A Source Identification Algorithm for INTEGRAL

Science.gov (United States)

Scaringi, Simone; Bird, Antony J.; Clark, David J.; Dean, Anthony J.; Hill, Adam B.; McBride, Vanessa A.; Shaw, Simon E.

2008-12-01

We give an overview of ISINA: INTEGRAL Source Identification Network Algorithm. This machine learning algorithm, using Random Forests, is applied to the IBIS/ISGRI dataset in order to ease the production of unbiased future soft gamma-ray source catalogues. The key steps of candidate searching, filtering and feature extraction are described. Three training and testing sets are created in order to deal with the diverse timescales and diverse objects encountered when dealing with the gamma-ray sky. Three independent Random Forest are built: one dealing with faint persistent source recognition, one dealing with strong persistent sources and a final one dealing with transients. For the latter, a new transient detection technique is introduced and described: the Transient Matrix. Finally the performance of the network is assessed and discussed using the testing set and some illustrative source examples.

Identifying Sources of Scientific Knowledge: classifying non-source items in the WoS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Calero-Medina, C.M.

2016-07-01

The sources of scientific knowledge can be tracked using the references in scientific publications. For instance, the publications from the scientific journals covered by the Web of Science database (WoS) contain references to publications for which an indexed source record exist in the WoS (source items) or to references for which an indexed source record does not exist in the WoS (non-source items). The classification of the non-source items is the main objective of the work in progress presented here. Some other scholars have classified and identified non-source items with different purposes (e.g. Butler & Visser (2006); Liseé, Larivière & Archambault (2008); Nerderhof, van Leeuwen & van Raan (2010); Hicks & Wang (2013); Boyack & Klavans (2014)). But these studies are focused in specific source types, fields or set of papers. The work presented here is much broader in terms of the number of publications, source types and fields. (Author)

Building integrated business environments: analysing open-source ESB

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Carreras, M. A.; García Jimenez, F. J.; Gómez Skarmeta, A. F.

2015-05-01

Integration and interoperability are two concepts that have gained significant prominence in the business field, providing tools which enable enterprise application integration (EAI). In this sense, enterprise service bus (ESB) has played a crucial role as the underpinning technology for creating integrated environments in which companies may connect all their legacy-applications. However, the potential of these technologies remains unknown and some important features are not used to develop suitable business environments. The aim of this paper is to describe and detail the elements for building the next generation of integrated business environments (IBE) and to analyse the features of ESBs as the core of this infrastructure. For this purpose, we evaluate how well-known open-source ESB products fulfil these needs. Moreover, we introduce a scenario in which the collaborative system 'Alfresco' is integrated in the business infrastructure. Finally, we provide a comparison of the different open-source ESBs available for IBE requirements. According to this study, Fuse ESB provides the best results, considering features such as support for a wide variety of standards and specifications, documentation and implementation, security, advanced business trends, ease of integration and performance.

Tau method approximation of the Hubbell rectangular source integral

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalla, S.L.; Khajah, H.G.

2000-01-01

The Tau method is applied to obtain expansions, in terms of Chebyshev polynomials, which approximate the Hubbell rectangular source integral:I(a,b)=∫ b 0 (1/(√(1+x 2 )) arctan(a/(√(1+x 2 )))) This integral corresponds to the response of an omni-directional radiation detector situated over a corner of a plane isotropic rectangular source. A discussion of the error in the Tau method approximation follows

VISUALIZATION FROM INTRAOPERATIVE SWEPT-SOURCE MICROSCOPE-INTEGRATED OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IN VITRECTOMY FOR COMPLICATIONS OF PROLIFERATIVE DIABETIC RETINOPATHY.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabr, Hesham; Chen, Xi; Zevallos-Carrasco, Oscar M; Viehland, Christian; Dandrige, Alexandria; Sarin, Neeru; Mahmoud, Tamer H; Vajzovic, Lejla; Izatt, Joseph A; Toth, Cynthia A

2018-01-10

To evaluate the use of live volumetric (4D) intraoperative swept-source microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography in vitrectomy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy complications. In this prospective study, we analyzed a subgroup of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy complications who required vitrectomy and who were imaged by the research swept-source microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography system. In near real time, images were displayed in stereo heads-up display facilitating intraoperative surgeon feedback. Postoperative review included scoring image quality, identifying different diabetic retinopathy-associated pathologies and reviewing the intraoperatively documented surgeon feedback. Twenty eyes were included. Indications for vitrectomy were tractional retinal detachment (16 eyes), combined tractional-rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (2 eyes), and vitreous hemorrhage (2 eyes). Useful, good-quality 2D (B-scans) and 4D images were obtained in 16/20 eyes (80%). In these eyes, multiple diabetic retinopathy complications could be imaged. Swept-source microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography provided surgical guidance, e.g., in identifying dissection planes under fibrovascular membranes, and in determining residual membranes and traction that would benefit from additional peeling. In 4/20 eyes (20%), acceptable images were captured, but they were not useful due to high tractional retinal detachment elevation which was challenging for imaging. Swept-source microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography can provide important guidance during surgery for proliferative diabetic retinopathy complications through intraoperative identification of different complications and facilitation of intraoperative decision making.

Identifying sources of aeolian mineral dust: Present and past

Science.gov (United States)

Muhs, Daniel R; Prospero, Joseph M; Baddock, Matthew C; Gill, Thomas E

2014-01-01

Aeolian mineral dust is an important component of the Earth’s environmental systems, playing roles in the planetary radiation balance, as a source of fertilizer for biota in both terrestrial and marine realms and as an archive for understanding atmospheric circulation and paleoclimate in the geologic past. Crucial to understanding all of these roles of dust is the identification of dust sources. Here we review the methods used to identify dust sources active at present and in the past. Contemporary dust sources, produced by both glaciogenic and non-glaciogenic processes, can be readily identified by the use of Earth-orbiting satellites. These data show that present dust sources are concentrated in a global dust belt that encompasses large topographic basins in low-latitude arid and semiarid regions. Geomorphic studies indicate that specific point sources for dust in this zone include dry or ephemeral lakes, intermittent stream courses, dune fields, and some bedrock surfaces. Back-trajectory analyses are also used to identify dust sources, through modeling of wind fields and the movement of air parcels over periods of several days. Identification of dust sources from the past requires novel approaches that are part of the geologic toolbox of provenance studies. Identification of most dust sources of the past requires the use of physical, mineralogical, geochemical, and isotopic analyses of dust deposits. Physical properties include systematic spatial changes in dust deposit thickness and particle size away from a source. Mineralogy and geochemistry can pinpoint dust sources by clay mineral ratios and Sc-Th-La abundances, respectively. The most commonly used isotopic methods utilize isotopes of Nd, Sr, and Pb and have been applied extensively in dust archives of deep-sea cores, ice cores, and loess. All these methods have shown that dust sources have changed over time, with far more abundant dust supplies existing during glacial periods. Greater dust supplies in

Integrating renewable energy sources in the Portuguese power system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martins, Nuno; Cabral, Pedro; Azevedo, Helena

2012-01-01

The integration of large amounts of renewable energy is an important challenge for the future management of electric systems, since it affects the operation of the electric power system and the design of the transmission and distribution network infrastructure. This is specially due to the connection requirements of the renewable energy technologies, to the extension and adjustment of the grid infrastructure and to the identification of new solutions for operational reserve, in order to maintain the overall system flexibility and security. In this paper, the impact of high penetration of intermittent energy sources, expected in long term in the Portuguese Power System, is analysed and the operational reserve requirements to accomplish a reliable and reasonable electrical energy supply are identified. It was concluded that pumped storage power plants, special power plants with regulating capabilities, will have an important task to provide the operational reserve requirements of the Portuguese Power System. This technology assumes a fundamental role not only to ensure the adequate levels of security of supply but also to allow the maximum exploitation of the installed capacity in renewable energy sources. (authors)

Integrating source-language context into phrase-based statistical machine translation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haque, R.; Kumar Naskar, S.; Bosch, A.P.J. van den; Way, A.

2011-01-01

The translation features typically used in Phrase-Based Statistical Machine Translation (PB-SMT) model dependencies between the source and target phrases, but not among the phrases in the source language themselves. A swathe of research has demonstrated that integrating source context modelling

Investigating Salmonella Eko from Various Sources in Nigeria by Whole Genome Sequencing to Identify the Source of Human Infections.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pimlapas Leekitcharoenphon

Full Text Available Twenty-six Salmonella enterica serovar Eko isolated from various sources in Nigeria were investigated by whole genome sequencing to identify the source of human infections. Diversity among the isolates was observed and camel and cattle were identified as the primary reservoirs and the most likely source of the human infections.

An integrated approach to assess heavy metal source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Ying; Li, Tingqiang; Wu, Chengxian; He, Zhenli; Japenga, Jan; Deng, Meihua; Yang, Xiaoe

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Heavy metal source apportionment was conducted in peri-urban agricultural areas. • Precise and quantified results were obtained by using isotope ratio analysis. • The integration of IRA, GIS, PCA, and CA was proved to be more reliable. • Hg pollution was from the use of organic fertilizers in this area. - Abstract: Three techniques (Isotope Ratio Analysis, GIS mapping, and Multivariate Statistical Analysis) were integrated to assess heavy metal pollution and source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils. The soils in the study area were moderately polluted with cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), lightly polluted with lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). GIS Mapping suggested Cd pollution originates from point sources, whereas Hg, Pb, Cr could be traced back to both point and non-point sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) were mainly inherited from natural sources, while Hg, Pb, and Cd were associated with two different kinds of anthropogenic sources. Cluster analysis (CA) further identified fertilizers, waste water, industrial solid wastes, road dust, and atmospheric deposition as potential sources. Based on isotope ratio analysis (IRA) organic fertilizers and road dusts accounted for 74–100% and 0–24% of the total Hg input, while road dusts and solid wastes contributed for 0–80% and 19–100% of the Pb input. This study provides a reliable approach for heavy metal source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area, with a clear potential for future application in other regions.

An integrated approach to assess heavy metal source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Ying; Li, Tingqiang; Wu, Chengxian [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058 (China); He, Zhenli [University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Indian River Research and Education Center, Fort Pierce, FL 34945 (United States); Japenga, Jan; Deng, Meihua [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058 (China); Yang, Xiaoe, E-mail: xeyang@zju.edu.cn [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058 (China)

2015-12-15

Highlights: • Heavy metal source apportionment was conducted in peri-urban agricultural areas. • Precise and quantified results were obtained by using isotope ratio analysis. • The integration of IRA, GIS, PCA, and CA was proved to be more reliable. • Hg pollution was from the use of organic fertilizers in this area. - Abstract: Three techniques (Isotope Ratio Analysis, GIS mapping, and Multivariate Statistical Analysis) were integrated to assess heavy metal pollution and source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils. The soils in the study area were moderately polluted with cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), lightly polluted with lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). GIS Mapping suggested Cd pollution originates from point sources, whereas Hg, Pb, Cr could be traced back to both point and non-point sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) were mainly inherited from natural sources, while Hg, Pb, and Cd were associated with two different kinds of anthropogenic sources. Cluster analysis (CA) further identified fertilizers, waste water, industrial solid wastes, road dust, and atmospheric deposition as potential sources. Based on isotope ratio analysis (IRA) organic fertilizers and road dusts accounted for 74–100% and 0–24% of the total Hg input, while road dusts and solid wastes contributed for 0–80% and 19–100% of the Pb input. This study provides a reliable approach for heavy metal source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area, with a clear potential for future application in other regions.

Identifying the source, transport path and sinks of sewage derived organic matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mudge, Stephen M.; Duce, Caroline E.

2005-01-01

Since sewage discharges can significantly contribute to the contaminant loadings in coastal areas, it is important to identify sources, pathways and environmental sinks. Sterol and fatty alcohol biomarkers were quantified in source materials, suspended sediments and settling matter from the Ria Formosa Lagoon. Simple ratios between key biomarkers including 5β-coprostanol, cholesterol and epi-coprostanol were able to identify the sewage sources and effected deposition sites. Multivariate methods (PCA) were used to identify co-varying sites. PLS analysis using the sewage discharge as the signature indicated ∼ 25% of the variance in the sites could be predicted by the sewage signature. A new source of sewage derived organic matter was found with a high sewage predictable signature. The suspended sediments had relatively low sewage signatures as the material was diluted with other organic matter from in situ production. From a management viewpoint, PLS provides a useful tool in identifying the pathways and accumulation sites for such contaminants. - Multivariate statistical analysis was used to identify pathways and accumulation sites for contaminants in coastal waters

All-source Information Management and Integration for Improved Collective Intelligence Production

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-01

Intelligence (ELINT) • Open Source Intelligence ( OSINT ) • Technical Intelligence (TECHINT) These intelligence disciplines produce... intelligence , measurement and signature intelligence , signals intelligence , and open - source data, in the production of intelligence . All- source intelligence ...All- Source Information Integration and Management) R&D Project 3 All- Source Intelligence

Integrating an Automatic Judge into an Open Source LMS

Science.gov (United States)

Georgouli, Katerina; Guerreiro, Pedro

2011-01-01

This paper presents the successful integration of the evaluation engine of Mooshak into the open source learning management system Claroline. Mooshak is an open source online automatic judge that has been used for international and national programming competitions. although it was originally designed for programming competitions, Mooshak has also…

The Integrated Nordic End-User Electricity Market - Feasibility and identified obstacles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-02-01

The report identifies the various obstacles that currently exist which prevent the formation of a truly integrated Nordic electricity end-user market. The obstacles have been divided into three categories: technical, regulatory and commercial. NordREG proposes that to further integrate the Nordic end-user electricity markets, a number of differences of technical, legal and market nature ought to be gradually harmonized in order to facilitate market entry and cross-border trade. Technical obstacles: Especially the following problems related to the data and metering systems should be solved: Transferred messages, information and message timing should be harmonised; Message format should be decided; A common data transmission protocol should be specified. New solutions like web-based solutions should be studied; The identification of the final customers' metering point should be harmonised. Regulatory obstacles: The identified regulatory obstacles relate to three areas, namely the division of tasks between monopoly and competitive activities, the operation and duties of distribution network operators including how these are regulated, and the legal framework to provide protection for small end users. On the basis of the review of regulatory obstacles, the following recommendations are made: The principles of neutrality and the way these principles are being supervised by the regulator is a key issue to improve the functioning of the Nordic end-user market. Regulators should seek to harmonise regulation on neutrality and put it high on the agenda in a forthcoming process of market integration; The procedures for switching supplier should be as smooth, easy and quick as possible. It is also important that suppliers, especially the new market entrants, can participate in reliable, transparent and fluent switching practices, since this lowers the threshold for entering other than domestic electricity market. The switching model should be harmonised for the Nordic end

The Integrated Nordic End-User Electricity Market - Feasibility and identified obstacles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-02-15

The report identifies the various obstacles that currently exist which prevent the formation of a truly integrated Nordic electricity end-user market. The obstacles have been divided into three categories: technical, regulatory and commercial. NordREG proposes that to further integrate the Nordic end-user electricity markets, a number of differences of technical, legal and market nature ought to be gradually harmonized in order to facilitate market entry and cross-border trade. Technical obstacles: Especially the following problems related to the data and metering systems should be solved: Transferred messages, information and message timing should be harmonised; Message format should be decided; A common data transmission protocol should be specified. New solutions like web-based solutions should be studied; The identification of the final customers' metering point should be harmonised. Regulatory obstacles: The identified regulatory obstacles relate to three areas, namely the division of tasks between monopoly and competitive activities, the operation and duties of distribution network operators including how these are regulated, and the legal framework to provide protection for small end users. On the basis of the review of regulatory obstacles, the following recommendations are made: The principles of neutrality and the way these principles are being supervised by the regulator is a key issue to improve the functioning of the Nordic end-user market. Regulators should seek to harmonise regulation on neutrality and put it high on the agenda in a forthcoming process of market integration; The procedures for switching supplier should be as smooth, easy and quick as possible. It is also important that suppliers, especially the new market entrants, can participate in reliable, transparent and fluent switching practices, since this lowers the threshold for entering other than domestic electricity market. The switching model should be harmonised for the Nordic end

Sources of capabilities, integration and technology commercialization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zahra, Shaker A.; Nielsen, Anders

2002-01-01

In recent years, companies have increased their use of internal and external sources in pursuit of a competitive advantage through the effective and timely commercialization of new technology. Grounded in the resource-based view of the firm, this study examines the effect of a company's use...... of internal and external sources on multiple dimensions of successful technology commercialization (TC). The study also explores the moderating role of formal vs. informal integration mechanisms on these relationships. Applying a longitudinal design and data from 119 companies, the results show that internal...

A Versatile Integrated Ambient Ionization Source Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Ai, Wanpeng; Nie, Honggang; Song, Shiyao; Liu, Xiaoyun; Bai, Yu; Liu, Huwei

2018-04-01

The pursuit of high-throughput sample analysis from complex matrix demands development of multiple ionization techniques with complementary specialties. A versatile integrated ambient ionization source (iAmIS) platform is proposed in this work, based on the idea of integrating multiple functions, enhancing the efficiency of current ionization techniques, extending the applications, and decreasing the cost of the instrument. The design of the iAmIS platform combines flowing atmospheric pressure afterglow (FAPA) source/direct analysis in real time (DART), dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI)/low-temperature plasma (LTP), desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), and laser desorption (LD) technique. All individual and combined ionization modes can be easily attained by modulating parameters. In particular, the FAPA/DART&DESI mode can realize the detection of polar and nonpolar compounds at the same time with two different ionization mechanisms: proton transfer and charge transfer. The introduction of LD contributes to the mass spectrometry imaging and the surface-assisted laser desorption (SALDI) under ambient condition. Compared with other individual or multi-mode ion source, the iAmIS platform provides the flexibility of choosing different ionization modes, broadens the scope of the analyte detection, and facilitates the analysis of complex samples. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Investigating Salmonella Eko from Various Sources in Nigeria by Whole Genome Sequencing to Identify the Source of Human Infections

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leekitcharoenphon, Pimlapas; Raufu, Ibrahim; Thorup Nielsen, Mette

2016-01-01

Twenty-six Salmonella enterica serovar Eko isolated from various sources in Nigeria were investigated by whole genome sequencing to identify the source of human infections. Diversity among the isolates was observed and camel and cattle were identified as the primary reservoirs and the most likely...

Integrated Photovoltaic System Used as an Alternative Power Source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ionel Laurentiu Alboteanu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a solution to use solar energy as an alternative source of electricity to conventional sources. The solution is to use a compact photovoltaic system integrated into a micro smart grid. The studied photovoltaic system is used into concrete application for the power supply lighting in a didactic laboratory.

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution

Science.gov (United States)

Geoffrey H. Donovan; Sarah E. Jovan; Demetrios Gatziolis; Igor Burstyn; Yvonne L. Michael; Michael C. Amacher; Vicente J. Monleon

2016-01-01

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting....

Integrated systems approach identifies risk regulatory pathways and key regulators in coronary artery disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan; Liu, Dianming; Wang, Lihong; Wang, Shuyuan; Yu, Xuexin; Dai, Enyu; Liu, Xinyi; Luo, Shanshun; Jiang, Wei

2015-12-01

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease. However, the molecular mechanisms of CAD remain elusive. Regulatory pathways are known to play crucial roles in many pathogenic processes. Thus, inferring risk regulatory pathways is an important step toward elucidating the mechanisms underlying CAD. With advances in high-throughput data, we developed an integrated systems approach to identify CAD risk regulatory pathways and key regulators. Firstly, a CAD-related core subnetwork was identified from a curated transcription factor (TF) and microRNA (miRNA) regulatory network based on a random walk algorithm. Secondly, candidate risk regulatory pathways were extracted from the subnetwork by applying a breadth-first search (BFS) algorithm. Then, risk regulatory pathways were prioritized based on multiple CAD-associated data sources. Finally, we also proposed a new measure to prioritize upstream regulators. We inferred that phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) may be a key regulator in the dysregulation of risk regulatory pathways. This study takes a closer step than the identification of disease subnetworks or modules. From the risk regulatory pathways, we could understand the flow of regulatory information in the initiation and progression of the disease. Our approach helps to uncover its potential etiology. We developed an integrated systems approach to identify risk regulatory pathways. We proposed a new measure to prioritize the key regulators in CAD. PTEN may be a key regulator in dysregulation of the risk regulatory pathways.

An integrated approach to assess heavy metal source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ying; Li, Tingqiang; Wu, Chengxian; He, Zhenli; Japenga, Jan; Deng, Meihua; Yang, Xiaoe

2015-12-15

Three techniques (Isotope Ratio Analysis, GIS mapping, and Multivariate Statistical Analysis) were integrated to assess heavy metal pollution and source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils. The soils in the study area were moderately polluted with cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), lightly polluted with lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). GIS Mapping suggested Cd pollution originates from point sources, whereas Hg, Pb, Cr could be traced back to both point and non-point sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) were mainly inherited from natural sources, while Hg, Pb, and Cd were associated with two different kinds of anthropogenic sources. Cluster analysis (CA) further identified fertilizers, waste water, industrial solid wastes, road dust, and atmospheric deposition as potential sources. Based on isotope ratio analysis (IRA) organic fertilizers and road dusts accounted for 74-100% and 0-24% of the total Hg input, while road dusts and solid wastes contributed for 0-80% and 19-100% of the Pb input. This study provides a reliable approach for heavy metal source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area, with a clear potential for future application in other regions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Open source integrated modeling environment Delta Shell

Science.gov (United States)

Donchyts, G.; Baart, F.; Jagers, B.; van Putten, H.

2012-04-01

In the last decade, integrated modelling has become a very popular topic in environmental modelling since it helps solving problems, which is difficult to model using a single model. However, managing complexity of integrated models and minimizing time required for their setup remains a challenging task. The integrated modelling environment Delta Shell simplifies this task. The software components of Delta Shell are easy to reuse separately from each other as well as a part of integrated environment that can run in a command-line or a graphical user interface mode. The most components of the Delta Shell are developed using C# programming language and include libraries used to define, save and visualize various scientific data structures as well as coupled model configurations. Here we present two examples showing how Delta Shell simplifies process of setting up integrated models from the end user and developer perspectives. The first example shows coupling of a rainfall-runoff, a river flow and a run-time control models. The second example shows how coastal morphological database integrates with the coastal morphological model (XBeach) and a custom nourishment designer. Delta Shell is also available as open-source software released under LGPL license and accessible via http://oss.deltares.nl.

Identifying avian sources of faecal contamination using sterol analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Devane, Megan L; Wood, David; Chappell, Andrew; Robson, Beth; Webster-Brown, Jenny; Gilpin, Brent J

2015-10-01

Discrimination of the source of faecal pollution in water bodies is an important step in the assessment and mitigation of public health risk. One tool for faecal source tracking is the analysis of faecal sterols which are present in faeces of animals in a range of distinctive ratios. Published ratios are able to discriminate between human and herbivore mammal faecal inputs but are of less value for identifying pollution from wildfowl, which can be a common cause of elevated bacterial indicators in rivers and streams. In this study, the sterol profiles of 50 avian-derived faecal specimens (seagulls, ducks and chickens) were examined alongside those of 57 ruminant faeces and previously published sterol profiles of human wastewater, chicken effluent and animal meatwork effluent. Two novel sterol ratios were identified as specific to avian faecal scats, which, when incorporated into a decision tree with human and herbivore mammal indicative ratios, were able to identify sterols from avian-polluted waterways. For samples where the sterol profile was not consistent with herbivore mammal or human pollution, avian pollution is indicated when the ratio of 24-ethylcholestanol/(24-ethylcholestanol + 24-ethylcoprostanol + 24-ethylepicoprostanol) is ≥0.4 (avian ratio 1) and the ratio of cholestanol/(cholestanol + coprostanol + epicoprostanol) is ≥0.5 (avian ratio 2). When avian pollution is indicated, further confirmation by targeted PCR specific markers can be employed if greater confidence in the pollution source is required. A 66% concordance between sterol ratios and current avian PCR markers was achieved when 56 water samples from polluted waterways were analysed.

Conflicting but close: Readers' integration of information sources as a function of their disagreement.

Science.gov (United States)

Saux, Gaston; Britt, Anne; Le Bigot, Ludovic; Vibert, Nicolas; Burin, Debora; Rouet, Jean-François

2017-01-01

According to the documents model framework (Britt, Perfetti, Sandak, & Rouet, 1999), readers' detection of contradictions within texts increases their integration of source-content links (i.e., who says what). This study examines whether conflict may also strengthen the relationship between the respective sources. In two experiments, participants read brief news reports containing two critical statements attributed to different sources. In half of the reports, the statements were consistent with each other, whereas in the other half they were discrepant. Participants were tested for source memory and source integration in an immediate item-recognition task (Experiment 1) and a cued recall task (Experiments 1 and 2). In both experiments, discrepancies increased readers' memory for sources. We found that discrepant sources enhanced retrieval of the other source compared to consistent sources (using a delayed recall measure; Experiments 1 and 2). However, discrepant sources failed to prime the other source as evidenced in an online recognition measure (Experiment 1). We argue that discrepancies promoted the construction of links between sources, but that integration did not take place during reading.

The Role of CHP Plants in the Integration of Fluctuating Renewable Energy Sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik

2002-01-01

The paper is an Expression of Interest to the European Commission about renewable energy sources and their integration in a energy system......The paper is an Expression of Interest to the European Commission about renewable energy sources and their integration in a energy system...

Evaluation of stormwater micropollutant source control and end-of-pipe control strategies using an uncertainty-calibrated integrated dynamic simulation model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vezzaro, Luca; Sharma, Anitha Kumari; Ledin, Anna

2015-01-01

(copper, zinc) and organic compounds (fluoranthene). MP fluxes were estimated by using an integrated dynamic model, in combination with stormwater quality measurements. MP sources were identified by using GIS land usage data, runoff quality was simulated by using a conceptual accumulation/washoff model......The estimation of micropollutant (MP) fluxes in stormwater systems is a fundamental prerequisite when preparing strategies to reduce stormwater MP discharges to natural waters. Dynamic integrated models can be important tools in this step, as they can be used to integrate the limited data provided...... by monitoring campaigns and to evaluate the performance of different strategies based on model simulation results. This study presents an example where six different control strategies, including both source-control and end-of-pipe treatment, were compared. The comparison focused on fluxes of heavy metals...

Inverse modelling of fluvial sediment connectivity identifies characteristics and spatial distribution of sediment sources in a large river network.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, R. J. P.; Bizzi, S.; Kondolf, G. M.; Rubin, Z.; Castelletti, A.

2016-12-01

Field and laboratory evidence indicates that the spatial distribution of transport in both alluvial and bedrock rivers is an adaptation to sediment supply. Sediment supply, in turn, depends on spatial distribution and properties (e.g., grain sizes and supply rates) of individual sediment sources. Analyzing the distribution of transport capacity in a river network could hence clarify the spatial distribution and properties of sediment sources. Yet, challenges include a) identifying magnitude and spatial distribution of transport capacity for each of multiple grain sizes being simultaneously transported, and b) estimating source grain sizes and supply rates, both at network scales. Herein, we approach the problem of identifying the spatial distribution of sediment sources and the resulting network sediment fluxes in a major, poorly monitored tributary (80,000 km2) of the Mekong. Therefore, we apply the CASCADE modeling framework (Schmitt et al. (2016)). CASCADE calculates transport capacities and sediment fluxes for multiple grainsizes on the network scale based on remotely-sensed morphology and modelled hydrology. CASCADE is run in an inverse Monte Carlo approach for 7500 random initializations of source grain sizes. In all runs, supply of each source is inferred from the minimum downstream transport capacity for the source grain size. Results for each realization are compared to sparse available sedimentary records. Only 1 % of initializations reproduced the sedimentary record. Results for these realizations revealed a spatial pattern in source supply rates, grain sizes, and network sediment fluxes that correlated well with map-derived patterns in lithology and river-morphology. Hence, we propose that observable river hydro-morphology contains information on upstream source properties that can be back-calculated using an inverse modeling approach. Such an approach could be coupled to more detailed models of hillslope processes in future to derive integrated models

Comparative analyses of seven technologies to facilitate the integration of fluctuating renewable energy sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Lund, Henrik

2009-01-01

An analysis of seven different technologies is presented. The technologies integrate fluctuating renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind power production into the electricity supply, and the Danish energy system is used as a case. Comprehensive hour-by-hour energy system analyses are conducted...... of a complete system meeting electricity, heat and transport demands, and including RES, power plants, and combined heat and power production (CHP) for district heating and transport technologies. In conclusion, the most fuel-efficient and least-cost technologies are identified through energy system...

Detection of the Nitrate Pollution Sources in Shallow Aquifer, Using Integration of RS&GIS with Stable Isotopes Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Shakak, N. B. I.

2018-04-01

Geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing technique is a tool which is used for acquiring data from space, storing, analyzing and displaying spatial data, also can use for investigating source of environmental pollution which is affect health. Sudan landsat mosaic image which acquired in 2013 was used in this study to develop land use and land cover maps for tow selected study area, Khartoum urban area, and Bara locality in North kordofan state western Sudan. The main objective to assess the source of Nitrate pollution in shallow aquifer. ERDAS software was used to create land cover-land use maps for the study areas. For Khartoum town we used land sat mosaic image which acquire in 2013, and used supervised classification which more closely controlled than unsupervised. In this process, we select pixel that represent patterns you recognized or can identify with help from knowledge of the data, the classes desired, and the algorithm to be used is required. In this paper we integrated the (GIS&RS), and stable isotopes methods for fingerprinting Nitrate sources in shallow boreholes. The global positioning system (GPS), used in the field to identify the shallow boreholes location in a three dimensional coordinate (Latitude, longitude, and altitude), Water samples were collected from 19 shallow boreholes in the study areas according to the standard sampling method send to laboratory to measure stable nitrogen (δ15Nnitrate), and Nitrate-oxygen (δ18Onitrate) isotopes. Analysis were conducted by using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). We can conclude that, special distribution and integration of GIs & RS help to identify the source of nitrate pollution.

DETECTION OF THE NITRATE POLLUTION SOURCES IN SHALLOW AQUIFER, USING INTEGRATION OF RS&GIS WITH STABLE ISOTOPES TECHNOLOGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. B. I. Shakak

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Geographical information system (GIS and remote sensing technique is a tool which is used for acquiring data from space, storing, analyzing and displaying spatial data, also can use for investigating source of environmental pollution which is affect health. Sudan landsat mosaic image which acquired in 2013 was used in this study to develop land use and land cover maps for tow selected study area, Khartoum urban area, and Bara locality in North kordofan state western Sudan. The main objective to assess the source of Nitrate pollution in shallow aquifer. ERDAS software was used to create land cover-land use maps for the study areas. For Khartoum town we used land sat mosaic image which acquire in 2013, and used supervised classification which more closely controlled than unsupervised. In this process, we select pixel that represent patterns you recognized or can identify with help from knowledge of the data, the classes desired, and the algorithm to be used is required. In this paper we integrated the (GIS&RS, and stable isotopes methods for fingerprinting Nitrate sources in shallow boreholes. The global positioning system (GPS, used in the field to identify the shallow boreholes location in a three dimensional coordinate (Latitude, longitude, and altitude, Water samples were collected from 19 shallow boreholes in the study areas according to the standard sampling method send to laboratory to measure stable nitrogen (δ15Nnitrate, and Nitrate-oxygen (δ18Onitrate isotopes. Analysis were conducted by using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS. We can conclude that, special distribution and integration of GIs & RS help to identify the source of nitrate pollution.

Integrating Philips' extreme UV source in the alpha-tools

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Pankert, Joseph; Apetz, Rolf; Bergmann, Klaus; Derra, Guenther; Janssen, Maurice; Jonkers, Jeroen; Klein, Jurgen; Kruecken, Thomas; List, Andreas; Loeken, Michael; Metzmacher, Christof; Neff, Willi; Probst, Sven; Prummer, Ralph; Rosier, Oliver; Seiwert, Stefan; Siemons, Guido; Vaudrevange, Dominik; Wagemann, Dirk; Weber, Achim; Zink, Peter; Zitzen, Oliver

2005-05-01

The paper describes recent progress in the development of the Philips's EUV source. Progress has been realized at many frontiers: Integration studies of the source into a scanner have primarily been studied on the Xe source because it has a high degree of maturity. We report on integration with a collector, associated collector lifetime and optical characteristics. Collector lifetime in excess of 1 bln shots could be demonstrated. Next, an active dose control system was developed and tested on the Xe lamp. Resulting dose stability data are less than 0.2% for an exposure window of 100 pulses. The second part of the paper reports on progress in the development of the Philips' Sn source. First, the details of the concept are described. It is based on a Laser triggered vacuum arc, which is an extension with respect to previous designs. The source is furbished with rotating electrodes that are covered with a Sn film that is constantly regenerated. Hence by the very design of the source, it is scalable to very high power levels, and moreover has fundamentally solved the notorious problem of electrode erosion. Power values of 260 W in 2p sr are reported, along with a stable, long life operation of the lamp. The paper also addresses the problem of debris generation and mitigation of the Sn-source. The problem is attacked by a combined strategy of protection of the collector by traditional means (e.g. fields, foiltraps... ), and by designing the gas atmosphere according to the principles of the well known halogen cycles in incandescent lamps. These principles have been studied in the Lighting industry for decades and rely on the excessively high vapor pressures of metal halides. Transferred to the Sn source, it allows pumping away tin residues that would otherwise irreversibly deposit on the collector.

Evaluation of integrity of radiation sources of nuclear gauges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torohate, Wiclif Francisco

2016-01-01

Nuclear equipment meters are mainly used in the industry in quality control and process control. The principle of operation consists in a shielded radioactive source together with a radiation detector such that the radiation interacts with the material to be analyzed before reaching the detector, providing real time data. Can be as their fixed and mobile mobility, the unique properties of ionizing radiation are used in three basic modes, transmission, backscatter or dispersion or induced (reactive). With the advancement and technological modernization in the world, the demand for nuclear gauges becomes increasingly larger. Currently in Brazil there are about 465 process control plants and 21 portable systems and Mozambique about 45 facilities using nuclear gauges. This font registration is done through a process called source inventory that allows also to know the category of the source, the danger or risk to human health that the source offers. The handling of this equipment requires personnel, certified, skilled and well trained in radiation protection area in accordance with the requirements of the various CNEN Rules. Due to the presence of radioactive source and because these devices are used by workers risk because there external radiation. In this context, we made the smear test in two fixed meters from the IRD industry laboratory, which determines the integrity of the source package, mandatory item in periodic integrity testing of the radiation source of this type of device. A set of procedures is made for its implementation as an evaluation of the radiological risk by radiological survey. It was intended to contribute to the learning handling and safe use of these meters. (author)

Economic dispatch optimization for system integrating renewable energy sources

Science.gov (United States)

Jihane, Kartite; Mohamed, Cherkaoui

2018-05-01

Nowadays, the use of energy is growing especially in transportation and electricity industries. However this energy is based on conventional sources which pollute the environment. Multi-source system is seen as the best solution to sustainable development. This paper proposes the Economic Dispatch (ED) of hybrid renewable power system. The hybrid system is composed of ten thermal generators, photovoltaic (PV) generator and wind turbine generator. To show the importance of renewable energy sources (RES) in the energy mix we have ran the simulation for system integrated PV only and PV plus wind. The result shows that the system with renewable energy sources (RES) is more compromising than the system without RES in terms of fuel cost.

ON THE NEAR-INFRARED IDENTIFICATION OF THE INTEGRAL SOURCE IGR J16328–4726

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Persi, P.; Fiocchi, M.; Bazzano, A.; Ubertini, P.; Parisi, P. [INAF/IAPS-Roma, Via fosso del cavaliere, 100, I-00133 Roma (Italy); Tapia, M. [Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ensenada, B.C. (Mexico); Roth, M., E-mail: paolo.persi@iaps.inaf.it [Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, La Serena (Chile)

2015-07-15

The aim of this work is to identify the infrared (IR) counterpart of the Galactic high-mass X-ray binary IGR J16328–4726 discovered by the INTEGRAL satellite, and to derive the extinction and distance to the system. We present new deep sub-arcsecond JHK{sub s} imaging and low-resolution near-IR spectroscopy in the 1.5 and 2.4 μm range of IGR J16328–4726. We report the presence of two near-IR stellar sources separated by about 1.″8 at the location of the unresolved 2MASS source J16323791–4723409, previously considered to be the near-IR counterpart of the X-ray source. From the analysis of their near-IR colors and spectra as well as accurate positions, we uniquely identify the true IR counterpart of IGR J16328–4726. Our 1.5–2.4 μm spectrum of this star is consistent with the published classification O8Iafpe. Assuming this, and in combination with new JHK{sub s} photometry, a reddening A{sub V} = 23.6 ± 0.7 and a distance of 7.2 ± 0.3 kpc from the Sun are derived.

Integrating a Traveling Wave Tube into an AECR-U ion source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Covo, Michel Kireeff; Benitez, Janilee Y.; Ratti, Alessandro; Vujic, Jasmina L.

2011-07-01

An RF system of 500W - 10.75 to 12.75 GHz was designed and integrated into the Advanced Electron Cyclotron Resonance - Upgrade (AECR-U) ion source of the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The AECR-U produces ion beams for the Cyclotron giving large flexibility of ion species and charge states. The broadband frequency of a Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) allows modifying the volume that couples and heats the plasma. The TWT system design and integration with the AECR-U ion source and results from commissioning are presented.

Integrating open-source software applications to build molecular dynamics systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Bruce M; Predecki, Paul K; Kumosa, Maciej

2014-04-05

Three open-source applications, NanoEngineer-1, packmol, and mis2lmp are integrated using an open-source file format to quickly create molecular dynamics (MD) cells for simulation. The three software applications collectively make up the open-source software (OSS) suite known as MD Studio (MDS). The software is validated through software engineering practices and is verified through simulation of the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-a and isophorone diamine (DGEBA/IPD) system. Multiple simulations are run using the MDS software to create MD cells, and the data generated are used to calculate density, bulk modulus, and glass transition temperature of the DGEBA/IPD system. Simulation results compare well with published experimental and numerical results. The MDS software prototype confirms that OSS applications can be analyzed against real-world research requirements and integrated to create a new capability. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using Social Media to Identify Sources of Healthy Food in Urban Neighborhoods.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez-Lopez, Iris N; Clarke, Philippa; Hill, Alex B; Romero, Daniel M; Goodspeed, Robert; Berrocal, Veronica J; Vinod Vydiswaran, V G; Veinot, Tiffany C

2017-06-01

An established body of research has used secondary data sources (such as proprietary business databases) to demonstrate the importance of the neighborhood food environment for multiple health outcomes. However, documenting food availability using secondary sources in low-income urban neighborhoods can be particularly challenging since small businesses play a crucial role in food availability. These small businesses are typically underrepresented in national databases, which rely on secondary sources to develop data for marketing purposes. Using social media and other crowdsourced data to account for these smaller businesses holds promise, but the quality of these data remains unknown. This paper compares the quality of full-line grocery store information from Yelp, a crowdsourced content service, to a "ground truth" data set (Detroit Food Map) and a commercially-available dataset (Reference USA) for the greater Detroit area. Results suggest that Yelp is more accurate than Reference USA in identifying healthy food stores in urban areas. Researchers investigating the relationship between the nutrition environment and health may consider Yelp as a reliable and valid source for identifying sources of healthy food in urban environments.

Integrative biology approach identifies cytokine targeting strategies for psoriasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Perera, Gayathri K; Ainali, Chrysanthi; Semenova, Ekaterina; Hundhausen, Christian; Barinaga, Guillermo; Kassen, Deepika; Williams, Andrew E; Mirza, Muddassar M; Balazs, Mercedesz; Wang, Xiaoting; Rodriguez, Robert Sanchez; Alendar, Andrej; Barker, Jonathan; Tsoka, Sophia; Ouyang, Wenjun; Nestle, Frank O

2014-02-12

Cytokines are critical checkpoints of inflammation. The treatment of human autoimmune disease has been revolutionized by targeting inflammatory cytokines as key drivers of disease pathogenesis. Despite this, there exist numerous pitfalls when translating preclinical data into the clinic. We developed an integrative biology approach combining human disease transcriptome data sets with clinically relevant in vivo models in an attempt to bridge this translational gap. We chose interleukin-22 (IL-22) as a model cytokine because of its potentially important proinflammatory role in epithelial tissues. Injection of IL-22 into normal human skin grafts produced marked inflammatory skin changes resembling human psoriasis. Injection of anti-IL-22 monoclonal antibody in a human xenotransplant model of psoriasis, developed specifically to test potential therapeutic candidates, efficiently blocked skin inflammation. Bioinformatic analysis integrating both the IL-22 and anti-IL-22 cytokine transcriptomes and mapping them onto a psoriasis disease gene coexpression network identified key cytokine-dependent hub genes. Using knockout mice and small-molecule blockade, we show that one of these hub genes, the so far unexplored serine/threonine kinase PIM1, is a critical checkpoint for human skin inflammation and potential future therapeutic target in psoriasis. Using in silico integration of human data sets and biological models, we were able to identify a new target in the treatment of psoriasis.

An Integrated H-G Scheme Identifying Areas for Soil Remediation and Primary Heavy Metal Contributors: A Risk Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Bin; Jiang, Xiaolu; Duan, Xiaoli; Zhao, Xiuge; Zhang, Jing; Tang, Jingwen; Sun, Guoqing

2017-03-23

Traditional sampling for soil pollution evaluation is cost intensive and has limited representativeness. Therefore, developing methods that can accurately and rapidly identify at-risk areas and the contributing pollutants is imperative for soil remediation. In this study, we propose an innovative integrated H-G scheme combining human health risk assessment and geographical detector methods that was based on geographical information system technology and validated its feasibility in a renewable resource industrial park in mainland China. With a discrete site investigation of cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn) concentrations, the continuous surfaces of carcinogenic risk and non-carcinogenic risk caused by these heavy metals were estimated and mapped. Source apportionment analysis using geographical detector methods further revealed that these risks were primarily attributed to As, according to the power of the determinant and its associated synergic actions with other heavy metals. Concentrations of critical As and Cd, and the associated exposed CRs are closed to the safe thresholds after remediating the risk areas identified by the integrated H-G scheme. Therefore, the integrated H-G scheme provides an effective approach to support decision-making for regional contaminated soil remediation at fine spatial resolution with limited sampling data over a large geographical extent.

Two new integrable couplings of the soliton hierarchies with self-consistent sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tie-Cheng, Xia

2010-01-01

A kind of integrable coupling of soliton equations hierarchy with self-consistent sources associated with s-tilde l(4) has been presented (Yu F J and Li L 2009 Appl. Math. Comput. 207 171; Yu F J 2008 Phys. Lett. A 372 6613). Based on this method, we construct two integrable couplings of the soliton hierarchy with self-consistent sources by using the loop algebra s-tilde l(4). In this paper, we also point out that there are some errors in these references and we have corrected these errors and set up new formula. The method can be generalized to other soliton hierarchy with self-consistent sources. (general)

Discovering perturbation of modular structure in HIV progression by integrating multiple data sources through non-negative matrix factorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Sumanta; Maulik, Ujjwal

2016-12-20

Detecting perturbation in modular structure during HIV-1 disease progression is an important step to understand stage specific infection pattern of HIV-1 virus in human cell. In this article, we proposed a novel methodology on integration of multiple biological information to identify such disruption in human gene module during different stages of HIV-1 infection. We integrate three different biological information: gene expression information, protein-protein interaction information and gene ontology information in single gene meta-module, through non negative matrix factorization (NMF). As the identified metamodules inherit those information so, detecting perturbation of these, reflects the changes in expression pattern, in PPI structure and in functional similarity of genes during the infection progression. To integrate modules of different data sources into strong meta-modules, NMF based clustering is utilized here. Perturbation in meta-modular structure is identified by investigating the topological and intramodular properties and putting rank to those meta-modules using a rank aggregation algorithm. We have also analyzed the preservation structure of significant GO terms in which the human proteins of the meta-modules participate. Moreover, we have performed an analysis to show the change of coregulation pattern of identified transcription factors (TFs) over the HIV progression stages.

Source-Based Tasks in Writing Independent and Integrated Essays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javad Gholami

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Integrated writing tasks have gained considerable attention in ESL and EFL writing assessment and are frequently needed and used in academic settings and daily life. However, they are very rarely practiced and promoted in writing classes. This paper explored the effects of source-based writing practice on EFL learners’ composing abilities and investigated the probable differences between those tasks and independent writing ones in improving Iranian EFL learners’ essay writing abilities. To this end, a quasi-experimental design was implemented to gauge EFL learners’ writing improvements using a pretest-posttest layout. Twenty female learners taking a TOEFL iBT preparation course were randomly divided into an only-writing group with just independent writing instruction and essay practice, and a hybrid-writing-approach group receiving instruction and practice on independent writing plus source-based essay writing for ten sessions. Based on the findings, the participants with hybrid writing practice outperformed their counterparts in integrated essay tests. Their superior performance was not observed in the case of traditional independent writing tasks. The present study calls for incorporating more source-based writing tasks in writing courses.

Open Source GIS based integrated watershed management

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, J. M.; Lindsay, J.; Berg, A. A.

2013-12-01

Optimal land and water management to address future and current resource stresses and allocation challenges requires the development of state-of-the-art geomatics and hydrological modelling tools. Future hydrological modelling tools should be of high resolution, process based with real-time capability to assess changing resource issues critical to short, medium and long-term enviromental management. The objective here is to merge two renowned, well published resource modeling programs to create an source toolbox for integrated land and water management applications. This work will facilitate a much increased efficiency in land and water resource security, management and planning. Following an 'open-source' philosophy, the tools will be computer platform independent with source code freely available, maximizing knowledge transfer and the global value of the proposed research. The envisioned set of water resource management tools will be housed within 'Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools'. Whitebox, is an open-source geographical information system (GIS) developed by Dr. John Lindsay at the University of Guelph. The emphasis of the Whitebox project has been to develop a user-friendly interface for advanced spatial analysis in environmental applications. The plugin architecture of the software is ideal for the tight-integration of spatially distributed models and spatial analysis algorithms such as those contained within the GENESYS suite. Open-source development extends knowledge and technology transfer to a broad range of end-users and builds Canadian capability to address complex resource management problems with better tools and expertise for managers in Canada and around the world. GENESYS (Generate Earth Systems Science input) is an innovative, efficient, high-resolution hydro- and agro-meteorological model for complex terrain watersheds developed under the direction of Dr. James Byrne. GENESYS is an outstanding research and applications tool to address

Identifying influential factors on integrated marketing planning using information technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karim Hamdi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to identify important factors influencing integrated marketing planning using information technology. The proposed study designs a questionnaire for measuring integrated marketing planning, which consists of three categories of structural factors, behavioral factors and background factors. There are 40 questions associated with the proposed study in Likert scale. Cronbach alphas have been calculated for structural factors, behavioral factors and background factors as 0.89, 0.86 and 0.83, respectively. Using some statistical test, the study has confirmed the effects of three factors on integrated marketing. In addition, the implementation of Freedman test has revealed that structural factors were the most important factor followed by background factors and behavioral factors.

Path-integral method for the source apportionment of photochemical pollutants

Science.gov (United States)

Dunker, A. M.

2015-06-01

A new, path-integral method is presented for apportioning the concentrations of pollutants predicted by a photochemical model to emissions from different sources. A novel feature of the method is that it can apportion the difference in a species concentration between two simulations. For example, the anthropogenic ozone increment, which is the difference between a simulation with all emissions present and another simulation with only the background (e.g., biogenic) emissions included, can be allocated to the anthropogenic emission sources. The method is based on an existing, exact mathematical equation. This equation is applied to relate the concentration difference between simulations to line or path integrals of first-order sensitivity coefficients. The sensitivities describe the effects of changing the emissions and are accurately calculated by the decoupled direct method. The path represents a continuous variation of emissions between the two simulations, and each path can be viewed as a separate emission-control strategy. The method does not require auxiliary assumptions, e.g., whether ozone formation is limited by the availability of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or nitrogen oxides (NOx), and can be used for all the species predicted by the model. A simplified configuration of the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) is used to evaluate the accuracy of different numerical integration procedures and the dependence of the source contributions on the path. A Gauss-Legendre formula using three or four points along the path gives good accuracy for apportioning the anthropogenic increments of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and nitric acid. Source contributions to these increments were obtained for paths representing proportional control of all anthropogenic emissions together, control of NOx emissions before VOC emissions, and control of VOC emissions before NOx emissions. There are similarities in the source contributions from the

How to Integrate Variable Power Source into a Power Grid

Science.gov (United States)

Asano, Hiroshi

This paper discusses how to integrate variable power source such as wind power and photovoltaic generation into a power grid. The intermittent renewable generation is expected to penetrate for less carbon intensive power supply system, but it causes voltage control problem in the distribution system, and supply-demand imbalance problem in a whole power system. Cooperative control of customers' energy storage equipment such as water heater with storage tank for reducing inverse power flow from the roof-top PV system, the operation technique using a battery system and the solar radiation forecast for stabilizing output of variable generation, smart charging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for load frequency control (LFC), and other methods to integrate variable power source with improving social benefits are surveyed.

The use of source memory to identify one's own episodic confusion errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, S M; Tindell, D R; Pierce, B H; Gilliland, T R; Gerkens, D R

2001-03-01

In 4 category cued recall experiments, participants falsely recalled nonlist common members, a semantic confusion error. Errors were more likely if critical nonlist words were presented on an incidental task, causing source memory failures called episodic confusion errors. Participants could better identify the source of falsely recalled words if they had deeply processed the words on the incidental task. For deep but not shallow processing, participants could reliably include or exclude incidentally shown category members in recall. The illusion that critical items actually appeared on categorized lists was diminished but not eradicated when participants identified episodic confusion errors post hoc among their own recalled responses; participants often believed that critical items had been on both the incidental task and the study list. Improved source monitoring can potentially mitigate episodic (but not semantic) confusion errors.

Golden Ratio Versus Pi as Random Sequence Sources for Monte Carlo Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Sen, S. K.; Agarwal, Ravi P.; Shaykhian, Gholam Ali

2007-01-01

We discuss here the relative merits of these numbers as possible random sequence sources. The quality of these sequences is not judged directly based on the outcome of all known tests for the randomness of a sequence. Instead, it is determined implicitly by the accuracy of the Monte Carlo integration in a statistical sense. Since our main motive of using a random sequence is to solve real world problems, it is more desirable if we compare the quality of the sequences based on their performances for these problems in terms of quality/accuracy of the output. We also compare these sources against those generated by a popular pseudo-random generator, viz., the Matlab rand and the quasi-random generator ha/ton both in terms of error and time complexity. Our study demonstrates that consecutive blocks of digits of each of these numbers produce a good random sequence source. It is observed that randomly chosen blocks of digits do not have any remarkable advantage over consecutive blocks for the accuracy of the Monte Carlo integration. Also, it reveals that pi is a better source of a random sequence than theta when the accuracy of the integration is concerned.

Utilising identifier error variation in linkage of large administrative data sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katie Harron

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Linkage of administrative data sources often relies on probabilistic methods using a set of common identifiers (e.g. sex, date of birth, postcode. Variation in data quality on an individual or organisational level (e.g. by hospital can result in clustering of identifier errors, violating the assumption of independence between identifiers required for traditional probabilistic match weight estimation. This potentially introduces selection bias to the resulting linked dataset. We aimed to measure variation in identifier error rates in a large English administrative data source (Hospital Episode Statistics; HES and to incorporate this information into match weight calculation. Methods We used 30,000 randomly selected HES hospital admissions records of patients aged 0–1, 5–6 and 18–19 years, for 2011/2012, linked via NHS number with data from the Personal Demographic Service (PDS; our gold-standard. We calculated identifier error rates for sex, date of birth and postcode and used multi-level logistic regression to investigate associations with individual-level attributes (age, ethnicity, and gender and organisational variation. We then derived: i weights incorporating dependence between identifiers; ii attribute-specific weights (varying by age, ethnicity and gender; and iii organisation-specific weights (by hospital. Results were compared with traditional match weights using a simulation study. Results Identifier errors (where values disagreed in linked HES-PDS records or missing values were found in 0.11% of records for sex and date of birth and in 53% of records for postcode. Identifier error rates differed significantly by age, ethnicity and sex (p < 0.0005. Errors were less frequent in males, in 5–6 year olds and 18–19 year olds compared with infants, and were lowest for the Asian ethic group. A simulation study demonstrated that substantial bias was introduced into estimated readmission rates in the presence

Total luminous flux measurement for flexible surface sources with an integrating sphere photometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Hsueh-Ling; Liu, Wen-Chun

2014-01-01

Applying an integrating sphere photometer for total luminous flux measurement is a widely used method. However, the measurement accuracy depends on the spatial uniformity of the integrating sphere, especially when the test sample has a different light distribution from that of the standard source. Therefore, spatial correction is needed to eliminate the effect caused by non-uniformity. To reduce the inconvenience of spatial correction but retain the measurement accuracy, a new type of working standard is designed for flexible and curved surface sources. Applying this new type standard source, the measurement deviation due to different orientations is reduced by an order of magnitude compared with using a naked incandescent lamp as the standard source. (paper)

Network-Based Integration of Disparate Omic Data To Identify "Silent Players" in Cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Ruffalo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Development of high-throughput monitoring technologies enables interrogation of cancer samples at various levels of cellular activity. Capitalizing on these developments, various public efforts such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA generate disparate omic data for large patient cohorts. As demonstrated by recent studies, these heterogeneous data sources provide the opportunity to gain insights into the molecular changes that drive cancer pathogenesis and progression. However, these insights are limited by the vast search space and as a result low statistical power to make new discoveries. In this paper, we propose methods for integrating disparate omic data using molecular interaction networks, with a view to gaining mechanistic insights into the relationship between molecular changes at different levels of cellular activity. Namely, we hypothesize that genes that play a role in cancer development and progression may be implicated by neither frequent mutation nor differential expression, and that network-based integration of mutation and differential expression data can reveal these "silent players". For this purpose, we utilize network-propagation algorithms to simulate the information flow in the cell at a sample-specific resolution. We then use the propagated mutation and expression signals to identify genes that are not necessarily mutated or differentially expressed genes, but have an essential role in tumor development and patient outcome. We test the proposed method on breast cancer and glioblastoma multiforme data obtained from TCGA. Our results show that the proposed method can identify important proteins that are not readily revealed by molecular data, providing insights beyond what can be gleaned by analyzing different types of molecular data in isolation.

Leveraging Diverse Data Sources to Identify and Describe U.S. Health Care Delivery Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Genna R; Jones, David J; Heeringa, Jessica; Barrett, Kirsten; Furukawa, Michael F; Miller, Dan; Mutti, Anne; Reschovsky, James D; Machta, Rachel; Shortell, Stephen M; Fraze, Taressa; Rich, Eugene

2017-12-15

Health care delivery systems are a growing presence in the U.S., yet research is hindered by the lack of universally agreed-upon criteria to denote formal systems. A clearer understanding of how to leverage real-world data sources to empirically identify systems is a necessary first step to such policy-relevant research. We draw from our experience in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Comparative Health System Performance (CHSP) initiative to assess available data sources to identify and describe systems, including system members (for example, hospitals and physicians) and relationships among the members (for example, hospital ownership of physician groups). We highlight five national data sources that either explicitly track system membership or detail system relationships: (1) American Hospital Association annual survey of hospitals; (2) Healthcare Relational Services Databases; (3) SK&A Healthcare Databases; (4) Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System; and (5) Internal Revenue Service 990 forms. Each data source has strengths and limitations for identifying and describing systems due to their varied content, linkages across data sources, and data collection methods. In addition, although no single national data source provides a complete picture of U.S. systems and their members, the CHSP initiative will create an early model of how such data can be combined to compensate for their individual limitations. Identifying systems in a way that can be repeated over time and linked to a host of other data sources will support analysis of how different types of organizations deliver health care and, ultimately, comparison of their performance.

