OMI/Aura Surface UVB Irradiance and Erythemal Dose Daily L3 Global 1.0x1.0 deg Grid V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Aura-OMI Daily Gridded Surface UV Irradiance Product (OMUVBd) is now available from the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES...

Reparative processes in spleen of rats irradiated with higher daily dose rates of continuous irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mackova, N; Praslicka, M; Misurova, E [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Prirodovedecka Fakulta

1975-01-01

Histological and DNA content values were used in evaluating repair processes in the spleen of rats at various intervals following continuous irradiation with daily doses of 50 R, 100 R, 200 R and 500 R (a total dose of 1000 R), and following a single exposure to 1000 R. Histological changes found immediately after irradiation indicated the induction of significant injuries, this mainly as a result of daily doses of 200 R and 500 R. The complete repair of the DNA content and of a number of erythroid elements and also a 70 to 80% regeneration of the white pulp took place within 25 days. The same period was found to be insufficient for the complete repair of megakaryocytes. No signs of repair were observed in spleen in the histological picture or DNA content after a single irradiation with a dose of 1000 R.

Reparative processes in spleen of rats irradiated with higher daily dose rates of continuous irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mackova, N.; Praslicka, M.; Misurova, E.

1975-01-01

Histological and DNA content values were used in evaluating repair processes in the spleen of rats at various intervals following continuous irradiation with daily doses of 50 R, 100 R, 200 R and 500 R (a total dose of 1000 R), and following a single exposure to 1000 R. Histological changes found immediately after irradiation indicated the induction of significant injuries, this mainly as a result of daily doses of 200 R and 500 R. The complete repair of the DNA content and of a number of erythroid elements and also a 70 to 80% regeneration of the white pulp took place within 25 days. The same period was found to be insufficient for the complete repair of megakaryocytes. No signs of repair were observed in spleen in the histological picture or DNA content after a single irradiation with a dose of 1000 R. (author)

Statistical analysis of global horizontal solar irradiation GHI in Fez city, Morocco

Science.gov (United States)

Bounoua, Z.; Mechaqrane, A.

2018-05-01

An accurate knowledge of the solar energy reaching the ground is necessary for sizing and optimizing the performances of solar installations. This paper describes a statistical analysis of the global horizontal solar irradiation (GHI) at Fez city, Morocco. For better reliability, we have first applied a set of check procedures to test the quality of hourly GHI measurements. We then eliminate the erroneous values which are generally due to measurement or the cosine effect errors. Statistical analysis show that the annual mean daily values of GHI is of approximately 5 kWh/m²/day. Daily monthly mean values and other parameter are also calculated.

Daily CT planning during boost irradiation of prostate cancer. Feasibility and time requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geinitz, H.; Zimmermann, F.B.; Kuzmany, A.; Kneschaurek, P.

2000-01-01

Background: In the irradiation of prostate cancer internal organ movement leads to uncertainties in the daily localization of the clinical target volume. Therefore more or less large safety margins are added when designing the treatment portals. With daily CT planning internal organ movement can be compensated to some extent, safety margins can be reduced and irradiated normal tissue can be spared. The feasibility of daily CT-based 3D treatment planning is studied in a patient with localized prostate carcinoma using a new patient positioning system. Methods: Daily CT planning was applied during boost irradiation of a patient with prostate cancer: After patient immobilization the pelvis was scanned in 3 mm CT slices. Planning was done with the BrainSCAN planning system for stereotactic body irradiation. The prostate was contoured in all slices and the safety margins of the micromultileafs were automatically set to the distance chosen by the physician (0.8 cm). Patient positioning was done with the BrainLAB ExacTrac positioning system on the basis of skin attached stereotactic body markers. Before each treatment verification images of the isocenter were taken. Results: The total time requirement for planning and irradiation was about 1 hour 15 minutes. Patient positioning on the treatment couch took about 10 minutes. The accuracy of the positioning system was good (75% of the deviations were smaller than 3 mm). The shift of the single markers from CT scan to CT scan was more extensive than those of the center of all 7 markers combined (47% of the deviations were smaller than 3 mm). The location of the markers seems to influence the magnitude of their dislocation. Conclusion: Daily CT planning is feasible but time consuming. The new patient positioning system ExacTrac is an interesting tool especially for daily CT planning since conventional simulation can be omitted. (orig.) [de

Analysis of solar irradiation measurements at Beer Sheva, Israel from 1985 through 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evseev, Efim G.; Kudish, Avraham I.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • In depth analysis of long-term solar irradiation at Beer Sheva, Israel. • Construction of a typical meteorological year for global and beam irradiation. • Statistical analysis of the global and beam irradiation. • Analysis of long-term trends regarding global and beam irradiation. - Abstract: An in-depth analysis of the solar horizontal global, normal incidence beam and solar global incident on a south-facing surface tilted at 40° irradiation monitored at Beer Sheva from 1985 through 2013 has been performed. The horizontal beam irradiation, daily clearness index, daily beam index and beam fraction of the horizontal global irradiation were determined from the measured parameters. A statistical analysis, which included average, median, standard deviation, maximum and minimum values and the coefficient of variation, was performed on the parameters under investigation. The monthly frequency distribution types were determined for the solar global, normal incidence beam and solar global incident on a south-facing surface tilted at 40° irradiation based upon their corresponding skewness and kurtosis values. In addition, typical meteorological years were developed for the solar horizontal global and normal incidence beam irradiation. Beer Sheva is characterized as a site with a high incidence of clear days with global irradiation consisting of a relatively high beam fraction. A relatively steep minimum in the annual average daily normal incidence beam irradiation is observed from 1991 to 1993 and has been attributed to the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines during June 1991. A time series analysis of the both individual monthly and annual average daily global and normal incidence irradiation indicated a slight trend of solar brightening for this region during the time interval 1985 through 2013, but in most cases they were not statistically significant based upon their p values

Food irradiation: global aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinning, G.

1988-01-01

As a commercial activity, food irradiation is twenty years old, but is backed by nearly eighty years of research on gamma irradiation and sixty years knowledge of application of the technology to food. An overview is given of the global boom and then the hiatus in its legislative and commercial applications. It is emphasised that in Australia, the overseas experience provides a number of models for proceeding further for food manufacturers, consumers and Government. 13 refs

High-resolution global irradiance monitoring from photovoltaic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Buchmann, Tina; Pfeilsticker, Klaus; Siegmund, Alexander; Meilinger, Stefanie; Mayer, Bernhard; Pinitz, Sven; Steinbrecht, Wolfgang

2016-04-01

Reliable and regional differentiated power forecasts are required to guarantee an efficient and economic energy transition towards renewable energies. Amongst other renewable energy technologies, e.g. wind mills, photovoltaic systems are an essential component of this transition being cost-efficient and simply to install. Reliable power forecasts are however required for a grid integration of photovoltaic systems, which among other data requires high-resolution spatio-temporal global irradiance data. Hence the generation of robust reviewed global irradiance data is an essential contribution for the energy transition. To achieve this goal our studies introduce a novel method which makes use of photovoltaic power generation in order to infer global irradiance. The method allows to determine high-resolution temporal global irradiance data (one data point every 15 minutes at each location) from power data of operated photovoltaic systems. Due to the multitude of installed photovoltaic systems (in Germany) the detailed spatial coverage is much better than for example only using global irradiance data from conventional pyranometer networks (e.g. from the German Weather Service). Our designated method is composed of two components: a forward component, i.e. to conclude from predicted global irradiance to photovoltaic (PV) power, and a backward component, i.e. from PV power with suitable calibration to global irradiance. The forward process is modelled by using the radiation transport model libRadtran (B. Mayer and A. Kylling (1)) for clear skies to obtain the characteristics (orientation, size, temperature dependence, …) of individual PV systems. For PV systems in the vicinity of a meteorological station, these data are validated against calibrated pyranometer readings. The forward-modelled global irradiance is used to determine the power efficiency for each photovoltaic system using non-linear optimisation techniques. The backward component uses the power efficiency

Interrelations of UV-global/global/diffuse solar irradiance components and UV-global attenuation on air pollution episode days in Athens, Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koronakis, P.S.; Sfantos, G.K.

2002-01-01

An investigation of global ultraviolet (G UV ), global (G) and diffuse (G d ) solar intensities, continuously recorded over a period of five years at a station in Athens, Greece, and stored on the basis of hourly time intervals since 1996, has revealed the following: (a) UV-global irradiation, associated with the 290-395 nm wavelength region, constitutes 4.1% of global solar. (b) UV-global irradiance ranges from an average minimum of 2.4 W m -2 and 3.1% of global solar in January to an average maximum of 45 W m -2 and 7.8%, respectively, in June, both considered at 13:00, solar time. (c) There exists a good correlation among the two dimensionless irradiance ratios G UV /G d and G d /G in the form of an exponential relationship. (d) UV-global monthly irradiation data show evidence of temporal variability in Athens, from 1996 to 2000. (e) Anthropogenic and photochemical atmospheric pollutant agents (O 3 , CO, SO 2 , NO x , smoke) causing air pollution episodes seem to affect differently solar irradiance components. The main results of analysis (measurements within ± 2 h from solar noon) indicate that a buildup of O 3 and NO x inside the urban Athens plume during cloudless and windless warm days could cause: (i) UV-global irradiance depletion between 5.4% and 14.4%. (ii) Diffuse solar irradiance enhancement up to 38.1%. (iii) Global solar irradiance attenuation ranging up to 6.3%. (author)

A globally calibrated scheme for generating daily meteorology from monthly statistics: Global-WGEN (GWGEN) v1.0

Science.gov (United States)

Sommer, Philipp S.; Kaplan, Jed O.

2017-10-01

While a wide range of Earth system processes occur at daily and even subdaily timescales, many global vegetation and other terrestrial dynamics models historically used monthly meteorological forcing both to reduce computational demand and because global datasets were lacking. Recently, dynamic land surface modeling has moved towards resolving daily and subdaily processes, and global datasets containing daily and subdaily meteorology have become available. These meteorological datasets, however, cover only the instrumental era of the last approximately 120 years at best, are subject to considerable uncertainty, and represent extremely large data files with associated computational costs of data input/output and file transfer. For periods before the recent past or in the future, global meteorological forcing can be provided by climate model output, but the quality of these data at high temporal resolution is low, particularly for daily precipitation frequency and amount. Here, we present GWGEN, a globally applicable statistical weather generator for the temporal downscaling of monthly climatology to daily meteorology. Our weather generator is parameterized using a global meteorological database and simulates daily values of five common variables: minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind speed. GWGEN is lightweight, modular, and requires a minimal set of monthly mean variables as input. The weather generator may be used in a range of applications, for example, in global vegetation, crop, soil erosion, or hydrological models. While GWGEN does not currently perform spatially autocorrelated multi-point downscaling of daily weather, this additional functionality could be implemented in future versions.

Analysis of Global Solar Irradiance over Climatic Zones in Nigeria for Solar Energy Applications

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Adekunle Ayodotun Osinowo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Satellite derived solar irradiance over 25 locations in the 5 climatic zones of Nigeria (tropical rainforest TRF, Guinea savannah GS, Sahel savannah SHS, Sudan savannah SUS, and Mangrove swamp forest MSF was analyzed. To justify its use, the satellite data was tested for goodness of agreement with ground measured solar radiation data using 26-year mean monthly and daily data over 16 locations in the 5 climatic zones. The well-known R2, RMSE, MBE, and MPE statistical tests were used and good agreement was found. The 25 locations were grouped into the 5 climatic zones. Frequency distribution of global solar irradiance was done for each of the climatic zones. This showed that 46.88%, and 40.6% of the number of days (9794 over TRF and MSF, respectively, had irradiation within the range of 15.01–20.01 MJ/m2/day. For the GS, SHS, and SUS, 46.19%, 55.84% and 58.53% of the days had total irradiation within the range of 20.01–25.01 MJ/m2/day, respectively. Generally, in all the climatic zones, coefficients of variation of solar radiation were high and mean values were low in July and August. Contour maps showed that high and low values of global solar irradiance and clearness index were observed in the Northern and Southern locations of Nigeria, respectively.

SORCE SIM Level 3 Solar Spectral Irradiance Daily Means V020

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The SORCE SIM Solar Spectral Irradiance (SSI) data product SOR3SIMD is constructed using measurements from the SIM instruments, which are combined into merged daily...

SORCE SIM Level 3 Solar Spectral Irradiance Daily Means V022

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The SORCE SIM Solar Spectral Irradiance (SSI) data product SOR3SIMD is constructed using measurements from the SIM instruments, which are combined into merged daily...

Modeling of global horizontal irradiance in the United Arab Emirates with artificial neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hejase, Hassan A.N.; Al-Shamisi, Maitha H.; Assi, Ali H.

2014-01-01

This paper employs ANN (Artificial Neural Network) models to estimate GHI (global horizontal irradiance) for three major cities in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), namely Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al-Ain. City data are then used to develop a comprehensive global GHI model for other nearby locations in the UAE. The ANN models use MLP (Multi-Layer Perceptron) and RBF (Radial Basis Function) techniques with comprehensive training algorithms, architectures, and different combinations of inputs. The UAE models are tested and validated against individual city models and data available from the UAE Solar Atlas with good agreement as attested by the computed statistical error parameters. The optimal ANN model is MLP-based and requires four mean daily weather parameters; namely, maximum temperature, wind speed, sunshine hours, and relative humidity. The computed statistical error parameters for the optimal MLP-ANN model in relation to the measured three-cities mean data (referred to as UAE data) are MBE (mean bias error) = −0.0003 kWh/m 2 , RMSE = 0.179 kWh/m 2 , R 2  = 99%, NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe model Efficiency coefficient) = 99%, and t-statistic = 0.005 at 5% significance level. Results prove the suitability of the ANN models for estimating the monthly mean daily GHI in different locations of the UAE. - Highlights: • ANN prediction models for the GHI (global horizontal irradiance) in the UAE. • Models used to estimate the potential of global solar radiation for UAE cities. • Data from the UAE Solar Atlas are used to validate developed ANN models. • ANN models are more efficient than regression models in predicting GHI

TOMS/Nimbus-7 Total Ozone Aerosol Index UV-Reflectivity UV-B Erythemal Irradiances Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) version 8 Daily Gridded Data consist of daily, global coverage of total column ozone, aerosol index, Lambertian effective...

The choice of sensitive skin layer responsible for aftereffects of daily irradiation of the skin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keirim-Markus, I.B.

1992-01-01

The choice of sensitive human skin layer manifesting in delayed period after daily irradiation of the human skin (stochastic and determined effects) was evaluated. It was established that delayed aftereffects of daily radiation of the skin manifested as epidem damages. This layer of papilla derma of 10-15 mg/cm 2 thick situated at the great part of body surface, 15 mg/cm 2 on dorsal side of hands and 40 mg/cm 2 on palms and pillows of the fingers. Sensitive layer of skin dosimeter for a control of daily irradiation of people must have the same geometry

A global dataset of sub-daily rainfall indices

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, H. J.; Lewis, E.; Blenkinsop, S.; Guerreiro, S.; Li, X.; Barbero, R.; Chan, S.; Lenderink, G.; Westra, S.

2017-12-01

It is still uncertain how hydrological extremes will change with global warming as we do not fully understand the processes that cause extreme precipitation under current climate variability. The INTENSE project is using a novel and fully-integrated data-modelling approach to provide a step-change in our understanding of the nature and drivers of global precipitation extremes and change on societally relevant timescales, leading to improved high-resolution climate model representation of extreme rainfall processes. The INTENSE project is in conjunction with the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)'s Grand Challenge on 'Understanding and Predicting Weather and Climate Extremes' and the Global Water and Energy Exchanges Project (GEWEX) Science questions. A new global sub-daily precipitation dataset has been constructed (data collection is ongoing). Metadata for each station has been calculated, detailing record lengths, missing data, station locations. A set of global hydroclimatic indices have been produced based upon stakeholder recommendations including indices that describe maximum rainfall totals and timing, the intensity, duration and frequency of storms, frequency of storms above specific thresholds and information about the diurnal cycle. This will provide a unique global data resource on sub-daily precipitation whose derived indices will be freely available to the wider scientific community.

Re-irradiation with 36 Gy (1.5 Gy Twice Daily) Plus Paclitaxel for Advanced Recurrent and Previously Irradiated SCCHN is Feasible.

Science.gov (United States)

Rades, Dirk; Bartscht, Tobias; Idel, Christian; Hakim, Samer G

2018-01-01

Many patients developing a loco-regional recurrence of squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN) have a poor prognosis. Often, recurrences are unresectable, and patients require a second course of radiotherapy or chemoradiation. We present an approach of chemoradiation including mainly 30 Gy of radiotherapy (1.5 Gy twice daily) plus concurrent paclitaxel. To further improve the prognoses of these patients, we increased the radiation dose from 30 to 36 Gy. In four patients with recurrent and previously irradiated SCCHN (60-70 Gy) chemoradiation was carried out using 36 Gy (1.5 Gy twice daily) and concurrent paclitaxel (4-5 times 20-25 mg/m 2 ). One-year loco-regional control rates were 75% inside and 67% outside re-irradiated regions. One-year survival was 50%, and median survival time 11 months. Toxicities were mild (grade 0-2). Re-irradiation with 36 Gy (1.5 Gy twice daily) plus paclitaxel appears feasible and may lead to promising outcomes. This study is preceding a phase I trial. Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

Monthly Summaries of the Global Historical Climatology Network - Daily (GHCN-D)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Monthly Summaries of Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)-Daily is a dataset derived from GHCN-Daily. The data are produced by computing simple averages or...

On nonstationarity and antipersistency in global temperature series

Science.gov (United States)

KäRner, O.

2002-10-01

Statistical analysis is carried out for satellite-based global daily tropospheric and stratospheric temperature anomaly and solar irradiance data sets. Behavior of the series appears to be nonstationary with stationary daily increments. Estimating long-range dependence between the increments reveals a remarkable difference between the two temperature series. Global average tropospheric temperature anomaly behaves similarly to the solar irradiance anomaly. Their daily increments show antipersistency for scales longer than 2 months. The property points at a cumulative negative feedback in the Earth climate system governing the tropospheric variability during the last 22 years. The result emphasizes a dominating role of the solar irradiance variability in variations of the tropospheric temperature and gives no support to the theory of anthropogenic climate change. The global average stratospheric temperature anomaly proceeds like a 1-dim random walk at least up to 11 years, allowing good presentation by means of the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models for monthly series.

Hourly distributions of the diffuse fraction of global solar irradiation in Cordoba (Spain)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Posadillo, R.; Lopez Luque, R.

2009-01-01

Hourly global irradiations on tilted planes are required for dimensioning PV systems. However, for most sites, only global irradiations on a horizontal plane are available, and, given that to calculate the global irradiation on inclined planes the first step is to determine the diffuse component and this is not collected, we have studied the behaviour of the diffuse component on an hourly basis. Most parametrization models for the derivation of hourly diffuse irradiance from hourly global irradiance involve the clearness index, a parameter that implicitly includes solar altitude. The present paper has focused on the possibility of also including 'mean solar altitude α-bar' explicitly as a parameter in addition to the clearness index. Several analytical models are proposed, validated and compared here, using solar data collected on our station located in Cordoba (Spain)

Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) - Daily, Version 1.2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) comprises a total of 27 products. The Version 1.2 Daily product covers the period October 1998 to the present,...

Early reoxygenation in tumors after irradiation: Determining factors and consequences for radiotherapy regimens using daily multiple fractions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crokart, Nathalie; Jordan, Benedicte F.; Baudelet, Christine; Ansiaux, Reginald; Sonveaux, Pierre; Gregoire, Vincent; Beghein, Nelson; Wever, Julie de; Bouzin, Caroline; Feron, Olivier; Gallez, Bernard

2005-01-01

Purpose: To characterize changes in the tumor microenvironment early after irradiation and determine the factors responsible for early reoxygenation. Methods and Materials: Fibrosarcoma type II (FSaII) and hepatocarcinoma transplantable liver tumor tumor oxygenation were determined using electron paramagnetic resonance oximetry and a fiberoptic device. Perfusion was assessed by laser Doppler, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, and dye penetration. Oxygen consumption was determined by electron paramagnetic resonance. The interstitial fluid pressure was evaluated by the wick-in-needle technique. Results: An increase in oxygen partial pressure was observed 3-4 h after irradiation. This increase resulted from a decrease in global oxygen consumption and an increase in oxygen delivery. The increase in oxygen delivery was due to radiation-induced acute inflammation (that was partially inhibited by the antiinflammatory agent diclofenac) and to a decrease in interstitial fluid pressure. The endothelial nitric oxide synthase pathway, identified as a contributing factor at 24 h after irradiation, did not play a role in the early stage after irradiation. We also observed that splitting a treatment of 18 Gy into two fractions separated by 4 h (time of maximal reoxygenation) had a greater effect on tumor regrowth delay than when applied as a single dose. Conclusion: Although the cell cycle redistribution effect is important for treatment protocols using multiple daily radiation fractions, the results of this work emphasize that the oxygen effect must be also considered to optimize the treatment strategy

Determination of Semivariogram Models to Krige Hourly and Daily Solar Irradiance in Western Nebraska(.

Science.gov (United States)

Merino, G. G.; Jones, D.; Stooksbury, D. E.; Hubbard, K. G.

2001-06-01

In this paper, linear and spherical semivariogram models were determined for use in kriging hourly and daily solar irradiation for every season of the year. The data used to generate the models were from 18 weather stations in western Nebraska. The models generated were tested using cross validation. The performance of the spherical and linear semivariogram models were compared with each other and also with the semivariogram models based on the best fit to the sample semivariogram of a particular day or hour. There were no significant differences in the performance of the three models. This result and the comparable errors produced by the models in kriging indicated that the linear and spherical models could be used to perform kriging at any hour and day of the year without deriving an individual semivariogram model for that day or hour.The seasonal mean absolute errors associated with kriging, within the network, when using the spherical or the linear semivariograms models were between 10% and 13% of the mean irradiation for daily irradiation and between 12% and 20% for hourly irradiation. These errors represent an improvement of 1%-2% when compared with replacing data at a given site with the data of the nearest weather station.

TOMS/Earth-Probe Total Ozone Aerosol Index UV-Reflectivity UV-B Erythemal Irradiance Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) version 8 daily global gridded data consist of total column ozone, aerosol index, Lambertian effective surface...

Hourly distributions of the diffuse fraction of global solar irradiation in Cordoba (Spain)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Posadillo, R.; Lopez Luque, R. [Grupo de Investigacion de Fisica para las Energias y Recursos Renovables, Dpto. de Fisica Aplicada/UCO, Edificio C2 Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Cordoba (Spain)

2009-02-15

Hourly global irradiations on tilted planes are required for dimensioning PV systems. However, for most sites, only global irradiations on a horizontal plane are available, and, given that to calculate the global irradiation on inclined planes the first step is to determine the diffuse component and this is not collected, we have studied the behaviour of the diffuse component on an hourly basis. Most parametrization models for the derivation of hourly diffuse irradiance from hourly global irradiance involve the clearness index, a parameter that implicitly includes solar altitude. The present paper has focused on the possibility of also including ''mean solar altitude anti {alpha}'' explicitly as a parameter in addition to the clearness index. Several analytical models are proposed, validated and compared here, using solar data collected on our station located in Cordoba (Spain). (author)

Spatio-temporal interpolation of daily temperatures for global land areas at 1 km resolution

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kilibarda, M.; Hengl, T.; Heuvelink, G.B.M.; Graler, B.; Pebesma, E.; Tadic, M.P.; Bajat, B.

2014-01-01

Combined Global Surface Summary of Day and European Climate Assessment and Dataset daily meteorological data sets (around 9000 stations) were used to build spatio-temporal geostatistical models and predict daily air temperature at ground resolution of 1km for the global land mass. Predictions in

Comparison of several databases of downward solar daily irradiation data at ocean surface with PIRATA measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Trolliet, Mélodie; Wald, Lucien

2017-04-01

The solar radiation impinging at sea surface is an essential variable in climate system. There are several means to assess the daily irradiation at surface, such as pyranometers aboard ship or on buoys, meteorological re-analyses and satellite-derived databases. Among the latter, assessments made from the series of geostationary Meteosat satellites offer synoptic views of the tropical and equatorial Atlantic Ocean every 15 min with a spatial resolution of approximately 5 km. Such Meteosat-derived databases are fairly recent and the quality of the estimates of the daily irradiation must be established. Efforts have been made for the land masses and must be repeated for the Atlantic Ocean. The Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA) network of moorings in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean is considered as a reference for oceanographic data. It consists in 17 long-term Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System (ATLAS) buoys equipped with sensors to measure near-surface meteorological and subsurface oceanic parameters, including downward solar irradiation. Corrected downward solar daily irradiation from PIRATA were downloaded from the NOAA web site and were compared to several databases: CAMS RAD, HelioClim-1, HelioClim-3 v4 and HelioClim-3 v5. CAMS-RAD, the CAMS radiation service, combines products of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) on gaseous content and aerosols in the atmosphere together with cloud optical properties deduced every 15 min from Meteosat imagery to supply estimates of the solar irradiation. Part of this service is the McClear clear sky model that provides estimates of the solar irradiation that should be observed in cloud-free conditions. The second and third databases are HelioClim-1 and HelioClim-3 v4 that are derived from Meteosat images using the Heliosat-2 method and the ESRA clear sky model, based on the Linke turbidity factor. HelioClim-3 v5 is the fourth database and differs from v4 by the

Structural changes in chromosomes of peripheral blood lymphocytes in monkeys subjected to long-term daily irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosichenko, L.P.

1976-01-01

During the period that lasted from 4 to 11 years after the cessation of the long-term daily gamma-irradiation the frequency of chromosome rearrangements in peripheral blood lymphocytes of monkeys exceeded the control level. The number of rearrangements did not change significantly with different total irradiation doses (from 826 to 3677r). The main type of structural chromosome rearrangements were symmetrical chromosome exchanges. Abnormal cell clones in peripheral lymphocytes in monkeys irradiated with low doses exhibited no selective advantages during the periods of investigation

Improved Synthesis of Global Irradiance with One-Minute Resolution for PV System Simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Hofmann

2014-01-01

Full Text Available High resolution global irradiance time series are needed for accurate simulations of photovoltaic (PV systems, since the typical volatile PV power output induced by fast irradiance changes cannot be simulated properly with commonly available hourly averages of global irradiance. We present a two-step algorithm that is capable of synthesizing one-minute global irradiance time series based on hourly averaged datasets. The algorithm is initialized by deriving characteristic transition probability matrices (TPM for different weather conditions (cloudless, broken clouds and overcast from a large number of high resolution measurements. Once initialized, the algorithm is location-independent and capable of synthesizing one-minute values based on hourly averaged global irradiance of any desired location. The one-minute time series are derived by discrete-time Markov chains based on a TPM that matches the weather condition of the input dataset. One-minute time series generated with the presented algorithm are compared with measured high resolution data and show a better agreement compared to two existing synthesizing algorithms in terms of temporal variability and characteristic frequency distributions of global irradiance and clearness index values. A comparison based on measurements performed in Lindenberg, Germany, and Carpentras, France, shows a reduction of the frequency distribution root mean square errors of more than 60% compared to the two existing synthesizing algorithms.

Effect of daily low dose gamma irradiation on growth and differentiation of human myeloid leukaemic bone marrow in diffusion chambers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Greenberger, J S [Joint Center for Radiation Therapy, Department of Radiation and Sidney Farber Cancer Institute; Chang, J M; King, V; Fulmer, S; Balzuno, S; Moloney, W C [Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women' s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

1981-01-01

Bone marrow from each of 8 untreated patients with myeloproliferative disorders was grown in diffusion chambers in 760 rad total body irradiated rats. Rats were exposed to 11.5, 57.5, or 108.5 rad daily for 14-21 and cell growth compared to that detected in unirradiated chambers. Cells from acute myelogenous leukaemia patients exposed to 11.5 rad per d grew for 11-21 d and there was no consistent stimulation of differentiation of immature granulocytic cells to mature granulocytes that was attributable to irradiation. Cells from a chronic myeloid leukaemia patient in chronic phase or blast crisis, and a polycythaemia vera patient with myeloid metaplasia showed signigicant morphologic differentiation from immature to mature granulocytes in control chambers with no additional effect of daily irradiation. Marrow specimens from 2 AML patients exposed to each of 3 daily dose fractions over 14 d revealed a dose-dependent decrease in immature granulocytes with no persistent increase in mature granulocytes. In both irradiated and control chambers, macrophages increased over 21 d. Thus, cells from patients with myeloprofilerative disorders may not necessarily differentiate to mature granulocytes following in vivo exposure to ionizing irradiation.

Usefulness of Daily Fractionated Administration of Wortmannin Combined With γ-Ray Irradiation in Terms of Local Tumor Response and Lung Metastasis

Science.gov (United States)

Masunaga, Shin-ichiro; Sakurai, Yoshinori; Tanaka, Hiroki; Suzuki, Minoru; Kondo, Natsuko; Narabayashi, Masaru; Tano, Keizo; Maruhashi, Akira; Ono, Koji

2013-01-01

Background To evaluate the usefulness of fractionated administration of wortmannin combined with γ-ray irradiation in terms of local tumor response and lung metastatic potential, referring to the response of intratumor quiescent (Q) cells. Methods B16-BL6 melanoma tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mice were continuously given 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) to label all proliferating (P) cells. The tumor-bearing mice then received γ-ray irradiation after wortmannin treatment through a single or 4 consecutive daily intraperitoneal administrations up to a total dose of 4 mg/kg in combination with an acute hypoxia-releasing agent (nicotinamide) or mild temperature hyperthermia (MTH). Immediately after the irradiation, cells from some tumors were isolated and incubated with a cytokinesis blocker. The responses of the Q and total (= P + Q) cell populations were assessed based on the frequency of micronuclei using immunofluorescence staining for BrdU. In other tumor-bearing mice, 17 days after irradiation, macroscopic lung metastases were enumerated. Results Wortmannin raised the sensitivity of Q cells more remarkably than the total cell population in both single and daily administrations. Daily administration of wortmannin elevated the sensitivity of both the total and Q cell populations, but especially the total cell population, compared with single administration. Daily administration, especially combined with MTH, decreased the number of lung metastases. Conclusion Daily fractionated administration of wortmannin in combination with γ-ray irradiation was thought to be more promising than single administration because of its potential to enhance local tumor response and repress lung metastatic potential. PMID:29147327

Pathological consequences of chronic low daily dose gamma irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seed, T.M.; Miller, A.C.; Ramakrishnan, N. [Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Inst., Bethesda, MD (United States); Fritz, T.E.

2000-07-01

The quantitative relationships between the chronic radiation exposure parameters of dose-rate and total dose in relation to associated health risks was examined in dogs. At a dose-rate of 75, 128, and 263 mGy/d the incidence of acute lymphohematopoietic suppression (aplastic anemia) and associated septic complications was 73%, 87%, and 100%, respectively, and it increased in dose-dependent manner. By contrast, at dose-rates below 75 mGy/d, late cancers contributed significantly to the death of relatively long-lived animals, whose mean survival time was 1800 days. Myeloproliferative disease (MPD), mainly myeloid leukemia, was the dominant pathology seen at the higher daily dose-rates (18.8-75 mGy/d). When daily exposure was carried out continuously, the incidence of MPD was quite high. It should be noted that the induction radiation-induced MPD in this study was highly significant, because spontaneous MPD is exceedingly rare in the dog. However, when the daily dose-rate was reduced further or exposure was discontinued, the incidence of MPD declined significantly. At these lower dose-rates, solid tumors contributed heavily to the life-shortening effects of chronic irradiation. The induction and progression of these survival-compromising, late forms of pathology appeared to be driven by the degree of hematopoietic suppression that occurred early during the exposure phase, and in turn by the capacity of hematopoietic system to repair itself, recover, and to accommodate under chronic radiation stress. (K.H.)

A global gridded dataset of daily precipitation going back to 1950, ideal for analysing precipitation extremes

Science.gov (United States)

Contractor, S.; Donat, M.; Alexander, L. V.

2017-12-01

Reliable observations of precipitation are necessary to determine past changes in precipitation and validate models, allowing for reliable future projections. Existing gauge based gridded datasets of daily precipitation and satellite based observations contain artefacts and have a short length of record, making them unsuitable to analyse precipitation extremes. The largest limiting factor for the gauge based datasets is a dense and reliable station network. Currently, there are two major data archives of global in situ daily rainfall data, first is Global Historical Station Network (GHCN-Daily) hosted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the other by Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) part of the Deutsche Wetterdienst (DWD). We combine the two data archives and use automated quality control techniques to create a reliable long term network of raw station data, which we then interpolate using block kriging to create a global gridded dataset of daily precipitation going back to 1950. We compare our interpolated dataset with existing global gridded data of daily precipitation: NOAA Climate Prediction Centre (CPC) Global V1.0 and GPCC Full Data Daily Version 1.0, as well as various regional datasets. We find that our raw station density is much higher than other datasets. To avoid artefacts due to station network variability, we provide multiple versions of our dataset based on various completeness criteria, as well as provide the standard deviation, kriging error and number of stations for each grid cell and timestep to encourage responsible use of our dataset. Despite our efforts to increase the raw data density, the in situ station network remains sparse in India after the 1960s and in Africa throughout the timespan of the dataset. Our dataset would allow for more reliable global analyses of rainfall including its extremes and pave the way for better global precipitation observations with lower and more transparent uncertainties.

Regression Model to Predict Global Solar Irradiance in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hairuniza Ahmed Kutty

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A novel regression model is developed to estimate the monthly global solar irradiance in Malaysia. The model is developed based on different available meteorological parameters, including temperature, cloud cover, rain precipitate, relative humidity, wind speed, pressure, and gust speed, by implementing regression analysis. This paper reports on the details of the analysis of the effect of each prediction parameter to identify the parameters that are relevant to estimating global solar irradiance. In addition, the proposed model is compared in terms of the root mean square error (RMSE, mean bias error (MBE, and the coefficient of determination (R2 with other models available from literature studies. Seven models based on single parameters (PM1 to PM7 and five multiple-parameter models (PM7 to PM12 are proposed. The new models perform well, with RMSE ranging from 0.429% to 1.774%, R2 ranging from 0.942 to 0.992, and MBE ranging from −0.1571% to 0.6025%. In general, cloud cover significantly affects the estimation of global solar irradiance. However, cloud cover in Malaysia lacks sufficient influence when included into multiple-parameter models although it performs fairly well in single-parameter prediction models.

The EUSTACE project: delivering global, daily information on surface air temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Ghent, D.; Rayner, N. A.

2017-12-01

Day-to-day variations in surface air temperature affect society in many ways; however, daily surface air temperature measurements are not available everywhere. A global daily analysis cannot be achieved with measurements made in situ alone, so incorporation of satellite retrievals is needed. To achieve this, in the EUSTACE project (2015-2018, https://www.eustaceproject.eu) we have developed an understanding of the relationships between traditional (land and marine) surface air temperature measurements and retrievals of surface skin temperature from satellite measurements, i.e. Land Surface Temperature, Ice Surface Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature and Lake Surface Water Temperature. Here we discuss the science needed to produce a fully-global daily analysis (or ensemble of analyses) of surface air temperature on the centennial scale, integrating different ground-based and satellite-borne data types. Information contained in the satellite retrievals is used to create globally-complete fields in the past, using statistical models of how surface air temperature varies in a connected way from place to place. This includes developing new "Big Data" analysis methods as the data volumes involved are considerable. We will present recent progress along this road in the EUSTACE project, i.e.: • identifying inhomogeneities in daily surface air temperature measurement series from weather stations and correcting for these over Europe; • estimating surface air temperature over all surfaces of Earth from surface skin temperature retrievals; • using new statistical techniques to provide information on higher spatial and temporal scales than currently available, making optimum use of information in data-rich eras. Information will also be given on how interested users can become involved.

Evaluation of various procedures transposing global tilted irradiance to horizontal surface irradiance

Science.gov (United States)

Housmans, Caroline; Bertrand, Cédric

2017-02-01

Many transposition models have been proposed in the literature to convert solar irradiance on the horizontal plane to that on a tilted plane. The inverse process, i.e. the conversion from tilted to horizontal is investigated here based upon seven months of in-plane global solar irradiance measurements recorded on the roof of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium's radiation tower in Uccle (Longitude 4.35° E, Latitude 50.79° N). Up to three pyranometers mounted on inclined planes of different tilts and orientations were involved in the inverse transposition process. Our results indicate that (1) the tilt to horizontal irradiance conversion is improved when measurements from more than one tilted pyranometer are considered (i.e. by using a multi-pyranometer approach) and (2) the improvement from using an isotropic model to anisotropic models in the inverse transposition problem is not significant.

Reported Exposure and Emotional Reactivity to Daily Stressors: The Roles of Adult-Age and Global Perceived Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Stawski, Robert S.; Sliwinski, Martin J.; Almeida, David M.; Smyth, Joshua M.

2012-01-01

A central goal of daily stress research is to identify resilience and vulnerability factors associated with exposure and reactivity to daily stressors. The current study examined how age differences and global perceptions of stress relate to exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors. Sixty-seven younger (Mage = 20) and 116 older (Mage = 80) adults completed a daily stress diary and measures of positive and negative affect on 6 days over a 14 day period. Participants also completed a measure of global perceived stress. Results revealed that reported exposure to daily stressors is reduced in old age, but that emotional reactivity to daily stressors did not differ between young and older adults. Global perceived stress was associated with greater reported exposure to daily stressors in old adults, and greater stress-related increases in negative affect in younger adults. Furthermore, across days on which daily stressors were reported, intraindividual variability in the number and severity of stressors reported was associated with increased negative affect, but only among younger adults. PMID:18361654

Reported exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors: the roles of adult age and global perceived stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Stawski, Robert S; Sliwinski, Martin J; Almeida, David M; Smyth, Joshua M

2008-03-01

A central goal of daily stress research is to identify resilience and vulnerability factors associated with exposure and reactivity to daily stressors. The present study examined how age differences and global perceptions of stress relate to exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors. Sixty-seven younger (M age = 20) and 116 older (M age = 80) adults completed a daily stress diary and measures of positive and negative affect on 6 days over a 14-day period. Participants also completed a measure of global perceived stress. Results revealed that reported exposure to daily stressors is reduced in old age but that emotional reactivity to daily stressors did not differ between younger and older adults. Global perceived stress was associated with greater reported exposure to daily stressors in older adults and greater stress-related increases in negative affect in younger adults. Furthermore, across days on which daily stressors were reported, intraindividual variability in the number and severity of stressors reported was associated with increased negative affect, but only among younger adults. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Irradiated foodstuff: atom, junk-food and globalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azam, Genevieve; Berlan, Jean-Pierre; Desbordes, Roland; Dufour, Francois; Fievet, Yann; Folliard, Thierry; Gallais, Veronique; Hauter, Wenonah; Jacquiau, Christian; Kastler, Guy; Lannoye, Paul; Le Goff, Lylian; Le Rohellec, Catherine; Louchard, Olivier; Marechal, Gilles; Nicolas, Yveline; Remesy, Christian; Trouve, Aurelie; Veillerette, Francois

2008-01-01

Food irradiation is officially presented as an ideal technology at the service of worldwide health safety and as an alternative to chemical processing of foodstuff. It is first of all a multi-usage technology for the preservation, disinfestation, ripening slowing down, and germination inhibition of products which serves the interests of multinational companies of the agriculture and food industry. According to the authors, it is also an instrument for the globalization of foodstuff trade encouraged by the international institutions and by some governments. The book stresses on the health, socio-economic and environmental risks of this technology: vitamins loss, carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, impact on local employment and economy, risks linked with the use of irradiation devices etc

Analysis of direct to diffuse partitioning of global solar irradiance at the radiometric station in Badajoz (Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez, G.; Cancillo, M. L.; Serrano, A.

2010-09-01

This study is aimed at the analysis of the partitioning of global solar irradiance into its direct and diffuse components at the radiometric station in Badajoz (Spain). The detailed knowledge of the solar radiation field is of increasing interest in Southern Europe due to its use as renewable energy. In particular, the knowledge of the solar radiation partitioning into direct and diffuse radiation has become a major demand for the design and suitable orientation of solar panels in solar power plants. In this study the first measurements of solar diffuse irradiance performed in the radiometric station in Badajoz (Spain) are presented and analyzed in the framework of the partitioning of solar global radiation. Thus, solar global and diffuse irradiance were measured at one-minute basis from 23 November 2009 to 31 March 2010. Solar irradiances were measured by two Kipp&Zonen CMP11 pyranometers, using a Kipp&Zonen CM121 shadow ring for the measurements of solar diffuse irradiance. Diffuse measurements were corrected from the solid angle hidden by the ring and direct irradiance was calculated as the difference between global and diffuse measurements. Irradiance was obtained from the pyranomenters by applying calibration coefficients obtained in an inter-comparison campaign performed at INTA/El Arenosillo, in Huelva (Spain), last September 2009. There, calibration coefficients were calculated using as a reference a CMP11 pyranometer which had been previously calibrated by the Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos/World Radiation Centre in Switzerland. In order to study the partitioning of the solar radiation, the global and diffuse irradiances have been analyzed for three typical different sky conditions: cloud-free, broken clouds and overcast. Particular days within the period of study have been selected by visual inspection. Along with the analysis of the global and diffuse irradiances themselves, ratios of these irradiances to the downward irradiance at the

Estimation of global solar radiation by means of sunshine duration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luis, Mazorra Aguiar; Felipe, Diaz Reyes [Electrical Engineering Dept., Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Univ. (U.L.P.G.C.), Campus Univ. Tafira (Spain); Pilar, Navarro Rivero [Canary Islands Technological Inst. (I.T.C.), Gran Canaria (Spain)

2008-07-01

This paper analyses the relationship between global solar irradiation and sunshine duration with different estimation models for the island of Gran Canaria (Spain). These parameters were taken from six measurement stations around the Island, and selected for their reliability and the long period of time they covered. All data used in this paper were handed over by the Canary Islands Technological Institute (I.T.C.). As a first approach, it was decided to study the Angstrom lineal model. In order to improve the knowledge on solar resources, a Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) was created from all daily data. TMY shows differences between southern and northern locations, where Trade Winds generate clouds during the summer months. TMY resumes a data bank much longer than a year in duration, generating the characteristics for a year series of each location, for both irradiation and sunshine duration. To create the TMY, weighted means have been used to smooth high or low values. At first, Angstrom lineal model has been used to estimate solar global irradiation from sunshine duration values, using TMY. But the lineal model didn't reproduce satisfactory results when used to obtain global solar radiation from all daily sunshine duration data. For this reason, different models based in both parameters were used. The parameters estimation of this model was achieved both from TMY daily and monthly series and from all daily data for every location. Because of the weather stability all over the year in the Island, most of the daily data are concentrated in a close range, occasioning a deviation in the lineal equations. To avoid this deviation it was proposed to consider a limit condition data, taking into account values out of the main cloud of data. Additionally, different models were proposed (quadratic, cubic, logarithmic and exponential) to make a regression from all daily data. The best results were obtained with the exponential model proposed in this paper. The

Changes of some serum proteins in rats continuously irradiated with daily dose rate of 0. 0258 C/kg

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chlebovska, K; Chlebovsky, O; Praslicka, M [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Katedra Vseobecnej Biologie

1976-01-01

Changes of serum albumin, haptoglobin, hemopexin and IgG in rats during chronic /sup 60/Co gamma irradiation with a daily dose rate of 0.0258 C/kg within 44 days were investigated by the method of two-dimensional quantitative immunoelectrophoresis. In comparison with normal levels, the values of albumin and IgG in rats during irradiation decreased until the death of animals to 50%, the values of haptoglobin increased till the 39th day of irradiation to 250% and hemopexin values increased to 150%.

Global daily precipitation fields from bias-corrected rain gauge and satellite observations. Pt. 1. Design and development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kottek, M.; Rubel, F. [Univ. of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Austria). Biometeorology Group

2007-10-15

Global daily precipitation analyses are mainly based on satellite estimates, often calibrated with monthly ground analyses or merged with model predictions. We argue here that an essential improvement of their accuracy is only possible by incorporation of daily ground measurements. In this work we apply geostatistical methods to compile a global precipitation product based on daily rain gauge measurements. The raw ground measurements, disseminated via Global Telecommunication System (GTS), are corrected for their systematic measurement errors and interpolated onto a global 1 degree grid. For interpolation ordinary block kriging is applied, with precalculated spatial auto-correlation functions (ACFs). This technique allows to incorporate additional climate information. First, monthly ACFs are calculated from the daily data; second, they are regionalised according to the five main climatic zones of the Koeppen-Geiger climate classification. The interpolation error, a by-product of kriging, is used to flag grid points as missing if the error is above a predefined threshold. But for many applications missing values constitute a problem. Due to a combination of the ground analyses with the daily multi-satellite product of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP-1DD) not only these missing values are replaced but also the spatial structure of the satellite estimates is considered. As merging method bivariate ordinary co-kriging is applied. The ACFs necessary for the gauge and the satellite fields as well as the corresponding spatial cross-correlation functions (CCFs) are again precalculated for each of the five main climatic zones and for each individual month. As a result two new global daily data sets for the period 1996 up to today will be available on the Internet (www.gmes-geoland.info): A precipitation product over land, analysed from ground measurements; and a global precipitation product merged from this and the GPCP-1DD multi-satellite product. (orig.)

A critical review on the estimation of daily global solar radiation from sunshine duration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yorukoglu, Mehmet; Celik, Ali Naci

2006-01-01

Models such as the Angstroem-Prescott equation are used to estimate global solar radiation from sunshine duration. In the literature, researchers investigate either the goodness of the model itself or the goodness of the estimation of global solar radiation based on a set of statistical parameters such as R 2 , RMSE, MBE, MABE, MPE and MAPE. If the former is the objective, then the statistical analysis should naturally be based on H/H o - S/S o (the ratio of daily solar radiation to extraterrestrial daily solar radiation vs. the ratio of sunshine duration to day length). If the latter is investigated, then the statistical analysis should be based on H c - H m (calculated daily solar radiation vs. measured daily solar radiation). A literature survey undertaken in the present article showed that these two data sets are apt to be confused, drawing the statistical parameters to be used in assessment of the estimation model from the latter data set or the vice versa set. The statistical parameters are clearly derived from the basics for both of the data sets, and the inconsistencies caused by this confusion and other factors are exposed. A case study of the estimation models and global solar radiation estimation from sunshine duration is presented using five different models (linear, quadratic, cubic, logarithmic and exponential), which are the most common models used in the literature, based on 6 years long measured hourly global solar radiation data

Estimating the daily global solar radiation spatial distribution from diurnal temperature ranges over the Tibetan Plateau in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan, Tao; Wu, Shaohong; Dai, Erfu; Liu, Yujie

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Bristow–Campbell model was calibrated and validated over the Tibetan Plateau. ► Develop a simple method to rasterise the daily global solar radiation and get gridded information. ► The daily global solar radiation spatial distribution over the Tibetan Plateau was estimated. - Abstract: Daily global solar radiation is fundamental to most ecological and biophysical processes because it plays a key role in the local and global energy budget. However, gridded information about the spatial distribution of solar radiation is limited. This study aims to parameterise the Bristow–Campbell model for the daily global solar radiation estimation in the Tibetan Plateau and propose a method to rasterise the daily global solar radiation. Observed daily solar radiation and diurnal temperature data from eleven stations over the Tibetan Plateau during 1971–2010 were used to calibrate and validate the Bristow–Campbell radiation model. The extra-terrestrial radiation and clear sky atmospheric transmittance were calculated on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. Results show that the Bristow–Campbell model performs well after adjusting the parameters, the average Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r), Nash–Sutcliffe equation (NSE), ratio of the root mean square error to the standard deviation of measured data (RSR), and root mean-square error (RMSE) of 11 stations are 0.85, 2.81 MJ m −2 day −1 , 0.3 and 0.77 respectively. Gridded maximum and minimum average temperature data were obtained using Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) and validated by the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) stations’ data. The spatial daily global solar radiation distribution pattern was estimated and analysed by combining the solar radiation model (Bristow–Campbell model) and meteorological interpolation model (PRISM). Based on the overall results, it can be concluded that a calibrated Bristow–Campbell performs well

Irradiated foodstuff: atom, junk-food and globalization; Aliments irradies: Atome, malbouffe et mondialisation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Azam, Genevieve; Berlan, Jean-Pierre; Desbordes, Roland; Dufour, Francois; Fievet, Yann; Folliard, Thierry; Gallais, Veronique; Hauter, Wenonah; Jacquiau, Christian; Kastler, Guy; Lannoye, Paul; Le Goff, Lylian; Le Rohellec, Catherine; Louchard, Olivier; Marechal, Gilles; Nicolas, Yveline; Remesy, Christian; Trouve, Aurelie; Veillerette, Francois

2008-07-01

Food irradiation is officially presented as an ideal technology at the service of worldwide health safety and as an alternative to chemical processing of foodstuff. It is first of all a multi-usage technology for the preservation, disinfestation, ripening slowing down, and germination inhibition of products which serves the interests of multinational companies of the agriculture and food industry. According to the authors, it is also an instrument for the globalization of foodstuff trade encouraged by the international institutions and by some governments. The book stresses on the health, socio-economic and environmental risks of this technology: vitamins loss, carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, impact on local employment and economy, risks linked with the use of irradiation devices etc

A model for diffuse and global irradiation on horizontal surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, P.C.

1984-01-01

The intensity of the direct radiation and the diffuse radiation at any time on a horizontal surface are each expressed as fractions of the intensity of the extraterrestrial radiation. Using these and assuming a random distribution of the bright sunshine hours and not too wide variations in the values of the transmission coefficients, a number of relations for estimating the global and the diffuse irradiation are derived. Two of the relations derived are already known empirically. The formulation lends more confidence in the use of the already empirically known relations providing them a theoretical basis, and affords more flexibility to the estimation techniques by supplying new equations. The study identifies three independent basic parameters and the constants appearing in the various equations as simple functions of these three basic parameters. Experimental data for the diffuse irradiation, the global irradiation and the bright sunshine duration for Macerata (Italy), Salisbury and Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) is found to show good correlation for the linear equations, and the nature and the interrelationships of the constants are found to be as predicted by the theory

Global trends of acceptance and trade in irradiated foods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matin, M A [Food and Environmental Protection Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

2001-05-01

Issues as relevant to wide scale application of food irradiation are presented in this paper to provide current status of the technology. Global development on key issues such as public acceptance, public health improvement, safety and wholesomeness, regulatory aspects, potential application of the technology to ease quarantine problems in the trade of food and agricultural commodities as a viable alternative to fumigation with methyl bromide have been presented. Irradiation ensures the hygienic quality of food and extends shelf-life. Many international organizations and respected regional/national bodies agree on the merits of the technique and valuable contribution that the process can offer to safeguard the food supply worldwide. Codex General Standard for irradiated food and the associated Code of Practice for operation of the irradiation facilities used for the treatment of foods adopted in 1983 forms the regulatory basis for commercial utilization of the processing technology. More than 40 countries of the world have Standards/Regulations to process one or more food products by the irradiation process. Efforts are underway to harmonise national regulations on food irradiation to remove obstacles for international trade of irradiated products. There is a rapid development on commercial application of food irradiation in the USA and elsewhere in the past few months. There are already several existing commercial irradiators available for treating food in the USA and many more are planned to be built. Such commercial food irradiation facilities are also in different stage of development in Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea. Roles of irradiation ensuring food safety, contributing food security and facilitating trade are more and more recognized in developed and developing countries alike. (author)

Global trends of acceptance and trade in irradiated foods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matin, M.A.

