WorldWideScience

Sample records for global on-stream inspection

  1. In-camera video-stream processing for bandwidth reduction in web inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jullien, Graham A.; Li, QiuPing; Hajimowlana, S. Hossain; Morvay, J.; Conflitti, D.; Roberts, James W.; Doody, Brian C.

    1996-02-01

    Automated machine vision systems are now widely used for industrial inspection tasks where video-stream data information is taken in by the camera and then sent out to the inspection system for future processing. In this paper we describe a prototype system for on-line programming of arbitrary real-time video data stream bandwidth reduction algorithms; the output of the camera only contains information that has to be further processed by a host computer. The processing system is built into a DALSA CCD camera and uses a microcontroller interface to download bit-stream data to a XILINXTM FPGA. The FPGA is directly connected to the video data-stream and outputs data to a low bandwidth output bus. The camera communicates to a host computer via an RS-232 link to the microcontroller. Static memory is used to both generate a FIFO interface for buffering defect burst data, and for off-line examination of defect detection data. In addition to providing arbitrary FPGA architectures, the internal program of the microcontroller can also be changed via the host computer and a ROM monitor. This paper describes a prototype system board, mounted inside a DALSA camera, and discusses some of the algorithms currently being implemented for web inspection applications.

  2. Factoring stream turbulence into global assessments of nitrogen pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, Stanley B; Azizian, Morvarid; Cook, Perran; Boano, Fulvio; Rippy, Megan A

    2018-03-16

    The discharge of excess nitrogen to streams and rivers poses an existential threat to both humans and ecosystems. A seminal study of headwater streams across the United States concluded that in-stream removal of nitrate is controlled primarily by stream chemistry and biology. Reanalysis of these data reveals that stream turbulence (in particular, turbulent mass transfer across the concentration boundary layer) imposes a previously unrecognized upper limit on the rate at which nitrate is removed from streams. The upper limit closely approximates measured nitrate removal rates in streams with low concentrations of this pollutant, a discovery that should inform stream restoration designs and efforts to assess the effects of nitrogen pollution on receiving water quality and the global nitrogen cycle. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

  3. Potential impacts of global warming on the diversity and distribution of stream insects in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Fengqing; Kwon, Yong-Su; Bae, Mi-Jung; Chung, Namil; Kwon, Tae-Sung; Park, Young-Seuk

    2014-04-01

    Globally, the East Asian monsoon region is one of the richest environments in terms of biodiversity. The region is undergoing rapid human development, yet its river ecosystems have not been well studied. Global warming represents a major challenge to the survival of species in this region and makes it necessary to assess and reduce the potential consequences of warming on species of conservation concern. We projected the effects of global warming on stream insect (Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera [EOPT]) diversity and predicted the changes of geographical ranges for 121 species throughout South Korea. Plecoptera was the most sensitive (decrease of 71.4% in number of species from the 2000s through the 2080s) order, whereas Odonata benefited (increase of 66.7% in number of species from the 2000s through the 2080s) from the effects of global warming. The impact of global warming on stream insects was predicted to be minimal prior to the 2060s; however, by the 2080s, species extirpation of up to 20% in the highland areas and 2% in the lowland areas were predicted. The projected responses of stream insects under global warming indicated that species occupying specific habitats could undergo major reductions in habitat. Nevertheless, habitat of 33% of EOPT (including two-thirds of Odonata and one-third of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) was predicted to increase due to global warming. The community compositions predicted by generalized additive models varied over this century, and a large difference in community structure in the highland areas was predicted between the 2000s and the 2080s. However, stream insect communities, especially Odonata, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera, were predicted to become more homogenous under global warming. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

  4. Global perspectives on the urban stream syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Allison; Booth, Derek B.; Capps, Krista A.; Smith, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    Urban streams commonly express degraded physical, chemical, and biological conditions that have been collectively termed the “urban stream syndrome”. The description of the syndrome highlights the broad similarities among these streams relative to their less-impaired counterparts. Awareness of these commonalities has fostered rapid improvements in the management of urban stormwater for the protection of downstream watercourses, but the focus on the similarities among urban streams has obscured meaningful differences among them. Key drivers of stream responses to urbanization can vary greatly among climatological and physiographic regions of the globe, and the differences can be manifested in individual stream channels even through the homogenizing veneer of urban development. We provide examples of differences in natural hydrologic and geologic settings (within similar regions) that can result in different mechanisms of stream ecosystem response to urbanization and, as such, should lead to different management approaches. The idea that all urban streams can be cured using the same treatment is simplistic, but overemphasizing the tremendous differences among natural (or human-altered) systems also can paralyze management. Thoughtful integration of work that recognizes the commonalities of the urban stream syndrome across the globe has benefitted urban stream management. Now we call for a more nuanced understanding of the regional, subregional, and local attributes of any given urban stream and its watershed to advance the physical, chemical, and ecological recovery of these systems.

  5. Biotic and abiotic variables influencing plant litter breakdown in streams: a global study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Richard G.; Hui, Cang; Gessner, Mark O.; Pérez, Javier; Alexandrou, Markos A.; Graça, Manuel A. S.; Cardinale, Bradley J.; Albariño, Ricardo J.; Arunachalam, Muthukumarasamy; Barmuta, Leon A.; Boulton, Andrew J.; Bruder, Andreas; Callisto, Marcos; Chauvet, Eric; Death, Russell G.; Dudgeon, David; Encalada, Andrea C.; Ferreira, Verónica; Figueroa, Ricardo; Flecker, Alexander S.; Gonçalves, José F.; Helson, Julie; Iwata, Tomoya; Jinggut, Tajang; Mathooko, Jude; Mathuriau, Catherine; M'Erimba, Charles; Moretti, Marcelo S.; Pringle, Catherine M.; Ramírez, Alonso; Ratnarajah, Lavenia; Rincon, José; Yule, Catherine M.

    2016-01-01

    Plant litter breakdown is a key ecological process in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Streams and rivers, in particular, contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes. However, there is little information available on the relative roles of different drivers of plant litter breakdown in fresh waters, particularly at large scales. We present a global-scale study of litter breakdown in streams to compare the roles of biotic, climatic and other environmental factors on breakdown rates. We conducted an experiment in 24 streams encompassing latitudes from 47.8° N to 42.8° S, using litter mixtures of local species differing in quality and phylogenetic diversity (PD), and alder (Alnus glutinosa) to control for variation in litter traits. Our models revealed that breakdown of alder was driven by climate, with some influence of pH, whereas variation in breakdown of litter mixtures was explained mainly by litter quality and PD. Effects of litter quality and PD and stream pH were more positive at higher temperatures, indicating that different mechanisms may operate at different latitudes. These results reflect global variability caused by multiple factors, but unexplained variance points to the need for expanded global-scale comparisons. PMID:27122551

  6. Future ecological studies of Brazilian headwater streams under global-changes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos Callisto

    Full Text Available This paper results from discussions triggered during the "Stream Ecology Symposium" that took place at the XIII Congress of the Brazilian Society of Limnology in September of 2011 in Natal, Brazil. Based on our experiences, we have raised several questions regarding ecological studies of headwater streams facing threats under global-changes and proposed numerous subjects to be addressed in future studies in Brazil. These studies deal with the necessity of knowing species biology and the elaboration of models to assess changes (which implies the availability of time-series or large-scale data sets; the ecology of riparian zones and the interchange of materials and energy across the land-water boundaries; forest conversions and standardized sampling strategies and data treatment to assess global change.

  7. Global pressures, specific responses: effects of nutrient enrichment in streams from different biomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Artigas, Joan; García-Berthou, Emili; Gómez, Nora; Romaní, Anna M; Sabater, Sergi; Bauer, Delia E; Cochero, Joaquín; Cortelezzi, Agustina; Rodrigues-Capítulo, Alberto; Castro, Maria I; Donato, John C; Colautti, Darío C; Elosegi, Arturo; Feijoó, Claudia; Giorgi, Adonis; Leggieri, Leonardo; Muñoz, Isabel

    2013-01-01

    We assessed the effects of nutrient enrichment on three stream ecosystems running through distinct biomes (Mediterranean, Pampean and Andean). We increased the concentrations of N and P in the stream water 1.6–4-fold following a before–after control–impact paired series (BACIPS) design in each stream, and evaluated changes in the biomass of bacteria, primary producers, invertebrates and fish in the enriched (E) versus control (C) reaches after nutrient addition through a predictive-BACIPS approach. The treatment produced variable biomass responses (2–77% of explained variance) among biological communities and streams. The greatest biomass response was observed for algae in the Andean stream (77% of the variance), although fish also showed important biomass responses (about 9–48%). The strongest biomass response to enrichment (77% in all biological compartments) was found in the Andean stream. The magnitude and seasonality of biomass responses to enrichment were highly site specific, often depending on the basal nutrient concentration and on windows of ecological opportunity (periods when environmental constraints other than nutrients do not limit biomass growth). The Pampean stream, with high basal nutrient concentrations, showed a weak response to enrichment (except for invertebrates), whereas the greater responses of Andean stream communities were presumably favored by wider windows of ecological opportunity in comparison to those from the Mediterranean stream. Despite variation among sites, enrichment globally stimulated the algal-based food webs (algae and invertebrate grazers) but not the detritus-based food webs (bacteria and invertebrate shredders). This study shows that nutrient enrichment tends to globally enhance the biomass of stream biological assemblages, but that its magnitude and extent within the food web are complex and are strongly determined by environmental factors and ecosystem structure. (letter)

  8. A feasibility study of stateful automaton packet inspection for streaming application detection systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Kuo-Kun; Lo, Jiao; Liu, Yiming; Chang, Shih-Hao; Merabti, Madjid; Ng, Felix, C. K.; Wu, C. H.

    2017-10-01

    The rapid development of the internet has brought huge benefits and social impacts; however, internet security has also become a great problem for users, since traditional approaches to packet classification cannot achieve satisfactory detection performance due to their low accuracy and efficiency. In this paper, a new stateful packet inspection method is introduced, which can be embedded in the network gateway and used by a streaming application detection system. This new detection method leverages the inexact automaton approach, using part of the header field and part of the application layer data of a packet. Based on this approach, an advanced detection system is proposed for streaming applications. The workflow of the system involves two stages: the training stage and the detection stage. In the training stage, the system initially captures characteristic patterns from a set of application packet flows. After this training is completed, the detection stage allows the user to detect the target application by capturing new application flows. This new detection approach is also evaluated using experimental analysis; the results of this analysis show that this new approach not only simplifies the management of the state detection system, but also improves the accuracy of data flow detection, making it feasible for real-world network applications.

  9. Seed-a distributed data base architecture for global management of steam-generator inspection data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soon Ju Kang; Yu Rak Choi; Hee Gon Woo; Seong Su Choi

    1996-01-01

    This paper deals with a data management system - called SEED (Steam-generator Eddy-current Expert Database) for global handling of SG (steam generator) tube inspection data in nuclear power plants. The SEED integrates all stages in SG tube inspection process and supports all data such as raw eddy current data, inspection history data, SG tube information, etc. SEED implemented under client/server computing architecture for supporting LAN/WAN based graphical user interface facilities using WWW programming tools. (author)

  10. Passport of global nuclear business. ASME code certificate acquirement and inspection practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawabata, Hiroyuki; Terajima, Makoto; Anami, Kazuhiro

    2010-01-01

    There are possibilities of Japanese nuclear industries to participate in global business such as new and additional construction of nuclear power plants in US and also Asian and other developing countries in the world. It is requisite to acquire ASME code certificate for global business participation, just as passport. This article consists of five papers on present status of ASME code certificate acquirement and inspection practices of nuclear components vendors in the area of Japanese nuclear business. Activities of JSME Committee on Power Generation Facility Codes to make JSME codes corresponded to ASME nuclear codes and standards for their international deployment are also described. (T. Tanaka)

  11. THERESA FRANCO INSPECTS THE SOLAR PANELS OF THE MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    Theresa Franco of SPECTROLAB Inc. carefully inspects the solar panels of the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, undergoing preflight assembly and checkout in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility in KSC's Industrial Area. The four solar array panels will play a crucial role in the Mars Global Surveyor mission by providing the electrical power required to operate the spacecraft and its complement of scientific instruments. The Surveyor is slated for launch November 6 aboard a Delta II expendable launch vehicle. After arriving at the Red Planet in September 1997, the Surveyor will carry out an extensive study of Mars, gathering data about the planet's topography, magnetism, mineral composition and atmosphere.

  12. Metallurgical engineering and inspection practices in the chemical process industries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moller, G.E.

    1987-01-01

    The process industries, in particular the petroleum refining industry, adopted materials engineering and inspection (ME and I) practices years ago and regularly updated them because they were faced with the handling and refining of flammable, toxic, and corrosive feed stocks. These industries have a number of nonproprietary techniques and procedures, some of which may be applicable in the nuclear power generation field. Some specific inspection and engineering techniques used by the process industries within the framework of the guidelines for inspections and worthy of detailed description include the following: (1) sentry drilling or safety drilling of piping subject to relatively uniform corrosion, such as feedwater heater piping, steam piping, and extraction steam piping; (2) on-stream radiography for thickness measurement and detection of unusual conditions - damaged equipment such as valve blockage; (3) critical analysis of the chemical and refining processes for the relative probability of corrosion; (4) communication of valuable experience within the industry; (5) on-stream ultrasonic thickness testing; and (6) on-stream and off-stream crack and flaw detection. The author, trained in the petroleum refining industry but versed in electric utilities, pulp and paper, chemical process, marine, mining, water handling, waste treatment, and geothermal processes, discusses individual practices of these various industries in the paper

  13. Resource subsidies between stream and terrestrial ecosystems under global change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsen, Stefano; Muehlbauer, Jeffrey D.; Marti Roca, Maria Eugenia

    2016-01-01

    Streams and adjacent terrestrial ecosystems are characterized by permeable boundaries that are crossed by resource subsidies. Although the importance of these subsidies for riverine ecosystems is increasingly recognized, little is known about how they may be influenced by global environmental change. Drawing from available evidence, in this review we propose a conceptual framework to evaluate the effects of global change on the quality and spatiotemporal dynamics of stream–terrestrial subsidies. We illustrate how changes to hydrological and temperature regimes, atmospheric CO2 concentration, land use and the distribution of nonindigenous species can influence subsidy fluxes by affecting the biology and ecology of donor and recipient systems and the physical characteristics of stream–riparian boundaries. Climate-driven changes in the physiology and phenology of organisms with complex life cycles will influence their development time, body size and emergence patterns, with consequences for adjacent terrestrial consumers. Also, novel species interactions can modify subsidy dynamics via complex bottom-up and top-down effects. Given the seasonality and pulsed nature of subsidies, alterations of the temporal and spatial synchrony of resource availability to consumers across ecosystems are likely to result in ecological mismatches that can scale up from individual responses, to communities, to ecosystems. Similarly, altered hydrology, temperature, CO2 concentration and land use will modify the recruitment and quality of riparian vegetation, the timing of leaf abscission and the establishment of invasive riparian species. Along with morphological changes to stream–terrestrial boundaries, these will alter the use and fluxes of allochthonous subsidies associated with stream ecosystems. Future research should aim to understand how subsidy dynamics will be affected by key drivers of global change, including agricultural intensification, increasing water use and biotic

  14. Health products inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoltz, M.

    2009-01-01

    To protect public health, the Health Products Inspection is a public service mission where the application of regulations concerning activities on human health products and cosmetic products is verified. This mission permits a global approach to assess the health products risk-based benefit and, in monitoring by laboratory testing and by on site inspections, to verify their compliance with appropriate regulations. The seventy five inspectors perform about eight hundred inspections per year, in France and abroad. These inspections are related to data provided in the health products assessment and also to manufacturing and delivery practices. The French inspection body is also involved in the training of foreign inspectors and in the harmonization of national, European and international practices either for operators than for the competent authorities. (author)

  15. Research on UAV Intelligent Obstacle Avoidance Technology During Inspection of Transmission Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Chuanhu; Zhang, Fei; Yin, Chaoyuan; Liu, Yue; Liu, Liang; Li, Zongyu; Wang, Wanguo

    Autonomous obstacle avoidance of unmanned aerial vehicle (hereinafter referred to as UAV) in electric power line inspection process has important significance for operation safety and economy for UAV intelligent inspection system of transmission line as main content of UAV intelligent inspection system on transmission line. In the paper, principles of UAV inspection obstacle avoidance technology of transmission line are introduced. UAV inspection obstacle avoidance technology based on particle swarm global optimization algorithm is proposed after common obstacle avoidance technologies are studied. Stimulation comparison is implemented with traditional UAV inspection obstacle avoidance technology which adopts artificial potential field method. Results show that UAV inspection strategy of particle swarm optimization algorithm, adopted in the paper, is prominently better than UAV inspection strategy of artificial potential field method in the aspects of obstacle avoidance effect and the ability of returning to preset inspection track after passing through the obstacle. An effective method is provided for UAV inspection obstacle avoidance of transmission line.

  16. Lean and Global Technology Start-ups: Linking the Two Research Streams

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lemminger, Roy; Svendsen, Lars Limkilde; Zijdemans, Erik

    2014-01-01

    stream is well established focuses on International New Ventures (INVs) or Born Global (BG) firms (Oviatt & McDougall, 1994; Knight and Cavusgil, 1996); the second one is in the process of emerging and deals with lean start-ups (Ries, 2011; Blank, 2013). It is our intention to show that the problems...... these two groups of firms face during the early stages of their existence are to a large extent identical and could, from a theoretical point of view, be analyzed in a unified way. Integrating the two research perspectives above gives rise to a number of interesting research questions that could...... be summarized as follows: a) How do new technology start-ups narrow down the scope of their business activities by effectuating the global dimensions of their businesses? What are the reasons for such firms to look for global resources, partnerships or markets right from inception? b) What makes it possible...

  17. Analysis of sound data streamed over the network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Fejfar

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we inspect a difference between original sound recording and signal captured after streaming this original recording over a network loaded with a heavy traffic. There are several kinds of failures occurring in the captured recording caused by network congestion. We try to find a method how to evaluate correctness of streamed audio. Usually there are metrics based on a human perception of a signal such as “signal is clear, without audible failures”, “signal is having some failures but it is understandable”, or “signal is inarticulate”. These approaches need to be statistically evaluated on a broad set of respondents, which is time and resource consuming. We try to propose some metrics based on signal properties allowing us to compare the original and captured recording. We use algorithm called Dynamic Time Warping (Müller, 2007 commonly used for time series comparison in this paper. Some other time series exploration approaches can be found in (Fejfar, 2011 and (Fejfar, 2012. The data was acquired in our network laboratory simulating network traffic by downloading files, streaming audio and video simultaneously. Our former experiment inspected Quality of Service (QoS and its impact on failures of received audio data stream. This experiment is focused on the comparison of sound recordings rather than network mechanism.We focus, in this paper, on a real time audio stream such as a telephone call, where it is not possible to stream audio in advance to a “pool”. Instead it is necessary to achieve as small delay as possible (between speaker voice recording and listener voice replay. We are using RTP protocol for streaming audio.

  18. Ship inspection strategies: effects on maritime safety and environmental protection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heij, C.; Bijwaard, G.E.; Knapp, S.

    2011-01-01

    Global trade largely depends on maritime transport, and appropriate ships are needed to protect cargo but to minimize environmental damage and to this end, flag and port state authorities expend considerable effort in ship safety inspections. This paper investigates the safety gains of current

  19. The ecology of methane in streams and rivers: Patterns, controls, and global significance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanley, Emily H.; Casson, Nora J.; Christel, Samuel T.; Crawford, John T.; Loken, Luke C.; Oliver, Samantha K.

    2016-01-01

    Streams and rivers can substantially modify organic carbon (OC) inputs from terrestrial landscapes, and much of this processing is the result of microbial respiration. While carbon dioxide (CO2) is the major end-product of ecosystem respiration, methane (CH4) is also present in many fluvial environments even though methanogenesis typically requires anoxic conditions that may be scarce in these systems. Given recent recognition of the pervasiveness of this greenhouse gas in streams and rivers, we synthesized existing research and data to identify patterns and drivers of CH4, knowledge gaps, and research opportunities. This included examining the history of lotic CH4 research, creating a database of concentrations and fluxes (MethDB) to generate a global-scale estimate of fluvial CH4 efflux, and developing a conceptual framework and using this framework to consider how human activities may modify fluvial CH4 dynamics. Current understanding of CH4 in streams and rivers has been strongly influenced by goals of understanding OC processing and quantifying the contribution of CH4 to ecosystem C fluxes. Less effort has been directed towards investigating processes that dictate in situ CH4 production and loss. CH4 makes a meager contribution to watershed or landscape C budgets, but streams and rivers are often significant CH4 sources to the atmosphere across these same spatial extents. Most fluvial systems are supersaturated with CH4 and we estimate an annual global emission of 26.8 Tg CH4, equivalent to ~15-40% of wetland and lake effluxes, respectively. Less clear is the role of CH4 oxidation, methanogenesis, and total anaerobic respiration to whole ecosystem production and respiration. Controls on CH4 generation and persistence can be viewed in terms of proximate controls that influence methanogenesis (organic matter, temperature, alternative electron acceptors, nutrients) and distal geomorphic and hydrologic drivers. Multiple controls combined with its

  20. APPLICATION OF LEAN CONCEPT TO SHIP SAFETY INSPECTION: A CASE STUDY AT PORT OF SURABAYA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Cahyadi

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The Lean Concept is a mindset widely used in various industries seeking for efficiency and effectiveness through improvement of process flow and elimination of waste. This research applies lean thinking to ship safety inspection at Port of Surabaya to investigate the existing procedure and to identify the wastes and non-value-add (NVA activity. It used a combination of literature review, examination on the data of 520 inspections that have been carried out to 201 ships in the last two years (2009 - 2011, investigation on related regulations and guidelines, observation on the actual conduct of inspection, and interview with 59 marine inspectors and ship officers. Analysis is conducted using Value Stream Mapping (VSM. It is found that the existing procedure lacks significant impact in terms of imposing a reduction in the total number of detected deficiency between the earlier and subsequent inspections. Only 37% of the ships experience a reduction, indicating that the performance of inspection is currently at the level of 37 on a 100-point scale. It was mainly due to severe violation of the regulations, which is demonstrated by the issuance of ship certificate regardless of corrective action undertaken relating to the detected deficiency. Keywords: Lean concept, ship safety inspection, value stream mapping.

  1. Ship Inspection Strategies: Effects on Maritime Safety and Environmental Protection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C. Heij (Christiaan); G.E. Bijwaard (Govert); S. Knapp (Sabine)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractGlobal trade depends for a large part on maritime transport, and safe ships are needed not only to protect precious cargo but also to prevent environmental damage. Flag state and port state authorities spend much effort in ship safety inspections to ensure a minimum safety level and to

  2. Influence of the Gulf Stream on the troposphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minobe, Shoshiro; Kuwano-Yoshida, Akira; Komori, Nobumasa; Xie, Shang-Ping; Small, Richard Justin

    2008-03-13

    The Gulf Stream transports large amounts of heat from the tropics to middle and high latitudes, and thereby affects weather phenomena such as cyclogenesis and low cloud formation. But its climatic influence, on monthly and longer timescales, remains poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear how the warm current affects the free atmosphere above the marine atmospheric boundary layer. Here we consider the Gulf Stream's influence on the troposphere, using a combination of operational weather analyses, satellite observations and an atmospheric general circulation model. Our results reveal that the Gulf Stream affects the entire troposphere. In the marine boundary layer, atmospheric pressure adjustments to sharp sea surface temperature gradients lead to surface wind convergence, which anchors a narrow band of precipitation along the Gulf Stream. In this rain band, upward motion and cloud formation extend into the upper troposphere, as corroborated by the frequent occurrence of very low cloud-top temperatures. These mechanisms provide a pathway by which the Gulf Stream can affect the atmosphere locally, and possibly also in remote regions by forcing planetary waves. The identification of this pathway may have implications for our understanding of the processes involved in climate change, because the Gulf Stream is the upper limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, which has varied in strength in the past and is predicted to weaken in response to human-induced global warming in the future.

  3. Ebullitive methane emissions from oxygenated wetland streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawford, John T.; Stanley, Emily H.; Spawn, Seth A.; Finlay, Jacques C.; Striegl, Robert G.

    2014-01-01

    Stream and river carbon dioxide emissions are an important component of the global carbon cycle. Methane emissions from streams could also contribute to regional or global greenhouse gas cycling, but there are relatively few data regarding stream and river methane emissions. Furthermore, the available data do not typically include the ebullitive (bubble-mediated) pathway, instead focusing on emission of dissolved methane by diffusion or convection. Here, we show the importance of ebullitive methane emissions from small streams in the regional greenhouse gas balance of a lake and wetland-dominated landscape in temperate North America and identify the origin of the methane emitted from these well-oxygenated streams. Stream methane flux densities from this landscape tended to exceed those of nearby wetland diffusive fluxes as well as average global wetland ebullitive fluxes. Total stream ebullitive methane flux at the regional scale (103 Mg C yr−1; over 6400 km2) was of the same magnitude as diffusive methane flux previously documented at the same scale. Organic-rich stream sediments had the highest rates of bubble release and higher enrichment of methane in bubbles, but glacial sand sediments also exhibited high bubble emissions relative to other studied environments. Our results from a database of groundwater chemistry support the hypothesis that methane in bubbles is produced in anoxic near-stream sediment porewaters, and not in deeper, oxygenated groundwaters. Methane interacts with other key elemental cycles such as nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, which has implications for ecosystem changes such as drought and increased nutrient loading. Our results support the contention that streams, particularly those draining wetland landscapes of the northern hemisphere, are an important component of the global methane cycle.

  4. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of mobile harvesting equipment and sediment delivery to streams during forest harvest operations on steep terrain: Experimental design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel Bowker; Jeff Stringer; Chris Barton; Songlin Fei

    2011-01-01

    Sediment mobilized by forest harvest machine traffic contributes substantially to the degradation of headwater stream systems. This study monitored forest harvest machine traffic to analyze how it affects sediment delivery to stream channels. Harvest machines were outfitted with global positioning system (GPS) dataloggers, recording machine movements and working status...

  5. Global impacts of the meat trade on in-stream organic river pollution: the importance of spatially distributed hydrological conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Yingrong; Schoups, Gerrit; van de Giesen, Nick

    2018-01-01

    In many regions of the world, intensive livestock farming has become a significant source of organic river pollution. As the international meat trade is growing rapidly, the environmental impacts of meat production within one country can occur either domestically or internationally. The goal of this paper is to quantify the impacts of the international meat trade on global organic river pollution at multiple scales (national, regional and gridded). Using the biological oxygen demand (BOD) as an overall indicator of organic river pollution, we compute the spatially distributed organic pollution in global river networks with and without a meat trade, where the without-trade scenario assumes that meat imports are replaced by local production. Our analysis reveals a reduction in the livestock population and production of organic pollutants at the global scale as a result of the international meat trade. However, the actual environmental impact of trade, as quantified by in-stream BOD concentrations, is negative; i.e. we find a slight increase in polluted river segments. More importantly, our results show large spatial variability in local (grid-scale) impacts that do not correlate with local changes in BOD loading, which illustrates: (1) the significance of accounting for the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological processes along river networks, and (2) the limited value of looking at country-level or global averages when estimating the actual impacts of trade on the environment.

  6. Flamanville 3 EPR, Safety Assessment and On-site Inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piedagnel, Corinne; Tarallo, Francois; Monnot, Bernard

    2011-01-01

    As a Technical Support Organisation of the French Safety Authority (ASN), the IRSN carries out the safety assessment of EPR project design and participates in the ASN inspections performed at the construction site and in factories. The design assessment consists in defining the safety functions which should be ensured by civil structures, evaluating the EPR Technical Code for Civil works (ETC-C) in which EdF has defined design criteria and construction rules, and carrying out a detailed assessment of a selection of safety-related structures. Those detailed assessments do not consist of a technical control but of an analysis whose objectives are to ensure that design and demonstrations are robust, in accordance with safety and regulatory rules. Most assessments led IRSN to ask EdF to provide additional justification sometimes involving significant modifications. In the light of those complementary justifications and modifications, IRSN concluded that assessments carried out on design studies were globally satisfactory. The participation of IRSN to the on-site inspections led by ASN is a part of the global control of the compliance of the reactor with its safety objectives. For that purpose IRSN has defined a methodology and an inspection program intended to ASN: based on safety functions associated with civil works (confinement and resistance to aggressions), the corresponding behaviour requirements are identified and linked to a list of main civil works elements. During the inspections, deviations to the project's technical specifications or to the rules of the art were pointed out by IRSN. Those deviations cover various items, such as concrete fabrication, concrete pouring methodology, lack of reinforcement in some structures, unadapted welding procedures of the containment leak-tight steel liner and unsatisfactory treatment of concreting joints. The analysis of those problems has revealed flaws in the organisation of the contractors teams together with an

  7. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Stream Water Temperatures Across the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehsani, N.; Knouft, J.; Ficklin, D. L.

    2017-12-01

    Analyses of long-term observation data have revealed significant changes in several components of climate and the hydrological cycle over the contiguous United States during the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Mean surface air temperatures have significantly increased in most areas of the country. In addition, water temperatures are increasing in many watersheds across the United States. While there are numerous studies assessing the impact of climate change on air temperatures at regional and global scales, fewer studies have investigated the impacts of climate change on stream water temperatures. Projecting increases in water temperature are particularly important to the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. To achieve better insights into attributes regulating population and community dynamics of aquatic biota at large spatial and temporal scales, we need to establish relationships between environmental heterogeneity and critical biological processes of stream ecosystems at these scales. Increases in stream temperatures caused by the doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may result in a significant loss of fish habitat in the United States. Utilization of physically based hydrological-water temperature models is computationally demanding and can be onerous to many researchers who specialize in other disciplines. Using statistical techniques to analyze observational data from 1760 USGS stream temperature gages, our goal is to develop a simple yet accurate method to quantify the impacts of climate warming on stream water temperatures in a way that is practical for aquatic biologists, water and environmental management purposes, and conservation practitioners and policy-makers. Using an ensemble of five global climate models (GCMs), we estimate the potential impacts of climate change on stream temperatures within the contiguous United States based on recent trends. Stream temperatures are projected to increase across the US, but the magnitude of the

  8. Assimilation of global versus local data sets into a regional model of the Gulf Stream system. 1. Data effectiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Young, Roberta E.

    1995-12-01

    The primary objective of this paper is to assess the relative effectiveness of data sets with different space coverage and time resolution when they are assimilated into an ocean circulation model. We focus on obtaining realistic numerical simulations of the Gulf Stream system typically of the order of 3-month duration by constructing a "synthetic" ocean simultaneously consistent with the model dynamics and the observations. The model used is the Semispectral Primitive Equation Model. The data sets are the "global" Optimal Thermal Interpolation Scheme (OTIS) 3 of the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center providing temperature and salinity fields with global coverage and with bi-weekly frequency, and the localized measurements, mostly of current velocities, from the central and eastern array moorings of the Synoptic Ocean Prediction (SYNOP) program, with daily frequency but with a very small spatial coverage. We use a suboptimal assimilation technique ("nudging"). Even though this technique has already been used in idealized data assimilation studies, to our knowledge this is the first study in which the effectiveness of nudging is tested by assimilating real observations of the interior temperature and salinity fields. This is also the first work in which a systematic assimilation is carried out of the localized, high-quality SYNOP data sets in numerical experiments longer than 1-2 weeks, that is, not aimed to forecasting. We assimilate (1) the global OTIS 3 alone, (2) the local SYNOP observations alone, and (3) both OTIS 3 and SYNOP observations. We assess the success of the assimilations with quantitative measures of performance, both on the global and local scale. The results can be summarized as follows. The intermittent assimilation of the global OTIS 3 is necessary to keep the model "on track" over 3-month simulations on the global scale. As OTIS 3 is assimilated at every model grid point, a "gentle" weight must be prescribed to it so as not to overconstrain

  9. Urbanization and stream ecology: Diverse mechanisms of change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Allison; Capps, Krista A.; El-Sabaawi, Rana W.; Jones, Krista L.; Parr, Thomas B.; Ramirez, Alonso; Smith, Robert F.; Walsh, Christopher J.; Wenger, Seth J.

    2016-01-01

    The field of urban stream ecology has evolved rapidly in the last 3 decades, and it now includes natural scientists from numerous disciplines working with social scientists, landscape planners and designers, and land and water managers to address complex, socioecological problems that have manifested in urban landscapes. Over the last decade, stream ecologists have met 3 times at the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology (SUSE) to discuss current research, identify knowledge gaps, and promote future research collaborations. The papers in this special series on urbanization and stream ecology include both primary research studies and conceptual synthesis papers spurred from discussions at SUSE in May 2014. The themes of the meeting are reflected in the papers in this series emphasizing global differences in mechanisms and responses of stream ecosystems to urbanization and management solutions in diverse urban streams. Our hope is that this series will encourage continued interdisciplinary and collaborative research to increase the global understanding of urban stream ecology toward stream protection and restoration in urban landscapes.

  10. The Effect of Sub-Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS) on Ionosphere and Thermosphere during 2015 St. Patrick's Day storm: Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (GITM) Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, J.; Deng, Y.; Zhang, D.; Lu, Y.; Sheng, C.

    2017-12-01

    Sub-Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS) are incorporated into the non-hydrostatic Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (GITM), revealing the complex effects on neutral dynamics and ion-neutral coupling processes. The intense westward ion stream could enhance the neutral zonal wind within the SAPS channel. Through neutral dynamics the neutrals then divide into two streams, one turns poleward and the other turns equatorward, forming a two-cell pattern in the SAPS-changed wind. The significant Joule heating induced by SAPS also leads to traveling atmospheric disturbances (TAD) accompanied by traveling ionospheric disturbances (TID), increasing the total electron content (TEC) by 2-8 TECu in the mid-latitude ionosphere. We investigate the potential causes of the reported poleward wind surge during the St. Patrick's Day storm in 2015. It is confirmed that Coriolis force on the westward zonal wind can contribute the poleward wind during post-SAPS interval. In addition, the simulations imply that the sudden decrease of heating rate within auroral oval could result in a TAD propagating equatorward, which could also be responsible for the sudden poleward wind surge. This study highlights the complicated effects of SAPS on ion-neutral coupling and neutral dynamics.

  11. Large-scale environmental controls on microbial biofilms in high-alpine streams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. J. Battin

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Glaciers are highly responsive to global warming and important agents of landscape heterogeneity. While it is well established that glacial ablation and snowmelt regulate stream discharge, linkage among streams and streamwater geochemistry, the controls of these factors on stream microbial biofilms remain insufficiently understood. We investigated glacial (metakryal, hypokryal, groundwater-fed (krenal and snow-fed (rhithral streams - all of them representative for alpine stream networks - and present evidence that these hydrologic and hydrogeochemical factors differentially affect sediment microbial biofilms. Average microbial biomass and bacterial carbon production were low in the glacial streams, whereas bacterial cell size, biomass, and carbon production were higher in the tributaries, most notably in the krenal stream. Whole-cell in situ fluorescence hybridization revealed reduced detection rates of the Eubacteria and higher abundance of α-Proteobacteria in the glacial stream, a pattern that most probably reflects the trophic status of this ecosystem. Our data suggest low flow during the onset of snowmelt and autumn as a short period (hot moment of favorable environmental conditions with pulsed inputs of allochthonous nitrate and dissolved organic carbon, and with disproportionately high microbial growth. Tributaries are relatively more constant and favorable environments than kryal streams, and serve as possible sources of microbes and organic matter to the main glacial channel during periods (e.g., snowmelt of elevated hydrologic linkage among streams. Ice and snow dynamics - and their impact on the amount and composition of dissolved organic matter - have a crucial impact on stream biofilms, and we thus need to consider microbes and critical hydrological episodes in future models of alpine stream communities.

  12. A review paper on offline inspection of finished and semi-finished products and emerging research directions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Babar Ramzan Muhammad

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Organizations want to focus on product quality along with productivity to get their competitive advantage in global market. In order to achieve this aim, quality management system and its different aspects are becoming more valuable than before. This study has considered quality control and its activities with specific focus on offline inspection. The objective of this study is to provide a literature review that identifies different models and methodologies, developed for offline inspection under different manufacturing and inspection conditions. This review is based on research work accepted by international journals and published in the years from 2000 to 2016. These studies are classified into six groups on the basis of their research objectives, model developed, adopted methodologies, and research outcomes. This review paper also gives а brief look at the offline inspection to propose future research opportunities and emerging trends. The proposed research directions can be helpful in developing new models or modifying the existing models to improve the performance of offline inspection.

  13. A revised radiation package of G-packed McICA and two-stream approximation: Performance evaluation in a global weather forecasting model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baek, Sunghye

    2017-07-01

    For more efficient and accurate computation of radiative flux, improvements have been achieved in two aspects, integration of the radiative transfer equation over space and angle. First, the treatment of the Monte Carlo-independent column approximation (MCICA) is modified focusing on efficiency using a reduced number of random samples ("G-packed") within a reconstructed and unified radiation package. The original McICA takes 20% of CPU time of radiation in the Global/Regional Integrated Model systems (GRIMs). The CPU time consumption of McICA is reduced by 70% without compromising accuracy. Second, parameterizations of shortwave two-stream approximations are revised to reduce errors with respect to the 16-stream discrete ordinate method. Delta-scaled two-stream approximation (TSA) is almost unanimously used in Global Circulation Model (GCM) but contains systematic errors which overestimate forward peak scattering as solar elevation decreases. These errors are alleviated by adjusting the parameterizations of each scattering element—aerosol, liquid, ice and snow cloud particles. Parameterizations are determined with 20,129 atmospheric columns of the GRIMs data and tested with 13,422 independent data columns. The result shows that the root-mean-square error (RMSE) over the all atmospheric layers is decreased by 39% on average without significant increase in computational time. Revised TSA developed and validated with a separate one-dimensional model is mounted on GRIMs for mid-term numerical weather forecasting. Monthly averaged global forecast skill scores are unchanged with revised TSA but the temperature at lower levels of the atmosphere (pressure ≥ 700 hPa) is slightly increased (< 0.5 K) with corrected atmospheric absorption.

  14. Experience on inspection at PFPF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoki, I.; Yamamoto, Y.; Takahashi, Saburo; Ooshima, Hirofumi; Kuniyasu, Kazufusa.

    1993-01-01

    In order to reduce a personal radiation exposure, Plutonium Fuel Production Facility (PFPF) introduced an automated MOX fabrication technology. Safeguards system for the PFPF was designed and installed so as to be compatible with automated process operation as much as possible. Introduction of these system in PFPF made possible to do the inspection measurements with unattended mode and Near Real Time Material Accountancy (NRTA), consequently inspection has been carrying out effectively and efficiently. This paper describes the new Inspection activities as a comparison with old Inspection activities based on our experience. (author)

  15. Pasture size effects on the ability of off-stream water or restricted stream access to alter the spatial/temporal distribution of grazing beef cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisinger, J J; Russell, J R; Morrical, D G; Isenhart, T M

    2014-08-01

    For 2 grazing seasons, effects of pasture size, stream access, and off-stream water on cow distribution relative to a stream were evaluated in six 12.1-ha cool-season grass pastures. Two pasture sizes (small [4.0 ha] and large [12.1 ha]) with 3 management treatments (unrestricted stream access without off-stream water [U], unrestricted stream access with off-stream water [UW], and stream access restricted to a stabilized stream crossing [R]) were alternated between pasture sizes every 2 wk for 5 consecutive 4-wk intervals in each grazing season. Small and large pastures were stocked with 5 and 15 August-calving cows from mid May through mid October. At 10-min intervals, cow location was determined with Global Positioning System collars fitted on 2 to 3 cows in each pasture and identified when observed in the stream (0-10 m from the stream) or riparian (0-33 m from the stream) zones and ambient temperature was recorded with on-site weather stations. Over all intervals, cows were observed more (P ≤ 0.01) frequently in the stream and riparian zones of small than large pastures regardless of management treatment. Cows in R pastures had 24 and 8% less (P cows in or near pasture streams regardless of pasture size. In 2011, the probability of cow presence in the stream and riparian zones increased at greater (P cow presence in the stream and riparian zones increased at greater (P cow presence in the stream and riparian zone increased less (P cow presence in shade (within 10 m of tree drip lines) in the total pasture with increasing temperatures did not differ between treatments. However, probability of cow presence in riparian shade increased at greater (P cows in or near pasture streams with unrestricted access.

  16. Infrared and visible images registration with adaptable local-global feature integration for rail inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Chaoqing; Tian, Gui Yun; Chen, Xiaotian; Wu, Jianbo; Li, Kongjing; Meng, Hongying

    2017-12-01

    Active thermography provides infrared images that contain sub-surface defect information, while visible images only reveal surface information. Mapping infrared information to visible images offers more comprehensive visualization for decision-making in rail inspection. However, the common information for registration is limited due to different modalities in both local and global level. For example, rail track which has low temperature contrast reveals rich details in visible images, but turns blurry in the infrared counterparts. This paper proposes a registration algorithm called Edge-Guided Speeded-Up-Robust-Features (EG-SURF) to address this issue. Rather than sequentially integrating local and global information in matching stage which suffered from buckets effect, this algorithm adaptively integrates local and global information into a descriptor to gather more common information before matching. This adaptability consists of two facets, an adaptable weighting factor between local and global information, and an adaptable main direction accuracy. The local information is extracted using SURF while the global information is represented by shape context from edges. Meanwhile, in shape context generation process, edges are weighted according to local scale and decomposed into bins using a vector decomposition manner to provide more accurate descriptor. The proposed algorithm is qualitatively and quantitatively validated using eddy current pulsed thermography scene in the experiments. In comparison with other algorithms, better performance has been achieved.

  17. SICOM: On-site inspection systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serna, J.J.; Quecedo, M.; Fernandez, J.R.

    2002-01-01

    As the irradiation conditions become more demanding for the fuel than in the past, there is a need for surveillance programs to gather in-reactor operating experience. The data obtained in these programs can be used to assess the performance of current fuel designs and the improvements incorporated to the fuel assembly design, the performance of the advanced cladding alloys, etc. In these regards, valuable data is obtained from on-site fuel inspections. These on-site data comprise fuel assembly dimensional data such as length and distortion (tilt, twist and bow) and fuel rod data such as length and oxide thickness. These data have to be reliable and accurate to be useful thus, demanding a high precision inspection equipment. However, the inspection equipment has to be also robust and flexible enough to operate in the plant spent fuel pool and, sometimes, without interfering in the works carried out during a plant outage. To meet these requirements, during the past years ENUSA and TECNATOM have developed two on-site inspection systems. While the first system can perform most of the typical measurements in a stand-alone manner thus, without interfering with the critical path of the reload, the second one reduces the inspection time but requires using the plant capabilities. The paper describes both equipment for fuel on-site inspection, their characteristics and main features. (author)

  18. Benchmarking on Inspection Practices. First Triennial Report of the Working Group on Inspection Practices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2017-01-01

    The WGIP Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Observed Inspection Practices Program is intended to promote co-operation and learning among member countries and to collect and provide them with information for improving the effectiveness of existing regulatory inspection practices. This is accomplished by observing how inspections are carried out by other member countries and issuing a WGIP observed inspection report that includes observations (e.g. inspection techniques, obstacles encountered), lessons learnt and potential commendable practices that could be used by a regulatory body. This first triennial report documents the results of a consistency check performed between all six WGIP observed inspection reports and ratifies certain observations, lessons learnt and potential commendable practices identified by WGIP observed inspection participants

  19. Using the Periscope Live Video-Streaming Application for Global Pathology Education: A Brief Introduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuller, Maren Y; Mukhopadhyay, Sanjay; Gardner, Jerad M

    2016-07-21

    Periscope is a live video-streaming smartphone application (app) that allows any individual with a smartphone to broadcast live video simultaneously to multiple smartphone users around the world. The aim of this review is to describe the potential of this emerging technology for global pathology education. To our knowledge, since the launch of the Periscope app (2015), only a handful of educational presentations by pathologists have been streamed as live video via Periscope. This review includes links to these initial attempts, a step-by-step guide for those interested in using the app for pathology education, and a summary of the pros and cons, including ethical/legal issues. We hope that pathologists will appreciate the potential of Periscope for sharing their knowledge, expertise, and research with a live (and potentially large) audience without the barriers associated with traditional video equipment and standard classroom/conference settings.

  20. Global aspects of stream evolution in the solar wind

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gosling, J.T.

    1984-01-01

    A spatially variable coronal expansion, when coupled with solar rotation, leads to the formation of high speed solar wind streams which evolve considerably with increasing heliocentric distance. Initially the streams steepen for simple kinematic reasons, but this steepening is resisted by pressure forces, leading eventually to the formation of forward-reverse shock pairs in the distant heliosphere. The basic physical processes responsible for stream steepening an evolution are explored and model calculations are compared with actual spacecraft observations of the process. The solar wind stream evolution problem is relatively well understood both observationally and theoretically. Tools developed in achieving this understanding should be applicable to other astrophysical systems where a spatially or temporally variable outflow is associated with a rotating object. 27 references, 13 figures

  1. A study on improvements of inspection efficiency with remote transmission of inspection data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kikuchi, Masahiro

    2010-01-01

    Current information networks technology brought secure and convenient condition of information transmission, so that inspectorates intend to apply such technology to optimize current inspection efforts. IAEA established the Remote Monitoring Project (RMP) in 1996 and started to draft safeguards concepts, and approaches to refer the implementation of remote monitoring technology and to compromise with relationship between current inspection activities and the remote monitoring technologies. Although communications costs and conditions of secured communication should be further investigated, the technologies would have a possibility to reduce current inspection efforts. We would face at the step to study on the several issues such as what measures could be candidate to use, how much cost we needs, what kind of technical risks would be concerned, further improvements could be achieved by comparison with current inspection costs and effectiveness. This paper reports on the expectation points and relevant technical attention points which are related to apply unattended inspection system with remote data transmission to the flows and inventory verification of item and bulk facility, respectively, in order to improve inspection efforts. (author)

  2. Rail inspection system based on iGPS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Xiaoyan; Wang, Mulan; Wen, Xiuping

    2018-05-01

    Track parameters include gauge, super elevation, cross level and so on, which could be calculated through the three-dimensional coordinates of the track. The rail inspection system based on iGPS (indoor/infrared GPS) was composed of base station, receiver, rail inspection frame, wireless communication unit, display and control unit and data processing unit. With the continuous movement of the inspection frame, the system could accurately inspect the coordinates of rail; realize the intelligent detection and precision measurement. According to principle of angle intersection measurement, the inspection model was structured, and detection process was given.

  3. The ecology and biogeochemistry of stream biofilms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battin, Tom J; Besemer, Katharina; Bengtsson, Mia M; Romani, Anna M; Packmann, Aaron I

    2016-04-01

    Streams and rivers form dense networks, shape the Earth's surface and, in their sediments, provide an immensely large surface area for microbial growth. Biofilms dominate microbial life in streams and rivers, drive crucial ecosystem processes and contribute substantially to global biogeochemical fluxes. In turn, water flow and related deliveries of nutrients and organic matter to biofilms constitute major constraints on microbial life. In this Review, we describe the ecology and biogeochemistry of stream biofilms and highlight the influence of physical and ecological processes on their structure and function. Recent advances in the study of biofilm ecology may pave the way towards a mechanistic understanding of the effects of climate and environmental change on stream biofilms and the biogeochemistry of stream ecosystems.

  4. Effects of watershed history on dissolved organic matter characteristics in headwater streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youhei Yamashita; Brian D. Kloeppel; Jennifer Knoepp; Gregory L. Zausen; Rudolf Jaffe'

    2011-01-01

    Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is recognized as a major component in the global carbon cycle and is an important driver in aquatic ecosystem function. Climate, land use, and forest cover changes all impact stream DOM and alter biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial environments. We determined the temporal variation in DOM quantity and quality in headwater streams at a...

  5. 7 CFR 205.403 - On-site inspections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT PROVISIONS NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM Certification § 205.403 On-site inspections. (a) On-site inspections. (1... site that produces or handles organic products and that is included in an operation for which...

  6. The Midwest Stream Quality Assessment—Influences of human activities on streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Metre, Peter C.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Carlisle, Daren M.; Coles, James F.

    2018-04-16

    Healthy streams and the fish and other organisms that live in them contribute to our quality of life. Extensive modification of the landscape in the Midwestern United States, however, has profoundly affected the condition of streams. Row crops and pavement have replaced grasslands and woodlands, streams have been straightened, and wetlands and fields have been drained. Runoff from agricultural and urban land brings sediment and chemicals to streams. What is the chemical, physical, and biological condition of Midwestern streams? Which physical and chemical stressors are adversely affecting biological communities, what are their origins, and how might we lessen or avoid their adverse effects?In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted the Midwest Stream Quality Assessment to evaluate how human activities affect the biological condition of Midwestern streams. In collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Rivers and Streams Assessment, the USGS sampled 100 streams, chosen to be representative of the different types of watersheds in the region. Biological condition was evaluated based on the number and diversity of fish, algae, and invertebrates in the streams. Changes to the physical habitat and chemical characteristics of the streams—“stressors”—were assessed, and their relation to landscape factors and biological condition was explored by using mathematical models. The data and models help us to better understand how the human activities on the landscape are affecting streams in the region.

  7. Effects of pasture management and off-stream water on temporal/spatial distribution of cattle and stream bank characteristics in cool-season grass pastures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwarte, K A; Russell, J R; Morrical, D G

    2011-10-01

    A 2-yr grazing experiment was conducted to assess the effects of grazing management on cattle distribution and pasture and stream bank characteristics. Six 12.1-ha cool-season grass pastures in central Iowa were allotted to 1 of 3 treatments: continuous stocking with unrestricted stream access (CSU), continuous stocking with stream access restricted to 4.9-m-wide stabilized crossings (CSR), or rotational stocking with stream access restricted to a riparian paddock (RP). Pastures were stocked with 15 fall-calving Angus cows (Bos taurus L.) from mid-May to mid-October for 153 d in 2008 and 2009. A global positioning system (GPS) collar recording cow position every 10 min was placed on at least 1 cow per pasture for 2 wk of each month from May through September. Off-stream water was provided to cattle in CSU and CSR treatments during the second of the 2 wk when GPS collars were on the cattle. A black globe temperature relative humidity index (BGTHI) was measured at 10-min intervals to match the time of the GPS measurements. Each month of the grazing season, forage characteristics (sward height, forage mass, and CP, IVDMD, and P concentrations) and bare and fecal-covered ground were measured. Stream bank erosion susceptibility was visually scored in May, August, and October (pre-, mid-, and post-stocking). Cattle in RP and CSR treatments spent less time (P CSR treatment reduced the probability (P CSR and RP treatments in the stream and streamside zones in September and October and in July and September. Streams in pastures with the CSU treatment had less stable banks (P CSR treatments. Results show that time spent by cattle near pasture streams can be reduced by RP or CSR treatments, thereby decreasing risks of sediment and nutrient loading of pasture streams even during periods of increased BGTHI.

  8. Global Pattern of The Evolutions of the Sub-Auroral Polarization Streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, F.; Zhang, X.; Wang, W.; Wan, W.

    2017-12-01

    Due to the spatial and temporal limitations of the in-situ measurements from the low altitude polar orbiting satellites or the ionospheric scan by incoherent scatter radars, the global configuration and evolution of SAPS are still not very clear. Here, we present multi-satellite observations of the evolution of subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) during the main phase of a server geomagnetic storm occurred on 31 March 2001. DMSP F12 to F15 observations indicate that the SAPS were first generated in the dusk sector at the beginning of the main phase. Then the SAPS channel expanded towards the midnight and moved to lower latitudes as the main phase went on. The peak velocity, latitudinal width, latitudinal alignment, and longitudinal span of the SAPS channels were highly dynamic during the storm main phase. The global evolution of the SAPS corresponds well with that of the region-2 field-aligned currents, which are mainly determined by the azimuthal pressure gradient of the ring current. Further studies on 37 storms and 30 isolated substorms indicate that the lifetime of the SAPS channel was proportional to the period of time for southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The SAPS channel disappeared after northward turning of the IMF. During the recovery phase, if the IMF kept northward, no SAPS channel was generated, if the IMF turned to southward again, however, SAPS channel will be generated again with lifetime proportional to the duration of the southward IMF. During isolated substorms, the SAPS channel was also controlled by IMF. The SAPS channel was generated after substorm onset and the peak drift velocity of the SAPS channel achieved its maximum during the recovery phase of the substorm. It is suggested that, SAPS channel were mainly controlled by IMF, more works should be done with observations or simulations of investigate the global patterns of the SAPS and the magnetosphere-ionosphere couplings.

  9. Remote visual inspection of nuclear fuel pellets with fiber optics and video image processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, F.W.

    1986-01-01

    Westinghouse Hanford Company has designed and is constructing a nuclear fuel fabrication process line for the Department of Energy. This process line includes a pellet surface inspection system that remotely inspects the cylindrical surface of nuclear fuel pellets for surface spots, flaws, or discoloration. The pellets are inspected on a 100 percent basis after pellet sintering. A feeder will deliver the pellets directly to a fiber optic inspection head. The inspection head will view one pellet surface at a time. The surface image of the pellet will be imaged to a closed-circuit color television camera (CCTV). The output signal of the CCTV will be input to a digital imaging processor that stores approximately 25 pellet images at a time. A human operator will visually examine the images of the pellet surfaces on a high resolution monitor and accept or reject the pellets based on visual standards. The operator will use a digitizing tablet to record the location of rejected pellets, which will then be automatically removed from the product stream. The system is expandable to automated disposition of the pellet surface image

  10. Remote visual inspection of nuclear fuel pellets with fiber optics and video image processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, F.W.

    1985-01-01

    Westinghouse Hanford Company has designed and is constructing a nuclear fuel fabrication process line for the Department of Energy. This process line includes a pellet surface inspection system that remotely inspects the cylindrical surface of nuclear fuel pellets for surface spots, flaws, or discoloration. The pellets are inspected on a 100% basis after pellet sintering. A feeder will deliver the pellets directly to fiber optic inspection head. The inspection head will view one pellet surface at a time. The surface image of the pellet will be imaged to a closed-circuit color television camera (CCTV). The output signal of the CCTV will be input to a digital imaging processor that stores approximately 25 pellet images at a time. A human operator will visually examine the images of the pellet surfaces on a high resolution monitor and accept or reject the pellets based on visual standards. The operator will use a digitizing tablet to record the location of rejected pellets, which will then be automatically removed from the product stream. The system is expandable to automated disposition of the pellet surface image

  11. Velocity Statistics and Spectra in Three-Stream Jets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecker, Tobias; Lowe, K. Todd; Ng, Wing F.; Henderson, Brenda; Leib, Stewart

    2016-01-01

    Velocimetry measurements were obtained in three-stream jets at the NASA Glenn Research Center Nozzle Acoustics Test Rig using the time-resolved Doppler global velocimetry technique. These measurements afford exceptional frequency response, to 125 kHz bandwidth, in order to study the detailed dynamics of turbulence in developing shear flows. Mean stream-wise velocity is compared to measurements acquired using particle image velocimetry for validation. Detailed results for convective velocity distributions throughout an axisymmetric plume and the thick side of a plume with an offset third-stream duct are provided. The convective velocity results exhibit that, as expected, the eddy speeds are reduced on the thick side of the plume compared to the axisymmetric case. The results indicate that the time-resolved Doppler global velocimetry method holds promise for obtaining results valuable to the implementation and refinement of jet noise prediction methods being developed for three-stream jets.

  12. CTBT on-site inspections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zucca, J. J.

    2014-05-01

    On-site inspection (OSI) is a critical part of the verification regime for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The OSI verification regime provides for international inspectors to make a suite of measurements and observations on site at the location of an event of interest. The other critical component of the verification regime is the International Monitoring System (IMS), which is a globally distributed network of monitoring stations. The IMS along with technical monitoring data from CTBT member countries, as appropriate, will be used to trigger an OSI. After the decision is made to carry out an OSI, it is important for the inspectors to deploy to the field site rapidly to be able to detect short-lived phenomena such as the aftershocks that may be observable after an underground nuclear explosion. The inspectors will be on site from weeks to months and will be working with many tens of tons of equipment. Parts of the OSI regime will be tested in a field exercise in the country of Jordan late in 2014. The build-up of the OSI regime has been proceeding steadily since the CTBT was signed in 1996 and is on track to becoming a deterrent to someone considering conducting a nuclear explosion in violation of the Treaty.

  13. A new approach for crude oil price prediction based on stream learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuang Gao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Crude oil is the world's leading fuel, and its prices have a big impact on the global environment, economy as well as oil exploration and exploitation activities. Oil price forecasts are very useful to industries, governments and individuals. Although many methods have been developed for predicting oil prices, it remains one of the most challenging forecasting problems due to the high volatility of oil prices. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for crude oil price prediction based on a new machine learning paradigm called stream learning. The main advantage of our stream learning approach is that the prediction model can capture the changing pattern of oil prices since the model is continuously updated whenever new oil price data are available, with very small constant overhead. To evaluate the forecasting ability of our stream learning model, we compare it with three other popular oil price prediction models. The experiment results show that our stream learning model achieves the highest accuracy in terms of both mean squared prediction error and directional accuracy ratio over a variety of forecast time horizons.

  14. Improved plant availability by advanced condition based inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hulshof, Harry J.M.; Noteboom, Jan W.; Welberg, Paul G.M.; Bruijn, Leo E.

    2004-01-01

    An industrial plant has to operate safely, reliably and efficiently at the lowest possible cost. Plant availability plays an important role regarding economic life optimisation. Industrial installations that are under pressure and are operating at high temperatures have a limited life due to creep and fatigue. It is, therefore, of critical importance to know the location of any possible weak spots in the installation. To avoid safety risks, unplanned plant shutdown and, as a consequence, high costs for unavailability, cycling and repair, periodic inspections and strain measurements are recommended. A Speckle Image Correlation Analysis (SPICA) system enables on-stream measurement of deformation due to creep in critical areas like the heat-affected zone in welds. Plant management and operators use the strain measurements to take action when necessary and, consequently, prevent failures. In those plants that have been provided with SPICA-technology for some years plant availability has improved significantly as a result. Another important development for yielding improved availability concerns steam drums. During some 20 years, KEMA has been performing automated ultrasonic steam drum inspections from outside. The Dutch authorities accepted this methodology in this period as an alternative (rather than an addition) after several pilot projects. An advantage of this inspection methodology is the possibility to record of the inspection results and possibility of thus trending these data. The resulting reduction of through time appeared a major benefit for plant owners. Since the authorities adopted the RBI approach during the last 10 years, another advantage of the inspection methodology became apparent: complete scanning and recording of the inspection data of circumferential and longitudinal (butt and fillet) welds, inspection of nozzle welds and inner radius as well as corrosion mapping has been covering all higher risk areas in these drums. This enhanced inspection

  15. Improved plant availability by advanced condition based inspections

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hulshof, Harry J.M.; Noteboom, Jan W; Welberg, Paul G.M.; Bruijn, Leo E

    2004-06-01

    An industrial plant has to operate safely, reliably and efficiently at the lowest possible cost. Plant availability plays an important role regarding economic life optimisation. Industrial installations that are under pressure and are operating at high temperatures have a limited life due to creep and fatigue. It is, therefore, of critical importance to know the location of any possible weak spots in the installation. To avoid safety risks, unplanned plant shutdown and, as a consequence, high costs for unavailability, cycling and repair, periodic inspections and strain measurements are recommended. A Speckle Image Correlation Analysis (SPICA) system enables on-stream measurement of deformation due to creep in critical areas like the heat-affected zone in welds. Plant management and operators use the strain measurements to take action when necessary and, consequently, prevent failures. In those plants that have been provided with SPICA-technology for some years plant availability has improved significantly as a result. Another important development for yielding improved availability concerns steam drums. During some 20 years, KEMA has been performing automated ultrasonic steam drum inspections from outside. The Dutch authorities accepted this methodology in this period as an alternative (rather than an addition) after several pilot projects. An advantage of this inspection methodology is the possibility to record of the inspection results and possibility of thus trending these data. The resulting reduction of through time appeared a major benefit for plant owners. Since the authorities adopted the RBI approach during the last 10 years, another advantage of the inspection methodology became apparent: complete scanning and recording of the inspection data of circumferential and longitudinal (butt and fillet) welds, inspection of nozzle welds and inner radius as well as corrosion mapping has been covering all higher risk areas in these drums. This enhanced inspection

  16. The interactive on-site inspection system: An information management system to support arms control inspections

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    DeLand, S.M.; Widney, T.W.; Horak, K.E.; Caudell, R.B.; Grose, E.M.

    1996-12-01

    The increasing use of on-site inspection (OSI) to meet the nation`s obligations with recently signed treaties requires the nation to manage a variety of inspection requirements. This document describes a prototype automated system to assist in the preparation and management of these inspections.

  17. Subsurface Controls on Stream Intermittency in a Semi-Arid Landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dohman, J.; Godsey, S.; Thackray, G. D.; Hale, R. L.; Wright, K.; Martinez, D.

    2017-12-01

    Intermittent streams currently constitute 30% to greater than 50% of the global river network. In addition, the number of intermittent streams is expected to increase due to changes in land use and climate. These streams provide important ecosystem services, such as water for irrigation, increased biodiversity, and high rates of nutrient cycling. Many hydrological studies have focused on mapping current intermittent flow regimes or evaluating long-term flow records, but very few have investigated the underlying causes of stream intermittency. The disconnection and reconnection of surface flow reflects the capacity of the subsurface to accommodate flow, so characterizing subsurface flow is key to understanding stream drying. We assess how subsurface flow paths control local surface flows during low-flow periods, including intermittency. Water table dynamics were monitored in an intermittent reach of Gibson Jack Creek in southeastern Idaho. Four transects were delineated with a groundwater well located in the hillslope, riparian zone, and in the stream, for a total of 12 groundwater wells. The presence or absence of surface flow was determined by frequent visual observations as well as in situ loggers every 30m along the 200m study reach. The rate of surface water drying was measured in conjunction with temperature, precipitation, subsurface hydraulic conductivity, hillslope-riparian-stream connectivity and subsurface travel time. Initial results during an unusually wet year suggest different responses in reaches that were previously observed to occasionally cease flowing. Flows in the intermittent reaches had less coherent and lower amplitude diel variations during base flow periods than reaches that had never been observed to dry out. Our findings will help contribute to our understanding of mechanisms driving expansion and contraction cycles in intermittent streams, increase our ability to predict how land use and climate change will affect flow regimes, and

  18. Stream biogeochemical resilience in the age of Anthropocene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, H.; Creed, I. F.