Semantic integration of gene expression analysis tools and data sources using software connectors

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background The study and analysis of gene expression measurements is the primary focus of functional genomics. Once expression data is available, biologists are faced with the task of extracting (new) knowledge associated to the underlying biological phenomenon. Most often, in order to perform this task, biologists execute a number of analysis activities on the available gene expression dataset rather than a single analysis activity. The integration of heteregeneous tools and data sources to create an integrated analysis environment represents a challenging and error-prone task. Semantic integration enables the assignment of unambiguous meanings to data shared among different applications in an integrated environment, allowing the exchange of data in a semantically consistent and meaningful way. This work aims at developing an ontology-based methodology for the semantic integration of gene expression analysis tools and data sources. The proposed methodology relies on software connectors to support not only the access to heterogeneous data sources but also the definition of transformation rules on exchanged data. Results We have studied the different challenges involved in the integration of computer systems and the role software connectors play in this task. We have also studied a number of gene expression technologies, analysis tools and related ontologies in order to devise basic integration scenarios and propose a reference ontology for the gene expression domain. Then, we have defined a number of activities and associated guidelines to prescribe how the development of connectors should be carried out. Finally, we have applied the proposed methodology in the construction of three different integration scenarios involving the use of different tools for the analysis of different types of gene expression data. Conclusions The proposed methodology facilitates the development of connectors capable of semantically integrating different gene expression analysis tools

Intra-urban biomonitoring: Source apportionment using tree barks to identify air pollution sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreira, Tiana Carla Lopes; de Oliveira, Regiani Carvalho; Amato, Luís Fernando Lourenço; Kang, Choong-Min; Saldiva, Paulo Hilário Nascimento; Saiki, Mitiko

2016-05-01

It is of great interest to evaluate if there is a relationship between possible sources and trace elements using biomonitoring techniques. In this study, tree bark samples of 171 trees were collected using a biomonitoring technique in the inner city of São Paulo. The trace elements (Al, Ba, Ca, Cl, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Rb, S, Sr and Zn) were determined by the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to identify the plausible sources associated with tree bark measurements. The greatest source was vehicle-induced non-tailpipe emissions derived mainly from brakes and tires wear-out and road dust resuspension (characterized with Al, Ba, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn), which was explained by 27.1% of the variance, followed by cement (14.8%), sea salt (11.6%) and biomass burning (10%), and fossil fuel combustion (9.8%). We also verified that the elements related to vehicular emission showed different concentrations at different sites of the same street, which might be helpful for a new street classification according to the emission source. The spatial distribution maps of element concentrations were obtained to evaluate the different levels of pollution in streets and avenues. Results indicated that biomonitoring techniques using tree bark can be applied to evaluate dispersion of air pollution and provide reliable data for the further epidemiological studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated societal risk assessment framework for nuclear power and renewable energy sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hun; Kang, Hyun Gook

2015-01-01

Recently, the estimation of the social cost of energy sources has been emphasized as various novel energy options become feasible in addition to conventional ones. In particular, the social cost of introducing measures to protect power-distribution systems from power-source instability and the cost of accident-risk response for various power sources must be investigated. To account for these risk factors, an integrated societal risk assessment framework, based on power-uncertainty analysis and accident-consequence analysis, is proposed. In this study, we applied the proposed framework to nuclear power plants, solar photovoltaic systems, and wind-turbine generators. The required capacity of gas-turbine power plants to be used as backup power facilities to compensate for fluctuations in the power output from the main power source was estimated based on the performance indicators of each power source. The average individual health risk per terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity produced by each power source was quantitatively estimated by assessing accident frequency and the consequences of specific accident scenarios based on the probabilistic risk assessment methodology. This study is expected to provide insight into integrated societal risk analysis, and can be used to estimate the social cost of various power sources

Integrated societal risk assessment framework for nuclear power and renewable energy sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sang Hun; Kang, Hyun Gook [Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-06-15

Recently, the estimation of the social cost of energy sources has been emphasized as various novel energy options become feasible in addition to conventional ones. In particular, the social cost of introducing measures to protect power-distribution systems from power-source instability and the cost of accident-risk response for various power sources must be investigated. To account for these risk factors, an integrated societal risk assessment framework, based on power-uncertainty analysis and accident-consequence analysis, is proposed. In this study, we applied the proposed framework to nuclear power plants, solar photovoltaic systems, and wind-turbine generators. The required capacity of gas-turbine power plants to be used as backup power facilities to compensate for fluctuations in the power output from the main power source was estimated based on the performance indicators of each power source. The average individual health risk per terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity produced by each power source was quantitatively estimated by assessing accident frequency and the consequences of specific accident scenarios based on the probabilistic risk assessment methodology. This study is expected to provide insight into integrated societal risk analysis, and can be used to estimate the social cost of various power sources.

Neuronal integration of dynamic sources: Bayesian learning and Bayesian inference.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegelmann, Hava T; Holzman, Lars E

2010-09-01

One of the brain's most basic functions is integrating sensory data from diverse sources. This ability causes us to question whether the neural system is computationally capable of intelligently integrating data, not only when sources have known, fixed relative dependencies but also when it must determine such relative weightings based on dynamic conditions, and then use these learned weightings to accurately infer information about the world. We suggest that the brain is, in fact, fully capable of computing this parallel task in a single network and describe a neural inspired circuit with this property. Our implementation suggests the possibility that evidence learning requires a more complex organization of the network than was previously assumed, where neurons have different specialties, whose emergence brings the desired adaptivity seen in human online inference.

DStat: A Versatile, Open-Source Potentiostat for Electroanalysis and Integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Dryden, Michael D M; Wheeler, Aaron R

2015-01-01

Most electroanalytical techniques require the precise control of the potentials in an electrochemical cell using a potentiostat. Commercial potentiostats function as "black boxes," giving limited information about their circuitry and behaviour which can make development of new measurement techniques and integration with other instruments challenging. Recently, a number of lab-built potentiostats have emerged with various design goals including low manufacturing cost and field-portability, but notably lacking is an accessible potentiostat designed for general lab use, focusing on measurement quality combined with ease of use and versatility. To fill this gap, we introduce DStat (http://microfluidics.utoronto.ca/dstat), an open-source, general-purpose potentiostat for use alone or integrated with other instruments. DStat offers picoampere current measurement capabilities, a compact USB-powered design, and user-friendly cross-platform software. DStat is easy and inexpensive to build, may be modified freely, and achieves good performance at low current levels not accessible to other lab-built instruments. In head-to-head tests, DStat's voltammetric measurements are much more sensitive than those of "CheapStat" (a popular open-source potentiostat described previously), and are comparable to those of a compact commercial "black box" potentiostat. Likewise, in head-to-head tests, DStat's potentiometric precision is similar to that of a commercial pH meter. Most importantly, the versatility of DStat was demonstrated through integration with the open-source DropBot digital microfluidics platform. In sum, we propose that DStat is a valuable contribution to the "open source" movement in analytical science, which is allowing users to adapt their tools to their experiments rather than alter their experiments to be compatible with their tools.

DStat: A Versatile, Open-Source Potentiostat for Electroanalysis and Integration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael D M Dryden

Full Text Available Most electroanalytical techniques require the precise control of the potentials in an electrochemical cell using a potentiostat. Commercial potentiostats function as "black boxes," giving limited information about their circuitry and behaviour which can make development of new measurement techniques and integration with other instruments challenging. Recently, a number of lab-built potentiostats have emerged with various design goals including low manufacturing cost and field-portability, but notably lacking is an accessible potentiostat designed for general lab use, focusing on measurement quality combined with ease of use and versatility. To fill this gap, we introduce DStat (http://microfluidics.utoronto.ca/dstat, an open-source, general-purpose potentiostat for use alone or integrated with other instruments. DStat offers picoampere current measurement capabilities, a compact USB-powered design, and user-friendly cross-platform software. DStat is easy and inexpensive to build, may be modified freely, and achieves good performance at low current levels not accessible to other lab-built instruments. In head-to-head tests, DStat's voltammetric measurements are much more sensitive than those of "CheapStat" (a popular open-source potentiostat described previously, and are comparable to those of a compact commercial "black box" potentiostat. Likewise, in head-to-head tests, DStat's potentiometric precision is similar to that of a commercial pH meter. Most importantly, the versatility of DStat was demonstrated through integration with the open-source DropBot digital microfluidics platform. In sum, we propose that DStat is a valuable contribution to the "open source" movement in analytical science, which is allowing users to adapt their tools to their experiments rather than alter their experiments to be compatible with their tools.

Evaluated Rayleigh integrals for pulsed planar expanding ring sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warshaw, S.I.

1985-01-01

Time-domain analytic and semianalytic pressure fields acoustically radiated from expanding pulsed ring sources imbedded in a planar rigid baffle have been calculated. The source functions are radially symmetric delta-function distributions whose amplitude and argument have simple functional dependencies on radius and time. Certain cases yield closed analytic results, while others result in elliptic integrals, which are evaluated to high accuracy by Gauss-Chebyshev and modified Gauss-Legendre quadrature. These results are of value for calibrating computer simulations and convolution procedures, and estimating fields from more complex planar radiators. 3 refs., 4 figs

Identifying populations at risk from environmental contamination from point sources

OpenAIRE

Williams, F; Ogston, S

2002-01-01

Objectives: To compare methods for defining the population at risk from a point source of air pollution. A major challenge for environmental epidemiology lies in correctly identifying populations at risk from exposure to environmental pollutants. The complexity of today's environment makes it essential that the methods chosen are accurate and sensitive.

Genome-wide profiling of HPV integration in cervical cancer identifies clustered genomic hot spots and a potential microhomology-mediated integration mechanism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Zheng; Zhu, Da; Wang, Wei

2015-01-01

Human papillomavirus (HPV) integration is a key genetic event in cervical carcinogenesis1. By conducting whole-genome sequencing and high-throughput viral integration detection, we identified 3,667 HPV integration breakpoints in 26 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias, 104 cervical carcinomas and ...

A manual to identify sources of fluvial sediment

Science.gov (United States)

Gellis, Allen C.; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.; Schubauer-Berigan, Joseph

2016-01-01

Sediment is an important pollutant of concern that can degrade and alter aquatic habitat. A sediment budget is an accounting of the sources, storage, and export of sediment over a defined spatial and temporal scale. This manual focuses on field approaches to estimate a sediment budget. We also highlight the sediment fingerprinting approach to attribute sediment to different watershed sources. Determining the sources and sinks of sediment is important in developing strategies to reduce sediment loads to water bodies impaired by sediment. Therefore, this manual can be used when developing a sediment TMDL requiring identification of sediment sources.The manual takes the user through the seven necessary steps to construct a sediment budget:Decision-making for watershed scale and time period of interestFamiliarization with the watershed by conducting a literature review, compiling background information and maps relevant to study questions, conducting a reconnaissance of the watershedDeveloping partnerships with landowners and jurisdictionsCharacterization of watershed geomorphic settingDevelopment of a sediment budget designData collectionInterpretation and construction of the sediment budgetGenerating products (maps, reports, and presentations) to communicate findings.Sediment budget construction begins with examining the question(s) being asked and whether a sediment budget is necessary to answer these question(s). If undertaking a sediment budget analysis is a viable option, the next step is to define the spatial scale of the watershed and the time scale needed to answer the question(s). Of course, we understand that monetary constraints play a big role in any decision.Early in the sediment budget development process, we suggest getting to know your watershed by conducting a reconnaissance and meeting with local stakeholders. The reconnaissance aids in understanding the geomorphic setting of the watershed and potential sources of sediment. Identifying the potential

Integrated societal risk assessment framework for nuclear power and renewable energy sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sang Hun Lee

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Recently, the estimation of the social cost of energy sources has been emphasized as various novel energy options become feasible in addition to conventional ones. In particular, the social cost of introducing measures to protect power-distribution systems from power-source instability and the cost of accident-risk response for various power sources must be investigated. To account for these risk factors, an integrated societal risk assessment framework, based on power-uncertainty analysis and accident-consequence analysis, is proposed. In this study, we applied the proposed framework to nuclear power plants, solar photovoltaic systems, and wind-turbine generators. The required capacity of gas-turbine power plants to be used as backup power facilities to compensate for fluctuations in the power output from the main power source was estimated based on the performance indicators of each power source. The average individual health risk per terawatt-hours (TWh of electricity produced by each power source was quantitatively estimated by assessing accident frequency and the consequences of specific accident scenarios based on the probabilistic risk assessment methodology. This study is expected to provide insight into integrated societal risk analysis, and can be used to estimate the social cost of various power sources.

Application of classification-tree methods to identify nitrate sources in ground water

Science.gov (United States)

Spruill, T.B.; Showers, W.J.; Howe, S.S.

2002-01-01

A study was conducted to determine if nitrate sources in ground water (fertilizer on crops, fertilizer on golf courses, irrigation spray from hog (Sus scrofa) wastes, and leachate from poultry litter and septic systems) could be classified with 80% or greater success. Two statistical classification-tree models were devised from 48 water samples containing nitrate from five source categories. Model I was constructed by evaluating 32 variables and selecting four primary predictor variables (??15N, nitrate to ammonia ratio, sodium to potassium ratio, and zinc) to identify nitrate sources. A ??15N value of nitrate plus potassium 18.2 indicated inorganic or soil organic N. A nitrate to ammonia ratio 575 indicated nitrate from golf courses. A sodium to potassium ratio 3.2 indicated spray or poultry wastes. A value for zinc 2.8 indicated poultry wastes. Model 2 was devised by using all variables except ??15N. This model also included four variables (sodium plus potassium, nitrate to ammonia ratio, calcium to magnesium ratio, and sodium to potassium ratio) to distinguish categories. Both models were able to distinguish all five source categories with better than 80% overall success and with 71 to 100% success in individual categories using the learning samples. Seventeen water samples that were not used in model development were tested using Model 2 for three categories, and all were correctly classified. Classification-tree models show great potential in identifying sources of contamination and variables important in the source-identification process.

INTEGRAL discovery of a new transient source: IGR J16374-5043

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pavan, L.; Terrier, R.; Bozzo, E.

2010-01-01

During the INTEGRAL observations of RX J1713.7-3946 (PI R. Terrier), performed between 2010-08-21 03:39 and 2010-08-23 12:03, a new transient source was discovered by the soft gamma-ray imager IBIS/ISGRI (17-300 keV). The source is detected at a significance level of 10 sigma in the 20-40 keV ene...

Review of Sealed Source Designs and Manufacturing Techniques Affecting Disused Source Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-10-01

This publication presents an investigation on the influence of the design and technical features of sealed radioactive sources (SRSs) on predisposal and disposal activities when the sources become disused. The publication also addresses whether design modifications could contribute to safer and/or more efficient management of disused sources without compromising the benefits provided by the use of the sealed sources. This technical publication aims to collect information on the most typical design features and manufacturing techniques of sealed radioactive sources and examines how they affect the safe management of disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRS). The publication also aims to assist source designers and manufacturers by discussing design features that are important from the waste management point of view. It has been identified that most SRS manufacturers use similar geometries and materials for their designs and apply improved and reliable manufacturing techniques e.g. double- encapsulation. These designs and manufacturing techniques have been proven over time to reduce contamination levels in fabrication and handling, and improve source integrity and longevity. The current source designs and materials ensure as well as possible that SRSs will maintain their integrity in use and when they become disused. No significant improvement options to current designs have been identified. However, some design considerations were identified as important to facilitate source retrieval, to increase the possibility of re-use and to ensure minimal contamination risk and radioactive waste generation at recycling. It was also concluded that legible identifying markings on a source are critical for DSRS management. The publication emphasizes the need for a common understanding of the radioactive source's recommended working life (RWL) for manufacturers and regulators. The conditions of use (COU) are important for the determination of RWL. A formal system for specification

Integration of relational and textual biomedical sources. A pilot experiment using a semi-automated method for logical schema acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Remesal, M; Maojo, V; Billhardt, H; Crespo, J

2010-01-01

Bringing together structured and text-based sources is an exciting challenge for biomedical informaticians, since most relevant biomedical sources belong to one of these categories. In this paper we evaluate the feasibility of integrating relational and text-based biomedical sources using: i) an original logical schema acquisition method for textual databases developed by the authors, and ii) OntoFusion, a system originally designed by the authors for the integration of relational sources. We conducted an integration experiment involving a test set of seven differently structured sources covering the domain of genetic diseases. We used our logical schema acquisition method to generate schemas for all textual sources. The sources were integrated using the methods and tools provided by OntoFusion. The integration was validated using a test set of 500 queries. A panel of experts answered a questionnaire to evaluate i) the quality of the extracted schemas, ii) the query processing performance of the integrated set of sources, and iii) the relevance of the retrieved results. The results of the survey show that our method extracts coherent and representative logical schemas. Experts' feedback on the performance of the integrated system and the relevance of the retrieved results was also positive. Regarding the validation of the integration, the system successfully provided correct results for all queries in the test set. The results of the experiment suggest that text-based sources including a logical schema can be regarded as equivalent to structured databases. Using our method, previous research and existing tools designed for the integration of structured databases can be reused - possibly subject to minor modifications - to integrate differently structured sources.

Integration and Optimization of Alternative Sources of Energy in a Remote Region

Science.gov (United States)

Berberi, Pellumb; Inodnorjani, Spiro; Aleti, Riza

2010-01-01

In a remote coastal region supply of energy from national grid is insufficient for a sustainable development. Integration and optimization of local alternative renewable energy sources is an optional solution of the problem. In this paper we have studied the energetic potential of local sources of renewable energy (water, solar, wind and biomass). A bottom-up energy system optimization model is proposed in order to support planning policies for promoting the use of renewable energy sources. A software, based on multiple factors and constrains analysis for optimization energy flow is proposed, which provides detailed information for exploitation each source of energy, power and heat generation, GHG emissions and end-use sectors. Economical analysis shows that with existing technologies both stand alone and regional facilities may be feasible. Improving specific legislation will foster investments from Central or Local Governments and also from individuals, private companies or small families. The study is carried on the frame work of a FP6 project "Integrated Renewable Energy System."

Consumer-led health-related online sources and their impact on consumers: An integrative review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Laukka, Elina; Rantakokko, Piia; Suhonen, Marjo

2017-04-01

The aim of the review was to describe consumer-led health-related online sources and their impact on consumers. The review was carried out as an integrative literature review. Quantisation and qualitative content analysis were used as the analysis method. The most common method used by the included studies was qualitative content analysis. This review identified the consumer-led health-related online sources used between 2009 and 2016 as health-related online communities, health-related social networking sites and health-related rating websites. These sources had an impact on peer support; empowerment; health literacy; physical, mental and emotional wellbeing; illness management; and relationships between healthcare organisations and consumers. The knowledge of the existence of the health-related online sources provides healthcare organisations with an opportunity to listen to their consumers' 'voice'. The sources make healthcare consumers more competent actors in relation to healthcare, and the knowledge of them is a valuable resource for healthcare organisations. Additionally, these health-related online sources might create an opportunity to reduce the need for drifting among the healthcare services. Healthcare policymakers and organisations could benefit from having a strategy of increasing their health-related online sources.

Integrated source of broadband quadrature squeezed light

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoff, Ulrich Busk; Nielsen, Bo Melholt; Andersen, Ulrik Lund

2015-01-01

An integrated silicon nitride resonator is proposed as an ultracompact source of bright single-mode quadrature squeezed light at 850 nm. Optical properties of the device are investigated and tailored through numerical simulations, with particular attention paid to loss associated with interfacing...... the device. An asymmetric double layer stack waveguide geometry with inverse vertical tapers is proposed for efficient and robust fibre-chip coupling, yielding a simulated total loss of -0.75 dB/facet. We assess the feasibility of the device through a full quantum noise analysis and derive the output...

ICan: an integrated co-alteration network to identify ovarian cancer-related genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yuanshuai; Liu, Yongjing; Li, Kening; Zhang, Rui; Qiu, Fujun; Zhao, Ning; Xu, Yan

2015-01-01

Over the last decade, an increasing number of integrative studies on cancer-related genes have been published. Integrative analyses aim to overcome the limitation of a single data type, and provide a more complete view of carcinogenesis. The vast majority of these studies used sample-matched data of gene expression and copy number to investigate the impact of copy number alteration on gene expression, and to predict and prioritize candidate oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. However, correlations between genes were neglected in these studies. Our work aimed to evaluate the co-alteration of copy number, methylation and expression, allowing us to identify cancer-related genes and essential functional modules in cancer. We built the Integrated Co-alteration network (ICan) based on multi-omics data, and analyzed the network to uncover cancer-related genes. After comparison with random networks, we identified 155 ovarian cancer-related genes, including well-known (TP53, BRCA1, RB1 and PTEN) and also novel cancer-related genes, such as PDPN and EphA2. We compared the results with a conventional method: CNAmet, and obtained a significantly better area under the curve value (ICan: 0.8179, CNAmet: 0.5183). In this paper, we describe a framework to find cancer-related genes based on an Integrated Co-alteration network. Our results proved that ICan could precisely identify candidate cancer genes and provide increased mechanistic understanding of carcinogenesis. This work suggested a new research direction for biological network analyses involving multi-omics data.

Identifying Cases of Type 2 Diabetes in Heterogeneous Data Sources: Strategy from the EMIF Project.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Roberto

Full Text Available Due to the heterogeneity of existing European sources of observational healthcare data, data source-tailored choices are needed to execute multi-data source, multi-national epidemiological studies. This makes transparent documentation paramount. In this proof-of-concept study, a novel standard data derivation procedure was tested in a set of heterogeneous data sources. Identification of subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2DM was the test case. We included three primary care data sources (PCDs, three record linkage of administrative and/or registry data sources (RLDs, one hospital and one biobank. Overall, data from 12 million subjects from six European countries were extracted. Based on a shared event definition, sixteeen standard algorithms (components useful to identify T2DM cases were generated through a top-down/bottom-up iterative approach. Each component was based on one single data domain among diagnoses, drugs, diagnostic test utilization and laboratory results. Diagnoses-based components were subclassified considering the healthcare setting (primary, secondary, inpatient care. The Unified Medical Language System was used for semantic harmonization within data domains. Individual components were extracted and proportion of population identified was compared across data sources. Drug-based components performed similarly in RLDs and PCDs, unlike diagnoses-based components. Using components as building blocks, logical combinations with AND, OR, AND NOT were tested and local experts recommended their preferred data source-tailored combination. The population identified per data sources by resulting algorithms varied from 3.5% to 15.7%, however, age-specific results were fairly comparable. The impact of individual components was assessed: diagnoses-based components identified the majority of cases in PCDs (93-100%, while drug-based components were the main contributors in RLDs (81-100%. The proposed data derivation procedure allowed the

Integration of asynchronous knowledge sources in a novel speech recognition framework

OpenAIRE

Van hamme, Hugo

2008-01-01

Van hamme H., ''Integration of asynchronous knowledge sources in a novel speech recognition framework'', Proceedings ITRW on speech analysis and processing for knowledge discovery, 4 pp., June 2008, Aalborg, Denmark.

Compact Integrated DBR Laser Source for Absorption Lidar Instruments, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to demonstrate a compact integrated laser module that addresses the requirements of the laser source in a water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL)...

dena grid study II. Integration of renewable energy sources into the German power supply system until 2020; dena - Netzstudie II. Integration erneuerbarer Energien in die deutsche Stromversorgung bis 2020

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agricola, Annegret C.; Seidl, Hannes; Zoch, Immo (comps.)

2010-12-15

With its broad system approach, dena Grid Study II describes new ways of developing Germany's integrated grid with regard to the expansion of renewable energy sources and taking not only an economically optimised conventional power generation system but also European power trading into account. Basis for detailed grid planning. Having investigated many different transmission technologies, grid management measures and options for increasing flexibility on both the supply and demand side, the study does much more than simply identify grid expansion requirements, it shows the path towards overall optimisation of the energy supply system. In addition to robustly identifying grid expansion requirements, dena Grid Study II provides a very sound basis for further detailed grid planning and the identification of specific power routes in the German power transmission grid. Increasing grid expansion requirements. dena Grid Study II investigates the expansion of electricity generation from renewable energy sources to 39 percent by 2020. However, this is just an interim goal. By as soon as 2030, the German Federal Government is planning to raise the proportion of renewable electricity generation to 50 percent. This shows that even after 2020, further adaptation of grid infrastructure will still be necessary. Practical action required. If the grid expansion required to integrate renewable energy sources is to be achieved rapidly, there is an urgent need to back up the grid expansion scenarios presented in dena Grid Study II with practical action. (orig.)

Fuel-efficiency of hydrogen and heat storage technologies for integration of fluctuating renewable energy sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Lund, Henrik

2005-01-01

This paper presents the methodology and results of analysing the use of different energy storage technologies in the task of integration of fluctuating renewable energy sources (RES) into the electricity supply. The analysis is done on the complete electricity system including renewable energy...... sources as well as power plants and CHP (Combined heat and power production). Emphasis is put on the need for ancillary services. Devices to store electricity as well as devices to store heat can be used to help the integration of fluctuating sources. Electricity storage technologies can be used...... to relocate electricity production directly from the sources, while heat storage devices can be used to relocate the electricity production from CHP plants and hereby improve the ability to integrate RES. The analyses are done by advanced computer modelling and the results are given as diagrams showing...

Design of integral shutters for the beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, J.; Shu, D.; Nian, H.L.; Kuzay, T.M.; Job, P.K.

1994-01-01

An integral shutter is a device that integrates a white-beam stop, monochromatic-beam (mono-beam) shutters, a safety stop, and a collimator into one assembly to save space in the photon beamline. Various integral shutters have been developed as standard components for the beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source. The integral shutters are designed to be operated in white-beam mode or mono-beam mode. With regard to safety, each mode of operation is secured by locking certain devices in their up or down positions. Some of the components of the integral shutters share designs similar to the front-end shutters or fixed masks. Design details of the integral shutters are presented

Use of remote sensing to identify waste sources at ORNL's SWSA 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huff, D.D.; Doll, W.E.; Nyquist, J.E.

1995-01-01

Solid waste storage area (SWSA) 4, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), contributes 25% of the 90 Sr release from the ORNL complex. Disposal records were destroyed in a fire, thus limiting the ability to locate waste sources contributing to the releases. The use of remote sensing products, including photos and thermal spectra images, provided the needed information to allow field work to progress in an efficient and cost-effective manner. As a result, four major sources were identified. Preliminary estimates suggest that cost avoidance in excess of $5 million will be possible because of the detailed source location knowledge

Electrical hubs: An effective way to integrate non-dispatchable renewable energy sources with minimum impact to the grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perera, A.T.D.; Nik, Vahid M.; Mauree, Dasaraden; Scartezzini, Jean-Louis

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A novel method introduced to optimize Electrical Hubs. • Novel dispatch based on fuzzy control and finite state machines. • Evaluating sensitivity of three performance indices for system autonomy. • Multi objective optimization considering system autonomy-cost. • Electrical Hubs can cover above 60% of the demand using wind and Solar PV. - Abstract: A paradigm change in energy system design tools, energy market, and energy policy is required to attain the target levels in renewable energy integration and in minimizing pollutant emissions in power generation. Integrating non-dispatchable renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy is vital in this context. Distributed generation has been identified as a promising method to integrate Solar PV (SPV) and wind energy into grid in recent literature. Distributed generation using grid-tied electrical hubs, which consist of Internal Combustion Generator (ICG), non-dispatchable energy sources (i.e., wind turbines and SPV panels) and energy storage for providing the electricity demand in Sri Lanka is considered in this study. A novel dispatch strategy is introduced to address the limitations in the existing methods in optimizing grid-integrated electrical hubs considering real time pricing of the electricity grid and curtailments in grid integration. Multi-objective optimization is conducted for the system design considering grid integration level and Levelized Energy Cost (LEC) as objective functions to evaluate the potential of electrical hubs to integrate SPV and wind energy. The sensitivity of grid curtailments, energy market, price of wind turbines and SPV panels on Pareto front is evaluated subsequently. Results from the Pareto analysis demonstrate the potential of electrical hubs to cover more than 60% of the annual electricity demand from SPV and wind energy considering stringent grid curtailments. Such a share from SPV and wind energy is quite significant when compared to direct grid

Effect of source integration on the geochemical fluxes from springs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frisbee, Marty D.; Phillips, Fred M.; White, Art F.; Campbell, Andrew R.; Liu, Fengjing

2013-01-01

Geochemical fluxes from watersheds are typically defined using mass-balance methods that essentially lump all weathering processes operative in a watershed into a single flux of solute mass measured in streamflow at the watershed outlet. However, it is important that we understand how weathering processes in different hydrological zones of a watershed (i.e., surface, unsaturated, and saturated zones) contribute to the total geochemical flux from the watershed. This capability will improve understanding of how geochemical fluxes from these different zones may change in response to climate change. Here, the geochemical flux from weathering processes occurring solely in the saturated zone is investigated. This task, however, remains exceedingly difficult due to the sparsity of subsurface sampling points, especially in large, remote, and/or undeveloped watersheds. In such cases, springflow is often assumed to be a proxy for groundwater (defined as water residing in fully saturated geologic formations). However, springflow generation may integrate different sources of water including, but not limited to, groundwater. The authors’ hypothesis is that long-term estimates of geochemical fluxes from groundwater using springflow proxies will be too large due to the integrative nature of springflow generation. Two conceptual models of springflow generation are tested using endmember mixing analyses (EMMA) on observations of spring chemistries and stable isotopic compositions in a large alpine watershed in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. In the “total springflow” conceptual model, springflow is assumed to be 100% groundwater. In the “fractional springflow” conceptual model, springflow is assumed to be an integration of different sources of water (e.g., groundwater, unsaturated flow, preferential flow in the soil, etc.) and groundwater is only a fractional component. The results indicate that groundwater contributions in springflow range from 2% to 100

Temperature Characteristics of Monolithically Integrated Wavelength-Selectable Light Sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han Liang-Shun; Zhu Hong-Liang; Zhang Can; Ma Li; Liang Song; Wang Wei

2013-01-01

The temperature characteristics of monolithically integrated wavelength-selectable light sources are experimentally investigated. The wavelength-selectable light sources consist of four distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, a multimode interferometer coupler, and a semiconductor optical amplifier. The oscillating wavelength of the DFB laser could be modulated by adjusting the device operating temperature. A wavelength range covering over 8.0nm is obtained with stable single-mode operation by selecting the appropriate laser and chip temperature. The thermal crosstalk caused by the lateral heat spreading between lasers operating simultaneously is evaluated by oscillating-wavelength shift. The thermal crosstalk approximately decreases exponentially as the increasing distance between lasers

Integration of renew able energy sources in smart grid: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zafar, S.; Nawaz, K.; Naqvi, S.A.R.; Malik, T.N.

2013-01-01

The increasing complexity of the existing power grid due to rapid population growth, development in technology, infrastructure and computational tools are the factors that contribute to the need of deployment of smart grid for secure and efficient use of electrical energy. The modernization of electric grids toward a smart grid is being carried out to improve reliability, facilitate integration of renewable energies, and improve power consumption management. Due to continuous depletion of primary fuel resources and global concern about the environmental pollution, the development of smart grids based on renewable energy resources has gained huge strategic significance now a days to resolve the energy crisis. However the intermittent and fluctuating nature of these sources makes the integration a difficult task that needs to be effectively addressed. Firstly this paper briefly discuss the emerging renewable energy resources (RERs) and Energy storage systems (EES). Secondly this work comprehensively reviews the potential challenges in integration of these sources in smart grid along with the applied control strategies for their facilitation and some practical case studies. (author)

An integrated approach to identify the origin of PM10 exceedances.

Science.gov (United States)

Amodio, M; Andriani, E; de Gennaro, G; Demarinis Loiotile, A; Di Gilio, A; Placentino, M C

2012-09-01

This study was aimed to the development of an integrated approach for the characterization of particulate matter (PM) pollution events in the South of Italy. PM(10) and PM(2.5) daily samples were collected from June to November 2008 at an urban background site located in Bari (Puglia Region, South of Italy). Meteorological data, particle size distributions and atmospheric dispersion conditions were also monitored in order to provide information concerning the different features of PM sources. The collected data allowed suggesting four indicators to characterize different PM(10) exceedances. PM(2.5)/PM(10) ratio, natural radioactivity, aerosol maps and back-trajectory analysis and particle distributions were considered in order to evaluate the contribution of local anthropogenic sources and to determine the different origins of intrusive air mass coming from long-range transport, such as African dust outbreaks and aerosol particles from Central and Eastern Europe. The obtained results were confirmed by applying principal component analysis to the number particle concentration dataset and by the chemical characterization of the samples (PM(10) and PM(2.5)). The integrated approach for PM study suggested in this paper can be useful to support the air quality managers for the development of cost-effective control strategies and the application of more suitable risk management approaches.

Air source integrated heat pump simulation model for EnergyPlus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shen, Bo; New, Joshua; Baxter, Van

2017-12-01

An Air Source Integrated Heat Pump (AS-IHP) is an air source, multi-functional spacing conditioning unit with water heating function (WH), which can lead to great energy savings by recovering the condensing waste heat for domestic water heating. This paper summarizes development of the EnergyPlus AS-IHP model, introducing the physics, sub-models, working modes, and control logic. Based on the model, building energy simulations were conducted to demonstrate greater than 50% annual energy savings, in comparison to a baseline heat pump with electric water heater, over 10 US cities, using the EnergyPlus quick-service restaurant template building. We assessed water heating energy saving potentials using AS-IHP versus both gas and electric baseline systems, and pointed out climate zones where AS-IHPs are promising. In addition, a grid integration strategy was investigated to reveal further energy saving and electricity cost reduction potentials, via increasing the water heating set point temperature during off-peak hours and using larger water tanks.

Integrated spatiotemporal characterization of dust sources and outbreaks in Central and East Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Darmenova, Kremena T.

The potential of atmospheric dust aerosols to modify the Earth's environment and climate has been recognized for some time. However, predicting the diverse impact of dust has several significant challenges. One is to quantify the complex spatial and temporal variability of dust burden in the atmosphere. Another is to quantify the fraction of dust originating from human-made sources. This thesis focuses on the spatiotemporal characterization of sources and dust outbreaks in Central and East Asia by integrating ground-based data, satellite multisensor observations, and modeling. A new regional dust modeling system capable of operating over a span of scales was developed. The modeling system consists of a dust module DuMo, which incorporates several dust emission schemes of different complexity, and the PSU/NCAR mesoscale model MM5, which offers a variety of physical parameterizations and flexible nesting capability. The modeling system was used to perform for the first time a comprehensive study of the timing, duration, and intensity of individual dust events in Central and East Asia. Determining the uncertainties caused by the choice of model physics, especially the boundary layer parameterization, and the dust production scheme was the focus of our study. Implications to assessments of the anthropogenic dust fraction in these regions were also addressed. Focusing on Spring 2001, an analysis of routine surface meteorological observations and satellite multi-sensor data was carried out in conjunction with modeling to determine the extent to which integrated data set can be used to characterize the spatiotemporal distribution of dust plumes at a range of temporal scales, addressing the active dust sources in China and Mongolia, mid-range transport and trans-Pacific, long-range transport of dust outbreaks on a case-by-case basis. This work demonstrates that adequate and consistent characterization of individual dust events is central to establishing a reliable

Multi-Sensor Integration to Map Odor Distribution for the Detection of Chemical Sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Gao

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the problem of mapping odor distribution derived from a chemical source using multi-sensor integration and reasoning system design. Odor localization is the problem of finding the source of an odor or other volatile chemical. Most localization methods require a mobile vehicle to follow an odor plume along its entire path, which is time consuming and may be especially difficult in a cluttered environment. To solve both of the above challenges, this paper proposes a novel algorithm that combines data from odor and anemometer sensors, and combine sensors’ data at different positions. Initially, a multi-sensor integration method, together with the path of airflow was used to map the pattern of odor particle movement. Then, more sensors are introduced at specific regions to determine the probable location of the odor source. Finally, the results of odor source location simulation and a real experiment are presented.

Sources and fate of antimicrobials in integrated fish-pig and non-integrated tilapia farms.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Kang; Liu, Liping; Zhan, Jia; Scippo, Marie-Louise; Hvidtfeldt, Kristian; Liu, Yuan; Dalsgaard, Anders

2017-10-01

Antimicrobial contamination in aquaculture products constitutes a food safety hazard, but little is known about the introduction and accumulation of antimicrobials in integrated fish-pig aquaculture. This study, conducted in 2013, aimed to determine the residues of 11 types of antimicrobials by UPLC-MS/MS analysis in fish feed (n=37), pig feed (n=9), pig manure (n=9), pond sediment (n=20), fish skin (n=20) and muscle tissue (n=20) sampled from integrated tilapia-pig farms, non-integrated tilapia farms and fish feed supply shops. There was a higher occurrence of antimicrobial residues in fish skin from both integrated and non-integrated farms, and in pig manure. Enrofloxacin (3.9-129.3μg/kg) and sulfadiazine (0.7-7.8μg/kg) were commonly detected in fish skin and muscle, pig manure and pond sediment from integrated farms, with different types of antimicrobials found in pig manure and tilapia samples. In non-integrated farms, sulfadiazine (2.5-89.9μg/kg) was the predominant antimicrobial detected in fish skin and muscle, fish feed and pond sediment. In general, antimicrobials seemed not to be commonly transmitted from pig to fish in tilapia-pig integrated farms, and fish feed, pig feed and pond sediment did not seem as important sources of the antimicrobials found in fish from both systems. The frequent findings of antimicrobial residues in fish skin compared with fish muscle was probably due to different pharmacokinetics in different tissue types, which have practical food safety implications since antimicrobial residues monitoring is usually performed analyzing mixed skin and fish muscle samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrated corridor management : phase I, concept development and foundational research. Task 3.4, identify integrated corridor management institutional strategies and administration

Science.gov (United States)

2006-04-12

Task 3 involves overall foundational research to further the understanding of various aspects of Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) and to identify integration issues needed to evaluate the feasibility of the ICM initiative. The focus of Task 3.4 a...

Broadband integrated mid infrared light sources as enabling technology for point of care mid-infrared spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-20

AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2017-0061 Broadband integrated mid-infrared light sources as enabling technology for point-of-care mid- infrared spectroscopy Alex...mid-infrared light sources as enabling technology for point-of-care mid-infrared spectroscopy 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT NUMBER FA2386-16-1-4037...Broadband integrated mid-infrared light sources as enabling technology for point-of-care mid- infrared spectroscopy ” Date: 16th August 2017 Name

CDApps: integrated software for experimental planning and data processing at beamline B23, Diamond Light Source.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Rohanah; Benning, Kristian; Javorfi, Tamas; Longo, Edoardo; Rudd, Timothy R; Pulford, Bill; Siligardi, Giuliano

2015-03-01

The B23 Circular Dichroism beamline at Diamond Light Source has been operational since 2009 and has seen visits from more than 200 user groups, who have generated large amounts of data. Based on the experience of overseeing the users' progress at B23, four key areas requiring the most assistance are identified: planning of experiments and note-keeping; designing titration experiments; processing and analysis of the collected data; and production of experimental reports. To streamline these processes an integrated software package has been developed and made available for the users. The subsequent article summarizes the main features of the software.

f-divergence cutoff index to simultaneously identify differential expression in the integrated transcriptome and proteome

OpenAIRE

Tang, Shaojun; Hemberg, Martin; Cansizoglu, Ertugrul; Belin, Stephane; Kosik, Kenneth; Kreiman, Gabriel; Steen, Hanno; Steen, Judith

2016-01-01

The ability to integrate 'omics' (i.e., transcriptomics and proteomics) is becoming increasingly important to the understanding of regulatory mechanisms. There are currently no tools available to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs)across different 'omics'data types or multi-dimensional data including time courses. We present a model capable of simultaneously identifying DEGs from continuous and discrete transcriptomic, proteomic and integrated proteogenomic data. We show that...

Time-domain single-source integral equations for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects

KAUST Repository

Valdés, Felipe

2013-03-01

Single-source time-domain electric-and magnetic-field integral equations for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects are presented. Their temporal discretization is effected by using shifted piecewise polynomial temporal basis functions and a collocation testing procedure, thus allowing for a marching-on-in-time (MOT) solution scheme. Unlike dual-source formulations, single-source equations involve space-time domain operator products, for which spatial discretization techniques developed for standalone operators do not apply. Here, the spatial discretization of the single-source time-domain integral equations is achieved by using the high-order divergence-conforming basis functions developed by Graglia alongside the high-order divergence-and quasi curl-conforming (DQCC) basis functions of Valdés The combination of these two sets allows for a well-conditioned mapping from div-to curl-conforming function spaces that fully respects the space-mapping properties of the space-time operators involved. Numerical results corroborate the fact that the proposed procedure guarantees accuracy and stability of the MOT scheme. © 2012 IEEE.

Identifying risk sources of air contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Science.gov (United States)

Huzlik, Jiri; Bozek, Frantisek; Pawelczyk, Adam; Licbinsky, Roman; Naplavova, Magdalena; Pondelicek, Michael

2017-09-01

This article is directed to determining concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are sorbed to solid particles in the air. Pollution sources were identified on the basis of the ratio of benzo[ghi]perylene (BghiPe) to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). Because various important information is lost by determining the simple ratio of concentrations, least squares linear regression (classic ordinary least squares regression), reduced major axis, orthogonal regression, and Kendall-Theil robust diagnostics were utilized for identification. Statistical evaluation using all aforementioned methods demonstrated different ratios of the monitored PAHs in the intervals examined during warmer and colder periods. Analogous outputs were provided by comparing gradients of the emission factors acquired from the measured concentrations of BghiPe and BaP in motor vehicle exhaust gases. Based on these outputs, it was possible plausibly to state that the influence of burning organic fuels in heating stoves is prevalent in colder periods whereas in warmer periods transport was the exclusive source because other sources of PAH emissions were not found in the examined locations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stechiometric neodymium compounds as new materials for light sources in integrated optics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malinowski, M.

1981-01-01

Short review of physico-chemical properties of stechiometric neodymium compounds has been presented. Several constructions of minilasers as promising light sources for integrated optics devices have been described. (author)

Procedures for identifying reasonably available control technology for stationary sources of PM-10. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitzpatrick, M.J.; Ellefson, R.

1992-09-01

The guidance document sets forth procedures and identifies sources of information that will assist State and local air pollution control agencies in determining Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for PM-10 (particulate matter having a nominal aerometric diameter of 10 microns or less) emission from existing stationary sources on a case-by-case basis. It provides an annotated bibliography of documents to aid in identifying the activities that cause PM-10 emissions as well as applicable air pollution control measures and their effectiveness in reducing emissions. The most stringent state total particulate matter (PM) emission limits are identified for several categories of PM-10 sources and compared to available emission test data. Finally, guidance is provided on procedures for estimating total capital investment and total annual cost of the control measures which are generally used to control PM-10 emissions

CVExplorer: identifying candidate developers by mining and exploring their open source contributions.

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Greene, GJ

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Open source code contributions contain a large amount of technical skill information about developers, which can help to identify suitable candidates for a particular development job and therefore impact the success of a development team. We develop...

Optical Characteristics of a Multichannel Hybrid Integrated Light Source for Ultra-High-Bandwidth Optical Interconnections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takanori Shimizu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The optical characteristics of a multi-channel hybrid integrated light source were described for an optical interconnection with a bandwidth of over 10 Tbit/s. The power uniformity of the relative intensity of a 1000-channel light source was shown, and the minimum standard deviation s of the optical power of the 200 output ports at each 25-channel laser diode (LD array was estimated to be 0.49 dB. This hybrid integrated light source is expected to be easily adaptable to a photonics-electronics convergence system for ultra-high-bandwidth interchip interconnections.

The Integrative Method Based on the Module-Network for Identifying Driver Genes in Cancer Subtypes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinguo Lu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available With advances in next-generation sequencing(NGS technologies, a large number of multiple types of high-throughput genomics data are available. A great challenge in exploring cancer progression is to identify the driver genes from the variant genes by analyzing and integrating multi-types genomics data. Breast cancer is known as a heterogeneous disease. The identification of subtype-specific driver genes is critical to guide the diagnosis, assessment of prognosis and treatment of breast cancer. We developed an integrated frame based on gene expression profiles and copy number variation (CNV data to identify breast cancer subtype-specific driver genes. In this frame, we employed statistical machine-learning method to select gene subsets and utilized an module-network analysis method to identify potential candidate driver genes. The final subtype-specific driver genes were acquired by paired-wise comparison in subtypes. To validate specificity of the driver genes, the gene expression data of these genes were applied to classify the patient samples with 10-fold cross validation and the enrichment analysis were also conducted on the identified driver genes. The experimental results show that the proposed integrative method can identify the potential driver genes and the classifier with these genes acquired better performance than with genes identified by other methods.

Computation of rectangular source integral by rational parameter polynomial method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prabha, Hem

2001-01-01

Hubbell et al. (J. Res. Nat Bureau Standards 64C, (1960) 121) have obtained a series expansion for the calculation of the radiation field generated by a plane isotropic rectangular source (plaque), in which leading term is the integral H(a,b). In this paper another integral I(a,b), which is related with the integral H(a,b) has been solved by the rational parameter polynomial method. From I(a,b), we compute H(a,b). Using this method the integral I(a,b) is expressed in the form of a polynomial of a rational parameter. Generally, a function f (x) is expressed in terms of x. In this method this is expressed in terms of x/(1+x). In this way, the accuracy of the expression is good over a wide range of x as compared to the earlier approach. The results for I(a,b) and H(a,b) are given for a sixth degree polynomial and are found to be in good agreement with the results obtained by numerically integrating the integral. Accuracy could be increased either by increasing the degree of the polynomial or by dividing the range of integration. The results of H(a,b) and I(a,b) are given for values of b and a up to 2.0 and 20.0, respectively

Application of positive matrix factorization to identify potential sources of PAHs in soil of Dalian, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Degao; Tian Fulin; Yang Meng; Liu Chenlin; Li Yifan

2009-01-01

Soil derived sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the region of Dalian, China were investigated using positive matrix factorization (PMF). Three factors were separated based on PMF for the statistical investigation of the datasets both in summer and winter. These factors were dominated by the pattern of single sources or groups of similar sources, showing seasonal and regional variations. The main sources of PAHs in Dalian soil in summer were the emissions from coal combustion average (46%), diesel engine (30%), and gasoline engine (24%). In winter, the main sources were the emissions from coal-fired boiler (72%), traffic average (20%), and gasoline engine (8%). These factors with strong seasonality indicated that coal combustion in winter and traffic exhaust in summer dominated the sources of PAHs in soil. These results suggested that PMF model was a proper approach to identify the sources of PAHs in soil. - PMF model is a proper approach to identify potential sources of PAHs in soil based on the PAH profiles measured in the field and those published in the literature.

Interpretative approaches to identifying sources of hydrocarbons in complex contaminated environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sauer, T.C.; Brown, J.S.; Boehm, P.D.

1993-01-01

Recent advances in analytical instrumental hardware and software have permitted the use of more sophisticated approaches in identifying or fingerprinting sources of hydrocarbons in complex matrix environments. In natural resource damage assessments and contaminated site investigations of both terrestrial and aquatic environments, chemical fingerprinting has become an important interpretative tool. The alkyl homologues of the major polycyclic and heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., phenanthrenes/anthracenes, dibenzothiophenes, chrysenes) have been found to the most valuable hydrocarbons in differentiating hydrocarbon sources, but there are other hydrocarbon analytes, such as the chemical biomarkers steranes and triterpanes, and alkyl homologues of benzene, and chemical methodologies, such as scanning UV fluorescence, that have been found to be useful in certain environments. This presentation will focus on recent data interpretative approaches for hydrocarbon source identification assessments. Selection of appropriate targets analytes and data quality requirements will be discussed and example cases including the Arabian Gulf War oil spill results will be presented

Spallation Neutron Source Second Target Station Integrated Systems Update

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ankner, John Francis [ORNL; An, Ke [ORNL; Blokland, Willem [ORNL; Charlton, Timothy R. [ORNL; Coates, Leighton [ORNL; Dayton, Michael J. [ORNL; Dean, Robert A. [ORNL; Dominguez-Ontiveros, Elvis E. [ORNL; Ehlers, Georg [ORNL; Gallmeier, Franz X. [ORNL; Graves, Van B. [ORNL; Heller, William T. [ORNL; Holmes, Jeffrey A. [ORNL; Huq, Ashfia [ORNL; Lumsden, Mark D. [ORNL; McHargue, William M. [ORNL; McManamy, Thomas J. [ORNL; Plum, Michael A. [ORNL; Rajic, Slobodan [ORNL; Remec, Igor [ORNL; Robertson, Lee [ORNL; Sala, Gabriele [ORNL; Stoica, Alexandru Dan [ORNL; Trotter, Steven M. [ORNL; Winn, Barry L. [ORNL; Abudureyimu, Reheman [ORNL; Rennich, Mark J. [ORNL; Herwig, Kenneth W. [ORNL

2017-04-01

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) was designed from the beginning to accommodate both an accelerator upgrade to increase the proton power and a second target station (STS). Four workshops were organized in 2013 and 2014 to identify key science areas and challenges where neutrons will play a vital role [1-4]. Participants concluded that the addition of STS to the existing ORNL neutron sources was needed to complement the strengths of High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the SNS first target station (FTS). To address the capability gaps identified in the workshops, a study was undertaken to identify instrument concepts that could provide the required new science capabilities. The study outlined 22 instrument concepts and presented an initial science case for STS [5]. These instrument concepts formed the basis of a planning suite of instruments whose requirements determined an initial site layout and moderator selection. An STS Technical Design Report (TDR) documented the STS concept based on those choices [6]. Since issue of the TDR, the STS concept has significantly matured as described in this document.

Prospects for identifying the sources of the Galactic cosmic rays with IceCube

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halzen, Francis; Kappes, Alexander; O Murchadha, Aongus

2008-01-01

We quantitatively address whether IceCube, a kilometer-scale neutrino detector under construction at the South Pole, can observe neutrinos pointing back at the accelerators of the Galactic cosmic rays. The photon flux from candidate sources identified by the Milagro detector in a survey of the TeV sky is consistent with the flux expected from a typical cosmic-ray generating supernova remnant interacting with the interstellar medium. We show here that IceCube can provide incontrovertible evidence of cosmic-ray acceleration in these sources by detecting neutrinos. We find that the signal is optimally identified by specializing to events with energies above 30 TeV where the atmospheric neutrino background is low. We conclude that evidence for a correlation between the Milagro and IceCube sky maps should be conclusive after several years.

Integrating Free and Open Source Solutions into Geospatial Science Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaclav Petras

2015-06-01

Full Text Available While free and open source software becomes increasingly important in geospatial research and industry, open science perspectives are generally less reflected in universities’ educational programs. We present an example of how free and open source software can be incorporated into geospatial education to promote open and reproducible science. Since 2008 graduate students at North Carolina State University have the opportunity to take a course on geospatial modeling and analysis that is taught with both proprietary and free and open source software. In this course, students perform geospatial tasks simultaneously in the proprietary package ArcGIS and the free and open source package GRASS GIS. By ensuring that students learn to distinguish between geospatial concepts and software specifics, students become more flexible and stronger spatial thinkers when choosing solutions for their independent work in the future. We also discuss ways to continually update and improve our publicly available teaching materials for reuse by teachers, self-learners and other members of the GIS community. Only when free and open source software is fully integrated into geospatial education, we will be able to encourage a culture of openness and, thus, enable greater reproducibility in research and development applications.

Identifying Methane Sources with an Airborne Pulsed IPDA Lidar System Operating near 1.65 µm

Science.gov (United States)

Yerasi, A.; Bartholomew, J.; Tandy, W., Jr.; Emery, W. J.

2016-12-01

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is predicted to play an important role in future global climate trends. It would therefore be beneficial to locate areas that produce methane in significant amounts so that these trends can be better understood. In this investigation, some initial performance test results of a lidar system called the Advanced Leak Detector Lidar - Natural Gas (ALDL-NG) are discussed. The feasibility of applying its fundamental principle of operation to methane source identification is also explored. The ALDL-NG was originally created by the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. to reveal leaks emanating from pipelines that transport natural gas, which is primarily composed of methane. It operates in a pulsed integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) configuration and it is carried by a piloted, single-engine aircraft. In order to detect the presence of natural gas leaks, the laser wavelengths of its online and offline channels operate in the 1.65 µm region. The functionality of the ALDL-NG was tested during a recent field campaign in Colorado. It was determined that the ambient concentration of methane in the troposphere ( 1.8 ppm) could indeed be retrieved from ALDL-NG data with a lower-than-expected uncertainty ( 0.2 ppm). Furthermore, when the ALDL-NG scanned over areas that were presumed to be methane sources (feedlots, landfills, etc.), significantly higher concentrations of methane were retrieved. These results are intriguing because the ALDL-NG was not specifically designed to observe anything beyond natural gas pipelines. Nevertheless, they strongly indicate that utilizing an airborne pulsed IPDA lidar system operating near 1.65 µm may very well be a viable technique for identifying methane sources. Perhaps future lidar systems could build upon the heritage of the ALDL-NG and measure methane concentration with even better precision for a variety of scientific applications.

Common integration sites of published datasets identified using a graph-based framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandro Vasciaveo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With next-generation sequencing, the genomic data available for the characterization of integration sites (IS has dramatically increased. At present, in a single experiment, several thousand viral integration genome targets can be investigated to define genomic hot spots. In a previous article, we renovated a formal CIS analysis based on a rigid fixed window demarcation into a more stretchy definition grounded on graphs. Here, we present a selection of supporting data related to the graph-based framework (GBF from our previous article, in which a collection of common integration sites (CIS was identified on six published datasets. In this work, we will focus on two datasets, ISRTCGD and ISHIV, which have been previously discussed. Moreover, we show in more detail the workflow design that originates the datasets.

A CMOS microdisplay with integrated controller utilizing improved silicon hot carrier luminescent light sources

Science.gov (United States)

Venter, Petrus J.; Alberts, Antonie C.; du Plessis, Monuko; Joubert, Trudi-Heleen; Goosen, Marius E.; Janse van Rensburg, Christo; Rademeyer, Pieter; Fauré, Nicolaas M.

2013-03-01

Microdisplay technology, the miniaturization and integration of small displays for various applications, is predominantly based on OLED and LCoS technologies. Silicon light emission from hot carrier electroluminescence has been shown to emit light visibly perceptible without the aid of any additional intensification, although the electrical to optical conversion efficiency is not as high as the technologies mentioned above. For some applications, this drawback may be traded off against the major cost advantage and superior integration opportunities offered by CMOS microdisplays using integrated silicon light sources. This work introduces an improved version of our previously published microdisplay by making use of new efficiency enhanced CMOS light emitting structures and an increased display resolution. Silicon hot carrier luminescence is often created when reverse biased pn-junctions enter the breakdown regime where impact ionization results in carrier transport across the junction. Avalanche breakdown is typically unwanted in modern CMOS processes. Design rules and process design are generally tailored to prevent breakdown, while the voltages associated with breakdown are too high to directly interact with the rest of the CMOS standard library. This work shows that it is possible to lower the operating voltage of CMOS light sources without compromising the optical output power. This results in more efficient light sources with improved interaction with other standard library components. This work proves that it is possible to create a reasonably high resolution microdisplay while integrating the active matrix controller and drivers on the same integrated circuit die without additional modifications, in a standard CMOS process.

