests an indirect method and a database structure using generic task that enables to estimate the total number of conduction based on instructions of operating procedures of nuclear power plants. In order to reduce human errors, therefore, all information on the human errors taken by operators in the power plant should be systematically collected and examined in its management. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is carrying out a research to develop a data collection framework to establish a Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) database that could be employed as technical bases to generate human error probabilities (HEPs) and performance shaping factors (PSFs)]. As a result of the study, the essential table schema was designed to the generic task database which stores generic tasks, procedure lists and task tree structures, and other supporting tables. The number of task conduction based on the operating procedures for HEP estimation was enabled through the generic task database and framework. To verify the framework applicability, case study for the simulated experiments was performed and analyzed using graphic user interfaces developed in this study.

Structural Design of HRA Database using generic task for Quantitative Analysis of Human Performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seung Hwan; Kim, Yo Chan; Choi, Sun Yeong; Park, Jin Kyun; Jung Won Dea

2016-01-01

This paper describes a design of generic task based HRA database for quantitative analysis of human performance in order to estimate the number of task conductions. The estimation method to get the total task conduction number using direct counting is not easy to realize and maintain its data collection framework. To resolve this problem, this paper suggests an indirect method and a database structure using generic task that enables to estimate the total number of conduction based on instructions of operating procedures of nuclear power plants. In order to reduce human errors, therefore, all information on the human errors taken by operators in the power plant should be systematically collected and examined in its management. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is carrying out a research to develop a data collection framework to establish a Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) database that could be employed as technical bases to generate human error probabilities (HEPs) and performance shaping factors (PSFs)]. As a result of the study, the essential table schema was designed to the generic task database which stores generic tasks, procedure lists and task tree structures, and other supporting tables. The number of task conduction based on the operating procedures for HEP estimation was enabled through the generic task database and framework. To verify the framework applicability, case study for the simulated experiments was performed and analyzed using graphic user interfaces developed in this study.

Optimizing Generic Functions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alimarine, A.; Smetsers, J.E.W.

2004-01-01

Generic functions are defined by induction on the structural representation of types. As a consequence, by defining just a single generic operation, one acquires this operation over any particular type. An instance on a specific type is generated by interpretation of the type's structure. A direct

Simulation of Digital Control Computer of Nuclear Power Plant Based on Virtual Machine Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hou, Xue Yan; Li, Shu; Li, Qing [China Nuclear Power Operation Technology Co., Wuhan (China)

2011-08-15

Based on analyzing DCC (Digital Control Computer) instruction sets, memory map, display controllers and I/O system, virtual machine of DCC (abbr. VM DCC) has been developed. The executive and control programs, same as running on NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) unit's DCC, can run on the VM DCC smoothly and get same control results. Dual VM DCC system has been successfully applied in NPP FSS(Full Scope Simulator) training. It not only improves FSS's fidelity but also makes maintaining easier.

Educational innovation, learning technologies and Virtual culture potential'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Riley

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Learning technologies are regularly associated with innovative teaching but will they contribute to profound innovations in education itself? This paper addresses the question by building upon Merlin.Donald's co-evolutionary theory of mind, cognition and culture. He claimed that the invention of technologies for storing and sharing external symbol systems, such as writing, gave rise to a 'theoretic culture' with rich symbolic representations and a resultant need for formal education. More recently, Shaffer and Kaput have claimed that the development of external and shared symbol-processing technologies is giving rise to an emerging 'virtual culture'. They argue that mathematics curricula are grounded in theoretic culture and should change to meet the novel demands of 'virtual culture' for symbol-processing and representational fluency. The generic character of their cultural claim is noted in this paper and it is suggested that equivalent pedagogic arguments are applicable across the educational spectrum. Hence, four general characteristics of virtual culture are proposed, against which applications of learning technologies can be evaluated for their innovative potential. Two illustrative uses of learning technologies are evaluated in terms of their 'virtual culture potential' and some anticipated questions about this approach are discussed towards the end of the paper.

ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO SOBRE COMPETENCIAS GENERICAS EN MODALIDAD PRESENCIAL Y VIRTUAL EN UN CURSO DE PREGRADO DE LA UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLÓGICA DE PANAMÁ (COMPARATIVE STUDY ABOUT COMPETENCES IN CLASSROOM AND ON LINE EDUCATION IN AN UNDERGRADUATE COURSE AT UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE PANAMA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Durán Rodríguez, Rodrigo

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Resumen: El presente artículo describe el estudio comparativo entre modalidades presencial y virtual de dieciocho competencias genéricas del modelo de competencias Alfa Tuning de Latinoamérica. El estudio se realizó con estudiantes de Licenciatura en Redes y Comunicaciones de la Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, quienes participaron en un proceso de investigación que los involucraba a prácticas presenciales y a prácticas virtuales. Los resultados revelaron las diferencias existentes al momento de implementar un mecanismo que introduce competencias a través de medios presenciales versus medios virtuales. Se observó que la mayoría de las competencias genéricas mantienen el mismo nivel de desarrollo en ambas modalidades y que además un 44% de las competencias genéricas obtienen un mejor nivel de consecución en la modalidad virtual y un 6% de las competencias genéricas lograron una mejor evaluación en la modalidad presencial. El estudio concluye que las competencias genéricas según Alfa Tuning se pueden desarrollar tanto en los entornos virtuales de aprendizaje como en el tradicional salón de clases, lo que apunta a que ambas opciones pueden ser empleadas por las universidades cuando se diseñan este tipo de curriculum.Abstract: This paper describes a comparative study of eighteen generic skills from Latin America Alfa Tuning project applied in a case using classroom and virtual education. The study was conducted with students of Bachelor of Communications Networks registered at Universidad Tecnologica de Panama, whom participated in a research process that were subjected to virtual and classroom practices. The results revealed differences when implementing a mechanism to introduce competences through means-face versus virtual means. It was observed that most of the generic competences maintain the same level of development in both types of education and also 44% of generic competences get better level of achievement in virtual

Cosmological N -body simulations with generic hot dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brandbyge, Jacob; Hannestad, Steen, E-mail: jacobb@phys.au.dk, E-mail: sth@phys.au.dk [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 120, DK–8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)

2017-10-01

We have calculated the non-linear effects of generic fermionic and bosonic hot dark matter components in cosmological N -body simulations. For sub-eV masses, the non-linear power spectrum suppression caused by thermal free-streaming resembles the one seen for massive neutrinos, whereas for masses larger than 1 eV, the non-linear relative suppression of power is smaller than in linear theory. We furthermore find that in the non-linear regime, one can map fermionic to bosonic models by performing a simple transformation.

Prioritization of generic safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emrit, R.; Minners, W.; VanderMolen, H.

1983-12-01

This report presents the priority rankings for generic safety issues related to nuclear power plants. The purpose of these rankings is to assist in the timely and efficient allocation of NRC resources for the resolution of those safety issues that have a significant potential for reducing risk. The report focuses on the prioritization of generic safety issues. Issues primarily concerned with the licensing process or environmental protection and not directly related to safety have been excluded from prioritization. The prioritized issues include: TMI Action Plan items under development; previously proposed issues covered by Task Action Plans, except issues designated at Unresolved Safety Issues (USIs) which had already been assigned high priority; and newly-proposed issues. Future supplements to this report will include the prioritization of additional issues. The safety priority rankings are HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, and DROP and have been assigned on the basis of risk significance estimates, the ratio of risk to costs and other impacts estimated to result if resolutions of the safety issues were implemented, and the consideration of uncertainties and other quantitative or qualitative factors. To the extent practical, estimates are quantitative

Virtualization - A Key Cost Saver in NASA Multi-Mission Ground System Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Swenson, Paul; Kreisler, Stephen; Sager, Jennifer A.; Smith, Dan

2014-01-01

With science team budgets being slashed, and a lack of adequate facilities for science payload teams to operate their instruments, there is a strong need for innovative new ground systems that are able to provide necessary levels of capability processing power, system availability and redundancy while maintaining a small footprint in terms of physical space, power utilization and cooling.The ground system architecture being presented is based off of heritage from several other projects currently in development or operations at Goddard, but was designed and built specifically to meet the needs of the Science and Planetary Operations Control Center (SPOCC) as a low-cost payload command, control, planning and analysis operations center. However, this SPOCC architecture was designed to be generic enough to be re-used partially or in whole by other labs and missions (since its inception that has already happened in several cases!)The SPOCC architecture leverages a highly available VMware-based virtualization cluster with shared SAS Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) to provide an extremely high-performing, low-power-utilization and small-footprint compute environment that provides Virtual Machine resources shared among the various tenant missions in the SPOCC. The storage is also expandable, allowing future missions to chain up to 7 additional 2U chassis of storage at an extremely competitive cost if they require additional archive or virtual machine storage space.The software architecture provides a fully-redundant GMSEC-based message bus architecture based on the ActiveMQ middleware to track all health and safety status within the SPOCC ground system. All virtual machines utilize the GMSEC system agents to report system host health over the GMSEC bus, and spacecraft payload health is monitored using the Hammers Integrated Test and Operations System (ITOS) Galaxy Telemetry and Command (TC) system, which performs near-real-time limit checking and data processing on the

Risk-averse formulations and methods for a virtual power plant

KAUST Repository

Lima, Ricardo M.; Conejo, Antonio J.; Langodan, Sabique; Hoteit, Ibrahim; Knio, Omar M.

2017-01-01

In this paper we address the optimal operation of a virtual power plant using stochastic programming. We consider one risk-neutral and two risk-averse formulations that rely on the conditional value at risk. To handle large-scale problems, we implement two decomposition methods with variants using single- and multiple-cuts. We propose the utilization of wind ensembles obtained from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to quantify the uncertainty of the wind forecast. We present detailed results relative to the computational performance of the risk-averse formulations, the decomposition methods, and risk management and sensitivities analysis as a function of the number of scenarios and risk parameters. The implementation of the two decomposition methods relies on the parallel solution of subproblems, which turns out to be paramount for computational efficiency. The results show that one of the two decomposition methods is the most efficient.

Risk-averse formulations and methods for a virtual power plant

KAUST Repository

Lima, Ricardo M.

2017-12-15

In this paper we address the optimal operation of a virtual power plant using stochastic programming. We consider one risk-neutral and two risk-averse formulations that rely on the conditional value at risk. To handle large-scale problems, we implement two decomposition methods with variants using single- and multiple-cuts. We propose the utilization of wind ensembles obtained from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to quantify the uncertainty of the wind forecast. We present detailed results relative to the computational performance of the risk-averse formulations, the decomposition methods, and risk management and sensitivities analysis as a function of the number of scenarios and risk parameters. The implementation of the two decomposition methods relies on the parallel solution of subproblems, which turns out to be paramount for computational efficiency. The results show that one of the two decomposition methods is the most efficient.

Generic Example Proving Criteria for All

Science.gov (United States)

Yopp, David; Ely, Rob; Johnson­-Leung, Jennifer

2015-01-01

We review literature that discusses generic example proving and highlight ambiguities that pervade our research community's discourse about generic example arguments. We distinguish between pedagogical advice for choosing good examples that can serve as generic examples when teaching and advice for developing generic example arguments. We provide…

Impact of advanced wind power ancillary services on power system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anca Daniela; Altin, Müfit

The objective of this report is to illustrate and analyse, by means of simulation test cases, the impact of wind power advanced ancillary services, like inertial response (IR), power oscillation damping (POD) and synchronising power (SP) on the power system. Generic models for wind turbine, wind...... power plant and power system are used in the investigation....

Virtual reality at nuclear issues : a review study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, Marcio Henrique da; Legey, Ana Paula; Mol, Antonio Carlos de A.

2015-01-01

Recently, several applications using concepts related to virtual reality has been proposed to help on solving issues of great interest in Nuclear Engineering. Among them are power plant's control rooms simulators; measurement of the estimated radiation dose in a nuclear power plant; use of game engines to create virtual environments to support evacuation planning of buildings and circulation in areas subjected to radiation; development of a man - machine interface based on speech recognition; virtual control tables for simulation of nuclear power plants; evacuation plans support; security teams training and evaluation of physical protection barriers; ergonomic evaluation of control rooms, and other ones. Many of these applications are developed at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), having their results published in form of articles in periodicals and conferences. This article presents a review of some of these studies showing the evolution in the use of these concepts, describing some of its results and showing prospects for future applications that can make use of virtual reality technology. (author)

Virtual reality at nuclear issues : a review study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Marcio Henrique da; Legey, Ana Paula; Mol, Antonio Carlos de A., E-mail: marciohenrique@lmp.ufrj.br, E-mail: ana.legey@pq.cnpq.br, E-mail: mol@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2015-07-01

Recently, several applications using concepts related to virtual reality has been proposed to help on solving issues of great interest in Nuclear Engineering. Among them are power plant's control rooms simulators; measurement of the estimated radiation dose in a nuclear power plant; use of game engines to create virtual environments to support evacuation planning of buildings and circulation in areas subjected to radiation; development of a man - machine interface based on speech recognition; virtual control tables for simulation of nuclear power plants; evacuation plans support; security teams training and evaluation of physical protection barriers; ergonomic evaluation of control rooms, and other ones. Many of these applications are developed at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), having their results published in form of articles in periodicals and conferences. This article presents a review of some of these studies showing the evolution in the use of these concepts, describing some of its results and showing prospects for future applications that can make use of virtual reality technology. (author)

Generic and biosimilar medicines: quid?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven Simoens

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Once intellectual property protection, data and marketing exclusivity of reference medicines have expired, generic medicines and biosimilar medicines can enter the off-patent market. This market entry is conditional on the approval of marketing authorization, pricing and reimbursement. Given that there tends to be confusion surrounding generic and biosimilar medicines, this Editorial introduces basic concepts related to generic and biosimilar medicines and presents the different studies and articles included in this supplement dedicated to generic and biosimilar medicines.

Citrix XenApp 7.5 desktop virtualization solutions

CERN Document Server

Paul, Andy

2014-01-01

If you are a Citrix® engineer, a virtualization consultant, or an IT project manager with prior experience of using Citrix XenApp® and related technologies for desktop virtualization and want to further explore the power of XenApp® for flawless desktop virtualization, then this book is for you.

Day-ahead resource scheduling of a renewable energy based virtual power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zamani, Ali Ghahgharaee; Zakariazadeh, Alireza; Jadid, Shahram

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Simultaneous energy and reserve scheduling of a VPP. • Aggregate uncertainties of electricity prices, renewable generation and load demand. • Develop a stochastic scheduling model using the point estimate method. - Abstract: The evolution of energy markets is accelerating in the direction of a greater reliance upon distributed energy resources (DERs). To manage this increasing two-way complexity, virtual power plants (VPPs) are being deployed today all over the world. In this paper, a probabilistic model for optimal day ahead scheduling of electrical and thermal energy resources in a VPP is proposed where participation of energy storage systems and demand response programs (DRPs) are also taken into account. In the proposed model, energy and reserve is simultaneously scheduled considering the uncertainties of market prices, electrical demand and intermittent renewable power generation. The Point Estimate Method (PEM) is applied in order to model the uncertainties of VPP’s scheduling problem. Moreover, the optimal reserve scheduling of VPP is presented which efficiently decreases VPP’s risk facing the unexpected fluctuations of uncertain parameters at the power delivery time. The results demonstrated that implementation of demand response programs (DRPs) would decrease total operation costs of VPP as well as its dependency on the upstream network.

Applied virtual reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yule, I.Y.; Lee, D.J.

1996-01-01

To reduce plant down time during irradiated fuel cell dismantling at Torness Power Station, a new visualisation technique has been used for the manipulator. Complex computer graphics packages were used to provide a ''Virtual Reality'' environment which allowed the Irradiated Fuel Dismantling Cell to be simulated. Significant cost savings have been achieved due to reductions in lost output. The virtual reality environment is at present being extended to the design and deployment of a new manipulator for in-vessel inspection of the boiler. (UK)

Advertising and generic market entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Königbauer, Ingrid

2007-03-01

The effect of purely persuasive advertising on generic market entry and social welfare is analysed. An incumbent has the possibility to invest in advertising which affects the prescribing physician's perceived relative qualities of the brand-name and the generic version of the drug. Advertising creates product differentiation and can induce generic market entry which is deterred without differentiation due to strong Bertrand competition. However, over-investment in advertising can deter generic market entry under certain conditions and reduces welfare as compared to accommodated market entry.

CIVIL ENGINEER PROFILE: A VIEW FROM HIS GENERIC AND SPECIFIC COMPETENCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Brenzini

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This paper was aimed to determine the presence of generic and specific competences in the profile of civil engineering as a graduate of the Eastern Coast of Lake Campus of the University of Zulia; is part of a larger project. The study was carried out through a descriptive, transectional and field research. The population consisted of 38 companies. We applied a questionnaire with closed questions. The results showed the importance that generic and specific competences present in the profile of Civil Engineer; we investigated the presence of very few powers of this kind in the profile of Civil Engineers under investigation.

Encouraging generic use can yield significant savings.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Christina

2012-11-01

Key findings. (1) Zero copayment for generic drugs is the greatest influencer of generic statin utilization. (2) Both higher copayments for generic drugs and lower copayments for competing brands are associated with a decreased probability of using generic statins. (3) Prior authorization and step therapy requirements for brand-name statins are associated with an increased use of generic drugs. (4) Greater use of generic statins should reduce costs for patients, plans, and Medicare.

76 FR 57767 - Proposed Generic Communication; Draft NRC Generic Letter 2011-XX: Seismic Risk Evaluations for...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-16

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2011-0204] Proposed Generic Communication; Draft NRC Generic Letter 2011-XX: Seismic Risk Evaluations for Operating Reactors AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission... FR 54507), that requested public comment on Draft NRC Generic Letter 2011- XX: Seismic Risk...

Desktop Virtualization in Action: Simplicity Is Power

Science.gov (United States)

Fennell, Dustin

2010-01-01

Discover how your institution can better manage and increase access to instructional applications and desktops while providing a blended learning environment. Receive practical insight into how academic computing virtualization can be leveraged to enhance education at your institution while lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and reducing the…

Savannah River Site generic data base development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanchard, A.

2000-01-01

This report describes the results of a project to improve the generic component failure database for the Savannah River Site (SRS). Additionally, guidelines were developed further for more advanced applications of database values. A representative list of components and failure modes for SRS risk models was generated by reviewing existing safety analyses and component failure data bases and from suggestions from SRS safety analysts. Then sources of data or failure rate estimates were identified and reviewed for applicability. A major source of information was the Nuclear Computerized Library for Assessing Reactor Reliability, or NUCLARR. This source includes an extensive collection of failure data and failure rate estimates for commercial nuclear power plants. A recent Idaho National Engineering Laboratory report on failure data from the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant was also reviewed. From these and other recent sources, failure data and failure rate estimates were collected for the components and failure modes of interest. For each component failure mode, this information was aggregated to obtain a recommended generic failure rate distribution (mean and error factor based on a lognormal distribution). Results are presented in a table in this report. A major difference between generic database and previous efforts is that this effort estimates failure rates based on actual data (failure events) rather than on existing failure rate estimates. This effort was successful in that over 75% of the results are now based on actual data. Also included is a section on guidelines for more advanced applications of failure rate data. This report describes the results of a project to improve the generic component failure database for the Savannah River site (SRS). Additionally, guidelines were developed further for more advanced applications of database values

Validation of Generic Models for Variable Speed Operation Wind Turbines Following the Recent Guidelines Issued by IEC 61400-27

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrés Honrubia-Escribano

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Considerable efforts are currently being made by several international working groups focused on the development of generic, also known as simplified or standard, wind turbine models for power system stability studies. In this sense, the first edition of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC 61400-27-1, which defines generic dynamic simulation models for wind turbines, was published in February 2015. Nevertheless, the correlations of the IEC generic models with respect to specific wind turbine manufacturer models are required by the wind power industry to validate the accuracy and corresponding usability of these standard models. The present work conducts the validation of the two topologies of variable speed wind turbines that present not only the largest market share, but also the most technological advances. Specifically, the doubly-fed induction machine and the full-scale converter (FSC topology are modeled based on the IEC 61400-27-1 guidelines. The models are simulated for a wide range of voltage dips with different characteristics and wind turbine operating conditions. The simulated response of the IEC generic model is compared to the corresponding simplified model of a wind turbine manufacturer, showing a good correlation in most cases. Validation error sources are analyzed in detail, as well. In addition, this paper reviews in detail the previous work done in this field. Results suggest that wind turbine manufacturers are able to adjust the IEC generic models to represent the behavior of their specific wind turbines for power system stability analysis.

Use of generic medicines by the Brazilian population: an evaluation of PNAUM 2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andréa Dâmaso Bertoldi

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the existence of differences in the use of generic medicines in Brazil according to demographic and socioeconomic variables and acquisition sources of the medicines. METHODS Population-based cross-sectional study, conducted with data from the Pesquisa Nacional de Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos (PNAUM – National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Medicines. Data collection took place between September, 2013 and February, 2014 in homes of Brazilian cities (urban area. The use of medicines has been investigated in relation to the treatment of chronic diseases and, in the case of acute events, regarding use over the previous 15 days. Generics were identified by visualization of packaging presented by the users of the medicines. The independent variables used were sex, age, education level, economic class, and region of the Country. The statistical significance of differences between the groups was evaluated by Pearson’s Chi-squared test, considering a 5% significance level. RESULTS The prevalence of generic medicines use was 45.5% (95%CI 43.7–47.3. There was no difference considering education level. The prevalence was higher in females (47.0%; 95%CI 44.9–49.0 than in males (43.1%; 95%CI 40.5–45.8, and were higher with increasing age. Generic medicines were more used in the economic class C (47.0%; 95%CI 44.9–49.1 and in the South (50.6%; 95%CI 46.6–54.6 and Southeast (49.9%; 95%CI 46.8–53.0 regions. Generics accounted for 37.3% of the medicines provided by the Brazilian Unified Health System. CONCLUSIONS Currently, there is a choice of purchase or free provision by the Brazilian Unified Health System, characterized by quality assurance and reduced price regarding branded medicines considered as reference. In the private market, a considerable part of the population is choosing generic medicines thanks to the availability of this option for virtually

Generics Pricing: The Greek Paradox.

Science.gov (United States)

Karafyllis, Ioannis; Variti, Lamprini

2017-01-01

This paper explains and develops a methodological framework to help evaluate the performance of generic pharmaceutical policies and the correct evaluation of generics sales. Until today erroneous recording of generics does not help proper pricing and their penetration in the Greek market. This classifies Greece on the outliners in every study or comparison that is referred on papers or studies.

PowerCLI cookbook

CERN Document Server

Sellers, Philip

2015-01-01

If you are a virtualization professional who wants to unleash the power of automation and combat the complexity of sprawling virtual environments, this book is ideal for you. This book will enhance your skills of administering VMware vSphere and vCloud Director with PowerCLI.

VLSI Design of Trusted Virtual Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Macarena C. Martínez-Rodríguez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This work presents a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI design of trusted virtual sensors providing a minimum unitary cost and very good figures of size, speed and power consumption. The sensed variable is estimated by a virtual sensor based on a configurable and programmable PieceWise-Affine hyper-Rectangular (PWAR model. An algorithm is presented to find the best values of the programmable parameters given a set of (empirical or simulated input-output data. The VLSI design of the trusted virtual sensor uses the fast authenticated encryption algorithm, AEGIS, to ensure the integrity of the provided virtual measurement and to encrypt it, and a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF based on a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM to ensure the integrity of the sensor itself. Implementation results of a prototype designed in a 90-nm Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS technology show that the active silicon area of the trusted virtual sensor is 0.86 mm 2 and its power consumption when trusted sensing at 50 MHz is 7.12 mW. The maximum operation frequency is 85 MHz, which allows response times lower than 0.25 μ s. As application example, the designed prototype was programmed to estimate the yaw rate in a vehicle, obtaining root mean square errors lower than 1.1%. Experimental results of the employed PUF show the robustness of the trusted sensing against aging and variations of the operation conditions, namely, temperature and power supply voltage (final value as well as ramp-up time.

