WorldWideScience

Sample records for grand challenge applications

  1. Workshop and conference on Grand Challenges applications and software technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1993-12-31

    On May 4--7, 1993, nine federal agencies sponsored a four-day meeting on Grand Challenge applications and software technology. The objective was to bring High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Grand Challenge applications research groups supported under the federal HPCC program together with HPCC software technologists to: discuss multidisciplinary computational science research issues and approaches, identify major technology challenges facing users and providers, and refine software technology requirements for Grand Challenge applications research. The first day and a half focused on applications. Presentations were given by speakers from universities, national laboratories, and government agencies actively involved in Grand Challenge research. Five areas of research were covered: environmental and earth sciences; computational physics; computational biology, chemistry, and materials sciences; computational fluid and plasma dynamics; and applications of artificial intelligence. The next day and a half was spent in working groups in which the applications researchers were joined by software technologists. Nine breakout sessions took place: I/0, Data, and File Systems; Parallel Programming Paradigms; Performance Characterization and Evaluation of Massively Parallel Processing Applications; Program Development Tools; Building Multidisciplinary Applications; Algorithm and Libraries I; Algorithms and Libraries II; Graphics and Visualization; and National HPCC Infrastructure.

  2. Grand Challenges for Environmental Magnetism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verosub, K. L.

    2009-05-01

    The development of new, inexpensive, and rapid geochemical methods for determining the ages of geologic materials, their elemental composition, and their isotopic ratios over a broad array of elements puts into sharp focus the question: What information can environmental magnetic methods provide that can't be obtained using these other methods? Because iron is ubiquitous in the Earth's crust and because it exists in so many different forms, a discipline that looks in detail at iron-bearing minerals does have the potential to make significant contributions to the study of surficial processes. However, to reach that potential requires the development of new environmental magnetic methods. I would like to put forward three Grand Challenges for environmental magnetism that have the potential to move the field forward to a new level of scientific sophistication and that will allow environmental magnetists to compete successfully in a world increasingly dominated by geochemists. The first Grand Challenge is the development of new techniques that lead to the direct and unambiguous identification of the full suite of magnetic minerals. For many environmental magnetic applications, the key magnetic minerals are not just magnetite and hematite but also iron oxy-hydroxides (goethite, lepidocrocite, akaganeite, ferrihydrite), carbonates (siderite) and sulfides (pyrrhotite and greigite) as well as compounds involving iron and other transition metals (cobalt and nickel). The second Grand Challenge is the development of new analytical methods that provide specific quantitative values for the amount of each magnetic mineral present in a sample. One promising approach to this problem is the application of two- or three-component multivariate analysis to arrays of downcore environmental magnetic parameters. The third Grand Challenge is the development of new ways of determining, not just the average values, but the actual distributions of grain sizes and coercivities of each mineral

  3. 2010 Panel on the Biomaterials Grand Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichert, William “Monty”; Ratner, Buddy D.; Anderson, James; Coury, Art; Hoffman, Allan S.; Laurencin, Cato T.; Tirrell, David

    2014-01-01

    In 2009, the National Academy for Engineering issued the Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century comprised of 14 technical challenges that must be addressed to build a healthy, profitable, sustainable, and secure global community (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org). Although crucial, none of the NEA Grand Challenges adequately addressed the challenges that face the biomaterials community. In response to the NAE Grand Challenges, Monty Reichert of Duke University organized a panel entitled Grand Challenges in Biomaterials at the at the 2010 Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting in Seattle. Six members of the National Academies—Buddy Ratner, James Anderson, Allan Hoffman, Art Coury, Cato Laurencin, and David Tirrell—were asked to propose a grand challenge to the audience that, if met, would significantly impact the future of biomaterials and medical devices. Successfully meeting these challenges will speed the 60-plus year transition from commodity, off-the-shelf biomaterials to bioengineered chemistries, and biomaterial devices that will significantly advance our ability to address patient needs and also to create new market opportunities. PMID:21171147

  4. The Grand Challenges of Nanotechnology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lane, Neal

    2001-01-01

    Amazing breakthroughs and advances continue to be made in nanoscale science and engineering and the rapidly emerging field of nanotechnology, including near-commercial applications in biomedicine, computing and environmental protection. The National Nanotechnology Initiative, begun by the Clinton Administration has placed nanoscale research on a new funding trajectory. But, many 'grand challenges' must be overcome, technical ones as well as those related to funding, science and technology workforce, and the need for stronger collaboration across discipline, organizations, government agencies and with other countries

  5. Next Generation Innovation Policy and Grand Challenges

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuhlmann, Stefan; Rip, Arie

    2018-01-01

    The paper explores transformative ways to address Grand Challenges, while locating them in a broader diagnosis of ongoing changes. Coping with Grand Challenges is a challenge in its own right, for policy as well as for science, technology, and innovation actors. The paper presents building blocks

  6. Managing locality in grand challenge applications: a case study of the gyrokinetic toroidal code

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marin, G; Jin, G; Mellor-Crummey, J [Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 (United States)

    2008-07-15

    Achieving high performance with grand challenge applications on today's large-scale parallel systems requires tailoring applications for the characteristics of the modern microprocessor architectures. As part of the US Department of Energy's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, we studied and tuned the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), a particle-in-cell code for simulating turbulent transport of particles and energy in burning plasma, developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In this paper, we present a performance study of the application that revealed several opportunities for improving performance by enhancing its data locality. We tuned GTC by performing three kinds of transformations: static data structure reorganization to improve spatial locality, loop nest restructuring for better temporal locality, and dynamic data reordering at run-time to enhance both spatial and temporal reuse. Experimental results show that these changes improve execution time by more than 20% on large parallel systems, including a Cray XT4.

  7. Managing locality in grand challenge applications: a case study of the gyrokinetic toroidal code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marin, G; Jin, G; Mellor-Crummey, J

    2008-01-01

    Achieving high performance with grand challenge applications on today's large-scale parallel systems requires tailoring applications for the characteristics of the modern microprocessor architectures. As part of the US Department of Energy's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, we studied and tuned the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), a particle-in-cell code for simulating turbulent transport of particles and energy in burning plasma, developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In this paper, we present a performance study of the application that revealed several opportunities for improving performance by enhancing its data locality. We tuned GTC by performing three kinds of transformations: static data structure reorganization to improve spatial locality, loop nest restructuring for better temporal locality, and dynamic data reordering at run-time to enhance both spatial and temporal reuse. Experimental results show that these changes improve execution time by more than 20% on large parallel systems, including a Cray XT4

  8. Coordinated Exploration for Grand Challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørding Olsen, Anders; Sofka, Wolfgang; Grimpe, Christoph

    2016-01-01

    Grand challenges are among the most complex problems for modern societies. Many governments and foundations provide substantial resources to encourage the search for solutions. Due to the significance of these problems, organizations often form partnerships in what we call search consortia to eng...

  9. Scientific Grand Challenges: Crosscutting Technologies for Computing at the Exascale - February 2-4, 2010, Washington, D.C.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khaleel, Mohammad A.

    2011-02-06

    The goal of the "Scientific Grand Challenges - Crosscutting Technologies for Computing at the Exascale" workshop in February 2010, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research and the National Nuclear Security Administration, was to identify the elements of a research and development agenda that will address these challenges and create a comprehensive exascale computing environment. This exascale computing environment will enable the science applications identified in the eight previously held Scientific Grand Challenges Workshop Series.

  10. First-Year Students' Attitudes towards the Grand Challenges and Nanotechnology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lakin, Joni M.; Han, Yi; Davis, Edward

    2016-01-01

    The "Grand Challenges" for Engineering are an effort to portray engineering as a field that has profound impacts on society. This study explores the level of interest first-year engineering students had in various "Grand Challenges" and in nanotechnology topics. We administered a survey to a large sample of students enrolled in…

  11. Using Grand Challenges to Teach Science: A Biology-Geology Collaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyford, M.; Myers, J. D.

    2012-12-01

    Three science courses at the University of Wyoming explore the inextricable connections between science and society by centering on grand challenges. Two of these courses are introductory integrated science courses for non-majors while the third is an upper level course for majors and non-majors. Through collaboration, the authors have developed these courses to explore the grand challenges of energy, water and climate. Each course focuses on the fundamental STEM principles required for a citizen to understand each grand challenge. However, the courses also emphasize the non-STEM perspectives (e.g., economics, politics, human well-being, externalities) that underlie each grand challenge and argue that creating equitable, sustainable and just solutions to the grand challenges hinges on an understanding of STEM and non-STEM perspectives. Moreover, the authors also consider the multitude of personal perspectives individuals bring to the classroom (e.g., values, beliefs, empathy misconceptions) that influence any stakeholder's ability to engage in fruitful discussions about grand challenge solutions. Discovering Science (LIFE 1002) focuses on the grand challenges of energy and climate. Students attend three one-hour lectures, one two-hour lab and a one-hour discussion each week. Lectures emphasize the STEM and non-STEM principles underlying each grand challenge. Laboratory activities are designed to be interdisciplinary and engage students in inquiry-driven activities to reinforce concepts from lecture and to model how science is conducted. Labs also expose students to the difficulties often associated with scientific studies, the limits of science, and the inherent uncertainties associated with scientific findings. Discussion sessions provide an opportunity for students to explore the complexity of the grand challenges from STEM and non-STEM perspectives, and expose the multitude of personal perspectives an individual might harbor related to each grand challenge

  12. Grand societal challenges in information systems research and education

    CERN Document Server

    vom Brocke, Jan; Hofmann, Sara; Tumbas, Sanja

    2015-01-01

    This book examines how information systems research and education can play a major role in contributing to solutions to the Societal Grand Challenges formulated in "The Millennium Project" (millenium-project.org). Individual chapters focus on specific challenges, review existing approaches and contributions towards solutions in information systems research and outline a research agenda for these challenges. The topics considered in this volume range from climate change, population growth, global ICT availability, breakthroughs in science and technology and energy demand to ethical decision-making, policymaking, gender status and transnational crime prevention. It is the first book to present ideas on how the Information Systems discipline can contribute to the solution on this wide spectrum of grand societal challenges.

  13. Grand Challenges of Enterprise Integration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brosey, W.D; Neal, R.E.; Marks, D.

    2001-04-01

    Enterprise Integration connects and combines people, processes, systems, and technologies to ensure that the right people and the right processes have the right information and the right resources at the right time. A consensus roadmap for Technologies for Enterprise Integration was created as part of an industry/government/academia partnership in the Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative (IMTI). Two of the grand challenges identified by the roadmapping effort will be addressed here--Customer Responsive Enterprises and Totally Connected Enterprises. Each of these challenges is briefly discussed as to the current state of industry and the future vision as developed in the roadmap.

  14. Grand challenges for integrated USGS science—A workshop report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenni, Karen E.; Goldhaber, Martin B.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Baron, Jill S.; Bristol, R. Sky; Cantrill, Mary; Exter, Paul E.; Focazio, Michael J.; Haines, John W.; Hay, Lauren E.; Hsu, Leslie; Labson, Victor F.; Lafferty, Kevin D.; Ludwig, Kristin A.; Milly, Paul C. D.; Morelli, Toni L.; Morman, Suzette A.; Nassar, Nedal T.; Newman, Timothy R.; Ostroff, Andrea C.; Read, Jordan S.; Reed, Sasha C.; Shapiro, Carl D.; Smith, Richard A.; Sanford, Ward E.; Sohl, Terry L.; Stets, Edward G.; Terando, Adam J.; Tillitt, Donald E.; Tischler, Michael A.; Toccalino, Patricia L.; Wald, David J.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Wein, Anne; Weltzin, Jake F.; Zimmerman, Christian E.

    2017-06-30

    Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of advancing the traditional Earth science disciplines and identifying opportunities to integrate USGS science across disciplines to address complex societal problems. The USGS science strategy for 2007–2017 laid out key challenges in disciplinary and interdisciplinary arenas, culminating in a call for increased focus on a number of crosscutting science directions. Ten years on, to further the goal of integrated science and at the request of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), a workshop with three dozen invited scientists spanning different disciplines and career stages in the Bureau convened on February 7–10, 2017, at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis in Fort Collins, Colorado.The workshop focused on identifying “grand challenges” for integrated USGS science. Individual participants identified nearly 70 potential grand challenges before the workshop and through workshop discussions. After discussion, four overarching grand challenges emerged:Natural resource security,Societal risk from existing and emerging threats,Smart infrastructure development, andAnticipatory science for changing landscapes.Participants also identified a “comprehensive science challenge” that highlights the development of integrative science, data, models, and tools—all interacting in a modular framework—that can be used to address these and other future grand challenges:Earth Monitoring, Analyses, and Projections (EarthMAP)EarthMAP is our long-term vision for an integrated scientific framework that spans traditional scientific boundaries and disciplines, and integrates the full portfolio of USGS science: research, monitoring, assessment, analysis, and information delivery.The Department of Interior, and the Nation in general, have a vast array of information needs. The USGS meets these needs by having a broadly trained and agile scientific workforce. Encouraging and supporting

  15. US DOE Grand Challenge in Computational Accelerator Physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryne, R.; Habib, S.; Qiang, J.; Ko, K.; Li, Z.; McCandless, B.; Mi, W.; Ng, C.; Saparov, M.; Srinivas, V.; Sun, Y.; Zhan, X.; Decyk, V.; Golub, G.

    1998-01-01

    Particle accelerators are playing an increasingly important role in basic and applied science, and are enabling new accelerator-driven technologies. But the design of next-generation accelerators, such as linear colliders and high intensity linacs, will require a major advance in numerical modeling capability due to extremely stringent beam control and beam loss requirements, and the presence of highly complex three-dimensional accelerator components. To address this situation, the U.S. Department of Energy has approved a ''Grand Challenge'' in Computational Accelerator Physics, whose primary goal is to develop a parallel modeling capability that will enable high performance, large scale simulations for the design, optimization, and numerical validation of next-generation accelerators. In this paper we report on the status of the Grand Challenge

  16. New capabilities in the HENP grand challenge storage access system and its application at RHIC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernardo, L.; Gibbard, B.; Malon, D.; Nordberg, H.; Olson, D.; Porter, R.; Shoshani, A.; Sim, A.; Vaniachine, A.; Wenaus, T.; Wu, K.; Zimmerman, D.

    2000-01-01

    The High Energy and Nuclear Physics Data Access Grand Challenge project has developed an optimizing storage access software system that was prototyped at RHIC. It is currently undergoing integration with the STAR experiment in preparation for data taking that starts in mid-2000. The behavior and lessons learned in the RHIC Mock Data Challenge exercises are described as well as the observed performance under conditions designed to characterize scalability. Up to 250 simultaneous queries were tested and up to 10 million events across 7 event components were involved in these queries. The system coordinates the staging of ''bundles'' of files from the HPSS tape system, so that all the needed components of each event are in disk cache when accessed by the application software. The caching policy algorithm for the coordinated bundle staging is described in the paper. The initial prototype implementation interfaced to the Objectivity/DB. In this latest version, it evolved to work with arbitrary files and use CORBA interfaces to the tag database and file catalog services. The interface to the tag database and the MySQL-based file catalog services used by STAR are described along with the planned usage scenarios

  17. Is it possible to give scientific solutions to Grand Challenges? On the idea of grand challenges for life science research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Efstathiou, Sophia

    2016-04-01

    This paper argues that challenges that are grand in scope such as "lifelong health and wellbeing", "climate action", or "food security" cannot be addressed through scientific research only. Indeed scientific research could inhibit addressing such challenges if scientific analysis constrains the multiple possible understandings of these challenges into already available scientific categories and concepts without translating between these and everyday concerns. This argument builds on work in philosophy of science and race to postulate a process through which non-scientific notions become part of science. My aim is to make this process available to scrutiny: what I call founding everyday ideas in science is both culturally and epistemologically conditioned. Founding transforms a common idea into one or more scientifically relevant ones, which can be articulated into descriptively thicker and evaluatively deflated terms and enable operationalisation and measurement. The risk of founding however is that it can invisibilise or exclude from realms of scientific scrutiny interpretations that are deemed irrelevant, uninteresting or nonsensical in the domain in question-but which may remain salient for addressing grand-in-scope challenges. The paper considers concepts of "wellbeing" in development economics versus in gerontology to illustrate this process. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Bringing Seismology's Grand Challenges to the Undergraduate Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benoit, M. H.; Taber, J.; Hubenthal, M.

    2011-12-01

    The "Seismological Grand Challenges in Understanding Earth's Dynamic Systems," a community-written long-range science plan for the next decade, poses 10 questions to guide fundamental seismological research. Written in an approachable fashion suitable for policymakers, the broad questions and supporting discussion contained in this document offer an ideal framework for the development of undergraduate curricular materials. Leveraging this document, we have created a collection of inquiry-based classroom modules that utilize authentic data to modernize seismological instruction in 100 and 200 level undergraduate courses. The modules not only introduce undergraduates to the broad questions that the seismological community seeks to answer in the future but also showcase the numerous areas where modern seismological research is actively contributing to our understanding of fundamental Earth processes. To date 6 in-depth explorations that correspond to the Grand Challenges document have been developed. The specific topics for each exploration were selected to showcase modern seismological research while also covering topics commonly included in the curriculum of these introductory classes. Examples of activities that have been created and their corresponding Grand Challenge include: -A guided inquiry that introduces students to episodic tremor and slip and compares the GPS and seismic signatures of ETS with those produced from standard tectonic earthquakes (Grand Challenge "How do faults slip?"). - A laboratory exercise where students engage in b-value mapping of volcanic earthquakes to assess potential eruption hazards (How do magmas ascend and erupt?). - A module that introduce students to glacial earthquakes in Greenland and compares their frequency and spatial distribution to tectonic earthquakes (How do processes in the ocean and atmosphere interact with the solid Earth?). What is the relationship between stress and strain in the lithosphere? - An activity that

  19. Grand Challenges in Music Information Research

    OpenAIRE

    Goto, Masataka

    2012-01-01

    This paper discusses some grand challenges in which music information research will impact our daily lives and our society in the future. Here, some fundamental questions are how to provide the best music for each person, how to predict music trends, how to enrich human-music relationships, how to evolve new music, and how to address environmental, energy issues by using music technologies. Our goal is to increase both attractiveness and social impacts of music information research in the fut...

  20. The Grand Challenges Discourse: Transforming Identity Work in Science and Science Policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaldewey, David

    2018-01-01

    This article analyzes the concept of "grand challenges" as part of a shift in how scientists and policymakers frame and communicate their respective agendas. The history of the grand challenges discourse helps to understand how identity work in science and science policy has been transformed in recent decades. Furthermore, the question is raised whether this discourse is only an indicator, or also a factor in this transformation. Building on conceptual history and historical semantics, the two parts of the article reconstruct two discursive shifts. First, the observation that in scientific communication references to "problems" are increasingly substituted by references to "challenges" indicates a broader cultural trend of how attitudes towards what is problematic have shifted in the last decades. Second, as the grand challenges discourse is rooted in the sphere of sports and competition, it introduces a specific new set of societal values and practices into the spheres of science and technology. The article concludes that this process can be characterized as the sportification of science, which contributes to self-mobilization and, ultimately, to self-optimization of the participating scientists, engineers, and policymakers.

  1. Building a Course on Global Sustainability using the grand challenges of Energy-Water-Climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, J. D.

    2012-12-01

    GEOL1600: Global Sustainability: Managing the Earth's Resources is a lower division integrated science course at the University of Wyoming that fulfills the university's science requirement. Course content and context has been developed using the grand challenge nexus of energy-water-and climate (EWC). The interconnection of these issues, their social relevance and timeliness has provided a framework that gives students an opportunity to recognize why STEM is relevant to their lives regardless of their ultimate professional career choices. The EWC nexus provides the filter to sieve the course's STEM content. It also provides an ideal mechanism by which the non-STEM perspectives important in grand challenge solutions can be seamlessly incorporated in the course. Through a combination of content and context, the relevance of these issues engage students in their own learning. Development of the course followed the Grand Challenge Scientific Literacy (GCSL) model independently developed by the author and two colleagues at the University of Wyoming. This course model stresses science principles centered on the nature of science (e.g., fundamental premises, habits of mind, critical thinking) and unifying scientific concepts (e.g., methods and tools, experimentation, modeling). Grand challenge principles identify the STEM and non-STEM concepts needed to understand the grand challenges, drawing on multiple STEM and non-STEM disciplines and subjects (i.e., economics, politics, unintended consequences, roles of stakeholders). Using the EWC nexus filter and building on the Grand Challenge Principles, specific content included in the course is selected is that most relevant to understanding the Grand Challenges, thereby stressing content depth over breadth. Because quantitative data and reasoning is critical to effectively evaluating challenge solutions, QR is a component of nearly all class activities, while engineering and technology aspects of grand challenges are

  2. Fostering Scientific Literacy: Establishing Social Relevance via the Grand Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyford, M. E.; Myers, J. D.; Buss, A.

    2010-12-01

    Numerous studies and polls suggest the general public’s understanding of science and scientific literacy remain woefully inadequate despite repeated calls for improvement over the last 150 years. This inability to improve scientific literacy significantly is a complex problem likely driven by a number of factors. However, we argue that past calls and efforts for improving scientific literacy have failed to: 1) articulate a truly meaningful justification for society to foster a scientifically literate public; 2) provide a rationale that motivates individuals of diverse backgrounds to become scientifically literate; 3) consider the impact of personal perspective, e.g. values, beliefs, attitudes, etc., on learning; and 4) offer a relevant and manageable framework in which to define scientific literacy. For instance, past calls for improving scientific literacy, e.g. the U.S. is behind the Soviets in the space race, U.S students rank below country X in math and science, etc., have lacked justification, personal motivation and a comprehensive framework for defining scientific literacy. In these cases, the primary justification for improving science education and scientific literacy was to regain international dominance in the space race or to advance global standing according to test results. These types of calls also articulate short-term goals that are rendered moot once they have been achieved. At the same time, teaching practices have commonly failed to consider the perspectives students bring to the classroom. Many STEM faculty do not address issues of personal perspective through ignorance or the desire to avoid controversial subjects, e g. evolution, climate change. We propose that the ‘grand challenges’ (e.g., energy, climate change, antibacterial resistance, water, etc.) humankind currently faces provides a compelling framework for developing courses and curricula well-suited for improving scientific literacy. A grand challenge paradigm offers four

  3. A BLUEPRINT FOR IMPLEMENTING GRAND CHALLENGE SCHOLARS’ PROGRAMME: A CASE STUDY OF TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MUSHTAK AL-ATABI

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The National Academy for Engineering announced 14 Grand Challenges for the 21st Century engineers to address in order to ensure a sustainable future for the generations to come. These grand challenges are in four broad areas, namely, energy and environment, health, security and learning and computation. This paper reports on a Grand Challenges Scholars’ Programme that is developed to prepare the engineering students to be able to address the grand challenges using the CDIO framework and focusing on five components; research experience, interdisciplinary curriculum, entrepreneurship, global dimension and service learning. The programme is voluntary and the candidates are expected to commit additional learning time. The programme was launched with 16 participants who are expected to graduate in 2016. A preliminary assessment of the programs shows that the participants found the programme useful in developing an array of CDIO skills. The School intends to continue offering this programme with the intention of integrating it with a holistic education approach.

  4. Grand challenge problems in environmental modeling and remediation: Groundwater contaminant transport. Final project report 1998

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-04-01

    The over-reaching goal of the Groundwater Grand Challenge component of the Partnership in Computational Science (PICS) was to develop and establish the massively parallel approach for the description of groundwater flow and transport and to address the problem of uncertainties in the data and its interpretation. This necessitated the development of innovative algorithms and the implementation of massively parallel computational tools to provide a suite of simulators for groundwater flow and transport in heterogeneous media. This report summarizes the activities and deliverables of the Groundwater Grand Challenge project funded through the High Performance Computing grand challenge program of the Department of Energy from 1995 through 1997

  5. Grand Challenges and Great Potential in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hlas, Anne Cummings

    2018-01-01

    This article argues for the field of foreign languages to begin to identify and define our Grand Challenges, which are difficult yet solvable problems facing our field. Seeking answers to these challenges can provide new opportunities for collaboration and can spur new directions and innovation within language learning and teaching. Researchable…

  6. Grand challenges in technology enhanced learning outcomes of the 3rd Alpine Rendez-Vous

    CERN Document Server

    Fischer, Frank; Sutherland, Rosamund; Zirn, Lena

    2014-01-01

    This book presents a key piece of the vision and strategy developed in STELLAR. It sets out a new mid-term agenda by defining Grand Challenges for research and development in technology-enhanced learning. Other than mere technology prizes, STELLAR Grand Challenges deal with problems at the interface of social and technical sciences. They pose problems that can be solved only in interdisciplinary collaboration. The descriptions of the Grand Challenge Problems were sent out to a number of stakeholders from industry, academia, and policy-making who responded with insightful, creative and critical comments bringing in their specific perspectives. This book will inspire everyone interested in TEL and its neighboring disciplines in their future projects. All of the listed problems, first hints with respect to the approach, measurable success indicators and funding sources are outlined. The challenges focus on what noted experts regard as important upcoming, pending, and innovative fields of research, the solution o...

  7. 1st oPAC Topical Workshop: Grand Challenges in Accelerator Optimisation

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    Accelerators are key instruments for fundamental research, health and industry applications. International collaboration is very important for their continued optimisation. To address this oPAC is organising this two-day international workshop on Grand Challenges in Accelerator Optimisation. The workshop will provide an overview of the current state of the art in beam physics, numerical simulations and beam instrumentation and highlight existing limitations. It will discuss research and development being undertaken and ambitions to further improve the performance of existing and future facilities. In addition to invited talks, there will be industry displays and a special seminar covering recent LHC discoveries. All participants will have an opportunity to contribute a poster.

  8. Analysis of the mass media coverage of the Gates Foundation grand challenges in global health initiative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, G

    2009-03-01

    The Grand Challenges were launched in 2003 by the Gates Foundation and other collaborators to address the health needs of developing countries. This paper outlines the current problem with health research and development in the context of inequality as conveyed by the 90/10 divide. The paper then looks at the focus and nature of press reporting of global health issues by analysing how press articles have portrayed the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. Analysis of the mass media illustrates that the focus of reporting on the Grand Challenges tends to be on utilitarian themes, leaving issues related to justice and equity comparatively under-reported.

  9. Management as a science-based profession: a grand societal challenge

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Romme, A.G.L.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore how the quest for management as a science-based profession, conceived as a grand societal challenge, can be revitalized. A reflective approach is adopted by questioning some of the key assumptions made by management scholars, especially those that undermine

  10. Grand Challenges Canada: inappropriate emphasis and missed opportunities in global health research?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Charles P; Haddad, Slim; Birn, Anne-Emanuelle; Cole, Donald C; Labonte, Ronald; Roberts, Janet Hatcher; Schrecker, Ted; Sellen, Daniel; Zakus, David

    2011-01-01

    In May 2010, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) was launched with the mandate to identify global challenges in health that could be supported through the Government of Canada's Development Innovations Fund (DIF: $225 million over five years). The GCC offers a potentially excellent mechanism for taking Canada's participation in global health challenges "to a higher level". Recent GCC announcements raise new questions about the emphasis being placed on technological discovery or "catalytic" research. Missing so far are opportunities that the Fund could offer in order to support innovative research addressing i) health systems strengthening, ii) more effective delivery of existing interventions, and iii) policies and programs that address broader social determinants of health. The Canadian Grand Challenges announced to date risk pushing to the sidelines good translational and implementation science and early career-stage scientists addressing important social, environmental and political conditions that affect disease prevalence, progress and treatment; and the many unresolved challenges faced in bringing to scale proven interventions within resource-constrained health systems. We wish to register our concern at the apparent prioritization of biotechnical innovation research and the subordination of the social, environmental, economic and political context in which human health is either protected or eroded.

  11. Biological approaches for addressing the grand challenge of providing access to clean drinking water

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    The U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recently published a document presenting "Grand Challenges for Engineering". This list was proposed by leading engineers and scientists from around the world at the request of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Fourteen topics were selected for these grand challenges, and at least seven can be addressed using the tools and methods of biological engineering. Here we describe how biological engineers can address the challenge of providing access to clean drinking water. This issue must be addressed in part by removing or inactivating microbial and chemical contaminants in order to properly deliver water safe for human consumption. Despite many advances in technologies this challenge is expanding due to increased pressure on fresh water supplies and to new opportunities for growth of potentially pathogenic organisms. PMID:21453515

  12. Megatrends and grand challenges of cybercrime and cyberterrorism policy and research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koops, Bert Jaap; Akhgar, Babak; Brewster, Ben

    2016-01-01

    What are grand challenges of cybercrime and cyberterrorism policy and research for the coming one or two decades? To answer this question, we first need to grasp some major trends that influence the future of cybercrime and cyberterrorism, and the combatting thereof, in fundamental ways. This

  13. Grand Challenges and Chemical Engineering Curriculum--Developments at TU Dortmund University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kockmann, Norbert; Lutze, Philip; Gorak, Andrzej

    2016-01-01

    Chemical processing industry is progressively focusing their research activities and product placements in the areas of Grand Challenges (or Global Megatrends) such as mobility, energy, communication, or health care and food. Innovation in all these fields requires solving high complex problems, rapid product development as well as dealing with…

  14. Grand challenge problems in environmental modeling and remediation: groundwater contaminant transport

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Todd Arbogast; Steve Bryant; Clint N. Dawson; Mary F. Wheeler

    1998-08-31

    This report describes briefly the work of the Center for Subsurface Modeling (CSM) of the University of Texas at Austin (and Rice University prior to September 1995) on the Partnership in Computational Sciences Consortium (PICS) project entitled Grand Challenge Problems in Environmental Modeling and Remediation: Groundwater Contaminant Transport.

  15. Development of a Multi-functional Soft Robot (SNUMAX and Performance in RoboSoft Grand Challenge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun-Young Lee

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces SNUMAX, the grand winner of the RoboSoft Grand Challenge. SNUMAX was built to complete all the tasks of the challenge. Completing these tasks required robotic compliant components that could adapt to variable situations and environments and generate enough stiffness to maintain performance. SNUMAX has three key components: transformable origami wheels, a polymer-based variable stiffness manipulator, and an adaptive caging gripper. This paper describes the design of these components and how they worked together to allow the robot to perform the contest’s navigation and manipulation tasks.

  16. Proposed Grand Challenges in Geoscience Education Research: Articulating a Community Research Agenda

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semken, S. C.; St John, K. K.; Teasdale, R.; Ryker, K.; Riggs, E. M.; Pyle, E. J.; Petcovic, H. L.; McNeal, K.; McDaris, J. R.; Macdonald, H.; Kastens, K.; Cervato, C.

    2017-12-01

    Fourteen ago the Wingspread Project helped establish geoscience education research (GER) as an important research field and highlighted major research questions for GER at the time. More recently, the growth and interest in GER is evident from the increase in geoscience education research articles, the establishment of the NAGT GER Division, the creation of the GER Toolbox, an increase in GER graduate programs, and the growth of tenure-eligible GER faculty positions. As an emerging STEM education research field, the GER community is examining the current state of their research and considering the best course forward so that it can have the greatest collective impact on advancing teaching and learning in the geosciences. As part of an NSF-funded effort to meet this need, 45 researchers drafted priority research questions, or "Grand Challenges", that span 10 geoscience education research themes. These include research on: students' conceptual understanding of the solid and the fluid Earth, K-12 teacher preparation, teaching about Earth in the context of societal problems, access and success of underrepresented groups in the geosciences, spatial and temporal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and use of models, instructional strategies to improve geoscience learning, students' self-regulated learning, and faculty professional development and institutional change. For each theme, several Grand Challenges have been proposed; these have undergone one round of peer-review and are now ready for the AGU community to critically examine the proposed Grand Challenges and make suggestions on strategies for addressing them: http://nagt.org/nagt/geoedresearch/grand_challenges/feedback.html. We seek perspectives from geoscience education researchers, scholars, and reflective educators. It is our vision that the final outcomes of this community-grounded process will be a published guiding framework to (1) focus future GER on questions of high interest to the geoscience education

  17. CDOCKER and lambda λ -dynamics for prospective prediction in D3R Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Xinqiang; Hayes, Ryan L.; Vilseck, Jonah Z.; Charles, Murchtricia K.; Brooks, Charles L.

    2018-01-01

    The opportunity to prospectively predict ligand bound poses and free energies of binding to the Farnesoid X Receptor in the D3R Grand Challenge 2 provided a useful exercise to evaluate CHARMM based docking (CDOCKER) and λ-dynamics methodologies for use in "real-world" applications in computer aided drug design. In addition to measuring their current performance, several recent methodological developments have been analyzed retrospectively to highlight best procedural practices in future applications. For pose prediction with CDOCKER, when the protein structure used for rigid receptor docking was close to the crystallographic holo structure, reliable poses were obtained. Benzimidazoles, with a known holo receptor structure, were successfully docked with an average RMSD of 0.97 Å. Other non-benzimidazole ligands displayed less accuracy largely because the receptor structures we chose for docking were too different from the experimental holo structures. However, retrospective analysis has shown that when these ligands were re-docked into their holo structures, the average RMSD dropped to 1.18 Å for all ligands. When sulfonamides and spiros were docked with the apo structure, which agrees more with their holo structure than the structures we chose, five out of six ligands were correctly docked. These docking results emphasize the need for flexible receptor docking approaches. For λ-dynamics techniques, including multisite λ-dynamics (MSλD), reasonable agreement with experiment was observed for the 33 ligands investigated; root mean square errors of 2.08 and 1.67 kcal/mol were obtained for free energy sets 1 and 2, respectively. Retrospectively, soft-core potentials, adaptive landscape flattening, and biasing potential replica exchange (BP-REX) algorithms were critical to model large substituent perturbations with sufficient precision and within restrictive timeframes, such as was required with participation in Grand Challenge 2. These developments, their

  18. The Grand Challenge of Basin-Scale Groundwater Quality Management Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fogg, G. E.

    2017-12-01

    The last 50+ years of agricultural, urban and industrial land and water use practices have accelerated the degradation of groundwater quality in the upper portions of many major aquifer systems upon which much of the world relies for water supply. In the deepest and most extensive systems (e.g., sedimentary basins) that typically have the largest groundwater production rates and hold fresh groundwaters on decadal to millennial time scales, most of the groundwater is not yet contaminated. Predicting the long-term future groundwater quality in such basins is a grand scientific challenge. Moreover, determining what changes in land and water use practices would avert future, irreversible degradation of these massive freshwater stores is a grand challenge both scientifically and societally. It is naïve to think that the problem can be solved by eliminating or reducing enough of the contaminant sources, for human exploitation of land and water resources will likely always result in some contamination. The key lies in both reducing the contaminant sources and more proactively managing recharge in terms of both quantity and quality, such that the net influx of contaminants is sufficiently moderate and appropriately distributed in space and time to reverse ongoing groundwater quality degradation. Just as sustainable groundwater quantity management is greatly facilitated with groundwater flow management models, sustainable groundwater quality management will require the use of groundwater quality management models. This is a new genre of hydrologic models do not yet exist, partly because of the lack of modeling tools and the supporting research to model non-reactive as well as reactive transport on large space and time scales. It is essential that the contaminant hydrogeology community, which has heretofore focused almost entirely on point-source plume-scale problems, direct it's efforts toward the development of process-based transport modeling tools and analyses capable

  19. Engineering grand challenges and the attributes of the global engineer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guerra, Aida; Ulseth, Ron; Jonhson, Bart

    2017-01-01

    Technology has been changing world in ways never imagined. The ever-evolving society and rapid development posed different demands and challenges to the engineering profession. Addressing these challenges means to re-vision and reform the ways we educate future engineers and the attributes need...... to be enhanced. This paper reports a literature review with aim to (1) understand the different stakeholders’ perspectives, namely students, educators, and employers, (2) understand the profile of the global engineer (i.e. knowledge, competences and skills), and (3) outline and discuss learning strategies....... As a result, the paper presents the main gaps in the existing knowledge, formulates research hypothesis, and proposes a research design for a follow up empirical study to investigate further the engineering grand challenges, the attributes needed to solve them, and the learning environments required....

  20. Grand Challenges in Clinical Decision Support v10

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sittig, Dean F.; Wright, Adam; Osheroff, Jerome A.; Middleton, Blackford; Teich, Jonathan M.; Ash, Joan S.; Campbell, Emily; Bates, David W.

    2008-01-01

    There is a pressing need for high-quality, effective means of designing, developing, presenting, implementing, evaluating, and maintaining all types of clinical decision support capabilities for clinicians, patients and consumers. Using an iterative, consensus-building process we identified a rank-ordered list of the top 10 grand challenges in clinical decision support. This list was created to educate and inspire researchers, developers, funders, and policy-makers. The list of challenges in order of importance that they be solved if patients and organizations are to begin realizing the fullest benefits possible of these systems consists of: Improve the human-computer interface; Disseminate best practices in CDS design, development, and implementation; Summarize patient-level information; Prioritize and filter recommendations to the user; Create an architecture for sharing executable CDS modules and services; Combine recommendations for patients with co-morbidities; Prioritize CDS content development and implementation; Create internet-accessible clinical decision support repositories; Use freetext information to drive clinical decision support; Mine large clinical databases to create new CDS. Identification of solutions to these challenges is critical if clinical decision support is to achieve its potential and improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare. PMID:18029232

  1. Promoting Collaborative Problem-Solving Skills in a Course on Engineering Grand Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Tracy X. P.; Mickleborough, Neil C.

    2015-01-01

    The ability to solve problems with people of diverse backgrounds is essential for engineering graduates. A course on engineering grand challenges was designed to promote collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills. One unique component is that students need to work both within their own team and collaborate with the other team to tackle engineering…

  2. 75 FR 5634 - Grand Challenges of the 21st Century; Request for Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-03

    ... careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. There are multiple types of grand challenges. Some define important problems in a particular field of science and engineering. For example, in 1900... as those identified by the National Academy of Engineering; (3) partners (e.g., companies, investors...

  3. Grand Challenges for Biological and Environmental Research: A Long-Term Vision

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arkin, A.; Baliga, N.; Braam, J.; Church, G.; Collins, J; ; Cottingham, R.; Ecker, J.; Gerstein, M.; Gilna, P.; Greenberg, J.; Handelsman, J.; Hubbard, S.; Joachimiak, A.; Liao, J.; Looger, L.; Meyerowitz, E.; Mjolness, E.; Petsko, G.; Sayler, G.; Simpson, M.; Stacey, G.; Sussman, M.; Tiedje, J.; Bader, D.; Cessi, P.; Collins, W.; Denning, S.; Dickinson, R.; Easterling, D.; Edmonds, J.; Feddema, J.; Field, C.; Fridlind, A.; Fung, I.; Held, I.; Jackson, R.; Janetos, A.; Large, W.; Leinen, M.; Leung, R.; Long, S.; Mace, G.; Masiello, C.; Meehl, G.; Ort, D.; Otto-Bliesner, B.; Penner, J.; Prather, M.; Randall, D.; Rasch, P.; Schneider, E.; Shugart, H.; Thornton, P.; Washington, W.; Wildung, R.; Wiscombe, W.; Zak, D.; Zhang, M.; Bielicki, J.; Buford, M.; Cleland, E.; Dale, V.; Duke, C.; Ehleringer, J.; Hecht, A.; Kammen, D.; Marland, G.; Pataki, D.; Riley, M. Robertson, P.; Hubbard, S.

    2010-12-01

    outcomes and behaviors of complex biological and environmental systems, leading to robust solutions for DOE missions and strategic goals. In March 2010, the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee held the Grand Challenges for Biological and Environmental Research: A Long-Term Vision workshop to identify scientific opportunities and grand challenges for BER science in the coming decades and to develop an overall strategy for drafting a long-term vision for BER. Key workshop goals included: (1) Identifying the greatest scientific challenges in biology, climate, and the environment that DOE will face over a 20-year time horizon. (2) Describing how BER should be positioned to address those challenges. (3) Determining the new and innovative tools needed to advance BER science. (4) Suggesting how the workforce of the future should be trained in integrative system science. This report lays out grand research challenges for BER - in biological systems, climate, energy sustainability, computing, and education and workforce training - that can put society on a path to achieve the scientific evidence and predictive understanding needed to inform decision making and planning to address future energy needs, climate change, water availability, and land use.

  4. A Grand Challenge: Immortal Information and Through-Life Knowledge Management (KIM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Ball

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available ‘Immortal information and through-life knowledge management: strategies and tools for the emerging product-service business paradigm’, is a Grand Challenge project involving eleven different UK universities and incorporating substantial industry collaboration. It is investigating a range of issues associated with the move towards a product-service paradigm in the engineering sector, in particular the long-term curation of digital data, learning from production and use, and appropriate governance and management techniques.

  5. Groundwater Challenges of the Lower Rio Grande: A Case Study of Legal Issues in Texas and New Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Wheat

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In 1938, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado signed the Rio Grande Compact, establishing terms of apportionment for some of the water from the Rio Grande for the three states. Following congressional approval in 1939, this compact governs water allocation in a region with a variable climate and frequent drought conditions and established the Rio Grande Compact Commission, comprised of a commissioner from each state and one from the federal government, to enforce the compact. With an increasing population and declining surface water supply, the Compact has been tested among the parties and within the states themselves. In a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado (2013, Texas claims New Mexico is violating the Compact and Rio Grande Project Act by using water in excess of its apportionment through its allowance of diversions of surface and groundwater. The issue is further compounded by disputes within Texas over separate legal regimes for groundwater and surface water. Combined with growing scarcity issues, the allocation of water in the Lower Rio Grande presents a timely natural resource challenge. This review explores legal issues involved in the case as well as growing challenges of population growth, agricultural development needs, and water shortages.

  6. The New Global Governance Architectures on Grand Challenges and State Capacity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borrás, Susana

    . Aiming to address some specifically identified grand challenges the new governance architectures are creating broader and sustained conditions for problemsolving. But the extent to which they are able to generate the expected transformative change at the domestic level is an empirical question...... that remains open. This paper provides a framework for analyzing that by focusing on three main mediating factors at the domestic level, namely, the knowledge absorptive capacity of domestic actors, their organizational capacity, and their legitimacy as the communicative capacity with which they articulate...

  7. Network discovery, characterization, and prediction : a grand challenge LDRD final report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kegelmeyer, W. Philip, Jr.

    2010-11-01

    This report is the final summation of Sandia's Grand Challenge LDRD project No.119351, 'Network Discovery, Characterization and Prediction' (the 'NGC') which ran from FY08 to FY10. The aim of the NGC, in a nutshell, was to research, develop, and evaluate relevant analysis capabilities that address adversarial networks. Unlike some Grand Challenge efforts, that ambition created cultural subgoals, as well as technical and programmatic ones, as the insistence on 'relevancy' required that the Sandia informatics research communities and the analyst user communities come to appreciate each others needs and capabilities in a very deep and concrete way. The NGC generated a number of technical, programmatic, and cultural advances, detailed in this report. There were new algorithmic insights and research that resulted in fifty-three refereed publications and presentations; this report concludes with an abstract-annotated bibliography pointing to them all. The NGC generated three substantial prototypes that not only achieved their intended goals of testing our algorithmic integration, but which also served as vehicles for customer education and program development. The NGC, as intended, has catalyzed future work in this domain; by the end it had already brought in, in new funding, as much funding as had been invested in it. Finally, the NGC knit together previously disparate research staff and user expertise in a fashion that not only addressed our immediate research goals, but which promises to have created an enduring cultural legacy of mutual understanding, in service of Sandia's national security responsibilities in cybersecurity and counter proliferation.

  8. A Case Study in Competitive Technical and Market Intelligence Support and Lessons Learned for the uChemLab LDRD Grand Challenge Project; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    SOUTHWELL, EDWIN T.; GARCIA, MARIE L.; MEYERS, CHARLES E.

    2001-01-01

    The(mu)ChemLab(trademark) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Grand Challenge project began in October 1996 and ended in September 2000. The technical managers of the(mu)ChemLab(trademark) project and the LDRD office, with the support of a consultant, conducted a competitive technical and market demand intelligence analysis of the(mu)ChemLab(trademark). The managers used this knowledge to make project decisions and course adjustments. CTI/MDI positively impacted the project's technology development, uncovered potential technology partnerships, and supported eventual industry partner contacts. CTI/MDI analysis is now seen as due diligence and the(mu)ChemLab(trademark) project is now the model for other Sandia LDRD Grand Challenge undertakings. This document describes the CTI/MDI analysis and captures the more important ''lessons learned'' of this Grand Challenge project, as reported by the project's management team

  9. Hyperresolution global land surface modeling: Meeting a grand challenge for monitoring Earth's terrestrial water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Eric F.; Roundy, Joshua K.; Troy, Tara J.; van Beek, L. P. H.; Bierkens, Marc F. P.; Blyth, Eleanor; de Roo, Ad; DöLl, Petra; Ek, Mike; Famiglietti, James; Gochis, David; van de Giesen, Nick; Houser, Paul; Jaffé, Peter R.; Kollet, Stefan; Lehner, Bernhard; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.; Peters-Lidard, Christa; Sivapalan, Murugesu; Sheffield, Justin; Wade, Andrew; Whitehead, Paul

    2011-05-01

    Monitoring Earth's terrestrial water conditions is critically important to many hydrological applications such as global food production; assessing water resources sustainability; and flood, drought, and climate change prediction. These needs have motivated the development of pilot monitoring and prediction systems for terrestrial hydrologic and vegetative states, but to date only at the rather coarse spatial resolutions (˜10-100 km) over continental to global domains. Adequately addressing critical water cycle science questions and applications requires systems that are implemented globally at much higher resolutions, on the order of 1 km, resolutions referred to as hyperresolution in the context of global land surface models. This opinion paper sets forth the needs and benefits for a system that would monitor and predict the Earth's terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles. We discuss six major challenges in developing a system: improved representation of surface-subsurface interactions due to fine-scale topography and vegetation; improved representation of land-atmospheric interactions and resulting spatial information on soil moisture and evapotranspiration; inclusion of water quality as part of the biogeochemical cycle; representation of human impacts from water management; utilizing massively parallel computer systems and recent computational advances in solving hyperresolution models that will have up to 109 unknowns; and developing the required in situ and remote sensing global data sets. We deem the development of a global hyperresolution model for monitoring the terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles a "grand challenge" to the community, and we call upon the international hydrologic community and the hydrological science support infrastructure to endorse the effort.

  10. Hyperresolution Global Land Surface Modeling: Meeting a Grand Challenge for Monitoring Earth's Terrestrial Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Eric F.; Roundy, Joshua K.; Troy, Tara J.; van Beek, L. P. H.; Bierkens, Marc F. P.; 4 Blyth, Eleanor; de Roo, Ad; Doell. Petra; Ek, Mike; Famiglietti, James; hide

    2011-01-01

    Monitoring Earth's terrestrial water conditions is critically important to many hydrological applications such as global food production; assessing water resources sustainability; and flood, drought, and climate change prediction. These needs have motivated the development of pilot monitoring and prediction systems for terrestrial hydrologic and vegetative states, but to date only at the rather coarse spatial resolutions (approx.10-100 km) over continental to global domains. Adequately addressing critical water cycle science questions and applications requires systems that are implemented globally at much higher resolutions, on the order of 1 km, resolutions referred to as hyperresolution in the context of global land surface models. This opinion paper sets forth the needs and benefits for a system that would monitor and predict the Earth's terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles. We discuss six major challenges in developing a system: improved representation of surface-subsurface interactions due to fine-scale topography and vegetation; improved representation of land-atmospheric interactions and resulting spatial information on soil moisture and evapotranspiration; inclusion of water quality as part of the biogeochemical cycle; representation of human impacts from water management; utilizing massively parallel computer systems and recent computational advances in solving hyperresolution models that will have up to 10(exp 9) unknowns; and developing the required in situ and remote sensing global data sets. We deem the development of a global hyperresolution model for monitoring the terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles a grand challenge to the community, and we call upon the international hydrologic community and the hydrological science support infrastructure to endorse the effort.

  11. Thermal Protection for Mars Sample Return Earth Entry Vehicle: A Grand Challenge for Design Methodology and Reliability Verification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkatapathy, Ethiraj; Gage, Peter; Wright, Michael J.

    2017-01-01

    Mars Sample Return is our Grand Challenge for the coming decade. TPS (Thermal Protection System) nominal performance is not the key challenge. The main difficulty for designers is the need to verify unprecedented reliability for the entry system: current guidelines for prevention of backward contamination require that the probability of spores larger than 1 micron diameter escaping into the Earth environment be lower than 1 million for the entire system, and the allocation to TPS would be more stringent than that. For reference, the reliability allocation for Orion TPS is closer to 11000, and the demonstrated reliability for previous human Earth return systems was closer to 1100. Improving reliability by more than 3 orders of magnitude is a grand challenge indeed. The TPS community must embrace the possibility of new architectures that are focused on reliability above thermal performance and mass efficiency. MSR (Mars Sample Return) EEV (Earth Entry Vehicle) will be hit with MMOD (Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris) prior to reentry. A chute-less aero-shell design which allows for self-righting shape was baselined in prior MSR studies, with the assumption that a passive system will maximize EEV robustness. Hence the aero-shell along with the TPS has to take ground impact and not break apart. System verification will require testing to establish ablative performance and thermal failure but also testing of damage from MMOD, and structural performance at ground impact. Mission requirements will demand analysis, testing and verification that are focused on establishing reliability of the design. In this proposed talk, we will focus on the grand challenge of MSR EEV TPS and the need for innovative approaches to address challenges in modeling, testing, manufacturing and verification.

  12. A Microbial Perspective on the Grand Challenges in Comparative Animal Physiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    ABSTRACT Interactions with microbial communities can have profound influences on animal physiology, thereby impacting animal performance and fitness. Therefore, it is important to understand the diversity and nature of host-microbe interactions in various animal groups (invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). In this perspective, I discuss how the field of host-microbe interactions can be used to address topics that have been identified as grand challenges in comparative animal physiology: (i) horizontal integration of physiological processes across organisms, (ii) vertical integration of physiological processes across organizational levels within organisms, and (iii) temporal integration of physiological processes during evolutionary change. Addressing these challenges will require the use of a variety of animal models and the development of systems approaches that can integrate large, multiomic data sets from both microbial communities and animal hosts. Integrating host-microbe interactions into the established field of comparative physiology represents an exciting frontier for both fields. PMID:29556549

  13. On grand and small Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces and some applications to PDEs

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Fiorenza, A.; Formica, M. R.; Gogatishvili, Amiran

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 10, č. 1 (2018), s. 21-46 ISSN 1847-120X R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-14743S Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : grand Lebesgue spaces * small Lebesgue spaces * interpolation Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Pure mathematics http://dea.ele-math.com/10-03/On-grand-and-small-Lebesgue-and-Sobolev-spaces-and-some-applications-to-PDE-s

  14. Avoiding collapse: Grand challenges for science and society to solve by 2050

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony D. Barnosky

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We maintain that humanity’s grand challenge is solving the intertwined problems of human population growth and overconsumption, climate change, pollution, ecosystem destruction, disease spillovers, and extinction, in order to avoid environmental tipping points that would make human life more difficult and would irrevocably damage planetary life support systems. These are not future issues: for example, detrimental impacts of climate change (increased wildfires and extreme weather, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, pollution (contaminated drinking water in many parts of the world, rapid population growth in some areas (contributing to poverty, war, and increasingly frequent migration and overconsumption in others (a main driver of overexploitation of resources and greenhouse gas emissions, and new disease outbreaks (Ebola, Zika virus already are apparent today, and if trends of the past half century continue, even more damaging, long-lasting impacts would be locked in within three decades. Solving these problems will require some scientific and technological breakthroughs, but that will not be enough. Even more critical will be effective collaboration of environmental and physical scientists with social scientists and those in the humanities, active exchange of information among practitioners in academics, politics, religion, and business and other stakeholders, and clear communication of relevant issues and solutions to the general public. This special feature offers examples of how researchers are addressing this grand challenge through the process of discovering new knowledge and relevant tools, transferring insights across disciplinary boundaries, and establishing critical dialogues with those outside academia to help effect positive global change.

  15. Relative binding affinity prediction of farnesoid X receptor in the D3R Grand Challenge 2 using FEP+

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schindler, Christina; Rippmann, Friedrich; Kuhn, Daniel

    2018-01-01

    Physics-based free energy simulations have increasingly become an important tool for predicting binding affinity and the recent introduction of automated protocols has also paved the way towards a more widespread use in the pharmaceutical industry. The D3R 2016 Grand Challenge 2 provided an opportunity to blindly test the commercial free energy calculation protocol FEP+ and assess its performance relative to other affinity prediction methods. The present D3R free energy prediction challenge was built around two experimental data sets involving inhibitors of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) which is a promising anticancer drug target. The FXR binding site is predominantly hydrophobic with few conserved interaction motifs and strong induced fit effects making it a challenging target for molecular modeling and drug design. For both data sets, we achieved reasonable prediction accuracy (RMSD ≈ 1.4 kcal/mol, rank 3-4 according to RMSD out of 20 submissions) comparable to that of state-of-the-art methods in the field. Our D3R results boosted our confidence in the method and strengthen our desire to expand its applications in future in-house drug design projects.

  16. Relative binding affinity prediction of farnesoid X receptor in the D3R Grand Challenge 2 using FEP.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schindler, Christina; Rippmann, Friedrich; Kuhn, Daniel

    2018-01-01

    Physics-based free energy simulations have increasingly become an important tool for predicting binding affinity and the recent introduction of automated protocols has also paved the way towards a more widespread use in the pharmaceutical industry. The D3R 2016 Grand Challenge 2 provided an opportunity to blindly test the commercial free energy calculation protocol FEP+ and assess its performance relative to other affinity prediction methods. The present D3R free energy prediction challenge was built around two experimental data sets involving inhibitors of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) which is a promising anticancer drug target. The FXR binding site is predominantly hydrophobic with few conserved interaction motifs and strong induced fit effects making it a challenging target for molecular modeling and drug design. For both data sets, we achieved reasonable prediction accuracy (RMSD ≈ 1.4 kcal/mol, rank 3-4 according to RMSD out of 20 submissions) comparable to that of state-of-the-art methods in the field. Our D3R results boosted our confidence in the method and strengthen our desire to expand its applications in future in-house drug design projects.

  17. Binding free energy predictions of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists using a linear interaction energy (LIE) approach with reliability estimation: application to the D3R Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rifai, Eko Aditya; van Dijk, Marc; Vermeulen, Nico P. E.; Geerke, Daan P.

    2018-01-01

    Computational protein binding affinity prediction can play an important role in drug research but performing efficient and accurate binding free energy calculations is still challenging. In the context of phase 2 of the Drug Design Data Resource (D3R) Grand Challenge 2 we used our automated eTOX ALLIES approach to apply the (iterative) linear interaction energy (LIE) method and we evaluated its performance in predicting binding affinities for farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists. Efficiency was obtained by our pre-calibrated LIE models and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at the nanosecond scale, while predictive accuracy was obtained for a small subset of compounds. Using our recently introduced reliability estimation metrics, we could classify predictions with higher confidence by featuring an applicability domain (AD) analysis in combination with protein-ligand interaction profiling. The outcomes of and agreement between our AD and interaction-profile analyses to distinguish and rationalize the performance of our predictions highlighted the relevance of sufficiently exploring protein-ligand interactions during training and it demonstrated the possibility to quantitatively and efficiently evaluate if this is achieved by using simulation data only.

  18. On the Grand Challenges in Physical Petrology: the Multiphase Crossroads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergantz, G. W.

    2014-12-01

    Rapid progress in experimental, micro-analytical and textural analysis at the crystal scale has produced an unprecedented record of magmatic processes. However an obstacle to further progress is the lack of understanding of how mass, energy and momentum flux associated with crystal-rich, open-system events produces identifiable outcomes. Hence developing a physically-based understanding of magmatic systems linking micro-scale petrological observations with a physical template operating at the macro-scale presents a so-called "Grand Challenge." The essence of this challenge is that magmatic systems have characteristic length and feedback scales between those accessible by classical continuum and discrete methods. It has become increasingly obvious that the old-school continuum methods have limited resolution and power of explanation for multiphase (real) magma dynamics. This is, in part, because in crystal-rich systems the deformation is non-affine, and so the concept of constitutive behavior is less applicable and likely not even relevant, especially if one is interested in the emergent character of micro-scale processes. One expression of this is the cottage industry of proposing viscosity laws for magmas, which serves as "blunt force" de facto corrections for what is intrinsically multiphase behavior. Even in more fluid-rich systems many of these laws are not suitable for use in the very transport theories they aim to support. The alternative approach is the discrete method, where multiphase interactions are explicitly resolved. This is a daunting prospect given the numbers of crystals in magmas. But perhaps all crystals don't need to be modeled. I will demonstrate how discrete methods can recover critical state behavior, resolve crystal migration, the onset of visco-elastic behavior such as melt-present shear bands which sets the large-scale mixing volumes, some of the general morpho-dynamics that underlies purported rheological models, and transient controls on

  19. A different challenge: the directional drilled crossing for the Yacuiba - Rio Grande Gas Line Project - GASYRG

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Green, Wayne; Garcia, Francisco [Bolinter Ltda., Santa Cruz (Bolivia); Montano, Ruben [Transierra, Santa Cruz (Bolivia)

    2003-07-01

    The Rio Grande River's directional drilling, 2002 m. long and 25 m. deep was a great challenge for Transierra - Owner - as well as Laney - Bolinter - Contractor - to accomplish a feat yet to be done in the entire world. The dedication of the people involved showed their degree of professionalism that these companies have obtained and the determination in doing the job overcoming unforeseen obstacles and still being able to finish on time, mitigating environmental impacts and leaving a first class crossing. This document presents a description of the technical, logistic and construction factors that were involved in the project and which allowed to perform 7 directional drillings, including Rio Grande River, which during the pull got the last 60 m. of pipe stuck, being freed only after using a pneumatic hammer. (author)

  20. Grand Fir Nutrient Management in the Inland Northwestern USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis R. Parent

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Grand fir (Abies grandis (Douglas ex D. Don Lindley is widely distributed in the moist forests of the Inland Northwest. It has high potential productivity, its growth being nearly equal to western white pine, the most productive species in the region. There are large standing volumes of grand fir in the region. Nutritionally, the species has higher foliage cation concentrations than associated conifers, especially potassium (K and calcium (Ca. In contrast, it has lower nitrogen (N foliage concentrations, which creates favorable nutrient balance on N-limited sites. Despite concentration differences, grand fir stores proportionally more nutrients per tree than associated species because of greater crown biomass. Although few fertilization trials have examined grand fir specifically, its response is inferred from its occurrence in many monitored mixed conifer stands. Fertilization trials including grand fir either as a major or minor component show that it has a strong diameter and height growth response ranging from 15% to 50% depending in part on site moisture availability and soil geology. Grand fir tends to have a longer response duration than other inland conifers. When executed concurrently with thinning, fertilization often increases the total response. Late rotation application of N provides solid investment returns in carefully selected stands. Although there are still challenges with the post-fertilization effects on tree mortality, grand fir will continue to be an important species with good economic values and beneficial responses to fertilization and nutrient management.

