Non-invasive measurement of instantaneous forces during aquatic locomotion: a case study of the bluegill sunfish pectoral fin.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Jifeng; Dabiri, John O; Madden, Peter G; Lauder, George V

2007-02-01

Swimming and flying animals generate unsteady locomotive forces by delivering net momentum into the fluid wake. Hence, swimming and flying forces can be quantified by measuring the momentum of animal wakes. A recently developed model provides an approach to empirically deduce swimming and flying forces based on the measurement of velocity and vortex added-mass in the animal wake. The model is contingent on the identification of the vortex boundary in the wake. This paper demonstrates the application of that method to a case study quantifying the instantaneous locomotive forces generated by the pectoral fins of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque), measured using digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV). The finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) field calculated from the DPIV data was used to determine the wake vortex boundary, according to recently developed fluid dynamics theory. Momentum of the vortex wake and its added-mass were determined and the corresponding instantaneous locomotive forces were quantified at discrete time points during the fin stroke. The instantaneous forces estimated in this study agree in magnitude with the time-averaged forces quantified for the pectoral fin of the same species swimming in similar conditions and are consistent with the observed global motion of the animals. A key result of this study is its suggestion that the dynamical effect of the vortex wake on locomotion is to replace the real animal fin with an ;effective appendage', whose geometry is dictated by the FTLE field and whose interaction with the surrounding fluid is wholly dictated by inviscid concepts from potential flow theory. Benefits and limitations of this new framework for non-invasive instantaneous force measurement are discussed, and its application to comparative biomechanics and engineering studies is suggested.

A sphere-scanning radiometer for rapid directional measurements of sky and ground radiance: The PARABOLA field instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Deering, D. W.; Leone, P.

1984-11-01

A unique field instrument, called the PARABOLA, a collapsable support boom, which is self contained and easily transportable to remote sites to enable the acquisition of radiance data for almost the complete (4 pi) sky and ground-looking hemispheres in only 11 seconds was designed. The PARABOLA samples in 15 deg instantaneous field of view sectors in three narrow bandpass spectral channels simultaneously. Field measurement on a variety of earth surface cover types using a truck boom, a specially designed pickup truck mounting system, and a hot air balloon were studied. The PARABOLA instrument has potential for climatological and other studies which require characterization of the distribution of diffuse solar radiation within the sky hemisphere.

Isotope-equipped measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyagawa, Kazuo; Amano, Hiroshi

1980-01-01

In the steel industry, though the investment in isotope-equipped measuring instruments is small as compared with that in machinery, they play important role in the moisture measurement in sintering and blast furnaces, the thickness measurement in rolling process and others in automatic control systems. The economic aspect of the isotope-equipped measuring instruments is described on the basis of the practices in Kimitsu Works of Nippon Steel Corporation: distribution of such instruments, evaluation of economic effects, usefulness evaluation in view of raising the accuracy, and usefulness evaluation viewed from the failure of the isotope instruments. The evaluation of economic effects was made under the premise that the isotope-equipped measuring instruments are not employed. Then, the effects of raising the accuracy are evaluated for a γ-ray plate thickness gauge and a neutron moisture gauge for coke in a blast furnace. Finally, the usefulness was evaluated, assuming possible failure of the isotope-equipped measuring instruments. (J.P.N.)

Use of instantaneous streamflow measurements to improve regression estimates of index flow for the summer month of lowest streamflow in Michigan

Science.gov (United States)

Holtschlag, David J.

2011-01-01

In Michigan, index flow Q50 is a streamflow characteristic defined as the minimum of median flows for July, August, and September. The state of Michigan uses index flow estimates to help regulate large (greater than 100,000 gallons per day) water withdrawals to prevent adverse effects on characteristic fish populations. At sites where long-term streamgages are located, index flows are computed directly from continuous streamflow records as GageQ50. In an earlier study, a multiple-regression equation was developed to estimate index flows IndxQ50 at ungaged sites. The index equation explains about 94 percent of the variability of index flows at 147 (index) streamgages by use of six explanatory variables describing soil type, aquifer transmissivity, land cover, and precipitation characteristics. This report extends the results of the previous study, by use of Monte Carlo simulations, to evaluate alternative flow estimators, DiscQ50, IntgQ50, SiteQ50, and AugmQ50. The Monte Carlo simulations treated each of the available index streamgages, in turn, as a miscellaneous site where streamflow conditions are described by one or more instantaneous measurements of flow. In the simulations, instantaneous flows were approximated by daily mean flows at the corresponding site. All estimators use information that can be obtained from instantaneous flow measurements and contemporaneous daily mean flow data from nearby long-term streamgages. The efficacy of these estimators was evaluated over a set of measurement intensities in which the number of simulated instantaneous flow measurements ranged from 1 to 100 at a site. The discrete measurement estimator DiscQ50 is based on a simple linear regression developed between information on daily mean flows at five or more streamgages near the miscellaneous site and their corresponding GageQ50 index flows. The regression relation then was used to compute a DiscQ50 estimate at the miscellaneous site by use of the simulated instantaneous flow

In vitro confocal micro-PIV measurements of blood flow in a square microchannel: the effect of the haematocrit on instantaneous velocity profiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Lima, Rui; Wada, Shigeo; Takeda, Motohiro; Tsubota, Ken-ichi; Yamaguchi, Takami

2007-01-01

A confocal microparticle image velocimetry (micro-PIV) system was used to obtain detailed information on the velocity profiles for the flow of pure water (PW) and in vitro blood (haematocrit up to 17%) in a 100-microm-square microchannel. All the measurements were made in the middle plane of the microchannel at a constant flow rate and low Reynolds number (Re=0.025). The averaged ensemble velocity profiles were found to be markedly parabolic for all the working fluids studied. When comparing the instantaneous velocity profiles of the three fluids, our results indicated that the profile shape depended on the haematocrit. Our confocal micro-PIV measurements demonstrate that the root mean square (RMS) values increase with the haematocrit implying that it is important to consider the information provided by the instantaneous velocity fields, even at low Re. The present study also examines the potential effect of the RBCs on the accuracy of the instantaneous velocity measurements.

Verification of the Indicating Measuring Instruments Taking into Account their Instrumental Measurement Uncertainty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zakharov Igor

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The specific features of the measuring instruments verification based on the results of their calibration are considered. It is noted that, in contrast to the verification procedure used in the legal metrology, the verification procedure for calibrated measuring instruments has to take into account the uncertainty of measurements into account. In this regard, a large number of measuring instruments, considered as those that are in compliance after verification in the legal metrology, turns out to be not in compliance after calibration. In this case, it is necessary to evaluate the probability of compliance of indicating measuring instruments. The procedure of compliance probability determination on the basis of the Monte Carlo method is considered. An example of calibration of a Vernier caliper is given.

Preliminary data from an instantaneous profile test conducted near the Mixed Waste Landfill, Technical Area 3, Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bayliss, S.C.; Goering, T.J.; McVey, M.D.; Strong, W.R.; Peace, J.L.

1996-04-01

This paper presents data from an instantaneous profile test conducted near the Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Mixed Waste Landfill in Technical Area 3. The test was performed from December 1993 through 1995 as part of the environmental Restoration Project's Phase 2 RCRA Facility Investigation of the Mixed Waste Landfill. The purpose of the test was to measure the unsaturated hydraulic properties of soils near the Mixed Waste Landfill. The instantaneous profile test and instrumentation are described, and the pressure and moisture content data from the test are presented. These data may be useful for understanding the unsaturated hydraulic properties of soils in Technical Area 3 and for model validation, verification, and calibration

Application of MySQL in instantaneous profile gauge system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Xiaojing; Miao Jichen; Wu Zhifang

2011-01-01

As equipment in the hot rolling plate plant for online measurement of strip steel, the instantaneous profile gauge is used to measure instant crown of hot rolling strips and feed back the crown to the rolling mill to adjust strip profile. During the measurement, a large amount of data need to be stored reasonably for query, display, computation and other processing, while a database management software can make it happen. Based on such features of MySQL as small size, fast speed, low cost and open source codes, a database function was implemented in the instantaneous profile gauge for data storage, query and maintenance, by applying MySQL database management system and integrating with the control interface. (authors)

Computing Instantaneous Frequency by normalizing Hilbert Transform

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Norden E.

2005-05-31

This invention presents Normalized Amplitude Hilbert Transform (NAHT) and Normalized Hilbert Transform(NHT), both of which are new methods for computing Instantaneous Frequency. This method is designed specifically to circumvent the limitation set by the Bedorsian and Nuttal Theorems, and to provide a sharp local measure of error when the quadrature and the Hilbert Transform do not agree. Motivation for this method is that straightforward application of the Hilbert Transform followed by taking the derivative of the phase-angle as the Instantaneous Frequency (IF) leads to a common mistake made up to this date. In order to make the Hilbert Transform method work, the data has to obey certain restrictions.

The instantaneous shear modulus in the shoving model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dyre, J. C.; Wang, W. H.

2012-01-01

We point out that the instantaneous shear modulus G∞ of the shoving model for the non-Arrhenius temperature dependence of viscous liquids’ relaxation time is the experimentally accessible highfrequency plateau modulus, not the idealized instantaneous affine shear modulus that cannot be measured....... Data for a large selection of metallic glasses are compared to three different versions of the shoving model. The original shear-modulus based version shows a slight correlation to the Poisson ratio, which is eliminated by the energy-landscape formulation of the model in which the bulk modulus plays...

The Instrumentation of a Microfluidic Analyzer Enabling the Characterization of the Specific Membrane Capacitance, Cytoplasm Conductivity, and Instantaneous Young's Modulus of Single Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ke; Zhao, Yang; Chen, Deyong; Huang, Chengjun; Fan, Beiyuan; Long, Rong; Hsieh, Chia-Hsun; Wang, Junbo; Wu, Min-Hsien; Chen, Jian

2017-06-19

This paper presents the instrumentation of a microfluidic analyzer enabling the characterization of single-cell biophysical properties, which includes seven key components: a microfluidic module, a pressure module, an imaging module, an impedance module, two LabVIEW platforms for instrument operation and raw data processing, respectively, and a Python code for data translation. Under the control of the LabVIEW platform for instrument operation, the pressure module flushes single cells into the microfluidic module with raw biophysical parameters sampled by the imaging and impedance modules and processed by the LabVIEW platform for raw data processing, which were further translated into intrinsic cellular biophysical parameters using the code developed in Python. Based on this system, specific membrane capacitance, cytoplasm conductivity, and instantaneous Young's modulus of three cell types were quantified as 2.76 ± 0.57 μF/cm², 1.00 ± 0.14 S/m, and 3.79 ± 1.11 kPa for A549 cells ( n cell = 202); 1.88 ± 0.31 μF/cm², 1.05 ± 0.16 S/m, and 3.74 ± 0.75 kPa for 95D cells ( n cell = 257); 2.11 ± 0.38 μF/cm², 0.87 ± 0.11 S/m, and 5.39 ± 0.89 kPa for H460 cells ( n cell = 246). As a semi-automatic instrument with a throughput of roughly 1 cell per second, this prototype instrument can be potentially used for the characterization of cellular biophysical properties.

Non-instantaneous impulses in differential equations

CERN Document Server

Agarwal, Ravi; O'Regan, Donal

2017-01-01

This monograph is the first published book devoted to the theory of differential equations with non-instantaneous impulses. It aims to equip the reader with mathematical models and theory behind real life processes in physics, biology, population dynamics, ecology and pharmacokinetics. The authors examine a wide scope of differential equations with non-instantaneous impulses through three comprehensive chapters, providing an all-rounded and unique presentation on the topic, including: - Ordinary differential equations with non-instantaneous impulses (scalar and n-dimensional case) - Fractional differential equa tions with non-instantaneous impulses (with Caputo fractional derivatives of order q ϵ (0, 1)) - Ordinary differential equations with non-instantaneous impulses occurring at random moments (with exponential, Erlang, or Gamma distribution) Each chapter focuses on theory, proofs and examples, and contains numerous graphs to enrich the reader’s understanding. Additionally, a carefully selected bibliogr...

Comparison of Instantaneous Frequency Scaling from Rain Attenuation and Optical Disdrometer Measurements at K/Q bands

Science.gov (United States)

Nessel, James; Zemba, Michael; Luini, Lorenzo; Riva, Carlo

2015-01-01

Rain attenuation is strongly dependent on the rain rate, but also on the rain drop size distribution (DSD). Typically, models utilize an average drop size distribution, such as those developed by Laws and Parsons, or Marshall and Palmer. However, individual rain events may possess drop size distributions which could be significantly different from the average and will impact, for example, fade mitigation techniques which utilize channel performance estimates from a signal at a different frequency. Therefore, a good understanding of the characteristics and variability of the raindrop size distribution is extremely important in predicting rain attenuation and instantaneous frequency scaling parameters on an event-toevent basis. Since June 2014, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) have measured the attenuation due to rain in Milan, Italy, on the 20/40 GHz beacon signal broadcast from the Alphasat TDP#5 Aldo Paraboni Q/V-band Payload. Concomitant with these measurements are the measurements of drop size distribution and rain rate utilizing a Thies Clima laser precipitation monitor (disdrometer). In this paper, we discuss the comparison of the predicted rain attenuation at 20 and 40 GHz derived from the drop size distribution data with the measured rain attenuation. The results are compared on statistical and real-time bases. We will investigate the performance of the rain attenuation model, instantaneous frequency scaling, and the distribution of the scaling factor. Further, seasonal rain characteristics will be analysed.

Nonlinear digital signal processing in mental health: characterization of major depression using instantaneous entropy measures of heartbeat dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Valenza, Gaetano; Garcia, Ronald G; Citi, Luca; Scilingo, Enzo P; Tomaz, Carlos A; Barbieri, Riccardo

2015-01-01

Nonlinear digital signal processing methods that address system complexity have provided useful computational tools for helping in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of pathologies. More specifically, nonlinear measures have been successful in characterizing patients with mental disorders such as Major Depression (MD). In this study, we propose the use of instantaneous measures of entropy, namely the inhomogeneous point-process approximate entropy (ipApEn) and the inhomogeneous point-process sample entropy (ipSampEn), to describe a novel characterization of MD patients undergoing affective elicitation. Because these measures are built within a nonlinear point-process model, they allow for the assessment of complexity in cardiovascular dynamics at each moment in time. Heartbeat dynamics were characterized from 48 healthy controls and 48 patients with MD while emotionally elicited through either neutral or arousing audiovisual stimuli. Experimental results coming from the arousing tasks show that ipApEn measures are able to instantaneously track heartbeat complexity as well as discern between healthy subjects and MD patients. Conversely, standard heart rate variability (HRV) analysis performed in both time and frequency domains did not show any statistical significance. We conclude that measures of entropy based on nonlinear point-process models might contribute to devising useful computational tools for care in mental health.

Instruments Measuring Integrated Care: A Systematic Review of Measurement Properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Bautista, Mary Ann C; Nurjono, Milawaty; Lim, Yee Wei; Dessers, Ezra; Vrijhoef, Hubertus Jm

2016-12-01

Policy Points: Investigations on systematic methodologies for measuring integrated care should coincide with the growing interest in this field of research. A systematic review of instruments provides insights into integrated care measurement, including setting the research agenda for validating available instruments and informing the decision to develop new ones. This study is the first systematic review of instruments measuring integrated care with an evidence synthesis of the measurement properties. We found 209 index instruments measuring different constructs related to integrated care; the strength of evidence on the adequacy of the majority of their measurement properties remained largely unassessed. Integrated care is an important strategy for increasing health system performance. Despite its growing significance, detailed evidence on the measurement properties of integrated care instruments remains vague and limited. Our systematic review aims to provide evidence on the state of the art in measuring integrated care. Our comprehensive systematic review framework builds on the Rainbow Model for Integrated Care (RMIC). We searched MEDLINE/PubMed for published articles on the measurement properties of instruments measuring integrated care and identified eligible articles using a standard set of selection criteria. We assessed the methodological quality of every validation study reported using the COSMIN checklist and extracted data on study and instrument characteristics. We also evaluated the measurement properties of each examined instrument per validation study and provided a best evidence synthesis on the adequacy of measurement properties of the index instruments. From the 300 eligible articles, we assessed the methodological quality of 379 validation studies from which we identified 209 index instruments measuring integrated care constructs. The majority of studies reported on instruments measuring constructs related to care integration (33%) and patient

Instruments Measuring Integrated Care: A Systematic Review of Measurement Properties

Science.gov (United States)

BAUTISTA, MARY ANN C.; NURJONO, MILAWATY; DESSERS, EZRA; VRIJHOEF, HUBERTUS JM

2016-01-01

Policy Points: Investigations on systematic methodologies for measuring integrated care should coincide with the growing interest in this field of research.A systematic review of instruments provides insights into integrated care measurement, including setting the research agenda for validating available instruments and informing the decision to develop new ones.This study is the first systematic review of instruments measuring integrated care with an evidence synthesis of the measurement properties.We found 209 index instruments measuring different constructs related to integrated care; the strength of evidence on the adequacy of the majority of their measurement properties remained largely unassessed. Context Integrated care is an important strategy for increasing health system performance. Despite its growing significance, detailed evidence on the measurement properties of integrated care instruments remains vague and limited. Our systematic review aims to provide evidence on the state of the art in measuring integrated care. Methods Our comprehensive systematic review framework builds on the Rainbow Model for Integrated Care (RMIC). We searched MEDLINE/PubMed for published articles on the measurement properties of instruments measuring integrated care and identified eligible articles using a standard set of selection criteria. We assessed the methodological quality of every validation study reported using the COSMIN checklist and extracted data on study and instrument characteristics. We also evaluated the measurement properties of each examined instrument per validation study and provided a best evidence synthesis on the adequacy of measurement properties of the index instruments. Findings From the 300 eligible articles, we assessed the methodological quality of 379 validation studies from which we identified 209 index instruments measuring integrated care constructs. The majority of studies reported on instruments measuring constructs related to care

Front-Crawl Instantaneous Velocity Estimation Using a Wearable Inertial Measurement Unit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamiar Aminian

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Monitoring the performance is a crucial task for elite sports during both training and competition. Velocity is the key parameter of performance in swimming, but swimming performance evaluation remains immature due to the complexities of measurements in water. The purpose of this study is to use a single inertial measurement unit (IMU to estimate front crawl velocity. Thirty swimmers, equipped with an IMU on the sacrum, each performed four different velocity trials of 25 m in ascending order. A tethered speedometer was used as the velocity measurement reference. Deployment of biomechanical constraints of front crawl locomotion and change detection framework on acceleration signal paved the way for a drift-free integration of forward acceleration using IMU to estimate the swimmers velocity. A difference of 0.6 ± 5.4 cm·s−1 on mean cycle velocity and an RMS difference of 11.3 cm·s−1 in instantaneous velocity estimation were observed between IMU and the reference. The most important contribution of the study is a new practical tool for objective evaluation of swimming performance. A single body-worn IMU provides timely feedback for coaches and sport scientists without any complicated setup or restraining the swimmer’s natural technique.

Measurement, instrumentation, and sensors handbook

CERN Document Server

Eren, Halit

2014-01-01

The Second Edition of the bestselling Measurement, Instrumentation, and Sensors Handbook brings together all aspects of the design and implementation of measurement, instrumentation, and sensors. Reflecting the current state of the art, it describes the use of instruments and techniques for performing practical measurements in engineering, physics, chemistry, and the life sciences and discusses processing systems, automatic data acquisition, reduction and analysis, operation characteristics, accuracy, errors, calibrations, and the incorporation of standards for control purposes. Organized acco

Automatic traveltime picking using instantaneous traveltime

KAUST Repository

Saragiotis, Christos; Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali; Fomel, Sergey

2013-01-01

Event picking is used in many steps of seismic processing. We present an automatic event picking method that is based on a new attribute of seismic signals, instantaneous traveltime. The calculation of the instantaneous traveltime consists of two separate but interrelated stages. First, a trace is mapped onto the time-frequency domain. Then the time-frequency representation is mapped back onto the time domain by an appropriate operation. The computed instantaneous traveltime equals the recording time at those instances at which there is a seismic event, a feature that is used to pick the events. We analyzed the concept of the instantaneous traveltime and demonstrated the application of our automatic picking method on dynamite and Vibroseis field data.

Automatic traveltime picking using instantaneous traveltime

KAUST Repository

Saragiotis, Christos

2013-02-08

Event picking is used in many steps of seismic processing. We present an automatic event picking method that is based on a new attribute of seismic signals, instantaneous traveltime. The calculation of the instantaneous traveltime consists of two separate but interrelated stages. First, a trace is mapped onto the time-frequency domain. Then the time-frequency representation is mapped back onto the time domain by an appropriate operation. The computed instantaneous traveltime equals the recording time at those instances at which there is a seismic event, a feature that is used to pick the events. We analyzed the concept of the instantaneous traveltime and demonstrated the application of our automatic picking method on dynamite and Vibroseis field data.

DropBot: An open-source digital microfluidic control system with precise control of electrostatic driving force and instantaneous drop velocity measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fobel, Ryan; Fobel, Christian; Wheeler, Aaron R.

2013-01-01

We introduce DropBot: an open-source instrument for digital microfluidics (http://microfluidics.utoronto.ca/dropbot). DropBot features two key functionalities for digital microfluidics: (1) real-time monitoring of instantaneous drop velocity (which we propose is a proxy for resistive forces), and (2) application of constant electrostatic driving forces through compensation for amplifier-loading and device capacitance. We anticipate that this system will enhance insight into failure modes and lead to new strategies for improved device reliability, and will be useful for the growing number of users who are adopting digital microfluidics for automated, miniaturized laboratory operation.

Six-channel instantaneous optical pyrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Guichao

2001-01-01

An instantaneous optical pyrometer to measure the spectral radiance of the materials shocked to high pressure has been developed. Thermal radiation emitted by the source is sampled at six wavelength bands from visible to near infrared spectrum. And the signal for each channel is separately transited through the optical fiber and then detected by photomultipliers and oscilloscopes with a time resolution of 20 ns. Shock temperatures ranging from 2400 to 9000 K could been reliably measured with an error less than 3%. The results of some experiments on air and NaI crystals are also given

Instantaneous wave emission model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kruer, W.L.

1970-12-01

A useful treatment of electrostatic wave emission by fast particles in a plasma is given. First, the potential due to a fast particle is expressed as a simple integration over the particle orbit; several interesting results readily follow. The potential in the wake of an accelerating particle is shown to be essentially that produced through local excitation of the plasma by the particle free-streaming about its instantaneous orbit. Application is made to one dimension, and it is shown that the wave emission and adsorption synchronize to the instantaneous velocity distribution function. Guided by these calculations, we then formulate a test particle model for computing the instantaneous wave emission by fast particles in a Vlasov plasma. This model lends itself to physical interpretation and provides a direct approach to many problems. By adopting a Fokker-Planck description for the particle dynamics, we calculate the broadening of the wave-particle resonance due to velocity diffusion and drag

Development of gamma-ray densitometer and measurement of void fraction in instantaneous pipe rupture under BWR LOCA condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yano, Toshikazu

1983-11-01

In order to clarify the transient mass flow rate under the instantaneous pipe rupture condition, it is necessary to use a highly sensitive void meter. Therefore, a high-response gamma-ray densitometer was developed for the measurement of void fraction variation caused by flashing vaporization of the high-pressure and -temperature water under the instantaneous pipe rupture accident. The measurement of void fraction was performed in the pipe rupture test under the BWR LOCA condition with a 6-inch diameter pipe. Initial conditions of the water were 6.86 MPa in pressure and the saturation temperature. To prove the reliability and accuracy, a calibration test by falling acrylic void simulators and an air injection test into cold water filled in the pipe were also conducted. The following results are obtained in the pipe rupture test. (1) The cone slit method is very useful to increase the measuring accuracy. (2) It is clearly observed that the apparent increase of void fraction occurs after the rarefaction wave passes. (3) The first maximum of void fraction occurs with some delay time after break. The following minimum void fraction concurs with the maximum pressure in the pressure recovering phenomena and with the maximum blowdown thrust force. (author)

Application of L.D.A. to measure instantaneous flow velocity field in the exhaust of a combustion engine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boutrif, M.S.; Thelliez, M.

1993-01-01

We present experimental results of instantaneous velocity measurement, which were obtained by application of the laser Doppler anemometry (L.D.A.) at the exhaust pipe of a reciprocating engine under real working conditions. First of all, we show that the instantaneous velocity is monodimensional along a straight exhaust pipe, and that the boundary layer develops within a 2 mm thickness. We also show that the cylinder discharges in two phases: the blow down period and the final part of exhaust stroke. We also make obvious, that the flow escapes very quickly: its velocity varies betwen -100 m/s and 200 m/s within a period shorter than 1 ms; thereby, we do record the acoustic resonance phenomenon, when the engine speed is greater than 3 000 rpm. Finally, we show that in the exhaust pipe the apparent fluctuation - i.e. the cyclic dispersion and the actual turbulence - may reach 15%. (orig.)

Spectroelectrochemical Instrument Measures TOC

Science.gov (United States)

Kounaves, Sam

2011-01-01

A spectroelectrochemical instrument has been developed for measuring the total organic carbon (TOC) content of an aqueous solution. Measurements of TOC are frequently performed in environmental, clinical, and industrial settings. Until now, techniques for performing such measurements have included, various ly, the use of hazardous reagents, ultraviolet light, or ovens, to promote reactions in which the carbon contents are oxidized. The instrument now being developed is intended to be a safer, more economical means of oxidizing organic carbon and determining the TOC levels of aqueous solutions and for providing a low power/mass unit for use in planetary missions.

Radiation measuring instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Genrich, V.

1985-01-01

A highly sensitive and compactly structured radiation measuring instrument for detecting ionizing radiation, in particular for measuring dose rates and contamination. The laminar structure of the associated counter tube, using only a few, simple plastic parts and a highly elastic counter wire, makes it possible to use the simplest manufacturing techniques. The service life of the counter tube construction, which is completely and permanently sealed and filled with gas, is expected to be more than 12 years. The described counter tube can be adapted in optimal fashion to the available space in a pocket instrument if it is used in combination with a specialized high-voltage generator which is low in interference voltage and with a pulse evaluation circuit having a means of compensating for interference voltage

Qualitative analysis of MTEM response using instantaneous attributes

Science.gov (United States)

Fayemi, Olalekan; Di, Qingyun

2017-11-01

This paper introduces new technique for qualitative analysis of multi-transient electromagnetic (MTEM) earth impulse response over complex geological structures. Instantaneous phase and frequency attributes were used in place of the conventional common offset section for improved qualitative interpretation of MTEM data by obtaining more detailed information from the earth impulse response. The instantaneous attributes were used to describe the lateral variation in subsurface resistivity and the visible geological structure with respect to given offsets. Instantaneous phase attribute was obtained by converting the impulse response into a complex form using the Hilbert transform. Conversely, the polynomial phase difference (PPD) estimator was favored over the center finite difference (CFD) approximation method in calculating the instantaneous frequency attribute because it is computationally efficient and has the ability to give a smooth variation of the instantaneous frequency over a common offset section. The observed results from the instantaneous attributes were in good agreement with both the subsurface model used and the apparent resistivity section obtained from the MTEM earth impulse response. Hence, this study confirms the capability of both instantaneous phase and frequency attributes as highly effective tools for MTEM qualitative analysis.

Instantaneous strain measurements during high-temperature stress cycling of a dispersion-strengthened niobium alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farkas, D.M.; Mishra, R.S.; Mukherjee, A.K.

1995-01-01

Experimental results obtained from stress cycling tests performed during high-temperature creep of a dispersion strengthened niobium alloy indicate that the instantaneous strain following the stress change decreases with accumulated strain. The true work-hardening rate was shown to be a small fraction of the elastic modulus which remained fairly constant throughout the strain history. The instantaneous strain change from a stress addition was typically greater than the strain from the corresponding stress reduction. This effect is quite pronounced for small stress changes and diminishes as the magnitude of the stress change increases. This implies that the mobility of dislocations is impeded in the reverse direction unless the magnitude of stress reduction exceeds the value of the internal stress

Development of material measures for performance verifying surface topography measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leach, Richard; Giusca, Claudiu; Rickens, Kai; Riemer, Oltmann; Rubert, Paul

2014-01-01

The development of two irregular-geometry material measures for performance verifying surface topography measuring instruments is described. The material measures are designed to be used to performance verify tactile and optical areal surface topography measuring instruments. The manufacture of the material measures using diamond turning followed by nickel electroforming is described in detail. Measurement results are then obtained using a traceable stylus instrument and a commercial coherence scanning interferometer, and the results are shown to agree to within the measurement uncertainties. The material measures are now commercially available as part of a suite of material measures aimed at the calibration and performance verification of areal surface topography measuring instruments

Portable radiation instrumentation traceability of standards and measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiserman, A.; Walke, M.

1995-01-01

Portable radiation measuring instruments are used to estimate and control doses for workers. Calibration of these instruments must be sufficiently accurate to ensure that administrative and legal dose limits are not likely to be exceeded due to measurement uncertainties. An instrument calibration and management program is established which permits measurements made with an instrument to be traced to a national standard. This paper describes the establishment and maintenance of calibration standards for gamma survey instruments and an instrument management program which achieves traceability of measurement for uniquely identified field instruments. (author)

HTGR Measurements and Instrumentation Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ball, Sydney J.; Holcomb, David Eugene; Cetiner, Mustafa Sacit

2012-01-01

This report provides an integrated overview of measurements and instrumentation for near-term future high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). Instrumentation technology has undergone revolutionary improvements since the last HTGR was constructed in the United States. This report briefly describes the measurement and communications needs of HTGRs for normal operations, maintenance and inspection, fuel fabrication, and accident response. The report includes a description of modern communications technologies and also provides a potential instrumentation communications architecture designed for deployment at an HTGR. A principal focus for the report is describing new and emerging measurement technologies with high potential to improve operations, maintenance, and accident response for the next generation of HTGRs, known as modular HTGRs, which are designed with passive safety features. Special focus is devoted toward describing the failure modes of the measurement technologies and assessing the technology maturity.

A framework for assessing frequency domain causality in physiological time series with instantaneous effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Faes, Luca; Erla, Silvia; Porta, Alberto; Nollo, Giandomenico

2013-08-28

We present an approach for the quantification of directional relations in multiple time series exhibiting significant zero-lag interactions. To overcome the limitations of the traditional multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) modelling of multiple series, we introduce an extended MVAR (eMVAR) framework allowing either exclusive consideration of time-lagged effects according to the classic notion of Granger causality, or consideration of combined instantaneous and lagged effects according to an extended causality definition. The spectral representation of the eMVAR model is exploited to derive novel frequency domain causality measures that generalize to the case of instantaneous effects the known directed coherence (DC) and partial DC measures. The new measures are illustrated in theoretical examples showing that they reduce to the known measures in the absence of instantaneous causality, and describe peculiar aspects of directional interaction among multiple series when instantaneous causality is non-negligible. Then, the issue of estimating eMVAR models from time-series data is faced, proposing two approaches for model identification and discussing problems related to the underlying model assumptions. Finally, applications of the framework on cardiovascular variability series and multichannel EEG recordings are presented, showing how it allows one to highlight patterns of frequency domain causality consistent with well-interpretable physiological interaction mechanisms.

The instantaneous frequency rate spectrogram

Science.gov (United States)

Czarnecki, Krzysztof

2016-01-01

An accelerogram of the instantaneous phase of signal components referred to as an instantaneous frequency rate spectrogram (IFRS) is presented as a joint time-frequency distribution. The distribution is directly obtained by processing the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) locally. A novel approach to amplitude demodulation based upon the reassignment method is introduced as a useful by-product. Additionally, an estimator of energy density versus the instantaneous frequency rate (IFR) is proposed and referred to as the IFR profile. The energy density is estimated based upon both the classical energy spectrogram and the IFRS smoothened by the median filter. Moreover, the impact of an analyzing window width, additive white Gaussian noise and observation time is tested. Finally, the introduced method is used for the analysis of the acoustic emission of an automotive engine. The recording of the engine of a Lamborghini Gallardo is analyzed as an example.

Development of an instantaneous local fuel-concentration measurement probe: an engine application

Science.gov (United States)

Guibert, P.; Boutar, Z.; Lemoyne, L.

2003-11-01

This work presents a new tool which can deliver instantaneous local measurements of fuel concentration in an engine cylinder with a high temporal resolution, particularly during compression strokes. Fuel concentration is represented by means of equivalence fuel-air ratio, i.e. the real engine mass ratio of fuel to air divided by the same ratio in ideal stoichiometry conditions. Controlling the mixture configuration for any strategy in a spark ignition engine and for auto-ignition combustion has a dominant effect on the subsequent processes of ignition, flame propagation and auto-ignition combustion progression, pollutant formation under lean or even stoichiometric operating conditions. It is extremely difficult, under a transient operation, to control the equivalence air/fuel ratio precisely at a required value and at the right time. This requires the development of a highly accurate equivalence air/fuel ratio control system and a tool to measure using crank angle (CA) resolution. Although non-intrusive laser techniques have considerable advantages, they are most of the time inappropriate due to their optical inaccessibility or the complex experimental set-up involved. Therefore, as a response to the demand for a relatively simple fuel-concentration measurement system a probe is presented that replaces a spark plug and allows the engine to run completely normally. The probe is based on hot-wire like apparatus, but involves catalytic oxidation at the wire surface. The development, characteristics and calibration of the probe are presented followed by applications to in-cylinder engine measurements.

Dual Mode NOx Sensor: Measuring Both the Accumulated Amount and Instantaneous Level at Low Concentrations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaco H. Visser

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The accumulating-type (or integrating-type NOx sensor principle offers two operation modes to measure low levels of NOx: The direct signal gives the total amount dosed over a time interval and its derivative the instantaneous concentration. With a linear sensor response, no baseline drift, and both response times and recovery times in the range of the gas exchange time of the test bench (5 to 7 s, the integrating sensor is well suited to reliably detect low levels of NOx. Experimental results are presented demonstrating the sensor’s integrating properties for the total amount detection and its sensitivity to both NO and to NO2. We also show the correlation between the derivative of the sensor signal and the known gas concentration. The long-term detection of NOx in the sub-ppm range (e.g., for air quality measurements is discussed. Additionally, a self-adaption of the measurement range taking advantage of the temperature dependency of the sensitivity is addressed.

In Brief: Online database for instantaneous streamflow data

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2007-11-01

Access to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) historical instantaneous streamflow discharge data, dating from around 1990, is now available online through the Instantaneous Data Archive (IDA), the USGS announced on 14 November. In this new system, users can find streamflow information reported at the time intervals at which it is collected, typically 15-minute to hourly intervals. Although instantaneous data have been available for many years, they were not accessible through the Internet. Robert Hirsch, USGS Associate Director of Water, said, ``A user-friendly archive of historical instantaneous streamflow data is important to many different users for such things as floodplain mapping, flood modeling, and estimating pollutant transport.''The site currently has about 1.5 billion instantaneous data values from 5500 stream gages in 26 states. The number of states and stream gages with data will continue to increase, according to the USGS. For more information, visit the Web site: http://ida.water.usgs.gov/ida/.

A Magnetic Resonance Measurement Technique for Rapidly Switched Gradient Magnetic Fields in a Magnetic Resonance Tomograph

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Bartušek

2003-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a method for measuring of the gradient magnetic field in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR tomography, which is one of the modern medical diagnostic methods. A very important prerequisite for high quality imaging is a gradient magnetic field in the instrument with exactly defined properties. Nuclear magnetic resonance enables us to measure the pulse gradient magnetic field characteristics with high accuracy. These interesting precise methods were designed, realised, and tested at the Institute of Scientific Instruments (ISI of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The first of them was the Instantaneous Frequency (IF method, which was developed into the Instantaneous Frequency of Spin Echo (IFSE and the Instantaneous Frequency of Spin Echo Series (IFSES methods. The above named methods are described in this paper and their a comparison is also presented.

Effects of Instantaneous Multiband Dynamic Compression on Speech Intelligibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Herzke Tobias

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The recruitment phenomenon, that is, the reduced dynamic range between threshold and uncomfortable level, is attributed to the loss of instantaneous dynamic compression on the basilar membrane. Despite this, hearing aids commonly use slow-acting dynamic compression for its compensation, because this was found to be the most successful strategy in terms of speech quality and intelligibility rehabilitation. Former attempts to use fast-acting compression gave ambiguous results, raising the question as to whether auditory-based recruitment compensation by instantaneous compression is in principle applicable in hearing aids. This study thus investigates instantaneous multiband dynamic compression based on an auditory filterbank. Instantaneous envelope compression is performed in each frequency band of a gammatone filterbank, which provides a combination of time and frequency resolution comparable to the normal healthy cochlea. The gain characteristics used for dynamic compression are deduced from categorical loudness scaling. In speech intelligibility tests, the instantaneous dynamic compression scheme was compared against a linear amplification scheme, which used the same filterbank for frequency analysis, but employed constant gain factors that restored the sound level for medium perceived loudness in each frequency band. In subjective comparisons, five of nine subjects preferred the linear amplification scheme and would not accept the instantaneous dynamic compression in hearing aids. Four of nine subjects did not perceive any quality differences. A sentence intelligibility test in noise (Oldenburg sentence test showed little to no negative effects of the instantaneous dynamic compression, compared to linear amplification. A word intelligibility test in quiet (one-syllable rhyme test showed that the subjects benefit from the larger amplification at low levels provided by instantaneous dynamic compression. Further analysis showed that the increase

Measurement and Instrumentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirkham, Harold

2018-01-02

This is a chapter for a book called the Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineering. Though it is not obvious from the title, the book deals mainly with power engineering. The first chapter (not mine) is about the fundamental quantities used in measurement. This chapter is about the process and the instrumentation.

A Compact, Low Resource Instrument to Measure Atmospheric Methane and Carbon Dioxide From Orbit

Science.gov (United States)

Rafkin, Scot; Davis, Michael; Varner, Ruth; Basu, Sourish; Bruhwiler, Lori; Luspay-Kuti, Adrienn; Mandt, Kathy; Roming, Pete; Soto, Alejandro; Tapley, Mark

2017-04-01

Methane is the second most important radiatively active trace gas forcing anthropogenic climate change. Methane has ˜28 times more warming potential than carbon dioxide on a 100-year time horizon, and the background atmospheric concentration of methane has increased by more than 150% compared to pre-industrial levels. The increase in methane abundance is driven by a combination of direct human activity, such as fossil fuel extraction and agriculture, and natural feedback processes that respond to human-induced climate change, such as increased wetland production. Accurate accounting of the exchange between the atmosphere and the natural and anthropogenic methane reservoirs is necessary to predict how methane concentration will increase going forward, how that increase will modulate the natural methane cycle, and how effective policy decisions might be at mitigating methane-induced climate change. Monitoring and quantifying methane source intensity and spatial-temporal variability has proven challenging; there are unresolved and scientifically significant discrepancies between flux estimates based on limited surface measurements (the so-called "bottom-up" method) and the values derived from limited, remotely-sensed estimates from orbit and modeling (the so-called "top-down" method). A major source of the discrepancy between bottom-up and top-down estimates is likely a result of insufficient accuracy and resolution of space-based instrumentation. Methane releases, especially anthropogenic sources, are often at kilometer-scale (or less), whereas past remote sensing instruments have at least an order of magnitude greater footprint areas. Natural sources may be larger in areal extent, but the enhancement over background levels can be just a few percent, which demands high spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratios from monitoring instrumentation. In response to the need for higher performance space-based methane monitoring, we have developed a novel, compact, low

Mobile Instruments Measure Atmospheric Pollutants

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

As a part of NASA's active research of the Earth s atmosphere, which has included missions such as the Atmospheric Laboratory of Applications and Science (ATLAS, launched in 1992) and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS, launched on the Earth Probe satellite in 1996), the Agency also performs ground-based air pollution research. The ability to measure trace amounts of airborne pollutants precisely and quickly is important for determining natural patterns and human effects on global warming and air pollution, but until recent advances in field-grade spectroscopic instrumentation, this rapid, accurate data collection was limited and extremely difficult. In order to understand causes of climate change and airborne pollution, NASA has supported the development of compact, low power, rapid response instruments operating in the mid-infrared "molecular fingerprint" portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. These instruments, which measure atmospheric trace gases and airborne particles, can be deployed in mobile laboratories - customized ground vehicles, typically - to map distributions of pollutants in real time. The instruments must be rugged enough to operate rapidly and accurately, despite frequent jostling that can misalign, damage, or disconnect sensitive components. By measuring quickly while moving through an environment, a mobile laboratory can correlate data and geographic points, revealing patterns in the environment s pollutants. Rapid pollutant measurements also enable direct determination of pollutant sources and sinks (mechanisms that remove greenhouse gases and pollutants), providing information critical to understanding and managing atmospheric greenhouse gas and air pollutant concentrations.

Instrument for measuring fuel cladding strain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Billeter, T.R.

1976-01-01

Development work to provide instrumentation for the continuous measurement of strain of material specimens such as nuclear fuel cladding has shown that a microwave sensor and associated instrumentation hold promise. The cylindrical sensor body enclosing the specimen results in a coaxial resonator absorbing microwave energy at frequencies dependent upon the diameter of the specimen. Diametral changes of a microinch can be resolved with use of the instrumentation. Very reasonable values of elastic strain were measured at 75 0 F and 1000 0 F for an internally pressurized 20 percent C.W. 316 stainless steel specimen simulating nuclear fuel cladding. The instrument also indicated the creep strain of the same specimen pressurized at 6500 psi and at a temperature of 1000 0 F for a period of 700 hours. Although the indicated strain appears greater than actual, the sensor/specimen unit experienced considerable oxidation even though an inert gas purge persisted throughout the test duration. By monitoring at least two modes of resonance, the measured strain was shown to be nearly independent of sensor temperature. To prevent oxidation, a second test was performed in which the specimen/sensor units were contained in an evacuated enclosure. The strain of the two prepressurized specimens as indicated by the microwave instrumentation agreed very closely with pre- and post-test measurements obtained with use of a laser interferometer

Instantaneous Switching Processes in Quasi-Linear Circuits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rositsa Angelova

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers instantaneous processes in electrical circuits produced by the stepwise change of the capacitance of the capacitor and the inductance of the inductor and by the switching on and switching off of the circuit. In order to determine the set of electrical circuits, for which it is possible to explicitly obtain the values of the currents and the voltages at the end of the instantaneous process, a classification of the networks with nonlinear elements is introduced in the paper. The instantaneous switching process in the moment t0 is approximated when T->t0 with a sequence of processes in the interval [t0, T]. For quasi-linear inductive and capacitive circuits; we present the type of the system satisfied by the currents and the voltages, the charges, as well as the fluxes in the interval [t0, T]. From this system, after passage to the limit T->t0, we obtain the formulas for the values of the circuits at the end of the instantaneous process. The obtained results are applied for the analysis of particular processes.

Fuzzy associative memories for instrument fault detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heger, A.S.

1996-01-01

A fuzzy logic instrument fault detection scheme is developed for systems having two or three redundant sensors. In the fuzzy logic approach the deviation between each signal pairing is computed and classified into three fuzzy sets. A rule base is created allowing the human perception of the situation to be represented mathematically. Fuzzy associative memories are then applied. Finally, a defuzzification scheme is used to find the centroid location, and hence the signal status. Real-time analyses are carried out to evaluate the instantaneous signal status as well as the long-term results for the sensor set. Instantaneous signal validation results are used to compute a best estimate for the measured state variable. The long-term sensor validation method uses a frequency fuzzy variable to determine the signal condition over a specific period. To corroborate the methodology synthetic data representing various anomalies are analyzed with both the fuzzy logic technique and the parity space approach. (Author)

Preventive maintenance instrumentation results in Spanish nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curiel, M.; Palomo, M. J.; Verdu, G.; Arnaldos, A.

2010-10-01

This paper is a recompilation of the most significance results in relation to the researching in preventive and predictive maintenance in critical nuclear instrumentation for power plant operation, which it is being developed by Logistica y Acondicionamientos Industriales and the Isirym Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Instrumentation verification and test, it is a priority of the power plants control and instrumentation department's technicians. These procedures are necessary information for the daily power plant work. It is performed according to different procedures and in different moments of the fuel cycle depending on the instrumentation critical state and the monitoring process. Normally, this study is developed taking into account the instantaneous values of the instrumentation measures and, after their conversion to physical magnitude, they are analyzed according to the power plant operation point. Moreover, redundant sensors measurements are taken into consideration to the equipment and/or power plant monitoring. This work goes forward and it is in advanced to the instrument analysis as it is, independently of the operation point, using specific signal analysis techniques for preventive and predictive maintenance, with the object to obtain not only information about possible malfunctions, but the degradation scale presented in the instrument or in the system measured. We present seven real case studies of Spanish nuclear power plants each of them shall give a significant contribution to problem resolution and power plant performance. (Author)

Virtual experiment instrument of nuclear pulse measuring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shan Jian; Zhao Xiuliang; Yu Hong; Zhang Meiqin

2009-01-01

Study on the scheme of application of virtual instrument(VI) technique in measuring of nuclear pulse. The system of Counter based on technology of LabVIEW and NI company's products USB-6009-DAQ is developed. Virtual nuclear instrument-Virtual Counter is realized. This system extends the application of technology of virtual instrument. The experimental results indicate that the system of Counter had the good counting measuring function of Nuclear Pulse. (authors)

Neutron-multiplication measurement instrument

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nixon, K.V.; Dowdy, E.J.; France, S.W.; Millegan, D.R.; Robba, A.A.

1982-01-01

The Advanced Nuclear Technology Group of the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now using intelligent data-acquisition and analysis instrumentation for determining the multiplication of nuclear material. Earlier instrumentation, such as the large NIM-crate systems, depended on house power and required additional computation to determine multiplication or to estimate error. The portable, battery-powered multiplication measurement unit, with advanced computational power, acquires data, calculates multiplication, and completes error analysis automatically. Thus, the multiplication is determined easily and an available error estimate enables the user to judge the significance of results.

Neutron multiplication measurement instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nixon, K.V.; Dowdy, E.J.; France, S.W.; Millegan, D.R.; Robba, A.A.

1983-01-01

The Advanced Nuclear Technology Group of the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now using intelligent data-acquisition and analysis instrumentation for determining the multiplication of nuclear material. Earlier instrumentation, such as the large NIM-crate systems, depended on house power and required additional computation to determine multiplication or to estimate error. The portable, battery-powered multiplication measurement unit, with advanced computational power, acquires data, calculates multiplication, and completes error analysis automatically. Thus, the multiplication is determined easily and an available error estimate enables the user to judge the significance of results

Neutron-multiplication measurement instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nixon, K.V.; Dowdy, E.J.; France, S.W.; Millegan, D.R.; Robba, A.A.