VLSI Design of Trusted Virtual Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Rodríguez, Macarena C; Prada-Delgado, Miguel A; Brox, Piedad; Baturone, Iluminada

2018-01-25

This work presents a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design of trusted virtual sensors providing a minimum unitary cost and very good figures of size, speed and power consumption. The sensed variable is estimated by a virtual sensor based on a configurable and programmable PieceWise-Affine hyper-Rectangular (PWAR) model. An algorithm is presented to find the best values of the programmable parameters given a set of (empirical or simulated) input-output data. The VLSI design of the trusted virtual sensor uses the fast authenticated encryption algorithm, AEGIS, to ensure the integrity of the provided virtual measurement and to encrypt it, and a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) based on a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) to ensure the integrity of the sensor itself. Implementation results of a prototype designed in a 90-nm Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology show that the active silicon area of the trusted virtual sensor is 0.86 mm 2 and its power consumption when trusted sensing at 50 MHz is 7.12 mW. The maximum operation frequency is 85 MHz, which allows response times lower than 0.25 μ s. As application example, the designed prototype was programmed to estimate the yaw rate in a vehicle, obtaining root mean square errors lower than 1.1%. Experimental results of the employed PUF show the robustness of the trusted sensing against aging and variations of the operation conditions, namely, temperature and power supply voltage (final value as well as ramp-up time).

Resonant cavity operation of a virtual cathode oscillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fazio, M.V.; Hoeberling, R.F.

1986-01-01

Gigawatt level virtual cathode sources have been proposed for several applications. These include microwave weapons and drivers for high-energy particle accelerators. Both of these require a microwave source with very high power output that is controllable in frequency and phase. A conventional virtual cathode oscillator will not meet these requirements. The addition of a resonant cavity surrounding the oscillating virtual cathode either alone or pumped with a low-power injection signal, causing it to operate as an amplifier, could greatly influence the performance of this type of source making it more practical for accelerator and weapon applications. The progress on an experiment to test these concepts will be discussed

An Enhanced Islanding Microgrid Reactive Power, Imbalance Power, and Harmonic Power Sharing Scheme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

He, Jinwei; Lin, Yun Wei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2015-01-01

To address inaccurate power sharing problems in autonomous islanding microgrids, an enhanced droop control method through online virtual impedance adjustment is proposed. First, a term associated with DG reactive power, imbalance power, or harmonic power is added to the conventional real power...

A Virtual Engineering Framework for Simulating Advanced Power System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mike Bockelie; Dave Swensen; Martin Denison; Stanislav Borodai

2008-06-18

In this report is described the work effort performed to provide NETL with VE-Suite based Virtual Engineering software and enhanced equipment models to support NETL's Advanced Process Engineering Co-simulation (APECS) framework for advanced power generation systems. Enhancements to the software framework facilitated an important link between APECS and the virtual engineering capabilities provided by VE-Suite (e.g., equipment and process visualization, information assimilation). Model enhancements focused on improving predictions for the performance of entrained flow coal gasifiers and important auxiliary equipment (e.g., Air Separation Units) used in coal gasification systems. In addition, a Reduced Order Model generation tool and software to provide a coupling between APECS/AspenPlus and the GE GateCycle simulation system were developed. CAPE-Open model interfaces were employed where needed. The improved simulation capability is demonstrated on selected test problems. As part of the project an Advisory Panel was formed to provide guidance on the issues on which to focus the work effort. The Advisory Panel included experts from industry and academics in gasification, CO2 capture issues, process simulation and representatives from technology developers and the electric utility industry. To optimize the benefit to NETL, REI coordinated its efforts with NETL and NETL funded projects at Iowa State University, Carnegie Mellon University and ANSYS/Fluent, Inc. The improved simulation capabilities incorporated into APECS will enable researchers and engineers to better understand the interactions of different equipment components, identify weaknesses and processes needing improvement and thereby allow more efficient, less expensive plants to be developed and brought on-line faster and in a more cost-effective manner. These enhancements to APECS represent an important step toward having a fully integrated environment for performing plant simulation and engineering

Energy Fluctuation of Ideal Fermi Gas Trapped under Generic Power Law Potential U=\\sum_{i=1}^{d} c_i\\vert x_{i}/a_{i}\\vert^{n_{i} } in d Dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Mir, Mehedi Faruk; Muktadir Rahman, Md.; Dwaipayan, Debnath; Sakhawat Hossain Himel, Md.

2016-04-01

Energy fluctuation of ideal Fermi gas trapped under generic power law potential U=\\sumi=1d ci \\vertxi/ai \\vert n_i has been calculated in arbitrary dimensions. Energy fluctuation is scrutinized further in the degenerate limit μ ≫ KBT with the help of Sommerfeld expansion. The dependence of energy fluctuation on dimensionality and power law potential is studied in detail. Most importantly our general result can not only exactly reproduce the recently published result regarding free and harmonically trapped ideal Fermi gas in d = 3 but also can describe the outcome for any power law potential in arbitrary dimension.

NET 40 Generics Beginner's Guide

CERN Document Server

Mukherjee, Sudipta

2012-01-01

This is a concise, practical guide that will help you learn Generics in .NET, with lots of real world and fun-to-build examples and clear explanations. It is packed with screenshots to aid your understanding of the process. This book is aimed at beginners in Generics. It assumes some working knowledge of C# , but it isn't mandatory. The following would get the most use out of the book: Newbie C# developers struggling with Generics. Experienced C++ and Java Programmers who are migrating to C# and looking for an alternative to other generic frameworks like STL and JCF would find this book handy.

Seismic sensitivity study of a generic CANDU nuclear power plant: Soil-structure interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, L.S.S.; Duff, C.G.

1983-01-01

The seismic sensitivity and capability study for a generic CANDU Plant is part of an overall development program of design standardization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sensitivities of structural responses and floor response spectra (FRS) to variations of structural and soil parameters. In the seismic design standardization, a wide range of soil conditions is considered and the envelopes of the resulting site spectra (soil-structure interaction effect) are then used for the design of the generic plant. The nuclear island structures considered herein have different relative stiffness and one of them has two layout/structure schemes: one is relatively flexible and the other is moderately stiff. In the preliminary phase of the seismic sensitivity study presented hereby, the soil-structure interaction seismic analysis is based on the half-space modelling (soil-spring lumped-mass) method and the response spectrum method for the seismic responses. Distinct patterns and sensitivity of the site spectrum analysis for structure schemes of different relative stiffness and for different structural elevations are observed and discussed. (orig.)

CCSDS Advanced Orbiting Systems Virtual Channel Access Service for QoS MACHETE Model

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Esther H.; Segui, John S.

2011-01-01

To support various communications requirements imposed by different missions, interplanetary communication protocols need to be designed, validated, and evaluated carefully. Multimission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE), described in "Simulator of Space Communication Networks" (NPO-41373), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 29, No. 8 (August 2005), p. 44, combines various tools for simulation and performance analysis of space networks. The MACHETE environment supports orbital analysis, link budget analysis, communications network simulations, and hardware-in-the-loop testing. By building abstract behavioral models of network protocols, one can validate performance after identifying the appropriate metrics of interest. The innovators have extended the MACHETE model library to include a generic link-layer Virtual Channel (VC) model supporting quality-of-service (QoS) controls based on IP streams. The main purpose of this generic Virtual Channel model addition was to interface fine-grain flow-based QoS (quality of service) between the network and MAC layers of the QualNet simulator, a commercial component of MACHETE. This software model adds the capability of mapping IP streams, based on header fields, to virtual channel numbers, allowing extended QoS handling at link layer. This feature further refines the QoS v existing at the network layer. QoS at the network layer (e.g. diffserv) supports few QoS classes, so data from one class will be aggregated together; differentiating between flows internal to a class/priority is not supported. By adding QoS classification capability between network and MAC layers through VC, one maps multiple VCs onto the same physical link. Users then specify different VC weights, and different queuing and scheduling policies at the link layer. This VC model supports system performance analysis of various virtual channel link-layer QoS queuing schemes independent of the network-layer QoS systems.

Developing A Generic Optical Avionic Network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Jiang; An, Yi; Berger, Michael Stübert

2011-01-01

We propose a generic optical network design for future avionic systems in order to reduce the weight and power consumption of current networks on board. A three-layered network structure over a ring optical network topology is suggested, as it can provide full reconfiguration flexibility...... and support a wide range of avionic applications. Segregation can be made on different hierarchies according to system criticality and security requirements. The structure of each layer is discussed in detail. Two network configurations are presented, focusing on how to support different network services...... by such a network. Finally, three redundancy scenarios are discussed and compared....

A prioritization of generic safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emrit, R.; Riggs, R.; Milstead, W.; Pittman, J.

1991-07-01

This report presents the priority rankings for generic safety issues and related to nuclear power plants. The purpose of these rankings is to assist in the timely and efficient allocation of NRC resources for the resolution of those safety issues that have a significant potential for reducing risk. The report focuses on the prioritization of generic safety issues. Issues primarily concerned with the licensing process or environmental protection and not directly related to safety have been excluded from prioritization. The prioritized issues include: TMI Action Plan items under development; previously proposed issues covered by Task Action Plans, except issues designated as Un-resolved Safety Issues (USIs) which had already been assigned high priority; and newly-proposed issues. Future supplements to this report will include the prioritization of additional issues. The safety priority rankings are High, Medium, Low, and Drop and have been assigned on the basis of risk significance estimates, the ratio of risk to costs and other impacts estimated to result if resolutions of the safety issues were implemented, and the consideration of uncertainties and other quantitative or qualitative factors. To the extent practical, estimates are quantitative. 1310 refs

A comparative study of imbalance reduction strategies for virtual power plant operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zapata, J.; Vandewalle, J.; D'haeseleer, W.

2014-01-01

The penetration of a large amount of distributed generation (DG) technologies with intermittent output, such as photovoltaic installations and wind turbines, yields an important challenge to the electric grid. It is believed that aggregating them with controllable technologies such as cogeneration devices (CHP) can help to balance fluctuations of renewable energy. This work evaluates the ability of a virtual power plant (VPP) to reduce the imbalance error of renewable generators. The study is undertaken in a VPP that consists of several cogeneration devices and photovoltaic (PV) installations. The virtual power plant operator bids electricity into the day-ahead market using the forecast for solar irradiation and for the thermal demand. During the actual day, the imbalance due to deviations between the forecasted electricity delivered and the real output has to be settled in the balancing market. Thus, in order to compensate these errors and possible economic drawbacks, the operation of the CHP is adjusted periodically in a so called reschedule. Two different rescheduling strategies are compared against a ‘reference scenario’ in which the imbalance error is settled in the market. The first one (‘forced strategy’) aims at reducing the imbalance error every time step regardless of the imbalance prices. The second (‘economic strategy’) considers the imbalance prices and takes only action if it is economically appropriate and thus intends to reduce the total operational cost. The results show that the rescheduling technique is able to reduce the imbalance error (up to 90% depending on the season and the strategy). Additionally, the total operational cost is estimated. However, the nowadays imbalance prices only lead to a minor financial advantage that is unlikely to motivate real life operators to perform a rescheduling strategy. - Highlights: • The VPP is dispatched by a day-ahead optimization followed by a rescheduling. • A forced rescheduling strategy

Efficient Generic Functional Programming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alimarine, A.; Smetsers, J.E.W.

2005-01-01

Generic functions are defined by induction on the structural representation of types. As a consequence, by defining just a single generic operation, one acquires this operation over any particular data type. An instance on a specific type is generated by interpretation of the type's structure. A

Generic implications of ATWS events at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. Licensee and staff actions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-08-01

This report, Volume 2 of two volumes of NUREG-1000, describes the intermediate term actions to be taken by licensees and applicants of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), on the one hand, and by NRC staff, on the other, to address the generic issues raised by two anticipated transients without scram (ATWS) at the Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1, on February 22 and 25, 1983. These actions came about as a result of the findings of NUREG-1000, Volume 1, and of reviews by the NRC Committee to Review Generic Requirements, the NRC Program Offices, and the Commission. The actions to be taken by licensees and applicants have been detailed in a letter pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(f)

Generic robot architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Bruemmer, David J [Idaho Falls, ID; Few, Douglas A [Idaho Falls, ID

2010-09-21

The present invention provides methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for a generic robot architecture providing a framework that is easily portable to a variety of robot platforms and is configured to provide hardware abstractions, abstractions for generic robot attributes, environment abstractions, and robot behaviors. The generic robot architecture includes a hardware abstraction level and a robot abstraction level. The hardware abstraction level is configured for developing hardware abstractions that define, monitor, and control hardware modules available on a robot platform. The robot abstraction level is configured for defining robot attributes and provides a software framework for building robot behaviors from the robot attributes. Each of the robot attributes includes hardware information from at least one hardware abstraction. In addition, each robot attribute is configured to substantially isolate the robot behaviors from the at least one hardware abstraction.

Virtual Seafloor Reduces Internal Wave Generation by Tidal Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Likun; Swinney, Harry L.

2014-03-01

Our numerical simulations of tidal flow of a stratified fluid over periodic knife-edge ridges and random topography reveal that the time-averaged tidal energy converted into internal gravity wave radiation arises only from the section of a ridge above a virtual seafloor. The average radiated power is approximated by the power predicted by linear theory if the height of the ridge is measured relative to the virtual floor. The concept of a virtual floor can extend the applicability of linear theory to global predictions of the conversion of tidal energy into internal wave energy in the oceans.

Interactive virtual mock-ups for Remote Handling compatibility assessment of heavy components

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oosterhout, J. van, E-mail: j.vanoosterhout@differ.nl [FOM Institute DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), Association EURATOM-FOM, Partner in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster, PO Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands); Heemskerk, C.J.M.; Koning, J.F. [Heemskerk Innovative Technology B.V., Jonckerweg 12, 2201 DZ Noordwijk 6 (Netherlands); Ronden, D.M.S.; Baar, M. de [FOM Institute DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), Association EURATOM-FOM, Partner in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster, PO Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands)

2014-10-15

Highlights: •Specific ITER components require RHCA on hardware mock-ups. •Hardware mock-ups are expensive and have a long lead time. •Interactive Virtual Reality mock-ups are readily available and easily adapted. •This paper analysis and proposes improvements to simulator capabilities. -- Abstract: ITER standards Tesini (2009) require hardware mock-ups to validate the Remote Handling (RH) compatibility of RH class 1- and critical class 2-components. Full-scale mock-ups of large ITER components are expensive, have a long lead time and lose their relevance in case of design changes. Interactive Virtual Reality simulations with real time rigid body dynamics and contact interaction allow for RH Compatibility Assessment during the design iterations. This paper explores the use of interactive virtual mock-ups to analyze the RH compatibility of heavy component handling and maintenance. It infers generic maintenance operations from the analysis and proposes improvements to the simulator capabilities.

Interactive virtual mock-ups for Remote Handling compatibility assessment of heavy components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oosterhout, J. van; Heemskerk, C.J.M.; Koning, J.F.; Ronden, D.M.S.; Baar, M. de

2014-01-01

Highlights: •Specific ITER components require RHCA on hardware mock-ups. •Hardware mock-ups are expensive and have a long lead time. •Interactive Virtual Reality mock-ups are readily available and easily adapted. •This paper analysis and proposes improvements to simulator capabilities. -- Abstract: ITER standards Tesini (2009) require hardware mock-ups to validate the Remote Handling (RH) compatibility of RH class 1- and critical class 2-components. Full-scale mock-ups of large ITER components are expensive, have a long lead time and lose their relevance in case of design changes. Interactive Virtual Reality simulations with real time rigid body dynamics and contact interaction allow for RH Compatibility Assessment during the design iterations. This paper explores the use of interactive virtual mock-ups to analyze the RH compatibility of heavy component handling and maintenance. It infers generic maintenance operations from the analysis and proposes improvements to the simulator capabilities

A Cost-Effective Virtual Environment for Simulating and Training Powered Wheelchairs Manoeuvres.

Science.gov (United States)

Headleand, Christopher J; Day, Thomas; Pop, Serban R; Ritsos, Panagiotis D; John, Nigel W

2016-01-01

Control of a powered wheelchair is often not intuitive, making training of new users a challenging and sometimes hazardous task. Collisions, due to a lack of experience can result in injury for the user and other individuals. By conducting training activities in virtual reality (VR), we can potentially improve driving skills whilst avoiding the risks inherent to the real world. However, until recently VR technology has been expensive and limited the commercial feasibility of a general training solution. We describe Wheelchair-Rift, a cost effective prototype simulator that makes use of the Oculus Rift head mounted display and the Leap Motion hand tracking device. It has been assessed for face validity by a panel of experts from a local Posture and Mobility Service. Initial results augur well for our cost-effective training solution.

EPRI spearheads generic PM recommendations for infrastructure equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Worledge, David H.; Hinchcliffe, Glenn R.; Benak, Mark S.; Bridges, Martin

2007-01-01

All companies have at their core a vast amount of similar equipment that would benefit from solid preventive maintenance (PM) recommendations that are generic and easily adapted to meet operational conditions. The re-emergence of PM optimization methods like Reliability Centered Maintenance, further illustrates that companies in all industries recognize the positive influence that a well-focused maintenance program has on the corporate bottom line. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has long been a leader in providing universally adaptable maintenance solutions to meet the evolving needs of its membership. Nearly ten years ago, EPRI began developing the PM Basis Database, a one-of-a-kind repository of PM recommendations for basic infrastructure components (such as pumps, motors, valves, compressors), derived from equipment experts. EPRI has now made available this comprehensive body of knowledge to all industries. This paper will explore the origins and structure of the database, how these generic PM recommendations benefit every industry, and how they may be obtained. (author)

An accurate autonomous islanding microgrid reactive power, imbalance power and harmonic power sharing scheme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

He, Jinwei; Li, Yun Wei; Blaabjerg, Frede

2013-01-01

To address inaccurate power sharing problems in autonomous islanding microgrids, an enhanced droop control method through adaptive virtual impedance adjustment is proposed. First, a term associated with DG reactive power, imbalance power or harmonic power is added to the conventional real power...

Usage of a learning virtual environment with interactive virtual reality for helping in reactor engineering teaching

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miguel, Lucas de Castro

2017-01-01

In the last few decades, several studies have been conducted regarding the effectiveness of the use of virtual reality as a teaching tool. New and complex IT tools (Information and Communication Technologies) have also been developed. One such tool, is the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). VLEs are internet media that use cyberspace to convey didactic content and can complement the orthodox teaching method, allowing students a new way of understanding complex content through digital interaction. This work aims to teach the operation of the first and second cycles of a pressurized water nuclear reactor through the development and use of a VLE. The VLE will use interactive virtual reality to demonstrate to the student the 'anatomy' of a generating nuclear power plant. There are several possibilities for future work using this VLE. One is the use as a data repository and 'virtual exhibition room' of each component of the nuclear reactor that researchers are modelling and developing. With these virtual objects allocated in a category, teachers could use this VLE in the classroom as a teaching tool while researchers could use the platform as a quick and practical way of viewing their online work and sharing it with other researchers. Thus, this VLE will be an effective tool for spreading knowledge of nuclear power more easily within, as well as outside of the research community. (author)

Modeling HIV/AIDS drug price determinants in Brazil: is generic competition a myth?

Science.gov (United States)

Meiners, Constance; Sagaon-Teyssier, Luis; Hasenclever, Lia; Moatti, Jean-Paul

2011-01-01

Brazil became the first developing country to guarantee free and universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) being delivered to nearly 190,000 patients. The analysis of ARV price evolution and market dynamics in Brazil can help anticipate issues soon to afflict other developing countries, as the 2010 revision of the World Health Organization guidelines shifts demand towards more expensive treatments, and, at the same time, current evolution of international legislation and trade agreements on intellectual property rights may reduce availability of generic drugs for HIV care. Our analyses are based on effective prices paid for ARV procurement in Brazil between 1996 and 2009. Data panel structure was exploited to gather ex-ante and ex-post information and address various sources of statistical bias. In-difference estimation offered in-depth information on ARV market characteristics which significantly influence prices. Although overall ARV prices follow a declining trend, changing characteristics in the generic segment help explain recent increase in generic ARV prices. Our results show that generic suppliers are more likely to respond to factors influencing demand size and market competition, while originator suppliers tend to set prices strategically to offset compulsory licensing threats and generic competition. In order to guarantee the long term sustainability of access to antiretroviral treatment, our findings highlight the importance of preserving and stimulating generic market dynamics to sustain developing countries' bargaining power in price negotiations undertaken with originator companies.

Modeling HIV/AIDS drug price determinants in Brazil: is generic competition a myth?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constance Meiners

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Brazil became the first developing country to guarantee free and universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs being delivered to nearly 190,000 patients. The analysis of ARV price evolution and market dynamics in Brazil can help anticipate issues soon to afflict other developing countries, as the 2010 revision of the World Health Organization guidelines shifts demand towards more expensive treatments, and, at the same time, current evolution of international legislation and trade agreements on intellectual property rights may reduce availability of generic drugs for HIV care. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Our analyses are based on effective prices paid for ARV procurement in Brazil between 1996 and 2009. Data panel structure was exploited to gather ex-ante and ex-post information and address various sources of statistical bias. In-difference estimation offered in-depth information on ARV market characteristics which significantly influence prices. Although overall ARV prices follow a declining trend, changing characteristics in the generic segment help explain recent increase in generic ARV prices. Our results show that generic suppliers are more likely to respond to factors influencing demand size and market competition, while originator suppliers tend to set prices strategically to offset compulsory licensing threats and generic competition. SIGNIFICANCE: In order to guarantee the long term sustainability of access to antiretroviral treatment, our findings highlight the importance of preserving and stimulating generic market dynamics to sustain developing countries' bargaining power in price negotiations undertaken with originator companies.

Virtual Grower 3: A powerful decision support tool for greenhouse systems

Science.gov (United States)

Several years ago, Virtual Grower software was released to the public. Initially designed to help greenhouse growers determine heating costs and do simple simulations to figure out where heat savings could be achieved, it has slowly added features. Now, Virtual Grower can help not only identify he...

42 CFR 447.506 - Authorized generic drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Authorized generic drugs. 447.506 Section 447.506... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS PAYMENTS FOR SERVICES Payment for Drugs § 447.506 Authorized generic drugs. (a) Authorized generic drug defined. For the purposes of this subpart, an authorized generic drug...

Generic device controller for accelerator control systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mariotti, R.; Buxton, W.; Frankel, R.; Hoff, L.

1987-01-01

A new distributed intelligence control system has become operational at the AGS for transport, injection, and acceleration of heavy ions. A brief description of the functionality of the physical devices making up the system is given. An attempt has been made to integrate the devices for accelerator specific interfacing into a standard microprocessor system, namely, the Universal Device Controller (UDC). The main goals for such a generic device controller are to provide: local computing power; flexibility to configure; and real time event handling. The UDC assemblies and software are described

Generic phytosanitary irradiation treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hallman, Guy J.