  1. 78 FR 30914 - Grand River Dam Authority Notice of Application for Temporary Variance of License and Soliciting...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-23

    .... Description of Request: Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) requests a temporary variance, for the year 2013, to... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 1494-416] Grand River Dam Authority Notice of Application for Temporary Variance of License and Soliciting Comments, Motions To...

  2. The use of the Climate-science Computational End Station (CCES) development and grand challenge team for the next IPCC assessment: an operational plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Washington, W M; Buja, L; Gent, P; Drake, J; Erickson, D; Anderson, D; Bader, D; Dickinson, R; Ghan, S; Jones, P; Jacob, R

    2008-01-01

    The grand challenge of climate change science is to predict future climates based on scenarios of anthropogenic emissions and other changes resulting from options in energy and development policies. Addressing this challenge requires a Climate Science Computational End Station consisting of a sustained climate model research, development, and application program combined with world-class DOE leadership computing resources to enable advanced computational simulation of the Earth system. This project provides the primary computer allocations for the DOE SciDAC and Climate Change Prediction Program. It builds on the successful interagency collaboration of the National Science and the U.S. Department of Energy in developing and applying the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) for climate change science. It also includes collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in carbon data assimilation and university partners with expertise in high-end computational climate research

  3. The Grand Challenges of WCRP and the Climate Observing System of the Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brasseur, G. P.

    2017-12-01

    The successful implementation the Paris agreement on climate change (COP21) calls for a well-designed global monitoring system of essential climate variables, climate processes and Earth system budgets. The Grand Challenges implemented by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) provide an opportunity to investigate issues of high societal relevance, directly related to sea level rise, droughts, floods, extreme heat events, food security, and fresh water availability. These challenges would directly benefit from a well-designed suite of systematic climate observations. Quantification of the evolution of the global energy, water and carbon budgets as well as the development and the production of near-term and regional climate predictions require that a comprehensive, focused, multi-platform observing system (satellites, ground-based and in situ observations) be established in an international context. This system must be accompanied by the development of climate services that should translate and disseminate scientific outcomes as actionable information for users and stakeholders.

  4. D3R Grand Challenge 2: blind prediction of protein-ligand poses, affinity rankings, and relative binding free energies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaieb, Zied; Liu, Shuai; Gathiaka, Symon; Chiu, Michael; Yang, Huanwang; Shao, Chenghua; Feher, Victoria A.; Walters, W. Patrick; Kuhn, Bernd; Rudolph, Markus G.; Burley, Stephen K.; Gilson, Michael K.; Amaro, Rommie E.

    2018-01-01

    The Drug Design Data Resource (D3R) ran Grand Challenge 2 (GC2) from September 2016 through February 2017. This challenge was based on a dataset of structures and affinities for the nuclear receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR), contributed by F. Hoffmann-La Roche. The dataset contained 102 IC50 values, spanning six orders of magnitude, and 36 high-resolution co-crystal structures with representatives of four major ligand classes. Strong global participation was evident, with 49 participants submitting 262 prediction submission packages in total. Procedurally, GC2 mimicked Grand Challenge 2015 (GC2015), with a Stage 1 subchallenge testing ligand pose prediction methods and ranking and scoring methods, and a Stage 2 subchallenge testing only ligand ranking and scoring methods after the release of all blinded co-crystal structures. Two smaller curated sets of 18 and 15 ligands were developed to test alchemical free energy methods. This overview summarizes all aspects of GC2, including the dataset details, challenge procedures, and participant results. We also consider implications for progress in the field, while highlighting methodological areas that merit continued development. Similar to GC2015, the outcome of GC2 underscores the pressing need for methods development in pose prediction, particularly for ligand scaffolds not currently represented in the Protein Data Bank (http://www.pdb.org), and in affinity ranking and scoring of bound ligands.

  5. Permeable Binaries, Societal Grand Challenges, and the Roles of the Twenty-first-century Archival and Recordkeeping Profession

    OpenAIRE

    Gilliland, AJ

    2015-01-01

    Building upon recent work, this paper demonstrates how 21st century recordkeeping concerns are integral to societal grand challenges that have been identified by governments, think tanks, scholarly organisations and affected communities around the globe. Using the example of forced displacement and migration the paper focuses on ways in which recordkeeping is inextricably linked to both the causes and possible digital, policy and educational mechanisms for addressing certain aspects of societ...

  6. Team science and the physician-scientist in the age of grand health challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steer, Clifford J; Jackson, Peter R; Hornbeak, Hortencia; McKay, Catherine K; Sriramarao, P; Murtaugh, Michael P

    2017-09-01

    Despite remarkable advances in medical research, clinicians face daunting challenges from new diseases, variations in patient responses to interventions, and increasing numbers of people with chronic health problems. The gap between biomedical research and unmet clinical needs can be addressed by highly talented interdisciplinary investigators focused on translational bench-to-bedside medicine. The training of talented physician-scientists comfortable with forming and participating in multidisciplinary teams that address complex health problems is a top national priority. Challenges, methods, and experiences associated with physician-scientist training and team building were explored at a workshop held at the Second International Conference on One Medicine One Science (iCOMOS 2016), April 24-27, 2016, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A broad range of scientists, regulatory authorities, and health care experts determined that critical investments in interdisciplinary training are essential for the future of medicine and healthcare delivery. Physician-scientists trained in a broad, nonlinear, cross-disciplinary manner are and will be essential members of science teams in the new age of grand health challenges and the birth of precision medicine. Team science approaches have accomplished biomedical breakthroughs once considered impossible, and dedicated physician-scientists have been critical to these achievements. Together, they translate into the pillars of academic growth and success. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

  7. Grand Challenges of Advanced Computing for Energy Innovation Report from the Workshop Held July 31-August 2, 2012

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larzelere, Alex R.; Ashby, Steven F.; Christensen, Dana C.; Crawford, Dona L.; Khaleel, Mohammad A.; John, Grosh; Stults, B. Ray; Lee, Steven L.; Hammond, Steven W.; Grover, Benjamin T.; Neely, Rob; Dudney, Lee Ann; Goldstein, Noah C.; Wells, Jack; Peltz, Jim

    2013-03-06

    On July 31-August 2 of 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop entitled Grand Challenges of Advanced Computing for Energy Innovation. This workshop built on three earlier workshops that clearly identified the potential for the Department and its national laboratories to enable energy innovation. The specific goal of the workshop was to identify the key challenges that the nation must overcome to apply the full benefit of taxpayer-funded advanced computing technologies to U.S. energy innovation in the ways that the country produces, moves, stores, and uses energy. Perhaps more importantly, the workshop also developed a set of recommendations to help the Department overcome those challenges. These recommendations provide an action plan for what the Department can do in the coming years to improve the nation’s energy future.

  8. 76 FR 76156 - Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-06

    ... Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and... Federal Power Act (FPA), proposing to study the feasibility of the Scooteney Outlet Drop Hydroelectric..., Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority, P.O. Box 219, Ephrata, WA 98823; phone: (509) 754-2227...

  9. 77 FR 7574 - Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-13

    ... Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments and Motions To Intervene On January 13, 2012, the Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric... study the feasibility of the P.E. Scooteney Wasteway Hydroelectric Project, to be located on the P.E...

  10. Predicting the affinity of Farnesoid X Receptor ligands through a hierarchical ranking protocol: a D3R Grand Challenge 2 case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Réau, Manon; Langenfeld, Florent; Zagury, Jean-François; Montes, Matthieu

    2018-01-01

    The Drug Design Data Resource (D3R) Grand Challenges are blind contests organized to assess the state-of-the-art methods accuracy in predicting binding modes and relative binding free energies of experimentally validated ligands for a given target. The second stage of the D3R Grand Challenge 2 (GC2) was focused on ranking 102 compounds according to their predicted affinity for Farnesoid X Receptor. In this task, our workflow was ranked 5th out of the 77 submissions in the structure-based category. Our strategy consisted in (1) a combination of molecular docking using AutoDock 4.2 and manual edition of available structures for binding poses generation using SeeSAR, (2) the use of HYDE scoring for pose selection, and (3) a hierarchical ranking using HYDE and MM/GBSA. In this report, we detail our pose generation and ligands ranking protocols and provide guidelines to be used in a prospective computer aided drug design program.

  11. 76 FR 76153 - Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-06

    ... Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and... Hydroelectric Project (Scooteney Inlet Project or project) to be located on the Potholes East Canal, which is an..., Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority, P.O. Box 219, Ephrata, WA 98823; phone: (509) 754-2227...

  12. Grand Challenges facing Storage Systems

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2004-01-01

    In this talk, we will discuss the future of storage systems. In particular, we will focus on several big challenges which we are facing in storage, such as being able to build, manage and backup really massive storage systems, being able to find information of interest, being able to do long-term archival of data, and so on. We also present ideas and research being done to address these challenges, and provide a perspective on how we expect these challenges to be resolved as we go forward.

  13. 77 FR 7143 - Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-10

    ... Project Hydroelectric Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments and Motions To Intervene On January 13, 2012, the Grand Coulee Project Hydroelectric... study the feasibility of the P.E. 46A Wasteway Hydroelectric Project, to be located on the P.E. 46A...

  14. Addressing China's grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Yonglong; Jenkins, Alan; Ferrier, Robert C; Bailey, Mark; Gordon, Iain J; Song, Shuai; Huang, Jikun; Jia, Shaofeng; Zhang, Fusuo; Liu, Xuejun; Feng, Zhaozhong; Zhang, Zhibin

    2015-02-01

    China's increasingly urbanized and wealthy population is driving a growing and changing demand for food, which might not be met without significant increase in agricultural productivity and sustainable use of natural resources. Given the past relationship between lack of access to affordable food and political instability, food security has to be given a high priority on national political agendas in the context of globalization. The drive for increased food production has had a significant impact on the environment, and the deterioration in ecosystem quality due to historic and current levels of pollution will potentially compromise the food production system in China. We discuss the grand challenges of not only producing more food but also producing it sustainably and without environmental degradation. In addressing these challenges, food production should be considered as part of an environmental system (soil, air, water, and biodiversity) and not independent from it. It is imperative that new ways of meeting the demand for food are developed while safeguarding the natural resources upon which food production is based. We present a holistic approach to both science and policy to ensure future food security while embracing the ambition of achieving environmental sustainability in China. It is a unique opportunity for China to be a role model as a new global player, especially for other emerging economies.

  15. Albuquerque/Middle Rio Grande Urban Waters Viewer

    Science.gov (United States)

    These data have been compiled in support of the Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque Urban Waters Partnership for the region including Albuquerque, New Mexico.The Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque Urban Waters Federal Partnership is co-chaired by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There are also a number of other federal agencies engaged in projects with Tribal, State, and local officials, and community stakeholders. Like many western river ecosystems, the Middle Rio Grande faces numerous challenges in balancing competing needs within a finite water supply and other resource constrains. Historical practices by our ancestors and immigrants to the Middle Rio Grande have established the conditions that we have inherited. Long-term drought exacerbated by climate change is changing conditions that affect natural and human communities as we strive to improve our precious Rio Grande.The Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque Urban Waters Federal Partnership will reconnect our urban communities, particularly those that are overburdened or economically distressed, with the waterway by improving coordination among federal agencies and collaborating with community-led revitalization efforts. Our projects will improve our community water systems and promote their economic, environmental and social benefits. Specifically, the Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque Urban Waters Federal Partnership will support the development of the Valle de Oro

  16. Grand challenges in understanding the interplay of climate and land changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Shuguang; Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Boysen, Lena R.; Ford, James D.; Fox, Andrew; Gallo, Kevin; Hatfield, Jerry L.; Henebry, Geoffrey M.; Huntington, Thomas G.; Liu, Zhihua; Loveland, Thomas R.; Norby, Richard J.; Sohl, Terry L.; Steiner, Allison L.; Yuan, Wenping; Zhang, Zhao; Zhao, Shuqing

    2017-01-01

    Half of Earth’s land surface has been altered by human activities, creating various consequences on the climate and weather systems at local to global scales, which in turn affect a myriad of land surface processes and the adaptation behaviors. This study reviews the status and major knowledge gaps in the interactions of land and atmospheric changes and present 11 grand challenge areas for the scientific research and adaptation community in the coming decade. These land-cover and land-use change (LCLUC)-related areas include 1) impacts on weather and climate, 2) carbon and other biogeochemical cycles, 3) biospheric emissions, 4) the water cycle, 5) agriculture, 6) urbanization, 7) acclimation of biogeochemical processes to climate change, 8) plant migration, 9) land-use projections, 10) model and data uncertainties, and, finally, 11) adaptation strategies. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effects of LCLUC on local to global climate and weather systems, but these putative effects vary greatly in magnitude and even sign across space, time, and scale and thus remain highly uncertain. At the same time, many challenges exist toward improved understanding of the consequences of atmospheric and climate change on land process dynamics and services. Future effort must improve the understanding of the scale-dependent, multifaceted perturbations and feedbacks between land and climate changes in both reality and models. To this end, one critical cross-disciplinary need is to systematically quantify and better understand measurement and model uncertainties. Finally, LCLUC mitigation and adaptation assessments must be strengthened to identify implementation barriers, evaluate and prioritize opportunities, and examine how decision-making processes work in specific contexts.

  17. Practical Challenges for Digital Watermarking Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharma Ravi K

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The field of digital watermarking has recently seen numerous articles covering novel techniques, theoretical studies, attacks, and analysis. In this paper, we focus on an emerging application to highlight practical challenges for digital watermarking applications. Challenges include design considerations, requirements analysis, choice of watermarking techniques, speed, robustness, and the tradeoffs involved. We describe common attributes of watermarking systems and discuss the challenges in developing real world applications. Our application uses digital watermarking to connect ordinary toys to the digital world. The application captures important aspects of watermarking systems and illustrates some of the design issues faced.

  18. Grand unification theory and technicolor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rubakov, V.A.; Shaposhnikov, M.E.

    1983-01-01

    The lecture course can be considered as introduction to the problems concerning grand unification models. The course is incomplete. Such problems as CP-violations in strong interactions and the problem of gravitational interaction inclusion in the scheme of grand unification theory are not touched upon. Models of early unification, in which strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions are compared according to the ''strength'' at energies of about 10 5 -10 6 GeV, are not discussed. Models with horizontal symmetry, considering different generations of quarks and leptons from one viewpoint, are not analyzed. Cosmological applications of supersymmetric unified theories are not considered. Certain problems of standard elementary particle theory, philosophy of the great unification, general properties of the grand unification models and the main principles of the construction of models: the SU(5) model, models on the SO(10) groups, have been considered. The problem of supersymmetric unification hierarchies, supersymmetric generalization of the minimum SU(5) model, supersymmetry violation and the problem of hierarchies, phenomenology of the o.rand unification models, cosmological application and technicolour, are discussed

  19. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado: a challenge to float, a challenge to manage

    Science.gov (United States)

    David N. Cole

    1989-01-01

    Last summer, I finally got my chance to float the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, one of the world’s premier adventure trips. For 18 days and 280 miles, my group floated through some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable, spacing our days with hikes through slickrock alcoves, along terraced pools of blue-green water, to waterfalls plunging out of holes on...

  20. The Gap Frame - Enriching the SDG Compass by translating the SDGs into relevant national Grand Challenges for strategic business opportunities

    OpenAIRE

    Muff, Katrin; Kapalka, Agnieszka; Dyllick, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    The global agenda of Grand Challenges until 2030 is set: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enjoy broad global governmental acceptance and increasing business awareness. This paper takes a concrete look at how we can reach a state-of-the-world by 2030 that is ‘safe for all of us’. Getting there requires relevant national measures that are easily accessible for business, which is considered a key transformative force with its innovation power. The global nature and focus of the SDGs make...

  1. GrandBase: generating actionable knowledge from Big Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiu Susie Fang

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – This paper aims to propose a system for generating actionable knowledge from Big Data and use this system to construct a comprehensive knowledge base (KB, called GrandBase. Design/methodology/approach – In particular, this study extracts new predicates from four types of data sources, namely, Web texts, Document Object Model (DOM trees, existing KBs and query stream to augment the ontology of the existing KB (i.e. Freebase. In addition, a graph-based approach to conduct better truth discovery for multi-valued predicates is also proposed. Findings – Empirical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the approaches presented in this study and the potential of GrandBase. The future research directions regarding GrandBase construction and extension has also been discussed. Originality/value – To revolutionize our modern society by using the wisdom of Big Data, considerable KBs have been constructed to feed the massive knowledge-driven applications with Resource Description Framework triples. The important challenges for KB construction include extracting information from large-scale, possibly conflicting and different-structured data sources (i.e. the knowledge extraction problem and reconciling the conflicts that reside in the sources (i.e. the truth discovery problem. Tremendous research efforts have been contributed on both problems. However, the existing KBs are far from being comprehensive and accurate: first, existing knowledge extraction systems retrieve data from limited types of Web sources; second, existing truth discovery approaches commonly assume each predicate has only one true value. In this paper, the focus is on the problem of generating actionable knowledge from Big Data. A system is proposed, which consists of two phases, namely, knowledge extraction and truth discovery, to construct a broader KB, called GrandBase.

  2. Lessons learned in induced fit docking and metadynamics in the Drug Design Data Resource Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumgartner, Matthew P.; Evans, David A.

    2018-01-01

    Two of the major ongoing challenges in computational drug discovery are predicting the binding pose and affinity of a compound to a protein. The Drug Design Data Resource Grand Challenge 2 was developed to address these problems and to drive development of new methods. The challenge provided the 2D structures of compounds for which the organizers help blinded data in the form of 35 X-ray crystal structures and 102 binding affinity measurements and challenged participants to predict the binding pose and affinity of the compounds. We tested a number of pose prediction methods as part of the challenge; we found that docking methods that incorporate protein flexibility (Induced Fit Docking) outperformed methods that treated the protein as rigid. We also found that using binding pose metadynamics, a molecular dynamics based method, to score docked poses provided the best predictions of our methods with an average RMSD of 2.01 Å. We tested both structure-based (e.g. docking) and ligand-based methods (e.g. QSAR) in the affinity prediction portion of the competition. We found that our structure-based methods based on docking with Smina (Spearman ρ = 0.614), performed slightly better than our ligand-based methods (ρ = 0.543), and had equivalent performance with the other top methods in the competition. Despite the overall good performance of our methods in comparison to other participants in the challenge, there exists significant room for improvement especially in cases such as these where protein flexibility plays such a large role.

  3. Grand canonical electronic density-functional theory: Algorithms and applications to electrochemistry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sundararaman, Ravishankar; Goddard, William A. III; Arias, Tomas A.

    2017-01-01

    First-principles calculations combining density-functional theory and continuum solvation models enable realistic theoretical modeling and design of electrochemical systems. When a reaction proceeds in such systems, the number of electrons in the portion of the system treated quantum mechanically changes continuously, with a balancing charge appearing in the continuum electrolyte. A grand-canonical ensemble of electrons at a chemical potential set by the electrode potential is therefore the ideal description of such systems that directly mimics the experimental condition. We present two distinct algorithms: a self-consistent field method and a direct variational free energy minimization method using auxiliary Hamiltonians (GC-AuxH), to solve the Kohn-Sham equations of electronic density-functional theory directly in the grand canonical ensemble at fixed potential. Both methods substantially improve performance compared to a sequence of conventional fixed-number calculations targeting the desired potential, with the GC-AuxH method additionally exhibiting reliable and smooth exponential convergence of the grand free energy. Lastly, we apply grand-canonical density-functional theory to the under-potential deposition of copper on platinum from chloride-containing electrolytes and show that chloride desorption, not partial copper monolayer formation, is responsible for the second voltammetric peak.

  4. Grand canonical electronic density-functional theory: Algorithms and applications to electrochemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundararaman, Ravishankar; Goddard, William A.; Arias, Tomas A.

    2017-03-01

    First-principles calculations combining density-functional theory and continuum solvation models enable realistic theoretical modeling and design of electrochemical systems. When a reaction proceeds in such systems, the number of electrons in the portion of the system treated quantum mechanically changes continuously, with a balancing charge appearing in the continuum electrolyte. A grand-canonical ensemble of electrons at a chemical potential set by the electrode potential is therefore the ideal description of such systems that directly mimics the experimental condition. We present two distinct algorithms: a self-consistent field method and a direct variational free energy minimization method using auxiliary Hamiltonians (GC-AuxH), to solve the Kohn-Sham equations of electronic density-functional theory directly in the grand canonical ensemble at fixed potential. Both methods substantially improve performance compared to a sequence of conventional fixed-number calculations targeting the desired potential, with the GC-AuxH method additionally exhibiting reliable and smooth exponential convergence of the grand free energy. Finally, we apply grand-canonical density-functional theory to the under-potential deposition of copper on platinum from chloride-containing electrolytes and show that chloride desorption, not partial copper monolayer formation, is responsible for the second voltammetric peak.

  5. Application of the exploratory analysis of data in the geographical discrimination of okra of Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Santos Panero

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available The contents of Cu, Zn, Na, Fe, K, Ca, Mn, Mg, PO43-, Cl- and SO42- were determined in samples of okra of the municipal districts of Caruaru and Vitória de Santo Antão, in Pernambuco, as well as in the municipal districts of Ceará-Mirim, Macaíba and Extremoz in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The objective of this work is the application of two methods of  exploratory analysis of data: Principal Component Analysis - PCA and Hierarquical Cluster Analysis - HCA in the geographical discrimination of okra originating in the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco. The results showed that Cl- and Na were the main elements for the differentiation of the samples of Rio Grande do Norte and, the samples of Pernambuco presented the largest amount of Fe, Cu, Mn, Mg, Ca, Zn, K, PO43-, and SO42-. Boths the methods of exploratory analysis of data investigated are efficient for geographical discrimination of okra originating in Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco.

  6. Solving the challenges of extended reach well in Brazil; Vencendo desafios em pocos de grande afastamento

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Costa, Vicente Abel S.R.; Araujo, Romero G.S.; N Filho, Aluisio F [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Veneziani, Luciano S [Halliburton Servicos Ltda., Macae, RJ (Brazil)

    2004-07-01

    With the objective of minimizing costs and allowing oil to be produced from reservoirs near the coast in shallow waters (i.e. less than 3 meters) which make the use of standard marine units impractical, several Extended Reach Wells were drilled from special land based locations in an area with increased environmental awareness (mangroves and 'Salinas'). This was the reality faced in the 'Serra Field' located on the north coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte (Brasil) and under the management of the Rio Grande do Norte and Ceara Business Unit of PETROBRAS.The ratio between the actual displacement and vertical depth of these wells is approximately 2.7, with actual displacement a bit greater than 2,600 meters, with the idea of reaching displacements exceeding 3,000 meters in the future. In order to drill these wells, special new technologies were adopted; the drilling rig was upgraded, specific software for the development of the project considering both the reservoir and planning of the well, along with the integration and commitment of the Team to follow, execution and that of the service companies resulted in significant improvements in the Drilling Times. Tools adopted in the design of the well, and in the monitoring of the drilling and completion included Torque and Drag Analysis, Rock Mechanics, Drilling Fluids, Well Trajectory, Anti-Collision, Hydraulics and Wellbore Cleaning. This paper will describe the actions taken, the results, challenges and lessons learned during this Exploration Programme in the Serra Field. (author)

  7. Solving the challenges of extended reach well in Brazil; Vencendo desafios em pocos de grande afastamento

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Costa, Vicente Abel S.R.; Araujo, Romero G.S.; N. Filho, Aluisio F. [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Veneziani, Luciano S. [Halliburton Servicos Ltda., Macae, RJ (Brazil)

    2004-07-01

    With the objective of minimizing costs and allowing oil to be produced from reservoirs near the coast in shallow waters (i.e. less than 3 meters) which make the use of standard marine units impractical, several Extended Reach Wells were drilled from special land based locations in an area with increased environmental awareness (mangroves and 'Salinas'). This was the reality faced in the 'Serra Field' located on the north coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte (Brasil) and under the management of the Rio Grande do Norte and Ceara Business Unit of PETROBRAS.The ratio between the actual displacement and vertical depth of these wells is approximately 2.7, with actual displacement a bit greater than 2,600 meters, with the idea of reaching displacements exceeding 3,000 meters in the future. In order to drill these wells, special new technologies were adopted; the drilling rig was upgraded, specific software for the development of the project considering both the reservoir and planning of the well, along with the integration and commitment of the Team to follow, execution and that of the service companies resulted in significant improvements in the Drilling Times. Tools adopted in the design of the well, and in the monitoring of the drilling and completion included Torque and Drag Analysis, Rock Mechanics, Drilling Fluids, Well Trajectory, Anti-Collision, Hydraulics and Wellbore Cleaning. This paper will describe the actions taken, the results, challenges and lessons learned during this Exploration Programme in the Serra Field. (author)

  8. Imaging mass spectrometry tackles interfacial challenges in electrochemistry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Xiao-Ying

    2017-12-01

    Electrochemistry has played a significant role in many research fields. Owing to its sensitivity and selectivity, in situ electroanalysis has been widely used as a fast and economical means for achieving outstanding results. Although many spectroscopic techniques have been used in electrochemistry, the challenges to capture short-lived intermediate species as a result of electron transfer in the buried solid electrode and electrolyte solution interface remains a grand challenge. In situ imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) recently has been extended to capture transient species in electrochemistry. This review intends to summarize newest development of IMS and its applications in advancing fundamental electrochemistry.

  9. The Role Of The «Grand Schools» And The «Grand Corps» As Recruitment Channels For French Ministers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. A. Zarankin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The recruitment of ministers among high-ranking officials, who studied in the «grand schools» and worked in the «grand corps», is one of the typical traits of the Fifth republic. This is a consequence of the traditional interpenetration of French administrative and political elites. However, there is no common view on the actual role of these institutions in the ministers’ recruitment. So, the objective of this paper is to clarify this issue. For this purpose we analyze career trajectories of French ministers from 1981 till 2016. The data on each government include shares of ministers, who passed through the «grand schools» and the «grand corps». The article shows that nowadays the number of ministers with such an experience has decreased. Most government members are professional politicians, who have significant electoral experience and occupy high-ranking party positions. Today there are political parties, not the «grand schools» and the «grand corps», that are the main channels of the ministers’ recruitment. The professionalization of politics and reinforcement of the role of parties in the French political system are the most crucial factors of this tendency. The transformation of gaullists into liberals and conduction of the liberal economic policy, instead of the dirigist one, also contributed to replacement of officials by representatives of the private sector. Despite the fact that political parties serve as a main channel of the ministers’ recruitment, they face internal problems. The future role of political parties in the recruitment will depend on their ability to deal with these challenges.

  10. Uncovering the Transnational Networks, Organisational Techniques and State-Corporate Ties Behind Grand Corruption: Building an Investigative Methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristian Lasslett

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available While grand corruption is a major global governance challenge, researchers notably lack a systematic methodology for conducting qualitative research into its complex forms. To address this lacuna, the following article sets out and applies the corruption investigative framework (CIF, a methodology designed to generate a systematic, transferable approach for grand corruption research. Its utility will be demonstrated employing a case study that centres on an Australian-led megaproject being built in Papua New Guinea’s capital city, Port Moresby. Unlike conventional analyses of corruption in Papua New Guinea, which emphasise its local characteristics and patrimonial qualities, application of CIF uncovered new empirical layers that centre on transnational state-corporate power, the ambiguity of civil society, and the structural inequalities that marginalise resistance movements. The important theoretical consequences of the findings and underpinning methodology are explored.

  11. Lessons learned from participating in D3R 2016 Grand Challenge 2: compounds targeting the farnesoid X receptor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Rui; Xu, Xianjin; Zou, Xiaoqin

    2018-01-01

    D3R 2016 Grand Challenge 2 focused on predictions of binding modes and affinities for 102 compounds against the farnesoid X receptor (FXR). In this challenge, two distinct methods, a docking-based method and a template-based method, were employed by our team for the binding mode prediction. For the new template-based method, 3D ligand similarities were calculated for each query compound against the ligands in the co-crystal structures of FXR available in Protein Data Bank. The binding mode was predicted based on the co-crystal protein structure containing the ligand with the best ligand similarity score against the query compound. For the FXR dataset, the template-based method achieved a better performance than the docking-based method on the binding mode prediction. For the binding affinity prediction, an in-house knowledge-based scoring function ITScore2 and MM/PBSA approach were employed. Good performance was achieved for MM/PBSA, whereas the performance of ITScore2 was sensitive to ligand composition, e.g. the percentage of carbon atoms in the compounds. The sensitivity to ligand composition could be a clue for the further improvement of our knowledge-based scoring function.

  12. MO-E-12A-01: Quantitative Imaging: Techniques, Applications, and Challenges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jackson, E; Jeraj, R; McNitt-Gray, M; Cao, Y

    2014-01-01

    The first symposium in the Quantitative Imaging Track focused on the introduction of quantitative imaging (QI) by illustrating the potential of QI in diagnostic and therapeutic applications in research and patient care, highlighting key challenges in implementation of such QI applications, and reviewing QI efforts of selected national and international agencies and organizations, including the FDA, NCI, NIST, and RSNA. This second QI symposium will focus more specifically on the techniques, applications, and challenges of QI. The first talk of the session will focus on modalityagnostic challenges of QI, beginning with challenges of the development and implementation of QI applications in single-center, single-vendor settings and progressing to the challenges encountered in the most general setting of multi-center, multi-vendor settings. The subsequent three talks will focus on specific QI challenges and opportunities in the modalityspecific settings of CT, PET/CT, and MR. Each talk will provide information on modality-specific QI techniques, applications, and challenges, including current efforts focused on solutions to such challenges. Learning Objectives: Understand key general challenges of QI application development and implementation, regardless of modality. Understand selected QI techniques and applications in CT, PET/CT, and MR. Understand challenges, and potential solutions for such challenges, for the applications presented for each modality

  13. Google Earth Grand Tour Themes

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Paor, D. G.; Whitmeyer, S. J.; Bentley, C.; Dordevic, M. M.

    2014-12-01

    As part of an NSF TUES Type 3 project entitled "Google Earth for Onsite and Distance Education (GEODE)," we are assembling a "Grand Tour" of locations on Earth and other terrestrial bodies that every geoscience student should know about and visit at least in virtual reality. Based on feedback from colleagues at previous meetings, we have identified nine Grand Tour themes: "Plates and Plumes," "Rocks and Regions," "Geology Through Time," "The Mapping Challenge*," "U.S. National Parks*," "The Magical Mystery Tour*," "Resources and Hazards," "Planets and Moons," and "Top of the Pops." Themes marked with an asterisk are most developed at this stage and will be demonstrated in real time. The Mapping Challenge invites students to trace geological contacts, measure bedding strike and dip and the plunge, trend, and facing of a fold. There is an advanced tool for modeling periclinal folds. The challenge is presented in a game-like format with an emphasis on puzzle-solving that will appeal to students regardless of gender. For the tour of U.S. national parks, we divided the most geologically important parks into four groups—Western Pacific, West Coast, Rockies, and East Coast. We are combining our own team's GigaPan imagery with imagery already available on the Internet. There is a great deal of imagery just waiting to be annotated for geological education purposes. The Magical Mystery Tour takes students to Google Streetview locations selected by instructors. Students are presented with questions or tasks and are given automatic feedback. Other themes are under development. Within each theme, we are crowd-sourcing contributions from colleagues and inviting colleagues to vote for or against proposed locations and student interactions. The GEODE team includes the authors and: Heather Almquist, Stephen Burgin, Cinzia Cervato, Gene Cooper, Paul Karabinos, Terry Pavlis, Jen Piatek, Bill Richards, Jeff Ryan, Ron Schott, Kristen St. John, and Barb Tewksbury.

  14. AI in medical education--another grand challenge for medical informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lillehaug, S I; Lajoie, S P

    1998-03-01

    The potential benefits of artificial intelligence in medicine (AIM) were never realized as anticipated. This paper addresses ways in which such potential can be achieved. Recent discussions of this topic have proposed a stronger integration between AIM applications and health information systems, and emphasize computer guidelines to support the new health care paradigms of evidence-based medicine and cost-effectiveness. These proposals, however, promote the initial definition of AIM applications as being AI systems that can perform or aid in diagnoses. We challenge this traditional philosophy of AIM and propose a new approach aiming at empowering health care workers to become independent self-sufficient problem solvers and decision makers. Our philosophy is based on findings from a review of empirical research that examines the relationship between the health care personnel's level of knowledge and skills, their job satisfaction, and the quality of the health care they provide. This review supports addressing the quality of health care by empowering health care workers to reach their full potential. As an aid in this empowerment process we argue for reviving a long forgotten AIM research area, namely, AI based applications for medical education and training. There is a growing body of research in artificial intelligence in education that demonstrates that the use of artificial intelligence can enhance learning in numerous domains. By examining the strengths of these educational applications and the results from previous AIM research we derive a framework for empowering medical personnel and consequently raising the quality of health care through the use of advanced AI based technology.

  15. From Operating-System Correctness to Pervasively Verified Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daum, Matthias; Schirmer, Norbert W.; Schmidt, Mareike

    Though program verification is known and has been used for decades, the verification of a complete computer system still remains a grand challenge. Part of this challenge is the interaction of application programs with the operating system, which is usually entrusted with retrieving input data from and transferring output data to peripheral devices. In this scenario, the correct operation of the applications inherently relies on operating-system correctness. Based on the formal correctness of our real-time operating system Olos, this paper describes an approach to pervasively verify applications running on top of the operating system.

  16. A Library in the Grands Moulins de Paris: challenging Reality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine Tresson

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available In 2006, the University of Paris 7 and its new Main Library will move to Paris Rive Gauche, a recently developed neighbourhood on the left bank of the Seine. The library will occupy most of the city’s former industrial mills, the Grands Moulins de Paris. As part of the project, the library developed a very detailed functional program. The facilities are expected to comprise 1,800 workstations (half of which will be computerized, and upon completion will have a capacity of 300,000 freely accessible documents and 350,000 documents in store over a total surface area of some 12,000 m2. The architect Rudy Ricciotti won the international competition to design the library held in 2001. Perfectly suited to its function, the industrial building in which the library is housed dates from the 1920s. It presents both advantages (vast surfaces, sufficient load-bearing capacity, natural light, etc. and obstacles (restrictions on free circulation, forests of columns in certain areas, interrupted spaces, etc. to being transformed into a library that is functional and adapted to its purposes. The building’s structure and the constraints it imposed profoundly influenced the program which had to be adjusted, and also affected other aspects, including the arrangement and features of the furnishings as well as the building’s system of signs. In agreement with the university, the library worked in close collaboration with the architect from the earliest sketches onwards. As a result, his initial plan also evolved considerably. The installation of the library in the Grands Moulins offers us a chance to observe the nature and effects of the interactions between the transformation of a building and the evolution of a program.

  17. Rising to the challenges-Reflections on Future-oriented Technology Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Georghiou, Luke; Cassingena Harper, Jennifer

    2013-01-01

    Drawing upon the presentations made at the fourth conference on Future-oriented Technology Analysis, this essay reflects on the implications of the current period of instability and discontinuity for the practice of FTA or foresight. In the past the demand environment for foresight on research and innovation policy favoured application to priority-setting and articulation of demand. New tendencies include a heightened search for breakthrough science and a focus on grand societal challenges. B...

  18. Cosmological implications of grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nanopoulos, D.V.

    1982-01-01

    These lectures, mainly devoted to the cosmological implications of GUTs, also include the essential ingredients of GUTs and some of their important applications to particle physics. Section 1 contains some basic points concerning the structure of the standard strong and electroweak interactions prior to grand unification. A detailed expose of GUTs is attempted in sect. 2, including their basci principles and their consequences for particle physics. The minimal, simplest GUT, SU 5 is analysed in some detail and it will be used throughout these lectures as the GUT prototype. Finally, sect. 3 contains the most important cosmological implications of GUTs, including baryon number generation in the early Universe (in rather lengthy detail), dissipative processes in the very early Universe, grand unified monopoles, etc. (orig./HSI)

  19. Advanced functions using VBA for the Yacuiba Rio Grande (GASYRG) gas pipeline; Funcoes avancadas usando VBA no gasoduto Yacuiba Rio Grande

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Torres Vega, Raul [TRANSIERRA S.A., Santa Cruz (Bolivia)

    2005-07-01

    The Yacuiba - Rio Grande Gas Pipeline is remote operated from the Supervision and Control Center (CSC) located in the offices of Transierra S.A. in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. This operation is made by means of a SCADA system based on satellite communication, it starts off at Yacuiba and finishes in Rio Grande, where it deliveries the export gas to Brazil. An Advanced Functions application was developed at the Transierra's CSC, This application runs under Intellution's iFix (HMI of the SCADA) in a Windows platform. It gathers transportation data in real time and by means of a mathematical process and a steady state simulation it makes the following on line calculations: Line Pack, Leak Detection, Transport Efficiency, Pressure Estimate in intermediate points and gas real velocity in the pipeline. The application was developed using Visual BASIC for Applications (VBA) (included in Intellution's iFix) and by means of an interphase to a historical server (iHistorian, Intellution) it is possible to store the obtained results, this integration also allows for the creation of graphs and trends with a great flexibility and to activate alarm points. With a practically null investment, this application replaces high cost specialized packages that are accessories to simulation or SCADA applications. (author)

  20. Saturn's Internal Magnetic Field Revealed by Cassini Grand Finale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, H.; Dougherty, M. K.; Khurana, K. K.; Hunt, G. J.; Provan, G.; Kellock, S.; Burton, M. E.; Burk, T. A.

    2017-12-01

    Saturn's internal magnetic field has been puzzling since the first in-situ measurements during the Pioneer 11 Saturn flyby. Cassini magnetometer measurements prior to the Grand Finale phase established 1) the highly axisymmetric nature of Saturn's internal magnetic field with a dipole tilt smaller than 0.06 degrees, 2) at least an order of magnitude slower secular variation rate compared to that of the current geomagnetic field, and 3) expulsion of magnetic fluxes from the equatorial region towards high latitude. The highly axisymmetric nature of Saturn's intrinsic magnetic field not only challenges dynamo theory but also makes an accurate determination of the interior rotation rate of Saturn extremely difficult. The Cassini spacecraft entered the Grand Finale phase in April 2017, during which time the spacecraft dived through the gap between Saturn's atmosphere and the inner edge of the D-ring 22 times before descending into the deep atmosphere of Saturn. The unprecedented proximity to Saturn (reaching 2500 km above the cloud deck) and the highly inclined nature of the Grand Finale orbits provided an ideal opportunity to decode Saturn's internal magnetic field. The fluxgate magnetometer onboard Cassini made precise vector measurements during the Grand Finale phase. Magnetic signals from the interior of the planet, the magnetospheric ring current, the high-latitude field-aligned current (FAC) modulated by the 10.7 hour planetary period oscillation, and low-latitude FACs were observed during the Grand Finale phase. Here we report the magnetometer measurements during the Cassini Grand Finale phase, new features of Saturn's internal magnetic field revealed by these measurements (e.g., the high degree magnetic moments of Saturn, the level of axisymmetry beyond dipole), and implications for the deep interior of Saturn.

  1. Combining self- and cross-docking as benchmark tools: the performance of DockBench in the D3R Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salmaso, Veronica; Sturlese, Mattia; Cuzzolin, Alberto; Moro, Stefano

    2018-01-01

    Molecular docking is a powerful tool in the field of computer-aided molecular design. In particular, it is the technique of choice for the prediction of a ligand pose within its target binding site. A multitude of docking methods is available nowadays, whose performance may vary depending on the data set. Therefore, some non-trivial choices should be made before starting a docking simulation. In the same framework, the selection of the target structure to use could be challenging, since the number of available experimental structures is increasing. Both issues have been explored within this work. The pose prediction of a pool of 36 compounds provided by D3R Grand Challenge 2 organizers was preceded by a pipeline to choose the best protein/docking-method couple for each blind ligand. An integrated benchmark approach including ligand shape comparison and cross-docking evaluations was implemented inside our DockBench software. The results are encouraging and show that bringing attention to the choice of the docking simulation fundamental components improves the results of the binding mode predictions.

  2. On the added value of forensic science and grand innovation challenges for the forensic community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Asten, Arian C

    2014-03-01

    In this paper the insights and results are presented of a long term and ongoing improvement effort within the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) to establish a valuable innovation programme. From the overall perspective of the role and use of forensic science in the criminal justice system, the concepts of Forensic Information Value Added (FIVA) and Forensic Information Value Efficiency (FIVE) are introduced. From these concepts the key factors determining the added value of forensic investigations are discussed; Evidential Value, Relevance, Quality, Speed and Cost. By unravelling the added value of forensic science and combining this with the future needs and scientific and technological developments, six forensic grand challenges are introduced: i) Molecular Photo-fitting; ii) chemical imaging, profiling and age estimation of finger marks; iii) Advancing Forensic Medicine; iv) Objective Forensic Evaluation; v) the Digital Forensic Service Centre and vi) Real time In-Situ Chemical Identification. Finally, models for forensic innovation are presented that could lead to major international breakthroughs on all these six themes within a five year time span. This could cause a step change in the added value of forensic science and would make forensic investigative methods even more valuable than they already are today. © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd on behalf of Forensic Science Society. All rights reserved.

  3. Web application to access U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works and Restoration Projects information for the Rio Grande Basin, southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archuleta, Christy-Ann M.; Eames, Deanna R.

    2009-01-01

    The Rio Grande Civil Works and Restoration Projects Web Application, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Albuquerque District, is designed to provide publicly available information through the Internet about civil works and restoration projects in the Rio Grande Basin. Since 1942, USACE Albuquerque District responsibilities have included building facilities for the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, providing flood protection, supplying water for power and public recreation, participating in fire remediation, protecting and restoring wetlands and other natural resources, and supporting other government agencies with engineering, contracting, and project management services. In the process of conducting this vast array of engineering work, the need arose for easily tracking the locations of and providing information about projects to stakeholders and the public. This fact sheet introduces a Web application developed to enable users to visualize locations and search for information about USACE (and some other Federal, State, and local) projects in the Rio Grande Basin in southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

  4. Comparative psychology and the grand challenge of drug discovery in psychiatry and neurodegeneration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunner, Dani; Balcı, Fuat; Ludvig, Elliot A

    2012-02-01

    Drug discovery for brain disorders is undergoing a period of upheaval. Faced with an empty drug pipeline and numerous failures of potential new drugs in clinical trials, many large pharmaceutical companies have been shrinking or even closing down their research divisions that focus on central nervous system (CNS) disorders. In this paper, we argue that many of the difficulties facing CNS drug discovery stem from a lack of robustness in pre-clinical (i.e., non-human animal) testing. There are two main sources for this lack of robustness. First, there is the lack of replicability of many results from the pre-clinical stage, which we argue is driven by a combination of publication bias and inappropriate selection of statistical and experimental designs. Second, there is the frequent failure to translate results in non-human animals to parallel results in humans in the clinic. This limitation can only be overcome by developing new behavioral tests for non-human animals that have predictive, construct, and etiological validity. Here, we present these translational difficulties as a "grand challenge" to researchers from comparative cognition, who are well positioned to provide new methods for testing behavior and cognition in non-human animals. These new experimental protocols will need to be both statistically robust and target behavioral and cognitive processes that allow for better connection with human CNS disorders. Our hope is that this downturn in industrial research may represent an opportunity to develop new protocols that will re-kindle the search for more effective and safer drugs for CNS disorders. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. EV Everywhere Grand Challenge Road to Success

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None, None

    2014-01-31

    Initial progress report for EV Everywhere. The report highlights the significant cost reduction in batteries in 2014, which will enable increased PEV affordability for consumers. Also, the efforts on increasing the convenience of PEVs through the Workplace Charging Challenge, which called on U.S. employers to help develop the nation's charging infrastructure.

  6. Enabling grand-canonical Monte Carlo: extending the flexibility of GROMACS through the GromPy python interface module.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pool, René; Heringa, Jaap; Hoefling, Martin; Schulz, Roland; Smith, Jeremy C; Feenstra, K Anton

    2012-05-05

    We report on a python interface to the GROMACS molecular simulation package, GromPy (available at https://github.com/GromPy). This application programming interface (API) uses the ctypes python module that allows function calls to shared libraries, for example, written in C. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported interface to the GROMACS library that uses direct library calls. GromPy can be used for extending the current GROMACS simulation and analysis modes. In this work, we demonstrate that the interface enables hybrid Monte-Carlo/molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in the grand-canonical ensemble, a simulation mode that is currently not implemented in GROMACS. For this application, the interplay between GromPy and GROMACS requires only minor modifications of the GROMACS source code, not affecting the operation, efficiency, and performance of the GROMACS applications. We validate the grand-canonical application against MD in the canonical ensemble by comparison of equations of state. The results of the grand-canonical simulations are in complete agreement with MD in the canonical ensemble. The python overhead of the grand-canonical scheme is only minimal. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Grandes remolques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Editorial, Equipo

    1961-07-01

    Full Text Available El empleo creciente del material pesado auxiliar en la construcción de obras de ingeniería civil ha motivado la fabricación de grandes plataformas, capaces de transportar toda clase de maquinaria auxiliar. En general, este tipo de maquinaria requiere medios de transporte, pues su circulación por carreteras es lenta, obstructiva y cara, siempre que se trate de grandes distancias, caso presente en la mayoría de ocasiones en que se exige un traslado de esta maquinaria de una a otra obra.

  8. Workflows and performances in the ranking prediction of 2016 D3R Grand Challenge 2: lessons learned from a collaborative effort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Ying-Duo; Hu, Yuan; Crespo, Alejandro; Wang, Deping; Armacost, Kira A; Fells, James I; Fradera, Xavier; Wang, Hongwu; Wang, Huijun; Sherborne, Brad; Verras, Andreas; Peng, Zhengwei

    2018-01-01

    The 2016 D3R Grand Challenge 2 includes both pose and affinity or ranking predictions. This article is focused exclusively on affinity predictions submitted to the D3R challenge from a collaborative effort of the modeling and informatics group. Our submissions include ranking of 102 ligands covering 4 different chemotypes against the FXR ligand binding domain structure, and the relative binding affinity predictions of the two designated free energy subsets of 15 and 18 compounds. Using all the complex structures prepared in the same way allowed us to cover many types of workflows and compare their performances effectively. We evaluated typical workflows used in our daily structure-based design modeling support, which include docking scores, force field-based scores, QM/MM, MMGBSA, MD-MMGBSA, and MacroModel interaction energy estimations. The best performing methods for the two free energy subsets are discussed. Our results suggest that affinity ranking still remains very challenging; that the knowledge of more structural information does not necessarily yield more accurate predictions; and that visual inspection and human intervention are considerably important for ranking. Knowledge of the mode of action and protein flexibility along with visualization tools that depict polar and hydrophobic maps are very useful for visual inspection. QM/MM-based workflows were found to be powerful in affinity ranking and are encouraged to be applied more often. The standardized input and output enable systematic analysis and support methodology development and improvement for high level blinded predictions.

  9. Workflows and performances in the ranking prediction of 2016 D3R Grand Challenge 2: lessons learned from a collaborative effort

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Ying-Duo; Hu, Yuan; Crespo, Alejandro; Wang, Deping; Armacost, Kira A.; Fells, James I.; Fradera, Xavier; Wang, Hongwu; Wang, Huijun; Sherborne, Brad; Verras, Andreas; Peng, Zhengwei

    2018-01-01

    The 2016 D3R Grand Challenge 2 includes both pose and affinity or ranking predictions. This article is focused exclusively on affinity predictions submitted to the D3R challenge from a collaborative effort of the modeling and informatics group. Our submissions include ranking of 102 ligands covering 4 different chemotypes against the FXR ligand binding domain structure, and the relative binding affinity predictions of the two designated free energy subsets of 15 and 18 compounds. Using all the complex structures prepared in the same way allowed us to cover many types of workflows and compare their performances effectively. We evaluated typical workflows used in our daily structure-based design modeling support, which include docking scores, force field-based scores, QM/MM, MMGBSA, MD-MMGBSA, and MacroModel interaction energy estimations. The best performing methods for the two free energy subsets are discussed. Our results suggest that affinity ranking still remains very challenging; that the knowledge of more structural information does not necessarily yield more accurate predictions; and that visual inspection and human intervention are considerably important for ranking. Knowledge of the mode of action and protein flexibility along with visualization tools that depict polar and hydrophobic maps are very useful for visual inspection. QM/MM-based workflows were found to be powerful in affinity ranking and are encouraged to be applied more often. The standardized input and output enable systematic analysis and support methodology development and improvement for high level blinded predictions.

  10. Tipping Points and Balancing Acts: Grand Challenges and Synergistic Opportunities of Integrating Research and Education, Science and Solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCaffrey, M. S.; Stroeve, J. C.

    2011-12-01

    The "Grand Challenges" to address Global Change identified by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and its partners through the Earth System Sustainability Initiative-improving forecasting, enhancing and integrating observation systems, confining and minimizing global environmental change, responding effectively to change, as well as innovating and evaluating these efforts-require an integrative approach that engages and inspires society in general and young people in particular. What are some of the effective strategies-and stumbling blocks-in being able to make Earth System science and related sustainability efforts relevant and practical to non-technical audiences? Recent climate education projects have pioneered new strategies toward linking and infusing research with education, science with solutions. For example, the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN), a National Science Digital Library Pathway funded by NSF, has approached this integral approach by "closing the loop" between climate and energy topics, identifying and annotating high quality online resources relating to the carbon cycle and related topics. The Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE) project, funded by NASA, offers professional development for teachers that infuses climate science with solutions as an emerging "best practice" while being sensitive to the emotional, psychological and political aspects of avoiding "gloom and doom" on one hand or advocating for particular policy solutions on another. Other examples includes NASA's climate website (http://climate.nasa.gov ), which serves as a robust, engaging portal for climate research and data, especially for educators. The recent PBS series Earth: The Operators' Manual and related book and website are other recent example of how climate science research, education and solutions can be incorporated in a way that is appealing and informative. The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) has given assemblies in

  11. Lessons and challenges from adaptation pathways planning applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haasnoot, M.; Lawrence, J.; Kwakkel, J. H.; Walker, W.; Timmermans, J.; Bloemen, P.; Thissen, W.

    2015-12-01

    Planning for adaptation to dynamic risks (e.g., because of climate change) is a critical need. The concept of 'adaptive policies' is receiving increasing attention as a way of performing strategic planning that is able to address many of the inherent challenges of uncertainty and dynamic change. Several approaches for developing adaptive policies are available in the literature. One approach, for which several applications already exist, is Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP). Pathway maps enable policy analysts, decision makers, and stakeholders to recognize potential 'locked-in' situations and to assess the flexibility, robustness, and efficacy of decision alternatives. Most of the applications of DAPP have been in deltas, coastal cities, or floodplains, often within the context of climate change adaptation. In this talk, we describe the DAPP approach and present a framework for designing signposts as adaptation signals, together with an illustrative application for the Rhine River in the Netherlands. We also draw lessons and challenges from pathways applications that differ in environment, culture, and institutional context. For example, the Dutch Delta Programme has used pathways to identify short-term decisions and long-term policy options. In Bangladesh, an application is in its early phase. Steps before generating pathways - such as long- term thinking in multiple possible futures and acknowledging uncertainties - are already a big challenge there. In New Zealand, the 'Sustainable Delta Game' has been used as the catalyst for pathways thinking by two local councils. This has led to its application in decision making for coastal and flood risk management and economic analysis of policy options.

  12. Large scale free energy calculations for blind predictions of protein-ligand binding: the D3R Grand Challenge 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Nanjie; Flynn, William F; Xia, Junchao; Vijayan, R S K; Zhang, Baofeng; He, Peng; Mentes, Ahmet; Gallicchio, Emilio; Levy, Ronald M

    2016-09-01

    We describe binding free energy calculations in the D3R Grand Challenge 2015 for blind prediction of the binding affinities of 180 ligands to Hsp90. The present D3R challenge was built around experimental datasets involving Heat shock protein (Hsp) 90, an ATP-dependent molecular chaperone which is an important anticancer drug target. The Hsp90 ATP binding site is known to be a challenging target for accurate calculations of ligand binding affinities because of the ligand-dependent conformational changes in the binding site, the presence of ordered waters and the broad chemical diversity of ligands that can bind at this site. Our primary focus here is to distinguish binders from nonbinders. Large scale absolute binding free energy calculations that cover over 3000 protein-ligand complexes were performed using the BEDAM method starting from docked structures generated by Glide docking. Although the ligand dataset in this study resembles an intermediate to late stage lead optimization project while the BEDAM method is mainly developed for early stage virtual screening of hit molecules, the BEDAM binding free energy scoring has resulted in a moderate enrichment of ligand screening against this challenging drug target. Results show that, using a statistical mechanics based free energy method like BEDAM starting from docked poses offers better enrichment than classical docking scoring functions and rescoring methods like Prime MM-GBSA for the Hsp90 data set in this blind challenge. Importantly, among the three methods tested here, only the mean value of the BEDAM binding free energy scores is able to separate the large group of binders from the small group of nonbinders with a gap of 2.4 kcal/mol. None of the three methods that we have tested provided accurate ranking of the affinities of the 147 active compounds. We discuss the possible sources of errors in the binding free energy calculations. The study suggests that BEDAM can be used strategically to discriminate

  13. Traditional Chinese medicine research in the post-genomic era: good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uzuner, Halil; Bauer, Rudolf; Fan, Tai-Ping; Guo, De-An; Dias, Alberto; El-Nezami, Hani; Efferth, Thomas; Williamson, Elizabeth M; Heinrich, Michael; Robinson, Nicola; Hylands, Peter J; Hendry, Bruce M; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Xu, Qihe

    2012-04-10

    GP-TCM is the 1st EU-funded Coordination Action consortium dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. This paper aims to summarise the objectives, structure and activities of the consortium and introduces the position of the consortium regarding good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Serving as the introductory paper for the GP-TCM Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, this paper describes the roadmap of this special issue and reports how the main outputs of the ten GP-TCM work packages are integrated, and have led to consortium-wide conclusions. Literature studies, opinion polls and discussions among consortium members and stakeholders. By January 2012, through 3 years of team building, the GP-TCM consortium had grown into a large collaborative network involving ∼200 scientists from 24 countries and 107 institutions. Consortium members had worked closely to address good practice issues related to various aspects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and acupuncture research, the focus of this Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, leading to state-of-the-art reports, guidelines and consensus on the application of omics technologies in TCM research. In addition, through an online survey open to GP-TCM members and non-members, we polled opinions on grand priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Based on the poll, although consortium members and non-members had diverse opinions on the major challenges in the field, both groups agreed that high-quality efficacy/effectiveness and mechanistic studies are grand priorities and that the TCM legacy in general and its management of chronic diseases in particular represent grand opportunities. Consortium members cast their votes of confidence in omics and systems biology approaches to TCM research and believed that quality and pharmacovigilance of TCM products are not only grand priorities, but also grand challenges. Non-members, however, gave priority

  14. Effect of H2O2 application during ‘Grande naine’-Mycosphaerella fijiensis interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milady Mendoza-Rodríguez

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In Musa spp. considerable economical lost are cause by Mycosphaerella fijiensis infection around the world, that is why the study of the pathosystem constitute a priority. However, the main mechanisms activated in banana after infection are still unknown and are a limitation for a better understanding of this complex relationship. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 application, on leaves of ‘Grande naine’ plants, on black leaf streak disease development (BLSD. For this purpose, the first three open leaves of banana plants were inoculated with the monoascosporic isolate of M. fijiensis CCIBP-Pf-83. At three days post-inoculation different H2O2 concentrations (10, 20, 30 and 40 mmol l-1 were sprayed to these plants as well as to non-inoculated ones. During the time course of the experiment for inoculated, sprayed plants and for control plants (infected with M. fijiensis epidemiological variables as well as the area of necrotic lesions at 49 dpi were measured. The findings of this analysis showed that the early application of H2O2 have influence on the BLSD development.   Keywords: banana, black leaf streak disease, hemibiotrophic, hydrogen peroxide

  15. Water Environment Evolution along the China Grand Canal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mao, F; Wu, Y X; Yang, B F; Li, X J

    2014-01-01

    The China Grand Canal is one of the earliest canals in the world, having lasted for nearly 3000 years. Even its section canals have a rich history, such as the North-South Grand Canal that was established during the Sui Dynasty, whereas the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was excavated during the Yuan Dynasty and the east line of the South-to-North Water Diversion. As one of the longest in the world, the China Grand Canal's total length is over 3500 kilometers. This length includes the navigable, unnavigable, and underground sections. Making the best use of situations and according to local conditions, the Chinese people harmoniously constructed the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal with nature. Tens of millions of workers took nearly 3000 years to complete the great shipping system. Navigable sections still exist for up to 900 kilometers and the volume of freight traffic is approximately 300 million tons. The canal remains the main logistical channel of the North-to-South Coal Transportation, South-to-North Water Diversion, and resources circulation. To date, China is promoting the success of heritage application. Part of these efforts is the declaration of the China Grand Canal as a World Cultural Heritage by 2014. In addition, the east route of the South-to-North Water Transfer project is planned to be navigable by 2016. The ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will usher in the new ecological civilization and cultural revival along the canal. This paper presents technical methods of water environment evolution research on the river system, river, and water quality along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal through the integration of historical literature and modern remote sensing image data. The study carried out water environment investigation and analysis along the Beijing-Hangzhou canal by using ETM, SPOT image data, and GPS measurement data. Spatial and temporal evolution characteristics and regulations of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal regional water environment in the span of

  16. Governance Challenges in Joint Inter-Jurisdictional Management: The Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, Elk Case

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Susan G.; Vernon, Marian E.

    2015-08-01

    The controversial elk reduction program (elk hunt) in Grand Teton National Park, WY, has been a source of conflict since it was legislated in 1950. The hunt is jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. This forced organizational partnership and the conflicting mandates of these two agencies have led to persistent conflict that seems irresolvable under the current decision-making process. To better understand the decision-making process and participant perspectives, we reviewed management documents, technical literature, and newspaper articles, and interviewed 35 key participants in this case. We used these data to analyze and appraise the adequacy of the decision-making process for the park elk hunt and to ask whether it reflects the common interest. We found deficiencies in all functions of the decision-making process. Neither the decisions made nor the process itself include diverse perspectives, nor do they attend to valid and appropriate participant concerns. Agency officials focus their attention on technical rather than procedural concerns, which largely obfuscates the underlying tension in the joint inter-jurisdictional management arrangement and ultimately contributes to the hunt's annual implementation to the detriment of the common interest. We offer specific yet widely applicable recommendations to better approximate an inclusive and democratic decision-making process that serves the community's common interests.