1982-01-01

The Advanced Nuclear Technology Group of the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now using intelligent data-acquisition and analysis instrumentation for determining the multiplication of nuclear material. Earlier instrumentation, such as the large NIM-crate systems, depended on house power and required additional computation to determine multiplication or to estimate error. The portable, battery-powered multiplication measurement unit, with advanced computational power, acquires data, calculates multiplication, and completes error analysis automatically. Thus, the multiplication is determined easily and an available error estimate enables the user to judge the significance of results

Introduction to instrumentation and measurements

CERN Document Server

Northrop, Robert B

2014-01-01

Weighing in on the growth of innovative technologies, the adoption of new standards, and the lack of educational development as it relates to current and emerging applications, the third edition of Introduction to Instrumentation and Measurements uses the authors' 40 years of teaching experience to expound on the theory, science, and art of modern instrumentation and measurements (I&M). What's New in This Edition: This edition includes material on modern integrated circuit (IC) and photonic sensors, micro-electro-mechanical (MEM) and nano-electro-mechanical (NEM) sensors, chemical and radiation sensors, signal conditioning, noise, data interfaces, and basic digital signal processing (DSP), and upgrades every chapter with the latest advancements. It contains new material on the designs of micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) sensors, adds two new chapters on wireless instrumentation and microsensors, and incorporates extensive biomedical examples and problems. Containing 13 chapters, this third edition: Describ...

An Instantaneous Low-Cost Point-of-Care Anemia Detection Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Punter-Villagrasa

2015-02-01

Full Text Available We present a small, compact and portable device for point-of-care instantaneous early detection of anemia. The method used is based on direct hematocrit measurement from whole blood samples by means of impedance analysis. This device consists of a custom electronic instrumentation and a plug-and-play disposable sensor. The designed electronics rely on straightforward standards for low power consumption, resulting in a robust and low consumption device making it completely mobile with a long battery life. Another approach could be powering the system based on other solutions like indoor solar cells, or applying energy-harvesting solutions in order to remove the batteries. The sensing system is based on a disposable low-cost label-free three gold electrode commercial sensor for 50 µL blood samples. The device capability for anemia detection has been validated through 24 blood samples, obtained from four hospitalized patients at Hospital Clínic. As a result, the response, effectiveness and robustness of the portable point-of-care device to detect anemia has been proved with an accuracy error of 2.83% and a mean coefficient of variation of 2.57% without any particular case above 5%.

Assessment of movement distribution in the lumbar spine using the instantaneous axis of rotation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Ki Won [Trine University, Angola (Indonesia)

2014-12-15

The position of the torso and the magnitude of exertion are thought to influence the distribution pattern of intervertebral movements within the lumbar spine. Abnormal intervertebral movements have been correlated with the risk of spine injuries. Since the capability to measure movement distribution within the lumbar spine noninvasively is limited, a convenient method to diagnose joint motion function was proposed. The goal of this research was to test the efficacy of the instantaneous axis of rotation for assessment of the distribution of movement within the lumbar spine. The proposed method was evaluated in the bio mechanical model. The results showed that the location of instantaneous axis of rotation lowered with increased trunk exertion force, and slightly moved higher with increased trunk angle. Recognizing that abnormal location of the instantaneous axis of rotation correlated with spinal pain, these results suggest potential the location of the instantaneous axis of rotation relates to the risk of low back pain on distributed spinal kinematics.

Measurement Properties of Instruments for Measuring of Lymphedema: Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hidding, Janine T; Viehoff, Peter B; Beurskens, Carien H G; van Laarhoven, Hanneke W M; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W G; van der Wees, Philip J

2016-12-01

Lymphedema is a common complication of cancer treatment, resulting in swelling and subjective symptoms. Reliable and valid measurement of this side effect of medical treatment is important. The purpose of this study was to provide best evidence regarding which measurement instruments are most appropriate in measuring lymphedema in its different stages. The PubMed and Web of Science databases were used, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Clinical studies on measurement instruments assessing lymphedema were reviewed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) scoring instrument for quality assessment. Data on reliability, concurrent validity, convergent validity, sensitivity, specificity, applicability, and costs were extracted. Pooled data showed good intrarater intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) (.89) for bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) in the lower extremities and high intrarater and interrater ICCs for water volumetry, tape measurement, and perometry (.98-.99) in the upper extremities. In the upper extremities, the standard error of measurement was 3.6% (σ=0.7%) for water volumetry, 5.6% (σ=2.1%) for perometry, and 6.6% (σ=2.6%) for tape measurement. Sensitivity of tape measurement in the upper extremities, using different cutoff points, varied from 0.73 to 0.90, and specificity values varied from 0.72 to 0.78. No uniform definition of lymphedema was available, and a gold standard as a reference test was lacking. Items concerning risk of bias were study design, patient selection, description of lymphedema, blinding of test outcomes, and number of included participants. Measurement instruments with evidence for good reliability and validity were BIS, water volumetry, tape measurement, and perometry, where BIS can detect alterations in extracellular fluid in stage 1 lymphedema and the other measurement instruments can detect alterations in volume

77 FR 37409 - Request for Domains, Instruments, and Measures for Development of a Standardized Instrument for...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-21

... experience as well. On both issues, CMS is interested in instruments and items which can measure quality of... Measures for Development of a Standardized Instrument for Use in Public Reporting of Enrollee Satisfaction..., communication, coordination of care, customer service), instruments, and measures for measuring the level of...

Calibration of solar radiation measuring instruments. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bahm, R J; Nakos, J C

1979-11-01

A review of solar radiation measurement of instruments and some types of errors is given; and procedures for calibrating solar radiation measuring instruments are detailed. An appendix contains a description of various agencies who perform calibration of solar instruments and a description of the methods they used at the time this report was prepared. (WHK)

Operating experience with LAMPF main beam lines instrumentation and control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

van Dyck, O.B.; Harvey, A.; Howard, H.H.; Roeder, D.L.

1975-01-01

Instrumentation and control (I and C) for the Los Alamos Clinton P. Anderson Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF) main beam line is based upon central computer control through remote stations which provide input and output to most devices. Operating experience shows that the ability of the computer to give high-quality graphical presentation of the measurements enhances operator performance and instrument usefulness. Experience also shows that operator efficiency degrades rapidly with increasing instrument response time, that is, with increasing delay between the time a control is changed and the result can be observed. For this reason, instrumentation upgrade includes speeding up data acquisition and display times to under 10 s. Similarly, television-viewed phosphors are being retained where possible since their instantaneous response is very useful. Other upgrading of the instrumentation system is planned to improve data accuracy, reliability, redundancy, and instrument radiation tolerance. Past experience is being applied in adding or relocating devices to simplify tuning procedures. (U.S.)

Measuring instruments of corporate reputation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damir Grgić

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The subject of this paper is focused on the instruments for the measurement of corporate reputation. Recent research of the elements which influence the success of a company shows a growing interest in intangible values. Corporate reputation itself has been identified as one of the key intangible assets which create the company’s added value. Understanding of the importance of corporate reputation has been determined as a significant component of the company’s competitiveness, that is, of its competitive edge. Reputation is a normal part of our life and an integral part of our society. Our interest in the honesty and integrity of others is firmly established in all cultures and nowadays the focus of this interest is switching increasingly on companies. Corporate reputation can be acquired by means of strong, well-developed strategies, which are crucial for the opinion of stakeholders regarding future stability and competitive sustainability of the company. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that in order to manage it, corporate reputation has to be measured first. However, although the concept of corporate reputation is universally accepted and its significance has been recognized especially in the last two decades, the process of its measurement is still at an early stage and there is no universally accepted instrument for its measurement. Therefore, the author of this paper gives an overview of the instruments used for the measurement of corporate reputation which have gained a foothold through former practical usage.

Analysis of Instantaneous Linear, Nonlinear and Complex Cardiovascular Dynamics from Videophotoplethysmography.

Science.gov (United States)

Valenza, Gaetano; Iozzia, Luca; Cerina, Luca; Mainardi, Luca; Barbieri, Riccardo

2018-05-01

There is a fast growing interest in the use of non-contact devices for health and performance assessment in humans. In particular, the use of non-contact videophotoplethysmography (vPPG) has been recently demonstrated as a feasible way to extract cardiovascular information. Nevertheless, proper validation of vPPG-derived heartbeat dynamics is still missing. We aim to an in-depth validation of time-varying, linear and nonlinear/complex dynamics of the pulse rate variability extracted from vPPG. We apply inhomogeneous pointprocess nonlinear models to assess instantaneous measures defined in the time, frequency, and bispectral domains as estimated through vPPG and standard ECG. Instantaneous complexity measures, such as the instantaneous Lyapunov exponents and the recently defined inhomogeneous point-process approximate and sample entropy, were estimated as well. Video recordings were processed using our recently proposed method based on zerophase principal component analysis. Experimental data were gathered from 60 young healthy subjects (age: 24±3 years) undergoing postural changes (rest-to-stand maneuver). Group averaged results show that there is an overall agreement between linear and nonlinear/complexity indices computed from ECG and vPPG during resting state conditions. However, important differences are found, particularly in the bispectral and complexity domains, in recordings where the subjects has been instructed to stand up. Although significant differences exist between cardiovascular estimates from vPPG and ECG, it is very promising that instantaneous sympathovagal changes, as well as time-varying complex dynamics, were correctly identified, especially during resting state. In addition to a further improvement of the video signal quality, more research is advocated towards a more precise estimation of cardiovascular dynamics by a comprehensive nonlinear/complex paradigm specifically tailored to the non-contact quantification. Schattauer GmbH.

Instantaneous interactions of hadrons on the light cone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyer, T.

1994-01-01

Hadron wave functions are most naturally defined in the framework of light-cone quantization, a Hamiltonian formulation quantized at equal light-cone ''time'' τ≡t+z. One feature of the light-cone perturbation theory is the presence of instantaneous interactions, which complicate the consideration of processes involving bound states. We show that these interactions can be written in a simple and general form, parametrized by an instantaneous contribution ψ to the hadronic wave function. We use the rotational invariance of Feynman diagrams to relate this instantaneous piece of the meson wave function to the propagating part, and to obtain constraints relating wave functions and quark fragmentation amplitudes

Field instrumentation for hydrofracturing stress measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjarnason, Bjarni; Torikka, Arne.

1989-08-01

A recently developed system for rock stress measurements by the hydraulic fracturing method is documented in detail. The new equipment is intended for measurement in vertical or nearvertical boreholes, down to a maximum depth of 1000 m. The minimum borehole, diameter required is 56 mm. Downhole instrumentation comprises a straddle packer assembly for borehole fracturing, equipment for determination of fracture orientations and a pressure transducer. The downhole tools are operated by means of a multihose system, containing high pressure hydraulic tubings, signal cable and carrying wire into one hose unit. The surface components of the equipment include a system for generation and control of water pressures up to approximately 75 MPa, an hydraulically operated drum for the multihose and a data acquisition system. All surface instrumentation is permanently mounted on a truck, which also serves as power source for the instrumentation. In addition to the description of instrumentation, the theoretical fundament and the testing procedures associated with the hydraulic fracturing method are briefly outlined

Preventive maintenance instrumentation results in Spanish nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Curiel, M. [Logistica y Acondicionamientos Industriales SAU, Sorolla Center, local 10, Av. de las Cortes Valencianas No. 58, 46015 Valencia (Spain); Palomo, M. J.; Verdu, G. [ISIRYM, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, Valencia (Spain); Arnaldos, A., E-mail: m.curiel@lainsa.co [TITANIA Servicios Tecnologicos SL, Sorolla Center, local 10, Av. de las Cortes Valencianas No. 58, 46015 Valencia (Spain)

2010-10-15

This paper is a recompilation of the most significance results in relation to the researching in preventive and predictive maintenance in critical nuclear instrumentation for power plant operation, which it is being developed by Logistica y Acondicionamientos Industriales and the Isirym Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Instrumentation verification and test, it is a priority of the power plants control and instrumentation department's technicians. These procedures are necessary information for the daily power plant work. It is performed according to different procedures and in different moments of the fuel cycle depending on the instrumentation critical state and the monitoring process. Normally, this study is developed taking into account the instantaneous values of the instrumentation measures and, after their conversion to physical magnitude, they are analyzed according to the power plant operation point. Moreover, redundant sensors measurements are taken into consideration to the equipment and/or power plant monitoring. This work goes forward and it is in advanced to the instrument analysis as it is, independently of the operation point, using specific signal analysis techniques for preventive and predictive maintenance, with the object to obtain not only information about possible malfunctions, but the degradation scale presented in the instrument or in the system measured. We present seven real case studies of Spanish nuclear power plants each of them shall give a significant contribution to problem resolution and power plant performance. (Author)

Angle measurement with laser feedback instrument.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Wenxue; Zhang, Shulian; Long, Xingwu

2013-04-08

An instrument for angle measurement based on laser feedback has been designed. The measurement technique is based on the principle that when a wave plate placed into a feedback cavity rotates, its phase retardation varies. Phase retardation is a function of the rotating angle of the wave plate. Hence, the angle can be converted to phase retardation. The phase retardation is measured at certain characteristic points identified in the laser outputting curve that are then modulated by laser feedback. The angle of a rotating object can be measured if it is connected to the wave plate. The main advantages of this instrument are: high resolution, compact, flexible, low cost, effective power, and fast response.

Mixed field dose equivalent measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brackenbush, L.W.; McDonald, J.C.; Endres, G.W.R.; Quam, W.

1985-01-01

In the past, separate instruments have been used to monitor dose equivalent from neutrons and gamma rays. It has been demonstrated that it is now possible to measure simultaneously neutron and gamma dose with a single instrument, the tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC). With appropriate algorithms dose equivalent can also be determined from the TEPC. A simple ''pocket rem meter'' for measuring neutron dose equivalent has already been developed. Improved algorithms for determining dose equivalent for mixed fields are presented. (author)

Nuclear instrumentation for radiation measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madan, V.K.

2012-01-01

Nuclear radiation cannot be detected by human senses. Nuclear detectors and associated electronics facilitate detection and measurement of different types of radiation like alpha particles, beta particles, gamma radiation, and detection of neutrons. Nuclear instrumentation has evolved greatly since the discovery of radioactivity. There has been tremendous advancement in detector technology, electronics, computer technology, and development of efficient algorithms and methods for spectral processing to extract precisely qualitative and quantitative information of the radiation. Various types of detectors and nuclear instruments are presently available and are used for different applications. This paper describes nuclear radiation, its detection and measurement and associated electronics, spectral information extraction, and advances in these fields. The paper also describes challenges in this field

Instantaneous Transfer Entropy for the Study of Cardiovascular and Cardiorespiratory Nonstationary Dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Valenza, Gaetano; Faes, Luca; Citi, Luca; Orini, Michele; Barbieri, Riccardo

2018-05-01

Measures of transfer entropy (TE) quantify the direction and strength of coupling between two complex systems. Standard approaches assume stationarity of the observations, and therefore are unable to track time-varying changes in nonlinear information transfer with high temporal resolution. In this study, we aim to define and validate novel instantaneous measures of TE to provide an improved assessment of complex nonstationary cardiorespiratory interactions. We here propose a novel instantaneous point-process TE (ipTE) and validate its assessment as applied to cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory dynamics. In particular, heartbeat and respiratory dynamics are characterized through discrete time series, and modeled with probability density functions predicting the time of the next physiological event as a function of the past history. Likewise, nonstationary interactions between heartbeat and blood pressure dynamics are characterized as well. Furthermore, we propose a new measure of information transfer, the instantaneous point-process information transfer (ipInfTr), which is directly derived from point-process-based definitions of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance. Analysis on synthetic data, as well as on experimental data gathered from healthy subjects undergoing postural changes confirms that ipTE, as well as ipInfTr measures are able to dynamically track changes in physiological systems coupling. This novel approach opens new avenues in the study of hidden, transient, nonstationary physiological states involving multivariate autonomic dynamics in cardiovascular health and disease. The proposed method can also be tailored for the study of complex multisystem physiology (e.g., brain-heart or, more in general, brain-body interactions).

Real-time use of instantaneous wave-free ratio: results of the ADVISE in-practice: an international, multicenter evaluation of instantaneous wave-free ratio in clinical practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petraco, Ricardo; Al-Lamee, Rasha; Gotberg, Matthias; Sharp, Andrew; Hellig, Farrel; Nijjer, Sukhjinder S.; Echavarria-Pinto, Mauro; van de Hoef, Tim P.; Sen, Sayan; Tanaka, Nobuhiro; van Belle, Eric; Bojara, Waldemar; Sakoda, Kunihiro; Mates, Martin; Indolfi, Ciro; de Rosa, Salvatore; Vrints, Christian J.; Haine, Steven; Yokoi, Hiroyoshi; Ribichini, Flavio L.; Meuwissen, Martjin; Matsuo, Hitoshi; Janssens, Luc; Katsumi, Ueno; Di Mario, Carlo; Escaned, Javier; Piek, Jan; Davies, Justin E.

2014-01-01

To evaluate the first experience of real-time instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) measurement by clinicians. The iFR is a new vasodilator-free index of coronary stenosis severity, calculated as a trans-lesion pressure ratio during a specific period of baseline diastole, when distal resistance is

Instantaneous stochastic perturbation theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lüscher, Martin

2015-01-01

A form of stochastic perturbation theory is described, where the representative stochastic fields are generated instantaneously rather than through a Markov process. The correctness of the procedure is established to all orders of the expansion and for a wide class of field theories that includes all common formulations of lattice QCD.

Performance tests for instruments measuring radon activity concentration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beck, T.R.; Buchroeder, H.; Schmidt, V.

2009-01-01

Performance tests of electronic instruments measuring the activity concentration of 222 Rn have been carried out with respect to the standard IEC 61577-2. In total, 9 types of instrument operating with ionization chambers or electrostatic collection have been tested for the influence of different climatic and radiological factors on the measurement characteristics. It is concluded that all types of instrument, which are commercially available, are suitable for indoor radon measurements. Because of the dependence on climatic conditions, the outdoor use is partly limited.

Experimental analysis of waveform effects on satellite and ligament behavior via in situ measurement of the drop-on-demand drop formation curve and the instantaneous jetting speed curve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Kye-Si

2010-01-01

In situ techniques to measure the drop-on-demand (DOD) drop formation curve and the instantaneous jetting speed curve are developed such that ligament behavior and satellite behavior of inkjet droplets can be analyzed effectively. It is known that the droplet jetting behavior differs by ink properties and the driving waveform voltage. In this study, to reduce possible droplet placement errors due to satellite drops or long ligaments during printing, waveform effects on drop formation are investigated based on the measured DOD drop formation curve and the instantaneous jetting speed curve. Experimental results show that a dwell time greater than the so-called efficient dwell time was effective in reducing placement errors due to satellite drops during the printing process

Measurement properties of adult quality-of-life measurement instruments for eczema: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinl, D; Prinsen, C A C; Deckert, S; Chalmers, J R; Drucker, A M; Ofenloch, R; Humphreys, R; Sach, T; Chamlin, S L; Schmitt, J; Apfelbacher, C

2016-03-01

The Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative has identified quality of life (QoL) as a core outcome domain to be evaluated in every eczema trial. It is unclear which of the existing QoL instruments is most appropriate for this domain. Thus, the aim of this review was to systematically assess the measurement properties of existing measurement instruments developed and/or validated for the measurement of QoL in adult eczema. We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed and Embase identifying studies on measurement properties of adult eczema QoL instruments. For all eligible studies, we assessed the adequacy of the measurement properties and the methodological quality with the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. A best evidence synthesis summarizing findings from different studies was the basis to assign four degrees of recommendation (A-D). A total of 15 articles reporting on 17 instruments were included. No instrument fulfilled the criteria for category A. Six instruments were placed in category B, meaning that they have the potential to be recommended depending on the results of further validation studies. Three instruments had poor adequacy in at least one required adequacy criterion and were therefore put in category C. The remaining eight instruments were minimally validated and were thus placed in category D. Currently, no QoL instrument can be recommended for use in adult eczema. The Quality of Life Index for Atopic Dermatitis (QoLIAD) and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) are recommended for further validation research. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Current situation and prospect of market on the latest radiation measuring instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ha, Chang Ho; Kim, Wang Geum; Cho, Gyu Seong

2009-12-01

This book deals with current situation and prospect of market on the latest radiation measuring instrument. The contents of this book are basic of technology on radiation measuring instrument with basic principle of various measuring instrument, current situation of technology and prospect of radiation measuring instrument, effect of spreading and application field of radiation measuring instrument, facility for making and research and development of radiation measuring instrument, prospect of market about radiation measuring instrument, strategy for market entry with the latest radiation measuring instrument and general prospect for the future.

Higs-instrument: design and demonstration of a high performance gas concentration imager

Science.gov (United States)

Verlaan, A. L.; Klop, W. A.; Visser, H.; van Brug, H.; Human, J.

2017-09-01

Climate change and environmental conditions are high on the political agenda of international governments. Laws and regulations are being setup all around the world to improve the air quality and to reduce the impact. The growth of a number of trace gasses, including CO2, Methane and NOx are especially interesting due to their environmental impact. The regulations made are being based on both models and measurements of the trend of those trace gases over the years. Now the regulations are in place also enforcement and therewith measurements become more and more important. Instruments enabling high spectral and spatial resolution as well as high accurate measurements of trace gases are required to deliver the necessary inputs. Nowadays those measurements are usually performed by space based spectrometers. The requirement for high spectral resolution and measurement accuracy significantly increases the size of the instruments. As a result the instrument and satellite becomes very expensive to develop and to launch. Specialized instruments with a small volume and the required performance will offer significant advantages in both cost and performance. Huib's Innovative Gas Sensor (HIGS, named after its inventor Huib Visser), currently being developed at TNO is an instrument that achieves exactly that. Designed to measure only a single gas concentration, opposed to deriving it from a spectrum, it achieves high performance within a small design volume. The instrument enables instantaneous imaging of the gas distribution of the selected gas. An instrument demonstrator has been developed for NO2 detection. Laboratory measurements proved the measurement technique to be successful. An on-sky measurement campaign is in preparation. This paper addresses both the instrument design as well as the demonstrated performances.

Instrument for measuring flow velocities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griffo, J.

1977-01-01

The design described here means to produce a 'more satisfying instrument with less cost' than comparable instruments known up to now. Instead of one single turbine rotor, two similar ones but with opposite blade inclination and sense of rotation are to be used. A cylindrical measuring body is carrying in its axis two bearing blocks whose shape is offering little flow resistance. On the shaft, supported by them, the two rotors run in opposite direction a relatively small axial distance apart. The speed of each rotor is picked up as pulse recurrence frequency by a transmitter and fed to an electronic measuring unit. Measuring errors as they are caused for single rotors by turbulent flow, profile distortion of the velocity, or viscous flow are to be eliminated by means of the contrarotating turbines and the subsequently added electronic unit, because in these cases the adulterating increase of the angular velocity of one rotor is compensated by a corresponding deceleration of the other rotor. The mean value then indicated by the electronic unit has high accurancy of measurement. (RW) [de

Instantaneous nonlinear assessment of complex cardiovascular dynamics by Laguerre-Volterra point process models.

Science.gov (United States)

Valenza, Gaetano; Citi, Luca; Barbieri, Riccardo

2013-01-01

We report an exemplary study of instantaneous assessment of cardiovascular dynamics performed using point-process nonlinear models based on Laguerre expansion of the linear and nonlinear Wiener-Volterra kernels. As quantifiers, instantaneous measures such as high order spectral features and Lyapunov exponents can be estimated from a quadratic and cubic autoregressive formulation of the model first order moment, respectively. Here, these measures are evaluated on heartbeat series coming from 16 healthy subjects and 14 patients with Congestive Hearth Failure (CHF). Data were gathered from the on-line repository PhysioBank, which has been taken as landmark for testing nonlinear indices. Results show that the proposed nonlinear Laguerre-Volterra point-process methods are able to track the nonlinear and complex cardiovascular dynamics, distinguishing significantly between CHF and healthy heartbeat series.

Instruments to measure behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Linde, Rianne M; Stephan, Blossom C M; Dening, Tom; Brayne, Carol

2014-03-01

Reliable and valid measurement of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) is important for research and clinical practice. Here we provide an overview of the different instruments and discuss issues involved in the choice of the most appropriate instrument to measure BPSD in research. A list of BPSD instruments was generated. For each instrument Pubmed and SCOPUS were searched for articles that reported on their use or quality. Eighty-three instruments that are used to measure BPSD were identified. Instruments differ in length and detail, whether the interview is with participants, informants or by observation, the target sample and the time frames for use. Reliability and validity is generally good, but reported in few independent samples. When choosing a BPSD instrument for research the research question should be carefully scrutinised and the symptoms of interest, population, quality, detail, time frame and practical issues should be considered. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Elasticity analysis by MR elastography using the instantaneous frequency method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oshiro, Osamu; Suga, Mikio; Minato, Kotaro; Okamoto, Jun; Takizawa, Osamu; Matsuda, Tetsuya; Komori, Masaru; Takahashi, Takashi

2000-01-01

This paper describes a calculation method for estimating the elasticity of human organs using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) images. The method is based on the instantaneous frequency method, which is very sensitive to noise. Therefore, the proposed method also incorporates a noise-reduction function. In the instantaneous frequency method, Fourier transform is applied to the measurement signal. Then, inverse Fourier transform is performed after the negative frequency component is set to zero. In the proposed method, noise is reduced by processing in which the positive higher frequency component is also set to zero before inverse Fourier transform is performed. First, we conducted a simulation study and confirmed the applicability of this method and the noise reduction function. Next, we carried out a phantom experiment and demonstrated that elasticity images could be generated, with the gray level corresponding to the local frequency in MRE images. (author)

Instrument for measuring metal-thermoelectric semiconductor contact resistence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lanxner, M.; Nechmadi, M.; Meiri, B.; Schildkraut, I.

1979-02-01

An instrument for measuring electrical, metal-thermoelectric semiconductor contact resistance is described. The expected errors of measurement are indicated. The operation of the instrument which is based on potential traversing perpendicularly to the contact plane is illustrated for the case of contacts of palladium and bismuth telluride-based thermoelectric material

Measurement of (n,xn) reaction cross-sections using prompt {gamma} spectroscopy at neutron beams with high instantaneous flux; Mesure de sections efficaces de reaction (n,xn) par spectroscopie {gamma} prompte aupres d'un faisceau a tres haut flux instantane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lukic, S

2004-10-15

The work presented in this thesis is situated in the context of the GEDEON program of neutron cross-section measurements. This program is motivated by the perspectives recently opened by projects of nuclear waste treatment and energy production. There is an obvious lack of experimental data on (n,xn) reactions in the databases, especially in the case of very radioactive isotopes. An important technique to measure cross-sections of these reactions is the prompt {gamma}-ray spectroscopy at white pulsed neutron beams with very high instantaneous flux. In this work, inelastic scattering and (n,xn) reactions cross-section measurements were performed on a lead sample from threshold to 20 MeV by prompt {gamma}-ray spectroscopy at the white neutron beam generated by GELINA facility in Geel, Belgium. Digital methods were developed to treat HPGe CLOVER detector signals and separate {gamma}-rays induced by the fastest neutrons from those belonging to the flash. Partial cross-sections for the production of several transitions in natural lead were measured and analyzed using theoretical calculations in order to separate the contributions of different reactions leading to the same residual isotope. Total cross-sections of the reactions in question were estimated. The results were compared to the TALYSS code theoretical calculations, as well as to other experimental results. This experiment has served to validate the method and it opens the way to measure (n,xn) reactions cross-sections with high instantaneous neutron flux on actinides, particularly the U{sup 233}(n,2n) reaction which is important for the thorium cycle. (author)

Leak detection for city gas pipelines based on instantaneous energy distribution characteristics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhigang, Chen [Deijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, (China)

2010-07-01

Many natural gas pipelines are used in our cities. The development of efficient leakage detection systems is fundamental for safety issues avoidance. This paper investigated a new solution to the leak detection problem in city gas pipelines based on instantaneous energy distribution. In a theoretical approach, the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) was used to provide the instantaneous energy distribution feature of an unstable pressure signal. The signal noise was eliminated thanks to the instantaneous energy contribution. A leakage detection model with instantaneous energy distribution (IED) was then established. The correlation coefficients of instantaneous energy distribution were through correlation analysis. It was found that in different pipeline states, the instantaneous energy distribution characteristics are different. A strong correlation of IED signal characteristics was found of the two ends of a city gas pipeline in the same operation. The test results demonstrated the reliability and validity of the method.

Installation and commissioning of instantaneous dose rate monitoring system

CERN Document Server

Iaydjiev, Plamen

2018-01-01

INRNE-Sofia was working on the installation and commissioning of new instantaneous dose rate monitoring system for the GIF++ facility at CERN. The final device, containing an 8-channels readout board was designed and tested at the CERN facility during November 2017, in an irradiation campaign supported by the AIDA-2020 TA program. The system is designed to be fully integrated in the GIF++ control system and the data measured are available to the users.

Impact of instrument response variations on health physics measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armantrout, G.A.

1984-10-01

Uncertainties in estimating the potential health impact of a given radiation exposure include instrument measurement error in determining exposure and difficulty in relating this exposure to an effective dose value. Instrument error can be due to design or manufacturing deficiencies, limitations of the sensing element used, and calibration and maintenance of the instrument. This paper evaluates the errors which can be introduced by design deficiencies and limitations of the sensing element for a wide variety of commonly used survey instruments. The results indicate little difference among sensing element choice for general survey work, with variations among specific instrument designs being the major factor. Ion chamber instruments tend to be the best for all around use, while scintillator-based units should not be used where accurate measurements are required. The need to properly calibrate and maintain an instrument appears to be the most important factor in instrument accuracy. 8 references, 6 tables

Emergency cricothyrotomy for trismus caused by instantaneous rigor in cardiac arrest patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jae Hee; Jung, Koo Young

2012-07-01

Instantaneous rigor as muscle stiffening occurring in the moment of death (or cardiac arrest) can be confused with rigor mortis. If trismus is caused by instantaneous rigor, orotracheal intubation is impossible and a surgical airway should be secured. Here, we report 2 patients who had emergency cricothyrotomy for trismus caused by instantaneous rigor. This case report aims to help physicians understand instantaneous rigor and to emphasize the importance of securing a surgical airway quickly on the occurrence of trismus. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of instantaneous rotational speed on the analysis of measured diesel engine cylinder pressure data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antonopoulos, Antonis K.; Hountalas, Dimitrios T.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► The effect of in-cycle speed fluctuation on cylinder pressure measurement is investigated. ► A phasing error is introduced when sampling cylinder pressure at constant time intervals. ► The phasing error increases with the increase of engine load and decrease of engine speed. ► Measurement using constant sampling rate affects estimation of HRR, ignition angle etc. - Abstract: Diesel engine cylinder pressure measurements are widely used in field and lab applications to support among other control, monitoring and diagnostic applications. There are two methods to measure cylinder pressure, the use of a crank angle encoder, which guarantees pressure samples at fixed crank angles, and the use of constant time sampling rate. The last is frequently used due to its simplicity or because of practical restrictions. However, in order to perform thermodynamic calculations it is necessary to attribute a crank angle value to each measured pressure value. But if the in-cycle rotational speed fluctuates and this is neglected, an error will result in the values derived from the processing of the measured cylinder pressure. For this reason in the present work an experimental investigation is conducted on a single cylinder diesel test engine to identify the aforementioned problem. During the tests cylinder pressure and instantaneous speed were recorded using an accurate crank angle reference. These where then used to simulate the measurement of cylinder pressure digitized using a fixed time step. The comparison of the two cylinder pressure traces and the thermodynamic parameters derived from them, reveals the introduction of an error which depends on engine load and speed.

Calibration of the geometrical characteristics of areal surface topography measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giusca, C L; Leach, R K; Helery, F; Gutauskas, T

2011-01-01

The use of areal surface topography measuring instruments has increased significantly over the past ten years as industry starts to embrace the use of surface structuring to affect the function of a component. This has led to a range of areal surface topography measuring instruments being developed and becoming available commercially. For such instruments to be used as part of quality control during production, it is essential for them to be calibrated according to international standards. The ISO 25178 suite of specification standards on areal surface topography measurement presents a series of tests that can be used to calibrate the metrological characteristics of an areal surface topography measuring instrument. Calibration artefacts and test procedures have been developed that are compliant with ISO 25178. The material measures include crossed gratings, resolution artefacts and pseudorandom surfaces. Traceability is achieved through the NPL Areal Instrument - a primary stylus-based instrument that uses laser interferometers to measure the displacement of the stylus tip. Good practice guides on areal calibration have also been drafted for stylus instruments, coherence scanning interferometers, scanning confocal microscopes and focus variation instruments.

Research and development of thermal-fluid measuring instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuzla, K.; Chen, J.C.

1991-01-01

The goal of this program is to develop an instrument to measure the time-fraction of liquid contact in the transition and film boiling regimes for flow within a vertical tube. The work was carried out at Lehigh University between February 15, 1989 to February 15, 1991. The instrument to measure time-fraction of liquid contact was successfully developed and tested

Instantaneous lineshape analysis of Fourier domain mode-locked lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Todor, Sebastian; Biedermann, Benjamin; Wieser, Wolfgang; Huber, Robert; Jirauschek, Christian

2011-04-25

We present a theoretical and experimental analysis of the instantaneous lineshape of Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) lasers, yielding good agreement. The simulations are performed employing a recently introduced model for FDML operation. Linewidths around 10 GHz are found, which is significantly below the sweep filter bandwidth. The effect of detuning between the sweep filter drive frequency and cavity roundtrip time is studied revealing features that cannot be resolved in the experiment, and shifting of the instantaneous power spectrum against the sweep filter center frequency is analyzed. We show that, in contrast to most other semiconductor based lasers, the instantaneous linewidth is governed neither by external noise sources nor by amplified spontaneous emission, but it is directly determined by the complex FDML dynamics.

Evaluation of the measurement properties of symptom measurement instruments for atopic eczema: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerbens, L A A; Prinsen, C A C; Chalmers, J R; Drucker, A M; von Kobyletzki, L B; Limpens, J; Nankervis, H; Svensson, Å; Terwee, C B; Zhang, J; Apfelbacher, C J; Spuls, P I

2017-01-01

Symptoms have been identified as a core outcome domain for atopic eczema (AE) trials. Various instruments exist to measure symptoms in AE, but they vary in quality and there is a lack of standardization between clinical trials. Our objective was to systematically evaluate the quality of the evidence on the measurement properties of AE symptom instruments, thereby informing consensus discussions within the Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative regarding the most appropriate instruments for the core outcome domain symptoms. Using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist and predefined criteria for good measurement properties on identified development and validation studies of AE symptom instruments, a best evidence synthesis was performed to draw an overall conclusion on quality of the instruments and to provide recommendations. Eighteen instruments were identified and evaluated. When the quality and results of the studies were considered, only five of these instruments had sufficient validation data to consider them for the core outcome set for the core outcome domain symptoms. These were the paediatric Itch Severity Scale (ISS), Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), Patient-Oriented SCOring Atopic Dermatitis (PO-SCORAD), Self-Administered Eczema Area and Severity Index (SA-EASI) and adapted SA-EASI. ISS (paediatric version), POEM, PO-SCORAD, SA-EASI and adapted SA-EASI are currently the most appropriate instruments and therefore have the potential to be recommended as core symptom instrument in future clinical trials. These findings will be utilized for the development of a core outcome set for AE. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Preventive maintenance instrumentation results in Spanish nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palomo Anaya, M. Jose; Verdu Martin, Gumersindo; Arnaldos Gonzalvez, Adoracion; Nieva, Marcelino Curiel

2011-01-01

This paper is a recompilation of the most significant results in relation to the researching in Preventive and Predictive Maintenance in critical nuclear instrumentation for power plant operation, which it is being developed by Logistica y Acondicionamientos Industriales and The Isirym Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Instrumentation verification and test, it is a priority of the Power Plants Control and Instrumentation Department technicians. These procedures are necessary information for the daily power plant work. It is performed according to different procedures and in different moments of the fuel cycle depending on the instrumentation critical state and the monitoring process. Normally, this study is developed taking into account the instantaneous values of the instrumentation measures and, after their conversion to physical magnitude, they are analyzed according to the power plant operation point. Moreover, redundant sensors measurements are taken into consideration to the equipment and/or power plant monitoring. This work goes forward and it is in advanced to the instrument analysis as it is, independently of the operation point, using specific signal analysis techniques for preventive and predictive maintenance, with the aim to obtain not only information about possible malfunctions, but the degradation scale presented in the instrument or in the system measured. We present seven real case studies of Spanish Nuclear Power Plants each of them shall give a significant contribution to problem resolution and power plant performance: Fluctuations in sensor lines (case 1), Air presence in feed water lines (case 2), Root valve partially closed (case 3), Sensor malfunctions (case 4), Electrical source malfunctions (case 5), RTD malfunctions (case 6) and LPRM malfunctions (case 7). (author)

Preventive maintenance instrumentation results in Spanish nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Palomo Anaya, M. Jose; Verdu Martin, Gumersindo, E-mail: mpalomo@iqn.upv.es, E-mail: gverdu@iqn.upv.es [ISIRYM Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Valencia (Spain); Arnaldos Gonzalvez, Adoracion, E-mail: a.arnaldos@titaniast.com [TITANIA Servicios Tecnologicos SL, Valencia (Spain); Nieva, Marcelino Curiel, E-mail: m.curiel@lainsa.com [Logistica y Acondicionamientos Industriales SAU (LAINSA), Valencia (Spain)

2011-07-01

This paper is a recompilation of the most significant results in relation to the researching in Preventive and Predictive Maintenance in critical nuclear instrumentation for power plant operation, which it is being developed by Logistica y Acondicionamientos Industriales and The Isirym Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Instrumentation verification and test, it is a priority of the Power Plants Control and Instrumentation Department technicians. These procedures are necessary information for the daily power plant work. It is performed according to different procedures and in different moments of the fuel cycle depending on the instrumentation critical state and the monitoring process. Normally, this study is developed taking into account the instantaneous values of the instrumentation measures and, after their conversion to physical magnitude, they are analyzed according to the power plant operation point. Moreover, redundant sensors measurements are taken into consideration to the equipment and/or power plant monitoring. This work goes forward and it is in advanced to the instrument analysis as it is, independently of the operation point, using specific signal analysis techniques for preventive and predictive maintenance, with the aim to obtain not only information about possible malfunctions, but the degradation scale presented in the instrument or in the system measured. We present seven real case studies of Spanish Nuclear Power Plants each of them shall give a significant contribution to problem resolution and power plant performance: Fluctuations in sensor lines (case 1), Air presence in feed water lines (case 2), Root valve partially closed (case 3), Sensor malfunctions (case 4), Electrical source malfunctions (case 5), RTD malfunctions (case 6) and LPRM malfunctions (case 7). (author)

Design and testing of an innovative solar radiation measurement device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badran, Omar; Al-Salaymeh, Ahmed; El-Tous, Yousif; Abdala, Wasfi

2010-01-01

After review of studies conducted on the solar radiation measuring systems, a new innovative instrument that would help in measuring the accurate solar radiation on horizontal surfaces has been designed and tested. An advanced instrument with ease of use and high precision that would enable the user to take the readings in terms of solar intensity (W/m 2 ) has been tested. Also, the innovative instrument can record instantaneous readings of the solar intensities as well as the averages value of the solar radiation flux during certain periods of time. The instrument based in its design on being programmed by programmable interfacing controller (PIC). Furthermore, the power supply circuit is fed by the solar energy cells and does not need an external power source.

Instantaneous sediment transport model for asymmetric oscillatory sheet flow.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin Chen

Full Text Available On the basis of advanced concentration and velocity profiles above a mobile seabed, an instantaneous analytical model is derived for sediment transport in asymmetric oscillatory flow. The applied concentration profile is obtained from the classical exponential law based on mass conservation, and asymmetric velocity profile is developed following the turbulent boundary layer theory and the asymmetric wave theory. The proposed model includes two parts: the basic part that consists of erosion depth and free stream velocity, and can be simplified to the total Shields parameter power 3/2 in accordance with the classical empirical models, and the extra vital part that consists of phase-lead, boundary layer thickness and erosion depth. The effects of suspended sediment, phase-lag and asymmetric boundary layer development are considered particularly in the model. The observed instantaneous transport rate proportional to different velocity exponents due to phase-lag is unified and summarised by the proposed model. Both instantaneous and half period empirical formulas are compared with the developed model, using extensive data on a wide range of flow and sediment conditions. The synchronous variation in instantaneous transport rate with free stream velocity and its decrement caused by increased sediment size are predicted correctly. Net transport rates, especially offshore transport rates with large phase-lag under velocity skewed flows, which existing instantaneous type formulas failed to predict, are predicted correctly in both direction and magnitude by the proposed model. Net sediment transport rates are affected not only by suspended sediment and phase-lag, but also by the boundary layer difference between onshore and offshore.

Measurement properties of adult quality-of-life measurement instruments for eczema: protocol for a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Apfelbacher, Christian J; Heinl, Daniel; Prinsen, Cecilia A C; Deckert, Stefanie; Chalmers, Joanne; Ofenloch, Robert; Humphreys, Rosemary; Sach, Tracey; Chamlin, Sarah; Schmitt, Jochen

2015-04-16

Eczema is a common chronic or chronically relapsing skin disease that has a substantial impact on quality of life (QoL). By means of a consensus-based process, the Harmonising Outcome Measures in Eczema (HOME) initiative has identified QoL as one of the four core outcome domains to be assessed in all eczema trials (Allergy 67(9):1111-7, 2012). Various measurement instruments exist to measure QoL in adults with eczema, but there is a great variability in both content and quality (for example, reliability and validity) of the instruments used, and it is not always clear if the best instrument is being used. Therefore, the aim of the proposed research is a comprehensive systematic assessment of the measurement properties of the existing measurement instruments that were developed and/or validated for the measurement of patient-reported QoL in adults with eczema. This study is a systematic review of the measurement properties of patient-reported measures of QoL developed and/or validated for adults with eczema. Medline via PubMed and EMBASE will be searched using a selection of relevant search terms. Eligible studies will be primary empirical studies evaluating, describing, or comparing measurement properties of QoL instruments for adult patients with eczema. Eligibility assessment and data abstraction will be performed independently by two reviewers. Evidence tables will be generated for study characteristics, instrument characteristics, measurement properties, and interpretability. The quality of the measurement properties will be assessed using predefined criteria. Methodological quality of studies will be assessed using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. A best evidence synthesis will be undertaken if more than one study has investigated a particular measurement property. The proposed systematic review will produce a comprehensive assessment of measurement properties of existing QoL instruments in

30 CFR 75.1719-3 - Methods of measurement; light measuring instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... being measured and a sufficient distance from the surface to allow the light sensing element in the... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Methods of measurement; light measuring... § 75.1719-3 Methods of measurement; light measuring instruments. (a) Compliance with § 75.1719-1(d...

Local high precision 3D measurement based on line laser measuring instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Renwei; Liu, Wei; Lu, Yongkang; Zhang, Yang; Ma, Jianwei; Jia, Zhenyuan

2018-03-01

In order to realize the precision machining and assembly of the parts, the geometrical dimensions of the surface of the local assembly surfaces need to be strictly guaranteed. In this paper, a local high-precision three-dimensional measurement method based on line laser measuring instrument is proposed to achieve a high degree of accuracy of the three-dimensional reconstruction of the surface. Aiming at the problem of two-dimensional line laser measuring instrument which lacks one-dimensional high-precision information, a local three-dimensional profile measuring system based on an accurate single-axis controller is proposed. First of all, a three-dimensional data compensation method based on spatial multi-angle line laser measuring instrument is proposed to achieve the high-precision measurement of the default axis. Through the pretreatment of the 3D point cloud information, the measurement points can be restored accurately. Finally, the target spherical surface is needed to make local three-dimensional scanning measurements for accuracy verification. The experimental results show that this scheme can get the local three-dimensional information of the target quickly and accurately, and achieves the purpose of gaining the information and compensating the error for laser scanner information, and improves the local measurement accuracy.

On the turbulent flow in piston engines: Coupling of statistical theory quantities and instantaneous turbulence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zentgraf, Florian; Baum, Elias; Dreizler, Andreas [Fachgebiet Reaktive Strömungen und Messtechnik (RSM), Center of Smart Interfaces (CSI), Technische Universität Darmstadt, Jovanka-Bontschits-Straße 2, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Böhm, Benjamin [Fachgebiet Energie und Kraftwerkstechnik (EKT), Technische Universität Darmstadt, Jovanka-Bontschits-Straße 2, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Peterson, Brian, E-mail: brian.peterson@ed.ac.uk [Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh, The King’s Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, Scotland (United Kingdom)

2016-04-15

Planar particle image velocimetry (PIV) and tomographic PIV (TPIV) measurements are utilized to analyze turbulent statistical theory quantities and the instantaneous turbulence within a single-cylinder optical engine. Measurements are performed during the intake and mid-compression stroke at 800 and 1500 RPM. TPIV facilitates the evaluation of spatially resolved Reynolds stress tensor (RST) distributions, anisotropic Reynolds stress invariants, and instantaneous turbulent vortical structures. The RST analysis describes distributions of individual velocity fluctuation components that arise from unsteady turbulent flow behavior as well as cycle-to-cycle variability (CCV). A conditional analysis, for which instantaneous PIV images are sampled by their tumble center location, reveals that CCV and turbulence have similar contributions to RST distributions at the mean tumble center, but turbulence is dominant in regions peripheral to the tumble center. Analysis of the anisotropic Reynolds stress invariants reveals the spatial distribution of axisymmetric expansion, axisymmetric contraction, and 3D isotropy within the cylinder. Findings indicate that the mid-compression flow exhibits a higher tendency toward 3D isotropy than the intake flow. A novel post-processing algorithm is utilized to classify the geometry of instantaneous turbulent vortical structures and evaluate their frequency of occurrence within the cylinder. Findings are coupled with statistical theory quantities to provide a comprehensive understanding of the distribution of turbulent velocity components, the distribution of anisotropic states of turbulence, and compare the turbulent vortical flow distribution that is theoretically expected to what is experimentally observed. The analyses reveal requisites of important turbulent flow quantities and discern their sensitivity to the local flow topography and engine operation.

Instantaneous thermal modeling of the DC-link capacitor in PhotoVoltaic systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Yongheng; Ma, Ke; Wang, Huai

2015-01-01

, instantaneous thermal modeling approaches considering mission profiles for the DC-link capacitor in single-phase PV systems are explored in this paper. These thermal modelling approaches are based on: a) fast Fourier transform, b) look-up tables, and c) ripple current reconstruction. Moreover, the thermal...... grid-connected PV system have been adopted to demonstrate a look-up table based modelling approach, where real-field daily ambient conditions are considered....... modelling approaches for the DC-link capacitors take into account the instantaneous thermal characteristics, which are more challenging to the capacitor reliability during operation. Such instantaneous thermal modeling approaches enable a translation of instantaneous capacitor power losses to capacitor...