2012-01-01

The history of the development of generic phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments is discussed beginning with its initial proposal in 1986. Generic PI treatments in use today are 150 Gy for all hosts of Tephritidae, 250 Gy for all arthropods on mango and papaya shipped from Australia to New Zealand, 300 Gy for all arthropods on mango shipped from Australia to Malaysia, 350 Gy for all arthropods on lychee shipped from Australia to New Zealand and 400 Gy for all hosts of insects other than pupae and adult Lepidoptera shipped to the United States. Efforts to develop additional generic PI treatments and reduce the dose for the 400 Gy treatment are ongoing with a broad based 5-year, 12-nation cooperative research project coordinated by the joint Food and Agricultural Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency Program on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. Key groups identified for further development of generic PI treatments are Lepidoptera (eggs and larvae), mealybugs and scale insects. A dose of 250 Gy may suffice for these three groups plus others, such as thrips, weevils and whiteflies. - Highlights: ► The history of phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments is given. ► Generic PI treatments in use today are discussed. ► Suggestions for future research are presented. ► A dose of 250 Gy for most insects may suffice.

Open access for ALICE analysis based on virtualization technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buncic, P; Gheata, M; Schutz, Y

2015-01-01

Open access is one of the important leverages for long-term data preservation for a HEP experiment. To guarantee the usability of data analysis tools beyond the experiment lifetime it is crucial that third party users from the scientific community have access to the data and associated software. The ALICE Collaboration has developed a layer of lightweight components built on top of virtualization technology to hide the complexity and details of the experiment-specific software. Users can perform basic analysis tasks within CernVM, a lightweight generic virtual machine, paired with an ALICE specific contextualization. Once the virtual machine is launched, a graphical user interface is automatically started without any additional configuration. This interface allows downloading the base ALICE analysis software and running a set of ALICE analysis modules. Currently the available tools include fully documented tutorials for ALICE analysis, such as the measurement of strange particle production or the nuclear modification factor in Pb-Pb collisions. The interface can be easily extended to include an arbitrary number of additional analysis modules. We present the current status of the tools used by ALICE through the CERN open access portal, and the plans for future extensions of this system. (paper)

Converged Optical Network and Data Center Virtual Infrastructure Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Georgakilas, Konstantinos; Tzanakaki, Anna; Anastasopoulos, Markos

2012-01-01

This paper presents a detailed study of planning virtual infrastructures (VIs) over a physical infrastructure comprising integrated optical network and data center resources with the aim of enabling sharing of physical resources among several virtual operators and services. Through the planning...... process, the VI topology and virtual resources are identified and mapped to the physical resources. Our study assumes a practical VI demand model without any in advance global knowledge of the VI requests that are handled sequentially. Through detailed integer linear program modeling, two objective...... functions—one that minimizes the overall power consumption of the infrastructure and one that minimizes the wavelength utilization—are compared. Both are evaluated for the virtual wavelength path and wavelength path optical network architectures. The first objective results in power consumption savings...

Generating Virtual Eye Contacts Through Online Synchronous Communications in Virtual Classroom Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Volkan YUZER

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The Internet usage has been increasing among persons in the worldwide. This situation highlights that the number of potential distance learners has been increasing in the Internet society. Besides, the terms and concepts of the Internet environments become to be spread out in this society like virtual reality. It is also possible to explain the characters of the Internet clearly via generating relatively new terms or concepts. “Virtual eye contact” concept is one of these. In this article, this concept is considered with a specific application of synchronous internet-based e-learning environments which is virtual classroom platform application. Explanation, technological infrastructure and benefits of this concept and training of the trainers to use this nonverbal communication type more powerfully are explained and discussed.

Training simulators for power plant operation based in multimedia, intelligent tutorials and virtual reality; Simuladores para entrenamiento en la operacion de centrales basados en multimedia, tutores inteligentes y realidad virtual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rossano Roman, Miguel; Tavira Mondragon, Jose A.; Romero Jimenez, Guillermo; Buenabad Arias, Maria de los Angeles [Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas, Cuernavaca (Mexico)

1997-12-31

The possibility of utilizing simulators to support the fossil fuel power plants operation personnel training, is analyzed. These simulators can be based in multimedia, intelligent tutorials and virtual reality. The software and hardware advances of these technologies are analyzed and it is concluded that the simulators development for operators training supported in the fore mentioned technologies represents a new alternative for the instruction of personnel of this type of power stations that has to be analyzed and evaluated, since one of the disadvantages of this type of technologies is the equipment and software investment cost [Espanol] Se analiza la posibilidad de utilizar simuladores para ayudar al entrenamiento del personal en la operacion de centrales termoelectricas, dichos simuladores pueden estar basados en multimedia, tutores inteligentes y realidad virtual. Se describen los avances en software y hardware de estas tecnologias y se concluye en que el desarrollo de simuladores para el entrenamiento de operadores apoyados con las tecnologias antes mencionadas representa una nueva alternativa para la instruccion del personal de este tipo de centrales, que hay que analizar y evaluar, ya que una de las desventajas de este tipo de tecnologias es el costo de inversion en equipo y software

Training simulators for power plant operation based in multimedia, intelligent tutorials and virtual reality; Simuladores para entrenamiento en la operacion de centrales basados en multimedia, tutores inteligentes y realidad virtual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rossano Roman, Miguel; Tavira Mondragon, Jose A; Romero Jimenez, Guillermo; Buenabad Arias, Maria de los Angeles [Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas, Cuernavaca (Mexico)

1998-12-31

The possibility of utilizing simulators to support the fossil fuel power plants operation personnel training, is analyzed. These simulators can be based in multimedia, intelligent tutorials and virtual reality. The software and hardware advances of these technologies are analyzed and it is concluded that the simulators development for operators training supported in the fore mentioned technologies represents a new alternative for the instruction of personnel of this type of power stations that has to be analyzed and evaluated, since one of the disadvantages of this type of technologies is the equipment and software investment cost [Espanol] Se analiza la posibilidad de utilizar simuladores para ayudar al entrenamiento del personal en la operacion de centrales termoelectricas, dichos simuladores pueden estar basados en multimedia, tutores inteligentes y realidad virtual. Se describen los avances en software y hardware de estas tecnologias y se concluye en que el desarrollo de simuladores para el entrenamiento de operadores apoyados con las tecnologias antes mencionadas representa una nueva alternativa para la instruccion del personal de este tipo de centrales, que hay que analizar y evaluar, ya que una de las desventajas de este tipo de tecnologias es el costo de inversion en equipo y software

From virtuality to reality - Virtual screening in lead discovery and lead optimization: a medicinal chemistry perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Rester, Ulrich

2008-07-01

Drug discovery and development is an interdisciplinary, expensive and time-consuming process. Scientific advancements during the past two decades have altered the way pharmaceutical research produces novel bio-active molecules. Advances in computational techniques and hardware solutions have enabled in silico methods, and in particular virtual screening, to speed up modern lead identification and lead optimization. Recent successes have proven the power of combining virtual screening with complementary and synergistic biophysical methods, such as X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). This review addresses key issues, challenges and recent improvements of virtual screening methods and strategies. Examples highlighting the impact of an integrated virtual screening and biophysical characterization platform in the lead identification and optimization process are presented and discussed.

Determinants of generic drug substitution in Switzerland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lufkin Thomas M

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Since generic drugs have the same therapeutic effect as the original formulation but at generally lower costs, their use should be more heavily promoted. However, a considerable number of barriers to their wider use have been observed in many countries. The present study examines the influence of patients, physicians and certain characteristics of the generics' market on generic substitution in Switzerland. Methods We used reimbursement claims' data submitted to a large health insurer by insured individuals living in one of Switzerland's three linguistic regions during 2003. All dispensed drugs studied here were substitutable. The outcome (use of a generic or not was modelled by logistic regression, adjusted for patients' characteristics (gender, age, treatment complexity, substitution groups and with several variables describing reimbursement incentives (deductible, co-payments and the generics' market (prices, packaging, co-branded original, number of available generics, etc.. Results The overall generics' substitution rate for 173,212 dispensed prescriptions was 31%, though this varied considerably across cantons. Poor health status (older patients, complex treatments was associated with lower generic use. Higher rates were associated with higher out-of-pocket costs, greater price differences between the original and the generic, and with the number of generics on the market, while reformulation and repackaging were associated with lower rates. The substitution rate was 13% lower among hospital physicians. The adoption of the prescribing practices of the canton with the highest substitution rate would increase substitution in other cantons to as much as 26%. Conclusions Patient health status explained a part of the reluctance to substitute an original formulation by a generic. Economic incentives were efficient, but with a moderate global effect. The huge interregional differences indicated that prescribing behaviours and

76 FR 55398 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-07

... precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response... Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver...): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' to OMB for...

Anthropometric Considerations in the Modernized Main Control Room: Application to a Virtual Nuclear Power Plant Control Panel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Chih Wei; Cheng, Tsung Chieh; Lin, Chiuhsiang Joe

2011-01-01

This study investigates the anthropometric considerations in the main control room (MCR) application to a virtual nuclear power plant (NPP) control panel. Influences of working postures and physical demands on the operational performance are also discussed. Finally, the present research provides a case example to illustrate the influences of anthropometric considerations on the control panel design for MCR operators by applying virtual reality (VR) technology. The MCR design primarily evolved in different countries. The datasets available is usually insufficient or inconsistent for the end users. To solve the upper mentioned problem, this study put emphasis on applying VR technology to anthropometric considerations support control panel design in the modernized MCR. Although the concept of applying VR technology on anthropometric considerations in this paper is related to the MCR in NPPs, it could be easily applied for the purposes of any type of control room in a similar manner

Anthropometric Considerations in the Modernized Main Control Room: Application to a Virtual Nuclear Power Plant Control Panel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Chih Wei; Cheng, Tsung Chieh [Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taoyuan (China); Lin, Chiuhsiang Joe [Chung-Yuan Christian University, Chung Li (China)

2011-08-15

This study investigates the anthropometric considerations in the main control room (MCR) application to a virtual nuclear power plant (NPP) control panel. Influences of working postures and physical demands on the operational performance are also discussed. Finally, the present research provides a case example to illustrate the influences of anthropometric considerations on the control panel design for MCR operators by applying virtual reality (VR) technology. The MCR design primarily evolved in different countries. The datasets available is usually insufficient or inconsistent for the end users. To solve the upper mentioned problem, this study put emphasis on applying VR technology to anthropometric considerations support control panel design in the modernized MCR. Although the concept of applying VR technology on anthropometric considerations in this paper is related to the MCR in NPPs, it could be easily applied for the purposes of any type of control room in a similar manner.

Generic clearance values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bossio, M.C.; Muniz, C.C.

2009-01-01

This paper analyzes the Generic Clearance Values established for natural and artificial radionuclides with the objective of evaluating their degree of conservatism in views of adopting them into the regulatory body. Generic clearance values for natural radionuclides have been chosen by experts judgments as the optimum boundary between, on one hand, the ubiquitous unmodified soil concentrations and, on the other hand, activity concentrations in ores, mineral sands, industrial residues and wastes. For artificial radionuclides the clearance levels have been derived from the scenarios postulated in the document 'Safety Reports Series Nr 44' of the IAEA considering quantitative exemption criteria. A set of 8 scenarios were postulated covering external, ingestion and inhalation exposure pathways. For each radionuclide, the generic clearance level was derived as the more restrictive value obtained from the scenarios, that is the lowest ratio between the applicable individual dose and the dose per unit activity concentration (Bq/g). The individual dose was calculated by a formula depending on each scenario and pathway, with different parameters, such as exposure time, dosimetric factors, dilution factor, density of the material, geometric factors, etc. It was concluded that the basis and parameters used for the derivation of the generic clearance levels are quite conservative and therefore its the adoption in Argentina has been recommended. It is expected that their implementation will contribute to optimize the regulatory management system. (author)

Generic Clearance Values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bossio, M.C.; Muniz, C.C.

2010-01-01

This paper analyzes the Generic Clearance Values established for natural and artificial radionuclides with the objective of evaluating their degree of conservatism in views of adopting them into the regulatory body. Generic clearance values for natural radionuclides have been chosen by experts judgments as the optimum boundary between, on the one hand, the ubiquitous unmodified soil concentrations and, on the other hand, activity concentrations in ores, mineral sands, industrial residues and wastes. For artificial radionuclides the clearance levels have been derived from the scenarios postulated in the document Safety Reports Series 44 of the IAEA considering quantitative exemption criteria. A set of 8 scenarios were postulated covering external, ingestion and inhalation exposure pathways. For each radionuclide, the generic clearance level was derived as the more restrictive value obtained from the scenarios, that is the lowest ratio between the applicable individual dose and the dose per unit activity concentration (Bq/g). The individual dose was calculated by a formula depending on each scenario and pathway, with different parameters, such as exposure time, dosimetric factors, dilution factor, density of the material, geometric factors, etc. It was concluded that the basis and parameters used for the derivation of the generic clearance levels are quite conservative and therefore its the adoption in Argentina has been recommended. It is expected that their implementation will contribute to optimize the regulatory management system. (authors) [es

Generic phytosanitary irradiation treatments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hallman, Guy J [United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Weslaco, TX (United States)

2013-01-15

The history of the development of generic phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments is discussed beginning with its initial proposal in 1986. Generic PI treatments in use today are 150 Gy for all hosts of Tephritidae, 250 Gy for all arthropods on mango and papaya shipped from Australia to New Zealand, 300 Gy for all arthropods on mango shipped from Australia to Malaysia, 350 Gy for all arthropods on lychee shipped from Australia to New Zealand and 400 Gy for all hosts of insects other than pupae and adult Lepidoptera shipped to the United States. Efforts to develop additional generic PI treatments and reduce the dose for the 400 Gy treatment are ongoing with a broad based 5-year, 12-nation cooperative research project coordinated by the joint Food and Agricultural Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency Program on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. Key groups identified for further development of generic PI treatments are Lepidoptera (eggs and larvae), mealybugs and scale insects. A dose of 250 Gy may suffice for these three groups plus others, such as thrips, weevils and whiteflies. (author)

Generic phytosanitary irradiation treatments

Science.gov (United States)

Hallman, Guy J.

2012-07-01

The history of the development of generic phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments is discussed beginning with its initial proposal in 1986. Generic PI treatments in use today are 150 Gy for all hosts of Tephritidae, 250 Gy for all arthropods on mango and papaya shipped from Australia to New Zealand, 300 Gy for all arthropods on mango shipped from Australia to Malaysia, 350 Gy for all arthropods on lychee shipped from Australia to New Zealand and 400 Gy for all hosts of insects other than pupae and adult Lepidoptera shipped to the United States. Efforts to develop additional generic PI treatments and reduce the dose for the 400 Gy treatment are ongoing with a broad based 5-year, 12-nation cooperative research project coordinated by the joint Food and Agricultural Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency Program on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. Key groups identified for further development of generic PI treatments are Lepidoptera (eggs and larvae), mealybugs and scale insects. A dose of 250 Gy may suffice for these three groups plus others, such as thrips, weevils and whiteflies.

An Islanding Microgrid Power Sharing Approach Using Enhanced Virtual Impedance Control Scheme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

He, Jinwei; Li, Yun Wei; Guerrero, Josep M.

2013-01-01

In order to address the load sharing problem in islanding microgrids, this paper proposes an enhanced distributed generation (DG) unit virtual impedance control approach. The proposed method can realize accurate regulation of DG unit equivalent impedance at both fundamental and selected harmonic...... and PCC harmonic voltage compensation are achieved without using any fundamental and harmonic components extractions. Experimental results from a scaled single-phase microgrid prototype are provided to validate the feasibility of the proposed virtual impedance control approach....... frequencies. In contrast to conventional virtual impedance control methods, where only a line current feed-forward term is added to the DG voltage reference, the proposed virtual impedance at fundamental and harmonic frequencies is regulated using DG line current and point of common coupling (PCC) voltage...

Generic Advantages

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

First page Back Continue Last page Overview Graphics. Generic Advantages. Scalability an incremental coverage. Standardization. Business Plan Flexibility. Lifecycle Flexibility. Reliability. Service Interoperability. Changed Industry dynamics.

Cohering power of quantum operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bu, Kaifeng, E-mail: bkf@zju.edu.cn [School of Mathematical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China); Kumar, Asutosh, E-mail: asukumar@hri.res.in [Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Chhatnag Road, Jhunsi, Allahabad 211019 (India); Homi Bhabha National Institute, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai 400094 (India); Zhang, Lin, E-mail: linyz@zju.edu.cn [Institute of Mathematics, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018 (China); Wu, Junde, E-mail: wjd@zju.edu.cn [School of Mathematical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China)

2017-05-18

Highlights: • Quantum coherence. • Cohering power: production of quantum coherence by quantum operations. • Study of cohering power and generalized cohering power, and their comparison for differentmeasures of quantum coherence. • Operational interpretation of cohering power. • Bound on cohering power of a generic quantum operation. - Abstract: Quantum coherence and entanglement, which play a crucial role in quantum information processing tasks, are usually fragile under decoherence. Therefore, the production of quantum coherence by quantum operations is important to preserve quantum correlations including entanglement. In this paper, we study cohering power–the ability of quantum operations to produce coherence. First, we provide an operational interpretation of cohering power. Then, we decompose a generic quantum operation into three basic operations, namely, unitary, appending and dismissal operations, and show that the cohering power of any quantum operation is upper bounded by the corresponding unitary operation. Furthermore, we compare cohering power and generalized cohering power of quantum operations for different measures of coherence.

Monitoring and Discovery for Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software Defined Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Valdivieso Caraguay, Ángel Leonardo; García Villalba, Luis Javier

2017-01-01

This paper presents the Monitoring and Discovery Framework of the Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software Defined Networks SELFNET project. This design takes into account the scalability and flexibility requirements needed by 5G infrastructures. In this context, the present framework focuses on gathering and storing the information (low-level metrics) related to physical and virtual devices, cloud environments, flow metrics, SDN traffic and sensors. Similarly, it provides the monitoring data as a generic information source in order to allow the correlation and aggregation tasks. Our design enables the collection and storing of information provided by all the underlying SELFNET sublayers, including the dynamically onboarded and instantiated SDN/NFV Apps, also known as SELFNET sensors. PMID:28362346

Monitoring and Discovery for Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software Defined Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Caraguay, Ángel Leonardo Valdivieso; Villalba, Luis Javier García

2017-03-31

This paper presents the Monitoring and Discovery Framework of the Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software Defined Networks SELFNET project. This design takes into account the scalability and flexibility requirements needed by 5G infrastructures. In this context, the present framework focuses on gathering and storing the information (low-level metrics) related to physical and virtual devices, cloud environments, flow metrics, SDN traffic and sensors. Similarly, it provides the monitoring data as a generic information source in order to allow the correlation and aggregation tasks. Our design enables the collection and storing of information provided by all the underlying SELFNET sublayers, including the dynamically onboarded and instantiated SDN/NFV Apps, also known as SELFNET sensors.

Generic penetration in the retail antidepressant market.

Science.gov (United States)

Ventimiglia, Jeffrey; Kalali, Amir H

2010-06-01

In this article, we explore the accelerated penetration of generic antidepressants in the United States market following the availability of generic citalopram and sertraline. Analysis suggests that overall, generic penetration into the antidepressant market has grown from approximately 41 percent in January 2004 to over 73 percent in January 2010. Similar trends are uncovered when branded and generic prescriptions are analyzed by specialty.

76 FR 13977 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-15

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: Office of the Secretary/Office of the...): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for...

76 FR 31383 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-31

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods...; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: Peace... Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' to OMB for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA...

76 FR 63301 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-12

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service... Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for approval under...

76 FR 15027 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-18

... clustering), the precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the...; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery... Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for approval under...

76 FR 22920 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; DOL Generic...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-25

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Collection; Comment Request; DOL Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency... of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for...

Utilization of Virtual Server Technology in Mission Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Felton, Larry; Lankford, Kimberly; Pitts, R. Lee; Pruitt, Robert W.

2010-01-01

Virtualization provides the opportunity to continue to do "more with less"---more computing power with fewer physical boxes, thus reducing the overall hardware footprint, power and cooling requirements, software licenses, and their associated costs. This paper explores the tremendous advantages and any disadvantages of virtualization in all of the environments associated with software and systems development to operations flow. It includes the use and benefits of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification, and identifies lessons learned concerning hardware and network configurations. Using the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as an example, we demonstrate that deploying virtualized servers as a means of managing computing resources is applicable and beneficial to many areas of application, up to and including flight operations.

NRC program for the resolution of generic issues related to nuclear power plants. (Includes plans for the resolution of ''unresolved safety issues'' pursuant to Section 210 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-12-01

This report provides a description of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Program for the Resolution of Generic Issues Related to Nuclear Power Plants. The NRC program is of considerably broader scope than the ''Unresolved Safety Issues Plan'' required by Section 210. The NRC program does include plans for the resolution of ''Unresolved Safety Issues''; however, in addition, it includes generic tasks for the resolution of environmental issues, for the development of improvements in the reactor licensing process and for consideration of less conservative design criteria or operating limitations in areas where over conservatisms may be unnecessarily restrictive or costly

Seismic and dynamic qualification of safety-related electrical and mechanical equipment in operating nuclear power plants: development of a method to generate generic floor-response spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curreri, J.; Costantino, C.; Subudhi, M.; Reich, M.

1983-09-01

Generic floor response spectra were developed for use in the qualification of electrical and mechanical equipment in operating nuclear power plants. The characteristics of 1000 floor response spectra were studied to determine the generic spectra. The procedure developed uses as much or as little information that currently exists at the plant relating to the question of equipment qualification. The general approach was to study the effects on the dynamic characteristics of each of the elements in the chain of events that goes between the loads and the responses. This includes the loads, the soils and the structures. A free-field earthquake response spectra was used to generate horizontal earthquake time histories. The excitation was applied through the soil and into the various structures to produce responses in equipment. An entire range of soil conditions was used with each structure. Actual PWR and BWR - Mark I structural models were used. For each model, the stiffness properties were varied, with the same mass, so as to extend the fundamental base structure natural frequency from 2 cps to 36 cps. The natural frequencies of the structures were varied to obtain maximum response conditions. The actual properties were first used to locate the natural frequencies. The stiffness properties were than varied, with the same mass, to extend the range of the fundamental base structure natural frequency. The intention was to have the coupled structural material frequencies in the vicinity of the peak amplitude frequency content of the excitation spectrum. Particular attention was therefore given to the frequency band between 2 Hz and 4 Hz. A horizontal generic floor response spectra is proposed for the top level of a generic structure. Reduction factors are applied to the peak acceleration for equipment at lower levels

The Generic Containment SB-LOCA accident simulation: Comparison of the parameter uncertainties and user-effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Povilaitis, Mantas; Kelm, Stephan; Urbonavičius, Egidijus

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for the Generic Containment severe accident. • Comparison of the analysis results with the uncertainties based in the user effect. • Demonstration of the similar importance of both the reducing the user effect and input uncertainties. - Abstract: Uncertainties in safety assessment of the nuclear power plants using computer codes come from several sources: choice of computer code, user effect (a strong impact of user choices on the simulation’s outcome) and uncertainty of various physical parameters. The “Generic Containment” activity was performed in the frames of the EU-FP7 project SARNET2 to investigate the influence of user effect and computer code choice on the results on the nuclear power plant scale. During this activity, a Generic Containment nodalisation was developed and used for exercise by the participants applying various computer codes. Even though the model of the Generic Containment and the transient scenario were precisely and uniquely defined, considerably different results were obtained not only among different codes but also among participants using the same code, showing significant influence of the user effect. This paper present analysis, which is an extension of the “Generic Containment” benchmark and investigates the effect of input parameter’s uncertainties in comparison to the user effect. Calculations were performed using the computer code ASTEC, the uncertainty and sensitivity of the results were estimated using GRS method and tool SUSA. The results of the present analysis show, that while there are differences between the uncertainty bands of the parameters, in general the deviation bands caused by parameters’ uncertainty and the user effect are comparable and of the same order. The properties of concrete and the surface areas may have more influence on containment pressure than the user effect and choice of computer code as identified in the SARNET2 Generic

76 FR 20967 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-14

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: U... Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for approval under...