2001-01-01

Issues as relevant to wide scale application of food irradiation are presented in this paper to provide current status of the technology. Global development on key issues such as public acceptance, public health improvement, safety and wholesomeness, regulatory aspects, potential application of the technology to ease quarantine problems in the trade of food and agricultural commodities as a viable alternative to fumigation with methyl bromide have been presented. Irradiation ensures the hygienic quality of food and extends shelf-life. Many international organizations and respected regional/national bodies agree on the merits of the technique and valuable contribution that the process can offer to safeguard the food supply worldwide. Codex General Standard for irradiated food and the associated Code of Practice for operation of the irradiation facilities used for the treatment of foods adopted in 1983 forms the regulatory basis for commercial utilization of the processing technology. More than 40 countries of the world have Standards/Regulations to process one or more food products by the irradiation process. Efforts are underway to harmonise national regulations on food irradiation to remove obstacles for international trade of irradiated products. There is a rapid development on commercial application of food irradiation in the USA and elsewhere in the past few months. There are already several existing commercial irradiators available for treating food in the USA and many more are planned to be built. Such commercial food irradiation facilities are also in different stage of development in Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea. Roles of irradiation ensuring food safety, contributing food security and facilitating trade are more and more recognized in developed and developing countries alike. (author)

Techniques for the estimation of global irradiation from sunshine duration and global irradiation estimation for Italian locations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, P.C.

1984-04-01

Angstrom equation H=H 0 (a+bS/S 0 ) has been fitted using the least-square method to the global irradiation and the sunshine duration data of 31 Italian locations for the duration 1965-1974. Three more linear equations: i) the equation H'=H 0 (a+bS/S 0 ), obtained by incorporating the effect of the multiple reflections between the earth's surface and the atmosphere, ii) the equation H=H 0 (a+bS/S' 0 ), obtained by incorporating the effect of not burning of the sunshine recorder chart when the elevation of the sun is less than 5 deg., and iii) the equation H'=H 0 (a+bS/S' 0 ), obtained by incorporating both the above effects simultaneously, have also each been fitted to the same data. Good correlation with correlation coefficients around 0.9 or more are obtained for most of the locations with all the four equations. Substantial spatial scatter is obtained in the values of the regression parameters. The use of any of the three latter equations does not result in any advantage over that of the simpler Angstrom equation; it neither results in a decrease in the spatial scatter in the values of the regression parameters nor does it yield better correlation. The computed values of the regression parameters in the Angstrom equation yield estimates of the global irradiation that are on the average within +- 4% of the measured values for most of the locations. (author)

Determination of the global daily radiation the value during the day; Determinacion de la irradiacion global diaria a partir de un minimo de valores de la irradiancia a lo largo del dia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vazquez, M.; Fernandes, F.; Santos, J.; Prado, T.

2004-07-01

This paper is about the minimum number of solar irradiance values distributed along a day that lets to estimate the daily solar irradiation with an acceptable margin of error. The final objective of the study is to use the irradiance calculated from Meteosat images for obtaining solar radiation maps. The data base utilised is the radiance (minute radiation) and daily irradiation data base from the meteo-radiometric station of the University of Vigo Solar Lab for the years 2002 and 2003. Acceptable results are found with three values of the irradiance covering the six central hours of the day. In this case it is proposed a second order equation as the optimal regression adjustment. It is found also that it is not necessary to use more than five irradiance values covering the ten central hours of the day given that the optimal lineal regression adjustment is lineal, that is the proposed. (Author)

Comparison of the evolution of tumor cells after unique and multiple (accelerated) daily irradiation in mammary carcinoma of C3H mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfersdorff, J.; Sack, H.

1986-01-01

The comparison of two fractionation schemes, i.e. the usual irradiation once a day with 2 Gy (SDF) and the fractionation with 3 times 1.6 Gy per day (MDF) at intervals of at least four hours shows the stronger action of higher fractionation on the destruction of tumor cells and the inhibition of their proliferation kinetics. So the number of pycnotic cells is considerably increased in case of multiple daily irradiation, and the mitosis rate as well as the labelling index show a more significant decrease. In case of one irradiation per day, the number of pycnotic cells increases during radiotherapy, too, but the mitosis rate and the labelling index only decrease until the fifth or sixth treatment day, remaining then unchanged or increasing slightly. This suggests a recurring multiplication of tumor cells already during radiotherapy. The higher efficacy of multiple daily fractionation in rapidly proliferating tumors is proved by the measurements of changing tumor volumes in the living animal during irradiation as well as by the observation of the survival time after irradiation. (orig.) [de

[Comparison of three daily global solar radiation models].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jin-Ming; Fan, Wen-Yi; Zhao, Ying-Hui

2014-08-01

Three daily global solar radiation estimation models ( Å-P model, Thornton-Running model and model provided by Liu Ke-qun et al.) were analyzed and compared using data of 13 weather stations from 1982 to 2012 from three northeastern provinces and eastern Inner Mongolia. After cross-validation analysis, the result showed that mean absolute error (MAE) for each model was 1.71, 2.83 and 1.68 MJ x m(-2) x d(-1) respectively, showing that Å-P model and model provided by Liu Ke-qun et al. which used percentage of sunshine had an advantage over Thornton-Running model which didn't use percentage of sunshine. Model provided by Liu Ke-qun et al. played a good effect on the situation of non-sunshine, and its MAE and bias percentage were 18.5% and 33.8% smaller than those of Å-P model, respectively. High precision results could be obtained by using the simple linear model of Å-P. Å-P model, Thornton-Running model and model provided by Liu Ke-qun et al. overvalued daily global solar radiation by 12.2%, 19.2% and 9.9% respectively. MAE for each station varied little with the spatial change of location, and annual MAE decreased with the advance of years. The reason for this might be that the change of observation accuracy caused by the replacement of radiation instrument in 1993. MAEs for rainy days, non-sunshine days and warm seasons of the three models were greater than those for days without rain, sunshine days and cold seasons respectively, showing that different methods should be used for different weather conditions on estimating solar radiation with meteorological elements.

Ground-Based Global Navigation Satellite System GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) Combined Broadcast Ephemeris Data (daily files) from NASA CDDIS

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This dataset consists of ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) GLONASS Combined Broadcast Ephemeris Data (daily files of all distinct navigation...

Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Climate Data Record (CDR), Version 1.3 (Daily)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The GPCP Daily analysis is a companion to the GPCP Monthly analysis, and provides globally complete precipitation estimates at a spatial resolution of one degree...

Daily global solar radiation modelling using multi-layer perceptron neural networks in semi-arid region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mawloud GUERMOUI

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Accurate estimation of Daily Global Solar Radiation (DGSR has been a major goal for solar energy application. However, solar radiation measurements are not a simple task for several reasons. In the cases where data are not available, it is very common the use of computational models to estimate the missing data, which are based mainly of the search for relationships between weather variables, such as temperature, humidity, sunshine duration, etc. In this respect, the present study focuses on the development of artificial neural network (ANN model for estimation of daily global solar radiation on horizontal surface in Ghardaia city (South Algeria. In this analysis back-propagation algorithm is applied. Daily mean air temperature, relative humidity and sunshine duration was used as climatic inputs parameters, while the daily global solar radiation (DGSR was the only output of the ANN. We have evaluated Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP models to estimate DGSR using three year of measurement (2005-2008. It was found that MLP-model based on sunshine duration and mean air temperature give accurate results in term of Mean Absolute Bias Error, Root Mean Square Error, Relative Square Error and Correlation Coefficient. The obtained values of these indicators are 0.67 MJ/m², 1.28 MJ/m², 6.12%and 98.18%, respectively which shows that MLP is highly qualified for DGSR estimation in semi-arid climates.

Verification of ECMWF and ECMWF/MACC's global and direct irradiance forecasts with respect to solar electricity production forecasts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Schroedter-Homscheidt

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The successful electricity grid integration of solar energy into day-ahead markets requires at least hourly resolved 48 h forecasts. Technologies as photovoltaics and non-concentrating solar thermal technologies make use of global horizontal irradiance (GHI forecasts, while all concentrating technologies both from the photovoltaic and the thermal sector require direct normal irradiances (DNI. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF has recently changed towards providing direct as well as global irradiances. Additionally, the MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition & Climate near-real time services provide daily analysis and forecasts of aerosol properties in preparation of the upcoming European Copernicus programme. The operational ECMWF/IFS (Integrated Forecast System forecast system will in the medium term profit from the Copernicus service aerosol forecasts. Therefore, within the MACC‑II project specific experiment runs were performed allowing for the assessment of the performance gain of these potential future capabilities. Also the potential impact of providing forecasts with hourly output resolution compared to three-hourly resolved forecasts is investigated. The inclusion of the new aerosol climatology in October 2003 improved both the GHI and DNI forecasts remarkably, while the change towards a new radiation scheme in 2007 only had minor and partly even unfavourable impacts on the performance indicators. For GHI, larger RMSE (root mean square error values are found for broken/overcast conditions than for scattered cloud fields. For DNI, the findings are opposite with larger RMSE values for scattered clouds compared to overcast/broken cloud situations. The introduction of direct irradiances as an output parameter in the operational IFS version has not resulted in a general performance improvement with respect to biases and RMSE compared to the widely used Skartveit et al. (1998 global to direct irradiance

Hematopoietic tissue repair under chronic low daily dose irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seed, T.M.

1994-01-01

The capacity of the hematopoietic system to repair constantly accruing cellular damage under chronic, low daily dose gamma irradiation is essential for the maintenance of a functional hematopoietic system, and, in turn, long term survival. In certain individuals, however, such continuous cycles of damage and repair provide an essential inductive environment for selected types of hematopathologies, e.g., myeloid leukemia (ML). We have been studying temporal and causal relationships between hematopoietic capacity, associated repair functions, and propensities for hematologic disease in canines under variable levels of chronic radiation stress (0.3-26.3 cGy d -1 ). Results indicate that the maximum exposure rate tolerated by the hematopoietic system is highly individual-specific and is based largely on the degree to which repair capacity, and, in turn, hematopoietic restoration, is augmented under chronic exposure. In low-tolerance individuals (prone to aplastic anemia, subgroup (1), the failure to augment basic m-pair functions seemingly results in a progressive accumulation of genetic and cellular damage within vital progenitorial marrow compartments particularly marked within erythroid compartments. that results in loss of reproductive capacity and ultimately in collapse of the hematopoietic system. The high-tolerance individuals (radioaccomodated and either prone- or not prone to ML, subgroup 2 ampersand 3 appear to minimize the accumulating damage effect of daily exposures by extending repair functions, which preserves reproductive integrity and fosters regenerative hematopoietic responses. As the strength of the regenerative response manifests the extent of repair augmentation, the relatively strong response of high- tolerance individuals progressing to patent ML suggests an insufficiency of repair quality rather than repair quantity

Optimization of an artificial neural network dedicated to the multivariate forecasting of daily global radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voyant, Cyril; Muselli, Marc; Paoli, Christophe; Nivet, Marie-Laure

2011-01-01

This paper presents an application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to predict daily solar radiation. We look at the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) network which is the most used of ANNs architectures. In previous studies, we have developed an ad-hoc time series preprocessing and optimized a MLP with endogenous inputs in order to forecast the solar radiation on a horizontal surface. We propose in this paper to study the contribution of exogenous meteorological data (multivariate method) as time series to our optimized MLP and compare with different forecasting methods: a naive forecaster (persistence), ARIMA reference predictor, an ANN with preprocessing using only endogenous inputs (univariate method) and an ANN with preprocessing using endogenous and exogenous inputs. The use of exogenous data generates an nRMSE decrease between 0.5% and 1% for two stations during 2006 and 2007 (Corsica Island, France). The prediction results are also relevant for the concrete case of a tilted PV wall (1.175 kWp). The addition of endogenous and exogenous data allows a 1% decrease of the nRMSE over a 6 months-cloudy period for the power production. While the use of exogenous data shows an interest in winter, endogenous data as inputs on a preprocessed ANN seem sufficient in summer. -- Research highlights: → Use of exogenous data as ANN inputs to forecast horizontal daily global irradiation data. → New methodology allowing to choice the adequate exogenous data - a systematic method comparing endogenous and exogenous data. → Different referenced mathematical predictors allows to conclude about the pertinence of the proposed methodology.

Global solar radiation in Sierra Leone (West Africa)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massaquoi, J.G.M.

1987-09-01

A correlation equation of the Angstrom type has been developed to predict the monthly average daily global solar irradiation incident on a horizontal surface in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Measurements of the global insolation have been compared with those predicted using the equation. A good agreement (greater than 95% in most cases) was observed between the measured values and the predicted ones. (author). 15 refs, 2 tabs

Estimation of hourly global solar irradiation on tilted planes from horizontal one using artificial neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Notton, Gilles; Paoli, Christophe; Vasileva, Siyana; Nivet, Marie Laure; Canaletti, Jean-Louis; Cristofari, Christian

2012-01-01

Calculating global solar irradiation from global horizontal irradiation only is a difficult task, especially when the time step is small and the data are not averaged. We used an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to realize this conversion. The ANN is optimized and tested on the basis of five years of solar data; the accuracy of the optimal configuration is around 6% for the RRMSE (relative root mean square error) and around 3.5% for the RMAE (relative mean absolute value) i.e. a better performance than the empirical correlations available in the literature. -- Highlights: ► ANN (Artificial Neural Network) methodology applied to hourly global solar irradiation in order to estimate tilted irradiations. ► Model validation with more than 23,000 data. ► Comparison with “conventional” models. ► The precision in the results is better than with empirical correlations. ► 6% for the RMSE (root means square error) and around 3.5% for the RMAE (Relative Mean Absolute Value).

Global life satisfaction predicts ambulatory affect, stress, and cortisol in daily life in working adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Smyth, Joshua M; Zawadzki, Matthew J; Juth, Vanessa; Sciamanna, Christopher N

2017-04-01

Global life satisfaction has been linked with long-term health advantages, yet how life satisfaction impacts the trajectory of long-term health is unclear. This paper examines one such possible mechanism-that greater life satisfaction confers momentary benefits in daily life that accumulate over time. A community sample of working adults (n = 115) completed a measure of life satisfaction and then three subsequent days of ecological momentary assessment surveys (6 times/day) measuring affect (i.e., emotional valence, arousal), and perceived stress, and also provided salivary cortisol samples. Multilevel models indicated that people with higher (vs. lower) levels of life satisfaction reported better momentary affect, less stress, marginally lower momentary levels and significantly altered diurnal slopes of cortisol. Findings suggest individuals with high global life satisfaction have advantageous daily experiences, providing initial evidence for potential mechanisms through which global life satisfaction may help explain long-term health benefits.

Reported Exposure and Emotional Reactivity to Daily Stressors: The Roles of Adult-Age and Global Perceived Stress

OpenAIRE

Stawski, Robert S.; Sliwinski, Martin J.; Almeida, David M.; Smyth, Joshua M.

2008-01-01

A central goal of daily stress research is to identify resilience and vulnerability factors associated with exposure and reactivity to daily stressors. The current study examined how age differences and global perceptions of stress relate to exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors. Sixty-seven younger (Mage = 20) and 116 older (Mage = 80) adults completed a daily stress diary and measures of positive and negative affect on 6 days over a 14 day period. Participants also completed ...

ACRIM III Level 2 Daily Mean Data V001

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM) III Level 2 Daily Mean Data product consists of Level 2 total solar irradiance in the form of daily means...

Ground-Based Global Navigation Satellite System Combined Broadcast Ephemeris Data (daily files) from NASA CDDIS

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This dataset consists of ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Combined Broadcast Ephemeris Data (daily files of all distinct navigation messages...

Determination of daily solar ultraviolet radiation using statistical models and artificial neural networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. J. Barbero

2006-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, two different methodologies are used to develop two models for estimating daily solar UV radiation. The first is based on traditional statistical techniques whereas the second is based on artificial neural network methods. Both models use daily solar global broadband radiation as the only measured input. The statistical model is derived from a relationship between the daily UV and the global clearness indices but modulated by the relative optical air mass. The inputs to the neural network model were determined from a large number of radiometric and atmospheric parameters using the automatic relevance determination method, although only the daily solar global irradiation, daily global clearness index and relative optical air mass were shown to be the optimal input variables. Both statistical and neural network models were developed using data measured at Almería (Spain, a semiarid and coastal climate, and tested against data from Table Mountain (Golden, CO, USA, a mountainous and dry environment. Results show that the statistical model performs adequately in both sites for all weather conditions, especially when only snow-free days at Golden were considered (RMSE=4.6%, MBE= –0.1%. The neural network based model provides the best overall estimates in the site where it has been trained, but presents an inadequate performance for the Golden site when snow-covered days are included (RMSE=6.5%, MBE= –3.0%. This result confirms that the neural network model does not adequately respond on those ranges of the input parameters which were not used for its development.

The Effect of Improved Sub-Daily Earth Rotation Models on Global GPS Data Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, S.; Choi, K. K.

2017-12-01

Throughout the various International GNSS Service (IGS) products, strong periodic signals have been observed around the 14 day period. This signal is clearly visible in all IGS time-series such as those related to orbit ephemerides, Earth rotation parameters (ERP) and ground station coordinates. Recent studies show that errors in the sub-daily Earth rotation models are the main factors that induce such noise. Current IGS orbit processing standards adopted the IERS 2010 convention and its sub-daily Earth rotation model. Since the IERS convention had published, recent advances in the VLBI analysis have made contributions to update the sub-daily Earth rotation models. We have compared several proposed sub-daily Earth rotation models and show the effect of using those models on orbit ephemeris, Earth rotation parameters and ground station coordinates generated by the NGS global GPS data processing strategy.

Accurate computations of monthly average daily extraterrestrial irradiation and the maximum possible sunshine duration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, P.C.

1985-12-01

The monthly average daily values of the extraterrestrial irradiation on a horizontal plane and the maximum possible sunshine duration are two important parameters that are frequently needed in various solar energy applications. These are generally calculated by solar scientists and engineers each time they are needed and often by using the approximate short-cut methods. Using the accurate analytical expressions developed by Spencer for the declination and the eccentricity correction factor, computations for these parameters have been made for all the latitude values from 90 deg. N to 90 deg. S at intervals of 1 deg. and are presented in a convenient tabular form. Monthly average daily values of the maximum possible sunshine duration as recorded on a Campbell Stoke's sunshine recorder are also computed and presented. These tables would avoid the need for repetitive and approximate calculations and serve as a useful ready reference for providing accurate values to the solar energy scientists and engineers

Generation of daily solar irradiation by means of artificial neural net works

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siqueira, Adalberto N.; Tiba, Chigueru; Fraidenraich, Naum [Departamento de Energia Nuclear, da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Prof. Luiz Freire, 1000 - CDU, CEP 50.740-540 Recife, Pernambuco (Brazil)

2010-11-15

The present study proposes the utilization of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) as an alternative for generating synthetic series of daily solar irradiation. The sequences were generated from the use of daily temporal series of a group of meteorological variables that were measured simultaneously. The data used were measured between the years of 1998 and 2006 in two temperate climate localities of Brazil, Ilha Solteira (Sao Paulo) and Pelotas (Rio Grande do Sul). The estimates were taken for the months of January, April, July and October, through two models which are distinguished regarding the use or nonuse of measured bright sunshine hours as an input variable. An evaluation of the performance of the 56 months of solar irradiation generated by way of ANN showed that by using the measured bright sunshine hours as an input variable (model 1), the RMSE obtained were less or equal to 23.2% being that of those, although 43 of those months presented RMSE less or equal to 12.3%. In the case of the model that did not use the measured bright sunshine hours but used a daylight length (model 2), RMSE were obtained that varied from 8.5% to 37.5%, although 38 of those months presented RMSE less or equal to 20.0%. A comparison of the monthly series for all of the years, achieved by means of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (to a confidence level of 99%), demonstrated that of the 16 series generated by ANN model only two, obtained by model 2 for the months of April and July in Pelotas, presented significant difference in relation to the distributions of the measured series and that all mean deviations obtained were inferior to 0.39 MJ/m{sup 2}. It was also verified that the two ANN models were able to reproduce the principal statistical characteristics of the frequency distributions of the measured series such as: mean, mode, asymmetry and Kurtosis. (author)

Directional and Spectral Irradiance in Ocean Models: Effects on Simulated Global Phytoplankton, Nutrients, and Primary Production

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson W.; Rousseaux, Cecile S.

2016-01-01

The importance of including directional and spectral light in simulations of ocean radiative transfer was investigated using a coupled biogeochemical-circulation-radiative model of the global oceans. The effort focused on phytoplankton abundances, nutrient concentrations and vertically-integrated net primary production. The importance was approached by sequentially removing directional (i.e., direct vs. diffuse) and spectral irradiance and comparing results of the above variables to a fully directionally and spectrally-resolved model. In each case the total irradiance was kept constant; it was only the pathways and spectral nature that were changed. Assuming all irradiance was diffuse had negligible effect on global ocean primary production. Global nitrate and total chlorophyll concentrations declined by about 20% each. The largest changes occurred in the tropics and sub-tropics rather than the high latitudes, where most of the irradiance is already diffuse. Disregarding spectral irradiance had effects that depended upon the choice of attenuation wavelength. The wavelength closest to the spectrally-resolved model, 500 nm, produced lower nitrate (19%) and chlorophyll (8%) and higher primary production (2%) than the spectral model. Phytoplankton relative abundances were very sensitive to the choice of non-spectral wavelength transmittance. The combined effects of neglecting both directional and spectral irradiance exacerbated the differences, despite using attenuation at 500 nm. Global nitrate decreased 33% and chlorophyll decreased 24%. Changes in phytoplankton community structure were considerable, representing a change from chlorophytes to cyanobacteria and coccolithophores. This suggested a shift in community function, from light-limitation to nutrient limitation: lower demands for nutrients from cyanobacteria and coccolithophores favored them over the more nutrient-demanding chlorophytes. Although diatoms have the highest nutrient demands in the model, their

Ground-Based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) GPS Broadcast Ephemeris Data (daily files) from NASA CDDIS

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This dataset consists of ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) GPS Broadcast Ephemeris Data (daily files) from the NASA Crustal Dynamics Data...

Calculating spectral direct solar irradiance, diffuse and global in Heredia, Costa Rica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, Jaime

2008-01-01

A spectral model under conditions of clear skies has described the flow of solar irradiation and is verified experimentally in Heredia, Costa Rica. A description of the model is presented by comparing its results with experimental measurements. The model has calculated the spectral flows of the global solar irradiation, direct and diffuse incident on a horizontal surface. Necessary input data include latitude, altitude, surface albedo as characteristics of a locality, and atmospheric characteristics: turbidity, precipitable water vapor, total ozone content and the optical thickness of a particular subject. The results show satisfactory values. (author) [es

A mathematical correlation between variations in solar radiation parameters - I: Daily sums of global radiation and midday global radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Njau, E.C.

1987-11-01

An equation that simply relates variations in the daily sums of global radiation and the corresponding midday global radiation data over an arbitrarily chosen location on the Earth is derived from first principles. Although this equation is specifically tailored for periods incorporating only cloudless days, it is modified slightly in order also to suit any period that incorporates either cloudless days or consistently cloudy days or days characterised by consistently distributed cloud patches or any combination of these. Global radiation data for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, calculated on the basis of the slightly modified version of the equation mentioned above agree with actual measurements to at least 89% if each of the days involved is either fairly cloudless or consistently cloudy or is characterised by fairly consistent cloud patches from sunrise to sunset. This clearly demonstrates that it is quite possible to work out reasonable estimates of the overall global radiation incident on a given area using only the corresponding midday global radiation data for that particular area. (author). 6 refs, 1 fig, 3 tabs

Semi-empirical models for the estimation of clear sky solar global and direct normal irradiances in the tropics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janjai, S.; Sricharoen, K.; Pattarapanitchai, S.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → New semi-empirical models for predicting clear sky irradiance were developed. → The proposed models compare favorably with other empirical models. → Performance of proposed models is comparable with that of widely used physical models. → The proposed models have advantage over the physical models in terms of simplicity. -- Abstract: This paper presents semi-empirical models for estimating global and direct normal solar irradiances under clear sky conditions in the tropics. The models are based on a one-year period of clear sky global and direct normal irradiances data collected at three solar radiation monitoring stations in Thailand: Chiang Mai (18.78 o N, 98.98 o E) located in the North of the country, Nakhon Pathom (13.82 o N, 100.04 o E) in the Centre and Songkhla (7.20 o N, 100.60 o E) in the South. The models describe global and direct normal irradiances as functions of the Angstrom turbidity coefficient, the Angstrom wavelength exponent, precipitable water and total column ozone. The data of Angstrom turbidity coefficient, wavelength exponent and precipitable water were obtained from AERONET sunphotometers, and column ozone was retrieved from the OMI/AURA satellite. Model validation was accomplished using data from these three stations for the data periods which were not included in the model formulation. The models were also validated against an independent data set collected at Ubon Ratchathani (15.25 o N, 104.87 o E) in the Northeast. The global and direct normal irradiances calculated from the models and those obtained from measurements are in good agreement, with the root mean square difference (RMSD) of 7.5% for both global and direct normal irradiances. The performance of the models was also compared with that of other models. The performance of the models compared favorably with that of empirical models. Additionally, the accuracy of irradiances predicted from the proposed model are comparable with that obtained from some

On the influence of total solar irradiance on global land temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varonov, Albert; Shopov, Yavor

2014-01-01

Using statistical analysis, correlation between the variations of the total solar irradiance and of the annual-mean land temperatures was found. An unknown time lag between both data sets was expected to be present due to the complexity of the Earth’s climate system leading to a delayed response to changes in influencing factors. We found the best correlation with coefficient over 90% for a 14-year shift of the annual mean land temperature record ahead with data until 1970, while the same comparison with data until 2006 yields 61% correlation. These results show substantially higher influence of total solar irradiance on global land temperatures until 1970. The decline of this influence during the last 40 years could be attributed to the increasing concentration of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Key words: total solar irradiance, solar variations, solar forcing, climate change

Evaluation of the Delta-T SPN1 radiometer for the measurement of solar irradiance components

Science.gov (United States)

Estelles, Victor; Serrano, David; Segura, Sara; Wood, John; Webb, Nick; Utrillas, Maria Pilar

2016-04-01

In this study we analyse the performance of an SPN1 radiometer built by Delta-T Devices Ltd. to retrieve global solar irradiance at ground and its components (diffuse, direct) in comparison with measurements from two Kipp&Zonen CMP21 radiometers and a Kipp&Zonen CHP1 pirheliometer, mounted on an active Solys-2 suntracker at the Burjassot site (Valencia, Spain) using data acquired every minute during years 2013 - 2015. The measurement site is close to sea level (60 m a.s.l.), near the Mediterranean coast (10 km) and within the metropolitan area of Valencia City (over 1.500.000 inhabitants). The SPN1 is an inexpensive and versatile instrument for the measurement of the three components of the solar radiation without any mobile part and without any need to azimuthally align the instrument to track the sun (http://www.delta-t.co.uk). The three components of the solar radiation are estimated from a combination of measurements performed by 7 different miniature thermopiles. The SPN1 pyranometer measures the irradiance between 400 and 2700 nm, and the nominal uncertainty for the individual readings is about 8% ± 10 W/m2 (5% for the daily averages). The pyranometer Kipp&Zonen CMP21 model is a secondary standard for the measurement of broadband solar global irradiance in horizontal planes. Two ventilated CMP21 are used for the measurement of the global and diffuse irradiances. The expected total daily uncertainty of the radiometer is estimated to be 2%. The pirheliometer Kipp&Zonen CHP1 is designed for the measurement of the direct irradiance. The principles are similar to the CMP21 pyranometer. The results of the comparison show that the global irradiance from the SPN1 compares very well with the CMP21, with absolute RMSD and MBD differences below the combined uncertainties (15 W/m2 and -5.4 W/m2, respectively; relative RMSD of 3.1%). Both datasets are very well correlated, with a correlation coefficient higher than 0.997 and a slope and intercept very close to 1 and 0

The availability of irradiation data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-07-01

Solar radiation at ground level is a necessary input for performances modeling and sizing of PV systems. This document reports on the needs for data and discusses the problems faced by users when accessing data. It then presents some technological solutions. Users generally need values of global daily or hourly irradiation with a spatial resolution of approximately 10 km. Relative errors (RMSE) of daily irradiation should be less than 20 %. Spatial coverage (continent) and temporal coverage are of importance. The data must be available conveniently at low cost. Several regional solar atlases have been made by interpolation of ground measurements, taking into account the local variation of climate. Satellite data produce irradiation maps offering a regular sampling in space and a wide geographical coverage. Time-series are also obtained by weather forecast models. Digital atlases have been created as integrated information system. These comprise a database and software to exploit it. The co-operative systems are connected with other servers that provide necessary weather data to compute solar radiation quantities. This survey of solar databases showed that in a general case, there is a discrepancy between users needs and available databases. This conclusion supports the efforts made in integrating information systems and co-operative systems to overcome the technical limits of measurements by using the information and communication technologies. (au)

Daily Weather Records

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These daily weather records were compiled from a subset of stations in the Global Historical Climatological Network (GHCN)-Daily dataset. A weather record is...

SORCE Level 3 Total Solar Irradiance Daily Average V016

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) data set SOR3TSID contains the total solar irradiance (a.k.a solar constant) data collected by the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM)...

Fundamental statistical relationships between monthly and daily meteorological variables: Temporal downscaling of weather based on a global observational dataset

Science.gov (United States)

Sommer, Philipp; Kaplan, Jed

2016-04-01

Accurate modelling of large-scale vegetation dynamics, hydrology, and other environmental processes requires meteorological forcing on daily timescales. While meteorological data with high temporal resolution is becoming increasingly available, simulations for the future or distant past are limited by lack of data and poor performance of climate models, e.g., in simulating daily precipitation. To overcome these limitations, we may temporally downscale monthly summary data to a daily time step using a weather generator. Parameterization of such statistical models has traditionally been based on a limited number of observations. Recent developments in the archiving, distribution, and analysis of "big data" datasets provide new opportunities for the parameterization of a temporal downscaling model that is applicable over a wide range of climates. Here we parameterize a WGEN-type weather generator using more than 50 million individual daily meteorological observations, from over 10'000 stations covering all continents, based on the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) and Synoptic Cloud Reports (EECRA) databases. Using the resulting "universal" parameterization and driven by monthly summaries, we downscale mean temperature (minimum and maximum), cloud cover, and total precipitation, to daily estimates. We apply a hybrid gamma-generalized Pareto distribution to calculate daily precipitation amounts, which overcomes much of the inability of earlier weather generators to simulate high amounts of daily precipitation. Our globally parameterized weather generator has numerous applications, including vegetation and crop modelling for paleoenvironmental studies.

MODIS/Terra Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Daily L3 Global 1Deg CMG V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — MODIS/Terra Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Daily L3 Global 1Deg CMG (MOD08_D3). MODIS was launched aboard the Terra satellite on December 18, 1999 (10:30 am equator...

MODIS/Aqua Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Daily L3 Global 1Deg CMG V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — MODIS/Aqua Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Daily L3 Global 1Deg CMG (MYD08_D3). MODIS was launched aboard the Aqua satellite on May 04, 2002 (1:30 pm equator...

Prediction of Daily Global Solar Radiation by Daily Temperatures and Artificial Neural Networks in Different Climates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. I Saedi

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction Global solar radiation is the sum of direct, diffuse, and reflected solar radiation. Weather forecasts, agricultural practices, and solar equipment development are three major fields that need proper information about solar radiation. Furthermore, sun in regarded as a huge source of renewable and clean energy which can be used in numerous applications to get rid of environmental impacts of non-renewable fossil fuels. Therefore, easy and fast estimation of daily global solar radiation would play an effective role is these affairs. Materials and Methods This study aimed at predicting the daily global solar radiation by means of artificial neural network (ANN method, based on easy-to-gain weather data i.e. daily mean, minimum and maximum temperatures. Having a variety of climates with long-term valid weather data, Washington State, located at the northwestern part of USA was chosen for this purpose. It has a total number of 19 weather stations to cover all the State climates. First, a station with the largest number of valid historical weather data (Lind was chosen to develop, validate, and test different ANN models. Three training algorithms i.e. Levenberg – Marquardt (LM, Scaled Conjugate Gradient (SCG, and Bayesian regularization (BR were tested in one and two hidden layer networks each with up to 20 neurons to derive six best architectures. R, RMSE, MAPE, and scatter plots were considered to evaluate each network in all steps. In order to investigate the generalizability of the best six models, they were tested in other Washington State weather stations. The most accurate and general models was evaluated in an Iran sample weather station which was chosen to be Mashhad. Results and Discussion The variation of MSE for the three training functions in one hidden layer models for Lind station indicated that SCG converged weights and biases in shorter time than LM, and LM did that faster than BR. It means that SCG provided the fastest

Artificial neural network optimisation for monthly average daily global solar radiation prediction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alsina, Emanuel Federico; Bortolini, Marco; Gamberi, Mauro; Regattieri, Alberto

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Prediction of the monthly average daily global solar radiation over Italy. • Multi-location Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model: 45 locations considered. • Optimal ANN configuration with 7 input climatologic/geographical parameters. • Statistical indicators: MAPE, NRMSE, MPBE. - Abstract: The availability of reliable climatologic data is essential for multiple purposes in a wide set of anthropic activities and operative sectors. Frequently direct measures present spatial and temporal lacks so that predictive approaches become of interest. This paper focuses on the prediction of the Monthly Average Daily Global Solar Radiation (MADGSR) over Italy using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Data from 45 locations compose the multi-location ANN training and testing sets. For each location, 13 input parameters are considered, including the geographical coordinates and the monthly values for the most frequently adopted climatologic parameters. A subset of 17 locations is used for ANN training, while the testing step is against data from the remaining 28 locations. Furthermore, the Automatic Relevance Determination method (ARD) is used to point out the most relevant input for the accurate MADGSR prediction. The ANN best configuration includes 7 parameters, only, i.e. Top of Atmosphere (TOA) radiation, day length, number of rainy days and average rainfall, latitude and altitude. The correlation performances, expressed through statistical indicators as the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), range between 1.67% and 4.25%, depending on the number and type of the chosen input, representing a good solution compared to the current standards.

Improved correlation of monthly mean daily and hourly diffuse radiation with the corresponding global radiation for Indian stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garg, H.P.; Garg, S.N.

1985-12-01

Several existing correlations between radiation monthly mean ratios of global to extraterrestrial and diffuse to global were tried for four Indian stations and found inadequate. New correlations were established for these stations and it was shown that these correlations are highly climate dependent. Classical equation of Liu and Jordon was tried to find hourly diffuse and global radiation from daily sums of diffuse and global radiation respectively. It was suitably modified to suit the Indian data. Equations developed by Collares-Pereira and Rabl have shown excellent agreement with the observed values

Evaluation of the desert dust effects on global, direct and diffuse spectral ultraviolet irradiance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Román

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a study of a strong desert dust episode over the Iberian Peninsula, and its effect on the spectral ultraviolet (UV irradiance in Granada, Spain. Remote sensing measurements, forecast models, and synoptic analysis are used to identify a Saharan desert dust outbreak that affected the Iberian Peninsula starting 20 July 2009. Additionally, a Bentham DMc150 spectroradiometer is employed to obtain global, direct and diffuse spectral UV irradiances every 15 minutes in Granada. The desert dust caused a large attenuation of the direct UV irradiance (up to 55%, while the diffuse UV irradiance increased up to 40% at 400 nm. The UVSPEC/LibRadtran radiative transfer model is used to study the spectral dependence of the experimental UV irradiance ratios (ratios of spectral irradiance for the day with the highest aerosol load to that measured in days with low–moderate load. The spectral increase or decrease of the UV direct irradiance ratios depends on a new parameter: a threshold wavelength. The spectral dependence of the UV diffuse irradiance ratio can be explained because under the influence of the intense dust outbreak, the Mie scattering by aerosols at shorter wavelengths is stronger than the Rayleigh scattering by gases. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the aerosol absorption properties shows a substantial attenuation of UV spectral irradiance with a weak spectral dependence.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Final Clock Product (5 minute resolution, daily files, generated weekly) from NASA CDDIS

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This derived product set consists of Global Navigation Satellite System Final Satellite and Receiver Clock Product (5-minute granularity, daily files, generated...

Serial histopathological changes in irradiated guinea pig lung receiving conventional fractionated and hyperfractionated irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Satoshi; Inomata, Taisuke; Ogawa, Yasuhiro; Yoshida, Shoji; Sonobe, Hiroshi; Ohtsuki, Yuji

1999-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine serial histopathological differences in guinea pig lungs receiving the same total dose as clinically used between conventional fractionated and hyperfractionated irradiation. The guinea pigs received 80 Gy in 40 daily fractions of 2 Gy each (conventional fractionation), 80 Gy in 80 fractions of 1 Gy each twice a day (hyperfractionation), 81 Gy in 27 daily fractions of 3 Gy each (conventional fractionation), or 81 Gy in 54 fractions of 1.5 Gy each twice a day (hyperfractionation). We evaluated the histopathological changes of irradiated guinea pig lungs at 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after irradiation. The guinea pig lungs that received 81 Gy in 27 daily fractions showed histopathological changes of inflammation including formation of lymph follicles after 6 months. The lungs which received 81 Gy in 54 fractions showed similar but slightly less pronounced changes than those that received 81 Gy in 27 daily fractions. The guinea pig lungs of other groups showed no histopathological changes during the observation period. In hyperfractionated irradiation the damage to the guinea pig lung is quantitatively less than that occurring as a result of conventional fractionated irradiation of the same total dose. (author)

Serial histopathological changes in irradiated guinea pig lung receiving conventional fractionated and hyperfractionated irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Itoh, Satoshi; Inomata, Taisuke; Ogawa, Yasuhiro; Yoshida, Shoji; Sonobe, Hiroshi; Ohtsuki, Yuji [Kochi Medical School, Nankoku (Japan)

1999-05-01

The purpose of this study is to determine serial histopathological differences in guinea pig lungs receiving the same total dose as clinically used between conventional fractionated and hyperfractionated irradiation. The guinea pigs received 80 Gy in 40 daily fractions of 2 Gy each (conventional fractionation), 80 Gy in 80 fractions of 1 Gy each twice a day (hyperfractionation), 81 Gy in 27 daily fractions of 3 Gy each (conventional fractionation), or 81 Gy in 54 fractions of 1.5 Gy each twice a day (hyperfractionation). We evaluated the histopathological changes of irradiated guinea pig lungs at 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after irradiation. The guinea pig lungs that received 81 Gy in 27 daily fractions showed histopathological changes of inflammation including formation of lymph follicles after 6 months. The lungs which received 81 Gy in 54 fractions showed similar but slightly less pronounced changes than those that received 81 Gy in 27 daily fractions. The guinea pig lungs of other groups showed no histopathological changes during the observation period. In hyperfractionated irradiation the damage to the guinea pig lung is quantitatively less than that occurring as a result of conventional fractionated irradiation of the same total dose. (author)

Food irradiation: a global scenario

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadat, T.; Ross, A.; Leveziel, H.

1994-01-01

Many of the foods that will be consumed in the 21st century have not yet been invented. New methods of production need new methods of conservation. Food irradiation by gamma radiation or electron beam is a new technology. The intensive production methods of today lead to several potential dangers. For example - if just one chicken is diseased this bird can contaminate all of one days' production at the slaughter house - on average 300,000 birds per day. One has to have conservation methods that can decontaminate the poultry meat. Irradiation is a method that achieves this. The consumer is becoming more and more sophisticated and demanding with regard to the quality of food products, rejecting chemical additives for example, irradiation is a physical method of conservation, this means that there is no residue left in the product, and that there are no changes in the physical characteristics of the food. This paper examines the use of irradiation technology as a food conservation method in today's industry. (author). 4 refs., 2 tabs

Assessment and management of interfractional variations in daily diagnostic-quality-CT guided prostate-bed irradiation after prostatectomy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Feng; Ahunbay, Ergun; Lawton, Colleen; Allen Li, X., E-mail: ali@mcw.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226 (United States)

2014-03-15

Purpose: To quantify interfractional anatomic variations and limitations of the current practice of image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) for prostate-bed patients and to study dosimetric benefits of an online adaptive replanning scheme that addresses the interfractional variations. Methods: Contours for the targets and organs at risk (OARs) from daily diagnostic-quality CTs acquired with in-room CT (CTVision, Siemens) were generated by populating the planning contours using an autosegmentation tool based on deformable registration (ABAS, Elekta) with manual editing for ten prostate-bed patients treated with postoperative daily CT-guided IMRT. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) obtained by maximizing the overlap of contours for a structure between the daily and plan contours was used to quantify the organ deformation between the plan and daily CTs. Three interfractional-variation-correction schemes, the current standard practice of IGRT repositioning, a previously developed online adaptive RT (ART), and the full reoptimization, were applied to these daily CTs and a number of dose-volume quantities for the targets and organs at risk were compared for their effectiveness to account for the interfractional variations. Results: Large interfractional organ deformations in prostate-bed irradiation were seen. The mean DSCs for CTV, rectum, and bladder were 86.6 ± 5.1% (range from 61% to 97%), 77.3% ± 7.4% (range from 55% to 90%), and 75.4% ± 11.2% (range from 46% to 96%), respectively. The fractional and cumulative dose-volume quantities for CTV and PTV: V100 (volume received at least 100% prescription dose), and rectum and bladder: V{sub 45Gy} and V{sub 60Gy} (volume received at least 45 or 60 Gy), were compared for the repositioning, adaptive, reoptimization, and original plans. The fractional and cumulative dosimetric results were nearly the same. The average cumulative CTV V100 were 88.0%, 98.4%, 99.2%, and 99.3% for the IGRT, ART, reoptimization, and original plans

Artificial intelligence techniques applied to hourly global irradiance estimation from satellite-derived cloud index

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zarzalejo, L.F.; Ramirez, L.; Polo, J. [DER-CIEMAT, Madrid (Spain). Renewable Energy Dept.

2005-07-01

Artificial intelligence techniques, such as fuzzy logic and neural networks, have been used for estimating hourly global radiation from satellite images. The models have been fitted to measured global irradiance data from 15 Spanish terrestrial stations. Both satellite imaging data and terrestrial information from the years 1994, 1995 and 1996 were used. The results of these artificial intelligence models were compared to a multivariate regression based upon Heliosat I model. A general better behaviour was observed for the artificial intelligence models. (author)

Artificial intelligence techniques applied to hourly global irradiance estimation from satellite-derived cloud index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zarzalejo, Luis F.; Ramirez, Lourdes; Polo, Jesus

2005-01-01

Artificial intelligence techniques, such as fuzzy logic and neural networks, have been used for estimating hourly global radiation from satellite images. The models have been fitted to measured global irradiance data from 15 Spanish terrestrial stations. Both satellite imaging data and terrestrial information from the years 1994, 1995 and 1996 were used. The results of these artificial intelligence models were compared to a multivariate regression based upon Heliosat I model. A general better behaviour was observed for the artificial intelligence models

The generation of hourly diffuse irradiation: A model from the analysis of the fluctuation of global irradiance series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Posadillo, R.; Lopez Luque, R.

2010-01-01

An analysis of models for the estimation of hourly diffuse irradiation based on the interrelations between the hourly diffuse fraction k d and the hourly clearness index k t , has concluded that k t is not a sufficient variable for parametrizing the effect of clouds on diffuse irradiation. A detailed study of the dispersion recorded by this diffuse component for a specific clearness index under partly cloudy sky conditions has led to analyzing how the variability in the instantaneous clearness index influences this dispersion. The data sets correspond to 10 years of hourly and instantaneous value records of global and diffuse radiation collected in Cordoba, Spain. In addition to the inclusion of the sine of solar elevation as a variable into the k d -k t correlations, this model propose the inclusion of others parameters related to the variability in the normalized clearness index within an hour and with the fluctuations presented by the time series of the instantaneous values of that index. Also presented is the implementation of an algorithm permitting both the determination of the hourly diffuse irradiation and the discrimination between the different sky conditions in those situations known by the designation partly cloudy sky.

Food irradiation; Global aspects and future prospects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsuyama, Akira (Tokyo Univ. of Agriculture (Japan). Nodai Research Institute)

1990-07-01

This paper reviews researches, commentaries, and conference and public records of food irradiation, published mainly during the period 1987-1989, focusing on the current conditions of food irradiation that may pose not only scientific or technologic problems but also political issues or consumerism. Approximately 50 kinds of food, although not enough to fill economic benefit, are now permitted for food irradiation in the world. Consumerism is pointed out as the major factor that precludes the feasibility of food irradiation in the world. In the United States, irradiation is feasible only for spices. Food irradiation has already been feasible in France, Hollands, Belgium, and the Soviet Union; has under consideration in the Great Britain, and has been rejected in the West Germany. Although the feasibility of food irradiation is projected to increase gradually in the future, commercial success or failure depends on the final selection of consumers. In this respect, the role of education and public information are stressed. Meat radicidation and recent progress in the method for detecting irradiated food are referred to. (N.K.) 128 refs.

Daily low-dose/continuous capecitabine combined with neo-adjuvant irradiation reduces VEGF and PDGF-BB levels in rectal carcinoma patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loven, David; B e'Ery, Einat; Yerushalmi, Rinat; Koren, Claude; Sulkes, Aaron; Fenig, Eyal; Lavi, Idit; Shaked, Yuval

2008-01-01

Metronomic low-dose chemotherapy regimen was found to have an antiangiogenic effect in tumors. However, its effect on levels of circulating pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors is not fully explored. Materials and methods. The levels of both VEGF and PDGF-BB were measured in three time points, in the serum of 32 rectal carcinoma patients receiving daily reduced-dose/continuous capecitabine in combination with preoperative pelvic irradiation. Results. We found a significant decrease in VEGF and PDGF-BB serum levels during the combination treatment (p<0.0001), followed by an increase in the successive rest-period (p<0.0001). In addition, substantial changes in platelets counts were observed during treatment in correlation with the changes of VEGF and PDGF-BB serum levels. Discussion. These results suggest that combined chemo-irradiation affect levels of pro-angiogenic factors during treatment, and may reflect an anti-angiogenic window induced during this treatment. The potential implications of this inducible phenomenon, including a possible clinical benefit from the administration of long lasting metronomic chemotherapy immediately following combined chemo-irradiation, would warrant further investigation

Photosynthesis–irradiance parameters of marine phytoplankton: synthesis of a global data set

OpenAIRE

Bouman, HA; Platt, T; Doblin, M; Figueiras, FG; Gudmundsson, K; Gudfinnsson, HG; Huang, B; Hickman, A; Hiscock, M; Jackson, T; Lutz, VA; Melin, F; Rey, F; Pepin, P; Segura, V

2018-01-01

The photosynthetic performance of marine phytoplankton varies in response to a variety of factors, environmental and taxonomic. One of the aims of the MArine primary Production: model Parameters from Space (MAPPS) project of the European Space Agency is to assemble a global database of photosynthesis–irradiance (P-E) parameters from a range of oceanographic regimes as an aid to examining the basin-scale variability in the photophysiological response of marine phytoplankto...

A New Point of View on the Relationship Between Global Solar Irradiation and Sunshine Quantifiers

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Brabec, Marek; Badescu, V.; Dumitrescu, A.; Paulescu, M.

2016-01-01

Roč. 126, March (2016), s. 252-263 ISSN 0038-092X Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : global solar irradiation * sunshine quantifiers * sunshine number * Angstrom equation * statistical modeling * regression analysis Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operation al Research Impact factor: 4.018, year: 2016

The generation of hourly diffuse irradiation: A model from the analysis of the fluctuation of global irradiance series

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Posadillo, R.; Lopez Luque, R. [Grupo de Investigacion de Fisica para las Energias y Recursos Renovables, Dpto. de Fisica Aplicada, UCO, Edificio C2 Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Cordoba (Spain)

2010-04-15

An analysis of models for the estimation of hourly diffuse irradiation based on the interrelations between the hourly diffuse fraction k{sub d} and the hourly clearness index k{sub t}, has concluded that k{sub t} is not a sufficient variable for parametrizing the effect of clouds on diffuse irradiation. A detailed study of the dispersion recorded by this diffuse component for a specific clearness index under partly cloudy sky conditions has led to analyzing how the variability in the instantaneous clearness index influences this dispersion. The data sets correspond to 10 years of hourly and instantaneous value records of global and diffuse radiation collected in Cordoba, Spain. In addition to the inclusion of the sine of solar elevation as a variable into the k{sub d}-k{sub t} correlations, this model propose the inclusion of others parameters related to the variability in the normalized clearness index within an hour and with the fluctuations presented by the time series of the instantaneous values of that index. Also presented is the implementation of an algorithm permitting both the determination of the hourly diffuse irradiation and the discrimination between the different sky conditions in those situations known by the designation partly cloudy sky. (author)

Global solar irradiation in Italy during 1994 : monthly average daily values for 1614 sites estimated from Meteosat images; Radiazione solare globale al suolo in Italia nel 1994 : valori medi mensili per 1.614 localita` italiane stimate a partire dalle immagini fornite dal satellite Meteosat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cogliani, E; Mancini, M; Petrarca, S; Spinelli, F [ENEA, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Rome (Italy). Dip. Energia

1995-10-01

The global solar radiation over Italy is estimated from Meteosat secondary images in the visible band. The stimation method relies on the fact that the cloud cover on a given area of the Earth`s surface statistically determines the amount of solar radiation falling on that area. Estimated values of the monthly average daily global radiation on a horizontal surface for the 1994 have been compared with values computed from data measured by the stations of the two Italian radiation networks: the Meteorological Service of the Italian Air Force and the National Agrometeorological Network (a total of 36 stations have been considered). The mean percentage difference between estimated and computed values over the year is 6 per cent. In the present report, the monthly maps of radiation over Italy and the estimated monthly average daily values for over 1600 sites (having more than 10,000 inhabitants) are given. In the yearly reports to be issued in the years to come, maps and mean values over the period starting with 1994 will be given as well.

TOMS/Earth Probe UV Reflectivity Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data product contains TOMS/Earth Probe UV Reflectivity Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid Version 8 data in ASCII format. (The shortname for this Level-3...

MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Day V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Day (MOD21A1D.006). A new suite of MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) and...

MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Day V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Day (MYD21A1D.006). A new suite of MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) and...

MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Night V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Night (MOD21A1N.006). A new suite of MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) and...

MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Night V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Night (MYD21A1N.006). A new suite of MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) and...

Solar Radiation Forecasting, Accounting for Daily Variability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Langella

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Radiation forecast accounting for daily and instantaneous variability was pursued by means of a new bi-parametric statistical model that builds on a model previously proposed by the same authors. The statistical model is developed with direct reference to the Liu-Jordan clear sky theoretical expression but is not bound by a specific clear sky model; it accounts separately for the mean daily variability and for the variation of solar irradiance during the day by means of two corrective parameters. This new proposal allows for a better understanding of the physical phenomena and improves the effectiveness of statistical characterization and subsequent simulation of the introduced parameters to generate a synthetic solar irradiance time series. Furthermore, the analysis of the experimental distributions of the two parameters’ data was developed, obtaining opportune fittings by means of parametric analytical distributions or mixtures of more than one distribution. Finally, the model was further improved toward the inclusion of weather prediction information in the solar irradiance forecasting stage, from the perspective of overcoming the limitations of purely statistical approaches and implementing a new tool in the frame of solar irradiance prediction accounting for weather predictions over different time horizons.

Irradiance Impact on Pollution by Integrating Nephelometer Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Rita Perrone

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Three-wavelength integrating nephelometer measurements combined with short- (SW and long-wave (LW irradiance measurements were used to investigate the irradiance effects on the daily evolution of the particulate matter (PM at the ground level, and contribute to the characterization of the land–atmosphere interaction in pollution dispersal. The integrating nephelometer measurements have allowed characterizing the daily changes of the PM optical and microphysical properties by the aerosol scattering coefficient (σp and the scattering Ångström coefficient (å. We found that on a daily basis σp reached the minimum values when the irradiance reached the maximum values, since the convective motions, which favor the particle dispersion at the surface, increase with the irradiance. The å value, which is commonly used as qualitative indicator of the dominant particle size, has allowed evaluating the irradiance effects on the mean particle size distribution at the surface and revealed that the irradiance increase favors mainly the dispersion of the ground-level fine particles. Particle size-distribution measurements supported the last comment. Measurements were performed from 4 to 10 May 2015 when the study site was affected by a Saharan dust outbreak, to also evaluate the impact of long-range transported particles on the daily evolution of the ground-level particle’s properties and the SW and LW irradiance.