Using ensemble models to identify and apportion heavy metal pollution sources in agricultural soils on a local scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Qi; Xie, Zhiyi; Li, Fangbai

2015-01-01

This study aims to identify and apportion multi-source and multi-phase heavy metal pollution from natural and anthropogenic inputs using ensemble models that include stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) and random forest (RF) in agricultural soils on the local scale. The heavy metal pollution sources were quantitatively assessed, and the results illustrated the suitability of the ensemble models for the assessment of multi-source and multi-phase heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils on the local scale. The results of SGB and RF consistently demonstrated that anthropogenic sources contributed the most to the concentrations of Pb and Cd in agricultural soils in the study region and that SGB performed better than RF. - Highlights: • Ensemble models including stochastic gradient boosting and random forest are used. • The models were verified by cross-validation and SGB performed better than RF. • Heavy metal pollution sources on a local scale are identified and apportioned. • Models illustrate good suitability in assessing sources in local-scale agricultural soils. • Anthropogenic sources contributed most to soil Pb and Cd pollution in our case. - Multi-source and multi-phase pollution by heavy metals in agricultural soils on a local scale were identified and apportioned.

International Requirements for Large Integration of Renewable Energy Sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Molina-Garcia, Angel; Hansen, Anca Daniela; Muljadi, Ed

2017-01-01

Most European countries have concerns about the integration of large amounts of renewable energy sources (RES) into electric power systems, and this is currently a topic of growing interest. In January 2008, the European Commission published the 2020 package, which proposes committing the European...... Union to a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, to achieve a target of deriving 20% of the European Union's final energy consumption from renewable sources, and to achieve 20% improvement in energy efficiency both by the year 2020 [1]. Member states have different individual goals to meet...... these overall objectives, and they each need to provide a detailed roadmap describing how they will meet these legally binding targets [2]. At this time, RES are an indispensable part of the global energy mix, which has been partially motivated by the continuous increases in hydropower as well as the rapid...

Open source information acquisition, analysis and integration in the IAEA Department of Safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barletta, M.; Zarimpas, N.; Zarucki, R.

2010-10-01

Acquisition and analysis of open source information plays an increasingly important role in the IAEA strengthened safeguards system. The Agency's focal point for open source information collection and analysis is the Division of Safeguards Information Management (SGIM) within the IAEA Department of Safeguards. In parallel with the approval of the Model Additional Protocol in 1997, a new centre of information acquisition and analysis expertise was created within SGIM. By acquiring software, developing databases, retraining existing staff and hiring new staff with diverse analytical skills, SGIM is pro actively contributing to the future implementation of information-driven safeguards in collaboration with other Divisions within the Department of Safeguards. Open source information support is now fully integrated with core safeguards processes and activities, and has become an effective tool in the work of the Department of Safeguards. This provides and overview of progress realized through the acquisition and use of open source information in several thematic areas: evaluation of additional protocol declarations; support to the State Evaluation process; in-depth investigation of safeguards issues, including assisting inspections and complementary access; research on illicit nuclear procurement networks and trafficking; and monitoring nuclear developments. Demands for open source information have steadily grown and are likely to continue to grow in the future. Coupled with the enormous growth and accessibility in the volume and sources of information, new challenges are presented, both technical and analytical. This paper discusses actions taken and future plans for multi-source and multi-disciplinary analytic integration to strengthen confidence in safeguards conclusions - especially regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear materials and activities. (Author)

Identifying (subsurface) anthropogenic heat sources that influence temperature in the drinking water distribution system

Science.gov (United States)

Agudelo-Vera, Claudia M.; Blokker, Mirjam; de Kater, Henk; Lafort, Rob

2017-09-01

The water temperature in the drinking water distribution system and at customers' taps approaches the surrounding soil temperature at a depth of 1 m. Water temperature is an important determinant of water quality. In the Netherlands drinking water is distributed without additional residual disinfectant and the temperature of drinking water at customers' taps is not allowed to exceed 25 °C. In recent decades, the urban (sub)surface has been getting more occupied by various types of infrastructures, and some of these can be heat sources. Only recently have the anthropogenic sources and their influence on the underground been studied on coarse spatial scales. Little is known about the urban shallow underground heat profile on small spatial scales, of the order of 10 m × 10 m. Routine water quality samples at the tap in urban areas have shown up locations - so-called hotspots - in the city, with relatively high soil temperatures - up to 7 °C warmer - compared to the soil temperatures in the surrounding rural areas. Yet the sources and the locations of these hotspots have not been identified. It is expected that with climate change during a warm summer the soil temperature in the hotspots can be above 25 °C. The objective of this paper is to find a method to identify heat sources and urban characteristics that locally influence the soil temperature. The proposed method combines mapping of urban anthropogenic heat sources, retrospective modelling of the soil temperature, analysis of water temperature measurements at the tap, and extensive soil temperature measurements. This approach provided insight into the typical range of the variation of the urban soil temperature, and it is a first step to identifying areas with potential underground heat stress towards thermal underground management in cities.

On the use of coprostanol to identify source of nitrate pollution in groundwater

Science.gov (United States)

Nakagawa, Kei; Amano, Hiroki; Takao, Yuji; Hosono, Takahiro; Berndtsson, Ronny

2017-07-01

Investigation of contaminant sources is indispensable for developing effective countermeasures against nitrate (NO3-) pollution in groundwater. Known major nitrogen (N) sources are chemical fertilizers, livestock waste, and domestic wastewater. In general, scatter diagrams of δ18O and δ15N from NO3- can be used to identify these pollution sources. However, this method can be difficult to use for chemical fertilizers and livestock waste sources due to the overlap of δ18O and δ15N ranges. In this study, we propose to use coprostanol as an indicator for the source of pollution. Coprostanol can be used as a fecal contamination indicator because it is a major fecal sterol formed by the conversion of cholesterol by intestinal bacteria in the gut of higher animals. The proposed method was applied to investigate NO3- pollution sources for groundwater in Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan. Groundwater samples were collected at 33 locations from March 2013 to November 2015. These data were used to quantify relationships between NO3-N, δ15N-NO3-, δ18O-NO3-, and coprostanol. The results show that coprostanol has a potential for source identification of nitrate pollution. For lower coprostanol concentrations (conventional diagrams of isotopic ratios cannot distinguish pollution sources, coprostanol may be a useful tool.

Time-domain single-source integral equations for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects

KAUST Repository

Valdé s, Felipe; Andriulli, Francesco P.; Bagci, Hakan; Michielssen, Eric

2013-01-01

Single-source time-domain electric-and magnetic-field integral equations for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects are presented. Their temporal discretization is effected by using shifted piecewise polynomial temporal basis

Sources of toxicity and exposure information for identifying chemicals of high concern to children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stone, Alex; Delistraty, Damon

2010-01-01

Due to the large number of chemicals in commerce without adequate toxicity characterization data, coupled with an ineffective federal policy for chemical management in the United States, many states are grappling with the challenge to identify toxic chemicals that may pose a risk to human health and the environment. Specific populations (e.g., children, elderly) are particularly sensitive to these toxic chemicals. In 2008, the Children's Safe Product Act (CSPA) was passed in Washington State. The CSPA included specific requirements to identify High Priority Chemicals (HPCs) and Chemicals of High Concern to Children (CHCCs). To implement this legislation, a methodology was developed to identify HPCs from authoritative scientific and regulatory sources on the basis of toxicity criteria. Another set of chemicals of concern was then identified from authoritative sources, based on their potential exposure to children. Exposure potential was evaluated by identifying chemicals detected in biomonitoring studies (i.e., human tissues), as well as those present in residential exposure media (e.g., indoor air, house dust, drinking water, consumer products). Accordingly, CHCCs were defined as HPCs that also appear in biomonitoring studies or relevant exposure media. For chemicals with unique Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) numbers, we identified 2044 HPCs and 2219 chemicals with potential exposure to children, resulting in 476 CHCCs. The process of chemical identification is dynamic, so that chemicals may be added or subtracted as new information becomes available. Although beyond the scope of this paper, the 476 CHCCs will be prioritized in a more detailed assessment, based on the strength and weight of evidence of toxicity and exposure data. Our approach was developed to be flexible which allows the addition or removal of specific sources of toxicity or exposure information, as well as transparent to allow clear identification of inputs. Although the methodology was

Low-level radioactive waste source terms for the 1992 integrated data base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loghry, S.L.; Kibbey, A.H.; Godbee, H.W.; Icenhour, A.S.; DePaoli, S.M.

1995-01-01

This technical manual presents updated generic source terms (i.e., unitized amounts and radionuclide compositions) which have been developed for use in the Integrated Data Base (IDB) Program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These source terms were used in the IDB annual report, Integrated Data Base for 1992: Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Inventories, Projections, and Characteristics, DOE/RW-0006, Rev. 8, October 1992. They are useful as a basis for projecting future amounts (volume and radioactivity) of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) shipped for disposal at commercial burial grounds or sent for storage at DOE solid-waste sites. Commercial fuel cycle LLW categories include boiling-water reactor, pressurized-water reactor, fuel fabrication, and uranium hexafluoride (UF 6 ) conversion. Commercial nonfuel cycle LLW includes institutional/industrial (I/I) waste. The LLW from DOE operations is category as uranium/thorium fission product, induced activity, tritium, alpha, and open-quotes otherclose quotes. Fuel cycle commercial LLW source terms are normalized on the basis of net electrical output [MW(e)-year], except for UF 6 conversion, which is normalized on the basis of heavy metal requirement [metric tons of initial heavy metal ]. The nonfuel cycle commercial LLW source term is normalized on the basis of volume (cubic meters) and radioactivity (curies) for each subclass within the I/I category. The DOE LLW is normalized in a manner similar to that for commercial I/I waste. The revised source terms are based on the best available historical data through 1992

KaBOB: ontology-based semantic integration of biomedical databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Livingston, Kevin M; Bada, Michael; Baumgartner, William A; Hunter, Lawrence E

2015-04-23

The ability to query many independent biological databases using a common ontology-based semantic model would facilitate deeper integration and more effective utilization of these diverse and rapidly growing resources. Despite ongoing work moving toward shared data formats and linked identifiers, significant problems persist in semantic data integration in order to establish shared identity and shared meaning across heterogeneous biomedical data sources. We present five processes for semantic data integration that, when applied collectively, solve seven key problems. These processes include making explicit the differences between biomedical concepts and database records, aggregating sets of identifiers denoting the same biomedical concepts across data sources, and using declaratively represented forward-chaining rules to take information that is variably represented in source databases and integrating it into a consistent biomedical representation. We demonstrate these processes and solutions by presenting KaBOB (the Knowledge Base Of Biomedicine), a knowledge base of semantically integrated data from 18 prominent biomedical databases using common representations grounded in Open Biomedical Ontologies. An instance of KaBOB with data about humans and seven major model organisms can be built using on the order of 500 million RDF triples. All source code for building KaBOB is available under an open-source license. KaBOB is an integrated knowledge base of biomedical data representationally based in prominent, actively maintained Open Biomedical Ontologies, thus enabling queries of the underlying data in terms of biomedical concepts (e.g., genes and gene products, interactions and processes) rather than features of source-specific data schemas or file formats. KaBOB resolves many of the issues that routinely plague biomedical researchers intending to work with data from multiple data sources and provides a platform for ongoing data integration and development and for

Analysis of hard X-ray emission from selected very high energy γ-ray sources observed with INTEGRAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffmann, Agnes Irene Dorothee

2009-01-01

limit, dependent on orbital phase, were determined for the energy range 25-200 keV. For the inferior conjunction phase, also a spectrum was obtained and found to be well described by a power law with a photon index of Γ = 2.0 ± 0.2. Our main result is that the hard X-ray emission is modulated with the orbit and this modulation is comparatively in phase with the TeV emission. Although the results of the INTEGRAL analysis are not able to distinguish between the microquasar and the pulsar scenario, they rule out a simple explanation of the TeV variability as a consequence of pure photon-photon absorption. In our work we, therefore, discuss possible alternatives like adiabatic cooling of the electrons as a reason for the correlated modulation. In this case the variability is simply a result of the orbital motion and the larger factor of modulation in the TeV range is caused by additional processes like γ-γ absorption and anisotropic inverse Compton scattering. In the second part of this thesis, the keV - TeV connection of three rotationpowered pulsar wind nebulae (RPWN) is studied. The analysis is focussed on RPWN which have been detected as TeV plerions and two mosaics are created which include PSR J0835-4510 (Vela), PSR J1513-5908 (MSH 15-52) and PSR J1420-6048 (Kookaburra). Only a few per cent of the RPWN observed by INTEGRAL have been identified with young or middle-aged pulsars. The analysis of archival INTEGRAL data, in addition to the already known INTEGRAL sources, reveals an evidence of hard X-ray emission at the position of PSR J1420-6048 from the ''Kookaburra'' TeV plerion G313.3+0.6. The pulsar PSR J1420-6048 belongs to the class of middle-aged pulsars where the RPWN interacts with the reverse shock of the supernova remnant. Altogether, this analysis indicates a deeper link between these TeV plerions and INTEGRAL detected pulsar wind nebulae. The last part of the thesis is devoted to a systematic analysis of the mosaic obtained for the region around LS 5039

Analysis of hard X-ray emission from selected very high energy {gamma}-ray sources observed with INTEGRAL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffmann, Agnes Irene Dorothee

2009-11-13

flux limit, dependent on orbital phase, were determined for the energy range 25-200 keV. For the inferior conjunction phase, also a spectrum was obtained and found to be well described by a power law with a photon index of {gamma} = 2.0 {+-} 0.2. Our main result is that the hard X-ray emission is modulated with the orbit and this modulation is comparatively in phase with the TeV emission. Although the results of the INTEGRAL analysis are not able to distinguish between the microquasar and the pulsar scenario, they rule out a simple explanation of the TeV variability as a consequence of pure photon-photon absorption. In our work we, therefore, discuss possible alternatives like adiabatic cooling of the electrons as a reason for the correlated modulation. In this case the variability is simply a result of the orbital motion and the larger factor of modulation in the TeV range is caused by additional processes like {gamma}-{gamma} absorption and anisotropic inverse Compton scattering. In the second part of this thesis, the keV - TeV connection of three rotationpowered pulsar wind nebulae (RPWN) is studied. The analysis is focussed on RPWN which have been detected as TeV plerions and two mosaics are created which include PSR J0835-4510 (Vela), PSR J1513-5908 (MSH 15-52) and PSR J1420-6048 (Kookaburra). Only a few per cent of the RPWN observed by INTEGRAL have been identified with young or middle-aged pulsars. The analysis of archival INTEGRAL data, in addition to the already known INTEGRAL sources, reveals an evidence of hard X-ray emission at the position of PSR J1420-6048 from the ''Kookaburra'' TeV plerion G313.3+0.6. The pulsar PSR J1420-6048 belongs to the class of middle-aged pulsars where the RPWN interacts with the reverse shock of the supernova remnant. Altogether, this analysis indicates a deeper link between these TeV plerions and INTEGRAL detected pulsar wind nebulae. The last part of the thesis is devoted to a systematic analysis of the

Identifying Core Mobile Learning Faculty Competencies Based Integrated Approach: A Delphi Study

Science.gov (United States)

Elbarbary, Rafik Said

2015-01-01

This study is based on the integrated approach as a concept framework to identify, categorize, and rank a key component of mobile learning core competencies for Egyptian faculty members in higher education. The field investigation framework used four rounds Delphi technique to determine the importance rate of each component of core competencies…

Integrated Healthcare Delivery: A Qualitative Research Approach to Identifying and Harmonizing Perspectives of Integrated Neglected Tropical Disease Programs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arianna Rubin Means

2016-10-01

Full Text Available While some evidence supports the beneficial effects of integrating neglected tropical disease (NTD programs to optimize coverage and reduce costs, there is minimal information regarding when or how to effectively operationalize program integration. The lack of systematic analyses of integration experiences and of integration processes may act as an impediment to achieving more effective NTD programming. We aimed to learn about the experiences of NTD stakeholders and their perceptions of integration.We evaluated differences in the definitions, roles, perceived effectiveness, and implementation experiences of integrated NTD programs among a variety of NTD stakeholder groups, including multilateral organizations, funding partners, implementation partners, national Ministry of Health (MOH teams, district MOH teams, volunteer rural health workers, and community members participating in NTD campaigns. Semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted. Coding of themes involved a mix of applying in-vivo open coding and a priori thematic coding from a start list.In total, 41 interviews were conducted. Salient themes varied by stakeholder, however dominant themes on integration included: significant variations in definitions, differential effectiveness of specific integrated NTD activities, community member perceptions of NTD programs, the influence of funders, perceived facilitators, perceived barriers, and the effects of integration on health system strength. In general, stakeholder groups provided unique perspectives, rather than contrarian points of view, on the same topics. The stakeholders identified more advantages to integration than disadvantages, however there are a number of both unique facilitators and challenges to integration from the perspective of each stakeholder group.Qualitative data suggest several structural, process, and technical opportunities that could be addressed to promote more effective and efficient integrated NTD

Chagas disease vector blood meal sources identified by protein mass spectrometry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith I Keller

Full Text Available Chagas disease is a complex vector borne parasitic disease involving blood feeding Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae insects, also known as kissing bugs, and the vertebrates they feed on. This disease has tremendous impacts on millions of people and is a global health problem. The etiological agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatida: Trypanosomatidae, is deposited on the mammalian host in the insect's feces during a blood meal, and enters the host's blood stream through mucous membranes or a break in the skin. Identifying the blood meal sources of triatomine vectors is critical in understanding Chagas disease transmission dynamics, can lead to identification of other vertebrates important in the transmission cycle, and aids management decisions. The latter is particularly important as there is little in the way of effective therapeutics for Chagas disease. Several techniques, mostly DNA-based, are available for blood meal identification. However, further methods are needed, particularly when sample conditions lead to low-quality DNA or to assess the risk of human cross-contamination. We demonstrate a proteomics-based approach, using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS to identify host-specific hemoglobin peptides for blood meal identification in mouse blood control samples and apply LC-MS/MS for the first time to Triatoma dimidiata insect vectors, tracing blood sources to species. In contrast to most proteins, hemoglobin, stabilized by iron, is incredibly stable even being preserved through geologic time. We compared blood stored with and without an anticoagulant and examined field-collected insect specimens stored in suboptimal conditions such as at room temperature for long periods of time. To our knowledge, this is the first study using LC-MS/MS on field-collected arthropod disease vectors to identify blood meal composition, and where blood meal identification was confirmed with more

Open source information acquisition, analysis and integration in the IAEA Department of Safeguards

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barletta, M.; Zarimpas, N.; Zarucki, R., E-mail: M.Barletta@iaea.or [IAEA, Wagramerstrasse 5, P.O. Box 100, 1400 Vienna (Austria)

2010-10-15

Acquisition and analysis of open source information plays an increasingly important role in the IAEA strengthened safeguards system. The Agency's focal point for open source information collection and analysis is the Division of Safeguards Information Management (SGIM) within the IAEA Department of Safeguards. In parallel with the approval of the Model Additional Protocol in 1997, a new centre of information acquisition and analysis expertise was created within SGIM. By acquiring software, developing databases, retraining existing staff and hiring new staff with diverse analytical skills, SGIM is pro actively contributing to the future implementation of information-driven safeguards in collaboration with other Divisions within the Department of Safeguards. Open source information support is now fully integrated with core safeguards processes and activities, and has become an effective tool in the work of the Department of Safeguards. This provides and overview of progress realized through the acquisition and use of open source information in several thematic areas: evaluation of additional protocol declarations; support to the State Evaluation process; in-depth investigation of safeguards issues, including assisting inspections and complementary access; research on illicit nuclear procurement networks and trafficking; and monitoring nuclear developments. Demands for open source information have steadily grown and are likely to continue to grow in the future. Coupled with the enormous growth and accessibility in the volume and sources of information, new challenges are presented, both technical and analytical. This paper discusses actions taken and future plans for multi-source and multi-disciplinary analytic integration to strengthen confidence in safeguards conclusions - especially regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear materials and activities. (Author)

[Bibliometric analysis of literature regarding integrated schistosomiasis control strategy with emphasis on infectious source control].

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Yi-Li; Wang, Wei; Hong, Qing-Biao; Liang, You-Sheng

2014-12-01

To evaluate the outcomes of implementation of integrated schistosomiasis control strategy with emphasis on infectious source control using a bibliometric method. The literature pertaining to integrated schistosomiasis control strategy with emphasis on infectious source control was retrieved from CNKI, Wanfangdata, VIP, PubMed, Web of Science, BIOSIS and Google Scholar, and a bibliometric analysis of literature captured was performed. During the period from January 1, 2004 through September 30, 2014, a total of 94 publications regarding integrated schistosomiasis control strategy with emphasis on infectious source control were captured, including 78 Chinese articles (82.98%) and 16 English papers (17.02%). The Chinese literature was published in 21 national journals, and Chinese Journal of Schistosomiasis Control had the largest number of publications, consisting of 37.23% of total publications; 16 English papers were published in 12 international journals, and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases had the largest number of publications (3 publications). There were 37 affiliations publishing these 94 articles, and National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (16 publications), Anhui Institute of Schistosomiasis Control (12 publications) and Hunan Institute of Schistosomiasis Control (9 publications) ranked top three affiliations in number of publications. A total of 157 persons were co-authored in these 94 publications, and Wang, Zhou and Zhang ranked top 3 authors in number of publications. The integrated schistosomiasis control strategy with emphasis on infectious source control has been widely implemented in China, and the achievements obtained from the implementation of this strategy should be summarized and transmitted internationally.

Potential use of ionic species for identifying source land-uses of stormwater runoff.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Dong Hoon; Kim, Jin Hwi; Mendoza, Joseph A; Lee, Chang-Hee; Kang, Joo-Hyon

2017-02-01

Identifying critical land-uses or source areas is important to prioritize resources for cost-effective stormwater management. This study investigated the use of information on ionic composition as a fingerprint to identify the source land-use of stormwater runoff. We used 12 ionic species in stormwater runoff monitored for a total of 20 storm events at five sites with different land-use compositions during the 2012-2014 wet seasons. A stepwise forward discriminant function analysis (DFA) with the jack-knifed cross validation approach was used to select ionic species that better discriminate the land-use of its source. Of the 12 ionic species, 9 species (K + , Mg 2+ , Na + , NH 4 + , Br - , Cl - , F - , NO 2 - , and SO 4 2- ) were selected for better performance of the DFA. The DFA successfully differentiated stormwater samples from urban, rural, and construction sites using concentrations of the ionic species (70%, 95%, and 91% of correct classification, respectively). Over 80% of the new data cases were correctly classified by the trained DFA model. When applied to data cases from a mixed land-use catchment and downstream, the DFA model showed the greater impact of urban areas and rural areas respectively in the earlier and later parts of a storm event.

RegRNA: an integrated web server for identifying regulatory RNA motifs and elements

OpenAIRE

Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Chien, Chia-Hung; Jen, Kuan-Hua; Huang, Hsien-Da

2006-01-01

Numerous regulatory structural motifs have been identified as playing essential roles in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. RegRNA is an integrated web server for identifying the homologs of regulatory RNA motifs and elements against an input mRNA sequence. Both sequence homologs and structural homologs of regulatory RNA motifs can be recognized. The regulatory RNA motifs supported in RegRNA are categorized into several classes: (i) motifs in mRNA 5′-untra...

Data integration for plant genomics--exemplars from the integration of Arabidopsis thaliana databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Lysenko, Artem; Lysenko, Atem; Hindle, Matthew Morritt; Taubert, Jan; Saqi, Mansoor; Rawlings, Christopher John

2009-11-01

The development of a systems based approach to problems in plant sciences requires integration of existing information resources. However, the available information is currently often incomplete and dispersed across many sources and the syntactic and semantic heterogeneity of the data is a challenge for integration. In this article, we discuss strategies for data integration and we use a graph based integration method (Ondex) to illustrate some of these challenges with reference to two example problems concerning integration of (i) metabolic pathway and (ii) protein interaction data for Arabidopsis thaliana. We quantify the degree of overlap for three commonly used pathway and protein interaction information sources. For pathways, we find that the AraCyc database contains the widest coverage of enzyme reactions and for protein interactions we find that the IntAct database provides the largest unique contribution to the integrated dataset. For both examples, however, we observe a relatively small amount of data common to all three sources. Analysis and visual exploration of the integrated networks was used to identify a number of practical issues relating to the interpretation of these datasets. We demonstrate the utility of these approaches to the analysis of groups of coexpressed genes from an individual microarray experiment, in the context of pathway information and for the combination of coexpression data with an integrated protein interaction network.

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Jovan, Sarah E.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Burstyn, Igor; Michael, Yvonne L.; Amacher, Michael C.; Monleon, Vicente J.

2016-01-01

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting. We collected 346 samples of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from deciduous trees in December, 2013 using a modified randomized grid-based sampling strategy across Portland, Oregon. We estimated a spatial linear model of moss cadmium levels and predicted cadmium on a 50 m grid across the city. Cadmium levels in moss were positively correlated with proximity to two stained-glass manufacturers, proximity to the Oregon–Washington border, and percent industrial land in a 500 m buffer, and negatively correlated with percent residential land in a 500 m buffer. The maps showed very high concentrations of cadmium around the two stained-glass manufacturers, neither of which were known to environmental regulators as cadmium emitters. In addition, in response to our findings, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality placed an instrumental monitor 120 m from the larger stained-glass manufacturer in October, 2015. The monthly average atmospheric cadmium concentration was 29.4 ng/m"3, which is 49 times higher than Oregon's benchmark of 0.6 ng/m"3, and high enough to pose a health risk from even short-term exposure. Both stained-glass manufacturers voluntarily stopped using cadmium after the monitoring results were made public, and the monthly average cadmium levels precipitously dropped to 1.1 ng/m"3 for stained-glass manufacturer #1 and 0.67 ng/m"3 for stained-glass manufacturer #2. - Highlights: • Bio-indicators are a valid method for measuring atmospheric pollutants • We used moss to map atmospheric cadmium in Portland, Oregon • Using a spatial linear model, we identified two stained

Identifying Competences and Their Sources in a Not-for-Profit Organization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vega, Diego; Sanchez, Ron

2017-01-01

Effective competence-based management (CBM) requires in the first instance an ability to identify an organization’s competences and the sources of those competences. Identifying competences can be especially challenging in the context of not-for-profit organizations, which have often been...... characterized as being “different” from for-profit organizations. In this paper we argue that not-for-profit organizations have fundamentally the same systemic requirements for survival and success as for-profit organizations – and therefore that not-for-profits ought to be amenable to competence identification...... and analysis through use of CBM concepts and theory in essentially the same way as for-profit organizations. We support this basic proposition through a case study of competence identification and analysis in a humanitarian relief organization (HRO), an increasingly important kind of not-for-profit...

Network motif-based identification of transcription factor-target gene relationships by integrating multi-source biological data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

de los Reyes Benildo G

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Integrating data from multiple global assays and curated databases is essential to understand the spatio-temporal interactions within cells. Different experiments measure cellular processes at various widths and depths, while databases contain biological information based on established facts or published data. Integrating these complementary datasets helps infer a mutually consistent transcriptional regulatory network (TRN with strong similarity to the structure of the underlying genetic regulatory modules. Decomposing the TRN into a small set of recurring regulatory patterns, called network motifs (NM, facilitates the inference. Identifying NMs defined by specific transcription factors (TF establishes the framework structure of a TRN and allows the inference of TF-target gene relationship. This paper introduces a computational framework for utilizing data from multiple sources to infer TF-target gene relationships on the basis of NMs. The data include time course gene expression profiles, genome-wide location analysis data, binding sequence data, and gene ontology (GO information. Results The proposed computational framework was tested using gene expression data associated with cell cycle progression in yeast. Among 800 cell cycle related genes, 85 were identified as candidate TFs and classified into four previously defined NMs. The NMs for a subset of TFs are obtained from literature. Support vector machine (SVM classifiers were used to estimate NMs for the remaining TFs. The potential downstream target genes for the TFs were clustered into 34 biologically significant groups. The relationships between TFs and potential target gene clusters were examined by training recurrent neural networks whose topologies mimic the NMs to which the TFs are classified. The identified relationships between TFs and gene clusters were evaluated using the following biological validation and statistical analyses: (1 Gene set enrichment

Identifying sources of emerging organic contaminants in a mixed use watershed using principal components analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Karpuzcu, M Ekrem; Fairbairn, David; Arnold, William A; Barber, Brian L; Kaufenberg, Elizabeth; Koskinen, William C; Novak, Paige J; Rice, Pamela J; Swackhamer, Deborah L

2014-01-01

Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to identify sources of emerging organic contaminants in the Zumbro River watershed in Southeastern Minnesota. Two main principal components (PCs) were identified, which together explained more than 50% of the variance in the data. Principal Component 1 (PC1) was attributed to urban wastewater-derived sources, including municipal wastewater and residential septic tank effluents, while Principal Component 2 (PC2) was attributed to agricultural sources. The variances of the concentrations of cotinine, DEET and the prescription drugs carbamazepine, erythromycin and sulfamethoxazole were best explained by PC1, while the variances of the concentrations of the agricultural pesticides atrazine, metolachlor and acetochlor were best explained by PC2. Mixed use compounds carbaryl, iprodione and daidzein did not specifically group with either PC1 or PC2. Furthermore, despite the fact that caffeine and acetaminophen have been historically associated with human use, they could not be attributed to a single dominant land use category (e.g., urban/residential or agricultural). Contributions from septic systems did not clarify the source for these two compounds, suggesting that additional sources, such as runoff from biosolid-amended soils, may exist. Based on these results, PCA may be a useful way to broadly categorize the sources of new and previously uncharacterized emerging contaminants or may help to clarify transport pathways in a given area. Acetaminophen and caffeine were not ideal markers for urban/residential contamination sources in the study area and may need to be reconsidered as such in other areas as well.

Social Integration and Domestic Violence Support in an Indigenous Community: Women's Recommendations of Formal Versus Informal Sources of Support.

Science.gov (United States)

Gauthier, G Robin; Francisco, Sara C; Khan, Bilal; Dombrowski, Kirk

2018-05-01

Throughout North America, indigenous women experience higher rates of intimate partner violence and sexual violence than any other ethnic group, and so it is of particular importance to understand sources of support for Native American women. In this article, we use social network analysis to study the relationship between social integration and women's access to domestic violence support by examining the recommendations they would give to another woman in need. We ask two main questions: First, are less integrated women more likely to make no recommendation at all when compared with more socially integrated women? Second, are less integrated women more likely than more integrated women to nominate a formal source of support rather than an informal one? We use network data collected from interviews with 158 Canadian women residing in an indigenous community to measure their access to support. We find that, in general, less integrated women are less likely to make a recommendation than more integrated women. However, when they do make a recommendation, less integrated women are more likely to recommend a formal source of support than women who are more integrated. These results add to our understanding of how access to two types of domestic violence support is embedded in the larger set of social relations of an indigenous community.

Integrated Nuclear-Renewable Energy Systems: Foundational Workshop Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bragg-Sitton, Shannon [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Boardman, Richard [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Ruth, Mark [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zinaman, Owen [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Forsberg, Charles [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Collins, John [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-08-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recognizes the need to transform the energy infrastructure of the U.S. and elsewhere to systems that can drastically reduce environmental impacts in an efficient and economically viable manner while utilizing both hydrocarbon resources and clean energy generation sources. Thus, DOE is supporting research and development that could lead to more efficient utilization of clean energy generation sources, including renewable and nuclear options. A concept being advanced by the DOE Offices of Nuclear Energy (NE) and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is tighter coupling of nuclear and renewable energy sources in a manner that produces new energy currency for the combined electricity grid, industrial manufacturing, and the transportation energy sectors. This integration concept has been referred to as a “hybrid system” that is capable of providing the right type of energy, at the right time, in the right place. At the direction of DOE-NE and DOE-EERE leadership, project leads at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have identified and engaged stakeholders in discussing integrated energy systems that would optimize renewable and nuclear energy integration on a region-by-region basis. Subsequent work will entail conduct of technical, economic, environmental and socio-political evaluations of the leading integrated system options based on a set of criteria established with stakeholder input. The Foundational Workshop for Integrated Nuclear – Renewable Energy Systems was organized around the following objectives: 1. Identify and refine priority region-specific opportunities for integrated nuclear-renewable energy systems in the U.S.; 2. Select Figures of Merit (FOM) to rank and prioritize candidate systems; 3. Discuss enabling technology development needs; 4. Identify analysis requirements, capabilities and gaps to estimate FOM for

Integrated Nuclear-Renewable Energy Systems: Foundational Workshop Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recognizes the need to transform the energy infrastructure of the U.S. and elsewhere to systems that can drastically reduce environmental impacts in an efficient and economically viable manner while utilizing both hydrocarbon resources and clean energy generation sources. Thus, DOE is supporting research and development that could lead to more efficient utilization of clean energy generation sources, including renewable and nuclear options. A concept being advanced by the DOE Offices of Nuclear Energy (NE) and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is tighter coupling of nuclear and renewable energy sources in a manner that produces new energy currency for the combined electricity grid, industrial manufacturing, and the transportation energy sectors. This integration concept has been referred to as a ''hybrid system'' that is capable of providing the right type of energy, at the right time, in the right place. At the direction of DOE-NE and DOE-EERE leadership, project leads at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have identified and engaged stakeholders in discussing integrated energy systems that would optimize renewable and nuclear energy integration on a region-by-region basis. Subsequent work will entail conduct of technical, economic, environmental and socio-political evaluations of the leading integrated system options based on a set of criteria established with stakeholder input. The Foundational Workshop for Integrated Nuclear - Renewable Energy Systems was organized around the following objectives: 1. Identify and refine priority region-specific opportunities for integrated nuclear-renewable energy systems in the U.S.; 2. Select Figures of Merit (FOM) to rank and prioritize candidate systems; 3. Discuss enabling technology development needs; 4. Identify analysis requirements, capabilities and gaps to

Unified method to integrate and blend several, potentially related, sources of information for genetic evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandenplas, Jérémie; Colinet, Frederic G; Gengler, Nicolas

2014-09-30

A condition to predict unbiased estimated breeding values by best linear unbiased prediction is to use simultaneously all available data. However, this condition is not often fully met. For example, in dairy cattle, internal (i.e. local) populations lead to evaluations based only on internal records while widely used foreign sires have been selected using internally unavailable external records. In such cases, internal genetic evaluations may be less accurate and biased. Because external records are unavailable, methods were developed to combine external information that summarizes these records, i.e. external estimated breeding values and associated reliabilities, with internal records to improve accuracy of internal genetic evaluations. Two issues of these methods concern double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. These issues could be worse if external information came from several evaluations, at least partially based on the same records, and combined into a single internal evaluation. Based on a Bayesian approach, the aim of this research was to develop a unified method to integrate and blend simultaneously several sources of information into an internal genetic evaluation by avoiding double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. This research resulted in equations that integrate and blend simultaneously several sources of information and avoid double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. The performance of the developed equations was evaluated using simulated and real datasets. The results showed that the developed equations integrated and blended several sources of information well into a genetic evaluation. The developed equations also avoided double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. Furthermore, because all available external sources of information were correctly propagated, relatives of external animals benefited from the integrated

Comparison of Microbial and Chemical Source Tracking Markers To Identify Fecal Contamination Sources in the Humber River (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Associated Storm Water Outfalls.

Science.gov (United States)

Staley, Zachery R; Grabuski, Josey; Sverko, Ed; Edge, Thomas A

2016-11-01

Storm water runoff is a major source of pollution, and understanding the components of storm water discharge is essential to remediation efforts and proper assessment of risks to human and ecosystem health. In this study, culturable Escherichia coli and ampicillin-resistant E. coli levels were quantified and microbial source tracking (MST) markers (including markers for general Bacteroidales spp., human, ruminant/cow, gull, and dog) were detected in storm water outfalls and sites along the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and enumerated via endpoint PCR and quantitative PCR (qPCR). Additionally, chemical source tracking (CST) markers specific for human wastewater (caffeine, carbamazepine, codeine, cotinine, acetaminophen, and acesulfame) were quantified. Human and gull fecal sources were detected at all sites, although concentrations of the human fecal marker were higher, particularly in outfalls (mean outfall concentrations of 4.22 log 10 copies, expressed as copy numbers [CN]/100 milliliters for human and 0.46 log 10 CN/100 milliliters for gull). Higher concentrations of caffeine, acetaminophen, acesulfame, E. coli, and the human fecal marker were indicative of greater raw sewage contamination at several sites (maximum concentrations of 34,800 ng/liter, 5,120 ng/liter, 9,720 ng/liter, 5.26 log 10 CFU/100 ml, and 7.65 log 10 CN/100 ml, respectively). These results indicate pervasive sewage contamination at storm water outfalls and throughout the Humber River, with multiple lines of evidence identifying Black Creek and two storm water outfalls with prominent sewage cross-connection problems requiring remediation. Limited data are available on specific sources of pollution in storm water, though our results indicate the value of using both MST and CST methodologies to more reliably assess sewage contamination in impacted watersheds. Storm water runoff is one of the most prominent non-point sources of biological and chemical contaminants which can

Gastric Cancer Associated Genes Identified by an Integrative Analysis of Gene Expression Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bing Jiang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Gastric cancer is one of the most severe complex diseases with high morbidity and mortality in the world. The molecular mechanisms and risk factors for this disease are still not clear since the cancer heterogeneity caused by different genetic and environmental factors. With more and more expression data accumulated nowadays, we can perform integrative analysis for these data to understand the complexity of gastric cancer and to identify consensus players for the heterogeneous cancer. In the present work, we screened the published gene expression data and analyzed them with integrative tool, combined with pathway and gene ontology enrichment investigation. We identified several consensus differentially expressed genes and these genes were further confirmed with literature mining; at last, two genes, that is, immunoglobulin J chain and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 17, were screened as novel gastric cancer associated genes. Experimental validation is proposed to further confirm this finding.

An Integrated Inductor For Parallel Interleaved Three-Phase Voltage Source Converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gohil, Ghanshyamsinh Vijaysinh; Bede, Lorand; Teodorescu, Remus

2016-01-01

Three phase Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) are often connected in parallel to realize high current output converter system. The harmonic quality of the resultant switched output voltage can be improved by interleaving the carrier signals of these parallel connected VSCs. As a result, the line...... of the state-of-the-art filtering solution. The performance of the integrated inductor is also verified by the experimental measurements....

Identifying barriers in the diffusion of renewable energy sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eleftheriadis, Iordanis M.; Anagnostopoulou, Evgenia G.

2015-01-01

Rapid diffusion of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electricity power sector is crucial if the EU wants to fulfill its 2050 CO 2 reduction commitments. For this reason, identifying and alleviating all barriers that hinder the development of RES is necessary to the successful deployment of these technologies. This paper discusses the main barriers in the diffusion of wind and photovoltaic (PV) solar power in the Greek electricity sector by drawing on the literature of technological innovation systems and system functions. Furthermore, we provide an explanation of the different diffusion rates between the two technologies. Inadequate financial resources, low grid capacity, delays in the issuance of building permits, opposition from local communities to the construction of wind farms and the lack of a stable institutional framework are among the most important barriers that inhibit the diffusion of the wind and PV solar power. The nature of the barriers identified in this study calls for policy intervention. - Highlights: • Firms in the Greek wind and solar power sectors assess RES barriers. • Lack of financial resources is the most important RES barrier. • Lack of a stable institutional framework negatively affects RES deployment. • The support of the public sector is crucial to the diffusion of RES. •Wind power faces strong legitimization barriers

Laser-induced extreme UV radiation sources for manufacturing next-generation integrated circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borisov, V M; Vinokhodov, A Yu; Ivanov, A S; Kiryukhin, Yu B; Mishchenko, V A; Prokof'ev, A V; Khristoforov, O B

2009-01-01

The development of high-power discharge sources emitting in the 13.5±0.135-nm spectral band is of current interest because they are promising for applications in industrial EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography for manufacturing integrated circuits according to technological precision standards of 22 nm and smaller. The parameters of EUV sources based on a laser-induced discharge in tin vapours between rotating disc electrodes are investigated. The properties of the discharge initiation by laser radiation at different wavelengths are established and the laser pulse parameters providing the maximum energy characteristics of the EUV source are determined. The EUV source developed in the study emits an average power of 276 W in the 13.5±0.135-nm spectral band on conversion to the solid angle 2π sr in the stationary regime at a pulse repetition rate of 3000 Hz. (laser applications and other topics in quantum electronics)

An integrative -omics approach to identify functional sub-networks in human colorectal cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rod K Nibbe

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Emerging evidence indicates that gene products implicated in human cancers often cluster together in "hot spots" in protein-protein interaction (PPI networks. Additionally, small sub-networks within PPI networks that demonstrate synergistic differential expression with respect to tumorigenic phenotypes were recently shown to be more accurate classifiers of disease progression when compared to single targets identified by traditional approaches. However, many of these studies rely exclusively on mRNA expression data, a useful but limited measure of cellular activity. Proteomic profiling experiments provide information at the post-translational level, yet they generally screen only a limited fraction of the proteome. Here, we demonstrate that integration of these complementary data sources with a "proteomics-first" approach can enhance the discovery of candidate sub-networks in cancer that are well-suited for mechanistic validation in disease. We propose that small changes in the mRNA expression of multiple genes in the neighborhood of a protein-hub can be synergistically associated with significant changes in the activity of that protein and its network neighbors. Further, we hypothesize that proteomic targets with significant fold change between phenotype and control may be used to "seed" a search for small PPI sub-networks that are functionally associated with these targets. To test this hypothesis, we select proteomic targets having significant expression changes in human colorectal cancer (CRC from two independent 2-D gel-based screens. Then, we use random walk based models of network crosstalk and develop novel reference models to identify sub-networks that are statistically significant in terms of their functional association with these proteomic targets. Subsequently, using an information-theoretic measure, we evaluate synergistic changes in the activity of identified sub-networks based on genome-wide screens of mRNA expression in CRC

From voice to voices: identifying a plurality of Muslim sources in the news media.

Science.gov (United States)

Munnik, Michael B

2017-03-01

This article identifies a qualitative change in the diversity of actors who represent Muslims in British news media. Hitherto, the literature discussing Muslims and the media has tended to characterize media organizations as institutions which portray Muslims in an essentialized, monolithic way. In contrast, I propose in this article that the process of representation is more complex, including greater agency and engaging a wider diversity of Muslims than the prevailing literature suggests. Sociological studies distinguish between official and unofficial sources who help determine the representations that journalists employ in their texts, and I apply this to Muslim communities in Glasgow. Using qualitative methods drawn from media production analysis, including participant-observation and ethnographic interviews, I identify a shift from a 'gatekeeper' model of representing the community to that of a plurality of sources, which reveals and insists on the diversity of Muslim communities and voices. I will show why a wider range of actors emerged to speak publicly, what differentiates them and how they position themselves as representatives of Muslims. This focus on producers and on source strategies brings fresh insights into a field dominated by content analysis and a 'media-centric' approach.

Identifying sources of atmospheric fine particles in Havana City using Positive Matrix Factorization technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinnera, I.; Perez, G.; Ramos, M.; Guibert, R.; Aldape, F.; Flores M, J.; Martinez, M.; Molina, E.; Fernandez, A.

2011-01-01

In previous study a set of samples of fine and coarse airborne particulate matter collected in a urban area of Havana City were analyzed by Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) technique. The concentrations of 14 elements (S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Pb) were consistently determined in both particle sizes. The analytical database provided by PIXE was statistically analyzed in order to determine the local pollution sources. The Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) technique was applied to fine particle data in order to identify possible pollution sources. These sources were further verified by enrichment factor (EF) calculation. A general discussion about these results is presented in this work. (Author)

Integral migration and source term experiments on cement and bitumen waste forms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewart, F.T.; Howse, R.M.; Sharpe, B.M.; Smith, A.J.; Thomason, H.P.; Williams, S.J.; Young, M.

1986-01-01

This is the final report of a programme of research which formed a part of the CEC joint research project into radionuclide migration in the geosphere (MIRAGE). This study addressed the aspects of integral migration and source term. The integral migration experiment simulated, in the laboratory, the intrusion of water into the repository, the leaching of radionuclides from two intermediate level wasteforms and the subsequent migration through the geosphere. The simulation consisted of a source of natural ground water which flowed over a sample of wasteform, at a controlled redox potential, and then through backfill and geological material packed in columns. The two wasteforms used here were cemented waste from the WAK plant at Karlsruhe, W. Germany and bitumenised intermediate concentrates from the Marcoule plant in France. The soluble fission products such as caesium wire rapidly released from the cemented waste but the actinides, and technetium in the reduced state, were retained in the wasteform. The release of all nuclides from the bitumenised waste was very low. (author)

Integral migration and source-term experiments on cement and bitumen waste forms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewart, F.T.; Howse, R.M.; Sharpe, B.M.; Smith, A.J.; Thomason, H.P.; Williams, S.J.; Young, M.

1986-01-01

This is the final report of a programme of research which formed a part of the CEC joint research project into radionuclide migration in the geosphere (MIRAGE). This study addressed the aspects of integral migration and source term. The integral migration experiment simulated, in the laboratory, the intrusion of water into the repository, the leaching of radionuclides from two intermediate-level waste-forms and the subsequent migration through the geosphere. The simulation consisted of a source of natural ground water which flowed over a sample of waste-form, at a controlled redox potential, and then through backfill and geological material packed in columns. The two waste forms used here were cemented waste from the WAK plant at Karlsruhe in the Federal Republic of Germany and bitumenized intermediate concentrates from the Marcoule plant in France. The soluble fission products such as caesium were rapidly released from the cemented waste but the actinides, and technetium in the reduced state, were retained in the waste-form. The released of all nuclides from the bitumenized waste was very low

Integrating mean and variance heterogeneities to identify differentially expressed genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouyang, Weiwei; An, Qiang; Zhao, Jinying; Qin, Huaizhen

2016-12-06

In functional genomics studies, tests on mean heterogeneity have been widely employed to identify differentially expressed genes with distinct mean expression levels under different experimental conditions. Variance heterogeneity (aka, the difference between condition-specific variances) of gene expression levels is simply neglected or calibrated for as an impediment. The mean heterogeneity in the expression level of a gene reflects one aspect of its distribution alteration; and variance heterogeneity induced by condition change may reflect another aspect. Change in condition may alter both mean and some higher-order characteristics of the distributions of expression levels of susceptible genes. In this report, we put forth a conception of mean-variance differentially expressed (MVDE) genes, whose expression means and variances are sensitive to the change in experimental condition. We mathematically proved the null independence of existent mean heterogeneity tests and variance heterogeneity tests. Based on the independence, we proposed an integrative mean-variance test (IMVT) to combine gene-wise mean heterogeneity and variance heterogeneity induced by condition change. The IMVT outperformed its competitors under comprehensive simulations of normality and Laplace settings. For moderate samples, the IMVT well controlled type I error rates, and so did existent mean heterogeneity test (i.e., the Welch t test (WT), the moderated Welch t test (MWT)) and the procedure of separate tests on mean and variance heterogeneities (SMVT), but the likelihood ratio test (LRT) severely inflated type I error rates. In presence of variance heterogeneity, the IMVT appeared noticeably more powerful than all the valid mean heterogeneity tests. Application to the gene profiles of peripheral circulating B raised solid evidence of informative variance heterogeneity. After adjusting for background data structure, the IMVT replicated previous discoveries and identified novel experiment

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Donovan, Geoffrey H., E-mail: gdonovan@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205 (United States); Jovan, Sarah E., E-mail: sjovan@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205 (United States); Gatziolis, Demetrios, E-mail: dgatziolis@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205 (United States); Burstyn, Igor, E-mail: igor.burstyn@drexel.edu [Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Michael, Yvonne L., E-mail: ylm23@drexel.edu [Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Amacher, Michael C., E-mail: mcamacher1@outlook.com [USDA Forest Service, Logan Forest Sciences Laboratory, 860 North 1200 East, Logan, UT 84321 (United States); Monleon, Vicente J., E-mail: vjmonleon@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331 (United States)

2016-07-15

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting. We collected 346 samples of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from deciduous trees in December, 2013 using a modified randomized grid-based sampling strategy across Portland, Oregon. We estimated a spatial linear model of moss cadmium levels and predicted cadmium on a 50 m grid across the city. Cadmium levels in moss were positively correlated with proximity to two stained-glass manufacturers, proximity to the Oregon–Washington border, and percent industrial land in a 500 m buffer, and negatively correlated with percent residential land in a 500 m buffer. The maps showed very high concentrations of cadmium around the two stained-glass manufacturers, neither of which were known to environmental regulators as cadmium emitters. In addition, in response to our findings, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality placed an instrumental monitor 120 m from the larger stained-glass manufacturer in October, 2015. The monthly average atmospheric cadmium concentration was 29.4 ng/m{sup 3}, which is 49 times higher than Oregon's benchmark of 0.6 ng/m{sup 3}, and high enough to pose a health risk from even short-term exposure. Both stained-glass manufacturers voluntarily stopped using cadmium after the monitoring results were made public, and the monthly average cadmium levels precipitously dropped to 1.1 ng/m{sup 3} for stained-glass manufacturer #1 and 0.67 ng/m{sup 3} for stained-glass manufacturer #2. - Highlights: • Bio-indicators are a valid method for measuring atmospheric pollutants • We used moss to map atmospheric cadmium in Portland, Oregon • Using a spatial linear model, we identified two

Mousetrap: An integrated, open-source mouse-tracking package.

Science.gov (United States)

Kieslich, Pascal J; Henninger, Felix

2017-10-01

Mouse-tracking - the analysis of mouse movements in computerized experiments - is becoming increasingly popular in the cognitive sciences. Mouse movements are taken as an indicator of commitment to or conflict between choice options during the decision process. Using mouse-tracking, researchers have gained insight into the temporal development of cognitive processes across a growing number of psychological domains. In the current article, we present software that offers easy and convenient means of recording and analyzing mouse movements in computerized laboratory experiments. In particular, we introduce and demonstrate the mousetrap plugin that adds mouse-tracking to OpenSesame, a popular general-purpose graphical experiment builder. By integrating with this existing experimental software, mousetrap allows for the creation of mouse-tracking studies through a graphical interface, without requiring programming skills. Thus, researchers can benefit from the core features of a validated software package and the many extensions available for it (e.g., the integration with auxiliary hardware such as eye-tracking, or the support of interactive experiments). In addition, the recorded data can be imported directly into the statistical programming language R using the mousetrap package, which greatly facilitates analysis. Mousetrap is cross-platform, open-source and available free of charge from https://github.com/pascalkieslich/mousetrap-os .

Quantification of severe accident source terms of a Westinghouse 3-loop plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee Min; Ko, Y.-C.

2008-01-01

Integrated severe accident analysis codes are used to quantify the source terms of the representative sequences identified in PSA study. The characteristics of these source terms depend on the detail design of the plant and the accident scenario. A historical perspective of radioactive source term is provided. The grouping of radionuclides in different source terms or source term quantification tools based on TID-14844, NUREG-1465, and WASH-1400 is compared. The radionuclides release phenomena and models adopted in the integrated severe accident analysis codes of STCP and MAAP4 are described. In the present study, the severe accident source terms for risk quantification of Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant of Taiwan Power Company are quantified using MAAP 4.0.4 code. A methodology is developed to quantify the source terms of each source term category (STC) identified in the Level II PSA analysis of the plant. The characteristics of source terms obtained are compared with other source terms. The plant analyzed employs a Westinghouse designed 3-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) with large dry containment

Methods to identify and locate spent radiation sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-07-01

The objective of this manual is to provide essential guidance to Member States with nuclear applications involving the use of a wide range of sealed radiation sources on the practical task of physically locating spent radiation sources not properly accounted for. Advice is also provided to render the located source safe on location. Refs, figs and tabs.

Methods to identify and locate spent radiation sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-06-01

The objective of this manual is to provide essential guidance to Member States with nuclear applications involving the use of a wide range of sealed radiation sources on the practical task of physically locating spent radiation sources not properly accounted for. Advice is also provided to render the located source safe on location. Refs, figs, tabs

Methods to identify and locate spent radiation sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-07-01

The objective of this manual is to provide essential guidance to Member States with nuclear applications involving the use of a wide range of sealed radiation sources on the practical task of physically locating spent radiation sources not properly accounted for. Advice is also provided to render the located source safe on location. Refs, figs and tabs

Bispectral pairwise interacting source analysis for identifying systems of cross-frequency interacting brain sources from electroencephalographic or magnetoencephalographic signals

Science.gov (United States)

Chella, Federico; Pizzella, Vittorio; Zappasodi, Filippo; Nolte, Guido; Marzetti, Laura

2016-05-01

Brain cognitive functions arise through the coordinated activity of several brain regions, which actually form complex dynamical systems operating at multiple frequencies. These systems often consist of interacting subsystems, whose characterization is of importance for a complete understanding of the brain interaction processes. To address this issue, we present a technique, namely the bispectral pairwise interacting source analysis (biPISA), for analyzing systems of cross-frequency interacting brain sources when multichannel electroencephalographic (EEG) or magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data are available. Specifically, the biPISA makes it possible to identify one or many subsystems of cross-frequency interacting sources by decomposing the antisymmetric components of the cross-bispectra between EEG or MEG signals, based on the assumption that interactions are pairwise. Thanks to the properties of the antisymmetric components of the cross-bispectra, biPISA is also robust to spurious interactions arising from mixing artifacts, i.e., volume conduction or field spread, which always affect EEG or MEG functional connectivity estimates. This method is an extension of the pairwise interacting source analysis (PISA), which was originally introduced for investigating interactions at the same frequency, to the study of cross-frequency interactions. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated in simulations for up to three interacting source pairs and for real MEG recordings of spontaneous brain activity. Simulations show that the performances of biPISA in estimating the phase difference between the interacting sources are affected by the increasing level of noise rather than by the number of the interacting subsystems. The analysis of real MEG data reveals an interaction between two pairs of sources of central mu and beta rhythms, localizing in the proximity of the left and right central sulci.

[Research advances in identifying nitrate pollution sources of water environment by using nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes].

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Wei; Liang, Zhi-wei; Li, Wei; Zhu, Yao; Yanng, Mu-yi; Jia, Chao-jie

2013-04-01

Water body' s nitrate pollution has become a common and severe environmental problem. In order to ensure human health and water environment benign evolution, it is of great importance to effectively identify the nitrate pollution sources of water body. Because of the discrepant composition of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in different sources of nitrate in water body, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes can be used to identify the nitrate pollution sources of water environment. This paper introduced the fractionation factors of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in the main processes of nitrogen cycling and the composition of these stable isotopes in main nitrate sources, compared the advantages and disadvantages of five pre-treatment methods for analyzing the nitrogen and oxygen isotopes in nitrate, and summarized the research advances in this aspect into three stages, i. e. , using nitrogen stable isotope alone, using nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes simultaneously, and combining with mathematical models. The future research directions regarding the nitrate pollution sources identification of water environment were also discussed.