78 FR 44099 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-23

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service... Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S...

Three-component particle image velocimetry in a generic can-type gas turbine combustor

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Meyers, Bronwyn C

2012-11-01

Full Text Available -1 Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy November 2012/ Vol. 226(7) Three-componentParticle Image Velocimetry in a Generic Can-type Gas Turbine Combustor B C Meyers 1, 2* , G C Snedden 1 , J P...

Handbook for cost estimating. A method for developing estimates of costs for generic actions for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ball, J.R.; Cohen, S.; Ziegler, E.Z.

1984-10-01

This document provides overall guidance to assist the NRC in preparing the types of cost estimates required by the Regulatory Analysis Guidelines and to assist in the assignment of priorities in resolving generic safety issues. The Handbook presents an overall cost model that allows the cost analyst to develop a chronological series of activities needed to implement a specific regulatory requirement throughout all applicable commercial LWR power plants and to identify the significant cost elements for each activity. References to available cost data are provided along with rules of thumb and cost factors to assist in evaluating each cost element. A suitable code-of-accounts data base is presented to assist in organizing and aggregating costs. Rudimentary cost analysis methods are described to allow the analyst to produce a constant-dollar, lifetime cost for the requirement. A step-by-step example cost estimate is included to demonstrate the overall use of the Handbook

Usage of a learning virtual environment with interactive virtual reality for helping in reactor engineering teaching; Utilização de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem com realidade virtual interativa no auxílio de ensino de engenharia de reatores

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miguel, Lucas de Castro

2017-07-01

In the last few decades, several studies have been conducted regarding the effectiveness of the use of virtual reality as a teaching tool. New and complex IT tools (Information and Communication Technologies) have also been developed. One such tool, is the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). VLEs are internet media that use cyberspace to convey didactic content and can complement the orthodox teaching method, allowing students a new way of understanding complex content through digital interaction. This work aims to teach the operation of the first and second cycles of a pressurized water nuclear reactor through the development and use of a VLE. The VLE will use interactive virtual reality to demonstrate to the student the 'anatomy' of a generating nuclear power plant. There are several possibilities for future work using this VLE. One is the use as a data repository and 'virtual exhibition room' of each component of the nuclear reactor that researchers are modelling and developing. With these virtual objects allocated in a category, teachers could use this VLE in the classroom as a teaching tool while researchers could use the platform as a quick and practical way of viewing their online work and sharing it with other researchers. Thus, this VLE will be an effective tool for spreading knowledge of nuclear power more easily within, as well as outside of the research community. (author)

Rethinking generic skills

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roy Canning

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The paper provides a critical analysis of the notion of generic or transversal skillscontained with European Union policy discourses. The author presents a conceptualframework that challenges the idea that generic skills are universal, transferable andautonomous. An alternative analysis is put forward that argues the case forcontextualising skills and knowledge within particular understandings and cultures thatare more collective than individualistic in nature. The arguments are framed withinwider cross-disciplinary debates in linguistics, geosemiotics and social-cultural theoryand build upon an earlier paper exploring core skills in the UK (Canning, 2007.

Handbook for quick cost estimates. A method for developing quick approximate estimates of costs for generic actions for nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ball, J.R.

1986-04-01

This document is a supplement to a ''Handbook for Cost Estimating'' (NUREG/CR-3971) and provides specific guidance for developing ''quick'' approximate estimates of the cost of implementing generic regulatory requirements for nuclear power plants. A method is presented for relating the known construction costs for new nuclear power plants (as contained in the Energy Economic Data Base) to the cost of performing similar work, on a back-fit basis, at existing plants. Cost factors are presented to account for variations in such important cost areas as construction labor productivity, engineering and quality assurance, replacement energy, reworking of existing features, and regional variations in the cost of materials and labor. Other cost categories addressed in this handbook include those for changes in plant operating personnel and plant documents, licensee costs, NRC costs, and costs for other government agencies. Data sheets, worksheets, and appropriate cost algorithms are included to guide the user through preparation of rough estimates. A sample estimate is prepared using the method and the estimating tools provided.

Handbook for quick cost estimates. A method for developing quick approximate estimates of costs for generic actions for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ball, J.R.

1986-04-01

This document is a supplement to a ''Handbook for Cost Estimating'' (NUREG/CR-3971) and provides specific guidance for developing ''quick'' approximate estimates of the cost of implementing generic regulatory requirements for nuclear power plants. A method is presented for relating the known construction costs for new nuclear power plants (as contained in the Energy Economic Data Base) to the cost of performing similar work, on a back-fit basis, at existing plants. Cost factors are presented to account for variations in such important cost areas as construction labor productivity, engineering and quality assurance, replacement energy, reworking of existing features, and regional variations in the cost of materials and labor. Other cost categories addressed in this handbook include those for changes in plant operating personnel and plant documents, licensee costs, NRC costs, and costs for other government agencies. Data sheets, worksheets, and appropriate cost algorithms are included to guide the user through preparation of rough estimates. A sample estimate is prepared using the method and the estimating tools provided

Quality of generic medicines in South Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Patel, Aarti; Gauld, Robin; Norris, Pauline

2012-01-01

Generic Medicines are an important policy option allowing for access to affordable, essential medicines. Quality of generic medicines must be guaranteed through the activities of national medicines regulatory authorities. Existing negative perceptions surrounding the quality of generic medicines ...

The Northeast Utilities generic plant computer system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spitzner, K.J.

1980-01-01

A variety of computer manufacturers' equipment monitors plant systems in Northeast Utilities' (NU) nuclear and fossil power plants. The hardware configuration and the application software in each of these systems are essentially one of a kind. Over the next few years these computer systems will be replaced by the NU Generic System, whose prototype is under development now for Millstone III, an 1150 Mwe Pressurized Water Reactor plant being constructed in Waterford, Connecticut. This paper discusses the Millstone III computer system design, concentrating on the special problems inherent in a distributed system configuration such as this. (auth)

Exploring knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about generic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Exploring knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about generic medicines among final-year health science students. ... had knowledge deficits about the safety, quality and efficacy of generic medicines. The dissemination of information about generic medicines may strengthen future knowledge, attitudes and perceptions.

The novel cloud application technology with virtual platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Ying-Chuan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Virtualization technology of cloud application service is the major research issue in recent years. Our virtual platform can obtain a lot of advantages base on virtualization technology with suitable virtual machine solution that all system resources can deployed quickly and managed competently, and it has some features including the high capacity for reliability, elasticity and customization. In our virtual platform, there are many different application services are provided for cloud service style. For system computing resources, we need to share all of system and software resources using the virtualization technology is presented in related sections, and we proposed virtual and remote application technology to implement innovative, convenient and powerful cloud application service base on virtual platform. For users of our platform, they can easy to use any software and tools on demand with pay per use mode anytime, and they do not have specialized knowledge and ability of install and maintenance.

A Generic Topology Derivation Method for Single-phase Converters with Active Capacitive DC-links

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Haoran; Wang, Huai; Zhu, Guorong

2016-01-01

capacitive DCDC- link solutions, but important aspects of the topology assess-ment, such as the total energy storage, overall capacitive energy buffer ratio, cost, and reliability are still not available. This paper proposes a generic topology derivation method of single-phase power converters...

Design and development of virtual TXP control system software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yunwei; Leng Shan; Liu Zhisheng; Wang Qiang; Shang Yanxia

2008-01-01

Taking distributed control system (DCS) of Siemens TELEPERM-XP (TXP) as the simulation object,Virtual TXP (VTXP) control system based on Virtual DCS with high fidelity and reliability was designed and developed on the platform of Windows. In the process of development, the method of object-oriented modeling and modularization program design are adopted, C++ language and technologies such as multithreading, ActiveX control, Socket network communication are used, to realize the wide range dynamic simulation and recreate the functions of the hardware and software of real TXP. This paper puts emphasis on the design and realization of Control server and Communication server. The development of Virtual TXP control system software is with great effect on the construction of simulation system and the design, commission, verification and maintenance of control system in large-scale power plants, nuclear power plants and combined cycle power plants. (authors)

Improvement of core monitoring code cecor by the virtual segmentation of the self powered neutron detector loaded at Korean Standard Nuclear Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, T.; Jung, Y.S.

2006-01-01

Full text: Full text: Korean Standard Nuclear Plant uses Self Powered Neutron Detectors (SPNDs) to measure the neutron flux in the reactor core. The SPND's height is 40 cm and is located axially at the five different positions and 45 radial places. The design code simulated a reactor core is calculated by segmentation of the core. The segmentation is called as 'node', of which size is normally 20 cm. The axial height of the detector is larger than that of the node, and the larger detector's height maybe product some error on the axially complex shape. The analysis with the detector's signals showed some errors at the non-cosine axial flux shape. In order to reduce the errors for the shape, we tried to divide the detector by introducing the virtual boundary in the detector. Then, each axially 5 detectors had two virtual segmentations respectively and the detector's signal was divided by the inputs. So the more virtual detector's signals were gotten, the more accurate axial shape was produced. The result with virtual segmentations in a detector gave less deviation than the case without virtual segmentation (the current model). After the middle of cycle at the initial core specially, the axial neutron flux shape is changed to the saddle type one. The current model gave some error in Root Mean Square (RMS) between the measured value and the calculated one. The virtual segmentation model gave the better agreement at that time

Generic medicines: solutions for a sustainable drug market?

Science.gov (United States)

Dylst, Pieter; Vulto, Arnold; Godman, Brian; Simoens, Steven

2013-10-01

Generic medicines offer equally high-quality treatment as originator medicines do at much lower prices. As such, they represent a considerable opportunity for authorities to obtain substantial savings. At the moment, the pharmaceutical landscape is changing and many pharmaceutical companies have altered their development and commercial strategies, combining both originator and generic divisions. In spite of this, the generic medicines industry is currently facing a number of challenges: delayed market access; the limited price differential with originator medicines; the continuous downwards pressure on prices; and the negative perception regarding generic medicines held by some key stakeholder groups. This could jeopardize the long-term sustainability of the generic manufacturing industry. Therefore, governments must focus on demand-side policies, alongside policies to accelerate market access, as the generic medicines industry will only be able to deliver competitive and sustainable prices if they are ensured a high volume. In the future, the generic medicines industry will increasingly look to biosimilars and generic versions of orphan drugs to expand their business.

Generic medicines: Perceptions of Physicians in Basrah, Iraq

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adheed Khalid Sharrad

2009-08-01

Full Text Available BackgroundThe use of cheaper generic medicines is a strategy promotedin many countries to reduce rising health care costs. The aimof this study was to explore factors affecting generic medicineprescribing by physicians in Basrah, Iraq.MethodologyA purposive sample of ten physicians practicing in Basrahwas interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide.ResultsAnalysis of the interviews identified seven major themes:medicine prescribing practice, knowledge of therapeuticequivalency of generic medicine, patients’ acceptance ofgeneric medicine, counterfeit medicine, drug informationsource and effect of drug advertising on medicines choice,brand substitution practice by community pharmacists, and,finally strategies to improve generic medicine usefulness.Participants identified helpful strategies to increase genericprescribing including; physician and patient education ongeneric medicine; persuading physicians about the safety andefficacy of generic medicines; and finally educating seniormedical students on generic prescribing.ConclusionThe data suggest that participants were enthusiasticabout prescribing generic medicines. However physiciansinsist that pharmacists should not be allowed tosubstitute generic drugs without prior approval ofdoctors.

Light Water Reactor Generic Safety Issues Database (LWRGSIDB). User's manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

resolved in other plants and which can be used in reassessing the safety of individual operating plants. The IAEA-TECDOC-1044, Generic Safety Issues for Nuclear Power Plants with Light Water Reactors and Measures Taken for Their Resolution (September 1998), is a compilation of such safety issues which is based on broad international experience. This compilation is one element within the framework of IAEA activities to assist Member States in reassessing the safety of operating nuclear power plants. It is a compilation not only of the generic safety issues identified in nuclear power plants but also, in almost all cases, the measures taken to resolve these issues. The safety issues, which are generic in nature with regard to light water reactors (LWRs), and the measures taken for their resolution, are intended for use as a reference in the reassessment of the safety of operating plants.The information contained in the main body of the TECDOC has been used to establish a database. This database has search, query and report functions. This information is thus available in an electronic form which can be selectively queried and with which reports can be produced according to the requirements of the user. The database also enables the IAEA to update the data periodically on the basis of information made available by Member States

Comparing approaches to generic programming in Haskell

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hinze, R.; Jeuring, J.T.; Löh, A.

2006-01-01

The last decade has seen a number of approaches to generic programming: PolyP, Functorial ML, `Scrap Your Boilerplate', Generic Haskell, `Generics for the Masses', etc. The approaches vary in sophistication and target audience: some propose full-blown pro- gramming languages, some suggest

Generic Switching and Non-Persistence among Medicine Users

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard Rathe, Jette; Andersen, Morten; Jarbøl, Dorte Ejg

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Generic substitution means that one medicinal product is replaced by another product containing the same active substance. It is strictly regulated with respect to its bioequivalence, and all products must have undergone appropriate studies. Although generic substitution is widely...... implemented, it still remains to be answered how generic switch influences persistence to long-term treatment, and if it is modified by patients' concerns about medicine and views on generic medicine. This study focuses on users of antidepressants and antiepileptics, and their experience of generic switching....... METHODS: The study was an observational cohort study. By use of a prescription database, we identified patients who had redeemed prescriptions on generically substitutable drugs, and a questionnaire was mailed to them. We analyzed predictors of discontinuation in relation to generic switch and patients...

Stability Enhancement Based on Virtual Impedance for DC Microgrids with Constant Power Loads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lu, Xiaonan; Sun, Kai; Guerrero, Josep M.

2015-01-01

In this paper, a converter-based DC microgrid is studied. By considering the impact of each component in DC microgrids on system stability, a multi-stage configuration is employed, which includes the source stage, interface converter stage between buses and common load stage. In order to study th....... It can be seen that by using the proposed stabilizers, the unstable poles induced by the CPLs are forced to move into the stable region. The proposed method is verified by the MATLAB/Simulink model of multi-stage DC microgrids with three distributed power generation units.......In this paper, a converter-based DC microgrid is studied. By considering the impact of each component in DC microgrids on system stability, a multi-stage configuration is employed, which includes the source stage, interface converter stage between buses and common load stage. In order to study...... the overall stability of the above DC microgrid with constant power loads (CPLs), a comprehensive small-signal model is derived by analyzing the interface converters in each stage. The instability issue induced by the CPLs is revealed by using the criteria of impedance matching. Meanwhile, virtual...

Article choice in plural generics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farkas, D.F.; Swart, Henriëtte de

2007-01-01

We discuss two groups of languages where article use contrasts in generic plural sentences but is otherwise essentially similar. The languages in the first group (English and Dutch) use bare plurals in the expression of kind reference (‘Dinosaurs are extinct’) and in generic

Virtualization and cloud computing in dentistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Chow, Frank; Muftu, Ali; Shorter, Richard

2014-01-01

The use of virtualization and cloud computing has changed the way we use computers. Virtualization is a method of placing software called a hypervisor on the hardware of a computer or a host operating system. It allows a guest operating system to run on top of the physical computer with a virtual machine (i.e., virtual computer). Virtualization allows multiple virtual computers to run on top of one physical computer and to share its hardware resources, such as printers, scanners, and modems. This increases the efficient use of the computer by decreasing costs (e.g., hardware, electricity administration, and management) since only one physical computer is needed and running. This virtualization platform is the basis for cloud computing. It has expanded into areas of server and storage virtualization. One of the commonly used dental storage systems is cloud storage. Patient information is encrypted as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and stored on off-site private cloud services for a monthly service fee. As computer costs continue to increase, so too will the need for more storage and processing power. Virtual and cloud computing will be a method for dentists to minimize costs and maximize computer efficiency in the near future. This article will provide some useful information on current uses of cloud computing.

Development of a dose database in the refuelling scenario of a nuclear power plant for a virtual reality application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodenas, J.; Zarza, I.; Pascual, A.; Felipe, A.; Sanchez-Mayoral, M.L.

2002-01-01

Operators in Nuclear Power Plants can receive high doses during refuelling operation. A training program simulating refuelling operations will be useful to reduce doses received by workers as well as to minimise operation time. With this goal in mind a Virtual Reality application is developed in the frame of CIPRES Project (Calculos Interactivos de Proteccion Radiologica en un Entorno de Simulacion - Interactive Calculations of Radiological Protection in a Simulation Environment), a RD project sponsored by IBERINCO and developed jointly by IBERINCO and the Nuclear Engineering Department of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The Virtual Reality application requires the possibility of displaying doses, both instantaneous and accumulated, at all times during the operator training. Therefore, it is necessary to elaborate a database containing dose rates at every point of the refuelling plant. This database is elaborated from Radiological Protection Surveillance data measured throughout the plant during refuelling operation. To estimate doses throughout the refuelling plant some interpolation routines have been used. Different assumptions have been adopted in order to perform the interpolation and obtain consistent data. In this paper, procedures developed to elaborate the dose database for the Virtual Reality application are presented and analysed

40 CFR 721.9973 - Zirconium dichlorides (generic).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Zirconium dichlorides (generic). 721... Substances § 721.9973 Zirconium dichlorides (generic). (a) Chemical substance and significant new uses subject to reporting. (1) The chemical substances identified generically as zirconium dichlorides (PMNs P...

Comparing approaches to generic programming in Haskell

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hinze, R.; Jeuring, J.T.; Löh, A.

2006-01-01

The last decade has seen a number of approaches to data- type-generic programming: PolyP, Functorial ML, `Scrap Your Boiler- plate', Generic Haskell, `Generics for the Masses', etc. The approaches vary in sophistication and target audience: some propose full-blown pro- gramming languages, some

Generic environmental impact statement for license renewal of nuclear plants. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-05-01

This GEIS examines the possible environmental impacts that could occur as a result of renewing the licenses of individual nuclear power plants under 10 CFR 54. To the extent possible, it establishes the bounds and significance of these potential impacts. The analysis encompasses all operating light-water reactors. For each type of environmental impact, the GEIS attempts to establish generic findings covering as many plants as possible. While plant and site-specific information is used in developing the generic findings, the NRC does not intend for the GEIS to be a compilation of individual plant environmental impacts statements. This document has three principal objectives: (1) to provide an understanding of the types and severity of environmental impacts that may occur as a result of license renewal, (2) to identify and assess those impacts that are expected to be generic to license renewal, and (3) to support rulemaking (10 CFR 51) to define the number and scope of issues that need to be addressed by the applicants in plant-by-plant license renewal proceedings

Work in a virtual plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thibault, G.; Smadja, S.

1996-01-01

An EDF graphic simulator is based on a three dimensional image built by an optical radar in an EDF PWR power plant. The resulting virtual plant has improved accuracy thanks to radar millimeter range spatial resolution. These performances allow realistic and reliable training of reactor operators, in particular for work in virtual reality. The simulation gives accurate data on the possibility of introducing a tool in a particular place. EDF work resulted in COMPROMIS computer code which optimizes their maintenance. (D.L.). 7 refs., 6 figs

: Virtual Tours in School Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuno Ribeiro,

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article is based on the importance of using virtual tours in schools as a means to disseminate local cultural heritage, school projects and teaching resources. We want to use virtual tours, involving the school community in its use, through the production of relevant multimedia content as a way to understand and analyze the potential of multimedia resources in schools. With the evolution of new technologies, including the internet, it is up to the schools, as sources of knowledge transmission, to resort to new technologies as a way to encourage students to learn, to promote local heritage and to disclose the work of the school community, using virtual tours in school context as a powerful interdisciplinary technical and educational resource.

76 FR 13019 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-09

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: Department of...): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' to OMB for...

76 FR 36139 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Generic...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-21

... requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods... for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery AGENCY: Federal Emergency...): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to the Office of...

Application of Virtual Reality to Radiation Protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamela, B.; Felipe, A.; Sanchez-Mayoral, M. L.; Mreino, A.; Sarti, F.

2004-01-01

In order to optimize the operations and procedures in several aspects of a Nuclear Power Plants, Iberdrola Ingenieria y Consultoria (Iberinco) has been developed some projects with Virtual Reality: CIPRES, ACEWO, TILOS and SICOMORO. With the experience acquired in these projects, Iberinco has checked the utility and advantageous of Virtual Reality applications that could have a direct application to Radiation Protection. With Virtual Reality it is possible to optimize the procedures involved in several critical aspects of the Plant Management. A training program bases on Virtual Reality systems could be one of the most important application. In Emergency situations the time of reaction is very important and in order to reduce it and dose, Virtual Reality is a very important tool, that could be used for training and to guide response team actions. Finally, the reduction of dose to workers, in a NPP, and patients, in hospital, is one of the most important application of Virtual Reality. (Author) 5 refs

Dynamic impedance compensation for wireless power transfer using conjugate power

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Suqi; Tan, Jianping; Wen, Xue

2018-02-01

Wireless power transfer (WPT) via coupled magnetic resonances has been in development for over a decade. However, the frequency splitting phenomenon occurs in the over-coupled region. Thus, the output power of the two-coil system achieves the maximum output power at the two splitting angular frequencies, and not at the natural resonant angular frequency. According to the maximum power transfer theorem, the impedance compensation method was adopted in many WPT projects. However, it remains a challenge to achieve the maximum output power and transmission efficiency in a fixed-frequency mode. In this study, dynamic impedance compensation for WPT was presented by utilizing the compensator within a virtual three-coil WPT system. First, the circuit model was established and transfer characteristics of a system were studied by utilizing circuit theories. Second, the power superposition of the WPT system was carefully researched. When a pair of compensating coils was inserted into the transmitter loop, the conjugate power of the compensator loop was created via magnetic coupling of the two compensating coils that insert into the transmitter loop. The mechanism for dynamic impedance compensation for wireless power transfer was then provided by investigating a virtual three-coil WPT system. Finally, the experimental circuit of a virtual three-coil WPT system was designed, and experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis, which achieves the maximum output power and transmission efficiency.

Dynamic impedance compensation for wireless power transfer using conjugate power

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suqi Liu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Wireless power transfer (WPT via coupled magnetic resonances has been in development for over a decade. However, the frequency splitting phenomenon occurs in the over-coupled region. Thus, the output power of the two-coil system achieves the maximum output power at the two splitting angular frequencies, and not at the natural resonant angular frequency. According to the maximum power transfer theorem, the impedance compensation method was adopted in many WPT projects. However, it remains a challenge to achieve the maximum output power and transmission efficiency in a fixed-frequency mode. In this study, dynamic impedance compensation for WPT was presented by utilizing the compensator within a virtual three-coil WPT system. First, the circuit model was established and transfer characteristics of a system were studied by utilizing circuit theories. Second, the power superposition of the WPT system was carefully researched. When a pair of compensating coils was inserted into the transmitter loop, the conjugate power of the compensator loop was created via magnetic coupling of the two compensating coils that insert into the transmitter loop. The mechanism for dynamic impedance compensation for wireless power transfer was then provided by investigating a virtual three-coil WPT system. Finally, the experimental circuit of a virtual three-coil WPT system was designed, and experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis, which achieves the maximum output power and transmission efficiency.