Dynamic and Thermodynamic Properties of a CA Engine with Non-Instantaneous Adiabats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo T. Paéz-Hernández

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of a Curzon and Alhborn thermal engine model where both internal irreversibilities and non-instantaneous adiabatic branches are considered, operating with maximum ecological function and maximum power output regimes. Its thermodynamic properties are shown, and an analysis of its local dynamic stability is performed. The results derived are compared throughout the work with the results obtained previously for a case in which the adiabatic branches were assumed as instantaneous. The results indicate a better performance for thermodynamic properties in the model with instantaneous adiabatic branches, whereas there is an improvement in robustness in the case where non-instantaneous adiabatic branches are considered.

Measurement control program for NDA instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsue, S.T.; Marks, T.

1983-01-01

Measurement control checks for nondestructive assay instruments have been a constant and continuing concern at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This paper summarizes the evolution of the measurement control checks in the various high-resolution gamma systems we have developed. In-plant experiences with these systems and checks will be discussed. Based on these experiences, a set of measurement control checks is recommended for high-resolution gamma-ray systems

Comparison of nanoparticle measurement instruments for occupational health applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leskinen, J.; Joutsensaari, J.; Lyyränen, J.; Koivisto, J.; Ruusunen, J.; Järvelä, M.; Tuomi, T.; Hämeri, K.; Auvinen, A.; Jokiniemi, J.

2012-01-01

Nanoparticles are used in many applications because of their novel properties compared to bulk material. A growing number of employees are working with nanomaterials and their exposure to nanoparticles trough inhalation must be evaluated and monitored continuously. However, there is an ongoing debate in the scientific literature about what are the relevant parameters to measure to evaluate exposure to level. In this study, three types of nanoparticles (ammonium sulphate, synthesised TiO 2 agglomerates and aerosolised TiO 2 powder, modes in a range of 30–140 nm mobility size) were measured with commonly used aerosol measurement instruments: scanning and fast mobility particle sizers (SMPS, FMPS), electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI), condensation particle counter (CPC) together with nanoparticle surface area monitor (NSAM) to achieve information about the interrelations of the outputs of the instruments. In addition, the ease of use of these instruments was evaluated. Differences between the results of different instruments can mainly be attributed to the nature of test particles. For spherical ammonium sulphate nanoparticles, the data from the instruments were in good agreement while larger differences were observed for particles with more complex morphology, the TiO 2 agglomerates and powder. For instance, the FMPS showed a smaller particle size, a higher number concentration and a narrower size distribution compared with the SMPS for TiO 2 particles. Thus, the type of the nanoparticle was observed to influence the data obtained from these different instruments. Therefore, care and expertise are essential when interpreting results from aerosol measurement instruments to estimate nanoparticle concentrations and properties.

Measurement of sexual functioning after spinal cord injury: preferred instruments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alexander, Marcalee Sipski; Brackett, Nancy L; Bodner, Donald

2009-01-01

into male and female sexual function, male reproductive function, and female reproductive function. The instruments that have been used most frequently to measure these aspects of sexual function over the past 5 years were identified by expert consensus. Finally, these instruments were subjected...... to a critical review. RESULTS: The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), measurement of vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA), the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), and the measurement of ejaculatory function and semen quality were considered appropriate measures to assess sexual responses......BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of certain instruments to assess sexuality and fertility after SCI, an expert panel identified key areas to study and evaluated available instruments. These were rated according to certain predefined criteria. METHODS: The authors divided sexual issues...

Nuclear instrumentation for the industrial measuring systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Normand, S.

2010-01-01

This work deals with nuclear instrumentation and its application to industry, power plant fuel reprocessing plant and finally with homeland security. The first part concerns the reactor instrumentation, in-core and ex-core measurement system. Ionization Uranium fission chamber will be introduced with their acquisition system especially Campbell mode system. Some progress have been done on regarding sensors failure foresee. The second part of this work deals with reprocessing plant and associated instrumentation for nuclear waste management. Proportional counters techniques will be discussed, especially Helium-3 counter, and new development on electronic concept for reprocessing nuclear waste plant (one electronic for multipurpose acquisition system). For nuclear safety and security for human and homeland will be introduce. First we will explain a new particular approach on operational dosimetric measurement and secondly, we will show new kind of organic scintillator material and associated electronics. Signal treatment with real time treatment is embedded, in order to make neutron gamma discrimination possible even in solid organic scintillator. Finally, the conclusion will point out future, with most trends in research and development on nuclear instrumentation for next years. (author) [fr

A Secure System Architecture for Measuring Instruments in Legal Metrology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Peters

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Embedded systems show the tendency of becoming more and more connected. This fact combined with the trend towards the Internet of Things, from which measuring instruments are not immune (e.g., smart meters, lets one assume that security in measuring instruments will inevitably play an important role soon. Additionally, measuring instruments have adopted general-purpose operating systems to offer the user a broader functionality that is not necessarily restricted towards measurement alone. In this paper, a flexible software system architecture is presented that addresses these challenges within the framework of essential requirements laid down in the Measuring Instruments Directive of the European Union. This system architecture tries to eliminate the risks general-purpose operating systems have by wrapping them, together with dedicated applications, in secure sandboxes, while supervising the communication between the essential parts and the outside world.

A critical appraisal of instruments to measure outcomes of interprofessional education.

Science.gov (United States)

Oates, Matthew; Davidson, Megan

2015-04-01

Interprofessional education (IPE) is believed to prepare health professional graduates for successful collaborative practice. A range of instruments have been developed to measure the outcomes of IPE. An understanding of the psychometric properties of these instruments is important if they are to be used to measure the effectiveness of IPE. This review set out to identify instruments available to measure outcomes of IPE and collaborative practice in pre-qualification health professional students and to critically appraise the psychometric properties of validity, responsiveness and reliability against contemporary standards for instrument design. Instruments were selected from a pool of extant instruments and subjected to critical appraisal to determine whether they satisfied inclusion criteria. The qualitative and psychometric attributes of the included instruments were appraised using a checklist developed for this review. Nine instruments were critically appraised, including the widely adopted Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS). Validity evidence for instruments was predominantly based on test content and internal structure. Ceiling effects and lack of scale width contribute to the inability of some instruments to detect change in variables of interest. Limited reliability data were reported for two instruments. Scale development and scoring protocols were generally reported by instrument developers, but the inconsistent application of scoring protocols for some instruments was apparent. A number of instruments have been developed to measure outcomes of IPE in pre-qualification health professional students. Based on reported validity evidence and reliability data, the psychometric integrity of these instruments is limited. The theoretical test construction paradigm on which instruments have been developed may be contributing to the failure of some instruments to detect change in

Instantaneous current and field structure of a gun-driven spheromak for two gun polarities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woodruff, S; Nagata, M

2002-01-01

The instantaneous plasma structure of the SPHEX spheromak is determined here by numerically processing data from insertable Rogowski and magnetic field probes. Data is presented and compared for two modes of gun operation: with the central electrode biased positively and negatively. It is found that while the mean-, or even instantaneous-, field structure would give the impression of a roughly axisymmetric spheromak, the instantaneous current structure does not. Hundred per cent variations in J measured at the magnetic axis can be explained by the rotation of a current filament that has a width equal to half of the radius of the flux-conserving first wall. In positive gun operation, current leaves the filament in the confinement region leading to high wall current there. In negative gun operation, wall current remains low as all injected current returns to the gun through the plasma. The plasma, in either instance, is strongly asymmetric. We discuss evidence for the existence of the current filament in other gun-driven spheromaks and coaxial plasma thrusters

Diabetes-related emotional distress instruments: a systematic review of measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jiyeon; Lee, Eun-Hyun; Kim, Chun-Ja; Moon, Seung Hei

2015-12-01

The objectives of this study were to identify all available diabetes-related emotional distress instruments and evaluate the evidence regarding their measurement properties to help in the selection of the most appropriate instrument for use in practice and research. A systematic literature search was performed. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched systematically for articles on diabetes-related emotional distress instruments. The Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments checklist was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the identified studies. The quality of results with respect to the measurement properties of each study was evaluated using Terwee's quality criteria. An ancillary meta-analysis was performed. Of the 2345 articles yielded by the search, 19 full-text articles evaluating 6 diabetes-related emotional distress instruments were included in this study. No instrument demonstrated evidence for all measurement properties. The Problem Areas in Diabetes scale (PAID) was the most frequently studied and the best validated of the instruments. Pooled summary estimates of the correlation coefficient between the PAID and serum glycated hemoglobin revealed a positive but weak correlation. No diabetes-related emotional distress instrument demonstrated evidence for all measurement properties. No instrument was better than another, although the PAID was the best validated and is thus recommended for use. Further psychometric studies of the diabetes-related emotional distress instruments with rigorous methodologies are required. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Real world instantaneous emission simulation for light-duty diesel vehicle].

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Cheng; Chen, Chang-Hong; Dai, Pu; Li, Li; Huang, Hai-Ying; Cheng, Zhen; Jia, Ji-Hong

2008-10-01

Core architecture and input parameters of CMEM model were introduced to simulation the second by second vehicle emission rate on real world by taking a light-duty diesel car as a case. On-board test data by a portable emission measurement system were then used to validate the simulation results. Test emission factors of CO, THC, NO(x) and CO2 were respectively 0.81, 0.61, 2.09, and 193 g x km(-1), while calculated emission factors were 0.75, 0.47, 2.47, and 212 g x km(-1). The correlation coefficients reached 0.69, 0.69, 0.75, and 0.72. Simulated instantaneous emissions of the light duty diesel vehicle by CMEM model were strongly coherent with the transient driving cycle. By analysis, CO, THC, NO(x), and CO2 emissions would be reduced by 50%, 47%, 45%, and 44% after improving the traffic situation at the intersection. The result indicated that it is necessary and feasible to simulate the instantaneous emissions of mixed vehicle fleet in some typical traffic areas by the micro-scale vehicle emission model.

Instantaneous flywheel torque of IC engine grey-box identification

Science.gov (United States)

Milašinović, A.; Knežević, D.; Milovanović, Z.; Škundrić, J.

2018-01-01

In this paper a mathematical model developed for the identification of excitation torque acting on the IC engine flywheel is presented. The excitation torque gained through internal combustion of the fuel in the IC engine is transmitted from the flywheel to the transmission. The torque is not constant but variable and is a function of the crank angle. The verification of the mathematical model was done on a 4-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engine for which the in-cylinder pressure was measured in one cylinder and the instantaneous angular speed of the crankshaft at its free end. The research was conducted on a hydraulic engine brake. Inertial forces of all rotational parts, from flywheel to the turbine wheel of the engine brake, are acting on the flywheel due to the nonuniform motion of the flywheel. It is known from the theory of turbomachinery that the torque on the hydraulic brake is a quadratic function of angular speed. Due to that and the variable angular speed of the turbine wheel of the engine brake, the torque during one engine cycle is also variable. The motivation for this research was the idea (intention) to determine the instantaneous torque acting on the flywheel as a function of the crank angle with a mathematical model without any measuring and based on this to determine the quality of work of specific cylinders of the multi-cylinder engine. The crankshaft was considered elastic and also its torsional vibrations were taken into account.

A review of instruments to measure interprofessional team-based primary care.

Science.gov (United States)

Shoemaker, Sarah J; Parchman, Michael L; Fuda, Kathleen Kerwin; Schaefer, Judith; Levin, Jessica; Hunt, Meaghan; Ricciardi, Richard

2016-07-01

Interprofessional team-based care is increasingly regarded as an important feature of delivery systems redesigned to provide more efficient and higher quality care, including primary care. Measurement of the functioning of such teams might enable improvement of team effectiveness and could facilitate research on team-based primary care. Our aims were to develop a conceptual framework of high-functioning primary care teams to identify and review instruments that measure the constructs identified in the framework, and to create a searchable, web-based atlas of such instruments (available at: http://primarycaremeasures.ahrq.gov/team-based-care/ ). Our conceptual framework was developed from existing frameworks, the teamwork literature, and expert input. The framework is based on an Input-Mediator-Output model and includes 12 constructs to which we mapped both instruments as a whole, and individual instrument items. Instruments were also reviewed for relevance to measuring team-based care, and characterized. Instruments were identified from peer-reviewed and grey literature, measure databases, and expert input. From nearly 200 instruments initially identified, we found 48 to be relevant to measuring team-based primary care. The majority of instruments were surveys (n = 44), and the remainder (n = 4) were observational checklists. Most instruments had been developed/tested in healthcare settings (n = 30) and addressed multiple constructs, most commonly communication (n = 42), heedful interrelating (n = 42), respectful interactions (n = 40), and shared explicit goals (n = 37). The majority of instruments had some reliability testing (n = 39) and over half included validity testing (n = 29). Currently available instruments offer promise to researchers and practitioners to assess teams' performance, but additional work is needed to adapt these instruments for primary care settings.

Repairing method of color TV with measuring instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

This book concentrates on repairing method of color TV with measuring instrument, which deals with direction and sorts of measuring instrument for service, application and basic technique of an oscilloscope and a synchroscope, constituent of TV and wave reading, everything for test skill for service man, service technique by electronic voltmeter, service technique by sweep generator and maker generator, dot-bar generator and support skill for color TV and color bar generator and application technology of color circuit.

Compilation of Instantaneous Source Functions for Varying ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Compilation of Instantaneous Source Functions for Varying Architecture of a Layered Reservoir with Mixed Boundaries and Horizontal Well Completion Part IV: Normal and Inverted Letter 'h' and 'H' Architecture.

IASI instrument: technical description and measured performances

Science.gov (United States)

Hébert, Ph.; Blumstein, D.; Buil, C.; Carlier, T.; Chalon, G.; Astruc, P.; Clauss, A.; Siméoni, D.; Tournier, B.

2017-11-01

IASI is an infrared atmospheric sounder. It will provide meteorologist and scientific community with atmospheric spectra. The IASI system includes 3 instruments that will be mounted on the Metop satellite series, a data processing software integrated in the EPS (EUMETSAT Polar System) ground segment and a technical expertise centre implemented in CNES Toulouse. The instrument is composed of a Fourier transform spectrometer and an associated infrared imager. The optical configuration is based on a Michelson interferometer and the interferograms are processed by an on-board digital processing subsystem, which performs the inverse Fourier transforms and the radiometric calibration. The infrared imager co-registers the IASI soundings with AVHRR imager (AVHRR is another instrument on the Metop satellite). The presentation will focus on the architectures of the instrument, the description of the implemented technologies and the measured performance of the first flight model. CNES is leading the IASI program in association with EUMETSAT. The instrument Prime is ALCATEL SPACE.

Assessing Ultraviolet Hazards Using Portable Measuring Instruments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ridyard, A

2000-07-01

The 'Erythemal Action Spectrum' shows an increase of 10{sup 3} in human skin sensitivity to UV radiation over only 30 nm of change of wavelength, from 328 nm to 298 nm. This represents a severe challenge to the manufacturing and calibration of a portable instrument which can measure the vanishingly small amounts of short wavelength UV from solarium tanning lamps, and to apply accurately an action spectra to be able to quantify the hazard presented by such lamps to skin. The classification of UV lamp types from their 'effective irradiance' requires very sharp discrimination between UV power contained in the short wavelength and the long wavelength parts of the UV spectra, so radiometers give misleading results. The only instrument suitable for making these measurements is the spectroradiometer. The development of such an instrument in a hand held portable form is described, with the difficulties associated with its calibration and such factors as stray light rejection. (author)

Assessing Ultraviolet Hazards Using Portable Measuring Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ridyard, A.

2000-01-01

The 'Erythemal Action Spectrum' shows an increase of 10 3 in human skin sensitivity to UV radiation over only 30 nm of change of wavelength, from 328 nm to 298 nm. This represents a severe challenge to the manufacturing and calibration of a portable instrument which can measure the vanishingly small amounts of short wavelength UV from solarium tanning lamps, and to apply accurately an action spectra to be able to quantify the hazard presented by such lamps to skin. The classification of UV lamp types from their 'effective irradiance' requires very sharp discrimination between UV power contained in the short wavelength and the long wavelength parts of the UV spectra, so radiometers give misleading results. The only instrument suitable for making these measurements is the spectroradiometer. The development of such an instrument in a hand held portable form is described, with the difficulties associated with its calibration and such factors as stray light rejection. (author)

Correlation between Initial BIC and the Insertion Torque/Depth Integral Recorded with an Instantaneous Torque-Measuring Implant Motor: An in vivo Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Capparé, Paolo; Vinci, Raffaele; Di Stefano, Danilo Alessio; Traini, Tonino; Pantaleo, Giuseppe; Gherlone, Enrico Felice; Gastaldi, Giorgio

2015-10-01

Quantitative intraoperative evaluation of bone quality at implant placement site and postinsertion implant primary stability assessment are two key parameters to perform implant-supported rehabilitation properly. A novel micromotor has been recently introduced allowing to measure bone density at implant placement site and to record implant insertion-related parameters, such as the instantaneous, average and peak insertion torque values, and the insertion torque/depth integral. The aim of this study was to investigate in vivo if any correlation existed between initial bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone density and integral values recorded with the instrument. Twenty-five patients seeking for implant-supported rehabilitation of edentulous areas were consecutively treated. Before implant placement, bone density at the insertion site was measured. For each patient, an undersized 3.3 × 8-mm implant was placed, recording the insertion torque/depth integral values. After 15 minutes, the undersized implant was retrieved with a 0.5 mm-thick layer of bone surrounding it. Standard implants were consequently placed. Retrieved implants were analyzed for initial BIC quantification after fixation, dehydration, acrylic resin embedment, sections cutting and grinding, and toluidine-blue and acid fuchsine staining. Correlation between initial BIC values, bone density at the insertion site, and the torque/depth integral values was investigated by linear regression analysis. A significant linear correlation was found to exist between initial BIC and (a) bone density at the insertion site (R = 0.96, explained variance R(2)  = 0.92) and (b) torque/depth integral at placement (R = 0.81, explained variance R(2)  = 0.66). The system provided quantitative, reliable data correlating significantly with immediate postinsertion initial BIC, and could therefore represent a valuable tool both for clinical research and for the oral implantologist in his/her daily clinical

NCTM workshop splinter session, IR thermal measurement instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Herbert

1989-06-01

The splinter session dealing with commercial industrial thermal measurement state-of-the-hardware had a total attendance of 15. Two papers were presented in the splinter session as follows: (1) Development of an Infrared Imaging System for the Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment, Alexander D. Pline, NASA LeRC; (2) A Space-qualified PtSi Thermal Imaging System, Robert W. Astheimer, Barnes Engineering Div., EDO Corp. In addition a brief description of SPRITE detector technology was presented by Richard F. Leftwich of Magnovox. As anticipated, the discussions were concerned mainly with thermal imaging figures of merit rather than those for point measurement instruments. The need for uniform guidelines whereby infrared thermal imaging instruments could be specified and evaluated was identified as most important, particularly where temperature measurements are required. Presently there are differences in the way different manufacturers present significant performance parameters in their instrument data sheets. Furthermore, the prospective user has difficulty relating these parameters to actual measurement needs, and procedures by which performance can be verified are poorly defined. The current availability of powerful thermal imaging diagnostic software was discussed.

Development of retrieval, reservation and management system for measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuda, Kenzo; Ito, Emi.

1985-08-01

In order to computerize the lending and management of measuring instruments, at first, the specification of the software was examined, but thereafter, the development was begun. The largest aim of the computerization was the automation and labor saving of the lending works of diverse measuring instruments and the automatic management. From user side, it is desirable to know the specification and the state of use and reservation of measuring instruments and to be able to easily make reservation based on the information. Besides, from management side, it is desirable to know the location and the state of use and reservation of measuring instruments, to immediately prepare for lending and returning, and to automate the recording of lending and returning. So as to satisfy those conditions, the automatic reservation and management system for measuring instruments was developed. At the same time, the means to simply input required data such as specification, names of manufacturers and equipment number was developed. The input of data was carried out for three months from October, 1984, and the system was almost completed in December, 1984. The full scale operation was started in Junuary, 1985. (Kako, I.)

Compilation of Instantaneous Source Functions for Varying ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Compilation of Instantaneous Source Functions for Varying Architecture of a Layered Reservoir with Mixed Boundaries and Horizontal Well Completion Part III: B-Shaped Architecture with Vertical Well in the Upper Layer.

Noise evaluation of a point autofocus surface topography measuring instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Maculotti, Giacomo; Feng, Xiaobing; Galetto, Maurizio; Leach, Richard

2018-06-01

In this work, the measurement noise of a point autofocus surface topography measuring instrument is evaluated, as the first step towards establishing a route to traceability for this type of instrument. The evaluation is based on the determination of the metrological characteristics for noise as outlined in draft ISO specification standards by using a calibrated optical flat. The static noise and repeatability of the autofocus sensor are evaluated. The influence of environmental disturbances on the measured surface topography and the built-in software to compensate for such influences are also investigated. The instrument was found to have a measurement noise of approximately 2 nm or, when expressed with the measurement bandwidth, 0.4 nm for a single-point measurement.

Industrial measurement instruments that use radioisotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monno, Asao

2004-01-01

An example of a large-scale system for controlling hot rolling, and recent developments for a gamma-ray thickness gauge for the inner-mill housing of a plate and a thickness gauge for a hot seamless tube mill are introduced. The dramatically higher speed response, versatile intelligent elements, larger data capacity and formation of a database are advantages of these instruments over conventional devices. Moreover, Fuji Electric's industrial measuring instruments that use radioisotopes are manufactured and marketed to be compatible with those of Hitachi, and we have already compiled a track record of many deliveries. (author)

Advanced Measuring (Instrumentation Methods for Nuclear Installations: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Qiu-kuan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The nuclear technology has been widely used in the world. The research of measurement in nuclear installations involves many aspects, such as nuclear reactors, nuclear fuel cycle, safety and security, nuclear accident, after action, analysis, and environmental applications. In last decades, many advanced measuring devices and techniques have been widely applied in nuclear installations. This paper mainly introduces the development of the measuring (instrumentation methods for nuclear installations and the applications of these instruments and methods.

Measurement noise of a point autofocus surface topography instrument

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feng, Xiaobing; Quagliotti, Danilo; Maculotti, Giacomo

Optical instruments for areal topography measurement can be especially sensitive to noise when scanning is required. Such noise has different sources, including those internally generated and external sources from the environment.......Optical instruments for areal topography measurement can be especially sensitive to noise when scanning is required. Such noise has different sources, including those internally generated and external sources from the environment....

Instantaneous and Frequency-Warped Signal Processing Techniques for Auditory Source Separation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Avery Li-Chun

This thesis summarizes several contributions to the areas of signal processing and auditory source separation. The philosophy of Frequency-Warped Signal Processing is introduced as a means for separating the AM and FM contributions to the bandwidth of a complex-valued, frequency-varying sinusoid p (n), transforming it into a signal with slowly-varying parameters. This transformation facilitates the removal of p (n) from an additive mixture while minimizing the amount of damage done to other signal components. The average winding rate of a complex-valued phasor is explored as an estimate of the instantaneous frequency. Theorems are provided showing the robustness of this measure. To implement frequency tracking, a Frequency-Locked Loop algorithm is introduced which uses the complex winding error to update its frequency estimate. The input signal is dynamically demodulated and filtered to extract the envelope. This envelope may then be remodulated to reconstruct the target partial, which may be subtracted from the original signal mixture to yield a new, quickly-adapting form of notch filtering. Enhancements to the basic tracker are made which, under certain conditions, attain the Cramer -Rao bound for the instantaneous frequency estimate. To improve tracking, the novel idea of Harmonic -Locked Loop tracking, using N harmonically constrained trackers, is introduced for tracking signals, such as voices and certain musical instruments. The estimated fundamental frequency is computed from a maximum-likelihood weighting of the N tracking estimates, making it highly robust. The result is that harmonic signals, such as voices, can be isolated from complex mixtures in the presence of other spectrally overlapping signals. Additionally, since phase information is preserved, the resynthesized harmonic signals may be removed from the original mixtures with relatively little damage to the residual signal. Finally, a new methodology is given for designing linear-phase FIR filters

Contribution to development of SPNDs for instantaneous and selective measurement of different radiation fields in nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blandin, Christophe

1998-01-01

The objective of this work was conceiving and experimentally optimizing the SPNDs (Self-Powdered Neutron Detector) able to control fast power transients in test reactors and also to cope with requirements of surveillance and protection of EDF reactors. Thus, different SPND emitters of platinum, gadolinium, hafnium and cobalt were provided according to their nature with sheathing and stainless steel plugs as well as with zirconium over-sheathing in order to render them faster, more selective and adapted for wear checking. Special experimental devices were designed for measuring inside the Siloe reactor the promptness of the signals from SPND, on one hand, and their sensitivity to thermal and epithermal neutrons as well as to gamma rays, on the other hand. The follow-up of power transients in test reactors is ensured by the instantaneous measurement of thermal and epithermal neutron flux as well as of gamma field by means of three special SPND with gadolinium, hafnium and platinum. Also, we have defined the characteristics of a new SPND with cobalt, that delivers a current of unique neutronic origin, able to ensure the surveillance and protection of a power reactor over a period of at least six years

The quality of systematic reviews of health-related outcome measurement instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Terwee, C B; Prinsen, C A C; Ricci Garotti, M G; Suman, A; de Vet, H C W; Mokkink, L B

2016-04-01

Systematic reviews of outcome measurement instruments are important tools for the selection of instruments for research and clinical practice. Our aim was to assess the quality of systematic reviews of health-related outcome measurement instruments and to determine whether the quality has improved since our previous study in 2007. A systematic literature search was performed in MEDLINE and EMBASE between July 1, 2013, and June 19, 2014. The quality of the reviews was rated using a study-specific checklist. A total of 102 reviews were included. In many reviews the search strategy was considered not comprehensive; in only 59 % of the reviews a search was performed in EMBASE and in about half of the reviews there was doubt about the comprehensiveness of the search terms used for type of measurement instruments and measurement properties. In 41 % of the reviews, compared to 30 % in our previous study, the methodological quality of the included studies was assessed. In 58 %, compared to 55 %, the quality of the included instruments was assessed. In 42 %, compared to 7 %, a data synthesis was performed in which the results from multiple studies on the same instrument were somehow combined. Despite a clear improvement in the quality of systematic reviews of outcome measurement instruments in comparison with our previous study in 2007, there is still room for improvement with regard to the search strategy, and especially the quality assessment of the included studies and the included instruments, and the data synthesis.

The measurement of collaboration within healthcare settings: a systematic review of measurement properties of instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Walters, Stephen John; Stern, Cindy; Robertson-Malt, Suzanne

2016-04-01

There is a growing call by consumers and governments for healthcare to adopt systems and approaches to care to improve patient safety. Collaboration within healthcare settings is an important factor for improving systems of care. By using validated measurement instruments a standardized approach to assessing collaboration is possible, otherwise it is only an assumption that collaboration is occurring in any healthcare setting. The objective of this review was to evaluate and compare measurement properties of instruments that measure collaboration within healthcare settings, specifically those which have been psychometrically tested and validated. Participants could be healthcare professionals, the patient or any non-professional who contributes to a patient's care, for example, family members, chaplains or orderlies. The term participant type means the designation of any one participant; for example 'nurse', 'social worker' or 'administrator'. More than two participant types was mandatory. The focus of this review was the validity of tools used to measure collaboration within healthcare settings. The types of studies considered for inclusion were validation studies, but quantitative study designs such as randomized controlled trials, controlled trials and case studies were also eligible for inclusion. Studies that focused on Interprofessional Education, were published as an abstract only, contained patient self-reporting only or were not about care delivery were excluded. The outcome of interest was validation and interpretability of the instrument being assessed and included content validity, construct validity and reliability. Interpretability is characterized by statistics such as mean and standard deviation which can be translated to a qualitative meaning. The search strategy aimed to find both published and unpublished studies. A three-step search strategy was utilized in this review. The databases searched included PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Central

Model SH intelligent instrument for thickness measuring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Juntao; Jia Weizhuang; Zhao Yunlong

1995-01-01

The authors introduce Model SH Intelligent Instrument for thickness measuring by using principle of beta back-scattering and its application range, features, principle of operation, system design, calibration and specifications

Health Status Measurement Instruments in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yves Lacasse

1997-01-01

Full Text Available Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD is associated with primary respiratory impairment, disability and handicap, as well as with secondary impairments not necessarily confined to the respiratory system. Because the primary goals of managing patients with COPD include relief of dyspnea and the improvement of health-related quality of life (HRQL, a direct measurement of HRQL is important. Fourteen disease-specific and nine generic questionnaires (four health profiles and five utility measures most commonly used to measure health status in patients with COPD were reviewed. The measures were classified according to their domain of interest, and their measurement properties - specifications, validity, reliability, responsiveness and interpretability - were described. This review suggests several findings. Currently used health status instruments usually refer to the patients’ perception of performance in three major domains of HRQL - somatic sensation, physical and occupational function, and psychological state. The choice of a questionnaire must be related to its purpose, with a clear distinction being made between its evaluative and discriminative function. In their evaluative function, only a few instruments fulfilled the criteria of responsiveness, and the interpretability of most questionnaires is limited. Generic questionnaires should not be used alone in clinical trials as evaluative instruments because of their inability to detect change over time. Further validation and improved interpretability of existing instruments would be of greater benefit to clinicians and scientists than the development of new questionnaires.

Assessment of wind turbine load measurement instrumentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morfiadakis, E; Papadopoulos, K [CRES (Greece); Borg, N van der [ECN, Petten (Netherlands); Petersen, S M [Risoe, Roskilde (Denmark); Seifert, H [DEWI, Wilhelmshaven (Germany)

1999-03-01

In the framework of Sub-Task3 `Wind turbine load measurement instrumentation` of EU-project `European Wind Turbine Testing Procedure Development`, the load measurement techniques have been assessed by laboratory, full scale and numerical tests. The existing methods have been reviewed with emphasis on the strain gage application techniques on composite materials and recommendations are provided for the optimisation of load measurement techniques. (au) EU. 14 refs.

Virtual Instrument for Emissions Measurement of Internal Combustion Engines

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Armando; Montero, Gisela; Coronado, Marcos; García, Conrado; Pérez, Rubén

2016-01-01

The gases emissions measurement systems in internal combustion engines are strict and expensive nowadays. For this reason, a virtual instrument was developed to measure the combustion emissions from an internal combustion diesel engine, running with diesel-biodiesel mixtures. This software is called virtual instrument for emissions measurement (VIEM), and it was developed in the platform of LabVIEW 2010® virtual programming. VIEM works with sensors connected to a signal conditioning system, and a data acquisition system is used as interface for a computer in order to measure and monitor in real time the emissions of O2, NO, CO, SO2, and CO2 gases. This paper shows the results of the VIEM programming, the integrated circuits diagrams used for the signal conditioning of sensors, and the sensors characterization of O2, NO, CO, SO2, and CO2. VIEM is a low-cost instrument and is simple and easy to use. Besides, it is scalable, making it flexible and defined by the user. PMID:27034893

Virtual Instrument for Emissions Measurement of Internal Combustion Engines.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Armando; Ramos, Rogelio; Montero, Gisela; Coronado, Marcos; García, Conrado; Pérez, Rubén

2016-01-01

The gases emissions measurement systems in internal combustion engines are strict and expensive nowadays. For this reason, a virtual instrument was developed to measure the combustion emissions from an internal combustion diesel engine, running with diesel-biodiesel mixtures. This software is called virtual instrument for emissions measurement (VIEM), and it was developed in the platform of LabVIEW 2010® virtual programming. VIEM works with sensors connected to a signal conditioning system, and a data acquisition system is used as interface for a computer in order to measure and monitor in real time the emissions of O2, NO, CO, SO2, and CO2 gases. This paper shows the results of the VIEM programming, the integrated circuits diagrams used for the signal conditioning of sensors, and the sensors characterization of O2, NO, CO, SO2, and CO2. VIEM is a low-cost instrument and is simple and easy to use. Besides, it is scalable, making it flexible and defined by the user.

Development of assessment instruments to measure critical thinking skills

Science.gov (United States)

Sumarni, W.; Supardi, K. I.; Widiarti, N.

2018-04-01

Assessment instruments that is commonly used in the school generally have not been orientated on critical thinking skills. The purpose of this research is to develop assessment instruments to measure critical thinking skills, to test validity, reliability, and practicality. This type of research is Research and Development. There are two stages on the preface step, which are field study and literacy study. On the development steps, there some parts, which are 1) instrument construction, 2) expert validity, 3) limited scale tryout and 4) narrow scale try-out. The developed assessment instrument are analysis essay and problem solving. Instruments were declared valid, reliable and practical.

Requirements for a quality measurement instrument for semantic standards

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Folmer, E.J.A.; Krukkert, D.; Oude Luttighuis, P.; Hillegersberg van, J. van

2010-01-01

This study describes requirements for an instrument to measure the quality of semantic standards. A situational requirements engineering method was used, resulting in a goal-tree in which requirements are structured. This structure shows requirements related to the input of the instrument; stating

A systematic review of instruments that measure attitudes toward homosexual men.

Science.gov (United States)

Grey, Jeremy A; Robinson, Beatrice Bean E; Coleman, Eli; Bockting, Walter O

2013-01-01

Scientific interest in the measurement of homophobia and internalized homophobia has grown over the past 30 years, and new instruments and terms have emerged. To help researchers with the challenging task of identifying appropriate measures for studies in sexual-minority health, we reviewed measures of homophobia published in the academic literature from 1970 to 2012. Instruments that measured attitudes toward male homosexuals/homosexuality or measured homosexuals' internalized attitudes toward homosexuality were identified using measurement manuals and a systematic review. A total of 23 instruments met criteria for inclusion, and their features were summarized and compared. All 23 instruments met minimal criteria for adequate scale construction, including scale development, sampling, reliability, and evidence of validity. Validity evidence was diverse and was categorized as interaction with gay men, HIV/AIDS variables, mental health, and conservative religious or political beliefs. Homophobia was additionally correlated with authoritarianism and bias, gender ideology, gender differences, and reactions to homosexual stimuli. Internalized homophobia was validated by examining relationships with disclosing one's homosexuality and level of homosexual identity development. We hope this review will make the process of instrument selection more efficient by allowing researchers to easily locate, evaluate, and choose the proper measure based on their research question and population of interest.

Measurement properties of quality-of-life measurement instruments for infants, children and adolescents with eczema: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinl, D; Prinsen, C A C; Sach, T; Drucker, A M; Ofenloch, R; Flohr, C; Apfelbacher, C

2017-04-01

Quality of life (QoL) is one of the core outcome domains identified by the Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative to be assessed in every eczema trial. There is uncertainty about the most appropriate QoL instrument to measure this domain in infants, children and adolescents. To systematically evaluate the measurement properties of existing measurement instruments developed and/or validated for the measurement of QoL in infants, children and adolescents with eczema. A systematic literature search in PubMed and Embase, complemented by a thorough hand search of reference lists, retrieved studies on measurement properties of eczema QoL instruments for infants, children and adolescents. For all eligible studies, we judged the adequacy of the measurement properties and the methodological study quality with the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. Results from different studies were summarized in a best-evidence synthesis and formed the basis to assign four degrees of recommendation. Seventeen articles, three of which were found by hand search, were included. These 17 articles reported on 24 instruments. No instrument can be recommended for use in all eczema trials because none fulfilled all required adequacy criteria. With adequate internal consistency, reliability and hypothesis testing, the U.S. version of the Childhood Atopic Dermatitis Impact Scale (CADIS), a proxy-reported instrument, has the potential to be recommended depending on the results of further validation studies. All other instruments, including all self-reported ones, lacked significant validation data. Currently, no QoL instrument for infants, children and adolescents with eczema can be highly recommended. Future validation research should primarily focus on the CADIS, but also attempt to broaden the evidence base for the validity of self-reported instruments. © 2016 British Association of Dermatologists.

Development of a Self-Rating instrument to Measure Team Situation Awareness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schraagen, J.M.C.; Koning, L. de; Hof, T.; Dongen, K. van

2010-01-01

The goal of this paper is to describe the development of an instrument to measure team situation awareness (TSA). Individual team member SA may or may not be shared through communication processes with other team members. Most existing instruments do not measure these processes but measure TSA as a

Field of attention for instantaneous object recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian-Gao Yao

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Instantaneous object discrimination and categorization are fundamental cognitive capacities performed with the guidance of visual attention. Visual attention enables selection of a salient object within a limited area of the visual field; we referred to as "field of attention" (FA. Though there is some evidence concerning the spatial extent of object recognition, the following questions still remain unknown: (a how large is the FA for rapid object categorization, (b how accuracy of attention is distributed over the FA, and (c how fast complex objects can be categorized when presented against backgrounds formed by natural scenes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To answer these questions, we used a visual perceptual task in which subjects were asked to focus their attention on a point while being required to categorize briefly flashed (20 ms photographs of natural scenes by indicating whether or not these contained an animal. By measuring the accuracy of categorization at different eccentricities from the fixation point, we were able to determine the spatial extent and the distribution of accuracy over the FA, as well as the speed of categorizing objects using stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA. Our results revealed that subjects are able to rapidly categorize complex natural images within about 0.1 s without eye movement, and showed that the FA for instantaneous image categorization covers a visual field extending 20° × 24°, and accuracy was highest (>90% at the center of FA and declined with increasing eccentricity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In conclusion, human beings are able to categorize complex natural images at a glance over a large extent of the visual field without eye movement.

Holdup Measures on an SRNL Mossbauer Spectroscopy Instrument

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dewberry, R.; Brown, T.; Salaymeh, S.

2010-05-05

Gamma-ray holdup measurements of a Mossbauer spectroscopy instrument are described and modeled. In the qualitative acquisitions obtained in a low background area of Savannah River National Laboratory, only Am-241 and Np-237 activity were observed. The Am-241 was known to be the instrumental activation source, while the Np-237 is clearly observed as a source of contamination internal to the instrument. The two sources of activity are modeled separately in two acquisition configurations using two separate modeling tools. The results agree well, demonstrating a content of (1980 {+-} 150) {mu}Ci Am-241 and (110 {+-} 50) {mu}Ci of Np-237.

Intercomparison of different instruments for measuring radon concentration in air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimo, Michikuni; Iida, Takao

1990-01-01

An intercomparison of different instruments for measurement of radon concentration was carried out. The instruments include an ionization chamber, the charcoal-trap method, a flow-type ionization chamber (pulse-counting method), a two-filter method, an electrostatic collection method and a passive integration radon monitor. All instruments except for the passive radon monitor have been calibrated independently. Measurements were performed over a concentration range from about 3.5 Bq·m -3 (in outdoor air) to 110 Bq·m -3 (in indoor air). The results obtained by these techniques, except the two-filter technique, are comparable. Radon daughter concentration measured using a filter-sampling method was about 52% of radon concentration. (author)

Intercomparison of different instruments that measure radon concentration in air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimo, M.; Iida, T.; Ikebe, Y.

1987-01-01

An intercomparison of different instruments for measurement of radon concentration was carried out. The instruments include an ionization chamber, the charcoal-trap technique, a flow-type ionization chamber (pulse-counting technique), a two-filter method, an electrostatic collection method and a passive integrating radon monitor. All instruments except for the passive radon monitor have been calibrated independently. Measurements were performed over a concentration range from about 3.5 Bq/m/sup 3/ (in outdoor air) to 110 Bq/m/sup 3/ (in indoor air). The results obtained from these techniques, except the two-filter technique, are comparable. Radon daughter concentration measured using a filter-sampling technique was about 52% of radon concentrations

Nondestructive assay instrument for measurement of plutonium in solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shirk, D.G.; Hsue, F.; Li, T.K.; Canada, T.R.

1979-01-01

A nondestructive assay (NDA) instrument that measures the 239 Pu content in solutions, using a passive gamma-ray spectroscopy technique, has been developed and installed in the LASL Plutonium Processing Facility. A detailed evaluation of this instrument has been performed. The results show that the instrument can routinely determine 239 Pu concentrations of 1 to 500 g/l with accuracies of 1 to 5% and assay times of 1 to 2 x 10 3 s

D-Catch instrument : development and psychometric testing of a measurement instrument for nursing documentation in hospitals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Paans, Wolter; Sermeus, Walter; Nieweg, Roos; van der Schans, Cees P.

AIM: This paper is a report of the development and testing of the psychometric properties of an instrument to measure the accuracy of nursing documentation in general hospitals. BACKGROUND: Little information is available about the accuracy of nursing documentation. None of the existing instruments

To IO-3 type instrument for measuring relative deviation of mean frequency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albats, Ya.Eh.; Bitite, Ya.A.; Ivanov, G.M.; Karpel'tseva, L.P.; Tesnavs, Eh.R.; Shuvtsan, Ya.V.

1979-01-01

A description is given of the 10-3 instrument intended for automatic measurement of a relative deviation of the pulse flow mean frequency from the preset value with digital presentation of measurement results, and also for the conversion of this relative deviation into an electric coded signal and in an analogue voltage signal. The 10-3 instrument comprises a master pulse generator, two preliminary scalers, two electronic switches, two storage pulse counters, control devices, a counter digital volume setter, a rewriting device, an internal storage, a digital display, and a digital-to-analog converter. The principle of the instrument operation consists in counting the pulses of measured and reference pulse flows by two storage counters. Basic performances of the instrument are given. The main advantage of the 10-3 instrument lies in the fact that it presents the results of measuring by a digital radioisotope instrument directly in physical units of the measured parameter, and that, in turn, obviates the necessity for additional mathematical operations when data processing [ru

Agri-Environmental Policy Measures in Israel: The Potential of Using Market-Oriented Instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Amdur, Liron; Bertke, Elke; Freese, Jan; Marggraf, Rainer

2011-05-01

This paper examines the possibilities of developing agri-environmental policy measures in Israel, focusing on market-oriented instruments. A conceptual framework for developing agri-environmental policy measures is presented, first in very broad lines (mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures) and subsequently focusing on economic instruments, and specifically, on market-oriented ones. Two criteria of choice between the measures are suggested: their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the policy; and the feasibility of their implementation. This is the framework used for analyzing agri-environmental measures in Israel. Israel currently implements a mix of mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures to promote the agri-environment. The use of additional economic instruments may improve the effectiveness of the policy. When comparing the effectiveness of various economic measures, we found that the feasibility of implementation of market-oriented instruments is greater, due to the Israeli public's preference for strengthening market orientation in the agricultural sector. Four market-oriented instruments were practiced in a pilot project conducted in an Israeli rural area. We found that in this case study, the institutional feasibility and acceptance by stakeholders were the major parameters influencing the implementation of the market-oriented instruments, whereas the instruments' contribution to enhancing the ecological or economic effectiveness were hardly considered by the stakeholders as arguments in favor of their use.

Use of capacitive sensors with the instantaneous profile method to determine hydraulic conductivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eurileny Lucas de Almeida

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Due to the need to monitor soil water tension continuously, the instantaneous profile method is considered laborious, requiring a lot of time, and especially manpower, to set up and maintain. The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility of using capacitive sensors in place of tensiometers with the instantaneous profile method in an area of the Lower Acaraú Irrigated Perimeter. The experiment was carried out in a Eutrophic Red-Yellow Argisol. The sensors were installed 15, 30, 45 and 60 cm from the surface, and powered by photovoltaic panels, using a power manager to charge the battery and to supply power at night. Records from the capacitive sensors were collected every five minutes and stored on a data acquisition board. With the simultaneous measurement of soil moisture obtained by the sensors, and the total soil water potential from the soil water retention curve, it was possible to determine the hydraulic conductivity as a function of the volumetric water content for each period using the Richards equation. At the end of the experiment, the advantage of using capacitive sensors with the instantaneous profile method was confirmed as an alternative to using a tensiometer. The main advantages of using capacitive sensors were to make the method less laborious and to allow moisture readings at higher tensions in soils of a sandy texture.

Development of a Computerized Multifunctional Form and Position Measurement Instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, P; Tian, W Y

2006-01-01

A model machine of multifunctional form and position measurement instrument controlled by a personal computer has been successfully developed. The instrument is designed in rotary table type with a high precision air bearing and the radial rotation error of the rotary table is 0.08 μm. Since a high precision vertical sliding carriage supported by an air bearing is used for the instrument, the straightaway motion error of the carriage is 0.3 μm/200 mm and the parallelism error of the motion of the carriage relative to the rotation axis of the rotary table is 0.4 μm/200 mm. The mathematical models have been established for assessing planar and spatial straightness, flatness, roundness, cylindricity, and coaxality errors. By radial deviation measurement, the instrument can accurately measure form and position errors of such workpieces as shafts, round plates and sleeves of medium or small dimensions with the tolerance grades mostly used in industry

Control device intended for a gamma radiation measuring instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1976-01-01

This invention concerns a monitoring device for a gamma radiation measuring instrument or radiation meter, in which the radiation to be measured brings about, inter alia, the ionisation of a gas and the generation of current pulses. The dial of this meter is generally calibrated in roentgens per hour, i.e. in radiation rate units. This instrument of very simple design is remarkable for its operating reliability. Preferably placed at the inlet to a radioactive area, it enables every user of a ratemeter to check, over the entire measuring range of this instrument, its proper operation prior to entering the area. To this effect, the monitoring device in question has a thick wall lead castle, having an internal cavity in which is mounted a radioactive source delivering a gamma radiation with given constant characteristics, through a measurement window closed by a calibrated plug. Lead doors articulated on the castle can be superimposed on this window to bring about a given attenuation of the radiation coming from the source and delivered to the exterior of the castle [fr

Characterization of a traceable profiler instrument for areal roughness measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomsen-Schmidt, P

2011-01-01

A two-dimensional profiler instrument was designed and realized at the PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt). The main function of the instrument is to provide traceable results in the field of roughness measurement. It is equipped with a linear moving stylus which is guided by precision air bearings. The moving part of the stylus has weight around 1 g and is carried by a magnetic field. The contacting force of the tip onto the surface under test is controlled by a small voice coil actuator in a closed control loop. Vertical movements of the stylus are captured by two different, completely independent measurement systems, covering a range of 100 µm. The first one is an interferometer, which provides a traceable signal, and the second one is an inductive measurement system. The signal from the inductive measurement system is calibrated by the interferometer. The sample under test is carried within the x–y-plane by a linear guided table with low noise air bearings. These air bearings are preloaded by vacuum and a constant gap is achieved by gas pressure controllers. Both axes of the table are driven by linear voice coil actuators and their movement in the plane is measured by linear encoders. The sample carrier is equipped with two axes tilt compensation, by which the sample under test can be levelled automatically using the measurement system of the stylus. Real-time data acquisition, manual handling and automated procedures are managed by a programmable controller and proprietary software written in LabVIEW. After measurement, data from the system can be directly transferred into the smd- or sdf-format. Results of measurements on different samples to characterize the metrological behaviour of the instrument will be reported. To characterize the uncertainty of the instrument, a model is applied, which is in accordance with approved rules for contact stylus instruments

UPTF test instrumentation. Measurement system identification, engineering units and computed parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarkar, J.; Liebert, J.; Laeufer, R.