Identifying Emergency Department Patients at Low Risk for a Variceal Source of Upper Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Lauren R; Money, Joel; Maharaj, Kaveesh; Robinson, Aaron; Lai, Tarissa; Driver, Brian E

2017-11-01

Assessing the likelihood of a variceal versus nonvariceal source of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) guides therapy, but can be difficult to determine on clinical grounds. The objective of this study was to determine if there are easily ascertainable clinical and laboratory findings that can identify a patient as low risk for a variceal source of hemorrhage. This was a retrospective cohort study of adult ED patients with UGIB between January 2008 and December 2014 who had upper endoscopy performed during hospitalization. Clinical and laboratory data were abstracted from the medical record. The source of the UGIB was defined as variceal or nonvariceal based on endoscopic reports. Binary recursive partitioning was utilized to create a clinical decision rule. The rule was internally validated and test characteristics were calculated with 1,000 bootstrap replications. A total of 719 patients were identified; mean age was 55 years and 61% were male. There were 71 (10%) patients with a variceal UGIB identified on endoscopy. Binary recursive partitioning yielded a two-step decision rule (platelet count > 200 × 10 9 /L and an international normalized ratio [INR] study must be externally validated before widespread use, patients presenting to the ED with an acute UGIB with platelet count of >200 × 10 9 /L and an INR of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. © 2017 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Process framework for identifying sustainability aspects in university curricula and integrating education for sustainable development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Tove; Sammalisto, Kaisu; Grindsted, Thomas Skou

2015-01-01

Sustainability aspects in higher education must be enhanced with more concrete actions. Universities are globally required to have quality assurance to secure and improve teaching and learning, and they use management systems to this aim. Integrating education for sustainable development...... and management systems are alike in that they are based on continuous improvement and systematic thinking; for both processes all stakeholders need to be involved. Although quality assurance is compulsory for higher education, education for sustainable development has barely been examined or integrated...... in this context. This article examines how voluntary integration of education for sustainable development into management systems at universities could facilitate a scheme to overcome the challenges to integrating education for sustainable development that were identified in previous research. For this, a process...

An audit of the global carbon budget: identifying and reducing sources of uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Ballantyne, A. P.; Tans, P. P.; Marland, G.; Stocker, B. D.

2012-12-01

Uncertainties in our carbon accounting practices may limit our ability to objectively verify emission reductions on regional scales. Furthermore uncertainties in the global C budget must be reduced to benchmark Earth System Models that incorporate carbon-climate interactions. Here we present an audit of the global C budget where we try to identify sources of uncertainty for major terms in the global C budget. The atmospheric growth rate of CO2 has increased significantly over the last 50 years, while the uncertainty in calculating the global atmospheric growth rate has been reduced from 0.4 ppm/yr to 0.2 ppm/yr (95% confidence). Although we have greatly reduced global CO2 growth rate uncertainties, there remain regions, such as the Southern Hemisphere, Tropics and Arctic, where changes in regional sources/sinks will remain difficult to detect without additional observations. Increases in fossil fuel (FF) emissions are the primary factor driving the increase in global CO2 growth rate; however, our confidence in FF emission estimates has actually gone down. Based on a comparison of multiple estimates, FF emissions have increased from 2.45 ± 0.12 PgC/yr in 1959 to 9.40 ± 0.66 PgC/yr in 2010. Major sources of increasing FF emission uncertainty are increased emissions from emerging economies, such as China and India, as well as subtle differences in accounting practices. Lastly, we evaluate emission estimates from Land Use Change (LUC). Although relative errors in emission estimates from LUC are quite high (2 sigma ~ 50%), LUC emissions have remained fairly constant in recent decades. We evaluate the three commonly used approaches to estimating LUC emissions- Bookkeeping, Satellite Imagery, and Model Simulations- to identify their main sources of error and their ability to detect net emissions from LUC.; Uncertainties in Fossil Fuel Emissions over the last 50 years.

The effect of source-axis distance on integral dose: implications for IMRT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keall, P.

2001-01-01

The source-axis distance (SAD) is a treatment machine design parameter that affects integral dose, dose rate and patient clearance. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of source-axis distance on integral dose for conformal arc therapy. This work is part of a larger project to determine the ideal characteristics of a dedicated IMRT machine. The sensitivity of SAD to beam energy, PTV size, body size and PTV position were determined for conformal arc therapy. For the calculations performed here it was assumed that dose equals terma. The integral dose ratio (IDR) was used to quantify the calculation results. It was found that the IDR increases as both SAD and photon energy increase, though the dependence of IDR on SAD decreases as energy increases. The PTV size was found to have a negligible effect on the relationship between the SAD and IDR, however the body size does affect the relationship between the SAD and IDR. The position of the PTV within the body also affects the IDR. From dosimetric considerations alone, the larger the SAD, the better the possible dose distribution. The IDR for a very large SAD is increased by approximately 5% when compared with the IDR for 100 cm SAD. Similarly, the IDR for 100 cm SAD is approximately 5% higher than the IDR at 50 cm SAD. Copyright (2001) Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

Integration of Heterogeneous Information Sources into a Knowledge Resource Management System for Lifelong Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Demidova, Elena; Ternier, Stefaan; Olmedilla, Daniel; Duval, Erik; Dicerto, Michele; Stefanov, Krassen; Sacristán, Naiara

2007-01-01

Demidova, E., Ternier, S., Olmedilla, D., Duval, E., Dicerto, M., Stefanov, K., et al. (2007). Integration of Heterogeneous Information Sources into a Knowledge Resource Management System for Lifelong. TENCompetence Workshop on Service Oriented Approaches and Lifelong Competence Development

Using the Chandra Source-Finding Algorithm to Automatically Identify Solar X-ray Bright Points

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Mitzi L.; Tennant, A.; Cirtain, J. M.

2009-01-01

This poster details a technique of bright point identification that is used to find sources in Chandra X-ray data. The algorithm, part of a program called LEXTRCT, searches for regions of a given size that are above a minimum signal to noise ratio. The algorithm allows selected pixels to be excluded from the source-finding, thus allowing exclusion of saturated pixels (from flares and/or active regions). For Chandra data the noise is determined by photon counting statistics, whereas solar telescopes typically integrate a flux. Thus the calculated signal-to-noise ratio is incorrect, but we find we can scale the number to get reasonable results. For example, Nakakubo and Hara (1998) find 297 bright points in a September 11, 1996 Yohkoh image; with judicious selection of signal-to-noise ratio, our algorithm finds 300 sources. To further assess the efficacy of the algorithm, we analyze a SOHO/EIT image (195 Angstroms) and compare results with those published in the literature (McIntosh and Gurman, 2005). Finally, we analyze three sets of data from Hinode, representing different parts of the decline to minimum of the solar cycle.

Integr8: enhanced inter-operability of European molecular biology databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Kersey, P J; Morris, L; Hermjakob, H; Apweiler, R

2003-01-01

The increasing production of molecular biology data in the post-genomic era, and the proliferation of databases that store it, require the development of an integrative layer in database services to facilitate the synthesis of related information. The solution of this problem is made more difficult by the absence of universal identifiers for biological entities, and the breadth and variety of available data. Integr8 was modelled using UML (Universal Modelling Language). Integr8 is being implemented as an n-tier system using a modern object-oriented programming language (Java). An object-relational mapping tool, OJB, is being used to specify the interface between the upper layers and an underlying relational database. The European Bioinformatics Institute is launching the Integr8 project. Integr8 will be an automatically populated database in which we will maintain stable identifiers for biological entities, describe their relationships with each other (in accordance with the central dogma of biology), and store equivalences between identified entities in the source databases. Only core data will be stored in Integr8, with web links to the source databases providing further information. Integr8 will provide the integrative layer of the next generation of bioinformatics services from the EBI. Web-based interfaces will be developed to offer gene-centric views of the integrated data, presenting (where known) the links between genome, proteome and phenotype.

Integrative multi-platform meta-analysis of gene expression profiles in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients for identifying novel diagnostic biomarkers.

Science.gov (United States)

Irigoyen, Antonio; Jimenez-Luna, Cristina; Benavides, Manuel; Caba, Octavio; Gallego, Javier; Ortuño, Francisco Manuel; Guillen-Ponce, Carmen; Rojas, Ignacio; Aranda, Enrique; Torres, Carolina; Prados, Jose

2018-01-01

Applying differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to identify feasible biomarkers in diseases can be a hard task when working with heterogeneous datasets. Expression data are strongly influenced by technology, sample preparation processes, and/or labeling methods. The proliferation of different microarray platforms for measuring gene expression increases the need to develop models able to compare their results, especially when different technologies can lead to signal values that vary greatly. Integrative meta-analysis can significantly improve the reliability and robustness of DEG detection. The objective of this work was to develop an integrative approach for identifying potential cancer biomarkers by integrating gene expression data from two different platforms. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), where there is an urgent need to find new biomarkers due its late diagnosis, is an ideal candidate for testing this technology. Expression data from two different datasets, namely Affymetrix and Illumina (18 and 36 PDAC patients, respectively), as well as from 18 healthy controls, was used for this study. A meta-analysis based on an empirical Bayesian methodology (ComBat) was then proposed to integrate these datasets. DEGs were finally identified from the integrated data by using the statistical programming language R. After our integrative meta-analysis, 5 genes were commonly identified within the individual analyses of the independent datasets. Also, 28 novel genes that were not reported by the individual analyses ('gained' genes) were also discovered. Several of these gained genes have been already related to other gastroenterological tumors. The proposed integrative meta-analysis has revealed novel DEGs that may play an important role in PDAC and could be potential biomarkers for diagnosing the disease.

Regulatory Oversight of Radioactive Sources through the Integrated Management of Safety and Security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horvath, K.

2016-01-01

The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) has full regulatory competence; its mission is to oversee the safety and security of all the peaceful applications of atomic energy. All the radioactive sources having activity above the exemption level is registered and licensed both from safety and security points of view. The Hungarian central register of radioactive sources contains about 7,000 radioactive sources and 450 license holders. In order to use its limited resources the HAEA has decided to introduce an integrated regulatory oversight programme. Accordingly, during the licensing process and inspection activities the HAEA intends to assess both safety and security aspects at the same time. The article describes the Hungarian the various applications of radioactive materials, and summarizes the preparation activities of the HAEA. (author)

PANDORA: keyword-based analysis of protein sets by integration of annotation sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Noam; Vaaknin, Avishay; Linial, Michal

2003-10-01

Recent advances in high-throughput methods and the application of computational tools for automatic classification of proteins have made it possible to carry out large-scale proteomic analyses. Biological analysis and interpretation of sets of proteins is a time-consuming undertaking carried out manually by experts. We have developed PANDORA (Protein ANnotation Diagram ORiented Analysis), a web-based tool that provides an automatic representation of the biological knowledge associated with any set of proteins. PANDORA uses a unique approach of keyword-based graphical analysis that focuses on detecting subsets of proteins that share unique biological properties and the intersections of such sets. PANDORA currently supports SwissProt keywords, NCBI Taxonomy, InterPro entries and the hierarchical classification terms from ENZYME, SCOP and GO databases. The integrated study of several annotation sources simultaneously allows a representation of biological relations of structure, function, cellular location, taxonomy, domains and motifs. PANDORA is also integrated into the ProtoNet system, thus allowing testing thousands of automatically generated clusters. We illustrate how PANDORA enhances the biological understanding of large, non-uniform sets of proteins originating from experimental and computational sources, without the need for prior biological knowledge on individual proteins.

Optimization method for identifying the source term in an inverse wave equation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arumugam Deiveegan

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In this work, we investigate the inverse problem of identifying a space-wise dependent source term of wave equation from the measurement on the boundary. On the basis of the optimal control framework, the inverse problem is transformed into an optimization problem. The existence and necessary condition of the minimizer for the cost functional are obtained. The projected gradient method and two-parameter model function method are applied to the minimization problem and numerical results are illustrated.

Techniques to Access Databases and Integrate Data for Hydrologic Modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whelan, Gene; Tenney, Nathan D.; Pelton, Mitchell A.; Coleman, Andre M.; Ward, Duane L.; Droppo, James G.; Meyer, Philip D.; Dorow, Kevin E.; Taira, Randal Y.

2009-06-17

This document addresses techniques to access and integrate data for defining site-specific conditions and behaviors associated with ground-water and surface-water radionuclide transport applicable to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews. Environmental models typically require input data from multiple internal and external sources that may include, but are not limited to, stream and rainfall gage data, meteorological data, hydrogeological data, habitat data, and biological data. These data may be retrieved from a variety of organizations (e.g., federal, state, and regional) and source types (e.g., HTTP, FTP, and databases). Available data sources relevant to hydrologic analyses for reactor licensing are identified and reviewed. The data sources described can be useful to define model inputs and parameters, including site features (e.g., watershed boundaries, stream locations, reservoirs, site topography), site properties (e.g., surface conditions, subsurface hydraulic properties, water quality), and site boundary conditions, input forcings, and extreme events (e.g., stream discharge, lake levels, precipitation, recharge, flood and drought characteristics). Available software tools for accessing established databases, retrieving the data, and integrating it with models were identified and reviewed. The emphasis in this review was on existing software products with minimal required modifications to enable their use with the FRAMES modeling framework. The ability of four of these tools to access and retrieve the identified data sources was reviewed. These four software tools were the Hydrologic Data Acquisition and Processing System (HDAPS), Integrated Water Resources Modeling System (IWRMS) External Data Harvester, Data for Environmental Modeling Environmental Data Download Tool (D4EM EDDT), and the FRAMES Internet Database Tools. The IWRMS External Data Harvester and the D4EM EDDT were identified as the most promising tools based on their ability to access and

Techniques to Access Databases and Integrate Data for Hydrologic Modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whelan, Gene; Tenney, Nathan D.; Pelton, Mitchell A.; Coleman, Andre M.; Ward, Duane L.; Droppo, James G.; Meyer, Philip D.; Dorow, Kevin E.; Taira, Randal Y.

2009-01-01

This document addresses techniques to access and integrate data for defining site-specific conditions and behaviors associated with ground-water and surface-water radionuclide transport applicable to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews. Environmental models typically require input data from multiple internal and external sources that may include, but are not limited to, stream and rainfall gage data, meteorological data, hydrogeological data, habitat data, and biological data. These data may be retrieved from a variety of organizations (e.g., federal, state, and regional) and source types (e.g., HTTP, FTP, and databases). Available data sources relevant to hydrologic analyses for reactor licensing are identified and reviewed. The data sources described can be useful to define model inputs and parameters, including site features (e.g., watershed boundaries, stream locations, reservoirs, site topography), site properties (e.g., surface conditions, subsurface hydraulic properties, water quality), and site boundary conditions, input forcings, and extreme events (e.g., stream discharge, lake levels, precipitation, recharge, flood and drought characteristics). Available software tools for accessing established databases, retrieving the data, and integrating it with models were identified and reviewed. The emphasis in this review was on existing software products with minimal required modifications to enable their use with the FRAMES modeling framework. The ability of four of these tools to access and retrieve the identified data sources was reviewed. These four software tools were the Hydrologic Data Acquisition and Processing System (HDAPS), Integrated Water Resources Modeling System (IWRMS) External Data Harvester, Data for Environmental Modeling Environmental Data Download Tool (D4EM EDDT), and the FRAMES Internet Database Tools. The IWRMS External Data Harvester and the D4EM EDDT were identified as the most promising tools based on their ability to access and

Outbreaks source: A new mathematical approach to identify their possible location

Science.gov (United States)

Buscema, Massimo; Grossi, Enzo; Breda, Marco; Jefferson, Tom

2009-11-01

Classical epidemiology has generally relied on the description and explanation of the occurrence of infectious diseases in relation to time occurrence of events rather than to place of occurrence. In recent times, computer generated dot maps have facilitated the modeling of the spread of infectious epidemic diseases either with classical statistics approaches or with artificial “intelligent systems”. Few attempts, however, have been made so far to identify the origin of the epidemic spread rather than its evolution by mathematical topology methods. We report on the use of a new artificial intelligence method (the H-PST Algorithm) and we compare this new technique with other well known algorithms to identify the source of three examples of infectious disease outbreaks derived from literature. The H-PST algorithm is a new system able to project a distances matrix of points (events) into a bi-dimensional space, with the generation of a new point, named hidden unit. This new hidden unit deforms the original Euclidean space and transforms it into a new space (cognitive space). The cost function of this transformation is the minimization of the differences between the original distance matrix among the assigned points and the distance matrix of the same points projected into the bi-dimensional map (or any different set of constraints). For many reasons we will discuss, the position of the hidden unit shows to target the outbreak source in many epidemics much better than the other classic algorithms specifically targeted for this task. Compared with main algorithms known in the location theory, the hidden unit was within yards of the outbreak source in the first example (the 2007 epidemic of Chikungunya fever in Italy). The hidden unit was located in the river between the two village epicentres of the spread exactly where the index case was living. Equally in the second (the 1967 foot and mouth disease epidemic in England), and the third (1854 London Cholera epidemic

JBioWH: an open-source Java framework for bioinformatics data integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Vera, Roberto; Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Perez, Sonia; Ligeti, Balázs; Kertész-Farkas, Attila; Pongor, Sándor

2013-01-01

The Java BioWareHouse (JBioWH) project is an open-source platform-independent programming framework that allows a user to build his/her own integrated database from the most popular data sources. JBioWH can be used for intensive querying of multiple data sources and the creation of streamlined task-specific data sets on local PCs. JBioWH is based on a MySQL relational database scheme and includes JAVA API parser functions for retrieving data from 20 public databases (e.g. NCBI, KEGG, etc.). It also includes a client desktop application for (non-programmer) users to query data. In addition, JBioWH can be tailored for use in specific circumstances, including the handling of massive queries for high-throughput analyses or CPU intensive calculations. The framework is provided with complete documentation and application examples and it can be downloaded from the Project Web site at http://code.google.com/p/jbiowh. A MySQL server is available for demonstration purposes at hydrax.icgeb.trieste.it:3307. Database URL: http://code.google.com/p/jbiowh.

Diagnostics of microdischarge-integrated plasma sources for display and materials processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tachibana, K; Kishimoto, Y; Kawai, S; Sakaguchi, T; Sakai, O

2005-01-01

Two different types of microdischarge-integrated plasma sources have been operated at around the atmospheric pressure range. The discharge characteristics were diagnosed by optical emission spectroscopy (OES), laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) and microwave transmission (MT) techniques. The dynamic spatiotemporal behaviour of excited atoms was analysed using OES and LAS and the temporal behaviour of the electron density was estimated using the MT method. In Ar and Xe/Ne gases, waveforms of the MT signal followed the current waveform in the rise period and lasted longer according to the recombination losses. However, in He the waveform followed the density of metastable atoms, reflecting the production of a large amount of electrons by the Penning ionization process with impurities. The estimated peak electron density in those plasma sources is of the order of 10 12 cm -3 , and the metastable atom density can reach 10 13 cm -3 . Thus, it is suggested that these sources can be potentially applied to convenient material processing tools of large area operated stably at atmospheric pressure

JBioWH: an open-source Java framework for bioinformatics data integration

Science.gov (United States)

Vera, Roberto; Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Perez, Sonia; Ligeti, Balázs; Kertész-Farkas, Attila; Pongor, Sándor

2013-01-01

The Java BioWareHouse (JBioWH) project is an open-source platform-independent programming framework that allows a user to build his/her own integrated database from the most popular data sources. JBioWH can be used for intensive querying of multiple data sources and the creation of streamlined task-specific data sets on local PCs. JBioWH is based on a MySQL relational database scheme and includes JAVA API parser functions for retrieving data from 20 public databases (e.g. NCBI, KEGG, etc.). It also includes a client desktop application for (non-programmer) users to query data. In addition, JBioWH can be tailored for use in specific circumstances, including the handling of massive queries for high-throughput analyses or CPU intensive calculations. The framework is provided with complete documentation and application examples and it can be downloaded from the Project Web site at http://code.google.com/p/jbiowh. A MySQL server is available for demonstration purposes at hydrax.icgeb.trieste.it:3307. Database URL: http://code.google.com/p/jbiowh PMID:23846595

A calderón-preconditioned single source combined field integral equation for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects

KAUST Repository

Valdé s, Felipe; Andriulli, Francesco P.; Bagci, Hakan; Michielssen, Eric

2011-01-01

A new regularized single source equation for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects is presented. The proposed equation is a linear combination of a Calderón-preconditioned single source electric field integral equation and a

The Integration of Renewable Energy Sources into Electric Power Distribution Systems, Vol. II Utility Case Assessments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zaininger, H.W.

1994-01-01

Electric utility distribution system impacts associated with the integration of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines (WT) are considered in this project. The impacts are expected to vary from site to site according to the following characteristics: the local solar insolation and/or wind characteristics, renewable energy source penetration level, whether battery or other energy storage systems are applied, and local utility distribution design standards and planning practices. Small, distributed renewable energy sources are connected to the utility distribution system like other, similar kW- and MW-scale equipment and loads. Residential applications are expected to be connected to single-phase 120/240-V secondaries. Larger kW-scale applications may be connected to three+phase secondaries, and larger hundred-kW and y-scale applications, such as MW-scale windfarms, or PV plants, may be connected to electric utility primary systems via customer-owned primary and secondary collection systems. In any case, the installation of small, distributed renewable energy sources is expected to have a significant impact on local utility distribution primary and secondary system economics. Small, distributed renewable energy sources installed on utility distribution systems will also produce nonsite-specific utility generation system benefits such as energy and capacity displacement benefits, in addition to the local site-specific distribution system benefits. Although generation system benefits are not site-specific, they are utility-specific, and they vary significantly among utilities in different regions. In addition, transmission system benefits, environmental benefits and other benefits may apply. These benefits also vary significantly among utilities and regions. Seven utility case studies considering PV, WT, and battery storage were conducted to identify a range of potential renewable energy source distribution system applications. The

Jenkins-CI, an Open-Source Continuous Integration System, as a Scientific Data and Image-Processing Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Moutsatsos, Ioannis K.; Hossain, Imtiaz; Agarinis, Claudia; Harbinski, Fred; Abraham, Yann; Dobler, Luc; Zhang, Xian; Wilson, Christopher J.; Jenkins, Jeremy L.; Holway, Nicholas; Tallarico, John; Parker, Christian N.

2016-01-01

High-throughput screening generates large volumes of heterogeneous data that require a diverse set of computational tools for management, processing, and analysis. Building integrated, scalable, and robust computational workflows for such applications is challenging but highly valuable. Scientific data integration and pipelining facilitate standardized data processing, collaboration, and reuse of best practices. We describe how Jenkins-CI, an “off-the-shelf,” open-source, continuous integration system, is used to build pipelines for processing images and associated data from high-content screening (HCS). Jenkins-CI provides numerous plugins for standard compute tasks, and its design allows the quick integration of external scientific applications. Using Jenkins-CI, we integrated CellProfiler, an open-source image-processing platform, with various HCS utilities and a high-performance Linux cluster. The platform is web-accessible, facilitates access and sharing of high-performance compute resources, and automates previously cumbersome data and image-processing tasks. Imaging pipelines developed using the desktop CellProfiler client can be managed and shared through a centralized Jenkins-CI repository. Pipelines and managed data are annotated to facilitate collaboration and reuse. Limitations with Jenkins-CI (primarily around the user interface) were addressed through the selection of helper plugins from the Jenkins-CI community. PMID:27899692

Jenkins-CI, an Open-Source Continuous Integration System, as a Scientific Data and Image-Processing Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Moutsatsos, Ioannis K; Hossain, Imtiaz; Agarinis, Claudia; Harbinski, Fred; Abraham, Yann; Dobler, Luc; Zhang, Xian; Wilson, Christopher J; Jenkins, Jeremy L; Holway, Nicholas; Tallarico, John; Parker, Christian N

2017-03-01

High-throughput screening generates large volumes of heterogeneous data that require a diverse set of computational tools for management, processing, and analysis. Building integrated, scalable, and robust computational workflows for such applications is challenging but highly valuable. Scientific data integration and pipelining facilitate standardized data processing, collaboration, and reuse of best practices. We describe how Jenkins-CI, an "off-the-shelf," open-source, continuous integration system, is used to build pipelines for processing images and associated data from high-content screening (HCS). Jenkins-CI provides numerous plugins for standard compute tasks, and its design allows the quick integration of external scientific applications. Using Jenkins-CI, we integrated CellProfiler, an open-source image-processing platform, with various HCS utilities and a high-performance Linux cluster. The platform is web-accessible, facilitates access and sharing of high-performance compute resources, and automates previously cumbersome data and image-processing tasks. Imaging pipelines developed using the desktop CellProfiler client can be managed and shared through a centralized Jenkins-CI repository. Pipelines and managed data are annotated to facilitate collaboration and reuse. Limitations with Jenkins-CI (primarily around the user interface) were addressed through the selection of helper plugins from the Jenkins-CI community.

A calderón-preconditioned single source combined field integral equation for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects

KAUST Repository

Valdés, Felipe

2011-06-01

A new regularized single source equation for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects is presented. The proposed equation is a linear combination of a Calderón-preconditioned single source electric field integral equation and a single source magnetic field integral equation. The equation is immune to low-frequency and dense-mesh breakdown, and free from spurious resonances. Unlike dual source formulations, this equation involves operator products that cannot be discretized using standard procedures for discretizing standalone electric, magnetic, and combined field operators. Instead, the single source equation proposed here is discretized using a recently developed technique that achieves a well-conditioned mapping from div- to curl-conforming function spaces, thereby fully respecting the space mapping properties of the operators involved, and guaranteeing accuracy and stability. Numerical results show that the proposed equation and discretization technique give rise to rapidly convergent solutions. They also validate the equation\\'s resonant free character. © 2006 IEEE.

A novel integrated approach for the hazardous radioactive dust source terms estimation in future nuclear fusion power plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Poggi, L A; Malizia, A; Ciparisse, J F; Gaudio, P

2016-10-01

An open issue still under investigation by several international entities working on the safety and security field for the foreseen nuclear fusion reactors is the estimation of source terms that are a hazard for the operators and public, and for the machine itself in terms of efficiency and integrity in case of severe accident scenarios. Source term estimation is a crucial key safety issue to be addressed in the future reactors safety assessments, and the estimates available at the time are not sufficiently satisfactory. The lack of neutronic data along with the insufficiently accurate methodologies used until now, calls for an integrated methodology for source term estimation that can provide predictions with an adequate accuracy. This work proposes a complete methodology to estimate dust source terms starting from a broad information gathering. The wide number of parameters that can influence dust source term production is reduced with statistical tools using a combination of screening, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty analysis. Finally, a preliminary and simplified methodology for dust source term production prediction for future devices is presented.

A new hard X-ray source discovered by INTEGRAL: IGR J16442-554

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bozzo, E.; Ferrigno, C.; Chenevez, Jérôme

2009-01-01

During a key program observation of the inner Galactic disc performed between 2009-08-30 14:04 and 2009-09-01 12:03 (UTC), a new source was discovered in the INTEGRAL/IBIS mosaic image. The best localization is RA: 251.088 DEC: -55.808, with a 90% error radius of 3.6 arcmin. The source, IGR J16442......-5548, is detected with a significance of 7 sigma in the 20-40 keV energy band and of 5 sigma in the 40-100 keV energy band. The corresponding flux is about 7 mCrab. The source is not detected in the JEM-X monitor: upper limits at 3 sigma c.l. are respectively 2 and 5 mCrab in the 3-10 keV and 10-25 keV energy bands...

Integrating the nursing management minimum data set into the logical observation identifier names and codes system.

Science.gov (United States)

Subramanian, Amarnath; Westra, Bonnie; Matney, Susan; Wilson, Patricia S; Delaney, Connie W; Huff, Stan; Huff, Stanley M; Huber, Diane

2008-11-06

This poster describes the process used to integrate the Nursing Management Minimum Data Set (NMMDS), an instrument to measure the nursing context of care, into the Logical Observation Identifier Names and Codes (LOINC) system to facilitate contextualization of quality measures. Integration of the first three of 18 elements resulted in 48 new codes including five panels. The LOINC Clinical Committee has approved the presented mapping for their next release.

DNA - An integrated open-source optimization platform for thermo-fluid systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pierobon, Leonardo; Wronski, Jorrit; Elmegaard, Brian

2014-01-01

This paper presents developments and new features added to the simulation tool Dynamic Network Analysis. This open-source software is the result of ongoing development at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark since 1988. Ever since, it has been employed to model...... to extend the capabilities of the software, while at the same time decreasing computational time. Dynamic Network Analysis can now solve non-convex optimization problems by virtue of the fully-embedded genetic algorithm. Moreover, the thermophysical fluid property library has been extended with more than...... 110 fluids by interfacing CoolProp, a high-accuracy open-source property package for pure and pseudo-pure fluids, as well as humid air. Furthermore, the use as time integrator for other tools is demonstrated. The new features are unveiled in two case studies. The first example covers the optimization...

Identifying urban sources as cause of elevated grass pollen concentrations using GIS and remote sensing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjøth, Carsten Ambelas; Ørby, Pia Viuf; Becker, Thomas

2013-01-01

available remote sensing data combined with management information for local grass areas. The inventory has identified a number of grass pollen source areas present within the city domain. The comparison of the measured pollen concentrations with the inventory shows that the atmospheric concentrations......We examine here the hypothesis that during flowering, the grass pollen concentrations at a specific site reflect the distribution of grass pollen sources within a few kilometres of this site. We perform this analysis on data from a measurement campaign in the city of Aarhus (Denmark) using three...

Automated Source Code Analysis to Identify and Remove Software Security Vulnerabilities: Case Studies on Java Programs

OpenAIRE

Natarajan Meghanathan

2013-01-01

The high-level contribution of this paper is to illustrate the development of generic solution strategies to remove software security vulnerabilities that could be identified using automated tools for source code analysis on software programs (developed in Java). We use the Source Code Analyzer and Audit Workbench automated tools, developed by HP Fortify Inc., for our testing purposes. We present case studies involving a file writer program embedded with features for password validation, and ...

Exploring innovative techniques for identifying geochemical elements as fingerprints of sediment sources in an agricultural catchment of Argentina affected by soil erosion.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres Astorga, Romina; de Los Santos Villalobos, Sergio; Velasco, Hugo; Domínguez-Quintero, Olgioly; Pereira Cardoso, Renan; Meigikos Dos Anjos, Roberto; Diawara, Yacouba; Dercon, Gerd; Mabit, Lionel

2018-05-15

Identification of hot spots of land degradation is strongly related with the selection of soil tracers for sediment pathways. This research proposes the complementary and integrated application of two analytical techniques to select the most suitable fingerprint tracers for identifying the main sources of sediments in an agricultural catchment located in Central Argentina with erosive loess soils. Diffuse reflectance Fourier transformed in the mid-infrared range (DRIFT-MIR) spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) were used for a suitable fingerprint selection. For using DRIFT-MIR spectroscopy as fingerprinting technique, calibration through quantitative parameters is needed to link and correlate DRIFT-MIR spectra with soil tracers. EDXRF was used in this context for determining the concentrations of geochemical elements in soil samples. The selected tracers were confirmed using two artificial mixtures composed of known proportions of soil collected in different sites with distinctive soil uses. These fingerprint elements were used as parameters to build a predictive model with the whole set of DRIFT-MIR spectra. Fingerprint elements such as phosphorus, iron, calcium, barium, and titanium were identified for obtaining a suitable reconstruction of the source proportions in the artificial mixtures. Mid-infrared spectra produced successful prediction models (R 2  = 0.91) for Fe content and moderate useful prediction (R 2  = 0.72) for Ti content. For Ca, P, and Ba, the R 2 were 0.44, 0.58, and 0.59 respectively.

Characterization of radioactive orphan sources by gamma spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cruz W, H.

2013-01-01

The sealed radioactive sources are widely applicable in industry. They must have a permanent control and must be registered with the Technical Office of the National Authority (OTAN). However, at times it has identified the presence of abandoned sealed sources unknown to the owner. These sources are called 'orphan sources'. Of course these sources represent a high potential risk because accidents can trigger dire consequences depending on your activity and chemical form in which it presents the radioisotope. This paper describes the process and the actions taken to characterize two orphan radioactive sources from the smelter a Aceros Arequipa. For characterization we used a gamma spectrometry system using a detector NaI(Tl) 3″ x 3″ with a multichannel analyzer Nucleus PCA-II. The radioisotope identified was cesium - 137 ( 137 Cs) in both cases. Fortunately, the sources maintained their integrity would otherwise have generated significant pollution considering the chemical form of the radioisotope and easy dispersion. (author)

NoSQL data model for semi-automatic integration of ethnomedicinal plant data from multiple sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Ningthoujam, Sanjoy Singh; Choudhury, Manabendra Dutta; Potsangbam, Kumar Singh; Chetia, Pankaj; Nahar, Lutfun; Sarker, Satyajit D; Basar, Norazah; Das Talukdar, Anupam

2014-01-01

Sharing traditional knowledge with the scientific community could refine scientific approaches to phytochemical investigation and conservation of ethnomedicinal plants. As such, integration of traditional knowledge with scientific data using a single platform for sharing is greatly needed. However, ethnomedicinal data are available in heterogeneous formats, which depend on cultural aspects, survey methodology and focus of the study. Phytochemical and bioassay data are also available from many open sources in various standards and customised formats. To design a flexible data model that could integrate both primary and curated ethnomedicinal plant data from multiple sources. The current model is based on MongoDB, one of the Not only Structured Query Language (NoSQL) databases. Although it does not contain schema, modifications were made so that the model could incorporate both standard and customised ethnomedicinal plant data format from different sources. The model presented can integrate both primary and secondary data related to ethnomedicinal plants. Accommodation of disparate data was accomplished by a feature of this database that supported a different set of fields for each document. It also allowed storage of similar data having different properties. The model presented is scalable to a highly complex level with continuing maturation of the database, and is applicable for storing, retrieving and sharing ethnomedicinal plant data. It can also serve as a flexible alternative to a relational and normalised database. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Microcontroller based implementation of fuel cell and battery integrated hybrid power source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fahad, A.; Ali, S.M.; Bhatti, A.A.; Nasir, M

2013-01-01

This paper presents the implementation of a digitally controlled hybrid power source system, composed of fuel cell and battery. Use of individual fuel cell stacks as a power source, encounters many problems in achieving the desired load characteristics. A battery integrated, digitally controlled hybrid system is proposed for high pulse requirements. The proposed hybrid power source fulfils these peak demands with efficient flow of energy as compared to individual operations of fuel cell or battery system. A dc/dc converter is applied which provides an optimal control of power flow among fuel cell, battery and load. The proposed system efficiently overcomes the electrochemical constraints like over current, battery leakage current, and over and under voltage dips. By formulation of an intelligent algorithm and incorporating a digital technology (AVR Microcontroller), an efficient control is achieved over fuel cell current limit, battery charge, voltage and current. The hybrid power source is tested and analyzed by carrying out simulations using MATLAB simulink. Along with the attainment of desired complex load profiles, the proposed design can also be used for power enhancement and optimization for different capacities. (author)

Identifying diffused nitrate sources in a stream in an agricultural field using a dual isotopic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Jingtao; Xi, Beidou; Gao, Rutai; He, Liansheng; Liu, Hongliang; Dai, Xuanli; Yu, Yijun

2014-01-01

Nitrate (NO 3 − ) pollution is a severe problem in aquatic systems in Taihu Lake Basin in China. A dual isotope approach (δ 15 N-NO 3 − and δ 18 O-NO 3 − ) was applied to identify diffused NO 3 − inputs in a stream in an agricultural field at the basin in 2013. The site-specific isotopic characteristics of five NO 3 − sources (atmospheric deposition, AD; NO 3 − derived from soil organic matter nitrification, NS; NO 3 − derived from chemical fertilizer nitrification, NF; groundwater, GW; and manure and sewage, M and S) were identified. NO 3 − concentrations in the stream during the rainy season [mean ± standard deviation (SD) = 2.5 ± 0.4 mg/L] were lower than those during the dry season (mean ± SD = 4.0 ± 0.5 mg/L), whereas the δ 18 O-NO 3 − values during the rainy season (mean ± SD = + 12.3 ± 3.6‰) were higher than those during the dry season (mean ± SD = + 0.9 ± 1.9‰). Both chemical and isotopic characteristics indicated that mixing with atmospheric NO 3 − resulted in the high δ 18 O values during the rainy season, whereas NS and M and S were the dominant NO 3 − sources during the dry season. A Bayesian model was used to determine the contribution of each NO 3 − source to total stream NO 3 − . Results showed that reduced N nitrification in soil zones (including soil organic matter and fertilizer) was the main NO 3 − source throughout the year. M and S contributed more NO 3 − during the dry season (22.4%) than during the rainy season (17.8%). AD generated substantial amounts of NO 3 − in May (18.4%), June (29.8%), and July (24.5%). With the assessment of temporal variation of diffused NO 3 − sources in agricultural field, improved agricultural management practices can be implemented to protect the water resource and avoid further water quality deterioration in Taihu Lake Basin. - Highlights: • The isotopic characteristics of potential NO 3 − sources were identified. • Mixing with atmospheric NO 3 − resulted

A Practice Approach of Multi-source Geospatial Data Integration for Web-based Geoinformation Services

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, W.; Jiang, J.; Zha, Z.; Zhang, H.; Wang, C.; Zhang, J.

2014-04-01

Geospatial data resources are the foundation of the construction of geo portal which is designed to provide online geoinformation services for the government, enterprise and public. It is vital to keep geospatial data fresh, accurate and comprehensive in order to satisfy the requirements of application and development of geographic location, route navigation, geo search and so on. One of the major problems we are facing is data acquisition. For us, integrating multi-sources geospatial data is the mainly means of data acquisition. This paper introduced a practice integration approach of multi-source geospatial data with different data model, structure and format, which provided the construction of National Geospatial Information Service Platform of China (NGISP) with effective technical supports. NGISP is the China's official geo portal which provides online geoinformation services based on internet, e-government network and classified network. Within the NGISP architecture, there are three kinds of nodes: national, provincial and municipal. Therefore, the geospatial data is from these nodes and the different datasets are heterogeneous. According to the results of analysis of the heterogeneous datasets, the first thing we do is to define the basic principles of data fusion, including following aspects: 1. location precision; 2.geometric representation; 3. up-to-date state; 4. attribute values; and 5. spatial relationship. Then the technical procedure is researched and the method that used to process different categories of features such as road, railway, boundary, river, settlement and building is proposed based on the principles. A case study in Jiangsu province demonstrated the applicability of the principle, procedure and method of multi-source geospatial data integration.

Novel Method To Identify Source-Associated Phylogenetic Clustering Shows that Listeria monocytogenes Includes Niche-Adapted Clonal Groups with Distinct Ecological Preferences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nightingale, K. K.; Lyles, K.; Ayodele, M.

2006-01-01

population are identified (TreeStats test). Analysis of sequence data for 120 L. monocytogenes isolates revealed evidence of clustering between isolates from the same source, based on the phylogenies inferred from actA and inlA (P = 0.02 and P = 0.07, respectively; SourceCluster test). Overall, the Tree...... are biologically valid. Overall, our data show that (i) the SourceCluster and TreeStats tests can identify biologically meaningful source-associated phylogenetic clusters and (ii) L. monocytogenes includes clonal groups that have adapted to infect specific host species or colonize nonhost environments......., including humans, animals, and food. If the null hypothesis that the genetic distances for isolates within and between source populations are identical can be rejected (SourceCluster test), then particular clades in the phylogenetic tree with significant overrepresentation of sequences from a given source...

Identifying potential sources of Sudan I contamination in Capsicum fruits over its growth period.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Naiying; Gao, Wei; Zhou, Li; Lian, Yunhe; Li, Fengfei; Han, Wenjie

2015-04-15

Sudan dyes in spices are often assumed to arise from cross-contamination or malicious addition. Here, experiments were carried out to identify the potential source of Sudan I-IV in Capsicum fruits through investigation of their contents in native Capsicum tissues, soils and associated agronomic materials. Sudan II-IV was not detected in any of the tested samples. Sudan I was found in almost all samples except for the mulching film. Sudan I concentrations decreased from stems to leaves and then to fruits or roots. Sudan I levels in soils were significantly elevated by vegetation treatment. These results exclude the possibility of soil as the main source for Sudan I contamination in Capsicum fruits. Further study found out pesticide and fertilizer constitutes the major source of Sudan I contamination. This work represents a preliminary step for a detailed Sudan I assessment to support Capsicum management and protection in the studied region. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying candidate driver genes by integrative ovarian cancer genomics data

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Xinguo; Lu, Jibo

2017-08-01

Integrative analysis of molecular mechanics underlying cancer can distinguish interactions that cannot be revealed based on one kind of data for the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. Tumor samples exhibit heterogeneity in omics data, such as somatic mutations, Copy Number Variations CNVs), gene expression profiles and so on. In this paper we combined gene co-expression modules and mutation modulators separately in tumor patients to obtain the candidate driver genes for resistant and sensitive tumor from the heterogeneous data. The final list of modulators identified are well known in biological processes associated with ovarian cancer, such as CCL17, CACTIN, CCL16, CCL22, APOB, KDF1, CCL11, HNF1B, LRG1, MED1 and so on, which can help to facilitate the discovery of biomarkers, molecular diagnostics, and drug discovery.

Integrated nanohole array surface plasmon resonance sensing device using a dual-wavelength source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escobedo, C; Vincent, S; Choudhury, A I K; Campbell, J; Gordon, R; Brolo, A G; Sinton, D

2011-01-01

In this paper, we demonstrate a compact integrated nanohole array-based surface plasmon resonance sensing device. The unit includes a LED light source, driving circuitry, CCD detector, microfluidic network and computer interface, all assembled from readily available commercial components. A dual-wavelength LED scheme was implemented to increase spectral diversity and isolate intensity variations to be expected in the field. The prototype shows bulk sensitivity of 266 pixel intensity units/RIU and a limit of detection of 6 × 10 −4 RIU. Surface binding tests were performed, demonstrating functionality as a surface-based sensing system. This work is particularly relevant for low-cost point-of-care applications, especially those involving multiple tests and field studies. While nanohole arrays have been applied to many sensing applications, and their suitability to device integration is well established, this is the first demonstration of a fully integrated nanohole array-based sensing device.

HPCAT: an integrated high-pressure synchrotron facility at the Advanced Photon Source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, Guoyin; Chow, Paul; Xiao, Yuming; Sinogeikin, Stanislav; Meng, Yue; Yang, Wenge; Liermann, Hans-Peter; Shebanova, Olga; Rod, Eric; Bommannavar, Arunkumar; Mao, Ho-Kwang

2008-01-01

The high pressure collaborative access team (HPCAT) was established to advance cutting edge, multidisciplinary, high-pressure (HP) science and technology using synchrotron radiation at sector 16 of the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory. The integrated HPCAT facility has established four operating beamlines in nine hutches. Two beamlines are split in energy space from the insertion device (16ID) line, whereas the other two are spatially divided into two fans from the bending magnet (16BM) line. An array of novel X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques has been integrated with HP and extreme temperature instrumentation at HPCAT. With a multidisciplinary approach and multi-institution collaborations, the HP program at the HPCAT has been enabling myriad scientific breakthroughs in HP physics, chemistry, materials, and Earth and planetary sciences.

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Donovan, Geoffrey H; Jovan, Sarah E; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Burstyn, Igor; Michael, Yvonne L; Amacher, Michael C; Monleon, Vicente J

2016-07-15

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting. We collected 346 samples of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from deciduous trees in December, 2013 using a modified randomized grid-based sampling strategy across Portland, Oregon. We estimated a spatial linear model of moss cadmium levels and predicted cadmium on a 50m grid across the city. Cadmium levels in moss were positively correlated with proximity to two stained-glass manufacturers, proximity to the Oregon-Washington border, and percent industrial land in a 500m buffer, and negatively correlated with percent residential land in a 500m buffer. The maps showed very high concentrations of cadmium around the two stained-glass manufacturers, neither of which were known to environmental regulators as cadmium emitters. In addition, in response to our findings, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality placed an instrumental monitor 120m from the larger stained-glass manufacturer in October, 2015. The monthly average atmospheric cadmium concentration was 29.4ng/m(3), which is 49 times higher than Oregon's benchmark of 0.6ng/m(3), and high enough to pose a health risk from even short-term exposure. Both stained-glass manufacturers voluntarily stopped using cadmium after the monitoring results were made public, and the monthly average cadmium levels precipitously dropped to 1.1ng/m(3) for stained-glass manufacturer #1 and 0.67ng/m(3) for stained-glass manufacturer #2. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A spectroscopic tool for identifying sources of origin for materials of military interest

Science.gov (United States)

Miziolek, Andrzej W.; De Lucia, Frank C.

2014-05-01

There is a need to identify the source of origin for many items of military interest, including ammunition and weapons that may be circulated and traded in illicit markets. Both fieldable systems (man-portable or handheld) as well as benchtop systems in field and home base laboratories are desired for screening and attribution purposes. Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) continues to show significant capability as a promising new tool for materials identification, matching, and provenance. With the use of the broadband, high resolution spectrometer systems, the LIBS devices can not only determine the elemental inventory of the sample, but they are also capable of elemental fingerprinting to signify sources of origin of various materials. We present the results of an initial study to differentiate and match spent cartridges from different manufacturers and countries. We have found that using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) we are able to achieve on average 93.3% True Positives and 5.3% False Positives. These results add to the large body of publications that have demonstrated that LIBS is a particularly suitable tool for source of origin determinations.

Identifying and characterizing major emission point sources as a basis for geospatial distribution of mercury emissions inventories

Science.gov (United States)

Steenhuisen, Frits; Wilson, Simon J.

2015-07-01

Mercury is a global pollutant that poses threats to ecosystem and human health. Due to its global transport, mercury contamination is found in regions of the Earth that are remote from major emissions areas, including the Polar regions. Global anthropogenic emission inventories identify important sectors and industries responsible for emissions at a national level; however, to be useful for air transport modelling, more precise information on the locations of emission is required. This paper describes the methodology applied, and the results of work that was conducted to assign anthropogenic mercury emissions to point sources as part of geospatial mapping of the 2010 global anthropogenic mercury emissions inventory prepared by AMAP/UNEP. Major point-source emission sectors addressed in this work account for about 850 tonnes of the emissions included in the 2010 inventory. This work allocated more than 90% of these emissions to some 4600 identified point source locations, including significantly more point source locations in Africa, Asia, Australia and South America than had been identified during previous work to geospatially-distribute the 2005 global inventory. The results demonstrate the utility and the limitations of using existing, mainly public domain resources to accomplish this work. Assumptions necessary to make use of selected online resources are discussed, as are artefacts that can arise when these assumptions are applied to assign (national-sector) emissions estimates to point sources in various countries and regions. Notwithstanding the limitations of the available information, the value of this procedure over alternative methods commonly used to geo-spatially distribute emissions, such as use of 'proxy' datasets to represent emissions patterns, is illustrated. Improvements in information that would facilitate greater use of these methods in future work to assign emissions to point-sources are discussed. These include improvements to both national

The Chandra Source Catalog: Source Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Nowak, Michael; Rots, A. H.; McCollough, M. L.; Primini, F. A.; Glotfelty, K. J.; Bonaventura, N. R.; Chen, J. C.; Davis, J. E.; Doe, S. M.; Evans, J. D.; Evans, I.; Fabbiano, G.; Galle, E. C.; Gibbs, D. G., II; Grier, J. D.; Hain, R.; Hall, D. M.; Harbo, P. N.; He, X.; Houck, J. C.; Karovska, M.; Lauer, J.; McDowell, J. C.; Miller, J. B.; Mitschang, A. W.; Morgan, D. L.; Nichols, J. S.; Plummer, D. A.; Refsdal, B. L.; Siemiginowska, A. L.; Sundheim, B. A.; Tibbetts, M. S.; van Stone, D. W.; Winkelman, S. L.; Zografou, P.

2009-09-01

The Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) contains fields of view that have been studied with individual, uninterrupted observations that span integration times ranging from 1 ksec to 160 ksec, and a large number of which have received (multiple) repeat observations days to years later. The CSC thus offers an unprecedented look at the variability of the X-ray sky over a broad range of time scales, and across a wide diversity of variable X-ray sources: stars in the local galactic neighborhood, galactic and extragalactic X-ray binaries, Active Galactic Nuclei, etc. Here we describe the methods used to identify and quantify source variability within a single observation, and the methods used to assess the variability of a source when detected in multiple, individual observations. Three tests are used to detect source variability within a single observation: the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and its variant, the Kuiper test, and a Bayesian approach originally suggested by Gregory and Loredo. The latter test not only provides an indicator of variability, but is also used to create a best estimate of the variable lightcurve shape. We assess the performance of these tests via simulation of statistically stationary, variable processes with arbitrary input power spectral densities (here we concentrate on results of red noise simulations) at variety of mean count rates and fractional root mean square variabilities relevant to CSC sources. We also assess the false positive rate via simulations of constant sources whose sole source of fluctuation is Poisson noise. We compare these simulations to an assessment of the variability found in real CSC sources, and estimate the variability sensitivities of the CSC.

Generating millimeter-wave Bessel beam with orbital angular momentum using reflective-type metasurface inherently integrated with source

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yizhu; Yang, Jiawei; Meng, Hongfu; Dou, Wenbin; Hu, Sanming

2018-04-01

Metasurfaces, orbital angular momenta (OAM), and non-diffractive Bessel beams have been attracting worldwide research. Combining the benefits of these three promising techniques, this paper proposes a metasurface-based reflective-type approach to generate a first-order Bessel beam carrying OAM. To validate this approach, a millimeter-wave metasurface is analyzed, designed, fabricated, and measured. Experimental results agree well with simulation. Moreover, this reflective-type metasurface, generating a Bessel beam with OAM, is inherently integrated with a planar feeding source in the same single-layer printed circuit board. Therefore, the proposed design features low profile, low cost, easy integration with front-end active circuits, and no alignment error between the feeding source and the metasurface.

Open source projects as incubators of innovation: From niche phenomenon to integral part of the software industry

OpenAIRE

Schrape, Jan-Felix

2017-01-01

Over the last 20 years, open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. I begin with a reconstruction of the genesis of open source software projects and their changing relation- ships to established IT companies. This is followed by the identification of f...

Regional Integrated Tenets to Reinforce the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources (ClearZone)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salzer, P.

2003-01-01

The EURATOM Research and Training Programme on Nuclear Energy includes 2 main fields - fusion energy research and management of radioactive waste, radiation protection and other activities of nuclear technology and safety.Seven instruments (mechanisms) for projects management are used - 'Network of Excellence' (NOE); 'Integrated Project' (IP); 'Specific Targeted Research Project' or 'Specific Targeted Training Project' (STREP); 'Co-ordination Action' (CA); Actions to Promote and Develop Human Resources and Mobility Specific Support Actions; Integrated Infrastructure Initiatives. Two consecutive sub-projects are proposed: 'small' - countries of the Visegrad four + Austrian participant -within the 6th FP 'Specific Supported Actions' and 'large' - participation of more countries in the region - more oriented to practical implementation of the 'small' project findings - intention to use the 6th Framework Programme resources to co-financing the implementation activities. The main objectives are: to create effective lines of defense (prevention -detection - categorization - transport - storage) against malicious use of radioactive sources; to achieve and maintain a high level of safety and security of radioactive sources; to arise the radioactive sources management safety and security culture at the Central European region. Consortium of 11 organisations from Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Austria, Hungary and Poland is established for the Project implementation. The Project task are grouped in the following areas: legislation, infrastructure, practices; metallurgical industry, cross border control; instrumentation and metrology; information system

The continued development of the Spallation Neutron Source external antenna H- ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welton, R. F.; Carmichael, J.; Fuga, R.; Goulding, R. H.; Han, B.; Kang, Y.; Lee, S. W.; Murray, S. N.; Pennisi, T.; Potter, K. G.; Santana, M.; Stockli, M. P.; Desai, N. J.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is an accelerator-based, pulsed neutron-scattering facility, currently in the process of ramping up neutron production. In order to ensure that the SNS will meet its operational commitments as well as provide for future facility upgrades with high reliability, we are developing a rf-driven, H - ion source based on a water-cooled, ceramic aluminum nitride (AlN) plasma chamber. To date, early versions of this source have delivered up to 42 mA to the SNS front end and unanalyzed beam currents up to ∼100 mA (60 Hz, 1 ms) to the ion source test stand. This source was operated on the SNS accelerator from February to April 2009 and produced ∼35 mA (beam current required by the ramp up plan) with availability of ∼97%. During this run several ion source failures identified reliability issues, which must be addressed before the source re-enters production: plasma ignition, antenna lifetime, magnet cooling, and cooling jacket integrity. This report discusses these issues, details proposed engineering solutions, and notes progress to date.

A Method for Identifying Pollution Sources of Heavy Metals and PAH for a Risk-Based Management of a Mediterranean Harbour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ombretta Paladino

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A procedure for assessing harbour pollution by heavy metals and PAH and the possible sources of contamination is proposed. The procedure is based on a ratio-matching method applied to the results of principal component analysis (PCA, and it allows discrimination between point and nonpoint sources. The approach can be adopted when many sources of pollution can contribute in a very narrow coastal ecosystem, both internal and outside but close to the harbour, and was used to identify the possible point sources of contamination in a Mediterranean Harbour (Port of Vado, Savona, Italy. 235 sediment samples were collected in 81 sampling points during four monitoring campaigns and 28 chemicals were searched for within the collected samples. PCA of total samples allowed the assessment of 8 main possible point sources, while the refining ratio-matching identified 1 sampling point as a possible PAH source, 2 sampling points as Cd point sources, and 3 sampling points as C > 12 point sources. By a map analysis it was possible to assess two internal sources of pollution directly related to terminals activity. The study is the prosecution of a previous work aimed at assessing Savona-Vado Harbour pollution levels and suggested strategies to regulate the harbour activities.

INVESTIGATING THE OPTICAL COUNTERPART CANDIDATES OF FOUR INTEGRAL SOURCES LOCALIZED WITH CHANDRA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Özbey Arabacı, Mehtap; Kalemci, Emrah; Tomsick, John A.; Bodaghee, Arash; Halpern, Jules; Chaty, Sylvain; Rodriguez, Jerome; Rahoui, Farid

2012-01-01

We report on the optical spectroscopic follow-up observations of the candidate counterparts to four INTEGRAL sources: IGR J04069+5042, IGR J06552–1146, IGR J21188+4901, and IGR J22014+6034. The candidate counterparts were determined with Chandra, and the optical observations were performed with 1.5 m RTT-150 telescope (TÜBİTAK National Observatory, Antalya, Turkey) and 2.4 m Hiltner Telescope (MDM Observatory, Kitt Peak, Arizona). Our spectroscopic results show that one of the two candidates of IGR J04069+5042 and the one observed for IGR J06552–1146 could be active late-type stars in RS CVn systems. However, according to the likelihood analysis based on Chandra and INTEGRAL, two optically weaker sources in the INTEGRAL error circle of IGR J06552–1146 have higher probabilities to be the actual counterpart. The candidate counterparts of IGR J21188+4901 are classified as an active M-type star and a late-type star. Among the optical spectra of four candidates of IGR J22014+6034, two show Hα emission lines, one is a late-type star, and the other is an M type. The likelihood analysis favors a candidate with no distinguishing features in the optical spectrum. Two of the candidates classified as M-type dwarfs, are similar to some IGR candidates claimed to be symbiotic stars. However, some of the prominent features of symbiotic systems are missing in our spectra, and their NIR colors are not consistent with those expected for giants. We consider the IR colors of all IGR candidates claimed to be symbiotic systems and find that low-resolution optical spectrum may not be enough for conclusive identification.

Identifying Issues in Applying Integrated Project Delivery to Domestic Nuclear Power Plant Construction Projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Young Joo [Korean Nuclear Society, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is defined as that people, systems, business structures, and practices of key stakeholders are incorporated into a single-team, with a single process, which executes a project in a way of optimizing the project's outcome, increasing values delivered to the end user, reducing waste, and maximizing efficiency throughout the phases of engineering to construction. The researcher had carried out literature review in terms of IPD to identify major characteristics of IPD which are presented in the following section and had compared such characteristics against peculiarities of nuclear power plant (NPP) construction projects in order to shed light on obstacles in possible application of IPD method to domestic NPP construction projects in the coming days. In this research, three (3) major characteristics of IPD were identified: 1) key stakeholders signing one balanced contract, forming de facto one body, sharing risk and reward 2) an integrated project team being formed in the early stage of a project and providing input to minimize time and cost loss from rework downstream 3) team members co-locating, having open and direct communication, making decisions on time, and pursuing the success of the project itself.