Monitoring and Discovery for Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software Defined Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ángel Leonardo Valdivieso Caraguay

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the Monitoring and Discovery Framework of the Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software Defined Networks SELFNET project. This design takes into account the scalability and flexibility requirements needed by 5G infrastructures. In this context, the present framework focuses on gathering and storing the information (low-level metrics related to physical and virtual devices, cloud environments, flow metrics, SDN traffic and sensors. Similarly, it provides the monitoring data as a generic information source in order to allow the correlation and aggregation tasks. Our design enables the collection and storing of information provided by all the underlying SELFNET sublayers, including the dynamically onboarded and instantiated SDN/NFV Apps, also known as SELFNET sensors.

40 CFR 721.9959 - Polyurethane polymer (generic).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Polyurethane polymer (generic). 721... Substances § 721.9959 Polyurethane polymer (generic). (a) Chemical substance and significant new uses subject to reporting. (1) The chemical substance identified generically as a polyurethane polymer (PMN P-01...

Proceedings Workshop on Generic Programming (WGP2000)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jeuring, J.T.

2000-01-01

This report contains the papers selected for presentation at the 2nd Workshop on Generic Programming (WGP2000), which was held on July 6, 2000 in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. Generic programming is about making programs more adaptable by making them more general. Generic programs often embody

A Virtual Inertia Control Strategy for DC Microgrids Analogized with Virtual Synchronous Machines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Wenhua; Chen, Yandong; Luo, An

2017-01-01

In a DC microgrid (DC-MG), the dc bus voltage is vulnerable to power fluctuation derived from the intermittent distributed energy or local loads variation. In this paper, a virtual inertia control strategy for DC-MG through bidirectional grid-connected converters (BGCs) analogized with virtual...... synchronous machine (VSM) is proposed to enhance the inertia of the DC-MG, and to restrain the dc bus voltage fluctuation. The small-signal model of the BGC system is established, and the small-signal transfer function between the dc bus voltage and the dc output current of the BGC is deduced. The dynamic...... for the BGC is introduced to smooth the dynamic response of the dc bus voltage. By analyzing the control system stability, the appropriate virtual inertia control parameters are selected. Finally, simulations and experiments verified the validity of the proposed control strategy....

Skin rash during treatment with generic itraconazole.

Science.gov (United States)

De Vuono, Antonio; Palleria, Caterina; Scicchitano, Francesca; Squillace, Aida; De Sarro, Giovambattista; Gallelli, Luca

2014-04-01

Generic drugs have the same active substance, the same pharmaceutical form, the same therapeutic indications and a similar bioequivalence with the reference medicinal product (branded). Although a similar efficacy is postulated, some cases of clinical inefficacy during treatment with generic formulations have been reported. In this case, we describe a woman with onychomycosis that developed a skin rash during treatment with a generic formulation of itraconazole. Drug administration and its re-challenge confirmed the association between itraconazole and skin rash. Both Naranjo probability scale and World Health Organization causality assessment scale documented a probable association between generic-itraconazole and skin rash. The switch from generic formulation to brand one induced an improvement of symptoms. Since we are unable to evaluate the role of each excipient in the development of skin rash, we cannot rule out their involvement. However, more data are necessary to better define the similarities or differences between branded and generic formulations.

Is bioavailability altered in generic versus brand anticonvulsants?

Science.gov (United States)

Jankovic, Slobodan M; Ignjatovic Ristic, Dragana

2015-03-01

Therapeutic window of anticonvulsants is not a wide one, with phenytoin being one extreme, which can be classified as a narrow therapeutic index drug, since its ratio between the least toxic and the least effective concentration is less than twofold. In order to obtain marketing authorization, a generic anticonvulsant should demonstrate relative bioequivalence with its brand-name counterpart. However, although bioequivalent, generic anticonvulsants still do not have the same bioavailability as brand-name drugs, which may lead to larger fluctuations of steady-state plasma concentrations, and sometimes to loss of seizure control if a patient is switched from brand-name to generic or from generic to generic anticonvulsant. Generic anticonvulsants are effective, safe and affordable drugs for treatment of epilepsy, and patients could be successfully treated with them from the very beginning. It is switching from brand-name to generic anticonvulsant or from one generic anticonvulsant to another that should be avoided in clinical practice, since subtle differences in bioavailability may disturb optimal degree of seizure control to which the patient was previously successfully titrated.

The TRIGA in virtual classroom for training; El TRIGA en aula virtual para entrenamiento

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Plata M, A. C.; Morales S, J. B.; Salazar S, E. [UNAM, DEPFI Campus Morelos, Jiutepec Morelos 62550 (Mexico)]. e-mail: yoyuclof@hotmail.com

2008-07-01

The research nuclear reactors have been fundamental part in the evolution of the nuclear power plants and they have been used in the training for the obtaining of operation licenses of radioactive facilities. For purposes of training of professionals in nuclear engineering, it is interesting to know the benefit that can be obtained by means of the virtual representation of a research nuclear reactor TRIGA, with which they are possible the practice to be realized them but common that to date they are carried out in different nuclear facilities of training throughout the world. The simulation has become a valuable tool in the personal preparation, having obtained ambient and very approximate situations to the reality. The physical models of kinetics of neutrons, heat transfer, Cherenkov effect, dynamics of the xenon, as well as the virtual instrumentation is contemplated in this development. The instrumentation and control panels of a research reactor, failures waited for in the use of this equipment, physical consequences to instruments, virtual personnel and facilities, as well as the administrative and legal aspects that it requires to meet an authorized operator, must be available and they are considered in the first virtual approach. The obtaining of the reactor time constant comprises of the mathematical model that provides to the operator of a direct way the knowledge of the changes of power. The coolant and moderator are modeled as well as the retardations that appear in the measurements and controls that can be introduced from the virtual console. In the simulator the four possible states of operation of the TRIGA can be had. At the moment also the monitoring can be realized and control in remote form, thus the control and supervision interface for the remote operation will be analyzed in their benefits and possible risks in the instruction processes. (Author)

Is There a Second Life for Virtual Worlds?

Science.gov (United States)

Ramaswami, Rama

2011-01-01

Just a few years ago, virtual worlds were credited with the power to transform the universe. Used since the late 1990s in military and medical applications, virtual worlds first gained mainstream media attention when Linden Lab released Second Life in 2003. While other worlds, including open source environments, have launched since then (examples…

75 FR 80547 - Carolina Power & Light Company, Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1; Exemption

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-22

..., Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1; Exemption 1.0 Background Carolina Power & Light Company... operation of the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant (HNP), Unit 1. The license provides, among other things... request to generically extend the rule's compliance date for all operating nuclear power plants, but noted...

Field tests applying multi-agent technology for distributed control. Virtual power plants and wind energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaeffer, G.J.; Warmer, C.J.; Hommelberg, M.P.F.; Kamphuis, I.G.; Kok, J.K. [Energy in the Built Environment and Networks, Petten (Netherlands)

2007-01-15

Multi-agent technology is state of the art ICT. It is not yet widely applied in power control systems. However, it has a large potential for bottom-up, distributed control of a network with large-scale renewable energy sources (RES) and distributed energy resources (DER) in future power systems. At least two major European R and D projects (MicroGrids and CRISP) have investigated its potential. Both grid-related as well as market-related applications have been studied. This paper will focus on two field tests, performed in the Netherlands, applying multi-agent control by means of the PowerMatcher concept. The first field test focuses on the application of multi-agent technology in a commercial setting, i.e. by reducing the need for balancing power in the case of intermittent energy sources, such as wind energy. In this case the flexibility is used of demand and supply of industrial and residential consumers and producers. Imbalance reduction rates of over 40% have been achieved applying the PowerMatcher, and with a proper portfolio even larger rates are expected. In the second field test the multi-agent technology is used in the design and implementation of a virtual power plant (VPP). This VPP digitally connects a number of micro-CHP units, installed in residential dwellings, into a cluster that is controlled to reduce the local peak demand of the common low-voltage grid segment the micro-CHP units are connected to. In this way the VPP supports the local distribution system operator (DSO) to defer reinforcements in the grid infrastructure (substations and cables)

Field tests applying multi-agent technology for distributed control. Virtual power plants and wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaeffer, G.J.; Warmer, C.J.; Hommelberg, M.P.F.; Kamphuis, I.G.; Kok, J.K.

2007-01-01

Multi-agent technology is state of the art ICT. It is not yet widely applied in power control systems. However, it has a large potential for bottom-up, distributed control of a network with large-scale renewable energy sources (RES) and distributed energy resources (DER) in future power systems. At least two major European R and D projects (MicroGrids and CRISP) have investigated its potential. Both grid-related as well as market-related applications have been studied. This paper will focus on two field tests, performed in the Netherlands, applying multi-agent control by means of the PowerMatcher concept. The first field test focuses on the application of multi-agent technology in a commercial setting, i.e. by reducing the need for balancing power in the case of intermittent energy sources, such as wind energy. In this case the flexibility is used of demand and supply of industrial and residential consumers and producers. Imbalance reduction rates of over 40% have been achieved applying the PowerMatcher, and with a proper portfolio even larger rates are expected. In the second field test the multi-agent technology is used in the design and implementation of a virtual power plant (VPP). This VPP digitally connects a number of micro-CHP units, installed in residential dwellings, into a cluster that is controlled to reduce the local peak demand of the common low-voltage grid segment the micro-CHP units are connected to. In this way the VPP supports the local distribution system operator (DSO) to defer reinforcements in the grid infrastructure (substations and cables)

A multicenter experience with generic tacrolimus conversion.

Science.gov (United States)

McDevitt-Potter, Lisa M; Sadaka, Basma; Tichy, Eric M; Rogers, Christin C; Gabardi, Steven

2011-09-27

The first generic tacrolimus product gained Food and Drug Administration approval in August 2009. This prospective, observational trial sought to determine the need for dose titrations and measure drug cost savings on conversion to generic tacrolimus. Transplant recipients on stable tacrolimus doses were converted from brand to generic tacrolimus on a mg:mg basis. Data were collected at the time of generic conversion (study arm) and at a time point exactly 6 months before conversion (control arm) for all subjects. Seventy conversions from four centers are reported. Subjects were a mean of 70 months after kidney (n=37), liver (n=28), or multiorgan (n=5) transplant. In the study arm, mean tacrolimus doses were 4.4 and 4.5 mg/d and mean tacrolimus trough concentrations were 5.8 and 5.9 ng/mL before and after conversion, respectively. In the control arm, mean tacrolimus doses were 4.6 and 4.6 mg/d and mean tacrolimus trough concentrations were 6.1 and 5.9 ng/mL before and after the control time point, respectively. Dose titrations occurred in five patients (7%) in the control arm and 15 patients (21%) in the study arm (P=0.028). Mean monthly drug costs were $645 for brand, $593 for generic, and $595 for generic after dose titrations. Mean monthly patient copays were $38 for brand and $15 for generic. These cumulative data show that dose requirements and trough levels are similar between brand and generic tacrolimus and that generic substitution allows for savings. However, postconversion monitoring is prudent as patients may require dose titration.

Brand loyalty, patients and limited generic medicines uptake.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa-Font, Joan; Rudisill, Caroline; Tan, Stefanie

2014-06-01

The sluggish development of European generic drug markets depends heavily on demand side factors, and more specifically, patients' and doctors' loyalty to branded products. Loyalty to originator drugs, to the point where originator prices rise upon generic entry has been described as the 'generics paradox'. Originator loyalty can emerge for a plethora of reasons; including costs, perceptions about quality and physician advice. We know very little about the behavioural underpinnings of brand loyalty from the consumer or patient standpoint. This paper attempts to test the extent to which patients are brand loyal by drawing upon Spain's 2002 Health Barometer survey as it includes questions about consumer acceptance of generics in a country with exceptionally low generic uptake and substitution at the time of the study. Our findings suggest that at least 13% of the population would not accept generics as substitutes to the originator. These results confirm evidence of brand loyalty for a minority. Alongside high levels of awareness of generics, we find that low cost-sharing levels explain consumer brand loyalty but their impact on acceptance of generic substitution is very small. Higher cost-sharing and exempting fewer patients from cost-sharing have the potential to encourage generic acceptance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Power Production from Integration of SSG in a Breakwater at Liseleje

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borgarino, Bruno; Kofoed, Jens Peter

is at its initiation phase, no economical aspects are considered in this report. The study is based on a generic power simulation tool for overtopping based Wave Energy Converters called WOPSim (Wave Overtopping Power Simulation) [2]. This software is a generic version of the SSG simulation tool SSG2 [4...

Influencers of generic drug utilization: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Jennifer N; Harris, Ilene; Frank, Gavriella; Kiptanui, Zippora; Qian, Jingjing; Hansen, Richard

2017-08-04

With an increase in prescription drug spending and rising drug costs there is a need to encourage the use of generic prescription drugs. However, maximizing generic drug use is not possible without the public's positive perception and meeting their informational needs about generic drugs. Thus, improving the public's confidence in, and knowledge of generic drugs on the market is critical. The objective of this systematic review is to examine and evaluate the studies focusing on the nature and extent of key factors influencing generic drug use in the United States in order to help guide policy, education and practice interventions. Using multiple search engines and key word screening criteria, empirical studies published in English between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015 were identified. A qualitative synthesis of the evidence identified domains of key factors that influenced generic drug use across studies. Over 3000 citations met the key word screening criteria; 67 of these met inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Seven domains of factors that influence generic drug utilization were identified: 1) patient-related factors, 2) formulary management or cost containment, 3) healthcare policies, 4) promotional activities, 5) educational initiatives, 6) technology, and 7) physician-related factors. Patients, physicians, pharmacists, formulary managers, and policymakers play an important role in generic drug use. Understanding the factors influencing generic drug use can help guide future policy, education, and practice interventions to increase generic drug use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A virtual control room with an embedded, interactive nuclear reactor simulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markidis, S.; Rizwan, U.

2006-01-01

The use of virtual nuclear control room can be an effective and powerful tool for training personnel working in the nuclear power plants. Operators could experience and simulate the functioning of the plant, even in critical situations, without being in a real power plant or running any risk. 3D models can be exported to Virtual Reality formats and then displayed in the Virtual Reality environment providing an immersive 3D experience. However, two major limitations of this approach are that 3D models exhibit static textures, and they are not fully interactive and therefore cannot be used effectively in training personnel. In this paper we first describe a possible solution for embedding the output of a computer application in a 3D virtual scene, coupling real-world applications and VR systems. The VR system reported here grabs the output of an application running on an X server; creates a texture with the output and then displays it on a screen or a wall in the virtual reality environment. We then propose a simple model for providing interaction between the user in the VR system and the running simulator. This approach is based on the use of internet-based application that can be commanded by a laptop or tablet-pc added to the virtual environment. (authors)

Generic domain models in software engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Maiden, Neil

1992-01-01

This paper outlines three research directions related to domain-specific software development: (1) reuse of generic models for domain-specific software development; (2) empirical evidence to determine these generic models, namely elicitation of mental knowledge schema possessed by expert software developers; and (3) exploitation of generic domain models to assist modelling of specific applications. It focuses on knowledge acquisition for domain-specific software development, with emphasis on tool support for the most important phases of software development.

GyroVR: Simulating Inertia in Virtual Reality using Head Worn Flywheels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gugenheimer, Jan; Wolf, Dennis; Eiríksson, Eyþór Rúnar

2016-01-01

We present GyroVR, head worn flywheels designed to render inertia in Virtual Reality (VR. Motions such as flying, diving or floating in outer space generate kinesthetic forces onto our body which impede movement and are currently not represented in VR. We simulate those kinesthetic forces...... by attaching flywheels to the users head, leveraging the gyroscopic effect of resistance when changing the spinning axis of rotation. GyroVR is an ungrounded, wireless and self contained device allowing the user to freely move inside the virtual environment. The generic shape allows to attach it to different...... positions on the users body. We evaluated the impact of GyroVR onto different mounting positions on the head (back and front) in terms of immersion, enjoyment and simulator sickness. Our results show, that attaching GyroVR onto the users head (front of the Head Mounted Display (HMD)) resulted in the highest...

Formation of virtual cathodes and microwave generation in relativistic electron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwan, T.J.T.; Thode, L.E.

1984-01-01

Simulation of the generation of a relativistic electron beam in a foil diode configuration and the subsequent intense microwave generation resulting from the formation of the virtual cathode is presented. The oscillating virtual cathode and the trapped beam electrons between the real and the virtual cathodes were found to generate microwaves at two distinct frequencies. Generation of high-power microwaves with about 10% efficiency might reasonably be expected from such a virtual-cathode configuration

Practicing the Generic (City)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Lone Koefoed

2010-01-01

Flanagan proposes that most locative media artworks neglect the particularities of spaces, their historical and political layers. Koolhaas, on the other hand, states that all urban areas are alike, that we are facing a global Generic City. The paper analyses digital media artist Esther Polak......’s NomadicMILK project in light of the generic and particular properties of space as laid out by Flanagan and Koolhaas in order to discuss the possible reconfiguring practices of locative media....

Efficient operating system level virtualization techniques for cloud resources

Science.gov (United States)

Ansu, R.; Samiksha; Anju, S.; Singh, K. John

2017-11-01

Cloud computing is an advancing technology which provides the servcies of Infrastructure, Platform and Software. Virtualization and Computer utility are the keys of Cloud computing. The numbers of cloud users are increasing day by day. So it is the need of the hour to make resources available on demand to satisfy user requirements. The technique in which resources namely storage, processing power, memory and network or I/O are abstracted is known as Virtualization. For executing the operating systems various virtualization techniques are available. They are: Full System Virtualization and Para Virtualization. In Full Virtualization, the whole architecture of hardware is duplicated virtually. No modifications are required in Guest OS as the OS deals with the VM hypervisor directly. In Para Virtualization, modifications of OS is required to run in parallel with other OS. For the Guest OS to access the hardware, the host OS must provide a Virtual Machine Interface. OS virtualization has many advantages such as migrating applications transparently, consolidation of server, online maintenance of OS and providing security. This paper briefs both the virtualization techniques and discusses the issues in OS level virtualization.

Virtually teaching virtual leadership

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Thomas Duus; Nielsen, Rikke Kristine; Børgesen, Kenneth

2017-01-01

This paper seeks to investigate the challenges to virtual collaboration and leadership on basis of findings from a virtual course on collaboration and leadership. The course used for this experiment was designed as a practical approach, which allowed participants to experience curriculum phenomena....... This experimental course provided insights into the challenges involved in virtual processes, and those experiences where used for addressing the challenges that virtual leadership is confronted with. Emphasis was placed on the reduction of undesired virtual distance and its consequences through affinity building....... We found that student scepticism appeared when a breakdown resulted in increasing virtual distance, and raises questions on how leaders might translate or upgrade their understandings of leadership to handling such increased distance through affinity building....

Whether power holders construe their power as responsibility or opportunity influences their tendency to take advice from others

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Wit, F.R.C.; Scheepers, D.; Ellemers, N.; Sassenberg, Kai; Scholl, Annika

Empirical evidence suggests that power elicits a generic tendency to disregard advice. We examined different responses power holders may show in their tendency to take advice depending on the construal of power. We report a field study and an experiment among managers and other powerful

Differences in rates of switchbacks after switching from branded to authorized generic and branded to generic drug products: cohort study

Science.gov (United States)

Sarpatwari, Ameet; Dejene, Sara; Khan, Nazleen F; Lii, Joyce; Rogers, James R; Dutcher, Sarah K; Raofi, Saeid; Bohn, Justin; Connolly, John; Fischer, Michael A; Kesselheim, Aaron S; Gagne, Joshua J

2018-01-01

Abstract Objectives To compare rates of switchbacks to branded drug products for patients switched from branded to authorized generic drug products, which have the same active ingredients, appearance, and excipients as the branded product, with patients switched from branded to generic drug products, which have the same active ingredients as the branded product but may differ in appearance and excipients. Design Observational cohort study. Setting Private (a large commercial health plan) and public (Medicaid) insurance programs in the US. Participants Beneficiaries of a large US commercial health insurer between 2004 and 2013 (primary cohort) and Medicaid beneficiaries between 2000 and 2010 (replication cohort). Main outcome measures Patients taking branded products for one of the study drugs (alendronate tablets, amlodipine tablets, amlodipine-benazepril capsules, calcitonin salmon nasal spray, escitalopram tablets, glipizide extended release tablets, quinapril tablets, and sertraline tablets) were identified when they switched to an authorized generic or a generic drug product after the date of market entry of generic drug products. These patients were followed for switchbacks to the branded drug product in the year after their switch to an authorized generic or a generic drug product. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals after adjusting for demographics, including age, sex, and calendar year. Inverse variance meta-analysis was used to pool adjusted hazard ratios across all drug products. Results A total of 94 909 patients switched from branded to authorized generic drug products and 116 017 patients switched from branded to generic drug products and contributed to the switchback analysis. Unadjusted incidence rates of switchback varied across drug products, ranging from a low of 3.8 per 100 person years (for alendronate tablets) to a high of 17.8 per 100 person years (for amlodipine

Brand and generic medications: Are they interchangeable

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Jazairi, Abdulrazak S.; Blhareth, S.; Eqtefan, Iyad S.; Al-Suwayeh, Saleh A.

2008-01-01

Generic substitution has become a common practice since the late 1970s in the United States. At that time, many of these generics caused bioavailability problems, which fueled suspicions about their efficacy and safety and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards for bioequivalence. In Saudi Arabia, the increasing number of local products raised several concerns with regard to switching from brands to generics. Our objective was to review and examine the basis of the controversy surrounding brand and generic interchangeability and to explore a practical approach in pursuing a switch. Articles indexed initially under terms such as generic medications, generic substitution, bioequivalence and bioinequivalence were identified. These terms were used to search the indexing service, MEDLINE (1966-2006). References from the extracted articles and additional data sources, including the Code of Federal Regulations and Regulatory Guidelines from the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and research were also reviewed. Foe most drugs, bioequivalence testing generally should enable clinicians to routinely substitute generic for innovator products. However, for narrow therapeutic, critical dose drugs, or for highly variable drugs, safe switching between products can not be assured. These drugs need special precautions and blood level monitoring upon switching. FDA firmly believes that approved generic and brand drugs can be dispensed with the full expectation that the consumer will receive the same clinical benefit. Performing the switch process is an advisable practice to reduce health care costs in countries with strong post-marketing surveillance program, but caution is to be exercised when narrow therapeutic index drugs or highly variable drugs are prescribed. (author)

Contact Geometry of Hyperbolic Equations of Generic Type

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis The

2008-08-01

Full Text Available We study the contact geometry of scalar second order hyperbolic equations in the plane of generic type. Following a derivation of parametrized contact-invariants to distinguish Monge-Ampère (class 6-6, Goursat (class 6-7 and generic (class 7-7 hyperbolic equations, we use Cartan's equivalence method to study the generic case. An intriguing feature of this class of equations is that every generic hyperbolic equation admits at most a nine-dimensional contact symmetry algebra. The nine-dimensional bound is sharp: normal forms for the contact-equivalence classes of these maximally symmetric generic hyperbolic equations are derived and explicit symmetry algebras are presented. Moreover, these maximally symmetric equations are Darboux integrable. An enumeration of several submaximally symmetric (eight and seven-dimensional generic hyperbolic structures is also given.

Retailing policies for generic medicines.

Science.gov (United States)

Narciso, Susana

2005-06-01

As there is general disagreement about the way generic medicines should be commercialized, two retailing policies are analyzed, taking into account their effects on the welfare of patients, government, pharmacies and physicians. In the first policy scenario, pharmacies are allowed to substitute generic medicines for branded ones, while in the second, substitution is forbidden. In both cases a pharmacies association is allowed to have a share in the production of generic medicines. The model predicts that under some conditions patients may prefer substitution by pharmacies but when doctors' decisions are binding, they are never "excessively bad". However, the policy choice belongs to the government, which prefers to allow for substitution more often than patients would like.