1992-11-01

This updated version of the previous report /1/ contains, besides additional instrumentation needed for 2D/3D Programme, the supplementary instrumentation in the inlet plenum of SG simulator and hot and cold leg of broken loop, the cold leg of intact loops and the upper plenum to meet the requirements (Test Phase A) of the UPTF Programme, TRAM, sponsored by the Federal Minister of Research and Technology (BMFT) of the Federal Republic of Germany. For understanding, the derivation and the description of the identification codes for the entire conventional and advanced measurement systems classifying the function, and the equipment unit, key, as adopted in the conventional power plants, have been included. Amendments have also been made to the appendices. In particular, the list of measurement systems covering the measurement identification code, instrument, measured quantity, measuring range, band width, uncertainty and sensor location has been updated and extended to include the supplementary instrumentation. Beyond these amendments, the uncertainties of measurements have been precisely specified. The measurement identification codes which also stand for the identification of the corresponding measured quantities in engineering units and the identification codes derived therefrom for the computed parameters have been adequately detailed. (orig.)

Measurements with the new PHE neutron survey instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eakins, J.S.; Tanner, R.J.; Hager, L.G.

2014-01-01

A novel design of survey instrument has been developed to accurately estimate ambient dose equivalent from neutrons with energies in the range from thermal to 20 MeV. The device features moderating and attenuating layers to ease measurement of fast and intermediate energy neutrons, combined with guides that channel low-energy neutrons to the single, central detector. A prototype of this device has been constructed and exposed to a set of calibration fields: the resulting measured responses are presented and discussed here, and compared against Monte Carlo data. A simple simulated workplace neutron field has also been developed to test the device. Measured response data have been determined for a prototype design of neutron survey instrument, using facilities at PHE and NPL. In general, the results demonstrated good directional invariance and agreed well with data obtained by Monte Carlo modelling, raising confidence in the accuracy of the response characteristics expected for the device. A simple simulated workplace field has also been developed and characterised, and the performance of the device assessed in it: agreement between measured and modelled results suggests that the device would behave as anticipated in real workplace fields. These performances will be investigated further in the future, as the design makes the transition from a research prototype to a commercially available instrument. (authors)

Development of measurement standards for verifying functional performance of surface texture measuring instruments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujii, A [Life and Industrial Product Development Department Olympus Corporation, 2951 Ishikawa-machi, Hachiouji-shi, Tokyo (Japan); Suzuki, H [Industrial Marketing and Planning Department Olympus Corporation, Shinjyuku Monolith, 3-1 Nishi-Shinjyuku 2-chome, Tokyo (Japan); Yanagi, K, E-mail: a_fujii@ot.olympus.co.jp [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka-machi, Nagaoka-shi, Niigata (Japan)

2011-08-19

A new measurement standard is proposed for verifying overall functional performance of surface texture measuring instruments. Its surface is composed of sinusoidal surface waveforms of chirp signals along horizontal cross sections of the material measure. One of the notable features is that the amplitude of each cycle in the chirp signal form is geometrically modulated so that the maximum slope is kept constant. The maximum slope of the chirp-like signal is gradually decreased according to movement in the lateral direction. We fabricated the measurement standard by FIB processing, and it was calibrated by AFM. We tried to evaluate the functional performance of Laser Scanning Microscope by this standard in terms of amplitude response with varying slope angles. As a result, it was concluded that the proposed standard can easily evaluate the performance of surface texture measuring instruments.

Thickness measurement instrument with memory storage of multiple calibrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lieber, S.; Schlesinger, J.; Lieber, D.; Baker, A.

1979-01-01

An improved backscatter instrument for the nondestructive measurement of coatings on a substrate is described. A memory having selectable memory areas, each area having stored intelligence available which is determinative of the shape of a functional plot of coating thickness versus backscatter counts per minute unique for each particular combination of emitting isotope, substrate material, coating material and physical characteristics of the measuring instrument. A memory selector switch connects a selected area of memory to a microprocessor operating under program control whereby the microprocessor reads the intelligence stored at the selected area and converts the backscattered count of the coating being measured into indicia of coating thickness

Cavity-enhanced quantum-cascade laser-based instrument for carbon monoxide measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Provencal, Robert; Gupta, Manish; Owano, Thomas G; Baer, Douglas S; Ricci, Kenneth N; O'Keefe, Anthony; Podolske, James R

2005-11-01

An autonomous instrument based on off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy has been developed and successfully deployed for measurements of carbon monoxide in the troposphere and tropopause onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft. The instrument (Carbon Monoxide Gas Analyzer) consists of a measurement cell comprised of two high-reflectivity mirrors, a continuous-wave quantum-cascade laser, gas sampling system, control and data-acquisition electronics, and data-analysis software. CO measurements were determined from high-resolution CO absorption line shapes obtained by tuning the laser wavelength over the R(7) transition of the fundamental vibration band near 2172.8 cm(-1). The instrument reports CO mixing ratio (mole fraction) at a 1-Hz rate based on measured absorption, gas temperature, and pressure using Beer's Law. During several flights in May-June 2004 and January 2005 that reached altitudes of 41,000 ft (12.5 km), the instrument recorded CO values with a precision of 0.2 ppbv (1-s averaging time) and an accuracy limited by the reference CO gas cylinder (uncertainty < 1.0%). Despite moderate turbulence and measurements of particulate-laden airflows, the instrument operated consistently and did not require any maintenance, mirror cleaning, or optical realignment during the flights.

Trends in instrumentation for environmental radiation measurements at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hiebert, R.D.; Wolf, M.A.

1980-01-01

Recent instruments developed to fulfill radiation monitoring needs at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory are described. Laboratory instruments that measure tritium gas effluents alone, or in the presence of activated air from D-T fusion reactors are discussed. Fully portable systems for gamma, x-ray, and alpha analyses in the field are described. Also included are descriptions of survey instruments that measure low levels of transuranic contaminants and that measure pulsed-neutron dose rates

Technical note: Instantaneous sampling intervals validated from continuous video observation for behavioral recording of feedlot lambs.

Science.gov (United States)

Pullin, A N; Pairis-Garcia, M D; Campbell, B J; Campler, M R; Proudfoot, K L

2017-11-01

When considering methodologies for collecting behavioral data, continuous sampling provides the most complete and accurate data set whereas instantaneous sampling can provide similar results and also increase the efficiency of data collection. However, instantaneous time intervals require validation to ensure accurate estimation of the data. Therefore, the objective of this study was to validate scan sampling intervals for lambs housed in a feedlot environment. Feeding, lying, standing, drinking, locomotion, and oral manipulation were measured on 18 crossbred lambs housed in an indoor feedlot facility for 14 h (0600-2000 h). Data from continuous sampling were compared with data from instantaneous scan sampling intervals of 5, 10, 15, and 20 min using a linear regression analysis. Three criteria determined if a time interval accurately estimated behaviors: 1) ≥ 0.90, 2) slope not statistically different from 1 ( > 0.05), and 3) intercept not statistically different from 0 ( > 0.05). Estimations for lying behavior were accurate up to 20-min intervals, whereas feeding and standing behaviors were accurate only at 5-min intervals (i.e., met all 3 regression criteria). Drinking, locomotion, and oral manipulation demonstrated poor associations () for all tested intervals. The results from this study suggest that a 5-min instantaneous sampling interval will accurately estimate lying, feeding, and standing behaviors for lambs housed in a feedlot, whereas continuous sampling is recommended for the remaining behaviors. This methodology will contribute toward the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of future behavioral data collection in lamb behavior research.

INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEASURING AND TRANSMISSION THE SOLAR RADIATION THROUGH EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru Dan Toma

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The Sun's energy is distributed over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum and Sun behaves approximately like a "blackbody" radiating at a temperature of about 5800 K with maximum output in the green-yellow part of the visible spectrum, around 500 nm. Not all solar radiation reaching the top of the atmosphere reaches Earth's surface due to a various optical phenomena in regard to solar radiation crossing the Earth’s atmosphere. In order to investigate them, there are two general categories of instruments used to measure the transmission of solar radiation through Earth's atmosphere: instruments that measure radiation from the entire sky and instruments that measure only direct solar radiation. Within each of these categories, instruments can be further subdivided into those that measure radiation over a broad range of wavelengths and those that measure only specific wavelengths.

Calibration Base Lines for Electronic Distance Measuring Instruments (EDMI)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A calibration base line (CBL) is a precisely measured, straight-line course of approximately 1,400 m used to calibrate Electronic Distance Measuring Instruments...

Phonation Quotient in Women: A Measure of Vocal Efficiency Using Three Aerodynamic Instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Ashwini; Watts, Christopher R

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study was to examine measures of vital capacity and phonation quotient across three age groups in women using three different aerodynamic instruments representing low-tech and high-tech options. This study has a prospective, repeated measures design. Fifteen women in each age group of 25-39 years, 40-59 years, and 60-79 years were assessed using maximum phonation time and vital capacity obtained from three aerodynamic instruments: a handheld analog windmill type spirometer, a handheld digital spirometer, and the Phonatory Aerodynamic System (PAS), Model 6600. Phonation quotient was calculated using vital capacity from each instrument. Analyses of variance were performed to test for main effects of the instruments and age on vital capacity and derived phonation quotient. Pearson product moment correlation was performed to assess measurement reliability (parallel forms) between the instruments. Regression equations, scatterplots, and coefficients of determination were also calculated. Statistically significant differences were found in vital capacity measures for the digital spirometer compared with the windmill-type spirometer and PAS across age groups. Strong positive correlations were present between all three instruments for both vital capacity and derived phonation quotient measurements. Measurement precision for the digital spirometer was lower than the windmill spirometer compared with the PAS. However, all three instruments had strong measurement reliability. Additionally, age did not have an effect on the measurement across instruments. These results are consistent with previous literature reporting data from male speakers and support the use of low-tech options for measurement of basic aerodynamic variables associated with voice production. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards an Enterprise Architecture Benefits Measurement Instrument

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dr.ir. Raymond Slot; Henk Plessius; Marlies Steenbergen, van

2015-01-01

Author supplied: Based on the Enterprise Architecture Value Framework (EAVF) - a generic framework to classify benefits of Enterprise Architecture (EA) - a measurement instrument for EA benefits has been developed and tested in a survey with 287 respondents. In this paper we present the results of

An instrument for X-ray set quality assurance measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willetts, R.J.; West, M.B.; Brydon, J.

1989-01-01

This paper describes a prototype electronic instrument for performing quality assurance (QA) measurements on diagnostic radiological equipment with a view to long-term performance assessment on a Regional basis. The instrument is based on a Tandy 200 laptop computer and has been developed primarily to include the assessment of image intensifier/TV systems in a general QA package. It is capable of accepting signals from the following sources: (1) a radiation detector (diode array); (2) a Keithley kV divider (Keithley Instruments, Inc.); (3) the video output of an image intensifier system. (author)

Systematic review of measurement properties of self-reported instruments for evaluating self-care in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Matarese, Maria; Lommi, Marzia; De Marinis, Maria Grazia

2017-06-01

The aims of this study were as follows: to identify instruments developed to assess self-care in healthy adults; to determine the theory on which they were based; their validity and reliability properties and to synthesize the evidence on their measurement properties. Many instruments have been developed to assess self-care in many different populations and conditions. Clinicians and researchers should select the most appropriate self-care instrument based on the knowledge of their measurement properties. Systematic review of measurement instruments according to the protocol recommended by the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) panel. PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus and CINAHL databases were searched from inception to December 2015. Studies testing measurement properties of self-report instruments assessing self-care in healthy adults, published in the English language and in peer review journals were selected. Two reviewers independently appraised the methodological quality of the studies with the COSMIN checklist and the quality of results using specific quality criteria. Twenty-six articles were included in the review testing the measurement properties of nine instruments. Seven instruments were based on Orem's Self-care theory. Not all the measurement properties were evaluated for the identified instruments. No self-care instrument showed strong evidence supporting the evaluated measurement properties. Despite the development of several instruments to assess self-care in the adult population, no instrument can be fully recommended to clinical nurses and researchers. Further studies of high methodological quality are needed to confirm the measurement properties of these instruments. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The instantaneous light-intensity function of a fluorescent lamp

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gluskin, Emanuel [Holon Institute of Technology, 52 Golomb St., Holon 58102 (Israel): Electrical Engineering Department, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva 84105 (Israel)]. E-mail: gluskin@ee.bgu.ac.il; Topalis, Frangiskos V. [Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 9 Iroon Politechniou St., 15780 Athens (Greece); Kateri, Ifigenia [Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 9 Iroon Politechniou St., 15780 Athens (Greece); Bisketzis, Nikolas [Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 9 Iroon Politechniou St., 15780 Athens (Greece)

2006-05-08

Using some simple physics and 'system' considerations, the instantaneous light intensity function {psi}(t) of a fluorescent lamp fed via a regular ballast from the 50-60 Hz line is argued to be {psi}(t)={psi}{sub min}+bp(t), where p(t) is the instantaneous power function of the lamp, and b is a constant, and experiment confirms this formula well. The main frequency of {psi}(t), the very significant singularity of its waveform, and the relative intensity of the ripple, i.e., the depth of the modulation, are the focus. The results are important for research into the vision problem that some humans (autistic, but others, too) experience regarding fluorescent light. The inertia of the processes in the lamp which are responsible for the light emission, provides some nonzero emission at the instants when p(t) has zeros. The smaller the volume of the tube and the mass of the gas are, the more weakly the inertia of the processes is expressed, and the relatively smaller is {psi}{sub min}. However, it should be very difficult to theoretically obtain {psi}(t), in particular {psi}{sub min}, from the very complicated physics of the low-pressure discharge in the tube. We conclude that {psi}{sub min} has to be connected with the (also easily measured) lamp's inductance. The work should attract more attention of the physicists to the properties of the common fluorescent lamps. escent lamps.

Development of an instrument for direct ozone production rate measurements: measurement reliability and current limitations

Science.gov (United States)

Sklaveniti, Sofia; Locoge, Nadine; Stevens, Philip S.; Wood, Ezra; Kundu, Shuvashish; Dusanter, Sébastien

2018-02-01

Ground-level ozone (O3) is an important pollutant that affects both global climate change and regional air quality, with the latter linked to detrimental effects on both human health and ecosystems. Ozone is not directly emitted in the atmosphere but is formed from chemical reactions involving volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) and sunlight. The photochemical nature of ozone makes the implementation of reduction strategies challenging and a good understanding of its formation chemistry is fundamental in order to develop efficient strategies of ozone reduction from mitigation measures of primary VOCs and NOx emissions. An instrument for direct measurements of ozone production rates (OPRs) was developed and deployed in the field as part of the IRRONIC (Indiana Radical, Reactivity and Ozone Production Intercomparison) field campaign. The OPR instrument is based on the principle of the previously published MOPS instrument (Measurement of Ozone Production Sensor) but using a different sampling design made of quartz flow tubes and a different Ox (O3 and NO2) conversion-detection scheme composed of an O3-to-NO2 conversion unit and a cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy (CAPS) NO2 monitor. Tests performed in the laboratory and in the field, together with model simulations of the radical chemistry occurring inside the flow tubes, were used to assess (i) the reliability of the measurement principle and (ii) potential biases associated with OPR measurements. This publication reports the first field measurements made using this instrument to illustrate its performance. The results showed that a photo-enhanced loss of ozone inside the sampling flow tubes disturbs the measurements. This issue needs to be solved to be able to perform accurate ambient measurements of ozone production rates with the instrument described in this study. However, an attempt was made to investigate the OPR sensitivity to NOx by adding NO inside the instrument

Instantaneous power theory and applications to power conditioning

CERN Document Server

Akagi, Hirofumi; Aredes, Mauricio

2017-01-01

This new edition, written by a team of experts in the field, is fully updated with information on the latest electric power technology. The instantaneous power theory, or “the p-q theory,” makes clear the physical meaning of what instantaneous real and imaginary power is in a three-phase circuit. Moreover, it provides insight into how energy flows from a source to a load, or circulates between phases, in a three-phase circuit. This theory can be used in the design and understanding of FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System) compensators. The book introduces many concepts in the field of active filtering that are unique to this edition. It provides a study tool for final year undergraduate students, graduate students and engineers dealing ith harmonic pollution problems, reactive power compensation or power quality in general.

FJ-2207 measuring instrument detection pipe surface a level of pollution method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jiangong

2010-01-01

On the pipe surface contamination were detected α level of pollution is a frequently encountered dose-detection work. Because the pipeline surface arc, while the measuring probe for the plane, which for accurate measurement difficult. In this paper, on the FJ-2207-type pipe surface contamination measuring instrument measuring pollution levels in the α method was studied. Introduced the FJ-2207 measuring instrument detection pipe surface α pollution levels. Studied this measuring instrument on the same sources of surface, plane α level of radioactivity measured differences in the results obtained control of the apparatus when the direct measurement of the surface correction factor, and gives 32-216 specifications commonly used pipe direct measurement of the amendment factor. Convenient method, test results are reliable for the accurate measurement of pipe pollution levels in the surface of α as a reference and learning. (authors)

Electronic instrumentation system for pulsed neutron measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burda, J.; Igielski, A.; Kowalik, W.

1982-01-01

An essential point of pulsed neutron measurement of thermal neutron parameters for different materials is the registration of the thermal neutron die-away curve after a fast neutron bursts have been injected into the system. An electronic instrumentation system which is successfully applied for pulsed neutron measurements is presented. An important part of the system is the control unit which has been designed and built in the Laboratory of Neutron Parameters of Materials. (author)

Field measurements and interpretation of TMI-2 instrumentation: IC-10-dPT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, J.E.; Smith, J.T.; Mathis, M.V.

1982-01-01

This report describes the measurements and results of the Control Rod Drive Bypass Flow IC-10-dPT. This instrument consists of a Bailey Type BY Process Computer Transmitter connected to a readout module by approximately 500 feet of cable through a penetration junction and an instrument mounting junction. The status of this instrument is uncertain, but it was producing a reasonable output reading of zero flow which could indicate it had not failed. As a result, measurements on this instrument were designed to determine if it were properly functioning

Assessing medical professionalism: A systematic review of instruments and their measurement properties

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Honghe; Liu, Yang; Wen, Deliang

2017-01-01

Background Over the last three decades, various instruments were developed and employed to assess medical professionalism, but their measurement properties have yet to be fully evaluated. This study aimed to systematically evaluate these instruments’ measurement properties and the methodological quality of their related studies within a universally acceptable standardized framework and then provide corresponding recommendations. Methods A systematic search of the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO was conducted to collect studies published from 1990–2015. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts for eligibility, the articles included in this study were classified according to their respective instrument’s usage. A two-phase assessment was conducted: 1) methodological quality was assessed by following the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist; and 2) the quality of measurement properties was assessed according to Terwee’s criteria. Results were integrated using best-evidence synthesis to look for recommendable instruments. Results After screening 2,959 records, 74 instruments from 80 existing studies were included. The overall methodological quality of these studies was unsatisfactory, with reasons including but not limited to unknown missing data, inadequate sample sizes, and vague hypotheses. Content validity, cross-cultural validity, and criterion validity were either unreported or negative ratings in most studies. Based on best-evidence synthesis, three instruments were recommended: Hisar’s instrument for nursing students, Nurse Practitioners’ Roles and Competencies Scale, and Perceived Faculty Competency Inventory. Conclusion Although instruments measuring medical professionalism are diverse, only a limited number of studies were methodologically sound. Future studies should give priority to systematically improving the performance of existing

Smooth and fast versus instantaneous quenches in quantum field theory

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Sumit R.; Galante, Damián A.; Myers, Robert C.

2015-08-01

We examine in detail the relationship between smooth fast quantum quenches, characterized by a time scale δ t, and instantaneous quenches, within the framework of exactly solvable mass quenches in free scalar field theory. Our earlier studies [1, 2] highlighted that the two protocols remain distinct in the limit δ t → 0 because of the relation of the quench rate to the UV cut-off, i.e., 1 /δ t ≪ Λ always holds in the fast smooth quenches while 1 /δ t ˜ Λ for instantaneous quenches. Here we study UV finite quantities like correlators at finite spatial distances and the excess energy produced above the final ground state energy. We show that at late times and large distances (compared to the quench time scale) the smooth quench correlator approaches that for the instantaneous quench. At early times, we find that for small spatial separation and small δ t, the correlator scales universally with δ t, exactly as in the scaling of renormalized one point functions found in earlier work. At larger separation, the dependence on δ t drops out. The excess energy density is finite (for finite mδ t) and scales in a universal fashion for all d. However, the scaling behaviour produces a divergent result in the limit mδ t → 0 for d ≥ 4, just as in an instantaneous quench, where it is UV divergent for d ≥ 4. We argue that similar results hold for arbitrary interacting theories: the excess energy density produced is expected to diverge for scaling dimensions Δ > d/2.

Effect of instantaneous and continuous quenches on the density of vibrational modes in model glasses

Science.gov (United States)

Lerner, Edan; Bouchbinder, Eran

2017-08-01

Computational studies of supercooled liquids often focus on various analyses of their "underlying inherent states"—the glassy configurations at zero temperature obtained by an infinitely fast (instantaneous) quench from equilibrium supercooled states. Similar protocols are also regularly employed in investigations of the unjamming transition at which the rigidity of decompressed soft-sphere packings is lost. Here we investigate the statistics and localization properties of low-frequency vibrational modes of glassy configurations obtained by such instantaneous quenches. We show that the density of vibrational modes grows as ωβ with β depending on the parent temperature T0 from which the glassy configurations were instantaneously quenched. For quenches from high temperature liquid states we find β ≈3 , whereas β appears to approach the previously observed value β =4 as T0 approaches the glass transition temperature. We discuss the consistency of our findings with the theoretical framework of the soft potential model, and contrast them with similar measurements performed on configurations obtained by continuous quenches at finite cooling rates. Our results suggest that any physical quench at rates sufficiently slower than the inverse vibrational time scale—including all physically realistic quenching rates of molecular or atomistic glasses—would result in a glass whose density of vibrational modes is universally characterized by β =4 .

Instantaneous and dynamical decoherence

Science.gov (United States)

Polonyi, Janos

2018-04-01

Two manifestations of decoherence, called instantaneous and dynamical, are investigated. The former reflects the suppression of the interference between the components of the current state while the latter reflects that within the initial state. These types of decoherence are computed in the case of the Brownian motion and the harmonic and anharmonic oscillators within the semiclassical approximation. A remarkable phenomenon, namely the opposite orientation of the time arrow of the dynamical variables compared to that of the quantum fluctuations generates a double exponential time dependence of the dynamical decoherence in the presence of a harmonic force. For the weakly anharmonic oscillator the dynamical decoherence is found to depend in a singular way on the amount of the anharmonicity.

Design and construction of an instrument for measuring thermistor electrical characteristic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Budiono; Yudi Herdiana

2007-01-01

In this work an instrument for measuring the electrical characteristic of thermistor has been designed and constructed. The instrument was constructed from main components i.e. a micro controller AT89C51, 3 ADC-0804, a LM35 temperature sensor and IC MAX 232. The IC MAX 232 component is used to connect the micro controller to the personal computer serially by using RS-232 standard. While ADC-0804 was used to convert the analog data (DC voltage) to the digital one so that the data was readable by the micro controller. Digital data from 3 ADC-0804 circuit which have been read by the micro controller was sent directly to the personal computer. The data from the measurement which have been stored in the personal computer was then processed to know the value of temperature and measured thermistor resistance. The processed data could be either stored in a data base or displayed in a monitor or printed in the form of table data and in the form a graph of thermistor resistance as the function of temperature. The result of measurement from measuring instrument of the characteristic of thermistor electric's had been made, being compared by measuring calibrated instrument, the deviation is about 0.33 %. (author)

Measuring Software Test Verification for Complex Workpieces based on Virtual Gear Measuring Instrument

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yin Peili

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Validity and correctness test verification of the measuring software has been a thorny issue hindering the development of Gear Measuring Instrument (GMI. The main reason is that the software itself is difficult to separate from the rest of the measurement system for independent evaluation. This paper presents a Virtual Gear Measuring Instrument (VGMI to independently validate the measuring software. The triangular patch model with accurately controlled precision was taken as the virtual workpiece and a universal collision detection model was established. The whole process simulation of workpiece measurement is implemented by VGMI replacing GMI and the measuring software is tested in the proposed virtual environment. Taking involute profile measurement procedure as an example, the validity of the software is evaluated based on the simulation results; meanwhile, experiments using the same measuring software are carried out on the involute master in a GMI. The experiment results indicate a consistency of tooth profile deviation and calibration results, thus verifying the accuracy of gear measuring system which includes the measurement procedures. It is shown that the VGMI presented can be applied in the validation of measuring software, providing a new ideal platform for testing of complex workpiece-measuring software without calibrated artifacts.

Instantaneous response spectrum in seismic testing of nuclear power plant equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrone, A.

1977-01-01

This paper presents the concept of instantaneous response spectrum (IRS) as the response of single degree of freedom oscillators at a particular time. It demonstrates that a shake table random motion whose standard TRS envelops the RRS does not necessarily satisfy the enveloping requirement instantaneously. That is, any one (or more) instantaneous required response spectrum (IRRS) is not enveloped by any instantaneous test response spectrum (ITRS). Response spectra from different time histories, including single frequency sine beat motion used in resonance testing, are compared for enveloping with maximum response and with the actual response at particular times. These comparisons are given for the enveloping of RRS and IRRS derived with a time history response calculated at a particular building elevation of a nuclear power plant. For the test motion, several of the most severe ITRS derived with a modified EL Centro motion and with a sine beat motion with ten cycles per beat were used. It is shown that although the TRS with the modified EL Centro motion enveloped the given RRS, the selected modified EL Centro ITRS did not envelop the corresponding IRRS. With the sine beat motion, even though the TRS did not fully envelop the given RRS, the resulting sine beat ITRS did not require a larger factor for full IRRS enveloping than those of the modified EL Centro motion

Measuring teamwork in health care settings: a review of survey instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Valentine, Melissa A; Nembhard, Ingrid M; Edmondson, Amy C

2015-04-01

Teamwork in health care settings is widely recognized as an important factor in providing high-quality patient care. However, the behaviors that comprise effective teamwork, the organizational factors that support teamwork, and the relationship between teamwork and patient outcomes remain empirical questions in need of rigorous study. To identify and review survey instruments used to assess dimensions of teamwork so as to facilitate high-quality research on this topic. We conducted a systematic review of articles published before September 2012 to identify survey instruments used to measure teamwork and to assess their conceptual content, psychometric validity, and relationships to outcomes of interest. We searched the ISI Web of Knowledge database, and identified relevant articles using the search terms team, teamwork, or collaboration in combination with survey, scale, measure, or questionnaire. We found 39 surveys that measured teamwork. Surveys assessed different dimensions of teamwork. The most commonly assessed dimensions were communication, coordination, and respect. Of the 39 surveys, 10 met all of the criteria for psychometric validity, and 14 showed significant relationships to nonself-report outcomes. Evidence of psychometric validity is lacking for many teamwork survey instruments. However, several psychometrically valid instruments are available. Researchers aiming to advance research on teamwork in health care should consider using or adapting one of these instruments before creating a new one. Because instruments vary considerably in the behavioral processes and emergent states of teamwork that they capture, researchers must carefully evaluate the conceptual consistency between instrument, research question, and context.

Legal control scenario applied to embedded software in measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro, C.G. de; Brandao, P.C.; Leitao, F.O.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a scenario of legal control of software in measuring instruments. Such control is hampered by intrinsic problems related to software analysis and verification. To circumvent these difficulties, several projects are being developed to attack different stages of legal control, such as the model type approval, periodic verifications and metrological expertise. The proposals that will arise from these projects will be discussed among the parts and may be incorporated into the measuring instruments. (author)

Airflow resistivity instrument for in situ measurement on the earth's ground surface

Science.gov (United States)

Zuckerwar, A. J.

1983-01-01

An airflow resistivity instrument features a novel specimen holder, especially designed for in situ measurement on the earth's ground surface. This capability eliminates the disadvantages of prior intrusive instruments, which necessitate the removal of a test specimen from the ground. A prototype instrument can measure airflow resistivities in the range 10-5000 cgs rayl/cm, at specimen depths up to 15.24 cm (6 in.), and at differential pressures up to 2490.8 dyn sq cm (1 in. H2O) across the specimen. Because of the close relationship between flow resistivity and acoustic impedance, this instrument should prove useful in acoustical studies of the earth's ground surface. Results of airflow resistivity measurements on an uncultivated grass field for varying values of moisture content are presented.

Instantaneous Power Compensation in Three-Phase Systems by Using p-q-r Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kim, Hyosung; Blaabjerg, Frede; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte

2002-01-01

Three linearly independent instantaneous powers have been defined in the time domain in three-phase four-wire systems with the use of p-q-r theory. Any three-phase circuit can be transformed into three single-phase circuits by the p-q-r transformation Thus the instantaneous powers in any three...

Cross-correlation of instantaneous phase increments in pressure-flow fluctuations: Applications to cerebral autoregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhi; Hu, Kun; Stanley, H. Eugene; Novak, Vera; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.

2006-03-01

We investigate the relationship between the blood flow velocities (BFV) in the middle cerebral arteries and beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) recorded from a finger in healthy and post-stroke subjects during the quasisteady state after perturbation for four different physiologic conditions: supine rest, head-up tilt, hyperventilation, and CO2 rebreathing in upright position. To evaluate whether instantaneous BP changes in the steady state are coupled with instantaneous changes in the BFV, we compare dynamical patterns in the instantaneous phases of these signals, obtained from the Hilbert transform, as a function of time. We find that in post-stroke subjects the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV exhibit well-pronounced patterns that remain stable in time for all four physiologic conditions, while in healthy subjects these patterns are different, less pronounced, and more variable. We propose an approach based on the cross-correlation of the instantaneous phase increments to quantify the coupling between BP and BFV signals. We find that the maximum correlation strength is different for the two groups and for the different conditions. For healthy subjects the amplitude of the cross-correlation between the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV is small and attenuates within 3-5 heartbeats. In contrast, for post-stroke subjects, this amplitude is significantly larger and cross-correlations persist up to 20 heartbeats. Further, we show that the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV are cross-correlated even within a single heartbeat cycle. We compare the results of our approach with three complementary methods: direct BP-BFV cross-correlation, transfer function analysis, and phase synchronization analysis. Our findings provide insight into the mechanism of cerebral vascular control in healthy subjects, suggesting that this control mechanism may involve rapid adjustments (within a heartbeat) of the cerebral vessels, so that BFV remains steady in

Instruments measuring family or caregiver burden in severe mental illness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schene, A. H.; Tessler, R. C.; Gamache, G. M.

1994-01-01

The consequences of psychiatric disorders for family members, usually called family or caregiver burden, have been studied during the last 4 decades. During this period a variety of instruments have been developed to measure the impact of mental illness on family members, but not all instruments

Informal caregiving in COPD: A systematic review of instruments and their measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruz, Joana; Marques, Alda; Machado, Ana; O'Hoski, Sachi; Goldstein, Roger; Brooks, Dina

2017-07-01

Increasing symptoms and activity restriction associated with COPD progression greatly impact on the lives of their informal caregivers, who play a vital role in maintaining their health. An understanding of this impact is important for clinicians to support caregivers and maintain a viable patient environment at home. This systematic review aimed to identify the instruments commonly used to assess informal caregiving in COPD and describe their measurement properties in this population. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL and PsycINFO and in references of key articles, until November 2016 (PROSPERO: CRD42016041401). Instruments used to assess the impact of COPD on caregivers were identified and their properties described. Quality of studies was rated using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. Quality of the measurement properties of instruments was rated as 'positive', 'negative' or 'indeterminate'. Patients cared for, had moderate to very severe COPD and the sample of caregivers ranged from 24 to 406. Thirty-five instruments were used in fifty studies to assess caregivers' psychological status and mood (9 instruments), burden/distress (12 instruments), quality of life (5 instruments) or other (9 instruments). Eighteen studies assessed the measurement properties of 21 instruments, most commonly hypothesis testing (known validity) and internal consistency. Study quality varied from 'poor' to 'fair' and with many properties rated as 'indeterminate'. Although several instruments have been used to assess the impact of COPD on caregivers, an increased understanding of their properties is needed before their widespread implementation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New portable hand-held radiation instruments for measurements and monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fehlau, P.E.

1987-01-01

Hand-held radiation monitors are often used to search pedestrians and motor vehicles for special nuclear material (SNM) as part of a physical protection plan for nuclear materials. Recently, the Los Alamos Advanced Nuclear Technology group has commercialized an improved hand-held monitor that can be used for both physical-protection monitoring and verification measurements in nuclear material control and waste management. The new monitoring instruments are smaller and lighter; operate much longer on a battery charge; are available with NaI(Tl) or neutron and gamma-ray sensitive plastic scintillation detectors; and are less expensive than other comparable instruments. They also have a second operating mode for making precise measurements over counting times as long as 99 s. This mode permits making basic verification measurements that may be needed before transporting nuclear material or waste outside protected areas. Improved verification measurements can be made with a second new hand-held instrument that has a stabilized detector and three separate gamma-ray energy windows to obtain spectral information for SNM quantity, enrichment, or material-type verification

Development of the instrument IMAQE-Food to measure effectiveness of quality management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spiegel, van der M.; Luning, P.A.; Ziggers, G.W.; Jongen, W.M.F.

2005-01-01

Purpose - Manufacturers use several quality assurance systems to assure quality. However, their effectiveness cannot be assessed because an instrument does not exist. This article is based on a study that was set up to identify performance measurement indicators of an instrument that measures

Portable instrumentation for quantitatively measuring radioactive surface contaminations, including 90Sr

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brodzinski, R.L.

1983-10-01

In order to measure the effectiveness of decontamination efforts, a quantitative analysis of the radiocontamination is necessary, both before and after decontamination. Since it is desirable to release the decontaminated material for unrestricted use or disposal, the assay equipment must provide adequate sensitivity to measure the radioactivity at or below the release limit. In addition, the instrumentation must be capable of measuring all kinds of radiocontaminants including fission products, activation products, and transuranic materials. Finally, the survey instrumentation must be extremely versatile in order to assay the wide variety of contaminated surfaces in many environments, some of which may be extremely hostile or remote. This communication describes the development and application of portable instrumentation capable of quantitatively measuring most transuranics, activation products, and fission products, including 90 Sr, on almost any contaminated surface in nearly any location

Self-administered health literacy instruments for people with diabetes: systematic review of measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eun-Hyun; Kim, Chun-Ja; Lee, Jiyeon; Moon, Seung Hei

2017-09-01

The aims of this study were to identify all available self-administered instruments measuring health literacy in people with diabetes and to determine the current instrument that is the most appropriate for applying to this population in both practice and research. A systematic review of measurement properties. MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL electronic databases from their inception up to 28 March 2016. The methodological quality of each included study was assessed using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments checklist. The reported results for measurement properties in the studies were assessed according to Terwee's quality criteria. Thirteen self-administered instruments measuring health literacy in people with diabetes were identified, of which six (44%) were diabetes-specific instruments. The instruments that covered the broadest contents of health literacy were the Health Literacy Scale and Health Literacy Questionnaire. The (test-retest) reliability, measurement error and responsiveness were not evaluated for any instrument, while internal consistency and hypothesis testing validity were the most frequently assessed measurement properties. With the current evidence, the Health Literacy Scale may be the most appropriate instrument for patients with diabetes in practice and research. However, the structural validity of this scale needs to be further established, particularly in other language versions. It is also recommended to use the Diabetes Numeracy Test-15 along with the Health Literacy Scale to complement the lack of numeracy measures in the Health Literacy Scale. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ares I Scale Model Acoustic Tests Instrumentation for Acoustic and Pressure Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Vargas, Magda B.; Counter, Douglas D.

2011-01-01

The Ares I Scale Model Acoustic Test (ASMAT) was a development test performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) East Test Area (ETA) Test Stand 116. The test article included a 5% scale Ares I vehicle model and tower mounted on the Mobile Launcher. Acoustic and pressure data were measured by approximately 200 instruments located throughout the test article. There were four primary ASMAT instrument suites: ignition overpressure (IOP), lift-off acoustics (LOA), ground acoustics (GA), and spatial correlation (SC). Each instrumentation suite incorporated different sensor models which were selected based upon measurement requirements. These requirements included the type of measurement, exposure to the environment, instrumentation check-outs and data acquisition. The sensors were attached to the test article using different mounts and brackets dependent upon the location of the sensor. This presentation addresses the observed effect of the sensors and mounts on the acoustic and pressure measurements.

QNOTE: an instrument for measuring the quality of EHR clinical notes.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Harry B; Hoang, Albert; Becher, Dorothy; Fontelo, Paul; Liu, Fang; Stephens, Mark; Pangaro, Louis N; Sessums, Laura L; O'Malley, Patrick; Baxi, Nancy S; Bunt, Christopher W; Capaldi, Vincent F; Chen, Julie M; Cooper, Barbara A; Djuric, David A; Hodge, Joshua A; Kane, Shawn; Magee, Charles; Makary, Zizette R; Mallory, Renee M; Miller, Thomas; Saperstein, Adam; Servey, Jessica; Gimbel, Ronald W

2014-01-01

The outpatient clinical note documents the clinician's information collection, problem assessment, and patient management, yet there is currently no validated instrument to measure the quality of the electronic clinical note. This study evaluated the validity of the QNOTE instrument, which assesses 12 elements in the clinical note, for measuring the quality of clinical notes. It also compared its performance with a global instrument that assesses the clinical note as a whole. Retrospective multicenter blinded study of the clinical notes of 100 outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who had been seen in clinic on at least three occasions. The 300 notes were rated by eight general internal medicine and eight family medicine practicing physicians. The QNOTE instrument scored the quality of the note as the sum of a set of 12 note element scores, and its inter-rater agreement was measured by the intraclass correlation coefficient. The Global instrument scored the note in its entirety, and its inter-rater agreement was measured by the Fleiss κ. The overall QNOTE inter-rater agreement was 0.82 (CI 0.80 to 0.84), and its note quality score was 65 (CI 64 to 66). The Global inter-rater agreement was 0.24 (CI 0.19 to 0.29), and its note quality score was 52 (CI 49 to 55). The QNOTE quality scores were consistent, and the overall QNOTE score was significantly higher than the overall Global score (p=0.04). We found the QNOTE to be a valid instrument for evaluating the quality of electronic clinical notes, and its performance was superior to that of the Global instrument. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Measuring participants' immersion in healthcare simulation: the development of an instrument.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagiwara, Magnus Andersson; Backlund, Per; Söderholm, Hanna Maurin; Lundberg, Lars; Lebram, Mikael; Engström, Henrik

2016-01-01

Immersion is important for simulation-based education; however, questionnaire-based instruments to measure immersion have some limitations. The aim of the present work is to develop a new instrument to measure immersion among participants in healthcare simulation scenarios. The instrument was developed in four phases: trigger identification, content validity scores, inter-rater reliability analysis and comparison with an existing immersion measure instrument. A modified Delphi process was used to develop the instrument and to establish validity and reliability. The expert panel consisted of 10 researchers. All the researchers in the team had previous experience of simulation in the health and/or fire and rescue services as researchers and/or educators and simulation designers. To identify triggers, the panel members independently screened video recordings from simulation scenarios. Here, a trigger is an event in a simulation that is considered a sign of reduced or enhanced immersion among simulation participants. The result consists of the Immersion Score Rating Instrument (ISRI). It contains 10 triggers, of which seven indicate reduced and three enhanced immersion. When using ISRI, a rater identifies trigger occurrences and assigns them strength between 1 and 3. The content validity analysis shows that all the 10 triggers meet an acceptable content validity index for items (I-CVI) standard. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) among raters was assessed using a two-way mixed, consistency, average-measures intra-class correlation (ICC). The ICC for the difference between weighted positive and negative triggers was 0.92, which indicates that the raters are in agreement. Comparison with results from an immersion questionnaire mirrors the ISRI results. In conclusion, we present a novel and non-intrusive instrument for identifying and rating the level of immersion among participants in healthcare simulation scenarios.

Stride length: measuring its instantaneous value

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campiglio, G C; Mazzeo, J R

2007-01-01

Human gait has been studied from different viewpoints: kinematics, dynamics, sensibility and others. Many of its characteristics still remain open to research, both for normal gait and for pathological gait. Objective measures of some of its most significant spatial/temporal parameters are important in this context. Stride length, one of these parameters, is defined as the distance between two consecutive contacts of one foot with ground. On this work we present a device designed to provide automatic measures of stride length. Its features make it particularly appropriate for the evaluation of pathological gait

Instrumentation for Structure Measurements on Highly Non-equilibrium Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weber, Richard [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Benmore, Chris J [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Neuefeind, Joerg C [ORNL; Wilding, Martin C [ORNL

2011-01-01

Containerless techniques (levitation) completely eliminate contact with the sample. This unique sample environment allows deep supercooling of many liquids and avoids contamination of high temperature melts. Recent experiments at the APS high energy beamline 11 ID-C used aerodynamic levitation with laser beam heating and acoustic levitation with cryogenic cooling. By using these two methods, liquids were studied over much of the temperature range from -40 to +2500 C. This paper briefly describes the instrumentation and its use with an -Si area detector that allows fast, in-situ measurements. Use of the instruments is illustrated with examples of measurements on molten oxides and aqueous materials.

Instrumentation to Measure the Capacitance of Biosensors by Sinusoidal Wave Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavan Kumar KATHUROJU

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Micro Controller based instrumentation to measure the capacitance of biosensors is developed. It is based on frequency domain technique with sinusoidal wave input. Changes in the capacitance of biosensor because of the analyte specific reaction are calculated by knowing the current flowing through the sample. A dedicated 8-bit microcontroller (AT89C52 and its associated peripherals are employed for the hardware and application specific software is developed in ‘C’ language. The paper describes the methodology, instrumentation details along with a specific application to glucose sensing. The measurements are conducted with glucose oxidase based capacitance biosensor and the obtained results are compared with the conventional method of sugar measurements using the UV-Visible spectroscopy (Phenol-Sulphuric acid assay method. Measurement accuracy of the instrument is found to be ± 5 %. Experiments are conducted on glucose sensor with different bias voltages. It is found that for bias voltages varying from 0.5 to 0.7 Volt, the measurements are good for this application.

Instantaneous x-ray radiation energy from laser produced polystyrene plasmas for shock ignition conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shang, Wanli; Wei, Huiyue; Li, Zhichao; Yi, Rongqing; Zhu, Tuo; Song, Tianmin; Huang, Chengwu; Yang, Jiamin

2013-01-01

Laser target energy coupling mechanism is crucial in the shock ignition (SI) scheme, and x-ray radiation energy is a non-negligible portion of the laser produced plasma energy. To evaluate the x-ray radiation energy amount at conditions relevant to SI scheme, instantaneous x-ray radiation energy is investigated experimentally with continuum phase plates smoothed lasers irradiating layer polystyrene targets. Comparative laser pulses without and with shock spike are employed. With the measured x-ray angular distribution, full space x-ray radiation energy and conversion efficiency are observed. Instantaneous scaling law of x-ray conversion efficiency is obtained as a function of laser intensity and time. It should be pointed out that the scaling law is available for any laser pulse shape and intensity, with which irradiates polystyrene planar target with intensity from 2 × 10 14 to 1.8 × 10 15 W/cm 2 . Numerical analysis of the laser energy transformation is performed, and the simulation results agree with the experimental data

Smooth and fast versus instantaneous quenches in quantum field theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, Sumit R.; Galante, Damián A.; Myers, Robert C.

2015-01-01

We examine in detail the relationship between smooth fast quantum quenches, characterized by a time scale δt, and instantaneous quenches, within the framework of exactly solvable mass quenches in free scalar field theory. Our earlier studies http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.171601 and http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2015)167 highlighted that the two protocols remain distinct in the limit δt→0 because of the relation of the quench rate to the UV cut-off, i.e., 1/δt≪Λ always holds in the fast smooth quenches while 1/δt∼Λ for instantaneous quenches. Here we study UV finite quantities like correlators at finite spatial distances and the excess energy produced above the final ground state energy. We show that at late times and large distances (compared to the quench time scale) the smooth quench correlator approaches that for the instantaneous quench. At early times, we find that for small spatial separation and small δt, the correlator scales universally with δt, exactly as in the scaling of renormalized one point functions found in earlier work. At larger separation, the dependence on δt drops out. The excess energy density is finite (for finite mδt) and scales in a universal fashion for all d. However, the scaling behaviour produces a divergent result in the limit mδt→0 for d≥4, just as in an instantaneous quench, where it is UV divergent for d≥4. We argue that similar results hold for arbitrary interacting theories: the excess energy density produced is expected to diverge for scaling dimensions Δ>d/2.

Measurement properties of quality of life measurement instruments for infants, children and adolescents with eczema: protocol for a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinl, Daniel; Prinsen, Cecilia A C; Drucker, Aaron M; Ofenloch, Robert; Humphreys, Rosemary; Sach, Tracey; Flohr, Carsten; Apfelbacher, Christian

2016-02-09

Eczema is a common chronic or chronically relapsing, inflammatory skin disease that exerts a substantial negative impact on quality of life (QoL). The Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative has used a consensus-based process which identified QoL as one of the four core outcome domains to be assessed in all eczema clinical trials. A number of measurement instruments exist to measure QoL in infants, children, and adolescents with eczema, and there is a great variability in both content and quality of the instruments used. Therefore, the objective of the proposed research is to comprehensively and systematically assess the measurement properties of the existing measurement instruments that were developed and/or validated for the measurement of patient-reported QoL in infants, children, and adolescents with eczema. This study is a systematic review of the measurement properties of patient-reported measures of QoL developed and/or validated for infants, children, and adolescents with eczema. A systematic literature search will be carried out in MEDLINE via PubMed and EMBASE using a selection of relevant search terms. Eligible studies will be primary empirical studies evaluating, describing, or comparing measurement properties of QoL instruments for infants, children, and adolescents with eczema. Two reviewers will independently perform eligibility assessment and data abstraction. Evidence tables will be used to record study characteristics, instrument characteristics, measurement properties, and interpretability. The adequacy of the measurement properties will be assessed using predefined criteria. The COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist will be used to evaluate the methodological quality of included studies. A best evidence synthesis will be undertaken if more than one study has examined a particular measurement property. The proposed systematic review will yield a comprehensive assessment

Instrumented Glove Measures Positions Of Fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

1993-01-01

Glove instrumented with flat membrane potentiometers to obtain crude measurements of relative positions of fingers. Resistance of each potentiometer varies with position of associated finger; translator circuit connected to each potentiometer converts analog reading to 1 of 10 digital levels. Digitized outputs from all fingers fed to indicating, recording, and/or data-processing equipment. Gloves and circuits intended for use in biomedical research, training in critical manual tasks, and other specialized applications.