Dynamic pricing based on a cloud computing framework to support the integration of renewable energy sources

OpenAIRE

Rajeev Thankappan Nair; Ashok Sankar

2014-01-01

Integration of renewable energy sources into the electric grid in the domestic sector results in bidirectional energy flow from the supply side of the consumer to the grid. Traditional pricing methods are difficult to implement in such a situation of bidirectional energy flow and they face operational challenges on the application of price-based demand side management programme because of the intermittent characteristics of renewable energy sources. In this study, a dynamic pricing method usi...

Integrated Pathway-Based Approach Identifies Association between Genomic Regions at CTCF and CACNB2 and Schizophrenia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Juraeva, Dilafruz; Haenisch, Britta; Zapatka, Marc; Frank, Josef; Witt, Stephanie H.; Mühleisen, Thomas W.; Treutlein, Jens; Strohmaier, Jana; Meier, Sandra; Degenhardt, Franziska; Giegling, Ina; Ripke, Stephan; Leber, Markus; Lange, Christoph; Schulze, Thomas G.; Mössner, Rainald; Nenadic, Igor; Sauer, Heinrich; Rujescu, Dan; Maier, Wolfgang; Børglum, Anders; Ophoff, Roel; Cichon, Sven; Nöthen, Markus M.; Rietschel, Marcella; Mattheisen, Manuel; Brors, Benedikt; Kahn, René S.; Cahn, Wiepke; Linszen, Don H.; de Haan, Lieuwe; van Os, Jim; Krabbendam, Lydia; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Wiersma, Durk; Bruggeman, Richard; Mors, O.; Børglum, A. D.; Mortensen, P. B.; Pedersen, C. B.; Demontis, D.; Grove, J.; Mattheisen, M.; Hougaard, D. M.

2014-01-01

In the present study, an integrated hierarchical approach was applied to: (1) identify pathways associated with susceptibility to schizophrenia; (2) detect genes that may be potentially affected in these pathways since they contain an associated polymorphism; and (3) annotate the functional

Particle Filter with Integrated Voice Activity Detection for Acoustic Source Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anders M. Johansson

2007-01-01

Full Text Available In noisy and reverberant environments, the problem of acoustic source localisation and tracking (ASLT using an array of microphones presents a number of challenging difficulties. One of the main issues when considering real-world situations involving human speakers is the temporally discontinuous nature of speech signals: the presence of silence gaps in the speech can easily misguide the tracking algorithm, even in practical environments with low to moderate noise and reverberation levels. A natural extension of currently available sound source tracking algorithms is the integration of a voice activity detection (VAD scheme. We describe a new ASLT algorithm based on a particle filtering (PF approach, where VAD measurements are fused within the statistical framework of the PF implementation. Tracking accuracy results for the proposed method is presented on the basis of synthetic audio samples generated with the image method, whereas performance results obtained with a real-time implementation of the algorithm, and using real audio data recorded in a reverberant room, are published elsewhere. Compared to a previously proposed PF algorithm, the experimental results demonstrate the improved robustness of the method described in this work when tracking sources emitting real-world speech signals, which typically involve significant silence gaps between utterances.

Using artificial sweeteners to identify contamination sources and infiltration zones in a coupled river-aquifer system

Science.gov (United States)

Bichler, Andrea; Muellegger, Christian; Hofmann, Thilo

2014-05-01

In shallow or unconfined aquifers the infiltration of contaminated river water might be a major threat to groundwater quality. Thus, the identification of possible contamination sources in coupled surface- and groundwater systems is of paramount importance to ensure water quality. Micropollutants like artificial sweeteners are promising markers for domestic waste water in natural water bodies. Compounds, such as artificial sweeteners, might enter the aquatic environment via discharge of waste water treatment plants, leaky sewer systems or septic tanks and are ubiquitously found in waste water receiving waters. The hereby presented field study aims at the (1) identification of contamination sources and (2) delineation of infiltration zones in a connected river-aquifer system. River bank filtrate in the groundwater body was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively using a combined approach of hydrochemical analysis and artificial sweeteners (acesulfame ACE) as waste water markers. The investigated aquifer lies within a mesoscale alpine head water catchment and is used for drinking water production. It is hypothesized that a large proportion of the groundwater flux originates from bank filtrate of a nearby losing stream. Water sampling campaigns in March and July 2012 confirmed the occurrence of artificial sweeteners at the investigated site. The municipal waste water treatment plant was identified as point-source for ACE in the river network. In the aquifer ACE was present in more than 80% of the monitoring wells. In addition, water samples were classified according to their hydrochemical composition, identifying two predominant types of water in the aquifer: (1) groundwater influenced by bank filtrate and (2) groundwater originating from local recharge. In combination with ACE concentrations a third type of water could be discriminated: (3) groundwater influence by bank filtrate but infiltrated prior to the waste water treatment plant. Moreover, the presence of ACE

Low Power Consumption Wireless Sensor Communication System Integrated with an Energy Harvesting Power Source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vlad MARSIC

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the testing results of a wireless sensor communication system with low power consumption integrated with an energy harvesting power source. The experiments focus on the system’s capability to perform continuous monitoring and to wirelessly transmit the data acquired from the sensors to a user base station, for realization of completely battery-free wireless sensor system. Energy harvesting technologies together with system design optimization for power consumption minimization ensure the system’s energy autonomous capability demonstrated in this paper by presenting the promising testing results achieved following its integration with structural health monitoring and body area network applications.

Integrated Wavelength-Tunable Light Source for Optical Gas Sensing Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A compact instrument consisting of a distributed feedback laser (DFB at 1.65 μm was developed as a light source for gas sensing systems using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS technique. The wavelength of laser is tuned by adjusting the laser working temperature and injection current, which are performed by self-developed temperature controller and current modulator respectively. Stability test shows the fluctuation of the laser temperature is within the range of ±0.02°C. For gas detection experiments, the wavelength is tuned around the gas absorption line by adjusting laser temperature and is then shifted periodically to scan across the absorption line by the laser current modulator, which generates a 10 Hz saw wave signal. In addition, the current modulator is able to generate sine wave signal for gas sensing systems using wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS technique involving extraction of harmonic signals. The spectrum test proves good stability that the spectrum was measured 6 times every 10 minutes at the constant temperature and current condition. This standalone instrument can be applied as a light source for detection systems of different gases by integrating lasers at corresponding wavelength.

Campus and community micro grids integration of building integrated photovoltaic renewable energy sources: Case study of Split 3 area, Croatia - part A

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gašparović Goran

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Micro grids interconnect loads and distributed energy resources as a single controllable entity. New installations of renewable energy sources (RES in urban areas, such as Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV, provide opportunities to increase energy independence and diversify energy sources in the energy system. This paper explores the integration of RES into two case study communities in an urban agglomeration to provide optimal conditions to meet a share of the electrical loads. Energy planning case studies for decentralized generation of renewable energy are conducted in H2RES energy planning software for hourly energy balances. The results indicate that BIPV and PV in the case study communities can cover about 17% of the recorded electrical demand of both areas. On a yearly basis, there will be a 0.025 GWh surplus of PV production with a maximum value of 1.25 MWh in one hour of operation unless grid storage is used. This amounts to a total investment cost of 13.36 million EUR. The results are useful for proposing future directions for the various case study communities targeting sustainable development.

Levels and source apportionment of children's lead exposure: Could urinary lead be used to identify the levels and sources of children's lead pollution?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Suzhen; Duan, Xiaoli; Zhao, Xiuge; Wang, Beibei; Ma, Jin; Fan, Delong; Sun, Chengye; He, Bin; Wei, Fusheng; Jiang, Guibin

2015-01-01

As a highly toxic heavy metal, the pollution and exposure risks of lead are of widespread concern for human health. However, the collection of blood samples for use as an indicator of lead pollution is not always feasible in most cohort or longitudinal studies, especially those involving children health. To evaluate the potential use of urinary lead as an indicator of exposure levels and source apportionment, accompanying with environmental media samples, lead concentrations and isotopic measurements (expressed as 207 Pb/ 206 Pb, 208 Pb/ 206 Pb and 204 Pb/ 206 Pb) were investigated and compared between blood and urine from children living in the vicinities of a typical coking plant and lead-acid battery factory. The results showed urinary lead might not be a preferable proxy for estimating blood lead levels. Fortunately, urinary lead isotopic measurements could be used as an alternative for identifying the sources of children's lead exposure, which coincided well with the blood lead isotope ratio analysis. - Highlights: • Pb isotopes of environmental media and children's blood and urine were analyzed. • Pb exposure and pollution source were studied in lead-acid battery and coking areas. • Pb isotope ratios in blood and urine were similar to those of food, water and PM. • Urine Pb level may not be used as a proxy for indicating the lead levels in blood. • Urine Pb isotope ratios is an alternative to identify source and exposure pathways. - Urinary lead is not a preferable proxy to estimate blood lead level, but urinary lead isotope ratios could be an alternative for identifying the sources of lead exposure in children

Integration of a clinical trial database with a PACS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Herk, M

2014-01-01

Many clinical trials use Electronic Case Report Forms (ECRF), e.g., from OpenClinica. Trial data is augmented if DICOM scans, dose cubes, etc. from the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) are included for data mining. Unfortunately, there is as yet no structured way to collect DICOM objects in trial databases. In this paper, we obtain a tight integration of ECRF and PACS using open source software. Methods: DICOM identifiers for selected images/series/studies are stored in associated ECRF events (e.g., baseline) as follows: 1) JavaScript added to OpenClinica communicates using HTML with a gateway server inside the hospitals firewall; 2) On this gateway, an open source DICOM server runs scripts to query and select the data, returning anonymized identifiers; 3) The scripts then collects, anonymizes, zips and transmits selected data to a central trial server; 4) Here data is stored in a DICOM archive which allows authorized ECRF users to view and download the anonymous images associated with each event. Results: All integration scripts are open source. The PACS administrator configures the anonymization script and decides to use the gateway in passive (receiving) mode or in an active mode going out to the PACS to gather data. Our ECRF centric approach supports automatic data mining by iterating over the cases in the ECRF database, providing the identifiers to load images and the clinical data to correlate with image analysis results. Conclusions: Using open source software and web technology, a tight integration has been achieved between PACS and ECRF.

Non point source pollution modelling in the watershed managed by Integrated Conctructed Wetlands: A GIS approach.

OpenAIRE

Vyavahare, Nilesh

2008-01-01

The non-point source pollution has been recognised as main cause of eutrophication in Ireland (EPA Ireland, 2001). Integrated Constructed Wetland (ICW) is a management practice adopted in Annestown stream watershed, located in the south county of Waterford in Ireland, used to cleanse farmyard runoff. Present study forms the annual pollution budget for the Annestown stream watershed. The amount of pollution from non-point sources flowing into the stream was simulated by using GIS techniques; u...

Distributed design approach in persistent identifiers systems

Science.gov (United States)

Golodoniuc, Pavel; Car, Nicholas; Klump, Jens

2017-04-01

The need to identify both digital and physical objects is ubiquitous in our society. Past and present persistent identifier (PID) systems, of which there is a great variety in terms of technical and social implementations, have evolved with the advent of the Internet, which has allowed for globally unique and globally resolvable identifiers. PID systems have catered for identifier uniqueness, integrity, persistence, and trustworthiness, regardless of the identifier's application domain, the scope of which has expanded significantly in the past two decades. Since many PID systems have been largely conceived and developed by small communities, or even a single organisation, they have faced challenges in gaining widespread adoption and, most importantly, the ability to survive change of technology. This has left a legacy of identifiers that still exist and are being used but which have lost their resolution service. We believe that one of the causes of once successful PID systems fading is their reliance on a centralised technical infrastructure or a governing authority. Golodoniuc et al. (2016) proposed an approach to the development of PID systems that combines the use of (a) the Handle system, as a distributed system for the registration and first-degree resolution of persistent identifiers, and (b) the PID Service (Golodoniuc et al., 2015), to enable fine-grained resolution to different information object representations. The proposed approach solved the problem of guaranteed first-degree resolution of identifiers, but left fine-grained resolution and information delivery under the control of a single authoritative source, posing risk to the long-term availability of information resources. Herein, we develop these approaches further and explore the potential of large-scale decentralisation at all levels: (i) persistent identifiers and information resources registration; (ii) identifier resolution; and (iii) data delivery. To achieve large-scale decentralisation

Methods of formation of efficiency indexes of electric power sources integration in regional electric power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marder, L.I.; Myzin, A.I.

1993-01-01

A methodic approach to the grounding of the integration process efficiency within the Unified electric power system is given together with the selection of a rational areal structure and concentration of power-generating source capacities. Formation of an economic functional according to alternative scenavies including the cost components taking account of the regional interests is considered. A method for estimation and distribution of the effect from electric power production integration in the power systems under new economic conditions is proposed

Screening the Emission Sources of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in China Based on Multi-effect Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, H., Jr.

2015-12-01

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere have adverse impacts via three main pathways: photochemical ozone formation, secondary organic aerosol production, and direct toxicity to humans. Few studies have integrated these effects to prioritize control measures for VOCs sources. In this study, we developed a multi-effect evaluation methodology based on updated emission inventories and source profiles, which was combined with ozone formation potential (OFP), secondary organic aerosol potential (SOAP), and VOC toxicity data to identify important emission sources and key species. We derived species-specific emission inventories for 152 sources. The OFPs, SOAPs, and toxicity of each source were determined, and the contribution and share of each source to each of these adverse effects was calculated. Weightings were given to the three adverse effects by expert scoring, and the integrated impact was determined. Using 2012 as the base year, solvent usage and industrial process were found to be the most important anthropogenic sources, accounting for 24.2 and 23.1% of the integrated environmental effect, respectively. This was followed by biomass burning, transportation, and fossil fuel combustion, all of which had a similar contribution ranging from 16.7 to 18.6%. The top five industrial sources, including plastic products, rubber products, chemical fiber products, the chemical industry, and oil refining, accounted for nearly 70.0% of industrial emissions. In China, emissions reductions are required for styrene, toluene, ethylene, benzene, and m/p-xylene. The 10 most abundant chemical species contributed 76.5% of the integrated impact. Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong were the five leading provinces when considering the integrated effects. Besides, the chemical mass balance model (CMB) was used to verify the VOCs inventories of 47 cities in China, so as to optimize our evaluation results. We suggest that multi-effect evaluation is necessary to

Evaluating sourcing and fluvial integration of plant wax biomarkers from the Peruvian Andes to Amazonian lowlands

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, M. S.; Feakins, S. J.; Ponton, C.; West, A. J.; Galy, V.

2017-12-01

The carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions (respectively δ13C and δD) of plant wax biomarkers have been widely used to reconstruct past climate and environment. To understand how leaf waxes are sourced within a river catchment, and how their isotopic signature is transferred from source to sink, we study δ13C and δD of C29 n-alkanes and C30 n-alkanoic acids in the Madre de Dios River catchment along the eastern flank of the Peruvian Andes. We sampled soils across a 3.5km elevation transect and find gradients in δ13Cwax (ca. +1.5‰/km) and δDwax (ca. -10 ‰/km) similar to gradients in tree canopy leaves (Feakins et al., 2016 GCA; Wu et al., 2017 GCA). We also collected river suspended sediment samples along the Madre de Dios River and its tributaries, which together drain an area of 75,400 km2 and 6 km of elevation. We utilize soil data and a digital elevation model to construct isoscapes, delineate catchments for each river sampling location, predict river values assuming spatial uniform integration, and compare our predictions with observed values. Although both compounds generally follow isotopic gradients defined by catchment elevations, the dual isotope and compound-class comparison reveals additional processes. For C30 n-alkanoic acid we find an up to 1km lower-than-expected catchment signal, indicating degradation of upland contributions in transit and replacement with lowland inputs. In contrast, mountain-front river locations are susceptible to upland-biases (up to 1km higher sourcing) in C29 n-alkane sourcing, likely due to enhanced erosion and higher leaf wax stock in Andean soil compared to the lowland, and greater persistence of n-alkanes than n-alkanoic acids. For both compounds, the bias is eliminated with several hundred km of river transit across the floodplain. In one location, we identify significant petrogenic contamination of n-alkanes but not n-alkanoic acids. These results indicate the power in combining dual compound classes and

Historical sources of black carbon identified by PAHs and δ13C in Sanjiang Plain of Northeastern China

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Chuanyu; Liu, Hanxiang; Cong, Jinxin; Han, Dongxue; Zhao, Winston; Lin, Qianxin; Wang, Guoping

2018-05-01

Black carbon (BC), the byproduct of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass can be stored in soil for a long time and potentially archive changes in natural and human activities. Increasing amounts of BC has been produced from human activities during the past 150 years and has influenced global climate change and carbon cycle. Identifying historical BC sources is important in knowing how historical human activities influenced BC and BC transportation processes in the atmosphere. In this study, PAH components and δ13C-BC in peatland in the Sanjiang Plain were used for identifying and verifying regional BC sources during the last 150 years. Results showed that environment-unfriendly industry developed at the end of the 1950s produced a great amount of BC and contributed the most BC in this period. In other periods, however, BC in the Sanjiang Plain was mainly produced from incomplete biomass burning before the 1990s; particularly, slash-and-burn of pastures and forests during regional reclamation periods between the 1960s and 1980s produced a huge amount of biomass burning BC, which then deposited into the surrounding ecosystems. With the regional reclamation decreasing and environment-friendly industry developing, the proportion of BC emitted and deposited from transportation sources increased and transportation source became an important BC source in the Sanjiang Plain after the 1990s.

Distributed Persistent Identifiers System Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel Golodoniuc

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The need to identify both digital and physical objects is ubiquitous in our society. Past and present persistent identifier (PID systems, of which there is a great variety in terms of technical and social implementation, have evolved with the advent of the Internet, which has allowed for globally unique and globally resolvable identifiers. PID systems have, by in large, catered for identifier uniqueness, integrity, and persistence, regardless of the identifier’s application domain. Trustworthiness of these systems has been measured by the criteria first defined by Bütikofer (2009 and further elaborated by Golodoniuc 'et al'. (2016 and Car 'et al'. (2017. Since many PID systems have been largely conceived and developed by a single organisation they faced challenges for widespread adoption and, most importantly, the ability to survive change of technology. We believe that a cause of PID systems that were once successful fading away is the centralisation of support infrastructure – both organisational and computing and data storage systems. In this paper, we propose a PID system design that implements the pillars of a trustworthy system – ensuring identifiers’ independence of any particular technology or organisation, implementation of core PID system functions, separation from data delivery, and enabling the system to adapt for future change. We propose decentralisation at all levels — persistent identifiers and information objects registration, resolution, and data delivery — using Distributed Hash Tables and traditional peer-to-peer networks with information replication and caching mechanisms, thus eliminating the need for a central PID data store. This will increase overall system fault tolerance thus ensuring its trustworthiness. We also discuss important aspects of the distributed system’s governance, such as the notion of the authoritative source and data integrity

Evaluation and selection of open-source EMR software packages based on integrated AHP and TOPSIS.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaidan, A A; Zaidan, B B; Al-Haiqi, Ahmed; Kiah, M L M; Hussain, Muzammil; Abdulnabi, Mohamed

2015-02-01

Evaluating and selecting software packages that meet the requirements of an organization are difficult aspects of software engineering process. Selecting the wrong open-source EMR software package can be costly and may adversely affect business processes and functioning of the organization. This study aims to evaluate and select open-source EMR software packages based on multi-criteria decision-making. A hands-on study was performed and a set of open-source EMR software packages were implemented locally on separate virtual machines to examine the systems more closely. Several measures as evaluation basis were specified, and the systems were selected based a set of metric outcomes using Integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS. The experimental results showed that GNUmed and OpenEMR software can provide better basis on ranking score records than other open-source EMR software packages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of an Air-Source Heat Pump Integrated with a Water Heating / Dehumidification Module

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rice, C Keith [ORNL; Uselton, Robert B. [Lennox Industries, Inc; Shen, Bo [ORNL; Baxter, Van D [ORNL; Shrestha, Som S [ORNL

2014-01-01

A residential-sized dual air-source integrated heat pump (AS-IHP) concept is under development in partnership between ORNL and a manufacturer. The concept design consists of a two-stage air-source heat pump (ASHP) coupled on the air distribution side with a separate novel water heating/dehumidification (WH/DH) module. The motivation for this unusual equipment combination is the forecast trend for home sensible loads to be reduced more than latent loads. Integration of water heating with a space dehumidification cycle addresses humidity control while performing double-duty. This approach can be applied to retrofit/upgrade applications as well as new construction. A WH/DH module capable of ~1.47 L/h water removal and ~2 kW water heating capacity was assembled by the manufacturer. A heat pump system model was used to guide the controls design; lab testing was conducted and used to calibrate the models. Performance maps were generated and used in a TRNSYS sub-hourly simulation to predict annual performance in a well-insulated house. Annual HVAC/WH energy savings of ~35% are predicted in cold and hot-humid U.S. climates compared to a minimum efficiency baseline.

On the Prospects and Concerns of Integrating Open Source Software Environment in Software Engineering Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kamthan, Pankaj

2007-01-01

Open Source Software (OSS) has introduced a new dimension in software community. As the development and use of OSS becomes prominent, the question of its integration in education arises. In this paper, the following practices fundamental to projects and processes in software engineering are examined from an OSS perspective: project management;…

Visual feature integration indicated by pHase-locked frontal-parietal EEG signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Steven; Takeda, Yuji; Singh, Archana

2012-01-01

The capacity to integrate multiple sources of information is a prerequisite for complex cognitive ability, such as finding a target uniquely identifiable by the conjunction of two or more features. Recent studies identified greater frontal-parietal synchrony during conjunctive than non-conjunctive (feature) search. Whether this difference also reflects greater information integration, rather than just differences in cognitive strategy (e.g., top-down versus bottom-up control of attention), or task difficulty is uncertain. Here, we examine the first possibility by parametrically varying the number of integrated sources from one to three and measuring phase-locking values (PLV) of frontal-parietal EEG electrode signals, as indicators of synchrony. Linear regressions, under hierarchical false-discovery rate control, indicated significant positive slopes for number of sources on PLV in the 30-38 Hz, 175-250 ms post-stimulus frequency-time band for pairs in the sagittal plane (i.e., F3-P3, Fz-Pz, F4-P4), after equating conditions for behavioural performance (to exclude effects due to task difficulty). No such effects were observed for pairs in the transverse plane (i.e., F3-F4, C3-C4, P3-P4). These results provide support for the idea that anterior-posterior phase-locking in the lower gamma-band mediates integration of visual information. They also provide a potential window into cognitive development, seen as developing the capacity to integrate more sources of information.

Distraction 'on the buses': a novel framework of ergonomics methods for identifying sources and effects of bus driver distraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Salmon, Paul M; Young, Kristie L; Regan, Michael A

2011-05-01

Driver distraction represents a significant problem in the public transport sector. Various methods exist for investigating distraction; however, the majority are difficult to apply within the context of naturalistic bus driving. This article investigates the nature of bus driver distraction at a major Australian public transport company, including the sources of distraction present, and their effects on driver performance, through the application of a novel framework of ergonomics methods. The framework represents a novel approach for assessing distraction in a real world context. The findings suggest that there are a number of sources of distraction that could potentially distract bus drivers while driving, including those that derive from the driving task itself, and those that derive from the additional requirements associated with bus operation, such as passenger and ticketing-related distractions. A taxonomy of the sources of bus driver distraction identified is presented, along with a discussion of proposed countermeasures designed to remove the sources identified or mitigate their effects on driver performance. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Application of isotopic and hydro-geochemical methods in identifying sources of mine inrushing water

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Dou Huiping; Ma Zhiyuan; Cao Haidong; Liu Feng; Hu Weiwei; Li Ting

2011-01-01

Isotopic and hydro-geochemical surveys were carried out to identify the source of mine inrushing water at the #73003 face in the Laohutai Mine.Based on the analysis of isotopes and hydro-chemical features of surface water,groundwater from different levels and the inrushing water,a special relationship between water at the #73003 face and cretaceous water has been found.The results show that the isotopic and hydro-chemical features of the inrushing water are completely different from those of other groundwater bodies,except for the cretaceous water.The isotopic and hydrochemical characteristics of cretaceous water are similar to the inrushing water of the #73003 face,which aided with obtaining the evidence for the possible source of the inrushing water at the #73003 face.The isotope calculations show that the inrushing water at the #73003 face is a mixture of cretaceous water and Quaternary water,water from the cretaceous conglomerate is the main source,accounting for 67％ of the inrushing water,while the Quaternary water accounts for 33％.The conclusion is also supported by a study of inrushing-water channels and an active fault near the inrushing-water plot on the #73003 face.

Scenario driven data modelling: a method for integrating diverse sources of data and data streams

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Biology is rapidly becoming a data intensive, data-driven science. It is essential that data is represented and connected in ways that best represent its full conceptual content and allows both automated integration and data driven decision-making. Recent advancements in distributed multi-relational directed graphs, implemented in the form of the Semantic Web make it possible to deal with complicated heterogeneous data in new and interesting ways. Results This paper presents a new approach, scenario driven data modelling (SDDM), that integrates multi-relational directed graphs with data streams. SDDM can be applied to virtually any data integration challenge with widely divergent types of data and data streams. In this work, we explored integrating genetics data with reports from traditional media. SDDM was applied to the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase gene (NDM-1), an emerging global health threat. The SDDM process constructed a scenario, created a RDF multi-relational directed graph that linked diverse types of data to the Semantic Web, implemented RDF conversion tools (RDFizers) to bring content into the Sematic Web, identified data streams and analytical routines to analyse those streams, and identified user requirements and graph traversals to meet end-user requirements. Conclusions We provided an example where SDDM was applied to a complex data integration challenge. The process created a model of the emerging NDM-1 health threat, identified and filled gaps in that model, and constructed reliable software that monitored data streams based on the scenario derived multi-relational directed graph. The SDDM process significantly reduced the software requirements phase by letting the scenario and resulting multi-relational directed graph define what is possible and then set the scope of the user requirements. Approaches like SDDM will be critical to the future of data intensive, data-driven science because they automate the process of converting

Assessment of source-receptor relationships of aerosols: An integrated forward and backward modeling approach

Science.gov (United States)

Kulkarni, Sarika

This dissertation presents a scientific framework that facilitates enhanced understanding of aerosol source -- receptor (S/R) relationships and their impact on the local, regional and global air quality by employing a complementary suite of modeling methods. The receptor -- oriented Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) technique is combined with Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF), a trajectory ensemble model, to characterize sources influencing the aerosols measured at Gosan, Korea during spring 2001. It is found that the episodic dust events originating from desert regions in East Asia (EA) that mix with pollution along the transit path, have a significant and pervasive impact on the air quality of Gosan. The intercontinental and hemispheric transport of aerosols is analyzed by a series of emission perturbation simulations with the Sulfur Transport and dEposition Model (STEM), a regional scale Chemical Transport Model (CTM), evaluated with observations from the 2008 NASA ARCTAS field campaign. This modeling study shows that pollution transport from regions outside North America (NA) contributed ˜ 30 and 20% to NA sulfate and BC surface concentration. This study also identifies aerosols transported from Europe, NA and EA regions as significant contributors to springtime Arctic sulfate and BC. Trajectory ensemble models are combined with source region tagged tracer model output to identify the source regions and possible instances of quasi-lagrangian sampled air masses during the 2006 NASA INTEX-B field campaign. The impact of specific emission sectors from Asia during the INTEX-B period is studied with the STEM model, identifying residential sector as potential target for emission reduction to combat global warming. The output from the STEM model constrained with satellite derived aerosol optical depth and ground based measurements of single scattering albedo via an optimal interpolation assimilation scheme is combined with the PMF technique to

Drought Tolerance in Pinus halepensis Seed Sources As Identified by Distinctive Physiological and Molecular Markers.

Science.gov (United States)

Taïbi, Khaled; Del Campo, Antonio D; Vilagrosa, Alberto; Bellés, José M; López-Gresa, María Pilar; Pla, Davinia; Calvete, Juan J; López-Nicolás, José M; Mulet, José M

2017-01-01

Drought is one of the main constraints determining forest species growth, survival and productivity, and therefore one of the main limitations for reforestation or afforestation. The aim of this study is to characterize the drought response at the physiological and molecular level of different Pinus halepensis (common name Aleppo pine) seed sources, previously characterized in field trials as drought-sensitive or drought-tolerant. This approach aims to identify different traits capable of predicting the ability of formerly uncharacterized seedlings to cope with drought stress. Gas-exchange, water potential, photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugars, free amino acids, glutathione and proteomic analyses were carried out on control and drought-stressed seedlings in greenhouse conditions. Gas-exchange determinations were also assessed in field-planted seedlings in order to validate the greenhouse experimental conditions. Drought-tolerant seed sources presented higher values of photosynthetic rates, water use efficiency, photosynthetic pigments and soluble carbohydrates concentrations. We observed the same pattern of variation of photosynthesis rate and maximal efficiency of PSII in field. Interestingly drought-tolerant seed sources exhibited increased levels of glutathione, methionine and cysteine. The proteomic profile of drought tolerant seedlings identified two heat shock proteins and an enzyme related to methionine biosynthesis that were not present in drought sensitive seedlings, pointing to the synthesis of sulfur amino acids as a limiting factor for drought tolerance in Pinus halepensis . Our results established physiological and molecular traits useful as distinctive markers to predict drought tolerance in Pinus halepensis provenances that could be reliably used in reforestation programs in drought prone areas.

Drought Tolerance in Pinus halepensis Seed Sources As Identified by Distinctive Physiological and Molecular Markers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled Taïbi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Drought is one of the main constraints determining forest species growth, survival and productivity, and therefore one of the main limitations for reforestation or afforestation. The aim of this study is to characterize the drought response at the physiological and molecular level of different Pinus halepensis (common name Aleppo pine seed sources, previously characterized in field trials as drought-sensitive or drought-tolerant. This approach aims to identify different traits capable of predicting the ability of formerly uncharacterized seedlings to cope with drought stress. Gas-exchange, water potential, photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugars, free amino acids, glutathione and proteomic analyses were carried out on control and drought-stressed seedlings in greenhouse conditions. Gas-exchange determinations were also assessed in field-planted seedlings in order to validate the greenhouse experimental conditions. Drought-tolerant seed sources presented higher values of photosynthetic rates, water use efficiency, photosynthetic pigments and soluble carbohydrates concentrations. We observed the same pattern of variation of photosynthesis rate and maximal efficiency of PSII in field. Interestingly drought-tolerant seed sources exhibited increased levels of glutathione, methionine and cysteine. The proteomic profile of drought tolerant seedlings identified two heat shock proteins and an enzyme related to methionine biosynthesis that were not present in drought sensitive seedlings, pointing to the synthesis of sulfur amino acids as a limiting factor for drought tolerance in Pinus halepensis. Our results established physiological and molecular traits useful as distinctive markers to predict drought tolerance in Pinus halepensis provenances that could be reliably used in reforestation programs in drought prone areas.

Technical note: Efficient online source identification algorithm for integration within a contamination event management system

Science.gov (United States)

Deuerlein, Jochen; Meyer-Harries, Lea; Guth, Nicolai

2017-07-01

Drinking water distribution networks are part of critical infrastructures and are exposed to a number of different risks. One of them is the risk of unintended or deliberate contamination of the drinking water within the pipe network. Over the past decade research has focused on the development of new sensors that are able to detect malicious substances in the network and early warning systems for contamination. In addition to the optimal placement of sensors, the automatic identification of the source of a contamination is an important component of an early warning and event management system for security enhancement of water supply networks. Many publications deal with the algorithmic development; however, only little information exists about the integration within a comprehensive real-time event detection and management system. In the following the analytical solution and the software implementation of a real-time source identification module and its integration within a web-based event management system are described. The development was part of the SAFEWATER project, which was funded under FP 7 of the European Commission.

[Source data management in clinical researches].

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Effie; Yao, Chen; Zhang, Zi-bao; Liu, Yu-xiu

2015-11-01

Source data and its source documents are the foundation of clinical research. Proper source data management plays an essential role for compliance with regulatory and GCP requirements. Both paper and electronic source data co-exist in China. Due to the increasing use of electronic technology in pharmaceutical and health care industry, electronic data source becomes an upcoming trend with clear advantages. To face new opportunities and to ensure data integrity, quality and traceability from source data to regulatory submission, this document demonstrates important concepts, principles and best practices during managing source data. It includes but not limited to: (1) important concepts of source data (e.g., source data originator, source data elements, source data identifier for audit trail, etc.); (2) various modalities of source data collection in paper and electronic methods (e.g., paper CRF, EDC, Patient Report Outcomes/eCOA, etc.); (3) seven main principles recommended in the aspect of data collection, traceability, quality standards, access control, quality control, certified copy and security during source data management; (4) a life cycle from source data creation to obsolete is used as an example to illustrate consideration and implementation of source data management.

Commutativity of the source generation procedure and integrable semi-discretizations: the two-dimensional Leznov lattice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Juan; Yu Guofu; Tam, Hon-Wah

2012-01-01

The source generation procedure (SGP) is applied to a y-directional discrete version and an x-directional discrete version of the Leznov lattice. Consequently, a y-discrete Leznov lattice equation with self-consistent sources (y-discrete Leznov ESCS) and an x-discrete Leznov ESCS are presented. Also utilizing the SGP, a new type of Leznov lattice equation with self-consistent sources (new Leznov ESCS) is derived. It is interesting that the two semi-discrete Leznov ESCS produced constitute a y-discretization for the Leznov ESCS given by Wang et al (2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 12691) and an x-discretization for the new Leznov ESCS, respectively. This means that the commutativity of SGP and integrable semi-discretizations is valid for the two-dimensional Leznov lattice equation. (paper)

Using ensemble models to identify and apportion heavy metal pollution sources in agricultural soils on a local scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qi; Xie, Zhiyi; Li, Fangbai

2015-11-01

This study aims to identify and apportion multi-source and multi-phase heavy metal pollution from natural and anthropogenic inputs using ensemble models that include stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) and random forest (RF) in agricultural soils on the local scale. The heavy metal pollution sources were quantitatively assessed, and the results illustrated the suitability of the ensemble models for the assessment of multi-source and multi-phase heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils on the local scale. The results of SGB and RF consistently demonstrated that anthropogenic sources contributed the most to the concentrations of Pb and Cd in agricultural soils in the study region and that SGB performed better than RF. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Remote Sensing to Identify Changes in Land Use and Sources of Fecal Bacteria to Support a Watershed Transport Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sean Butler

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The contamination of shellfish harvesting areas by fecal bacteria in the Annapolis Basin of Nova Scotia, Canada, is a recurring problem which has consequences for industry, government, and local communities. This study contributes to the development of an integrated water quality forecasting system to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of industry management. The proposed integrated forecasting framework is composed of a database containing contamination sources, hydrodynamics of the Annapolis Basin, Escherichia coli (E. coli loadings and watershed hydrology scenarios, coupled with environmental conditions of the region (e.g., temperature, precipitation, evaporation, and ultraviolet light. For integration into this framework, this study presents a viable methodology for assessing the contribution of fecal bacteria originating from a watershed. The proposed methodology investigated the application of high resolution remote sensing, coupled with the commercially available product, MIKE 11, to monitor watershed land use and its impact on water quality. Remote sensing proved to be an extremely useful tool in the identification of sources of fecal bacteria contamination, as well as the detection of land use change over time. Validation of the MIKE 11 model produced very good agreement (R2 = 0.88, E = 0.85 between predicted and observed river flows, while model calibration of E. coli concentrations showed fair agreement (R2 = 0.51 and E = 0.38 between predicted and observed values. A proper evaluation of the MIKE 11 model was constrained due to limited water sampling. However, the model was very effective in predicting times of high contamination for use in the integrated forecasting framework, especially during substantial precipitation events.

Integrating Gigabit ethernet cameras into EPICS at Diamond light source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cobb, T.

2012-01-01

At Diamond Light Source a range of cameras are used to provide images for diagnostic purposes in both the accelerator and photo beamlines. The accelerator and existing beamlines use Point Grey Flea and Flea2 Firewire cameras. We have selected Gigabit Ethernet cameras supporting GigE Vision for our new photon beamlines. GigE Vision is an interface standard for high speed Ethernet cameras which encourages inter-operability between manufacturers. This paper describes the challenges encountered while integrating GigE Vision cameras from a range of vendors into EPICS. GigE Vision cameras appear to be more reliable than the Firewire cameras, and the simple cabling makes much easier to move the cameras to different positions. Upcoming power over Ethernet versions of the cameras will reduce the number of cables still further

Low Power Consumption Wireless Sensor Communication System Integrated with an Energy Harvesting Power Source

OpenAIRE

Vlad MARSIC; Alessandro GIULIANO; Meiling ZHU

2013-01-01

This paper presents the testing results of a wireless sensor communication system with low power consumption integrated with an energy harvesting power source. The experiments focus on the system’s capability to perform continuous monitoring and to wirelessly transmit the data acquired from the sensors to a user base station, for realization of completely battery-free wireless sensor system. Energy harvesting technologies together with system design optimization for power consumption minimiza...

Redatuming controlled-source electromagnetic data using Stratton–Chu type integral transformations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhdanov, Michael; Cai, Hongzhu

2016-01-01

We present a new method of analyzing controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) data based on redatuming of the observed data from the actual receivers into the virtual receivers. We use the Stratton–Chu type integral transform to calculate the EM field in the virtual receivers. The virtual receivers...... can be placed at any desirable position, including close to the target, which increases the sensitivity of the EM data to the target. The developed method provides an effective model-based interpolation/extrapolation tool for electromagnetic field data. This paper demonstrates that redatuming can...... be used for designing the optimized CSEM survey configuration. The numerical examples, for the Kevin Dome Electromagnetic Project Site, illustrate the practical effectiveness of the developed method....

Integrating modelling and phenotyping approaches to identify and screen complex traits - Illustration for transpiration efficiency in cereals.

Science.gov (United States)

Chenu, K; van Oosterom, E J; McLean, G; Deifel, K S; Fletcher, A; Geetika, G; Tirfessa, A; Mace, E S; Jordan, D R; Sulman, R; Hammer, G L

2018-02-21

Following advances in genetics, genomics, and phenotyping, trait selection in breeding is limited by our ability to understand interactions within the plants and with their environments, and to target traits of most relevance for the target population of environments. We propose an integrated approach that combines insights from crop modelling, physiology, genetics, and breeding to identify traits valuable for yield gain in the target population of environments, develop relevant high-throughput phenotyping platforms, and identify genetic controls and their values in production environments. This paper uses transpiration efficiency (biomass produced per unit of water used) as an example of a complex trait of interest to illustrate how the approach can guide modelling, phenotyping, and selection in a breeding program. We believe that this approach, by integrating insights from diverse disciplines, can increase the resource use efficiency of breeding programs for improving yield gains in target populations of environments.

Towards a Terahertz Room-Temperature Integrated Source

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leo, Giuseppe; Gérard, Jean-Michel; Reitzenstein, Stephan

2011-01-01

We aim at a radically new continuous-wave, electrically pumped THz emitter. Compared to existing THz sources, this source will bring together several advantages that are far from being simultaneously available in any existing source today: compactness, roomtemperature operation, output power around...

The Arithmetic of Emotion: Integration of Incidental and Integral Affect in Judgments and Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel eVastfjall

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Research has demonstrated that two types of affect have an influence on judgment and decision making: incidental affect (affect unrelated to a judgment or decision such as a mood and integral affect (affect that is part of the perceiver’s internal representation of the option or target under consideration. So far, these two lines of research have seldom crossed so that knowledge concerning their combined effects is largely missing. To fill this gap, the present review highlights differences and similarities between integral and incidental affect. Further, common and unique mechanisms that enable these two types of affect to influence judgment and choices are identified. Finally, some basic principles for affect integration when the two sources co-occur are outlined. These principles are discussed in relation to existing work that has focused on incidental or integral affect but not both.

Theoretical and Numerical Modeling of Transport of Land Use-Specific Fecal Source Identifiers

Science.gov (United States)

Bombardelli, F. A.; Sirikanchana, K. J.; Bae, S.; Wuertz, S.

2008-12-01

Microbial contamination in coastal and estuarine waters is of particular concern to public health officials. In this work, we advocate that well-formulated and developed mathematical and numerical transport models can be combined with modern molecular techniques in order to predict continuous concentrations of microbial indicators under diverse scenarios of interest, and that they can help in source identification of fecal pollution. As a proof of concept, we present initially the theory, numerical implementation and validation of one- and two-dimensional numerical models aimed at computing the distribution of fecal source identifiers in water bodies (based on Bacteroidales marker DNA sequences) coming from different land uses such as wildlife, livestock, humans, dogs or cats. These models have been developed to allow for source identification of fecal contamination in large bodies of water. We test the model predictions using diverse velocity fields and boundary conditions. Then, we present some preliminary results of an application of a three-dimensional water quality model to address the source of fecal contamination in the San Pablo Bay (SPB), United States, which constitutes an important sub-embayment of the San Francisco Bay. The transport equations for Bacteroidales include the processes of advection, diffusion, and decay of Bacteroidales. We discuss the validation of the developed models through comparisons of numerical results with field campaigns developed in the SPB. We determine the extent and importance of the contamination in the bay for two decay rates obtained from field observations, corresponding to total host-specific Bacteroidales DNA and host-specific viable Bacteroidales cells, respectively. Finally, we infer transport conditions in the SPB based on the numerical results, characterizing the fate of outflows coming from the Napa, Petaluma and Sonoma rivers.

ASSESSING AND COMBINING RELIABILITY OF PROTEIN INTERACTION SOURCES

Science.gov (United States)

LEACH, SONIA; GABOW, AARON; HUNTER, LAWRENCE; GOLDBERG, DEBRA S.

2008-01-01

Integrating diverse sources of interaction information to create protein networks requires strategies sensitive to differences in accuracy and coverage of each source. Previous integration approaches calculate reliabilities of protein interaction information sources based on congruity to a designated ‘gold standard.’ In this paper, we provide a comparison of the two most popular existing approaches and propose a novel alternative for assessing reliabilities which does not require a gold standard. We identify a new method for combining the resultant reliabilities and compare it against an existing method. Further, we propose an extrinsic approach to evaluation of reliability estimates, considering their influence on the downstream tasks of inferring protein function and learning regulatory networks from expression data. Results using this evaluation method show 1) our method for reliability estimation is an attractive alternative to those requiring a gold standard and 2) the new method for combining reliabilities is less sensitive to noise in reliability assignments than the similar existing technique. PMID:17990508

Probabilistic analysis showing that a combination of bacteroides and methanobrevibacter source tracking markers is effective for identifying waters contaminated by human fecal pollution

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Christopher; Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara N.; Gibson, Jacqueline MacDonald; Ufnar, Jennifer A.; Whitman, Richard L.; Stewart, Jill R.

2013-01-01

Microbial source tracking assays to identify sources of waterborne contamination typically target genetic markers of host-specific microorganisms. However, no bacterial marker has been shown to be 100% host-specific, and cross-reactivity has been noted in studies evaluating known source samples. Using 485 challenge samples from 20 different human and animal fecal sources, this study evaluated microbial source tracking markers including the Bacteroides HF183 16S rRNA, M. smithii nifH, and Enterococcus esp gene targets that have been proposed as potential indicators of human fecal contamination. Bayes' Theorem was used to calculate the conditional probability that these markers or a combination of markers can correctly identify human sources of fecal pollution. All three human-associated markers were detected in 100% of the sewage samples analyzed. Bacteroides HF183 was the most effective marker for determining whether contamination was specifically from a human source, and greater than 98% certainty that contamination was from a human source was shown when both Bacteroides HF183 and M. smithii nifH markers were present. A high degree of certainty was attained even in cases where the prior probability of human fecal contamination was as low as 8.5%. The combination of Bacteroides HF183 and M. smithii nifH source tracking markers can help identify surface waters impacted by human fecal contamination, information useful for prioritizing restoration activities or assessing health risks from exposure to contaminated waters.

Electric Vehicle Integration into Modern Power Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

software tools to assess the impacts resulting from the electric vehicles deployment on the steady state and dynamic operation of electricity grids, identifies strategies to mitigate them and the possibility to support simultaneously large-scale integration of renewable energy sources. New business models......Electric Vehicle Integration into Modern Power Networks provides coverage of the challenges and opportunities posed by the progressive integration of electric drive vehicles. Starting with a thorough overview of the current electric vehicle and battery state-of-the-art, this work describes dynamic...... and control management architectures, as well as the communication infrastructure required to integrate electric vehicles as active demand are presented. Finally, regulatory issues of integrating electric vehicles into modern power systems are addressed. Inspired by two courses held under the EES...

Electric Vehicle Integration into Modern Power Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Electric Vehicle Integration into Modern Power Networks provides coverage of the challenges and opportunities posed by the progressive integration of electric drive vehicles. Starting with a thorough overview of the current electric vehicle and battery state-of-the-art, this work describes dynamic...... software tools to assess the impacts resulting from the electric vehicles deployment on the steady state and dynamic operation of electricity grids, identifies strategies to mitigate them and the possibility to support simultaneously large-scale integration of renewable energy sources. New business models...... and control management architectures, as well as the communication infrastructure required to integrate electric vehicles as active demand are presented. Finally, regulatory issues of integrating electric vehicles into modern power systems are addressed. Inspired by two courses held under the EES...

System for Secure Integration of Aviation Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kulkarni, Deepak; Wang, Yao; Keller, Rich; Chidester, Tom; Statler, Irving; Lynch, Bob; Patel, Hemil; Windrem, May; Lawrence, Bob

2007-01-01

The Aviation Data Integration System (ADIS) of Ames Research Center has been established to promote analysis of aviation data by airlines and other interested users for purposes of enhancing the quality (especially safety) of flight operations. The ADIS is a system of computer hardware and software for collecting, integrating, and disseminating aviation data pertaining to flights and specified flight events that involve one or more airline(s). The ADIS is secure in the sense that care is taken to ensure the integrity of sources of collected data and to verify the authorizations of requesters to receive data. Most importantly, the ADIS removes a disincentive to collection and exchange of useful data by providing for automatic removal of information that could be used to identify specific flights and crewmembers. Such information, denoted sensitive information, includes flight data (here signifying data collected by sensors aboard an aircraft during flight), weather data for a specified route on a specified date, date and time, and any other information traceable to a specific flight. The removal of information that could be used to perform such tracing is called "deidentification." Airlines are often reluctant to keep flight data in identifiable form because of concerns about loss of anonymity. Hence, one of the things needed to promote retention and analysis of aviation data is an automated means of de-identification of archived flight data to enable integration of flight data with non-flight aviation data while preserving anonymity. Preferably, such an automated means would enable end users of the data to continue to use pre-existing data-analysis software to identify anomalies in flight data without identifying a specific anomalous flight. It would then also be possible to perform statistical analyses of integrated data. These needs are satisfied by the ADIS, which enables an end user to request aviation data associated with de-identified flight data. The ADIS

Source Water Protection Planning for Ontario First Nations Communities: Case Studies Identifying Challenges and Outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leslie Collins

2017-07-01

Full Text Available After the Walkerton tragedy in 2000, where drinking water contamination left seven people dead and many suffering from chronic illness, the Province of Ontario, Canada implemented policies to develop Source Water Protection (SWP plans. Under the Clean Water Act (2006, thirty-six regional Conservation Authorities were mandated to develop watershed-based SWP plans under 19 Source Protection Regions. Most First Nations in Ontario are outside of these Source Protection Regions and reserve lands are under Federal jurisdiction. This paper explores how First Nations in Ontario are attempting to address SWP to improve drinking water quality in their communities even though these communities are not part of the Ontario SWP framework. The case studies highlight the gap between the regulatory requirements of the Federal and Provincial governments and the challenges for First Nations in Ontario from lack of funding to implement solutions to address the threats identified in SWP planning. This analysis of different approaches taken by Ontario First Nations shows that the Ontario framework for SWP planning is not an option for the majority of First Nations communities, and does not adequately address threats originating on reserve lands. First Nations attempting to address on-reserve threats to drinking water are using a variety of resources and approaches to develop community SWP plans. However, a common theme of all the cases surveyed is a lack of funding to support implementing solutions for the threats identified by the SWP planning process. Federal government initiatives to address the chronic problem of boil water advisories within Indigenous communities do not recognize SWP planning as a cost-effective tool for improving drinking water quality.

Drought Tolerance in Pinus halepensis Seed Sources As Identified by Distinctive Physiological and Molecular Markers

OpenAIRE

Taïbi, Khaled; Campo, Antonio D. del; Vilagrosa Carmona, Alberto; Bellés, José M.; López-Gresa, María Pilar; Pla, Davinia; Calvete, Juan J.; López-Nicolás, José M.; Mulet, José M.

2017-01-01

Drought is one of the main constraints determining forest species growth, survival and productivity, and therefore one of the main limitations for reforestation or afforestation. The aim of this study is to characterize the drought response at the physiological and molecular level of different Pinus halepensis (common name Aleppo pine) seed sources, previously characterized in field trials as drought-sensitive or drought-tolerant. This approach aims to identify different traits capable of pre...

An innovative and integrated approach based on DNA walking to identify unauthorised GMOs.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraiture, Marie-Alice; Herman, Philippe; Taverniers, Isabel; De Loose, Marc; Deforce, Dieter; Roosens, Nancy H

2014-03-15

In the coming years, the frequency of unauthorised genetically modified organisms (GMOs) being present in the European food and feed chain will increase significantly. Therefore, we have developed a strategy to identify unauthorised GMOs containing a pCAMBIA family vector, frequently present in transgenic plants. This integrated approach is performed in two successive steps on Bt rice grains. First, the potential presence of unauthorised GMOs is assessed by the qPCR SYBR®Green technology targeting the terminator 35S pCAMBIA element. Second, its presence is confirmed via the characterisation of the junction between the transgenic cassette and the rice genome. To this end, a DNA walking strategy is applied using a first reverse primer followed by two semi-nested PCR rounds using primers that are each time nested to the previous reverse primer. This approach allows to rapidly identify the transgene flanking region and can easily be implemented by the enforcement laboratories. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Using Soluble Reactive Phosphorus and Ammonia to Identify Point Source Discharge from Large Livestock Facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Borrello, M. C.; Scribner, M.; Chessin, K.

2013-12-01

A growing body of research draws attention to the negative environmental impacts on surface water from large livestock facilities. These impacts are mostly in the form of excessive nutrient loading resulting in significantly decreased oxygen levels. Over-application of animal waste on fields as well as direct discharge into surface water from facilities themselves has been identified as the main contributor to the development of hypoxic zones in Lake Erie, Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Some regulators claim enforcement of water quality laws is problematic because of the nature and pervasiveness of non-point source impacts. Any direct discharge by a facility is a violation of permits governed by the Clean Water Act, unless the facility has special dispensation for discharge. Previous research by the principal author and others has shown runoff and underdrain transport are the main mechanisms by which nutrients enter surface water. This study utilized previous work to determine if the effects of non-point source discharge can be distinguished from direct (point-source) discharge using simple nutrient analysis and dissolved oxygen (DO) parameters. Nutrient and DO parameters were measured from three sites: 1. A stream adjacent to a field receiving manure, upstream of a large livestock facility with a history of direct discharge, 2. The same stream downstream of the facility and 3. A stream in an area relatively unimpacted by large-scale agriculture (control site). Results show that calculating a simple Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and ammonia over time as well as temperature and DO, distinguishes non-point source from point source discharge into surface water. The r value for SRP and ammonia for the upstream site was 0.01 while the r value for the downstream site was 0.92. The control site had an r value of 0.20. Likewise, r values were calculated on temperature and DO for each site. High negative correlations

Identifying barriers to large-scale integration of variable renewable electricity into the electricity market : A literature review of market design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hu, J.; Harmsen, R.; Crijns-Graus, Wina; Worrell, E.; van den Broek, M.A.

For reaching the 2 °C climate target, the robust growth of electricity generation from variable renewable energy sources (VRE) in the power sector is expected to continue. Accommodation of the power system to the variable, uncertain and locational-dependent outputs of VRE causes integration costs.

Identifying the TeV gamma-ray source MGRO J2228+61, FINALLY!

Science.gov (United States)

Aliu, Ester

2012-09-01

New VERITAS observations of MGRO J2228+61 allow us to associate its TeV emission with the enigmatic radio supernova remnant SNR G106.3+2.7. This remnant is part of a large complex that includes the Boomerang pulsar and nebula. The reduced field suggests that the TeV emission is not powered by the Boomerang, but instead associated with a much larger remnant. A recent SUZAKU X-ray observation of the smaller gamma-ray error box reveals two possible pulsar candidates. We propose short ACIS exposures to identify these sources to determine if one or both can be responsible for the gamma-ray emission. This will allow us to address the long standing problem on the nature of both MGRO J2228+61 and SNR G106.3+2.7.

Evaluation of integrity of radiation sources of nuclear gauges; Avaliacao da integridade de fontes radioativas de medidores nucleares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torohate, Wiclif Francisco

2016-11-01

Nuclear equipment meters are mainly used in the industry in quality control and process control. The principle of operation consists in a shielded radioactive source together with a radiation detector such that the radiation interacts with the material to be analyzed before reaching the detector, providing real time data. Can be as their fixed and mobile mobility, the unique properties of ionizing radiation are used in three basic modes, transmission, backscatter or dispersion or induced (reactive). With the advancement and technological modernization in the world, the demand for nuclear gauges becomes increasingly larger. Currently in Brazil there are about 465 process control plants and 21 portable systems and Mozambique about 45 facilities using nuclear gauges. This font registration is done through a process called source inventory that allows also to know the category of the source, the danger or risk to human health that the source offers. The handling of this equipment requires personnel, certified, skilled and well trained in radiation protection area in accordance with the requirements of the various CNEN Rules. Due to the presence of radioactive source and because these devices are used by workers risk because there external radiation. In this context, we made the smear test in two fixed meters from the IRD industry laboratory, which determines the integrity of the source package, mandatory item in periodic integrity testing of the radiation source of this type of device. A set of procedures is made for its implementation as an evaluation of the radiological risk by radiological survey. It was intended to contribute to the learning handling and safe use of these meters. (author)

Large scale integration of intermittent renewable energy sources in the Greek power sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voumvoulakis, Emmanouil; Asimakopoulou, Georgia; Danchev, Svetoslav; Maniatis, George; Tsakanikas, Aggelos

2012-01-01

As a member of the European Union, Greece has committed to achieve ambitious targets for the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in gross electricity consumption by 2020. Large scale integration of RES requires a suitable mixture of compatible generation units, in order to deal with the intermittency of wind velocity and solar irradiation. The scope of this paper is to examine the impact of large scale integration of intermittent energy sources, required to meet the 2020 RES target, on the generation expansion plan, the fuel mix and the spinning reserve requirements of the Greek electricity system. We perform hourly simulation of the intermittent RES generation to estimate residual load curves on a monthly basis, which are then inputted in a WASP-IV model of the Greek power system. We find that the decarbonisation effort, with the rapid entry of RES and the abolishment of the grandfathering of CO 2 allowances, will radically transform the Greek electricity sector over the next 10 years, which has wide-reaching policy implications. - Highlights: ► Greece needs 8.8 to 9.3 GW additional RES installations by 2020. ► RES capacity credit varies between 12.2% and 15.3%, depending on interconnections. ► Without institutional changes, the reserve requirements will be more than double. ► New CCGT installed capacity will probably exceed the cost-efficient level. ► Competitive pressures should be introduced in segments other than day-ahead market.

Spectral evolution of the Atoll source 4U 1728-34 with RXTE and INTEGRAL: evidence for hard X-ray tail

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tarana, A.; Belloni, T.; Bazzano, A.; Homan, J.; Méndez, M.; Ubertini, P.; Comastri, A.; Angelini, L.; Cappi, M.