Blood responses under chronic low daily dose gamma irradiation: Pt.1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seed, T.M.; Carnes, B.A.; Tolle, D.V.; Fritz, T.E.

1989-01-01

Male beagles chronically exposed to low daily doses of 60 Co γ rays show one of three hematopoietic patterns, which reflect three different distinctly responding subgroups: (1) low radioresistance with progressing aplastic anemia and shortened survival ( -S -AA subgroup); (2) high radioresistance with a complex of progressing myeloproliferative disorders ( + R-MPD group); or (3) high radioresistance with other nonMPD syndromes ( + R-nonMPD group). Blood cell levels (granulocytes, monocytes, erythrocytes, lymphocytes, and platelets) were assessed and fitted to a flexible polynomial spline model. Results showed that relative to the overall magnitude of blood cell loss as well as to the maximum rate of suppression during the initial phase, the subgroups were generally ranked - S-AA >> + R-MPD > + R-nonMPD. Relative to the overall strength of the recovery response, the subgroups were generally ranked + R-MPD > + R-nonMPD >>> - S-AA. In terms of overall maintenance levels of circulating blood cells during the recovery phase, however, the + R-nonMPD subgroup consistently exhibited stronger responses than the + R-MPD subgroup. These results support our contention that selected subgroups of dogs have strong propensities to specific hematopathologies (i.e. aplastic anemia and myeloid leukemia) under chronic irradiation and that these pathology-prone animals exhibit a series of marked differential hematopoietic responses during early preclinical phases, which serve effectively to prognosticate subsequent pathological progression. (author)

Therapeutic approaches of hematopoietic syndrome after serious accidental global irradiation. Ex vivo expansion interest of hematopoietic cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thierry, D.

1994-01-01

Aplasia is one of the main syndrome, appearing after one global accidental irradiation by one ionizing radiation source. The hematopoietic syndrome is characterized by a peripheric blood cell number fall; the cell marrow is reduced too

Table for monthly average daily extraterrestrial irradiation on horizontal surface and the maximum possible sunshine duration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, P.C.

1984-01-01

The monthly average daily values of the extraterrestrial irradiation on a horizontal surface (H 0 ) and the maximum possible sunshine duration are two important parameters that are frequently needed in various solar energy applications. These are generally calculated by scientists each time they are needed and by using the approximate short-cut methods. Computations for these values have been made once and for all for latitude values of 60 deg. N to 60 deg. S at intervals of 1 deg. and are presented in a convenient tabular form. Values of the maximum possible sunshine duration as recorded on a Campbell Stoke's sunshine recorder are also computed and presented. These tables should avoid the need for repetition and approximate calculations and serve as a useful ready reference for solar energy scientists and engineers. (author)

Deployment and early results from the CanSIM (Canadian Solar Spectral Irradiance Meter) network

Science.gov (United States)

Tatsiankou, Viktar; Hinzer, Karin; Schriemer, Henry; McVey-White, Patrick; Beal, Richard

2017-09-01

Three of seven stations have been deployed as part of the Canadian Solar Spectral Irradiance (CanSIM) network situated in Ottawa, Varennes and Egbert to measure long term spectral variation of the direct normal (DNI) and global horizontal irradiances (GHI) across the country. Every station is equipped with a solar tracker, SolarSIM-D2+, SolarSIM-G+, and SR20 pyranometer, reporting the spectral DNI, GHI, diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) and aerosol optical depth in the 280-4000 nm range, broadband DNI, GHI, and DHI, atmospheric total column ozone and water vapour amounts. The spectral GHI as measured by the SolarSIM-G+ was within 5% as compared to EKO MS-700 spectroradiometer in 350-1050 nm range on 17 March 2017. The difference in the GHI as reported by SolarSIM-G+ and SR20 pyranometer from all stations was within 2% on 14 April 2017. Furthermore, on this day, the daily GHI sum for the Ottawa, Varennes, and Egbert stations was 7.01, 6.95, and 7.11 kWh/m2, respectively, while the daily DNI sum was 10.65, 10.86, 10.04 kWh/m2, respectively.

Accelerated partial breast irradiation using once-daily fractionation: analysis of 312 cases with four years median follow-up

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaikh Arif Y

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There are limited data on accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI using external beam techniques. Moreover, there are recent reports of increased fibrosis and unacceptable cosmesis with APBI using external beam with BID fractionation. We adopted a once daily regimen of APBI with fractionation similar to that shown to be effective in a Canadian randomized trial of whole breast irradiation. It is unclear whether patients with DCIS or invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC are suitable for APBI. Methods The retrospective cohort included 310 patients with 312 tumors of T1-T2N0-N1micM0 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC, ILC, or Tis (DCIS treated with APBI via external beam. Most patients were treated using IMRT with 16 daily fractions of 270 cGy to a dose of 4320 cGy. The target volume included the lumpectomy cavity plus 1.0 cm to account for microscopic disease and an additional 0.5 to 1.0 cm for setup uncertainty and breathing motion. Ipsilateral breast failure (IBF was pathologically confirmed as a local failure (LF or an elsewhere failure (EF. Results Median follow-up was 49 months. Among the 312 cases, 213 were IDC, 31 ILC, and 68 DCIS. Median tumor size was 1.0 cm. There were 9 IBFs (2.9% including 5 LFs and 4 EFs. The IBF rates among patients with IDC, ILC, and DCIS were 2.4%, 3.2%, and 4.4%, respectively, with no significant difference between histologies. When patients were analyzed by the ASTRO APBI consensus statement risk groups, 32% of treated cases were considered suitable, 50% cautionary, and 18% unsuitable. The IBF rates among suitable, cautionary, and unsuitable patients were 4.0%, 2.6%, and 1.8%, respectively, with no significant difference between risk groups. Acute skin reactions were rare and long-term cosmetic outcome was very good to excellent. Conclusions External beam APBI with once daily fractionation has a low rate of IBF consistent with other published APBI studies. The ASTRO risk stratification did not

A simple and efficient algorithm to estimate daily global solar radiation from geostationary satellite data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Ning; Qin, Jun; Yang, Kun; Sun, Jiulin

2011-01-01

Surface global solar radiation (GSR) is the primary renewable energy in nature. Geostationary satellite data are used to map GSR in many inversion algorithms in which ground GSR measurements merely serve to validate the satellite retrievals. In this study, a simple algorithm with artificial neural network (ANN) modeling is proposed to explore the non-linear physical relationship between ground daily GSR measurements and Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) all-channel observations in an effort to fully exploit information contained in both data sets. Singular value decomposition is implemented to extract the principal signals from satellite data and a novel method is applied to enhance ANN performance at high altitude. A three-layer feed-forward ANN model is trained with one year of daily GSR measurements at ten ground sites. This trained ANN is then used to map continuous daily GSR for two years, and its performance is validated at all 83 ground sites in China. The evaluation result demonstrates that this algorithm can quickly and efficiently build the ANN model that estimates daily GSR from geostationary satellite data with good accuracy in both space and time. -- Highlights: → A simple and efficient algorithm to estimate GSR from geostationary satellite data. → ANN model fully exploits both the information from satellite and ground measurements. → Good performance of the ANN model is comparable to that of the classical models. → Surface elevation and infrared information enhance GSR inversion.

TOMS/Earth Probe Total Column Ozone Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data product contains TOMS/Earth Probe Total Column Ozone Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid Version 8 data in ASCII format. (The shortname for this...

TOMS/Nimbus-7 UV Aerosol Index Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data product contains TOMS/Nimbus-7 UV Aerosol Index Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid Version 8 data in ASCII format. The Total Ozone Mapping...

TOMS/Nimbus-7 Total Column Ozone Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data product contains TOMS/Nimbus-7 Total Column Ozone Daily L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid Version 8 data in ASCII format. The Total Ozone Mapping...

The Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata Archive (GSIM) - Part 1: The production of a daily streamflow archive and metadata

Science.gov (United States)

Do, Hong Xuan; Gudmundsson, Lukas; Leonard, Michael; Westra, Seth

2018-04-01

This is the first part of a two-paper series presenting the Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata archive (GSIM), a worldwide collection of metadata and indices derived from more than 35 000 daily streamflow time series. This paper focuses on the compilation of the daily streamflow time series based on 12 free-to-access streamflow databases (seven national databases and five international collections). It also describes the development of three metadata products (freely available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.887477" target="_blank">https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.887477): (1) a GSIM catalogue collating basic metadata associated with each time series, (2) catchment boundaries for the contributing area of each gauge, and (3) catchment metadata extracted from 12 gridded global data products representing essential properties such as land cover type, soil type, and climate and topographic characteristics. The quality of the delineated catchment boundary is also made available and should be consulted in GSIM application. The second paper in the series then explores production and analysis of streamflow indices. Having collated an unprecedented number of stations and associated metadata, GSIM can be used to advance large-scale hydrological research and improve understanding of the global water cycle.

The Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata Archive (GSIM – Part 1: The production of a daily streamflow archive and metadata

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. X. Do

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This is the first part of a two-paper series presenting the Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata archive (GSIM, a worldwide collection of metadata and indices derived from more than 35 000 daily streamflow time series. This paper focuses on the compilation of the daily streamflow time series based on 12 free-to-access streamflow databases (seven national databases and five international collections. It also describes the development of three metadata products (freely available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.887477: (1 a GSIM catalogue collating basic metadata associated with each time series, (2 catchment boundaries for the contributing area of each gauge, and (3 catchment metadata extracted from 12 gridded global data products representing essential properties such as land cover type, soil type, and climate and topographic characteristics. The quality of the delineated catchment boundary is also made available and should be consulted in GSIM application. The second paper in the series then explores production and analysis of streamflow indices. Having collated an unprecedented number of stations and associated metadata, GSIM can be used to advance large-scale hydrological research and improve understanding of the global water cycle.

Estimating Daily Global Evapotranspiration Using Penman–Monteith Equation and Remotely Sensed Land Surface Temperature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roozbeh Raoufi

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Daily evapotranspiration (ET is modeled globally for the period 2000–2013 based on the Penman–Monteith equation with radiation and vapor pressures derived using remotely sensed Land Surface Temperature (LST from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS on the Aqua and Terra satellites. The ET for a given land area is based on four surface conditions: wet/dry and vegetated/non-vegetated. For each, the ET resistance terms are based on land cover, leaf area index (LAI and literature values. The vegetated/non-vegetated fractions of the land surface are estimated using land cover, LAI, a simplified version of the Beer–Lambert law for describing light transition through vegetation and newly derived light extension coefficients for each MODIS land cover type. The wet/dry fractions of the land surface are nonlinear functions of LST derived humidity calibrated using in-situ ET measurements. Results are compared to in-situ measurements (average of the root mean squared errors and mean absolute errors for 39 sites are 0.81 mm day−1 and 0.59 mm day−1, respectively and the MODIS ET product, MOD16, (mean bias during 2001–2013 is −0.2 mm day−1. Although the mean global difference between MOD16 and ET estimates is only 0.2 mm day−1, local temperature derived vapor pressures are the likely contributor to differences, especially in energy and water limited regions. The intended application for the presented model is simulating ET based on long-term climate forecasts (e.g., using only minimum, maximum and mean daily or monthly temperatures.

OMI/Aura TOMS-Like Ozone and Radiative Cloud Fraction Daily L3 Global 0.25x0.25 deg V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Version-003 of Level-3 Aura/OMI daily global TOMS-Like Total Column Ozone gridded product (OMTO3e) is generated by the NASA OMI science team by picking the best...

Improving HelioClim-3 estimates of surface solar irradiance using the McClear clear-sky model and recent advances in atmosphere composition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Qu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The HelioClim-3 database (HC3v3 provides records of surface solar irradiation every 15 min, estimated by processing images from the geostationary meteorological Meteosat satellites using climatological data sets of the atmospheric Linke turbidity factor. This technical note proposes a method to improve a posteriori HC3v3 by combining it with data records of the irradiation under clear skies from the new McClear clear-sky model, whose inputs are the advanced global aerosol property forecasts and physically consistent total column content in water vapour and ozone produced by the MACC (Monitoring Atmosphere Composition and Climate projects. The method is validated by comparison with a series of ground measurements for 15 min and 1 h for 6 stations and for daily irradiation for 23 stations. The correlation coefficient is large, greater than respectively 0.92, 0.94, and 0.97, for 15 min, 1 h and daily irradiation. The bias ranges from −4 to 4% of the mean observed irradiation for most sites. The relative root mean square difference (RMSD varies between 14 and 38% for 15 min, 12 and 33% for 1 h irradiation, and 6 and 20% for daily irradiation. As a rule of thumb, the farther from the nadir of the Meteosat satellite located at latitude 0° and longitude 0°, and the greater the occurrence of fragmented cloud cover, the greater the relative RMSD. The method improves HC3v3 in most cases, and with no degradation in the others. A systematic correction of HC3v3 with McClear is recommended.

Global daily dynamics of the pineal transcriptome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bustos, Diego M; Bailey, Michael J; Sugden, David

2011-01-01

Transcriptome profiling of the pineal gland has revealed night/day differences in the expression of a major fraction of the genes active in this tissue, with two-thirds of these being nocturnal increases. A set of over 600 transcripts exhibit two-fold to >100-fold daily differences in abundance...

Hypofractionated Prostate Radiotherapy with or without Conventionally Fractionated Nodal Irradiation: Clinical Toxicity Observations and Retrospective Daily Dosimetry.

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, Andrew M; Bishop, Justin M; Jacob, Rojymon; Dobelbower, Michael C; Kim, Robert Y; Yang, Eddy S; Smith, Heather; Wu, Xingen; Fiveash, John B

2012-01-01

Purpose. To evaluate toxicity associated with the addition of elective nodal irradiation (ENI) to a hypofractionated regimen for the treatment of prostate cancer. Methods and Materials. Fifty-seven patients received pelvic image-guided IMRT to 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions with a hypofractionated simultaneous boost to the prostate to 70 Gy. Thirty-one patients received prostate-only treatment to 70 Gy in 28 fractions. Results. Median followup was 41.1 months. Early grade ≥2 urinary toxicity rates were 49% (28 of 57) for patients receiving ENI and 58% (18 of 31) for those not (P = 0.61). Early grade ≥2 rectal toxicity rates were 40% (23 of 57) and 23% (7 of 31), respectively (P = 0.09). The addition of ENI resulted in a 21% actuarial rate of late grade ≥2 rectal toxicity at 4 years, compared to 0% for patients treated to the prostate only (P = 0.02). Retrospective daily dosimetry of patients experiencing late rectal toxicity revealed an average increase of 2.67% of the rectal volume receiving 70 Gy compared to the original plan. Conclusions. The addition of ENI resulted in an increased risk of late rectal toxicity. Grade ≥2 late rectal toxicity was associated with worse daily rectal dosimetry compared to the treatment plan.

An algorithm to provide UK global radiation for use with models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamer, P.J.C.

1999-01-01

Decision support systems which include crop growth models require long-term average values of global radiation to simulate future expected growth. Global radiation is rarely available as there are relatively few meteorological stations with long-term records and so interpolation between sites is difficult. Global radiation data across a good geographical spread throughout the UK were obtained and sub-divided into ‘coastal’ and ‘inland’ sites. Monthly means of global radiation (S) were extracted and analysed in relation to irradiance in the absence of atmosphere (S o ) calculated from site latitude and the time of year. The ratio S/S o was fitted to the month of the year (t) and site latitude using a nonlinear fit function in which 90% of the variance was accounted for. An algorithm is presented which provides long-term daily values of global radiation from information on latitude, time of year and whether the site is inland or close to the coast. (author)

Twice-daily versus once-daily applications of pimecrolimus cream 1% for the prevention of disease relapse in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruer-Mulard, Mireille; Aberer, Werner; Gunstone, Anthony; Kekki, Outi-Maria; López Estebaranz, Jose Luis; Vertruyen, André; Guettner, Achim; Hultsch, Thomas

2009-01-01

The aim of this study is to compare twice-daily and once-daily applications of pimecrolimus cream 1% for prevention of atopic dermatitis relapses in pediatric patients. This multicenter trial enrolled 300 outpatients aged 2 to 17 years, with mild-to-severe atopic dermatitis. The patients were initially treated with twice-daily topical pimecrolimus until complete clearance or for up to 6 weeks (open-label period). Those who achieved a decrease of at least 1 point in the Investigator's Global Assessment score were then randomized to double-blind treatment with pimecrolimus cream 1% either twice daily or once daily for up to 16 weeks. Study medication was discontinued during periods of disease remission (Investigator's Global Assessment = 0). The primary efficacy end point of the double-blind phase was disease relapse (worsening requiring topical corticosteroids or additional/alternative therapy and confirmed by Investigator's Global Assessment score > or = 3 and pruritus score > or = 2). Of the 300 patients enrolled in the study, 268 were randomized to treatment with pimecrolimus cream 1% either twice daily or once daily (n = 134 in each group). The relapse rate was lower in the twice-daily dose group (9.9%) than that in the once-daily dose group (14.7%), but analysis of the time to disease relapse, using a Cox proportional model to adjust for confounding variables, did not show a statistically significant difference between treatment arms (hazard ratio: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.31-1.30). Treatment of active atopic dermatitis lesions with pimecrolimus cream 1% twice daily, followed by the once-daily dosing regimen, was sufficient to prevent subsequent atopic dermatitis relapses over 16 weeks in pediatric patients.

A Comparison Between Heliosat-2 and Artificial Neural Network Methods for Global Horizontal Irradiance Retrievals over Desert Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Ghedira, H.; Eissa, Y.

2012-12-01

Global horizontal irradiance (GHI) retrievals at the surface of any given location could be used for preliminary solar resource assessments. More accurately, the direct normal irradiance (DNI) and diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) are also required to estimate the global tilt irradiance, mainly used for fixed flat plate collectors. Two different satellite-based models for solar irradiance retrievals have been applied over the desert environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Both models employ channels of the SEVIRI instrument, onboard the geostationary satellite Meteosat Second Generation, as their main inputs. The satellite images used in this study have a temporal resolution of 15-min and a spatial resolution of 3-km. The objective of this study is to compare between the GHI retrieved using the Heliosat-2 method and an artificial neural network (ANN) ensemble method over the UAE. The high-resolution visible channel of SEVIRI is used in the Heliosat-2 method to derive the cloud index. The cloud index is then used to compute the cloud transmission, while the cloud-free GHI is computed from the Linke turbidity factor. The product of the cloud transmission and the cloud-free GHI denotes the estimated GHI. A constant underestimation is observed in the estimated GHI over the dataset available in the UAE. Therefore, the cloud-free DHI equation in the model was recalibrated to fix the bias. After recalibration, results over the UAE show a root mean square error (RMSE) value of 10.1% and a mean bias error (MBE) of -0.5%. As for the ANN approach, six thermal channels of SEVIRI were used to estimate the DHI and the total optical depth of the atmosphere (δ). An ensemble approach is employed to obtain a better generalizability of the results, as opposed to using one single weak network. The DNI is then computed from the estimated δ using the Beer-Bouguer-Lambert law. The GHI is computed from the DNI and DHI estimates. The RMSE for the estimated GHI obtained over an

Once vs. twice daily thoracic irradiation in limited stage small cell lung cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jun Sang; Kim, Jae Sung; Kim, Ju Ock; Kim, Sun Young; Cho, Moon June

1998-01-01

A retrospective study was conducted comparing single dally fraction (SDF) thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) with twice daily (BID) TRT to determine the potential benefit of BID TRT in limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Endpoints of the study were response, survival, pattern of failure, and acute toxicity. Between November 1989 to December 1996, 78 patients with histologically proven limited-stage SCLC were treated at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Chungnam National University Hospital. Of these, 9 were irradiated for palliative intent, and 1 had recurrent disease. Remaining 68 patients were enrolled in this study. There were 26 patients with a median age of 58 years, and 22 (85%) ECOG performance score of less than 1 in SDF TRT. There were 42 patients with a median age of 57 years, and 36 (86%) ECOG performance score of less than 1 in BID TRT. By radiation fractionation regimen, there were 26 in SDF TRT and 42 in BID TRT. SDF TRT consisted of 180 cGy, 5 days a week. BID TRT consisted of 150 cGY BID, 5 days a week in 13 of 42 and 120 cGy BID, in 29 of 42. And the twice daily fractions were separated by at least 4 hours. Total radiotherapy doses were between 5040 and 6940 cGy (median, 5040 cGy) in SDF TRT and was between 4320 and 5100 cGy (median, 4560 cGy) in BID TRT. Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) was recommended for patients who achieved a CR. The recommended PCI dose was 2500 cGy/10 fractions. Chemotherapy consisted of CAV (cytoxan 1000 mg/m 2 , adriamycin 40 mg/m 2 , vincristine 1 mg/m 2 ) alternating with VPP (cisplatin 60 mg/m 2 , etoposide 100 mg/m 2 ) every 3 weeks in 25 (96%) of SDF TRT and in 40 (95%) of BID TRT. Median cycle of chemotherapy was six in both group. Timing for chemotherapy was sequential in 23 of SDF TRT and in 3 BID TRT, and concurrent in 3 of SDF TRT and in 39 of BID TRT. Follow-up ranged from 2 of 99 months (median, 14 months) in both groups. Of the 26 SDF TRT, 9 (35%) achieved a complete response (CR) and 14 (54

Daily and Hourly Variability in Global Fire Emissions and Consequences for Atmospheric Model Predictions of Carbon Monoxide

Science.gov (United States)

Mu, M.; Randerson, J. T.; van der Werf, G. R.; Giglio, L.; Kasibhatla, P.; Morton, D.; Collatz, G. J.; DeFries, R. S.; Hyer, E. J.; Prins, E. M.;

Design and performance of daily quality assurance system for carbon ion therapy at NIRS

Science.gov (United States)

Saotome, N.; Furukawa, T.; Hara, Y.; Mizushima, K.; Tansho, R.; Saraya, Y.; Shirai, T.; Noda, K.

2017-09-01

At National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), we have been commissioning a rotating-gantry system for carbon-ion radiotherapy. This rotating gantry can transport heavy ions at 430 MeV/u to an isocenter with irradiation angles of ±180° that can rotate around the patient so that the tumor can be irradiated from any direction. A three-dimensional pencil-beam scanning irradiation system equipped with the rotating gantry enables the optimal use of physical characteristics of carbon ions to provide accurate treatment. To ensure the treatment quality using such a complex system, the calibration of the primary dose monitor, output check, range check, dose rate check, machine safety check, and some mechanical tests should be performed efficiently. For this purpose, we have developed a measurement system dedicated for quality assurance (QA) of this gantry system: the Daily QA system. The system consists of an ionization chamber system and a scintillator system. The ionization chamber system is used for the calibration of the primary dose monitor, output check, and dose rate check, and the scintillator system is used for the range check, isocenter, and gantry angle. The performance of the Daily QA system was verified by a beam test. The stability of the output was within 0.5%, and the range was within 0.5 mm. The coincidence of the coordinates between the patient-positioning system and the irradiation system was verified using the Daily QA system. Our present findings verified that the new Daily QA system for a rotating gantry is capable of verifying the irradiation system with sufficient accuracy.

Reconstruction of solar spectral surface UV irradiances using radiative transfer simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindfors, Anders; Heikkilä, Anu; Kaurola, Jussi; Koskela, Tapani; Lakkala, Kaisa

2009-01-01

UV radiation exerts several effects concerning life on Earth, and spectral information on the prevailing UV radiation conditions is needed in order to study each of these effects. In this paper, we present a method for reconstruction of solar spectral UV irradiances at the Earth's surface. The method, which is a further development of an earlier published method for reconstruction of erythemally weighted UV, relies on radiative transfer simulations, and takes as input (1) the effective cloud optical depth as inferred from pyranometer measurements of global radiation (300-3000 nm); (2) the total ozone column; (3) the surface albedo as estimated from measurements of snow depth; (4) the total water vapor column; and (5) the altitude of the location. Reconstructed daily cumulative spectral irradiances at Jokioinen and Sodankylä in Finland are, in general, in good agreement with measurements. The mean percentage difference, for instance, is mostly within +/-8%, and the root mean square of the percentage difference is around 10% or below for wavelengths over 310 nm and daily minimum solar zenith angles (SZA) less than 70 degrees . In this study, we used pseudospherical radiative transfer simulations, which were shown to improve the performance of our method under large SZA (low Sun).

Solar Irradiance and Pan Evaporation Estimation from Meteorological Satellite Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Ren Syu

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Knowledge about spatial and temporal variations in surface global solar radiation (GSR and evaporative water loss from the ground are important issues to many researches and applications. In this study empirical relationships suitable for Taiwan were established for GSR retrieval from geostationary satellite images using the Heliosat method for the period from 2011 - 2013. The derived GSR data has been used to generate consecutive maps of 10-day averaged pan evaporation (Epan as the basis to produce regional ET estimation using a strategy that does not require remote sensed land surface temperatures (LST. The retrieved daily GSR and the derived 10-day averaged Epan were validated against pyranometer and class-A pan measurements at selected Central Weather Bureau (CWB stations spread across various climatic regions in Taiwan. Compared with the CWB observed data the overall relative mean bias deviations (MBD% and root mean square differences (RMSD% in daily solar irradiance retrieval were about 5 and 15%, respectively. Seasonally, the largest MBD% and RMSD% of retrieved daily solar irradiance occur in spring (9.5 and 21.3% on average, while the least MBD% (-0.3% on average and RMSD% (9.7% on average occur in autumn and winter, respectively. For 10-day averaged Epan estimation, the mean MBD% and RMSD% for stations located in the coastal plain areas were 0.1 and 16.9%, respectively. However, in mountainous areas the mean MBD% and RMSD% increased to 30.2 and 34.5%, respectively. This overestimation was due mainly to the large differences in surrounding micro-environments between the mountainous and plain areas.

Validation of an hourly resolved global aerosol model in answer to solar electricity generation information needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Schroedter-Homscheidt

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Solar energy applications need global aerosol optical depth (AOD information to derive historic surface solar irradiance databases from geostationary meteorological satellites reaching back to the 1980's. This paper validates the MATCH/DLR model originating in the climate community against AERONET ground measurements. Hourly or daily mean AOD model output is evaluated individually for all stations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East – an area highly interesting for solar energy applications being partly dominated by high aerosol loads. Overall, a bias of 0.02 and a root-mean-square error (RMSE of 0.23 are found for daily mean AOD values, while the RMSE increases to 0.28 for hourly mean AOD values. Large differences between various regions and stations are found providing a feedback loop for the aerosol modelling community. The difference in using daily means versus hourly resolved modelling with respect to hourly resolved observations is evaluated. Nowadays state-of-the-art in solar resource assessment relies on monthly turbidity or AOD climatologies while at least hourly resolved irradiance time series are needed by the solar sector. Therefore, the contribution of higher temporally modelled AOD is evaluated.

A nonlinear support vector machine model with hard penalty function based on glowworm swarm optimization for forecasting daily global solar radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, He; Dong, Yao

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Eclat data mining algorithm is used to determine the possible predictors. • Support vector machine is converted into a ridge regularization problem. • Hard penalty selects the number of radial basis functions to simply the structure. • Glowworm swarm optimization is utilized to determine the optimal parameters. - Abstract: For a portion of the power which is generated by grid connected photovoltaic installations, an effective solar irradiation forecasting approach must be crucial to ensure the quality and the security of power grid. This paper develops and investigates a novel model to forecast 30 daily global solar radiation at four given locations of the United States. Eclat data mining algorithm is first presented to discover association rules between solar radiation and several meteorological factors laying a theoretical foundation for these correlative factors as input vectors. An effective and innovative intelligent optimization model based on nonlinear support vector machine and hard penalty function is proposed to forecast solar radiation by converting support vector machine into a regularization problem with ridge penalty, adding a hard penalty function to select the number of radial basis functions, and using glowworm swarm optimization algorithm to determine the optimal parameters of the model. In order to illustrate our validity of the proposed method, the datasets at four sites of the United States are split to into training data and test data, separately. The experiment results reveal that the proposed model delivers the best forecasting performances comparing with other competitors.

OMI/Aura Near UV Aerosol Optical Depth and Single Scattering Albedo Daily L3 Global 1x1 deg Lat/Lon Grid V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The OMI-Aura level-3 daily global gridded (1x1 deg) near-UV Aerosol data product OMAERUVd based on the enhanced algorithm is available from the NASA Goddard Earth...

Chemotherapy followed by a combination of daily irradiation and carboplatine (CBDCA) in stage IIIB non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) : first interim analysis of a phase II trial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bardet, E.; Douillard, J.Y.; Riviere, A.; Quoix, E.; Spaeth, D.; Ducolone, A.; Coudert, B.; Lagrange, J.L.; Chomy, P.; Tuchais, C.; Pellae-Cosset, B.; Henry-Amar, M.

1996-01-01

Purpose/Objective: To demonstrate feasibility and efficacy of induction chemotherapy followed by concomitant daily irradiation and carboplatine in the treatment of stage IIIB NSCLC patients. Materials and Methods : Were eligible previously untreated patients with histological y proven stage IIIB NSCLC, aged ≤ 75 years, WHO performance status (PS) ≤ 2, neutrophil count ≥ 2000 and platelets ≥ 150,000, and with no renal or hepatic insufficiency. Patients with large tumor volume which could not be irradiated, were excluded from this phase II study. Induction chemotherapy (CT) consisted of navelbine (NVB) and cisplatin (CDDP) administered over a 8 week period. NVB 30 mg/m 2 was given on weeks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9; NVB 15 mg/m 2 on weeks 3 and 7; CDDP 120 mg/m 2 was given on weeks 1, 5 and 9. Patients free of distant progression after induction CT received megavoltage radiation (66 Gy, 2 Gy/fraction) along with daily CBDCA (15 mg/m 2 ) given 2 to 4 hours before irradiation. Adjuvant NVB-CDDP chemotherapy (2 cycles) was administered in patients still progression-free. Evaluation was performed at the end of induction CT (week 10) and 3 months after the end of irradiation. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival rate with time at risk starting the first day of induction CT. Results : From February 1994 to January 1996, 111 patients were enrolled in 8 centers of whom 76 were eligible for analysis at March 1, 1996. Initial characteristics were : male/female ratio (68(8)), mean age 59 (39 to 76), PS 0 : 40%, PS 1 : 49%, PS 2 : 11%, squamous carcinoma 67%. Observed to theoretical dose ratios of NVB and CDDP as induction CT were 83% and 86%, respectively. Hematological grade 3-4 toxicity was observed in 79% of patients; other grade 3-4 toxicities were nausea in 21%, diarrhea in 3%, alopecia in 2% and sepsis in 5% of patients. Seven (9%) patients died before first evaluation. After induction CT, 3 patients were in complete remission (CR), 35 in partial

Chemotherapy followed by a combination of daily irradiation and carboplatine (CBDCA) in stage IIIB non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) : first interim analysis of a phase II trial

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bardet, E; Douillard, J Y; Riviere, A; Quoix, E; Spaeth, D; Ducolone, A; Coudert, B; Lagrange, J L; Chomy, P; Tuchais, C; Pellae-Cosset, B; Henry-Amar, M

1996-09-01

Purpose/Objective: To demonstrate feasibility and efficacy of induction chemotherapy followed by concomitant daily irradiation and carboplatine in the treatment of stage IIIB NSCLC patients. Materials and Methods : Were eligible previously untreated patients with histological y proven stage IIIB NSCLC, aged {<=} 75 years, WHO performance status (PS) {<=} 2, neutrophil count {>=} 2000 and platelets {>=} 150,000, and with no renal or hepatic insufficiency. Patients with large tumor volume which could not be irradiated, were excluded from this phase II study. Induction chemotherapy (CT) consisted of navelbine (NVB) and cisplatin (CDDP) administered over a 8 week period. NVB 30 mg/m{sup 2} was given on weeks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9; NVB 15 mg/m{sup 2} on weeks 3 and 7; CDDP 120 mg/m{sup 2} was given on weeks 1, 5 and 9. Patients free of distant progression after induction CT received megavoltage radiation (66 Gy, 2 Gy/fraction) along with daily CBDCA (15 mg/m{sup 2}) given 2 to 4 hours before irradiation. Adjuvant NVB-CDDP chemotherapy (2 cycles) was administered in patients still progression-free. Evaluation was performed at the end of induction CT (week 10) and 3 months after the end of irradiation. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival rate with time at risk starting the first day of induction CT. Results : From February 1994 to January 1996, 111 patients were enrolled in 8 centers of whom 76 were eligible for analysis at March 1, 1996. Initial characteristics were : male/female ratio (68(8)), mean age 59 (39 to 76), PS 0 : 40%, PS 1 : 49%, PS 2 : 11%, squamous carcinoma 67%. Observed to theoretical dose ratios of NVB and CDDP as induction CT were 83% and 86%, respectively. Hematological grade 3-4 toxicity was observed in 79% of patients; other grade 3-4 toxicities were nausea in 21%, diarrhea in 3%, alopecia in 2% and sepsis in 5% of patients. Seven (9%) patients died before first evaluation. After induction CT, 3 patients were in complete remission

TU-H-CAMPUS-TeP2-02: FLASH Irradiation Improves the Therapeutic Index Following GI Tract Irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schueler, E; Trovati, S; King, G; Lartey, F; Rafat, M; Loo, B; Maxim, P

2016-01-01

Purpose: To investigate and characterize the radiobiological effectiveness of very high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH) compared to conventional irradiation in an in vivo model. Methods: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract of C57BL/6 mice were irradiated with doses ranging between 10 and 18 Gy using a custom stereotactic jig. A Varian Clinac 21EX was modified to allow dose rates ranging from 0.05 to 240 Gy/s at the position of the mirror. With the gantry at 180 degrees, the jig holding the individual animals was placed above the mirror to take advantage of the reduced source to target distance. Mice were irradiated with 20MeV electrons. Following irradiation, the mice were monitored twice daily for morbidity and daily for weight changes. Results: Mice irradiated with FLASH irradiation had lower weight loss compared to the mice receiving conventional irradiation. Following FLASH irradiation, a maximum weight loss of ∼20% was observed at day 6 with subsequent recovery, while following conventional irradiation, higher weight losses was observed with fewer instances of recovery. Concerning survival, all mice in the conventionally irradiated groups had a 100% mortality in the range of 15.5–18 Gy, while the mice irradiated with FLASH irradiation had a 100% survival in the same range. Conclusion: These results have demonstrated proof of principle that FLASH irradiations have a dramatic impact on the overall survival of mice following GI tract irradiations. If the increase in the therapeutic window can be validated and understood, this would revolutionize the field of radiation oncology and lead to increased cure rates with reduced side effects following treatment, resulting in increased quality of life for cancer survivors. Funding: DoD, Award#:W81XWH-14-1-0014, Weston Havens Foundation, Bio-X (Stanford University), the Office of the Dean of the Medical School, the Office of the Provost (Stanford University), and the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation; BL and PM are

TU-H-CAMPUS-TeP2-02: FLASH Irradiation Improves the Therapeutic Index Following GI Tract Irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schueler, E; Trovati, S; King, G; Lartey, F; Rafat, M; Loo, B; Maxim, P [Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: To investigate and characterize the radiobiological effectiveness of very high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH) compared to conventional irradiation in an in vivo model. Methods: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract of C57BL/6 mice were irradiated with doses ranging between 10 and 18 Gy using a custom stereotactic jig. A Varian Clinac 21EX was modified to allow dose rates ranging from 0.05 to 240 Gy/s at the position of the mirror. With the gantry at 180 degrees, the jig holding the individual animals was placed above the mirror to take advantage of the reduced source to target distance. Mice were irradiated with 20MeV electrons. Following irradiation, the mice were monitored twice daily for morbidity and daily for weight changes. Results: Mice irradiated with FLASH irradiation had lower weight loss compared to the mice receiving conventional irradiation. Following FLASH irradiation, a maximum weight loss of ∼20% was observed at day 6 with subsequent recovery, while following conventional irradiation, higher weight losses was observed with fewer instances of recovery. Concerning survival, all mice in the conventionally irradiated groups had a 100% mortality in the range of 15.5–18 Gy, while the mice irradiated with FLASH irradiation had a 100% survival in the same range. Conclusion: These results have demonstrated proof of principle that FLASH irradiations have a dramatic impact on the overall survival of mice following GI tract irradiations. If the increase in the therapeutic window can be validated and understood, this would revolutionize the field of radiation oncology and lead to increased cure rates with reduced side effects following treatment, resulting in increased quality of life for cancer survivors. Funding: DoD, Award#:W81XWH-14-1-0014, Weston Havens Foundation, Bio-X (Stanford University), the Office of the Dean of the Medical School, the Office of the Provost (Stanford University), and the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation; BL and PM are

The dynamics of daily events and well-being across cultures: when less is more.

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Shigehiro; Diener, Ed; Choi, Dong-Won; Kim-Prieto, Chu; Choi, Incheol

2007-10-01

The authors examined cultural and individual differences in the relation between daily events and daily satisfaction. In a preliminary study, they established cross-cultural equivalence of 50 daily events. In the main study, participants in the United States, Korea, and Japan completed daily surveys on the 50 events and daily satisfaction for 21 days. The multilevel random coefficient model analyses showed that (a) the within-person association between positive events and daily satisfaction was significantly stronger among Asian American, Korean, and Japanese participants than among European American participants and (b) the within-person association between positive events and daily satisfaction was significantly weaker among individuals high in global life satisfaction than among those low in global life satisfaction. The findings demonstrate a weaker effect of positive events on daily well-being among individuals and cultures high in global well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).

Regulatory aspect of food irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harrison Aziz

1985-01-01

Interest in the process of food irradiation is reviewed once again internationally. Although food irradiation has been thoroughly investigated, global acceptance is still lacking. Factors which impede the progress of the technology are discussed here. (author)

Recent Trends in Global Ocean Chlorophyll

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson; Casey, Nancy

2004-01-01

Recent analyses of SeaWiFS data have shown that global ocean chlorophyll has increased more than 5% since 1998. The North Pacific ocean basin has increased nearly 19%. To understand the causes of these trends we have applied the newly developed NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Assimilation Model (OBAM), which is driven in mechanistic fashion by surface winds, sea surface temperature, atmospheric iron deposition, sea ice, and surface irradiance. The mode1 utilizes chlorophyll from SeaWiFS in a daily assimilation. The model has in place many of the climatic variables that can be expected to produce the changes observed in SeaWiFS data. Ths enables us to diagnose the model performance, the assimilation performance, and possible causes for the increase in chlorophyll.

Methods and strategy for modeling daily global solar radiation with measured meteorological data - A case study in Nanchang station, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Guofeng; Liu, Yaolin; Wang, Tiejun

2007-01-01

Solar radiation is a primary driver for many physical, chemical and biological processes on the earth's surface, and complete and accurate solar radiation data at a specific region are quite indispensable to the solar energy related researches. This study, with Nanchang station, China, as a case study, aimed to calibrate existing models and develop new models for estimating missing global solar radiation data using commonly measured meteorological data and to propose a strategy for selecting the optimal models under different situations of available meteorological data. Using daily global radiation, sunshine hours, temperature, total precipitation and dew point data covering the years from 1994 to 2005, we calibrated or developed and evaluated seven existing models and two new models. Validation criteria included intercept, slope, coefficient of determination, mean bias error and root mean square error. The best result (R 2 = 0.93) was derived from Chen model 2, which uses sunshine hours and temperature as predictors. The Bahel model, which only uses sunshine hours, was almost as good, explaining 92% of the solar radiation variance. Temperature based models (Bristow and Campbell, Allen, Hargreaves and Chen 1 models) provided less accurate results, of which the best one (R 2 = 0.69) is the Bristow and Campbell model. The temperature based models were improved by adding other variables (daily mean total precipitation and mean dew point). Two such models could explain 77% (Wu model 1) and 80% (Wu model 2) of the solar radiation variance. We, thus, propose a strategy for selecting an optimal method for calculating missing daily values of global solar radiation: (1) when sunshine hour and temperature data are available, use Chen model 2; (2) when only sunshine hour data are available, use Bahel model; (3) when temperature, total precipitation and dew point data are available but not sunshine hours, use Wu model 2; (4) when only temperature and total precipitation are

Probabilistic global maps of the CO2 column at daily and monthly scales from sparse satellite measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Chevallier, Frédéric; Broquet, Grégoire; Pierangelo, Clémence; Crisp, David

2017-07-01

The column-average dry air-mole fraction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (XCO2) is measured by scattered satellite measurements like those from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2). We show that global continuous maps of XCO2 (corresponding to level 3 of the satellite data) at daily or coarser temporal resolution can be inferred from these data with a Kalman filter built on a model of persistence. Our application of this approach on 2 years of OCO-2 retrievals indicates that the filter provides better information than a climatology of XCO2 at both daily and monthly scales. Provided that the assigned observation uncertainty statistics are tuned in each grid cell of the XCO2 maps from an objective method (based on consistency diagnostics), the errors predicted by the filter at daily and monthly scales represent the true error statistics reasonably well, except for a bias in the high latitudes of the winter hemisphere and a lack of resolution (i.e., a too small discrimination skill) of the predicted error standard deviations. Due to the sparse satellite sampling, the broad-scale patterns of XCO2 described by the filter seem to lag behind the real signals by a few weeks. Finally, the filter offers interesting insights into the quality of the retrievals, both in terms of random and systematic errors.

Global, Daily, Near Real-Time Satellite-based Flood Monitoring and Product Dissemination

Science.gov (United States)

Slayback, D. A.; Policelli, F. S.; Brakenridge, G. R.; Tokay, M. M.; Smith, M. M.; Kettner, A. J.

2013-12-01

Flooding is the most destructive, frequent, and costly natural disaster faced by modern society, and is expected to increase in frequency and damage with climate change and population growth. Some of 2013's major floods have impacted the New York City region, the Midwest, Alberta, Australia, various parts of China, Thailand, Pakistan, and central Europe. The toll of these events, in financial costs, displacement of individuals, and deaths, is substantial and continues to rise as climate change generates more extreme weather events. When these events do occur, the disaster management community requires frequently updated and easily accessible information to better understand the extent of flooding and better coordinate response efforts. With funding from NASA's Applied Sciences program, we developed and are now operating a near real-time global flood mapping system to help provide critical flood extent information within 24-48 hours of events. The system applies a water detection algorithm to MODIS imagery received from the LANCE (Land Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS) system at NASA Goddard within a few hours of satellite overpass. Using imagery from both the Terra (10:30 AM local time overpass) and Aqua (1:30 PM) platforms allows an initial daily assessment of flooding extent by late afternoon, and more robust assessments after accumulating cloud-free imagery over several days. Cloud cover is the primary limitation in detecting surface water from MODIS imagery. Other issues include the relatively coarse scale of the MODIS imagery (250 meters), the difficulty of detecting flood waters in areas with continuous canopy cover, confusion of shadow (cloud or terrain) with water, and accurately identifying detected water as flood as opposed to normal water extents. We have made progress on many of these issues, and are working to develop higher resolution flood detection using alternate sensors, including Landsat and various radar sensors. Although these

Irradiação global, direta e difusa, para a região de Cascavel, Estado do Paraná = Global, direct and diffuse irradiation in the region of Cascavel, Paraná State

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Aparecida de Oliveira Drechmer

2006-01-01

Full Text Available O presente trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre os níveis das irradiações global, direta e difusa incidentes na superfície terrestre, a irradiação incidente no topo da atmosfera e a insolação relativa mensal, para a cidade de Cascavel-PR. As componentes da radiação solar foram monitoradas entre janeiro de 2001 e fevereiro de 2003 na Estação Experimental Agrometeorológica da Unioeste, Cascavel, Estado do Paraná. Na medição da radiação global foi utilizado um piranômetro KIPP & ZONEN-CM3 e para medir a componente direta foiutilizado um pireliômetro EPPLEY-NIP acoplado a um rastreador solar. A radiação difusa foi calculada pela diferença entre as radiações global e direta. Os níveis médios mensais das irradiações global, direta e difusa, foram respectivamente, 51,8%, 31,7% e 20,17% dairradiação incidente no topo da atmosfera. O índice de insolação relativa apresentou valor máximo em agosto (61,43% e mínimo em fevereiro (34,35%, períodos caracterizados respectivamente por dias de céu limpo e nublados no hemisfério sul.This paper reports a study about the diffuse, direct and global radiation levels on surface of earth, the irradiation over the top of atmosphere and the monthly relative sunstroke in the city of Cascavel, State of Paraná, southern Brazil. The solar radiation components were monitored from January, 2001 to February, 2003 at Estação Experimental Agrometeorológica of Unioeste, Cascavel, Parana State. Global radiation was monitored by a pyranometer KIPP & ZONEN-CM3 and direct radiation was monitored by a pyrheliometer EPPLEY-NIP coupled to a solar tracer. The diffuse radiation wasmonitored through the difference between global and direct radiation. Monthly average levels of global, direct and diffuse irradiations were 51.8%, 31.7% and 20.17% of the irradiation in the top of atmosphere. The relative isolation index showed the maximum value in August (61.43% and the minimum in February (34.35%. These

Cost-benefit analysis of irradiation of vegetables and fruits at the Shanghai irradiation centre

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Zhicheng; Sha Zhenyuan

1993-01-01

Differences between the developing and the developed countries in development and application of food irradiation are discussed, including the objectives of irradiation, scale, and the operation and control of facilities. These represent the chief problems of development of food irradiation in the developing countries. A proposal concerning the economic benefit of a gamma irradiation facility is discussed. In the light of many years' operating experience at the Shanghai Irradiation Centre, the operation cost per hour and coefficient of economic benefit are presented. These data can be used to estimate the economic benefit of gamma irradiated products at any time, and are useful for directing the daily operation of gamma irradiation facilities. From examples of cost-benefit analysis of irradiated garlic and apples it is shown that to improve the benefit of gamma irradiation facilities the annual hours of operation must be increased, so as to reduce the cost of operation. Food irradiated with a low dose provides more economic benefit than other irradiated products; the coefficients of economic benefit will increase as the irradiated processing throughput increases. Practical examples are given relating to garlic and apples, showing the economic benefit to wholesalers and retailers. (author). 4 refs, 3 figs, 7 tabs

Whole-abdomen radiotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma using twice-daily fractionation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liauw, Stanley L.; Yeh, Alexander M.; Morris, Christopher G.; Olivier, Kenneth R.; Mendenhall, Nancy Price

2006-01-01

Purpose: To report the tolerability and efficacy of twice-daily whole-abdomen irradiation (WAI) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Methods and Materials: Of 123 patients treated for NHL with WAI, 37% received previous chemotherapy, 28% received WAI as part of comprehensive lymphatic irradiation (CLI), and 32% received WAI for palliation. The median dose to the whole abdomen was 25.0 Gy, followed by a median tumor boost of 9.8 Gy in 58 patients. Fractionation was 1.0 Gy once daily (54%) or 0.8 Gy twice daily (46%). Blood counts were measured weekly. Results: At a median follow-up of 4.3 years, local control was 72% and overall survival was 55% at 5 years. Median time of WAI was 42 days for once-daily treatment and 32 days for twice-daily treatment. Patients receiving twice-daily WAI did not have a significantly higher rate of acute side effects (e.g., nausea, diarrhea, platelet or red blood cell toxicity). Overall, acute thrombocytopenia was the most frequent side effect of treatment; 24 of 96 patients (25%) with available hematologic data had Grade 3+ toxicity. There was no acute Grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity and no late small bowel obstruction. Multiple regression indicated that patients with four or less involved sites and disease size ≤6 cm had improved local control and overall survival. Conclusions: Twice-daily WAI using 0.8 Gy/fraction does not appear to have any greater toxicity compared with once-daily treatment using 1 Gy/fraction. Small doses per fraction (0.8-1 Gy/fx) are effective, tolerated well in the acute setting, and associated with a low rate of late toxicity

Daily and 3-hourly Variability in Global Fire Emissions and Consequences for Atmospheric Model Predictions of Carbon Monoxide

Science.gov (United States)

Mu, M.; Randerson, J. T.; vanderWerf, G. R.; Giglio, L.; Kasibhatla, P.; Morton, D.; Collatz, G. J.; DeFries, R. S.; Hyer, E. J.; Prins, E. M.;

Estimation of monthly-mean daily global solar radiation based on MODIS and TRMM products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Jun; Chen, Zhuoqi; Yang, Kun; Liang, Shunlin; Tang, Wenjun

2011-01-01

Global solar radiation (GSR) is required in a large number of fields. Many parameterization schemes are developed to estimate it using routinely measured meteorological variables, since GSR is directly measured at a limited number of stations. Even so, meteorological stations are sparse, especially, in remote areas. Satellite signals (radiance at the top of atmosphere in most cases) can be used to estimate continuous GSR in space. However, many existing remote sensing products have a relatively coarse spatial resolution and these inversion algorithms are too complicated to be mastered by experts in other research fields. In this study, the artificial neural network (ANN) is utilized to build the mathematical relationship between measured monthly-mean daily GSR and several high-level remote sensing products available for the public, including Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) monthly averaged land surface temperature (LST), the number of days in which the LST retrieval is performed in 1 month, MODIS enhanced vegetation index, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM) monthly precipitation. After training, GSR estimates from this ANN are verified against ground measurements at 12 radiation stations. Then, comparisons are performed among three GSR estimates, including the one presented in this study, a surface data-based estimate, and a remote sensing product by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Validation results indicate that the ANN-based method presented in this study can estimate monthly-mean daily GSR at a spatial resolution of about 5 km with high accuracy.

Uncertainty Assessment of the NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Climate Projections (NEX-GDDP) Dataset

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Weile; Nemani, Ramakrishna R.; Michaelis, Andrew; Hashimoto, Hirofumi; Dungan, Jennifer L.; Thrasher, Bridget L.; Dixon, Keith W.

2016-01-01

The NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections (NEX-GDDP) dataset is comprised of downscaled climate projections that are derived from 21 General Circulation Model (GCM) runs conducted under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) and across two of the four greenhouse gas emissions scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Each of the climate projections includes daily maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and precipitation for the periods from 1950 through 2100 and the spatial resolution is 0.25 degrees (approximately 25 km x 25 km). The GDDP dataset has received warm welcome from the science community in conducting studies of climate change impacts at local to regional scales, but a comprehensive evaluation of its uncertainties is still missing. In this study, we apply the Perfect Model Experiment framework (Dixon et al. 2016) to quantify the key sources of uncertainties from the observational baseline dataset, the downscaling algorithm, and some intrinsic assumptions (e.g., the stationary assumption) inherent to the statistical downscaling techniques. We developed a set of metrics to evaluate downscaling errors resulted from bias-correction ("quantile-mapping"), spatial disaggregation, as well as the temporal-spatial non-stationarity of climate variability. Our results highlight the spatial disaggregation (or interpolation) errors, which dominate the overall uncertainties of the GDDP dataset, especially over heterogeneous and complex terrains (e.g., mountains and coastal area). In comparison, the temporal errors in the GDDP dataset tend to be more constrained. Our results also indicate that the downscaled daily precipitation also has relatively larger uncertainties than the temperature fields, reflecting the rather stochastic nature of precipitation in space. Therefore, our results provide insights in improving statistical downscaling algorithms and products in the future.