  17. Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar Gupta, Girish; De, Sudipta; Franco, Ana; Balu, Alina Mariana; Luque, Rafael

    2015-12-30

    Biomaterials and sustainable resources are two complementary terms supporting the development of new sustainable emerging processes. In this context, many interdisciplinary approaches including biomass waste valorization and proper usage of green technologies, etc., were brought forward to tackle future challenges pertaining to declining fossil resources, energy conservation, and related environmental issues. The implementation of these approaches impels its potential effect on the economy of particular countries and also reduces unnecessary overburden on the environment. This contribution aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent trends, challenges, and applications in the field of biomaterials derived from sustainable resources.

  18. Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Girish Kumar Gupta

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Biomaterials and sustainable resources are two complementary terms supporting the development of new sustainable emerging processes. In this context, many interdisciplinary approaches including biomass waste valorization and proper usage of green technologies, etc., were brought forward to tackle future challenges pertaining to declining fossil resources, energy conservation, and related environmental issues. The implementation of these approaches impels its potential effect on the economy of particular countries and also reduces unnecessary overburden on the environment. This contribution aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent trends, challenges, and applications in the field of biomaterials derived from sustainable resources.

  19. La importancia de ser grande

    OpenAIRE

    Baisre, J. A.

    2007-01-01

    Se responde a las preguntas ¿por qué los mamíferos marinos son los animales más grandes del planeta?, ¿Por qué los peces no pueden ser más grandes?. Éstas y otras interrogantes son respondidas de forma sencilla y clara.

  20. Machine learning in manufacturing: advantages, challenges, and applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thorsten Wuest

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The nature of manufacturing systems faces ever more complex, dynamic and at times even chaotic behaviors. In order to being able to satisfy the demand for high-quality products in an efficient manner, it is essential to utilize all means available. One area, which saw fast pace developments in terms of not only promising results but also usability, is machine learning. Promising an answer to many of the old and new challenges of manufacturing, machine learning is widely discussed by researchers and practitioners alike. However, the field is very broad and even confusing which presents a challenge and a barrier hindering wide application. Here, this paper contributes in presenting an overview of available machine learning techniques and structuring this rather complicated area. A special focus is laid on the potential benefit, and examples of successful applications in a manufacturing environment.

  1. Applying Systems Engineering on Energy Challenges

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Safi, J.; Muller, G.; Bonnema, Gerrit Maarten

    2012-01-01

    Systems engineering is a discipline with methods and techniques to address complex problems. We want to study how Systems Engineering methods can help to address today's grand challenges, such as the energy problem. The first step is problem definition which aims at articulating the problem in its

  2. SO(10) supersymmetric grand unified theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dermisek, Radovan

    The origin of the fermion mass hierarchy is one of the most challenging problems in elementary particle physics. In the standard model fermion masses and mixing angles are free parameters. Supersymmetric grand unified theories provide a beautiful framework for physics beyond the standard model. In addition to gauge coupling unification these theories provide relations between quark and lepton masses within families, and with additional family symmetry the hierarchy between families can be generated. We present a predictive SO(10) supersymmetric grand unified model with D 3 x U(1) family symmetry. The hierarchy in fermion masses is generated by the family symmetry breaking D 3 x U(1) → ZN → nothing. This model fits the low energy data in the charged fermion sector quite well. We discuss the prediction of this model for the proton lifetime in light of recent SuperKamiokande results and present a clear picture of the allowed spectra of supersymmetric particles. Finally, the detailed discussion of the Yukawa coupling unification of the third generation particles is provided. We find a narrow region is consistent with t, b, tau Yukawa unification for mu > 0 (suggested by b → sgamma and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon) with A0 ˜ -1.9m16, m10 ˜ 1.4m16, m16 ≳ 1200 GeV and mu, M1/2 ˜ 100--500 GeV. Demanding Yukawa unification thus makes definite predictions for Higgs and sparticle masses.

  3. Grand unified theories. Pt. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellis, J.

    1982-01-01

    The author gives an introduction to the construction of grand unified theories on the base of the SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) model of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions. Especially he discusses the proton decay, neutrino masses and oscillations, and cosmological implications in connection with grand unified theories. (orig./HSI)

  4. Grand partition function in field theory with applications to sine-Gordon field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samuel, S.

    1978-01-01

    Certain relativistic field theories are shown to be equivalent to the grand partition function of an interacting gas. Using the physical insight given by this analogy many field-theoretic results are obtained, particularly for the sine-Gordon field theory. The main results are enumerated in the summary to which the reader is referred

  5. Grand challenge commentary: Transforming biosynthesis into an information science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayer, Travis S

    2010-12-01

    Engineering biosynthetic pathways to natural products is a challenging endeavor that promises to provide new therapeutics and tools to manipulate biology. Information-guided design strategies and tools could unlock the creativity of a wide spectrum of scientists and engineers by decoupling expertise from implementation.

  6. Therapeutic ultrasound - Exciting applications and future challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saffari, Nader

    2018-04-01

    This paper presents an overview of the applications of ultrasound for the treatment of an ever-growing range of medical conditions. After presenting a brief history of the development of therapeutic ultrasound, the different mechanisms by which beneficial bio-effects are triggered will be discussed. This will be followed by a discussion of some of the more promising applications, some of which have already been licensed and introduced into the clinic. The case of liver tumour ablation will be discussed to demonstrate some of the engineering challenges that still need to be overcome before this technology finds wider uptake in the medical world.

  7. The subgroup structure of grand unified theories with application to the fermion mass matrix in 0(10)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feldman, G.; Fulton, T.

    1982-01-01

    A technique, using the orthonormal basis for roots and weights of compact Lie groups, introduced by Van der Waerden and developed by Dynkin (Am. Math. Soc. Transl.; 17: (1950) and Sec 2,6:111 (1957)) provides a convenient framework for discussing mass relations in grand unification theories. The structure constants Nsub(αβ) for SU(R + 1), O(2R + 1), Sp(2R), O(2R) and G(2) are obtained in an appendix, using an approach arising from this basis. The method for obtaining generators of non-regular subalgebras, in terms of generators of the original algebras, is discussed in terms of the basis. It is necessary to know this structure in order to trace the history of particles, originally in some grand unification group, through the various chains of decompositions into subgroups. As an illustration, the methods are applied to finding the minimal, non-trivial, mass relations for fermions in the O(10) grand unification scheme. (author)

  8. Content-centric networks an overview, applications and research challenges

    CERN Document Server

    Ahmed, Syed Hassan; Kim, Dongkyun

    2016-01-01

    This book introduces Content-Centric Networking (CCN), a networking paradigm that provides a simple and effective solution to the challenging demands of future wired and wireless communications. It provides an overview of the recent developments in the area of future internet technologies, bringing together the advancements that have been made in Information-Centric Networking (ICN) in general, with a focus on CCN. It begins with an introduction to the basics of CCN is followed by an overview of the current internet paradigm and its challenges. Next, an application perspective has been included, where the authors encompass the selected applications for CCN with recent refereed research and developments. These applications include Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Grid, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs), and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The book is a useful reference source for practising researchers, and can be used as supporting material for undergraduate and graduate level courses in computer science and...

  9. Flocculent and grand design spiral galaxies in groups: time scales for the persistence of grand design spiral structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elmegreen, B.G.; Elmegreen, D.M.

    1983-01-01

    Spiral arm classifications were made for 261 low-inclination galaxies in groups listed by Huchra and Geller. The fractional occurrence of grand design spiral structure in nonbarred galaxies was found to increase from approx.0.1 to approx.0.6 and then level off as the group crossing rate or galaxy collision rate in a group increases. A simple model is discussed where the random encounters between galaxies of any type and flocculent galaxies induce transient grand design spirals in the flocculent galaxies. If this grand-design stimulation occurs for binary collisions with impact parameters less than αR 25 , were R 25 is the galactic radius at 25 mag arcsec - 2 , and if the induced grand design spirals persist for an average time equal to #betta# galactic rotations, then the quantity α 2 #betta# equals approximately 3 x 10 4 . If binary collisions are responsible for grand design spirals, then this result implies either that the induced spirals last for many galactic rotations (#betta#>15), or that they can be stimulated by very remote encounters (α>45.) Alternatively, grand design spirals may be stimulated by multiple galaxy encounters, which would be the case for such large α, or by interactions with the potential well of the associated group, rather than by simple binary encounters. Weak correlations between the grand design fraction and the galaxy size, or between this fraction and the total number of galaxies in a group, were also found. Spiral structures of barred galaxies show no correlations with group environment

  10. United States Department of Energy, Grand Junction Office

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-01-01

    The Grand Junction Office (GJO), US Department of Energy (DOE), develops and administers programs for evaluating domestic uranium resources and the production capability of industry; for developing resource planning information for DOE; and for advancing geologic and geophysical exploration concepts and techniques. In addition, GJO administers the leasing of mineral lands under DOE control, and carries out activities relating to the environmental aspects of uranium mining and milling, including remedial programs. The Office is staffed by administrative and technical program-management personnel. Bendix Field Engineering Corporation (Bendix) is the DOE operating contractor at the Grand Junction, Colorado, Government-owned/contractor-operated (GOCO) facility. The technical staffs of both GJO and Bendix are primarily geoscience-oriented. Specifically during 1980, uranium resource assessment on 135 National Topographic Map Series (NTMS) quadrangles was completed, along with other specific studies, to yield October 1980 national resource estimates. In addition, updated uranium supply analysis and production capability projections were completed. Another key aspect of this successful program was the development of improved geophysical and geochemical equipment and techniques in support of uranium resource assessment. Much of the hardware and know-how developed was turned over to the public and to the uranium industry at large for application to uranium exploration and the assessment of uranium company resources. The Grand Junction Office also participated actively during 1980 in international cooperative research on uranium exploration techniques and on the geology of uranium deposits

  11. Challenges of Massive Application of Information Technologies in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Effective diffusion of information technology and related initiatives in African Universities is hindered by various barriers. The paper investigated the challenges of massive application of information technology (IT) in Niger Delta universities in Nigeria. The research design was survey design, while the population consisted of ...

  12. L'Alliance pour appliquer à plus grande échelle l'innovation ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Ce projet servira à financer des innovations numériques qui contribuent à résoudre des défis relatifs au développement. Il établira un programme de financement de démarrage, élaborera des approches d'application à plus grande échelle d'innovations, et stimulera le développement de leaders entrepreneuriaux.

  13. Grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Langacker, P.

    1981-01-01

    In this talk I discuss the present status of these theories and of their observational and experimental implications. In section II, I briefly review the standard SU 3 sup(c) x SU 2 x U 1 model of the strong and electroweak interactions. Although phenomenologically successful, the standard model leaves many questions unanswered. Some of these questions are addressed by grand unified theories, which are defined and discussed in Section III. The Georgi-Glashow SU 5 model is described, as are theories based on larger groups such as SO 10 , E 6 , or SO 16 . It is emphasized that there are many possible grand unified theories and that it is an experimental problem not only to test the basic ideas but to discriminate between models. (orig./HSI)

  14. An international borderland of concern: Conservation of biodiversity in the Lower Rio Grande Valley

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leslie,, David M.

    2016-07-20

    The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of southern Texas is located on the United States-Mexico borderland and represents a 240-kilometer (150-mile) linear stretch that ends at the Gulf of Mexico. The LRGV represents a unique transition between temperate and tropical conditions and, as such, sustains an exceptionally high diversity of plants and animals—some of them found in few, or no other, places in the United States. Examples include Leopardus pardalis albescens (northern ocelot) and Falco femoralis septentrionalis (northern aplomado falcon)—both endangered in the United States and emblematic of the LRGV. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) manages three national wildlife refuges (Santa Ana, Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Laguna Atascosa) that together make up the South Texas Refuge Complex, which actively conserves biodiversity in about 76,006 hectares (187,815.5 acres) of native riparian and upland habitats in the LRGV. These diminished habitats harbor many rare, threatened, and endangered species. This report updates the widely used 1988 USFWS biological report titled “Tamaulipan Brushland of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas: Description, Human Impacts, and Management Options” by synthesizing nearly 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications that have resulted from biological and sociological research conducted specifically in the four Texas counties of the LRGV in the past nearly 30 years. This report has three goals: (1) synthesize scientific insights gained since 1988 related to the biology and management of the LRGV and its unique biota, focusing on flora and fauna of greatest conservation concern; (2) update ongoing challenges facing Federal and State agencies and organizations that focus on conservation or key natural resources in the LRGV; and (3) redefine conservation opportunities and land-acquisition strategies that are feasible and appropriate today, given the many new and expanding constraints that challenge conservation

  15. Nanoscale control of energy and matter: challenges and opportunities for plasma science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ostrikov, Kostya

    2013-01-01

    Multidisciplinary challenges and opportunities in the ultimate ability to achieve nanoscale control of energy and matter are discussed using an example of the Plasma Nanoscience. This is an emerging multidisciplinary research field at the cutting edge of a large number of disciplines including but not limited to physics and chemistry of plasmas and gas discharges, materials science, surface science, nanoscience and nanotechnology, solid state physics, space physics and astrophysics, photonics, optics, plasmonics, spintronics, quantum information, physical chemistry, biomedical sciences and related engineering subjects. The origin, progress and future perspectives of this research field driven by the global scientific and societal challenges, is examined. The future potential of the Plasma Nanoscience to remain as a highly topical area in the global research and technological agenda in the Age of Fundamental-Level Control for a Sustainable Future is assessed using a framework of the five Grand Challenges for Basic Energy Sciences recently mapped by the US Department of Energy. It is concluded that the ongoing research is very relevant and is expected to substantially expand to competitively contribute to the solution of all of these Grand Challenges. The approach to control energy and matter at nano- and subnanoscales is based on identifying the prevailing carriers and transfer mechanisms of the energy and matter at the spatial and temporal scales that are most relevant to any particular nanofabrication process. Strong accent is made on the competitive edge of the plasma-based nanotechnology in applications related to the major socio-economic issues (energy, food, water, health and environment) that are crucial for a sustainable development of humankind. Several important emerging topics, opportunities and multidisciplinary synergies for the Plasma Nanoscience are highlighted. The main nanosafety issues are also discussed and the environment- and human health

  16. Analysis of pumping systems to large flows of cooling water in power plants; Analisis de sistemas de bombeo para grandes flujos de agua de enfriamiento en centrales termoelectricas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanchez Sanchez, Ramon; Herrera Velarde, Jose Ramon; Gonzalez Sanchez, Angel [Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas, Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico)]. E-mail: rsanchez@iie.org.mx; jrhv@iie.org.mx; ags@iie.org.mx

    2010-11-15

    Accurate measurement of large water flows remains being a challenge in the problems of implementation of circulating water systems of power plants and other applications. This paper, presents a methodology for the analysis in pumping systems with high rates of water in power plants, as well as their practical application and results in pipelines water flow of a thermoelectrical power plant of 350 MW. In this power plant, the water flow per pipeline for a half of condenser oscillates around 7 m{sup 3}/s (14 m{sup 3}/s per power generating unit). In this analysis, we present the techniques used to measure large flows of water with high accurately, as well as the computational model for water circulating system using PIPE FLO and the results of practical application techniques. [Spanish] La medicion precisa de grandes flujos de agua, sigue siendo un reto en los problemas de aplicacion de sistemas de agua de circulacion de centrales termoelectricas, entre otras aplicaciones. En este articulo, se presenta una metodologia para el analisis de sistemas de bombeo con grandes flujos de agua en centrales termoelectricas, asi como, su aplicacion practica y los resultados obtenidos en los ductos de agua de circulacion de una central generadora con unidades de 350 MW. En esta central, los flujos por caja de agua oscilan alrededor de los 7 m{sup 3}/s (14 m{sup 3}/s por unidad generadora). En el analisis, se presentan las tecnicas utilizadas para medir con precision grandes flujos de agua (tubo de Pitot), asi como, el modelado del sistema de agua de circulacion por medio de un paquete computacional (PIPE FLO) y resultados obtenidos de la aplicacion de dichas tecnicas.

  17. Tissue polarimetry: concepts, challenges, applications, and outlook.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Nirmalya; Vitkin, I Alex

    2011-11-01

    Polarimetry has a long and successful history in various forms of clear media. Driven by their biomedical potential, the use of the polarimetric approaches for biological tissue assessment has also recently received considerable attention. Specifically, polarization can be used as an effective tool to discriminate against multiply scattered light (acting as a gating mechanism) in order to enhance contrast and to improve tissue imaging resolution. Moreover, the intrinsic tissue polarimetry characteristics contain a wealth of morphological and functional information of potential biomedical importance. However, in a complex random medium-like tissue, numerous complexities due to multiple scattering and simultaneous occurrences of many scattering and polarization events present formidable challenges both in terms of accurate measurements and in terms of analysis of the tissue polarimetry signal. In order to realize the potential of the polarimetric approaches for tissue imaging and characterization/diagnosis, a number of researchers are thus pursuing innovative solutions to these challenges. In this review paper, we summarize these and other issues pertinent to the polarized light methodologies in tissues. Specifically, we discuss polarized light basics, Stokes-Muller formalism, methods of polarization measurements, polarized light modeling in turbid media, applications to tissue imaging, inverse analysis for polarimetric results quantification, applications to quantitative tissue assessment, etc.

  18. Grand Mal Seizure

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... grand mal seizures include: A family history of seizure disorders Any injury to the brain from trauma, a ... the risk of birth defects. If you have epilepsy and plan to become pregnant, work with your ...

  19. Combining Multidisciplinary Science, Quantitative Reasoning and Social Context to Teach Global Sustainability and Prepare Students for 21st Grand Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, J. D.

    2011-12-01

    The Earth's seven billion humans are consuming a growing proportion of the world's ecosystem products and services. Human activity has also wrought changes that rival the scale of many natural geologic processes, e.g. erosion, transport and deposition, leading to recognition of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Because of these impacts, several natural systems have been pushed beyond the planetary boundaries that made the Holocene favorable for the expansion of humanity. Given these human-induced stresses on natural systems, global citizens will face an increasing number of grand challenges. Unfortunately, traditional discipline-based introductory science courses do little to prepare students for these complex, scientifically-based and technologically-centered challenges. With NSF funding, an introductory, integrated science course stressing quantitative reasoning and social context has been created at UW. The course (GEOL1600: Global Sustainability: Managing the Earth's Resources) is a lower division course designed around the energy-water-climate (EWC) nexus and integrating biology, chemistry, Earth science and physics. It melds lectures, lecture activities, reading questionnaires and labs to create a learning environment that examines the EWT nexus from a global through regional context. The focus on the EWC nexus, while important socially and intended to motivate students, also provides a coherent framework for identifying which disciplinary scientific principles and concepts to include in the course: photosynthesis and deep time (fossil fuels), biogeochemical cycles (climate), chemical reactions (combustion), electromagnetic radiation (solar power), nuclear physics (nuclear power), phase changes and diagrams (water and climate), etc. Lecture activities are used to give students the practice they need to make quantitative skills routine and automatic. Laboratory exercises on energy (coal, petroleum, nuclear power), water (in Bangladesh), energy

  20. Cross-relaxation imaging:methods, challenges and applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stikov, Nikola

    2010-01-01

    An overview of quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT) is given, with focus on cross relaxation imaging (CRI) as a fast method for quantifying the proportion of protons bound to complex macromolecules in tissue. The procedure for generating CRI maps is outlined, showing examples in the human brain and knee, and discussing the caveats and challenges in generating precise and accurate CRI maps. Finally, several applications of CRI for imaging tissue microstructure are presented.(Author)

  1. Grand-Bassam

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Geo

    l'estuaire du fleuve Comoé (Grand-Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire). Kouassi Laurent ADOPO1*, Apie Colette AKOBE1, Etche Mireille AMANI2,. Sylvain MONDE3 et Kouamé AKA3. (1)Laboratoire de Géologie Marine, Sédimentologie et Environnement, Centre de Recherche en Ecologie,. Université Felix Houphouet Boigny Abidjan, ...

  2. A Grande Reportagem no contexto informativo SIC

    OpenAIRE

    Colaço, Vanessa Alexandra Francisco

    2014-01-01

    Os telespectadores querem ver grandes reportagens? Como evoluíram as audiências da Grande Reportagem SIC? É este o produto premium da estação? Terá este formato um investimento e continuidade garantidas? Estas são algumas das questões formuladas e às quais se procurou dar resposta neste Relatório de Estágio. Neste trabalho traça-se o perfil do programa Grande Reportagem SIC, clarificando a linha editorial que lhe serviu de base, procurando perceber as suas dinâmicas e passando em revista mome...

  3. Supersymmetry and supergravity: Phenomenology and grand unification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arnowitt, R.; Nath, P.

    1993-01-01

    A survey is given of supersymmetry and supergravity and their phenomenology. Some of the topics discussed are the basic ideas of global supersymmetry, the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and its phenomenology, the basic ideas of local supersymmetry (supergravity), grand unification, supersymmetry breaking in supergravity grand unified models, radiative breaking of SU(2) x U(1), proton decay, cosmological constraints, and predictions of supergravity grand unified models. While the number of detailed derivations are necessarily limited, a sufficient number of results are given so that a reader can get a working knowledge of this field

  4. Telerehabilitation Clinical and Vocational Applications for Assistive Technology: Research, Opportunities, and Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark R. Schmeler

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Rehabilitation service providers in rural or underserved areas are often challenged in meeting the needs of their complex patients due to limited resources in their geographical area. Recruitment and retention of the rural clinical workforce are beset by the ongoing problems associated with limited continuing education opportunities, professional isolation, and the challenges inherent in coordinating rural community healthcare. People with disabilities who live in rural communities also face challenges accessing healthcare. Traveling long distances to a specialty clinic for necessary expertise may be troublesome due to inadequate or unavailable transportation, disability specific limitations, and financial limitations. Distance and lack of access are just two threats to quality of care that now being addressed by the use of videoconferencing, information exchange, and other telecommunication technologies that facilitate telerehabilitation. This white paper illustrates and summarizes clinical and vocational applications of telerehabilitation. We provide definitions related to the fields of telemedicine, telehealth, and telerehabilitation, and consider the impetus for telerehabilitation. We review the telerehabilitation literature for assistive technology applications; pressure ulcer prevention; virtual reality applications; speech-language pathology applications; seating and wheeled mobility applications; vocational rehabilitation applications; and cost effectiveness. We then discuss external telerehabilitation influencers, such as the positions of professional organizations. Finally, we summarize clinical and policy issues in a limited context appropriate to the scope of this paper. Keywords: Telerehabilitation, Telehealth, Telemedicine, Telepractice

  5. Telerehabilitation clinical and vocational applications for assistive technology: research, opportunities, and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmeler, Mark R; Schein, Richard M; McCue, Michael; Betz, Kendra

    2009-01-01

    Rehabilitation service providers in rural or underserved areas are often challenged in meeting the needs of their complex patients due to limited resources in their geographical area. Recruitment and retention of the rural clinical workforce are beset by the ongoing problems associated with limited continuing education opportunities, professional isolation, and the challenges inherent in coordinating rural community healthcare. People with disabilities who live in rural communities also face challenges accessing healthcare. Traveling long distances to a specialty clinic for necessary expertise may be troublesome due to inadequate or unavailable transportation, disability specific limitations, and financial limitations. Distance and lack of access are just two threats to quality of care that now being addressed by the use of videoconferencing, information exchange, and other telecommunication technologies that facilitate telerehabilitation. This white paper illustrates and summarizes clinical and vocational applications of telerehabilitation. We provide definitions related to the fields of telemedicine, telehealth, and telerehabilitation, and consider the impetus for telerehabilitation. We review the telerehabilitation literature for assistive technology applications; pressure ulcer prevention; virtual reality applications; speech-language pathology applications; seating and wheeled mobility applications; vocational rehabilitation applications; and cost-effectiveness. We then discuss external telerehabilitation influencers, such as the positions of professional organizations. Finally, we summarize clinical and policy issues in a limited context appropriate to the scope of this paper.

  6. Long-term Water Table Monitoring of Rio Grande Riparian Ecosystems for Restoration Potential Amid Hydroclimatic Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thibault, James R.; Cleverly, James R.; Dahm, Clifford N.

    2017-12-01

    Hydrological processes drive the ecological functioning and sustainability of cottonwood-dominated riparian ecosystems in the arid southwestern USA. Snowmelt runoff elevates groundwater levels and inundates floodplains, which promotes cottonwood germination. Once established, these phreatophytes rely on accessible water tables (WTs). In New Mexico's Middle Rio Grande corridor diminished flooding and deepening WTs threaten native riparian communities. We monitored surface flows and riparian WTs for up to 14 years, which revealed that WTs and surface flows, including peak snowmelt discharge, respond to basin climate conditions and resource management. WT hydrographs influence the composition of riparian communities and can be used to assess if potential restoration sites meet native vegetation tolerances for WT depths, rates of recession, and variability throughout their life stages. WTs were highly variable in some sites, which can preclude native vegetation less adapted to deep drawdowns during extended droughts. Rates of WT recession varied between sites and should be assessed in regard to recruitment potential. Locations with relatively shallow WTs and limited variability are likely to be more viable for successful restoration. Suitable sites have diminished greatly as the once meandering Rio Grande has been constrained and depleted. Increasing demands on water and the presence of invasive vegetation better adapted to the altered hydrologic regime further impact native riparian communities. Long-term monitoring over a range of sites and hydroclimatic extremes reveals attributes that can be evaluated for restoration potential.

  7. Proton hexality in local grand unification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Foerste, Stefan; Nilles, Hans Peter [Bonn Univ. (Germany). Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics and Physikalisches Institut; Ramos-Sanchez, Saul [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Vaudrevange, Patrick K.S. [Muenchen Univ. (Germany). Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics

    2010-07-15

    Proton hexality is a discrete symmetry that avoids the problem of too fast proton decay in the supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Unfortunately it is inconsistent with conventional grand unification. We show that proton hexality can be incorporated in the scheme of ''Local Grand Unification'' discussed in the framework of model building in (heterotic) string theory. (orig.)

  8. Computational biomechanics for medicine new approaches and new applications

    CERN Document Server

    Miller, Karol; Wittek, Adam; Nielsen, Poul

    2015-01-01

    The Computational Biomechanics for Medicine titles provide an opportunity for specialists in computational biomechanics to present their latest methodologiesand advancements. Thisvolumecomprises twelve of the newest approaches and applications of computational biomechanics, from researchers in Australia, New Zealand, USA, France, Spain and Switzerland. Some of the interesting topics discussed are:real-time simulations; growth and remodelling of soft tissues; inverse and meshless solutions; medical image analysis; and patient-specific solid mechanics simulations. One of the greatest challenges facing the computational engineering community is to extend the success of computational mechanics to fields outside traditional engineering, in particular to biology, the biomedical sciences, and medicine. We hope the research presented within this book series will contribute to overcoming this grand challenge.

  9. Application of GaN in Hard-switching Converters:Challenges and Potential Solutions%Application of GaN in Hard-switching Converters: Challenges and Potential Solutions

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Bo LIU; Zhe-yu ZHANG; Edward Jones; Fei(Fred) WANG

    2017-01-01

    This paper overviews the benefits,challenges,research trends and potential solutions on the design and application of gallium nitride (GaN) technology in hard-switching power electronic converters from the device level up to converter level.

  10. Las cinco grandes dimensiones de la personalidad

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan ter Laak

    1996-12-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo revisa las distintas posiciones teóricas sobre las cinco grandes dimensiones de la personalidad, mostrando las semejanzas y diferencias entre las posturas teóricas. Esta contribución presenta lo siguiente: (a la génesis del contenido y la estructura de las cinco dimensiones; (b la fortaleza de las cinco dimensiones; (e la relación de las cinco grandes dimensiones con otros constructos de personalidad; (d discute el valor predictivo de las puntuaciones del perfil de las cinco dimensiones para criterios pertinentes; (e analiza el estatus teórico de las cinco dimensiones; (f discute críticas históricas sobre las cinco grandes dimensiones y se formulan respuestas a estas críticas; (g hace conjeturas para el futuro de las cinco grandes dimensiones; y (h concluye con algunas conclusiones y comentarios.

  11. Site observational work plan for the UMTRA Project Site at Grand Junction, Colorado

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-03-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared this initial site observational work plan (SOWP) for the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project site in Grand Junction, Colorado. This SOWP is one of the first UMTRA Ground Water Project documents developed to select a compliance strategy that meets the UMTRA ground water standards (40 CFR Part 192, as amended by 60 FR 2854) for the Grand Junction site. This SOWP applies information about the Grand Junction site to the compliance strategy selection framework developed in the UMTRA Ground Water Project draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS). This risk-based, decision-making framework identifies the decision logic for selecting compliance strategies that could be used to meet the ground water standards. The DOE goal is to use the observational method to implement a cost-effective site strategy that complies with the ground water standards and protects human health and the environment. Based on an evaluation of the site characterization and risk assessment data available for the preparation of this SOWP, DOE proposes that the most likely compliance strategy for the Grand Junction site is no remediation based on the application of supplemental standards. This proposed strategy is based on a conceptual site model that indicates site-related contamination is confined to a limited-use aquifer as defined in the ground water standards

  12. Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamill, John F.

    2009-01-01

    The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, one of the world's most spectacular gorges, is a premier U.S. National Park and a World Heritage Site. The canyon supports a diverse array of distinctive plants and animals and contains cultural resources significant to the region's Native Americans. About 15 miles upstream of Grand Canyon National Park sits Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1963, which created Lake Powell. The dam provides hydroelectric power for 200 wholesale customers in six western States, but it has also altered the Colorado River's flow, temperature, and sediment-carrying capacity. Over time this has resulted in beach erosion, invasion and expansion of nonnative species, and losses of native fish. Public concern about the effects of Glen Canyon Dam operations prompted the passage of the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992, which directs the Secretary of the Interior to operate the dam 'to protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area were established...' This legislation also required the creation of a long-term monitoring and research program to provide information that could inform decisions related to dam operations and protection of downstream resources.

  13. 28 milliards d’euros, c’est grand comment ?

    OpenAIRE

    Ozer, Pierre; Salmon, Marc; Theunissen, Yannick

    2009-01-01

    J’ouvre mon quotidien. Fortis : 28 milliards d’euros de pertes en 2008. Ma fille de sept ans qui commence à lire et pose sans cesse des questions sur tout me lance : « Dis-moi, papa : 28 milliards d’euros, c’est grand comment ? ». Grande question… Je réfléchis et tente de trouver une parade parlante pour un enfant qui, in fine, se pose les mêmes questions que les grandes personnes.

  14. Developmental Challenges of SMES Technology for Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rong, Charles C.; Barnes, Paul N.

    2017-12-01

    This paper reviews the current status of high temperature superconductor (HTS) based superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) technology as a developmental effort. Discussion centres on the major challenges in magnet optimization, loss reduction, cooling improvement, and new development of quench detection. The cryogenic operation for superconductivity in this technological application requires continued research and development, especially with a greater engineering effort that involves the end user. For the SMES-based technology to more fully mature, some suggestions are given for consideration and discussion.

  15. Google Science Fair 2012 : Grand Prize Winner Brittany Wenger

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2012-01-01

    17-18 age category AND Grand Prize Winner: Brittany Wenger (USA)—“Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer.” Brittany’s project harnesses the power of the cloud to help doctors accurately diagnose breast cancer. Brittany built an application that compares individual test results to an extensive dataset stored in the cloud, allowing doctors to assess tumors using a minimally-invasive procedure. Brittany Michelle Wenger, and her mother, passed through the CERN Control Centre accompanied by Mike Lamont, CERN Beams Department, Operation Group Leader.

  16. Vigilando la Calidad del Agua de los Grandes Rios de la Nacion: El Programa NASQAN del Rio Grande (Rio Bravo del Norte)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lurry, Dee L.; Reutter, David C.; Wells, Frank C.; Rivera, M.C.; Munoz, A.

    1998-01-01

    La Oficina del Estudio Geologico de los Estados Unidos (U.S. Geological Survey, 0 USGS) ha monitoreado la calidad del agua de la cuenca del Rio Grande (Rio Bravo del Norte) desde 1995 como parte de la rediseiiada Red Nacional para Contabilizar la Calidad del Agua de los Rios (National Stream Quality Accounting Network, o NASOAN) (Hooper and others, 1997). EI programa NASOAN fue diseiiado para caracterizar las concentraciones y el transporte de sedimento y constituyentes quimicos seleccionados, encontrados en los grandes rios de los Estados Unidos - incluyendo el Misisipi, el Colorado y el Columbia, ademas del Rio Grande. En estas cuatro cuencas, el USGS opera actualmente (1998) una red de 40 puntos de muestreo pertenecientes a NASOAN, con un enfasis en cuantificar el flujo en masa (la cantidad de material que pasa por la estacion, expresado en toneladas por dial para cada constituyente. Aplicacando un enfoque consistente, basado en la cuantificacion de flujos en la cuenca del Rio Grande, el programa NASOAN esta generando la informacion necesaria para identificar fuentes regionales de diversos contaminantes, incluyendo sustancias qui micas agricolas y trazas elementos en la cuenca. EI efecto de las grandes reservas en el Rio Grande se puede observar segun los flujos de constituyentes discurren a 10 largo del rio. EI analisis de los flujos de constituyentes a escala de la cuenca proveera los medios para evaluar la influencia de la actividad humana sobre las condiciones de calidad del agua del Rio Grande.

  17. Mechatronics ideas, challenges, solutions and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Kaliński, Krzysztof; Szewczyk, Roman; Kaliczyńska, Małgorzata

    2016-01-01

    This book presents recent advances and developments in control, automation, robotics, and measuring techniques. It presents contributions of top experts in the fields, focused on both theory and industrial practice. In particular the book is devoted to new ideas, challenges, solutions and applications of Mechatronics. The particular chapters present a deep analysis of a specific technical problem which is in general followed by a numerical analysis and simulation, and results of an implementation for the solution of a real world problem. The presented theoretical results, practical solutions and guidelines will be useful for both researchers working in the area of engineering sciences and for practitioners solving industrial problems. .

  18. Grandes cocinas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    García de Castro, Emilio

    1957-11-01

    Full Text Available Se describen en este artículo una serie de aparatos para grandes cocinas, vistos por los autores durante un rápido viaje por Alemania. Aprovechando los datos obtenidos se analizan brevemente las necesidades de una gran cocina moderna, comentando los planos de las instalaciones en varios hoteles o instituciones de todo el mundo. La mayoría de la información.

  19. Using physics-based pose predictions and free energy perturbation calculations to predict binding poses and relative binding affinities for FXR ligands in the D3R Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Athanasiou, Christina; Vasilakaki, Sofia; Dellis, Dimitris; Cournia, Zoe

    2018-01-01

    Computer-aided drug design has become an integral part of drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, and is nowadays extensively used in the lead identification and lead optimization phases. The drug design data resource (D3R) organizes challenges against blinded experimental data to prospectively test computational methodologies as an opportunity for improved methods and algorithms to emerge. We participated in Grand Challenge 2 to predict the crystallographic poses of 36 Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR)-bound ligands and the relative binding affinities for two designated subsets of 18 and 15 FXR-bound ligands. Here, we present our methodology for pose and affinity predictions and its evaluation after the release of the experimental data. For predicting the crystallographic poses, we used docking and physics-based pose prediction methods guided by the binding poses of native ligands. For FXR ligands with known chemotypes in the PDB, we accurately predicted their binding modes, while for those with unknown chemotypes the predictions were more challenging. Our group ranked #1st (based on the median RMSD) out of 46 groups, which submitted complete entries for the binding pose prediction challenge. For the relative binding affinity prediction challenge, we performed free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations coupled with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. FEP/MD calculations displayed a high success rate in identifying compounds with better or worse binding affinity than the reference (parent) compound. Our studies suggest that when ligands with chemical precedent are available in the literature, binding pose predictions using docking and physics-based methods are reliable; however, predictions are challenging for ligands with completely unknown chemotypes. We also show that FEP/MD calculations hold predictive value and can nowadays be used in a high throughput mode in a lead optimization project provided that crystal structures of

  20. Pacing of Paleozoic macroevolutionary rates by Milankovitch grand cycles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crampton, James S; Meyers, Stephen R; Cooper, Roger A; Sadler, Peter M; Foote, Michael; Harte, David

    2018-05-29

    Periodic fluctuations in past biodiversity, speciation, and extinction have been proposed, with extremely long periods ranging from 26 to 62 million years, although forcing mechanisms remain speculative. In contrast, well-understood periodic Milankovitch climate forcing represents a viable driver for macroevolutionary fluctuations, although little evidence for such fluctuation exists except during the Late Cenozoic. The reality, magnitude, and drivers of periodic fluctuations in macroevolutionary rates are of interest given long-standing debate surrounding the relative roles of intrinsic biotic interactions vs. extrinsic environmental factors as drivers of biodiversity change. Here, we show that, over a time span of 60 million years, between 9 and 16% of the variance in biological turnover (i.e., speciation probability plus species extinction probability) in a major Early Paleozoic zooplankton group, the graptoloids, can be explained by long-period astronomical cycles (Milankovitch "grand cycles") associated with Earth's orbital eccentricity (2.6 million years) and obliquity (1.3 million years). These grand cycles modulate climate variability, alternating times of relative stability in the environment with times of maximum volatility. We infer that these cycles influenced graptolite speciation and extinction through climate-driven changes to oceanic circulation and structure. Our results confirm the existence of Milankovitch grand cycles in the Early Paleozoic Era and show that known processes related to the mechanics of the Solar System were shaping marine macroevolutionary rates comparatively early in the history of complex life. We present an application of hidden Markov models to macroevolutionary time series and protocols for the evaluation of statistical significance in spectral analysis.

  1. Results from KASCADE–Grande

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertaina, M.; Apel, W.D.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J.C.; Bekk, K.; Blümer, J.; Bozdog, H.; Brancus, I.M.; Buchholz, P.; Cantoni, E.; Chiavassa, A.; Cossavella, F.

    2012-01-01

    The KASCADE–Grande experiment, located at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) is a multi-component extensive air-shower experiment devoted to the study of cosmic rays and their interactions at primary energies 10 14 –10 18 eV. Main goals of the experiment are the measurement of the all-particle energy spectrum and mass composition in the 10 16 –10 18 eV range by sampling charged (N ch ) and muon (N μ ) components of the air shower. The method to derive the energy spectrum and its uncertainties, as well as the implications of the obtained result, is discussed. An overview of the analyses performed by KASCADE–Grande to derive the mass composition of the measured high-energy comic rays is presented as well.

  2. Grand Hotel prijutil hudozhnikov

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2004-01-01

    Raadioajakirjanik Lea Veelmaa lindistas "Kunstikanali" 2004. a. esimese saate Grand Hotel Viljandis. Saatekülaliseks oli maalikunstnik Andres Tolts. Toltsi kaheksa akrüülmaali on eksponeeritud hotelli fuajees ja restoranis

  3. The GRANDE detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adams, A.; Bond, R.; Coleman, L.; Rollefson, A.; Wold, D.; Bratton, C.B.; Gurr, H.; Kropp, W.; Nelson, M.; Price, L.R.; Reines, F.; Schultz, J.; Sobel, H.; Svoboda, R.; Yodh, G.; Burnett, T.; Chaloupka, V.; Wilkes, R.J.; Cherry, M.; Ellison, S.B.; Guzik, T.G.; Wefel, J.; Gaidos, J.; Loeffler, F.; Sembroski, G.; Wilson, C.; Goodman, J.; Haines, T.J.; Kielczewska, D.; Lane, C.; Steinberg, R.; Lieber, M.; Nagle, D.; Potter, M.; Tripp, R.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper we present a detector facility which meets the requirements outlined above for a next-generation instrument. GRANDE (Gamma Ray and Neutrino DEtector) is an imaging, water Cerenkov detector, which combines in one facility an extensive air shower array and a high-energy neutrino detector. (orig.)

  4. Development and challenges of using web-based GIS for health applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gao, Sheng; Mioc, Darka; Boley, Harold

    2011-01-01

    Web-based GIS is increasingly used in health applications. It has the potential to provide critical information in a timely manner, support health care policy development, and educate decision makers and the general public. This paper describes the trends and recent development of health...... applications using a Web-based GIS. Recent progress on the database storage and geospatial Web Services has advanced the use of Web-based GIS for health applications, with various proprietary software, open source software, and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) available. Current challenges in applying...... care planning, and public health participation....

  5. Grand unification and gravity - selected topics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zee, A.

    1981-09-01

    The material given here was presented in lectures delivered at the 4th Kyoto Summer Institute on Grand Unification and Related Topics. It consists of six sections. The sections are: the family problem, fermion mass hierarchy, maximal local symmetry, operator analysis of new physics, dynamically generated gravity, and Kaluza theory and grand unification. The last section contains a (hopefully) pedagogical introduction to Kaluza theory. For pedagogical completeness, several appendices reviewing some elementary notions of differential geometry have been added

  6. Gamma ray and neutrino detector facility (GRANDE), Task C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sobel, H.W.; Yodh, G.B.

    1991-08-01

    GRANDE is an imaging, water Cerenkov detector, which combines in one facility an extensive air shower array and a high-energy neutrino detector. We proposed that the detector be constructed in phases, beginning with an active detector area of 31,000 m 2 (GRANDE-I) 2 and expanding to a final size of 100,000--150,00 m 2 . Some of the characteristics of GRANDE-I are discussed in this paper

  7. Results from KASCADE-Grande

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bertaina, M., E-mail: bertaina@to.infn.it [Dipartimento di Fisica Generale dell' Universita, Torino (Italy); Apel, W.D. [Institut fuer Kernphysik, KIT - Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany); Arteaga-Velazquez, J.C. [Universidad Michoacana, Instituto de Fisica y Matematicas, Morelia (Mexico); Bekk, K. [Institut fuer Kernphysik, KIT - Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany); Bluemer, J. [Institut fuer Kernphysik, KIT - Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany); Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, KIT - Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany); Bozdog, H. [Institut fuer Kernphysik, KIT - Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany); Brancus, I.M. [National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest (Romania); Buchholz, P. [Fachbereich Physik, Universitaet Siegen (Germany); Cantoni, E. [Dipartimento di Fisica Generale dell' Universita, Torino (Italy); Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF Torino (Italy); Chiavassa, A. [Dipartimento di Fisica Generale dell' Universita, Torino (Italy); Cossavella, F. [Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, KIT - Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany); and others

    2012-11-11

    The KASCADE-Grande experiment, located at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) is a multi-component extensive air-shower experiment devoted to the study of cosmic rays and their interactions at primary energies 10{sup 14}-10{sup 18} eV. Main goals of the experiment are the measurement of the all-particle energy spectrum and mass composition in the 10{sup 16}-10{sup 18} eV range by sampling charged (N{sub ch}) and muon (N{sub {mu}}) components of the air shower. The method to derive the energy spectrum and its uncertainties, as well as the implications of the obtained result, is discussed. An overview of the analyses performed by KASCADE-Grande to derive the mass composition of the measured high-energy comic rays is presented as well.

  8. Audiovisual quality assessment in communications applications: Current status, trends and challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korhonen, Jari

    2010-01-01

    Audiovisual quality assessment is one of the major challenges in multimedia communications. Traditionally, algorithm-based (objective) assessment methods have focused primarily on the compression artifacts. However, compression is only one of the numerous factors influencing the perception...... addressed in practical quality metrics is the co-impact of audio and video qualities. This paper provides an overview of the current trends and challenges in objective audiovisual quality assessment, with emphasis on communication applications...

  9. Challenges for Insertion of Structural Nanomaterials in Aerospace Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sochi, Emilie J.

    2012-01-01

    In the two decades since Iijima's report on carbon nanotubes (CNT), there has been great interest in realizing the benefits of mechanical properties observed at the nanoscale in large-scale structures. The weight savings possible due to dramatic improvements in mechanical properties relative to state-of-the-art material systems can be game changing for applications like aerospace vehicles. While there has been significant progress in commercial production of CNTs, major aerospace applications that take advantage of properties offered by this material have yet to be realized. This paper provides a perspective on the technical challenges and barriers for insertion of CNTs as an emerging material technology in aerospace applications and proposes approaches that may reduce the typical timeframe for technology maturation and insertion into aerospace structures.

  10. Environmental Audit of the Grand Junction Projects Office

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1991-08-01

    The Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) is located in Mesa County, Colorado, immediately south and west of the Grand Junction city limits. The US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established the Colorado Raw Materials Office at the present-day Grand Junction Projects Office in 1947, to aid in the development of a viable domestic uranium industry. Activities at the site included sampling uranium concentrate; pilot-plant milling research, including testing and processing of uranium ores; and operation of a uranium mill pilot plant from 1954 to 1958. The last shipment of uranium concentrate was sent from GJPO in January, 1975. Since that time the site has been utilized to support various DOE programs, such as the former National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Program, the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP), the Surplus Facilities Management Program (SFMP), and the Technical Measurements Center (TMC). All known contamination at GJPO is believed to be the result of the past uranium milling, analyses, and storage activities. Hazards associated with the wastes impounded at GJPO include surface and ground-water contamination and potential radon and gamma-radiation exposure. This report documents the results of the Baseline Environmental Audit conducted at Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) located in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Grand Junction Baseline Environmental Audit was conducted from May 28 to June 12, 1991, by the Office of Environmental Audit (EH-24). This Audit evaluated environmental programs and activities at GJPO, as well as GJPO activities at the State-Owned Temporary Repository. 4 figs., 12 tabs.

  11. Environmental Audit of the Grand Junction Projects Office

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-08-01

    The Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) is located in Mesa County, Colorado, immediately south and west of the Grand Junction city limits. The US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established the Colorado Raw Materials Office at the present-day Grand Junction Projects Office in 1947, to aid in the development of a viable domestic uranium industry. Activities at the site included sampling uranium concentrate; pilot-plant milling research, including testing and processing of uranium ores; and operation of a uranium mill pilot plant from 1954 to 1958. The last shipment of uranium concentrate was sent from GJPO in January, 1975. Since that time the site has been utilized to support various DOE programs, such as the former National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Program, the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP), the Surplus Facilities Management Program (SFMP), and the Technical Measurements Center (TMC). All known contamination at GJPO is believed to be the result of the past uranium milling, analyses, and storage activities. Hazards associated with the wastes impounded at GJPO include surface and ground-water contamination and potential radon and gamma-radiation exposure. This report documents the results of the Baseline Environmental Audit conducted at Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) located in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Grand Junction Baseline Environmental Audit was conducted from May 28 to June 12, 1991, by the Office of Environmental Audit (EH-24). This Audit evaluated environmental programs and activities at GJPO, as well as GJPO activities at the State-Owned Temporary Repository. 4 figs., 12 tabs

  12. Scientific Grand Challenges: Challenges in Climate Change Science and the Role of Computing at the Extreme Scale

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khaleel, Mohammad A.; Johnson, Gary M.; Washington, Warren M.

    2009-07-02

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) in partnership with the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) held a workshop on the challenges in climate change science and the role of computing at the extreme scale, November 6-7, 2008, in Bethesda, Maryland. At the workshop, participants identified the scientific challenges facing the field of climate science and outlined the research directions of highest priority that should be pursued to meet these challenges. Representatives from the national and international climate change research community as well as representatives from the high-performance computing community attended the workshop. This group represented a broad mix of expertise. Of the 99 participants, 6 were from international institutions. Before the workshop, each of the four panels prepared a white paper, which provided the starting place for the workshop discussions. These four panels of workshop attendees devoted to their efforts the following themes: Model Development and Integrated Assessment; Algorithms and Computational Environment; Decadal Predictability and Prediction; Data, Visualization, and Computing Productivity. The recommendations of the panels are summarized in the body of this report.

  13. Fetal Outcomes among Grand Multiparous and Multiparous Women ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: To compare fetal outcomes among grand multiparous (para 5-9) and multiparous (para 2-4) delivering in Mulago hospital, Uganda. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Mulago hospital, Uganda. Subjects: One hundred and fifty six grand multiparous and multiparous women were recruited on admission in ...

  14. Improving binding mode and binding affinity predictions of docking by ligand-based search of protein conformations: evaluation in D3R grand challenge 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xianjin; Yan, Chengfei; Zou, Xiaoqin

    2017-08-01

    The growing number of protein-ligand complex structures, particularly the structures of proteins co-bound with different ligands, in the Protein Data Bank helps us tackle two major challenges in molecular docking studies: the protein flexibility and the scoring function. Here, we introduced a systematic strategy by using the information embedded in the known protein-ligand complex structures to improve both binding mode and binding affinity predictions. Specifically, a ligand similarity calculation method was employed to search a receptor structure with a bound ligand sharing high similarity with the query ligand for the docking use. The strategy was applied to the two datasets (HSP90 and MAP4K4) in recent D3R Grand Challenge 2015. In addition, for the HSP90 dataset, a system-specific scoring function (ITScore2_hsp90) was generated by recalibrating our statistical potential-based scoring function (ITScore2) using the known protein-ligand complex structures and the statistical mechanics-based iterative method. For the HSP90 dataset, better performances were achieved for both binding mode and binding affinity predictions comparing with the original ITScore2 and with ensemble docking. For the MAP4K4 dataset, although there were only eight known protein-ligand complex structures, our docking strategy achieved a comparable performance with ensemble docking. Our method for receptor conformational selection and iterative method for the development of system-specific statistical potential-based scoring functions can be easily applied to other protein targets that have a number of protein-ligand complex structures available to improve predictions on binding.

  15. Challenges of Integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In Civil Application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eid, B M; Albatsh, F; Faris, W F; Chebil, J

    2013-01-01

    Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has evolved rapidly over the past decade. There have been an increased number of studies aiming at improving UAV and in its use for different civil applications. This paper highlights the fundamentals of UAV system and examines the challenges related with the major components such as motors, drives, power systems, communication systems and image processing tools and equipment

  16. Asymptotically safe grand unification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bajc, Borut [J. Stefan Institute,1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia); Sannino, Francesco [CP-Origins & the Danish IAS, University of Southern Denmark,Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M (Denmark); Université de Lyon, France, Université Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, UMR5822 IPNL,F-69622 Villeurbanne Cedex (France)

    2016-12-28

    Phenomenologically appealing supersymmetric grand unified theories have large gauge representations and thus are not asymptotically free. Their ultraviolet validity is limited by the appearance of a Landau pole well before the Planck scale. One could hope that these theories save themselves, before the inclusion of gravity, by generating an interacting ultraviolet fixed point, similar to the one recently discovered in non-supersymmetric gauge-Yukawa theories. Employing a-maximization, a-theorem, unitarity bounds, as well as positivity of other central charges we nonperturbatively rule out this possibility for a broad class of prime candidates of phenomenologically relevant supersymmetric grand unified theories. We also uncover candidates passing these tests, which have either exotic matter or contain one field decoupled from the superpotential. The latter class of theories contains a model with the minimal matter content required by phenomenology.

  17. Remote sensing techniques for monitoring the Rio Grande Valley cotton stalk destruction program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richardson, A.J.; Gerbermann, A.H.; Summy, K.R.; Anderson, G.L. (Department of Agriculture, Weslaco, TX (United States))

    1993-09-01

    Post harvest cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) stalk destruction is a cultural practice used in the Rio Grande Valley to suppress over wintering populations of boll weevils (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) without using chemicals. Consistent application of this practice could substantially reduce insecticide usage, thereby minimizing environmental hazards and increasing cotton production profits. Satellite imagery registered within a geographic information system was used to monitor the cotton stalk destruction program in the Rio Grande Valley. We found that cotton stalk screening procedures based on standard multispectral classification techniques could not reliably distinguish cotton from sorghum. Greenness screening for cotton plant stalks after the stalk destruction deadline was possible only where ground observations locating cotton fields were available. These findings indicate that a successful cotton stalk destruction monitoring program will require satellite images and earth referenced data bases showing cotton field locations.

  18. On the calculation of single ion activity coefficients in homogeneous ionic systems by application of the grand canonical ensemble

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sloth, Peter

    1993-01-01

    The grand canonical ensemble has been used to study the evaluation of single ion activity coefficients in homogeneous ionic fluids. In this work, the Coulombic interactions are truncated according to the minimum image approximation, and the ions are assumed to be placed in a structureless......, homogeneous dielectric continuum. Grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo calculation results for two primitive model electrolyte solutions are presented. Also, a formula involving the second moments of the total correlation functions is derived from fluctuation theory, which applies for the derivatives...... of the individual ionic activity coefficients with respect to the total ionic concentration. This formula has previously been proposed on the basis of somewhat different considerations....

  19. Grand canonical simulations of hard-disk systems by simulated tempering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Döge, G.; Mecke, K.; Møller, Jesper

    2004-01-01

    The melting transition of hard disks in two dimensions is still an unsolved problem and improved simulation algorithms may be helpful for its investigation. We suggest the application of simulating tempering for grand canonical hard-disk systems as an efficient alternative to the commonly......-used Monte Carlo algorithms for canonical systems. This approach allows the direct study of the packing fraction as a function of the chemical potential even in the vicinity of the melting transition. Furthermore, estimates of several spatial characteristics including pair correlation function are studied...

  20. Application of GIS technology in public health: successes and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fletcher-Lartey, Stephanie M; Caprarelli, Graziella

    2016-04-01

    The uptake and acceptance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology has increased since the early 1990s and public health applications are rapidly expanding. In this paper, we summarize the common uses of GIS technology in the public health sector, emphasizing applications related to mapping and understanding of parasitic diseases. We also present some of the success stories, and discuss the challenges that still prevent a full scope application of GIS technology in the public health context. Geographical analysis has allowed researchers to interlink health, population and environmental data, thus enabling them to evaluate and quantify relationships between health-related variables and environmental risk factors at different geographical scales. The ability to access, share and utilize satellite and remote-sensing data has made possible even wider understanding of disease processes and of their links to the environment, an important consideration in the study of parasitic diseases. For example, disease prevention and control strategies resulting from investigations conducted in a GIS environment have been applied in many areas, particularly in Africa. However, there remain several challenges to a more widespread use of GIS technology, such as: limited access to GIS infrastructure, inadequate technical and analytical skills, and uneven data availability. Opportunities exist for international collaboration to address these limitations through knowledge sharing and governance.

  1. Research of the Rio Grande Ecosystem Management Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deborah M. Finch

    2000-01-01

    This paper describes the mission, objectives, and preliminary results of the Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem Management Research Program managed at the Rocky Mountain Research Station's Albuquerque laboratory. This program was initiated in 1994 to address growing pressures to effectively manage the limited resources of the middle Rio Grande Basin. The program is...

  2. Site observational work plan for the UMTRA project site at Grand Junction, Colorado

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    This site observational work plan (SOWP) is one of the first Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Ground Water Project documents developed to select a compliance strategy that meets the UMTRA ground water standards for the Grand Junction site. This SOWP applies information about the Grand Junction site to the compliance strategy selection framework developed in the UMTRA Ground Water Project draft programmatic environmental impact statement. This risk-based, decision-making framework identifies the decision logic for selecting compliance strategies that could be used to meet the ground water standards. The US Department of Energy (DOE) goal is to implement a cost-effective site strategy that complies with the ground water standards and protects human health and the environment. Based on an evaluation of the site characterization and risk assessment data available for the preparation of this SOWP, DOE proposes that the most likely compliance strategy for the Grand Junction site is no remediation with the application of supplemental standards. This proposed strategy is based on a conceptual site model that indicates site-related contamination is confined to a limited-use aquifer as defined in the ground water standards. The conceptual model demonstrates that the uranium processing-related contamination at the site has affected the unconfined alluvial aquifer, but not the deeper confined aquifer

  3. The effect of silicon foliar application on the development of Season ornamental plants. Part II: Argyranthemum frutescens 'Blazer Rose', Xerochrysum bracteatum 'Gold', Osteospermum ecklonis 'Grande Pink Blush' and Gaura lindheimeri 'Corinas Choice'

    OpenAIRE

    Katarzyna Wróblewska; Regina Dębicz

    2012-01-01

    Recent research has proved that supplementary application of silicon, involved in plant tolerance against many stress factors, positively influences plant development improving the quality of ornamental plants. A two-factorial experiment involved four cultivars of ornamental plants: Argyranthemum frutescens 'Blazer Rose', Xerochrysum bracteatum 'Gold', Osteospermum ecklonis 'Grande Pink Blush', and Gaura lindheimeri 'Corinas Choice' The first experimental factor was the concentration of Actis...

  4. Discussion and Reflection on Several Core Issues in the Grand Canal Heritage Conservation Planning Under the Background of Application for World Heritage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Yao

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available At the turn of the century, a series of new heritage concepts have appeared in the area of international cultural heritage protection, such as cultural landscape, cultural route, heritage corridor, heritage canal, which presents the development of people’s recognition of cultural heritage. According to The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, management planning must be contained in the material used to apply for world heritage. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage designed the mission and work schedule of China’s Grand Canal conservation planning in 2008. This research will introduce the working system of China’s Grand Canal conservation planning on three levels: city, province and nation. It will also summarize the characteristics of the core technologies in China’s Grand Canal conservation planning, including key issues like the identification of the core characteristic of China’s Grand Canal, value assessment and determination of the protection scope. Through reviewing, thinking and analyzing the previous accomplishments, the research will offer some advices for the similar world heritage conservation planning after.

  5. Grand Prix Eurovision: Eine Fankultur im Medienzeitalter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heinz Moser

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Der Grand Prix Eurovision ist seit Jahrzehnten eine der bekanntesten Unterhaltungssendungen im europäischen Raum. Dennoch erregte es Verwunderung, wenn der Schreibende Bekannten darüber berichtete, daß dies ein Forschungsgegenstand sei. Wurde von Interviews mit Grand Prix-Fans erzählt, so fielen schnell Aussagen wie: „Wie kann man sich nur für so etwas Abseitiges und Triviales wie den Grand Prix interessieren“. Dennoch bin ich der Meinung, daß Fankulturen für die entstehende Mediengesellschaft ein nicht unwichtiges Forschungsthema darstellen. Zwar geht es nicht um eine medienpädagogische Fragestellung im engeren Sinne; die Fans des Grand Prix Eurovision sind dem Jugendalter längst entwachsen. Dennoch handelt es sich bei Fangemeinschaften um Phänomene, die im Rahmen von Jugend- und Kinderkulturen von besonderer Relevanz sind. So meint Winter (1997, daß jugendliche Fanwelten eine bedeutende Rolle als Kristallisationspunkte kultureller Differenzierung spielen: ,Die Zugehörigkeit zu einer Fan weit ist Teil der jugendlichen Lebensbewältigung in der Postmoderne, denn in der Gemeinschaft der Fans können Jugendliche emotionale Allianzen eingehen, außeralltäglichen Beschäftigungen nachgehen, expressive Identitätsmuster gemeinschaftlich realisieren und sich mit ihrer Lebenssituation als Heranwachsende auseinandersetzen“ (Winter 1997, S. 51f..