    2017-12-01

    Recent evidence indicates that biogeochemical cycles are being pushed beyond the tolerance limits of the earth system in the age of the Anthropocene placing terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at risk. Here, we explored the question: Is there empirical evidence of global atmospheric changes driving losses in stream biogeochemical resilience towards a new normal? Stream biogeochemical resilience is the process of returning to equilibrium conditions after a disturbance and can be measured using three metrics: reactivity (the highest initial response after a disturbance), return rate (the rate of return to equilibrium condition after reactive changes), and variance of the stationary distribution (the signal to noise ratio). Multivariate autoregressive models were used to derive the three metrics for streams along a disturbance gradient - from natural systems where global drivers would dominate, to relatively managed or modified systems where global and local drivers would interact. We observed a loss of biogeochemical resilience in all streams. The key biogeochemical constituent(s) that may be driving loss of biogeochemical resilience were identified from the time series of the stream biogeochemical constituents. Non-stationary trends (detected by Mann-Kendall analysis) and stationary cycles (revealed through Morlet wavelet analysis) were removed, and the standard deviation (SD) of the remaining residuals were analyzed to determine if there was an increase in SD over time that would indicate a pending shift towards a new normal. We observed that nitrate-N and total phosphorus showed behaviours indicative of a pending shift in natural and managed forest systems, but not in agricultural systems. This study provides empirical support that stream ecosystems are showing signs of exceeding planetary boundary tolerance levels and shifting towards a "new normal" in response to global changes, which can be exacerbated by local management activities. Future work will consider

  19. In-field inspection support software: A status report on the Common Inspection On-site Software Package (CIOSP) project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novatchev, Dimitre; Titov, Pavel; Siradjov, Bakhtiiar; Vlad, Ioan; Xiao Jing

    2001-01-01

    Full text: IAEA has invested much thought and effort into developing software that can assist inspectors during their inspection work. Experience with such applications has been steadily growing and IAEA has recently commissioned a next-generation software package. This kind of software accommodates inspection tasks that can vary substantially in function depending on the type of installation being inspected as well as ensures that the resulting software package has a wide range of usability and can preclude excessive development of plant-specific applications. The Common Inspection On-site Software Package is being developed in the Department of Safeguards to address the limitations of the existing software and to expand its coverage of the inspection process. CIOSP is 'common' in that it is aimed at providing support for as many facilities as possible with the minimum re-configuration. At the same time it has to cater to varying needs of individual facilities, different instrumentation and verification methods used. A component-based approach was taken to successfully tackle the challenges that the development of this software presented. CIOSP consists of the following major components: A framework into which individual plug-ins supporting various inspection activities can integrate at run-time; A central data store containing all facility configuration data and all data collected during inspections; A local data store, which resides on the inspector's computer, where the current inspection's data is stored; A set of services used by all plug-ins (i.e. data transformation, authentication, replication services etc.). This architecture allows for incremental development and extension of the software with plug-ins that support individual inspection activities. The core set of components along with the framework, the Inventory Verification, Book Examination and Records and Reports Comparison plug-ins have been developed. The development of the Short Notice Random

  20. Relative effects of climate change and wildfires on stream temperatures: A simulation modeling approach in a Rocky Mountain watershed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lisa Holsinger; Robert E. Keane; Daniel J. Isaak; Lisa Eby; Michael K. Young

    2014-01-01

    Freshwater ecosystems are warming globally from the direct effects of climate change on air temperature and hydrology and the indirect effects on near-stream vegetation. In fire-prone landscapes, vegetative change may be especially rapid and cause significant local stream temperature increases but the importance of these increases relative to broader changes associated...

  1. Stretch-minimising stream surfaces

    KAUST Repository

    Barton, Michael; Kosinka, Jin; Calo, Victor M.

    2015-01-01

    We study the problem of finding stretch-minimising stream surfaces in a divergence-free vector field. These surfaces are generated by motions of seed curves that propagate through the field in a stretch minimising manner, i.e., they move without stretching or shrinking, preserving the length of their arbitrary arc. In general fields, such curves may not exist. How-ever, the divergence-free constraint gives rise to these 'stretch-free' curves that are locally arc-length preserving when infinitesimally propagated. Several families of stretch-free curves are identified and used as initial guesses for stream surface generation. These surfaces are subsequently globally optimised to obtain the best stretch-minimising stream surfaces in a given divergence-free vector field. Our algorithm was tested on benchmark datasets, proving its applicability to incompressible fluid flow simulations, where our stretch-minimising stream surfaces realistically reflect the flow of a flexible univariate object. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Stretch-minimising stream surfaces

    KAUST Repository

    Barton, Michael

    2015-05-01

    We study the problem of finding stretch-minimising stream surfaces in a divergence-free vector field. These surfaces are generated by motions of seed curves that propagate through the field in a stretch minimising manner, i.e., they move without stretching or shrinking, preserving the length of their arbitrary arc. In general fields, such curves may not exist. How-ever, the divergence-free constraint gives rise to these \\'stretch-free\\' curves that are locally arc-length preserving when infinitesimally propagated. Several families of stretch-free curves are identified and used as initial guesses for stream surface generation. These surfaces are subsequently globally optimised to obtain the best stretch-minimising stream surfaces in a given divergence-free vector field. Our algorithm was tested on benchmark datasets, proving its applicability to incompressible fluid flow simulations, where our stretch-minimising stream surfaces realistically reflect the flow of a flexible univariate object. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Discussion on unpacking inspection of imported civil nuclear safety equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Chan; Zhang Wenguang; Li Maolin; Li Shixin; Jin Gang; Yao Yuan

    2014-01-01

    This paper introduces the purpose, contents, process and requirements of unpacking inspection which is the second stage of safety inspection of imported civil nuclear safety equipment, expresses review key points on application documents of unpacking inspection, processes of witness on-the-spot before unpacking inspection outside the civil nuclear facilities by the test agency, discusses understanding of unpacking inspection, supervision of manufacture, inspection prior to shipment, supervision of loading and acceptance by the unit operating civil nuclear facilities, reports on unpacking inspection. Some suggestions on reinforcing the unpacking inspection in China are concerned. (authors)

  4. Dynamically Scaling Apache Storm for the Analysis of Streaming Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veen, J.S. van der; Waaij, B.D. van der; Lazovik, E.; Wijbrandi, W.E.; Meijer, R.J.

    2015-01-01

    Stream processing platforms allow applications to analyse incoming data continuously. Several use cases exist that make use of these capabilities, ranging from monitoring of physical infrastructures to pre selecting video surveillance feeds for human inspection. It is difficult to predict how much

  5. A Statistical Method to Predict Flow Permanence in Dryland Streams from Time Series of Stream Temperature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan Arismendi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Intermittent and ephemeral streams represent more than half of the length of the global river network. Dryland freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to changes in human-related water uses as well as shifts in terrestrial climates. Yet, the description and quantification of patterns of flow permanence in these systems is challenging mostly due to difficulties in instrumentation. Here, we took advantage of existing stream temperature datasets in dryland streams in the northwest Great Basin desert, USA, to extract critical information on climate-sensitive patterns of flow permanence. We used a signal detection technique, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs, to extract information from daily time series of stream temperature to diagnose patterns of stream drying. Specifically, we applied HMMs to time series of daily standard deviation (SD of stream temperature (i.e., dry stream channels typically display highly variable daily temperature records compared to wet stream channels between April and August (2015–2016. We used information from paired stream and air temperature data loggers as well as co-located stream temperature data loggers with electrical resistors as confirmatory sources of the timing of stream drying. We expanded our approach to an entire stream network to illustrate the utility of the method to detect patterns of flow permanence over a broader spatial extent. We successfully identified and separated signals characteristic of wet and dry stream conditions and their shifts over time. Most of our study sites within the entire stream network exhibited a single state over the entire season (80%, but a portion of them showed one or more shifts among states (17%. We provide recommendations to use this approach based on a series of simple steps. Our findings illustrate a successful method that can be used to rigorously quantify flow permanence regimes in streams using existing records of stream temperature.

  6. A statistical method to predict flow permanence in dryland streams from time series of stream temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arismendi, Ivan; Dunham, Jason B.; Heck, Michael; Schultz, Luke; Hockman-Wert, David

    2017-01-01

    Intermittent and ephemeral streams represent more than half of the length of the global river network. Dryland freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to changes in human-related water uses as well as shifts in terrestrial climates. Yet, the description and quantification of patterns of flow permanence in these systems is challenging mostly due to difficulties in instrumentation. Here, we took advantage of existing stream temperature datasets in dryland streams in the northwest Great Basin desert, USA, to extract critical information on climate-sensitive patterns of flow permanence. We used a signal detection technique, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), to extract information from daily time series of stream temperature to diagnose patterns of stream drying. Specifically, we applied HMMs to time series of daily standard deviation (SD) of stream temperature (i.e., dry stream channels typically display highly variable daily temperature records compared to wet stream channels) between April and August (2015–2016). We used information from paired stream and air temperature data loggers as well as co-located stream temperature data loggers with electrical resistors as confirmatory sources of the timing of stream drying. We expanded our approach to an entire stream network to illustrate the utility of the method to detect patterns of flow permanence over a broader spatial extent. We successfully identified and separated signals characteristic of wet and dry stream conditions and their shifts over time. Most of our study sites within the entire stream network exhibited a single state over the entire season (80%), but a portion of them showed one or more shifts among states (17%). We provide recommendations to use this approach based on a series of simple steps. Our findings illustrate a successful method that can be used to rigorously quantify flow permanence regimes in streams using existing records of stream temperature.

  7. Effects of remediation on the bacterial community of an acid mine drainage impacted stream.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Suchismita; Moitra, Moumita; Woolverton, Christopher J; Leff, Laura G

    2012-11-01

    Acid mine drainage (AMD) represents a global threat to water resources, and as such, remediation of AMD-impacted streams is a common practice. During this study, we examined bacterial community structure and environmental conditions in a low-order AMD-impacted stream before, during, and after remediation. Bacterial community structure was examined via polymerase chain reaction amplification of 16S rRNA genes followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Also, bacterial abundance and physicochemical data (including metal concentrations) were collected and relationships to bacterial community structure were determined using BIO-ENV analysis. Remediation of the study stream altered environmental conditions, including pH and concentrations of some metals, and consequently, the bacterial community changed. However, remediation did not necessarily restore the stream to conditions found in the unimpacted reference stream; for example, bacterial abundances and concentrations of some elements, such as sulfur, magnesium, and manganese, were different in the remediated stream than in the reference stream. BIO-ENV analysis revealed that changes in pH and iron concentration, associated with remediation, primarily explained temporal alterations in bacterial community structure. Although the sites sampled in the remediated stream were in relatively close proximity to each other, spatial variation in community composition suggests that differences in local environmental conditions may have large impacts on the microbial assemblage.

  8. Outer navigation of a inspection robot by means of feedback of global guidance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Segovia de los R, A.; Bucio V, F.; Garduno G, M.

    2008-01-01

    The objective of this article is the presentation of an inspection system to mobile robot navigating in exteriors by means of the employment of a feedback of instantaneous guidance with respect to a global reference throughout moment of the displacement. The robot evolves obeying the commands coming from the one tele operator which indicates the diverse addresses by means of the operation console that the robot should take using for it information provided by an electronic compass. The mobile robot employee in the experimentations is a Pioneer 3-AT, which counts with a sensor series required to obtain an operation of more autonomy. The electronic compass offers geographical information coded in a format SPI, reason for which a micro controller (μC) economic of general use has been an employee for to transfer the information to the format RS-232, originally used by the Pioneer 3-AT. The orientation information received by the robot by means of their serial port RS-232 secondary it is forwarded to the computer hostess in the one which a program Java is used to generate the commands for the robot navigation control and to deploy one graphic interface user utilized to receive the order of the operator. This research is part of an ambitious project in which it is tried to count on an inspection system and monitoring of sites in which risks of high radiation levels could exist, thus a navigation systems in exteriors could be very useful. The complete system will count besides the own sensors of the robot, with certain numbers of agree sensors to the variables that are desired to monitor. The resulting values of such measurements will be visualized in real time in the graphic interface user, thanks to a bidirectional wireless communication among the station of operation and the mobile robot. (Author)

  9. On-stream chemical element monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Averitt, O.R.; Dorsch, R.R.

    1979-01-01

    An apparatus and method for on-stream chemical element monitoring are described wherein a multiplicity of sample streams are flowed continuously through individual analytical cells and fluorescence analyses are performed on the sample streams in sequence, together with a method of controlling the time duration of each analysis as a function of the concomitant radiation exposure of a preselected perforate reference material interposed in the sample-radiation source path

  10. A Novel Method of Autonomous Inspection for Transmission Line based on Cable Inspection Robot LiDAR Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinyan Qin

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available With the growth of the national economy, there is increasing demand for electricity, which forces transmission line corridors to become structurally complicated and extend to complex environments (e.g., mountains, forests. It is a great challenge to inspect transmission line in these regions. To address these difficulties, a novel method of autonomous inspection for transmission line is proposed based on cable inspection robot (CIR LiDAR data, which mainly includes two steps: preliminary inspection and autonomous inspection. In preliminary inspection, the position and orientation system (POS data is used for original point cloud dividing, ground point filtering, and structured partition. A hierarchical classification strategy is established to identify the classes and positions of the abnormal points. In autonomous inspection, CIR can autonomously reach the specified points through inspection planning. These inspection targets are imaged with PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom cameras by coordinate transformation. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by test site experiments and actual line experiments, respectively. The proposed method greatly reduces manpower and improves inspection accuracy, providing a theoretical basis for intelligent inspection of transmission lines in the future.

  11. A Tale of a Global Family: Shifts and Connections among Different Streams of Marriage Migrations in Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongfang Hao

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Transnational marriage migration is an important global phenomenon, yet each marriage remains an intimate, personal, and life-shaping event. This article traces the life of a family in rural northeast China that has developed global connections through marriage. In particular, it focuses on the story of a Chinese husband and his Vietnamese wife, which provides insight into the expansion of marriage migrations to and from China over the last decade. The article analyzes how different streams of marriage migrations are linked, specifically the flow of wives from China to Japan and South Korea, and from Vietnam to Taiwan, South Korea, and China. These flows are interconnected in many ways, including through personal networks, brokerage, remittances, and flows of information. Such interconnections in turn exemplify how apparently independent and unrelated migration flows may present multilayered connections of migration factors, diversification, and increasing complexity of migration experiences.

  12. Inspection planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korosec, D.; Levstek, M.F.

    2001-01-01

    Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) division of nuclear and radiological safety inspection has developed systematic approach to their inspections. To be efficient in their efforts regarding regular and other types of inspections, in past years, the inspection plan has been developed. It is yearly based and organized on a such systematic way, that all areas of nuclear safety important activities of the licensee are covered. The inspection plan assures appropriate preparation for conducting the inspections, allows the overview of the progress regarding the areas to be covered during the year. Depending on the licensee activities and nature of facility (nuclear power plant, research reactor, radioactive waste storage, others), the plan has different levels of intensity of inspections and also their frequency. One of the basic approaches of the plan is to cover all nuclear and radiological important activities on such way, that all regulatory requests are fulfilled. In addition, the inspection plan is a good tool to improve inspection effectiveness based on previous experience and allows to have the oversight of the current status of fulfillment of planned inspections. Future improvement of the plan is necessary in the light of newest achievements on this field in the nuclear world, that means, new types of inspections are planned and will be incorporated into plan in next year.(author)

  13. Hygiene inspections on passenger ships in Europe - an overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bartlett Christopher LR

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hygiene inspections on passenger ships are important for the prevention of communicable diseases. The European Union (EU countries conduct hygiene inspections on passenger ships in order to ensure that appropriate measures have been taken to eliminate potential sources of contamination which could lead to the spread of communicable diseases. This study was implemented within the framework of the EU SHIPSAN project and it investigates the legislation applied and practices of hygiene inspections of passenger ships in the EU Member States (MS and European Free Trade Association countries. Methods Two questionnaires were composed and disseminated to 28 countries. A total of 92 questionnaires were completed by competent authorities responsible for hygiene inspections (n = 48 and the creation of legislation (n = 44; response rates were 96%, and 75.9%, respectively. Results Out of the 48 responding authorities responsible for hygiene inspections, a routine programme was used by 19 (39.6% of these to conduct inspections of ships on national voyages and by 26 (54.2% for ships on international voyages. Standardised inspection forms are used by 59.1% of the authorities. A scoring inspection system is applied by five (11.6% of the 43 responding authorities. Environmental sampling is conducted by 84.1% of the authorities (37 out of 44. The inspection results are collected and analysed by 54.5% (24 out of 44 of the authorities, while 9 authorities (20.5% declared that they publish the results. Inspections are conducted during outbreak investigations by 75% and 70.8% of the authorities, on ships on national and international voyages, respectively. A total of 31 (64.6% and 39 (81.3% authorities conducted inspections during complaint investigations on ships on international and on national voyages, respectively. Port-to-port communication between the national port authorities was reported by 35.4% (17 out of 48 of the responding authorities

  14. Hygiene inspections on passenger ships in Europe - an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mouchtouri, Varvara A; Westacott, Sandra; Nichols, Gordon; Riemer, Tobias; Skipp, Mel; Bartlett, Christopher L R; Kremastinou, Jenny; Hadjichristodoulou, Christos

    2010-03-10

    Hygiene inspections on passenger ships are important for the prevention of communicable diseases. The European Union (EU) countries conduct hygiene inspections on passenger ships in order to ensure that appropriate measures have been taken to eliminate potential sources of contamination which could lead to the spread of communicable diseases. This study was implemented within the framework of the EU SHIPSAN project and it investigates the legislation applied and practices of hygiene inspections of passenger ships in the EU Member States (MS) and European Free Trade Association countries. Two questionnaires were composed and disseminated to 28 countries. A total of 92 questionnaires were completed by competent authorities responsible for hygiene inspections (n = 48) and the creation of legislation (n = 44); response rates were 96%, and 75.9%, respectively. Out of the 48 responding authorities responsible for hygiene inspections, a routine programme was used by 19 (39.6%) of these to conduct inspections of ships on national voyages and by 26 (54.2%) for ships on international voyages. Standardised inspection forms are used by 59.1% of the authorities. A scoring inspection system is applied by five (11.6%) of the 43 responding authorities. Environmental sampling is conducted by 84.1% of the authorities (37 out of 44). The inspection results are collected and analysed by 54.5% (24 out of 44) of the authorities, while 9 authorities (20.5%) declared that they publish the results. Inspections are conducted during outbreak investigations by 75% and 70.8% of the authorities, on ships on national and international voyages, respectively. A total of 31 (64.6%) and 39 (81.3%) authorities conducted inspections during complaint investigations on ships on international and on national voyages, respectively. Port-to-port communication between the national port authorities was reported by 35.4% (17 out of 48) of the responding authorities and 20.8% (10 out of 48) of the port

  15. Hygiene inspections on passenger ships in Europe - an overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Background Hygiene inspections on passenger ships are important for the prevention of communicable diseases. The European Union (EU) countries conduct hygiene inspections on passenger ships in order to ensure that appropriate measures have been taken to eliminate potential sources of contamination which could lead to the spread of communicable diseases. This study was implemented within the framework of the EU SHIPSAN project and it investigates the legislation applied and practices of hygiene inspections of passenger ships in the EU Member States (MS) and European Free Trade Association countries. Methods Two questionnaires were composed and disseminated to 28 countries. A total of 92 questionnaires were completed by competent authorities responsible for hygiene inspections (n = 48) and the creation of legislation (n = 44); response rates were 96%, and 75.9%, respectively. Results Out of the 48 responding authorities responsible for hygiene inspections, a routine programme was used by 19 (39.6%) of these to conduct inspections of ships on national voyages and by 26 (54.2%) for ships on international voyages. Standardised inspection forms are used by 59.1% of the authorities. A scoring inspection system is applied by five (11.6%) of the 43 responding authorities. Environmental sampling is conducted by 84.1% of the authorities (37 out of 44). The inspection results are collected and analysed by 54.5% (24 out of 44) of the authorities, while 9 authorities (20.5%) declared that they publish the results. Inspections are conducted during outbreak investigations by 75% and 70.8% of the authorities, on ships on national and international voyages, respectively. A total of 31 (64.6%) and 39 (81.3%) authorities conducted inspections during complaint investigations on ships on international and on national voyages, respectively. Port-to-port communication between the national port authorities was reported by 35.4% (17 out of 48) of the responding authorities and 20.8% (10 out

  16. The construction of solid waste form test and inspection facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Hun Hwee; Lee, Kang Moo; Jung, In Ha; Kim, Sung Hwan; Yoo, Jeong Woo; Lee, Jong Youl; Bae, Sang Min

    1988-01-01

    The solid waste form test and inspection facility is a facility to test and inspect the characteristics of waste forms, such as homogenity, mechanical structure, thermal behaviour, water resistance and leachability. Such kinds of characteristics in waste forms are required to meet a certain conditions for long-term storage or for final disposal of wastes. The facility will be used to evaluate safety for the disposal of wastes by test and inspection. At this moment, the efforts to search the most effective management of the radioactive wastes generated from power plants and radioisotope user are being executed by the people related to this field. Therefore, the facility becomes more significant tool because of its guidance of sucessfully converting wastes into forms to give a credit to the safety of waste disposal for managing the radioactive wastes. In addition the overall technical standards for inspecting of waste forms such as the standardized equipment and processes in the facility will be estabilished in the begining of 1990's when the project of waste management will be on the stream. Some of the items of the project have been standardized for the purpose of localization. In future, this facility will be utilized not only for the inspection of waste forms but also for the periodic decontamination apparatus by remote operation techniques. (Author)

  17. 40-Gbps optical backbone network deep packet inspection based on FPGA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, Yuan; Huang, Zhiping; Su, Shaojing

    2014-11-01

    In the era of information, the big data, which contains huge information, brings about some problems, such as high speed transmission, storage and real-time analysis and process. As the important media for data transmission, the Internet is the significant part for big data processing research. With the large-scale usage of the Internet, the data streaming of network is increasing rapidly. The speed level in the main fiber optic communication of the present has reached 40Gbps, even 100Gbps, therefore data on the optical backbone network shows some features of massive data. Generally, data services are provided via IP packets on the optical backbone network, which is constituted with SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy). Hence this method that IP packets are directly mapped into SDH payload is named POS (Packet over SDH) technology. Aiming at the problems of real time process of high speed massive data, this paper designs a process system platform based on ATCA for 40Gbps POS signal data stream recognition and packet content capture, which employs the FPGA as the CPU. This platform offers pre-processing of clustering algorithms, service traffic identification and data mining for the following big data storage and analysis with high efficiency. Also, the operational procedure is proposed in this paper. Four channels of 10Gbps POS signal decomposed by the analysis module, which chooses FPGA as the kernel, are inputted to the flow classification module and the pattern matching component based on TCAM. Based on the properties of the length of payload and net flows, buffer management is added to the platform to keep the key flow information. According to data stream analysis, DPI (deep packet inspection) and flow balance distribute, the signal is transmitted to the backend machine through the giga Ethernet ports on back board. Practice shows that the proposed platform is superior to the traditional applications based on ASIC and NP.

  18. Mechatronics Design of an Autonomous Pipe-Inspection Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdellatif Mohamed

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Pipelines require periodical inspection to detect corrosion, deformation and congestion with obstacles in the network. Autonomous mobile robots are good solutions for this task. Visual information from the pipe interior associated with a location stamp is needed for inspection. In this paper, the previous designs of autonomous robots are reviewed and a new robot is developed to ensure simple design and smooth motion. Images are processed online to detect irregularity in pipe and then start capturing high resolution pictures to conserve the limited memory size. The new robot moves in pipes and provides video stream of pipe interior with location stamp. The visual information can later be processed offline to extract more information of pipeline condition to make maintenance decisions.

  19. Actinic inspection of multilayer defects on EUV masks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barty, A; Liu, Y; Gullikson, E; Taylor, J S; Wood, O

    2005-01-01

    The production of defect-free mask blanks, and the development of techniques for inspecting and qualifying EUV mask blanks, remains a key challenge for EUV lithography. In order to ensure a reliable supply of defect-free mask blanks, it is necessary to develop techniques to reliably and accurately detect defects on un-patterned mask blanks. These inspection tools must be able to accurately detect all critical defects whilst simultaneously having the minimum possible false-positive detection rate. There continues to be improvement in high-speed non-actinic mask blank inspection tools, and it is anticipated that these tools can and will be used by industry to qualify EUV mask blanks. However, the outstanding question remains one of validating that non-actinic inspection techniques are capable of detecting all printable EUV defects. To qualify the performance of non-actinic inspection tools, a unique dual-mode EUV mask inspection system has been installed at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In high-speed inspection mode, whole mask blanks are scanned for defects using 13.5-nm wavelength light to identify and map all locations on the mask that scatter a significant amount of EUV light. In imaging, or defect review mode, a zone plate is placed in the reflected beam path to image a region of interest onto a CCD detector with an effective resolution on the mask of 100-nm or better. Combining the capabilities of the two inspection tools into one system provides the unique capability to determine the coordinates of native defects that can be used to compare actinic defect inspection with visible light defect inspection tools under commercial development, and to provide data for comparing scattering models for EUV mask defects

  20. Simulating the effect of climate change on stream temperature in the Trout Lake Watershed, Wisconsin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Selbig, William R., E-mail: wrselbig@usgs.gov

    2015-07-15

    The potential for increases in stream temperature across many spatial and temporal scales as a result of climate change can pose a difficult challenge for environmental managers, especially when addressing thermal requirements for sensitive aquatic species. This study evaluates simulated changes to the thermal regime of three northern Wisconsin streams in response to a projected changing climate using a modeling framework and considers implications of thermal stresses to the fish community. The Stream Network Temperature Model (SNTEMP) was used in combination with a coupled groundwater and surface water flow model to assess forecasts in climate from six global circulation models and three emission scenarios. Model results suggest that annual average stream temperature will steadily increase approximately 1.1 to 3.2 °C (varying by stream) by the year 2100 with differences in magnitude between emission scenarios. Daily mean stream temperature during the months of July and August, a period when cold-water fish communities are most sensitive, showed excursions from optimal temperatures with increased frequency compared to current conditions. Projections of daily mean stream temperature, in some cases, were no longer in the range necessary to sustain a cold water fishery. - Highlights: • A stream temperature model was calibrated for three streams in northern Wisconsin. • The effect of climate change on stream temperature was simulated in each stream. • Annual average stream temperature was projected to rise from 1 to 3 °C by 2100. • Forecasts of stream temperature exceeded optimal ranges for brook trout.

  1. Global change and biogeochemical cycles: The south Asia region

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Mitra, A.P.; DileepKumar, M.; Kumar, K.R.; Abrol, Y.P.; Kalra, N.; Velayutham, M.; Naqvi, S.W.A.

    stream_size 33 stream_content_type text/plain stream_name Global-Region_Linkage_Earth_Syst_2002_75.pdf.txt stream_source_info Global-Region_Linkage_Earth_Syst_2002_75.pdf.txt Content-Encoding ISO-8859-1 Content-Type text...

  2. The Global Climate Dashboard: a Software Interface to Stream Comprehensive Climate Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardiner, N.; Phillips, M.; NOAA Climate Portal Dashboard

    2011-12-01

    The Global Climate Dashboard is an integral component of NOAA's web portal to climate data, services, and value-added content for decision-makers, teachers, and the science-attentive public (www.clmate.gov). The dashboard provides a rapid view of observational data that demonstrate climate change and variability, as well as outputs from the Climate Model Intercomparison Project version 3, which was built to support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fourth assessment. The data shown in the dashboard therefore span a range of climate science disciplines with applications that serve audiences with diverse needs. The dashboard is designed with reusable software components that allow it to be implemented incrementally on a wide range of platforms including desktops, tablet devices, and mobile phones. The underlying software components support live streaming of data and provide a way of encapsulating graph sytles and other presentation details into a device-independent standard format that results in a common visual look and feel across all platforms. Here we describe the pedagogical objectives, technical implementation, and the deployment of the dashboard through climate.gov and partner web sites and describe plans to develop a mobile application using the same framework.

  3. CTBTO tests its on-site inspection regime in Kazakhstan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-07-01

    The former Soviet Union's nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk in the east of today's Kazakhstan was closed down after Kazakhstan became an independent State in 1991. This region in the Kazakh steppe is deserted and pockmarked by countless craters, remnants of over 450 nuclear explosions that were detonated there. In September 2008, the area will start brimming with activity. Scientists, diplomats and journalists will arrive from all over the world to witness an endeavour in the Kazakh steppe that is of great significance for the safety of our planet. The organization that monitors the comprehensive ban on nuclear testing will conduct a large scale exercise to test one of the key elements of its global alarm system - on-site inspections.

  4. Neotropical Amphibian Declines Affect Stream Ecosystem Properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connelly, S.; Pringle, C. M.; Bixby, R. J.; Whiles, M. R.; Lips, K. R.; Brenes, R.; Colon-Gaud, J. C.; Kilham, S.; Hunte-Brown, M.

    2005-05-01

    Global declines of amphibians are well documented, yet effects of these dramatic losses on ecosystem structure and function are poorly understood. As part of a larger collaborative project, we compared two upland Panamanian streams. Both streams are biologically and geologically similar; however, one stream (Fortuna) has recently experienced almost complete extirpation of stream-dwelling frogs, while the other (Cope) still has intact populations. We experimentally excluded tadpoles from localized areas in each stream. We then compared chlorophyll a, algal community composition, ash-free dry mass (AFDM), inorganic matter, and insect assemblages in control and exclusion areas. Additionally, we sampled the natural substrate of both streams monthly for chlorophyll a, algal community composition, AFDM, and inorganic matter. At Cope, chlorophyll a, AFDM, and inorganic matter were greater in areas where tadpoles were excluded than in their presence. Numbers of dominant algal species (e.g., Nupela praecipua and Eunotia siolii) were greater in the exclusion versus control treatments. Monthly sampling of natural substrate indicated higher chlorophyll a and AFDM at Cope compared to Fortuna. Our data suggest that stream-dwelling anuran larvae have significant impacts on algal communities. These results also have implications for predicting the relevance of short-term experimental manipulations to long-term, whole-stream processes.

  5. In-stream Physical Heterogeneity, Rainfall Aided Flushing, and Discharge on Stream Water Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomes, Pattiyage I A; Wai, Onyx W H

    2015-08-01

    Implications of instream physical heterogeneity, rainfall-aided flushing, and stream discharge on water quality control have been investigated in a headwater stream of a climatic region that has contrasting dry and wet seasons. Dry (low flow) season's physical heterogeneity showed a positive correlation with good water quality. However, in the wet season, physical heterogeneity showed minor or no significance on water quality variations. Furthermore, physical heterogeneity appeared to be more complementary with good water quality subsequent to rainfall events. In many cases stream discharge was a reason for poor water quality. For the dry season, graywater inputs to the stream could be held responsible. In the wet season, it was probably the result of catchment level disturbances (e.g., regulation of ephemeral freshwater paths). Overall, this study revealed the importance of catchment-based approaches on water quality improvement in tandem with in-stream approaches framed on a temporal scale.

  6. Study on the inspection item and inspection method of HTGR fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Na, Sang Ho; Kim, Y. K.; Jeong, K. C.; Oh, S. C.; Cho, M. S.; Kim, Y. M.; Lee, Y. W.

    2006-01-01

    The type of HTGR(High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor) fuel is different according to the reactor type. Generally the HTGR fuel has two types. One is a block type, which is manufactured in Japan or America. And the other is a pebble type, which is manufactured in China. Regardless of the fuel type, the fuel manufacturing process started from the coated particle, which is consisted of fuel kernel and the 4 coating layers. Korea has a plan to fabricate a HTGR fuel in near future. The appropriate quality inspection standards are requested to produce a sound and reliable coated particle for HTGR fuel. Therefore, the inspection items and the inspection methods of HTGR fuel between Japan and China, which countries have the manufacturing process, are investigated to establish a proper inspection standards of our product characteristics

  7. Remote visual inspection of nuclear fuel pellets with fiber optics and video image processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, F.W.

    1987-01-01

    Westinghouse Hanford Company has designed and constructed a nuclear fuel fabrication process line for the U.S. Department of Energy. This process line includes a system that remotely inspects the cylindrical surface of nuclear fuel pellets for surface spots, flaws, or discoloration. The pellets are inspected on a 100% basis after pellet sintering. A feeder delivers the pellets directly to a fiber optic inspection head, which views one pellet surface at a time and images it to a closed-circuit color television camera (CCTV). The output signal of the CCTV is input to a digital imaging processor that stores approximately 25 pellet images at a time. A human operator visually examines the images of the pellet surfaces on a high resolution monitor and accepts or rejects the pellets based on visual standards. The operator uses a digitizing tablet to record the location of rejected pellets, which are then automatically removed from the product stream. The system is expandable to automated disposition of the pellet surface image

  8. Streaming Compression of Hexahedral Meshes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Isenburg, M; Courbet, C

    2010-02-03

    We describe a method for streaming compression of hexahedral meshes. Given an interleaved stream of vertices and hexahedral our coder incrementally compresses the mesh in the presented order. Our coder is extremely memory efficient when the input stream documents when vertices are referenced for the last time (i.e. when it contains topological finalization tags). Our coder then continuously releases and reuses data structures that no longer contribute to compressing the remainder of the stream. This means in practice that our coder has only a small fraction of the whole mesh in memory at any time. We can therefore compress very large meshes - even meshes that do not file in memory. Compared to traditional, non-streaming approaches that load the entire mesh and globally reorder it during compression, our algorithm trades a less compact compressed representation for significant gains in speed, memory, and I/O efficiency. For example, on the 456k hexahedra 'blade' mesh, our coder is twice as fast and uses 88 times less memory (only 3.1 MB) with the compressed file increasing about 3% in size. We also present the first scheme for predictive compression of properties associated with hexahedral cells.

  9. Calculation of frequency of optimal inspection in non-notice inspection game

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumakura, Shinichi; Gotoh, Yoshiki; Kikuchi, Masahiro

    2011-01-01

    We consider a non-notice inspection game between an inspection party, who verifies absence of diversion of nuclear materials and misuse of nuclear facility, and a facility operator, who tries them in a nuclear facility. In the game, the payoff for each player, inspection party and facility operator, is composed of various elements (parameters) such as facility type, a type of nuclear material, number of inspection and others. Their payoffs consist of profits and costs (minus profit). Because of random nature by non-notice inspection, its deterrence effect and inspection number could have the potential to affect their payoffs. In this paper, their payoffs taking into consideration of the inspection environment above are represented as a function of inspection number. Then, the optimal number is calculated from a condition on their payoffs for number of inspection. Comparable statics analysis is performed in order to observe the change of inspection number which is equilibrium point by changing these parameters including deterrence effect, because the number derived depends on each parameter within the inspection environment. Based on the analysis results, necessary conditions to reduce the inspection number keeping inspection effect are pointed out. (author)

  10. Carbon inventories and atmospheric temperatures: A global and regional perspective

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    DileepKumar, M.

    stream_size 3 stream_content_type text/plain stream_name Proc_Natl_Conf_Global_Temp_Rise_2007_133.pdf.txt stream_source_info Proc_Natl_Conf_Global_Temp_Rise_2007_133.pdf.txt Content-Encoding ISO-8859-1 Content-Type text...

  11. Study on In-Service Inspection Program and Inspection Technologies for Commercialized Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Masato Ando; Shigenobu Kubo; Yoshio Kamishima; Toru Iitsuka

    2006-01-01

    The objective of in-service inspection of a nuclear power plant is to confirm integrity of function of components necessary to safety, and satisfy the needs to protect plant investment and to achieve high plant ability. The sodium-cooled fast reactor, which is designed in the feasibility study on commercialized fast reactor cycle systems in Japan, has two characteristics related to in-service inspection. The first is that all sodium coolant boundary structures have double-wall system. Continuous monitoring of the sodium coolant boundary structures are adopted for inspection. The second characteristic is the steam generator with double-wall-tubes. Volumetric testing is adopted to make sure that one of the tubes can maintain the boundary function in case of the other tube failure. A rational in-service inspection concept was developed taking these features into account. The inspection technologies were developed to implement in-service inspection plan. The under-sodium viewing system consisted of multi ultrasonic scanning transducers, which was used for imaging under-sodium structures. The under-sodium viewing system was mounted on the under-sodium vehicle and delivered to core internals. The prototype of under-sodium viewing system and vehicle were fabricated and performance tests were carried out under water. The laboratory experiments of volumetric testing for double-wall-tubes of steam generator, such as ultrasonic testing and remote-field eddy current testing, were performed and technical feasibility was assessed. (authors)

  12. Dual influences of ecosystem size and disturbance on food chain length in streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McHugh, Peter A; McIntosh, Angus R; Jellyman, Phillip G

    2010-07-01

    The number of trophic transfers occurring between basal resources and top predators, food chain length (FCL), varies widely in the world's ecosystems for reasons that are poorly understood, particularly for stream ecosystems. Available evidence indicates that FCL is set by energetic constraints, environmental stochasticity, or ecosystem size effects, although no single explanation has yet accounted for FCL patterns in a broad sense. Further, whether environmental disturbance can influence FCL has been debated on both theoretical and empirical grounds for quite some time. Using data from sixteen South Island, New Zealand streams, we determined whether the so-called ecosystem size, disturbance, or resource availability hypotheses could account for FCL variation in high country fluvial environments. Stable isotope-based estimates of maximum trophic position ranged from 2.6 to 4.2 and averaged 3.5, a value on par with the global FCL average for streams. Model-selection results indicated that stream size and disturbance regime best explained across-site patterns in FCL, although resource availability was negatively correlated with our measure of disturbance; FCL approached its maximum in large, stable springs and was disturbed streams. Community data indicate that size influenced FCL, primarily through its influence on local fish species richness (i.e., via trophic level additions and/or insertions), whereas disturbance did so via an effect on the relative availability of intermediate predators (i.e., predatory invertebrates) as prey for fishes. Overall, our results demonstrate that disturbance can have an important food web-structuring role in stream ecosystems, and further imply that pluralistic explanations are needed to fully understand the range of structural variation observed for real food webs.

  13. Nutrient Retention in Restored Streams and Floodplains: A ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abstract: Excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from human activities have contributed to degradation of coastal waters globally. A growing body of work suggests that hydrologically restoring streams and floodplains in agricultural and urban watersheds has potential to increase nitrogen and phosphorus retention, but rates and mechanisms have not yet been synthesized and compared across studies. We conducted a review of nutrient retention within hydrologically reconnected streams and floodplains including 79 studies. Overall, 62% of results were positive, 26% were neutral, and 12% were negative. The studies we reviewed used a variety of methods to analyze nutrients cycling. We did a further intensive meta-analysis on nutrient spiraling studies because this method was the most consistent and comparable between studies. A meta-analysis of 240 experimental additions of ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3-), and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) was synthesized from 15 nutrient spiraling studies. Overall, we found that rates of uptake were variable along stream reaches over space and time. Our results indicate that the size of the stream restoration (total surface area) and hydrologic residence time can be key drivers in influencing N and P uptake at broader watershed scales or along the urban watershed continuum. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus from human activities contributes to the degradation of water quality in streams and coastal areas nationally and globally.

  14. 77 FR 47028 - National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-07

    ... Inspection Service [Docket No. FSIS-2012-0030] National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection... Agriculture National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to reestablish the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. The purpose...

  15. Integration of process-oriented control with systematic inspection in FRAMATOME-FBFC fuel manufacturing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopff, G.

    2000-01-01

    The classical approach to quality control is essentially based on final inspection of the product conducted through a qualified process. The main drawback of this approach lies in the separation and , therefore, in the low feedback between manufacturing and quality control, leading to a very static quality system. As a remedy, the modern approach to quality management focuses on the need for continuous improvement through process-oriented quality control. In the classical approach, high reliability of nuclear fuel and high quality level of the main characteristics are assumed to be attained, at the manufacturing step, through 100% inspection of the product, generally with automated inspection equipment. Such a 100% final inspection is not appropriate to obtain a homogeneous product with minimum variability, and cannot be a substitute for the SPC tools (Statistical Process Control) which are rightly designed with this aim. On the other hand, SPC methods, which detect process changes and are used to keep the process u nder control , leading to the optimal distribution of the quality characteristics, do not protect against non systematic or local disturbances, at low frequency. Only systematic control is capable of detecting local quality troubles. In fact, both approaches, SPC and systematic inspection, are complementary , because they are remedies for distinct causes of process and product changes. The term 'statistical' in the expression 'SPC' refers less to the sampling techniques than to the control of global distribution parameters of product or process variables (generally location and dispersion parameters). The successive integration levels of process control methods with systematic inspection are described and illustrated by examples from FRAMATOME-FBFC fuel manufacturing, from the simple control chart for checking the performance stability of automated inspection equipment to the global process control system including systematic inspection. This kind of

  16. FLUIDIZED BED STEAM REFORMING MINERALIZATION FOR HIGH ORGANIC AND NITRATE WASTE STREAMS FOR THE GLOBAL NUCLEAR ENERGY PARTNERSHIP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jantzen, C; Michael Williams, M

    2008-01-11

    Waste streams that may be generated by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) Advanced Energy Initiative may contain significant quantities of organics (0-53 wt%) and/or nitrates (0-56 wt%). Decomposition of high nitrate streams requires reducing conditions, e.g. organic additives such as sugar or coal, to reduce the NO{sub x} in the off-gas to N{sub 2} to meet the Clean Air Act (CAA) standards during processing. Thus, organics will be present during waste form stabilization regardless of which GNEP processes are chosen, e.g. organics in the feed or organics for nitrate destruction. High organic containing wastes cannot be stabilized with the existing HLW Best Developed Available Technology (BDAT) which is HLW vitrification (HLVIT) unless the organics are removed by preprocessing. Alternative waste stabilization processes such as Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) operate at moderate temperatures (650-750 C) compared to vitrification (1150-1300 C). FBSR converts organics to CAA compliant gases, creates no secondary liquid waste streams, and creates a stable mineral waste form that is as durable as glass. For application to the high Cs-137 and Sr-90 containing GNEP waste streams a single phase mineralized Cs-mica phase was made by co-reacting illite clay and GNEP simulated waste. The Cs-mica accommodates up to 30% wt% Cs{sub 2}O and all the GNEP waste species, Ba, Sr, Rb including the Cs-137 transmutation to Ba-137. For reference, the cesium mineral pollucite (CsAlSi{sub 2}O{sub 6}), currently being studied for GNEP applications, can only be fabricated at {ge} 1000 C. Pollucite mineralization creates secondary aqueous waste streams and NO{sub x}. Pollucite is not tolerant of high concentrations of Ba, Sr or Rb and forces the divalent species into different mineral host phases. The pollucite can accommodate up to 33% wt% Cs{sub 2}O.

  17. 75 FR 56502 - National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-16

    ... Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION... and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) will hold a public meeting on September 29-30, 2010, to review and... disks or CD-ROMs: Send to National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection, USDA, FSIS, 14th...

  18. Advanced inspection technology for non intrusive inspection (NII) program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamir Mohamed Daud

    2003-01-01

    In the current economic environment, plants and facilities are under pressure to introduced cost saving as well as profit maximising measures. Among the many changes in the way things are run is a move towards Risk Based Inspection (RBI), with an emphasis on longer operating periods between shutdowns as well as to utilise components to their maximum capability. Underpinning and RBI program requires good data from an effective online inspections program, which would not require the shutdown of critical components. One methodology of online inspection is known as Non Intrusive Inspection (NII), an inspection philosophy with the objective of replacing internal inspection of a vessel by doing Non Destructive Testing (NDT) and inspections externally. To this end, a variety of advanced NDT techniques are needed to provide accurate online measurements. (Author)

  19. U.S. Industry Activities on Inspection of CRDM Penetrations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alley, Tom; Kietzman, Kim; Ammirato, Frank

    2002-01-01

    The discovery of primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in control rod drive mechanisms (CRDM) penetrations in U.S. and European plants prompted the U.S. nuclear industry to focus considerable effort on development and implementation of effective inspection methods. In particular, cracking was discovered in butt welds connecting reactor vessel nozzles to main coolant piping and in control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) head penetration base material and attachment welds. The EPRI Materials Reliability Program (EPRI-MRP) formed an Inspection Committee to address development of industry guidance for inspection of these components, development of effective non-destructive examination (NDE) methods, and demonstration of inspection processes. This paper discusses the MRP activities pertaining to inspection of CRDM penetrations. Results of demonstrations and field inspections conducted will also be summarized. (authors)

  20. Inspection of the dynamic properties of laminar separation bubbles: free-stream turbulence intensity effects for different Reynolds numbers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simoni, Daniele; Lengani, Davide; Ubaldi, Marina; Zunino, Pietro; Dellacasagrande, Matteo

    2017-06-01

    The effects of free-stream turbulence intensity (FSTI) on the transition process of a pressure-induced laminar separation bubble have been studied for different Reynolds numbers (Re) by means of time-resolved (TR) PIV. Measurements have been performed along a flat plate installed within a double-contoured test section, designed to produce an adverse pressure gradient typical of ultra-high-lift turbine blade profiles. A test matrix spanning 3 FSTI levels and 3 Reynolds numbers has been considered allowing estimation of cross effects of these parameters on the instability mechanisms driving the separated flow transition process. Boundary layer integral parameters, spatial growth rate and saturation level of velocity fluctuations are discussed for the different cases in order to characterize the base flow response as well as the time-mean properties of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The inspection of the instantaneous velocity vector maps highlights the dynamics of the large-scale structures shed near the bubble maximum displacement, as well as the low-frequency motion of the fore part of the separated shear layer. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) has been implemented to reduce the large amount of data for each condition allowing a rapid evaluation of the group velocity, spatial wavelength and dominant frequency of the vortex shedding process. The dimensionless shedding wave number parameter makes evident that the modification of the shear layer thickness at separation due to Reynolds number variation mainly drives the length scale of the rollup vortices, while higher FSTI levels force the onset of the shedding phenomenon to occur upstream due to the higher velocity fluctuations penetrating into the separating boundary layer.

  1. Image formation simulation for computer-aided inspection planning of machine vision systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irgenfried, Stephan; Bergmann, Stephan; Mohammadikaji, Mahsa; Beyerer, Jürgen; Dachsbacher, Carsten; Wörn, Heinz

    2017-06-01

    In this work, a simulation toolset for Computer Aided Inspection Planning (CAIP) of systems for automated optical inspection (AOI) is presented along with a versatile two-robot-setup for verification of simulation and system planning results. The toolset helps to narrow down the large design space of optical inspection systems in interaction with a system expert. The image formation taking place in optical inspection systems is simulated using GPU-based real time graphics and high quality off-line-rendering. The simulation pipeline allows a stepwise optimization of the system, from fast evaluation of surface patch visibility based on real time graphics up to evaluation of image processing results based on off-line global illumination calculation. A focus of this work is on the dependency of simulation quality on measuring, modeling and parameterizing the optical surface properties of the object to be inspected. The applicability to real world problems is demonstrated by taking the example of planning a 3D laser scanner application. Qualitative and quantitative comparison results of synthetic and real images are presented.

  2. A reference web architecture and patterns for real-time visual analytics on large streaming data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kandogan, Eser; Soroker, Danny; Rohall, Steven; Bak, Peter; van Ham, Frank; Lu, Jie; Ship, Harold-Jeffrey; Wang, Chun-Fu; Lai, Jennifer

    2013-12-01

    Monitoring and analysis of streaming data, such as social media, sensors, and news feeds, has become increasingly important for business and government. The volume and velocity of incoming data are key challenges. To effectively support monitoring and analysis, statistical and visual analytics techniques need to be seamlessly integrated; analytic techniques for a variety of data types (e.g., text, numerical) and scope (e.g., incremental, rolling-window, global) must be properly accommodated; interaction, collaboration, and coordination among several visualizations must be supported in an efficient manner; and the system should support the use of different analytics techniques in a pluggable manner. Especially in web-based environments, these requirements pose restrictions on the basic visual analytics architecture for streaming data. In this paper we report on our experience of building a reference web architecture for real-time visual analytics of streaming data, identify and discuss architectural patterns that address these challenges, and report on applying the reference architecture for real-time Twitter monitoring and analysis.

  3. The Lean and Global Start-up

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tanev, Stoyan; Rasmussen, Erik Stavnsager

    For several decades researchers have studied start-up companies with a focus on international markets, suppliers and networks from their inception and on companies that are establishing new, agile business models. This has resulted in two streams of research: The Born Global and International New...... Ventures research and research with a focus on the Lean Start-up company. It is our intention in this paper to give a short presentation of the two research streams and show how they can be merged into one with a focus on newly established technology oriented firms that are lean and global from...

  4. In-service inspection methods for graphite-epoxy structures on commercial transport aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phelps, M. L.

    1981-01-01

    In-service inspection methods for graphite-epoxy composite structures on commercial transport aircraft are determined. Graphite/epoxy structures, service incurred defects, current inspection practices and concerns of the airline and manufacturers, and other related information were determind by survey. Based on this information, applicable inspection nondestructive inspection methods are evaluated and inspection techniques determined. Technology is developed primarily in eddy current inspection.

  5. New design environment for defect detection in web inspection systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajimowlana, S. Hossain; Muscedere, Roberto; Jullien, Graham A.; Roberts, James W.

    1997-09-01

    One of the aims of industrial machine vision is to develop computer and electronic systems destined to replace human vision in the process of quality control of industrial production. In this paper we discuss the development of a new design environment developed for real-time defect detection using reconfigurable FPGA and DSP processor mounted inside a DALSA programmable CCD camera. The FPGA is directly connected to the video data-stream and outputs data to a low bandwidth output bus. The system is targeted for web inspection but has the potential for broader application areas. We describe and show test results of the prototype system board, mounted inside a DALSA camera and discuss some of the algorithms currently simulated and implemented for web inspection applications.

  6. Carbon and nitrogen stoichiometry across stream ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wymore, A.; Kaushal, S.; McDowell, W. H.; Kortelainen, P.; Bernhardt, E. S.; Johnes, P.; Dodds, W. K.; Johnson, S.; Brookshire, J.; Spencer, R.; Rodriguez-Cardona, B.; Helton, A. M.; Barnes, R.; Argerich, A.; Haq, S.; Sullivan, P. L.; López-Lloreda, C.; Coble, A. A.; Daley, M.

    2017-12-01

    Anthropogenic activities are altering carbon and nitrogen concentrations in surface waters globally. The stoichiometry of carbon and nitrogen regulates important watershed biogeochemical cycles; however, controls on carbon and nitrogen ratios in aquatic environments are poorly understood. Here we use a multi-biome and global dataset (tropics to Arctic) of stream water chemistry to assess relationships between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrate, ammonium and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), providing a new conceptual framework to consider interactions between DOC and the multiple forms of dissolved nitrogen. We found that across streams the total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) pool is comprised of very little ammonium and as DOC concentrations increase the TDN pool shifts from nitrate to DON dominated. This suggests that in high DOC systems, DON serves as the primary source of nitrogen. At the global scale, DOC and DON are positively correlated (r2 = 0.67) and the average C: N ratio of dissolved organic matter (molar ratio of DOC: DON) across our data set is approximately 31. At the biome and smaller regional scale the relationship between DOC and DON is highly variable (r2 = 0.07 - 0.56) with the strongest relationships found in streams draining the mixed temperate forests of the northeastern United States. DOC: DON relationships also display spatial and temporal variability including latitudinal and seasonal trends, and interactions with land-use. DOC: DON ratios correlated positively with gradients of energy versus nutrient limitation pointing to the ecological role (energy source versus nutrient source) that DON plays with stream ecosystems. Contrary to previous findings we found consistently weak relationships between DON and nitrate which may reflect DON's duality as an energy or nutrient source. Collectively these analyses demonstrate how gradients of DOC drive compositional changes in the TDN pool and reveal a high degree of variability in the C: N ratio

  7. A simple climatology of westerly jet streams in global reanalysis datasets part 1: mid-latitude upper tropospheric jets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rikus, Lawrie

    2018-04-01

    A simple closed contour object identification scheme has been applied to the zonal mean monthly mean zonal wind fields from nine global reanalysis data sets for 31 years of the satellite era (1979-2009) to identify objects corresponding to westerly jet streams. The results cluster naturally into six individual jet streams but only the mid-latitude upper-tropospheric jets are considered here. The time series of the jet properties from all reanalyses are decomposed into seasonal means and anomalies, and correlations between variables are evaluated, with the aim of identifying robust features which can form the basis of evaluation metrics for climate model simulations of the twentieth century. There is substantial agreement between all the reanalyses for all jet properties although there are some systematic differences with particular data sets. Some of the results from the object identification applied to the reanalyses are used in a simple example of a model evaluation score for the zonal mean jet seasonal cycle.

  8. A survey on inspecting structures using robotic systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randa Almadhoun

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Advancements in robotics and autonomous systems are being deployed nowadays in many application domains such as search and rescue, industrial automation, domestic services and healthcare. These systems are developed to tackle tasks in some of the most challenging, labour intensive and dangerous environments. Inspecting structures (e.g. bridges, buildings, ships, wind turbines and aircrafts is considered a hard task for humans to perform and of critical importance since missing any details could affect the structure’s performance and integrity. Additionally, structure inspection is time and resource intensive and should be performed as efficiently and accurately as possible. Inspecting various structures has been reported in the literature using different robotic platforms to: inspect difficult to reach areas and detect various types of faults and anomalies. Typically, inspection missions involve performing three main tasks: coverage path planning, shape, model or surface reconstruction and the actual inspection of the structure. Coverage path planning ensures the generation of an optimized path that guarantees the complete coverage of the structure of interest in order to gather highly accurate information to be used for shape/model reconstruction. This article aims to provide an overview of the recent work and breakthroughs in the field of coverage path planning and model reconstruction, with focus on 3D reconstruction, for the purpose of robotic inspection.

  9. Mediating Water Temperature Increases Due to Livestock and Global Change in High Elevation Meadow Streams of the Golden Trout Wilderness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nusslé, Sébastien; Matthews, Kathleen R.; Carlson, Stephanie M.

    2015-01-01

    Rising temperatures due to climate change are pushing the thermal limits of many species, but how climate warming interacts with other anthropogenic disturbances such as land use remains poorly understood. To understand the interactive effects of climate warming and livestock grazing on water temperature in three high elevation meadow streams in the Golden Trout Wilderness, California, we measured riparian vegetation and monitored water temperature in three meadow streams between 2008 and 2013, including two “resting” meadows and one meadow that is partially grazed. All three meadows have been subject to grazing by cattle and sheep since the 1800s and their streams are home to the imperiled California golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita). In 1991, a livestock exclosure was constructed in one of the meadows (Mulkey), leaving a portion of stream ungrazed to minimize the negative effects of cattle. In 2001, cattle were removed completely from two other meadows (Big Whitney and Ramshaw), which have been in a “resting” state since that time. Inside the livestock exclosure in Mulkey, we found that riverbank vegetation was both larger and denser than outside the exclosure where cattle were present, resulting in more shaded waters and cooler maximal temperatures inside the exclosure. In addition, between meadows comparisons showed that water temperatures were cooler in the ungrazed meadows compared to the grazed area in the partially grazed meadow. Finally, we found that predicted temperatures under different global warming scenarios were likely to be higher in presence of livestock grazing. Our results highlight that land use can interact with climate change to worsen the local thermal conditions for taxa on the edge and that protecting riparian vegetation is likely to increase the resiliency of these ecosystems to climate change. PMID:26565706

  10. Information Behavior on Social Live Streaming Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scheibe, Katrin

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In the last few years, a new type of synchronous social networking services (SNSs has emerged—social live streaming services (SLSSs. Studying SLSSs is a new and exciting research field in information science. What information behaviors do users of live streaming platforms exhibit? In our empirical study we analyzed information production behavior (i.e., broadcasting as well as information reception behavior (watching streams and commenting on them. We conducted two quantitative investigations, namely an online survey with YouNow users (N = 123 and observations of live streams on YouNow (N = 434. YouNow is a service with video streams mostly made by adolescents for adolescents. YouNow users like to watch streams, to chat while watching, and to reward performers by using emoticons. While broadcasting, there is no anonymity (as in nearly all other WWW services. Synchronous SNSs remind us of the film The Truman Show, as anyone has the chance to consciously broadcast his or her own life real-time.

  11. Regional-scale lateral carbon transport and CO2 evasion in temperate stream catchments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magin, Katrin; Somlai-Haase, Celia; Schäfer, Ralf B.; Lorke, Andreas

    2017-11-01

    Inland waters play an important role in regional to global-scale carbon cycling by transporting, processing and emitting substantial amounts of carbon, which originate mainly from their catchments. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between terrestrial net primary production (NPP) and the rate at which carbon is exported from the catchments in a temperate stream network. The analysis included more than 200 catchment areas in southwest Germany, ranging in size from 0.8 to 889 km2 for which CO2 evasion from stream surfaces and downstream transport with stream discharge were estimated from water quality monitoring data, while NPP in the catchments was obtained from a global data set based on remote sensing. We found that on average 13.9 g C m-2 yr-1 (corresponding to 2.7 % of terrestrial NPP) are exported from the catchments by streams and rivers, in which both CO2 evasion and downstream transport contributed about equally to this flux. The average carbon fluxes in the catchments of the study area resembled global and large-scale zonal mean values in many respects, including NPP, stream evasion and the carbon export per catchment area in the fluvial network. A review of existing studies on aquatic-terrestrial coupling in the carbon cycle suggests that the carbon export per catchment area varies in a relatively narrow range, despite a broad range of different spatial scales and hydrological characteristics of the study regions.

  12. Radiographic inspection on offshore platforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soares, Sergio Damasceno; Sperandio, Augusto Gasparoni

    1994-01-01

    One of the great challenges for non-destructive inspection is on offshore platforms, where safety is a critical issue. Inspection by gammagraphy is practically forbidden on the platform deck due to problems to personnel safety and radiological protection. Ir-192 sources are used and the risk of an accident with loss of radioisotope must be considered. It is unfeasible to use gammagraphy, because in case of an accident the rapid evacuation from the platform would be impossible. This problem does not occur when X-ray equipment is used as the radiation source. The limited practicality and portability of the X-ray equipment have prevented its use as a replacement for the gammagraphy. This paper presents the preliminary tests to see the viable use of radiographic tests with constant potential on offshore platforms. (author). 2 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs, 3 photos

  13. Global water cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Franklin; Goodman, Steven J.; Christy, John R.; Fitzjarrald, Daniel E.; Chou, Shi-Hung; Crosson, William; Wang, Shouping; Ramirez, Jorge

    1993-01-01

    This research is the MSFC component of a joint MSFC/Pennsylvania State University Eos Interdisciplinary Investigation on the global water cycle extension across the earth sciences. The primary long-term objective of this investigation is to determine the scope and interactions of the global water cycle with all components of the Earth system and to understand how it stimulates and regulates change on both global and regional scales. Significant accomplishments in the past year are presented and include the following: (1) water vapor variability; (2) multi-phase water analysis; (3) global modeling; and (4) optimal precipitation and stream flow analysis and hydrologic processes.

  14. Pre-service inspection and in-service inspection in Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uebayashi, T.; Miyake, Y.

    1985-01-01

    To ensure the safety of nuclear power plant, pre-service inspection/in-service inspection (PSI/ISI) has an important role, and informations obtained from various inspections during plant shut-down period are contributing to establish effective preventive maintenance activities for plant facilities. It might be said that the high level of availability of Japanese light-water nuclear power plants in these two or three years has been achieved by those efforts. In case of Japan, inspections to be carried out during scheduled plant shut-down period are not limited to code requirements but include many other inspections which are mostly reflected from troubles experienced in both domestic and overseas plants. Usually, those additional inspections are performed by Ministry of Trade and Industries' (MITI's) regulator and/or tentative requirement and considered as ISI in broad meaning. To achieve high availability of plant, it is essential to avoid unscheduled shut-down and to shorten inspection period. The developments of new technology to perform effective ISI for operating plants are continued, but on the other hand it is also very important to pay a great consideration to inspectability of the plants at the stage of plant engineering. With the leadership of MITI, improvement and standardization of light-water nuclear power plant has been proceeded and newly constructed plants have great advantage from the point of view on ISI

  15. Shell Inspection History and Current CMM Inspection Efforts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Montano, Joshua Daniel [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-01-26

    The following report provides a review of past and current CMM Shell Inspection efforts. Calibration of the Sheffield rotary contour gauge has expired and the primary inspector, Matthew Naranjo, has retired. Efforts within the Inspection team are transitioning from maintaining and training new inspectors on Sheffield to off-the-shelf CMM technology. Although inspection of a shell has many requirements, the scope of the data presented in this report focuses on the inner contour, outer contour, radial wall thickness and mass comparisons.

  16. Pressure vessel inspection criteria based on fitness-for-purpose assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grover, J.L.; Cipolla, R.C.

    1985-01-01

    The paper on pressure vessel inspection investigates the methodology required to establish an inspection strategy consistent with fracture mechanics analysis, i.e. to define allowable flaw sizes based on location within the vessel. The methodology is demonstrated using a sample problem for a typical pressurised water reactor pressure vessel, and shows the impact of certain assumptions on the inspection strategy. The results indicate that the flaw size varies with the shape of the assumed residual stress field and the through-thickness location. Also in general, the fracture mechanics evaluation allows flaws much larger than are allowed by the inspection acceptance criteria. (UK)

  17. On-stream analysis systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howarth, W.J.; Watt, J.S.

    1982-01-01

    An outline of some commercially available on-stream analysis systems in given. Systems based on x-ray tube/crystal spectrometers, scintillation detectors, proportional detectors and solid-state detectors are discussed

  18. Nitrous oxide emission from denitrification in stream and river networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaulieu, J.J.; Tank, J.L.; Hamilton, S.K.; Wollheim, W.M.; Hall, R.O.; Mulholland, P.J.; Peterson, B.J.; Ashkenas, L.R.; Cooper, L.W.; Dahm, Clifford N.; Dodds, W.K.; Grimm, N. B.; Johnson, S.L.; McDowell, W.H.; Poole, G.C.; Maurice, Valett H.; Arango, C.P.; Bernot, M.J.; Burgin, A.J.; Crenshaw, C.L.; Helton, A.M.; Johnson, L.T.; O'Brien, J. M.; Potter, J.D.; Sheibley, R.W.; Sobota, D.J.; Thomas, S.M.

    2011-01-01

    Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone destruction. Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loading to river networks is a potentially important source of N 2O via microbial denitrification that converts N to N2O and dinitrogen (N2). The fraction of denitrified N that escapes as N2O rather than N2 (i.e., the N2O yield) is an important determinant of how much N2O is produced by river networks, but little is known about the N2O yield in flowing waters. Here, we present the results of whole-stream 15N-tracer additions conducted in 72 headwater streams draining multiple land-use types across the United States. We found that stream denitrification produces N2O at rates that increase with stream water nitrate (NO3-) concentrations, but that production, but does not increase the N2O yield. In our study, most streams were sources of N2O to the atmosphere and the highest emission rates were observed in streams draining urban basins. Using a global river network model, we estimate that microbial N transformations (e.g., denitrification and nitrification) convert at least 0.68 Tg??y -1 of anthropogenic N inputs to N2O in river networks, equivalent to 10% of the global anthropogenic N2O emission rate. This estimate of stream and river N2O emissions is three times greater than estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

  19. 9 CFR 354.122 - Condemnation on ante-mortem inspection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE AGENCY ORGANIZATION AND TERMINOLOGY; MANDATORY MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION AND VOLUNTARY..., on ante-mortem inspection, are condemned shall not be dressed, nor shall they be conveyed into any...

  20. On automatic visual inspection of reflective surfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kulmann, Lionel

    1995-01-01

    surfaces, providing new and exciting applications subject to automated visual inspection. Several contextual features have been surveyed along with introduction of novel methods to perform data-dependent enhancement of local surface appearance . Morphological methods have been described and utilized......This thesis descrbes different methods to perform automatic visual inspection of reflective manufactured products, with the aim of increasing productivity, reduce cost and improve the quality level of the production. We investigate two different systems performing automatic visual inspection....... The first is the inspection of highly reflective aluminum sheets, used by the Danish company Bang & Olufsen, as a part of the exterior design and general appearance of their audio and video products. The second is the inspection of IBM hard disk read/write heads for defects during manufacturing. We have...

  1. A spatial assessment of stream-flow characteristics and hydrologic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The global hydrologic regime has been intensively altered through activities such as dam construction, water abstraction, and inter-basin transfers. This paper uses the Range of Variability Approach (RVA) and daily stream flow records from nine gauging stations to characterize stream-flow post dam construction in the ...

  2. Pathology Residents Comprise Inspection Team for a CAP Self-Inspection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stacy G. Beal MD

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available We report our experience at the University of Florida in which residents and fellows served as the inspection team for a College of American Pathologists (CAP self-inspection. We aimed to determine whether the CAP self-inspection could serve as a learning opportunity for pathology residents and fellows. To prepare for the inspection, we provided a series of 4 lunchtime seminars covering numerous laboratory management topics relating to inspections and laboratory quality. Preparation for the inspection began approximately 4 months prior to the date of the inspection. The intent was to simulate a CAP peer inspection, with the exception that the date was announced. The associate residency program director served as the team leader. All residents and fellows completed inspector training provided by CAP, and the team leader completed the team leader training. A 20 question pre- and posttest was administered; additionally, an anonymous survey was given after the inspection. The residents’ and fellows’ posttest scores were an average of 15% higher than on the pretest ( P < .01. The surveys as well as subjective comments were overwhelmingly positive. In conclusion, the resident’s and fellow’s experience as an inspector during a CAP self-inspection was a useful tool to learn accreditation and laboratory management.