Selecting the optimal method to calculate daily global reference potential evaporation from CFSR reanalysis data for application in a hydrological model study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. C. Sperna Weiland

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Potential evaporation (PET is one of the main inputs of hydrological models. Yet, there is limited consensus on which PET equation is most applicable in hydrological climate impact assessments. In this study six different methods to derive global scale reference PET daily time series from Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR data are compared: Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor and original and re-calibrated versions of the Hargreaves and Blaney-Criddle method. The calculated PET time series are (1 evaluated against global monthly Penman-Monteith PET time series calculated from CRU data and (2 tested on their usability for modeling of global discharge cycles.

A major finding is that for part of the investigated basins the selection of a PET method may have only a minor influence on the resulting river flow. Within the hydrological model used in this study the bias related to the PET method tends to decrease while going from PET, AET and runoff to discharge calculations. However, the performance of individual PET methods appears to be spatially variable, which stresses the necessity to select the most accurate and spatially stable PET method. The lowest root mean squared differences and the least significant deviations (95% significance level between monthly CFSR derived PET time series and CRU derived PET were obtained for a cell-specific re-calibrated Blaney-Criddle equation. However, results show that this re-calibrated form is likely to be unstable under changing climate conditions and less reliable for the calculation of daily time series. Although often recommended, the Penman-Monteith equation applied to the CFSR data did not outperform the other methods in a evaluation against PET derived with the Penman-Monteith equation from CRU data. In arid regions (e.g. Sahara, central Australia, US deserts, the equation resulted in relatively low PET values and, consequently, led to relatively high discharge values for dry basins (e

The NASA POWER SSE: Deriving the Direct Normal Counterpart from the CERES SYN1deg Hourly Global Horizontal Irradiance during Early 2000 to Near Present

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, T.; Stackhouse, P. W., Jr.; Westberg, D. J.

2017-12-01

The NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resource (POWER) Surface meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) provides solar direct normal irradiance (DNI) data as well as a variety of other solar parameters. The currently available DNIs are monthly means on a quasi-equal-area grid system with grid boxes roughly equivalent to 1 degree longitude by 1 degree latitude around the equator from July 1983 to June 2005, and the data were derived from the GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) monthly mean global horizontal irradiance (GHI, Release 3) and regression analysis of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) data. To improve the quality of the DNI data and push the temporal coverage of the data to near present, we have applied a modified version of the DIRINDEX global-to-beam model to the GEWEX SRB (Release 3) all-sky and clear-sky 3-hourly GHI data and derived their DNI counterparts for the period from July 1983 to December 2007. The results have been validated against the BSRN data. To further expand the data in time to near present, we are now applying the DIRINDEX model to the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data. The CERES SYN1deg (Edition 4A) offers hourly all-sky and clear-sky GHIs on a 1 degree longitude by 1 degree latitude grid system from March 2000 to October 2016 as of this writing. Comparisons of the GHIs with their BSRN counterparts show remarkable agreements. Besides the GHIs, the inputs will also include the atmospheric water vapor and surface pressure from the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and the aerosol optical depth from the Max-Planck Institute Climatology (MAC-v1). Based on the performance of the DIRINDEX model with the GEWEX SRB GHI data, we expect at least equally good or even better results. In this paper, we will show the derived hourly, daily, and monthly mean DNIs from the CERES SYN1deg hourly GHIs from March 2000 to October 2016 and how they compare with the BSRN data.

Design of a sun tracker for the automatic measurement of spectral irradiance and construction of an irradiance database in the 330-1100 nm range

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Canada, J.; Maj, A. [Departamento de Termodinamica Aplicada, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n. 46022 Valencia (Spain); Utrillas, M.P.; Martinez-Lozano, J.A.; Pedros, R.; Gomez-Amo, J.L. [Departamento de Fisica de la Tierra y Termodinamica, Facultat de Fisica, Universitat de Valencia, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia) (Spain)

2007-10-15

An automatic global and direct solar spectral irradiance system has been designed based on two LICOR spectro radiometers equipped with fibre optics and remote cosine sensors. To measure direct irradiance a sun tracker based on step motors has been developed. The whole system is autonomous and works continuously. From the measurements provided by this system a spectral irradiance database in the 330-1100 nm range has been created. This database contains normal direct and global horizontal irradiances as well as diffuse irradiance on a horizontal plane, together with total atmospheric optical thickness and aerosol optical depth. (author)

UARS Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) Level 3BS V001

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) Level 3BS data product consists of daily, 1 nm resolution, solar spectral irradiances and selected...

Daily Thermal Predictions of the AGR-1 Experiment with Gas Gaps Varying with Time

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grant Hawkes; James Sterbentz; John Maki; Binh Pham

2012-06-01

A new daily as-run thermal analysis was performed at the Idaho National Laboratory on the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) test experiment number one at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). This thermal analysis incorporates gas gaps changing with time during the irradiation experiment. The purpose of this analysis was to calculate the daily average temperatures of each compact to compare with experimental results. Post irradiation examination (PIE) measurements of the graphite holder and fuel compacts showed the gas gaps varying from the beginning of life. The control temperature gas gap and the fuel compact – graphite holder gas gaps were linearly changed from the original fabrication dimensions, to the end of irradiation measurements. A steady-state thermal analysis was performed for each daily calculation. These new thermal predictions more closely match the experimental data taken during the experiment than previous analyses. Results are presented comparing normalized compact average temperatures to normalized log(R/B) Kr-85m. The R/B term is the measured release rate divided by the predicted birth rate for the isotope Kr-85m. Correlations between these two normalized values are presented.

Modelling the quiet-time geomagnetic daily variations using observatory data

OpenAIRE

Hamilton, Brian; Macmillan, Susan

2008-01-01

We present on-going work towards building a global model of the quiet-time geomagnetic daily variation using bservatory data. We select hourly mean data during June 2006 (solar minimum). We fit Fourier series in time, with a fundamental period of 24 hours, to the data at each observatory. We then use global spherical harmonic expansions to separate the daily variation signal, as characterised by the Fourier coefficients in time, into external and induced internal contributions. The mode...

Enhanced solar global irradiance during cloudy sky conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schade, N.H.; Sandmann, H.; Stick, C. [Kiel Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Medizinische Klimatologie; Macke, A. [Kiel Univ. (DE). Leibniz Inst. fuer Meereswissenschaften (IFM-GEOMAR)

2007-06-15

The impact of cloudiness on the shortwave downwelling radiation (SDR) at the surface is investigated by means of collocated pyranometer radiation measurements and all-sky imager observations. The measurements have been performed in Westerland, a seaside resort on the North Sea island of Sylt, Germany, during summer 2004 and 2005. A main improvement to previous studies on this subject resulted from the very high temporal resolution of cloud images and radiation measurements and, therefore, a more robust statistical analysis of the occurrence of this effect. It was possible to observe an excess of solar irradiation compared to clear sky irradiation by more than 500 W/m{sup 2}, the largest observed excess irradiation to our knowledge so far. Camera images reveal that largest excess radiation is reached close to overcast situations with altocumulus clouds partly obscuring the solar disk, and preferably with cumulus clouds in lower levels. The maximum duration of the enhancements depends on its strength and ranges from 20 seconds (enhancements > 400 W/m{sup 2}) up to 140 seconds (enhancements > 200 W/m{sup 2}). (orig.)

TOMS/Earth Probe UV-B Erythemal Local Noon Irradiance Monthly L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V008

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data product contains TOMS/Earth Probe UV-B Erythemal Local Noon Irradiance Monthly L3 Global 1x1.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid Version 8 data in ASCII format. (The...

Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) Daily Snow Depth Analysis Data, Version 1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set consists of a Northern Hemisphere subset of the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) operational global daily snow depth analysis. Data include daily...

OMI/Aura Multi-wavelength Aerosol Optical Depth and Single Scattering Albedo Daily L2 Global 0.25x0.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The second release of Collection 3 OMI/Aura level-2G daily global gridded (0.25x0.25 deg) Aerosol data product OMAEROG (Version 003 has been made available to the...

OMI/Aura Near UV Aerosol Optical Depth and Single Scattering Albedo Daily L2 Global 0.25x0.25 deg Lat/Lon Grid V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The OMI-Aura level-2G daily global gridded (0.25x0.25 deg) near-UV Aerosol data product OMAERUVG based on the enhanced algorithm is available from the NASA Goddard...

Situating globality : African agency in the appropriation of global culture: an introduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Binsbergen, van W.M.J.; Dijk, van R.A.; Gewald, J.B.

2004-01-01

This introductory chapter sketches globalization and Africa in broad theoretical terms, examining the meaning of the term globalization; the impact of globalization on daily life in Africa in economic as well as sociocultural terms; globalization as a historical phenomenon; the political aspects of

Splenic irradiation in the treatment of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia or myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia. Results of daily and intermittent fractionation with and without concomitant hydroxyurea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagner, H. Jr.; McKeough, P.G.; Desforges, J.; Madoc-Jones, H.

1986-01-01

Seventeen patients with either chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) or myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM) received 24 courses of splenic irradiation at this institution from 1973 to 1982. Eleven of the 17 patients had received prior chemotherapy. Patients were treated with 60 Co gamma rays or 6 MV photons. The fraction size ranged from 15 to 100 rad and the total dose per treatment course from 15 to 650 rad, with the exception of one patient who received 1650 rad. Fourteen of 19 courses (71%) given for splenic pain yielded significant subjective relief while 17 of 26 courses given for splenomegaly obtained at least 50% regression of splenic size. Blood counts were carefully monitored before each treatment to limit hematologic toxicity. From this experience, the authors conclude that splenic irradiation effectively palliates splenic pain and reverses splenomegaly in the majority of patients with CML and MMM. Intermittent fractionation (twice or thrice weekly) is more convenient for the patient, appears to be as effective as daily treatment, and may be associated with less hematologic toxicity. Preliminary results of concurrent treatment with splenic irradiation and oral hydroxyurea show promise and warrant further study

The use of a standardized positioning support cushion during daily routine of breast irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thilmann, Christoph; Adamietz, Irenaeus A.; Saran, Frank; Mose, Stefan; Kostka, A.; Boettcher, H.D.

1998-01-01

Purpose: The use of positioning and immobilization techniques during external beam irradiation of the female breast is time consuming and expensive. The currently available standardized positioning devices are insufficient. For this reason, we designed a new and generally useable hard foam positioning support cushion for the use during breast irradiation, and tested its clinical usefulness in a prospective study. Methods and Materials: Fifty-five female breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy following breast-conservative surgery were irradiated either without immobilization (n = 27) or with the positioning support cushion (n = 28). The time necessary for patient setup, the lying subjective comfort and --comparing portal images with simulator images--the reproducibility of the set up were determined. Results: Irradiation reproducibility was significantly improved (average deviation without positioning support cushion: 8.4 mm, with positioning support cushion: 6.1 mm, p < 0.001). The time required for the positioning of the patient with positioning support cushion was in average 73 s, without cushion it was 55 s. A significantly higher proportion of patients (72%) found the position with the positioning support cushion as pleasant, whereas only 46% of patients were pleased with the position without cushion. Conclusion: The positioning support cushion designed in our department makes a substantial contribution to quality assurance in breast irradiation. It significantly increases the patients' comfort in a supine position. In contrast to conventional positioning and fixation aids it may be quickly and easily applied at low costs. Therefore, its use can be recommended

Global Europa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manners, Ian

2010-01-01

at the mythology of ‘global Europa' - the EU in the world. It concludes with a reflection on the way in which the many diverse myths of global Europa compete for daily attention, whether as lore, ideology, or pleasure. In this respect the mythology of global Europa is part of our everyday existence, part of the EU...

SORCE SOLSTICE FUV Level 3 Solar Spectral Irradiance Daily Means V012

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The SORCE SOLSTICE Far-UV Solar Spectral Irradiance (SSI) data product SOR3SOLFUVD is constructed using measurements from the SOLSTICE FUV instrument, which are...

Globalization

OpenAIRE

Andru?cã Maria Carmen

2013-01-01

The field of globalization has highlighted an interdependence implied by a more harmonious understanding determined by the daily interaction between nations through the inducement of peace and the management of streamlining and the effectiveness of the global economy. For the functioning of the globalization, the developing countries that can be helped by the developed ones must be involved. The international community can contribute to the institution of the development environment of the gl...

Safer food means food irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steele, J.H.

2000-01-01

In this article the author presents the sanitary advantages that are brought by food irradiation. OMS experts state that this technique is safe and harmless for any average global dose between 10 KGy and 100 KGy. Whenever a seminar is held on the topic, it is always concluded that food irradiation should be promoted and favoured. In France food irradiation is authorized for some kinds of products and exceptionally above a 10 KGy dose. Historically food irradiation has been hampered in its development by its classification by American Authorities as food additives in 1958 (Delanay clause). The author draws a parallel between food irradiation and pasteurization or food deep-freezing in their beginnings. (A.C.)

Adrenal and plasma corticosterone changes in continuously irradiated rats. I. The dynamics in the course of irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malatova, Z; Ahlers, I; Praslicka, M [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Katedra Vseobecnej Biologie

1978-01-01

Adrenal and plasma corticosterone concentration changes in the course of 25 day continuous irradiation of rats with a daily dose of 15.48x10/sup -3/ C/kg (60 R) of gamma radiation on an open experimental field were followed. The changes were evaluated by a comparison with control rats kept in the same conditions but protected against the radiation effect. The first increase in adrenal corticosterone occurred after one day of irradiation and the maximal increase occurred after 7 days of irradiation. The changes in plasma were insignificant within this period. After 14 days of irradiation the adrenal corticosterone concentration decreased to a minimum during the whole period but it remained increased as against controls. Plasma corticosterone, however, increased to the maximal values within this period. A second peak of elevated adrenal corticosterone concentration was evident after 21 days of irradiation; the plasma values decreased. Corticosterone tended to decrease down to the level of the control group 25 days after irradiation.

OceanSITES RAMA daily in-situ data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — OceanSITES daily in-situ data. OceanSITES Global Tropical Moored Buoy Array Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA)...

Tanacetum parthenium leaf extract mediated survival protection in lethally irradiated Swiss albino mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shetty, Prashanth; Pooja, S.; Suchetha Kumari, N.; Shetty, Jayaram; Peter, Alex John; Jose, Jerish M.

2016-01-01

Search for less-toxic radioprotectors has spurred interest in the development of natural products. In Ayurveda, the traditional medicine, Tanacetum species have been used to treat ailments since ancient times throughout the world. Effects of the administration of different concentrations of Tanacetum parthenium leaf aqueous extract (TPLA), Tanacetum parthenium leaf ethanolic extract (TPLE) were investigated in Swiss albino mice. Mice (20-25 g) were randomly divided into 8 groups of ten animals each. The control group and the radiation group were treated daily with oral administration of saline for 15 days. Each subgroups of TPLA and TPLE were treated with doses of 50, 100 and 250 mg/kg daily for 15 days. On the 15th day, all were irradiated with 10 Gy whole body irradiation. Survival was observed daily up to 30th post-irradiation day. Data were analysed using the Kaplan-Meier survival curves. The significance difference in survival between control, radiation and treatment groups were observed (P < 0.001). Current studies revealed the protective effect of Tanacetum parthenium rendering high survivability in lethally irradiated mice. (author)

MODIS-derived daily PAR simulation from cloud-free images and its validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Liangfu; Gu, Xingfa; Tian, Guoliang [State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100101 (China); The Center for National Spaceborne Demonstration, Beijing 100101 (China); Gao, Yanhua [State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100101 (China); Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Yang, Lei [State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100101 (China); Jilin University, Changchun 130026 (China); Liu, Qinhuo [State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100101 (China)

2008-06-15

In this paper, a MODIS-derived daily PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) simulation model from cloud-free image over land surface has been developed based on Bird and Riordan's model. In this model, the total downwelling spectral surface irradiance is divided into two parts: one is beam irradiance, and another is diffuse irradiance. The attenuation of solar beam irradiance comprises scattering by the gas mixture, absorption by ozone, the gas mixture and water vapor, and scattering and absorption by aerosols. The diffuse irradiance is scattered out of the direct beam and towards the surface. The multiple ground-air interactions have been taken into account in the diffuse irradiance model. The parameters needed in this model are atmospheric water vapor content, aerosol optical thickness and spectral albedo ranging from 400 nm to 700 nm. They are all retrieved from MODIS data. Then, the instantaneous photosynthetically available radiation (IPAR) is integrated by using a weighted sum at each of the visible MODIS wavebands. Finally, a daily PAR is derived by integration of IPAR. In order to validate the MODIS-derived PAR model, we compared the field PAR measurements in 2003 and 2004 against the simulated PAR. The measurements were made at the Qianyanzhou ecological experimental station, Chinese Ecosystem Research Network. A total of 54 days of cloud-free MODIS L1B level images were used for the PAR simulation. Our results show that the simulated PAR is consistent with field measurements, where the correlation coefficient of linear regression between calculated PAR and measured PAR is 0.93396. However, there were some uncertainties in the comparison of 1 km pixel PAR with the tower flux stand measurement. (author)

Local warming: daily temperature change influences belief in global warming.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ye; Johnson, Eric J; Zaval, Lisa

2011-04-01

Although people are quite aware of global warming, their beliefs about it may be malleable; specifically, their beliefs may be constructed in response to questions about global warming. Beliefs may reflect irrelevant but salient information, such as the current day's temperature. This replacement of a more complex, less easily accessed judgment with a simple, more accessible one is known as attribute substitution. In three studies, we asked residents of the United States and Australia to report their opinions about global warming and whether the temperature on the day of the study was warmer or cooler than usual. Respondents who thought that day was warmer than usual believed more in and had greater concern about global warming than did respondents who thought that day was colder than usual. They also donated more money to a global-warming charity if they thought that day seemed warmer than usual. We used instrumental variable regression to rule out some alternative explanations.

Global solar radiation: Multiple on-site assessments in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

El Chaar, Lana; Lamont, Lisa A. [Petroleum Institute, Electrical Engineering Department, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

2010-07-15

Renewable energy technology and in particular solar energy is being considered worldwide due to the fluctuations in oil prices, global warming and the growing demand for energy supply. This paper investigates the climate conditions available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in particular Abu Dhabi to implement Photovoltaic (PV) technology. Measured solar radiation was analyzed for five different geographical locations to ensure the suitability of this region. Hourly, daily and monthly global horizontal irradiation (GHI) were collected and processed. Statistical methods were used to evaluate the computed GHI and showed high values especially during the summer period. Moreover, clearness index was calculated to investigate the frequency of cloudy sky days and results have shown a high percentage of clear days during the year. This paper highlights a promising future for Abu Dhabi in the solar energy sector and in particular Photovoltaic (PV) technology. (author)

Three-year outcomes of a once daily fractionation scheme for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using 3-D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goyal, Sharad; Daroui, Parima; Khan, Atif J; Kearney, Thomas; Kirstein, Laurie; Haffty, Bruce G

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to report 3-year outcomes of toxicity, cosmesis, and local control using a once daily fractionation scheme (49.95 Gy in 3.33 Gy once daily fractions) for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT). Between July 2008 and August 2010, women aged ≥40 years with ductal carcinoma in situ or node-negative invasive breast cancer ≤3 cm in diameter, treated with breast-conserving surgery achieving negative margins, were accrued to a prospective study. Women were treated with APBI using 3–5 photon beams, delivering 49.95 Gy over 15 once daily fractions over 3 weeks. Patients were assessed for toxicities, cosmesis, and local control rates before APBI and at specified time points. Thirty-four patients (mean age 60 years) with Tis 0 (n = 9) and T1N0 (n = 25) breast cancer were treated and followed up for an average of 39 months. Only 3% (1/34) patients experienced a grade 3 subcutaneous fibrosis and breast edema and 97% of the patients had good/excellent cosmetic outcome at 3 years. The 3-year rate of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) was 0% while the rate of contralateral breast events was 6%. The 3-year disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) was 94%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. Our novel accelerated partial breast fractionation scheme of 15 once daily fractions of 3.33 Gy (49.95 Gy total) is a remarkably well-tolerated regimen of 3D-CRT-based APBI. A larger cohort of patients is needed to further ascertain the toxicity of this accelerated partial breast regimen

Technical relapsed testicular irradiation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Velazquez Miranda, S.; Delgado Gil, M. M.; Ortiz Siedel, M.; Munoz Carmona, D. M.; Gomez-Barcelona, J.

2011-01-01

Testicular irradiation in children suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia presents difficulties in relation to daily positioning, dosimetry for dose homogenization of complex geometry and volume change during irradiation thereof. This can lead to significant deviations from the prescribed doses. In addition, the usual techniques often associated with unnecessary irradiation of pelvic simphysis, anus and perineum. This, in the case of pediatric patients, is of great importance, since doses in the vicinity of 20 Gy are associated with a deviation of bone growth, low testosterone levels around 24 Gy and high rates of generation of second tumors. To overcome these problems we propose a special restraint in prone and non-coplanar irradiation.

Evaluation of sensory attributes and some-quality indices of irradiated spices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subbulakshmi, G.; Udipi, Shobha; Raheja, Reshma; Sharma, Arun; Padwal Desai, S.R.; Nair, P.M.

1991-01-01

Ground pepper, chilli, coriander, cumin, turmeric and a spice mix (sambar powder) exposed to an absorbed dose of 10 kGy of gamma irradiation were studied for microbial and sensory quality changes, if any, on storage for 3 months. No significant differences between the irradiated and non-irradiated samples could be observed in their sensory qualities. While no increase in microbial load in sealed irradiated samples could be observed, those that were irradiated but opened repeatedly for daily use did show a marginal increase in microbial load. (author). 8 refs., 1 tab

Acute tolerance of hyperfractionated accelerated total body irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latz, D.; Schraube, P.; Wannenmacher, M.

1996-01-01

Background: Acute side effects of total body irradiation lead to intense molestations of the patients. Therefore, it is desirable to take measures to reduce these side effects. In a retrospective study the frequency on acute side effects of a hyperfractionated accelerated total body irradiation was assessed and compared to frequencies of other exposure schedules published in the literature. Additionally the influence of ondansetron on the frequency of nausea and vormiting was investigated. Patients and Method: From 1989 to 1992, 76 patients (47 male, 29 female; median age 38 years) underwent total body irradiation before autologeous bone marrow transplantation. They received 3 daily doses of 1.20 Gy each every 4 h on 4 successive days to a total dose of 14,40 Gy. Thirty-nine patients received 3x8 mg (daily, intravenous or per os) ondansetron during the whole course of irradiation. Results: The most relevant side effects were nausea and vomiting. Patients, who did not receive ondansetron (n=37) showed a nausea and emesis rate of 73%. With ondansetron (n=39) nausea and emesis were reduced to 38%. Also the grade of severity of these side effects was reduced. Conclusions: Ondansetron proved to be an effective medicament for relieving nausea and vormiting during total body irradiation. The results obtained are in concordance with those published in the literature. (orig.) [de

Modeling daylight from solar irradiation in Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, A.Z.; Sayigh, A.A.K.; Surendran, P.N.; Othman, M.Y.

1999-01-01

The oil crises in the seventies, the environmental impact by the extensive use of energy in the nineties and the recent economic recession in Asia have led to the rediscovery of the use of daylight in energy-conscious design in buildings, the economic implication of the excessive use of artificial lighting in potential of daylight. No daylight data is currently available in Malaysia and therefore there is a need to model the daylight availability based on other climatic parameters measured at meteorological stations. A study has been carried out to produce daylight data from measured climatic parameters, specifically solar irradiation and could cover. The Model Year Climate (MYC) data for the location of Subang (3 deg. 7', N 101 deg. 33' E), model to estimate daily diffuse irradiation was produced the average values of global (KG) and diffuse (KD) luminous efficacious were calculated and found to be 112 lm/W and 120 lm/W respectively. The value of 104 lm/W for the beam luminous efficacy (KB) was selected. Using cloud data cover data as input parameters, the nebulosity index was calculated to determine the sky condition in Subang, Malaysia, which was then classified as average or intermediate sky type, the hourly illuminance on horizontal and inclined surfaces at locations with similar sky conditions in Malaysia were then produced. (author)

Fluctuation in hematology values in gamma irradiated rats subjected to pesticide ingestion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

abdel-Hamid, F M [Radioisotope Department, Nuclear Research Center, Radiation Biology, cairo (Egypt); Roushdy, H M [Department, National Center for Radiation Reasrch and Technology, Cairo (Egypt); Girgis, R B; Abu-Ghadir, A R [Atomic Energy Authority, and Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo (Egypt)

1995-10-01

Male albino rats were exposed to gamma irradiation alone or after either oral daily administration of 50 or 100 mg kelthane for 3 successive days; or daily administration of 200 mg kelthane mixed with food per kg body weight for 3,6 and 12 weeks. Relative spleen weight and certain hematological values were determined. Significant decrease could be estimated in relative spleen weight due to exposure only to gamma irradiation significant increase was recorded due to treatment with 50 and 100 mg kelthane. The data obtained on hematological levels revealed insignificant changes in erythrocyte counts and hemoglobin concentration due to exposure to gamma irradiation and/.or kelthane treatment. Significant decrease was recorded in hematocrit value either for successive 30 days or due exposure to gamma irradiation after treatment with kelthane for short and long term periods. Leucocyte counts showed significant decrease for all animals groups. 2 tabs.

fluctuation in hematology values in gamma irradiated rats subjected to pesticide ingestion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

abdel-Hamid, F.M.; Roushdy, H.M.; Girgis, R.B.; Abu-Ghadir, A.R.

1995-01-01

Male albino rats were exposed to gamma irradiation alone or after either oral daily administration of 50 or 100 mg kelthane for 3 successive days; or daily administration of 200 mg kelthane mixed with food per kg body weight for 3,6 and 12 weeks. Relative spleen weight and certain hematological values were determined. Significant decrease could be estimated in relative spleen weight due to exposure only to gamma irradiation significant increase was recorded due to treatment with 50 and 100 mg kelthane. The data obtained on hematological levels revealed insignificant changes in erythrocyte counts and hemoglobin concentration due to exposure to gamma irradiation and/.or kelthane treatment. Significant decrease was recorded in hematocrit value either for successive 30 days or due exposure to gamma irradiation after treatment with kelthane for short and long term periods. Leucocyte counts showed significant decrease for all animals groups. 2 tabs

Plant responses to UV-B irradiation are modified by UV-A irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Middleton, E.M.; Teramura, A.H.

1993-01-01

The increasing UV-B radiation (0.28-0.32 μm) reaching the earth's surface is an important concern. Plant response in artificial UV-B irradiation studies has been difficult to assess, especially regarding photosynthetic pigments, because the fluorescent lamps also produce UV-A (0.32-0.40μm) radiation which is involved with blue light in pigment synthesis. Both UV-A and UV-B irradiances were controlled in two glasshouse experiments conducted under relatively high PPFD (> 1300μmol m -2 s -1 ) at two biologically effective daily UV-B irradiances (10.7 and 14.1 kJ m -2 ); UV-A irradiances were matched in Controls (∼5, 9 kJ m -2 ). Normal, chlorophyll-deficient, and flavonoid-deficient isolines of soybean cultivar, Clark, were utilized. Many growth/ pigment variables exhibited a statistically significant interaction between light quality and quantity: in general, UV-A radiation moderated the damaging effects of UV-B radiation. Regression analyses demonstrated that a single negative function related photosynthetic efficiency to carotenoid Content (r 2 =0.73, P≤0.001), implying a open-quotes costclose quotes in maintaining carotenoids for photoprotection. A stomatal limitation to photosynthesis was verified and carotenoid content was correlated with UV-B absorbing compound levels, in UV-B irradiated plants

Daily allergic multimorbidity in rhinitis using mobile technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bousquet, J.; Devillier, P.; Anto, J. M.

2018-01-01

impact on work productivity using a mobile technology, the Allergy Diary. Methods: We undertook a 1-year prospective observational study in which 4 210 users and 32 585 days were monitored in 19 countries. Five visual analogue scales (VAS) assessed the daily burden of the disease (i.e., global evaluation...... approach examining daily symptoms with mobile technology, we found considerable intra-individual variability of allergic multimorbidity including a previously unrecognized extreme pattern of uncontrolled multimorbidity....

Age differences in emotional responses to daily stress: the role of timing, severity, and global perceived stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Stacey B; Sliwinski, Martin J; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda

2013-12-01

Research on age differences in emotional responses to daily stress has produced inconsistent findings. Guided by recent theoretical advances in aging theory (S. T. Charles, 2010, Strength and vulnerability integration: A model of emotional well-being across adulthood, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 136, pp. 1068-1091) that emphasize the importance of context for predicting when and how age is related to affective well-being, the current study examined age differences in emotional responses to everyday stressors. The present study examined how three contextual features (e.g., timing of exposure, stressor severity, global perceived stress [GPS]) moderate age differences in emotional experience in an ecological momentary assessment study of adults (N = 190) aged 18-81 years. Results indicated that older adults' negative affect (NA) was less affected by exposure to recent stressors than younger adults, but that there were no age differences in the effects of stressor exposure 3-6 hr afterward. Higher levels of GPS predicted amplified NA responses to daily stress, and controlling for GPS eliminated age differences in NA responses to stressors. No age differences in NA responses as a function of stressor severity were observed. In contrast, older age was associated with less of a decrease in PA when exposed to recent stressors or with more severe recent stressors. There were no age differences in the effect of previous stressor exposure or severity on PA, or any interactions between momentary or previous stress and GPS on PA. Together, these results support the notion that chronic stress plays a central role in emotional experience in daily life. We discuss the implications of these results for emotion theories of aging. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Study of the biochemical indicators of chronic irradiation in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Szabo, L D; Benko, A B; Gyenge, L; Predmerszky, T

1976-01-01

Daily urinary excretion of pseudouridine, creatinine and creatine of chronically irradiated Wistar rats was estimated. The irradiation conditions were: 60Co gamma source, dose-rate 10 rad/day, total dose 200, 400 and 600 rad. Control groups were kept under similar conditions. Urine samples were taken three times after the end of the irradiation period. It was found that: (1) pseudouridine excretion seems more suitable for indicating radiation injury than the creatine/creatinine ratio in chronic irradiation in rats; (ii) there are significant changes in dose dependence of pseudouridine excretion in the post-irradiation period; (iii) a new method for pseudouridine estimation gives closely similar data to those of earlier investigations.

Patterns and Variability in Global Ocean Chlorophyll: Satellite Observations and Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson

2004-01-01

Recent analyses of SeaWiFS data have shown that global ocean chlorophyll has increased more than 4% since 1998. The North Pacific ocean basin has increased nearly 19%. These trend analyses follow earlier results showing decadal declines in global ocean chlorophyll and primary production. To understand the causes of these changes and trends we have applied the newly developed NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Assimilation Model (OBAM), which is driven in mechanistic fashion by surface winds, sea surface temperature, atmospheric iron deposition, sea ice, and surface irradiance. The model utilizes chlorophyll from SeaWiFS in a daily assimilation. The model has in place many of the climatic variables that can be expected to produce the changes observed in SeaWiFS data. This enables us to diagnose the model performance, the assimilation performance, and possible causes for the increase in chlorophyll. A full discussion of the changes and trends, possible causes, modeling approaches, and data assimilation will be the focus of the seminar.

Radioprotective effects of soya and garlic oils in irradiated male rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shabon, M.H.

2005-01-01

Forty male albino rats were divided equally into four groups, the first group acted as control group, the second group was subjected to 5 Gy whole body gamma irradiation, the third group was injected intraperitoneally daily with soya oil (15 mg/kg b.w. for 14 days) before gamma irradiation and the fourth group was injected intraperitoneally daily with garlic oil (150/kg b.w. for 14 days) before gamma irradiation. Mortality percentage and body weight were recorded. Blood samples were collected one week post-gamma irradiation from all animals for biochemical analysis. Serum levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), total lipids, triglycerides and cholesterol were measured. Total proteins and albumin were measured using photometric methods. Globulin value was calculated by subtraction of albumin from total protein values. The results showed that gamma irradiation with dose level of 5 Gy induced retardation of live body weight and increased the mortality. The data also showed significant increases in TBARS, total lipids, triglycerides and cholesterol levels, whereas the levels of total proteins, albumin and globulin were significantly decreased. The soya oil or garlic oil injected pre-irradiation exerted noticeable amelioration in induced radiation changes on body weight, mortality, TBARS, lipid profiles and protein fractions

Blood responses under chronic low daily dose gamma irradiation: Pt. 2; Differential preclinical responses of irradiated female dogs in progression to either aplastic anemia or myeloproliferative disease

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seed, T.; Carnes, B.; Tolle, D.; Fritz, T. (Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Biological and Medical Research Div.)

1993-05-01

Female beagle dogs were chronically exposed to low daily doses of [sup 60]Co gamma rays and responded in one of three distinct hemopathological patterns. These patterns, reflective of distinct subgroups, were characterized by (a) low radioresistance resulting in progressive hematopoietic suppression, terminal aplastic anemia (AA), and relatively short (<400 days) survival ([sup -]S-AA subgroups); (b) high radioresistance, initially coupled with strong but aberrant regenerative hematopoiesis, and later with the development of myeloproliferative disease (MPD) ([sup +]-R-MPD subgroup); and (c) high radioresistance, coupled with an early phase of strong regenerative hematopoiesis, but later with no myeloproliferative disease ([sup +]R-nonMPD subgroup). In this study, the changes in circulating blood cells levels (granulocytes, monotcytes, erythrocytes, lymphocytes and platelets) were sequentially assessed in time and fitted to a flexible, quadratic-linear-type response model previously developed. The results are consistent with our earlier observations of blood responses of chronically irradiated male dogs, in the subgroups of female dogs prone to specific radiogenic hematopathologies (i.e. AA and MPD) can be readily identified and staged in specific preclinical periods by a series of marked differential blood responses. (Author).

Phytosanitary irradiation and fresh fruit quality: Cultivar and maturity effects

Science.gov (United States)

Irradiation is an effective quarantine treatment for global trade of fresh produce. Variation in cultivars and maturity stages can impact the tolerance of fresh fruits to irradiation for the purposes of quarantine security. Tolerance thresholds for irradiated fruit are lacking for a large number of ...

Accuracy improvement of irradiation data by combining ground and satellite measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Betcke, J. [Energy and Semiconductor Research Laboratory, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg (Germany); Beyer, H.G. [Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Applied Science (F.H.) Magdeburg-Stendal, Magdeburg (Germany)

2004-07-01

Accurate and site-specific irradiation data are essential input for optimal planning, monitoring and operation of solar energy technologies. A concrete example is the performance check of grid connected PV systems with the PVSAT-2 procedure. This procedure detects system faults in an early stage by a daily comparison of an individual reference yield with the actual yield. Calculation of the reference yield requires hourly irradiation data with a known accuracy. A field test of the predecessing PVSAT-1 procedure showed that the accuracy of the irradiation input is the determining factor for the overall accuracy of the yield calculation. In this paper we will investigate if it is possible to improve the accuracy of sitespeci.c irradiation data by combining accurate localised pyranometer data with semi-continuous satellite data.We will therefore introduce the ''Kriging of Differences'' data fusion method. Kriging of Differences also offers the possibility to estimate it's own accuracy. The obtainable accuracy gain and the effectiveness of the accuracy prediction will be investigated by validation on monthly and daily irradiation datasets. Results will be compared with the Heliosat method and interpolation of ground data. (orig.)

Evaluation of global solar radiation models for Shanghai, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yao, Wanxiang; Li, Zhengrong; Wang, Yuyan; Jiang, Fujian; Hu, Lingzhou

2014-01-01

Highlights: • 108 existing models are compared and analyzed by 42 years meteorological data. • Fitting models based on measured data are established according to 42 years data. • All models are compared by recently 10 years meteorological data. • The results show that polynomial models are the most accurate models. - Abstract: In this paper, 89 existing monthly average daily global solar radiation models and 19 existing daily global solar radiation models are compared and analyzed by 42 years meteorological data. The results show that for existing monthly average daily global solar radiation models, linear models and polynomial models have been able to estimate global solar radiation accurately, and complex equation types cannot obviously improve the precision. Considering direct parameters such as latitude, altitude, solar altitude and sunshine duration can help improve the accuracy of the models, but indirect parameters cannot. For existing daily global solar radiation models, multi-parameter models are more accurate than single-parameter models, polynomial models are more accurate than linear models. Then measured data fitting monthly average daily global solar radiation models (MADGSR models) and daily global solar radiation models (DGSR models) are established according to 42 years meteorological data. Finally, existing models and fitting models based on measured data are comparative analysis by recent 10 years meteorological data, and the results show that polynomial models (MADGSR model 2, DGSR model 2 and Maduekwe model 2) are the most accurate models

Photosynthesis-irradiance parameters of marine phytoplankton: synthesis of a global data set

Science.gov (United States)

Bouman, Heather A.; Platt, Trevor; Doblin, Martina; Figueiras, Francisco G.; Gudmundsson, Kristinn; Gudfinnsson, Hafsteinn G.; Huang, Bangqin; Hickman, Anna; Hiscock, Michael; Jackson, Thomas; Lutz, Vivian A.; Mélin, Frédéric; Rey, Francisco; Pepin, Pierre; Segura, Valeria; Tilstone, Gavin H.; van Dongen-Vogels, Virginie; Sathyendranath, Shubha

2018-02-01

The photosynthetic performance of marine phytoplankton varies in response to a variety of factors, environmental and taxonomic. One of the aims of the MArine primary Production: model Parameters from Space (MAPPS) project of the European Space Agency is to assemble a global database of photosynthesis-irradiance (P-E) parameters from a range of oceanographic regimes as an aid to examining the basin-scale variability in the photophysiological response of marine phytoplankton and to use this information to improve the assignment of P-E parameters in the estimation of global marine primary production using satellite data. The MAPPS P-E database, which consists of over 5000 P-E experiments, provides information on the spatio-temporal variability in the two P-E parameters (the assimilation number, PmB, and the initial slope, αB, where the superscripts B indicate normalisation to concentration of chlorophyll) that are fundamental inputs for models (satellite-based and otherwise) of marine primary production that use chlorophyll as the state variable. Quality-control measures consisted of removing samples with abnormally high parameter values and flags were added to denote whether the spectral quality of the incubator lamp was used to calculate a broad-band value of αB. The MAPPS database provides a photophysiological data set that is unprecedented in number of observations and in spatial coverage. The database will be useful to a variety of research communities, including marine ecologists, biogeochemical modellers, remote-sensing scientists and algal physiologists. The compiled data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.874087 (Bouman et al., 2017).

Advanced solar irradiances applied to satellite and ionospheric operational systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tobiska, W. Kent; Schunk, Robert; Eccles, Vince; Bouwer, Dave

Satellite and ionospheric operational systems require solar irradiances in a variety of time scales and spectral formats. We describe the development of a system using operational grade solar irradiances that are applied to empirical thermospheric density models and physics-based ionospheric models used by operational systems that require a space weather characterization. The SOLAR2000 (S2K) and SOLARFLARE (SFLR) models developed by Space Environment Technologies (SET) provide solar irradiances from the soft X-rays (XUV) through the Far Ultraviolet (FUV) spectrum. The irradiances are provided as integrated indices for the JB2006 empirical atmosphere density models and as line/band spectral irradiances for the physics-based Ionosphere Forecast Model (IFM) developed by the Space Environment Corporation (SEC). We describe the integration of these irradiances in historical, current epoch, and forecast modes through the Communication Alert and Prediction System (CAPS). CAPS provides real-time and forecast HF radio availability for global and regional users and global total electron content (TEC) conditions.

The role of prophylactic cranial irradiation in small cell lung cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiricuta, I.C.; Bohndorf, W.

1996-01-01

To analyse if prophylactic cranial irradiation is small cell lung cancer for improved survival is indicated; if adjuvant irradiation could cure the microscopic disease; if and how late effects could be minimized. Data from randomized trials and retrospective studies are critically analysed related to the incidence of central nervous system (CNS) metastases in limited disease patients in complete remission with or without prophylactic cranial irradiation. The mechanisms of late effects on CNS of prophylactic cranial irradiation and combined treatment are presented. Prophylactic cranial irradiation could decrease the incidence of CNS metastases but could not improve survival. A subgroup of patients (9 to 14%) most likely to benefit from prophylactic cranial irradiation includes patients who are likely to have an isolated CNS failure. The actual used total dose in the range 30 to 40 Gy could only conditionally decrease the CNS failure. Higher total and/or daily doses and combined treatment are related with potentially devastating neurologic and intellectual disabilities. No prospective randomized trial has demonstrated a significant survival advantage for patients treated with prophylactic cranial irradiation. Prophylactic cranial irradiation is capable of reducing the incidence of cerebral metastases and delays CNS failure. A subgroup of patients most likely to benefit from prophylactic cranial irradiation (9 to 14%) includes patients who are likely to have an isolated CNS failure, but this had yet to be demonstrated. The toxicity of treatment is difficult to be influenced. Prophylactic cranial irradiation should not be given concurrently with chemotherapy, a larger interval after chemotherapy is indicated. The total dose should be in the range 30 to 36 Gy and the daily fraction size not larger than 2 Gy. (orig.) [de

Current status of information transfer activity on food irradiation and consumer attitudes in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Furuta, Masakazu

2004-09-01

For the purpose of public education of radiation and radiation-related technology towards school kids and their parents through efficient information transfer, ''RADIATION FAIR—the relationship between daily life and radiation" has been successfully held at Kintetsu Department Store, one of the major departmental stores in downtown Osaka, the second largest city in Japan during summer vacation in every August for 19 years. Currently various irradiated products available in our daily life including irradiated potatoes and spices were displayed together with explanatory panels and attractions. The number of participants has increased every year and constantly exceeded 20,000 in recent years. This activity has become a good medium for the consumer to recognize the quality of the irradiated potatoes which has been distributed in the market since 1974, and irradiated spices, the next candidate for the clearance under examination by Japanese government. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have demonstrated toward the participants that irradiation-decontaminated spices are superior to conventional heat-treated ones in aromatic quality as well as conducting survey of the visitor's feeling on radiation and irradiated foods. These activities would be potentially effective to facilitate public acceptance of irradiation decontamination of spices.

Current status of information transfer activity on food irradiation and consumer attitudes in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuta, Masakazu

2004-01-01

For the purpose of public education of radiation and radiation-related technology towards school kids and their parents through efficient information transfer, 'RADIATION FAIR - the relationship between daily life and radiation' has been successfully held at Kintetsu Department Store, one of the major departmental stores in downtown Osaka, the second largest city in Japan during summer vacation in every August for 19 years. Currently various irradiated products available in our daily life including irradiated potatoes and spices were displayed together with explanatory panels and attractions. The number of participants has increased every year and constantly exceeded 20,000 in recent years. This activity has become a good medium for the consumer to recognize the quality of the irradiated potatoes which has been distributed in the market since 1974, and irradiated spices, the next candidate for the clearance under examination by Japanese government. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have demonstrated toward the participants that irradiation-decontaminated spices are superior to conventional heat-treated ones in aromatic quality as well as conducting survey of the visitor's feeling on radiation and irradiated foods. These activities would be potentially effective to facilitate public acceptance of irradiation decontamination of spices

Formation and reparation of the AP-sites into DNA from the gamma-irradiated embryo of bombyx mori

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agaev, F.A.; Gaziyev, A.I.

2002-01-01

Full text: It is well known that radiosensitivity of an organism is in dependence on the DNA reparation systems functioning into cells. Sharp difference in the radioresistance of silkworm embryo at different stage of growth showed by us earlier (Agaev F.A. et al, 1991) can provide to suggest that DNA reparation system into cells of 3-daily embryo (more radiosensitive stage) and 7-daily embryo (more radioresistance stage) may be functioning with various efficiency. It was shown that quantity of the AP-sites (i.e. apurine and apirimidine sites) registered into DNA of 3-daily embryo is 1,2 - 1,4 time more, that into DNA of 7-daily embryo g-irradiated at the same dozes. The increasing of the difference between the registered AP-sites into DNA of 3- and 7-daily embryo has been observed also at the increasing of the radiation doze. At the postradiation incubation of the 3- and 7- daily embryo the lowering of AP-sites quantity into DNA was observed. This fact allowed to testify that the reparation system of damages, such as DNA-apurinization and apirimidinization are functioned into these embryo cells. At the same time the rate of the AP-sites reparation into embryo cells is varied. For example, the remanent quantity of AP-sites into DNA of 7-daily embryo after 45 min of postradiation period consists of 30% those registered immediately after embryo irradiation. The remanent quantity of AP-sites into DNA of 3-daily embryo is lowered on 50%. The difference in the rate of cells reparation is keeping at the constant level irrespective of g-irradiation doze. The binding reaction between the /14 centigrade/-methoxyamine and AP-sites in DNA in vitro has been showed that the reparation time of the 50% AP-sites for 3-daily embryo is 45 min and for 7-daily embryo is 30 min in respective to registered value at once after 100 Gy irradiation doze. In spite of essential difference in the both AP-sites formation into DNA of 3- and 7-daily embryo at once after irradiation and the

Daily precipitation statistics in regional climate models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frei, Christoph; Christensen, Jens Hesselbjerg; Déqué, Michel

2003-01-01

An evaluation is undertaken of the statistics of daily precipitation as simulated by five regional climate models using comprehensive observations in the region of the European Alps. Four limited area models and one variable-resolution global model are considered, all with a grid spacing of 50 km...

Thymus repair compared with hemopoiesis repair in spleen after protracted irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mackova, N.

1987-01-01

Matured female mice of ICR strain were irradiated from a 60 Co source with a daily dose rate of 5 Gy till total accumulated dose of 10 Gy for 2 days. Animals were examined in various intervals within 42 days after irradiation. The results revealed that protracted irradiation will induce a massive injury to hemopoiesis. The first repair processes occurred in thymus and were characterized by two phases. The first repair wave peaked about the day 10 and the second about the day 30 after irradiation. The repair processes observed in the red pulp of the spleen reached their highest intensity approximately between the days 14-16 after irradiation. (author)

Phytosanitary irradiation - Development and application

Science.gov (United States)

Hallman, Guy J.; Loaharanu, Paisan

2016-12-01

Phytosanitary irradiation, the use of ionizing radiation to disinfest traded agricultural commodities of regulated pests, is a growing use of food irradiation that has great continued potential for increase in commercial application. In 2015 approximately 25,000 t of fresh fruits and vegetables were irradiated globally for phytosanitary purposes. Phytosanitary irradiation has resulted in a paradigm shift in phytosanitation in that the final burden of proof of efficacy of the treatment has shifted from no live pests upon inspection at a port of entry (as for all previous phytosanitary treatments) to total dependence on certification that the treatment for target pests is based on adequate science and is commercially conducted and protected from post-treatment infestation. In this regard phytosanitary irradiation is managed more like a hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) approach more consistent with food safety than phytosanitation. Thus, phytosanitary irradiation offers a more complete and rigorous methodology for safeguarding than other phytosanitary measures. The role of different organizations in achieving commercial application of phytosanitary irradiation is discussed as well as future issues and applications, including new generic doses.

Irradiance gradients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ward, G.J.; Heckbert, P.S.; Technische Hogeschool Delft

1992-04-01

A new method for improving the accuracy of a diffuse interreflection calculation is introduced in a ray tracing context. The information from a hemispherical sampling of the luminous environment is interpreted in a new way to predict the change in irradiance as a function of position and surface orientation. The additional computation involved is modest and the benefit is substantial. An improved interpolation of irradiance resulting from the gradient calculation produces smoother, more accurate renderings. This result is achieved through better utilization of ray samples rather than additional samples or alternate sampling strategies. Thus, the technique is applicable to a variety of global illumination algorithms that use hemicubes or Monte Carlo sampling techniques

Growth regulation in X-irradiated mouse skin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elgjo, K.; Devik, F.

1978-01-01

Extracts of hairless mouse skin were tested for their content of epidermal G 1 inhibitor and G 2 inhibitor at daily intervals after X-irradiation with 4 500 or 2 250 rad. After either dose the skin extracts lacked G 1 inhibitory activity on days 5 and 6 respectively after irradiation. This coincided with the time when the epidermal mitotic rate again became normal and started a period of over-shoot. The time interval of 5 to 6 days corresponds to the turnover time of the differentiating cells in hairless mouse back epidermis. The findings indicate that the proliferating cells in epidermis can respond to changes in local chalone concentration, even after X-irradiation at the tested doses, and that the irradiated epidermal cell population still retains some important properties inherent in a cybernetically regulated system. The local G 2 -inhibitory activity also varied after irradiation, but these variations could not be directly related to the corresponding mitotic rates. (author)

GPM, GMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

Solar EUV irradiance for space weather applications

Science.gov (United States)

Viereck, R. A.

2015-12-01

Solar EUV irradiance is an important driver of space weather models. Large changes in EUV and x-ray irradiances create large variability in the ionosphere and thermosphere. Proxies such as the F10.7 cm radio flux, have provided reasonable estimates of the EUV flux but as the space weather models become more accurate and the demands of the customers become more stringent, proxies are no longer adequate. Furthermore, proxies are often provided only on a daily basis and shorter time scales are becoming important. Also, there is a growing need for multi-day forecasts of solar EUV irradiance to drive space weather forecast models. In this presentation we will describe the needs and requirements for solar EUV irradiance information from the space weather modeler's perspective. We will then translate these requirements into solar observational requirements such as spectral resolution and irradiance accuracy. We will also describe the activities at NOAA to provide long-term solar EUV irradiance observations and derived products that are needed for real-time space weather modeling.

Radurization of spices by irradiation in Cuba

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvarez Gil, M.; Rodriguez, M.; Prieto, E.; Pino, J.

1997-01-01

This paper presents the research results that prove the technical feasibility according to the hygiene conditions existing in Cuba for irradiating different spices. The results show both the possibility and and the benefit of using a one irradiation application to these products. One global average doses of 5 KGy was enough for decontaminating black pepper, paprika, cumin, must meg and oregano without affecting either their chemical components or the quality of their taste. Sausages manufactured with irradiated spices did not irradiating spices is much higher that of fumigation, et has many important social and economic advantages

Food irradiation: Applications, public acceptance and global trade ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The process involves exposing the packed or bulked food to the rays of the sun. Food irradiation processing that entails combating post-harvest losses, curtailing food-borne disease and overcoming quarantine barriers has been pursued since the mid-50s. The scientific basis and technological adaptation of the process ...

Spatial And Temporal Patterns As Well As Major Influencing Factors Of Global And Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance Over China: 1960-2014

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, H.; Sun, F.

2017-12-01

Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) on Earth is a central element of climate systems. With changes in the climate and regional development, the patterns and influencing factors of GHI, in addition to presenting global consistency, are increasingly showing regional particularities. Based on data for GHI, Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI) and potential impact factors (geographical position, elevation, cloud cover, water vapor, and ground atmospheric transparency related variables) from 1960 to 2014 in China, we analyzed the pattern and major influencing factors of GHI and DHI. The results showed that the major influencing factors of the GHI spatial pattern were the total cloud cover (TCC) and relative humidity (RH) in China. Dividing all of China into two regions, the major factors were the water vapor pressure (WVP) in the northern region and TCC in the southern region. And we divided the GHI and DHI data into two periods (1960-1987 and 1988-2014) due to global dimming and brightening observed in China in the late 1980's. The temporal GHI showed that 31 of 58 decreased significantly with an average decreasing rate of 95 MJ.10yr-1 during the periods of 1960-2014 and 49 of 76 stations decreased significantly with an rate of 342 MJ.10yr-1 during 1960-1987, whereas 57 of 88 stations did not change and 24 stations increased significantly with an rate of 201 MJ.10yr-1 during the period of 1988-2014. The temporal DHI showed that 40 of 61sites did not change significantly from 1960 to 1987. The major influencing factors for temporal changes of GHI in nine typical cities from 1960 to 2013 were as follows: air quality-related variables in super cities, sandstorms and wind in desert oasis cities, clouds in cities with good air quality and a low cloud amount (LCA) and annual fog days (FD) in Chengdu. Overall, we identified characteristics of GHI and DHI based on global climate change and regional urban development and found that the spatial characteristics of GHI results for

Chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow of continuously irradiated rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chlebosky, O; Praslicka, M; Chlebovska, K [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Prirodovedecka Fakulta

1975-01-01

Research on chromosomal aberrations of the bone marrow in continuously irradiated rats showed that chromosomal aberrations are a highly sensitive indicator of radiation injury. An increase in the chromosomal aberration frequency was already found on the 5th day at daily doses of 0.5 R, i.e. a 12% increase at a total dose of 25 R. In the steady-state stage at daily doses of 0.5; 1; 2.5 R, the number of chromosomal aberrations stabilized at values of about 20%; at daily doses of 5 and 10 R at values of 30.=., at daily doses of 53 R at 45%, at a daily dose of 82.5 R, the number of chromosomal aberrations increased to 55%.