  6. Perfluoroalkyl substances in waters along the Grand Canal, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piao, H T; Jiao, X C; Gai, N; Chen, S; Lu, G H; Yin, X C; Yamazaki, E; Yamashita, N; Tan, K Y; Yang, Y L; Pan, J

    2017-07-01

    The Grand Canal, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the longest canal in the world. It is an important trunk line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China. The contamination status and spatial distributions of perfluoroalky substances (PFASs) in waters of the Grand Canal were investigated. The total concentrations of PFASs (∑PFASs) range from 7.8 ng/L to 218.0 ng/L, with high ∑PFASs occurring in the southern part of the Grand Canal which is located in a highly urbanized and economically developed region. The dominance of PFOA showed a decreasing trend toward north while shorter chain homologue proportions increased in the northern part of the Canal which mainly traverses underdeveloped and rural areas in Eastern China. Positive correlations were observed between ∑PFASs and the population density as well as GDP per capita. Intersection with large rivers may affect the contamination levels and composition of PFASs in the water of the Grand Canal near the intersection sites. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Proton decay in grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lucha, W.

    1984-01-01

    Interactions which violate the conservation of baryon and lepton number represent an intrinsic part of all grand unified theories (GUTs) of strong and electroweak interactions. These new interactions - predicted within the framework of GUTs - generate B and L violating four-fermion interactions via the exchange of superheavy particles which cannot be ascribed a well-defined baryon or lepton number. The effective coupling constant of these four-fermion interactions might be large enough to make the proton decay detectable by the present generation of experiments. In this review the basic concepts of conventional as well as supersymmetric GUTs relevant for proton decay are sketched. The baryon number violating sector of grand unified theories is discussed in more detail. Special emphasis is laid on the various selection rules arising as consequences of low-energy gauge invariance and supersymmetry for proton decay. These selection rules already determine the coarse pattern of the resulting decay modes and branching ratios without any reference to or detailed knowledge of the underlying grand unified theory. Finally the numerous theoretical predictions are summarized and confronted with experiment. (Author)

  8. Democracy and "Grand" Corruption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose-Ackerman, Susan

    1996-01-01

    Defines "grand" corruption as that occurring at the higher levels of a political system and involving large sums of money. Discusses the impact and incentives for this level of corruption as well as various government responses. Identifies multinational corporations as the major malefactors. (MJP)

  9. U.S. Department of Energy Grand Junction Projects Office site environmental report for calendar year 1995

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-05-01

    This report presents information pertaining to environmental activities conducted during calendar year 1995 at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) facility in Grand Junction, Colorado. Environmental activities conducted at the GJPO facility during 1995 were associated with mixed-waste treatment, site remediation, off-site dose modeling, and radiological and nonradiological monitoring. As part of the GJPO Mixed-Waste Treatment Program, on-site treatability studies were conducted in 1995 that made use of pilot-scale evaporative-oxidation and thermal-desorption units and bench-scale stabilization. DOE-GJPO used some of its own mixed-waste as well as samples received from other DOE sites for these treatability studies. These studies are expected to conclude in 1996. Removal of radiologically contaminated materials from GJPO facility buildings was conducted under the provisions of the Grand Junction Projects Office Remedial Action Project. Remediation activities included the removal of 394 metric tons of contaminated material from Buildings 18 and 28 and revegetation activities on the GJPO site; remediation was conducted in compliance with applicable permits

  10. Yves Le Grand on matrices in optics with application to vision: Translation and critical analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Frith Harris

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available An appendix to Le Grand’s 1945 book, Optique Physiologique: Tome Premier: La Dioptrique de l’Œil et Sa Correction, briefly dealt with the application of matrices in optics.  However the appendix was omitted from the well-known English translation, Physiological Optics, which appeared in 1980.  Consequently the material is all but forgotten.  This is unfortunate in view of the importance of the dioptric power matrix and the ray transference which entered the optometric literature many years later.  Motivated by the perception that there has not been enough care in optometry to attribute concepts appropriately this paper attempts a careful analysis of Le Grand’s thinking as reflected in his appendix.  A translation into English is provided in the appendix to this paper.  The paper opens with a summary of the basics of Gaussian and linear optics sufficient for the interpretation of Le Grand’s appendix which follows.  The paper looks more particularly at what Le Grand says in relation to the transference and the dioptric power matrix though many other issues are also touched on including the conditions under which distant objects will map to clear images on the retina and, more particularly, to clear images that are undistorted.  Detailed annotations of Le Grand’s translated appendix are provided. (S Afr Optom 2013 72(4 145-166

  11. Triggering the GRANDE array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, C.L.; Bratton, C.B.; Gurr, J.; Kropp, W.; Nelson, M.; Sobel, H.; Svoboda, R.; Yodh, G.; Burnett, T.; Chaloupka, V.; Wilkes, R.J.; Cherry, M.; Ellison, S.B.; Guzik, T.G.; Wefel, J.; Gaidos, J.; Loeffler, F.; Sembroski, G.; Goodman, J.; Haines, T.J.; Kielczewska, D.; Lane, C.; Steinberg, R.; Lieber, M.; Nagle, D.; Potter, M.; Tripp, R.

    1990-01-01

    A brief description of the Gamma Ray And Neutrino Detector Experiment (GRANDE) is presented. The detector elements and electronics are described. The trigger logic for the array is then examined. The triggers for the Gamma Ray and the Neutrino portions of the array are treated separately. (orig.)

  12. Systems analysis of carbon nanotubes: opportunities and challenges for space applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samareh, Jamshid A.; Siochi, Emilie J.

    2017-09-01

    Recent availability of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in quantities and formats amenable to producing macroscale components invites consideration of these materials in space applications where their attractive properties can enable the realization of bold concepts for affordable space exploration. The challenge is to identify relevant systems and quantify the benefits at the systems level. Before significant investment or adoption of CNTs for large aerospace systems can be justified, there must be a plausible path to attain the perceived systems level benefits. This challenging step requires a close collaboration among experts on CNTs and aerospace system communities. This paper provides an overview of a few relevant potential CNTs applications for space systems and the gap that must be overcome for deployment of CNTs. It also provides a simple engineering-level systems analysis approach to quantify the benefits of using CNTs over state of the art material solutions.

  13. LA GRANDE DESCENTE

    CERN Multimedia

    The first endcap disc of CMS being lowered slowly and carefully 100 m underground into the experimental cavern. The disc is one of 15 large pieces to make the grand descent.  The uniquely shaped slice, 16 m high, about 50 cm thick weighs 400 tonnes. The two HF that were lowered earlier in November can also be seen in the foreground and background.  

  14. Flocculent and grand design spiral arm structure in cluster galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elmegreen, D.M.

    1982-01-01

    A total of 829 spiral galaxies in 22 clusters having redshifts between z = 0.02 and 0.06 were classified according to the appearance of their spiral arm structures. The fraction of galaxies that have a grand design spiral structure was found to be higher among barred galaxies than among non-barred galaxies (at z = 0.02, 95 per cent of strongly barred galaxies have a grand design, compared with 67 per cent of non-barred or weakly barred galaxies). Cluster galaxies and distant non-cluster galaxies have the same fraction of grand design galaxies when resolution effects are considered. The grand design fraction among cluster galaxies is also similar to the fraction observed among nearby galaxies in binary systems and in groups. (author)

  15. Classifications, applications, and design challenges of drones: A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanalian, M.; Abdelkefi, A.

    2017-05-01

    Nowadays, there is a growing need for flying drones with diverse capabilities for both civilian and military applications. There is also a significant interest in the development of novel drones which can autonomously fly in different environments and locations and can perform various missions. In the past decade, the broad spectrum of applications of these drones has received most attention which led to the invention of various types of drones with different sizes and weights. In this review paper, we identify a novel classification of flying drones that ranges from unmanned air vehicles to smart dusts at both ends of this spectrum, with their new defined applications. Design and fabrication challenges of micro drones, existing methods for increasing their endurance, and various navigation and control approaches are discussed in details. Limitations of the existing drones, proposed solutions for the next generation of drones, and recommendations are also presented and discussed.

  16. Cassini's Grand Finale Science Highlights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spilker, Linda

    2017-10-01

    After 13 years in orbit, the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn ended in a science-rich blaze of glory. Cassini returned its final bits of unique science data on September 15, 2017, as it plunged into Saturn's atmosphere satisfying planetary protection requirements. Cassini's Grand Finale covered a period of roughly five months and ended with the first time exploration of the region between the rings and planet.The final close flyby of Titan in late April 2017 propelled Cassini across Saturn’s main rings and into its Grand Finale orbits; 22 orbits that repeatedly dove between Saturn’s innermost rings and upper atmosphere making Cassini the first spacecraft to explore this region. The last orbit turned the spacecraft into the first Saturn upper atmospheric probe.The Grand Finale orbits provided highest resolution observations of both the rings and Saturn, and in-situ sampling of the ring particle composition, Saturn's atmosphere, plasma, and innermost radiation belts. The gravitational field was measured to unprecedented accuracy, providing information on the interior structure of the planet, winds in the deeper atmosphere, and mass of the rings. The magnetic field provided insight into the physical nature of the magnetic dynamo and structure of the internal magnetic field. The ion and neutral mass spectrometer sampled the upper atmosphere for molecules that escape the atmosphere in addition to molecules originating from the rings. The cosmic dust analyzer directly sampled the composition from different parts of the main rings for the first time. Fields and particles instruments directly measured the plasma environment between the rings and planet.Science highlights and new mysteries gleaned to date from the Grand Finale orbits will be discussed.The research described in this paper was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Copyright 2017

  17. Design Requirements for Communication-Intensive Interactive Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolchini, Davide; Garzotto, Franca; Paolini, Paolo

    Online interactive applications call for new requirements paradigms to capture the growing complexity of computer-mediated communication. Crafting successful interactive applications (such as websites and multimedia) involves modeling the requirements for the user experience, including those leading to content design, usable information architecture and interaction, in profound coordination with the communication goals of all stakeholders involved, ranging from persuasion to social engagement, to call for action. To face this grand challenge, we propose a methodology for modeling communication requirements and provide a set of operational conceptual tools to be used in complex projects with multiple stakeholders. Through examples from real-life projects and lessons-learned from direct experience, we draw on the concepts of brand, value, communication goals, information and persuasion requirements to systematically guide analysts to master the multifaceted connections of these elements as drivers to inform successful communication designs.

  18. Meliponiculture in Rio Grande do Norte

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulysses Madureira Maia

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT. Maia U.M., Jaffe R., Carvalho A.T. & Imperatriz-Fonseca V.L. [Meliponiculture in Rio Grande do Norte.] Meliponicultura no Rio Grande do Norte. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária, 37(4:327-333, 2015. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Bandeirantes, 3900, Monte Alegre, Ribeirão Preto, SP 14040-901, Brasil. E-mail: ummaia@usp.br This study aimed to assess the current status of stingless bee beekeeping (meliponiculture in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, with the aid of structured questionnaires made during visits to beekeepers. The results were compared with a previous census made in the state and with a similar study from Australia. Meliponiculture in Rio Grande do Norte is still informal and little standardized. The activity has grown in recent years considering the mean number of nests per beekeeper. Most apiaries are formed of up to 50 colonies, usually distributed in the backyards of homes. Twelve species of stingless bees were reared in the state, and the most common was the “Jandaíra” bee (Melipona subnitida, whose honey is considered medicinal. While many beekeepers already know the importance of bees as pollinators, stingless bees are still not used for crop pollination. Compared to a recent analysis of beekeeping in Australia, meliponiculture in Brazil is more traditional, honey is the main product and the number of colonies per beekeeper is much higher. Our results highlight the need to reinforce knowledge about bees and promote specific training aimed at improving and standardizing management practices.

  19. Populating a Control Point Database: A cooperative effort between the USGS, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center and the Grand Canyon Youth Organization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, K. M.; Fritzinger, C.; Wharton, E.

    2004-12-01

    The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center measures the effects of Glen Canyon Dam operations on the resources along the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam to Lake Mead in support of the Grand Canyon Adaptive Management Program. Control points are integral for geo-referencing the myriad of data collected in the Grand Canyon including aerial photography, topographic and bathymetric data used for classification and change-detection analysis of physical, biologic and cultural resources. The survey department has compiled a list of 870 control points installed by various organizations needing to establish a consistent reference for data collected at field sites along the 240 mile stretch of Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. This list is the foundation for the Control Point Database established primarily for researchers, to locate control points and independently geo-reference collected field data. The database has the potential to be a valuable mapping tool for assisting researchers to easily locate a control point and reduce the occurrance of unknowingly installing new control points within close proximity of an existing control point. The database is missing photographs and accurate site description information. Current site descriptions do not accurately define the location of the point but refer to the project that used the point, or some other interesting fact associated with the point. The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) resolved this problem by turning the data collection effort into an educational exercise for the participants of the Grand Canyon Youth organization. Grand Canyon Youth is a non-profit organization providing experiential education for middle and high school aged youth. GCMRC and the Grand Canyon Youth formed a partnership where GCMRC provided the logistical support, equipment, and training to conduct the field work, and the Grand Canyon Youth provided the time and personnel to complete the field work. Two data

  20. [Grand Banks activity : updates and opportunities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruce, G.

    1998-01-01

    An overview of the exploration and on-going activities by the petroleum industry on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland was presented. The two offshore oil developments underway are Hibernia and Terra Nova, both located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. Current production from Hibernia is 68,000 bopd, expected to rise to 130,000 bopd in 1999. The Terra Nova Field is still under development. Total recoverable reserves from the 17 discoveries made in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin are estimated at 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of gas. Industry participants in the area include Amoco, Petro-Canada, Mobil, Chevron, Husky and Norsk Hydro. Petro-Canada believes the Grand Banks represent one of the best opportunities for oil anywhere in the world. There are currently 21 exploration licenses held on the Grand Banks. Major attractions of the area include the large reserve potential, the relatively low finding costs, the size of the pools being discovered, improvements in offshore technology that have substantially lowered development costs, and a profit-sensitive generic royalty regime that ensures reasonable rates of return for investors. figs

  1. Control of energy and matter at nanoscales: challenges and opportunities for plasma nanoscience in a sustainability age

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ostrikov, Kostya

    2011-01-01

    Plasma nanoscience is an emerging multidisciplinary research field at the cutting edge of a large number of disciplines including but not limited to physics and chemistry of plasmas and gas discharges, materials science, surface science, nanoscience and nanotechnology, solid-state physics, space physics and astrophysics, photonics, optics, plasmonics, spintronics, quantum information, physical chemistry, biomedical sciences and related engineering subjects. This paper examines the origin, progress and future perspectives of this research field driven by the global scientific and societal challenges. The future potential of plasma nanoscience to remain a highly topical area in the global research and technological agenda in the age of fundamental-level control for a sustainable future is assessed using a framework of the five Grand Challenges for Basic Energy Sciences recently mapped by the US Department of Energy. It is concluded that the ongoing research is very relevant and is expected to substantially expand to competitively contribute to the solution of all of these Grand Challenges. The approach to controlling energy and matter at nano- and subnanoscales is based on identifying the prevailing carriers and transfer mechanisms of the energy and matter at the spatial and temporal scales that are most relevant to any particular nanofabrication process. Strong accent is made on the competitive edge of the plasma-based nanotechnology in applications related to the major socio-economic issues (energy, food, water, health and environment) that are crucial for a sustainable development of humankind. Several important emerging topics, opportunities and multidisciplinary synergies for plasma nanoscience are highlighted. The main nanosafety issues are also discussed and the environment- and human health-friendly features of plasma-based nanotech are emphasized.

  2. Control of energy and matter at nanoscales: challenges and opportunities for plasma nanoscience in a sustainability age

    Science.gov (United States)

    (Ken Ostrikov, Kostya

    2011-05-01

    Plasma nanoscience is an emerging multidisciplinary research field at the cutting edge of a large number of disciplines including but not limited to physics and chemistry of plasmas and gas discharges, materials science, surface science, nanoscience and nanotechnology, solid-state physics, space physics and astrophysics, photonics, optics, plasmonics, spintronics, quantum information, physical chemistry, biomedical sciences and related engineering subjects. This paper examines the origin, progress and future perspectives of this research field driven by the global scientific and societal challenges. The future potential of plasma nanoscience to remain a highly topical area in the global research and technological agenda in the age of fundamental-level control for a sustainable future is assessed using a framework of the five Grand Challenges for Basic Energy Sciences recently mapped by the US Department of Energy. It is concluded that the ongoing research is very relevant and is expected to substantially expand to competitively contribute to the solution of all of these Grand Challenges. The approach to controlling energy and matter at nano- and subnanoscales is based on identifying the prevailing carriers and transfer mechanisms of the energy and matter at the spatial and temporal scales that are most relevant to any particular nanofabrication process. Strong accent is made on the competitive edge of the plasma-based nanotechnology in applications related to the major socio-economic issues (energy, food, water, health and environment) that are crucial for a sustainable development of humankind. Several important emerging topics, opportunities and multidisciplinary synergies for plasma nanoscience are highlighted. The main nanosafety issues are also discussed and the environment- and human health-friendly features of plasma-based nanotech are emphasized.

  3. Evaluation and comparison of current fetal ultrasound image segmentation methods for biometric measurements: a grand challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rueda, Sylvia; Fathima, Sana; Knight, Caroline L; Yaqub, Mohammad; Papageorghiou, Aris T; Rahmatullah, Bahbibi; Foi, Alessandro; Maggioni, Matteo; Pepe, Antonietta; Tohka, Jussi; Stebbing, Richard V; McManigle, John E; Ciurte, Anca; Bresson, Xavier; Cuadra, Meritxell Bach; Sun, Changming; Ponomarev, Gennady V; Gelfand, Mikhail S; Kazanov, Marat D; Wang, Ching-Wei; Chen, Hsiang-Chou; Peng, Chun-Wei; Hung, Chu-Mei; Noble, J Alison

    2014-04-01

    This paper presents the evaluation results of the methods submitted to Challenge US: Biometric Measurements from Fetal Ultrasound Images, a segmentation challenge held at the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2012. The challenge was set to compare and evaluate current fetal ultrasound image segmentation methods. It consisted of automatically segmenting fetal anatomical structures to measure standard obstetric biometric parameters, from 2D fetal ultrasound images taken on fetuses at different gestational ages (21 weeks, 28 weeks, and 33 weeks) and with varying image quality to reflect data encountered in real clinical environments. Four independent sub-challenges were proposed, according to the objects of interest measured in clinical practice: abdomen, head, femur, and whole fetus. Five teams participated in the head sub-challenge and two teams in the femur sub-challenge, including one team who tackled both. Nobody attempted the abdomen and whole fetus sub-challenges. The challenge goals were two-fold and the participants were asked to submit the segmentation results as well as the measurements derived from the segmented objects. Extensive quantitative (region-based, distance-based, and Bland-Altman measurements) and qualitative evaluation was performed to compare the results from a representative selection of current methods submitted to the challenge. Several experts (three for the head sub-challenge and two for the femur sub-challenge), with different degrees of expertise, manually delineated the objects of interest to define the ground truth used within the evaluation framework. For the head sub-challenge, several groups produced results that could be potentially used in clinical settings, with comparable performance to manual delineations. The femur sub-challenge had inferior performance to the head sub-challenge due to the fact that it is a harder segmentation problem and that the techniques presented relied more on the femur's appearance.

  4. Regional economic impacts of Grand Canyon river runners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hjerpe, Evan E; Kim, Yeon-Su

    2007-10-01

    Economic impact analysis (EIA) of outdoor recreation can provide critical social information concerning the utilization of natural resources. Outdoor recreation and other non-consumptive uses of resources are viewed as environmentally friendly alternatives to extractive-type industries. While outdoor recreation can be an appropriate use of resources, it generates both beneficial and adverse socioeconomic impacts on rural communities. The authors used EIA to assess the regional economic impacts of rafting in Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon region of northern Arizona represents a rural US economy that is highly dependent upon tourism and recreational expenditures. The purpose of this research is twofold. The first is to ascertain the previously unknown regional economic impacts of Grand Canyon river runners. The second purpose is to examine attributes of these economic impacts in terms of regional multipliers, leakage, and types of employment created. Most of the literature on economic impacts of outdoor recreation has focused strictly on the positive economic impacts, failing to illuminate the coinciding adverse and constraining economic impacts. Examining the attributes of economic impacts can highlight deficiencies and constraints that limit the economic benefits of recreation and tourism. Regional expenditure information was obtained by surveying non-commercial boaters and commercial outfitters. The authors used IMPLAN input-output modeling to assess direct, indirect, and induced effects of Grand Canyon river runners. Multipliers were calculated for output, employment, and income. Over 22,000 people rafted on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park in 2001, resulting in an estimated $21,100,000 of regional expenditures to the greater Grand Canyon economy. However, over 50% of all rafting-related expenditures were not captured by the regional economy and many of the jobs created by the rafting industry are lower-wage and seasonal. Policy

  5. Development of ZIF-8 membranes: opportunities and challenges for commercial applications

    KAUST Repository

    Lai, Zhiping

    2018-03-24

    Metal organic framework (MOF) membranes have attracted significant attentions in recent years because of their potentials in gas and liquid separations and other applications such as catalysis and chemical sensors, etc. More than half of the MOF membrane publications up to date are related to ZIF-8 system, because of its easy synthesis, relatively high stability, and excellent gas separation performance, which allows many novel ideas to be easily implemented. Extensive studies have shown that ZIF-8 membranes hold great potentials in gas separations, but may face great challenges in liquid separations mainly because of their poor stability. This is also a common observation for other MOF membranes. As such, in this article we use ZIF-8 membrane as a prototype and focus on its development in gas separations for the discussions of the most concerned issues related to membrane commercialization including membrane synthesis, separation performance, stability, process reproducibility, and finally on the opportunities and challenges that MOF membranes may face in industrial applications.

  6. Development of ZIF-8 membranes: opportunities and challenges for commercial applications

    KAUST Repository

    Lai, Zhiping

    2018-01-01

    Metal organic framework (MOF) membranes have attracted significant attentions in recent years because of their potentials in gas and liquid separations and other applications such as catalysis and chemical sensors, etc. More than half of the MOF membrane publications up to date are related to ZIF-8 system, because of its easy synthesis, relatively high stability, and excellent gas separation performance, which allows many novel ideas to be easily implemented. Extensive studies have shown that ZIF-8 membranes hold great potentials in gas separations, but may face great challenges in liquid separations mainly because of their poor stability. This is also a common observation for other MOF membranes. As such, in this article we use ZIF-8 membrane as a prototype and focus on its development in gas separations for the discussions of the most concerned issues related to membrane commercialization including membrane synthesis, separation performance, stability, process reproducibility, and finally on the opportunities and challenges that MOF membranes may face in industrial applications.

  7. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Source of cooperation or contention?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teferi Taye, Meron; Tadesse, Tsegaye; Senay, Gabriel; Block, Paul

    2016-01-01

    This paper discusses the challenges and benefits of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is under construction and expected to be operational on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia in a few years. Like many large-scale projects on transboundary rivers, the GERD has been criticized for potentially jeopardizing downstream water security and livelihoods through upstream unilateral decision making. In spite of the contentious nature of the project, the authors argue that this project can provide substantial benefits for regional development. The GERD, like any major river infrastructure project, will undeniably bring about social, environmental, and economic change, and in this unique case has, on balance, the potential to achieve success on all fronts. It must be stressed, however, that strong partnerships between riparian countries are essential. National success is contingent on regional cooperation.

  8. Impedimetric biosensors for medical applications current progress and challenges

    CERN Document Server

    Rushworth, Jo V; Goode, Jack A; Pike, Douglas J; Ahmed, Asif; Millner, Paul

    2014-01-01

    In this monograph, the authors discuss the current progress in the medical application of impedimetric biosensors, along with the key challenges in the field. First, a general overview of biosensor development, structure and function is presented, followed by a detailed discussion of impedimetric biosensors and the principles of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Next, the current state-of-the art in terms of the science and technology underpinning impedance-based biosensors is reviewed in detail. The layer-by-layer construction of impedimetric sensors is described, including the design of electrodes, their nano-modification, transducer surface functionalization and the attachment of different bioreceptors. The current challenges of translating lab-based biosensor platforms into commercially-available devices that function with real patient samples at the POC are presented; this includes a consideration of systems integration, microfluidics and biosensor regeneration. The final section of this monograph ...

  9. Reducing Weight for Transportation Applications: Technology Challenges and Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taub, Alan I.

    Today's land, sea and air transportation industries — as a business necessity — are focused on technology solutions that will make vehicles more sustainable in terms of energy, the environment, safety and affordability. Reducing vehicle weight is a key enabler for meeting these challenges as well as increasing payload and improving performance. The potential weight reductions from substituting lightweight metals (advanced high-strength steels, aluminum, magnesium and titanium alloys) are well established. For magnesium castings, weight savings of 60% have been reported [1]. The value of weight reduction depends on the transportation sector and ranges from about 5/kg saved for automobiles to over 500/kg saved for aircraft [2]. The challenge is to optimize the material properties and develop robust, high volume, manufacturing technologies and the associated supply chain to fabricate components and subsystems at the appropriate cost for each application.

  10. A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics

    CERN Document Server

    Lawrie, Ian D

    2002-01-01

    A unified account of the principles of theoretical physics, A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics, Second Edition stresses the inter-relationships between areas that are usually treated as independent. The profound unifying influence of geometrical ideas, the powerful formal similarities between statistical mechanics and quantum field theory, and the ubiquitous role of symmetries in determining the essential structure of physical theories are emphasized throughout.This second edition conducts a grand tour of the fundamental theories that shape our modern understanding of the physical wor

  11. Effective Higgs theories in supersymmetric grand unification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zheng, Sibo [Chongqing University, Department of Physics, Chongqing (China)

    2017-09-15

    The effective Higgs theories at the TeV scale in supersymmetric SU(5) grand unification models are systematically derived. Restricted to extensions on 5{sub H} containing the Higgs sector we show that only two types of real (vector-like) models and one type of chiral model are found to be consistent with perturbative grand unification. While the chiral model has been excluded by the LHC data, the fate of perturbative unification will be uniquely determined by the two classes of vector-like models. (orig.)

  12. Research and management of soil, plant, animal, and human resources in the Middle Rio Grande Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deborah M. Finch

    1996-01-01

    The Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station initiated a research program in 1994 called. "Ecology, diversity, and sustainability of soil, plant, animal, and human resources of the Rio Grande Basin". This program is funded by an Ecosystem Management grant from Forest Service Research. Its mission focuses on the development and application of new...

  13. Next-Generation Photon Sources for Grand Challenges in Science and Energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2009-05-01

    The next generation of sustainable energy technologies will revolve around transformational new materials and chemical processes that convert energy efficiently among photons, electrons, and chemical bonds. New materials that tap sunlight, store electricity, or make fuel from splitting water or recycling carbon dioxide will need to be much smarter and more functional than today's commodity-based energy materials. To control and catalyze chemical reactions or to convert a solar photon to an electron requires coordination of multiple steps, each carried out by customized materials and interfaces with designed nanoscale structures. Such advanced materials are not found in nature the way we find fossil fuels; they must be designed and fabricated to exacting standards, using principles revealed by basic science. Success in this endeavor requires probing, and ultimately controlling, the interactions among photons, electrons, and chemical bonds on their natural length and time scales. Control science - the application of knowledge at the frontier of science to control phenomena and create new functionality - realized through the next generation of ultraviolet and X-ray photon sources, has the potential to be transformational for the life sciences and information technology, as well as for sustainable energy. Current synchrotron-based light sources have revolutionized macromolecular crystallography. The insights thus obtained are largely in the domain of static structure. The opportunity is for next generation light sources to extend these insights to the control of dynamic phenomena through ultrafast pump-probe experiments, time-resolved coherent imaging, and high-resolution spectroscopic imaging. Similarly, control of spin and charge degrees of freedom in complex functional materials has the potential not only to reveal the fundamental mechanisms of high-temperature superconductivity, but also to lay the foundation for future generations of information science. This

  14. The Nature of Grand Minima and Maxima from Fully Nonlinear Flux Transport Dynamos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Inceoglu, Fadil; Arlt, Rainer [Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482, Potsdam (Germany); Rempel, Matthias, E-mail: finceoglu@aip.de [High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States)

    2017-10-20

    We aim to investigate the nature and occurrence characteristics of grand solar minimum and maximum periods, which are observed in the solar proxy records such as {sup 10}Be and {sup 14}C, using a fully nonlinear Babcock–Leighton type flux transport dynamo including momentum and entropy equations. The differential rotation and meridional circulation are generated from the effect of turbulent Reynolds stress and are subjected to back-reaction from the magnetic field. To generate grand minimum- and maximum-like periods in our simulations, we used random fluctuations in the angular momentum transport process, namely the Λ-mechanism, and in the Babcock–Leighton mechanism. To characterize the nature and occurrences of the identified grand minima and maxima in our simulations, we used the waiting time distribution analyses, which reflect whether the underlying distribution arises from a random or a memory-bearing process. The results show that, in the majority of the cases, the distributions of grand minima and maxima reveal that the nature of these events originates from memoryless processes. We also found that in our simulations the meridional circulation speed tends to be smaller during grand maximum, while it is faster during grand minimum periods. The radial differential rotation tends to be larger during grand maxima, while it is smaller during grand minima. The latitudinal differential rotation, on the other hand, is found to be larger during grand minima.

  15. Fatores associados ao atraso no desenvolvimento em crianças, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil Factores asociados con retraso en el desarrollo de los niños, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil Factors associated with delay in development in children, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aline Alves Veleda

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Estudo analítico com o objetivo de avaliar os fatores associados ao atraso no desenvolvimento em crianças entre 8 a 12 meses de idade indicadas como de risco ao nascer no município do Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Foram utilizados como instrumentos o Teste de Triagem de Desenvolvimento de Denver II (TTDD II, a avaliação antropométrica e questionários estruturados. Participaram 220 crianças consideradas de risco ou não ao nascer. Foi encontrada uma prevalência de 20,5% de suspeita de atraso no desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor. As crianças que apresentaram risco de um TTDD II suspeito faziam parte de famílias de mais baixa renda; eram filhos de mães que haviam realizado menos de seis consultas de pré-natal e apresentavam índice peso-idade inadequado. Os dados sugerem a necessidade de um replanejamento das políticas de saúde infantil, visto que outros critérios poderiam ser incluídos nas condições de risco para a criança ao nascer.Estudio analítico con el objetivo de evaluar los factores asociados al atraso en el desarrollo en niños de 8 a 12 meses de edad indicados como riesgo al nacer en el municipio de Rio Grande, RS, Brasil. Fueron utilizadas como herramientas la Prueba de Tamizaje del Desarrollo de Denver II, la evaluación antropométrica y cuestionarios estructurados. Participaron 220 niños considerados de riesgo o no al nacer. Fue encontrada una prevalencia del 20,5% de sospecha de atraso en el desarrollo neuropsicomotor. Los niños que presentaron riesgo de un DDST II sospechoso formaban parte de familias de más baja renta; eran hijos de madres que habían realizado menos de seis consultas de prenatal y presentaban índice peso-edad inadecuado. Los datos sugieren la necesidad de un replanteamiento de las políticas de salud infantil, así como otros criterios podrían ser inclusos en las condiciones de riesgo para el niño al nacer.This analytical study aims to evaluate the factors associated to

  16. Identification of Chinese Herbal Medicines with Electronic Nose Technology: Applications and Challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Huaying; Luo, Dehan; GholamHosseini, Hamid; Li, Zhong; He, Jiafeng

    2017-05-09

    This paper provides a review of the most recent works in machine olfaction as applied to the identification of Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs). Due to the wide variety of CHMs, the complexity of growing sources and the diverse specifications of herb components, the quality control of CHMs is a challenging issue. Much research has demonstrated that an electronic nose (E-nose) as an advanced machine olfaction system, can overcome this challenge through identification of the complex odors of CHMs. E-nose technology, with better usability, high sensitivity, real-time detection and non-destructive features has shown better performance in comparison with other analytical techniques such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Although there has been immense development of E-nose techniques in other applications, there are limited reports on the application of E-noses for the quality control of CHMs. The aim of current study is to review practical implementation and advantages of E-noses for robust and effective odor identification of CHMs. It covers the use of E-nose technology to study the effects of growing regions, identification methods, production procedures and storage time on CHMs. Moreover, the challenges and applications of E-nose for CHM identification are investigated. Based on the advancement in E-nose technology, odor may become a new quantitative index for quality control of CHMs and drug discovery. It was also found that more research could be done in the area of odor standardization and odor reproduction for remote sensing.

  17. Nanotechnology Applications in Functional Foods; Opportunities and Challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Harjinder

    2016-03-01

    Increasing knowledge on the link between diet and human health has generated a lot of interest in the development of functional foods. However, several challenges, including discovering of beneficial compounds, establishing optimal intake levels, and developing adequate food delivering matrix and product formulations, need to be addressed. A number of new processes and materials derived from nanotechnology have the potential to provide new solutions in many of these fronts. Nanotechnology is concerned with the manipulation of materials at the atomic and molecular scales to create structures that are less than 100 nm in size in one dimension. By carefully choosing the molecular components, it seems possible to design particles with different surface properties. Several food-based nanodelivery vehicles, such as protein-polysaccharide coacervates, multiple emulsions, liposomes and cochleates have been developed on a laboratory scale, but there have been very limited applications in real food systems. There are also public concerns about potential negative effects of nanotechnology-based delivery systems on human health. This paper provides an overview of the new opportunities and challenges for nanotechnology-based systems in future functional food development.

  18. Cognitive Radio Wireless Sensor Networks: Applications, Challenges and Research Trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Gyanendra Prasad; Nam, Seung Yeob; Kim, Sung Won

    2013-01-01

    A cognitive radio wireless sensor network is one of the candidate areas where cognitive techniques can be used for opportunistic spectrum access. Research in this area is still in its infancy, but it is progressing rapidly. The aim of this study is to classify the existing literature of this fast emerging application area of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, highlight the key research that has already been undertaken, and indicate open problems. This paper describes the advantages of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, the difference between ad hoc cognitive radio networks, wireless sensor networks, and cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, potential application areas of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, challenges and research trend in cognitive radio wireless sensor networks. The sensing schemes suited for cognitive radio wireless sensor networks scenarios are discussed with an emphasis on cooperation and spectrum access methods that ensure the availability of the required QoS. Finally, this paper lists several open research challenges aimed at drawing the attention of the readers toward the important issues that need to be addressed before the vision of completely autonomous cognitive radio wireless sensor networks can be realized. PMID:23974152

  19. Cognitive Radio Wireless Sensor Networks: Applications, Challenges and Research Trends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gyanendra Prasad Joshi

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available A cognitive radio wireless sensor network is one of the candidate areas where cognitive techniques can be used for opportunistic spectrum access. Research in this area is still in its infancy, but it is progressing rapidly. The aim of this study is to classify the existing literature of this fast emerging application area of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, highlight the key research that has already been undertaken, and indicate open problems. This paper describes the advantages of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, the difference between ad hoc cognitive radio networks, wireless sensor networks, and cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, potential application areas of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, challenges and research trend in cognitive radio wireless sensor networks. The sensing schemes suited for cognitive radio wireless sensor networks scenarios are discussed with an emphasis on cooperation and spectrum access methods that ensure the availability of the required QoS. Finally, this paper lists several open research challenges aimed at drawing the attention of the readers toward the important issues that need to be addressed before the vision of completely autonomous cognitive radio wireless sensor networks can be realized.

  20. Cognitive radio wireless sensor networks: applications, challenges and research trends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Gyanendra Prasad; Nam, Seung Yeob; Kim, Sung Won

    2013-08-22

    A cognitive radio wireless sensor network is one of the candidate areas where cognitive techniques can be used for opportunistic spectrum access. Research in this area is still in its infancy, but it is progressing rapidly. The aim of this study is to classify the existing literature of this fast emerging application area of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, highlight the key research that has already been undertaken, and indicate open problems. This paper describes the advantages of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, the difference between ad hoc cognitive radio networks, wireless sensor networks, and cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, potential application areas of cognitive radio wireless sensor networks, challenges and research trend in cognitive radio wireless sensor networks. The sensing schemes suited for cognitive radio wireless sensor networks scenarios are discussed with an emphasis on cooperation and spectrum access methods that ensure the availability of the required QoS. Finally, this paper lists several open research challenges aimed at drawing the attention of the readers toward the important issues that need to be addressed before the vision of completely autonomous cognitive radio wireless sensor networks can be realized.

  1. Grand Tour: immaginario, territorio e culture digitali

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emiliano Ilardi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Il Grand Tour può essere recuperato come asset narrativo utile per un intervento strategico di re-branding del viaggio in Italia? Il contributo analizza il contesto e le condizioni per una progettazione di questo livello nell’ambiente culturale dell’epoca digitale. Considerando gli archetipi moderni della mediazione dei luoghi come una grande riserva di senso, da riattivare sia nelle pratiche basate sui format seriali e transmediali che valorizzano i territori nella produzione creativa, sia nella costruzione di infrastrutture digitali e  transluoghi per la valorizzazione degli attrattori culturali.

  2. Predicting binding poses and affinities for protein - ligand complexes in the 2015 D3R Grand Challenge using a physical model with a statistical parameter estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grudinin, Sergei; Kadukova, Maria; Eisenbarth, Andreas; Marillet, Simon; Cazals, Frédéric

    2016-09-01

    The 2015 D3R Grand Challenge provided an opportunity to test our new model for the binding free energy of small molecules, as well as to assess our protocol to predict binding poses for protein-ligand complexes. Our pose predictions were ranked 3-9 for the HSP90 dataset, depending on the assessment metric. For the MAP4K dataset the ranks are very dispersed and equal to 2-35, depending on the assessment metric, which does not provide any insight into the accuracy of the method. The main success of our pose prediction protocol was the re-scoring stage using the recently developed Convex-PL potential. We make a thorough analysis of our docking predictions made with AutoDock Vina and discuss the effect of the choice of rigid receptor templates, the number of flexible residues in the binding pocket, the binding pocket size, and the benefits of re-scoring. However, the main challenge was to predict experimentally determined binding affinities for two blind test sets. Our affinity prediction model consisted of two terms, a pairwise-additive enthalpy, and a non pairwise-additive entropy. We trained the free parameters of the model with a regularized regression using affinity and structural data from the PDBBind database. Our model performed very well on the training set, however, failed on the two test sets. We explain the drawback and pitfalls of our model, in particular in terms of relative coverage of the test set by the training set and missed dynamical properties from crystal structures, and discuss different routes to improve it.

  3. Constructing 5d orbifold grand unified theories from heterotic strings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Tatsuo; Raby, Stuart; Zhang Renjie

    2004-01-01

    A three-generation Pati-Salam model is constructed by compactifying the heterotic string on a particular T 6 /Z 6 Abelian symmetric orbifold with two discrete Wilson lines. The compactified space is taken to be the Lie algebra lattice G 2 -bar SU(3)-bar SO(4). When one dimension of the SO(4) lattice is large compared to the string scale, this model reproduces many features of a 5d SO(10) grand unified theory compactified on an S 1 /Z 2 orbifold. (Of course, with two large extra dimensions we can obtain a 6d SO(10) grand unified theory.) We identify the orbifold parities and other ingredients of the orbifold grand unified theories in the string model. Our construction provides a UV completion of orbifold grand unified theories, and gives new insights into both field theoretical and string theoretical constructions

  4. Micetomas actinomicóticos no Rio Grande do Sul: relato de quatro casos Actinomycotic mycetomas in Rio Grande do Sul: report of 4 cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto T. Londero

    1986-03-01

    Full Text Available São relatados quatro casos de micetoma causados por Nocardia brasiliensis, ocorridos no Rio Grande do Sul. É revista a literatura rio-grandense-do-sul.Four cases of mycetoma caused by N. brasiliensis, occurring in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil, are reported.

  5. The 'New Urban Europe': Global Challenges and Local Responses in the Urban Century

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijkamp, P.; Kourtit, K.

    2013-01-01

    Modern cities in the open European space-economy are powerhouses of creative ideas, smart technologies, sustainable developments and socio-economic wealth. They play a pivotal role in the future of an urbanized Europe, but they are also confronted with grand challenges, notably far-reaching

  6. Chiral symmetry and eta, eta' → 3π decays. Grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roiesnel, C.

    1982-11-01

    Two different topics related to symmetry breaking are discussed. First the eta, eta' → 3π decays are presented. The amplitudes eta, eta' → 3π are calculated with the square root threshold singularity induced by the strong pion-pion final state interaction properly taken into account. It is shown that the eta' → 3π decay rate depends sensitively upon an improved treatment of the pseudoscalar nonet mass matrix. Then symmetry-breaking effects in grand unified theories are discussed. The threshold effects in a spontaneously broken gauge theory are studied. In particular a computation of the symmetry-breaking effects in the SU(5) grand unified theory including those of the breaking of SU(2)xU(1) is presented. As an application a precise value of the superheavy gauge boson mass Mx is given. It is possible in SU(5) to define a natural effective weak angle theta w(μ) for any scale μ, below as well as above Mw, and the predicted curve for sin 2 theta w(μ) is given [fr

  7. Directing Matter and Energy: Five Challenges for Science and the Imagination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hemminger, J.; Fleming, G.; Ratner, M.

    2007-12-20

    The twin aspects of energy and control (or direction) are the underlying concepts. Matter and energy are closely linked, and their understanding and control will have overwhelming importance for our civilization, our planet, our science, and our technology. This importance ranges even beyond the large portfolio of BES, both because these truly significant Grand Challenges confront many other realms of science and because even partial solutions to these challenges will enrich scientists’ collective imagination and ability to solve problems with new ideas and new methods.

  8. Software Engineering Support of the Third Round of Scientific Grand Challenge Investigations: Earth System Modeling Software Framework Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talbot, Bryan; Zhou, Shu-Jia; Higgins, Glenn; Zukor, Dorothy (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    One of the most significant challenges in large-scale climate modeling, as well as in high-performance computing in other scientific fields, is that of effectively integrating many software models from multiple contributors. A software framework facilitates the integration task, both in the development and runtime stages of the simulation. Effective software frameworks reduce the programming burden for the investigators, freeing them to focus more on the science and less on the parallel communication implementation. while maintaining high performance across numerous supercomputer and workstation architectures. This document surveys numerous software frameworks for potential use in Earth science modeling. Several frameworks are evaluated in depth, including Parallel Object-Oriented Methods and Applications (POOMA), Cactus (from (he relativistic physics community), Overture, Goddard Earth Modeling System (GEMS), the National Center for Atmospheric Research Flux Coupler, and UCLA/UCB Distributed Data Broker (DDB). Frameworks evaluated in less detail include ROOT, Parallel Application Workspace (PAWS), and Advanced Large-Scale Integrated Computational Environment (ALICE). A host of other frameworks and related tools are referenced in this context. The frameworks are evaluated individually and also compared with each other.

  9. Binding affinities of the farnesoid X receptor in the D3R Grand Challenge 2 estimated by free-energy perturbation and docking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsson, Martin A.; García-Sosa, Alfonso T.; Ryde, Ulf

    2018-01-01

    We have studied the binding of 102 ligands to the farnesoid X receptor within the D3R Grand Challenge 2016 blind-prediction competition. First, we employed docking with five different docking software and scoring functions. The selected docked poses gave an average root-mean-squared deviation of 4.2 Å. Consensus scoring gave decent results with a Kendall's τ of 0.26 ± 0.06 and a Spearman's ρ of 0.41 ± 0.08. For a subset of 33 ligands, we calculated relative binding free energies with free-energy perturbation. Five transformations between the ligands involved a change of the net charge and we implemented and benchmarked a semi-analytic correction (Rocklin et al., J Chem Phys 139:184103, 2013) for artifacts caused by the periodic boundary conditions and Ewald summation. The results gave a mean absolute deviation of 7.5 kJ/mol compared to the experimental estimates and a correlation coefficient of R 2 = 0.1. These results were among the four best in this competition out of 22 submissions. The charge corrections were significant (7-8 kJ/mol) and always improved the results. By employing 23 intermediate states in the free-energy perturbation, there was a proper overlap between all states and the precision was 0.1-0.7 kJ/mol. However, thermodynamic cycles indicate that the sampling was insufficient in some of the perturbations.

  10. Assessing Grand Strategies: How the EU and NATO Rock the Strategic Boat

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-01

    part to constitute the embryos of the European Union and NATO grand strategies briefly illustrated in the extracts presented in the epigraph. These... embryos gestated over time becoming de facto grand strategies for these institutions. Applying the characterization of grand strategy elaborated in...6. Michio Kaku, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily

  11. Development of a three-dimensional groundwater flow model for Western Melton Valley: Application of P-FEM on a DOE waste site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    West, O.R.; Toran, L.E.

    1994-04-01

    Modeling the movement of hazardous waste in groundwater was identified by the US Department of Energy (DOE) as one of the grand challenges in scientific computation. In recognition of this need, DOE has provided support for a group of scientists from several national laboratories and universities to conduct research and development in groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling. This group is part of a larger consortium of researchers, collectively referred to as the Partnership in Computational Science (PICS), that has been charged with the task of applying high-performance computational tools and techniques to grand challenge areas identified by DOE. One of the goals of the PICS Groundwater Group is to develop a new three-dimensional groundwater flow and transport code that is optimized for massively parallel computers. An existing groundwater flow code, 3DFEMWATER, was parallelized in order to serve as a benchmark for these new models. The application of P-FEM, the parallelized version of 3DFEMWATER, to a real field site is the subject of this report

  12. Development of a three-dimensional groundwater flow model for Western Melton Valley: Application of P-FEM on a DOE waste site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    West, O.R.; Toran, L.E.

    1994-04-01

    Modeling the movement of hazardous waste in groundwater was identified by the US Department of Energy (DOE) as one of the grand challenges in scientific computation. In recognition of this need, DOE has provided support for a group of scientists from several national laboratories and universities to conduct research and development in groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling. This group is part of a larger consortium of researchers, collectively referred to as the Partnership in Computational Science (PICS), that has been charged with the task of applying high-performance computational tools and techniques to grand challenge areas identified by DOE. One of the goals of the PICS Groundwater Group is to develop a new three-dimensional groundwater flow and transport code that is optimized for massively parallel computers. An existing groundwater flow code, 3DFEMWATER, was parallelized in order to serve as a benchmark for these new models. The application of P-FEM, the parallelized version of 3DFEMWATER, to a real field site is the subject of this report.

  13. Selected topics in grand unification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seckel, D.

    1983-01-01

    This dissertation is a collection of four pieces of research dealing with grand unification. The topics are neutron oscillation, CP violation, magnetic monopole abundance and distribution in neutron stars, and a proposal for an inflationary cosmology driven by stress-energy in domain walls

  14. Grand Narrative Pemberantasan Korupsi dalam Wacana Konflik Sepak Bola di Media Cetak

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Afdal Makkuraga Putra

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Eradication of corruption has been a grand narrative since the early of reformation era. Mass media became part of the preservation of the grand narrative. Grand narrative is the main narration which becomes basis and universal character since it can be used as standard to measure and assess other narratives. This study analyzes grand narrative of corruption eradication in Indonesia soccer conflict in print media by using critical discourse by Norman Fairclough as research method. The result shows that media preserved grand narrative of corruption eradication through image projection of corruptors as common enemy. The spread of anti-corruption information through mass media carried out continuously and sustainably is a manifestation of the commitment to fight corruption. Information provided by media does not only explains the state’s loss but up to the development of its completion.

  15. Phase transitions at finite chemical potential in grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bailin, D.; Love, A.

    1984-01-01

    We discuss the circumstances in which non-zero chemical potentials might prevent symmetry restoration in phase transitions in the early universe at grand unification or partial unification scales. The general arguments are illustrated by consideration of SO(10) and SU(5) grand unified theories. (orig.)

  16. Perspective view over the Grand Canyon, Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-01-01

    This simulated true color perspective view over the Grand Canyon was created from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data acquired on May 12, 2000. The Grand Canyon Village is in the lower foreground; the Bright Angel Trail crosses the Tonto Platform, before dropping down to the Colorado Village and then to the Phantom Ranch (green area across the river). Bright Angel Canyon and the North Rim dominate the view. At the top center of the image the dark blue area with light blue haze is an active forest fire. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping, and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance. The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Size: 5 km in foreground to 40 km Location: 36.3 degrees north latitude, 112 degrees west longitude Orientation: North-northeast at top Original Data Resolution: ASTER 15 meters Dates Acquired: May 12, 2000

  17. A Grande Reportagem em Televisão

    OpenAIRE

    Teixeira, Clara Manuela Araújo

    2009-01-01

    Monografia apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciada em Ciências da Comunicação Este projecto de graduação é dedicado ao estudo da elaboração de uma grande reportagem em televisão. As próximas páginas procuram dar a conhecer ao leitor as diferentes fases do processo de realização de uma grande reportagem audiovisual: desde a preparação à investigação feita pelo jornalista, passando pela recolha de informação no terr...

  18. Numerical modeling of the late Cenozoic geomorphic evolution of Grand Canyon, Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelletier, J. D.

    2008-12-01

    The late Cenozoic geomorphic evolution of Grand Canyon has been influenced by three primary tectonic and drainage adjustment events. First, incision into the Paleozoic strata of the southwestern margin of the Colorado Plateau began at 16 Ma in response to relief production along the Grand Wash Fault. Second, the ancestral Upper Colorado River reversed drainage and became integrated with the Lower Colorado River basin through Grand Canyon between 5.5 and 6 Ma. Third, the Colorado River was influenced by Plio- Quaternary normal faulting along the Hurricane and Toroweap Faults. Despite the relatively firm constraints available on the timing of these events, the geomorphic evolution of Grand Canyon is still not well constrained and many questions remain. For example, was there a deeply-incised gorge in western Grand Canyon before Colorado River integration? How and where was the Colorado River integrated? How have incision rates varied in space and time? In this paper, I describe the results of a numerical modeling study designed to address these questions. The model integrates the stream power model for bedrock channel erosion with cliff retreat and the flexural-isostatic response to erosion. The model honors the structural geology of the Grand Canyon region, including the variable erodibility of rocks in the Colorado Plateau and the occurrence of Plio-Quaternary normal faulting along the Hurricane-Toroweap Fault system. We present the results of two models designed to bracket the possible drainage architectures of the southwestern margin of the Colorado Plateau in Miocene time. In the first model, we assume a 13,000 km2 drainage basin primarily sourced from the Hualapai and Coconino Plateaux. The results of this model indicate that relief production along the Grand Wash fault initiated the formation of a large (700 m) knickpoint that migrated headward at a rate of 15 km/Myr prior to drainage integration at 6 Ma to form a deep gorge in western Grand Canyon. This model

  19. Identification of Chinese Herbal Medicines with Electronic Nose Technology: Applications and Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huaying Zhou

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides a review of the most recent works in machine olfaction as applied to the identification of Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs. Due to the wide variety of CHMs, the complexity of growing sources and the diverse specifications of herb components, the quality control of CHMs is a challenging issue. Much research has demonstrated that an electronic nose (E-nose as an advanced machine olfaction system, can overcome this challenge through identification of the complex odors of CHMs. E-nose technology, with better usability, high sensitivity, real-time detection and non-destructive features has shown better performance in comparison with other analytical techniques such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS. Although there has been immense development of E-nose techniques in other applications, there are limited reports on the application of E-noses for the quality control of CHMs. The aim of current study is to review practical implementation and advantages of E-noses for robust and effective odor identification of CHMs. It covers the use of E-nose technology to study the effects of growing regions, identification methods, production procedures and storage time on CHMs. Moreover, the challenges and applications of E-nose for CHM identification are investigated. Based on the advancement in E-nose technology, odor may become a new quantitative index for quality control of CHMs and drug discovery. It was also found that more research could be done in the area of odor standardization and odor reproduction for remote sensing.

  20. The geology of Piz Pian Grand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huber, M.; Staeuble, J.

    1987-01-01

    Nagra has identified four potential sites for a repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. Exploration work is already underway at Oberbauenstock (UR) and Piz Pian Grand (GR). As part of the investigations in the Piz Pian Grand area, geological surface mapping was carried out between 1984 and 1987. Since the data obtained is still being evaluated, it would be premature to draw any interpretative conclusions at this stage. On the other hand, some of the most significant observations of this work can be summarised here. As a first step, the geological framework in which these investigations are to be seen should be defined. Observations will then be made on the rock content (lithology) and geometric structure (structural geology) of the area. (author) 6 figs

  1. Grandes números primos

    OpenAIRE

    Bang, Thöger

    2012-01-01

    En las escuelas danesas la teoría de los números se ha ido restringiendo gradualmente hasta no incluir sino la demostración de la descomposición univoca de los números enteros en números primos y la demostración del teorema clásico de EUCLIDES sobre la existencia de un número primo arbitrariamente grande.

  2. Os grandes consumidores de consultas medicas: um estudo de familia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Pereira Graça

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo describe un estudio sobre algunas características familiares de sujetos grandes consumidores de servicios de salud. Por un lado, se compara un grupo de grandes consumidores de servicios de salud, a nivel de número de consultas, con un grupo control en términos de funcionamiento familiar y actitudes hacia los médicos y la Medicina; por otro lado, se estudia la relación entre la dinámica familiar y las actitudes hacia la Medicina y los médicos en el grupo de los grandes consumidores. Los resultados muestran que los dos grupos de usuarios son significativamente diferentes; además, en el grupo de grandes consumidores el funcionamiento familiar problemático parece ser un factor intermediario en el desarrollo de actitudes menos negativas hacia los médicos y la Medicina. Se discuten las implicaciones que los resultados tienen a nivel de intervención terapéutica.

  3. Analysis of the marine shrimp farm production chain in Rio Grande do Sul state

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Randow de Freitas

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to identify, describe, and analyze the main links of the marine shrimp culture production chain in the extreme south of Brazil, specifically in the Rio Grande and São José do Norte municipalities, Rio Grande do Sul state. The research was carried out through prior bibliographic, in loco research and the application of interviews and questionnaires to identify the entire local productive process from the inputs needed for production to the arrival at the final consumer. The results indicate that the production chain requires actions in the process until the product’s final commercialization. Even as a growing market in Brazil, more investments, better support from the Government for the installation of new farmers, a reduction of bureaucracy in public agencies, training of actors involved in production, and some other points identified in this study can help decision makers, inherent to the activity, to establish sustainable production strategies aimed at lasting and full development of local shrimp production.

  4. Thermal plasma spraying for SOFCs: Applications, potential advantages, and challenges

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hui, Rob; Wang, Zhenwei; Jankovic, Jasna; Yick, Sing; Maric, Radenka; Ghosh, Dave [National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation, 4250 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5 (Canada); Kesler, Olivera [National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation, 4250 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5 (Canada); Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2054-6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 (Canada); Rose, Lars [National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation, 4250 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5 (Canada); Department of Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, 309-6350 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 (Canada)

    2007-07-10

    In this article, the applications, potential advantages, and challenges of thermal plasma spray (PS) processing for nanopowder production and cell fabrication of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are reviewed. PS processing creates sufficiently high temperatures to melt all materials fed into the plasma. The heated material can either be quenched into oxide powders or deposited as coatings. This technique has been applied to directly deposit functional layers as well as nanopowder for SOFCs application. In particularly, low melting point and highly active electrodes can be directly fabricated on zirconia-based electrolytes. This is a simple processing technique that does not require the use of organic solvents, offering the opportunity for flexible adjustment of process parameters, and significant time saving in production of the cell and cost reduction compared with tape casting, screen printing and sintering processing steps. Most importantly, PS processing shows strong potential to enable the deposition of metal-supported SOFCs through the integrated fabrication of membrane-electrode assemblies (MEA) on porous metallic substrates with consecutive deposition steps. On the other hand, the application of PS processing to produce SOFCs faces some challenges, such as insufficient porosity of the electrodes, the difficulty of obtaining a thin (<10 {mu}m) and dense electrolyte layer. Fed with H{sub 2} as the fuel gas and oxygen as the oxidant gas, the plasma sprayed cell reached high power densities of 770 mW cm{sup -2} at 900 C and 430 mW cm{sup -2} at 800 C at a cell voltage of 0.7 V. (author)

  5. Applications and challenges of next-generation sequencing in Brassica species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Lijuan; Xiao, Meili; Hayward, Alice; Fu, Donghui

    2013-12-01

    Next-generation sequencing (NGS) produces numerous (often millions) short DNA sequence reads, typically varying between 25 and 400 bp in length, at a relatively low cost and in a short time. This revolutionary technology is being increasingly applied in whole-genome, transcriptome, epigenome and small RNA sequencing, molecular marker and gene discovery, comparative and evolutionary genomics, and association studies. The Brassica genus comprises some of the most agro-economically important crops, providing abundant vegetables, condiments, fodder, oil and medicinal products. Many Brassica species have undergone the process of polyploidization, which makes their genomes exceptionally complex and can create difficulties in genomics research. NGS injects new vigor into Brassica research, yet also faces specific challenges in the analysis of complex crop genomes and traits. In this article, we review the advantages and limitations of different NGS technologies and their applications and challenges, using Brassica as an advanced model system for agronomically important, polyploid crops. Specifically, we focus on the use of NGS for genome resequencing, transcriptome sequencing, development of single-nucleotide polymorphism markers, and identification of novel microRNAs and their targets. We present trends and advances in NGS technology in relation to Brassica crop improvement, with wide application for sophisticated genomics research into agronomically important polyploid crops.

  6. Pesquisa sobre tabagismo entre médicos de Rio Grande, RS: prevalência e perfil do fumante Cigarette smoking survey among physicians of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul: prevalence and smoker's profile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LUÍS SUÁREZ HALTY

    2002-04-01

    characterize the smoking doctor's profile. Method: Data were obtained, in 1999, through application and analysis of a questionnaire, based on the model proposed by WHO, among 333 physicians of whom 213 (64% were men and 120 (36% were women. The average age of the sample was 43 (± 10.5 years with 65.1% between 30 and 50 years. Results: Smoking prevalence was 18.3% (15.9% regular smokers and 2.4% occasional smokers. Regular smoking prevalence was 17.8% among males and 12.5% among females, with no significant statistic difference (p > 0.05. The mean number of cigarettes smoked was 24.3 packets/years, being superior among men and increasing with age. It was verified that 86.8% of the smokers began smoking before 20 years of age, due to their desire or friends' influence in 63.2% of the cases. Conclusion: Although smoking prevalence among Rio Grande physicians is lower than in other countries, it is still unacceptable. Since this class has a decisive role in the prevention and fight against smoking, a specific campaign against tobacco among these professionals would greatly justify.