We report the temporal and spectral results on the INTEGRAL and RXTE 2006-2007 observation campaign of the Atoll source 4U 1728-34 (GX 354-0). The source shows, more than once, spectral evolution as revealed by the hardness intensity diagram. The soft state is well described by a Comptonization with

Anterior cruciate ligament injury: Identifying information sources and risk factor awareness among the general population.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuharu Nagano

Full Text Available Raising awareness on a disorder is important for its prevention and for promoting public health. However, for sports injuries like the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL injury no studies have investigated the awareness on risk factors for injury and possible preventative measures in the general population. The sources of information among the population are also unclear. The purpose of the present study was to identify these aspects of public awareness about the ACL injury.A questionnaire was randomly distributed among the general population registered with a web based questionnaire supplier, to recruit 900 participants who were aware about the ACL injury. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: Question 1 asked them about their sources of information regarding the ACL injury; Question 2 asked them about the risk factors for ACL injury. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the information sources that provide a good understanding of the risk factors.The leading source of information for ACL injury was television (57.0%. However, the results of logistic regression analysis revealed that television was not an effective medium to create awareness about the risk factors, among the general population. Instead "Lecture by a coach", "Classroom session on Health", and "Newspaper" were significantly more effective in creating a good awareness of the risk factors (p < 0.001.

Integrating multiple data sources for malware classification

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Blake Harrell; Storlie, Curtis B; Lane, Terran

2015-04-28

Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of tools and techniques for classifying programs. According to one exemplary technique, at least one graph representation of at least one dynamic data source of at least one program is generated. Also, at least one graph representation of at least one static data source of the at least one program is generated. Additionally, at least using the at least one graph representation of the at least one dynamic data source and the at least one graph representation of the at least one static data source, the at least one program is classified.

Integrative Genomic Analysis of Cholangiocarcinoma Identifies Distinct IDH-Mutant Molecular Profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farshad Farshidfar

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA is an aggressive malignancy of the bile ducts, with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Here, we describe the integrated analysis of somatic mutations, RNA expression, copy number, and DNA methylation by The Cancer Genome Atlas of a set of predominantly intrahepatic CCA cases and propose a molecular classification scheme. We identified an IDH mutant-enriched subtype with distinct molecular features including low expression of chromatin modifiers, elevated expression of mitochondrial genes, and increased mitochondrial DNA copy number. Leveraging the multi-platform data, we observed that ARID1A exhibited DNA hypermethylation and decreased expression in the IDH mutant subtype. More broadly, we found that IDH mutations are associated with an expanded histological spectrum of liver tumors with molecular features that stratify with CCA. Our studies reveal insights into the molecular pathogenesis and heterogeneity of cholangiocarcinoma and provide classification information of potential therapeutic significance.

A feasible system integrating combined heating and power system with ground-source heat pump

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, HongQiang; Kang, ShuShuo; Yu, Zhun; Cai, Bo; Zhang, GuoQiang

2014-01-01

A system integrating CHP (combined heating and power) subsystem based on natural gas and GSHP (ground-source heat pump subsystem) in series is proposed. By help of simulation software-Aspen Plus, the energy performance of a typical CHP and GSHP-S (S refers to ‘in series’) system was analyzed. The results show that the system can make a better use of waste heat in flue gas from CHP (combined heating and power subsystem). The total system energy efficiency is 123% and the COP (coefficient of performance) of GSHP (ground-source heat pump) subsystem is 5.3. A referenced CHP and GSHP-P (P refers to ‘in parallel’) system is used for comparison; its total system energy efficiency and COP of GSHP subsystem are 118.6% and 3.5 respectively. Compared with CHP and GSHP-P system with different operating parameters, the CHP and GSHP-S system can increase total system energy efficiency by 0.8–34.7%, with related output ratio of heat to power (R) from 1.9 to 18.3. Furthermore, the COP of GSHP subsystem can be increased between the range 3.6 and 6, which is much higher than that in conventional CHP and GSHP-P system. This study will be helpful for other efficient GSHP systems integrating if there is waste heat or other heat resources with low temperature. - Highlights: • CHP system based on natural gas and ground source heat pump. • The new system can make a better utilization of waste heat in flue gas by a special way. • The proposed system can realize energy saving potential from 0.8 to 34.7%. • The coefficient of performance of ground source heat pump subsystem is significantly improved from 3.5 to 3.6–6. • Warm water temperature and percentage of flue gas used to reheat are key parameters

Investigating The Integral Control Rod Worth Of The Miniature Neutron Source Reactor MNSR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen Hoang Hai; Do Quang Binh

2011-01-01

Determining control rod characteristics is an essential problem of nuclear reactor analysis. In this research, the integral control rod worth of the miniature neutron source reactor MNSR is investigated. Some other parameters of the nuclear reactor, such as core excess reactivity, shut down margin, are also calculated. Group constants for all reactor components are generated by the WIMSD code and then are used in the CITATION code to solve the neutron diffusion equations. The maximum relative error of the calculated results compared with the measurement data is about 3.5%. (author)

Ground Source Integrated Heat Pump (GS-IHP) Development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baxter, V. D. [ORNL; Rice, K. [ORNL; Murphy, R. [ORNL; Munk, J. [ORNL; Ally, Moonis [ORNL; Shen, Bo [ORNL; Craddick, William [ORNL; Hearn, Shawn A. [ClimateMaster, Inc.

2013-05-24

Between October 2008 and May 2013 ORNL and ClimateMaster, Inc. (CM) engaged in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to develop a groundsource integrated heat pump (GS-IHP) system for the US residential market. A initial prototype was designed and fabricated, lab-tested, and modeled in TRNSYS (SOLAR Energy Laboratory, et al, 2010) to predict annual performance relative to 1) a baseline suite of equipment meeting minimum efficiency standards in effect in 2006 (combination of air-source heat pump (ASHP) and resistance water heater) and 2) a state-of-the-art (SOA) two-capacity ground-source heat pump with desuperheater water heater (WH) option (GSHPwDS). Predicted total annual energy savings, while providing space conditioning and water heating for a 2600 ft{sup 2} (242 m{sup 2}) house at 5 U.S. locations, ranged from 52 to 59%, averaging 55%, relative to the minimum efficiency suite. Predicted energy use for water heating was reduced 68 to 78% relative to resistance WH. Predicted total annual savings for the GSHPwDS relative to the same baseline averaged 22.6% with water heating energy use reduced by 10 to 30% from desuperheater contributions. The 1st generation (or alpha) prototype design for the GS-IHP was finalized in 2010 and field test samples were fabricated for testing by CM and by ORNL. Two of the alpha units were installed in 3700 ft{sup 2} (345 m{sup 2}) houses at the ZEBRAlliance site in Oak Ridge and field tested during 2011. Based on the steady-state performance demonstrated by the GS-IHPs it was projected that it would achieve >52% energy savings relative to the minimum efficiency suite at this specific site. A number of operational issues with the alpha units were identified indicating design changes needed to the system before market introduction could be accomplished. These were communicated to CM throughout the field test period. Based on the alpha unit test results and the diagnostic information coming from the field test

Multifunctional voltage source inverter for renewable energy integration and power quality conditioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, NingYi; Lam, Chi-Seng; Zhang, WenChen

2014-01-01

In order to utilize the energy from the renewable energy sources, power conversion system is necessary, in which the voltage source inverter (VSI) is usually the last stage for injecting power to the grid. It is an economical solution to add the function of power quality conditioning to the grid-connected VSI in the low-voltage distribution system. Two multifunctional VSIs are studied in this paper, that is, inductive-coupling VSI and capacitive-coupling VSI, which are named after the fundamental frequency impedance of their coupling branch. The operation voltages of the two VSIs are compared when they are used for renewable energy integration and power quality conditioning simultaneously. The operation voltage of the capacitive-coupling VSI can be set much lower than that of the inductive-coupling VSI when reactive power is for compensating inductive loads. Since a large portion of the loads in the distribution system are inductive, the capacitive-coupling VSI is further studied. The design and control method of the multifunctional capacitive-coupling VSI are proposed in this paper. Simulation and experimental results are provided to show its validity.

Source of Iodine-131 in Europe Identified

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

Full text: The IAEA has received information from the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) that the source of the iodine-131 (I-131) detected in Europe was most probably a release to the atmosphere from the Institute of Isotopes Ltd., Budapest. The Institute of Isotopes Ltd. produces radioisotopes for healthcare, research and industrial applications. According to the HAEA, the release occurred from September 8 to November 16, 2011. The cause of the release is under investigation. As previously mentioned, the levels of I-131 that have been detected in Europe are extremely low. There is no health concern to the population. If any member of the public were to breathe iodine for a whole year at the levels measured in European countries, then they would receive a dose in the range of 0.01 microsieverts for the year. To put this into perspective, the average annual background is 2 400 microsieverts per year. The IAEA was first notified of the presence of trace levels of I-131 by authorities from the Czech Republic on 11 November. Since this notification, the IAEA contacted several member states throughout the region to determine the cause and origin. The IAEA also worked with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to conduct air dispersion modelling, as part of efforts to determine the source. (IAEA)

A Manual to Identify Sources of Fluvial Sediment

Science.gov (United States)

Sedimentation is one of the main causes of stream/river aquatic life use impairments in R3. Currently states lack standard guidance on appropriate tools available to quantify sediment sources and develop sediment budgets in TMDL Development. Methods for distinguishing sediment t...

Microbial source tracking: a tool for identifying sources of microbial contamination in the food chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Ling-Lin; Li, Jian-Rong

2014-01-01

The ability to trace fecal indicators and food-borne pathogens to the point of origin has major ramifications for food industry, food regulatory agencies, and public health. Such information would enable food producers and processors to better understand sources of contamination and thereby take corrective actions to prevent transmission. Microbial source tracking (MST), which currently is largely focused on determining sources of fecal contamination in waterways, is also providing the scientific community tools for tracking both fecal bacteria and food-borne pathogens contamination in the food chain. Approaches to MST are commonly classified as library-dependent methods (LDMs) or library-independent methods (LIMs). These tools will have widespread applications, including the use for regulatory compliance, pollution remediation, and risk assessment. These tools will reduce the incidence of illness associated with food and water. Our aim in this review is to highlight the use of molecular MST methods in application to understanding the source and transmission of food-borne pathogens. Moreover, the future directions of MST research are also discussed.

Integrated database for identifying candidate genes for Aspergillus flavus resistance in maize.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Rowena Y; Gresham, Cathy; Harper, Jonathan; Bridges, Susan M; Warburton, Marilyn L; Hawkins, Leigh K; Pechanova, Olga; Peethambaran, Bela; Pechan, Tibor; Luthe, Dawn S; Mylroie, J E; Ankala, Arunkanth; Ozkan, Seval; Henry, W B; Williams, W P

2010-10-07

Aspergillus flavus Link:Fr, an opportunistic fungus that produces aflatoxin, is pathogenic to maize and other oilseed crops. Aflatoxin is a potent carcinogen, and its presence markedly reduces the value of grain. Understanding and enhancing host resistance to A. flavus infection and/or subsequent aflatoxin accumulation is generally considered an efficient means of reducing grain losses to aflatoxin. Different proteomic, genomic and genetic studies of maize (Zea mays L.) have generated large data sets with the goal of identifying genes responsible for conferring resistance to A. flavus, or aflatoxin. In order to maximize the usage of different data sets in new studies, including association mapping, we have constructed a relational database with web interface integrating the results of gene expression, proteomic (both gel-based and shotgun), Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) genetic mapping studies, and sequence data from the literature to facilitate selection of candidate genes for continued investigation. The Corn Fungal Resistance Associated Sequences Database (CFRAS-DB) (http://agbase.msstate.edu/) was created with the main goal of identifying genes important to aflatoxin resistance. CFRAS-DB is implemented using MySQL as the relational database management system running on a Linux server, using an Apache web server, and Perl CGI scripts as the web interface. The database and the associated web-based interface allow researchers to examine many lines of evidence (e.g. microarray, proteomics, QTL studies, SNP data) to assess the potential role of a gene or group of genes in the response of different maize lines to A. flavus infection and subsequent production of aflatoxin by the fungus. CFRAS-DB provides the first opportunity to integrate data pertaining to the problem of A. flavus and aflatoxin resistance in maize in one resource and to support queries across different datasets. The web-based interface gives researchers different query options for mining the database

Identifying Greater Sage-Grouse source and sink habitats for conservation planning in an energy development landscape.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirol, Christopher P; Beck, Jeffrey L; Huzurbazar, Snehalata V; Holloran, Matthew J; Miller, Scott N

2015-06-01

Conserving a declining species that is facing many threats, including overlap of its habitats with energy extraction activities, depends upon identifying and prioritizing the value of the habitats that remain. In addition, habitat quality is often compromised when source habitats are lost or fragmented due to anthropogenic development. Our objective was to build an ecological model to classify and map habitat quality in terms of source or sink dynamics for Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Atlantic Rim Project Area (ARPA), a developing coalbed natural gas field in south-central Wyoming, USA. We used occurrence and survival modeling to evaluate relationships between environmental and anthropogenic variables at multiple spatial scales and for all female summer life stages, including nesting, brood-rearing, and non-brooding females. For each life stage, we created resource selection functions (RSFs). We weighted the RSFs and combined them to form a female summer occurrence map. We modeled survival also as a function of spatial variables for nest, brood, and adult female summer survival. Our survival-models were mapped as survival probability functions individually and then combined with fixed vital rates in a fitness metric model that, when mapped, predicted habitat productivity (productivity map). Our results demonstrate a suite of environmental and anthropogenic variables at multiple scales that were predictive of occurrence and survival. We created a source-sink map by overlaying our female summer occurrence map and productivity map to predict habitats contributing to population surpluses (source habitats) or deficits (sink habitat) and low-occurrence habitats on the landscape. The source-sink map predicted that of the Sage-Grouse habitat within the ARPA, 30% was primary source, 29% was secondary source, 4% was primary sink, 6% was secondary sink, and 31% was low occurrence. Our results provide evidence that energy development and avoidance of

Integral tests of coupled multigroup neutron and gamma cross sections with fission and fusion sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schriewer, J.; Hehn, G.; Mattes, M.; Pfister, G.; Keinert, J.

1978-01-01

Calculations were made for different benchmark experiments in order to test the coupled multigroup neutron and gamma library EURLIB-3 with 100 neutron groups and 20 gamma groups. In cooperation with EURATOM, Ispra, we produced this shielding library recently from ENDF/B-IV data for application in fission and fusion technology. Integral checks were performed for natural lithium, carbon, oxygen, and iron. Since iron is the most important structural material in nuclear technology, we started with calculations of iron benchmark experiments. Most of them are integral experiments of INR, Karlsruhe, but comparisons were also done with benchmark experiments from USA and Japan. For the experiments with fission sources we got satisfying results. All details of the resonances cannot be checked with flux measurements and multigroup cross sections used. But some averaged resonance behaviour of the measured and calculated fluxes can be compared and checked within the error limits given. We get greater differences in the calculations of benchmark experiments with 14 MeV neutron sources. For iron the group cross sections of EURLIB-3 produce an underestimation of the neutron flux in a broad energy region below the source energy. The conclusion is that the energy degradation by inelastic scattering is too strong. For fusion application the anisotropy of the inelastic scatter process must be taken into account, which isn't done by the processing codes at present. If this effect isn't enough, additional corrections have to be applied to the inelastic cross sections of iron in ENDF/B-IV. (author)

Preliminary design and integration of EPICS operation interface for the Taiwan photon source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng, Y.S.; Jenny Chen; Chiu, P.C.; Kuo, C.H.; Liao, C.Y.; Hsu, K.T.; Wu, C.Y.

2012-01-01

The TPS (Taiwan Photon Source) is the latest generation 3 GeV synchrotron light source which has been in construction since 2010. The EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) framework is adopted as control system infrastructure for the TPS. The EPICS IOCs (Input Output Controller) and various database records have been gradually implemented to control and monitor available subsystems of the TPS at this moment. The subsystem includes timing, power supply, motion controller, miscellaneous Ethernet compliant devices etc. Through EPICS PVs (Process Variables) channel access, remote access I/O data via Ethernet interface can be observed by the usable graphical tool-kits, such as the EDM (Extensible Display Manager) and MATLAB. The operation interface mainly includes the function of setting, reading, save, restore and etc. Integration of operation interfaces will depend upon properties of each subsystem. In addition, the centralized management method is utilized to serve every client from file servers in order to maintain consistent versions of related EPICS files. (authors)

A New Technique to Identify Arbitrarily Shaped Noise Sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto A. Tenenbaum

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Acoustic intensity is one of the available tools for evaluating sound radiation from vibrating bodies. Active intensity may, in some situations, not give a faithful insight about how much energy is in fact carried into the far field. It was then proposed a new parameter, the supersonic acoustic intensity, which takes into account only the intensity generated by components having a smaller wavenumber than the acoustic one. However, the method is only efective for simple sources, such as plane plates, cylinders and spheres. This work presents a new technique, based on the Boundary Elements Method and the Singular Value Decomposition, to compute the supersonic acoustic intensity for arbitrarily shaped sources. The technique is based in the Kirchoff-Helmholtz equation in a discretized approach, leading to a radiation operator that relates the normal velocity on the source's surface mesh with the pressure at grid points located in the field. Then, the singular value decomposition technique is set to the radiation operator and a cutoff criterion is applied to remove non propagating components. Some numerical examples are presented.

Integrative screening approach identifies regulators of polyploidization and targets for acute megakaryocytic leukemia

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Qiang; Goldenson, Benjamin; Silver, Serena J.; Schenone, Monica; Dancik, Vladimir; Huang, Zan; Wang, Ling-Zhi; Lewis, Timothy; An, W. Frank; Li, Xiaoyu; Bray, Mark-Anthony; Thiollier, Clarisse; Diebold, Lauren; Gilles, Laure; Vokes, Martha S.; Moore, Christopher B.; Bliss-Moreau, Meghan; VerPlank, Lynn; Tolliday, Nicola J.; Mishra, Rama; Vemula, Sasidhar; Shi, Jianjian; Wei, Lei; Kapur, Reuben; Lopez, Cécile K.; Gerby, Bastien; Ballerini, Paola; Pflumio, Francoise; Gilliland, D. Gary; Goldberg, Liat; Birger, Yehudit; Izraeli, Shai; Gamis, Alan S.; Smith, Franklin O.; Woods, William G.; Taub, Jeffrey; Scherer, Christina A.; Bradner, James; Goh, Boon-Cher; Mercher, Thomas; Carpenter, Anne E.; Gould, Robert J.; Clemons, Paul A.; Carr, Steven A.; Root, David E.; Schreiber, Stuart L.; Stern, Andrew M.; Crispino, John D.

2012-01-01

Summary The mechanism by which cells decide to skip mitosis to become polyploid is largely undefined. Here we used a high-content image-based screen to identify small-molecule probes that induce polyploidization of megakaryocytic leukemia cells and serve as perturbagens to help understand this process. We found that dimethylfasudil (diMF, H-1152P) selectively increased polyploidization, mature cell-surface marker expression, and apoptosis of malignant megakaryocytes. A broadly applicable, highly integrated target identification approach employing proteomic and shRNA screening revealed that a major target of diMF is Aurora A kinase (AURKA), which has not been studied extensively in megakaryocytes. Moreover, we discovered that MLN8237 (Alisertib), a selective inhibitor of AURKA, induced polyploidization and expression of mature megakaryocyte markers in AMKL blasts and displayed potent anti-AMKL activity in vivo. This research provides the rationale to support clinical trials of MLN8237 and other inducers of polyploidization in AMKL. Finally, we have identified five networks of kinases that regulate the switch to polyploidy. PMID:22863010

Cross section measurement and integral test for several activation reactions using T + d and thick-Li + d sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumais, J.R.; Tanaka, S.; Odano, N.; Iwasaki, S.; Sugiyama, K.

1988-01-01

Recent activities on the area of the cross section measurement for several activation reactions at Department of Nucl. Eng., Tohoku Univ. are described. The first subject is the cross section measurement for (n,2n) reaction on aluminum using the RTNS-II neutron source. Cross sections with rather small error band were obtained for the incident neutron energies from 14 to 14.7 MeV. The second one is the status of the program for the integral experiments on several reactions using the thick Li + d source at Tohoku Fast Neutron Lab. The experimental results showed the usefullness of the source as a tool for the cross section assessment. (author)

Acquisition IT Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsson, Stefan; Øhrgaard, Christian

2015-01-01

of temporary agency workers. Following an analytic induction approach, theoretically grounded in the re-source-based view of the firm, we identify the complimentary and supplementary roles consultants can assume in acquisition IT integration. Through case studies of three acquirers, we investigate how...... the acquirers appropriate the use of agency workers as part of its acquisition strategy. For the investigated acquirers, assigning roles to agency workers is contingent on balancing the needs of knowledge induction and knowledge retention, as well as experience richness and in-depth under-standing. Composition...

IIS--Integrated Interactome System: a web-based platform for the annotation, analysis and visualization of protein-metabolite-gene-drug interactions by integrating a variety of data sources and tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Carazzolle, Marcelo Falsarella; de Carvalho, Lucas Miguel; Slepicka, Hugo Henrique; Vidal, Ramon Oliveira; Pereira, Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães; Kobarg, Jörg; Meirelles, Gabriela Vaz

2014-01-01

High-throughput screening of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions brings important perspectives in the Systems Biology field, as the analysis of these interactions provides new insights into protein/gene function, cellular metabolic variations and the validation of therapeutic targets and drug design. However, such analysis depends on a pipeline connecting different tools that can automatically integrate data from diverse sources and result in a more comprehensive dataset that can be properly interpreted. We describe here the Integrated Interactome System (IIS), an integrative platform with a web-based interface for the annotation, analysis and visualization of the interaction profiles of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest. IIS works in four connected modules: (i) Submission module, which receives raw data derived from Sanger sequencing (e.g. two-hybrid system); (ii) Search module, which enables the user to search for the processed reads to be assembled into contigs/singlets, or for lists of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest, and add them to the project; (iii) Annotation module, which assigns annotations from several databases for the contigs/singlets or lists of proteins/genes, generating tables with automatic annotation that can be manually curated; and (iv) Interactome module, which maps the contigs/singlets or the uploaded lists to entries in our integrated database, building networks that gather novel identified interactions, protein and metabolite expression/concentration levels, subcellular localization and computed topological metrics, GO biological processes and KEGG pathways enrichment. This module generates a XGMML file that can be imported into Cytoscape or be visualized directly on the web. We have developed IIS by the integration of diverse databases following the need of appropriate tools for a systematic analysis of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions. IIS was validated with yeast two

Design, fabrication, installation and shielding integrity testing of source storage container for automatic source movement system used in TLD calibration facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subramanian, V.; Baskar, S.; Annalakshmi, O.; Jose, M.T.; Jayshree, C.P.; Choudry, Shreelatha

2012-01-01

A state-of-art TLD laboratory has been commissioned in January 2000 at Radiological Safety Division of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR). The laboratory provides personnel monitoring service to 2000 occupational workers from Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre facilities. The laboratory has been accredited by the Radiation Safety Systems Division (RSSD), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) since year 2002. The laboratory has exclusive facility for the calibration of the TLD cards. As apart of accreditation procedure and taking into account of geometry effect, the dose rate at the card position is determined by the accreditation authorities by using graphite chamber (secondary or national standard instrument) and often re estimated by a condenser R meter (M/s Victoreen, Germany) by our laboratory. As per the regulatory requirement, the exposure protocols should be automated. Towards this an automatic source movement system has been augmented in the calibration facility. By using the system, the source will be brought to the irradiation position by pneumatically and exposures will be terminated by counter, timer and triggering system. To accomplish this task a lead container has been designed, fabricated and mounted at the beneath of the calibration table for the storage of source. As per the automation process, a lead container for the source storage has been designed and installed beneath to the Calibration Table. The container was designed to hold a 3Ci 137 Cs source, but present activity of the source is 1.2Ci. Hence, the shielding integrity was tested with higher active source (1.7Ci 60 Co). The dose rate measured outside on the circumference of the container at the middle of the source is found to be the same as calculated using QAD CGGP calculations. The top plug is so designed to avoid inadvertent upward movement of the source. Though, the shielding was not adequate on top of the top plug, however it does

Integrating Diverse Types of Genomic Data to Identify Genes that Underlie Adverse Pregnancy Phenotypes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jibril Hirbo

Full Text Available Progress in understanding complex genetic diseases has been bolstered by synthetic approaches that overlay diverse data types and analyses to identify functionally important genes. Pre-term birth (PTB, a major complication of pregnancy, is a leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. A major obstacle in addressing PTB is that the mechanisms controlling parturition and birth timing remain poorly understood. Integrative approaches that overlay datasets derived from comparative genomics with function-derived ones have potential to advance our understanding of the genetics of birth timing, and thus provide insights into the genes that may contribute to PTB. We intersected data from fast evolving coding and non-coding gene regions in the human and primate lineage with data from genes expressed in the placenta, from genes that show enriched expression only in the placenta, as well as from genes that are differentially expressed in four distinct PTB clinical subtypes. A large fraction of genes that are expressed in placenta, and differentially expressed in PTB clinical subtypes (23-34% are fast evolving, and are associated with functions that include adhesion neurodevelopmental and immune processes. Functional categories of genes that express fast evolution in coding regions differ from those linked to fast evolution in non-coding regions. Finally, there is a surprising lack of overlap between fast evolving genes that are differentially expressed in four PTB clinical subtypes. Integrative approaches, especially those that incorporate evolutionary perspectives, can be successful in identifying potential genetic contributions to complex genetic diseases, such as PTB.

INTEGRAL INDEX OF OPERATION QUALITY FOR EVALUATION OF IMPACT OF DISTRIBUTIVE GENERATION SOURCES ON ELECTRIC NETWORK MODES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petro D. Lezhniuk

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Method of operation quality evaluation of electric network, comprising renewable sources of energy (RSE is considered. Integral index that enables to evaluate the impact of RSE on energy losses and its quality as well as balance reliability in electric network is suggested. Mathematical model is constructed, taking into account the assumption that electric network with RSE may be in various operation modes, characterized by different technical economic indices. To determine the integral index of operation quality of electric network with RSE in all possible states tools of Markov processes theory and criterial method are used.

Combining Ordinary Kriging with wind directions to identify sources of industrial odors in Portland, Oregon.

Science.gov (United States)

Eckmann, Ted C; Wright, Samantha G; Simpson, Logan K; Walker, Joe L; Kolmes, Steven A; Houck, James E; Velasquez, Sandra C

2018-01-01

This study combines Ordinary Kriging, odor monitoring, and wind direction data to demonstrate how these elements can be applied to identify the source of an industrial odor. The specific case study used as an example of how to address this issue was the University Park neighborhood of Portland, Oregon (USA) where residents frequently complain about industrial odors, and suspect the main source to be a nearby Daimler Trucks North America LLC manufacturing plant. We collected 19,665 odor observations plus 105,120 wind measurements, using an automated weather station to measure winds in the area at five-minute intervals, logging continuously from December 2014 through November 2015, while we also measured odors at 19 locations, three times per day, using methods from the American Society of the International Association for Testing and Materials. Our results quantify how winds vary with season and time of day when industrial odors were observed versus when they were not observed, while also mapping spatiotemporal patterns in these odors using Ordinary Kriging. Our analyses show that industrial odors were detected most frequently to the northwest of the Daimler plant, mostly when winds blew from the southeast, suggesting Daimler's facility is a likely source for much of this odor.

Technical and Economic Potential of Distributed Energy Storages for the Integration of Renewable Energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sveinbjörnsson, Dadi Þorsteinn; Trier, Daniel; Hansen, Kenneth

Very high penetration of fluctuating renewable energy sources can lead to new challenges in balancing energy supply and demand in future energy systems. This work, carried out as a part of Annex 28 of the IEA ECES programme, addresses this. The aim of the study is to identify which role decentral...... indicate that sector coupling along with an intelligent choice of distributed energy storage technologies can enable the integration of large shares of fluctuating renewable energy in an energy efficient and cost-effective way.......Very high penetration of fluctuating renewable energy sources can lead to new challenges in balancing energy supply and demand in future energy systems. This work, carried out as a part of Annex 28 of the IEA ECES programme, addresses this. The aim of the study is to identify which role...... decentralised energy storages (DES) should play in integrating fluctuating renewable energy sources. The technical and economic potential for DES solutions is quantified using energy system modelling, and it is identified which DES technologies have the largest total (technical and economic) potential. For this...

Identifying sources of groundwater pollution using trace element signatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olmez, I.; Hayes, M.J.

1990-01-01

A simple receptor modeling approach has been applied to groundwater pollution studies and has shown that marker trace elements can be used effectively in source identification and apportionment. Groundwater and source materials from one coal-fired and five oil-fired power plants, and one coal-tar deposit site have been analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis for more than 20 minor and trace elements. In one of the oil-fired power plants, trace element patterns indicated a leak from the hazardous waste surface impoundments owing to the failure of a hypolon liner. Also, the extent and spatial distribution of groundwater contamination have been determined in a coal-tar deposit site

Identifying the barriers to conducting outcomes research in integrative health care clinic settings - a qualitative study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Findlay-Reece Barbara

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Integrative health care (IHC is an interdisciplinary blending of conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM with the purpose of enhancing patients' health. In 2006, we designed a study to assess outcomes that are relevant to people using such care. However, we faced major challenges in conducting this study and hypothesized that this might be due to the lack of a research climate in these clinics. To investigate these challenges, we initiated a further study in 2008, to explore the reasons why IHC clinics are not conducting outcomes research and to identify strategies for conducting successful in-house outcomes research programs. The results of the latter study are reported here. Methods A total of 25 qualitative interviews were conducted with key participants from 19 IHC clinics across Canada. Basic content analysis was used to identify key themes from the transcribed interviews. Results Barriers identified by participants fell into four categories: organizational culture, organizational resources, organizational environment and logistical challenges. Cultural challenges relate to the philosophy of IHC, organizational leadership and practitioner attitudes and beliefs. Participants also identified significant issues relating to their organization's lack of resources such as funding, compensation, infrastructure and partnerships/linkages. Environmental challenges such as the nature of a clinic's patient population and logistical issues such as the actual implementation of a research program and the applicability of research data also posed challenges to the conduct of research. Embedded research leadership, integration of personal and professional values about research, alignment of research activities and clinical workflow processes are some of the factors identified by participants that support IHC clinics' ability to conduct outcomes research. Conclusions Assessing and enhancing the broader

Photon acceleration-based radiation sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, J. R.; Muggli, P.; Katsouleas, T.; Mori, W. B.; Joshi, C.

1999-01-01

The acceleration and deceleration of photons in a plasma provides the means for a series of new radiation sources. Previous work on a DC to AC Radiation Converter (DARC source) has shown variable acceleration of photons having zero frequency (i.e., an electrostatic field) to between 6 and 100 GHz (1-3). These sources all had poor guiding characteristics resulting in poor power coupling from the source to the load. Continuing research has identified a novel way to integrate the DARC source into a waveguide. The so called ''pin structure'' uses stainless steel pins inserted through the narrow side of an X band waveguide to form the electrostatic field pattern (k≠0, ω=0). The pins are spaced such that the absorption band resulting from this additional periodic structure is outside of the X band range (8-12 GHz), in which the normal waveguide characteristics are left unchanged. The power of this X band source is predicted theoretically to scale quadratically with the pin bias voltage as -800 W/(kV) 2 and have a pulse width of -1 ns. Cold tests and experimental results are presented. Applications for a high power, short pulse radiation source extends to the areas of landmine detection, improved radar resolution, and experimental investigations of molecular systems

Medicina ToO of the non-identified gamma-ray source AGL J1412-0522

Science.gov (United States)

Egron, Elise; Pilia, Maura; Righini, Simona; Pellizzoni, Alberto; Loru, Sara; Giroletti, Marcello

2017-09-01

Following the AGILE detection of a non-identified gamma-ray source AGL J1412-0522 on 5-7 August 2017 (ATel #10623), we performed radio observations with the 32-m Medicina radio telescope at 8.5 GHz (with 680 MHz bandwidth) on 9 August 2017 from 12:40 to 19:00 UTC and on 10 August 2017 from 14:00 to 17:50 UTC. We carried out squared on-the-fly maps of 45.5'x45.5' centered on the gamma-ray position (ra=14:12:06.0, dec=-05:22:14.9) to take into account the 0.4 deg position error from AGILE results.

New complete sample of identified radio sources. Part 2. Statistical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soltan, A.

1978-01-01

Complete sample of radio sources with known redshifts selected in Paper I is studied. Source counts in the sample and the luminosity - volume test show that both quasars and galaxies are subject to the evolution. Luminosity functions for different ranges of redshifts are obtained. Due to many uncertainties only simplified models of the evolution are tested. Exponential decline of the liminosity with time of all the bright sources is in a good agreement both with the luminosity- volume test and N(S) realtion in the entire range of observed flux densities. It is shown that sources in the sample are randomly distributed in scales greater than about 17 Mpc. (author)

LINKS: learning-based multi-source IntegratioN frameworK for Segmentation of infant brain images.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Li; Gao, Yaozong; Shi, Feng; Li, Gang; Gilmore, John H; Lin, Weili; Shen, Dinggang

2015-03-01

Segmentation of infant brain MR images is challenging due to insufficient image quality, severe partial volume effect, and ongoing maturation and myelination processes. In the first year of life, the image contrast between white and gray matters of the infant brain undergoes dramatic changes. In particular, the image contrast is inverted around 6-8months of age, and the white and gray matter tissues are isointense in both T1- and T2-weighted MR images and thus exhibit the extremely low tissue contrast, which poses significant challenges for automated segmentation. Most previous studies used multi-atlas label fusion strategy, which has the limitation of equally treating the different available image modalities and is often computationally expensive. To cope with these limitations, in this paper, we propose a novel learning-based multi-source integration framework for segmentation of infant brain images. Specifically, we employ the random forest technique to effectively integrate features from multi-source images together for tissue segmentation. Here, the multi-source images include initially only the multi-modality (T1, T2 and FA) images and later also the iteratively estimated and refined tissue probability maps of gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid. Experimental results on 119 infants show that the proposed method achieves better performance than other state-of-the-art automated segmentation methods. Further validation was performed on the MICCAI grand challenge and the proposed method was ranked top among all competing methods. Moreover, to alleviate the possible anatomical errors, our method can also be combined with an anatomically-constrained multi-atlas labeling approach for further improving the segmentation accuracy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Monitoring technology and firm boundaries: physician-hospital integration and technology utilization.

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, Jeffrey S; Snir, Eli M

2010-05-01

We study the relationship between physician-hospital integration and its relation to monitoring IT utilization. We develop a theoretical model in which monitoring IT may complement or substitute for integration and test these relationships using a novel data source. Physician labor market heterogeneity identifies the empirical model. We find that monitoring IT utilization is increasing in integration, implying that expanded firm boundaries complement monitoring IT adoption. We argue that the relationship between monitoring IT and firm boundaries depends upon the contractibility of the monitored information.

People-Technology-Ecosystem Integration: A Framework to Ensure Regional Interoperability for Safety, Sustainability, and Resilience of Interdependent Energy, Water, and Seafood Sources in the (Persian) Gulf.

Science.gov (United States)

Meshkati, Najmedin; Tabibzadeh, Maryam; Farshid, Ali; Rahimi, Mansour; Alhanaee, Ghena

2016-02-01

The aim of this study is to identify the interdependencies of human and organizational subsystems of multiple complex, safety-sensitive technological systems and their interoperability in the context of sustainability and resilience of an ecosystem. Recent technological disasters with severe environmental impact are attributed to human factors and safety culture causes. One of the most populous and environmentally sensitive regions in the world, the (Persian) Gulf, is on the confluence of an exponentially growing number of two industries--nuclear power and seawater desalination plants--that is changing its land- and seascape. Building upon Rasmussen's model, a macrosystem integrative framework, based on the broader context of human factors, is developed, which can be considered in this context as a "meta-ergonomics" paradigm, for the analysis of interactions, design of interoperability, and integration of decisions of major actors whose actions can affect safety and sustainability of the focused industries during routine and nonroutine (emergency) operations. Based on the emerging realities in the Gulf region, it is concluded that without such systematic approach toward addressing the interdependencies of water and energy sources, sustainability will be only a short-lived dream and prosperity will be a disappearing mirage for millions of people in the region. This multilayered framework for the integration of people, technology, and ecosystem--which has been applied to the (Persian) Gulf--offers a viable and vital approach to the design and operation of large-scale complex systems wherever the nexus of water, energy, and food sources are concerned, such as the Black Sea. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Microscope-Integrated Intraoperative Ultrahigh-Speed Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography for Widefield Retinal and Anterior Segment Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Chen D; Waheed, Nadia K; Witkin, Andre; Baumal, Caroline R; Liu, Jonathan J; Potsaid, Benjamin; Joseph, Anthony; Jayaraman, Vijaysekhar; Cable, Alex; Chan, Kinpui; Duker, Jay S; Fujimoto, James G

2018-02-01

To demonstrate the feasibility of retinal and anterior segment intraoperative widefield imaging using an ultrahigh-speed, swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) surgical microscope attachment. A prototype post-objective SS-OCT using a 1,050-nm wavelength, 400 kHz A-scan rate, vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) light source was integrated to a commercial ophthalmic surgical microscope after the objective. Each widefield OCT data set was acquired in 3 seconds (1,000 × 1,000 A-scans, 12 × 12 mm 2 for retina and 10 × 10 mm 2 for anterior segment). Intraoperative SS-OCT was performed in 20 eyes of 20 patients. In six of seven membrane peels and five of seven rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair surgeries, widefield retinal imaging enabled evaluation pre- and postoperatively. In all seven cataract cases, anterior imaging evaluated the integrity of the posterior lens capsule. Ultrahigh-speed SS-OCT enables widefield intraoperative viewing in the posterior and anterior eye. Widefield imaging visualizes ocular structures and pathology without requiring OCT realignment. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2018;49:94-102.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

Evaluation of PCB sources and releases for identifying priorities to reduce PCBs in Washington State (USA).

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Holly; Delistraty, Damon

2016-02-01

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitously distributed in the environment and produce multiple adverse effects in humans and wildlife. As a result, the purpose of our study was to characterize PCB sources in anthropogenic materials and releases to the environment in Washington State (USA) in order to formulate recommendations to reduce PCB exposures. Methods included review of relevant publications (e.g., open literature, industry studies and reports, federal and state government databases), scaling of PCB sources from national or county estimates to state estimates, and communication with industry associations and private and public utilities. Recognizing high associated uncertainty due to incomplete data, we strived to provide central tendency estimates for PCB sources. In terms of mass (high to low), PCB sources include lamp ballasts, caulk, small capacitors, large capacitors, and transformers. For perspective, these sources (200,000-500,000 kg) overwhelm PCBs estimated to reside in the Puget Sound ecosystem (1500 kg). Annual releases of PCBs to the environment (high to low) are attributed to lamp ballasts (400-1500 kg), inadvertent generation by industrial processes (900 kg), caulk (160 kg), small capacitors (3-150 kg), large capacitors (10-80 kg), pigments and dyes (0.02-31 kg), and transformers (PCB distribution and decrease exposures include assessment of PCBs in buildings (e.g., schools) and replacement of these materials, development of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to contain PCBs, reduction of inadvertent generation of PCBs in consumer products, expansion of environmental monitoring and public education, and research to identify specific PCB congener profiles in human tissues.

Identifying sources of methane sampled in the Arctic using δ13C in CH4 and Lagrangian particle dispersion modelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Cain, Michelle; France, James; Pyle, John; Warwick, Nicola; Fisher, Rebecca; Lowry, Dave; Allen, Grant; O'Shea, Sebastian; Illingworth, Samuel; Jones, Ben; Gallagher, Martin; Welpott, Axel; Muller, Jennifer; Bauguitte, Stephane; George, Charles; Hayman, Garry; Manning, Alistair; Myhre, Catherine Lund; Lanoisellé, Mathias; Nisbet, Euan

2016-04-01

An airmass of enhanced methane was sampled during a research flight at ~600 m to ~2000 m altitude between the North coast of Norway and Svalbard on 21 July 2012. The largest source of methane in the summertime Arctic is wetland emissions. Did this enhancement in methane come from wetland emissions? The airmass was identified through continuous methane measurements using a Los Gatos fast greenhouse gas analyser on board the UK's BAe-146 Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) as part of the MAMM (Methane in the Arctic: Measurements and Modelling) campaign. A Lagrangian particle dispersion model (the UK Met Office's NAME model) was run backwards to identify potential methane source regions. This was combined with a methane emission inventory to create "pseudo observations" to compare with the aircraft observations. This modelling was used to constrain the δ13C CH4 wetland source signature (where δ13C CH4 is the ratio of 13C to 12C in methane), resulting in a most likely signature of -73‰ (±4‰7‰). The NAME back trajectories suggest a methane source region of north-western Russian wetlands, and -73‰ is consistent with in situ measurements of wetland methane at similar latitudes in Scandinavia. This analysis has allowed us to study emissions from remote regions for which we do not have in situ observations, giving us an extra tool in the determination of the isotopic source variation of global methane emissions.

Integrative response of plant mitochondrial electron transport chain to nitrogen source.

Science.gov (United States)

Hachiya, Takushi; Noguchi, Ko

2011-02-01

Nitrogen (N) availability is widely known as a determinant of plant growth and respiration rate. However, less attention has been paid to the effect of the type of N source (nitrate, nitrite or ammonium) on the respiratory system. This review summarizes the latest findings on this topic, with an emphasis on the effect of ammonium and nitric oxide (NO) on the respiratory system, and the physiological role of alternative oxidase (AOX). First, concentrated ammonium has been found to increase plant respiration rate (ammonium-dependent respiratory increase, ARI). We will introduce two hypotheses to explain ARI, futile ammonium cycling and excess reducing equivalents, and verify the validity of each hypothesis. We suggest that these two hypotheses are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Second, gene expression of AOX is suppressed when N is predominately available as nitrate instead of ammonium. We will discuss possible signaling pathways leading to this expression pattern. Third, while AOX expression is induced by NO, AOX activity itself is insensitive to NO. In contrast, activity of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) is sensitive to NO. We outline the NO production pathway, focusing on nitrite-dependent NO production, and discuss the physiological significance of the fact that AOX activity is insensitive to NO. Finally, this review aims to build an integrated scheme of the respiratory response to the type of N source, considering leaves in high light conditions or hypoxic roots.

System Integration of Distributed Power for Complete Building Systems: Phase 2 Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kramer, R.

2003-12-01

This report describes NiSource Energy Technologies Inc.'s second year of a planned 3-year effort to advance distributed power development, deployment, and integration. Its long-term goal is to design ways to extend distributed generation into the physical design and controls of buildings. NET worked to meet this goal through advances in the implementation and control of combined heat and power systems in end-user environments and a further understanding of electric interconnection and siting issues. The specific objective of work under this subcontract is to identify the system integration and implementation issues of DG and develop and test potential solutions to these issues. In addition, recommendations are made to resolve identified issues that may hinder or slow the integration of integrated energy systems into the national energy picture.

Developing an open source-based spatial data infrastructure for integrated monitoring of mining areas

Science.gov (United States)

Lahn, Florian; Knoth, Christian; Prinz, Torsten; Pebesma, Edzer

2014-05-01

In all phases of mining campaigns, comprehensive spatial information is an essential requirement in order to ensure economically efficient but also safe mining activities as well as to reduce environmental impacts. Earth observation data acquired from various sources like remote sensing or ground measurements is important e.g. for the exploration of mineral deposits, the monitoring of mining induced impacts on vegetation or the detection of ground subsidence. The GMES4Mining project aims at exploring new remote sensing techniques and developing analysis methods on various types of sensor data to provide comprehensive spatial information during mining campaigns (BENECKE et al. 2013). One important task in this project is the integration of the data gathered (e.g. hyperspectral images, spaceborne radar data and ground measurements) as well as results of the developed analysis methods within a web-accessible data source based on open source software. The main challenges here are to provide various types and formats of data from different sensors and to enable access to analysis and processing techniques without particular software or licensing requirements for users. Furthermore the high volume of the involved data (especially hyperspectral remote sensing images) makes data transfer a major issue in this use case. To engage these problems a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) including a web portal as user frontend is being developed which allows users to access not only the data but also several analysis methods. The Geoserver software is used for publishing the data, which is then accessed and visualized in a JavaScript-based web portal. In order to perform descriptive statistics and some straightforward image processing techniques on the raster data (e.g. band arithmetic or principal component analysis) the statistics software R is implemented on a server and connected via Rserve. The analysis is controlled and executed directly by the user through the web portal and

Delaunay Tetrahedralization of the Heart Based on Integration of Open Source Codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pavarino, E; Neves, L A; Machado, J M; Momente, J C; Zafalon, G F D; Pinto, A R; Valêncio, C R; Godoy, M F de; Shiyou, Y; Nascimento, M Z do

2014-01-01

The Finite Element Method (FEM) is a way of numerical solution applied in different areas, as simulations used in studies to improve cardiac ablation procedures. For this purpose, the meshes should have the same size and histological features of the focused structures. Some methods and tools used to generate tetrahedral meshes are limited mainly by the use conditions. In this paper, the integration of Open Source Softwares is presented as an alternative to solid modeling and automatic mesh generation. To demonstrate its efficiency, the cardiac structures were considered as a first application context: atriums, ventricles, valves, arteries and pericardium. The proposed method is feasible to obtain refined meshes in an acceptable time and with the required quality for simulations using FEM

Integration analysis of quantitative proteomics and transcriptomics data identifies potential targets of frizzled-8 protein-related antiproliferative factor in vivo.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Wei; Kim, Yongsoo; Kim, Taek-Kyun; Keay, Susan K; Kim, Kwang Pyo; Steen, Hanno; Freeman, Michael R; Hwang, Daehee; Kim, Jayoung

2012-12-01

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a prevalent and debilitating pelvic disorder generally accompanied by chronic pain combined with chronic urinating problems. Over one million Americans are affected, especially middle-aged women. However, its aetiology or mechanism remains unclear. No efficient drug has been provided to patients. Several urinary biomarker candidates have been identified for IC; among the most promising is antiproliferative factor (APF), whose biological activity is detectable in urine specimens from >94% of patients with both ulcerative and non-ulcerative IC. The present study identified several important mediators of the effect of APF on bladder cell physiology, suggesting several candidate drug targets against IC. In an attempt to identify potential proteins and genes regulated by APF in vivo, and to possibly expand the APF-regulated network identified by stable isotope labelling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC), we performed an integration analysis of our own SILAC data and the microarray data of Gamper et al. (2009) BMC Genomics 10: 199. Notably, two of the proteins (i.e. MAPKSP1 and GSPT1) that are down-regulated by APF are involved in the activation of mTORC1, suggesting that the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is potentially a critical pathway regulated by APF in vivo. Several components of the mTOR pathway are currently being studied as potential therapeutic targets in other diseases. Our analysis suggests that this pathway might also be relevant in the design of diagnostic tools and medications targeting IC. • To enhance our understanding of the interstitial cystitis urine biomarker antiproliferative factor (APF), as well as interstitial cystitis biology more generally at the systems level, we reanalyzed recently published large-scale quantitative proteomics and in vivo transcriptomics data sets using an integration analysis tool that we have developed. • To

Integration of multiple networks and pathways identifies cancer driver genes in pan-cancer analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cava, Claudia; Bertoli, Gloria; Colaprico, Antonio; Olsen, Catharina; Bontempi, Gianluca; Castiglioni, Isabella

2018-01-06

Modern high-throughput genomic technologies represent a comprehensive hallmark of molecular changes in pan-cancer studies. Although different cancer gene signatures have been revealed, the mechanism of tumourigenesis has yet to be completely understood. Pathways and networks are important tools to explain the role of genes in functional genomic studies. However, few methods consider the functional non-equal roles of genes in pathways and the complex gene-gene interactions in a network. We present a novel method in pan-cancer analysis that identifies de-regulated genes with a functional role by integrating pathway and network data. A pan-cancer analysis of 7158 tumour/normal samples from 16 cancer types identified 895 genes with a central role in pathways and de-regulated in cancer. Comparing our approach with 15 current tools that identify cancer driver genes, we found that 35.6% of the 895 genes identified by our method have been found as cancer driver genes with at least 2/15 tools. Finally, we applied a machine learning algorithm on 16 independent GEO cancer datasets to validate the diagnostic role of cancer driver genes for each cancer. We obtained a list of the top-ten cancer driver genes for each cancer considered in this study. Our analysis 1) confirmed that there are several known cancer driver genes in common among different types of cancer, 2) highlighted that cancer driver genes are able to regulate crucial pathways.

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMISM), Version 1.1 CMMISM for Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Integrated Product and Process Development, and Supplier Sourcing (CMMI-SE/SW/IPPD/SS, V1.1). Staged Representation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2002-01-01

.... Concepts covered by this model include systems engineering, software engineering, integrated product and process development, and supplier sourcing as well as traditional CMM concepts such as process...

Experiential knowledge of expert coaches can help identify informational constraints on performance of dynamic interceptive actions.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenwood, Daniel; Davids, Keith; Renshaw, Ian

2014-01-01

Coordination of dynamic interceptive movements is predicated on cyclical relations between an individual's actions and information sources from the performance environment. To identify dynamic informational constraints, which are interwoven with individual and task constraints, coaches' experiential knowledge provides a complementary source to support empirical understanding of performance in sport. In this study, 15 expert coaches from 3 sports (track and field, gymnastics and cricket) participated in a semi-structured interview process to identify potential informational constraints which they perceived to regulate action during run-up performance. Expert coaches' experiential knowledge revealed multiple information sources which may constrain performance adaptations in such locomotor pointing tasks. In addition to the locomotor pointing target, coaches' knowledge highlighted two other key informational constraints: vertical reference points located near the locomotor pointing target and a check mark located prior to the locomotor pointing target. This study highlights opportunities for broadening the understanding of perception and action coupling processes, and the identified information sources warrant further empirical investigation as potential constraints on athletic performance. Integration of experiential knowledge of expert coaches with theoretically driven empirical knowledge represents a promising avenue to drive future applied science research and pedagogical practice.

Global Sourcing and Firm Selection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kohler, Wilhelm; Smolka, Marcel

2014-01-01

We analyze the sourcing strategies of firms active in the Spanish manufacturing sector. We show that firms that select strategies of vertical integration and of foreign sourcing ex post tend to have been more productive, ex ante, than other firms.......We analyze the sourcing strategies of firms active in the Spanish manufacturing sector. We show that firms that select strategies of vertical integration and of foreign sourcing ex post tend to have been more productive, ex ante, than other firms....

ADAPTING OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE FOR ENTERPRISE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan MICU GHILIC

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Low developed companies do not use ERP solutions for resource management, they don't have CRM systems for tracking customers, online presence is low and consequently they are selling low volumes. Their work does not generate enough capital to buy specialized software and the local community is too small to create open-source software for them.When adapting an open-source enterprise solution, from a certain level of integration, it is necessary to align to the Romanian legislation. For this you need more than a simple translation. For example, in accounting, the Romanian chart of accounts should be used, the local fiscal calendar, the rules of the Romanian legislation and the specific identifiers for Romanian companies. The solution: Open source applications can be localized. A small community cannot create complex system starting from nothing, but they can adapt existing ones already created and used all over the world. Given the individual characteristics of the Romanian market, open source ERP, CM and e-commerce will be integrated by specialized consultancy agency in Romania just as is done in France (Compiere, Spain (Openbravo, Belgium (OpenERP or the United States (Apache oFBiz. This will not generate license costs for the companies, only the expenses for hardware and implementation consultancy. If we can create a common infrastructure, hardware cost will be waived for cloud SaaS offering, in opposition with the on-premise option.

Cost reductions on a titanium dioxide plant identified by a process integration study at Tioxide UK Ltd

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1985-08-01

The purpose of a process integration study is to determine the minimum practical amount of energy required to operate a process and to identify the most appropriate investment strategy which will realise the maximum energy cost savings consistent with a particular company's financial and operating criteria. The process integration method involves the rigorous application of thermodynamics and cost accounting, tempered by practical plant engineering and operability considerations. Tioxide UK Ltd is part of Tioxide Group plc and operates two UK sites for the production of titanium dioxide pigment. The site in question, Greatham works near Hartlepool, produces pigment via the chloride route. The energy costs at Greatham works can amount to pound5 - 6 million/year depending on production levels. (author).

An integrated and open source GIS environmental management system for a protected area in the south of Portugal

Science.gov (United States)

Teodoro, A.; Duarte, L.; Sillero, N.; Gonçalves, J. A.; Fonte, J.; Gonçalves-Seco, L.; Pinheiro da Luz, L. M.; dos Santos Beja, N. M. R.

2015-10-01

Herdade da Contenda (HC), located in Moura municipality, Beja district (Alentejo province) in the south of Portugal (southwestern Iberia Peninsula), is a national hunting area with 5270ha. The development of an integrated system that aims to make the management of the natural and cultural heritage resources will be very useful for an effective management of this area. This integrated system should include the physical characterization of the territory, natural conservation, land use and land management themes, as well the cultural heritage resources. This paper presents a new tool for an integrated environmental management system of the HC, which aims to produce maps under a GIS open source environment (QGIS). The application is composed by a single button which opens a window. The window is composed by twelve menus (File, DRASTIC, Forest Fire Risk, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), Bioclimatic Index, Cultural Heritage, Fauna and Flora, Ortofoto, Normalizes Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Land Use Land Cover Cover (LULC) and Help. Several inputs are requires to generate these maps, e.g. DEM, geologic information, soil map, hydraulic conductivity information, LULC map, vulnerability and economic information, NDVI. Six buttons were added to the toolbar which allows to manipulate the information in the map canvas: Zoom in, Zoom out, Pan, Print/Layout and Clear. This integrated and open source GIS environment management system was developed for the HC area, but could be easily adapted to other natural or protected area. Despite the lack of data, the methodology presented fulfills the objectives.