Food irradiation: Applications, public acceptance and global trade

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

2010-05-17

May 17, 2010 ... Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Nuclear Science and Technology ... “the irradiation of any food commodity up to an overall average dose of 10 KGy presents no ... years in the wake of food-borne disease caused by pathogenic organisms. In fact ... quality of food consumed within the region (Ahari and.

Do you know 'food irradiation'?. A survey of consumer status toward food irradiation in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuta, Masakazu

1998-01-01

In Japan potatoes have been irradiated for the purpose of sprout inhibition for more than 20 years and more than ten thousand irradiated potatoes are circulated in Japanese market in recent years. Nevertheless, there are few surveys about the consumer status toward food irradiation in Japan. We have been held 'Radiation Fair -- The relationship between daily life and radiation--' during summer vacation season in August for more than 10 years in Osaka, the largest city of western Japan, for the purpose of public education and information transfer of radiation and radiation-related technology especially to school kids. We displayed 200 kg of irradiated potatoes together with explanatory panels. We distributed questionnaires to the senior high school students (16 years old) and upward visitor for recent 3 years to inquire their status toward radiation and irradiated products including irradiated potatoes as well as impression toward the displays. According to the survey results in 1997, the ratio of respondents who had heard of irradiated potatoes was 51% of 228 answers. This value was smaller than those of the Gallop survey conducted in the United States (73%). After viewing the display and description of irradiated potatoes, almost half of the respondents indicated a positive feeling for tasting the irradiated potatoes. Most of the respondents chose one of the following issues, Freshness' (37%), 'Open date' (13%), or 'Food additives' (34%) as the major concerns about food safety. Interestingly, 'Pesticide' and/or 'Foodborne pathogen' highly were chosen by only 15% of the respondents in total even though these issue were highly ranked in the US surveys. These results indicate that original methodology is necessary for distributing the information related food irradiation related food irradiation efficiently. (J.P.N)

Types of repair in radiosensitive organs of mice subjected to continuous γ-irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Yuanmin; Hu Fenghua; Gao Yabin

1990-01-01

LACA mice were whole-body irradiated with 1 Gy continuous γ-irradiation for 22 hours daily. Animals were divided into groups according to different cumulative doses of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 Gy, and were sacrificed at different intervals after the termination of irradiation when the above doses were reached. Radiosensitive organs were stduied by determination of quantitative indices and microscopic examination of histopathological sections. Three types of repair of radiation damages were found in radiosensitive organs, i.e. (1) full repair during irradiation in small intestines, (2) repair only after cessation of irradiation in hemopoietic and lymphoid tissues, and (3) continuing damage even after cessation of irradiation in testes

A randomized, single-blind trial of 5% minoxidil foam once daily versus 2% minoxidil solution twice daily in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in women.

Science.gov (United States)

Blume-Peytavi, Ulrike; Hillmann, Kathrin; Dietz, Ekkehart; Canfield, Douglas; Garcia Bartels, Natalie

2011-12-01

Although twice-daily application of propylene glycol-containing 2% minoxidil topical solution (MTS) stimulates new hair growth, higher concentrations of minoxidil in a once-daily, propylene glycol-free formulation may improve efficacy and reduce unpleasant side effects. We sought to compare the efficacy, safety, and acceptability and to show noninferiority of once-daily 5% minoxidil topical foam (MTF) with twice-daily 2% MTS in women with androgenetic alopecia. A total of 113 women with androgenetic alopecia were randomized to 24 weeks of treatment with 5% MTF or 2% MTS. The primary efficacy parameter was change from baseline in nonvellus target area hair count at week 24. Secondary end points included change in nonvellus target area hair width, overall efficacy by global photographic review as assessed by treatment-blinded evaluators and the subject herself, adverse events, and participants' assessment of product aesthetics. After 24 weeks, women randomized to 5% MTF once daily showed noninferior target area hair count and target area hair width and experienced greater, but nonsignificant, improvements in target area hair count, target area hair width, and overall efficacy by global photographic review than those randomized to 2% MTS used twice daily. 5% MTF was significantly superior to 2% MTS in participants' agreement with "the treatment does not interfere with styling my hair" (P = .002). Women randomized to 5% MTF experienced significantly lower rates of local intolerance (P = .046) especially in pruritus and dandruff compared with 2% MTS. Because of differences in the formulations tested, study participants were not blinded to treatment. Once-daily 5% MTF is noninferior and as effective for stimulating hair growth as twice-daily 2% MTS in women with androgenetic alopecia and is associated with several aesthetic and practical advantages. Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Current status of information transfer activity on food irradiation and consumer attitudes in Japan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Furuta, Masakazu E-mail: mfuruta@riast.osakafu-u.ac.jp

2004-10-01

For the purpose of public education of radiation and radiation-related technology towards school kids and their parents through efficient information transfer, 'RADIATION FAIR - the relationship between daily life and radiation' has been successfully held at Kintetsu Department Store, one of the major departmental stores in downtown Osaka, the second largest city in Japan during summer vacation in every August for 19 years. Currently various irradiated products available in our daily life including irradiated potatoes and spices were displayed together with explanatory panels and attractions. The number of participants has increased every year and constantly exceeded 20,000 in recent years. This activity has become a good medium for the consumer to recognize the quality of the irradiated potatoes which has been distributed in the market since 1974, and irradiated spices, the next candidate for the clearance under examination by Japanese government. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have demonstrated toward the participants that irradiation-decontaminated spices are superior to conventional heat-treated ones in aromatic quality as well as conducting survey of the visitor's feeling on radiation and irradiated foods. These activities would be potentially effective to facilitate public acceptance of irradiation decontamination of spices.

Forecasting Global Horizontal Irradiance Using the LETKF and a Combination of Advected Satellite Images and Sparse Ground Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Harty, T. M.; Lorenzo, A.; Holmgren, W.; Morzfeld, M.

2017-12-01

The irradiance incident on a solar panel is the main factor in determining the power output of that panel. For this reason, accurate global horizontal irradiance (GHI) estimates and forecasts are critical when determining the optimal location for a solar power plant, forecasting utility scale solar power production, or forecasting distributed, behind the meter rooftop solar power production. Satellite images provide a basis for producing the GHI estimates needed to undertake these objectives. The focus of this work is to combine satellite derived GHI estimates with ground sensor measurements and an advection model. The idea is to use accurate but sparsely distributed ground sensors to improve satellite derived GHI estimates which can cover large areas (the size of a city or a region of the United States). We use a Bayesian framework to perform the data assimilation, which enables us to produce irradiance forecasts and associated uncertainties which incorporate both satellite and ground sensor data. Within this framework, we utilize satellite images taken from the GOES-15 geostationary satellite (available every 15-30 minutes) as well as ground data taken from irradiance sensors and rooftop solar arrays (available every 5 minutes). The advection model, driven by wind forecasts from a numerical weather model, simulates cloud motion between measurements. We use the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) to perform the data assimilation. We present preliminary results towards making such a system useful in an operational context. We explain how localization and inflation in the LETKF, perturbations of wind-fields, and random perturbations of the advection model, affect the accuracy of our estimates and forecasts. We present experiments showing the accuracy of our forecasted GHI over forecast-horizons of 15 mins to 1 hr. The limitations of our approach and future improvements are also discussed.

Estimation of daily global solar radiation as a function of the solar energy potential at soil surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pereira, A.B.; Vrisman, A.L.; Galvani, E.

2002-01-01

The solar radiation received at the surface of the earth, apart from its relevance to several daily human activities, plays an important role in the growth and development of plants. The aim of the current work was to develop and gauge an estimation model for the evaluation of the global solar radiation flux density as a function of the solar energy potential at soil surface. Radiometric data were collected at Ponta Grossa, PR, Brazil (latitude 25°13' S, longitude 50°03' W, altitude 880 m). Estimated values of solar energy potential obtained as a function of only one measurement taken at solar noon time were confronted with those measured by a Robitzsch bimetalic actinograph, for days that presented insolation ratios higher than 0.85. This data set was submitted to a simple linear regression analysis, having been obtained a good adjustment between observed and calculated values. For the estimation of the coefficients a and b of Angström's equation, the method based on the solar energy potential at soil surface was used for the site under study. The methodology was efficient to assess the coefficients, aiming at the determination of the global solar radiation flux density, whith quickness and simplicity, having also found out that the criterium for the estimation of the solar energy potential is equivalent to that of the classical methodology of Angström. Knowledge of the available solar energy potential and global solar radiation flux density is of great importance for the estimation of the maximum atmospheric evaporative demand, of water consumption by irrigated crops, and also for building solar engineering equipment, such as driers, heaters, solar ovens, refrigerators, etc [pt

Low-power laser irradiation improves histomorphometrical parameters and bone matrix organization during tibia wound healing in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Garavello-Freitas, I; Baranauskas, V; Joazeiro, P P; Padovani, C R; Dal Pai-Silva, M; da Cruz-Höfling, Maria Alice

2003-01-01

The influence of daily energy doses of 0.03, 0.3 and 0.9 J of He-Ne laser irradiation on the repair of surgically produced tibia damage was investigated in Wistar rats. Laser treatment was initiated 24 h after the trauma and continued daily for 7 or 14 days in two groups of nine rats (n=3 per laser dose and period). Two control groups (n=9 each) with injured tibiae were used. The course of healing was monitored using morphometrical analysis of the trabecular area. The organization of collagen fibers in the bone matrix and the histology of the tissue were evaluated using Picrosirius-polarization method and Masson's trichrome. After 7 days, there was a significant increase in the area of neoformed trabeculae in tibiae irradiated with 0.3 and 0.9 J compared to the controls. At a daily dose of 0.9 J (15 min of irradiation per day) the 7-day group showed a significant increase in trabecular bone growth compared to the 14-day group. However, the laser irradiation at the daily dose of 0.3 J produced no significant decrease in the trabecular area of the 14-day group compared to the 7-day group, but there was significant increase in the trabecular area of the 15-day controls compared to the 8-day controls. Irradiation increased the number of hypertrophic osteoclasts compared to non-irradiated injured tibiae (controls) on days 8 and 15. The Picrosirius-polarization method revealed bands of parallel collagen fibers (parallel-fibered bone) at the repair site of 14-day-irradiated tibiae, regardless of the dose. This organization improved when compared to 7-day-irradiated tibiae and control tibiae. These results show that low-level laser therapy stimulated the growth of the trabecular area and the concomitant invasion of osteoclasts during the first week, and hastened the organization of matrix collagen (parallel alignment of the fibers) in a second phase not seen in control, non-irradiated tibiae at the same period. The active osteoclasts that invaded the regenerating site were

Daily MUR SST, Interim near-real-time (nrt) product

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A daily, global Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data set is produced at 1-km (MUR, or Multi-scale ultra-high resolution Temperature) by the JPL sciengists Drs. Mike...

Fluctuation in haematological values in gamma irradiated rats subjected to pesticide ingestion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Hamid, F.M.; Roushdy, H.M.; Abu-Ghadeer, A.R.; Girgis, R.B.

1995-01-01

Male albino rats were exposed to gamma irradiation alone or after either oral daily administration of 50 or 100 mg kelthane for 3 successive days; or daily administration of 200 mg kelthane mixed with food per kg body weight for 3,6 and 12 weeks. Relative spleen weight and certain hematological values were determined. Significant decrease could be estimated in relative spleen weight due to exposure to gamma irradiation. Significant increase was recorded due to treatment with 50 and 100 mg kelthane. The data obtained on hematological levels revealed insignificant changes in erythrocyte counts and hemoglobin concentration due to exposure to gamma irradiation and / or kelthane treatment. Significant decrease was recorded in hematocrit value either for successive 30 days or due to exposure to gamma radiation after treatment with kelthane for short and long term periods. Leucocyte counts showed significant decrease for all animal groups. 2 tabs

GPM, GMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling VV03B

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

Drinking-to-cope motivation and negative mood-drinking contingencies in a daily diary study of college students.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Hara, Ross E; Armeli, Stephen; Tennen, Howard

2014-07-01

This study examined whether global drinking-to-cope (DTC) motivation moderates negative mood-drinking contingencies and negative mood-motivation contingencies at the daily level of analysis. Data came from a daily diary study of college student drinking (N = 1,636; 53% female; Mage = 19.2 years). Fixed-interval models tested whether global DTC motivation moderated relations between daily negative mood and that evening's drinking and episodic DTC. Time-to-drink models examined whether global DTC motivation moderated the effects of weekly negative mood on the immediacy of drinking and DTC in the weekly cycle. More evening drinking occurred on days characterized by relatively higher anxiety or anger, and students were more likely to report DTC on days when they experienced greater sadness. However, only the daily Anxiety × Global DTC Motivation interaction for number of drinks consumed was consistent with hypotheses. Moreover, students reported drinking, heavy drinking, and DTC earlier in weeks characterized by relatively higher anxiety or anger, but no hypothesized interactions with global DTC motivation were found. RESULTS indicate that negative mood is associated with increased levels of drinking and drinking for coping reasons among college students but that the strength of these relations does not differ by global levels of DTC motivation. These findings raise the possibility that global DTC measures are insufficient for examining within-person DTC processes. Further implications of these results are discussed, including future directions that may determine the circumstances under which, and for whom, DTC occurs.

Uncertainty Estimate of Surface Irradiances Computed with MODIS-, CALIPSO-, and CloudSat-Derived Cloud and Aerosol Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Seiji; Loeb, Norman G.; Rutan, David A.; Rose, Fred G.; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Miller, Walter F.; Chen, Yan

2012-07-01

Differences of modeled surface upward and downward longwave and shortwave irradiances are calculated using modeled irradiance computed with active sensor-derived and passive sensor-derived cloud and aerosol properties. The irradiance differences are calculated for various temporal and spatial scales, monthly gridded, monthly zonal, monthly global, and annual global. Using the irradiance differences, the uncertainty of surface irradiances is estimated. The uncertainty (1σ) of the annual global surface downward longwave and shortwave is, respectively, 7 W m-2 (out of 345 W m-2) and 4 W m-2 (out of 192 W m-2), after known bias errors are removed. Similarly, the uncertainty of the annual global surface upward longwave and shortwave is, respectively, 3 W m-2 (out of 398 W m-2) and 3 W m-2 (out of 23 W m-2). The uncertainty is for modeled irradiances computed using cloud properties derived from imagers on a sun-synchronous orbit that covers the globe every day (e.g., moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer) or modeled irradiances computed for nadir view only active sensors on a sun-synchronous orbit such as Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation and CloudSat. If we assume that longwave and shortwave uncertainties are independent of each other, but up- and downward components are correlated with each other, the uncertainty in global annual mean net surface irradiance is 12 W m-2. One-sigma uncertainty bounds of the satellite-based net surface irradiance are 106 W m-2 and 130 W m-2.

Global trends in radiation processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Defalco, Gerry

2002-01-01

A global leader in radioisotope technology with three business units: - Nuclear Medicine supplies about two-thirds of the world requirements for molybdenum-99 and other isotopes used to diagnose disease - Radiation Therapy business unit supplied more than over 2,300 cobalt cancer treatment machines and is a leader in treatment planning - Ion Technologies is the world's leading supplier of cobalt 60 and innovative gamma irradiation systems About Ion Technologies · Supply over 70% of world's cobalt-60 sources · Custom-designed and built irradiation systems · Comprehensive engineering, physics, logistics, installation and marketing services · Canadian Irradiation Center for unique 'hands on' training, R and D product irradiation

Frequency of chromosomal aberrations in rat myelocaryocytes during long-term repeated irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uryadnitskaya, T.I.; Sukhodoev, V.V.; Muksinova, K.N.

1977-01-01

In the course of a long-term daily irradiation of rats (50R/day), the frequency of chromosome aberrations in the bone marrow cells increased disproportionally to a total radiation dose which was due to the reduced frequency of chromosome damage at the intervals between daily exposures. The rate of this reduction was mainly determined by myelocaryocyte proliferation

Potential for improvement in estimation of solar diffuse irradiance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muneer, T.; Munawwar, S.

2006-01-01

Most of the meteorological stations around the world measure global irradiation and provide information on weather elements. Diffuse radiation measurement, however, is unavailable for many of those sites. This accentuates the need to estimate it whereupon it can be used for the simulation of solar applications. This paper explores the role of synoptic information, e.g. sunshine fraction, cloud cover and air mass on the basic k-k t relationship for nine sites across the globe. The influence on the k-k t regressions is studied qualitatively, and the inclusion of these parameters is suggested based on that. Thus, it is recommended to use the complementary data usually provided with the database apart from the global irradiation in order to estimate the diffuse irradiation more accurately. It was found by analysing each synoptic parameter individually that while the sunshine fraction showed a strong bearing, it was followed closely by cloud cover. Air mass, on the other hand, was found to be a weak parameter for general estimation of diffuse radiation. It was concluded that air mass if coupled with other synoptic parameters might improve the estimation accuracy, but it does not show much promise on its own when used with the global irradiation

Why the concern about irradiation as a food preservation technique?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon

2001-01-01

Full text: Irradiation is a food preservation process that like the more traditional and alternative methods is intended to keep food safe to eat by delaying the natural decomposition processes that result from bacterial action. Preservation of foods by irradiation, although still not available in Australia, is readily accepted in some 44 countries, including France. This project is set up to examine if a sample of fresh fruits and vegetables, when irradiated to the recommended 'preservation' dose level, becomes 'radioactive'. By placing the 'irradiated' sample, together with an identical 'control' sample of the same fresh fruit and vegetables, in an x-radiography cassette in a shielded 'cave', differences in film 'blackening' over the exposure period would indicate relative radioactivity from within the respective samples. Also, using simultaneous daily photographs of both the 'irradiated' and non-irradiated 'control' samples, the delay of onset of visible decay of both can be determined

1978 Algerian accident: four cases of protracted whole-body irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jammet, H.; Gongora, R.; Pouillard, P.; Le Go, R.; Parmentier, N.

1980-01-01

On May 5, 1978 an iridium 192 source of 25 curies for gammagraphy fell from a truck on the road from Algiers to Setif. It was found by two young boys, and later taken away from them by their grandmother who hid it in their kitchen. The source remained about five or six weeks in this room, where four young females received a daily and protracted irradiation. These cases are of particular interest since it is the first observation of accidental irradiation spanning so long a period and for which daily data could be collected during several months. The clinical findings of responses of the hematopoietic system, digestive system, brain, biochemical functionings, and chromosomes are reported. Also included are technical procedures in dosimetry problems related to exposures in these four patients

Significance of Fractionated Administration of Thalidomide Combined With γ-Ray Irradiation in Terms of Local Tumor Response and Lung Metastasis

Science.gov (United States)

Masunaga, Shin-ichiro; Sanada, Yu; Moriwaki, Takahiro; Tano, Keizo; Sakurai, Yoshinori; Tanaka, Hiroki; Suzuki, Minoru; Kondo, Natsuko; Narabayashi, Masaru; Watanabe, Tsubasa; Nakagawa, Yosuke; Maruhashi, Akira; Ono, Koji

2014-01-01

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of fractionated administration of thalidomide combined with γ-ray irradiation in terms of local tumor response and lung metastatic potential, referring to the response of intratumor quiescent (Q) cells. Methods B16-BL6 melanoma tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mice were continuously given 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) to label all proliferating (P) cells. The tumor-bearing mice then received γ-ray irradiation after thalidomide treatment through a single or two consecutive daily intraperitoneal administrations up to a total dose of 400 mg/kg in combination with an acute hypoxia-releasing agent (nicotinamide) or mild temperature hyperthermia (MTH). Immediately after the irradiation, cells from some tumors were isolated and incubated with a cytokinesis blocker. The responses of the Q and total (= P + Q) cell populations were assessed based on the frequency of micronuclei using immunofluorescence staining for BrdU. In other tumor-bearing mice, 17 days after irradiation, macroscopic lung metastases were enumerated. Results Thalidomide raised the sensitivity of the total cell population more remarkably than Q cells in both single and daily administrations. Daily administration of thalidomide elevated the sensitivity of both the total and Q cell populations, but especially the total cell population, compared with single administration. Daily administration, especially combined with MTH, decreased the number of lung metastases. Conclusion Daily fractionated administration of thalidomide in combination with γ-ray irradiation was thought to be more promising than single administration because of its potential to enhance local tumor response and repress lung metastatic potential. PMID:29147396

Energetics of global ocean tides from Geosat altimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Cartwright, David E.; Ray, Richard D.

1991-01-01

The present paper focuses on resonance and energetics of the daily tides, especially in the southern ocean, the distribution of gravitational power input of daily and half-daily tides, and comparison with other estimates of global dissipation rates. The present global tidal maps, derived from Geosat altimetry, compare favorably with ground truth data at about the same rms level as the models of Schwiderski (1983), and are slightly better in lunar than in solar tides. Diurnal admittances clearly show Kelvin wave structure in the southern ocean and confirm the resonant mode of Platzman (1984) at 28.5 + or - 0.1 hr with an apparent Q of about 4. Driving energy is found to enter dominantly in the North Pacific for the daily tides and is strongly peaked in the tropical oceans for the half-daily tides. Global rates of working on all major tide constituents except S2 agree well with independent results from analyses of gravity through satellite tracking. Comparison at S2 is improved by allowing for the air tide in gravitational results but suggests deficiencies in all solar tide models.

Mitosis dynamics in bone marrow of continuously irradiated rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chlebovsky, O; Praslicka, M; Chlebovska, K [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Prirodovedecka Fakulta

1975-01-01

Values were investigated of the mitotic index (MI) and the metaphase/prophase ratio (M/P) in rats continuously irradiated with daily doses of 0.5 to 82.5 R. Changes resulting from the continuous irradiation were manifest in two stages, viz.: 1. adaptation stage up to the 30th day of irradiation - the values fluctuated considerably; 2. steady-state stage since the 30th day till the end of irradiation - the values stabilized at a certain level. During the adaptation stage, MI values decreased till the 25th day; then they increased and remained at a certain lower value till the end of the experiment. M/P values showed a considerable variability between the 5th and the 25th days and a significant increase in the steady-state stage, mainly at higher dose rates.

Prediction of diffuse solar irradiance using machine learning and multivariable regression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lou, Siwei; Li, Danny H.W.; Lam, Joseph C.; Chan, Wilco W.H.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • 54.9% of the annual global irradiance is composed by its diffuse part in HK. • Hourly diffuse irradiance was predicted by accessible variables. • The importance of variable in prediction was assessed by machine learning. • Simple prediction equations were developed with the knowledge of variable importance. - Abstract: The paper studies the horizontal global, direct-beam and sky-diffuse solar irradiance data measured in Hong Kong from 2008 to 2013. A machine learning algorithm was employed to predict the horizontal sky-diffuse irradiance and conduct sensitivity analysis for the meteorological variables. Apart from the clearness index (horizontal global/extra atmospheric solar irradiance), we found that predictors including solar altitude, air temperature, cloud cover and visibility are also important in predicting the diffuse component. The mean absolute error (MAE) of the logistic regression using the aforementioned predictors was less than 21.5 W/m"2 and 30 W/m"2 for Hong Kong and Denver, USA, respectively. With the systematic recording of the five variables for more than 35 years, the proposed model would be appropriate to estimate of long-term diffuse solar radiation, study climate change and develope typical meteorological year in Hong Kong and places with similar climates.

Assessment of ANN and SVM models for estimating normal direct irradiation (H_b)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, Cícero Manoel dos; Escobedo, João Francisco; Teramoto, Érico Tadao; Modenese Gorla da Silva, Silvia Helena

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The performance of SVM and ANN in estimating Normal Direct Irradiation (H_b) was evaluated. • 12 models using different input variables are developed (hourly and daily partitions). • The most relevant input variables for DNI are kt, H_s_c and insolation ratio (r′ = n/N). • Support Vector Machine (SVM) provides accurate estimates and outperforms the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). - Abstract: This study evaluates the estimation of hourly and daily normal direct irradiation (H_b) using machine learning techniques (ML): Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Time series of different meteorological variables measured over thirteen years in Botucatu were used for training and validating ANN and SVM. Seven different sets of input variables were tested and evaluated, which were chosen based on statistical models reported in the literature. Relative Mean Bias Error (rMBE), Relative Root Mean Square Error (rRMSE), determination coefficient (R"2) and “d” Willmott index were used to evaluate ANN and SVM models. When compared to statistical models which use the same set of input variables (R"2 between 0.22 and 0.78), ANN and SVM show higher values of R"2 (hourly models between 0.52 and 0.88; daily models between 0.42 and 0.91). Considering the input variables, atmospheric transmissivity of global radiation (kt), integrated solar constant (H_s_c) and insolation ratio (n/N, n is sunshine duration and N is photoperiod) were the most relevant in ANN and SVM models. The rMBE and rRMSE values in the two time partitions of SVM models are lower than those obtained with ANN. Hourly ANN and SVM models have higher rRMSE values than daily models. Optimal performance with hourly models was obtained with ANN4"h (rMBE = 12.24%, rRMSE = 23.99% and “d” = 0.96) and SVM4"h (rMBE = 1.75%, rRMSE = 20.10% and “d” = 0.96). Optimal performance with daily models was obtained with ANN2"d (rMBE = −3.09%, rRMSE = 18.95% and “d” = 0

UV Irradiance Enhancements by Scattering of Solar Radiation from Clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uwe Feister

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Scattering of solar radiation by clouds can reduce or enhance solar global irradiance compared to cloudless-sky irradiance at the Earth’s surface. Cloud effects to global irradiance can be described by Cloud Modification Factors (CMF. Depending on strength and duration, irradiance enhancements affect the energy balance of the surface and gain of solar power for electric energy generation. In the ultraviolet region, they increase the risk for damage to living organisms. Wavelength-dependent CMFs have been shown to reach 1.5 even in the UV-B region at low altitudes. Ground-based solar radiation measurements in the high Andes region at altitudes up to 5917 m a.s.l showed cloud-induced irradiance enhancements. While UV-A enhancements were explained by cloud scattering, both radiation scattering from clouds and Negative Ozone Anomalies (NOA have been discussed to have caused short-time enhancement of UV-B irradiance. Based on scenarios using published CMF and additional spectroradiometric measurements at a low-altitude site, the contribution of cloud scattering to the UV-B irradiance enhancement in the Andes region has been estimated. The range of UV index estimates converted from measured UV-B and UV-A irradiance and modeled cloudless-sky ratios UV-B/erythemal UV is compatible with an earlier estimate of an extreme UV index value of 43 derived for the high Andes.

Bone fragility induced by X-ray irradiation in relation to cortical bone-mineral content

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nyaruba, M.M.; Yamamoto, I.; Morita, R.; Kimura, H.

1998-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of fractional irradiation on the biomechanical properties of bone in the rat in relation to the cortical bone-mineral content (BMC), and to compare these effects with those brought about by single-dose irradiation. Seventy-five veteran female Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. Group 1 was the control group. The left tibiae of the remaining rats were exposed to irradiation. Group 2 received one single dose of X-rays at 10-60 Gy. Groups 3 and 4 received fractional irradiation up to different cumulative doses (10-60 Gy): group 3 received 2.5 Gy once a day; group 4 received 1.25 Gy twice a day. Twenty-four weeks after irradiation, the rats were killed and the BMC in each tibial diaphysis was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The bones were then loaded to failure in a three-point bending test. The control group showed no difference (p>0.05) between left and right tibiae, neither in BMC nor in the maximum load at fracture. Single-dose irradiation caused a 16% (p=0.0366) decrease in the maximum load at 40 Gy, and a 19% (p=0.008) decrease at 60 Gy. The once-daily fractional dose of irradiation caused a 10% (p=0.0022) decrease in the maximum load of the irradiated tibiae at 60 Gy when compared to the intact contralateral tibiae. The twice-daily fractional dose of irradiation had no observable effect on the maximum load of the irradiated tibiae. Neither fractional irradiation modality had an effect on BMC. (orig./MG)

Global cerebral blood flow changes measured by brain perfusion SPECT immediately after whole brain irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohtawa, Nobuyuki; Machida, Kikuo; Honda, Norinari; Hosono, Makoto; Takahashi, Takeo

2003-01-01

Whole brain irradiation (WBI) is still a major treatment option for patients with metastatic brain tumor despite recent advances in chemotherapy and newer techniques of radiation therapy. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) of changes induced by whole brain radiation is not fully investigated, and the aim of the study was to measure CBF changes non-invasively with brain perfusion SPECT to correlate with treatment effect or prognosis. Total of 106 patients underwent WBI during April 1998 to March 2002. Both brain MRI and brain perfusion SPECT could be performed before (less than 1 week before or less than 10 Gy of WBI) and immediately after (between 1 week before and 2 weeks after the completion of WBI) the therapy in 17 of these patients. They, 10 men and 7 women, all had metastatic brain tumor with age range of 45 to 87 (mean of 61.4) years. Tc-99m brain perfusion agent (HMPAO in 4, ECD in 13) was rapidly administered in a 740-MBq dose to measure global and regional CBF according to Matsuda's method, which based on both Patlak plot and Lassens' linearity correction. Brain MRI was used to measure therapeutic response according to World Health Organization (WHO) classification as complete remission (CR), partial response (PR), no change (NC), and progressive disease (PD). Survival period was measured from the completion of WBI. Mean global CBF was 40.6 and 41.5 ml/100 g/min before and immediately after the WBI, respectively. Four patients increased (greater than 10%) their global mean CBF, 10 unchanged (less than 10% increase or decrease), and 3 decreased after the WBI. The WBI achieved CR in none, PR in 8, NC in 6, and PD in 3 on brain MRI. Change in global mean CBF (mean±SD) was significantly larger in PR (4.3±2.0 ml/100 g/min, p=0.002) and in NC (-0.1±4.5) than in PD (-3.9±6.4, P=0.002, P=0.016, respectively). Survival was not significantly (p>0.05) different among the patients with CR (20 weeks), NC (48 weeks), and PD (21 weeks). Change in global CBF and survival was

Measurements of integrated direct, diffuse and global ultraviolet-B radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Utrillas, M.P.; Pedrós, R.; Gandía, S.; Gómez-Amo, J.L.; Estellés, V.; Martínez-Lozano, J.A.

2015-01-01

We present the first multiyear set of simultaneous measurements of the global ultraviolet-B radiation and its two components: direct and diffuse. The measurements have been taken with four YES-UVB-1 radiometers: two radiometers to measure the diffuse radiation, one provided with a shadow band and the other with a shadow disk on a Sun tracker; a radiometer to measure the global horizontal radiation; and a Sun-tracking radiometer to measure the direct radiation with an especially designed radiance collimator. The diffuse minute-values measured with both instruments agree within a coefficient correlation of 1.00. The diffuse component represents at least 50% of the global UVB (ultraviolet-B) radiation. The minute values of global UVB irradiance obtained by adding the direct and diffuse components concur with the measured global irradiance. Therefore, the measurement of the direct irradiance enables the estimation of the diffuse component, and gives an insight into the factors that affect its value, especially aerosols. - Highlights: • Simultaneous measurements of global, direct and diffuse UVB (ultraviolet-B) radiation. • The diffuse minute-values are at least 50% of the global ones. • The diffuse measurements are highly correlated to the aerosol load. • The sum of direct + diffuse radiation concur with the measured global.

Larval x-ray irradiation influences protein expression in pupae of the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera Dorsalis

Science.gov (United States)

Third instar larvae were exposed to X-ray treatment of the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Irradiated pupae were collected daily. Biological performance parameters of pupae and adults of larvae treated with X-ray irradiation were evaluated. Standard proteomics procedures such as densitometr...

Improvements of top-of-atmosphere and surface irradiance computations with CALIPSO-, CloudSat-, and MODIS-derived cloud and aerosol properties

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Seiji; Rose, Fred G.; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Miller, Walter F.; Chen, Yan; Rutan, David A.; Stephens, Graeme L.; Loeb, Norman G.; Minnis, Patrick; Wielicki, Bruce A.; Winker, David M.; Charlock, Thomas P.; Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.; Xu, Kuan-Man; Collins, William D.

2011-10-01

One year of instantaneous top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and surface shortwave and longwave irradiances are computed using cloud and aerosol properties derived from instruments on the A-Train Constellation: the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), and the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). When modeled irradiances are compared with those computed with cloud properties derived from MODIS radiances by a Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) cloud algorithm, the global and annual mean of modeled instantaneous TOA irradiances decreases by 12.5 W m-2 (5.0%) for reflected shortwave and 2.5 W m-2 (1.1%) for longwave irradiances. As a result, the global annual mean of instantaneous TOA irradiances agrees better with CERES-derived irradiances to within 0.5W m-2 (out of 237.8 W m-2) for reflected shortwave and 2.6W m-2 (out of 240.1 W m-2) for longwave irradiances. In addition, the global annual mean of instantaneous surface downward longwave irradiances increases by 3.6 W m-2 (1.0%) when CALIOP- and CPR-derived cloud properties are used. The global annual mean of instantaneous surface downward shortwave irradiances also increases by 8.6 W m-2 (1.6%), indicating that the net surface irradiance increases when CALIOP- and CPR-derived cloud properties are used. Increasing the surface downward longwave irradiance is caused by larger cloud fractions (the global annual mean by 0.11, 0.04 excluding clouds with optical thickness less than 0.3) and lower cloud base heights (the global annual mean by 1.6 km). The increase of the surface downward longwave irradiance in the Arctic exceeds 10 W m-2 (˜4%) in winter because CALIOP and CPR detect more clouds in comparison with the cloud detection by the CERES cloud algorithm during polar night. The global annual mean surface downward longwave irradiance of

Trends in total column ozone over Australia and New Zealand and its influence on clear-sky surface erythemal irradiance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bodeker, G. E.

1995-01-01

Australia and New Zealand are two of the countries closest to the Antarctic ozone depletion and may therefore be 'at risk' as a result of the associated increases in surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation. To investigate the possible impact of mid-latitude ozone decreases on surface erythemal irradiances, monthly mean total ozone has been calculated from daily total ozone mapping spectrometer data for 5 Australian cities (Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney) and 3 New Zealand cities (Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington) from 1979 to 1992. These values have then been used as inputs to a single layer model to calculate noon clear-sky global UV irradiances and associated erythemal irradiances. In addition, the monthly mean ozone data have been modelled statistically for each location to reveal a long-term linear trend, an annual variation, a Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), a solar cycle component and a semi-annual (6 month) signal. Coefficients from these statistical models have been used to estimate monthly mean ozone and noon clear-sky erythemal irradiances to the year 2000 for each city. It is assumed that the rate of increase of stratospheric chlorine over the remainder of the century will remain constant. Given that there is some evidence that the rate of increase is decreasing, the results present here should be regarded as an upper limit. 33 refs., 7 tabs., 4 figs

Swelling and irradiation creep of neutron irradiated 316Ti and 15-15Ti steels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maillard, A.; Touron, H.; Seran, J.L.; Chalony, A.

1992-01-01

The global behavior, the swelling and irradiation creep resistances of cold worked 316Ti and 15-15Ti, two variants of austenitic steels in use as core component materials of the French fast reactors, are compared. The 15-15Ti leads to a significant improvement due to an increase in the incubation dose swelling. The same phenomena observed on 316Ti are found on 15-15Ti. All species without fuel like samples, wrappers or empty clad swell and creep less than fuel pin cladding irradiated in the same conditions. To explain the swelling difference, as for 316Ti, thermal gradient is also invoked but the irradiation creep difference is not yet clearly understood. To predict the behavior of clads it is indispensable to study the species themselves and to use specific rules. All results confirm the good behavior of 15-15Ti, the best behavior being obtained with the 1% Si doped version irradiated up to 115 dpa

Solar irradiance forecasting at one-minute intervals for different sky conditions using sky camera images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alonso-Montesinos, J.; Batlles, F.J.; Portillo, C.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The solar resource has been predicted for three hours at 1-min intervals. • Digital image levels and cloud motion vectors are joint for irradiance forecasting. • The three radiation components have been predicted under different sky conditions. • Diffuse and global radiation has an nRMSE value around 10% in all sky conditions. • Beam irradiance is predicted with an nRMSE value of about 15% in overcast skies. - Abstract: In the search for new techniques to predict atmospheric features that might be useful to solar power plant operators, we have carried out solar irradiance forecasting using emerging sky camera technology. Digital image levels are converted into irradiances and then the maximum cross-correlation method is applied to obtain future predictions. This methodology is a step forward in the study of the solar resource, essential to solar plant operators in adapting a plant’s operating procedures to atmospheric conditions and to improve electricity generation. The results are set out using different statistical parameters, in which beam, diffuse and global irradiances give a constant normalized root-mean-square error value over the time interval for all sky conditions. The average measure is 25.44% for beam irradiance; 11.60% for diffuse irradiance and 11.17% for global irradiance.

Evaluation and reconstruction of global radiation at Bílý Kříž (the Czech Republic)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marková, I.; Rožnovský, J.; Janouš, D.

2003-01-01

Evaluation of global radiation was performed at the study site of Bílý Kříž (the Moravian-Silesian Beskids Mts, the Czech Republic) during the growing seasons (May-October) in 1991-2000. Radiation conditions were characterized by daily and monthly sums of global radiation. Detailed analysis of global radiation daily sums revealed that they vary considerably with time. Average value of global radiation daily sums calculated after the whole period of seasons 1991-2000 was 13.49 MJ per square m. While seasonal course of monthly averages of global radiation daily sums corresponded to the changes of sun elevation, the average monthly sums of global radiation did not. Average seasonal sum of global radiation at the study site in 1991-2000 was 2483 +/- 141 MJ per square m. Relationship between global radiation daily sums at the Bily Kriz study site and sunshine duration at the nearby site of Lysa hora was described and linear relationship between these two characteristics was confirmed. On the basis of this determined relationship it was possible to reconstruct global radiation daily sums at the study site for a period of forty years (1961-2000). Average of global radiation daily sums calculated for the whole period of seasons from 1961 to 2000 was 9.11 MJ per square m. The highest monthly averages of global radiation daily sums were found in June and July, the lowest in October. It was confirmed that average monthly sums of global radiation did not correspond to the sun elevation even for the long period of 1961-2000. Average seasonal sum of global radiation was 2415 ñ 152 MJ.m-2 in 1961-2000. On average, 40% of extra-terrestrial solar radiation reached the study site during the growing season in 1961-2000

Societal benefits of food irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prakash, Anuradha

2013-01-01

Food irradiation has a direct impact on society by reducing the occurrence of food-borne illness, decreasing food spoilage and waste, and facilitating global trade. Food irradiation is approved in 40 countries around the world to decontaminate food of disease and spoilage causing microorganisms, sterilize insect pests, and inhibit sprouting. A recent estimate suggests that 500,000 metric of food is currently irradiated worldwide, primarily to decontaminate spices. Since its first use in the 1960s the use of irradiation for food has grown slowly, but it remains the major technology of choice for certain applications. The largest growth sector in recent years has been phytosanitary irradiation of fruit to disinfest fruit intended for international shipment. For many countries which have established strict quarantine standards, irradiation offers as an effective alternative to chemical fumigants some of which are being phased out due to their effects on the ozone layer. Insects can be sterilized at very low dose levels, thus quality of fruit can be maintained. Irradiation is also highly effective in destroying microbial pathogens such as Salmonella spp., E. coli, and Listeria, hence its application for treatment of spices, herbs, dried vegetables, frozen seafood, poultry, and meat and its contribution to reducing foodborne illnesses. Unfortunately the use of irradiation for improving food safety has been under-exploited. This presentation will provide details on the use, benefits, opportunities, and challenges of food irradiation. (author)

Photosynthesis–irradiance parameters of marine phytoplankton: synthesis of a global data set

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. A. Bouman

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The photosynthetic performance of marine phytoplankton varies in response to a variety of factors, environmental and taxonomic. One of the aims of the MArine primary Production: model Parameters from Space (MAPPS project of the European Space Agency is to assemble a global database of photosynthesis–irradiance (P-E parameters from a range of oceanographic regimes as an aid to examining the basin-scale variability in the photophysiological response of marine phytoplankton and to use this information to improve the assignment of P-E parameters in the estimation of global marine primary production using satellite data. The MAPPS P-E database, which consists of over 5000 P-E experiments, provides information on the spatio-temporal variability in the two P-E parameters (the assimilation number, PmB, and the initial slope, αB, where the superscripts B indicate normalisation to concentration of chlorophyll that are fundamental inputs for models (satellite-based and otherwise of marine primary production that use chlorophyll as the state variable. Quality-control measures consisted of removing samples with abnormally high parameter values and flags were added to denote whether the spectral quality of the incubator lamp was used to calculate a broad-band value of αB. The MAPPS database provides a photophysiological data set that is unprecedented in number of observations and in spatial coverage. The database will be useful to a variety of research communities, including marine ecologists, biogeochemical modellers, remote-sensing scientists and algal physiologists. The compiled data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.874087 (Bouman et al., 2017.

Multi-location model for the estimation of the horizontal daily diffuse fraction of solar radiation in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bortolini, Marco; Gamberi, Mauro; Graziani, Alessandro; Manzini, Riccardo; Mora, Cristina

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A multi-location model to estimate solar radiation components is proposed. ► Proposed model joins solar radiation data from several weather stations. ► Clearness index is correlated to the diffuse component through analytic functions. ► Third degree polynomial function best fits data for annual and seasonal scenarios. ► A quality control procedure and independent datasets strength model performances. - Abstract: Hourly and daily solar radiation data are crucial for the design of energy systems based on the solar source. Global irradiance, measured on the horizontal plane, is, generally, available from weather station databases. The direct and diffuse fractions are measured rarely and should be analytically calculated for many geographical locations. Aim of this paper is to present a multi-location model to estimate the expected profiles of the horizontal daily diffuse component of solar radiation. It focuses on the European (EU) geographical area joining data from 44 weather stations located in 11 countries. Data are collected by the World Radiation Data Centre (WRDC) between 2004 and 2007. Different analytic functions, correlating the daily diffuse fraction of solar radiation to the clearness index, are calculated and compared to outline the analytic expressions of the best fitting curves. The effect of seasonality on solar irradiance is considered developing summer and winter scenarios together with annual models. Similarities among the trends for the 4 years are, further, discussed. The most adopted statistical indices are used as key performance factors. Finally, data from three locations not included in the dataset considered for model development allow to test the proposed approach against an independent dataset. Obtained results show the effectiveness of adopting a multi-location approach to estimate solar radiation components on the horizontal surface instead of developing several single location models. This is due to the increase

Effect of irradiated corn on some biochemical parameters or growing albino rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Shennawy, H.M.

2015-01-01

This study was conducted to examine the effects of gamma irradiation treatment on the chemical composition of raw and irradiated corn gluten (CG) at 8 and 10 kGy, alongside the impacts irradiated CG consumptions on weight reduction and certain blood biochemical factors in growing rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=60) were fed the experimental diet for 5 weeks. They were then randomly divided into four groups and fed the iso caloric experimental diets. Food intake, daily body weight gain, apparent food conversion efficiency, plasma and hepatic lipid variables were assessed.The results revealed that the chemical composition of irradiated CG showed non-significant differences relative to the raw one.

Examination of the safety of gamma-irradiated soya flour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tencheva, S.; Katsareva, Ts.

1988-01-01

Fat-free soya flour was used as model food for demonstrating the safety of food additives decontaminated with ionizing radiation. The food was irradiated with 10 kGy and included in the daily food of line C 57 BL mice in amount of 35%. Important medical-biological tests were performed for evaluating the potential toxicity of irradiated food products. Results are reported on a study of three generations of mice, which had persistently consumed 35% irradiated soya flour. The parameters studied were: body mass, mass of internal organs, number of newborn animals and their body mass after weaning, reproductive capacity in F 1a and hematological parameters. The results were summarized in five tables

Chronic irradiation of gonad tissue of the male rat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemaire, G.; Maas, J.

1982-01-01

The effects of chronically irradiating rats' testes with daily gamma radiation doses of (1.4 - 8.6) x 10 -2 Gy for 71-140 days were studied. After about 30 days irradiation, the testes weights decrease and level off at about 75 days. Irradiation also caused the germ cells in the seminiferous tubules to disappear progressively, completely when the dose exceeded 6 x 10 -2 Gy/day and partially with the lower doses. At doses below 6 x 10 -2 Gy/day, there was also a delay in the spermatogenesis cycle with the spermatogonia and spermatocytes appearing to reach a new equilibrium, the level of which depended on the dose. (U.K.)

Photometric measurements of solar irradiance variations due to sunspots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chapman, G.A.; Herzog, A.D.; Laico, D.E.; Lawrence, J.K.; Templer, M.S.

1989-01-01

A photometric telescope constructed to obtain photometric sunspot areas and deficits on a daily basis is described. Data from this Cartesian full disk telescope (CFDT) are analyzed with attention given to the period between June 4 and June 17, 1985 because of the availability of overlapping sunspot area and irradiance deficit data from high-resolution digital spectroheliograms made with the San Fernando Observatory 28 cm vacuum solar telescope and spectroheliograph. The CFDT sunspot deficits suggest a substantial irradiance contribution from faculae and active region plage. 23 refs

Illuminance and global solar irradiation in Northeast Brazil; Iluminancia e irradiacao solar global na regiao Nordeste do Brasil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leal, Sergio da S.; Tiba, Chigueru [Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (DEN/UFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil). Dept. de Energia Nuclear], Emails: tiba@ufpe.br, chigueru.tiba@pesquisador.cnpq.br

2006-07-01

In Brazil and particularly in the Northeast of Brazil, illuminance measures are not part of routine meteorological station measures, and therefore they are still rare than solar irradiation measures. In this context, two stations were installed in Pernambuco: one in Recife (maritime tropical climate) in April 2003 and the other in Pesqueira (tropical and semi-arid) in September 2004 for carrying out simultaneous measurements of hourly solar irradiation and illuminance which permit the modeling and the statistic validation of the relationship between these two parameters and with this, makes possible the estimation of illuminance where there existed only information on solar irradiation. The Alados et al. model with local coefficients showed a superior statistical performance, producing a mean bias deviation in the order of 3% and 1% and root mean quadratic deviation of 10% and 3% respectively for Recife and Pesqueira (author)

Modification of cell growth rate by irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Hisao; Takemasa, Kazuhiko; Nishiguchi, Iku; Ka, Wei-Jei; Kutsuki, Shoji; Hashimoto, Shozo

1993-01-01

The effect of irradiation on the proliferation kinetics of the monolayer cells has been studied. Two human cell lines with different doubling times (HeLa-P and RMUG) and two clones that have the same radiosensitivity but different doubling times (HeLa-R and HeLa-S) were irradiated with a daily dose of 2 Gy for 6 days. The number of the clonogenic cells/dish was calculated by multiplying the number of total cell/dish by the survival fraction. In the rapidly growing cells (HeLa-P, HeLa-R), the number of the clonogenic cells was not decreased by the first two fractionated irradiations, but decreased thereafter at a similar rate as by single-dose fractionation, whereas the clonogenic cell number decreased from the first fractionated irradiation in the slowly growing cells (RMUG, HeLa-S). When the proliferation of clonogenic cell number increased along with a similar growth rates that was seen in all other types of cells. Further, no correlation was seen between the growth rates of cells without irradiation and cells that received irradiation. This latter result suggests that the slow growth rate of non-irradiated cells may not be the predictive factor of the tumor cure and the interruption of radiotherapy may reduce the beneficial effect of this treatment even in slow growing tumors. (author)

Recent changes in solar irradiance and infrared irradiance related with air temperature and cloudiness at the King Sejong Station, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Y.; Kim, J.; Cho, H.; Lee, B.

2006-12-01

The polar region play a critical role in the surface energy balance and the climate system of the Earth. The important question in the region is that what is the role of the Antarctic atmospheric heat sink of global climate. Thus, this study shows the trends of global solar irradiance, infrared irradiance, air temperature and cloudiness measured at the King Sejong station, Antarctica, during the period of 1996-2004 and determines their relationship and variability of the surface energy balance. Annual average of solar radiation and cloudiness is 81.8 Wm-2 and 6.8 oktas and their trends show the decrease of -0.24 Wm-2yr-1(-0.30 %yr-1) and 0.02 oktas yr-1(0.30 %yr-1). The change of solar irradiance is directly related to change of cloudiness and decrease of solar irradiance presents radiative cooling at the surface. Monthly mean infrared irradiance, air temperature and specific humidity shows the decrease of -2.11 Wm^{- 2}yr-1(-0.75 %yr-1), -0.07 'Cyr-1(-5.15 %yr-1) and -0.044 gkg-1yr-1(-1.42 %yr-1), respectively. Annual average of the infrared irradiance is 279.9 Wm-2 and correlated with the air temperature, specific humidity and cloudiness. A multiple regression model for estimation of the infrared irradiance using the components has been developed. Effects of the components on the infrared irradiance changes show 52 %, 19 % and 10 % for air temperature, specific humidity and cloudiness, respectively. Among the components, air temperature has a great influence on infrared irradiance. Despite the increase of cloudiness, the decrease in the infrared irradiance is due to the decrease of air temperature and specific humidity which have a cooling effect. Therefore, the net radiation of the surface energy balance shows radiative cooling of negative 11-24 Wm^{- 2} during winter and radiative warming of positive 32-83 Wm-2 during the summer. Thus, the amount of shortage and surplus at the surface is mostly balanced by turbulent flux of sensible and latent heat.

GPM, TRMM, GMI,TMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

Toxicological studies on irradiated food and food constituents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schubert, J.

1978-01-01

Selected aspects of the genotoxicology and chemistry of irradiated foods and food components are critically examined and compared with other food processing operations such as cooking, and intentional use of food additives. For example, it is estimated that if 10% of an average daily diet contained irradiated (<1.0Mrad) foods, the daily consumption of radiolytic products would be 2-20mg/d compared with a total of approximately 4000mg/d of intentional food additives and approximately 80mg/d of toxic inorganic and organic environmentally derived contaminants. Several recommendations for the genotoxicological testing of irradiated foods are given, including: (1) that feeding tests include a control diet consisting of food processed by one of the standard methods such as thermalization; (2) that more use be made of positive controls so as to have a 'built-in' measure of sensitivity and responsiveness; (3) that a battery of in vitro and in vivo short-term mutagenicity tests be performed prior to the carrying out of the long-term feeding tests; and (4) that an irradiated food be tested after it is cooked in the manner normally consumed, which may, of course, include the raw or uncooked state as well. An outline of current genetic-toxicological testing schemes is provided and examined. Emphasis is given to a modification in the protocols for the Ames mutagenicity tests leading to a reduction in the evidence of false positives and false negatives. Also described is a procedure for systematically studying combined or interactive effects, acute or chronic, which requires no more effort than that needed for testing a single agent and which yields complete dose-response curves. It is concluded that food irradiation, as a physical process, appears more advantageous from the genotoxicological, chemical, and pollution aspects than well-accepted, but actually rarely tested, physical processes such as canning. (author)

Prophylactic ibuprofed administration during pelvic irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stryker, J.A.; Demers, L.M.; Mortel, R.