  7. A review on on-board challenges of magnesium-based hydrogen storage materials for automobile applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, Md. Wasikur

    2017-06-01

    The attempt of the review is to realize on-board hydrogen storage technologies concerning magnesium based solid-state matrix to allow fuel cell devices to facilitate sufficient storage capacity, cost, safety and performance requirements to be competitive with current vehicles. Hydrogen, a potential and clean fuel, can be applied in the state-of-the-art technology of `zero emission' vehicles. Hydrogen economy infrastructure both for stationary and mobile purposes is complicated due to its critical physico-chemical properties and materials play crucial roles in every stage of hydrogen production to utilization in fuel cells in achieving high conversion efficiency, safety and robustness of the technologies involved. Moreover, traditional hydrogen storage facilities are rather complicated due to its anomalous properties such as highly porous solids and polymers have intrinsic microporosity, which is the foremost favorable characteristics of fast kinetics and reversibility, but the major drawback is the low storage capacity. In contrast, metal hydrides and complex hydrides have high hydrogen storage capacity but thermodynamically unfavorable. Therefore, hydrogen storage is a real challenge to realize `hydrogen economy' that will solve the critical issues of humanity such as energy depletion, greenhouse emission, air pollution and ultimately climate change. Magnesium based materials, particularly magnesium hydride (MgH2) has been proposed as a potential hydrogen storage material due to its high gravimetric and volumetric capacity as well as environmentally benign properties to work the grand challenge out.

  8. Restrictions on SU(5) as a grand unified theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shellard, R.C.

    1984-01-01

    Some restrictions imposed upon Grand Unified Theories by dynamical symetry breakdown are examined. They are shown that, in particular, theories SU(5) as symmetry group, with 3 or more fermion families undergo dynamical symmetry breakdown, and some of the fermions will acquire mass at the Grand Unified scale. On the other hand, the SO(10) group, with 3 families is free from this problem. (Author) [pt

  9. Can a Chatbot Determine My Diet?: Addressing Challenges of Chatbot Application for Meal Recommendation

    OpenAIRE

    Fadhil, Ahmed

    2018-01-01

    Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development, and reduced productivity. A conversational agent can support people as a virtual coach, however building such systems still have its associated challenges and limitations. This paper describes the background and motivation for chatbot systems in the context of healthy nutrition recommendation. We discuss current challenges associated with chatbot application, we tackled ...

  10. Development and application of modern agricultural biotechnology in Botswana: the potentials, opportunities and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batlang, Utlwang; Tsurupe, Gorata; Segwagwe, Amogelang; Obopile, Motshwari

    2014-07-03

    In Botswana, approximately 40% of the population live in rural areas and derive most of their livelihood from agriculture by keeping livestock and practising arable farming. Due to the nature of their farming practises livestock and crops are exposed to diseases and environmental stresses. These challenges offer opportunities for application of biotechnology to develop adaptable materials to the country's environment. On the other hand, the perceived risk of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has dimmed the promise of the technology for its application in agriculture. This calls for a holistic approach to the application of biotechnology to address issues of biosafety of GMOs. We have therefore assessed the potentials, challenges and opportunities to apply biotechnology with specific emphasis on agriculture, taking cognisance of requirement for its research, development and application in research and teaching institutions. In order to achieve this, resource availability, infrastructure, human and laboratory requirements were analyzed. The analysis revealed that the country has the capacity to carry out research in biotechnology in the development and production of genetically modified crops for food and fodder crops. These will include gene discovery, genetic transformation and development of systems to comply with the world regulatory framework on biosafety. In view of the challenges facing the country in agriculture, first generation biotech crops could be released for production. Novel GM products for development may include disease diagnosis kits, animal disease vaccines, and nutrient use efficiency, drought, and pest and disease resistant food and fodder crops.

  11. Plants, arthropods, and birds of the Rio Grande [chapter 7

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deborah M. Finch; Gale L. Wolters; Wang Yong; Mary Jean Mund

    1995-01-01

    Human populations have increased dramatically along the Rio Grande since European settlement. Human use of water for irrigation and consumption, and human use of land for agriculture, urban centers, livestock grazing, and recreation have changed Rio Grande ecosystems by altering flood cycles, channel geomorphology, upslope processes, and water quality and quantity....

  12. Landsat Evapotranspiration for Historical Field-scale Water Use (1984-2015) in the Upper Rio Grande River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senay, G. B.; Schauer, M.; Singh, R. K.; Friedrichs, M.

    2017-12-01

    Field-scale water use maps derived from evapotranspiration (ET) can characterize water use patterns and the impacts of water management decisions. This project generated historical (1984-2015) Landsat-based ET maps for the entire Upper Rio Grande basin which makes this one of the largest regions in the United States with remotely sensed historical ET at Landsat resolution. More than 10,000 Landsat images spanning 32 years were processed using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model which integrates weather data and remotely sensed images to estimate monthly and annual ET. Time-series analysis focused on three water-intensive study areas within the basin: the San Luis Valley in Colorado, irrigated fields along the Rio Grande River near Albuquerque, NM, and irrigated fields near Las Cruces, NM. Preliminary analysis suggests land use changes result in declining water use in irrigated areas of the basin which corresponds with increases in land surface temperatures. Time-series analysis of water use patterns at multiple temporal and spatial scales demonstrates the impact of water management decisions on the availability of water in the basin. Comparisons with cropland data from the USDA (NASS CDL) demonstrate how water use for particular crop types changes over time in response to land use changes and shifts in water management. This study illustrates a useful application of "Big Data" earth observation science for quantifying impacts of climate and land use changes on water availability within the United States as well as applications in planning water resource allocation, managing water rights, and sustaining agricultural production in the Upper Rio Grande basin.

  13. Descriptive summary of the Grande Ronde Basalt type section, Columbia River Basalt Group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Camp, V.E.; Price, S.M.; Reidel, S.P.

    1978-10-01

    The Grande Ronde Basalt type section, located in extreme southeastern Washington, was measured, sampled, and characterized. The section is 800 meters thick and is comprised of 35 Grande Ronde Basalt flows. These flows are divisible into 3 magnetostratiographic units termed, in ascending order, the R 1 , the N 1 , and the R 2 . The R 1 unit is represented by 13 reversely polarized flows; the N 1 unit, by 13 normally polarized flows; and the R 2 , by 9 reversely polarized flows. Chemically, the Grande Ronde Basalt flows are divided into 2 major groups, termed A and B. The compositions of the lower 9 flows, members of Group A, are similar to either the high-Mg Grande Ronde chemical type, the high-Ti Grande Ronde chemical type, or the Pomona chemical type. The compositions of the upper 25 flows, members of Group B, are predominantly similar to the low-Mg Grande Ronde chemical type. Petrographically, the Grande Ronde Basalt flows are generally fine grained and aphyric, and have a intergranular or intersertal micro-texture. Major mineral phases include plagioclase (An/sub 40-60/) and augite; minor mineral phases include pigeonite, orthopyroxene, ilmenite, titanomagnetite, and olivine. Group A flows generally contain more olivine and less pigeonite than do Group B flows. 6 figures, 6 tables

  14. Pequena monografia sobre o Rio Grande do Sul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Maria Pinho

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Pequena monografia desenvolvida por membros do Colégio Sevigne, que versa sobre diversos assuntos a respeito do Rio Grande do Sul, divididos em histórico, fronteiras, organização política administrativa, características geográficas, formação geomorfológica, economia, aspectos históricos e geográficos da capital do Estado, generalidades étnicas, e sobre o gaúcho em si. Grande quantidade de ilustrações e poemas enriquecem o artigo.

  15. Chemical stratigraphy of Grande Ronde Basalt, Pasco Basin, south-central Washington

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Long, P.E.; Ledgerwood, R.K.; Myers, C.W.; Reidel, S.P.; Landon, R.D.; Hooper, P.R.

    1980-02-01

    Grande Ronde Basalt in the Pasco Basin, south-central Washington, can be subdivided into three chemical types and two chemical subtypes based on x-ray fluorescence major element analysis of samples from seven deep core holes and three surface sections. These chemical types are: (1) high-Mg Grande Ronde chemical type; (2) low-Mg Grande Ronde chemical type; (3) low-K (very high-Mg.) Grande Ronde chemical type; and (4) Umtanum Grande Ronde chemical subtype. A possible fifth subdivision is the McCoy Canyon Grande Ronde chemical subtype. The Umtanum and the McCoy Canyon subtypes are both single flows which belong to the low Mg and high-Mg chemical types, respectively. These subdivisions are all distinguished on a plot of MgO versus TiO 2 and/or MgO versus P 2 O 5 , but other major and minor elements, as well as trace elements, also reflect consistent chemical differences between the chemical types. Identification of these chemical types in the Pasco Basin subsurface shows that the high-Mg and low-Mg chemical types are ubiquitous, but the low-K chemical type is limited to the central, southern, and eastern parts of the basin. The Umtanum chemical subtype is present throughout the Pasco Basin subsurface, although it thins in the northeastern part of the basin and is apparently absent from surface exposures 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the basin. The McCoy Canyon chemical subtype is also present throughout the basin

  16. First report of Phytophthora ramorum infecting grand fir in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    K.L. Riley; G.A. Chastagner

    2011-01-01

    Phytophthora ramorum was detected on grand fir in 2003 and 2005 in a Christmas tree plantation near Los Gatos, CA, in association with infected California bay laurel. Isolates derived from stem lesions were used to inoculate grand fir seedlings in two tests. Isolations from lesions on inoculated plants were positive for P. ramorum...

  17. State of Flood Related Modeling Along Middle Rio Grande: Report Documentary 2007-2008 Work

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    Bosque Environment (CBE) Title Prepared By Rio Grande Silvery Minnow Sanctuary Proposed Site, 1-D HEC - RAS Model of Area of Interest Jonathan Acbuchon...Erosion Jennifer G. Duan Case Study: Application of the HEC -6 Model for the Main Stem of the Kankakee River in Illinois Nani G. Bhowmik, D.WRE...1 bank-attached bar HYDRAULIC ANALYSIS One-dimensional HEC - RAS models – Fixed-bed analysis – Calibrated to gauged flow at time of survey and 2005

  18. Proton decay: Numerical simulations confront grand unification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brower, R.C.; Maturana, G.; Giles, R.C.; Moriarty, K.J.M.; Samuel, S.

    1985-01-01

    The Grand Unified Theories of the electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions constitute a far reaching attempt to synthesize our knowledge of theoretical particle physics into a consistent and compelling whole. Unfortunately, many quantitative predictions of such unified theories are sensitive to the analytically intractible effects of the strong subnuclear theory (Quantum Chromodynamics or QCD). The consequence is that even ambitious experimental programs exploring weak and super-weak interaction effects often fail to give definitive theoretical tests. This paper describes large-scale calculations on a supercomputer which can help to overcome this gap between theoretical predictions and experimental results. Our focus here is on proton decay, though the methods described are useful for many weak processes. The basic algorithms for the numerical simulation of QCD are well known. We will discuss the advantages and challenges of applying these methods to weak transitions. The algorithms require a very large data base with regular data flow and are natural candidates for vectorization. Also, 32-bit floating point arithmetic is adequate. Thus they are most naturally approached using a supercomputer alone or in combination with a dedicated special purpose processor. (orig.)

  19. Mobile Computing: The Emerging Technology, Sensing, Challenges and Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bezboruah, T.

    2010-12-01

    The mobile computing is a computing system in which a computer and all necessary accessories like files and software are taken out to the field. It is a system of computing through which it is being able to use a computing device even when someone being mobile and therefore changing location. The portability is one of the important aspects of mobile computing. The mobile phones are being used to gather scientific data from remote and isolated places that could not be possible to retrieve by other means. The scientists are initiating to use mobile devices and web-based applications to systematically explore interesting scientific aspects of their surroundings, ranging from climate change, environmental pollution to earthquake monitoring. This mobile revolution enables new ideas and innovations to spread out more quickly and efficiently. Here we will discuss in brief about the mobile computing technology, its sensing, challenges and the applications. (author)

  20. A Grand Challenge for CMOS Scaling: Alternate Gate Dielectrics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, Robert M.

    2001-03-01

    Many materials systems are currently under consideration as potential replacements for SiO2 as the gate dielectric material for sub-0.13 um complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The prospect of replacing SiO2 is a formidable task because the alternate gate dielectric must provide many properties that are, at a minimum, comparable to those of SiO2 yet with a much higher permittivity. A systematic examination of the required performance of gate dielectrics suggests that the key properties to consider in the selection an alternative gate dielectric candidate are (a) permittivity, band gap and band alignment to silicon, (b) thermodynamic stability, (c) film morphology, (d) interface quality, (e) compatibility with the current or expected materials to be used in processing for CMOS devices, (f) process compatibility, and (g) reliability. Many dielectrics appear favorable in some of these areas, but very few materials are promising with respect to all of these guidelines. We will review the performance requirements for materials associated with CMOS scaling, the challenges associated with these requirements, and the state-of-the-art in current research for alternate gate dielectrics. The requirements for process integration compatibility are remarkably demanding, and any serious candidates will emerge only through continued, intensive investigation.

  1. Security surveillance challenges and proven thermal imaging capabilities in real-world applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francisco, Glen L.; Roberts, Sharon

    2004-09-01

    Uncooled thermal imaging was first introduced to the public in early 1980's by Raytheon (legacy Texas Instruments Defense Segment Electronics Group) as a solution for military applications. Since the introduction of this technology, Raytheon has remained the leader in this market as well as introduced commercial versions of thermal imaging products specifically designed for security, law enforcement, fire fighting, automotive and industrial uses. Today, low cost thermal imaging for commercial use in security applications is a reality. Organizations of all types have begun to understand the advantages of using thermal imaging as a means to solve common surveillance problems where other popular technologies fall short. Thermal imaging has proven to be a successful solution for common security needs such as: ¸ vision at night where lighting is undesired and 24x7 surveillance is needed ¸ surveillance over waterways, lakes and ports where water and lighting options are impractical ¸ surveillance through challenging weather conditions where other technologies will be challenged by atmospheric particulates ¸ low maintenance requirements due to remote or difficult locations ¸ low cost over life of product Thermal imaging is now a common addition to the integrated security package. Companies are relying on thermal imaging for specific applications where no other technology can perform.

  2. Liberating methodological thinking in human sciences from grand theories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kharlamov, Nikita; Baldursson, Einar Baldvin

    2016-01-01

    focus on the necessity of a “grand unified theory” at the expense of any and all alternative perspectives. Properties of grand theories are discussed on the examples of Giddens and Bourdieu. It is argued that grand theories hamper a more productive focus on concrete phenomena. Robert Merton’s focus......Many humanistic and social disciplines are naturally inclined to seek for human-, person-, self- centered focus, and develop a holistic theory of such. Such disciplines continually engage with philosophical, metaphysical and meta-theoretical perspectives. This engagement often leads to a singular...... on “middle range” theories is revisited and its continuing relevance is highlighted. The level of abstraction characteristic of such theories, as well as the way they engage with the empirical social reality, are discussed. The article concludes by considering the paradoxical reductionism that can...

  3. Levantamento etnobotânico de espécies arbóreas no assentamento Tabuleiro Grande, Apodi, Rio Grande do Norte

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mônica Costa Cordeiro

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Objetivou-se realizar um levantamento etnobotânico no Projeto de Assentamento Tabuleiro Grande, localizado em Apodi, Rio Grande do Norte, contribuindo para o resgate do conhecimento popular discutindo as implicações do uso da vegetação arbórea na conservação dos recursos florestais. A condução do estudo foi por meio da observação direta e entrevistas semiestruturadas (21 entrevistas. Para análise dos dados foram feitas abordagens qualitativas (acesso a informações subjetivas e quantitativas (Valor de Uso; índices de diversidade de Shannon e de equabilidade de Pielou. Foram mencionadas no levantamento 57 espécies arbóreas, entre nativas e exóticas, distribuídas em 26 famílias e enquadradas nas seguintes categorias de uso: Madeira (móveis e construção, Medicina/Higiene, Apicultura, Lenha, Veterinária Popular, Forragem, Alimentação Humana e Outros. Com os resultados obtidos, conclui-se que a comunidade estudada possui conhecimento sobre um grande número de espécies arbóreas. No entanto, no que diz respeito a “uso”, poucas espécies são, de fato, utilizadas. De forma geral, o conhecimento popular na comunidade está mantido com uma pequena parcela dos entrevistados e não é repassado, tendendo a tornar-se cada vez mais escasso.Ethnobotanical survey of tree species in the Tabuleiro Grande settlement, Apodi, Rio Grande do NorteAbstract: The aim this study was to realize ethnobotanical survey in Settlement Tabuleiro Grande Project, located in Apodi - RN, to contribute to the rescue of popular knowledge and discuss the implications of the use of trees in the conservation of forest resources. The conduct of the study was through direct observation and semi-structured interviews (21 interviews. Data analysis were made qualitative approaches (access to subjective information and quantitative (use value -VU, Shannon diversity and Pielou evenness indexes. Were mentioned in the survey 57 tree species native and exotic

  4. Grand Challenge Problem 10

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Lone; Balacheff, Nicolas; Bottino, Rosa Maria

    2016-01-01

    Small and medium sized research labs (SMLs) are dominating European TEL research. This is justified by the great numbers of countries and regions in Europe needing to develop a research and innovation competence to facilitate the diverse educational systems contextualized in various institutional...

  5. Challenges and countermeasures of China’s energy security

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao, Wensheng; Bluth, Christoph

    2013-01-01

    China is now a major consumer and importer of energy, and its choices and policies will increasingly affect the rest of the world. This paper analyses the key features of China’s energy policy as it faces the prospect of possible challenges to its energy security given the increasing reliance on fuel imports and the need to transform its energy to meet the requirements of a modern, fast-growing economy. The paper examines whether the current energy mix is appropriate and sustainable, and considers the China’s policymakers new emphasis on energy efficiency, conservation, renewable energy and the shift to natural gas the primary energy source. It examines the internal and external constraints on China’s energy policy and considers the strategic dilemmas arising from China’s increasing involvement in international energy markets. It concludes that both the domestic and international implications of China’s search for energy security will confront policymakers with hard choices that will affect not only energy policy, but also China’s geopolitical grand strategy. - Highlights: ► Conception of energy security and energy policy in China’s grand strategy are expatiated. ► Challenges China is facing are analyzed from 4 aspects. ► New strategic thoughts of China including 6 capability enhancements are raised. ► Major tasks of safeguarding energy security contain 3 measures of improvement.

  6. Landscape Evolution Comparison between Sacra Mensa, Mars and the Grand Mesa, Colorado, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chesnutt, J. M.; Wegmann, K. W.; Cole, R. D.; Byrne, P. K.

    2017-12-01

    The Grand Mesa in Colorado is one of the largest and highest flat-topped mountains on Earth, and as such provides a compelling analog for Mars' Sacra Mensa. Both basalt-capped landforms are morphologically similar, enabling a landscape evolution comparison between the two that considers key differences in locale, composition, and environmental conditions. Sacra Mensa is nearly 50 times the area of Grand Mesa and towers 3 km above the surrounding area. The 1,300 km2 Grand Mesa rises 2 km above Grand Valley, and is bracketed by the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers in much the same way as Sacra Mensa is bounded by braided channels of Kasei Valles. The sustained incision by the Gunnison and Colorado was a key erosive force in the creation of the Grand Mesa, whereas punctuated but voluminous Hesperian glacio-fluvial floods are thought to have carved the Sacra Mensa. The Grand Mesa is undergoing extensive mass wasting, ranging from deadly landslides like the 2014 West Salt Creek rock avalanche to hundreds of slower-moving retrogressive slump blocks calving off the Miocene basalt cap. The genesis and modification of both landforms includes volcanic and fluvial activity, albeit in an inverted sequence. The Grand Mesa basalt cap has preserved the landform during the incision around its sides, whereas Sacra Mensa was likely carved by floods, with those flood channels later modified by lava flows. Recent (2015-2017) LiDAR surveys revealed massive and possible ancient landslides in many stream valleys and extensive earthflows on all sides of the Grand Mesa. In the case of the Grand Mesa, the large landslides are mainly occurring in one stratigraphic unit. In comparison, the western half of Sacra Mensa contains substantial slumping accompanied by landslides and debris flows, whereas the eastern half has relatively few such phenomena. Here, we report on the first Mesa-Mensa landscape evolution analog study. The surficial and bedrock mapping and 14C dating of key features of the

  7. Estimating large complex projects Estimando proyectos grandes y complejos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cliff Schexnayder

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Managing large capital construction projects requires the coordination of a multitude of human, organizational, technical, and natural resources. Quite often, the engineering and construction complexities of such projects are overshadowed by economic, societal, and political challenges. The ramifications and effects, which result from differences between early project cost estimates and the bid price or the final project cost, are significant. Over the time span between the initiation of a project and the completion of construction many factors influence a project's final costs. This time span is normally several years in duration but for highly complex and technologically challenging projects, project duration can easily exceed a decade. Over that period, changes to the project scope often occur. The subject here is a presentation of strategies that support realistic cost estimating. Through literature review and interviews with transportation agencies in the U.S. and internationally the authors developed a database of the factors that are the root causes of cost estimation problemsGestionar proyectos de construcción de grandes capitales requiere de la coordinación de una multitud de recursos humanos, organizacionales, técnicos y naturales. Frecuentemente, las complejidades del diseño y construcción de esos grandes proyectos son tapadas por sus desafíos económicos, políticos y sociales. Las ramificaciones y efectos que resultan de las diferencias entre la estimación de costo inicial, el costo de la propuesta adjudicada y el costo final del proyecto son significativas. Hay numerosos factores que inciden en el costo final del proyecto entre su inicio y finalización. La duración es generalmente de varios años y puede incluso superar la década para aquellos especialmente complejos y desafiantes. En ese período de tiempo, cambios en los alcances del proyecto cambian frecuentemente. El tópico del presente artículo es mostrar

  8. DOE-Grand Junction logging model data synopsis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mathews, M.A.; Koizumi, C.J.; Evans, H.B.

    1978-05-01

    This synopsis provides the available data concerning the logging models at the DoE-Grand Junction facility, to date (1976). Because gamma-ray logs are used in uranium exploration to estimate the grade (percent U 3 O 8 ) and the thickness of uranium ore zones in exploration drill holes, logging models are required to calibrate the gamma-ray logging equipment in order to obtain accuracy, uniformity, standardization, and repeatability during logging. This quality control is essential for accurate ore reserve calculations and for estimates of ore potential. The logging models at the DoE-Grand Junction facility are available for use by private industry in calibrating their gamma-ray logging equipment. 21 figures, 26 tables

  9. Visible light communication: Applications, architecture, standardization and research challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Latif Ullah Khan

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The Radio Frequency (RF communication suffers from interference and high latency issues. Along with this, RF communication requires a separate setup for transmission and reception of RF waves. Overcoming the above limitations, Visible Light Communication (VLC is a preferred communication technique because of its high bandwidth and immunity to interference from electromagnetic sources. The revolution in the field of solid state lighting leads to the replacement of florescent lamps by Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs which further motivates the usage of VLC. This paper presents a survey of the potential applications, architecture, modulation techniques, standardization and research challenges in VLC.

  10. Blaise Cendrars et ses 'Grands Fétiches'

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Doubinsky, Sebastien

    2016-01-01

    Quand l’écrivain Blaise Cendrars fait paraître sa série de poèmes réunis sous le titre Les Grands Fétiches dans la revue bruxelloise Le Disque vert en 1922, il semble participer de la grande mode « Nègre » qui secoue la France en cette période. Co-découvreur des arts dits « primitives » dès 1916...... avec Guillaume Apollinaire, l’écrivain va les insérer dans son travail poétique comme miroirs inversés de la modernité occidentale. Cependant, même s'il utilise certains des clichés racistes de son époque, il se place lui-même dans le camp des « mélanophiles », et va se servir de cet Art Nègre pour...... repousser à l'extrême les frontières de la modernité. La série des Grands Fétiches participe directement de ce désir, et nous tenterons de montrer dans cet article comment ces objets dits primitifs deviennent des objets « instables » qui remettent en question la définition même du poétique....

  11. Biomechanical analysis technique choreographic movements (for example, "grand battman jete"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Batieieva N.P.

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose : biomechanical analysis of the execution of choreographic movement "grand battman jete". Material : the study involved students (n = 7 of the department of classical choreography faculty of choreography. Results : biomechanical analysis of choreographic movement "grand battman jete" (classic exercise, obtained kinematic characteristics (path, velocity, acceleration, force of the center of mass (CM bio parts of the body artist (foot, shin, thigh. Built bio kinematic model (phase. The energy characteristics - mechanical work and kinetic energy units legs when performing choreographic movement "grand battman jete". Conclusions : It was found that the ability of an athlete and coach-choreographer analyze the biomechanics of movement has a positive effect on the improvement of choreographic training of qualified athletes in gymnastics (sport, art, figure skating and dance sports.

  12. "Teine" võitis Prantsusmaal Grand Prix'

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2006-01-01

    Prantsusmaal Essonne'is toimuval 8. Euroopa filmifestivalil Cinessonne sai üliõpilaste žürii grand prix rahvusvahelises ühistöös valminud tantsufilm "Teine" ("Another") : režissöör Rene Vilbre. Ka teistest festivalidest, kus film osalenud

  13. Issues and Challenges Facing Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries for Practical Application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cha, Hyungyeon; Kim, Junhyeok; Lee, Yoonji; Cho, Jaephil; Park, Minjoon

    2017-12-27

    With the advent of flexible electronics, lithium-ion batteries have become a key component of high performance energy storage systems. Thus, considerable effort is made to keep up with the development of flexible lithium-ion batteries. To date, many researchers have studied newly designed batteries with flexibility, however, there are several significant challenges that need to be overcome, such as degradation of electrodes under external load, poor battery performance, and complicated cell preparation procedures. In addition, an in-depth understanding of the current challenges for flexible batteries is rarely addressed in a systematical and practical way. Herein, recent progress and current issues of flexible lithium-ion batteries in terms of battery materials and cell designs are reviewed. A critical overview of important issues and challenges for the practical application of flexible lithium-ion batteries is also provided. Finally, the strategies are discussed to overcome current limitations of the practical use of flexible lithium-based batteries, providing a direction for future research. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  14. Mesohabitats, fish assemblage composition, and mesohabitat use of the Rio Grande silvery minnow over a range of seasonal flow regimes in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte, in and near Big Bend National Park, Texas, 2010-11

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moring, J. Bruce; Braun, Christopher L.; Pearson, Daniel K.

    2014-01-01

    In 2010–11, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, evaluated the physical characteristics and fish assemblage composition of mapped river mesohabitats at four sites on the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte (hereinafter Rio Grande) in and near Big Bend National Park, Texas. The four sites used for the river habitat study were colocated with sites where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has implemented an experimental reintroduction of the Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus), a federally listed endangered species, into part of the historical range of this species. The four sites from upstream to downstream are USGS station 08374340 Rio Grande at Contrabando Canyon near Lajitas, Tex. (hereinafter the Contrabando site), USGS station 290956103363600 Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park, Tex. (hereinafter the Santa Elena site), USGS station 291046102573900 Rio Grande near Ranger Station at Rio Grande Village, Tex. (hereinafter the Rio Grande Village site), and USGS station 292354102491100 Rio Grande above Stillwell Crossing near Big Bend National Park, Tex. (hereinafter the Stillwell Crossing site).

  15. A report upon the Grand Coulee Fish Maintenance Project 1939-1947

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fish, F.F.; Hanavan, Mitchell G.

    1948-01-01

    The construction or Grand Coulee Dam, on the upper Columbia River, involved the loss of 1,140 lineal miles of spawning and rearing stream to the production of anadromous fishes. The fact that the annual value of these fish runs to the nation was estimated at $250,000 justified reasonable expenditures to assure their perpetuation. It was found economically infeasible to safely collect and pass adult fish upstream and fingerling fish downstream at the dam because of the tremendous flow of the river and the 320 foot vertical difference in elevation between forebay and tailrace.The Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project, undertaken by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1939, consisted in relocating the anadroumous runs of the upper Columbia River to four major tributaries entering below the Grand Coulee damsite. These streams were believed capable of supporting several times their existing, badly depleted, run. The plan was predicated upon the assumption that the relocated runs, in conformity with their "homing tendency", would return to the lower tributaries rather than attempt to reach their ancestral spawning grounds above Grand Coulee Dam. This interim report covers the history and accomplishments of the Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project through the initial period of relocating the rune as well as the first four years of the permanent program. Results obtained to date indicate conclusive success in diverting the upper Columbia fish runs into the accessible lower tributaries. The results also indicate, less conclusively, that - in spite of many existing handicaps - the upper Columbia salmon and steelhead runs may be rehabilitated through the integrated program of natural and artificial propagation incorporated in the Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project.

  16. Introduction to grand unification theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Kyungsik

    1980-01-01

    We introduce the Georgi-Glashow model based on the minimal gauge group SU(5) as a prototype grand unification theory of the electroweak and strong interactions. Simple estimation of sin 2 thetasub(W) in the symmetry limit and the renormalization corrections at the energy scale of Msub(W) are given along wich other successes of the SU(5) model

  17. The Grand Duchy on the Grand Tour: A Historical Study of Student Migration in Luxembourg

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohstock, Anne; Schreiber, Catherina

    2013-01-01

    Since Luxembourg became independent in 1839, practically the entire political, economic and intellectual elite of the country has been socialised abroad. It was only in 2003 that the Grand Duchy set up its own university; before then, young Luxembourgers had to study in foreign countries. Over the past 150 years, Luxembourg has thus experienced…

  18. Soft Robotics: from scientific challenges to technological applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laschi, C.

    2016-05-01

    Soft robotics is a recent and rapidly growing field of research, which aims at unveiling the principles for building robots that include soft materials and compliance in the interaction with the environment, so as to exploit so-called embodied intelligence and negotiate natural environment more effectively. Using soft materials for building robots poses new technological challenges: the technologies for actuating soft materials, for embedding sensors into soft robot parts, for controlling soft robots are among the main ones. This is stimulating research in many disciplines and many countries, such that a wide community is gathering around initiatives like the IEEE TAS TC on Soft Robotics and the RoboSoft CA - A Coordination Action for Soft Robotics, funded by the European Commission. Though still in its early stages of development, soft robotics is finding its way in a variety of applications, where safe contact is a main issue, in the biomedical field, as well as in exploration tasks and in the manufacturing industry. And though the development of the enabling technologies is still a priority, a fruitful loop is growing between basic research and application-oriented research in soft robotics.

  19. Il Canal Grande a Venezia in scansione 3D da natante

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caterina Balletti

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available L’Università Iuav di Venezia ha testato sul Canal Grande le più innovative tecniche di rilevamento, in collaborazione con Riegl e Microgeo, realizzando la scansione di tutti i prospetti attraverso un sistema di acquisizione integrato da natante. The Grand Canal in Venice by boat 3d laser scanningThe  Iuav  University  in  Venice  realized  a  test  on  the  Canal Grande with the most advanced detection techniques, in col-laboration with Riegl and Microgeo, making the laser scanning of all the elevation  through an acquisition system integrated on a ship.

  20. Il Canal Grande a Venezia in scansione 3D da natante

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caterina Balletti

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available L’Università Iuav di Venezia ha testato sul Canal Grande le più innovative tecniche di rilevamento, in collaborazione con Riegl e Microgeo, realizzando la scansione di tutti i prospetti attraverso un sistema di acquisizione integrato da natante.   The Grand Canal in Venice by boat 3d laser scanning The  Iuav  University  in  Venice  realized  a  test  on  the  Canal Grande with the most advanced detection techniques, in col-laboration with Riegl and Microgeo, making the laser scanning of all the elevation  through an acquisition system integrated on a ship.

  1. Oral health self-perception in quilombola communities in Rio Grande do Sul: a cross-sectional exploratory study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bidinotto, Augusto Bacelo; D'Ávila, Otávio Pereira; Martins, Aline Blaya; Hugo, Fernando Neves; Neutzling, Marilda Borges; Bairros, Fernanda de Souza; Hilgert, Juliana Balbinot

    2017-01-01

    There's a shortage of evidence on the oral health of quilombolas. This study aims to describe oral health self-perception, as well as to verify its associated factors in quilombola communities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The data for this cross-sectional health survey were collected by application of a questionnaire. Since this study was part of a survey on nutritional security, the probabilistic cluster sample was estimated for the outcome of nutritional insecurity, comprising 583 individuals across quilombola communities in Rio Grande do Sul. The association between the outcome of negative oral health self-perception and sociodemographic, general health, and oral health variables was measured by prevalence ratios obtained through Poisson regressions with robust variance and 95% confidence intervals. Negative self-rated oral health was reported by 313 (53.1%) of the individuals. Satisfaction with chewing ability and satisfaction with oral appearance were associated with a higher prevalence of negative perception of oral health, while there was no association between the outcome and number of teeth. Use of alcohol had a borderline association with the outcome. Satisfaction with appearance and chewing ability are factors associated with oral-health self-perception of the quilombolas in Rio Grande do Sul.

  2. Cassini's Grand Finale Overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spilker, L. J.

    2017-12-01

    After 13 years in orbit, the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn ended in a science-rich blaze of glory. Cassini sent back its final bits of unique science data on September 15, 2017, as it plunged into Saturn's atmosphere, vaporizing and satisfying planetary protection requirements. Cassini's final phase covered roughly ten months and ended with the first time exploration of the region between the rings and planet. In late 2016 Cassini transitioned to a series of 20 Ring Grazing orbits with peripases just outside Saturn's F ring, providing close flybys of tiny ring moons, including Pan, Daphnis and Atlas, and high-resolution views of Saturn's A and F rings. A final Titan flyby in late April 2017 propelled Cassini across Saturn's main rings and into its Grand Finale orbits. Comprised of 22 orbits, Cassini repeatedly dove between Saturn's innermost rings and upper atmosphere to answer fundamental questions unattainable earlier in the mission. The last orbit turned the spacecraft into the first Saturn atmosphere probe. The Grand Finale orbits provided highest resolution observations of both the rings and Saturn, and in-situ sampling of the ring particle composition, Saturn's atmosphere, plasma, and innermost radiation belts. The gravitational field was measured to unprecedented accuracy, providing information on the interior structure of the planet, winds in the deeper atmosphere, and mass of the rings. The magnetic field provided insight into the physical nature of the magnetic dynamo and structure of the internal magnetic field. The ion and neutral mass spectrometer sampled the upper atmosphere for molecules that escape the atmosphere in addition to molecules originating from the rings. The cosmic dust analyzer directly sampled the composition from different parts of the main rings for the first time. Fields and particles instruments directly measured the plasma environment between the rings and planet. Science highlights and new mysteries collected in the Grand

  3. Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement Project : 2000 Annual Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McGowan, Vance R.; Powell, Russ M.; Stennfeld, Scott P.

    2001-04-01

    On July 1, 1984 the Bonneville Power Administration and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife entered into an agreement to initiate fish habitat enhancement work in the Joseph Creek subbasin of the Grande Ronde River Basin in northeast Oregon. In July of 1985 the Upper and Middle Grande Ronde River, and Catherine Creek subbasins were included in the intergovernmental contract, and on March 1, 1996 the Wallowa River subbasin was added. The primary goal of ''The Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement Project'' is to access, create, improve, protect, and restore riparian and instream habitat for anadromous salmonids, thereby maximizing opportunities for natural fish production within the basin. This project provided for implementation of Program Measure 703 (C)(1), Action Item 4.2 of the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC, 1987), and continues to be implemented as offsite mitigation for mainstem fishery losses caused by the Columbia River hydro-electric system. All work conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is on private lands and therefore requires that considerable time be spent developing rapport with landowners to gain acceptance of, and continued cooperation with this program throughout 10-15 year lease periods. This project calls for passive regeneration of habitat, using riparian enclosure fencing as the primary method to restore degraded streams to a normative condition. Active remediation techniques using plantings, off-site water developments, site-specific instream structures, or whole channel alterations are also utilized where applicable. Individual projects contribute to and complement ecosystem and basin-wide watershed restoration efforts that are underway by state, federal, and tribal agencies, and local watershed councils. Work undertaken during 2000 included: (1) Implementing 2 new projects in the Grande Ronde drainage, and retrofitting one old

  4. Albuquerque/Middle Rio Grande Urban Waters Viewer

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — These data have been compiled in support of the Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque Urban Waters Partnership for the region including Albuquerque, New Mexico.The Middle...

  5. Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey on Algorithms, Measurement Techniques, Applications and Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anup Kumar Paul

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Localization is an important aspect in the field of wireless sensor networks (WSNs that has developed significant research interest among academia and research community. Wireless sensor network is formed by a large number of tiny, low energy, limited processing capability and low-cost sensors that communicate with each other in ad-hoc fashion. The task of determining physical coordinates of sensor nodes in WSNs is known as localization or positioning and is a key factor in today’s communication systems to estimate the place of origin of events. As the requirement of the positioning accuracy for different applications varies, different localization methods are used in different applications and there are several challenges in some special scenarios such as forest fire detection. In this paper, we survey different measurement techniques and strategies for range based and range free localization with an emphasis on the latter. Further, we discuss different localization-based applications, where the estimation of the location information is crucial. Finally, a comprehensive discussion of the challenges such as accuracy, cost, complexity, and scalability are given.

  6. Survey of hydrologic models and hydrologic data needs for tracking flow in the Rio Grande, north-central New Mexico, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillery, Anne; Eggleston, Jack R.

    2012-01-01

    obtain because the data come from multiple sources. Each surface-water model produces results that could be helpful in quantifying the flow of the Rio Grande, specifically by helping to track water as it moves down the channel of the Rio Grande and by improving the understanding of river hydraulics for the specified reaches. The ability of each surface-water model to track flow on the Rio Grande varies according to the purpose for which each model was designed. The purpose of Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Model (URGWOM) - to simulate water storage and delivery operations in the Rio Grande - is more applicable to tracking flow on the Rio Grande than are any of the other surface-water models surveyed. Specifically, the strengths of URGWOM in relation to modeling flow are the details and attention given to the accounting of Rio Grande flow and San Juan-Chama flow at a daily time step. The most significant difficulty in using any of the surveyed surface-water models for the purpose of predicting the need for requested water releases is that none of the surface-water models surveyed consider water accounting on a real-time basis. Groundwater models that provide detailed simulations of shallow groundwater flow in the vicinity of the Rio Grande can provide large-scale estimates of flow between the Rio Grande and shallow aquifers, which can be an important component of the Rio Grande water budget as a whole. The groundwater models surveyed for this report cannot, however, be expected to provide simulations of flow at time scales of less than the simulated time step (1 month to 1 year in most cases). Of those of the currently used groundwater models, the purpose of model 13 - to simulate the shallow riparian groundwater environment - is the most appropriate for examining local-scale surface-water/groundwater interactions. The basin-scale models, however, are also important in understanding the large-scale water balances between the aquifers and the surface water. In the case

  7. The grand challenge of managing the petascale facility.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aiken, R. J.; Mathematics and Computer Science

    2007-02-28

    This report is the result of a study of networks and how they may need to evolve to support petascale leadership computing and science. As Dr. Ray Orbach, director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science, says in the spring 2006 issue of SciDAC Review, 'One remarkable example of growth in unexpected directions has been in high-end computation'. In the same article Dr. Michael Strayer states, 'Moore's law suggests that before the end of the next cycle of SciDAC, we shall see petaflop computers'. Given the Office of Science's strong leadership and support for petascale computing and facilities, we should expect to see petaflop computers in operation in support of science before the end of the decade, and DOE/SC Advanced Scientific Computing Research programs are focused on making this a reality. This study took its lead from this strong focus on petascale computing and the networks required to support such facilities, but it grew to include almost all aspects of the DOE/SC petascale computational and experimental science facilities, all of which will face daunting challenges in managing and analyzing the voluminous amounts of data expected. In addition, trends indicate the increased coupling of unique experimental facilities with computational facilities, along with the integration of multidisciplinary datasets and high-end computing with data-intensive computing; and we can expect these trends to continue at the petascale level and beyond. Coupled with recent technology trends, they clearly indicate the need for including capability petascale storage, networks, and experiments, as well as collaboration tools and programming environments, as integral components of the Office of Science's petascale capability metafacility. The objective of this report is to recommend a new cross-cutting program to support the management of petascale science and infrastructure. The appendices of the report document current and projected

  8. Raptor Use of the Rio Grande Gorge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ponton, David A. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2015-03-20

    The Rio Grande Gorge is a 115 km long river canyon located in Southern Colorado (15 km) and Northern New Mexico (100 km). The majority of the canyon is under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management {BLM), and 77 km of the canyon south of the Colorado/New Mexico border are designated Wild River under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Visits I have made to the Rio Grande Gorge over the past 15 .years disclosed some raptor utilization. As the Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area gained publicity, its similarity to the Rio Grande Gorge became obvious, and I was intrigued by the possibility of a high raptor nesting density in the Gorge. A survey in 1979 of 20 km of the northern end of the canyon revealed a moderately high density of red-tailed hawks and prairie falcons. With the encouragement of that partial survey, and a need to assess the impact of river-running on nesting birds of prey, I made a more comprehensive survey in 1980. The results of my surveys, along with those of a 1978 helicopter survey by the BLM, are presented in this report, as well as general characterization of the area, winter use by raptors, and an assessment of factors influencing the raptor population.

  9. Challenges of a mobile application for asthma and allergic rhinitis patient enablement-interface and synchronization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnay, Eduardo; Cruz-Correia, Ricardo; Jacinto, Tiago; Sousa, Ana Sá; Fonseca, João

    2013-01-01

    Asthma and allergic rhinitis (ARA) are common inflammatory diseases of the airways. Enhancement of a patient's participation on clinical decisions is related to better results in control of diseases. To control ARA, patients should monitor their symptoms, avoid triggers, and follow their treatment plan. This study described the challenges of developing a mobile application, called m.Carat, that records the main events related to ARA. The mobile application m.Carat was developed for Android™ (Google, Mountain View, CA) and iPhone(®) (Apple, San Jose, CA) smartphones. It was developed using PhoneGap, which allows the development of applications for several mobile operating systems. To generate the user interface, jQuery Mobile, HTML, Javascript, and CSS were used. Despite the use of mobile development frameworks, some input and output elements had to be improved. To evaluate the interface, a pilot study was performed with eight users who performed 10 different tasks in the application. To synchronize m.Carat with an online database, an algorithm was developed from scratch. This feature represents a major challenge because all the changes must be reflected in all devices. Currently m.Carat is a mobile application where ARA patients fill out a questionnaire to assess the degree of control of ARA and record their exacerbations, triggers, symptoms, medications, lung function tests, and visits to the doctor or the hospital. They also can receive information and news about ARA, define medication and tasks notifications, and synchronize all records at caratnetwork.org with an online database. The evaluation showed some of the adopted solutions to improve interface usability did not work as expected. Of the 80 total tasks tested the users had no difficulty in 37(46%). Most of the problems observed were easily solved. m.Carat is a mobile application for ARA that may contribute to patient enablement. The development of m.Carat suggests that mobile applications may introduce

  10. Grand Minima: Is The Sun Going To Sleep?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcintosh, S. W.; Leamon, R. J.

    2014-12-01

    We explore recent observational work which indicate that the energetics of the sun's outer atmosphere have been on a steady decline for the past decade and perhaps longer. Futher, we show that new investigations into evolution of the Sun's global magnetic activity appear to demonstrate a path through which the Sun can go into, and exit from, a grand activity minimum without great difficulty while retaining an activity cycle - only losing sunspots. Are we at the begining of a new grand(-ish) minimum? Naturally, only time will tell, but the observational evidence hint that one may not be far off to what impact on the Sun-Earth Connection.

  11. Guidebook to Rio Grande rift in New Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawley, J.W.

    1978-01-01

    Discusses the details of geologic features along the rift zone. Included are short papers on topics relative to the overall region. These papers and the road logs are of special interest to any one pursuing further study of the rift. This book is a comprehensive guide to the middle and late Cenozoic geology of the Rio Grande region of Colorado and New Mexico. Though initially used on field trips for the International Symposium on Tectonics and Magmatism of the Rio Grande rift, the guidebook will be useful to anyone interested in the Cenozoic history of the 600-mi-long area extending from central Colorado to El Paso, Texas.

  12. Les grandes révolutions scientifiques du XXe siècle

    CERN Document Server

    Parrochia, Daniel

    1997-01-01

    Le siècle qui s'achève aura été marqué par des révolutions scientifiques sans précédent dans la forme comme dans les contenus du savoir. Elles ont retenti sur l'image de la nature comme sur celle de l'homme, brisant les portraits désormais obsolètes qu'en avaient brossés la science et la philosophie classiques. Après Einstein, de Broglie ou Schrödinger, comme après Heisenberg, Dirac ou Feynman, on ne pense plus tout à fait comme avant. Et il en va de même après Poincaré, Hadamard ou Kolmogorov. Trois grandes révolutions physiques seront ici étudiées en détail : la théorie de la relativité (restreinte et générale) ; la mécanique quantique (et ses différentes interprétations) ; la théorie du chaos déterministe (sa préhistoire comme ses applications). Toutes trois contribuent en effet à modifier les réponses que l'on peut apporter aux grandes questions métaphysiques et à esquisser un paysage philosophique nouveau. Dans la tradition de l'épistémologie française, ce livre ent...

  13. Ranking docking poses by graph matching of protein-ligand interactions: lessons learned from the D3R Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva Figueiredo Celestino Gomes, Priscila; Da Silva, Franck; Bret, Guillaume; Rognan, Didier

    2018-01-01

    A novel docking challenge has been set by the Drug Design Data Resource (D3R) in order to predict the pose and affinity ranking of a set of Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists, prior to the public release of their bound X-ray structures and potencies. In a first phase, 36 agonists were docked to 26 Protein Data Bank (PDB) structures of the FXR receptor, and next rescored using the in-house developed GRIM method. GRIM aligns protein-ligand interaction patterns of docked poses to those of available PDB templates for the target protein, and rescore poses by a graph matching method. In agreement with results obtained during the previous 2015 docking challenge, we clearly show that GRIM rescoring improves the overall quality of top-ranked poses by prioritizing interaction patterns already visited in the PDB. Importantly, this challenge enables us to refine the applicability domain of the method by better defining the conditions of its success. We notably show that rescoring apolar ligands in hydrophobic pockets leads to frequent GRIM failures. In the second phase, 102 FXR agonists were ranked by decreasing affinity according to the Gibbs free energy of the corresponding GRIM-selected poses, computed by the HYDE scoring function. Interestingly, this fast and simple rescoring scheme provided the third most accurate ranking method among 57 contributions. Although the obtained ranking is still unsuitable for hit to lead optimization, the GRIM-HYDE scoring scheme is accurate and fast enough to post-process virtual screening data.

  14. Carbonaceous aerosol particles from common vegetation in the Grand Canyon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hallock, K.A.; Mazurek, M.A.; Cass, G.R.

    1992-05-01

    The problem of visibility reduction in the Grand Canyon due to fine organic aerosol particles in the atmosphere has become an area of increased environmental concern. Aerosol particles can be derived from many emission sources. In this report, we focus on identifying organic aerosols derived from common vegetation in the Grand Canyon. These aerosols are expected to be significant contributors to the total atmospheric organic aerosol content. Aerosol samples from living vegetation were collected by resuspension of surface wax and resin components liberated from the leaves of vegetation common to areas of the Grand Canyon. The samples were analyzed using high-resolution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Probable identification of compounds was made by comparison of sample spectra with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) mass spectral references and positive identification of compounds was made when possible by comparison with authentic standards as well as NIST references. Using these references, we have been able to positively identify the presence of n-alkane and n-alkanoic acid homolog series in the surface waxes of the vegetation sampled. Several monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and diterpenes were identified also as possible biogenic aerosols which may contribute to the total organic aerosol abundance leading to visibility reduction in the Grand Canyon

  15. Grande do Sul, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denis Alcides-Rezende

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work is to analyse the integration of information systems and information technology resources in the municipal planning of 14 small cities of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil. The research methodology consisted of a multiple case study together with a convenient non-probabilistic sample chosen through a research protocol. The results demonstrate the difficulties of these cities to organise the municipal data as well as their struggle for accessibility of information and planning for management and control.

  16. Technical specifications for Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (Docket No. 50-416). Appendix A to License No. NPF-13

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-08-01

    The Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1 Technical Specifications were prepared by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to set forth the limits, operating conditions and other requirements applicable to a nuclear facility as set forth in Section 50.36 of 10 CFR part 50 for the protection of the health and safety of the public

  17. Mitigation measures for the La Grande 1 hydroelectric development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faucher, O.; Gagnon, R.

    1992-01-01

    Measures to mitigate environmental impacts of the La Grande 1 hydroelectric development are described. An overview is presented of the La Grande 1 project, its surrounding environment, and the principle environmental repercussions of the reservoir, hydrological changes between the dam and river mouth, construction activities and permanent and temporary structures, and presence of workers. Mitigation measures including compensation, corrective measures (deforestation, selective cutting, fish populations, wildlife populations, land rehabilitation, access roads, fisheries, and erosion control), protective measures, enhancement measures, and contract and employment opportunities for the Cree population are described. 10 refs., 2 figs

  18. Think first job! Preferences and expectations of engineering students in a French `Grande Ecole'

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerwel Proches, Cecile N.; Chelin, Nathalie; Rouvrais, Siegfried

    2018-03-01

    A career in engineering may be appealing owing to the prospect of a good salary and a dynamic work environment. There may, however, be challenges for students wishing to enter their first job. In engineering education, career preparation courses may be included so as to prepare students adequately for their first job, future careers, and to reinforce career decision-making skills. This study explored the first-job preferences and expectations of engineering students at a generalist French 'Grande Ecole' before their compulsory internship. The study ultimately provided insight into ways in which future engineers may best be equipped for their first jobs. A qualitative research study was employed, using four focus groups to collect data, which was analysed thematically. Key findings indicate the resolute importance that engineering students place on having a challenging job, teamwork, independence, opportunities for development, and a participative style of being managed. The research findings may be of value in order to renew an engineering curriculum with better alignment between students' expectations and industry needs.

  19. Grande-Baie tugboat sinking and salvage operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dussault, M.; Gauthier, F.

    2009-01-01

    This paper described the operations that took place during an oil spill that occurred in December 2007 when the Grande-Baie tugboat sank at the wharf in Port Alfred, in the Ha-Ha Bay on the Saguenay River, Quebec. Approximately 100 tonnes of diesel fuel was onboard the tug. Although the exact amount of diesel spilled during this event is not known, it is assumed that half of the ship's load in diesel was spilled into the ice-infested waters. Poor weather, the presence of pack ice and tides of 2.5 meters were present at the time. Two Canadian Coast Guard officers, one emergency officer from Environment Quebec and one from Environment Canada were called for response purposes, particularly to avoid spreading of the diesel fuel and to ensure that the oily water was recovered from inside the vessel during salvage operations. One of the key objectives was to prevent diesel spills by capping vessel vents, which proved to be very challenging. Oily water was pumped from inside the boat directly in the bay of the Saguenay River to facilitate salvage of the ship. This was the first time that this method was used in Canada, and was successful because of proper risk assessment. Many conditions were followed for the purpose of environmental protection, such as confinement, good observations by divers, agreed upon criteria to stop pumping, and adequate monitoring the the Regional Environmental Emergency Team (REET). The salvage operation lasted 19 days. The challenges associated with the migration and recovery of oil in icy waters were discussed along with the environmental issues associated with the spill, particularly with the imminent opening of the ice fishing season. 2 refs., 2 tabs.,5 figs.

  20. Comprehensive District Reform: Philadelphia's Grand Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Useem, Elizabeth; Balfanz, Robert

    2002-01-01

    This report describes "Philadelphia's Grand Experiment" in comprehensive school district reform, from its conception through its initial months of implementation. In 2001, as part of the remedy for low student performance, the governor ordered the state to take over governance of the Philadelphia School District, with a substantial…

  1. Exosomes Enter Vaccine Development: Strategies Meeting Global Challenges of Emerging Infections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jungbauer, Alois

    2018-04-01

    New approaches for vaccination must be developed in order to meet the grand challenges for emerging infectious diseases. Exosomes now enter vaccine development and these are strategies are meeting these global challenges, as demonstrated by Anticoli et al., in this issue of Biotechnology Journal. Using exosome vaccines has been now been demonstrated in vivo for several viruses such as Ebola Virus VP24, VP40, and NP, Influenza Virus NP, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever NP, West Nile Virus NS3, and Hepatitis C Virus NS3. Now this technology must be tested in clinics. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  2. Environmental assessment of facility operations at the U.S. Department of Energy Grand Junction Projects Office, Grand Junction, Colorado

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-06-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared a sitewide environmental assessment (EA) of the proposed action to continue and expand present-day activities on the DOE Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) facility in Grand Junction, Colorado. Because DOE-GJPO regularly proposes and conducts many different on-site activities, DOE decided to evaluate these activities in one sitewide EA rather than in multiple, activity-specific documents. On the basis of the information and analyses presented in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action does not constitute a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, as defined by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. Therefore, preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required for facility operations, and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

  3. Environmental assessment of facility operations at the U.S. Department of Energy Grand Junction Projects Office, Grand Junction, Colorado

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-06-01

    The US Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared a sitewide environmental assessment (EA) of the proposed action to continue and expand present-day activities on the DOE Grand Junction Projects Office (GJPO) facility in Grand Junction, Colorado. Because DOE-GJPO regularly proposes and conducts many different on-site activities, DOE decided to evaluate these activities in one sitewide EA rather than in multiple, activity-specific documents. On the basis of the information and analyses presented in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action does not constitute a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, as defined by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. Therefore, preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required for facility operations, and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)

  4. A pilot application of regional scale risk assessment to the forestry management of the upper Grand Ronde watershed, Oregon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzanne M. Anderson; Wayne G. Landis

    2012-01-01

    An issue in forestry management has been the integration of a variety of different information into a threat analysis or risk assessment. In this instance, regional scale risk assessment was applied to the Upper Grande Ronde watershed in eastern Oregon to examine the potential of risk assessment for use in the management of broad landscapes. The site was a focus of...

  5. Mercury and selenium accumulation in the Colorado River food web, Grand Canyon, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walters, David M.; E.J. Rosi-Marshall,; Kennedy, Theodore A.; W.F. Cross,; C.V. Baxter,

    2015-01-01

    Mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) biomagnify in aquatic food webs and are toxic to fish and wildlife. The authors measured Hg and Se in organic matter, invertebrates, and fishes in the Colorado River food web at sites spanning 387 river km downstream of Glen Canyon Dam (AZ, USA). Concentrations were relatively high among sites compared with other large rivers (mean wet wt for 6 fishes was 0.17–1.59 μg g–1 Hg and 1.35–2.65 μg g–1 Se), but consistent longitudinal patterns in Hg or Se concentrations relative to the dam were lacking. Mercury increased (slope = 0.147) with δ15N, a metric of trophic position, indicating biomagnification similar to that observed in other freshwater systems. Organisms regularly exceeded exposure risk thresholds for wildlife and humans (6–100% and 56–100% of samples for Hg and Se, respectfully, among risk thresholds). In the Colorado River, Grand Canyon, Hg and Se concentrations pose exposure risks for fish, wildlife, and humans, and the findings of the present study add to a growing body of evidence showing that remote ecosystems are vulnerable to long-range transport and subsequent bioaccumulation of contaminants. Management of exposure risks in Grand Canyon will remain a challenge, as sources and transport mechanisms of Hg and Se extend far beyond park boundaries. Environ Toxicol Chem2015;9999:1–10

  6. Perspectives and Challenges of Microbial Application for Crop Improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timmusk, Salme; Behers, Lawrence; Muthoni, Julia; Muraya, Anthony; Aronsson, Anne-Charlotte

    2017-01-01

    Global population increases and climate change pose a challenge to worldwide crop production. There is a need to intensify agricultural production in a sustainable manner and to find solutions to combat abiotic stress, pathogens, and pests. Plants are associated with complex microbiomes, which have an ability to promote plant growth and stress tolerance, support plant nutrition, and antagonize plant pathogens. The integration of beneficial plant-microbe and microbiome interactions may represent a promising sustainable solution to improve agricultural production. The widespread commercial use of the plant beneficial microorganisms will require a number of issues addressed. Systems approach using microscale information technology for microbiome metabolic reconstruction has potential to advance the microbial reproducible application under natural conditions. PMID:28232839

  7. Lower Grande Ronde smolt trap monitoring. Annual report 1996

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Setter, A.; Carmichael, R.W.

    1998-01-01

    The authors sampled downstream migrating salmonids at Boggan's Oasis in the Grande Ronde River with a screw trap during 1995 and a scoop trap during 1996. Sampling began in March and terminated early in June. Wild spring chinook and wild/hatchery steelhead were collected and marked to assess migration patterns and timing. Fish were marked with tags in order to obtain downstream migration data with minimal fish handling. Observations were recorded when a fish swam through an interrogation monitor at hydroelectric facilities downstream. The second year for monitoring smolts leaving the Grande Ronde River was completed in 1995. The authors continued to pursue moving to a permanent location downstream for 1997 because of the limitations for trapping smolts at Boggan's Oasis. This involved reconnaissance surveys of several potential sites near the mouth of the river from 1994--1996. During February of 1996, a water velocity and bottom topography assessment was completed. Results of the assessment were used for siting the anchoring tower structure upstream approximately 1.2 miles from the mouth of the Grande Ronde River

  8. Simulations of Precipitation Variability over the Upper Rio Grande Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costigan, Keeley R.; Bossert, James E.; Langley, David L.

    1997-10-01

    In this research, we study Albuquerque's water and how it may be affected by changes in the regional climate, as manifested by variations in Rio Grande water levels. To do this, we rely on the use of coupled atmospheric, runoff, and ground water models. Preliminary work on the project has focused on uncoupled simulations of the aquifer beneath Albuquerque and winter precipitation simulations of the upper Rio Grande Basin. The latter is discussed in this paper

  9. A Comprehensive Study on the Internet of Underwater Things: Applications, Challenges, and Channel Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kao, Chien-Chi; Lin, Yi-Shan; Wu, Geng-De; Huang, Chun-Ju

    2017-06-22

    The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is a novel class of Internet of Things (IoT), and is defined as the network of smart interconnected underwater objects. IoUT is expected to enable various practical applications, such as environmental monitoring, underwater exploration, and disaster prevention. With these applications, IoUT is regarded as one of the potential technologies toward developing smart cities. To support the concept of IoUT, Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) have emerged as a promising network system. UWSNs are different from the traditional Territorial Wireless Sensor Networks (TWSNs), and have several unique properties, such as long propagation delay, narrow bandwidth, and low reliability. These unique properties would be great challenges for IoUT. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive study of IoUT, and the main contributions of this paper are threefold: (1) we introduce and classify the practical underwater applications that can highlight the importance of IoUT; (2) we point out the differences between UWSNs and traditional TWSNs, and these differences are the main challenges for IoUT; and (3) we investigate and evaluate the channel models, which are the technical core for designing reliable communication protocols on IoUT.