  3. 77 FR 13512 - National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-07

    ... Poultry Inspection AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of committee meeting... Committee Act, that the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, to discuss the proposed rule on the Modernization of Poultry...

  4. Software Formal Inspections Guidebook

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-01-01

    The Software Formal Inspections Guidebook is designed to support the inspection process of software developed by and for NASA. This document provides information on how to implement a recommended and proven method for conducting formal inspections of NASA software. This Guidebook is a companion document to NASA Standard 2202-93, Software Formal Inspections Standard, approved April 1993, which provides the rules, procedures, and specific requirements for conducting software formal inspections. Application of the Formal Inspections Standard is optional to NASA program or project management. In cases where program or project management decide to use the formal inspections method, this Guidebook provides additional information on how to establish and implement the process. The goal of the formal inspections process as documented in the above-mentioned Standard and this Guidebook is to provide a framework and model for an inspection process that will enable the detection and elimination of defects as early as possible in the software life cycle. An ancillary aspect of the formal inspection process incorporates the collection and analysis of inspection data to effect continual improvement in the inspection process and the quality of the software subjected to the process.

  5. A study on in-pipe inspection mobile robots, 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukuda, Toshio; Hosokai, Hidemi; Uemura, Masahiro.

    1990-01-01

    This paper deals with inspection path planning for in-pipe inspection mobile robots which have the capability of moving through complicated pipeline networks. It is imperative that the robot systems have an inspection path planning system for such networks for their reasonable and rational operation, controlled by themselves or by the operators. The planning mainly requires two projects: the selection of the place to put the robot in or out, and the generation of the paths in the networks. This system provides the for complicated problems with plural inspection points using a basic strategy of systematically producing patterns and dividing partial problems of simple searches based on rules. (author)

  6. 77 FR 75118 - National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-19

    ... Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION... Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry... strengthening Agency verification activities and guidance concerning sanitary dressing and antimicrobial...

  7. Effect of β-PVDF Piezoelectric Transducers’ Positioning on the Acoustic Streaming Flows

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susana O. Catarino

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports the numerical and experimental analysis of the acoustic streaming effect in a fluidic domain. The actuation of a piezoelectric transducer generates acoustic waves that propagate to the fluids, generating pressure gradients that induce the flow. The number and positioning of the transducers affect the pressure gradients and, consequently, the resultant flow profile. Two actuation conditions were considered: (1 acoustic streaming generated by a 28 μm thick β-poly(vinylidene fluoride (β-PVDF piezoelectric transducer placed asymmetrically relative to the fluidic domain and (2 acoustic streaming generated by two 28 μm thick β-PVDF piezoelectric transducers placed perpendicularly to each other. The transducers were fixed to the lower left corner of a poly(methyl methacrylate (PMMAcuvette and were actuated with a 24 Vpp and 34.2 MHz sinusoidal voltage. The results show that the number of transducers and their positioning affects the shape and number of recirculation areas in the acoustic streaming flows. The obtained global flows show great potential for mixing and pumping, being an alternative to the previous geometries studied by the authors, namely, a single transducer placed symmetrically under a fluidic domain.

  8. Stream Intermittency Sensors Monitor the Onset and Duration of Stream Flow Along a Channel Network During Storms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jensen, C.; McGuire, K. J.

    2017-12-01

    Headwater streams are spatially extensive, accounting for a majority of global stream length, and supply downstream water bodies with water, sediment, organic matter, and pollutants. Much of this transmission occurs episodically during storms when stream flow and connectivity are high. Many headwaters are temporary streams that expand and contract in length in response to storms and seasonality. Understanding where and when streams carry flow is critical for conserving headwaters and protecting downstream water quality, but storm events are difficult to study in small catchments. The rise and fall of stream flow occurs rapidly in headwaters, making observation of the entire stream network difficult. Stream intermittency sensors that detect the presence or absence of water can reveal wetting and drying patterns over short time scales. We installed 50 intermittency sensors along the channel network of a small catchment (35 ha) in the Valley and Ridge of southwest Virginia. Previous work shows stream length is highly variable in this shale catchment, as the drainage density spans two orders of magnitude. The sensors record data every 15 minutes for one year to capture different seasons, antecedent moisture conditions, and precipitation rates. We seek to determine whether hysteresis between stream flow and network length occurs on the rising and falling limbs of events and if reach-scale characteristics such as valley width explain spatial patterns of flow duration. Our results indicate reaches with a wide, sediment-filled valley floor carry water for shorter periods of time than confined channel segments with steep valley side slopes. During earlier field mapping surveys, we only observed flow in a few of the tributaries for the wettest conditions mapped. The sensors now show that these tributaries flow more frequently during much smaller storms, but only for brief periods of time (hour). The high temporal sampling resolution of the sensors permits a more realistic

  9. Status on system inspection and preventive maintenance of HANARO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Young-Ki; Cho, Yeong-Garp; Kwag, Byung-Ho

    1999-01-01

    The HANARO is a 30 MW open pool type multi-purpose research reactor with forced light water coolant/moderator flows and heavy water annular reflector. The relatively small reactor core uses a low enriched fuel and is designed to maximize the power density, thus providing the required neutron flux for various research activities. It is mainly used for radioisotope production, nuclear material testing and neutron physics experiments. The initial criticality was achieved February 1995. Considering the importance of their functionality from the safety point of view, some components and equipment are categorized into a nuclear safety grade. There are three different inspection activities for the various reactor systems and components - a Surveillance Inspection(SI) for the safety grades and a Periodic Inspection (PI) for the non-safety grades and In-Service Inspection (ISI) for the ASME Sec.III components. All of the SIs are specified and required by the safety analysis report. The SI also differs from the PI in such a point that all kinds of activities for the SIs should be accompanied by an appropriate quality assurance, while for the PIs it is not necessarily mandatory. In addition, the inspection results for the SIs should go through an examination from regulatory body every two years and specific functions of the critical components or systems are demonstrated under the witness by the governmental inspector. The ISI is required and carried out as per international codes and standards as well as Korean atomic energy regulations. There are 54 SIs, 25 PIs and 4 ISIs for the HANARO. This paper concentrates on the managing strategy and its practices for the SIs and ISIs of the safety-related components, currently being done at HANARO. Most parts of the inspections fall into a group for the periodic performance testing and/or equipment calibration. Some mechanical inspections like a torque measurement are grouped into a preventive maintenance. Lastly the ASME Sec

  10. Technology Assessment of the Inspection Readiness Plan in Chemical Weapons Convention Challenge Inspections

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Woodley, Anthony

    1998-01-01

    ...) Challenge Inspections. The CWC is an intrusive inspection. The Challenge Inspection allows for a team of international inspectors to inspect on very short notice a naval facility suspected of violating the CWC...

  11. Process Improvement to the Inspection Readiness Plan in Chemical Weapons Convention Challenge Inspections

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Triplett, William

    1997-01-01

    ...) Challenge Inspection. The CWC is an intensive inspection. The Challenge Inspection allows for a team of international inspectors to inspect a naval facility suspected of violating the CWC on very short notice...

  12. FPGA based image processing for optical surface inspection with real time constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasani, Ylber; Bodenstorfer, Ernst; Brodersen, Jörg; Mayer, Konrad J.

    2015-02-01

    Today, high-quality printing products like banknotes, stamps, or vouchers, are automatically checked by optical surface inspection systems. In a typical optical surface inspection system, several digital cameras acquire the printing products with fine resolution from different viewing angles and at multiple wavelengths of the visible and also near infrared spectrum of light. The cameras deliver data streams with a huge amount of image data that have to be processed by an image processing system in real time. Due to the printing industry's demand for higher throughput together with the necessity to check finer details of the print and its security features, the data rates to be processed tend to explode. In this contribution, a solution is proposed, where the image processing load is distributed between FPGAs and digital signal processors (DSPs) in such a way that the strengths of both technologies can be exploited. The focus lies upon the implementation of image processing algorithms in an FPGA and its advantages. In the presented application, FPGAbased image-preprocessing enables real-time implementation of an optical color surface inspection system with a spatial resolution of 100 μm and for object speeds over 10 m/s. For the implementation of image processing algorithms in the FPGA, pipeline parallelism with clock frequencies up to 150 MHz together with spatial parallelism based on multiple instantiations of modules for parallel processing of multiple data streams are exploited for the processing of image data of two cameras and three color channels. Due to their flexibility and their fast response times, it is shown that FPGAs are ideally suited for realizing a configurable all-digital PLL for the processing of camera line-trigger signals with frequencies about 100 kHz, using pure synchronous digital circuit design.

  13. The feasibility of mobile computing for on-site inspection.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horak, Karl Emanuel; DeLand, Sharon Marie; Blair, Dianna Sue

    2014-09-01

    With over 5 billion cellphones in a world of 7 billion inhabitants, mobile phones are the most quickly adopted consumer technology in the history of the world. Miniaturized, power-efficient sensors, especially video-capable cameras, are becoming extremely widespread, especially when one factors in wearable technology like Apples Pebble, GoPro video systems, Google Glass, and lifeloggers. Tablet computers are becoming more common, lighter weight, and power-efficient. In this report the authors explore recent developments in mobile computing and their potential application to on-site inspection for arms control verification and treaty compliance determination. We examine how such technology can effectively be applied to current and potential future inspection regimes. Use cases are given for both host-escort and inspection teams. The results of field trials and their implications for on-site inspections are discussed.

  14. Current activities and challenges of the European network for inspection and qualification (ENIQ)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martin, Oliver [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Petten (Netherlands). Institute for Energy and Transport (IET); Martin, Etienne [EDF, St Denis (France). Direction Production Ingenierie; Booler, Russ [AMEC Clean Energy Europe, Warrington (United Kingdom); Zetterwall, Tommy [Swedish Qualification Centre, Taeby (Sweden); Walker, Tony [Rolls-Royce Submarines, Derby (United Kingdom)

    2014-10-15

    This article describes the development of the European Network for Inspection and Qualification (ENIQ) since the previous presentation of the network in the 2011 April/May edition of this journal, covering mainly the new technical challenges facing the network and resulting projects as well as the establishment of the new Task Group for Inspection Qualification Bodies. ENIQ is a utility-driven network dealing with the reliability and effectiveness of non-destructive testing (NDT) for nuclear power plants (NPP). ENIQ is recognised as one of the main contributors to today's global qualification codes and guidelines for in-service inspection (ISI) and has published nearly 50 documents. Among them are the 'European Methodology for Qualification of Non-Destructive Testing', the first qualification methodology based on technical justifications, the 'European Framework Document for Risk-Informed In-Service Inspection (RI-ISI)', and various recommend practices. In addition ENIQ has carried out two pilot studies and a number of surveys. In 2012, ENIQ joined the European based R and D association on Gen II and III reactors, NUGENIA, making ENIQ its 8{sup th} technical area. Following the entry into NUGENIA, ENIQ members have updated the ENIQ roadmap and included a number of new technical challenges facing its members in the near future. Also ENIQ established a third task group in 2013, the Task Group for Inspection Qualification Bodies (TGIQB), which should serve as an exchange forum for inspection qualification bodies. ENIQ is currently preparing or performing new projects and studies to tackle these challenges and new recommended practices and reports are likely to evolve from these projects, which will enable ENIQ to maintain its role as one of the main contributors to today's global qualification codes and guidelines for ISI.

  15. Current activities and challenges of the European network for inspection and qualification (ENIQ)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, Oliver; Martin, Etienne; Zetterwall, Tommy; Walker, Tony

    2014-01-01

    This article describes the development of the European Network for Inspection and Qualification (ENIQ) since the previous presentation of the network in the 2011 April/May edition of this journal, covering mainly the new technical challenges facing the network and resulting projects as well as the establishment of the new Task Group for Inspection Qualification Bodies. ENIQ is a utility-driven network dealing with the reliability and effectiveness of non-destructive testing (NDT) for nuclear power plants (NPP). ENIQ is recognised as one of the main contributors to today's global qualification codes and guidelines for in-service inspection (ISI) and has published nearly 50 documents. Among them are the 'European Methodology for Qualification of Non-Destructive Testing', the first qualification methodology based on technical justifications, the 'European Framework Document for Risk-Informed In-Service Inspection (RI-ISI)', and various recommend practices. In addition ENIQ has carried out two pilot studies and a number of surveys. In 2012, ENIQ joined the European based R and D association on Gen II and III reactors, NUGENIA, making ENIQ its 8 th technical area. Following the entry into NUGENIA, ENIQ members have updated the ENIQ roadmap and included a number of new technical challenges facing its members in the near future. Also ENIQ established a third task group in 2013, the Task Group for Inspection Qualification Bodies (TGIQB), which should serve as an exchange forum for inspection qualification bodies. ENIQ is currently preparing or performing new projects and studies to tackle these challenges and new recommended practices and reports are likely to evolve from these projects, which will enable ENIQ to maintain its role as one of the main contributors to today's global qualification codes and guidelines for ISI.

  16. Randomization of inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Markin, J.T.

    1989-01-01

    As the numbers and complexity of nuclear facilities increase, limitations on resources for international safeguards may restrict attainment of safeguards goals. One option for improving the efficiency of limited resources is to expand the current inspection regime to include random allocation of the amount and frequency of inspection effort to material strata or to facilities. This paper identifies the changes in safeguards policy, administrative procedures, and operational procedures that would be necessary to accommodate randomized inspections and identifies those situations where randomization can improve inspection efficiency and those situations where the current nonrandom inspections should be maintained. 9 refs., 1 tab

  17. Proceedings of the 13. International Workshop on Inspection Practices. 13. International Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Workshop, 17-21 April 2016, Bruges, Belgium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bens, Jan; De Boeck, Benoit; Wertelaers, An; Van Haesendonck, Michel; Barras, Pierre; Leblanc, Alexandre; Regan, Christopher; Smith, Paul; Kupila, Jukka; Crespo, Julio; Meskens, Gaston; Schneider, Matthias

    2017-01-01

    The main purpose of the workshop was to provide a forum for information exchange on the regulatory inspection activities. Participants had the opportunity to meet with their counterparts from other countries and organisations to discuss current and future issues on the selected topics. They developed conclusions regarding these issues and identified methods that may help to improve their own inspection programmes. The CNRA believes that an essential factor in ensuring the safety of nuclear installations is the continuing exchange and analysis of technical information and data. To facilitate this exchange the Committee has established working groups and groups of experts in specialised topics. The Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP) was formed in 1990 with the mandate '...to concentrate on the conduct of inspections and how the effectiveness of inspections could be evaluated..'. The WGIP facilitates the exchange of information and experience related to regulatory safety inspections between CNRA member countries. These proceedings cover the 13. International Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Workshop held by WGIP on regulatory inspection activities. This workshop, which is the 13. in a series, along with many other activities performed by the working group, is directed towards this goal. The consensus from participants at previous workshops noted that the value of meeting with people from other inspection organisations was one of the most important achievements. The focus of this workshop was on experience gained from regulatory inspection activities in three areas: - experience from the inspection activities during the transition from an operating reactor to a de-fueled status with a commitment to permanently cease power operations; - inspection of modifications; - the inspectors' role in the enforcement process. As part of the registration, participants were asked to respond to a questionnaire describing practices within their own countries on these topics

  18. Inspection of internal tank welds using the ACFM inspection method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Topp, D.A.; Lugg, M.C.

    2009-01-01

    The paper describes recent developments of the ACFM technique and describes several case studies where ACFM has been used to inspect the internal plate welds on large steel storage tanks in refineries. For weld inspection, conventional methods such as magnetic particle inspection or vacuum box testing are generally used. This paper presents comparisons of the results from ACFM with those from the conventional methods, from which conclusions are drawn as to the benefits this technique offers in terms of cost, time savings and inspection reliability. (author)

  19. 9 CFR 381.71 - Condemnation on ante mortem inspection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... dressed, nor shall they be conveyed into any department of the official establishment where poultry... AGRICULTURE AGENCY ORGANIZATION AND TERMINOLOGY; MANDATORY MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION AND VOLUNTARY INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION REGULATIONS Ante Mortem Inspection § 381.71...

  20. On the development of the METAR family of inspection tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lavoie, E. [Inst. de recherche d' Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Quebec (Canada)]. E-mail: lavoie.eric@ireq.ca; Rousseau, G. [Hydro-Quebec, Central Nucleaire Gentilly-2, Gentilly, Quebec (Canada); Reynaud, L. [Inst. de recherche d' Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Quebec (Canada)

    2003-07-01

    Since 1998, Hydro Quebec Research Centre (IREQ), in collaboration with Gentilly-2, has been working on the development of inspection devices for the feeder tubes of CANDU power plants. The first tool to come out of this work was the Metar bracelet, now used throughout the CANDU utilities, consisting of 14 ultrasonic probes held in place in a rigid bracelet to measure the thickness of the pipes and moved around manually along the pipe. Following the success of the Metar, a motorized version, i.e. the Crawler, has been developed to inspect beyond the operator arm's reach to access hard to reach place or further down the pipes in the reactor. This new system has been tested at 3 different stations and will be commercially available soon. Finally, the same technology was used to develop a motorized 2-axis crack detection device to answer new concerns about the feeder. Other configurations, depending on the demands from the industry, could also be developed for specific inspection needs, for example; inspection of the graylock welds, 360{sup o} inspection of feeders, or multitasking inspection on a single frame, etc. Most of the designs shown in this article have been or will be patented and are, or will be, licensed to a partner company to make them commercially available to the industry. This paper gives a brief history of the project and a description of the technologies developed in the last 5 years concerning feeder inspection. (author)

  1. 46 CFR 153.812 - Inspection for Certificate of Inspection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Inspection for Certificate of Inspection. 153.812... CARGOES SHIPS CARRYING BULK LIQUID, LIQUEFIED GAS, OR COMPRESSED GAS HAZARDOUS MATERIALS Design and Equipment Testing and Inspection § 153.812 Inspection for Certificate of Inspection. The rules governing the...

  2. Climate and land cover effects on the temperature of Puget Sound streams: Assessment of Climate and Land Use Impacts on Stream Temperature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cao, Qian [Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA USA; Sun, Ning [Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle WA USA; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Yearsley, John [Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle WA USA; Nijssen, Bart [Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle WA USA; Lettenmaier, Dennis P. [Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA USA

    2016-03-06

    We apply an integrated hydrology-stream temperature modeling system, DHSVM-RBM, to examine the response of the temperature of the major streams draining to Puget Sound to land cover and climate change. We first show that the model construct is able to reconstruct observed historic streamflow and stream temperature variations at a range of time scales. We then explore the relative effect of projected future climate and land cover change, including riparian vegetation, on streamflow and stream temperature. Streamflow in summer is likely to decrease as the climate warms especially in snowmelt-dominated and transient river basins despite increased streamflow in their lower reaches associated with urbanization. Changes in streamflow also result from changes in land cover, and changes in stream shading result from changes in riparian vegetation, both of which influence stream temperature. However, we find that the effect of riparian vegetation changes on stream temperature is much greater than land cover change over the entire basin especially during summer low flow periods. Furthermore, while future projected precipitation change will have relatively modest effects on stream temperature, projected future air temperature increases will result in substantial increases in stream temperature especially in summer. These summer stream temperature increases will be associated both with increasing air temperature, and projected decreases in low flows. We find that restoration of riparian vegetation could mitigate much of the projected summer stream temperature increases. We also explore the contribution of riverine thermal loadings to the heat balance of Puget Sound, and find that the riverine contribution is greatest in winter, when streams account for up to 1/8 of total thermal inputs (averaged from December through February), with larger effects in some sub-basins. We project that the riverine impact on thermal inputs to Puget Sound will become greater with both urbanization

  3. Modelling climate change impacts on stream habitat conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boegh, Eva; Conallin, John; Karthikeyan, Matheswaran

    Impact from groundwater abstraction on freshwater resources and ecosystems is an issue of sincere concern in Denmark and many other countries worldwide. In addition, climate change projections add complexity to the existing conflict between water demands to satisfy human needs and water demands...... required to conserve streams as biologically diverse and healthy ecosystems. Solutions to this intensifying conflict require a holistic approach whereby stream biota is related to their physical environment at catchment scale, as also demanded by the EU Water Framework Directive. In the present study......, climate impacts on stream ecological conditions were quantified by combining a heat and mass stream flow with a habitat suitability modelling approach. Habitat suitability indices were developed for stream velocity, water depth, water temperature and substrate. Generally, water depth was found...

  4. A Novel Image Stream Cipher Based On Dynamic Substitution

    OpenAIRE

    Elsharkawi, A.; El-Sagheer, R. M.; Akah, H.; Taha, H.

    2016-01-01

    Recently, many chaos-based stream cipher algorithms have been developed. Traditional chaos stream cipher is based on XORing a generated secure random number sequence based on chaotic maps (e.g. logistic map, Bernoulli Map, Tent Map etc.) with the original image to get the encrypted image, This type of stream cipher seems to be vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks. This paper introduces a new stream cipher algorithm based on dynamic substitution box. The new algorithm uses one substitution b...

  5. Performance of the air2stream model that relates air and stream water temperatures depends on the calibration method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piotrowski, Adam P.; Napiorkowski, Jaroslaw J.

    2018-06-01

    A number of physical or data-driven models have been proposed to evaluate stream water temperatures based on hydrological and meteorological observations. However, physical models require a large amount of information that is frequently unavailable, while data-based models ignore the physical processes. Recently the air2stream model has been proposed as an intermediate alternative that is based on physical heat budget processes, but it is so simplified that the model may be applied like data-driven ones. However, the price for simplicity is the need to calibrate eight parameters that, although have some physical meaning, cannot be measured or evaluated a priori. As a result, applicability and performance of the air2stream model for a particular stream relies on the efficiency of the calibration method. The original air2stream model uses an inefficient 20-year old approach called Particle Swarm Optimization with inertia weight. This study aims at finding an effective and robust calibration method for the air2stream model. Twelve different optimization algorithms are examined on six different streams from northern USA (states of Washington, Oregon and New York), Poland and Switzerland, located in both high mountains, hilly and lowland areas. It is found that the performance of the air2stream model depends significantly on the calibration method. Two algorithms lead to the best results for each considered stream. The air2stream model, calibrated with the chosen optimization methods, performs favorably against classical streamwater temperature models. The MATLAB code of the air2stream model and the chosen calibration procedure (CoBiDE) are available as Supplementary Material on the Journal of Hydrology web page.

  6. Impact of stream restoration on flood waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sholtes, J.; Doyle, M.

    2008-12-01

    Restoration of channelized or incised streams has the potential to reduce downstream flooding via storing and dissipating the energy of flood waves. Restoration design elements such as restoring meanders, reducing slope, restoring floodplain connectivity, re-introducing in-channel woody debris, and re-vegetating banks and the floodplain have the capacity to attenuate flood waves via energy dissipation and channel and floodplain storage. Flood discharge hydrographs measured up and downstream of several restored reaches of varying stream order and located in both urban and rural catchments are coupled with direct measurements of stream roughness at various stages to directly measure changes to peak discharge, flood wave celerity, and dispersion. A one-dimensional unsteady flow routing model, HEC-RAS, is calibrated and used to compare attenuation characteristics between pre and post restoration conditions. Modeled sensitivity results indicate that a restoration project placed on a smaller order stream demonstrates the highest relative reduction in peak discharge of routed flood waves compared to one of equal length on a higher order stream. Reductions in bed slope, extensions in channel length, and increases in channel and floodplain roughness follow restoration placement with the watershed in relative importance. By better understanding how design, scale, and location of restored reaches within a catchment hydraulically impact flood flows, this study contributes both to restoration design and site decision making. It also quantifies the effect of reach scale stream restoration on flood wave attenuation.

  7. The interactive effects of climate change, riparian management, and a nonnative predator on stream-rearing salmon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, David J; Stewart-Koster, Ben; Olden, Julian D; Ruesch, Aaron S; Torgersen, Christian E; Lawler, Joshua J; Butcher, Don P; Crown, Julia K

    2014-06-01

    Predicting how climate change is likely to interact with myriad other stressors that threaten species of conservation concern is an essential challenge in aquatic ecosystems. This study provides a framework to accomplish this task in salmon-bearing streams of the northwestern United States, where land-use-related reductions in riparian shading have caused changes in stream thermal regimes, and additional warming from projected climate change may result in significant losses of coldwater fish habitat over the next century. Predatory, nonnative smallmouth bass have also been introduced into many northwestern streams, and their range is likely to expand as streams warm, presenting an additional challenge to the persistence of threatened Pacific salmon. The goal of this work was to forecast the interactive effects of climate change, riparian management, and nonnative species on stream-rearing salmon and to evaluate the capacity of restoration to mitigate these effects. We intersected downscaled global climate forecasts with a local-scale water temperature model to predict mid- and end-of-century temperatures in streams in the Columbia River basin. We compared one stream that is thermally impaired due to the loss of riparian vegetation and another that is cooler and has a largely intact riparian corridor. Using the forecasted stream temperatures in conjunction with fish-habitat models, we predicted how stream-rearing chinook salmon and bass distributions would change as each stream warmed. In the highly modified stream, end-of-century warming may cause near total loss of chinook salmon-rearing habitat and a complete invasion of the upper watershed by bass. In the less modified stream, bass were thermally restricted from the upstream-most areas. In both systems, temperature increases resulted in higher predicted spatial overlap between stream-rearing chinook salmon and potentially predatory bass in the early summer (two- to fourfold increase) and greater abundance of

  8. Effects of Forecasted Climate Change on Stream Temperatures in the Nooksack River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truitt, S. E.; Mitchell, R. J.; Yearsley, J. R.; Grah, O. J.

    2017-12-01

    The Nooksack River in northwest Washington State provides valuable habitat for endangered salmon species, as such it is critical to understand how stream temperatures will be affected by forecasted climate change. The Middle and North Forks basins of the Nooksack are high-relief and glaciated, whereas the South Fork is a lower relief rain and snow dominated basin. Due to a moderate Pacific maritime climate, snowpack in the basins is sensitive to temperature increases. Previous modeling studies in the upper Nooksack basins indicate a reduction in snowpack and spring runoff, and a recession of glaciers into the 21st century. How stream temperatures will respond to these changes is unknown. We use the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) coupled with a glacier dynamics model and the River Basin Model (RBM) to simulate hydrology and stream temperature from present to the year 2100. We calibrate the DHSVM and RBM to the three forks in the upper 1550 km2 of the Nooksack basin, which contain an estimated 3400 hectares of glacial ice. We employ observed stream-temperature data collected over the past decade and hydrologic data from the four USGS streamflow monitoring sites within the basin and observed gridded climate data developed by Linveh et al. (2013). Field work was conducted in the summer of 2016 to determine stream morphology, discharge, and stream temperatures at a number of stream segments for the RBM calibration. We simulate forecast climate change impacts, using gridded daily downscaled data from global climate models of the CMIP5 with RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 forcing scenarios developed using the multivariate adaptive constructed analogs method (MACA; Abatzoglou and Brown, 2011). Simulation results project a trending increase in stream temperature as a result of lower snowmelt and higher air temperatures into the 21st century, especially in the lower relief, unglaciated South Fork basin.

  9. RPII Inspection and Licensing Activities and Annual Inspection Programme for 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-04-01

    The purpose of this document is to promote transparency in the activities of the RPII. It explains aspects of the internal workings of the Regulation and Information Management Division of the Institute to aid understanding of the processes and decisions of that Division which may impact on licensees and other interested parties. The objective of the report is to provide an overview of inspection activities of the RPII, to examine the evolution in licensee numbers and to outline the rationale in developing annual inspection programmes. All inspection activities are now carried out within the framework of a quality management system including; inspection planning, the training of inspectors, the conduct of inspections, as well as post inspection follow up and review. This report also provides an overview of the main features of the quality system

  10. KDE-Track: An Efficient Dynamic Density Estimator for Data Streams

    KAUST Repository

    Qahtan, Abdulhakim Ali Ali; Wang, Suojin; Zhang, Xiangliang

    2016-01-01

    Recent developments in sensors, global positioning system devices and smart phones have increased the availability of spatiotemporal data streams. Developing models for mining such streams is challenged by the huge amount of data that cannot be stored in the memory, the high arrival speed and the dynamic changes in the data distribution. Density estimation is an important technique in stream mining for a wide variety of applications. The construction of kernel density estimators is well studied and documented. However, existing techniques are either expensive or inaccurate and unable to capture the changes in the data distribution. In this paper, we present a method called KDE-Track to estimate the density of spatiotemporal data streams. KDE-Track can efficiently estimate the density function with linear time complexity using interpolation on a kernel model, which is incrementally updated upon the arrival of new samples from the stream. We also propose an accurate and efficient method for selecting the bandwidth value for the kernel density estimator, which increases its accuracy significantly. Both theoretical analysis and experimental validation show that KDE-Track outperforms a set of baseline methods on the estimation accuracy and computing time of complex density structures in data streams.

  11. KDE-Track: An Efficient Dynamic Density Estimator for Data Streams

    KAUST Repository

    Qahtan, Abdulhakim Ali Ali

    2016-11-08

    Recent developments in sensors, global positioning system devices and smart phones have increased the availability of spatiotemporal data streams. Developing models for mining such streams is challenged by the huge amount of data that cannot be stored in the memory, the high arrival speed and the dynamic changes in the data distribution. Density estimation is an important technique in stream mining for a wide variety of applications. The construction of kernel density estimators is well studied and documented. However, existing techniques are either expensive or inaccurate and unable to capture the changes in the data distribution. In this paper, we present a method called KDE-Track to estimate the density of spatiotemporal data streams. KDE-Track can efficiently estimate the density function with linear time complexity using interpolation on a kernel model, which is incrementally updated upon the arrival of new samples from the stream. We also propose an accurate and efficient method for selecting the bandwidth value for the kernel density estimator, which increases its accuracy significantly. Both theoretical analysis and experimental validation show that KDE-Track outperforms a set of baseline methods on the estimation accuracy and computing time of complex density structures in data streams.

  12. Stream-processing pipelines: processing of streams on multiprocessor architecture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kavaldjiev, N.K.; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Jansen, P.G.

    In this paper we study the timing aspects of the operation of stream-processing applications that run on a multiprocessor architecture. Dependencies are derived for the processing and communication times of the processors in such a system. Three cases of real-time constrained operation and four

  13. Fuel inspection device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsuji, Tadashi.

    1990-01-01

    The fuel inspection device of the present invention has a feature of obtaining an optimum illumination upon fuel rod interval inspection operation in a fuel pool. That is, an illumination main body used underwater is connected to a cable which is led out on a floor. A light control device is attached to the other end of the cable and an electric power cable is connected to the light control device. A light source (for example, incandescent lamp) is incorporated in the casing of the illumination main body, and a diffusion plate is disposed at the front to provide a plane light source. The light control device has a light control knob capable of remote-controlling the brightness of the light of the illumination main body. In the fuel inspection device thus constituted, halation is scarcely caused on the image screen upon inspection of fuels by a submerged type television camera to facilitate control upon inspection. Accordingly, efficiency of the fuel inspection can be improved to shorten the operation time. (I.S.)

  14. Data Stream Classification Based on the Gamma Classifier

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abril Valeria Uriarte-Arcia

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The ever increasing data generation confronts us with the problem of handling online massive amounts of information. One of the biggest challenges is how to extract valuable information from these massive continuous data streams during single scanning. In a data stream context, data arrive continuously at high speed; therefore the algorithms developed to address this context must be efficient regarding memory and time management and capable of detecting changes over time in the underlying distribution that generated the data. This work describes a novel method for the task of pattern classification over a continuous data stream based on an associative model. The proposed method is based on the Gamma classifier, which is inspired by the Alpha-Beta associative memories, which are both supervised pattern recognition models. The proposed method is capable of handling the space and time constrain inherent to data stream scenarios. The Data Streaming Gamma classifier (DS-Gamma classifier implements a sliding window approach to provide concept drift detection and a forgetting mechanism. In order to test the classifier, several experiments were performed using different data stream scenarios with real and synthetic data streams. The experimental results show that the method exhibits competitive performance when compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms.

  15. General inspection strategy for fault diagnosis-minimizing the inspection costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reinertsen, Rune; Wang Xiaozhong

    1995-01-01

    In this paper, a general inspection strategy for system fault diagnosis is presented. The procedure presented in this paper, is an improvement of methods described in papers by , and . This general strategy provides the optimal inspection procedure when the inspections require unequal effort and the minimum cut set probabilities are unequal. This feature makes the procedure described in this paper more useful for practical applications than the most recent procedure presented in the paper by Najmus-Saqib and Ishaque, which requires the minimum cut set probabilities to be equal. The inspection strategy described in this paper is based on first inspecting the basic event that will provide the maximum information gain per unit cost invested. The information gain is measured by the decrease of Shannon entropy. A detailed tutorial example is presented

  16. On site PWR fuel inspection measurements for operational and design verification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The on-site inspection of irradiated Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel and Non-Fuel Bearing Components (NFBC) is typically limited to visual inspections during refuelings using underwater TV cameras and is intended primarily to confirm whether the components will continue in operation. These inspections do not normally provide data for design verification nor information to benefit future fuel designs. Japanese PWR utilities and Nuclear Fuel Industries Ltd. designed, built, and performed demonstration tests of on-site inspection equipment that confirms operational readiness of PWR fuel and NFBC and also gathers data for design verification of these components. 4 figs, 3 tabs

  17. Discharge modulates stream metabolism dependence on fine particulate organic carbon in a Mediterranean WWTP-influenced stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drummond, J. D.; Bernal, S.; Meredith, W.; Schumer, R.; Martí Roca, E.

    2017-12-01

    Waste water treatment plant (WWTP) effluents constitute point source inputs of fine sediment, nutrients, carbon, and microbes to stream ecosystems. A range of responses to these inputs may be observed in recipient streams, including increases in respiration rates, which augment CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Yet, little is known about which fractions of organic carbon (OC) contribute the most to stream metabolism in WWTP-influenced streams. Fine particulate OC (POC) represents ca. 40% of the total mass of OC in river networks, and is generally more labile than dissolved OC. Therefore, POC inputs from WWTPs could contribute disproportionately to higher rates of heterotrophic metabolism by stream microbial communities. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of POC inputs from a WWTP effluent on the metabolism of a Mediterranean stream over a wide range of hydrologic conditions. We hypothesized that POC inputs would have a positive effect on respiration rates, and that the response to POC availability would be larger during low flows when the dilution capacity of the recipient stream is negligible. We focused on the easily resuspended fine sediment near the sediment-water interface (top 3 cm), as this region is a known hot spot for biogeochemical processes. For one year, samples of resuspended sediment were collected bimonthly at 7 sites from 0 to 800 m downstream of the WWTP point source. We measured total POC, organic matter (OM) content (%), and the associated metabolic activity of the resuspended sediment using the resazurin-resorufin smart tracer system as a proxy for aerobic ecosystem respiration. Resuspended sediment showed no difference in total POC over the year, while the OM content increased with decreasing discharge. This result together with the decreasing trend of total POC observed downstream of the point source during autumn after a long dry period, suggests that the WWTP effluent was the main contributor to stream POC. Furthermore

  18. The effect of in-stream activities on the Njoro River, Kenya. Part I: Stream flow and chemical water quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yillia, Paul T.; Kreuzinger, Norbert; Mathooko, Jude M.

    For shallow streams in sub-Saharan Africa, in-stream activities could be described as the actions by people and livestock, which take place within or besides stream channels. This study examined the nature of in-stream activities along a rural stream in Kenya and established the inequality in water allocation for various livelihood needs, as well as the negative impact they have on dry weather stream flow and chemical water quality. Seven locations along the stream were studied in wet and dry weather of 2006. Enumeration consisted of making head counts of people and livestock and tallying visitors at hourly intervals from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. To estimate water abstraction, filled containers of known volume were counted and the stream was sampled to examine the impact on water quality. Water samples were obtained upstream and downstream of in-stream activities before (6 a.m.) and during (11 a.m., 6 p.m.) activities. Samples were analyzed for suspended solids, turbidity, BOD 5, total nitrogen and total phosphorus. The daily total abstraction at the middle reaches during dry weather was 120-150 m 3 day -1. More than 60% of abstraction was done by water vendors. Vended water from the stream was sold at US 3.5-7.5 per m 3 and vendors earned between US 3-6 a day. Abstracted water contributed approximately 40-60% of the total daily consumptive water use in the riparian area during dry weather but >30% of the morning stream flow was abstracted thereby upsetting stream flow in the lower reaches. The daily total water abstraction correlated positively ( R2, 0.98) and significantly ( p < 0.05) with the daily total human visit, which was diurnally periodic with two peaks, occurring between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. This diurnal pattern of visits and the corresponding in-stream activities affected water quality. In particular, suspended solids, turbidity and BOD 5 levels increased significantly ( p < 0.05) downstream during in-stream activities. It was concluded

  19. Optimization on replacement and inspection period of plant equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takase, Kentaro; Kasai, Masao

    2004-01-01

    Rationalization of the plant maintenance is one of the main topics being investigated in Japanese nuclear power industries. Optimization of the inspection and replacement period of equipments is effective for the maintenance cost reduction. The more realistic model of the replacement policy is proposed in this study. It is based on the classical replacement policy model and its cost is estimated. Then, to consider the inspection for the maintenance, the formulation that includes the risk concept is discussed. Based on it, two variations of the combination of the inspection and the replacement are discussed and the costs are estimated. In this study the effect of the degradation of the equipment is important. The optimized maintenance policy depends on the existence of significant degradation. (author)

  20. Label inspection of approximate cylinder based on adverse cylinder panorama

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Jianping; Liao, Qingmin; He, Bei; Shi, Chenbo

    2013-12-01

    This paper presents a machine vision system for automated label inspection, with the goal to reduce labor cost and ensure consistent product quality. Firstly, the images captured from each single-camera are distorted, since the inspection object is approximate cylindrical. Therefore, this paper proposes an algorithm based on adverse cylinder projection, where label images are rectified by distortion compensation. Secondly, to overcome the limited field of viewing for each single-camera, our method novelly combines images of all single-cameras and build a panorama for label inspection. Thirdly, considering the shake of production lines and error of electronic signal, we design the real-time image registration to calculate offsets between the template and inspected images. Experimental results demonstrate that our system is accurate, real-time and can be applied for numerous real- time inspections of approximate cylinders.

  1. Inspection of training activities by the NRC's Office of Inspection and Enforcement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruhlman, W.A.

    1975-01-01

    New requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations, the issuance of new Regulatory Guides and ANSI Standards, have indicated the increased emphasis being placed on training by forces in the Nuclear Industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A brief description is presented of the functions of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement in the training areas. Three areas are examined: general inspection techniques; training inspection scope; and training inspection bases

  2. Effects of urban stream burial on nitrogen uptake and ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urbanization has resulted in extensive burial and channelization of headwater streams, yet little is known about impacts on stream ecosystem functions critical for reducing downstream nitrogen pollution. To characterize the biogeochemical impact of stream burial, we measured NO3- uptake, using 15N-NO3- isotope tracer releases, and whole stream metabolism, during four seasons in three paired buried and open streams reaches within the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long-term Ecological Research Network. Stream burial increased NO3- uptake lengths, by a factor of 7.5 (p < 0.01) and decreased nitrate uptake velocity and areal nitrate uptake rate by factors of 8.2 (p = 0.01) and 9.6 (p < 0.001), respectively. Stream burial decreased gross primary productivity by a factor of 9.2 (p < 0.05) and decreased ecosystem respiration by a factor of 4.2 (p = 0.06). From statistical analysis of Excitation Emissions Matrices (EEMs), buried streams were also found to have significantly less labile dissolved organic matter. Furthermore, buried streams had significantly lower transient storage and water temperatures. Overall, differences in NO3- uptake and metabolism were primarily explained by decreased transient storage and light availability in buried streams. We estimate that stream burial increases daily watershed nitrate export by as much as 500% due to decreased in-stream retention and may considerably decrease carbon export via decreased primary production. These results

  3. In service inspection of pipes based on risk methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendoza G, G.; Viais J, J.; Carmona C, M.

    2006-01-01

    The politics of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (by its initials in English NRC) of the United States of America on the use of the Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) in activities of nuclear regulation it foments the use of this analysis technique to improve the decisions making, to reduce the unnecessary work in maintenance aspects, inspection and tests and to improve the regulatory efficiency. The inspection programs in service (ISI by its initials in English) developed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (by its initials in English ASME) it has been the one primary mechanism to prove the mechanical equipment in plants of nuclear energy, these programs indeed have been carried out in plants of nuclear energy by more of two decades. Their purpose is to identify the conditions, such as indications of cracks that are precursory of flights and ruptures which violate the integrity principles of the pressure frontier. The inspection in service activities include ultrasonic tests, surface tests and penetrating liquids test, also activities that include the scaffolds construction, removal of insulations and welding polishing. The inspections in service every 18 months during the times outside of service are executed. One of the objectives is to lower the costs of the inspections during the times outside of service and to reduce the exposure to the radiation by part of the personnel during these times out for inspections, while it is increased or it maintains the personnel's safety and the reliability. As part of the methodology a pipe segment is selected for which a fault in any point has the same consequences, being calculated the fault probability of the tube using the dimensions of the segment. In this work the inspection in service methodology is applied based on risk to an aspersion system of low pressure of the Laguna Verde Nucleo electric Central. For this system a reduction in the number of welding to inspect of 103 to only 15 is obtained

  4. Optical fiber inspection system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Francis W.

    1987-01-01

    A remote optical inspection system including an inspection head. The inspection head has a passageway through which pellets or other objects are passed. A window is provided along the passageway through which light is beamed against the objects being inspected. A plurality of lens assemblies are arranged about the window so that reflected light can be gathered and transferred to a plurality of coherent optical fiber light guides. The light guides transfer the light images to a television or other image transducer which converts the optical images into a representative electronic signal. The electronic signal can then be displayed on a signal viewer such as a television monitor for inspection by a person. A staging means can be used to support the objects for viewing through the window. Routing means can be used to direct inspected objects into appropriate exit passages for accepted or rejected objects. The inspected objects are advantageously fed in a singular manner to the staging means and routing means. The inspection system is advantageously used in an enclosure when toxic or hazardous materials are being inspected.

  5. On-Site Inspection RadioIsotopic Spectroscopy (Osiris) System Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caffrey, Gus J. [Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Egger, Ann E. [Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Krebs, Kenneth M. [Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Milbrath, B. D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Jordan, D. V. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Warren, G. A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Wilmer, N. G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2015-09-01

    We have designed and tested hardware and software for the acquisition and analysis of high-resolution gamma-ray spectra during on-site inspections under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The On-Site Inspection RadioIsotopic Spectroscopy—Osiris—software filters the spectral data to display only radioisotopic information relevant to CTBT on-site inspections, e.g.,132I. A set of over 100 fission-product spectra was employed for Osiris testing. These spectra were measured, where possible, or generated by modeling. The synthetic test spectral compositions include non-nuclear-explosion scenarios, e.g., a severe nuclear reactor accident, and nuclear-explosion scenarios such as a vented underground nuclear test. Comparing its computer-based analyses to expert visual analyses of the test spectra, Osiris correctly identifies CTBT-relevant fission product isotopes at the 95% level or better.The Osiris gamma-ray spectrometer is a mechanically-cooled, battery-powered ORTEC Transpec-100, chosen to avoid the need for liquid nitrogen during on-site inspections. The spectrometer was used successfully during the recent 2014 CTBT Integrated Field Exercise in Jordan. The spectrometer is controlled and the spectral data analyzed by a Panasonic Toughbook notebook computer. To date, software development has been the main focus of the Osiris project. In FY2016-17, we plan to modify the Osiris hardware, integrate the Osiris software and hardware, and conduct rigorous field tests to ensure that the Osiris system will function correctly during CTBT on-site inspections. The planned development will raise Osiris to technology readiness level TRL-8; transfer the Osiris technology to a commercial manufacturer, and demonstrate Osiris to potential CTBT on-site inspectors.

  6. On-Site Inspection RadioIsotopic Spectroscopy (Osiris) System Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caffrey, Gus J.; Egger, Ann E.; Krebs, Kenneth M.; Milbrath, B. D.; Jordan, D. V.; Warren, G. A.; Wilmer, N. G.

    2015-01-01

    We have designed and tested hardware and software for the acquisition and analysis of high-resolution gamma-ray spectra during on-site inspections under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The On-Site Inspection RadioIsotopic Spectroscopy-Osiris-software filters the spectral data to display only radioisotopic information relevant to CTBT on-site inspections, e.g.,132I. A set of over 100 fission-product spectra was employed for Osiris testing. These spectra were measured, where possible, or generated by modeling. The synthetic test spectral compositions include non-nuclear-explosion scenarios, e.g., a severe nuclear reactor accident, and nuclear-explosion scenarios such as a vented underground nuclear test. Comparing its computer-based analyses to expert visual analyses of the test spectra, Osiris correctly identifies CTBT-relevant fission product isotopes at the 95% level or better.The Osiris gamma-ray spectrometer is a mechanically-cooled, battery-powered ORTEC Transpec-100, chosen to avoid the need for liquid nitrogen during on-site inspections. The spectrometer was used successfully during the recent 2014 CTBT Integrated Field Exercise in Jordan. The spectrometer is controlled and the spectral data analyzed by a Panasonic Toughbook notebook computer. To date, software development has been the main focus of the Osiris project. In FY2016-17, we plan to modify the Osiris hardware, integrate the Osiris software and hardware, and conduct rigorous field tests to ensure that the Osiris system will function correctly during CTBT on-site inspections. The planned development will raise Osiris to technology readiness level TRL-8; transfer the Osiris technology to a commercial manufacturer, and demonstrate Osiris to potential CTBT on-site inspectors.

  7. Information-Driven Inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laughter, Mark D.; Whitaker, J. Michael; Lockwood, Dunbar

    2010-01-01

    New uranium enrichment capacity is being built worldwide in response to perceived shortfalls in future supply. To meet increasing safeguards responsibilities with limited resources, the nonproliferation community is exploring next-generation concepts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of safeguards, such as advanced technologies to enable unattended monitoring of nuclear material. These include attribute measurement technologies, data authentication tools, and transmission and security methods. However, there are several conceptual issues with how such data would be used to improve the ability of a safeguards inspectorate such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to reach better safeguards conclusions regarding the activities of a State. The IAEA is pursuing the implementation of information-driven safeguards, whereby all available sources of information are used to make the application of safeguards more effective and efficient. Data from continuous, unattended monitoring systems can be used to optimize on-site inspection scheduling and activities at declared facilities, resulting in fewer, better inspections. Such information-driven inspections are the logical evolution of inspection planning - making use of all available information to enhance scheduled and randomized inspections. Data collection and analysis approaches for unattended monitoring systems can be designed to protect sensitive information while enabling information-driven inspections. A number of such inspections within a predetermined range could reduce inspection frequency while providing an equal or greater level of deterrence against illicit activity, all while meeting operator and technology holder requirements and reducing inspector and operator burden. Three options for using unattended monitoring data to determine an information-driven inspection schedule are to (1) send all unattended monitoring data off-site, which will require advances in data analysis techniques to

  8. Experiences concerning reactor pressure vessel head penetration inspections; Erfahrungen mit Pruefungen von Reaktordruckbehaelter-Deckeldurchfuehrungen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Debnar, Angelika [Westinghouse Electric Germany GmbH, Mannheim (Germany)

    2009-07-01

    Globally observed damage at the control rod drive mechanism nozzles in PWR-type reactors (Bugey-3, Oconee 1,2,3 and ANO-1, David Besse) have triggered enhanced inspection of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) head penetrations. In Germany the regulations require a periodic inspection especially of dissimilar welds. Westinghouse has developed an automated measuring system for RPV heads aimed to inspect welded joints at open nozzles of nozzles with thermosleeves. The testing technology with remote controlled robotics is supposed to perform a weld inspection as complete as possible, restraints result from constructive difficulties for the accessibility. The new gap-scanner DE2008 was qualified at the mock-up and was implemented into the periodic in-service inspection of Neckarwestheim-1.

  9. The interactive effects of climate change, riparian management, and a non-native predators on stream-rearing salmon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, David J.; Stewart-Koster, Ben; Olden, Julian D.; Ruesch, Aaron S.; Torgersen, Christian E.; Lawler, Joshua J.; Butcher, Don P.; Crown, Julia K.

    2014-01-01

    Predicting how climate change is likely to interact with myriad other stressors that threaten species of conservation concern is an essential challenge in aquatic ecosystems. This study provides a framework to accomplish this task in salmon-bearing streams of the northwestern United States, where land-use related reductions in riparian shading have caused changes in stream thermal regimes, and additional warming from projected climate change may result in significant losses of coldwater fish habitat over the next century. Predatory non-native smallmouth bass have also been introduced into many northwestern streams and their range is likely to expand as streams warm, presenting an additional challenge to the persistence of threatened Pacific salmon. The goal of this work was to forecast the interactive effects of climate change, riparian management, and non-native species on stream-rearing salmon, and to evaluate the capacity of restoration to mitigate these effects. We intersected downscaled global climate forecasts with a local-scale water temperature model to predict mid- and end-of-century temperatures in streams in the Columbia River basin; we compared one stream that is thermally impaired due to the loss of riparian vegetation and another that is cooler and has a largely intact riparian corridor. Using the forecasted stream temperatures in conjunction with fish-habitat models, we predicted how stream-rearing Chinook salmon and bass distributions would change as each stream warmed. In the highly modified stream, end-of-century warming may cause near total loss of Chinook salmon rearing habitat and a complete invasion of the upper watershed by bass. In the less modified stream, bass were thermally restricted from the upstream-most areas. In both systems, temperature increases resulted in higher predicted spatial overlap between stream-rearing Chinook salmon and potentially predatory bass in the early summer (2-4-fold increase) and greater abundance of bass. We

  10. Regulatory inspection practices on fuel elements and core lay-out at NPPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Binnebeek, J.J.; Liuhto, Pekka; Badel, D.; Klonk, H.; Seidel, F.; Fichtinger, G.; Manzella, P.; Koizumi, Hiroyoshi; Delgado, Jose Luis; Gutierrez Ruiz, Luis Miguel; Bouvrie, E. des; Gil, J.; Forsberg, Staffan; Wand, H.; Warren, Tom; Gallo, R.

    1998-01-01

    The basic description of the reactor core of a nuclear power plant (NPP) is an important part of the Safety Analysis Report in all countries. Due to increased interest by regulatory authorities in the Member countries, in 1996 WGIP proposed looking at inspection aspects on fuel elements and core lay-out at nuclear power plants. The CNRA subsequently approved proceeding with this report. The report deals primarily with inspection practices and inspection requirements during nuclear power plant (NPP) operation with special emphasis on refuelling procedures. All license related topics, such as fuel and core design (mechanical, neutronic, thermal-hydraulic), as well as inspection philosophy and practices on fuel fabrication are included as appropriate serving as background information and may not be completely described. WGIP members describe their country's inspection programme according to the structure of a questionnaire (appendix 1). The individual contributions are contained in the appendix 2 and are compiled within the main chapters (1 through 3). Report Structure: 1. Licensing and Quality Assurance (QA) requirements for nuclear fuel; 2. Regulatory inspection programme during NPP operation and refuelling outages; 3. Procedures for inspection practices and inspection programme. Appendix: Questionnaire and Country specific contributions. Contributions are presented by Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA

  11. Inspection Strategies for Concrete Bridges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Thoft-Christensen, Palle

    1989-01-01

    In this paper an optimal inspection strategy for concrete bridges based on periodic routine and detailed inspections is presented. The failure mode considered is corrosion of the reinforcement due to chlorides. A simple modelling of the corrosion and of the inspection strategy is presented....... The optimal inspection strategy is determined from an optimization problem, where the design variables are time intervals between detailed inspections and the concrete cover. The strategy is illustrated on a simple structure, namely a reinforced concrete beam....

  12. Good clinical practice regulatory inspections: Lessons for Indian investigator sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R Marwah

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Regulatory inspections are important to evaluate the integrity of the data submitted to health authorities (HAs, protect patient safety, and assess adequacy of site/sponsor quality systems to achieve the same. Inspections generally occur after submission of data for marketing approval of an investigational drug. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in number of inspections by different HAs, including in India. The assessors/inspectors generally do a thorough review of site data before inspections. All aspects of ICH-GCP, site infrastructure, and quality control systems are assessed during the inspection. Findings are discussed during the close out meeting and a detailed inspection report issued afterward, which has to be responded to within 15-30 days with effective Corrective and Preventive Action Plan (CAPA. Protocol noncompliance, inadequate/inaccurate records, inadequate drug accountability, informed consent issues, and adverse event reporting were some of the most common findings observed during recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA inspections. Drug development is being increasingly globalized and an increased number of patients enrolled in studies submitted as part of applications come from all over the world including India. Because of the steep increase in research activity in the country, inexperienced sites, and more stakeholders, increased efforts will be required to ensure continuous quality and compliance. HAs have also made clear that enforcement will be increased and be swift, aggressive, and effective.

  13. Interim Report on Heuristics about Inspection Parameters: Updates to Heuristics Resulting from Refinement on Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, Forrest; Seaman, Carolyn; Feldman, Raimund; Haingaertner, Ralf; Regardie, Myrna

    2008-01-01

    In 2008, we have continued analyzing the inspection data in an effort to better understand the applicability and effect of the inspection heuristics on inspection outcomes. Our research goals during this period are: 1. Investigate the effect of anomalies in the dataset (e.g. the very large meeting length values for some inspections) on our results 2. Investigate the effect of the heuristics on other inspection outcome variables (e.g. effort) 3. Investigate whether the recommended ranges can be modified to give inspection planners more flexibility without sacrificing effectiveness 4. Investigate possible refinements or modifications to the heuristics for specific subdomains (partitioned, e.g., by size, domain, or Center) This memo reports our results to date towards addressing these goals. In the next section, the first goal is addressed by describing the types of anomalies we have found in our dataset, how we have addressed them, and the effect of these changes on our previously reported results. In the following section, on "methodology", we describe the analyses we have conducted to address the other three goals and the results of these analyses are described in the "results" section. Finally, we conclude with future plans for continuing our investigation.

  14. The relative influence of nutrients and habitat on stream metabolism in agricultural streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frankforter, J.D.; Weyers, H.S.; Bales, J.D.; Moran, P.W.; Calhoun, D.L.

    2010-01-01

    Stream metabolism was measured in 33 streams across a gradient of nutrient concentrations in four agricultural areas of the USA to determine the relative influence of nutrient concentrations and habitat on primary production (GPP) and respiration (CR-24). In conjunction with the stream metabolism estimates, water quality and algal biomass samples were collected, as was an assessment of habitat in the sampling reach. When data for all study areas were combined, there were no statistically significant relations between gross primary production or community respiration and any of the independent variables. However, significant regression models were developed for three study areas for GPP (r 2 = 0.79-0.91) and CR-24 (r 2 = 0.76-0.77). Various forms of nutrients (total phosphorus and area-weighted total nitrogen loading) were significant for predicting GPP in two study areas, with habitat variables important in seven significant models. Important physical variables included light availability, precipitation, basin area, and in-stream habitat cover. Both benthic and seston chlorophyll were not found to be important explanatory variables in any of the models; however, benthic ash-free dry weight was important in two models for GPP. ?? 2009 The Author(s).

  15. The Leicester AATSR Global Analyser (LAGA) - Giving Young Students the Opportunity to Examine Space Observations of Global Climate-Related Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Llewellyn-Jones, David; Good, Simon; Corlett, Gary

    A pc-based analysis package has been developed, for the dual purposes of, firstly, providing ‘quick-look' capability to research workers inspecting long time-series of global satellite datasets of Sea-surface Temperature (SST); and, secondly, providing an introduction for students, either undergraduates, or advanced high-school students to the characteristics of commonly used analysis techniques for large geophysical data-sets from satellites. Students can also gain insight into the behaviour of some basic climate-related large-scale or global processes. The package gives students immediate access to up to 16 years of continuous global SST data, mainly from the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer, currently flying on ESA's Envisat satellite. The data are available and are presented in the form of monthly averages and spatial averaged to half-degree or one-sixth degree longitude-latitude grids. There are simple button-operated facilities for defining and calculating box-averages; producing time-series of such averages; defining and displaying transects and their evolution over time; and the examination anomalous behaviour by displaying the difference between observed values and values derived from climatological means. By using these facilities a student rapidly gains familiarity with such processes as annual variability, the El Nĩo effect, as well as major current systems n such as the Gulf Stream and other climatically important phenomena. In fact, the student is given immediate insights into the basic methods of examining geophysical data in a research context, without needing to acquire special analysis skills are go trough lengthy data retrieval and preparation procedures which are more generally required, as precursors to serious investigation, in the research laboratory. This software package, called the Leicester AAATSR Global Analyser (LAGA), is written in a well-known and widely used analysis language and the package can be run by using software

  16. To inspect, to motivate - or to do both? A dilemma for on-farm inspection of animal welfare

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Anneberg, Inger; Vaarst, Mette; Sandøe, Peter

    2013-01-01

    offenders should be treated equally. On the other hand, it may be argued that an important component of inspections is to enter into dialogue with farmers. This may be based on a more forward-looking view aimed at motivating farmers to look after the welfare of the animals in their care. In European...... countries, authorities try to enforce animal welfare legislation through inspections followed up by penalties in instances where a lack of compliance is found. However, the fairness and efficiency, and ultimately the public acceptance of the system, critically depend on the performance of the individual...

  17. OSE inspection of protection program operations field perspective of inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, R.W.; Martin, H.R.

    1987-01-01

    Protection Program Operations includes three functional areas: Physical Protection Systems, Protective Forces, and System Performance Testing. The Office of Security Evaluations (OSE) inspects field offices in these areas by evaluating programs relative to Standards and Criteria and by performing a variety of exercises and other types of tests to assure protective systems are effective and maintained at a proper level to meet the defined threat. Their perception of the OSE inspections has been positive. The approach taken by ID, with key areas/activities emphasized, during each phase of the field inspection process is described in this report. The most important areas for field offices to concentrate are: inspection preparations through self-evaluation, improving communications, assigning knowledgeable trusted agents, increasing awareness of facility procedures and operations, and assuring daily validations of inspected areas. Emphasis is placed on striving for a balance in reporting both positive and negative findings, and for consistency between ratings and the importance of report findings. OSE efforts to develop improved rating methodologies are encouraged

  18. Outer navigation of a inspection robot by means of feedback of global guidance; Navegacion exterior de un robot de inspeccion mediante retroalimentacion de la orientacion global

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Segovia de los R, A.; Bucio V, F. [ININ, 52750 La Marquesa, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Garduno G, M. [Instituto Tecnologico de Toluca, Av. Instituto Tecnologico s/n, Metepec, Estado de Mexico 52140 (Mexico)]. e-mail: asegovia@nuclear.inin.mx

    2008-07-01

    The objective of this article is the presentation of an inspection system to mobile robot navigating in exteriors by means of the employment of a feedback of instantaneous guidance with respect to a global reference throughout moment of the displacement. The robot evolves obeying the commands coming from the one tele operator which indicates the diverse addresses by means of the operation console that the robot should take using for it information provided by an electronic compass. The mobile robot employee in the experimentations is a Pioneer 3-AT, which counts with a sensor series required to obtain an operation of more autonomy. The electronic compass offers geographical information coded in a format SPI, reason for which a micro controller ({mu}C) economic of general use has been an employee for to transfer the information to the format RS-232, originally used by the Pioneer 3-AT. The orientation information received by the robot by means of their serial port RS-232 secondary it is forwarded to the computer hostess in the one which a program Java is used to generate the commands for the robot navigation control and to deploy one graphic interface user utilized to receive the order of the operator. This research is part of an ambitious project in which it is tried to count on an inspection system and monitoring of sites in which risks of high radiation levels could exist, thus a navigation systems in exteriors could be very useful. The complete system will count besides the own sensors of the robot, with certain numbers of agree sensors to the variables that are desired to monitor. The resulting values of such measurements will be visualized in real time in the graphic interface user, thanks to a bidirectional wireless communication among the station of operation and the mobile robot. (Author)

  19. RIMACS, Reactor Inspection Main Control System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    1 - Description of program or function: RIMACS prepares for automatic inspection files on each inspection item for the reactor. These automatic inspection files provide the data to move RIROB (Reactor Inspection Robot) with laser by interpreting the coordinates of LASPO (Laser Positioner) and the laser detecting device of RIROB in three dimensional space. In addition, when RIROB arrives at the inspecting location, the files provide all values of the manipulator's motions to acquire the ultrasonic data. RIMACS provides various modules in order to perform these complex functions, and the functions are programmed on graphic user interface for the convenience of the user. RIMACS provides various functions, such as insertion of reactor production data, selection of the reactor for inspection, the creation of automatic inspection file, the selection of the inspection item, inspection simulation, and automatic inspection procedures. It also provides all other functions, which are necessary for the inspection, such as operating program download and manual control of LASPO and RIROB, the inspection simulation and the inspection status display by means of the graphic screen, and SODAS (ultra-Sonic Data Acquisition System) drive verification. 2 - Methods: Moving path and operation procedures for inspection robot are generated automatically with Kinematics algorithm. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: A graphics display with MS-Window capability is required

  20. ADAPTIVE STREAMING OVER HTTP (DASH UNTUK APLIKASI VIDEO STREAMING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Made Oka Widyantara

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to analyze Internet-based streaming video service in the communication media with variable bit rates. The proposed scheme on Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH using the internet network that adapts to the protocol Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP. DASH technology allows a video in the video segmentation into several packages that will distreamingkan. DASH initial stage is to compress the video source to lower the bit rate video codec uses H.26. Video compressed further in the segmentation using MP4Box generates streaming packets with the specified duration. These packages are assembled into packets in a streaming media format Presentation Description (MPD or known as MPEG-DASH. Streaming video format MPEG-DASH run on a platform with the player bitdash teritegrasi bitcoin. With this scheme, the video will have several variants of the bit rates that gave rise to the concept of scalability of streaming video services on the client side. The main target of the mechanism is smooth the MPEG-DASH streaming video display on the client. The simulation results show that the scheme based scalable video streaming MPEG-DASH able to improve the quality of image display on the client side, where the procedure bufering videos can be made constant and fine for the duration of video views

  1. Exploring the impact of agriculture on nitrogen and phosphorus biogeochemistry in global rivers during the twentieth century (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouwman, L.; Beusen, A.; Van Beek, L. P.