1979-01-01

Thirty-five patients who were to begin pelvic irradiation for malignant disease were randomized to receive ibuprofen 400 mg P.O. q.i.d. during their radiotherapy or standard therapy for radiation-induced gastrointestinal symptoms. Seventeen of 19 patients in the ibuprofen group completed the protocol. There was no significant difference in the daily stool frequency between the ibuprofen and control patients during the 5 to 6 week course of pelvic irradiation; the incidence and severity of diarrhea was the same. There was no significant difference in the incidence of nausea reported by the patients but the severity of nausea was less in the ibuprofen group; none of the 17 patients in the ibuprofen group reported vomiting at any time, whereas, 27% of the patients in the control group reported vomiting. The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The data suggest that prophylactic ibuprofen administration may be beneficial in reducing the severity of nausea and preventing radiation-induced vomiting in patients who receive pelvic irradiation

Neutronic Modelling in Support of the Irradiation Programmes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koonen, E.

2005-01-01

Irradiation experiments are generally conducted to determine some specific characteristics of the concerned fuels and structural materials under well defined irradiation conditions. For the determination of the latter the BR2 division has an autonomous reactor physics cell and has implemented the required computational tools. The major tool used is a three-dimensional full-scale Monte Carlo model of the BR2 reactor developed under MCNP-4C for the simulation of irradiation conditions. The objectives of work performed by SCK-CEN are to evaluate and adjust irradiation conditions by adjustments of the environment, differential rod positions, axial and azimuthal positioning of the samples, global power level, ...; to deliver reliable, well defined irradiation condition and fluence data during and after irradiation; to assist the designer of new irradiation devices by simulations and neutronic optimisations of design options; to provide computational support to related projects as a way to valorise the capabilities that the BR2 reactor can offer

Modeling the relationship between photosynthetically active radiation and global horizontal irradiance using singular spectrum analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zempila, Melina-Maria; Taylor, Michael; Bais, Alkiviadis; Kazadzis, Stelios

2016-01-01

We report on the construction of generic models to calculate photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) from global horizontal irradiance (GHI), and vice versa. Our study took place at stations of the Greek UV network (UVNET) and the Hellenic solar energy network (HNSE) with measurements from NILU-UV multi-filter radiometers and CM pyranometers, chosen due to their long (≈1 M record/site) high temporal resolution (≈1 min) record that captures a broad range of atmospheric environments and cloudiness conditions. The uncertainty of the PAR measurements is quantified to be ±6.5% while the uncertainty involved in GHI measurements is up to ≈±7% according to the manufacturer. We show how multi-linear regression and nonlinear neural network (NN) models, trained at a calibration site (Thessaloniki) can be made generic provided that the input–output time series are processed with multi-channel singular spectrum analysis (M-SSA). Without M-SSA, both linear and nonlinear models perform well only locally. M-SSA with 50 time-lags is found to be sufficient for identification of trend, periodic and noise components in aerosol, cloud parameters and irradiance, and to construct regularized noise models of PAR from GHI irradiances. Reconstructed PAR and GHI time series capture ≈95% of the variance of the cross-validated target measurements and have median absolute percentage errors <2%. The intra-site median absolute error of M-SSA processed models were ≈8.2±1.7 W/m"2 for PAR and ≈9.2±4.2 W/m"2 for GHI. When applying the models trained at Thessaloniki to other stations, the average absolute mean bias between the model estimates and measured values was found to be ≈1.2 W/m"2 for PAR and ≈0.8 W/m"2 for GHI. For the models, percentage errors are well within the uncertainty of the measurements at all sites. Generic NN models were found to perform marginally better than their linear counterparts. - Highlights: • Generic linear regression and nonlinear neural network

Media reporting of global health issues and events in New Zealand daily newspapers.

Science.gov (United States)

McCool, Judith; Cussen, Ashleigh; Ameratunga, Shanthi

2011-12-01

In the context of a globalised world, reports on health that extend personal or country borders have increasing relevance. Media can promote opportunities to identify and address gaps in important global health issues. In light of the potential role of media as an advocacy tool for global health, we examined how global health issues are represented in mainstream media in New Zealand. We conducted a content analysis of media reports on global health issues in the four highest circulation newspapers in New Zealand between June 2007 and May 2009. Search terms included 'global health, 'international health' and 'world health'. Communicable disease was the most frequently reported global health issue in New Zealand newspapers, followed by environment (e.g. climate change), general health risks (unsafe pharmaceuticals) and substance use (tobacco and alcohol). Chronic disease, injury or their determinants were less frequently reported. Mainstream media favours health-related reports based on crisis, epidemic or acute conditions over chronic or non-communicable diseases or disability. Health issues facing the Asia Pacific region increasingly include chronic diseases, which would benefit from greater media coverage to increase advocacy and political awareness of global health challenges.

A Bayesian modelling method for post-processing daily sub-seasonal to seasonal rainfall forecasts from global climate models and evaluation for 12 Australian catchments

Science.gov (United States)

Schepen, Andrew; Zhao, Tongtiegang; Wang, Quan J.; Robertson, David E.

2018-03-01

Rainfall forecasts are an integral part of hydrological forecasting systems at sub-seasonal to seasonal timescales. In seasonal forecasting, global climate models (GCMs) are now the go-to source for rainfall forecasts. For hydrological applications however, GCM forecasts are often biased and unreliable in uncertainty spread, and calibration is therefore required before use. There are sophisticated statistical techniques for calibrating monthly and seasonal aggregations of the forecasts. However, calibration of seasonal forecasts at the daily time step typically uses very simple statistical methods or climate analogue methods. These methods generally lack the sophistication to achieve unbiased, reliable and coherent forecasts of daily amounts and seasonal accumulated totals. In this study, we propose and evaluate a Rainfall Post-Processing method for Seasonal forecasts (RPP-S), which is based on the Bayesian joint probability modelling approach for calibrating daily forecasts and the Schaake Shuffle for connecting the daily ensemble members of different lead times. We apply the method to post-process ACCESS-S forecasts for 12 perennial and ephemeral catchments across Australia and for 12 initialisation dates. RPP-S significantly reduces bias in raw forecasts and improves both skill and reliability. RPP-S forecasts are also more skilful and reliable than forecasts derived from ACCESS-S forecasts that have been post-processed using quantile mapping, especially for monthly and seasonal accumulations. Several opportunities to improve the robustness and skill of RPP-S are identified. The new RPP-S post-processed forecasts will be used in ensemble sub-seasonal to seasonal streamflow applications.

The Impact of Maternal, Child, and Family Characteristics on the Daily Well-Being and Parenting Experiences of Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Pruitt, Megan M.; Willis, Kelcie; Timmons, Lisa; Ekas, Naomi V.

2016-01-01

This study utilized a daily diaries method to explore the global factors that impact daily general affect and daily parenting interactions of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Eighty-three mothers of a child with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 3 and 13 years completed global assessments of maternal depressive…

Effect of irradiated food on life cycle of Trogoderma granarium by gamma irradiations infesting stored barley (Hordum vulgare)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sisodiya, Manju; Singhvi, P.M.

2012-01-01

To study the effect of irradiated food on the life cycle of Trogoderma granarium crushed barley were irradiated by Gamma irradiations. Fresh eggs were collected from stock culture for getting newly hatched first instar larvae. Twenty, first instar larvae were collected and transferred to the culture tubes containing irradiated food. The larva was observed till the emergence of adults. To calculate the survivality of insects the newly emerged adults were counted daily till the last adult and the emerged beetles were removed. The observation was also made in regard to the time required for adult emergence. The test insect was reared on Gamma irradiated food and survival rate, developmental period and growth index were recorded in different does as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 KGy. The survival rate, developmental period and growth rate of test insect were recorded as 95%, 26.00 and 0.049 respectively at highest dose of 0.5 KGy. Where as 96.67%, 25.33 and 0.051 at lowest dose of 0.1 KGy was recorded. In control condition, they were 98.33%, 29.67 and 0.043 respectively. Irradiation against barley grains had no such effect on the developmental period, survival rate and growth index of Trogoderma granarium. It provides effective alternative to fumigants chemical pesticides which have numerous hazards and create environmental pollution. (author)

Tissue glycogen and blood glucose in irradiated rats. II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahlersova, E.; Ahlers, I.; Praslicka, M.

1980-01-01

Male rats of the Wistar strain were continuously irradiated with 0.57 Gy (60 R) of gamma rays from a 60 Co source. Irradiation lasted from 1 to 50 days in an experimental field where also control animals shielded from radiation were placed. After a 16 h starvation, the concentration of glucose in the blood and of glycogen in the liver and the heart was determined 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 25, 32, 39 and 50 days after the beginning of irradiation. The concentration of blood glucose in irradiated rats did not practically differ from that of control animals during the whole period of investigation. The concentration of liver glycogen in irradiated animals was higher than that in the controls during all time intervals, except for day 1. The values of glycogen in the heart muscle were approximately identical in the irradiated and control rats, except for day 21 when they sharply increased in the irradiated animals. In addition to the investigation of blood glucose and tissue glycogen during continuous irradiation, these parameters were studied immediately, and 1, 6 and 12 months after continuous irradiation with a daily exposure of 0.57 Gy (60 R) up to a total exposure of 14.35 Gy (1500 R) of gamma rays. Considerably higher values of liver glycogen were detected in the irradiated rats immediately, and 1 and 6 months after the end of irradiation. (author)

Daily check of the electron beams with a diode system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pilette, P [Hospital Civil de Charleroi (Belgium). Centre for Radiotherapy

1995-12-01

A fast systems to check all the accelerator beams on a daily basis has been developed. A cheap home-made detector, based on non-medical diodes (type 1N5408), has been used since July 1992 to verify all the electron beams every day. The relative energy and Top-cGy correspondence is verified with one single irradiation of less than 1 minute by 6 diodes fixed in a polystyrene phantom. The principle of construction, software implementation and results are presented.

Blood responses under chronic low daily dose gamma irradiation: Pt. 1; Differential preclinical responses of irradiated male dogs in progression to either aplastic anemia or myeloproliferative disease

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seed, T.M.; Carnes, B.A.; Tolle, D.V.; Fritz, T.E. (Argonne National Lab., IL (USA))

1989-01-01

Male beagles chronically exposed to low daily doses of {sup 60}Co {gamma} rays show one of three hematopoietic patterns, which reflect three different distinctly responding subgroups: (1) low radioresistance with progressing aplastic anemia and shortened survival ({sup -S}-AA subgroup); (2) high radioresistance with a complex of progressing myeloproliferative disorders ({sup +}R-MPD group); or (3) high radioresistance with other nonMPD syndromes ({sup +}R-nonMPD group). Blood cell levels (granulocytes, monocytes, erythrocytes, lymphocytes, and platelets) were assessed and fitted to a flexible polynomial spline model. Results showed that relative to the overall magnitude of blood cell loss as well as to the maximum rate of suppression during the initial phase, the subgroups were generally ranked {sup -}S-AA >> {sup +}R-MPD > {sup +}R-nonMPD. Relative to the overall strength of the recovery response, the subgroups were generally ranked {sup +}R-MPD > {sup +}R-nonMPD >>> {sup -}S-AA. In terms of overall maintenance levels of circulating blood cells during the recovery phase, however, the {sup +}R-nonMPD subgroup consistently exhibited stronger responses than the {sup +}R-MPD subgroup. These results support our contention that selected subgroups of dogs have strong propensities to specific hematopathologies (i.e. aplastic anemia and myeloid leukemia) under chronic irradiation and that these pathology-prone animals exhibit a series of marked differential hematopoietic responses during early preclinical phases, which serve effectively to prognosticate subsequent pathological progression. (author).

Influence of daily versus monthly fire emissions on atmospheric model applications in the tropics

Science.gov (United States)

Marlier, M. E.; Voulgarakis, A.; Faluvegi, G.; Shindell, D. T.; DeFries, R. S.

2012-12-01

Fires are widely used throughout the tropics to create and maintain areas for agriculture, but are also significant contributors to atmospheric trace gas and aerosol concentrations. However, the timing and magnitude of fire activity can vary strongly by year and ecosystem type. For example, frequent, low intensity fires dominate in African savannas whereas Southeast Asian peatland forests are susceptible to huge pulses of emissions during regional El Niño droughts. Despite the potential implications for modeling interactions with atmospheric chemistry and transport, fire emissions have commonly been input into global models at a monthly resolution. Recognizing the uncertainty that this can introduce, several datasets have parsed fire emissions to daily and sub-daily scales with satellite active fire detections. In this study, we explore differences between utilizing the monthly and daily Global Fire Emissions Database version 3 (GFED3) products as inputs into the NASA GISS-E2 composition climate model. We aim to understand how the choice of the temporal resolution of fire emissions affects uncertainty with respect to several common applications of global models: atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. Focusing our analysis on tropical ozone, carbon monoxide, and aerosols, we compare modeled concentrations with available ground and satellite observations. We find that increasing the temporal frequency of fire emissions from monthly to daily can improve correlations with observations, predominately in areas or during seasons more heavily affected by fires. Differences between the two datasets are more evident with public health applications: daily resolution fire emissions increases the number of days exceeding World Health Organization air quality targets.

Global Journal of Community Medicine

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Global Journal of Community Medicine is aimed at promoting research in all areas of community or public health. It addresses issues of primary and tertiary health care. It deals with problems and solutions of health problems at the grassroots and daily livings. Visit the Global Journal Series website here: ...

A web service for controlling the quality of measurements of global solar irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geiger, M.; Menard, L.; Wald, L. [Ecole des Mines, Paris (France). Centre d' Energetique; Diabate, L. [UFAE/GCMI, Bamako (Mali)

2002-12-01

The control of the quality of irradiation data is often a prerequisite to their further processing. Though data are usually controlled by meteorological offices, the sources are so numerous that the user often faces time-series of measurements containing questionable values. As customers of irradiation data, we established our own procedures to screen time-series of measurements. Since this problem of quality control is of concern to many researchers and engineers and since it is often a lengthy and tedious task, we decided to make this screening procedure available to everyone as a web service. This service is the purpose of this paper. The objective is not to perform a precise and fine control, an objective out of reach without details on the site and instruments, but to perform a likelihood control of the data and to check their plausibility. This is achieved by comparing observations with some expectations based upon the extraterrestrial irradiation and a simulation of the irradiation for clear skies. This service is available to everyone on the Web site www.helioclim.net. It offers a very convenient means to check time-series of irradiation: data are input in a HTML page by a copy and paste procedure and the return is also a HTML page that can be analyzed in detail for the data flagged as suspicious. (author)

Short-term solar irradiation forecasting based on Dynamic Harmonic Regression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trapero, Juan R.; Kourentzes, Nikolaos; Martin, A.

2015-01-01

Solar power generation is a crucial research area for countries that have high dependency on fossil energy sources and is gaining prominence with the current shift to renewable sources of energy. In order to integrate the electricity generated by solar energy into the grid, solar irradiation must be reasonably well forecasted, where deviations of the forecasted value from the actual measured value involve significant costs. The present paper proposes a univariate Dynamic Harmonic Regression model set up in a State Space framework for short-term (1–24 h) solar irradiation forecasting. Time series hourly aggregated as the Global Horizontal Irradiation and the Direct Normal Irradiation will be used to illustrate the proposed approach. This method provides a fast automatic identification and estimation procedure based on the frequency domain. Furthermore, the recursive algorithms applied offer adaptive predictions. The good forecasting performance is illustrated with solar irradiance measurements collected from ground-based weather stations located in Spain. The results show that the Dynamic Harmonic Regression achieves the lowest relative Root Mean Squared Error; about 30% and 47% for the Global and Direct irradiation components, respectively, for a forecast horizon of 24 h ahead. - Highlights: • Solar irradiation forecasts at short-term are required to operate solar power plants. • This paper assesses the Dynamic Harmonic Regression to forecast solar irradiation. • Models are evaluated using hourly GHI and DNI data collected in Spain. • The results show that forecasting accuracy is improved by using the model proposed

Prolonged heart xenograft survival using combined total lymphoid irradiation and cyclosporine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knechtle, S.J.; Halperin, E.C.; Saad, T.; Bollinger, R.R.

1986-01-01

Total lymphoid irradiation and cyclosporine have profound immunosuppressive properties and permit successful heart allotransplantation. Cyclosporine used alone has not permitted consistently successful transplantation between species in all cases. Total lymphoid irradiation has not been applied to xenotransplantation. The efficacy of total lymphoid irradiation alone and in combination with cyclosporine was examined using an animal model of heart xenotransplantation. Heterotopic heart transplants were performed using inbred Syrian hamsters as donors and Lewis rats as recipients. Total lymphoid irradiation was administered preoperatively over 3 weeks for a total dose of 15 gray. Cyclosporine was started on the day of surgery and was given as a daily intramuscular injection of 2.5, 5, or 10 mg/kg/day until rejection was complete. Neither total lymphoid irradiation nor cyclosporine alone markedly prolonged graft survival. However, combined total lymphoid irradiation and cyclosporine, 5 or 10 mg/kg/day, dramatically prolonged graft survival to greater than 100 days in most recipients. There were no treatment-related deaths. In conclusion, combined total lymphoid irradiation and cyclosporine permit successful long-term survival of heart xenotransplants in this hamster-to-rat model

Use of LiDAR for calculating solar irradiance on roofs and façades of buildings at city scale: Methodology, validation, and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Liang; Xu, Hao; Li, Shuyi; Chen, Yanming; Zhang, Fangli; Li, Manchun

2018-04-01

As the rate of urbanization continues to accelerate, the utilization of solar energy in buildings plays an increasingly important role in sustainable urban development. For this purpose, we propose a LiDAR-based joint approach for calculating the solar irradiance incident on roofs and façades of buildings at city scale, which includes a methodology for calculating solar irradiance, the validation of the proposed method, and analysis of its application. The calculation of surface irradiance on buildings may then inform photovoltaic power generation simulations, architectural design, and urban energy planning. Application analyses of the proposed method in the experiment area found that: (1) Global and direct irradiations vary significantly by hour, day, month and season, both following the same trends; however, diffuse irradiance essentially remains unchanged over time. (2) Roof irradiation, but not façade irradiation, displays distinct time-dependent patterns. (3) Global and direct irradiations on roofs are highly correlated with roof aspect and slope, with high global and direct irradiations observed on roofs of aspect 100-250° and slopes of 0-60°, whereas diffuse irradiation on roofs is only affected by roof slope. (4) The façade of a building receives higher levels of global and direct irradiations if facing southeast, south, and southwest; however, diffuse irradiation remains constant regardless of façade orientation.

GPM, METOP-B, GMI,MHS Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, METOP-A, GMI,MHS Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, F17,GMI,SSMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, F16,GMI,SSMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, NOAA18, GMI,MHS Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, F18,GMI,SSMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling V03

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, TRMM, GMI,TMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling VV03B

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

Yearly, seasonal and monthly daily average diffuse sky radiation models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kassem, A.S.; Mujahid, A.M.; Turner, D.W.

1993-01-01

A daily average diffuse sky radiation regression model based on daily global radiation was developed utilizing two year data taken near Blytheville, Arkansas (Lat. =35.9 0 N, Long. = 89.9 0 W), U.S.A. The model has a determination coefficient of 0.91 and 0.092 standard error of estimate. The data were also analyzed for a seasonal dependence and four seasonal average daily models were developed for the spring, summer, fall and winter seasons. The coefficient of determination is 0.93, 0.81, 0.94 and 0.93, whereas the standard error of estimate is 0.08, 0.102, 0.042 and 0.075 for spring, summer, fall and winter, respectively. A monthly average daily diffuse sky radiation model was also developed. The coefficient of determination is 0.92 and the standard error of estimate is 0.083. A seasonal monthly average model was also developed which has 0.91 coefficient of determination and 0.085 standard error of estimate. The developed monthly daily average and daily models compare well with a selected number of previously developed models. (author). 11 ref., figs., tabs

Effect of repeated ultraviolet irradiation on skin of hairless mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alpermann, H.; Vogel, H.G.

1978-01-01

The effect of repeated UV-irradiation on mechanical and biochemical parameters was studied in skin of hairless mice. uV-A irradiation for a period of 1 h daily over 8 weeks caused only a slight increase in skin thickness and a decrease in ultimate strain. The changes induced by UV-B and C, however, were quite remarkable. Skin thickness was increased depending on the daily dose exposure time (15-90 s at an irradiation rate of 20mW/cm 2 UV-B and A and of 14mW/cm 2 UV-C) and the duration of treatment (1-6 weeks). Ultimate load, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity showed an increase following medium dosages after 1 and 2 weeks, however, a decrease after high dosages and longterm treatment. Ultimate strain was found to be the most sensitive parameter being decreased depending on exposure time and duration of treatment. Insoluble collagen and total collagen were decreased after long-term treatment thus being correlated with the mechanical parameters. The elastin content was only barely influenced and not correlated with the mechanical data, e.g. the modulus of elasticity. Thus, a favourable effect of short-treatment with low doses of UV-irradiation of mechanical parameters of skin could be demonstrated. Long-term treatment with relatively high doses of UV-B, however, resulted in unfavourable effects, whereby first ultimate strain, then ultimate load, modulus of elasticity and tensile strength were decreased. (orig.) [de

Study of the radioprotective efficiency of combined administration of natural antioxidants and a sulfhydryl compound in feverish irradiated rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radwan, R.R.

2008-01-01

In the present experiments, a study of the radioprotective effects of natural antioxidants, rutin alone, vitamine E alone or each of them combined with synthetic radioprotector, cysteine have been investigated in irradiated and feverish irradiated rats. Furthermore, the oxidative stress bio markers and certain liver function tests of the irradiated and the feverish whole body irradiated rats were examined. Two main sets of animals were used: The 1st set was constructed in order to study the effect of irradiation, while the second set was used to study the effect of irradiation on feverish rats. The effect of irradiation was evaluated by exposing the whole body of rats to gamma radiation at acute single dose level of 6.5 Gy. Rutin was orally daily administered for two weeks before irradiation in a dose of 1.064 mmol/kg , vitamine E was injected intraperitoneally daily for seven days before irradiation in a dose of 50 mg/100 g. While, cysteine was intraperitoneally administered only 30 min. before irradiation in a dose of 30 mg/kg. In order to determine the antipyretic effect of the drugs, body temperature of each animal was measured before induction of hyperthermia as well as 18 hours following yeast injection. Rats were treated with the tested drugs before induction of fever then exposed to whole body gamma radiation at acute single dose level of 6.5 Gy and body temperature of each animal was measured 3 days after irradiation

Study of the radioprotective efficiency of combined administration of natural antioxidants and a sulfhydryl compound in feverish irradiated rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radwan, R R [Pharmacist in National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo (Egypt)

2008-07-01

In the present experiments, a study of the radioprotective effects of natural antioxidants, rutin alone, vitamine E alone or each of them combined with synthetic radioprotector, cysteine have been investigated in irradiated and feverish irradiated rats. Furthermore, the oxidative stress bio markers and certain liver function tests of the irradiated and the feverish whole body irradiated rats were examined. Two main sets of animals were used: The 1st set was constructed in order to study the effect of irradiation, while the second set was used to study the effect of irradiation on feverish rats. The effect of irradiation was evaluated by exposing the whole body of rats to gamma radiation at acute single dose level of 6.5 Gy. Rutin was orally daily administered for two weeks before irradiation in a dose of 1.064 mmol/kg , vitamine E was injected intraperitoneally daily for seven days before irradiation in a dose of 50 mg/100 g. While, cysteine was intraperitoneally administered only 30 min. before irradiation in a dose of 30 mg/kg. In order to determine the antipyretic effect of the drugs, body temperature of each animal was measured before induction of hyperthermia as well as 18 hours following yeast injection. Rats were treated with the tested drugs before induction of fever then exposed to whole body gamma radiation at acute single dose level of 6.5 Gy and body temperature of each animal was measured 3 days after irradiation.

Long-term energy output estimation for photovoltaic energy systems using synthetic solar irradiation data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Celik, A.N.

2003-01-01

A general methodology is presented to estimate the monthly average daily energy output from photovoltaic energy systems. Energy output is estimated from synthetically generated solar radiation data. The synthetic solar radiation data are generated based on the cumulative frequency distribution of the daily clearness index, given as a function of the monthly clearness index. Two sets of synthetic solar irradiation data are generated: 3- and 4-day months. In the 3-day month, each month is represented by 3 days and in the 4-day month, by 4 days. The 3- and 4-day solar irradiation data are synthetically generated for each month and the corresponding energy outputs are calculated. A total of 8-year long measured hourly solar irradiation data, from five different locations in the world, is used to validate the new model. The monthly energy output values calculated from the synthetic solar irradiation data are compared to those calculated from the measured hour-by-hour data. It is shown that when the measured solar radiation data do not exist for a particular location or reduced data set is advantageous, the energy output from photovoltaic converters could be correctly calculated

Food irradiation: an alternative technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loaharanu, P

1986-12-31

History has shown that man has continued to search for methods to protect his food from various spoilage agents. Traditional methods of food preservation such as drying, salting, fermentation, have been known for centuries and are being practised even today. Within the past century, modern technologies such as canning, freezing, refrigeration, the use of preservatives and pesticides, have further equipped man with an arsenal of methods to combat food losses and to increase the quantity, quality and safety of our food supplies. The most recent technology, irradiation, has gone through a great deal of research and development in the past 40 years and has shown a strong potential as another method for food preservation. As irradiation is still not familiar to the public at large, this paper attempts to inform scientists, officials, representatives of the food industry, and consumers of the global situation of the safety, benefits and applications of food irradiation by answering common questions often asked about the technology today. Special emphasis will be placed on the possible contribution of food irradiation to ASEAN

Food irradiation: an alternative technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loaharanu, P.

1985-01-01

History has shown that man has continued to search for methods to protect his food from various spoilage agents. Traditional methods of food preservation such as drying, salting, fermentation, have been known for centuries and are being practised even today. Within the past century, modern technologies such as canning, freezing, refrigeration, the use of preservatives and pesticides, have further equipped man with an arsenal of methods to combat food losses and to increase the quantity, quality and safety of our food supplies. The most recent technology, irradiation, has gone through a great deal of research and development in the past 40 years and has shown a strong potential as another method for food preservation. As irradiation is still not familiar to the public at large, this paper attempts to inform scientists, officials, representatives of the food industry, and consumers of the global situation of the safety, benefits and applications of food irradiation by answering common questions often asked about the technology today. Special emphasis will be placed on the possible contribution of food irradiation to ASEAN

A Bayesian modelling method for post-processing daily sub-seasonal to seasonal rainfall forecasts from global climate models and evaluation for 12 Australian catchments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Schepen

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Rainfall forecasts are an integral part of hydrological forecasting systems at sub-seasonal to seasonal timescales. In seasonal forecasting, global climate models (GCMs are now the go-to source for rainfall forecasts. For hydrological applications however, GCM forecasts are often biased and unreliable in uncertainty spread, and calibration is therefore required before use. There are sophisticated statistical techniques for calibrating monthly and seasonal aggregations of the forecasts. However, calibration of seasonal forecasts at the daily time step typically uses very simple statistical methods or climate analogue methods. These methods generally lack the sophistication to achieve unbiased, reliable and coherent forecasts of daily amounts and seasonal accumulated totals. In this study, we propose and evaluate a Rainfall Post-Processing method for Seasonal forecasts (RPP-S, which is based on the Bayesian joint probability modelling approach for calibrating daily forecasts and the Schaake Shuffle for connecting the daily ensemble members of different lead times. We apply the method to post-process ACCESS-S forecasts for 12 perennial and ephemeral catchments across Australia and for 12 initialisation dates. RPP-S significantly reduces bias in raw forecasts and improves both skill and reliability. RPP-S forecasts are also more skilful and reliable than forecasts derived from ACCESS-S forecasts that have been post-processed using quantile mapping, especially for monthly and seasonal accumulations. Several opportunities to improve the robustness and skill of RPP-S are identified. The new RPP-S post-processed forecasts will be used in ensemble sub-seasonal to seasonal streamflow applications.

Irradiation of Ananas comosus: shelf life improvement, nutritional quality and assessment of genotoxicity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Susheela, K.; Damayanti, M.; Sharma, G.J.

1997-01-01

The effect of gamma radiation in improving the shelf life of three-quarter ripe and fully ripe pineapple fruit by reducing the incidence of fungal infection, predominantly caused by Ceratocystis paradoxa, is described. Ananas comosus irradiated at 50, 100 and 150 Gy and stored at 25-29°C with 90-97% relative humidity maintained their texture better than the controls. The maximum tolerable dose was about 250 Gy. There was, no significant loss of sugar and ascorbic acid contents in fruit irradiated at the optimum dose, i.e. 150 Gy. At the same time, the irradiated pineapple fruit (250 Gy) did not induce any harmful genotoxic effect on rats fed daily with the irradiated pineapples for 30 days

Interfractional Target Variations for Partial Breast Irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahunbay, Ergun E.; Robbins, Jared; Christian, Robert; Godley, Andrew; White, Julia; Li, X. Allen

2012-01-01

Purpose: In this work, we quantify the interfractional variations in the shape of the clinical target volume (CTV) by analyzing the daily CT data acquired during CT-guided partial breast irradiation (PBI) and compare the effectiveness of various repositioning alignment strategies considered to account for the variations. Methods and Materials: The daily CT data for 13 breast cancer patients treated with PBI in either prone (10 patients) or supine (3 patients) with daily kV CT guidance using CT on Rails (CTVision, Siemens, Malvern, PA) were analyzed. For approximately 25 points on the surface of the CTV, deformation vectors were calculated by means of deformable image registration and verified by visual inspection. These were used to calculate the distances along surface normals (DSN), which directly related to the required margin expansions for each point. The DSN values were determined for seven alignment methods based on volumetric imaging and also two-dimensional projections (portal imaging). Results: The margin expansion necessary to cover 99% of all points for all days was 2.7 mm when utilizing the alignment method based on deformation field data (the best alignment method). The center-of-mass based alignment yielded slightly worse results (a margin of 4.0 mm), and shifts obtained by operator placement (7.9 mm), two-dimensional-based methods (7.0–10.1 mm), and skin marks (13.9 mm) required even larger margin expansions. Target shrinkage was evident for most days by the negative values of DSN. Even with the best alignment, the range of DSN values could be as high as 7 mm, resulting in a large amount of normal tissue irradiation, unless adaptive replanning is employed. Conclusion: The appropriate alignment method is important to minimize the margin requirement to cover the significant interfractional target deformations observed during PBI. The amount of normal tissue unnecessarily irradiated is still not insignificant, and can be minimized if adaptive

Use of gamma-irradiated blood for feeding tsetse flies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bauer, B.; Iwannek, K.H.; Hamann, H.J.; Adamsky, G.

1980-01-01

Freshly collected pig blood was sterilized by 60 Co gamma irradiation. A dose of 100 krad proved to be effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa at concentrations of at least 4.7x10 5 /ml. Glossina morsitans morsitans (Westw.) were maintained on this blood by feeding them five days per week on silicone membrane for nine months. Their performance was compared with a control fed untreated blood. In spite of the slightly faster haemolysis of the irradiated blood, the results from the experimental group compared favourably with the control. This was especially true for the percentage of daily mortality. The irradiation seems to offer a promising approach for the establishment of mass rearing plants in Africa based on in vitro feeding provided the blood from donor animals is suitable for tsetse flies. (author)

A method for improving global pyranometer measurements by modeling responsivity functions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lester, A. [Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063 (United States); Myers, D.R. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401 (United States)

2006-03-15

Accurate global solar radiation measurements are crucial to climate change research and the development of solar energy technologies. Pyranometers produce an electrical signal proportional to global irradiance. The signal-to-irradiance ratio is the responsivity (RS) of the instrument (RS=signal/irradiance=microvolts/(W/m{sup 2})). Most engineering measurements are made using a constant RS. It is known that RS varies with day of year, zenith angle, and net infrared radiation. This study proposes a method to find an RS function to model a pyranometer's changing RS. Using a reference irradiance calculated from direct and diffuse instruments, we found instantaneous RS for two global pyranometers over 31 sunny days in a two-year period. We performed successive independent regressions of the error between the constant and instantaneous RS with respect to zenith angle, day of year, and net infrared to obtain an RS function. An alternative method replaced the infrared regression with an independently developed technique to account for thermal offset. Results show improved uncertainties with the function method than with the single-calibration value. Lower uncertainties also occur using a black-and-white (8-48), rather than all-black (PSP), shaded pyranometer as the diffuse reference instrument. We conclude that the function method is extremely effective in reducing uncertainty in the irradiance measurements for global PSP pyranometers if they are calibrated at the deployment site. Furthermore, it was found that the function method accounts for the pyranometer's thermal offset, rendering further corrections unnecessary. The improvements in irradiance data achieved in this study will serve to increase the accuracy of solar energy assessments and atmospheric research. (author)

New global fire emission estimates and evaluation of volatile organic compounds

Science.gov (United States)

C. Wiedinmyer; L. K. Emmons; S. K. Akagi; R. J. Yokelson; J. J. Orlando; J. A. Al-Saadi; A. J. Soja

2010-01-01

A daily, high-resolution, global fire emissions model has been built to estimate emissions from open burning for air quality modeling applications: The Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN version 1). The model framework uses daily fire detections from the MODIS instruments and updated emission factors, specifically for speciated non-methane organic compounds (NMOC). Global...

Daily disaggregation of simulated monthly flows using different rainfall datasets in southern Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D.A. Hughes

2015-09-01

New hydrological insights for the region: There are substantial regional differences in the success of the monthly hydrological model, which inevitably affects the success of the daily disaggregation results. There are also regional differences in the success of using global rainfall data sets (Climatic Research Unit (CRU datasets for monthly, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration African Rainfall Climatology, version 2 (ARC2 satellite data for daily. The overall conclusion is that the disaggregation method presents a parsimonious approach to generating daily flow simulations from existing monthly simulations and that these daily flows are likely to be useful for some purposes (e.g. water quality modelling, but less so for others (e.g. peak flow analysis.

Lipid metabolism in rat tissues exposed to the chronic effects of γ-irradiation and ubiquinone Q9

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Novoselova, E.G.

1992-01-01

Chronic γ-irradiation of rats with the daily dose of 0.129 Gy activates the synthesis of various classes of lipids in the thymus, spleen and bone marrow cells and induces lipid accumulation in these tissues. Feeding of rats with the antioxidant, ubiquinone Q-9, under conditions of chronic irradiation causes a considerable normalization of lipogenesis and levels of the lipid concentration in the tissues of animals irradiated with the dose of 20 Gy

International Surface Temperature Initiative (ISTI) Global Land Surface Temperature Databank - Stage 2 Daily

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The global land surface temperature databank contains monthly timescale mean, max, and min temperature for approximately 40,000 stations globally. It was developed...

International Surface Temperature Initiative (ISTI) Global Land Surface Temperature Databank - Stage 1 Daily

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The global land surface temperature databank contains monthly timescale mean, max, and min temperature for approximately 40,000 stations globally. It was developed...

Estimation of the daily global solar radiation based on the Gaussian process regression methodology in the Saharan climate

Science.gov (United States)

Guermoui, Mawloud; Gairaa, Kacem; Rabehi, Abdelaziz; Djafer, Djelloul; Benkaciali, Said

2018-06-01

Accurate estimation of solar radiation is the major concern in renewable energy applications. Over the past few years, a lot of machine learning paradigms have been proposed in order to improve the estimation performances, mostly based on artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, support vector machine and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. The aim of this work is the prediction of the daily global solar radiation, received on a horizontal surface through the Gaussian process regression (GPR) methodology. A case study of Ghardaïa region (Algeria) has been used in order to validate the above methodology. In fact, several combinations have been tested; it was found that, GPR-model based on sunshine duration, minimum air temperature and relative humidity gives the best results in term of mean absolute bias error (MBE), root mean square error (RMSE), relative mean square error (rRMSE), and correlation coefficient ( r) . The obtained values of these indicators are 0.67 MJ/m2, 1.15 MJ/m2, 5.2%, and 98.42%, respectively.

Modelling the spectral irradiance distribution in sunny inland locations using an ANN-based methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres-Ramírez, M.; Elizondo, D.; García-Domingo, B.; Nofuentes, G.; Talavera, D.L.

2015-01-01

This work is aimed at verifying that in sunny inland locations artificial intelligence techniques may provide an estimation of the spectral irradiance with adequate accuracy for photovoltaic applications. An ANN (artificial neural network) based method was developed, trained and tested to model the spectral distributions between wavelengths ranging from 350 to 1050 nm. Only commonly available input data such as geographical information regarding location, specific date and time together with horizontal global irradiance and ambient temperature are required. Historical information from a 24-month experimental campaign carried out in Jaén (Spain) provided the necessary data to train and test the ANN tool. A Kohonen self-organized map was used as innovative technique to classify the whole input dataset and build a small and representative training dataset. The shape of the spectral irradiance distribution, the in-plane global irradiance (G T ) and irradiation (H T ) and the APE (average photon energy) values obtained through the ANN method were statistically compared to the experimental ones. In terms of shape distribution fitting, the mean relative deformation error stays below 4.81%. The root mean square percentage error is around 6.89% and 0.45% when estimating G T and APE, respectively. Regarding H T , errors lie below 3.18% in all cases. - Highlights: • ANN-based model to estimate the spectral irradiance distribution in sunny inland locations. • MRDE value stay below 4.81% in spectral irradiance distribution shape fitting. • RMSPE is about 6.89% for the in-plane global irradiance and 0.45% for the average photon energy. • Errors stay below 3.18% for all the months of the year in incident irradiation terms. • Improvement of assessment of the impact of the solar spectrum in the performance of a PV module

Inter-comparison of different models for estimating clear sky solar global radiation for the Negev region of Israel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ianetz, Amiran; Lyubansky, Vera; Setter, Ilan; Kriheli, Boris; Evseev, Efim G.; Kudish, Avraham I.

2007-01-01

Solar global radiation is a function of solar altitude, site altitude, albedo, atmospheric transparency and cloudiness, whereas solar global radiation on a clear day is defined such that it is a function of all the abovementioned parameters except cloudiness. Consequently, analysis of the relative magnitudes of solar global radiation and solar global radiation on a clear day provides a platform for studying the influence of cloudiness on solar global radiation. The Iqbal filter for determining the day type has been utilized to calculate the monthly average clear day solar global radiation at three sites in the Negev region of Israel. An inter-comparison between four models for estimating clear sky solar global radiation at the three sites was made. The relative accuracy of the four models was determined by comparing the monthly average daily clear sky solar global radiation to that determined using the Iqbal filter. The analysis was performed on databases consisting of measurements made during the time interval of January 1991 to December 2004. The monthly average daily clear sky solar global radiation determined by the Berlynd model was found to give the best agreement with that determined using the Iqbal filter. The Berlynd model was then utilized to calculate a daily clear day index, K c , which is defined as the ratio of the daily solar global radiation to the daily clear day solar global radiation. It is suggested that this index be used as an indication of the degree of cloudiness. Linear regression analysis was performed on the individual monthly databases for each site to determine the correlation between the daily clear day index and the daily clearness index, K T

Monitoring of gluconeogenesis in rats following chronic irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paulikova, E.; Sedlakova, A.; Praslicka, M. (Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Katedra Vseobecnej Biologie)

1984-01-01

A dose dependent cumulation of liver glycogen with the maximum on the day 120 was observed as was an increased incorporation of /sup 14/C-alanine in liver glycogen (statistically nonsignificant changes). The contribution of /sup 14/C-acetate to gluconeogenesis was negligible. The results showed increased gluconeogenesis in rats following chronic gamma irradiation with small daily dose rates (0.0957 Gy).

Monitoring of gluconeogenesis in rats following chronic irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paulikova, E.; Sedlakova, A.; Praslicka, M.

1984-01-01

A dose dependent cumulation of liver glycogen with the maximum on the day 120 was observed as was an increased incorporation of 14 C-alanine in liver glycogen (statistically nonsignificant changes). The contribution of 14 C-acetate to gluconeogenesis was negligible. The results showed increased gluconeogenesis in rats following chronic gamma irradiation with small daily dose rates (0.0957 Gy)

Computing diffuse fraction of global horizontal solar radiation: A model comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Dervishi, Sokol; Mahdavi, Ardeshir

2012-06-01

For simulation-based prediction of buildings' energy use or expected gains from building-integrated solar energy systems, information on both direct and diffuse component of solar radiation is necessary. Available measured data are, however, typically restricted to global horizontal irradiance. There have been thus many efforts in the past to develop algorithms for the derivation of the diffuse fraction of solar irradiance. In this context, the present paper compares eight models for estimating diffuse fraction of irradiance based on a database of measured irradiance from Vienna, Austria. These models generally involve mathematical formulations with multiple coefficients whose values are typically valid for a specific location. Subsequent to a first comparison of these eight models, three better performing models were selected for a more detailed analysis. Thereby, the coefficients of the models were modified to account for Vienna data. The results suggest that some models can provide relatively reliable estimations of the diffuse fractions of the global irradiance. The calibration procedure could only slightly improve the models' performance.

ARIMA representation for daily solar irradiance and surface air temperature time series

Science.gov (United States)

Kärner, Olavi

2009-06-01

Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models are used to compare long-range temporal variability of the total solar irradiance (TSI) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and surface air temperature series. The comparison shows that one and the same type of the model is applicable to represent the TSI and air temperature series. In terms of the model type surface air temperature imitates closely that for the TSI. This may mean that currently no other forcing to the climate system is capable to change the random walk type variability established by the varying activity of the rotating Sun. The result should inspire more detailed examination of the dependence of various climate series on short-range fluctuations of TSI.

New Therapeutic Possibilities of the Post-Irradiation Haemorrhagic Syndrome

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pospisil, J.; Dienstbier, Z. [Institute of Biophysics and Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of General Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Czech Republic); Skala, E. [Central Military Hospital, Prague-Stresovice, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Czech Republic)

1969-10-15

Haemorrhagic diathesis is one of the dominant symptoms of acute post-irradiation lesion. Haemorrhagic syndrome is caused by the disturbance of haemocoagulation during simultaneous lesion of the vascular system. In our study we have tried to affect the post-irradiation haemocoagulation disturbance. Epsilon- amino-caproic acid (EACA) administered between the 8{sup th} and the 18{sup th} day (0.4 g/kg per day) to whole- body irradiated dogs (600 R) partially regulated the post-irradiation disturbance of haemocoagulation. The favourable effect of EACA was verified by in vitro experiments in which the blood of irradiated dogs was used. A repeated administration of EACA in the dose of 0.4 g/kg per day to whole-body irradiated rats (600 R) did not substantially affect the post-irradiation changes in the number of white blood elements; however, its administration to healthy animals caused lymphocytosis. In whole-body irradiated dogs (600 R) we have found lower levels of EACA in the blood up to the 8 day following irradiation as compared with healthy dogs after oral application of EACA. The whole-body irradiation of mice did not increase the acute toxicity of EACA. The daily administration of 0.4 g EACA/kg to whole-body irradiated mice (600 and 700 R) did not change the mortality induced by irradiation. The authors consider EACA to be a suitable compound for a complex therapy of radiation sickness. The administration of para-amino-methyl-benzoic acid (PAMBA), in spite of a certain improvement of postirradiation haemocoagulation disturbance, is less efficient. Our recent experiments with ellagic acid which significantly affects the post-traumatic haemorrhage in whole-body irradiated rats seem to be very promising. (author)

GPM, F17,GMI,SSMI Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling VV03B

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

GPM, METOP-A, GMI,MHS Level 3 Daily GPROF Profiling VV03A

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are...

Changes in lipolysis in rat adipose tissue during continuous irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sedlakova, A.; Ahlers, I.; Praslicka, M.

1980-01-01

Changes in lipolysis were monitored by measuring the release of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and glycerol under basal conditions and after stimulation with L-noradrenaline in rat adipose tissue in the course of continuous irradiation with daily gamma doses of 0.57 Gy (60 R) for 50 days. As compared with the control animals, lipolysis in the irradiated rats was lower on days 3 to 14, and higher on days 21 to 25 to 32 and at the end of the screening period (day 50) of continuous irradiation. The changes in lipolysis in the course of irradiation reflected individual stages of the general adaptation syndrome. Many changes were modified by the effect of non-specific factors due to the experimental field and the starvation prior to the analysis. Changes in lipolysis were connected with changes in the mobilization of fatty acids and the concentrations of NEFA in white adipose tissue with changes in serum lipids predominantly in the period of 21 to 25 days of continuous irradiation. (author)

Different approaches to the toxicological evaluation of irradiated starch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Truhaut, R.; Saint-Lebe, L.

1978-01-01

The toxicological evaluation of irradiated starch is performed either through long-term experiments on rats (24 months) and mice (18 months) or through determination of the semichronic toxicity in rats (6 months) of previously identified and determined radiation-induced products. A trial with five groups each of 80 rats (40 males and 40 females; controls receiving the diet raw or cooked; other animals receiving the diet raw after irradiation to 300krad and raw or cooked after irradiation to 600krad) consists of a toxicity test and a study of the reproductive functions. The trial with mice - the same number of animals divided into three groups (standard control, control and 300krad) - consists of a study of the reproductive functions with an examination of teratogenicity and the study of cancerogenic and mutagenic potentiality. In no case have the authors found significant differences between the groups. Of the 35 starch radiolysis products so far identified the authors considered nine (formic acid, hydrogen peroxide, methyl alcohol, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, glycolaldehyde, glyceraldehyde, malonaldehyde and glyoxal). After an acute and subacute toxicity trial with a mixture of the nine compounds, a six-month semichronic toxicity trial was carried out with four groups of animals (15 males and 15 females). The daily uptake of 0.3g of the mixture per kilogram was found to have no effect on the rats. This daily uptake corresponds to a quantity of radiolytic products 800 times greater than what would be taken up by a baby consuming 30g of irradiated starch (300krad) and is below the threshold of true general toxicity, which is masked here by the caustic effect of the formic acid. (author)

Analysis of Global Horizontal Irradiance in Version 3 of the National Solar Radiation Database.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansen, Clifford; Martin, Curtis E.; Guay, Nathan Gene

2015-09-01

We report an analysis that compares global horizontal irradiance (GHI) estimates from version 3 of the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB v3) with surface measurements of GHI at a wide variety of locations over the period spanning from 2005 to 2012. The NSRDB v3 estimate of GHI are derived from the Physical Solar Model (PSM) which employs physics-based models to estimate GHI from measurements of reflected visible and infrared irradiance collected by Geostationary Operational Environment Satellites (GOES) and several other data sources. Because the ground measurements themselves are uncertain our analysis does not establish the absolute accuracy for PSM GHI. However by examining the comparison for trends and for consistency across a large number of sites, we may establish a level of confidence in PSM GHI and identify conditions which indicate opportunities to improve PSM. We focus our evaluation on annual and monthly insolation because these quantities directly relate to prediction of energy production from solar power systems. We find that generally, PSM GHI exhibits a bias towards overestimating insolation, on the order of 5% when all sky conditions are considered, and somewhat less (-3%) when only clear sky conditions are considered. The biases persist across multiple years and are evident at many locations. In our opinion the bias originates with PSM and we view as less credible that the bias stems from calibration drift or soiling of ground instruments. We observe that PSM GHI may significantly underestimate monthly insolation in locations subject to broad snow cover. We found examples of days where PSM GHI apparently misidentified snow cover as clouds, resulting in significant underestimates of GHI during these days and hence leading to substantial understatement of monthly insolation. Analysis of PSM GHI in adjacent pixels shows that the level of agreement between PSM GHI and ground data can vary substantially over distances on the order of 2 km. We

Analysis of satellite-derived solar irradiance over the Netherlands

Science.gov (United States)

Dirksen, Marieke; Fokke Meirink, Jan; Sluiter, Raymond

2017-04-01

Measurements from geostationary satellites allow the retrieval of surface solar irradiance homogeneously over large areas, thereby providing essential information for the solar energy sector. In this paper, the SICCS solar irradiance data record derived from 12 years of Meteosat Second Generation satellite measurements is analysed with a focus on the Netherlands, where the spatial resolution is about 6 by 3 km2. Extensive validation of the SICCS data with pyranometer observations is performed, indicating a bias of approximately 3 W/m2 and RMSE of 11 W/m2 for daily data. Long term averages and seasonal variations of solar irradiance show regional patterns related to the surface type (e.g., coastal waters, forests, cities). The inter-annual variability over the time frame of the data record is quantified. Methods to merge satellite and surface observations into an optimized data record are explored.

Relationship between the NO2 photolysis frequency and the solar global irradiance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Fan

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Representative values of the atmospheric NO2 photolysis frequency j(NO2 are required for the adequate calculation and interpretation of NO and NO2 concentrations and exchange fluxes near the surface. Direct measurements of j(NO2 at ground level are often not available in field studies. In most cases, modeling approaches involving complex radiative transfer calculations are used to estimate j(NO2 and other photolysis frequencies for air chemistry studies. However, important input parameters for accurate modeling are often missing, most importantly with regard to the radiative effects of clouds. On the other hand, solar global irradiance ("global radiation", G is nowadays measured as a standard parameter in most field experiments and in many meteorological observation networks around the world. Previous studies mainly reported linear relationships between j(NO2 and G. We have measured j(NO2 using spectro- or filter radiometers and G using pyranometers side-by-side at several field sites. Our results cover a solar zenith angle range of 0–90°, and are based on nine field campaigns in temperate, subtropical and tropical environments during the period 1994–2008. We show that a second-order polynomial function (intercept = 0: j(NO2=(1+α× (B1×G+B2×G2, with α defined as the site-dependent UV-A surface albedo and the polynomial coefficients: B1=(1.47± 0.03×10-5 W−1 m2 s−1 and B2=(-4.84±0.31×10-9 W−2 m4 s−1 can be used to estimate ground-level j(NO2 directly from G, independent of solar zenith angle under all atmospheric conditions. The absolute j(NO2 residual of the empirical function is ±6×10-4 s−1(2σ. The relationship is valid for sites below 800 m a.s.l. and with low surface albedo (α<0.2. It is not valid in high mountains, above snow or ice and sandy or dry soil surfaces.

Histological examination of the effect of differently fractionated irradiations in rat and mouse organs. Pt. 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Unger, E.

1984-01-01

The spleen of rats was irradiated with 50 Gy dose local X-rays in two different fractionation rhythms, i.e. twice a week given high and daily applied lower fractions of radiation. According to the results of 3 H-thymidine autoradiography made after the last irradiation 24 hours later both in the white and the red pulp the labelling index was less on the effect of twice in a week applied high radiation fractions than in case of daily given lower fractions. This indicate in correlation with the results of earlier analogous histological experiments that the damaging effect of rarely given higher fractions of radiation in the spleen is especially obvious. (orig.) [de

Radiation-induced epigenetic alterations after low and high LET irradiations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aypar, Umut; Morgan, William F.; Baulch, Janet E.