  10. Estimation of Actual Evapotranspiration along the Middle Rio Grande of New Mexico Using MODIS and Landsat Imagery with the METRIC Model

    OpenAIRE

    Trezza, Ricardo; Allen, Richard; Tasumi, Masahiro

    2013-01-01

    Estimation of actual evapotranspiration (ET) for the Middle Rio Grande valley in central New Mexico via the METRIC surface energy balance model using MODIS and Landsat imagery is described. MODIS images are a useful resource for estimating ET at large scales when high spatial resolution is not required. One advantage of MODIS satellites is that images having a view angle < ~15° are potentially available about every four to five days. The main challenge of applying METRIC using MODIS is the se...

  11. Light grand unified theory triplets and Yukawa splitting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rakshit, Subhendu; Shadmi, Yael; Raz, Guy; Roy, Sourov

    2004-01-01

    Triplet-mediated proton decay in grand unified theories (GUTs) is usually suppressed by arranging a large triplet mass. Here we explore instead a mechanism for suppressing the couplings of the triplets to the first and second generations compared to the Yukawa couplings, so that the triplets can be light. This mechanism is based on a 'triplet symmetry' in the context of product-group GUTs. We study two possibilities. The first possibility, which requires the top Yukawa coupling to arise from a nonrenormalizable operator at the GUT scale, is that all triplet couplings to matter are negligible, so that the triplets can be at the weak scale, giving new evidence for grand unification. The second possibility is that some triplet couplings, and in particular Ttb and Tt-barl-bar, are equal to the corresponding Yukawa couplings. This would give a distinct signature of grand unification if the triplets were sufficiently light. However, we derive a model-independent bound on the triplet mass in this case, which is at least 10 6 GeV. Finally, we construct an explicit viable GUT model based on Yukawa splitting, with the triplets at 10 14 GeV, as required for coupling unification to work. This model requires no additional thresholds below the GUT scale

  12. A Nurse-Led Innovation in Education: Implementing a Collaborative Multidisciplinary Grand Rounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matamoros, Lisa; Cook, Michelle

    2017-08-01

    Multidisciplinary grand rounds provides an opportunity to promote excellence in patient care through scholarly presentations and interdisciplinary collaboration with an innovative approach. In addition, multidisciplinary grand rounds serves to recognize expertise of staff, mentor and support professional development, and provide a collaborative environment across all clinical disciplines and support services. This article describes a process model developed by nurse educators for implementing a multidisciplinary grand rounds program. The components of the process model include topic submissions, coaching presenters, presentations, evaluations, and spreading the work. This model can be easily implemented at any organization. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(8):353-357. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

  13. Birds of the Reserva Biológica do Mato Grande and surroundings, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vizentin-Bugoni, Jeferson; Jacobs, Fernando; Coimbra, Marco Antônio Afonso

    2015-01-01

    The Reserva Biológica do Mato Grande encompasses 5,161 hectares of wetlands, restinga forests and grasslands in southern Brazil. Aiming to assemble a list of bird species occurring in the reserve, we carried out 21 monthly expeditions from July 2007 to March 2009 and an additional visit on October...

  14. Reisipakkumine - Grand Tour Itaalias / Mai Levin

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Levin, Mai, 1942-

    2009-01-01

    Tiina Abeli koostatud ja Urmas Viigi kujundatud näitus "Grand Tour. Eesti kunstnikud Itaalias" Kumu Kunstimuuseumis 05. aprillini. Loetletud eksponeeritud tööde autoreid. Näitus annab ülevaate, kes siinsetest kunstnikest 19. sajandi algusest kuni 1930ndate aastateni Itaalias käisid ja kuidas see nende loomingut mõjutas

  15. Hierarchical oxide-based composite nanostructures for energy, environmental, and sensing applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Pu-Xian; Shimpi, Paresh; Cai, Wenjie; Gao, Haiyong; Jian, Dunliang; Wrobel, Gregory

    2011-02-01

    Self-assembled composite nanostructures integrate various basic nano-elements such as nanoparticles, nanofilms and nanowires toward realizing multifunctional characteristics, which promises an important route with potentially high reward for the fast evolving nanoscience and nanotechnology. A broad array of hierarchical metal oxide based nanostructures have been designed and fabricated in our research group, involving semiconductor metal oxides, ternary functional oxides such as perovskites and spinels and quaternary dielectric hydroxyl metal oxides with diverse applications in efficient energy harvesting/saving/utilization, environmental protection/control, chemical sensing and thus impacting major grand challenges in the area of materials and nanotechnology. Two of our latest research activities have been highlighted specifically in semiconductor oxide alloy nanowires and metal oxide/perovskite composite nanowires, which could impact the application sectors in ultraviolet/blue lighting, visible solar absorption, vehicle and industry emission control, chemical sensing and control for vehicle combustors and power plants.

  16. Falares: a oralidade como elemento construtor da grande-reportagem

    OpenAIRE

    Alex Criado

    2006-01-01

    Esta tese discute a incorporação da oralidade de falantes excluídos social e culturalmente na grande-reportagem. O foco desta pesquisa é refletir como a grande-reportagem no Brasil, em sua missão de desvendamento do real, tem lidado com a questão da oralidade. Discute os desafios para a incorporação dos registros orais de pessoas com baixa escolaridade, tendo em vista o preconceito que existe na sociedade em relação aos falantes que se utilizam de modalidades diferentes da língua padrão. Prop...

  17. Sudden transitions and grand variations in the solar dynamo, past and future☆

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    De Jager Cornelis

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The solar dynamo is the exotic dance of the sun’s two major magnetic field components, the poloidal and the toroidal, interacting in anti-phase. On the basis of new data on the geomagnetic aa index, we improve our previous forecast of the properties of the current Schwabe cycle #24. Its maximum will occur in 2013.5 and the maximum sunspot number Rmax will then be 62 ± 12, which is within the bounds of our earlier forecasts. The subsequent analysis, based on a phase diagram, which is a diagram showing the relation between maximum sunspot numbers and minimum geomagnetic aa index values leads to the conclusion that a new Grand Episode in solar activity has started in 2008. From the study of the natural oscillations in the sunspot number time series, as found by an analysis based on suitable wavelet base functions, we predict that this Grand Episode will be of the Regular Oscillations type, which is the kind of oscillations that also occurred between 1724 and 1924. Previous expectations of a Grand (Maunder-type Minimum of solar activity cannot be supported. We stress the significance of the Hallstatt periodicity for determining the character of the forthcoming Grand Episodes. No Grand Minimum is expected to occur during the millennium that has just started.

  18. Nalisis Kinerja Keuangan pada PT. Grand Victoria Hotel di Samarinda

    OpenAIRE

    -, Atmajaya -

    2013-01-01

    Based on the results of analysis show that the performance of PT. Hotel Grand Victorian is measured using liquidity ratios and profitability ratios decreased from 2010-2012. Performance PT. Grand Victorian is measured using the liquidity ratio has decreased from year 2010-2012 consists of current ratio has decreased, and this is because the total current assets has increased and decreased. Meanwhile, the cash ratio from year 2010-2012 has increased, this is because the total cash and cash equ...

  19. Vascular Plant and Vertebrate Inventory of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Brian F.; Albrecht, Eric W.; Schmidt, Cecilia A.; Halvorson, William L.; Anning, Pamela; Docherty, Kathleen

    2006-01-01

    urbanization continues. Despite isolation of the monument from nearby natural areas, we recorded noteworthy species or observations for all taxonomic groups: * Plants: night-blooming cereus * Amphibians: high abundance of Couch's spadefoot toads * Reptiles: high abundance of long-nosed snakes * Birds: 10 species of diurnal raptors including 4 species of falcons * Mammals: American badger This study is a first step in the process of compiling information about the biological resources of Casa Grande Ruins NM and surrounding areas. We recommend additional inventory and research studies, and we identify aspects of our effort that could be improved upon through application of new techniques or by extending the temporal (and possibly spatial) scope of our work.

  20. Stability of Chitosan—A Challenge for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szymańska, Emilia; Winnicka, Katarzyna

    2015-01-01

    Chitosan—one of the natural multifunctional polymers—due to its unique and versatile biological properties is regarded as a useful compound in medical and pharmaceutical technology. Recently, considerable research effort has been made in order to develop safe and efficient chitosan products. However, the problem of poor stability of chitosan-based systems restricts its practical applicability; thus, it has become a great challenge to establish sufficient shelf-life for chitosan formulations. Improved stability can be assessed by controlling the environmental factors, manipulating processing conditions (e.g., temperature), introducing a proper stabilizing compound, developing chitosan blends with another polymer, or modifying the chitosan structure using chemical or ionic agents. This review covers the influence of internal, environmental, and processing factors on the long-term stability of chitosan products. The aim of this paper is also to highlight the latest developments which enable the physicochemical properties of chitosan-based applications to be preserved upon storage. PMID:25837983

  1. Overview of Superconductivity and Challenges in Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flükiger, Rene

    2012-01-01

    Considerable progress has been achieved during the last few decades in the various fields of applied superconductivity, while the related low temperature technology has reached a high level. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are so far the most successful applications, with tens of thousands of units worldwide, but high potential can also be recognized in the energy sector, with high energy cables, transformers, motors, generators for wind turbines, fault current limiters and devices for magnetic energy storage. A large number of magnet and cable prototypes have been constructed, showing in all cases high reliability. Large projects involving the construction of magnets, solenoids as well as dipoles and quadrupoles are described in the present book. A very large project, the LHC, is currently in operation, demonstrating that superconductivity is a reliable technology, even in a device of unprecedented high complexity. A project of similar complexity is ITER, a fusion device that is presently under construction. This article starts with a brief historical introduction to superconductivity as a phenomenon, and some fundamental properties necessary for the understanding of the technical behavior of superconductors are described. The introduction of superconductivity in the industrial cycle faces many challenges, first for the properties of the base elements, e.g. the wires, tapes and thin films, then for the various applied devices, where a number of new difficulties had to be resolved. A variety of industrial applications in energy, medicine and communications are briefly presented, showing how superconductivity is now entering the market.

  2. Convergent validity between willingness to pay elicitation methods: an application to Grand Canyon whitewater boaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neher, Christopher; Bair, Lucas S.; Duffield, John; Patterson, David A.; Neher, Katherine

    2018-01-01

    We directly compare trip willingness to pay (WTP) values between dichotomous choice contingent valuation (DCCV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) stated preference surveys of private party Grand Canyon whitewater boaters. The consistency of DCCV and DCE estimates is debated in the literature, and this study contributes to the body of work comparing the methods. Comparisons were made of mean WTP estimates for four hypothetical Colorado River flow-level scenarios. Boaters were found to most highly value mid-range flows, with very low and very high flows eliciting lower WTP estimates across both DCE and DCCV surveys. Mean WTP precision was estimated through simulation. No statistically significant differences were detected between the two methods at three of the four hypothetical flow levels.

  3. Test of hadronic interaction models with the KASCADE-Grande muon data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schieler H.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available KASCADE-Grande is an air-shower observatory devoted for the detection of cosmic rays with energies in the interval of 1014 – 1018 eV, where the Grande array is responsible for the higher energy range. The experiment comprises different detection systems which allow precise measurements of the charged, electron and muon numbers of extensive air-showers (EAS. These data is employed not only to reconstruct the properties of the primary cosmic-ray particle but also to test hadronic interaction models at high energies. In this contribution, predictions of the muon content of EAS from QGSJET II-2, SIBYLL 2.1 and EPOS 1.99 are confronted with the experimental measurements performed with the KASCADE-Grande experiment in order to test the validity of these hadronic models commonly used in EAS simulations.

  4. LEP constraints on grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarkar, Utpal

    1993-01-01

    Recent developments on grand unified theories (GUTs) in the context of the LEP measurements of the coupling constants are reviewed. The three coupling constants at the electroweak scale have been measured at LEP quite precisely. One can allow these couplings to evolve with energy following the renormalization group equations for the various groups and find out whether all the coupling constants meet at any energy. It was pointed out that the minimal SU(5) grand unified theory fails to satisfy this test. However, various extensions of the theory are still allowed. These extensions include (i) supersymmetric SU(5) GUT, with some arbitrariness in the susy breaking scale arising from the threshold corrections, (ii) non-susy SU(5) GUTs with additional fermions as well as Higgs multiplets, which has masses of the order of TeV, and (iii) non-renormalizable effect of gravity with a fine tuned relation among the coupling constants at the unification energy. The LEP results also constrain GUTs with an intermediate symmetry breaking scale. By adjusting the intermediate symmetry breaking scale, one usually can have unification, but these theories get constrained. For example, the left-right symmetric theories coming from GUTs can be broken only at energies higher than about ∼10 10 GeV. This implies that if right handed gauge bosons are found at energies lower than this scale, then that will rule out the possibility of grand unification. Another recent interesting development on the subject, namely, low energy unification, is discussed in this context. All the coupling constants are unified at energies of the order of ∼10 8 GeV when they are embedded in an SU(15)GUT, with some particular symmetry breaking pattern. But even in this case the results of the intermediate symmetry breaking scale remain unchanged. (author). 16 refs., 3 figs

  5. Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Program, 1995-2002 Summary Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoffnagle, Timothy; Carmichael, Richard; Noll, William

    2003-12-01

    The Grande Ronde Basin once supported large runs of chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and estimated peak escapements in excess of 10,000 occurred as recently as the late 1950's (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1975). Natural escapement declines in the Grande Ronde Basin have been severe and parallel those of other Snake River populations. Reduced productivity has primarily been attributed to increased mortality associated with downstream and upstream migration past eight dams and reservoirs in the Snake and Columbia rivers. Reduced spawner numbers, combined with human manipulation of previously important spawning and rearing habitat in the Grande Ronde Basin, have resulted in decreased spawning distribution and population fragmentation of chinook salmon in the Grande Ronde Basin (Figure 1; Table 1). Escapement of spring/summer chinook salmon in the Snake River basin included 1,799 adults in 1995, less than half of the previous record low of 3,913 adults in 1994. Catherine Creek, Grande Ronde River and Lostine River were historically three of the most productive populations in the Grande Ronde Basin (Carmichael and Boyce 1986). However, productivity of these populations has been poor for recent brood years. Escapement (based on total redd counts) in Catherine Creek and Grande Ronde and Lostine rivers dropped to alarmingly low levels in 1994 and 1995. A total of 11, 3 and 16 redds were observed in 1994 in Catherine Creek, upper Grande Ronde River and Lostine River, respectively, and 14, 6 and 11 redds were observed in those same streams in 1995. In contrast, the maximum number of redds observed in the past was 505 in Catherine Creek (1971), 304 in the Grande Ronde River (1968) and 261 in 1956 in the Lostine River (Tranquilli et al 2003). Redd counts for index count areas (a standardized portion of the total stream) have also decreased dramatically for most Grande Ronde Basin streams from 1964-2002, dropping to as low as 37 redds in the 119.5 km in the index

  6. Mechanical Properties in Metal-Organic Frameworks: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges for Device Functionality and Technological Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burtch, Nicholas C.; Heinen, Jurn

    2017-01-01

    We report that some of the most remarkable recent developments in metal–organic framework (MOF) performance properties can only be rationalized by the mechanical properties endowed by their hybrid inorganic–organic nanoporous structures. While these characteristics create intriguing application prospects, the same attributes also present challenges that will need to be overcome to enable the integration of MOFs with technologies where these promising traits can be exploited. In this review, emerging opportunities and challenges are identified for MOF-enabled device functionality and technological applications that arise from their fascinating mechanical properties. This is discussed not only in the context of their more well-studied gas storage and separation applications, but also for instances where MOFs serve as components of functional nanodevices. Recent advances in understanding MOF mechanical structure–property relationships due to attributes such as defects and interpenetration are highlighted, and open questions related to state-of-the-art computational approaches for quantifying their mechanical properties are critically discussed.

  7. Severe accident sequences simulated at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carbajo, J.J.

    1999-01-01

    Different severe accident sequences employing the MELCOR code, version 1.8.4 QK, have been simulated at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station (Grand Gulf). The postulated severe accidents simulated are two low-pressure, short-term, station blackouts; two unmitigated small-break (SB) loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) (SBLOCAs); and one unmitigated large LOCA (LLOCA). The purpose of this study was to calculate best-estimate timings of events and source terms for a wide range of severe accidents and to compare the plant response to these accidents

  8. Panel - Rio Grande restoration: Future directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deborah M. Finch; Pete V. Domenici; Jeffrey. C. Whitney; Steve Harris; Brian Shields; Clifford S. Crawford

    1996-01-01

    The purpose of this panel was to discuss historical and current changes to the Rio Grande system, focusing on the middle Basin, and to present and review different individual, organizational, and political perspectives on the future of the system. Invitations were made to panelists based on their past and current interests and activities pertaining to restoration of...

  9. Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Grand Junction site, Grand Junction, Colorado. Phase II, Title I

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1977-10-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has performed an engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Grand Junction, Colorado. The Phase II, Title I services include the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigation of site hydrology and meteorology and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas release from the 1.9 million tons of tailings at the Grand Junction site constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation are also factors. The eight alternative actions presented range from millsite decontamination (Option I), to adding various depths of stabilization cover material (Options II and III), to removal of the tailings to long-term storage sites and decontamination of the present site (Options IV through VIII). Cost estimates for the eight options range from $470,000 to $18,130,000. Reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery does not appear to be economically attractive at present.

  10. Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Grand Junction site, Grand Junction, Colorado. Phase II, Title I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-10-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has performed an engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Grand Junction, Colorado. The Phase II, Title I services include the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigation of site hydrology and meteorology and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas release from the 1.9 million tons of tailings at the Grand Junction site constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation are also factors. The eight alternative actions presented range from millsite decontamination (Option I), to adding various depths of stabilization cover material (Options II and III), to removal of the tailings to long-term storage sites and decontamination of the present site (Options IV through VIII). Cost estimates for the eight options range from $470,000 to $18,130,000. Reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery does not appear to be economically attractive at present

  11. Microbial contamination and chemical toxicity of the Rio Grande

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valles Adrian

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Rio Grande River is the natural boundary between U.S. and Mexico from El Paso, TX to Brownsville, TX. and is one of the major water resources of the area. Agriculture, farming, maquiladora industry, domestic activities, as well as differences in disposal regulations and enforcement increase the contamination potential of water supplies along the border region. Therefore, continuous and accurate assessment of the quality of water supplies is of paramount importance. The objectives of this study were to monitor water quality of the Rio Grande and to determine if any correlations exist between fecal coliforms, E. coli, chemical toxicity as determined by Botsford's assay, H. pylori presence, and environmental parameters. Seven sites along a 112-Km segment of the Rio Grande from Sunland Park, NM to Fort Hancock, TX were sampled on a monthly basis between January 2000 and December 2002. Results The results showed great variability in the number of fecal coliforms, and E. coli on a month-to-month basis. Fecal coliforms ranged between 0–106 CFU/100 ml while E. coli ranged between 6 to > 2419 MPN. H. pylori showed positive detection for all the sites at different times. Toxicity ranged between 0 to 94% of inhibition capacity (IC. Since values above 50% are considered to be toxic, most of the sites displayed significant chemical toxicity at different times of the year. No significant correlations were observed between microbial indicators and chemical toxicity. Conclusion The results of the present study indicate that the 112-Km segment of the Rio Grande river from Sunland Park, NM to Fort Hancock, TX exceeds the standards for contact recreation water on a continuous basis. In addition, the presence of chemical toxicity in most sites along the 112-Km segment indicates that water quality is an area of concern for the bi-national region. The presence of H. pylori adds to the potential health hazards of the Rio Grande. Since no

  12. Plants as Factories for Human Pharmaceuticals: Applications and Challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Jian; Weng, Yunqi; Dickey, Alexia; Wang, Kevin Yueju

    2015-12-02

    Plant molecular farming (PMF), defined as the practice of using plants to produce human therapeutic proteins, has received worldwide interest. PMF has grown and advanced considerably over the past two decades. A number of therapeutic proteins have been produced in plants, some of which have been through pre-clinical or clinical trials and are close to commercialization. Plants have the potential to mass-produce pharmaceutical products with less cost than traditional methods. Tobacco-derived antibodies have been tested and used to combat the Ebola outbreak in Africa. Genetically engineered immunoadhesin (DPP4-Fc) produced in green plants has been shown to be able to bind to MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), preventing the virus from infecting lung cells. Biosafety concerns (such as pollen contamination and immunogenicity of plant-specific glycans) and costly downstream extraction and purification requirements, however, have hampered PMF production from moving from the laboratory to industrial application. In this review, the challenges and opportunities of PMF are discussed. Topics addressed include; transformation and expression systems, plant bioreactors, safety concerns, and various opportunities to produce topical applications and health supplements.

  13. Plants as Factories for Human Pharmaceuticals: Applications and Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Yao

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Plant molecular farming (PMF, defined as the practice of using plants to produce human therapeutic proteins, has received worldwide interest. PMF has grown and advanced considerably over the past two decades. A number of therapeutic proteins have been produced in plants, some of which have been through pre-clinical or clinical trials and are close to commercialization. Plants have the potential to mass-produce pharmaceutical products with less cost than traditional methods. Tobacco-derived antibodies have been tested and used to combat the Ebola outbreak in Africa. Genetically engineered immunoadhesin (DPP4-Fc produced in green plants has been shown to be able to bind to MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, preventing the virus from infecting lung cells. Biosafety concerns (such as pollen contamination and immunogenicity of plant-specific glycans and costly downstream extraction and purification requirements, however, have hampered PMF production from moving from the laboratory to industrial application. In this review, the challenges and opportunities of PMF are discussed. Topics addressed include; transformation and expression systems, plant bioreactors, safety concerns, and various opportunities to produce topical applications and health supplements.

  14. Recovery from Maunder-like Grand Minima in a Babcock–Leighton Solar Dynamo Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karak, Bidya Binay; Miesch, Mark

    2018-06-01

    The Sun occasionally goes through Maunder-like extended grand minima when its magnetic activity drops considerably from the normal activity level for several decades. Many possible theories have been proposed to explain the origin of these minima. However, how the Sun managed to recover from such inactive phases every time is even more enigmatic. The Babcock–Leighton type dynamos, which are successful in explaining many features of the solar cycle remarkably well, are not expected to operate during grand minima due to the lack of a sufficient number of sunspots. In this Letter, we explore the question of how the Sun could recover from grand minima through the Babcock–Leighton dynamo. In our three-dimensional dynamo model, grand minima are produced spontaneously as a result of random variations in the tilt angle of emerging active regions. We find that the Babcock–Leighton process can still operate during grand minima with only a minimal number of sunspots, and that the model can emerge from such phases without the need for an additional generation mechanism for the poloidal field. The essential ingredient in our model is a downward magnetic pumping, which inhibits the diffusion of the magnetic flux across the solar surface.

  15. Solar Cycle Variability and Grand Minima Induced by Joy's Law Scatter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karak, Bidya Binay; Miesch, Mark S.

    2017-08-01

    The strength of the solar cycle varies from one cycle to another in an irregular manner and the extreme example of this irregularity is the Maunder minimum when Sun produced only a few spots for several years. We explore the cause of these variabilities using a 3D Babcock--Leighton dynamo. In this model, based on the toroidal flux at the base of the convection zone, bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) are produced with flux, tilt angle, and time of emergence all obtain from their observed distributions. The dynamo growth is limited by a tilt quenching.The randomnesses in the BMR emergences make the poloidal field unequal and eventually cause an unequal solar cycle. When observed fluctuations of BMR tilts around Joy's law, i.e., a standard deviation of 15 degrees, are considered, our model produces a variation in the solar cycle comparable to the observed solar cycle variability. Tilt scatter also causes occasional Maunder-like grand minima, although the observed scatter does not reproduce correct statistics of grand minima. However, when we double the tilt scatter, we find grand minima consistent with observations. Importantly, our dynamo model can operate even during grand minima with only a few BMRs, without requiring any additional alpha effect.

  16. Reconciling Conflicting Geologic and Thermochronologic Interpretations Via Multiple Apatite Thermochronometers (AHe, AFT, and 4He/3He): 6 Ma Incision of the Westernmost Grand Canyon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winn, C.; Karlstrom, K. E.; Shuster, D. L.; Kelley, S.; Fox, M.

    2017-12-01

    The application of low-temperature apatite thermochronology to the incision history of the Grand Canyon has led to conflicting hypotheses of either a 70 Ma ("old") or conflict with these lines of evidence and indicate a much older ( 70 Ma) westernmost Grand Canyon. We reconcile this conflict by applying apatite (U-Th)/He ages (AHe), 4He/3He thermochronometry, and apatite fission track ages and lengths (AFT) to the same sample at a key location. Using HeFTy, t-T paths that predict these data show cooling from ˜100 °C to 40-60 °C at 70-50 Ma, long-term residence at 40-60 °C from 50-10 Ma, and cooling to surface temperatures after 10 Ma, indicating young incision. New AFT (5) and AHe (3) datasets are also presented here. When datasets are examined separately, AHe data show t-T paths that cool to surface temperatures during the Laramide, consistent with an "old" Canyon. When multiple methods are applied, t-T paths instead show young incision. This inconsistency demonstrates the age of the Grand Canyon controversy. Here we reconcile the difference in t-T paths by adjusting model parameters to account for uncertainty in the rate of radiation damage annealing in apatite during burial heating and the resulting variations in He retentivity. In this area, peak burial conditions during the Laramide were likely insufficient to fully anneal radiation damage that accumulated during prolonged near-surface residence prior to burial. We conclude that application of multiple thermochronometers from common rocks reconciles conflicting thermochronologic interpretations and these data are best explained by a "young" westernmost Grand Canyon.

  17. A Comprehensive Study on the Internet of Underwater Things: Applications, Challenges, and Channel Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chien-Chi Kao

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT is a novel class of Internet of Things (IoT, and is defined as the network of smart interconnected underwater objects. IoUT is expected to enable various practical applications, such as environmental monitoring, underwater exploration, and disaster prevention. With these applications, IoUT is regarded as one of the potential technologies toward developing smart cities. To support the concept of IoUT, Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs have emerged as a promising network system. UWSNs are different from the traditional Territorial Wireless Sensor Networks (TWSNs, and have several unique properties, such as long propagation delay, narrow bandwidth, and low reliability. These unique properties would be great challenges for IoUT. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive study of IoUT, and the main contributions of this paper are threefold: (1 we introduce and classify the practical underwater applications that can highlight the importance of IoUT; (2 we point out the differences between UWSNs and traditional TWSNs, and these differences are the main challenges for IoUT; and (3 we investigate and evaluate the channel models, which are the technical core for designing reliable communication protocols on IoUT.

  18. 76 FR 6517 - San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad-Petition for a Declaratory Order

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35380] San Luis & Rio... petition filed by San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad (SLRG), the Board instituted a declaratory order... proposed operation of a truck-to-rail transload facility in Antonito, Colorado. See San Luis & Rio Grande R...

  19. Challenges of Microgrids in Remote Communities: A STEEP Model Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Akinyele

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing interest in the application of microgrids around the world because of their potential for achieving a flexible, reliable, efficient and smart electrical grid system and supplying energy to off-grid communities, including their economic benefits. Several research studies have examined the application issues of microgrids. However, a lack of in-depth considerations for the enabling planning conditions has been identified as a major reason why microgrids fail in several off-grid communities. This development requires research efforts that consider better strategies and framework for sustainable microgrids in remote communities. This paper first presents a comprehensive review of microgrid technologies and their applications. It then proposes the STEEP model to examine critically the failure factors based on the social, technical, economic, environmental and policy (STEEP perspectives. The model details the key dimensions and actions necessary for addressing the challenge of microgrid failure in remote communities. The study uses remote communities within Nigeria, West Africa, as case studies and demonstrates the need for the STEEP approach for better understanding of microgrid planning and development. Better insights into microgrid systems are expected to address the drawbacks and improve the situation that can lead to widespread and sustainable applications in off-grid communities around the world in the future. The paper introduces the sustainable planning framework (SPF based on the STEEP model, which can form a general basis for planning microgrids in any remote location.

  20. Maternal Grand Multiparity and the Risk of Severe Mental Disorders in Adult Offspring.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marius Lahti

    Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that maternal grand multiparity may predict an increased risk of mental disorders in young adult offspring, but whether such effects persist throughout adulthood remains unknown. The current study examined if maternal grand multiparity predicts the risks of severe mental disorders, suicides, suicide attempts and dementias throughout adult life.Our study sample comprised 13243 Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 1934-1944 participants (6905 men and 6338 women. According to hospital birth records, 341 offspring were born to grand multiparous mothers. From Finnish national hospital discharge and causes of death registers, we identified 1682 participants diagnosed with mental disorders during 1969-2010.Maternal grand multiparity predicted significantly increased risks of mood disorders (Hazard Ratio = 1.64, p = 0.03, non-psychotic mood disorders (Hazard Ratio = 2.02, p = 0.002, and suicide attempts (Hazard Ratio = 3.94, p = 0.01 in adult offspring. Furthermore, women born to grand multiparous mothers had significantly increased risks of any severe mental disorder (Hazard Ratio = 1.79, p = 0.01, non-psychotic substance use disorders (Hazard Ratio = 2.77, p = 0.02 schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (Hazard Ratio = 2.40, p = 0.02, mood disorders (Hazard Ratio = 2.40, p = 0.002, non-psychotic mood disorders (Hazard Ratio = 2.91, p<0.001, and suicide attempts (Hazard Ratio = 5.05, p = 0.01 in adulthood. The effects of maternal grand multiparity on offspring psychopathology risk were independent of maternal age and body mass index at childbirth, and of year of birth, sex, childhood socioeconomic position, and birth weight of the offspring. In contrast, no significant effects were found among men.Women born to grand multiparous mothers are at an increased risk of severe mental disorders and suicide attempts across adulthood. Our findings may inform the

  1. 27 CFR 9.119 - Middle Rio Grande Valley.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Middle Rio Grande Valley. (a) Name. The name of the viticultural area described in this section is... 1979. (24) Veguita, N. Mex. (1952), revised 1979. (25) Wind Mesa, N. Mex. (1952), revised 1967. (c...

  2. Upper Rio Grande water operations model: A tool for enhanced system management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gail Stockton; D. Michael Roark

    1999-01-01

    The Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Model (URGWOM) under development through a multi-agency effort has demonstrated capability to represent the physical river/reservoir system, to track and account for Rio Grande flows and imported San Juan flows, and to forecast flows at various points in the system. Testing of the Rio Chama portion of the water operations model was...

  3. Scalable graphene production: perspectives and challenges of plasma applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levchenko, Igor; Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken); Zheng, Jie; Li, Xingguo; Keidar, Michael; B. K. Teo, Kenneth

    2016-05-01

    Graphene, a newly discovered and extensively investigated material, has many unique and extraordinary properties which promise major technological advances in fields ranging from electronics to mechanical engineering and food production. Unfortunately, complex techniques and high production costs hinder commonplace applications. Scaling of existing graphene production techniques to the industrial level without compromising its properties is a current challenge. This article focuses on the perspectives and challenges of scalability, equipment, and technological perspectives of the plasma-based techniques which offer many unique possibilities for the synthesis of graphene and graphene-containing products. The plasma-based processes are amenable for scaling and could also be useful to enhance the controllability of the conventional chemical vapour deposition method and some other techniques, and to ensure a good quality of the produced graphene. We examine the unique features of the plasma-enhanced graphene production approaches, including the techniques based on inductively-coupled and arc discharges, in the context of their potential scaling to mass production following the generic scaling approaches applicable to the existing processes and systems. This work analyses a large amount of the recent literature on graphene production by various techniques and summarizes the results in a tabular form to provide a simple and convenient comparison of several available techniques. Our analysis reveals a significant potential of scalability for plasma-based technologies, based on the scaling-related process characteristics. Among other processes, a greater yield of 1 g × h-1 m-2 was reached for the arc discharge technology, whereas the other plasma-based techniques show process yields comparable to the neutral-gas based methods. Selected plasma-based techniques show lower energy consumption than in thermal CVD processes, and the ability to produce graphene flakes of various

  4. Scalable graphene production: perspectives and challenges of plasma applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levchenko, Igor; Ostrikov, Kostya Ken; Zheng, Jie; Li, Xingguo; Keidar, Michael; B K Teo, Kenneth

    2016-05-19

    Graphene, a newly discovered and extensively investigated material, has many unique and extraordinary properties which promise major technological advances in fields ranging from electronics to mechanical engineering and food production. Unfortunately, complex techniques and high production costs hinder commonplace applications. Scaling of existing graphene production techniques to the industrial level without compromising its properties is a current challenge. This article focuses on the perspectives and challenges of scalability, equipment, and technological perspectives of the plasma-based techniques which offer many unique possibilities for the synthesis of graphene and graphene-containing products. The plasma-based processes are amenable for scaling and could also be useful to enhance the controllability of the conventional chemical vapour deposition method and some other techniques, and to ensure a good quality of the produced graphene. We examine the unique features of the plasma-enhanced graphene production approaches, including the techniques based on inductively-coupled and arc discharges, in the context of their potential scaling to mass production following the generic scaling approaches applicable to the existing processes and systems. This work analyses a large amount of the recent literature on graphene production by various techniques and summarizes the results in a tabular form to provide a simple and convenient comparison of several available techniques. Our analysis reveals a significant potential of scalability for plasma-based technologies, based on the scaling-related process characteristics. Among other processes, a greater yield of 1 g × h(-1) m(-2) was reached for the arc discharge technology, whereas the other plasma-based techniques show process yields comparable to the neutral-gas based methods. Selected plasma-based techniques show lower energy consumption than in thermal CVD processes, and the ability to produce graphene flakes of

  5. O conservadorismo patronal da grande imprensa brasileira

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fonseca Francisco

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Através da análise da opinião dos editoriais dos quatro principais periódicos diários da grande imprensa, isto é, o Jornal do Brasil, O Globo, a Folha de S. Paulo e O Estado de S. Paulo - aqui considerados "aparelhos privados de hegemonia" -, este artigo procura desvendar os posicionamentos adotados perante a ordem social na Constituinte de 1987/1988, que também contribuem para compreender a reação à Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho. Observa-se, além do mais, as estratégias utilizadas para sua consecução. Conclui-se que, por mecanismos diversos, a grande imprensa contribuiu decisivamente para a introdução da agenda ideológica neoliberal no país, pois atuou de forma a "divulgar e vulgarizar" as idéias pertinentes a este ideário e de forma militantemente conservadora e patronal.

  6. Preparing to review the license application of the French geological disposal facility - Issues, challenges and perspectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dandrieux, Geraldine

    2014-01-01

    This paper briefly describes the French context for GDR authorization, the French dedicated legislative framework (28 June 2006 Act on sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste), the challenges (regulatory issues, long-term project supervision, technical issues, procedural issues), and the preparing for the review of the DGR license application. A planning schedule is propose with Andra to submit license application for DGR in 2015

  7. Final Environmental Assessment: Installation of Digital Airport Surveillance Radar at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-11

    Grand Forks AFB public web site. Notices of Availability were published in the Grand Forks Herald on 10 Mar 2011 and on the Grand Forks AFB web site from...Squadron (319th) FTA Fire Training Area GATR Ground-Air Transmit Receive GFAFB Grand Forks Air Force Base GHG Greenhouse Gas Hz Hertz IEEE Institute of...feet west of the closed/capped ERP Site FT-02, the Fire Training Area/Old Sanitary Landfill Area ( FTA /OSLA), which encompasses 28 acres, five of

  8. Development of particle multiplicity distributions using a general form of the grand canonical partition function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, S.J.; Mekjian, A.Z.

    2004-01-01

    Various phenomenological models of particle multiplicity distributions are discussed using a general form of a unified model which is based on the grand canonical partition function and Feynman's path integral approach to statistical processes. These models can be written as special cases of a more general distribution which has three control parameters which are a,x,z. The relation to these parameters to various physical quantities are discussed. A connection of the parameter a with Fisher's critical exponent τ is developed. Using this grand canonical approach, moments, cumulants and combinants are discussed and a physical interpretation of the combinants are given and their behavior connected to the critical exponent τ. Various physical phenomena such as hierarchical structure, void scaling relations, Koba-Nielson-Olesen or KNO scaling features, clan variables, and branching laws are shown in terms of this general approach. Several of these features which were previously developed in terms of the negative binomial distribution are found to be more general. Both hierarchical structure and void scaling relations depend on the Fisher exponent τ. Applications of our approach to the charged particle multiplicity distribution in jets of L3 and H1 data are given

  9. Deciphering solar magnetic activity: on grand minima in solar activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McIntosh, Scott W. [High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Leamon, Robert J., E-mail: mscott@ucar.edu [Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT (United States)

    2015-07-08

    The Sun provides the energy necessary to sustain our existence. While the Sun provides for us, it is also capable of taking away. The weather and climatic scales of solar evolution and the Sun-Earth connection are not well- understood. There has been tremendous progress in the century since the discovery of solar magnetism—magnetism that ultimately drives the electromagnetic, particulate, and eruptive forcing of our planetary system. There is contemporary evidence of a decrease in solar magnetism, perhaps even indicators of a significant downward trend, over recent decades. Are we entering a minimum in solar activity that is deeper and longer than a typical solar minimum, a “grand minimum”? How could we tell if we are? What is a grand minimum and how does the Sun recover? These are very pertinent questions for modern civilization. In this paper we present a hypothetical demonstration of entry and exit from grand minimum conditions based on a recent analysis of solar features over the past 20 years and their possible connection to the origins of the 11(&ish) year solar activity cycle.

  10. Deciphering Solar Magnetic Activity: On Grand Minima in Solar Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scott William Mcintosh

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The Sun provides the energy necessary to sustain our existence. While the Sun provides for us, it is also capable of taking away. The weather and climatic scales of solar evolution and the Sun-Earth connection are not well understood. There has been tremendous progress in the century since the discovery of solar magnetism - magnetism that ultimately drives the electromagnetic, particulate and eruptive forcing of our planetary system. There is contemporary evidence of a decrease in solar magnetism, perhaps even indicators of a significant downward trend, over recent decades. Are we entering a minimum in solar activity that is deeper and longer than a typical solar minimum, a grand minimum? How could we tell if we are? What is a grand minimum and how does the Sun recover? These are very pertinent questions for modern civilization. In this paper we present a hypothetical demonstration of entry and exit from grand minimum conditions based on a recent analysis of solar features over the past 20 years and their possible connection to the origins of the 11(-ish year solar activity cycle.

  11. Deciphering Solar Magnetic Activity: On Grand Minima in Solar Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcintosh, Scott; Leamon, Robert

    2015-07-01

    The Sun provides the energy necessary to sustain our existence. While the Sun provides for us, it is also capable of taking away. The weather and climatic scales of solar evolution and the Sun-Earth connection are not well understood. There has been tremendous progress in the century since the discovery of solar magnetism - magnetism that ultimately drives the electromagnetic, particulate and eruptive forcing of our planetary system. There is contemporary evidence of a decrease in solar magnetism, perhaps even indicators of a significant downward trend, over recent decades. Are we entering a minimum in solar activity that is deeper and longer than a typical solar minimum, a "grand minimum"? How could we tell if we are? What is a grand minimum and how does the Sun recover? These are very pertinent questions for modern civilization. In this paper we present a hypothetical demonstration of entry and exit from grand minimum conditions based on a recent analysis of solar features over the past 20 years and their possible connection to the origins of the 11(-ish) year solar activity cycle.

  12. Harnessing the hydropower potential in Africa: What should be the place and role of Grand Inga hydropower project?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fall, Latsoucabe

    2010-09-15

    Harnessing Africa's huge hydropower potential should be made a priority for the sustainable development of the Continent. Particularly, Grand Inga hydropower project in DRC, due to its gigantic size (40,000 MW) and favourable natural characteristics, could be 'Africa's flagship Project of the 21st Century' offering enormous comparative advantages and opportunities for the benefits of the entire African Continent. Nevertheless, to make it a feasible and palpable 'Model Project', capable of producing clean and affordable energy, the paper tries to respond to key questions on the several daunting challenges to address for its sustainable, cost-effective and timely development and operation.

  13. Maternal and fetal outcome in grand multipara

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qamar, A.; Qamar, S.

    2015-01-01

    Study Design: Case control study. Place and Duration of Study: Gynecology and Obstetric Unit-I of the Jinnah Post Graduate and Medical Centre Karachi, from February 2009 to January 2010. Patients and Methods: One hundred (100) patients of grand multipara (GMP), (parity = 5) and 100 patients of multipara (MP) (parity 2-4) were included in the study. Pregnant women with known medical conditions including essential hypertension, diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, primigravidas, women with previous caesarean section and twin pregnancies were excluded. Patients were admitted through antenatal clinic and emergency. A detailed history was taken and a physical examination was done with special emphasis on obstetrical examination. Investigations like blood CP, Urine D/R, blood grouping and sonogram were done. During labour, mother and neonates were managed according to ward protocols. Maternal and fetal outcomes were compared among GMPs and MPs. Results: A high frequency of anaemia (81% vs 20%), pregnancy induced hypertension (45%, vs. 26%) and gestational diabetes (9%, vs1%) were seen in GMP as compared to MP group. Frequency of malpresentations (26% vs 15%), postpartum hemorrhage (15%, vs 10%) and intrauterine deaths (26%, vs 13%) were higher in GMP group along with a high caesarean delivery rate (GMP 21%, MP 14%). A higher maternal mortality (GMP 4%, MP 1%) and low APGAR score (GMP 12%, MP 4%) were observed among babies born to grand multipara group. Conclusion: Grand multiparity is associated with adverse outcome for both mother and fetus. Effort should be directed to reduce high parity in the community through effective family planning initiatives. Specialized antenatal and obstetrical care facilities should be available. (author)

  14. Challenges in the Implementation of a Mobile Application in Clinical Practice: Case Study in the Context of an Application that Manages the Daily Interventions of Nurses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wipfli, Rolf; Teodoro, Douglas; Sarrey, Everlyne; Walesa, Magali; Lovis, Christian

    2013-01-01

    Background Working in a clinical environment requires unfettered mobility. This is especially true for nurses who are always on the move providing patients’ care in different locations. Since the introduction of clinical information systems in hospitals, this mobility has often been considered hampered by interactions with computers. The popularity of personal mobile assistants such as smartphones makes it possible to gain easy access to clinical data anywhere. Objective To identify the challenges involved in the deployment of clinical applications on handheld devices and to share our solutions to these problems. Methods A team of experts underwent an iterative development process of a mobile application prototype that aimed to improve the mobility of nurses during their daily clinical activities. Through the process, challenges inherent to mobile platforms have emerged. These issues have been classified, focusing on factors related to ensuring information safety and quality, as well as pleasant and efficient user experiences. Results The team identified five main challenges related to the deployment of clinical mobile applications and presents solutions to overcome each of them: (1) Financial: Equipping every care giver with a new mobile device requires substantial investment that can be lowered if users use their personal device instead, (2) Hardware: The constraints inherent to the clinical environment made us choose the mobile device with the best tradeoff between size and portability, (3) Communication: the connection of the mobile application with any existing clinical information systems (CIS) is insured by a bridge formatting the information appropriately, (4) Security: In order to guarantee the confidentiality and safety of the data, the amount of data stored on the device is minimized, and (5) User interface: The design of our user interface relied on homogeneity, hierarchy, and indexicality principles to prevent an increase in data acquisition errors

  15. OLED microdisplays in near-to-eye applications: challenges and solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, Uwe; Richter, Bernd; Wartenberg, Philipp; König, Peter; Hild, Olaf R.; Fehse, Karsten; Schober, Matthias; Bodenstein, Elisabeth; Beyer, Beatrice

    2017-06-01

    Wearable augmented-reality (AR) has already started to be used productively mainly in manufacturing industry and logistics. Next step will be to move wearable AR from "professionals to citizens" by enabling networked, everywhere augmented-reality (in-/outdoor localisation, scene recognition, cloud access,…) which is non-intrusive, exhibits intuitive user-interaction, anytime safe and secure use, and considers personal privacy protection (user's and others). Various hardware improvements (e.g., low-power, seamless interactivity, small form factor, ergonomics,…), as well as connectivity and network integration will become vital for consumer adoption. Smart-Glasses (i.e., near-to-eye (NTE) displays) have evolved as major devices for wearable AR, that hold potential to become adopted by consumers soon. Tiny microdisplays are a key component of smart-glasses, e.g., creating images from organic light emitting diodes (OLED), that have become popular in mobile phone displays. All microdisplay technologies on the market comprise an image-creating pixel modulation, but only the emissive ones (for example, OLED and LED) feature the image and light source in a single device, and therefore do not require an external light source. This minimizes system size and power consumption, while providing exceptional contrast and color space. These advantages make OLED microdisplays a perfect fit for near-eye applications. Low-power active-matrix circuitry CMOS backplane architecture, embedded sensors, emission spectra outside the visible and high-resolution sub-pixel micro-patterning address some of the application challenges (e.g., long battery life, sun-light readability, user interaction modes) and enable advanced features for OLED microdisplays in near-to-eye displays, e.g., upcoming connected augmented-reality smart glasses. This report is to analyze the challenges in addressing those features and discuss solutions.

  16. Ecologia da paisagem da hantavirose no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul Landscape ecology of hantavirosis in Rio Grande do Sul State

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waldir E. Henkes

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Esse trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a ecologia da paisagem das hantaviroses no Rio Grande do Sul através do mapeamento da ocorrência de casos e sua sobreposição a mapas de vegetação e relevo. A maior parte dos casos ocorre na primavera em regiões serranas com vegetação secundária e atividade agrícola.The aim of this work was to study the landscape ecology of hantavirosis in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. This was achieved through geocoding the occurrence of cases and overlaying onto vegetation and relief maps. The majority of cases occurred during Spring, in highland areas dominated by secondary vegetation and agricultural activity.

  17. Graafikatriennaali grand prix Korea kunstnikule

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    1998-01-01

    Tallinna XI graafikatriennaali rahvusvaheline žürii andis grand prix korea kunstnikule Chung¡Sang-Gonile, kolm võrdset preemiat - soome kunstnikele Anita Jensenile ja Tapani Mikkonenile ning jaapani kunstnikule Estuko Obatale. Eesti Kunstimuuseumi preemia - Wendy Swallow. Tallinna linna preemia ja Ivar Luki sponsoripreemia - Walter Jule. Sponsoripreemiad : Paletti Eesti AS preemia - Inga Heamägi; Rannila Profiili preemia - Mojca Zlokarnik; UNDP preemia - Andrea Juan. Rotermanni soolalao arhitektuuri- ja kunstikeskuse diplom - Lis Ingram, Heli Päivikki Kurunsaari, Randi Strand, Wendy Swallow

  18. The Virtual Grand Tour as Educational Paradigm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Per Skafte; Mouritsen, Lars

    2001-01-01

    The Virtual Grand Tour as defined here bears some resemblance to its 18th century ancestor: a wide range of individual topics are treated as a whole; a tutor, whether real or simulated, present or remote, is provided; a set of problem solving tools forms an integrated part of the "traveller...

  19. Grand Bank seabed and shallow subsurface geology in relation to subsea engineering design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sonnichsen, G.V.; King, E.L. [Natural Resources Canada, Dartmouth, NS (Canada). Geological Survey of Canada

    2005-07-01

    An overview of the surficial and subseabed geology of the northeastern section of the Newfoundland Grand Banks was presented with particular reference to the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The stratigraphy of the upper 100 metres below seafloor has been interpreted from high-resolution seismic reflection data, surficial sediment samples and geotechnical borehole data. This paper described the character and strength properties of nearby seabed sediments and addressed the issue of seabed scour by icebergs, which is the main process threatening subsea facilities. Other potential geohazards such as shallow gas, buried channels and sediment mobility are not considered to be major barriers to offshore development in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. However, drifting icebergs with large drafts often impact the seabed, producing either linear furrows or circular pits. The constraints to subsea design and construction were identified. It was noted that regional geological characterization is needed to help select the location for offshore platforms as well as routes for excavating trenches for subsea installations for offshore hydrocarbon development. Updated regional surficial and near-seabed stratigraphy is needed to predict foundation conditions beyond ground truth from isolated geotechnical borehole investigations. This paper described the Grand Banks regional setting, regional geology, near-surface sediment in the northeastern Grand Banks, and Quaternary sediments in the northeastern Grand Banks with reference to the Grand Banks Drift, Adolphus Sand, and the Grand Banks Sand and Gravel Formation. Risk assessments have shown that well heads and manifolds should be installed below the seabed in order to avoid damage by seabed-scouring icebergs and that the design scour depth should be re-examined for future subsea development. It was suggested that more emphasis on gathering multibeam bathymetric data and repetitive mapping of the seabed will better define scour risk. 57 refs., 3

  20. Application of the ecosystem diagnosis and treatment method to the Grande Ronde Model Watershed project. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mobrand, L.; Lestelle, L.

    1997-01-01

    In the spring of 1994 a technical planning support project was initiated by the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Board of Directors (Board) with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration. The project was motivated by a need for a science based method for prioritizing restoration actions in the basin that would promote effectiveness and accountability. In this section the authors recall the premises for the project. The authors also present a set of recommendations for implementing a watershed planning process that incorporates a science-based framework to help guide decision making. This process is intended to assist the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Board in its effort to plan and implement watershed improvement measures. The process would also assist the Board in coordinating its efforts with other entities in the region. The planning process is based on an approach for developing an ecosystem management strategy referred to as the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) method (Lichatowich et al. 1995, Lestelle et al. 1996). The process consists of an on-going planning cycle. Included in this cycle is an assessment of the ability of the watershed to support and sustain natural resources and other economic and societal values. This step in the process, which the authors refer to as the diagnosis, helps guide the development of actions (also referred to as treatments) aimed at improving the conditions of the watershed to achieve long-term objectives. The planning cycle calls for routinely reviewing and updating, as necessary, the basis for the diagnosis and other analyses used by the Board in adopting actions for implementation. The recommendations offered here address this critical need to habitually update the information used in setting priorities for action

  1. Application of the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment Method to the Grande Ronde Model Watershed project : Final Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mobrand, Lars Erik; Lestelle, Lawrence C.

    1997-01-01

    In the spring of 1994 a technical planning support project was initiated by the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Board of Directors (Board) with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration. The project was motivated by a need for a science based method for prioritizing restoration actions in the basin that would promote effectiveness and accountability. In this section the authors recall the premises for the project. The authors also present a set of recommendations for implementing a watershed planning process that incorporates a science-based framework to help guide decision making. This process is intended to assist the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Board in its effort to plan and implement watershed improvement measures. The process would also assist the Board in coordinating its efforts with other entities in the region. The planning process is based on an approach for developing an ecosystem management strategy referred to as the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) method (Lichatowich et al. 1995, Lestelle et al. 1996). The process consists of an on-going planning cycle. Included in this cycle is an assessment of the ability of the watershed to support and sustain natural resources and other economic and societal values. This step in the process, which the authors refer to as the diagnosis, helps guide the development of actions (also referred to as treatments) aimed at improving the conditions of the watershed to achieve long-term objectives. The planning cycle calls for routinely reviewing and updating, as necessary, the basis for the diagnosis and other analyses used by the Board in adopting actions for implementation. The recommendations offered here address this critical need to habitually update the information used in setting priorities for action.

  2. Grand challenges for crop science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crop science is a highly integrative science using the disciplines of conventional plant breeding, transgenic crop improvement, plant physiology, and cropping system sciences to develop improved varieties of agronomic, turf, and forage crops to produce feed, food, fuel, and fiber for our world's gro...

  3. Big Data and Grand Challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Finnemann, Niels Ole

    2016-01-01

    The paper discusses the future of the Humanities and the role of Digital Humanities. Taking the point of departure in Rens Bods “A new History of the humanities” (2013) it is argued that the current crisis within the Humanities and Digital Humanities is not as much about different notions of cult...

  4. Challenges for coexistence of machine to machine and human to human applications in mobile network

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sanyal, R.; Cianca, E.; Prasad, Ramjee

    2012-01-01

    A key factor for the evolution of the mobile networks towards 4G is to bring to fruition high bandwidth per mobile node. Eventually, due to the advent of a new class of applications, namely, Machine-to-Machine, we foresee new challenges where bandwidth per user is no more the primal driver...... be evolved to address various nuances of the mobile devices used by man and machines. The bigger question is as follows. Is the state-of-the-art mobile network designed optimally to cater both the Human-to-Human and Machine-to-Machine applications? This paper presents the primary challenges....... As an immediate impact of the high penetration of M2M devices, we envisage a surge in the signaling messages for mobility and location management. The cell size will shrivel due to high tele-density resulting in even more signaling messages related to handoff and location updates. The mobile network should...

  5. Jeito de mulher rural: a busca de direitos sociais e da igualdade de gênero no Rio Grande do Sul The rural woman's way: the struggle for social rights and gender equality in Rio Grande do Sul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alie Van Der Schaaf

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho trata de processos emancipatórios de mulheres, em especial de pequenas agricultoras no sul do Brasil, no Movimento de Mulheres Trabalhadoras Rurais do Rio Grande do Sul - MMTR-RS. A vida diária das agricultoras nos providencia elementos cruciais para entender a sua ação social, sendo o âmbito em que se produzem os significados culturais. Além disso, o enfoque na vida diária revela o impacto dos contextos históricos, econômicos, religiosos e políticos específicos em que a ação social acontece e nos ajuda a entender como as participantes chegam a problematizar demandas coletivas e a desafiar a arena política.This work approaches womens' emancipatory processes, specially those by small farmers in Southern Brazil, within the Rural Working Women's Movement of Rio Grande do Sul - MMTR-RS. Rural working women's daily life provide us with crucial elements to understand their social action, as the field in which they produce cultural meaning. Besides, the focus on daily life reveals the impact of historical, economical, religious and political contexts in which action develops, and helps us to understand how participants identify a set of problems as collective demands and challenge public arena.

  6. Burn Severities, Fire Intensities, and Impacts to Major Vegation Types from the Cerro Grande Fire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balice, R.G.; Bennett, K.D.; Wright, M.A.

    2005-01-01

    The Cerro Grande Fire resulted in major impacts and changes to the ecosystems that were burned. To partially document these effects, we estimated the acreage of major vegetation types that were burned at selected burn severity levels and fire intensity levels. To accomplish this, we adopted independently developed burn severity and fire intensity maps, in combination with a land cover map developed for habitat management purposes, as a basis for the analysis. To provide a measure of confidence in the acreage estimates, the accuracies of these maps were also assessed. In addition, two other maps of comparable quality were assessed for accuracy: one that was developed for mapping fuel risk and a second map that resulted from a preliminary application of an evolutionary computation software system, called GENIE. According to the burn severity map and the fire intensity map, the Cerro Grande Fire is estimated to have covered 42,885.4 acres and 42,854.7 acres, respectively. Of this, 57.0 percent was burned at low severity and 34.7 percent was burned at high severity. Similarly, 40.0 percent of the Cerro Grande Fire burned at high fire intensity, greater than 70 percent mortality, while 33.1 percent burned at moderately low intensity, 10 to 40 percent mortality. The most frequently burned cover types over the entire Cerro Grande Fire were ponderosa pine forest and mixed conifer forest, at approximately 43 percent each. However, portions of the fire that burned on Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) property were predominantly in ponderosa pine forests, whereas the Cerro Grande Fire burned primarily in mixed conifer forests on lands managed by other agencies. Some of the polygons of burn severities and fire intensities were extensive. The two largest burn severity polygons were 10,111 acres and 10,903 acres and these were burned at low severity. The next two largest polygons were 8999 acres (14 square miles) and 1551 acres (2.4 square miles) and both of these polygons

  7. Grand European and Asian-Pacific multi-model seasonal forecasts: maximization of skill and of potential economical value to end-users

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alessandri, Andrea; Felice, Matteo De; Catalano, Franco; Lee, June-Yi; Wang, Bin; Lee, Doo Young; Yoo, Jin-Ho; Weisheimer, Antije

    2018-04-01

    Multi-model ensembles (MMEs) are powerful tools in dynamical climate prediction as they account for the overconfidence and the uncertainties related to single-model ensembles. Previous works suggested that the potential benefit that can be expected by using a MME amplifies with the increase of the independence of the contributing Seasonal Prediction Systems. In this work we combine the two MME Seasonal Prediction Systems (SPSs) independently developed by the European (ENSEMBLES) and by the Asian-Pacific (APCC/CliPAS) communities. To this aim, all the possible multi-model combinations obtained by putting together the 5 models from ENSEMBLES and the 11 models from APCC/CliPAS have been evaluated. The grand ENSEMBLES-APCC/CliPAS MME enhances significantly the skill in predicting 2m temperature and precipitation compared to previous estimates from the contributing MMEs. Our results show that, in general, the better combinations of SPSs are obtained by mixing ENSEMBLES and APCC/CliPAS models and that only a limited number of SPSs is required to obtain the maximum performance. The number and selection of models that perform better is usually different depending on the region/phenomenon under consideration so that all models are useful in some cases. It is shown that the incremental performance contribution tends to be higher when adding one model from ENSEMBLES to APCC/CliPAS MMEs and vice versa, confirming that the benefit of using MMEs amplifies with the increase of the independence the contributing models. To verify the above results for a real world application, the Grand ENSEMBLES-APCC/CliPAS MME is used to predict retrospective energy demand over Italy as provided by TERNA (Italian Transmission System Operator) for the period 1990-2007. The results demonstrate the useful application of MME seasonal predictions for energy demand forecasting over Italy. It is shown a significant enhancement of the potential economic value of forecasting energy demand when using the

  8. Experiencing WPS services in several application domains: opportunities and challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    lovergine, francesco paolo; tarantino, cristina; d'addabbo, annarita; adamo, patrizia; giuseppe, satalino; refice, alberto; blonda, palma; vicario, saverio

    2016-04-01

    Experiencing WPS services in several application domains: opportunities and challenges ====================================================================================== The implementation of OGC web services and specifically of WPS services revealed itself as a key aspect in order to encourage openess attitude of scientific investigators within several application domains. It can benefit scientific research under different regards, even considering the possibility to promote interoperability, modularity, and the possibility opened by web modeling and the workflow paradigm explotation. Nevertheless it is still a challenging activity and specifically processing services still seem being at an early stage of maturity. This work is about exploitation activities conducted within the GEO GEOSS AIP-8 call by focusing on several applications, such as biodiversity, flood monitoring and soil moisture computation, with implementations based on the pyWPS framework for WPS 1.0 as available at the time of this work. We will present results, lessons learnt and limits found in using those services for distributing demo processing models, along with pro and cons in our experience. References: Refice, A., Capolongo, D., Pasquariello, G., D'Addabbo, A., Bovenga, F., Nutricato, Lovergine F.P., R., Pietranera, L. (2014). SAR and InSAR for Flood Monitoring: Examples With COSMO-SkyMed Data. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 7(7), 2711--722. F. Mattia, G. Satalino, A. Balenzano, V. Pauwels, E. De Lathauwer, "GMES Sentinel-1 soil moisture algorithm development", Final report for the European Space Agency, ESA ESTEC Contract No. 4000101352/10 /NL/MP/ef, 30 Nov. 2011. V. Tomaselli, P. Dimopoulos, C. Marangi, A. S. Kallimanis, M. Adamo, C. Tarantino, M. Panitsa, M. Terzi, G. Veronico, F. Lovergine, H. Nagendra, R. Lucas, P. Mairota, C.A. Mucher, P. Blonda, "Translating land cover/land use classifications to habitat taxonomies for landscape

  9. Listeria monocytogenes: monitoramento desse perigo biológico na cadeia produtiva de frangos do sul do Rio Grande do Sul Listeria monocytogenes: assessing this microbiological hazard in a poultry productive chain in southern Rio Grande do Sul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Élen Silveira Nalério

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Listeria monocytogenes é uma bactéria patogênica que se tornou um grande desafio para as indústrias de alimentos, entre elas a de frangos, assim como para os órgãos de vigilância sanitária. Apesar da produção de frangos estar em expansão na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul, não há relatos sobre esse patógeno, dessa forma, objetivou-se avaliar a prevalência de L. monocytogenes e de seus sorotipos nos diversos segmentos dessa cadeia produtiva. Nos aviários isolou-se L. monocytogenes em 2,9% (1/35 das amostras de swabs cloacais, não se isolando o microrganismo em amostras provenientes das camas de aviários. No abatedouro, 11,7% (15/128 das amostras apresentaram contaminação por L. monocytogenes e nos frangos resfriados procedentes do comércio, a prevalência foi de 33,3% (15/45.Observou-se que 51,6% (16/31 das cepas de L. monocytogenes pertenciam ao sorotipo 1/2b; 22,5% (7/31 ao sorotipo 4e; 16,1% (5/31 ao sorotipo 1/2a; 6,4% (2/31 ao sorotipo 4b; e 3,2% (1/31 ao sorotipo 1/2c. Há disseminação de L. monocytogenes na cadeia produtiva de frangos da região sul do Rio Grande do Sul e a presença de sorotipos prevalentes em casos/surtos de listeriose traz preocupação à saúde pública.Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogenic bacterium which has become a huge challenge to the food industries, including the poultry industry, and to the health surveillance agencies. Although poultry production is in expansion in southern of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, there are not reports about this pathogen thus this study aimed at assessing the prevalence of L monocytogenes and its serotypes in the several segments of this productive chain. In the broilers flocks L. monocytogenes were isolated in 2.9% (1/35 from cloacal swabs samples. This microorganism was not isolated from broiler houses samples. In the abattoir, 11% of the samples presented L. monocytogenes contamination, and in the chilled chicken from retailers its prevalence was 33.3% (15

  10. Communicating Geosciences with Policy-makers: a Grand Challenge for Academia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, W. J.; Walls, M. R.; Boland, M. A.