    2013-12-01

    Nutrients are transported from land to sea through the continuum formed by soils, groundwater, riparian zones, floodplains, streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. The hydrology, ecology and biogeochemical processing in each of these components are strongly coupled and result in retention of a significant fraction of the nutrients transported. This paper analyzes the global changes in nutrient biogeochemical processes and retention in rivers during the past century (1900-2000); this period encompasses dramatic increases in human population and economic human activities including agriculture that have resulted in major changes in land use, nutrient use in agriculture, wastewater flows and human interventions in the hydrology (1). We use the hydrological PCR-GLOBWB model (2) for the period 1900-2000, including climate variability and the history of dam construction and land use conversion. Global agricultural and natural N and P soil budgets for the period 1900-2000 are the starting point to simulate nutrient flows from the soil via surface runoff and leaching through the groundwater system and riparian zones. In-stream processes are described with the nutrient spiraling concept. In the period 1900-2000, the global soil N budget surplus (inputs minus withdrawal in harvested crops) for agricultural and natural ecosystems increased from 118 to 202 Tg yr-1, and the global P budget increased from nutrient delivery to streams and river nutrient export has increased rapidly in the 20th century. Model results are sensitive to factors determining the N and P delivery, as well as in-stream processes. The most uncertain factors are N delivery to streams by groundwater (denitrification as a function of thickness and reactivity of aquifers), and in-stream N and P retention parameters (net uptake velocity, retention as function of concentration). References 1. Bouwman AF, Beusen AHW, Griffioen J, Van Groenigen JW, Hefting MM, Oenema O, et al. Global trends and uncertainties in

  2. Dimensional Metrology of Non-rigid Parts Without Specialized Inspection Fixtures =

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabri, Vahid

    Quality control is an important factor for manufacturing companies looking to prosper in an era of globalization, market pressures and technological advances. Functionality and product quality cannot be guaranteed without this important aspect. Manufactured parts have deviations from their nominal (CAD) shape caused by the manufacturing process. Thus, geometric inspection is a very important element in the quality control of mechanical parts. We will focus here on the geometric inspection of non-rigid (flexible) parts which are widely used in the aeronautic and automotive industries. Non-rigid parts can have different forms in a free-state condition compared with their nominal models due to residual stress and gravity loads. To solve this problem, dedicated inspection fixtures are generally used in industry to compensate for the displacement of such parts for simulating the use state in order to perform geometric inspections. These fixtures and the installation and inspection processes are expensive and time-consuming. Our aim in this thesis is therefore to develop an inspection method which eliminates the need for specialized fixtures. This is done by acquiring a point cloud from the part in a free-state condition using a contactless measuring device such as optical scanning and comparing it with the CAD model for the deviation identification. Using a non-rigid registration method and finite element analysis, we numerically inspect the profile of a non-rigid part. To do so, a simulated displacement is performed using an improved definition of displacement boundary conditions for simulating unfixed parts. In addition, we propose a numerical method for dimensional metrology of non-rigid parts in a free-state condition based on the arc length measurement by calculating the geodesic distance using the Fast Marching Method (FMM). In this thesis, we apply our developed methods on industrial non-rigid parts with free-form surfaces simulated with different types of

  3. Pressurized water reactor inspection procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heinrich, D.; Mueller, G.; Otte, H.J.; Roth, W.

    1998-01-01

    Inspections of the reactor pressure vessels of pressurized water reactors (PWR) so far used to be carried out with different central mast manipulators. For technical reasons, parallel inspections of two manipulators alongside work on the refueling cavity, so as to reduce the time spent on the critical path in a revision outage, are not possible. Efforts made to minimize the inspection time required with one manipulator have been successful, but their effects are limited. Major reductions in inspection time can be achieved only if inspections are run with two manipulators in parallel. The decentralized manipulator built by GEC Alsthom Energie and so far emmployed in boiling water reactors in the USA, Spain, Switzerland and Japan allows two systems to be used in parallel, thus reducing the time required for standard inspection of a pressure vessel from some six days to three days. These savings of approximately three days are made possible without any compromises in terms of positioning by rail-bound systems. During inspection, the reactor refueling cavity is available for other revision work without any restrictions. The manipulator can be used equally well for inspecting standard PWR, PWR with a thermal shield, for inspecting the land between in-core instrumentation nozzles, BWR with and without jet pumps (complementary inspection), and for inspecting core support shrouds. (orig.) [de

  4. Endoscopic inspection of steam turbines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maliniemi, H.; Muukka, E.

    1990-01-01

    For over ten years, Imatran Voima Oy (IVO) has developed, complementary inspection methods for steam turbine condition monitoring, which can be applied both during operation and shutdown. One important method used periodically during outages is endoscopic inspection. The inspection is based on the method where the internal parts of the turbine is inspected through access borings with endoscope and where the magnified figures of the internal parts is seen on video screen. To improve inspection assurance, an image-processing based pattern recognition method for cracks has been developed for the endoscopic inspection of turbine blades. It is based on the deduction conditions derived from the crack shape. The computer gives an alarm of a crack detection and prints a simulated image of the crack, which is then checked manually

  5. StreamMap: Smooth Dynamic Visualization of High-Density Streaming Points.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chenhui; Baciu, George; Han, Yu

    2018-03-01

    Interactive visualization of streaming points for real-time scatterplots and linear blending of correlation patterns is increasingly becoming the dominant mode of visual analytics for both big data and streaming data from active sensors and broadcasting media. To better visualize and interact with inter-stream patterns, it is generally necessary to smooth out gaps or distortions in the streaming data. Previous approaches either animate the points directly or present a sampled static heat-map. We propose a new approach, called StreamMap, to smoothly blend high-density streaming points and create a visual flow that emphasizes the density pattern distributions. In essence, we present three new contributions for the visualization of high-density streaming points. The first contribution is a density-based method called super kernel density estimation that aggregates streaming points using an adaptive kernel to solve the overlapping problem. The second contribution is a robust density morphing algorithm that generates several smooth intermediate frames for a given pair of frames. The third contribution is a trend representation design that can help convey the flow directions of the streaming points. The experimental results on three datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of StreamMap when dynamic visualization and visual analysis of trend patterns on streaming points are required.

  6. Technical objectives of inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sorenson, R.J.; Stewart, K.B.; Schneider, R.A.

    1976-01-01

    The various technical objectives of inspection are discussed in a very general manner. The discussion includes how the inspection function is related to the assumed threat, the various degrees of assurance and reliance on criteria, and the hierarchy of assurance which is obtained from the various types or levels of inspection

  7. Principles for urban stormwater management to protect stream ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Christopher J.; Booth, Derek B.; Burns, Matthew J.; Fletcher, Tim D.; Hale, Rebecca L.; Hoang, Lan N.; Livingston, Grant; Rippy, Megan A.; Roy, Allison; Scoggins, Mateo; Wallace, Angela

    2016-01-01

    Urban stormwater runoff is a critical source of degradation to stream ecosystems globally. Despite broad appreciation by stream ecologists of negative effects of stormwater runoff, stormwater management objectives still typically center on flood and pollution mitigation without an explicit focus on altered hydrology. Resulting management approaches are unlikely to protect the ecological structure and function of streams adequately. We present critical elements of stormwater management necessary for protecting stream ecosystems through 5 principles intended to be broadly applicable to all urban landscapes that drain to a receiving stream: 1) the ecosystems to be protected and a target ecological state should be explicitly identified; 2) the postdevelopment balance of evapotranspiration, stream flow, and infiltration should mimic the predevelopment balance, which typically requires keeping significant runoff volume from reaching the stream; 3) stormwater control measures (SCMs) should deliver flow regimes that mimic the predevelopment regime in quality and quantity; 4) SCMs should have capacity to store rain events for all storms that would not have produced widespread surface runoff in a predevelopment state, thereby avoiding increased frequency of disturbance to biota; and 5) SCMs should be applied to all impervious surfaces in the catchment of the target stream. These principles present a range of technical and social challenges. Existing infrastructural, institutional, or governance contexts often prevent application of the principles to the degree necessary to achieve effective protection or restoration, but significant potential exists for multiple co-benefits from SCM technologies (e.g., water supply and climate-change adaptation) that may remove barriers to implementation. Our set of ideal principles for stream protection is intended as a guide for innovators who seek to develop new approaches to stormwater management rather than accept seemingly

  8. Groundwater data improve modelling of headwater stream CO2 outgassing with a stable DIC isotope approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marx, Anne; Conrad, Marcus; Aizinger, Vadym; Prechtel, Alexander; van Geldern, Robert; Barth, Johannes A. C.

    2018-05-01

    A large portion of terrestrially derived carbon outgasses as carbon dioxide (CO2) from streams and rivers to the atmosphere. Particularly, the amount of CO2 outgassing from small headwater streams is highly uncertain. Conservative estimates suggest that they contribute 36 % (i.e. 0.93 petagrams (Pg) C yr-1) of total CO2 outgassing from all fluvial ecosystems on the globe. In this study, stream pCO2, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and δ13CDIC data were used to determine CO2 outgassing from an acidic headwater stream in the Uhlířská catchment (Czech Republic). This stream drains a catchment with silicate bedrock. The applied stable isotope model is based on the principle that the 13C / 12C ratio of its sources and the intensity of CO2 outgassing control the isotope ratio of DIC in stream water. It avoids the use of the gas transfer velocity parameter (k), which is highly variable and mostly difficult to constrain. Model results indicate that CO2 outgassing contributed more than 80 % to the annual stream inorganic carbon loss in the Uhlířská catchment. This translated to a CO2 outgassing rate from the stream of 34.9 kg C m-2 yr-1 when normalised to the stream surface area. Large temporal variations with maximum values shortly before spring snowmelt and in summer emphasise the need for investigations at higher temporal resolution. We improved the model uncertainty by incorporating groundwater data to better constrain the isotope compositions of initial DIC. Due to the large global abundance of acidic, humic-rich headwaters, we underline the importance of this integral approach for global applications.

  9. Incore inspection device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogisu, Tatsuki; Taguchi, Kosei.

    1995-01-01

    The device of the present invention can inspect surfaces of equipments in reactor water in a nuclear reactor in a state of atmospheric air. Namely, an inspection device is movable forwardly and backwardly in a water-proof vessel. An annular sucker with pleats is disposed to the outer side of a lid of the water-proof vessel. A television camera for an under water monitoring is disposed to the inner side of the lid of the water-proof vessel by way of a partitioning wall with lid. Transferring screws are disposed at the back and on the side of the water-proof vessel. In the device having such a constitution, (1) the inside of the water-proof vessel is at first made water-tight by closing the partitioning wall with lid, (2) the back and the side screws are operated by the guide of the underwater monitoring television camera, to transfer the water-proof vessel to the surface of the reactor core to be inspected, (3) the annular sucker with pleats is urged on the surface to be inspected by the back screw, to fix the water-proof vessel, (4) reactor water in a space of the annular sucker with pleats is discharged and replaced with air, and (5) the lid of the partition wall with lid is opened and the inspection device is disposed at a position of the underwater monitoring television camera, to inspect the surface to be inspected in a state of atmospheric air. (I.S.)

  10. Interaction between stream temperature, streamflow, and groundwater exchanges in alpine streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Constantz, James E.

    1998-01-01

    Four alpine streams were monitored to continuously collect stream temperature and streamflow for periods ranging from a week to a year. In a small stream in the Colorado Rockies, diurnal variations in both stream temperature and streamflow were significantly greater in losing reaches than in gaining reaches, with minimum streamflow losses occurring early in the day and maximum losses occurring early in the evening. Using measured stream temperature changes, diurnal streambed infiltration rates were predicted to increase as much as 35% during the day (based on a heat and water transport groundwater model), while the measured increase in streamflow loss was 40%. For two large streams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, annual stream temperature variations ranged from 0° to 25°C. In summer months, diurnal stream temperature variations were 30–40% of annual stream temperature variations, owing to reduced streamflows and increased atmospheric heating. Previous reports document that one Sierra stream site generally gains groundwater during low flows, while the second Sierra stream site may lose water during low flows. For August the diurnal streamflow variation was 11% at the gaining stream site and 30% at the losing stream site. On the basis of measured diurnal stream temperature variations, streambed infiltration rates were predicted to vary diurnally as much as 20% at the losing stream site. Analysis of results suggests that evapotranspiration losses determined diurnal streamflow variations in the gaining reaches, while in the losing reaches, evapotranspiration losses were compounded by diurnal variations in streambed infiltration. Diurnal variations in stream temperature were reduced in the gaining reaches as a result of discharging groundwater of relatively constant temperature. For the Sierra sites, comparison of results with those from a small tributary demonstrated that stream temperature patterns were useful in delineating discharges of bank storage following

  11. Evaluation of flaw characteristics and their influence on inservice inspection reliability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becker, F.L.

    1980-01-01

    This report describes the results of the first year's effort of a five year program which is being conducted by Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, on behalf of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This initial effort was directed toward identification and quantification of inspection uncertainties, which are likely to occur during inservice inspection of LWR primary piping systems, and their influence on inspection reliability. These experiments were conducted on 304 stainless steel samples, however, the results are equally applicable to other materials. Later portions of the program will extend these measurements and evaluations to other materials and conditions

  12. Ultrasonic inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Satittada, Gannaga

    1984-01-01

    Ultrasonic inspection is one of the most widely used methods for nondestructive inspection. The beam of high-frequency sound wave, ultrasonic wave, is introduced into the material. It travels through the material with some attendant loss of energy and can be reflected at interfaces. The reflected beam is detected and analyzed. Ultrasonic inspection is used to detect flaws in metal parts as well as in welded, brazed and bonded joints during research work and developing production and service. It is also used to detect and locate porosity, pipe, and flakes. In addition, it can be used for the measurement of metal thickness. Ultrasonic inspection is therefore used for quality control and material inspection in all major industries

  13. Development on multifunctional phased-array fault inspection technology. Aiming at integrity on internals in nuclear power plant reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Komura, Ichiro; Hirasawa, Taiji; Nagai, Satoshi; Naruse, Katsuhiko

    2002-01-01

    On nuclear power plants sharing an important role in Japanese energy policy, their higher safety and reliability than the other plants are required, and their non-destructive inspection occupies important position for information means to judge their integrity. And, for a part of responses to recent rationalization of the plant operation and increase of aged plants, requirements and positioning onto the non-destructive inspection technology also change. As a result, not only concept on allowable fault sizes is adopted, but also inspection on reactor internals without conventional regulation is obliged to require for size evaluation (sizing) with higher precision to use for secure detection and integrity evaluation of the faults than sizes determined for every internals. For requirement with such higher levels for fault detection and sizing, and for requirement for effective inspection, phased-array supersonic wave fault inspection method is one of the methods with high potential power. Here were introduced on principles and characteristics of the phased-array supersonic wave fault inspection method, and on various fault inspection methods and functions mainly developed for reactor internals inspection. (G.K.)

  14. Noble Gas Sampling and Detection Methods for On-Site Inspections in Support of CTBT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wieslander, J.S.E.

    2015-01-01

    The On-Site Inspections (OSI) constitutes the final verification measure under the CTBT, and are conducted to verify States Parties' compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). An on-site inspection is launched to establish whether or not a nuclear explosion has been carried out and during such an inspection, facts might also be gathered to identify a possible violator of the Treaty. The Treaty lists all activities and techniques that are permitted and one of these is the environmental sampling of noble gases (NG) in the air and underground, which can be deployed at any time during an OSI. The CTBT relevant isotopes are Xe-133, 133m, 131m, 135 and Ar-37. The samples are primarily to be analyzed on-site, although the treaty also allows off-site analysis in designated laboratories if necessary. Stringent procedures ensure the security, integrity and confidentiality of the samples throughout the sampling and analysis process — all taking place in the field. Over the past decade the techniques for NG sampling, processing and analysis of both atmospheric and subsoil NG samples have been developed further in order to fit to the conditions and requirements during an OSI. This has been a major international effort with a global set of collaborators. Especially during the past three years the efforts intensified in order to finalize the scientific and technical developments for the Integrated Field Exercise, November 2014 (IFE14). This presentation will provide an overview of the current status of the OSI NG sampling regime and the OSI NG Field Laboratory to be deployed in IFE14, together with more technical descriptions of methods and equipment as well as a short discussion on potential future developments and alternative applications as applicable. (author)

  15. SmartInspect: Smart Contract Inspection Technical Report

    OpenAIRE

    Bragagnolo , Santiago; Rocha , Henrique ,; Denker , Marcus; Ducasse , Stéphane

    2017-01-01

    Smart contracts are embedded procedures stored with the data they act upon. Debugging deployed Smart Contracts is a difficult task since once deployed, the code cannot be reexecuted and inspecting a simple attribute is not easily possible because data is encoded. In this technical report, we present SmartInspect to address the lack of inspectability of a deployed contract. Our solution analyses the contract state by using decompilation techniques and a mirror-based architecture to represent t...

  16. Streams with Strahler Stream Order

    Data.gov (United States)

    Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — Stream segments with Strahler stream order values assigned. As of 01/08/08 the linework is from the DNR24K stream coverages and will not match the updated...

  17. An intelligent system for real time automatic defect inspection on specular coated surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jinhua; Parker, Johné M.; Hou, Zhen

    2005-07-01

    Product visual inspection is still performed manually or semi automatically in most industries from simple ceramic tile grading to complex automotive body panel paint defect and surface quality inspection. Moreover, specular surfaces present additional challenge to conventional vision systems due to specular reflections, which may mask the true location of objects and lead to incorrect measurements. There are some sophisticated visual inspection methods developed in recent years. Unfortunately, most of them are highly computational. Systems built on those methods are either inapplicable or very costly to achieve real time inspection. In this paper, we describe an integrated low-cost intelligent system developed to automatically capture, extract, and segment defects on specular surfaces with uniform color coatings. The system inspects and locates regular surface defects with lateral dimensions as small as a millimeter. The proposed system is implemented on a group of smart cameras using its on-board processing ability to achieve real time inspection. The experimental results on real test panels demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of proposed system.

  18. Hydrogeomorphic connectivity on roads crossing in rural headwaters and its effect on stream dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomaz, Edivaldo L; Peretto, Gustavo T

    2016-04-15

    Unpaved roads are ubiquitous features that have been transforming the landscape through human history. Unpaved roads affect the water and sediment pathways through a catchment and impacts the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, we describe the effect of unpaved road on the hydrogeomorphic connectivity at the rural headwater scale. Measurement was based on the stream crossing approach, i.e., road superimposing the drainage system. We installed a Parshall flume coupled with single-stage suspended sediment sampler at each stream crossing. In addition, we displayed our monitoring scheme with an upscaling perspective from second-order to third-order stream. We concluded that the road-stream coupling dramatically changed the stream dynamic. The increase of discharge caused by roads at the headwater was 50% larger compared to unaffected streams. Additionally, suspended sediment concentration enhancement at stream crossings ranged from to 413% at second-order streams to 145% at third-order streams. The landform characteristics associated with the road network produced an important hydrogeomorphic disruption in the landscape. As a result, the sediment filter function of the riparian zone was reduced dramatically. Therefore, we recommend that projects for aquatic system restoration or conservation in rural landscape consider the role of the road network on stream dynamics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. On the dynamics of stream piracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goren, L.; Willett, S. D.

    2012-04-01

    Drainage network reorganization by stream piracy is invoked repeatedly to explain the morphology of unique drainage patterns and as a possible mechanism inducing abrupt variations of sediment accumulation rates. However, direct evidence of stream piracy is usually rare, and is highly interpretation dependent. As a first step in assessing how probable capture events are and establishing the conditions that favor stream piracy versus the those that favor stable landscapes, we formulate analytically the physics of divide migration and capture events and study this formulation from a dynamical system point of view. The formulation is based on a one-dimensional topographic cross section between two channels that share a water divide. Two hillslope profiles diverge from the divide and drain into two fluvial bedrock tributaries, whose erosion rate is controlled by a stream power law. The rate of erosion at the bounding channels is thus a function of the upstream drainage area and local slope. A tectonically induced downward perturbation of the elevation of one of the bounding channels lowers the channel slope but at the same time increases the drainage area due to outward migration of the water divide. The changes in slope and area have opposing effect on the erosion rate at the bounding channels, so that the perturbation may either grow or be damped. We define the geomorphic and tectonic parameters that control the behavior of the system and find the regimes that lead to stable landscapes and to capture events.

  20. How Agencies Inspect. A Comparative Study of Inspection Policies in Eight Swedish Government Agencies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindblom, Lars; Clausen, Jonas; Edvardsson, Karin; Hayenhielm, Madeleine; Hermansson, Helene; Nihlen, Jessica; Palm, Elin; Ruden, Christina; Wikman, Per; Hansson, Sven Ove

    2003-04-01

    Eight Swedish authorities with inspection tasks in the areas of health, safety, and environmental protection have been compared, namely the authorities responsible for nuclear safety, radiation protection, railway, marine and aviation safety, environmental protection, chemicals control, and health and safety on workplaces. Significant differences in inspection policies and practices between the authorities were found, such as: diverging definitions of supervision and inspection that complicate comparisons, different priority-setting principles for inspections, variations in inspection frequencies (between 13 and 0.03 inspections per company and year), different practices with respect to notifying companies before inspection visits, and in particular, large differences in the extent to which non-compliance with regulations is reported to legal authorities. It was concluded that these agencies have much to gain from increasing their cooperation in methods development, evaluation studies, and education of inspectors

  1. RPII Inspection and Licensing Activities and Annual Inspection Programme for 2011

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-07-01

    The objective of this report is to provide an overview of inspection activities of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, to examine the evolution in licensee numbers and to outline the rationale in developing annual inspection programmes. All inspection activities are now carried out within the framework of a quality management system including: inspection planning, the training of inspectors, the conduct of inspections as well as inspection follow up and review. The report also provides an overview of the main features of the quality system

  2. RPII Inspection and Licensing Activities and Annual Inspection Programme for 2013

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-04-01

    The objective of this report is to provide an overview of inspection activities of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland RPII, to examine the evolution in licensee numbers and to outline the rationale in developing annual inspection programmes. All inspection activities are now carried out within the framework of a quality management system including inspection planning, the training of inspectors, the conduct of inspections as well as post inspection follow up and review. This report also provides an overview of the main features of the quality system

  3. Modeling nutrient in-stream processes at the watershed scale using Nutrient Spiralling metrics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marcé, R.; Armengol, J.

    2009-07-01

    One of the fundamental problems of using large-scale biogeochemical models is the uncertainty involved in aggregating the components of fine-scale deterministic models in watershed applications, and in extrapolating the results of field-scale measurements to larger spatial scales. Although spatial or temporal lumping may reduce the problem, information obtained during fine-scale research may not apply to lumped categories. Thus, the use of knowledge gained through fine-scale studies to predict coarse-scale phenomena is not straightforward. In this study, we used the nutrient uptake metrics defined in the Nutrient Spiralling concept to formulate the equations governing total phosphorus in-stream fate in a deterministic, watershed-scale biogeochemical model. Once the model was calibrated, fitted phosphorus retention metrics where put in context of global patterns of phosphorus retention variability. For this purpose, we calculated power regressions between phosphorus retention metrics, streamflow, and phosphorus concentration in water using published data from 66 streams worldwide, including both pristine and nutrient enriched streams. Performance of the calibrated model confirmed that the Nutrient Spiralling formulation is a convenient simplification of the biogeochemical transformations involved in total phosphorus in-stream fate. Thus, this approach may be helpful even for customary deterministic applications working at short time steps. The calibrated phosphorus retention metrics were comparable to field estimates from the study watershed, and showed high coherence with global patterns of retention metrics from streams of the world. In this sense, the fitted phosphorus retention metrics were similar to field values measured in other nutrient enriched streams. Analysis of the bibliographical data supports the view that nutrient enriched streams have lower phosphorus retention efficiency than pristine streams, and that this efficiency loss is maintained in a wide

  4. Inspection vehicle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Masaki; Omote, Tatsuyuki; Yoneya, Yutaka; Tanaka, Keiji; Waki, Tetsuro; Yoshida, Tomiji; Kido, Tsuyoshi.

    1993-01-01

    An inspection vehicle comprises a small-sized battery directly connected with a power motor or a direct power source from trolly lines and a switching circuit operated by external signals. The switch judges advance or retreat by two kinds of signals and the inspection vehicle is recovered by self-running. In order to recover the abnormally stopped inspection vehicle to the targeted place, the inspection vehicle is made in a free-running state by using a clutch mechanism and is pushed by an other vehicle. (T.M.)

  5. On qualification of TOFD technique for austenitic stainless steel welds inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martinez-Ona, R. [Tecnatom, San Sebastian de los Reyes (Spain); Viggianiello, S.; Bleuze, A. [Metalscan, Saint-Remy (France)

    2006-07-01

    Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) technique is gaining ground as a solid method for detection and sizing of defects. It has been reported that TOFD technique provides good results on the inspection of fine grain steels. However, there are few results regarding the application and performance of this technique on austenitic stainless steels. A big challenge of these inspections is the coarse grain structure that produces low signal to noise ratio and may mask the diffraction signals. Appropriate transducer design, selection of technique parameters and analysis tools could overcome the actual difficulties. In this paper, the main design aspects and parameters of the TOFD technique for austenitic steels are presented. It follows the description of qualification tests carried out to validate the technique for inspecting stainless steels welds. To conclude, discussion of results from actual inspections is shown. (orig.)

  6. The metaphors we stream by: Making sense of music streaming

    OpenAIRE

    Hagen, Anja Nylund

    2016-01-01

    In Norway music-streaming services have become mainstream in everyday music listening. This paper examines how 12 heavy streaming users make sense of their experiences with Spotify and WiMP Music (now Tidal). The analysis relies on a mixed-method qualitative study, combining music-diary self-reports, online observation of streaming accounts, Facebook and last.fm scrobble-logs, and in-depth interviews. By drawing on existing metaphors of Internet experiences we demonstrate that music-streaming...

  7. Latest developments in on- and off-line inspection of bank notes during production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Stephen C.

    2004-06-01

    The inspection of bank notes is a highly labour intensive process where traditionally every note on every sheet is inspected manually. However with the advent of more and more sophisticated security features, both visible and invisible, and the requirement of cost reduction in the printing process, it is clear that automation is required. Machines for the automatic inspection of bank notes have been on the market for the past 10 to 12 years, but recent developments in technology have enabled a new generation of detectors and machines to be developed. This paper focuses on the latest developments in both the off-line and on-line inspection of bank notes covering not only the visible spectrum but also a new range of detectors for inspection some of the more common invisible features used as covert features in today's bank notes.

  8. Periodic and in-service inspection programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dinu, M.

    2000-01-01

    Periodic and in-service inspection programs for Cernavoda NPP consists of periodic inspections of CANDU NPP components CSAN N-285.4 and CSAN N-285.4, in-service inspections and repair and modifications general inspection. Periodic inspection program document (PIPD) determines the systems and components subject to inspection, the category of the inspection, techniques, areas and other details.The current status of the inspection programs is presented, including containment , erosion/corrosion, pressure vessel support and snubbers, main steam lines inspection programs. Qualification program in Cernavoda NPP involves equipment qualification in the on-site laboratory, yearly certification, special equipment qualification in the National Institute of Metrology. All procedures are approved by the ISCIR (regulatory body for pressure vessel and lifting equipment) and CNCAN (National Commission on Nuclear Activities Control). Qualification of the personnel is performed according to the ISCIR Technical prescription CR 11/82 for up to 3 year period. Final qualification and licensing is performed by CNCAN

  9. Contrasting habitat associations of imperilled endemic stream fishes from a global biodiversity hot spot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chakona Albert

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Knowledge of the factors that drive species distributions provides a fundamental baseline for several areas of research including biogeography, phylogeography and biodiversity conservation. Data from 148 minimally disturbed sites across a large drainage system in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa were used to test the hypothesis that stream fishes have similar responses to environmental determinants of species distribution. Two complementary statistical approaches, boosted regression trees and hierarchical partitioning, were used to model the responses of four fish species to 11 environmental predictors, and to quantify the independent explanatory power of each predictor. Results Elevation, slope, stream size, depth and water temperature were identified by both approaches as the most important causal factors for the spatial distribution of the fishes. However, the species showed marked differences in their responses to these environmental variables. Elevation and slope were of primary importance for the laterally compressed Sandelia spp. which had an upstream boundary below 430 m above sea level. The fusiform shaped Pseudobarbus ‘Breede’ was strongly influenced by stream width and water temperature. The small anguilliform shaped Galaxias ‘nebula’ was more sensitive to stream size and depth, and also penetrated into reaches at higher elevation than Sandelia spp. and Pseudobarbus ‘Breede’. Conclusions The hypothesis that stream fishes have a common response to environmental descriptors is rejected. The contrasting habitat associations of stream fishes considered in this study could be a reflection of their morphological divergence which may allow them to exploit specific habitats that differ in their environmental stressors. Findings of this study encourage wider application of complementary methods in ecological studies, as they provide more confidence and deeper insights into the variables that should be

  10. Specialists' meeting on in-service inspection and monitoring of LMFBRs. Summary report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1980-11-01

    The purpose of the meeting sponsored by the IAEA on the recommendation of the International Working Group on Fast Reactors (IWGFR) was attended by participants from France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America, and two international organizations: CEC and IAEA. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss inspection requirements and concepts developed in the IWGFR member countries, development of inspection methods and their application in practical work and to recommend future development. The technical sessions were divided into four topical sessions as follows: General Concepts for In-Service Inspection of the Reactor Plant; Remotely Controlled Inspection Systems; Ultrasonic Test Methods; Miscellaneous Test Methods.

  11. Specialists' meeting on in-service inspection and monitoring of LMFBRs. Summary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-11-01

    The purpose of the meeting sponsored by the IAEA on the recommendation of the International Working Group on Fast Reactors (IWGFR) was attended by participants from France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America, and two international organizations: CEC and IAEA. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss inspection requirements and concepts developed in the IWGFR member countries, development of inspection methods and their application in practical work and to recommend future development. The technical sessions were divided into four topical sessions as follows: General Concepts for In-Service Inspection of the Reactor Plant; Remotely Controlled Inspection Systems; Ultrasonic Test Methods; Miscellaneous Test Methods

  12. Impact of inservice inspection on the reliability of pressure vessels and piping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bush, S.H.

    1975-01-01

    The reliability of pressure components of a nuclear reactor is a function of the as-fabricated quality plus a program of continuing inspection during operation. Since insufficient data exist to quantitatively determine failure probabilities of nuclear pressure vessels and piping, it is necessary to utilize information from comparable non-nuclear systems such as power boilers. Based on probabilistic studies it is inferred that in-service inspection improves component reliability one-to-two orders of magnitude depending on the type and completeness of the inspections. An attempt is made to assess the significance of the ASME Section XI Code as to relative completeness of inspection and the probable improvement in reliability. (U.S.)

  13. Impact of inservice inspection on the reliability of pressure vessels and piping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bush, S.H.

    1974-01-01

    The reliability of pressure components of a nuclear reactor is a function of the quality as-fabricated plus a program of continuing inspection during operation. Since insufficient data exist to quantitatively determine failure probabilities of nuclear pressure vessels and piping, it is necessary to utilize information from comparable non-nuclear systems such as power boilers. Based on probabilistic studies it is inferred that in-service inspection improves component reliability one-to-two orders of magnitude depending on the type and completeness of the inspections. An attempt is made to assess the significance of the ASME Section XI Code as to relative completeness of inspection and the probable improvement in reliability. (U.S.)

  14. In-service inspection techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Backfisch, W.; Zipser, R.R.

    1980-01-01

    The owner of a nuclear power plant (NPP) is obligated and interested to maintain - by regular maintenance and in-service inspections - the operational safety and availability of the plant for the subsequent operating period in a condition, as is specified as the basis of the erection and the last operational permits. In-service inspections are performed to verify the operational safety, and maintenance work is performed to guarantee the availability. Below, the typical in-service inspections of a light-water reactor NPP (operated on a pressurized-water reactor or on a boiling-water reactor) are described with details and examples of typical inspections, especially of recurrent performance tests of the systems. (orig./RW)

  15. Effect of residual wood on a morphology of mountain stream Cremos; Vplyv zvyskov dreva na morfologiu horskeho toku Cremos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kralcakova, M [Univerzita Komenskeho v Bratislave, Prirodovedecka fakulta, Katedra fyzickej geografie a geoekologie, 84215 Bratislava (Slovakia)

    2012-04-25

    Several research papers are dedicated to the effect of wood in the river bed of the flow. It is done on the basis of empirical and theoretical knowledge. Globally, field research is practised on the application of knowledge on the impact of scrap wood mainly in the upstream mountain streams. The reason is that the flows founded in these altitudes are more likely inclined to supply wood because of forest cover area and the resulting consequences for a river-basin. In my research I mainly dealt with the impact of individual residues in stream sections of Cremos. During studying wood residues a determination of its variability was important. On the basis of this variability is important to define a classification of individual pieces of wood within the river-basin. (author)

  16. Proceedings of a specialist meeting on the ultrasonic inspection of reactor components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1976-01-01

    Beside synthesis of two conferences on nondestructive testing and on inspection, the contributions of this conference are reporting experimental observations and research works on ultrasonic techniques, methods, procedures (pre-service or in-service) and equipment for the inspection of nuclear reactor components (pressure vessels, tubing and piping), generally in stainless steel (often austenitic or ferritic) material or in zirconium alloy. Some contributions are also dealing with the relationship between material microstructure and ultrasonic inspection method and equipment, or with the detection and sizing precision of flaws (cracks)

  17. Groundwater data improve modelling of headwater stream CO2 outgassing with a stable DIC isotope approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Marx

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available A large portion of terrestrially derived carbon outgasses as carbon dioxide (CO2 from streams and rivers to the atmosphere. Particularly, the amount of CO2 outgassing from small headwater streams is highly uncertain. Conservative estimates suggest that they contribute 36 % (i.e. 0.93 petagrams (Pg C yr−1 of total CO2 outgassing from all fluvial ecosystems on the globe. In this study, stream pCO2, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC, and δ13CDIC data were used to determine CO2 outgassing from an acidic headwater stream in the Uhlířská catchment (Czech Republic. This stream drains a catchment with silicate bedrock. The applied stable isotope model is based on the principle that the 13C ∕ 12C ratio of its sources and the intensity of CO2 outgassing control the isotope ratio of DIC in stream water. It avoids the use of the gas transfer velocity parameter (k, which is highly variable and mostly difficult to constrain. Model results indicate that CO2 outgassing contributed more than 80 % to the annual stream inorganic carbon loss in the Uhlířská catchment. This translated to a CO2 outgassing rate from the stream of 34.9 kg C m−2 yr−1 when normalised to the stream surface area. Large temporal variations with maximum values shortly before spring snowmelt and in summer emphasise the need for investigations at higher temporal resolution. We improved the model uncertainty by incorporating groundwater data to better constrain the isotope compositions of initial DIC. Due to the large global abundance of acidic, humic-rich headwaters, we underline the importance of this integral approach for global applications.

  18. Comparison of API 510 pressure vessels inspection planning with API 581 risk-based inspection planning approaches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shishesaz, Mohammad Reza; Nazarnezhad Bajestani, Mohammad; Hashemi, Seyed Javad; Shekari, Elahe

    2013-01-01

    To ensure mechanical integrity, all pressure vessels shall be inspected at the intervals provided in inspection codes or based on a risk-based inspection (RBI) assessment. The RBI assessment may allow previously established inspection intervals to be extended. This paper describes the methodology, analysis and results of two RBI studies conducted on 293 pressure vessel components in two crude oil distillation units. Based on API RBI methodology in API 581 (2008), risk target concept was used for determining inspection dates. It was shown that when thinning is the major active damage, the RBI recommended intervals are as long as twice the API 510 intervals. This paper summarizes that, as a fundamental step in the risk calculation, RBI has a more defined methodology for evaluating equipment for multiple damage mechanisms and a more defined approach to specify the use of other inspection technologies beyond the traditional visual, ultrasonic, and radiography tests. -- Highlights: • RBI calculated inspection intervals are as long as twice of API 510 inspection code. • Two case studies verified the advantage of RBI in inspection planning. • RBI is a more reliable methodology when evaluating multiple damage mechanisms. • Damage factor calculations can be used for determining RSFa value in FFS assessments

  19. On-rail solution for autonomous inspections in electrical substations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Bruno P. A.; Ferreira, Rafael A. M.; Gomes, Selson C.; Calado, Flavio A. R.; Andrade, Roberto M.; Porto, Matheus P.

    2018-05-01

    This work presents an alternative solution for autonomous inspections in electrical substations. The autonomous system is a robot that moves on rails, collects infrared and visible images of selected targets, also processes the data and predicts the components lifetime. The robot moves on rails to overcome difficulties found in not paved substations commonly encountered in Brazil. We take advantage of using rails to convey the data by them, minimizing the electromagnetic interference, and at the same time transmitting electrical energy to feed the autonomous system. As part of the quality control process, we compared thermographic inspections made by the robot with inspections made by a trained thermographer using a scientific camera Flir® SC660. The results have shown that the robot achieved satisfactory results, identifying components and measuring temperature accurately. The embodied routine considers the weather changes along the day, providing a standard result of the components thermal response, also gives the uncertainty of temperature measurement, contributing to the quality in the decision making process.

  20. On forecasting ionospheric total electron content responses to high-speed solar wind streams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meng Xing

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Conditions in the ionosphere have become increasingly important to forecast, since more and more spaceborne and ground-based technological systems rely on ionospheric weather. Here we explore the feasibility of ionospheric forecasts with the current generation of physics-based models. In particular, we focus on total electron content (TEC predictions using the Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (GITM. Simulations are configured in a forecast mode and performed for four typical high-speed-stream events during 2007–2012. The simulated TECs are quantified through a metric, which divides the globe into a number of local regions and robustly differentiates between quiet and disturbed periods. Proposed forecast products are hourly global maps color-coded by the TEC disturbance level of each local region. To assess the forecasts, we compare the simulated TEC disturbances with global TEC maps derived from Global Positioning System (GPS satellite observations. The forecast performance is found to be merely acceptable, with a large number of regions where the observed variations are not captured by the simulations. Examples of model-data agreements and disagreements are investigated in detail, aiming to understand the model behavior and improve future forecasts. For one event, we identify two adjacent regions with similar TEC observations but significant differences in how local chemistry versus plasma transport contribute to electron density changes in the simulation. Suggestions for further analysis are described.

  1. Periodic inspections of lightning protection systems in intermediate storage facilities of nuclear technological plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Witzel, Andre; Schulz, Olav

    2013-01-01

    Especially for nuclear technological plants, periodic inspections of lightning protection systems are of great importance. This article shows the sequence of maintenance programs using the examples of the intermediate storage facilities of the nuclear technological plants Grohnde and Unterweser as well as the central intermediate storage facility in Gorleben and gives a description of the extensive measures of inspecting the external and internal lightning protection and the global earth termination system.

  2. Technical Aspect on Procedure of Gamma-Ray Pipeline Inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rasif Mohd Zain; Ainul Mardhiah Terry; Norman Shah Dahing

    2015-01-01

    The main problems happen in industrial pipelines are deposit build-up, blockage, corrosion and erosion. These effects will give a constraint in transporting refined products to process or production points and cause a major problem in production. One of the techniques to inspect the problem is using gamma-ray pipe scans. The principle of the technique is gamma-ray absorption technique. In this paper describes on the technical aspect to perform the pipe inspection in laboratory work. (author)

  3. STREAM2016: Streaming Requirements, Experience, Applications and Middleware Workshop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fox, Geoffrey [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States); Jha, Shantenu [Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States); Ramakrishnan, Lavanya [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2016-10-01

    The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) facilities including accelerators, light sources and neutron sources and sensors that study, the environment, and the atmosphere, are producing streaming data that needs to be analyzed for next-generation scientific discoveries. There has been an explosion of new research and technologies for stream analytics arising from the academic and private sectors. However, there has been no corresponding effort in either documenting the critical research opportunities or building a community that can create and foster productive collaborations. The two-part workshop series, STREAM: Streaming Requirements, Experience, Applications and Middleware Workshop (STREAM2015 and STREAM2016), were conducted to bring the community together and identify gaps and future efforts needed by both NSF and DOE. This report describes the discussions, outcomes and conclusions from STREAM2016: Streaming Requirements, Experience, Applications and Middleware Workshop, the second of these workshops held on March 22-23, 2016 in Tysons, VA. STREAM2016 focused on the Department of Energy (DOE) applications, computational and experimental facilities, as well software systems. Thus, the role of “streaming and steering” as a critical mode of connecting the experimental and computing facilities was pervasive through the workshop. Given the overlap in interests and challenges with industry, the workshop had significant presence from several innovative companies and major contributors. The requirements that drive the proposed research directions, identified in this report, show an important opportunity for building competitive research and development program around streaming data. These findings and recommendations are consistent with vision outlined in NRC Frontiers of Data and National Strategic Computing Initiative (NCSI) [1, 2]. The discussions from the workshop are captured as topic areas covered in this report's sections. The report

  4. OSE inspection of computer security: Review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jaehne, E.M.

    1987-01-01

    The inspection process within the Department of Energy (DOE) serves the function of analyzing and reporting on the performance of security measures and controls in specific areas at sites throughout DOE. Three aspects of this process are discussed based on experience in computer security: Policy basis of performance inspections; Role and form of standards and criteria in inspections; and Conducting an inspection using the standards and criteria. Inspections are based on DOE and other applicable policy in each area. These policy statements have a compliance orientation in which the paper trail is often more clearly discernible than the security intention. The relationship of policy to performance inspections is discussed. To facilitate bridging the gap between the paper trail and the security intention defined by policy, standards and criteria were developed in each area. The consensus process and structure of the resulting product for computer security are discussed. Standards and criteria are inspection tools that support the site in preparing for an inspection and the inspector in conducting one. They form a systematic approach that facilitates consistency in the analysis and reporting of inspection results. Experience using the computer security standards and criteria is discussed

  5. Experience from the Inspection of Licensees' Outage Activities, Including Fire Protection Programmes, Event Response Inspections, and the Impact of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident on Inspection Programmes. Workshop Proceedings, Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, 7-10 April 2014

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-10-01

    The main purpose of the workshop was to provide a forum of exchange of information on the regulatory inspection activities. Participants had the opportunity to meet with their counterparts from other countries and organisations to discuss current and future issues on the selected topics. They developed conclusions regarding these issues and hopefully, identified methods to help improve their own inspection programmes. The NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) believes that an essential factor in ensuring the safety of nuclear installations is the continuing exchange and analysis of technical information and data. To facilitate this exchange the Committee has established working groups and groups of experts in specialised topics. The Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP) was formed in 1990 with the mandate '..to concentrate on the conduct of inspections and how the effectiveness of inspections could be evaluated..'. The WGIP facilitates the exchange of information and experience related to regulatory safety inspections between CNRA member countries. These proceedings cover the 12. International Workshop held by WGIP on regulatory inspection activities. This workshop, which is the twelfth in a series, along with many other activities performed by the Working Group, is directed towards this goal. The consensus from participants at previous workshops, noted that the value of meeting with people from other inspection organisations was one of the most important achievements. The focus of this workshop was on experience gained from regulatory inspection activities in three areas: - Inspection of Outage Activities Including Fire Protection Programmes. - Event Response Inspections. - The Impact of Inspection Programmes of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Accident. The main objectives of the WGIP workshops are to enable inspectors to meet with inspectors from other organisations, to exchange information regarding regulatory inspection

  6. Computerized automated remote inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    The automated inspection system utilizes a computer to control the location of the ultrasonic transducer, the actual inspection process, the display of the data, and the storage of the data on IBM magnetic tape. This automated inspection equipment provides two major advantages. First, it provides a cost savings, because of the reduced inspection time, made possible by the automation of the data acquisition, processing, and storage equipment. This reduced inspection time is also made possible by a computerized data evaluation aid which speeds data interpretation. In addition, the computer control of the transducer location drive allows the exact duplication of a previously located position or flaw. The second major advantage is that the use of automated inspection equipment also allows a higher-quality inspection, because of the automated data acquisition, processing, and storage. This storage of data, in accurate digital form on IBM magnetic tape, for example, facilitates retrieval for comparison with previous inspection data. The equipment provides a multiplicity of scan data which will provide statistical information on any questionable volume or flaw. An automatic alarm for location of all reportable flaws reduces the probability of operator error. This system has the ability to present data on a cathode ray tube as numerical information, a three-dimensional picture, or ''hard-copy'' sheet. One important advantage of this system is the ability to store large amounts of data in compact magnetic tape reels

  7. Akamai Streaming

    OpenAIRE

    ECT Team, Purdue

    2007-01-01

    Akamai offers world-class streaming media services that enable Internet content providers and enterprises to succeed in today's Web-centric marketplace. They deliver live event Webcasts (complete with video production, encoding, and signal acquisition services), streaming media on demand, 24/7 Webcasts and a variety of streaming application services based upon their EdgeAdvantage.

  8. Radiation control in the nondestructive inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kariya, Yukihiro

    1982-01-01

    In the early days of radiation nondestructive inspection about ten years ago, the loss of radiation sources and careless radiation exposure gave the impression of radiography inspection being immediately slipshod management. In this problem, the peculiar nature of the business in this field is involved. In Nondestructive Inspection Co., Ltd., besides the safety management of radioisotopes, the radiation exposure control of personnel in the regular inspection of nuclear power plants has become increasingly important. The following matters are described: radiation utilization in nondestructive inspection (X- and #betta#-ray radiography, #betta#-ray leak test on shield), radiation control problems in nondestructive inspection business (the peculiar aspects of the business, the analysis of the incidents related with nondestructive inspection), and the practice of radiation control in nondestructive inspection in Nondestructive Inspection Co., Ltd. (Mori, K.)

  9. Effect of harmonic rank on the streaming of complex tones

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Sara Miay Kim; Dau, Torsten; Moore, Brian C.J.

    2015-01-01

    The effect of the rank of the harmonics on sequential stream segregation of complex tones was investigated for normal-hearing participants with no musical training. It was hypothesized that stream segregation would be greater for tones with high pitch salience, as assessed by fundamental frequency....... There was a significant trend for less stream segregation with increasing harmonic rank. The amount of stream segregation was inversely correlated with the f0 difference limens, consistent with the hypothesis....

  10. Findings of the inspection grading system on industrial radiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gloria Doloressa

    2011-01-01

    The use of industrial radiography techniques evolve rapidly and widely. Various jobs in industry require the examination of welding techniques / connecting pipes and metal construction. The use of industrial radiography is one type of utilization of nuclear energy must get control so that its use does not cause harmful impacts to worker safety, community, and environment. Regulations is done through inspections, in order to supervise the observance of the terms in the licensing and legislation in the field of nuclear safety. The main purpose of inspection is to ensure the utilization of radiation sources of radiation have been used with. Findings of the inspection is a decline in the performance of licensees in meeting safety requirements. The Grading System to the findings of the inspection needs to be done to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of inspection, and it is expected that the company can improve the management of radiation safety. (author)

  11. Eddy current inspection on heat exchanger tubes - problems and limitations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ilham Mukriz; Zainal Abidin Mohamed; Hairul Hasmoni Khairul Anuar; Mohd Salleh; Mahmood Dollah

    2005-01-01

    This paper focus on problems associated to eddy current inspection of heat exchanger tubes. A brief review on heat exchanger design and operation is presented. Eddy current technique in identifying inhomogeneity in tested tubes is discussed, highlighting its limitation in distinguishing between real pit type defects and other mundane anomalies. The limitation of the eddy current probe and equipment pertinent to the inspection are identified and areas of improvement are discussed. (Author)

  12. On the efforts (man-day) concerned with inspection in uranium fuel fabrication facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, T.; Tanaka, T.; Seki, Y.

    1990-01-01

    Taking notice of inspection efforts (man·day) of STA·IAEA and those of MNF concerned with them, their change and various factors affecting the change have been studied. Namely, first, main topics concerning inspection in our Tokai plant are mentioned and secondly the relation between the inspection efforts and such factors as PIV period, number of items, number of DA sampling and NDA measurements, and so forth is studied. According to our study, though efforts of STA·IAEA and MNF required for both routine FLOW inspection and PIT have been nearly unchanged each year, our efforts for PIV have been increasing gradually. The factors relating to this increase of our efforts are the PIV period, inspection efforts of STA·IAEA for PIV and the number of DA sampling and NDA measurements. Finally, a suggestion on the future inspection system has been mentioned and then some items for improvement under the current inspection system have been exemplified. (author)

  13. Proceedings of the 13. International Workshop on Inspection Practices. 13. International Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Workshop - Appendix of Responses, 17-21 April 2016, Bruges, Belgium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2017-01-01

    This appendix provides the complete compilation of responses received to the questionnaire issued in conjunction with the workshop announcements. The responses are provided as received, with changes made only to the formatting. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP) sponsored the 13. International Workshop on Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Activities. The workshop was hosted by the Bel V and FANC, in Bruges, Belgium on 17 -21 April 2016. The three workshop topics that were addressed were as follows: - Inspection Activities During the Transition from an Operating Reactor to a De-fueled Status with a Commitment to Cease Power Operation; - Inspection of Modifications; - The Inspectors' Role in the Enforcement Process. Each of the respondents was given the following instructions in relation to their response: - Only one response per country is required. If more than one person from your country is participating, please co-ordinate the responses accordingly. - Responses must be provided on separate sheet with clear identification of the questionnaire part and topic. For preparation of the workshop, participants were invited to supply their national inspection approaches used in inspection of events and incidents according to the surveys. Actual issues that were discussed during the workshop were generated by the topic leaders based on the responses submitted by participants with their registration forms. This formats helped to ensure that issues considered most important by the workshop participants were covered during the group discussions

  14. The Declining Effects of OSHA Inspections on Manufacturing Injuries: 1979 to 1998

    OpenAIRE

    Wayne B. Gray; John Mendeloff

    2002-01-01

    This study examines the impact of OSHA inspections on injuries in manufacturing plants. The authors use the same model and some of the same plant-level data employed by several earlier studies that found large effects of OSHA inspections on injuries for 1979-85. These new estimates indicate that an OSHA inspection imposing a penalty reduced lost-workday injuries by about 19% in 1979-85, but that this effect fell to 11% in 1987-91, and to a statistically insignificant 1% in 1992-98. The author...

  15. Recurrent and Dynamic Models for Predicting Streaming Video Quality of Experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bampis, Christos G; Li, Zhi; Katsavounidis, Ioannis; Bovik, Alan C

    2018-07-01

    Streaming video services represent a very large fraction of global bandwidth consumption. Due to the exploding demands of mobile video streaming services, coupled with limited bandwidth availability, video streams are often transmitted through unreliable, low-bandwidth networks. This unavoidably leads to two types of major streaming-related impairments: compression artifacts and/or rebuffering events. In streaming video applications, the end-user is a human observer; hence being able to predict the subjective Quality of Experience (QoE) associated with streamed videos could lead to the creation of perceptually optimized resource allocation strategies driving higher quality video streaming services. We propose a variety of recurrent dynamic neural networks that conduct continuous-time subjective QoE prediction. By formulating the problem as one of time-series forecasting, we train a variety of recurrent neural networks and non-linear autoregressive models to predict QoE using several recently developed subjective QoE databases. These models combine multiple, diverse neural network inputs, such as predicted video quality scores, rebuffering measurements, and data related to memory and its effects on human behavioral responses, using them to predict QoE on video streams impaired by both compression artifacts and rebuffering events. Instead of finding a single time-series prediction model, we propose and evaluate ways of aggregating different models into a forecasting ensemble that delivers improved results with reduced forecasting variance. We also deploy appropriate new evaluation metrics for comparing time-series predictions in streaming applications. Our experimental results demonstrate improved prediction performance that approaches human performance. An implementation of this work can be found at https://github.com/christosbampis/NARX_QoE_release.

  16. A real-time standard parts inspection based on deep learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Kuan; Li, XuDong; Jiang, Hongzhi; Zhao, Huijie

    2017-10-01

    Since standard parts are necessary components in mechanical structure like bogie and connector. These mechanical structures will be shattered or loosen if standard parts are lost. So real-time standard parts inspection systems are essential to guarantee their safety. Researchers would like to take inspection systems based on deep learning because it works well in image with complex backgrounds which is common in standard parts inspection situation. A typical inspection detection system contains two basic components: feature extractors and object classifiers. For the object classifier, Region Proposal Network (RPN) is one of the most essential architectures in most state-of-art object detection systems. However, in the basic RPN architecture, the proposals of Region of Interest (ROI) have fixed sizes (9 anchors for each pixel), they are effective but they waste much computing resources and time. In standard parts detection situations, standard parts have given size, thus we can manually choose sizes of anchors based on the ground-truths through machine learning. The experiments prove that we could use 2 anchors to achieve almost the same accuracy and recall rate. Basically, our standard parts detection system could reach 15fps on NVIDIA GTX1080 (GPU), while achieving detection accuracy 90.01% mAP.

  17. Lean Construction Applications for Bridge Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-01

    Lean philosophy was used to analyze the efficiency of bridge inspection. Emphasis was put on identifying activities that add value to the final output, an owner approved bridge inspection report. 26 bridge inspections were shadowed. Time spent on bri...

  18. Can non-destructive inspection be reliable

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silk, M.G.; Stoneham, A.M.; Temple, J.A.G.

    1988-01-01

    The paper on inspection is based on the book ''The reliability of non-destructive inspection: assessing the assessment of structures under stress'' by the present authors (published by Adam Hilger 1987). Emphasis is placed on the reliability of inspection and whether cracks in welds or flaws in components can be detected. The need for non-destructive testing and the historical attitudes to non-destructive testing are outlined, along with the case of failure. Factors influencing reliable inspection are discussed, and defect detection trials involving round robin tests are described. The development of reliable inspection techniques and the costs of reliability and unreliability are also examined. (U.K.)

  19. A physical perspective on cytoplasmic streaming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Raymond E; van de Meent, Jan-Willem

    2015-08-06

    Organisms show a remarkable range of sizes, yet the dimensions of a single cell rarely exceed 100 µm. While the physical and biological origins of this constraint remain poorly understood, exceptions to this rule give valuable insights. A well-known counterexample is the aquatic plant Chara, whose cells can exceed 10 cm in length and 1 mm in diameter. Two spiralling bands of molecular motors at the cell periphery drive the cellular fluid up and down at speeds up to 100 µm s(-1), motion that has been hypothesized to mitigate the slowness of metabolite transport on these scales and to aid in homeostasis. This is the most organized instance of a broad class of continuous motions known as 'cytoplasmic streaming', found in a wide range of eukaryotic organisms-algae, plants, amoebae, nematodes and flies-often in unusually large cells. In this overview of the physics of this phenomenon, we examine the interplay between streaming, transport and cell size and discuss the possible role of self-organization phenomena in establishing the observed patterns of streaming.

  20. Automated PCB Inspection System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syed Usama BUKHARI

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Development of an automated PCB inspection system as per the need of industry is a challenging task. In this paper a case study is presented, to exhibit, a proposed system for an immigration process of a manual PCB inspection system to an automated PCB inspection system, with a minimal intervention on the existing production flow, for a leading automotive manufacturing company. A detailed design of the system, based on computer vision followed by testing and analysis was proposed, in order to aid the manufacturer in the process of automation.

  1. Robotic inspection technology-process an toolbox

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hermes, Markus [ROSEN Group (United States). R and D Dept.

    2005-07-01

    Pipeline deterioration grows progressively with ultimate aging of pipeline systems (on-plot and cross country). This includes both, very localized corrosion as well as increasing failure probability due to fatigue cracking. Limiting regular inspecting activities to the 'scrapable' part of the pipelines only, will ultimately result into a pipeline system with questionable integrity. The confidence level in the integrity of these systems will drop below acceptance levels. Inspection of presently un-inspectable sections of the pipeline system becomes a must. This paper provides information on ROSEN's progress on the 'robotic inspection technology' project. The robotic inspection concept developed by ROSEN is based on a modular toolbox principle. This is mandatory. A universal 'all purpose' robot would not be reliable and efficient in resolving the postulated inspection task. A preparatory Quality Function Deployment (QFD) analysis is performed prior to the decision about the adequate robotic solution. This enhances the serviceability and efficiency of the provided technology. The word 'robotic' can be understood in its full meaning of Recognition - Strategy - Motion - Control. Cooperation of different individual systems with an established communication, e.g. utilizing Bluetooth technology, support the robustness of the ROSEN robotic inspection approach. Beside the navigation strategy, the inspection strategy is also part of the QFD process. Multiple inspection technologies combined on a single carrier or distributed across interacting container must be selected with a clear vision of the particular goal. (author)

  2. International cooperation in production inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Limousin, S.

    2009-01-01

    Nuclear pressure equipment, like the reactor pressure vessel or steam generators, are manufactured in many countries all around the world. As only few reactors were built in the 90's, most of the nuclear safety authorities have lost part of their know how in component manufacturing oversight. For these two reasons, vendor inspection is a key area for international cooperation. On the one hand, ASN has bilateral relationships with several countries (USA, Finland, China...) to fulfill specific purposes. On the other hand, ASN participates in international groups like the MDEP ( Multinational Design Evaluation Program). A MDEP working group dedicated to vendor inspection cooperation enables exchanges of informations (inspection program plan, inspection findings...) among the regulators. Join inspections are organized. International cooperation could lead in the long term to an harmonization of regulatory practices. (author)

  3. Examination of the association between announced inspections and inspection scores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, A Blake; VanDerslice, James; Porucznik, Christina A; Kim, Jaewhan; DeLegge, Royal; Durrant, Lynne

    2013-09-01

    In 2010 the Salt Lake Valley Health Department conducted a pilot of an announced inspection program utilizing a randomized assignment of restaurants to an intervention group with announced inspections and a control group that remained on the usual schedule of unannounced inspections. After adjusting for food type, visible kitchen, outside quality assurance, season, and standardized inspector, significant reductions were found in the odds ratios of personal hygiene (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] = 0.11, p = .00) and equipment cleanliness (aOR = 0.19, p = .00) violations. In the models for the control group, none of the odds ratios were statistically different from one, indicating no change in the postintervention time period as compared to the preintervention period.

  4. Scaled multisensor inspection of extended surfaces for industrial quality control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kayser, Daniel; Bothe, Thorsten; Osten, Wolfgang

    2002-06-01

    Reliable real-time surface inspection of extended surfaces with high resolution is needed in several industrial applications. With respect to an efficient application to extended technical components such as aircraft or automotive parts, the inspection system has to perform a robust measurement with a ratio of less then 10-6 between depth resolution and lateral extension. This ratio is at least one order beyond the solutions that are offered by existing technologies. The concept of scaled topometry consists of arranging different optical measurement techniques with overlapping ranges of resolution systematically in order to receive characteristic surface information with the required accuracy. In such a surface inspection system, an active algorithm combines measurements on several scales of resolution and distinguishes between local fault indicating structures with different extensions and global geometric properties. The first part of this active algorithm finds indications of critical surface areas in the data of every measurement and separates them into different categories. The second part analyses the detected structures in the data with respect to their resolution and decides whether a further local measurement with a higher resolution has to be performed. The third part positions the sensors and starts the refined measurements. The fourth part finally integrates the measured local data set into the overall data mesh. We have constructed a laboratory setup capable of measuring surfaces with extensions up to 1500mm x 1000mm x 500mm (in x-, y- and z-direction respectively). Using this measurement system we will be able to separate the fault indicating structures on the surface from the global shape and to classify the detected structures according to their extensions and characteristic shapes simultaneously. The level of fault detection probability will be applicable by input parameter control.

  5. Improvement of the reliability on nondestructive inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Sung Jin; Kim, Young H.; Lee, Hyang Beom; Shin, Young Kil; Jung, Hyun Jo; Park, Ik Keun; Park, Eun Soo

    2002-03-01

    Retaining reliabilities of nondestructive testing is essential for the life-time maintenance of Nuclear Power Plant. The nondestructive testing methods which are frequently used in the Nuclear Power Plant are eddy current testing for the inspection of steam generator tubes and ultrasonic testing for the inspection of weldments. In order to improve reliabilities of ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing, the subjects carried out in this study are as follows : development of BEM analysis technique for ECT of SG tube, development of neural network technique for the intelligent analysis of ECT flaw signals of SG tubes, development of RFECT technology for the inspection of SG tube, FEM analysis of ultrasonic scattering field, evaluation of statistical reliability of PD-RR test of ultrasonic testing and development of multi-Gaussian beam modeling technique to predict accurate signal of signal beam ultrasonic testing with the efficiency in calculation time

  6. Improvement of the reliability on nondestructive inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, Sung Jin; Kim, Young H. [Sungkyunkwan Univ., Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Hyang Beom [Soongsil Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Young Kil [Kunsan National Univ., Gunsan (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Hyun Jo [Wonkwang Univ., Iksan (Korea, Republic of); Park, Ik Keun; Park, Eun Soo [Seoul Nationl Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2002-03-15

    Retaining reliabilities of nondestructive testing is essential for the life-time maintenance of Nuclear Power Plant. The nondestructive testing methods which are frequently used in the Nuclear Power Plant are eddy current testing for the inspection of steam generator tubes and ultrasonic testing for the inspection of weldments. In order to improve reliabilities of ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing, the subjects carried out in this study are as follows : development of BEM analysis technique for ECT of SG tube, development of neural network technique for the intelligent analysis of ECT flaw signals of SG tubes, development of RFECT technology for the inspection of SG tube, FEM analysis of ultrasonic scattering field, evaluation of statistical reliability of PD-RR test of ultrasonic testing and development of multi-Gaussian beam modeling technique to predict accurate signal of signal beam ultrasonic testing with the efficiency in calculation time.

  7. Enabling inspection solutions for future mask technologies through the development of massively parallel E-Beam inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malloy, Matt; Thiel, Brad; Bunday, Benjamin D.; Wurm, Stefan; Jindal, Vibhu; Mukhtar, Maseeh; Quoi, Kathy; Kemen, Thomas; Zeidler, Dirk; Eberle, Anna Lena; Garbowski, Tomasz; Dellemann, Gregor; Peters, Jan Hendrik

    2015-09-01

    The new device architectures and materials being introduced for sub-10nm manufacturing, combined with the complexity of multiple patterning and the need for improved hotspot detection strategies, have pushed current wafer inspection technologies to their limits. In parallel, gaps in mask inspection capability are growing as new generations of mask technologies are developed to support these sub-10nm wafer manufacturing requirements. In particular, the challenges associated with nanoimprint and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask inspection require new strategies that enable fast inspection at high sensitivity. The tradeoffs between sensitivity and throughput for optical and e-beam inspection are well understood. Optical inspection offers the highest throughput and is the current workhorse of the industry for both wafer and mask inspection. E-beam inspection offers the highest sensitivity but has historically lacked the throughput required for widespread adoption in the manufacturing environment. It is unlikely that continued incremental improvements to either technology will meet tomorrow's requirements, and therefore a new inspection technology approach is required; one that combines the high-throughput performance of optical with the high-sensitivity capabilities of e-beam inspection. To support the industry in meeting these challenges SUNY Poly SEMATECH has evaluated disruptive technologies that can meet the requirements for high volume manufacturing (HVM), for both the wafer fab [1] and the mask shop. Highspeed massively parallel e-beam defect inspection has been identified as the leading candidate for addressing the key gaps limiting today's patterned defect inspection techniques. As of late 2014 SUNY Poly SEMATECH completed a review, system analysis, and proof of concept evaluation of multiple e-beam technologies for defect inspection. A champion approach has been identified based on a multibeam technology from Carl Zeiss. This paper includes a discussion on the

  8. MODULAR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT FOR ON-LINE INSPECTION IN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davrajh, S.

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The significance of inspection processes increases when producing parts with high levels of customer input. These processes must adapt to variations in significant product characteristics. Mass customisation and reconfigurable manufacturing are currently being researched as ways to respond to high levels of customer input. This paper presents the research and development of modular inspection equipment that was designed to meet the on-line quality requirements of mass customisation and reconfigurable manufacturing environments. Simulated results were analysed for application in an industrial environment. The implementation of the equipment in South Africa is briefly discussed. The research indicates that manufacturers need only invest in the required equipment configurations when they are needed for on-line inspection.

  9. Evaluating Heuristics for Planning Effective and Efficient Inspections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, Forrest J.; Seaman, Carolyn B.; Diep, Madeline M.; Feldmann, Raimund L.; Godfrey, Sara H.; Regardie, Myrna

    2010-01-01

    A significant body of knowledge concerning software inspection practice indicates that the value of inspections varies widely both within and across organizations. Inspection effectiveness and efficiency can be measured in numerous ways, and may be affected by a variety of factors such as Inspection planning, the type of software, the developing organization, and many others. In the early 1990's, NASA formulated heuristics for inspection planning based on best practices and early NASA inspection data. Over the intervening years, the body of data from NASA inspections has grown. This paper describes a multi-faceted exploratory analysis performed on this · data to elicit lessons learned in general about conducting inspections and to recommend improvements to the existing heuristics. The contributions of our results include support for modifying some of the original inspection heuristics (e.g. Increasing the recommended page rate), evidence that Inspection planners must choose between efficiency and effectiveness, as a good tradeoff between them may not exist, and Identification of small subsets of inspections for which new inspection heuristics are needed. Most Importantly, this work illustrates the value of collecting rich data on software Inspections, and using it to gain insight into, and Improve, inspection practice.