2011-01-01

Epigenetics, including DNA methylation and microRNA (miRNA) expression, could be the missing link in understanding radiation-induced genomic instability (RIGI). This study tests the hypothesis that irradiation induces epigenetic aberrations, which could eventually lead to RIGI, and that the epigenetic aberrations induced by low linear energy transfer (LET) irradiation are different than those induced by high LET irradiations. GM10115 cells were irradiated with low LET X-rays and high LET iron (Fe) ions and evaluated for DNA damage, cell survival and chromosomal instability. The cells were also evaluated for specific locus methylation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NFκB), tumor suppressor in lung cancer 1 (TSLC1) and cadherin 1 (CDH1) gene promoter regions, long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1) and Alu repeat element methylation, CpG and non-CpG global methylation and miRNA expression levels. Irradiated cells showed increased micronucleus induction and cell killing immediately following exposure, but were chromosomally stable at delayed times post-irradiation. At this same delayed time, alterations in repeat element and global DNA methylation and miRNA expression were observed. Analyses of DNA methylation predominantly showed hypomethylation, however hypermethylation was also observed. We demonstrate that miRNA expression levels can be altered after X-ray irradiation and that these miRNA are involved in chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation. A higher incidence of epigenetic changes was observed after exposure to X-rays than Fe ions even though Fe ions elicited more chromosomal damage and cell killing. This distinction is apparent at miRNA analyses at which only three miRNA involved in two major pathways were altered after high LET irradiations while six miRNA involved in five major pathways were altered after low LET irradiations. This study also shows that the irradiated cells acquire epigenetic changes suggesting that epigenetic aberrations may arise in the

Radiation-induced epigenetic alterations after low and high LET irradiations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aypar, Umut, E-mail: uaypa001@umaryland.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201 (United States); Morgan, William F. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); Baulch, Janet E. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201 (United States)

2011-02-10

Epigenetics, including DNA methylation and microRNA (miRNA) expression, could be the missing link in understanding radiation-induced genomic instability (RIGI). This study tests the hypothesis that irradiation induces epigenetic aberrations, which could eventually lead to RIGI, and that the epigenetic aberrations induced by low linear energy transfer (LET) irradiation are different than those induced by high LET irradiations. GM10115 cells were irradiated with low LET X-rays and high LET iron (Fe) ions and evaluated for DNA damage, cell survival and chromosomal instability. The cells were also evaluated for specific locus methylation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF{kappa}B), tumor suppressor in lung cancer 1 (TSLC1) and cadherin 1 (CDH1) gene promoter regions, long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1) and Alu repeat element methylation, CpG and non-CpG global methylation and miRNA expression levels. Irradiated cells showed increased micronucleus induction and cell killing immediately following exposure, but were chromosomally stable at delayed times post-irradiation. At this same delayed time, alterations in repeat element and global DNA methylation and miRNA expression were observed. Analyses of DNA methylation predominantly showed hypomethylation, however hypermethylation was also observed. We demonstrate that miRNA expression levels can be altered after X-ray irradiation and that these miRNA are involved in chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation. A higher incidence of epigenetic changes was observed after exposure to X-rays than Fe ions even though Fe ions elicited more chromosomal damage and cell killing. This distinction is apparent at miRNA analyses at which only three miRNA involved in two major pathways were altered after high LET irradiations while six miRNA involved in five major pathways were altered after low LET irradiations. This study also shows that the irradiated cells acquire epigenetic changes suggesting that epigenetic aberrations may arise

Radiation-Induced Epigenetic Alterations after Low and High LET Irradiations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aypar, Umut; Morgan, William F.; Baulch, Janet E.

2011-02-01

Epigenetics, including DNA methylation and microRNA (miRNA) expression, could be the missing link in understanding the delayed, non-targeted effects of radiation including radiationinduced genomic instability (RIGI). This study tests the hypothesis that irradiation induces epigenetic aberrations, which could eventually lead to RIGI, and that the epigenetic aberrations induced by low linear energy transfer (LET) irradiation are different than those induced by high LET irradiations. GM10115 cells were irradiated with low LET x-rays and high LET iron (Fe) ions and evaluated for DNA damage, cell survival and chromosomal instability. The cells were also evaluated for specific locus methylation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NFκB), tumor suppressor in lung cancer 1 (TSLC1) and cadherin 1 (CDH1) gene promoter regions, long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1) and Alu repeat element methylation, CpG and non-CpG global methylation and miRNA expression levels. Irradiated cells showed increased micronucleus induction and cell killing immediately following exposure, but were chromosomally stable at delayed times post-irradiation. At this same delayed time, alterations in repeat element and global DNA methylation and miRNA expression were observed. Analyses of DNA methylation predominantly showed hypomethylation, however hypermethylation was also observed. MiRNA shown to be altered in expression level after x-ray irradiation are involved in chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation. Different and higher incidence of epigenetic changes were observed after exposure to low LET x-rays than high LET Fe ions even though Fe ions elicited more chromosomal damage and cell killing. This study also shows that the irradiated cells acquire epigenetic changes even though they are chromosomally stable suggesting that epigenetic aberrations may arise in the cell without initiating RIGI.

Observed and predicted measurements of photosynthesis in a phytoplankton culture exposed to natural irradiance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marra, J.; Heinemann, K.; Landriau, G. Jr.

1985-01-01

Photosynthesis-irradiance (P-I) curves were produced (using artificial illumination) from samples taken at one or more times per day from a continuous culture illuminated with sunlight. The continuous culture housed an oxygen electrode used to measure photosynthesis semi-continuously. Rates of photosynthesis predicted from P-I curves agreed with photosynthesis observed in the culture only for days of low irradiance. For sunny days or for days of variable irradiance, P-I curves predicted neither the morning photosynthesis maximum nor the afternoon depression. Daily integrals of predicted and observed photosynthesis, however, were probably within the possible errors of measurement. (orig.)

Global Lightning Response to Forbush Decreases in Short-term

Science.gov (United States)

Li, H.; Wu, Q.; Wang, C.

2017-12-01

During the past three decades, particular scientific attention has been drawn to the potential link between solar activities and global climate change. How the sun modulates the climate has always been controversial. There are three relatively widely accepted mechanisms illustrating this process: the total solar irradiance (TSI), the solar ultraviolet radiation (SUR), and the space weather mechanisms. As for space weather mechanism, the sun influences the microphysical process in cloud by modulating the cosmic ray flux and thus changes the cloud cover, which finally affects the earth's radiation balance. Unfortunately, the lack of related observations and some opposite research results make this mechanism rather debatable. In order to provide possible evidence for space weather mechanism, we study the influence of Forbush decreases (FDs) of galactic cosmic ray on global lightning activities, which to some extent represents the basic process of cosmic ray-atmospheric coupling. We use the daily lightning counts from 1998 to 2014 observed by LIS sensor aboard the TRMM satellite. Considering the "diurnal distribution" (occurring more in the afternoon than in the morning) and the "seasonal distribution" (occurring more in summer than in winter) of lightning activities as well as the 49-day precession of TRMM satellite, the daily lightning counts show an intricate periodic fluctuation. We propose a 3-step approach - latitude zone limitation, orbit branch selection and local time normalization - to eliminate it. As for FDs, we select them by checking the hourly neutron counts variation of each month of 17 years obtained from the Oulu Cosmic Ray Station. During the selection, we choose the FDs which are "strong" (decrease more than 6%) and "standard" (strongly decrease in a few hours to one day and gradually recover in about one week) to diminish the meteorological influence and other possible disturbance. For both case study and temporal superposition of several cases

Evaluation of irradiation measurements on tilted planes at PV systems in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Betcke, J.W.H.; Dijk, V.A.P. van; Ramaekers, L.A.M.; Zolingen, R.J.C. van

1998-01-01

Monitoring data of Dutch PV systems in the field show lower values for the measured global irradiation in the array plane than expected from model calculatations. Since the locations of the PV systems contain obstacles, we expect that shielding of diffuse irradiation may cause the difference. For

Response of Solar Irradiance to Sunspot-area Variations

Science.gov (United States)

Dudok de Wit, T.; Kopp, G.; Shapiro, A.; Witzke, V.; Kretzschmar, M.

2018-02-01

One of the important open questions in solar irradiance studies is whether long-term variability (i.e., on timescales of years and beyond) can be reconstructed by means of models that describe short-term variability (i.e., days) using solar proxies as inputs. Preminger & Walton showed that the relationship between spectral solar irradiance and proxies of magnetic-flux emergence, such as the daily sunspot area, can be described in the framework of linear system theory by means of the impulse response. We significantly refine that empirical model by removing spurious solar-rotational effects and by including an additional term that captures long-term variations. Our results show that long-term variability cannot be reconstructed from the short-term response of the spectral irradiance, which questions the extension of solar proxy models to these timescales. In addition, we find that the solar response is nonlinear in a way that cannot be corrected simply by applying a rescaling to a sunspot area.

Modelling 1-minute directional observations of the global irradiance.

Science.gov (United States)

Thejll, Peter; Pagh Nielsen, Kristian; Andersen, Elsa; Furbo, Simon

2016-04-01

Direct and diffuse irradiances from the sky has been collected at 1-minute intervals for about a year from the experimental station at the Technical University of Denmark for the IEA project "Solar Resource Assessment and Forecasting". These data were gathered by pyrheliometers tracking the Sun, as well as with apertured pyranometers gathering 1/8th and 1/16th of the light from the sky in 45 degree azimuthal ranges pointed around the compass. The data are gathered in order to develop detailed models of the potentially available solar energy and its variations at high temporal resolution in order to gain a more detailed understanding of the solar resource. This is important for a better understanding of the sub-grid scale cloud variation that cannot be resolved with climate and weather models. It is also important for optimizing the operation of active solar energy systems such as photovoltaic plants and thermal solar collector arrays, and for passive solar energy and lighting to buildings. We present regression-based modelling of the observed data, and focus, here, on the statistical properties of the model fits. Using models based on the one hand on what is found in the literature and on physical expectations, and on the other hand on purely statistical models, we find solutions that can explain up to 90% of the variance in global radiation. The models leaning on physical insights include terms for the direct solar radiation, a term for the circum-solar radiation, a diffuse term and a term for the horizon brightening/darkening. The purely statistical model is found using data- and formula-validation approaches picking model expressions from a general catalogue of possible formulae. The method allows nesting of expressions, and the results found are dependent on and heavily constrained by the cross-validation carried out on statistically independent testing and training data-sets. Slightly better fits -- in terms of variance explained -- is found using the purely

Baseline disability in activities of daily living predicts dementia risk even after controlling for baseline global cognitive ability and depressive symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Fauth, Elizabeth B; Schwartz, Sarah; Tschanz, Joann T; Østbye, Truls; Corcoran, Christopher; Norton, Maria C

2013-06-01

Late-life disability in activities of daily living (ADL) is theorized to be driven by underlying cognitive and/or physical impairment, interacting with psychological and environmental factors. Although we expect that cognitive deficits would explain associations between ADL disability and dementia risk, the current study examined ADL as a predictor of future dementia after controlling for global cognitive status. The population-based Cache County Memory Study (N = 3547) assessed individuals in four triennial waves (average age 74.9 years, years of education 13.36 years; 57.9% were women). Cox proportional hazards regression models assessed whether baseline ADL disability (presence of 2+ Instrumental ADL and/or 1+ Personal ADL) predicted incident dementia after controlling for APOE status, gender, age, baseline cognitive ability (Modified Mini-mental State Exam, 3MS-R; adjusted for education level), and baseline depressive symptoms (Diagnostic Interview Schedule). Over the course of study, 571 cases of incident dementia were identified through in-depth cognitive assessment, ending in expert consensus diagnosis. Results from Cox models suggest that ADL disability is a statistically significant predictor of incident dementia (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.83, p controlling for covariates. Findings suggest that ADL disability offers unique contributions in risk for incident dementia, even after controlling for global cognitive status. We discuss how physical impairment and executive function may play important roles in this relationship, and how ADL is useful, not just a diagnostic tool at, or after dementia onset, but also as a risk factor for future dementia, even in individuals not impaired on global cognitive tests. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adrenal and plasma corticosterone changes in continuously irradiated rats. II. Dependence on additional stress factors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malatova, Z; Ahlers, I; Praslicka, M [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Katedra Vseobecnej Biologie

1978-01-01

Adrenal and plasma corticosterone levels were followed in continuously irradiated rats in dependence on additional stress factors - transport of animals, handling and overnight fasting. Rats were gamma irradiated on an open experimental field with a daily dose rate of 15.48x10/sup -3/ C/kg (60 R) continuously up to a total exposure of 387.0x10/sup -3/ C/kg (1500 R) and analyzed after irradiation. The continuous irradiation increased the adrenal and plasma corticosterone concentrations in all groups of animals. The transport and weighing increased mainly adrenal corticosterone in all three groups, irradiated, non-irradiated controls from the field and intact laboratory controls. The scatter of the results made reproducibility difficult. Overnight fasting increased the absolute values in all groups. The radiation effect was evident especially in adrenal corticosterone values of non-handled animals.

A summary of recent developments in the sludge irradiation program at Sandia laboratories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morris, M.E.; Sivinski, J.S.; Brandon, J.R.; Neuhauser, K.S.; Ward, R.L.

1978-01-01

Sandia Laboratories has shifted the emphasis of its Sewage Sludge Irradiation Program toward treating dried sewage sludges rather than liquid sludges for the following reasons: (1) cities' interests in composting sewage sludge before final disposal; (2) need for disinfection of the product before sale to the public; and (3) low cost of disinfection by radiation processing. As a result of this shift, the Sandia Irradiator for Dried Sewage Solids (SIDSS), was designed and is near completion. The irradiator will treat up to 8 tons/day of solids with a 1 megarad absorbed dose. A bucket conveyor will transport the sewage sludge past a 1 megacurie cesium-137 γ-ray source. If a lower dose than 1 megarad is acceptable for disinfection, the daily throughput of the irradiator will be correspondingly increased. The irradiator is designed so that the cesium-137 γ-ray sources used to charge the facility can be manipulated underwater. After source unloading is complete, the water will be drained and the irradiator will be operated dry. Either bagged or bulk solids can be irradiated with the system. (Auth.)

Experimental study on active specific immunotherapy modified with irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imanaka, Kazufumi; Ogawa, Yasuhiro; Gose, Kyuhei; Imajo, Yoshinari; Kumura, Shuji

1982-01-01

We have already reported that the effectiveness of active specific immunotherapy using irradiated tumor cells and infiltrating mononuclear cells which were separated from the topical tumor tissue 7 days after irradiation of 2,000 rad in experimental study. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of non-specific immunopotentiator PS-K combined with active specific immunotherapy. Female C3H/He mice aged 12 weeks were inoculated 4 x 10 6 MM 46 tumor cells in the right hind paws and received local electron irradiation with the dose of 3,000 rad on the 5th day after irradiation. Active specific immunotherapy was performed on the 12th day, and daily dose of 200 mg/kg of PS-K was injected intraperitoneally from the 6th day to the 10th day. The inhibition of the tumor growth and the elongation of survival period were noted in the group which received active specific immunotherapy combined with non-specific immunopotentiator, PS-K compared with the active specific immunotherapy alone. (author)

Experience of the irradiation method under mixed gas (95% O2 plus 5% CO2) inhalation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikeda, Michio; Tazaki, Eio

1978-01-01

The irradiation method under mixed gas of 95% O 2 plus CO 2 inhalation at one atomosphere was discussed to improve therapeutic results, in malignant tumors which are not greatly sensitive to irradiation. Randomized study was done in each attending institute, with common protocols. As a result, no positive effect was recognized in irradiation method under mixed gas inhalation with daily dose of 200 rad and 5 fractions per week, which is widely used clinically. But when irradiation dose was increased up to 500 to 600 rad per fraction, effect of the mixed gas was remarkable. But against this, observing for years, results in irradiation under mixed gas inhalation were not always related to the improvement of the long term survival. (author)

Go/no-go discriminated avoidance learning in prenatally x-irradiated rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamaki, Y.; Inouye, M.

1988-01-01

Male Fischer344 rats were exposed to x-irradiation at a dose of 200 rad on Day 17 of gestation. Irradiated and control rats were tested at 10-13 weeks of age with the paradigm of go/no-go (active-passive) discriminated avoidance conditioning for three consecutive daily sessions. During the first conditioning session, they learned only active avoidance responses to two different warning signals. During the second and third sessions, they learned active and passive avoidance responses: in response to one warning signal, rats were required to make an active response to avoid a shock, but not to run in response to the other signal in order to avoid a shock. Prenatally irradiated rats made more active avoidance responses to both warning signals than controls (first session). In the early training phase of the go/no-go task, irradiated rats performed significantly higher active and lower passive avoidance responses than controls. Irradiated rats established a strong tendency to respond actively to the no-go signal, but eventually learned to respond to it

Terrestrial irradiation-sunshine duration clustering and prediction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sen, Zekai; Oeztopal, Ahmet

2003-01-01

The relationship between terrestrial irradiance and sunshine duration is not crisp and there are scatters around a general trend, which most often is expressed to occur in the form of a linear expression. This study presents a way of grouping the solar irradiation-sunshine duration data into convenient seasonal subgroups and then makes predictions within each of the groups quantitatively. In the classical Angstroem or other approaches, the seasonal variations are not considered, and therefore, rather global parameter estimations are obtained. However, the seasonal methodology of this paper provides more detailed interpretations in addition to seasonal effects and parameter estimations

NOAA Daily 25km Global Optimally Interpolated Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) in situ and AVHRR analysis supplemented with AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.0 climatological SST for inland and coastal pixels, 1981-09-01 through 2010-12-31 (NODC Accession 0071180)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This accession contains the daily 25km global Optimally Interpolated Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) in situ and AVHRR analysis, supplemented with AVHRR Pathfinder...

Role of Vitamin E and/or High Protein Diet in Modulating Antioxidant Status and Certain Biochemical Changes in Gamma-Irradiated Rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamza, R.G.; El-Shennawy, H.M.

2009-01-01

The main purpose of this study was to examine the modulator effect of vitamin E and/ or high protein diet on the gamma irradiation induced changes in antioxidant Status and certain biochemical parameters. Male albino rats were exposed to 6 Gy (single dose: 0.48 Gy/min) of whole body gamma radiation. Vitamin E (50 mg/kg body weight) was daily administrated to rats via stomach tube for 3 weeks before exposure to gamma radiation continued for 3 weeks post irradiation. Other animals fed daily on high protein diet for 3 weeks before irradiation continued for 3 weeks post irradiation. A combined administration of vitamin E and Feeding on high protein diet was daily applied to another rats group for 3 weeks before irradiation continued for 3 weeks post irradiation. The results obtained revealed that the administration of vitamin E and/or feeding on high protein diet were significantly reduced the changes. induced by gamma irradiation in blood antioxidant enzymes activities (Superoxide dismutase: SOD and Catalase; CAT). concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH). Significant amelioration in the plasma level of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and High density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) associated with remarkable decrease in the level of malondialdhyde (MDA) were observed. In addition, significant improvements were observed in liver function parameters (activities of serum aminotransferases (AST, ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and concentration of total protein and globulin. As well as, the changes in kidney function (serum creatinine and urea levels) were significantly improved. The improvements also extended to include the serum level of uric acid. Accordingly, it could be concluded that. via the adjustment of the antioxidant status, decreasing the releasing of lipid peroxides and the subsequent amending of different biochemical pathways. vitamin E and high protein diet could modulate the radiation injuries in

Current status of food irradiation in the world. Trend in Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kume, Tamikazu

2002-01-01

This review describes the current status of food irradiation in the world and particularly, its trends in Asia, based on the report of the economic scale investigation on the irradiation in United States and Japan (2001) and on the information of 12th International Meeting on Radiation Processing in France in 2001 and on personal communications. International Consultative Group on Food Irradiation promotes its activities of irradiation globally and 46 countries are affiliated. Food irradiation is allowed in 52 countries. In 1999, 257,000 t of food is irradiated in the world, of which 1/3 is due to spice. The facilities for the irradiation have such sources as 60 Co and 137 Cs γ-rays, electron beam of <10 MeV and X-ray with <5 MeV. Detection methods of irradiated foods are summarized by the project of Analytical Detection Methods for Irradiation Treatment of Foods. The US is the most advanced country in the irradiation and, in Japan, only irradiation of potato is permitted. The detailed present status is also described of Bangladesh, China (the irradiation is most widely conducted in the world), India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Recently Australia and New Zealand have started the irradiation. (K.H.)

Prospective randomized comparison of single-dose versus hyperfractionated total-body irradiation in patients with hematologic malignancies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Girinsky, T.; Benhamou, E.; Bourhis, J.H.; Dhermain, F.; Guillot-Valls, D.; Ganansia, V.; Luboinski, M.; Perez, A.; Cosset, J.M.; Socie, G.; Baume, D.; Bouaouina, N.; Briot, E.; Baudre, A.; Bridier, A.; Pico, J.L.

2001-01-01

The efficiency of the two irradiation modes are similar, but the hyperfractionated irradiation seems superior in term of global and specific survival. The incidence rates of pneumopathies are not different between the two groups but the incidence rate of the liver vein-occlusive illness is superior in the group treated by non fractionated whole body irradiation. The cost of the hyperfractionated whole body irradiation is superior to this one of the non fractionated whole body irradiation around a thousand dollars. (N.C.)

Intent to Quit among Daily and Non-Daily College Student Smokers

Science.gov (United States)

Pinsker, E. A.; Berg, C. J.; Nehl, E. J.; Prokhorov, A. V.; Buchanan, T. S.; Ahluwalia, J. S.

2013-01-01

Given the high prevalence of young adult smoking, we examined (i) psychosocial factors and substance use among college students representing five smoking patterns and histories [non-smokers, quitters, native non-daily smokers (i.e. never daily smokers), converted non-daily smokers (i.e. former daily smokers) and daily smokers] and (ii) smoking…

Cosmic rays and global warming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erlykin, A.D. [P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow (Russian Federation); Sloan, T. [Lancaster University (United Kingdom); Wolfendale, A.W. [Durham University (United Kingdom)

2010-07-01

The possible effects of cosmic rays on clouds could contribute to global warming. The argument is that the observed increased solar activity during the last century caused a decrease in the ionization due to cosmic rays since the lower energy cosmic particles are deflected by the magnetic field created by the increasing solar wind. This would lead to a decrease in cloud cover allowing more heating of the earth by the sun. Meteorological data combined to solar activity observations and simulations show that any effect of solar activity on clouds and the climate is likely to be through irradiance rather than cosmic rays. Since solar irradiance transfers 8 orders of magnitude more energy to the atmosphere than cosmic rays it is more plausible that this can produce a real effect. The total contribution of variable solar activity to global warming is shown to be less than 14% of the total temperature rise. (A.C.)

Sensorineural hearing loss following irradiation to the malignant tumor of the head and neck

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, Masafumi; Kobari, Hitomi; Kanno, Hidetaka; Aikawa, Tohru; Anzai, Tomohiro; Okamura, Hiro-oki; Ohtani, Iwao; Hoshino, Toshiaki

1989-01-01

We observed sensorineural hearing loss following X-ray irradiation to the malignant tumor of head and neck. There were 24 patients whose auditory organs lied within the irradiation field. Ten of these patients were affected by sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing loss occurred at a high frequency in elderly patients, epipharynx tumor and high dose of irradiation. Many cases revealed high tone hearing loss. Most cases showed about a 20∼30 dB hearing loss, so their impediment seemed not severe in daily life. In some of these cases, we could have temporal bone findings, but there were no particular findings relevant to sensorineural hearing loss. (author)

Effects of irradiation on degradation and migration of food packaging plastics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xifeng; Cai Zhongli

1997-01-01

The author summarizes the research achievements on the following aspects: detection and identification of low molecular radiolysis products of food packaging polymers and degradation products of plastic additives, influences of irradiation atmosphere, dose, dose rate, additives and food simulant on the formation of products, and effects of irradiation on global and specific migration of packaging materials. Some items are suggested to be further studied

Effect of milk temperature during irradiation on total bacterial count and keeping quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabbour, M.M.; Dawod, A.H.; Newigy, N.A.; Wahab, G.A.M.

1989-01-01

Cows' and buffaloes' milk samples were exposed to different doses of gamma radiation (100, 200 and 300 Kr) at 10 and 30°C. Irradiation of milk at 10°C caused more reduction in total bacterial count than that occurred at 30°C. The rate of microbial destruction due to irradiation at 10°C was higher than that occurred at 30°C. The keeping quality was determined daily for 15 days by clot-on-boiling test for samples kept at room temperature and in a refrigerator. The keeping quality recorded for cows' and buffaloes' milk samples in the refrigerator was 4 days, while it was only 1 day at room temperature. Irradiation of milk at 10°C was more effective than irradiation at 30°C, to increase the keeping quality of irradiated milk kept at refrigeration. Irradiation of milk samples at 10°C by 200 Kr increased the keeping quality for two weeks in the refrigerator, i.e. such a treatment increased the keeping quality by 4 folds

Use of radiosensitivity to identify irradiated fresh poultry products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Copin, M.P.; Bourgeois, C.M.

1991-01-01

Microbiological comparison between irradiated and non-irradiated foodstuff has been studied for a long time as a way to detect whether a foodstuff has been irradiated or not. Generally, the proposed methods are based on the fact that ionization select species of bacteria which are recognized to be radioresistant. So reduction or elimination of known radiation sensitive microbes from the normal endogenous microflora could give an indication that the foodstuff has been irradiated, predominance of known radioresistant bacteria should be another indication. In the present work, we try to develop a test based on the radiosensitivity of the bacteria independently of their place. These first experiments show that the determination of radiosensitivity of strains isolated from a product or even of global radioresistance of mesophilic microflora could indicate if this product has been previously submitted to ionizing radiations. (4 tabs)

Global solar energy radiation in relation with electricity supply in Romania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zoran, Maria

2001-01-01

Solar energy is one of the most viable source of renewable energy being both clean and nonpolluting. Spiraling energy use and other human activities have led to measurable effects upon the global environment and climatic changes. There is increasing international concern particularly in the areas of global warming owing to the increase of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere and of other greenhouse gases as sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydrogen sulfide H 2 S, diethyl sulfide (DMS), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane CH 4 , as well in the effect of depletion of ozone (O 3 ) layer in the stratosphere. Climatological and global solar radiation analysis for some Romanian zones with great solar energy potential are presented. Remote sensing data provided by satellites are used for radiative fluxes monitoring and solar energy mapping as well as for solar energy use assessment. The realistic technical potential for solar energy applications in Romania is substantial, over 40000 TJyear -1 . As average energy global solar radiation in horizontal plane lies between 1100 and 1300 kWhm -2 year -1 , solar energy using for electrical power supply being a reliable alternative. More than one half of Romania's area has a range of insolation period between 1200 and 1500 hours year -1 , at an overall average daily irradiation of 1000 - 1200 kWh m -2 . The most favorable area in Romania is the North - Western part of Black Sea coast with an insolation period above 2300 hours year -1 . A small part 140 TJyear -1 are used profitably and almost 10% of the installed 10 6 m 2 of collector area, is still in operation. (author)

Chronic and Daily Stressors Along With Negative Affect Interact to Predict Daily Tiredness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartsell, Elizabeth N; Neupert, Shevaun D

2017-11-01

The present study examines the within-person relationship of daily stressors and tiredness and whether this depends on daily negative affect and individual differences in chronic stress. One hundred sixteen older adult participants were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk for a 9-day daily diary study. Daily tiredness, daily stressors, and negative affect were measured each day, and chronic stress was measured at baseline. Daily stressors, daily negative affect, and chronic stress interacted to predict daily tiredness. People with high chronic stress who experienced an increase in daily negative affect were the most reactive to daily stressors in terms of experiencing an increase in daily tiredness. We also found that people with low levels of chronic stress were the most reactive to daily stressors when they experienced low levels of daily negative affect. Our results highlight the need for individualized and contextualized approaches to combating daily tiredness in older adults.

Loss of Ia-bearing splenic adherent cells after whole body ultraviolet irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Letvin, N.L.; Nepom, J.T.; Greene, M.I.; Benacerraf, B.; Germain, R.N.

1980-01-01

Daily uv irradiation of mice results in a marked decrease in the antigen-presenting capability of SAC from these mice after 1 wk of uv exposure. To directly examine this cell population, we developed a technique for purifying SAC that involves passing mouse splenocytes through two cycles of glass adherence with an intervening incubation on rabbit anti-mouse Ig-coated dishes. SAC from externally uv irradiated mice prepared by this method, when pulsed with antigen, activate primed T cells to proliferate much less efficiently than SAC from normal mice. Both the proportion and absolute number of Ia-bearing cells in this purified SAC population from uv irradiated mice are considerably smaller than that seen in similarly prepared populations from normal mice. Previous adjuvant immunization was shown to override functional defects elicited by external uv irradiation. This demonstration of a uv irradiation induced selective loss of Ia bearing splenic adherent cells and the functional consequences of this loss provide further evidence for the importance of Ia-bearing accessory cells in antigen presentation of T dependent antigens, and provides insight into the origin of the immunologic defects induced by whole body uv irradiation

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Daily Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), Version 1.2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This Climate Data Record (CDR) contains the daily mean Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) time series in global 1 degree x 1 degree equal-angle gridded maps spanning...

Studies in mice fed a diet containing irradiated fish

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-01-01

Three groups of mice were observed in utero and for eighty (80) weeks thereafter to study growth, food consumption, hematology, blood chemistry and survival with particular interest in carcinogenic potential. Group I received only Purina Mouse Chow, Group II received a diet composed of 45% non-irradiated fish and 55% Purina Mouse Chow, and Group III received a diet composed of 45% gamma irradiated fish and 55% Purina Mouse Chow. Differences observed in body weights between control and fish treated diets were due to the incorporation of fish into the diet and not the results of fish being treated with gamma irradiation. Differences observed in food consumption between control and fish treated diets were due to the incorporation of fish into the diet and not the result of fish being treated with gamma irradiation. No daily observations were made which could be attributed to the treatment of fish with gamma irradiation. No observations were made at any time interval for hematology which could be attributed to the treatment of fish with gamma irradiation. No observations were made at any time interval for clinical chemistry which could be attributed to the treatment of fish with gamma irradiation. Palpable mass data did not reveal any trends which could be related to the treatment of fish with gamma irradiation. Gross observations at necropsy were limited to spontaneously occurring lesions or artifacts of necropsy technique commonly associated with animals of this species and age. Organ weight data did not reveal any trends which could be related to the treatment of fish with gamma irradiation. Pathological findings were limited to spontaneously occurring lesions or artifacts of necropsy technique commonly associated with animals of this species and age. (orig.)

Dose-time relationships for post-irradiation cutaneous telangiectasia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, L.; Ubaldi, S.E.

1977-01-01

Seventy-five patients who had received electron beam radiation a year or more previously were studied. The irradiated skin portals were photographed and late reactions graded in terms of the number and severity of telangiectatic lesions observed. The skin dose, number of fractions, overall treatment time and irradiated volume were recorded in each case. A Strandqvist-type iso-effect line was derived for this response. A multi-probit search program also was used to derive best-fitting cell population kinetic parameters for the same data. From these parameters a comprehensive iso-effect table could be computed for a wide range of treatment schedules including daily treatment as well as fractionation at shorter and longer intervals; this provided a useful set of normal tissue tolerance limits for late effects

Relationships between meaning in life, social and achievement events, and positive and negative affect in daily life.

Science.gov (United States)

Machell, Kyla A; Kashdan, Todd B; Short, Jerome L; Nezlek, John B

2015-06-01

Research on meaning in life has generally focused on global meaning judgments. This study examined how people's daily experiences, represented by events that occur in daily life, influence their perceived sense of meaning on a daily basis. One hundred sixty-two college students completed daily reports for 2 weeks. We examined the relationships among daily social and achievement events, daily positive and negative affect, and daily meaning in life. In addition, we tested the possible moderating influence of depressive symptoms on these relationships. Positive daily social and achievement events were related to greater daily meaning, above and beyond the contributions of daily positive and negative affect. Negative social and achievement events were related to less daily meaning, and negative achievement events covaried with daily meaning above and beyond positive and negative affect. Depression moderated the relationships between positive events and meaning, such that people who reported more depressive symptoms had greater increases in daily meaning in response to positive social and achievement events than individuals who reported fewer symptoms. These findings suggest the important role that daily events may play in fluctuations in people's affective experiences and sense of meaning in life. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Low temperature electron beam irradiation effects on the lactate dehydrogenase activity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Catana, D.; Hategan, Alina; Oproiu, C.; Popescu, Alina; Hategan, Dora; Morariu, V. V.

1998-01-01

The direct and indirect effects of 5 MeV electron beam irradiation in the range 0-400 Gy at 20 deg. C, -3 deg. C and -196 deg. C on the global enzymatic activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) have been studied. Our results showed a monoexponential decrease in the enzymatic activity of irradiated LDH at all irradiation temperatures independently of direct or indirect action of radiation. The temperature gradient used to lower the temperature of the samples to -196 deg. C drastically influences the results. Our data suggest that freeze-thawing in two steps down to -196 deg. C make LDH insensitive to irradiation, while one step freeze-thawing procedure results in a gradual activity loss with increasing dose irradiation. This data can be interpreted in terms of different conformational changes during the particular freeze-thawing process. (authors)

Intent to quit among daily and non-daily college student smokers

OpenAIRE

Pinsker, E. A.; Berg, C. J.; Nehl, E. J.; Prokhorov, A. V.; Buchanan, T. S.; Ahluwalia, J. S.

2012-01-01

Given the high prevalence of young adult smoking, we examined (i) psychosocial factors and substance use among college students representing five smoking patterns and histories [non-smokers, quitters, native non-daily smokers (i.e. never daily smokers), converted non-daily smokers (i.e. former daily smokers) and daily smokers] and (ii) smoking category as it relates to readiness to quit among current smokers. Of the 4438 students at six Southeast colleges who completed an online survey, 69.7%...

Estimations of the Global Distribution and Time Series of UV Noontime Irradiance (305, 310, 324, 380 nm, and Erythemal) from TOMS and SeaWiFS Data

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, J.

2004-01-01

The amount of UV irradiance reaching the Earth's surface is estimated from the measured cloud reflectivity, ozone, aerosol amounts, and surface reflectivity time series from 1980 to 1992 and 1997 to 2000 to estimate changes that have occurred over a 21-year period. Recent analysis of the TOMS data shows that there has been an apparent increase in reflectivity (decrease in W) in the Southern Hemisphere that is related to a calibration error in EP-TOMS. Data from the well-calibrated SeaWiFS satellite instrument have been used to correct the EP-TOMS reflectivity and UV time series. After correction, some of the local trend features seen in the N7 time series (1980 to 1992) have been continued in the combined time series, but the overall zonal average and global trends have changed. In addition to correcting the EP-TOMS radiance calibration, the use of SeaWiFS cloud data permits estimation of UV irradiance at higher spatial resolution (1 to 4 km) than is available from TOMS (100 km) under the assumption that ozone is slowly varying over a scale of 100 km. The key results include a continuing decrease in cloud cover over Europe and North America with a corresponding increase in UV and a decrease in UV irradiance near Antarctica.

Lhermitte's sign: Incidence and treatment variables influencing risk after irradiation of the cervical spinal cord

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fein, D.A.; Marcus, R.B. Jr.; Parsons, J.T.; Mendenhall, W.M.; Million, R.R.

1993-01-01

Lhermitte's sign is a relatively infrequent sequela of irradiation of the cervical spinal cord. In this study, the authors sought to determine whether various treatment parameters influenced the likelihood of developing Lhermitte's sign. Between October 1964 and December 1987, 2901 patients with malignancies of the upper respiratory tract were treated at the University of Florida. The dose of radiation to the cervical spinal cord was calculated for those patients who had a minimum 1-year follow-up. A total of 1112 patients who received a minimum of 3000 cGy to at least 2 cm of cervical spinal cord were included in this analysis. Forty patients (3.6%) developed Lhermitte's sign. The mean time to development of Lhermitte's sign after irradiation was 3 months, and the mean duration of symptoms was 6 months. No patient with Lhermitte's sign developed transverse myelitis. Several variables were examined in a univariate analysis, including total dose to the cervical spinal cord, length of cervical spinal cord irradiated, dose per fraction, continuous-course compared with split-course radiotherapy, and once-daily compared with twice-daily irradiation. Only two variables proved to be significant. Six (8%) of 75 patients who received > 5000 cGy to the cervical spinal cord developed Lhermitte's sign compared with 34 (3.3%) of 1037 patients who received < 5000 cGy (p = .04). For patients treated with once-daily fractionation, 28 (3.4%) of 821 patients who received < 200 cGy per fraction developed Lhermitte's sign compared with 6 (10%) of 58 patients who received ≥ 200 cGy (p = .02). An increased risk of developing Lhermitte's sign was demonstrated for patients who received either ≥ 200 cGy per fraction (one fraction per day) or ≥ 5000 cGy total dose to the cervical spinal cord. 29 refs., 1 fig., 5 tabs

Intraindividual change and variability in daily stress processes: Findings from two measurement-burst diary studies

Science.gov (United States)

Sliwinski, Martin J.; Almeida, David M.; Smyth, Joshua; Stawski, Robert S.

2010-01-01

There is little longitudinal information on aging-related changes in emotional responses to negative events. The present manuscript examined intraindividual change and variability in the within-person coupling of daily stress and negative affect (NA) using data from two-measurement burst daily diary studies. Three main findings emerged. First, average reactivity to daily stress increased longitudinally, and this increase was evident across most the adult lifespan. Second, individual differences in emotional reactivity to daily stress exhibited long-term temporal stability, but this stability was greatest in midlife and decreased in old age. And third, reactivity to daily stress varied reliably within-persons (across-time), with individual exhibiting higher levels of reactivity during times when reporting high levels of global subject stress in previous month. Taken together, the present results emphasize the importance of modeling dynamic psychosocial and aging processes that operate across different time scales for understanding age-related changes in daily stress processes. PMID:20025399

Effect of Estimated Daily Global Solar Radiation Data on the Results of Crop Growth Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Herbert Formayer

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The results of previous studies have suggested that estimated daily globalradiation (RG values contain an error that could compromise the precision of subsequentcrop model applications. The following study presents a detailed site and spatial analysis ofthe RG error propagation in CERES and WOFOST crop growth models in Central Europeanclimate conditions. The research was conducted i at the eight individual sites in Austria andthe Czech Republic where measured daily RG values were available as a reference, withseven methods for RG estimation being tested, and ii for the agricultural areas of the CzechRepublic using daily data from 52 weather stations, with five RG estimation methods. In thelatter case the RG values estimated from the hours of sunshine using the ångström-Prescottformula were used as the standard method because of the lack of measured RG data. At thesite level we found that even the use of methods based on hours of sunshine, which showedthe lowest bias in RG estimates, led to a significant distortion of the key crop model outputs.When the ångström-Prescott method was used to estimate RG, for example, deviationsgreater than ±10 per cent in winter wheat and spring barley yields were noted in 5 to 6 percent of cases. The precision of the yield estimates and other crop model outputs was lowerwhen RG estimates based on the diurnal temperature range and cloud cover were used (mean bias error 2.0 to 4.1 per cent. The methods for estimating RG from the diurnal temperature range produced a wheat yield bias of more than 25 per cent in 12 to 16 per cent of the seasons. Such uncertainty in the crop model outputs makes the reliability of any seasonal yield forecasts or climate change impact assessments questionable if they are based on this type of data. The spatial assessment of the RG data uncertainty propagation over the winter wheat yields also revealed significant differences within the study area. We

Quality assurance in daily treatment procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westbrook, Catherine; Gildersleve, James; Yarnold, John

1991-01-01

Fifteen women undergoing breast radiotherapy following wide local excision of an early stage breast cancer were submitted to repeated measurements of surface landmarks to check the reproducibility of patient positioning, and to portal imaging using a megavoltage imaging device. When the patient is being set-up the mean rise and fall of a lateral skin mark (tattoo) was within 4 mm in 95 observations of 15 patients. At the end of the lateral field exposure, mean displacement of the lateral tattoo was close to zero, with only 15/95 (16%) observations falling outside the range ±2mm. The daily measurements of lung thickness fell above and below the stimulated lung thickness, consistent with random fluctuations. Eighty-eight percent of lung thickness measurements were within ±5mm of the stimulator position. A tentative conclusion is made that more sophisticated immobilisation and imaging devices may be unnecessary for breast irradiation with a high degree of reproducibility. (author). 3 refs.; 5 figs

Corporate Stakeholding and Globalism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauesen, Linne Marie

2016-01-01

, the global warming, the disasters of global consumerism in terms of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in the fashion industry, are examples of how the stakeholder concept cannot continue to be defined as narrow as corporations usually does. The butterfly effect of globalism has shown to be – yes, global....... Even the smallest company, the single consumer and the tiniest decision made by anyone may in the future – perhaps even tomorrow – affect stakeholders, we didn’t know existed. The future generation is also to be considered as stakeholders, which decisions made today may affect. Companies, consumers......, everyday people including children already know this even from the first day at school if not before. What we need is not knowledge about these phenomena – it is how to think globally when we decide locally: in companies, in daily households, in education of our future generations. This chapter discusses...

Mastering Social and Organization Goals: Strategy Use by Two Children with Asperger Syndrome during Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Rodger, Sylvia; Vishram, Alysha

2010-01-01

Preliminary data supports the effectiveness of Cognitive Orientation to (daily) Occupational Performance (CO-OP) for children with Asperger syndrome (AS). Children with AS often experience social and organizational difficulties spanning daily occupations. This case study explored the pattern of Global Strategies and Domain-Specific Strategies…

HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM): Global

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Global HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and U.S. Navy Coupled Ocean Data Assimilation (NCODA) 3-day, daily forecast at approximately 9-km (1/12-degree)...

THE MODULATION EFFECT OF MELATONIN AGAINST GAMMA IRRADIATION IN BIOCHEMICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDIES ON MALE RATS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ABDOU, M.I.; OSMAN, H.F.

2008-01-01

The objective of this study is to illustrate the radiomodulatory role of melatonin in the regulation of some biochemical and histopathological damage in case of total body irradiated rats.Male albino rats weighing 120-150 g were divided into four groups, group (I) control animals, group (II) animals received melatonin daily by gavages (3 mg/kg body weight) for two weeks, group (III) animals irradiated with 4 Gy Gamma rays and group (IV) animals irradiated with 4 Gy Gamma rays followed by daily administration with melatonin (3 mg/kg body weight) for two weeks. Rats were sacrificed on the 1st and 2nd week post-irradiation. Blood samples were collected for biochemical investigations. The activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), were determined as biomarkers of liver functions, urea and creatinine contents were measured as markers of kidney functions, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities were selected to evaluate heart damage. Alteration in the level of serum glucose was also determined. Tissue specimens from liver, kidney, heart and spleen were collected for the pathological studies.The results indicated that, the levels of liver enzymes, kidney functions and glucose were increased after irradiation of rats and reduced by the treatment with melatonin. These reductions were more noticed during the second weeks except in case of glucose which increased during the second week compared to the first week. On the other hand, heart enzymes levels were reduced by the effect melatonin which may be important for cardiopathological patients.Histopathological results showed that irradiation of rats induced tissue injuries in liver, kidney, heart and spleen.Melatonin treatment reduced these injuries to minimum.It could be concluded that, melatonin could be used as antioxidant to protect vital organs and their functions against irradiation since it works as free radicals

Combined equations for estimating global solar radiation: Projection of radiation field over Japan under global warming conditions by statistical downscaling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iizumi, T.; Nishimori, M.; Yokozawa, M.

2008-01-01

For this study, we developed a new statistical model to estimate the daily accumulated global solar radiation on the earth's surface and used the model to generate a high-resolution climate change scenario of the radiation field in Japan. The statistical model mainly relies on precipitable water vapor calculated from air temperature and relative humidity on the surface to estimate seasonal changes in global solar radiation. On the other hand, to estimate daily radiation fluctuations, the model uses either a diurnal temperature range or relative humidity. The diurnal temperature range, calculated from the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, and relative humidity is a general output of most climate models, and pertinent observation data are comparatively easy to access. The statistical model performed well when estimating the monthly mean value, daily fluctuation statistics, and regional differences in the radiation field in Japan. To project the change in the radiation field for the years 2081 to 2100, we applied the statistical model to the climate change scenario of a high-resolution Regional Climate Model with a 20-km mesh size (RCM20) developed at the Meteorological Research Institute based on the Special Report for Emission Scenario (SRES)-A2. The projected change shows the following tendency: global solar radiation will increase in the warm season and decrease in the cool season in many areas of Japan, indicating that global warming may cause changes in the radiation field in Japan. The generated climate change scenario for the radiation field is linked to long-term and short-term changes in air temperature and relative humidity obtained from the RCM20 and, consequently, is expected to complement the RCM20 datasets for an impact assessment study in the agricultural sector

Magnitude of Interfractional Vaginal Cuff Movement: Implications for External Irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Daniel J.; Michaletz-Lorenz, Martha; Goddu, S. Murty; Grigsby, Perry W.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To quantify the extent of interfractional vaginal cuff movement in patients receiving postoperative irradiation for cervical or endometrial cancer in the absence of bowel/bladder instruction. Methods and Materials: Eleven consecutive patients with cervical or endometrial cancer underwent placement of three gold seed fiducial markers in the vaginal cuff apex as part of standard of care before simulation. Patients subsequently underwent external irradiation and brachytherapy treatment based on institutional guidelines. Daily megavoltage CT imaging was performed during each external radiation treatment fraction. The daily positions of the vaginal apex fiducial markers were subsequently compared with the original position of the fiducial markers on the simulation CT. Composite dose–volume histograms were also created by summing daily target positions. Results: The average (± standard deviation) vaginal cuff movement throughout daily pelvic external radiotherapy when referenced to the simulation position was 16.2 ± 8.3 mm. The maximum vaginal cuff movement for any patient during treatment was 34.5 mm. In the axial plane the mean vaginal cuff movement was 12.9 ± 6.7 mm. The maximum vaginal cuff axial movement was 30.7 mm. In the craniocaudal axis the mean movement was 10.3 ± 7.6 mm, with a maximum movement of 27.0 mm. Probability of cuff excursion outside of the clinical target volume steadily dropped as margin size increased (53%, 26%, 4.2%, and 1.4% for 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 cm, respectively.) However, rectal and bladder doses steadily increased with larger margin sizes. Conclusions: The magnitude of vaginal cuff movement is highly patient specific and can impact target coverage in patients without bowel/bladder instructions at simulation. The use of vaginal cuff fiducials can help identify patients at risk for target volume excursion.

Decadal changes in shortwave irradiance at the surface in the period from 1960 to 2000 estimated from Global Energy Balance Archive Data

Science.gov (United States)

Gilgen, H.; Roesch, A.; Wild, M.; Ohmura, A.

2009-05-01

Decadal changes in shortwave irradiance at the Earth's surface are estimated for the period from approximately 1960 through to 2000 from pyranometer records stored in the Global Energy Balance Archive. For this observational period, estimates could be calculated for a total of 140 cells of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project grid (an equal area 2.5° × 2.5° grid at the equator) using regression models allowing for station effects. In large regions worldwide, shortwave irradiance decreases in the first half of the observational period, recovers from the decrease in the 1980s, and thereafter increases, in line with previous reports. Years of trend reversals are determined for the grid cells which are best described with a second-order polynomial model. This reversal of the trend is observed in the majority of the grid cells in the interior of Europe and in Japan. In China, shortwave irradiance recovers during the 1990s in the majority of the grid cells in the southeast and northeast from the decrease observed in the period from 1960 through to 1990. A reversal of the trend in the 1980s or early 1990s is also observed for two grid cells in North America, and for the grid cells containing the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Singapore, Casablanca (Morocco), Valparaiso (Chile) sites, and, noticeably, the remote South Pole and American Samoa sites. Negative trends persist, i.e., shortwave radiation decreases, for the observational period 1960 through to 2000 at the European coasts, in central and northwest China, and for three grid cells in India and two in Africa.

Progress in food irradiation: Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernardes, B.

1978-01-01

The initial work programme started with investigations on the use of irradiation for preserving beans, onions, rice, potato, wheat, and corn. These products constitute an important part of the average daily diet and, in spite of the large harvests, very heavy losses are incurred each year. Rather than adopt the research results obtained in other countries, the Brazilian authorities considered it essential to establish optimal dose levels for these products and to analyse for physical, chemical and organoleptic alterations under the conditions prevailing in Brazil. Similarly wholesomeness testing has been included as an integral part of the research programme in compliance with the requirements of the National Health Ministry. (orig.) [de

Technical relapsed testicular irradiation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Tecnica de irradiacion para testiculos en recidiva de leucemia linfoblastica aguda

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Velazquez Miranda, S.; Delgado Gil, M. M.; Ortiz Siedel, M.; Munoz Carmona, D. M.; Gomez-Barcelona, J.

2011-07-01

Testicular irradiation in children suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia presents difficulties in relation to daily positioning, dosimetry for dose homogenization of complex geometry and volume change during irradiation thereof. This can lead to significant deviations from the prescribed doses. In addition, the usual techniques often associated with unnecessary irradiation of pelvic simphysis, anus and perineum. This, in the case of pediatric patients, is of great importance, since doses in the vicinity of 20 Gy are associated with a deviation of bone growth, low testosterone levels around 24 Gy and high rates of generation of second tumors. To overcome these problems we propose a special restraint in prone and non-coplanar irradiation.

Effects of mecobalamin on testicular dysfunction induced by X-ray irradiation in mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oshio, Shigeru; Yazaki, Tsunetada; Umeda, Takashi; Ozaki, Satoru; Ohkawa, Isao; Tajima, Tetsuya; Yamada, Takeshi; Mohri, Hideo.

1991-01-01

Experimental testicular dysfunction was produced by X-ray irradiation to the testes in mice. Mecobalamin (CH 3 -B 12 ) was orally administered at a daily dose of 0.01, 0.1 or 1 mg/kg six times a week for 8 weeks from the next day after the irradiation. The control mice received physiological saline in the same manner. On 4th- and 6th-week after the irradiation, the weights of testes and epididymides were decreased, although those of the body and accessory sex glands (seminal vesicle, coagulating gland and prostate) were nearly equal to those of non-irradiated mice. At the same time, the diameter of seminiferous tubules decreased and sperm parameters (sperm count, sperm motility and sperm abnormality) deteriorated. When CH 3 -B 12 (1 mg/kg) was administered, the diameter of seminiferous tubules increased and sperm parameters improved as compared to those of the control. The results indicate that CH 3 -B 12 improved the experimental testicular dysfunction in mice induced by the irradiation. These results suggest that CH 3 -B 12 might accelerate testicular function. (author)

Solar ultraviolet irradiance variations: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lean, J.

1987-01-01

Despite the geophysical importance of solar ultraviolet radiation, specific aspects of its temporal variations have not yet been adequately determined experimentally, nor are the mechanisms for the variability completely understood. Satellite observations have verified the reality of solar ultraviolet irradiance variations over time scales of days and months, and model calculations have confirmed the association of these short-term variations with the evolution and rotation of regions of enhanced magnetic activity on the solar disc. However, neither rocket nor satellite measurements have yet been made with sufficient accuracy and regularity to establish unequivocally the nature of the variability over the longer time of the 11-year solar cycle. The comparative importance for the long-term variations of local regions of enhanced magnetic activity and global scale activity perturbations is still being investigated. Solar ultraviolet irradiance variations over both short and long time scales are reviewed, with emphasis on their connection to solar magnetic activity. Correlations with ground-based measures of solar variability are examined because of the importance of the ground-based observations as historical proxies of ultraviolet irradiance variations. Current problems in understanding solar ultraviolet irradiance variations are discussed, and the measurements planned for solar cycle 22, which may resolve these problems, are briefly described. copyright American Geophysical Union 1987

Initial Australian experience with daily ultrasound localisation for prostate radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kneebone, A.; Fuller, M.W.; Williams, M.J.

2003-01-01

Variability in prostate position is a major problem in the delivery of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). Daily ultrasound localisation prior to radiotherapy has become popular in the United States but to date has not been used clinically in Australia or New Zealand. Daily transabdominal ultrasound images through the prostate were acquired using the BAT ultrasound system. Contour data from the planning system is reconstructed at the same locations/angles as the BAT images. By overlaying the planned contours with the newly acquired images, the isocentre is adjusted to ensure that the prostate will be within the irradiated volume. After commissioning by Medical Physics, an initial pre-clinical trial period was adopted. This involved performing BAT alignments daily but treating to the planned isocentre in 30 patients. Eighty three percent of patients (25/30) had images judged to be of good or excellent quality by the reviewing radiation oncologist. It was noted that for each operator there was a period needed to build confidence/competence in both imaging and interpreting the images for the moves. The median scan time in addition to the normal patient set-up was 3.2 minutes (range=1.5-12.0 mins) with the second 15 patients scanned quicker than the first 15 (2.9 minutes versus 3.8 minutes). A summary of the movements recommended by the BAT system is contained in the table. We feel that daily prostate ultrasound localization offers a significant advance in delivering EBRT for prostate cancer. The incorporation of the system into clinical use, however, was not without difficulty and requires significant time and effort from therapists, physicists and medical staff. Further clinical evaluation of the unit is ongoing

Gamma irradiation of the brain for prophylaxis of neuroleukemia in children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ankudinov, V.A.; Moiseenko, E.I.; Mayakova, S.A.; Sotnikov, V.M.