Instruments to assess self-care among healthy children: A systematic review of measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Urpí-Fernández, Ana-María; Zabaleta-Del-Olmo, Edurne; Montes-Hidalgo, Javier; Tomás-Sábado, Joaquín; Roldán-Merino, Juan-Francisco; Lluch-Canut, María-Teresa

2017-12-01

To identify, critically appraise and summarize the measurement properties of instruments to assess self-care in healthy children. Assessing self-care is a proper consideration for nursing practice and nursing research. No systematic review summarizes instruments of measurement validated in healthy children. Psychometric review in accordance with the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) panel. MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Open Grey were searched from their inception to December 2016. Validation studies with a healthy child population were included. Search was not restricted by language. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of included studies using the COSMIN checklist. Eleven studies were included in the review assessing the measurement properties of ten instruments. There was a maximum of two studies per instrument. None of the studies evaluated the properties of test-retest reliability, measurement error, criterion validity and responsiveness. Internal consistency and structural validity were rated as "excellent" or "good" in four studies. Four studies were rated as "excellent" in content validity. Cross-cultural validity was rated as "poor" in the two studies (three instruments) which cultural adaptation was carried out. The evidence available does not allow firm conclusions about the instruments identified in terms of reliability and validity. Future research should focus on generate evidence about a wider range of measurement properties of these instruments using a rigorous methodology, as well as instrument testing on different countries and child population. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Navier-Stokes-Voigt Equations with Memory in 3D Lacking Instantaneous Kinematic Viscosity

Science.gov (United States)

Di Plinio, Francesco; Giorgini, Andrea; Pata, Vittorino; Temam, Roger

2018-04-01

We consider a Navier-Stokes-Voigt fluid model where the instantaneous kinematic viscosity has been completely replaced by a memory term incorporating hereditary effects, in presence of Ekman damping. Unlike the classical Navier-Stokes-Voigt system, the energy balance involves the spatial gradient of the past history of the velocity rather than providing an instantaneous control on the high modes. In spite of this difficulty, we show that our system is dissipative in the dynamical systems sense and even possesses regular global and exponential attractors of finite fractal dimension. Such features of asymptotic well-posedness in absence of instantaneous high modes dissipation appear to be unique within the realm of dynamical systems arising from fluid models.

Metrological Array of Cyber-Physical Systems. Part 7. Additive Error Correction for Measuring Instrument

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuriy YATSUK

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Since during design it is impossible to use the uncertainty approach because the measurement results are still absent and as noted the error approach that can be successfully applied taking as true the nominal value of instruments transformation function. Limiting possibilities of additive error correction of measuring instruments for Cyber-Physical Systems are studied basing on general and special methods of measurement. Principles of measuring circuit maximal symmetry and its minimal reconfiguration are proposed for measurement or/and calibration. It is theoretically justified for the variety of correction methods that minimum additive error of measuring instruments exists under considering the real equivalent parameters of input electronic switches. Terms of self-calibrating and verification the measuring instruments in place are studied.

Instruments for measuring mental health recovery: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Sklar, Marisa; Groessl, Erik J; O'Connell, Maria; Davidson, Larry; Aarons, Gregory A

2013-12-01

Persons in recovery, providers, and policymakers alike are advocating for recovery-oriented mental health care, with the promotion of recovery becoming a prominent feature of mental health policy in the United States and internationally. One step toward creating a recovery-oriented system of care is to use recovery-oriented outcome measures. Numerous instruments have been developed to assess progress towards mental health recovery. This review identifies instruments of mental health recovery and evaluates the appropriateness of their use including their psychometric properties, ease of administration, and service-user involvement in their development. A literature search using the Medline and Psych-INFO databases was conducted, identifying 21 instruments for potential inclusion in this review, of which thirteen met inclusion criteria. Results suggest only three instruments (25%) have had their psychometric properties assessed in three or more unique samples of participants. Ease of administration varied between instruments, and for the majority of instruments, development included service user involvement. This review updates and expands previous reviews of instruments to assess mental health recovery. As mental health care continues to transform to a recovery-oriented model of service delivery, this review may facilitate selection of appropriate assessments of mental health recovery for systems to use in evaluating and improving the care they provide. © 2013.

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) imaging spectrometerfor lunar science: Instrument description, calibration, on‐orbit measurements, science data calibration and on‐orbit validation

Science.gov (United States)

C. Pieters,; P. Mouroulis,; M. Eastwood,; J. Boardman,; Green, R.O.; Glavich, T.; Isaacson, P.; Annadurai, M.; Besse, S.; Cate, D.; Chatterjee, A.; Clark, R.; Barr, D.; Cheek, L.; Combe, J.; Dhingra, D.; Essandoh, V.; Geier, S.; Goswami, J.N.; Green, R.; Haemmerle, V.; Head, J.; Hovland, L.; Hyman, S.; Klima, R.; Koch, T.; Kramer, G.; Kumar, A.S.K.; Lee, K.; Lundeen, S.; Malaret, E.; McCord, T.; McLaughlin, S.; Mustard, J.; Nettles, J.; Petro, N.; Plourde, K.; Racho, C.; Rodriguez, J.; Runyon, C.; Sellar, G.; Smith, C.; Sobel, H.; Staid, M.; Sunshine, J.; Taylor, L.; Thaisen, K.; Tompkins, S.; Tseng, H.; Vane, G.; Varanasi, P.; White, M.; Wilson, D.

2011-01-01

The NASA Discovery Moon Mineralogy Mapper imaging spectrometer was selected to pursue a wide range of science objectives requiring measurement of composition at fine spatial scales over the full lunar surface. To pursue these objectives, a broad spectral range imaging spectrometer with high uniformity and high signal-to-noise ratio capable of measuring compositionally diagnostic spectral absorption features from a wide variety of known and possible lunar materials was required. For this purpose the Moon Mineralogy Mapper imaging spectrometer was designed and developed that measures the spectral range from 430 to 3000 nm with 10 nm spectral sampling through a 24 degree field of view with 0.7 milliradian spatial sampling. The instrument has a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 400 for the specified equatorial reference radiance and greater than 100 for the polar reference radiance. The spectral cross-track uniformity is >90% and spectral instantaneous field-of-view uniformity is >90%. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper was launched on Chandrayaan-1 on the 22nd of October. On the 18th of November 2008 the Moon Mineralogy Mapper was turned on and collected a first light data set within 24 h. During this early checkout period and throughout the mission the spacecraft thermal environment and orbital parameters varied more than expected and placed operational and data quality constraints on the measurements. On the 29th of August 2009, spacecraft communication was lost. Over the course of the flight mission 1542 downlinked data sets were acquired that provide coverage of more than 95% of the lunar surface. An end-to-end science data calibration system was developed and all measurements have been passed through this system and delivered to the Planetary Data System (PDS.NASA.GOV). An extensive effort has been undertaken by the science team to validate the Moon Mineralogy Mapper science measurements in the context of the mission objectives. A focused spectral, radiometric

Hybrid Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio–Fractional Flow Reserve versus Fractional Flow Reserve in the Real World

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kara Shuttleworth

2017-05-01

Full Text Available BackgroundThe instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR is a novel method to assess the ischemic potential of coronary artery stenoses. Clinical trial data have shown that iFR has acceptable diagnostic agreement with fractional flow reserve (FFR, the reference standard for the functional assessment of coronary stenoses. This study compares iFR measurements with FFR measurements in a real world, single-center setting.Methods and resultsInstantaneous wave-free ratio and FFR were measured in 50 coronary artery lesions in 42 patients, with FFR ≤ 0.8 classified as functionally significant. An iFR-only technique, using a treatment cut-off value, iFR ≤ 0.89, provided a classification agreement of 84% with FFR ≤ 0.80. Use of a hybrid iFR–FFR technique, incorporating FFR measurement for lesions within the iFR gray zone of 0.86–0.93, would improve classification agreement with FFR to 94%, with diagnosis achieved without the need for hyperemia in 57% patients.ConclusionThis study in a real-world setting demonstrated good classification agreement between iFR and FFR. Use of a hybrid iFR–FFR technique would achieve high diagnostic accuracy while minimizing adenosine use, compared with routine FFR.

Reconstruction of temporal variations of evapotranspiration using instantaneous estimates at the time of satellite overpass

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Delogu

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Evapotranspiration estimates can be derived from remote sensing data and ancillary, mostly meterorological, information. For this purpose, two types of methods are classically used: the first type estimates a potential evapotranspiration rate from vegetation indices, and adjusts this rate according to water availability derived from either a surface temperature index or a first guess obtained from a rough estimate of the water budget, while the second family of methods relies on the link between the surface temperature and the latent heat flux through the surface energy budget. The latter provides an instantaneous estimate at the time of satellite overpass. In order to compute daily evapotranspiration, one needs an extrapolation algorithm. Since no image is acquired during cloudy conditions, these methods can only be applied during clear sky days. In order to derive seasonal evapotranspiration, one needs an interpolation method. Two combined interpolation/extrapolation methods based on the self preservation of evaporative fraction and the stress factor are compared to reconstruct seasonal evapotranspiration from instantaneous measurements acquired in clear sky conditions. Those measurements are taken from instantaneous latent heat flux from 11 datasets in Southern France and Morocco. Results show that both methods have comparable performances with a clear advantage for the evaporative fraction for datasets with several water stress events. Both interpolation algorithms tend to underestimate evapotranspiration due to the energy limiting conditions that prevail during cloudy days. Taking into account the diurnal variations of the evaporative fraction according to an empirical relationship derived from a previous study improved the performance of the extrapolation algorithm and therefore the retrieval of the seasonal evapotranspiration for all but one datasets.

A set of portable radioisotopic control and measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pospeev, V.V.; Sidorov, V.N.; Tesnavs, Eh.R.; Uleksin, V.I.

1979-01-01

The problems and perspectives are examined of the portable radioisotope instruments application in agriculture, building industry, engeeniring and geological survay and in melioration. Principles are given of creation a series of radioisotopic instruments based on the principle of ganging. The series described consists of radioisotopic densimeters and moisture gages of the portable type, based on the ganging principle. The instruments differ in the measuring converters and have unified information processing and power supply devices. Criteria are stated for the ganging principle estimation, in particular, estimation of the technical means' compatibility. Four different types of compatibility are distinguished: an information compatibility; a metrological compatibility; structural and operational compatibility. Description is given of the unified information processing device - the unified pulse counter of the SIP-1M type and description of a row of radioisotopic measuring converters, which provides a possibility for completing the portable radioisotope densimeter of the RPP-2 type, intended for measuring densities of concrets and soils in the surface layer up to 30 cm and the density range from 1000 to 2500 kg/m 3 ; portable radioisotope densimeter of the RPP-1 type having measuring range from 600 to 1500 kg/m 3 ; surface-depth radioisotopic densimeter of the PPGR-1 type and surface-depth radioisotopic moisture gage of the VPGR-1 type [ru

Proceedings of the OECD/CSNI specialist meeting on advanced instrumentation and measurement techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehner, J [comp.

1998-09-01

In the last few years, tremendous advances in the local instrumentation technology for two-phase flow have been accomplished by the applications of new sensor techniques, optical or beam methods and electronic technology. The detailed measurements gave new insight to the true nature of local mechanisms of interfacial transfer between phases, interfacial structure and two-phase flow turbulent transfers. These new developments indicate that more accurate and reliable two-phase flow models can be obtained, if focused experiments are designed and performed by utilizing this advanced instrumentation. The purpose of this Specialist Meeting on Advanced Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques was to review the recent instrumentation developments and the relation between thermal-hydraulic codes and instrumentation capabilities. Four specific objectives were identified for this meeting: bring together international experts on instrumentation, experiments, and modeling; review recent developments in multiphase flow instrumentation; discuss the relation between modeling needs and instrumentation capabilities, and discuss future directions for instrumentation development, modeling, and experiments.

Proceedings of the OECD/CSNI specialist meeting on advanced instrumentation and measurement techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehner, J.

1998-09-01

In the last few years, tremendous advances in the local instrumentation technology for two-phase flow have been accomplished by the applications of new sensor techniques, optical or beam methods and electronic technology. The detailed measurements gave new insight to the true nature of local mechanisms of interfacial transfer between phases, interfacial structure and two-phase flow turbulent transfers. These new developments indicate that more accurate and reliable two-phase flow models can be obtained, if focused experiments are designed and performed by utilizing this advanced instrumentation. The purpose of this Specialist Meeting on Advanced Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques was to review the recent instrumentation developments and the relation between thermal-hydraulic codes and instrumentation capabilities. Four specific objectives were identified for this meeting: bring together international experts on instrumentation, experiments, and modeling; review recent developments in multiphase flow instrumentation; discuss the relation between modeling needs and instrumentation capabilities, and discuss future directions for instrumentation development, modeling, and experiments

Sequential least-square reconstruction of instantaneous pressure field around a body from TR-PIV

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, Young Jin; Gomit, G.; Earl, T.; Chatellier, L.; David, L.

2018-02-01

A procedure is introduced to obtain an instantaneous pressure field around a wing from time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) and particle image accelerometry (PIA). The instantaneous fields of velocity and material acceleration are provided by the recently introduced multi-frame PIV method, fluid trajectory evaluation based on ensemble-averaged cross-correlation (FTEE). The integration domain is divided into several subdomains in accordance with the local reliability. The near-edge and near-body regions are determined based on the recorded image of the wing. The instantaneous wake region is assigned by a combination of a self-defined criterion and binary morphological processes. The pressure is reconstructed from a minimization process of the difference between measured and reconstructed pressure gradients in a least-square sense. This is solved sequentially according to a decreasing order of reliability of each subdomain to prevent a propagation of error from the less reliable near-body region to the free-stream. The present procedure is numerically assessed by synthetically generated 2D particle images based on a numerical simulation. Volumetric pressure fields are then evaluated from tomographic TR-PIV of a flow around a 30-degree-inclined NACA0015 airfoil. A possibility of using a different scheme to evaluate material acceleration for a specific subdomain is presented. Moreover, this 3D application allows the investigation of the effect of the third component of the pressure gradient by which the wake region seems to be affected.

A comparative review of measurement instruments to inform and evaluate effectiveness of disability inclusive development.

Science.gov (United States)

Goujon, Nicolas; Devine, Alexandra; Baker, Sally M; Sprunt, Beth; Edmonds, Tanya J; Booth, Jennifer K; Keeffe, Jill E

2014-01-01

A review of existing measurement instruments was conducted to examine their suitability to measure disability prevalence and assess quality of life, protection of disability rights and community participation by people with disabilities, specifically within the context of development programs in low and middle-income countries. From a search of PubMed and the grey literature, potentially relevant measurement instruments were identified and examined for their content and psychometric properties, where possible. Criteria for inclusion were: based on the WHO's International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF), used quantitative methods, suitable for population-based studies of disability inclusive development in English and published after 1990. Characteristics of existing instruments were analysed according to components of the ICF and quality of life domains. Ten instruments were identified and reviewed according to the criteria listed above. Each version of instruments was analysed separately. Only three instruments included a component on quality of life. Domains from the ICF that were addressed by some but not all instruments included the environment, technology and communication. The measurement instruments reviewed covered the range of elements required to measure disability-inclusion within development contexts. However no single measurement instrument has the capacity to measure both disability prevalence and changes in quality of life according to contemporary disability paradigms. The review of measurement instruments supports the need for developing an instrument specifically intended to measure disability inclusive practice within development programs. Implications for Rehabilitation Surveys and tools are needed to plan disability inclusive development. Existing measurement tools to determine prevalence of disability, wellbeing, rights and access to the community were reviewed. No single validated tool exists for population

A measuring instrument for evaluation of quality systems.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wagner, C.; Bakker, D.H. de; Groenewegen, P.P.

1999-01-01

Objective: To develop an instrument for provider organizations, consumers, purchasers, and policy makers to measure and compare the development of quality systems in provider organizations. Design: Cross-sectional study of provider organizations using a structured questionnaire to survey managers.

Magneto-optic Doppler analyzer: a new instrument to measure mesopause winds

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Bifford P.; Tomczyk, Steven

1996-11-01

The magneto-optic Doppler analyzer (MODA) is a new type of passive optical instrument that one can use to measure the Doppler shift of the sodium nightglow emitted at approximately 91 km near the mesopause. From this measurement, horizontal wind signatures are inferred. The MODA is based on a sodium vapor magneto-optic filter that provides inherent wavelength stability at a low cost. The instrument has been used to take nightly zonal and meridional wind measurements since October 1994 at Niwot Ridge, Colorado (40 N, 105 W). We obtained an internally consistent wind signal and measured the semidiurnal tide for several seasons.

Instantaneous global nitrous oxide photochemical rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnston, H.S.; Serang, O.; Podolske, J.

1979-01-01

In recent years, vertical profiles of nitrous oxide have been measured by balloon up to midstratosphere at several latitudes between 63 0 N and 73 0 S, including one profile in the tropical zone at 9 0 N. Two rocket flights measured nitrous oxide mixing ratios at 44 and 49 km. From these experimental data plus a large amount of interpolation and extrapolation, we have estimated a global distribution of nitrous oxide up to the altitude of 50 km. With standard global distributions of oxygen and ozone we carried out instantaneous, three-dimensional, global photochemical calculations, using recently measured temperature-dependent cross sections for nitrous oxide. The altitude of maximum photolysis rate of N 2 O is about 30 km at all latitudes, and the rate of photolysis is a maximum in tropical latitudes. The altitude of maximum rate of formation of nitric oxide is latitude dependent, about 26 km at the equator, about 23 km over temperate zones, and 20 km at the summer pole. The global rate of N 2 O destruction is 6.2 x 10 27 molecules s -1 , and the global rate of formation of NO from N 2 O is 1.4 x 10 27 molecules s -1 . The global N 2 O inventory divided by the stratospheric loss rate gives a residence time of about 175 years with respect to this loss process. From the global average N 2 O profile a vertical eddy diffusion profile was derived, and this profile agrees very closely with that of Stewart and Hoffert

Instantaneous flow field above the free end of finite-height cylinders and prisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rostamy, N.; Sumner, D.; Bergstrom, D.J.; Bugg, J.D.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • PIV measurements of the flow above the free end of finite-height bodies. • Effect of cross-sectional shape of the models on the instantaneous flow. • Small-scale structures generated by the separated shear layer were revealed. • Effect of aspect ratio on the reattachment of the separated flow on the free end. -- Abstract: The flow above the free ends of surface-mounted finite-height circular cylinders and square prisms was studied experimentally using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Cylinders and prisms with aspect ratios of AR = 9, 7, 5, and 3 were tested at a Reynolds number of Re = 4.2 × 10 4 . The bodies were mounted normal to a ground plane and were partially immersed in a turbulent zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer, where the boundary layer thickness relative to the body width was δ/D = 1.6. PIV measurements were made above the free ends of the bodies in a vertical plane aligned with the flow centreline. The present PIV results provide insight into the effects of aspect ratio and body shape on the instantaneous flow field. The recirculation zone under the separated shear layer is larger for the square prism of AR = 3 compared to the more slender prism of AR = 9. Also, for a square prism with low aspect ratio (AR = 3), the influence of the reverse flow over the free end surface becomes more significant compared to that for a higher aspect ratio (AR = 9). For the circular cylinder, a cross-stream vortex forms within the recirculation zone. As the aspect ratio of the cylinder decreases, the reattachment point of the separated flow on the free end surface moves closer to the trailing edge. For both the square prism and circular cylinder cases, the instantaneous velocity vector field and associated in-plane vorticity field revealed small-scale structures mostly generated by the separated shear layer

40 CFR 92.117 - Gas meter or flow instrumentation calibration, particulate measurement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Gas meter or flow instrumentation... ENGINES Test Procedures § 92.117 Gas meter or flow instrumentation calibration, particulate measurement. (a) Sampling for particulate emissions requires the use of gas meters or flow instrumentation to...

Instantaneous axial velocity of a radioactive tracer determined with radioactive particle tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fraguio, Maria Sol; Cassanello, Miryan C., E-mail: miryan@di.fcen.uba.a [Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Programa de Investigacion y Desarrollo de Fuentes Alternativas de Materias Primas y Energia (PINMATE); Cardona, Maria Angelica; Hojman, Daniel, E-mail: cardona@tandar.cnea.gov.a [CONICET, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Somacal, Hector [Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA), Buenos Aires (Argentina). Centro Atomico Constituyentes. Dept. de Fisica

2009-07-01

Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) is a technique that has been successfully used to get features of the liquid and/or the solid motion in multiphase contactors. It is one of the rare techniques able to provide experimental data in dense and strongly turbulent multiphase media. Validation of the technique has always been based on comparing the estimated mean velocity to an imposed mean velocity although the extracted features are frequently related to the instantaneous velocities. The present work pursues the analysis, through calibration experiments, of the ability of RPT to get the actual tracer instantaneous velocities. With this purpose, the motion of a radioactive tracer attached to a moving rod driven by a pneumatic system is reconstructed from the combined response of an array of 10 NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors. Simultaneously, the tracer motion is registered through an encoder able to establish the axial tracer coordinate with high precision and high time resolution. The tracer is a gold particle, activated by neutron bombardment. The rod is moved at different velocities and it travels upwards and downwards close to the column centre. A mini-pilot scale bubble column is used as the test facility. The model liquid is tap water in batch mode and the gas is air, flowing at different gas velocities, spanning the homogeneous and the heterogeneous flow regimes. Time series of the entirety response of all the detectors, while the rod is moving at different imposed velocities within the two phase emulsion, are measured with a sampling period of 0.03 s during about 2 minutes. The instantaneous tracer positions and velocities reconstructed from RPT and the one obtained from the encoder response are compared under different operating conditions and for different tracer velocities. (author)

An instrumentation for control and measurement of activated mineral samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skaarup, P.

1976-01-01

A description is given of an instrumentation for control of a pneumatic tube system used to transport mineral samples for activation in a reactor and from there to a detector arrangement. A possible content of uranium in the samples can be seen from the radiation measured. The instrumentation includes a PDP-11 computer and a CAMAC crate

The measurement of inclination on gravity concrete dams using the tiltmeter instrument

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radovanović Slobodan D.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The measurement of inclination on gravity concrete dams using the instrument tiltmeter is described and discussed with special reference on obtained results on the dam 'Đerdap 2' acquired in the three years period. Tiltmetar way of operation is presented both through physical principle of vibrating wire sensors and through described design of the instrument. The influence of the temperature on the measurement of the slope is specially emphasized and presented through temperature correction. Processing the results of real inclination measurements on the dam 'Đerdap 2' with and without temperature correction showed the significant difference. Statistical analysis of measurement data consisted of performed regression analysis and forming of corresponding series with the expected measurement values depending on environmental conditions. At the end we give a summary conclusion on the instrument, the influence of temperature on the measurement and statistical model.

Development of an instrument to measure student attitudes toward science fairs

Science.gov (United States)

Huddleston, Claudia A.

Science fairs are woven into the very fabric of science instruction in the United States and in other countries. Even though thousands of students participate in science fairs every year, no instrument to measure student attitudes toward partaking in this hands-on learning experience has been fully developed and available for school administrators and teachers to assess the perceived value that current students attribute to participation in science fairs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to continue the development and refinement of an instrument that measured student attitudes towards science fairs based on an unpublished instrument created by Michael (2005). The instrument developed and tested using 110 students at two different middle schools in southwest Virginia. The instrument consisted of 45 questions. After applying a principal component factor analysis, the instrument was reduced to two domains, enjoyment and value. The internal consistency of the instrument was calculated using Cronbach's alpha and showed good internal consistency of .89 between the two domains. Further analysis was conducted using a Pearson product-moment test and showed a significant positive correlation between enjoyment and value (r = .78). Demographic information was explored concerning the domains using a series of statistical tests, and results revealed no significant differences among race and science fair category. However, a significant difference was found among gender and students who won awards and those who did not. The conclusion was that further development and refinement of the instrument should be conducted.

Towards a measurement instrument for determinants of innovations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fleuren, M.A.H.; Paulussen, T.G.W.M.; van Dommelen, P.; van Buuren, S.

2014-01-01

Objective. To develop a short instrument to measure determinants of innovations that may affect its implementation. Design. We pooled the original data from eight empirical studies of the implementation of evidence-based innovations. The studies used a list of 60 potentially relevant determinants

Process Skill Assessment Instrument: Innovation to measure student’s learning result holistically

Science.gov (United States)

Azizah, K. N.; Ibrahim, M.; Widodo, W.

2018-01-01

Science process skills (SPS) are very important skills for students. However, the fact that SPS is not being main concern in the primary school learning is undeniable. This research aimed to develop a valid, practical, and effective assessment instrument to measure student’s SPS. Assessment instruments comprise of worksheet and test. This development research used one group pre-test post-test design. Data were obtained with validation, observation, and test method to investigate validity, practicality, and the effectivenss of the instruments. Results showed that the validity of assessment instruments is very valid, the reliability is categorized as reliable, student SPS activities have a high percentage, and there is significant improvement on student’s SPS score. It can be concluded that assessment instruments of SPS are valid, practical, and effective to be used to measure student’s SPS result.

Precision and accuracy of blood glucose measurements using three different instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Nowotny, B; Nowotny, P J; Strassburger, K; Roden, M

2012-02-01

Assessment of insulin sensitivity by dynamic metabolic tests such as the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp critically relies on the reproducible and fast measurement of blood glucose concentrations. Although various instruments have been developed over the last decades, little is known as to the accuracy and comparability. We therefore compared the best new instrument with the former gold standard instruments to measure glucose concentrations in metabolic tests. Fasting blood samples of 15 diabetic and 10 healthy subjects were collected into sodium-fluoride tubes, spiked with glucose (0, 2.8, 6.9 and 11.1 mmol/l) and measured either as whole blood (range 3.3-26.3 mmol/l) or following centrifugation as plasma (range 3.9-32.0 mmol/l). Plasma samples were analyzed in the YSI-2300 STAT plus (YSI), EKF Biosen C-Line (EKF) and the reference method, Beckman Glucose analyzer-II (BMG), whole blood samples in EKF instruments with YSI as reference method. The average deviation of the EKF from the reference, BMG, was 3.0 ± 3.5% without any concentration-dependent variability. Glucose measurements by YSI were in good agreement with that by BMG (plasma) and EKF (plasma and whole blood) up to concentrations of 13.13 mmol/l (0.5 ± 3.7%), but deviation increased to -6.2 ± 3.8% at higher concentrations. Precision (n = 6) was ±2.2% (YSI), ±3.9% (EKF) and ±5.2% (BMG). The EKF instrument is comparable regarding accuracy and precision to the reference method BMG and can be used in metabolic tests, while the YSI showed a systematic shift at higher glucose concentrations. Based on these results we decided to replace BMG with EKF instrument in metabolic tests. © 2012 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2012 Diabetes UK.

Measurements of hot water service consumptions: temperature influence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Secchi, R.; Vallat, D.; Cyssau, R. (COSTIC, Saint Remy-les-Chevreuse (France))

This article presents a campaign of measurements of which the aim is the observation of consumptions, for individual installations equiped with a hot water tank. The study takes an interest in the temperature of the water in the tank and the instantaneous power of the generator. The instrumentation, the installations and the results of this campaign are presented in this paper. The conclusion is the ''economic'' temperature of hot sanitary water is below 60/sup 0/C but above 55/sup 0/C.

Measurement of non-invasive X-ray measuring instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abe, Shinji

2013-01-01

Described are the history, measuring system, characteristics and present state of the instruments in the title (NXMI). NXMI, non-invasive to the inner circuit of X-ray generator, is now essential for the quality control of generator with reference to definitions by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and Japan Industrial Standards (JIS). Non-invasive measurement of the generator's tube voltage in 1944 is the first report where the absorption difference of Cu plates with different thickness is used. At present, NXMI, being compact, can measure multiple properties of X-ray generated, such as the tube voltage (TV), current (TC), imaging time, dose/dose rate, total filtration, half value layer, and TV/output waveform. TV is measurable by the penetration difference of X-rays through Cu filters of different thickness, which is a linear function of TV; TC, with the clamp-type ammeter placed at the generator high voltage cable; and the dose, with the semiconductor detector. Characteristics can be evaluable within the upper trigger level of the detector (radiation time, dose measured here), in which measured are the irradiation (imaging) time, delay time, and TV (within the window width). Authors' practical quality control of the generator is conducted through calibration for which data are obtained by invasive (direct) precise measurement of TV, TC, imaging time and dose with reference to JIS. Periodical calibration and consequent quality control of NXMI are essential for the maintenance of precision of the generator. (T.T.)

Instrument for Airborne Measurement of Carbonyl Sulfide, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Southwest Sciences proposes to develop small, low power instrumentation for the real-time direct measurement of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) in the atmosphere, especially...

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility (ACRF Instrumentation Status: New, Current, and Future)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

JW Voyles

2008-01-30

The purpose of this report is to provide a concise but comprehensive overview of Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility instrumentation status. The report is divided into the following four sections: (1) new instrumentation in the process of being acquired and deployed, (2) existing instrumentation and progress on improvements or upgrades, (3) proposed future instrumentation, and (4) Small Business Innovation Research instrument development.

An intelligent instrument for measuring the dynamic parameters of groundwater

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du Guoping

2002-01-01

An intelligent instrument was developed for measuring direction and velocity of the groundwater, permeability coefficient, hydraulic transmitting coefficient, static level, hydraulic gradient and flow direction of each layer. The instrument can be widely applied for detecting seepage of abutment and river bank, exploitation of groundwater, conservation of water and soil, water surging in mine, survey of groundwater resource and environment protection etc

Instrument for Airborne Measurement of Carbonyl Sulfide, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In this Phase II SBIR program, Southwest Sciences will continue the development of small, low power instrumentation for real-time direct measurement of carbonyl...

A method for improving global pyranometer measurements by modeling responsivity functions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

2006-03-15

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

Instrumentation and measurement method for the ATLAS test facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yun, Byong Jo; Chu, In Chul; Eu, Dong Jin; Kang, Kyong Ho; Kim, Yeon Sik; Song, Chul Hwa; Baek, Won Pil

2007-03-15

An integral effect test loop for pressurized water reactors (PWRs), the ATLAS is constructed by thermal-hydraulic safety research division in KAERI. The ATLAS facility has been designed to have the length scale of 1/2 and area scale of 1/144 compared with the reference plant, APR1400 which is a Korean evolution type nuclear reactors. A total 1300 instrumentations is equipped in the ATLAS test facility. In this report, the instrumentation of ATLAS test facility and related measurement methods were introduced.

Digital instrument for reactivity measurements in a nuclear reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chwaszczewski, S [Institute of Nuclear Research, Warsaw (Poland)

1979-07-01

An instrument for digital determination of the reactivity in nuclear reactors is described. It is based on the CAMAC standard apparatus, suitable for the use of pulse or current type neutron detectors and operates with prompt response and an output signal proportional to the core neutron flux. The measured data of neutron flux and reactivity can be registered by a digital display unit, an indicator, or, by request of the operator, a paper type punch. The algorithms used for reactivity calculation are considered and the results of numerical studies on those algorithms are discussed. The instrument has been used for determining the reactivity of the control elements in the fast-thermal assembly ANNA and in the research reactor MARIA. Some results of these measurements are given.

Instantaneous planar pressure determination from PIV in turbulent flow

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Kat, R.; Van Oudheusden, B.W.

2011-01-01

This paper deals with the determination of instantaneous planar pressure fields from velocity data obtained by particle image velocimetry (PIV) in turbulent flow. The operating principles of pressure determination using a Eulerian or a Lagrangian approach are described together with theoretical

Smartphone measurement engineering - Innovative challenges for science & education, instrumentation & training

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, D.; Dittrich, P.-G.; Duentsch, E.

2010-07-01

Smartphones have an enormous conceptual and structural influence on measurement science & education, instrumentation & training. Smartphones are matured. They became convenient, reliable and affordable. In 2009 worldwide 174 million Smartphones has been delivered. Measurement with Smartphones is ready for the future. In only 10 years the German vision industry tripled its global sales volume to one Billion Euro/Year. Machine vision is used for mobile object identification, contactless industrial quality control, personalized health care, remote facility and transport management, safety critical surveillance and all tasks which are too complex for the human eye or too monotonous for the human brain. Aim of the paper is to describe selected success stories for the application of Smartphones for measurement engineering in science and education, instrumentation and training.

27 CFR 19.277 - Measuring devices and proofing instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... proof or volume. (b) Instruments. Hydrometers and thermometers used by proprietors to gauge spirits... made in conjunction with the volumetric measurement of spirits by meter. If a meter does not have a...

Development of source range measurement instrument in Xi'an pulsed reactor

CERN Document Server

Wang Li

2002-01-01

Source range measurement instrument in Xi'an pulsed reactor is key equipment of low-side measuring in source range. At the same time, it is also weighty component of out-of-pile neutron-flux level observation system. The authors have done some researching and renovating based on the similar type devices used in nuclear reactor to improve the meter sensitivity, measuring range, noise proof features, reliability in running and maintainability which belong to the main performance index of the instrument. The design ideas, configurations, working principle, performance indexes, technique features and effect in utilizing are introduced briefly

Instrumentation for two-phase flow measurements in code verification experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fincke, J.R.; Anderson, J.L.; Arave, A.E.; Deason, V.A.; Lassahn, G.D.; Goodrich, L.D.; Colson, J.B.; Fickas, E.T.

1981-01-01

The development of instrumentation and techniques for the measurement of mass flow rate in two-phase flows conducted at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory during the past year is briefly described. Instruments discussed are the modular drag-disc turbine transducer, the gamma densitometers, the ultrasonic densitometer, Pitot tubes, and full-flow drag screens. Steady state air-water and transient steam-water data are presented

Models and error analyses of measuring instruments in accountability systems in safeguards control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dattatreya, E.S.

1977-05-01

Essentially three types of measuring instruments are used in plutonium accountability systems: (1) the bubblers, for measuring the total volume of liquid in the holding tanks, (2) coulometers, titration apparatus and calorimeters, for measuring the concentration of plutonium; and (3) spectrometers, for measuring isotopic composition. These three classes of instruments are modeled and analyzed. Finally, the uncertainty in the estimation of total plutonium in the holding tank is determined

THRESHOLD DETERMINATION FOR LOCAL INSTANTANEOUS SEA SURFACE HEIGHT DERIVATION WITH ICEBRIDGE DATA IN BEAUFORT SEA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Zhu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The NASA Operation IceBridge (OIB mission is the largest program in the Earth’s polar remote sensing science observation project currently, initiated in 2009, which collects airborne remote sensing measurements to bridge the gap between NASA’s ICESat and the upcoming ICESat-2 mission. This paper develop an improved method that optimizing the selection method of Digital Mapping System (DMS image and using the optimal threshold obtained by experiments in Beaufort Sea to calculate the local instantaneous sea surface height in this area. The optimal threshold determined by comparing manual selection with the lowest (Airborne Topographic Mapper ATM L1B elevation threshold of 2 %, 1 %, 0.5 %, 0.2 %, 0.1 % and 0.05 % in A, B, C sections, the mean of mean difference are 0.166 m, 0.124 m, 0.083 m, 0.018 m, 0.002 m and −0.034 m. Our study shows the lowest L1B data of 0.1 % is the optimal threshold. The optimal threshold and manual selections are also used to calculate the instantaneous sea surface height over images with leads, we find that improved methods has closer agreement with those from L1B manual selections. For these images without leads, the local instantaneous sea surface height estimated by using the linear equations between distance and sea surface height calculated over images with leads.

Toward Development of a Generalized Instrument to Measure Andragogy

Science.gov (United States)

Holton, Elwood F., III; Wilson, Lynda Swanson; Bates, Reid A.

2009-01-01

Andragogy has emerged as one of the dominant frameworks for teaching adults during the past 40 years. A major and glaring gap in andragogy research is the lack of a measurement instrument that adequately measures both andragogical principles and process design elements. As a result, no definitive empirical test of the theory has been possible. The…

Standard practice for evaluating performance characteristics of ultrasonic Pulse-Echo testing instruments and systems without the use of electronic measurement instruments

CERN Document Server

American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

2011-01-01

1.1 This practice describes procedures for evaluating the following performance characteristics of ultrasonic pulse-echo examination instruments and systems: Horizontal Limit and Linearity; Vertical Limit and Linearity; Resolution - Entry Surface and Far Surface; Sensitivity and Noise; Accuracy of Calibrated Gain Controls. Evaluation of these characteristics is intended to be used for comparing instruments and systems or, by periodic repetition, for detecting long-term changes in the characteristics of a given instrument or system that may be indicative of impending failure, and which, if beyond certain limits, will require corrective maintenance. Instrument characteristics measured in accordance with this practice are expressed in terms that relate to their potential usefulness for ultrasonic testing. Instrument characteristics expressed in purely electronic terms may be measured as described in E1324. 1.2 Ultrasonic examination systems using pulsed-wave trains and A-scan presentation (rf or video) may be ev...

The Measurement of Sexual Harassment: Comparison of the Results of Three Different Instruments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Junger, Marianne

1990-01-01

This study examines the results of three instruments developed to measure sexual harassment. Two instruments were used in the Dutch national victimization survey: an oral interview and a written questionnaire. Three issues will be discussed: (1) do both instruments produce the same victimization

A ball diameter-measuring instrument in a gauge block interferometer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kotte, G.J.W.L.; Haitjema, H.; Decker, J.E.; Brown, N.

1998-01-01

An instrument for the measurement of ball diameters in the 0.5-20 mm range in a gauge block interferometer is realized. The measurement principle is that the ball is positioned between an optical flat and a calibrated gauge block. The total length is measured in a gauge block relative to the optical

Developing a TPACK measurement instrument for 21st century pre-service teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teemu Valtonen

2015-11-01

Full Text Available  Future skills, so-called 21st century skills, emphasise collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and especially ICT skills (Voogt & Roblin, 2012. Teachers have to be able to use various pedagogical approaches and ICT in order to support the development of their students’ 21st century skills (Voogt & Roblin, 2012. These skills, particularly ICT skills, pose challenges for teachers and teacher education. This paper focuses on developing an instrument for measuring pre-service teachers’ knowledge related to ICT in the context of 21st century skills.Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK; Mishra & Kohler, 2006 was used as a theoretical framework for designing the instrument. While the TPACK framework is actively used, the instruments used to measure it have proven challenging. This paper outlines the results of the development process of the TPACK-21 instrument. A new assessment instrument was compiled and tested on pre-service teachers in Study1 (N=94. Based on these results, the instrument was further developed and tested in Study2 (N=267. The data of both studies were analysed using multiple quantitative methods in order to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instruments. The results provide insight into the challenges of the development process itself and also suggest new solutions to overcome these difficulties.

Instruments to measure anxiety in children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lazor, Tanya; Tigelaar, Leonie; Pole, Jason D; De Souza, Claire; Tomlinson, Deborah; Sung, Lillian

2017-09-01

The primary objective was to describe anxiety measurement instruments used in children and adolescents with cancer or undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and summarize their content and psychometric properties. We conducted searches of MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, HAPI, and CINAHL. We included studies that used at least one instrument to measure anxiety quantitatively in children or adolescents with cancer or undergoing HSCT. Two authors independently identified studies and abstracted study demographics and instrument characteristics. Twenty-seven instruments, 14 multi-item and 13 single-item, were used between 78 studies. The most commonly used instrument was the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory in 46 studies. Three multi-item instruments (Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale-Mandarin version, PROMIS Pediatric Anxiety Short Form, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and two single-item instruments (Faces Pain Scale-Revised and 10-cm Visual Analogue Scale, both adapted for anxiety) were found to be reliable and valid in children with cancer. We identified 14 different multi-item and 13 different single-item anxiety measurement instruments that have been used in pediatric cancer or HSCT. Only three multi-item and two single-item instruments were identified as being reliable and valid among pediatric cancer or HSCT patients and would therefore be appropriate to measure anxiety in this population.

The state of the art of the development of SMES for bridging instantaneous voltage dips in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Nagaya, Shigeo; Hirano, Naoki; Katagiri, Toshio; Tamada, Tsutomu; Shikimachi, Koji; Iwatani, Yu; Saito, Fusao; Ishii, Yusuke

2012-12-01

Development of apparatuses for protecting industrial facilities such as semiconductor plants or information industries from instantaneous voltage dips, which requires very large output power, has been expected. A Superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES), one of such apparatus, consists of superconducting magnets that must withstand high voltage during operation and require high reliability. We have already development of SMES using conventional superconducting coils and done the field test of the SMES for bridging instantaneous voltage dips. After field test, the commercial SMES for instantaneous voltage dips is working there. Since field test has started, we have confirmed nearly 40 operations, and all have succeeded. In 2011, three commercial SMES units for bridging instantaneous voltage dips are operating in Japan.

Core outcome measurement instruments for clinical trials in nonspecific low back pain

Science.gov (United States)

Chiarotto, Alessandro; Boers, Maarten; Deyo, Richard A.; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Corbin, Terry P.; Costa, Leonardo O.P.; Foster, Nadine E.; Grotle, Margreth; Koes, Bart W.; Kovacs, Francisco M.; Lin, C.-W. Christine; Maher, Chris G.; Pearson, Adam M.; Peul, Wilco C.; Schoene, Mark L.; Turk, Dennis C.; van Tulder, Maurits W.; Terwee, Caroline B.; Ostelo, Raymond W.

2018-01-01

Abstract To standardize outcome reporting in clinical trials of patients with nonspecific low back pain, an international multidisciplinary panel recommended physical functioning, pain intensity, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as core outcome domains. Given the lack of a consensus on measurement instruments for these 3 domains in patients with low back pain, this study aimed to generate such consensus. The measurement properties of 17 patient-reported outcome measures for physical functioning, 3 for pain intensity, and 5 for HRQoL were appraised in 3 systematic reviews following the COSMIN methodology. Researchers, clinicians, and patients (n = 207) were invited in a 2-round Delphi survey to generate consensus (≥67% agreement among participants) on which instruments to endorse. Response rates were 44% and 41%, respectively. In round 1, consensus was achieved on the Oswestry Disability Index version 2.1a for physical functioning (78% agreement) and the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain intensity (75% agreement). No consensus was achieved on any HRQoL instrument, although the Short Form 12 (SF12) approached the consensus threshold (64% agreement). In round 2, a consensus was reached on an NRS version with a 1-week recall period (96% agreement). Various participants requested 1 free-to-use instrument per domain. Considering all issues together, recommendations on core instruments were formulated: Oswestry Disability Index version 2.1a or 24-item Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire for physical functioning, NRS for pain intensity, and SF12 or 10-item PROMIS Global Health form for HRQoL. Further studies need to fill the evidence gaps on the measurement properties of these and other instruments. PMID:29194127

Nuclear instrument engineering - the measuring and informative basis of nuclear science and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matveev, V.V.; Krasheninnikov, I.S.; Murin, I.D.; Stas', K.N.

1977-01-01

The cornerstones of developing nuclear instrument engineering in the USSR are shortly discussed. The industry is based on a well developed theory. A system approach is a characteristic feature of the present-day measuring and control systems engineering. Major functions of reactor instruments measuring different types of ionizing radiation are discussed at greater length. Nuclear measuring and control instruments and methods are widely used in different fields of science and technoloay and in different industries in the USSR. The efficient and safe operation of a nuclear facility is underlined to depend strongly upon a correlation between a technological process and the information and control system of the facility

Instantaneous chemical profiles of banknotes by ambient mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Eberlin, Livia S; Haddad, Renato; Sarabia Neto, Ramon C; Cosso, Ricardo G; Maia, Denison R J; Maldaner, Adriano O; Zacca, Jorge Jardim; Sanvido, Gustavo B; Romão, Wanderson; Vaz, Boniek G; Ifa, Demian R; Dill, Allison; Cooks, R Graham; Eberlin, Marcos N

2010-10-01

Using two desorption/ionization techniques (DESI and EASI) and Brazilian real, US$ dollar, and euro bills as proof-of-principle techniques and samples, direct analysis by ambient mass spectrometry is shown to function as an instantaneous, reproducible, and non-destructive method for chemical analysis of banknotes. Characteristic chemical profiles were observed for the authentic bills and for the counterfeit bills made using different printing processes (inkjet, laserjet, phaser and off-set printers). Detection of real-world counterfeit bills and identification of the counterfeiting method has also been demonstrated. Chemically selective 2D imaging of banknotes has also been used to confirm counterfeiting. The nature of some key diagnostic ions has also been investigated via high accuracy FTMS measurements. The general applicability of ambient MS analysis for anti-counterfeiting strategies particularly via the use of "invisible ink" markers is discussed.

Instantaneous Non-Local Computation of Low T-Depth Quantum Circuits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Speelman, Florian

2016-01-01

-depth of a quantum circuit, able to perform non-local computation of quantum circuits with a (poly-)logarithmic number of layers of T gates with quasi-polynomial entanglement. Our proofs combine ideas from blind and delegated quantum computation with the garden-hose model, a combinatorial model of communication......Instantaneous non-local quantum computation requires multiple parties to jointly perform a quantum operation, using pre-shared entanglement and a single round of simultaneous communication. We study this task for its close connection to position-based quantum cryptography, but it also has natural...... applications in the context of foundations of quantum physics and in distributed computing. The best known general construction for instantaneous non-local quantum computation requires a pre-shared state which is exponentially large in the number of qubits involved in the operation, while efficient...

Instantaneous Rayleigh scattering from excitons localized in monolayer islands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langbein, Wolfgang; Leosson, Kristjan; Jensen, Jacob Riis

2000-01-01

We show that the initial dynamics of Rayleigh scattering from excitons in quantum wells can be either instantaneous or delayed, depending on the exciton ensemble studied. For excitation of the entire exciton resonance, a finite rise time given by the inverse inhomogeneous broadening: of the exciton...

A measurement instrument for bone mineral content of adult and children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Shaofang

1996-01-01

The γ radiation source was used in bone mineral content measurement analysis of adult and children and a new instrument is developed successfully. It's precision is +2%. The advantage of this instrument is light, cheap and reliable. It can be used widely in medical science and clinic for diagnosis on certain diseases and research work

Inflammatory bowel disease-specific health-related quality of life instruments: a systematic review of measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xin-Lin; Zhong, Liang-Huan; Wen, Yi; Liu, Tian-Wen; Li, Xiao-Ying; Hou, Zheng-Kun; Hu, Yue; Mo, Chuan-Wei; Liu, Feng-Bin

2017-09-15

This review aims to critically appraise and compare the measurement properties of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-specific health-related quality of life instruments. Medline, EMBASE and ISI Web of Knowledge were searched from their inception to May 2016. IBD-specific instruments for patients with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or IBD were enrolled. The basic characteristics and domains of the instruments were collected. The methodological quality of measurement properties and measurement properties of the instruments were assessed. Fifteen IBD-specific instruments were included, which included twelve instruments for adult IBD patients and three for paediatric IBD patients. All of the instruments were developed in North American and European countries. The following common domains were identified: IBD-related symptoms, physical, emotional and social domain. The methodological quality was satisfactory for content validity; fair in internal consistency, reliability, structural validity, hypotheses testing and criterion validity; and poor in measurement error, cross-cultural validity and responsiveness. For adult IBD patients, the IBDQ-32 and its short version (SIBDQ) had good measurement properties and were the most widely used worldwide. For paediatric IBD patients, the IMPACT-III had good measurement properties and had more translated versions. Most methodological quality should be promoted, especially measurement error, cross-cultural validity and responsiveness. The IBDQ-32 was the most widely used instrument with good reliability and validity, followed by the SIBDQ and IMPACT-III. Further validation studies are necessary to support the use of other instruments.