  10. The effects of prioritize inspections on occupational health hazards control in workplaces in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadeghi, Fatemah; Bahrami, Abdolrahman; Fatemi, Farin

    2014-01-01

    Iran, a newly industrializing country in Middle East, has a workforce of 25 million people. Most employees are working in agriculture, manufacturing, services, construction, commerce sectors, carpet weaving and mining. This article aims to explore the improvement of occupational harmful agents in workplaces due to implement "prioritize inspections". In 2012, the system of "prioritize inspections "was defined for surveillance on enterprises replace of routine inspection. From this system, the enterprises classified on four groups based on health hazards and enterprises with high risk were under more surveillance. The information about each enterprise was collected by health centers, in five provinces and reported by a recommended form to Centre of Environmental and Occupational Health (CEOH). At this program, the inspections from high and medium hazards were increased in all of provinces. The results showed there was a significant difference between the control of health hazards in before and after beginning of "prioritize inspections"(P=0.048). The control of noise, fumes and providing of proper illumination increased from 8 to 10%, 9 to 9.5%, 12.9 to 15.4%, respectively, at under study provinces in 2012 compared to 2011. The surveillance based on "prioritize inspections" increased the quality of occupational health inspections that causes to prevent occupational health diseases.

  11. Development and Applicability Demonstration of a Remote Inspection Module for Inspection of Reactor Internals in an SFR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hoewoong; Joo, Youngsang; Park, Changgyu; Kim, Jongbum; Bae, Jinho

    2014-01-01

    Since liquid sodium is optically opaque, the ultrasonic inspection technique has been mainly employed for inspection of reactor internals in a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). Until now, two types of ultrasonic sensors have been mainly developed; immersion and waveguide sensors. An immersion sensor can provide a high-resolution image, but it may have problems in terms of reliability and life time because the sensor is exposed to high temperature during inspection. On the other hand, a waveguide sensor can maintain its performance during long-term inspection in high temperature because it installs an ultrasonic transducer in a cold region even though such a high-frequency ultrasonic wave cannot be used owing to the long propagation distance [4-6]. In this work, a remote inspection module employing four 10 m long waveguide sensors was newly developed and several performance tests were carried out in water to demonstrate the applicability of the developed remote inspection module to inspection of reactor internals in an SFR. In this work, a remote inspection module for inspection of reactor internals in an SFR was newly developed. The developed remote inspection module employs four 10 m long waveguide sensors for multiple inspection applications: a horizontal beam waveguide sensor for ranging inspection, two vertical beam waveguide sensors for viewing inspection and a 45 .deg. angle beam waveguide sensor for identification inspection. Several performance tests such as ranging, viewing and identification inspections were carried out for simulated nuclear fuel assembly specimens in water, and the applicability of the developed remote inspection module to inspection of reactor internals in an SFR was demonstrated

  12. Development and Applicability Demonstration of a Remote Inspection Module for Inspection of Reactor Internals in an SFR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Hoewoong; Joo, Youngsang; Park, Changgyu; Kim, Jongbum [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Jinho [National Fusion Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    Since liquid sodium is optically opaque, the ultrasonic inspection technique has been mainly employed for inspection of reactor internals in a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). Until now, two types of ultrasonic sensors have been mainly developed; immersion and waveguide sensors. An immersion sensor can provide a high-resolution image, but it may have problems in terms of reliability and life time because the sensor is exposed to high temperature during inspection. On the other hand, a waveguide sensor can maintain its performance during long-term inspection in high temperature because it installs an ultrasonic transducer in a cold region even though such a high-frequency ultrasonic wave cannot be used owing to the long propagation distance [4-6]. In this work, a remote inspection module employing four 10 m long waveguide sensors was newly developed and several performance tests were carried out in water to demonstrate the applicability of the developed remote inspection module to inspection of reactor internals in an SFR. In this work, a remote inspection module for inspection of reactor internals in an SFR was newly developed. The developed remote inspection module employs four 10 m long waveguide sensors for multiple inspection applications: a horizontal beam waveguide sensor for ranging inspection, two vertical beam waveguide sensors for viewing inspection and a 45 .deg. angle beam waveguide sensor for identification inspection. Several performance tests such as ranging, viewing and identification inspections were carried out for simulated nuclear fuel assembly specimens in water, and the applicability of the developed remote inspection module to inspection of reactor internals in an SFR was demonstrated.

  13. Effects of logging on macroinvertebrates in streams with and without buffer strips

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Newbold, J D; Erman, D C; Roby, K B

    1980-01-01

    The impact of logging with and without buffer strip protection on stream macroinvertebrates was examined through comparisons of community structure in commercially logged and control watersheds throughout northern California. A nonparametric test of community dissimilarities within matched blocks of two control and one or two treated stations showed significant (P < 0.05) logging effects on unprotected streams when Euclidean distance and mutual information were used as dissimilarity indices, but not when chord distance was used. Shannon diversity in unprotected streams was lower (P < 0.01) than in control (unlogged) streams; densities of total macroinvertebrate fauna and of Chironomidae, Baetis, and Nemoura were higher in unprotected streams than in controls (P <0.05). Streams with narrow buffer strips (<30 m) showed significant effects by the Euclidean distance test, but diversity varied widely and was not significantly different from that in either unprotected or control streams than in controls (P < 0.05). Macroinvertebrate communities in streams with wide buffers (greater than or equal to 30m) could not be distinguished from those of controls by either Euclidean distance or diversity; however, diversity in wide-buffered streams was significantly greater than in streams without buffer strips, indicating effective protection from logging effects.

  14. Stream permanence influences crayfish occupancy and abundance in the Ozark Highlands, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yarra, Allyson N.; Magoulick, Daniel D.

    2018-01-01

    Crayfish use of intermittent streams is especially important to understand in the face of global climate change. We examined the influence of stream permanence and local habitat on crayfish occupancy and species densities in the Ozark Highlands, USA. We sampled in June and July 2014 and 2015. We used a quantitative kick–seine method to sample crayfish presence and abundance at 20 stream sites with 32 surveys/site in the Upper White River drainage, and we measured associated local environmental variables each year. We modeled site occupancy and detection probabilities with the software PRESENCE, and we used multiple linear regressions to identify relationships between crayfish species densities and environmental variables. Occupancy of all crayfish species was related to stream permanence. Faxonius meeki was found exclusively in intermittent streams, whereas Faxonius neglectus and Faxonius luteushad higher occupancy and detection probability in permanent than in intermittent streams, and Faxonius williamsi was associated with intermittent streams. Estimates of detection probability ranged from 0.56 to 1, which is high relative to values found by other investigators. With the exception of F. williamsi, species densities were largely related to stream permanence rather than local habitat. Species densities did not differ by year, but total crayfish densities were significantly lower in 2015 than 2014. Increased precipitation and discharge in 2015 probably led to the lower crayfish densities observed during this year. Our study demonstrates that crayfish distribution and abundance is strongly influenced by stream permanence. Some species, including those of conservation concern (i.e., F. williamsi, F. meeki), appear dependent on intermittent streams, and conservation efforts should include consideration of intermittent streams as an important component of freshwater biodiversity.

  15. Aeroacoustics of Three-Stream Jets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Brenda S.

    2012-01-01

    Results from acoustic measurements of noise radiated from a heated, three-stream, co-annular exhaust system operated at subsonic conditions are presented. The experiments were conducted for a range of core, bypass, and tertiary stream temperatures and pressures. The nozzle system had a fan-to-core area ratio of 2.92 and a tertiary-to-core area ratio of 0.96. The impact of introducing a third stream on the radiated noise for third-stream velocities below that of the bypass stream was to reduce high frequency noise levels at broadside and peak jet-noise angles. Mid-frequency noise radiation at aft observation angles was impacted by the conditions of the third stream. The core velocity had the greatest impact on peak noise levels and the bypass-to-core mass flow ratio had a slight impact on levels in the peak jet-noise direction. The third-stream jet conditions had no impact on peak noise levels. Introduction of a third jet stream in the presence of a simulated forward-flight stream limits the impact of the third stream on radiated noise. For equivalent ideal thrust conditions, two-stream and three-stream jets can produce similar acoustic spectra although high-frequency noise levels tend to be lower for the three-stream jet.

  16. ROBOTIC TANK INSPECTION END EFFECTOR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rachel Landry

    1999-01-01

    The objective of this contract between Oceaneering Space Systems (OSS) and the Department of Energy (DOE) was to provide a tool for the DOE to inspect the inside tank walls of underground radioactive waste storage tanks in their tank farms. Some of these tanks are suspected to have leaks, but the harsh nature of the environment within the tanks precludes human inspection of tank walls. As a result of these conditions only a few inspection methods can fulfill this task. Of the methods available, OSS chose to pursue Alternating Current Field Measurement (ACFM), because it does not require clean surfaces for inspection, nor any contact with the Surface being inspected, and introduces no extra by-products in the inspection process (no coupling fluids or residues are left behind). The tool produced by OSS is the Robotic Tank Inspection End Effector (RTIEE), which is initially deployed on the tip of the Light Duty Utility Arm (LDUA). The RTEE combines ACFM with a color video camera for both electromagnetic and visual inspection The complete package consists of an end effector, its corresponding electronics and software, and a user's manual to guide the operator through an inspection. The system has both coarse and fine inspection modes and allows the user to catalog defects and suspected areas of leakage in a database for further examination, which may lead to emptying the tank for repair, decommissioning, etc.. The following is an updated report to OSS document OSS-21100-7002, which was submitted in 1995. During the course of the contract, two related sub-tasks arose, the Wall and Coating Thickness Sensor and the Vacuum Scarifying and Sampling Tool Assembly. The first of these sub-tasks was intended to evaluate the corrosion and wall thinning of 55-gallon steel drums. The second was retrieved and characterized the waste material trapped inside the annulus region of the underground tanks on the DOE's tank farms. While these sub-tasks were derived from the original intent

  17. Research on nondestructive examination methods for CANDU fuel channel inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soare, M.; Petriu, F.; Toma, V.; Revenco, V.; Calinescu, A.; Ciocan, R.; Iordache, C.; Popescu, L.; Mihalache, M.; Murgescu, C.

    1995-01-01

    The requirements of the 1994 edition of CAN/CSA-N285.4 Periodic Inspection Standard, which address all known and postulated degradation mechanisms and introduce material surveillance demands, involve a growing need for improved nondestructive examination (NDE) methods and technologies. In order to have a proper technical support in its decisions concerning fuel channel inspections at Cernavoda NPP, the Romanian Power Authority (RENEL) initiated a Research Program regarding the nondestructive characterization of the fuel channels structural integrity. The paper presents the most significant results obtained on this Research Program: the ENDUS experimental system for Laboratory simulation of the fuel channel inspection, ultrasonic Rayleigh-Lamb waves technique for pressure tubes examination, phase analysis technique for near-surface flaws, influence of the metallurgical state of the pressure tube material on the eddy current defectoscopic signals, characterization of plastic deformation and fracture of zirconium alloys by acoustic emission. (author)

  18. Packaging supplier inspection guide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stromberg, H.M.; Gregg, R.E.; Kido, C.; Boyle, C.D.

    1991-05-01

    This is document is a guide for conducting quality assurance inspections of transportations packaging suppliers, where suppliers are defined as designers, fabricators, distributors, users, or owners of transportation packaging. This document can be used during an inspection to determine regulatory compliance within the requirements of 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 71, Subpart H (10 CFR 71.101--71.135). The guidance described in this document provides a framework for an inspection. It provides the inspector with the flexibility to adapt the methods and concepts presented here to meet the needs of the particular facility being inspected. The guide was developed to ensure a structured and consistent approach for inspections. The method treats each activity at a supplier facility as a separate entity (or functional element), and combines the activities within the framework of an ''inspection tree.'' The method separates each functional element into several areas of performance and then identifies guidelines, based on regulatory requirements, to be used to qualitatively rate each area. This document was developed to serve as a field manual to facilitate the work of inspectors. 1 ref., 1 fig., 5 tabs

  19. Prioritized Contact Transport Stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, Walter Lee, Jr. (Inventor)

    2015-01-01

    A detection process, contact recognition process, classification process, and identification process are applied to raw sensor data to produce an identified contact record set containing one or more identified contact records. A prioritization process is applied to the identified contact record set to assign a contact priority to each contact record in the identified contact record set. Data are removed from the contact records in the identified contact record set based on the contact priorities assigned to those contact records. A first contact stream is produced from the resulting contact records. The first contact stream is streamed in a contact transport stream. The contact transport stream may include and stream additional contact streams. The contact transport stream may be varied dynamically over time based on parameters such as available bandwidth, contact priority, presence/absence of contacts, system state, and configuration parameters.

  20. Flow effects on benthic stream invertebrates and ecological processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koprivsek, Maja; Brilly, Mitja

    2010-05-01

    Flow is the main abiotic factor in the streams. Flow affects the organisms in many direct and indirect ways. The organisms are directly affected by various hydrodynamic forces and mass transfer processes like drag forces, drift, shear stress, food and gases supply and washing metabolites away. Indirect effects on the organisms are determining and distribution of the particle size and structure of the substrate and determining the morphology of riverbeds. Flow does not affect only on individual organism, but also on many ecological effects. To expose just the most important: dispersal of the organisms, habitat use, resource acquisition, competition and predator-prey interactions. Stream invertebrates are adapted to the various flow conditions in many kinds of way. Some of them are avoiding the high flow with living in a hyporeic zone, while the others are adapted to flow with physical adaptations (the way of feeding, respiration, osmoregulation and resistance to draught), morphological adaptations (dorsoventrally flattened shape of organism, streamlined shape of organism, heterogeneous suckers, silk, claws, swimming hair, bristles and ballast gravel) or with behaviour. As the flow characteristics in a particular stream vary over a broad range of space and time scales, it is necessary to measure accurately the velocity in places where the organisms are present to determine the actual impact of flow on aquatic organisms. By measuring the mean flow at individual vertical in a single cross-section, we cannot get any information about the velocity situation close to the bottom of the riverbed where the stream invertebrates are living. Just measuring the velocity near the bottom is a major problem, as technologies for measuring the velocity and flow of natural watercourses is not adapted to measure so close to the bottom. New researches in the last two decades has shown that the thickness of laminar border layer of stones in the stream is only a few 100 micrometers, what

  1. Cargo container inspection test program at ARPA's Nonintrusive Inspection Technology Testbed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volberding, Roy W.; Khan, Siraj M.

    1994-10-01

    An x-ray-based cargo inspection system test program is being conducted at the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA)-sponsored Nonintrusive Inspection Technology Testbed (NITT) located in the Port of Tacoma, Washington. The test program seeks to determine the performance that can be expected from a dual, high-energy x-ray cargo inspection system when inspecting ISO cargo containers. This paper describes an intensive, three-month, system test involving two independent test groups, one representing the criminal smuggling element and the other representing the law enforcement community. The first group, the `Red Team', prepares ISO containers for inspection at an off-site facility. An algorithm randomly selects and indicates the positions and preparation of cargoes within a container. The prepared container is dispatched to the NITT for inspection by the `Blue Team'. After in-gate processing, it is queued for examination. The Blue Team inspects the container and decides whether or not to pass the container. The shipment undergoes out-gate processing and returns to the Red Team. The results of the inspection are recorded for subsequent analysis. The test process, including its governing protocol, the cargoes, container preparation, the examination and results available at the time of submission are presented.

  2. Inspection Database

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — FDA is disclosing the final inspection classification for inspections related to currently marketed FDA-regulated products. The disclosure of this information is not...

  3. Impact of Industrial Effluents on Water Quality of Streams in Nakawa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Impact of Industrial Effluents on Water Quality of Streams in Nakawa-Ntinda, Uganda. ... Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management ... physicochemical parameters of streams that receive effluents from different categories of industries in Nakawa -Ntinda industrial area of Kampala. the stream water quality ...

  4. Fully Employing Software Inspections Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, Forrest; Feldmann, Raimund L.; Seaman, Carolyn; Regardie, Myrna; Godfrey, Sally

    2009-01-01

    Software inspections provide a proven approach to quality assurance for software products of all kinds, including requirements, design, code, test plans, among others. Common to all inspections is the aim of finding and fixing defects as early as possible, and thereby providing cost savings by minimizing the amount of rework necessary later in the lifecycle. Measurement data, such as the number and type of found defects and the effort spent by the inspection team, provide not only direct feedback about the software product to the project team but are also valuable for process improvement activities. In this paper, we discuss NASA's use of software inspections and the rich set of data that has resulted. In particular, we present results from analysis of inspection data that illustrate the benefits of fully utilizing that data for process improvement at several levels. Examining such data across multiple inspections or projects allows team members to monitor and trigger cross project improvements. Such improvements may focus on the software development processes of the whole organization as well as improvements to the applied inspection process itself.

  5. Do school inspections improve primary school performance?

    OpenAIRE

    Dinand Webbink; Rob Luginbuhl; I. de Wolf

    2007-01-01

    Inspectors from the Dutch Inspectorate of Education inspect primary schools, write inspection reports on each inspected school, and make recommendations as to how each school can improve. We test whether these inspections result in better school performance. Using a fixed-effects model, we find evidence that school inspections do lead to measurably better school performance. Our assessment of school performance is based on the Cito test scores of pupils in their final year of primary school. ...

  6. An Efficient Resource Management System for a Streaming Media Distribution Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahill, Adrian J.; Sreenan, Cormac J.

    2006-01-01

    This paper examines the design and evaluation of a TV on Demand (TVoD) system, consisting of a globally accessible storage architecture where all TV content broadcast over a period of time is made available for streaming. The proposed architecture consists of idle Internet Service Provider (ISP) servers that can be rented and released dynamically…

  7. UF{sub 6} cylinder inspections at PGDP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lamb, G.W.; Whinnery, W.N. [Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Paducah, KY (United States)

    1991-12-31

    Routine inspections of all UF{sub 6} cylinders at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant have been mandated by the Department of Energy. A specific UF{sub 6} cylinder inspection procedure for what items to inspect and training for the operators prior to inspection duty are described. The layout of the cylinder yards and the forms used in the inspections are shown. The large number of cylinders (>30,000) to inspect and the schedule for completion on the mandated time table are discussed. Results of the inspections and the actions to correct the deficiencies are explained. Future inspections and movement of cylinders for relocation of certain cylinder yards are defined.

  8. Frequency effects on the scale and behavior of acoustic streaming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dentry, Michael B; Yeo, Leslie Y; Friend, James R

    2014-01-01

    Acoustic streaming underpins an exciting range of fluid manipulation phenomena of rapidly growing significance in microfluidics, where the streaming often assumes the form of a steady, laminar jet emanating from the device surface, driven by the attenuation of acoustic energy within the beam of sound propagating through the liquid. The frequencies used to drive such phenomena are often chosen ad hoc to accommodate fabrication and material issues. In this work, we seek a better understanding of the effects of sound frequency and power on acoustic streaming. We present and, using surface acoustic waves, experimentally verify a laminar jet model that is based on the turbulent jet model of Lighthill, which is appropriate for acoustic streaming seen at micro- to nanoscales, between 20 and 936 MHz and over a broad range of input power. Our model eliminates the critically problematic acoustic source singularity present in Lighthill's model, replacing it with a finite emission area and enabling determination of the streaming velocity close to the source. At high acoustic power P (and hence high jet Reynolds numbers ReJ associated with fast streaming), the laminar jet model predicts a one-half power dependence (U∼P1/2∼ ReJ) similar to the turbulent jet model. However, the laminar model may also be applied to jets produced at low powers-and hence low jet Reynolds numbers ReJ-where a linear relationship between the beam power and streaming velocity exists: U∼P∼ReJ2. The ability of the laminar jet model to predict the acoustic streaming behavior across a broad range of frequencies and power provides a useful tool in the analysis of microfluidics devices, explaining peculiar observations made by several researchers in the literature. In particular, by elucidating the effects of frequency on the scale of acoustically driven flows, we show that the choice of frequency is a vitally important consideration in the design of small-scale devices employing acoustic streaming

  9. Business Enterprise and Globalization: Towards a Transnational Business History

    OpenAIRE

    Boon, Marten

    2017-01-01

    Transnational history emerged strongly as globalization intensified in the 1990s, questioning national historiographies and creating new research agendas. Business history has not been part of this, but recent calls within the field to engage more visibly and authoritatively with debates on the history of globalization warrant a closer inspection of transnational history. The article draws on key concepts from transnational history and discusses their application in the work of, among others,...

  10. New Swedish regulations in the area of plant inspection and in-service inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hansson, B.

    1998-01-01

    History and present status od Swedish regulations in the field of NPP inspection and in-service inspection are described. The presentation focuses on the development of regulations and establishing new ones. A description of different organisations involved is included

  11. On-line monitoring and inservice inspection in codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartonicek, J.; Zaiss, W.; Bath, H.R.

    1999-01-01

    The relevant regulatory codes determine the ISI tasks and the time intervals for recurrent components testing for evaluation of operation-induced damaging or ageing in order to ensure component integrity on the basis of the last available quality data. In-service quality monitoring is carried out through on-line monitoring and recurrent testing. The requirements defined by the engineering codes elaborated by various institutions are comparable, with the KTA nuclear engineering and safety codes being the most complete provisions for quality evaluation and assurance after different, defined service periods. German conventional codes for assuring component integrity provide exclusively for recurrent inspection regimes (mainly pressure tests and optical testing). The requirements defined in the KTA codes however always demanded more specific inspections relying on recurrent testing as well as on-line monitoring. Foreign codes for ensuring component integrity concentrate on NDE tasks at regular time intervals, with time intervals scope of testing activities being defined on the basis of the ASME code, section XI. (orig./CB) [de

  12. Container Inspection Utilizing 14 MeV Neutrons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valkovic, Vladivoj; Sudac, Davorin; Nad, Karlo; Obhodas, Jasmina

    2016-06-01

    A proposal for an autonomous and flexible ship container inspection system is presented. This could be accomplished by the incorporation of an inspection system on various container transportation devices (straddle carriers, yard gentry cranes, automated guided vehicles, trailers). The configuration is terminal specific and it should be defined by the container terminal operator. This enables that no part of the port operational area is used for inspection. The inspection scenario includes container transfer from ship to transportation device with the inspection unit mounted on it. The inspection is performed during actual container movement to the container location. A neutron generator without associated alpha particle detection is used. This allows the use of higher neutron intensities (5 × 109 - 1010 n/s in 4π). The inspected container is stationary in the “inspection position” on the transportation device while the “inspection unit” moves along its side. The following analytical methods will be used simultaneously: neutron radiography, X-ray radiography, neutron activation analysis, (n, γ) and (n,n'γ) reactions, neutron absorption. and scattering, X-ray backscattering. The neutron techniques will utilize “smart collimators” for neutrons and gamma rays, both emitted and detected. The inspected voxel is defined by the intersection of the neutron generator and the detectors solid angles. The container inspection protocol is based on identification of discrepancies between the cargo manifest, elemental “fingerprint” and radiography profiles. In addition, the information on container weight is obtained during the container transport and screening by measuring of density of material in the container.

  13. Political and Economic Geomorphology: The Effect of Market Forces on Stream Restoration Designs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, J.; Doyle, M. W.; Lave, R.; Robertson, M.

    2013-12-01

    Stream restoration in the U.S. is increasingly driven by compensatory mitigation; impacts to streams associated with typical land development activities must be offset via restoration of streams elsewhere. This policy application creates conditions in which restored stream ';credits' are traded under market-like conditions, comparable to wetland mitigation, carbon offsets, or endangered species habitat banking. The effect of this relatively new mechanism to finance stream restoration on design and construction is unknown. This research explores whether the introduction of a credit-based mitigation apparatus results in streams designed to maximize credit yields (i.e., ';credit-chasing') rather than focusing on restoring natural systems or functions. In other words, are market-based restored streams different from those designed for non-market purposes? We quantified geomorphic characteristics (e.g. hydraulic geometry, sinuosity, profile, bed sediment, LWD) of three types of streams: (1) a random sample of non-restored reaches, (2) streams restored for compensatory mitigation, and (3) streams restored under alternative funding sources (e.g., government grant programs, non-profit activities). We also compared the location of the types of stream reaches to determine whether there is a spatiality of restored streams. Physical data were complemented with a series of semi-structured interviews with key personnel in the stream restoration industry to solicit information on the influence of policy interpretation and market-driven factors on the design process. Preliminary analysis suggests that restoration is driving a directional shift in stream morphology in North Carolina. As a simple example, in the Piedmont, non-restored and restored channels had mean sinuosity of 1.17 and 1.23, respectively (p sale of restored stream credits, was seen as critically important rather than the marginal gains to be made by manipulating particular stream designs to glean more credits

  14. Quality assurance for IAEA inspection planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Markin, J.T.

    1986-01-01

    Under the provisions of the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and other agreements with states, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducts inspections at nuclear facilities to confirm that their operation is consistent with the peaceful use of nuclear material. The Department of Safeguards at the IAEA is considering a quality assurance program for activities related to the planning of these facility inspections. In this report, we summarize recent work in writing standards for planning inspections at the types of facilities inspected by the IAEA. The standards specify the sequence of steps in planning inspections, which are: (1) administrative functions, such as arrangements for visas and travel, and communications with the state to confirm facility operating schedules and the state's acceptance of the assigned inspectors; (2) technical functions including a specification of the required inspection activities, determination of personnel and equipment resources, and a schedule for implementing the inspection activities at the facility; and (3) management functions, such as pre- and post-inspection briefings, where the planned and implemented inspection activities are reviewed

  15. StreamExplorer: A Multi-Stage System for Visually Exploring Events in Social Streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yingcai; Chen, Zhutian; Sun, Guodao; Xie, Xiao; Cao, Nan; Liu, Shixia; Cui, Weiwei

    2017-10-18

    Analyzing social streams is important for many applications, such as crisis management. However, the considerable diversity, increasing volume, and high dynamics of social streams of large events continue to be significant challenges that must be overcome to ensure effective exploration. We propose a novel framework by which to handle complex social streams on a budget PC. This framework features two components: 1) an online method to detect important time periods (i.e., subevents), and 2) a tailored GPU-assisted Self-Organizing Map (SOM) method, which clusters the tweets of subevents stably and efficiently. Based on the framework, we present StreamExplorer to facilitate the visual analysis, tracking, and comparison of a social stream at three levels. At a macroscopic level, StreamExplorer uses a new glyph-based timeline visualization, which presents a quick multi-faceted overview of the ebb and flow of a social stream. At a mesoscopic level, a map visualization is employed to visually summarize the social stream from either a topical or geographical aspect. At a microscopic level, users can employ interactive lenses to visually examine and explore the social stream from different perspectives. Two case studies and a task-based evaluation are used to demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of StreamExplorer.Analyzing social streams is important for many applications, such as crisis management. However, the considerable diversity, increasing volume, and high dynamics of social streams of large events continue to be significant challenges that must be overcome to ensure effective exploration. We propose a novel framework by which to handle complex social streams on a budget PC. This framework features two components: 1) an online method to detect important time periods (i.e., subevents), and 2) a tailored GPU-assisted Self-Organizing Map (SOM) method, which clusters the tweets of subevents stably and efficiently. Based on the framework, we present Stream

  16. Survey: Research on QoS of P2P Reliable Streaming Media

    OpenAIRE

    Xiaofeng Xiong; Jiajia Song; Guangxue Yue; Jiansheng Liu; Linquan Xie

    2011-01-01

    Streaming media application has become one of the main services over Internet. As streaming media have special attributes, it is very important to ensure and improve the quality of service in large-scale streaming media. Based on the development of media streaming, it compared and analyzed the typical flow service strategy of media streaming system, and summarized the features and shortcomings of different systems. Moreover, it take the reputation evaluation, node selection, strategy of copy ...

  17. Regulatory inspection of the egyptian gamma irradiator using a proposed inspection checklist

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdel-Ghani, A.H.

    2000-01-01

    Regulatory inspections are one of the most important elements of a regulatory programme. It shall be performed in all areas of the regulatory responsibility and during all phases of siting, design, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of an irradiator facility. The egyptian mega gamma irradiator operating since december 1979 has a Co-60 source of about 400 kilo curies and is used mainly for sterilization of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals and for preservation of some food stuffs. The constructor (Nordion international Inc.) recommended an extensive inspection programme. In accordance with the international and national (2.3) regulations as well as the licensing conditions, the competent authority (NCNSRC) shall perform regulatory inspections both announced and unannounced. In order to facilitate the inspection task and to harmonize the inspection reports a checklist for inspection is proposed which can be used also as an inspection report form

  18. How to share inspection practices internationally?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zerger, B.

    2009-01-01

    ASN strives to share practices with its foreign counterparts in order to develop and adopt best practice worldwide. With regard to inspection practices, the exchanges are made with AEN, in particular within the context of the Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP). As well as being very rewarding, the exchanges sometimes come up against marked differences in terms of inspection organisation and even in the meaning given to the inspections. The WGIP endeavors, however, to make inspection practice recommendations that are as functional and feasible as possible. (author)

  19. AECL experience in fuel channel inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Drunen, G. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, Ontario (Canada); Gunn, R. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Mississauga, Ontario (Canada); Mayo, W.R. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, Ontario (Canada); Scott, D.A. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Mississauga, Ontario (Canada)

    1999-06-01

    Inspection of CANDU fuel channels (FC) is performed to ensure safe and economic reactor operation. CANDU reactor FCs have features that make them a unique non-destructive testing (NDT) challenge. The thin, 4 mm pressure-tube wall means flaws down to about 0.1 mm deep must be reliably detected and characterized. This is one to two orders of magnitude smaller than is usually considered of significant concern for steel piping and pressure vessels. A second unique feature is that inspection sensors must operate in the reactor core--often within 20 cm of highly radioactive fuel. Work on inspection of CANDU reactor FCs at AECL dates back over three decades. In that time, AECL staff have provided equipment and conducted or supervised in-service inspections in about 250 FCs, in addition to over 8000 pre-service FCs. These inspections took place at every existing CANDU reactor except those in India and Romania. Early FC inspections focussed on measurement of changes in dimensions (gauging) resulting from exposure to a combination of neutrons, stress and elevated temperature. Expansion of inspection activities to include volumetric inspection (for flaws) started in the mid-1970s with the discovery of delayed hydride cracking in Pickering 3 and 4 rolled joints. Recognition of other types of flaw mechanisms in the 1980s led to further expansion in both pre-service and in-service inspections. These growing requirements, to meet regulatory as well as economic needs, led to the development of a wide spectrum of inspection technology that now includes tests for hydrogen concentration, structural integrity of core components, flaws, and dimensional change. This paper reviews current CANDU reactor FC inspection requirements. The equipment and techniques developed to satisfy these requirements are also described. The paper concludes with a discussion of work in progress in AECL aimed at providing state-of-the-art FC inspection services. (author)

  20. THE USE OF RADIOISOTOPES IN ON-STREAM ANALYSIS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haffner, James W.

    1963-09-15

    A wide variety of radioisotope techniques is presently in use for on- stream measurements. Among these are gages to measure thickness, density, viscosity, dilution, volume, velocity, and level. A few unique combinations of the above techniques are also detailed--a mass-flow gage, a beryllium-in-air monitor, and a double thickness/double density gage. Several available on-stream techniques utilizing neutrons, which have not been fully exploited, are discussed, including neutron inelastic scattering, neutron thermalization, neutron capture, and neutron activation. (auth)

  1. 78 FR 54861 - Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance; Driver-Vehicle Inspection Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-06

    ... No. FMCSA-2012-0336] RIN 2126-AB46 Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance; Driver-Vehicle Inspection... Federal Register of August 7, 2013, regarding driver vehicle inspection reports. The corrections involve..., Vehicle and Roadside Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and Operations, Federal Motor...

  2. An initial SPARROW model of land use and in-stream controls on total organic carbon in streams of the conterminous United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shih, Jhih-Shyang; Alexander, Richard B.; Smith, Richard A.; Boyer, Elizabeth W.; Shwarz, Grogory E.; Chung, Susie

    2010-01-01

    Watersheds play many important roles in the carbon cycle: (1) they are a site for both terrestrial and aquatic carbon dioxide (CO2) removal through photosynthesis; (2) they transport living and decomposing organic carbon in streams and groundwater; and (3) they store organic carbon for widely varying lengths of time as a function of many biogeochemical factors. Using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) model, along with long-term monitoring data on total organic carbon (TOC), this research quantitatively estimates the sources, transport, and fate of the long-term mean annual load of TOC in streams of the conterminous United States. The model simulations use surrogate measures of the major terrestrial and aquatic sources of organic carbon to estimate the long-term mean annual load of TOC in streams. The estimated carbon sources in the model are associated with four land uses (urban, cultivated, forest, and wetlands) and autochthonous fixation of carbon (stream photosynthesis). Stream photosynthesis is determined by reach-level application of an empirical model of stream chlorophyll based on total phosphorus concentration, and a mechanistic model of photosynthetic rate based on chlorophyll, average daily solar irradiance, water column light attenuation, and reach dimensions. It was found that the estimate of in-stream photosynthesis is a major contributor to the mean annual TOC load per unit of drainage area (that is, yield) in large streams, with a median share of about 60 percent of the total mean annual carbon load in streams with mean flows above 500 cubic feet per second. The interquartile range of the model predictions of TOC from in-stream photosynthesis is from 0.1 to 0.4 grams (g) carbon (C) per square meter (m-2) per day (day-1) for the approximately 62,000 stream reaches in the continental United States, which compares favorably with the reported literature range for net carbon fixation by

  3. Additive Manufacturing Infrared Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaddy, Darrell; Nettles, Mindy

    2015-01-01

    The Additive Manufacturing Infrared Inspection Task started the development of a real-time dimensional inspection technique and digital quality record for the additive manufacturing process using infrared camera imaging and processing techniques. This project will benefit additive manufacturing by providing real-time inspection of internal geometry that is not currently possible and reduce the time and cost of additive manufactured parts with automated real-time dimensional inspections which deletes post-production inspections.

  4. Effects of golf course construction and operation on water chemistry of headwater streams on the Precambrian Shield

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winter, Jennifer G.; Dillon, Peter J.

    2005-01-01

    To investigate the effects of golf course construction and operation on the water chemistry of Shield streams, we compared the water chemistry in streams draining golf courses under construction (2) and in operation (5) to streams in forested reference locations and to upstream sites where available. Streams were more alkaline and higher in base cation and nitrate concentrations downstream of operational golf courses. Levels of these parameters and total phosphorus increased over time in several streams during golf course construction through to operation. There was evidence of inputs of mercury to streams on two of the operational courses. Nutrient (phosphorus and nitrogen) concentrations were significantly related to the area of unmanaged vegetation in a 30 x 30 m area on either side of the sampling sites, and to River Bank Quality Index scores, suggesting that maintaining vegetated buffers along the stream on golf courses will reduce in-stream nutrient concentrations. - Golf course construction and operation had a significant impact on alkalinity, nitrogen and base cation concentrations of streams

  5. Understanding and quantifying focused, indirect groundwater recharge from ephemeral streams using water table fluctuations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuthbert, M. O.; Acworth, R. I.; Andersen, M. S.; Larsen, J. R.; McCallum, A. M.; Rau, G. C.; Tellam, J. H.

    2016-02-01

    Understanding and managing groundwater resources in drylands is a challenging task, but one that is globally important. The dominant process for dryland groundwater recharge is thought to be as focused, indirect recharge from ephemeral stream losses. However, there is a global paucity of data for understanding and quantifying this process and transferable techniques for quantifying groundwater recharge in such contexts are lacking. Here we develop a generalized conceptual model for understanding water table and groundwater head fluctuations due to recharge from episodic events within ephemeral streams. By accounting for the recession characteristics of a groundwater hydrograph, we present a simple but powerful new water table fluctuation approach to quantify focused, indirect recharge over both long term and event time scales. The technique is demonstrated using a new, and globally unparalleled, set of groundwater observations from an ephemeral stream catchment located in NSW, Australia. We find that, following episodic streamflow events down a predominantly dry channel system, groundwater head fluctuations are controlled by pressure redistribution operating at three time scales from vertical flow (days to weeks), transverse flow perpendicular to the stream (weeks to months), and longitudinal flow parallel to the stream (years to decades). In relative terms, indirect recharge decreases almost linearly away from the mountain front, both in discrete monitored events as well as in the long-term average. In absolute terms, the estimated indirect recharge varies from 80 to 30 mm/a with the main uncertainty in these values stemming from uncertainty in the catchment-scale hydraulic properties.

  6. Intelligent Automated Nuclear Fuel Pellet Inspection System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keyvan, S.

    1999-01-01

    At the present time, nuclear pellet inspection is performed manually using naked eyes for judgment and decisionmaking on accepting or rejecting pellets. This current practice of pellet inspection is tedious and subject to inconsistencies and error. Furthermore, unnecessary re-fabrication of pellets is costly and the presence of low quality pellets in a fuel assembly is unacceptable. To improve the quality control in nuclear fuel fabrication plants, an automated pellet inspection system based on advanced techniques is needed. Such a system addresses the following concerns of the current manual inspection method: (1) the reliability of inspection due to typical human errors, (2) radiation exposure to the workers, and (3) speed of inspection and its economical impact. The goal of this research is to develop an automated nuclear fuel pellet inspection system which is based on pellet video (photographic) images and uses artificial intelligence techniques

  7. Value Stream Mapping to Improve Workplace to support Lean Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Ahmad Nur Aizat

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, lean manufacturing is being followed by various sectors in order to keep their competitiveness in the global markets. Lean manufacturing plays a vital role in improving the efficiency of operation by eliminating or reducing wastes. Nonetheless, most of small and medium enterprises (SMEs lack sufficient knowledge or information on the benefits of implementing lean manufacturing. The main objective of this study is to apply value stream mapping, one of lean manufacturing tools, for improving the productivity in a SME by eliminating non-value added activities. In this study, lean manufacturing was adopted at a SME, particularly a food industry. Value stream mapping was served as main tool to identify the wastes and improvement opportunities in production line. Subsequently, different lean manufacturing tools such as Kaizen Burst, one piece flow, and 5S were applied to eliminate or reduce identified wastes. Based on the future state value stream mapping, final results showed that the total operation time and non-added value activities time were successfully decreased from 1993 seconds to 1719 seconds, and 234 seconds to 104 seconds, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that value stream mapping is an effective approach to eliminate the wastes and improve the productivity.

  8. Variable selection for modelling effects of eutrophication on stream and river ecosystems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijboer, R.C.; Verdonschot, P.F.M.

    2004-01-01

    Models are needed for forecasting the effects of eutrophication on stream and river ecosystems. Most of the current models do not include differences in local stream characteristics and effects on the biota. To define the most important variables that should be used in a stream eutrophication model,

  9. INSPECT: a package of computer programs for planning safeguards inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wincek, M.A.; Mullen, M.F.

    1979-04-01

    As part of the U.S. program to provide technical assistance to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a package of computer programs was developed for use in planning safeguards inspections of various types of nuclear facilities. The INSPECT software package is a set of five interactive FORTRAN programs which can be used to calculate the variance components of the MUF (Material Unaccounted For) statistic, the variance components of the D (difference) statistic, attribute and variables sampling plans, a measure of the effectiveness of the inspection, and a measurement of the cost of implementing the inspection plan. This report describes the programs and explains how to use them

  10. Time-Based Data Streams: Fundamental Concepts for a Data Resource for Streams

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beth A. Plale

    2009-10-10

    Real time data, which we call data streams, are readings from instruments, environmental, bodily or building sensors that are generated at regular intervals and often, due to their volume, need to be processed in real time. Often a single pass is all that can be made on the data, and a decision to discard or keep the instance is made on the spot. Too, the stream is for all practical purposes indefinite, so decisions must be made on incomplete knowledge. This notion of data streams has a different set of issues from a file, for instance, that is byte streamed to a reader. The file is finite, so the byte stream is becomes a processing convenience more than a fundamentally different kind of data. Through the duration of the project we examined three aspects of streaming data: the first, techniques to handle streaming data in a distributed system organized as a collection of web services, the second, the notion of the dashboard and real time controllable analysis constructs in the context of the Fermi Tevatron Beam Position Monitor, and third and finally, we examined provenance collection of stream processing such as might occur as raw observational data flows from the source and undergoes correction, cleaning, and quality control. The impact of this work is severalfold. We were one of the first to advocate that streams had little value unless aggregated, and that notion is now gaining general acceptance. We were one of the first groups to grapple with the notion of provenance of stream data also.

  11. Stream Health Sensitivity to Landscape Changes due to Bioenergy Crops Expansion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nejadhashemi, A.; Einheuser, M. D.; Woznicki, S. A.

    2012-12-01

    Global demand for bioenergy has increased due to uncertainty in oil markets, environmental concerns, and expected increases in energy consumption worldwide. To develop a sustainable biofuel production strategy, the adverse environmental impacts of bioenergy crops expansion should be understood. To study the impact of bioenergy crops expansion on stream health, the adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to predict macroinvertebrate and fish stream health measures. The Hilsenhoff Biotic Index (HBI), Family Index of Biological Integrity (Family IBI), and Number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa (EPT taxa) were used as macroinvertebrate measures, while the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) was used for fish. A high-resolution biophysical model built using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to obtain water quantity and quality variables for input into the ANFIS stream health predictive models. Twenty unique crop rotations were developed to examine impacts of bioenergy crops expansion on stream health in the Saginaw Bay basin. Traditional intensive row crops generated more pollution than current landuse conditions, while second-generation biofuel crops associated with less intensive agricultural activities resulted in water quality improvement. All three macroinvertebrate measures were negatively impacted during intensive row crop productions but improvement was predicted when producing perennial crops. However, the expansion of native grass, switchgrass, and miscanthus production resulted in reduced IBI relative to first generation row crops. This study demonstrates that ecosystem complexity requires examination of multiple stream health measures to avoid potential adverse impacts of landuse change on stream health.

  12. Lessons learned from the PISC III study of the influence on human factors on inspection reliability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murgatroyd, R.A.; Worrall, G.M.; Crutzen, S.

    1995-01-01

    Results from the PISC II Programme suggested that differences existed between manual inspectors in terms of their skills, knowledge and working practices which could exert a significant influence on the reliability on an inspection. Therefore, a programme of work on human reliability studies was initiated in the PISC III Programme as Action 7, with the objectives of studying and identifying causes of variability in inspection activities, and identifying some of the factors influencing the reliability of inspection in industrial conditions. It was foreseen that the information from Action 7 would aid in the development of methods for reducing the incidence of human error in inspection activities. This paper gives a brief summary of the programme and describes the lessons learned as a result of the work. A considerably more detailed description of the work is available as a PISC report. 3 refs, 3 figs

  13. Inspection of licensee activities in emergency planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Binnebeek, J.J.; Gutierrez Ruiz, Luis Miguel; Bouvrie, E. des; Aro, Ilari; Gil, J.; Balloffet, Yves; Forsberg, Staffan; Klonk, H.; Lang, Hans-Guenter; Fichtinger, G.; Warren, T.; Manzella, P.; Gallo, R.; Koizumi, Hiroyoshi; Johnson, M.; Pittermann, P.

    1998-01-01

    The CNRA believes that safety inspections are a major element in the regulatory authority's efforts to ensure the safe operation of nuclear facilities. Considering the importance of these issues, the Committee has established a special Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP). The purpose of WGIP, is to facilitate the exchange of information and experience related to regulatory safety inspections between CNRA Member countries Following discussions at several meetings on the topic of what is expected by the regulatory body regarding inspection criteria, WGIP proposed putting together a compilation of Member countries practices on regulatory inspection practices with respect to licensee emergency planning. CNRA approved this task and this report. Information was collected from a questionnaire which was issued in 1996. The report presents information on regulatory inspection activities with respect to emergency planning in NEA Member countries. The focus of the report is on the third section. It reviews the similarities and differences in inspection practices to evaluate compliance with the requirements over which the regulatory body (RB) has jurisdiction

  14. Influence of diurnal variations in stream temperature on streamflow loss and groundwater recharge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Constantz, Jim; Thomas, Carole L.; Zellweger, Gary W.

    1994-01-01

    We demonstrate that for losing reaches with significant diurnal variations in stream temperature, the effect of stream temperature on streambed seepage is a major factor contributing to reduced afternoon streamflows. An explanation is based on the effect of stream temperature on the hydraulic conductivity of the streambed, which can be expected to double in the 0° to 25°C temperature range. Results are presented for field experiments in which stream discharge and temperature were continuously measured for several days over losing reaches at St. Kevin Gulch, Colorado, and Tijeras Arroyo, New Mexico. At St. Kevin Gulch in July 1991, the diurnal stream temperature in the 160-m study reach ranged from about 4° to 18°C, discharges ranged from 10 to 18 L/s, and streamflow loss in the study reach ranged from 2.7 to 3.7 L/s. On the basis of measured stream temperature variations, the predicted change in conductivity was about 38%; the measured change in stream loss was about 26%, suggesting that streambed temperature varied less than the stream temperature. At Tijeras Arroyo in May 1992, diurnal stream temperature in the 655-m study reach ranged from about 10° to 25°C and discharge ranged from 25 to 55 L/s. Streamflow loss was converted to infiltration rates by factoring in the changing stream reach surface area and streamflow losses due to evaporation rates as measured in a hemispherical evaporation chamber. Infiltration rates ranged from about 0.7 to 2.0 m/d, depending on time and location. Based on measured stream temperature variations, the predicted change in conductivity was 29%; the measured change in infiltration was also about 27%. This suggests that high infiltration rates cause rapid convection of heat to the streambed. Evapotranspiration losses were estimated for the reach and adjacent flood plain within the arroyo. On the basis of these estimates, only about 5% of flow loss was consumed via stream evaporation and stream-side evapotranspiration

  15. A survey on Big Data Stream Mining

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    pc

    2018-03-05

    Mar 5, 2018 ... huge amount of stream like telecommunication systems. So, there ... streams have many challenges for data mining algorithm design like using of ..... A. Bifet and R. Gavalda, "Learning from Time-Changing Data with. Adaptive ...

  16. Risk-Informed Decisions Optimization in Inspection and Maintenance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robertas Alzbutas

    2002-01-01

    The Risk-Informed Approach (RIA) used to support decisions related to inspection and maintenance program is considered. The use of risk-informed methods can help focus the adequate in-service inspections and control on the more important locations of complex dynamic systems. The focus is set on the highest risk measured as conditional core damage frequency, which is produced by the frequencies of degradation and final failure at different locations combined with the conditional failure consequence probability. The probabilities of different degradation states per year and consequences are estimated quantitatively. The investigation of inspection and maintenance process is presented as the combination of deterministic and probabilistic analysis based on general risk-informed model, which includes the inspection and maintenance program features. Such RIA allows an optimization of inspection program while maintaining probabilistic and fundamental deterministic safety requirements. The failure statistics analysis is used as well as the evaluation of reliability of inspections. The assumptions regarding the effectiveness of the inspection methods are based on a classification of the accessibility of the welds during the inspection and on the different techniques used for inspection. The probability of defect detection is assumed to depend on the parameters either through logarithmic or logit transformation. As example the modeling of the pipe systems inspection process is analyzed. The means to reduce a number of inspection sites and the cumulative radiation exposure to the NPP inspection personnel with a reduction of overall risk is presented together with used and developed software. The developed software can perform and administrate all the risk evaluations and ensure the possibilities to compare different options and perform sensitivity analysis. The approaches to define an acceptable level of risk are discussed. These approaches with appropriate software in

  17. Regulatory inspection activities on nuclear power plant sites during construction in the United Kingdom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeffery, J.V.

    1977-01-01

    The work of regulatory inspection of the construction of the plant on the site is performed not only by the inspector who has been allocated to inspection duties for that site but also by the specialist staff who are involved with the safety assessment of the plant. The co-ordination of this work is described in the paper and examples are given of inspection activities associated with the enforcement requirements of licence conditions as well as those related to the inspection of the plant itself. (author)

  18. 7 CFR 868.44 - New original inspection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false New original inspection. 868.44 Section 868.44... FOR CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES Regulations Original Inspection Service § 868.44 New original... applicant may request a new original inspection on any previously inspected lot; except that a new original...

  19. Development of inspection robots for bridge cables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Hae-Bum; Kim, Se-Hoon; Wu, Liuliu; Lee, Jong-Jae

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the bridge cable inspection robot developed in Korea. Two types of the cable inspection robots were developed for cable-suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridge. The design of the robot system and performance of the NDT techniques associated with the cable inspection robot are discussed. A review on recent advances in emerging robot-based inspection technologies for bridge cables and current bridge cable inspection methods is also presented.

  20. Magnetic particle inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sastri, Sankar

    1990-01-01

    The purpose of this experiment is to familiarize the student with magnetic particle inspection and relate it to classification of various defects. Magnetic particle inspection is a method of detecting the presence of cracks, laps, tears, inclusions, and similar discontinuities in ferromagnetic materials such as iron and steel. This method will most clearly show defects that are perpendicular to the magnetic field. The Magnaglo method uses a liquid which is sprayed on the workpiece to be inspected, and the part is magnetized at the same time. The workpiece is then viewed under a black light, and the presence of discontinuity is shown by the formation of a bright indication formed by the magnetic particles over the discontinuity. The equipment and experimental procedures are described.

  1. Impacts of fish farm pollution on ecosystem structure and function of tropical headwater streams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosa, Rodrigo dos Santos; Aguiar, Anna Carolina Fornero; Boëchat, Iola Gonçalves; Gücker, Björn

    2013-01-01

    We investigated the impacts of effluent discharge from small flow-through fish farms on stream water characteristics, the benthic invertebrate community, whole-system nitrate uptake, and ecosystem metabolism of three tropical headwater streams in southeastern Brazil. Effluents were moderately, i.e. up to 20-fold enriched in particulate organic matter (POM) and inorganic nutrients in comparison to stream water at reference sites. Due to high dilution with stream water, effluent discharge resulted in up to 2.0-fold increases in stream water POM and up to 1.8-fold increases in inorganic nutrients only. Moderate impacts on the benthic invertebrate community were detected at one stream only. There was no consistent pattern of effluent impact on whole-stream nitrate uptake. Ecosystem metabolism, however, was clearly affected by effluent discharge. Stream reaches impacted by effluents exhibited significantly increased community respiration and primary productivity, stressing the importance of ecologically sound best management practices for small fish farms in the tropics. -- Highlights: ► Fish farm effluent discharge had moderate effects on stream water quality. ► Impacts on the benthic invertebrate community occurred at one stream. ► Whole-stream nitrate uptake showed no consistent impact pattern. ► Effluents caused considerable increases in stream ecosystem metabolism. ► Compliance with best management practices is important for small fish farms. -- Moderate water pollution by small fish farms caused considerable eutrophication responses in tropical headwater streams

  2. Inventory of miscellaneous streams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lueck, K.J.

    1995-09-01

    On December 23, 1991, the US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (RL) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) agreed to adhere to the provisions of the Department of Ecology Consent Order. The Consent Order lists the regulatory milestones for liquid effluent streams at the Hanford Site to comply with the permitting requirements of Washington Administrative Code. The RL provided the US Congress a Plan and Schedule to discontinue disposal of contaminated liquid effluent into the soil column on the Hanford Site. The plan and schedule document contained a strategy for the implementation of alternative treatment and disposal systems. This strategy included prioritizing the streams into two phases. The Phase 1 streams were considered to be higher priority than the Phase 2 streams. The actions recommended for the Phase 1 and 2 streams in the two reports were incorporated in the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Miscellaneous Streams are those liquid effluents streams identified within the Consent Order that are discharged to the ground but are not categorized as Phase 1 or Phase 2 Streams. This document consists of an inventory of the liquid effluent streams being discharged into the Hanford soil column

  3. Methodology For Reduction Of Sampling On The Visual Inspection Of Developed And Etched Wafers

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Ven, Jamie S.; Khorasani, Fred

    1989-07-01

    There is a lot of inspection in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. Generally, the more important a manufacturing step, the higher is the level of inspection. In some cases 100% of the wafers are inspected after certain steps. Inspection is a non-value added and expensive activity. It requires an army of "inspectors," often times expensive equipment and becomes a "bottle neck" when the level of inspection is high. Although inspection helps identify quality problems, it hurts productivity. The new management, quality and productivity philosophies recommend against over inspection. [Point #3 in Dr. Deming's 14 Points for Management (1)] 100% inspection is quite unnecessary . Often the nature of a process allows us to reduce inspection drastically and still maintain a high level of confidence in quality. In section 2, we discuss such situations and show that some elementary probability theory allows us to determine sample sizes and measure the chances of catching a bad "lot" and accepting a good lot. In section 3, we provide an example and application of the theory, and make a few comments on money and time saved because of this work. Finally, in section 4, we draw some conclusions about the new quality and productivity philosophies and how applied statisticians and engineers should study every situation individually and avoid blindly using methods and tables given in books.

  4. INSPECT: a package of computer programs for planning and evaluating safeguards inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mullen, M.F.

    1980-01-01

    As part of the US Program of Technical Assistance to IAEA Safeguards, PNL has developed a package of computer programs, called INSPECT, that can be used in planning and evaluating safeguards inspections of various types of nuclear facilities. The programs are based on the statistical methods described in Part F of the IAEA Safeguards Technical Manual and can be used to calculate the variance components of the MUF (Material Unaccounted For) statistic, the variance components of the D (difference) statistic, attribute and variables sampling plans, and a measure of the effectiveness of the inspection plan. The paper describes the programs, reviews a number of applications, and indicates areas for future work

  5. Development of Inspection Robots for Bridge Cables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hae-Bum Yun

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the bridge cable inspection robot developed in Korea. Two types of the cable inspection robots were developed for cable-suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridge. The design of the robot system and performance of the NDT techniques associated with the cable inspection robot are discussed. A review on recent advances in emerging robot-based inspection technologies for bridge cables and current bridge cable inspection methods is also presented.

  6. Technical regulation of nondestructive inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-01-01

    It starts with the explanation of definition of nondestructive inspection and qualifications for a inspection. It lists the technical regulations of nondestructive inspections which are radiographic testing, ultrasonic flaw detecting test, liquid penetrant test, magnetic particle inspection, eddy current test visual inspection and leakage test.

  7. 34 CFR 99.12 - What limitations exist on the right to inspect and review records?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What limitations exist on the right to inspect and... EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY What Are the Rights of Inspection and Review of Education Records? § 99.12 What limitations exist on the right to inspect and review records? (a) If the education records of a student...

  8. The effectiveness of streaming video on medical student learning: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bridge, Patrick D; Jackson, Matt; Robinson, Leah

    2009-08-19

    Information technology helps meet today's medical students' needs by providing multiple curriculum delivery methods. Video streaming is an e-learning technology that uses the Internet to deliver curriculum while giving the student control of the content's delivery. There have been few studies conducted on the effectiveness of streaming video in medical schools. A 5-year retrospective study was conducted using three groups of students (n = 1736) to determine if the availability of streaming video in Years 1-2 of the basic science curriculum affected overall Step 1 scores for first-time test-takers. The results demonstrated a positive effect on program outcomes as streaming video became more readily available to students. Based on these findings, streaming video technology seems to be a viable tool to complement in-class delivery methods, to accommodate the needs of medical students, and to provide options for meeting the challenges of delivering the undergraduate medical curriculum. Further studies need to be conducted to continue validating the effectiveness of streaming video technology.

  9. Re-Meandering of Lowland Streams

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Morten Lauge; Kristensen, Klaus Kevin; Friberg, Nikolai

    2014-01-01

    We evaluated the restoration of physical habitats and its influence on macroinvertebrate community structure in 18 Danish lowland streams comprising six restored streams, six streams with little physical alteration and six channelized streams. We hypothesized that physical habitats...... and macroinvertebrate communities of restored streams would resemble those of natural streams, while those of the channelized streams would differ from both restored and near-natural streams. Physical habitats were surveyed for substrate composition, depth, width and current velocity. Macroinvertebrates were sampled...... along 100 m reaches in each stream, in edge habitats and in riffle/run habitats located in the center of the stream. Restoration significantly altered the physical conditions and affected the interactions between stream habitat heterogeneity and macroinvertebrate diversity. The substrate in the restored...

  10. Detailed simulation of ultrasonic inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaplin, K.R.; Douglas, S.R.; Dunford, D.

    1997-01-01

    Simulation of ultrasonic inspection of engineering components have been performed at the Chalk River Laboratories of AECL for over 10 years. The computer model, called EWE for Elastic Wave Equations, solves the Elastic Wave Equations using a novel finite difference scheme. It simulates the propagation of an ultrasonic wave from the transducer to a flaw, the scatter of waves from the flaw, and measurement of signals at a receive transducer. Regions of different materials, water and steel for example, can be simulated. In addition, regions with slightly different material properties from the parent material can be investigated. The two major types of output are displays of the ultrasonic waves inside the component and the corresponding A-scans. EPRI and other organizations have used ultrasonic models for: defining acceptable ultrasonic inspection procedures, designing and evaluating inspection techniques, and for quantifying inspection reliability. The EWE model has been applied to the inspection of large pipes in a nuclear plant, gas pipeline welds and steam generator tubes. Most recent work has dealt with the ultrasonic inspection of pressure tubes in CANDU reactors. Pressure tube inspections can reliably detect and size defects; however, there are improvements that can be made. For example, knowing the sharpness of a flaw-tip is crucial for fitness for service assessments. Computer modelling of the ultrasonic inspection of flaws with different root radius has suggested inspection techniques that provide flaw tip radius information. A preliminary investigation of these methods has been made in the laboratory. The basis for the model will be reviewed at the presentation. Then the results of computer simulations will be displayed on a PC using an interactive program that analyzes simulated A-scans. This software tool gives inspection staff direct access to the results of computer simulations. (author)

  11. Applications of on-stream analysis systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howarth, W.J.

    1982-01-01

    Benefits of on-stream analysis include increased metal recovery, reduced consumption of reagents, increases in concentrate grade and savings in labour. A poorly designed analysis zone can give rise to incorrect assays as a result of segregation or excessive or variable aeration

  12. Wildfire Effects on In-stream Nutrient Processing and Hydrologic Transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhea, A.; Covino, T. P.; Rhoades, C.; Fegel, T.

    2017-12-01

    In many forests throughout the Western U.S., drought, climate change, and growing fuel loads are contributing to increased fire frequency and severity. Wildfires can influence watershed nutrient retention as they fundamentally alter the biological composition and physical structure in upland landscapes, riparian corridors, and stream channels. While numerous studies have documented substantial short-term increases in stream nutrient concentrations and export (particularly reactive nitrogen, N) following forest fires, the long-term implications for watershed nutrient cycling remain unclear. For example, recent work indicates that nitrate concentrations and export can remain elevated for a decade or more following wildfire, yet the controls on these processes are unknown. In this research, we use empirical observations from nutrient tracer injections, nutrient diffusing substrates, and continuous water quality monitoring to isolate biological and physical controls on nutrient export across a burn-severity gradient. Tracer results demonstrate substantial stream-groundwater exchange, but little biological nutrient uptake in burned streams. This in part explains patterns of elevated nutrient export. Paired nutrient diffusing substrate experiments allow us to further investigate shifts in N, phosphorus, and carbon limitation that may suppress post-fire stream nutrient uptake. By isolating the mechanisms that reduce the capacity of fire-affected streams to retain and transform nutrient inputs, we can better predict dynamics in post-fire water quality and help prioritize upland and riparian restoration.

  13. Ultrasonic inspection of inpile tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyd, D.M.; Bossi, H.

    1985-01-01

    The in-service inspection (ISI) of inpile tubes can be performed accurately and safely with a semiautomatic ultrasonic inspection system. The ultrasonic technique uses a set of multiple transducers to detect and size cracks, voids, and laminations radially and circumferentially. Welds are also inspected for defects. The system is designed to inspect stainless steel and Inconel tubes ranging from 53.8 mm (2.12 in.) to 101.6 mm (4 in.) inner diameter with wall thickness on the order of 5 mm. The inspection head contains seven transducers mounted in a surface-following device. Six angle-beam transducers generate shear waves in the tubes. Two of the six are oriented to detect circumferential cracks, and two detect axial cracks. Although each of these four transducers is used in the pulse-echo mode, they are oriented in aligned sets so pitch-catch operation is possible if desired. The remaining angle-beam transducers are angulated to detect flaws that are off axial or circumferential orientation. The seventh transducer is used for longitudinal inspection and detects and sizes laminar-type defects

  14. Non-destructive inservice inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kauppinen, P.; Sarkimo, M.; Lahdenperae, K.

    1998-01-01

    In order to assess the possible damages occurring in the components and structures of operating nuclear power plants during service the main components and structures are periodically inspected by non-destructive testing techniques. The reliability of non-destructive testing techniques applied in these inservice inspections is of major importance because the decisions concerning the needs for repair of components are mainly based on the results of inspections. One of the targets of this research program has been to improve the reliability of non-destructive testing. This has been addressed in the sub-projects which are briefly summarised here. (author)

  15. A morphological comparison of narrow, low-gradient streams traversing wetland environments to alluvial streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurmu, Michael C

    2002-12-01

    Twelve morphological features from research on alluvial streams are compared in four narrow, low-gradient wetland streams located in different geographic regions (Connecticut, Indiana, and Wisconsin, USA). All four reaches differed in morphological characteristics in five of the features compared (consistent bend width, bend cross-sectional shape, riffle width compared to pool width, greatest width directly downstream of riffles, and thalweg location), while three reaches differed in two comparisons (mean radius of curvature to width ratio and axial wavelength to width ratio). The remaining five features compared had at least one reach where different characteristics existed. This indicates the possibility of varying morphology for streams traversing wetland areas further supporting the concept that the unique qualities of wetland environments might also influence the controls on fluvial dynamics and the development of streams. If certain morphological features found in streams traversing wetland areas differ from current fluvial principles, then these varying features should be incorporated into future wetland stream design and creation projects. The results warrant further research on other streams traversing wetlands to determine if streams in these environments contain unique morphology and further investigation of the impact of low-energy fluvial processes on morphological development. Possible explanations for the morphology deviations in the study streams and some suggestions for stream design in wetland areas based upon the results and field observations are also presented.

  16. Substantial proportion of global streamflow less than three months old

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasechko, Scott; Kirchner, James W.; Welker, Jeffrey M.; McDonnell, Jeffrey J.

    2016-02-01

    Biogeochemical cycles, contaminant transport and chemical weathering are regulated by the speed at which precipitation travels through landscapes and reaches streams. Streamflow is a mixture of young and old precipitation, but the global proportions of these young and old components are not known. Here we analyse seasonal cycles of oxygen isotope ratios in rain, snow and streamflow compiled from 254 watersheds around the world, and calculate the fraction of streamflow that is derived from precipitation that fell within the past two or three months. This young streamflow accounts for about a third of global river discharge, and comprises at least 5% of discharge in about 90% of the catchments we investigated. We conclude that, although typical catchments have mean transit times of years or even decades, they nonetheless can rapidly transmit substantial fractions of soluble contaminant inputs to streams. Young streamflow is less prevalent in steeper landscapes, which suggests they are characterized by deeper vertical infiltration. Because young streamflow is derived from less than 0.1% of global groundwater storage, we conclude that this thin veneer of aquifer storage will have a disproportionate influence on stream water quality.

  17. In-service inspection and periodic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eisele, H.; Meyer, F.A.; Zipser, R.R.

    1981-01-01

    In-service inspections are performed to verify the operational safety, and maintenance work is performed to guarantee the availability. Below, the typical in-service inspections of a light-water reactor NPP (operated on a pressurized-water reactor/PWR/ or on a boiling-water reactor/BWR/) are described with details and examples of typical inspections, especially of recurrent performance tests of the systems. (orig./RW)

  18. In-service inspection and periodic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eisele, H.; Meyer, F.A.; Zipser, R.R.