SHARED VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR COLLECTIVE TRAINING

Science.gov (United States)

Loftin, R. Bowen

2000-01-01

Historically NASA has trained teams of astronauts by bringing them to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to undergo generic training, followed by mission-specific training. This latter training begins after a crew has been selected for a mission (perhaps two years before the launch of that mission). While some Space Shuttle flights have included an astronaut from a foreign country, the International Space Station will be consistently crewed by teams comprised of astronauts from two or more of the partner nations. The cost of training these international teams continues to grow in both monetary and personal terms. Thus, NASA has been seeking alternative training approaches for the International Space Station program. Since 1994 we have been developing, testing, and refining shared virtual environments for astronaut team training, including the use of virtual environments for use while in or in transit to the task location. In parallel with this effort, we have also been preparing applications for training teams of military personnel engaged in peacekeeping missions. This paper will describe the applications developed to date, some of the technological challenges that have been overcome in their development, and the research performed to guide the development and to measure the efficacy of these shared environments as training tools.

Generic penetration in the retail atypical antipsychotic market.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenderts, Susan; Kalali, Amir H; Buckley, Peter

2010-03-01

In this article, we explore the penetration of generic atypical antipsychotics in the United States market before and after the availability of generic risperidone in July 2008. Analysis suggests that, overall, generic penetration into the atypical antipsychotic market has grown from approximately three percent in January 2008 to more than 25 percent in December 2009. Similar trends are uncovered when branded and generic prescriptions are analyzed by specialty.

Estimation of reactive power sources dynamic limits for Volt / VAr control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orozco Alvarado, Juan Jose

2013-01-01

A generic model of capacity curves is obtained from the theoretical capacity curves of the distribution generators and reactive compensation elements. The obtained generic model is structured in a simplified method of points, taking eight strategic points of two detailed curves of a generator and through a series of interpolations, achieving the estimation of limits of capacity of delivery / consumption of the generator. The theory of electric generation elements and reactive power compensation is reviewed. The curves of capacity 'Reactive Power / Active Power' are achieved for different values of tension: from wind generators with complete converter and doubly fed, photovoltaic generators with inverter and synchronous generators. The 'Reactive Power / Line Tension' capacity curves are acquired from static var compensators (SVC). The generic limits of generators and SVC are estimated from the capacity curves [es

Feasibility study on use of virtual collaborator for remote NPP control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jong Hyun; Lee, Seung Jun; Seong, Poong Hyun

2001-01-01

In this paper, we study the feasibility of Virtual Collaborator for Remote NPP Control as long-term research theme. And we present similar and related researches that are fulfilled at I and C laboratory in nuclear department of KAIST. Yoshikawa's laboratory, Kyoto University in Japan, is developing 'virtual collaborator', agent robot, which realized in virtual reality. Virtual Collaborator is a new type of human-machine interface which works as 'intelligent interface agent' to help machine operators manipulating large scale machine system such as power plant. The Virtual Collaborator is a sort of 'virtual robot' which behaves as if an intelligent agent robot in virtual space, who can communicate naturally with human like humans do with each other

Optimal Placement Algorithms for Virtual Machines

OpenAIRE

Bellur, Umesh; Rao, Chetan S; SD, Madhu Kumar

2010-01-01

Cloud computing provides a computing platform for the users to meet their demands in an efficient, cost-effective way. Virtualization technologies are used in the clouds to aid the efficient usage of hardware. Virtual machines (VMs) are utilized to satisfy the user needs and are placed on physical machines (PMs) of the cloud for effective usage of hardware resources and electricity in the cloud. Optimizing the number of PMs used helps in cutting down the power consumption by a substantial amo...

Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Construction Cost Reductions through the Use of Virtual Environments - Task 5 Report: Generation IV Reactor Virtual Mockup Proof-of-Principle Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timothy Shaw; Anthony Baratta; Vaughn Whisker

2005-01-01

Task 5 report is part of a 3 year DOE NERI-sponsored effort evaluating immersive virtual reality (CAVE) technology for design review, construction planning, and maintenance planning and training for next generation nuclear power plants. Program covers development of full-scale virtual mockups generated from 3D CAD data presented in a CAVE visualization facility. Created a virtual mockup of PBMR reactor cavity and discussed applications of virtual mockup technology to improve Gen IV design review, construction planning, and maintenance planning

Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Construction Cost Reductions through the Use of Virtual Environments - Task 5 Report: Generation IV Reactor Virtual Mockup Proof-of-Principle Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Timothy Shaw; Anthony Baratta; Vaughn Whisker

2005-02-28

Task 5 report is part of a 3 year DOE NERI-sponsored effort evaluating immersive virtual reality (CAVE) technology for design review, construction planning, and maintenance planning and training for next generation nuclear power plants. Program covers development of full-scale virtual mockups generated from 3D CAD data presented in a CAVE visualization facility. Created a virtual mockup of PBMR reactor cavity and discussed applications of virtual mockup technology to improve Gen IV design review, construction planning, and maintenance planning.

Virtual reality boosts performance at AREVA Projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernasconi, F.

2017-01-01

AREVA Projects is one of the 6 business units of New AREVA and it is dedicated to engineering works in a vast fan of activities from mining to waste management via uranium chemistry and nuclear fuel recycling. AREVA projects has opted for innovation to improve performance. Since 2012 virtual reality has been used through the creation of a room equipped with a high-definition screen and stereoscopic goggles. At the beginning virtual reality was used to test and validate procedures for handling equipment thanks to a dynamical digital simulation of this equipment. Now virtual reality is massively used to validate the design phase of projects without having to fabricate a physical mock-up which saves time. The next step in the use of virtual reality is the implementation of a new version of devices like helmets, gloves... that will allow a better interaction with the virtual world. The continuously increasing of computer power is always pushing back the limits of what is possible in virtual reality. (A.C.)

40 CFR 721.2083 - Polysubstituted carbomonocyclic hydroxylamine (generic).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... hydroxylamine (generic). 721.2083 Section 721.2083 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... Specific Chemical Substances § 721.2083 Polysubstituted carbomonocyclic hydroxylamine (generic). (a... generically as a polysubstituted carbomonocyclic hydroxylamine (PMN P-97-878) is subject to reporting under...

Generic functional modelling of multi-pulse auto-transformer rectifier units for more-electric aircraft applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao YANG

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The Auto-Transformer Rectifier Unit (ATRU is one preferred solution for high-power AC/DC power conversion in aircraft. This is mainly due to its simple structure, high reliability and reduced kVA ratings. Indeed, the ATRU has become a preferred AC/DC solution to supply power to the electric environment control system on-board future aircraft. In this paper, a general modelling method for ATRUs is introduced. The developed model is based on the fact that the DC voltage and current are strongly related to the voltage and current vectors at the AC terminals of ATRUs. In this paper, we carry on our research in modelling symmetric 18-pulse ATRUs and develop a generic modelling technique. The developed generic model can study not only symmetric but also asymmetric ATRUs. An 18-pulse asymmetric ATRU is used to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the developed model by comparing with corresponding detailed switching SABER models provided by our industrial partner. The functional models also allow accelerated and accurate simulations and thus enable whole-scale more-electric aircraft electrical power system studies in the future. Keywords: Asymmetric transformer, Functional modelling, More-Electric Aircraft, Multi-pulse rectifier, Transformer rectifier unit

Sharing, samples, and generics: an antitrust framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrier, Michael A

Rising drug prices are in the news. By increasing price, drug companies have placed vital, even life-saving, medicines out of the reach of consumers. In a recent development, brand firms have prevented generics even from entering the market. The ruse for this strategy involves risk-management programs known as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies ("REMS"). Pursuant to legislation enacted in 2007, the FDA requires REMS when a drug's risks (such as death or injury) outweigh its rewards. Brands have used this regime, intended to bring drugs to the market, to block generic competition. Regulations such as the federal Hatch-Waxman Act and state substitution laws foster widespread generic competition. But these regimes can only be effectuated through generic entry. And that entry can take place only if a generic can use a brand's sample to show that its product is equivalent. More than 100 generic firms have complained that they have not been able to access needed samples. One study of 40 drugs subject to restricted access programs found that generics' inability to enter cost more than $5 billion a year. Brand firms have contended that antitrust law does not compel them to deal with their competitors and have highlighted concerns related to safety and product liability in justifying their refusals. This Article rebuts these claims. It highlights the importance of samples in the regulatory regime and the FDA's inability to address the issue. It shows how a sharing requirement in this setting is consistent with Supreme Court caselaw. And it demonstrates that the brands' behavior fails the defendant-friendly "no economic sense" test because the conduct literally makes no sense other than by harming generics. Brands' denial of samples offers a textbook case of monopolization. In the universe of pharmaceutical antitrust behavior, other conduct--such as "pay for delay" settlements between brands and generics and "product hopping" from one drug to a slightly modified

Green Virtualization for Multiple Collaborative Cellular Operators

KAUST Repository

Farooq, Muhammad Junaid

2017-06-05

This paper proposes and investigates a green virtualization framework for infrastructure sharing among multiple cellular operators whose networks are powered by a combination of conventional and renewable sources of energy. Under the proposed framework, the virtual network formed by unifying radio access infrastructures of all operators is optimized for minimum energy consumption by deactivating base stations (BSs) with low traffic loads. The users initially associated to those BSs are off-loaded to neighboring active ones. A fairness criterion for collaboration based on roaming prices is introduced to cover the additional energy costs incurred by host operators. The framework also ensures that any collaborating operator is not negatively affected by its participation in the proposed virtualization. A multi-objective linear programming problem is formulated to achieve energy and cost efficiency of the networks\\' operation by identifying the set of inter-operator roaming prices. For the case when collaboration among all operators is infeasible due to profitability, capacity, or power constraints, an iterative algorithm is proposed to determine the groups of operators that can viably collaborate. Results show significant energy savings using the proposed virtualization as compared to the standalone case. Moreover, collaborative operators exploiting locally generated renewable energy are rewarded more than traditional ones.

A method to generate generic floor response spectra for operating nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curreri, J.; Costantino, C.; Subudhi, M.; Reich, M.

1985-01-01

A free-field earthquake response spectra was used to generate horizontal earthquake time histories. The excitation was applied through the soil and into the various structures to produce responses in equipment. An entire range of soil conditions was used with each structure, from soft soil to solid rock. Actual PWR and BWR - Mark I structural models were used as representative of a class of structures. For each model, the stiffness properties were varied, with the same mass, so as to extend the fundamental base structure natural frequency from 2 cps to 36 cps. This resulted in fundamental mode coupled natural frequencies as low as 0.86 cps and as high as 30 cps. From all of these models of soils and structures, floor response spectra were generated at each floor level. The natural frequencies of the structures were varied to obtain maximum response conditions. The actual properties were first used to locate the natural frequencies. The stiffness properties were than varied, with the same mass, to extend the range of the fundamental base structure natural frequency. The intention was to have the coupled structural material frequencies in the vicinity of the peak amplitude frequency content of the excitation spectrum. Particular attention was therefore given to the frequency band between 2 Hz and 4 Hz. A horizontal generic floor response spectra is proposed for the top level of a generic structure. Reduction factors are applied to the peak acceleration for equipment at lower levels. (orig./HP)

Switching from originator brand medicines to generic equivalents in selected developing countries: how much could be saved?

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Alexandra; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Leufkens, Hubert G M; Laing, Richard Ogilvie

2012-01-01

In low- and middle-income countries, patients and reimbursement agencies that purchase medicines in the private sector pay more for originator brands when generic equivalents exist. We estimated the savings that could be obtained from a hypothetical switch in medicine consumption from originator brands to lowest-priced generic equivalents for a selection of medicines in 17 countries. In this cost minimization analysis, the prices of originator brands and their lowest-priced generic equivalents were obtained from facility-based surveys conducted by using a standard methodology. Fourteen medicines most commonly included in the surveys, plus three statins, were included in the analysis. For each medicine, the volume of private sector consumption of the originator brand product was obtained from IMS Health, Inc. Volumes were applied to the median unit prices for both originator brands and their lowest-priced generics to estimate cost savings. Prices were adjusted to 2008 by using consumer price index data and were adjusted for purchasing power parity. For the medicines studied, an average of 9% to 89% could be saved by an individual country from a switch in private sector purchases from originator brands to lowest-priced generics. In public hospitals in China, US $ 370 million could be saved from switching only four medicines, saving an average of 65%. Across individual medicines, average potential savings ranged from 11% for beclometasone inhaler to 73% for ceftriaxone injection. Substantial savings could be achieved by switching private sector purchases from originator brand medicines to lowest-priced generic equivalents. Strategies to promote generic uptake, such as generic substitution by pharmacists and increasing confidence in generics by professionals and the public, should be included in national medicines policies. Copyright © 2012 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A full scope nuclear power plant simulator for multiple reactor types with virtual control panels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yonezawa, Hisanori; Ueda, Hiroki; Kato, Takahisa

2017-01-01

This paper summarizes a full scope nuclear power plant simulator for multiple reactor types with virtual control panels which Toshiba developed and delivered. After the Fukushima DAIICHI nuclear power plants accident, it is required that all the people who are engaged in the design, manufacturing, operation, maintenance, management and regulation for the nuclear power plant should learn the wide and deep knowledge about the nuclear power plant design including the severe accident. For this purpose, the training with a full scope simulator is one of the most suitable ways. However the existing full scope simulators which are consist of the control panels replica of the referenced plants are costly and they are hard to remodel to fit to the real plant of the latest condition. That's why Toshiba developed and delivered the new concept simulator system which covers multiple referenced plants even though they have different design like BWR and PWR. The control panels of the simulator are made by combining 69 large Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels with touch screen instead of a control panel replica of referenced plant. The screen size of the each panel is 42 inches and 3 displays are arranged in tandem for one unit and 23 units are connected together. Each panel displays switches, indicators, recorders and lamps with the Computer Graphics (CG) and trainees operate them with touch operations. The simulator includes a BWR and a PWR simulator model, which enable trainees to learn the wide and deep knowledge about the nuclear power plant of BWR and PWR reactor types. (author)

Associations between generic substitution and patients' attitudes, beliefs and experience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard Rathe, Jette; Larsen, Pia Veldt; Andersen, Morten

2013-01-01

Abstract Background Generic substitution has been implemented in many countries, but knowledge about patients’ attitudes, beliefs and experiences is still sparse. Aim To assess associations between generic switching and patients’ attitudes, beliefs and experiences with previous generic switching...... on generic medicine and confidence in the healthcare system. Only prescriptions issued by the general practitioners were included. For each patient we focused on one purchase of a generically substitutable drug (index drug). Patients were identified by means of a dispensing database. Results Earlier generic...... switches within the index ATC code were statistically significantly associated with experience of a generic switch (adjusted OR 5.93 95% CI 4.70; 7.49). Having had more than 5 earlier switches within other ATC codes and having negative views on generic medicines reduced the odds of experiencing a generic...

Generics, Supergenerics and Patent Strategies--SMi's 13th Annual Meeting.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Catherine

2010-07-01

SMi's 13th Annual Meeting on Generics, Supergenerics and Patent Strategies, held in London, included topics covering new trends in the generics field, the difficulties faced by companies in entering the generics market and recent developments in IP. This conference report highlights selected presentations on generics in India, protecting pharmaceutical products in China, changes in generics law and litigation in the US and Europe, challenges for market selection and entry for generics companies, the influence of changes in the healthcare market on the generics industry, supergenerics, and biosimilars.

PROBLEM OF GENERIC REPLACEMENT: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. N. Tolpygina

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The main differences between original and generic drugs as well as registration criteria for generics are described. Possible reasons of discrepancy in bioequivalence and therapeutic equivalence of original and generic drugs are reviewed. The examples of such a discrepancy as a result of comparative clinical trails (enalapril maleate are discussed. Approaches to planning of comparative trails on drug therapeutic equivalence are presented. 

A virtual nuclear world?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salve, R.

1998-01-01

The way in which virtual reality technology has so dramatically developed over the last few years has opened up the possibility of its application to various industrial processes. This article describes the possible uses of such a technique in nuclear power plants in various phases such as design, construction, operation or dismantling. (Author)

A generic coordinate system and a set of generic variables for MFE database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miner, W.H. Jr.; Ross, D.W.; Solano, E.R.; Valanju, P.M.; Wiley, J.C.

1993-01-01

Over the last several years, profile data from nine different tokamaks have been stored in the magnetic fusion energy database (MFEDB). These data sets have come from a variety of sources and most are given in different coordinate systems. In order to attempt any intermachine analysis, it is convenient to transform these data sets into one generic coordinate system and to choose a uniform set of variable names. The authors describe the data sets from each tokamak indicating the source of the data and the coordinate system in which it is given. Next, they discuss the generic coordinate that has been adopted and show how it is implemented for each tokamak. Finally, the generic naming convention that has been adopted is discussed. It follows closely that which was used by Christiansen et al. for the ITER Global Energy Confinement H-Mode Database. For further clarification, they discuss the characteristics of the magnetic geometry given a Fourier representation of the magnetic equilibria

Energy Consumption Management of Virtual Cloud Computing Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Lin

2017-11-01

For energy consumption management research on virtual cloud computing platforms, energy consumption management of virtual computers and cloud computing platform should be understood deeper. Only in this way can problems faced by energy consumption management be solved. In solving problems, the key to solutions points to data centers with high energy consumption, so people are in great need to use a new scientific technique. Virtualization technology and cloud computing have become powerful tools in people’s real life, work and production because they have strong strength and many advantages. Virtualization technology and cloud computing now is in a rapid developing trend. It has very high resource utilization rate. In this way, the presence of virtualization and cloud computing technologies is very necessary in the constantly developing information age. This paper has summarized, explained and further analyzed energy consumption management questions of the virtual cloud computing platform. It eventually gives people a clearer understanding of energy consumption management of virtual cloud computing platform and brings more help to various aspects of people’s live, work and son on.

ESSE: Engineering Super Simulation Emulation for Virtual Reality Systems Environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suh, Kune Y.; Yeon, Choul W.

2008-01-01

The trademark 4 + D Technology TM based Engineering Super Simulation Emulation (ESSE) is introduced. ESSE resorting to three-dimensional (3D) Virtual Reality (VR) technology pledges to provide with an interactive real-time motion, sound and tactile and other forms of feedback in the man machine systems environment. In particular, the 3D Virtual Engineering Neo cybernetic Unit Soft Power (VENUS) adds a physics engine to the VR platform so as to materialize a physical atmosphere. A close cooperation system and prompt information share are crucial, thereby increasing the necessity of centralized information system and electronic cooperation system. VENUS is further deemed to contribute towards public acceptance of nuclear power in general, and safety in particular. For instance, visualization of nuclear systems can familiarize the public in answering their questions and alleviating misunderstandings on nuclear power plants answering their questions and alleviating misunderstandings on nuclear power plants (NPPs) in general, and performance, security and safety in particular. An in-house flagship project Systemic Three-dimensional Engine Platform Prototype Engineering (STEPPE) endeavors to develop the Systemic Three-dimensional Engine Platform (STEP) for a variety of VR applications. STEP is home to a level system providing the whole visible scene of virtual engineering of man machine system environment. The system is linked with video monitoring that provides a 3D Computer Graphics (CG) visualization of major events. The database linked system provides easy access to relevant blueprints. The character system enables the operators easy access to visualization of major events. The database linked system provides easy access to relevant blueprints. The character system enables the operators to access the virtual systems by using their virtual characters. Virtually Engineered NPP Informative systems by using their virtual characters. Virtually Engineered NPP Informative

A generic double-curvature piezoelectric shell energy harvester: Linear/nonlinear theory and applications

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, X. F.; Hu, S. D.; Tzou, H. S.

2014-12-01

Converting vibration energy to useful electric energy has attracted much attention in recent years. Based on the electromechanical coupling of piezoelectricity, distributed piezoelectric zero-curvature type (e.g., beams and plates) energy harvesters have been proposed and evaluated. The objective of this study is to develop a generic linear and nonlinear piezoelectric shell energy harvesting theory based on a double-curvature shell. The generic piezoelectric shell energy harvester consists of an elastic double-curvature shell and piezoelectric patches laminated on its surface(s). With a current model in the closed-circuit condition, output voltages and energies across a resistive load are evaluated when the shell is subjected to harmonic excitations. Steady-state voltage and power outputs across the resistive load are calculated at resonance for each shell mode. The piezoelectric shell energy harvesting mechanism can be simplified to shell (e.g., cylindrical, conical, spherical, paraboloidal, etc.) and non-shell (beam, plate, ring, arch, etc.) distributed harvesters using two Lamé parameters and two curvature radii of the selected harvester geometry. To demonstrate the utility and simplification procedures, the generic linear/nonlinear shell energy harvester mechanism is simplified to three specific structures, i.e., a cantilever beam case, a circular ring case and a conical shell case. Results show the versatility of the generic linear/nonlinear shell energy harvesting mechanism and the validity of the simplification procedures.

Virtual reality application for simulating and minimizing worker radiation exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Ki Doo; Hajek, Brian K.; Lee, Yon Sik; Shin, Yoo Jin

2004-01-01

To plan work and preclude unexpected radiation exposures in a nuclear power plant, a virtual nuclear plant is a good solution. For this, there are prerequisites such as displaying real time radiation exposure data onto an avatar and preventing speed reduction caused by multiple users on the net-based system. The work space is divided into several sections and radiation information is extracted section by section. Based on the simulation algorithm, real time processing is applied to the events and movements of the avatar. Because there are millions of parts in a nuclear power plant, it is almost impossible to model all of them. Several parts of virtual plant have been modeled using 3D internet virtual reality for the model development. Optimum one-click Active-X is applied for the system, which provides easy access to the virtual plant. Connection time on the net is 20-30 sec for initial loading and 3-4 sec for the 2nd and subsequent times

GreenVMAS: Virtual Organization Based Platform for Heating Greenhouses Using Waste Energy from Power Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Briones, Alfonso; Chamoso, Pablo; Yoe, Hyun; Corchado, Juan M

2018-03-14

The gradual depletion of energy resources makes it necessary to optimize their use and to reuse them. Although great advances have already been made in optimizing energy generation processes, many of these processes generate energy that inevitably gets wasted. A clear example of this are nuclear, thermal and carbon power plants, which lose a large amount of energy that could otherwise be used for different purposes, such as heating greenhouses. The role of GreenVMAS is to maintain the required temperature level in greenhouses by using the waste energy generated by power plants. It incorporates a case-based reasoning system, virtual organizations and algorithms for data analysis and for efficient interaction with sensors and actuators. The system is context aware and scalable as it incorporates an artificial neural network, this means that it can operate correctly even if the number and characteristics of the greenhouses participating in the case study change. The architecture was evaluated empirically and the results show that the user's energy bill is greatly reduced with the implemented system.

GreenVMAS: Virtual Organization Based Platform for Heating Greenhouses Using Waste Energy from Power Plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfonso González-Briones

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The gradual depletion of energy resources makes it necessary to optimize their use and to reuse them. Although great advances have already been made in optimizing energy generation processes, many of these processes generate energy that inevitably gets wasted. A clear example of this are nuclear, thermal and carbon power plants, which lose a large amount of energy that could otherwise be used for different purposes, such as heating greenhouses. The role of GreenVMAS is to maintain the required temperature level in greenhouses by using the waste energy generated by power plants. It incorporates a case-based reasoning system, virtual organizations and algorithms for data analysis and for efficient interaction with sensors and actuators. The system is context aware and scalable as it incorporates an artificial neural network, this means that it can operate correctly even if the number and characteristics of the greenhouses participating in the case study change. The architecture was evaluated empirically and the results show that the user’s energy bill is greatly reduced with the implemented system.