    2015-12-01

    Geoscientists interested in the broader societal impacts of their research can make a meaningful contribution to policy making in our changing world. Nevertheless, policy and public decision making are the least frequently cited Broader Impacts in proposals and funded projects within NSF's Geosciences Directorate. Academic institutions can play a lead role by introducing this societal dimension of our profession to beginning students, and by enabling interdisciplinary research and promoting communication pathways for experienced career geoscientists. Within the academic environment, the public interface of the geosciences can be presented through curriculum content and creative programs. These include undergraduate minors in economics or public policy designed for scientists and engineers, and internships with policy makers. Federal research institutions and other organizations provide valuable policy-relevant experiences for students. Academic institutions have the key freedom of mission to tackle interdisciplinary research challenges at the interface of geoscience and policy. They develop long-standing relationships with research partners, including national laboratories and state geological surveys, whose work may support policy development and analysis at local, state, regional, and national levels. CSM's Payne Institute for Earth Resources awards mini-grants for teams of researchers to develop collaborative research efforts between engineering/science and policy researchers. Current work in the areas of nuclear generation and the costs of climate policy and on policy alternatives for capturing fugitive methane emissions are examples of work at the interface between the geosciences and public policy. With academic engagement, geoscientists can steward their intellectual output when non-scientists translate geoscience information and concepts into action through public policies.

  11. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument acoustical monitoring 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-11-01

    During September 2010, The Volpe Center collected baseline acoustical data at Casa Grande National Monument (CAGR), at one site for 28 days. The baseline data collected during this period will help park managers and planners estimate the effects of f...

  12. Capital Humano e Desenvolvimento Econômico no Rio Grande do Sul: Uma Abordagem Multivariada

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilson Luiz Costa

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes an analysis from the theories linking human capital to economic development process. The method used consists of multivariate statistical techniques, particularly the Exploratory Factor Analysis and Conglomerates Analysis. Statistics were selected from 496 municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil according to their capacity to represents the dynamics of income concentration, quality of education and health, poverty, education and formal work. Among the results, there is a positive and direct association between levels of formal education and economic development, which validates the theoretical contributions of Theodore William Schultz and other authors that stem from their lineage. The results point to the importance of breaking the current paradigms and think education policy beyond the rhetoric of official speeches and overcome the current challenges.

  13. Capital Humano e Desenvolvimento Econômico no Rio Grande do Sul. Uma Abordagem Multivariada

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilson Luiz Costa

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes an analysis from the theories linking human capital to economic development process. The method used consists of multivariate statistical techniques, particularly the Exploratory Factor Analysis and Conglomerates Analysis. Statistics were selected from 496 municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil according to their capacity to represents the dynamics of income concentration, quality of education and health, poverty, education and formal work. Among the results, there is a positive and direct association between levels of formal education and economic develop- ment, which validates the theoretical contributions of Theodore William Schultz and other authors that stem from their lineage. The results point to the importance of breaking the current paradigms and think education policy beyond the rhetoric of official speeches and overcome the current challenges.

  14. The Grand Challenges of Organ Banking: Proceedings from the first global summit on complex tissue cryopreservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Jedediah K; Bischof, John C; Braslavsky, Ido; Brockbank, Kelvin G M; Fahy, Gregory M; Fuller, Barry J; Rabin, Yoed; Tocchio, Alessandro; Woods, Erik J; Wowk, Brian G; Acker, Jason P; Giwa, Sebastian

    2016-04-01

    The first Organ Banking Summit was convened from Feb. 27 - March 1, 2015 in Palo Alto, CA, with events at Stanford University, NASA Research Park, and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. Experts at the summit outlined the potential public health impact of organ banking, discussed the major remaining scientific challenges that need to be overcome in order to bank organs, and identified key opportunities to accelerate progress toward this goal. Many areas of public health could be revolutionized by the banking of organs and other complex tissues, including transplantation, oncofertility, tissue engineering, trauma medicine and emergency preparedness, basic biomedical research and drug discovery - and even space travel. Key remaining scientific sub-challenges were discussed including ice nucleation and growth, cryoprotectant and osmotic toxicities, chilling injury, thermo-mechanical stress, the need for rapid and uniform rewarming, and ischemia/reperfusion injury. A variety of opportunities to overcome these challenge areas were discussed, i.e. preconditioning for enhanced stress tolerance, nanoparticle rewarming, cyroprotectant screening strategies, and the use of cryoprotectant cocktails including ice binding agents. Copyright © 2015.

  15. Learners' decisions for attending Pediatric Grand Rounds: a qualitative and quantitative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zuckerman Grace

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Although grand rounds plays a major educational role at academic medical centers, there has been little investigation into the factors influencing the learners' decision to attend. Greater awareness of attendees' expectations may allow grand rounds planners to better accommodate the learners' perspective, potentially making continuing education activities more attractive and inviting. Methods We used both qualitative (part A and quantitative (part B techniques to investigate the motivators and barriers to grand rounds attendance. Part A investigated contextual factors influencing attendance as expressed through attendee interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. We created a concept map linking key factors and their relationships. In part B we quantified the motivators and barriers identified during the initial interviews through a survey of the grand rounds audience. Results Sixteen persons voluntarily took part in the qualitative study (part A by participating in one of seven group interview sessions. Of the 14 themes that emerged from these sessions, the most frequent factors motivating attendance involved competent practice and the need to know. All sessions discussed intellectual stimulation, social interaction, time constraints and convenience, licensure, content and format, and absence of cost for attending sessions. The 59 respondents to the survey (part B identified clinically-useful topics (85%, continuing education credit (46%, cutting-edge research (27%, networking (22%, and refreshments (8% as motivators and non-relevant topics (44% and too busy to attend (56% as barriers. Conclusion Greater understanding of the consumers' perspective can allow planners to tailor the style, content, and logistics to make grand rounds more attractive and inviting.

  16. Contraceptive choices among grand multiparous women at Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabiu, Ayyuba; Abubakar, Idris Sulaiman; Garba, Ibrahim; Haruna, Iman Usman

    2016-01-01

    Grand multiparity is known to be associated with pregnancy complications. Nigeria with a contraceptive prevalence of women get to grand multiparity early in their obstetric carriers. These women contribute significantly to the bad obstetric performance indices in the country. The present study was to explore the contraceptive choices among grand multiparous women. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study among grand multiparous women attending an antenatal clinic. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, contraceptive choices, and factors that influence such choices. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 18. There were 219 respondents. The mean age was 33.05 ± 3.17, and the mean parity was 6.48 ± 1.83. Most of the respondents (208, 95.50%) were aware of modern contraceptive methods, and oral contraceptive was the method of most of the respondents (197, 90.00%). Only 92 (42.00%) were currently using a modern contraceptive method. Being convenient for the lifestyle was the reason for the choice of a contraceptive method by many of the respondents (42, 19.10%). There was high awareness of modern contraceptive methods; however, there was low use prevalence among respondents, and the desire for more pregnancy was the reason for the nonuse.

  17. Genetic progress in sunflower crop in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Follmann, D N; Cargnelutti Filho, A; Lorentz, L H; Boligon, A A; Caraffa, M; Wartha, C A

    2017-04-13

    The sunflower has adaptability to growing regions with different climatic and soil characteristics, showing drought tolerance and high-quality oil production. The State of Rio Grande do Sul is the third largest sunflower producer in Brazil, with research related to the sunflower breeding initiated after the decade of 1950. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic progress for grain yield, oil content, and oil yield of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Data of grain yield, oil content, and oil yield obtained from 58 sunflower cultivar yield trials in 19 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul during the period from 2005 to 2014 were used. Genetic progress was studied according to the methodology proposed by Vencovsky and data from sunflower cultivar yield trials were used. Annual genetic progress of sunflower during the period of 10 years (2005-2014) was 132.46 kg⋅ha -1 ⋅year -1 for grain yield, -0.17%/year for oil content, and 48.11 kg⋅ha -1 ⋅year -1 for oil yield. The sunflower-breeding programs in the State of Rio Grande do Sul were efficient for the traits grain yield and oil yield and presented no efficiency for oil content.

  18. Biochar application for the remediation of salt-affected soils: Challenges and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saifullah; Dahlawi, Saad; Naeem, Asif; Rengel, Zed; Naidu, Ravi

    2018-06-01

    Soil salinization and sodification are two commonly occurring major threats to soil productivity in arable croplands. Salt-affected soils are found in >100 countries, and their distribution is extensive and widespread in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. In order to meet the challenges of global food security, it is imperative to bring barren salt-affected soils under cultivation. Various inorganic and organic amendments are used to reclaim the salt-affected lands. The selection of a sustainable ameliorant is largely determined by the site-specific geographical and soil physicochemical parameters. Recently, biochar (solid carbonaceous residue, produced under oxygen-free or oxygen-limited conditions at temperatures ranging from 300 to 1000°C) has attracted considerable attention as a soil amendment. An emerging pool of knowledge shows that biochar addition is effective in improving physical, chemical and biological properties of salt-affected soils. However, some studies have also found an increase in soil salinity and sodicity with biochar application at high rates. Further, the high cost associated with production of biochar and high application rates remains a significant challenge to its widespread use in areas affected by salinity and sodicity. Moreover, there is relatively limited information on the long-term behavior of salt-affected soils subjected to biochar applications. The main objective of the present paper was to review, analyze and discuss the recent studies investigating a role of biochar in improving soil properties and plant growth in salt-affected soils. This review emphasizes that using biochar as an organic amendment for sustainable and profitable use of salt-affected soils would not be practicable as long as low-cost methods for the production of biochar are not devised. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. 78 FR 60994 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “In Grand Style...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-02

    ... Determinations: ``In Grand Style: Celebrations in Korean Art During the Joseon Dynasty'' SUMMARY: Notice is... objects to be included in the exhibition ``In Grand Style: Celebrations in Korean Art during the Joseon Dynasty,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United States, are of cultural...

  20. Overview of natural gas in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; Panorama do gas natural no Rio Grande do Norte

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Teixeira, Pedro Helio Gomes [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (GREEN/UFRN), Natal, RN (Brazil). Centro de Tecnologia. Grupo de Estudos Energeticos

    2008-07-01

    This work draws a picture of what the natural gas means to Rio Grande do Norte in its quantitative dimension, expressed in the numbers and reserve indicators, production and structure of consume. In another dimension, it broaches the processes of energetic substitution by the natural gas in the state energetic matrix. (author)

  1. Making Norms to Tackle Global Challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nilsson, Adriana

    2017-01-01

    by mandates, moral standing and technical expertise, IGOs act in two ways: operating with high level of political support, these organisations guide priority setting and norm development through the definition of collective problems and solutions, including STI aspects, establishing a shared vision; involving......This paper argues that Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs) can play a significant role in the processes of system transformation required by Grand Challenges. The reason is their potential to influence socio-technical regimes connected to policy areas in which they have authority. Supported......, designed by UNITAID to fulfil access and innovation needs in relation to HIV/AIDS drugs, and WIPO Re:Search, set up by WIPO to support collaboration and accelerate discovery and product development for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Malaria and Tuberculosis....

  2. The canonical and grand canonical models for nuclear ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Many observables seen in intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions can be explained on the basis of statistical equilibrium. Calculations based on statistical equilibrium can be implemented in microcanonical ensemble, canonical ensemble or grand canonical ensemble. This paper deals with calculations with canonical ...

  3. Applications of operant learning theory to the management of challenging behavior after traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Rodger Ll; Alderman, Nick

    2011-01-01

    For more than 3 decades, interventions derived from learning theory have been delivered within a neurobehavioral framework to manage challenging behavior after traumatic brain injury with the aim of promoting engagement in the rehabilitation process and ameliorating social handicap. Learning theory provides a conceptual structure that facilitates our ability to understand the relationship between challenging behavior and environmental contingencies, while accommodating the constraints upon learning imposed by impaired cognition. Interventions derived from operant learning theory have most frequently been described in the literature because this method of associational learning provides good evidence for the effectiveness of differential reinforcement methods. This article therefore examines the efficacy of applying operant learning theory to manage challenging behavior after TBI as well as some of the limitations of this approach. Future developments in the application of learning theory are also considered.

  4. Standardized methods for Grand Canyon fisheries research 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persons, William R.; Ward, David L.; Avery, Luke A.

    2013-01-01

    This document presents protocols and guidelines to persons sampling fishes in the Grand Canyon, to help ensure consistency in fish handling, fish tagging, and data collection among different projects and organizations. Most such research and monitoring projects are conducted under the general umbrella of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program and include studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD), various universities, and private contractors. This document is intended to provide guidance to fieldworkers regarding protocols that may vary from year to year depending on specific projects and objectives. We also provide herein documentation of standard methods used in the Grand Canyon that can be cited in scientific publications, as well as a summary of changes in protocols since the document was first created in 2002.

  5. On two-particle N=1 supersymmetric composite grand unified models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pirogov, Yu.F.

    1984-01-01

    A class of two-particle N=1 supersymmetric composite grand unified models, satisfying the anomaly matching and cancellation conditions, n-independence and survival hypothesis is considered. A unique admissible set of the light states, containing spectator states on a par with the composite ones is found. At low mass scales this set contains exactly four families of ordinary fermions without any additional exotics. The interactions of the light states at distances greater than the compositeness radius are described by the N=1 sypersymmetric chiral grand unified model [SU(6)] 2 (or [SU(8)] 2 with a fixed set of four second-rank tensors as matter fields

  6. Molecular Science Computing Facility Scientific Challenges: Linking Across Scales

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Jong, Wibe A.; Windus, Theresa L.

    2005-07-01

    The purpose of this document is to define the evolving science drivers for performing environmental molecular research at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) and to provide guidance associated with the next-generation high-performance computing center that must be developed at EMSL's Molecular Science Computing Facility (MSCF) in order to address this critical research. The MSCF is the pre-eminent computing facility?supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER)?tailored to provide the fastest time-to-solution for current computational challenges in chemistry and biology, as well as providing the means for broad research in the molecular and environmental sciences. The MSCF provides integral resources and expertise to emerging EMSL Scientific Grand Challenges and Collaborative Access Teams that are designed to leverage the multiple integrated research capabilities of EMSL, thereby creating a synergy between computation and experiment to address environmental molecular science challenges critical to DOE and the nation.

  7. An assessment of BWR [boiling water reactor] Mark III containment challenges, failure modes, and potential improvements in performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schroeder, J.A.; Pafford, D.J.; Kelly, D.L.; Jones, K.R.; Dallman, F.J.

    1991-01-01

    This report describes risk-significant challenges posed to Mark III containment systems by severe accidents as identified for Grand Gulf. Design similarities and differences between the Mark III plants that are important to containment performance are summarized. The accident sequences responsible for the challenges and the postulated containment failure modes associated with each challenge are identified and described. Improvements are discussed that have the potential either to prevent or delay containment failure, or to mitigate the offsite consequences of a fission product release. For each of these potential improvements, a qualitative analysis is provided. A limited quantitative risk analysis is provided for selected potential improvements. 21 refs., 5 figs., 46 tabs

  8. VT Built Up Lands in Grand Isle County - 1986

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) NRCS mapped historical and current-day built-up lands for Grand Isle County, VT using several vintages of aerial photography: 1941, 1962, 1974,...

  9. VT Built Up Lands in Grand Isle County - 1941

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) NRCS mapped historical and current-day built-up lands for Grand Isle County, VT using several vintages of aerial photography: 1941, 1962, 1974,...

  10. The sceptical optimist: challenges and perspectives for the application of environmental DNA in marine fisheries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Brian Klitgaard; Bekkevold, Dorte; Worsøe Clausen, Lotte

    2018-01-01

    principles in relation to eDNA analysis with potential for marine fisheries application. We describe fundamental processes governing eDNA generation, breakdown and transport and summarize current uncertainties about these processes. We describe five major challenges in relation to application in fisheries......Application of environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has attracted the attention of researchers, advisors and managers of living marine resources and biodiversity. The apparent simplicity and cost-effectiveness of eDNA analysis make it highly attractive as species distributions can be revealed from...... assessment, where there is immediate need for knowledge building in marine systems, and point to apparent weaknesses of eDNA compared to established marine fisheries monitoring methods. We provide an overview of emerging applications of interest to fisheries management and point to recent technological...

  11. Current and future multimodal learning analytics data challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Spikol, Daniel; Prieto, Luis P.; Rodriguez-Triana, M.J.

    2017-01-01

    Multimodal Learning Analytics (MMLA) captures, integrates and analyzes learning traces from different sources in order to obtain a more holistic understanding of the learning process, wherever it happens. MMLA leverages the increasingly widespread availability of diverse sensors, high......-frequency data collection technologies and sophisticated machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. The aim of this workshop is twofold: first, to expose participants to, and develop, different multimodal datasets that reflect how MMLA can bring new insights and opportunities to investigate complex...... learning processes and environments; second, to collaboratively identify a set of grand challenges for further MMLA research, built upon the foundations of previous workshops on the topic....

  12. Physics and the canalization of morphogenesis: a grand challenge in organismal biology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Von Dassow, Michelangelo; Davidson, Lance A

    2011-01-01

    Morphogenesis takes place against a background of organism-to-organism and environmental variation. Therefore, fundamental questions in the study of morphogenesis include: How are the mechanical processes of tissue movement and deformation affected by that variability, and in turn, how do the mechanic of the system modulate phenotypic variation? We highlight a few key factors, including environmental temperature, embryo size and environmental chemistry that might perturb the mechanics of morphogenesis in natural populations. Then we discuss several ways in which mechanics—including feedback from mechanical cues—might influence intra-specific variation in morphogenesis. To understand morphogenesis it will be necessary to consider whole-organism, environment and evolutionary scales because these larger scales present the challenges that developmental mechanisms have evolved to cope with. Studying the variation organisms express and the variation organisms experience will aid in deciphering the causes of birth defects

  13. Piccolo tõi Soomest taas grand prix'

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2009-01-01

    Tänavuse Lappeenrantas toimunud rahvusvahelise suupillifestivali võistumängimisel osalesid suupilliklubi Piccolo orkester, kvartett ja noored solistid. Grand prix' ehk suure võidukarika pälvis Piccolo suupillikvartett koosseisus Ilmar Tõnisson, Andrus Haugas, Andres Kokk ja Elmar Trink. Noorte kategooria võitjaks tunnistati Martin Merevits, kolmandad kohad saavutasid Janek Sildvee bluusi- ja Eduard Einmann diatoonilise suupilli kategoorias

  14. Hilbert's Grand Hotel with a series twist

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wijeratne, Chanakya; Mamolo, Ami; Zazkis, Rina

    2014-08-01

    This paper presents a new twist on a familiar paradox, linking seemingly disparate ideas under one roof. Hilbert's Grand Hotel, a paradox which addresses infinite set comparisons is adapted and extended to incorporate ideas from calculus - namely infinite series. We present and resolve several variations, and invite the reader to explore his or her own variations.

  15. Rio Branco, grand strategy and naval power

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Paulo Alsina Jr.

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article addresses Baron of Rio Branco's grand strategy and the role played by the naval reorganization program (1904-1910 in this context. The ensuing case study determined the domestic and international constraints that affected the program, as well as the worldview of the patron of Brazilian diplomacy regarding military power's instrumentality to foreign policy.

  16. Middle Rio Grande Basin Research Report 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deborah M. Finch; Catherine Dold

    2008-01-01

    An ecosystem is rarely static. A natural system composed of plants, animals, and microorganisms interacting with an area's physical factors, an ecosystem is always fluctuating and evolving. But sometimes, often at the hands of humans, ecosystems change too much. Such is the case with many of the ecosystems of the Middle Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico.

  17. Impressionismo no Rio Grande do Sul: luz e sombras de Oscar Boeira = Impressionism in Rio Grande do Sul: light and shadows of Oscar Boeira

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa, Fernanda Soares da

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho busca traçar a trajetória do pintor gaúcho Oscar Boeira (1883-1943 no campo das artes plásticas no Rio Grande do Sul. Importante artista de sua época possui os maiores expoentes de sua carreira inspirados pela arte impressionista. Com obras inovadoras traz um olhar diferenciado e sensível, de relevância, a ser compreendido e estudado. Seu caminho nas artes, suas pinturas de paisagem e retrato, bem como seus desenhos traçam aspectos da sociedade rio-grandense do início do século XX, período este em que ocorrem transformações socioeconômicas significativas para a sociedade gaúcha, sendo que a arte carrega grande influencia de sua época e de seus indivíduos. Vida e obra de Boeira são trazidas para melhor compreendermos sua arte e sua atuação nesse campo. Sua forma de ser e de ver o mundo influencia não só em suas produções, nos reflete peculiaridades desta figura importante para as artes plásticas do Rio Grande do Sul, que até hoje pouco estudado, merece um olhar mais aprofundado em seu legado

  18. Relations of Brand Image Tocustomers Buying Decisionon Grand Inna Muara Hotel Padang

    OpenAIRE

    Zengga, Zengga; Chair, Ira Meirina; Abrian, Youmil

    2013-01-01

    This study aims to describe the relations between brand image to customers buying decision room in hotel grand inna muara padang. This study is a descriptive correlational study. The study population as many as 1694 consists of guest during stay on grand inna muara hotel padang. The descriptive analysis of the results showed that brand image categorized excellent (56%) and categorized quite good (33%). The descriptive analysis of the result results showed that customers buying decision categ...

  19. Herpetofauna of Núcleo Experimental de Iguaba Grande, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Martins, AR; Bruno, SF.; Navegantes, AQ.

    2012-01-01

    The Atlantic Rain forest, which is considered the second largest pluvial forest in the American continent, has had an estimated 93% of its original area destroyed. Although studies concerning the herpetofaunal diversity in this biome have been intensified in the past years, its diversity is still underestimated. The Nucleo Experimental de Iguaba Grande (NEIG) is included in an Environmental Protection Area (APA de Sapeatiba) in the Iguaba Grande municipality, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil (22º...

  20. Today's and future challenges in applications of renewable energy technologies for desalination

    KAUST Repository

    Goosen, Mattheus F A; Mahmoudi, Hacè ne; Ghaffour, NorEddine

    2013-01-01

    Recent trends and challenges in applications of renewable energy technologies for water desalination are critically reviewed with an emphasis on environmental concerns and sustainable development. After providing an overview of wind, wave, geothermal, and solar renewable energy technologies for fresh water production, hybrid systems are assessed. Then scale-up and economic factors are considered. This is followed with a section on regulatory factors, environmental concerns, and globalization, and a final segment on selecting the most suitable renewable energy technology for conventional and emerging desalination processes. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

  1. Today's and future challenges in applications of renewable energy technologies for desalination

    KAUST Repository

    Goosen, Mattheus F A

    2013-08-28

    Recent trends and challenges in applications of renewable energy technologies for water desalination are critically reviewed with an emphasis on environmental concerns and sustainable development. After providing an overview of wind, wave, geothermal, and solar renewable energy technologies for fresh water production, hybrid systems are assessed. Then scale-up and economic factors are considered. This is followed with a section on regulatory factors, environmental concerns, and globalization, and a final segment on selecting the most suitable renewable energy technology for conventional and emerging desalination processes. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

  2. Grand Gulf-prioritization of regulatory requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meisner, M.J.

    1993-01-01

    As cost pressures mount, Grand Gulf nuclear station (GGNS) is relying increasingly on various prioritization approaches to implement, modify, eliminate, or defer regulatory requirements. Regulatory requirements can be prioritized through the use of three measures: (1) safety (or risk) significance; (2) cost; and (3) public policy (or political) significance. This paper summarizes GGNS' efforts to implement solutions to regulatory issues using these three prioritization schemes to preserve a balance between cost and safety benefit

  3. A Grand Canonical Monte Carlo Molecular Study of a Weak Polyampholyte

    KAUST Repository

    Jimenez, Arturo Martinez

    2016-05-01

    Over the last few decades, there has been an increasing interest in the study of charged polymers for applications such as desalination of water, flocculation, sewage treatment, and enhanced oil recovery. Polyelectrolyte chains containing both positively and negatively charged units (polyampholytes) have been recently studied as viscosity-control agents in enhanced oil recovery, and as entrapping macromolecules for protection and delayed release of enzymes in hydraulic fracturing. In this study we performed Monte Carlo molecular simulations in a grand canonical ensemble to study the behavior of a weak polyampholyte in a dilute regime. Weak polyampholytes have the ability to dissociate in a limited pH, which makes them interesting for applications that require a pH-triggerable response. The titration behaviors of diblock and random polyampholytes are simulated as a function of solvent quality, electrostatic strength, and salt concentration. For diblock polyampholyte chains in hydrophobic solvents, transition between tadpole-like and globule conformation occurs with variations in the solution pH. Random polyampholytes present extended, globule, and pearl-necklace conformations at different solvent conditions and pH values. At high ionic strength, electrostatic interactions in the polyampholytes become screened and the chains are mostly in globule state.

  4. Comment on “Apatite 4He/3He and (U-Th)/He Evidence for an Ancient Grand Canyon”

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlstrom, Karl E.; Lee, John P.; Kelley, Shari A.; Crow, Ryan S.; Young, Richard A.; Lucchitta, Ivo; Beard, L. Sue; Dorsey, Rebecca; Ricketts, Jason; Dickinson, William R.; Crossey, Laura

    2013-01-01

    Flowers and Farley (Reports, 21 December 2012, p. 1616; published online 29 November 2012) propose that the Grand Canyon is 70 million years old. Starkly contrasting models for the age of the Grand Canyon—70 versus 6 million years—can be reconciled by a shallow paleocanyon that was carved in the eastern Grand Canyon 25 to 15 million years ago (Ma), negating the proposed 70 Ma and 55 Ma paleocanyons. Cooling models and geologic data are most consistent with a 5 to 6 Ma age for western Grand Canyon and Marble Canyon.

  5. Exórdio para o estudo da pedagogia libertária em Rio Grande

    OpenAIRE

    Vargas, Francisco Furtado Gomes Riet

    2007-01-01

    Aborda a História da Pedagogia Libertária e suas implicações práticas com ênfase ao Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, no Brasil. It approaches the History of Libertarian Pedagogy and its practical implications with emphasis to the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil.

  6. Leveraging this Golden Age of Remote Sensing and Modeling of Terrestrial Hydrology to Understand Water Cycling in the Water Availability Grand Challenge for North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Painter, T. H.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Stephens, G. L.

    2016-12-01

    We live in a time of increasing strains on our global fresh water availability due to increasing population, warming climate, changes in precipitation, and extensive depletion of groundwater supplies. At the same time, we have seen enormous growth in capabilities to remotely sense the regional to global water cycle and model complex systems with physically based frameworks. The GEWEX Water Availability Grand Challenge for North America is poised to leverage this convergence of remote sensing and modeling capabilities to answer fundamental questions on the water cycle. In particular, we envision an experiment that targets the complex and resource-critical Western US from California to just into the Great Plains, constraining physically-based hydrologic modeling with the US and international remote sensing capabilities. In particular, the last decade has seen the implementation or soon-to-be launch of water cycle missions such as GRACE and GRACE-FO for groundwater, SMAP for soil moisture, GPM for precipitation, SWOT for terrestrial surface water, and the Airborne Snow Observatory for snowpack. With the advent of convection-resolving mesoscale climate and water cycle modeling (e.g. WRF, WRF-Hydro) and mesoscale models capable of quantitative assimilation of remotely sensed data (e.g. the JPL Western States Water Mission), we can now begin to test hypotheses on the nature and changes in the water cycle of the Western US from a physical standpoint. In turn, by fusing water cycle science, water management, and ecosystem management while addressing these hypotheses, this golden age of remote sensing and modeling can bring all fields into a markedly less uncertain state of present knowledge and decadal scale forecasts.

  7. History of mesquite introduction in Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Paulo Silva dos Santos

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The mesquite (Prosopis juliflora (Sw DC was established as a successful action of xerophilous introduction in Brazilian Northeast dry region. Its fruits are used in animal feed and the wood may be used as piles, firewood and charcoal. The species was introduced in 1942, spreading in "low areas" in Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Bahia and Piauí States. This article aims to elucidate how mesquite was introduced in Rio Grande do Norte State and to understand how it was spread. It was first introduced in Rio Grande do Norte State by the introduction experiments installed at São Miguel farm in the municipality of Angicos. The enthusiasm of technicians and researchers promoted the distribution of pods and seedlings on farms and cities in the state. In addition, there were government incentives to production, distribution and planting the species. This work aims to establish considerations to be used as historical basis on studies about this species and to consider aspects regarding current situation of this culture in Brazilian Northeast.

  8. Eesti nukufilm sai järjekordse grand prix

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2005-01-01

    XII Rahvusvaheline animafilmifestival "KROK-2005", mis toimus laeval, mis sõitis Kiievist Odessasse. Rao Heidmets ja Hardi Volmer said festivali karnevalil oma jänese kostüümi eest grand prix. Eesti filmidest olid programmis "Karl ja Marilyn", "Frank ja Wendy", "Barbarid", "Laud" ja "Conkistadoor"

  9. Grande Ronde Basin Supplementation Program; Lostine River, 2000 Annual Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Onjukka, Sam T. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland, OR); Harbeck, Jim (Nez Perce Tribe, Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Enterprise, OR)

    2003-03-01

    The Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) identified supplementation as a high priority to achieve its goal of increasing runs of anadromous fish in the Columbia Basin. Supplementation activities in the Lostine River and associated monitoring and evaluation conducted by the Nez Perce Tribe relate directly to the needs addressed in the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC 1994). Measure 7.4L.1 of the Program mandates that appropriate research accompany any proposed supplementation. In addition, measure 7.3B.2 of the Program stresses the need for evaluating supplementation projects to assess their ability to increase production. Finally, Section 7.4D.3 encourages the study of hatchery rearing and release strategies to improve survival and adaptation of cultured fish. In 1997, Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (ODFW) requested a modification of Permit 1011 to allow the take of adult spring chinook salmon. In 1998, the Nez Perce Tribe also requested a permit specific to activities on Lostine River. The permit was issued in 2000. A special condition in the permits required the development of a long term management plan for the spring chinook salmon of the Grande Ronde Basin. The Nez Perce Tribe, ODFW, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) completed a formal long range plan entitled ''Grande Ronde Basin Endemic Spring Chinook Salmon Supplementation Program''. The program proposes to increase the survival of spring chinook salmon in the Grand Ronde Basin through hatchery intervention. Adult salmon from the Lostine River, Catherine Creek, and the Upper Grande Ronde River are used for a conventional supplementation program in the basin. The Nez Perce program currently operates under the ESA Section 10 Permit 1149.

  10. Grande Ronde Basin Supplementation Program; Lostine River, 2001 Annual Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Onjukka, Sam T. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland, OR); Harbeck, Jim (Nez Perce Tribe, Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Enterprise, OR)

    2003-03-01

    The Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) identified supplementation as a high priority to achieve its goal of increasing runs of anadromous fish in the Columbia Basin. Supplementation activities in the Lostine River and associated monitoring and evaluation conducted by the Nez Perce Tribe relate directly to the needs addressed in the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC 1994). Measure 7.4L.1 of the Program mandates that appropriate research accompany any proposed supplementation. In addition, measure 7.3B.2 of the Program stresses the need for evaluating supplementation projects to assess their ability to increase production. Finally, Section 7.4D.3 encourages the study of hatchery rearing and release strategies to improve survival and adaptation of cultured fish. In 1997, Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (ODFW) requested a modification of Permit 1011 to allow the take of adult spring chinook salmon. In 1998, the Nez Perce Tribe also requested a permit specific to activities on Lostine River. The permit was issued in 2000. A special condition in the permits required the development of a long term management plan for the spring chinook salmon of the Grande Ronde Basin. The Nez Perce Tribe, ODFW, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) completed a formal long range plan entitled ''Grande Ronde Basin Endemic Spring Chinook Salmon Supplementation Program''. The program proposes to increase the survival of spring chinook salmon in the Grand Ronde Basin through hatchery intervention. Adult salmon from the Lostine River, Catherine Creek, and the Upper Grande Ronde River are used for a conventional supplementation program in the basin. The Nez Perce program currently operates under the ESA Section 10 Permit 1149.

  11. Multiferroic oxide thin films and heterostructures

    KAUST Repository

    Lu, Chengliang; Hu, Weijin; Tian, Yufeng; Wu, Tao

    2015-01-01

    Multiferroic materials promise a tantalizing perspective of novel applications in next-generation electronic, memory, and energy harvesting technologies, and at the same time they also represent a grand scientific challenge on understanding complex

  12. Prospects and challenges for urban application of biogas installations in Sub-Saharan Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gebreegziabher, Zenebe; Naik, Linus; Melamu, Rethabile; Balana, Bedru Babulo

    2014-01-01

    Cities around the world generate substantial quantities of municipal solid waste, including organic residues. These organic residues can be managed productively and given value, or they can simply be wasted. Municipal solid waste management is a serious environmental and public health concern in developing countries. In addition, collecting, transporting and disposing of municipal solid wastes presents formidable challenges to many developing country cities. It is believed that the problems are likely to become even more pronounced as the level and pace of urbanization continue to grow rapidly. Moreover, cost recovery is a serious problem of municipal solid waste management in many cities in the developing world. This paper considers how anaerobic digestion can give value to organic residues and help reduce the problem of municipal waste management. Biogas technology has the potential to work for the growing urban populations of Africa as both an energy source and a waste management (minimization) tool that can be utilized both at a small or large scale. In this paper we review the potential roles of biogas in urban applications. Specifically, we review organic waste treatment methods as well as opportunities and challenges for urban application of biogas installations and identify the critical conditions for success of biogas in urban applications. - Highlights: • We review the potential of biogas technologies in urban organic waste management. • We discuss anaerobic digestion for urban waste treatment and energy provision. • Urban biogas systems need technical, socioeconomic and environmental assessment. • Climatic, economic and biowaste conditions in SSA provide opportunities for biogas. • Research in local contexts and case studies provide evidence to support policy

  13. Evaluation and comparison of 3D intervertebral disc localization and segmentation methods for 3D T2 MR data: A grand challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Guoyan; Chu, Chengwen; Belavý, Daniel L; Ibragimov, Bulat; Korez, Robert; Vrtovec, Tomaž; Hutt, Hugo; Everson, Richard; Meakin, Judith; Andrade, Isabel Lŏpez; Glocker, Ben; Chen, Hao; Dou, Qi; Heng, Pheng-Ann; Wang, Chunliang; Forsberg, Daniel; Neubert, Aleš; Fripp, Jurgen; Urschler, Martin; Stern, Darko; Wimmer, Maria; Novikov, Alexey A; Cheng, Hui; Armbrecht, Gabriele; Felsenberg, Dieter; Li, Shuo

    2017-01-01

    The evaluation of changes in Intervertebral Discs (IVDs) with 3D Magnetic Resonance (MR) Imaging (MRI) can be of interest for many clinical applications. This paper presents the evaluation of both IVD localization and IVD segmentation methods submitted to the Automatic 3D MRI IVD Localization and Segmentation challenge, held at the 2015 International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI2015) with an on-site competition. With the construction of a manually annotated reference data set composed of 25 3D T2-weighted MR images acquired from two different studies and the establishment of a standard validation framework, quantitative evaluation was performed to compare the results of methods submitted to the challenge. Experimental results show that overall the best localization method achieves a mean localization distance of 0.8 mm and the best segmentation method achieves a mean Dice of 91.8%, a mean average absolute distance of 1.1 mm and a mean Hausdorff distance of 4.3 mm, respectively. The strengths and drawbacks of each method are discussed, which provides insights into the performance of different IVD localization and segmentation methods. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Completion of the uranium mill tailings remedial project and cleanup of the former mill site at Grand Junction, Colorado

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rael, G.J.; Cox, S.W.; Artiglia, E.W.

    2000-01-01

    The United States Department of Energy's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Surface Project has successfully completed the cleanup of 22 former uranium mill sites, more than 5400 vicinity properties, and has constructed 18 entombment cells. The Project has recently received the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval and certification for the last two disposal sites, with these sites being placed under the general license for long term custodial care of residual radioactive material. The UMTRA site located at Grand Junction, Colorado is a good example of the technical, political, economic, and public relations challenges that were overcome in achieving success. The UMTRA Team discussed, negotiated, planned, and eventually acted on this uranium mill tailings problem and brought the project to a successful conclusion for the community. From the early 1940s through the 1970s, uranium ore was mined in significant quantities under United States federal contracts for the government's national defence programmes, i.e. the Manhattan Engineering District and Atomic Energy Commission programmes. The problem started as the need for uranium decreased in the late 1960s, resulting in mills shutting down, leaving behind large quantities of process waste tailings and contaminated mill buildings. The former Climax Uranium Company mill site in Grand Junction was one of the largest of these sites. (author)

  15. A GRAND PLAN FOR EARTH LOVE EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    cognition. From this doubtful synthesis, the researcher appears to have constructed a grand theory of how the world without ... problem here is that all of the students (English. Xhosa and ..... accompanying 'earthy music' will contrihute to.

  16. 75 FR 10308 - Fire Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Record of Decision, Grand Canyon...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Fire Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact... Statement for the Fire Management Plan, Grand Canyon National Park. SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National... the Record of Decision for the Fire Management Plan, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. On January...

  17. France's grandes écoles accused of elitism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellemans, Alexander

    2010-02-01

    Physicists in France have backed government plans to open up the country's elite grandes écoles to more students from poorer backgrounds. The government wants to allow up to 30% of students to be given free scholarships in an attempt to broaden the social mix of the student body. The physicists say this would not lead to a lowering of standards.

  18. La masa de los grandes impactores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parisi, M. G.; Brunini, A.

    Los planetas han sido formados fundamentalmente acretando masa a través de colisiones con planetesimales sólidos. La masa más grande de la distribución de planetesimales y las masas máxima y mínima de los impactores, han sido calculadas usando los valores actuales del período y de la inclinación de los planetas (Lissauer & Safronov 1991; Parisi & Brunini 1996). Recientes investigaciones han mostrado, que las órbitas de los planetas gigantes no han sufrido variaciones con el tiempo, siendo su movimiento regular durante su evolución a partir de la finalización de la etapa de acreción (Laskar 1990, 1994). Por lo tanto, la eccentricidad actual de los planetas gigantes se puede utilizar para imponer una cota máxima a las masas y velocidades orbitales de los grandes impactores. Mediante un simple modelo dinámico, y considerando lo arriba mencionado, obtenemos la cota superior para la masa del planetesimal más grande que impactó a cada planeta gigante al final de su etapa de acreción. El resultado más importante de este trabajo es la estimación de la masa máxima permitida para impactar a Júpiter, la cúal es ~ 1.136 × 10 -1, siendo en el caso de Neptuno ~ 3.99 × 10 -2 (expresada en unidades de la masa final de cada planeta). Además, fue posible obtener la velocidad orbital máxima permitida para los impactores como una función de su masa, para cada planeta. Las cotas obtenidas para la masa y velocidad de los impactores de Saturno y Urano (en unidades de la masa y velocidad final de cada planeta respectivamente) son casi las mismas que las obtenidas para Júpiter debido a que estos tres planetas poseen similar eccentricidad actual. Nuestros resultados están en buen acuerdo con los obtenidos por Lissauer & Safronov (1991). Estas cotas podrían ser utilizadas para obtener la distribución de planetesimales en el Sistema Solar primitivo.

  19. Jean-Philippe Costes, Les subversifs hollywoodiens. L’esprit critique du cinéma grand public

    OpenAIRE

    Dubois, François-Ronan

    2015-01-01

    À l’idée largement répandue que le cinéma grand public produit dans les studios d’Hollywood représente une machine de propagande étasunienne ou, à tout le moins, capitaliste, Jean-Philippe Costes entend opposer une lecture à contre-courant d’un corpus cinématographique fait de grands classiques et de grands oubliés. Hollywood, à ses yeux, ne saurait se réduire au véhicule médiatique d’une idéologie uniforme et oppressive qui serait, au gré des analyses, celle du capital, du patriotisme améric...

  20. O "abrasileiramento" das associações esportivas de Teutônia/Estrela no Rio Grande do Sul The "abrasileiramento" of the sports associations from Teutônia/Estrela in Rio Grande do Sul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cecília Elisa Kilpp

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available As associações esportivas teuto-brasileiras de Teutônia/Estrela no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul sofreram o processo de abrasileiramento no período da Primeira Guerra Mundial (1914-1918 e da Segunda Grande Guerra (1939-1945. Este artigo objetivou identificar os conflitos de identidades culturais nas associações esportivas de Teutônia/Estrela desencadeados pelas ações nacionalizadoras conduzidas pelos interventores do Estado Rio Grande do Sul no período das grandes guerras mundiais. As fontes históricas consultadas revelaram que a prática de esportes tradicionais nas associações teuto-brasileiras enfraqueceu, como no caso do bolão, ao mesmo tempo que outros esportes foram incorporados, principalmente o futebol. A adesão a esta nova prática esportiva significa um movimento na direção do processo de integração às ações nacionalizadoras.The German-Brazilian sport associations of Teutônia/Estrela in the State of Rio Grande do Sul suffered the process of abrasileiramento in the period of the World War I (1914-1918 and of the World War II (1939-1945. This article aimed to identify the conflicts of cultural identities in the sport associations of Teutônia/Estrela developed by the nationalization actions leaded by the intervenors of the Rio Grande do Sul State in the period of the great world wars. Historical sources revealed that the practice of traditional sports in the German-Brazilian sport associations weakened, asthe bolão, while other sports were incorporated, mainly the soccer. The adhesion to this new sport means a movement in the direction of the process of integration in the nationalization actions.

  1. REALISMO E TRANSCENDÊNCIA: O MAPA DAS MINAS DO GRANDE SERTAO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francis Utéza

    1998-10-01

    Full Text Available Guimarães Rosa insistiu sempre sobre o valor metafísico e religioso de seus escritos. Com base nas chaves que Rosa daria no seu discursode posse na Academia - o Hermetismo da tradição ocidental e o Taoísmo da tradição oriemal, pretende-se analisar o percurso do protagonista de Grande sertão: veredas em função dos três grandes rios de Minas: o São Francisco, o Rio das Velhas e Urucuia. Para além da geografia"realista", decripta-se o substrato transcendental.

  2. Necessity of intermediate mass scales in grand unified theories with spontaneously broken CP invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Senjanovic, G.

    1982-07-01

    It is demonstrated that the spontaneous breakdown of CP invariance in grand unified theories requires the presence of intermediate mass scales. The simplest realization is provided by weakly broken left-right symmetry in the context of SU(2)sub(L) x SU(2)sub(R) x U(1)sub(B-L) model embedded in grand unified theories. (author)

  3. Grand-design Spiral Arms in a Young Forming Circumstellar Disk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tomida, Kengo; Lin, Chia Hui [Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043 (Japan); Machida, Masahiro N. [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Hosokawa, Takashi [Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Sakurai, Yuya, E-mail: tomida@vega.ess.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp [Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)

    2017-01-20

    We study formation and long-term evolution of a circumstellar disk in a collapsing molecular cloud core using a resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulation. While the formed circumstellar disk is initially small, it grows as accretion continues, and its radius becomes as large as 200 au toward the end of the Class-I phase. A pair of grand-design spiral arms form due to gravitational instability in the disk, and they transfer angular momentum in the highly resistive disk. Although the spiral arms disappear in a few rotations as expected in a classical theory, new spiral arms form recurrently as the disk, soon becoming unstable again by gas accretion. Such recurrent spiral arms persist throughout the Class-0 and I phases. We then perform synthetic observations and compare our model with a recent high-resolution observation of a young stellar object Elias 2–27, whose circumstellar disk has grand-design spiral arms. We find good agreement between our theoretical model and the observation. Our model suggests that the grand-design spiral arms around Elias 2–27 are consistent with material arms formed by gravitational instability. If such spiral arms commonly exist in young circumstellar disks, it implies that young circumstellar disks are considerably massive and gravitational instability is the key process of angular momentum transport.

  4. Grand-design Spiral Arms in a Young Forming Circumstellar Disk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tomida, Kengo; Lin, Chia Hui; Machida, Masahiro N.; Hosokawa, Takashi; Sakurai, Yuya

    2017-01-01

    We study formation and long-term evolution of a circumstellar disk in a collapsing molecular cloud core using a resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulation. While the formed circumstellar disk is initially small, it grows as accretion continues, and its radius becomes as large as 200 au toward the end of the Class-I phase. A pair of grand-design spiral arms form due to gravitational instability in the disk, and they transfer angular momentum in the highly resistive disk. Although the spiral arms disappear in a few rotations as expected in a classical theory, new spiral arms form recurrently as the disk, soon becoming unstable again by gas accretion. Such recurrent spiral arms persist throughout the Class-0 and I phases. We then perform synthetic observations and compare our model with a recent high-resolution observation of a young stellar object Elias 2–27, whose circumstellar disk has grand-design spiral arms. We find good agreement between our theoretical model and the observation. Our model suggests that the grand-design spiral arms around Elias 2–27 are consistent with material arms formed by gravitational instability. If such spiral arms commonly exist in young circumstellar disks, it implies that young circumstellar disks are considerably massive and gravitational instability is the key process of angular momentum transport.

  5. A grand-canonical ensemble of randomly triangulated surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jurkiewicz, J.; Krzywicki, A.; Petersson, B.

    1986-01-01

    An algorithm is presented generating the grand-canonical ensemble of discrete, randomly triangulated Polyakov surfaces. The algorithm is used to calculate the susceptibility exponent, which controls the existence of the continuum limit of the considered model, for the dimensionality of the embedding space ranging from 0 to 20. (orig.)

  6. Single-beam bathymetry data collected in 2015 from Grand Bay, Alabama-Mississippi

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A.; Smith, Christopher G.; Locker, Stanley D.; Fredericks, Jake J.; McCloskey, Terrence A.; Wheaton, Cathryn J.

    2017-12-01

    As part of the Sea-level and Storm Impacts on Estuarine Environments and Shorelines (SSIEES) project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a single-beam bathymetry survey within the estuarine, open-bay, and tidal creek environments of Grand Bay, Alabama-Mississippi, from May to June 2015. The goal of the SSIEES project is to assess the physical controls of sediment and material exchange between wetlands and estuarine environments along the northern Gulf of Mexico, specifically Grand Bay, Alabama-Mississippi; Vermilion Bay, Louisiana; and, along the east coast, within Chincoteague Bay, Virginia-Maryland. The data described in this report provide baseline bathymetric information for future research investigating wetland-marsh evolution, sediment transport, erosion, recent and long-term geomorphic change, and can also support the modeling of changes in response to restoration and storm impacts. The survey area encompasses more than 40 square kilometers of Grand Bay’s waters.

  7. Elastoplasticidad anisotropa de metales en grandes deformaciones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caminero Torija, Miguel Angel

    El objetivo de este trabajo es el desarrollo de modelos y algoritmos numericos que simulen el comportamiento del material bajo estas condiciones en el contexto de programas de elementos finitos, dando como resultado predicciones mas precisas de los procesos de conformado y deformacion plastica en general. Para lograr este objetivo se han desarrollado diversas tareas destinadas a mejorar las predicciones en tres aspectos fundamentales. El primer aspecto consiste en la mejora de la descripcion del endurecimiento cinematico anisotropo en pequenas deformaciones, lo cual se ha realizado a traves de modelos y algoritmos implicitos de superficies multiples. Ha sido estudiada la consistencia de este tipo de modelos tanto si estan basados en una regla implicita similar a la de Mroz o en la regla de Prager. Ademas se han simulado los ensayos de Lamba y Sidebottom, obteniendo, en contra de la creencia general, muy buenas predicciones con la regla de Prager. Dichos modelos podrian ser extendidos de forma relativamente facil para considerar grandes deformaciones a traves de procedimientos en deformaciones logaritmicas, similares a los desarrollados en esta tesis y detallados a continuacion. El segundo aspecto consiste en la descripcion de la anisotropia elastoplastica inicial. Esto se ha conseguido mediante el desarrollo de modelos y algoritmos para plasticidad anisotropa en grandes deformaciones, bien ignorando la posible anisotropia elastica, bien considerandola simultaneamente con la anisotropia plastica. Para ello ha sido necesario desarrollar primero un nuevo algoritmo de elastoplasticidad anisotropa en pequenas deformaciones consistentemente linealizado y sin despreciar ningun termino, de tal forma que se conserve la convergencia cuadratica de los metodos de Newton. Este algoritmo en pequenas deformaciones ha servido para realizar la correccion plastica de dos algoritmos en grandes deformaciones. El primero de estos algoritmos es una variacion del clasico algoritmo de

  8. Microwave Photonics: current challenges towards widespread application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capmany, José; Li, Guifang; Lim, Christina; Yao, Jianping

    2013-09-23

    Microwave Photonics, a symbiotic field of research that brings together the worlds of optics and radio frequency is currently facing several challenges in its transition from a niche to a truly widespread technology essential to support the ever-increasing values for speed, bandwidth, processing capability and dynamic range that will be required in next generation hybrid access networks. We outline these challenges, which are the subject of the contributions to this focus issue.

  9. Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement Project, Annual Report 2002-2003.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McGowan, Vance

    2003-08-01

    On July 1, 1984 the Bonneville Power Administration and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife entered into an agreement to initiate fish habitat enhancement work in the Joseph Creek subbasin of the Grande Ronde River Basin in northeast Oregon. In July of 1985 the Upper and Middle Grande Ronde River, and Catherine Creek subbasins were included in the intergovernmental contract, and on March 1, 1996 the Wallowa River subbasin was added. The primary goal of 'The Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement Project' is to create, protect, and restore riparian and instream habitat for anadromous salmonids, thereby maximizing opportunities for natural fish production within the basin. This project provided for implementation of Program Measure 703 (C)(1), Action Item 4.2 of the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC, 1987), and continues to be implemented as offsite mitigation for mainstem fishery losses caused by the Columbia River hydro-electric system. All work conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is on private lands and therefore requires that considerable time be spent developing rapport with landowners to gain acceptance of, and continued cooperation with this program throughout 10-15 year lease periods. This project calls for passive regeneration of habitat, using riparian exclosure fencing as the primary method to restore degraded streams to a normative condition. Active remediation techniques using plantings, off-site water developments, site-specific instream structures, or whole channel alterations are also utilized where applicable. Individual projects contribute to and complement ecosystem and basin-wide watershed restoration efforts that are underway by state, federal, and tribal agencies, and local watershed councils. Work undertaken during 2002 included: (1) Implementing 1 new fencing project in the Wallowa subbasin that will protect an additional 0.95 miles of stream

  10. Psicodinâmica da violência de grandes grupos e da violência de massas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vamik D. Volkan

    Full Text Available A partir de Freud, as teorias psicanalistas sobre grandes grupos focalizam, principalmente, as percepções e os significados que, psicologicamente, os indivíduos atribuem a eles. Este texto analisa alguns aspectos sobre a psicologia dos grandes grupos e sua psicodinâmica interna e específica. Toma como referência grupos étnicos, nacionais, religiosos e ideológicos cujo pertencimento dos sujeitos iniciou-se na infância. O autor faz uma comparação entre o processo de luto em indivíduos e o processo de luto em grandes grupos para ilustrar por que é necessário investir no conhecimento da psicologia destes últimos como um objeto específico. O autor descreve, ainda, sinais e sintomas de regressão em grandes grupos. Quando há ameaça à identidade coletiva, pode ocorrer um processo de violência de massas que obviamente influencia a saúde pública.

  11. Constructed Wetlands for Treatment of Combined Sewer Overflow in the US: A Review of Design Challenges and Application Status

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wendong Tao

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available As combined sewer systems and centralized wastewater treatment facilities age, many communities in the world are challenged by management of combined sewer overflow (CSO. Constructed wetlands are considered to be one of the green infrastructure solutions to CSOs in the US. Despite the wide application of constructed wetlands to different types of wastewaters, the stochastic and intermittent nature of CSO presents challenges for design and performance assessment of constructed wetlands. This paper reviews the application status of CSO constructed wetlands in the US, assesses the benefits of CSO constructed wetlands, identifies challenges to designing CSO constructed wetlands, and proposes design considerations. This review finds that constructed wetlands are effective in CSO treatment and relatively less expensive to build than comparable grey infrastructure. Constructed wetlands not only remove pollutants, but also mitigate the event-associated flow regime. The design challenges include incorporating considerations of green infrastructure into permit requirements, determining design capacity for highly variable flows, requiring pretreatment, and needing adaptive design and intensive monitoring. Simultaneous monitoring of flow rate and water quality at both the inflow and outflow of CSO constructed wetlands is required for performance assessment and needed to support design, but is rarely available.

  12. Opportunities and Challenges in Application of Forward Osmosis in Food Processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rastogi, Navin K

    2016-01-01

    Food processing and preservation technologies must maintain the fresh-like characteristics of food while providing an acceptable and convenient shelf life as well as assuring safety and nutritional value. Besides, the consumers' demand for the highest quality convenience foods in terms of natural flavor and taste, free from additives and preservatives necessitated the development of a number of membrane-based non-thermal approaches to the concentration of liquid foods, of which forward osmosis has proven to be the most valuable one. A series of recent publications in scientific journals have demonstrated novel and diverse uses of this technology for food processing, desalination, pharmaceuticals as well as for power generation. Its novel features, which include the concentration of liquid foods at ambient temperature and pressure without significant fouling of membrane, made the technology commercially attractive. This review aims to identify the opportunities and challenges associated with this technology. At the same time, it presents a comprehensive account of recent advances in forward osmosis technology as related to the major issues of concern in its rapidly growing applications in food processing such as concentration of fruit and vegetable juices (grape, pineapple, red raspberry, orange, and tomato juice and red radish juice) and natural food colorants (anthocyanin and betalains extracts). Several vibrant and vital issues such as recent developments in the forward osmosis membrane and concentration polarization aspects have been also addressed. The asymmetric membrane used for forward osmosis poses newer challenges to account both external and internal concentration polarization leading to significant reduction in flux. The recent advances and developments in forward osmosis membrane processes, mechanism of water transport, characteristics of draw solution and membranes as well as applications of forward osmosis in food processing have been discussed.

  13. Grand unification: quo vadis domine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Senjanovic, G.

    1985-01-01

    The present theoretical and experimental situation with grand unification is summarized. The issues of proton decay and the Weinberg angle are addressed, going through the predictions of both the standard SU(5) theory and its supersymmetric extension. The SO(10) theory, which provides a minimal one family model, is then studied. The gravitational characteristics of domain walls and strings are then discussed. It is argued that there is a need to go beyond SO(10) in order to incorporate a unified picture of families. This leads to the prediction of mirror fermions, whose physics is analyzed. 31 refs

  14. L'aventure du grand collisionneur LHC du big bang au boson de Higgs

    CERN Document Server

    Denegri, Daniel; Hoecker, Andreas; Roos, Lydia; Rubbia, Carlo

    2014-01-01

    Qu'est-ce que la physique des particules élémentaires, le LHC, et le boson de Higgs ? Ce livre présente de manière simple le monde des quarks, des leptons et de leurs interactions, gouvernées par des symétries fondamentales de la nature, ainsi que le lien entre ce monde de l'infiniment petit et celui de l'infiniment grand. Cette conjonction entre la physique des particules élémentaires et l'évolution de la matière dans les premiers instants de l Univers qui ont suivi le Big-Bang est un des plus beaux acquis de la science de ces cinquante dernières années. Après une description du cadre théorique, le modèle standard, et de son élaboration durant la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, l'accent est mis sur ses grands succès expérimentaux, mais aussi sur ses faiblesses ou insuffisances telles que nous les percevons aujourd'hui. La passionnante histoire du grand collisionneur de hadrons du CERN, le LHC, le plus grand projet purement scientifique jamais réalisé, est présentée à la fois sous ses...