    1980-01-01

    In-service inspections are performed to verify the operational safety, and maintenance work is performed to guarantee the availability. In the present paper, the typical in-service inspections of a light-water reactor NPP (operated on a pressurized-water reactor/PWR/ or on a boiling-water reactor/BWR/) are described with details and examples of typical inspections, especially of recurrent performance tests of the systems. (orig./RW)

  19. Influence of visual clutter on the effect of navigated safety inspection: a case study on elevator installation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Pin-Chao; Sun, Xinlu; Liu, Mei; Shih, Yu-Nien

    2018-01-11

    Navigated safety inspection based on task-specific checklists can increase the hazard detection rate, theoretically with interference from scene complexity. Visual clutter, a proxy of scene complexity, can theoretically impair visual search performance, but its impact on the effect of safety inspection performance remains to be explored for the optimization of navigated inspection. This research aims to explore whether the relationship between working memory and hazard detection rate is moderated by visual clutter. Based on a perceptive model of hazard detection, we: (a) developed a mathematical influence model for construction hazard detection; (b) designed an experiment to observe the performance of hazard detection rate with adjusted working memory under different levels of visual clutter, while using an eye-tracking device to observe participants' visual search processes; (c) utilized logistic regression to analyze the developed model under various visual clutter. The effect of a strengthened working memory on the detection rate through increased search efficiency is more apparent in high visual clutter. This study confirms the role of visual clutter in construction-navigated inspections, thus serving as a foundation for the optimization of inspection planning.

  20. Structural assessment procedure of corroding submarine gas pipelines using on-line inspection data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nordin Yahaya

    2000-01-01

    This paper presents 'the alternative approach of overall procedure in the assessment of corroded pipelines using data gathered by the on-line inspection device. The methodology adopts a generalised approach of analysing pipeline inspection data and a prediction of the structural reliability due to the deteriorating corrosion environment. The whole assessment methodology is divided into four separate stages; 1 to IV. Stages 1 and 11 are the initial procedure prior to the actual analysis of the inspection data. The scope of this paper is concerted into the procedure to be taken in Stage 111 where the stage is sub-divided into 3 major steps; Part A, B and C. These procedures are Part A (statistical and probabilistic analysis of the inspection data) and Part B (the application of extreme value statistics) and C (reliability assessment). Stage IV (risk assessment) is the final step in the procedure where the consequences of failure are evaluated. The proposed risk-based assessment procedure is more systematic and reliable to account for a huge amount of collected data usually obtained in an on-line inspection using the intelligent devices. The outcomes of this risk-based methodology can be very useful in the decision-making process by the operation management. This in turn will produce an efficient inspection, repair and maintenance program and enhanced the optimised return in investment. (author)

  1. Development of an automatic reactor inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jae Hee; Eom, Heung Seop; Lee, Jae Cheol; Choi, Yoo Raek; Moon, Soon Seung

    2002-02-01

    Using recent technologies on a mobile robot computer science, we developed an automatic inspection system for weld lines of the reactor vessel. The ultrasonic inspection of the reactor pressure vessel is currently performed by commercialized robot manipulators. Since, however, the conventional fixed type robot manipulator is very huge, heavy and expensive, it needs long inspection time and is hard to handle and maintain. In order to resolve these problems, we developed a new automatic inspection system using a small mobile robot crawling on the vertical wall of the reactor vessel. According to our conceptual design, we developed the reactor inspection system including an underwater inspection robot, a laser position control subsystem, an ultrasonic data acquisition/analysis subsystem and a main control subsystem. We successfully carried out underwater experiments on the reactor vessel mockup, and real reactor ready for Ulchine nuclear power plant unit 6 at Dusan Heavy Industry in Korea. After this project, we have a plan to commercialize our inspection system. Using this system, we can expect much reduction of the inspection time, performance enhancement, automatic management of inspection history, etc. In the economic point of view, we can also expect import substitution more than 4 million dollars. The established essential technologies for intelligent control and automation are expected to be synthetically applied to the automation of similar systems in nuclear power plants

  2. Lightweight submersed 'Walking' NDE manipulators for PWR and BWR vessel weld inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saernmark, Ivan; Lenz, Herbert

    2008-01-01

    Three new manipulators developed by WesDyne TRC in Sweden have under the year 2007 performed three very successful inspections in the PWR reactor Ringhals 3 and the BWR reactors Ringhals 1 and Oskarshamn 1. The manipulator systems can be used to perform inspection of circumferential and vertical welds on the reactor pressure vessel, the core shroud, core shroud support in BWR reactors or vessel and core barrel welds in PWR reactors. Most other flat or curved surfaces can be inspected using the new concept through relatively simple mechanical reconfigurations of system modules. The first inspection was performed on the R3 PWR core barrel in June 2007 with a very good result. This Manipulator is designed for access in very narrow gaps and for the type of core barrels with a shield covering the whole area of the perimeter. The manipulator is attached to the inspection area by means of a new unique suction cup system. The current manipulators consist of a curved horizontal beam, with radius similar to the reactor vessel, and a straight vertical beam, forming a T-shaped structure. By alternating the application of suction cup pairs on the horizontal beam and the vertical beam and by driving the scanning motors, the manipulator performs an incremental translational movement upwards/downwards or from side to side. The principles of this system give a well defined and stable platform for global and local positioning accuracy. A combination of advanced sensor solutions provides accurate position information in the absence of other physical reference objects. The system is controlled by the new WesDyne TRC Motor Control Panel and software, the MCP is specifically designed for remote control of submersed manipulators using techniques for cable reduction

  3. Short-term disturbance effects of outdoor education stream classes on aquatic macroinvertebrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Outdoor education stream classes provide students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with sampling methods for evaluating stream water quality. Student trampling as a result of stream classes may disrupt the substrate and negatively impact aquatic macroinvertebrates. The impact of stude...

  4. Use of remote visual in-service inspection on nuclear power plants of the CEGB

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, D.W.

    1985-01-01

    The main responsibility of the Remote Inspection Group is the design, development and procurement of the remote visual inspection equipment provided by the Generation Development and Construction Division as part of the extent of the supply for all the Central Electricity Generating Board's (CEGB) advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR). The paper describes the operation of this equipment, together with the low light-level TV cameras that have been developed for carrying out routine remote visual inspections. The camera, known as the television remote inspection unit multi-purpose head (TRIUMPH), has been designed as a series of modules. With this system it is possible to take advantage of improvements in a particular part of the camera system and to arrange to backfit an improved module to existing TRIUMPHs. To minimize the time for carrying out routine inspections during shutdown, the AGRs have been provided with storage training and test facilities. These facilities are provided with full size mock-ups of the reactor internals so that the inspection equipment can be tested and the operating staff trained before the equipment is used on the reactor. One of the other responsibilities of the Remote Inspection Group is to carry out specific power plant remote visual inspections which are required to minimize costly plant shutdowns and construction delays. Examples are given of successful inspections that have been carried out. Over 12 years' experience has now been obtained in carrying out, at short notice, difficult inspections which involve tortuous access routes. The CEGB now holds a wide range of fibrescope and small TV cameras, together with the equipment for placing the viewing device in the correct location. A number of special fibrescopes have been developed for specific inspection needs and details of these, together with other fibrescopes owned by the CEGB, are provided. (author)

  5. Proceedings of the specialists' meeting on reliability of the ultrasonic inspection of austenitic materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1980-07-01

    The contributions of this meeting addressed several topics: the fundamentals of ultrasonic examination of austenitic materials (effect of anisotropy on propagation, improvement of ultrasonic testing to thick bimetallic welds, aspects of the ultrasonic testing of austenitic steel structures, utilization of a Fisher linear discriminant function in intergranular stress corrosion cracking or IGSCC detection, case of coarse grain austenitic welds, efforts of the Argonne National Laboratory), instruments and methods (longitudinal wave ultrasonic inspection, Grass echo suppression technique during the ultrasonic inspection of fuel cladding tubes, inspections of fillet and butt welds, improvement by signal averaging techniques, multiple bearing angle crack detector for cladded pipes examinations, flow-to-grain echo enhancement by split-spectrum processing, ultrasonic imaging techniques, ultrasonic inspection of pipe weldments for IGSCC), industrial practice (ultrasonic testing techniques for fabrication and in-service inspection, experiences in ultrasonic examination of austenitic steel components, experience and practice on nuclear piping in Spain, detection of underclad defects, sizing of cracks perpendicular to stainless overlay), and reliability (survey of ultrasonic testing in austenitic weld material, examination of electron beam welds, factors affecting the reliability of ultrasonic examination, detectability of IGSCC, ultrasonic inspection reliability for primary piping systems)

  6. Proceedings of the specialists' meeting on reliability of the ultrasonic inspection of austenitic materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-01-01

    The contributions of this meeting addressed several topics: the fundamentals of ultrasonic examination of austenitic materials (effect of anisotropy on propagation, improvement of ultrasonic testing to thick bimetallic welds, aspects of the ultrasonic testing of austenitic steel structures, utilization of a Fisher linear discriminant function in intergranular stress corrosion cracking or IGSCC detection, case of coarse grain austenitic welds, efforts of the Argonne National Laboratory), instruments and methods (longitudinal wave ultrasonic inspection, Grass echo suppression technique during the ultrasonic inspection of fuel cladding tubes, inspections of fillet and butt welds, improvement by signal averaging techniques, multiple bearing angle crack detector for cladded pipes examinations, flow-to-grain echo enhancement by split-spectrum processing, ultrasonic imaging techniques, ultrasonic inspection of pipe weldments for IGSCC), industrial practice (ultrasonic testing techniques for fabrication and in-service inspection, experiences in ultrasonic examination of austenitic steel components, experience and practice on nuclear piping in Spain, detection of underclad defects, sizing of cracks perpendicular to stainless overlay), and reliability (survey of ultrasonic testing in austenitic weld material, examination of electron beam welds, factors affecting the reliability of ultrasonic examination, detectability of IGSCC, ultrasonic inspection reliability for primary piping systems)

  7. Stream biofilm responses to flow intermittency: from cells to ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergi eSabater

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Temporary streams are characterized by the alternation of dry and wet hydrological phases, creating both a harsh environment for the biota as well as a high diversity of opportunities for adaptation. These systems are eminently microbial-based during several of these hydrological phases, and those growing on all solid substrata (biofilms accordingly change their physical structure and community composition. Biofilms experience large decreases on cell densities and biomass, both of bacteria and algae, during dryness. Algal and bacterial communities show remarkable decreases in their diversity, at least locally (at the habitat scale. Biofilms also respond with significant physiological plasticity to each of the hydrological changes. The decreasing humidity of the substrata through the drying process, and the changing quantity and quality of organic matter and nutrients available in the stream during that process, causes unequal responses on the biofilm bacteria and algae. Biofilm algae are affected faster than bacteria by the hydric stress, and as a result the ecosystem respiration resists longer than gross primary production to the increasing duration of flow intermittency. This response implies enhancing ecosystem heterotrophy, a pattern that can be exacerbated in temporary streams suffering of longer dry periods under global change.

  8. Net currents in the wave bottom boundary layer: on waveshape streaming and progressive wave streaming

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kranenburg, Wouter; Ribberink, Jan S.; Uittenbogaard, R.E.; Hulscher, Suzanne J.M.H.

    2012-01-01

    The net current (streaming) in a turbulent bottom boundary layer under waves above a flat bed, identified as potentially relevant for sediment transport, is mainly determined by two competing mechanisms: an onshore streaming resulting from the horizontal non-uniformity of the velocity field under

  9. Fuel assembly inspection device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yaginuma, Yoshitaka

    1998-01-01

    The present invention provides a device suitable to inspect appearance of fuel assemblies by photographing the appearance of fuel assemblies. Namely, the inspection device of the present invention measures bowing of fuel assembly or each of fuel rods or both of them based on the partially photographed images of fuel assembly. In this case, there is disposed a means which flashily projects images in the form of horizontal line from a direction intersecting obliquely relative to a horizontal cross section of the fuel assembly. A first image processing means separates the projected image pictures including projected images and calculates bowing. A second image processing means replaces the projected image pictures of the projected images based on projected images just before and after the photographing. Then, images for the measurement of bowing and images for inspection can be obtained simultaneously. As a result, the time required for the photographing can be shortened, the time for inspection can be shortened and an effect of preventing deterioration of photographing means by radiation rays can be provided. (I.S.)

  10. The Stream-Catchment (StreamCat) and Lake-Catchment ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Background/Question/MethodsLake and stream conditions respond to both natural and human-related landscape features. Characterizing these features within contributing areas (i.e., delineated watersheds) of streams and lakes could improve our understanding of how biological conditions vary spatially and improve the use, management, and restoration of these aquatic resources. However, the specialized geospatial techniques required to define and characterize stream and lake watersheds has limited their widespread use in both scientific and management efforts at large spatial scales. We developed the StreamCat and LakeCat Datasets to model, predict, and map the probable biological conditions of streams and lakes across the conterminous US (CONUS). Both StreamCat and LakeCat contain watershed-level characterizations of several hundred natural (e.g., soils, geology, climate, and land cover) and anthropogenic (e.g., urbanization, agriculture, mining, and forest management) landscape features for ca. 2.6 million stream segments and 376,000 lakes across the CONUS, respectively. These datasets can be paired with field samples to provide independent variables for modeling and other analyses. We paired 1,380 stream and 1,073 lake samples from the USEPAs National Aquatic Resource Surveys with StreamCat and LakeCat and used random forest (RF) to model and then map an invertebrate condition index and chlorophyll a concentration, respectively. Results/ConclusionsThe invertebrate

  11. Modeling the effects of LID practices on streams health at watershed scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shannak, S.; Jaber, F. H.

    2013-12-01

    Increasing impervious covers due to urbanization will lead to an increase in runoff volumes, and eventually increase flooding. Stream channels adjust by widening and eroding stream bank which would impact downstream property negatively (Chin and Gregory, 2001). Also, urban runoff drains in sediment bank areas in what's known as riparian zones and constricts stream channels (Walsh, 2009). Both physical and chemical factors associated with urbanization such as high peak flows and low water quality further stress aquatic life and contribute to overall biological condition of urban streams (Maxted et al., 1995). While LID practices have been mentioned and studied in literature for stormwater management, they have not been studied in respect to reducing potential impact on stream health. To evaluate the performance and the effectiveness of LID practices at a watershed scale, sustainable detention pond, bioretention, and permeable pavement will be modeled at watershed scale. These measures affect the storm peak flows and base flow patterns over long periods, and there is a need to characterize their effect on stream bank and bed erosion, and aquatic life. These measures will create a linkage between urban watershed development and stream conditions specifically biological health. The first phase of this study is to design and construct LID practices at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center-Dallas, TX to collect field data about the performance of these practices on a smaller scale. The second phase consists of simulating the performance of LID practices on a watershed scale. This simulation presents a long term model (23 years) using SWAT to evaluate the potential impacts of these practices on; potential stream bank and bed erosion, and potential impact on aquatic life in the Blunn Watershed located in Austin, TX. Sub-daily time step model simulations will be developed to simulate the effectiveness of the three LID practices with respect to reducing

  12. Predicting Hyporheic Exchange of Water and Solutes in Streams on the Basis of a Priori Estimates of Stream Physical Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, S. H.; Harvey, J.; Packman, A.; Worman, A.

    2005-12-01

    It is very important to accurately model solute transport in rivers in order to analyze contaminant transport, water quality, and a variety of ecological processes. The purpose of this research is to determine the physical characteristics of a stream or river that are sufficient to predict hyporheic exchange and downstream solute transport. In the fall of 2004, we conducted a bromide tracer injection and made physical measurements in Sugar Creek, a small agricultural stream in northwestern Indiana. As is typical for small mid-western agricultural streams, Sugar Creek has been ditched and straightened, and subsequent downcutting through glacial sediments and slumpage of bank sediments composed of finer grain sizes has created a stream of intermediate complexity. In order to relate the observed solute transport to more basic physical characteristics of the stream, we determined the bathymetry of Sugar Creek over a wide range of scales (centimeters to decameters), and measured velocity profiles, the water elevation surface profile, hydraulic conductivity via in situ measurements, and bed sediment grain size distributions throughout the study reach. Our most detailed topographic measurements revealed fine scale bed variations with wavelengths on the order of ten centimeters, while surveying of the entire study reach characterized large scale meanders with wavelengths on the order of five meters. The distribution of wavelengths influences the driving forces that cause solute to enter the bed and banks. Hydraulic conductivity determines the resistance to flow of stream water through the (meander) stream banks and streambed. We used a scaling approach to relate the geometric and hydrogeologic characteristics of the stream to solute transport and also applied a new analytical solution for the subsurface flows resulting from topographic variations over a wide range of spatial scales. These models captured the main features of the observed solute transport. The greatest

  13. Do OSHA Inspections Reduce Injuries? A Panel Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Wayne B. Gray; John T. Scholz

    1991-01-01

    Using data on injuries and OSHA inspections for 6,842 large manufacturing plants between 1979 and 1985, we find evidence that OSHA inspections significantly reduce injuries. This effect comes exclusively from inspections that impose penalties, inspections which do not impose penalties appear to have no effect on injuries. Plants which are inspected (and penalized) in a given year experience a 22 percent decline in their injuries during the following few years. In our sample, total OSHA enforc...

  14. Streaming and Students’ Self-Esteem: A Qualitative Study on Teachers’ Correspondence Bias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prihadi Kususanto Chin Sook Fui

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available This  study  was  aimed  to  investigate  the  effect  of  students’ streaming  practice  in  Malaysian  secondary  on  students’  self-esteem  through teachers’ expectancy.   17 teachers and 20 students from art and science streams of secondary schools  in  Penang,  Malaysia  were  participated  in  this  study.  Unstructured interviews  were  used  on  teachers  to  collect  the  qualitative  data  of  teachers’ expectancy.  The  participating  students  were  from  the  fourth  year  of  secondary school  in  Malaysian  school  system  (between  16-17  years  old,  10  from  science stream  and  10  from  arts  stream  were  interviewed  in  order  to  collect  the qualitative data of teachers’ perceived behavior and self-esteem. Result  of  this  study  shown  that  teachers  expected  science  stream students to have good academic performance but expected arts stream students to  be  involved  in  disciplinary  problems.  Furthermore,  science  stream  students perceived  that  their  teachers  were  academically  supportive  but  arts  stream students  perceived  that  their  teachers  were  focusing  on  controlling  their behavior.  On  the  other  hand,  findings  of  this  study  also  revealed  that  science stream  students  possed  higher  level  of  self-esteem than  arts  stream  students. Accordingly,  it  was  indicated  that  teachers’  perceived  behavior  and  teachers’ expectancy  are  correlated  to  one  another,  and  teachers’  perceived  behavior predicts students’ self-esteem. It was discovered that teachers expected science stream students to be eager to improve their academic performance, and students from arts stream class  were likely to be involved in disciplinary problems. Students  were found to  be  aware  of  their  teachers’  expectancy

  15. Groundwater declines are linked to changes in Great Plains stream fish assemblages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perkin, Joshuah S; Gido, Keith B; Falke, Jeffrey A; Fausch, Kurt D; Crockett, Harry; Johnson, Eric R; Sanderson, John

    2017-07-11

    Groundwater pumping for agriculture is a major driver causing declines of global freshwater ecosystems, yet the ecological consequences for stream fish assemblages are rarely quantified. We combined retrospective (1950-2010) and prospective (2011-2060) modeling approaches within a multiscale framework to predict change in Great Plains stream fish assemblages associated with groundwater pumping from the United States High Plains Aquifer. We modeled the relationship between the length of stream receiving water from the High Plains Aquifer and the occurrence of fishes characteristic of small and large streams in the western Great Plains at a regional scale and for six subwatersheds nested within the region. Water development at the regional scale was associated with construction of 154 barriers that fragment stream habitats, increased depth to groundwater and loss of 558 km of stream, and transformation of fish assemblage structure from dominance by large-stream to small-stream fishes. Scaling down to subwatersheds revealed consistent transformations in fish assemblage structure among western subwatersheds with increasing depths to groundwater. Although transformations occurred in the absence of barriers, barriers along mainstem rivers isolate depauperate western fish assemblages from relatively intact eastern fish assemblages. Projections to 2060 indicate loss of an additional 286 km of stream across the region, as well as continued replacement of large-stream fishes by small-stream fishes where groundwater pumping has increased depth to groundwater. Our work illustrates the shrinking of streams and homogenization of Great Plains stream fish assemblages related to groundwater pumping, and we predict similar transformations worldwide where local and regional aquifer depletions occur.

  16. Quality Inspection and Analysis of Three-Dimensional Geographic Information Model Based on Oblique Photogrammetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, S.; Yan, Q.; Xu, Y.; Bai, J.

    2018-04-01

    In order to promote the construction of digital geo-spatial framework in China and accelerate the construction of informatization mapping system, three-dimensional geographic information model emerged. The three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology has higher accuracy, shorter period and lower cost than traditional methods, and can more directly reflect the elevation, position and appearance of the features. At this stage, the technology of producing three-dimensional geographic information models based on oblique photogrammetry technology is rapidly developing. The market demand and model results have been emerged in a large amount, and the related quality inspection needs are also getting larger and larger. Through the study of relevant literature, it is found that there are a lot of researches on the basic principles and technical characteristics of this technology, and relatively few studies on quality inspection and analysis. On the basis of summarizing the basic principle and technical characteristics of oblique photogrammetry technology, this paper introduces the inspection contents and inspection methods of three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology. Combined with the actual inspection work, this paper summarizes the quality problems of three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology, analyzes the causes of the problems and puts forward the quality control measures. It provides technical guidance for the quality inspection of three-dimensional geographic information model data products based on oblique photogrammetry technology in China and provides technical support for the vigorous development of three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology.

  17. QUALITY INSPECTION AND ANALYSIS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION MODEL BASED ON OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Dong

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available In order to promote the construction of digital geo-spatial framework in China and accelerate the construction of informatization mapping system, three-dimensional geographic information model emerged. The three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology has higher accuracy, shorter period and lower cost than traditional methods, and can more directly reflect the elevation, position and appearance of the features. At this stage, the technology of producing three-dimensional geographic information models based on oblique photogrammetry technology is rapidly developing. The market demand and model results have been emerged in a large amount, and the related quality inspection needs are also getting larger and larger. Through the study of relevant literature, it is found that there are a lot of researches on the basic principles and technical characteristics of this technology, and relatively few studies on quality inspection and analysis. On the basis of summarizing the basic principle and technical characteristics of oblique photogrammetry technology, this paper introduces the inspection contents and inspection methods of three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology. Combined with the actual inspection work, this paper summarizes the quality problems of three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology, analyzes the causes of the problems and puts forward the quality control measures. It provides technical guidance for the quality inspection of three-dimensional geographic information model data products based on oblique photogrammetry technology in China and provides technical support for the vigorous development of three-dimensional geographic information model based on oblique photogrammetry technology.

  18. Land use/land cover and scale influences on in-stream nitrogen uptake kinetics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Covino, Tim; McGlynn, Brian; McNamara, Rebecca

    2012-06-01

    Land use/land cover change often leads to increased nutrient loading to streams; however, its influence on stream ecosystem nutrient transport remains poorly understood. Given the deleterious impacts elevated nutrient loading can have on aquatic ecosystems, it is imperative to improve understanding of nutrient retention capacities across stream scales and watershed development gradients. We performed 17 nutrient addition experiments on six streams across the West Fork Gallatin Watershed, Montana, USA, to quantify nitrogen uptake kinetics and retention dynamics across stream sizes (first to fourth order) and along a watershed development gradient. We observed that stream nitrogen (N) uptake kinetics and spiraling parameters varied across streams of different development intensity and scale. In more developed watersheds we observed a fertilization affect. This fertilization affect was evident as increased ash-free dry mass, chlorophylla, and ambient and maximum uptake rates in developed as compared to undeveloped streams. Ash-free dry mass, chlorophylla, and the number of structures in a subwatershed were significantly correlated to nutrient spiraling and kinetic parameters, while ambient and average annual N concentrations were not. Additionally, increased maximum uptake capacities in developed streams contributed to low in-stream nutrient concentrations during the growing season, and helped maintain watershed export at low levels during base flow. Our results indicate that land use/land cover change can enhance in-stream uptake of limiting nutrients and highlight the need for improved understanding of the watershed dynamics that control nutrient export across scales and development intensities for mitigation and protection of aquatic ecosystems.

  19. 49 CFR 213.365 - Visual inspections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... initiate remedial action. (e) Each switch, turnout, track crossing, and lift rail assemblies on moveable bridges shall be inspected on foot at least weekly. The inspection shall be accomplished in accordance...

  20. Consequences of variation in stream-landscape connections for stream nitrate retention and export

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handler, A. M.; Helton, A. M.; Grimm, N. B.

    2017-12-01

    Hydrologic and material connections among streams, the surrounding terrestrial landscape, and groundwater systems fluctuate between extremes in dryland watersheds, yet the consequences of this variation for stream nutrient retention and export remain uncertain. We explored how seasonal variation in hydrologic connection among streams, landscapes, and groundwater affect nitrate and ammonium concentrations across a dryland stream network and how this variation mediates in-stream nitrate uptake and watershed export. We conducted spatial surveys of stream nitrate and ammonium concentration across the 1200 km2 Oak Creek watershed in central Arizona (USA). In addition, we conducted pulse releases of a solution containing biologically reactive sodium nitrate, with sodium chloride as a conservative hydrologic tracer, to estimate nitrate uptake rates in the mainstem (Q>1000 L/s) and two tributaries. Nitrate and ammonium concentrations generally increased from headwaters to mouth in the mainstem. Locally elevated concentrations occurred in spring-fed tributaries draining fish hatcheries and larger irrigation ditches, but did not have a substantial effect on the mainstem nitrogen load. Ambient nitrate concentration (as N) ranged from below the analytical detection limit of 0.005 mg/L to 0.43 mg/L across all uptake experiments. Uptake length—average stream distance traveled for a nutrient atom from the point of release to its uptake—at ambient concentration ranged from 250 to 704 m and increased significantly with higher discharge, both across streams and within the same stream on different experiment dates. Vertical uptake velocity and aerial uptake rate ranged from 6.6-10.6 mm min-1 and 0.03 to 1.4 mg N m-2 min-1, respectively. Preliminary analyses indicate potentially elevated nitrogen loading to the lower portion of the watershed during seasonal precipitation events, but overall, the capacity for nitrate uptake is high in the mainstem and tributaries. Ongoing work

  1. Low prevalence of chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in amphibians of U.S. headwater streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hossack, Blake R.; Adams, Michael J.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Pearl, Chistopher A.; Bettaso, James B.; Barichivich, William J.; Lowe, Winsor H.; True, Kimberly; Ware, Joy L.; Corn, Paul Stephen

    2010-01-01

    Many declines of amphibian populations have been associated with chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by the aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Despite the relatively high prevalence of chytridiomycosis in stream amphibians globally, most surveys in North America have focused primarily on wetland-associated species, which are frequently infected. To better understand the distribution and prevalence of Bd in headwater amphibian communities, we sampled 452 tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei and Ascaphus montanus) and 304 stream salamanders (seven species in the Dicamptodontidae and Plethodontidae) for Bd in 38, first- to third-order streams in five montane areas across the United States. We tested for presence of Bd by using PCR on skin swabs from salamanders and metamorphosed tailed frogs or the oral disc of frog larvae. We detected Bd on only seven individuals (0.93%) in four streams. Based on our study and results from five other studies that have sampled headwater- or seep-associated amphibians in the United States, Bd has been detected on only 3% of 1,322 individuals from 21 species. These results differ strongly from surveys in Central America and Australia, where Bd is more prevalent on stream-breeding species, as well as results from wetland-associated anurans in the same regions of the United States that we sampled. Differences in the prevalence of Bd between stream- and wetland-associated amphibians in the United States may be related to species-specific variation in susceptibility to chytridiomycosis or habitat differences.

  2. Streaming Pool: reuse, combine and create reactive streams with pleasure

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2017-01-01

    When connecting together heterogeneous and complex systems, it is not easy to exchange data between components. Streams of data are successfully used in industry in order to overcome this problem, especially in the case of "live" data. Streams are a specialization of the Observer design pattern and they provide asynchronous and non-blocking data flow. The ongoing effort of the ReactiveX initiative is one example that demonstrates how demanding this technology is even for big companies. Bridging the discrepancies of different technologies with common interfaces is already done by the Reactive Streams initiative and, in the JVM world, via reactive-streams-jvm interfaces. Streaming Pool is a framework for providing and discovering reactive streams. Through the mechanism of dependency injection provided by the Spring Framework, Streaming Pool provides a so called Discovery Service. This object can discover and chain streams of data that are technologically agnostic, through the use of Stream IDs. The stream to ...

  3. Two tales of legacy effects on stream nutrient behaviour

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bieroza, M.; Heathwaite, A. L.

    2017-12-01

    Intensive agriculture has led to large-scale land use conversion, shortening of flow pathways and increased loads of nutrients in streams. This legacy results in gradual build-up of nutrients in agricultural catchments: in soil for phosphorus (biogeochemical legacy) and in the unsaturated zone for nitrate (hydrologic legacy), controlling the water quality in the long-term. Here we investigate these effects on phosphorus and nitrate stream concentrations using high-frequency (10-5 - 100 Hz) sampling with in situ wet-chemistry analysers and optical sensors. Based on our 5 year study, we observe that storm flow responses differ for both nutrients: phosphorus shows rapid increases (up to 3 orders of magnitude) in concentrations with stream flow, whereas nitrate shows both dilution and concentration effects with increasing flow. However, the range of nitrate concentrations change is narrow (up to 2 times the mean) and reflects chemostatic behaviour. We link these nutrient responses with their dominant sources and flow pathways in the catchment. Nitrate from agriculture (with the peak loading in 1983) is stored in the unsaturated zone of the Penrith Sandstone, which can reach up to 70 m depth. Thus nitrate legacy is related to a hydrologic time lag with long travel times in the unsaturated zone. Phosphorus is mainly sorbed to soil particles, therefore it is mobilised rapidly during rainfall events (biogeochemical legacy). The phosphorus stream response will however depend on how well connected is the stream to the catchment sources (driven by soil moisture distribution) and biogeochemical activity (driven by temperature), leading to both chemostatic and non-chemostatic responses, alternating on a storm-to-storm and seasonal basis. Our results also show that transient within-channel storage is playing an important role in delivery of phosphorus, providing an additional time lag component. These results show, that consistent agricultural legacy in the catchment (high

  4. Boresonic inspection of power plant rotors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rennie, I.S.

    1990-01-01

    Continental Field Machining and NEI Parsons together are able to provide an on site machining and boresonic inspection service. NEI Parsons existing boresonic equipment is described together with a summary of results obtained during the inspection of eighty rotors. A computer controlled automatic inspection system, planned to be in operation early in 1990, is also described

  5. Experience from the Inspection of Licensees' Outage Activities, Including Fire Protection Programmes, Event Response Inspections, and the Impact of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident on Inspection Programmes. Workshop Proceedings, Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, 7-10 April 2014 - Appendix: Compilation of Survey Responses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-10-01

    This appendix provides the complete compilation of responses received to the questionnaire issued in conjunction with the workshop announcements. The responses are provided as received, with changes made only to the formatting. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP) sponsored the 12. International Workshop on Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Activities. The workshop was hosted by the U.S. NRC, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States of America on 7 -10 April 2014. The three workshop topics that were addressed were as follows: - Inspection of Outage Activities Including Fire Protection Programmes. - Event Response Inspections. - The Impact of Inspection Programmes of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident. Each of the respondents was given the following instructions in relation to their response: - Only one response per country is required. If more than one person from your country is participating, please co-ordinate the responses accordingly. - Please provide responses on separate sheet and clearly identify the questionnaire part and topic. For preparation of the workshop, participants are invited to supply their national inspection approaches used in inspection of events and incidents according to the surveys. Actual issues that were discussed during the workshop were generated by the topic leaders based on the responses submitted by participants with their registration forms. This formats helps to ensure that issues considered most important by the workshop participants are covered during the group discussions. (authors)

  6. Magnetic rubber inspection (MRI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carro, L.

    1997-01-01

    Magnetic Rubber Inspection (MRI) was developed to inspect for small cracks and flaws encountered in high performance aircraft. A formula of very fine magnetic particles immersed in a room temperature curing rubber is catalysed and poured into dams (retainers) on the surface of the part to be inspected. Inducing a magnetic field then causes the particles to be drawn to discontinuities in the component under test. These indicating particles are held to the discontinuity by magnetic attraction, as the rubber cures. The solid rubber cast (Replica) is then removed and examined under a microscope for indicating lines of particle concentrations. 3 refs., 6 figs

  7. Remote inspection system for nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inagaki, K.; Fujii, M.; Doi, A.; Harima, T.

    1977-01-01

    A remote inspection system for nuclear power plants was constructed based on an analysis of inspections performed by an operator on patrol. This system consists of an operator's console and a remote station. The remote station, equipped with five kinds of sensors, is steered along the inspection route by a photoelectric guiding system or may be manually controlled from an operator's console in a main control room. Signals for control and inspection data are multiplexed and transmitted through a coaxial cable

  8. A locomotive inspection robot for turbine building interior inspection in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obama, M.; Ozaki, F.; Asano, K.

    1985-01-01

    A locomotive inspection robot, named Turbine Building Inspection System (TBIS), has been developed for turbine building interior inspections in nuclear power plants. This robot is made up of a vehicle, a telescopic support, turning head and a multijoint arm which has dual TV cameras and a diagnostic rod on its tip. The multijoint arm has 17 degrees of freedom and its length is 243 cm. Minimum and maximum heights for the multijoint arm shoulder are 1.5 meter and 4 meters respectively. The total degree of freedom in the combination of the multijoint arm, turning head and telescopic support is 19 and the area, it is capable of inspecting, is equal to the cylindrical dome whose height and diameter are 6.4 meters and 4.8 meters respectively. The design philosophy, hardware structure and operation method of the TBIS are described. 2 refs.; 10 figs

  9. Is the Stream Always Bluer on the Other Side?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, T.; Chase, Z.

    2017-12-01

    Examining water quality, fish species present, habitat quality, and sources of pollution are important to better understanding the health of a stream. In Florida, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) works to monitor the health of its streams, and partnerships with . By collecting, analyzing, and comparing fish abundance data from a couple of streams in Escambia County, Florida, we can help FWC determine how to best support and protect stream habitats and fish-species in our Florida community.

  10. Periodic vehicle inspection (MOT). [previously: Periodic Vehicle Inspection of cars (MOT).

    OpenAIRE

    2010-01-01

    In the 1980s the periodic vehicle inspection (MOT) of various categories of vehicles was introduced in the Netherlands. This fact sheet will discuss the legal framework of this measure and the research carried out into its effects on road safety, also in an international context. For instance, the technical conditions of cars at inspection as well as that of cars involved in crashes were studied. Tyre pressure will also be discussed in this fact sheet.

  11. Can air temperature be used to project influences of climate change on stream temperature?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arismendi, Ivan; Safeeq, Mohammad; Dunham, Jason B.; Johnson, Sherri L.

    2014-01-01

    Worldwide, lack of data on stream temperature has motivated the use of regression-based statistical models to predict stream temperatures based on more widely available data on air temperatures. Such models have been widely applied to project responses of stream temperatures under climate change, but the performance of these models has not been fully evaluated. To address this knowledge gap, we examined the performance of two widely used linear and nonlinear regression models that predict stream temperatures based on air temperatures. We evaluated model performance and temporal stability of model parameters in a suite of regulated and unregulated streams with 11–44 years of stream temperature data. Although such models may have validity when predicting stream temperatures within the span of time that corresponds to the data used to develop them, model predictions did not transfer well to other time periods. Validation of model predictions of most recent stream temperatures, based on air temperature–stream temperature relationships from previous time periods often showed poor performance when compared with observed stream temperatures. Overall, model predictions were less robust in regulated streams and they frequently failed in detecting the coldest and warmest temperatures within all sites. In many cases, the magnitude of errors in these predictions falls within a range that equals or exceeds the magnitude of future projections of climate-related changes in stream temperatures reported for the region we studied (between 0.5 and 3.0 °C by 2080). The limited ability of regression-based statistical models to accurately project stream temperatures over time likely stems from the fact that underlying processes at play, namely the heat budgets of air and water, are distinctive in each medium and vary among localities and through time.

  12. Removal of radioiodine species from gaseous stream on inorganic absorbents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vujisic, L.

    1978-11-01

    As a contribution to the development of an impregnated absorbent for the removal of airborne iodine species in the off-gas streams of nuclear facilities the adsorption of 131 l-labelled methyl iodide on impregnated alumina was investigated. Alcoa alumina H-151 was impregnated with metal nitrates (Ag, Ag+Cd, Ag+Pb) and with triethylenediamine (TEDA). The removal efficiency of CH 3 l was experimentally evaluated, as functions of relative humidity of air-stream, its temperature and flow rate and of the amount of impregnated materials. Under constant temperature, relative humidity and face velocity, the retention of CH 3 l increases as the total amount of Ag impregnation increases. In a wet air-stream the only efficient impregnation was found to be with silver nitrate. At constant temperature the CH 3 l retention decreases with increasing relative humidity or face velocity of the stream. An increase of temperature favours the CH 3 l retention. Very low retention of CH 3 l was found on TEDA impregnated alumina

  13. Regulatory inspection activities related to inspection planning, plant maintenance and assessment of safety. Proceedings of an international workshop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Binnebeek, J.J.; Aubrey, Richard; Grandame, Melvyn; Aro, Ilari; Balloffet, Yves; Klonk, Hartmut; Manzella, Pietro; Koizumi, Hiroyoshi; Bouvrie, E.C. des; Forsberg, Staffan; Lang, Hans-Guenter; Mehew, Robert; Warren, Thomas; Woodhouse, Paul; Gallo, Robert M.; Campbell, Rob; )

    1997-01-01

    The NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) believes that an essential factor in ensuring the safety of nuclear installations is the continuing exchange and analysis of technical information and data. To facilitate this exchange the Committee has established Working Groups and Groups of Experts in specialised topics. CNRA believes that safety inspections are a major element in the regulatory authority's efforts to ensure the safe operation of nuclear facilities. Considering the importance of these issues, the Committee has established a special Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP). The purpose of WGIP, is to facilitate the exchange of information and experience related to regulatory safety inspections between CNRA Member countries. This was the 3. international workshop held by the WGIP on regulatory inspection activities. The focus of this workshop was on 3 main topics; Inspection Planning, Plant Maintenance and Assessment of Safety. This document presents the proceedings from the workshop, including: workshop programme, results and conclusions, papers and presentations and the list of participants. The main purpose of the Workshop is to provide a forum of exchange of information on the regulatory inspection activities

  14. Regulatory inspection activities related to inspection planning, plant maintenance and assessment of safety. Proceedings of an international workshop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Binnebeek, J. J. [AIB-Vincotte Nuclear - AVN, Avenue du Roi, 157, B-1060 Brussels (Belgium); Aubrey, Richard; Grandame, Melvyn [Atomic Energy Control Board - AECB, P.O. Box 1046, Station B, 280 Slater Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5S9 (Canada); Aro, Ilari [Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety - STUK, P.O. Box 14, FIN-00881 Helsinki (Finland); Balloffet, Yves [DRIRE Rhone Alpes, 146, rue Pierre Corneille, 69426 Lyon CEDEX 03 (France); Klonk, Hartmut [Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz - BfS, Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Postbox 10 01 49, 38201 Salzgitter 1 (Germany); Manzella, Pietro [A.N.P.A., Via V. Brancati, 48, 1-00144 Roma EUR (Italy); Koizumi, Hiroyoshi [Tech. Stan. Dept. - JAPEIC, Shin-Toranomon Bldg., 1-5-11, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107 (Japan); Bouvrie, E.C. des [Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, Nuclear Safety Dept. KFD, P.O. Box 90804, 2509 LV The Hague (Netherlands); Forsberg, Staffan [Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate - SKI, Klarabergsviadukten 90, S-10658 Stockholm (Sweden); Lang, Hans-Guenter [Section Plant Coordination and Inspection, Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate - HSK, CH-5232 Villigen-HSK (Switzerland); Mehew, Robert; Warren, Thomas; Woodhouse, Paul [Health and Safety Executive - NII, St. Peter' s House, Balliol Road, Bootle, Merseyside L20 3LZ (United Kingdom); Gallo, Robert M. [Special Inspection Branch, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission - US NRC, Mail Stop 0-9A1, Washington, DC 20555 (United States); Campbell, Rob [International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna (International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA))

    1997-07-01

    The NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) believes that an essential factor in ensuring the safety of nuclear installations is the continuing exchange and analysis of technical information and data. To facilitate this exchange the Committee has established Working Groups and Groups of Experts in specialised topics. CNRA believes that safety inspections are a major element in the regulatory authority's efforts to ensure the safe operation of nuclear facilities. Considering the importance of these issues, the Committee has established a special Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP). The purpose of WGIP, is to facilitate the exchange of information and experience related to regulatory safety inspections between CNRA Member countries. This was the 3. international workshop held by the WGIP on regulatory inspection activities. The focus of this workshop was on 3 main topics; Inspection Planning, Plant Maintenance and Assessment of Safety. This document presents the proceedings from the workshop, including: workshop programme, results and conclusions, papers and presentations and the list of participants. The main purpose of the Workshop is to provide a forum of exchange of information on the regulatory inspection activities.

  15. Re-Meandering of Lowland Streams

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Morten Lauge; Kristensen, Klaus Kevin; Friberg, Nikolai

    2014-01-01

    We evaluated the restoration of physical habitats and its influence on macroinvertebrate community structure in 18 Danish lowland streams comprising six restored streams, six streams with little physical alteration and six channelized streams. We hypothesized that physical habitats and macroinver...

  16. Inspection of licensee - Maintenance programme and activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    An effective maintenance programme is critical to sustained safe and reliable operation of nuclear power plants. The Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP) concluded that when a licensee has an effective maintenance programme, the overall operating safety of the plant is improved and the protection of public health and safety enhanced. All Regulatory Bodies (RB) consider maintenance to be an important area for oversight. Although a variety of inspection practices are being used; RB are actively monitoring licensee performance. Specifically the following conclusions were reached and commendable practices identified: - Maintenance oversight by regulators appears to be in a stable continuous improvement state. Most regulators are executing inspection oversight based on an existing regulatory framework. - The performance of a licensee's maintenance programme is recognized as important part of maintaining nuclear safety. The result of the maintenance program assessment is included in the overall performance assessment of a license. - Maintenance inspection activities are recognized as an important part of the regulatory oversight process. Inspection activities are based on the safety significance and nature of work being performed by the licensee. - The effectiveness of the maintenance inspection activities is recognized to rely on properly qualified inspectors; who are adequately supported by specialists. Training and qualification of inspectors should be based on how the RB reviews and inspects licensee maintenance programmes. - Reporting requirements are identified to provide information on the licensees maintenance programme, and to help guide inspection activities. - Performance Indicators are recognized as a useful tool for helping focus regulatory activities. Basic PI are identified and tracked by the RB, and use of PI by the licensee is monitored. - Inspections are designed to confirm that the licensee is planning and scheduling maintenance with due

  17. Plant inspection and maintenance technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyahara, Masatoshi; Kanazawa, Masafumi

    1995-01-01

    The article reports on information systems and related tools that support routine inspection and preventive maintenance activities, which contribute to safer plant operation and increase plant operating duty. Tools include the Mitsubishi Electric Reliability and Availability Upgrade Program-Nuclear (MELRAP-N), which supports the general evolution of industry operating experiences, periodic component replacement management, management of discontinued and modified components, periodic inspection item management, and periodic inspection workplace management. The article also introduces a comprehensive preventive maintenance management system currently under development. (author)

  18. Ten years of multiple data stream assimilation with the ORCHIDEE land surface model to improve regional to global simulated carbon budgets: synthesis and perspectives on directions for the future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peylin, P. P.; Bacour, C.; MacBean, N.; Maignan, F.; Bastrikov, V.; Chevallier, F.

    2017-12-01

    Predicting the fate of carbon stocks and their sensitivity to climate change and land use/management strongly relies on our ability to accurately model net and gross carbon fluxes. However, simulated carbon and water fluxes remain subject to large uncertainties, partly because of unknown or poorly calibrated parameters. Over the past ten years, the carbon cycle data assimilation system at the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement has investigated the benefit of assimilating multiple carbon cycle data streams into the ORCHIDEE LSM, the land surface component of the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace Earth System Model. These datasets have included FLUXNET eddy covariance data (net CO2 flux and latent heat flux) to constrain hourly to seasonal time-scale carbon cycle processes, remote sensing of the vegetation activity (MODIS NDVI) to constrain the leaf phenology, biomass data to constrain "slow" (yearly to decadal) processes of carbon allocation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations to provide overall large scale constraints on the land carbon sink. Furthermore, we have investigated technical issues related to multiple data stream assimilation and choice of optimization algorithm. This has provided a wide-ranging perspective on the challenges we face in constraining model parameters and thus better quantifying, and reducing, model uncertainty in projections of the future global carbon sink. We review our past studies in terms of the impact of the optimization on key characteristics of the carbon cycle, e.g. the partition of the northern latitudes vs tropical land carbon sink, and compare to the classic atmospheric flux inversion approach. Throughout, we discuss our work in context of the abovementioned challenges, and propose solutions for the community going forward, including the potential of new observations such as atmospheric COS concentrations and satellite-derived Solar Induced Fluorescence to constrain the gross carbon fluxes of the ORCHIDEE

  19. Phased Array Ultrasonic Inspection of Titanium Forgings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howard, P.; Klaassen, R.; Kurkcu, N.; Barshinger, J.; Chalek, C.; Nieters, E.; Sun, Zongqi; Fromont, F. de

    2007-01-01

    Aerospace forging inspections typically use multiple, subsurface-focused sound beams in combination with digital C-scan image acquisition and display. Traditionally, forging inspections have been implemented using multiple single element, fixed focused transducers. Recent advances in phased array technology have made it possible to perform an equivalent inspection using a single phased array transducer. General Electric has developed a system to perform titanium forging inspection based on medical phased array technology and advanced image processing techniques. The components of that system and system performance for titanium inspection will be discussed

  20. Characterization of waste streams on the Oak Ridge Reservation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rivera, A.L.; Osborne-Lee, I.W.; Jackson, A.M.; Butcher, B.T. Jr.; Van Cleve, J.E. Jr.

    1987-01-01

    The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) plants generate solid low-level waste (LLW) that must be disposed of or stored on-site. The available disposal capacity of the current sites is projected to be fully utilized during the next decade. An LLW disposal strategy has been developed by the Low-Level Waste Disposal Development and Demonstration (LLWDDD) Program as a framework for bringing new, regulator-approved disposal capacity to the ORR. An increasing level of waste stream characterization will be needed to maintain the ability to effectively manage solid LLW by the facilities on the ORR under the new regulatory scenario. In this paper, current practices for solid LLW stream characterization, segregation, and certification are described. In addition, the waste stream characterization requirements for segregation and certification under the LLWDDD Program strategy are also examined. 6 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs

  1. Nitrate in watersheds: straight from soils to streams?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudduth, Elizabeth B.; Perakis, Steven S.; Bernhardt, Emily S.

    2013-01-01

    Human activities are rapidly increasing the global supply of reactive N and substantially altering the structure and hydrologic connectivity of managed ecosystems. There is long-standing recognition that N must be removed along hydrologic flowpaths from uplands to streams, yet it has proven difficult to assess the generality of this removal across ecosystem types, and whether these patterns are influenced by land-use change. To assess how well upland nitrate (NO3-) loss is reflected in stream export, we gathered information from >50 watershed biogeochemical studies that reported nitrate concentrations ([NO3-]) for stream water and for either upslope soil solution or groundwater NO3- to examine whether stream export of NO3- accurately reflects upland NO3- losses. In this dataset, soil solution and streamwater [NO3-] were correlated across 40 undisturbed forest watersheds, with streamwater [NO3-] typically half (median = 50%) soil solution [NO3-]. A similar relationship was seen in 10 disturbed forest watersheds. However, for 12 watersheds with significant agricultural or urban development, the intercept and slope were both significantly higher than the relationship seen in forest watersheds. Differences in concentration between soil solution or groundwater and stream water may be attributed to biological uptake, microbial processes including denitrification, and/or preferential flow routing. The results of this synthesis are consistent with the hypotheses that undisturbed watersheds have a significant capacity to remove nitrate after it passes below the rooting zone and that land use changes tend to alter the efficiency or the length of watershed flowpaths, leading to reductions in nitrate removal and increased stream nitrate concentrations.

  2. Mechanized inspection of steam generator components during manufacture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Otte, H.-J.; Leupoldt, K.; Meister, W.

    2009-01-01

    Steam Generator (SG) parts are intensively inspected by UT in the course of the manufacturing process. These inspections - mostly performed manually using different codes - are time consuming and call for a sophisticated documentation, figuring part of the life time documentation package. In order to reduce time and costs mechanized inspection equipment is introduced, combining short inspection times, avoiding influence of the human factor and providing proper electronic storage of all inspection results prepared for comparison with data generated during in-service inspection. Since 2001 Cegelec delivered various UT systems for gas turbine disks and rotor ends called SIRO-MAN. Within only a few years the majority of important providers of such components successfully switched from manual inspection to mechanized inspection following the requirements of manufacturers like ALSTOM, GE and Siemens. The SIRO-MAN is now adapted to the needs of mechanized inspection of SG components. The inspection is performed on the products during rotation around the vertical axis. The multi - probe assemblies are manoeuvred on the products by a manipulator system backed by a NC control unit. Acoustic coupling of UT probes to the product surface is performed with oil or water in a closed circuit. UT and - if requested ET - data along with position information of the probe assembly provided by the control unit are acquired, processed and evaluated by an UT / ET electronic system delivered by either Olympus or ZETEC. As performed already on rotor ends a sequence of inspections using different parameter settings can be programmed with simple means (Teach In) so that such inspection sequence can be executed without operating personnel. Probe assemblies allow for individual operation of probes out of the probe assembly according to the individual needs. Conventional UT and phased array applications or combination of both techniques can be provided. The UT / ET electronic equipment offers

  3. Solar wind stream interfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gosling, J.T.; Asbridge, J.R.; Bame, S.J.; Feldman, W.C.

    1978-01-01

    Measurements aboard Imp 6, 7, and 8 reveal that approximately one third of all high-speed solar wind streams observed at 1 AU contain a sharp boundary (of thickness less than approx.4 x 10 4 km) near their leading edge, called a stream interface, which separates plasma of distinctly different properties and origins. Identified as discontinuities across which the density drops abruptly, the proton temperature increases abruptly, and the speed rises, stream interfaces are remarkably similar in character from one stream to the next. A superposed epoch analysis of plasma data has been performed for 23 discontinuous stream interfaces observed during the interval March 1971 through August 1974. Among the results of this analysis are the following: (1) a stream interface separates what was originally thick (i.e., dense) slow gas from what was originally thin (i.e., rare) fast gas; (2) the interface is the site of a discontinuous shear in the solar wind flow in a frame of reference corotating with the sun; (3) stream interfaces occur at speeds less than 450 km s - 1 and close to or at the maximum of the pressure ridge at the leading edges of high-speed streams; (4) a discontinuous rise by approx.40% in electron temperature occurs at the interface; and (5) discontinuous changes (usually rises) in alpha particle abundance and flow speed relative to the protons occur at the interface. Stream interfaces do not generally recur on successive solar rotations, even though the streams in which they are embedded often do. At distances beyond several astronomical units, stream interfaces should be bounded by forward-reverse shock pairs; three of four reverse shocks observed at 1 AU during 1971--1974 were preceded within approx.1 day by stream interfaces. Our observations suggest that many streams close to the sun are bounded on all sides by large radial velocity shears separating rapidly expanding plasma from more slowly expanding plasma

  4. Relation between Streaming Potential and Streaming Electrification Generated by Streaming of Water through a Sandwich-type Cell

    OpenAIRE

    Maruyama, Kazunori; Nikaido, Mitsuru; Hara, Yoshinori; Tanizaki, Yoshie

    2012-01-01

    Both streaming potential and accumulated charge of water flowed out were measured simultaneously using a sandwich-type cell. The voltages generated in divided sections along flow direction satisfied additivity. The sign of streaming potential agreed with that of streaming electrification. The relation between streaming potential and streaming electrification was explained from a viewpoint of electrical double layer in glass-water interface.

  5. Inspection qualification and implementation of ENIQ in Sweden

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zettervall, Tommy

    2013-01-01

    Many countries are currently considering their approaches to inspection qualification and risk-informed in-service inspection (RI-ISI) and are carefully assessing experience data. In Europe most of the utilities operating nuclear power plants have joined together to form the European Network for Inspection Qualification ENIQ. In practice, qualification can be performed with varying degrees of complexity and cost, varying from capability statement based on existing evidence, through to an extensive qualification consisting of a detailed Technical Justification (TJ) together with open and blind trials on full-scale test blocks. An Inspection Qualification is an investigation and demonstration, which confirm that an inspection system has the ability to solve its specific tasks. The qualification is a Quality Assurance of an inspection system based on documents and practical trials. A reliable inspection system, based on a reliable qualification and correct prerequisites, will reduce total costs for Licensees and increase the credibility of the inspection result. To get such inspection system, which could be valid for many years, it's of necessity to fulfil all included parts in the process. It begins with the Technical Specification from Licensee, where input data and requirements about the actual component are specified. To get an inspection system that could live over time, the Technical Justification is of importance. Finally the test blocks and used simulation techniques play an important part of the final result, and these test blocks together with TJ form the basis for qualification body's decision. (author)

  6. Massively parallel E-beam inspection: enabling next-generation patterned defect inspection for wafer and mask manufacturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malloy, Matt; Thiel, Brad; Bunday, Benjamin D.; Wurm, Stefan; Mukhtar, Maseeh; Quoi, Kathy; Kemen, Thomas; Zeidler, Dirk; Eberle, Anna Lena; Garbowski, Tomasz; Dellemann, Gregor; Peters, Jan Hendrik

    2015-03-01

    SEMATECH aims to identify and enable disruptive technologies to meet the ever-increasing demands of semiconductor high volume manufacturing (HVM). As such, a program was initiated in 2012 focused on high-speed e-beam defect inspection as a complement, and eventual successor, to bright field optical patterned defect inspection [1]. The primary goal is to enable a new technology to overcome the key gaps that are limiting modern day inspection in the fab; primarily, throughput and sensitivity to detect ultra-small critical defects. The program specifically targets revolutionary solutions based on massively parallel e-beam technologies, as opposed to incremental improvements to existing e-beam and optical inspection platforms. Wafer inspection is the primary target, but attention is also being paid to next generation mask inspection. During the first phase of the multi-year program multiple technologies were reviewed, a down-selection was made to the top candidates, and evaluations began on proof of concept systems. A champion technology has been selected and as of late 2014 the program has begun to move into the core technology maturation phase in order to enable eventual commercialization of an HVM system. Performance data from early proof of concept systems will be shown along with roadmaps to achieving HVM performance. SEMATECH's vision for moving from early-stage development to commercialization will be shown, including plans for development with industry leading technology providers.

  7. Proceedings of the international workshop on conduct of inspections and inspector qualification and training

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grimes, B.K.

    1993-02-01

    In the Fall of 1991, the OECD Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) approved the proposal of the Working Group (WGIP) on Inspection Practices to hold a workshop on the conduct of inspections, inspector qualification and training, and shutdown inspections at the Technical Training Center of the USNRC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The workshop was held from August 29 to September 4, 1992. The workshop was preceded by an orientation briefing for facilitators and a get-acquainted reception for participants. The workshop began with a plenary introductory session and ended with a plenary conclusion and evaluation session. Individual discussion sessions have been cataloged separately

  8. Risk-Based School Inspections: Impact of Targeted Inspection Approaches on Dutch Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehren, Melanie C.; Shackleton, Nichola

    2016-01-01

    In most countries, publicly funded schools are held accountable to one inspectorate and are judged against agreed national standards. Many inspectorates of education have recently moved towards more proportional risk-based inspection models, targeting high-risk schools for visits, while schools with satisfactory student attainment levels are…

  9. Modeling and optimizing periodically inspected software rejuvenation policy based on geometric sequences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meng, Haining; Liu, Jianjun; Hei, Xinhong

    2015-01-01

    Software aging is characterized by an increasing failure rate, progressive performance degradation and even a sudden crash in a long-running software system. Software rejuvenation is an effective method to counteract software aging. A periodically inspected rejuvenation policy for software systems is studied. The consecutive inspection intervals are assumed to be a decreasing geometric sequence, and upon the inspection times of software system and its failure features, software rejuvenation or system recovery is performed. The system availability function and cost rate function are obtained, and the optimal inspection time and rejuvenation interval are both derived to maximize system availability and minimize cost rate. Then, boundary conditions of the optimal rejuvenation policy are deduced. Finally, the numeric experiment result shows the effectiveness of the proposed policy. Further compared with the existing software rejuvenation policy, the new policy has higher system availability. - Highlights: • A periodically inspected rejuvenation policy for software systems is studied. • A decreasing geometric sequence is used to denote the consecutive inspection intervals. • The optimal inspection times and rejuvenation interval are found. • The new policy is capable of reducing average cost and improving system availability

  10. StreamQRE: Modular Specification and Efficient Evaluation of Quantitative Queries over Streaming Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mamouras, Konstantinos; Raghothaman, Mukund; Alur, Rajeev; Ives, Zachary G; Khanna, Sanjeev

    2017-06-01

    Real-time decision making in emerging IoT applications typically relies on computing quantitative summaries of large data streams in an efficient and incremental manner. To simplify the task of programming the desired logic, we propose StreamQRE, which provides natural and high-level constructs for processing streaming data. Our language has a novel integration of linguistic constructs from two distinct programming paradigms: streaming extensions of relational query languages and quantitative extensions of regular expressions. The former allows the programmer to employ relational constructs to partition the input data by keys and to integrate data streams from different sources, while the latter can be used to exploit the logical hierarchy in the input stream for modular specifications. We first present the core language with a small set of combinators, formal semantics, and a decidable type system. We then show how to express a number of common patterns with illustrative examples. Our compilation algorithm translates the high-level query into a streaming algorithm with precise complexity bounds on per-item processing time and total memory footprint. We also show how to integrate approximation algorithms into our framework. We report on an implementation in Java, and evaluate it with respect to existing high-performance engines for processing streaming data. Our experimental evaluation shows that (1) StreamQRE allows more natural and succinct specification of queries compared to existing frameworks, (2) the throughput of our implementation is higher than comparable systems (for example, two-to-four times greater than RxJava), and (3) the approximation algorithms supported by our implementation can lead to substantial memory savings.

  11. Introduction to stream: An Extensible Framework for Data Stream Clustering Research with R

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Hahsler

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, data streams have become an increasingly important area of research for the computer science, database and statistics communities. Data streams are ordered and potentially unbounded sequences of data points created by a typically non-stationary data generating process. Common data mining tasks associated with data streams include clustering, classification and frequent pattern mining. New algorithms for these types of data are proposed regularly and it is important to evaluate them thoroughly under standardized conditions. In this paper we introduce stream, a research tool that includes modeling and simulating data streams as well as an extensible framework for implementing, interfacing and experimenting with algorithms for various data stream mining tasks. The main advantage of stream is that it seamlessly integrates with the large existing infrastructure provided by R. In addition to data handling, plotting and easy scripting capabilities, R also provides many existing algorithms and enables users to interface code written in many programming languages popular among data mining researchers (e.g., C/C++, Java and Python. In this paper we describe the architecture of stream and focus on its use for data stream clustering research. stream was implemented with extensibility in mind and will be extended in the future to cover additional data stream mining tasks like classification and frequent pattern mining.

  12. Analyzing indicators of stream health for Minnesota streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, U.; Kocian, M.; Wilson, B.; Bolton, A.; Nieber, J.; Vondracek, B.; Perry, J.; Magner, J.

    2005-01-01

    Recent research has emphasized the importance of using physical, chemical, and biological indicators of stream health for diagnosing impaired watersheds and their receiving water bodies. A multidisciplinary team at the University of Minnesota is carrying out research to develop a stream classification system for Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) assessment. Funding for this research is provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. One objective of the research study involves investigating the relationships between indicators of stream health and localized stream characteristics. Measured data from Minnesota streams collected by various government and non-government agencies and research institutions have been obtained for the research study. Innovative Geographic Information Systems tools developed by the Environmental Science Research Institute and the University of Texas are being utilized to combine and organize the data. Simple linear relationships between index of biological integrity (IBI) and channel slope, two-year stream flow, and drainage area are presented for the Redwood River and the Snake River Basins. Results suggest that more rigorous techniques are needed to successfully capture trends in IBI scores. Additional analyses will be done using multiple regression, principal component analysis, and clustering techniques. Uncovering key independent variables and understanding how they fit together to influence stream health are critical in the development of a stream classification for TMDL assessment.

  13. Visual and visuomotor processing of hands and tools as a case study of cross talk between the dorsal and ventral streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeida, Jorge; Amaral, Lénia; Garcea, Frank E; Aguiar de Sousa, Diana; Xu, Shan; Mahon, Bradford Z; Martins, Isabel Pavão

    2018-05-24

    A major principle of organization of the visual system is between a dorsal stream that processes visuomotor information and a ventral stream that supports object recognition. Most research has focused on dissociating processing across these two streams. Here we focus on how the two streams interact. We tested neurologically-intact and impaired participants in an object categorization task over two classes of objects that depend on processing within both streams-hands and tools. We measured how unconscious processing of images from one of these categories (e.g., tools) affects the recognition of images from the other category (i.e., hands). Our findings with neurologically-intact participants demonstrated that processing an image of a hand hampers the subsequent processing of an image of a tool, and vice versa. These results were not present in apraxic patients (N = 3). These findings suggest local and global inhibitory processes working in tandem to co-register information across the two streams.

  14. H(+) - O(+) two-stream interaction on auroral field lines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergmann, R.

    1990-01-01

    Upflowing beams of hydrogen, oxygen, and minor ion species, and downward accelerated electrons have been observed above several thousand kilometers altitude on evening auroral field lines. The mechanism for electron and ion acceleration is generally accepted to be the presence of a quasi-static electric field with a component parallel to the earth's magnetic field. The thermal energy of the observed beams is much larger than ionospheric ion temperatures indicating that the beams have been heated as they are accelerated upward. This heating is probably due to a two-stream interaction between beams of different mass ions. The beams gain equal energy in the potential drop and so have different average velocities. Their relative streaming initiates an ion-ion two-stream interaction which then mediates a transfer of energy and momentum between the beams and causes thermalization of each beam. The qualitative evidence that supports this scenario is reviewed. Properties of the two-stream instability are presented in order to demonstrate that a calculation of the evolution of ion beams requires a model that includes field-aligned spatial structure. 26 refs

  15. Inspection of Emergency Arrangements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    The Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP) was tasked by the NEA CNRA to examine and evaluate the extent to which emergency arrangements are inspected and to identify areas of importance for the development of good inspection practices. WGIP members shared their approaches to the inspection of emergency arrangements by the use of questionnaires, which were developed from the requirements set out in IAEA Safety Standards. Detailed responses to the questionnaires from WGIP member countries have been compiled and are presented in the appendix to this report. The following commendable practices have been drawn from the completed questionnaires and views provided by WGIP members: - RBs and their Inspectors have sufficient knowledge and information regarding operator's arrangements for the preparedness and response to nuclear emergencies, to enable authoritative advice to be given to the national coordinating authority, where necessary. - Inspectors check that the operator's response to a nuclear emergency is adequately integrated with relevant response organisations. - Inspectors pay attention to consider the integration of the operator's response to safety and security threats. - The efficiency of international relations is checked in depth during some exercises (e.g. early warning, assistance and technical information), especially for near-border facilities that could lead to an emergency response abroad. - RB inspection programmes consider the adequacy of arrangements for emergency preparedness and response to multi-unit accidents. - RBs assess the adequacy of arrangements to respond to accidents in other countries. - The RB's role is adequately documented and communicated to all agencies taking part in the response to a nuclear or radiological emergency. - Inspectors check that threat assessments for NPPs have been undertaken in accordance with national requirements and that up-to-date assessments have been used as the basis for developing emergency plans for

  16. Demonstrating the capability and reliability of NDT inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wooldridge, A.B.