1979-01-01

Demonstrated is experience in treatment of 21 children with acute lymphoblast leukemia. The method of neuroleukemia prophylaxis was used, it included combined chemo- and rediation therapy. After remission and a quintuple endolumber administration of methotrexate to the patients irradiation of the brain on the gamma-therapeutic unit through the open fields was made. The scope of irradiation included the whole of the brain, retrobulbular space, the base of the skull. The lower border of the field was the level of the third cervical vertebra. Irradiation was made from 2 reciprocating side fields, a total seance dose-200-220 rad with daily treatment. The cumulative focal dose for the whole brain was brought to 2500 rad. The analysis of the results with follow-up periods up to 32 months did not reveal a single case of neuroleukemia development. The average life span was 32.8+-1.3 months

Protective Effect of HemoHIM on Epidermal Melanocytes in Ultraviolet-B irradiated Mice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Hae June [Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Science, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jong Choon; Moon, Chang Jong; Kim, Sung Ho [Chonnam National University, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of); Jung, U Hee; Park, Hae Ran; Jo, Sung Kee [Jeongeup Campus of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Jeongeup (Korea, Republic of); Jang, Jong Sik; Kim, Tae Hwan [Kyungpook National University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

2011-06-15

We induced the activation of melanocytes in the epidermis of C57BL/6 mice by ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiation, and observed the effect of an herbal preparation (HemoHIM, HH) on the formation, and decrease of UV-B-induced epidermal melanocytes. C57BL/6 mice were irradiated by UV-B 80 mJ:cm{sup -2} (0.5 mW:sec{sup -1}) daily for 7 days, and HH was intraperitoneally, orally or topically applied pre- or post-irradiation. For the estimation of change of epidermal melanocytes, light microscopic observation with dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) stain was performed. Split epidermal sheets prepared from the ear of untreated mice exhibited 13∼15 melanocytes:mm{sup -2}, and one week after UV irradiation, the applied areas showed an increased number of strongly DOPA-positive melanocytes with stout dendrites. But intraperitoneal, oral or topical treatment with HH before each irradiation interrupted UV-B-induced pigmentation and resulted in a marked reduction in the number of epidermal melanocytes as compared to the number found in UV-B-irradiated, untreated control skin. The number and size of DOPA-positive epidermal melanocytes were also significantly decreased in intraperitoneally injected or topically applicated group after irradiation with HH at 3rd and 6th weeks after irradiation. The present study suggests the HH as inhibitor of UV-B-induced pigmentation, and depigmenting agent.

Acute effects of irradiation on exocrine pancreatic secretion in the pig

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monti, P.; Scanff, P.; Joubert, C.; Vergnet, M.; Grison, S.

1997-01-01

Several reports on irradiation damages to the pancreas deal essentially with long-term morphologic changes but give few informations on pancreatic exocrine function. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to study the effects of a whole body gamma irradiation on the volume and enzyme activities of the pancreatic juice. The volume of pancreatic juice daily secreted decreased one day after irradiation (-40%, p < 0.01) and remained lower that the control value all over the experimental period (-65%, p < 0.01). Same response was observed for the total proteins secreted in the pancreatic juice but significant decrease was observed only the fourth and the fifth days after irradiation. Therefore, concentration of total protein secreted in the pancreatic juice was not altered all over the experimental period. Total activities of proteolytic enzymes, lipase and amylase led to decrease on day after irradiation and except for trypsin, the attenuated activity became significant from the third day after exposure. On the other hand, specific activities of the proteolytic enzymes and amylase did not show marked modifications after irradiation, whereas lipase specific activity was decreased. In conclusion, a whole body gamma irradiation resulted in a rapid and marked decrease of exocrine pancreatic secretion, in terms of volume as well as secreted enzymes. These modifications may, in part, contribute to the malabsorption of nutrients and these acute effects may be due to some modifications in the regulation of the exocrine pancreatic secretion

Acute effects of irradiation on exocrine pancreatic secretion in the pig

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Monti, P; Scanff, P; Joubert, C; Vergnet, M; Grison, S [CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses, 92 (France). Inst. de Protection et de Surete Nucleaire

1997-03-01

Several reports on irradiation damages to the pancreas deal essentially with long-term morphologic changes but give few informations on pancreatic exocrine function. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to study the effects of a whole body gamma irradiation on the volume and enzyme activities of the pancreatic juice. The volume of pancreatic juice daily secreted decreased one day after irradiation (-40%, p < 0.01) and remained lower that the control value all over the experimental period (-65%, p < 0.01). Same response was observed for the total proteins secreted in the pancreatic juice but significant decrease was observed only the fourth and the fifth days after irradiation. Therefore, concentration of total protein secreted in the pancreatic juice was not altered all over the experimental period. Total activities of proteolytic enzymes, lipase and amylase led to decrease on day after irradiation and except for trypsin, the attenuated activity became significant from the third day after exposure. On the other hand, specific activities of the proteolytic enzymes and amylase did not show marked modifications after irradiation, whereas lipase specific activity was decreased. In conclusion, a whole body gamma irradiation resulted in a rapid and marked decrease of exocrine pancreatic secretion, in terms of volume as well as secreted enzymes. These modifications may, in part, contribute to the malabsorption of nutrients and these acute effects may be due to some modifications in the regulation of the exocrine pancreatic secretion

Irradiation of esophagus carcinoma with small single doses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalluege, K.H.; Grunau, H.

1984-01-01

In a prospective study 30 patients with histologically proved esophagus carcinomas were irradiated after a beginning target dosis of 4.5 Gy with daily 1.8 Gy up to 56.0 Gy, 32.0 Gy of which were applied in a long radiation field. 33% of the patients lived longer than one year. Three patients survived 5 years. Nine of the patients underwent perforation of the esophagus in the tumor area. In 20 autopsies only 3 local tumors were detected. (author)

Spatially Resolved Images and Solar Irradiance Variability R ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. The Sun is the primary source of energy that governs both the terrestrial climate and near-earth space environment. Variations in UV irradiances seen at earth are the sum of global (solar dynamo) to regional. (active region, plage, network, bright points and background) solar mag- netic activities that can be ...

Comparison of Modelled and Measured Tilted Solar Irradiance for Photovoltaic Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riyad Mubarak

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This work assesses the performance of five transposition models that estimate the global and diffuse solar irradiance on tilted planes based on the global horizontal irradiance. The modelled tilted irradiance values are compared to measured one-minute values from pyranometers and silicon sensors tilted at different angles at Hannover (Germany and NREL (Golden, CO, USA. It can be recognized that the deviations of the model of Liu and Jordan, Klucher and Perez from the measurements increases as the tilt angle increases and as the sensors are oriented away from the south direction, where they receive lower direct radiation than south-oriented surfaces. Accordingly, the vertical E, W and N planes show the highest deviation. Best results are found by the models from Hay and Davies and Reindl, when horizontal pyranometer measurements and a constant albedo value of 0.2 are used. The relative root mean squared difference (rRMSD of the anisotropic models does not exceed 11% for south orientation and low inclination angles (β = 10–60°, but reaches up to 28.9% at vertical planes. For sunny locations such as Golden, the Perez model provides the best estimates of global tilted irradiance for south-facing surfaces. The relative mean absolute difference (rMAD of the Perez model at NREL ranges from 4.2% for 40° tilt to 8.7% for 90° tilt angle, when horizontal pyranometer measurements and a measured albedo value are used; the use of measured albedo values instead of a constant value of 0.2 leads to a reduction of the deviation to 3.9% and 6.0%, respectively. The use of higher albedo values leads to a significant increase of rMAD. We also investigated the uncertainty resulting from using horizontal pyranometer measurements, in combination with constant albedo values, to estimate the incident irradiance on tilted photovoltaic (PV modules. We found that these uncertainties are small or negligible.

Radiotherapy of ovarian epithelial cancer by total orthogonal field irradiation of the abdomen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delouche, G.; Valinta, D.; Bachelot, F.

1981-01-01

Isotopic intraperitoneal curietherapy by 32 P is the simplest method for irradiating the peritoneum, but it has only limited indications. This irradiation has usually to be given by the percutaneous route, but because of the size of the region to be irradiated it raises delicate problems poorly resolved by the traditional methods applied. For this reason, a particular method is suggested including, among other characteristics: 4 orthogonal fields; 2 sessions daily, irradiating one part of the abdomen in the morning and the other part in the afternoon; spreading of the doses in confirmity with current specifications; and modulation of the total dose as a function of the maximum size of the tumoral remnants. Abdominal radiotherapy is currently the method of choice in cases where lesions are in their early stages, in so far as chemotherapy, much more restrictive for the patient, has not yet demonstrated its long-term efficacy. A controlled clinical study is necessary in order to determine the most effective method [fr

Chromosomal aberrations in Cynomolgus peripheral lymphocytes during and after fractionated whole-body γ-irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guedeney, G.; Malarbet, J.L.; Doloy, M.T.

1989-01-01

Cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were exposed to fractionated whole-body γ-irradiation at high and low dose rates for 4 or 5 weeks. The time-dependence of chromosomal aberrations was studied in relation to the number of lymphocytes during irradiation and after exposure for periods of up to about 600 days for chromosomal aberrations and 200 days for lymphocyte counts. Additivity of the daily effects on the number of chromosomal aberrations was observed during the exposures. Immediately after the end of the exposures the number of chromosomal aberrations decreased to reach low values. The disappearance of chromosomal aberrations seemed to be related to recovery of the lymphocyte counts. The data presented here emphasize the different kinetic patterns of chromosomal aberrations after fractionated and acute irradiation. (author)

Toxicological and radiological safety of chicken meat irradiated with 7.5 MeV X-rays

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Beom-Seok; Lee, Yunjong; Park, Jong-Heum; Kim, Jae-Kyung; Park, Ha-Young; Kim, Dong-Ho; Kim, Chang-Jong; Kang, Il-Jun

2018-03-01

This study was conducted to evaluate the toxicological and radiological safety of chicken meat that had been irradiated at 30 kGy with 7.5 MeV X-rays. In a sub-chronic toxicity study, ICR mice were fed X-ray-irradiated chicken meat at 2500 mg/kg body weight daily for 90 days, and no mortality or abnormal clinical signs were observed throughout the study period. However, several hematological and serum biochemical parameters of the ICR mice differed significantly from those in the control group; nevertheless, the observed values were all within the normal range for the respective parameters. In addition, no toxicological effects were determined in male or female mice. Furthermore, no differences in gamma-ray spectrometric patterns were detected between the non-irradiated and irradiated samples, indicating that the radioactivity induced by 7.5 MeV X-ray irradiation was below the detection limit. These results tentatively suggest that chicken meat irradiated with 7.5 MeV X-rays would be safe for human consumption in terms of toxicology and radiology.

Study of food intake dynamics in rats following acute whole-body irradiation with X rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smajda, B.; Ahlers, I.; Datelinka, I.

1987-01-01

The effects were studied of whole-body X-irradiation with sublethal (2.39 Gy) and medium lethal (5.74 Gy) doses on food intake by rats. The lower dose caused a temporary decrease in food intake, with a minimum of 63.3% of the control level on the 2nd day after irradiation. The decrease was statistically significant up to the 4th day after irradiation. No substantial changes were observed in the parameters of the circadian rhythm in food intake with the maximum on the 3rd day after irradiation, with only 8% of the initial value. The food intake was reduced until the 9th day after irradiation. The daily thythm of food intake was strongly disturbed during the first three days after irradiation, then restoring gradually and on the 9th day showing the original phasing and shape. The results obtained were in agreement with the assumed neural regulation mechanism of food intake and its circadian rhythm in the rat. (author). 5 figs., 12 refs

Global impact of asthma on children and adolescents' daily lives : The room to breathe survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wildhaber, Johannes; Carroll, William D.; Brand, Paul L. P.

Objective: To establish children and adolescents' perspectives regarding their asthma and its impact upon their daily lives. Design: A 14-item questionnaire. Setting: Canada, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Participants: Children/adolescents (aged 8-15 years)

Chromosome aberrations of the peripheral lymphocytes in rabbits exposed to single and fractionated whole-body x-irradiations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, Hiroaki; Sakurai, Masaharu; Sugahara, Tsutomu.

1978-01-01

The changes in the frequency of peripheral lymphocytes with chromosome aberrations were observed during or after irradiation of rabbits exposed to fractionated or single whole-body irradiations. In rabbits given daily fractionated whole-body irradiations the incidence of the aberrations showed a linear increase in the first week; however, the incidence decreased thereafter though exposures were repeated. The lymphocyte count tended to decrease as the number of irradiations increased. In rabbits exposed to a single dose of 250 R or 500 R the incidence of aberrations rapidly decreased over a period of 10 days following irradiation, and then showed a little change thereafter. The lymphocyte count in the peripheral blood reached a nadir 2 - 5 days after irradiation, and then started to increase gradually. It was speculated that there are two types of lymphocytes, long-lived and short-lived, in the peripheral blood of rabbits, both of which are PHA-committed. (auth.)

Evaluation of different models to estimate the global solar radiation on inclined surface

Science.gov (United States)

Demain, C.; Journée, M.; Bertrand, C.

2012-04-01

Global and diffuse solar radiation intensities are, in general, measured on horizontal surfaces, whereas stationary solar conversion systems (both flat plate solar collector and solar photovoltaic) are mounted on inclined surface to maximize the amount of solar radiation incident on the collector surface. Consequently, the solar radiation incident measured on a tilted surface has to be determined by converting solar radiation from horizontal surface to tilted surface of interest. This study evaluates the performance of 14 models transposing 10 minutes, hourly and daily diffuse solar irradiation from horizontal to inclined surface. Solar radiation data from 8 months (April to November 2011) which include diverse atmospheric conditions and solar altitudes, measured on the roof of the radiation tower of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium in Uccle (Longitude 4.35°, Latitude 50.79°) were used for validation purposes. The individual model performance is assessed by an inter-comparison between the calculated and measured solar global radiation on the south-oriented surface tilted at 50.79° using statistical methods. The relative performance of the different models under different sky conditions has been studied. Comparison of the statistical errors between the different radiation models in function of the clearness index shows that some models perform better under one type of sky condition. Putting together different models acting under different sky conditions can lead to a diminution of the statistical error between global measured solar radiation and global estimated solar radiation. As models described in this paper have been developed for hourly data inputs, statistical error indexes are minimum for hourly data and increase for 10 minutes and one day frequency data.

An experimental model of acute encephalopathy after total body irradiation in the rat: effect of liposome-entrapped Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamproglou, Ioannis; Magdelenat, Henri; Boisserie, Gilbert; Baillet, Francois; Mayo, Willy; Fessi, Hatem; Puisieux, Francis; Perderau, Bernard; Colas-Linhart, Nicole; Delattre, Jean-Yves

1998-01-01

Purpose: To develop an experimental model of acute encephalopathy following total body irradiation in rats and to define the therapeutic effect of liposome-entrapped Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase. Methods and Materials: A total of 120 4-month-old rats received 4.5 Gy total body irradiation (TBI) while 120 rats received sham irradiation. A behavioral study based on a conditioning test of negative reinforcement, the one-way avoidance test, was performed 5 hours before irradiation and repeated the following days. Subcutaneous treatment was started 1 hour after irradiation and repeated daily for 2 weeks. In both the irradiated and sham group, three subgroups were defined according to the treatment received: liposome-entrapped Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (0.5 mg/kg), liposomes only, normal saline. Results: This work comprised two consecutive studies. In study A (90 rats) the one-way avoidance test was administered daily from day 0 to day 4 with a recall session at day 14. In study B (validation phase in 150 rats) the behavioral test was performed only from day 0 to day 6. Before irradiation, all rats showed a similar behavioral response. Study A (6 groups of 15 rats): Following TBI, irradiated rats treated with liposomes only or saline demonstrated a significant delay in learning the one-way avoidance test in comparison with sham-irradiated rats (0.05 < p <0.001 depending upon the day of evaluation and the subgroup type). In contrast, irradiated rats treated with liposome-entrapped Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase did not differ from sham-irradiated rats. Study B (6 groups of 25 rats): The results were the same as those in study A, demonstrating a significant delay in the learning of the test in the liposome and saline-treated irradiated rats in comparison with sham-irradiated rats (0.02 < p < 0.001). The irradiated rats, treated with liposome-entrapped Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase did not differ from the sham-irradiated controls. Conclusion: This study indicates that a relatively

Daily transactional and transformational leadership and daily employee engament

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Breevaart, K.; Bakker, A.B.; Hetland, Jorn; Demerouti, E.; Olsen, O.K.; Espevik, R.

2014-01-01

This diary study adds to the leadership literature by examining the daily influence of transformational leadership, contingent reward, and active management-by-exception (MBE active) on followers' daily work engagement. We compare the unique contribution of these leadership behaviours and focus on

Survival of embryo irradiated with gamma rays by embryo culture in Brassica pekinensis Rupr

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moue, T.

1984-01-01

The effect of irradiation on the survival rates and embryonic development of Brassica pekinensis RUPR. (Varieties; Kashin, Kohai 65 nichi and kairyochitose) was investigated. The purpose of this study was to seek ways of increasing the survival rates of embryos such as B.oleracea obtained through embryo culture techniques after irradiation doses affecting seed fertility and germination, for the purpose of increasing mutation rates. Embryos at different developmental stages ranging from the globular to the early heart stages were irradiated with 20 KR of gamma rays at the daily rate 0L 20 KR or 10 KR (Fig.1 and Table 1). The embryos were excised from ovules 4 to 10 days after irradiation and cultured on White's medium. The shooting and rooting rates on the 34th day of culture were higher at the dose of 10 KR/day than 20 KR/day and were lower when the materials were irradiated at the young embryonic stage (Table 3). Varietal differences in the shooting and rooting rates were also observed. The irradiated embryos survived mainly in the state of callus. It was concluded that the embryo culture technique was successful when applied to irradiated embryos excised at the young embryonic stage and that the technique affected B.pekinensis less than B.oleracea

Extracorporeal irradiation of calves blood. Effects on: the lymphocytes, the blood-platelet function, seric proteins, and fibrinogen; Irradiation extracorporelle du sang de veau effets sur: les lymphocytes, la fonction plaquettaire, les proteines seriques et le fibrinogene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hollard, D; Suscillon, M; Benabid, Y; Concord, E; Ivanoff, M; Laurent, M; Rambaud, F [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Grenoble (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1969-07-01

The present paper reports the results obtained after extracorporeal irradiation of circulating blood of calves. Animals are divided in 3 groups as follows: - control animals: blood circulation without irradiation; - calves which received 40000 rads during 24 hours of continuous irradiation; - calves which received the same dose, during a period of 5 days (5 hours every day). The more interesting results are: - the early lymphopenia which persists for 7 or 8 weeks and may be in relationship with the change of immunoglobulins; - a constant hyperfibrinemia (12 g/l) never reported, as far as we know, by authors using I.E.C. Several hypothesis are advanced to explain this phenomenon. (authors) [French] Ce travail presente l'ensemble des resultats hematologiques obtenus apres irradiation extracorporelle du sang de veaux repartis en 3 series: - veaux temoins: circulation du sang sans irradiation - veaux soumis a une irradiation continue dose globale integree de 40000 rads en 24 heures; - veaux ayant recu la meme dose globale en irradiation fractionnee repartie sur 5 jours (5 heures par jour). Les resultats les plus marquants sont d'une part une lymphopenie precoce se prolongeant durant 7 a 8 semaines et qui pourrait etre reliee aux modifications observees sur les immunoglobulines. D'autre part une hyperfibrinemie (12 g/l) constante, apparemment jamais signalee par d'autres auteurs utilisant l'I.E.C. Plusieurs hypotheses explicatives de ce phenomene sont exposees et sont a l'etude. (auteurs)

Extracorporeal irradiation of calves blood. Effects on: the lymphocytes, the blood-platelet function, seric proteins, and fibrinogen; Irradiation extracorporelle du sang de veau effets sur: les lymphocytes, la fonction plaquettaire, les proteines seriques et le fibrinogene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hollard, D.; Suscillon, M.; Benabid, Y.; Concord, E.; Ivanoff, M.; Laurent, M.; Rambaud, F. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Grenoble (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1969-07-01

The present paper reports the results obtained after extracorporeal irradiation of circulating blood of calves. Animals are divided in 3 groups as follows: - control animals: blood circulation without irradiation; - calves which received 40000 rads during 24 hours of continuous irradiation; - calves which received the same dose, during a period of 5 days (5 hours every day). The more interesting results are: - the early lymphopenia which persists for 7 or 8 weeks and may be in relationship with the change of immunoglobulins; - a constant hyperfibrinemia (12 g/l) never reported, as far as we know, by authors using I.E.C. Several hypothesis are advanced to explain this phenomenon. (authors) [French] Ce travail presente l'ensemble des resultats hematologiques obtenus apres irradiation extracorporelle du sang de veaux repartis en 3 series: - veaux temoins: circulation du sang sans irradiation - veaux soumis a une irradiation continue dose globale integree de 40000 rads en 24 heures; - veaux ayant recu la meme dose globale en irradiation fractionnee repartie sur 5 jours (5 heures par jour). Les resultats les plus marquants sont d'une part une lymphopenie precoce se prolongeant durant 7 a 8 semaines et qui pourrait etre reliee aux modifications observees sur les immunoglobulines. D'autre part une hyperfibrinemie (12 g/l) constante, apparemment jamais signalee par d'autres auteurs utilisant l'I.E.C. Plusieurs hypotheses explicatives de ce phenomene sont exposees et sont a l'etude. (auteurs)

Cranial irradiation in children with lymphoblastic acute leukemia: results and damages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cecchetti, E.; Brandoli, V.

1979-01-01

From 1973 to 1976, 81 children with lymphoblastic acute leukemia were treated with cranial prophylactic irradiation at the Istituto di Radioterapia ''L. Galvani'' del'Universita di Bologna. We divided the patients into 6 groups according to different characteristics. At the beginning of 1978 the survival rate was 82%; 60 patients (74%) were in complete continuous remission. We studied the encephalic post irradiation syndrome that is present in children over 2 years of age only when doses are higher than 2500 rad and in children under 2 years of age when doses exceed 2000 rad. This complication occurs frequently in the experience of other authors; however, it is absent under certain doses with which it is possible to obtain the same good results. We feel that among the different techniques and methods, the best radiological treatment is daily bilateral cranial irradiation for patients early in remission; we recommend doses of 2400 rad for children above 2 years of age and 1950 rad for those under 2 years

An Expanded UV Irradiance Database from TOMS Including the Effects of Ozone, Clouds, and Aerosol Attenuation

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, J.; Krotkov, N.

2003-01-01

The TOMS UV irradiance database (1978 to 2003) has been expanded to include five new products (noon irradiance at 305,310,324, and 380 nm, and noon erythemal-weighted irradiance), in addition to the existing erythemal daily exposure, that permit direct comparisons with ground-based measurements from spectrometers and broadband instruments. The new data are available on http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov/>http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov. Comparisons of the TOMS estimated irradiances with ground-based instruments are given along with a review of the sources of known errors, especially the recent improvements in accounting for aerosol attenuation. Trend estimations from the new TOMS irradiances permit the clear separation of changes caused by ozone and those caused by aerosols and clouds. Systematic differences in cloud cover are shown to be the most important factor in determining regional differences in UV radiation reaching the ground for locations at the same latitude (e.g., the summertime differences between Australia and the US southwest).

Estimation of solar radiation over Cambodia from long-term satellite data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janjai, S.; Pankaew, P.; Laksanaboonsong, J. [Solar Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom 73000 (Thailand); Kitichantaropas, P. [Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy, 17 Rama 1 Road, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330 (Thailand)

2011-04-15

In this work, monthly average daily global solar irradiation over Cambodia was estimated from a long-term satellite data. A 14-year period (1995-2008) of visible channel data from GMS5, GOES9 and MTSAT-1R satellites were used to provide earth-atmospheric reflectivity. A satellite-based solar radiation model developed for a tropical environment was used to estimate surface solar radiation. The model relates the satellite-derived earth-atmospheric reflectivity to absorption and scattering coefficients of various atmospheric constituents. The absorption of solar radiation due to water vapour was calculated from precipitable water derived from ambient relative humidity and temperature. Ozone data from the TOMS and OMI satellite data were employed to compute the solar radiation absorption by ozone. The depletion of radiation due to aerosols was estimated from the visibility data. Five new solar radiation measuring stations were established at Cambodian cities, namely Siem Reap (13.87 N, 103.85 E), Kompong Thom (12.68 N, 104.88 E), Phnom Penh (11.55 N, 104.83 E), Sihanouke Ville (10.67 N, 103.63 E) and Kampot (10.70 N, 104.28 E). Global solar radiation measured at these stations was used to validate the model. The validation was also carried out by using solar radiation measured at four Thai meteorological stations. These stations are situated near the Cambodian border. Monthly average daily global irradiation from these stations was compared with that calculated from the model. The measured and calculated irradiation is in good agreement, with the root mean square difference of 6.3%, with respect to the mean values. After the validation, the model was used to calculate monthly average daily global solar irradiation over Cambodia. Based on this satellite-derived irradiation, solar radiation maps for Cambodia were generated. These maps show that solar radiation climate of this country is strongly influenced by the monsoons. A solar radiation database was also generated

Local control and functional results after twice-daily radiotherapy for Ewing's sarcoma of the extremities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolek, Timothy W.; Marcus, Robert B.; Mendenhall, Nancy Price; Scarborough, Mark T.; Graham-Pole, John

1996-01-01

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) has been the predominant local treatment for Ewing's sarcoma of bone at the University of Florida. Twice-daily hyperfractionated RT was initiated in 1982 to improve local control and functional outcome. This retrospective review compares the results of once-daily vs. twice-daily RT in patients with primary Ewing's sarcoma of an extremity, with emphasis on functional outcome. Methods and Materials: Between June 1971 and January 1990, 37 patients were treated at the University of Florida for nonmetastatic Ewing's sarcoma of bone with a primary lesion in an extremity. Three patients underwent amputation. Of 34 patients treated with RT, 31 had RT alone and 3 had a combination of RT and local excision. Before 1982, 14 patients received once-daily RT; since 1982, 17 patients have received twice-daily RT. Doses of once-daily RT varied from 47 to 61 Gy at 1.8-2 Gy per fraction. Doses of twice-daily RT varied, depending on the response of the soft-tissue component of the tumor to chemotherapy, and ranged from 50.4 to 60 Gy at 1.2 Gy per fraction. Some patients in the twice-daily RT group also received total body irradiation 1-3 months after local RT as part of a conditioning regimen before marrow-ablative therapy with stem cell rescue. They received either 8 Gy in two once-daily fractions or 12 Gy in six twice-daily fractions. The six patients who received surgery were excluded from local control analysis. Local control rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier (actuarial) method. Fifteen patients had a formal functional evaluation. Results: In the 31 patients treated with RT alone, the actuarial local control rate at 5 years was 81% for patients treated twice daily and 77% for those treated once daily (p = NS). No posttreatment pathologic fractures occurred in patients treated twice daily, whereas five fractures occurred in those treated once daily (p = 0.01). On functional evaluation, less loss in range of motion (15 deg. vs. 28 deg. of loss

Detection of irradiated spice in blend of irradiated and un-irradiated spices using thermoluminescence method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goto, Michiko; Yamazaki, Masao; Sekiguchi, Masayuki; Todoriki, Setsuko; Miyahara, Makoto

2007-01-01

Five blended spice sample were prepared by mixing irradiated and un-irradiated black pepper and paprika at different ratios. Blended black pepper containing 2%(w/w) of 5.4 kGy-irradiated black pepper showed no maximum at glow1. Irradiated black pepper samples, mixed to 5 or 10%(w/w), were identified as 'irradiated' or 'partially irradiated' or 'un-irradiated'. All samples with un-irradiated pepper up to 20%(w/w) were identified as irradiated'. In the case 5.0 kGy-irradiated paprika were mixed with un-irradiated paprika up to 5%(w/w), all samples were identified as irradiated'. The glow1 curves of samples, including irradiated paprika at 0.2%(w/w) or higher, exhibited a maximum between 150 and 250degC. The results suggest the existence of different critical mixing ratio for the detection of irradiation among each spices. Temperature range for integration of the TL glow intensity were compared between 70-400degC and approximate 150-250degC, and revealed that the latter temperature range was determined based on the measurement of TLD100. Although TL glow ratio in 150-250degC was lower than that of 70-400degC range, identification of irradiation was not affected. Treatment of un-irradiated black pepper and paprika with ultraviolet rays had no effect on the detection of irradiation. (author)

Dosimetry practice for irradiation of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wied.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zavala, J.L.; Fierro, M.M.; Schwarz, A.J.; Orozco, D.H.; Guerra, M.

1985-01-01

In a sterile insect technique (SIT) programme the sterility of mass-reared insects, in our case Mediterranean fruit flies, is of primary importance. Mediterranean fruit fly pupae are irradiated in an AECL-CP-JS-7400 irradiator. Originally the capacity was 31,300 Ci, but because of the natural decay of cobalt, the actual source strength is 14,836 Ci. Thus, the dose with which the pupae are irradiated is 14.5 +- 1 krad (145 +- 10 Gy). A great risk in the daily release of sterile flies is that some batches of fertile flies may also be released. To ensure that this does not occur, continuous dosimetric check-ups have to routinely be carried out. Fricke dosimetry is ideal for this purpose because it has a range of response to doses of 4 to 40 krad (40 to 400 Gy) and because it is an economic and simple dosimetric system. (author)

Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Global Precipitation Time Series

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The global precipitation time series provides time series charts showing observations of daily precipitation as well as accumulated precipitation compared to normal...

Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Global Temperature Time Series

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The global temperature time series provides time series charts using station based observations of daily temperature. These charts provide information about the...

Children as Global Citizens: A Socratic Approach to Teaching Character

Science.gov (United States)

Helterbran, Valeri R.; Strahler, Brianna R.

2013-01-01

Educators around the world are being challenged to promote positive global citizenship skills in the face of daily news concerning widespread discord, dissonance, injustice, and corruption. This article describes a Socratic approach to developing global citizenship. Recognizing the central role of teachers in educating future generations of a…

What proportion of people who try one cigarette become daily smokers? A meta analysis of representative surveys

OpenAIRE

Birge, Max; Duffy, Stephen; Miler, Joanna Astrid; Hajek, Peter

2017-01-01

Introduction: \\ud The ‘conversion rate’ from initial experimentation to daily smoking is a potentially important metric of smoking behavior, but estimates of it based on current representative data are lacking.\\ud Methods: \\ud The Global Health Data Exchange was searched for representative surveys conducted in English speaking, developed countries after year 2000 that included questions about ever trying a cigarette and ever smoking daily. The initial search identified 2776 surveys that were ...

Comparative Flight Activities and Pathogen Load of Two Stocks of Honey Bees Reared in Gamma-Irradiated Combs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lilia I. de Guzman

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Gamma irradiation is known to inactivate various pathogens that negatively affect honey bee health. Bee pathogens, such as Deformed wing virus (DWV and Nosema spp., have a deleterious impact on foraging activities and bee survival, and have been detected in combs. In this study, we assessed the effects of gamma irradiation on the flight activities, pathogen load, and survival of two honey bee stocks that were reared in irradiated and non-irradiated combs. Overall, bee genotype influenced the average number of daily flights, the total number of foraging flights, and total flight duration, in which the Russian honey bees outperformed the Italian honey bees. Exposing combs to gamma irradiation only affected the age at first flight, with worker bees that were reared in non-irradiated combs foraging prematurely compared to those reared in irradiated combs. Precocious foraging may be associated with the higher levels of DWV in bees reared in non-irradiated combs and also with the lower amount of pollen stores in colonies that used non-irradiated combs. These data suggest that gamma irradiation of combs can help minimize the negative impact of DWV in honey bees. Since colonies with irradiated combs stored more pollen than those with non-irradiated combs, crop pollination efficiency may be further improved when mite-resistant stocks are used, since they performed more flights and had longer flight durations.

Forecast of hourly global horizontal irradiance based on structured Kernel Support Vector Machine: A case study of Tibet area in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, He; Dong, Yao

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The structured variable selection in Kernel SVM is implemented using two ways. • The two-way interaction model is considered to enforce Heredity Principle. • SVMIC is used to select the kernel parameter in proposed approaches. • Simple and fast computations algorithms are derived. - Abstract: Various applications of forecasting effective global horizontal irradiance play increasingly vital role in grid-connected photovoltaic installations, but suffer from forecasting inaccuracy and prohibitively expensive computational cost. Although Support Vector Machine (SVM) is one of the most powerful forecasting approaches, it does not provide an interpretable model. This motivates penalized variable selection methods to be introduced to SVM to select important variables. However, in some forecasting problems, there are some underlying logic or hierarchical structure such as heredity principle among the variables. Penalized Kernel SVM approaches do not take heredity principles into consideration when enforcing sparsity. This paper investigates structural variable selection in Kernel SVM based approach which pursues heredity principle and sparsity simultaneously. To achieve heredity principle, both optimization and procedure based structural variable selection approaches are studied in the Kernel SVM. Computationally, we derive fast and simple-to-implement algorithms to perform structural variable selection and solar irradiance forecasting. Furthermore, Support Vector Machines Information Criterion is utilized to select the kernel parameters to guarantee the model consistency. Real data experiments directly reveal that our proposed KSVM-SVS based approach following heredity principle delivers superior performances in terms of forecasting accuracy comparing with other competitors.

Transmission of UV-irradiance into nectarine fruit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanke, M.M.

1996-01-01

With the global depletion of the ozone layer, leaves and fruits are increasingly exposed to UV-irradiance on the tree. Some fruits are additionally exposed postharvest to artificial germicidal W-irradiance, leading to a cumulative effect. This paper examines the transmission of UV-light (200-400 nm) by the peel of ripe nectarine fruit using UV/VIS spectrophotometry to aid understanding of UV-effects and assess the sensitivity of the peel to UV wavelengths. Yellow peel of nectarine fruit transmitted less than 0.1 % in the UV-C range of 220 to 280 nm. With longer wavelenghts, UV-light transmission increased slowly from 0.4 % at 284 nm to 1.6 % at 320 nm and, in the UV-A region, progressively from 1.9 % at 330 nm to a maximum of 13 % of incident irradiance at 400 nm. Red peel of nectarine fruit transmitted less than 0.1 % of UV-C and UV-B light, but up to 0.9 % of incident UV-A light at 400 nm. Conversely, UV-absorption of nectarine peel decreased with longer wavelengths. Hence, fruit parenchyma is more affected by UV-irradiance at wavelengths above ca. 280 nm and underneath yellow than underneath red peel

He-Ne laser irradiation affects proliferation of cultured rat Schwann cells in a dose-dependent manner

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breugel, H.H.F.I. van; Bar, P.R.

1993-01-01

Schwann cell proliferation is considered an essential part of Wallerian degeneration after nerve damage. Laminin, an important component of the extracellular matrix and produced by Schwann cells, provides a preferred substrate for outgrowing axons. To study whether low energy (He-Ne) laser irradiation may exert a positive effect on nerve regeneration through an effect on Schwann cells, its effect was evaluated in vitro. Schwann cells were isolated from sciatic nerves of 4-5-day old Wistar rats and cultures on 96-multiwell plates. The cells were irradiated by a He-Ne laser beam. At three consecutive days, starting either at day 5 or day 8, cells were irradiated each day for 0.5, 1, 2, 5 or 10 min. Both cell number and laminin production were determined for each irradiation condition within one experiment. Schwann cells that were irradiated from day 8 on were hardly affected by laser irradiation. However, the proliferation of cells that were irradiated starting on day 5 was significantly increased after 1, 2 and 5 min of daily irradiation, compared to non-irradiated control cultures. The lamin production per cell of these Schwann cells was not significantly altered. From these results we conclude that He-Ne laser irradiation can modulate proliferation of rat Schwann cells in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. (Author)

Level of occupational exposure during daily work in a Nuclear Medicine Department

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Schwarcke, Marcelo, E-mail: mschwarcke@usp.br [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), Ribeirao Preto, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Fisica e Matematica; Ferreira, Nadya [Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Nuclear; Cardoso, Domingos [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2011-07-01

Workers of the Nuclear Medicine Department have a very complex geometric exposition. The source of irradiation is not collimated and irradiated for all direction, the interaction with many structural tissue is inside the body before could be detected outside. The professional who works in a Nuclear Medicine Department is exposed to this condition and different energies. This work proposes a good approach to estimate the mensal dose level according to the dose rate during their daily routine. To measure the dose rate, a Babyline 81 ionization chamber was used, and the most frequent exams using {sup 99m}Tc were chosen. A previous study was conducted to determine the most frequent exams made in the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Central Army Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, and previous environment monitoring determine the places with higher exposure that could interfere in the measurement of this paper. The Renal scintigraphy with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) had an average dose rate of (2.50{+-}0.25) {mu}Sv/h; for the Renal scintigraphy with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), it was of (1.20{+-}0.25) {mu}Sv/h; for Bone scintigraphy using two different protocols, it was (2.63{+-}0.30) {mu}Sv/h and (3.09{+-}0.30) {mu}Sv/h. Exposition during elution, dose preparing and clinical procedure was considered a critical moment in the daily routine of the employee. The dose rate obtained in this study demonstrated that the professional cannot exceed the public dose limit in one day of his work routine. Therefore, for the Radioprotection Department, this is a good approach to make a radioprotection plan in the Nuclear Medicine Department. (author)

Changes of washing water during debittering and the brine during storage of irradiated olive fruits (Olea europea. L.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

AL-Bachir, M.

2001-01-01

Olive fruits (Olea europea. var. Surrany) treated with 0, 1, 2 and 3 kGy of gamma irradiation were debittered in distilled water for 8 days and stored in brine for 12 months at room temperature. Total dissolved and inorganic dissolved solids, Na, K, Ca, electric conductivity (EC) and pH values were evaluated in washing wastewater (daily), and in brine (after 6 and 12 months). The results showed that gamma irradiation increased the total and inorganic dissolved solids, Na and K in washing wastewater, and in brine throughout debittering and storage periods. Also, gamma irradiation had an effect on EC and pH values of washing wastewater and brine [es

The effect of irradiance on the carbon balance and tissue characteristics of five herbaceous species differing in shade-tolerance

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Thijs Leendert Pons

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Plant photosynthesis scales positively with growth irradiance. The carbon balance, defined here as the daily whole-plant gross CO2 assimilation (A partitioned in C available for growth and C required for respiration (R, is thus irradiance dependent. Here we ask if R as a fraction of A is also irradiance dependent, whether there are systematic differences in C-balance between shade-tolerant and shade-intolerant species, and what the causes could be. Growth, gas exchange, chemical composition and leaf structure were analyzed for two shade-tolerant and three shade-intolerant herbaceous species that were hydroponically grown in a growth room at five irradiances from 20 µmol m-2 s-1 (1.2 mol m-2 day-1 to 500 µmol m-2 s-1 (30 mol m-2 day-1. Growth analysis showed little difference between species in unit leaf rate (dry mass increase per unit leaf area at low irradiance, but lower rates for the shade-tolerant species at high irradiance, mainly as a result of their lower light saturated rate of photosynthesis. This resulted in lower relative growth rates in these conditions. Daily whole-plant R scaled with A in a very tight manner, giving a remarkably constant R/A ratio of around 0.3 for all but the lowest irradiance. Although some shade-intolerant species showed tendencies towards a higher R/A and inefficiencies in terms of carbon and nitrogen investment in their leaves, no conclusive evidence was found for systematic differences in C-balance between the shade-tolerant and intolerant species at the lowest irradiance. Leaf tissue of the shade-tolerant species was characterized by high dry matter percentages, C-concentration and construction costs, which could be associated with a better defense in shade environments where leaf longevity matters. We conclude that shade-intolerant species have a competitive advantage at high irradiance due to superior potential growth rates, but that shade-tolerance is not necessarily associated with a superior C

Effect of Low-Dose Irradiation on Biochemical and Immunological Responses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shabon, M.H.; Sayed, Z.S.; El-Gawish, M.A.; Mahdy, E.M.E.; Shosha, W.Gh.

2008-01-01

Lipid peroxidation (Malondialdehyde), Lactate dehydrogenase, Iron Concentration, IL-6 and IL-1β concentration were determined in Seventy-two male albino rats divided in two main groups. The first one was subdivided into 7 subgroups; control and 6 irradiated subgroups with 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1 Gy single dose of gamma radiation. The other was subdivided into 4 irradiated subgroups with fractionated dose .-radiation of 0.3, 0.7 and 1 Gy with 0.1 Gy per day and the last subgroup 1 Gy with 0.2 Gy daily. All animals were sacrificed after three days of the last irradiation dose. The results revealed that all biochemical parameters were increased in rats exposed to fractionated more than single doses. In conclusion, the data of this study highlight on the beneficial and stimulatory effect of low ionizing radiation doses (≥ 1Gy) whether single or fractionated on some biochemical and immunological parameters. These findings may be fruitful for those who undergo radiotherapy as well as the dose-effect relationship

Bone regeneration after different lengths of exposure to laser irradiation. [Rabbits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strigina, L P

1976-01-01

Rabbits in which a portion of the tibia was excised and replaced with preserved bone were locally irradiated by an LG-75 laser (25 mv) for 30 seconds, 1, 2, 5, and 10 minutes a day for a month. Histological examination of sections showed an acceleration of the inflammatory reaction and more rapid maturation of periosteal callus in experimental animals compared to controls. Cartilage appeared on day 9 instead of 15. The proliferation of histiogenic cells and their differentiation into fibroblasts and osteoblasts were more vigorous than in the control. The effects of irradiation on osteosynthesis were directly dependent on the duration of exposure. The development of the inflammatory reaction and resorption of the graft were most pronounced in the animals exposed for 10 minutes daily.

Chronic daily headaches

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Fayyaz Ahmed

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Chronic Daily Headache is a descriptive term that includes disorders with headaches on more days than not and affects 4% of the general population. The condition has a debilitating effect on individuals and society through direct cost to healthcare and indirectly to the economy in general. To successfully manage chronic daily headache syndromes it is important to exclude secondary causes with comprehensive history and relevant investigations; identify risk factors that predict its development and recognise its sub-types to appropriately manage the condition. Chronic migraine, chronic tension-type headache, new daily persistent headache and medication overuse headache accounts for the vast majority of chronic daily headaches. The scope of this article is to review the primary headache disorders. Secondary headaches are not discussed except medication overuse headache that often accompanies primary headache disorders. The article critically reviews the literature on the current understanding of daily headache disorders focusing in particular on recent developments in the treatment of frequent headaches.

Scientific activities in support of the BR2 operation and irradiation programmes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koonen, E.

2006-01-01

One of the major characteristics of the BR2 reactor is the fact that the core configuration is essentially variable. This allows to optimize the irradiation conditions of various experiments and to minimize the fuel consumption. In order to do that, BR2 has its own autonomous reactor physics cell. In order to allow for on-line measurements of the major irradiation parameters, BR2 has extended its own proven data acquisition system to serve this purpose. This system, called BIDASSE (for BR2 Integrated Data Acquisition System for Survey and Experiments), originally designed for the follow-up of all BR2 operational parameters, is since several years extensively used for experiments. The object rives of research at the BR2 are to evaluate and adjust provisional irradiation conditions by adjustments of the environment, axial and azimuthal positioning of the samples, global power level, ... ; to deliver reliable, well defined irradiation condition and fluence data during and after irradiation; to assist the designer of new irradiation devices by simulations and neutronic optimisations of design options and o provide the experimenters with accurate on-line information on the evolution of their ongoing irradiation projects

Food irradiation as a quarantine treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ignatowicz, S.

1998-01-01

Because of multiplicity of invertebrate pests of fresh and durable agricultural products which are treaded internationally there are frequent instances were products are unacceptable without an approved prior disinfestation treatment. The majority of these pests are regulated by quarantine inspections at the ports of exit and entry. Where there is risk of rejection of products if quarantine pests are found at inspection it is frequently prudent to apply a disinfestation treatment. Control of these pests in agriculture produce by fumigation is no longer desirable from the points of human health and global environment. Irradiation could be feasible and practical alternative with a broad applicability to commodities and pests. Quarantine disinfestation of most agricultural products seems to be achievable at the recommended generic dose of 300 Gy. Because irradiation applied at doses ranging about 300 Gy does not cause immediate mortality of all insects, mites or nematodes, live pests could be present after treatment of agricultural produce intended for international trade. In such case a marker of irradiation that is easily applied may be very useful in allaying concerns of some quarantine inspectors that inevitably occur when a living insect of quarantine importance is found in a shipment. (author)

First application of hemi-body electron beam irradiation for Kaposi sarcoma at the lower extremities.

Science.gov (United States)

Platoni, Kalliopi; Diamantopoulos, Stefanos; Dilvoi, Maria; Delinikolas, Panagiotis; Kypraiou, Efrosyni; Efstathopoulos, Efstathios; Kouloulias, Vassilis

2018-01-01

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a systemic neoplastic disease that can present cutaneous symptoms and is usually treated with a systematic approach due to its extent. Due to its radiosensitivity, radiotherapy is considered one of its main treatments, for palliation and local control of the skin and mucosal lesions. The aim of this paper was to report the first case of KS treated by hemi-body electron irradiation protocol in Greece. A fractionated 40 Gy hemi-body electron irradiation was prescribed to a 60-year-old male patient with KS at his legs. Dose uniformity was verified on a daily basis by thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD). The treatment resulted to complete clinical response. Limited irradiation-derived side effects appeared. This is the first case ever to be treated with hemi-body electron irradiation protocol in Greece. To the best of our knowledge, this is also the first time that a single field hemi-body electron beam irradiation at a total skin electron beam (TSEB)-like configuration is reported to be used for KS.

Influence of Dietary Irradiated Curcuma ionga (Turmeric) on Physiological and Biochemical Parameters of Growing Rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Niely, H.F.G.; El-Shennaway, H.M.; Hamaza, R.G.

2010-01-01

Turmeric, (Curcuma ionga), is a dietary antioxidant and has been known since ancient times to possess therapeutic properties. The present investigation examined the correlation between raw and irradiated turmeric powder (at dose levels of 10, 15 and 20 kGy) intake and the physiological effects on organs weight, haematological parameters, indices of liver function and lipid profile in growing Albino male rats. Also, this study was performed to examine the efficacy of radiation processed turmeric powder to modulate the induced hyperlipidaemia in growing Albino male rats. Thirty six male rats were equally and randomly categorized into six groups. Control group fed a reference diet (casein diet), high fat diet was daily received to rats for 6 weeks. Other animals fed daily on high fat diets containing either raw or irradiated turmeric powder (2 g per 100 g diet) at doses 10, 15 or 20 kGy for 6 weeks. The results showed that the relative spleen, kidneys, heart, lungs, and testes weight, and the levels of Hb, PCV and MCHC were not changed in animals fed the experimental diets for 6 weeks. Animals kept on HFD suffered from liver enlargement. Dietary interventions through administrating 2% (w/w) raw or irradiated turmeric powder at 20 kGy normalized the liver size as compared with those received reference diet. Meanwhile, the results revealed that rats fed on high fat diet significantly increased plasma AST, ALT, TC and TG and significant decrease was observed in HDL. Meanwhile, feeding rats on diet containing of either raw or irradiated turmeric powder at 10, 15 and 20 kGy induced a significant improvement in the above mentioned parameters. These results imply that irradiated turmeric powder at 20 kGy can offer protection against the biochemical changes as a consequence of hyperlipidaemic food and contribute to the regulation of lipid metabolism safely

Influence of the time interval between two daily fractions during fractionated radiotherapy of the R1H-tumor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beck-Bornholdt, H.P.; Kleineidam, M.; Pieconka, A.

1994-01-01

Tumors were exposed to irradiation five days per week over six weeks. A standard treatment of 30 fractions, i.e. one fraction per day (200 kVp X-rays) was compared with a hyperfractionated schedule of 60 fractions, i.e. two fractions per day, with time invervals of either one, two, three, five or six hours between the two daily fractions. Compared with standard treatment a significant reduction (p [de

Fourteen years of geomagnetic daily variation at Mario Zucchelli Station (Antarctica

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A. Meloni

2007-06-01

Full Text Available During the 1986-87 austral summer a geomagnetic observatory was installed at the Italian Antarctic Base Mario Zucchelli Station. In the first three years continuous time variation monitoring and absolute measurements of the geomagnetic field were carried out only during summer expeditions. Starting 1991 an automatic acquisition system, operating through all the year, was put in operation. We present here some peculiarities of the daily variation as observed for fourteen years (1987-2000. The availability of a long series of data has allowed the definition of seasonal, as well as solar cycle effects, on short time variations as observed at a cusp-cap observatory. In particular, contrary to mid latitude behaviour, a clear dependence of the daily variation amplitude on the global geomagnetic K index was well defined.

Modulator Effect of Turmeric on Oxidative Damage in Whole Body Gamma Irradiated rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amin, H.H.; Abdou, M.I.

2012-01-01

Because of its penetrating power and its ability to travel great distances, gamma rays are considered the primary hazard to the population during most radiological emergencies. So, there is a need to develop medical countermeasures to protect the first responders and remediation workers from biomedical effect of ionizing radiation. Turmeric has been reported to have many beneficial health effects, including a strong anti-oxidant effect, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. In the present study, turmeric was investigated as a therapeutic agent against hazards induced by ionizing radiation on kidney, liver, urinary and serum calcium levels and blood counts. A daily dose of 0.5 g/kg body weight was used in whole body gamma irradiated female rats with 3 Gy. Radiation effects were followed up for four weeks post irradiation. The results revealed that the administration of turmeric post-irradiation resulted in a significant inhibition in the frequency of radiation induced oxidative damage. It could be concluded that definite turmeric dose exerts a vital modulator role against gamma irradiation hazard

Alterations in Rubisco activity and in stomatal behavior induce a daily rhythm in photosynthesis of aerial leaves in the amphibious-plant Nuphar lutea.

Science.gov (United States)

Snir, Ainit; Gurevitz, Michael; Marcus, Yehouda

2006-12-01

Nuphar lutea is an amphibious plant with submerged and aerial foliage, which raises the question how do both leaf types perform photosynthetically in two different environments. We found that the aerial leaves function like terrestrial sun-leaves in that their photosynthetic capability was high and saturated under high irradiance (ca. 1,500 mumol photons m(-2) s(-1)). We show that stomatal opening and Rubisco activity in these leaves co-limited photosynthesis at saturating irradiance fluctuating in a daily rhythm. In the morning, sunlight stimulated stomatal opening, Rubisco synthesis, and the neutralization of a night-accumulated Rubisco inhibitor. Consequently, the light-saturated quantum efficiency and rate of photosynthesis increased 10-fold by midday. During the afternoon, gradual closure of the stomata and a decrease in Rubisco content reduced the light-saturated photosynthetic rate. However, at limited irradiance, stomatal behavior and Rubisco content had only a marginal effect on the photosynthetic rate, which did not change during the day. In contrast to the aerial leaves, the photosynthesis rate of the submerged leaves, adapted to a shaded environment, was saturated under lower irradiance. The light-saturated quantum efficiency of these leaves was much lower and did not change during the day. Due to their low photosynthetic affinity for CO(2) (35 muM) and inability to utilize other inorganic carbon species, their photosynthetic rate at air-equilibrated water was CO(2)-limited. These results reveal differences in the photosynthetic performance of the two types of Nuphar leaves and unravel how photosynthetic daily rhythm in the aerial leaves is controlled.