The use of nitrate isotopes to identify contamination sources in the Bou-Areg aquifer (Morocco)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Re, Viviana [Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Dorsoduro 2137, Venice, 30123 (Italy); Sacchi, Elisa [University of Pavia, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Via Ferrata 1, Pavia, 27100 (Italy); Allais, Enrico [ISO4 s.n.c., Via Ferrata 1, Pavia, 27100 (Italy)

2013-07-01

The Bou-Areg coastal aquifer (Morocco) is affected by high nitrate levels in groundwater, with possible consequences for the natural environment and human health. The use of environmental tracers, including δ{sup 15}NNO{sub 3} and δ{sup 18}ONO{sub 3}, allowed identifying the main sources of nitrate contamination in groundwater samples collected in 2010. These are manure and septic effluents, especially in urban areas, and synthetic fertilizers in agricultural areas. This work represents a preliminary step for a more detailed nitrate vulnerability assessment to support groundwater management and protection in the studied region. (authors)

Integrative microRNA and proteomic approaches identify novel osteoarthritis genes and their collaborative metabolic and inflammatory networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrios Iliopoulos

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is a multifactorial disease characterized by destruction of the articular cartilage due to genetic, mechanical and environmental components affecting more than 100 million individuals all over the world. Despite the high prevalence of the disease, the absence of large-scale molecular studies limits our ability to understand the molecular pathobiology of osteoathritis and identify targets for drug development. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study we integrated genetic, bioinformatic and proteomic approaches in order to identify new genes and their collaborative networks involved in osteoarthritis pathogenesis. MicroRNA profiling of patient-derived osteoarthritic cartilage in comparison to normal cartilage, revealed a 16 microRNA osteoarthritis gene signature. Using reverse-phase protein arrays in the same tissues we detected 76 differentially expressed proteins between osteoarthritic and normal chondrocytes. Proteins such as SOX11, FGF23, KLF6, WWOX and GDF15 not implicated previously in the genesis of osteoarthritis were identified. Integration of microRNA and proteomic data with microRNA gene-target prediction algorithms, generated a potential "interactome" network consisting of 11 microRNAs and 58 proteins linked by 414 potential functional associations. Comparison of the molecular and clinical data, revealed specific microRNAs (miR-22, miR-103 and proteins (PPARA, BMP7, IL1B to be highly correlated with Body Mass Index (BMI. Experimental validation revealed that miR-22 regulated PPARA and BMP7 expression and its inhibition blocked inflammatory and catabolic changes in osteoarthritic chondrocytes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings indicate that obesity and inflammation are related to osteoarthritis, a metabolic disease affected by microRNA deregulation. Gene network approaches provide new insights for elucidating the complexity of diseases such as osteoarthritis. The integration of microRNA, proteomic

Integrative Literature Review: Ascertaining Discharge Readiness for Pediatrics After Anesthesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitley, Deborah R

2016-02-01

Unplanned hospital readmissions after the administration of general anesthesia for ambulatory procedures may contribute to loss of reimbursement and assessment of financial penalties. Pediatric patients represent a unique anesthetic risk. The purpose of this integrative literature review was to ascertain specific criteria used to evaluate discharge readiness for pediatric patients after anesthesia. This study is an integrative review of literature. An integrative literature search was conducted and included literature sources dated January 2008 to November 2013. Key words included pediatric, anesthesia, discharge, criteria, standards, assessment, recovery, postoperative, postanesthesia, scale, score, outpatient, and ambulatory. Eleven literature sources that contributed significantly to the research question were identified. Levels of evidence included three systematic reviews, one randomized controlled trial, three cohort studies, two case series, and two expert opinions. This integrative literature review revealed evidence-based discharge criteria endorsing home readiness for postanesthesia pediatric patients should incorporate consideration for physiological baselines, professional judgment with regard to infant consciousness, and professional practice standards/guidelines. Additionally, identifying and ensuring discharge to a competent adult was considered imperative. Nurses should be aware that frequently used anesthesia scoring systems originated in the 1970s, and this review was unable to locate current literature examining the reliability and validity of their use in conjunction with modern anesthesia-related health care practices. Copyright © 2016 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving accuracy for identifying related PubMed queries by an integrated approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zhiyong; Wilbur, W John

2009-10-01

PubMed is the most widely used tool for searching biomedical literature online. As with many other online search tools, a user often types a series of multiple related queries before retrieving satisfactory results to fulfill a single information need. Meanwhile, it is also a common phenomenon to see a user type queries on unrelated topics in a single session. In order to study PubMed users' search strategies, it is necessary to be able to automatically separate unrelated queries and group together related queries. Here, we report a novel approach combining both lexical and contextual analyses for segmenting PubMed query sessions and identifying related queries and compare its performance with the previous approach based solely on concept mapping. We experimented with our integrated approach on sample data consisting of 1539 pairs of consecutive user queries in 351 user sessions. The prediction results of 1396 pairs agreed with the gold-standard annotations, achieving an overall accuracy of 90.7%. This demonstrates that our approach is significantly better than the previously published method. By applying this approach to a one day query log of PubMed, we found that a significant proportion of information needs involved more than one PubMed query, and that most of the consecutive queries for the same information need are lexically related. Finally, the proposed PubMed distance is shown to be an accurate and meaningful measure for determining the contextual similarity between biological terms. The integrated approach can play a critical role in handling real-world PubMed query log data as is demonstrated in our experiments.

An Integrative Analysis to Identify Driver Genes in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Genta Sawada

Full Text Available Few driver genes have been well established in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC. Identification of the genomic aberrations that contribute to changes in gene expression profiles can be used to predict driver genes.We searched for driver genes in ESCC by integrative analysis of gene expression microarray profiles and copy number data. To narrow down candidate genes, we performed survival analysis on expression data and tested the genetic vulnerability of each genes using public RNAi screening data. We confirmed the results by performing RNAi experiments and evaluating the clinical relevance of candidate genes in an independent ESCC cohort.We found 10 significantly recurrent copy number alterations accompanying gene expression changes, including loci 11q13.2, 7p11.2, 3q26.33, and 17q12, which harbored CCND1, EGFR, SOX2, and ERBB2, respectively. Analysis of survival data and RNAi screening data suggested that GRB7, located on 17q12, was a driver gene in ESCC. In ESCC cell lines harboring 17q12 amplification, knockdown of GRB7 reduced the proliferation, migration, and invasion capacities of cells. Moreover, siRNA targeting GRB7 had a synergistic inhibitory effect when combined with trastuzumab, an anti-ERBB2 antibody. Survival analysis of the independent cohort also showed that high GRB7 expression was associated with poor prognosis in ESCC.Our integrative analysis provided important insights into ESCC pathogenesis. We identified GRB7 as a novel ESCC driver gene and potential new therapeutic target.

Integrated source-risk model for radon: A definition study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laheij, G.M.H.; Aldenkamp, F.J.; Stoop, P.

1993-10-01

The purpose of a source-risk model is to support policy making on radon mitigation by comparing effects of various policy options and to enable optimization of counter measures applied to different parts of the source-risk chain. There are several advantages developing and using a source-risk model: risk calculations are standardized; the effects of measures applied to different parts of the source-risk chain can be better compared because interactions are included; and sensitivity analyses can be used to determine the most important parameters within the total source-risk chain. After an inventory of processes and sources to be included in the source-risk chain, the models presently available in the Netherlands are investigated. The models were screened for completeness, validation and operational status. The investigation made clear that, by choosing for each part of the source-risk chain the most convenient model, a source-risk chain model for radon may be realized. However, the calculation of dose out of the radon concentrations and the status of the validation of most models should be improved. Calculations with the proposed source-risk model will give estimations with a large uncertainty at the moment. For further development of the source-risk model an interaction between the source-risk model and experimental research is recommended. Organisational forms of the source-risk model are discussed. A source-risk model in which only simple models are included is also recommended. The other models are operated and administrated by the model owners. The model owners execute their models for a combination of input parameters. The output of the models is stored in a database which will be used for calculations with the source-risk model. 5 figs., 15 tabs., 7 appendices, 14 refs

The BridgeDb framework: standardized access to gene, protein and metabolite identifier mapping services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanspers Kristina

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many complementary solutions are available for the identifier mapping problem. This creates an opportunity for bioinformatics tool developers. Tools can be made to flexibly support multiple mapping services or mapping services could be combined to get broader coverage. This approach requires an interface layer between tools and mapping services. Results Here we present BridgeDb, a software framework for gene, protein and metabolite identifier mapping. This framework provides a standardized interface layer through which bioinformatics tools can be connected to different identifier mapping services. This approach makes it easier for tool developers to support identifier mapping. Mapping services can be combined or merged to support multi-omics experiments or to integrate custom microarray annotations. BridgeDb provides its own ready-to-go mapping services, both in webservice and local database forms. However, the framework is intended for customization and adaptation to any identifier mapping service. BridgeDb has already been integrated into several bioinformatics applications. Conclusion By uncoupling bioinformatics tools from mapping services, BridgeDb improves capability and flexibility of those tools. All described software is open source and available at http://www.bridgedb.org.

Predictive networks: a flexible, open source, web application for integration and analysis of human gene networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Haibe-Kains, Benjamin; Olsen, Catharina; Djebbari, Amira; Bontempi, Gianluca; Correll, Mick; Bouton, Christopher; Quackenbush, John

2012-01-01

Genomics provided us with an unprecedented quantity of data on the genes that are activated or repressed in a wide range of phenotypes. We have increasingly come to recognize that defining the networks and pathways underlying these phenotypes requires both the integration of multiple data types and the development of advanced computational methods to infer relationships between the genes and to estimate the predictive power of the networks through which they interact. To address these issues we have developed Predictive Networks (PN), a flexible, open-source, web-based application and data services framework that enables the integration, navigation, visualization and analysis of gene interaction networks. The primary goal of PN is to allow biomedical researchers to evaluate experimentally derived gene lists in the context of large-scale gene interaction networks. The PN analytical pipeline involves two key steps. The first is the collection of a comprehensive set of known gene interactions derived from a variety of publicly available sources. The second is to use these 'known' interactions together with gene expression data to infer robust gene networks. The PN web application is accessible from http://predictivenetworks.org. The PN code base is freely available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/predictivenets/.

Sources and fate of antimicrobials in integrated fish-pig and non-integrated tilapia farms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Kang; Liu, Liping; Zhan, Jia

2017-01-01

residues in fish skin from both integrated and non-integrated farms, and in pig manure. Enrofloxacin (3.9–129.3 μg/kg) and sulfadiazine (0.7–7.8 μg/kg) were commonly detected in fish skin and muscle, pig manure and pond sediment from integrated farms, with different types of antimicrobials found in pig...

Micro/Nano Fabricated Solid-State Thermoelectric Generator Devices for Integrated High Voltage Power Sources

Science.gov (United States)

Fleurial, J.-P.; Ryan, M. A.; Snyder, G. J.; Huang, C.-K.; Whitacre, J. F.; Patel, J.; Lim, J.; Borshchevsky, A.

2002-01-01

Deep space missions have a strong need for compact, high power density, reliable and long life electrical power generation and storage under extreme temperature conditions. Except for electrochemical batteries and solar cells, there are currently no available miniaturized power sources. Conventional power generators devices become inefficient in extreme environments (such as encountered in Mars, Venus or outer planet missions) and rechargeable energy storage devices can only be operated in a narrow temperature range thereby limiting mission duration. The planned development of much smaller spacecrafts incorporating a variety of micro/nanodevices and miniature vehicles will require novel, reliable power technologies. It is also expected that such micro power sources could have a wide range of terrestrial applications, in particular when the limited lifetime and environmental limitations of batteries are key factors. Advanced solid-state thermoelectric combined with radioisotope or waste heat sources and low profile energy storage devices are ideally suited for these applications. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been actively pursuing the development of thermoelectric micro/nanodevices that can be fabricated using a combination of electrochemical deposition and integrated circuit processing techniques. Some of the technical challenges associated with these micro/nanodevice concepts, their expected level of performance and experimental fabrication and testing results to date are presented and discussed.

How to decode Unemployment Persistence: An econometric framework for identifying and comparing the sources of persistence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Niels Framroze

2016-01-01

Most econometric analyses of persistence focus on the existence of non-stationary unemployment but not the origin of this. The present research contains a multivariate econometric framework for identifying and comparing different sources of unemployment persistence (e.g. hysteresis versus a slowly...... moving equilibrium rate). A small example, considering historical data (1988-2006) for the UK, demonstrates how the method can be applied in practice. Although this primarily serves as an illustration, the evidence clearly suggests that persistence was due to a slowly moving equilibrium (driven...

Elevated intrabolus pressure identifies obstructive processes when integrated relaxation pressure is normal on esophageal high-resolution manometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Quader, Farhan; Reddy, Chanakyaram; Patel, Amit; Gyawali, C Prakash

2017-07-01

Elevated integrated relaxation pressure (IRP) on esophageal high-resolution manometry (HRM) identifies obstructive processes at the esophagogastric junction (EGJ). Our aim was to determine whether intrabolus pressure (IBP) can identify structural EGJ processes when IRP is normal. In this observational cohort study, adult patients with dysphagia and undergoing HRM were evaluated for endoscopic evidence of structural EGJ processes (strictures, rings, hiatus hernia) in the setting of normal IRP. HRM metrics [IRP, distal contractile integral (DCI), distal latency (DL), IBP, and EGJ contractile integral (EGJ-CI)] were compared among 74 patients with structural EGJ findings (62.8 ± 1.6 yr, 67.6% women), 27 patients with normal EGD (52.9 ± 3.2 yr, 70.3% women), and 21 healthy controls (27.6 ± 0.6 yr, 52.4% women). Findings were validated in 85 consecutive symptomatic patients to address clinical utility. In the primary cohort, mean IBP (18.4 ± 0.9 mmHg) was higher with structural EGJ findings compared with dysphagia with normal EGD (13.5 ± 1.1 mmHg, P = 0.002) and healthy controls (10.9 ± 0.9 mmHg, P 0.05 for each comparison). During multiple rapid swallows, IBP remained higher in the structural findings group compared with controls ( P = 0.02). Similar analysis of the prospective validation cohort confirmed IBP elevation in structural EGJ processes, but correlation with dysphagia could not be demonstrated. We conclude that elevated IBP predicts the presence of structural EGJ processes even when IRP is normal, but correlation with dysphagia is suboptimal. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Integrated relaxation pressure (IRP) above the upper limit of normal defines esophageal outflow obstruction using high-resolution manometry. In patients with normal IRP, elevated intrabolus pressure (IBP) can be a surrogate marker for a structural restrictive or obstructive process at the esophagogastric junction (EGJ). This has the potential to augment the clinical value of

Risk assessment of water pollution sources based on an integrated k-means clustering and set pair analysis method in the region of Shiyan, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chunhui; Sun, Lian; Jia, Junxiang; Cai, Yanpeng; Wang, Xuan

2016-07-01

Source water areas are facing many potential water pollution risks. Risk assessment is an effective method to evaluate such risks. In this paper an integrated model based on k-means clustering analysis and set pair analysis was established aiming at evaluating the risks associated with water pollution in source water areas, in which the weights of indicators were determined through the entropy weight method. Then the proposed model was applied to assess water pollution risks in the region of Shiyan in which China's key source water area Danjiangkou Reservoir for the water source of the middle route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project is located. The results showed that eleven sources with relative high risk value were identified. At the regional scale, Shiyan City and Danjiangkou City would have a high risk value in term of the industrial discharge. Comparatively, Danjiangkou City and Yunxian County would have a high risk value in terms of agricultural pollution. Overall, the risk values of north regions close to the main stream and reservoir of the region of Shiyan were higher than that in the south. The results of risk level indicated that five sources were in lower risk level (i.e., level II), two in moderate risk level (i.e., level III), one in higher risk level (i.e., level IV) and three in highest risk level (i.e., level V). Also risks of industrial discharge are higher than that of the agricultural sector. It is thus essential to manage the pillar industry of the region of Shiyan and certain agricultural companies in the vicinity of the reservoir to reduce water pollution risks of source water areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

FIA: An Open Forensic Integration Architecture for Composing Digital Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Raghavan, Sriram; Clark, Andrew; Mohay, George

The analysis and value of digital evidence in an investigation has been the domain of discourse in the digital forensic community for several years. While many works have considered different approaches to model digital evidence, a comprehensive understanding of the process of merging different evidence items recovered during a forensic analysis is still a distant dream. With the advent of modern technologies, pro-active measures are integral to keeping abreast of all forms of cyber crimes and attacks. This paper motivates the need to formalize the process of analyzing digital evidence from multiple sources simultaneously. In this paper, we present the forensic integration architecture (FIA) which provides a framework for abstracting the evidence source and storage format information from digital evidence and explores the concept of integrating evidence information from multiple sources. The FIA architecture identifies evidence information from multiple sources that enables an investigator to build theories to reconstruct the past. FIA is hierarchically composed of multiple layers and adopts a technology independent approach. FIA is also open and extensible making it simple to adapt to technological changes. We present a case study using a hypothetical car theft case to demonstrate the concepts and illustrate the value it brings into the field.

GMRT DISCOVERY OF PSR J1544+4937: AN ECLIPSING BLACK-WIDOW PULSAR IDENTIFIED WITH A FERMI-LAT SOURCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bhattacharyya, B.; Roy, J.; Gupta, Y. [National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune 411 007 (India); Ray, P. S.; Wolff, M. T.; Wood, K. S. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352 (United States); Bhattacharya, D. [Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune 411 007 (India); Romani, R. W.; Den Hartog, P. R.; Kerr, M.; Michelson, P. F. [W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Ransom, S. M. [National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States); Ferrara, E. C.; Harding, A. K. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Camilo, F. [Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Cognard, I. [Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l' Environnement, LPCE UMR 6115 CNRS, F-45071 Orleans Cedex 02 (France); Johnston, S.; Keith, M. [CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Australia Telescope National Facility, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia); Saz Parkinson, P. M. [Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Wood, D. L. [Praxis Inc., Alexandria, VA 22303 (United States)

2013-08-10

Using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, we performed deep observations to search for radio pulsations in the directions of unidentified Fermi-Large Area Telescope {gamma}-ray sources. We report the discovery of an eclipsing black-widow millisecond pulsar, PSR J1544+4937, identified with the uncataloged {gamma}-ray source FERMI J1544.2+4941. This 2.16 ms pulsar is in a 2.9 hr compact circular orbit with a very low mass companion (M{sub c} > 0.017M{sub Sun }). At 322 MHz this pulsar is found to be eclipsing for 13% of its orbit, whereas at 607 MHz the pulsar is detected throughout the low-frequency eclipse phase. Variations in the eclipse ingress phase are observed, indicating a clumpy and variable eclipsing medium. Moreover, additional short-duration absorption events are observed around the eclipse boundaries. Using the radio timing ephemeris we were able to detect {gamma}-ray pulsations from this pulsar, confirming it as the source powering the {gamma}-ray emission.

Levels and source apportionment of children's lead exposure: could urinary lead be used to identify the levels and sources of children's lead pollution?

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Suzhen; Duan, Xiaoli; Zhao, Xiuge; Wang, Beibei; Ma, Jin; Fan, Delong; Sun, Chengye; He, Bin; Wei, Fusheng; Jiang, Guibin

2015-04-01

As a highly toxic heavy metal, the pollution and exposure risks of lead are of widespread concern for human health. However, the collection of blood samples for use as an indicator of lead pollution is not always feasible in most cohort or longitudinal studies, especially those involving children health. To evaluate the potential use of urinary lead as an indicator of exposure levels and source apportionment, accompanying with environmental media samples, lead concentrations and isotopic measurements (expressed as (207)Pb/(206)Pb, (208)Pb/(206)Pb and (204)Pb/(206)Pb) were investigated and compared between blood and urine from children living in the vicinities of a typical coking plant and lead-acid battery factory. The results showed urinary lead might not be a preferable proxy for estimating blood lead levels. Fortunately, urinary lead isotopic measurements could be used as an alternative for identifying the sources of children's lead exposure, which coincided well with the blood lead isotope ratio analysis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diverse origins of Arctic and Subarctic methane point source emissions identified with multiply-substituted isotopologues

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, P. M. J.; Stolper, D. A.; Smith, D. A.; Walter Anthony, K. M.; Paull, C. K.; Dallimore, S.; Wik, M.; Crill, P. M.; Winterdahl, M.; Eiler, J. M.; Sessions, A. L.

2016-09-01

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and there are concerns that its natural emissions from the Arctic could act as a substantial positive feedback to anthropogenic global warming. Determining the sources of methane emissions and the biogeochemical processes controlling them is important for understanding present and future Arctic contributions to atmospheric methane budgets. Here we apply measurements of multiply-substituted isotopologues, or clumped isotopes, of methane as a new tool to identify the origins of ebullitive fluxes in Alaska, Sweden and the Arctic Ocean. When methane forms in isotopic equilibrium, clumped isotope measurements indicate the formation temperature. In some microbial methane, however, non-equilibrium isotope effects, probably related to the kinetics of methanogenesis, lead to low clumped isotope values. We identify four categories of emissions in the studied samples: thermogenic methane, deep subsurface or marine microbial methane formed in isotopic equilibrium, freshwater microbial methane with non-equilibrium clumped isotope values, and mixtures of deep and shallow methane (i.e., combinations of the first three end members). Mixing between deep and shallow methane sources produces a non-linear variation in clumped isotope values with mixing proportion that provides new constraints for the formation environment of the mixing end-members. Analyses of microbial methane emitted from lakes, as well as a methanol-consuming methanogen pure culture, support the hypothesis that non-equilibrium clumped isotope values are controlled, in part, by kinetic isotope effects induced during enzymatic reactions involved in methanogenesis. Our results indicate that these kinetic isotope effects vary widely in microbial methane produced in Arctic lake sediments, with non-equilibrium Δ18 values spanning a range of more than 5‰.

Characterization and source apportionment of fine particulate sources at Rijeka, Croatia from 2013 to 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivošević, Tatjana; Stelcer, Eduard; Orlić, Ivica; Bogdanović Radović, Iva; Cohen, David

2016-01-01

PM_2_._5 daily aerosol samples were collected in Rijeka, Croatia during period from 6th August 2013 to 29th January 2015. In total, 259 samples were collected on Teflon filters and analyzed by PIXE and PIGE techniques to give information on 21 elements from Na to Pb. Additionally, black carbon was determined with the Laser Integrated Plate Method. Results were statistically evaluated using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). Eight major pollution sources: auto, smoke, secondary sulfates, heavy oil combustion, sea spray, road dust, industry iron and soil dust were identified together with their relative contributions in total PM_2_._5 pollution.

Alternative energy sources or integrated alternative energy systems? Oil as a modern lance of Peleus for the energy transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szklo, Alexandre; Schaeffer, Roberto

2006-01-01

In this viewpoint, we discuss the importance of consorting alternative energy sources with oil, and not of opposing them. That is why we introduce the concept of alternative energy systems, which we feel is broader-ranging and more effective than alternative energy sources, as this deals with the actual transformation process of the global energy system. Alternative energy systems integrate oil with other energy sources and pave the way for new systems, which will benefit from what we call the 'virtues of oil'. They produce energy carriers for multi-fuel and multi-product strategies, where flexibility is a key target, allied to other co-benefits, especially those related to the increased use of renewable energy sources. The concept of alternative energy systems can bring a new light to the oil transition era discussion and might also influence energy policies for promoting renewables

System and method for integrating and accessing multiple data sources within a data warehouse architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Musick, Charles R [Castro Valley, CA; Critchlow, Terence [Livermore, CA; Ganesh, Madhaven [San Jose, CA; Slezak, Tom [Livermore, CA; Fidelis, Krzysztof [Brentwood, CA

2006-12-19

A system and method is disclosed for integrating and accessing multiple data sources within a data warehouse architecture. The metadata formed by the present method provide a way to declaratively present domain specific knowledge, obtained by analyzing data sources, in a consistent and useable way. Four types of information are represented by the metadata: abstract concepts, databases, transformations and mappings. A mediator generator automatically generates data management computer code based on the metadata. The resulting code defines a translation library and a mediator class. The translation library provides a data representation for domain specific knowledge represented in a data warehouse, including "get" and "set" methods for attributes that call transformation methods and derive a value of an attribute if it is missing. The mediator class defines methods that take "distinguished" high-level objects as input and traverse their data structures and enter information into the data warehouse.

Open-Source Integrated Design-Analysis Environment For Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling & Simulation Final Scientific/Technical Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

O' Leary, Patrick [Kitware, Inc., Clifton Park, NY (United States)

2017-01-30

The framework created through the Open-Source Integrated Design-Analysis Environment (IDAE) for Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling & Simulation grant has simplify and democratize advanced modeling and simulation in the nuclear energy industry that works on a range of nuclear engineering applications. It leverages millions of investment dollars from the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy for modeling and simulation of light water reactors and the Office of Nuclear Energy's research and development. The IDEA framework enhanced Kitware’s Computational Model Builder (CMB) while leveraging existing open-source toolkits and creating a graphical end-to-end umbrella guiding end-users and developers through the nuclear energy advanced modeling and simulation lifecycle. In addition, the work deliver strategic advancements in meshing and visualization for ensembles.

New approach to the adjustment of group cross sections fitting integral measurements - 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chao, Y.A.

1980-01-01

The method developed in the first paper concerning group cross sections fitting integral measurements is generalized to cover the case when the source of the extracted negligence discrepancy cannot be identified and the theoretical relation between the integral and differential measurements is also subject to uncertainty. The question of how to divide in such a case the negligence discrepancy between the integral and differential data is resolved. Application to a specific problem with real experimental data is shown as a demonstration of the method. 4 refs

Integrated system for automated financial document processing

Science.gov (United States)

Hassanein, Khaled S.; Wesolkowski, Slawo; Higgins, Ray; Crabtree, Ralph; Peng, Antai

1997-02-01

A system was developed that integrates intelligent document analysis with multiple character/numeral recognition engines in order to achieve high accuracy automated financial document processing. In this system, images are accepted in both their grayscale and binary formats. A document analysis module starts by extracting essential features from the document to help identify its type (e.g. personal check, business check, etc.). These features are also utilized to conduct a full analysis of the image to determine the location of interesting zones such as the courtesy amount and the legal amount. These fields are then made available to several recognition knowledge sources such as courtesy amount recognition engines and legal amount recognition engines through a blackboard architecture. This architecture allows all the available knowledge sources to contribute incrementally and opportunistically to the solution of the given recognition query. Performance results on a test set of machine printed business checks using the integrated system are also reported.

The contribution of different information sources for adverse effects data.

Science.gov (United States)

Golder, Su; Loke, Yoon K

2012-04-01

The aim of this study is to determine the relative value and contribution of searching different sources to identify adverse effects data. The process of updating a systematic review and meta-analysis of thiazolidinedione-related fractures in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was used as a case study. For each source searched, a record was made for each relevant reference included in the review noting whether it was retrieved with the search strategy used and whether it was available but not retrieved. The sensitivity, precision, and number needed to read from searching each source and from different combinations of sources were also calculated. There were 58 relevant references which presented sufficient numerical data to be included in a meta-analysis of fractures and bone mineral density. The highest number of relevant references were retrieved from Science Citation Index (SCI) (35), followed by BIOSIS Previews (27) and EMBASE (24). The precision of the searches varied from 0.88% (Scirus) to 41.67% (CENTRAL). With the search strategies used, the minimum combination of sources required to retrieve all the relevant references was; the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) website, Science Citation Index (SCI), EMBASE, BIOSIS Previews, British Library Direct, Medscape DrugInfo, handsearching and reference checking, AHFS First, and Thomson Reuters Integrity or Conference Papers Index (CPI). In order to identify all the relevant references for this case study a number of different sources needed to be searched. The minimum combination of sources required to identify all the relevant references did not include MEDLINE.

The OXL format for the exchange of integrated datasets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taubert Jan

2007-12-01

Full Text Available A prerequisite for systems biology is the integration and analysis of heterogeneous experimental data stored in hundreds of life-science databases and millions of scientific publications. Several standardised formats for the exchange of specific kinds of biological information exist. Such exchange languages facilitate the integration process; however they are not designed to transport integrated datasets. A format for exchanging integrated datasets needs to i cover data from a broad range of application domains, ii be flexible and extensible to combine many different complex data structures, iii include metadata and semantic definitions, iv include inferred information, v identify the original data source for integrated entities and vi transport large integrated datasets. Unfortunately, none of the exchange formats from the biological domain (e.g. BioPAX, MAGE-ML, PSI-MI, SBML or the generic approaches (RDF, OWL fulfil these requirements in a systematic way.

Identifying the sources of nitrate contamination of groundwater in an agricultural area (Haean basin, Korea) using isotope and microbial community analyses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Heejung; Kaown, Dugin; Mayer, Bernhard; Lee, Jin-Yong; Hyun, Yunjung; Lee, Kang-Kun

2015-01-01

An integrated study based on hydrogeochemical, microbiological and dual isotopic approaches for nitrate and sulfate was conducted to elucidate sources and biogeochemical reactions governing groundwater contaminants in different seasons and under different land use in a basin of Korea. The land use in the study area is comprised of forests (58.0%), vegetable fields (27.6%), rice paddy fields (11.4%) and others (3.0%). The concentrations of NO 3 –N and SO 4 2− in groundwater in vegetable fields were highest with 4.2–15.2 mg L −1 and 1.6–19.7 mg L −1 respectively, whereas under paddy fields NO 3 –N concentrations ranged from 0 to 10.7 mg L −1 and sulfate concentrations were ~ 15 mg L −1 . Groundwater with high NO 3 –N concentrations of > 10 mg L −1 had δ 15 N–NO 3 − values ranging from 5.2 to 5.9‰ and δ 18 O values of nitrate between 2.7 and 4.6‰ suggesting that the nitrate was mineralized from soil organic matter that was amended by fertilizer additions. Elevated concentrations of SO 4 2− with δ 34 S–SO 4 2− values between 1 and 6‰ in aquifers in vegetable fields indicated that a mixture of sulfate from atmospheric deposition, mineralization of soil organic matter and from synthetic fertilizers is the source of groundwater sulfate. Elevated δ 18 O–NO 3 − and δ 18 O–SO 4 2− values in samples collected from the paddy fields indicated that denitrification and bacterial sulfate reduction are actively occurring removing sulfate and nitrate from the groundwater. This was supported by high occurrences of denitrifying and sulfate reducing bacteria in groundwater of the paddy fields as evidenced by 16S rRNA pyrosequencing analysis. This study shows that dual isotope techniques combined with microbial data can be a powerful tool for identification of sources and microbial processes affecting NO 3 − and SO 4 2− in groundwater in areas with intensive agricultural land use. - Highlights: • Dual isotope analyses identified

Identifying professionals' needs in integrating electronic pain monitoring in community palliative care services: An interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Sally; Allsop, Matthew J; Bekker, Hilary L; Bennett, Michael I; Bewick, Bridgette M

2017-07-01

Poor pain assessment is a barrier to effective pain control. There is growing interest internationally in the development and implementation of remote monitoring technologies to enhance assessment in cancer and chronic disease contexts. Findings describe the development and testing of pain monitoring systems, but research identifying the needs of health professionals to implement routine monitoring systems within clinical practice is limited. To inform the development and implementation strategy of an electronic pain monitoring system, PainCheck, by understanding palliative care professionals' needs when integrating PainCheck into routine clinical practice. Qualitative study using face-to-face interviews. Data were analysed using framework analysis Setting/participants: Purposive sample of health professionals managing the palliative care of patients living in the community Results: A total of 15 interviews with health professionals took place. Three meta-themes emerged from the data: (1) uncertainties about integration of PainCheck and changes to current practice, (2) appraisal of current practice and (3) pain management is everybody's responsibility Conclusion: Even the most sceptical of health professionals could see the potential benefits of implementing an electronic patient-reported pain monitoring system. Health professionals have reservations about how PainCheck would work in practice. For optimal use, PainCheck needs embedding within existing electronic health records. Electronic pain monitoring systems have the potential to enable professionals to support patients' pain management more effectively but only when barriers to implementation are appropriately identified and addressed.

An Image Matching Algorithm Integrating Global SRTM and Image Segmentation for Multi-Source Satellite Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Ling

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel image matching method for multi-source satellite images, which integrates global Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM data and image segmentation to achieve robust and numerous correspondences. This method first generates the epipolar lines as a geometric constraint assisted by global SRTM data, after which the seed points are selected and matched. To produce more reliable matching results, a region segmentation-based matching propagation is proposed in this paper, whereby the region segmentations are extracted by image segmentation and are considered to be a spatial constraint. Moreover, a similarity measure integrating Distance, Angle and Normalized Cross-Correlation (DANCC, which considers geometric similarity and radiometric similarity, is introduced to find the optimal correspondences. Experiments using typical satellite images acquired from Resources Satellite-3 (ZY-3, Mapping Satellite-1, SPOT-5 and Google Earth demonstrated that the proposed method is able to produce reliable and accurate matching results.

The interprocess NIR sampling as an alternative approach to multivariate statistical process control for identifying sources of product-quality variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Marković, Snežana; Kerč, Janez; Horvat, Matej

2017-03-01

We are presenting a new approach of identifying sources of variability within a manufacturing process by NIR measurements of samples of intermediate material after each consecutive unit operation (interprocess NIR sampling technique). In addition, we summarize the development of a multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) model for the production of enteric-coated pellet product of the proton-pump inhibitor class. By developing provisional NIR calibration models, the identification of critical process points yields comparable results to the established MSPC modeling procedure. Both approaches are shown to lead to the same conclusion, identifying parameters of extrusion/spheronization and characteristics of lactose that have the greatest influence on the end-product's enteric coating performance. The proposed approach enables quicker and easier identification of variability sources during manufacturing process, especially in cases when historical process data is not straightforwardly available. In the presented case the changes of lactose characteristics are influencing the performance of the extrusion/spheronization process step. The pellet cores produced by using one (considered as less suitable) lactose source were on average larger and more fragile, leading to consequent breakage of the cores during subsequent fluid bed operations. These results were confirmed by additional experimental analyses illuminating the underlying mechanism of fracture of oblong pellets during the pellet coating process leading to compromised film coating.

Integration of Remote Sensing and other public GIS data source to identify suitable zones for groundwater exploitation by manual drilling

Science.gov (United States)

Fussi, Fabio; Fava, Francesco; Di Mauro, Biagio; Bonomi, Tullia; Fumagalli, Letizia; DI Leo, Margherita; Hamidou Kane, Cheik; Faye, Gayane; Niang, Magatte; Wade, Souleye; Hamidou, Barry; Colombo, Roberto

2015-04-01

In several countries of the world the situation of water supply is still critical, far from the international target defined by United Nations for 2015 (Millenium Development Goals) and producing a huge impact on health and living condition of the population. Manual drilling (it means techniques to drill boreholes for water using human or animal power) is well known and practiced for centuries in many countries. In recent years, it has been considered a potential strategy to increase water access in poor countries and has raised the attention of national governments and international organizations. Manual drilling is applicable only where hydrogeological context is suitable, according to the following conditions: thick layers of unconsolidated sediments and shallow water table. Mapping of zones with suitable hydrogeological context has been carried out in several countries in Africa, but the results have evident limitations; previous methods are based on existing direct data and qualitative experience, leading to unreliable interpretation when direct data are limited. This research aims to develop a methodology to estimate shallow hydrogeological features and asses the distribution of suitable zones for manual drilling through the integration of indirect information obtained from remote sensing and other existing source of data. The research is carried out in two different study areas, in Senegal and Guinea (Western Africa), with semi-arid climate, moderate vegetation cover, unconsolidated sandy and clay deposits overlaying sedimentary and igneous rocks A set of variables have been obtained through processing of three categories of data, listed below: - geology, geomorphology, soil and land cover, obtained from existing thematic maps; - vegetation phenology, apparent thermal inertia, and soil moisture, obtained from analysis of multitemporal optical (MOD13Q1), thermal (MOD11A1), and radar (ASAR) remotely sensed data: -morphometric parameters, obtained from public

Semantic Web meets Integrative Biology: a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huajun; Yu, Tong; Chen, Jake Y

2013-01-01

Integrative Biology (IB) uses experimental or computational quantitative technologies to characterize biological systems at the molecular, cellular, tissue and population levels. IB typically involves the integration of the data, knowledge and capabilities across disciplinary boundaries in order to solve complex problems. We identify a series of bioinformatics problems posed by interdisciplinary integration: (i) data integration that interconnects structured data across related biomedical domains; (ii) ontology integration that brings jargons, terminologies and taxonomies from various disciplines into a unified network of ontologies; (iii) knowledge integration that integrates disparate knowledge elements from multiple sources; (iv) service integration that build applications out of services provided by different vendors. We argue that IB can benefit significantly from the integration solutions enabled by Semantic Web (SW) technologies. The SW enables scientists to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites, resulting into a web of data that is meaningful and understandable to any computers. In this review, we provide insight into how SW technologies can be used to build open, standardized and interoperable solutions for interdisciplinary integration on a global basis. We present a rich set of case studies in system biology, integrative neuroscience, bio-pharmaceutics and translational medicine, to highlight the technical features and benefits of SW applications in IB.

Modeling the effects of integrating larval habitat source reduction and insecticide treated nets for malaria control.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laith Yakob

Full Text Available Integrated vector management for malaria control has received a lot of recent interest. Attacking multiple points in the transmission cycle is hoped to act synergistically and improve upon current single-tool interventions based on the use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs. In the present study, we theoretically examined the application of larval habitat source reduction with ITNs in reducing malaria transmission. We selected this type of environmental management to complement ITNs because of a potential secondary mode of action that both control strategies share. In addition to increasing vector mortality, ITNs reduce the rate at which female mosquitoes locate human hosts for blood feeding, thereby extending their gonotrophic cycle. Similarly, while reducing adult vector emergence and abundance, source reduction of larval habitats may prolong the cycle duration by extending delays in locating oviposition sites. We found, however, that source reduction of larval habitats only operates through this secondary mode of action when habitat density is below a critical threshold. Hence, we illustrate how this strategy becomes increasingly effective when larval habitats are limited. We also demonstrate that habitat source reduction is better suited to human populations of higher density and in the presence of insecticide resistance or when the insecticidal properties of ITNs are depleted.

Improved source apportionment of PAHs and Pb by integrating Pb stable isotopes and positive matrix factorization application (PAHs): A historical record case study from the northern South China Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Minggang; Lin, Yan; Chen, Meng; Yang, Weifeng; Du, Huihong; Xu, Ye; Cheng, Shayen; Xu, Fangjian; Hong, Jiajun; Chen, Mian; Ke, Hongwei

2017-12-31

To obtain the historical changes of pyrogenic sources, integrated source apportionment methods, which include PAH compositions, diagnostic ratios (DRs), Pb isotopic ratios, and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, were developed and applied in sediments of the northern South China Sea. These methods provided a gradually clear picture of energy structural change. Spatially, Σ 15 PAH (11.3 to 95.5ng/g) and Pb (10.2 to 74.6μg/g) generally exhibited decreasing concentration gradient offshore; while the highest levels of PAHs and Pb were observed near the southern Taiwan Strait, which may be induced by accumulation of different fluvial input. Historical records of pollutants followed closely with the economic development of China, with fast growth of Σ 15 PAH and Pb occurring since the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. The phasing-out of leaded gasoline in China was captured with a sharp decrease of Pb after the mid-1990s. PAHs and Pb correlated well with TOC and clay content for core sediments, which was not observed for surface sediments. There was an up-core increase of high molecular PAH proportions. Coal and biomass burning were then qualitatively identified as the major sources of PAHs with DRs. Furthermore, shift toward less radiogenic signatures of Pb isotopic ratios after 1900 revealed the start and growing importance of industrial sources. Finally, a greater separation and quantification of various input was achieved by a three-factor PMF model, which made it clear that biomass burning, coal combustion, and vehicle emissions accounted for 40±20%, 41±13%, and 19±12% of PAHs through the core. Biomass and coal combustion acted as major sources before 2000, while contributions from vehicle emission soared thereafter. The integrated multi-methodologies here improved the source apportionment by reducing biases with a step-down and cross-validation perspective, which could be similarly applied to other aquatic systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All

Silicon photonic integrated circuit swept-source optical coherence tomography receiver with dual polarization, dual balanced, in-phase and quadrature detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhao; Lee, Hsiang-Chieh; Vermeulen, Diedrik; Chen, Long; Nielsen, Torben; Park, Seo Yeon; Ghaemi, Allan; Swanson, Eric; Doerr, Chris; Fujimoto, James

2015-07-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a widely used three-dimensional (3D) optical imaging method with many biomedical and non-medical applications. Miniaturization, cost reduction, and increased functionality of OCT systems will be critical for future emerging clinical applications. We present a silicon photonic integrated circuit swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) coherent receiver with dual polarization, dual balanced, in-phase and quadrature (IQ) detection. We demonstrate multiple functional capabilities of IQ polarization resolved detection including: complex-conjugate suppressed full-range OCT, polarization diversity detection, and polarization-sensitive OCT. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a silicon photonic integrated receiver for OCT. The integrated coherent receiver provides a miniaturized, low-cost solution for SS-OCT, and is also a key step towards a fully integrated high speed SS-OCT system with good performance and multi-functional capabilities. With further performance improvement and cost reduction, photonic integrated technology promises to greatly increase penetration of OCT systems in existing applications and enable new applications.

Characterization of radioactive orphan sources by gamma spectrometry; Caracterizacion de fuentes huerfanas radiactivas por espectrometria gamma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cruz W, H., E-mail: wcruz@ipen.gob.pe [Instituto Peruano de Energia Nuclear (PGRR/IPEN), Lima (Peru). Planta de Gestion de Residuos Radiactivos

2013-07-01

The sealed radioactive sources are widely applicable in industry. They must have a permanent control and must be registered with the Technical Office of the National Authority (OTAN). However, at times it has identified the presence of abandoned sealed sources unknown to the owner. These sources are called 'orphan sources'. Of course these sources represent a high potential risk because accidents can trigger dire consequences depending on your activity and chemical form in which it presents the radioisotope. This paper describes the process and the actions taken to characterize two orphan radioactive sources from the smelter a Aceros Arequipa. For characterization we used a gamma spectrometry system using a detector NaI(Tl) 3″ x 3″ with a multichannel analyzer Nucleus PCA-II. The radioisotope identified was cesium - 137 ({sup 137}Cs) in both cases. Fortunately, the sources maintained their integrity would otherwise have generated significant pollution considering the chemical form of the radioisotope and easy dispersion. (author)

A hybrid electron cyclotron resonance metal ion source with integrated sputter magnetron for the production of an intense Al{sup +} ion beam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weichsel, T., E-mail: tim.weichsel@fep.fraunhofer.de; Hartung, U.; Kopte, T. [Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, 01277 Dresden (Germany); Zschornack, G. [Institute of Solid State Physics, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V., Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Dresden (Germany); Kreller, M.; Philipp, A. [DREEBIT GmbH, 01900 Grossroehrsdorf (Germany)

2015-09-15

A metal ion source prototype has been developed: a combination of magnetron sputter technology with 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source technology—a so called magnetron ECR ion source (MECRIS). An integrated ring-shaped sputter magnetron with an Al target is acting as a powerful metal atom supply in order to produce an intense current of singly charged metal ions. Preliminary experiments show that an Al{sup +} ion current with a density of 167 μA/cm{sup 2} is extracted from the source at an acceleration voltage of 27 kV. Spatially resolved double Langmuir probe measurements and optical emission spectroscopy were used to study the plasma states of the ion source: sputter magnetron, ECR, and MECRIS plasma. Electron density and temperature as well as Al atom density were determined as a function of microwave and sputter magnetron power. The effect of ECR heating is strongly pronounced in the center of the source. There the electron density is increased by one order of magnitude from 6 × 10{sup 9} cm{sup −3} to 6 × 10{sup 10} cm{sup −3} and the electron temperature is enhanced from about 5 eV to 12 eV, when the ECR plasma is ignited to the magnetron plasma. Operating the magnetron at constant power, it was observed that its discharge current is raised from 1.8 A to 4.8 A, when the ECR discharge was superimposed with a microwave power of 2 kW. At the same time, the discharge voltage decreased from about 560 V to 210 V, clearly indicating a higher plasma density of the MECRIS mode. The optical emission spectrum of the MECRIS plasma is dominated by lines of excited Al atoms and shows a significant contribution of lines arising from singly ionized Al. Plasma emission photography with a CCD camera was used to prove probe measurements and to identify separated plasma emission zones originating from the ECR and magnetron discharge.

Integrating text mining, data mining, and network analysis for identifying genetic breast cancer trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Jurca, Gabriela; Addam, Omar; Aksac, Alper; Gao, Shang; Özyer, Tansel; Demetrick, Douglas; Alhajj, Reda

2016-04-26

Breast cancer is a serious disease which affects many women and may lead to death. It has received considerable attention from the research community. Thus, biomedical researchers aim to find genetic biomarkers indicative of the disease. Novel biomarkers can be elucidated from the existing literature. However, the vast amount of scientific publications on breast cancer make this a daunting task. This paper presents a framework which investigates existing literature data for informative discoveries. It integrates text mining and social network analysis in order to identify new potential biomarkers for breast cancer. We utilized PubMed for the testing. We investigated gene-gene interactions, as well as novel interactions such as gene-year, gene-country, and abstract-country to find out how the discoveries varied over time and how overlapping/diverse are the discoveries and the interest of various research groups in different countries. Interesting trends have been identified and discussed, e.g., different genes are highlighted in relationship to different countries though the various genes were found to share functionality. Some text analysis based results have been validated against results from other tools that predict gene-gene relations and gene functions.

Determination of a source term for a time fractional diffusion equation with an integral type over-determining condition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timurkhan S. Aleroev

2013-12-01

Full Text Available We consider a linear heat equation involving a fractional derivative in time, with a nonlocal boundary condition. We determine a source term independent of the space variable, and the temperature distribution for a problem with an over-determining condition of integral type. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution, and its continuous dependence on the data.

Large Scale Integration of Renewable Power Sources into the Vietnamese Power System

Science.gov (United States)

Kies, Alexander; Schyska, Bruno; Thanh Viet, Dinh; von Bremen, Lueder; Heinemann, Detlev; Schramm, Stefan

2017-04-01

The Vietnamese Power system is expected to expand considerably in upcoming decades. Power capacities installed are projected to grow from 39 GW in 2015 to 129.5 GW by 2030. Installed wind power capacities are expected to grow to 6 GW (0.8 GW 2015) and solar power capacities to 12 GW (0.85 GW 2015). This goes hand in hand with an increase of the renewable penetration in the power mix from 1.3% from wind and photovoltaics (PV) in 2015 to 5.4% by 2030. The overall potential for wind power in Vietnam is estimated to be around 24 GW. Moreover, the up-scaling of renewable energy sources was formulated as one of the priorized targets of the Vietnamese government in the National Power Development Plan VII. In this work, we investigate the transition of the Vietnamese power system towards high shares of renewables. For this purpose, we jointly optimise the expansion of renewable generation facilities for wind and PV, and the transmission grid within renewable build-up pathways until 2030 and beyond. To simulate the Vietnamese power system and its generation from renewable sources, we use highly spatially and temporally resolved historical weather and load data and the open source modelling toolbox Python for Power System Analysis (PyPSA). We show that the highest potential of renewable generation for wind and PV is observed in southern Vietnam and discuss the resulting need for transmission grid extensions in dependency of the optimal pathway. Furthermore, we show that the smoothing effect of wind power has several considerable beneficial effects and that the Vietnamese hydro power potential can be efficiently used to provide balancing opportunities. This work is part of the R&D Project "Analysis of the Large Scale Integration of Renewable Power into the Future Vietnamese Power System" (GIZ, 2016-2018).

LabKey Server: An open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely. Results To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i) Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii) Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii) Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv) Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v) Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi) Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii) Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii) Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment. Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36 countries and 350

LabKey Server: An open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lum Karl

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely. Results To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment. Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36

LabKey Server: an open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Elizabeth K; Piehler, Britt; Eckels, Josh; Rauch, Adam; Bellew, Matthew; Hussey, Peter; Ramsay, Sarah; Nathe, Cory; Lum, Karl; Krouse, Kevin; Stearns, David; Connolly, Brian; Skillman, Tom; Igra, Mark

2011-03-09

Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely. To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i) Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii) Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii) Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv) Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v) Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi) Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii) Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii) Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment. Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36 countries and 350 organizations. It tracks

Identifying protein complex by integrating characteristic of core-attachment into dynamic PPI network.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianjun Shen

Full Text Available How to identify protein complex is an important and challenging task in proteomics. It would make great contribution to our knowledge of molecular mechanism in cell life activities. However, the inherent organization and dynamic characteristic of cell system have rarely been incorporated into the existing algorithms for detecting protein complexes because of the limitation of protein-protein interaction (PPI data produced by high throughput techniques. The availability of time course gene expression profile enables us to uncover the dynamics of molecular networks and improve the detection of protein complexes. In order to achieve this goal, this paper proposes a novel algorithm DCA (Dynamic Core-Attachment. It detects protein-complex core comprising of continually expressed and highly connected proteins in dynamic PPI network, and then the protein complex is formed by including the attachments with high adhesion into the core. The integration of core-attachment feature into the dynamic PPI network is responsible for the superiority of our algorithm. DCA has been applied on two different yeast dynamic PPI networks and the experimental results show that it performs significantly better than the state-of-the-art techniques in terms of prediction accuracy, hF-measure and statistical significance in biology. In addition, the identified complexes with strong biological significance provide potential candidate complexes for biologists to validate.

Human sewage identified as likely source of white pox disease of the threatened Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata.

Science.gov (United States)

Sutherland, Kathryn Patterson; Porter, James W; Turner, Jeffrey W; Thomas, Brian J; Looney, Erin E; Luna, Trevor P; Meyers, Meredith K; Futch, J Carrie; Lipp, Erin K

2010-05-01

Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, has been decimated in recent years, resulting in the listing of this species as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act. A major contributing factor in the decline of this iconic species is white pox disease. In 2002, we identified the faecal enterobacterium, Serratia marcescens, as an etiological agent for white pox. During outbreaks in 2003 a unique strain of S. marcescens was identified in both human sewage and white pox lesions. This strain (PDR60) was also identified from corallivorious snails (Coralliophila abbreviata), reef water, and two non-acroporid coral species, Siderastrea siderea and Solenastrea bournoni. Identification of PDR60 in sewage, diseased Acropora palmata and other reef invertebrates within a discrete time frame suggests a causal link between white pox and sewage contamination on reefs and supports the conclusion that humans are a likely source of this disease.

An Integrated Approach to Change the Outcome Part II: Targeted Neuromuscular Training Techniques to Reduce Identified ACL Injury Risk Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Myer, Gregory D.; Ford, Kevin R.; Brent, Jensen L.; Hewett, Timothy E.

2014-01-01

Prior reports indicate that female athletes who demonstrate high knee abduction moments (KAMs) during landing are more responsive to neuromuscular training designed to reduce KAM. Identification of female athletes who demonstrate high KAM, which accurately identifies those at risk for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, may be ideal for targeted neuromuscular training. Specific neuromuscular training targeted to the underlying biomechanical components that increase KAM may provide the most efficient and effective training strategy to reduce noncontact ACL injury risk. The purpose of the current commentary is to provide an integrative approach to identify and target mechanistic underpinnings to increased ACL injury in female athletes. Specific neuromuscular training techniques will be presented that address individual algorithm components related to high knee load landing patterns. If these integrated techniques are employed on a widespread basis, prevention strategies for noncontact ACL injury among young female athletes may prove both more effective and efficient. PMID:22580980

Pulseq-Graphical Programming Interface: Open source visual environment for prototyping pulse sequences and integrated magnetic resonance imaging algorithm development.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravi, Keerthi Sravan; Potdar, Sneha; Poojar, Pavan; Reddy, Ashok Kumar; Kroboth, Stefan; Nielsen, Jon-Fredrik; Zaitsev, Maxim; Venkatesan, Ramesh; Geethanath, Sairam

2018-03-11

To provide a single open-source platform for comprehensive MR algorithm development inclusive of simulations, pulse sequence design and deployment, reconstruction, and image analysis. We integrated the "Pulseq" platform for vendor-independent pulse programming with Graphical Programming Interface (GPI), a scientific development environment based on Python. Our integrated platform, Pulseq-GPI, permits sequences to be defined visually and exported to the Pulseq file format for execution on an MR scanner. For comparison, Pulseq files using either MATLAB only ("MATLAB-Pulseq") or Python only ("Python-Pulseq") were generated. We demonstrated three fundamental sequences on a 1.5 T scanner. Execution times of the three variants of implementation were compared on two operating systems. In vitro phantom images indicate equivalence with the vendor supplied implementations and MATLAB-Pulseq. The examples demonstrated in this work illustrate the unifying capability of Pulseq-GPI. The execution times of all the three implementations were fast (a few seconds). The software is capable of user-interface based development and/or command line programming. The tool demonstrated here, Pulseq-GPI, integrates the open-source simulation, reconstruction and analysis capabilities of GPI Lab with the pulse sequence design and deployment features of Pulseq. Current and future work includes providing an ISMRMRD interface and incorporating Specific Absorption Ratio and Peripheral Nerve Stimulation computations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identifying nitrate sources and transformations in surface water by combining dual isotopes of nitrate and stable isotope mixing model in a watershed with different land uses and multi-tributaries

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Meng; Lu, Baohong

2017-04-01

Nitrate is essential for the growth and survival of plants, animals and humans. However, excess nitrate in drinking water is regarded as a health hazard as it is linked to infant methemoglobinemia and esophageal cancer. Revealing nitrate characteristics and identifying its sources are fundamental for making effective water management strategies, but nitrate sources in multi-tributaries and mixed land covered watersheds remain unclear. It is difficult to determine the predominant NO3- sources using conventional water quality monitoring techniques. In our study, based on 20 surface water sampling sites for more than two years' monitoring from April 2012 to December 2014, water chemical and dual isotopic approaches (δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3-) were integrated for the first time to evaluate nitrate characteristics and sources in the Huashan watershed, Jianghuai hilly region, East China. The results demonstrated that nitrate content in surface water was relatively low in the downstream (nitrate was observed at the source of the river in one of the sub-watersheds, which exhibited an exponential decline along the stream due to dilution, absorption by aquatic plants, and high forest cover. Although dramatically decline of nitrate occurred along the stream, denitrification was not found in surface water by analyzing δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3- relationship. Proportional contributions of five potential nitrate sources (i.e., precipitation; manure and sewage; soil nitrogen; nitrate fertilizer; nitrate derived from ammonia fertilizer and rainfall) were estimated using a Bayesian isotope mixing model. Model results indicated nitrate sources varied significantly among different rainfall conditions, land use types, as well as anthropologic activities. In summary, coupling dual isotopes of nitrate (δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3-, simultaneously) with a Bayesian isotope mixing model offers a useful and practical way to qualitatively analyze nitrate sources and transformations as well as

Integration of health into urban spatial planning through impact assessment: Identifying governance and policy barriers and facilitators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carmichael, Laurence; Barton, Hugh; Gray, Selena; Lease, Helen; Pilkington, Paul

2012-01-01

This article presents the results of a review of literature examining the barriers and facilitators in integrating health in spatial planning at the local, mainly urban level, through appraisals. Our literature review covered the UK and non UK experiences of appraisals used to consider health issues in the planning process. We were able to identify four main categories of obstacles and facilitators including first the different knowledge and conceptual understanding of health by different actors/stakeholders, second the types of governance arrangements, in particular partnerships, in place and the political context, third the way institutions work, the responsibilities they have and their capacity and resources and fourth the timeliness, comprehensiveness and inclusiveness of the appraisal process. The findings allowed us to draw some lessons on the governance and policy framework regarding the integration of health impact into spatial planning, in particular considering the pros and cons of integrating health impact assessment (HIA) into other forms of impact assessment of spatial planning decisions such as environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environment assessment (SEA). In addition, the research uncovered a gap in the literature that tends to focus on the mainly voluntary HIA to assess health outcomes of planning decisions and neglect the analysis of regulatory mechanisms such as EIA and SEA. - Highlights: ► Governance and policy barriers and facilitators to the integration of health into urban planning. ► Review of literature on impact assessment methods used across the world. ► Knowledge, partnerships, management/resources and processes can impede integration. ► HIA evaluations prevail uncovering research opportunities for evaluating other techniques.

Physical interpretation of the J2 integral by identifying the associated crack translation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Cong Hao; Chu, Seok Jae

2016-01-01

The physical interpretation of the J integral (i.e., J 1 integral) is clear. J 1 integral is the energy release rate associated with crack extension(i.e., translation of the crack in the x 1 direction). However, the physical interpretation of the J 2 integral remains unclear. In this study, different crack translations in the x 2 direction were selected and tested by calculating the energy release rates associated with the crack translations and comparing them with the theoretical value of the J 2 integral.

Identifying sources of subsurface nitrate pollution with stable nitrogen isotopes. Final report, August 1976-March 1978

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolterink, T.J.; Williamson, H.J.; Jones, D.C.; Grimshaw, T.W.; Holland, W.F.