    1996-01-01

    This paper discusses some recent developments in demonstrating the capability of ultrasonics, eddy currents and radiography both theoretically and in practice, and indicates where further evidence is desirable. Magnox Electric has been involved with development of theoretical models for all three of these inspection methods. Feedback from experience on plant is also important to avoid overlooking any practical limitations of the inspections, and to ensure that the metallurgical characteristics of potential defects have been properly taken into account when designing and qualifying the inspections. For critical applications, inspection techniques are often supported by a Technical Justification which draws on all the relevant theoretical and experimental evidence, as well as experience of inspections on plant. The role of technical justifications is discussed in the context of inspection qualification. (author)

  17. Hydrologic connectivity and the contribution of stream headwaters to ecological integrity at regional scales

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Mary C.; Pringle, C.M.; Jackson, C.R.

    2007-01-01

    Cumulatively, headwater streams contribute to maintaining hydrologic connectivity and ecosystem integrity at regional scales. Hydrologic connectivity is the water-mediated transport of matter, energy and organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. Headwater streams compose over two-thirds of total stream length in a typical river drainage and directly connect the upland and riparian landscape to the rest of the stream ecosystem. Altering headwater streams, e.g., by channelization, diversion through pipes, impoundment and burial, modifies fluxes between uplands and downstream river segments and eliminates distinctive habitats. The large-scale ecological effects of altering headwaters are amplified by land uses that alter runoff and nutrient loads to streams, and by widespread dam construction on larger rivers (which frequently leaves free-flowing upstream portions of river systems essential to sustaining aquatic biodiversity). We discuss three examples of large-scale consequences of cumulative headwater alteration. Downstream eutrophication and coastal hypoxia result, in part, from agricultural practices that alter headwaters and wetlands while increasing nutrient runoff. Extensive headwater alteration is also expected to lower secondary productivity of river systems by reducing stream-system length and trophic subsidies to downstream river segments, affecting aquatic communities and terrestrial wildlife that utilize aquatic resources. Reduced viability of freshwater biota may occur with cumulative headwater alteration, including for species that occupy a range of stream sizes but for which headwater streams diversify the network of interconnected populations or enhance survival for particular life stages. Developing a more predictive understanding of ecological patterns that may emerge on regional scales as a result of headwater alterations will require studies focused on components and pathways that connect headwaters to river, coastal and

  18. Thermographic inspection of pipes, tanks, and containment liners

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Renshaw, Jeremy B., E-mail: jrenshaw@epri.com; Muthu, Nathan [Electric Power Research Institute, 1300 West WT Harris Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28262 (United States); Lhota, James R.; Shepard, Steven M., E-mail: sshepard@thermalwave.com [Thermal Wave Imaging, 845 Livernois St., Ferndale, MI 48220 (United States)

    2015-03-31

    Nuclear power plants are required to operate at a high level of safety. Recent industry and license renewal commitments aim to further increase safety by requiring the inspection of components that have not traditionally undergone detailed inspected in the past, such as tanks and liners. NEI 09-14 requires the inspection of buried pipes and tanks while containment liner inspections are required as a part of license renewal commitments. Containment liner inspections must inspect the carbon steel liner for defects - such as corrosion - that could threaten the pressure boundary and ideally, should be able to inspect the surrounding concrete for foreign material that could be in contact with the steel liner and potentially initiate corrosion. Such an inspection requires a simultaneous evaluation of two materials with very different material properties. Rapid, yet detailed, inspection results are required due to the massive size of the tanks and containment liners to be inspected. For this reason, thermal NDE methods were evaluated to inspect tank and containment liner mockups with simulated defects. Thermographic Signal Reconstruction (TSR) was utilized to enhance the images and provide detailed information on the sizes and shapes of the observed defects. The results show that thermographic inspection is highly sensitive to the defects of interest and is capable of rapidly inspecting large areas.

  19. User interface inspection methods a user-centered design method

    CERN Document Server

    Wilson, Chauncey

    2014-01-01

    User Interface Inspection Methods succinctly covers five inspection methods: heuristic evaluation, perspective-based user interface inspection, cognitive walkthrough, pluralistic walkthrough, and formal usability inspections. Heuristic evaluation is perhaps the best-known inspection method, requiring a group of evaluators to review a product against a set of general principles. The perspective-based user interface inspection is based on the principle that different perspectives will find different problems in a user interface. In the related persona-based inspection, colleagues assume the

  20. Travelling type monitoring and inspection device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ito, Takao; Maruki, Hideaki.

    1994-01-01

    The present invention sufficiently ensures video output images even if lenses of a television camera of a monitoring means are degraded to reduce the quantity of transmission light. That is, a light amount control mechanism capable of controlling the quantity of illumination light irradiated from an illumination device at an output level of a sensor of an inspection device main body. A test chart for measuring a luminance which is an output level of the sensor is disposed. During plant operation, the lenses of the television camera undergo influences of radioactivity and are degraded to reduce the quantity of transmission light on every periodical monitoring and inspection using a travelling type monitoring inspection device. In this case, the test chart disposed near the equipment to be monitored and inspected is caught by the television camera to measure a sensor output luminance. Then, the light amount control mechanism of the illumination device is controlled so as to provide a luminance which has been set at an initial stage of the plant inspection. With such procedures, video data of the objective equipment to be monitored and inspected can be obtained at a constant luminance during inspection. (I.S.)

  1. Evaluating stream trout habitat on large-scale aerial color photographs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace J. Greentree; Robert C. Aldrich

    1976-01-01

    Large-scale aerial color photographs were used to evaluate trout habitat by studying stream and streambank conditions. Ninety-two percent of these conditions could be identified correctly on the color photographs. Color photographs taken 1 year apart showed that rehabilitation efforts resulted in stream vegetation changes. Water depth was correlated with film density:...

  2. Stream hydraulics and temperature determine the metabolism of geothermal Icelandic streams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Demars B. O.L.

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Stream ecosystem metabolism plays a critical role in planetary biogeochemical cycling. Stream benthic habitat complexity and the available surface area for microbes relative to the free-flowing water volume are thought to be important determinants of ecosystem metabolism. Unfortunately, the engineered deepening and straightening of streams for drainage purposes could compromise stream natural services. Stream channel complexity may be quantitatively expressed with hydraulic parameters such as water transient storage, storage residence time, and water spiralling length. The temperature dependence of whole stream ecosystem respiration (ER, gross primary productivity (GPP and net ecosystem production (NEP = GPP − ER has recently been evaluated with a “natural experiment” in Icelandic geothermal streams along a 5–25 °C temperature gradient. There remained, however, a substantial amount of unexplained variability in the statistical models, which may be explained by hydraulic parameters found to be unrelated to temperature. We also specifically tested the additional and predicted synergistic effects of water transient storage and temperature on ER, using novel, more accurate, methods. Both ER and GPP were highly related to water transient storage (or water spiralling length but not to the storage residence time. While there was an additional effect of water transient storage and temperature on ER (r2 = 0.57; P = 0.015, GPP was more related to water transient storage than temperature. The predicted synergistic effect could not be confirmed, most likely due to data limitation. Our interpretation, based on causal statistical modelling, is that the metabolic balance of streams (NEP was primarily determined by the temperature dependence of respiration. Further field and experimental work is required to test the predicted synergistic effect on ER. Meanwhile, since higher metabolic activities allow for higher pollutant degradation or uptake

  3. Turning inspection regulations into training tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finley, D.; Wheatcraft, D.

    1996-01-01

    In response to suggestions from internal and State of California auditors, the Hazardous Waste Management Division (HWM) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory prepared an Inspection Schedule and Guidance Document that summarizes the Laboratory's inspection schedule and procedures for waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs). Because it explains and comments in detail on the inspection schedule, forms, and procedures, this document is a centralized reference for HWM managers and personnel performing TSDF inspections at the Laboratory. It is also a training tool for experienced and new inspectors, standardizing the inspections of personnel with experience and explaining to novices what to look for and why. This poster presentation traces the team effort that created this document and provides specific examples of how the document was developed and how it is used

  4. In-service inspections of V-230 reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prepechal, J.

    1984-01-01

    It is stated that despite certain constraints the configuration of the WWER-440 is such that it allows to make in-service inspections on a fully satisfactory scale. Three factors are discussed whose existence is necessary for the implementation of in-service inspections. The program defining the scale of inspections is satisfactory with regard to the safety and reliability of reactor operation. Its further development must result in reducing time consumption and radiation burden of personnel. Regulations for the implementation and evaluation of inspections represent the weakest link in the system of in-service inspections. At present, various organizations are dealing with the said problem within international cooperation. Equipment for in-service inspections of WWER-440 reactors is relatively good. The most important knowledge is summed up gained from the ten pre-service and in-service inspections of reactors of this type made so far. (Z.M.)

  5. The effect of industrial effluent stream on the groundwater

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasar, A.; Ahmad, N.; Chaudhry, M.N.; Sarwar, M.

    2005-01-01

    This study was performed to investigate the effect of the industrial wastewater stream on the groundwater. Wastewater was characterized in terms of inorganic and organic constituents. Inorganic constituents included Na/sup +/, Ca/sup 2+/ K/sup +/, Cl/sup -/, NO/sub 3//sup -/ and SO/sub 4//sup 2-/ coupled with heavy metal elements such as, Cd, Cr, Pb, Mn, Cu, Ni, Fe and In. Organic load of the stream was determined in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD/sub 5/) and ammonia-nitrogen (NH/sub 3/-N) contents. Other characteristics were pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS). The correlation coefficients between quality parameter pairs of stream water and groundwater were determined to ascertain the source of groundwater contamination. At station 1, BOD/sub 5/ and COD contents were 20 times and Cr concentration was 10 times higher than the permissible limits for stream water [1]. Contents of these parameters reflected the level of industrial and domestic pollution coming from India. However, large variations in the levels of these parameters at down stream sites of the drain were characteristic of type and nature of industrial effluents and domestic sewage joining the stream. Analysis results of more than one hundred groundwater samples from shallow and deep wells around the drain showed that groundwater of shallow aquifers was contaminated due to drain water. A comparison of the contents of these parameters in shallow wells with WHO standards showed that some parameters such as turbidity, TDS, Na/sup +/, F -and heavy metals like Cr were found higher than the permissible limits. (author)

  6. From PISC to risk informed inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crutzen, S.; Lemaitre, P.; Fabbri, L.

    1998-01-01

    In this paper the correlation between inspection effectiveness, inspection qualification and risk informed inspection will be treated in view of harmonisation of inspection of nuclear plant components. Through the different phases of the PISC programme the necessity has been demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the inspection through a formal process of qualification in order to ensure that a certain level of effectiveness has been reached. Inspection qualification is indeed the way to quantify the capability level of inspection techniques used. The targets to be met by the inspection is information which should be obtained from risk based analyses. (author)

  7. Impact of the emergency department streaming decision on patients' outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, S W; Horwood, C; Li, J Y; Hakendorf, P H; Teubner, D J O; Thompson, C H

    2015-12-01

    Streaming occurs in emergency department (ED) to reduce crowding, but misallocation of patients may impact patients' outcome. The study aims to determine the outcomes of patients misallocated by the ED process of streaming into likely admission or discharge. This is a retrospective cohort study, at an Australian, urban, tertiary referral hospital's ED between January 2010 and March 2012, using propensity score matching for comparison. Total and partitioned ED lengths of stay, inpatient length of stay, in-hospital mortality and 7- and 28-day unplanned readmission rate were compared between patients who were streamed to be admitted against those streamed to be discharged. Total ED length of stay did not differ significantly for admitted patients if allocated to the wrong stream (median 7.6 h, interquartile range 5.7-10.6, cf. 7.5 h, 5.3-11.2; P = 0.34). The median inpatient length of stay was shorter for those initially misallocated to the discharge stream (1.8 days, 1.1-3.0, cf. 2.4 days, 1.4-3.9; P stream stayed in the ED longer than those appropriately allocated (5.2 h, 3.7-7.3, cf. 4.6 h, 3.3-6.4; P streaming process. Patients' discharge from the ED was slower if they had been allocated to the admission stream. Streaming carries few risks for patients misallocated by such a process. © 2015 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

  8. Operation of an ITER relevant inspection robot on Tore Supra tokamak

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gargiulo, Laurent [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)], E-mail: laurent.gargiulo@cea.fr; Bayetti, Pascal; Bruno, Vincent; Hatchressian, Jean-Claude; Hernandez, Caroline; Houry, Michael [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Keller, Delphine [CEA, LIST, Service de Robotique Interactive, F-92265 Fontenay aux Roses (France); Martins, Jean-Pierre [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Measson, Yvan; Perrot, Yann [CEA, LIST, Service de Robotique Interactive, F-92265 Fontenay aux Roses (France); Samaille, Frank [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)

    2009-06-15

    Robotic operations are one of the major maintenance challenges for ITER and future fusion reactors. CEA has developed a multipurpose carrier able to realize deployments in the plasma vessel without breaking the Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) and temperature conditioning. A 6 years R and D programme was jointly conducted by CEA-LIST Interactive Robotics Unit and the Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (IRFM) in order to demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of an in-vessel inspection robot relevant to ITER requirements. The Articulated Inspection Arm robot (AIA) is an 8-m long multilink carrier with a payload up to 10 kg operable between plasma under tokamak conditioning environment; its geometry allows a complete close inspection of Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) of the Tore Supra vessel. Different tools are being developed by CEA to be plugged at the front head of the carrier. The diagnostic presently in operation consists in a viewing system offering accurate visual inspection of PFCs. Leak detection of first wall based on helium sniffing and laser compact system for carbon co-deposited layers characterizations or treatments are also considered for demonstration. In April 2008, the AIA robot equipped with its vision diagnostic has realized a complete deployment into Tore Supra and the first closed inspection of the vessel under UHV conditions. During the upcoming experimental campaign, the same operation will be performed under relevant conditions (10{sup -6} Pa and 120 deg. C) after a conditioning phase at 200 deg. C to avoid outgassing pollution of the chamber. This paper describes the different steps of the project development, robot capabilities with the present operations conducted on Tore Supra and future requirements for making the robot a tool for tokamak routine operation.

  9. Streams and their future inhabitants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sand-Jensen, K.; Friberg, Nikolai

    2006-01-01

    In this fi nal chapter we look ahead and address four questions: How do we improve stream management? What are the likely developments in the biological quality of streams? In which areas is knowledge on stream ecology insuffi cient? What can streams offer children of today and adults of tomorrow?...

  10. Quantitative Inspection of Remanence of Broken Wire Rope Based on Compressed Sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Juwei; Tan, Xiaojiang

    2016-08-25

    Most traditional strong magnetic inspection equipment has disadvantages such as big excitation devices, high weight, low detection precision, and inconvenient operation. This paper presents the design of a giant magneto-resistance (GMR) sensor array collection system. The remanence signal is collected to acquire two-dimensional magnetic flux leakage (MFL) data on the surface of wire ropes. Through the use of compressed sensing wavelet filtering (CSWF), the image expression of wire ropes MFL on the surface was obtained. Then this was taken as the input of the designed back propagation (BP) neural network to extract three kinds of MFL image geometry features and seven invariant moments of defect images. Good results were obtained. The experimental results show that nondestructive inspection through the use of remanence has higher accuracy and reliability compared with traditional inspection devices, along with smaller volume, lighter weight and higher precision.

  11. The distribution of copper in stream sediments in an anomalous stream near Steinkopf, Namaqualand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Bruin, D.

    1987-01-01

    Anomalous copper concentrations detected by the regional stream-sediment programme of the Geological Survey was investigated in a stream near Steinkopf, Namaqualand. A follow-up disclosed the presence of malachite mineralization. However, additional stream-sediment samples collected from the 'anomalous' stream revealed an erratic distribution of copper and also that the malachite mineralization had no direct effect on the copper distribution in the stream sediments. Low partial-extraction yields, together with X-ray diffraction analyses, indicated that dispersion is mainly mechanical and that the copper occurs as cations in the lattice of the biotite fraction of the stream sediments. (author). 8 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

  12. The distribution of copper in stream sediments in an anomalous stream near Steinkopf, Namaqualand

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Bruin, D

    1987-01-01

    Anomalous copper concentrations detected by the regional stream-sediment programme of the Geological Survey was investigated in a stream near Steinkopf, Namaqualand. A follow-up disclosed the presence of malachite mineralization. However, additional stream-sediment samples collected from the 'anomalous' stream revealed an erratic distribution of copper and also that the malachite mineralization had no direct effect on the copper distribution in the stream sediments. Low partial-extraction yields, together with X-ray diffraction analyses, indicated that dispersion is mainly mechanical and that the copper occurs as cations in the lattice of the biotite fraction of the stream sediments. (author). 8 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

  13. Jet stream wind power as a renewable energy resource: little power, big impacts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. M. Miller

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Jet streams are regions of sustained high wind speeds in the upper atmosphere and are seen by some as a substantial renewable energy resource. However, jet streams are nearly geostrophic flow, that is, they result from the balance between the pressure gradient and Coriolis force in the near absence of friction. Therefore, jet stream motion is associated with very small generation rates of kinetic energy to maintain the high wind velocities, and it is this generation rate that will ultimately limit the potential use of jet streams as a renewable energy resource. Here we estimate the maximum limit of jet stream wind power by considering extraction of kinetic energy as a term in the free energy balance of kinetic energy that describes the generation, depletion, and extraction of kinetic energy. We use this balance as the basis to quantify the maximum limit of how much kinetic energy can be extracted sustainably from the jet streams of the global atmosphere as well as the potential climatic impacts of its use. We first use a simple thought experiment of geostrophic flow to demonstrate why the high wind velocities of the jet streams are not associated with a high potential for renewable energy generation. We then use an atmospheric general circulation model to estimate that the maximum sustainable extraction from jet streams of the global atmosphere is about 7.5 TW. This estimate is about 200-times less than previous estimates and is due to the fact that the common expression for instantaneous wind power 12 ρv3 merely characterizes the transport of kinetic energy by the flow, but not the generation rate of kinetic energy. We also find that when maximum wind power is extracted from the jet streams, it results in significant

  14. Color image digitization and analysis for drum inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muller, R.C.; Armstrong, G.A.; Burks, B.L.; Kress, R.L.; Heckendorn, F.M.; Ward, C.R.

    1993-01-01

    A rust inspection system that uses color analysis to find rust spots on drums has been developed. The system is composed of high-resolution color video equipment that permits the inspection of rust spots on the order of 0.25 cm (0.1-in.) in diameter. Because of the modular nature of the system design, the use of open systems software (X11, etc.), the inspection system can be easily integrated into other environmental restoration and waste management programs. The inspection system represents an excellent platform for the integration of other color inspection and color image processing algorithms

  15. A new estimate of the impact of OSHA inspections on manufacturing injury rates, 1998-2005.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haviland, Amelia M; Burns, Rachel M; Gray, Wayne B; Ruder, Teague; Mendeloff, John

    2012-11-01

    A prior study indicated that the effect of OSHA inspections on lost workday injuries had declined from 1979 through 1998. This study provides an updated estimate for 1998-2005. Injury data from the Pennsylvania workers' compensation program were linked with employment data from unemployment compensation records to calculate lost-time rates for single-establishment manufacturing firms with more than 10 employees. These rates were linked to OSHA inspection findings. The RAND Human Subjects Protection Committee determined that this study was exempt from review. Inspections with penalties reduced injuries by an average of 19-24% annually in the 2 years following the inspection. These effects were not found for workplaces with fewer than 20 or more than 250 employees or for inspections without penalties. These findings should be generalizable to the 29 states where federal OSHA directly enforces standards. They suggest that the impact of inspections has increased from the 1990s. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. 9 CFR 381.76 - Post-mortem inspection, when required; extent; traditional, Streamlined Inspection System (SIS...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...; MANDATORY MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION AND VOLUNTARY INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION POULTRY PRODUCTS... (NELS) Inspection System, both of which shall be used only for broilers and cornish game hens; the New... Inspection. (i) The SIS shall be used only for broilers and cornish game hens if: (a) The Administrator...

  17. Risk informed In-service Inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corak, Z.

    2003-01-01

    Safety of nuclear power plants is one of the most important conditions for their acceptance. Safety is being acheived by numerous methods and techniques in phase of design, manufacturing and maintenance of the nuclear power plants. In-service Inspection (ISI) has a significant role in avoidances of failure in components of nuclear power plants just the same as in assurance of their integrity. Non-destructive examinations are performed periodically in accordance with 10 CFR 50 50.55a and ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code section XI which is referenced by 10 CFR 50.55a. Nondestructive examinations provide information about a current condition of equipment at nuclear power plants and about any damage, defect or degradation mechanism. A lot of effort is often spent in situations in which the probability of failure and their effects on safety have a very low impact. Practical experience shows that failures can often occur at locations where the inspection has never been performed. Costs and expenses of in-service inspections are very high. Therefore, the accent has to be on locations with significant risk to safety. Many years of nuclear power plants' operation and maintenance have resulted in a more broad knowledge of degradation mechanism and the most susceptible locations and huge databases of different nuclear power plants' components. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear industry have recognized that probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) has developed and changed to be more useful in improvement of traditional engineering approaches in nuclear power plants regulation. After the publication of its policy statement on the use of PRA in nuclear regulatory activities, the Commission ordered the NRC staff to develop a regulatory framework that incorporated risk insights. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) initiated Code Case N-560, N-577, and N-578 that address the importance of categorization and inspection of piping using risk

  18. 9 CFR 307.5 - Overtime and holiday inspection service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Overtime and holiday inspection... INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION FACILITIES FOR INSPECTION § 307.5 Overtime and holiday inspection service. (a..., at the rate specified in § 391.3, for the cost of the inspection service furnished on any holiday as...

  19. 7 CFR 330.105 - Inspection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... inspector notifies the Customs authorities should be held for inspection shall be released by Customs... be handled in accordance with the joint customs and postal regulations for inspecting and handling... of Customs for the release by Customs officers on behalf of the inspector of any class of means of...

  20. Application of corrosion screening tools for riser inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamir Mohamed Daud; Vijayan, S.

    2003-01-01

    As offshore facilities approach the end of their design life, owners would like to assess the condition and integrity of plant and equipment. Detailed inspection, including non-destructive testing (NDT), are implemented and results are utilised for predictive maintenance and estimating useful remaining life. Except for risk based inspection, the extent of surface coverage required would be more compared to inspection of pre-determined spots. Risers, for example, usually have several layers of coating that prevent use of conventional techniques for inspection of corrosion. Complete coverage requires access (including removal coatings and insulation). Inspection utilising the conventional NDT tools can be very slow and expensive. However, recent advances have forwarded the use of specialised NDT techniques that were developed for inspection of corrosion under insulation (CUI). This paper details two screening inspection tools, LIXI Profiler and RTD-INCOTEST that have been applied to inspection of risers. LIXI Profiler is based on attenuation of penetrating radiation by materials, and RTD-INCOTEST is based on decay of pulsed eddy current in materials. (Author)

  1. Optimizing pre-service inspection data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mullins, L.E.; Harrison, J.M.

    1986-01-01

    The phenomenon of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) in nuclear power plant piping systems has been the single biggest factor in an evolution that has changed and continues to change in-service inspection practices and philosophy throughout the industry. In-service inspection has been found to deal with several distinct phases of the problem. At the onset, existing technology was demonstrated to be unable to detect IGSCC adequately. This inability to detect IGSCC was soon overcome. However, it immediately pointed out the difficulties associated with the discrimination between IGSCC and other harmless metallurgical conditions. On the heels of detection and discrimination came problems associated with determining crack size and the monitoring of overlayed flaws. A wealth of information has been written on all phases of IGSCC; however, one particular aspect has as of yet seen little attention. With an increasing number of plants choosing to replace flawed pipe, the pre-service inspection of the replaced piping demands increased attention. The lessons learned through inspection for IGSCC need again to be applied to the replacement piping. Through increased attention at installation, many of the difficulties associated with proper inservice inspection may be reduced or eliminated, thereby realizing an economy in outage scheduling, personnel exposure, and, overall, a more reliable in-service examination

  2. A study on the representative sampling survey for the inspection of the clearance level for the radioisotope waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong Joo Ahn; Se Chul Sohn; Kwang Yong Jee; Ju Youl Kim; In Koo Lee

    2007-01-01

    Utilization facilities for radioisotope (RI) are increasing annually in South Korea, and the total number was 2,723, as of December 31, 2005. The inspection of a clearance level is a very important problem in order to ensure a social reliance for releasing radioactive materials to the environment. Korean regulations for such a clearance are described in Notice No. 2001-30 of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Notice No. 2002-67 of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE). Most unsealed sources in RI waste drums at a storage facility are low-level beta-emitters with short half-lives, so it is impossible to measure their inventories by a nondestructive analysis. Furthermore, RI wastes generated from hospital, educational and research institutes and industry have a heterogeneous, multiple, irregular, and a small quantity of a waste stream. This study addresses a representative (master) sampling survey and analysis plan for RI wastes because a complete enumeration of waste drums is impossible and not desirable in terms of a cost and efficiency. The existing approaches to a representative sampling include a judgmental, simple random, stratified random, systematic grid, systematic random, composite, and adaptive sampling. A representative sampling plan may combine two or more of the above sampling approaches depending on the type and distribution of a waste stream. Stratified random sampling (constrained randomization) is proven to be adequate for a sampling design of a RI waste regarding a half-life, surface dose, undertaking time to a storage facility, and type of waste. The developed sampling protocol includes estimating the number of drums within a waste stream, estimating the number of samples, and a confirmation of the required number of samples. The statistical process control for a quality assurance plan includes control charts and an upper control limit (UCL) of 95% to determine whether a clearance level is met or not. (authors)

  3. Fast in-situ tool inspection based on inverse fringe projection and compact sensor heads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthias, Steffen; Kästner, Markus; Reithmeier, Eduard

    2016-11-01

    Inspection of machine elements is an important task in production processes in order to ensure the quality of produced parts and to gather feedback for the continuous improvement process. A new measuring system is presented, which is capable of performing the inspection of critical tool geometries, such as gearing elements, inside the forming machine. To meet the constraints on sensor head size and inspection time imposed by the limited space inside the machine and the cycle time of the process, the measuring device employs a combination of endoscopy techniques with the fringe projection principle. Compact gradient index lenses enable a compact design of the sensor head, which is connected to a CMOS camera and a flexible micro-mirror based projector via flexible fiber bundles. Using common fringe projection patterns, the system achieves measuring times of less than five seconds. To further reduce the time required for inspection, the generation of inverse fringe projection patterns has been implemented for the system. Inverse fringe projection speeds up the inspection process by employing object-adapted patterns, which enable the detection of geometry deviations in a single image. Two different approaches to generate object adapted patterns are presented. The first approach uses a reference measurement of a manufactured tool master to generate the inverse pattern. The second approach is based on a virtual master geometry in the form of a CAD file and a ray-tracing model of the measuring system. Virtual modeling of the measuring device and inspection setup allows for geometric tolerancing for free-form surfaces by the tool designer in the CAD-file. A new approach is presented, which uses virtual tolerance specifications and additional simulation steps to enable fast checking of metric tolerances. Following the description of the pattern generation process, the image processing steps required for inspection are demonstrated on captures of gearing geometries.

  4. Inspection control and the environmental protection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milkov Dragan L.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Environmental protection is the task of many administrative bodies, but the activity of the environmental inspection is of special importance. According to the Law on Environmental Protection, inspection's tasks in this area belong to the competence of republican bodies, ie. Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection. Autonomous province and local self-government have only delegated competence in this field, under condition that this is explicitly regulated in special laws. Environmental inspection's activity consists in preventive actions, certain prior - preparatory activities and the audit itself. In addition, following the intervention of the Inspector issue of the control may be corrective or repressive. According to the Law on Inspection Control and the Law on Environmental Protection, the inspectors have a number of powers and responsibilities, which enable them to ensure the lawful and proper conduct of individuals and legal entities.

  5. A Steel Ball Surface Quality Inspection Method Based on a Circumferential Eddy Current Array Sensor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Huayu; Xie, Fengqin; Cao, Maoyong; Zhong, Mingming

    2017-07-01

    To efficiently inspect surface defects on steel ball bearings, a new method based on a circumferential eddy current array (CECA) sensor was proposed here. The best probe configuration, in terms of the coil quality factor (Q-factor), magnetic field intensity, and induced eddy current density on the surface of a sample steel ball, was determined using 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-coil probes, for analysis and comparison. The optimal lift-off from the measured steel ball, the number of probe coils, and the frequency of excitation current suitable for steel ball inspection were obtained. Using the resulting CECA sensor to inspect 46,126 steel balls showed a miss rate of ~0.02%. The sensor was inspected for surface defects as small as 0.05 mm in width and 0.1 mm in depth.

  6. Wafer plane inspection for advanced reticle defects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagpal, Rajesh; Ghadiali, Firoz; Kim, Jun; Huang, Tracy; Pang, Song

    2008-05-01

    Readiness of new mask defect inspection technology is one of the key enablers for insertion & transition of the next generation technology from development into production. High volume production in mask shops and wafer fabs demands a reticle inspection system with superior sensitivity complemented by a low false defect rate to ensure fast turnaround of reticle repair and defect disposition (W. Chou et al 2007). Wafer Plane Inspection (WPI) is a novel approach to mask defect inspection, complementing the high resolution inspection capabilities of the TeraScanHR defect inspection system. WPI is accomplished by using the high resolution mask images to construct a physical mask model (D. Pettibone et al 1999). This mask model is then used to create the mask image in the wafer aerial plane. A threshold model is applied to enhance the inspectability of printing defects. WPI can eliminate the mask restrictions imposed on OPC solutions by inspection tool limitations in the past. Historically, minimum image restrictions were required to avoid nuisance inspection stops and/or subsequent loss of sensitivity to defects. WPI has the potential to eliminate these limitations by moving the mask defect inspections to the wafer plane. This paper outlines Wafer Plane Inspection technology, and explores the application of this technology to advanced reticle inspection. A total of twelve representative critical layers were inspected using WPI die-to-die mode. The results from scanning these advanced reticles have shown that applying WPI with a pixel size of 90nm (WPI P90) captures all the defects of interest (DOI) with low false defect detection rates. In validating CD predictions, the delta CDs from WPI are compared against Aerial Imaging Measurement System (AIMS), where a good correlation is established between WPI and AIMSTM.

  7. Consideration regarding the scheduling of unannounced or randomized inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanborn, J.

    2001-01-01

    Full text: Randomized inspection strategies, including unannounced, short notice, or randomly selected scheduled inspections can play an useful role in integrated safeguards by allowing a reduction in the number of inspections without sacrificing coverage of diversion scenarios. The Agency and member states have proposed such strategies as important elements of integrated safeguards proposals at reactors as well as bulk handling facilities. The Agency, however, has limited experience with such inspections, and a number of issues need to be addressed before effective implementation can occur; how these issues are resolved will determine how effective the inspections will be. This paper focuses on the question of how to determine the timing of such inspections. It is pointed out that there are a large number of variants of the idea of 'randomized inspection,' and that each option will have advantages and disadvantages from the points of view of the operator, the logistics of inspection scheduling, and the capabilities for detection. The method chosen should depend on the type of scenarios that the Agency wishes to detect. The mathematically purest form of randomized schedule will have broad theoretical applicability, but may prove more difficult to put into practice, and may be unnecessary, or even sub-optimal, depending on the inspection objective. On the other hand, each restriction on inspection that provides the operator with information on when the inspection will occur must be taken into account when assessing detection probability. The paper reviews a number of scheduling approaches in the context of different objectives and considers effectiveness, operational impact, and practicality. (author)

  8. Inspection of disposal canisters components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pitkaenen, J.

    2013-12-01

    This report presents the inspection techniques of disposal canister components. Manufacturing methods and a description of the defects related to different manufacturing methods are described briefly. The defect types form a basis for the design of non-destructive testing because the defect types, which occur in the inspected components, affect to choice of inspection methods. The canister components are to nodular cast iron insert, steel lid, lid screw, metal gasket, copper tube with integrated or separate bottom, and copper lid. The inspection of copper material is challenging due to the anisotropic properties of the material and local changes in the grain size of the copper material. The cast iron insert has some acoustical material property variation (attenuation, velocity changes, scattering properties), which make the ultrasonic inspection demanding from calibration point of view. Mainly three different methods are used for inspection. Ultrasonic testing technique is used for inspection of volume, eddy current technique, for copper components only, and visual testing technique are used for inspection of the surface and near surface area

  9. A study on the crack inspection signal characteristics for power plant components by phased array UT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Yong Sang; Lim, Sang Gyu; Kil, Du Song

    2001-01-01

    Phased array ultrasonic testing system has become available for practical application in complicated geometry such as turbine blade root, tenon, disc in power industry. This research describes the characteristics of phased array UT signal for various type of blade roots in thermal Power Plant turbines. This application of Phased array ultrasonic testing system has been promoted mainly to save inspection time and labor cost of turbine inspection. The characteristic of phase array UT signal for power plant component is very simple to understand but to difficult for perform the inspection. Since our sophisticated inspection technique and systems are essential for the inspection of steam turbine blade roots that require high reliability, we intend to develop new technology and improve phased array technique based on the wide and much experience for the inspection of turbine components.

  10. Bivariate functional data clustering: grouping streams based on a varying coefficient model of the stream water and air temperature relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    H. Li; X. Deng; Andy Dolloff; E. P. Smith

    2015-01-01

    A novel clustering method for bivariate functional data is proposed to group streams based on their water–air temperature relationship. A distance measure is developed for bivariate curves by using a time-varying coefficient model and a weighting scheme. This distance is also adjusted by spatial correlation of streams via the variogram. Therefore, the proposed...

  11. Global change and stream ecosystem functioning: repercussions on the leaf litter decomposition

    OpenAIRE

    Monroy Zarzuelo, Silvia

    2017-01-01

    158 p. El crecimiento de la población humana y el aumento en el consumo de recursos observado en las recientes décadas está ocasionando cambios medioambientales a una velocidad sin precedentes y cuyas repercusiones alcanzan una escala global, afectando al funcionamiento general de la Tierra. Éstas características han conducido a proponer el término ¿Antropoceno¿ para designar una nueva era geológica en la cual la población humana ha emergido como una nueva fuerza capaz de controlar proceso...

  12. Inspection technologies -Development of national safeguards technology-

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, J. S.; Kim, B. K.; Kwack, E. H.

    1996-12-01

    17 facility regulations prepared by nuclear facilities according to the Ministerial Notices were evaluated. Safeguards inspection activities under Safeguards are described. Safeguards inspection equipments and operation manuals to be used for national inspection are also described. Safeguards report are produced and submitted to MOST by using the computerized nuclear material accounting system at state level. National inspection support system are developed to produce the on-site information for domestic inspection. Planning and establishment of policy for nuclear control of nuclear materials, international cooperation for nuclear control, CTBT, strengthening of international safeguards system, and the supply of PWRs to North Korea are also described. (author). 43 tabs., 39 figs

  13. Case histories of pipeline exposure at stream crossings in Alberta

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malcovish, C.D. [Malaron Engineering Ltd., St. Albert, AB (Canada); Janz, A. [ATCO Pipelines, Edmonton, AB (Canada); Gray, D.M. [Gulf Midstream Services, Edmonton, AB (Canada)

    2000-07-01

    Five case histories of river channel changes and associated pipeline exposure problems at river and stream crossings in Alberta were discussed with emphasis on the need for proactive inspection. For each case, the different hydrologic and geomorphic factors that resulted in erosion problems were reviewed and the mitigative actions that were taken to solve the problems were described. It was shown that in some cases, there are inherent difficulties in identifying potential erosion problems at the project design stage. It was also demonstrated that systematic monitoring and inspection procedures are useful for planning and implementing remedial measures before problems occur. There are many natural and anthropogenic causes of channel degradation. Upstream progressing degradation is usually the most common problem encountered at pipeline crossings in Alberta. The two main causes are both flood related. They include channel shortening by cutoffs across long meandering loops, and washout of downstream slope controls such as large beaver dams. The five case studies presented in this paper were: (1) North Saskatchewan River crossing near Drayton Valley, (2) Smoky River crossing near Grande Cache, (3) Hells Creek crossing near Grande Cache, (4) Modeste Creek crossing near Breton, and (5) Freeman River crossing near Swan Hills. It was emphasized that pipeline operators must consider past channel changes and geomorphic analysis to predict future channel instability. 15 figs.

  14. 47 CFR 80.953 - Inspection and certification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... date on which it is placed in service. (b) An inspection and certification of a ship subject to the... must be recorded in the ship's radiotelephone log and include: (1) The date the inspection was... part and has successfully passed the inspection. (c) The vessel owner, operator, or ship's master must...

  15. 37Ar monitoring techniques and on-site inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duan Rongliang; Chen Yinliang; Li Wei; Wang Hongxia; Hao Fanhua

    2001-01-01

    37 Ar is separated, purified and extracted from air sample with a low temperature gas-solid chromatographic purifying method, prepared into a radioactive measurement source and its radioactivity is measured with a proportional counter. Based on the monitoring result, a judgement can be made if an nuclear explosion event has happened recently in a spectabilis area. A series of element techniques that are associated the monitoring of the trace element 37 Ar have been investigated and developed. Those techniques include leaked gas sampling, 37 Ar separation and purification, 37 Ar radioactivity measurement and the on-site inspection of 37 Ar. An advanced 37 Ar monitoring method has been developed, with which 200 liters of air can be treated in 2 hours with sensitivity of 0.01 Bq/L for 37 Ar radioactivity measurement. A practical 37 Ar On-site Inspection system has been developed. This research work may provide technical and equipment support for the verification protection, verification supervision and CTBT verification

  16. Noncontacting Optical Measurement And Inspection Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asher, Jeffrey A.; Jackson, Robert L.

    1986-10-01

    Product inspection continues to play a growing role in the improvement of quality and reduction of scrap. Recent emphasis on precision measurements and in-process inspection have been a driving force for the development of noncontacting sensors. Noncontacting sensors can provide long term, unattended use due to the lack of sensor wear. Further, in applications where, sensor contact can damage or geometrically change the part to be measured or inspected, noncontacting sensors are the only technical approach available. MTI is involved in the development and sale of noncontacting sensors and custom inspection systems. This paper will review the recent advances in noncontacting sensor development. Machine vision and fiber optics sensor systems are finding a wide variety of industrial inspection applications. This paper will provide detailed examples of several state-of-the-art applications for these noncontacting sensors.

  17. An inspection demonstration program/a quality system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cox, L.D.

    1995-01-01

    Mobil relies on tubular manufacturers to consistently supply OCTG which complies with all material requirements of API Specification 5CT. This paper details the Mobil Inspection Demonstration Program; Mobil's method for qualifying ultrasonic inspection systems for use during Mobil receiving inspections. Additionally, the basic fundamentals of the Mobil quality system and acceptance sampling are presented with an emphasis on tracking short-term and long-term supplier performance

  18. Streaming potential revisited: the influence of convection on the surface conductivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saini, Rakesh; Garg, Abhinandan; Barz, Dominik P J

    2014-09-16

    Electrokinetic phenomena play an important role in the electrical characterization of surfaces. In terms of planar or porous substrates, streaming potential and/or streaming current measurements can be used to determine the zeta potential of the substrates in contact with aqueous electrolytes. In this work, we perform electrical impedance spectroscopy measurements to infer the electrical resistance in a microchannel with the same conditions as for a streaming potential experiment. Novel correlations are derived to relate the streaming current and streaming potential to the Reynolds number of the channel flow. Our results not only quantify the influence of surface conductivity, and here especially the contribution of the stagnant layer, but also reveal that channel resistance and therefore zeta potential are influenced by the flow in the case of low ionic strengths. We conclude that convection can have a significant impact on the electrical double layer configuration which is reflected by changes in the surfaces conductivity.

  19. Strategies to reduce PWR inspection time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guerra, J.; Gonzalez, E.

    2001-01-01

    During last few years, a constant reduction in inspection time was clearly demanded by most nuclear plant owners. This requirement has to be accomplished without any impact in inspection quality that, in general, has also to be improved. All this in a market with increasing competition that forces price reductions. Under these new demands from our customers, Tecnatom reoriented its development efforts to improve his products and services to meet this challenges. Two of our main inspection activities that have clear impact in outage duration are Steam Generator and Vessel inspections. This paper describes the improvements made in these two activities as an example of the reorientation of our development efforts with a focus on the technical improvements made on the software and robotic tools applied as in the data acquisition and analysis systems. In the Steam Generator inspections, new robots with dual guide tubes are commonly used. New eddy current instruments and software were developed to keep up with the data rates produced by the faster acquisition system. Use of automatic analysis software is also helping to improve speed while reducing cost and improving overall job quality. Production rates are close to double from the previous inspection system. (author)

  20. Estimation of inspection effort

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mullen, M.F.; Wincek, M.A.

    1979-06-01

    An overview of IAEA inspection activities is presented, and the problem of evaluating the effectiveness of an inspection is discussed. Two models are described - an effort model and an effectiveness model. The effort model breaks the IAEA's inspection effort into components; the amount of effort required for each component is estimated; and the total effort is determined by summing the effort for each component. The effectiveness model quantifies the effectiveness of inspections in terms of probabilities of detection and quantities of material to be detected, if diverted over a specific period. The method is applied to a 200 metric ton per year low-enriched uranium fuel fabrication facility. A description of the model plant is presented, a safeguards approach is outlined, and sampling plans are calculated. The required inspection effort is estimated and the results are compared to IAEA estimates. Some other applications of the method are discussed briefly. Examples are presented which demonstrate how the method might be useful in formulating guidelines for inspection planning and in establishing technical criteria for safeguards implementation

  1. Bridging of inspection with corrosion management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamaluddin Ali; Mohd Hawari Hassan; Rohana Jaafar

    2009-01-01

    Formerly, Inspection and Corrosion Engineers have less interaction and sharing of information to each other even they are working in the same plant or organization. Inspection finding either from visual inspection or NDT techniques rarely shared with corrosion engineers. Similarly corrosion engineers rarely discussed their corrosion prediction and potential damage mechanism with inspection engineers. A demanding request of more holistic plant safety and asset integrity promoted the introduction and implementation of Risk Based Inspection (RBI). RBI analysis demands the input mainly from both disciplines i.e. Inspection and Corrosion Engineers. Most of RBI methodologies are once-off analysis approach which also promoted once-off interaction between Inspection and Corrosion Engineers. PETRONAS has developed a methodology with supporting software, integrating both Inspection and Corrosion disciplines. PETRONAS Risk Based Inspection (PRBI) is intended to promote continuous integration of Inspection and Corrosion management of the plant through out the whole life cycle starting from the design stage to fabrication, operation and decommissions stage. (author)

  2. Research on image reconstruction of DR/SSCT security inspection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Jian; Cong Peng

    2008-01-01

    On the basis of DR (Digital Radiography)/CT security inspection system, DR/SSCT (single slice spiral CT) security inspection system was developed. This spiral CT system can improve the CT system's drawbacks. The research work includes in replacing the former data acquisition system by a new system which can acquire projection data of multi-slices and devising the SSCT reconstruction algorithms. Simulation experiments and practical experiments were devised to contrast several algorithms. Interpolation technique was operated in detectors data in order to improve the algorithms. In conclusion, the system exploits an algorithm of weighted average of 360 degree LI (Linear Interpolation) and JH-HI (Jiang Hsieh-Half scan Interpolation). (authors)

  3. Qualifying program on Non-Destructive Testing, Visual Inspection of the welding (level 2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shafee, M. A.

    2011-01-01

    Nondestructive testing is a wide group of analysis technique used in science and industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. Common Non-Destructive Testing methods include ultrasonic, magnetic-particle, liquid penetrate, radiographic, visual inspection and eddy-current testing. AAEA put the new book of the Non-Destructive Testing publication series that focused on Q ualifying program on Non-Destructive Testing, visual inspection of welding-level 2 . This book was done in accordance with the Arab standard certification of Non-Destructive Testing (ARAB-NDT-CERT-002) which is agreeing with the ISO-9712 (2005) and IAEA- TEC-DOC-487. It includes twenty one chapters dealing with engineering materials used in industry, the mechanical behavior of metals, metal forming equipments, welding, metallurgy, testing of welds, introduction to Non-Destructive Testing, defects in metals, welding defects and discontinuities, introduction to visual inspection theory, properties and tools of visual testing, visual testing, quality control regulations, standards, codes and specifications, procedures of welding inspections, responsibility of welding test inspector, qualification of Non-Destructive Testing inspector and health safety during working.

  4. LHCb trigger streams optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Derkach, D.; Kazeev, N.; Neychev, R.; Panin, A.; Trofimov, I.; Ustyuzhanin, A.; Vesterinen, M.

    2017-10-01

    The LHCb experiment stores around 1011 collision events per year. A typical physics analysis deals with a final sample of up to 107 events. Event preselection algorithms (lines) are used for data reduction. Since the data are stored in a format that requires sequential access, the lines are grouped into several output file streams, in order to increase the efficiency of user analysis jobs that read these data. The scheme efficiency heavily depends on the stream composition. By putting similar lines together and balancing the stream sizes it is possible to reduce the overhead. We present a method for finding an optimal stream composition. The method is applied to a part of the LHCb data (Turbo stream) on the stage where it is prepared for user physics analysis. This results in an expected improvement of 15% in the speed of user analysis jobs, and will be applied on data to be recorded in 2017.

  5. Proceedings of the specialists' meeting on regulatory inspection practices in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-01-01

    The sessions and contributions of this conference are dealing with: the general problems of regulatory inspection of nuclear power plants and overall national practices (in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States), specific problems and practical experience of regulatory inspection during site study, evaluation, design, manufacturing and construction of nuclear plants (in Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Great-Britain, United States), quality insurance issues, pressure component regulations, specific problems and practical experience of regulatory inspection during commissioning (in Spain, Sweden, Great-Britain and United States), specific problems and practical experience of regulatory inspection during operation (in Spain, Great-Britain, Unites States, Italy and Sweden), special aspects of regulatory inspection (notably public information issues in Sweden and in Great-Britain, inspection of nuclear fuel transportation in Spain, enforcement programme in the USA)

  6. MACS as a tool for international inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Curtiss, J.A.; Indusi, J.P.

    1995-01-01

    General acceptance of the challenge provision in the Chemical Weapons Convention has the potential for influence in other arms control areas. While most applications of the challenge inspection may be straightforward, there may be instances where access to the site by inspectors may be problematic. The MACS system described in this paper was developed to respond to these situations. Inspection and verification may be difficult when a host is unwilling,for valid reasons, to permit physical access to a site. We proposed a system of remote sensors which may be used to demonstrate compliance with Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) challenge inspections even ff the inspector is physically excluded from a sensitive site. The system is based upon alternative-means-of-access provisions of the CWC. The Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) funded design and construction of a system prototype, designated as MACS for Managed Access by Controlled Sensing. Features of the MACS design allow growth of the prototype into a versatile device for international monitoring of production facilities and other sites. MACS consists of instrumentation and communication equipment allowing site personnel to conduct a facility tour and perform acceptable measurements, while physically excluding the inspector from the facility. MACS consists of a base station used by the inspector, and a mobile unit used within the facility and manipulated by the facility staff. The base station and the mobile unit are at sign ed by a communication system, currently realized as a fiber optic cable. The mobile unit is equipped with television cameras and remote-reading distance-measuring equipment (DME) for use in verifying locations and dimensions. Global Positioning System receivers on the mobile unit provide both precise location and dead reckoning, suitable for tracking the mobile unit's position while within a building when satellite signals are not available

  7. Effects of Large Wood on River-Floodplain Connectivity in a Headwater Appalachian Stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keys, T.; Govenor, H.; Jones, C. N.; Hession, W. C.; Scott, D.; Hester, E. T.

    2017-12-01

    Large wood (LW) plays an important, yet often undervalued role in stream ecosystems. Traditionally, LW has been removed from streams for aesthetic, navigational, and flood mitigation purposes. However, extensive research over the last three decades has directly linked LW to critical ecosystem functions including habitat provisioning, stream geomorphic stability, and water quality improvements; and as such, LW has increasingly been implemented in stream restoration activities. One of the proposed benefits to this restoration approach is that LW increases river-floodplain connectivity, potentially decreasing downstream flood peaks and improving water quality. Here, we conducted two experiential floods (i.e., one with and one without LW) in a headwater, agricultural stream to explore the effect of LW on river-floodplain connectivity and resulting hydrodynamic processes. During each flood, we released an equal amount of water to the stream channel, measured stream discharge at upstream and downstream boundaries, and measured inundation depth at multiple locations across the floodplain. We then utilized a 2-dimensional hydrodynamic model (HEC-RAS) to simulate floodplain hydrodynamics. We first calibrated the model using observations from the two experimental floods. Then, we utilized the calibrated model to evaluate differing LW placement strategies and effects under various flow conditions. Results show that the addition of LW to the channel decreased channel velocity and increased inundation extent, inundation depth, and floodplain velocity. Differential placement of LW along the stream impacted the levels of floodplain discharge, primarily due to the geomorphic characteristics of the stream. Finally, we examined the effects of LW on floodplain hydrodynamics across a synthetic flow record, and found that the magnitude of river-floodplain connectivity decreased as recurrence interval increased, with limited impacts on storm events with a recurrence interval of 25 years

  8. Promoting transparency: The Korean national inspection experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, B.K.

    1999-01-01

    The Republic of Korea started the LAMA full-scope safeguards inspection with the TRIGA research reactor in 1976 when the nuclear industry was at its infancy. Over two decades of rapid economic growth was propelled by stable supply of electricity, substantially from nuclear energy. Today nearly half of the nations electricity comes from sixteen operating nuclear power plants (12 LWRs + 4 OLRs). Total number of facilities under IAEA inspection reaches 30 where the Agency conducts about 400 PDIs annually. Within the last decade, nuclear transparency in Korea has transformed into the international norm primarily from the needs of rapidly expanding domestic nuclear program. In addition, possibility of North/South mutual inspection helped initiate the national inspection regime in addition to the IAEA inspection. The Technology Center for Nuclear Control was established at KAERI in 1994 in order to maintain the nation's nuclear verification expertise in support of the Korean government. National inspections have been carried out simultaneously with the IAEA inspection since 1997 with trial facilities, and all domestic facilities are being inspected from this year. Necessary legal framework and working procedures were developed and field-tried for LWRs, OLRs, fuel fabrication plants and research reactor facilities. Although the inspection equipment and technology along with the safeguards criteria are quite similar to those of the Agency, it is essential to maintain the independent conclusion capabilities between IAEA and the national authority. Substantial improvements in the IAEA safeguards inspection goal attainments since 1997 are credited to the increasing safeguards awareness among operators and SSAC. Further work is necessary to develop the evaluation criteria based on the field inspection results to meet the national inspection goals. The Korean Government signed the Additional Protocol with IAEA on June, 1999 after much deliberation since it involves facilities

  9. Salamander occupancy in headwater stream networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, E.H.C.; Green, L.E.; Lowe, W.H.

    2009-01-01

    1. Stream ecosystems exhibit a highly consistent dendritic geometry in which linear habitat units intersect to create a hierarchical network of connected branches. 2. Ecological and life history traits of species living in streams, such as the potential for overland movement, may interact with this architecture to shape patterns of occupancy and response to disturbance. Specifically, large-scale habitat alteration that fragments stream networks and reduces connectivity may reduce the probability a stream is occupied by sensitive species, such as stream salamanders. 3. We collected habitat occupancy data on four species of stream salamanders in first-order (i.e. headwater) streams in undeveloped and urbanised regions of the eastern U.S.A. We then used an information-theoretic approach to test alternative models of salamander occupancy based on a priori predictions of the effects of network configuration, region and salamander life history. 4. Across all four species, we found that streams connected to other first-order streams had higher occupancy than those flowing directly into larger streams and rivers. For three of the four species, occupancy was lower in the urbanised region than in the undeveloped region. 5. These results demonstrate that the spatial configuration of stream networks within protected areas affects the occurrences of stream salamander species. We strongly encourage preservation of network connections between first-order streams in conservation planning and management decisions that may affect stream species.

  10. Text Stream Trend Analysis using Multiscale Visual Analytics with Applications to Social Media Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steed, Chad A [ORNL; Beaver, Justin M [ORNL; BogenII, Paul L. [Google Inc.; Drouhard, Margaret MEG G [ORNL; Pyle, Joshua M [ORNL

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce a new visual analytics system, called Matisse, that allows exploration of global trends in textual information streams with specific application to social media platforms. Despite the potential for real-time situational awareness using these services, interactive analysis of such semi-structured textual information is a challenge due to the high-throughput and high-velocity properties. Matisse addresses these challenges through the following contributions: (1) robust stream data management, (2) automated sen- timent/emotion analytics, (3) inferential temporal, geospatial, and term-frequency visualizations, and (4) a flexible drill-down interaction scheme that progresses from macroscale to microscale views. In addition to describing these contributions, our work-in-progress paper concludes with a practical case study focused on the analysis of Twitter 1% sample stream information captured during the week of the Boston Marathon bombings.

  11. 9 CFR 590.128 - Holiday inspection service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Holiday inspection service. 590.128... of Service § 590.128 Holiday inspection service. (a) When an official plant requires inspection service on a holiday or a day designated in lieu of a holiday, such service is considered holiday work...

  12. Effects of Student-Induced Trampling on Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Agricultural Headwater Streams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jon P. Bossley

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Outdoor education (OE stream classes provide students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with sampling methods for evaluating stream water quality. Trampling by students as a result of stream classes may disrupt the substrate and negatively impact aquatic macroinvertebrates. The impact of student-induced trampling in headwaters as a result of stream classes on aquatic macroinvertebrates has not been evaluated. Our aim was to document the short-term macroinvertebrate responses to an experimental disturbance that simulated the impacts of trampling by students in riffles within small headwater streams. We measured hydrologic variables, visually estimated substrate composition and sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates within control and experimental riffles in three agricultural headwater streams in central Ohio one day prior to experimental disturbance, immediately after disturbance and one day after disturbance. Hydrologic variables and substrate type did not differ daily or between riffle types. Macroinvertebrate abundance, percentage of Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera and percentage of Leuctridae increased after experimental disturbance, while diversity, evenness, percentage of clingers and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS axis 1 site scores declined after disturbance. Macroinvertebrate diversity, percent clingers and NMS axis 1 site scores were lower in experimental riffles than control riffles. None of the macroinvertebrate response variables exhibited a significant interaction effect of day × riffle type that is indicative of an effect of the experimental disturbance. Our results suggest the one-time use of an undisturbed riffle within an agricultural headwater stream for an OE stream class is not likely to impact aquatic macroinvertebrates.

  13. Gentilly 2 steam generators Spring 2000 outage: tubesheet waterlance cleaning and inspection; upper bundle inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akeroyd, J.K.; Plante, S.

    2000-01-01

    A review of the secondary side maintenance activities recently completed during the Gentilly 2 Annual Spring 2000 Maintenance Outage. Activities included: 1) Tubesheet intertube waterlance cleaning and visual inspection, 2) First tube support plate, in-bundle visual inspection of the hot leg, and 3) Upper bundle tube support plate visual inspection. A description of the waterlancing and inspection equipment and setup in the RB at Gentilly 2 is provided. Several innovative techniques were successfully employed and yielded savings in critical path duration, labour and personnel radiation dose. These included accessing the SG tubesheet region through one handhole only and sludge removal utilizing the SG blowdown system. Plant personnel judged tubesheet sludge removal successful. Before and after results of the cleaning process along with samples of the visual inspection results are provided. Inspection of the first support plate, which was a repeat of an inspection done in 1997, was conducted along with an in-bundle inspection of the upper tube supports. Results are presented along with a discussion of the implications for future steam generator maintenance. (author)

  14. Let the Music Play? Free Streaming and its Effects on Digital Music Consumption

    OpenAIRE

    AGUIAR WICHT LUIS

    2017-01-01

    The tremendous growth in interactive music streaming is raising questions about its effects on the music industry. While premium subscriptions offer unconstrained access to music streaming, free services typically offer limited mobility in their usage. If streaming enhances product discovery, and if consumers value mobility, then free streaming could stimulate the use of channels that allow mobile consumption. I exploit the introduction of a listening cap by the platform Deezer to identify t...

  15. An overview of the on-site inspection measurements from the non-proliferation experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zucca, J.J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

    1994-12-31

    An on-site inspection (OSI) is an in-person visit to site to collect data and examine evidence in order to determine the source of an ambiguous event detected via remote monitoring systems or other measures. Its purpose is to determine whether the treaty has been violated, to deter violations, and to build confidence. At the time of this writing, it is anticipated that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) being developed in the Conference on Disarmament will contain OSI provisions. In an era of testing moratoria, the Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE) provided a unique opportunity to investigate candidate OSI techniques. On site inspections could occur in three different contexts: after-the-fact inspections based on information from remote monitoring systems; inspections prior to, during, and after large declared chemical explosions (e.g., a large mining explosion); continuous monitoring inspections with unattended sensors at certain agreed-upon sites (e.g., previous test sites). OSI monitoring techniques need to be designed to detect the phenomena and residual effects of nuclear explosions. In the underground case, the primary effects of interest for OSI are the electromagnetic pulse, shock waves, aftershocks, radioactive gas, rubble zone, and apical void. These effects are well known and the basic techniques for their detection well established. We designed our measurement program for the NPE to answer specific issues about these detection technologies. Our measurement program includes the following: zerotime electromagnetic measurements; seismic aftershock survey; before and after electrical soundings; gas tracers introduced into the explosive; before and after multispectral overhead imagery from low-flying aircraft; before and after geological surveys.

  16. Chapter 4. Assessment and inspection of nuclear installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    Supervisory activity of Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (UJD) upon the safety of nuclear installations in compliance with the 'Atomic Act' and other legal regulations includes also inspection and assessment activities of UJD. Assessment activity of UJD in relation to nuclear installations lies in assessment of safety documentation for constructions realised as nuclear installations, or constructions through which changes are realised on nuclear installations. The scope of safety documentation required for the assessment is stipulated in the Atomic Act. In 2000 the assessment activity focused first of all on Unit 1 of NPP Bohunice after completing its Gradual Reconstruction Programme, on National Repository of Radioactive waste in Mochovce and on radioactive waste conditioning and treatment technology in Jaslovske Bohunice. Activities of UJD in assessment focused mainly on control of compliance with requirements for nuclear safety, assessment of commissioning programmes, operating procedures, limits and conditions, etc. The assessment of changes, which influence nuclear safety of nuclear installations in operation, realisation of which is conditioned by the approval from UJD, is a significant part of the assessment activity of UJD. Mainly it is the assessment of design changes, changes in limits and conditions, operating procedures, changes in programmes of periodical testing of equipment important in terms of nuclear safety, changes in physical protection of nuclear equipment, etc. The assessment of nuclear installations operational safety, based on assessment of operational events, on maintaining limits and conditions of safe operation, on operational safety performance indicators and on inspection results is a separate category in the assessment activity of UJD. Inspection activity specified in the 'Atomic Act' is governed by an internal guideline, an important part of which is an annual inspection plan that considers the following types of

  17. Improving customs’ border control by creating a reference database of cargo inspection X-ray images

    OpenAIRE

    Selina Kolokytha; Alexander Flisch; Thomas Lüthi; Mathieu Plamondon; Adrian Schwaninger; Wicher Vasser; Diana Hardmeier; Marius Costin; Caroline Vienne; Frank Sukowski; Ulf Hassler; Irène Dorion; Najib Gadi; Serge Maitrejean; Abraham Marciano

    2017-01-01

    Countries’ effective and efficient border security is becoming increasingly important in today’s global world of economy and trade. To ensure these, customs organisations are responsible for the prevention of illicit goods’ transportation across borders, particularly upon entry. The predicament of the customs administrations will soon be aggravated by both the increase of global trade and the trend towards 100% screening. It is therefore a goal to advance inspection methods to enable successf...

  18. Quantitative Inspection of Remanence of Broken Wire Rope Based on Compressed Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Juwei; Tan, Xiaojiang

    2016-01-01

    Most traditional strong magnetic inspection equipment has disadvantages such as big excitation devices, high weight, low detection precision, and inconvenient operation. This paper presents the design of a giant magneto-resistance (GMR) sensor array collection system. The remanence signal is collected to acquire two-dimensional magnetic flux leakage (MFL) data on the surface of wire ropes. Through the use of compressed sensing wavelet filtering (CSWF), the image expression of wire ropes MFL on the surface was obtained. Then this was taken as the input of the designed back propagation (BP) neural network to extract three kinds of MFL image geometry features and seven invariant moments of defect images. Good results were obtained. The experimental results show that nondestructive inspection through the use of remanence has higher accuracy and reliability compared with traditional inspection devices, along with smaller volume, lighter weight and higher precision. PMID:27571077

  19. Quantitative Inspection of Remanence of Broken Wire Rope Based on Compressed Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juwei Zhang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Most traditional strong magnetic inspection equipment has disadvantages such as big excitation devices, high weight, low detection precision, and inconvenient operation. This paper presents the design of a giant magneto-resistance (GMR sensor array collection system. The remanence signal is collected to acquire two-dimensional magnetic flux leakage (MFL data on the surface of wire ropes. Through the use of compressed sensing wavelet filtering (CSWF, the image expression of wire ropes MFL on the surface was obtained. Then this was taken as the input of the designed back propagation (BP neural network to extract three kinds of MFL image geometry features and seven invariant moments of defect images. Good results were obtained. The experimental results show that nondestructive inspection through the use of remanence has higher accuracy and reliability compared with traditional inspection devices, along with smaller volume, lighter weight and higher precision.

  20. ITER In-Cryostat inspection and repair feasibility studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reich, J.; Cordier, J.-J.; Houtte, D. van; Evrard, D.; Mercier, E.; Popa, T.; Doshi, B.

    2011-01-01

    The ITER In-Cryostat maintenance study is an important precondition to guarantee the operation over the ITER lifetime. The ITER operation is subdivided mainly into two phases: 1.Hydrogen phase (non-nuclear operation phase). 2.Deuterium/Tritium phase (nuclear DT phase). The commissioning phase includes the initial phase of assembly. Within the first phase the ITER components will be tested; afterwards they will go into operation. The In-Cryostat maintenance shall facilitate all operations that could be required by In-Cryostat systems and the Cryostat itself. In cases of failures or unlikely events (e.g. earthquakes) it is necessary to provide man and tool access to In-Cryostat components. Overall functions which have to be implemented are: ·Inspection of components including leak localization (helium, water, air). ·Repair and replacement of component (instrumentation, parts or complete components). ·Regulatory inspections. It is presumed that most of component failure would occur at the beginning of the operational phase. This failure rate is expected to be very unlikely when ITER is being operating during the nuclear phase. For maintenance activities it is assumed that: ·The intervention frequency on each component is limited during its lifetime (e.g. inspections/repair during global shutdown). ·Most of these interventions will be required during the inactive phase. According to ALARA (As Low as Reasonable Achievable) rules maintenance activities will be planned in order to minimize the required human interventions during the active phase. Different tools have to be designed to perform the maintenance actions. As there are quiet all heavy components to be handled and removed, humans cannot perform the work without semi hands-on tools. The required permanent fixtures and tools are considered and pre-designed.