  15. CTUIR Grande Ronde River Watershed Restoration Program McCoy Creek/McIntyre Creek Road Crossing, 1995-1999 Progress Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Childs, Allen B.

    2000-08-01

    The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) entered into a contract agreement beginning in 1996 to fund watershed restoration and enhancement actions and contribute to recovery of fish and wildlife resources and water quality in the Grande Ronde River Basin. The CTUIR's habitat program is closely coordinated with the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program and multiple agencies and organizations within the basin. The CTUIR has focused during the past 4 years in the upper portions of the Grande Ronde Subbasin (upstream of LaGrande, Oregon) on several major project areas in the Meadow, McCoy, and McIntyre Creek watersheds and along the mainstem Grande Ronde River. This Annual Report provides an overview of individual projects and accomplishments.

  16. 75 FR 23676 - Solicitation of Applications for the i6 Challenge Under EDA's Economic Adjustment Assistance Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-04

    ... increase and accelerate technology commercialization in regions across the United States. Applicants are... or entity, including, but not limited to, entrepreneurs, universities, SBIR Grantees, foundations, or... government agencies; A clear understanding of the challenges facing the region's entrepreneurs and innovators...

  17. Survey of past base isolation applications in nuclear power plants and challenges to industry/regulatory acceptance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malushte, S.R.; Whittaker, A.S.

    2005-01-01

    Seismic base isolation provides many benefits that can facilitate the standardization of future nuclear power plant structures and equipment while reducing the initial/life-cycle cost and construction schedule. This paper presents a survey of past seismic base isolation applications and studies related to nuclear applications and provides a discussion of the challenges that need to be overcome to gain industry and regulatory acceptance for deployment in future US nuclear power plants. Issues related to design, codes/standards/regulations, procurement, and construction, have been identified. (authors)

  18. Flexible Environments for Grand-Challenge Simulation in Climate Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierrehumbert, R.; Tobis, M.; Lin, J.; Dieterich, C.; Caballero, R.

    2004-12-01

    Current climate models are monolithic codes, generally in Fortran, aimed at high-performance simulation of the modern climate. Though they adequately serve their designated purpose, they present major barriers to application in other problems. Tailoring them to paleoclimate of planetary simulations, for instance, takes months of work. Theoretical studies, where one may want to remove selected processes or break feedback loops, are similarly hindered. Further, current climate models are of little value in education, since the implementation of textbook concepts and equations in the code is obscured by technical detail. The Climate Systems Center at the University of Chicago seeks to overcome these limitations by bringing modern object-oriented design into the business of climate modeling. Our ultimate goal is to produce an end-to-end modeling environment capable of configuring anything from a simple single-column radiative-convective model to a full 3-D coupled climate model using a uniform, flexible interface. Technically, the modeling environment is implemented as a Python-based software component toolkit: key number-crunching procedures are implemented as discrete, compiled-language components 'glued' together and co-ordinated by Python, combining the high performance of compiled languages and the flexibility and extensibility of Python. We are incrementally working towards this final objective following a series of distinct, complementary lines. We will present an overview of these activities, including PyOM, a Python-based finite-difference ocean model allowing run-time selection of different Arakawa grids and physical parameterizations; CliMT, an atmospheric modeling toolkit providing a library of 'legacy' radiative, convective and dynamical modules which can be knitted into dynamical models, and PyCCSM, a version of NCAR's Community Climate System Model in which the coupler and run-control architecture are re-implemented in Python, augmenting its flexibility

  19. The impact of a simulated grand tour on sleep, mood, and well-being of competitive cyclists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lastella, M; Roach, G D; Halson, S L; Martin, D T; West, N P; Sargent, C

    2015-12-01

    Professional cycling is considered one of the most demanding of all endurance sports. The three major professional cycling stages races (i.e. Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España) require cyclists to compete daily covering between ~150-200 km for three consecutive weeks. Anecdotal evidence indicates that such an event has a significant effect on the sleep, mood, and general well-being of cyclists, particularly during the latter stages of the event. The primary aim of this study was to simulate a grand tour and determine the impact a grand tour has on the sleep, mood, and general well-being of competitive cyclists. Twenty-one male cyclists (M±SD, age 22.2±2.7 years) were examined for 39 days across three phases (i.e. baseline, simulated grand tour, and recovery). Sleep was assessed using sleep diaries and wrist activity monitors. Mood and general well-being were assessed using the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) and Visual Analogue Scales (VAS). The amount and quality of sleep as assessed by the wrist activity monitors declined during the simulated grand tour. In contrast, self-reported sleep quality improved throughout the study. Cyclists' mood and general well-being as indicated by vigour, motivation, physical and mental state declined during the simulated tour. Future investigations should examine sleep, mood and well-being during an actual grand tour. Such data could prove instrumental toward understanding the sleep and psychological changes that occur during a grand tour.

  20. Spatial and seasonal variations of the contamination within water body of the Grand Canal, China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wang, X.L.; Han, Jingyi; Xu, L.G.; Zhang, Q.

    2010-01-01

    To delineate the character of contaminations in the Grand Canal, China, a three-year study (2004-2006) was conducted to investigate variations the water quality in the canal. Results showed that the variation of water quality within the Grand Canal was of there is remarkable spatial and seasonal

  1. Shape-Enhanced Photocatalytic Activities of Thoroughly Mesoporous ZnO Nanofibers

    KAUST Repository

    Ren, Xiaolong; Hou, Huilin; Liu, Zhixiong; Gao, Fengmei; Zheng, Jinju; Wang, Lin; Li, Wenge; Ying, Pengzhan; Yang, Weiyou; Wu, Tao

    2016-01-01

    1D mesoporous materials have attracted extensive interest recently, owning to their fascinating properties and versatile applications. However, it remains as a grand challenge to develop a simple and efficient technique to produce oxide nanofibers

  2. Evaluation of potential severe accidents during low power and shutdown operations at Grand Gulf, Unit 1. Volume 2, Part 1C: Analysis of core damage frequency from internal events for plant operational State 5 during a refueling outage, Main report (Sections 11--14)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

    1994-06-01

    This document contains the accident sequence analysis of internally initiated events for Grand Gulf, Unit 1 as it operates in the Low Power and Shutdown Plant Operational State 5 during a refueling outage. The report documents the methodology used during the analysis, describes the results from the application of the methodology, and compares the results with the results from two full power analyses performed on Grand Gulf

  3. Evaluation of potential severe accidents during low power and shutdown operations at Grand Gulf, Unit 1: Analysis of core damage frequency from internal events for Plant Operational State 5 during a refueling outage. Volume 2, Part 2: Internal Events Appendices A to H

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Darby, J.; Whitehead, D.; Staple, B.; Dandini, V.

    1994-06-01

    This document contains the accident sequence analysis of internally initiated events for Grand Gulf, Unit 1 as it operates in the Low Power and Shutdown Plant Operational State 5 during a refueling outage. The report documents the methodology used during the analysis, describes the results from the application of the methodology, and compares the results with the results from two full power analyses performed on Grand Gulf

  4. Enterotoxemia em caprinos no Rio Grande do Sul Caprine enterotoxaemia in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edson M. Colodel

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available São descritos surtos de enterotoxemia em caprinos em cinco propriedades no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Os animais afetados eram, normalmente, encontrados mortos ou apresentavam evolução aguda de 2 a 3 horas com acentuada depressão, cólicas abdominais e diarréia profusa com fibrina. Em duas propriedades relataram-se casos com a evolução de até 12 horas. Em treze animais necropsiados observaram-se aumento de líquidos nas cavidades abdominal, torácica e pericárdica, congestão e hiperemia da serosa e mucosa do intestino, conteúdo do cólon líquido com fibrina além de hemorragias de serosa e fibrina. Em um animal constatou-se microangiopatia cerebral caracterizada por acúmulo de material homogêneo e eosinofílico no espaço perivascular. No conteúdo intestinal, colônias com bastonetes morfológica e bioquimicamente sugestivos de Clostridium perfringens foram caracterizadas no estudo bacteriológico. A soroneutralização em camundongos com conteúdo intestinal dos animais afetados, revelou a presença da toxina épsilon. Estes achados evidenciam a enterotoxemia como doença de importância para criação de caprinos no Rio Grande do Sul.Five outbreaks of caprine enterotoxaemia in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, were studied. The animals were found dead or had a clinical course that usually lasted 2-3 hours. From two farms a clinical manifestation period of 12 hours was reported. Clinical signs were characterized by depression, marked abdominal discomfort, profuse watery diarrhea with fibrin clots, and death. Thirteen necropsies were performed and hydropericardium, hydrothorax and hydroperitoneum were commonly found. The mucosa and serosa of the colon were congested, and its contents was watery with multiple fibrin clots. Serosal hemorrhages and fibrin clots in the gallbladder were also seen. Fibrinous colitis and thyphilitis were the most frequent histological changes. Cerebral microangiopathy was observed in one case, which was

  5. UMTRA Project water sampling and analysis plan, Grand Junction, Colorado. Revision 1, Version 6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-09-01

    This water sampling and analysis plan describes the planned, routine ground water sampling activities at the Grand Junction US DOE Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project site (GRJ-01) in Grand Junction, Colorado, and at the Cheney Disposal Site (GRJ-03) near Grand Junction. The plan identifies and justifies the sampling locations, analytical parameters, detection limits, and sampling frequencies for the routine monitoring stations at the sites. Regulatory basis is in the US EPA regulations in 40 CFR Part 192 (1994) and EPA ground water quality standards of 1995 (60 FR 2854). This plan summarizes results of past water sampling activities, details water sampling activities planned for the next 2 years, and projects sampling activities for the next 5 years

  6. Porta-enxertos para a tangerineira 'Michal' no Rio Grande do Sul Rootstocks for 'Michal' tangerine in Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Cesar Brugnara

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available A tangerineira 'Michal' (Citrus clementina x C. tangerina poderá ser uma boa alternativa ao Rio Grande do Sul como cultivar copa para produção de frutos em época precoce. No entanto, há falta de informações sobre seu comportamento em cultivo nas condições ambientais desse Estado. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desenvolvimento das plantas, a produção e a qualidade dos frutos da tangerineira 'Michal' enxertada sobre cinco porta-enxertos: citrangeiro 'Troyer', citrumeleiro 'Swingle', limoeiro 'Cravo', tangerineira 'Sunki' e trifoliata 'Flying Dragon', na Depressão Central do Rio Grande do Sul. Foram avaliados os seguintes parâmetros: a altura das plantas, a circunferência do tronco, a área de projeção da copa (APC, o número e a massa (MF de frutos produzidos, a relação MF/APC (IP, o teor de sólidos solúveis totais (SST, a acidez total titulável (ATT e a relação SST/ATT do suco, além do tamanho dos frutos e do rendimento de suco. O citrumeleiro 'Swingle' promoveu bom vigor, boa produção, bom IP, bons níveis de SST e de ATT da 'Michal', enquanto o limoeiro 'Cravo' conferiu bom vigor, boa produção, bom IP e bom tamanho dos frutos, ambos podendo ser indicados como porta-enxertos em pomares de tangerineira 'Michal'.'Michal' tangerine (Citrus clementina x C. tangerina can be a good choice as canopy for early maturing fruit production in Rio Grande do Sul. The limitation is the lack of information about its performance and management. The aim of this research was to evaluate the development, production and fruit quality of 'Michal' tangerine grafted on five rootstocks: 'Troyer' citrange, 'Swingle' citrumelo, 'Cravo' lemon, 'Sunki' tangerine and 'Flying Dragon' trifoliate orange, in the Depressão Central of Rio Grande do Sul. The following variables were evaluated: plant height; trunk circumference; canopy projection area (APC; produced fruit number and weight (MF; MF/APC relation (IP; juice total soluble solids

  7. Habitat Mapping and Classification of the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve using AISA Hyperspectral Imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, K.

    2012-12-01

    Habitat mapping and classification provides essential information for land use planning and ecosystem research, monitoring and management. At the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GRDNERR), Mississippi, habitat characterization of the Grand Bay watershed will also be used to develop a decision-support tool for the NERR's managers and state and local partners. Grand Bay NERR habitat units were identified using a combination of remotely sensed imagery, aerial photography and elevation data. Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Applications (AISA) hyperspectral data, acquired 5 and 6 May 2010, was analyzed and classified using ENVI v4.8 and v5.0 software. The AISA system was configured to return 63 bands of digital imagery data with a spectral range of 400 to 970 nm (VNIR), spectral resolution (bandwidth) at 8.76 nm, and 1 m spatial resolution. Minimum Noise Fraction (MNF) and Inverse Minimum Noise Fraction were applied to the data prior to using Spectral Angle Mapper ([SAM] supervised) and ISODATA (unsupervised) classification techniques. The resulting class image was exported to ArcGIS 10.0 and visually inspected and compared with the original imagery as well as auxiliary datasets to assist in the attribution of habitat characteristics to the spectral classes, including: National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial photography, Jackson County, MS, 2010; USFWS National Wetlands Inventory, 2007; an existing GRDNERR habitat map (2004), SAV (2009) and salt panne (2002-2003) GIS produced by GRDNERR; and USACE lidar topo-bathymetry, 2005. A field survey to validate the map's accuracy will take place during the 2012 summer season. ENVI's Random Sample generator was used to generate GIS points for a ground-truth survey. The broad range of coastal estuarine habitats and geomorphological features- many of which are transitional and vulnerable to environmental stressors- that have been identified within the GRDNERR point to the value of the Reserve for

  8. Relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kazan Khanate (1506–1552

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ya.V. Pilipchuk

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This article considers the relationship between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Khanate of Kazan. The aim of this study is to analyze the dynamics and characteristics of the relations of the Kazan Khanate with Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Jagiellonian eastern policy is rightfully considered as one of the most important policy directions of the Polish Kings and Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the 16th century. Researchers have traditionally paid much more attention to the history of relations of the Crimean Khanate with Lithuania and Poland. Relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Kazan Khanate have been considered in the source study articles by D. Mustafina and B. Trepavlov analyzing the content of documents preserved in the Lithuanian State Archives (Lithuanian Methric. The main theme of this article is the military and political history of Eastern Europe in the first half of the 16th century. The author aims to clarify to what extent the European policy of the Kazan Khanate depended on the personalities of Sahib Giray and Safa Giray and their personal relations with Sigismund I the Old. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the author is the first to present to the researchers’ attention a complete picture of the Kazan-Lithuanian relations rather than focusing on particular issues of relations between the individual Grand Dukes and khans. The article examines the history of the interaction of the Kazan Tatars with Lithuanians and Poles in the context of relations of Lithuania with the Russian State and Crimean Khanate. Attempts to establish an anti-Russian alliance were undertaken during the first half of the 16th century. Mohammed Amin, from the dynasty of Ulugh Muhammad, expressed interest in the establishment of the union in 1506 only by the fact that it was profitable for him. In 1516–1518, the proposals of Sigismund I the Old to make an alliance did not meet the response in Kazan. In general, the dynasty of Ulugh Muhammad

  9. Challenges for the computational fluid dynamics codes in the nineties. Various examples of application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chabard, J.P.; Viollet, P.L.

    1991-08-01

    Most of the computational fluid dynamics applications which are encountered at the Research and Development Division of EDF (RDD) are dealing with thermal exchanges. The development of numerical tools for the simulation of flows, devoted to this class of application, has been under way for 15 years. At the beginning this work was mainly concerned with a good simulation of the dynamics of the flow. Now these tools can be used to compute flows with thermal exchanges. The presentation will be limited to incompressible and one phase flows. First the softwares developed at RDD will be presented. Then some applications of these tools to flows with thermal exchanges will be discussed. To conclude, the paper will treat be general case of the CFD codes. The challenges for the next years will be detailed in order to make these tools available for users involved in complex physical modeling

  10. Device and Circuit Design Challenges in the Digital Subthreshold Region for Ultralow-Power Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramesh Vaddi

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, subthreshold operation has gained a lot of attention due to ultra low-power consumption in applications requiring low to medium performance. It has also been shown that by optimizing the device structure, power consumption of digital subthreshold logic can be further minimized while improving its performance. Therefore, subthreshold circuit design is very promising for future ultra low-energy sensor applications as well as high-performance parallel processing. This paper deals with various device and circuit design challenges associated with the state of the art in optimal digital subthreshold circuit design and reviews device design methodologies and circuit topologies for optimal digital subthreshold operation. This paper identifies the suitable candidates for subthreshold operation at device and circuit levels for optimal subthreshold circuit design and provides an effective roadmap for digital designers interested to work with ultra low-power applications.

  11. Cosmological origin of the grand-unification mass scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brout, R.; Englert, F.; Spindel, P.

    1979-01-01

    The origin of the universe as a quantum phenomenon leads to a self-consistently generated space-time structure in which the mass of the created particles is O (kappa/sup -1/2/). We interpret the origin of the universe as a phase transition in which the grand unified symmetry is spontaneously broken

  12. Closing the gap between knowledge and clinical application: challenges for genomic translation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Wylie; Korngiebel, Diane M

    2015-01-01

    Despite early predictions and rapid progress in research, the introduction of personal genomics into clinical practice has been slow. Several factors contribute to this translational gap between knowledge and clinical application. The evidence available to support genetic test use is often limited, and implementation of new testing programs can be challenging. In addition, the heterogeneity of genomic risk information points to the need for strategies to select and deliver the information most appropriate for particular clinical needs. Accomplishing these tasks also requires recognition that some expectations for personal genomics are unrealistic, notably expectations concerning the clinical utility of genomic risk assessment for common complex diseases. Efforts are needed to improve the body of evidence addressing clinical outcomes for genomics, apply implementation science to personal genomics, and develop realistic goals for genomic risk assessment. In addition, translational research should emphasize the broader benefits of genomic knowledge, including applications of genomic research that provide clinical benefit outside the context of personal genomic risk.

  13. High End Computing Technologies for Earth Science Applications: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parks, John (Technical Monitor); Biswas, Rupak; Yan, Jerry C.; Brooks, Walter F.; Sterling, Thomas L.

    2003-01-01

    Earth science applications of the future will stress the capabilities of even the highest performance supercomputers in the areas of raw compute power, mass storage management, and software environments. These NASA mission critical problems demand usable multi-petaflops and exabyte-scale systems to fully realize their science goals. With an exciting vision of the technologies needed, NASA has established a comprehensive program of advanced research in computer architecture, software tools, and device technology to ensure that, in partnership with US industry, it can meet these demanding requirements with reliable, cost effective, and usable ultra-scale systems. NASA will exploit, explore, and influence emerging high end computing architectures and technologies to accelerate the next generation of engineering, operations, and discovery processes for NASA Enterprises. This article captures this vision and describes the concepts, accomplishments, and the potential payoff of the key thrusts that will help meet the computational challenges in Earth science applications.

  14. Challenging Anti-fragile Blockchain Applications

    OpenAIRE

    González , Miguel Alejandro; Rudametkin , Walter; Monperrus , Martin; Rouvoy , Romain

    2017-01-01

    International audience; Failures in production are a de facto rule for distributed software systems. In particular, modern distributed systems are composed of heterogeneous building blocks contributed by third parties and guaranteeing the end-to-end resilience is becoming a major challenge. Even though each of these software components can embed fault tolerance or dependability protocols, it remains difficult to assess their effectiveness upon the occurrences of unexpected failures. As part o...

  15. Urban Waters and the Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque (New Mexico)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Middle Rio Grande/Albuquerque (New Mexico) of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP) reconnects urban communities with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies and collaborating with community-led efforts.

  16. Estimating the Effects of Conversion of Agricultural Land to Urban Land on Deep Percolation of Irrigation Water in the Grand Valley, Western Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayo, John W.

    2008-01-01

    The conversion of agricultural land to urban residential land is associated with rapid population growth in the Grand Valley of western Colorado. Information regarding the effects of this land-use conversion on deep percolation, irrigation-water application, and associated salt loading to the Colorado River is needed to support water-resource planning and conservation efforts. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) assessed deep percolation and estimated salt loading derived from irrigated agricultural lands in the Grand Valley in a 1985 to 2002 monitoring and evaluation study (NRCS M&E). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Colorado River Salinity Control Forum and the Mesa Conservation District, quantified the current (2005-2006) deep percolation and irrigation-water application characteristics of 1/4-acre residential lots and 5-acre estates, urban parks, and urban orchard grass fields in the Grand Valley, and compared the results to NRCS M&E results from alfalfa-crop sites. In addition, pond seepage from three irrigation-water holding ponds was estimated. Salt loading was estimated for the urban study results and the NRCS M&E results by using standard salt-loading factors. A daily soil-moisture balance calculation technique was used at all urban study irrigated sites. Deep percolation was defined as any water infiltrating below the top 12 inches of soil. Deep percolation occurred when the soil-moisture balance in the first 12 inches of soil exceeded the field capacity for the soil type at each site. Results were reported separately for urban study bluegrass-only sites and for all-vegetation type (bluegrass, native plants, and orchard grass) sites. Deep percolation and irrigation-water application also were estimated for a complete irrigation season at three subdivisions by using mean site data from each subdivision. It was estimated that for the three subdivisions, 37 percent of the developed acreage was irrigated (the balance

  17. Grande Ronde Basin Chinook Salmon Captive Brood and Conventional Supplementation Programs, 2002 Annual Report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carmichael, Richard W. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, La Grande, OR)

    2003-07-01

    Endangered Species Permit Number 1011 (formerly Permit No. 973) authorizes ODFW to take listed spring chinook salmon juveniles from Catherine Creek (CC), Lostine River (LR) and Grande Ronde River (GR) for research and enhancement purposes. Modification 2 of this permit authorizes ODFW to take adults for spawning and the production and release of smolts for the Captive and Conventional broodstock programs. This report satisfies the requirement that an annual report be submitted. Herein we report on activities conducted and provide cursory data analyses for the Grande Ronde spring chinook salmon Captive and Conventional broodstock projects from 1 January-31 December 2002. The Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Project is designed to rapidly increase numbers of salmon in stocks that are in imminent danger of extirpation. Parr are captured in Catherine Creek, upper Grande Ronde River and Lostine River and reared to adulthood in captivity. Upon maturation, they are spawned (within stocks) and their progeny reared to smoltification before being released into the natal stream of their parents. This program is co-managed by ODFW, National Marine Fisheries Service, the Nez Perce Tribe and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

  18. Quantitative Infrared Spectroscopy in Challenging Environments: Applications to Passive Remote Sensing and Process Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-01

    and its corresponding kinetics,16,17 fermentation processes,18 and polymer extrusion.19,20 The primary challenge for NIR measurement applications lies...variables, the regression coefficient for that term in the model will be related to the analyte concentration. According to the Beer -Lambert law, the...additive, the Beer -Lambert law relation is shown in Eq. 3.11, in which Ai denotes the total absorbance at wavelength i, εij is the absorptivity of

  19. A REVIEW OF OIL PALM BIOCOMPOSITES FOR FURNITURE DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS: POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES

    OpenAIRE

    Siti Suhaily,; Mohammad Jawaid,; H. P. S. Abdul Khalil,; A. Rahman Mohamed; , F. Ibrahim

    2012-01-01

    This review considers the potential and challenges of using agro-based oil palm biomasses, including the trunk, frond, empty fruit bunch, and palm press fiber biocomposites, for furniture applications. Currently, design and quality rather than price are becoming the primary concern for consumers when buying new furniture. Within this context, this paper focuses on the design of innovative, sustainable furniture from agro-based biocomposites to meet the needs of future population growth and te...

  20. Applications of systems science in biomedical research regarding obesity and noncommunicable chronic diseases: opportunities, promise, and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Youfa; Xue, Hong; Liu, Shiyong

    2015-01-01

    Interest in the application of systems science (SS) in biomedical research, particularly regarding obesity and noncommunicable chronic disease (NCD) research, has been growing rapidly over the past decade. SS is a broad term referring to a family of research approaches that include modeling. As an emerging approach being adopted in public health, SS focuses on the complex dynamic interaction between agents (e.g., people) and subsystems defined at different levels. SS provides a conceptual framework for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches that address complex problems. SS has unique advantages for studying obesity and NCD problems in comparison to the traditional analytic approaches. The application of SS in biomedical research dates back to the 1960s with the development of computing capacity and simulation software. In recent decades, SS has been applied to addressing the growing global obesity epidemic. There is growing appreciation and support for using SS in the public health field, with many promising opportunities. There are also many challenges and uncertainties, including methodologic, funding, and institutional barriers. Integrated efforts by stakeholders that address these challenges are critical for the successful application of SS in the future. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

  1. Challenges in computational fluid dynamics simulation for the nineties. Various examples of application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chabard, J.P.; Viollet, P.L.

    1991-01-01

    Most of the computational fluid dynamics applications which are encountered at the Research Branch of EDF (DER) are dealing with thermal exchanges. The development of numerical tools for the simulation of flows, devoted to this class of application, has been under way for 15 years. At the beginning this work was mainly concerned with a good simulation of the dynamics of the flow. Now these tools can be used to compute flows with thermal exchanges. The presentation will be limited to incompressible and one phase flows (the DER developments on two phase flows are discussed in the paper by MM. Hery, Boivin et Viollet (in the present magazine). First the softwares developed at DER will be presented. Then some applications of these tools to flows with thermal exchanges will be discussed. To conclude, the paper will treat the general case of the CFD codes. The challenges for the next years will be detailed in order to make these tools available for users involved in complex physical modeling [fr

  2. Applications of nanotechnology in water and wastewater treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qu, Xiaolei; Alvarez, Pedro J J; Li, Qilin

    2013-08-01

    Providing clean and affordable water to meet human needs is a grand challenge of the 21st century. Worldwide, water supply struggles to keep up with the fast growing demand, which is exacerbated by population growth, global climate change, and water quality deterioration. The need for technological innovation to enable integrated water management cannot be overstated. Nanotechnology holds great potential in advancing water and wastewater treatment to improve treatment efficiency as well as to augment water supply through safe use of unconventional water sources. Here we review recent development in nanotechnology for water and wastewater treatment. The discussion covers candidate nanomaterials, properties and mechanisms that enable the applications, advantages and limitations as compared to existing processes, and barriers and research needs for commercialization. By tracing these technological advances to the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, the present review outlines the opportunities and limitations to further capitalize on these unique properties for sustainable water management. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Geographic distribution of genetic diversity in populations of Rio Grande Chub Gila pandora

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galindo, Rene; Wilson, Wade; Caldwell, Colleen A.

    2016-01-01

    In the southwestern United States (US), the Rio Grande chub (Gila pandora) is state-listed as a fish species of greatest conservation need and federally listed as sensitive due to habitat alterations and competition with non-native fishes. Characterizing genetic diversity, genetic population structure, and effective number of breeders will assist with conservation efforts by providing a baseline of genetic metrics. Genetic relatedness within and among G. pandora populations throughout New Mexico was characterized using 11 microsatellite loci among 15 populations in three drainage basins (Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian). Observed heterozygosity (HO) ranged from 0.71–0.87 and was similar to expected heterozygosity (0.75–0.87). Rio Ojo Caliente (Rio Grande) had the highest allelic richness (AR = 15.09), while Upper Rio Bonito (Pecos) had the lowest allelic richness (AR = 6.75). Genetic differentiation existed among all populations with the lowest genetic variation occurring within the Pecos drainage. STRUCTURE analysis revealed seven genetic clusters. Populations of G. pandora within the upper Rio Grande drainage (Rio Ojo Caliente, Rio Vallecitos, Rio Pueblo de Taos) had high levels of admixture with Q-values ranging from 0.30–0.50. In contrast, populations within the Pecos drainage (Pecos River and Upper Rio Bonito) had low levels of admixture (Q = 0.94 and 0.87, respectively). Estimates of effective number of breeders (N b ) varied from 6.1 (Pecos: Upper Rio Bonito) to 109.7 (Rio Grande: Rio Peñasco) indicating that populations in the Pecos drainage are at risk of extirpation. In the event that management actions are deemed necessary to preserve or increase genetic diversity of G. pandora, consideration must be given as to which populations are selected for translocation.

  4. Geomorphic evolution of the San Luis Basin and Rio Grande in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruleman, Chester A.; Machette, Michael; Thompson, Ren A.; Miggins, Dan M; Goehring, Brent M; Paces, James B.

    2016-01-01

    The San Luis Basin encompasses the largest structural and hydrologic basin of the Rio Grande rift. On this field trip, we will examine the timing of transition of the San Luis Basin from hydrologically closed, aggrading subbasins to a continuous fluvial system that eroded the basin, formed the Rio Grande gorge, and ultimately, integrated the Rio Grande from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. Waning Pleistocene neotectonic activity and onset of major glacial episodes, in particular Marine Isotope Stages 11–2 (~420–14 ka), induced basin fill, spillover, and erosion of the southern San Luis Basin. The combined use of new geologic mapping, fluvial geomorphology, reinterpreted surficial geology of the Taos Plateau, pedogenic relative dating studies, 3He surface exposure dating of basalts, and U-series dating of pedogenic carbonate supports a sequence of events wherein pluvial Lake Alamosa in the northern San Luis Basin overflowed, and began to drain to the south across the closed Sunshine Valley–Costilla Plain region ≤400 ka. By ~200 ka, erosion had cut through topographic highs at Ute Mountain and the Red River fault zone, and began deep-canyon incision across the southern San Luis Basin. Previous studies indicate that prior to 200 ka, the present Rio Grande terminated into a large bolson complex in the vicinity of El Paso, Texas, and systematic, headward erosional processes had subtly integrated discontinuously connected basins along the eastern flank of the Rio Grande rift and southern Rocky Mountains. We propose that the integration of the entire San Luis Basin into the Rio Grande drainage system (~400–200 ka) was the critical event in the formation of the modern Rio Grande, integrating hinterland basins of the Rio Grande rift from El Paso, Texas, north to the San Luis Basin with the Gulf of Mexico. This event dramatically affected basins southeast of El Paso, Texas, across the Chisos Mountains and southeastern Basin and Range province, including the Rio

  5. Low-energy neutral current phenomenology and grand unified theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Del Aguila, F.; Mendez, A.

    1981-01-01

    We derive necessary and sufficient conditions to be satisfied by any expanded electroweak gauge model in order to reproduce the standard model low-energy neutral current predictions. These conditions imply several constraints on the neutral gauge boson masses and the quantum number assignments for the ordinary fermions. Using these conditions, we prove that the popular grand unified theories based on the gauge groups SO(10) and E6 can only accommodate trivial extensions of the standard model. As a consequence, if any of these grand unified models works at some energy scale, present low-energy neutral current phenomenology implies that the Z-boson must be produced with the expected mass and couplings to the ordinary fermions. Any additional neutral gauge boson (with the possible exception of very heavy ones) could only be produced in hadronic collisions and it would not decay in e + e - . (orig.)

  6. Dynkin weights and global supersymmetry in grand unification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frampton, P.H.; Kephart, T.W.

    1982-01-01

    The requirement that supersymmetry be unbroken in a supersymmetrized gauge theory is shown to imply vanishing Dynkin weight of the components of the Higgs field representation receiving vacuum expectation values. As a corollary a compact expression is obtained for the Dynkin weights of general SU(N) representations. Examples are given for supersymmetrized grand unified theories

  7. Geomorphology of plutonium in the Northern Rio Grande

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Graf, W.L. [Arizona Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). Dept., of Geography

    1993-03-01

    Nearly all of the plutonium in the natural environment of the Northern Rio Grande is associated with soils and sediment, and river processes account for most of the mobility of these materials. A composite regional budget for plutonium based on multi-decadal averages for sediment and plutonium movement shows that 90 percent of the plutonium moving into the system is from atmospheric fallout. The remaining 10 percent is from releases at Los Alamos. Annual variation in plutonium flux and storage exceeds 100 percent. The contribution to the plutonium budget from Los Alamos is associated with relatively coarse sediment which often behaves as bedload in the Rio Grande. Infusion of these materials into the main stream were largest in 1951, 1952, 1957, and 1968. Because of the schedule of delivery of plutonium to Los Alamos for experimentation and weapons manufacturing, the latter two years are probably the most important. Although the Los Alamos contribution to the entire plutonium budget was relatively small, in these four critical years it constituted 71--86 percent of the plutonium in bedload immediately downstream from Otowi.

  8. Geomorphology of plutonium in the Northern Rio Grande

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graf, W.L.

    1993-03-01

    Nearly all of the plutonium in the natural environment of the Northern Rio Grande is associated with soils and sediment, and river processes account for most of the mobility of these materials. A composite regional budget for plutonium based on multi-decadal averages for sediment and plutonium movement shows that 90 percent of the plutonium moving into the system is from atmospheric fallout. The remaining 10 percent is from releases at Los Alamos. Annual variation in plutonium flux and storage exceeds 100 percent. The contribution to the plutonium budget from Los Alamos is associated with relatively coarse sediment which often behaves as bedload in the Rio Grande. Infusion of these materials into the main stream were largest in 1951, 1952, 1957, and 1968. Because of the schedule of delivery of plutonium to Los Alamos for experimentation and weapons manufacturing, the latter two years are probably the most important. Although the Los Alamos contribution to the entire plutonium budget was relatively small, in these four critical years it constituted 71--86 percent of the plutonium in bedload immediately downstream from Otowi

  9. The New Totalitarians: Social Identities and Radical Islamist Political Grand Strategy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Macdonald, Douglas J

    2007-01-01

    ... of the ideologically-driven grand political strategy of the Islamist extremists, which represents a totalitarian, transnational, and, in many versions, universalist social revolutionary movement...

  10. Challenges in responding to the ebola epidemic - four rural counties, Liberia, August-November 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Summers, Aimee; Nyenswah, Tolbert G; Montgomery, Joel M; Neatherlin, John; Tappero, Jordan W; T, Nyenswah; M, Fahnbulleh; M, Massaquoi

    2014-12-19

    The first cases of Ebola virus disease (Ebola) in West Africa were identified in Guinea on March 22, 2014. On March 30, the first Liberian case was identified in Foya Town, Lofa County, near the Guinean border. Because the majority of early cases occurred in Lofa and Montserrado counties, resources were concentrated in these counties during the first several months of the response, and these counties have seen signs of successful disease control. By October 2014, the epidemic had reached all 15 counties of Liberia. During August 27-September 10, 2014, CDC in collaboration with the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare assessed county Ebola response plans in four rural counties (Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Rivercess, and Sinoe, to identify county-specific challenges in executing their Ebola response plans, and to provide recommendations and training to enhance control efforts. Assessments were conducted through interviews with county health teams and health care providers and visits to health care facilities. At the time of assessment, county health teams reported lacking adequate training in core Ebola response strategies and reported facing many challenges because of poor transportation and communication networks. Development of communication and transportation network strategies for communities with limited access to roads and limited means of communication in addition to adequate training in Ebola response strategies is critical for successful management of Ebola in remote areas.

  11. Grand Canonical Ensembles in General Relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, David; Yang, Wei-Shih

    2012-01-01

    We develop a formalism for general relativistic, grand canonical ensembles in space-times with timelike Killing fields. Using that, we derive ideal gas laws, and show how they depend on the geometry of the particular space-times. A systematic method for calculating Newtonian limits is given for a class of these space-times, which is illustrated for Kerr space-time. In addition, we prove uniqueness of the infinite volume Gibbs measure, and absence of phase transitions for a class of interaction potentials in anti-de Sitter space.

  12. Produccion de plantas grandes usando minicontenedores

    Science.gov (United States)

    R. Kasten Dumroese; Thomas D. Landis

    2012-01-01

    En América del Norte hay cada vez más interés por la producción híbrida o mixta. La misma consiste en cultivar plantines en contenedores de pequeño volumen y luego trasplantarlos; el trasplante se puede realizar a canteros en el suelo como en la producción a raíz desnuda o bien a contenedores más grandes. Originalmente se llamaban plantines "plug+", "...

  13. Experiências Urbanas: Migrantes e Modos de Viver e Trabalhar na Periferia de Campina Grande na Década de 1960 * Urban Experiences: Migrants and Ways of Living and Working in the Outskirts of Campina Grande in the 1960s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HILMARIA XAVIER DA SILVA

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Resumo: A partir do final da década de 1940 e início de 1950, Campina Grande passa por uma significativa urbanização e expansão, favorecida pelo crescimento econômico. Observamos que trabalhadores do campo migraram da zona rural para a zona urbana de Campina Grande à medida que o trabalho na lavoura estava se tornando inviável em razão das secas e viam no centro urbano de Campina possibilidades outras de trabalhar e ter condições de vida mais dignas. Nosso trabalho intenta refletir sobre como alguns populares migraram para Campina Grande no fim da década de 1950 e década de 1960, modificando suas práticas no mundo do trabalho e alterando as características da malha urbana, já que, concentrando-se na periferia, homens e mulheres outrora lavradores passaram agora a desempenhar funções de vigilantes, pedreiros, lavadeiras, vendedores ambulantes, carroceiros, quebradores de pedra, dentre outras.Palavras-chave: Migração, Campina Grande, Trabalho. Abstract: From the late 1940s and early 1950s, Campina Grande undergoes a significant urbanization and expansion, favored by economic growth. We observed that rural workers migrated from rural to urban area in Campina Grande in so far as the farming activity was becoming unviable due to droughts and they could see, in the urban center of Campina, other possibilities of working and worthier life conditions. Our work attempts to reflect on how some popular migrated to Campina Grande in the late 1950s and 1960s, changing their practices in the workplace and changing the characteristics of the city, because massing in the periphery, men and women who were ploughpeople in past, have now the role of watchers, bricklayers, washerwomen, street vendors, cart drivers, stone breakers, among others.Keywords: Migration – Campina Grande – Work.

  14. Concurrent Programming in Mac OS X and iOS Unleash Multicore Performance with Grand Central Dispatch

    CERN Document Server

    Nahavandipoor, Vandad

    2011-01-01

    Now that multicore processors are coming to mobile devices, wouldn't it be great to take advantage of all those cores without having to manage threads? This concise book shows you how to use Apple's Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) to simplify programming on multicore iOS devices and Mac OS X. Managing your application's resources on more than one core isn't easy, but it's vital. Apps that use only one core in a multicore environment will slow to a crawl. If you know how to program with Cocoa or Cocoa Touch, this guide will get you started with GCD right away, with many examples to help you writ

  15. Interplay between grand unification and supersymmetry in SU(5 ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    energy MSSM. break the rank, Aulakh and his collaborators [10–12] have showed that R-parity is exact all the way down to low energies. In this case, grand unification tells us something about supersymmetry and even dark matter. In this article ...

  16. 2017 NOAA/OCM Unmanned Aerial System Lidar: Grand Bay NERR

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Quantum Spatial (QSI) and PrecisionHawk (PH) collected lidar for test sites within the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) using an unmanned aerial...

  17. Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Grand Junction site, Grand Junction, Colorado. A summary of the Phase II, Title I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-10-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has performed an engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Grand Junction, Colorado. The Phase II, Title I services include the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigation of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas release from the 1.9 million tons of tailings at the Grand Junction site constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation are also factors. The eight alternative actions presented range from millsite decontamination (Option I), to adding various depths of stabilization cover material (Options II and III), to removal of the tailings to long-term storage sites and decontamination of the present site (Options IV through VIII). Cost estimates for the eight options range from $470,000 to $18,130,000. Reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery does not appear to be economically attractive at present

  18. Plutonium and the Rio Grande: Environmental change and contamination in the nuclear age

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graf, W.L.

    1994-01-01

    An attempt is made to analyze questions concerning the issue of plutonium in the Rio Grande. The author describes in great detail how he arrived at the conclusions. The objective has been to produce research that is absolutely transparent, so that its results can be fairly evaluated and duplicated by anyone. The results of this work show that plutonium from Los Alamos National Laboratory and atmospheric fallout has been deposited along the Rio Grande in small, though detectable, quantities in certain predictable places

  19. Clinical Immersion and Biomedical Engineering Design Education: "Engineering Grand Rounds".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Matthew; Churchwell, André L

    2016-03-01

    Grand Rounds is a ritual of medical education and inpatient care comprised of presenting the medical problems and treatment of a patient to an audience of physicians, residents, and medical students. Traditionally, the patient would be in attendance for the presentation and would answer questions. Grand Rounds has evolved considerably over the years with most sessions being didactic-rarely having a patient present (although, in some instances, an actor will portray the patient). Other members of the team, such as nurses, nurse practitioners, and biomedical engineers, are not traditionally involved in the formal teaching process. In this study we examine the rapid ideation in a clinical setting to forge a system of cross talk between engineers and physicians as a steady state at the praxis of ideation and implementation.

  20. Big Data Analytics: Challenges And Applications For Text, Audio, Video, And Social Media Data

    OpenAIRE

    Jai Prakash Verma; Smita Agrawal; Bankim Patel; Atul Patel

    2016-01-01

    All types of machine automated systems are generating large amount of data in different forms like statistical, text, audio, video, sensor, and bio-metric data that emerges the term Big Data. In this paper we are discussing issues, challenges, and application of these types of Big Data with the consideration of big data dimensions. Here we are discussing social media data analytics, content based analytics, text data analytics, audio, and video data analytics their issues and expected applica...

  1. MIdentidade de classe : um olhar sobre os estivadores do porto do Rio Grande/RS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thiago Cedrez da Silva

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to understand the identity notion that permeates the charaxter of the docker of the Port of Rio Grande / RS in its work universe. Starting from the theoretical framework of class identity, the reflection of documental and oral sources, as well as the existing literature on this subject, the profile of the docker of Rio Grande, between 1931 and 1960, will be analyzed.

  2. Ureteroscopie Retrograde: Expérience de l'Hôpital Général Grand ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    L. Niang

    urétéroscopie à l'Hôpital Général Grand Yoff (HOGGY) de. Dakar (Sénégal). Sujets et méthodes : Il s'agit d'une étude descriptive de 91 urétéroscopies effectuées dans le service d'Urologie de l'Hôpital Général Grand Yoff de janvier 2012 à décembre ...

  3. Functional integral representation of the nuclear many-body grand partition function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kerman, A.K.; Troudet, T.

    1984-01-01

    A local functional integral formulation of the nuclear many-body problem is proposed which is a generalization of the method previously developed. Its most interesting feature is that it allows an expansion of the many-body evolution operator around any arbitrary mean-field which takes into account the pairing correlations between the nucleons. This is explicitly illustrated for the nuclear many-body grand partition function for which special attention is paid to the static temperature-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov (H.F.B.) approximation. Indeed, the temperature-dependent H.F.B. configuration appears to be the optimal choice from a variational point of view among all the possible independent quasi-particle motion approximations. An analytic approximation of the energy level density rho (E,A) is given using explicitly the arbitrariness in the choice of the mean-field and a possible numerical application is proposed. Finally, a new compact formulation of our functional integral that might be useful for future Monte Carlo calculations is proposed

  4. Ocorrência de raiva em ovinos no Rio Grande do Sul Occurrence of rabies in sheep in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel R. Rissi

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Descreve-se a ocorrência de raiva em ovinos na região Central do Rio Grande do Sul em novembro de 2003. Foram afetados dois ovinos de raça mista, um macho de três meses e uma fêmea de 2,5 anos de idade que apresentaram sinais clínicos com evolução de cinco dias e caracterizados por dificuldade de locomoção, tremores musculares, decúbito lateral, convulsões, opistótono e febre. Histologicamente havia mielomeningoencefalite não-supurativa, associada a inclusões eosinofílicas intracitoplasmáticas (corpúsculos de Negri em neurônios nos dois ovinos afetados. Em um ovino em que o gânglio de Gasser foi examinado, havia ganglionite não-supurativa. As lesões concentravam-se predominantemente na substância cinzenta da medula espinhal, no tronco encefálico e no cerebelo. Antígeno viral foi detectado em seções selecionadas de ponte e bulbo submetidas ao teste de imuno-histoquímica utilizando anticorpo policlonal anti-ribonucleoproteína do vírus da raiva. Os casos ocorreram em meio a um surto de raiva bovina transmitida por morcegos e foram considerados, com bases epidemiológicas, como transmitidos da mesma forma, como ocorre na raiva endêmica de bovinos no Rio Grande do Sul.Cases of rabies in sheep occurring in November 2003, in central Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, are described. A 3-month-old male, and a 2.5-month-old female sheep were affected. Clinical signs were characterized by abnormal gait, trembling, lateral recumbency, convulsion, opisthotonus, and fever. Histological findings included a non-suppurative myelomeningoencephalitis associated with intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusion (Negri bodies in neurons. Lesions were predominantly observed in gray matter of the spinal cord, brainstem and cerebellum. There was non-suppurative Gasserian ganglionitis in one sheep in which this structure was examined. Immunohistochemistry using rabies virus ribonucleoprotein polyclonal antibody yelded positive result in brain

  5. Passeport pour les deux infinis vers l'infiniment grand, vers l'infiniment petit

    CERN Document Server

    Descotes-Genon, Sébastien; Kerhoas-Cavata, Sophie; Paul, Jacques; Robert, Jean-Luc; Royole-Degieux, Perrine

    2016-01-01

    Où commence l'infiniment grand ? Où finit l'infiniment petit ? Les chercheurs ont identifié le rayonnement fossile émis il y a 13,8 milliards d'année et qui permet de remonter aux origines de l'Univers. A l'opposé, le modèle standard a identifié 12 particules élémentaires et trois forces fondamentales qui permettent de décrire la constitution ultime de la matière. Est-ce à dire que tout est terminé, que plus rien n'est à découvrir ? Certainement pas ! Tandis que les outils d'observation deviennent plus précis, la nécessité d'établir des passerelles entre l'infiniment grand et l'infini petit devient pressante. Dans cette nouvelle édition actualisée, les plus grands spécialistes présentent un panorama des connaissances actuelles des deux infinis.

  6. Grand Junction health experience from use of uranium tailings in building construction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franz, L.W.

    1980-01-01

    This presentation deals with the possible health effects of the Grand Junction, Colorado exposure situation in which uranium mill tailings were used for building purposes from 1952 to 1966. There are no significant differences between the study group and the control groups with reference to length of residence, to health status prior to diagnosis, or the exposure to tailings location. The excess incidence of leukemia in the Grand Junction area is not explained by this study of proximity to tailings structures. These data neither prove nor disprove the safety of long-term exposure at these low levels of gamma rays

  7. Method of collective variables with reference system for the grand canonical ensemble

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yukhnovskii, I.R.

    1989-01-01

    A method of collective variables with special reference system for the grand canonical ensemble is presented. An explicit form is obtained for the basis sixth-degree measure density needed to describe the liquid-gas phase transition. Here the author presents the fundamentals of the method, which are as follows: (1) the functional form for the partition function in the grand canonical ensemble; (2) derivation of thermodynamic relations for the coefficients of the Jacobian; (3) transition to the problem on an adequate lattice; and (4) obtaining of the explicit form for the functional of the partition function

  8. Main challenges in demulsifier research and application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fusheng; Liu, Guoliang; Ma, Junhan; Ouyang, Jian; Yi, Xiaoling; Su, Huimin

    2017-01-01

    Main challenges in demulsifier research, such as demulsification of ASP flooding produced liquid, demulsification of heavy oil produced liquid, low temperature demulsification and fast demulsification, are summarized. Some importance technology routes to solve the challenges are proposed according to demulsification mechanisms and emulsion characteristics. The proposed routes include increasing aromaticity, molecular weight and branch degree of demulsifiers, and introducing double-function groups to demulsifiers for W/O and O/W emulsions, or groups with alkyl matching with alkyl carbon number of the crude oil into demulsifier molecule. The demulsification mechanisms of the above-mentioned research routes are described in detail.

  9. Photovoltaic technology and applications: Overview for the workshop on photochemistry research opportunities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benner, J.P. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO (United States)

    1996-09-01

    The business surrounding photovoltaic energy conversion for terrestrial applications has changed dramatically in the last several years. It is now a business that makes money. Industry is responding. with manufacturing capacity expansions, and planned expansions, that will triple U.S. annual output within the next eighteen months. The majority of this product is exported (70%) where it is proven to be a cost competitive alternative. This industry provides experience in manufacturing and reliability in fielded systems that will serve as the basis for extrapolating growth to larger-scale installations and utility systems. The largest part of the National Photovoltaic Program budget supports assisting industry in advancing manufacturing technology and stimulating applications to reduce cost and expand the evolving industry. A growing segment of society looks to photovoltaics as an alternative that may be needed to replace conventional electric generating capacity. The grand challenge for photovoltaics is to make the technology economically competitive for large scale electric power generation before real or perceived evidence of environmental damage from conventional sources dictates its use at economically disruptive costs.

  10. The Grand Strategy of Charles de Gaulle

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-09-08

    4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Grand Startegy of Charles de Gaulle 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S...dependent on French influence within NATO and the Common Market . De Gaulle frequently used these fora to veto British and American initiatives. As Cook...the reserve currency. Gold would be the basis of international finance and a French-dominated European Common Market would provide the framework

  11. Neutrino mixing in a grand unified theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milton, K.; Tanaka, K.

    1980-01-01

    Neutrino mixing in a grand unified theory in which the neutrino mass matrix is determined by the Gell-Mann-Ramond-Slansky mechanism was investigated. With an arbitrary real right-handed Majorana mass matrix which incorporates three neutrino mass scales, the effects of the up-quark mass matrix are found to be dominant and as a result no significant mixing of ν/sub e/ occurs, while ν/sub μ/ - ν/sub γ/ mixing can be substantial

  12. Challenges in network science: Applications to infrastructures, climate, social systems and economics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Havlin, S.; Kenett, D. Y.; Ben-Jacob, E.; Bunde, A.; Cohen, R.; Hermann, H.; Kantelhardt, J. W.; Kertész, J.; Kirkpatrick, S.; Kurths, J.; Portugali, J.; Solomon, S.

    2012-11-01

    Network theory has become one of the most visible theoretical frameworks that can be applied to the description, analysis, understanding, design and repair of multi-level complex systems. Complex networks occur everywhere, in man-made and human social systems, in organic and inorganic matter, from nano to macro scales, and in natural and anthropogenic structures. New applications are developed at an ever-increasing rate and the promise for future growth is high, since increasingly we interact with one another within these vital and complex environments. Despite all the great successes of this field, crucial aspects of multi-level complex systems have been largely ignored. Important challenges of network science are to take into account many of these missing realistic features such as strong coupling between networks (networks are not isolated), the dynamics of networks (networks are not static), interrelationships between structure, dynamics and function of networks, interdependencies in given networks (and other classes of links, including different signs of interactions), and spatial properties (including geographical aspects) of networks. This aim of this paper is to introduce and discuss the challenges that future network science needs to address, and how different disciplines will be accordingly affected.

  13. Espécies de Adelpha Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Limenitidinae ocorrentes no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rocco Alfredo Di Mare

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Species of Adelpha Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Limenitidinae occurring in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Based on literature, collections and sampled butterflies, a list of twelve species of Adelpha Hübner occurring in Rio Grande do Sul State is presented, including host plants. Adelpha epizygis Fruhstorfer, [1916], Adelpha falcipennis Fruhstorfer, [1916], Adelpha goyama Schaus, 1902 and Adelpha isis (Drury, 1782 are new reports to Rio Grande do Sul. The species are illustrated and keyed.

  14. Wildlife Mitigation and Restoration for Grand Coulee Dam: Blue Creek Project, Phase 1.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Merker, Christopher

    1993-04-01

    This report is a recommendation from the Spokane Tribe to the Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) for partial mitigation for the extensive wildlife and wildlife habitat losses on the Spokane Indian Reservation caused by the construction of Grand Coulee Dam. NPPC`s interim wildlife goal over the next 7 years for the Columbia hydropower system, is to protect, mitigate and enhance approximately 35% basin wide of the lost habitat units. Grand Coulee Dam had the greatest habitat losses of any Dams of the Wildlife Rule.

  15. 78 FR 16569 - Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC, Permian Basin Railways, and San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad-Corporate...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35721] Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC, Permian Basin Railways, and San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad--Corporate Family Transaction... subsidiaries Permian Basin Railways (PBR) and San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad (SLRG), and Massachusetts Coastal...

  16. Food and nutrition security in families with children under five years old in the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedraza, Dixis Figueroa; Gama, Jacqueline Santos da Fonsêca Almeida

    2015-01-01

    To estimate the prevalence and identify the socioeconomic risk factors for food insecurity in households with children under five years in the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba. This cross-sectional study involved 793 families with children assisted in municipal day care centers in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. Household socioeconomic variables were analyzed as the possible predictors of mild food insecurity and moderate/severe food insecurity. For the evaluation of food and nutrition security of households, the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale was used. Mild food insecurity was characterized in 37.6% of families, and moderate/severe food insecurity affected 31.6% of households. Regarding the household socioeconomic variables, none was associated with mild food insecurity. Meanwhile, the highest prevalence of moderate/severe food insecurity, when compared with reference categories, was present in households without water treatment for drinking purposes, with toilets that are not flushable and individual, with larger families, and without a refrigerator. Being a beneficiary, or not, of the social welfare program "Bolsa Familia" did not represent a factor associated with food insecurity. The results show high rates of food insecurity with the most severe degrees being related to factors dependent on the family purchasing power, indicating a major challenge for them.

  17. Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hemminger, John C. [Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Sarrao, John [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Crabtree, George [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); University of Illinois, Chicago; Flemming, Graham [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Ratner, Mark [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

    2015-11-01

    FIVE TRANSFORMATIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISCOVERY SCIENCE As a result of this effort, it has become clear that the progress made to date on the five Grand Challenges has created a springboard for seizing five new Transformative Opportunities that have the potential to further transform key technologies involving matter and energy. These five new Transformative Opportunities and the evidence supporting them are discussed in this new report, “Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science.” Mastering Hierarchical Architectures and Beyond-Equilibrium Matter Complex materials and chemical processes transmute matter and energy, for example from CO2 and water to chemical fuel in photosynthesis, from visible light to electricity in solar cells and from electricity to light in light emitting diodes (LEDs) Such functionality requires complex assemblies of heterogeneous materials in hierarchical architectures that display time-dependent away-from-equilibrium behaviors. Much of the foundation of our understanding of such transformations however, is based on monolithic single- phase materials operating at or near thermodynamic equilibrium. The emergent functionalities enabling next-generation disruptive energy technologies require mastering the design, synthesis, and control of complex hierarchical materials employing dynamic far-from-equilibrium behavior. A key guide in this pursuit is nature, for biological systems prove the power of hierarchical assembly and far- from-equilibrium behavior. The challenges here are many: a description of the functionality of hierarchical assemblies in terms of their constituent parts, a blueprint of atomic and molecular positions for each constituent part, and a synthesis strategy for (a) placing the atoms and molecules in the proper positions for the component parts and (b) arranging the component parts into the required hierarchical structure. Targeted functionality will open the door

  18. Pathogenic landscape of transboundary zoonotic diseases in the Mexico-US border along the Rio Grande

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Dolores Esteve-Gasent

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Transboundary zoonotic diseases, several of which are vector borne, can maintain a dynamic focus, and have pathogens circulating in geographic regions encircling multiple geopolitical boundaries. Global change is intensifying transboundary problems including the spatial variation of the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases. The complexity of these challenges can be greater in areas where rivers delineate international boundaries and encompass transitions between ecozones. The Rio Grande serves as a natural border between the US State of Texas and the Mexican States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Not only millions of people live in this transboundary region but also a substantial movement of goods and people pass through it everyday. Moreover, it occurs over a region that functions as a corridor for animal migrations, and thus links the Neotropic and Nearctic biogeographic zones, with the latter being a known foci of zoonotic diseases. However, the pathogenic landscape of important zoonotic diseases in the south Texas-Mexico transboundary region remains to be fully understood. An international perspective on the interplay between disease systems, ecosystem processes, land use, and human behaviors is applied here to analyze landscape and spatial features of Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Hantavirus disease, Lyme Borreliosis, Leptospirosis, Bartonellosis, Chagas disease, human Babesiosis, and Leishmaniasis. Surveillance systems following the One Health approach with a regional perspective will help identifying opportunities to mitigate the health burden of those diseases on human and animal populations. It is proposed that the Mexico-US border, along the Rio Grande region be viewed as a continuum landscape where zoonotic pathogens circulate regardless of national borders.

  19. Pathogenic Landscape of Transboundary Zoonotic Diseases in the Mexico–US Border Along the Rio Grande

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esteve-Gassent, Maria Dolores; Pérez de León, Adalberto A.; Romero-Salas, Dora; Feria-Arroyo, Teresa P.; Patino, Ramiro; Castro-Arellano, Ivan; Gordillo-Pérez, Guadalupe; Auclair, Allan; Goolsby, John; Rodriguez-Vivas, Roger Ivan; Estrada-Franco, Jose Guillermo

    2014-01-01

    Transboundary zoonotic diseases, several of which are vector borne, can maintain a dynamic focus and have pathogens circulating in geographic regions encircling multiple geopolitical boundaries. Global change is intensifying transboundary problems, including the spatial variation of the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases. The complexity of these challenges can be greater in areas where rivers delineate international boundaries and encompass transitions between ecozones. The Rio Grande serves as a natural border between the US State of Texas and the Mexican States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Not only do millions of people live in this transboundary region, but also a substantial amount of goods and people pass through it everyday. Moreover, it occurs over a region that functions as a corridor for animal migrations, and thus links the Neotropic and Nearctic biogeographic zones, with the latter being a known foci of zoonotic diseases. However, the pathogenic landscape of important zoonotic diseases in the south Texas–Mexico transboundary region remains to be fully understood. An international perspective on the interplay between disease systems, ecosystem processes, land use, and human behaviors is applied here to analyze landscape and spatial features of Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Hantavirus disease, Lyme Borreliosis, Leptospirosis, Bartonellosis, Chagas disease, human Babesiosis, and Leishmaniasis. Surveillance systems following the One Health approach with a regional perspective will help identifying opportunities to mitigate the health burden of those diseases on human and animal populations. It is proposed that the Mexico–US border along the Rio Grande region be viewed as a continuum landscape where zoonotic pathogens circulate regardless of national borders. PMID:25453027

  20. Stochastic network calculus

    CERN Document Server

    Jiang, Yuming

    2009-01-01

    This book is devoted to a comprehensive treatment of this important field, a grand challenge for future networking research. It covers results from the authors as well as other researchers. Topics covered include Independent Case Analysis and its applications.