1979-08-01

This report describes the methods, results, conclusions, and recommendations of an investigation of a technique to identify sources of nitrate in ground water. A discussion of the theoretical basis of the technique is also provided. Over 300 soil and ground water samples were collected for this study. The samples are from numerous sites around the United States, representing a variety of environmental conditions. The nitrate in 66 of these samples was separated from other nitrogen species, converted to N2 gas, purified, and analyzed to determine the ratio (15)N/(14)N. These data were combined with the results of analyses performed previously by Jones (1) and Kreitler (2). Standard statistical techniques were used to analyze the observed variations in delta (15)N values, with respect to several nitrate sources and various environmental factors. It was found that nitrates from feedlots, barnyards and septic tanks can be distinguished from natural soil nitrates on the basis of their delta (15)N values. They cannot, however, be distinguished from each other. Environmental factors contributed to the observed variation in delta (15)N values

Investigating the effects of point source and nonpoint source pollution on the water quality of the East River (Dongjiang) in South China

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yiping; Chen, Ji

2013-01-01

Understanding the physical processes of point source (PS) and nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is critical to evaluate river water quality and identify major pollutant sources in a watershed. In this study, we used the physically-based hydrological/water quality model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool, to investigate the influence of PS and NPS pollution on the water quality of the East River (Dongjiang in Chinese) in southern China. Our results indicate that NPS pollution was the dominant contribution (>94%) to nutrient loads except for mineral phosphorus (50%). A comprehensive Water Quality Index (WQI) computed using eight key water quality variables demonstrates that water quality is better upstream than downstream despite the higher level of ammonium nitrogen found in upstream waters. Also, the temporal (seasonal) and spatial distributions of nutrient loads clearly indicate the critical time period (from late dry season to early wet season) and pollution source areas within the basin (middle and downstream agricultural lands), which resource managers can use to accomplish substantial reduction of NPS pollutant loadings. Overall, this study helps our understanding of the relationship between human activities and pollutant loads and further contributes to decision support for local watershed managers to protect water quality in this region. In particular, the methods presented such as integrating WQI with watershed modeling and identifying the critical time period and pollutions source areas can be valuable for other researchers worldwide.

An Integrated H-G Scheme Identifying Areas for Soil Remediation and Primary Heavy Metal Contributors: A Risk Perspective

OpenAIRE

Bin Zou; Xiaolu Jiang; Xiaoli Duan; Xiuge Zhao; Jing Zhang; Jingwen Tang; Guoqing Sun

2017-01-01

Traditional sampling for soil pollution evaluation is cost intensive and has limited representativeness. Therefore, developing methods that can accurately and rapidly identify at-risk areas and the contributing pollutants is imperative for soil remediation. In this study, we propose an innovative integrated H-G scheme combining human health risk assessment and geographical detector methods that was based on geographical information system technology and validated its feasibility in a renewabl...

Integrating intermittent energy sources in liberalized electricity markets: from technical costs to economic penalties as a result of market rules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menanteau, Ph.; Finon, D.; Lamy, M.L.

2003-06-01

With the aim of preventing climatic change and ensuring the security of energy supplies, the recent European Directive on renewable energy production sources is aimed at bringing about a very substantial increase in electricity production from renewable sources in Europe by the 2010 horizon. Generally speaking, production of electricity from renewable sources will be assured by biomass and wind, and to a lesser extent by micro hydro, technologies whose characteristics are very different from the point of view of their integration into the electricity system. Their inclusion in the electricity systems will cause problems because of the intermittent nature of the production, a factor that does not enter into the paradigms of producers, system operators or regulators. The problems raised by the integration of intermittent production are technical in nature (risk of non-availability in peak periods, the need for additional reserves) and will incur adjustment costs, but the way in which the electricity markets function will impose economic penalties generally more substantial than the added technical costs. In this paper are examined in succession: (i) the additional costs raised by intermittence; (ii) the economic penalties imposed by the operating rules of de-regulated electricity markets with electricity production from renewable sources included, with particular reference to the case of the British and Nordic markets; and (iii) an analysis of the options that could limit the gap between the additional cost of intermittent production for the system and the adjustment surcharges imposed by the electricity markets, with the aim of reducing the tension between the deregulation of the electricity market and promoting the development of renewable energy sources. (A.L.B.)

Contaminant dispersion prediction and source estimation with integrated Gaussian-machine learning network model for point source emission in atmosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Denglong; Zhang, Zaoxiao

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The intelligent network models were built to predict contaminant gas concentrations. • The improved network models coupled with Gaussian dispersion model were presented. • New model has high efficiency and accuracy for concentration prediction. • New model were applied to indentify the leakage source with satisfied results. - Abstract: Gas dispersion model is important for predicting the gas concentrations when contaminant gas leakage occurs. Intelligent network models such as radial basis function (RBF), back propagation (BP) neural network and support vector machine (SVM) model can be used for gas dispersion prediction. However, the prediction results from these network models with too many inputs based on original monitoring parameters are not in good agreement with the experimental data. Then, a new series of machine learning algorithms (MLA) models combined classic Gaussian model with MLA algorithm has been presented. The prediction results from new models are improved greatly. Among these models, Gaussian-SVM model performs best and its computation time is close to that of classic Gaussian dispersion model. Finally, Gaussian-MLA models were applied to identifying the emission source parameters with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method. The estimation performance of PSO with Gaussian-MLA is better than that with Gaussian, Lagrangian stochastic (LS) dispersion model and network models based on original monitoring parameters. Hence, the new prediction model based on Gaussian-MLA is potentially a good method to predict contaminant gas dispersion as well as a good forward model in emission source parameters identification problem.

Contaminant dispersion prediction and source estimation with integrated Gaussian-machine learning network model for point source emission in atmosphere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Denglong [Fuli School of Food Equipment Engineering and Science, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No.28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049 (China); Zhang, Zaoxiao, E-mail: zhangzx@mail.xjtu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No.28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049 (China); School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No.28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049 (China)

2016-07-05

Highlights: • The intelligent network models were built to predict contaminant gas concentrations. • The improved network models coupled with Gaussian dispersion model were presented. • New model has high efficiency and accuracy for concentration prediction. • New model were applied to indentify the leakage source with satisfied results. - Abstract: Gas dispersion model is important for predicting the gas concentrations when contaminant gas leakage occurs. Intelligent network models such as radial basis function (RBF), back propagation (BP) neural network and support vector machine (SVM) model can be used for gas dispersion prediction. However, the prediction results from these network models with too many inputs based on original monitoring parameters are not in good agreement with the experimental data. Then, a new series of machine learning algorithms (MLA) models combined classic Gaussian model with MLA algorithm has been presented. The prediction results from new models are improved greatly. Among these models, Gaussian-SVM model performs best and its computation time is close to that of classic Gaussian dispersion model. Finally, Gaussian-MLA models were applied to identifying the emission source parameters with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method. The estimation performance of PSO with Gaussian-MLA is better than that with Gaussian, Lagrangian stochastic (LS) dispersion model and network models based on original monitoring parameters. Hence, the new prediction model based on Gaussian-MLA is potentially a good method to predict contaminant gas dispersion as well as a good forward model in emission source parameters identification problem.

LASER APPLICATIONS AND OTHER TOPICS IN QUANTUM ELECTRONICS: Laser-induced extreme UV radiation sources for manufacturing next-generation integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Borisov, V. M.; Vinokhodov, A. Yu; Ivanov, A. S.; Kiryukhin, Yu B.; Mishchenko, V. A.; Prokof'ev, A. V.; Khristoforov, O. B.

2009-10-01

The development of high-power discharge sources emitting in the 13.5±0.135-nm spectral band is of current interest because they are promising for applications in industrial EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography for manufacturing integrated circuits according to technological precision standards of 22 nm and smaller. The parameters of EUV sources based on a laser-induced discharge in tin vapours between rotating disc electrodes are investigated. The properties of the discharge initiation by laser radiation at different wavelengths are established and the laser pulse parameters providing the maximum energy characteristics of the EUV source are determined. The EUV source developed in the study emits an average power of 276 W in the 13.5±0.135-nm spectral band on conversion to the solid angle 2π sr in the stationary regime at a pulse repetition rate of 3000 Hz.

Identifying Patterns in the Weather of Europe for Source Term Estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Klampanos, Iraklis; Pappas, Charalambos; Andronopoulos, Spyros; Davvetas, Athanasios; Ikonomopoulos, Andreas; Karkaletsis, Vangelis

2017-04-01

During emergencies that involve the release of hazardous substances into the atmosphere the potential health effects on the human population and the environment are of primary concern. Such events have occurred in the past, most notably involving radioactive and toxic substances. Examples of radioactive release events include the Chernobyl accident in 1986, as well as the more recent Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011. Often, the release of dangerous substances in the atmosphere is detected at locations different from the release origin. The objective of this work is the rapid estimation of such unknown sources shortly after the detection of dangerous substances in the atmosphere, with an initial focus on nuclear or radiological releases. Typically, after the detection of a radioactive substance in the atmosphere indicating the occurrence of an unknown release, the source location is estimated via inverse modelling. However, depending on factors such as the spatial resolution desired, traditional inverse modelling can be computationally time-consuming. This is especially true for cases where complex topography and weather conditions are involved and can therefore be problematic when timing is critical. Making use of machine learning techniques and the Big Data Europe platform1, our approach moves the bulk of the computation before any such event taking place, therefore allowing for rapid initial, albeit rougher, estimations regarding the source location. Our proposed approach is based on the automatic identification of weather patterns within the European continent. Identifying weather patterns has long been an active research field. Our case is differentiated by the fact that it focuses on plume dispersion patterns and these meteorological variables that affect dispersion the most. For a small set of recurrent weather patterns, we simulate hypothetical radioactive releases from a pre-known set of nuclear reactor locations and for different substance and temporal

Characterization and source apportionment of fine particulate sources at Rijeka, Croatia from 2013 to 2015

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ivošević, Tatjana, E-mail: tatjana.ivosevic14@gmail.com [Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Vukovarska 58, HR-51000 Rijeka (Croatia); Stelcer, Eduard [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Locked Bag 2001, Kirrawee DC, NSW 2232 (Australia); Orlić, Ivica [Department of Physics, University of Rijeka, Radmile Matejčić 2, HR-51000 Rijeka (Croatia); Bogdanović Radović, Iva [Laboratory for Ion Beam Interactions, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička 54, HR-10000 Zagreb (Croatia); Cohen, David [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Locked Bag 2001, Kirrawee DC, NSW 2232 (Australia)

2016-03-15

PM{sub 2.5} daily aerosol samples were collected in Rijeka, Croatia during period from 6th August 2013 to 29th January 2015. In total, 259 samples were collected on Teflon filters and analyzed by PIXE and PIGE techniques to give information on 21 elements from Na to Pb. Additionally, black carbon was determined with the Laser Integrated Plate Method. Results were statistically evaluated using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). Eight major pollution sources: auto, smoke, secondary sulfates, heavy oil combustion, sea spray, road dust, industry iron and soil dust were identified together with their relative contributions in total PM{sub 2.5} pollution.

Advanced RF and microwave functions based on an integrated optical frequency comb source.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Xingyuan; Wu, Jiayang; Nguyen, Thach G; Shoeiby, Mehrdad; Chu, Sai T; Little, Brent E; Morandotti, Roberto; Mitchell, Arnan; Moss, David J

2018-02-05

We demonstrate advanced transversal radio frequency (RF) and microwave functions based on a Kerr optical comb source generated by an integrated micro-ring resonator. We achieve extremely high performance for an optical true time delay aimed at tunable phased array antenna applications, as well as reconfigurable microwave photonic filters. Our results agree well with theory. We show that our true time delay would yield a phased array antenna with features that include high angular resolution and a wide range of beam steering angles, while the microwave photonic filters feature high Q factors, wideband tunability, and highly reconfigurable filtering shapes. These results show that our approach is a competitive solution to implementing reconfigurable, high performance and potentially low cost RF and microwave signal processing functions for applications including radar and communication systems.

Measurement of integrated healthcare delivery: a systematic review of methods and future research directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Strandberg-Larsen

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Integrated healthcare delivery is a policy goal of healthcare systems. There is no consensus on how to measure the concept, which makes it difficult to monitor progress. Purpose: To identify the different types of methods used to measure integrated healthcare delivery with emphasis on structural, cultural and process aspects. Methods: Medline/Pubmed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, WHOLIS, and conventional internet search engines were systematically searched for methods to measure integrated healthcare delivery (published – April 2008. Results: Twenty-four published scientific papers and documents met the inclusion criteria. In the 24 references we identified 24 different measurement methods; however, 5 methods shared theoretical framework. The methods can be categorized according to type of data source: a questionnaire survey data, b automated register data, or c mixed data sources. The variety of concepts measured reflects the significant conceptual diversity within the field, and most methods lack information regarding validity and reliability. Conclusion: Several methods have been developed to measure integrated healthcare delivery; 24 methods are available and some are highly developed. The objective governs the method best used. Criteria for sound measures are suggested and further developments should be based on an explicit conceptual framework and focus on simplifying and validating existing methods.

Source-identifying biomarker ions between environmental and clinical Burkholderia pseudomallei using whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).

Science.gov (United States)

Niyompanich, Suthamat; Jaresitthikunchai, Janthima; Srisanga, Kitima; Roytrakul, Sittiruk; Tungpradabkul, Sumalee

2014-01-01

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, which is an endemic disease in Northeast Thailand and Northern Australia. Environmental reservoirs, including wet soils and muddy water, serve as the major sources for contributing bacterial infection to both humans and animals. The whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS) has recently been applied as a rapid, accurate, and high-throughput tool for clinical diagnosis and microbiological research. In this present study, we employed a whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS approach for assessing its potency in clustering a total of 11 different B. pseudomallei isolates (consisting of 5 environmental and 6 clinical isolates) with respect to their origins and to further investigate the source-identifying biomarker ions belonging to each bacterial group. The cluster analysis demonstrated that six out of eleven isolates were grouped correctly to their sources. Our results revealed a total of ten source-identifying biomarker ions, which exhibited statistically significant differences in peak intensity between average environmental and clinical mass spectra using ClinProTools software. Six out of ten mass ions were assigned as environmental-identifying biomarker ions (EIBIs), including, m/z 4,056, 4,214, 5,814, 7,545, 7,895, and 8,112, whereas the remaining four mass ions were defined as clinical-identifying biomarker ions (CIBIs) consisting of m/z 3,658, 6,322, 7,035, and 7,984. Hence, our findings represented, for the first time, the source-specific biomarkers of environmental and clinical B. pseudomallei.

Organic sources in the Egyptian seawater around Alexandria coastal area as integrated from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omayma E. Ahmed

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper represents the first comprehensive survey and provides important data on PAHs concentration and composition in Alexandria coastal seawater. The compositions of PAHs determined in all samples are to be used as chemical markers for identifying different sources of PAH pollution in the surface seawater of Alexandria coastal area. The quantitative analysis of PAHs showed a concentration ranging from 8970.939 to 1254756.00 ng/L, which exceeds the maximum admissible concentrations of PAHs (200 ng/L for the water standard of European Union. The calculated diagnostic ratios suggested that the sources of PAHs at the majority of the studied area are derived primarily from pyrogenic sources from incomplete fuel combustion of the boats and vehicle engines with lesser amounts of PAHs contributed from petrogenic sources. Some stations displayed mixed sources in comparison to many other studied marine systems, the PAH concentrations detected at Alexandria area were considered to be higher and pose health risks to aquatic bodies.

INTEGRAL observation of 3EG J1736-2908

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Di Cocco, G.; Foschini, L.; Grandi, P.

2004-01-01

The possible identification by INTEGRAL of the EGRET source 3EG J1736-2908 with the active galactic nucleus GRS 1734-292 is discussed. The latter was discovered in 1990 and later identified with a Seyfert 1 galaxy. At the time of the compilation of the 3rd EGRET Catalog, it was not considered...... as a possible counterpart of the source 3EG J1736-2908, which remained unidentified. A detailed multiwavelength study of the EGRET error circle is presented, by including archival radio, soft- and hard-X observations, suggesting that GRS 1734-292 could be a likely counterpart of 3EG J1736-2908, even though...

An exploratory study identifying where local government public health decision makers source their evidence for policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoneham, Melissa; Dodds, James

2014-08-01

The Western Australian (WA) Public Health Bill will replace the antiquated Health Act 1911. One of the proposed clauses of the Bill requires all WA local governments to develop a Public Health Plan. The Bill states that Public Health Plans should be based on evidence from all levels, including national and statewide priorities, community needs, local statistical evidence, and stakeholder data. This exploratory study, which targeted 533 WA local government officers, aimed to identify the sources of evidence used to generate the list of public health risks to be included in local government Public Health Plans. The top four sources identified for informing local policy were: observation of the consequences of the risks in the local community (24.5%), statewide evidence (17.6%), local evidence (17.6%) and coverage in local media (16.2%). This study confirms that both hard and soft data are used to inform policy decisions at the local level. Therefore, the challenge that this study has highlighted is in the definition or constitution of evidence. SO WHAT? Evidence is critical to the process of sound policy development. This study highlights issues associated with what actually constitutes evidence in the policy development process at the local government level. With the exception of those who work in an extremely narrow field, it is difficult for local government officers, whose role includes policymaking, to read the vast amount of information that has been published in their area of expertise. For those who are committed to the notion of evidence-based policymaking, as advocated within the WA Public Health Bill, this presents a considerable challenge.

MetaPhinder-Identifying Bacteriophage Sequences in Metagenomic Data Sets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jurtz, Vanessa Isabell; Villarroel, Julia; Lund, Ole

2016-01-01

genome structure of many bacteriophages. The method is demonstrated to outperform both BLAST methods based on single hits and methods based on k-mer comparisons. MetaPhinder is available as a web service at the Center for Genomic Epidemiology https://cge.cbs.dtu.dk/services/MetaPhinder/, while the source...... and understand them. Here we present MetaPhinder, a method to identify assembled genomic fragments (i.e. contigs) of phage origin in metage-nomic data sets. The method is based on a comparison to a database of whole genome bacteriophage sequences, integrating hits to multiple genomes to accomodate for the mosaic...... code can be downloaded from https://bitbucket.org/genomicepidemiology/metaphinder or https://github.com/vanessajurtz/MetaPhinder....

Identifying Sources of Funding That Contribute to Scholastic Productivity in Academic Plastic Surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruan, Qing Zhao; Cohen, Justin B; Baek, Yoonji; Chen, Austin D; Doval, Andres F; Singhal, Dhruv; Fukudome, Eugene Y; Lin, Samuel J; Lee, Bernard T

2018-04-01

Scholastic productivity has previously been shown to be positively associated with National Institute of Health (NIH) grants and industry funding. This study examines whether society, industry, or federal funding contributes toward academic productivity as measured by scholastic output of academic plastic surgeons. Institution Web sites were used to acquire academic attributes of full-time academic plastic surgeons. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payment database, NIH reporter, the Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF), and American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) Web sites were accessed for funding and endowment details. Bibliometric data of each surgeon were then collected via Scopus to ascertain strengths of association with each source. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify significant contributors to high scholastic output. We identified 935 academic plastic surgeons with 94 (10.1%), 24 (2.6%), 724 (77.4%), and 62 (6.6%) receiving funding from PSF, AAPS, industry, and NIH, respectively. There were positive correlations in receiving NIH, PSF, and/or AAPS funding (P funding was found to negatively associate with PSF (r = -0.75, P = 0.022) grants. The NIH R award was consistently found to be the most predictive of academic output across bibliometrics, followed by the AAPS academic scholarship award. Conventional measures of academic seniority remained predictive across all measures used. Our study demonstrates for the first time interactions between industry, federal, and association funding. The NIH R award was the strongest determinant of high scholastic productivity. Recognition through AAPS academic scholarships seemed to associate with subsequent success in NIH funding.

Integrated watershed- and farm-scale modeling framework for targeting critical source areas while maintaining farm economic viability.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghebremichael, Lula T; Veith, Tamie L; Hamlett, James M

2013-01-15

Quantitative risk assessments of pollution and data related to the effectiveness of mitigating best management practices (BMPs) are important aspects of nonpoint source pollution control efforts, particularly those driven by specific water quality objectives and by measurable improvement goals, such as the total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements. Targeting critical source areas (CSAs) that generate disproportionately high pollutant loads within a watershed is a crucial step in successfully controlling nonpoint source pollution. The importance of watershed simulation models in assisting with the quantitative assessments of CSAs of pollution (relative to their magnitudes and extents) and of the effectiveness of associated BMPs has been well recognized. However, due to the distinct disconnect between the hydrological scale in which these models conduct their evaluation and the farm scale at which feasible BMPs are actually selected and implemented, and due to the difficulty and uncertainty involved in transferring watershed model data to farm fields, there are limited practical applications of these tools in the current nonpoint source pollution control efforts by conservation specialists for delineating CSAs and planning targeting measures. There are also limited approaches developed that can assess impacts of CSA-targeted BMPs on farm productivity and profitability together with the assessment of water quality improvements expected from applying these measures. This study developed a modeling framework that integrates farm economics and environmental aspects (such as identification and mitigation of CSAs) through joint use of watershed- and farm-scale models in a closed feedback loop. The integration of models in a closed feedback loop provides a way for environmental changes to be evaluated with regard to the impact on the practical aspects of farm management and economics, adjusted or reformulated as necessary, and revaluated with respect to effectiveness of

A new integral experiment on copper with DT neutron source at JAEA/FNS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, Saerom, E-mail: kwon.saerom@jaea.go.jp; Sato, Satoshi; Ohta, Masayuki; Ochiai, Kentaro; Konno, Chikara

2016-11-01

Highlights: • Integral experiment on copper with DT neutron was performed under small influence of background neutrons which were efficiently absorbed in the Li{sub 2}O layers. • The experimental analyses were carried out using MCNP5-1.40 and the recent nuclear data libraries. • The underestimation issue of the reaction rates related to lower energy neutrons is focused on. • The combination of the {sup 63}Cu data in JEFF-3.2 and {sup 65}Cu data in JENDL-4.0 gave the best C/E. • The specific cross section data of copper should be reassessed. - Abstract: In order to validate copper nuclear data, an integral experiment on copper with the DT neutron source at JAEA/FNS had been performed over 20 years ago. The experiment had showed that ratios of the calculated values to the experimental ones (C/Es) related to lower energy neutrons had been drastically smaller than unity. In order to reveal reasons of the small C/Es, we newly performed the integral experiment on copper with the DT neutron source at JAEA/FNS. A quasi-cylindrical copper assembly of 315 mm in radius and 608 mm in depth was covered with Li{sub 2}O blocks of 51 mm in thickness for the front and side parts and 153 mm in thickness for the rear part to exclude background neutrons which might affect the measured data. We measured reaction rates with 5 activation foils and fission rates with 2 micro fission chambers at the center of the assembly. The experiment was analyzed by using MCNP5-1.40 with the recent nuclear data libraries, ENDF/B-VII.1, JEFF-3.2 and JENDL-4.0. As a result, the C/E of the reaction rate of the {sup 197}Au(n,γ){sup 198}Au reaction improved by 10% from the previous result and the combination of the {sup 63}Cu data in JEFF-3.2 and {sup 65}Cu data in JENDL-4.0 increased the C/E by more 10% because of the resonance data of the {sup 63}Cu in JEFF-3.2. Moreover, the calculated result with the {sup 63}Cu data in JEFF-3.2 and {sup 65}Cu data in JENDL-4.0 with 10% larger elastic

The source apportionment of carbonaceous combustion products by micro-radiocarbon measurements for the integrated air cancer project (IACP)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klouda, G.A.; Currie, L.A.; Sheffield, A.E.; Wise, S.A.; Benner, B.A.; Stevens, R.K.; Merrill, R.G.

1987-01-01

Atmospheric particle samples were collected during the winter of 1984-1985 in Albuquerque, NM and Raleigh, NC by the EPA for the Integrated Air Cancer Project (IACP). Selected chemical fractions were analyzed for /sup 14/C to apportion mobile (motor vehicles) and stationary (residential wood combustion) sources. In addition, these results were used to validate the EPA Single Tracer Regression Model (STRM), also a technique for the source apportionment of aerosols. Preliminary /sup 14/C results for the Albuquerque residential site at night showed 79% Contemporary Carbon (CC) compared to 95% CC for Raleight at night for the total carbon; 88% and 94% of the total-C was organic, respectively. The Albuquerque traffic site during the day showed 1.4 to 3.9 times less CC compared to the daytime residential site for total-C. The elemental carbon fraction in all cases showed a lower percentage of contemporary carbon than the total carbon, which indicates that this chemical fraction may be an excellent tracer of mobile sources. These results are consistent with a daytime mobile source at the traffic site and a nighttime Residential Wood Combustion (RWC) source at the residential site. Also, the results from the EPA STRM technique for this study were in good agreement with those obtained by the /sup 14/C Direct Tracer (/sup 14/C-DT) technique for source apportionment of these aerosols

The role of the supply chain executive in supply chain integration: a behavioral approach

OpenAIRE

ELENA REVILLA; LUIS GOMEZ - MEJIA

2008-01-01

Applying a behavioural approach of agency theory, this paper aimed to identify the most appropriate employment and compensation system (ECS) for supply chain executives in order to foster supply chain integration. We attempted to develop a novel approach of how encourages supply chain integration from the perspective of managerial incentives, an enabler that has not been analyzed in the literature. The paper presents the analysis of three sources of risk bearing - compensation risk, employmen...

Flipping the Audience Script: An Activity That Integrates Research and Audience Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Chris; Hannah, Mark A.

2016-01-01

This article describes a flipped classroom activity that requires students to integrate research and audience analysis. The activity uses Twitter as a data source. In the activity, students identify a sample, collect customer tweets, and analyze the language of the tweets in an effort to construct knowledge about an audience's values, needs, and…

HARVESTING, INTEGRATING AND DISTRIBUTING LARGE OPEN GEOSPATIAL DATASETS USING FREE AND OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Oliveira

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Federal, State and Local government agencies in the USA are investing heavily on the dissemination of Open Data sets produced by each of them. The main driver behind this thrust is to increase agencies’ transparency and accountability, as well as to improve citizens’ awareness. However, not all Open Data sets are easy to access and integrate with other Open Data sets available even from the same agency. The City and County of Denver Open Data Portal distributes several types of geospatial datasets, one of them is the city parcels information containing 224,256 records. Although this data layer contains many pieces of information it is incomplete for some custom purposes. Open-Source Software were used to first collect data from diverse City of Denver Open Data sets, then upload them to a repository in the Cloud where they were processed using a PostgreSQL installation on the Cloud and Python scripts. Our method was able to extract non-spatial information from a ‘not-ready-to-download’ source that could then be combined with the initial data set to enhance its potential use.

Vertical integration as a source of market power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Phelps, J.H.

1981-11-01

This paper has put forward a theory of vertial integration where the ability of a group of firms to engage in noncompetitive pricing is increased by altering conjectural variations. An analysis of conditions faced by major oil companies at refining indicated little likelihood of market power, short of a complex, secret price fixing agreement. Vertical integration to branded retail outlets appears to have created the ability to price noncompetitively without overt collusion. More interesting for vertical policy are the results on non price rivalry where excess profits appear to have been turned into social costs.

Events as Power Source: Wireless Sustainable Corrosion Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guodong Sun

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This study presents and implements a corrosion-monitoring wireless sensor platform, EPS (Events as Power Source, which monitors the corrosion events in reinforced concrete (RC structures, while being powered by the micro-energy released from the corrosion process. In EPS, the proposed corrosion-sensing device serves both as the signal source for identifying corrosion and as the power source for driving the sensor mote, because the corrosion process (event releases electric energy; this is a novel idea proposed by this study. For accumulating the micro-corrosion energy, we integrate EPS with a COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf energy-harvesting chip that recharges a supercapacitor. In particular, this study designs automatic energy management and adaptive transmitted power control polices to efficiently use the constrained accumulated energy. Finally, a set of preliminary experiments based on concrete pore solution are conducted to evaluate the feasibility and the efficacy of EPS.

Events as power source: wireless sustainable corrosion monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Guodong; Qiao, Guofu; Zhao, Lin; Chen, Zhibo

2013-12-17

This study presents and implements a corrosion-monitoring wireless sensor platform, EPS (Events as Power Source), which monitors the corrosion events in reinforced concrete (RC) structures, while being powered by the micro-energy released from the corrosion process. In EPS, the proposed corrosion-sensing device serves both as the signal source for identifying corrosion and as the power source for driving the sensor mote, because the corrosion process (event) releases electric energy; this is a novel idea proposed by this study. For accumulating the micro-corrosion energy, we integrate EPS with a COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) energy-harvesting chip that recharges a supercapacitor. In particular, this study designs automatic energy management and adaptive transmitted power control polices to efficiently use the constrained accumulated energy. Finally, a set of preliminary experiments based on concrete pore solution are conducted to evaluate the feasibility and the efficacy of EPS.

A Survey of Open Source Products for Building a SIP Communication Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel Segec

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP is a multimedia signalling protocol that has evolved into a widely adopted communication standard. The integration of SIP into existing IP networks has fostered IP networks becoming a convergence platform for both real-time and non-real-time multimedia communications. This converged platform integrates data, voice, video, presence, messaging, and conference services into a single network that offers new communication experiences for users. The open source community has contributed to SIP adoption through the development of open source software for both SIP clients and servers. In this paper, we provide a survey on open SIP systems that can be built using publically available software. We identify SIP features for service development and programming, services and applications of a SIP-converged platform, and the most important technologies supporting SIP functionalities. We propose an advanced converged IP communication platform that uses SIP for service delivery. The platform supports audio and video calls, along with media services such as audio conferences, voicemail, presence, and instant messaging. Using SIP Application Programming Interfaces (APIs, the platform allows the deployment of advanced integrated services. The platform is implemented with open source software. Architecture components run on standardized hardware with no need for special purpose investments.

Identifying the contribution of different urban highway air pollution sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peace, H.; Owen, B.; Raper, D.W.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the methodology and results, and draws conclusions from a large-scale source apportionment study undertaken in a large urban conurbation in the northwest of England. Annual average oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission and ambient air pollution contributions have been estimated for road traffic sources. Ground level air pollution concentrations were estimated over a 1552-km 2 area with a resolution of up to 20 m, using emissions estimates and the second generation ADMS-Urban Gaussian dispersion model. Road traffic emissions were split into car and motorcycles; heavy and light goods vehicles; and buses to represent domestic users; commercial users and bus companies. Car related emissions were split further in to journey lengths under 3 km; journeys between 3 and 8 km; and journeys over 8 km to represent journeys which could be either walked or cycled; journeys for which a bus can easily be used and other journeys. These source sections were chosen so that the relevant authorities could target key groups in terms of reducing air pollution. The results confirm that the areas most likely to exceed air quality objectives are typically close to main arterial routes and close to urban centres and that the major culprits of road traffic related air pollution are goods vehicles and car journeys over 8 km. The paper also discusses the implications of the results and suggests how these can be used in the assessment of actions to reduce air pollution concentrations

Identifying the contribution of different urban highway air pollution sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Peace, H; Owen, B; Raper, D W

2004-12-01

This paper describes the methodology and results, and draws conclusions from a large-scale source apportionment study undertaken in a large urban conurbation in the northwest of England. Annual average oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission and ambient air pollution contributions have been estimated for road traffic sources. Ground level air pollution concentrations were estimated over a 1552-km(2) area with a resolution of up to 20 m, using emissions estimates and the second generation ADMS-Urban Gaussian dispersion model. Road traffic emissions were split into car and motorcycles; heavy and light goods vehicles; and buses to represent domestic users; commercial users and bus companies. Car related emissions were split further in to journey lengths under 3 km; journeys between 3 and 8 km; and journeys over 8 km to represent journeys which could be either walked or cycled; journeys for which a bus can easily be used and other journeys. These source sections were chosen so that the relevant authorities could target key groups in terms of reducing air pollution. The results confirm that the areas most likely to exceed air quality objectives are typically close to main arterial routes and close to urban centres and that the major culprits of road traffic related air pollution are goods vehicles and car journeys over 8 km. The paper also discusses the implications of the results and suggests how these can be used in the assessment of actions to reduce air pollution concentrations.

ERP correlates of source memory: Unitized source information increases familiarity-based retrieval

OpenAIRE

Diana, Rachel A.; Van den Boom, Wijnand; Yonelinas, Andrew P.; Ranganath, Charan

2010-01-01

Source memory tests typically require subjects to make decisions about the context in which an item was encoded and are thought to depend on recollection of details from the study episode. Although it is generally believed that familiarity does not contribute to source memory, recent behavioral studies have suggested that familiarity may also support source recognition when item and source information are integrated, or “unitized”, during study (Diana, Yonelinas, and Ranganath 2008). However,...

Data Integration The Relational Logic Approach

CERN Document Server

Genesereth, Michael

2010-01-01

Data integration is a critical problem in our increasingly interconnected but inevitably heterogeneous world. There are numerous data sources available in organizational databases and on public information systems like the World Wide Web. Not surprisingly, the sources often use different vocabularies and different data structures, being created, as they are, by different people, at different times, for different purposes. The goal of data integration is to provide programmatic and human users with integrated access to multiple, heterogeneous data sources, giving each user the illusion of a sin

Identifying the sources of nitrate contamination of groundwater in an agricultural area (Haean basin, Korea) using isotope and microbial community analyses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Heejung [School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (BK21 SEES), Seoul National University, Seoul 151–747 (Korea, Republic of); Kaown, Dugin, E-mail: dugin1@snu.ac.kr [School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (BK21 SEES), Seoul National University, Seoul 151–747 (Korea, Republic of); Mayer, Bernhard [Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary T2N 1N4, Alberta (Canada); Lee, Jin-Yong [Department of Geology, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200–701 (Korea, Republic of); Hyun, Yunjung [Planning and Management Group, Korea Environment Institute, Sejong 339-007 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Kang-Kun [School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (BK21 SEES), Seoul National University, Seoul 151–747 (Korea, Republic of)

2015-11-15

An integrated study based on hydrogeochemical, microbiological and dual isotopic approaches for nitrate and sulfate was conducted to elucidate sources and biogeochemical reactions governing groundwater contaminants in different seasons and under different land use in a basin of Korea. The land use in the study area is comprised of forests (58.0%), vegetable fields (27.6%), rice paddy fields (11.4%) and others (3.0%). The concentrations of NO{sub 3}–N and SO{sub 4}{sup 2−} in groundwater in vegetable fields were highest with 4.2–15.2 mg L{sup −1} and 1.6–19.7 mg L{sup −1} respectively, whereas under paddy fields NO{sub 3}–N concentrations ranged from 0 to 10.7 mg L{sup −1} and sulfate concentrations were ~ 15 mg L{sup −1}. Groundwater with high NO{sub 3}–N concentrations of > 10 mg L{sup −1} had δ{sup 15}N–NO{sub 3}{sup −} values ranging from 5.2 to 5.9‰ and δ{sup 18}O values of nitrate between 2.7 and 4.6‰ suggesting that the nitrate was mineralized from soil organic matter that was amended by fertilizer additions. Elevated concentrations of SO{sub 4}{sup 2−} with δ{sup 34}S–SO{sub 4}{sup 2−} values between 1 and 6‰ in aquifers in vegetable fields indicated that a mixture of sulfate from atmospheric deposition, mineralization of soil organic matter and from synthetic fertilizers is the source of groundwater sulfate. Elevated δ{sup 18}O–NO{sub 3}{sup −} and δ{sup 18}O–SO{sub 4}{sup 2−} values in samples collected from the paddy fields indicated that denitrification and bacterial sulfate reduction are actively occurring removing sulfate and nitrate from the groundwater. This was supported by high occurrences of denitrifying and sulfate reducing bacteria in groundwater of the paddy fields as evidenced by 16S rRNA pyrosequencing analysis. This study shows that dual isotope techniques combined with microbial data can be a powerful tool for identification of sources and microbial processes affecting NO{sub 3}{sup �

Source-Message-Receiver in Integrated Marketing Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Broussard, Sharee LeBlanc

2011-01-01

This is an abbreviation of the author's dissertation. Because integrated marketing communication (IMC) research has traditionally been problematic, this study used an existing scale to determine that higher educational institutional advancement (alumni, marketing-communications, development) is an appropriate venue to study the process model of…

Air-Source Integrated Heat Pump System Development – Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baxter, Van D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Rice, C. Keith [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Munk, Jeffrey D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Ally, Moonis R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Shen, Bo [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Uselton, R. B. [Lennox Industries, Inc., Knoxville, TN (United States)

2017-07-01

Between October 2007 and September 2017, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lennox Industries, Inc. (Lennox) engaged in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to develop an air-source integrated heat pump (AS-IHP) system for the US residential market. The Lennox AS-IHP concept consisted of a high-efficiency air-source heat pump (ASHP) for space heating and cooling services and a separate heat pump water heater/dehumidifier (WH/DH) module for domestic water heating and dehumidification (DH) services. A key feature of this system approach with the separate WH/DH is capability to pretreat (i.e., dehumidify) ventilation air and dedicated whole-house DH independent of the ASHP. Two generations of laboratory prototype WH/DH units were designed, fabricated, and lab tested. Performance maps for the system were developed using the latest research version of the US Department of Energy/ORNL heat pump design model (Rice 1992; Rice and Jackson 2005; Shen et al. 2012) as calibrated against the lab test data. These maps served as the input to TRNSYS (Solar Energy Laboratory et al. 2010) to predict annual performance relative to a baseline suite of equipment meeting minimum efficiency standards in effect in 2006 (i.e., a combination of an ASHP with a seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) of 13 and resistance water heater with an energy factor (EF) of 0.9). Predicted total annual energy savings (based on use of a two-speed ASHP and the second-generation WH/DH prototype for the AS-IHP), while providing space conditioning, water heating, and dehumidification for a tight, well-insulated 2600 ft2 (242 m2) house at three US locations, ranged from 33 to 36%, averaging 35%, relative to the baseline system. The lowest savings were seen at the cold-climate Chicago location. Predicted energy use for water heating was reduced by about 50 to 60% relative to a resistance WH.

India RE Grid Integration Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cochran, Jaquelin M [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-09-08

The use of renewable energy (RE) sources, primarily wind and solar generation, is poised to grow significantly within the Indian power system. The Government of India has established a target of 175 gigawatts (GW) of installed RE capacity by 2022, including 60 GW of wind and 100 GW of solar, up from 29 GW wind and 9 GW solar at the beginning of 2017. Thanks to advanced weather and power system modeling made for this project, the study team is able to explore operational impacts of meeting India's RE targets and identify actions that may be favorable for integration.

ChimericSeq: An open-source, user-friendly interface for analyzing NGS data to identify and characterize viral-host chimeric sequences

Science.gov (United States)

Shieh, Fwu-Shan; Jongeneel, Patrick; Steffen, Jamin D.; Lin, Selena; Jain, Surbhi; Song, Wei

2017-01-01

Identification of viral integration sites has been important in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of diseases associated with particular viral infections. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled researchers to understand the impact that viral integration has on the host, such as tumorigenesis. Current computational methods to analyze NGS data of virus-host junction sites have been limited in terms of their accessibility to a broad user base. In this study, we developed a software application (named ChimericSeq), that is the first program of its kind to offer a graphical user interface, compatibility with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and optimized for effectively identifying and annotating virus-host chimeric reads within NGS data. In addition, ChimericSeq’s pipeline implements custom filtering to remove artifacts and detect reads with quantitative analytical reporting to provide functional significance to discovered integration sites. The improved accessibility of ChimericSeq through a GUI interface in both Windows and Mac has potential to expand NGS analytical support to a broader spectrum of the scientific community. PMID:28829778

ChimericSeq: An open-source, user-friendly interface for analyzing NGS data to identify and characterize viral-host chimeric sequences.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fwu-Shan Shieh

Full Text Available Identification of viral integration sites has been important in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of diseases associated with particular viral infections. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS has enabled researchers to understand the impact that viral integration has on the host, such as tumorigenesis. Current computational methods to analyze NGS data of virus-host junction sites have been limited in terms of their accessibility to a broad user base. In this study, we developed a software application (named ChimericSeq, that is the first program of its kind to offer a graphical user interface, compatibility with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and optimized for effectively identifying and annotating virus-host chimeric reads within NGS data. In addition, ChimericSeq's pipeline implements custom filtering to remove artifacts and detect reads with quantitative analytical reporting to provide functional significance to discovered integration sites. The improved accessibility of ChimericSeq through a GUI interface in both Windows and Mac has potential to expand NGS analytical support to a broader spectrum of the scientific community.

Integrated omics analysis of specialized metabolism in medicinal plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Rai, Amit; Saito, Kazuki; Yamazaki, Mami

2017-05-01

Medicinal plants are a rich source of highly diverse specialized metabolites with important pharmacological properties. Until recently, plant biologists were limited in their ability to explore the biosynthetic pathways of these metabolites, mainly due to the scarcity of plant genomics resources. However, recent advances in high-throughput large-scale analytical methods have enabled plant biologists to discover biosynthetic pathways for important plant-based medicinal metabolites. The reduced cost of generating omics datasets and the development of computational tools for their analysis and integration have led to the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways of several bioactive metabolites of plant origin. These discoveries have inspired synthetic biology approaches to develop microbial systems to produce bioactive metabolites originating from plants, an alternative sustainable source of medicinally important chemicals. Since the demand for medicinal compounds are increasing with the world's population, understanding the complete biosynthesis of specialized metabolites becomes important to identify or develop reliable sources in the future. Here, we review the contributions of major omics approaches and their integration to our understanding of the biosynthetic pathways of bioactive metabolites. We briefly discuss different approaches for integrating omics datasets to extract biologically relevant knowledge and the application of omics datasets in the construction and reconstruction of metabolic models. © 2017 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hyperspectral microscopy to identify foodborne bacteria with optimum lighting source

Science.gov (United States)

Hyperspectral microscopy is an emerging technology for rapid detection of foodborne pathogenic bacteria. Since scattering spectral signatures from hyperspectral microscopic images (HMI) vary with lighting sources, it is important to select optimal lights. The objective of this study is to compare t...

Indicators to identify the source of pesticide contamination to groundwater

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorling, Lærke; Brüsch, Walter; Tuxen, Nina

In Denmark groundwater is synonym with drinking water. The mainstream Danish political approach favors prevention and action at source over advanced treatments of polluted groundwater. The main pollutants are nitrate and pesticides. Pesticides in groundwater can originate from either diffuse or p...

Low-loss integrated electrical surface plasmon source with ultra-smooth metal film fabricated by polymethyl methacrylate ‘bond and peel’ method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wenjie; Hu, Xiaolong; Zou, Qiushun; Wu, Shaoying; Jin, Chongjun

2018-06-01

External light sources are mostly employed to functionalize the plasmonic components, resulting in a bulky footprint. Electrically driven integrated plasmonic devices, combining ultra-compact critical feature sizes with extremely high transmission speeds and low power consumption, can link plasmonics with the present-day electronic world. In an effort to achieve this prospect, suppressing the losses in the plasmonic devices becomes a pressing issue. In this work, we developed a novel polymethyl methacrylate ‘bond and peel’ method to fabricate metal films with sub-nanometer smooth surfaces on semiconductor wafers. Based on this method, we further fabricated a compact plasmonic source containing a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide with an ultra-smooth metal surface on a GaAs-based light-emitting diode wafer. An increase in propagation length of the SPP mode by a factor of 2.95 was achieved as compared with the conventional device containing a relatively rough metal surface. Numerical calculations further confirmed that the propagation length is comparable to the theoretical prediction on the MIM waveguide with perfectly smooth metal surfaces. This method facilitates low-loss and high-integration of electrically driven plasmonic devices, thus provides an immediate opportunity for the practical application of on-chip integrated plasmonic circuits.

A Space Experiment to Measure the Atomic Oxygen Erosion of Polymers and Demonstrate a Technique to Identify Sources of Silicone Contamination

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Bruce A.; deGroh, Kim K.; Baney-Barton, Elyse; Sechkar, Edward A.; Hunt, Patricia K.; Willoughby, Alan; Bemer, Meagan; Hope, Stephanie; Koo, Julie; Kaminski, Carolyn;

Grid Integration of Single Stage Solar PV System using Three-level Voltage Source Converter

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Ikhlaq; Kandpal, Maulik; Singh, Bhim

2016-08-01

This paper presents a single stage solar PV (photovoltaic) grid integrated power generating system using a three level voltage source converter (VSC) operating at low switching frequency of 900 Hz with robust synchronizing phase locked loop (RS-PLL) based control algorithm. To track the maximum power from solar PV array, an incremental conductance algorithm is used and this maximum power is fed to the grid via three-level VSC. The use of single stage system with three level VSC offers the advantage of low switching losses and the operation at high voltages and high power which results in enhancement of power quality in the proposed system. Simulated results validate the design and control algorithm under steady state and dynamic conditions.

An Event-Related Potential Examination of Contour Integration Deficits in Schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela D Butler

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Perceptual organization, which refers to the ability to integrate fragments of stimuli to form a representation of a whole edge, part, or object, is impaired in schizophrenia. A contour integration paradigm, involving detection of a set of Gabor patches forming an oval contour pointing to the right or left embedded in a field of randomly oriented Gabors, has been developed for use in clinical trials of schizophrenia. The purpose of the present study was to assess contributions of early and later stages of processing to deficits in contour integration, as well as to develop an event-related potential (ERP analog of this task. Twenty-one patients with schizophrenia and 28 controls participated. The Gabor elements forming the contours were given a low or high degree of orientational jitter, making it either easy or difficult to identify the direction in which the contour was pointing. ERP results showed greater negative peaks at ~165 (N1 component and ~270 ms for the low-jitter versus the high-jitter contours, with a much greater difference between jitter conditions at 270 ms. This later ERP component was previously termed Ncl for closure negativity. Source localization identified the Ncl in the lateral occipital object recognition area. Patients showed a significant decrease in the Ncl, but not N1, compared to controls, and this was associated with impaired behavioral ability to identify contours. In addition, an earlier negative peak was found at ~120 ms (termed N120 that differentiated jitter conditions, had a dorsal stream source, and differed between patients and controls. Patients also showed a deficit in the dorsal stream sensory P1 component. These results are in accord with impairments in distributed circuitry contributing to perceptual organization deficits and provide an ERP analog to the behavioral contour integration task.

Information Integration; The process of integration, evolution and versioning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Keijzer, Ander; van Keulen, Maurice

2005-01-01

At present, many information sources are available wherever you are. Most of the time, the information needed is spread across several of those information sources. Gathering this information is a tedious and time consuming job. Automating this process would assist the user in its task. Integration

41 CFR 102-2.125 - What source of information can my agency use to identify materials that describe how to do...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What source of information can my agency use to identify materials that describe how to do business with GSA? 102-2.125 Section 102-2.125 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System...

Thoughts on identifiers

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2005-01-01

As business processes and information transactions have become an inextricably intertwined with the Web, the importance of assignment, registration, discovery, and maintenance of identifiers has increased. In spite of this, integrated frameworks for managing identifiers have been slow to emerge. Instead, identification systems arise (quite naturally) from immediate business needs without consideration for how they fit into larger information architectures. In addition, many legacy identifier systems further complicate the landscape, making it difficult for content managers to select and deploy identifier systems that meet both the business case and long term information management objectives. This presentation will outline a model for evaluating identifier applications and the functional requirements of the systems necessary to support them. The model is based on a layered analysis of the characteristics of identifier systems, including: * Functional characteristics * Technology * Policy * Business * Social T...

Kernel integration scatter model for parallel beam gamma camera and SPECT point source response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinkovic, P.M.

2001-01-01

Scatter correction is a prerequisite for quantitative single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). In this paper a kernel integration scatter Scatter correction is a prerequisite for quantitative SPECT. In this paper a kernel integration scatter model for parallel beam gamma camera and SPECT point source response based on Klein-Nishina formula is proposed. This method models primary photon distribution as well as first Compton scattering. It also includes a correction for multiple scattering by applying a point isotropic single medium buildup factor for the path segment between the point of scatter an the point of detection. Gamma ray attenuation in the object of imaging, based on known μ-map distribution, is considered too. Intrinsic spatial resolution of the camera is approximated by a simple Gaussian function. Collimator is modeled simply using acceptance angles derived from the physical dimensions of the collimator. Any gamma rays satisfying this angle were passed through the collimator to the crystal. Septal penetration and scatter in the collimator were not included in the model. The method was validated by comparison with Monte Carlo MCNP-4a numerical phantom simulation and excellent results were obtained. The physical phantom experiments, to confirm this method, are planed to be done. (author)

MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integrated FMCW Ladar Source

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-18

1   1.1.   E-­‐ PHI  PHASE  2  –  MEMS  LADAR  SOURCE...4   3.2.   PROPOSED  EO-­‐PLL   ARCHITECTURE  WITH  GATED  RAMP-­‐SWITCHING... PHI  Phase  2  –  MEMS  LADAR  Source   In  Phase  2,  we  continue  the  development  of  the  FMCW  LADAR

Integrating Genetic and Gene Co-expression Analysis Identifies Gene Networks Involved in Alcohol and Stress Responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Jie; Xu, Pei; Cao, Peijian; Wan, Hongjian; Lv, Xiaonan; Xu, Shengchun; Wang, Gangjun; Cook, Melloni N; Jones, Byron C; Lu, Lu; Wang, Xusheng

2018-01-01

Although the link between stress and alcohol is well recognized, the underlying mechanisms of how they interplay at the molecular level remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to identify molecular networks underlying the effects of alcohol and stress responses, as well as their interaction on anxiety behaviors in the hippocampus of mice using a systems genetics approach. Here, we applied a gene co-expression network approach to transcriptomes of 41 BXD mouse strains under four conditions: stress, alcohol, stress-induced alcohol and control. The co-expression analysis identified 14 modules and characterized four expression patterns across the four conditions. The four expression patterns include up-regulation in no restraint stress and given an ethanol injection (NOE) but restoration in restraint stress followed by an ethanol injection (RSE; pattern 1), down-regulation in NOE but rescue in RSE (pattern 2), up-regulation in both restraint stress followed by a saline injection (RSS) and NOE, and further amplification in RSE (pattern 3), and up-regulation in RSS but reduction in both NOE and RSE (pattern 4). We further identified four functional subnetworks by superimposing protein-protein interactions (PPIs) to the 14 co-expression modules, including γ-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABA) signaling, glutamate signaling, neuropeptide signaling, cAMP-dependent signaling. We further performed module specificity analysis to identify modules that are specific to stress, alcohol, or stress-induced alcohol responses. Finally, we conducted causality analysis to link genetic variation to these identified modules, and anxiety behaviors after stress and alcohol treatments. This study underscores the importance of integrative analysis and offers new insights into the molecular networks underlying stress and alcohol responses.

Integrating Genetic and Gene Co-expression Analysis Identifies Gene Networks Involved in Alcohol and Stress Responses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Luo

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Although the link between stress and alcohol is well recognized, the underlying mechanisms of how they interplay at the molecular level remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to identify molecular networks underlying the effects of alcohol and stress responses, as well as their interaction on anxiety behaviors in the hippocampus of mice using a systems genetics approach. Here, we applied a gene co-expression network approach to transcriptomes of 41 BXD mouse strains under four conditions: stress, alcohol, stress-induced alcohol and control. The co-expression analysis identified 14 modules and characterized four expression patterns across the four conditions. The four expression patterns include up-regulation in no restraint stress and given an ethanol injection (NOE but restoration in restraint stress followed by an ethanol injection (RSE; pattern 1, down-regulation in NOE but rescue in RSE (pattern 2, up-regulation in both restraint stress followed by a saline injection (RSS and NOE, and further amplification in RSE (pattern 3, and up-regulation in RSS but reduction in both NOE and RSE (pattern 4. We further identified four functional subnetworks by superimposing protein-protein interactions (PPIs to the 14 co-expression modules, including γ-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABA signaling, glutamate signaling, neuropeptide signaling, cAMP-dependent signaling. We further performed module specificity analysis to identify modules that are specific to stress, alcohol, or stress-induced alcohol responses. Finally, we conducted causality analysis to link genetic variation to these identified modules, and anxiety behaviors after stress and alcohol treatments. This study underscores the importance of integrative analysis and offers new insights into the molecular networks underlying stress and alcohol responses.

Evaluating stormwater micropollutant control strategies by the application of an integrated model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vezzaro, Luca; Sharma, Anitha Kumari; Ledin, Anna

2011-01-01

and enhancement of existing treatment) for reducing heavy metals (copper, zinc) and organic MP (fluoranthene). The runoff quality model showed high uncertainty, with prediction bounds strongly affected by the exceptionally high measured concentrations. The model quantified the greater benefits of the source......The estimation of micropollutant (MP) fluxes in stormwater systems is a fundamental task to enable the elaboration of strategies to reduce stormwater MP discharge to natural waters. Dynamic models can represent important tools which can integrate the limited data provided by monitoring campaigns....... This study presents an application of an integrated dynamic model to estimate MP fluxes in stormwater systems in combination with stormwater quality measurements. MP sources were identified by using GIS land usage data. Runoff quality was simulated by using a conceptual accumulation/washoff model...

Modeling Aerobic Carbon Source Degradation Processes using Titrimetric Data and Combined Respirometric-Titrimetric Data: Structural and Practical Identifiability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gernaey, Krist; Petersen, B.; Dochain, D.

2002-01-01

The structural and practical identifiability of a model for description of respirometric-titrimetric data derived from aerobic batch substrate degradation experiments of a CxHyOz carbon source with activated sludge was evaluated. The model processes needed to describe titrimetric data included su...... the initial substrate concentration S-S(O) is known. The values found correspond to values reported in literature, but, interestingly, also seem able to reflect the occurrence of storage processes when pulses of acetate and dextrose are added. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc....

The first neural probe integrated with light source (blue laser diode) for optical stimulation and electrical recording.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, HyungDal; Shin, Hyun-Joon; Cho, Il-Joo; Yoon, Eui-sung; Suh, Jun-Kyo Francis; Im, Maesoon; Yoon, Euisik; Kim, Yong-Jun; Kim, Jinseok

2011-01-01

In this paper, we report a neural probe which can selectively stimulate target neurons optically through Si wet etched mirror surface and record extracellular neural signals in iridium oxide tetrodes. Consequently, the proposed approach provides to improve directional problem and achieve at least 150/m gap distance between stimulation and recording sites by wet etched mirror surface in V-groove. Also, we developed light source, blue laser diode (OSRAM Blue Laser Diode_PL 450), integration through simple jig for one-touch butt-coupling. Furthermore, optical power and impedance of iridium oxide tetrodes were measured as 200 μW on 5 mW from LD and 206.5 k Ω at 1 kHz and we demonstrated insertion test of probe in 0.5% agarose-gel successfully. We have successfully transmitted a light of 450 nm to optical fiber through the integrated LD using by butt-coupling method.

An integrated system for identifying the hidden assassins in traditional medicines containing aristolochic acids

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Lan; Sun, Wei; Wang, Bo; Zhao, Haiyu; Li, Yaoli; Cai, Shaoqing; Xiang, Li; Zhu, Yingjie; Yao, Hui; Song, Jingyuan; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Chen, Shilin

2015-08-01

Traditional herbal medicines adulterated and contaminated with plant materials from the Aristolochiaceae family, which contain aristolochic acids (AAs), cause aristolochic acid nephropathy. Approximately 256 traditional Chinese patent medicines, containing Aristolochiaceous materials, are still being sold in Chinese markets today. In order to protect consumers from health risks due to AAs, the hidden assassins, efficient methods to differentiate Aristolochiaceous herbs from their putative substitutes need to be established. In this study, 158 Aristolochiaceous samples representing 46 species and four genera as well as 131 non-Aristolochiaceous samples representing 33 species, 20 genera and 12 families were analyzed using DNA barcodes based on the ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences. Aristolochiaceous materials and their non-Aristolochiaceous substitutes were successfully identified using BLAST1, the nearest distance method and the neighbor-joining (NJ) tree. In addition, based on sequence information of ITS2, we developed a Real-Time PCR assay which successfully identified herbal material from the Aristolochiaceae family. Using Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (UHPLC-HR-MS), we demonstrated that most representatives from the Aristolochiaceae family contain toxic AAs. Therefore, integrated DNA barcodes, Real-Time PCR assays using TaqMan probes and UHPLC-HR-MS system provides an efficient and reliable authentication system to protect consumers from health risks due to the hidden assassins (AAs).