Generic methods for design of small-bore pipe supports

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, G.L.; LaSalle, F.R.

1981-01-01

Large numbers of supports for small-bore, low-temperature pipe are utilized in nuclear power plants. These supports often must meet ASME code and project seismic design requirements. Detailed analysis for each support is time consuming and costly. This paper describes some economical generic methods developed to design and qualify supports for two-inch and smaller pipe operating at temperatures less than 300 0 F (185 0 C), on the Fast Flux Test Facility. Use of standard designs, standard support spacing tables, anchor bolt and baseplate considerations, and field qualification methods are discussed

Power Consumption Optimization for Multiple Parallel Centrifugal Pumps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jepsen, Kasper Lund; Hansen, Leif; Mai, Christian

2017-01-01

Large amounts of energy is being used in a wide range of applications to transport liquid. This paper proposes a generic solution for minimizing power consumption of a generic pumping station equipped with identical variable speed pumps. The proposed solution consists of two sequential steps; fir...

40 CFR 721.324 - Alkoxylated acrylate polymer (generic).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Alkoxylated acrylate polymer (generic... Substances § 721.324 Alkoxylated acrylate polymer (generic). (a) Chemical substance and significant new uses subject to reporting. (1) The chemical substance identified generically as alkoxylated acrylate polymer...

Structuring virtual spaces as television places

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reinhard, CarrieLynn D.

As all major American broadcast and cable networks now provide some form and amount of online distribution of their television programming, we are beginning to see more interactive features being attached to this distribution to remediate the conditions of television consumption in the physical...... world.  Attaching such interactivity to their online distribution creates cyberspaces of consumption that become places for virtual audiences to congregate as they view the program.  To illustrate how the virtual environments and worlds are constructed to become places for virtual audiences, four case...... considering how these Internet-based interactive television examples demonstrate the remediation of conventional conceptualizations of television distribution structures and consumption practices, which then indicate the power dynamics of the producer-consumer relationship.  The form in which...

Generic maintenance immunosuppression in solid organ transplant recipients.

Science.gov (United States)

Ensor, Christopher R; Trofe-Clark, Jennifer; Gabardi, Steven; McDevitt-Potter, Lisa M; Shullo, Michael A

2011-11-01

Survival after solid organ transplantation has increased in the era of tacrolimus and mycophenolate. This increased survival could be due in part to the broad clinical use of these potent and specific agents for maintenance immunosuppression. These drugs have enhanced specificity and potency for T and B lymphocytes compared with their predecessors, cyclosporine and azathioprine. Between 2008 and 2010, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved several generic formulations of both tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil. Deciding whether generic products can be safely substituted for the innovator product is a clinical dilemma similar to that which occurred when generic formulations of cyclosporine became available. We describe the concerns regarding generic immunosuppression use, summarize expert opinion and consensus statements in transplantation, analyze the potential impact of generic substitution, and provide estimates of populations affected based on generic drug market penetration. Formulary considerations such as cost, availability, and potential drug ordering and drug selection errors are described, and transplant coordinator and patient perspectives are reviewed. Finally, general recommendations about the use of generic maintenance immunosuppression in solid organ transplant recipients are provided. Although more research is needed to confirm clinical and therapeutic equivalence and pharmacoeconomic benefit, generic immunosuppressants can be safely substituted for innovator products as long as patients consistently receive the same product, patients and clinicians are aware of when substitutions occur, and enhanced therapeutic drug monitoring is provided during the transition.

A teleoperation training simulator with visual and kinesthetic force virtual reality

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Won S.; Schenker, Paul

1992-01-01

A force-reflecting teleoperation training simulator with a high-fidelity real-time graphics display has been developed for operator training. A novel feature of this simulator is that it enables the operator to feel contact forces and torques through a force-reflecting controller during the execution of the simulated peg-in-hole task, providing the operator with the feel of visual and kinesthetic force virtual reality. A peg-in-hole task is used in our simulated teleoperation trainer as a generic teleoperation task. A quasi-static analysis of a two-dimensional peg-in-hole task model has been extended to a three-dimensional model analysis to compute contact forces and torques for a virtual realization of kinesthetic force feedback. The simulator allows the user to specify force reflection gains and stiffness (compliance) values of the manipulator hand for both the three translational and the three rotational axes in Cartesian space. Three viewing modes are provided for graphics display: single view, two split views, and stereoscopic view.

Imparting Individuality to Virtual Humans

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Egges, A.; Kshirsagar, V.; Magnenat-Thalmann, N.

2002-01-01

In this paper, we present an integrated method of linking personality and emotion with the response generation and expression synthesis of Virtual Humans. The characters are powered by a dialogue system that consists of a large set of basic interactions between user and computer. These

An interactive cooperation model for neighboring virtual power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shabanzadeh, Morteza; Sheikh-El-Eslami, Mohammad-Kazem; Haghifam, Mahmoud-Reza

2017-01-01

Highlights: •The trading strategies of a VPP in cooperation with its neighboring VPPs are addressed. •A portfolio of inter-regional contracts is considered to model this cooperation scheme. •A novel mathematical formulation for possible inadvertent transactions is provided. •A two-stage stochastic programming approach is applied to characterize the uncertainty. •Two efficient risk measures, SSD and CVaR, are implemented in the VPP decision-making problem. -- Abstract: Future distribution systems will accommodate an increasing share of distributed energy resources (DERs). Facing with this new reality, virtual power plants (VPPs) play a key role to aggregate DERs with the aim of facilitating their involvement in wholesale electricity markets. In this paper, the trading strategies of a VPP in cooperation with its neighboring VPPs are addressed. Toward this aim, a portfolio of inter-regional contracts is considered to model this cooperation and maximize the energy trade opportunities of the VPP within a medium-term horizon. To hedge against profit variability caused by market price uncertainties, two efficient risk management approaches are also implemented in the VPP decision-making problem based on the concepts of conditional value at risk (CVaR) and second-order stochastic dominance constraints (SSD). The resulting models are formulated as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problems that can be solved using off-the-shelf software packages. The efficiency of the proposed risk-hedging models is analyzed through a detailed case study, and thereby relevant conclusions are drawn.

Method to generate generic floor response spectra for operating nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curreri, J.; Costantino, C.; Subudhi, M.; Reich, M.

1985-01-01

The general approach in the development of the response spectra was to study the effects on the dynamic characteristics of each of the elements in the chain of events that goes between the loads and the responses. This includes the loads, the soils and the structures. A free-field earthquake response spectra was used to generate horizontal earthquake time histories. The excitation was applied through the soil and into the various structures to produce responses in equipment. An entire range of soil conditions was used with each structure, from soft soil to solid rock. Actual PWR and BWR - Mark I structural models were used as representative of a class of structures. For each model, the stiffness properties were varied, with the same mass, so as to extend the fundamental base structure natural frequency from 2 cps to 36 cps. This resulted in fundamental mode coupled natural frequencies as low as 0.86 cps and as high as 30 cps. From all of these models of soils and structures, floor response spectra were generated at each floor level. The natural frequencies of the structures were varied to obtain maximum response conditions. The actual properties were first used to locate the natural frequencies. The stiffness properties were then varied, with the same mass, to extend the range of the fundamental base structure natural frequency. The intention was to have the coupled structural material frequencies in the vicinity of the peak amplitude frequency content of the excitation spectrum. Particular attention was therefore given to the frequency band between 2 Hz and 4 Hz. A horizontal generic floor response spectra is proposed for the top level of a generic structure. Reduction factors are applied to the peak acceleration for equipment at lower levels

Skin rash during treatment with generic itraconazole

OpenAIRE

De Vuono, Antonio; Palleria, Caterina; Scicchitano, Francesca; Squillace, Aida; De Sarro, Giovambattista; Gallelli, Luca

2014-01-01

Generic drugs have the same active substance, the same pharmaceutical form, the same therapeutic indications and a similar bioequivalence with the reference medicinal product (branded). Although a similar efficacy is postulated, some cases of clinical inefficacy during treatment with generic formulations have been reported. In this case, we describe a woman with onychomycosis that developed a skin rash during treatment with a generic formulation of itraconazole. Drug administration and its re...

Generic medicine and prescribing: A quick assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mainul Haque

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Generic drugs are copies of brand-name drugs that have exactly the same dosage, intended use, effects, side effects, route of administration, risks, safety, and strength as the original drug. In other words, their pharmacological effects are exactly the same as those of their brand-name counterparts. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA describes that generic drugs are essential possibilities that allow better access to healthcare for all Americans. They are replicas of brand-name drugs and are the identical as those of brand-name drugs in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, performance features, and anticipated to use. Healthcare authorities and users can be guaranteed that FDA-approved generic drug products have met the same stiff principles as the innovator drug. The company that made Bayer aspirin fought in court enthusiastically to keep generic versions off the shelves, in the 1920s. The company lost in court, and consumers suddenly had an array of choices in generic aspirin. The Supreme Court of India uttering ‘the Supreme Court's ruling will prevent companies from further seeking unwarranted patents on HIV and other essential medicines.’ Generic medicine cannot be sold at a price higher than the branded medicine, so it is regularly a low-priced option. Thereafter, both the end user and the government who pay for part of the price of the medicine under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in Australia are benefitted. The treatment of diseases using essential drugs, prescribed by their generic names, has been emphasised by the WHO and many national health policies. Although there are some improvements in generic medicine prescribing, it has been advised by the WHO that ‘countries should intensify efforts to measure and regularly monitor medicine prices and availability, and adopt policy measures to address the issues identified.’

A bi-level stochastic scheduling optimization model for a virtual power plant connected to a wind–photovoltaic–energy storage system considering the uncertainty and demand response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ju, Liwei; Tan, Zhongfu; Yuan, Jinyun; Tan, Qingkun; Li, Huanhuan; Dong, Fugui

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Our research focuses on Virtual Power Plant (VPP). • Virtual Power Plant consists of WPP, PV, CGT, ESSs and DRPs. • Robust optimization theory is introduced to analyze uncertainties. • A bi-level stochastic scheduling optimization model is proposed for VPP. • Models are built to measure the impacts of ESSs and DERPs on VPP operation. - Abstract: To reduce the uncertain influence of wind power and solar photovoltaic power on virtual power plant (VPP) operation, robust optimization theory (ROT) is introduced to build a stochastic scheduling model for VPP considering the uncertainty, price-based demand response (PBDR) and incentive-based demand response (IBDR). First, the VPP components are described including the wind power plant (WPP), photovoltaic generators (PV), convention gas turbine (CGT), energy storage systems (ESSs) and demand resource providers (DRPs). Then, a scenario generation and reduction frame is proposed for analyzing and simulating output stochastics based on the interval method and the Kantorovich distance. Second, a bi-level robust scheduling model is proposed with a double robust coefficient for WPP and PV. In the upper layer model, the maximum VPP operation income is taken as the optimization objective for building the scheduling model with the day-ahead prediction output of WPP and PV. In the lower layer model, the day-ahead scheduling scheme is revised with the actual output of the WPP and PV under the objectives of the minimum system net load and the minimum system operation cost. Finally, the independent micro-grid in a coastal island in eastern China is used for the simulation analysis. The results illustrate that the model can overcome the influence of uncertainty on VPP operations and reduce the system power shortage cost by connecting the day-ahead scheduling with the real-time scheduling. ROT could provide a flexible decision tool for decision makers, effectively addressing system uncertainties. ESSs could

40 CFR 721.5350 - Substituted nitrile (generic name).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Substituted nitrile (generic name... Substances § 721.5350 Substituted nitrile (generic name). (a) Chemical substances and significant new uses subject to reporting. (1) The chemical substance identified generically as a substituted nitrile (PMN P-83...

Generic Penetration of the SSRI Market.

Science.gov (United States)

Cascade, Elisa F; Kalali, Amir H

2008-04-01

In this article, we investigate the penetration of generic selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the US market and the implications for patient out-of-pocket expense. The data suggest that generic penetration into the SSRI market has grown from approximately nine percent in 2000, the year that the patent for Prozac((R)) expired, to 72 percent in 2007. For December, 2007, the difference in patient out-of-pocket expense for branded vs. generic agents was, on average, $55.42 for patients paying by cash (i.e., they had no prescription drug insurance) and $22.39 for patients with insurance coverage.

Power system studies of new ancillary services

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anca Daniela; Altin, Müfit

The objective of this report is to illustrate and analyse, by means of simulation test cases, the impact of wind power advanced ancillary services, like inertial response (IR), power oscillation damping (POD) and synchronising power (SP) on the power system. Generic models for wind turbine, wind...... power plant and power system are used in the investigation....

Grids, Clouds, and Virtualization

Science.gov (United States)

Cafaro, Massimo; Aloisio, Giovanni

This chapter introduces and puts in context Grids, Clouds, and Virtualization. Grids promised to deliver computing power on demand. However, despite a decade of active research, no viable commercial grid computing provider has emerged. On the other hand, it is widely believed - especially in the Business World - that HPC will eventually become a commodity. Just as some commercial consumers of electricity have mission requirements that necessitate they generate their own power, some consumers of computational resources will continue to need to provision their own supercomputers. Clouds are a recent business-oriented development with the potential to render this eventually as rare as organizations that generate their own electricity today, even among institutions who currently consider themselves the unassailable elite of the HPC business. Finally, Virtualization is one of the key technologies enabling many different Clouds. We begin with a brief history in order to put them in context, and recall the basic principles and concepts underlying and clearly differentiating them. A thorough overview and survey of existing technologies provides the basis to delve into details as the reader progresses through the book.

Full scope simulator of a nuclear power plant control room using 3D stereo virtual reality techniques for operators training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aghina, Mauricio A.C.; Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Almeida, Adino Americo A.; Pereira, Claudio M.N.A.; Varela, Thiago F.B.

2007-01-01

Practical training of nuclear power plants operators are partially performed by means of simulators. Usually these simulators are physical copies of the original control roam, needing a large space on a facility being also very expensive. In this way, the proposal of this paper is to implement the use of Virtual Reality techniques to design a full scope control room simulator, in a manner to reduce costs and physical space usage. (author)

40 CFR 721.555 - Alkyl amino nitriles (generic).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Alkyl amino nitriles (generic). 721... Substances § 721.555 Alkyl amino nitriles (generic). (a) Chemical substance and significant new uses subject to reporting. (1) The chemical substances identified generically as alkyl amino nitriles (PMNs P-96...

A Generic Approach to Parameter Control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karafotias, G.; Smit, S.K.; Eiben, A.E.

2012-01-01

On-line control of EA parameters is an approach to parameter setting that offers the advantage of values changing during the run. In this paper, we investigate parameter control from a generic and parameter-independent perspective. We propose a generic control mechanism that is targeted to

DCS upgrades for nuclear power plants: Saving money and reducing risk through virtual-stimulation control system checkout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKim, G.; Yeager, M.; Weirich, C.

2006-01-01

Nuclear power plant control systems of 1970's vintage have reached the end of their life: reliability is poor and spare parts are hard to come by. At First Energy Perry station, two costly feedwater system trips caused by an ailing analog control system led to the decision to replace it with a modern Foxboro I/A-series Distributed Control System. The simulator was also upgraded using the Virtual-Stim simulation of I/A, called FSIM. Virtual-Stim simulation allows the configuration and graphics from the plant to be downloaded onto the simulator as-is, using the same tools and operator interface as the plant, without imprecise translations, conversions, or other emulation. Advances in simulation technology and market forces have led to an open architecture design, allowing FSIM to be 'bridged' to Perry's existing Opensim simulator process model. This appears to be an industry-wide trend as more control system vendors offer Virtual Stimulation solutions for connection to third-party simulation products. Taking a cue from First Energy's Sammis Station FSIM simulator projects, the Perry simulator was used for dedicated control verification and tuning. Preventing forced outages caused by control configuration errors can result in enormous savings, and the simulator is now required to precede any plant modifications rather than just a training tool that lags the plant. This testing revealed several surprising results for a relatively straightforward control strategy, showing that simulator-based testing will be even more crucial in the future as the remain-der of the balance of plant is migrated to digital control. (author)

Virtual control desk for operators training: a case study for a nuclear power plant simulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aghina, Mauricio Alves da Cunha e

2009-03-01

Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is a facility for electrical energy generation. Because of its high degree of complexity and very rigid norms of security it is extremely necessary that operators are very well trained for the NPP operation. A mistaken operation by a human operator may cause a shutdown of the NPP, incurring in a huge economical damage for the owner and for the population in the case of a electric net black out. To reduce the possibility of a mistaken operation, the NPP usually have a full scope simulator of the plant's control room, which is the physical copy of the original control room. The control of this simulator is a computer program that can generate the equal functioning of the normal one or some scenarios of accidents to train the operators in many abnormal conditions of the plant. A physical copy of the control room has a high cost for its construction, not only of its facilities but also for its physical components. The proposal of this work is to present a project of a virtual simulator with the modeling in 3D stereo of a control room of a given nuclear plant with the same operation functions of the original simulator. This virtual simulator will have a lower cost and serves for pretraining of operators with the intention of making them familiar to the original control room. (author)

Virtual goods recommendations in virtual worlds.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Kuan-Yu; Liao, Hsiu-Yu; Chen, Jyun-Hung; Liu, Duen-Ren

2015-01-01

Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better performance than existing recommendation methods.

Developing competitive and sustainable Polish generic medicines market.

Science.gov (United States)

Simoens, Steven

2009-10-01

To descriptively analyze the policy environment surrounding the Polish generic medicines retail market. The policy analysis was based on an international literature review. Also, a simulation exercise was carried out to compute potential savings from substituting generic for originator medicines in Poland using IMS Health pharmaceutical intelligence data. Poland has a mature, high-volume, low-value generic medicines market, primarily driven by the establishment of the reference price at the price of the cheapest medicine in combination with pricing regulation and the low level of medicine prices. The practice of discounting in the distribution chain implies that the National Health Fund and patients do not capture the potential savings from a generic medicines market where companies compete on price. This high-volume market has benefited in the past from the limited availability of originator medicines and a short data exclusivity period, even though there are no incentives for physicians to prescribe generic medicines and a financial disincentive for pharmacists to dispense generic medicines. Increased generic substitution would be expected to reduce public expenditure on originator medicines by 21%. To develop a competitive and sustainable market, Poland needs to consider moving away from competition by discount to competition by price. This could be achieved by replacing maximum distribution margins by fixed margins. Also, Poland may wish to raise reference prices as a temporary measure to boost market entry for medicine classes with few generic medicines.

The Generic Data Capture Facility

Science.gov (United States)

Connell, Edward B.; Barnes, William P.; Stallings, William H.

1987-01-01

The Generic Data Capture Facility, which can provide data capture support for a variety of different types of spacecraft while enabling operations costs to be carefully controlled, is discussed. The data capture functions, data protection, isolation of users from data acquisition problems, data reconstruction, and quality and accounting are addressed. The TDM and packet data formats utilized by the system are described, and the development of generic facilities is considered.

Designing communication and remote controlling of virtual instrument network system

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Lin; Wang, Houjun; Zhou, Xue; Zhou, Wenjian

2005-01-01

In this paper, a virtual instrument network through the LAN and finally remote control of virtual instruments is realized based on virtual instrument and LabWindows/CVI software platform. The virtual instrument network system is made up of three subsystems. There are server subsystem, telnet client subsystem and local instrument control subsystem. This paper introduced virtual instrument network structure in detail based on LabWindows. Application procedure design of virtual instrument network communication, the Client/the programming mode of the server, remote PC and server communication far realizing, the control power of the workstation is transmitted, server program and so on essential technical were introduced. And virtual instruments network may connect to entire Internet on. Above-mentioned technology, through measuring the application in the electronic measurement virtual instrument network that is already built up, has verified the actual using value of the technology. Experiment and application validate that this design is resultful.

Designing communication and remote controlling of virtual instrument network system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lei Lin; Wang Houjun; Zhou Xue; Zhou Wenjian

2005-01-01

In this paper, a virtual instrument network through the LAN and finally remote control of virtual instruments is realized based on virtual instrument and LabWindows/CVI software platform. The virtual instrument network system is made up of three subsystems. There are server subsystem, telnet client subsystem and local instrument control subsystem. This paper introduced virtual instrument network structure in detail based on LabWindows. Application procedure design of virtual instrument network communication, the Client/the programming mode of the server, remote PC and server communication far realizing, the control power of the workstation is transmitted, server program and so on essential technical were introduced. And virtual instruments network may connect to entire Internet on. Above-mentioned technology, through measuring the application in the electronic measurement virtual instrument network that is already built up, has verified the actual using value of the technology. Experiment and application validate that this design is resultful

Does educational intervention improve doctors’ knowledge and perceptions of generic medicines and their generic prescribing rate? A study from Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Zhi Yen; Alrasheedy, Alian A.; Saleem, Fahad; Mohamad Yahaya, Abdul Haniff; Aljadhey, Hisham

2014-01-01

Objectives: To investigate the impact of an educational intervention on doctors’ knowledge and perceptions towards generic medicines and their generic (international non-proprietary name) prescribing practice. Methods: This is a single-cohort pre-/post-intervention pilot study. The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Perak, Malaysia. All doctors from the internal medicine department were invited to participate in the educational intervention. The intervention consisted of an interactive lecture, an educational booklet and a drug list. Doctors’ knowledge and perceptions were assessed by using a validated questionnaire, while the international non-proprietary name prescribing practice was assessed by screening the prescription before and after the intervention. Results: The intervention was effective in improving doctors’ knowledge towards bioequivalence, similarity of generic medicines and safety standards required for generic medicine registration (p = 0.034, p = 0.034 and p = 0.022, respectively). In terms of perceptions towards generic medicines, no significant changes were noted (p > 0.05). Similarly, no impact on international non-proprietary name prescribing practice was observed after the intervention (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Doctors had inadequate knowledge and misconceptions about generic medicines before the intervention. Moreover, international non-proprietary name prescribing was not a common practice. However, the educational intervention was only effective in improving doctors’ knowledge of generic medicines. PMID:26770747

A developmental analysis of generic nouns in Southern Peruvian Quechua.

Science.gov (United States)

Mannheim, Bruce; Gelman, Susan A; Escalante, Carmen; Huayhua, Margarita; Puma, Rosalía

2010-01-01

Generic noun phrases (e.g., "Cats like to drink milk") are a primary means by which adults express generalizations to children, yet they pose a challenging induction puzzle for learners. Although prior research has established that English speakers understand and produce generic noun phrases by preschool age, little is known regarding the cross-cultural generality of generic acquisition. Southern Peruvian Quechua provides a valuable comparison because, unlike English, it is a highly inflected language in which generics are marked by the absence rather than the presence of any linguistic markers. Moreover, Quechua is spoken in a cultural context that differs markedly from the highly educated, middle-class contexts within which earlier research on generics was conducted. We presented participants from 5 age groups (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 14-35, and 36-90 years of age) with two tasks that examined the ability to distinguish generic from non-generic utterances. In Study 1, even the youngest children understood generics as applying broadly to a category (like "all") and distinct from indefinite reference ("some"). However, there was a developmental lag before children understood that generics, unlike "all", can include exceptions. Study 2 revealed that generic interpretations are more frequent for utterances that (a) lack specifying markers and (b) are animate. Altogether, generic interpretations are found among the youngest participants, and may be a default mode of quantification. These data demonstrate the cross-cultural importance of generic information in linguistic expression.