Regularization of Instantaneous Frequency Attribute Computations

Science.gov (United States)

Yedlin, M. J.; Margrave, G. F.; Van Vorst, D. G.; Ben Horin, Y.

2014-12-01

We compare two different methods of computation of a temporally local frequency:1) A stabilized instantaneous frequency using the theory of the analytic signal.2) A temporally variant centroid (or dominant) frequency estimated from a time-frequency decomposition.The first method derives from Taner et al (1979) as modified by Fomel (2007) and utilizes the derivative of the instantaneous phase of the analytic signal. The second method computes the power centroid (Cohen, 1995) of the time-frequency spectrum, obtained using either the Gabor or Stockwell Transform. Common to both methods is the necessity of division by a diagonal matrix, which requires appropriate regularization.We modify Fomel's (2007) method by explicitly penalizing the roughness of the estimate. Following Farquharson and Oldenburg (2004), we employ both the L curve and GCV methods to obtain the smoothest model that fits the data in the L2 norm.Using synthetic data, quarry blast, earthquakes and the DPRK tests, our results suggest that the optimal method depends on the data. One of the main applications for this work is the discrimination between blast events and earthquakesFomel, Sergey. " Local seismic attributes." , Geophysics, 72.3 (2007): A29-A33.Cohen, Leon. " Time frequency analysis theory and applications." USA: Prentice Hall, (1995).Farquharson, Colin G., and Douglas W. Oldenburg. "A comparison of automatic techniques for estimating the regularization parameter in non-linear inverse problems." Geophysical Journal International 156.3 (2004): 411-425.Taner, M. Turhan, Fulton Koehler, and R. E. Sheriff. " Complex seismic trace analysis." Geophysics, 44.6 (1979): 1041-1063.

Quality appraisal of generic self-reported instruments measuring health-related productivity changes: a systematic review

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Health impairments can result in disability and changed work productivity imposing considerable costs for the employee, employer and society as a whole. A large number of instruments exist to measure health-related productivity changes; however their methodological quality remains unclear. This systematic review critically appraised the measurement properties in generic self-reported instruments that measure health-related productivity changes to recommend appropriate instruments for use in occupational and economic health practice. Methods PubMed, PsycINFO, Econlit and Embase were systematically searched for studies whereof: (i) instruments measured health-related productivity changes; (ii) the aim was to evaluate instrument measurement properties; (iii) instruments were generic; (iv) ratings were self-reported; (v) full-texts were available. Next, methodological quality appraisal was based on COSMIN elements: (i) internal consistency; (ii) reliability; (iii) measurement error; (iv) content validity; (v) structural validity; (vi) hypotheses testing; (vii) cross-cultural validity; (viii) criterion validity; and (ix) responsiveness. Recommendations are based on evidence syntheses. Results This review included 25 articles assessing the reliability, validity and responsiveness of 15 different generic self-reported instruments measuring health-related productivity changes. Most studies evaluated criterion validity, none evaluated cross-cultural validity and information on measurement error is lacking. The Work Limitation Questionnaire (WLQ) was most frequently evaluated with moderate respectively strong positive evidence for content and structural validity and negative evidence for reliability, hypothesis testing and responsiveness. Less frequently evaluated, the Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS) showed strong positive evidence for internal consistency and structural validity, and moderate positive evidence for hypotheses testing and criterion validity. The

An inexpensive instrument for measuring wave exposure and water velocity

Science.gov (United States)

Figurski, J.D.; Malone, D.; Lacy, J.R.; Denny, M.

2011-01-01

Ocean waves drive a wide variety of nearshore physical processes, structuring entire ecosystems through their direct and indirect effects on the settlement, behavior, and survivorship of marine organisms. However, wave exposure remains difficult and expensive to measure. Here, we report on an inexpensive and easily constructed instrument for measuring wave-induced water velocities. The underwater relative swell kinetics instrument (URSKI) is a subsurface float tethered by a short (<1 m) line to the seafloor. Contained within the float is an accelerometer that records the tilt of the float in response to passing waves. During two field trials totaling 358 h, we confirmed the accuracy and precision of URSKI measurements through comparison to velocities measured by an in situ acoustic Doppler velocimeter and those predicted by a standard swell model, and we evaluated how the dimensions of the devices, its buoyancy, and sampling frequency can be modified for use in a variety of environments.

A data processing method for determining instantaneous angular speed and acceleration of crankshaft in an aircraft engine-propeller system using a magnetic encoder

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, S. D.; Zhang, X.

2010-05-01

This paper presents a method for determining the instantaneous angular speed and instantaneous angular acceleration of the crankshaft in a reciprocating engine and propeller dynamical system from electrical pulse signals generated by a magnetic encoder. The method is based on accurate determination of the measured global mean angular speed and precise values of times when leading edges of individual magnetic teeth pass through the magnetic sensor. Under a steady-state operating condition, a discrete deviation time vs. shaft rotational angle series of uniform interval is obtained and used for accurate determination of the crankshaft speed and acceleration. The proposed method for identifying sub- and super-harmonic oscillations in the instantaneous angular speeds and accelerations is new and efficient. Experiments were carried out on a three-cylinder four-stroke Saito 450R model aircraft engine and a Solo propeller in connection with a 64-teeth Admotec KL2202 magnetic encoder and an HS-4 data acquisition system. Comparisons with an independent data processing scheme indicate that the proposed method yields noise-free instantaneous angular speeds and is superior to the finite difference based methods commonly used in the literature.

Study of instantaneous unsteady heat transfer in a rapid compression-expansion machine using zero dimensional k- ε turbulence model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakhshan, Y.; Karim, G. A.; Mansouri, S. H.

2003-01-01

In this investigation, the instantaneous unsteady heat transfer within a pneumatically driven rapid compression-expansion machine that offers simple, well-controlled and known boundary conditions was studied. Values of the instantaneous apparent overall heat flux from the cylinder gas to the wall surfaces were calculated using a thermodynamics analysis of the experimentally measured pressure and volume temporal development. Corresponding heat flux values were also calculated through the application of a zero-dimensional k- ε turbulence model the characteristic velocity is a contribution of turbulence kinetic energy, mean kinetic energy of charged air into cylinder and piston motion for the calculation of Reynolds, Nusselt and Prandtl numbers. Comparison of the zero-dimensional k- ε turbulence model prediction with experimental data shows good agreement for all compression ratios

Overestimating fish counts by non-instantaneous visual censuses: consequences for population and community descriptions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine Ward-Paige

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Increasingly, underwater visual censuses (UVC are used to assess fish populations. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of protected areas for increasing fish abundance or provided insight into the natural abundance and structure of reef fish communities in remote areas. Recently, high apex predator densities (>100,000 individuals x km(-2 and biomasses (>4 tonnes x ha(-1 have been reported for some remote islands suggesting the occurrence of inverted trophic biomass pyramids. However, few studies have critically evaluated the methods used for sampling conspicuous and highly mobile fish such as sharks. Ideally, UVC are done instantaneously, however, researchers often count animals that enter the survey area after the survey has started, thus performing non-instantaneous UVC. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed a simulation model to evaluate counts obtained by divers deploying non-instantaneous belt-transect and stationary-point-count techniques. We assessed how fish speed and survey procedure (visibility, diver speed, survey time and dimensions affect observed fish counts. Results indicate that the bias caused by fish speed alone is huge, while survey procedures had varying effects. Because the fastest fishes tend to be the largest, the bias would have significant implications on their biomass contribution. Therefore, caution is needed when describing abundance, biomass, and community structure based on non-instantaneous UVC, especially for highly mobile species such as sharks. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Based on our results, we urge that published literature state explicitly whether instantaneous counts were made and that survey procedures be accounted for when non-instantaneous counts are used. Using published density and biomass values of communities that include sharks we explore the effect of this bias and suggest that further investigation may be needed to determine pristine shark abundances and the

The measurement of inclination on gravity concrete dams using the tiltmeter instrument

OpenAIRE

Radovanović Slobodan D.; Brajović Ljiljana M.; Pavić Maja L.; Đurić Srđan S.; Ranđelović Sanja D.; Milivojević Vladimir J.

2015-01-01

The measurement of inclination on gravity concrete dams using the instrument tiltmeter is described and discussed with special reference on obtained results on the dam 'Đerdap 2' acquired in the three years period. Tiltmetar way of operation is presented both through physical principle of vibrating wire sensors and through described design of the instrument. The influence of the temperature on the measurement of the slope is specially emphasized and presented through temperature correction. P...

Microprocessor-controlled data-acquisition instrument for neutron-activation measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, B.A.

1981-01-01

This paper describes a microprocessor controlled data acquisition instrument designed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to provide experimenters with a diagnostic tool for measuring the performance of laser imploded fusion targets via neutron activation techniques. This instrument features the ability to count four independent inputs simultaneously while providing a front panel readout of these inputs, plus a time of day clock. A hardcopy printout of the data is also provided by a built-in thermal printer. All running modes and parameters are user selectable via a front panel keypad, and a complete set of internal self-testing diagnostics are available for debug

Instantaneous phase-shifting Fizeau interferometry with high-speed pixelated phase-mask camera

Science.gov (United States)

Yatagai, Toyohiko; Jackin, Boaz Jessie; Ono, Akira; Kiyohara, Kosuke; Noguchi, Masato; Yoshii, Minoru; Kiyohara, Motosuke; Niwa, Hayato; Ikuo, Kazuyuki; Onuma, Takashi

2015-08-01

A Fizeou interferometer with instantaneous phase-shifting ability using a Wollaston prism is designed. to measure dynamic phase change of objects, a high-speed video camera of 10-5s of shutter speed is used with a pixelated phase-mask of 1024 × 1024 elements. The light source used is a laser of wavelength 532 nm which is split into orthogonal polarization states by passing through a Wollaston prism. By adjusting the tilt of the reference surface it is possible to make the reference and object beam with orthogonal polarizations states to coincide and interfere. Then the pixelated phase-mask camera calculate the phase changes and hence the optical path length difference. Vibration of speakers and turbulence of air flow were successfully measured in 7,000 frames/sec.

Extended causal modeling to assess Partial Directed Coherence in multiple time series with significant instantaneous interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Faes, Luca; Nollo, Giandomenico

2010-11-01

The Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) and its generalized formulation (gPDC) are popular tools for investigating, in the frequency domain, the concept of Granger causality among multivariate (MV) time series. PDC and gPDC are formalized in terms of the coefficients of an MV autoregressive (MVAR) model which describes only the lagged effects among the time series and forsakes instantaneous effects. However, instantaneous effects are known to affect linear parametric modeling, and are likely to occur in experimental time series. In this study, we investigate the impact on the assessment of frequency domain causality of excluding instantaneous effects from the model underlying PDC evaluation. Moreover, we propose the utilization of an extended MVAR model including both instantaneous and lagged effects. This model is used to assess PDC either in accordance with the definition of Granger causality when considering only lagged effects (iPDC), or with an extended form of causality, when we consider both instantaneous and lagged effects (ePDC). The approach is first evaluated on three theoretical examples of MVAR processes, which show that the presence of instantaneous correlations may produce misleading profiles of PDC and gPDC, while ePDC and iPDC derived from the extended model provide here a correct interpretation of extended and lagged causality. It is then applied to representative examples of cardiorespiratory and EEG MV time series. They suggest that ePDC and iPDC are better interpretable than PDC and gPDC in terms of the known cardiovascular and neural physiologies.

Complex Susceptibility Measurement Using Multi-frequency Slingram EMI Instrument

OpenAIRE

Simon , François Xavier; Tabbagh , Alain; Thiesson , Julien; Donati , J.C.; Sarris , A.

2014-01-01

International audience; Complex magnetic susceptibility is a well-known property both theoretically and experimentally. To achieve this measurement, different ways have been tested, like TDEM or multi-frequential measurement on soil sample. In this study we carry out the measurements by the use of a multi-frequential EMI Slingram instrument to collect data quickly and in-situ. The use of multi-frequency data is also a way to correct effects of the conductivity on the in-phase component and ef...

A New Instrument for the Measurement of the Waveform in X-Ray Units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramirez-Jimenez, Francisco J.; Martinez-Hernandez, Marco A.

2004-01-01

The experience gained in the quality control in X-ray units used in Radiology has demonstrated that the measurement of the waveform of the X-ray beam, measured as the response of a radiation detector is very helpful to decide if the unit fulfills the quality control requirements and also has been useful to define some kind of faults in the unit. Several instruments are available on the market to make this measurement but they need in general a storage or digital oscilloscope to see the waveform. In this work a stand alone new instrument is proposed in which the waveform is seen in a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The instrument is based in the X-ray response of a photo diode. The analog response depending on time is converted to digital numbers that are stored sequentially in a memory. The stored information is recovered with a microcontroller and reconstructed in the screen of the LCD. The instrument is able to measure in the mammographic range from 22 kV to 35 kV and in the conventional range from 40 kV to 120 kV in the different settings of current encountered on practical applications, the time range for the measurement of the X-ray shot is from 100 ms to 3 s. The instrument can be useful in quality control practices and in the verification and maintenance of X-ray units

The Development of a Tactical-Level Full Range Leadership Measurement Instrument

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

full range leadership theory has become established as the predominant and most widely researched theory on leadership . The most commonly used survey...instrument to assess full range leadership theory is the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, originally developed by Bass in 1985. Although much...existing literature to develop a new full range leadership theory measurement instrument that effectively targets low- to mid-level supervisors, or

Vibration condition measure instrument of motor using MEMS accelerometer

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun

2018-04-01

In this work, a novel vibration condition measure instrument of motor using a digital micro accelerometer is proposed. In order to reduce the random noise found in the data, the sensor modeling is established and also the Kalman filter (KMF) is developed. According to these data from KMF, the maximum vibration displacement is calculated by the integration algorithm with the DC bias removed. The high performance micro controller unit (MCU) is used in the implementation of controller. By the IIC digital interface port, the data are transmitted from sensor to controller. The hardware circuits of the sensor and micro controller are designed and tested. With the computational formula of maximum displacement and FFT, the high precession results of displacement and frequency are gotten. Finally, the paper presents various experimental results to prove that this instrument is suitable for application in electrical motor vibration measurement.

Meteorological Instrumentation and Measurements Open Resource Training Modules for Undergraduate and Graduate Education

Science.gov (United States)

Rockwell, A.; Clark, R. D.; Stevermer, A.

2017-12-01

The National Center for Atmospheric Research Earth Observing Laboratory, Millersville University and The COMET Program are collaborating to produce a series of nine online modules on the the topic of meteorological instrumentation and measurements. These interactive, multimedia educational modules can be integrated into undergraduate and graduate meteorology courses on instrumentation, measurement science, and observing systems to supplement traditional pedagogies and enhance blended instruction. These freely available and open-source training tools are designed to supplement traditional pedagogies and enhance blended instruction. Three of the modules are now available and address the theory and application of Instrument Performance Characteristics, Meteorological Temperature Instrumentation and Measurements, and Meteorological Pressure Instrumentation and Measurements. The content of these modules is of the highest caliber as it has been developed by scientists and engineers who are at the forefront of the field of observational science. Communicating the availability of these unique and influential educational resources with the community is of high priority. These modules will have a profound effect on the atmospheric observational sciences community by fulfilling a need for contemporary, interactive, multimedia guided education and training modules integrating the latest instructional design and assessment tools in observational science. Thousands of undergraduate and graduate students will benefit, while course instructors will value a set of high quality modules to use as supplements to their courses. The modules can serve as an alternative to observational research training and fill the void between field projects or assist those schools that lack the resources to stage a field- or laboratory-based instrumentation experience.

Measurement of proton momentum distributions using a direct geometry instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Senesi, R; Andreani, C; Kolesnikov, A I

2014-01-01

We report the results of inelastic neutron scattering measurements on bulk water and ice using the direct geometry SEQUOIA chopper spectrometer at the Spallation Neutron Source (USA), with incident energy E i = 6 eV. In this set up the measurements allow to access the Deep Inelastic Neutron Scattering regime. The scattering is centred at the proton recoil energy given by the impulse approximation, and the shape of the recoil peak conveys information on the proton momentum distribution in the system. The comparison with the performance of inverse geometry instruments, such as VESUVIO at the ISIS source (UK), shows that complementary information can be accessed by the use of direct and inverse geometry instruments. Analysis of the neutron Compton profiles shows that the proton kinetic energy in ice at 271 K is larger than in room temperature liquid water, in agreement with previous measurements on VESUVIO

Continuous-Variable Instantaneous Quantum Computing is Hard to Sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Douce, T; Markham, D; Kashefi, E; Diamanti, E; Coudreau, T; Milman, P; van Loock, P; Ferrini, G

2017-02-17

Instantaneous quantum computing is a subuniversal quantum complexity class, whose circuits have proven to be hard to simulate classically in the discrete-variable realm. We extend this proof to the continuous-variable (CV) domain by using squeezed states and homodyne detection, and by exploring the properties of postselected circuits. In order to treat postselection in CVs, we consider finitely resolved homodyne detectors, corresponding to a realistic scheme based on discrete probability distributions of the measurement outcomes. The unavoidable errors stemming from the use of finitely squeezed states are suppressed through a qubit-into-oscillator Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill encoding of quantum information, which was previously shown to enable fault-tolerant CV quantum computation. Finally, we show that, in order to render postselected computational classes in CVs meaningful, a logarithmic scaling of the squeezing parameter with the circuit size is necessary, translating into a polynomial scaling of the input energy.

Validating an instrument for measuring brand equity of CSR driven organizations in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Singh Dara Singh Karpal

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to develop and propose a valid and reliable instrument to measure brand equity of CSR driven organizations in Malaysia. An instrument to measure brand equity was constructed with adaptations from two key sources, namely Yew Leh and Lee (2011 and Yoo and Donthu (2001. As such the study only focuses on the development and validation of an instrument to measure brand equity of CSR driven organizations. The usable sample population included 909 respondents from 12 states of West Malaysia which were selected using a quota sampling plan. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA and reliability analysis were carried out to test and validate the proposed brand equity instrument containing four components (brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and brand loyalty with a total of 13 items. Results from the CFA and reliability analysis indicated that all the items representing the four components were valid and can be used to measure the brand equity of organizations that are practicing CSR. The study tried to set an empirical basis for brand equity and CSR related research which could be used by future researchers in different industries and geographical locations. The study also implies the need for organizations to assess the success of their CSR efforts through the use of the proposed instrument in order to gauge whether all their CSR efforts translate to improved brand equity.

A digital instrument for reactivity measurements in a nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chwaszczewski, S.

1979-01-01

An instrument for digital determination of the reactivity in nuclear reactors is described. It is based on the CAMAC standard apparatus, suitable for the use of pulse or current type neutron detectors and operates with prompt response and an output signal proportional to the core neutron flux. The measured data of neutron flux and reactivity can be registered by a digital display unit, an indicator, or, by request of the operator, a paper type punch. The algorithms used for reactivity calculation are considered and the results of numerical studies on those algorithms are discussed. The instrument has been used for determining the reactivity of the control elements in the fast-thermal assembly ANNA and in the research reactor MARIA. Some results of these measurements are given. (author)

Measurement of shared decision making - a review of instruments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholl, I.; Koelewijn-van Loon, M.; Sepucha, K.; Elwyn, G.; Legare, F.; Harter, M.; Dirmaier, J.

2011-01-01

The last years have seen a clear move towards shared decision making (SDM) and increased patient involvement in many countries. However, as the field of SDM research is still relatively young, new instruments for the measurement of (shared) decision making (process, outcome and surrounding elements)

A review of instruments developed to measure food neophobia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damsbo-Svendsen, Marie; Frøst, Michael Bom; Olsen, Annemarie

2017-01-01

Food choices are influenced by an individual's attitude towards foods. Food neophobia may be associated with less variety of diets, inadequate nutrient intake and high product failure rate for new food products entering the market. To quantify the extent of these challenges, instruments to measur...

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) imaging spectrometer for lunar science: Instrument description, calibration, on-orbit measurements, science data calibration and on-orbit validation

Science.gov (United States)

Green, R.O.; Pieters, C.; Mouroulis, P.; Eastwood, M.; Boardman, J.; Glavich, T.; Isaacson, P.; Annadurai, M.; Besse, S.; Barr, D.; Buratti, B.; Cate, D.; Chatterjee, A.; Clark, R.; Cheek, L.; Combe, J.; Dhingra, D.; Essandoh, V.; Geier, S.; Goswami, J.N.; Green, R.; Haemmerle, V.; Head, J.; Hovland, L.; Hyman, S.; Klima, R.; Koch, T.; Kramer, G.; Kumar, A.S.K.; Lee, Kenneth; Lundeen, S.; Malaret, E.; McCord, T.; McLaughlin, S.; Mustard, J.; Nettles, J.; Petro, N.; Plourde, K.; Racho, C.; Rodriquez, J.; Runyon, C.; Sellar, G.; Smith, C.; Sobel, H.; Staid, M.; Sunshine, J.; Taylor, L.; Thaisen, K.; Tompkins, S.; Tseng, H.; Vane, G.; Varanasi, P.; White, M.; Wilson, D.

2011-01-01

The NASA Discovery Moon Mineralogy Mapper imaging spectrometer was selected to pursue a wide range of science objectives requiring measurement of composition at fine spatial scales over the full lunar surface. To pursue these objectives, a broad spectral range imaging spectrometer with high uniformity and high signal-to-noise ratio capable of measuring compositionally diagnostic spectral absorption features from a wide variety of known and possible lunar materials was required. For this purpose the Moon Mineralogy Mapper imaging spectrometer was designed and developed that measures the spectral range from 430 to 3000 nm with 10 nm spectral sampling through a 24 degree field of view with 0.7 milliradian spatial sampling. The instrument has a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 400 for the specified equatorial reference radiance and greater than 100 for the polar reference radiance. The spectral cross-track uniformity is >90% and spectral instantaneous field-of-view uniformity is >90%. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper was launched on Chandrayaan-1 on the 22nd of October. On the 18th of November 2008 the Moon Mineralogy Mapper was turned on and collected a first light data set within 24 h. During this early checkout period and throughout the mission the spacecraft thermal environment and orbital parameters varied more than expected and placed operational and data quality constraints on the measurements. On the 29th of August 2009, spacecraft communication was lost. Over the course of the flight mission 1542 downlinked data sets were acquired that provide coverage of more than 95% of the lunar surface. An end-to-end science data calibration system was developed and all measurements have been passed through this system and delivered to the Planetary Data System (PDS.NASA.GOV). An extensive effort has been undertaken by the science team to validate the Moon Mineralogy Mapper science measurements in the context of the mission objectives. A focused spectral, radiometric

Measuring stakeholder participation in evaluation: an empirical validation of the Participatory Evaluation Measurement Instrument (PEMI).

Science.gov (United States)

Daigneault, Pierre-Marc; Jacob, Steve; Tremblay, Joël

2012-08-01

Stakeholder participation is an important trend in the field of program evaluation. Although a few measurement instruments have been proposed, they either have not been empirically validated or do not cover the full content of the concept. This study consists of a first empirical validation of a measurement instrument that fully covers the content of participation, namely the Participatory Evaluation Measurement Instrument (PEMI). It specifically examines (1) the intercoder reliability of scores derived by two research assistants on published evaluation cases; (2) the convergence between the scores of coders and those of key respondents (i.e., authors); and (3) the convergence between the authors' scores on the PEMI and the Evaluation Involvement Scale (EIS). A purposive sample of 40 cases drawn from the evaluation literature was used to assess reliability. One author per case in this sample was then invited to participate in a survey; 25 fully usable questionnaires were received. Stakeholder participation was measured on nominal and ordinal scales. Cohen's κ, the intraclass correlation coefficient, and Spearman's ρ were used to assess reliability and convergence. Reliability results ranged from fair to excellent. Convergence between coders' and authors' scores ranged from poor to good. Scores derived from the PEMI and the EIS were moderately associated. Evidence from this study is strong in the case of intercoder reliability and ranges from weak to strong in the case of convergent validation. Globally, this suggests that the PEMI can produce scores that are both reliable and valid.

Instrumented measurements on radioactive waste disposal containers during experimental drop testing - 59142

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quercetti, Thomas; Musolff, Andre; Mueller, Karsten

2012-01-01

In context with disposal container safety assessment of containers for radioactive waste the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) performed numerous drop tests in the last years. The tests were accompanied by extensive and various measurement techniques especially by instrumented measurements with strain gages and accelerometers. The instrumentation of a specimen is an important tool to evaluate its mechanical behavior during impact. Test results as deceleration-time and strain-time functions constitute a main basis for the validation of assumptions in the safety analysis and for the evaluation of calculations based on finite-element methods. Strain gauges are useful to determine the time dependent magnitude of any deformation and the associated stresses. Accelerometers are widely used for the measuring of motion i.e. speed or the displacement of the rigid cask body, vibration and shock events. In addition high-speed video technique can be used to visualize and analyze the kinematical impact scenario by motion analysis. The paper describes some selected aspects on instrumented measurements and motion analysis in context with low level radioactive waste (LLW) container drop testing. (authors)

Measurement techniques and instruments suitable for life-prediction testing of photovoltaic arrays. Interim report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noel, G.T.; Sliemers, F.A.; Deringer, G.C.; Wood, V.E.; Wilkes, K.E.; Gaines, G.B.; Carmichael, D.C.

1978-01-15

The validation of a service life of 20 years for low-cost photovoltaic arrays must be accomplished through accelerated life-prediction tests. A methodology for such tests has been developed in a preceding study. The results discussed consist of the initial identification and assessment of all known measurement techniques and instruments that might be used in these life-prediction tests. Array failure modes, relevant materials property changes, and primary degradation mechanisms are discussed as a prerequisite to identifying suitable measurement techniques and instruments. Candidate techniques and instruments are identified on the basis of extensive reviews of published and unpublished information. These methods are organized in six measurement categories--chemical, electrical, optical, thermal, mechanical, and ''other physicals''. Using specified evaluation criteria, the most promising techniques and instruments for use in life-prediction tests of arrays are then selected. These recommended techniques and their characteristics are described. Recommendations are made regarding establishment of the adequacy, particularly with respect to precision, of the more fully developed techniques for this application, and regarding the experimental evaluation of promising developmental techniques. Measurement needs not satisfied by presently available techniques/instruments are also identified.

LHC Beam Instrumentation: Beam Profile Measurements (2/3)

CERN Document Server

CERN. Geneva

2014-01-01

The LHC is equipped with a full suite of sophisticated beam instrumentation which has been essential for rapid commissioning, the safe increase in total stored beam power and the understanding of machine optics and accelerator physics phenomena. These lectures will introduce these systems and comment on their contributions to the various stages of beam operation. They will include details on: the beam position system and its use for real-time global orbit feedback; the beam loss system and its role in machine protection; total and bunch by bunch intensity measurements; tune measurement and feedback; diagnostics for transverse beam size measurements, abort gap monitoring and longitudinal density measurements. Issues and problems encountered along the way will also be discussed together with the prospect for future upgrades.

Assessment of the measurement properties of the post stroke motor function instruments available in Brazil: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lima, Elaine; Teixeira-Salmela, Luci F; Simões, Luan; Guerra, Ana C C; Lemos, Andrea

2016-03-15

While there are several instruments in Brazil that measure motor function in patients after stroke, it is unknown whether the measurement properties of these instruments are appropriate. To identify the motor function instruments available in Brazil for patients after stroke. To assess the methodological quality of the studies and the results related to the measurement properties of these instruments. Two independent reviewers conducted searches on PubMed, LILACS, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus. Studies that aimed to cross-culturally adapt an existing instrument or create a Brazilian instrument and test at least one measurement property related to motor function in patients after stroke were included. The methodological quality of these studies was checked by the COSMIN checklist with 4-point rating scale and the results of the measurement properties were analyzed by the criteria developed by Terwee et al. A total of 11 instruments were considered eligible, none of which were created in Brazil. The process of cross-cultural adaptation was inadequate in 10 out of 11 instruments due to the lack of back-translation or due to inappropriate target population. All of the instruments presented flaws in the measurement properties, especially reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity. The flaws observed in both cross-cultural adaptation process and testing measurement properties make the results inconclusive on the validity of the available instruments. Adequate procedures of cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties of these instruments are strongly needed.

Assessment of the measurement properties of the post stroke motor function instruments available in Brazil: a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elaine Lima

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background While there are several instruments in Brazil that measure motor function in patients after stroke, it is unknown whether the measurement properties of these instruments are appropriate. Objective To identify the motor function instruments available in Brazil for patients after stroke. To assess the methodological quality of the studies and the results related to the measurement properties of these instruments. Method Two independent reviewers conducted searches on PubMed, LILACS, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus. Studies that aimed to cross-culturally adapt an existing instrument or create a Brazilian instrument and test at least one measurement property related to motor function in patients after stroke were included. The methodological quality of these studies was checked by the COSMIN checklist with 4-point rating scale and the results of the measurement properties were analyzed by the criteria developed by Terwee et al. Results A total of 11 instruments were considered eligible, none of which were created in Brazil. The process of cross-cultural adaptation was inadequate in 10 out of 11 instruments due to the lack of back-translation or due to inappropriate target population. All of the instruments presented flaws in the measurement properties, especially reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity. Conclusion The flaws observed in both cross-cultural adaptation process and testing measurement properties make the results inconclusive on the validity of the available instruments. Adequate procedures of cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties of these instruments are strongly needed.

Analysis of nonlinear behavior of loudspeakers using the instantaneous frequency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Hai; Jacobsen, Finn

2003-01-01

on the Fourier transform. In this work, a new method using the instantaneous frequency is introduced for describing and characterizing loudspeaker nonlinearities. First, numerical integration is applied to simulate the nonlinearities of loudspeakers caused by two nonlinear parameters, force factor and stiffness...

Efficiency of application of instantaneous radiation of seeds by plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsyganov, A.R.; Gordeev, Yu.A.; Poddubnaya, O.V.

2009-01-01

The efficiency of application of instantaneous (impulse) radiation of seeds of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) and oat (Avena sativa) by plasma was analyzed. Research results showed that presowing treatment of seeds with instantaneous helium radiation in course of 0,01 seconds (the total duration of seed treatment with plasmatron ion source impulses – one second). In course of the practical experiments there was proved possibility of application impulse radiation technologies in modern agricultural production. Seed germination capacity exceeded the control variants on 14%. Results of influence of applied irradiation on length of sprouts, length of roots and their germinating ability were presented. Irradiation efficiency developed in course of plant vegetation. In accordance with research results and accumulated experimental material on presowing seed treatment with impulses of low temperature helium plasma could make it possible to obtain yields with higher capacity and quality with the minimal expenses for seed treatment

Protocol of the COSMIN study: COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick DL

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Choosing an adequate measurement instrument depends on the proposed use of the instrument, the concept to be measured, the measurement properties (e.g. internal consistency, reproducibility, content and construct validity, responsiveness, and interpretability, the requirements, the burden for subjects, and costs of the available instruments. As far as measurement properties are concerned, there are no sufficiently specific standards for the evaluation of measurement properties of instruments to measure health status, and also no explicit criteria for what constitutes good measurement properties. In this paper we describe the protocol for the COSMIN study, the objective of which is to develop a checklist that contains COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments, including explicit criteria for satisfying these standards. We will focus on evaluative health related patient-reported outcomes (HR-PROs, i.e. patient-reported health measurement instruments used in a longitudinal design as an outcome measure, excluding health care related PROs, such as satisfaction with care or adherence. The COSMIN standards will be made available in the form of an easily applicable checklist. Method An international Delphi study will be performed to reach consensus on which and how measurement properties should be assessed, and on criteria for good measurement properties. Two sources of input will be used for the Delphi study: (1 a systematic review of properties, standards and criteria of measurement properties found in systematic reviews of measurement instruments, and (2 an additional literature search of methodological articles presenting a comprehensive checklist of standards and criteria. The Delphi study will consist of four (written Delphi rounds, with approximately 30 expert panel members with different backgrounds in clinical medicine, biostatistics, psychology, and epidemiology. The final checklist will

Numerical modelling and experimental measurements for a low-temperature district heating substation for instantaneous preparation of DHW with respect to service pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brand, Marek; Thorsen, Jan Eric; Svendsen, Svend

2012-01-01

Traditional district heating (DH) systems are becoming uneconomic as the number of new and renovated buildings with reduced heating requirements increases. To keep DH competitive in the future, heat losses in DH networks need to be reduced. One option is to reduce the supply temperature of DH as much as possible. This requires a review and improvement of a DH network, in-house substations, and the whole domestic hot water (DHW) supply system, with the focus on user comfort, hygiene, overall cost and energy efficiency. This paper describes some practical approaches to the implementation of low-temperature district heating (LTDH) with an entry-to-substation temperature around 50 °C. To this end we developed a numerical model for an instantaneous LTDH substation that takes into consideration the effect of service pipes. The model has been verified and can be used for the further optimization of the whole concept as well for individual components. The results show that the way that the service pipe is operated has a significant effect on waiting time for DHW, heat loss, and overall cost. Furthermore, the service pipe should be kept warm by using a bypass in order to fulfil the comfort requirements for DHW instantaneously prepared. -- Highlights: ► Describes and justifies concept of low-temperature district heating with supply temperature of 50 °C. ► Focuses on DHW preparation in low-temperature district heating in-house substations, considering comfort and Legionella. ► Verified numerical model reports on dynamic performance of an in-house substation, considering operation of service pipes. ► Bypass is needed for instantaneous type of district heating substations to fulfil comfort requirements of users. ► The model developed can be used for future optimization of low-temperature substations and whole district heating networks.

Calibration of areal surface topography measuring instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Seewig, J.; Eifler, M.

2017-06-01

The ISO standards which are related to the calibration of areal surface topography measuring instruments are the ISO 25178-6xx series which defines the relevant metrological characteristics for the calibration of different measuring principles and the ISO 25178-7xx series which defines the actual calibration procedures. As the field of areal measurement is however not yet fully standardized, there are still open questions to be addressed which are subject to current research. Based on this, selected research results of the authors in this area are presented. This includes the design and fabrication of areal material measures. For this topic, two examples are presented with the direct laser writing of a stepless material measure for the calibration of the height axis which is based on the Abbott- Curve and the manufacturing of a Siemens star for the determination of the lateral resolution limit. Based on these results, as well a new definition for the resolution criterion, the small scale fidelity, which is still under discussion, is presented. Additionally, a software solution for automated calibration procedures is outlined.

On the Measurement of Power Law Creep Parameters from Instrumented Indentation

Science.gov (United States)

Sudharshan Phani, P.; Oliver, W. C.; Pharr, G. M.

2017-11-01

Recently the measurement of the creep response of materials at small scales has received renewed interest largely because the equipment required to perform high-temperature nanomechanical testing has become available to an increasing number of researchers. Despite that increased access, there remain several significant experimental and modeling challenges in small-scale mechanical testing at elevated temperatures that are as yet unresolved. In this regard, relating the creep response observed with high-temperature instrumented indentation experiments to macroscopic uniaxial creep response is of great practical value. In this review, we present an overview of various methods currently being used to measure creep with instrumented indentation, with a focus on geometrically self-similar indenters, and their relative merits and demerits from an experimental perspective. A comparison of the various methods to use those instrumented indentation results to predict the uniaxial power law creep response of a wide range of materials will be presented to assess their validity.

Instantaneous axial force of a high-order Bessel vortex beam of acoustic waves incident upon a rigid movable sphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitri, F G; Fellah, Z E A

2011-08-01

The present investigation examines the instantaneous force resulting from the interaction of an acoustical high-order Bessel vortex beam (HOBVB) with a rigid sphere. The rigid sphere case is important in fluid dynamics applications because it perfectly simulates the interaction of instantaneous sound waves in a reduced gravity environment with a levitated spherical liquid soft drop in air. Here, a closed-form solution for the instantaneous force involving the total pressure field as well as the Bessel beam parameters is obtained for the case of progressive, stationary and quasi-stationary waves. Instantaneous force examples for progressive waves are computed for both a fixed and a movable rigid sphere. The results show how the instantaneous force per unit cross-sectional surface and unit pressure varies versus the dimensionless frequency ka (k is the wave number in the fluid medium and a is the sphere's radius), the half-cone angle β and the order m of the HOBVB. It is demonstrated here that the instantaneous force is determined only for (m,n) = (0,1) (where n is the partial-wave number), and vanishes for m>0 because of symmetry. In addition, the instantaneous force and normalized amplitude velocity results are computed and compared with those of a rigid immovable (fixed) sphere. It is shown that they differ significantly for ka values below 5. The proposed analysis may be of interest in the analysis of instantaneous forces on spherical particles for particle manipulation, filtering, trapping and drug delivery. The presented solutions may also serve as a method for comparison to other solutions obtained by strictly numerical or asymptotic approaches. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A digital, constant-frequency pulsed phase-locked-loop instrument for real-time, absolute ultrasonic phase measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Haldren, H. A.; Perey, D. F.; Yost, W. T.; Cramer, K. E.; Gupta, M. C.

2018-05-01

A digitally controlled instrument for conducting single-frequency and swept-frequency ultrasonic phase measurements has been developed based on a constant-frequency pulsed phase-locked-loop (CFPPLL) design. This instrument uses a pair of direct digital synthesizers to generate an ultrasonically transceived tone-burst and an internal reference wave for phase comparison. Real-time, constant-frequency phase tracking in an interrogated specimen is possible with a resolution of 0.000 38 rad (0.022°), and swept-frequency phase measurements can be obtained. Using phase measurements, an absolute thickness in borosilicate glass is presented to show the instrument's efficacy, and these results are compared to conventional ultrasonic pulse-echo time-of-flight (ToF) measurements. The newly developed instrument predicted the thickness with a mean error of -0.04 μm and a standard deviation of error of 1.35 μm. Additionally, the CFPPLL instrument shows a lower measured phase error in the absence of changing temperature and couplant thickness than high-resolution cross-correlation ToF measurements at a similar signal-to-noise ratio. By showing higher accuracy and precision than conventional pulse-echo ToF measurements and lower phase errors than cross-correlation ToF measurements, the new digitally controlled CFPPLL instrument provides high-resolution absolute ultrasonic velocity or path-length measurements in solids or liquids, as well as tracking of material property changes with high sensitivity. The ability to obtain absolute phase measurements allows for many new applications than possible with previous ultrasonic pulsed phase-locked loop instruments. In addition to improved resolution, swept-frequency phase measurements add useful capability in measuring properties of layered structures, such as bonded joints, or materials which exhibit non-linear frequency-dependent behavior, such as dispersive media.

Absolute measurement of LDR brachytherapy source emitted power: Instrument design and initial measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Malin, Martha J; Palmer, Benjamin R; DeWerd, Larry A

2016-02-01

Energy-based source strength metrics may find use with model-based dose calculation algorithms, but no instruments exist that can measure the energy emitted from low-dose rate (LDR) sources. This work developed a calorimetric technique for measuring the power emitted from encapsulated low-dose rate, photon-emitting brachytherapy sources. This quantity is called emitted power (EP). The measurement methodology, instrument design and performance, and EP measurements made with the calorimeter are presented in this work. A calorimeter operating with a liquid helium thermal sink was developed to measure EP from LDR brachytherapy sources. The calorimeter employed an electrical substitution technique to determine the power emitted from the source. The calorimeter's performance and thermal system were characterized. EP measurements were made using four (125)I sources with air-kerma strengths ranging from 2.3 to 5.6 U and corresponding EPs of 0.39-0.79 μW, respectively. Three Best Medical 2301 sources and one Oncura 6711 source were measured. EP was also computed by converting measured air-kerma strengths to EPs through Monte Carlo-derived conversion factors. The measured EP and derived EPs were compared to determine the accuracy of the calorimeter measurement technique. The calorimeter had a noise floor of 1-3 nW and a repeatability of 30-60 nW. The calorimeter was stable to within 5 nW over a 12 h measurement window. All measured values agreed with derived EPs to within 10%, with three of the four sources agreeing to within 4%. Calorimeter measurements had uncertainties ranging from 2.6% to 4.5% at the k = 1 level. The values of the derived EPs had uncertainties ranging from 2.9% to 3.6% at the k = 1 level. A calorimeter capable of measuring the EP from LDR sources has been developed and validated for (125)I sources with EPs between 0.43 and 0.79 μW.

Portable Instrument to Measure CDOM Light Absorption in Aquatic Systems: WPI Success Story

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

World Precision Instruments, Inc. (WPI), of Sarasota, FL, in collaboration with NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, has developed an innovative instrument to accurately measure Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) absorption in the field. This successful collaboration has culminated in an exciting new device, called the UltraPath, now commercially available through WPI. Traditional methods of measuring absorption of dissolved materials require special handling and storage prior to measurement. Use of laboratory spectrophotometers as the measuring devices have proven time consuming, cumbersome, and delicate to handle. The UltraPath provides a low-cost, highly sensitive, rugged, portable system that is capable of high sensitivity measurements in widely divergent waters.

A high sensitivity momentum flux measuring instrument for plasma thruster exhausts and diffusive plasmas.

Science.gov (United States)

West, Michael D; Charles, Christine; Boswell, Rod W

2009-05-01

A high sensitivity momentum flux measuring instrument based on a compound pendulum has been developed for use with electric propulsion devices and radio frequency driven plasmas. A laser displacement system, which builds upon techniques used by the materials science community for surface stress measurements, is used to measure with high sensitivity the displacement of a target plate placed in a plasma thruster exhaust. The instrument has been installed inside a vacuum chamber and calibrated via two different methods and is able to measure forces in the range of 0.02-0.5 mN with a resolution of 15 microN. Measurements have been made of the force produced from the cold gas flow and with a discharge ignited using argon propellant. The plasma is generated using a Helicon Double Layer Thruster prototype. The instrument target is placed about 1 mean free path for ion-neutral charge exchange collisions downstream of the thruster exit. At this position, the plasma consists of a low density ion beam (10%) and a much larger downstream component (90%). The results are in good agreement with those determined from the plasma parameters measured with diagnostic probes. Measurements at various flow rates show that variations in ion beam velocity and plasma density and the resulting momentum flux can be measured with this instrument. The instrument target is a simple, low cost device, and since the laser displacement system used is located outside the vacuum chamber, the measurement technique is free from radio frequency interference and thermal effects. It could be used to measure the thrust in the exhaust of other electric propulsion devices and the momentum flux of ion beams formed by expanding plasmas or fusion experiments.

The Development, Validity, and Reliability of a Psychometric Instrument Measuring Competencies in Student Affairs

Science.gov (United States)

Sriram, Rishi

2014-01-01

The study of competencies in student affairs began more than 4 decades ago, but no instrument currently exists to measure competencies broadly. This study builds upon previous research by developing an instrument to measure student affairs competencies. Results not only validate the competencies espoused by NASPA and ACPA, but also suggest adding…

Instantaneous exposure to nuclear medicine staff involved in PET-CT imaging in developing countries. Experience from a tertiary care centre in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, S.; Sharma, P.; Shamim, S.A.; Malhotra, A.; Kumar, R.; Pandey, A.K.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the radiation exposure to nuclear medicine staff at a positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) centre with high patient throughput. This prospective study included 70 adult patients who underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT for their clinical indications. The patients' actual injected FDG activity was calculated by subtracting the syringe activity (post-injection) from the loaded syringe activity (pre-injection). The instantaneous exposure to nuclear medicine staff involved in PET-CT imaging was measured. The instantaneous dose rate of the physicians was recorded during FDG injection and that of the technologist was recorded during the patient's positioning, respectively, at 1.0-m distance from the anterior chest using a calibrated portable gamma-ray survey meter. The average FDG activity injected in adult patients was 308.5 MBq (range 173.1-438.8 MBq). The instantaneous exposure to the nuclear medicine (NM) physician during the injection time was 31 μSv/h (14-60 μSv/h). The instantaneous exposure to the NM technologist during positioning was 18 (10-34) μSv/h. With an average of 10 patients per day, the quarterly dose to physicians was 628 μSv and to technologists 182 μSv for 300 patients. The extrapolated annual dose was 2.5 mSv for physicians and 0.7 mSv for technologists, respectively. Instantaneous exposure of nuclear medicine staff involved in PET-CT imaging at a busy tertiary care centre is within permissible limits of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP-103) (total 50 mSv in a single year) and atomic energy regulatory board (total 30 mSv in a single year). (author)

A Study on the Instantaneous Turbulent Flow Field in a 90-Degree Elbow Pipe with Circular Section

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiming Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the special application of 90-degree elbow pipe in the HTR-PM, the large eddy simulation was selected to calculate the instantaneous flow field in the 90-degree elbow pipe combining with the experimental results. The characteristics of the instantaneous turbulent flow field under the influence of flow separation and secondary flow were studied by analyzing the instantaneous pressure information at specific monitoring points and the instantaneous velocity field on the cross section of the elbow. The pattern and the intensity of the Dean vortex and the small scale eddies change over time and induce the asymmetry of the flow field. The turbulent disturbance upstream and the flow separation near the intrados couple with the vortexes of various scales. Energy is transferred from large scale eddies to small scale eddies and dissipated by the viscous stress in the end.

Instantaneous aerosol dynamics in a turbulent flow

KAUST Repository

Zhou, Kun

2012-01-01

Dibutyl phthalate aerosol particles evolution dynamics in a turbulent mixing layer is simulated by means of direct numerical simulation for the flow field and the direct quadrature method of moments for the aerosol evolution. Most par-ticles are nucleated in a thin layer region corresponding to a specific narrow temperature range near the cool stream side. However, particles undergo high growth rate on the hot stream side due to condensation. Coagulation decreases the total particle number density at a rate which is highly correlated to the in-stantaneous number density.

Reliability of Instruments Measuring At-Risk and Problem Gambling Among Young Individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edgren, Robert; Castrén, Sari; Mäkelä, Marjukka

2016-01-01

This review aims to clarify which instruments measuring at-risk and problem gambling (ARPG) among youth are reliable and valid in light of reported estimates of internal consistency, classification accuracy, and psychometric properties. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Medline, and Psyc......Info covering the years 2009–2015. In total, 50 original research articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria: target age under 29 years, using an instrument designed for youth, and reporting a reliability estimate. Articles were evaluated with the revised Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool....... Reliability estimates were reported for five ARPG instruments. Most studies (66%) evaluated the South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents. The Gambling Addictive Behavior Scale for Adolescents was the only novel instrument. In general, the evaluation of instrument reliability was superficial. Despite...

Engagement in Games: Developing an Instrument to Measure Consumer Videogame Engagement and Its Validation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Zaib Abbasi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to develop a new instrument to measure engagement in videogame play termed as consumer videogame engagement. The study followed the scale development procedure to develop an instrument to measure the construct of consumer videogame engagement. In this study, we collected the data in two different phases comprising study 1 (n=136 and study 2 (n=270. We employed SPSS 22.0 for exploratory factor analysis using study 1 respondents to explore the factors for consumer videogame engagement and reliability analysis. Results of EFA resulted with six-factor solution. We further used SmartPLS 3.0 software on study 2 respondents to further confirm the six-factor solution as reflective measurement model on the first-order level, and three second-order formative constructs on the second-order or higher-order level as formative measurement model. Results of the reflective measurement model and formative measurement model evidenced that consumer videogame engagement has strong psychometric properties and is a valid instrument to measure engagement in videogame play. Results also confirmed that consumer videogame engagement is a multidimensional construct as well as a reflective-formative construct. The study is unique in its investigation as it develops an instrument to measure engagement in videogame play which comprises the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions.