  1. ITER In-Cryostat inspection and repair feasibility studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reich, J., E-mail: Jens.Reich@iter.org [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13115 St Paul lez Durance Cedex (France); Cordier, J.-J.; Houtte, D. van [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13115 St Paul lez Durance Cedex (France); Evrard, D. [Sogeti High Tech, 180 rue Rene Descartes, 13857 Aix en Provence (France); Mercier, E. [AREVA CNIM KAH System Engineering Support, CS 50497, 13593 Aix en Provence Cedex 3 (France); Popa, T.; Doshi, B. [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13115 St Paul lez Durance Cedex (France)

    2011-10-15

    The ITER In-Cryostat maintenance study is an important precondition to guarantee the operation over the ITER lifetime. The ITER operation is subdivided mainly into two phases: 1.Hydrogen phase (non-nuclear operation phase). 2.Deuterium/Tritium phase (nuclear DT phase). The commissioning phase includes the initial phase of assembly. Within the first phase the ITER components will be tested; afterwards they will go into operation. The In-Cryostat maintenance shall facilitate all operations that could be required by In-Cryostat systems and the Cryostat itself. In cases of failures or unlikely events (e.g. earthquakes) it is necessary to provide man and tool access to In-Cryostat components. Overall functions which have to be implemented are: {center_dot}Inspection of components including leak localization (helium, water, air). {center_dot}Repair and replacement of component (instrumentation, parts or complete components). {center_dot}Regulatory inspections. It is presumed that most of component failure would occur at the beginning of the operational phase. This failure rate is expected to be very unlikely when ITER is being operating during the nuclear phase. For maintenance activities it is assumed that: {center_dot}The intervention frequency on each component is limited during its lifetime (e.g. inspections/repair during global shutdown). {center_dot}Most of these interventions will be required during the inactive phase. According to ALARA (As Low as Reasonable Achievable) rules maintenance activities will be planned in order to minimize the required human interventions during the active phase. Different tools have to be designed to perform the maintenance actions. As there are quiet all heavy components to be handled and removed, humans cannot perform the work without semi hands-on tools. The required permanent fixtures and tools are considered and pre-designed.

  2. MEKANISME SEGMENTASI LAJU BIT PADA DYNAMIC ADAPTIVE STREAMING OVER HTTP (DASH UNTUK APLIKASI VIDEO STREAMING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Audy Bazly

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to analyze Internet-based streaming video service in the communication media with variable bit rates. The proposed scheme on Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH using the internet network that adapts to the protocol Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP. DASH technology allows a video in the video segmentation into several packages that will distreamingkan. DASH initial stage is to compress the video source to lower the bit rate video codec uses H.26. Video compressed further in the segmentation using MP4Box generates streaming packets with the specified duration. These packages are assembled into packets in a streaming media format Presentation Description (MPD or known as MPEG-DASH. Streaming video format MPEG-DASH run on a platform with the player bitdash teritegrasi bitcoin. With this scheme, the video will have several variants of the bit rates that gave rise to the concept of scalability of streaming video services on the client side. The main target of the mechanism is smooth the MPEG-DASH streaming video display on the client. The simulation results show that the scheme based scalable video streaming MPEG- DASH able to improve the quality of image display on the client side, where the procedure bufering videos can be made constant and fine for the duration of video views

  3. Studies on the effect of flaw detection probability assumptions on risk reduction at inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simola, K.; Cronvall, O.; Maennistoe, I. (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Finland)); Gunnars, J.; Alverlind, L.; Dillstroem, P. (Inspecta Technology, Stockholm (Sweden)); Gandossi, L. (European Commission Joint Research Centre, Brussels (Belgium))

    2009-12-15

    The aim of the project was to study the effect of POD assumptions on failure probability using structural reliability models. The main interest was to investigate whether it is justifiable to use a simplified POD curve e.g. in risk-informed in-service inspection (RI-ISI) studies. The results of the study indicate that the use of a simplified POD curve could be justifiable in RI-ISI applications. Another aim was to compare various structural reliability calculation approaches for a set of cases. Through benchmarking one can identify differences and similarities between modelling approaches, and provide added confidence on models and identify development needs. Comparing the leakage probabilities calculated by different approaches at the end of plant lifetime (60 years) shows that the results are very similar when inspections are not accounted for. However, when inspections are taken into account the predicted order of magnitude differs. Further studies would be needed to investigate the reasons for the differences. Development needs and plans for the benchmarked structural reliability models are discussed. (author)

  4. Studies on the effect of flaw detection probability assumptions on risk reduction at inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simola, K.; Cronvall, O.; Maennistoe, I.; Gunnars, J.; Alverlind, L.; Dillstroem, P.; Gandossi, L.

    2009-12-01

    The aim of the project was to study the effect of POD assumptions on failure probability using structural reliability models. The main interest was to investigate whether it is justifiable to use a simplified POD curve e.g. in risk-informed in-service inspection (RI-ISI) studies. The results of the study indicate that the use of a simplified POD curve could be justifiable in RI-ISI applications. Another aim was to compare various structural reliability calculation approaches for a set of cases. Through benchmarking one can identify differences and similarities between modelling approaches, and provide added confidence on models and identify development needs. Comparing the leakage probabilities calculated by different approaches at the end of plant lifetime (60 years) shows that the results are very similar when inspections are not accounted for. However, when inspections are taken into account the predicted order of magnitude differs. Further studies would be needed to investigate the reasons for the differences. Development needs and plans for the benchmarked structural reliability models are discussed. (author)

  5. Synchronized Multimedia Streaming on the iPhone Platform with Network Coding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vingelmann, Peter; Fitzek, Frank; Pedersen, Morten Videbæk

    2011-01-01

    on the iPhone that use point-to-point architectures. After acknowledging their limitations, we propose a solution based on network coding to efficiently and reliably deliver the multimedia content to many devices in a synchronized manner. Then we introduce an application that implements this technique......This work presents the implementation of synchronized multimedia streaming for the Apple iPhone platform. The idea is to stream multimedia content from a single source to multiple receivers with direct or multihop connections to the source. First we look into existing solutions for video streaming...... on the iPhone. We also present our testbed, which consists of 16 iPod Touch devices to showcase the capabilities of our application....

  6. Instream cover and shade mediate avian predation on trout in semi-natural streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penaluna, Brooke E.; Dunham, Jason B.; Noakes, David L. G.

    2015-01-01

    Piscivory by birds can be significant, particularly on fish in small streams and during seasonal low flow when available cover from predators can be limited. Yet, how varying amounts of cover may change the extent of predation mortality from avian predators on fish is not clear. We evaluated size-selective survival of coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) in replicated semi-natural stream sections. These sections provided high (0.01 m2 of cover per m2 of stream) or low (0.002 m2 of cover per m2 of stream) levels of instream cover available to trout and were closed to emigration. Each fish was individually tagged, allowing us to track retention of individuals during the course of the 36-day experiment, which we attributed to survival from predators, because fish had no other way to leave the streams. Although other avian predators may have been active in our system and not detected, the only predator observed was the belted kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon, which is known to prey heavily on fish. In both treatments, trout >20.4 cm were not preyed upon indicating an increased ability to prey upon on smaller individuals. Increased availability of cover improved survival of trout by 12% in high relative to low cover stream sections. Trout also survived better in stream sections with greater shade, a factor we could not control in our system. Collectively, these findings indicate that instream cover and shade from avian predators can play an important role in driving survival of fish in small streams or during periods of low flow.

  7. Effects of sequential streaming on auditory masking using psychoacoustics and auditory evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhey, Jesko L; Ernst, Stephan M A; Yasin, Ifat

    2012-03-01

    The present study was aimed at investigating the relationship between the mismatch negativity (MMN) and psychoacoustical effects of sequential streaming on comodulation masking release (CMR). The influence of sequential streaming on CMR was investigated using a psychoacoustical alternative forced-choice procedure and electroencephalography (EEG) for the same group of subjects. The psychoacoustical data showed, that adding precursors comprising of only off-signal-frequency maskers abolished the CMR. Complementary EEG data showed an MMN irrespective of the masker envelope correlation across frequency when only the off-signal-frequency masker components were present. The addition of such precursors promotes a separation of the on- and off-frequency masker components into distinct auditory objects preventing the auditory system from using comodulation as an additional cue. A frequency-specific adaptation changing the representation of the flanking bands in the streaming conditions may also contribute to the reduction of CMR in the stream conditions, however, it is unlikely that adaptation is the primary reason for the streaming effect. A neurophysiological correlate of sequential streaming was found in EEG data using MMN, but the magnitude of the MMN was not correlated with the audibility of the signal in CMR experiments. Dipole source analysis indicated different cortical regions involved in processing auditory streaming and modulation detection. In particular, neural sources for processing auditory streaming include cortical regions involved in decision-making. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. A Steel Ball Surface Quality Inspection Method Based on a Circumferential Eddy Current Array Sensor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huayu Zhang

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available To efficiently inspect surface defects on steel ball bearings, a new method based on a circumferential eddy current array (CECA sensor was proposed here. The best probe configuration, in terms of the coil quality factor (Q-factor, magnetic field intensity, and induced eddy current density on the surface of a sample steel ball, was determined using 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-coil probes, for analysis and comparison. The optimal lift-off from the measured steel ball, the number of probe coils, and the frequency of excitation current suitable for steel ball inspection were obtained. Using the resulting CECA sensor to inspect 46,126 steel balls showed a miss rate of ~0.02%. The sensor was inspected for surface defects as small as 0.05 mm in width and 0.1 mm in depth.

  9. Future ecological studies of Brazilian headwater streams under global-changes Estudos ecológicos futuros em riachos de cabeceira na perspectiva de mudanças globais

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos Callisto

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper results from discussions triggered during the "Stream Ecology Symposium" that took place at the XIII Congress of the Brazilian Society of Limnology in September of 2011 in Natal, Brazil. Based on our experiences, we have raised several questions regarding ecological studies of headwater streams facing threats under global-changes and proposed numerous subjects to be addressed in future studies in Brazil. These studies deal with the necessity of knowing species biology and the elaboration of models to assess changes (which implies the availability of time-series or large-scale data sets; the ecology of riparian zones and the interchange of materials and energy across the land-water boundaries; forest conversions and standardized sampling strategies and data treatment to assess global change.Este artigo resulta de discussões ocorridas durante o Simpósio de Ecologia de Riachos que aconteceu durante o XIII Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Limnologia em setembro de 2011 em Natal, Brasil. Baseados em nossa experiência, propomos algumas perguntas sobre ecologia de riachos na perspectiva de mudanças globais e sugerimos alguns aspectos a serem abordados em futuros estudos no país. Esses estudos estão relacionados à necessidade de se conhecer a biologia das espécies; à elaboração de modelos para avaliar as mudanças (o que implica a necessidade de um grande volume de dados em larga escala temporal e espacial; a ecologia das zonas ribeirinhas e o intercâmbio de materiais e energia através das interfaces terra-água; as alterações na cobertura florestal e estratégias de amostragem e tratamento de dados padronizados para avaliar as mudanças globais.

  10. Stream Deniable-Encryption Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N.A. Moldovyan

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available A method for stream deniable encryption of secret message is proposed, which is computationally indistinguishable from the probabilistic encryption of some fake message. The method uses generation of two key streams with some secure block cipher. One of the key streams is generated depending on the secret key and the other one is generated depending on the fake key. The key streams are mixed with the secret and fake data streams so that the output ciphertext looks like the ciphertext produced by some probabilistic encryption algorithm applied to the fake message, while using the fake key. When the receiver or/and sender of the ciphertext are coerced to open the encryption key and the source message, they open the fake key and the fake message. To disclose their lie the coercer should demonstrate possibility of the alternative decryption of the ciphertext, however this is a computationally hard problem.

  11. Design and implementation of streaming media server cluster based on FFMpeg.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hong; Zhou, Chun-long; Jin, Bao-zhao

    2015-01-01

    Poor performance and network congestion are commonly observed in the streaming media single server system. This paper proposes a scheme to construct a streaming media server cluster system based on FFMpeg. In this scheme, different users are distributed to different servers according to their locations and the balance among servers is maintained by the dynamic load-balancing algorithm based on active feedback. Furthermore, a service redirection algorithm is proposed to improve the transmission efficiency of streaming media data. The experiment results show that the server cluster system has significantly alleviated the network congestion and improved the performance in comparison with the single server system.

  12. Design and Implementation of Streaming Media Server Cluster Based on FFMpeg

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hong; Zhou, Chun-long; Jin, Bao-zhao

    2015-01-01

    Poor performance and network congestion are commonly observed in the streaming media single server system. This paper proposes a scheme to construct a streaming media server cluster system based on FFMpeg. In this scheme, different users are distributed to different servers according to their locations and the balance among servers is maintained by the dynamic load-balancing algorithm based on active feedback. Furthermore, a service redirection algorithm is proposed to improve the transmission efficiency of streaming media data. The experiment results show that the server cluster system has significantly alleviated the network congestion and improved the performance in comparison with the single server system. PMID:25734187

  13. The Ontario hydro low pressure turbine disc inspection program automated ultrasonic inspection systems - an overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huggins, J.W.; Chopcian, M.; Grabish, M.

    1990-01-01

    An overview of the Ontario Hydro Low Pressure Turbine Disc Inspection Program is presented. The ultrasonic inspection systems developed in-house to inspect low pressure turbine discs at Pickering and Bruce Nuclear Generating stations are described. Three aspects of the program are covered: PART I - Background to inspection program, disc cracking experience, and development of an in-house inspection capability: PART II - System development requirements; ultrasonic equipment, electromechanical subsystems and instrumentation console: PART III - Customized software for flaw detection, sizing, data acquisition/storage, advanced signal processing, reports, documentation and software based diagnostics

  14. Shifting stream planform state decreases stream productivity yet increases riparian animal production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venarsky, Michael P.; Walters, David M.; Hall, Robert O.; Livers, Bridget; Wohl, Ellen

    2018-01-01

    In the Colorado Front Range (USA), disturbance history dictates stream planform. Undisturbed, old-growth streams have multiple channels and large amounts of wood and depositional habitat. Disturbed streams (wildfires and logging tested how these opposing stream states influenced organic matter, benthic macroinvertebrate secondary production, emerging aquatic insect flux, and riparian spider biomass. Organic matter and macroinvertebrate production did not differ among sites per unit area (m−2), but values were 2 ×–21 × higher in undisturbed reaches per unit of stream valley (m−1 valley) because total stream area was higher in undisturbed reaches. Insect emergence was similar among streams at the per unit area and per unit of stream valley. However, rescaling insect emergence to per meter of stream bank showed that the emerging insect biomass reaching the stream bank was lower in undisturbed sites because multi-channel reaches had 3 × more stream bank than single-channel reaches. Riparian spider biomass followed the same pattern as emerging aquatic insects, and we attribute this to bottom-up limitation caused by the multi-channeled undisturbed sites diluting prey quantity (emerging insects) reaching the stream bank (riparian spider habitat). These results show that historic landscape disturbances continue to influence stream and riparian communities in the Colorado Front Range. However, these legacy effects are only weakly influencing habitat-specific function and instead are primarily influencing stream–riparian community productivity by dictating both stream planform (total stream area, total stream bank length) and the proportional distribution of specific habitat types (pools vs riffles).

  15. Study on in-service visual inspection using TV camera for core support graphite components in the HTTR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishihara, Masahiro; Shibata, Taiju; Kikuchi, Takayuki; Mogi, Haruyoshi

    1999-01-01

    To maintain the structural integrity of graphite components during plant operation a visual inspection using a TV camera as an in-service inspection is planned in the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor. In order to verify the in-service inspection method a preliminary analytical and experimental studies were performed. In the analytical study the harmful flaw size was determined from a viewpoint of structural integrity based on the fracture mechanics approach. Furthermore, the visible flaw size was determined by the TV camera performance test with graphite test specimens having several kinds of artificial flaws. This paper presents the analytical result on the harmful flaw size and the experimental result on the visible flaw size. From both results the applicability on the visual inspection by the TV camera as the in-service inspection is discussed in this paper. (author)

  16. ENIQ: European Network for Inspection Qualification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Champigny, F.; Crutzen, S.; Lemaitre, P.

    1995-01-01

    Many countries are currently considering their own approach to inspection qualification and are carefully assessing experience to date. ENIQ, which stands for European Network for Inspection Qualification, groups the major part of the utilities in Western Europe. The general objective of ENIQ is to coordinate and manage at European level expertise and resources for the assessment and qualification of NDE inspection techniques and procedures, primarily for nuclear components. Also non-nuclear heavy duty components will be considered. Within ENIQ there is a growing consensus of opinion on the general principles of a European approach towards inspection qualification. In this paper the main activities, organization and actual status of ENIQ will be discussed

  17. NRC program of inspection and enforcement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LeDoux, J.C.; Rehfuss, C.

    1978-01-01

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates civilian uses of nuclear materials to ensure the protection of the public health and safety and the environment. The Office of Inspection and Enforcement (IE) develops and implements the inspection, investigation, and enforcement programs for the NRC. The IE conducts inspection programs for reactors under construction and in operation, nuclear industry vendors, fuel facilities and users of nuclear materials, and all aspects of the safeguarding of facilities and materials. Recently the IE began implementing a program that will place inspectors on site at nuclear power reactors and will provide for national appraisal of licensee performance and for an evaluation of the effectiveness of the inspection programs

  18. Human impacts to mountain streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wohl, Ellen

    2006-09-01

    Mountain streams are here defined as channel networks within mountainous regions of the world. This definition encompasses tremendous diversity of physical and biological conditions, as well as history of land use. Human effects on mountain streams may result from activities undertaken within the stream channel that directly alter channel geometry, the dynamics of water and sediment movement, contaminants in the stream, or aquatic and riparian communities. Examples include channelization, construction of grade-control structures or check dams, removal of beavers, and placer mining. Human effects can also result from activities within the watershed that indirectly affect streams by altering the movement of water, sediment, and contaminants into the channel. Deforestation, cropping, grazing, land drainage, and urbanization are among the land uses that indirectly alter stream processes. An overview of the relative intensity of human impacts to mountain streams is provided by a table summarizing human effects on each of the major mountainous regions with respect to five categories: flow regulation, biotic integrity, water pollution, channel alteration, and land use. This table indicates that very few mountains have streams not at least moderately affected by land use. The least affected mountainous regions are those at very high or very low latitudes, although our scientific ignorance of conditions in low-latitude mountains in particular means that streams in these mountains might be more altered than is widely recognized. Four case studies from northern Sweden (arctic region), Colorado Front Range (semiarid temperate region), Swiss Alps (humid temperate region), and Papua New Guinea (humid tropics) are also used to explore in detail the history and effects on rivers of human activities in mountainous regions. The overview and case studies indicate that mountain streams must be managed with particular attention to upstream/downstream connections, hillslope

  19. Riparian zone controls on base cation concentrations in boreal streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ledesma, J. L. J.; Grabs, T.; Futter, M. N.; Bishop, K. H.; Laudon, H.; Köhler, S. J.

    2013-01-01

    Forest riparian zones are a major in control of surface water quality. Base cation (BC) concentrations, fluxes, and cycling in the riparian zone merit attention because of increasing concern of negative consequences for re-acidification of surface waters from future climate and forest harvesting scenarios. We present a two-year study of BC and silica (Si) flow-weighted concentrations from 13 riparian zones and 14 streams in a boreal catchment in northern Sweden. The Riparian Flow-Concentration Integration Model (RIM) was used to estimate riparian zone flow-weighted concentrations and tested to predict the stream flow-weighted concentrations. Spatial variation in BC and Si concentrations as well as in flow-weighted concentrations was related to differences in Quaternary deposits, with the largest contribution from lower lying silty sediments and the lowest contribution from wetland areas higher up in the catchment. Temporal stability in the concentrations of most elements, a remarkably stable Mg / Ca ratio in the soil water and a homogeneous mineralogy suggest that the stable patterns found in the riparian zones are a result of distinct mineralogical upslope groundwater signals integrating the chemical signals of biological and chemical weathering. Stream water Mg / Ca ratio indicates that the signal is subsequently maintained in the streams. RIM gave good predictions of Ca, Mg, and Na flow-weighted concentrations in headwater streams. The difficulty in modelling K and Si suggests a stronger biogeochemical influence on these elements. The observed chemical dilution effect with flow in the streams was related to variation in groundwater levels and element concentration profiles in the riparian zones. This study provides a first step toward specific investigations of the vulnerability of riparian zones to changes induced by forest management or climate change, with focus on BC or other compounds.

  20. Shifting stream planform state decreases stream productivity yet increases riparian animal production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venarsky, Michael P.; Walters, David M.; Hall, Robert O.; Livers, Bridget; Wohl, Ellen

    2018-01-01

    In the Colorado Front Range (USA), disturbance history dictates stream planform. Undisturbed, old-growth streams have multiple channels and large amounts of wood and depositional habitat. Disturbed streams (wildfires and logging production, emerging aquatic insect flux, and riparian spider biomass. Organic matter and macroinvertebrate production did not differ among sites per unit area (m−2), but values were 2 ×–21 × higher in undisturbed reaches per unit of stream valley (m−1 valley) because total stream area was higher in undisturbed reaches. Insect emergence was similar among streams at the per unit area and per unit of stream valley. However, rescaling insect emergence to per meter of stream bank showed that the emerging insect biomass reaching the stream bank was lower in undisturbed sites because multi-channel reaches had 3 × more stream bank than single-channel reaches. Riparian spider biomass followed the same pattern as emerging aquatic insects, and we attribute this to bottom-up limitation caused by the multi-channeled undisturbed sites diluting prey quantity (emerging insects) reaching the stream bank (riparian spider habitat). These results show that historic landscape disturbances continue to influence stream and riparian communities in the Colorado Front Range. However, these legacy effects are only weakly influencing habitat-specific function and instead are primarily influencing stream–riparian community productivity by dictating both stream planform (total stream area, total stream bank length) and the proportional distribution of specific habitat types (pools vs riffles).

  1. Construction appraisal team inspection results on welding and nondestructive examination activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, P.C.S.; Shaaban, H.I.

    1987-09-01

    This report summarizes data and findings on deficiencies and discrepancies in welding and nondestructive examination (NDE) activities identified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Construction Appraisal Team (CAT) during its inspection of 11 plants. The CAT reviewed selected welds and NDE packages in its inspection of the following plant areas: piping and pipe supports and/or restraints; modification and installation of reactor internals; electrical installations and electrical supports; instrumentation tubing and supports; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and supports; fabrication and erection of structural steel; fabrication of refueling cavity and spent fuel pool liner; containment liner and containment penetrations; and fire protection systems. The CAT inspected both structural welds and pressure-retaining welds and reviewed welder qualification test records and welding procedure documents for code compliance. The NDE activities that were evaluated included visual examination, magnetic particle examination, liquid penetrant examination, ultrasonic examination, and radiographic examination of welds. 4 refs., 14 figs., 15 tabs

  2. OSE inspections: A different perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ware, J.H.

    1987-01-01

    The Office of Security Evaluation (OSE) is a staff activity of the Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs (ASDP) and is responsible for the conduct of an inspection and evaluation program. The OSE Inspection Division conducts assessments of the effectiveness of Department of Energy (DOE) Safeguards and Security policies and protection programs. The inspections are conducted by OSE Inspectors and Support Specialists. Prior to the author's participation in the inspection of the San Francisco Operations Office, a DOE Field Office employee had never played an active role in an OSE Inspection of another field office. This paper discloses his experience as an OSE Inspector

  3. Seasonal pattern of anthropogenic salinization in temperate forested headwater streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timpano, Anthony J; Zipper, Carl E; Soucek, David J; Schoenholtz, Stephen H

    2018-04-15

    Salinization of freshwaters by human activities is of growing concern globally. Consequences of salt pollution include adverse effects to aquatic biodiversity, ecosystem function, human health, and ecosystem services. In headwater streams of the temperate forests of eastern USA, elevated specific conductance (SC), a surrogate measurement for the major dissolved ions composing salinity, has been linked to decreased diversity of aquatic insects. However, such linkages have typically been based on limited numbers of SC measurements that do not quantify intra-annual variation. Effective management of salinization requires tools to accurately monitor and predict salinity while accounting for temporal variability. Toward that end, high-frequency SC data were collected within the central Appalachian coalfield over 4 years at 25 forested headwater streams spanning a gradient of salinity. A sinusoidal periodic function was used to model the annual cycle of SC, averaged across years and streams. The resultant model revealed that, on average, salinity deviated approximately ±20% from annual mean levels across all years and streams, with minimum SC occurring in late winter and peak SC occurring in late summer. The pattern was evident in headwater streams influenced by surface coal mining, unmined headwater reference streams with low salinity, and larger-order salinized rivers draining the study area. The pattern was strongly responsive to varying seasonal dilution as driven by catchment evapotranspiration, an effect that was amplified slightly in unmined catchments with greater relative forest cover. Evaluation of alternative sampling intervals indicated that discrete sampling can approximate the model performance afforded by high-frequency data but model error increases rapidly as discrete sampling intervals exceed 30 days. This study demonstrates that intra-annual variation of salinity in temperate forested headwater streams of Appalachia USA follows a natural seasonal

  4. Mining Twitter Data Stream to Augment NASA GPM Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teng, W. L.; Albayrak, A.; Huffman, G. J.; Vollmer, B.

    2017-12-01

    The Twitter data stream is an important new source of real-time and historical global information for potentially augmenting the validation program of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. There have been other similar uses of Twitter, though mostly related to natural hazards monitoring and management. The validation of satellite precipitation estimates is challenging, because many regions lack data or access to data, especially outside of the U.S. and in remote and developing areas. The time-varying set of "precipitation" tweets can be thought of as an organic network of rain gauges, potentially providing a widespread view of precipitation occurrence. Twitter provides a large source of crowd for crowdsourcing. During a 24-hour period in the middle of the snow storm this past March in the U.S. Northeast, we collected more than 13,000 relevant precipitation tweets with exact geolocation. The overall objective of our project is to determine the extent to which processed tweets can provide additional information that improves the validation of GPM data. Though our current effort focuses on tweets and precipitation, our approach is general and applicable to other social media and other geophysical measurements. Specifically, we have developed an operational infrastructure for processing tweets, in a format suitable for analysis with GPM data; engaged with potential participants, both passive and active, to "enrich" the Twitter stream; and inter-compared "precipitation" tweet data, ground station data, and GPM retrievals. In this presentation, we detail the technical capabilities of our tweet processing infrastructure, including data abstraction, feature extraction, search engine, context-awareness, real-time processing, and high volume (big) data processing; various means for "enriching" the Twitter stream; and results of inter-comparisons. Our project should bring a new kind of visibility to Twitter and engender a new kind of appreciation of the value

  5. Pressure vessel integrity and weld inspection procedure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Solomon, K.A.; Okrent, D.; Kastenberg, W.E.

    1975-01-01

    The primary objective of this paper is to develop a simple methodology which, when coupled with existing observations on pressure vessel behavior, provides an inter-relation between pressure vessel integrity, and the parameters of the in-service inspection program, including inspection sample size, frequency and efficiency. A modified Markov process is employed and a computer code was written to obtain numerical results. The Markov process mathematically describes the following physical events. In a nuclear reactor pressure vessel weld, some defects may exist prior to the zeroth inspection (i.e., prior to vessel operation). During the zeroth inspection and repair processes, some of these defects are removed. During the first cycle of vessel operation, the existing defects may grow and some new defects may be generated. Those defects that are found at the first (and succeeding) inspection interval and warrant repair, are repaired. The above process continues through several operating cycles to the end of vessel life. During any inspection, only a portion of the welds may be inspected, and with less than perfect efficiency

  6. Development of bore tools for pipe inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oka, Kiyoshi; Nakahira, Masataka; Taguchi, Kou; Ito, Akira [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

    1998-04-01

    In the International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER), replacement and maintenance on in-vessel components requires that all cooling pipes connected be cut and removed, that a new component be installed, and that all cooling pipes be rewelded. After welding is completed, welded area must be inspected for soundness. These tasks require a new work concept for securing shielded area and access from narrow ports. Tools had to be developed for nondestructive inspection and leak testing to evaluate pipe welding soundness by accessing areas from inside pipes using autonomous locomotion welding and cutting tools. A system was proposed for nondestructive inspection of branch pipes and the main pipe after passing through pipe curves, the same as for welding and cutting tool development. Nondestructive inspection and leak testing sensors were developed and the basic parameters were obtained. In addition, the inspection systems which can move inside pipes and conduct the nondestructive inspection and the leak testing were developed. In this paper, an introduction will be given to the current situation concerning the development of nondestructive inspection and leak testing machines for the branch pipes. (author)

  7. Heat exchanger tube inspection using ultrasonic arrays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer, P.A.; Carodiskey, T.J.

    1986-01-01

    Tubing used in industrial heat exchangers is often subject to failure caused by corrosion and cracking. Technical conferences are used as a forum in the steam generator industry to ensure that the failure mechanisms are well understood and that the quality of the heat exchanger is maintained. The quality of a heat exchanger can be thought of as its ability to operate to design specifications over its intended life. This is the motivation to inspect and evaluate these devices periodically. Inspection, however, normally requires shutdown of the heat exchanger which is costly but is much more acceptable than an unscheduled shutdown due to failure of a tube. Therefore, the degree of inspection is established by balancing the cost of inspection with the risk of a tube failure. Any method of reducing the cost of inspection will permit a higher degree of inspection and, therefore, improve heat exchanger quality. This paper reviews the design and performance of an improved method of ultrasonic inspection of heat exchanger tubing with emphasis on applications in the nuclear industry

  8. How and Why Does Stream Water Temperature Vary at Small Spatial Scales in a Headwater Stream?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, J. C.; Gannon, J. P.; Kelleher, C.

    2017-12-01

    The temperature of stream water is controlled by climatic variables, runoff/baseflow generation, and hyporheic exchange. Hydrologic conditions such as gaining/losing reaches and sources of inflow can vary dramatically along a stream on a small spatial scale. In this work, we attempt to discern the extent that the factors of air temperature, groundwater inflow, and precipitation influence stream temperature at small spatial scales along the length of a stream. To address this question, we measured stream temperature along the perennial stream network in a 43 ha catchment with a complex land use history in Cullowhee, NC. Two water temperature sensors were placed along the stream network on opposite sides of the stream at 100-meter intervals and at several locations of interest (i.e. stream junctions). The forty total sensors recorded the temperature every 10 minutes for one month in the spring and one month in the summer. A subset of sampling locations where stream temperature was consistent or varied from one side of the stream to the other were explored with a thermal imaging camera to obtain a more detailed representation of the spatial variation in temperature at those sites. These thermal surveys were compared with descriptions of the contributing area at the sample sites in an effort to discern specific causes of differing flow paths. Preliminary results suggest that on some branches of the stream stormflow has less influence than regular hyporheic exchange, while other tributaries can change dramatically with stormflow conditions. We anticipate this work will lead to a better understanding of temperature patterns in stream water networks. A better understanding of the importance of small-scale differences in flow paths to water temperature may be able to inform watershed management decisions in the future.

  9. A stream cipher based on a spatiotemporal chaotic system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Ping; Li Zhong; Halang, Wolfgang A.; Chen Guanrong

    2007-01-01

    A stream cipher based on a spatiotemporal chaotic system is proposed. A one-way coupled map lattice consisting of logistic maps is served as the spatiotemporal chaotic system. Multiple keystreams are generated from the coupled map lattice by using simple algebraic computations, and then are used to encrypt plaintext via bitwise XOR. These make the cipher rather simple and efficient. Numerical investigation shows that the cryptographic properties of the generated keystream are satisfactory. The cipher seems to have higher security, higher efficiency and lower computation expense than the stream cipher based on a spatiotemporal chaotic system proposed recently

  10. Lightweight submersed 'Walking' NDE manipulators for PWR and BWR vessel weld inspection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saernmark, Ivan; Lenz, Herbert [WesDyne TRC AB, Stockholm (Sweden)

    2008-04-15

    Three new manipulators developed by WesDyne TRC in Sweden have under the year 2007 performed three very successful inspections in the PWR reactor Ringhals 3 and the BWR reactors Ringhals 1 and Oskarshamn 1. The manipulator systems can be used to perform inspection of circumferential and vertical welds on the reactor pressure vessel, the core shroud, core shroud support in BWR reactors or vessel and core barrel welds in PWR reactors. Most other flat or curved surfaces can be inspected using the new concept through relatively simple mechanical reconfigurations of system modules. The first inspection was performed on the R3 PWR core barrel in June 2007 with a very good result. This Manipulator is designed for access in very narrow gaps and for the type of core barrels with a shield covering the whole area of the perimeter. The manipulator is attached to the inspection area by means of a new unique suction cup system. The current manipulators consist of a curved horizontal beam, with radius similar to the reactor vessel, and a straight vertical beam, forming a T-shaped structure. By alternating the application of suction cup pairs on the horizontal beam and the vertical beam and by driving the scanning motors, the manipulator performs an incremental translational movement upwards/downwards or from side to side. The principles of this system give a well defined and stable platform for global and local positioning accuracy. A combination of advanced sensor solutions provides accurate position information in the absence of other physical reference objects. The system is controlled by the new WesDyne TRC Motor Control Panel and software, the MCP is specifically designed for remote control of submersed manipulators using techniques for cable reduction.

  11. Assessing biogeochemical cycling and transient storage of surface water in Eastern Siberian streams using short-term solute additions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schade, J. D.; Seybold, E.; Drake, T. W.; Bulygina, E. B.; Bunn, A. G.; Chandra, S.; Davydov, S.; Frey, K. E.; Holmes, R. M.; Sobczak, W. V.; Spektor, V. V.; Zimov, S. A.; Zimov, N.

    2009-12-01

    Recent studies highlight the role of stream networks in the processing of nutrient and organic matter inputs from the surrounding watershed. Clear evidence exists that streams actively regulate fluxes of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus from upland terrestrial ecosystems to downstream aquatic environments. This is of particular interest in Arctic streams because of the potential impact of permafrost thaw due to global warming on inputs of nutrients and organic matter to small streams high in the landscape. Knowledge of functional characteristics of these stream ecosystems is paramount to our ability to predict changes in stream ecosystems as climate changes. Biogeochemical models developed by stream ecologists, specifically nutrient spiraling models, provide a set of metrics that we used to assess nutrient processing rates in several streams in the Eastern Siberian Arctic. We quantified these metrics using solute addition experiments in which nitrogen and phosphorus were added simultaneously with chloride as a conservative tracer. We focused on 5 streams, three flowing across upland yedoma soils and two floodplain streams. Yedoma streams showed higher uptake of N than P, suggesting N limitation of biological processes, with large variation between these three streams in the severity of N limitation. Floodplain streams both showed substantially higher P uptake than N uptake, indicating strong P limitation. Given these results, it is probable that these two types of streams will respond quite differently to changes in nutrient and organic matter inputs as permafrost thaws. Furthermore, uptake was strongly linked to discharge and transient storage of surface water, measured using temporal patterns of the conservative tracer, with higher nutrient uptake in low discharge, high transient storage streams. Given the possibility that both discharge and nutrient inputs will increase as permafrost thaws, longer-term nutrient enrichment experiments are needed to develop

  12. [PICS: pharmaceutical inspection cooperation scheme].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morénas, J

    2009-01-01

    The pharmaceutical inspection cooperation scheme (PICS) is a structure containing 34 participating authorities located worldwide (October 2008). It has been created in 1995 on the basis of the pharmaceutical inspection convention (PIC) settled by the European free trade association (EFTA) in1970. This scheme has different goals as to be an international recognised body in the field of good manufacturing practices (GMP), for training inspectors (by the way of an annual seminar and experts circles related notably to active pharmaceutical ingredients [API], quality risk management, computerized systems, useful for the writing of inspection's aide-memoires). PICS is also leading to high standards for GMP inspectorates (through regular crossed audits) and being a room for exchanges on technical matters between inspectors but also between inspectors and pharmaceutical industry.

  13. X-ray inspection of foreign bodies in foods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohira, Norihiro; Hongjun, Zhou; Sakamaki, Kazumi; Kamimura, Kunio; Shimizu, Hideaki; Saiki, Hideo

    2008-01-01

    X-ray inspection system of foreign bodies in foods has become is necessary for our society in recent years, with the expectation that they could inspect not only metals but also other bodies like glass, rubber, nylon, etc. Calculation algorithms for X-ray inspection of foreign bodies in foods have been reported. In food inspection systems, it is important that inspection is high precision, with high speed that is as fast as conveyor belts. Using Statistical methods, we construct a higher precision method than usual methods. We focused on Kittler's minimum error thresholding. In the usual Kittler's method, order n-squared calculations are required for distributed calculation, so it is not suitable for high speed food inspection. We find that using approximations of variances in Kittler's method is not too critical for practical use. Using it, we be come able to inspect for foreign bodies that were not able to be inspected for so far. (author)

  14. Impact of Roadway Stormwater Runoff on Microbial Contamination in the Receiving Stream.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyckoff, Kristen N; Chen, Si; Steinman, Andrew J; He, Qiang

    2017-09-01

    Stormwater runoff from roadways has increasingly become a regulatory concern for water pollution control. Recent work has suggested roadway stormwater runoff as a potential source of microbial pollutants. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of roadway runoff on the microbiological quality of receiving streams. Microbiological quality of roadway stormwater runoff and the receiving stream was monitored during storm events with both cultivation-dependent fecal bacteria enumeration and cultivation-independent high-throughput sequencing techniques. Enumeration of total coliforms as a measure of fecal microbial pollution found consistently lower total coliform counts in roadway runoff than those in the stream water, suggesting that roadway runoff was not a major contributor of microbial pollutants to the receiving stream. Further characterization of the microbial community in the stormwater samples by 16S ribosomal RNA gene-based high-throughput amplicon sequencing revealed significant differences in the microbial composition of stormwater runoff from the roadways and the receiving stream. The differences in microbial composition between the roadway runoff and stream water demonstrate that roadway runoff did not appear to have a major influence on the stream in terms of microbiological quality. Thus, results from both fecal bacteria enumeration and high-throughput amplicon sequencing techniques were consistent that roadway stormwater runoff was not the primary contributor of microbial loading to the stream. Further studies of additional watersheds with distinct characteristics are needed to validate these findings. Understanding gained in this study could support the development of more effective strategies for stormwater management in sensitive watersheds. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  15. School Nurse Inspections Improve Handwashing Supplies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, Mary M.; Schrader, Ronald; Trujillo, Rebecca; Blea, Mary; Greenberg, Cynthia

    2013-01-01

    BACKGROUND Handwashing in the school setting is important for infectious disease control, yet maintaining adequate handwashing supplies is often made difficult by lack of funds, limited staff time, and student vandalism. This study measured the availability of handwashing supplies for students in New Mexico public schools and determined the impact of scheduled school nurse inspections on the availability of handwashing supplies. METHODS Participating school districts in New Mexico were matched by size and randomized into intervention and control groups. Baseline inspections were conducted in November 2008 followed by 2 subsequent bimonthly inspections. For each student bathroom, the presence or absence of soap and either paper towels or hand dryers was indicated on an inspection checklist. The intervention group reported findings to the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) and to school administrative and custodial staff requesting that any identified problems be addressed. The control group reported inspection findings to the NMDOH only. Descriptive analyses were conducted to determine the proportion of bathrooms with soap and either paper towels or hand dryers. Comparisons were made between the intervention schools and the control schools at baseline and during the intervention period. RESULTS The intervention group had significantly higher probability of bathrooms being supplied with soap (p school nurse inspections of hand hygiene supplies, with reporting to appropriate school officials, can improve the availability of handwashing supplies for students. PMID:21592131

  16. Laser Shearography Inspection of TPS (Thermal Protection System) Cork on RSRM (Reusable Solid Rocket Motors)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lingbloom, Mike; Plaia, Jim; Newman, John

    2006-01-01

    Laser Shearography is a viable inspection method for detection of de-bonds and voids within the external TPS (thermal protection system) on to the Space Shuttle RSRM (reusable solid rocket motors). Cork samples with thicknesses up to 1 inch were tested at the LTI (Laser Technology Incorporated) laboratory using vacuum-applied stress in a vacuum chamber. The testing proved that the technology could detect cork to steel un-bonds using vacuum stress techniques in the laboratory environment. The next logical step was to inspect the TPS on a RSRM. Although detailed post flight inspection has confirmed that ATK Thiokol's cork bonding technique provides a reliable cork to case bond, due to the Space Shuttle Columbia incident there is a great interest in verifying bond-lines on the external TPS. This interest provided and opportunity to inspect a RSRM motor with Laser Shearography. This paper will describe the laboratory testing and RSRM testing that has been performed to date. Descriptions of the test equipment setup and techniques for data collection and detailed results will be given. The data from the test show that Laser Shearography is an effective technology and readily adaptable to inspect a RSRM.

  17. Can air temperature be used to project influences of climate change on stream temperature?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivan Arismendi; Mohammad Safeeq; Jason B Dunham; Sherri L Johnson

    2014-01-01

    Worldwide, lack of data on stream temperature has motivated the use of regression-based statistical models to predict stream temperatures based on more widely available data on air temperatures. Such models have been widely applied to project responses of stream temperatures under climate change, but the performance of these models has not been fully evaluated. To...

  18. Development of an optical inspection bench for the inspection of internal surfaces of 650 MHz SCRF cavities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kokil, S.V.; Kane, G.V.; Raghavendra, S.; Chauhan, S.K.; Rajpoot, D.S.; Oraon, B.; Om Prakash; Joshi, S.C.

    2015-01-01

    An optical inspection system has been developed for inspection of internal surfaces of 650 MHz superconducting RF cavities. The cavity parts are welded either using Electron Beam or Laser Beam Welding for making a good quality of weld joints. Surface defects like pits, scratches, welding spatters etc. on the internal surface of the cavity deteriorates cavity performance. Surface quality of the cavity equator joint plays an important role in the cavity performance. To study the quality of equator surface, the inspection bench offers high resolution images with a linear resolution of 45 m/pixel at a distance of ∼200 mm. The bench comprises of two major sub-systems, optical imaging system and cavity positioning system. A digital camera and multi coloured illumination system is used to obtain high resolution images. The camera is mounted inside a long cylindrical tube. The cylindrical tube can be inserted into a SCRF cavity. The length of the cylinder is long enough to inspect five-cell 650 MHz SCRF cavity. The cavity is placed on a set of PTFE rollers, which are mounted on a trolley. The cavity can be moved linearly with the help of ball screw-servomotor mechanism. The camera along with cylindrical tube can be rotated around its axis with a stepper motor to scan the cavity's internal surface. The paper presents the details about the optical inspection bench and optical inspection results. (author)

  19. Lock-in thermographic inspection of squats on rail steel head

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, D.; Jones, R.

    2013-03-01

    The development of squat defects has become a major concern in numerous railway systems throughout the world. Infrared thermography is a relatively new non-destructive inspection technique used for a wide range of applications. However, it has not been used for rail squat detection. Lock-in thermography is a non-destructive inspection technique that utilizes an infrared camera to detect the thermal waves. A thermal image is produced, which displays the local thermal wave variation in phase or amplitude. In inhomogeneous materials, the amplitude and phase of the thermal wave carries information related to both the local thermal properties and the nature of the structure being inspected. By examining the infrared thermal signature of squat damage on the head of steel rails, it was possible to generate a relationship matching squat depth to thermal image phase angle, using appropriate experimental/numerical calibration. The results showed that with the additional data sets obtained from further experimental tests, the clarity of this relationship will be greatly improved to a level whereby infrared thermal contours can be directly translated into the precise subsurface behaviour of a squat.

  20. An Explosion Aftershock Model with Application to On-Site Inspection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Sean R.; Labak, Peter

    2016-01-01

    An estimate of aftershock activity due to a theoretical underground nuclear explosion is produced using an aftershock rate model. The model is developed with data from the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, and the Semipalatinsk Test Site, which we take to represent soft-rock and hard-rock testing environments, respectively. Estimates of expected magnitude and number of aftershocks are calculated using the models for different testing and inspection scenarios. These estimates can help inform the Seismic Aftershock Monitoring System (SAMS) deployment in a potential Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty On-Site Inspection (OSI), by giving the OSI team a probabilistic assessment of potential aftershocks in the Inspection Area (IA). The aftershock assessment, combined with an estimate of the background seismicity in the IA and an empirically derived map of threshold magnitude for the SAMS network, could aid the OSI team in reporting. We apply the hard-rock model to a M5 event and combine it with the very sensitive detection threshold for OSI sensors to show that tens of events per day are expected up to a month after an explosion measured several kilometers away.

  1. POLA RASIO KEUANGAN PADA SAAT UP STREAM DAN DOWN STREAM DI INDUSTRI REALESTAT YANG GO PUBLIC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Sukardi Kodrat

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This research has purpose to explain differences on indicator financial ratio in up and down stream condition. This research uses real estate industries listed on Jakarta Stock Exchange as a sample. Sample selection is performed based on purposive sampling method with object to gain sample according to the research aim. Based on those criteria, there are 18 companies, which have fulfilling the conditions needed, starting from 1994 until 2002. The classification of business cycle on up and down stream conditions to used stock pricing indexes of property and real estate which calculated by arithmatic mean method. Based on those criteria, the classifications from 1994 until 1997 are represented by up stream condition and from 1998 until 2002 are represented by down stream condition. The result shows indicators: profitability ratios, gross margin ratios, capital turnover ratios, asset to equity ratios, growth ratios, liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, and cash flow ratios are different in up and down stream conditions, both simultaneously and partially. Simultaneously, there is a significant difference between up and down stream condition with wilks lambda of 0,346 and p value of 0,000. This research shows financial ratio indicator has differences on business cycle. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : Penelitan ini mempunyai tujuan untuk mengetahui perbedaan indikator rasio keuangan pada kondisi up stream dan down stream. Penelitian ini menggunakan sampel pada industri di sektor properti yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Jakarta. Pemilihan sampel dalam penelitian ini menggunakan Purposive Sampling yaitu sampel diambil berdasarkan kriteria-kriteria tertentu yang sesuai dengan tujuan penelitian ini. Berdasarkan kriteria tersebut, terdapat 18 perusahaan yang dapat dijadikan sampel mulai tahun 1994 sampai dengan 2002. Untuk menentukan perubahan business cycle pada kondisi up stream dan down stream dilakukan dengan menggunakan indeks harga saham di sektor properti

  2. Analysis and optimization on in-vessel inspection robotic system for EAST

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Weijun; Zhou, Zeyu; Yuan, Jianjun; Du, Liang; Mao, Ziming

    2015-01-01

    Since China has successfully built her first Experimental Advanced Superconducting TOKAMAK (EAST) several years ago, great interest and demand have been increasing in robotic in-vessel inspection/operation systems, by which an observation of in-vessel physical phenomenon, collection of visual information, 3D mapping and localization, even maintenance are to be possible. However, it has been raising many challenges to implement a practical and robust robotic system, due to a lot of complex constraints and expectations, e.g., high remanent working temperature (100 °C) and vacuum (10"−"3 pa) environment even in the rest interval between plasma discharge experiments, close-up and precise inspection, operation efficiency, besides a general kinematic requirement of D shape irregular vessel. In this paper we propose an upgraded robotic system with redundant degrees of freedom (DOF) manipulator combined with a binocular vision system at the tip and a virtual reality system. A comprehensive comparison and discussion are given on the necessity and main function of the binocular vision system, path planning for inspection, fast localization, inspection efficiency and success rate in time, optimization of kinematic configuration, and the possibility of underactuated mechanism. A detailed design, implementation, and experiments of the binocular vision system together with the recent development progress of the whole robotic system are reported in the later part of the paper, while, future work and expectation are described in the end.

  3. Overview of the software inspection process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lane, G.L.; Dabbs, R. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    1997-11-01

    This tutorial introduces attendees to the Inspection Process and teaches them how to organize and participate in a software inspection. The tutorial advocates the benefits of inspections and encourages attendees to socialize the inspection process in their organizations.

  4. On the Organization of Parallel Operation of Some Algorithms for Finding the Shortest Path on a Graph on a Computer System with Multiple Instruction Stream and Single Data Stream

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. E. Podol'skii

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers the implementing Bellman-Ford and Lee algorithms to find the shortest graph path on a computer system with multiple instruction stream and single data stream (MISD. The MISD computer is a computer that executes commands of arithmetic-logical processing (on the CPU and commands of structures processing (on the structures processor in parallel on a single data stream. Transformation of sequential programs into the MISD programs is a labor intensity process because it requires a stream of the arithmetic-logical processing to be manually separated from that of the structures processing. Algorithms based on the processing of data structures (e.g., algorithms on graphs show high performance on a MISD computer. Bellman-Ford and Lee algorithms for finding the shortest path on a graph are representatives of these algorithms. They are applied to robotics for automatic planning of the robot movement in-situ. Modification of Bellman-Ford and Lee algorithms for finding the shortest graph path in coprocessor MISD mode and the parallel MISD modification of these algorithms were first obtained in this article. Thus, this article continues a series of studies on the transformation of sequential algorithms into MISD ones (Dijkstra and Ford-Fulkerson 's algorithms and has a pronouncedly applied nature. The article also presents the analysis results of Bellman-Ford and Lee algorithms in MISD mode. The paper formulates the basic trends of a technique for parallelization of algorithms into arithmetic-logical processing stream and structures processing stream. Among the key areas for future research, development of the mathematical approach to provide a subsequently formalized and automated process of parallelizing sequential algorithms between the CPU and structures processor is highlighted. Among the mathematical models that can be used in future studies there are graph models of algorithms (e.g., dependency graph of a program. Due to the high

  5. Morphology of a Wetland Stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurmu; Andrle

    1997-11-01

    / Little attention has been paid to wetland stream morphology in the geomorphological and environmental literature, and in the recently expanding wetland reconstruction field, stream design has been based primarily on stream morphologies typical of nonwetland alluvial environments. Field investigation of a wetland reach of Roaring Brook, Stafford, Connecticut, USA, revealed several significant differences between the morphology of this stream and the typical morphology of nonwetland alluvial streams. Six morphological features of the study reach were examined: bankfull flow, meanders, pools and riffles, thalweg location, straight reaches, and cross-sectional shape. It was found that bankfull flow definitions originating from streams in nonwetland environments did not apply. Unusual features observed in the wetland reach include tight bends and a large axial wavelength to width ratio. A lengthy straight reach exists that exceeds what is typically found in nonwetland alluvial streams. The lack of convex bank point bars in the bends, a greater channel width at riffle locations, an unusual thalweg location, and small form ratios (a deep and narrow channel) were also differences identified. Further study is needed on wetland streams of various regions to determine if differences in morphology between alluvial and wetland environments can be applied in order to improve future designs of wetland channels.KEY WORDS: Stream morphology; Wetland restoration; Wetland creation; Bankfull; Pools and riffles; Meanders; Thalweg

  6. Geoblocking and global video culture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lobato, Ramon; Meese, James; Rasch, Mirjam

    How do global audiences use streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer? How does the experience of digital video change according to location? What strategies do people use to access out-of-region content? What are the commercial and governmental motivations behind geoblocking?

  7. Geoblocking and global video culture.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lobato, Ramon; Meese, James; Rasch, Mirjam

    How do global audiences use streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer? How does the experience of digital video change according to location? What strategies do people use to access out-of-region content? What are the commercial and governmental motivations behind geoblocking?

  8. Stream II-V5: Revision Of Stream II-V4 To Account For The Effects Of Rainfall Events

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, K.

    2010-01-01

    STREAM II-V4 is the aqueous transport module currently used by the Savannah River Site emergency response Weather Information Display (WIND) system. The transport model of the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) was used by STREAM II to perform contaminant transport calculations. WASP5 is a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water quality analysis program that simulates contaminant transport and fate through surface water. STREAM II-V4 predicts peak concentration and peak concentration arrival time at downstream locations for releases from the SRS facilities to the Savannah River. The input flows for STREAM II-V4 are derived from the historical flow records measured by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The stream flow for STREAM II-V4 is fixed and the flow only varies with the month in which the releases are taking place. Therefore, the effects of flow surge due to a severe storm are not accounted for by STREAM II-V4. STREAM II-V4 has been revised to account for the effects of a storm event. The steps used in this method are: (1) generate rainfall hyetographs as a function of total rainfall in inches (or millimeters) and rainfall duration in hours; (2) generate watershed runoff flow based on the rainfall hyetographs from step 1; (3) calculate the variation of stream segment volume (cross section) as a function of flow from step 2; (4) implement the results from steps 2 and 3 into the STREAM II model. The revised model (STREAM II-V5) will find the proper stream inlet flow based on the total rainfall and rainfall duration as input by the user. STREAM II-V5 adjusts the stream segment volumes (cross sections) based on the stream inlet flow. The rainfall based stream flow and the adjusted stream segment volumes are then used for contaminant transport calculations.

  9. On feathers, bifurcations and shells: the dynamics of tidal streams across the mass scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amorisco, N. C.

    2015-06-01

    I present an organic description of the spectrum of regimes of collisionless tidal streams and define the orderings between the relevant physical quantities that shape their morphology. Three fundamental dichotomies are identified and described in the form of dimensionless inequalities. These govern (i) the speed of the stream's growth, (ii) the internal coherence of the stream and (iii) its thickness or opening angle, within and outside the orbital plane. The mechanisms through which such main qualitative properties are regulated and the relevant limiting cases are analysed. For example, the slope of the host's density profile strongly influences the speed of the stream's growth, in both length and width, as steeper density profiles enhance differential streaming. Internal coherence is the natural requirement for the appearance of substructure and overdensities in tidal debris, and I concentrate on the characteristic `feathering' typical of streams of star clusters. Overdensities and substructures are associated with minima in the relative streaming velocity of the stream members. For streams with high circularity, these are caused by the epicyclic oscillations of stars; however, for highly non-circular progenitor's orbits, internal substructure is caused by the oscillating differences in energy and actions with which material is shed at different orbital phases of the progenitor. This modulation results in different streaming speeds along the tidal arm: the streakline of material shed between two successive apocentric passages is folded along its length, pulled at its centre by the faster differential streaming of particles released near pericentre, which are therefore more widely scattered. When the stream is coherent enough, the same mechanism is potentially capable of generating a bimodal profile in the density distributions of the longer wraps of more massive progenitors, which I dub `bifurcations'. The conditions that allow streams to be internally coherent

  10. Advanced inspection and repair techniques for primary side components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elm, Ralph

    1998-01-01

    The availability of nuclear power plant mainly depends on the components of the Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS) such as reactor pressure vessel, core internals and steam generators. The last decade has been characterized by intensive inspection and repair work on PWR steam generators. In the future, it can be expected, that the inspection of the reactor pressure vessel and the inspection and repair of its internals, in both PWR and BWR will be one of the challenges for the nuclear community. Due to this challenge, new, advanced inspection and repair techniques for the vital primary side components have been developed and applied, taking into account such issues as: use of reliable and fast inspection methods, repair of affected components instead of costly replacement, reduction of outage time compared to conventional methods, minimized radiation exposure, acceptable costs. This paper reflects on advanced inspection and repair techniques such as: Baffle Former Bolt inspection and replacement, Barrel Former Bolt inspection and replacement, Mechanized UT and visual inspection of reactor pressure vessels, Steam Generator repair by advanced sleeving technology. The techniques described have been successfully applied in nuclear power plants and improved the operation performance of the components and the NPP. (author). 6 figs

  11. Influence Of Inspection Intervals On Mechanical System Reliability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zilberman, B.

    1998-01-01

    In this paper a methodology of reliability analysis of mechanical systems with latent failures is described. Reliability analysis of such systems must include appropriate usage of check intervals for latent failure detection. The methodology suggests, that based on system logic the analyst decides at the beginning if a system can fail actively or latently and propagates this approach through all system levels. All inspections are assumed to be perfect (all failures are detected and repaired and no new failures are introduced as a result of the maintenance). Additional assumptions are that mission time is much smaller, than check intervals and all components have constant failure rates. Analytical expressions for reliability calculates are provided, based on fault tree and Markov modeling techniques (for two and three redundant systems with inspection intervals). The proposed methodology yields more accurate results than are obtained by not using check intervals or using half check interval times. The conventional analysis assuming that at the beginning of each mission system is as new, give an optimistic prediction of system reliability. Some examples of reliability calculations of mechanical systems with latent failures and establishing optimum check intervals are provided

  12. Piping inspection round robin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heasler, P.G.; Doctor, S.R.

    1996-04-01

    The piping inspection round robin was conducted in 1981 at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to quantify the capability of ultrasonics for inservice inspection and to address some aspects of reliability for this type of nondestructive evaluation (NDE). The round robin measured the crack detection capabilities of seven field inspection teams who employed procedures that met or exceeded the 1977 edition through the 1978 addenda of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Section 11 Code requirements. Three different types of materials were employed in the study (cast stainless steel, clad ferritic, and wrought stainless steel), and two different types of flaws were implanted into the specimens (intergranular stress corrosion cracks (IGSCCs) and thermal fatigue cracks (TFCs)). When considering near-side inspection, far-side inspection, and false call rate, the overall performance was found to be best in clad ferritic, less effective in wrought stainless steel and the worst in cast stainless steel. Depth sizing performance showed little correlation with the true crack depths

  13. Controls on stream network branching angles, tested using landscape evolution models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theodoratos, Nikolaos; Seybold, Hansjörg; Kirchner, James W.

    2016-04-01

    Stream networks are striking landscape features. The topology of stream networks has been extensively studied, but their geometry has received limited attention. Analyses of nearly 1 million stream junctions across the contiguous United States [1] have revealed that stream branching angles vary systematically with climate and topographic gradients at continental scale. Stream networks in areas with wet climates and gentle slopes tend to have wider branching angles than in areas with dry climates or steep slopes, but the mechanistic linkages underlying these empirical correlations remain unclear. Under different climatic and topographic conditions different runoff generation mechanisms and, consequently, transport processes are dominant. Models [2] and experiments [3] have shown that the relative strength of channel incision versus diffusive hillslope transport controls the spacing between valleys, an important geometric property of stream networks. We used landscape evolution models (LEMs) to test whether similar factors control network branching angles as well. We simulated stream networks using a wide range of hillslope diffusion and channel incision parameters. The resulting branching angles vary systematically with the parameters, but by much less than the regional variability in real-world stream networks. Our results suggest that the competition between hillslope and channeling processes influences branching angles, but that other mechanisms may also be needed to account for the variability in branching angles observed in the field. References: [1] H. Seybold, D. H. Rothman, and J. W. Kirchner, 2015, Climate's watermark in the geometry of river networks, Submitted manuscript. [2] J. T. Perron, W. E. Dietrich, and J. W. Kirchner, 2008, Controls on the spacing of first-order valleys, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, F04016. [3] K. E. Sweeney, J. J. Roering, and C. Ellis, 2015, Experimental evidence for hillslope control of landscape scale, Science, 349

  14. 9 CFR 381.38 - Overtime and holiday inspection service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Overtime and holiday inspection... Inspection; Overtime and Holiday Service; Billing Establishments § 381.38 Overtime and holiday inspection... Program, at the rate specified in § 391.3, for the cost of the inspection service furnished on any holiday...

  15. Conceptual design for transmission line inspection robot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jalal, M F Abdul; Sahari, K S Mohamed; Anuar, A; Arshad, A D Mohd; Idris, M S

    2013-01-01

    Power transmission line is used for power distribution purposes due to their cost effective measure compared to underlying cable. However, prolonged exposure to natural weather may cause fatigue stress to the lines as well as induce material failure. Therefore, periodical line inspection is considered uttermost important as a preventive measure to avoid power outage. However, transmission line inspection has always been a high risk and expensive work. Hazardous works that may harm operator as well as routine that requires precise handling can be performed by robots. Various types of robots have been designed and developed for line inspection but only perform well on a straight and continuous line. As these robots encounter an obstacle during the inspection, then the real problem in terms of robot stability and smooth operation arises. In this paper, conceptual design and evaluation for transmission line inspection robot is presented. The inspection robot mobile robot must be able to bypass or avoid obstacles as it travels along the power transmission line.

  16. Ultrasonic inspection of austenitic welds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tomlinson, J R; Wagg, A R; Whittle, M J [N.D.T. Applications Centre, CEGB, Manchester (United Kingdom)

    1980-11-01

    The metallurgical structure of austenitic welds is described and contrasted with that found in ferritic welds. It is shown that this structure imparts a marked elastic anisotropy in the ultrasonic propagation parameters. Measurements of variations in the apparent attenuation of sound and deviations in the beam direction are described. The measurements are interpreted in terms of the measured velocity anisotropy. Two applications of the fundamental work are described. In the first it is shown how, by using short pulse compression wave probes, and with major modification of the welding procedure, a stainless steel fillet weld in an AGR boiler can be inspected. In the second application, alternative designs of a transition butt weld have been compared for ease of ultrasonic inspection. The effects of two different welding processes on such an inspection are described. Finally, the paper examines the prospects for future development of inspection and defect-sizing techniques for austenitic welds. (author)

  17. The long term response of stream flow to climatic warming in headwater streams of interior Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeremy B. Jones; Amanda J. Rinehart

    2010-01-01

    Warming in the boreal forest of interior Alaska will have fundamental impacts on stream ecosystems through changes in stream hydrology resulting from upslope loss of permafrost, alteration of availability of soil moisture, and the distribution of vegetation. We examined stream flow in three headwater streams of the Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed (CPCRW) in...

  18. Dynamical modeling of tidal streams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bovy, Jo

    2014-01-01

    I present a new framework for modeling the dynamics of tidal streams. The framework consists of simple models for the initial action-angle distribution of tidal debris, which can be straightforwardly evolved forward in time. Taking advantage of the essentially one-dimensional nature of tidal streams, the transformation to position-velocity coordinates can be linearized and interpolated near a small number of points along the stream, thus allowing for efficient computations of a stream's properties in observable quantities. I illustrate how to calculate the stream's average location (its 'track') in different coordinate systems, how to quickly estimate the dispersion around its track, and how to draw mock stream data. As a generative model, this framework allows one to compute the full probability distribution function and marginalize over or condition it on certain phase-space dimensions as well as convolve it with observational uncertainties. This will be instrumental in proper data analysis of stream data. In addition to providing a computationally efficient practical tool for modeling the dynamics of tidal streams, the action-angle nature of the framework helps elucidate how the observed width of the stream relates to the velocity dispersion or mass of the progenitor, and how the progenitors of 'orphan' streams could be located. The practical usefulness of the proposed framework crucially depends on the ability to calculate action-angle variables for any orbit in any gravitational potential. A novel method for calculating actions, frequencies, and angles in any static potential using a single orbit integration is described in the Appendix.

  19. Influence of the inservice inspection on the reliability of a pressure vessel under stress corrosion cracking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Francisco, Alexandre S.; Melo, Paulo F.F.

    1997-01-01

    The influence of in-service inspection on the structural integrity of a pressure vessel subjected to an aggressive environment is assessed in a quantitative manner with the purpose of establishing an optimal inspection program. For illustration purposes, the specific case of a LPG storage vessel under stress corrosion cracking is analysed, for which some failure data is available. Its failure probability is evaluated by means of a model published in the literature, for which three probabilities are taken into account: the first, concerns the distribution of initial crack depths; the second one accounts for the probability of detecting these cracks by nondestructive testing and finally, the probability of not detecting a crack until the next inspection is undertaken. The analysis is performed by means of a trade-off between two important parameters: the inspection sensitivity and the inspection interval. The influence of these parameters on the probability of failure is displayed in a graphical fashion where the benefits which can be achieved in various inspections programs are clearly revealed. Decisions can then be taken as to the optimal parameters. (author). 8 refs., 2 figs

  20. A study on ultrasonic inspection of long steel pipes using lamb waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Moon Ho

    1996-02-01

    An ultrasonic inspection technique with use of Lamb waves was evaluated to detect and determine the exact location of flaws present in long steel pipes. Since multiple modes of Lamb waves are generated in the inspected pipes due to their dispersive characteristics, selection of a specific Lamb wave mode is very important for inspection of flaws. Experimental studies of flaw detectability with use of each Lamb wave mode, namely, A 0 , S 0 , A 1 , and S 1 mode and their ultrasonic attenuation characteristics were conducted. Experimental results showed that A 0 mode is the most effective for detection and exact determination of the location of flaws. A lucite wedge containing water column that generates the A 0 Lamb wave mode was developed and used in the present inspection study. It was found that the ultrasonic beam divergence after its wrapping around once the inspected pipe interferes with exact determination of the location of flaws and that maximum reflection signals are obtained when the transducer is located axially offset from the straight line with the position of the flaw. The present study showed feasibility of ultrasonic inspection with use of Lamb waves for detection of flaws in several meters long insulated or inaccessible steel pipes