Design of virtual SCADA simulation system for pressurized water reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wijaksono, Umar; Abdullah, Ade Gafar; Hakim, Dadang Lukman

2016-01-01

The Virtual SCADA system is a software-based Human-Machine Interface that can visualize the process of a plant. This paper described the results of the virtual SCADA system design that aims to recognize the principle of the Nuclear Power Plant type Pressurized Water Reactor. This simulation uses technical data of the Nuclear Power Plant Unit Olkiluoto 3 in Finland. This device was developed using Wonderware Intouch, which is equipped with manual books for each component, animation links, alarm systems, real time and historical trending, and security system. The results showed that in general this device can demonstrate clearly the principles of energy flow and energy conversion processes in Pressurized Water Reactors. This virtual SCADA simulation system can be used as instructional media to recognize the principle of Pressurized Water Reactor

Design of virtual SCADA simulation system for pressurized water reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wijaksono, Umar, E-mail: umar.wijaksono@student.upi.edu; Abdullah, Ade Gafar; Hakim, Dadang Lukman [Electrical Power System Research Group, Department of Electrical Engineering Education, Jl. Dr. Setiabudi No. 207 Bandung, Indonesia 40154 (Indonesia)

2016-02-08

The Virtual SCADA system is a software-based Human-Machine Interface that can visualize the process of a plant. This paper described the results of the virtual SCADA system design that aims to recognize the principle of the Nuclear Power Plant type Pressurized Water Reactor. This simulation uses technical data of the Nuclear Power Plant Unit Olkiluoto 3 in Finland. This device was developed using Wonderware Intouch, which is equipped with manual books for each component, animation links, alarm systems, real time and historical trending, and security system. The results showed that in general this device can demonstrate clearly the principles of energy flow and energy conversion processes in Pressurized Water Reactors. This virtual SCADA simulation system can be used as instructional media to recognize the principle of Pressurized Water Reactor.

Posttraumatic stress disorder: possibilities for olfaction and virtual reality exposure therapy

OpenAIRE

Aiken, Mary P; Berry, Mike J

2015-01-01

Visual and auditory information has dominated the field of virtual reality (VR). Evaluation of the role of sensory stimulation in VR has highlighted olfactory stimulation as a potentially powerful yet underutilized therapeutic tool. Early studies of immersive environments, which were run as experiments, incorporated smell in the virtual experience; however, olfaction in virtual environment design and development has arguably failed to maintain a position commensurate with its sensory capacity...

Associations between generic substitution and patient-related factors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard Rathe, Jette

Associations between generic substitution and patient-related factors Jette Østergaard Rathe1, Pia V. Larsen1, Morten Andersen2, Janus L. Thomsen3, Maja S. Paulsen1, Jens Søndergaard1 1. Research Unit of General Practice, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark 2. Centre...... for Pharmacoepidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medicine Solna, Stockholm, Sweden 3. Danish Quality Unit of General Practice, Odense, Denmark Background Generic substitution means that chemically equivalent but less expensive drugs are dispensed in place of a brand name product. Although generic medicines...... by definition are bioequivalent to their brand name counterparts there are concerns about whether generic substitution is always accompanied by clinical equivalence in terms of effectiveness and that it may cause concerns and thereby causing some skepticism towards generic substitution. There is, however...

Consumer choice between common generic and brand medicines in a country with a small generic market.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraeyman, Jessica; Peeters, Lies; Van Hal, Guido; Beutels, Philippe; De Meyer, Guido R Y; De Loof, Hans

2015-04-01

Generic medicines offer an opportunity for governments to contain pharmaceutical expenditures, since generics are generally 10%-80% lower in price than brand medicines. Belgium has a small generic market that takes up 15% of the total pharmaceutical market in packages sold. To determine the knowledge of consumers about the different available packages of a common over-the-counter medicine (acetaminophen) with regard to price advantage, quality, and effectiveness in a country with a small generic market. We conducted an online survey in the general Flemish population using a questionnaire with 25 statements. The questionnaire also contained 2 informative interventions. First, we showed the price per package and per tablet that the patient would pay in the pharmacy. Second, we provided the respondent with general information about generic medication (equivalence, effectiveness, price, and recognition). Before and after the interventions, we probed for preferences and knowledge about the different packages. Multivariate logistic models were used to examine the independent effects of consumer characteristics on responses to the survey statements. We obtained a sample of 1,636 respondents. The general attitude towards generic medication was positive-only 5% would rather not use a generic. Nevertheless, only 17% of the respondents were able to recognize a generic medicine. Older consumers (aged 60 years and above) were more often confused about the different packages (OR = 2.59, 95% CI = 1.76-3.80, P ≤ 0.001). Consumers without a higher education degree tended to be more doubtful about the difference in effectiveness and quality between the different brands (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.44-0.79, P ≤ 0.001). Consumer recognition of the name of the active substance of acetaminophen was poor. When different brands were displayed, possible price advantage seemed to be an important motive to switch to a cheaper brand. Consumers generally found medicines

A Virtual Power Plant Architecture for the Demand-Side Management of Smart Prosumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Pasetti

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a conceptual study on a Virtual Power Plant (VPP architecture for the optimal management of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs owned by prosumers participating in Demand-Side Management (DSM programs. Compared to classical VPP architectures, which aim to aggregate several DERs dispersed throughout the electrical grid, in the proposed VPP architecture the supervised physical domain is limited to single users, i.e., to single Points of Delivery (PODs of the distribution network. The VPP architecture is based on a service-oriented approach, where multiple agents cooperate to implement the optimal management of the prosumer’s assets, by also considering different forms of Demand Response (DR requests. The considered DR schemes range from Price-Based DRs to Event-Based DRs, covering both the normal operating functions and the emergency control requests applied in modern distribution networks. With respect to centralized approaches, in this study the control perspective is moved from the system level to the single prosumer’s level, who is allowed to independently provide flexible power profiles through the aggregation of multiple DERs. A generalized optimization model, formulated as a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP problem, is also introduced. Such a model is able to compute the optimal scheduling of a prosumer’s assets by considering both DR requests and end-users’ requirements in terms of comfort levels while minimizing the costs.

Development, implementation and pilot evaluation of a Web-based Virtual Patient Case Simulation environment--Web-SP.

Science.gov (United States)

Zary, Nabil; Johnson, Gunilla; Boberg, Jonas; Fors, Uno G H

2006-02-21

The Web-based Simulation of Patients (Web-SP) project was initiated in order to facilitate the use of realistic and interactive virtual patients (VP) in medicine and healthcare education. Web-SP focuses on moving beyond the technology savvy teachers, when integrating simulation-based education into health sciences curricula, by making the creation and use of virtual patients easier. The project strives to provide a common generic platform for design/creation, management, evaluation and sharing of web-based virtual patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate if it was possible to develop a web-based virtual patient case simulation environment where the entire case authoring process might be handled by teachers and which would be flexible enough to be used in different healthcare disciplines. The Web-SP system was constructed to support easy authoring, management and presentation of virtual patient cases. The case authoring environment was found to facilitate for teachers to create full-fledged patient cases without the assistance of computer specialists. Web-SP was successfully implemented at several universities by taking into account key factors such as cost, access, security, scalability and flexibility. Pilot evaluations in medical, dentistry and pharmacy courses shows that students regarded Web-SP as easy to use, engaging and to be of educational value. Cases adapted for all three disciplines were judged to be of significant educational value by the course leaders. The Web-SP system seems to fulfil the aim of providing a common generic platform for creation, management and evaluation of web-based virtual patient cases. The responses regarding the authoring environment indicated that the system might be user-friendly enough to appeal to a majority of the academic staff. In terms of implementation strengths, Web-SP seems to fulfil most needs from course directors and teachers from various educational institutions and disciplines. The system is currently in

Family Genericity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ernst, Erik

2006-01-01

Type abstraction in object-oriented languages embody two techniques, each with its own strenghts and weaknesses. The first technique is extension, yielding abstraction mechanisms with good support for gradual specification. The prime example is inheritance. The second technique is functional abst...... the result as family genericity. The presented language design has been implemented....

Hanford Generic Interim Safety Basis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lavender, J.C.

1994-01-01

The purpose of this document is to identify WHC programs and requirements that are an integral part of the authorization basis for nuclear facilities that are generic to all WHC-managed facilities. The purpose of these programs is to implement the DOE Orders, as WHC becomes contractually obligated to implement them. The Hanford Generic ISB focuses on the institutional controls and safety requirements identified in DOE Order 5480.23, Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports

Hanford Generic Interim Safety Basis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lavender, J.C.

1994-09-09

The purpose of this document is to identify WHC programs and requirements that are an integral part of the authorization basis for nuclear facilities that are generic to all WHC-managed facilities. The purpose of these programs is to implement the DOE Orders, as WHC becomes contractually obligated to implement them. The Hanford Generic ISB focuses on the institutional controls and safety requirements identified in DOE Order 5480.23, Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports.

Virtual Presenters: Towards Interactive Virtual Presentations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus; Cappellini, V.; Hemsley, J.

2005-01-01

We discuss having virtual presenters in virtual environments that present information to visitors of these environments. Some current research is surveyed and we will look in particular to our research in the context of a virtual meeting room where a virtual presenter uses speech, gestures, pointing

Applied virtual reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yule, I.Y.; Lee, D.J.

1996-01-01

An early experience in deploying a manipulator to the Irradiated Fuel Dismantling Cell at Torness Power Station, quickly highlighted that special visualisation techniques were required to achieve a successful deployment and reduce plant system down time. This visualisation was later realised through the IGRIP software pakcage operating on a Silicon Graphics computing engine, which provides a 'Non-Immersive' Virtual Reality environment. Within this environment, models of the Irradiated Fuel Dismantling cell were generated along with a model of the manipulator, allowing manipulator deployment to the Irradiated Fuel Dismantling Cell be modelled. It is estimated that the first use of this new environment provided a significant saving to Scottish Nuclear in potential lost output. The use of this virtual reality environment is currently being extended into the design and deployment of a new manipulator for Torness in vessel inspection, the Boiler Inspection Manipulator. (author)

Utilization of virtual prototyping in development of CMM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raneda, A.; Pessi, P.; Siuko, M.; Handroos, H.; Palmer, J.; Vilenius, M.

2003-01-01

The characteristic advantages of hydraulics (high power density, simple construction and reliability) together with the characteristics of water as the pressure medium (fire and environmentally safe, chemically neutral, not activated nor affected by radiation) are highlighted in critical applications such as remote handling operations in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). However, component cost and lack of wide selection of water hydraulic components make it difficult to build and to test complex water hydraulic systems. The use of virtual prototyping for the development of water hydraulic tools can be used to address this problem. Rapidly increased computational power has created conditions for extensive numerical calculations, enabling computer aided virtual prototyping to replace physical prototype phases in product development

Virtual Power Plant Operation and Scheduling Model Based on Energy Blockchain Network%基于能源区块链网络的虚拟电厂运行与调度模型

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

佘维; 胡跃; 杨晓宇; 高山; 刘炜

2017-01-01

区块链作为一种全新的去中心化基础构架和分布式计算范式,融合并创新了多种计算机技术.虚拟电厂(virtual power plant,VPP)是能源互联网中的一个重要分支,在聚合分布式发电资源和建立虚拟电力资源交易等方面发挥着重要的作用.该文针对现有的VPP模型中存在的问题,将区块链技术引入VPP,提出一种能源区块链网络模型,进而提出一种改进的VPP运行与调度模型.通过仿真实验,对比了该模型与原有的VPP运行模式在煤炭消耗、温室气体排放和经济成本等方面的数据.仿真结果表明,该模型可更好地反映需求侧实时信息,更有利于VPP进行环境友好、信息透明的稳定调度,也提高了系统的数据安全性和存储安全性.%Block chain is a new decentralized framework and a distributed computing paradigm,which integrates and innovates a variety of computer technologies.Virtual power plant is an important branch of the energy intemet.It plays an important role in the convergence of distributed power generation resources and the establishment of virtual power resource transactions.In this paper,it proposed a kind of energy block chain network model and a virtual power plant operation and scheduling of the improved model to solve the existing problems in the VPP model.The simulation results show that the proposed model can reflect the real-time information of the demand,conducive to the virtual power plant environmental friendly and transparent stable scheduling,and improve the data and storage security.

Green Virtualization for Multiple Collaborative Cellular Operators

KAUST Repository

Farooq, Muhammad Junaid; Ghazzai, Hakim; Yaacoub, Elias; Kadri, Abdullah; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2017-01-01

This paper proposes and investigates a green virtualization framework for infrastructure sharing among multiple cellular operators whose networks are powered by a combination of conventional and renewable sources of energy. Under the proposed

Virtual Worlds for Virtual Organizing

Science.gov (United States)

Rhoten, Diana; Lutters, Wayne

The members and resources of a virtual organization are dispersed across time and space, yet they function as a coherent entity through the use of technologies, networks, and alliances. As virtual organizations proliferate and become increasingly important in society, many may exploit the technical architecture s of virtual worlds, which are the confluence of computer-mediated communication, telepresence, and virtual reality originally created for gaming. A brief socio-technical history describes their early origins and the waves of progress followed by stasis that brought us to the current period of renewed enthusiasm. Examination of contemporary examples demonstrates how three genres of virtual worlds have enabled new arenas for virtual organizing: developer-defined closed worlds, user-modifiable quasi-open worlds, and user-generated open worlds. Among expected future trends are an increase in collaboration born virtually rather than imported from existing organizations, a tension between high-fidelity recreations of the physical world and hyper-stylized imaginations of fantasy worlds, and the growth of specialized worlds optimized for particular sectors, companies, or cultures.

Generic medications for you, but brand-name medications for me.

Science.gov (United States)

Keenum, Amy J; Devoe, Jennifer E; Chisolm, Deena J; Wallace, Lorraine S

2012-01-01

Because generic medications are less expensive than brand-name medications, government and private insurers have encouraged and/or mandated the use of generics. This study aimed at evaluating perceptions about generic medications among English-speaking women of childbearing age currently enrolled in U.S. TennCare (Medicaid). We recruited a convenience sample of patients from the waiting room of a primary care/gynecology health clinic, with 80% recruitment rate among those approached. We orally administered a 25-item questionnaire to gather sociodemographic information and to assess beliefs regarding the efficacy, safety, cost, and preferences for personal use of generic medications. The average age of the women (n=172) was 28.8 ± 6.4 years, and most were white (82.0%) and currently married (58.1%). Nearly one-fifth (19.2%) had not completed high school. Most women believed that generic medications were less expensive (97.6%) and better value (60.5%) than brand-name medications, but only 45.3% preferred to take generics themselves. About a quarter (23.3%) believed that brand-name medications were more effective than generics, whereas 13.4% believed that generics caused more side effects. Few women reported that their doctor (29.7%) and/or pharmacist (35.5%) had ever talked to them about taking generics. Awareness of the benefits of generics did not equal preferences for personal use of generics among this sample of women enrolled in U.S. TennCare. Furthermore, women reported that providers-both physicians and pharmacists-infrequently discussed generic substitution with them. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards Using a Generic Robot as Training Partner

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Anders Stengaard; Savarimuthu, Thiusius Rajeeth; Nielsen, Jacob

2014-01-01

In this paper, we demonstrate how a generic industrial robot can be used as a training partner, for upper limb training. The motion path and human/robot interaction of a non-generic upper-arm training robot is transferred to a generic industrial robot arm, and we demonstrate that the robot arm can...... implement the same type of interaction, but can expand the training regime to include both upper arm and shoulder training. We compare the generic robot to two affordable but custom-built training robots, and outline interesting directions for future work based on these training robots....

Spacecraft Electrical Power System (EPS) generic analysis tools and techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Gladys M.; Sheppard, Mark A.

1992-01-01

An overview is provided of the analysis tools and techiques used in modeling the Space Station Freedom electrical power system, as well as future space vehicle power systems. The analysis capabilities of the Electrical Power System (EPS) are described and the EPS analysis tools are surveyed.

Innovation strategies for generic drug companies: moving into supergenerics.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Malcolm S F

2010-04-01

Pharmaceutical companies that market generic products generally are not regarded as innovators, but rather as companies that produce copies of originator products to be launched at patent expiration. However, many generics companies have developed excellent scientific innovative skills in an effort to circumvent the defense patents of originator companies. More patents per product, in terms of both drug substances (process patents and polymorph patents) and formulations, are issued to generics companies than to companies that are traditionally considered to be 'innovators'. This quantity of issued patents highlights the technical knowledge and skill sets that are available in generics companies. In order to adopt a completely innovative model (ie, the development of NCEs), a generics company would require a completely new set of skills in several fields, including a sufficient knowledge base, project and risk management experience, and capability for clinical data evaluation. However, with relatively little investment, generics companies should be able to progress into the so-called 'supergeneric' drug space - an area of innovation that reflects the existing competencies of both innovative and generics companies.

Virtual solar field - An opportunity to optimize transient processes in line-focus CSP power plants

Science.gov (United States)

Noureldin, Kareem; Hirsch, Tobias; Pitz-Paal, Robert

2017-06-01

Optimizing solar field operation and control is a key factor to improve the competitiveness of line-focus solar thermal power plants. However, the risks of assessing new and innovative control strategies on operational power plants hinder such optimizations and result in applying more conservative control schemes. In this paper, we describe some applications for a whole solar field transient in-house simulation tool developed at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the Virtual Solar Field (VSF). The tool offers a virtual platform to simulate real solar fields while coupling the thermal and hydraulic conditions of the field with high computational efficiency. Using the tool, developers and operator can probe their control strategies and assess the potential benefits while avoiding the high risks and costs. In this paper, we study the benefits gained from controlling the loop valves and of using direct normal irradiance maps and forecasts for the field control. Loop valve control is interesting for many solar field operators since it provides a high degree of flexibility to the control of the solar field through regulating the flow rate in each loop. This improves the reaction to transient condition, such as passing clouds and field start-up in the morning. Nevertheless, due to the large number of loops and the sensitivity of the field control to the valve settings, this process needs to be automated and the effect of changing the setting of each valve on the whole field control needs to be taken into account. We used VSF to implement simple control algorithms to control the loop valves and to study the benefits that could be gained from using active loop valve control during transient conditions. Secondly, we study how using short-term highly spatially-resolved DNI forecasts provided by cloud cameras could improve the plant energy yield. Both cases show an improvement in the plant efficiency and outlet temperature stability. This paves the road for further

The Virtual Enterprise – Citizen of the European Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreea Davidescu (Vasile

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The Virtual Enterprise is a rather young and unclear concept in the business world. A virtual enterprise is a temporary network of companies that share their different resources in order to reach a given goal (the creation of a new product, or the entry on a new market and is a powerful tool in the hands of the business community. The question this article raises is whether European Union's businesses are able to take advantage of this opportunity within the European Union. We discuss several obstacles towards the creation of virtual enterprises: regulatory uncertainties, operational management that dismisses the advantage of an excellent infrastructure, the orientation of innovation creators towards theoretical research and the European business culture. The article also looks at research on the virtual enterprise in the European Union, the legal framework and technologies for virtualization.

78 FR 22553 - Generic Drug Facilities, Sites, and Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-16

...] Generic Drug Facilities, Sites, and Organizations AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION.... Generic drug facilities, certain sites, and organizations identified in a generic drug submission are... active pharmaceutical ingredients and certain other sites and organizations that support the manufacture...

Exploitation of the Virtual Worlds in Tourism and Tourism Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zejda Pavel

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Academics perceive a great potential of virtual worlds in various areas, including tourism and education. Efforts adapting the virtual worlds in practice are, however, still marginal. There is no clear definition of the virtual world. Therefore the author of this article attempts to provide one. The paper also focuses on the barriers of a wider exploitation of the virtual worlds and discusses the principles that might help to increase their potential in tourism area. One of the principles – gamification – favours a wider adaptation of the virtual worlds in tourism. Applying gamification principles provides visitors with some unique experiences while serving as a powerful marketing tool for institutions. The benefits of implementing tourism education activities based on cooperative principles set in an immersive environment of the virtual worlds are depicted afterwards. Finally, this paper includes successful case studies, which show advantages and drawbacks of some approaches in exploiting the virtual worlds in tourism and tourism education.

Integration of generic issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thatcher, D.

1989-01-01

The NRC has recognized the need to integrate generic issues (GIs). The GI process includes a number of phases, all of which should recognize the potential for overlap and conflict among related issues. In addition to the issues themselves, other related NRC and industry programs and activities need to be factored into the GI process. Integration has taken place, or is taking place, for a number of GIs. Each case of integration involves a specific set of circumstances and, as a result, the way in which integration proceeds can vary. This paper discusses the integration of issues in the generic issue process and provides a number of examples

Study of matrix converter as a current-controlled power supply in QUEST tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Xiaolong; Jiang, Yi; Nakamura, Kazuo

2011-01-01

Because QUEST tokamak has a divertor configuration with a higher κ and a negative n-index, a precise power supply with a rapid response is needed to control the vertical position of the plasma. A matrix converter is a direct power conversion device that uses an array of controlled bidirectional switches as the main power elements for creating a variable-output current system. This paper presents a novel three-phase to two-phase topological matrix converter as a proposed power supply that stabilizes the plasma vertical position and achieves unity input power factor. An indirect control strategy in which the matrix converter is split into a virtual rectifier stage and a virtual inverter stage is adopted. In the virtual rectifier stage, the instantaneous active power and reactive power are decoupled on the basis of system equations derived from the DQ transformation; hence, unity power factor is achieved. Space vector pulse width modulation is adopted to determine the switching time of each switch in the virtual rectifier; the output voltage of the virtual rectifier is adjusted by the virtual inverter stage to obtain the desired load current. Theoretical analyses and simulation results are provided to verify its feasibility. (author)

A Hands-Free Interface for Controlling Virtual Electric-Powered Wheelchairs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tauseef Gulrez

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on how to provide mobility to people with motor impairments with the integration of robotics and wearable computing systems. The burden of learning to control powered mobility devices should not fall entirely on the people with disabilities. Instead, the system should be able to learn the user's movements. This requires learning the degrees of freedom of user movement, and mapping these degrees of freedom onto electric-powered wheelchair (EPW controls. Such mapping cannot be static because in some cases users will eventually improve with practice. Our goal in this paper is to present a hands-free interface (HFI that can be customized to the varying needs of EPW users with appropriate mapping between the users' degrees of freedom and EPW controls. EPW users with different impairment types must learn how to operate a wheelchair with their residual body motions. EPW interfaces are often customized to fit their needs. An HFI utilizes the signals generated by the user's voluntary shoulder and elbow movements and translates them into an EPW control scheme. We examine the correlation of kinematics that occur during moderately paced repetitive elbow and shoulder movements for a range of motion. The output of upper-limb movements (shoulder and elbows was tested on six participants, and compared with an output of a precision position tracking (PPT optical system for validation. We find strong correlations between the HFI signal counts and PPT optical system during different upper-limb movements (ranged from r = 0.86 to 0.94. We also tested the HFI performance in driving the EPW in a virtual reality environment on a spinal-cord-injured (SCI patient. The results showed that the HFI was able to adapt and translate the residual mobility of the SCI patient into efficient control commands within a week's training. The results are encouraging for the development of more efficient HFIs, especially for wheelchair users.

South African patient's acceptance of generic drugs

African Journals Online (AJOL)

mechanism in this regard for final consumers, insurance providers, and ... facilities are viewed as inferior, treated with sus- picion and ... to choose a generic drug if the decision was supported by their doctor ... The effect of brand to generic and ...