Systematic Review of Measurement Property Evidence for 8 Financial Management Instruments in Populations With Acquired Cognitive Impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, Lisa; Chui, Adora; Beaton, Dorcas E; Green, Robin E; Dawson, Deirdre R

2018-03-07

To critically appraise the measurement property evidence (ie, psychometric) for 8 observation-based financial management assessment instruments. Seven databases were searched in May 2015. Two reviewers used an independent decision-agreement process to select studies of measurement property evidence relevant to populations with adulthood acquired cognitive impairment, appraise the quality of the evidence, and extract data. Twenty-one articles were selected. This review used the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments review guidelines and 4-point tool to appraise evidence. After appraising the methodologic quality, the adequacy of results and volume of evidence per instrument were synthesized. Measurement property evidence with high risk of bias was excluded from the synthesis. The volume of measurement property evidence per instrument is low; most instruments had 1 to 3 included studies. Many included studies had poor methodologic quality per measurement property evidence area examined. Six of the 8 instruments reviewed had supporting construct validity/hypothesis-testing evidence of fair methodologic quality. There is a dearth of acceptable quality content validity, reliability, and responsiveness evidence for all 8 instruments. Rehabilitation practitioners assess financial management functions in adults with acquired cognitive impairments. However, there is limited published evidence to support using any of the reviewed instruments. Practitioners should exercise caution when interpreting the results of these instruments. This review highlights the importance of appraising the quality of measurement property evidence before examining the adequacy of the results and synthesizing the evidence. Copyright © 2018 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An intelligent instrument for measuring exhaust temperature of marine engine

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Nan-Qi; Su, Hua; Liu, Jun

2006-12-01

Exhaust temperature of the marine engine is commonly measured through thermocouple. Measure deviation will occur after using the thermocouple for some time due to nonlinearity of thermocouple itself, high temperature and chemical corrosion of measure point. Frequent replacement of thermocouple will increase the operating cost. This paper designs a new intelligent instrument for solving the above-mentioned problems of the marine engine temperature measurement, which combines the conventional thermocouple temperature measurement technology and SCM(single chip microcomputer). The reading of the thermocouple is simple and precise and the calibration can be made automatically and manually.

Validation of an instrument to measure students' motivation and self-regulation towards technology learning

Science.gov (United States)

Liou, Pey-Yan; Kuo, Pei-Jung

2014-05-01

Background:Few studies have examined students' attitudinal perceptions of technology. There is no appropriate instrument to measure senior high school students' motivation and self-regulation toward technology learning among the current existing instruments in the field of technology education. Purpose:The present study is to validate an instrument for assessing senior high school students' motivation and self-regulation towards technology learning. Sample:A total of 1822 Taiwanese senior high school students (1020 males and 802 females) responded to the newly developed instrument. Design and method:The Motivation and Self-regulation towards Technology Learning (MSRTL) instrument was developed based on the previous instruments measuring students' motivation and self-regulation towards science learning. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were utilized to investigate the structure of the items. Cronbach's alpha was applied for measuring the internal consistency of each scale. Furthermore, multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine gender differences. Results:Seven scales, including 'Technology learning self-efficacy,' 'Technology learning value,' 'Technology active learning strategies,' 'Technology learning environment stimulation,' 'Technology learning goal-orientation,' 'Technology learning self-regulation-triggering,' and 'Technology learning self-regulation-implementing' were confirmed for the MSRTL instrument. Moreover, the results also showed that male and female students did not present the same degree of preference in all of the scales. Conclusions:The MSRTL instrument composed of seven scales corresponding to 39 items was shown to be valid based on validity and reliability analyses. While male students tended to express more positive and active performance in the motivation scales, no gender differences were found in the self-regulation scales.

Instrumentation-related uncertainty of reflectance and transmittance measurements with a two-channel spectrophotometer.

Science.gov (United States)

Peest, Christian; Schinke, Carsten; Brendel, Rolf; Schmidt, Jan; Bothe, Karsten

2017-01-01

Spectrophotometers are operated in numerous fields of science and industry for a variety of applications. In order to provide confidence for the measured data, analyzing the associated uncertainty is valuable. However, the uncertainty of the measurement results is often unknown or reduced to sample-related contributions. In this paper, we describe our approach for the systematic determination of the measurement uncertainty of the commercially available two-channel spectrophotometer Agilent Cary 5000 in accordance with the Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurements. We focus on the instrumentation-related uncertainty contributions rather than the specific application and thus outline a general procedure which can be adapted for other instruments. Moreover, we discover a systematic signal deviation due to the inertia of the measurement amplifier and develop and apply a correction procedure. Thereby we increase the usable dynamic range of the instrument by more than one order of magnitude. We present methods for the quantification of the uncertainty contributions and combine them into an uncertainty budget for the device.

Measurement equivalence of the food related lifestyle instrument (FRL) in Ireland and Great Britain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

O´Sullivan, C.; Scholderer, Joachim; Cowan, Cathal

2005-01-01

The food-related lifestyle instrument (FRL) is tested for cross-cultural validity. Representative consumer samples from the UK 1998 ( N = 1000) and Ireland 2001 (N = 1024) are compared using multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis with structured means. The results suggest that, in all five FRL...... domains, the measurement characteristics of the survey instrument were completely invariant across the two cultures. No indication was found of any bias. Regarding future applications of the FRL, it can be concluded that the instrument has identical measurement characteristics when applied to consumer...

Automatic tea service machine with instantaneous cooling unit; Shunkan reikyaku kiko tosai jido kyuchaki

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sato, T.; Nishiyama, A. [Fuji Denki Reiki Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

1999-08-10

The market of automatic tea service machines demands sanitation, reduction in time required for pouring tea, feeding the material, cleaning the inside of the machine, the maintenance and service of the machine, and excellent design. To meet these demands, Fuji Electric has changed the former configuration and components for functions and has developed a new series of instantaneous automatic tea service machines based on a new concept. This paper outlines the advantages of the instantaneous cooling tank and improvements in handling. (author)

Receive antenna selection for underlay cognitive radio with instantaneous interference constraint

KAUST Repository

Hanif, Muhammad Fainan; Yang, Hongchuan; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2015-01-01

. These results are then applied to the outage and average bit error rate analysis when the secondary transmitter changes the transmit power in finite discrete levels to satisfy the instantaneous interference constraint at the primary receiver.

Instrumentation for electromagnetic field generation in biological measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malaric, K.; Malaric, R.; Tkalec, M.; Lenicek, I.; Sala, A.

2005-01-01

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are part of everyday life in modern world. Extremely low-frequency EMFs (50 Hz) are produced by most electric home appliance, electric power transmission and distribution lines. For the last ten years mobile phones have been widely used all around the world. They operate on the EMF frequencies from 400 MHz to 1900 MHz. The effects of EMFs on living organisms have been the subject of debate and research for the last thirty years. The instrumentation for generation of EMFs have been designed at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Zagreb, and can be used for controlled exposure to different EMFs. To study the effect of extremely low-frequency EMF, duckweed (Lemna minor) - the model plant in biological measurement, test setup was made for magnetic field in Helmholtz coil and for electric field between two parallel circle electrodes. For the effect of mobile phones frequencies, test setup with exposition to the electromagnetic field was done with Gigahertz Transversal Electromagnetic Mode (GTEM) cell. The research confirmed that instrumentation used in these experiments is suitable for evaluation of biological effects of EMFs. The effect of different field strengths, exposure times and modulation can be tested with these instrumentation.(author)

Developing and validating an instrument for measuring mobile computing self-efficacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi-Shun; Wang, Hsiu-Yuan

2008-08-01

IT-related self-efficacy has been found to have a critical influence on system use. However, traditional measures of computer self-efficacy and Internet-related self-efficacy are perceived to be inapplicable in the context of mobile computing and commerce because they are targeted primarily at either desktop computer or wire-based technology contexts. Based on previous research, this study develops and validates a multidimensional instrument for measuring mobile computing self-efficacy (MCSE). This empirically validated instrument will be useful to researchers in developing and testing the theories of mobile user behavior, and to practitioners in assessing the mobile computing self-efficacy of users and promoting the use of mobile commerce systems.

Design and operation of dust measuring instrumentation based on the beta-radiation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lilienfeld, P.

1975-01-01

The theory, instrument design aspects and applications of beta-radiation attenuation for the measurement of the mass concentration of airborne particulates are reviewed. Applicable methods of particle collection, beta sensing configurations, source ( 63 Ni, 14 C, 147 Pr, 85 Kr) and detector design criteria, electronic signal processing, digital control and instrument programming techniques are treated. Advantages, limitations and error sources of beta-attenuation instrumentation are analyzed. Applications to industrial dust measurements, source testing, ambient monitoring, and particle size analysis are the major areas of practical utilization of this technique, and its inherent capability for automated and unattended operation provides compatibility with process control synchronization and alarm, telemetry, and incorporation into pollution monitoring network sensing stations. (orig.) [de

Influence of instantaneous controlled pressure drop extraction conditions on composition and oil yield from Maritime Pine (Pinus Pinaster)

OpenAIRE

Rezzoug , Sid-Ahmed; Janocka , Ingrid

2007-01-01

International audience; Experiments to extract the essential oil from maritime pine (pinus pinaster) were carried out using the instantaneous controlled pressure drop process: "Détente Instantanée Contrôlée" (D.I.C). This process involves subjecting the maritime pine needles for a short period of time to a steam pressure varying from 2 to 5 bar (120 to 150 °C) during a fixed processing time, followed by an instantaneous decompression towards a vacuum (about 50 mbar). In this contribution, we ...

Black carbon emissions in gasoline vehicle exhaust: a measurement and instrument comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamboures, Michael A; Hu, Shishan; Yu, Yong; Sandoval, Julia; Rieger, Paul; Huang, Shiou-Mei; Zhang, Sherry; Dzhema, Inna; Huo, Darey; Ayala, Alberto; Chang, M C Oliver

2013-08-01

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the performance and agreement of several commercially available black carbon (BC) measurement instruments, when applied to the quantification of BC in light-duty vehicle (LDV) exhaust. Samples from six vehicles, three fuels, and three driving cycles were used. The pilot study included determinations of the method detection limit (MDL) and repeatability. With respect to the MDL, the real-time instruments outperformed the time-integrated instruments, with MDL = 0.12 mg/mi for the AE51 Aethalometer, and 0.15 mg/mi for the Micro Soot Sensor (MSS), versus 0.38 mg/mi for the IMPROVE_A thermal/ optical method, and 0.35 mg/mi for the OT21_T Optical Transmissometer. The real-time instruments had repeatability values ranging from 30% to 35%, which are somewhat better than those of the time-integrated instruments (40-41%). These results suggest that, despite being less resource intensive, real-time methods can be equivalent or superior to time-integrated methods in terms of sensitivity and repeatability. BC mass data, from the photoacoustic and light attenuation instruments, were compared against same-test EC data, determined using the IMPROVE_A method. The MSS BC data was well correlated with EC, with R2 = 0.85 for the composite results and R2 = 0.86 for the phase-by-phase (PBP) results. The correlation of BC, by the AE51, AE22, and OT21_T with EC was moderate to weak. The weaker correlation was driven by the inclusion of US06 test data in the linear regression analysis. We hypothesize that test-cycle-dependent BC:EC ratios are due to the different physicochemical properties of particulate matter (PM) in US06 and Federal Test Procedure (FTP) tests. Correlation amongst the real-time MSS, PASS-1, AE51, and AE22 instruments was excellent (R2 = 0.83-0.95), below 1 mg/mi levels. In the process of investigating these BC instruments, we learned that BC emissions at sub-1 mg/mi levels can be measured and are achievable by current

Proposal for a Universal Test Mirror for Characterization of Slope Measuring Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; McKinney, Wayne R.; Warwick, Tony; Noll, Tino; Siewert, Frank; Zeschke, Thomas; Geckeler, Ralf D.

2007-01-01

The development of third generation light sources like the Advanced Light Source (ALS) or BESSY II brought to a focus the need for high performance synchrotron optics with unprecedented tolerances for slope error and micro roughness. Proposed beam lines at Free Electron Lasers (FEL) require optical elements up to a length of one meter, characterized by a residual slope error in the range of 0.1mu rad (rms),and rms values of 0.1 nm for micro roughness. These optical elements must be inspected by highly accurate measuring instruments, providing a measurement uncertainty lower than the specified accuracy of the surface under test. It is essential that metrology devices in use at synchrotron laboratories be precisely characterized and calibrated to achieve this target. In this paper we discuss a proposal for a Universal Test Mirror (UTM) as a realization of a high performance calibration instrument. The instrument would provide an ideal calibration surface to replicate a redundant surface under test of redundant figure. The application of a sophisticated calibration instrument will allow the elimination of the majority of the systematic error from the error budget of an individual measurement of a particular optical element. We present the limitations of existing methods, initial UTM design considerations, possible calibration algorithms, and an estimation of the expected accuracy

Automation by microcomputer of a geodetic distance measuring instrument: The distinvar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bain, G.; Bore, C.; Coosemans, W.; Dupont, J.; Fabre, J.P.; Gavaggio, R.; Peron, F.

1985-01-01

The distinvar is an instrument for the precision measurement of distances up to 50 m. This report describes the latest developments at CERN which have improved its resolution to 2 μm and increased its speed of use. Measurements are automated by incorporating a microcomputer programmed in BASIC. (orig.)

Automation by microprocessor of an geodesic distance measuring instrument: The distinvar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bain, G.; Bore, C.; Coosemans, W.; Dupont, J.; Fabre, J.P.; Gavaggio, R.; Peron, F.

1984-01-01

The distinvar is an instrument for the precision measurement of distances up to 50 m. This report describes the latest developments at CERN which have improved its resolution to 2 micrometers and increased its speed of use. Measurements are automated by incorporating a microcomputer programmed in BASIC. (orig.)

Effective dose measurement at workplaces within an instrumented anthropomorphic phantom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Villagrasa, C.; Darreon, J.; Martin-Burtat, N.; Clairand, I.; Colin, J.; Fontbonne, J. M.

2011-01-01

The Laboratory of Ionizing Radiation Dosimetry of the IRSN (France) is developing an instrumented anthropomorphic phantom in order to measure the effective dose for photon fields at workplaces. This anthropomorphic phantom will be equipped with small active detectors located inside at chosen positions. The aim of this paper is to present the development of these new detectors showing the results of the characterisation of the prototype under metrological conditions. New evaluations of the effective dose for standard and non-homogenous irradiation configurations taking into account the real constraints of the project have been done validating the feasibility and utility of the instrument. (authors)

A Practitioner's Instrument for Measuring Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs Surrounding Learner-Centered Classroom Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lischka, Alyson E; Garner, Mary

In this paper we present the development and validation of a Mathematics Teaching Pedagogical and Discourse Beliefs Instrument (MTPDBI), a 20 item partial-credit survey designed and analyzed using Rasch measurement theory. Items on the MTPDBI address beliefs about the nature of mathematics, teaching and learning mathematics, and classroom discourse practices. A Rasch partial credit model (Masters, 1982) was estimated from the pilot study data. Results show that item separation reliability is .96 and person separation reliability is .71. Other analyses indicate the instrument is a viable measure of secondary teachers' beliefs about reform-oriented mathematics teaching and learning. This instrument is proposed as a useful measure of teacher beliefs for those working with pre-service and in-service teacher development.

Simultaneous measurement of instantaneous heart rate and chest wall plethysmography in short-term, metronome guided heart rate variability studies: suitability for assessment of autonomic dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Perring, S; Jones, E

2003-08-01

Instantaneous heart rate and chest wall motion were measured using a 3-lead ECG and an air pressure chest wall plethysmography system. Chest wall plethysmography traces were found to accurately represent the breathing pattern as measured by spirometry (average correlation coefficient 0.944); though no attempt was made to calibrate plethysmography voltage output to tidal volume. Simultaneous measurements of heart rate and chest wall motion were made for short periods under metronome guided breathing at 6 breaths per minute. The average peak to trough heart rate change per breath cycle (AVEMAX) and maximum correlation between heart rate and breathing cycle (HRBRCORR) were measured. Studies of 44 normal volunteers indicated clear inverse correlation of heart rate variability parameters with age (AVEMAX R = -0.502, P < 0.001) but no significant change in HRBRCORR with age (R = -0.115). Comparison of normal volunteers with diabetics with no history of symptoms associated with autonomic failure indicated significant lower heart rate variability in diabetics (P = 0.005 for AVEMAX) and significantly worse correlation between heart rate and breathing (P < 0.001 for HRBRCORR). Simultaneous measurement of heart rate and breathing offers the possibility of more sensitive diagnosis of autonomic failure in a simple bedside test and gives further insight into the nature of cardio-ventilatory coupling.

Using and Developing Measurement Instruments in Science Education: A Rasch Modeling Approach. Science & Engineering Education Sources

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiufeng

2010-01-01

This book meets a demand in the science education community for a comprehensive and introductory measurement book in science education. It describes measurement instruments reported in refereed science education research journals, and introduces the Rasch modeling approach to developing measurement instruments in common science assessment domains,…

Auto-identification of engine fault acoustic signal through inverse trigonometric instantaneous frequency analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dayong Ning

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The acoustic signals of internal combustion engines contain valuable information about the condition of engines. These signals can be used to detect incipient faults in engines. However, these signals are complex and composed of a faulty component and other noise signals of background. As such, engine conditions’ characteristics are difficult to extract through wavelet transformation and acoustic emission techniques. In this study, an instantaneous frequency analysis method was proposed. A new time–frequency model was constructed using a fixed amplitude and a variable cycle sine function to fit adjacent points gradually from a time domain signal. The instantaneous frequency corresponds to single value at any time. This study also introduced instantaneous frequency calculation on the basis of an inverse trigonometric fitting method at any time. The mean value of all local maximum values was then considered to identify the engine condition automatically. Results revealed that the mean of local maximum values under faulty conditions differs from the normal mean. An experiment case was also conducted to illustrate the availability of the proposed method. Using the proposed time–frequency model, we can identify engine condition and determine abnormal sound produced by faulty engines.

EDITORIAL: Advances in Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instruments for Production Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Wei; Takaya, Yasuhiro; Gao, Yongsheng; Krystek, Michael

2008-08-01

Measurement and instrumentation have long played an important role in Production Engineering, through supporting both the traditional field of manufacturing and the new field of micro/nano-technology. Papers published in this special feature were selected and updated from those presented at The 8th International Symposium on Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instruments (ISMTII 2007) held at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, on 24-27 September 2007. ISMTII 2007 was organized by ICMI (The International Committee on Measurements and Instrumentation), Japan Society for Precision Engineering (JSPE, Technical Committee of Intelligent Measurement with Nanoscale), Korean Society for Precision Engineering (KSPE), Chinese Society for Measurement (CSM) and Tohoku University. The conference was also supported by Center for Precision Metrology of UNC Charlotte and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. A total of 220 papers, including four keynote papers, were presented at ISMTII 2007, covering a wide range of topics, including micro/nano-metrology, precision measurement, online & in-process measurement, surface metrology, optical metrology & image processing, biomeasurement, sensor technology, intelligent measurement & instrumentation, uncertainty, traceability & calibration, and signal processing algorithms. The guest editors recommended publication of updated versions of some of the best ISMTII 2007 papers in this special feature of Measurement Science and Technology. The first two papers were presented in ISMTII 2007 as keynote papers. Takamasu et al from The University of Tokyo report uncertainty estimation for coordinate metrology, in which methods of estimating uncertainties using the coordinate measuring system after calibration are formulated. Haitjema, from Mitutoyo Research Center Europe, treats the most often used interferometric measurement techniques (displacement interferometry and surface interferometry) and their major sources of errors. Among

Proceedings of the symposium on advanced measurement techniques and instrumentation: abstract book

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kale, Y.B.; Kushwaha, M.; Somkuwar, S.P.; Ajayakumar, S.; Sampathkumar, R.

2011-01-01

In order to consolidate the existing knowledge base and further to focus on the future directions of the field of advanced measurement techniques and instrumentation, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has organized a three-day symposium on 'Advanced Measurement Techniques and Instrumentation' at Multi Purpose Hall, Training School Hostel, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai during February 02-04, 2011. The symposium is aimed at providing a forum to discuss the emerging trends and challenges ahead in the important area of measurement science and technology. This is a unique symposium, which brings together scientists and engineers from all disciplines and provides them a platform for close interaction to exchange ideas, methodologies and expertise, which is extremely important for synergic growth of this field. The symposium consists of 27 talks, which include keynote address, plenary and invited talks, and 63 contributory papers. The abstracts of these papers are brought to you in this volume. Readers may observe that the scientific programme of the symposium covers a wide ranging issues including advanced scientific concepts in measurements, instrumentation strategies, mathematical techniques and development of devices for applications in fundamental physics, astrophysics, fusion plasmas, nuclear reactors, accelerators, environment, chemical and biological sciences, and national security. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

Instruments assessing attitudes toward or capability regarding self-management of osteoarthritis: a systematic review of measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Eyles, J P; Hunter, D J; Meneses, S R F; Collins, N J; Dobson, F; Lucas, B R; Mills, K

2017-08-01

To make a recommendation on the "best" instrument to assess attitudes toward and/or capabilities regarding self-management of osteoarthritis (OA) based on available measurement property evidence. Electronic searches were performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsychINFO (inception to 27 December 2016). Two reviewers independently rated measurement properties using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) 4-point scale. Best evidence synthesis was determined by considering COSMIN ratings for measurement property results and the level of evidence available for each measurement property of each instrument. Eight studies out of 5653 publications met the inclusion criteria, with eight instruments identified for evaluation: Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC), Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC), Patient Activation Measure (PAM), Educational Needs Assessment (ENAT), Stages of Change Questionnaire in Osteoarthritis (SCQOA), Effective Consumer Scale (EC-17) and Perceived Efficacy in Patient-Physician Interactions five item (PEPPI-5) and ten item scales. Measurement properties assessed for these instruments included internal consistency (k = 8), structural validity (k = 8), test-retest reliability (k = 2), measurement error (k = 1), hypothesis testing (k = 3) and cross-cultural validity (k = 3). No information was available for content validity, responsiveness or minimal important change (MIC)/minimal important difference (MID). The Dutch PEPPI-5 demonstrated the best measurement property evidence; strong evidence for internal consistency and structural validity but limited evidence for reliability and construct validity. Although PEPPI-5 was identified as having the best measurement properties, overall there is a poor level of evidence currently available concerning measurement properties of instruments to assess attitudes toward and/or capabilities regarding osteoarthritis self-management. Further

Smartphone measurement engineering - Innovative challenges for science and education, instrumentation and training

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hofmann, D; Dittrich, P-G; Duentsch, E [Senior Network Manager NEMO SpectroNet, Technologie- und Innovationspark Jena GmbH, Wildenbruchstrasse 15, D-07745 Jena (Germany)

2010-07-01

Smartphones have an enormous conceptual and structural influence on measurement science and education, instrumentation and training. Smartphones are matured. They became convenient, reliable and affordable. In 2009 worldwide 174 million Smartphones has been delivered. Measurement with Smartphones is ready for the future. In only 10 years the German vision industry tripled its global sales volume to one Billion Euro/Year. Machine vision is used for mobile object identification, contactless industrial quality control, personalized health care, remote facility and transport management, safety critical surveillance and all tasks which are too complex for the human eye or too monotonous for the human brain. Aim of the paper is to describe selected success stories for the application of Smartphones for measurement engineering in science and education, instrumentation and training.

Smartphone measurement engineering - Innovative challenges for science and education, instrumentation and training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofmann, D; Dittrich, P-G; Duentsch, E

2010-01-01

Smartphones have an enormous conceptual and structural influence on measurement science and education, instrumentation and training. Smartphones are matured. They became convenient, reliable and affordable. In 2009 worldwide 174 million Smartphones has been delivered. Measurement with Smartphones is ready for the future. In only 10 years the German vision industry tripled its global sales volume to one Billion Euro/Year. Machine vision is used for mobile object identification, contactless industrial quality control, personalized health care, remote facility and transport management, safety critical surveillance and all tasks which are too complex for the human eye or too monotonous for the human brain. Aim of the paper is to describe selected success stories for the application of Smartphones for measurement engineering in science and education, instrumentation and training.

Psychometric testing of an instrument to measure the experience of home.

Science.gov (United States)

Molony, Sheila L; McDonald, Deborah Dillon; Palmisano-Mills, Christine

2007-10-01

Research related to quality of life in long-term care has been hampered by a paucity of measurement tools sensitive to environmental interventions. The primary aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of a new instrument, the Experience of Home (EOH) Scale, designed to measure the strength of the experience of meaningful person-environment transaction. The instrument was administered to 200 older adults in diverse dwelling types. Principal components analysis provided support for construct validity, eliciting a three-factor solution accounting for 63.18% of variance in scores. Internal consistency reliability was supported with Cronbach's alpha of .96 for the entire scale. The EOH Scale is a unique research tool to evaluate interventions to improve quality of living in residential environments.

Mobile mini-DOAS measurement of the outflow of NO2 and HCHO from Mexico City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Molina

2009-08-01

Full Text Available We here present the results from mobile measurements using two ground-based zenith viewing Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS instruments. The measurement was performed in a cross-section of the plume from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA on 10 March 2006 as part of the MILAGRO field campaign. The two instruments operated in the UV and the visible wavelength region respectively and have been used to derive the differential vertical columns of HCHO and NO2 above the measurement route. This is the first time the mobile mini-DOAS instrument has been able to measure HCHO, one of the chemically most important and interesting gases in the polluted urban atmosphere. Using a mass-averaged wind speed and wind direction from the WRF model the instantaneous flux of HCHO and NO2 has been calculated from the measurements and the results are compared to the CAMx chemical model. The calculated flux through the measured cross-section was 1.9 (1.5–2.2 kg/s of HCHO and 4.4 (4.0–5.0 kg/s of NO2 using the UV instrument and 3.66 (3.63–3.73 kg/s of NO2 using the visible light instrument. The modeled values from CAMx for the outflow of both NO2 and HCHO, 1.1 and 3.6 kg/s, respectively, show a reasonable agreement with the measurement derived fluxes.

Acoustic emission measurement during instrumented impact tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crostack, H.A.; Engelhardt, A.H.

1983-01-01

Results of instrumented impact tests are discussed. On the one hand the development of the loading process at the hammer tup was recorded by means of a piezoelectric transducer. This instrumentation supplied a better representation of the load versus time than the conventional strain gauges. On the other hand the different types of acoustic emission occurring during a test could be separated. The acoustic emission released at the impact of the hammer onto the specimen is of lower frequency and its spectrum is strongly decreasing with increasing frequency. Plastic deformation also emits signals of lower frequency that are of quasi-continuous character. Both signal types can be discriminated by filtering. As a consequence typical burst signal were received afterwards that can be correlated with crack propagation. Their spectra exhibit considerable portions up to about 1.9 MHz. The development in time of the burst signals points to the kind of crack propagation resp. its sequence of appearance. However, definitive comparison between load and acoustic emission should become possible, only when the disadvantages of the common load measurement can be reduced, e.g. by determining the load directly at the specimen instead of the hammer tup

How is the instrumental color of meat measured?

Science.gov (United States)

Tapp, W N; Yancey, J W S; Apple, J K

2011-09-01

Peer-reviewed journal articles (n=1068) were used to gather instrumental color measurement information in meat science research. The majority of articles, published in 10 peer-reviewed journals, originated from European countries (44.8%) and North America (38.5%). The predominant species was pork (44.2%), and most researchers used Minolta (60.0%) over Hunter (31.6%) colorimeters. Much of the research was done using illuminant D65 (32.3%); nevertheless, almost half (48.9%) of the articles did not report the illuminant. Moreover, a majority of the articles did not report aperture size (73.6%) or the number of readings per sample (52.4%). Many factors influence meat color, and a considerable proportion of the peer-reviewed, published research articles failed to include information necessary to replicate and/or interpret instrumental color results; therefore, a standardized set of minimum reportable parameters for meat color evaluation should be identified. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Card controlled beta backscatter thickness measuring instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlesinger, J.

1978-01-01

An improved beta backscatter instrument for the nondestructive measurement of the thickness of thin coatings on a substrate is described. Included therein is the utilization of a bank of memory stored data representative of isotope, substrate, coating material and thickness range characteristics in association with a control card having predetermined indicia thereon selectively representative of a particular isotope, substrate material, coating material and thickness range for conditioning electronic circuit means by memory stored data selected in accord with the predetermined indicia on a control card for converting backscattered beta particle counts into indicia of coating thickness

Result of the intercomparison exercise on radon measuring instruments and radon detectors 'bev- radon ring 2005'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baumgartner, A.; Maringer, F.J.; Michai, P.; Kreuziger, M.

2006-01-01

In spring 2005 the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (B.E.V.) invited all in Austria working radon measuring institutes to an intercomparison exercise at the radon calibration laboratory in the Arsenal. The aim of this intercomparison was on the one hand an objective inquiry and documentation of the current metrological potential on the section of radon measurement in Austria - both quantitative and qualitative- and on the other hand an initiative for the participating laboratories to optimize and improve their applied calibration-, measurement and analyse technique. Ten contacted Austrian radon laboratories were prepared to participate on the radon intercomparison exercise. The intercomparison exercise was carried out from 14. till 29. June at the radon calibration laboratory in the Arsenal of the B.E.V.. As radon emanation source a five stepped arranged, at the Arsenal built radon source was used. The source ( A.D.O.T.T.O. 1 is filled with a certified Ra- 226-standard solution of the Czech Metrological Institute (C.M.I.), Prag. A simple statistic based model was used for the evaluation and assessment of the results from the participants, which consider the statistic nature of the radioactive decay combined uncertainty. Altogether 183 measuring instruments participated the intercomparison exercise. Two reference measuring instruments, 22 active and 159 passive measuring instruments. The active measuring instruments formed 6 types of instruments and as passive radon detectors were 7 different types used from the participants. The positioning of the radon measuring instruments and detectors in the radon calibration laboratory was executed in regard to statistic points of view. From the active measuring instruments 17 could qualify and from the passive methods six from eight participants were in compliance to the given criteria. Radon measurements, which could have financial and economics relating implications (e.g. architectural redevelopment or

Double-theodolite measurement system used in the image calibration of space photographic instrument

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LI Yan; QIAO Yan-feng; SU Wan-xin; LIU Ze-xun

2005-01-01

The purpose of characterizing the image of space photographic instrument is to gain the space included angles from three coordinate axes in the three-dimensional coordinate of the image and the directionality of the three axes of coordinate in the frame of axes of the instrument. The two reference frames will keep in the same direction finally by adjusting according to space angles. This problem was solved by a new high-precision measurement system composed of a double-theodolite and a set of communication system. In the survey system, two TDA5005 total stations from Leica Company will be selected as the double-theodolite and the interdependence of both coordinate systems can be achieved by moving the stations only at one time. Therefore, this measurement system provides a highly efficient and high-precision surveying method to the image calibration of the space photographic instrument. According to the experiment, its measuring accuracy can reach arc-second level.

Development of a nursing workload measurement instrument in burn care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong, A.E.; Leeman, J.; Middelkoop, E.

2009-01-01

Existing workload measurement instruments fail to represent specific nursing activities in a setting where patients are characterized by a diversity of cause, location, extent and depth of burns, of age and of history. They also do not include educational levels and appropriate time standards. The

The "Intentionality Measurement Instrument" [or "IMI"]: A Comprehensive Psychometric Instrument Based upon the Dual Quadrant Scalar Model of Intentionality That Is Designed to Measure Intent, Motive Type, and Disposition

Science.gov (United States)

Osler, James Edward, II

2016-01-01

The overall aim of this paper is to provide an epistemological rational for the measurement of intentionality. The purpose of this narrative is to identify "Intentionality" as an arena of action in the dispositional learning domain can be measured using an "Intentionality Measurement Instrument" [also referred by the acronym…

OECD/CSNI specialist meeting on advanced instrumentation and measurements techniques: summary and conclusions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

This specialist meeting on Advanced Instrumentation and Measurements Techniques was held in Santa Barbara (USA) in 1997 and attracted some 70 participants in ten technical sessions and a session of the round table discussions, with a total of 41 papers. It was intended to bring together the international experts in multi-phase flow instrumentation, experiment and modeling to review the state-of-the-art of the two-phase flow instrumentation methods and to discuss the relation between modeling needs and instrumentation capabilities. The following topics were included: Modeling needs and future direction for improved constitutive relations, interfacial area transport equation, and multi-dimensional two-fluid model formulation; local instrumentation developments for void fraction, interfacial area, phase velocities, turbulence, entrainment, particle size, thermal non-equilibrium, shear stress, nucleation, condensation and boiling; global instrumentation developments for void fraction, mass flow, two-phase level, non-condensable concentration, flow regimes, low flow and break flow; relation between modeling needs and instrumentation capabilities, future directions for experiments focused on modeling needs and for instrumentation developments

The superTIGER instrument: Measurement of elemental abundances of ultra-heavy galactic cosmic rays

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Binns, W. R.; Bose, R. G.; Braun, D. L.; Dowkontt, P. F.; Israel, M. H.; Moore, P.; Murphy, R. P.; Olevitch, M. A.; Rauch, B. F. [Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States); Brandt, T. J.; Daniels, W. M.; Fitzsimmons, S. P.; Hahne, D. J.; Hams, T.; Link, J. T.; Mitchell, J. W.; Sakai, K. [NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Klemic, J.; Labrador, A. W.; Mewaldt, R. A., E-mail: wrb@wustl.edu [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); and others

2014-06-10

The SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument was developed to measure the abundances of galactic cosmic-ray elements from {sub 10}Ne to {sub 40}Zr with individual element resolution and the high statistics needed to test models of cosmic-ray origins. SuperTIGER also makes exploratory measurements of the abundances of elements with 40 < Z ≤ 60 and measures the energy spectra of the more abundant elements for Z ≤ 30 from about 0.8 to 10 GeV/nucleon. This instrument is an enlarged and higher resolution version of the earlier TIGER instrument. It was designed to provide the largest geometric acceptance possible and to reach as high an altitude as possible, flying on a standard long-duration 1.11 million m{sup 3} balloon. SuperTIGER was launched from Williams Field, McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on 2012 December 8, and made about 2.7 revolutions around the South Pole in 55 days of flight, returning data on over 50 × 10{sup 6} cosmic-ray nuclei with Z ≥ 10, including ∼1300 with Z > 29 and ∼60 with Z > 49. Here, we describe the instrument, the methods of charge identification employed, the SuperTIGER balloon flight, and the instrument performance.

A model of the instantaneous pressure-velocity relationships of the neonatal cerebral circulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Panerai, R B; Coughtrey, H; Rennie, J M; Evans, D H

1993-11-01

The instantaneous relationship between arterial blood pressure (BP) and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), measured with Doppler ultrasound in the anterior cerebral artery, is represented by a vascular waterfall model comprising vascular resistance, compliance, and critical closing pressure. One min recordings obtained from 61 low birth weight newborns were fitted to the model using a least-squares procedures with correction for the time delay between the BP and CBFV signals. A sensitivity analysis was performed to study the effects of low-pass filtering (LPF), cutoff frequency, and noise on the estimated parameters of the model. Results indicate excellent fitting of the model (F-test, p model parameters have a mean correlation coefficient of 0.94 with the measured flow velocity tracing (N = 232 epochs). The model developed can be useful for interpreting clinical findings and as a framework for research into cerebral autoregulation.

[Instrument to measure adherence in hypertensive patients: contribution of Item Response Theory].

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, Malvina Thaís Pacheco; Moreira, Thereza Maria Magalhaes; Vasconcelos, Alexandre Meira de; Andrade, Dalton Francisco de; Silva, Daniele Braz da; Barbetta, Pedro Alberto

2013-06-01

To analyze, by means of "Item Response Theory", an instrument to measure adherence to t treatment for hypertension. Analytical study with 406 hypertensive patients with associated complications seen in primary care in Fortaleza, CE, Northeastern Brazil, 2011 using "Item Response Theory". The stages were: dimensionality test, calibrating the items, processing data and creating a scale, analyzed using the gradual response model. A study of the dimensionality of the instrument was conducted by analyzing the polychoric correlation matrix and factor analysis of complete information. Multilog software was used to calibrate items and estimate the scores. Items relating to drug therapy are the most directly related to adherence while those relating to drug-free therapy need to be reworked because they have less psychometric information and low discrimination. The independence of items, the small number of levels in the scale and low explained variance in the adjustment of the models show the main weaknesses of the instrument analyzed. The "Item Response Theory" proved to be a relevant analysis technique because it evaluated respondents for adherence to treatment for hypertension, the level of difficulty of the items and their ability to discriminate between individuals with different levels of adherence, which generates a greater amount of information. The instrument analyzed is limited in measuring adherence to hypertension treatment, by analyzing the "Item Response Theory" of the item, and needs adjustment. The proper formulation of the items is important in order to accurately measure the desired latent trait.

Plan for the testing of radiation measurement instrumentation intended for use at an excavation site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehrke, R.J.

1994-11-01

This plan describes performance tests to be made with ionizing radiation measurement instrumentation designed and built for in-field assay at an excavation site. One instrument measures gross gamma-ray and neutron fields and the other identifies gamma-ray emitting radionuclides and also is capable of assaying for selected hazardous materials. These instruments will be operationally tested to verify that original specifications have been met and performance tested to establish and verify that they have the potential to function as intended at an excavation site

Development of an instrument for measuring moisture deep into solid materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westin, R.; Walletun, H.

1993-01-01

It is of value in some applications to be able to detect humidity rather deep into a solid material, for example when determining the moisture content in the frame of buildings, in insulation or in biofuels. Common to these measurement problems is that it is difficult to measure moisture in the bulk of a solid, in contrast to the surface layers. In this report is described the principle and the functioning of an instrument to measure moisture at larger depths than other instruments that are available today. It is intended for use primarily on solid materials, not on gases or liquids. Field experience is also reported here. The principle of the measuring technique is nuclear: we have utilized the ability of hydrogen atoms to moderate (or brake) high energy neutrons. If there is hydrogen in the sample, fast neutrons will interact with the hydrogen atoms and one may detect and count low energy, so called thermal neutrons. The intensity of the slow neutron flux is proportional to the water content, if one assumes that hydrogen atoms are water, i.e. moisture

The design of nuclear radiation measuring instrument of embedded network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Huaiqiang; Ge Liangquan; Xiong Shengqing

2009-01-01

The design and realization of nuclear radiation measuring instrument is introduced. Due to the current nuclear instrument often used serial interface to communicate the PC, it is widely used for simple design and easy operation. However, as the demand of remote data acquisition and the call of sharing resources, the design of embedded the TCP/IP protocol stack into MCU, it may send the nuclear signal in Internet. Some devices that link each other with the network can be networked. The design is not only realizing remote data acquisition and sharing resources, but also reducing costs and improving the maintainability of the system. (authors)

Instrumentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Umminger, K.

2008-01-01

A proper measurement of the relevant single and two-phase flow parameters is the basis for the understanding of many complex thermal-hydraulic processes. Reliable instrumentation is therefore necessary for the interaction between analysis and experiment especially in the field of nuclear safety research where postulated accident scenarios have to be simulated in experimental facilities and predicted by complex computer code systems. The so-called conventional instrumentation for the measurement of e. g. pressures, temperatures, pressure differences and single phase flow velocities is still a solid basis for the investigation and interpretation of many phenomena and especially for the understanding of the overall system behavior. Measurement data from such instrumentation still serves in many cases as a database for thermal-hydraulic system codes. However some special instrumentation such as online concentration measurement for boric acid in the water phase or for non-condensibles in steam atmosphere as well as flow visualization techniques were further developed and successfully applied during the recent years. Concerning the modeling needs for advanced thermal-hydraulic codes, significant advances have been accomplished in the last few years in the local instrumentation technology for two-phase flow by the application of new sensor techniques, optical or beam methods and electronic technology. This paper will give insight into the current state of instrumentation technology for safety-related thermohydraulic experiments. Advantages and limitations of some measurement processes and systems will be indicated as well as trends and possibilities for further development. Aspects of instrumentation in operating reactors will also be mentioned.

On the formation of an instantaneous orbit in a synchrotron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bashmakov, Yu.A.; Karpov, V.A.

1985-01-01

In the process of injection into a synchrotron amplitudes of particle betatron oscillations can be comparable with the dimensions of the synchrotron working region, which means that special attention should be paid to the formation of the optimum instantaneous orbit. Basides, a necessity to calculate the orbit frequently arises at the end of the acceleration cycle, when particle dump onto internal targets or their extraction from the synchrotron take place. In the paper the method for calculation of particle trajectories in the synchrotron is described. According to the method the program of numerical calculation of both separate particle trajectories and closed instantaneous orbit was developed. The method suggested is based on the presentation of the accelerator magnetic structure as a sequential set of discrete elements. All the elements can be divided into the following main groups: free rectilinear gaps, rectilinear gaps with stray magnetic field, magnetic sectors, rectilinear gaps with accelerating electric field. The calculations made according to the method described have shown its high efficiency. The program developed is used for the simulation of the injection into the ''Pakhra'' synchrotron

Radiation monitoring and measuring instrument developed by Turkish Atomic Energy Authority

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuecuekarslan, N.; Gueven, A.

2001-01-01

Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEA), Cekmece Nuclear Research and Training Center, Nuclear Electronics Department is working on research, development and production of radiation monitoring and measuring instruments in the aims of TAEA to serve our Country. Advanced micro controller technology is used to cover problems of radiation measurement. Control by micro controller enables reliable, stable measurement and display of low level dose rate fields. It makes possible the simultaneous measurement of both dose and dose rate values

Can Reliability of Multiple Component Measuring Instruments Depend on Response Option Presentation Mode?

Science.gov (United States)

Menold, Natalja; Raykov, Tenko

2016-01-01

This article examines the possible dependency of composite reliability on presentation format of the elements of a multi-item measuring instrument. Using empirical data and a recent method for interval estimation of group differences in reliability, we demonstrate that the reliability of an instrument need not be the same when polarity of the…

Software System for the Calibration of X-Ray Measuring Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaytan-Gallardo, E.; Tovar-Munoz, V. M.; Cruz-Estrada, P.; Vergara-Martinez, F. J.; Rivero-Gutierrez, T.

2006-01-01

A software system that facilities the calibration of X-ray measuring instruments used in medical applications is presented. The Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) of the Nuclear Research National Institute in Mexico (ININ in Spanish), supports activities concerning with ionizing radiations in medical area. One of these activities is the calibration of X-ray measuring instruments, in terms of air kerma or exposure by substitution method in an X-ray beam at a point where the rate has been determined by means of a standard ionization chamber. To automatize this process, a software system has been developed, the calibration system is composed by an X-ray unit, a Dynalizer IIIU X-ray meter by RADCAL, a commercial data acquisition card, the software system and the units to be tested and calibrated. A quality control plan has been applied in the development of the software system, ensuring that quality assurance procedures and standards are being followed

Development of an instrument to measure organisational culture in community pharmacies in Great Britain.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Iuri; Willis, Sarah Caroline; Schafheutle, Ellen Ingrid; Hassell, Karen

2018-04-09

Purpose Organisational culture (OC) shapes individuals' perceptions and experiences of work. However, no instrument capable of measuring specific aspects of OC in community pharmacy exists. The purpose of this paper is to report the development and validation of an instrument to measure OC in community pharmacy in Great Britain (GB), and conduct a preliminary analysis of data collected using it. Design/methodology/approach Instrument development comprised three stages: Stage I: 12 qualitative interviews and relevant literature informed instrument design; Stage II: 30 cognitive interviews assessed content validity; and Stage III: a cross-sectional survey mailed to 1,000 community pharmacists in GB, with factor analysis for instrument validation. Statistical analysis investigated how community pharmacists perceived OC in their place of work. Findings Factor analysis produced an instrument containing 60 items across five OC dimensions - business and work configuration, social relationships, personal and professional development, skills utilisation, and environment and structures. Internal reliability for the dimensions was high (0.84 to 0.95); item-total correlations were adequate ( r=0.46 to r=0.76). Based on 209 responses, analysis suggests different OCs in community pharmacy, with some community pharmacists viewing the environment in which they worked as having a higher frequency of aspects related to patient contact and safety than others. Since these aspects are important for providing high healthcare standards, it is likely that differences in OC may be linked to different healthcare outcomes. Originality/value This newly developed and validated instrument to measure OC in community pharmacy can be used to benchmark existing OC across different pharmacies and design interventions for triggering change to improve outcomes for community pharmacists and patients.

Development and validation of a survey instrument to measure children's advertising literacy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rozendaal, E.; Opree, S.J.; Buijzen, M.A.

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a survey measurement instrument for children's advertising literacy. Based on the multidimensional conceptualization of advertising literacy by 0056"> Rozendaal, Lapierre, Van Reijmersdal, and Buijzen (2011), 39 items were created to measure two

Quantification and handling of sampling errors in instrumental measurements: a case study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Charlotte Møller; Bro, R.

2004-01-01

in certain situations, the effect of systematic errors is also considerable. The relevant errors contributing to the prediction error are: error in instrumental measurements (x-error), error in reference measurements (y-error), error in the estimated calibration model (regression coefficient error) and model...

An Experiment in Radiation Measurement Using the Depron Instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Benghin, Victor V.; Nechaev, Oleg Y.; Zolotarev, Ivan A.; Amelyushkin, Alexander M.; Petrov, Vasiliy L.; Panasyuk, Milhail I.; Yashin, Ivan V.

2018-02-01

Most of the radiation measurements have been made onboard spacecraft flying along orbits with an inclination of up to 51.6 degrees. Due to the prospect of manned missions at orbits with larger inclinations, it is advisable to conduct preliminary detailed dosimetry measurements at a high-inclination orbit; due to its polar orbit, the Lomonosov satellite provides good opportunities for such study. We chose a method of cosmic radiation dosimetry based on semiconductor detectors. This method is widely used onboard spacecraft, including full-time radiation monitoring onboard the International Space Station (ISS). It should be noted that not only did the charged particles contribute significantly in the dose equivalent, but also did the neutrons. Semiconductor detectors have low sensitivity to neutron radiation and are not sufficient for detecting the expected flux of neutrons. We add a thermal neutron counter to the proposed device in order to provide an opportunity for estimation of neutron flux variations along the satellite trajectory. Thus, the design of the instrument DEPRON (Dosimeter of Electrons, PROtons and Neutrons) was determined. DEPRON is intended for registration of the absorbed doses and linear energy transfer spectra for high-energy electrons, protons and nuclei of space radiation, as well as registration of thermal neutrons. The present paper provides a brief description of the DEPRON instrument. Its calibration results and the first mission results of background radiation measurements are also presented.

Development of volumetric methane measurement instrument for laboratory scale anaerobic reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahito, A.R.

2015-01-01

In the present study, a newly developed VMMI (volumetric Methane-Measuring Instrument) for laboratory scale anaerobic reactors is presented. The VMMI is a reliable, inexpensive, easy to construct, easy to use, corrosion resistant device that does not need maintenance, can measure a wide flow range of gas at varying pressure and temperature. As per the results of the error analysis, the accuracy of the VMMI is unilateral, i.e. -6.91 %. The calibration of VMMI was investigated and a linear variation was found; hence, in situ calibration is recommended for this type of instrument. As per chromatographic analysis, it absorbs almost 100% of the carbon dioxide present in the biogas, results only the methane, and thus eliminates the need of cost intensive composition analysis of biogas through gas chromatograph. (author)

Evaluation of the measurement properties of self-reported health-related work-functioning instruments among workers with common mental disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Abma, Femke I; van der Klink, Jac J L; Terwee, Caroline B; Amick, Benjamin C; Bültmann, Ute

2012-01-01

During the past decade, common mental disorders (CMD) have emerged as a major public and occupational health problem in many countries. Several instruments have been developed to measure the influence of health on functioning at work. To select appropriate instruments for use in occupational health practice and research, the measurement properties (eg, reliability, validity, responsiveness) must be evaluated. The objective of this study is to appraise critically and compare the measurement properties of self-reported health-related work-functioning instruments among workers with CMD. A systematic review was performed searching three electronic databases. Papers were included that: (i) mainly focused on the development and/or evaluation of the measurement properties of a self-reported health-related work-functioning instrument; (ii) were conducted in a CMD population; and (iii) were fulltext original papers. Quality appraisal was performed using the consensus-based standards for the selection of health status measurement instruments (COSMIN) checklist. Five papers evaluating measurement properties of five self-reported health-related work-functioning instruments in CMD populations were included. There is little evidence available for the measurement properties of the identified instruments in this population, mainly due to low methodological quality of the included studies. The available evidence on measurement properties is based on studies of poor-to-fair methodological quality. Information on a number of measurement properties, such as measurement error, content validity, and cross-cultural validity is still lacking. Therefore, no evidence-based decisions and recommendations can be made for the use of health-related work functioning instruments. Studies of high methodological quality are needed to properly assess the existing instruments' measurement properties.

Measuring Lagrangian accelerations using an instrumented particle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmermann, R; Fiabane, L; Volk, R; Pinton, J-F; Gasteuil, Y

2013-01-01

Accessing and characterizing a flow imposes a number of constraints on the employed measurement techniques; in particular, optical methods require transparent fluids and windows in the vessel. Whereas one can adapt the apparatus, fluid and methods in the laboratory to these constraints, this is hardly possible for industrial mixers. In this paper, we present a novel measurement technique which is suitable for opaque or granular flows: consider an instrumented particle, which continuously transmits the force/acceleration acting on it as it is advected in a flow. Its density is adjustable for a wide range of fluids and because of its small size and its wireless data transmission, the system can be used both in industrial and in scientific mixers, allowing for a better understanding of the flow within. We demonstrate the capabilities and precision of the particle by comparing its transmitted acceleration to alternative measurements, in particular in the case of a turbulent von Kármán flow. Our technique proves to be an efficient and fast tool to characterize flows. (paper)

INSTRUMENTS MEASURING PERCEIVED RACISM/RACIAL DISCRIMINATION: REVIEW AND CRITIQUE OF FACTOR ANALYTIC TECHNIQUES

Science.gov (United States)

Atkins, Rahshida

2015-01-01

Several compendiums of instruments that measure perceived racism and/or discrimination are present in the literature. Other works have reviewed the psychometric properties of these instruments in terms of validity and reliability and have indicated if the instrument was factor analyzed. However, little attention has been given to the quality of the factor analysis performed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the exploratory factor analyses done on instruments measuring perceived racism/racial discrimination using guidelines from experts in psychometric theory. The techniques used for factor analysis were reviewed and critiqued and the adequacy of reporting was evaluated. Internet search engines and four electronic abstract databases were used to identify 16 relevant instruments that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Principal component analysis was the most frequent method of extraction (81%). Sample sizes were adequate for factor analysis in 81 percent of studies. The majority of studies reported appropriate criteria for the acceptance of un-rotated factors (81%) and justified the rotation method (75%). Exactly 94 percent of studies reported partially acceptable criteria for the acceptance of rotated factors. The majority of articles (69%) reported adequate coefficient alphas for the resultant subscales. In 81 percent of the studies, the conceptualized dimensions were supported by factor analysis. PMID:25626225

Pulse Wave Velocity Measuring System using Virtual Instrumentation on Mobile Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razvan Alin Ciobotariu

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Virtual instrumentation is a concept that permits customizable modular software measurement and the development of the user-defined tools for control, process and visualization of data, creating versatile systems, using modular programming, intuitive and easy to use. In this paper we investigate a possibility of using virtual instrumentation in the development of two physiological parameters monitoring system, in order to assess a cardiovascular parameter, the Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV. We choose to monitor this parameter due to major incidence and impact of cardiovascular diseases (CVD.

The Karen instruments for measuring quality of nursing care: construct validity and internal consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindgren, Margareta; Andersson, Inger S

2011-06-01

Valid and reliable instruments for measuring the quality of care are needed for evaluation and improvement of nursing care. Previously developed and evaluated instruments, the Karen-patient and the Karen-personnel based on Donabedian's Structure-Process-Outcome triad (S-P-O triad) had promising content validity, discriminative power and internal consistency. The objective of this study was to further develop the instruments with regard to construct validity and internal consistency. This prospective study was carried out in medical and surgical wards at a hospital in Sweden. A total of 95 patients and 120 personnel were included. The instruments were tested for construct validity by performing factor analyses in two steps and for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The first confirmatory factor analyses, with a pre-determined three-factor solution did not load well according to the S-P-O triad, but the second exploratory factor analysis with a six-factor solution appeared to be more coherent and the distribution of variables seemed to be logical. The reliability, i.e. internal consistency, was good in both factor analyses. The Karen-patient and the Karen-personnel instruments have achieved acceptable levels of construct validity. The internal consistency of the instruments is good. This indicates that the instruments may be suitable to use in clinical practice for measuring the quality of nursing care.

Reliability of the Q Force; a mobile instrument for measuring isometric quadriceps muscle strength

OpenAIRE

Schans, van der, C.P.; Zijlstra, W.; Regterschot, G.R.H.; Krijnen, W.P.; Douma, K.W.; Slager, G.E.C.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: The ability to generate muscle strength is a pre-requisite for all human movement. Decreased quadriceps muscle strength is frequently observed in older adults and is associated with a decreased performance and activity limitations. To quantify the quadriceps muscle strength and to monitor changes over time, instruments and procedures with a sufficient reliability are needed. The Q Force is an innovative mobile muscle strength measurement instrument suitable to measure in various d...

Field instruments for real time in-situ crude oil concentration measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuller, C.B.; Bonner, J.S.; Page, C.A.; Arrambide, G.; Sterling, M.C.Jr.; Ojo, T.O.

2003-01-01

Accidental oil spills, contaminant release during resuspension, storms, and harmful algal blooms are all episodic events that can effect coastal margins. It is important to quantitatively describe water and ecological quality evolution and predict the impact to these areas by such events, but traditional sampling methods miss environmental activity during cyclical events. This paper presents a new sampling approach that involves continuous, real-time in-situ monitoring to provide data for development of comprehensive modeling protocols. It gives spill response coordinators greater assurance in making decisions using the latest visualization tools which are based on a good understanding of the physical processes at work in pulsed events. Five sensors for rapid monitoring of crude oil concentrations in aquatic systems were described. The in-situ and ex-situ sensors can measure plume transport and estimate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure concentrations to assess risk of toxicity. A brief description and evaluation of the following 5 sensors was provided: the LISST-100 by Sequoia Instrument, a submersible multi-angle laser scattering instrument; the AU-10 field fluorometer by Turner Designs, an ex-situ single wavelength fluorometer; the Flashlamp by WET Labs Inc., an in-situ single wavelength fluorometer; and, the ECO-FL3 and SAFire by WET Labs Inc., two in-situ multiple wavelength fluorometers. These instruments were used to analyze crude oil emissions of various concentrations. All of the instruments followed a linear response within the tested concentration range. At the lowest concentrations the LISST-100 was not as effective as the fluorometers because of limited particle volume for scatter. For the AU-10 field fluorometer, the highest concentrations tested were above the measurement range of the instrument. 6 refs., 5 figs

Does the instantaneous wave-free ratio approximate the fractional flow reserve?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Johnson, Nils P.; Kirkeeide, Richard L.; Asrress, Kaleab N.; Fearon, William F.; Lockie, Timothy; Marques, Koen M. J.; Pyxaras, Stylianos A.; Rolandi, M. Cristina; van 't Veer, Marcel; de Bruyne, Bernard; Piek, Jan J.; Pijls, Nico H. J.; Redwood, Simon; Siebes, Maria; Spaan, Jos A. E.; Gould, K. Lance

2013-01-01

This study sought to examine the clinical performance of and theoretical basis for the instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) approximation to the fractional flow reserve (FFR). Recent work has proposed iFR as a vasodilation-free alternative to FFR for making mechanical revascularization decisions. Its

Tundish Cover Flux Thickness Measurement Method and Instrumentation Based on Computer Vision in Continuous Casting Tundish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng Lu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Thickness of tundish cover flux (TCF plays an important role in continuous casting (CC steelmaking process. Traditional measurement method of TCF thickness is single/double wire methods, which have several problems such as personal security, easily affected by operators, and poor repeatability. To solve all these problems, in this paper, we specifically designed and built an instrumentation and presented a novel method to measure the TCF thickness. The instrumentation was composed of a measurement bar, a mechanical device, a high-definition industrial camera, a Siemens S7-200 programmable logic controller (PLC, and a computer. Our measurement method was based on the computer vision algorithms, including image denoising method, monocular range measurement method, scale invariant feature transform (SIFT, and image gray gradient detection method. Using the present instrumentation and method, images in the CC tundish can be collected by camera and transferred to computer to do imaging processing. Experiments showed that our instrumentation and method worked well at scene of steel plants, can accurately measure the thickness of TCF, and overcome the disadvantages of traditional measurement methods, or even replace the traditional ones.

Optical Performance of Breadboard Amon-Ra Imaging Channel Instrument for Deep Space Albedo Measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Won Hyun Park

2007-03-01

Full Text Available The AmonRa instrument, the primary payload of the international EARTHSHINE mission, is designed for measurement of deep space albedo from L1 halo orbit. We report the optical design, tolerance analysis and the optical performance of the breadborad AmonRa imaging channel instrument optimized for the mission science requirements. In particular, an advanced wavefront feedback process control technique was used for the instrumentation process including part fabrication, system alignment and integration. The measured performances for the complete breadboard system are the RMS 0.091 wave(test wavelength: 632.8 nm in wavefront error, the ensquared energy of 61.7%(in 14 μ m and the MTF of 35.3%(Nyquist frequency: 35.7 mm^{-1} at the center field. These resulting optical system performances prove that the breadboard AmonRa instrument, as built, satisfies the science requirements of the EARTHSHINE mission.

Non-invasive measuring instrument of kVp, R/M and exposure time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laan, Flavio T. van der; Elbern, Alwin W.

1996-01-01

The development of an instrument for fast measurement of essential parameters related to quality control of X-ray equipment is described. The unit is designed with a 80 C31 micro controller, a function keyboard, an αnumeric display and a probe with PV diodes. Testing and calibration in this non-invasive instrument has been done at the X-rays equipment for the Santa Rita Hospital in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

The Construct Validity of an Instrument for Measuring Type 2 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abstract. Purpose: To develop an instrument (DSCKQ-30) for measuring type 2 diabetic patients' knowledge of self-care practices. Methods: A 30-item questionnaire (DSCKQ-30) consisting of close ended questions was developed for this study. DSCKQ-30 was self administered to a cross-section of randomly selected 400 ...

The Thirty Gigahertz Instrument Receiver for the QUIJOTE Experiment: Preliminary Polarization Measurements and Systematic-Error Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco J. Casas

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents preliminary polarization measurements and systematic-error characterization of the Thirty Gigahertz Instrument receiver developed for the QUIJOTE experiment. The instrument has been designed to measure the polarization of Cosmic Microwave Background radiation from the sky, obtaining the Q, U, and I Stokes parameters of the incoming signal simultaneously. Two kinds of linearly polarized input signals have been used as excitations in the polarimeter measurement tests in the laboratory; these show consistent results in terms of the Stokes parameters obtained. A measurement-based systematic-error characterization technique has been used in order to determine the possible sources of instrumental errors and to assist in the polarimeter calibration process.

Measurements of the Ice Water Content of Cirrus in the Tropics and Subtropics. I; Instrument Details and Validation

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstock, E. M.; Smith, J. B.; Sayres, D.; Pittman, J. V.; Allen, N.; Demusz, J.; Greenberg, M.; Rivero, M.; Anderson, J. G.

2003-01-01

We describe an instrument mounted in a pallet on the NASA WB-57 aircraft that is designed to measure the sum of gas phase and solid phase water, or total water, in cirrus clouds. Using an isokinetic inlet, a 600-watt heater mounted directly in the flow, and Lyman-alpha photofragment fluorescence technique for detection, accurate measurements of total water have been made over almost three orders of magnitude. Isokinetic flow is achieved with an actively controlled roots pump by referencing aircraft pressure, temperature, and true air speed, together with instrument flow velocity, temperature, and pressure. During CRYSTAL FACE, the instrument operated at duct temperatures sufficiently warm to completely evaporate particles up to 150 microns diameter. In flight diagnostics, intercomparison with water measured by absorption in flight, as well as intercomparisons in clear air with water vapor measured by the Harvard water vapor instrument and the JPL infrared tunable diode laser hygrometer validate the detection sensitivity of the instrument and illustrate minimal hysteresis from instrument surfaces. The simultaneous measurement of total water and water vapor in cirrus clouds yields their ice water content.

Measuring Financial Literacy: Developing and Testing a Measurement Instrument with a Selected Group of South African Military Officers

Science.gov (United States)

Schwella, E.; van Nieuwenhuyzen, Bernard J.

2014-01-01

Are South Africans financially literate, and how can this be measured? Until 2009 there was no South African financial literacy measure and, therefore, the aim was to develop a South African measurement instrument that is scientific, socially acceptable, valid and reliable. To achieve this aim a contextual and conceptual analysis of financial…

Construction and Validation of a Measurement Instrument for Attitudes towards Teamwork

Science.gov (United States)

Mendo-Lázaro, Santiago; Polo-del-Río, María I.; Iglesias-Gallego, Damián; Felipe-Castaño, Elena; León-del-Barco, Benito

2017-01-01

Cooperative, collaborative learning and other forms of group learning methods are increasingly used in classrooms. Knowing students’ attitudes toward teamwork has great value since they influence the students’ learning results as well as their social development. So it is necessary to have robust instruments to provide a better understanding of these attitudes and preferences concerning teamwork. Such instruments also help to identify the factors that promote positive or negative attitudes within the context of group activities. Using a sample of 750 first and second year university students studying a degree in Kindergarten, Primary and Social Education, an instrument measuring attitudes toward team learning has been developed. Two distinct factors were obtained through various factorial analyses and structural equations: Academic attitudes and Social and emotional attitudes. Our study reveals that the instrument is both valid and reliable. Its application is both simple and fast and it has important implications for planning teaching and learning activities that contribute to an improvement in attitudes as well as the practice of teaching in the context of learning through teamwork. PMID:28676775

Construction and Validation of a Measurement Instrument for Attitudes towards Teamwork

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santiago Mendo-Lázaro

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Cooperative, collaborative learning and other forms of group learning methods are increasingly used in classrooms. Knowing students’ attitudes toward teamwork has great value since they influence the students’ learning results as well as their social development. So it is necessary to have robust instruments to provide a better understanding of these attitudes and preferences concerning teamwork. Such instruments also help to identify the factors that promote positive or negative attitudes within the context of group activities. Using a sample of 750 first and second year university students studying a degree in Kindergarten, Primary and Social Education, an instrument measuring attitudes toward team learning has been developed. Two distinct factors were obtained through various factorial analyses and structural equations: Academic attitudes and Social and emotional attitudes. Our study reveals that the instrument is both valid and reliable. Its application is both simple and fast and it has important implications for planning teaching and learning activities that contribute to an improvement in attitudes as well as the practice of teaching in the context of learning through teamwork.

Analysis and protective measures of sharp instrument injury causes of sterilization and supply center

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hua YANG

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: To analyze the causes of sharp injury in the sterilization and supply center, take protective measures, effectively avoid sharp instrument injury, and guarantee staff safety. Methods: Adopt a retrospective survey method, summarize sharp instrument injury data of sterilization and supply center in 2013, analyze the reasons of the occurrence of sharp instrument injury, and make protective countermeasures. Results: Sharp instrument injuries occurred mainly in the device classification, manual cleaning and device packaging process. Conclusion: Poor consciousness of occupational protection of the staff in the sterilization and supply center, nonstandard operation, and lack of training and supervision in place are the main reasons of occurrence of sharp instrument injury.

Instantaneous and cumulative influences of competition on impulsive choices in domestic chicks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hidetoshi eAmita

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This study examined instantaneous and cumulative effects of competitive interactions on impulsiveness in the inter-temporal choices in domestic chicks. Chicks were trained to peck colored beads to gain delayed food rewards (1 or 6 grains of millet delivered after a delay ranging between 0–4.5 s, and were tested in binary choices between a small-short delay option (SS and a large-long delay alternative (LL. To examine whether competitive foraging instantaneously changes impulsiveness, we intraindividually compared choices between two consecutive tests in different contexts, one with competitors and another without. We found that (1 the number of the choice of LL was not influenced by competition in the tests, but (2 the operant peck latency was shortened by competition, suggesting a socially enhanced incentive for food. To further examine the lasting changes, two groups of chicks were consecutively trained and tested daily for 2 weeks according to a behavioral titration procedure, one with competitors and another without. Inter-group comparisons of the choices revealed that (3 choice impulsiveness gradually decreased along development, while (4 the chicks trained in competition maintained a higher level of impulsiveness. These results suggest that competitive foraging causes impulsive choices not by direct/contextual modification. Causal link between the instantaneous enhancement of incentive and the gradual effects on impulsivity remains to be examined. Some (yet unspecified factors may be indirectly involved.

Solar ultraviolet irradiance measurements, instrumentation, intercomparisons and interpretations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorseth, Trond Morten

2000-01-01

The thesis reports studies of stabile instruments that are capable of detecting small alterations in ultraviolet irradiation over a long period. A central theme in the work has been to improve the measuring systems for continuous research based monitoring of natural variations in the ultraviolet irradiation from the sun. Methods for controlling the stability and continually secure the quality of the collected data. The causes of measuring errors are mapped and methods for the correction of collected data are developed. The methods and measuring systems for collecting the data have been adapted to the Norwegian climate and geography. The work has lead to an increased understanding of the natural variation in the ultraviolet radiation from the sun and what factors in the atmosphere that influences the process. The collected data and the developed methods for the quality control have increased the understanding of the ultraviolet irradiation climate in Europe

Solar ultraviolet irradiance measurements, instrumentation, intercomparisons and interpretations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thorseth, Trond Morten

2000-07-01

The thesis reports studies of stabile instruments that are capable of detecting small alterations in ultraviolet irradiation over a long period. A central theme in the work has been to improve the measuring systems for continuous research based monitoring of natural variations in the ultraviolet irradiation from the sun. Methods for controlling the stability and continually secure the quality of the collected data. The causes of measuring errors are mapped and methods for the correction of collected data are developed. The methods and measuring systems for collecting the data have been adapted to the Norwegian climate and geography. The work has lead to an increased understanding of the natural variation in the ultraviolet radiation from the sun and what factors in the atmosphere that influences the process. The collected data and the developed methods for the quality control have increased the understanding of the ultraviolet irradiation climate in Europe.

Impact of and correction for instrument sensitivity drift on nanoparticle size measurements by single-particle ICP-MS

Science.gov (United States)

El Hadri, Hind; Petersen, Elijah J.; Winchester, Michael R.

2016-01-01

The effect of ICP-MS instrument sensitivity drift on the accuracy of NP size measurements using single particle (sp)ICP-MS is investigated. Theoretical modeling and experimental measurements of the impact of instrument sensitivity drift are in agreement and indicate that drift can impact the measured size of spherical NPs by up to 25 %. Given this substantial bias in the measured size, a method was developed using an internal standard to correct for the impact of drift and was shown to accurately correct for a decrease in instrument sensitivity of up to 50 % for 30 nm and 60 nm gold nanoparticles. PMID:26894759

Validation of an Instrument to Measure Students' Motivation and Self-Regulation towards Technology Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Liou, Pey-Yan; Kuo, Pei-Jung

2014-01-01

Background: Few studies have examined students' attitudinal perceptions of technology. There is no appropriate instrument to measure senior high school students' motivation and self-regulation toward technology learning among the current existing instruments in the field of technology education. Purpose: The present study is to validate an…

Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI): Refinement and Validation of a Survey Measure

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Cates, Michael S

2007-01-01

.... The measurement instrument known as the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Index (CEAI) has been designed to tap the climate-related organizational factors that represent and potentially encourage corporate entrepreneurship...

Using the Rasch measurement model to design a report writing assessment instrument.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Wayne R

2013-01-01

This paper describes how the Rasch measurement model was used to develop an assessment instrument designed to measure student ability to write law enforcement incident and investigative reports. The ability to write reports is a requirement of all law enforcement recruits in the state of Michigan and is a part of the state's mandatory basic training curriculum, which is promulgated by the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES). Recently, MCOLES conducted research to modernize its training and testing in the area of report writing. A structured validation process was used, which included: a) an examination of the job tasks of a patrol officer, b) input from content experts, c) a review of the professional research, and d) the creation of an instrument to measure student competency. The Rasch model addressed several measurement principles that were central to construct validity, which were particularly useful for assessing student performances. Based on the results of the report writing validation project, the state established a legitimate connectivity between the report writing standard and the essential job functions of a patrol officer in Michigan. The project also produced an authentic instrument for measuring minimum levels of report writing competency, which generated results that are valid for inferences of student ability. Ultimately, the state of Michigan must ensure the safety of its citizens by licensing only those patrol officers who possess a minimum level of core competency. Maintaining the validity and reliability of both the training and testing processes can ensure that the system for producing such candidates functions as intended.

The quantitative measurement of organizational culture in health care: a review of the available instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Tim; Mannion, Russell; Davies, Huw; Marshall, Martin

2003-06-01

To review the quantitative instruments available to health service researchers who want to measure culture and cultural change. A literature search was conducted using Medline, Cinahl, Helmis, Psychlit, Dhdata, and the database of the King's Fund in London for articles published up to June 2001, using the phrase "organizational culture." In addition, all citations and the gray literature were reviewed and advice was sought from experts in the field to identify instruments not found on the electronic databases. The search focused on instruments used to quantify culture with a track record, or potential for use, in health care settings. For each instrument we examined the cultural dimensions addressed, the number of items for each questionnaire, the measurement scale adopted, examples of studies that had used the tool, the scientific properties of the instrument, and its strengths and limitations. Thirteen instruments were found that satisfied our inclusion criteria, of which nine have a track record in studies involving health care organizations. The instruments varied considerably in terms of their grounding in theory, format, length, scope, and scientific properties. A range of instruments with differing characteristics are available to researchers interested in organizational culture, all of which have limitations in terms of their scope, ease of use, or scientific properties. The choice of instrument should be determined by how organizational culture is conceptualized by the research team, the purpose of the investigation, intended use of the results, and availability of resources.

Development of performance assessment instrument based contextual learning for measuring students laboratory skills

Science.gov (United States)

Susilaningsih, E.; Khotimah, K.; Nurhayati, S.

2018-04-01

The assessment of laboratory skill in general hasn’t specific guideline in assessment, while the individual assessment of students during a performance and skill in performing laboratory is still not been observed and measured properly. Alternative assessment that can be used to measure student laboratory skill is use performance assessment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the performance assessment instrument that the result of research can be used to assess basic skills student laboratory. This research was conducted by the Research and Development. The result of the data analysis performance assessment instruments developed feasible to implement and validation result 62.5 with very good categories for observation sheets laboratory skills and all of the components with the very good category. The procedure is the preliminary stages of research and development stages. Preliminary stages are divided in two, namely the field studies and literature studies. The development stages are divided into several parts, namely 1) development of the type instrument, 2) validation by an expert, 3) a limited scale trial, 4) large-scale trials and 5) implementation of the product. The instrument included in the category of effective because 26 from 29 students have very high laboratory skill and high laboratory skill. The research of performance assessment instrument is standard and can be used to assess basic skill student laboratory.

Estimating pushrim temporal and kinetic measures using an instrumented treadmill during wheelchair propulsion: A concurrent validity study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gagnon, Dany H; Jouval, Camille; Chénier, Félix

2016-06-14

Using ground reaction forces recorded while propelling a manual wheelchair on an instrumented treadmill may represent a valuable alternative to using an instrumented pushrim to calculate temporal and kinetic parameters during propulsion. Sixteen manual wheelchair users propelled their wheelchair equipped with instrumented pushrims (i.e., SMARTWheel) on an instrumented dual-belt treadmill set a 1m/s during a 1-minute period. Spatio-temporal (i.e., duration of the push and recovery phase) and kinetic measures (i.e. propulsive moments) were calculated for 20 consecutive strokes for each participant. Strong associations were confirmed between the treadmill and the instrumented pushrim for the mean duration of the push phase (r=0.98) and of the recovery phase (r=0.99). Good agreement between these two measurement instruments was also confirmed with mean differences of only 0.028s for the push phase and 0.012s for the recovery phase. Strong associations were confirmed between the instrumented wheelchair pushrim and treadmill for mean (r=0.97) and peak (r=0.96) propulsive moments. Good agreement between these two measurement instruments was also confirmed with mean differences of 0.50Nm (mean moment) and 0.71Nm (peak moment). The use of a dual-belt instrumented treadmill represents an alternative to characterizing temporal parameters and propulsive moments during manual wheelchair propulsion. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gene Expression Measurement Module (GEMM) - A Fully Automated, Miniaturized Instrument for Measuring Gene Expression in Space

Science.gov (United States)

Pohorille, Andrew; Peyvan, Kia; Karouia, Fathi; Ricco, Antonio

2012-01-01

The capability to measure gene expression on board spacecraft opens the door to a large number of high-value experiments on the influence of the space environment on biological systems. For example, measurements of gene expression will help us to understand adaptation of terrestrial life to conditions beyond the planet of origin, identify deleterious effects of the space environment on a wide range of organisms from microbes to humans, develop effective countermeasures against these effects, and determine the metabolic bases of microbial pathogenicity and drug resistance. These and other applications hold significant potential for discoveries in space biology, biotechnology, and medicine. Supported by funding from the NASA Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development Program, we are developing a fully automated, miniaturized, integrated fluidic system for small spacecraft capable of in-situ measurement of expression of several hundreds of microbial genes from multiple samples. The instrument will be capable of (1) lysing cell walls of bacteria sampled from cultures grown in space, (2) extracting and purifying RNA released from cells, (3) hybridizing the RNA on a microarray and (4) providing readout of the microarray signal, all in a single microfluidics cartridge. The device is suitable for deployment on nanosatellite platforms developed by NASA Ames' Small Spacecraft Division. To meet space and other technical constraints imposed by these platforms, a number of technical innovations are being implemented. The integration and end-to-end technological and biological validation of the instrument are carried out using as a model the photosynthetic bacterium Synechococcus elongatus, known for its remarkable metabolic diversity and resilience to adverse conditions. Each step in the measurement process-lysis, nucleic acid extraction, purification, and hybridization to an array-is assessed through comparison of the results obtained using the instrument with

An instrument for measurement of 125I with automatic efficiency correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holford, R.M.

1979-10-01

Counting efficiencies for 125 I are often uncertain because of self-absorption of the low-energy radiation. A special purpose instrument, AEP-5285, has been designed to simplify the measurement of 125 I activities using a known technique in which the observed counting rate is compensated for self-absorption and any other uncertainties in the counting efficiency by making use of the coicidence properties of the radiation. The instrument contains pulse amplifiers, discriminators to define the energy regions of interest, and operational amplifier circuits to perform the necessary calculations automatically, and it displays an estimate of the source activity in becquerels. (auth)

Designing an Instrument to Measure the QoS of a Spanish Virtual Store

Science.gov (United States)

de Abajo, Beatriz Sainz; de La Torre Díez, Isabel; Salcines, Enrique García; Fernández, Javier Burón; Pernas, Francisco Díaz; Coronado, Miguel López; de Castro Lozano, Carlos

This article describes the development of an instrument, in the form of a survey, which is distributed to users of a B2C website selling electronic books in order to ascertain their satisfaction. The opinions compiled from a pilot sample and the exploratory factor analysis carried out point to factors that best summarise the quality of the application analysed here. Analysis of the initial survey, with a total of 40 items, shaped the final instrument, encompassing 18 items divided into 6 dimensions, which measure the perceptions of users of the application in order to improve the contents of the website. Subsequently, a confirmatory factorial analysis is performed, ensuring the reliability of the study and which confirms that the structure of the instrument developed truly measures service quality in accordance with the requirements of the website in terms of offering a space that fulfils consumer expectations in the Information Society.

Engagement in Games: Developing an Instrument to Measure Consumer Videogame Engagement and Its Validation

OpenAIRE

Abbasi, Amir Zaib; Ting, Ding Hooi; Hlavacs, Helmut

2017-01-01

The aim of the study is to develop a new instrument to measure engagement in videogame play termed as consumer videogame engagement. The study followed the scale development procedure to develop an instrument to measure the construct of consumer videogame engagement. In this study, we collected the data in two different phases comprising study 1 (n=136) and study 2 (n=270). We employed SPSS 22.0 for exploratory factor analysis using study 1 respondents to explore the factors for consumer vide...

Automatic first-break picking using the instantaneous traveltime attribute

KAUST Repository

Saragiotis, Christos

2012-01-01

Picking the first breaks is an important step in seismic processing. The large volume of the seismic data calls for automatic and objective picking. We introduce a new automatic first-break picker, which uses specifically designed time windows and an iterative procedure based on the instantaneous traveltime attribute. The method is fast as it only uses a few FFT\\'s per trace. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this automatic method by applying it on real test data.

ISOMAX: a balloon-borne instrument to measure cosmic ray isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hof, M.; Bremerich, M.; Goebel, H.; Hams, T.; Menn, W.; Simon, M.; Barbier, L.M.; Christian, E.R.; Geier, S.; Gupta, S.K.; Krizmanic, J.F.; Mitchell, J.W.; Ormes, J.F.; Streitmatter, R.E.; Davis, A.J.; Nolfo, G.A. de; Mewaldt, R.A.; Schindler, S.M.

2000-01-01

The Isotope Magnet Experiment (ISOMAX) is a new balloon-borne instrument developed to measure the isotopic composition of the light elements in the cosmic radiation, in particular to obtain the ratio of the radioactive 10 Be to stable 9 Be. ISOMAX was first flown in August 4-5, 1998, from Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Canada. ISOMAX has a geometry factor of 450 cm 2 sr and was configured for this flight with a large, Helmholtz-like, superconducting magnet in combination with a drift-chamber tracking system, a state-of-the-art time-of-flight system and two aerogel Cherenkov detectors to measure light isotopes with a mass resolution of better than 0.25 amu. In the 1998 flight the obtained maximum detectable rigidity of the magnetic spectrometer was 970 GeV/c for helium at 60% of the full magnetic field. ISOMAX took data for more than 16 h at float altitudes above 36 km. We here present the performance of the individual detectors and initial isotopic results of the instrument

Review of modern instrumentation for magnetic measurements at high pressure and low temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, X.; Kamenev, K.V.

2015-01-01

High-pressure magnetic susceptibility experiments can provide insights into the changes in magnetic behavior and electric properties which can accompany extreme compressions of material. Instrumentation plays an important role in the experimental work in this field since 1990s. Here we present a comprehensive review of the high-pressure instrumentation development for magnetic measurement from the engineering perspective in the last 20 years. Suitable nonmagnetic materials for high pressure cell are introduced initially. Then we focus on the existing cells developed for magnetic property measurement system (MPMS) SQUID magnetometer from Quantum Design (USA). Two categories of high pressure cells for this system are discussed in detail respectively. Some high pressure cells with built-in magnetic measurement system are also reviewed

Development and Validation of Two Instruments Measuring Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane Cognitive Load

Science.gov (United States)

Klepsch, Melina; Schmitz, Florian; Seufert, Tina

2017-01-01

Cognitive Load Theory is one of the most powerful research frameworks in educational research. Beside theoretical discussions about the conceptual parts of cognitive load, the main challenge within this framework is that there is still no measurement instrument for the different aspects of cognitive load, namely intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Hence, the goal of this paper is to develop a differentiated measurement of cognitive load. In Study 1 (N = 97), we developed and analyzed two strategies to measure cognitive load in a differentiated way: (1) Informed rating: We trained learners in differentiating the concepts of cognitive load, so that they could rate them in an informed way. They were asked then to rate 24 different learning situations or learning materials related to either high or low intrinsic, extraneous, or germane load. (2) Naïve rating: For this type of rating of cognitive load we developed a questionnaire with two to three items for each type of load. With this questionnaire, the same learning situations had to be rated. In the second study (N = between 65 and 95 for each task), we improved the instrument for the naïve rating. For each study, we analyzed whether the instruments are reliable and valid, for Study 1, we also checked for comparability of the two measurement strategies. In Study 2, we conducted a simultaneous scenario based factor analysis. The informed rating seems to be a promising strategy to assess the different aspects of cognitive load, but it seems not economic and feasible for larger studies and a standardized training would be necessary. The improved version of the naïve rating turned out to be a useful, feasible, and reliable instrument. Ongoing studies analyze the conceptual validity of this measurement with up to now promising results. PMID:29201011

Development and Validation of Two Instruments Measuring Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane Cognitive Load.

Science.gov (United States)

Klepsch, Melina; Schmitz, Florian; Seufert, Tina

2017-01-01

Cognitive Load Theory is one of the most powerful research frameworks in educational research. Beside theoretical discussions about the conceptual parts of cognitive load, the main challenge within this framework is that there is still no measurement instrument for the different aspects of cognitive load, namely intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Hence, the goal of this paper is to develop a differentiated measurement of cognitive load. In Study 1 ( N = 97), we developed and analyzed two strategies to measure cognitive load in a differentiated way: (1) Informed rating: We trained learners in differentiating the concepts of cognitive load, so that they could rate them in an informed way. They were asked then to rate 24 different learning situations or learning materials related to either high or low intrinsic, extraneous, or germane load. (2) Naïve rating: For this type of rating of cognitive load we developed a questionnaire with two to three items for each type of load. With this questionnaire, the same learning situations had to be rated. In the second study ( N = between 65 and 95 for each task), we improved the instrument for the naïve rating. For each study, we analyzed whether the instruments are reliable and valid, for Study 1, we also checked for comparability of the two measurement strategies. In Study 2, we conducted a simultaneous scenario based factor analysis. The informed rating seems to be a promising strategy to assess the different aspects of cognitive load, but it seems not economic and feasible for larger studies and a standardized training would be necessary. The improved version of the naïve rating turned out to be a useful, feasible, and reliable instrument. Ongoing studies analyze the conceptual validity of this measurement with up to now promising results.

Development and Validation of Two Instruments Measuring Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane Cognitive Load

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melina Klepsch

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Cognitive Load Theory is one of the most powerful research frameworks in educational research. Beside theoretical discussions about the conceptual parts of cognitive load, the main challenge within this framework is that there is still no measurement instrument for the different aspects of cognitive load, namely intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Hence, the goal of this paper is to develop a differentiated measurement of cognitive load. In Study 1 (N = 97, we developed and analyzed two strategies to measure cognitive load in a differentiated way: (1 Informed rating: We trained learners in differentiating the concepts of cognitive load, so that they could rate them in an informed way. They were asked then to rate 24 different learning situations or learning materials related to either high or low intrinsic, extraneous, or germane load. (2 Naïve rating: For this type of rating of cognitive load we developed a questionnaire with two to three items for each type of load. With this questionnaire, the same learning situations had to be rated. In the second study (N = between 65 and 95 for each task, we improved the instrument for the naïve rating. For each study, we analyzed whether the instruments are reliable and valid, for Study 1, we also checked for comparability of the two measurement strategies. In Study 2, we conducted a simultaneous scenario based factor analysis. The informed rating seems to be a promising strategy to assess the different aspects of cognitive load, but it seems not economic and feasible for larger studies and a standardized training would be necessary. The improved version of the naïve rating turned out to be a useful, feasible, and reliable instrument. Ongoing studies analyze the conceptual validity of this measurement with up to now promising results.

Development of an instrument to measure self-efficacy in caregivers of people with advanced cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Ugalde, Anna; Krishnasamy, Meinir; Schofield, Penelope

2013-06-01

Informal caregivers of people with advanced cancer experience many negative impacts as a result of their role. There is a lack of suitable measures specifically designed to assess their experience. This study aimed to develop a new measure to assess self-efficacy in caregivers of people with advanced cancer. The development and testing of the new measure consisted of four separate, sequential phases: generation of issues, development of issues into items, pilot testing and field testing. In the generation of issues, 17 caregivers were interviewed to generate data. These data were analysed to generate codes, which were then systematically developed into items to construct the instrument. The instrument was pilot tested with 14 health professionals and five caregivers. It was then administered to a large sample for field testing to establish the psychometric properties, with established measures including the Brief Cope and the Family Appraisals for Caregiving Questionnaire for Palliative Care. Ninety-four caregivers completed the questionnaire booklet to establish the factor structure, reliability and validity. The factor analysis resulted in a 21-item, four-factor instrument, with the subscales being termed Resilience, Self-Maintenance, Emotional Connectivity and Instrumental Caregiving. The test-retest reliability and internal consistency were both excellent, ranging from 0.73 to 0.85 and 0.81 to 0.94, respectively. Six convergent and divergent hypotheses were made, and five were supported. This study has developed a new instrument to assess self-efficacy in caregivers of people with advanced cancer. The result is a four-factor, 21-item instrument with demonstrated reliability and validity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Instrument for measuring moisture in wood chips

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Werme, L

1980-06-01

A method to determine the moisture content in wood chips, in batch and on-line, has been investigated. The method can be used for frozen and non frozen chips. Samples of wood chips are thawn and dryed with microwaves. During the drying the sample is weighed continously and the rate of drying is measured. The sample is dried t 10 percent moisture content. The result is extrapolated to the drying rate zero. The acccuracy at the method is 1.6 to 1.7 percent for both frozen and non frozen chips. The accuracy of the method is considered acceptable, but sofisticated sampling equipment is necessary. This makes the method too complex to make the instrument marketable.

Assessment of the measurement control program for solution assay instruments at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldman, A.S.

1985-05-01

This report documents and reviews the measurement control program (MCP) over a 27-month period for four solution assay instruments (SAIs) Facility. SAI measurement data collected during the period January 1982 through March 1984 were analyzed. The sources of these data included computer listings of measurements emanating from operator entries on computer terminals, logbook entries of measurements transcribed by operators, and computer listings of measurements recorded internally in the instruments. Data were also obtained from control charts that are available as part of the MCP. As a result of our analyses we observed agreement between propagated and historical variances and concluded instruments were functioning properly from a precision aspect. We noticed small, persistent biases indicating slight instrument inaccuracies. We suggest that statistical tests for bias be incorporated in the MCP on a monthly basis and if the instrument bias is significantly greater than zero, the instrument should undergo maintenance. We propose the weekly precision test be replaced by a daily test to provide more timely detection of possible problems. We observed that one instrument showed a trend of increasing bias during the past six months and recommend a randomness test be incorporated to detect trends in a more timely fashion. We detected operator transcription errors during data transmissions and advise direct instrument transmission to the MCP to eliminate these errors. A transmission error rate based on those errors that affected decisions in the MCP was estimated as 1%. 11 refs., 10 figs., 4 tabs

Influence of instrument design on neutron lifetime measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Youmans, A.H.; Hopkinson, E.C.

1975-01-01

Commercially available logging services provide a measurement of the lifetime of thermal neutrons in formations adjacent to a borehole. This lifetime provides a measure of the macroscopic thermal neutron-capture cross-section Σ of the formation, which in turn is functionally related to the abundance and constituency of the rock matrix and contained fluids. Because the measurement is extremely sensitive to an abundance of trace elements like boron and gadolinium, it is very difficult to find rock formations with an accurately known value of Σ, which is required for the accuracy of the measuring system to be experimentally tested. Various theoretical studies published suggest that errors in the determination of Σ may occur because of the influence of borehole parameters and the effects of neutron diffusion. Experimental results are reported that demonstrate that the design of the instrument is crucial to the validity of any theoretical treatment of the subject. The influence of neutron diffusion and borehole effects can be overcome by optimal selection of spacing and shielding parameters

Present status of ambient dose equivalent rate and radioactive substance concentration measurements in working environment. (3) Measuring instruments for ionizing radiation in working environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsubara, Shohei

2006-01-01

In order to measure the airborne radioactive substance concentration in working environments, some kinds of sampler such as dust sampler and iodine sampler, measuring instruments (alpha and beta spectrometer, and liquid scintillation counter), monitor (dust-, iodine- and gas-monitor), survey meter for measuring gamma ray dose rate are stated. The measurement method of α, β and γ-ray nuclides and ambient dose-equivalent at 10 mm was explained. Some examples of the list of dust sampler, filter, tritium sampler, dust monitor, iodine monitor, gas monitor, and survey meter on the market are shown. There are so many kinds of measuring instruments for ionizing radiation in working environment that the best instrument for measurement should be selected. The environment conditions such as sample form, temperature and humidity have to be considered in order to evaluate the measurement values. (S.Y.)

Processing of Instantaneous Angular Speed Signal for Detection of a Diesel Engine Failure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam Charchalis

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Continuous monitoring of diesel engine performance under its operating is critical for the prediction of malfunction development and subsequently functional failure detection. Analysis of instantaneous angular speed (IAS of the crankshaft is considered as one of the nonintrusive and effective methods of the detection of combustion quality deterioration. In this paper results of experimental verification of fuel system's malfunction detecting, using optical encoder for IAS recording are presented. The implemented method relies on the comparison of measurement results, recorded under healthy and faulty conditions of the engine. Elaborated dynamic model of angular speed variations enables us to build templates of engine behavior. Recorded during experiment, values of cylinder pressure were taken for the approximation of pressure basic waveform. The main task of data processing is smoothing the raw angular speed signal. The noise is due to sensor mount vibrations, signal emitter machining, engine body vibrations, and crankshaft torsional vibrations. Smoothing of the measurement data was carried out by the implementation of the Savitzky-Golay filter. Measured signal after smoothing was compared with the model of IAS run.

Progress in the specification of optical instruments for the measurement of surface form and texture

Science.gov (United States)

de Groot, Peter J.

2014-05-01

Specifications for confocal microscopes, optical interferometers and other methods of measuring areal surface topography can be confusing and misleading. The emerging ISO 25178 standards, together with the established international vocabulary of metrology, provide a foundation for improved specifications for 3D surface metrology instrumentation. The approach in this paper links instrument specifications to metrological characteristics that can influence a measurement, using consistent definitions of terms, and reference to verification procedures.

Instantaneous Respiratory Estimation from Thoracic Impedance by Empirical Mode Decomposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fu-Tai; Chan, Hsiao-Lung; Wang, Chun-Li; Jian, Hung-Ming; Lin, Sheng-Hsiung

2015-07-07

Impedance plethysmography provides a way to measure respiratory activity by sensing the change of thoracic impedance caused by inspiration and expiration. This measurement imposes little pressure on the body and uses the human body as the sensor, thereby reducing the need for adjustments as body position changes and making it suitable for long-term or ambulatory monitoring. The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) can decompose a signal into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) that disclose nonstationary components as well as stationary components and, similarly, capture respiratory episodes from thoracic impedance. However, upper-body movements usually produce motion artifacts that are not easily removed by digital filtering. Moreover, large motion artifacts disable the EMD to decompose respiratory components. In this paper, motion artifacts are detected and replaced by the data mirrored from the prior and the posterior before EMD processing. A novel intrinsic respiratory reconstruction index that considers both global and local properties of IMFs is proposed to define respiration-related IMFs for respiration reconstruction and instantaneous respiratory estimation. Based on the experiments performing a series of static and dynamic physical activates, our results showed the proposed method had higher cross correlations between respiratory frequencies estimated from thoracic impedance and those from oronasal airflow based on small window size compared to the Fourier transform-based method.

Measurement properties of instruments that assess participation in young people with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lami, Francesca; Egberts, Kristine; Ure, Alexandra; Conroy, Rowena; Williams, Katrina

2018-03-01

To systematically review the measurement properties of instruments assessing participation in young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A search was performed in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and PubMed combining three constructs ('ASD', 'test of participation', 'measurement properties'). Results were restricted to articles including people aged 6 to 29 years. The 2539 identified articles were independently screened by two reviewers. For the included articles, data were extracted using standard forms and their risk of bias was assessed. Nine studies (8 cross-sectional) met the inclusion criteria, providing information on seven different instruments. The total sample included 634 participants, with sex available for 600 (males=494; females=106) and age available for 570, with mean age for these participants 140.58 months (SD=9.11; range=36-624). Included instruments were the school function assessment, vocational index, children's assessment of participation and enjoyment/preferences for activities of children, experience sampling method, Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, Computer Adaptive Test, adolescent and young adult activity card sort, and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System parent-proxy peer relationships. Seven studies assessed reliability and validity; good properties were reported for half of the instruments considered. Most studies (n=6) had high risk of bias. Overall the quality of the evidence for each tool was limited. Validation of these instruments, or others that comprehensively assess participation, is needed. Future studies should follow recommended methodological standards. Seven instruments have been used to assess participation in young people with autism. One instrument, with excellent measurement properties in one study, does not comprehensively assess participation. Studies of three instruments that incorporate a more comprehensive assessment of participation have methodological limitations. Overall, limited

Quantifying Human Response: Linking metrological and psychometric characterisations of Man as a Measurement Instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pendrill, L R; Fisher, William P Jr

2013-01-01

A better understanding of how to characterise human response is essential to improved person-centred care and other situations where human factors are crucial. Challenges to introducing classical metrological concepts such as measurement uncertainty and traceability when characterising Man as a Measurement Instrument include the failure of many statistical tools when applied to ordinal measurement scales and a lack of metrological references in, for instance, healthcare. The present work attempts to link metrological and psychometric (Rasch) characterisation of Man as a Measurement Instrument in a study of elementary tasks, such as counting dots, where one knows independently the expected value because the measurement object (collection of dots) is prepared in advance. The analysis is compared and contrasted with recent approaches to this problem by others, for instance using signal error fidelity

Sources, potentials and fields in Lorenz and Coulomb gauge: Cancellation of instantaneous interactions for moving point charges